mClDEA'TAL EDUCATION. 761 



All this implies such an appalling amount of work that the 

 ■■ practical " teacher may well exclaim, " It is Utopian, and unwork- 

 able.'" Under present conditions it may be impossible to give a 

 thorough ethical training in our schools. That constitutes the 

 strongest argument for altering the conditions. Under our present 

 system too much nerve energy is directed towards intellectual 

 activities, and this results in a general starvation of the emotional 

 centres. Our children suffer physically and morally from this one- 

 sided method of education. They need less time spent in instruction, 

 and more time devoted to training. The majority are rushed through 

 a series of subjects, as if the one idea was to discover how much the 

 memory of a child can carry. Wearied with the pursuit of knowledge, 

 they cease to follow her as soon as the objective restraint of the 

 schoolmaster is withdrawn, and for the most part settle down in adult 

 life undisciplined in emotions, and confused in intellect. 



We need to recognise practically, as well as theoretically, that 

 '' to be"' and ■* to do" are greater than '" to know." The application 

 ■of psychological laws to education will then have far-reaching results. 

 We have already stated tliat a. common ethical ideal is needed for pro- 

 gressive social life. In addition, we need the fonnulating of an 

 ethical educational ideal which will serve as a guide to the emotional 

 training of the young; and, above all, we need the psychological 

 teacher. General scientific knowledge is desirable in a teacher; the 

 knowledge of psychology is an imperative necessity. 



When a psychological basis of ethics is universally established in 

 our schools then will our teachers rise to the dignity of their calling. 

 Ceasing to be merely instructors, they will become, in truth, the 

 educators of our children : the living channels through whom a 

 nation Avill be trained to be strong in body, keen in intellect, ethical 

 in emotion, fitted to fulfil the functions and to enjoy the pleasures of 

 a complete human life. 



C— INCIDENTAL EDUCATION. 

 Bij D. li. McCOXXEL, M.A., Director, Brisbane Technical College. 



It is difficult to find a term to convey accurately the idea which 

 I wish to present. '''Incidental" has somewhat a meaning of uncer- 

 tainty. But there is a principle involved which is, I think, a psycho- 

 logical law. Another term expressing the idt;i fairly well might be 

 borrowed from a sister science; we might say "induced" education. 

 But ■■ induced " conveys the meaning of pui-pose and effort, and 

 describes the process from the teacher's side. As I am dealing with 

 the pupil's side, I shall retain " incidental." The idea needs only to 

 be expi-essed to be at once familiar. It is that process of education 

 which goes on involuntarily in the child, of which the child is almost 

 unconscious. Through the thousand little activities of the day, so 

 important as they seem to him, so important as they really are, and 

 as his activities bring him into relation with others of his household 

 world, he learns his place, truthfulness, fortitude, punctuality, even 

 affection, or the expression of it. What he learns, of course, depends 

 upon those aroimd him. He may learn, woe to him, the opposite of 

 these virtues. But what he learns of these things, and of many others. 



