H*H^^'S>^HP*' < :?* ; iP' *>' >"i>^
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 PEDAGOGICAL M a
 
 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION : 
 
 PHstorg anli Criticism 
 
 MOT TO BE "ROM THF ROOM, 
 
 PRINCIPLES, METHODS, ORGANIZATION, AND 
 
 MORAL DISCIPLINE ADVOCATED BY 
 
 EMINENT EDUCATIONISTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN GILL, 
 
 PROFESSOR or EDUCATION, NORMAL COLLEGE, CHELTENHAM. 
 
 ENGLAND. AUTHOR OF " INTRODUCTORY TEXT-BOOK 
 
 TO SCHOOL EDUCATION," ETC. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 
 1889 
 
 NOV 1906
 
 Education 
 Library 
 
 i 
 G~ Hi 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 FOURTEENTH EDITION. 
 
 THE Notes to the present Edition have been revised 
 throughout, and a few passages unnoticed in former 
 editions have been explained. The references to 
 Keightley's Mythology have been replaced by short 
 notes, which will be found to contain what is necessary 
 for the understanding of the text. Where more 
 information is required, the Classical Dictionary may 
 be consulted. 
 
 April, 187ft.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the year 1852, the Syllabus for Students in Training 
 Colleges, issued by the Committee of Council on Educa- 
 tion, required that they should be instructed in the Sys- 
 tems of Education that had been in use in this country. 
 It thus became the Author's duty, in that and following 
 years, to explore the field, and to give lectures in the 
 course thus opened out to him. Gradually his course 
 shaped itself into the form in which it is presented in 
 this volume. At the request of the Bishop of Tasmania, 
 then Principal of the Training Colleges, Cheltenham, 
 some of these lectures appeared at intervals in the Papers 
 for the Schoolmaster. The whole course is now offered 
 in a more permanent form, at the request of many of 
 the Author's former pupils. But another consideration 
 has had weight. School Education has to become a 
 Science. One means to this end is to gather and examine 
 what has been done by those who have been engaged 
 therein, and whose position or success has given them a 
 right to be heard. Nor these alone. Others have been 
 employed, if not in it, yet about it. School education, 
 at its present standpoint, is the result of many agencies,
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 individual, social, and national, and these have been very 
 varied, and often antagonistic. It has been a growth, to 
 which the philosopher, the politician, the doctrinaire, and 
 the amateur have contributed, as well as the actual 
 workers in schools. With these excluding those whdse 
 object has been mercenary it has been a course of 
 efforts, schemes, mistakes, and failures, but sometimes of 
 partial successes, all of which have yielded something to 
 the fabric as it now stands. The Author's hope is thaf 
 the sketch here feebly attempted may stimulate those 
 just starting in their profession, ever to work with the 
 purpose of ultimately placing their art on a scientific basis. 
 
 One word as to the form. In few cases are the words 
 of the educational writers or workers used. Having but 
 a very limited time, not one hour weekly, in which to 
 present the salient points of each system, he found he 
 could better do this, without quotation. But he has 
 never consciously altered or coloured any one's views. 
 In this plan he was confirmed by finding how successfully 
 it bad been followed in the Schoolmaster, published by 
 the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ; to 
 which book and to its other publications, the writer 
 gratefully acknowk dges his indebtedness. 
 
 February 28, 1876.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 
 
 PIONEERS English taught in schools John Cornewafle In- 
 crease of schools Influence of Chaucer Revival of learn- 
 ing Colet Wolsey's instructions to masters First Eng- 
 lish grammar. 
 
 ROGER ASCHAM Hia education Origin of the Schoolmaster 
 Discipline in relation to learning Marks of a good 
 scholar Chiding Correction of mistakes Corporal 
 punishment Quick and hard wits Competent teachers 
 Learning to he intelligent Thoroughness Examples he- 
 fore rules Nothing to unlearn. 
 
 COMENIUS Monitorial principle Intuitive faculties Pictorial 
 teaching Picturing-out. 
 
 JOHN MILTON Spirit of the educator Influence on the nation's 
 life No formal routine Pestalozzian principle antici- 
 pated Baconian method. Course of study Motives to be 
 employed. 
 
 JOHN LOCKE Incidents in -life Physical education Moral 
 culture Its Place in a system of education Its natnre 
 Necessity of knowing childhood Difference in children 
 Early impressions M cans of moral training Authority 
 Shame Opposed to corporal punishment Obstinacy Re- 
 wards-Natural consequences Skilful teaching Learning 
 made pleasant Saturday Review quoted Pleasant books 
 Method of penmanship Grammar Composition French. 
 
 VICESIMUS KNOX Opposed to Locke Advantages of classical 
 culture Bias of scholar Easy methods suspicious Cul- 
 ture of memory Early reading Latin basis of school 
 discipline Greek and French English composition Geo- 
 graphy. ... .Pp. 147
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE COMMON SCHOOL. 
 
 EDGF.WOHTHS Influence of their writings Kindergarten anti. 
 cipated Early learning Objections to alphabetic teach, 
 ing Phonic method suggested Spelling should follow 
 jeading Arithmetic by objects Power of attention 
 Short lessons When to end teaching Connection in 
 teaching Difficulty of language Personal motive 
 Selection of books History, how taught Place of poetry 
 Moral discipline Natural consequences Submission 
 Commands and prohibitions. 
 
 x /J*8TALOzzi Incidents in life Books on education Become 
 a schoolmaster Qualification Experiments and failures 
 Leading principles Opposed to common practices So- 
 cratic development Was the old method utterly bad ? 
 Ideas before words Child an active agent Object lessons 
 Simple to complex Graduation of exercises Harmonious 
 development Absurdities in his practices Moral and reli- 
 gious training How develop religious feeling. 
 
 Pp. 4875 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INFANTS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 OBEBLIN School at Lanark School at Westminster. , 
 
 WILDERSPIN The gaudy cap and its lesson Qualifications for 
 his work His enthusiasm His entei prise Principles 
 Follow nature Physical culture Characteristics of child- 
 hood Moral education Moral truths and principles 
 Moral constitution Playground Cultivation of intelli- 
 gence The Senses How to think rather tban what 
 Object lessons Lessons in number Ball frame 
 Pictures. 
 
 MAYOS Expounders of Pestalozzianism Pestalozzian prin- 
 ciples Education should be religious Should be moral 
 Should be organic Action parent of power Liberty 
 Harmonious development Progressive. 
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY Primary object in 
 infant culture Infants' schools are too often hot-beds 
 Aim of this Society Huge gallery banished Sectional
 
 CONTENTS. VI 1 
 
 division of school Development and intuition Hand, 
 head and heart Religious training Its mode First ideas 
 of God Graduated instruction Scripture prints Moral 
 culture Based on religious truth Springs of action 
 Systematic culture of the feelings Conscience Training 
 rather than teaching Power of example School discip- 
 line Authority Punishments Treatment of obstinate 
 children Rewards and praise Cultivation of intelligence 
 The seuses Object lessons Lessons on animals 
 Colour and form Size and weight Number. 
 KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM Frobel Observes children Their 
 characteristics Gifts Forms Inventions Activity 
 Taste Number Reading. . . Pp. 76161 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL Origin of monitorial system Province of 
 the school Religion and morality Relation to future 
 callings Attention and exertion Means of secuiing 
 Home exercises Principles and methods Something to do 
 Definite and thorough work Repetition Reading 
 "Writing Organization of school Subordinate officers 
 Large classes Arrangements of room School keeping 
 Supervision Paidometer Discipline Prevention better 
 than cure Personal improvement Emulation Place- 
 taking Treatment of offences Punishment objections 
 to corporal punishment. 
 
 JOSKFH LANCASTER Devotedness to education --Moral training 
 based on religious instruction Periods of school life 
 Graduation of lessons Reading Arithmetic Organization 
 distinct classes for arithmetic classes and drafts Teach- 
 ing staff Discipline Influence of master Public opinion 
 in school Fellenberg's practice Offices of trust 
 Training of the will Emotions of self-love of distinc- 
 tion Class emulation. 
 
 lui-jSLLECTUAJ, SYSTEM Culture of intelligence Knowledge of 
 child mind No royal road to learning Qualifications of
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 teachers Disciplined mind Apt to teach- Methods 
 Interrogation Explanation Exposition of reading lesson. 
 
 Stow' s TRAINING SYSTEM Origin and progress Infant school 
 David Caughie Establishment of first normal college 
 training and teaching Function of the school Religious 
 and moral training Bible lessons Te ling not training 
 Currie on doing Locke on training Action teaches 
 Condition of moral training Knowledge of aptitudes 
 Development of tastes Freedom from restraint Fear 
 prevents confidence Temptations not removed Uncovered 
 school room Moral review Sympathy of numbers 
 Public opinion Long on school opinion Reid on school 
 boy's influence Currie on sympathy of numbers Intel- 
 lectual culture Leading principle Master to teach 
 Necessity of learning Nothing told that can be discovered 
 Understanding, then memory Not reasons for every- 
 thing Logical faculty Outlines first Picturing out 
 Words Scenes Bible lessons Training out Mistakes 
 and absurdities Induction Collective lessons 
 
 Pp. 162262 
 CHAPTER V. 
 AMATEURS AND HELPERS. 
 
 Present interest in education Brougham's efforts Central 
 Society. 
 
 THOMAS WYSE Knowledge of mind Education must be reli- 
 gious that it may be moral How teach the Bible Intel- 
 ligent training The senses first All the faculties - 
 Method should be eclectic. 
 
 HORACE GRANT Interest in education Special qualifications 
 Inductive labour Principles Saturday Review on arithmetic. 
 
 EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Shuttleworth Principles of method 
 Pound's Battersea college Professor Moseley Religious 
 training Moral discipline Training of teachers Oral 
 lessons Tripartite organization Grade schools Tremen- 
 heere Oral lessons Education of the whole nature Know- 
 ledge of mind Poetry Reading lesson. . Pp. 263 304
 
 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IS III 
 
 GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 
 
 Section I. Pioneers. 
 
 THE reign of Edward III. witnessed, after a struggle of 
 three centuries, the triumph of English, in the 
 schools, as well as in social life and the courts of law. 
 Schools had been chiefly those connected with cathedrals 
 and monasteries, some of the latter class having been 
 founded before the Conquest. These were intended 
 chiefly for the training of ecclesiastics. But there 
 were other than these, found in towns and villages, 
 which were open to the laity. Of these were those 
 held probably in the chamber over the porch of the 
 church, parvise. The Serjeant in the Canterbury Tales 
 had been at parvisf.. In these schools Latin and 
 French were taught, and were the medium through 
 which other things were acquired. John Cornewaile 
 appears to have been the first to break through custom 
 and prejudice, by introducing into the school the 
 reading of the mother tongue, it spread, so that in 
 the course of a generation "In all the grammar 
 schools of England children iearnoth French and con-
 
 2 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 strueth and learneth in English." The Visions and 
 Creed of Piers Ploughman (Langlande), the tracts and 
 Bible of Wycliffe, and the burst of song in Chaucer 
 came to stimulate and reward this movement. Other 
 schools under private persons, that is, not connected 
 with the religious houses sprang up, due greatly to 
 Wycliffe and those who abetted him. The movement 
 was countenanced by Wykeham, to whom it has been 
 attributed, that his school at Winchester was designed 
 to rescue the early training of youth from the hands of 
 the monks. The increase of these schools seems to 
 have alarmed the ecclesiastical bodieu. They opposing 
 Lollardry, obtained a law making it illegal to send 
 children for tuition to private persons. But the impetus 
 had been given, and though for a century after Chaucer 
 no great English writer appeared, yet it is evident 
 that the learning of English spread more and more, 
 until literature was no longer the possession of a class, 
 but had begun to be the heritage of the people. This 
 is shown by the literature in demand ; compendiums 
 of the scientific and historic knowledge of the day ; the 
 common-place dramas, mysteries, and poems, and the 
 rhyming chronicles. It is also shown by the extent 
 of the demand. It was beyond precedent, so that few 
 occupations were so thriving as the scriveners. It is 
 also shown in the demand of some of the clergy of 
 London in 1477, for leave to open schools in their re- 
 spective churches. But the strongest proof of all is in, 
 the success that attended William Caxton, and his 
 noble efforts, by translation and printing, to meet the 
 ever increasing demand. 
 The revival of learning in Florence, due greatly to
 
 PIONEERS. 3 
 
 the Greek scholars, who had fled there, on the taking 
 of Constantinople by the Turks ; and due also to the 
 influence of the Medici ; and the spread of this revival 
 in Europe was another element in the upward move- 
 ment. Grocyn, Linacre, and somewhat later Colet, 
 having studied in Florence, returned to kindle the fire 
 in Oxford, and to adopt means to promote the new 
 learning. 
 
 The reformation, in one of its phases a collateral 
 result of the revival of learning, brought into the 
 homes of the people the light of sacred truth, with its 
 necessary result, intellectual awakening ; and placed 
 within their reach the Bible in English. 
 
 It was a necessary consequence of the revival of 
 learning that schools and colleges increased. During 
 the latter years of Henry VIII. moi grammar schools 
 were founded than during the three preceding centuries. 
 In the reign of Edward and Elizabeth the good work 
 went on, until a system of schools was established for 
 the middle-classes, which bore noble fruit in the next 
 generations. It was natural that this revival and 
 progress should draw attention to school methods and 
 practices, which should issue in efforts for their im 
 provement. Dean Colet led the way in both move- 
 ments, by the establishment of his school at St. Paul's, 
 placing it under the charge of Lilly, and by reforming 
 the matter of study and the mode of instruction. 
 Fifteen years later, Wolsey wrote to the masters of the 
 school he had founded at Ipswich a letter of instruc- 
 tion as to the methods to be pursued, gathered probably 
 from the writings of Erasmus, and the practice on the 
 Continent. The main points of this letter, separater 1
 
 4 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 from the detail of daily work in each class are, to be 
 careful in first teaching, to suit the matter to the 
 capacity, not to force to learning by blows or harsh 
 threats, to make learning a game rather than a task, 
 to explain, illustrate and arrange, to commend, and 
 to exact correctness in speech at play as well as in 
 school. 
 
 But this revival was not confined to classical learn- 
 ing. In the reign of Elizabeth, there burst into leaf, 
 the tree of English literature, with a vigour, a life, and 
 a growth, which have never since departed from it. 
 With this there came the demand for such culture in 
 schools, as would put this literature into the hands of 
 England's children. The first attempt was the humble 
 unpretentious English Grammar, of the head master of 
 St. Paul's school, Alexander Gill. 
 
 Section II. Roger Ascham. 
 
 Eoger Ascham may be considered the father of 
 school method. For though his " Scholemaster " deals 
 necessarily with classical learning, yet it contains 
 principles which are applicable to all school subjects. 
 His book was not that of an amateur, but of one who 
 had, for the age, fair experience and success in the 
 work of tuition. Born in 1515, he entered, at the age 
 of fifteen, St. John's College, Cambridge, just when 
 the Greek revival under Cheke was drawing many to 
 that University. Ascham's progress was rapid, and 
 the bent of his mind was shown by his teaching, while 
 yet a boy, other boys the Greek he had so quickly 
 acquired, with the design too of facilitating his own
 
 ROGER ASCHAM. 5 
 
 acquisition and use of it. He became early distinguished 
 as a scholar, obtained his bachelor's degree at the age 
 of nineteen, and was elected a Fellow of his College a 
 month later. He employed himself as tutor and 
 lecturer, and many of his scholars afterwards rose to 
 great distinction. Ascham was not only proficient in 
 classical learning, he had skill in music, and was one 
 of the few that excelled in penmanship. This in- 
 fluenced his fortunes. About 1544, he was appointed 
 by Henry VIIL to teach penmanship to Edward and 
 Elizabeth, and somewhat later he became Greek tutor 
 to that princess. Subsequently he was Latin secretary 
 to Edward VI., an office which was continued to him 
 by the good offices of Gardiner under Mary, and which 
 he retained under Elizabeth. With this queen he also 
 read classics daily, until his death in 1568. 
 
 The origin of Ascham's book gives the key to its 
 matter. In 1563, Sir William Cecil tells in Ascham's 
 presence of boys that had run away from Eton for 
 fear of a beating. He also expressed an opinion that 
 masters often punish nature rather than the fault of 
 the scholar ; and drove from learning those they had 
 in charg'e. This gave rise to a discussion, whether 
 learning was better promoted by love alluring, or beat- 
 ing driving to it. Ascham expressed himself against 
 punishments, and in favour of methods that would 
 render punishment unnecessary. His work is in two 
 books. Book I. " Teaching the bringing up of 
 Youth." Book II. "The ready way to the Latin 
 tongue. The former book, to which we confine our- 
 selves, treats of discipline and method. 
 
 Ascham is at pains to distinguish between the dis-
 
 6 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 cipline which is to promote progress in learning with the 
 love of it, and the discipline which has to form the 
 manners, root out vice, and promote growth in virtue. 
 In this latter sphere, he thinks there may be reasonable 
 severity, but he thinks that such discipline does not 
 belong to* the schoolmaster. This opinion has not 
 altogether died out, there being schools now, where 
 masters think their only responsibility rests in their 
 pupils' progress in learning. Still, even in Ascham's 
 day, there were those who held that the school had a 
 higher function in education. " In such places," he 
 urges, " the discipline to promote learning should not 
 be of the same kind as that which has to form the 
 character and reform the manners." Referring to the 
 discipline amongst the Ancients he observes: "The 
 schoolmaster taught him learning with all gentleness ; 
 the governor corrected his manners with much sharp- 
 ness, the father held the stern of his whole obedience. 
 And so he that used to teach did not commonly use 
 to beat, but remitted that over to another man's charge. 
 But what shall we say, when now in our days the 
 schoolmaster is used both for preceptor in learning, 
 and pcedagoyus in manners 1 Surely, I would he 
 should not confound their offices, but discreetly use 
 the duty of both, so that neither ill touches should be 
 left unpunished, nor gentleness in teaching anywise 
 omitted. And he shall well do both, if wisely he do 
 appoint diversity of time, and separate place for either 
 purpose." Here is a very important distinction shadowed 
 forth, involving a very great principle, and indicating a 
 tioble practice. Nothing should be done in discipline 
 th;it will tend to confound moral distinctions in the
 
 ROGER ASCHAM. 7 
 
 mind of the young ; or, that will make them think that 
 a false quantity is on the same footing as a lie. This 
 distinction too is important, when weighing arguments 
 on corporal punishment ; for it must be evident that 
 such as may establish the propriety, expediency, or 
 necessity of it in the one case, may be utterly worthless 
 in the other. 
 
 Quoting from Plato the marks of a good scholar in 
 the judgment of Socrates, he sets forth these as the 
 objects of discipline. Secure to him a gsod " memory, 
 quick to receive, sure to keep, and ready to deliver ; 
 a love of learning ; a desire to labour ; a will to take 
 pains ; willingness to be taught by any one ; and not to 
 be ashamed to ask questions." 
 
 To attain those objects, " never chide hastily." Look 
 well to your ground and consider what will be its 
 effect on the pupil. " Hasty chiding dulls the wit 
 and discourages diligence." " Why are you angry, sir? 
 Indeed I am doing as well as I can," was a reply 
 that elicited from Arnold, " I was never so ashamed in 
 my life." " Monish gently." Faults have to be 
 pointed out, but it should be in a way " that shall 
 make him both willing to amend, and glad to go for- 
 ward in love and hope of learning." Hence monition 
 should be mixed with encouragement. Love is a better 
 spur than fear, gentleness is better than bullying, soft 
 words are better than stinging ones. " For whatsoever 
 the mind doth learn unwillingly from fear, the same it 
 doth gladly forget without care." In further illustration 
 he compares children learning to ride, and learning 
 their book. " Schoolmasters by fear do beat into them 
 the hatred of learning ; and wise riders, by gentle allure-
 
 8 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ments, do breed up in them the love of riding. They 
 find fear and bondage in schools, they feel liberty and 
 freedom in stables." Meeting an obvious objection 
 that riding is a pastime and therefore easy to children, 
 while learning is labour and wearisome, he rejoins, 
 "Beat a child if he dance not well, and cherish him 
 though he learn not well, ye shall have him unwilling 
 to go to dance, and glad to go to his book," for " the 
 mind of a child is like the newest wax, able to receive 
 the best and fairest printing," hence a child's likings 
 or dislikings are due to his educators. 
 
 Correction of mistakes or faults should not degrade, 
 nor discourage, but stimulate. In doing this necessary 
 work, there must not be a frown, nor the fault put 
 down to wilfulness. " Cicero would have used such a 
 word, or put it in such a place." Here he exhibits 
 knowledge of human nature. An illustration is at 
 hand in the "Daily News "of the autumn of 1872. 
 Its correspondent attended the field manoauvres of the 
 English army, and a few days later he was performing ' 
 a similar duty with the German army in the neighbour- 
 hood of Berlin. " If an officer in the former case made 
 a mistake he was soundly rated in the presence of the 
 staff; but in the case of the German, the General said 
 ' Had I been charged with such a movement, I would 
 have conducted it so and so.' Here the self respect of 
 the officer was considered, who, beside, would on a 
 similar occasion try to do the thing as his distinguished 
 general would have done it." 
 
 Seating should never be employed to promote learning. 
 Generally it breaks rather than bends, mars rather than 
 mends. It tends to associate such disagreeable things
 
 ROGER ASCHAM. 9 
 
 with learning as to make children detest, rather than 
 love it, drive from it, rather than allure to it It often 
 leads to tyranny. Beaters often allow ill humour at 
 other things to find vent on the pupil. Indulging the 
 practice of inflicting pain for faults not of a moral 
 nature, has a tendency to harden the master, and to 
 r ender him insensible to the claims of justice. It is 
 often unjust. As Cecil said, it more frequently punishes 
 nature than corrects faults ; for the slow, and dull, 
 and heavy get the heating, while the quick and easy 
 getters obtain the praise. Pain is thus inflicted for 
 natural qualities, instead of being reserved for moral 
 offences. 
 
 There should be discrimination between quick and 
 hard wits. Quick w its are apt to take, unapt to keep, 
 easily got and quickly gone, soon hot and soon cold- 
 They are like sharp-edged tools, which enter easily but 
 do not penetrate to a great depth, because their edges 
 are soon turned. Hence few quick wits are -ever pro- 
 found ; but exception is to be made here for the excel- 
 lently gifted. But as a matter of fact, the quick at 
 school seldom turn out well as men ; they live obscurely 
 and die unknown. The remedy is a judicious system 
 of repetition which will make their learning thorough. 
 Hard wits are the hope of the school, and ultimately 
 do society and the commonwealth most service. Here 
 is encouragement. Hard wits are those who find it hard 
 to iearn, and who are hard to teach. He compares them 
 to hard woods and hard stones in the hands of the 
 engraver and sculptor. The tool makes scarcely any 
 impression ; it requires much toil and much skill to 
 trace a line or to chisel a feature, but the work is
 
 10 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 lasting. Lapse of time and the action of the elements 
 destroy it not. It realizes "I work for eternity." Now 
 your hard wits are just such. Hard to get, hard to 
 lose, sure to keep. He compares them also to tools 
 which enter with difficulty, but penetrate deeply. 
 Here is probably the reason of their slowness, they are 
 not satisfied like the quick with being superficial. 
 They are not like the butterfly, here and there, but 
 like the bee, staying at a flower till it has gathered all 
 it contains. 
 
 The principles for conducting instruction found in 
 Ascham are few but pregnant. His first care would 
 be to provide a competent instructor. But, alas! 
 " men look for a cunning man for their horse, but not 
 for their children." They show this in the salaries 
 they give. " Two hundred crowns to the one, two 
 hundred shillings to the other." They reap accordingly 
 "tame, well-ordered horses, wild children. They 
 get more pleasure from their horses than comfort from 
 their children." 
 
 Ascham requires that the master shall teach as well 
 as the pupil learn, and in order thereto. The pupil 
 should understand. .The master is to spare no pains 
 to make him carry away the sense. He requires as a 
 test and as a means that the child shall do by himself 
 what he had before done with his tutor. It is only 
 through teaching that learning is profitable. " Learn- 
 ing without teaching makes lubbers, always learning, 
 never profiting." He draws a comparison between 
 what children learn from books, and what they obtain 
 by the use of their senses and by experience. The 
 one is .practical and valuable, the other stale and
 
 ROGER ASCHAM. 11 
 
 profitless. Learning -without intelligence is simply, 
 " on the tongue and lip, to be spit out when occasion 
 needeth ; that which is understood ascends to the brain, 
 is assimilated, and becomes fruitful." 
 
 Learning must be thorough as well as intelligent. 
 These things satisfy the mind of the pupil and clear 
 his path. " They give pleasure to children, pleasure 
 excites love, love provokes labour, and labour effects 
 its purpose." Thoroughness requires that there should 
 be order in his work and repetition. " Let the master 
 read unto him the Epistles of Cicero. First let him 
 teach the child cheerfully and plainly the cause and 
 matter of the letter; then let him construe it into 
 English so oft as the child may easily carry away the 
 understanding of it; lastly, parse it over perfectly. 
 This done thus, let the child by and by both construe 
 and parse it over again, so that it may appear that the 
 child doubteth in nothing that his master taught him 
 before. After this the child must take a paper book, 
 and sitting in some place where no man shall prompt 
 him, by himself, let him translate into English his 
 former lesson. Then, showing it to his master, let the 
 master take from him his Latin book, and pausing an 
 hour at least, then let the child translate his own 
 English into Latin again in another paper book. The 
 master must compare it with Tully's book, and lay 
 them both together." 
 
 In order to thoroughness and subsequent progress, 
 there should be cultivation at first only of a small 
 area. He recommends that a good but easy and short 
 book should be selected, and this so completely worked 
 and mastered as to be equally at command with the
 
 
 12 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 mother tongue. This advice, necessary then, is ten- 
 fold more so now. How wide the area of human 
 research at present ! How vast the domain of knowledge 
 already won ! How persistent the devotee to each 
 special subject, that his shall enter into the curriculum 
 of the school ! How dogmatic the doctrinaire, that 
 the subjects in school shall be many, and that their 
 limits shall not be circumscribed ! And with what 
 results ? Let the disclosures in connection with the 
 Civil Service examinations, and the system of enfeebling 
 cram, give the reply. No ! the hint of Ascham should 
 be the rule in school " a small area well cultivated." 
 This only will give thorough knowledge, strength of 
 mind, and sound education. 
 
 " Heedful mending of faults " is necessary both to 
 intelligence and thoroughness. Correction of mis- 
 takes is oftentimes the best instruction. We get a 
 clearer insight. " A child learns more from two faults 
 than from four things rightly hit." 
 
 Examples before rules, and rules deduced from 
 examples, are two important principles which are in- 
 dicated by Ascham. Speaking of Latin, he would have 
 the learner become familiar with the language, and for 
 himself discover its syntax, rather than the common 
 practice of giving him the rule and leaving him to 
 apply it. These two invaluable principles are but now 
 bearing fmit in school matters, so persistent is bad 
 method, and so difficult to overcome the inertia that 
 prevents thought. But our author has no sympathy 
 with idleness, nor with any master who adopts what 
 seems the easier method of tasks, instead of one that 
 makes constant demand on his own mental power
 
 COMEN1US. 13 
 
 The practice of a boy being set to do things at such 
 a time, or in such a way, that he learns many things 
 that he has afterwards to unlearn, comes under animad- 
 version. Thus are often produced faults that no later 
 care can cure. His instance is taken from setting boys 
 to Latin composition before they had sufficient know- 
 ledge and skill in the language. The rule condemns 
 the too frequent practice of giving for correction false 
 syntax, false speech, and false spelling ; and the per- 
 mitting of practices in learning, and in reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic, which afterwards prove hindrances to 
 progress. 
 
 Section III. Comenius. Milton. 
 
 John Amos Comenius was born at Comna in 1592. 
 His parents were Moravians, and he himself became a 
 pastor in that community. Forced by the burning of 
 Fulneck, in the religious war, to leave that town, he 
 became rector of a school at Lesna, in Poland. Here 
 he began his career as an educational reformer. In 
 1G31 he published his " Janua Linguarum," and other 
 works followed. Of these the " Janua " and the 
 " Orbis " were translated into most European and into 
 some of the Oriental languages. Having thus become 
 known he was sought for by several Governments to 
 put their systems of public instruction on a better 
 basis. For this purpose he was invited to England, 
 and remained here from 1638 to 1642, when the cut- 
 break of the civil war caused him to leave. In 1638 
 he published in London an edition of his " Janua 
 Linguarum, "in Latin, English, and French, "The Gate
 
 14 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 of Tongues Unlocked and Opened." In this and his 
 other books there are many valuable suggestions for 
 the improvements of method of instruction. 
 
 Acting on the hint of Quintilian, that the new 
 learner is the best teacher, he employed pupils to in- 
 struct less advanced pupils, thus anticipating, as had 
 been done with Ascham at Cambridge, the monitorial 
 plan of mutual instruction. His " Gate of Tongues " 
 and his " Orbis " unfold a plan of aiding the acquisi- 
 tion of languages by calling into exercise the percep- 
 tive and intuitive faculties. For this purpose he would 
 have the matter of the lessons such as would address 
 itself to the senses, or would be easily understood ; as 
 natural history, trades and professions, and science. 
 He also introduced pictorial illustration into his books 
 and teaching. This practice instantly became popular; 
 Dr. Doddridge informing us that it was the common 
 method in his childhood, for mothers thus to teach 
 their little ones. A still further advance is the re- 
 commendation, when things and pictures fail, to em- 
 ploy graphic description, or " picturing out." It is 
 curious to note the use by Comenius, of a term, for the 
 supposed invention of which Stow received some hard 
 criticism. 
 
 It is evident that these practices of Comenius con- 
 tain the germs of things afterwards associated with the 
 names of Pestalozzi and Stow. It also may be safely 
 assumed that many methods that are now in extensive 
 use, were then not unknown to earnest teachers, for it 
 is hard to believe that any one ever was a real teacher 
 who did not emp'oy rational methods. 
 
 JOHN MILTON was induced by a friend to write a
 
 MILTON. 15 
 
 small tract on what he calls " one of the greatest and 
 noblest designs, the reforming of education," This 
 tract appeared a few years subsequently to the depar- 
 ture of Comenius, to whom the author evidently refers, 
 when, not denying his obligations to the Ancients, he 
 asserts no inclination to search " Modern Januas and 
 Didactics." Milton's scheme was not that of a mere 
 theorist, but of one who himself had been engaged in 
 tuition. His own education had been carefully con- 
 ducted, being already an accomplished scholar, when, 
 at the age of fifteen, he entered St. Paul's School. 
 
 The openifig proposition, whether intended so by 
 Milton or not, admirably sets forth the spirit in which 
 the work of education should be carried on. " The only 
 purpose which should act as a motive in the pursuit of 
 any object worthy to be remembered or imitated is the 
 love of God and of mankind ! " This excludes mercenary 
 motives. Not that a man should not be paid for his 
 labours, and that in proportion to its value to the 
 commonwealth, and to the skill and ability it requires ; 
 but to attain the highest results in education, results 
 not to be appraised by a money value, a man must be 
 animated by a far higher consideration than the amount 
 of money it secures. 
 
 Living in stirring times, in which many were making 
 sacrifices for the public good, Milton is influenced 
 thereby, and contends that education should produce 
 well-informed citizens, and good members of the state. 
 This is one great aspect of the teacher's work. He is 
 advancing the nation's knowledge, and he is influencing 
 the nation's life What the intellect and moral life of 
 the people of the future will be, will always depend on
 
 16 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the work in the schoolroom. There is laid either the 
 " Seed corn of a harvest, or the powder train of a mine." 
 But a yet higher purpose is to animate the school- 
 master Human nature is in ruins, and we ought to 
 seek its repair. This can be done " only by knowledge 
 of God, love to God, and hence imitation of God, until 
 we become like God." 
 
 We gather that Milton attaches no value to a formal 
 
 , routine of lessons, but requires a system of teaching 
 that would arouse thought as well as exercise memory. 
 This is the constant cry of the educational reformer. 
 Forsake your mechanical drill, your setting of tasks, 
 your burdens on memory, and give us work that will 
 produce thinkers. In order to this the relation of 
 language to culture should be understood. Things are 
 to be known rather than words or rules, and the 
 knowledge of words is best obtained through the 
 knowledge of things. Here the Pestalozzian principle 
 is anticipated, and also the application of it. "Cer- 
 tain things can be made known only by the sensible 
 and visible. They cannot be presented at all but by 
 
 "* concrete examples. Such are divine things. To re- 
 present the divine to us, human imagery is employed." 
 But the same thing is true of many subjects, and thus 
 " the same method is to be followed in all discreet 
 teaching." Language not only embodies things, but 
 also records for us the experience and traditions of 
 other people and of other times. It is therefore an 
 instrument conveying to us things useful to be known. 
 Hence it becomes an instrument of culture, but it fails 
 in this office, unless the things contained in it become 
 the property of the mind. Language is the great
 
 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 17 
 
 store house of the treasures of the past, hut if it is only a 
 verbal possession, it is like a storehouse the inlets to 
 which have been closed up. Hence though a man 
 know all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, 
 yet if he have not studied the solid things in them, he 
 is not learned. 
 
 Milton is quite Baconian in protesting against begin- 
 ning where the true philosopher ends. True method 
 is to begin with objects of sense, and to gather facts. 
 He is strongly urgent that early instruction should be- 
 gin with things that are easy, and that are obvious to 
 the sense ; and that it should be real and thorough. 
 The result of the opposite plan is pernicious to the 
 individual and to society. The picture is very start- 
 ling. Disgust with learning, and with its babblement 
 w of course. Nothing being ever clearly understood, 
 there is no real knowledge, and the whole thing is con- 
 sciously to the scholars a deception and a sham. Thus 
 by being taught at school to appear to know, and to 
 speak as if his knowledge was real, when he is con- 
 scious that it is not, he is trained in the habit of un- 
 truth. The result is that truth is absent from life, 
 from society, and that there is no profession in which 
 is to be found, truth, virtue, or a high aim. So that 
 it is found that in all affairs of life persons are actuated 
 by mercenary considerations, or they give themselves 
 up to a loose and voluptuous career. 
 
 His scheme embraces the education of the boy and 
 youth up to the age of twenty-one, and includes manly 
 exercises and accomplishments. The earlier course 
 should include good interesting books, that will allure 
 to study, win to thought, and incite to virtue. Arith- 
 C
 
 18 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 metic and geometry should come in every day. The 
 evening should be given to the grounds of religion and 
 the study of Scripture. But nothing should be exacted 
 beyond the power of the pupil, such as " the prepos- 
 terous exaction of forcing the empty wits of children 
 to compose themes and essays " on subjects which only 
 those of enriched minds and ripe judgments can at- 
 tempt. He also lays down the rule that as learners 
 advance, they ought often to retrace their steps, and 
 work over again their earlier studies. The whole 
 scheme of study embraced Latin and Greek authors, 
 first pleasant as Plutarch, then useful as those on agri- 
 culture and philosophy ; astronomy and geography ; 
 architecture, fortification and engineering ; religion and 
 ethics; natural philosophy, natural history, botany, 
 and anatomy ; jurisprudence, logic, and poetry. 
 
 The motives that he would employ may be gathered 
 from hints here and there in the tract. Learning 
 should be made pleasant, by administering to faculties 
 belonging to the period, and by furnishing delightful 
 books. Careful instruction and explanation should be 
 given on every opportunity, so that they may be drawn 
 to willing obedience, and be inflamed with the love of 
 learning. By mild and effectual persuasion with the 
 mixture of some fear, if need be, they should be led 
 to admire virtue, and they should be stirred up with 
 high hopes of living so as to be dear to God, and 
 famous to all ages. They should be taught to despise 
 and scorn childish and ill-taught qualities, and they 
 should be trained in such precepts and practice as will 
 make them hate the cowardice of doing wrong. Finally 
 example should gain them diligence and courage, and
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 19 
 
 tafuse into their young breasts such an ingenuous and 
 noble ardour as would make many of them renowned 
 and matchless men. 
 
 Section IV. John Locke. 
 
 John Locke, " the father of English philosophy," 
 was born at Wrington in 1632. His early education 
 vras by his father, and was conducted with great care 
 and success. But the troubles of the time, and hi* 
 father serving in the Parliamentary army, broke up 
 this arrangement, and he was placed at Westminster 
 school In the remembrance of his own early career 
 we have probably the origin of his preference for 
 private tuition over the public school. At the age of 
 nineteen he proceeded to Christchurch, Oxford, where, 
 in addition to the prescribed Aristotelian course, he 
 solaced his philosophical spirit, by the private perusal 
 of the works of Bacon and Descartes. The latter 
 appears to have had no special influence over him, but 
 from the former he obtained the method, which he 
 subsequently applied to the investigation of mental 
 phenomena. On leaving the university he adopted the 
 profession of medicine, but his constitution was too 
 weak to allow him to practise. In 1665, having suc- 
 cessfully treated Lord Ashley, subsequently Earl of 
 Shaftesbury, in case of an abscess, " he accepted the 
 invitation of that nobleman to reside iii his house ; 
 and from this time he attached himself to his fortunes 
 during his life, and after death vindicated his memory 
 and honour." The studies of Lord Shaftesbury 's son,
 
 20 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and of his grandson, the author of the celebrated 
 Characteristics, were under the direction of Locke. 
 
