Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📕

Clause "In So Far As Boys Are Concerned." Unfortunately The   Fact Is

Quite Otherwise With Girls. It Chances, Somewhat Strangely, That We Have

Daily Opportunity Of    Drawing A Comparison. We Have Both A Boys' School

And A Girls' School Within View; And The   Contrast Between Them Is

Remarkable. In The   One Case, Nearly The   Whole Of    A Large Garden Is

Turned Into An Open, Gravelled Space, Affording Ample Scope For Games,

And Supplied With Poles And Horizontal Bars For Gymnastic Exercises.

Every Day Before Breakfast, Again Towards Eleven O'clock, Again At

Mid-Day, Again In The   Afternoon, And Once More After School Is Over, The

Neighbourhood Is Awakened By A Chorus Of    Shouts And Laughter As The   Boys

Rush Out To Play; And For As Long As They Remain, Both Eyes And Ears

Give Proof That They Are Absorbed In That Enjoyable Activity Which Makes

The Pulse Bound And Ensures The   Healthful Activity Of    Every Organ. How

Unlike Is The   Picture Offered By The   "Establishment For Young Ladies!"

Until The   Fact Was Pointed Out, We Actually Did Not Know That We Had A

Girl's School As Close To Us As The   School For Boys. The   Garden, Equally

Large With The   Other, Affords No Sign Whatever Of    Any Provision For

Juvenile Recreation; But Is Entirely Laid Out With Prim Grass-Plots,

Gravel-Walks, Shrubs, And Flowers, After The   Usual Suburban Style.

During Five Months We Have Not Once Had Our Attention Drawn To The

Premises By A Shout Or A Laugh. Occasionally Girls May Be Observed

Sauntering Along The   Paths With Lesson-Books In Their Hands, Or Else

Walking Arm-In-Arm. Once Indeed, We Saw One Chase Another Round The

Garden; But, With This Exception, Nothing Like Vigorous Exertion Has

Been Visible.

Why This Astounding Difference? Is It That The   Constitution Of    A Girl

Differs So Entirely From That Of    A Boy As Not To Need These Active

Exercises? Is It That A Girl Has None Of    The   Promptings To Vociferous

Play By Which Boys Are Impelled? Or Is It That, While In Boys These

Promptings Are To Be Regarded As Stimuli To A Bodily Activity Without

Which There Cannot Be Adequate Development, To Their Sisters, Nature Has

Given Them For No Purpose Whatever--Unless It Be For The   Vexation Of

School-Mistresses? Perhaps, However, We Mistake The   Aim Of    Those Who

Train The   Gentler Sex. We Have A Vague Suspicion That To Produce A

Robust _Physique_ Is Thought Undesirable; That Rude Health And Abundant

Vigour Are Considered Somewhat Plebeian; That A Certain Delicacy, A

Strength Not Competent To More Than A Mile Or Two's Walk, An Appetite

Fastidious And Easily Satisfied, Joined With That Timidity Which

Commonly Accompanies Feebleness, Are Held More Lady-Like. We Do Not

Expect That Any Would Distinctly Avow This; But We Fancy The

Governess-Mind Is Haunted By An Ideal Young Lady Bearing Not A Little

Resemblance To This Type. If So, It Must Be Admitted That The

Established System Is Admirably Calculated To Realise This Ideal. But To

Suppose That Such Is The   Ideal Of    The   Opposite Sex Is A Profound

Mistake. That Men Are Not Commonly Drawn Towards Masculine Women, Is

Doubtless True. That Such Relative Weakness As Asks The   Protection Of

Superior Strength, Is An Element Of    Attraction, We Quite Admit. But The

Difference Thus Responded To By The   Feelings Of    Men, Is The   Natural,

Pre-Established Difference, Which Will Assert Itself Without Artificial

Appliances. And When, By Artificial Appliances, The   Degree Of    This

Difference Is Increased, It Becomes An Element Of    Repulsion Rather Than

Of Attraction.

