848 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of practical educators and psycholo- 

 gists, we can claim to possess a rea- 

 sonable degree of certainty as to the 

 best arrangement and sequence of 

 studies and the best methods of 

 stimulating the mind and imparting 

 knowledge. Upon these important 

 questions there is still considerable 

 diversity of opinion. Some educators 

 think we should be very sparing of 

 abstractions in the instruction of 

 younger pupils. Others are of a con- 

 trary opinion. Professor Baldwin, 

 for example, in his little work on 

 The Mind, says that " grammar is 

 one of the very best of primary- 

 school subjects." He also recom- 

 mends mathematics. These are ques- 

 tions which, it seems to us, admit 

 of being finally settled. Allowance 

 must of course be made for the vary- 

 ing capacities of individual children, 

 but this need not stand in the way 

 of the establishment of some gen- 

 eral doctrine as to the law of de- 

 velopment of the human mind. We 

 shall then further require a true 

 theory of method in education, so 

 that we may know by what means 

 the best results in the imparting of 

 knowledge and the development of 

 the capacities of the individual 

 mind may be obtained. Assuming 

 that these vantage points have been 

 gained, education should be for 

 every mind an eminently healthful 

 and invigorating process, which is 

 more than can be said for the forms 

 of education that have prevailed in 

 the past. These, while developing 

 certain faculties, have, to a great 

 extent, stunted others have indeed, 

 in too many cases, fatally impaired 

 the natural powers of the mind. A 

 notable paper, which appeared in 

 the first number of this magazine, 

 was one by the late Dr. Carpen- 

 ter on The Artificial Cultivation 

 of Stupidity in Schools. Profess- 

 or Baldwin, in the work already 

 cited, seems to be of the opinion 

 that the process of cultivating stu- 

 pidity, or at least mental shiftless- 



ness, is in full blast to-day in many 

 of our secondary schools owing to 

 the prominence given to language 

 studies. The science of education 

 must at least put an end to this, and 

 insure that the youths who are com- 

 mitted to the public schools shall 

 not be subjected to any mind-de- 

 stroying exercises. We can hope, 

 however, that it will do much more. 

 The mind, like the body, grows by 

 what it feeds upon; and it is hard 

 to conceive that suitable kinds of 

 knowledge could be imparted in a 

 natural manner, so as to awaken in- 

 terest and develop the perceptive and 

 reasoning powers, without at least 

 preparing the mind for the recep- 

 tion of right sentiments. 



So much the science of educa- 

 tion, when it is fairly established, 

 may reasonably be expected to do. 

 It will deal with the mind upon true 

 hygienic principles. There remains 

 the more serious question how such 

 a moral atmosphere can be created 

 as will incline the young to take a 

 right view of knowledge and its 

 uses. Knowledge, it is hardly neces- 

 sary to say, is power, just as money 

 is power; and it is quite as needful 

 that the idea of social service should 

 be associated with the one as with 

 the other. The best social service 

 which, perhaps, any man can render 

 is to give to the world the example 

 of high disinterestedness and gen- 

 eral nobility of character; and 

 knowledge should be valued not as 

 conferring individual distinction, 

 but according as it Expands and lib- 

 eralizes the mind. The poet Cole- 

 ridge has said with some truth that 



" Fancy is the power 

 That first unsensualizes the dark mind, 

 Giving it new delights ; and bids it swell 

 With wild activity ; and peopling air, 

 By obscure fears of beings invisible, 

 Emancipates it from the grosser thrall 

 Of the present impulse, teaching self-control, 

 Till Superstition with unconscious hand 

 Seat Reason on her throne." 



The mind having been "unsensual- 

 ized," the next step is to moralize 



