Author : James Henley Thornwell
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780483027831
Total Pages : 58 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (278 download)
Book Synopsis Letter to His Excellency Governor Manning on Public Instruction in South Carolina (Classic Reprint) by : James Henley Thornwell
Download or read book Letter to His Excellency Governor Manning on Public Instruction in South Carolina (Classic Reprint) written by James Henley Thornwell and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-11-18 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Letter to His Excellency Governor Manning on Public Instruction in South Carolina Two changes have at different times been proposed, one of which would be absolutely fatal and the other seriously detrimental to the interest of the College as a place of lib eral education. The first is to convert it into a collection of independent schools, each of which shall be complete in itself, it being left to the choice of the student what schools he shall enter. The other is to remit the obligation of the whole course in reference to, a certain class of students, and allow them to pursue such parts of it as they may choose. III relation to the first, young men are incompetent to pro nounce beforehand what studies are subjectively the most beneficial. It requires those who have experienced the dis ciplinary power of different studies to determine their rela tive value. Only a scholar can say what will make a scholar. The experience of the world has settled down upon a certain class and order of studies, and the verdict of ages and generations is not to be set aside by the caprices, whims or prejudices Of those who are not even able to com prehend the main end of education. In the next place, if our undergraduates were competent to form ajudgment, their natural love of indolence and ease would, in the majority of cases, lead them to exclude those very studies which are the most improving, precisely because they are so; that is, because, in themselves and in the method of teaching them, they involve a degree and intensity of mental exercise which is positively painful. Self-denial is not natural to man, and he manifests but little acquaintance with human nature who presumes, as a matter of course, that the will will choose what the judgment commends. Vz'a'w nze/z'om proboqne' deteriom sequor is more pre-eminently true of the young than the Old. They are the creatu'res of impulse. Permit them to select their own studies and themajority will select those that are thought to be the easiest. The principle of choice will be the very opposite of that upon which the efficiency of a study depends. Experience is decisive on this point. What creates more trouble in the interior management of our Colleges than the constant de sire of pupils to evade recitations? And is it not univer sally found that the departments which are the most popu lar are those which least task the energies Of the student? I do not say that the Professors who fill these'depart.nents are themselves most respected. That will depend upon their merits; and in matters of this sort the judgments of the young are generally right. But easy exercises are pre ferred, simply because they do not tax the mind. The practical problem with the mass of students is the least work and easiest done. Is it easy? Is it short? These are the questions which are first asked about a lesson. I must, therefore, consider any attempt to relax the compulsory feature of the College course as an infallible expedient for degrading education. The College will cease to train. It may be a place for literary triļ¬ers, but a place for students it cannot be. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.