The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-06-21
ADVICE

go to a University" These words
were the text of President Jordan's re-
marks to the graduating class of the
High School .@st evening. 1t was an
admirable address calculated to inspire
the young pupils with the desire for
the higher education the complete
rounding out of mental training which
fits a young man or a young woman
TO enter upon the self education of life.
For education is never finished, till the
grave closes over us, or till the fires
of cremation resolve more quickly the
body into it's original elements. The
acutest mind is ever learning, and is
only acute because in its early youth
it has been trained to assimilate.
But University training requires pre-
vious training and further requires GER
tain mental characteristics, without
which such training is of little value.
One can teach all men to row, but one
cannot teach all men to row so that
they are fitted to be in the first crew
of their club. A young man or young
woman can go to college and may at
AShu Oil NilG NldSStS anu yet COlllt "
very poor piece of material in the
end. AS Henry VIII is tabled to have
said, you can't make a silk purse out
of sow's ear" and though vulgar, the
expression is very true. A University
training is not a royal road to success,
but it can make a young man, or a
young woman use the talents which
have been granted them better than if
they had not had that training, and it
does give a broadened view of much
that would otherwise be considered
from a narrow standpoint.
There used to be an idea that Univer-
sity training supplied men for the pro-
fessions, and that University graduates
were of no use in business or other
walks in life. A physician, parson
a college professor had to be a college
graduate, but for anything else the
time spent in college was wasted. We
find however that this is not truly the
case. The engineer who is a college
graduate is in nine cases out of ten
better engineer than one who has
grown up from an oiler and has had
nothing but a practical training The
graduate will not necessarily be bet
ter but given the same capacity and
he will be very great deal better.
There used to be a theory that the
writer's and reporters upon newsnauers
We're of little use unless they had risen
from the case. Undoubtedly some bril-
liant men rose from the case But you
can go into newspaper office now and
find more University trained men than
men risen from the case, simply be-
cause the University man, if he is
worth anything, has a broader field of
education to draw from, and has there
fore a broader view.
The people of the Hawaiian Islands
have always very thoroughly appre-
ciated the. advantages of university
training, and the graduates of a dozen
or more of the universities on the main
land are to be found among our bust
ness men, while the professions show
an ample supply, and the number who
go away from our shores is yearly in
creasing, as the wealth of the commu-
nifty increases. The time will come
W til TIE 1 tlIllOIN u 1dNdll Will nave
its own university, but that time is yet
far distant.
There are people here who have an
idea that university can be success
fully made by act of legislature. Aunt
versity or any successful institution of
learning Is the result of slow growth |
No great institution springs all armed
like Minerva from Jupiters head. All
that can be done by this generation, if
it can do anything is to lay the foun-
dalton. If the foundation is we'll laid,
the future structure will be great. If
the foundation is narrow, and the lines
restricted the future structure will
have to be entirely remodelled and time |
will be lost. What the men Of the pres
ent can do is to plan, and the plan
should be broad and liberal. To reach
that breadth and liberality OF plan re-
quires both time and thought, not of
one mind only, but of many minds.
When ever one thinks of the future,
one cannot help thinking how grand it ,
will be if things only go right. Things
always do go right however, in the end.
A country may be set back for a while, |
but under liberal anglo-saXon institu-
tions, and especially under the Ameri- |
can form of them, each state and Ter |
ritory must go forward There is a
glorious future for ed tcation in this |
country, and the time viii come when |
the Territory of Hawaii vii, claim d
distinct influence upon The mind Of the |
Far East reached through here from
the West.