FOERSTER, ANn NKCLECTED FACTORS IN EDUCATION. 237 



1 might quote largely from Foerster's " Jtigendlehre " upon 

 this point, but I refrain. The main theme might be summed up in 

 one ]5hrase : " Nicht Moralpredigt, sondern Lebenskunde." 



The mere knowledge of ethical principles cannot call forth 

 the deeper ethical action, because the fundamental elements in 

 character cannot be set to v.xrk by mere " abstract knowledge." 



To attain that object two things are necessary — let me call 

 them the two R's. By this 1 mean Reverence and Religion. 



The human soul, the child's soul, is a sensitive plant — 

 " Maxima debetur pucro Reverentia." It cannot be roughly 

 handled. The teacher who does not himself bow in reverence 

 before the altar of the child's soul will never gain the respect of 

 the child. Goethe, in " W'ilhelm Meister," insisted upon a three- 

 fold reverence — reverence for what is above us. what is on the 

 level with us, what is beneath us. If these are to be inculcated, 

 the teacher himself must inspire reverence. Not what he does 

 tells, but what he is. Iron sharpens iron ; character forms char- 

 acter. 



And here the question of pimishment comes in. Foerster 

 combats the views of Herbert Spencer on this point. The latter 

 maintains that punishment ought to be the natural result of wrong 

 deeds on the part of the child. For instance, if a child is always 

 late, let him suffer by being left at home; if he lies, never believe 

 what he says; if disobedient, let the natural result of disobedience 

 be experienced by him. 



Is it not clear that the task of parents as servants and exponents of 

 nature is to see that their children experience the natural consequences of 

 their deeds, and not to remove them? 



This theory is superficial and dangerous. It has no moral 

 effect. It is based on the error of considering outward nature 

 as the standard of human life, whereas the inner life remains 

 utichanged. Such ptinishment embitters but does not improve. 

 Spencer's own definition of education as the " unfolding of our 

 individualities to the full in all directions," " shrieks against his 

 creed '' of punishment. There is need for constant adjustment 

 in one's views of edtication ; need for a " moving equilibrium," as 

 Herbert Spencer has put it. On this qtiestion of ptmishment and 

 of kindred questions there is a strong revolt in ottr day. " My 

 education was interrupted by my schooling," said Bernard Shaw 

 — nomen omen. 



" Whatever else the current system of education may do to 

 the child, there is one thing which it cannot fail to do him — to 

 blight his mental growth," saws Mr. Holmes, certainly no mean 

 authority. 



The brutalizing effect of cor]xjral punishment is being gener- 

 ally accepted. " Spare the rod, spoil the child " is a maxim as 

 anti(}uated as it is untrtie. The rod of Holy Scripttire — the virga 

 disciplina' of the Vulgate — is something entirely^ different from 

 the ordinary interpretation of the term. It is the education 

 towards self-conquest, sacrifice, restraint, and surrender — not a 



