

SCHOOLS, 



he simple to the complex. By analysis he will lead the child to 

 decompose the matter of instruction which he ha* received, to trace 

 out th relations of the several portion* to one or more elementary 

 principle*, their connection! with other branches of knowledge, and 

 the more obvioiu deduction* which may be made from them. Thu* 

 will he at once ascertain that he ha* luooeeded in communicating hi* 

 Uason* to the pupil, and in making thoie leiaon* thcmnlve* prolific in 



nal information. 



In the employment of the*e instrument* the educator must be 

 careful to follow nature in her order of unfolding the faculties ; he 

 miut addre** thoie first which appear first, and he must carefully 

 abstain from anything calculated to force any natural power into 

 premature activity, or to overwork any faculty when it ha* come forth, 

 the eight, the hearing, and the touch are the gift* of nature 

 which an earliest developed. The power of reflection comes at a later 

 period, and only as a result of the operation and influence of the senses. 

 The mind <>f a cliiM i ui empty Ktorehouae ; the eye, the ear, and the 

 ire the portals through which this storehouse is supplied with 

 matter, which, received and laid up, is afterwards operated upon by 

 the mind, pursuant to its own laws. If then the senses are the first of 

 our faculties which are fit for use, the semes should receive the earliest 

 attention of the educator. A child can immediately observe ; therefore 

 the power of observation should be first cultivated. It in important 

 that all the senses should receive cultivation, not merely for the infor- 

 mation of which they may be made the vehicle, but also with a- view 

 to that training which is first among the purposes of education ; but 

 the eye may take some precedence, as the sense of sight comes first in 

 ler of natural sensibility. At a very early period the educator 

 -h.'iild begin to teach liU scholar how to use his eyes and other senses, 

 both by words and by examples ; and as the other faculties are found 

 to expand themselves, so should they be from the first taken under his 

 fostering care, that by exercise he may bring them to act harmoniously 

 and efficiently. 



It is, however, necessary that education should be also regarded as a 

 means to some outward result, and here at once the social distinctions 

 f life present themselves to our attention and modify our views. It 

 is obvious that a child should learn that which will best prepare him 

 for the labours, the trials, and the duties through which he will have 

 to pass. In other words, the children of the poor ought to be taught 

 what most concerns them to know, what they will have immediately 

 to do, and what, other things remaining the same, will prove the most 

 fruitful source of happiness. At the same time, the primary object of 

 education the formation of character should also be kept in view ; 

 and the discipline through which a child ought to be conducted 

 and the subjects of knowledge to be placed before him, must be deter- 

 mined by a joint reference to his capacities and his probable future 

 >n in life. 



Now in treating of the mere external parts of education, health of 

 the body is the first thing that demands our attention. The body is 

 the instrument by which the mind executes its purposes, and by which 

 therefore much of the good which education does makes itself felt. It 

 would consequently seem to be of the first importance that this instru- 

 ment should be kept in the highest state of efficiency. But this is an 

 end which cannot be attained if men are brought up in total ignorance 

 tit the structure of their bodies, and of the laws of health. From the 

 first, therefore, children should be habitually taught to know the con- 

 ditions on which health depends ; such as relate to the state of their 

 dwellings, the condition of their persons as to cleanliness and other 

 matters of the like kind, of which not only the labouring classes but 

 many others are extremely ignorant. There is no peculiar difficulty 

 in communicating the requisite knowledge, and on the part of the 

 young the reception of it would be easy and pleasant. If we measure 

 knowledge by its real usefulness, that is, its power to promote 

 happiness, what comparison is there between this information ami a 

 knowledge of geography, history, or other things of the kind .' A 

 man may be ignorant of all these matters, and yet live a virtuous, 

 happy, and long life, but he cannot with impunity remain ignorant of 

 the laws of health. The most absurd and the most injurious pre- 

 judices prevail on this point among the people ; and in general they 

 imagine that sickness, disease, and death depend on causes altogether 

 beyond their reach, on luck or chance, and that they have no other 

 resource than passive submission. 



It in also by means of the body that the children of the poor will 

 liave to get their bread. They should 1 taught to know this as a fact, as 

 a simple piece of information, which involves neither merit nor demerit , 

 n-ith-r honour nor dishonour. Kor such exercises of the body as they 

 are likely to bo called to, they ought from an early period to be pre- 

 pared while at school by an industrial train: 



This remark comprises much more tlia 1 of bodily labour 



the yi>unj{. It involves *uch a course of instruction as may best 



prepare them for their future occupations. There is no pursuit in 



n that which is most mechanical which does not depend 



mi. <>r i not i iimected with, certain principles; for all manual labour 



is only the carrying out and realisation of results for which scie 



prepared the way. It is equally certain tliat there is no labour which 



may not be lightened or relieved by knowledge. A good education 



therefore would make the labourer acquainted with the fact* and 



principle* on which his art U built ind thus enable him to enjoy the 



rational and sustaining pleasure of working understandingly, with a 

 view to a given result, and labouring therefore in a manner fitted 

 to improve his character as a man as well as his efficiency a* a 

 workman. 



