THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION j^y 



precious stones and fair colours for ornamen- 

 tation and decoration. All inorganic things are 

 not presumed to be exactly alike. Much less 

 is there monotony among human souls. Shelley 

 and Kant were no more alike than a lark and 

 a dray-horse, yet in England they would have 

 been put into the same educational hopper. 

 Mrs. Browning and Adam Smith were at oppo- 

 site intellectual poles, yet in our public schools 

 they would be compelled to submit to the same 

 discipline. Better no training than that which 

 effaces individuality. 



I emphasize, then, the fact that each child is 

 at first a combination of streams of tendency 

 from past generations, with a mysterious element 

 of personality developing in course of time, to 

 which appeal can be made. If left to himself, 

 he is likely to go whithersoever those streams 

 from the past may tend. But the tendencies 

 may be modified by training ; the evil may be 

 allowed no congenial air in which to grow, and 

 be at length practically eliminated, while the good 

 may be immeasurably strengthened by a new 

 and better environment. Precisely this is the 

 function of education. It should bring to bear 

 on child-life such influences as will cause imper- 

 fection and bias to disappear, and lead to the 



