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PAGE |
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| Foreword |
xxiii |
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| Preface |
xxv |
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| Synopsis |
xxix |
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| Introduction |
1 |
| |
| |
| BOOK I |
| |
| Chapter I |
| Self-Education |
23 |
| Not self-expression—A person, built up from within—Life,
sustained on food—Plant analogy misleading—Mental
and physical gymnastics—Mental food—The
life of the mind—Proper sustenance—Knowledge, not
sensation or information—Education, of the spirit—Cannot
be applied from without—Modern educators
belittle children—Education will profit by divorce from
sociology—Danger of an alliance with pathology—A
comprehensive theory—Fits all ages—Self-education—All
children have intellectual capacity—Should learn to
‘read’ before mechanical art of reading—Are much
occupied with things and books—A knowledge of principles,
necessary—Education chaotic for want of unifying
theory—The motive that counts. |
| |
| Chapter II |
| Children are Born Persons |
33 |
| 1.—The Mind of a Child: The baby, more than a huge
oyster—Poets on infancy—Accomplishments of a child
of two—Education does not produce mind—The range
of a child’s thoughts—Reason and imagination present
in the infant—Will and wilfulness. |
|
2.—The Mind of a School-Child: Amazing potentialities—Brain,
the organ of mind—The “unconscious mind,”
a region of symptoms—Mind, being spiritual, knows
no fatigue—Brain, duly fed, should not know fatigue—A
“play-way” does not lead to mind—Nor does environment—Mind
must come into contact with mind—What
is mind?—Material things have little effect upon
mind—Education, the evidence of things not seen—Ideas,
only fit sustenance for mind—Children must have
great ideas—Children experience what they hear and
read of—Our want of confidence in children—Children
see, in their minds—Mind, one and works altogether—Children
must see the world—Dangers of technical,
commercial, historical geography—Every man’s mind,
his means of living—All classes must be educated—The
æsthetic sense—A child’s intellect and heart already
furnished—He learns to order his life. |
| 3.—Motives for Learning: Diluted teaching—Every
child has infinite possibilities—The Parents’ Union
School—The House of Education—Teachers must know
capabilities and requirements of children. |
| |
| Chapter III |
| The Good and Evil Nature of a Child |
46 |
| 1.—Well-Being of Body: “Children of wrath”—“Little
angel” theory—Good and evil tendencies—Education,
handmaid of Religion—Religion becoming
more magnanimous—New-born children start fair—Children,
more of persons in their homes—Appetites—Senses—Undue
nervous tension—Overpowering personality—Parasitic
habits. |
| 2.—Well-Being of Mind: Mind, not a chartered libertine—Has
good and evil tendencies—Intellectual evil—Intellect
enthroned in every child—A child’s vivifying
imagination—Explanations unnecessary—Children
sense the meaning of a passage—Incuria—Going over
same ground—Dangers of specialisation—Of the questionnaire—Capacity
v. aptness—Imagination, good and
evil—Reason deified by the unlearned—Fallacious reasoning—A
liberal education necessary—The beauty
sense. |
| 3.—Intellectual Appetite: The desires—Wrong use of—Love
of knowledge sufficient stimulus. |
| 4.—Misdirected Affections: The feelings—Love and
justice—Moral education—Children must not be fed
morally—They want food whose issue is conduct—Moral
lessons worse than useless—Every child endowed
with love—And justice—Rights and duties—Fine art
of self-adjustment—To think fairly requires knowledge—Our
thoughts are not our own—Truth, justice
in word—Opinions show integrity of thought—Sound
principles—All children intellectually hungry—Starve
on the three R’s. |
| 5.—The Well-Being of the Soul: Education and the Soul
of a child—Ignorance of the child—Approaches towards
God—How knowledge grows—Narration—Great
thoughts of great thinkers illuminate children—Education
drowned by talk—Formative influence of
knowledge—Self-expression—Education, a going forth
