Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-01-03
Random Remarks on Education.
is education overdone?

lis education OverdOneg
Most of us have been taught to be-
lieve that it is not--in Vermont espe
cially.
4 II has been popular Of late to con
denim whatever school system we were
under and to weep and wall over the
gross ignorance that prevails in this
state.
\ Reference has been had to statistics
to prove that our schools were poorer
and the percentage Of illiteracy great
cr in Vermont than in any other
northern state.
Singing under the lash Of self-cas-
litigation, we have elected successive
legislatures and implored them to ''do
something to keep us from rlapsing
into state OF bai'barism.
Laws have been made and unmade
and still, if we are to believe the
prophets, i. e., the educators. Vermont
is in the wilderness with little prospect
of reaching Canaan.
Now with the utmost respect to-
ward our learned friends, we beg to
submit an opinion.
Vermont is not going to adopt all
their theories, and Vermont is not CO.
| ing to the level Of the Esquimaux or
Hottentots either. As state, we
shall pursue sensible course toward
education, as we have in other mat
tiers, and expect to be judged by re-
suits, not by prophecies.
The trouble with most Of these
school theorists is their misunderstand-
ing OF the word education. They as
sociate education inseparably with
schooling. There is vast difference.
A young man may have been schooled
from infancy and yet be uneducated.
Another may have attended school but
little and yet be well fitted fora place
in the world. And both these cases
may occur, where natural ability is on
an equality, though its tendency may
be in different directions.
How can this be
Here is child just entering school.
He is the son Of fond parents, who
generously declare that he shall have
privileges which they did not enjoy
when young. Accordingly, he is Civ
en- to understand that for twelve or
fifteen years but little will be required
Of him except strict attention to school.
Human nature revolts at compulsion.
What would be highly regarded as a
privilege would be irksome as duty.
1t is not long before the child tires of
his task. Vacation is a glad oasis in
the desert, the distant limit Of which
is the day when he shall have gradu-
eated and bade glad farewell to the
schoohoom.
The teacher understands what is ex-
pected of her. Pupils are brought to
her much as vessels are carried to the
well to be filed. She dishes the book
learning around equally and it is not
her fault if one pupil readily swallows
it while the next cannot. She calls
one good scholar and the other a
Ounce and repeats the dishing process.
1t is not surprising that there are more
ounces than good scholars in our
schools.
Every young scholar dislikes school.
When he attains a certain age, there
comes deciding moment. He either
continues to dislike it to the end OF
his course or his feelings change alto
gether. If the latter is the case, the
pupil applies himself with new ener-
gy, born OF desire, and has no trouble
in distancing his associates who are
still, to their minds, in the education
al treadmill. We doubt if there was
ever scholar who disliked school
throughout, who made his book
of much practical benefit to
himself in life. Such student, after
graduation, usually throws his books
aside with much the same feeling that
q convict has when he drops his pris-
on tools and steps into the free air.
He turns his thoughts TO other chan
nels for which the.- were designed by
nature. What book-learning he has
acquired is not exactly hindrance,
but as it lies in his mind like maze,
it is not of much use to him. II he
takes the wise course and gives up