The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-03-31
susssssRssssssssssuessaeue -
) OUR SCHOOL COLUMN 3
And Bureau Of Information.

felt that the public at large needs
some very plain talk on the subject
of school affairs; for long time he
has waited for some great man to
arise who, by right of genius, and
by power and acutcncss of intellect,
would stir the conscicnces and the
energies of his people and would
would point the way to better
things.
But the years have passed and
the great man has not come. The
writer has grown gray with waiting
perhaps it is but the garrulous-
ness of increasing age that prompts
him now to open his mouth and to
speak. As for the great man, he
is-pcrhaps-in business, or in pol
itics; the schools do not seem to
attract more than a passing notice
/ from him.
1t is true that all phases of the
school question have been thrcshcd
over time and again, but this has
principally been done in the pages
, of school journals which the gener-
nj public does not sec, while any
real and lasting improvement must
have it's origin in the fountain head
must be begun by the people ut
large, who in reality create the
schools and cause them to be what
they are. Tons of literature, in
deed, have been fired at the teach
crs-a feeble folk torn by the crit,
les on the one hand and the popu-
latiOn on the other--and little save
fawning and iiattcry has fallen to
the share of that vast and unrcas-
oning multitude who employ these
teachers, and pay them, and in
some sense order their lives.
So this is written, and the arti-
clcs which follow will be written,
in the hope of getting hearing
from these same apathctic patrons.
In the very beginning the author
takes occasion to say that he has no
AK to grind, no personal grievance
to air, no fight to make upon any
person or any school. He simply
wishes, in disconnected and con-
vcrsational way, to call attention
to some things wherein, it seems to
him, an improvement might be
made. Also, he wishes to say that
he is very human, very likely to
err, very apt to draw some conclus-
ions that research will prove un-
sound. His cndcavor, therefore, is
not SO much to convince as to
awaken, not so much to set forth
the truth as to induce others to
seek for it.
1t is likewise proper to say in
this connection that the editor and
publisher of The Southern Home is
in no wise responsible for the opin-
ions herein expressed.
. So much by way of introductory.
Now let us inquire, briefly, into the
primary object of schools and of
study.
Nincty-nine persons out of every
hundred will answer this question
at once. Such purpose is the ac-
QUESTION of knowledge, the diligcnt
storing up in the mind of facts for
future use, they will tell you-and
this is just what the ultimate pur-
pose isn't! The end sought by pure
ly intellectual training is brain
power, that by moral training is
character, and the final result OBJ
tanned by the combination of the
two should be that ideal state which
is broadly dcnominatcd manhood
or womanhood. Outside of strictly
technical schools the acquisition of
facts is merely an incidental pro-
cess, and the after usefulness of
storcd-up knowledge but a side
product of that great factory which
essays to produce disciplined and
finished humanity.
So often is this not only misun-
derstood, but not perceived at all.
We meet every day the parent who
glibly says, Why should John
study Latin, or Mary geometry?
They're not going to teach school
they'll have no use for such
things" And these people really
believe that geometry is taught for
the sake OF geometry, and Latin for
the sake of Latin. As well might
they say that men burn fuel to see
the sparks fly upward!
Why should a man buy Il plow
and furrOw the soil? Can nc sell
the implement again for the price
that he has paid for it? Can he take
into the market place and sell the
long, brown ridges that he raises
acrosS his fields2 Nav. verify hut