view it is uiiiSesn and incapable of estima- 

 tion, but none the less real and lasting. 

 Tor the schools a certain definite sylla- 

 bus of work is prescribed; each years 

 course is limited by a "thus-far-and-no- 

 lesis" mandate; an examination gauges 

 the quantity of information assimilated 

 by the learner from the year's instruc- 

 tion, and there the matter seems to. end. 

 But this course of instruction may be pur- 

 sued year after year without, at the same 

 time, doing much to build up the mental 

 faculties, without due guidance of the 

 emotional capacities, and even without 

 any proper regulation of the active pow- 

 ers. But this training and this guidaace 

 and this regulation is, after all, real 

 education, the result of which can be 

 measured by no scale of graduated per- 

 centages. The true teacher is he who, in 

 the course of imparting the knowledge 

 prescribed, always keeps steadily in view 

 the latter ideal of his work, aamely, 

 education a.s a means of perfecting mental 

 gri'owth and development. This is (he side 

 on which the Greeks of Plato's day laid 

 most stress; it is the side the utilitarian 

 of these modern days is in danger of 

 neglecting. Amongst the youth of Athens 

 the end of physical ti^aining was the per- 

 fection of manly beauty and the preser- 

 vation of bodily health; so the object of 

 mental training was knowledge for its 

 own sake, and for the discipline of the 

 mental powers In this huriying age we 

 seem in danger of mistaking the means 

 for the end. Athletics is made an end 

 in itself : to many the settled business of 

 life, to others the one absorbing topic of 

 conversation. In the mental depaitment 

 we have taken up the same false attitude. 

 Fact crowds upon fact in chaotic disor- 

 der. Time is precious and the best 

 teacher is he who can impart the great- 

 est amount in the shortest time, no mat- 

 ter how the organism fares in the hur- 

 ried process of packing. The education of 

 thinking, feeling, and acting- powers is 

 kept ill the background to give place to 

 tangible and showy results. The "know 

 thyself"-' of SoiCrates was the keynote of 

 the ancient system ; "know the examiner," 

 has come to the front in a generation 

 given up to competitive examinations. 



Notwithstanding these aspects of mo- 

 dern school life, there is much evidence 

 that the stage of emancipation for the 

 teacher is closie at hand. The days have 

 gone bj^ when the charge can be laid 

 against ' schoolmasters that, while the 

 blacksmith may be deep in iron, and the 

 shoemaker in leather, he alone of those 

 who deal with mind is content to be ig- 

 norant of mind. The priuciples of psych- 

 ology are permeating the whole prooees 

 of his work, and influencing his methcds 

 in many important directions. It may 

 still be argued: — Yes, the teachers know 

 something of the groundwork of the sci- 

 ence of education, but is it possible to 



make any use of this knowledge in the 

 practical daily routine of the school- 

 room? To those who are alive to the 

 nature of recent changes in method and 

 alteration in the point of objective in 

 educational effort the answer is plain. 

 Given increased skill, due to j-ears of 

 efficient training, and certain freedom in 

 classification of pupils and arrangement 

 of work, and marked changes are at once 

 apparent in the buoyancy and general 

 tone of the classrooms. Let us take one 

 example. Recently, in New Zealand, the 

 incubus of a rigid individual examina- 

 tion of pupils has been dispensed with. 

 One result is, that inspectors have been 

 relieved from the labour of much me- 

 chanical drudgery, and are able to give 

 more time to assisting teachers in their 

 methods. Then the teachers also, feeling 

 themselves trusted, and given more re- 

 sponsibility than under the old regime, 

 have responded with vigorous confidence. 

 Reading between the lines of recent in- 

 spectoTis' reports we may summarise the 

 results from the teachers' point of view 

 as follows: — "Relieved from the respon- 

 sibility and the overburdening anxiety 

 of an impending examination, they move 

 in a lighter and freer atmosphere, and 

 ere able to turn from the consideration 

 of the necessity of getting .their tale of 

 bricks completed to that of the quesition 

 how the lessons shall be laid before the 

 children most eftectively. They are more 

 at liberty to study methods, a.nd can 

 make it their aim, not i^o much to ensure 

 that a certain amount of knowledge shall 

 be gained as that the instruction shall be 

 given in the inanner meet conducive to 

 its due assimilation." In other words, 

 the teacher can rise above the drudgery 

 of imparting information, and can make 

 a brave attempt to overtake the higher 

 part of his work — the quickening of the 

 intellect, the purifying of the emotions, 

 and the guidance of the nobler will. 



Fortunately for the methods of the 

 schoolroom the old faculty-psychology is 

 now practically dead. This psychology 

 produced such phrases as "training the 

 reaeon," "cultivating the ^ memory," 

 "strengthening the imagination" ; as if 

 the mind consisted of separate compart- 

 ments', each requiring a separate course 

 of treatment. What was merely a logical 

 analysis was exalted into a real one. 

 ProifesEor Findlay indicates the darken- 

 ing of knowledge that took place under 

 the disguise of such psychology applied 

 to education: — "Milions of children have 

 been set to learn spelling lists, because, 

 among other grounds, this delightful em- 

 ployment will train the memory. Now, 

 the most that can be said by a faculty - 

 psychologist is that, by this exercise, the j 

 child will gain a faculty for acquiring 

 similar lists of words hereafter, but he 

 will gain no general faculty for recol- 



