THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION 115 



selves to the type of training inaugurated by the 

 educational authorities in 1870 was an ill-judged, 

 mischievous and tyrannical exercise of power. 



It is often said that the elementary schools of the 

 country teach the children of the nation the value of 

 discipline and the habit of order. Certainly a superficial 

 acquaintance with the appearance in class of the masses 

 of children therein collected would give this impression. 

 The marching, the drilling, the prompt movement to 

 the word of command all confirm the casual observer 

 in this assurance. But it may be doubted how far 

 this attitude of attention and obedience is the outcome 

 of any intelligent acceptance of the principles underlying 

 the relations between authority and subordination, and 

 how far it is due to a lulling to sleep from force of 

 habit and acquiescence in surroundings of the youth- 

 ful intelligences and growing characters that are subject 

 to its influence. If it be a purely mechanical acceptance 

 of familiar and inevitable conditions, following the line 

 of least resistance, its value as a training in character 

 is probably less than nothing for anybody who is 

 hereafter to take charge of his own destiny and to 

 exercise in his turn the responsibility of exerting 

 authority or of withstanding it. An examination of the 

 ethical basis of discipline in schools and some inquiry 

 into the psychological or possibly the physiological 

 effects on the vast numbers of growing children that 

 are placed within its sphere of influence would be most 

 valuable. 



Moreover, if we believe that there is great advantage 

 to be obtained from the association of the immature 



