The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-11-22
THE BLINDNESS
OF GOOD EYES
AN EDUCATED MAN WHO NEVER
HAD MUCH SCHOOL - PROF.
WEEKS or THE A. C. SAYS HE
is ONE OF THE BEST EDUcAT.
ED MEN THAT HE KNOWS OF.

cone of the most interesting men /
know OF is an elderly farmer" says
Prof. A. d. Weeks of the A. c.. "He
Is not an educated man. However, 1t
would be well If every educated man
had mind as we'll formed.
This man Is interesting because he
Is interested. He observes and thinks.
His mind is well stored And as for
curiosity, the boy in a strange attic
is not more curious about things.
This man sees how lightning
strikes on tree trunks; how the trees
planted in row will build some this
way and some that until they get out
of row: and how the wind digs dirt
away from buildings. He is always
looking for something. Eyes they
have and see not was not spoken of
such as he. His is the observing eye
and the reasoning mind This dullest
bit of prairie tells him surprising
facts, A clump OF weeds would be to
him as much as WORLDS fair to a
shallow mind.
HE is observant OF words. though
not versed in languages The fact
thar there is no English word to cor
respond to altitude had occurred to
him. For above the sea lever we
say altitude. For below the sea Level
we say-what? raz
IF this man had gone to school
more he might have less interest In
his surroundings. One may be edu-
Gated away from his surroundings.
Ones observing may be of the stars
like that of the ancient philosopher
who gazing at the stars walked into
an open well. Ones thinking may be
on subjects in place and Importance
far away, and he may nor reason on
what should concern him most
''In the early days men studied
the stars first. The Chaldean shep-
herds gazing upward in the clear sky
of old combined poetry and science in
astrology. Astronomy, the science Of
things farthest away. was the first
science. 1t has taken centuries to
draw the attention of observers to
what is nearest Philosophers have
expounded the infinite and the ulti-
mate while denying the circulation of
blood in their own bodies and believing
that swallows winter in the mud at |
the bottom of streams. Let us know |
the near as well as the remote, the |
near in space, in time and Importance |
"A good many pupils, especially /
boys, leave school because school Is |
rot interested in what they are in
teyested In. II is easy 20 remember
when one wants TO remember, to study |
what one wants to study and to think
hard about anything that one really
wants to know about. But there is
rIr II
that does no. spring from a present
interest or satisfy a felt need.
The swing of the educational PEN
dulum toward agriculture and home
science is as IL should be. There Is
no faculty or power OF mind .bat may
not be employed in the knowledge Of
nearby things. Indeed there is no in
struction for the child comparable to
that which builds upon the familiar
subjects and relatiocs OF home. life
garden and neighborhood.
mo pupil should be confined to a
study OF nearby things. Before he fin
ishes school he should know OF an
cient characters, scenes far and for
eign. and conditions OF life quite diff
ferent from his own. But to reach out
and understand these requires that
reason and imagination, memory and
observation be employed on the life
about.
Then too II one must have scant
knowledge let ignorance prevail with
reference to matters that do not much
concern one. 1t is better to know
what North Dakota sheriff's income H
Is than to know the expense account Il
Of Pompey. IL is better to know how I
to avoid tuberculosis than to know 1
when Mithridates died.
"All the boys and girls on North
Dakota farms viii not stay on the
farm Some OF them will be physi-
clans, judges, architect, college pro-
aeroplanis-s, brick layers and
statesmen. For those who do stay in
the country how valuable will be a
knowledge Of country science For
those who get their living elsewhere
could any knowledge be more educa-
tional and useful than that which
smells of clover and good brown
bread?'