But no improvement can be expected in popular education until a 

 better race of teachers is provided. Great as i* the deficier 

 schools, yet if they were filled with competent instructors, the chief 

 evil would be remedied. 



In the houses too of the working classes, particularly in the manu- 

 facturing districts, a change is most desirable. Whatever time may be 

 occupied in school duties, there are many hours which a child spends 

 during which the educator has no influence over him ; and these are 

 the vary time* at which the young are moot susceptible of impressions ; 

 when the moral and intellectual capacities open to surrounding 

 influences, and receive them readily and retain the impression deeply. 

 In the actual state of things then, the real educators of the young are 

 their parents, their brothers and sisters, their i their casual 



companions -in one word, their home. No small part of these 

 results from the cmployi .idea in mills and factories. In the 



ordinary state of society all that should be peculiar in a fc, 

 education would be left to her mother. But among a large part of 

 the manufacturing classes there are not mothers who could give any- 

 thing approaching to the requisite education. T) u no 

 other resource but the school. It U altogether impossible that the 

 labouring classes, at least of the manufacturing districts, can ever 

 be happy until a new and improved race of mothers appears. In 

 addition, therefore, to the educational requisites already mentioned, 

 it is necessary that there should be a sufficient number of girls' 

 schools in which the ordinary arts of domestic life baking, cooking, 

 sewing, knitting, making and mending, should be taught. This matter 

 is of vital interest to the working man, and therefore to the country, 

 for it matters little what the labourer's earnings are, what his own 

 intelligence is, if he has not a thrifty, kind-hearted, sensible, 

 industrious wife. 



Among the changes desirable on the part of the parents i 

 existence of a disposition to provide out of their own resources suit- 

 able means for the education of their children. That it is their duty 

 to make this provision when they have the power i unquestionable ; 

 and although it is too much to expect at the present, yet something 

 may be done towards it, and the complete fulfilment of the claim may 

 be looked to as an ultimate end. There is nothing but their own exer- 

 tions which can bring to the labouring classes all the good which 

 education can convey. The charity of education, like charity m 

 kind, tends to |>auperise those whom it aims to benefit : and 

 the education of the poor depends on the efforts of rival and conflict- 

 ing parties in religion or in politics, it is impossible thai 

 thus gained should not be used in order to further the opinii <i 

 interests of the several parties. In the meantime the people are 

 regarded and treated as instruments for a purpose, and their education 

 is shaped and varied not by a regard to what is absolutely best, but to 

 what is conducive to the ends of the party which directs it. It in 

 true that some good has resulted from the efforts of iudividu: ! 

 societies by which such education as the poor h:.ve received ha 

 conducted during a century. It is equally true that these voluntary 

 exertions have in many cases sprung from pin 



lence. Still they could not under the circun ! to. lie ac 



companied by a large amount of sectarian and pruty feeling. At the 

 present hour this is peculiarly the case. The church is arm 

 dissent, dissent is arrayed against the church, in competition for tin- 

 largest share in the education of the children of the poor: ;u 

 rivalry is in greater or less activity through every city and village of 

 the kingdom. 



The magnitude of the evil and of the interests which arc at stake 

 seem to demand the intervention of the ","vniumnt by means of a 

 general catholic and truly national education. But the coni! 

 parties gives little reason to expect this at present. Still 

 ment is doing something ; but the remedial measures employed c 



e the disorder. Perhaps after all, the end to l>e aimed at is, 

 that the people should seriously take the education of their children 

 into their own hands, or intrust it to ] on* of their own 



choice. Tin ilitated by that love of ind' pen 



which has hitherto been, a marked feature in the character of English- 

 men, who do not like either a government or individuals to be > 

 ding on their private concerns. Assuming, then, that the importance 

 of education for all classes is now generally admitted, we 

 notice our grammar and primary school?, and the laws which affect 

 them. 



'erf Schoob. An endowed school in England is a school which 

 was established and is supported by funds given and aj'propi -i:i> 

 the perpetual use of such school, either by the sover. 

 individuals. The endowment prm ' r and 



usher, if there bo one, and gratuit to pupils, 



generally or the children of ] live within certain deiined 



limit*. Endowed schools may 1 c divided, with respect to the ol 

 of the founder, into grammar-schools, and schools not grammar-schools. 

 A grammar-school is generally defined to be a school in which the 

 leaned languages, the Latin and the Greek, are taught. Endowed 

 schools riav also be divided, with respect to their constitution for the 