 The " Thoughts on Education " appeared in 1693. 
 and reappeared invested with all the genius of Rousseau. 
 in " Emile." Produced when the author was verging 
 on sixty, for they were written several years before they 
 were printed, they were the product of mature judg- 
 ment, and of one whose professional studies, acquain- 
 tance with mind, actual experience in the work of 
 tuition, active but chequered career, and habits of 
 inind well fitted him for the work he had undertaken. 
 The peculiar style of the book, its discursive character, 
 and want of system are due to the " Thoughts," having 
 been originally written in a series of letters to a friend. 
 The book was well received, not only in his own 
 country, but especially on the continent, being trans- 
 lated into (rerman, Dutch and French; Leibnitz 
 speaks highly in its praise, and at a later time, Kousseau 
 embodied its teaching in his " Emile." Still, as it 
 attacked vested interests, and advocated private tuition 
 in preference to that of the school, and very consi- 
 derably widened the sphere and altered the mode of 
 culture, it was not universally accepted, and in fact, is 
 now in some places, for the first time bearing fruit. 
 A ceutui-y later, Vicescimus Knox, the veriest tory in 
 school matters, says, " For the names and abilities of 
 Milton, Locke, Rousseau, and of others who have 
 written on education, I entertain all the respect which 
 is due to them. Their systems are plausible, and truly 
 ingenious. The world has long placed them high in 
 the ranks of fame, and with respect to their general 
 merit as writers, they indisputably deserve their
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 21 
 
 honours. But, when they wrote on education, they 
 fell into the common error of those who attend to 
 speculation more than to practice. In the warmth of 
 the innovating and reforming spirit, they censure 
 modes of treatment which are right, they recommend 
 methods which really cannot be reduced to practice, 
 and which, if they could, would be useless or perni- 
 cious. It is indeed easy to censure things already 
 established, and project new institutions. The world 
 is commonly tired of that to which it has been long 
 accustomed, and fondly attached to novelty. It is, 
 then, no wonder, that visionary writers on education 
 are greatly admired, though their directions can seldom 
 be closely pursued." 
 
 Locke places the formation of character and manners 
 above mere learning, hence he is urgent that the] 
 choice of a tutor is of the first moment. Consider his J 
 work. " It is to fashion the carriage and form the 
 mind ; to settle in his pupils good habits, and the 
 principles of virtue and wisdom ; to give him by little 
 and little a view of mankind, and work him into a love 
 and imitation of what is excellent and praiseworthy ; 
 and in the prosecution of it to give him vigour, acti- 
 vity, and industry." " Under whose care soever a 
 child is put to be taught during the tender and flexible 
 years of his life, this is certain, it should be one who 
 thinks Latin and languages the least part of education - } ) 
 one who, knowing how much virtue and a well tem- 
 pered soul is to be preferred to any sort of learning or 
 language, makes it his chief business to form the mind 
 of his scholars and give that a right disposition; 
 which, if once got, though all the rest should be neg-
 
 22 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 locted, would in due time produce all the rest; and 
 which, if it be not got, and settled so as to keep out 
 ill and vicious habits languages and sciences, and all 
 the other accomplishments of education, will be to no 
 purpose, but to make the worse and more dangerous 
 man." 
 
 Writing for home education, Locke gives directions 
 for the care of the case, as well as that which it con- 
 tains, the mind. Metis sana in corpore sano was a 
 maxim he could well appreciate. Physical education 
 has in charge diet, clothing, sleep, exercise, fresh air 
 and cleanliness. Some of these things are removed from 
 the immediate influence of the elementary school. Yet 
 the teacher may do much to diffuse right views and to 
 secure right practice in regard to them. Combe, by his 
 work on "Physiology applied to Health and Education," 
 happily aroused public attention to this subject, and dfd 
 much to promote it in schools. Instruction in physiology 
 and the laws of health ; daily inspection and insisting 
 on the pupil being clean in his person and clothes ; 
 inquiries once or twice weekly as to washing the feet, 
 sponging the body, followed by friction with a flesh 
 brush or coarse towel ; attention to ventilation and 
 keeping the school room floor and walls scrupulously 
 clean, and school drill and healthy games are now found 
 in many of our schools. In one district, described at 
 the time by one of Her Majesty's inspectors as " remote 
 from civilisation, and marked by general indifference to 
 education," the persistent efforts of a schoolmaster led 
 to a general improvement, not only in the habits of his 
 pupils, but in many of their homes. 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into detail, but the
 
 JOHN LOCKK. 23 
 
 following things aie noteworthy. The strength of the 
 body lies in being able to endure hardship, hence their 
 training should make children hardy. To this end 
 they should not be pampered, nor should they be 
 shielded from every risk, or a present security is 
 obtained at the expense of danger from future ex- 
 posure. Although his dictum about " leaking shoes ' 
 might seem to countenance it, yet of course he does not 
 mean that children should be trained to fool-hardiness. 
 The knowledge of the teacher should correct the inex- 
 perience of the child, and should lead to interference 
 whenever the necessity existed. As exercise, and es- 
 pecially exercise in the open air, is essential to the 
 strength and soundness of the body, all indications of 
 a lazy or indolent disposition must be promptly treated. 
 The child must be stimulated to use all its energies in 
 play as well as work, and occasions must be provided 
 for exercise whenever it is seen that there is a disin- 
 clination to it. But the rule now to be given is unex- l^ 
 ceptionally sound. The course of treatment in all 
 physical education should tend to form habits. Habits 
 of body and habits of practice are the ends to be se- 
 cured. If this be so, the withholding that which is 
 usual, or its neglect, will be a source of discomfort or 
 uneasiness. For instance, early hours of retiring and 
 rising may by habit save from future excess. So habit 
 may render physic unnecessary. In forming habit the 
 treatment should not be fitful but periodic ; it should 
 not be hap-hazard, but guided by rule and wise discre- 
 tion ; and in the case of exercise it should be prolonged 
 to the point of fatigue to secure the end in view. / - 
 
 Locke places moral education in its right place. It (
 
 24 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 s should take precedence in mental culture. Moral good; 
 is not to be bargained away for any learning whatever.' 
 A great truth this which the educator is too apt to 
 forget or neglect. (It is so much easier to cultivate 
 intelligence than to form a virtuous character, that 
 this is too little attempted or not persistently. 
 
 JOf the nature of moral education Locke says, that its 
 great aim is to secure to the child the complete sub- 
 jection of his appetites and passions, his desires and 
 inclinations to reason. In other words it is the con- 
 quest of self. These are his words : " As the strength 
 of the body lies chiefly in being able to endure hard- 
 ships, so also does that of the mind. And the great 
 principle and foundation of all virtue and worth lies in 
 this, that a man is able to deny himself his own 
 desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow 
 what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean 
 the other way." 
 
 Let us understand his meaning here and we have the 
 key to his sj r stem, the very pith and marrow of his 
 teaching. When he says, strength of mind lies in the 
 ability to endure hardships, he means that there is a 
 temper of mind that scorns to be governed by pleasure 
 or pain, and that will not allow the desires, inclinations, 
 or passions to control the actions only so far as reason 
 allows. He would have a Spartan's contempt of danger 
 with his indifference to ease and comfort; a stoic's su- 
 periority to the solicitations of pleasure or the infliction 
 of pain ; and a Christian's obliteration of self from all 
 his pursuits and a complete subjection of his body and 
 mind to the highest reason. 
 $ Such a course to be successful must be begun early.
 
 JOHN LOCKK. 25 
 
 It must begin on the mother's lap, be continued in the 
 nursery, followed when sitting at table, and must not ' 
 be forgotten in the presence of visitors. But, alas ! 
 early training raises barriers. Seeds are sown which, 
 taking root, are never afterwards extirpated. In this 
 early time there is too often the " positive teaching of 
 vice." Children are taught to take childish revenge on 
 anything that gives them pain, and are permitted and 
 sometimes taught to strike those that have the charge 
 of them. They are tricked out in finery, and are 
 fondled for their pretty looks, and are^accustomed to a 
 mode of treatment that fixes their regards upon them- 
 selves^ (They are taught by example to lie. Admira- 
 tion is given for what at a later time would receive 
 reproof. Instances of clever deceit, pert forwardness, 
 and pretty wilfulness are recited with smiling approval 
 in their presence. Love of eating and drinking ia 
 fostered by the dBvious importance attached to it by 
 their elders, and by " dainties " being proposed as 
 rewards. On food the right maxim is, that food is 
 given not because it is pleasant, but because it is neces- 
 sary. Schoolmasters may think that on these points 
 they are never likely to err. What then is to be said 
 of the practice not uncommon of keeping a child from 
 dinner because of ill conduct at school ? Such a prac- 
 tice elevates eating to a position it ought not to occupy. 
 To punish a moral offence by depriving of food is to 
 place the two things, moral duty and eating, on the 
 same level. Nor is it quite clear that schoolmasters 
 are guiltless in other matters. How often do they 
 allow in younger children what they would not in 
 older ones ! Is this wise ? People allow license for
 
 26 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 little improprieties, considering them harmless. Listen 
 to Locke. The proportion of the fault to the age is 
 the same, so that a little impropriety is as culpable in 
 a child as a great fault in an older person. Also in* 
 dulgencenow will lead to expect similar indulgence at a 
 later period of desires and passions no longer innocent. 
 
 /"All this is culpable negligence of the mind and disposi- 
 tion in the most impressible time^ and may be con- 
 trasted with the judicious management and elaborate 
 attention bestowed on dogs and horses. 
 (To educate rightly it is necessary to study the child. 
 Two distinct classes of mental faculties offer themselves 
 to view, those common to all, those peculiar to the 
 individual. Of the qualities indigenous to human 
 nature it is necessary to glance at a few which have a 
 legitimate sphere, but which uncultivated develop into 
 weeds that become ineradicable from the character. 
 Amongst others of this class are love of liberty, love of 
 dominion, sense of property, and desire of possession. 
 From these roots, unless tended with determined vigour, 
 spring the weeds of license, selfishness, contention, ra- 
 pacity, violence, tyranny, cruelty, and injustice. Ap- 
 plying his great principle to these matters we have 
 7 ( the rule that nothing is ever to be granted to a child's 
 
 ^ fancies, but only to his wants. That any fanciful or 
 
 ^ wilful preference of one thing to another must be 
 treated as caprice, therefore not to be allowed, but 
 rigorously withstood. He also contends that the earliest 
 manifestations of violence, domineering, tyranny over 
 
 slower animals, improper bearing towards inferiors, 
 should be rigidly put down. He also gives us some 
 practical rules of great value. Complaints of one
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 27 
 
 against another should be discouraged, for sufferance 
 without redress is better than an indulged sensitive- 
 ness. If notice is taken of the case, and the aggressor 
 is to be reprimanded, it had better not be in the pre- 
 sence of him who cpmplains. Still principles of jusA 
 tice should be strenuously insisted on, hence all in- 
 stances of real injustice should be noticed and rectified. V 
 However trifling the thing or worthless in itself the \ 
 act of injustice is not trifling. Nay, nothing is trifling / 
 that helps to form the character. .Nor is the morality' 
 of an action to be estimated by the inconvenience it 
 may occasion, the loss inflicted, or the injury done. 
 Eternal justice is equally violated whether a pin or a 
 pound be stolen. It is necessary ever to discriminate] 
 between acts of ignorance and of a perverse wilLv 
 More acts that are wrong in themselves proceed in S 
 children from the former than from the latter. The I 
 practice, for instance, of children pulling flies to pieces i 
 more frequently proceeds from ignorance than fromy 
 wilful cruelty. The remedy would be to exhibit a fly 
 and a maimed specimen through a microscope. When 
 such acts do occur, when a wrong thing is first con. 
 sciously done, it should be met with a show of wonder, 
 as inconceivable. Proceeding on the same principle, 
 children should not be informed of evil things. They 
 should never be named in their presence. Evil should 
 not be brought before their minds ; for talking of such 
 things sets them thinking, and thus their minds become 
 familiarized with things which otherwise might never 
 enter. Never speak of evil till the necessity for it 
 unfortunately exists. For a similar reason do not] 
 warn children against possible faults ; and this for the 7
 
 28 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 further reason that such warning implies distrust, and 
 distrust is a temptation to pride or -bravado. Stirau- 
 ( lake children to that which is good and you will more 
 j effectually prevent the entrance of that which is evil. 
 
 " The odour of the wine that first shall stain 
 The virgin vessel, it will long retain." 
 
 J That we may educate children aright we must study 
 ) their peculiarities. Differenr.es exist. There are dif- 
 ' ferences of natural endowment, difference of tempera- 
 ment, differences in inherited tendencies, differences in 
 moral and emotional susceptibilities. " There will 
 always be some predominant qualities, good or evil, 
 and these will more or less for ever belong to him." 
 By which is to be understood that he will ever have 
 certain mental peculiarities that will distinguish him 
 from others and influence all he is and does. This 
 , being the case it becomes the duty of the educator to 
 observe and study the child, that he may know these 
 ^peculiarities; and that he may strengthen that which 
 is weak, correct that which is wrong and rightly guide 
 and improve all that is desirable and good. The 
 ' peculiarities of children are best seen when they are 
 \ least under restraint. Hence, in the matter of games, 
 ^~y they should be allowed to indulge their fancy ; all 
 J[ should be free and unrestricted ; for it is only by 
 leaving him free in his recreations, that the child's 
 particular bent is shown. " Such knowledge is neces- 
 sary, for it is found that rules for education do not 
 always serve because of these differences, as the same 
 method of treatment is not always followed by the 
 same result. It is also necessary that the right means
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 29 
 
 may be adopted to mortify evil qualities, strengthen 
 good ones, and so improve the general stock." 
 
 The means of moral education have therefore to be 
 wisely ordered. It is not by rules and precepts that 
 moral intelligence is cultivated, or moral habits formed. 
 "It is a great fault in education to burden children's 
 minds with rules and precepts about their conduct, 
 which are seldom understood, and therefore, soon for- 
 gotten ; and it is still more unreasonable to visit wit! 
 punishment the infraction of such rules." /That chil-, 
 dren may know what is right you must teach by| 
 example. It is thus that the precept will have meanii 
 and force. But they must also do what is right. To 
 this end you must seize on every occasion that presents 
 itself, and if necessary make occasion. The grand 
 business is to form habits of right practice, and not to 
 depend on the memory of a right precept. But habits 
 cannot be formed only by patient and continued prac- 
 tice, and there is absolutely no other road to morality ^ ( 
 and virtue. Laws then should be few and well y 
 observed. 
 
 The first principle that should be implanted in the 
 child's mind is submission to authority. This is what 
 he means by awe of the parent. The parent is to the 
 child in God's place, and his will is the sanction of its. 
 actions. He also holds that treatment in early lifej 
 should be rigid.; By this is not meant that it should 
 be severe, but that it should not be lax. There is no 
 hardship in this. A child finds hardship not in law 
 but in laxity. The laws of nature are not relaxed for 
 childhood, and the child soon learns to accommodate 
 iteelf to them. Principles should be rigidly carried
 
 30 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 out, else the educator is not a support to the child, 
 when from its ignorance and weakness it needs it. 
 / But when childhood gives place to youth, and the 
 / reason and habit permit, then a rigid system is out of 
 \ place. Then the time has come when the co-operation 
 / of the youth should be sought by treating him as a 
 \ rational being. <hat which is required from him 
 should be explained, so that^he may bo convinced that 
 it is just and reasonable. (The establishment of autho- 
 rity early is the surest way to obtain obedience, respect, 
 and then love. This order cannot be reversed. It is 
 impossible to lay a basis of love, and on it to build 
 authority.) It is an instinct to despise him who gives 
 up his right to rule, and love cannot exist where there 
 is not respect 
 
 How to establish authority and to secure right prac- 
 tice introduces the question of motive, and conse- 
 quently of punishment and reward. QPam, for the 
 purpose of reform or to deter, is punishment. Pain is 
 bodily or mental. The former includes corporal chas- 
 ) tisement and all other modes of reaching the mind 
 I through the body. The latter includes reproof, rebuke, 
 A censure or anything else whose direct tendency is to 
 / produce shame. CThe object to be secured by punish- 
 V ment is an ingenuous shame for having done wrong^) 
 /-In the first instance this painful emotion arises from 
 having forfeited the good opinion of another ; then it 
 springs up with the consciousness of having done 
 \ something which we know would forfeit such opinion ; 
 Vbut it finally comes for having done wrong. Now such 
 feeling is one of the strongest safeguards against evil 
 courses. Hence it is the thing which we aim to secure.
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 31 
 
 Rebuke, having this end, is often an effective punish- 
 ment. That it may be soyit must seem to proceed from 
 a just displeasure?) (It must not be conveyed in harsh 
 language^ as this can scarcely ever do good, and must 
 often do harm. It forfeits the child's respect, it forfeits 
 his affection, and by frequency loses its power It 
 should never proceed from passion. In that case th 
 teacher places himself in a position of inferiority to the 
 child and thus loses his influence and authority. 
 
 In relation to corporal punishment, the thing to be 
 remembered is, that it is the mind that has to be in- 
 fluenced.^,/ Is it desirable to do this by bodily pain 1 
 At the first blush it is seen that the motive is bad. 
 It is an important aim in education to lead children 
 
 despise pain. It will be their inevitable lot to 
 meet it in a variety of forms, and if they easily suc- 
 cumb, their future life will be worthless to themselves 
 and others. The motive too is often inoperative. It 
 may be but a choice of pains, the drudgery of a task 
 or the cut of the cane, and the lad may care less for 
 the latter than the former. It may be inoperative 
 because some other motive overpowers it, as bravado, 
 or the consciousness of the sympathy of others. 
 Bodily pain is made to appear the punishment, whereas ; 
 shame at being whipped, or rather shame for needing V 
 punishment, is the feeling to be excited. It often -* 
 tends too to prevent shame, or to destroy it, than which 
 nothing worse could happen, for shame in children 
 holds the same place as modesty in women, once gone 
 all other evils follow. CjBodily pain never alters the 
 natural inclinations, but tends to strengthen them. It 
 in a slavish discipline and produces a slavish temper,
 
 32 SYSTEMS OP EDUCATION. 
 
 or, it breaks the mind and makes it cowardly and timid, 
 There is one case in which Locke thinks it necessary 
 obstinacy. " But be sure it is obstinacy." A recom- 
 mendation on which the Brighton case, where a lad was 
 flogged to death, throws light. In such a case as the 
 appearance of obstinacy, there is probably a mistake, 
 and even if there be a fit, if whipping " does no good 
 it does great harm." Study the child's disposition, and 
 weigh well the consequences, before resorting to this 
 treatment. If one whipping does not improve the 
 child, abstain from further infliction. There is one 
 thing Locke recommends as the last resort, which might 
 well be placed first, " pray for the child." 
 f Locke objects to rewards on similar grounds. They 
 \ appeal to motives which it is desirable to repress and 
 i eradicate. How then is moral discipline to be promoted 1 
 By children suffering the natural consequences of their 
 actions. The desire of esteem is strong in them. They 
 are very sensible of praise and commendation. They 
 get their first notions of right and wrong from the 
 manifestation of approval or disapproval by those 
 about them. Hence right doing is attended by an 
 unbroken inte/course. Everything runs smoothly and 
 pleasantly. J (But when wrong is done the carriage of 
 those about him makes him sensible that a different 
 state exists, there is a " change necessarily belonging 
 to and constantly attending one who has brought him- 
 self into a state of disgrace," and the child feels 
 that he has fallen "into neglect and contempt.". This 
 mode of discipline commends itself as like that which we 
 experience in the providential government of the world ; 
 it commends itself alsoCtp the sense of justice inherent
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 33 
 
 in the child ; and as it is of wide application, and thi- 
 occasions for acting on it occur continually, it is likely 
 to form the child to the habit of acting constantly in 
 reference to the consequence of its actions^ Since 
 Locke's time the principle has often been urged and 
 illustrated, but perhaps never more prominently than 
 by Herbert Spencer. 
 
 Coming to learning, we find that Lpcke would have 
 right methods and skilful teaching. CjSkill in teachings 
 consists in getting and keeping the attention of the) 
 scholar ; whilst he has that he is sure to advance as 
 far as the learner's abilities will carry him. His aimc 
 must be to create a love of learning. It will help to' 
 this if the bearing of the teacher is marked by sweet- 
 ness and tenderness, showing that it proceeds from love 
 to the child ; and as love begets love, the child will 
 come to attend to that which gratifies his teachers The\ 
 usefulness of what he is taught should be made clear. ) 
 'He can do some things w hich he could not before, and 
 thus he has real power and advantage over others who 
 are ignorant. Advantage should be taken 01 the] 
 natural curiosity of children, which is an appetite forV 
 knowledge that should be carefully encouraged andj 
 kept active. Their inquiries should be listened to 
 with patience and attention, and should be answered. 
 Give them just what they wish to know, but no more 
 than they can pleasantly receive. Their mistakes must 
 not be laughed at. They should never be put off\ 
 with, evasive answers. In the case where the teacher \ 
 cannot answer, the best way is to confess ignorance, or 1 
 his present inability to reply. Children soon come to 
 learn that no roan can know everything, and they
 
 34 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 readily give their respect and confidence to him who 
 hus the courage to avow ignorance. As children like 
 novelty, and are unable from physical causes to 
 give attention long to one thing, there should be a 
 variety of studies provided for them. This principle 
 is sound, but was forgotten by Locke, when he recom- 
 mended that writing should not be attempted till 
 the child had learnt to read, and when he would with- 
 hold arithmetic until this was fairly acquired. 
 
 Locke urges that learning should be made pleasant 
 to children, that it should at first be a play and recrea- 
 tion. He shows his meaning by referring to learning 
 the alphabet and words, by means of dice. Wolsey 
 expressed a similar wish. Is it legitimate 1 Speaking 
 of Locke's plan of learning to read, Vicesimus Knox 
 says " Reading, if it was a game, was still such a game 
 as the child liked less than his other diversions. It 
 was, indeed, a game at what he would never play if he 
 could help it. I am not quite sure that it is right to 
 give him a notion that he has nothing to do but to 
 play. Let him know that he has business of a serious 
 kind, we all come into the world to perform many 
 duties, and to undergo many difficulties ; a\id the 
 earlier the mind learns to bear its portion of them, the 
 less likely will it be to sink under those burdens which 
 will one day be imposed upon it." Upon the general 
 question, a writer in the Saturday Review, has these 
 remarks : " Ought learning to be made as pleasant as 
 possible ? If we could turn all study into play, would 
 children be the better for it 1 The answer is, that there 
 ore obvious limits to the process in the nature of things, 
 There are some things in early training, which may
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 35 
 
 be made a pleasant puzzle to the child, and may be ir- 
 vested with all the attractions of a game. But it is a 
 process that does not really awaken the intellectual 
 faculties, and if it is a common thing common to 
 make the learning depend on the process being pleasing 
 or exciting then those things which can offer no imme 
 diate interest or pleasure, will be less attractive than 
 before. Now in every conceivable branch of study, 
 and after every possible inducement has been exhausted, 
 there must remain a great mass of pure wearisome 
 drudgery. In all literary pursuits after school 
 life is over, there have to be often months of patient 
 accumulation of dry material, before there can be any 
 repaying work, and much of this is simply wasted 
 labour, having no appreciable effect on the result. In 
 active life the case is, if anything, stronger. Every 
 lawyer or doctor has to plod through incalculable 
 masses of dreary details, without the stimulant of intel- 
 lectual interest. With the bulk of mankind dull 
 drudgery is to be their lot during the greater part of 
 their lives hence since it has to come, the preparation 
 for it should come too. And if so,^QUght it not to 
 come early ? The answer is easy, (if hard dull labour 
 must come upon us, it must cojme ; but that is no 
 reason for introducing it too soon^y 
 
 Let us look at the real nature of the process. -^ A 
 child must be induced to learn either by fear or by curi- 
 osity ; we may awaken its intellect, or we may make it 
 feel the dangers of idleness. The great obstacle to 
 education is the simple dislike to all intellectual activity, 
 An average lad resents any attempt to make him exert 
 his intellect. If he is forced to learn some new lesson,
 
 ofi SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and has his choice to learn it by rote, or made intelli- 
 gible, ten to one but he will choose the mechanical 
 method. Lads will learn if made to, but will not 
 think if they can avoid it. You can force them to the 
 brink; you cannot make them drink. Now the old 
 method was powerless to deal with this state of things. 
 The first requirement is to get some sort of intellectua 1 
 interest, and the only plan is to get the child to dis- 
 cover by your method that there is real pleasure to be 
 got out of intellectual exercises. Every child finds 
 pleasure in exercising his faculties on right objects. 
 By right method this spark may be fanned into a flame, 
 and it is of the highest importance that this should be 
 done early. There is no risk that the notion of play 
 will be thus associated with school work, for from the 
 outset work will have to be encountered that cannot be 
 deemed too easy. Allure then by right method every 
 child into paths of study, and do what you can to help 
 him on, over bhe ruggednesses that he must encounter, 
 but never fear that he will not meet ere long the 
 drudgery that is to fit him for the battle of life. The 
 more he learns, the more drudgery he will have to 
 undergo. Climbing mountains must always be hard 
 work, if you climb far enough and fast enough, and 
 the same is true of the hill of knowledge. You have 
 no need to put burdens on the back, nor to drive up 
 the steepest ascents ; there will be labour enough though 
 the paths are zigzag, and the resting-places many." 
 
 The subjects of instruction need not detain us long. 
 
 He has left little on the method of teaching to read. 
 
 /He is of the same mind as Milton, and would provide 
 
 ^pleasant books, as " ^Esop's Fables," and would have
 
 JOHN LOCKE. 37 
 
 them illustrated, because the child finds it difficult to 
 realize the things mentioned, and pictures and objects 
 convey ideas, and give the means of understanding the 
 book. To add to its educative power, the child should 
 be encouraged and required to tell what it has rea<? , 
 
 His method of penmanship is usually described as a 
 method of tracing, and this doubtless is its charac- 
 teristic feature. But he had a better appreciation of 
 what is necessary to form a good penman than merely 
 to teach the right formation of letters. " When the 
 child comes to be entered on writing he should not be 
 taught to hold his pen and shape his letters all at once, 
 but the former part of the action should be perfected 
 first. This done, the way to teach him to write with- 
 out much trouble is to get a plate graven with the 
 characters of such a hand as you like best. But you 
 must remember to have them a pretty deal bigger than 
 he should ordinarily write; for every one naturally 
 comes by degrees to write a less hand than he at first 
 was taught, but never a bigger. Such a plate being 
 graved let several sheets of paper be printed off with 
 red ink, which he has nothing to do but go over with 
 a good pen filled with black ink, which will quickly 
 bring his hand to the formation of those characters, 
 being at first shown where to begin and how to form 
 every letter. And when he can do that well, he must 
 exercise on fair paper ; and so he may easily be brought 
 to write the hand you desire." Here we find tha\ 
 Locke would have one thing mastered at a time, and [ 
 each in its right place. The management of the pen I 
 first, the right formation of letters next, then freedom ) 
 and character. He would also have the pupil instructed
 
 38 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 BO that his imitation might be intelligent. And he 
 would only have mechanical aids so long as they were 
 necessary to acquire form. 
 
 Grammar and composition should go together. He 
 
 ^does not notice the disciplinary power of the former, 
 but simply regards it in relation to correct speech. He 
 rightly attaches little influence to a mere knowledge of 
 its rules. Correct speaking is a matter of practice, 
 association, and habit. Hence the importance of com- 
 
 - position. This should first be oral. The pupil should 
 read a tale, and then tell it. The next step is to write. 
 This also after reading. The composition should be 
 clear, succinct, and methodical. Then should come the 
 writing of letters. 
 
 He would have French early, because it is taught 
 
 ' conversationally, and the organs being pliant, he gets 
 the habit of speaking it properly, which the longer it is 
 delayed, the harder it is to be done. Latin he thinks 
 is not needed by a tradesman. It is a waste of time to 
 spend it first on the grammar. It is utterly impossible 
 to understand the grammar of a language that is un- 
 known. Hence the langtiage should be acquired before 
 the grammar is touched. This should be done by con- 
 versation and by interlinear translation. 
 
 Section V. Vicesimus Knox. 
 
 Vicesimus Knox, master of Tunbridge school, was 
 born in London in 1752. At the age of twenty-nine 
 he published his book on " Liberal Education." It 
 passed through numeious editions, and was held in 
 much esteem by schoolmasters of his own class. It 
 was a protest against innovations, and an exposition and
 
 VICESIMUS KNOX. 39 
 
 defence of established practices. " Hitherto there had 
 been many books on education, but as they were the 
 works of speculative writers, they contained few valu- 
 able directions to the practical instructor. They were 
 full of innovations, where innovation should ever 
 be regarded with suspicion. He was a practical man. 
 His whole life had been spent in school as a learner, in 
 college as a student, and again in school as a master ; 
 hence he could speak from experience." He regrets the 
 influence of Milton, Locke, and other speculative per- ^/ 
 sons. To them was due the fact that many Adventure 
 schools and academies had sprung up which had made 
 a wide departure from the ancient system of education. 
 
 His chief contention is in favour of classical learning, 
 as opposed to physical, philosophical, and mathematical 
 studies. Classical learning produces enlargement, re- 
 finement, and embellishment of the mind. It qualifies 
 for any particular profession or occupation. It is the 
 best preparation for any employment above the low and 
 mechanical. It opens sources of pleasure unknown to 
 the vulgar. It gives an elevation of .sentiment and 
 nobility of nature. It only makes the true gentleman. 
 He insinuates that those who oppose it are simply 
 acting like the fox in the fable. He compares one with 
 such training to a precious stone shining with its own 
 lustre, while those without it have simply paint and 
 garnish. 
 
 When you ask how these advantages are secured by 
 classical training, you find the reply uncertain. There 
 is confusion of thought. He speaks of them as due to 
 the well-regulated study of philosophy, poetry, and 
 history, found in classical authors. But this study, he
 
 40 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 says, is impracticable up to the age of nineteen, for all 
 the attention is required by the languages, and is given 
 to them. Yet all through his book he seems to transfer 
 the advantages derived from the study of classical 
 authors to the mode of learning the languages. And 
 there is no doubt that it is this that he has in view 
 when contending for classical instruction as the sole 
 basis of mental discipline. He makes also important 
 admissions. The time to be given to it must neces- 
 sarily exclude from this course and its advantages all 
 but the very few. He also admits that many have not 
 realized the advantages, either because they lacked the 
 parts, or were not sufficiently diligent, or were taken 
 away too soon. But while he makes this admission he 
 does not see its force. Few get the culture ; where one 
 succeeds, thousands fail. But the question in education 
 is not what is the best for the gifted, even allowing this 
 to be the best, but what is best for the many 1 He gives 
 elsewhere an admirable illustration of his contention 
 that such discipline fits for every employment, by saying 
 that teaching to read must be irksome to a man of cul- 
 ture, and consequently must be ill performed ! 
 
 There may be gathered from his book that certain 
 principles should regulate school work. It is the func- 
 tion of the school to prepare the mind for the future. 
 This is to be done by opening out avenues of research 
 and culture, but chiefly by strengthening its powers. A 
 prime aim should be to give it vigour. It is necessary 
 to hold this position. Masters are censured for not 
 suiting their instruction to the bias of the scholar. 
 They use the same material for all. This complaint is 
 in ignorance, masters cannot do it. The school has a
 
 VICESIMUS KNOX. 41 
 
 regular plan of study, which, it is impossible to vary 
 for individuals. It is also a misconception. School 
 has to give a general preparation, a discipline of the 
 whole mind, not a special culture of dominant faculties. 
 As a tradesman does not consider of every shilling 
 gained its purchasing power, but adds it to the general 
 stock ; so a master has to consider the general power 
 of the pupil, and not the special advantage of a par- 
 ticular course. Hence it would be a mistake. For if 
 any faculties are really strong they may be hopefully 
 left, and the weak ones strengthened ; or the individual 
 will be narrow-minded, dwarfed, and contracted. It is 
 often impossible. Natural bias seldom shows itself in 
 the school period. Mental tastes display themselves at 
 different periods according to the varying constitutions. 
 Often the nobler faculties, and those that give direction 
 to the life, put in a late appearance. It should be 
 deemed essential that all qualify themselves with habits 
 of constancy, vigilance, and industry. Of none should 
 there be despair except idiots. The difference between 
 these opinions and those of Locke is rather apparent 
 than real. There is, in fact, no contrariety. Knox 
 refers to faculties of intelligence, while Locke deals with 
 the emotional nature, and here it is certainly true 
 
 " The child is father to the man." 
 
 The scholar must be accustomed to hard labour, and 
 any method that proposes to make the road to learning 
 easy must be regarded with suspicion. In early lessons 
 the agreeable may be united with the useful, but the 
 learner must not be cheated to his task by the notion 
 that it is a game. He must early meet the fact that
 
 42 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 nothing valuable is to be obtained without labour. The 
 mind is naturally indolent, averse from unnecessary toil, 
 and rejoices in means that more easily accomplish its 
 end. This is particularly true in the season when 
 school education begins. But in education nothing is 
 valuable without labour. No high point of excellence 
 is ever attained without arduous and persevering toil. 
 That which requires great effort to gain will not be 
 soon lost, for the impression it makes is deep. On the 
 other hand, things easily obtained are readily lost, like 
 money acquired at an easy rate. Ideas collected with- 
 out effort make very faint impression. Hence it is no 
 valid objection to a method that it requires effort, for 
 la hour strengthens the mind, increases its native vigour, 
 and is favourable to the permanence of its acquisitions. 
 But a method that proposes to lessen the labour must 
 not \-e lightly adopted, for generally, as you lessen the 
 toil you decrease its value. 
 
 These views do not sufficiently discriminate betwixt 
 the periods of culture. In relation to the later stages 
 of school work they may be regarded as sound, but 
 during all the earlier stages, when the mind of the 
 pupil is in direct contact with that of the master, and 
 when its efforts are elicited, guided, and strengthened by 
 such contact, all that can be done by good method to 
 remove difficulties, or to enable the pupil to overcome 
 them, should be done. Procedure by a good method 
 is simply working according to mental laws, and surely 
 it is better that the pupil shall be rightly directed and 
 aided, than that he should be left without rudder, chart, 
 or compass, in a sea of troubles. And let it not be sup- 
 posed that any such aid will make his path too easy.
 
 VICESIMUS KNOX. 43 
 
 From its very nature there will remain not only enough 
 of irksome drudgery, but of matter that will require 
 all his intelligence and power. 
 
 There should be right culture of memory. It is 
 strong in young children, and things may by them be 
 acquired with ease which would be an intolerable 
 drudgery at a later time. Latin grammar, and other 
 things that they cannot understand, should be exacted 
 from them. For if these are not learnt early they will 
 never be thoroughly acquired. Knox does not see that 
 such a practice must place obstacles in the learner's 
 path ; that it entails losses which are not covered by the 
 gain. Such verbal use of the memory forms the habit of 
 doing things without intelligent attention, than which 
 nothing could be a greater hindrance to intellectual 
 growth. In many cases it effectually bars all real 
 progress, and where it does not it makes it greatly 
 more difficult to acquire the power of intelligent appli- 
 cation. 
 
 No faculty of the mind being more capable of im- 
 provement in youth, and none more in danger of de- 
 cay by disease, care should be taken to store it well. If 
 it is not filled with valuable furniture it will be crowded 
 with lumber. It should be filled with choice pieces. 
 Beautiful passages should be studiously committed to 
 memory, or they will leave no more trace than the 
 shadow of the summer cloud does on the landscape. 
 Such passages should first be construed, then learnt by 
 heart. Habit will render it easy. But the culture of 
 the memory must be judicious. It is not the chief 
 object in education. It is not to be loaded with unim- 
 portant minutiaB. It is of more importance to re-
 
 44 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 member an eloquent passage than its place on the page. 
 It is more important to get the kernel than to retain 
 the husk. Whatever the mind receives, it should not 
 only reproduce, but give it back altered, improved, and 
 refined. " A good memory," says Erasmus, " is like a 
 net that catches the great fishes, but lets the little ones 
 escape." 
 
 The only infallible way of improving the memory is 
 frequent, regular, well-directed exercise. " The one 
 great secret," says Quintiliau, " for the improvement of 
 memory is exercise, practice, labour. Nothing is so 
 much improved by care, or falls to decay by neglect." 
 It must also be trusted. Like a generous friend it will 
 repay habitual confidence with fidelity. It is not 
 benefited by the practice of writing things to be re- 
 membered. Quintilian tells us that to put things in 
 writing is the surest way to lose them, for we cease 
 to guard them ; and Plato says that the best way to 
 keep them in memory is not to put them in writing. 
 
