--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Widtsoe, John A. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 11 published: 1908-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Widtsoe, John A., "The Need and Kind of Education," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 11 (September 1908): 825–832.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera11011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera11011unse start_page: 825 end_page: 832 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera11011unse publication_year: 1908 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Need and Kind of Education IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. XI. SEPTEMBER, 1908. No. 11. THE NEED AND KIND OF EDUCATION. EXTRACTS FROM TALKS TO STUDENTS. BY DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. Utah is proud of her young men and women who have the will and courage to secure a modern education. Love of education and a persistent seeking for it have always characterized the people who founded and built this state. If I have read the history of the pioneers correctly, they saw amidst the heated toil of the early years great visions of the day when their children and grandchildren should be the possessors of the world's best knowledge, and should use it for the conquest of the mighty resources of the desert, then unconquered and forbidding. Compared with other commonwealths, founded under similar circumstances and of equal age, Utah ranks very high when the question of educational ideals and progress is raised. The spirit of education is in our state. It has taken hold of a large number of our young people. Of course it is not absolutely necessary for a person to go to school in order to acquire an education. Our fathers and mothers, who were in this state before education became possible for all, are in most cases truly educated. However, their education has 826 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . come to them against great odds. Experience is a hard and expensive teacher. Schools and school training make the acquirement of an education easy and rapid, and enable those who use their opportunities properly, to enter early and effectively upon life's work. Life, which is the most precious gift in man's keeping, is so short that every day of it must be cherished and conserved. The school is a time-saver. It gives, without the costly price of experience, and in a few years, the education that, to be gathered out of school, requires half a life time. Whether acquired in or out of school, every successful person must have an education. When speaking of education, human life with all its endeavors may be compared to one of our mountain streams. Our mountain streams roar and rage in the spring. When the season of high water is passed, they still flow on, but more and more gently until at the end of the season, low water, or perhaps absolute dryness, results. The life of every person passes similar periods. In youth there is a riotous excess of strength and possibility. As life goes on we become more quiet, though our energies move on, until in old age our strength is sufficient only for daily maintenance . Have you been in one of our canyons in the spring time when the floods have been let loose and the vengeance of the elements seemed to be hurled against everything within reach of the roaring water? If you have seen this, you must have felt regret that all the energy wasted upon river bank and rolling rocks and trunks of trees could not be held back in some mountain valley to be carried down in canals or pipes as needed by man for some useful end. As civilization progresses, more and more of the spring floods will be restrained by mighty dams. The trouble and cost of putting in the dams will be paid for a thousand times by the increased service of the waters of the stream. The years that are taken out of youth by the public schools, the high school and the college, are very largely devoted to the building of a dam that holds back the energy and the restlessness of youth, and confines its strength so that it may be used under the direction of the intelligent will of later life. The years of education with all their effort may well be compared to the time spent in building a great dam across some canyon from rock bottom upward, until all or most of the water of THE NEED AND KIND OF EDUCATION. 827 spring is held back as a quiet lake to be drawn upon as the people in the valley may need it. Though the roaring mountain stream is more impressive because of its noise and motion than the quiet waters of the reservoir, yet when the impounded waters of the reservoir are guided through high-lying, skilfully constructed canals or pipes and allowed, far down the canyon, to fall upon mighty water wheels, a thousand fold the power of the ungoverned creek appears, and the power thus liberated is continuous from the year's beginning to the year's end — it possesses the resistless steadiness of trained restraint. It is just so with education. Years may be given to the building of the educational dam and canals, but the energies which are thus held back and guided become stronger in their effect, and are made to last through life, to make every year of life a period of power. The great and happy life does not move by starts and jerks. It is evenly powerful. The young man, the middle aged man, and the old man, if the early training is right, have something on which to draw for power in all the emergencies of life. Have you, this day, built your dam so deep that it touches rock bottom, and may resist the force of the rising waters? Is it high enough to hold back the God-given strength possessed by you? Is the canal leading from it well made? Are the headgates strong and well fitting? Are the water wheels large enough and modern? These are questions that ought to assist you in determining for yourselves whether or not your educational work is finished. This state will demand in the immediate future that all the high waters of every canyon be held back in reservoirs for the development of the state. This state demands, likewise, that all its true born sons and daughters so train themselves that their energies may be held back and guided by the process of education, in order that they may be