The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, February 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, February 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
The attendance at each of the higher educational institutions in this
country will not average more than three hundred students per annum,
if it does that. But the C. L. S. C. has on its rolls more than forty
thousand names, so that, compared as to its direct influence on the
student classes, it is equal in influence to not less than one hundred
and twenty educational institutions. From this standpoint, it must be
recognized as one of the greatest educational forces of the age.
It has, however, been urged against the C. L. S. C. that its course of
study is but meagre when compared with college curriculums, and for
this reason its educational tendencies are of but little worth, or even
deleterious. We are not of those who believe that a “little learning
is a dangerous thing,” but rather think that a “little learning” is
far better than absolute ignorance, and that it will always exert a
benign influence on its possessor. Whatever affords opportunities for
the intellectual awakening and improvement of the people, is worthy of
being classed among the educational forces of the age. Certain it is,
that many humble artisans, toiling mothers, and overworked seamstresses
have found in the C. L. S. C. a force that has elevated them above the
drudgery of their daily toil, and has inspired their mental faculties
for a new and worthy work, while it has also been the means of bringing
increased cultivation and refinement into many homes.
We urge as another reason for regarding the C. L. S. C. as an
educational force, that it begets habits of study independent of direct
oversight and supervision. Many of the students in our institutions
of learning are kept at their tasks with regularity, only by the
pressure brought to bear on them by the presence of professors and
tutors, and by class rivalries, and whenever they are removed from
their college surroundings, and from these constraining forces, they
at once relinquish their pursuit of knowledge, and cease to make any
further efforts after intellectual development. Such is not the case
with the C. L. S. C. Its students are carried forward in their course,
not by an impulse from without, but from within, which is continually
active, and which is ever operating on their mental energies to secure
a more thorough training. But the C. L. S. C. is by no means to be
looked upon as a rival to the regular institutions of learning. Far
otherwise! It has already become a valuable helper to the schools, and
every circle may become a recruiting station from which the colleges
and universities may draw many of their best and brightest students.
Without doubt many of the young people who enter upon the course of
study prescribed for the C. L. S. C. will have such an intense thirst
for knowledge created in their souls that they will be impelled to
pursue more extended courses of study, and will turn to the colleges
and universities to obtain all the advantages they have to offer.
The Passion Play.
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