266 . STATE BOAED OF AGRICULTUKE. 



EDUCATION— WHO NEEDS IT? WHO CAN AFFORD IT? DELIVERED 

 AT INSTITUTES IN ALLEGAN, DECATUR, AND ADRIAN. 



BT GEO. T. FAIECHILD, PROFESSOK OP ENGLISH LITERATUEE. 



The theme, education, is a well worn one, occupying the thoughts of scholars 

 since the establishment of schools, long before tlie Christian era. To give a list 

 of great men who have written upon it might take the whole of my allotted time. 

 But for most of all these centuries the term has meant only learning for the few 

 to whom birth, or wealth, or leisure gave especial facilities for study as opposed 

 to practical pursuits. So the wisdom of the ancients does not meet our wants. 



Nevertheless, in our day, when all the civilized world has drifted into the 

 belief that the strength of a nation is in its schools ; and in our country, where 

 all advocate popular education in one form or another, there seems no room for 

 debate, and hence no room for interest in such a subject. Perhaps it is so, but 

 sometimes it happens that two cronies, sitting down to converse tamely upon 

 their common faith in, it may be "saint's perseverance," or it may be ''falling 

 from grace," soon find themselves in hot disjDute over the meaning and impor- 

 tance of the very terms. So settled, as we all are, in the conviction that gen- 

 eral education is the source of national peace and prosperity, and of most of the 

 comforts of civilization, we, friends of education, find abundant interest still in 

 debating its meaning and limits, its aims and ends, its means and methods. 



While, then, this is no place for a general outline of the various notions, it is 

 not superfluous work to define this word, which, in eveiy body's mouth, has such 

 varied meanings. Let education be a training of the mind to tliink, whenever 

 thought is needed, with clearness of perception and energy of attention. Here 

 we must distinguish it carefully from two of its relatives : knowledge, which 

 furnishes tlie materials and tools with which thought builds ; and skill, which 

 is the particular application of some particular knowledge to some particular 

 end. I may have stores of knowledge beyond the comprehension of all my 

 neighbors, and still be helplessly incompetent to use it, just as the hardware 

 dealer knows the name and the purpose of a thousand tools that he handles, but 

 never uses. Such knowledge is gained by applying memory to facts which we 

 come in contact with through our senses, sometimes with and sometimes without 

 the aid of other men. The cultivated memory that retains them is but a small 

 part of an educated mind. Just as essential as the kit of tools to the carpenter, 

 this knowledge serves in the same way : that is, when it is well used. Without 

 the sharpened intellect, quickened perception and accurate reasoning that are 

 the outgrowth of mental discipline, the verk bulk of one's knowledge may be a 

 burden to him ; but thinking the right thought in the right place he can ajij^ly 

 his knowledge to a thousand useful ends. 



As one of our ablest Senators (Hon. Wm. L. Webber) recently expressed it : 

 ''The fact is that education does not consist alone in acquisition of knowledge. 

 It consists rather in giving the scholar a well-disciplined mind, teaching him 

 independence of thought, self-culture, self-control, and self-reliance. He must 

 have the power of making use of knowledge, turning it to practical results, or 

 it does him little good. His acquisition of knowledge fails to make him an 

 educated man, unless it brings these results. Education is not taken as one 



