The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1911-11-30
EDUCATIONAL.
(BY g. W. MEIsNEsT.)

vances the power, the prosperity and
the happiness Of the nation
| Thomas Jefferson.
It is recognized that our educational
interests are the most important inter-
ests OF our state; that the state is de-
pendent, more than is realized, for its
welfare and advancement upon the
quality Of education in its public
schoolsp
The aim of general education is rot
the acquisition Of manual dexterity for
purely utilitarian purposes but In
cluaes general culture; the arousing,
nourishing and developing OF the spir-
itual and mental powers of child-na-
ture; educating to self-reliance and
equal and balanced development Of
the moral, mental and physical re-
sources of the individual. Just as
positive as that the purpose OF educa-
ton does not exist in only sustaining
the school, just so do we maintain that
we do not educate for simply knowing,
but also knowing how to do, the will
and power to do; we do not educate for
the school life, but for the life out OF
school; and the school should primarily
be preparation for life; and its test
should be brought to the only tree
touchstone-that Of practical use, the
systematic training of the pupil to
work for himself and use his own
brain.
The development of high ambitions,
Of noble character, of good habits and
of sound physique cannot be too strong
ly commended. Together they are
more important than any merely in
tellectual attainments; they stand the
wear and tear of life better, and do
more to assist their possessor to prom
inence and success.
The preparation of the child for in
dividual life-this is the main object
of education, and its chief ambition
must surely be the formation of a
distinct personal character, will, the
separate individuality of free being.
The faculty of acquiring and utilizing
worthily real freedom is the paramount
function of education, and to this end
self-discipline and self-control are the
dominating factors.
The crucial test of the value OF edu-
cation given in our public schools is
whether it tends to make useful and
worthy human beings; and this means
approximately complete persons round
ly developed, with all the faculties as
much exercised, trained and enlarged
as can be in their special occupations.
And this training should insure con-
tinuous mental growth: the expansion
ofone's mental and moral growth should
be continuous through life, and the
last years should bear the richest fruit
age.
A bad kind of school instruction
overloads the mind with detail, before
the main features have been grasped,
before there is any framework into
which to pack the details. This is
most discouraging; it is the kind of
thing that generally generates dis
like OF being taught-a dislike unnat-
ural to healthy, normal child. In
truth, every subject can be presented
in way as to be received with en-
thusiasm by an intelligent child, whose
mind has not already been clogged or
warped. 1t is great, yet common
mistake, to have instruction artificial
ly systematic; system is excellent in its
proper place; but the bare facts must
be approached first; interest may be
killed by premature systematic in
struction. Information concerning
things of no interest is valueless in
formation-curiosity should first be
aroused.
The preparation of the mind for &C
Quiring or cultivating knowledge is far
more valuable than packing it with
facts. One of the most important
things for the school to strive for is to
inculcate the control of attention, the
ability to concentrate the mind on one
subject, oblivious to passing distrac-
tions that fit across the field of view.
This control OF attention can be cult
waited, and its entire absence is we'll
known medical criterion of feeblemind-
edness.
Public education is the one agency
for promoting intelligence and right
eousness-the one agency which has
not only retained its hold on the demo-
cratic masses, but has distinctly gained
more and more public confidence, and
received from the public greater and
greater moral and material support.
There is no safety for democratic So
ciety, in truth held or justice loved
and observed by the few; the masses
must be taught to discuss and think,
not to fight, to take timely public pre-
cautions of rational and civilized meth
DDS against every kind of real or i'm
aginary kinds OF selfish oppression. To
do this no organized agency can com.
pare in the potential influence and fut-
ure promise, with our public schools.
II our public schools are able to just
ify themselves in the eyes of the tax
payers, we can be sure that new ex-
penditures will commend themselves to