Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-06-03
FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 3, 1901
THE MISSION OF EDUCATION.

n utteranccs OF Attorney Ear
Cranston In his address to the grad
nating class Of the Normal last night
would lead one to suppose that he
agrees with BuIwer Lytton and with
many present day scholars who believe
that the material trend or the ages
and the development Of the practical
side OF mankind are destined to reie-
gate to oblivion the poet, the philoso-
pher. the theorist and the dreamer.
Perhaps unfortunately there seems
10 be much evidence TO support such
4 view. The best the so.called poets
Of the age AN produce.is, as q rule.
mere driyel. The death Of Spencer
bereft us OF our last philosopher. MI.
~Cranston did not wholly excuse the
spirit Of the age. He pleaded for pat
riotlsm, for the inculcation az honor
and honesty. for the building OF ster-
ling character He, did intimate that
the actual construction Of . Single hut
was worth Q than the creation of
"a hundred castles in SPAIN he did
SAY that a single fact was worth q
Hundred theories. but his leading argu-
ament was that our teachers must seek
10 inculcate the practical because the
fendency Of the age was so unmistak,
ably material. Because the great
struggle Of the day Is fSr dollfls. the
Teacher must turn out pupils finely
equipped for the business 81 making
dollars. Mankind measured BY the
dollar mark. II IL a pity II this be
IN assuming that the chief mission
~ the school and college IL TO turn
ant men and women. patriotic aud
honest, II may be. but especially well
able 10 cope with the unitarian ideas
~ the day, 10 we moi lose sight OF
what has sometimes been accepted as
4 fact, tnat two Of the great-perhaps
the greatest--aims OF mankind are lib.
crty and happiness. II Is question.
able IL the highest material achieve
ment noes not reduce one to seryitudc
and contribute to wreck his pleasure
In living. Also. II Is questionable II
In this material age, when American
mankind Is getting ~frcnzled over the
pursuit OF the dollar, when lives are
being shortened, The whole national
character Is being impoverished. the
national measure Of d physical man
deieriofating, IL the schools should
not attempt 10 check rather than 70
magnify the materialisllc tendencies.
There are still. however. d vast mum.
Der d potential minds In this country.
whose bent has not yet been directed.
especially along the dollar channel.
There IS too much already in u IN
Sironmcnt and In our national life. 10
magnify success OF this kind aud 10
snale light u all else.
The function OF the school il 10
develop ne general power morally.
mentally and physically, such Ms viii
.siabIe The student q pursue his nat.
ural and property directed jnclina
lions 81 bent 70 the highest success
The test Of education will never be
whether ones mind II crammed with
knowledge, whether u has been
wrouglS INTO 4 machine properly cau
ipped for grasping dollars. II viii
never DO IN what d knows, Il viii
never te 10 the material, II Is In
the residium IL power that the educa.
zion lies, Can the student think; can
be act; can ~ bring q bear the know.
1sdgc that be has acquired upon all
OF the afairs of Ifey And, owe All,
fl Nc frec2 Has he within himself the
power u happiness This Is The AZ
sIderatnm. This must not tie over.
looked In the ~sirngslo for dollars, or
the whole fair. educational structure
will encounter disastrous wreck.
Because Il viii not aid III the strug
gle for material good, must one be-
denied the sweet Influences Of the
PleIsdes." must the fables Of Aris
aophanos and the delightful thoughts
81 the "swsetly smiling Pindarr be