166 D. S. MAEGOLIOUTH^ D.LITT., F.B.A., ON THE FUTURE OF 



property must be abolished ; and in order that property may 

 be abolished, the family must be abolished. Uniformity of 

 education, so long as manual labour is required from any portion 

 of the community, can only result in rendering the leisure class 

 less intellectual. The real expedients are therefore those 

 devised by Plato^ whose Utopia would for all its citizens have 

 been a less agreeable place of residence than any which has ever 

 actually existed. 



The notion, however, that cla-'s distinctions are in themselves 

 evil and undemocratic, has rendered the definition of education 

 difficult, because it has to be based on a priori considerations. 

 So long as it was supposed to be communication of the notions 

 and cognizances belonging to the class wherein a cLild was born, 

 it was fairly easy to collect and label those notions and 

 cognizances. The definitions which result from the adoption 

 of the a priori method have a tendency to be obscure and fail to 

 carry conviction. A few may be quoted. Education is the 

 acquisition of the art of the utilisation of hwwledge."^ Education 

 is the process of providivg the corfditions which ^lecessitate the child's 

 using his own mivd in socially profitable ways in the snaking of 

 knowledge^ Education is that process through which the develop- 

 ment a> d the highest life of the i7 dividual is conserved through so 

 human isirg him and socialisirg him as to co^i serve directly the 

 existence, developmert and perfection of society. X The esserice 

 of education is to develop a hala' ced harmo' y of functiov.^ It 

 is the task of education to arouse dorma' t heredity and to give 

 to every man the particular train if g to fulfil the purpose in society 

 for which he is endowed]] Education is a process by which a man 

 learns to maintain conversation with the world in which he lives.^ 

 The use of the term Social efficie cy is peculiarly appropriate in 

 defimrg the aim of seco' dary education. This means fit ess on 

 the part of the individual to meet the demands ivhich society makes 

 upon him.** Some of these definitions involve philosophical 

 theories ; as compared with those which assumed that vocations 

 were hereditary or within certain parallel lines, they are as inferior 



* Whitehead, op. cit., p. 9. 



t E. C. Moore, What is Education ? p. 18. 



% F. P. Baciiman, Principles of Elementary Education, p. 168. 



§ K. Richmond, Education for Liberty, p. 216. 



II A. Morgan, Education and Social Progress, p. 62. 



E. T. Campagnac, Studies Introductory to a Theory of Education, p. 72. 

 ♦* J. E. Stout, The High School, p. 18 



