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By
MARIAN WHARTON
For the Education of the Workers
by the Workers
PUBLISHED BY
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE
FORT SCOTT, KANSAS
1917
¶ He who aspires to master the art of expression must first ofall consecrate himself completely to some great cause and thegreatest cause of all is the cause of humanity. He must learnto feel deeply and think clearly, to express himself eloquently.He must be absolutely true to the best there is in him, if he hasto stand alone.
¶ Such natural powers as he may have should be cultivatedby the study of history, science and literature. He must not onlykeep close to the people but remember that he is one of them,and not above the meanest. He must feel the wrongs of othersso keenly that he forgets his own, and resolve to combat thesewrongs with all the power at his command.
¶ The most thrilling, inspiring oratory, the most powerful andimpressive eloquence is the voice of the disinherited, the oppressed,the suffering and submerged; it is the voice of poverty and misery,of rags and crusts, of wretchedness and despair; the voice ofhumanity crying to the infinite; the voice that resounds throughoutthe earth and reaches Heaven; the voice that awakens the conscienceof a race and proclaims the truths that fill the world withlife and liberty and love.
—EUGENE V. DEBS.
Every generation has added a little to the store of truth of which thehuman race has possessed itself throughout the long sweep of thecenturies. Every truth expressed and preserved by those who lived inthe past, is a contribution which enriches the lives of those who live in thepresent. We, as members of the human race, are not separate atoms independentof the universe, but we are atoms of it. We are the product of alltime, and partake of the truth of all preceding generations, in which thepower to express ideas and preserve them has existed.
One reason why the race has not profited more largely by the discoveriesof previous generations, is the fact that we feel so profoundly the discoveryof a truth of any nature, that we are prone to dogmatize it by a rule or setof rules.
This usually results in shutting away from us the real principle of whichthe rule is but an evidence. A mechanic may learn every detail of everyrule for the construction of a steam engine, but if he lacks the understandingof the principles which give rise to the rules, they will avail nothing and hiswork must fail. If, however, he understands the principles involved, his workwill stand the test, though he has no knowledge of rules as such.
In teaching the English language, the rules have been stressed, whilethe principles have been submerged, so that the teaching of rules has notresulted in the improvement of the student.
The People's College, realizing this, has, through the author of this work,revolutionized the teaching of the fundamental principles that underlie theuse of language. The stress is laid upon principles instead of rules, so thatthe student, whether he remember a rule or not, will never forget the applicationof these principles to the use of the written and spoken word.
The assertion is ventured that no more practical and effective methodcan be devised for the rapid and thorough teaching of these principles.