The evening times., 1899-01-20
Practical knowledge.

Practical knowledge.
The war with Spain should give pow
erful impetus to the cause of practical edu-
cation in this country. The general idea
of education has been decidedly hazy OF
late. There was a time when the three
RS" were considered a sufficient equip
ment for the battle of life in the case or
any man or woman not destined for pro-
fession, and then the educational problem
was extremely simple. If boy showed
particular aptitude for books he was asked
whether he wished to be a minister,
lawyer or a doctor, and when he had made
his choice he was educated for one of these
professions. II he had no such aptitude
he was apprenticed to some trade or bus
iness as soon as he became old enough
to earn his bread and butter. The pro-
portion Of men who were able to educate
their sons without reference to this ques-
tion was too small to be considered, and as
for the daughters, they were never re-
garded as subjects for college training.
All that has changed now. For the last
generation Latin, Greek, geometry, alge-
bra. chemistry, and English literature have
been taught indiscriminately to children
of ali ages and stations through the me-
dunn of the public schools There has
been a disposition to cram into high
school course an amount and variety of in
formation equal to that impaired by the
college of fifty years ago. Subjects which
were formerly studied by college youths of
eighteen or twenty are now taken up by
oh; IF birtaa in ha
high school grade. The result of all this
cramming is that the graduate of the high
school in nine cases out of ten has half
knowledge of an immense variety of things
and no very thorough knowledge about
any one of them. Worse than the utter
uselessness CT the most of the things that
he knows is the fact that by six or seven
years of cramming he has been rendered
incapable Of thorough study. This may
seem strong language, but let us con-
slider.
When the news that Dewey had won the
battle Of Manila came flashing over the
wires last May how many high school
graduates had a definite idea where Ma
| Mia was-whether it was on an island or
the mainland. what sort of people the in
habitants were, and how Dewey and his
ileet happened TO attack that particular
place instead of Hcngkong, or Yokohama
| or Melbourne? How many people pre-
sumably we'll educated, hastened to buy
/ maps to look that question up? Yet the
| development and destiny of the Orient has
been an important problem in the politics
of The world for at least one generation.
! There arc probably ten persons in this
| city who. before the war, knew the history
| of Greece and Rome fairly we'll to one who
| knew the history of the Spanish possess
! siors in the West Indies. Yet, as the
events Of the last few months have proved,
/ il is considerably more TO our practical ad-
| vantage to know Spanish than to know
! Greek: more useful to know the character
OF the Spaniards. the Cubans, and the ori-
! entail races than to be acquainted with the
cause OF the Peloponnesian War. Yet the
children in our schools spent at least a
year on the ancient and medieval history,
! memorzing dates and names which they
forget within the next six months, while
they spend practically no time at all on
| the history of the last twenty-five years
J
the methods of the inhabitants of Liliput,
and if Dean Swift were alive today he
would doubtless find material for another
satire in it. If he were TO satirize the pub
lie school systems of America-and for
that matter, things are nearly as bad in
most other civilized countries-as bitterly
as he did the political institutions of
| France and England, he would give us
nothing more than we deserve. The rem
edy for this state of things is not to cram
the school children with the philosophy of
current affairs in addition to all that they
are already compelled to learn. but to drop
the subjects which will be useless to them
in after life and give them at the begin
ming the things which they must know in
order TO be intelligent men and women.