Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1910-09-24
AMERICAS HIGH SCHOOLS DECLARED AS ESPECIAL PRIVILEGES
Verbatim Reprint Of Article Written by Samuel W. Sparks Esq
Of Camden for the PHILOSOPHERS Magazine

I properly asked What would have Lin
| coin have been to this country had he
| been educated otherwise than he wasg'
While it is an incontestible fact that
| in our history, collegiates have rendered
great service to mankind, it is not true
| that they have been the entire moving
force. There is not page of history
| that is not Illuminated with the. name
and achievements of some one on whom
the blessings of college education has
| not been thrust.
The collegite should be required to do
more than the self-educated man. He
has had the learned faculty to back him
up and assist him in all things whether
he had brains or not, while the self made
man, SO called, or the self educated man,
has had himself alone to rely ON for all
his mental training.
Notwithstanding such a handicap, it is
self-evident that the man self educated,
is one clearly of merit, possessed of a
brain with an Unsuitable appetite. But"
exclaimed scholastic to me, you GER
tainly do not pretend that the scholarly
collegiate has not been the chief among
men to push the world along. That
there is not more credit due him than
to the now and then self-made man of
Importance who temporarily arose and
did fair work. Never can he and his
works be compared with those accomp-
lished by men of higher larningi If what
you say is true, point out few of the
selflearned who have rendered so much
to the worlds good"
Here are few names," | replied, "of
| bn oil f-aItt ttaI al,
lleve, will hold their place in history, re-
gardless OF any scholarly criticism, even
from the very hierarchy of learning
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jesus Christ.
the four apostles = Matthew, Mark,
Luke, john William Shakespeare Mar
tin Luther, George Fox, Godfrey Chaucer,
Patrick Henry, Henry Clay, Benjamin
Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Abraham
Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Horace Greeley.
All OF these were self taught and, l be-
lieve, claim some of the worlds applause
for work done for the good and advance
ment of mankind. They all obtained
their learning within the four walls that
shelter God their maker in house built
by Him, and without hands,"
From personal investigation while in
a school board, learned from many
families, of hardships endured by them
during the four years necessary for pass
ing through high school. The home
keep of the pupil during that time is
estimated at S2OOO.s Thus the parents
must rake and scrape" every penny
possible to keep body and soul together
for those four years. Frequently the
other children add their earnings to the
parental fund.
When asked why they submit them
selves to such hardship, the reply had
been invariably, I'VE gave the others
common school education, but James and
Mary must go through high school; We
want one of our family to have an equal
chance with others to become great. The
others can plod along somehow, but
James or Mary must represent our blood
in the higher classes"
Astonishing indeed, that classes will
ever insist upon the rule of master and
servant, even at the sacrifice of their
own flesh and blood