MENTAL DISCIPLINE IN EDUCATION. 703 



selves^ using the records of other men's experience as we may need 

 them. 



Again, mental discipline is mental habit. How do we form habits 

 that are desirable ? Not by seeking some course of activity that shall 

 create the habit, but by trying to do something that is desirable. 

 Useful habits are incidental results of doing useful work. The me- 

 chanic does not use extra care that he may form habits of accuracy, 

 but that he may produce better work. The astronomer does not make 

 his observations with the view of forming habits, but to learn the 

 phenomena of the heavens ; and if he be called upon to observe some 

 phenomenon that occurs but once in a lifetime, he will hardly think 

 of seeking that special discipline which the observation may require 

 by studying the conjugation of the Greek verb. 



I think we meet this fact everywhere out of the schools, that dis- 

 cipline is not sought as an end. The idea of discipline for its own 

 sake was asceticism in religion. Men sought moral excellence by 

 retiring from the world, and contemplating the things within them. 

 The same idea of discipline led men to look for knowledge within 

 themselves, instead of seeking it by observing things around them. 

 But the system failed in religion and morals, as it failed in dis- 

 covering truth and educating the intellect. We see why it must 

 fail ; it wastes the energies of the individual in acting upon his own 

 powers. What is progress in its last analysis ? Is it not change 

 of relation ? We are superior to our savage ancestors, because our 

 relations to society and the forces of Nature difler from theirs. 

 What is knowledge but a mental accumulation of true relations? 

 What is reason but the power to compare relations, and what is wis- 

 dom but the ability to perceive true relations, and direct our actions 

 in accordance with them ? Discipline, habit, and character, appear to 

 be activity crystallized in seeking adaptation to our environments. 

 What is the truth that stands out in relief? Clearly, that character, 

 habit, and discipline, are the reflex upon ourselves of activity, moral, 

 mental, or physical. Whence it seems to follow that useless or vicious 

 activity will appear as useless or vicious character and discipline. On 

 the other hand, we may be sure that the study of those things which 

 it is most important we should know, and the activities which it is 

 most important we should pursue, will give the best discipline, the 

 most valuable habits, and the most excellent character. 



The conclusion appears to be that mental discipline is an incident 

 of right education, never an end. 



The real educational question is, not of the value of discipline, but 

 of the relative values of the different kinds of knowledge. When we 

 learn what knowledge is most valuable, the habit or discipline inci- 

 dentally acquired in seeking that knowledge will, no doubt, be the 

 discipline which will aid most in seeking and applying other valuable 

 knowledge throughout the whole course of life. 