of the mind—The “unconscious mind”—Mind always
conscious—But thinks in ways of which we are unconscious—Dangers
of introspection—“Complexes”—Necessity
for a Philosophy of Education. |
| |
| Chapter IV |
| Authority and Docility |
68 |
| Deputed authority, lodged in everyone—No such thing
as anarchy—A mere transference of authority—Authority
makes for Liberty—Order, the outcome of authority—Docility,
universal—The principles of authority
and docility inherent in everyone—Crux, to
find the mean—Freedom, offered as solution—“Proud
subjection and dignified obedience”—Secured by feeding
the mind—Subservience v. docility—Docility implies
equality—Physical activities do not sustain mind—Many
relationships must be established—No undue
emphasis—Sense of must in teacher and child—Freedom
comes with knowledge—The office makes the man—Children
must have responsibility of learning—The
potency of their minds—All children have quick apprehension—And
the power of attention—Humane letters
make for efficiency—Delightful to use any power—Common
interests—Powers of attention and recollection
a national asset—But want of intellectual interests
a serious handicap. |
| |
| Chapter V |
| The Sacredness of Personality |
80 |
| An adequate conception of children necessary—All action
comes from the ideas held—The child’s estate higher
than ours—Methods of undermining personality—
Fear—Love—“Suggestion”—Influence—Methods of
stultifying intellectual and moral growth—The desires—Of
approbation—Of emulation—Of ambition—Of
society—The natural desire of knowledge—Definite
progress, a condition of education—Doctrine of equal
opportunities for all, dangerous—But a liberal education
the possibility for all. |
| |
| Chapter VI |
| Three Instruments of Education |
94 |
| 1.—Education is an Atmosphere: Only three means of
education—Not an artificial environment—But a natural
atmosphere—Children must face life as it is—But
must not be overburdened by the effort of decision—Dangers
of intellectual feebleness and moral softness—Bracing
atmosphere of truth and sincerity—Not a too
stimulating atmosphere—Dangers of “running wild”—Serenity
comes with the food of knowledge—Two
courses open to us. |
| 2.—Education is a Discipline: We must all make efforts—But
a new point of view, necessary—Children must
work for themselves—Must perform the act of knowing—Attention,
the hall-mark of an educated person—Other
good habits attending upon due self-education—Spirit,
acts upon matter—Habit is to life what rails are
to transport cars—Habit is inevitable—Genesis of habit—Habits
of the ordered life—Habits of the religious life—De
Quincey on going to church—Danger of thinking
in a groove—Fads. |
| 3.—Education is a Life: Life is not self-existing—Body
pines upon food substitutes—Mind cannot live
upon information—What is an idea?—A live thing of
the mind—Potency of an idea—Coleridge on ideas—Platonic
doctrine of ideas—Functions of education not
chiefly gymnastic—Dangers attendant upon “original
composition”—Ideas, of spiritual origin—The child,
an eclectic—Resists forcible feeding—We must take the
risk of the indirect literary form—Ideas must be presented
with much literary padding—No one capable
of making extracts—Opinions v. ideas—Given an idea,
mind performs acts of selection and inception—Must
have humane reading as well as human thought. |
| |
| Chapter VII |
| How We make Use of Mind |
112 |
| Herbartian Psychology—“Apperception masses”—Dangers
of correlation—“Concentration series”—Children
reduced to inanities—Mind, a spiritual organism—Cannot
live upon “sweetmeats”—Burden of
education thrown on teacher—Danger of exalting
personality of teacher—“Delightful lessons”—Across
the Bridges, by A. Paterson—Blind alleys—Unemployment—Best
boys run to seed—Continuation Classes—Education
Act of 1918—An eight hours’ University
course—Academic ideal of Education—Continuation
school, a People’s University—Dangers of utilitarian
education—The “humanities” in English—Narration
prepares for public speaking—Father of the People’s
High Schools—Munich schools—Worship of efficiency—A
well-grounded humanistic training produces capacity—Mr.