 The subjects taught in school should not be too 
 numerous. Art is long, life is short. Having many 
 subjects, children come to be talkers in all, masters in 
 none. Early discipline will mould the future. In- 
 struction cannot commence too early, the time must be 
 determined by the display of capacity, but as early as 
 possible, for earliest impressions are durable, and time 
 is saved. Knox thinks that little need to be feared 
 as regards the health. The instruction should be judi- 
 ciously conducted, and then the spirits and activity of 
 children will supply the antidote to any otherwise 
 injurious strain. 
 
 Children should early learn to read. There is no
 
 VICESIMUS KNOX. 45 
 
 reason why it should not be attained by five or six, or at 
 furthest seven. The longer it is delayed, the more diffi- 
 cult it is to acquire. Early inferiority in this is a bar 
 to subsequent proficiency, while it is a fact that early 
 readers make the best progress. For this acquisition 
 the nursery is the place, and the teacher the mother. 
 Thus the child may not have anything to unlearn. In 
 teaching the alphabet he would have a plain card. 
 One with cuts diverts the attention from the less 
 interesting sign to the more amusing picture. Yet as 
 it is a sufficiently irksome thing, he should be diawn 
 on by interesting books, the understanding of which 
 should be aided by pictures. But reading must not be 
 the only source of knowledge to the infant, it is only 
 one of several ways, and it is necessary there should be 
 variety. It is essential, too, that the tasks should be 
 short, a little and with ease. The value is not in the 
 gain from one lesson, but in the habit, the constant 
 growth, and the accumulation of power. 
 
 Latin should be the basis of school discipline. The 
 grammar should first be acquired. This knowledge is 
 like the broad foundations of a building, hidden indeed, 
 but necessary to the stability of the superstructure. 
 But Knox abandons the early mode, and advocates a 
 compromise betwixt it and the principle advocated by 
 Locke. To that principle he gives his unconscious 
 adhesion. Let the grammar be the first course for six 
 months, then let the learner parse and construe an 
 easy Latin author. The knowledge thus acquired gives 
 a better hold of the grammar. "With the same purpose 
 let all the rules be learnt in English as well as in 
 Latin. And in first going over the grammar neglect
 
 4(5 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 its minutiae, as the science of language is not the object, 
 but the attainment of a language. This compromise 
 between a valuable principle and an absurd practice is 
 significant both of the force of truth and the tenacity 
 of prejudice. That no one can study the grammar of 
 a language he does not understand seems a self-evident 
 proposition, and would recommend itself, one would 
 think, to all but those who consult their own ease as 
 masters of schools rather than teachers in them. That 
 Knox advocated as far as he did the preposterous prac- 
 tice of learning the grammar first, and then applying 
 what was not understood to the parsing and construing 
 of a book, seems to have come from that obliquity of 
 vision which is produced by the prejudice of early 
 custom. This compromise was the first step towards 
 the system represented by the books of Peithman, 
 Bryce, and Smith. 
 
 Of other languages he recommends Greek and 
 French. They are to be pursued by similar methods, 
 but not at so early an age. He assigns as a reason for 
 not beginning French early, that time is required to 
 mature the mind as well as the body. But surely this 
 objection has stronger force against the early learning of 
 Latin. He thinks that if the learner knows Latin, he 
 need not begin with French grammar, but with an 
 easy interesting book. Then the labour is alleviated ; 
 but if confined to the grammar he hates the irksome toil. 
 He prefers learning to read French rather than to speak 
 it, unless there is the opportunity to reside in France. 
 
 Other subjects should fill up gaps. English should 
 be acquired through good authors. Its grammar may 
 be delayed with advantage till the learner has intel-
 
 VICESIMdS KNOX. 47 
 
 le;tual strength. A paper from the Spectator should 
 be taken, and treated by parsing and analysis, as a 
 l^atin author would be. Aid should be had from com- 
 position. At first JEsop, then history, Plutarch, and 
 the Speciator should be read, and themes written on 
 what had been thus prepared. Plagiarism should be 
 discouraged. It may be prevented by avoiding cap- 
 tious criticism and fault-finding, and by not punishing 
 egregious mistakes. If the boy sees that his own 
 composition is found fault with, while plagiarism es- 
 capes, he will escape from the trouble of invention. 
 Geography should not be learnt by rote. The first 
 strokes that form the sketch of a picture cannot be 
 pencilled too truthfully. In geography every idea 
 should be presented clearly to the apprehension. The 
 study should be begun early, but without books. Maps 
 should be the only aids. These should not be too 
 crowded, and should be very distinct. They should 
 be explained, and they should be made familiar. They 
 should be at hand for reference in other lessons. Map- 
 drawing is a waste of time. History should be read at 
 home as a recreation, not enter into the curriculum of the 
 school. Euclid, astronomy, and physics belong to the 
 university. Drawing should be taught only to such 
 as are likely to excel in it. He who gives attention to 
 arithmetic contracts a degree of rust totally destructive 
 of genius. But Knox allows that as a science it fur- 
 nishes a fine exercise for the mind. 
 
 We gather incidentally that Knox would have eight 
 classes or forms, a half-yearly examination for the ad- 
 vancement of the proficient, and place-taking during 
 She daily lessons as a spur to emulation.
 
 
 48 StfSTUMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE COMMON SCHOOL. 
 
 THE progress made in school education in this 
 country during the present century has been very 
 much promoted by the writings and labours of two 
 men, very dissimilar in many respects, Richard Lovell 
 Edgeworth, born at Bath in 1744; and Henry Pes- 
 talozzi, born at Zurich, January 12th, 1746. Their 
 plans of education have the same starting-point, and 
 their views coincide in many particulars. But the 
 former not only placed his own aims clearly before his 
 mind, but was skilful in carrying them out in his 
 practice ; while Pestalozzi was more ingenious in stating 
 and illustrating principles than apt in working them. 
 
 Section I. The Edgewortlis. 
 
 The work on " Practical Education " was the joint 
 production of Edgeworth and of his celebrated daughter, 
 Maria. It first appeared in 1798. It describes the 
 practices of the former in the education of his own 
 family, and states the principles by which education 
 should be conducted. The first chapter is on toys, and 
 anticipates the kindergarten system. Toys that may 
 be handled, and whose powers of amusing and profitably 
 employing will not soon be lost, should be provided 
 as pieces of wood of various shapes and sizes, squares, 
 circular bits, cubes, balls, and triangles. These will 
 call forth observation, make them acquainted with the 
 properties of objects, and stimulate invention, for the 
 child will build up and pull down, and put into a
 
 THE EDGEWORTHS. 49 
 
 variety of forms and positions. The point here is to 
 leave the child, and not by rash interference to break 
 the charm and destroy the utility, for the advantage is 
 in the child doing, not in being told how to do. 
 " Every bit of wood," says Richter, " is a gilded flower- 
 rod to the child, on which fancy can bud hundred- 
 leaved roses. In the eyes of wonder-working fancy 
 every Aaron's rod blossoms." Pictures may be early 
 introduced. They engage attention and employ imagin- 
 ation. They bring back former ideas, and lead to 
 comparisons between these and what they see in prints ; 
 they thus elicit judgments. That they may produce 
 the best results in early infancy they must correspond 
 to the experience of the child. Prints of a thing out 
 of its sphere, or representing things as he is not accus- 
 tomed to see them, seldom attract the attention or 
 stimulate the fancy of a five-year-old child ; but 
 truthful representations, agreeing with facts he may 
 have observed, will set his imagination working. 
 "The wind blows that woman's gown back," was the 
 suggestion of such a print to a four-year old child. 
 After having been accustomed to examine prints, and 
 to trace their resemblance to real objects, children will 
 probably wish to try their own powers of imitation. 
 At this moment place in their hands a pencil, and let 
 them make random marks all over a sheet of paper. 
 No matter how rude their first attempts at imitation 
 may be ; if the attention is occupied, the point is 
 gained. Girls have an advantage over boys in the 
 exclusive possession of scissors, and are pleasurably 
 and profitably occupied in cutting out wonderful 
 camels, elephants, and other things. When the period
 
 50 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 comes, in which the child wants more active employ- 
 ment to his mind and fingers, he must be furnished 
 with that which will give him the opportunity of 
 thought and invention. It will be profitable now to 
 introduce modelling in clay and wax, making baskets, 
 and weaving tapes. Then as skill grows, and a greater 
 demand is made on his inventive powers, there may be 
 supplied to him cards, pasteboard, scissors, wire, gum, 
 and wax, that he may fashion, model, construct, and 
 build. In all this course the purpose is to secure 
 observation, to stimulate invention, to foster fancy, and 
 to cultivate practical judgment. The one great rule is 
 to teach the child to work out the things in its own 
 mind, and not to crush in the bud its nascent faculties 
 by hasty interference. Help may be given, but it 
 must be judiciously timed, and it must be of a kind to 
 stimulate originality, and not make them mere copyists. 
 Thus the elements of a scientific character are laid. 
 The child learns the properties of things ; he becomes 
 curious to know how certain effects are produced, de- 
 stroying the toy in the prosecution of the philosophical 
 inquiry ; he inquires, combines, and invents. Such a 
 child shows the effect of his training by asking, among 
 many similar inquiries, " How is it that my hoop keeps 
 up so long as it rolls, but falls as soon as it stops ? " 
 
 The same principle that has guided the development 
 of the mind should be followed in first learning. It is 
 not verbal memory, but intelligence that should be 
 cultivated. There must not be disagreeable associations 
 with learning. It need not be treated as a game ; but it 
 should be made interesting by employing his faculties. 
 Learning to read early is not a matter of such moment
 
 THE EDGEWORTHS. 51 
 
 as some seem to think, for the use made of it is the 
 important point ; and if it should be so learnt as to dis- 
 gust, and then be never used, where is the advantage of 
 having learnt early ? 
 
 The common method of teaching the alphabet is 
 dreadful. The names of the letters and the variety of 
 their sounds disturb the common sense of the child, 
 and at every step stop his progress. He learns one 
 thing in one lesson, and he finds it contradicted in the 
 next. Having learnt u in " fume," he pronounces it the 
 same way in "fun," and is blamed ; he meets it again in 
 " busy," and is again at fault ; at "burial" he gives up in 
 despair, in "prudence" he becomes reckless, and he stops 
 at the stage of " dunce. " In the reading lesson he is told 
 to spell words by their names, but having done so 
 through " Here is some apple pie," he finds that he 
 cannot decipher for himself these simple words. 
 
 A better method is needed. Do not be in a hurry, 
 let a few things be learnt at a time. It does not matter 
 whether it takes six weeks or six months, so that it is 
 done well, and without confusion to the learner. Take 
 the vowels first, distinguish their several sounds by 
 points. For instance, let a represent the sound in 
 fame ; a in fat ; a in fall ; a in far. When the vowel 
 sounds and their signs are acquired, take the consonants, 
 but do not give their names till the child has acquired 
 their powers. This must be by analysis and induction. 
 Place b and the other consonants before a, a, a, a, e, e, 
 e, e, and so on ; let these syllables be pronounced, and 
 let the learner from such practice get the powers of the 
 consonants. When they have thus learnt the letters
 
 52 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and their powers let them read. In the books put the 
 marks indicating the various sounds, and others indi- 
 cating the silent letters. 
 
 This is a better plan of teaching the elements of 
 reading, than the one it was intended to supersede. 
 But it is needlessly complicated. It has the fault of 
 all the earlier teaching, loading the memory with a 
 large number of rules before supplying practice. Nor 
 does it sufficiently recognise the truth underlying itself, 
 that a child obtains the powers of the letters by an 
 induction from its own practice not a conscious induc- 
 tion, but one that forms itself into its habits. Hence 
 a plan that would secure a greater amount of reading, 
 and one that would gradually introduce the varying 
 vowel powers, would sooner effect the object. This is 
 now attempted in several first reading books. Langler, 
 of the Westminster Training College, was the first to 
 Introduce it. First we have a set of lessons in which 
 the vowels and consonants have a constancy of power, 
 as in bat, fat, mat ; bet, met, pet ; bit, fit, pit : then we 
 have a set introducing another sound, as in mate, mete, 
 mite, where the opportunity occurs of pointing out 
 the significance of the final e. In this way the child 
 gradually acquaints himself with the powers of the 
 letters, and he approaches the anomalies without per- 
 plexity. The " Phonic. Method," as Edge worth's plan 
 came to be called, degenerated into an attempt to give 
 the powers of the consonants by themselves, and to 
 build up words by the process bu-a-te, bat. An in-, 
 stance this, not unfrequent in schools, of a good prin- 
 ciple becoming the ground of an absurd practice, 
 because carried out by parties who had no special
 
 T1IK EDGEVVORTHS. 53 
 
 training for their work, and who had not taken the 
 trouble, if they had the power, to master the principle. 
 
 Spelling should follow reading. He seems here to 
 abandon the practice of teaching to read by spelling, 
 either name or phonic. He objects to spelling-books. 
 They bring new perils to the understanding, and they 
 disgust children with literature by the pain and diffi- 
 culty of their first lessons. A bettor way is to use the 
 words they know, and those which occur most frequently 
 in reading and conversation. Of these a few should 
 be taken at a time, on the maxim " a little and well." 
 Let the children see that spelling is necessary in 
 writing. Let them write a few words of their own 
 daily, and others that they have been reading. When 
 they see its use and feel its need, then they will learn 
 with ease and precision. Spelling should not be taught 
 before they can write. The mistakes they make in 
 writing must be pointed out, and must be carefully 
 corrected by the learner. This is necessary, as bad 
 habits once formed cannot be cured, because the under- 
 standing has nothing to do with the business. It must 
 be remembered that spelling is learnt by the eye, hence 
 the more they read and write, the greater their progress 
 will be in spelling correctly. 
 
 Arithmetic should be taught as soon as the child can 
 read. This recommendation comes from Edgeworth's 
 unwillingness to burden the child with too many sub- 
 jects. But there is no danger to the child in taking 
 arithmetic as a parallel exercise with reading and 
 writing. The faculties it brings into play are so distinct 
 that relief and benefit follow rather than injury. 
 Besides, it is well to accustom the learner early to seek
 
 54 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 relief in change rather than in cessation of work. His 
 next recommendation shows how truly he was at one 
 with Locke and Pestalozzi in the principles that should 
 regulate first instruction. Early lessons in arithmetic 
 should he conducted on the same principles as have 
 hitherto guided us. Infancy is the season for culti- 
 vating the senses, and here we find one of the reasons for 
 proceeding in this subject from the concrete to the 
 abstract. This, too, should be the case not only in the 
 earlier operations, but in every subsequent stage. The 
 intelligence of the child must go along with every pro- 
 cess, its understanding must be preserved from implicit 
 belief, its powers must be invigorated, and it must be 
 saved from merely technical working. 
 
 The first thing is to combine numbers with real 
 objects. The names of numbers must be connected in 
 the mind with the groups they represent. He should 
 learn these groups as two cubes, three cubes, and so on. 
 He should see that three cubes are the same thing as 
 two cubes and one cube. When he is able to distin- 
 guish each group and name it, then he may be taught 
 to know and make the figure that represents it. In this 
 and subsequent operations it is well to use half-inch 
 cubes or pebbles, so that the eye may easily taker in the 
 group. The next step is addition. This should be 
 first by things, then by figures. First he must be kept 
 to numbers below ten, and the operation both by things 
 and figures should tend to make him still more familiar 
 with the groups and their names. The exercises might 
 be graduated in some such way as this :
 
 THE EDGEWORTHS. 55 
 
 1 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 1 11 111 1 
 
 111112111123 
 121232123422 
 
 334444555555 
 
 Before taking the next step means should be taken 
 to make i'ainiliar all the possible combinations up to 
 nine, to add and subtract with rapidity, and to write 
 figures with accuracy and expedition. The process 
 should employ the eye, ear, and mind, so that the 
 technical habit may be acquired without injury to the 
 understanding. These preliminary steps, if begun in 
 the child's fifth year, may occupy a few minutes daily 
 during half a year. 
 
 The next step, numeration, is the most difficult in 
 early arithmetic. It may be prepared for by drawing 
 the child's attention to the common way of speaking 
 of one flock, two flocks, one grove, two groves, when he 
 feels 110 difficulty in applying the term one to a group 
 containing many. In the same way to speak of one 
 dozen, two dozens, may prepare for one ten, two tens. 
 Let dark pebbles be counted, and for each ten put aside 
 one white pebble, then the white pebbles will each repre- 
 sent ten, and when there are ten of these, let one red 
 pebble be put aside, and the child may thus see how 
 one may represent a hundred. By exercises like these 
 the child may learn that the terms one, two, three, and 
 so on, may be indifferently applied to individuals, tens, 
 or hundreds. When this is all clear, the child will find 
 no difficulty in understanding the value ot written figures 
 by the place they hold ; indeed, he may be led to invent
 
 56 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 this arrangement. Having acquired this knowledge 
 and skill, an idea of decimal arithmetic may be given 
 to him, as he will find no difficulty now in understand- 
 ing that the same figures may represent tenth parts as 
 well as groups. 
 
 In subtraction Edgeworth recommends that the 
 methods employed shall grow out of their previous 
 work. For instance, in taking forty-six from ninety- 
 four, the child first sees that the sum forty-six is to be 
 taken from the larger sum ninety -four ; then using his 
 knowledge of numeration and notation, he is taught to 
 analyze ninety-four into eighty and fourteen, then to 
 take six from fourteen ; then four tens or forty from 
 eight tens or eighty. He would have the same prin- 
 ciple followed in other rules. In the rule of three, as 
 the learner can already divide and multiply, instead of 
 the method of statement, he should first be told to find 
 the value of one, and then of the required quantities. 
 
 Methods like these are usually spoken of as Pesta- 
 lozzian, and their extensive use in common schools is 
 due very much to Tate's " Principles of Arithmetic," but 
 they may all be found in the works of Ward, a full 
 century before Edgeworth ; where also may be found 
 modes of teaching mensuration on similar principles. 
 
 When we pass from the period in which the senses are 
 the chief avenues of intelligence, to the cultivation of 
 the understanding, the first object is to give the power 
 of attention, or in other words, to interest the learners 
 iu what they are about. The means are now to be con- 
 sidered. First there must be no false associations. 
 There should be a right medium betwixt offering the 
 subjects as tasks, repelling the learner, and exciting his
 
 THE EDGEWOKTUS. 57 
 
 disgust, and the fashion of making learning a play, 
 cheating him into knowledge, or paying for its acquisi- 
 tion by sugar-plums- This plan increases the desire to 
 be amused, but lessens the relish for it. The mind 
 becomes passive and indolent, and an increasing 
 stimulus is necessary to awaken effort. Dissipated 
 habits are formed, and the pupil never gets command 
 of his own powers. The pupil must understand that 
 knowledge cannot be obtained without labour. He 
 must be incited to work, and he must be in earnest. 
 There must be no deceit practised on him. There must 
 be no illusion. There is no need for any. It is easy 
 by proper methods to interest him in the subjects he 
 has to learn ; the prime thing is to carry his intelligence 
 with you. 
 
 Edgeworth continually insists that lessons should 
 cover short periods, but that the learner shall be stimu- 
 lated to put forth his utmost strength during that 
 period. A serious and strong effort for half an hour 
 will do more in forming the habit of attention than the 
 practice of assigning work that will last for hours, and 
 where the effort is necessarily of a dreamy kind. 
 Thorough acquaintance with what he is taught is 
 essential to -present and future attention. The pupil 
 should be presented with little at a time, but it should 
 be completely attained. It should become familiar. 
 Few things so disgust a child with learning as imper- 
 fect acquaintance with it. Whenever that which he 
 has acquired is perfectly familiar to his mind, the pupil 
 is inspired with confidence and interest. He becomes 
 conscious of power, and the tediousness of his employ- 
 ment vanishes. Those who wish thus to succeed in
 
 58 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 teaching must remember that a child can attend to but 
 one thing at a time. Its attention must not be fatigued 
 by variety. It is of more importance that a child 
 should leave a lesson with a relish for learning, and a 
 desire to return to it, than that it has made much 
 progress. Let him find that he has made one thing 
 fully his own, and his pleasure will stimulate him in 
 other lessons. But while seeing that his acquisitions 
 are thorough and familiar, the teacher must avoid the 
 mistake of doing more than the child needs. When a 
 thing is clear, let him not try to make it clearer. When 
 a thing is understood, not a word more of exemplifica- 
 tion should be added. To mark precisely the moment 
 when the pupil is master of the subject, and when 
 repetition should cease, is the most difficult thing in 
 teaching, though the difficulty is in the teacher more 
 than in the scholar. The former is so absorbed in his 
 subject that he has no attention to give to the 
 unmistakable signs of repletion given by the pupils. 
 Thoroughness and familiarity may be promoted without 
 this weariness, by asking in other lessons the reproduc- 
 tion of former teaching. 
 
 In instruction it is often found comparatively easy 
 to fix the attention on the several points of a lesson, 
 where there is utter failure in fixing it on the connec- 
 tion of the parts. None but teachers know how 
 difficult this is. The dependence of one thing upon 
 another, and the concurrence of the whole to some 
 definite conclusion, altogether escape the scholar. Yet 
 this, if allowed to pass, will prove a hindrance to that 
 completeness of attainment and its accompanying con- 
 sciousness of power which make the child a voluntary
 
 THE EDGEWOKTHS. 59 
 
 worker. This, then, is an important point. The plea- 
 sure of thinking, and much of the profit, must fre- 
 quently depend on the learner preserving the connection 
 of ideas. It is impossible to teach those who do not 
 grasp each link and hold fast the whole chain of 
 reasoning. This confessedly difficult business requires 
 all the skill at the teacher's command. His steps must 
 be short. He must remember the difference between 
 his own capacity and that of his pupil. Things easy 
 to him may test all the power of the child. He forgets 
 how he learnt things that now seem to be received 
 intuitively. The pupil's steps must not be hurried. 
 Let there be time for each thing definitely to enter his 
 mind. It is not speed, but complete attainment that is 
 to be sought. Especially is it necessary that the pupil 
 shall not be perplexed by talk, nor pressed too hastily 
 to reply. Do not place a crowd of words between him 
 and the end to which you are conducting him. 
 Let him not be lost in a fog. Yet there must be 
 judicious repetition. The reasoning must be repeated 
 till the chain of ideas is completely formed. 
 
 A great difficulty in teaching, in fixing attention, 
 and securing thorough attainment, arises from language. 
 This difficulty has several aspects. Often the pupils 
 want words. They have ideas, and they have the 
 power of expressing them ; but they are not connected 
 in their minds with the words used by the teacher, 
 hence there is no common ground on which they can 
 meet. The language of the teacher awakens no cor- 
 responding thought in the scholar, and his ignorance 
 of their knowledge and language makes these of no 
 avail lor the elucidation of the subject in hand. Thia
 
 60 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 shows the necessity of adding to the child's knowledge 
 of words as well as to his knowledge of things. This 
 may be done in several ways: by examining objects 
 and associating words and phrases with the ideas 
 obtained ; by reading and - by conversational lessons. 
 Often when children begin to read they acquire a great 
 variety of words. This is the source of a new danger. 
 The learner speedily picks up a particular use of a 
 word, and the teacher concludes that its whole meaning 
 is laid bare to him. The duty thus becomes incumbent 
 on the teacher to deal with new language. New words 
 and phrases should never be passed without full ex- 
 planation. This is absolutely necessary to the growth 
 of the understanding, for if their knowledge of words 
 is obscure, so will be their thoughts, and correct 
 judgments and right reasoning will be impossible. 
 The possession of words by children which have never 
 been unfolded to them, and the employment of such 
 words in lessons, are fruitful sources of inattention. 
 The words are ever changing their meanings, to the 
 great perplexity of the learner. Edgeworth illustrates 
 the difficulty to the child by supposing it to be set to 
 cast up a sum, the figures of which were being constantly 
 changed by the teacher. The child will refuse his 
 attention where the language is indefinite to him. He 
 will make no effort when it is impossible for him to 
 understand. All this shows how necessary it is for 
 a teacher to be simple in his language, and to use it 
 with precision. 
 
 Among motives to attention the personal one must 
 not be overlooked. There are some persons who have 
 the power of exciting others to great mental exertions,
 
 THE EDGEWOHTI1S. 61 
 
 by the ardent ambition which they inspire, and by the 
 value which is set upon their love and esteem. When 
 once this generous desire of affection and esteem is 
 raised in their minds, their exertions seem to be 
 universal and spontaneous ; children are then no longer 
 machines requiring to be regularly wound up, but they 
 are animated by a living principle which directs all 
 that it inspires. Edgeworth himself was an example 
 of this with his own children ; and it was perhaps the 
 one thing above all others that accounts for Pestalozzi's 
 success. 
 
 Great care should be taken in the selection of books, 
 whether for reading or technical study. Bad books 
 are very mischievous. Early reading books should 
 have no narratives in which forms of vice, wrong 
 doing, or faults are described. Such books often put 
 evil into the minds of children which otherwise would 
 not have entered. They should also be free from false 
 sentiment, and from urging right actions by question- 
 able motives. They should also be in good English. 
 Erroneous modes of speech, though sanctioned by cus- 
 tom, should be avoided. The practice of putting vulgar 
 language into the mouths of the actors in the narrative, 
 under pretence of being true to nature and to fact, 
 cannot be too strongly condemned. Children do not 
 appreciate the supposed humour, they are not competent 
 to criticise, and they cannot but be injured by it. 
 History is a very appropriate subject, but the books 
 written for children are open to serious objections. It 
 is not right to put opinions into children's heads. Care 
 should be taken not to prejudice the mind. The 
 characters that are drawn of historic personages, the
 
 62 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 moral reflections that are continually interspersed, the 
 political doctrines that are expressed, are all out of 
 place. Facts should be given as fully as may be, and 
 the children left to form their own judgments. 
 
 Poetry should not be given too early. Descriptive 
 poetry is intelligible to young children, but it de- 
 mands little effort of attention, and therefore should 
 not form a part of their daily occupation. It should 
 be read but occasionally. More difficult poetry must 
 always be accompanied by questioning and explanation ; 
 only thus can it be made profitable. When clearly 
 comprehended it may be committed to memory. 
 Grammar should not be begun too early. First lessons 
 should not deal with technical terms. Familiar explana- 
 tions of the structure of simple sentences should be given. 
 These should be accompanied by exercises, from which 
 the children may discover for themselves the offices of 
 words. From these to more complicated sentences, 
 until they have a knowledge of rational grammar. 
 Then they may begin the more technical study. 
 
 The chapters in which the Edgeworths treat of moral 
 discipline deserve the careful consideration of all 
 teachers. Only one or two points are noticed here. 
 The first notions of right and wrong which children 
 get are from the expressions of pleasure or displeasure 
 by their parents. They thus learn to associate pain 
 with certain actions, and pleasure with others. In 
 continuing their moral education the same principle 
 should be recognised. The whole treatment of a child 
 should lead him to associate certain experiences as the 
 necessary consequences of his actions. This should be 
 consistently acted upon until the association in his
 
 THE EDGEWOliTHS. 63 
 
 mind is indissoluble that wrong actions bring painful 
 results. In doing this the teacher will be aided by 
 the way in which a child learns the qualities of external 
 things, and by which its experiences fashion its con- 
 duct. The child who puts its finger too near the fire 
 and burns it, and who finds that the same effect always 
 follows the same action, has learnt the lesson God in- 
 tended. Punishments must be of the same character. 
 They should appear as the natural consequences of the 
 actions, and they should be of uniform occurrence. 
 Punishments of an artificial character have no perma- 
 nent effect, for they are perceived to have no natural 
 connection with the offence, to depend on the will of 
 the individual, to be fitful in their severity, and not 
 certain in their action. It is uniformity of natural 
 consequences that creates the impression of cause and 
 effect. 
 
 The child is placed in a relation in which its own 
 will is to be formed by first submitting to the will of 
 another. The principles that should guide in this are 
 few. It is better to prevent than punish ; hence care 
 must be taken to form the child to a habit of obedience. 
 Let first commands be about things the child has 
 pleasure in performing. An action which the child 
 would do of itself is thus associated with obedience to 
 a command. At a somewhat later stage depend rather 
 on prohibitions. Here you can enforce your will, or 
 you may prohibit actions, which if performed will 
 bring slight pain. Then disobedience will convince 
 the child that the prohibition was for its good. When 
 commands are necessary, consider whether you can 
 enforce them, lor nothing should be done by you that
 
 64 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 would suggest or foster obstinacy. In early life reasons 
 are out of place ; they cannot be understood ; hence 
 implicit obedience must be exacted. But when children 
 begin to reason, they do not act merely from habit ; 
 and now, whenever we can use reason, we should never 
 use force. 
 
 Section II. Pestalozzi and the Pestalozzian System. 
 
 The term Pestalozzian is used to designate certain 
 principles and methods that are employed, in this 
 country, chiefly in infant culture. These principles 
 and methods in their germ, along with much that was 
 unsound and injurious, were found in the system of 
 training established by Wilrlerspin. Their develop- 
 ment and combination into as far as it goes a rational 
 system of training is due to neither worker but in 
 other countries .to Pestalozzi's fellow labourers, and in 
 this country to the Mayos and to their co-workers. 
 Reserving for another place the contributions of these 
 to educational progress, we shall glance in this at the 
 work of Festal ozzi himself. 
 
 Pestalozzi was born at Zurich, January 12th, 1746. 
 He had reached his thirtieth year, when the failure of 
 some speculations in which he had embarked at his 
 place, Neuhof, gave him the opportunity to attempt 
 the accomplishment of a dream of his youth. He set 
 himself vigorously to pursue the means of raising man 
 morally, and of promoting thereby his comfort and 
 happiness. Afflicted with the misery that he saw 
 around him, and deeply pained at the mr/al depravity 
 and great degradation of the people, he intently
 
 PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. f 5 
 
 revolved the problem of their recovery. His fir&t 
 notion was, that to elevate man morally he must be 
 improved outwardly, his circumstances must be bettered, 
 his social status raised. Entering enthusiastically into 
 this view of the case, he spared neither himself nor 
 his fortune. He opened at Neuhof an industrial school 
 for poor children, an effort that was not altogether 
 thrown away on them, as more than a hundred were 
 reclaimed, but which was of more value to Pestalozzi 
 himself. Convinced, by the excesses that accompanied 
 and followed revolutionary action, of the fallacy of his 
 previous opinion, he began to have a glimmering of the 
 truth, that it is not the change in outward condition 
 that brings happiness to a community, but the intel- 
 lectual and moral improvement of the individual. 
 Hence, it now became his aim to produce a condition 
 in which the happiness of the man would not be affected 
 from without, because its source would be within, and 
 to raise the moral condition of the community by an 
 entirely new method of training the young. His 
 opinions he embodied in various works, by which he 
 sought at once to stimulate parents to educate their 
 children, and to point out how it should be done. Of 
 these amongst others may be named, " The Evening 
 Hour with a Hermit," " Leonard and Gertrude," and 
 " How Gertrude teaches her Children." 
 
 In 1798, at the age of 52, Pestalozzi became a school- 
 master, and from this period until two years before 
 his death in 1827, he gave himself up to the work he 
 had chosen His qualifications for this work consisted 
 rather in a profound conviction that education was on 
 a wrong basis, than in any special knowledge of what 
 F
 
 66 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 it should be, or how it should be prosecuted. He was 
 of opinion that to enkindle right affections, to substi- 
 ute real knowledge for verbal forms, to develop mental 
 power rather than to load the memory, and harmoniously 
 to cultivate " the hand, the head, and the heart," should 
 enter into a right system of education. But he had 
 only vague conceptions on these points, and he certainly 
 saw no clear way to their accomplishment. However, 
 he brought to his work, earnestness, a loving spirit, a 
 fair intellect, and a simplicity, which did not object to 
 be instructed even by a child. Possessed of these he 
 could not but feel his way to that which he sought. 
 
 It could not but arise from this beginning, that he 
 would fall into many errors, and that there would be 
 contradictions betwixt his principles and practices. 
 Besides, he lacked the power to place clearly before his 
 mind his own purposes, and he also lacked the power 
 to express that which obtained in his practice. Thus 
 it happened, that his views were often vague, and his 
 practices absurd, and things were advocated by him, or 
 carried on under the sanction of his name, that were 
 altogether anti-Pestalozzian. It does not fall within 
 our purpose to follow him and his coadjutors in all 
 their experiments, discussions, dissensions, failures, and 
 successes, but rather, to give, as far as the confusion of 
 statement admits, a succinct account of the principles 
 and methods to which he gave his final adhesion. 
 
 Clear insight into the nature of the things to bo 
 acquired, rather than a verbal enunciation of a fact or 
 a formula, is the leading principle of the Pestalozzian 
 method. This he called intuition. The learner was to 
 examine and compare things, and acquire ideas rather
 
 PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 67 
 
 than signs, and this ho was to do under direction rather 
 than by instruction. His knowledge was to be real, 
 made his own by examination with his senses. Clear- | 
 ness of perception was one thiug sought, the doing it ' 
 for himself the other. Both must go together; for so 
 far as the process of observation is interfered with by 
 the oral communications of the teacher, so far will 
 there be want of clearness in the result, and loss of 
 power to the child ; but let the child exercise its senses 
 under direction gradually on things, and its per- 
 ceptions will be clear, its mind strengthened, and itself 
 prepared for further acquisitions. 
 
 In this principle, Pestalozzi struck at the root of the 
 common practice. He found children's time at school 
 spent on books, on verbal forms, on definitions, and in 
 committing to memory that which they did not and 
 could not understand, lie saw that with the many, 
 school- work was fruitless of results. The people grew 
 up unintelligent, their minds burdened with verbal 
 rubbish, and themselves none the better, but rather the 
 wor.<e for their school course. Certainly, some struggled 
 through the form, and seized the spirit of what they 
 acquired, but these were the few, the gifted, the minds 
 that in any circumstances would have attained know- 
 ledge and power. Pestalozzi aimed to do for the average 
 intellect, what superior minds struggle to do of their own 
 accord, or intuitively grasp. The common mind rested 
 in the sign. Their stores were verbal. There was no 
 life, no meaning, no thought. The mental current was 
 not affected by anything they acquired. The daily flow 
 of feeling and idea was governed entirely by the wants 
 of the lower life. They never rose above this level.
 
 68 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Their minds had been weighed down at school, and 
 never recovered their natural elasticity. 
 
 All this Pestalozzi desired to change. By banishing 
 books, by employing the senses, by developing Socra- 
 tically, but in a new form ideas in the mind, by 
 giving realities, by following nature, by exercising 
 every faculty in a gradual and natural way, he hoped 
 to give the child intelligence and power, and to habituate 
 it to live in a higher sphere of thought and feeling than 
 was hitherto possible. But his distaste to the common 
 school course was carried to absurd lengths. Instead 
 of retaining what was valuable, and rejecting what was 
 bad, he aimed at something which should be entirely 
 new. In fact, novelty seems to have had the charm 
 for him that it has for the veriest child. He discredited 
 everything that had on it the stamp of time and ex- 
 perience. That which he sought was very well in its 
 place. The knowledge acquired by the child would be 
 real, but fragmentary, and this was as it should be. 
 For infancy and childhood are storing times. Classi- 
 fying, generalizing, and defining, are altogether unfitted 
 to a state of mind in which the stores for such pro- 
 cesses have not accumulated. But the very fact, that 
 storing is the work of early life shows that it is but 
 preparatory to something higher and better. Now the 
 old school course was wrong, not in what it did, but in 
 doing it out of place, and at the wrong time. Every- 
 thing in its order would be a safer rule than that which 
 would restrict a child to the mental operations con- 
 nected with the senses, or that would give it verbal 
 forms before the facts that underlie them. Pestalozzi, 
 in dismissing books, was right for early childhood, but
 
 PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 69 
 
 decidedly wrong for a later period. What in his prac- 
 tice supposing it to end there could compensate for 
 the loss of the discipline to be derived from the study 
 of the past ? For what is a book but the record of 
 the working of another mind at a former period ? 
 And what can be substituted at the proper time for 
 the right use of books ? 
 
 There is an objection often urged to the improved 
 methods of training children practised by Pestalozzi, 
 which has been partly anticipated, but which demands 
 more distinct notice. The objector, instancing undoubted 
 examples of progress and mental power under the 
 former system, asks you to account for them if the 
 method was so bad as is assumed. The answer is, 
 either the superior quality of the mind saw that the 
 sign was a sign, and hence looked for something more, 
 and found it, or experience of life and intercourse with 
 man gave the letter subsequently a power which it had 
 not while being acquired. 
 
