The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-12-22

devoted to The qualification of the tastes
and feelings.
That these activities are stated IN
their true order of Importance may be
readily granted. The ideal of an edu-
cation is complete preparation for each
This preparation Should be greatest
where the value is greatest and least
where the value is least.
1t is my purpose to touch briefly up
on each of these divisions, and show,
liz possible, the relative value of sci
entific and classical knowledge in each.
In the preparation for those activities
which minister to self-preservation we
are fortunately aided by nature. We
are endowed with certain instincts and
warned by aches and pains. Through
] ignorance, however, these warnings
many times go unheeded and practi-
cal -nowledge of the science of physi-
ology and hygiene would have saved
many sickness and death. l fail to
see here any use of the classical knowl-
edge.
And now we come to those activities
by which we earn our livelihood. Those
who take the narrow dollars and cents
view of life claim that the only prepar-
alton needed is for this activity and
can see use for only the professional
and trade schools. To be sure, the
earning of livelihood is an essential
part of our existence, but we must
acknowledge that if life were COM
pletely taken up in the mere getting
of money it would not be worth living.
However, the great majority of men
are engaged in the production and dis
tribution of commodities. Do the clas
sizes aid one in the commercial world?
How many problems of profit and loss
are solved by the use of Latin and
Greek?
The practical use of science has in
creased production many fold, and the
producer and consumer are brought to-
gether by means of the great railroad
and steamship lines, the result of en-
cheering science.
We pass now to the third form of ac-
tivity, the bringing up of children.
Here we may ask the fathers and moth
ers which they find of the most use
in the rearing of children, the sciences
of physiology and PHYSIOLOGY or their
knowledge of Latin and Greek?
In the preparation for the duties of
citizenship we can we'll study the
sciences of economics and sociology.
We grant the use of the classics in get
ting at ancient history to teach us the
experience of older nations; but the
average man would be better instruct
ed in the duties of citizenship were he
TO turn to some work on descriptive So
GEOLOGY rather than to the story of
Xenophon or the wanderings of Ulys-
ses.
And now we come to those activities
which make up the leisure part of our
life and the enjoyment of the aesthetic
side of our natures. This preparation
for leisure should be made in leisure
time.
In this department of activity is
found the strongest plea for those who
advocate the classics; and were we to
give up. this entire field to the classical
student it would still remain that this
part of our life, important as it is.
takes the last place in the relative val
ue of activities.
But we do not give up this field to
the classical student. The use of the
Latin and Greek for a better under
standing of the English language must
be granted; but where English is prop
erly taught the student learns the most
important derivations in the study of
words.
Does the development of the aes-
thetic side of our natures depend upon
classics? We can hardly grant that.
From whence did your classical poet
derive his inspiration? From Nature;
and the same source is open to every
one today.
A great part of our leisure is taken
up in the enjoyment of the fine arts,
which do not directly come under the
head of clissics or of science: but note
the aid of the science of music to the
art of music, of the sciences of perspec-
tive and light to the art of painting;
and the science of anatomy, to the art
of sculpture, and you see that science
goes hand in hand with the highest art.
After having shown that the scien-
tific knowledge is of greater value in it
self, it remains to observe the relative
value of the study of science and of
language purely as a discipline.
The strongest point of the classical
study is in Strengthening the memory;
but acquiring the many facts of nature
as found in subjects like astronomy
and geology affords a memory training
that cannot be excelled.
Let US look at the different kinds of
memory trained. We learn in the clas-
steal study the form of words. They
take such and such forms because the
grammar or dictionary says so, and
tina, is generally the end of it. If we
are able to trace them back little way
we soon come to some authority. The
facts of science have a reason for be-
ing as they are; they depend one upon
The other and are in perfect harmony.
In the first case it is memory without
reason; in the second, memory with
reason and perfect association of ideas.
In science we are dealing directly with
nature and constantly working out
cause and effect. The result is a
training of the judgment which cannot
be equaled by any other line of study.
We have touched upon the value of
scientific study as a mental discipline
How about its value as a moral and
religious training? In the study of ma
ture we find that every violation of law
is met with disaster and the line hn-