614 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



PAPERS SELECTED FROM THOSE READ AT 

 FARMERS' INSTITUTES, SEASON 1904-1905. 



THE NECESSITY AND VALUE OF AN EDUCATION. 



By PROF. G. M. BARKER, Warren, Pa. 



One of the most binding duties which faces the youth of the 

 present age is that of securing an, education. No man can expect 

 to become a power in the world who does not develop his intellect 

 to the fullest capacity. The aim of education is to develop a noble 

 type of manhood. Man has various duties to perform in the world 

 which require special training and a wide range of knowledge. 

 Hence it is clear that education both in its subjects and methods 

 of instruction should have some reference to the demands of a 

 practical life. Human development should be combined with prac- 

 tical wisdom. The school should be a natural introduction into 

 life. This is the view of Milton, who said, "I call a complete and 

 generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skil- 

 fully and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public." 



Herbert Spencer presents the same very forcibly. ''How to live/' 

 he says, "is the question. Not in a material sense only but in the 

 widest sense." The general problem which comprehends every spe- 

 cial problem, is the right rule of conduct in all directions under all 

 circumstances. In what way to treat the body and mind, in what 

 way to bring up a family, in what way to behave as a citizen, in 

 what way to utilize those sources of happiness which nature sup- 

 plies. How to use all our faculties to the greatest advantage to 

 ourselves and others. How to live completely. This being the great 

 thing for each one of us to learn, consequently this is the great thing 

 for education to teach. The destruction of learning would bring 

 with it the ruin of every thing that is goad. The better a man is 

 the greater his ardor for the preservation of learning for he knows 

 of all plagues ignorance is the most pernicious. To neglect the 

 youth in our schools is like taking the spring out of the year. At no 

 time during the history of the world has the young man had as 

 many advantages in securing an education as at the present. Pov- 

 erty is not a bar to learning. Many a man who reached the highest 

 eminence learned his letters by the flickering light of a log fire. 

 Brain developed is the power which is seen and felt everywhere. 

 It is that which brought Mr. Lincoln from the swamps of Illinois 

 to the White House. It is that which led Benjamin Franklin from 

 the printer's desk to the courts of kings. It is that which trans- 

 ferred Roger Sherman from the cobbler's bench to the Halls of 

 Congress. These are illustrations of a developed brain which will 