 This point gained, that the child's instruction must 
 be by things rather than by words, and that it must be 
 engaged on realities rather than on signs, the next step 
 was easy that the child should not simply be acted 
 upon, but should be an agent in his own education. 
 He must be made to examine, to compare, to reflect, 
 to think. His must be the examination of the objects 
 brought before him, and his the expression of the ideas 
 awakened in his mind ; the teacher's place being to 
 guide by questions, and to correct false impressions and 
 wrong answers in the same way. Whatever the thing 
 on which the child's attention is occupied, this must 
 be the mode. The thing on which it is engaged is
 
 70 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 comparatively of little importance, but the mode in 
 which its attention is engaged is of essential moment. 
 " There is not an object so trivial that in the hands of 
 a skilful teacher might not become interesting, if not 
 from its own nature, at least from the mode of treating 
 it. .... Any subject will do for the purpose. 
 Not only the little incidents in the life of a child, but 
 everything within reach of its attention, whether it 
 belong to nature or to the arts of life, might be the 
 object of a lesson, by which the child might be 
 familiarized with the habit of thinking on what he 
 sees, and speaking after he has thought. The mode of 
 doing this is not by any means to talk much to a child, 
 but to enter into conversation with a child ; not to 
 address to him many words, however familiar or well 
 chosen, but to bring him to express himself on the 
 subject ; not to exhaust the subject, but to question 
 the cUld about it, and to let him find out and correct 
 the answers. The attention of a child is deadened by 
 long expositions, but roused by animated questions. 
 Let these questions be short, clear, and intelligible. 
 Let them not merely lead the child to repeat in the 
 same, or in varied terms, what he has just heard before. 
 Let them excite him to observe what is before him, to 
 recollect what he has learned, and to muster his little 
 stock of knowledge for materials for an answer. Show 
 him a certain quality in one thing, and let him find 
 out the same in others. Do this, and you teach him to 
 observe, to think." 
 
 That the ideas gathered may be clear, and the pro- 
 
 I cess invigorating, the course must be from the simple, 
 
 or that which is easy and preparatory, to that which is
 
 PKSTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 71 
 
 more complicated and difficult. This course is to be 
 pursued whether dealing with a single subject, or in 
 the entire course of the child's training. For the\ 
 latter the near and the familiar must be taken, and the \ 
 circle gradually enlarged till it embraces the remote 1 
 and strange ; for the former, that which is elementary 
 and fundamental must be dealt with, and gradually 
 added to, until the full idea or subject is built up in 
 the mind. For instance, in connection with common 
 objects a lesson might proceed after this fashion : the 
 object being placed before the child and distinguished, 
 its name is given and repeated ; then the parts are 
 noticed and named ; then the form and size ; the 
 colour ; the smoothness of the surface ; the hardness or 
 softness ; the sound when touched, and so on, are 
 brought out from observation. Then other objects 
 which resemble this in any of these qualities are exa- 
 mined so as to bring out the greater or small degree 
 thereof, and so on. Proceeding thus, there is a clear 
 idea of the object developed in the child's mind, in a 
 gradual and natural way, and besides, there is fostered 
 an effort at observation, judgment, and expression, 
 which, if pursued daily, could not but train the mind 
 of the child in invaluable habits. 
 
 Pestalozzi attached much importance to this way of 
 engaging the child on what was simple first, and then 
 proceeding in a gradual and natural manner to what 
 was more complex. " Often," he says, " the supposed 
 incorrigibly dull and slow were found to make rapid 
 progress in the very things in which they had been 
 pronounced incapable, when these were introduced to 
 them in this simple and natural way." So that he
 
 72 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 thought it ill became any teacher to pronounce on the 
 incapacity of any of his pupils, for it might be that he 
 was rather declaring his own want of skill and method 
 than the obtusoness of his pupil's intellect. 
 
 Pestalozzi in pursuing a child's education would 
 have such exercises employed as would be likely to fit 
 the child for the use of all its faculties. He contends 
 that early education should be general, not special ; 
 : and should concern itself with the harmonious de- 
 velopment of the whole nature as far as that is possible 
 in early life. Such also was the opinion of Locke, 
 " The business of education, in respect of knowledge, 
 is not to perfect the learner in all or any one of the 
 sciences, but to give his mind that disposition and 
 those habits that may enable him to attain any part of 
 knowledge he shall stand in need of in the future 
 course of his life " This consideration led Pestalozzi 
 to seek for means to accomplish this purpose, and he 
 found them, as he thought, on the side of the intellect, 
 in_numJber, form, aud -lajiguage. " These things, he 
 says, not only elicit thought and train to think, but are 
 the mediums through which all ideas come to us in 
 later life." Now without accepting this in its entirety, 
 it must be allowed that a rational course of training 
 would embrace these things. For, apart from their 
 entering into so many of our ideas, and apart therefore 
 from their general educational value, they particularly 
 recommend themselves for infant education, as their 
 / elementary parts admit of being presented to the senses, 
 I while there is also possible a gradual advance in them 
 from the concrete to the abstract. Nor can it be said 
 that Pestalozzi estimated too highly the advantages of
 
 PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 73 
 
 his method when applied to these subjects. In the ' 
 case of number, if things are presented to the child in , 
 groups, and the name attached to the group, there is 
 an intelligence in the result which could not be if but 
 the name was given. So with operations on numbers. 
 Let these be performed before his eyes, or by himself 
 with things, and there is a rational force in operation 
 rather than a mechanical one ; and thus taught, the child 
 is led, even in the most advanced stages, to realize to 
 himself the conditions of the problems he works, and 
 to gain his results by applying principles rather than 
 rules. Such practice also gives him analytic power, ac- 
 customs him to exact thinking, and leads him to seek 
 for realities under the signs with which his mind works. 
 In the case of form, such exercises as Pestalozzi intends, 
 lead the child from the observation of lines and angles 
 to discern at length forms and relations in surrounding 
 things, which, but for these, would remain hidden from 
 him. But a higher result is obtained, inventive skilli 
 and a power of abstract conception, when the child is 
 taught to produce, to combine, and to originate forms 
 for himself. 
 
 In the case of language it is not so clear what was \ 
 Pestalozzi's notion, or what the special application of 
 his method to it. Certainly his practice here, in some 
 points, was as absurd as it could well be. What ad- 
 vantage could arise from bawling at the extent of the 
 voice unmeaning sounds like ba, ba, ba, la, la, la, or 
 at a later stage all the technical terms belonging to 
 some branch of science, does not appear. But perhaps 
 the solution is in what has been adverted to before, 
 that Pestalozzi often failed to put forth as well in
 
 74 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 practice as in language the conceptions to which his 
 mind gave hirth. From some of his statements, and 
 from some of his exercises, we may gather that it was 
 his wish to enrich the mind of the child with language ; 
 to place at its command a large store of words and their 
 combinations, with a thorough intelligence of their 
 meaning and use, and to give it great facility of ex- 
 pression in speaking and composition. Such a design, 
 well carried out, could not fail to be a valuable dis- 
 cipline to the learner, and must fit him for a more 
 intelligent and rapid progress in intellectual pursuits 
 at a later time. Nor can it be a valid ground of ob- 
 jection that in the early course of a child's education 
 this should be done, as I'estalozzi proposed, by the 
 living voice in free communication with the pupil 
 rather than by the dead letter in books. The difficulty 
 in Pestalozzi's practice must have been in getting the 
 children to attach any meaning or take any interest in 
 exercises which consisted chiefly of verbal repetition 
 after the teacher. The oral lesson on objects and other 
 things, referred to in a former paragraph, would have 
 furnished the opportunity required. But Pestalozzi, 
 run away with by the notion of treating everything 
 from its elements, thought consistency required from 
 him the construction of the series of lessons which he 
 framed on language. 
 
 There remains but one point necessary to notice in 
 this brief sketch, but that is a most interesting one, 
 the application by Pestalozzi of his great principle in 
 moral and religious training. Here, as in other things, 
 he objects to words as the vehicle of moral and religious 
 truth ; he requires facts. Not facts of a remote time
 
 PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 75 
 
 or place, but facts occurring amongst themselves or in 
 their neighbourhood. And he wants these, not to 
 convey notions merely to their minds, but to lead them 
 to act for others, or to avoid eviL He saw that moral 
 and religious truth, however clearly conceived, if not 
 acted out as occasions occurred, was not merely in- 
 operative, but positively injurious. Hence he sought 
 to awaken sympathy, and thence to lead to action. 
 This led him ako to notice the great difference in its 
 influence on children between the act witnessed, or 
 where that was not possible conceived, and the pre- 
 cept stated. The latter, a nice jingle of words, is learnt, 
 and in a few days forgotten, not having practically in- 
 fluenced for a moment ; but the former conveys not 
 only the truth, but exciting sympathy, gives it firm 
 hold of the mind, and, if occasions are found of acting 
 it out, fixes it as a living power in the life. 
 
 To develop religious feeling in a child, it must be, 
 he thought, excited in the first place towards parents 1 
 and friends, in connection with every-day duties and ' 
 relations, and then transferred at command to God. 
 Here is one of his vague conceptions of a great truth. 
 That the best way to convey to the mind of a child any 
 notion of its relation to God, is through its knowledge 
 of the relations that exist between its parents and 
 itself is undoubtedly true, and so the best way to make 
 apparent to a child the nature of the feelings which 
 should exist towards God, is by exciting right feelings 
 towards parents ; but that these can be transferred at 
 command to God is utterly impossible.
 
 76 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 INFANTS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 " OBRRLIN, the pastor of Walbacli, in Alsace, may bo 
 regarded as the founder of infants' schools. Louise 
 Scheppler, under his auspices, used to assemble the 
 little children of his parish between the ages of two 
 and six. Their object was to interest them by con- 
 versation, pictures, and maps, and to teach them to 
 read and sew." The first infants' school in Great 
 Britain was established at Lanark. Its founder, Kobert 
 Owen, gave the following account of its origin to a 
 Committee of the House of Commons in 1816 : 
 ? "The children are received into a preparatory or 
 training school at the age of three, in which they are 
 perpetually superintended, to prevent them acquiring 
 bad habits, to give them good ones, and to form their 
 dispositions to mutual kindness and a sincere desire to 
 contribute all in their power to benefit each other. 
 These effects are chiefly accomplished by example and 
 practice, precept being found of little use, and not 
 comprehended by them at this early age. The children 
 are taught also whatever may be supposed useful that 
 they can understand, and this instruction is combined 
 with as much amusement as is found to be requisite 
 for their health, and to render them active, cheerful, 
 and happy, fond of the school and of their instructors. 
 . . . In this training school the children remain 
 two or three years, according to their bodily strength 
 and mental capacity. When they have attained as 
 much strength and instruction as to enable them to
 
 WILDERSPIN. 77 
 
 unite, without creating confusion, with the youngest 
 classes in the superior school, they are admitted into 
 it. In this school they are taught to read, write, 
 account, and the girls, in addition, to sew ; but the 
 leading object in this more advanced stage of their */ 
 instruction is to form their habits and dispositions." 
 
 The teacher of this first infants' school, Buchanan, 
 was subsequently put in charge in 1819 of a similar 
 school in Westminster by Brougham, Lansdowne, 
 James Mill, Macaulay, and others. In 1820 another 
 was opened in Spitalfields, of which Wilderspin took 
 the charge, with whose name the methods and success 
 of the earlier period of the movement are connected. 
 
 Section I. fVildei'spin. 
 
 Samuel Wilderspin was born in London. At the 
 time of the experiment under Buchanan he was clerk 
 at the New Jerusalem Church, Waterloo Road. The 
 minister of this church, Mr. Goyder, introduced him 
 to Buchanan, by whom he was induced to give himself _, 
 to infant training. The opportunity offered in the 
 school erected by Joseph Wilson in Quaker Street, 
 Spitalfields, the charge of which was given to Wilderspin i 
 and his wife. They opened it on the 24th July, 1820, 
 a memorable morning, when Wilderspin, at his wits' 
 end, by exhibiting his wife's gaudily adorned cap at 
 the end of a pole, succeeded in arresting the attention 
 and reducing to quiet the screaming crowd that had 
 hitherto baffled all his efforts. This was the real 
 beginning of the infants' school system. Not only is 
 the very name due to Wilderspin, but it was his 
 arduous and self-denying labours, his ingenuity, per-
 
 78 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 severance, and skill that gave it formand made it a 
 power. 
 
 When Wilderspin began his work he was literally 
 without a plan, and almost without an aim. He had 
 some vague notions of rescuing the little ones under 
 his charge from the depraving influence of their daily 
 associations, and of giving them a culture that should 
 be beneficial to their future. But of plans he had 
 none, of principles he had no knowledge, of what 
 education really was or required he had no conception. 
 His work was one of experiment. Many were his 
 mistakes, many bis failures. Much that was absurd 
 or impossible to realize, or that was positively injurious, 
 found a place at times in his school, and obtained his 
 advocacy ; but he gradually hit upon valuable principles, 
 and introduced practices that have maintained their 
 ground to the present day. His success was such, that 
 those statesmen and others to whom reference has 
 already been made, having their attention drawn to it, 
 conceived the plan of a society for the purpose of 
 promoting the establishment of similar schools. Of 
 that sanguine and enthusiastic temperament, so neces- 
 sary to the pioneer in difficult enterprises, Wilderspin 
 was eminently fitted for the work that now lay before 
 him. During the next twenty years we find him 
 travelling to every part of the British islands, lecturing, 
 establishing schools, training their teachers, and con- 
 ducting examinations, wherever his services were 
 required, or where he thought an opening might be 
 made. Besides this, he kept open a central school in 
 Cheltenham, conducted when he himself was away by 
 members of his family, or bj his own trained agents.
 
 WILDERSPIN. 79 
 
 This course of life not only added to his experience, 
 but also brought him into contact with many earnest 
 educationists, such as Stow, Simpson, Combe, and 
 Close, and with many good practical teachers ; the 
 result being an enlargement of his own views, and an 
 occasional adoption of a principle or a method, without, 
 it might be, the consciousnesss of his indebtedness. 
 This explains, perhaps, his pertinacious and somewhat 
 angry contention of later life, that things that were 
 doubtless taken from others had their origin in his 
 own experiments. In the brief sketch now to be given 
 of his system, we neither propose to trace its growth, 
 nor to separate what is properly his own from what he 
 picked up from others, but simply to set forth the 
 leading principles and practices which he ultimately 
 advocated. 
 
 At an early period Wilderspin became aware that if / 
 he was to succeed he must adapt his measures to the 
 nature of the child. This became his leading idea, and 
 the clue in all his experiments to what he hoped a 
 rational system of training. Hence he arrived at the 
 truth, which he sets forth as a leading principle of 
 education, that the whole nature of the child must be 
 considered, and his education be physical and moral as 
 well as intellectual. Physical culture required him to 
 pay special attention to habits of cleanliness, and to 
 those ailments of young children by which others might 
 be affected. Imitative actions and amusing exercises, 
 adopted at first simply as a means of arresting atten- 
 tion, he continued not only on that account, but as 
 important instruments in physical training. Singing, 
 introduced as a recreation, was employed also for the
 
 80 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 same end. The playground, introduced for moral pur- 
 poses, supplied the means of fresh air and outdoor 
 exercises. In all these, and in clapping and marching, 
 he says play is given to the lungs, the blood is sent 
 with a quickened impulse, and every organ of the body 
 is benefited. 
 
 Following his principle of suiting himself to the 
 nature of the child, he perceived that the rigidity of 
 the National or of the Dame's school was unsuitable. 
 Their forced quiet, their constrained positions, were 
 unnatural. Childhood is joyous, childhood is active, 
 childhood is curious, childhood is imitative. The 
 child delights in laughter, frolic, and fun ; and if it is 
 to be educated aright, these must be encouraged and 
 provided for, not repressed. For there is a mutual 
 reaction between the departments of human nature, 
 and where there is a violent repression of lawful 
 actions, unless in obedience to a higher law of nature, 
 there must be injury. For instance, the joyousness of 
 childhood, good in itself, is much more so as a moral 
 agent, or at least as a favourable condition to moral 
 growth ; while certainly the opposite state is one from 
 which may spring all manner of evil dispositions, 
 tempers, and habits. With this truth before him, he 
 sought to make school a happy place, and provided the 
 child, as far as he had power, the means of acting out 
 its real life. 
 
 Moral education was rightly deemed by Wilderspin 
 as the chief aim of school training ; in fact, that he 
 might raise from their moral degradation, or recover 
 from vice, the children of the poor or criminal class, 
 was that which led to his life-long devotion to their
 
 WILDERSPIN. 81 
 
 cause. Moral education should take precedence of 
 every other school practice. However strong the 
 temptation and to some it is a strong one to give 
 attention to what is showy, or that can be measured, 
 it must not be yielded to. The child's best interests 
 must not be sacrificed to a puerile love of display, nor 
 to a wish for pecuniary gain. 
 
 Moral education embraces at least two things the 
 instilling of moral truths and principles into the mind 
 of the child, and the formation of its disposition, 
 temper, and habits. In other words, it aims " to give 
 a moral constitution to the child instead of a moral 
 custom." It has been too much the practice to depend 
 on moral injunctions and the committal of Scripture 
 texts to memory, as the means of giving an acquaintance 
 with religious and moral truth and duty. The principle 
 that he had hit on at an early period of his labours, 
 that a child's education must be by things rather than 
 by words, suggested the absolute futility of the common 
 practice. It became evident to him that it was not 
 only fruitless in moral results, but that it altogether 
 failed to convey any notion of the truths themselves. 
 He found that to give moral perceptions there must be 
 present to the child the example or the act that embodies 
 the truth. His only course was therefore to take 
 advantage of the little incidents occurring in the 
 schoolroom and playground, and to take familiar 
 instances of conduct coming within their experience, as 
 his means of communicating to them notions of virtue 
 and religion. The same great truth which had served 
 him in this also led him to see that injunction, precept, 
 and learning by rote, would equally fail to affect the 
 
 G
 
 82 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 feelings or form the habits It would be as wise to 
 expect a child's health to be benefited by merely 
 learning to repeat maxims on exercise and cleanliness. 
 No ; if the disposition is to be moulded, the temper 
 formed, the foundation of right habits laid, it must be 
 through example, the culture of the feelings, and by 
 right actions. Proper feelings must be excited, and 
 occasions found for acting them out, if there is to be 
 any moral or religious result. To excite feeling and 
 sympathy he depended on cases actually brought before 
 the children, on instances which their imaginations 
 could conceive, on incidents occurring in the play- 
 ground, and on example. By means of the playground 
 he made himself acquainted with faults only revealed 
 there, and obtained the means of exercising the moral 
 judgment of the whole, or of benefiting the individual 
 otherwise not possessed. Here, also, he had the sphere 
 where he could bring practice to his aid. Little ones 
 were taught practical lessons in forbeafance, kindness, 
 truthfulness, and honesty. Here they learnt to give 
 way, in little things, to the wishes of their associates, 
 to protect the weak, to help the suffering, and generally 
 to learn the lesson that life consists in promoting the 
 well-being of those around. In such ways he sought 
 to train the heart rather than the head, to bring out 
 the good deed rather than a good precept, for he had 
 discovered that learning to act takes precedence in the 
 life of a child of learning to talk. While thus seeking 
 to prevent the formation of evil dispositions and habits 
 by the formation of such as were good, he also found 
 that the only way to destroy what was evil was not 
 by the rod, or by attempted forcible repression, but by
 
 WILDERSPIN. 83 
 
 carefully cultivating the opposite habit, practice, or 
 disposition. 
 
 In cultivating the intelligence, the plan had hitherto 
 been to do so through language. Wilderspin dis- 
 covered that for the infant the process should be 
 reversed. He found out, he says, on his first day in 
 school, that if he would arrest the attention, it must 
 be through the senses. Following this up, he obtained 
 the truth that objects should be examined and com- 
 pared, and ideas obtained, before the attempt to give 
 them expression. This being done, language became 
 to the children a living thing, words being then the 
 signs of realities, instead of so much lumber lying as a 
 dead weight on their faculties. This valuable principle, 
 long before advocated by Locke, and shortly to be 
 extensively known as Pestalozzian, is the key to 
 Wilderspin's system and success in cultivation of the 
 intelligence. Yet, had he adhered to his principle 
 here, as in other things, of adapting himself to the 
 natuie of the child, he would have found that the 
 principle is valuable only within certain limits. For 
 as a matter of fact and of necessity, children do acquire 
 much language, and much through language, that they 
 cannot understand, and this requires both to be 
 furthered and dealt with in a right way. How to do 
 so was one of the problems Stow tried to solve. 
 
 From the principle that a child's first instruction 
 must be through the senses, by things, not by words, 
 there was but a step to a child must not receive simply 
 at the hands of his teacher, but must make efforts of 
 his own, his teacher showing him how to think rather 
 than what to think. For " the aim of the infant
 
 84 . SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 school should not be to give knowledge, but to lay the 
 foundation of the habit of seeking for it." In practice, 
 there were many departures from these principles. For 
 with an object before them, the attention was not con- 
 lined to points which could be observed or discovered, 
 but much information was detailed of a kind totally 
 unsuited to the mind of a child. This at length pro- 
 ceeded to such extravagant lengths, that many who did 
 not discern the good came to condemn the whole thing. 
 
 The means employed for this cultivation were various. 
 Motions with the fingers accompanied the utterance of 
 words, as up, down, perpendicular, horizontal, paral- 
 lel, angle, and so on. Objects, and where these 
 were not procurable, or of a nature not to bring into 
 the schoolroom, pictures were employed on which to 
 give lessons. Those on pictures he found often more 
 interesting than those on objects, but he failed to dis- 
 cover wherefore; which is that a higher power, the 
 conceptive, is brought into play, than in simple obser- 
 vation, a power to which much of the enjoyment of 
 early life is traceable. Lessons in number were given 
 by means of the arithmeticon, and on form by means 
 of an instrument which could be formed into triangles, 
 squares, and other geometrical figures. To all these he 
 added lessons in reading, though not conducted on a 
 method in accordance with his first principle. 
 
 Since the first appearance of this brief account of 
 Wilderspin's system, he himself has been called away. 
 His death took place nine years ago. It attracted little 
 attention at the time ; still some portions of the press 
 referred to his great services to education. He was the 
 first to produce a system of infant training. But he
 
 THE MAYOS. 85 
 
 also awakened public attention to its importance, and 
 he did much to establish it in the country. He 
 travelled to many parts of England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland, establishing schools, undertaking their charge 
 for a month or six weeks, and then holding a public 
 examination to show the nature and results of his 
 work. He could boast that he had thus commenced 
 the training of upwards of 20,000 children, and had 
 instructed the teachers of hundreds of schools. Besides 
 this, he delivered a series of lectures in the places he 
 visited, explanatory of his aims and plans, and h 
 published two valuable works on infant training. It 
 was this enthusiastic, long-continued, and self-sacri- 
 ficing advocacy that led, after two or three abortive 
 attempts, to the placing of infant training on a sound 
 and satisfactory basis. 
 
 Section II. The Mayos. 
 
 Educational progress has consisted in the adoption 
 of higher ends and aims, and of improved principles 
 and methods of culture ; and in extending the area of 
 culture in the community. These have generally pro- 
 ceeded together. But among the workers in this field 
 some have given more attention to the former than to 
 the latter, satisfied that if they could improve the quality 
 of education, its extension would follow. In continu- 
 ing our observations, the work, sometimes of one, 
 sometimes of the other, will come under notice ; but it 
 is not within our purpose, even were it possible or 
 desirable, to bring under review every movement of 
 the past fifty or sixty years years forming a period of
 
 86 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 educational excitement never before experienced. It 
 will suffice to show the character of this progress, if wo 
 instance a few of the more prominent movements. 
 / The work of Pestalozzi attracted attention to it from 
 every part of Europe. Many visited the scenes of his 
 labours, and not a few, captivated by what they saw, 
 remained students of principles which they felt were 
 to revolutionize the entire system of early education. 
 Of those, who thus visited him, there were some whose 
 tastes and aptitudes, improved by liberal culture, enabled 
 them to separate the principles from the forms in which 
 they were embodied, and by which their real nature 
 was too often obscured, even from Pestalozzi himself. 
 But for them, his must have been simply an example 
 of lofty zeal and self-sacrificing devotion to the cause 
 of education. Catching the spirit of his method 
 rather than its form, these provided courses of instruc- 
 tion and training for the systematic and harmonious 
 development of the whole nature of the child. Among 
 these, Charles Mayo and his sister did for England 
 what had been already done for Continental countries 
 by others of Pestalozzi 's disciples. 
 
 " Profoundly convinced," he observes in his preface 
 to " Lessons on Objects," "of the truth of Pestalozzi's 
 views, and warned against his errors by long actual 
 observation of their consequences, the writer of these 
 prefatory remarks determined to attempt the introduc- 
 tion of his method into England, religiously preserving 
 the Idea, but adapting the Form to those circum- 
 stances in which he might be placed. He considered 
 that the most effectual mode of accomplishing this end. 
 was to devote himself to the formation and conduct of
 
 THE MAY OS. 87 
 
 a school, in which the arrangement and practical appli- 
 cation of those principles might he made. To exhibit 
 the system in operation, to elaborate, by means of 
 experiments continually repeated, a course of instruc- 
 tion ; and above all, to prepare materials for an appeal 
 to actual results, seemed to him a far more useful and 
 effectual, though less rapid or brilliant process, than 
 that of dragging it before reluctant audiences at public 
 meetings, or of advocating its merits in the periodical 
 publications of the day. He was content that it should 
 be buried in oblivion for a while, assured that if it 
 possessed the life of truth, it would in due time spring ( 
 up with renovated vigour. That time seems to have 
 arrived. Attention to this subject is revived. Schools 
 professing to be conducted on Pestalozzian principles 
 are increasing in number, and publications issue from 
 the press which point out, with more or less success, 
 .the manner of applying them to different branches of 
 instruction. Under these encouraging circumstances, 
 it is proposed to publish, from time to time, a number 
 of little treatises of a strictly practical nature, em- 
 bodying in a familiar manner the principles of Pesta- 
 lozzi. They will be the results of many years' expe- 
 rience the corrected and re-corrected editions of 
 lessons actually given by different individuals." In 
 conformity with this announcement, there issued at 
 short intervals little books of " Lessons as given at 
 Cheam, Surrey." But before this,. as early as 1826, 
 Mr. Mayo had directed attention to Pestalozzi and his 
 principles, in a lecture at the Royal Institution. From 
 this lecture we give the following summary of Pesta- 
 lozzi's principles.
 
 88 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Pestalozzi was unencumbered by the trammels of a 
 regular school, and unfettered by its routine. Nature 
 became the school book ; and, in the actual experience 
 and self-acquired knowledge of his pupils, he found 
 those elements of instruction which are usually sought 
 in the discoveries of other minds and the abstractions 
 of science. Pestalozzi accustomed his pupils to make 
 observations on the objects that surrounded them, and to 
 express with accuracy the ideas which they thus acquired. 
 He taught his assistants that reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic were not the real elements of instruction, 
 but that a simpler, a more natural foundation, must be 
 sought. The basis of all sound knowledge, argued he, 
 is the accurate observation of things acting on the out- 
 ward senses. Unless physical conceptions be formed 
 with distinctness, our abstractions will be vague, and 
 our ju Igments and reasoning unstable. The first object 
 then in education must be to lead a child to observe 
 with accuracy ; the second, to express with correctness 
 the result of his observation. The practice of embody- 
 ing in language the conceptions we form gives per- 
 manence to the impressions ; and the habit of ex- 
 pressing ourselves with the utmost precision of which 
 we are capable, mainly assists the faculty of thinking 
 with accuracy and remembering with fidelity. 
 
 This being the leading idea of his method, the fol- 
 lowing are the principles by which it should be 
 pursued. fc 
 
 Education should be essentially religious. Its end 
 and aim should be to lead a creature, born for immor- 
 tality, to that conformity to the image of God in which 
 the glory and happiness of immortality consists. In
 
 THE MAYOS. 89 
 
 pursuing this end, the instructor must regard himself 
 as standing in God's stead to the child ; and as by the 
 revelation of God's love is the spiritual transformation 
 of man accomplished, so must the earthly teacher 
 build all his moral agencies on the manifestation of his 
 own love towards the pupil. Then, as " we love God 
 because He first loved us," so will the affections of the 
 pupil be awakened towards his instructor, when he 
 feels himself the object of that instructor's regard. 
 Again, as love to God generates conformity to His will, 
 so will obedience to the instructor be the consequence 
 of awakened affection. 
 
 Education should be essentially moral. The prin- 
 ciples and standard of its morality should "be derived 
 from the precepts of the gospel, as illustrated by the 
 example of the Redeemer. Moral instruction, to be 
 availing, must be the purified and elevated expression 
 of moral life actually pervading the scene of education. 
 In carrying on the business of the schoolroom, or in 
 watching over the diversions of the playground, the 
 motives and restraints of the purest morality, and those 
 only, must be employed. Moral diseases are not to be 
 counteracted by moral poisons ; nor is intellectual 
 attainment to be furthered at the expense of moral 
 good. 
 
 Education should be essentially organic. A stone 
 increases in size by the mechanical deposition of matter 
 on its external surface ; a plant, on the other hand, 
 grows by continual expansion of those organs which 
 lie folded up in its germ. Elementary education, 
 as ordinarily carried on, is a mechanical inculcation 
 of knowledge, in the Pcstalozzian system it is an
 
 90 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 organic development of the human faculties, moral, 
 intellectual, and physical. Moral education does not 
 consist in preventing immoral actions in the pupil, but 
 in cultivating dispositions, forming principles, and 
 establishing habits. Nor does intellectual education 
 attain its end by the mere communication of intellec- 
 tual truths, but rather in the development of those 
 faculties by which truth is recognised and discovered. 
 And, lastly, physical education, instead of confining 
 itself to instruction in particular arts, must be directed 
 to the improvement of the outward senses, and the 
 increase of activity and strength. 
 
 Activity is the great means of development, for action 
 is the parent of power. The sentiments of the heart, 
 the faculties of the mind, the powers of the body, 
 advance to their maturity through a succession of 
 acting in conformity to their nature. Opportunities 
 for the exercise of moral virtue should be carefully 
 sought out, or, at least, diligently applied. To culti- 
 vate benevolent dispositions, the pupil should be 
 invited' to relieve the indigent ; to overcome his selfish- 
 ness, he should be induced to share or to part with the 
 objects of his own desire. In intellectual cultuse 
 every branch of instruction should be so presented to the 
 pupil's mind, as to bring into the highest activity the 
 faculties most legitimately employed upon it. 
 
 That there may be that action that leads to develop- 
 ment, there must be liberty. It may be possible by a 
 system of coercion, to produce a negative exterior 
 morality, which shall endure as long as the circum- 
 stances on which it is built remain in force ; but no 
 interior moral power, that shall survive a change of
 
 THE MAYOS. 91 
 
 outward circumstances, can be formed, unless such 
 moral liberty be enjoyed as leaves to the judgment 
 room for discerning between good and evil ; to the 
 moral choice the adoption of the one, and the rejection 
 of the other; to the conscience the approval and rewarding 
 of right, the condemnation and punishment of wrong. 
 Restraint is useful to check the career of passion, to 
 arrest the progress and diffusion of moral mischief, to 
 remove the incentives to evil, and to restore to that 
 position in which the moral principle may again exert 
 its influence. Still it is only a negative, not a positive 
 means. All the real development of man, moral, intel- 
 lectual, and physical, arises from moral, intellectual, 
 and physical liberty. 
 
 This liberty must be directed by an influence essen- 
 tially parental ; where there is no mother there can be 
 no child, is as true morally as it is physically. It is 
 the order of providence that maternal affection and 
 maternal wisdom should call forth the dawning powers 
 of childhood ; and that the wisdom and firmness of a 
 father should build up and consolidate the fabric 
 which reposes on a mother's love. The Pestalozzian 
 instructor must combine the character of each relation, 
 but exhibit them in different proportions according to 
 the age and disposition of his pupil. 
 
 The development of the faculties should be harmo- _^ 
 nious. In some cases the intellectual, or moral, or 
 both, are sacrificed to the physical ; in some, the moral, 
 or physical, or both, to the intellectual. A Pestaloz- 
 zian educator respects the rights of each. He fortifies 
 the body by gymnastic exercises, while he cultivates 
 the understanding, and trains the sentiments. He en-
 
 92 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 deavours to preserve the equipoise in each, as well as 
 between each of the three departments, to mingle 
 firmness with sweetness, judgment with taste, activity 
 with strength. His object will be, not to develop a 
 disproportionate strength in one faculty, but to produce 
 that general harmony of mind and character which is 
 the most conducive to the happiness and usefulness of 
 the individual. 
 
 Development should be essentially progressive. The 
 sentiments should be gradually led to take a higher 
 direction and a wider range. The motives of well- 
 doing must be by degrees elevated and purified in their 
 character ; the duty which was discharged at first in 
 obedience to an earthly father must be set forth as the 
 requirements of a heavenly one ; the charities of life 
 must be exercised towards those in immediate contact ; 
 by degrees an interest may be cultivated in operations 
 embracing a wider or distant sphere of usefulness. 
 ^ In every branch of study, the point de depart is 
 sought in the actual experience of the child ; and from 
 that point where he intellectually is, lie is progressively 
 led to that point where the instructor wishes him to 
 be. Thus he proceeds from the known to the unknown, 
 by a process that connects the latter with the former, 
 and, instead of being abruptly placed in contact with 
 the abstract elements of a science, he is led by a course 
 of analytical investigations of the knowledge actually 
 possessed, to form for himself those intellectual ab- 
 stractions which are in general presented as the primary 
 truths. 
 
 / With these adaptations of Pestalozzi's principles, 
 Mr. Mayo and his sister gave themselves to the task of
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 93 
 
 working them out in a private school. Subsequently 
 they embodied them in the series of lessons to which 
 reference has been made, and eventually secured for 
 them a wide circulation and adoption through the 
 agency of the Home and Colonial Training Institution. 
 With that institution and its great work their name is 
 intimately associated. 
 
 Section III. Home and Colonial School Society. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact in connection with educa- 
 tional progress, that its gains and its advancement have 
 been by a constant struggle against a tendency to de- 
 teriorate. So much of the success of a method, or of 
 the application of a principle, has been due to the 
 personal element the zeal and enthusiasm of the 
 teacher that many, who thought to adopt the principle 
 or apply the method, have failed to obtain like results. 
 Nor is it difficult to account for this. It is much easier 
 to get the form in which a method or a principle is 
 embodied, than it is to get the thing itself. It is also 
 a much easier thing to Apply the form mechanically, 
 than it is to work out by the principle or method in- 
 volved. Hence as few ever penetrated through the 
 form, and many lacked the spirit which alone wins 
 success, while most were too indolent, intellectually, to 
 incur the exertion that true education demands, there 
 have been but few good teachers, and the majority have 
 either sunk back into rote and rule, or have aimed at 
 results which, while they were showy, were also un 
 sound. This tendency to deterioration has had illus-
 
 94 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 trations in every movement of the century, but in 
 no case more noticeably than in infant education. 
 
 The primary object of an Infants' School should be 
 moral and physical training, and laying the basis of 
 good habits. The cultivation of intelligence except 
 as a matter of method should hold a subordinate 
 place. By Wilderspin and some of his abler coadjutors, 
 this object was on the whole kept steadily in view. But 
 by many, the Infants' School was made either a place 
 of amusement necessary to keep the little ones quiet 
 or a place of forcing or cram. In many schools, the 
 number of subjects professed was appalling, and would 
 have been sufficient to task the energies of adults. 
 The teaching not that it deserved the name was 
 showy and pretentious. The result was seeming wealth 
 and real poverty. Words, hard, dry, scientific, took 
 the place of things and ideas. Facts of all kinds were 
 crammed into the children's moutlis, to the injury of 
 their truthfulness, and to the prevention of their growth 
 in real intelligence. There was no proper method, no 
 proper food. Ignorant of mind, and indifferent to con- 
 sequences, these empirics brought the whole system 
 into ridicule, and placed the existence of such schools 
 in peril. In corroboration of this, we may quote the 
 following observations of the late Joseph Fletcher, Esq., 
 one of H.M. Inspectors of schools : " Some of the 
 promoters of infant schools appear to have considered 
 them merely as asylums for healthful amusement, under 
 some degree of discipline and moral control. Others 
 seem to have thought they presented opportunities 
 
 likewise for mental improvement The 
 
 most fatal error was the leaven of intellectual display
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 95 
 
 which, whatever the subjects for its exercise, appears to 
 have crept into a good many of these establishments of 
 earlier formation. It seems to have produced in some 
 of them what I do not know how to designate other- 
 wise than as the ' prodigy system,' under which the 
 quicker children were to be wonders of envy and ad- 
 miration to the rest, and the whole school in which 
 they were exhibited one of admiration, if not of envy, 
 to its friends and neighbours, on occasion of each 
 * examination,' which might more truly have been 
 designated a little ' drama,' in which the clever children 
 had each their little part of 'representation' by rote. 
 Conceit, envy, and fretfulness, ill restrained by fear, 
 were the leading moral elements of such a system ; and 
 stultifying verbal repetition, its chief intellectual 
 exercise. Travesties of the language of science vied 
 with desecrations of that of Scripture, and the world 
 of truth was shut out by a veil of familiarity with its 
 unvivified formulae." 
 
 But there were some who knew how invaluable were 
 well- conducted Infants' Schools They had formed a 
 right opinion of their true purpose, they had a fairly 
 just conception of the objects to be sought in the cul- 
 tivation of intelligence during the period of infancy, 
 and they had a glimpse of the methods appropriate to 
 the period and purpose. Unwilling that what was 
 good should be lost, and that institutions capable of so 
 much real work should fail, through a mistaken or 
 inefficient agency, they formed a society for the purpose 
 of " improving and extending " the existing system. 
 
