Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1884. THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 14, 15 December 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1884. THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR.

' An Americau paper very apprtfpri- i ately draws attention to the growing disinclination evinced by la&t and their parents to allow the former to serve' "an apprenticeship to a useful j trade, and the preference shewn to ; so-called "genteel* occupations,such as ; cadet and, clerkships*.. && * Our American contemporary observes : — "There is almost ' an ' absence of Americau boys learning trades, i Formerly the carpenters, -the masons, the printers, and the various smiths, formed the back-bone of New England 1 'Society. r To-day, fevr boys of American parents are becoming printers, still" less masons, and hardly any carpenters atid blacksmiths. Where could* we now find the village blacksmith of fifty years i ago, who on week days swings his fieavey sledge* and on Sunday goes to Church to listen to his daughter's! yoice singing m the choir ? American boys seem averse to soiling their hands. They despise overalls and frocks;, and desire occupation,, m which they can wear cuffs, 'and sport a illiine stone pebble, on an= immaculate shirt front. Hence ( the solid and substantial trades are being given up by boys of foreign parentage, and Americans re-crowding into clerkships of various kinds, where there is little opportunity to display natural abilities, and small chance of promotion or of large profits. We canndt see why the calling of any mechanic, be he blacksmith, or bricklayer, is lower than that of & dry goods clerk or telegraph operator Only by one criteriott can it r

bo considered so, and that is the criterion of clothes. A trade requires a better physique, steadier I habits, and larger mental power. It gives greater opportunities' for advancement. Yet a hundred American boys seek a clerkship where one seeks a trade, and the reason for the choice are not creditable. It is an important question whether our system of public schools is not m a measure rcsppnsiblefor this state of affairs. I. As a system, it educates m books alone, and educates the youth of both sexes directly away from all manual exercise. It is an important educational problem whether we are not training the memory at the expense of the perceptive faculties. The grammar schools ot America ;throw boys and ' girls of fourteen, land the high schools boys and girls 'of eighteen, out. into^the world, not only without the least training m manual pursuits, but, m most cases, with a decided aversion for them. fThere is a call now for what might be termed the lower education, education of theeye, the hand ; an education which shall fit boys to handle the plane as well as the yardstick, and girls to detect the cause of a jheavy; loaf' of bread as well as the cause'pf heavy rhetoric m a sentence For public schools are largely made jup frdm the working people. Ninetenths of tnem are boys and girls who, as men and women, will be obliged to earn their own living j and it is to the I 'needs of this class of people that . th.c System should be especially adapted: If the rich do no find the public schools fitted io j;he needs of their children, they have, the option of private schddls and^pirivate tutors. & Tfte *>oor have no such o .option. If the public schools are. not adapted to fit their children^ £ot life the children must $uff&i? :'\' ../.;.' .> .:-,' ..... „;. ._,"■ '■.-.