Year: 1870

AmPVIIIuct vi Learning 1raucs


1T is stated in recent report of the


Prison Association, that of fourteen thou
sand five hundred and ninety-s prison
ers confined in the pententiaries of thirty
States, in 1867, seventy seven per cent,
or over ten thousand of the number, had
never learned trade. This fact may, in
some measure, be verified by inquiry at
the employment and aid associations,
where only a very small percentage of
those who apply for positions are skilled
In any trade or business An advertise
ment for skilled labor will call out but
few responses, while one for light, un-
skilled employments will call hundreds of
needy applicants for situations The
point with the rising generation


is to avoid manual labor. The aver


sion to manual labor has been, in


great measure, brought about by the false


Ideas on education that pervade all classes
oil society. 1t is supposed by these mis-
| taken people that 4" school learning" will
somehow furnish their sons and daugh-


ters sure passport to success" which


is always understood by them to mean
getting a living without work Such of
them as can muster means to do so, send
their children to the best schools, furnish
them opportunities for learning music,
painting, and the other accomplishments,
not forgetting to give them the benefit of
foreign polish when it is possible They
thus go over an amazing area of educational
territory, and bare list ofthe studies they
have "gone through" would appal the Ad-
mirable Crichton himself 1t :might be
supposed that these young ladies and gen
tlemen would be qualified to earn an
| honest penny, in case of necessity, by
some one or all of these varied attain
ments but unfortunately, such is not com
monty the fact. We say leave out of the
consideration the common branches of
| education, such rs arithmetic, grammar,
and geography, which are the elementary
branches of general education, but of
the higher branches of an English or
linguistic education, how many of these
sons and daughters of ambitious parents
learn enough to enable them to earn a
dinner in case the paternal funds fail To
come to hand? They have made no one
OF them special study, and have studied
them all specifically. And one may
judge of how they study them by watch
ing them as they go trudging and painting
to school, under the weight of the small
library, which seems to be necessary for a
days study in that temple of knowledge
the public school. In .duc tumc, they
graduate" with great eclat, and are con
| sidcred ready for the battle of life. 1t is
all right with them SO long as the "gov-
ernOr," the "old man." or whatever they
may call him, can "shcll ont the rocks"
down with the stamps" or, in old
fashioned language, furnish them the
means TO live on. When thrown
upon their own resources they drift
about for while, and find, for
"a certainty, that they are babes
in the wood" in the important matter of
providing for themselves. Some of these
incOmpetents, after years of failure and
want, drift into employment. But the
great mass of them are the young men
who are standing on our street corners,
or wandering about looking for situa-
ton where they can do genteel work
and anything is considered gcntccl if it
does lot involve what they term manual
labor Pcddling little patented articles
that are indispensable in every family"
clcrking in any capacity, an agency,
though il he only patent rat-trap-ali
these are gcntecl, and young American
graduate of a public school or Of a com
mercial college" will call To see the pro-
prictor oil the patent rat-tTap two hun
dred and fifty times before he will even
think OF learning useful trade. 1t is
customary with some persons To blame
these helpless young men very severely;
but they are not SO much to blame rs are
their parents and their teachers. Their
fathers and mothers probably toiled many
weary years to gam IA competence, which
was most likely gained only by the labor
of their hands. E What more natural than
to express the wish. with honest, though
mistaken kiu,:neSs, that their sons and
daughters might escape so hard lotg
What wonder that their children have
grown up with a thorough contempt for
work When the children went to-
school, their teachers impressed upon
them the Importance OF education for
elcvating" them, which they always TN
derstOod To mean, avoiding the laborlous
tolls of their parents lives. We could
point To certain class of institutions
which have, in these false teachings, done
incalculable injury to the cause OF honest
industry. Before the evil can tc rene
died. different class OF ideas must pre-
vail in families and in schools. 1t muE
come to be understood that parents do
only q part OF their duty To their children
until they see to it that they are masters
OF good trades, in all the niccties of theory
and practice When this view of parental
duty comes to prevail, the click of skilled,
productive industry will be more respected
than the countless makeshilt eXpcdients
for living which now disgrace SO many
able.bodied, but helpless young mer. We
would discourage multiplicity OF studies,
and insist upon the most perfect mastery
of few iudiciously chosen branches OF
knowledge 1t should be impressed upon
the minds of the pupils that thorough
ness in one or two departments of learn
ing IL OF more value than smattering
knowledge of many. And last, though
not least, that a good trade, well mastered,
is the crewning glory q: an cducation.-
Cicoec Eepaotlcam.