Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-09-17

W A"tA RAA1ANA M 40 NuD
aim Of al schooling or preparation
not education, please, for that is
a life work. u~tilitarian in the
highest aud best sense? However
some may regard this matter, 1
shall assume that in the utilitarian
idea lies the true conception Of
the real object Of schooling, speak
ing generally for special studies
are otter pursued simply for ones
pleasure, though even here a USE
full purpose is served. But in the
main / take it that the aim and
object Of schooling is to enable the
boy to develop the faculties with
which he has been especially en-
dowed-and which diferentiate
him from every other boy-to the
fullest extent possible, that he
may devote them to the very best
purpose.
Now, boys differ, and vesy great
ly 80; they differ more widely
than trees or animals of the same
species differ. AS Ruskin says,
the higher the organism the great
err the corruption at death, 80 the
higher the civilization and the
more complex his environment the
greater will be the difference be-
tween boys. In our latter-day
civilization some boys are born
mathematicians; they lisp in num-
bers and the numbers come; some
are born linguists and classicists;
they absorb the Greek roots and
Latin gerunds rs naturally as the
babe drinks in its mothers milk;
others again excel in measuring
the forces of nature, the scientific
trend shows itself in an early love
for ornithology or botany or geol-
ogy or zoology.
Right here l recall the case of a
New Haven boy who from earliest
childhood showed an intense de-
light in everything relating to the
structure of animals. One day,
during the absence of his parents
he took the house cat and put it
in a pot of boiling water that was
on the stove. When they return
ed the dish of savory puss was
speedily discovered. The boy of
twelve years, being inquired of
concerning it, at once admitted
what he had done, and exclaimed,
Don't take it out, papa; it isn't
time yet; I'll show you a perfectly
beautiful skeleton in a few days"
What did the father do-take the
boy in hand, give him a threshing
and then deliver him a lecture? So
some would have done. But this
father took the boy aside, made it
clear to him that the cat was not
his to kill, and told him that he
would show him a more humane
way when he next had occasion to
kill an animal in order to secure a
skeleton. The boy is now a man
and one of the foremost natural.
lists in America, although, being
found deficient in college, his faith
er thought it best to withdraw him
from school and instead provide
him the means for pursuring the
study of natural history which he'd
become a passion. Another boy,
a real Stupid" at school, who
gave up the classics, languages,
and mathematics because they
were SO distastefuI to him, is one
of the most distinguished meteor
ologists in the country.
What has all this to do with the
boy who tires Of school? just
this: it illustrates the fact that
nearly every boy, as a rule, has
some natural bent which mani
tests itself at an early age and
which is natures way of showing
in what direction he is best calcu-
lated to work. OF course there
are exceptions, as there are plenty
of boys upon whom anything more
than the three RS plus q fourth r
.Righteousness-would be thrown
away. But passing by these, /
think the conclusion to be q safe
and just one that, ordinarily, when
a boy is tired of schooling it is
because lie has got all he
requires or becaure an ill-advised
course of instruction has been
forced upon him, resulting in a
conflict which will not "down" un-
til the course of study is changed
or the boy is taken out of school.
Let the anxious and disturbed par
ent appropriate this important
truth. Won cannof forca All traos