EDITOR'S TABLE. 



699 



%UXox's "^iXUt. 



AID FOR THE 8TA TE EDUCA TIONAL 

 MACHINE. 



MORE than once have we hinted 

 in these columns that the 

 only thing which can render State 

 education successful, and enable it to 

 accomplish the ends which a system 

 of education ought to accomplish, is 

 the earnest co-operation of the more 

 intelligent portion of the public. 

 The ti'ouble is that the public do not 

 in general see the matter in this 

 light. They not unnaturally think 

 that one of the advantages of State 

 education is that all responsibility 

 in connection with the matter is 

 taken off their shoulders. When 

 the government of a country estab- 

 lishes a postal service the individual 

 citizen does not feel called upon to 

 devote his time or his ingenuity to 

 the task of perfecting it. Of course, 

 if he is a reformer born, and his 

 thoughts happen to run in that di- 

 rection, be will favor the Post-OflBce 

 Department from time to time with 

 suggestions which may or may not 

 be of value ; but in general the feel- 

 ing is that such volunteer assistance 

 is not needed. Somewhat similai' 

 very similar indeed is the feeling 

 which the average citizen entertains 

 in regard to the educational system 

 of his State. It is something he need 

 not interfere with : he pays his taxes, 

 and he has a right to have his chil- 

 dren educated ; and there the matter 

 ends. 



What the average citizen must 

 wake up to some day is the percep- 

 tion that there the matter must not 

 end. It is one thing to ask the State 

 to arrange for the conveyance of 

 letters or parcels ; it is quite another 

 to intrust it with the education of 

 youth. For the former purpose a 



few business arrangements, such as 

 are within the compass of ordinary 

 practical intelligence, fully sulnce ; 

 for the latter something more is 

 wanted than any government, as 

 such, has it in its power to supply. 

 What, for example, is education with- 

 out an ideal ? Can the State supply 

 an ideal ? Individual teachers the 

 more conscientious ones may have 

 their ideals ; but do they derive these 

 from their contact with or relations 

 to the State ? Or is their position as 

 State employees precisely the thing 

 which makes it hard for them to have 

 or maintain ideals ? 



Let us, however, make it quite 

 clear what we mean when we speak 

 of the importance of an ideal in edu- 

 cation, and of the utter incomplete- 

 ness of education without an ideal. 

 By an ideal we simply mean a con- 

 ception of life worthy of a moral and 

 rational being such a conception of 

 life as shall develop and strengthen, 

 not weaken and wither, his or her 

 moral and intellectual powers. The 

 first lesson which should be taught 

 to the child is the lesson of its actual, 

 and yet more its potential, worth. 

 " If," says the heathen philosopher 

 Epictetus, " a man should be able to 

 assent to this doctrine as he ought, 

 that we are all sprung from God, I 

 suppose that he would never have 

 any ignoble or mean thoughts about 

 himself." Now, education without 

 an ideal is an education in which a 

 child is never taught to think nobly 

 of himself, and in which, by inevi- 

 table consequence, he is almost pre- 

 cluded from having any noble 

 thoughts about anybody or anything. 

 It is consequently an education with- 

 out any large or worthy aim, an 

 education in which the child is 



