Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) π
The Four Chapters Of Which This Work Consists, Originally Appeared As
Four Review-Articles: The First In The _Westminster Review_ For July
1859; The Second In The _North British Review_ For May 1854; And The
Remaining Two In The _British Quarterly Review_ For April 1858 And For
April 1859. Severally Treating Different Divisions Of The Subject, But
Together Forming A Tolerably Complete Whole, I Originally Wrote Them
With A View To Their Republication In A United Form; And They Would Some
Time Since Have Thus Been Issued, Had Not A Legal Difficulty Stood In
The Way. This Difficulty Being Now Removed, I Hasten To Fulfil The
Intention With Which They Were Written.
That In Their First Shape These Chapters Were Severally Independent, Is
The Reason To Be Assigned For Some Slight Repetitions Which Occur In
Them: One Leading Idea, More Especially, Reappearing Twice. As, However,
This Idea Is On Each Occasion Presented Under A New Form, And As It Can
Scarcely Be Too Much Enforced, I Have Not Thought Well To Omit Any Of
The Passages Embodying It.
Read free book Β«Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) πΒ» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Herbert Spencer
Read book online Β«Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) πΒ». Author - Herbert Spencer
The Four Essays On Education Which Herbert Spencer Published In A Single
Volume In 1861 Were All Written And Separately Published Between 1854
And 1859. Their Tone Was Aggressive And Their Proposals Revolutionary;
Although All The Doctrines--With One Important Exception--Had Already
Been Vigorously Preached By Earlier Writers On Education, As Spencer
Himself Was At Pains To Point Out. The Doctrine Which Was Comparatively
New Ran Through All Four Essays; But Was Most Amply Stated In The Essay
First Published In 1859 Under The Title "What Knowledge Is Of Most
Worth?" In This Essay Spencer Divided The Leading Kinds Of Human
Activity Into Those Which Minister To Self-Preservation, Those Which
Secure The Necessaries Of Life, Those Whose End Is The Care Of
Offspring, Those Which Make Good Citizens, And Those Which Prepare
Adults To Enjoy Nature, Literature, And The Fine Arts; And He Then
Maintained That In Each Of These Several Classes, Knowledge Of Science
Was Worth More Than Any Other Knowledge. He Argued That Everywhere
Throughout Creation Faculties Are Developed Through The Performance Of
The Appropriate Functions; So That It Would Be Contrary To The Whole
Harmony Of Nature "If One Kind Of Culture Were Needed For The Gaining Of
Information, And Another Kind Were Needed As A Mental Gymnastic." He
Then Maintained That The Sciences Are Superior In All Respects To
Languages As Educational Material; They Train The Memory Better, And A
Superior Kind Of Memory; They Cultivate The Judgment, And They Impart An
Admirable Moral And Religious Discipline. He Concluded That "For
Discipline, As Well As For Guidance, Science Is Of Chiefest Value. In
All Its Effects, Learning The Meaning Of Things Is Better Than Learning
The Meaning Of Words." He Answered The Question "What Knowledge Is Of
Most Worth?" With The One Word--Science.
This Doctrine Was Extremely Repulsive To The Established Profession Of
Education In England, Where Latin, Greek, And Mathematics Had Been The
Staples Of Education For Many Generations, And Were Believed To Afford
The Only Suitable Preparation For The Learned Professions, Public Life,
And Cultivated Society. In Proclaiming This Doctrine With Ample
Illustration, Ingenious Argument, And Forcible Reiteration, Spencer Was
A True Educational Pioneer, Although Some Of His Scientific
Contemporaries Were Really Preaching Similar Doctrines, Each In His Own
Field.
The Profession Of Teaching Has Long Been Characterised By Certain
Habitual Convictions, Which Spencer Undertook To Shake Rudely, And Even
To Deride. The First Of These Convictions Is That All Education,
Physical, Intellectual, And Moral, Must Be Authoritative, And Need Take
No Account Of The Natural Wishes, Tendencies, And Motives Of The
Ignorant And Undeveloped Child. The Second Dominating Conviction Is That
To Teach Means To Tell, Or Show, Children What They Ought To See,
Believe, And Utter. Expositions By The Teacher And Books Are Therefore
The True Means Of Education. The Third And Supreme Conviction Is That
The Method Of Education Which Produced The Teacher Himself And The
Contemporary Or Earlier Scholars, Authors, And Publicists, Must Be The
Righteous And Sufficient Method. Its Fruits Demonstrate Its Soundness,
And Make It Sacred. Herbert Spencer, In The Essays Included In The
Present Volume, Assaulted All Three Of These Firm Convictions.
