The Portland daily press., 1894-06-20

utneSS ol GHe euucatlOn winch Is De-
slowed upon the Indians at Carlisle for
certain purposes. Unquestionably he is
1 right about that, and we should all be
gladSto see the ahorigines of this country
asslm1late themselves with us. But
when you come to take a tribe, which
cannot be separated and distributed, and
the question is about the education of
that Tribe, 1t is the same with those
people as 1T with us. They must pass
over the same road that we passed over.
| we uld not arrive at our present condl-
Glon OF civilization by leaps and bounds.
On the contrary, we went at snail's
4 pace, because we had to lift everyb body
all the time.
AN IDENTICAL PROBLEM IN THE
SOUTH.
why, you are having that identical
problem in the education of the colored
people of the South. When a Southern
colored boy spends three or tour or five or
six hours in scohol, and then goes home to
his parents, who have not had the advant-
ages of that education, they are very
likely to feel that he is little bit uppish
in his way, and unconsciously they try
to push him down. So it is with regard
| to the Indians. Why, | Iecollect how it
|
critieise our companions who undertook
| TO be little more educated than our
4 selves, or to wear their clothes little
more in the style of grown people 1t is
a fact and principle that runs through
| human nature sN
Now, it seems to me that the inevita-
/ BILE deduction from this is that, while it
| may be proper to take individuals and
4 educate them TO be distri buted among
| the community, it is also equally true
| that the best method of reaching the
/ Indian question is to have those schools
which commence with matters nearest to
| their present thought and gradually lift
| them up through Industrial means, I'M
| til they all begin to realize and under
fstand the advantages of the change, and
when they all of them cone to this un-
derstanding, which is necessary for pro-
| gress, each one supported by all the rest,
then they will all come up gradually
I together. and very soon we will find
them hit to be citizens of the United
| States, for that is not necessarily very
| high standing. Il only requires that
men comprehend what is necessary for
laws to govern themselves Now, it
seems to me that these are sound princi-
| pies and that it is worth while for us
| to apply them to this question, which is
before us. For my part, should be
willing to spend a good deal of money for
an education like that, for while they
have got to go over the same road we
went over, while they have got to pass
from their present condition, which was
ours centuries ago, they can, thanks to
their surroundings, go over the road in
much shorter time than we went over it,
and by taking them all together we
shall get them there much more quickly
than if we undertake sporadic educa-
ton.
What does the gentleman think of
the education of teachers in eastern
schools to send back to teach their
own tribes?" asked Mr.. Coombs.
OVEREDUCATION OF TEACHERS.
my experience about teachers has
been that there may be such thing as
the over education of teachers" replied
Mr.. Reed. " My impression is that the
very best scholars are by no means the
best teachers Sometime ago, in discuss
ing another question, apo1ogizing some
what for my inability to discuss it as
fully as might be, | ventured to say
that would discuss it because I had
noticed that fve-year-old boy could
teach four-year-old boy more than
Noah Webster could, with'all the facili-
ties of his dictionary. So it may be that
we may educate teachers too much.
What we want to do is to get within
easy reach of the whole tribe, and lift
the whole of it, thereby making our edu-
cation complete.
The generation which has got beyond
school days is to certain extent hope
less, but you get the whole of the young
er generation educated up to a certain
point and you have reached that point
permanently, and then the next genera
ton has got better chance, and SO they
will go on, and when the whole tribe
gets permeated with the idea that edu-
cation is good thing, progress will be
rapid. By education | mean the very
broadcast kind of lifting up. l do not be-
lieve that education is book KNOWLEDGE
Book knowledge is the very least part of
education.
81 think one of the brightest men
knew when | first came out of college
was man whose reports had to write
for him. But he was bright enough, and
he gave me the idea that there NAV be
an education which can make a man.
which does not necessarily come under
the head of reading and writing. But.
applying the term education in its full
est and broadcast sense, what we want to
do iss to educate them all, because-and
think it is a providential arrangement
you cannot leave any large portion of
the human race outside of progress
Your progress is stopped until you get
them up to fair level.
"You cannot go ahead You cannot
live with an ignorant majority within
your borders. You have got to raise
them before you can raise yourselves
You are subjected to that unconscious
but unfailing influence OF the majority
of sentiment, and until that majority of
sentiment is lifted higher you who stand
on the heights can climb no highern