New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-11-09
little Switzerland In her endeayOr to place the
Convention Of 1864 upon footing more compre-
hensive and up-tO-date.
rs OUR EDUCATION A FAILURE!

is OUR EDUCATION A FAILthE'
The question may be asked in all seriousness
provoked by more than one current or recent
incident. Is our education failure! great
issue Of National policy is brought 10 the ioie'
1t demands consideration OF politcai economy
history, industrial statistics. present cohdlliohs
in all parts Of the world and what not IL
an issue. one would say, to the determination
of which the most thorough knowledge OF SUCH
topics should be summoned. But man,
cOllege-bred man. declares that the most ii'i.
crate and ignorant is as competent 10 deai VIII"
1t as the most highly educated. Again, ihd"s
trial evils widespread aict the lahd buS'
ness is PROSTATE Men are idle pennilcss. VAST
discomfort prevails. And colege-Dred man
says it Is because the masses OF the people
are too highly educated. They are edu
Gated above their station. and thus maze us
contentcd. They should remain ignorant as
it is fitting that hewers of wood and drawers
Of water should be. Are these men right! IL
So the question first asked may readily Dc an.
swcrcd. Education is a failure Schools al"
colleges are CHASTITY mOckcries III the one pe
right, 1.-THE dream. the fancy OF the poet are
real. The squalid savage Is the triest type Oh
manhood. In his condition is not only more 10!
but more profit than lin this march OF mihu
Or if the other be right. and education DO h''eu
only for the favored few. then Is the Republic
itself a failure, and tyrannical oligarchy Is
the best form Of government.
But they are not right. Humanity revolts AT
the very thought. knowledge Is power, as
the old cOpybook legends used to tell. AMI II Is
a power of universal beneficence. II only 1t be
properly employed. THE practscd htistings
liar" may tell his audiences ignorance Is rs
competent as Is wisdom to deal with great qucs
tons Of science and Of statecraft. but they
know and he knows in his heart, too. that he
lies There Is 10 rational farmer in the land
who does not seek the superior knowledge or
a physician when he Is Ill, or even when his
horse or cow Is III. What wretched twaddle.
then to say no expert knowledge Is required
to heal the ailments OF the body polite. Those
who have done this latter have invariably been
men Of knowledge. The founders Of the Rcpub-
lic-Washington, Hamilton. Jefferson, Madison
and their colleagues scholars. every one
of them. given to much reading and to diligent
study SO were the men who saved the Nation
from disruption n generation ago. Now ana
then an unlettcred genius flashes upon the
world and illumlnes it with ncteorlc lustrc. But
the constant radiance that makes life bright and
ING. who are men Of action. but also men Of
thought.
Nor is the other theory more tcnable. that
learning should be denied the many and grant
cd only TO the few. The truth Is that which
John Morley has eloquently expressed: Not
''only the wellbeing Of the many. but the
chances Of exceptional genius. moral or intel
"lectual in the gifted few. highest In so
opacity. are all highest Nothing could be
more apt or more significant The whole great
world-scheme Of evolution requires lis truth.
There is no general who would not prefer IN
army of intelligent men to IN army Of block
heads. What is essential Is. Of course. tina, they
be educated in the right way. soldier cdu'
Gated only as an artist or as chemist would
be OF little service. II collegiate and other cdu-
cation fail Of bencncencc It Is not because II il
education. but because II Is not the right Kind
Of education If the scholar In politics be-
failure II is because he Is merely Il scholar In
politics and not a scholar OF politics: because,
thar Is to say. his education Is deficient In re-
spcct to the one thing he Is trying TO practise.
So would the scholar be n failure In law. mcdl-
cine. science. and what not II his scholarship
failed TO comprise the very thing he was EN-
gagged in. 1t Is not true that liberal education
spoils farmers son for being farmer He Is
spoiled II at all. because his education Is not
liberal. but partial; because his college curricu-
lum includes too little because he has not been
taught how to apply all the trlumphs OF me
chancs. and mctcorology. and chemistry, and
electricity to the culture of the soil: yes. and to
apply to the career Of farmer the mental discl-
pline he has acquired by the study OF philosophy
and the classics
1t Is easy to scoff at these things. as at any
thing but II Is idle and mischievous. The story
OF the world Is the best vndcation OF the right
Of the human mind 10 freedom. 10 growth. 10
culture, to the attainment Of the highest posi-
bilitcs. The attempt was made TO enslave men
spiritually. II failed and The world Is the bet
ter spiritually, for the failure. The attempt
was made to enslave them politically. 1t has
failed. and Is failing. and the world Is for that
reason the better Off. politically. Equally sure
would intellectual enslayement be Of failure.
and equally benefcent would such failure he
to the world. Not for nothing was man en-
dOwed with mind superior TO the blind instinct
Of the brute. Not uselessly Is that mind devel-
Oped and enriched. Our education Is not n fail
ure. 1t has only just begun its work for the
welfare Of the race.
SIGNALS FROM THE PLANET MARS.