86 THE NEW METHOD 



school buildings, furniture and fixtures, while we 

 regard the qualifications of teachers as of secondary 

 importance. 



The discoveries of modern science have given us 

 the telegraph, railroads and steam-boats, and brought 

 to our doors all the products of nature and of art. 

 Yet there has been no greater progress in the sciences 

 which underlie industrial prosperity, than in those 

 which unfold the laws of mental culture. In one 

 case science has been utilized, in the other ignored. 



When a steamship is to be built, all the knowledge 

 in the world, upon the application of steam power 

 and ship building, is brought to bear upon the enter- 

 prise. The same is true in many of the arts and' 

 manufactures ; but how different it is in education ! 



On completing his general education the candidate 

 for either of the learned professions must spend years 

 in learning the special knowledge of the profession 

 he would enter. The merchant goes to the mercan- 

 tile college and the mechanic to his apprenticeship ; 

 but the teacher, whose work is the most complex 

 and difficult that mortals have to do, goes at once in- 

 to practice, although as ignorant of the laws of men- 

 tal development as the children he undertakes to 

 teach. 



That such is the status of education is not the 

 fault of teachers, but of public sentiment. Very few 