"Then Girls Should Be Allowed To Run Wild--To Become As Rude As Boys,

And Grow Up Into Romps And Hoydens!" Exclaims Some Defender Of    The

Proprieties. This, We Presume, Is The   Ever-Present Dread Of

School-Mistresses. It Appears, On Inquiry, That At "Establishments For

Young Ladies" Noisy Play Like That Daily Indulged In By Boys, Is A

Punishable Offence; And We Infer That It Is Forbidden, Lest Unlady-Like

Habits Should Be Formed. The   Fear Is Quite Groundless, However. For If

The Sportive Activity Allowed To Boys Does Not Prevent Them From Growing

Up Into Gentlemen; Why Should A Like Sportive Activity Prevent Girls

From Growing Up Into Ladies? Rough As May Have Been Their Play-Ground

Frolics, Youths Who Have Left School Do Not Indulge In Leap-Frog In The

Street, Or Marbles In The   Drawing-Room. Abandoning Their Jackets, They

Abandon At The   Same Time Boyish Games; And Display An Anxiety--Often A

Ludicrous Anxiety--To Avoid Whatever Is Not Manly. If Now, On Arriving

At The   Due Age, This Feeling Of    Masculine Dignity Puts So Efficient A

Restraint On The   Sports Of    Boyhood, Will Not The   Feeling Of    Feminine

Modesty, Gradually Strengthening As Maturity Is Approached, Put An

Efficient Restraint On The   Like Sports Of    Girlhood? Have Not Women Even

A Greater Regard For Appearances Than Men? And Will There Not

Consequently Arise In Them Even A Stronger Check To Whatever Is Rough Or

Boisterous? How Absurd Is The   Supposition That The   Womanly Instincts

Would Not Assert Themselves But For The   Rigorous Discipline Of

School-Mistresses!

In This, As In Other Cases, To Remedy The   Evils Of    One Artificiality,

Another Artificiality Has Been Introduced. The   Natural, Spontaneous

Exercise Having Been Forbidden, And The   Bad Consequences Of    No Exercise

Having Become Conspicuous, There Has Been Adopted A System Of    Factitious

Exercise--Gymnastics. That This Is Better Than Nothing We Admit; But

That It Is An Adequate Substitute For Play We Deny. The   Defects Are Both

Positive And Negative. In The   First Place, These Formal, Muscular

Motions, Necessarily Less Varied Than Those Accompanying Juvenile

Sports, Do Not Secure So Equable A Distribution Of    Action To All Parts

Of The   Body; Whence It Results That The   Exertion, Falling On Special

Parts, Produces Fatigue Sooner Than It Would Else Have Done: To Which,

In Passing, Let Us Add, That, If Constantly Repeated, This Exertion Of

Special Parts Leads To A Disproportionate Development. Again, The

Quantity Of    Exercise Thus Taken Will Be Deficient, Not Only In

Consequence Of    Uneven Distribution; But There Will Be A Further

Deficiency In Consequence Of    Lack Of    Interest. Even When Not Made

Repulsive, As They Sometimes Are By Assuming The   Shape Of    Appointed

Lessons, These Monotonous Movements Are Sure To Become Wearisome From

The Absence Of    Amusement. Competition, It Is True, Serves As A Stimulus;

But It Is Not A Lasting Stimulus, Like That Enjoyment Which Accompanies

Varied Play. The   Weightiest Objection, However, Still Remains. Besides

Being Inferior In Respect Of    The   _Quantity_ Of    Muscular Exertion Which

They Secure, Gymnastics Are Still More Inferior In Respect Of    The

_Quality_. This Comparative Want Of    Enjoyment Which We Have Named As A

Cause Of    Early Desistance From Artificial Exercises, Is Also A Cause Of

Inferiority In The   Effects They Produce On The   System. The   Common

Assumption That, So Long As The   Amount Of    Bodily Action Is The   Same, It

Matters Not Whether It Be Pleasurable Or Otherwise, Is A Grave Mistake.

An Agreeable Mental Excitement Has A Highly Invigorating Influence. See

The Effect Produced Upon An Invalid By Good News, Or By The   Visit Of    An

Old Friend. Mark How Careful Medical Men Are To Recommend Lively Society

To Debilitated Patients. Remember How Beneficial To Health Is The

Gratification Produced By Change Of    Scene. The   Truth Is That Happiness

Is The   Most Powerful Of    Tonics. By Accelerating The   Circulation Of    The

Blood, It Facilitates The   Performance Of    Every Function; And So Tends

Alike To Increase Health When It Exists, And To Restore It When It Has

Been Lost. Hence The   Intrinsic Superiority Of    Play To Gymnastics. The

Extreme Interest Felt By Children In Their Games, And The   Riotous Glee

With Which They Carry On Their Rougher Frolics, Are Of    As Much

Importance As The   Accompanying Exertion. And As Not Supplying These

Mental Stimuli, Gymnastics Must Be Radically Defective.