Fisher on Continuation Schools—A more
excellent way—Education from six to seventeen—A
liberal education for all. |
| |
| Chapter VIII |
| The Way of the Will |
128 |
| Will, “the sole practical faculty”—“The will is the
man”—Its function, to choose, to decide—Opinions
provided for us—We take second-hand principles—One
possible achievement, character—Aim in education,
less conduct than character—Assaults upon the will—“Suggestion”—Voluntary
and involuntary action—We
must choose between suggestions—Danger of suggestion
given by another with intent—Vicarious choosing—Weakens
power of choice—Parasitic creatures may
become criminal—Gordon Riots—His will, the safeguard
of a man—Indecent to probe thoughts of the
“unconscious mind”—Right thinking, not self-expression—It
flows upon the stimulus of an idea—Will must
be fortified—Knowledge of the “city of Mansoul”
necessary—Also instruction concerning the will—Dangers
of drifting—A child must distinguish between will
and wilfulness—A strong will and “being good”—Will
must have object outside of self—Is of slow growth—Will
v. impulse—A constant will, compasses evil or good—The
“single eye”—Bushido—Will, subject to solicitation—Does
not act alone—Takes the whole man—He
must understand in order to will—Will, a free agent—Choice,
a heavy labour—Obedience, the sustainer of
personality—Obedience of choice—Persons of constant
will—Dangers of weak allowance—Two services open
to all—Self and God—Will is supreme—Will wearies
of opposition—Diversion—The “way of the will”—Freewill—We
may not think what we please—Will
supported by instructed conscience and trained reason—Education
must prepare for immediate choice—Adequate
education must be outward bound. |
| |
| Chapter IX |
| The Way of the Reason |
139 |
| Reason brings forward infallible proofs—May be furtherer
of counsels, good or bad—Inventions—How did
you think of it?—Children should follow steps of reasoning—Psychology
of crime—Reasonable and right,
not synonymous—Reason works involuntarily—Reason
never begins it—Reason will affirm any theory—Logic,
the formula of reason—But not necessarily right—Beauty
and wonder of act of reasoning—But there
are limitations—We must be able to expose fallacies—Karl
Marx—Socialistic thought of to-day—Reason
requires material to work upon—Reason subject to
habit—Children must have principles—Be able to
detect fallacies—Must know what Religion is—Miracles—Quasi-religious
offers—Great things of life cannot be
proved—Reason is fallible—Children, intensely reasonable—Reasoning
power of a child does not wait upon
training—But children do not generalise—Must not be
hurried to formulate—Mathematics should not monopolise
undue time—Cannot alone produce a reasonable
soul. |
| |
| Chapter X |
| The Curriculum |
154 |
| Standard in Secondary Schools set by public examinations—Elementary
Schools less limited with regard to
subjects—A complete curriculum in the nature of things—Education
still at sea—Children have inherent claims—Law
of supply and demand—Human nature a composite
whole—The educational rights of man—We may
not pick and choose—Shelley offers a key—Mistakes v.
howlers—Knowledge should be consecutive, intelligent,
complete—Hours of work, not number of subjects,
bring fatigue—Short hours—No preparation. |
| |
| Section I: The Knowledge of God |
158 |
| Knowledge of God indispensable—Mothers communicate
it best—Relation to God a first-born affinity—“Kiddies”
not expected to understand—School education
begins at six—No conscious mental effort should be
required earlier—Dr. Johnson on “telling again”—Two
aspects of Religion—Attitude of Will towards God—Gradual
perception of God—Goethe on repose of soul—Children
must have passive as well as active principle—New
Testament teaching must be grounded on Old—Sceptical
children—Must not be evaded or answered
finally—A thoughtful commentator necessary—Method
of lessons, six to twelve, twelve to fifteen, fifteen to
eighteen—Aids of modern scholarship—Dogmatic
teaching comes by inference—Very little hortatory
teaching desirable—Synthetic study of life and teaching
of Christ, a necessity—“Authentic comment”
essayed in verse—Catechism—Prayer Book—Church
History. |
| |
| Section II: The Knowledge of Man |
169 |
| (a) History: Montaigne on history—The League of
Nations and its parallels—Henry VIII on precedent—Dangers
of indifference to history—Rational patriotism
depends upon knowledge of history—History must
give more than impressions and opinions—P.U.S. method
multiplies time—Concentrated attention given
to the right books—Condition, a single reading—Attention
a natural function—Teacher’s interest an incentive—Teacher
who “makes allowance” for wandering,
hinders—Narration in the history lesson—Distinction
between word memory and mind memory—English
history for children of six to nine—Of nine to twelve—French
history—Ancient history—For children of
twelve to fifteen—Indian history—European history—History
for pupils of fifteen to eighteen—Literature—A
mental pageant of history—Gives weight to decisions,
consideration to action, stability to conduct—Labour