used until the last day for the upbuilding of the state. Don't let us begrudge the few years given to school for the preparation for life's work. I am sure that we are fairly well agreed that in this age of progress we cannot permit ourselves to be content with a half education. We want training sufficient to give us the best possible power over the circumstances that will come into our lives. May I say, however, a few words about the kind of education that this 828 IMPROVEMENT ERA. state demands. Sometimes we have very erroneous ideas about the meaning of education. The knowledge of all the facts of the universe, were it possible to possess it, would not necessarily make a man educated. It is not Latin, or Greek, or mathematics, or chemistry, or physics, that determines whether or not we shall be called educated. It is not necessarily the number of years that we have attended school which determines our claim to the title, educated. The education of a person can best be measured, first, by the power which he has acquired over himself and over his environments; and secondly, by his attitude towards the world in which he lives. If a man has strength which enables him to use all his energies and opportunities in the right way for his daily needs, then he measures up to the first half of the educational requirement. If he has a quick and ready sympathy with all that is good and honest and virtuous, and a love for progress and a willingness to help the work on, then he measures up to the second half of the educational requirement, and the man is educationally complete. In seeking an education, therefore, we must look carefully to the acquisition of power, which comes in the school room very largely through drill, and to the acquirement of a generous outlook upon the world's work which will give us a human sympathy with all time. In the course of the world's growth, the sum total of human knowledge has become so great that it is absolutely impossible for any one man to master even the rudiments of it. We must, therefore, select from the mass of accumulated knowledge those things that will be of greatest use to us and the land in which we live. We live in Utah: our education should be of such a nature as to fit us for life in Utah. It would be folly for us to study such matters as would fit us for life in China or Japan. Yet, the Chinaman having been educated for his life, may be as truly trained for life's affairs as we who know little or nothing of China and the Chinese. The time is past when it is necessary to study any one subject to acquire an education. Latin and Greek and Hebrew and mathematics, the pillars of the past education, are indispensable today, only for those who mean to use these subjects in the .daily labors of their lives. The fundamental doctrine of the new education is that a person must choose such subjects of study as THE NEED AhD KIND OF EDUCATION. 829 will naturally cluster about the work that he will probably have to do in later life. The water held back in the mountain valley by the mighty dam may be brought down the canal to the last rocky ledge and there allowed to fall back unhindered into the river bed below. The waterfall thus created will be a magnificent spectacle, beautiful to look upon, but of no earthly use. Many a general education obtained in high school or college may well be compared to such a waterfall. It is of no special use. The impounded water, on the other hand, brought along the high lying canal and then down the mountain side through a closed tube may be made to turn great turbines which in turn may operate great electric dynamos, from which currents of electricity are sent to operate mines, factories, light cities, or to give heat and light to a thousand happy homes. The water thus used, perhaps, does not afford the same grandly concentrated spectacle of the elements at liberty as does the great waterfall, but for us who live and dwell on earth, the light and power and heat add more to human happiness and human progress than the grandeur of the waterfall. Instead of using the water for generating power, it may be that you desire to use it for irrigating the fertile foothills. In that case, through a hundred little canal gates, the water is guided to a thousand little farms, there to be used for the production of fruit, or vegetables, or grains, or lucern, or any of the good things upon which we depend for our nourishment. It may be very difficult, in many cases indeed impossible, to use the waterfall for the purpose of driving the dynamo and also for irrigating the fertile lands of the foothills. It does not matter much what is done with the stored water. Power is needed, and so are the products of the farm. If one stream is used for irrigation purposes, another must be used for power purposes . The needs of the state will determine ultimately in which manner the water shall be used predominantly. In choosing the work that you are to do in the years of your high school and college days, do not hesitate for a moment to choose studies with reference to the use to which they may be put in later life. If you intend to become teachers, and to give your lives to the teaching profession, then from the beginning choose such subjects as will enable you to reach the topmost place in that 830 IMPROVEMENT ERA. profession. If you are to be engineers, do not hesitate, even though some call you one-sided, to choose subjects that will make you leaders in the kingdom of engineering. If you are to become artisans— carpenters, or blacksmiths, or carriage builders— seek such studies as will give you familiarity with wood and iron and the laws of mechanics. If you are really wise, and decide to lead the sane, healthy life of the scientific farmer, do not hesitate to choose such instruction as will give you power over the soil and sunshine, and other forces upon which plants and animals depend for life. If you girls hope to become mistresses of households, do not falter in your preparation for home duties. Choose such subjects as will teach you the dignity, beauty and possibility of home-making and home-keeping. Whatever pursuit you may choose, the studies that it involves will give you the training that I have likened to the impounding of the waters of the mountain stroams. By choosing studies that bear on some