viii CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



beyond the scliool and to make seK-culture a habit 

 of life. 



Looking more carefully at the difference between 

 the two directions of the new education we can see 

 what each accompHshes. There is first an effort to 

 train the original powers of the individual and make 

 him seK-active, quick at observation, and free in his 

 thinking. Next, the new education endeavors, by the 

 reading of books and the study of the wisdom of the 

 race, to make the child or youth a participator in the 

 results of experience of all mankind. 



These two movements may be made antagonistic 

 by poor teaching. The book knowledge, containing as 

 it does the precious lesson of human experience, may 

 be so taught as to bring with it only dead rules of 

 conduct, only dead scraps of information, and no 

 stimulant to original thinking. Its contents may be 

 memorized without being understood. On the other 

 hand, the self -activity of the child may be stimulated 

 at the expense of his social well-being — his originality 

 may be cultivated at the expense of his rationality. 

 If he is taught persistently to have his own way, to 

 trust only his own senses, to cling to his own opinions 

 heedless of the experience of his fellows, he is pre- 

 paring for ail unsuccessful, misanthropic career, and 

 is likely enough to end his life in a madhouse. 



It is admitted that a too exclusive study of the 

 knowledge found in books, the knowledge which is 

 aggregated from the experience and thought of other 

 people, may result in loading the mind of the pupil 

 with material which he can not use to advantage. 



