The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1919-02-20
DOME fifty years ago Her

GXS5g bert Spencer startled the
HSGYAN educational world with
Gsy the momentous question,
What knowledge is of most
worth2" And the school men of
that day in England and America
were thrown into dismay by this
question and its complications, for
to many of them the idea never
occurred that knowledge had any
worth. The value of higher edu-
cation IN their eyes was merely
that of class distinction. 1t marked
out its possessor as one above the
common mass. 1t was the badge
of having done the proper thing.
It conferred for life upon the man
who received it the same satisfac-
ton which is ascribed to the we'll
dressed feeling among women.
It is clear that the knowledge
is of most worth which can be
most directly wrought into the
fabric of our lives. That disci-
pline is most valuable which will
best serve us in quietly unfolding
our individualities. There are
some forms of learning which can
lead to no generalizations. and can
have no bearings, direct or indi-
rect, on the affairs of life. 1t is
the tendency of all knowledge to
pass over into action, for thought
is not completed until it is wrought
into deed.
Therefore, that education which
leads men to higher deeds is gain
to the individual and to the com.
munity. It is we'll for the indi-
vldual and the community to give
heed to this matter. We should
not merely think that any form of
education is good, trusting to ira
dition or to chance opinion. We
should know what it really signi-
fies, and we should not pass by the
problem because its solution is not
easy. No social function or act is
so important as education. In the
schools of today the history, per-
sonal, social and political, of the
future is in large part written.
Therefore, no good thing is so de-
sirable as good schools. no reform
so far-reaching as reform in edu-
cation.
1t is evident that without person
al sanity and safety there can be
no care for others. It is clear that
the development of the family pre-
cedes that of the state. and that the
performance of personal duties in
general has first claim over the en-
joyment of art and the cultivation
of the pleasures of leisure. 1t is
again evident that requirement of
any kind has two values-value as
knowledge and value as discipline,
and both these values must be con-
sidered in estimating their final in.
fluence on our conduct. 1t is not
clear that the physical sins, partly
our forefathers', partly our own,
which produce this i'll health, de-
duct more from complete living
than anything else.
If we call to miud how far the
average duration falls below the
possible duration, we see how i'm
mense is the loss. Then to the
numerous partial deductions which
bad health entails, we add this
great final deduction it results that
ordinarily more than one-half of
life is thrown away.
From this I conclude that as
vigorous health and its accompany
ing high spirits are larger elements
of happiness than any other things
whatsoever, the teaching how to
maintain them is a teaching that
should yield in movement to no
other whatever. Most people, even
those called educated, fail to real
ize that there is such a. thing as
science or that their own ignorance
of law is not 80 good as some other