The New York herald., 1922-05-07

when a mans vices have a chance to
fasten their chains upon him. To
teach a man how to use his leisure is
one of the highest purposes of educa-
ton.
A mans life work consists in con-
tributing to the sum of human good; |;
in realizing himself as an immortal
soul; in emancipating his spirit and
developing himself into the divine like
ness, and he can do this in any con-
dition of life as has been proved again
and again by the nobler ones, among
US. 1t is no accident that the saints
Of the earth have been among the
poor.
1t Is the business of education to
help man in this enterprise. The very
first step in educating a child should
bo to make him realize that he is a
child of God; that his life and his hope
and his destiny are not to be thought
of in terms of matter but of spirit. and
all through the process he should be
led to feel that his education is di-
rected toward making him independent
independent of the tyranny of
things. Independent of fortune and of
fate-the master Of himself and Of his
passions and powers. If education
does not teach a boy to depend less
upon things it has failed of its highest
purpose.
Such result will not be brought
about by telling him that his education
is to sharpen his wits so that he can
get more than his share of the good
things going. And 1t will not be ac-
complished by teaching him to judge
success upon a cash basis and to esti-
mate men in the professions in pro-
portion to their salary. Such policy
Is more likely to produce a generation
of needle eyed. acquisitive men who
will no doubt gain a great deal, but
who in the process will lose about all
that is worth having-among other
things their souls.
This is the road along which certain
of our leaders in education are seek
ing to lead u.s. / do not believe the
great body of teachers are so shallow
as to be deceived by them. A school
or a college is neither rolling mill
nor 10 cent store. The purposes. the
ambitions and the standards are alto
gether different. Minds are not mer-
candise and sales and profits are not
in our program. The real values in
education are the things money cannot
buy. They cannot be turned into
money. But they are the things that
make education worth while: without
them man himself would not be worth
educating.
In the account OF the victory of the
Roman General, Galerius, over the
Persian King. Narses. in the year 29s,
story is told by Ammianus, Greek
historian of the fourth century, which.
as Gibbon observes, proves the rustic
but martial ignorance of the legions.
A bag of shining leather filled with
pearls fell into the hands of a private
soldier. He carefully preserved the
bag, but he threw away the pearls,
judging that whatever was of no use
could not possibly be OF any value.
There is a lesson in this incident for
the utilitarian in education. Obvious
and material use is to him the stand
ard Of value, and very often, judging
that whatever is of no use cannot pos
sibly be Of any value. he keeps the
lag anu lIlONS away tDc pearls.
OF course every age has its own ex-
cellences as well as it's own peculiar
defects, hut, however optimistically
modern we may be, we cannot claim
for our American civilization any large
share of the cultural spirit which some
OF us are old fashioned enough to be-
lieve is the true practical education.
We are wanting in repose, in breadth
Of judgment, in the principle of re-
straint. in sense Of proportion. We
are restless and lawless and dispropor-
toned. We have jazz music, jazz art,
jazz literature. jazz amusements, Jazz
conduct. not to mention jazz educa-
ton and jazz finance. I can think of
nothing more needed in this present
age than an infusion Of what we may
call the classical spirit.