 This Society, founded in 1836, adopted the title, 
 Home and Colonial Infant School Society. It in-
 
 9fi SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 eluded in its purpose the training of teachers, and the 
 working out and setting forth in model schools such 
 principles, practices and methods as a growing ex- 
 perience and careful experiment might establish as 
 suitable for infant training. "At an early period of 
 their labours, they were so fortunate as to obtain the 
 cordial co-operation of Miss Mayo, the well-known 
 author of ' Lessons on Objects,' who, to a clear know- 
 ledge of the principles on which Infant Education 
 should be founded, added eminent practical skill, 
 acquired at her brother's justly celebrated school at 
 Cheam." They also secured the services of Robert 
 Dunning as Training Master a gentleman eminently 
 qualified by natural aptitude, special study, and ex- 
 tensive experience, for that office, and they obtained 
 as Honorary Secretary, J. S. Reynolds, to whose 
 zeal, devotion, indefatigable exertion, and educational 
 .knowledge, the Institution owes much of its success. 
 
 Ere this Society began its labours, the two most 
 marked systems of infant training were those of 
 Wilderspin and Stow. That of Wilderspin, as pointed 
 out in a former section, was in its essential features the 
 same as that of Pestalozzi. In the hands of many, 
 however, it had sadly degenerated, until it had lost 
 nearly all that was appropriate for infant culture. Stow, 
 though professing to observe the same principles, 
 really to a great extent lost sight of them in his pur- 
 suit of what he thought a higher, yet appropriate 
 culture of the infant mind. The advent of a new 
 society, aiming to improve and extend existing systems, 
 might have been thought a favourable juncture for 
 framing a system of culture that should harmoniously
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 9? 
 
 blend the two great methods, and do really what both 
 professed, train the " hand, the head, and the heart." 
 I Jut the time had not yet come. The infant mind had 
 not been sufficiently studied. No system was yet 
 possible that should provide an education just suited 
 to the nature of the being to be educated. The ac- 
 cession of Miss Mayo gave a decided direction in the 
 system of training adopted to Pestalozzianism. Not 
 that there was a slavish adherence to a name. The 
 active agents in the work of training were too much 
 in earnest, and too practical, not to avail themselves of 
 whatever might more effectually promote it. 
 
 An early improvement on the existing system was 
 the banishment of the huge gallery, and the division 
 of the school into sections, so as to render possible a 
 gradual system of instruction and training, adapted to 
 the nascent power and awakening faculties of the 
 children. The same thing had been done by Stow for 
 juveniles above the age of seven, but he retained in the 
 Infant School the absurd practice of addressing at 
 once the whole school, though ranging between the 
 ages of two and six. 
 
 The following remarks by Mr. Dunning, in 1841, 
 set forth the purpose and advantages of this arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 " I now come to the question Why are the children 
 of the Model School separated at gallery lessons, and 
 not taught together as in the greater majority of Infant 
 Schools 1 I like to see this spirit of inquiry into our 
 plans and practices : we want teachers to investigate 
 and to think for themselves, and I earnestly wish they 
 would do so, not only when they visit the Model 
 H
 
 98 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 School, but every other school. Observe first, any 
 plans that differ from your own, and endeavour to 
 ascertain the reasons for them : examine them with 
 reference to the true ends and aims of education, and, 
 having formed your judgment, adopt or reject them 
 
 accordingly Our changes are not the 
 
 results of caprice or a desire of novelty ; we endeavour 
 to keep in mind the physical, intellectual, and moral 
 improvement of the children on the standard of reason 
 and the word of God ; and as increased experience 
 amongst the little ones has proved the inadequacy of 
 any plans practised, they have been laid aside, and suc- 
 ceeded by others better calculated to promote the end 
 in view. It is the effect produced by our machinery, 
 and not the machinery itself, that is the object of our 
 attention ; and considering how limited is the know- 
 ledge of the phenomena of the human mind, and of 
 the laws which regulate human thought and feeling, it 
 is no matter of surprise that we should see grounds for 
 
 changing our plans But to return to the 
 
 immediate subject before us ; the principle on which 
 children in the Model School are separated at gallery 
 lessons is precisely the same as that which leads all 
 teachers to separate them at reading, ciphering, or 
 writing. We ought just as soon to think of teaching 
 all the children to read together in one class, as to 
 learn the elements of knowledge in one division. In 
 teaching to read in classes, you adopt a method that 
 economises time, that keeps all grades of children em- 
 ployed ; the advanced are not retarded by those of 
 slower progress, nor the slow and dull hurried beyond 
 their power. Now this is all good as far as it goes, but
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 99 
 
 it is capable of a more extended application ; it is 
 equally applicable to intellectual and moral improve- 
 ment ; they are precisely in the same degree progressive ; 
 they do not change their nature because they are taught 
 in a gallery ; and experience shows that there is no 
 mode of meeting the difficulty but by dividing and 
 classifying the children. In some Infant Schools the 
 only object is to provide comfortable shelter to the 
 children ; then they may content themselves with a 
 spacious apartment, an ample playground, a few pictures 
 to amuse the mind, and a few swings to occupy the 
 body. In such a place, the division of a gallery of 
 children would be absurd. In other schools, the great 
 object is the acquisition of the art of reading and one 
 or two other mechanical exercises, whilst the songs sung, 
 and the little lessons given on pictures, are only to re- 
 lieve and amuse. Here, again, division is out of the 
 question. In schools of a different character, how- 
 ever, the principles which require the classification of 
 children whilst receiving instruction and exercise at the 
 galleries, may be summed as follows : 1st, ' That the 
 development of the various faculties does not take 
 place at the same time, and that in each it is progres- 
 sive.' 2nd, ' That when the internal faculties are 
 systematically and habitually exercised, they gain 
 strength, durability, and readiness of action.' 3rd, 'That 
 to derive benefit from the exercise given, the strength 
 and continuance of the stimulus must be duly propor- 
 tioned to the maturity and condition of the faculty on 
 which it operates.' In carrying these principles into 
 practice, our children are separated into four great 
 divisions, which may be almost called four schools. In
 
 100 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 these, the children are arranged not according to size, 
 or age, or acquirements in reading, but according as 
 their mental and moral faculties seem to be awak- 
 ened. 
 
 " The utility of this division, and the graduated and 
 progressive nature of the instruction given," will be 
 apparent on consideration " of the objects kept in view 
 in each of the four divisions. In the first division, it 
 is proposed to exercise the bodily organs, to obtain order 
 and obedience, preserving a tone of cheerful good 
 humour fitting the joyous season of infancy, and to 
 give the first religious impressions. 
 
 " In the second division, it is proposed to exercise 
 the conceptive, as well as the perceptive faculties of 
 the children ; that is, to accustom them to reproduce 
 and accurately express the ideas gained through the 
 senses ; to arouse and enlighten their consciences, by 
 bringing before them different moral qualities, and 
 particularly their own responsibility ; to call out 
 religious feeling, making use for this purpose of Scrip- 
 ture pictures. 
 
 "In the third division it is proposed, in addition to 
 exercising the faculties of perception and conception, 
 to give the children a little simple information on sub- 
 jects about which they have been previously interested, 
 and to exercise their memories in storing up the ideas 
 gained ; to make the moral instruction arise as much 
 as possible out of the events of the day, habituating 
 the children to try their own dispositions and conduct 
 by the standard of the Bible; the religious lessons 
 to be drawn immediately from the Bible, and to form 
 a regular course by which the children may be trained
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 101 
 
 to preserve in their minds a chain of events ; the in- 
 struction in general to become more systematic and 
 connected. 
 
 " In the fourth division, or juvenile section, the 
 children become more independent of the master's 
 instruction ; they learn to acquire for themselves ; the 
 object with them is to cultivate the higher faculties, as 
 judgment and reflection, to give a more decided 
 direction to those powers that have been developed, 
 and to endeavour to fit them for a life of usefulness. 
 Writing, ciphering, and linear drawing are more 
 practised, and a larger share of Scripture and other 
 important information committed to memory. They 
 also perform the office of monitors, and thus learn to 
 make use of what they have acquired." 
 
 It is easy to trace in this description the lingering 
 of those forcing practices which had been heretofore 
 the bane of many infants' schools. But the fact of 
 graduating the lessons to the growing capacity, and of 
 forming divisions in which to carry them out, with the 
 evident desire that existed to arrive at a rational system, 
 gave a warrant that as experience grew, that which was 
 preposterous would disappear. 
 
 Having adopted Pestalozzianism as its basis, this 
 Society's great service to the cause of infant education 
 was the reduction of its principles and methods to a 
 practicable shape. This it did by the preparation of 
 graduated courses of instruction. Surveying, from the 
 stand-point chosen, the field of infant culture, they 
 selected such subjects as were fitted for their purpose, 
 and dealt with them so as to illustrate their fitness to 
 secure the end in view, and to point out the method by
 
 102 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 which it was to be attained. Their aim was by a 
 graduated and progressive course to secure the harmo- 
 nious development of the whole child, so as to pre- 
 serve it from being of stunted and dwarfed proportions, 
 a result which would certainly follow from a one-sided 
 treatment, and a result which the system adopted 
 would not enable them to escape. The courses of in- 
 struction provided indicated the matter which was 
 deemed suitable for the specific purpose in view, the 
 order in which it should be presented, and the method 
 by which it was to effect its design. The latter was 
 also deemed to equal or to surpass in importance the 
 other, so that it became almost an axiom that how to 
 teach was of more importance than what to teach. 
 
 Development and intuition are the two great watch- 
 words of Pestalozzianism. The former points out that 
 education is an organic process, proceeding from within, 
 activity on the part of the child being essential to 
 the end, the growth and vigour of its faculties. 
 It also points out the necessity of suitable stimuli being 
 presented to the embryo faculties to excite them to 
 action, and that these must be presented in a gradual 
 and progressive way, so as at once to feed, to strengthen, 
 and to stimulate for higher action. And it also points 
 out that each phase of mind feeling, will, intelligence 
 must be regarded, as it is impossible to exclude any 
 during the presence of one, and that no child is devel- 
 oped where any department has been overlooked. The 
 latter points out the condition of success ; the starting- 
 point of successful culture being the child's observa- 
 tion or experience. These principles and others allied 
 therewith are set forth in the graduated courses and
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 103 
 
 numerous publications of the Society in a way which 
 leaves nothing to be desired. Other principles, more 
 advanced and of equal importance, are often enunciated, 
 but their application is obscured by the prominence of 
 the other method. Nor is it, perhaps, a loss that it is 
 so. For we have, in consequence, as complete an ex- 
 position of what Pestalozzianisni can accomplish as may 
 be hoped for or desired. 
 
 In endeavouring to form a right estimate of this 
 work, of the fitness of any part of it, or of the end 
 proposed, it must be constantly borne in mind what 
 that end was. It was nothing less than the complete 
 education of a child during the period of infancy. 
 The claim advanced was that of having nicely adapted 
 a variety of expedients into one harmonious system, 
 that takes in every faculty of child-nature coming into 
 play during the period of culture. Such a claim implies 
 that the child has been an object of study, and that a 
 complete knowledge of it, and of the laws of its 
 being, has been obtained. Without this the right 
 education of the whole child cannot be, and any scheme 
 of education will vary in completeness according to the 
 knowledge possessed. We may well hesitate in 
 yielding assent to this claim. But granting a partial 
 knowledge to have been obtained, and a theory of child- 
 life formed, complete as far as it goes, defective but not 
 erroneous, it may be held that in judging of their 
 scheme ot education we must regard it from their stand- 
 point, and must consider any part, not as if isolated, but 
 as one of many things working together for an in- 
 tended result. 
 
 The object was a noble one. In fact, it was the only
 
 104 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 way to success at all. No one can succeed as an edu- 
 cator who does not conceive of education as a whole ; 
 as a fitting of parts synchronously and in succession. 
 There is nothing really isolated in a teacher's work. 
 The close of a lesson is not the end of it. Nor is it 
 the number of lessons that makes school work. Nor 
 are the lessons, where education is the aim, however 
 distinct in subject, isolated in purpose. School work, 
 if it is to be educational, however diverse it may be, 
 must be a unity. All the lessons, all the influences at 
 work, in all the days of school life, must be considered 
 and provided in order to harmoniously working out 
 the child's education. Oneness is the characteristic of 
 a good educational system, and this Society must have 
 the credit of giving it its rightful prominence. 
 
 We shall begin our illustrations with religious 
 training. It was a principle of Pestalozzi that educa- 
 tion should be essentially religious. He regarded a 
 child as possessing religious instincts, which had but 
 to be properly exercised to become religious principles 
 and habits. But this Society took a more Scriptural 
 and evangelical view. The necessity of the Holy 
 Spirit's work on the heart and conscience was insisted 
 upon. It was seen that, however true the doctrine, 
 however suitable in form, however well adapted to 
 interest the child, to awaken its sympathies, to enlighten 
 and quicken its conscience, it would be but a show of 
 vain words, powerless to change the heart or improve 
 the life if not accompanied by the direct influence 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 lleligious education does not consist in furnishing 
 the memory with texts, nor in the daily use of the
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 105 
 
 Scriptures, nor even in acquaintance with the doctrines 
 of the gospel. Religion itself is not a belief, but a 
 spiritual and transforming influence, pervading the 
 whole life. So religious education consists not in the 
 knowledge given, but in a holy influence felt in the 
 schoolroom and in the playground, in the lesson and 
 at play. It is not religious education unless the truth 
 given in the lesson has a transforming influence on the 
 character, or becomes an active principle in the life. 
 Hence the test of success is in the child and not in the 
 lesson. It is not, has the truth been communicated, but 
 has its power been experienced 1 With such an aim as 
 this the devoted teacher will not be satisfied with the 
 extent of Scripture knowledge, however gratifying in 
 itself, bnt will be ever watching for the dawning of 
 spiritual light, and the buddings of spiritual life. 
 
 Still truth must be communicated. In fact it is the 
 first step. Then what truth, at what period, and in 
 what form 1 These questions receive a definite reply. 
 The truth to be taught relates to God, His character, 
 His abhorrence of sin, His mercy through Christ, the 
 relations of the child to God and its duties to Him, and 
 generally a knowledge of His will and word. Such 
 truth, as the child is able to receive it, cannot be com- 
 municated too soon. There is no sympathy with the 
 crotchet that would leave the mind uninformed till 
 reason is ripe. For the truth is not given for the 
 benefit of the intellect but for the impression of the 
 heart. And the youngest mind capable of affection to 
 a parent is in a position to have a similar feeling 
 awakened towards God. The form in which this truth 
 u communicated is the vital point. It must not be
 
 106 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 by abstract statement. It must enter the intelligence 
 or it will not reach the heart, and mere abstractions 
 fail to do that. 
 
 Three steps or stages are recognised as marking this 
 course. 
 
 "First Step. First ideas of God. The object at 
 this step, is to give the infants their first ideas of God 
 to teach them that they have a Heavenly Father ; 
 leading them to feel somewhat of His power, from its 
 manifestations in those works of His with which they 
 are familiar, and somewhat of His benevolence, by com- 
 paring it with the love shown them by their parents 
 and friends. Thus to begin with what they have seen 
 and done, and then endeavour to raise their hearts to 
 
 Him whom faith only can comprehend 
 
 Teachers should avail themselves of what is passing 
 immediately under the children's observation. On a 
 bright sunny day, let the blessing we derive from the 
 sun, and the goodness of God manifested in the beauti- 
 ful and useful part of His creation, form the lesson. 
 On a wet day they might learn to understand and ap- 
 preciate something of God's goodness in sending the 
 rain, which refreshes our earth and causes it to bring 
 forth and bud. A lesson on their food, on water its 
 uses and abundant supply, on fire, all might help to 
 raise the infant heart in reverential love to the Giver of 
 all good.'' The following may be taken as an out- 
 line of the lessons at this step : " 1. The children 
 to be led to talk about something in which they are 
 interested their parents, and what they do for them, 
 or some of the works of creation endeavouring to 
 call out their feelings. 2. What they see and know to
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 107 
 
 be made a stepping-stone to what they cannot see 
 and do not know. To lead them from the love of their 
 earthly parents to form some idea of God, who is 
 love ; to lead them also to conceive from observation 
 of His works that He must be good and great, and 
 wise. 3. The ideas gained in each lesson to be care- 
 fully impressed on the memory by simultaneous 
 repetition." 
 
 This step has been advocated on these grounds. 
 " There are conceptions to be formed of a Being that 
 is neither present, nor can be seen, and cannot be com- 
 pared (except faintly and in some remote points) to 
 anything around the child ; who can only be known 
 by the manifestations he gives us of himself, in nature, 
 providence, and grace. This is to be taught to a child 
 in the first dawnings of intellect, and to one who has 
 no ideas at first, except what it receives from sensible 
 objects ; whose feelings come into activity as it comes 
 into contact with the beings around it. But whilst 
 the child is thus circumstanced intellectually, it is 
 constituted so as easily to go from what it sees to what 
 it does not see, and to transfer its ideas of what is 
 seen to that which may not be seen. Morally, it is 
 disposed to depend on, to love, to reverence, to submit 
 to, to conciliate the persons around it, to believe the 
 word of those it loves, and so on, and it can be made 
 to transfer these feelings to parties remote. The point 
 at which we are to start at is, this little being itself, 
 with all its ideas taken from sensible things, and all its 
 feelings brought into activity by the actions of those 
 around it, anil the point to which we are to bring it, is 
 God, whom rightly to know is life eternal. In the
 
 JOS SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 first step we endeavour to awaken the feelings of love, 
 gratitude, dependence, reverence, faith, towards those 
 around the child ; and thus prepare him to exercise 
 the same feelings towards God." 
 
 The first of these positions may be granted. It is 
 not so clear that the other may. It is easy to see that 
 a child may form conceptions of the unknown from 
 what it knows, that is, " to transfer its ideas of what 
 is seen to that which may not be seen ; " but it is 
 difficult to conceive how a child " can be made to 
 transfer " its feelings at the will of those in charge of 
 it. The fact is, feelings are excited by the presence of 
 their objects, and where any feeling has been habitually 
 excited and properly yielded to, there the feeling lias a 
 tendency to pass into the phase of disposition, so that 
 the mind is in the state to take the initiative in refer- 
 ence to anything that contains the exciting cause. 
 Now the difficulty in relation to the feelings, love, 
 reverence, submission, and such like, is in placing the 
 object really and distinctly before the mind ; but let 
 these feelings be brought into activity in connection 
 with those that the child knows, until the child be- 
 comes disposed to exercise them towards all possessing 
 the qualities, then if their exciting causes as existing 
 in God can be made distinct to the child, the feelings 
 will spring up of course. The closing sentence is a 
 better statement of the result sought than the former 
 one, and may be accepted as embodying the great 
 principle on which all must act who wonld excite 
 religious emotion in a child. 
 
 Second Step. Further ideas of God from Scripture 
 incidents, by the aid of Scripture prints. " At this
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 109 
 
 step, it is proposed to carry the children through a 
 course of religious instruction, with the help of Scrip- 
 ture prints. The story is to be gathered from the 
 picture by the children's attention being directed to 
 it by questions. A portion of Scripture should be 
 given, that the children may connect the narratives 
 with the Bible, and receive them as divine instruction." 
 " The Scripture print is to be used in various ways. 
 First, it serves as a groundwork for questions. At the 
 commencement of the lessons the children must be 
 questioned in such a manner that they may obtain and 
 give answers by looking at the print. Thus, their 
 observation being directed to the representation, their 
 minds will be brought to bear upon the subject, and 
 they will long for the narrative. Secondly, while the 
 narrative is given in the words of the teacher, or in 
 words read from the Bible, questions are mingled at 
 intervals with the relation, and the print is glanced at 
 again and again, for the requisite reply. Thirdly, the 
 print is to be used as a help to the children in the 
 repetition of the narrative." 
 
 " The purpose of prints in scriptural instruction is 
 to awaken curiosity, to excite observation, to engage 
 and fix attention. That the print is needed and suited 
 to accomplish these ends is very certain. All who 
 know anything of the minds of children, know that 
 their interest will be excited by the mere sight of a 
 picture. We know, too, that when their interest has 
 been excited, a considerable effort must be made in 
 order to sustain their attention. Tf infants have not 
 the subject of instruction set as an object before their 
 eyes, their thoughts soon begin to wander from it. It
 
 110 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 is true they may be interested by the meaning of 
 words addressed to them ; nevertheless, without an 
 object which meets the eye their minds cannot easily 
 be fixed on the subject, and drawn off from all others. 
 
 But, beside the purpose to which the 
 
 teacher purposely applies the print, it benefits the 
 children even without his effort or design. It aids 
 the conceptions of the children, it enlivens their 
 apprehension by embodying their ideas. While their 
 ears receive the words addressed to them, their eyes 
 encounter a representation of the ideas, and thus 
 impressions are made on the mind with a two- 
 fold impulse, and become doubly deep and permanent. 
 
 Whatever improvement of the mind 
 
 and heart can be effected by means of a Bible lesson 
 without a print, may be effected by means of a lesson 
 with one. In addition to such benefit, moreover, the 
 use of the print insures greater exercise of mind, and 
 go an increase of its strength, a more lively apprehen- 
 sion of the. subject, and a more lasting impression on 
 the memory." The use of prints as a mechanical aid 
 to less gifted teachers, and as a necessary one for infants 
 from the poverty of their language and the weakness 
 of their attention, is no reason for the more gifted 
 teacher with more advanced children shackling himself 
 with such a device. A descriptive and word-picturing 
 method has certainly the advantage of giving more 
 scope to the teacher, at the same time that it demands 
 a greater effort from the children. 
 
 " Third Step. Scripture histories and character, 
 religious and moral duties, and Scripture natural his- 
 tory. At this step, narratives are chosen, with a view
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. Ill 
 
 to inculcate some of the chief fundamental truths of 
 Christianity. For instance, sin its nature intro- 
 duction into the world its consequences and the 
 remedy provided for it in the sacrifice of the Son of 
 Go;l. Incidents and characters are also selecte^, with 
 a view to inculcate some important truth or influential 
 precept. As the children advance, lessons are given to 
 illustrate the natural history of the Bible; and the 
 instruction is drawn from the Bible in a regular con- 
 nected course, therehy training the children to preserve 
 in their minds the idea of a chain of events." 
 
 With respect to the general method of conducting 
 religious instruction, it is held that a mother's inter- 
 course with her little ones should suggest the style of 
 communication. Colloquial and simple, while winning 
 the confidence of the little ones, it will also be found 
 to be the most impressive. A lesson too will be more 
 effective if confined to developing and impressing one 
 point. This will not make the lesson meagre, for it 
 may be discussed in a variety of ways, and, in fact, 
 should be, both in order to gain it admission into more 
 minds than oue mode would secure, and also to impress 
 it more deeply. In fact, little by little, must be the 
 motto of the teacher of infants. His charge, as pointed 
 out long ago, are like narrow-necked phials, which sub- 
 jected to a continual stream receive little or nothing, 
 but taking in drop by drop, retain and fill. 
 
 The counterpart of religious instruction is moral 
 training. There is a sense in which morality may exist 
 without religion. That is, certain moral habits may 
 exist, and certain moral practices obtain, where there 
 is no pretence to religious feeling, and no reference to
 
 112 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 religious sanctions. But the highest morality, nay, it 
 may be said true morality does not exist except as the 
 fruit of religious principle. The true character of a 
 practice, habit, or principle is the motive from which 
 it springs, and religion recognises those acts only as 
 moral which proceed from motives such as God approves. 
 It is not enough that the act is one that God sanctions 
 or commands, its performance must spring from the 
 intention to do His will. In the mselves, therefore, 
 religious education and moral training cannot be disso- 
 ciated if we would have the latter on a right basis. 
 Religious education is a sham if it does not secure 
 moral results, and moral training will prove a delusion 
 if it is not founded on religious sanctions. There can 
 be no real severance between religion and morality, 
 where the former is the latter must be. The latter in 
 its true nature cannot be where the other is not. For 
 neither is what it professes to be without the other. 
 
 This is the ground occupied by this society. "Morality 
 is that practice which results from obedience to Chris- 
 tian precepts on Christian principles ; the application 
 to the ordinary events and duties of life of the doc- 
 trines and precepts of the Christian religion. Moral 
 training is the application to children in their ordinary 
 conduct, in the schoolroom and playground, of the 
 precepts which they learn from the Bible." Moral 
 training thus becomes a process which has for its aim 
 the implanting of moral principles and the formation 
 of moral habits, under the sanctions of the word of 
 God. It has, consequently, much in common with, 
 religious instruction, its point of departure being the 
 steps taken to form the practice and the habit.
 
 HOMK AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 113 
 
 To form the practice and habits, attention must be 
 given to the springs of action. To attend to acts 
 regardless of the feelings of which they are the ex- 
 pression, or which they tend to excite, would be to miss 
 the central point in moral culture. The feelings require 
 attention. Some are to be brought under control, 
 others have to be strengthened, and, especially, all have 
 to be regarded in reference to their objects. Feeling is 
 not an end. It exists as a means. It is an incentive 
 to action. As a feeling does or does not find issue in 
 action, so it subserves or not its purpose in the human 
 economy. Hence the feelings demand culture, which 
 culture must embrace the actions allied thereto. If 
 the feelings and their associated actions receive proper 
 attention, the result is the formation of the disposition, 
 temper, and habits, or, in a word, of moral character. 
 The importance of this culture is acknowledged by this 
 society. At an early period some of its officers ex- 
 pressed regret that the same success had not attended 
 their work here as in other points. They thought that 
 the same clear results should be expected from the 
 culture of the feelings as from the culture of the intellect ; 
 that a teacher should be able to act upon a feeling, as 
 compassion, as systematically and effectively as upon 
 perception or judgment. In intellectual education it is 
 known beforehand what effect is to be produced, and 
 the nature of the means to be employed to produce it. 
 It ought, they thought, to be the same with the feelings. 
 There ought to be just as clear a conception of the end 
 sought, and just as wise an adaptation of the means. 
 No doubt this is very desirable, and perhaps would be 
 attainable if our knowledge of all the springs of action 
 I
 
 114 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 in their thousandfold complications was perfect, and oar 
 control of all the circumstances which excite or modify 
 them complete. 
 
 Two or three considerations may be offered why the 
 same success is not to be expected in the culture of the 
 feelings in school as of other mental or of physical 
 powers. First, the occasions are not always at hand 
 for the cultivation of any particular feeling. In the 
 cultivation of intelligence, the means may be extem- 
 porized if they are not ready at hand, but it is not so 
 with the feelings. It is true that occasions as they 
 occur may be seized, and as Locke says, when possible 
 they should be made, but in many cases it is impossible. 
 And if the occasions cannot be made, systematic culture 
 cannot be had. For instance, suppose the feeling is 
 compassion : the proper object of this is wretchedness, 
 and the purpose of exciting it is relief. But how pro- 
 vide the exciting cause ? It may be said, invent it ; 
 appeal to the imagination by a fiction. Well, we might 
 develop the feeling in this way, but we should thwart 
 our purpose. The feeling is to be cultivated, not for 
 itself, but for the action to which it prompts. Where 
 no action can follow, the feeling passes into the phase 
 of sentiment, and a moral condition is induced, the 
 very opposite of the one we seek. A state is produced, 
 in which distress will excite no condition but a sickly 
 sentimentality, without moving a finger in relief. 
 
 Mistake or failure has not the same significance in in- 
 tellectual culture as in moral. The intellect is not neces- 
 sarily injured by mistaken action, that is by being 
 exercised on improper objects. But the case is different 
 with the moral feelings. Here loss is all but irretriev-
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 115 
 
 able, while mistaken action is doubtless injurious, ami 
 may be fatal to moral growth. Sin has a tendency to 
 perpetuate itself. Once admitted into the soul the 
 stain remains. The mind, astray morally, feels the 
 effect of it ever afterwards. Hence to the culture of 
 the moral feelings there are obstacles which have been 
 created by former states, that do not exist, or in a very 
 limited, and certainly not in an insuperable degree, in 
 intellectual culture. 
 
 Besides this, there is the fact of original depravity 
 that disturbing element in our moral system which 
 renders repugnant to us those objects of the feelings 
 and those duties connected therewith which are moral 
 and religious ; and to this may be added the constant 
 recurrence of temptation to indulgences by the enemy, 
 which are destructive of all right feeling and action. 
 
 In this condition of things the cultivation of the 
 conscience is the chief corrective of failings in the 
 culture of the feelings. The office of conscience being 
 to approve or disapprove of particular states, and of 
 the actions springing therefrom, its culture implies that 
 the mind is informed of that which is legitimate and 
 right, so that it may have a standard of judgment, and 
 that it is practised continually in deciding on the moral 
 quality of feelings and actions, both personal and of 
 others. In the absence, then, of a perfect scheme of 
 culture, the next best thing in our power is to give to 
 conscience its rightful supremacy, by continually fur- 
 nishing cases to be decided by the standard of the 
 divine word. Nor are the elements wanting of such 
 a culture. Considering the position of a child in 
 school, the opportunity exists of placing in its mind
 
 116 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 a right standard on such important points as justice, 
 truth, kindness, self-denial, and so on, and to get de- 
 cisions of the conscience in respect thereto on the little 
 incidents arising out of its daily life. 
 
 A great difficulty in moral culture is in the child 
 itself, arising from the emotions of self having heen 
 injudiciously stimulated in its earlier years. To so great 
 an extent is this sometimes carried by those in charge 
 of it, that the child concentrates its regards on itself, 
 and only considers its actions as they may affect itself. 
 The corrective is, early to divert the attention of the 
 child to the effects of its actions on others. It must 
 get into the habit of recognising that its own claims in 
 every case are limited and modified by the claims of 
 others. Supposing this to be effected, it will be com- 
 paratively easy to establish a high standard of feeling 
 and practice in such things as honesty and truthfulness, 
 and to save from those things which proceed from utter 
 regard lessness of the feelings, wishes, or rights of 
 others. 
 
 Moral instruction, culture of the feelings, andworking 
 against the emotions of self, require practice of moral 
 duty as that which gives each its force in moral training. 
 Those are introductory to this. " See," says Miss 
 Mayo, " that they not only acknowledge the principle, 
 but that they carry it out in practice, for it is essential, 
 besides awakening feelings and instilling principles, to 
 cultivate moral habits, and habits are formed by the 
 frequent repetition of an action." So again Mr. Dun- 
 ning : " The child's character is very much in the 
 hands of the teacher, but then more must be done than 
 mere teaching. .... Education contemplates
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 117 
 
 the formation of character. But how is character 
 formed ? Much of it by training, not teaching. A 
 teacher cannot lecture a child into good manners, or 
 change habits of any kind by the longest speech. The 
 physical, intellectual, and moral habits are only changed 
 by a repetition of doings, and it is in these doings that 
 training consists. Action is the parent of power." 
 
 The course of moral instruction should be both inci- 
 dental and formal. The incidents of the schoolroom, 
 playground, and street should be made use of to illus- 
 trate moral truths and to obtain moral decisions. But 
 these occur too irregularly to be relied on altogether. 
 The instruction should come at fixe.d intervals and 
 follow a well-defined course. This Society recommends 
 a course of three stages, each stage having a special 
 purpose, given subjects, and its own mode of treatment. 
 " In the first step the object is to awaken the moral 
 sense, to cultivate right feelings, and to form good 
 habits : leading the children to determine w hat is right 
 and what is wrong, and preparing them for the recep- 
 tion of religious impressions. The lessons should em- 
 brace kindness and love of parents and teachers so as 
 to awaken affection, the little griefs and joys of their 
 companions so as to excite sympathy, and so on. The 
 plan in giving the lesson is to lead the children to t.dk 
 about the various actions that fall under their notice, 
 with a view to form their moral sense and cultivate 
 right feelings, and to make a very simple application 
 to themselves. In the second step the object is to 
 enable them to distinguish, appreciate, and name moral 
 qualities. The subjects embrace dutias to parents, 
 teachers, brothers and sisters, their companions, the
 
 118 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 aged, the property of others, and so on. The plan is 
 to lead them by observation on their own conduct and 
 disposition, or the conduct and disposition of others, 
 to form clear conceptions of moral qualities ; or the 
 teacher is to give some examples of the exercise of a 
 moral quality, and the children decide what it is, and 
 learn how it is to be called. They also tell how they 
 can exemplify the quality under consideration, and de- 
 termine whether it would be right or wrong. In the 
 third step the object is to cultivate a quick perception 
 and nice discrimination of moral feelings, and to teach 
 the terms by which they are expressed. The subjects 
 of instruction to be drawn from historical facts, fables, 
 poetry, the playground, and proverbs. The story to 
 be narrated, the children to determine the merit or 
 demerit of the parties spoken of, and the kind and 
 degree of faults mentioned in the story, and to state 
 what would be their own duty in similar circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The principle on which these lessons are conducted 
 is to take something as a starting-point from the child's 
 experience, or that has come under its observation. 
 " The rule is the same," says Mr. Eeynolds, " in moral 
 as in intellectual education. We must start from 
 what is within the child's own experience. We must 
 not talk to it of great sacrifices of life or fortune, but 
 of the little incidents that occur in the schoolroom 
 or playground, in which either good or bad conduct is 
 exhibited. If we bring an object before a child, that 
 it may by degrees be led to acquire clear ideas on the 
 various properties of matter, so we must bring actions 
 that he has witnessed before him, that he may be led
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 119 
 
 to form right notions of moral qualities ; to determine 
 for himself which are good and which are bad; to trace 
 the motives and dispositions which lead him to certain 
 actions ; and thus prepare him to see and appreciate 
 the Christian principles by which he should be regu- 
 lated." 
 
 The power of the teacher's example must not be 
 overlooked. " One of the most powerful auxiliaries in 
 the cultivation of character," says Miss Mayo, " is the 
 
 / / / 7 
 
 force of example ; children not only imitate what those 
 around them do and say, but involuntarily acquire their 
 habits and manners." It should never be absent from 
 the teacher's mind that example is stronger than pre- 
 cept, and he should fortify himself with those con- 
 siderations that show why it is so. Amongst others, 
 four have special claims on his remembrance. Example 
 is stronger than precept because it conveys truth to 
 the mind better than precept does. Often the precept 
 is but a form of words until embodied in an example. 
 The action conveys to the mind what the precept did 
 not. The truth now stands forth in strong light, so 
 that there is no mistake as to it. Here example has 
 the same value as an experiment in physical science, or 
 as a construction in geometry. It exhibits and conveys 
 to the mind the meaning underlying the words. Again, 
 example is stronger than precept because it makes the 
 impression that the precept is obligatory. Where the 
 precept is understood, nothing will so strongly recom 
 mend it as obligatory as seeing another submit to it, 
 especially if the other is an adult, and placed in so 
 apparently irresponsible a position as a master is. 
 Children cannot but feel, if a man consistently does a
 
 120 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 right thing, that he feels its obligation upon him, and 
 especially so if they see it under strong temptations 
 to the contrary. But suppose the case where a man's 
 example is not according to his precept, then the 
 children must feel that, whatever he may say, he cannot 
 helieve in its obligation. If he says, "You will find it 
 better to do as I say than as I do," they will think him 
 either a fool or a knave a fool in neglecting to do what 
 he says interests him so nearly, a knave in pressing 
 upon others what he does not do himself. Again, 
 example is stronger than precept because of the force 
 with which sympathy and imitation silently mould the 
 character. By sympathy we place ourselves in the cir- 
 cumstances, and assume the feelings and actions of 
 those around us. This is a force more or less at work 
 on us continually. We do not resist except consciously. 
 That is, sympathy will operate unless we voluntarily 
 and strenuously resist it. But in the case of ordinary 
 example, and especially by children, there is no thought 
 of resisting ; on the contrary, there is often a great 
 deal of interest, and sympathy at once awakes. And 
 in those cases where sympathy is impossible, there is a 
 strong imitative propensity, and the child copies the 
 teacher. Finally, example is stronger than precept 
 because in cases of emergency, when called on to act 
 at once, it is the example that occurs to the mind, and 
 not the precept ; and if it be the example of a father 
 or a teacher, its force is irresistible. 
 
 Moral training has a branch that is too often con- 
 sidered as something distinct from it. School disci- 
 pline is often regarded as merely obtaining order and 
 securing attention to work. But others, taking a wider
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 121 
 
 view of their duties, regard it as obligatory upon them to 
 do what they can to form in their pupils arightcharacter. 
 With these, discipline is a system of means for enforcing 
 right conduct, of correcting bad habits, of lessening the 
 force of evil tempers and dispositions, and of eradicating 
 anything that would be injurious to the moral and 
 intellectual growth of the child. 
 
