The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-05-24

I is to education that we look tor protection against the spirit
of raw haste, half sister to delay against the blind and reck-
less temper of universal gambling, against the stupid
- IDOLATRY OF MERE RICHES. Education is to
clarity public opinion, to calm popular excitabilty, to tran
quihze American energy, to dispel sectional prejudice, to bind together
ALL PARTS Of our common country. There Is a method OF bring
ing out the resources of the earth by working it for the largest i'm
mediate returns in the market. Is this a TRUE type of educations
There is also a method of bringing out the possibilities of a living
plant by culture. You have seen this method used in California in a
way that seems almost miraculous. Is THIS a true type Of educa-
tons These methods of bringing this out represent in picture the
main educational ideals which men have followed. What should be
the guiding star of education in a democracy-the decorative ideal,
the marketable ideal or the CREATIVE ideal!
The decorative ideal, strangely enough, is likely to take precedence
in order Of time, and certainly it is preeminent IN WORTHLESS
NESS. Barbarous races prefer ornament to decency and comfort IN
dress. 1t is a desire to have something in the way OF intellectual or
social adornment which seems to have been the earliest conception OF
education.
At the opposite extreme Of the decorative ideal lies the market,
able ideal of education. 1t aims simply to bring out a mans natural
abilities to get the largest return IN MONEY for his work. Moth
ing is Of value according to this ideal which is not of direct utility in
business O. a profession. The influence of this CASH VALUE
theory of culture may be seen in our common school system. lit
far too mechanical. Children ar crammed with rules and definitions.
Their imagination is imtrusted to a weekly story paper, their moral
nature to chance. Teachers ae not at fault, but the system-the
stupid mechanical, parsimonious cash value system. 1t would be a
good thing if we could sweep away half of the branches that are now
taught, make al end Of COMPETITIONS N PRIZES and
come down to the plain work Of teaching children to read, write and
cipher-the foundation Of a solid education.
. y
This marketable ideal can be seen in some of the higher insttut
tons Of learning, where boys r cultivated not as men, but as jour
nalsts, surveyors, chemists, lawyers, physicians, painters, musicians,
manufacturers, mining engineers, sellers of wet and dry goods, bank
es, accountants and what not. We have institutes Of everything,
from stenoeraphy to farriery. 1t remains only to add a few more
an academy of mesmerism and college Of mind healing and a chiropo-
dist univerity-to round out the encyclopedia according to the COM
mercial ideal.
1t seems to me the real object of education is not merely to deco
rate a man with rare accomplishments, not merely to train him for a
fixed function in the vast mechanism of industry and commerce., But
TO CREATE OUT OF THE RAW STUFF THAI is HID
TEO NJ THE IOV Eor rorrn rOoIo nnhor fvra IF
man. l am not dealing in gGttering gcneralities. The man who is
honored with an invitation to speak owes it to himself and his audi
ence to have a distinct idea at the center of his address. There is
such an idea here. 1t has four definite marks and qualites-the
power to see clearly, the power to imagine wildly, the power to think
independently and the power to WILL noby. If a man has these
four ~powers-cear sight, quick imagination, sound reason and right
strong will call him an educated man.
THE POWER TO USE THE IMAGINATION AND THE SENSES TO
THEIR FULL CAPACITY DOES NOT COME ~ NATURE. IT IS a
HABIT, THE RESULT OF INSTRUCTION. APPLIED TO THE OPENING
OF BLIND EYES AND THE uNsEAL,Ne OF DEAF EARS.
The mere pursuit of knowledge is not NECESSARILY an eman-
cipating thing. There is a kind Of reading which is as passive IS mas
sage. There is a kind Of study which fattens the mind for examlna
ton like a prize pig for a country fair. No doubt the beginning OF IN
structon must be chiefly exercises OF perception and memory, but a
a certain point the reason AND THE JUDGMENT must be awak
ened and brought into VOLUNTARY play. As a teacher l would
rather have a pupil give an incorrect answer in a way which showed
that he had really been THINKING about the subject than a liter
ally correct answer in a way which showed that he had merely swal
lowed what 1 had told him and rcgurgtated ON the examination
paper.
What we need at present is not new colleges with a power of con
ferring degrees, but more power in the existing colleges 10 MAKE
MEN. TO this end let them have a richer endowment, a fuller equip
ment, but, above all, a revival of the CREATIVE ideal. And lei
everything be done to bring together the high school,, the norma
school, the grammar school, the primary school, in the harmony o
this ideal.
The university shall still stand in the place of honor, if you will
hut only because it bears the clearest and most steadfast witness thai
the end Of education is to create men who can see clearly, imagine
molly, think steadily and will bravey.
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