Emerson Vs Elliot

Throughout every generation, the education of the youth has always been a prime topic of discussion. Two great writers of their generation, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles William Elliot, seemed to have very differing opinions of the education of the youth in the United States especially concerning higher education: one believing that it is better to treat the whole man through a variety of disciplines; the other believing that it is better to let the students' have freedom of choice in their studies. Although both views on education seem to be very much unalike, both men do believe that the education of the young mind at that point in time is critical, even if their views seem to deny each other.

In his essay "The American Scholar" Ralph Waldo Emerson begins his essay with the notion that it is time for the great American minds to "look forward from its iron lids, and fill the postponed expectation of the world with something better than the exertion of mechanical skill (98)." He is advocating his view that the American minds must be ignited and produce something productive other than by means of physical labor. Emerson states this in his essay because it is at this time that physical labor was more profitable and easier to attain. While he is not saying that profit by physical means is entirely wrong, he strongly believes that the American mind can do much more, and contribute more to society in terms of science and literature.

Emerson's philosophies on education delve back to his idea on what it means to be a man, specifically on what it means to be an American scholar. He makes the argument that it "takes the whole of society to find the whole man (99)" rather than a whole man being found in a society. A man in America, in his opinion, is not a "farmer, professor, or engineer, but he is all (99)." The role of man has been parceled into numerous multitudes, and separated according to different types of jobs so that there is great difficulty in finding a whole man. He goes to the extent of saying that man, as well as society, is more like an amputated being cut into sections instead of functioning as a whole. Throughout his essay, he presents his idea that every man is a student, more so a scholar, and that when he is in his correct state of being, he is man thinking and not a mere thinker. The importance of this idea of Emerson's is to say that man is not limited to a single role, but has a plethora of actions he could, and should take part in.

The education system, to Emerson, should work similarly to that of a young mind. "To the young mind, everything is individual, stands by itself. By and by it finds how to join two things and see in them one nature, then three, then three-thousand, and so tyrannized by its own unifying instinct, it goes on tying things together (100)." The young mind can infer that he and other things are of the same relation, therefore recognizing that everything is essentially of the same relation. Emerson believes that the education system should consist of man experiencing, and learning how to encompass all the skills he can by taking something from every discipline, instead of specializing solely on one area.

In his essay "Liberty In Education" Charles William Elliot, unlike Emerson in the way that he focuses more on education that that of the status of man, believes that when dealing with higher education, it is better for the student to have freedom of choice when choosing his courses. He views that a college "must limit closely its teaching, or provide some mode of selecting studies for the individual student (115)." Elliot expresses his disdain for colleges and universities that refrain from letting students select their