The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-09-18

your paper of August 2Sth, President
Riggs Of Clemson College discusses
phase of education that is very much
To the front nowadays. 1t is what is
called education for practical life"
| 1t is not a question peculiar 10
South Carolina. or to the United States
as for that matter; but 1t is one that
Is being discussed in nearly every
| part Of the civilized world. However,,
from observations Of the writer while
he was in South Carolina this sum-
mer. II seems to be a rather acute
form in that State at present.
Just what an education should be
depends on the person answering The
question. How much of the cultural"
and how much of the practical"
should enter into 1t. and where the
practical should be introduced are
questions that will never be settled.
But there are few broader principles
that should be considered along with
any individuals opinion in the mat
ter. 1t is when We get away from
these that We fall into serious falla-
cies.
In the frs, place, the advocates Of
education for practical life" assume
that pretty nearly all Of life is ma
terial-that it consists Of factories
and yards of cloth. land and bales Of
cotton, iron in the ore and then in the
finished product. The problem with
them Is to convert the raw material
into the usable article. This cons,i-
tutes much in life, it is true. but II
is not the chief thing. and should
never be made the guiding principle
In the lower school--the school be-
low college grade
Life includes much more than cur
Haterialists H will admit. 1t has been
two thousand years since the Great
Teacher expounded the doctrine that
life IL .;2materai. The elemental
things are Of the intellect and soul.
How often We lose sight Of that, es-
pecially during periods of prosperity.
TO find out later that in abandoning
that doctrine we had turned and at
tempted to embrace shadow. The
view we have Of life matters immense
ly: and il seems that there Is setting
In reaction in the educational world
against the vanities Of materialisM.
Teh signs are few. but they are sig
nificant. Harvard. the first Of the
great colleges to advocate vocational
training, is swinging back the other
LAY. Vocational training there has
not actually made good. 1t has fallen
short of what its advocates used TO
OF the times in that philosophy is turn
ing to the immaterial side again. NJ
Bergson, who H. having SO much in
iluence on the thought of the world
as present. is proclamng anew that
the primordial things in life are un-
measurable, not measurable things
qualities. not quantities. That means
that man is not 10 be considered as q
machine OF a cash register.
IL is charged that the schools of
century ago educated the student
away from life The allegation cam
not he subStantiatcd. ON the contrary.
the schOc. OF that time, ii 1t was
worthy Of the name, gave the student
very profound views of life. Even in
the study of Greek and Latin. which
| our friends so bclabor there was IL
study of life. The great thoughts
and emotions set forth in the Clas-
sizes are ~ vital today as they were
| centuries agO. Moreover, the student
was exercised in those things that are
of prime importancc--in industry. ac-
curacy. discrimination appreciation of
the aesthetic, ana many other quail
| ties OF the like sort. The men those
schools turned out and the service
they did are a rcfutation of the charge
| that they did not educate for life. We
may condemn the old method, but the
new matcriIliStic idea. which We are
told should hc 1T the bottom of cduca-
tion. has been tried in some places
for a considerable time. yet it has
not proved It's right To supplant the
old. The immense sums that hay"
| been spent uu many forms of indus
trial education, have not been from
Il practical standpoint. productive of
To-" great returns. In fostcruA ideal
ism. surely, they cannot bc called "a
h'"h'v ''"" ssful inNcstmcnt Tut
IL srouud of tho first, We
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