126 HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



same community and the same school was the 

 daughter of a labourer. Her home gave her no 

 help whatever; ignorance and wickedness were 

 her environment ; and she had especially strong 

 tendencies toward degeneration. But in the com- 

 munity were better influences that had kindled 

 within her ambitions and aspirations. Here are 

 typical cases : one girl with blood and home in 

 her favour ; the other with neither, but still with 

 possibilities which may be developed. The two 

 classes come to our public and private schools, 

 and are often treated precisely alike. They are 

 given the same books ; the same subjects are 

 presumed to interest ; the same ability is pre- 

 supposed ; the same tasks are required ; and the 

 same standards are imposed. If there is any 

 such thing as a science of education, do we catch 

 sight of it in this system ? In ten years those 

 two young women may conceivably occupy the 

 same relative positions ; they may be equally cult- 

 ured and respectable ; but it will never be by the 

 use of the same methods. 



If, now, it be granted that heredity and environ- 

 ment differentiate the pupils in our schools so that 

 no two, even from the same family, are exactly 

 alike, and so that they come to the teacher's 

 hands each with his own peculiar powers and 



