The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-16
Copyright, 1902, by T. L. James.)

he had decidedly the best of ii at
the start, though, no one can doubt.
What Is Education.
After all, then, success depends
upon brains, character and industry.
One who has these qualifications will
become an educated man, whether he
can go to school much or not. He
will begin his education when he be-
gins to earn his living. He will find
means for carrying it on in whatever
he does and wherever he goes. The
world will be his university, and
whether consciously or not, he will
force every one he meets to play the
part of instructor.
And this brings up the question,
What is Education?" The answer
is simple. Education is training that
will enable its possessor to use cor
rectly the tools that every man pos
sesses-his hands, his eyes and his
brains. To make your mark in any
calling you must have this, whether
you go to college or not.
The standard college education of
other days took little stock in the
education of the hands, or of this
workaday worlds practical require
ments. In the main it amounted to
the study of the Greek and Latin class
les with a dash of mathematics,
thrown in. The college education of
to-day may or may not include, as
the student elects, the training of
other faculties than those which are
developed by the classics.
1t is the glory of the American col
lege and university that they now af-
ford their students opportunities to
secure training of almost every pos
sible sort. To-day our great UNIVERSE
ties and many of our smaller colleges
give as much attention to mechanical
training, to instruction in practical
chemistry and electricity and dozens
OF like subjects as to Greek and
Latin.
The workshop and the laboratory
are as important departments of
these modern educational institutions
as the lecture rooms of the professors
who devote their attention to the
topics which made up the old fash
Toned course. A complete locomo-
tive in perfect working order is pro-
vided by Columbia University for the
study of those who make mechanical
engineering their speciality. The
workshops of various sorts provided
by Cornell are famous the world over.
Thls same university instructs its
students of civil engineering and sur
veying by sending them out to make
practical surveys of the country round
about and in this way a large portion
of the state of New York has ha/ n
actually surveyed.
Only the universities of Germany
rival those of America on the practi-
cal side. England's great schools an
pear to be awakening slowly to the
necessity of furnishing their students
with practical training, but they have
made little Roadway as yet, and Brit
ish educational authorities say it will
take years for the schools OF their
country to catch UP in the race. There
is an important element in Great
Britain, and a smaller one, relatively,
in this country, which objects to the
'practicalization" of the colleges and
universities, but the movement, born
| of necessity, has got too good a start
to be retarded materially.
| Undoubtedly, in my view, the pres
| ent tendency is right in the main. It
| does not lessen the facilities offered to
| students who wish to acquire the clas-
steal education; it simply gives the
| student who from necessity or inclina-
ton requires training that will help
him to make his way in practical life
an opportunity to get it in the years Of
his schooling, instead of waiting until
his graduation day has been passed.
Some Elementary Training,
| 1neT6 Is one serious Qefect in the
| education of a large proportion of
those who make up the rising gener-
| alton whether they are intended for
college or not. This defect is so radi-
cal and SO easily overcome, if meas
ures to that end are taken early
enough, that its existence is both sur
| prising and humiliating. / refer to
the VIGOROUSLY lax training so many
| receive in the elementary branches
the three RS" have explained my
views on this subject before, and
| judging from the many recommenda-
tory letters that have received from
| all parts of the United States, there is
very general agreement with my con-
tention that a large proportion of our
elementary schools are inadequate.
Graduates of the public schools are
turned out into the world incapable OF
| performing the simple arithmeticAl
! computations needed in the ordinary
transactions OF business life. They
do not know how 10 express them.
selves clearly and directly in their
mother tongue. either by word OF
mouth OK IA writing. Most prepaTa.