The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-21

Ihe word education has come to have
so many special meanings, faddists have
dragged it this way and that, until we
hardly know what it does mean without
some explanation I understand by it
that idea of leading out unfolding, that
has been in the word since first man
discovered that he was a creature of
uniformed possibilities. but capable of
training and development. The talents OF
men are so INFINITELY diverse and often so
SLOW in unfolding, that there can be no
right talk of SpecialiZln until many
years of general training have shown the
youth to himself-made MIN know OF what
ne is really capable.
Premature specialization is responsible
for many dWarfed intelIectS and biased
judgments. 1t is the fetch. of many So
called reformers, and the bane of those
who are clear-sighted to all the real good
OF the race. We must first see TO IL that
the human plant has its tap root deep in
the ground, with favorable conditions for
producing a sturdy trunk and vigorous
branches: then we may begin to prune
and train without fear of stunning or in
juring its growth.
There is such fierce competition in ouT
day that it is small wonder that dam
gerouS sentiment in favor of early spec
ialization has gained ground. Men say,
Teach my boy to earn living, to keep
a good coat on his back. and 1 shall be
satisfied" But is not that an unneces-
sary concession to the spirit of the age?
1t remains yet to be shown that the
strictly unitarian studies, those which
train for rontine of business m. do not
deviate a hairs breadth from bearing
upon the one profession chosen, do fit our
boys and girls better for earning liv-
ing, to say nothing of making them capa-
bic of taking q worthy part in the world S
work Certainly the burden of proof must
rest with those who make this assertion
But when 1t is decided that 10 educate
we must do our best for all the posi-
bilitieS that may be in the child, while
waiting for time to show MIN which one
of his talents shall take the lead, we
have then to meet the question how best
to do this.
The old idea that the classics and math-
ematics furnished the only means for
mental culture is being rapidly outgroWn.
Even the most conservative institutions
of learning are recognizing other studies
as having almost, if not quite, an equal
value with them for mental discipline,
and they nearly all allow literature great
distinction as one of the foremost agen-
cies in the cultivation of the moral and
intellectual faculties.
Can we do better for the young Ameri-
can than to introduce him into that COM
pany of choice spirits, whose recorded
words have made the English language
a rich treasure of imperishable thought?
men of unf1inching truth to their convic-
tons and men of judgment to diStin-
guish between the true and false. The
place to rear such citizens is in the
train our children to love the best liter
ature, to take delight and interest in the
biographies of noble men and in the
thoughts which they have left us as a
heritage. If we can early establish the
reading habit, we can lead the footsteps
of the young into that temple where the
noblest spirits of all ages may unfold
Gods truths to them.
Far more effective than formal lessons
in ethics are the examples of noble deeds
and virtuous lives which we find recorded
everywhere in literature. What child is
not melted to love virtue, and therefore
to desire it, more by an interesting story
of beautiful life than by a moral hOm-
lily. The latter does not interest him at
all, while the former places the good in
so pleasant light that he cannot choose
but desire it. 1t is in this way that we
can best strengthen our influence for
good. by adding to it the influence of the
dead but sceptered sovereignS who still
rule our spirits from their urnS.'
Literature not only reveals worthy eX-
amples for our emulation, but it enriches
the mind. 1t fills It with elevating
thoughts, with high ideals, so that there
is little room for idle imaginings, or
worse, for ignoble thought. This is the
true way to train child-Dositively not
negatively. To destroy a bad thought we
must think a good one.
Patriotism. too. that chief of civic vir-
tues. can best be instilled into the child
heroes, who have left their noblest
thoughts to teach us love of country.
What schoolboy may not be thrilled with
a feeling OF devotion to his country by
the ringing speeches of Daniel Webster.
Patrick Henry, or Abraham Lincoln?
Home and country mean more to him
when illumined by q genius such as
theirs. And no exhortations to patriot
ism that we could give could move him
to a realization OF what he owes his ma
tive land as could these speeches of men
whose deeds have proved their right to
speak.
But there are many who grant that a
study Of good literature fosters a child s
moral growth and is a strong factor in
the development of character. who viii
not grant to it a like important place in
the development of mind. There are the
devoted adllerents of the classics and
mathematics on the one side and the adj
vocates OF a strictly scientific training on
the other. And the extremists of both
schools grant literature but scanty grace
in their scheme of education. As with