

EDUCATION. 



THE subject of Education is one which, in 

 recent times, has attracted considerable at- 

 tention. It is one which ought always to attract 

 the attention of mankind. Human beings are 

 continually coming into the world ; and their 

 happiness, and their capability of reaching the 

 highest functions of man, depend on the care 

 and skill which their predecessors devote to 

 their upbringing. The subject of education is 

 accordingly one the interest in which is continually 

 renewed, and on the renewal of which rests the 

 future of man. It is at the same time a subject 

 demanding the utmost care and the utmost dili- 

 gence on the part of the student. The object of it 

 is man himself, the most complex by far of all 

 animals ; and he who would educate aright, must 

 study human nature in all its phases, and be able, 

 out of the midst of manifold forms of error, to 

 select what is right. 



It is not easy to overestimate the power of 

 education. Let the reader summon before his 

 mind the Briton of the earliest period. Let him 

 distinctly represent to himself the manner in which 

 that Briton grew and spent his life. Let him at 

 the same time bring before his mind the ordinary 

 cultivated Englishman of the present day. What 

 a difference in their ideas, in their feelings, in 

 the objects which they set before them in life ! 

 What a difference in influence, in moral strength, 

 in aspiration ! If we could set the two children 

 beside each other, the savage little Briton and 

 the civilised little Briton, perhaps we should find 

 almost no difference between them. The one 

 would, to all appearance, possess as big a brain as 

 the other, would be as active and keen as the 

 other, and if we were to venture on a prophecy, we 

 should find it difficult to determine which of the 

 two might attain to the highest intellectual and 

 moral eminence. But the little savage, though 

 tutored by the same sky and the same scenery, 

 though surrounded by many circumstances cal- 

 culated to expand the soul, grew up a man of a 

 narrow range of ideas, of 1'mited aspirations, per- 

 haps very much the slave of his corporeal wants, 

 and satisfied if he could supply these in abund- 

 ance, and slay a few of his enemies. What has 

 made the difference? It can be nothing but 

 education. It may be true, indeed, that the differ- 

 ence is not exactly the definite result of the differ- 

 ent education given to the particular civilised 

 young Briton. The theory may be correct, that 

 by some mysterious law of transmission, the good 

 effects produced by education on one generation 

 are handed down to the next, and thus many 

 generations are required to produce that amount 

 of perfection which the present cultivated Eng- 

 lishman can attain. Still it is by education that 

 the difference is produced. 



The first question that presents itself to us in 

 treating of this subject is, What is education ? The 

 word has been used in various senses, and it is 

 difficult, if not impossible, to prevent this variety 

 of usage. In one sense, everything that acts upon 

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the mind of a man educates him. Man possesses 

 certain powers within him. They lie dormant 

 until external nature, or his fellow-men, act upon 

 him, and then these powers come into more or less 

 active operation. In this sense, the education of 

 a man never ceases, and it includes every possible 

 kind of influence. But it is plain at once that 

 many influences are not beneficial, and that, con- 

 sequently, if we use the word education in this its 

 widest sense, we include under it, not the right 

 evolution of a man's nature, but every evolution 

 of it. Generally speaking, however, we do not 

 use the term education for every possible form of 

 evolution, but only for the right evolution ; and so 

 we arrive at the definition, that education is the 

 harmonious and equable evolution of all the 

 powers of a man. This at once supposes that 

 there is a right evolution, that there is an ideal 

 of humanity after which we can aspire. Yet, when 

 we come to ask ourselves the question, What is 

 the ideal? we find ourselves in perplexity. For 

 the peculiarity of human nature is, that its ideal 

 rises in proportion to the amount of culture that 

 it has, that, in fact, humanity has an infinite pros- 

 pect before it ; and that the higher the elevation 

 to which a man attains, the wider and grander 

 seems the prospect. In addition to this, there is 

 the fact that man is complex. He has a great 

 variety of duties to perform. Many qualities and 

 powers have to be evolved. And, therefore, any 

 general statement is comparatively useless, unless 

 we make diligent inquiry into each particular part 

 and function. This fact may be illustrated by a 

 reference to the body. The best state of the body 

 is when all its organs are fully able to discharge 

 their functions. Each particular part has a func- 

 tion to discharge ; and the body as a whole 

 has its function to discharge. We train the 

 body harmoniously and equably, when we give 

 to all its parts a healthy activity, and take care 

 that no one part be trained at the expense of the 

 others, and when, through the healthy action and 

 interaction of all its parts, the body is able to 

 perform its function, and be the perfect servant 

 of a noble mind. In like manner the soul is 

 complex. There is a hierarchy of powers within 

 it Some must rule, some must submit. Each 

 power, each affection, each emotion has its proper 

 place : and when they are so developed that each 

 is in its proper place, and working fully in perfect 

 harmony with the rest, we have the equable and 

 harmonious evolution of the human powers. But 

 what this equable and harmonious evolution is, 

 we cannot know until we have examined each 

 part, and ascertained what is its proper function, 

 and how it can be placed in harmony with all the 

 rest 



There is still an addition to be made to the 

 definition, in order to make the word mean what 

 it is often used to signify. Education is often 

 employed to designate the deliberate efforts of 

 men to bring out the powers of other human 

 beings. Here the educator sets before himself 



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