The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1919-02-20

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edge of their own is needed to give
respect for real knowledge. Be-
cause of the fundamental value to
the individual, hygiene, with the
laws and facts of physiology and
biology, should have a leading
part in any well-ordered scheme of
education.
1t is surely mistake to have
any great outbreak in the con-
tinuity of education. The sooner
one knows what he is good for and
strikes out for it the better, though
he rarely regrets the length or the
fulness Of his preparation after his
career is once decided. The chosen
career gives a clue through the
labyrinth of knowledge. It does
not matter how long the way if all
the while he has a clue to follow.
The ability to see ones way to re-
alities through a multitude of nom
essentials is the basis of personal
success.
1t is the function of science to
find out the real nature of the uni.
verse. Its purpose is to estimate
the personal equation and human
equation in statement Of truth.
The ultimate end of science, as
we'll as it's initial impulse, is the
regulation of human conduct. To
make. right actions possible and
prevalent is the function of science.
The world as it is, is its province.
The truth of the world as it is
must be the ultimate inspiration of
art. poetry and religion. The world
as men have agreed to say it, is
quite another matter.
When child is taken from ma
ture to the schools, he is usually
brought into an atmosphere of con-
ventionality. Here he is not to do
but to initiate; not to see, nor to
handle, nor to create, but to re-
member. He is, moreover. to re-
member not his own realities, but
the written or spoken idea of
others. He is dragged through a
wilderness of grammar, with
thickets of diacritical marks, into
the desert of metaphysics. He is
taught to do right, not because
right action is in the nature of
things, the nature of himself and
things about him, but because he
will be punished somehow if he
does not. He learns things by
rote; so his teachers fill him with
rote learning. Hence, grammar
and language have become stero-
typed as teaching, without a
thought as to whether undigested
words may be intellectual poison.
And as the good heart depends up
on the good brain. undigested ideas
become moral poison as we'll. No
one can tell how much of the bad
morals and worse manners of the
conventional college boy of the past
has been due to intellectual poison.
Science can be learned by rote but
wisdom not.
In such manner the child is
bound to lose his orientation as to
the forces which surround him. If
he does not recover it he will
spend his life in world of mixed
fancies and realities. There is no
scheme for the renovation of the
social order so silly that educated
men will not invest their money in
it. There is no medical fraud so
shameless that educated men will
not give it their certificate.
The school is an adjunct to the
home, a continuation of the en-
vironment Of care which the par
ents bestow on the children.
If the home knows no wisdom in
it's relation to the child. the school, |
which is an outgrowth of parental
interest, will not do any better.
In some human activities esthetic |
culture and the charms of leisure
hours, I find the current system Of !