The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1893-06-23
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everywhere, binding, driving mist storms
wildly all about you, and you are dazed
with the ceaseless din. You are alone in
awful solitude, pigmy in the presence of
tremendous size and force; your own little
ness settles down upon you; the greatness
and majesty of nature fills your soul; and
then, suddenly, the mist is torn aside. and
you get glimpse of a vision that no art
can portray, no tongue of man can describe
a glimpse of far-off lands and cloudless
SKIES" N oiouuiooS
AS read that description, 1 felt that it
portrayed education. After personal ex-
perience with one mountain from base tn
summit, you have more real knowledge of
what mountain is than If you had exam
ined all the mountains of the country at
long range.
Deleve the conclusion irresistible: to
obtain the best results, the best develop
ment OF the mental powers, the best educa-
tion' at least one study and that chosen
one' should be pursued through as great a.
length OF timenas possible. "This chosen
subject will become the backbone running
continuously through the system, and the
other studies will become as ribs supporting
ana oraclng on every side." 1t may be
heresy, you may term it as fanatical, vet |
venture to express my honest convictions
when say that one very common and vet
serious error in education is the matter of
choosing too many studies. 1t may be
likened to butterfly fitting from flower to
flower, everything in turn, nothing long.
We accept hop. skip and jumping act and
term it broad and liberal education. There
is breadth and length but not thickness.
veneer will crack; the polish on the solid
wood endures.
In making your application of this
thought, be liberal. Do not confine it to our
city alone. You will not apply it amiss if
you take it to the extremes of our country,
even within our cherished college and uni
versity halls.
Prof. Swing says, "Many young persons
are learning more ways of expressing
thoughts than they have thoughts to ex-
press; and instead of having ten IDEAS of
value, they give promise of reaching ten
methods of stating one idea, and perhaps a
small one at that. While you may learn to
express he has the pretty yellow dog i'm
Greek, Latin, French, German, Chinese or
Zulu, remember it is the same yellow dog
all the time"
You may be ready to ask why not make
radical break from time hohored customs
that are known to contain elements un-
worthy of your time? Our answer is that it
is not case of individual adjustment, but a
case involving the whole system of educa-
ton from the primary to the last study in
the highest course at the university. The
whole system must be leavened if the work
is to be properly done, and we are pleased
to know that master minds are combining
to move in the matters of reform. 1t is not
properly a fault with multiplicity of
courses of study so much as it is an objec-
ton to any one person trying to take an un-
reasonable number.
fancy l see you narrowing the work
until you reach the conclusion that 1 would
prefer the specialist. Then you arise with
the question, us not the work of the special
ist narrowing; does he not exclude himself
from humanity in the aggregate, and deyote
his time to thought unworthy Of his steel?''
II you want real knowledge about the
mountain, to whom would you go? To him
who has viewed many from distance, or
to him who has had a real, genuine noun
tain beneath his feet? would sooner trust
that knowledge that has really scaled a
single mountain. than those opinions that
have looked up at the SUBMITS of many.
Are you ready to agree with me in this
statement? The largest factor in education
is the teacher. Be skillful in your selec-
tion of teachers and all else will follow.
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