The record-union., 1899-05-17

! higher education for the masses as a
panacea for social and economic ills
are in arms, yaliant1y defending their
favorite theory.
| A careful review of what Mr.. Hunt
| ington did say discfoses that he made
no assault upon higher education in the
abstract, nor upon the highest educa-
tion as a preparation for professional
life. He declared: ~ Ia .sFkb
While the preparation for profess
sional knowledge requires advanced
knowledge, it seems to me that vast
majority of our young people spend too
many of their vigorous years OF youth
inside the schoolroom and not enough
in the practical work Of life The years
from 10 to p are immensely valuable,
for they are years of keen observation,
individuality and confidence. In many
cases-quite too nlany-they are spent
in examining the mind with knowledge
that is not likely to help a young man
in the work he is best fitted to do
In this Mr.. Huntington has simply
declared that education ought to be
pursued with reference to the acquire
ment of the knowledge which best fits
a man for his chosen occupation in Afe
In the professional world, there is no
| u SCltlltNllC dlldllIllCnt LUZ
great, too broad or too far reaching for
a scientific pursuit. If one is to prac-
tice the profession of the law, he cannot
be too We'll acquainted with the science
of government, the accumulated prin-
ciples of jurisprudence. the history of
civil society. or those underlying prin-
ciples of justice which constitute the
foundation of law; nor can he be too
| of thQ
science which he purposes to master.
But if it is his purpose in life to build
ships or to sail them, it is scarcely
necessary that he should study medi-
cine or law. If it is his intention to
follow agriculture or horticulture, it is
scarcely necessary to devote those years
of his life in which his mind is most
impressionable to the study of theology.
What Mr.. Huntington is obviously
! pleading, is that education shall he so
| pursued and directed as to furnish an
equipment for the calling which the in
dividual seeking it purposes to pursue,
comforting upon him superiority Of at
tainment in that particular line and
fitting him to master the principles of
his chosen occupation. Mr.. Huntington
| asked: How many young men with
college educationE are standing about
waiting for something that will never
come, because the work that stands
nearest at hand is not 10 their liking?
| Somehow or other. our schools which
teach our young people how to talk do
not each them how to live"
| While this conveys no assault. upon
higher education, no discoura cement to
those who will find the highest educa-
| ton of use in the line Of life they intend
to- pursue, it is a vigorous expression of
a practical truth, and is justified by the
! observation of every man who occupies
anything like leading position in the
practical affairs of the world. Every
employer Of men is made daily cogni-
zant of the fact that in the activities OF
life, the commercial. mercantile, manu-
featuring and other fields of human en-
deavor which relate to the material well
being of mankind. the school which
best fits men for usefulness is that of
experience. The way to learn to do
anything is to do it, and he who has
come to his knowledge Of the thing he
intends to do by the way of appren-
ticeship is best equipped Scr the accom-
| plishment of result
| President Jordan of Stanford Uniyer-
sity announces a truth when he says:
But the best chances are not always
in the ways that lead to wealth Life
rs short and full and has many better
things than riches" But in saying this
| he replies to nothing proposed by Mr.
! Huntington.
1t may safely be admitted that the
great office of life is the requirement
of being; but even when this is admit
ted, it will remain true that all the
higher attributes of civilization super
vene only upon the material we'll being
of people. Every art which embel-
fishes human life; every profession
which adorns the intellectual aspect of
modern conditions, must first be pur-
sued as a business to succeed as an art
or a profession. In the full range of
civilized existence there must be a dis
tribution of effort, just as the highest
productive capacity of a people de-
ponds upon the distribution of produc-
ton into trades and callings. The higher
| education will reach more ambitious
summlts when the primitive problems
relating to the material we'll being of a
people are solved. What men of Mr..
Huntington's experience have observed,
and that on which they are now COM
pairing testimony, is that education
should be pursued strictly with refer
ence to the occupation or calling which
those who seek it intend to pursue: and
the practical wisdom of this position
will be traversed only by impracticable
| theorists.
1t it interesting to note that some OF
those who have attempted to contro-
vert Mr.. Huntington's position confirm
it by their experience.
Joseph ]. Little, President of the
Board of Education of New York, re-
GREETED that Mr.. Huntington was not
in that city to explain his views more
in detail. He thought that if Mr.. Hunt
ingtcn referred to the study of the
classics by laboring people, he might
not be far wrong. He concluded how
ever, that Mr.. Huntington's views on
the whole We're erroneous. and then pro-
| ceeded to the recitation of experience
which completely confirmed the posi-
ton Mr.. Huntington had taken. He
said:
''Yet it is a. deplorable fact that it is
| hard to find men who are good me-
chanics. 1t was only recently that 1
had occasion to advertise for an assist
ant bookkeeper The work was light
and the position was not worth more
| than SO or SIS per week. AT the same
| time / advertised for a man to take
charge of a mechanical depar tment, the
wages of which were four times that of