Granting Then, As We Do, That Formal Exercises Of    The   Limbs Are Better

Than Nothing--Granting, Further, That They May Be Used With Advantage As

Supplementary Aids; We Yet Contend That They Can Never Serve In Place Of

The Exercises Prompted By Nature. For Girls, As Well As Boys, The

Sportive Activities To Which The   Instincts Impel, Are Essential To

Bodily Welfare. Whoever Forbids Them, Forbids The   Divinely-Appointed

Means To Physical Development.

A Topic Still Remains--One Perhaps More Urgently Demanding Consideration

Than Any Of    The   Foregoing. It Is Asserted By Not A Few, That Among The

Educated Classes The   Younger Adults And Those Who Are Verging On

Maturity, Are Neither So Well Grown Nor So Strong As Their Seniors. On

First Hearing This Assertion, We Were Inclined To Class It As One Of

The Many Manifestations Of    The   Old Tendency To Exalt The   Past At The

Expense Of    The   Present. Calling To Mind The   Facts That, As Measured By

Ancient Armour, Modern Men Are Proved To Be Larger Than Ancient Men; And

That The   Tables Of    Mortality Show No Diminution, But Rather An Increase,

In The   Duration Of    Life, We Paid Little Attention To What Seemed A

Groundless Belief. Detailed Observation, However, Has Shaken Our

Opinion. Omitting From The   Comparison The   Labouring Classes, We Have

Noticed A Majority Of    Cases In Which The   Children Do Not Reach The

Stature Of    Their Parents; And, In Massiveness, Making Due Allowance For

Difference Of    Age, There Seems A Like Inferiority. Medical Men Say That

Now-A-Days People Cannot Bear Nearly So Much Depletion As In Times Gone

By. Premature Baldness Is Far More Common Than It Used To Be. And An

Early Decay Of    Teeth Occurs In The   Rising Generation With Startling

Frequency. In General Vigour The   Contrast Appears Equally Striking. Men

Of Past Generations, Living Riotously As They Did, Could Bear More Than

Men Of    The   Present Generation, Who Live Soberly, Can Bear. Though They

Drank Hard, Kept Irregular Hours, Were Regardless Of    Fresh Air, And

Thought Little Of    Cleanliness, Our Recent Ancestors Were Capable Of

Prolonged Application Without Injury, Even To A Ripe Old Age: Witness

The Annals Of    The   Bench And The   Bar. Yet We Who Think Much About Our

Bodily Welfare; Who Eat With Moderation, And Do Not Drink To Excess; Who

Attend To Ventilation, And Use Frequent Ablutions; Who Make Annual

Excursions, And Have The   Benefit Of    Greater Medical Knowledge;--We Are

Continually Breaking Down Under Our Work. Paying Considerable Attention

To The   Laws Of    Health, We Seem To Be Weaker Than Our Grandfathers Who,

In Many Respects, Defied The   Laws Of    Health. And, Judging From The

Appearance And Frequent Ailments Of    The   Rising Generation, They Are

Likely To Be Even Less Robust Than Ourselves.

What Is The   Meaning Of    This? Is It That Past Over-Feeding, Alike Of

Adults And Children, Was Less Injurious Than The   Under-Feeding To Which

We Have Adverted As Now So General? Is It That The   Deficient Clothing

Which This Delusive Hardening-Theory Has Encouraged, Is To Blame? Is It

That The   Greater Or Less Discouragement Of    Juvenile Sports, In Deference

To A False Refinement Is The   Cause? From Our Reasonings It May Be

Inferred That Each Of    These Has Probably Had A Share In Producing The

Evil.[7] But There Has Been Yet Another Detrimental Influence At Work,

Perhaps More Potent Than Any Of    The   Others: We Mean--Excess Of    Mental

Application.

On Old And Young, The   Pressure Of    Modern Life Puts A Still-Increasing

Strain. In All Businesses And Professions, Intenser Competition Taxes

The Energies And Abilities Of    Every Adult; And, To Fit The   Young To Hold

Their Places Under This Intenser Competition, They Are Subject To

Severer Discipline Than Heretofore. The   Damage Is Thus Doubled. Fathers,

Who Find Themselves Run Hard By Their Multiplying Competitors, And,

While Labouring Under This Disadvantage, Have To Maintain A More

Expensive Style Of    Living, Are All The   Year Round Obliged To Work Early

And Late, Taking Little Exercise And Getting But Short Holidays. The

Constitutions Shaken By This Continued Over-Application, They Bequeath