EDITOR'S TABLE. 



121 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



SOUND WO BBS ON EDUCATION. 



THE article of President Eliot to 

 •which we called attention three 

 months ago dealt with the subject of 

 education mainly in its intellectual as- 

 pect. In a recent number of the Con- 

 temporary Review we find an article 

 entitled The Teacher's Training of Him- 

 self, which discusses the same subject, 

 but mainly from the moral point of 

 view. The author is Dr. Weldon, head 

 master of Harrow, and the article is a 

 reproduction of an address delivered by 

 him before the Birmingham Teachers' 

 Association. Seldom, if ever, have we 

 found more of sound sense and right 

 feeling in any discussion of the general 

 subject of education than is contained 

 in thi9 essay of Dr. Weldon's. From 

 first to last it may be said to be a plea 

 for that which, according to Dr. J. M. 

 Rice, is so conspicuously lacking in most 

 of our own public schools — sympathy. 

 The writer sees that this, above all 

 things, is needed to vivify education and 

 make it what it ought to be, a blessing 

 both to the giver and the receiver — to 

 prevent it, indeed, from becoming posi- 

 tively injurious in its effects. Is it due 

 simply to mental inertness and inferi- 

 ority on the part of the mass of society 

 that there is on the whole so little love 

 of knowledge and so little pleasure in 

 intellectual effort ? May it not be in a 

 measure due to the fact that in child- 

 hood the acquisition of knowledge was 

 carried on under more or less repulsive 

 conditions with the mental faculties only 

 half aroused and the sympathetic or emo- 

 tional nature wholly untouched, except 

 in so far as it may have been moved to 

 opposition ? 



It is the first step, says Dr. Weldon, 

 in the teacher's self-culture to realize 

 the dignity of his profession, which, 

 though it may lack the distinction be- 



longing to the pulpit, the platform, or 

 the bar, has " this signal advantage, that 

 in all its branches and among its hum- 

 blest no less than its highest representa- 

 tives, it aspires constantly to two ob- 

 jects that are among the worthiest of 

 which human nature is capable — name- 

 ly, the promotion of virtue and the in- 

 crease of knowledge." He places the 

 promotion of virtue first, but in actual 

 practice we fear that the amount of at- 

 tention given in public schools of the 

 ordinary type, here or elsewhere, to that 

 special object is far from commensurate 

 with its recognized importance. The 

 discipline of the school is often said to 

 be of itself a powerful moral influence ; 

 and so it would be if the discipline were 

 maintained in any large degree by the 

 help of sympathy ; but if it is enforced 

 in the thoroughly unsympathetic way 

 described by Dr. Rice we fear it can 

 hardly be counted on for any very 

 moralizing effects. 



We must, however, pass over much 

 that we would wish to note in Dr. Wel- 

 don's address, in order to leave space for 

 a few of his more striking remarks. 

 The following are worth quoting and 

 remembering : 



" If a teacher is to train others, still 

 more must he train himself. . . . The 

 reason is that the influence of every 

 teacher depends not upon what he says, 

 nor even upon what he does, but upon 

 what he is. He can not be greater or 

 better than himself. He can not teach 

 nobly, if he is not himself noble. 



" It is sadly true that we as teachers 

 may make mistakes. We may break the 

 bruised reed; we may quench the smok- 

 ing flax. By making the young dislike 

 us we may make them dislike the sub- 

 jects we represent. Strongly would I 

 impress upon you and upon myself the 

 terrible responsibility which belongs to 



