The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-13

AcAN NA~ ~ R~Of
it may be OF the dream Of Sir Thomas
More, the blessed Utopia, the country
Of Altruism and sinlessness, which Is
the way We put it. But he states it in
| this wise:
THE thought is very beautiful and
pleasing. In fact, if all the blessings
Of the legislative formula shall finally
be added to the equally beneficent ef-
fects of the educational formula, what
a glorious world this world of GUYS
will be! When legislation finally as
sures to every citizen a princely in
| come, and makes him chaste and tenn
perate and earnestly religious. and
when education gives him perfect wis
dom, unbroken health, a thoroughly
| conge1ial occupation, exemption from
all business troubles, a fascinating
wife, and children hat shall always
fill his heart with pride, then truly We
shall be living, not merely in Utopia,
but in Paradise"
We pass over his reflections, very in
teresting, as TO the effects of moral
teaching, and applied science and
technical teaching in schools not in
tended primarily for such work. He
pleads strongly and earnestly for the
u uC, dciiiIILc, .SDCLldi university cOu-
| cation-that which so trained and de-
veloped the leaders in the past-men
who were indeed great and wise and
valiant and self-contained and patri-
otto. He is specially happy here in
his we'll selected phrases and his clear
cut thoughts. The old university men
educated after the English way, were
united "by the strongest possible ties
of sympathy and mutual understand
lng,' he says, and they went out to
help the world, to aid humanity, and
to bless it. But how? By Exercising
an influence for serenity and sanity of
thought whose value was inestimable."
They were scholarly men, able men,
sincere men, we'll read in the litera-
lures Of the world, in the history of
governmental progress, in the schools
of philosophy, and many Of them were
firm believers in Christianity. It was
from his class mainly that England
drew its leaders. Professor Peck SAYS:
From this class came the men who
laid so firmly the foundations of the
C-i0 WIN WV
out in a broad, far-seeing way the
basal principles Of our constitutional
law and public polity; for Of this class
were Hamilton and Jefferson and Jay
and Madison and Webster and CAL
houn and Adams. They all received the
Older college training, based not upon
the Observation-Disclosures principle, but
upon the nObler and far loftier concep-
TiOn of what the hiohact education
means. But now the curious belief that
all subjects of study are in themselves
equally important is importing into the
sphere of university teaching anything
and everything which the casual person
may desire to know: and worse than
this, it is putting upon every grade of
capacity and attainment the self-same
stamp of approval"
He is writing of the university in it's
high sense-of that education impart-
ed by the great schools. He thinks
The university idea now is much lower
that it has been lowered by a ."Gb--
eral' policy which has "degraded
scholarship to the plane of mediocrity."
That is his contention, true or false. To
him it is a mistake and has only bred
"discontent" he thinks, and lost much
of the nOblest influence that was SO
potential and beneficial. He evidently
does not believe in the regenerating
quality of education, and that the out
look is not bright or hopeful for the
best. He says that education is a
failure as a reformer. He does not
put it that way. He finds in the prison
records evidence showing hat educa-
ton itself is not creative or reformative
or regenerative, as We give it. His
words are:
1T only makes the naturally crimi-
nal person far more dangerous, cor
verting the potential sneak-thief into
the actual fOrger and embezzler, and
the barroOm brawler into the a~narchis-
tic bomb thrOWer. Statistics lately sent
to congress in a veto message show
the fact that in our prisons the proper
ton of the fairly educated to the uned-
ucated is far larger than among an
equal number of ordinary citizens. And
this is due to the ill-considered system
which forces a helf-education on all
men whether they will or no, thus
breeding for the state some of its most
difficult sociological problems"
Mark you, We do not share in all Of
| these opinions and others we have not
Indicated. While we do not believe in
the uplifting, re~generating theory of
/ popular education, we believe it is es-
sential in a free country, in a repub-
lie like ours that all boys and girls
I should receive a really good common
school, education. Doubtless some ras-
Gals will become greater scamps by
misusing what they "a learned. But
a voter should have intelligence
enough to write, to read. He should
be taught the constitution Of the
United States and of his state. He
should be taught to read the Holy
Bible. He shout be instructed in the
fundamentals of Christianity. He
should have abundant good examples.
The teachers should be carefully Sc
lected as to intellectual and moral
qualifications. The moral nature should
| NOT he up~lacte5 hIIt SboJ15 Ia 5iSci