206 . SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



minds; therefore the serious study of these subjects was reserved for 

 manhood and had no place in the school. 



Modern science differs greatly from what was known to the Greeks, 

 particularly in the use of experimental methods of inquiry ; and if Plato 

 were now constructing an educational system adapted to existing needs 

 he would no doubt readjust its position in the curriculum. Yet there 

 is sound psychology in the postponement of the consideration of laws 

 and systems to late stages of a school coui'se. Knowledge begins with 

 sense perception, and intelligent appreciation of laws expressing general 

 relationships or affinities, or the recognition of the place of such laws 

 in a system, can be expected only from gifted pupils. It is the business 

 of education to promote the right adjustment between the developing 

 human organism and its surroundings, and this implies that the nourish- 

 ment provided at all stages of growth should be not only such as sup- 

 plies the needs of the moment, but also builds up strength to live a full 

 life under the conditions of the times. Whether we consider the prac- 

 tical education or training by which uncivilised man learns to supply his 

 needs, the humanistic conceptions of ancient Greece, medieval educa- 

 tion, or modern systems, the aim is the same, namely, to create worthy 

 members of particular social fabrics — to adapt people to meet the 

 necessities of life and respond to the best influences of existing circum- 

 .stances. It is true that Kant thought children should be educated not 

 for the present but for a possibly improved condition of man in the 

 future, yet he himself advocated the cultivation of natural abiUty to 

 meet practical needs of life. 



Education may, therefore, be defined as the deliberate adjustment of 

 a growing human being to its environment ; and the scope and character 

 of the subjects of instruction should be determined by this biological 

 principle. What is best for one race or epoch need not be most appro- 

 priate for another, but always the aim should be to give the pupil as 

 many points of contact with the world around him as may be profitably 

 developed during his school career. This does not mean, of course, 

 that his vision is to be confined to contemporary necessities or his 

 thoughts to provincial or even national fields. The resources available 

 for his instruction and guidance comprise the wisdom and experience of 

 the past as well as the power of the present, and in their extensive and 

 varied character they now provide teachers with educational opportuni- 

 ties richer and fuller than those of any other period of the woi-Jd's 

 history. Literature and art form noble domains of the heritage into 

 which the child of to-day is born, but they were mostly planted long 

 ago, and their shapes have not been altered much in modern times. 

 Science has, however, transformed the whole landscape entrusted to it, 

 and the realm of its productivity is continually extending. It is a 

 kingdom potent with possibilities for good or evil — an inheritance which 

 cannot be renounced — and to let any of our children grow up unfamiliar 

 with their entailed possession is to neglect an obvious duty. 



The essential mission of school science is thus to prepare pupils for 

 civilised citizenship by revealing, to them something of the beauty and 

 the power of the world in which they live, as well as introducing them 

 to the methods by which the boundaries of natural knowledge have been 



