The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1912-07-19

l often wonder why some men
who have themselves made good in
life will say:
I'm going to let my boys have
all the benefits of a college educa-
ton. never had it and | intend
to make it easier for them. | had
to work hard for all | got and l
want to make it easier for my
boys"
| heard an old darky once say:
Eff 20 has common sense, yo doant
need so many books nohow, an eff
20 haint got no common sense, den
books will shore do you mighty lit
tie good"
Common sense is not taught in
schools and colleges. During the
last few days the schools and col
leges of the south have been turn
ing loose upon the public school boys
and college men, graduated from
their various alma matters. Boys
who for several years have been
digging and delving into the hidden
mysteries of Algebra, Greek, Latin,
Science and the Arts; graduated and
thrust upon the long-suffering COM
mercial world to take up their life's
work, totally unprepared to fit into
any place that may be open.
Some fond parents will say:
Well, son, you've done we'll at col
lege and worked hard. Now spend
your vacation enjoying yourself and
be ready to get down to work in the
fall. Draw on me when you need
funds and in the meantime I'll stay
on here at my work and make a
few more dollars" Then the son
takes his trunk full of summer glad
rags and idles away the summer at
some resort. When the time comes
for him to go to work, his father
finds that there is nothing in his
head of any use. He finds his boy
well up on baseball and football and
that he is ready and fully equipped
to do anything else on earth except
go to work and accomplish some
thing. For years he has been fill
ing the cavities in his Uranium with
the cobwebs of ancient and more
ancient history, logarithms and
Greek roots, and he is totally una
BILE to translate them into beefsteak
and ham to keep himself from starry
ing to death.
! noted recently that the average
teachers salary is $40 per month.
That the average doctor earns only
$500 per year, the average lawyer
earns $3.50 per year, and the aver
age preacher earns $500 per year.
All of these occupations require
more or less college education,
Most any college graduate is capa-
BILE of teaching a country school,
or practicing some profession at a
starvation income for several years,
after he has spent the best part Of
his life in college, This week met
a man who owns large farm. He
told me he would willingly pay a
salary of $1,000 cash, yearly and
furnish a nice home free to any
young man, married or single, who
would take complete charge of his
farm and runit on ascientific basis.
Another man told me that he had
a large farm, a retail store, gin,
a sawmill and that he would pay a
capable man 500 per month, with
house rent free and all merchandise
at cost if he would take charge.
1t is a strange commentary on the
progress of the twentieth century
that in this great south, a purely
agricultural section, the schools and
colleges are equipping men for the
poorest paid jobs on earth, fit fol
very few, if any, places in the
worlds work, and dazed at their
own ignorance, while such openings
as those mentioned above go beg.
ging. Who is to blame? I say that
it is the parent. They should not
lay so much stress on the completed
college course and the diploma.
They should not cram the child's
brain with useless information ir
its most receptive period. Rather
let them reduce the school anC
college time and give their boy.
some practical experience, out il
the great world, hustling for liv
ing. Recently Dohn D. Rocke
Teller donated $4,000 to feed anC
clothe the needy college graduate!
in the city Of New York. l alsC
saw letter from a young man wht
had only had two or three terms il
the public schools of Marietta, Ga.
and a short course of short hand anC
typewriting. He is now employed
by the government at Mare Island
navy yard, and says;
Il have Travelled all over the
world since | have been in the ser