68 EDUCATION, AS IT IS AND AS IT SHOULD BE. 



of itself, would account for some having remained behind the others ; 

 but I flatly deny that they have received the same education. It may 

 be very true that there have been the same number of hours in school, 

 and the same books used, and yet the mode of education in the two 

 instances may have been entirely diflFerent. 



A pupil who has facility in acquiring that which his master 

 teaches will be petted, and praised, and held up as a pattern of indus- 

 try and good conduct, while another, whose organization happens to 

 be fitted for other subjects, will be scowled at, and receive unworthy 

 treatment ; and yet the former may, in reality, have no merit at all, 

 and the latter may have exerted himself to the utmost. An able 

 writer well remarks, " The boy's merit must be measured by his 

 powers, and the greatest judgment of the teacher is here requisite. 

 To do well when he may do well easily is every man's virtue. 

 Christ looked carelessly on while the rich Pharisees threw of their 

 wealth into the treasury of the temple, but the widow's mite drew 

 forth his cry of admiration ; similarly, the boy's merit must be mea- 

 sured by his powers. The reward is to him who labours, though 

 he may labour in vain ; to him who struggles, though he may be 

 overcome ; in short, reward is the due of merit, and more especially 

 of that merit which has not already met its reward in success." 



This, however, is an unknown tongue to the master, who all the 

 while imagines he is pursuing precisely the same plan in both cases ; 

 whereas, in reality, he is, in the instance of the successful boy, pam- 

 pering the organs of Self-esteem and Approbativeness ; while in the 

 other, who, in nine cases out of ten, is, in reality, most deserving of 

 praise, he wounds these organs, and systematically educates his Com- 

 bativeness, Destructiveness, Secretivencss, and Cautiousness, and at 

 the same time weakens the three most valuable organs. Conscien- 

 tiousness, Veneration, and Benevolence. This is the case with num- 

 bers of pupils who are thought to have received "every advantage," 

 and who, though possessed of excellent organizations, are set down, 

 both by parents and teachers, as wilful, headstrong, and incapable. 



Those calling them .elves Pestalozzians appear to me to have no- 

 thing in common with the great educator but the name. Pestalozzi 

 maintains that " every plan of education ought to be based on a con- 

 sideration of the nature or faculties of the child." Which among the 

 Pestalozzians has acted thus ? I question whether there are many 

 who could tell what the faculties of the child are, much less the scope 

 of each, and their combinations. 



Again, the great educationist tells us, " A child is a being endow- 