definite pursuit, you will be of direct and daily service to yourselves and your state . Be of use . It is not enough to be educated; you must be educated for something. Unless you have time to give your whole life to preparation, avoid the random tasting of a multitude of subjects. All truth is good; but in life, the strength is with the man who knows one book well from cover to cover, not with him who knows the first chapters of a hundred books. Of course, there is that in any education which transcends the physcal use to which it may be put. The awakened mind is the best result of the student's work. However, with the progress in knowledge, made in these latter days, the principles of almost every department of learning have been so fully explained, that all pursuits have become desirable from the intellectual point of view. The shoemaker who deftly and skilfully shapes leather into shoes, with a full understanding of the nature of the leather and other materials used, and who understands the controlling natural forces involved, leads a truly intellectual life. The blacksmith, who has been trained to understand the chemical and physical processes occurring in the welding and shaping of iron, and who does his work thus intelligently, leads as high a life, intellectually, as the lawyer or doctor. The farmer, who has been taught how the sun's THE NEED AND KIND OF EDUCATION. 831 energy is taken up by plants and animals, and transformed in a thousand ways in the laboratory of nature, leads a life so richly intellectual, that he may well be the envy of other men. The housewife, who has been taught the natural laws that are used in the simple duties of the home, is lifted up more securely from the drudgery of life than is her sister who knows music, poetry, pedagogy or stenography and little else. An education to be useful need not be devoid of the holiness of beauty. On the other hand, the new education attempts, as one of its purposes, to glorify with the beauty of complete understanding, all the professions of man. Thus it is that medicine, law and theology are no longer the only learned professions. Sugar-beet growing may be made in every way as dignified as law; and bread-making, in its application of scientific facts, as attractive as medicine. The new education believes in specialization. It is essentially industrial; that is, useful and practical, in its nature. It believes that education, to be of real value to the individual and to the community, must have for its purpose the utilization of the resources which are about us. In this state we have wonderful resources . Science has penetrated and illuminated the dark recesses of the professions of the past. Agriculture has become a profession as dignified as any of the learned professions, and it offers greater inducements in dollars and cents. Engineering, likewise, can justly be compared with any of the other professions. Domestic science, as the science of home-making and home-keeping, possesses all in the way of intelligent power that any profession can claim. The mechanic arts have been made worthy of the application of intelligent minds. We have learned that books are not the only means of education. In the laboratories, fields, and workshops, the mind may be trained. In the blacksmith shops, or the carpenter shops, mental strength and development may be gained through the guided use of the hands. Above all, we are learning that men and women, to obtain the greatest degree of happiness, must return to a simple life with nature, and must choose their professions accordingly. To congregate and spend our lives in the uneasy rush of large cities, is far from being natural. To live restlessly in stuffy offices from morning to night, is contrary to nature. For the great majority of men to hanker for the life of the so-called professional worker 832 ' IMPR0VEMEN7 ERA. means a weakening of our whole social structure. Fresh air, sunshine, peace of mind, love, simple tastes and simple duties made bright by a trained intellect — these are the elements of happiness. Shoemakers, first class carpenters and other artisans, are becoming a rarity in our state. Many a young man is spoiling a good mechanic, in his foolish attempts to make of himself a poor doctor; many a young lady is withering a life of daily joy, in order to find a third rate career before the footlights. As education progresses, we shall see more and more the folly of departing from the simple, healthful life ordained for man by the Maker of All. This state calls for volunteers; for men who are willing to put aside the traditions of the past; to think of other pursuits than the professions of law and medicine and theology; who will give themselves to the conquest of the untamed forces of this commonwealth. We need engineers to build dams, and shops, and roads and bridges; we need scientific farmers to grow fruit and cattle and grain; we need artisans of the highest type who will put their souls into their work; we need commercial men who will use the laws of political economy to build up giant enterprises. To the young men in this state who will give themselves to education for such specific purposes, health and happiness are in store. The state calls loudly for women who are not ashamed of the destiny which nature has placed before them; who will qualify themselves in English, music and art, only as these subjects may be part and parcel of the education of every woman, — but who will prepare themselves in all sincerity, with a complete sense of their responsibility, for the duties of wifehood and motherhood and the building of the home. In education, the youth of Utah must not stop short of the completest; and it must be the modern education. Accept the conclusions of the new education. It is upheld by the lovers and the thinkers of our generation. It is founded on the best results gathered in from the battlefield of thought in all ages. We are nearly all of us agreed, now, that to be liberally educated does not mean to be stuffed with facts gathered from books, but that it consists in a broad attitude of mind, in an appreciation of all good, in a hope for a great and glorious future, in the possession of power over nature, and the attempt to be useful in our day and generation. This truth cannot be shaken from our race: that if