The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-09
ITALY'S EDUCATIONAL NEEDS.
Government Office Too Often the Stu
 dents Aim.

dents Aim.
 The cry of the wise ones in Italy is now: "Let us return to the earth. Let us cultivate intensely the fertile soil of this paradise of Europe. Let us send our fruits fresh from the trees and bushes; our eggs and butter and cheese fresh from the farm yards; our fish canned on the very seashore to north ern, colder lands that want them and are ready to pay for them. our wine and our oil, which they have not, are sources of our wealth. Let us there fore find out the best methods of eulti- vating the vine and the olive tree and of sending the wine and the oil abroad"
 New ideas of education are growing. Not mere routine of studies, continued for years at the expense of the state ln the universities is required. This ills the land with an overplus Of lawyers, doctors and office-seekers. But more education of the character and heart IS found to be necessary; some instruc- tion and much education. Scholastic reform Is a vital question for the na- tional future, for the evils or over-ln- struction are scarcely less than those or | ignorance, superstition, servility and | criminality. The system of instruction 1 is antiuuated and ill-adapted to the eX-
 gencies of modern progress. It stupi- 1 fies the mind by overtaxing the memory instead of stimulating the reason and | exalting the energy. Italy needss an active, enterprising middle class pre- pared to enrich themselves and the country by commerce and agriculture. | Instead of producing such men as these the universities are evereroWded
 by the sons of laboring men, who ex-
 pect offices from the government after
 receiving from it their educations,
 Life they think, will thus pass in easy and dull monotony instead of hard work of muscle or brain. fierce struggles ana anxious uncertainty. These dreamers do not wish to study in order to gam
 the necessary diplomas. Their rioting
 to obtain vacations and avoid exami- nations, their violence and insubordi- l nation have caused the doors of the universities to be closed against them
 and the public force called in to reduce
 them to order. They will hiss minis
 ter of public instruction or burn pres ident of the university in effigy. They
 have their committees and give their opinions on political questions as if they were men in public life instead of
 mere boys. There are twenty-six thau- sand students in the universities of lta- 1 Iy. many of them from the lower class
 es of society. Ambitious to rise, they 1 consider it nobler to seek an office than l to follow commerce or agriculture, ] Armed with often ill-gotten diplomas, l they swarm wherever there is hope Of obtaining place, But these are only a | fraction of the students The majority
 are young men of high character and | good conduct, and worthy to enter any profession
 Still the necessity of stemming the evil current is felt The peasant of the new generation needs an elementary but not a university education. He must be taught to cultivate the ground inteligently, to love the earth and gain
 a small portion of it for his own If pos | eible. Return to the deserted fields,