 Discipline with such aims, is supposed to have its 
 sphere in the juvenile rather than in the infant school. 
 And this is the fact; the province of the infant school 
 is to prevent rather than cure. Or if evil exists either in 
 habit or bias, to uproot or change by forming other and 
 better habits, or giving another direction to the feel- 
 ings and conduct. In this view the whole course of 
 infant school training is disciplinary. Exercises 
 adopted for other purposes are in fact great moral 
 forces. Thus manual exercises, intended for physical 
 relief or benefit, have a direct influence in forming the 
 habit of obedience, and of establishing the teacher's 
 authority. The march, the clap, the rising and sitting 
 at command, the loud shout, the low whisper, the 
 sudden silence, the cessation of all employment for a 
 few minutes, these all help to establish conditions 
 highly favourable for more direct moral agencies. 
 
 This being the case, the attention of this Society was 
 given to the more direct means of moral training as 
 belonging especially to the sphere of infant culture, 
 and not to those practices and expedients which are 
 found necessary at an older age. Yet, even in infants' 
 schools, evils are sometimes found, which the common 
 course does not eradicate nor prevent. In such cases 
 other means must be resorted to, and we are now to
 
 122 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 inquire what are those practised or recommended by 
 the officers of this Society. 
 
 Authority, the right to command, and if necessary 
 to enforce obedience, and also the acknowledgment of 
 the right in the practices of those subject to it, is 
 essential to discipline. One of the first things, if not 
 the first, that a teacher has to work for, is the establish- 
 ment of his authority. Until this is effected, the 
 influences on his children must be wayward and 
 capricious, and their progress, morally and intellec- 
 tually, fitful and hap hazard. It is not of speedy 
 growth. To be lasting, authority must be based on 
 influence, and on the ascendency of the teacher's moral 
 and intellectual character. But this cannot be attained 
 at once. At first the teacher and child are strangers, 
 and authority cannot exist. It is true that the child, 
 introduced into the sphere of its influence, is affected 
 by the tone of his companions, and is predisposed to 
 submit; but the personal ascendency of the teacher 
 must be a growth, and comparatively a slow one. The 
 means to be taken is to acquire influence, and this 
 cannot be but by studying the characteristics of children, 
 and adapting the treatment thereto. " Those who wish 
 to govern by influence, not by force, who desire to govern 
 children by means of their will and not against it," 
 must make them their study. " Authority," says Mr. 
 Dunning, " unquestioned and unlimited authority, is 
 the aim, and the means to be made use of is influence. 
 In studying the characteristics of child- 
 hood, in order to secure an abiding influence over them, 
 there are two aspects in which they present themselves, 
 which must both be taken into account in order to be
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 123 
 
 successful : the one is, in the general and prominent 
 features of a child's character ; and the other is, the 
 special peculiarities of its disposition. Now, in order 
 to gain ascendency over children in general, we have 
 only to attend to a few points. First, children delight 
 in the exercise of their opening faculties both of mind 
 and body ; next, they have a strong desire for informa- 
 tion ; thirdly, they love those who sympathize with 
 them and aid them in attaining their objects; and 
 fourthly, they have a strong tendency to catch the 
 spirit and imitate the action of those they love. It 
 follows that all we have to do is to exercise the various 
 faculties judiciously and at proper times ; to present new 
 facts and new objects in great variety, though not too 
 rapidly ; to sympathize with and assist them in all 
 their little movements and lawful desires ; and, lastly, 
 to show in our own walk a steady, upright conduct, and 
 the work is done, they are our bondsmen. But in 
 addition to this we must study the child sui generis. 
 What are his peculiarities ? what feelings are strong, 
 what weak ? what habits has he acquired ? what are 
 his likings and dislikings? Such points being as- 
 certained, the teacher will be well prepared to begin his 
 work. Begin gradually, and try your authority over 
 the child on little points." 
 
 But it is not merely the establishment of his own 
 authority, but regard for authority in general that must 
 bo the teacher's aim. This obtained, that will be 
 secured. This may be by giving great prominence to 
 the claims of law and rule ; the teacher showing by his 
 own conduct that he acknowledges the authority of 
 law. It may be furthered by bis conduct to the
 
 124 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 managers of his school. It does not do for one who 
 wishes to reign by moral force to act Dr. Busby to his 
 managers and employers. The relation between the 
 teacher and manager is not unknown, and the children 
 cannot but be favourably impressed by proper deference 
 on the part of the former to the wishes of the latter. 
 It may also be promoted by the mode of his intercourse 
 with their parents. Treatment of them with proper 
 respect, because they are his children's parents, will 
 strengthen the regard for their authority, and conse- 
 quently for the authority of the master. 
 
 Punishment is a point of great moment in school 
 discipline. It may be laid down as an axiom that 
 there can be no government where there is no punish- 
 ment. It cannot be but that offences wiU some, and 
 these must be dealt with to prevent their repetition, 
 and to produce a moral impression against evil on the 
 witnesses. Still it is to be said that " a school is good 
 or bad according to the frequency of the cases de- 
 manding punishment. In a good school they are 
 seldom required. Where they frequently occur the 
 school is a bad one, and the master unfit for his po- 
 sition Especially is this true when the mode of 
 punishment is the infliction of bodily pain." In ex- 
 tenuation it may be admitted that a master thus acting 
 has a strong temptation to do so amidst the many 
 claims on his attention, and in view of the fact that 
 force may accomplish the immediate end sooner than 
 other means ; but still no one who looks merely at pre- 
 sent effects, careless of future results, can be considered 
 as fit to be entrusted with the education of the young. 
 
 It will ever be the aim of the good schoolmaster so
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 125 
 
 to order his measures as to prevent the necessity of 
 punishments. Attention to moral training, finding 
 employment for the activity of children, giving free 
 scope to their natural characteristics, and banishing 
 absurd restraints, will lessen the occasions for punish- 
 ment. " You will wish to know," says Mr. Ogle, " by 
 what means severe punishments may be prevented. I 
 arrange the means under two heads mental and 
 
 moral There is in the child a love of 
 
 employment for its own sake, and if you do not spoil 
 the child you will have him doing much that you 
 wish, simply because he loves to be employed ; and if 
 you manage well he will take such pleasure in working 
 as to have but little disposition to be idle. In every 
 case in which the child is punished for not doing 
 something that he ought to have done in the way of 
 mental exercise, the teacher is more or less to blame. 
 There is also implanted in us a love of knowledge, a 
 pleasure in knowing what was not known before. You 
 will find that a child evidently has pleasure in receiving 
 knowledge ; he not only feels a pleasure in the employ- 
 ment given him while gaining knowledge, but he loves 
 the knowledge he gains. Here, then, is a love of 
 employment and a love of knowledge to aid the teacher. 
 Surely, then, we have here two great means of pre- 
 venting punishment Among the moral 
 
 means of preventing punishment are, first, a certain 
 personal weight with the children. Some persons 
 never have this, but they have themselves to blame for 
 the want of it, and if they cannot acquire it they may 
 as well give up all attempts to be a teacher. Apart 
 from every other motive in a child's mind, this almost
 
 126 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 insures success. The teacher prevails by a sort of 
 weight, with which his influence presses, so to speak, 
 on the minds of the children. Every human being 
 has a certain weight with, and exerts a force upon 
 others. We may wish to do a thing ; but a certain 
 person is opposed to it he is like a solid block in our 
 way, and we cannot make up our minds to act against 
 his wishes. He has expressed his disapprobation, and 
 though, perhaps, he cannot affect us in any degree, we 
 do not like to act against it. We hardly reason on the 
 matter ; a mere sensation is produced, and this rules us. 
 It is very easy to have this personal weight with 
 children. It is not always out of love to you that they 
 say, ' I cannot do so because teacher does not like it.' 
 It is not always out of fear of punishment, but because 
 the teacher is a great person in the child's estimation. 
 There is a certain sense of power and authority in the 
 human mind, and if we act on it, we shall prevent 
 much insubordination, and so prevent much punish- 
 ment. Another means of preventing punishment is 
 in the many little bonds which may be formed during 
 the personal intercourse between the teacher and 
 children, in which the children receive proofs of kind- 
 ness and sympathy, and to which they yield affection 
 and liking. Another means of preventing those mis- 
 deeds which call for pains and penalties is to be our- 
 selves what we would have our children to be. This 
 is a single rule containing a great quantity of momen- 
 tous truth. Do you wish the children to be free from 
 irritability, petulance, and peevishness 1 You must be 
 so yourselves. Do you wish them to be interested in 
 the lessons so as to profit by them ? Then you must
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 127 
 
 ehow that you are interested in giving them, that you 
 know what the application is yourselves. Do you wish 
 them to be respectful to their superiors, and deferential 
 to their equals, their schoolfellows and playmates? 
 Then you must be respectful to your superiors, and 
 exhibit a kind and courteous demeanour to all. Without 
 your example they will disregard your precept." 
 
 Still, occasions will arise in which punishments must 
 be inflicted. Then it becomes necessary to regard the 
 spirit in which they are administered. Punishment 
 should not be vengeance looking back on the past, but 
 hope and love looking forward to the future. The 
 measure of punishment, too, must be determined by 
 the character of the offender, and not of the offence, 
 for it is the child's recovery that is sought, and not the 
 expiation of his fault. The punishment, too, must 
 vary, according to the temperament and disposition of 
 the child. Hence a teacher requires the same kind of 
 skill as a physician, who reads in his patient's face the 
 specific measures his disease requires. The teacher is 
 dealing with moral diseases, and it is as absurd to apply 
 one method to every child, as it would be to prescribe 
 one measure for every patient. " A frown will act on 
 one, separation from companions another, neglect and 
 coldness a third, public rebuke a fourth, approbation 
 of a companion a fifth, a whipping a sixth." The 
 same analogy will show us the folly of expecting 
 instantaneous cures. Sudden reform is suspicious. 
 Deep-seated and long continued disease cannot be got 
 rid of in a moment. The teacher has no more right to 
 expect instant cure than a physician would in a case of 
 complicated disease. In both cases the treatment is
 
 128 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 little by little ; the progress of the cure gradual. Con- 
 tinuous effort, then, is demanded from the teacher; 
 and punishment, when inflicted, must not he to save 
 the teacher from annoyance, but to restore the child to 
 soundness and health. 
 
 Punishment should be a consequence following mis- 
 conduct, and not the prospect of it an inducement to 
 do well. Hence threatening should be abstained from. 
 "If you tell a boy, ' If you do so and so I will punish 
 you,' you take it for granted at the outset that the child 
 is disposed to disobey. You should take it for granted 
 that he is disposed to obey. The fact is children are, 
 in many respects, predisposed to obey. There are the 
 bit and the reins, and you have only to take care how 
 you use them. If you menace before any offence is 
 committed, you tempt the child 'to try whether you 
 will really keep your word, and you introduce into his 
 mind the thought of doing a thing he perhaps had 
 no idea of doing. You will find menaces produce ill- 
 will, and tempt the child to do the very thing you wish 
 him not to do." 
 
 Punishments should be light. If they are severe, 
 offences will be frequently overlooked, arid evil will 
 increase. Where they are light there will be freedom 
 for promptness in their infliction. It is the certainty 
 of punishment, not its severity, that is the most power- 
 ful check in wrong-doing. 
 
 On the treatment of obstinate children we have the 
 following remarks by Mr. Ogle: "Avoid bringing the 
 obstinacy into action. Every sentiment, faculty and 
 habit is strengthened by exercise ; consequently, when- 
 ever obstinacy is brought into exercise it is strengthened.
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 129 
 
 The apostle Paul says, 'Fathers, provoke not your chil- 
 dren to wrath/ showing us that children may be irritated 
 till they do wrong, that the mischief may be begun, for 
 instance, by the teacher. It may be asked, How can 
 we avoid the provocation to obstinacy in a child 7 I 
 answer, by habitually endeavouring to keep up in its 
 mind that state of feeling which leaves it without incli- 
 nation to come into collision with you. Endeavour by 
 your own gentleness, kindness, good humour, and pla- 
 cidity to produce and promote the same feelings in the 
 child. There is a kind of moral contagion among hu- 
 man beings ; we catch the spirit and temper of others 
 around us; we are subject to that involuntary entertain- 
 ment of the feelings of others which is properly called 
 sympathy. Teachers know this by experience. If you 
 enter your schoolroom with a countenance betraying 
 anxiety and sadness, though you say not a word, you 
 will find that the buzz is hushed, inquiring looks meet 
 you on every side, and soon a vague sense of distress is 
 seen in almost every countenance. This peculiarity of 
 our moral constitution Q-od has ordained for wise and 
 good ends. Wnen the minds which act on each other 
 are influenced by the Spirit of God, their mutual in- 
 fluence produces the most beneficial results. Exhibit, 
 then, on all occasions towards your children the same 
 dispositions which you would have them evince ; and 
 with respect to the obstinate child, in particular, strive 
 to foster gentle and kindly feelings in him by exhibit- 
 ing them towards him. 
 
 Besides this, however, we must carefully cultivate all 
 other sentiments which, being good in themselves, are 
 opposed to an evil disposition. And here, too, let the 
 K
 
 130 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 beneficial influence of your example aid the force of 
 your precepts. Establish a regard for authority, for 
 authority in general, as such, not for your own merely ; 
 if you bring your pupil to respect and submit to 
 authority in general, he will regard yours in particular 
 as a necessary consequence. Especially let that intui- 
 tive sense of right and wrong with which man is 
 endowed be constantly appealed to ; let it be strength- 
 ened by exercise. We are too apt to forget that the 
 moral feelings as well as the intellectual faculties and 
 bodily powers may be, and need to be, systematically 
 exercised ; that, whenever used, they become the more 
 ready for use again ; and that by performing acts we 
 form habits. Thus conscience enlightened by the word 
 of God, may be so disciplined, in early life, as to be- 
 come by the Divine blessing habitually tender and 
 ready to act. If so cultivated, along with other moral 
 feelings, the temptation to obstinacy will often be 
 resisted, or the offence, when committed, will be 
 repented of and shunned thereafter. 
 
 But it will not be enough- to cherish right feelings 
 which may counteract the obstinate disposition ; we 
 must aim to remove all occasion for its outbreak. To 
 this end, let the rules of your school be evidently just 
 and reasonable ; as few as practicable, and easy to be 
 understood ; let your conduct be consistent and decided ; 
 let it be known habitually that your will must be done 
 or that the punishment you threaten will be, inflicted ; 
 bear yourself as if you scarcely supposed that dis- 
 obedience would occur, for if we seem to expect it we 
 often call it forth. Acting thus you will leave as little 
 opportunity and ground as possible for the occur-
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 131 
 
 rence of those scenes which most commonly lead to a 
 display of obstinacy. 
 
 By all these means, then, avoid collision with an 
 obstinate child. But if, in spite of all your precaution 
 and provision for better things, collision is forced upon 
 you, for the sake of the offender, and of the discipline 
 of the school in general, you must enter on the struggle. 
 In carrying it on, again take Scripture for your guide. 
 The apostle who forbids fathers to provoke children to 
 wrath, adds, " Be not bitter against them ; " and in 
 another place says to Christians, " Let all bitterness, 
 and wrath, and anger, and clamour, be put away from 
 you." " Bitterness." Let the meaning of the word 
 be weighed, and we shall surely not be slow to shun 
 the thing it means. To abstain from it is certainly the 
 duty of a Christian teacher, and never is he more to be 
 on his guard against it than when endeavouring to 
 overcome the obstinacy of a child. If a little offender 
 withstand you, he must, on no account, become 
 triumphant ; you must be master. But let neither 
 look nor tone nor word express bitterness ; because it 
 is both wrong in itself, and will hinder the accomplish- 
 ment of your purpose. Remember once again your 
 feelings will influence him ; beware that bis do not 
 influence you. Let no bitterness on your part embitter 
 his resentment. If you would control and conquer, 
 you must show the dignity of a ruler, not the fury of 
 a tyrant ; and the calmness you manifest will actually 
 tend to restore the quiet of the culprit. 
 
 This struggle ought not to take place in the presence 
 of other children. Many, from a good moral bias, 
 will sympathize with you ; many, on the other hand,
 
 132 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 will feel with their class-fellow. You will see little 
 lips compressed, and little bosoms swelling with 
 emotions which none dare utter ; thus the order of the 
 school is endangered. Whenever it is possible, there- 
 fore, withdraw on such an occasion to a separate room 
 or to the playground." 
 
 Other modes of influencing children are by rewards 
 and praise. Eewards are considered unnecessary and 
 injurious. A reward may be considered as having a 
 certain intrinsic value, and as being a badge of dis- 
 tinction and pre-eminence. Now a reward certainly 
 ought not to be proposed for the sake of its intrinsic 
 value. There is that in the heart of every child which 
 if fully developed becomes covetousness. This sense 
 of property and love of possession in general, need no 
 increase ; on the contrary, there is constant need to 
 repress the greedy desire of gain, a desire which often 
 becomes a ruling passion and the source of ruin to its 
 subject. Nor should a reward be offered as a mark of 
 superiority. Thus proposed, the feeling which is 
 appealed to is made the motive of exertion. Love of 
 approbation is in itself a pleasurable feeling, but no one 
 should seek it for that pleasure no more than he should 
 eat simply for the gratification experienced in the act. 
 Love of approbation is a natural feeling, and exists in 
 sufficient force as an ordinary motive without being 
 unduly strengthened by constant appeals to it. In- 
 judiciously stimulated, it is apt to become a ruling 
 motive, and when it is so the chances are that it will 
 be a power for evil rather than good. For its power 
 either way will depend on the character of the persons 
 whose approval is sought. If that is frivolous or evil,
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 133 
 
 it is likely that the acts done for the sake of their 
 approbation will be of like kind. Besides there can be 
 no steadiness of character or pursuit where this is the 
 motive of conduct. For this will take its force and 
 direction, not from any established conviction, but 
 from the persons with whom the individual may 
 happen to be associated. 
 
 It is further held that rewards are wrong in prin- 
 ciple. They are of the nature of bribes. That which 
 should be required and enforced as a duty is solicited 
 for the sake of the reward. This consideration shows 
 also that the only ground on which they can be 
 bestowed is the doing of something over and above 
 what was the child's duty. It is also held that rewards 
 make punishments necessary. As the prospect of 
 rewards only influences those that are likely to be suc- 
 cessful, the others, who would have worked from 
 ordinary motives, these being cast aside, becoming 
 careless and idle, need punishment to get them to work 
 at all. 
 
 The cultivation of the intelligence, though " con- 
 sidered of minor importance " as compared with phy- 
 sical and moral training, yet received more elaborate 
 attention than either of the others. This, perhaps, 
 was due to the nature of the case, as the defects in 
 infant training and in school education generally were 
 more apparent in the department of intellect than in 
 the others. It might also be owing partly to the 
 forcing process which yet lingered in infant schools 
 a process to which this Society may be said to have 
 given a more legitimate direction rather than to have 
 banished from infant culture.
 
 134 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Adopting the principles of Pestalozzi. this Society's 
 work was rather to frame a method for their application 
 than to expound them, examine their soundness, or 
 ascertain their limits. Hence its largest gifts to infant 
 training are its elaborate plans for the cultivation of 
 the senses. It is true that they speak of the cultiva- 
 tion, not of one, but of all the intellectual faculties. 
 But the provision by this Society is for their germ, or 
 rudimentary condition only. Such powers as concep- 
 tion, memory, sense of relation and analogy, and judg- 
 ment are brought into early rudimentary exercise in 
 connection with the senses, and for their cultivation, so 
 far, provision is made. A higher or more advanced 
 culture as that of the conceptive faculty and sense of 
 analogy advocated by Isaac Taylor and practised by 
 Stow, whether thought legitimate or not, is certainly 
 not attempted. This claim to have provided for the 
 cultivation of all the intellectual faculties can be 
 received only with this limited interpretation. In fact, 
 it is not always clear what is understood by " intellec- 
 tual faculty." Sometimes it would seem as if meant 
 to imply with the phrenologists that a difference in 
 the object or in the organ, indicates a different intel- 
 lectual power. But this is not true. Lessons addressed 
 to the touch do not necessarily differ from lessons ad- 
 dressed to the eye, as to the intellectual faculty exercised. 
 There is a difference of organ, not one necessarily of 
 intellectual power. Every mental element in the one 
 act may be precisely that in the other. Of course, with 
 a variation of aim, even when employing the same 
 organ, there may be a change in the nature of the 
 mental act.
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 135 
 
 Tu give employment to the several senses, and to 
 bring into activity each intellectual faculty in its rudi- 
 mentary state, and recognising that each has its own 
 place in the order of development and activity, courses 
 of instruction were prepared in a variety of things. 
 Besides common objects, plants, and animals, these 
 courses embraced colour, form, size, weight and place, 
 physical actions and employments, the human body, 
 drawing, and number. The following remarks indicate 
 the method. The instruction should be carefully 
 graduated, rising step by step from the simplest elements 
 to as high a point of difficulty as may be presumed to 
 be within the grasp of the infant mind. Principles and 
 practices should be presented in immediate connection, 
 so as to illustrate their mutual dependence. All details 
 of practice should flow naturally from the first truths 
 on which they are founded The general object should 
 be not the direct impartatiou of knowledge, but rather 
 the cultivation of mental powers by bringing them into 
 healthy exercise, and the formation thereby of valuable 
 mental habits. It is also to be remembered that the 
 subjects are to go on side by side. Variety will thus 
 be given, and diverse powers of mind be simultaneously 
 and progressively developed. The first step in mental 
 tuition should be the education of the senses and 
 their organs. Where this is judiciously carried out, 
 the mind will be furnished with clear and distinct 
 ideas, without the risk of its being overstrained. 
 
 " The office of the senses," says Miss Mayo, "is to 
 store the mind with ideas. The medium must be by 
 real tangible objects. The first exercises should begin 
 with miscellaneous objects, though not altogether with-
 
 136 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 out arrangement, as a definite aim ought to be pro- 
 posed in every lesson." Object lessons hence supply 
 what is natural for the child to learn. An infant's 
 first impressions are from objects, and its first know- 
 ledge about them. At first but a passive recipient of 
 impressions, he soon comes to take an active part in 
 learning their various qualities This goes on in a 
 desultory way all through infancy. In the object 
 lesson this natural tendency is utilized, and the child 
 is judiciously and systematically directed in the em- 
 ployment of its senses. Thus object lessons educate 
 the senses, they stimulate the power of observation, 
 and they help to form the habit of accurately doing so. 
 Without cultivation obvious qualities often escape 
 notice, and a superficial mode of looking at things is the 
 consequence. 
 
 Object lessons, besides cultivating the senses, lay up 
 material for reflection. This latter habit is always the 
 more valuable when it is based on the habit of obser- 
 vation. Rightly conducted, a habit of reflection will 
 be cultivated alongside that of observation. No facts 
 coming under the cognizance of the senses are isolated ; 
 all are related to others. Some of these facts are 
 obvious; others only to be discovered by comparison, ex- 
 periment, or other modes of inquiry. In a good object 
 lesson, that which lies immediately under observation 
 will be used as a stepping-stone to that which is less 
 apparent. This lays the foundation of reflection, and 
 to a habit of not resting in the superficial, but of 
 tracing out connections between related facts. 
 
 Object lessons give an intelligent use of language, 
 and add to its stores. The idea is gained, and then
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 137 
 
 the word is given. Thus the idea is fixed, and the 
 word makes it readier for use. And it is easy to see 
 how ; for here is a twofold force by which the idea 
 becomes ready for use. The idea has its associations 
 with others had previously or at the same time, and 
 when these appear that will appear too ; but attaching 
 it to a word brings in the physical element of speech, 
 and here is another though mysterious agent for re- 
 calling the idea when wanted, and for employing it. 
 Words thus obtained will be used significantly, and 
 will become powers for further observation and addi- 
 tional acquisitions. 
 
 The method of these lessons must be that of stimu- 
 lating the children to discover the qualities for them- 
 selves. The teacher must not come as it were between 
 the object and the children, by his language or mode 
 of dealing with it. It is not by the words he puts 
 into their mouths, but by the tact with which he 
 stimulates and directs their senses, that the purpose of 
 the object lesson is attained. They must hear, see, 
 and touch, and not depend for the facts either on him 
 or their companions. This is a point requiring con- 
 stant care, from neglect of which the object lesson too 
 often degenerates into mere word-stringing. 
 
 It is recommended that the lessons be given in a 
 graduated and progressive course. The age of the 
 children should be considered, and their previous op- 
 portunities and training. As a first step with young 
 children, it will be sufficient to take the most familiar 
 objects, to distinguish and name them, to elicit their 
 uses, and where usually seen. A second step would be 
 to lead to the perception of quality, but not to give it
 
 138 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ,expression, except in the case of the term heing familiar. 
 As a further advance when the children are prepared 
 for it, two objects should be introduced as subjects of 
 the lesson ; one of them chosen to lead to the obser- 
 vation of parts, the other to develop some striking or 
 characteristic quality. With these views an object is 
 presented, having distinct and well-defined parts as a 
 knife, that the children may discover the parts, and 
 learn to apply the correct names ; also another object 
 is chosen, exhibiting in a remarkable degree some par- 
 ticular quality as transparency in glass, that the 
 idea of the quality may be developed. As a test that 
 the idea has been gained, the children are to find ex- 
 amples of the same quality in other objects. At this 
 stage the children may be aided to remember what 
 they learn, and to arrange it somewhat methodically, if 
 the first letter of the word naming a part or a quality 
 is written on the black-board. As the children ad- 
 vance in power, they must be led not only to discover 
 the qualities of objects, but also the purpose for which 
 they fit the object. .They must also be practised in 
 deciding by which of the senses they have become 
 acquainted with a quality, and what organ they exer- 
 cised. They are also to be led to see that there are 
 some qualities not recognised by the senses, but only 
 Known from experience or by the exercise of judgment. 
 And as a final step, they are to be led to compare 
 objects, to discover points of resemblance or dissi- 
 milarity. 
 
 During this course the children as early as possible 
 should be set to write on slates what they can remember 
 of their lessons, a practice which accomplishes several
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 139 
 
 go id purposes : it is a motive to attention ; it serves to 
 fix the ideas in the mind ; it accustoms the children 
 to orderly arrangement and expression ; and it is a 
 good exercise in spelling. 
 
 It is recommended that, in connection with the 
 later stages, the derivation of the chief terms employed 
 should be given ; hut how this belongs to observation, 
 or tends to quicken the organs of sense, or comes 
 within the province of intuition, is not shown. 
 
 Lessons on shells, plants, and animals, extend the 
 range and purpose of object lessons. Those on animals, 
 especially, have all the advantages of such lessons en- 
 hanced by the interest they awaken, and by the oppor- 
 tunities they give of comparison, of tracing cause and 
 effect, and of drawing inferences and conclusions from 
 facts. The interest such lessons excite quickens atten- 
 tion, and causes observation to be more minute and 
 careful. Such lessons, too, have a moral value in en- 
 couraging feelings of kindness and in preventing cruelty, 
 much of what is so in the treatment of the lower 
 animals by children being the offspring of ignorance. 
 They have also a religious value, by awakening feelings 
 of admiration and reverence under the manifestations 
 of wisdom and goodness which are continually made 
 apparent to them. 
 
 "The right principle," says Mr. Tegetmeier, "to be 
 followed in lessons on animals is this, lead the child- 
 ren to see the intimate connection between the habits 
 of an animal, its propensities, and its formation ; how 
 an animal is so formed that it can with ease procure 
 the food necessary to its existence, and also the wisdom 
 of God in adapting its different organs to its habitation
 
 140 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and mode of life. This principle may be carried out 
 by two plans. Either the animal or its picture may 
 be brought before the children, and they may be called 
 upon to observe its formation, and from considering its 
 form and structure may be led to the consideration of 
 its habits and mode of life ; or their attention may be 
 first directed to its habits, mode of life, food, and then 
 to its appearance and structure. Suppose, for example, 
 the common domestic cat be taken as the subject of 
 the lesson : On the first plan, the children would be 
 required to observe all the parts of the animal, as its 
 sharp teeth and sheathing claws, its cushioned feet and 
 flexible limbs ; and from them they would be led to a 
 consideration of its habits and food On the second plan, 
 the attention of the children would be first directed to 
 the habits of the cat, its noiseless step and bounding 
 movements, to its destructive appetite, its food, &c. ; 
 and then they would be led to observe its powerful 
 teeth and sharp retractile claws, its elastic motion and 
 cushioned feet, and readily perceive that these parts 
 were given to the animal in order that it might perform 
 the actions described, and secure the food necessary to 
 its existence. This second plan is decidedly the best. 
 The interest is first excited, and the attention com- 
 manded by a description of the animal or anecdotes 
 respecting its mode of life, and then the hearers are ready 
 and anxious to find out the means by which it executes 
 these various actions, and procures its requisite food. 
 Again, this second plan is the most natural, for a child 
 proceeds from what is best known to what is unknown ; 
 the habits of every animal are better known to children 
 than their structure." In pursuing this plan the
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 141 
 
 lesson will fail to awaken due interest, and will become 
 formal, if attention is directed first to one series of 
 facts, and then, when these are exhausted, to the other. 
 A better plan is to take one fact and find the corre- 
 sponding fitness in structure, then another, and so on. 
 
 Colour and Form hold a distinct place among the 
 means of cultivating the habit of observation. Not 
 without reason. They are two qualities of objects to 
 which attention is continually directed, and which 
 give material aid to the forming and fixing of accurate 
 ideas. They also serve to prepare the children for 
 lessons, in which pictures and diagrams are employed as 
 mediums of instruction. 
 
 Colour early attracts the attention of the child, and 
 on this account has claims to an early use in infant 
 training. But it has other claims. " Colour," quoted 
 in the Society's Manual, from Redgrave, " gives to the 
 world of form beauty and ornament ; it also assists us 
 to distinguish form ; it aids us to determine distance 
 and space, and enables the eye more readily to separate 
 objects and parts of objects from each other." " Colour," 
 says Miss Mayo, "is a subject intimately connected 
 with the consideration of objects, and a series of very 
 interesting lessons might be formed upon it. First, a 
 colour should be exhibited to the children, and when 
 the idea of the particular colour is thus formed in their 
 minds, they should be taught, secondly, to connect the 
 right name with it. The next step should be the call- 
 ing upon them to mention what they see before them 
 of that colour, so that their sight may be well exer- 
 cised in discriminating the one learnt from others. 
 Next they should be required to name objects, from
 
 142 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 recollection, of the colour in question, this will tend 
 to form the abstract idea, and will also furnish the 
 teacher with an opportunity of cultivating accuracy of 
 observation and propriety of expression. .... 
 For the commencing lessons on Colour, a few wafers on 
 a card will be sufficient, one being added when a new 
 colour is brought before their view. When they are 
 learning the various shades, they should have them 
 painted on slips of card, which should be kept as 
 standards to be referred to ; also the proper names for 
 each should be learnt, as apple-green, grass-green, &c. 
 Whenever they receive a lesson on flowers, or stones, or 
 any other coloured object, they should be called upon 
 to determine its precise hue. A cake of each of the 
 primitive colours, red, blue, and yellow, might be kept 
 in the school, and it could be made evident to them 
 how all other colours may be produced by their combi- 
 nation in different proportions. It is not sufficient 
 that they are simply shown two colours, and then told 
 what they will produce if mixed together. This kind 
 of instruction is of little or no value, for the knowledge 
 of the fact is but of small importance to the children ; 
 it is the having called out their observation upon it ; 
 it is the habit formed, and the exercise given, that 
 constitute the real value of the lesson, and this is a 
 point but too little understood by teachers." 
 
 The graduated course adopted by the Society, is in 
 harmony with these views. 
 
 1st Step. Exercise observation on several colours in 
 succession, names being withheld, (a) A pattern colour 
 to be shown, a child to select one like it, others to 
 determine if it is right, and both placed side by side.
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 143 
 
 (Z) A coloured card to be taken, and a child to find 
 one like it on the board (c) Colours to be placed in 
 a row, then a child to arrange others in the same order. 
 The colours selected at this step should be opposed in 
 character. 
 
 2nd Step. To associate names with the colours learnt. 
 Terms fix ideas, and render them available in inter- 
 courHe with others, (a) A colour to be selected, and 
 another like it to be found, the name is then to b^ 1 
 given, and repeated by the class. (6) The teacher is 
 to name a colour, the child is to find it, and all others 
 like it. (c) The teacher is to point to a colour and 
 ask its name, (d) Coloured beads are to be threaded 
 (1) according to a pattern shown, (2) under direction 
 by naming the colours. The principles to be borne in 
 mind by the teacher at this step are, that the children 
 are to be guided to the attainment of clear and distinct 
 ideas ; that they are made to feel the need of a term to 
 give them clear and definite expression ; and that 
 proof is to be given that the name suggests the idea, 
 and that the object recalls the name. 
 
 3rd Step. To strengthen the power of observation ; 
 to cultivate increased accuracy and facility in expression, 
 and to draw out the faculty of conception by reference 
 to objects not actually present. (a) A colour is to be 
 shown and its name required, (b) Others like it are 
 to be selected by the children. (c) Things in the 
 room of the same colour are to be sought and named. 
 (d) Things of the same colour, not present, are to be 
 asked for. 
 
 th Step. To develop idea of shades and tints, and 
 to cultivate nicety of discrimination on these points.
 
 144 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (a) A colour is to be shown, then a dark and light 
 shade of the same colour are to be placed near it. (&) 
 The terms dark and light are to be used to distinguish 
 these shades, as dark blue, light blue. (c) Practice is 
 to be given in arranging colours according to their in- 
 tensity. A normal colour is to be selected, then all 
 darker than it ; these are next to be arranged according 
 to the degree of intensity, and the class informed that 
 these are shades. (d) All colours lighter than the 
 standard are to be selected and arranged, and the 
 children told that these are tints. As a final step, the 
 children are to observe that no colour is obtained with- 
 out light, that darkness destroys colour. 
 
 As a property of objects, Form has claims on the 
 trainer of infants. Doubtless it may be made to yield 
 a higher culture to riper years, but this is its legitimate 
 office in infant training. As a means of culture, it is 
 of higher value than colour, partly because of the 
 greater complexity in the act of perception, and partly 
 because of the greater distinctness with which it can 
 be recalled in idea In consequence, too, of the greater 
 adhesiveness of form, comparison may be instituted of 
 forms now present, with others held in the mind, 
 and thus a severer mental effort may be secured than 
 when all the objects examined are present. It becomes 
 also, under proper guidance, a powerful aid to dis- 
 crimination. Among the endless diversities of forms 
 found in surrounding things, likeness presents itself 
 amidst dissimilarity, and may be seized upon, and 
 separated by an eye in search of likeness amidet adver- 
 sity. "With such a purpose as this, judiciously pursued, 
 a power is at length created, than which few things
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 145 
 
 could be so beneficial to the intellectual life and activity 
 of the child. Scarcely an object can then come under 
 its notice but it will at once discern, and mentally 
 separate triangles, rectangles, circles, cylinders, cubes, 
 and other forms, to perceive which its eye has been 
 educated and the habit given. From such considera- 
 tions it becomes evident that Form should hold no 
 secondary place in infant training. This Society 
 attaches much importance to it, and has published an 
 elaborate course of lessons in relation thereto. 
 
 Lessons on Size and Weight form the complement 
 to the other means of training the . senses. Besides 
 bringing into play the muscular sense, and causing 
 attention to be fixed on personal states as indications 
 of external conditions, they present the opportunity of 
 making children acquainted with the actual standard 
 weights and measures of the country. Thus a founda- 
 tion is laid for their intelligent use at a later school 
 stage 
 
 Few things connected with early instruction exhibit 
 the value of Pestalozzian principles, in their right 
 sphere, more than their application to number and 
 numerical operations. So long had arithmetic in its 
 first operations been by rote, and in its later stages by 
 rule, that it would seem as if an intelligent mode of 
 approaching it and studying it would never be. In no 
 other subject of instruction, except perhaps grammar, 
 did it seem to be so completely a truism that any dis- 
 ciplinary value of the study must not, if obtained at 
 all, be so until either the pupil was engaged in the 
 affairs of business, or had made such progress that he 
 could work a few problems which implied at least some 
 
 L
 
 146 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 insight into the rationale of his subject. It is true 
 that Ward had exhibited a method, the same as was 
 afterwards applied by Pestalozzi and his followers, of 
 intelligently teaching it. But it had not borne fruit. 
 Nor can it be said that its subsequent revival by the 
 spread of Pestalozzian principles has secured for it 
 anything like universal adoption. It is to be feared 
 that many yet have no faith in its soundness, while 
 more either cannot give the time, or will not undertake 
 the labour that it requires. Yet in many a well-con- 
 ducted school the method has been applied with success, 
 and even with infants a way has been shown of making 
 it a means of developing and cultivating faculties, 
 which but for it would be dormant till a later period. 
 
 The following exposition by Mr. Dunning sets forth 
 the ground occupied and the practices commended by 
 this society : " Arithmetic i& a subject which, if pro- 
 perly treated, can hardly be overrated in its utility as 
 an instrument of mental culture, and in its importance 
 to the business of life. It is also the subject I would 
 choose to illustrate some of the finest principles of 
 Pestalozzi. Indeed, we are told that the ability which 
 his pupils displayed on this subject, especially on 
 mental arithmetic, was one of the chief means by 
 which the notice of the public was attracted to his 
 experiments. 
 
