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

Quite Summarily, According To Personal Predilections. It Is True Also,

That Now And Then, We Hear Revived The   Standing Controversy Respecting

The Comparative Merits Of    Classics And Mathematics. This Controversy,

However, Is Carried On In An Empirical Manner, With No Reference To An

Ascertained Criterion; And The   Question At Issue Is Insignificant When

Compared With The   General Question Of    Which It Is Part. To Suppose That

Deciding Whether A Mathematical Or A Classical Education Is The   Best Is

Deciding What Is The   Proper _Curriculum_, Is Much The   Same Thing As To

Suppose That The   Whole Of    Dietetics Lies In Ascertaining Whether Or Not

Bread Is More Nutritive Than Potatoes!

The Question Which We Contend Is Of    Such Transcendent Moment, Is, Not

Whether Such Or Such Knowledge Is Of    Worth But What Is Its _Relative_

Worth? When They Have Named Certain Advantages Which A Given Course Of

Study Has Secured Them, Persons Are Apt To Assume That They Have

Justified Themselves; Quite Forgetting That The   Adequateness Of    The

Advantages Is The   Point To Be Judged. There Is, Perhaps, Not A Subject

To Which Men Devote Attention That Has Not _Some_ Value. A Year

Diligently Spent In Getting Up Heraldry, Would Very Possibly Give A

Little Further Insight Into Ancient Manners And Morals. Any One Who

Should Learn The   Distances Between All The   Towns In England, Might, In

The Course Of    His Life, Find One Or Two Of    The   Thousand Facts He Had

Acquired Of    Some Slight Service When Arranging A Journey. Gathering

Together All The   Small Gossip Of    A County, Profitless Occupation As It

Would Be, Might Yet Occasionally Help To Establish Some Useful

Fact--Say, A Good Example Of    Hereditary Transmission. But In These

Cases, Every One Would Admit That There Was No Proportion Between The

Required Labour And The   Probable Benefit. No One Would Tolerate The

Proposal To Devote Some Years Of    A Boy's Time To Getting Such

Information, At The   Cost Of    Much More Valuable Information Which He

Might Else Have Got. And If Here The   Test Of    Relative Value Is Appealed

To And Held Conclusive, Then Should It Be Appealed To And Held

Conclusive Throughout. Had We Time To Master All Subjects We Need Not Be

Particular. To Quote The   Old Song:--

  Could A Man Be Secure

  That His Day Would Endure

  As Of    Old, For A Thousand Long Years,

  What Things Might He Know!

  What Deeds Might He 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. And Remembering How Narrowly This Time Is

Limited, Not Only By The   Shortness Of    Life, But Also Still More By The

Business Of    Life, We Ought To Be Especially Solicitous To Employ What

Time We Have To The   Greatest Advantage. Before Devoting Years To Some

Subject Which Fashion Or Fancy Suggests, It Is Surely Wise To Weigh

With Great Care The   Worth Of    The   Results, As Compared With The   Worth Of

Various Alternative Results Which The   Same Years Might Bring If

Otherwise Applied.

In Education, Then, This Is The   Question Of    Questions, Which It Is High

Time We Discussed In Some Methodic Way. The   First In Importance, Though

The Last To Be Considered, Is The   Problem--How To Decide Among The

Conflicting Claims Of    Various Subjects On Our Attention. Before There

Can Be A Rational _Curriculum_, We Must Settle Which Things It Most

Concerns Us To Know; Or, To Use A Word Of    Bacon's, Now Unfortunately

Obsolete--We Must Determine The   Relative Values Of    Knowledges.

To This End, A Measure Of    Value Is The   First Requisite. And Happily,

Respecting The   True Measure Of    Value, As Expressed In General Terms,

There Can Be No Dispute. Every One In Contending For The   Worth Of    Any

Particular Order Of    Information, Does So By Showing Its Bearing Upon

Some Part Of    Life. In Reply To The   Question--"Of What Use Is It?" The

Mathematician, Linguist, Naturalist, Or Philosopher, Explains The   Way In

Which His Learning Beneficially Influences Action--Saves From Evil Or

Secures Good--Conduces To Happiness. When The   Teacher Of    Writing Has

Pointed Out How Great An Aid Writing Is To Success In Business--That Is,

To The   Obtainment Of    Sustenance--That Is, To Satisfactory Living; He Is

Held To Have Proved His Case. And When The   Collector Of    Dead Facts (Say

A Numismatist) Fails To Make Clear Any Appreciable Effects Which These

Facts Can Produce On Human Welfare, He Is Obliged To Admit That They Are

Comparatively Valueless. All Then, Either Directly Or By Implication,

Appeal To This As The   Ultimate Test.

How To Live?--That Is The   Essential Question For Us. Not How To Live In

The Mere Material Sense Only, But In The   Widest Sense. The   General

Problem Which Comprehends Every Special Problem Is--The Right Ruling Of

Conduct In All Directions Under All Circumstances. 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--How To Live Completely? And This Being The   Great

Thing Needful For Us To Learn, Is, By Consequence, The   Great Thing Which

Education Has To Teach. 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.

This Test, Never Used In Its Entirety, But Rarely Even Partially Used,

And Used Then In A Vague, Half Conscious Way, Has To Be Applied

Consciously, Methodically, And Throughout All Cases. It Behoves Us To

Set Before Ourselves, And Ever To Keep Clearly In View, Complete Living

As The   End To Be Achieved; So That In Bringing Up Our Children We May

Choose Subjects And Methods Of    Instruction, With Deliberate Reference To

This End. Not Only Ought We To Cease From The   Mere Unthinking Adoption

Of The   Current Fashion In Education, Which Has No Better Warrant Than

Any Other Fashion; But We Must Also Rise Above That Rude, Empirical

Style Of    Judging Displayed By Those More Intelligent People Who Do

Bestow Some Care In Overseeing The   Cultivation Of    Their Children's

Minds. It Must Not Suffice Simply To _Think_ That Such Or Such

Information Will Be Useful In After Life, Or That This Kind Of    Knowledge

Is Of    More Practical Value Than That; But We Must Seek Out Some Process

Of Estimating Their Respective Values, So That As Far As Possible We May

Positively _Know_ Which Are Most Deserving Of    Attention.

