1846.] Our Social, Political and Educational System. 109 



practical education, 'li In many of the states something has been 

 done towards the establishment of a general school system ; but 

 in some of those states, to their own great discredit, no particu- 

 lar plan has been fairly tested by its operations before the plan 

 itself was changed, or perhaps, every effort, looking to the per- 

 manent establishment of any system, wholly abandoned; whilst, 

 in other states, a system of common schools is attempted to be 

 sustained in utter neglect of the higher institutions. The attempt 

 fails, of course, in every instance; for it is made upon an erro- 

 neous principle. No system of inferior schools, however judi- 

 ciously framed, can exist and prosper without the beneficial aid 

 and fostering protection of the universities and colleges; for by 

 the latter are furnished at least nine-tenths,°'^if not the whole, of 

 those who are really competent to become common school-mas- 

 ters, conformably to an elevated standard of education. And 

 to this end — the supplying an adequate number of teachers for 

 the poorer classes of society, whose limited means exclude them 

 from the direct benefits of the higher institutions — it behooves 

 the legislatures of our states, under^^the weightiest obligations of 

 patriotism and humanity, so to endow our universities and col- 

 leges as to enable them to open their doors for the education of 

 a limited number, at least, of the poor young men of genius 

 within their borders. There are hundreds, nay thousands such, 

 who, thus deriving the benefits of a thorough education, are pre- 

 pared, in turn, to dispense those benefits among innumerable 

 others; and, perhaps, to become, in the progress of circum- 

 stances, in wider spheres of action, the chiefest among the bene- 

 factors of mankind. 



The prejudices which exist in the community against colleges 

 and universities are as unworthy as they are unjust. The over- 

 scrupulous moralists and arrogant philanthropists, who contend 

 that they are nurseries of vice, and the sources of no good, and, 

 as such, oppose their existence, thereby but expose their ignorance 

 and narrow-sightedness. It is true, in all our colleges and uni- 

 versities may be found a few turbulent, idle and unworthy mem- 

 bers, — ten out of every hundred, perhaps, — who would certainly 

 be as idle and turbulent out of college as in college. On their 

 account are the remaining ninety, moral, discreet and studious 

 young men, to be deprived of the privilege of a collegiate educa- 

 tion, and the numberless blessings flowing from it? As well 

 might it be contended that the running of steam boats and rail 

 road locomotives is a great evil, and ought to be abandoned, be- 

 cause great loss of life is occasionally the consequence of it. As 

 reasonably might it be contended that our freedom is an evil, be- 

 cause it was achieved through toil and blood. As sensibly might 



