The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1910-11-09
IS
THE BEST ASSET
And is Formed and Guided
by Will Power.
WHAT SCHOOLS SHOULD TEACH
The Various Divisions of Hur-
man Ability Dominated
by Self.COntrOl.
A SCIENTIFIC DISSERTATION

1t is a remarkable thing that
though from the earliest times the
importance and value of character
has been generally recognized, con-
slant and systematic training for its
formation has rarely, If ever, been a
1 regular part of the education of the
young in schools and colleges. They
are taught a very little about very
many things, slightly to their benefit,
while the knowledge how to live and
how to make living, the principles
of ethics and the rules Of conduct,
which should be constantly inculcat-
ed, and the Strengthening of the will
and the power to concentrate the
faculties, are almost wholly neglect
! ed.
Children, as their minds unfold,
should be taught something of the
universe in which they live, and of
themselves. On the physical side
! they should know at least the out
lines of their own constitutions, the
fundamental laws of health, and, as
they advance, their approaching re-
sponsibilities, dangers, duties and
capacities as men and women. Such
instruction rightly impaired would
have saved many wrecked life.
Then, rising to a higher plane,
they should learn that the personali-
ty, the ego of which the body is the
instrument, is made up of three dis
tinct parasitic intellect, which APP
prehends, thinks, learns, imagines
and reasons; the sensibility, which
feels, loves, hates, enjoys and suf-
ers, and the will, which directs, or
which should direct. Evidently the
most important of these, and the one
which, if it assumes the right atti-
tude and asserts and maintains the
control which it is clearly intended
it should exercise, will dominate and
lead the rest, is the will. Any one
without it or who fails to use it is
Iudderless, and will surely drift
hither and thither a hopeless dere-
lict or be driven a shattered wreck
upon some of the many rocks and
quicksands which border the great
ocean we. sail upon.
II is easily recognized how vital
to both the other divisions of the
personality, and so to the whole
man, is this guiding. infexible con-
troll. The intellect left to itself may
turn to trivial and unworthy sub
jects, become enervated, aimless, it's
powers dissipated, and wholly fail
to gain the power of concentration
and application which is the most
valuable possession. Failing this,
though brilliantly endowed, it mere
ly coruscates and scatters, alternat-
ing between fits of feverish and un-
directed activity and demoralizing
laziness. and accomplishes nothing.
Under the concentrating force OF
the will It gains steadily in capacity
till it can center itself like the flame
of bIowpipe, and there is no prob
lom that will not yield to it's per-
sistence
Genius is indeed largely the ca
racitv for taking pains, and that
cores only by a steady exercise of
The will. Under its control the intel
lect is a noble and harmonious in
strument working with increasing
ease and loss of friction toward a
chosen end. Instead, then, of mere
" examining information into chill
dren, in a misdirected endeavor to
increase their knowledge and ex-
pand their intellectual faculties,
should we not rather try to give
them the power to direct and con-
troll those faculties and open up to
them stimulating and worthy OBJ
y jects for their activities?
Essential as it thus appears is
directing will, for the intellect, and,
of course, there is reciprocal action
of the intellect on the will, which
through it must be enlightened, it is
even more important when we come
to the activities and susceptibilities
of the personality, which are ranged
under the general designation of
sensibility. Control and direction
here are more vital than in the in
tellectual sphere. Here are group
ed al 80 passions, which, II not
curbed, will carry the man to newt
able disaster. Yielding to every
impulse, swayed by every gust of
feeling, giving free rein to every
propensity, he is, though capable of
a much higher destiny than the low
er animals. much less safe, and
much less likely to fulfill his pur-
pose in life and reach his proper end
than they who are guided by an un-
airing Instinct Thara orc fhoaa