The Penn's Grove record., 1910-03-11
The PENIS Grove Record
FRIDAY, MARCH II, 1910.
OUR DUTY TO EDUCATION
Reasons Why the Masses Should
be Educated


be Educated
TO THE RECORD:
Is it the duty of the public 10 educate
the masses2 The child lies IN his
cradle, the feeblest of all creatures. lie
knows not how TO use his eyes, ears,
hands OF feet. AT the other extreme ID
poet, scientist, the captain OF industry
Tennyson, Gladstone, Huxley. Inc
difference this creature Ill the craoie
and the man who reaches u into all
the universe is the result of education.
The fundamental principle OF education
is that every being has a right to DE-
come all that it is possible that he should
become. 1t has been advanced quite
frequently that the masses could Mn
gle with intelligent men and women
without heing educated. Ralph Waldo
Emerson tried to induce his servants 70
sit al the table with the family, ana
benefit by it's cultured conversation.
The result was that the servants, aIter
a few attempts, absolutely rebelled, SO
uncomfortable were they, and there
after took their meals i'll h Kitchen.
Another tells OF a summer i'll tue Ad-
irondacks, when a rich man persuaded
his servants to mix with tile guests ala
bouse-warming. They put Oh their
best clothes and came. Every ont was
polite, but after they had stood it for
fifteen minutes they escaped to the
kitchen.
The ignorantare condemned to assoel-
ale with the ignorant, and TO be cut OF
from all chances OF being influential
citizens unless provision is made for the
education OF illiterate.
Truth is the only real university l Ii
nature. All Others are but preparatory
schools. Every Thing instructs; the fool
by his %follies, as the wise man 10y his
wisdom. 1t is the penalty as well as
the plerogative vi rational beings that
they must be ever learning, ever gaining
knowledge.
Higher education has shown nowhere
its inestimable value so clearly and ill.,
cOnlroveIlibly as III The RAPID progress,
advancement and exaltalion OF Moman.
An author, at the end OF the last cen-
fury, pithlly summarized the WOrld's
estimate Of onla 10y declaring that in
Africa she was a beast OF burden, i'll tile
East a toy, and i'll England IA spoiled
child. The difference, you Ste, was
only between being treated as a slave
or an imhecile. 1t is doubtful Which
was the most offensive. One was the
conception OF ~barbarism; tie other the
conception OF sC-called Christianity.
The Hon. b. &. HortLrOp says: eff
the law may prohibit the owner frO,n
practicing cruelty upon his horse OF OK,
it ma restrain the parent from dwarf
ing the nina aid debasing the character
of his child. The child has rights which
not even a parent may violate. He may
not rob his child of The sacred right Of
good education. The law W. uld justly
punish a parent for starving his child,
and more mischief is done by starving
the Efsnd than Ivy furnishing the tody.
In all Christian lands the rights of pa
rents are held 10 imply certain correla-
tive duties, and the duty to educate is
as positive as 10 feed and clothe."
A bird that Call sing and will not
sing, ought to be made TO sing, says the
old adage. In like manner, a father
who can educate his children and will
not educate them, should be made 10
do it. We have no patience with the
man who says that he will do as he
pleases in his community. 1t is an idle
boast to say that man is his own master.
Each is dependent upon the other.
Think of The material upon which the
educator wOrks-the human mind, and
marvel not that he is seeking to set tile
seal of everlastingness upon his work.
What is the real object OF education?
The real object of school education is
to give a knowledge OF self, to promote
morality and refinement through the
teaching of discipline and self-control
and 10 lead the pupils to see that the
highest and only perfect content is to be
obtained, not in the valleys of sense,
but by continual striving toward the
higher peaks of reason.
Mark TWAIN says: ""The human FAM
lily is divided into two classes" 1.-THE
caulilower," he asserts, lis only the
cabbage with a college education"
But society generally plefers the
cauliflower to its humber antecedent,
the cabbage. Society is safer, too, as
education is more widely diffused.
Deeds of violence are more frequent
among illiterate people than among
well-educated people. The effect of
education upon crime is to lessen the
number of criminals. Since 1870 the
number of children in English schools
has increased from 100000 to 5,00O,-
600, and the number of persons in
prison has fallen from $4,000 to 5000.
The powers of the individual may be
indefinitely increased by education. Ed
ucation will lead to fortune. An edu-
Gated nation is far more powerful thana an
uneducated nation of equal. population
and wealth. Education of all the peO-
pie in schools renders possible great
strategic combinations in war, COM
meIce and industry. Education has a
profound influence ON politics. Pub
lie questions are not determined in this
country at the ballot box, or in the leg