Same knowledge for discipline and use?

propounded are shared by a number of distinguished scientific men; and not a few of the unscientific believe that in them is shadowed forth the education of the future.

§ 3. It is perhaps to be regretted that Mr. Spencer has not kept the tone of one who investigates the truth in a subject of great difficulty, but lays about him right and left, after the manner of a spirited controversialist. This, no doubt, makes his book much more entertaining reading than such treatises usually are, but, on the other hand, it has the disadvantage of arousing the antagonism of those whom he would most wish to influence. When the man who has no practical acquaintance with education, lays down the law ex cathedrâ, garnished with sarcasms at all that is now going on, the schoolmaster, offended by the assumed tone of authority, sets himself to show where these theories would not work, instead of examining what basis of truth there is in them, and how far they should influence his own practice.

I shall proceed to examine Mr. Spencer's proposals with all the impartiality I am master of.

§ 4. The great question, whether the teaching which gives the most valuable knowledge is the same as that which best disciplines the faculties of the mind, Mr. Spencer dismisses briefly. "It would be utterly contrary to the beautiful economy of nature," he says, "if one kind of culture were needed for the gaining of information, and another kind were needed as a mental gymnastic.* But it seems to me that different subjects must be used to train the faculties at different stages of development. The processes of science,

* This proposition has been ably discussed by President W. H. Payne. Contributions to the Science of Education. "Education Values."

Different stages, different knowledges.

which form the staple of education in Mr. Spencer's system cannot be grasped by the intellect of a child. 'The scientific discoverer does the work, and when it is done the schoolboy is called in to witness the result, to learn its chief features by heart, and to repeat them when called upon, just as he is called on to name the mothers of the patriarchs, or to give an account of the Eastern campaigns of Alexander the Great."-(Pall Mall G.). This, however, affords but scanty training for the mind. We want to draw out the child's interests, and to direct them to worthy objects. We want not only to teach him, but to enable and encourage him to teach himself; and, if following Mr. Spencer's advice, we make him get up the species of plants, "which amount to some 320,000," and the varied forms of animal life, which are "estimated at some 2,000,0000," we may, as Mr. Spencer tells us, have strengthened his memory as effectually as by teaching him languages; but the pupil will, perhaps have no great reason to rejoice over his escape from the horrors of the "As in Præsenti," and "Propria quæ Maribus." The consequences will be the same in both cases. We shall disgust the great majority of our scholars with the acquisition of knowledge, and with the use of the powers of their mind. Whether, therefore, we adopt or reject Mr. Spencer's conclusion, that there is one sort of knowledge which is universally the most valuable, I think we must deny that there is one sort of knowledge which is universally and at every stage in education, the best adapted to develop the intellectual faculties. Mr. Spencer himself acknowledges this elsewhere. "There is," says he, "a certain sequence in which the faculties spontaneously develop, and a certain kind of knowledge, which each requires during its development. It is for us to ascertain this sequence, and supply this knowledge.

Relative value of knowledges.

§ 5. Mr. Spencer discusses more fully "the relative value of knowledges," and this is a subject which has hitherto not met with the attention it deserves. It is not sufficient for us to prove of any subject taught in our schools that the knowledge or the learning of it is valuable. We must also show that the knowledge or the learning of it is of at least as great value as that of anything else that might be taught in the same time. "Had we time to master all subjects we need not be particular. To quote the old song

Could a man be secure

That his life would endure,

As of old, for a thousand long years,
What things he might know!

What deeds he might do !

And all without hurry or care!

But we that have but span-long lives must ever bear in mind our limited time for acquisition."

§ 6. To test the value of the learning imparted in education we must look to the end of education. This Mr Spencer defines as follows: "To prepare us for complete living is the function which education has to discharge, and the only rational mode of judging of an educational course is to judge in what degree it discharges such function." For complete living we must know "in what way to treat the body; in what way to treat the mind; in what way to manage our affairs; in what way to bring up a family; in what way to behave as a citizen; in what way to utilise those sources of happiness which nature supplies-how to use all our faculties to the greatest advantage of ourselves and others." There are a number of sciences, says Mr. Spencer, which throw light on these subjects. It should, therefore, be the business of education to impart these sciences.

Knowledge for self-preservation.

But if there were (which is far from being the case) a well-defined and well-established science. in each of these departments, those sciences would not be understandable by children, nor would any individual have time to master the whole of them, or even "a due proportion of each." The utmost that could be attempted would be to give young people some knowledge of the results of such sciences and the rules derived from them. But to this Mr. Spencer would object that it would tend, like the learning of languages, "to increase the already undue respect for authority."

§ 7. To consider Mr. Spencer's divisions in detail, we come first to knowledge that leads to self-preservation.

"Happily, that all-important part of education which goes to secure direct self-preservation is, in part, already provided for. Too momentous to be left to our blundering, Nature takes it into her own hands." But Mr. Spencer warns us against such thwartings of Nature as that by which "stupid schoolmistresses commonly prevent the girls in their charge from the spontaneous physical activities they would indulge in, and so render them comparatively incapable of taking care of themselves in circumstances of peril."

§ 8. Indirect self-preservation, Mr. Spencer believes, may be much assisted by a knowledge of physiology. "Diseases are often contracted, our members are often injured, by causes which superior knowledge would avoid." I believe these are not the only grounds on which the advocates of physiology urge its claim to be admitted into the curriculum; but these, if they can be established, are no doubt very important. Is it true, however, that doctors preserve their own life and health or that of their children by their knowledge of physiology? I think the matter is

Useful knowledge v. the classics.

open to dispute. Mr. Spencer does not. He says very truly that many a man would blush if convicted of ignorance about the pronunciation of Iphigenia, or about the labours of Hercules who, nevertheless, would not scruple to acknow ledge that he had never heard of the Eustachian tubes, and could not tell the normal rate of pulsation. "So terribly," adds Mr. Spencer, "in our education does the ornamental override the useful!" But this is begging the question. At present classics form part of the instruction given to every gentleman, and physiology does not. This is the simpler form of Mr. Spencer's assertion about the labours of Hercules and the Eustachian tubes, and no one denies it. But we are not so well agreed on the comparative value of these subjects. In his Address at St. Andrews, J. S. Mill showed that he at least was not convinced of the uselessness of classics, and Mr. Spencer does not tell us how the knowledge of the normal state of pulsation is useful; how, to use his own test, it "influences action." However, whether we admit the claims of physiology or not, we shall probably allow that there are certain physiological facts and rules of health, the knowledge of which would be of great practical value, and should therefore be imparted to everyone. Here the doctor should come to the schoolmaster's assistance, and give him a manual from which to teach them.

§ 9. Next in order of importance, according to Mr. Spencer, comes the knowledge which aids indirect self-preservation by facilitating the gaining of a livelihood. Here Mr. Spencer thinks it necessary to prove to us that such sciences as Inathematics and physics and biology underlie all the practical arts and business of life. No one would think of joining issue with him on this point; but the question still remains, what influence should this have on education?