Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-06-01

rs thtputhoui iilei not WHAT We arc
but what we shall bo thought of u tn,
question; so in education the question
is not the intrinsic effect on others
And this being our dominant idea, di.
rect utility Is scarcely more regarded
than by the barbarian when ding his
teeth and staining his nails"
Not that we think a good drin in
Latin or Greek would not be highly
benencial for these subjects AFFORD
much mental training and supply a fine
tonic TO the slothful mind. To the man
who is 10 spend his life as a scholar, a
writer teacher OF languuges, or an
investigator OF history and archaeology,
a training in the classical languages is
so excellent that many still regard IL
as Indispensable.
But Greek and Latin. history and
philosophy poetry and mythology are
for the few that disclose special apu-
tude In literary and kindred lines they
seem neither 70 be well adapted TO the
average mind. nor to be strikingly help
ful to the average life and the oTdin-
airy vocations Of mankind.
A modern philosopher remarks that
since human lives are but span IN
length. We should constantly bear IN
mind our limited time for acquisition
And remembering how narrowly THIS
time Is limited. not only by the short
ness Of life. but also still more by
the business Of life we ought to be
especially sulicitous TO employ what
time we have TO the greatest adVaht-
age" Before devoting years to some
subject which fashion or fancy sus-
gests. II IS surely wise TO weigh WIN
great care the worth of the results
which the same years might brihs Il
otherwise applied.
W.. take this 10 be sensible advice.
we even fancy that the radical ana &C.
centric Ebert Hubbard was not iar
astray when he said;
..The higher education has always
been for the favored few.
''In this 1t has worked two grew
wrongs. "a ,,,,,,
III has inspired the awe ana envy
OF those who could not go 70 convsv
they were being deprived OF s"'"'
thing. -, 49,. o,,or-
90 graduate Nth the assumption that
ne had something which set him apart
and fitted him to guide and govern
Mr.. Hubbard admits, however that
there are three advantages In OBTAIN
ing a college degre; first, that II gives
the person a chance TO perpetrate ms
limitations as a teacher second tna'
il admits a man of mediocre aohltS
into a certain society on a basis which
a person OF similar attachments could
never otherwise reach; and th'rd'
that the taking OF college degree
reveals TO the discerning student That
there is nothing In IT,"
MIR. Hubbards satire may be IN part
a lest; but It expresses a good deal OF
truth. A college degree is good thing
as a preparation for work but II Is
the work which II enables It's pos
SCISSOR to do thereafter that really
counts. The world does not ask . man
what degree he holds, but simply what
he can do. And II it turns out that the
possession OF college degree or
dipIoma has not fitted its possessor for
doing well and for doing better than
was otherwise possible some honorable
portion Of the great worlds work then
the bestowal of the degree Is the mere
certificate OF falsehood, and Is a
fraud upon the community that taxed
itself 10 enable that degree to be be-
slowed
In vain will narrow pedants contend
that the degree simply certifies that
It's possessor has gone through so many
pages Of Greek. OF history, and OF the
drama, and that 1t Is no guarantee OF
ability to do something for the world
such an argument begs the whole
question at issue. For as to whether
or not the schools have made good
whether or not they have given value
for the taxes 50 freely voted 20 them
it viii not do to answer by saying the
pupils have studied so much OF gram
mar. so much Of mathematics, and so
much OF mythology; for the question
still remains as 10 the purpose accom-
plished by this kind OF study. Grant
ed that youth has read Cicero and
learned Anglo Saxon: what OF Il? Has
IL prepared him for work in the broad
sense-literary. scientific. commercial,
political. Industrial? II not. II has fall
ed. and the school course must be
revised.
It Is Just here. we suspect, that the
average college professor makes the
great mistake-that, namely. Of con-
founding the means with the end.
Thus. Dean Swift. the most forcible
loeician ~ his day. was not permitted
to prove his ability 90 pass" out OF
the study Of logic upon showing that
he could reason very well without taxi
ing the school course In that subject.
So BYRON and Pope were not admitted
to be scholars by the schools of their
time. though they were Infinitely
superior in scholarship to almost any
of the professors. But their knowledge.
not having been gained from the reg
ular textbooks and under narrow
professors was not accredited BY the
schoolmen, and was in fact, flouted by
the schools.
Pope often referred to
THE bookful blockhead, ignorantly
read.
with loads Of learned lumber in his
head"
as the type Of q college duuce who
held his diploma.
What the schools should aim TO do Is
to find. develop. certify ability in any
form; not merely to lay out a course,