Accordingly, The Ideas On Education Which He Put Forth More Than Fifty
Years Ago Have Penetrated Educational Practice Very Slowly--Particularly
In England; But They Are Now Coming To Prevail In Most Civilised
Countries, And They Will Prevail More And More. Through Him, The
Thoughts On Education Of Comenius, Montaigne, Locke, Milton, Rousseau,
Pestalozzi, And Other Noted Writers On This Neglected Subject Are At
Last Winning Their Way Into Practice, With The Modifications Or
Adaptations Which The Immense Gains Of The Human Race In Knowledge And
Power Since The Nineteenth Century Opened Have Shown To Be Wise.
For Teachers And Educational Administrators It Is Interesting To Observe
The Steps By Which Spencer's Doctrines--And Especially His Doctrine Of
The Supreme Value Of Science--Have Advanced Towards Acceptance In
Practice. In General, The Advance Has Been Brought About Through The
Indirect Effects Of The Enormous Industrial, Social, And Political
Changes Of The Last Fifty Years. The First Practical Step Was The
Introduction Of Laboratory Teaching Of One Or More Of The Sciences Into
The Secondary Schools And Colleges. Chemistry And Physics Were The
Commonest Subjects Selected. These Two Subjects Had Been Taught From
Books Even Earlier; But Memorising Science Out Of Books Is Far Less
Useful As Training Than Memorising Grammars And Vocabularies. The
Characteristic Discipline Of Science Can Be Imparted Only Through The
Laboratory Method. The Schoolmasters And College Faculties Who Took This
Step By No Means Admitted Spencer's Contention That Science Should Be
The Universal Staple At All Stages Of Child Development. On The
Contrary, They Believed, As Most People Do To-Day, That The Mind Of The
Young Child Cannot Grasp The Processes And Generalisations Of Science,
And That Science Is No More Universally Fitted To Develop Mental Power
Than The Classics Or Mathematics. Indeed, Experience During The Past
Fifty Years Seems To Have Proved That Fewer Minds Are Naturally Inclined
To Scientific Study Than To Linguistic Or Historical Study; So That If
Some Science Is To Be Learnt By Everybody, The Amount Of Such Study
Should Be Limited To Acquiring In One Or Two Sciences Knowledge Of The
Scientific Method In General. So Much Scientific Training Is Indeed
Universally Desirable; Because Good Training Of The Senses To Observe
Accurately Is Universally Desirable, And The Collecting, Comparing, And
Grouping Of Many Facts Teach Orderliness In Thinking, And Lead Up To
Something Which Spencer Valued Highly In Education--"A Rational
Explanation Of Phenomena."
Introduction Pg 2
Science Having Obtained A Foothold In Secondary Schools And Colleges, An
Adequate Development Of Science-Teaching Resulted From The Introduction
Of Options Or Elections For The Pupils Among Numerous Different Courses,
In Place Of A Curriculum Prescribed For All. The Elaborate Teaching Of
Many Sciences Was Thus Introduced. The Pupil Or Student Saw And Recorded
For Himself; Used Books Only As Helps And Guides In Seeing, Recording,
And Generalising; Proceeded From The Known To The Unknown; And In Short,
Made Numerous Applications Of The Doctrines Which Pervade All Spencer's
Writings On Education. In The United States These Methods Were
Introduced Earlier And Have Been Carried Farther Than In England; But
Within The Last Few Years The Changes Made In Education Have Been More
Extensive And Rapid In England Than In Any Other Country;--Witness The
Announcements Of The New High Schools And The Re-Organised Grammar
Schools, Of Such Colleges As South Kensington, Armstrong, King's, The
University College (London), And Goldsmiths', And Of The New Municipal
Universities Such As Victoria, Bristol, Sheffield, Birmingham,
Liverpool, And Leeds. The New Technical Schools Also Illustrate The
Advent Of Instruction In Applied Science As An Important Element In
Advanced Education. Such Institutions As The Seafield Park Engineering
College, The City Guilds Of London Institute, The City Of London
College, And The Battersea Polytechnic Are Instances Of The Same
Development. Some Endowed Institutions For Girls Illustrate The Same
Tendencies, As, For Example, The Bedford College For Women And The Royal
Holloway College. All These Institutions Teach Sciences In Considerable
Variety, And In The Way That Spencer Advocated,--Not So Much Because
They Have Distinctly Accepted His Views, As Because Modern Industrial
And Social Conditions Compel The Preparation In Science Of Young People
Destined For Various Occupations And Services Indispensable To Modern
Society. The Method Of The Preparation Is Essentially That Which He
Advocated.
