THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION 123 



pal Shairp's idea of the end to be reached is not 

 different. He quotes approvingly the words of 

 Leighton : " The only sufficient object for a man 

 must be something which adds to and perfects 

 his nature." 1 The difference between Emerson 

 and Arnold on the one side, and Shairp and his 

 school on the other, is not in the idea of what 

 education is to do, but in the means to be used. 

 They all agree that education is the process by 

 which inherent powers are to reach their highest 

 and finest growths. It has been wisely said that 

 " to develop childhood to virtue, power, and due 

 freedom is the supreme end of education, to which 

 everything else must be subordinated as means." 

 A secondary object is the acquisition of knowl- 

 edge, but even this is subsidiary. Knowledge is 

 not always desirable for its own sake. It is valu- 

 able as a means. Study which leaves the man- 

 hood narrow and contracted, and fills the head 

 only as gold fills a miser's purse, is not worth the 

 effort required for its acquisition. But how gen- 

 erally the practice belies the theory. In most 

 schools there is almost total neglect of what 

 ought to be the fundamental principle in educa- 

 tion. On the other hand, instead of adapting 

 the training to the actual needs of the child, in- 



1 Culture and Religion, Shairp, p. 99. 



