Show J r LITE LITERARY L M P 1 1 1 S W J-W 1 V 11 1 V I dj w Jl What Does Education Mean OUR best educators tell us that education education education edu edu- cation means the drawing out or the development of the human mind rather than simply storing the mind with facts If we accept this definition then facts or knowledge are to the mind what food is to the body simply a means to an end So long as the physical food which we eat remains in the body as bread meat or potatoes we get little benefit from it It is only when it has undergone the changes produced by digestion and has been assimilated has actually become muscle bone and nerve fibre and has lost every trace of its original condition that it truly becomes becomes becomes be be- comes a source of physical power So it is with mental food So long as facts remain in the mind simply as facts so long they do not contribute to our edu edu- cation It is only when a fact becomes ours when it has entered into our inmost ost souls and unconsciously influences influences influences in in- our thought that it forms any part of an education Neither a word nor an idea is ever truly ours until we use them without knowing that we are using them Many people who prate of an education have but a feeble idea of what it really means More often than otherwise it means to them simply the acquisition of facts Do not for a moment suppose that facts are to be desp despised sed they are as essential to an education as food is to the physical body Just as the person who is physically physically physically cally hungry is reaching out for food to o ot t take ke in the stomach with little thought t of the condition of the tissues of his body so the demands of the mind make one reach out for facts Although the facts themselves will bring little satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satis satis- faction and are chiefly useful because they demand a mental exertion to procure procure procure pro pro- cure them and because they may furnish the tools for men mental tal exertion in the future I think we may safely compare the true student to the angler who for pl pleasure asure spends a summer day by the river side and returns to his home in inthe inthe inthe the evening with his well filled basket He cares far less for the material value of the fish than for the pleasure of the thought that they bear evidence of his hiss s skill The fish have a certain value when placed on the table and knowledge knowledge knowledge knowl knowl- edge also has a social and mar market et value But the greatest value of either one is the fact that it leads the pursuer on and induces him to make exertion which he otherwise would not make Not long ago I read of a man who had nearly blinded himself by close application to microscopic work for two years As a result of his labors he has discovered two new facts The The Di Dictionary is full of facts very few of which this man knows But h he is on the right track If he is ever to be a am m cros he he must become one ole b by Y work with the microscope rather than with books Work with the microscope I draws one out reading books on microscopy microscopy microscopy micro micro- fills one with facts the former educates the latter crams I cannot close better than by quoting from a few authors who have expressed themselves on this subject Pascal says In life tife we always believe that we are seeking repose while in reality all that we ever seek is agitation Plato defines man manas manas manas as A A hunter after truth Aristotle says The intellect is perfected not by knowledge but by activity Lessing says Did the Almighty holding in His right hand Truth and in His left Search after Truth deign to tender me the one I might prefer in all humility but without without without with with- out hesitation I would request Search after Truth Malebranche says If I held truth captive in my hand I should open open my hand and let it fly in order that I might again pursue and capture it W. W H. H I. I en |