Doubtless The   Task Is Difficult--Perhaps Never To Be More Than

Approximately Achieved. But, Considering The   Vastness Of    The   Interests

At Stake, Its Difficulty Is No Reason For Pusillanimously Passing It By;

But Rather For Devoting Every Energy To Its Mastery. And If We Only

Proceed Systematically, We May Very Soon Get At Results Of    No Small

Moment.

Our First Step Must Obviously Be To Classify, In The   Order Of    Their

Importance, The   Leading Kinds Of    Activity Which Constitute Human Life.

They May Be Naturally Arranged Into:--1. Those Activities Which Directly

Minister To Self-Preservation; 2. Those Activities Which, By Securing

The Necessaries Of    Life, Indirectly Minister To Self-Preservation; 3.

Those Activities Which Have For Their End The   Rearing And Discipline Of

Offspring; 4. Those Activities Which Are Involved In The   Maintenance Of

Proper Social And Political Relations; 5. Those Miscellaneous Activities

Which Fill Up The   Leisure Part Of    Life, Devoted To The   Gratification Of

The Tastes And Feelings.

That These Stand In Something Like Their True Order Of    Subordination, It

Needs No Long Consideration To Show. The   Actions And Precautions By

Which, From Moment To Moment, We Secure Personal Safety, Must Clearly

Take Precedence Of    All Others. Could There Be A Man, Ignorant As An

Infant Of    Surrounding Objects And Movements, Or How To Guide Himself

Among Them, He Would Pretty Certainly Lose His Life The   First Time He

Went Into The   Street; Notwithstanding Any Amount Of    Learning He Might

Have On Other Matters. And As Entire Ignorance In All Other Directions

Would Be Less Promptly Fatal Than Entire Ignorance In This Direction, It

Must Be Admitted That Knowledge Immediately Conducive To

Self-Preservation Is Of    Primary Importance.

That Next After Direct Self-Preservation Comes The   Indirect

Self-Preservation Which Consists In Acquiring The   Means Of    Living, None

Will Question. That A Man's Industrial Functions Must Be Considered

Before His Parental Ones, Is Manifest From The   Fact That, Speaking

Generally, The   Discharge Of    The   Parental Functions Is Made Possible Only

By The   Previous Discharge Of    The   Industrial Ones. The   Power Of

Self-Maintenance Necessarily Preceding The   Power Of    Maintaining

Offspring, It Follows That Knowledge Needful For Self-Maintenance Has

Stronger Claims Than Knowledge Needful For Family Welfare--Is Second In

Value To None Save Knowledge Needful For Immediate Self-Preservation.

As The   Family Comes Before The   State In Order Of    Time--As The   Bringing

Up Of    Children Is Possible Before The   State Exists, Or When It Has

Ceased To Be, Whereas The   State Is Rendered Possible Only By The

Bringing Up Of    Children; It Follows That The   Duties Of    The   Parent Demand

Closer Attention Than Those Of    The   Citizen. Or, To Use A Further

Argument--Since The   Goodness Of    A Society Ultimately Depends On The

Nature Of    Its Citizens; And Since The   Nature Of    Its Citizens Is More

Modifiable By Early Training Than By Anything Else; We Must Conclude

That The   Welfare Of    The   Family Underlies The   Welfare Of    Society. And

Hence Knowledge Directly Conducing To The   First, Must Take Precedence Of

Knowledge Directly Conducing To The   Last.

Those Various Forms Of    Pleasurable Occupation Which Fill Up The   Leisure

Left By Graver Occupations--The Enjoyments Of    Music, Poetry, Painting,

Etc.--Manifestly Imply A Pre-Existing Society. Not Only Is A

Considerable Development Of    Them Impossible Without A Long-Established

Social Union; But Their Very Subject-Matter Consists In Great Part Of

Social Sentiments And Sympathies. Not Only Does Society Supply The

Conditions To Their Growth; But Also The   Ideas And Sentiments They

Express. And, Consequently, That Part Of    Human Conduct Which Constitutes

Good Citizenship, Is Of    More Moment Than That Which Goes Out In

Accomplishments Or Exercise Of    The   Tastes; And, In Education,

Preparation For The   One Must Rank Before Preparation For The   Other.

Such Then, We Repeat, Is Something Like The   Rational Order Of

Subordination:--That Education Which Prepares For Direct

Self-Preservation; That Which Prepares For Indirect Self-Preservation;

That Which Prepares For Parenthood; That Which Prepares For Citizenship;

That Which Prepares For The   Miscellaneous Refinements Of    Life. We Do Not

Mean To Say That These Divisions Are Definitely Separable. We Do Not

Deny That They Are Intricately Entangled With Each Other, In Such Way

That There Can Be No Training For Any That Is Not In Some Measure A

Training For All. Nor Do We Question That Of    Each Division There Are

Portions More Important Than Certain Portions Of    The   Preceding

Divisions: That, For Instance, A Man Of    Much Skill In Business But

Little Other Faculty, May Fall Further Below The   Standard Of    Complete

Living Than One Of    But Moderate Ability In Money-Getting But Great

Judgment As A Parent; Or That Exhaustive Information Bearing On Right

Social Action, Joined With Entire Want Of    General Culture In Literature

And The   Fine Arts, Is Less Desirable