MH page 450

The time, means, and study that so many expend for a comparatively useless education should be devoted to gaining an education that would make them practical men and women, fitted to bear life's responsibilities. Such an education would be of the highest value.

Resources and time should be invested in acquiring practical education for life responsibilities. It continues the educational theme emphasizing resource allocation toward practical training.

What we need is knowledge that will strengthen mind and soul, that will make us better men and women. Heart education is of far more importance than mere book learning. It is well, even essential, to have a knowledge of the world in which we live; but if we leave eternity out of our reckoning, we shall make a failure from which we can never recover.

Moral and spiritual education combined with eternal perspective is more valuable than mere book learning. This paragraph emphasizes moral growth, heart education, and the necessity of acknowledging God and eternity.

A student may devote all his powers to acquiring knowledge; but unless he has a knowledge of God, unless he obeys the laws that govern his own being, he will destroy himself. By wrong habits, he loses the power of self-appreciation; he loses self-control. He cannot reason correctly about matters that concern him most deeply. He is reckless and irrational in his treatment of mind and body. Through his neglect to cultivate right principles, he is ruined both for this world and for the world to come.

Disobeying physiological and moral laws leads to impaired self-control and self-destruction. It combines spiritual principles about knowing God with empirical observations on habit formation, self-control, and physical/mental self-treatment.

If the youth understood their own weakness, they would find in God their strength. If they seek to be taught by Him they will become wise in His wisdom, and their lives will be fruitful of blessing to the world. But if they give up their minds to mere worldly and speculative study, and thus separate from God, they will lose all that enriches life.

Relying on divine strength rather than purely worldly and speculative study preserves and enriches life. This is a devotional and spiritual paragraph focusing on divine guidance versus worldly study.