The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-29
HIGHER EDUCATION.

moving from nlSneT eQucduOn are as
great as they are alleged to be by it's
| advocates. We published an article
J yesterday, from the Ninteenth Century
Review. on THE Disadvantages of Ed
ucation" in which the position is taken
that the great attention which is be-
ing given to what is called book learn
ing these days is having a defnoralizing
rather than an elevat1ng effect. 1t is
| alleged that the books and periodicals
which have the greatest number of
readers are of the lightest character
and that the articles in the newspapers
which attract the most attention are
those which deal with sensational mat
tiers like divorces, murders and scan
dals. Even theaters which produce
dramas of an eleyating kind are not
patrOnized. Only those which present
farces. song and dance performances
and dramas so sensational that they
verge on the indecent draw crowded
houses. Nine-tenths of the books taken
out of the libraries are novels and
many of them of the trashiest sort.
The article to which we have directed
attention points out that the majority
of the great men are not graduates of
universities. The great thinkers, the
inventors, and the captains of indus
try in the majority of instances are
what are termed self-made men. No
doubt many able men are graduates
of the schools of higher education,
but it is seldom that these schools
are entitled to credit for new
thought-a thought that benefits the
world.
Our attention was particularly
drawn to this subject by a dispatch
the Morning News published a few days
ago, in which it was said that the Fill
ipino youths were eager to get an edu-
cation from the schools which the
American government was establishing
because they thought 1t would enable
them to get a living without work
Their sole aim, so the dispatch said,
was to become teachers, lawyers and
doctors because they thought these pro-
LESSONS would give them the means
of living without effort on their part
In other words, they wanted to get
away from anything like manual labor
If that is the idea among the F'ilipinos,
will higher education be of any benefit
to them?
AS a matter of fact how is higher
education affecting the negroes of the
South? Do those who get such educa-
ton as their schools give them seek
a living on the farm? Is it not their
aim to get away from manual labor
as far as they can, in fact from any
kind of hard work, and wear snowy
clothes? If the truth were known it
would appear, in all probability, that
most Of the coFored men writing policy
in this city have more education than
is to be obtained at the public schools
in many parts of this state. 1t is
doubtful if any considerable percent
/ age of them would seek employment
in the fields, on the wharves or any
where else where hard and constant
work is required,
And these remarks are not applicable
alone to the negroes. Too much edu-
cation seems to bring trouble to white
people as well. A few days ago a
beautiful and highly educated girl was
arrested in New York city for the theft
of 81 800 worth of diamonds. She took
them from the mother of a school friend
whose house she was visiting. She was
poor girl who had been educated
much above her station. She was ac-
| customed to associate with girls much
better off in the matter Of wealth, and
therefore she acquired taste for fine
| living and fine clothes.
She was of course overwhelmed with
shame by her arrest. One of the things
she said was: 1T is wrong to give a
| girl an education and not the means
! to clothe herself according to the sta
! ton for which she is fitted" The lives
of thousands are made miserable by
| being fitted for a station which they
cannot maintain. 1t is a question
whether more real good would not be
done if the millions which are now
being given to universities were dis
tributed among the common schools.