The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-04-24
THE BASES OF EDUCATION

THE BASES OF EDUCATION
Some Thoughtful Observations on this
Very Important Subject.
Editor of Tho Times Dispatch,
sir,-In this high noon OF our civiliza.
ton, it is required that all mankind SHAH
be enlightened; that all their faculties
and powers and susceptibiltles shall DC
awakened, developed. exercised and Gull
tivated. 80 that men may do skilfully, IN
telligently, enthusiastically their full part
In tho business of life; that they may
have life abundantly. And that Is what
we call being educated. AS al this is. more
or less, accomplished, we are more or less
educated.
The age OF electricity and tho ago OF
education are upon US. And, together,
they are making new era. One anil
mates the inanimAte; the other quick
ems the lifeless and arouses the sleep
Ing Light and power and life are their
great business. Both exist for the ser
vice Of men. And, as they are con-
trolled or uncontrolled by wisdom, they
may do unspeakable good or incalculable
mischief. And man, tho master, Is to
maintain his domain and use their or
fices under the guidance Of tho highest
wisdom, or be consumed or wasted by
depravity.
Electricity Is divine thing. Its gran
deur is manifested In the lightning and
the thunderbolt. But Its divine origin Is
recognized as 1t has been brought down.
tanned and, of late years, made to do
us familiar and pleasant service. In the
small and great affairs Of life. Educn-
ton, that calls into activity the human
mind, is also divine thing, Prometheus,
who brought down fire from heaven. may
we'll stand for the first educator. 1t was
for him to make man know himself, and
recognize his native dignity, his divine
parentage.
Tho instrumentalities and methods that
are used to develop man and make edu-
cation familiar matter have advanced
slowly and only In later years become
common. Our books may we'll be COM
pared to Storage batteries. And other
suggestors Of thought, to generators Of
electricity. And now as we are making
electricity to do 50 many things for US in
the world of matter, we are calculating
to get from education the same kind and
amount of service In the world Of mind
Electricity Is so much like life that
we are almost ready to regard 1t as
life itself And yet. with all It's power and
light. 1t cannot give life. Electricity Is
not life. And education with It's storage
batteries Of literature does 80 quicken
| and enlighten the mind and stir the emo
| lions that, we almost identify it with
1 u
| and not wise Education Is not wisdom;
| knowledge is not power. Only the edu-
| cation that Is based upon wise principles
| and that leads to the spring and source
Of wisdom is wise. And the excellency
| of knowledge is that wisdom distilled
from 1t or reached by 1t giveth life to
! them that have 1t. Wisdom and life are
gifts of God. Education and electricity
are human means.
| Where. then. shall wisdom be found.
| and where is the place OF understanding?
! The wise man answers to this: The fear
| of the Lord, that is wisdom, and the
| knowledge Of the Holy is understanding.
| Because books contain the records of
| tho acts and thoughts and observations
and experiences and knowledge and lives
| of those who have gone before us, and.
| by strange mysterious power. reproduce
! life and communicate their contents to
us, We identify them with education, and
regard them as the necessary and unfail-
ing means and instruments of It, and
! yet the education that uses them only is
very satisfactory.
They indicate realities. but separated
from things themselves, they are the
| knowledge that puffeth up; little better
than vain maginations. And much study
In that way. is only WEAKNESS OF the
flesh,
The education that promises, that con
man and family and nation, Is helped
by human efforts, but accomplished By
the providence of God by ways. agencies
events, conditions, experiences and trial:
far above our calculations and defyint
our scrutiny or imitation. And yet hu
man methods and means and books are
very good, and wise men use them II
educating themselves and others. 4nt
general world makes great mistakes II
Its cduca tonal methods and In Its super
sltious reverence for books and In 1t.
unwise use of them. They are like un
wise doctors or quacks. that Kill thel
patients by too much medicine and too
much doctorlng, regardless or me cura
tive and essential power and ready office
of nature.
Education, after (so-called) scienuIi'
system and undertaking, Will engage t
taYe the foetus from the languishint
mother and assume the place OF natur'
with an Incubator A paidologlst that ha
never had babe of her own will TAX
, the babe from the bosom of Its mother
supersede nature. and by scientifi
treatment manipulate It into childhood
The Kindergarten, with all sorts Of !m!ta
, tons OF real things. vii! force growtl
and teach and form the little phenomenon
! that goes for a child, adjusted 10 al -.
Observation-Disclosures artIsystematiz
Ing all Its movements ana resulatln
Its tears and smiles and frolcs-eVery
, thing by rule and measure. And the
,, the school will take him into itS ma
chine. put him through It's forms m
books and exercises. and az last ne
passed on to college TO be loaded "
, furnished. finished, equipped ana ac
!, complished and polished, according !
J the latest style OF the educatiohal tas si
j ion plate. lie is branded with a tiu'
and goes yop into the world ignorant
himself, slt t4 row-man and the rs ,l
i bn'ties n are 18th benumbed senslni ut 20
, qualifItM preseis a teacher or professe
/ to mad their fe of himself, And yet : 2
Us GAL fsi ed and sultiyatedmh =,
SefS fan Snss5nRh dissstreasly eds