The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-05-02
The Real Fruits of Study.

Baltimore SUM-
The President of Western college,
addressing graduating class, said
to the graduates that they might for
get all they had learned from books
during their course and yet carry
away from college the chef fruits of
their study. This declaration, though |
somewhat exaggerated, contains germ
of truth that neither pupils nor teach
ers fully appreciate. We know as a
matter of fact that few of the learned |
men of the day outside of the teach
ing profession could pass the entrance
examinations to the colleges from
which they graduated ten or twenty
years ago. They have forgotten the
facts Of history that they once mem
orized; the rules of grammar and
arithmetic that they once had by
heart have slipped from their mem
ory; they can no longer solve geom-
etrical problems or describe chemical
reactions; in short, they have grown
rusty as to such things. But they
have not forgotten the principles un-
derlying the various studies and
could readily regain their old-time
proficiency if occasion should require
it. Nor have they lost the training
they received while engaged in their
school studies, the habits of attention
and Of observation developed in their
youth, the ability to reason out a
proposition and thus to develop their
capacity to think. 1t is this dicipline
of the mind that constitutes the val
liable thing in education, not the
mere cramming Of the memory with
facts or rules from the books. Un-
fortunately, there are some teachers
who do not understand this, and they
help to mislead the youths entrusted
to their care> The latter, mistaking
the function OF education, ask them.
selves of what use is this or that
study? If it should be mastered, Of
what possible service can it be? They
reply to their own questions by neg
lecting the study or pursuing it with
the sole purpose of passing an exam
ination, and later in life learn of their
mistake. The young soldier, forced
to go through the same drill day after
day and tired out with the endless
reviews and inspections of new troops,
asks himself similar questions, but
not after he has been in action and
has learned that his own life, the lives
of his comrades and perhaps the fate
of his army may come to depend upon
the promptness and precision with
which movements are executed. The
parallelism, though not complete, is
sufficient for the argument. In the
case of both the soldier and the stu
dent, the first purpose of training is
to reduce the subject to discipline,
to orderly method. When that has
been accomplished each is fitted for
the work before him. The soldier is
only part of a great machine directed
by other mines; the student also
becomes part of great machine OBJ
scurely directed, but he directs his
own course within limits) and en-
ploys his own faculties. It is to
qualify him to think for himself, to
observe and make use of his observa.
tions, to write and talk intelligibly
that he has been educated, and
though he may forget the processes
by which he was drilled, he will
carry with him through life the
training that is the true end and aim
of education.
i The Bon Marche, the great dry
goods store Of Paris, employs 4,00C
| attendants. They are fed on the
premises. The kitchen in which thei,
food is prepared is the largest in the