 " Arithmetic is a powerful means of developing and 
 strengthening several powers of the mind : for instance, 
 it promotes concentrated and sustained attention : the 
 processes of mental arithmetic improve the memory, or 
 rather, what we may call tenacity of mind, by requiring 
 the question to be remembered whilst the answer is
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 147 
 
 being discovered ; by requiring the several numbers to 
 be retained in the rnind whilst they are being worked ; 
 and the mind to hold the distant links of a chain whilst 
 engaged with those nearer. It also affords early and 
 appropriate exercise for the judgment ; it cultivates the 
 powers of abstraction and generalization, and furnishes 
 ground on which the reasoning powers may first be 
 called into exercise. 
 
 " Arithmetic is also valuable from the habits of mind 
 which it induces, as accuracy, activity and readiness, 
 clearness and precision ; and the habit of forming 
 correct and precise judgments on one subject prepares 
 the mind to form similar judgments on others, and thus 
 the mind is educated. In a moral point of view also 
 it acts beneficially, for the habit of making correct and 
 accurate statements promotes the love of truth. "Weak 
 characters are often false because their intellectual 
 vision is indistinct, but those who are accustomed to 
 the precision that arithmetical calculations require, and 
 have been trained to habits of comparison, fixedness of 
 attention, and searching for truth, are likely to carry 
 such habits and principles into their moral dealings ; 
 at least, they will be better prepared to receive the 
 moral lessons of the Christian educator. 
 
 " Arithmetic, too, has advantages above every other 
 study ; it affords the teacher the opportunity of judging 
 whether the pupils have really and effectively been at 
 work, from the certainty of its results. They must be 
 either right or wrong without dispute ; he is able also 
 to estimate the amount of work done, and he can 
 superintend more individual efforts at this than at 
 almost any other lesson. Again, no study affords thi
 
 148 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 teacher a better opportunity of carrying out right prin- 
 ciples of teaching, such as making the child work, and 
 not the teacher, leading the pupil from what he knows 
 to the proximate truth, and thus carry out the principle 
 of proceeding from the known to the unknown, from 
 the simple to the complex, from the particular to the 
 general, from the example to the rule." 
 
 Arithmetic should be taught early. Dr. Mayo 
 observes, " the obvious connection with the circum- 
 stances surrounding the child, the simplicity of its 
 data, the clearness and certainty of its processes, the 
 neatness and indisputable correctness of its results, 
 show how well it is adapted both for the young and 
 for minds of limited structure." There is, however, no 
 subject in which, in the first step particularly, it is more 
 important that the teacher should exercise patience, and 
 endeavour to throw himself into the mind of the child, 
 and actually realize to himself what is going on within 
 the little being whom he is instructing ; for whilst 
 arithmetic is the simplest of all sciences, it is possessed 
 of its peculiar difficulties, and these present themselves 
 especially at first starting ; and although it is true that 
 conquering difficulties is the very means by which 
 tone and vigour are given to the mind of a child, yet 
 these difficulties should not be too great, his way 
 should be smoothed, and he should be encouraged and 
 stimulated gradually to ascend the hill. 
 
 On this point De Morgan well observes, " It is a 
 very common notion that this subject is easy ; that is, 
 a child is called stupid who does not receive his first 
 notions of number with facility ; this, we are convinced, 
 is a mistake. Were it otherwise, savage nations would
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 149 
 
 acquire a numeration and a power of using it, at least 
 proportional to their actual wants, which is not the case. 
 Is the mind by nature nearer the use of its powers than 
 the body] If not, let parents consider how many 
 efforts are unsuccessfully made before a single articu- 
 late sound is produced, and how imperfectly it is done 
 after all, and let them extend the same indulgence, and 
 if they will, the same admiration to the rude essays 
 of the thinking faculty, which they are so ready to 
 bestow upon those of the speaking power. Unfor- 
 tunately the two cases are not equally interesting ; the 
 first attempts of the infant in arms to pronounce ' Papa ' 
 and ' Mamma,' though as much like one language as 
 another, are received with exultation as the promise of 
 a future Demosthenes ; but the subsequent discoveries 
 of the little arithmetician, such as that six and four 
 make thirteen, eight, seven anything but ten,- far 
 from giving visions of the Lucasian or Savilian chairs, 
 are considered tiresome, and are frequently rewarded 
 with charges of stupidity or inattention. In the lirst 
 case the child is teaching himself by imitation and 
 always succeeds ; in the second, it is the parent or 
 teacher who instructs, and who does notalvvays succeed.or 
 deserve to succeed. Irritated or wearied by this failure, 
 little manifestations of temper often take the place of 
 the gentle tone with which the lesson commenced, 
 by which the child, whose perception of such a change 
 is very acute, is thoroughly cowed and discouraged, 
 and left to believe that the fault was his own, when it 
 really was that of his instructor." 
 
 " Having endeavoured to set forth the importance of 
 arithmetic, the next point is the plan to be pursued in
 
 150 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 teaching it. The best tool may fail to do its work in 
 an unskilful hand ; and so, excellent as arithmetic un- 
 doubtedly is, if not properly treated, it will not accom- 
 plish the task we have assigned it. 
 
 "'Some commence their instruction in arithmetic by 
 teaching numeration, i. e., calling out in succession the 
 first hundred numbers, and, in order to enliven the 
 exercise by a little variety, it is often accompanied by 
 a sort of chant, or motions of the legs and arms. 
 
 " Others commence with abstract numbers, and almost 
 all begin with the operations of arithmetic, without 
 making the child first acquainted with the idea of the 
 numbers themselves. Further, they make the child 
 first learn the mechanical rule, and then perform exer- 
 cises, without attempting to show the reasoTi of the 
 rule : the time of the child is mainly devoted to cipher- 
 ing, where he is trammelled by the signs, and can 
 neither see the connection of the different parts of the 
 process he is working, nor trace the relation between 
 the end in view and the means adopted. Perhaps the 
 following remarks may assist usiii discovering the un- 
 philosophical character of such methods. 
 
 " 1. It is by means of the senses that a child acquires 
 his first ideas, and amongst these the idea of numbers ; 
 arid, therefore, objects should be used in the first lessons 
 in arithmetic. 
 
 " 2. The abstract idea of numbers is acquired by ap- 
 plying the same number to a great variety of objects ; 
 therefore the child should see it applied, not to one 
 object only, but to many. 
 
 " 3. Operations in arithmetic, performed intelligently, 
 require a knowledge of the numbers employed in the
 
 HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 151 
 
 operation ; therefore, before the child begins any of 
 the operations, he should be well acquainted with the 
 values of the numbers with which he has to work. 
 
 " 4. From, observation and experience we find that 
 when a child is left to the dictates of nature, his first 
 operations in arithmetic, like his first ideas of number, 
 are applied to objects ; and that when the Arabic 
 numerals are introduced early, they are found to puzzle 
 the pupil, and make him much longer in acquiring 
 correct ideas of the properties of numbers and their 
 relations than he otherwise would be ; therefore he 
 should be helped by objects, such as the ball frame, 
 in his first attempts to work numbers, and should have 
 mental practice before he begins ciphering. 
 
 " 5. Whilst it very seldom happens that a pupil under- 
 stands a practical example the better for learning a 
 rule in abstract terms, he always understands a rule or 
 principle more easily from first performing practical 
 examples ; therefore he should be led to discover the 
 rule or principle after he has worked many examples 
 in it." 
 
 The following is the graduated course of instruction 
 in arithmetic adopted by this Society for very young 
 children : 
 
 In the first step the child obtains his idea of number 
 from visible objects. There is no attempt to teach the 
 combinations till the simple idea is clearly compre- 
 hended. In giving the simple idea objects are used, 
 because the child never sees number apart from objects, 
 and his mind is not sufficiently opened to understand 
 numbers presented to him abstractedly. The practice 
 of making a young child repeat the words one, two,
 
 152 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 three, &c , in succession, before the idea of number is 
 first formed in his mind, which is called teaching it 
 to count, will not enable it to form correct ideas of 
 numbers ; he cannot do this until he sees the number 
 itself applied to things, as two hands, two feet, two 
 balls, &c. That the child may get the abstract idea, 
 and be prevented from imagining that what he is doing 
 has some connection with one set of objects which it 
 has not with another, its attention is directed to a 
 variety of objects ; and the objects selected are familiar 
 to the child, that his attention may not be distracted 
 by what is strange to him. At first, also, low numbers, 
 not higher than ten, are taken. To such terms as 
 million, thousand, or even hundred, a young child can 
 attach no correct idea, and, consequently, is put in 
 possession of words only. Ample time and abundant 
 variety of exercises are given to the child on this first 
 step. Too much pains can scarcely be taken ta render 
 this, the first step, secure. Every means that can be 
 devised should be taken to fix the children's attention, 
 to accustom them to reflect, and to give them an ac- 
 curate idea of the v alue of numbers. Care should, at 
 the same time, be taken to keep up the interest of 
 the children by varying the form or subject of the 
 questions. 
 
 Second Step. When the children have clear ideas 
 of the first ten numbers, they commence operations 
 with them in addition, and afterwards in all the simple 
 rules in succession. The balls are continued in teaching 
 the various processes, on the same principle that objects 
 were at first used. The attention of the children, how- 
 ever, is confined to one sort of objects, as the abstract
 
 HOME AJfD COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 153 
 
 idea of number is now familiar. Addition and sub- 
 traction are not at first brought together, as one pro- 
 cess at a time is sufficient for the mind of a child. 
 When a child has a clear idea how to add, and can do so 
 with tolerable facility, and when he also understands how 
 to subtract, and can do so pretty well, the two operations 
 may be carried on in the same lesson ; and after adding 
 by one number he may subtract by the same ; and this 
 will lead him to a clearer perception of the two opposite 
 processes. It is found better at first not to puzzle the 
 child by a variety of operations, but to commence with 
 those easiest, and to exercise him by increasing his 
 difficulties in the same operation by higher numbers, 
 never exceeding ten. When the child has arrived at 
 the limit of his power in one process, then another is 
 introduced and proceeded with in like manner, then the 
 processes that have been learnt are alternately applied. 
 
 The children learn the operation with the ball-frame 
 that they may have a clear idea of it; but they should 
 gradually learn to calculate mentally, that the mind 
 may acquire power. To effect this the ball- frame is 
 removed, and the children called upon to repeat a 
 process which they have just carried on with it. 
 Questions also on absent objects are proposed, and 
 promiscuous questions given, the ball-frame being 
 referred to, to correct any mistake made. On this plan 
 observation is first exercised, then conception, and 
 lastly abstraction. 
 
 Third Step. The same exercises that constituted 
 the second step, with a little variety, and extending 
 the numbers to twenty, are gone over in this step, but 
 without any reference to the ball-frame, except for the
 
 154 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 correction of mistakes. For the children should not 
 now receive assistance from objects, that the operations 
 may become purely intellectual, and therefore more con- 
 ducive to improvement. 
 
 Fourth Step. In addition to extended exercises in 
 mental calculation, in the four fundamental rules they 
 are introduced to a decimal system of numeration, and 
 to signs and definitions. 
 
 The decimal system of numeration is taught as high 
 as one hundred, that the children may be prepared for 
 calculations involving higher numbers. The classifi- 
 cation of numbers into tens, and the use made of the 
 first ten names in designating the succeeding numbers 
 shown. In this exercise the ball-frame is used. The 
 multiplication table is also thoroughly learned. For 
 ordinary purposes it is necessary to be able to calculate 
 quickly and readily, and a perfect knowledge of the 
 tables facilitates this. 
 
 The pupils being thus familiar with numbers, and 
 next taught how to represent them by figures, and also 
 the signs of addition and the other rules, they are also 
 taught to form regular definitions, both of the rules 
 and the various terms used in these calculations, that 
 their ideas on the subject may be made more precise ; 
 and of the language of arithmetic. 
 
 Section IV. Kindergarten System. 
 
 Amongst those who have tried to reduce to system, 
 and to put into practical shape Pestalozzi's great prin- 
 ciple, Frederick Frb'bel holds no mean place. To him 
 is due a system of infant training which has taken root
 
 KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 155 
 
 extensively in Germany, and which has been winning 
 its way tn this country during a quarter of a century. 
 Frobel, the son of a village pastor in Thuringia, after 
 his education under his parents' roof, found his way 
 to Switzerland and became a pupil, under Pestalozzi. 
 Subsequently he did service in a school at Frankfort. 
 Called away from this by the troubles of the times, he, 
 like many others, was found fighting for the fatherland. 
 When peace came he was appointed Inspector to the 
 Mineralogical Museum, Berlin. But this employment 
 could not satisfy a nature like his, in which had 
 taken deep root the desire to live for the good of 
 others. He gave up his office and became a school- 
 master. He was content with a very humble position 
 a small village school in Thuringia. Here he la- 
 boured, earnestly striving to realize the principle of 
 harmoniously developing all the faculties of body and 
 mind of those under his care. 
 
 It was not till he was thus cast on his own resources 
 that he got a glimmering of what this great principle 
 embodies. Nor was he aware till now of the almost 
 insuperable difficulties which the errors in previous 
 training throw in the way of carrying it out in school. 
 Children came to him twisted and gnarled, making it 
 impossible to train them as he wished. Thus he came 
 to see the importance of early training, and to form 
 the design of devoting his life to its improvement. 
 
 He began in the right way. In the cottages around 
 him were children in all stages of infancy and childhood. 
 He set himself to observe them, and to make himself 
 acquainted with their characteristics. He found these 
 marks. There is great physical activity, a force from
 
 156 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 within, partly mental, partly vital, leading to incessant 
 action. Associated with this and springing frT>m it is 
 a strong craving for employment. There is, too, an 
 aesthetic tendency which makes the child susceptible 
 of pleasurable emotions from light, colour, sound, and 
 form. There is also great inquisitiveness, shown by 
 constant experiment on objects with hands and lips 
 a curiosity often leading to the breaking of toys, to 
 discover something which the child wishes to know. 
 Growing, the child shows greater mental activity, 
 which manifests itself in occupations of an inventive 
 kind. In the absence of anything better, he places 
 himself in the gutter and forms mud pies, or erects a 
 dyke and makes a lake. In the operations now carried 
 on there is manifested by snatches of speech, or frag- 
 ments of conversation, the presence of some predomi- 
 nating fancy, which while the hands are trying to give 
 form to some intellectual conception, soars above it all, 
 and invests the works of its hands with imaginary 
 attributes, or makes them partners in a little drama, in 
 which the child is chief performer. They have also 
 sympathy and a strong social instinct, which leads 
 them to prefer acting with companions of their own 
 age. And there is great playfulness, " turning to mirth 
 all things of earth," " pleased with a fancy, tickled 
 with a straw." 
 
 The child having revealed itself in these aspects, 
 Frobel set himself the task of elaborating a system 
 which would give free scope for their activity and make 
 them the means of developing its powers. To the 
 result he gave the name kindergarten. In this name 
 are embodied the two prime principles which should
 
 KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 157 
 
 guide and control early training. The atmosphere oil 
 the child's life should be one of happiness, pleasure, 
 joy, beauty, and occupation ; and the child should be 
 treated as a gardener treats a plant ; it should be sur- 
 rounded with all the conditions necessary to the growth 
 of its susceptibilities and powers, with no other inter- 
 ference than such as will remove hindrances, prevent 
 warping, and secure judicious guidance. 
 
 Having formed his system and framed his plans, 
 leaving his schools in the hands of a relative, he did in 
 Germany what Wilderspin was doing in England, he 
 travelled from place to place lecturing, and inducing 
 others to establish kindergarten schools. The first 
 opened in England was in 1851, by Johann and Bertha 
 Kouge. It now forms a part of the system of training 
 in nearly all the colleges for the training of school- 
 mistresses. 
 
 The apparatus for^a kindergarten is very simple 
 It consists of a series of " gifts," which range in an 
 ascending order. The first consists of coloured worsted 
 balls, and the second of a cube, a ball, and a cylinder. 
 These form the babies' portion. They amuse and they 
 instruct. They gratify the desire to be doing. They 
 are play, but, it is play with a purpose. Using them 
 under guidance the child becomes an accurate observer. 
 It not only acquaints itself with their forms and 
 qualities, but it is led to observe actions. For instance, 
 whirling a ball, it is directed to notice the curve ; then 
 shortening the string, it sees that the circle becomes 
 smaller. A notable feature is the accompaniment of 
 these actions. It is taught to describe them in infantile 
 speech now a word, then a phrase or a sentence,
 
 158 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 assisted by the sympathy and voice of the teacher, just 
 as a mother would when amusing her babe. How 
 great an improvement is this on the jargon and learned 
 stilts of the earlier infant schools ! 
 
 Gifts three and four consist of small cubes and 
 squares. They furnish a series of exercises well adapted 
 to the first period of infant school life. These are 
 of four kinds forms of utility, artistic forms, geome- 
 trical forms, and first lessons in number. Left to use 
 his cubes as he pleases, the child in handling them 
 and building with them will at length come to notice 
 that each has the same form, number of faces, edges, 
 and corners. He will also learn the right meaning of 
 many words, chiefly relating to position. Every day 
 he will find something new. He will vary his forms. 
 So long as he is happy it is best not to interfere. 
 When the teacher does, it may be in one of two ways : 
 by one or two examples, not for them to copy, but to 
 suggest; and by naming subjects according to the 
 advancing power of the pupils, from grandma's chair, 
 a gate, a house, a church, a monument, to the planning 
 of a garden or of a village. A more important work 
 falls on the teacher. Taking advantage of the ten- 
 dency to invest objects with imaginary attributes, the 
 teacher should improvise little stories, which will assist 
 the little ones to express their ideas, give stimulus to 
 their fancy, awaken kindly feeling, and convey in- 
 formation. This series of exercises, besides calling forth 
 invention and fancy, will give the child a motive 
 to observe, and many an object will receive attention, 
 and afterwards be reproduced in school. The artistic 
 and geometrical series should proceed carefully from the
 
 KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM, 159 
 
 simplest forms. When the child has made some 
 progress, then let it invent as many as possible. When 
 a very beautiful form has been invented, let the atten- 
 tion of all be directed to it. Lessons in number should 
 begin by forming the cubes into groups of twos, threes, 
 and so on. Then with these groups addition and 
 subtraction should be performed. Then as the groups 
 are series of equal numbers, multiplication and division 
 may be acquired. One series of groups should be well 
 mastered before proceeding with another. It is recom- 
 mended that these operations shall be conducted by 
 the class marching round the table on which the cubes 
 are displayed, and singing. To these exercises with 
 gifts three and four might be joined, as some skill was 
 attained, the lath practice and drawing. Provide pieces 
 of smooth tough wood, seven inches long, half an inch 
 wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. With these 
 you can vary the lessons on form, and prepare for first 
 lessons in reading. One piece given to each child 
 would be used to show the varieties of position which 
 might be given to a line. Two pieces would enable it 
 to form several devices, and when the forms X T Y 
 appear a sheet of letters may be shown, and the child 
 invited to discover those most nearly resembling them. 
 Three pieces would extend the area of design, and 
 admit of more letters. This exercise may be followed 
 with advantage by drawing. A chalk crayon and a 
 slate should be given to each child, and it should try 
 to produce with these the forms it has made with the 
 laths. 
 
 Gifts five and six are simply means of extending the 
 exercises hitherto given. They will be found suitable
 
 160 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 for the second period of infant school life. They con- 
 tain a greater number and larger variety of pieces. By 
 means of sections of the cube triangular pieces occur, 
 and other forms, and prisms are added. With these 
 more complicated structures are possible, and a larger 
 demand is made on the inventive faculty. The first 
 course leaves the children to themselves ; but when 
 they have exhausted their own resources, it is suggested 
 that the teacher shall take her boys and build up before 
 them, confining each lesson to one building. During 
 this process she is to make such observations as she 
 may think called for ; and when the building is com- 
 plete, she is to tell some pleasing story in connection 
 with it. Of course these gifts offer the means of larger 
 culture in form ; and to extend this culture, and to 
 carry still further the preparatory lessons for reading 
 and in drawing, more laths might be employed. If 
 the teacher is so minded, the variety of forms in these 
 gifts furnish the opportunity for lessons on angles, sur- 
 faces, and solids ; and they also furnish the means for 
 an extended course of numbers, fractional parts being 
 shown and operations on them performed, but taking 
 care that nothing is demanded from the child but what 
 is grouped before his eye. 
 
 The most advanced course is the best recommenda- 
 tion of the preceding stages. It presents sufficient 
 variety of employment, each step preparing for the 
 next and higher one. Exercises with cards of different 
 colours and shapes impart and develop taste in the 
 arrangement and design both of form and colour. 
 Stick-laying enlarges the area for culture of form. 
 Pea-work introduces outline forms of building and of
 
 KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 161 
 
 other things, sticks being united by means of peas. 
 Coloured strips of paper are employed in plaiting, by 
 means of which great scope is given for taste in the 
 blending of colours, and in the design and arrangement 
 of patterns. The process of culture goes on in paper- 
 cutting and in perforating cardboards, and it is con- 
 summated by modelling in clay. 
 
 Reading is to be taught on the same principle as 
 other things. The child must do and invent. A box 
 containing strips of cardboard of various forms and 
 sizes is provided. It has to form letters, and it has to 
 put together words. A common element having been 
 placed down, as " it; " the children are to place b before 
 it, and all are to say "bit;" then removing the b and 
 placing /, " fit," and so on. This spelling exercise is 
 to be associated with writing, each child to form on 
 the slates the letters and words it has made with the 
 cards. Reading is to be conducted on the plan detailed 
 in Mrs. Tuckfield's " Education for the People." The 
 teacher takes an object, obtains from the class its name, 
 qualities, and uses, and writes on the black-board as 
 she proceeds. At the close of the lesson the children 
 read what has thus been written.
 
 162 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IHB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 
 
 Section I. Dr. Andrew Bell. 
 
 THE first attempt to reduce elementary instruction and 
 school-keeping to system was that of Dr. Bell, the 
 founder of the monitorial system. Much that was 
 valuable in principle, and many important practical 
 suggestions, had appeared in the writings of Ascham, 
 Milton, Locke, and others ; but Dr. Bell was the first 
 to make everything connected with the school do its 
 work as a part of a machinery for the intellectual and 
 moral benefit of the pupils. The germ of the moni- 
 torial system, or of that part of it which concerns 
 teaching, is found in Quintilian, who maintains that 
 one who has just acquired a subject is best fitted to 
 teach it ; but Dr. Bell hit on the expedient by accident. 
 It was the refusal of one of the teachers of the Military 
 Orphan Asylum, Madras, to do some part of his duty, 
 which led him to employ a boy, who succeeded so well 
 that eventually the adult teachers were dismissed, and 
 the institution conducted by boys. The system was 
 introduced into England in' 179 7, and was first prac- 
 tised in the oldest parochial charity school in the city 
 of London, St. Botolph's, Aldgate. 
 
 In endeavouring to determine the value of any 
 educational system, we must not merely examine the 
 adaptation of its parts to the objects or aims of the
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 163 
 
 system ; for in this respect it might be perfect as a 
 system, and yet as a system of education be of little 
 value. We must rather examine the aims of tne 
 system, and inquire whether these are what education 
 true education requires, and then examine all parts 
 of the system in reference to their adaptation to secure 
 these objects. 
 
 No person concerned for the well-being of society, 
 and for the advancement of his race in intelligence, 
 civilization, and material and moral well-being, can be 
 indifferent to the question, What is the province of 
 the elementary school for the poor ? The schoolmaster 
 has a special interest in the reply, as so much depends, 
 both in his qualifications and in his daily avocations, 
 upon the answer. Dr. Bell's answer is short and ex- 
 plicit. " It is," he says, " to teach the rudiments of 
 letters, of morality and of religion, and to prepare 
 children for the stations they have to fill." Or, as he 
 says elsewhere, it is " to turn out good scholars, good 
 men, good subjects, and good Christians." Interpreted 
 rightly, no higher aims than these could be put forth by 
 any educationist ; but when we come to inquire, we find 
 that the views of Bell, hid under these terms, were of the 
 most moderate and limited character. His " Rudiments 
 of Learning " embraced only mechanical reading and 
 writing, with some knowledge of the fundamental four. 
 Nay, in the case of the very poor he did not go even 
 thus far. It was sufficient for them to learn to read 
 the Bible ! It seems ludicrous in this connection to 
 speak of " good scholars," when the ability to read the 
 Bible well does not give the ability to read even a 
 newspaper. Perhaps, which is very likely, the doctor,
 
 164 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 by "good" scholars did not refer to the extent of 
 their attainments, but to their soundness, as few educa- 
 tionists have been so strenuous as he on having 
 everything that is learnt done thoroughly. By the 
 rudiments of morality and religion Bell seems to have 
 meant a memoritcr acquaintance with passages of Holy 
 Scripture and with Mie Catechism. Many besides Bell 
 have attached great importance to this practice, as the 
 one calculated to make " good Christians." Locke was 
 one of the first to suggest a doubt of its efficiency, and 
 to point out that no moral or religious habit is formed 
 by merely preceptive instruction. In fact, it is hard 
 to understand what influence a merely verbal acquaint- 
 ance with divine truth could have on any man unless 
 it was his habit to submit his conscience hourly to its 
 guidance. And we know that there are many with 
 such knowledge who are totally unsanctified by it 
 either in life or heart. For ourselves, we should prefer, 
 wherever practicable, that before Scripture, Catechism, 
 or hymns are committed to memory, moans should be 
 taken to open out their meaning, ai.d to bring it to 
 bear on the conscience and practice, satisfied, too, 
 that this would fa/. x in making " good Christians," 
 unless accompanied by the powerful working of the 
 Holy Spirit. It is singular that the analogy of reading 
 did not suggest to Dr. Bell that moral habits are not 
 formed by learning by heart. For as no one can be 
 said to have received the rudiments of learning until 
 he has the power to read, so no one has the rudiments 
 of morality until he practises it. 
 
 /The province of the school in relation to the future 
 calling of the children is an important question. There
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 165 
 
 is no doubt, as Bell states, that the school should pre- 
 pare them for the stations they have to fill. But 
 should this preparation be general or special ? Should 
 it consist in the formation of such habits as are required 
 in any employment or should it consist in furnishing 
 industrial occupation or teaching a trade ? No^~ it 
 must be remembered that every well-conducted elemen- 
 tary school does supply that training, does secure that 
 discipline, and does form those habits which constitute 
 a general fitness for success in any calling. Considered 
 in this light, all good schools are industrial. Attention, 
 effort, patience, persevering application, are being cul- 
 tivated every hour ; and if they once become habitual 
 there will be no more difficulty in transferring them to a 
 trade or handicraft, or any other occupation, than there 
 is in turning them from one school subject to another. 
 
 So thought Bell ; hence he claims for the monitorial 
 school superiority in this respect, because it secured 
 the constant employment of every child, and also in- 
 vested many with offices of trust. But Bell went fur- 
 ther than this, and maintained that the children of 
 the labourer and of the artisan, after an hour or two in 
 school, should be employed on some industrial occu- 
 pation, or in learning a trade. 
 
 Bell here showed himself not to be in advance of the 
 public opinion of his day, which would debar the poor 
 from extended instruction, as utterly unbefitting their 
 condition, and as dangerous to society. But many still 
 claim this as the function of the school, some as a 
 means of keeping children longer under instruction, 
 the parents being able to appreciate the industrial oc- 
 cupation ; others, because many employments require
 
 166 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 a manual dexterity which can be acquired only by 
 ^ those who go to them young. 
 
 The esseiitial conditions of real education, according 
 ( to Dr. Bell, are attention and exertion on the part of 
 \ the children. The success of a system in securing 
 these is the test by which it ought to be tried, and 
 on the ground f its fitness to secure them he claims 
 attention to his own. Dr. Bell is doubtless right in 
 taking this ground, as a more important principle 
 cannot be named in connection either with elementary 
 learning or the acquisition of right habits. Attention 
 originates in a desire to learn, and its degree is in pro- 
 portion to the strength of the desire. It seems, as 
 employed by Bell, to imply instruction and an in- 
 structor. But here is one of the weakest points in 
 Dr. Bell's system. As he attached little weight to 
 what is done for a child, and highly valued the teach- 
 >v- m K f children by children, the result was that the 
 instruction was mere rote, and consisted chiefly of 
 what was mechanical and verbal. The agency em- 
 ployed was well fitted to accomplish this task, and 
 nothing in later improvements even can be said to 
 be superior, perhaps not equal to it, in securing the 
 mastery of lessons which always involve an amount 
 of irksome drudgery to an adult. But this system 
 was fruitless in a higher culture a culture that is 
 only possible when the mind of the well-instructed 
 master is brought to bear directly and not vicariously 
 
 / on the minds of his charge. The habit of attention 
 / *- 
 
 / andjjxertion during a succession of lessons, for several 
 hours daily, was rightly deemed by Bell of more im- 
 portance than the simple act of attention required in
 
 DB. ANDREW BELL. 167 
 
 one lesson. Hence the weight he attaches to this as 
 an argument for the employment of monitors, these se- 
 curing both a greater variety of work and more constant 
 employment than were possible with but one teacher. 
 
 But without looking at from the monitorial point of 
 view, we must legard it as indeed did Bell as the 
 backbone of any system of school education. Nothing 
 in any system of education can be a substitute for a 
 child's own exertions No one ever became a scholar 
 by the efforts of his teacher. Personal exertion is 
 the only road to knowledge and mental cultivation. 
 Therefore all methods of instruction are of value, just 
 in proportion as they stimulate the child to put forth 
 his own efforts on the task before him, and fit him for 
 independent exertion at another time. This is the 
 aim or ought to be of all teaching, the master, 
 feeling that it is his province to teach only so 
 far as to make his pupils to learn. A teacher's 
 measure of success should always be the degree to 
 which he can bring his scholars to exert themselves 
 without aid. In fact, it may be laid down as an 
 axiom, that all methods succeed as instruments of 
 education in the degree in which they gain the pupils' 
 own efforts, and thereby tend to form him to habits of 
 self-exertion and reliance. Especially is this true in 
 schools for the poor ; for as school life is short too 
 short for the purposes of education the work of every 
 school should be to put the power of self-education 
 in every one's reach. 
 
 It will not escape notice that this matter is regarded 
 both as a means and as an end : as a means, because 
 nothing that is really valuable in the whole range of
 
 168 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 knowledge, or in the fitness of the mind to acquire it, 
 is possible to any one but through his own arduous 
 exertions ; as au end, because the habit of active 
 exertion and constant employment, directed to right 
 objects, is one of the most important, whether to his 
 own individual welfare or his usefulness to society. 
 
 The principle which we have been considering may 
 be regarded as the charaoteristic feature of school 
 education until the introduction of oral teaching and 
 of collective lessons. Bell's schools made no pro- 
 vision for it but what was obtained by the preparation 
 of lessons in school. But in other schools those of 
 a higher grade there were home tasks, which it was 
 the chief business at school to recite and to hear. 
 
 At present, with an equal sense of the importance 
 of securing a child's exertions, our means are multi- 
 plied of doing so by our improved methods of 
 teaching and organization. In many schools a por- 
 tion of time is given by the younger children to the 
 silent preparation of lessons, monitors being employed 
 to see that all are faithfully engaged. A very valuable 
 means of securing the scholar's exertions is having in 
 every class where practicable the oral and reading 
 lessons reproduced as abstracts. Another means is 
 that of requiring where the subjects admit of it, as 
 in grammar and arithmetic independent examples in 
 illustration of any principle that has been explained 
 or proved. In choosing his subjects, whether of class 
 or collective lessons, the teacher should give preference 
 to those which admit of this practice. And he should 
 be ever careful to require his scholars to work out by 
 themselves either the same lesson, or examples of a
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 169 
 
 similar nature ; as it often happens that children who 
 perfectly understand a process when shown to them 
 on the B. B. or follow a process of reasoning under 
 the stimulus of a master's questions, find themselves 
 unable to do so afterwards alone. 
 
 But of all the modes of securing the scholar's own 
 exertions, that of home exercises if well devised is 
 the best. Being more purely his own work, they are 
 highly favourable to good progress. Their evident 
 tendency is to form habits of voluntary exertion and 
 self-reliance, for the scholar is working alone, without 
 either the stimulus of the master's questions, or the 
 power to appeal to his assistance. Hence they are 
 peculiarly favourable to habits of self-dependence, as 
 difficulties are to be met with, which must be grappled 
 with and overcome without assistance. That " home 
 exercises" may secure all this benefit to the pupil, 
 they must be of a nature to interest him. Three 
 kinds of home exercises are found in all good schools : 
 Preparative, including the reading lesson, spelling, 
 history, geography, and any other which simply 
 exercises the memory ; Repetitionary, consisting of 
 abstracts of lessons, and the working of examples in 
 grammar and arithmetic, a practice valuable not 
 only as a repetition, but as giving a better under- 
 standing of the subject j Inventive, including all 
 exercises in composition, froin a list of descriptive 
 terms in the lower classes, to the theme or essay in 
 higher, and also including such a preparation of the 
 reading lessons as involves the use of a dictionary. Of 
 these three modes the last is the best adapted to call 
 out his powers ; the work is more properly his own, and
 
 170 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 any success he meets with animates him to further 
 efforts. " Of all subjects calculated to call forth a 
 pupil's owu efforts, those which give him something 
 to do have the preference over those which merely 
 give him something to say." 
 
 The principles on which Dr. Bell would have the 
 instruction of children conducted are excellent, and 
 so are many of his devices. To the latter he justly 
 attached less importance than to the former, preferring 
 that the working out of a principle should he left to 
 the teacher himself, who, he says, should he " a man 
 of many devices." Here is practical wisdom. No 
 teacher should allow himself to he the slave of routine. 
 Let him have principles and keep to them, hut let 
 his application of principles be determined by his 
 circumstances. He will often find that where one 
 device successful in other cases fails in a particular 
 one, another will succeed; his principle meanwhile 
 ^ working in all. That the instruction in Bell's system 
 degenerated into a system of rote was the fault of the 
 agent, rather than of the principles arid methods. The 
 most essential thing to secure the pupil's attention 
 and exertion is to excite his interest in the work he 
 has to do. This, then, is Bell's aim. The pupil must 
 have something to do in every lesson. This Bell 
 partly secures by requiring every lesson to be pre- 
 pared by the pupil, with or without assistance, before 
 bringing it up to the class. He also lays great stress 
 on writing, both in the preparation and reproduction 
 of lessons. " This gratifies," he says, " the love of 
 activity inherent in the young mind." A definite 
 portion of work must be assigned to be mastered in
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 171 
 
 each lesson. The advantages of this are, that the 
 pupil, knowing how much he is expected to master, 
 works with greater energy, and as he is better ahle to 
 mark his own progress, he works under greater en- 
 couragement. It is necessary tliat all the initiatory 
 processes be learnt thoroughly, and, in fact, that every 
 lesson in any way necessary to the understanding of 
 those that follow it be fully mastered. " Without 
 this the pupil is as one stumbling in the dark." Henco 
 no lesson or book in the earlier stages should be passed 
 until well learnt. By the practice of passing through 
 lessons without mastering them, " a load," he says, 
 " of toil and tedium is laid up ; and the scholar, con- 
 scious of his imperfect and slow progress, and puzzled 
 and embarrassed by every lesson, everywhere feels dis- 
 satisfied, with the irksomeness of his daily tasks, and 
 alike disgusted with his master, his school, and his 
 book." In order to this thoroughness there must be 
 a system of repetition. Unless frequently repeated 
 the impressions made on the memory wear off. The 
 impressions made by one or two perusals, or one or two 
 practices of a lesson, are very weak ; but even where 
 well learnt they die out, or the power is lost, unless 
 frequently recalled. To obtain repetition without 
 sameness, one requisite, according to Bell, is so to 
 graduate the lessons that every step may prepare 
 for, and, as it were, anticipate the following step. 
 Another is to combine the new matter of the lesson 
 with the old, by which means, while making fresh 
 acquisitions, he is not losing those made before. But 
 both these will be ineffective unless joined with re- 
 capitulation, or the going over an entire series of
 
 172 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 lessons a second or third time, but more rapidly than 
 in the first working. The danger to be guarded from 
 especially in reading lessons is their becoming 
 simply memoriter. 
 
 The application of these principles to the several 
 subjects of instruction may now be detailed. 
 , Reading. Irrespective of the number of classes, 
 which would depend on the size of the school, there 
 are five marked stages in Bell's system, each more or 
 less distinguished by differences of method Alpha- 
 betical, Monosyllabic Reading, Monosyllabic Spelling, 
 Easy Reading, Bible Reading. The methods or devices 
 were of two kinds individual and class. The indi- 
 vidual were confined to the first three stages, and were 
 employed chiefly in the preparation of lessons after- 
 wards to be heard in the class. Two children, one a 
 tutor, the other a pupil, were placed side by side, the 
 one to teach, the other to learn the appointed lesson. 
 The method was to teach to read by first teaching to 
 write. As the first difficulty encountered by a pupil 
 in learning to read is that of distinguishing the letters 
 and words, Bell aimed to overcome it by bringing the 
 hand to the aid of the eye. Here he shows himself to 
 be a practical teacher, and not a mere theorist. The 
 attempt to produce a thing by the hand gives greater 
 keenness of observation, and impresses the thing more 
 permanently on the memory. 
 