Spencer's Propositions To The Effect That The Study Of Science Was
Desirable For Artisans, Artists, And, In General, For People Who Were To
Get Their Livings Through Various Skills Of Hand And Eye, Were Received
With Great Incredulity, Not To Say Derision--Particularly When He
Maintained That Some Knowledge Of The Theory Which Underlies An Art Was
Desirable For Manual Practitioners Of The Art; But The Changes Of The
Last Fifty Years In The Practice Of The Arts And Trades May Be Said To
Have Demonstrated That His Views Were Thoroughly Sound. The Applications
Of Science In The Arts And Trades Have Been So Numerous And Productive,
That Widespread Training In Science Has Become Indispensable To Any
Nation Which Means To Excel In The Manufacturing Industries, Whether Of
Large Scale Or Small Scale. The Extraordinary Popularity Of Evening
Schools And Correspondence Schools In The United States Rests On The
Need Which Young People Employed In The Various Industries Of The
Country Feel Of Obtaining More Theoretical Knowledge About The Physical
Or Chemical Processes Through Which They Are Earning A Livelihood. The
Young Men's Christian Associations In The American Cities Have Become
Great Centres Of Evening Instruction For Just Such Young Persons. The
Correspondence Schools Are Teaching Hundreds Of Thousands Of Young
People At Work In Machine-Shops, Mills, Mines, And Factories, Who
Believe That They Can Advance Themselves In Their Several Occupations By
Supplementing Their Elementary Education With Correspondence Courses,
Taken While They Are At Work Earning A Livelihood In Industries That
Rest Ultimately On Applications Of Science.
Spencer's Objection To The Constant Exercise Of Authority And Compulsion
In Schools, Families, And The State Is Felt To-Day Much More Widely Than
It Was In 1858, When He Wrote His Essay On Moral Education. His Proposal
That Children Should Be Allowed To Suffer The Natural Consequences Of
Their Foolish Or Wrong Acts Does Not Seem To The Present Generation--Any
More Than It Did To Him--To Be Applicable To Very Young Children, Who
Need Protection From The Undue Severity Of Many Natural Penalties; But
The Soundness Of His General Doctrine That It Is The True Function Of
Parents And Teachers To See That Children Habitually Experience The
Normal Consequences Of Their Conduct, Without Putting Artificial
Consequences In Place Of Them, Now Commands The Assent Of Most Persons
Whose Minds Have Been Freed From The Theological Dogmas Of Original Sin
And Total Depravity. Spencer Did Not Expect The Immediate Adoption Of
This Principle; Because Society As A Whole Was Not Yet Humane Enough. He
Admitted That The Uncontrollable Child Of Ill-Controlled Adults Might
Sometimes Have To Be Scolded Or Beaten, And That These Barbarous Methods
Might Be "Perhaps The Best Preparation Such Children Can Have For The
Barbarous Society In Which They Are Presently To Play A Part." He Hoped,
However, That The Civilised Members Of Society Would By And By
Spontaneously Use Milder Measures; And This Hope Has Been Realised In
Good Degree, With The Result That Happiness In Childhood Is Much
Commoner And More Constant Than It Used To Be. Parents And Teachers Are
Beginning To Realise That Self-Control Is A Prime Object In Moral
Education, And That This Self-Control Cannot Be Practised Under A Regime
Of Constant Supervision, Unexplained Commands, And Painful Punishments,
But Must Be Gained In Freedom. Some Large-Scale Experience With American
Secondary Schools Which Prepare Boys For Admission To College Has Been
Edifying In This Respect. The American Colleges, As A Rule, Do Not
Undertake To Exercise Much Supervision Over Their Students, But Leave
Them Free To Regulate Their Own Lives In Regard To Both Work And Play.
Now It Is The Boys Who Come From The Secondary Schools Where The
Closest Supervision Is Maintained That Are In Most Danger Of Falling
Into Evil Ways When They First Go To College.
Spencer Put Very Forcibly A Valuable Doctrine For Which Many Earlier
Writers On The Theory Of Education Had Failed To Get A Hearing--The
Doctrine, Namely, That All Instruction Should Be Pleasurable And
Interesting. Fifty Years Ago Almost All Teachers Believed That It Was
Impossible To Make School-Work Interesting, Or Life-Work Either; So That
The Child Must Be Forced To Grind Without Pleasure, In Preparation For
Life's Grind; And The Forcing Was To Be Done By Experience Of The
Teacher's Displeasure And The Infliction Of Pain. Through The Slow
Effects Of Spencer's Teaching And Of The Experience Of Practical
Teachers Who Have Demonstrated That Instruction Can Be Made Pleasurable,
And That The Very Hardest Work Is Done By Interested Pupils Because They
Are Interested, It Has Gradually Come To Pass That His Heresy Has Become
The Prevailing Judgment Among Sensible And Humane Teachers. The
Experience Of Many Adults, Hard At Work In The Modern Industrial,
Commercial, And Financial World, Has Taught Them That Human Beings Can
Make Their Intensest Application Only
Comments (0)