unrest—Infinite educability of all classes—Equal opportunity
should be afforded—But uneasiness apt to
follow—Knowledge brings its own satisfaction—Education
merely a means of getting on, or, of progress towards
high thinking and plain living. |
| |
| II: The Knowledge of Man |
180 |
| (b) Literature: Literature in Form I—Classics, not
written down—In Form II—Children show originality
in “mere narration”—Just as Scott, Shakespeare,
Homer—Children all sit down to the same feast—Each
gets according to his needs and powers—Reading for
Forms III and IV—Abridged editions undesirable—Children
take pleasure in the “dry” parts—Must have
a sense of wide spaces for the imagination to wander in—Judgment
turns over the folios of the mind—Statesmanship,
formed upon wide reading—Reading for
Forms V and VI (fifteen to eighteen). |
| |
| II: The Knowledge of Man |
185 |
| (c) Morals and Economics: Citizenship: Form I—Tales—Fables—Hears
of great citizens—Form II—The
inspiration of citizenship—Plutarch—Present day
citizenship—Problems of good and evil—Plutarch does
not label actions—Children weary of the doctored tale—The
human story always interesting—Jacob—The
good, which is all virtuous, palls—Children must see life
whole—Must be protected from grossness by literary
medium—Learn the science of proportion—Difficulty
of choosing books—Chastely taught children watch their
thoughts—Expurgated editions—Processes of nature
must not be associated with impurity—Games—Offences
bred in the mind—Mind must be continually and
wholesomely occupied—A sound body and a sound
mind—Ourselves, our Souls and Bodies—An ordered
presentation of the possibilities and powers of human
nature. |
| |
| II: The Knowledge of Man |
190 |
| (d) Composition: Oral, from six to seven—Dangers
of teaching composition—The art of “telling”—Power
of composition innate—Oral and written from nine to
twelve—Integral part of education in every subject—From
twelve to fifteen—An inevitable consequence of
free and exact use of books—Verse—Scansion—Rhythm—Accent—Subject
must be one of keen interest—From
fifteen to eighteen, some definite teaching—Suggestions
or corrections—Education bears on the issues
and interests of everyday life. |
| |
| II: The Knowledge of Man |
209 |
| (e) Languages: English—Grammar—Begin with sentence—Difficulty
of abstract knowledge—French—Narration
from the beginning—Italian—German—Latin. |
| |
| II: The Knowledge of Man |
213 |
| (f) Art: Art is of the spirit—Reverent knowledge of
pictures themselves—Method—No talk of schools
of painting or style—Picture tells its own tale—Drawing—Original
illustrations—Figures—Objects—Colour—Field
studies—Architecture—Clay-modelling—Artistic
handicrafts—Musical Appreciation. |
| |
| Section III: The Knowledge of the Universe |
218 |
| (a) Science: Huxley—“Common information”—Books
should be literary in character—French approach
to science—Principles underlying science meet for literary
treatment—Details of application too technical
for school work—Universal principles must be linked
with common incidents—Verbiage that darkens counsel—Out-of-door
work—Natural history, botany, astronomy,
physiology, hygiene, general science—A due
combination of field work with literary comments—Fatal
divorce between science and the “humanities”—Nature
Note Books—Science not a utilitarian subject. |
| Geography: Suffers from utilitarian spirit—Mystery
and beauty gone—Modern geography, concerned with
man’s profit—A map should unfold a panorama of
delight—Map work—Children read and picture descriptions—Knowledge
of England, a key to the world—Naval
history—Empire geography—Current geography—Countries
of Europe—Romance of natural features,
peoples, history, industries—Generalisations, not geography—Children
must see with the mind’s eye—Two
ways of teaching geography—Inferential method—But
general principles open to modification—No local colour
and personal interests—No imaginative conception—Panoramic
method—Gives colour, detail, proportion,
principles—Pictures not of much use—Except those
constructed by the imagination from written descriptions—Survey
of Asia—Africa—America—Physical
geography—Geography in connection with history—Practical
geography. |
| |
| III: The Knowledge of the Universe |
230 |
| (b) Mathematics: Reasoning powers do not wait upon
our training—Beauty and truth of Mathematics—A
sense of limitation wholesome—We should hear sursum
corda in natural law—Mind invigorated by hard exercise—Mathematics
easy to examine upon—Dangers of education
directed not to awaken awe but to secure exactness—Which
does not serve in other departments of
life—Work upon special lines qualifies for work on those
only—Mathematics to be studied for their own sake—Not
as they make for general intelligence and grasp
of mind—Genius has her rights—Tendency to sacrifice
the “humanities” to Mathematics—Mathematics depend
upon the teacher—Few subjects worse taught—A
necessary part of education. |
| |
| III: The Knowledge of the Universe |
233 |
| (c) Physical Development, Handicrafts. No special
methods for these. |