 The alphabet was grouped into a series of lessons, 
 the letters being arranged according to their simplicity 
 of form. When the alphabet was mastered, all possible 
 combinations of two letters, a vowel and a consonant, 
 formed another series, before the pupil was thought fit
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 173 
 
 to pass from the alphabet stage. Each lesson consisted 
 of three steps. The letter was traced, imitated, and 
 at last produced from memory. The second stage in 
 the learner's course was to read interesting stories in 
 words of one syllable. The doctor attached much 
 importance to the scholars becoming early familiar 
 with all monosyllabic words because of their recurring 
 so frequently ; and his making the first lessons interest- 
 ing stories was intended to lessen the sense of irksome- 
 ness necessarily attendant on the first stage of a new 
 subject. Each lesson was prepared on the individual 
 method. It was first written, then spelt on the book, 
 and then with the book closed. This formed the first 
 step. Then the children were assembled in class, and the 
 lesson was read, first word by word in turn, then by 
 sentences or lines a pause being made after every word, 
 for the twofold purpose of securing clear enunciation, 
 and of impressing the words more distinctly on the 
 eye. Then the books were closed and the lesson spelt 
 through, after which it was again written on slates. 
 The third stage consisted in the scholar learning to 
 spell all the syllables that enter into the composition 
 of words. He offers two reasons for what is so un- 
 necessary, so irksome, and so unintelligent a practice : 
 '' Children so taught will not be able to learn by rote ; 
 and henceforth they will be able, with little trouble, 
 to read any book put into their hands." This reason is 
 similar to that urged for the phonic method; and in 
 both cases there is but one answer that it is familiarity 
 with whole words, obtained by frequently seeing them> 
 that enables any one to read them at a glance. The 
 fourth stage introduced the learner to such easy reading
 
 174 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 as was supplied by the narratives of the New Testament. 
 Here "previous spelling" and "individual teaching" 
 disappear. The methods are word about, then by 
 phrases; "because," as the doctor says, "the power to 
 analyze a sentence into its parts is necessary to reading 
 with intelligence;" then by sentences, and lastly by 
 pauses. This course was followed by spelling with 
 book closed, and by a memoriter examination. Th e 
 fifth stage introduced the learner to the Bible. The 
 methods employed were the same as before, with the 
 omission of " word about." 
 
 Writing. The views of Bell and of Locke on 
 teaching to write may be taken as expository of the 
 practices of the 17th and 18th centuries a period, 
 according to Lord Palmerston, marked by good writing. 
 No doubt the good writing in which the schools of 
 the old masters excelled was owing, in great measure, 
 to their observance of the rules of Bell and the plans 
 of Locke. According to Dr. Bell, writing should be 
 taught on the principle of learning to do one thing 
 at a time. The first thing to be learnt is the manage- 
 ment of the hand, then of the pen ; and as these are 
 sufficiently difficult in themselves, they ought to bo 
 mastered before forms of the letters are attempted. 
 
 ORGANIZATION. Dr. Bell regarded organization as 
 / the prime instrument for obtaining attention and 
 exertion. Nor can he be said to have attached too 
 much importance to it. For the objects organization 
 aims to secure are the constant employment, efficient 
 instruction, and moral control of every child. And it 
 is necessary to have some means of promoting these 
 apart from the direct act of instruction, because
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 175 
 
 children have a love of activity, are so affected by 
 novelty, have so little power of continuous attention 
 and have so many temptations to neglect their work, 
 that unless stimulated continually to activity and exer- 
 tion, through the power of the master to act on many 
 points at once, the work of the school will not go on. 
 
 The first feature of the Madras organization is its 
 being monitorial. In other words, the teaching and 
 management of the school were entrusted to such as 
 were yet learners, selected for their several offices 
 according as they showed an aptitude to teach or to 
 manage. The primary organization embraced five 
 officers, tutors, assistants, teachers, sub-ushers, and 
 ushers. The tutor had one child to assist in the 
 preparation of his lessons, all the children of one class 
 becoming the tutors of the next class below. The 
 assistants had charge of a class. They were overlookers 
 and examiners. They kept the children at their 
 lessons when with their tutors, and examined them in 
 class after their lessons were prepared. The teachers 
 had the charge of two or three classes. It was their 
 business to take each class in turn, examining and 
 stimulating both assistants and tutors. The sub- 
 ushers were chargeable with the order and general 
 arrangements, and with the supply of books and slates ; 
 and they were expected to report to the usher the 
 names of such children as they could not control. 
 The duties of the usher were to conduct all the 
 changes of the school, to act as a sort of general 
 superintendent, and to take the names of all such as 
 continued disorderly after they had been reported 
 by the sub-ushers. These officers were to prevent 1h.e
 
 
 176 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 too frequent appearance of the master in matters of 
 discipline and general management, it being thought 
 that as " familiarity breeds contempt," his authority 
 would be more efficient when he did appear. 
 
 At a later period the doctor somewhat modified this 
 plan. Tutors disappear, and to each class is appointed 
 a teacher and an assistant, the office of the latter being 
 simply to keep order. 
 
 It thus appears that the monitorial agency was o 
 two kinds, some were charged with matters of order 
 and arrangement, others with teaching. Hence it must 
 be obvious that any charges against the one, or advan- 
 tages attributed to it, do not necessarily hold in the 
 case of the other. The advantages of the monitorial 
 system over the individual system which it displaced 
 are obvious. It made provision for stimulating into 
 activity at a number of points at the same time, and 
 thus converted the schoolroom from a scene of idleness 
 and mischief into one of healthy excitement. The in- 
 vesting so many with offices in connection with the 
 order cf the school enlisted their co-operation, and be- 
 came also a means of influencing their companions, at 
 the same time that the regular discharge of periodical 
 duties tended to form habits which would be of service 
 /to them in later life. For employing monitors as 
 1 teachers, it was argued that they are better qualified to 
 impart instruction to each other, from their greater sym- 
 pathy, and from their understanding each other's stylo 
 and language. This may be admitted where the object 
 sought is merely a mechanical one, or mere memoriter 
 or fact teaching and no wise teacher will refuse to 
 avail himself of such services as they can render. But
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 177 
 
 the limits of their power should be well understood. \ 
 They can instruct, but not educate. They want that 
 knowledge of mind, that influence of character, and 
 those diversified attainments which are necessary to 
 enable the teacher to develop the mind and build 
 up the character of the children. Another argument 
 in favour of monitorial teaching and, in fact, that 
 on which it is chiefly grounded is that those who 
 have but recently learnt a thing are better able to 
 teach it, from remembering what were their own diffi- 
 culties. Now to this reason very little weight must be 
 attached. For, first, the difficulty experienced by one 
 child in learning a thing is not always the difficulty of 
 another. And second, it seems absurd to say that one 
 who has just learnt is better able to teach than he who, 
 having been teaching for years, is acquainted with all the 
 difficulties, and the mode of removing or avoiding them. 
 
 The second feature of the Madras organization was ^ 
 its classification. It consisted of large classes formed 
 into hollow squares, and was based upon reading only. 
 Such an arrangement exists yet in~many scKooE It 
 is thought, by its advocates, superior to having separate 
 classifications fer each subject, from the more intimate 
 relation which thus subsists between the class and its 
 teacher, and the greater responsibility of the latter for 
 the progress of the children. But, apart Jrom the in- 
 justice of retarding by school arrangements the progress 
 of a child in an essential subject because he is backward 
 in another, as the reading classification even when 
 there are different bases of classification embraces the 
 greatest portion of school time, there is sufficient room 
 to hold one teacher responsible for the general conduct 
 N
 
 178 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and character. -Besides, there is great advantage, where 
 the subjects differ, in bringing children under the action 
 of several minds, and of throwing them into competition 
 with others than those they ordinarily associate with. 
 Bell adopted the system of large classes, though un- 
 favourable to each individual being called upon with 
 that frequency which the elementary subjects require, 
 because he would be more likely, having fewer classes, 
 to get good teachers. He also thought that large 
 classes call forth superior emulation, and with fewer 
 classes the master's supervision would be more effective. 
 To keep his classes on competing terms, without which 
 emulation would be impossible, when a boy kept uni- 
 formly near the head or foot of his class he was re- 
 moved to the next above or below. 
 
 The third feature of the Madras organization was the 
 arrangements of the schoolroom. The objects to be 
 secured in this part of organization are effective super- 
 intendence, combined with such isolation of the classes 
 as will prevent one class interfering in any way with 
 the efficiency of another. Dr. Bell doubtless took his 
 whole organization from the parade-ground. The ar- 
 rangement into hollow squares, the gradation and sub- 
 ordination of officers, the platform, the precision of the 
 mechanical movements directed and controlled through 
 subordinate agency, are all suggestions of that military 
 organization with which his duties as chaplain at 
 Madras made him familiar. 
 
 SCHOOL-KEEPING. School-keeping includes under 
 it all those important matters in which the master is 
 chief agent, whichdo not belong either to method, 
 organization, or discipline. Thus it includes the duties
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 179 
 
 which fall specially to the master respecting the working 
 of the school his relations with the children and their 
 parents his arrangements to secure punctuality, regu- 
 larity, and cleanliness the keeping of registers the 
 means taken to keep the school in the public eye, 
 everything, in fact, which more nearly concerns the 
 material prosperity of the school. We often hear of a 
 man being a good disciplinarian, but a bad school- 
 keeper ; of another being an excellent teacher, but no 
 school-keeper ; and men are sometimes pointed out 
 whose fuLl schools show their good school- keeping, 
 although they are not remarkable either for their power 
 of moral discipline or for their ability to teach. 
 
 Good school-keeping is comparatively rare. Many 
 teachers think that some of its requisites are such trifles 
 as to be beneath their attention ; others, that some of 
 the practices are fit objects of contempt rather than of 
 imitation ; while not a few are satisfied if their methods 
 are good,their organization unimpeachable, and their dis- 
 cipline generallyetfective. But good school-keeping is an 
 art not to be despised. It has so great an influence in 
 filling a school, that no man who cares for a full school 
 will think it prudent to neglect it. School-keeping, 
 as an art, was in Bell's days in its infancy, so tha 
 there is little to learn from him, but that little is 
 highly suggestive. An essential feature of good \ 
 school-keeping is the master's influence being felt in 
 every part of the school continually. To this Bell at- 
 tached the highest importance. He says, " It is the 
 master's unceasing duty to direct, guide, and control 
 the uniform and impartial execution of the laws in all 
 the departments of the school, so as to render them
 
 180 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 effectual to the purpose for which they are framed. 
 These are to maintain quiet and order, to give full scope 
 to the love of imitation and spirit of emulation, so as 
 to promote diligence and delight, advance the general 
 progress, imbue the infant mind with the first princi- 
 ples of morality and religion, and implant in the tender 
 heart habits of method, order, and piety." Of the 
 manner of doing this he says : " From his place h 
 overlooks the whole school, and gives life and motion 
 to every member of it. He inspects the classes one by 
 one, and is occupied wherever there is most occasion for 
 his services, and where they will best tell. He is to 
 encourage the diffident, the timid, and the backward; 
 to check and repress the forward and presumptuous ; 
 to bestow just and ample commendation upon the dili- 
 gent, attentive, and orderly, however dull their capacity 
 or slow their progress ; to stimulate the ambitious, rouse 
 the indolent, and make the idle bestir themselves : in 
 short, to deal out praise and displeasure, encouragement 
 and threatening, according to the temper, disposition, 
 and genius of the scholar. He is occasionally to hear 
 and instruct the classes, or rather, overlook and direct 
 the teachers and assistants while they do so. It is his 
 chief business to see that others work, rather than work 
 himself." The fault of Dr. Bell's system here is not 
 in attaching too much importance to effective supervi- 
 sion, that could scarcely be, but in making no provision 
 for the direct action of the master's mind in the process 
 of the child's instruction. Yet it is of equal import- 
 ance that the master should come in contact daily with 
 each child in his progress through the school, as that 
 he should keep the entire machinery oiled and in motion.
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 181 
 
 Another element in good school-keeping is to have 
 arrangements by which the master may know all par- 
 ticulars of the progress of every child and of every 
 class, so that he may give special attention to the dull 
 and backward, and stimulate to activity the idle 
 whether amongst teachers or children. Dr. Bell's plans 
 of doing this were simple and effective. Each boy 
 able to write made an entry every night on a sheet 
 at the end of his book of his work for that day. The 
 result was tabulated at the end of the month in a 
 book called a Paidometer. "The Paidometer," says 
 Dr. Bell, "shows each child's monthly progress, 
 from his admission into the school, to leaving it, in 
 twelve triple columns, in which, on the last day of 
 every month are entered the book page, and stage of 
 the course at which the scholar is arrived in his reading, 
 ciphering, and religious rehearsals. A single line on a 
 folio sheet comprehends the progress of each child for 
 a year." Besides this there was a Weekly Register 
 which contained a summary of the daily attendance and 
 work kept by the teacher of each class. It must be 
 evident that the value of such records depends on the 
 faithfulness with which they are kept. The means to se- 
 cure this was in the periodical examinations. Coming to 
 a class for this purpose, the master asked for this Paid- 
 ometer and Weekly Register, and proceeded to examine 
 the class in the work professed to have been done. 
 
 Another element of good school-keeping is to bring 
 before visitors the good points of a school, as well as 
 any special things in which individual children excel. 
 Dr. Bell attached importance to this, because of its in- 
 fluence alike on teachers and children in promoting
 
 182 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 emulation. He points out that it is the mark of a 
 weak master to be satisfied with showing the first class, 
 and he attributes the deterioration of some schools to 
 the neglect by some masters of "trotting out" the 
 younger ones as well as the older ones. 
 
 DISCIPLINE. " Were it required to say," says Dr. 
 Bell, " in one word, by what means the primary and 
 essential requisites, attention and exertion, are to be 
 called forth, that word were discipline. Its original 
 meaning is learning, education, and instruction, but it 
 has come, as often happens, to signify the means by 
 which this end is attained, whether it be the method, 
 order, and rule observed in teaching, or the punish- 
 ment and correction employed." The importance 
 attached by Bell to discipline as a system of means to 
 secure the great objects of the school may be seen in 
 his saying, " It is in a school as in an army, disci- 
 pline is the first, second, and third essential." The 
 means which he includes in this term " are arrange- 
 ment, method, and order ; vigilance, emulation, praise, 
 and dispraise ; favour and disgrace, hope and fear ; 
 rewards and punishments ; and especially guarding 
 against whatever is tedious, difficult, operose, and irk- 
 some, and rendering every task prescribed to the 
 scholar short, simple, easy, adapted, and intelligible." 
 
 The prevention of wrong-doing is one of the objects 
 sought in these measures an object deserving every 
 master's serious attention. To do this, some of Bell's 
 measures were admirably adapted, (a) Many of the 
 offences against order proceed from the lessons not 
 being adapted in length and difficulty to the age and 
 etage of the children. In, this case, the children not
 
 D1J. ANDKENV BELL. 183 
 
 being interested in their employment, either become 
 listless, go off fairy-rambling, or seek employment of a 
 more congenial description. (&) Often offences are 
 traceable to the presence in school of boys of bad habits 
 or evil dispositions " A master," says Long, " in 
 taking charge of a school undertakes to govern and 
 instruct a number of individuals, who have been 
 brought up in a variety of ways, some with bad habits, 
 some with good, but all with some peculiarities or 
 propensities ; " hence the necessity of vigilant superin- 
 tendence, that such as are of bad habits may be re- 
 strained by the certainty of discovery, joined to a 
 wholesome fear of correction, (c) All lads prefer a 
 strict discipline to a lax one. All like method, order, 
 regularity, and to act as one of a body. The military 
 arrangements, the variety, promptness, and precision 
 of the movements, therefore, introduced by Bell, were 
 admirably calculated to prevent wrong-doing, by accus- 
 toming them to act in obedience to system, and so 
 tended to form habits of order and attention. 
 
 A. higher aim in discipline than the prevention of 
 disorder, idleness, or noise, or even than the obtaining 
 of military order, is to incite children to put forth 
 efforts for their own personal improvement. The signs 
 of such a discipline are in the willing attention, con- 
 stant diligence, respectful demeanour, and kindly 
 intercourse of the scholars. Where these are found, 
 the basis is being laid of a high, noble, and virtuous 
 character. Their attainment depends more on the 
 earnestness of the teacher's character, and on the per- 
 sonal influence which springs therefrom, than on the 
 means employed. So thought Bell, yet he was not
 
 184 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 indifferent to the use of means having this tendency. 
 Praise wherever it was due, special marks of favour to 
 those who distinguished themselves by their diligence 
 and good conduct, were among the subsidiary means ; 
 but his chief dependence was on the principle of 
 emulation, and on the means to bring it into operation. 
 " Emulation," he says, "though not a new principle, 
 is so perpetual and powerful an agent in the Madras 
 school as to have had the propriety of using it seriously 
 questioned." The objections urged then and -urged 
 still seemed to have proceeded either from confounding 
 it with something else, or because of its liability to 
 abuse. The objections are that it is unscriptural, and 
 productive of much evil ; to which it is replied, " In 
 its strict literal signification it denotes an earnest 
 desire and contention to outstrip others, not to obstruct 
 them, much less to thrust them back; that in this 
 sense it is a natural principle implanted in the human 
 breast by the Creator for the wisest and noblest pur- 
 poses ; and that its being productive of good or evil 
 depends on the source whence it originates, and the 
 objects to which it is applied." To set forth still 
 more clearly his view of what emulation is, he thus 
 quotes from Aristotle : "Emulation is a painful soli- 
 citude, occasioned by there being presented to our notice* 
 and placed within our reach in the possession of those, 
 who are by nature our fellows, things at once good and 
 honourable; not because they belong to them, but 
 because they do not also belong to us." " Contrasted 
 with envy a base passion, inherent in mean souls, 
 who seek not to exalt themselves, but to depress their 
 fellows is this generous principle of emulation."
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 185 
 
 This principle is brought into operation by the clas- 
 sification of a school, and by an arrangement which 
 quickly removes to a higher class one who has kept 
 ahead of his fellows, or places him in a lower one if he 
 is found invariably below them. The means intro- 
 duced by Bell to test this relative proficiency, and to 
 excite the effort necessary to fit for removal, was place- 
 taking. The value of place-taking in eliciting emula- 
 tion must depend on the competition taking place on 
 equal terms. Bell seems to have thought that this 
 would be the case where the children were properly 
 classified. Perhaps he was to some extent right, 
 when the subjects are simply mechanical; as place- 
 taking may then stimulate to exertion, so that by this 
 and perseverance, weakness of natural endowment may 
 be compensated for by acquired power, as in the 
 power of the eye to retain forms ; but not so in those 
 which demand a higher intelligence because of the 
 diversities of character, and of mental powers found 
 among children. Hence it has been objected to place- 
 taking that it rewards boisterous impudence and self- 
 confidence, and punishes the higher qualities of gentle- 
 ness and modesty. 
 
 The treatment of offences so as to secure "the 
 amendment of offenders, and the deterring others 
 from committing faults," is an important object of dis- 
 cipline. To secure amendment, and to deter others 
 from wrong, Bell thought that "much depended on 
 making every boy in the school sensible that you have 
 in view only his good." " That their daily experience 
 of your conduct towards them must lead them to con- 
 sider you as their friend, their benefactor, their guide,
 
 186 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and their parent." He also thought it important that 
 a record of each child's offences should be kept. The 
 object was twofold. To prevent the awarding of pun- 
 ishment at the moment of offence, and before a calm 
 investigation of it had taken place, and to furnish 
 evidence of the improvement or otherwise in the 
 pupil's conduct and character. Bell also attached 
 much importance to the influence which the opinions 
 of boys have on the feelings and practices of their 
 companions. Hence he had a system of trial by jury, 
 in which the boys themselves had to determine the 
 innocence or guilt of their fellows. He says that he 
 " had never had reason to think their decision partial, 
 biassed, or unjust, or to interfere with their award, 
 otherwise than to remit or mitigate the punishment," 
 when the end might be accomplished by the simple 
 expression of condemnation by his fellows. 
 
 Punishment what is its design ? Three answers 
 have been given to the question : 
 
 1. To expiate the offence by a just penalty. 
 
 2. To reform the offender, and to deter others from 
 doing wrong. 
 
 3. To expiate the offence, and to deter others from 
 doing wrong. 
 
 Now, in reference to punishments in school, it has 
 ever been held of importance by the most thoughtful 
 educationists to make a distinction between moral 
 offences and those which are simply breaches of order, 
 or of school laws in themselves indifferent. To treat 
 both alike tends to confound in the minds of children 
 moral distinctions with merely conventional rules. 
 With respect to moral offences, there has never been a
 
 DR. ANDREW BELL. 187 
 
 doubt of the duty to impress children with the fact 
 that any punishment they receive from their parents 
 or masters does not expiate their sin, that it does not 
 entitle them to forgiveness, and that without real and 
 cordial concern for their fault they cannot be treated 
 on the same terms as before they did wrong. Such 
 being the case, the term punishment does not rightly 
 describe the object in view ; hence the term correction 
 would be better. The design of it is to reform the 
 offender by correcting what is wrong, and to deter 
 others from doing wrong by associating indelibly the 
 ideas of sin and pain that where the first is, the other 
 sooner or later must follow. With respect to the 
 second class of offences, Bell seems to have held that 
 the punishment should be so adapted to the offence 
 that it would not only tend to reform and deter, but in 
 some measure satisfy the claims. of right and justice. 
 Thus, if a task was not performed when appointed, he 
 thought that keeping the pupil from play to learn it 
 was the only penalty the case required. 
 
 All punishment aims at a moral result. Anything 
 short of this is not punishment. To produce a moral 
 result the mind must be reached. Bell, aware of this, 
 employed reproof, deprived of some anticipated plea- 
 sure, or forbade the offender the company of his school- 
 fellows, and, where other means failed, corporal pun- 
 ishment. Reproof is often a severe and effective 
 punishment. Its being so depends partly on the 
 degree of esteem in which the master is held, partly on 
 the delicacy with v*hich it is administered, and partly 
 on its not being too frequent. Reproof should be 
 given privately ; rude exposure only tends to blunt the
 
 188 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 feelings of the culprit, and to awaken the sympathies 
 of the bystanders in his favour. Abbott says, " In 
 many cases where a fault has been publicly committed, 
 it seems at first view to be necessary that it should be 
 publicly punished ; but the end will, in most cases, be 
 answered if it is noticed publicly, so that the pupils 
 may know that it received attention, and then the 
 ultimate disposal of the case may be made a private 
 aifair between the teacher and the individual con- 
 cerned." In many cases the communication may be 
 made most delicately and most successfully in writing. 
 The more delicately you touch the feelings of your 
 pupils, the more tender these feelings become. Many 
 a teacher hardens and stupefies the moral sense of his 
 pupils by the harsh and rough exposures to which he 
 drags out the private feelings of the heart. A man 
 may easily produce such a state of feeling in his school, 
 that to address even the gentlest reproof to any indi- 
 vidual in the hearing of the rest would be a most 
 severe punishment; and, on the other hand, he may 
 so destroy that sensitiveness that his vociferated re- 
 proaches will, as Madame decker observes, "pass by 
 him as a storm, he sheltering himself the while under 
 the cover of indifference or resentment." In cases where 
 more than reproof is needed, Bell was of opinion that 
 to deprive of enjoyment is more effective than to inflict 
 pain. Bodily pain is but momentary, but to keep 
 from play or to detain after school hours compels the 
 attention for a longer time to the offence, and to what 
 it deserves. 
 
 In some of the worst cases he would forbid the lad 
 the companionship of his schoolfellows. This to a lad
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 189 
 
 is often the severest punishment you can inflict. It 
 appeals at once to his self-respect. That he is not 
 thought deserving to associate with other boys wounds 
 him to the quick. It also addresses itself to his con- 
 science, which gives the sanction of its authority to the 
 feeling that such as are doers of evil are not fit to 
 associate with the good. 
 
 Bell objected to corporal punishment. He thought 
 the cases few where it was needed. As generally em- 
 ployed it effects no good, as its impression is but 
 momentary ; while, on the other hand, its tendency is 
 to degrade and harden. Bell thought that its employ- 
 ment could be justified only in the case of the weak- 
 minded master, who had no other means of govern- 
 ment. " Its use," he says, " is a sign of poverty and 
 destitution." It betrays ignorance of mind as well as 
 want of power over it. 
 
 Section II. Joseph Lancaster. 
 
 AIMS AND PRINCIPLES. The year following that in 
 which Bell introduced his system into this country, 
 Joseph Lancaster opened a school in the Borough 
 Road, Southwark. The son of a common soldier^ 
 himself, previously to his great enterprise, a seaman in 
 the navy, without funds, but enthusiastic and benevo- 
 lent, he started the noble project of giving instruction 
 to the destitute poor. Becoming acquainted with the 
 Madras system, he sought to realize Bell's conception, 
 and with so much success that ere he was twenty 
 he had gathered a school of 1,000 children. As an 
 example of enthusiastic devotion to the highest
 
 390 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 though least esteemed and worst paid of all professions, 
 Lancaster is worthy of the imitation of all engaged in it. 
 Some degree of enthusiasm seems necessary to hring 
 any enterprise to a successful issue, but especially is 
 enthusiasm essential to success in the work of education. 
 Its high and noble objects, the culture of the mind 
 and the formation of character, can never be fully 
 attained but by men in whom the love of education 
 is an all-absorbing passion. Nor is it impossible to 
 attain such enthusiasm, though it is easier in some 
 cases than in others. Some seem to be endowed with 
 an enthusiastic spirit, and whatever the pursuit, they 
 engage in it with all their soul. Lancaster was one of 
 these, but although all cannot as readily enter into the 
 spirit of this great work, yet by accustoming themselves 
 to think often on the greatness of the objects sought, 
 they will succeed at length in awakening in themselves 
 some portion of this spirit. 
 
 S The province of the school, according to Lancaster, 
 / is "to train children in the practice of such moral 
 habits as are conducive to the welfare of society," as 
 well as to impart instruction in useful learning. Moral 
 training was held by him and justly to be insepa- 
 rable from religious instruction. Here, and here only, 
 have we that sanction and that morality which 
 the conscience recognises, and here only have we 
 those motives by which the will can be permanently 
 influenced. It is well to bear this in mind. While 
 we insist on the practice of moral duties, and the 
 exercises of the moral faculties, as the principal agents 
 in moral discipline, we must not place religious teaching 
 in a low or subordinate place. Nay, we must place it
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 191 
 
 first first in the class of motives first as an instru- 
 ment. Our Saviour, in His ever-memorable prayer, 
 says, "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word 
 is truth." Now this implies that the truth is known. 
 Let us then present religious truth to the young 
 mind lodge it in the memory make it clear to the 
 intelligence employ it so as to call forth emotion 
 but, above all, address it to the conscience, and thus 
 endeavour to secure its action on the life. 
 
 METHODS. Method made but little advance in the 
 hands of Lancaster. It was chiefly in the arrangements 
 to secure progress, and in the teaching of arithmetic, 
 that we discover any differences betwixt himself and 
 Dr. Bell. Lancaster seems to have had a glimmering 
 of a truth, which must have been practically recognised 
 by every successful teacher, though often overlooked, 
 namely, that school life has distinct periods, in each of 
 which there is a special object, by which its subjects 
 and methods must be determined. He divides school 
 life into two periods. The first is one in which the 
 child should receive all the aid which his teacher 
 can give him, consistently with training him to self- 
 helpfulness, in acquiring those instruments which are 
 required to the successful pursuit of knowledge. The 
 second in which he should bo taught to apply what 
 he has acquired to the study of other branches, being 
 thrown, in doing so, as much as possible on his own 
 resources. The value of thus dividing school life into 
 periods is, that by clearly defining what you can 
 accomplish, and laying distinctly down what you may 
 attempt with a probability of success, your labours 
 become more determinate, and the results obtained
 
 192 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 more perfect than when you work without a well- 
 defined aim, or without reference to what mental 
 development, or the acquisition of knowledge require?. 
 The necessity of such a graduation of lessons, in 
 which each will prepare for and be repeated in those 
 which succeed, was practically recognised by both the 
 founders of the monitorial system. But Lancaster 
 had a better appreciation of what was required to 
 accomplish it. In learning to read, the number of 
 words to be mastered before there can be ability to 
 read any book is so great, that only he who gets much 
 reading much not in a single lesson, but in a variety 
 of lessons can hope speedily to overtake the task. 
 This plain fact is often forgotten, and by none so 
 much as those who with Bell have reading taught in 
 large classes, instead of with Lancaster, in small drafts. 
 The small drafts enabled Lancaster to have three 
 grades of lessons where Bell had but one, and thus 
 provided for a larger amount of reading as well as for 
 a better graduation of difficulties. The same arrange- 
 ment also secured the second great essential to progress 
 in this as in every other mechanical art much 
 practice. It is obvious that children in Lancaster's 
 school would have three times the amount of practice 
 which they had in Dr. Bell's, as well as three times 
 the variety of lessons. 
 
 A great improvement introduced by Lancaster was 
 in the teaching of Arithmetic Hitherto the instruc 
 tion, as in reading and writing, had been individual. 
 Lancaster applied the class system to it, and with 
 better results than were obtained in reading. This 
 was due to all working at once, emulation being thus,
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 193 
 
 more easily excited, and the attention kept up, than 
 when only one was actively engaged as in reading. 
 In teaching arithmetic Lancaster had the following 
 plans : The basis of progress was placed in a thorough 
 knowledge of the tables. In every new rule the 
 examples were at first short and easy, increasing in 
 length and difficulty with the power of the learner. 
 Each class had a definite number of examples, which 
 were written in a book kept by the monitor, and these 
 were worked over and over again, until they could be 
 worked with facility and despatch. In teaching a new 
 rule, a monitor dictated an example ; he then worked 
 it out, the scholars following him on their slates ; then 
 the slates were cleaned, the example written on the 
 B. B., and each boy in turn took a part of the opera- 
 tion. This was persisted in until the mode of working 
 was understood. 
 
 ORGANIZATION. Schoolroom Arrangements.- In the 
 plan of his schoolroom Lancaster shows the influence 
 of early associations on the practices of maturer years. 
 He doubtless had a ship of war in his eye when he 
 planned his room. The length of the room was nearly 
 twice the width, the area was filled with parallel desks, 
 a space of about six feet was left round the room for 
 draft teaching, and at one end was a raised platform, 
 from which all orders were issued, and from which 
 the whole could be inspected. Opposite each draft 
 a black-board was suspended, that the monitor might 
 illustrate any difficulty that occurred in the reading, 
 spelling, or arithmetic lessons. There was fastened 
 to the wall, at the height of about five feet, a small 
 open box in which the books and slates of the draft 

 
 194 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 were kept. At the distance of eighteen inches there 
 were slates so let into the desk as to be level with the 
 top an arrangement that was made to prevent noise, 
 save time, and preserve from breakages. In all these 
 arrangements the intention was to economize the noise 
 and labour of working the school, and also to give 
 the master the power to act on the whole or a part at 
 pleasure. 
 
 Classification. It has been already pointed out that 
 Lancaster, recognising two great purposes in school 
 life, one of supplying the instruments of learning, the 
 other of teaching their application to the acquisition 
 of knowledge, formed his school into two great di- 
 visions corresponding to these aims. In respect of 
 the basis of classification', having seen the advantages 
 of united practice in reading and spelling, he applied 
 the same process to arithmetic, which had hitherto 
 been taught, as were all the arts, on the individual 
 method. A very little experience convinced him that 
 class teaching was more successful in arithmetic than 
 in reading, because of the greater difficulty in the 
 latter case of keeping all employed. He also soon 
 made the discovery that to keep up a healthy emulation 
 with equable progress, it was necessary to have a dis- 
 tinct classification for arithmetic, as the scholar's rate 
 of progress was very variable in the two subjects. 
 With respect to the size of a class, that must depend 
 on the number of children in a school, since the stages 
 of the learner's progress are pretty well defined ; but 
 when these classes come to practise reading, spelling, 
 and arithmetic, Lancaster would have only such a 
 number grouped as would give frequent practice.
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 195 
 
 More practical than Bell, and perhaps more me- 
 chanical, and not so sanguine of a monitor's power to 
 keep a large numher actively employed, he attached 
 value to frequency of practice. On the other hand, 
 Bell thought that, having fewer classes and securing 
 better teachers, he would get a higher intelligence, 
 which would more than compensate for any mechanical 
 loss. The truth seems to be, in relation to these 
 opinions, that although an intelligent lad will need 
 shorter practice than one less intelligent, yet frequent 
 practice is as much required in the one case as in the 
 other, the only difference being that the one will pass 
 through the various stages more rapidly than the other. 
 Certain it is that a clever fellow, applying himself at 
 distant intervals, will not make the progress of him 
 who less gifted applies himself at the lapse of short 
 periods. 
 
 Working and Teaching Power In working the 
 school Lancaster had a head monitor, who was charged 
 with the changes, the order, and the general arrange- 
 ments, thus leaving the master to devote his attention 
 to superintendence and to cases of discipline. The head 
 monitor was assisted by monitors of order, who had 
 charge of class lists, looked after absentees, and sup- 
 plied the classes with whatever they required. To 
 each class was appointed a superior monitor, whose 
 business it was to test the work of the monitors of 
 drafts, and to superintend all the work in desks. 
 Besides these there were inspectors, whose business it 
 was to examine periodically every class, give to each 
 scholar a thorough sifting, and to pass on to a higher 
 class every one who was fit for removal. This system
 
 196 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 was due to the importance attached by Lancaster to 
 keeping every boy employed, to having checks on the 
 work of the monitors, the progress of the scholars, 
 and on their attendance ; and to the great advantage 
 to the discipline of the school of enlisting the co- 
 operation of as large a number as was- possible. 
 
 DISCIPLINE. Lancaster, as might be expected, fell 
 into some errors in the details of discipline, but he 
 shows himself to have been well versed in the art of 
 government, and to have had considerable insight into 
 3hild-nature, and the motives by which it is influenced. 
 Exception has been justly taken to his appealing in 
 some instances to the lower and more sordid feelings, 
 and also to the punishments he employed, but his 
 general principles are those on which the success of all 
 school government depends. 
 
 He lays its foundations in the influence of the master, 
 the power of public opinion, the co-operation of the 
 leading children, the distribution of honourable distinc- 
 tions and rewards, the judicious use of emulation, the 
 value of drill, of constant employment, and of conduct- 
 ing all movements by signals, and on punishments 
 varying in kind, and being administered without 
 ruffling the temper of the master. 
 
 " The personal character of the master, the influence 
 which he establishes in his school, and the feelings with 
 which he inspires his scholars, are now generally ac- 
 knowledged as the chief sources of discipline and 
 government. It is often said that a master has more 
 need to watch himself than his children, as in the 
 majority of cases, the disorder or disobedience found in 
 a school is traceable to some omission, inconsiderate-
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 197 
 
 ness, hastiness of temper, or want of firmness in him- 
 self." To the same effect the good discipline of a school 
 is invariably attributed to the ascendency of the 
 master's character, and not to the means he employs, 
 only so far as they help to establish it. So Abbott, 
 after detailing some admirable plans for promoting 
 moral influence, says " that they will depend for their 
 success, not so much on their adaptation to human 
 nature, as on the character of the man by whom they 
 are employed." 
 
 A thorough conviction of this would be found to be 
 an earnest of success to the young schoolmaster who is 
 really ambitious to be an educator. " Not that the 
 character can be assumed at pleasure, for this, like all 
 character, has its roots in the soil of past years. No, 
 nothing can appear in the character of a man that has 
 not grown there. The lesson of to-day could not be 
 said if it had not been preceded by tb.6se of yesterday, 
 and many days before it. And if a man attempt the 
 deception of appearing what he is not, the moment of 
 entering the presence of children strips him of his dis- 
 guise, ' no admittance for shams ' being written on the 
 portals of every temple of youth." Still a conviction of 
 the truth that personal character is the source of what 
 his school will become must point out to the young 
 master the necessity of that personal discipline without 
 which he must miserably fail in any attempt to achieve 
 what is great and good. 
 
 Next to the personal influence of the master, Lan- 
 caster places the power of public opinion, the 
 latter indeed springing from the former. By the 
 public opinion of the school, he means the
 
 198 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 opinion which pervades the mass of children 
 respecting their school and their teacher, and what- 
 ever concerns either the one or the other. Lancaster 
 points to the existence of such a feeling in the rivalry 
 which sometimes exists between two schools, and urges 
 that it shall be formed and exerted on the side of order, 
 diligence, and progress. The importance of securing 
 this public opinion has been held by some of the most 
 eminent educators. Fellenberg, describing his own 
 practice, says, " The effort is constant to excite in the 
 pupils that public spirit which seeks to exclude every- 
 thing improper from its sphere of influence, in order to 
 preserve the order and tranquillity which are necessary 
 to the improvement of all. . . . An influence of 
 this kind once established, with due regulation and 
 oversight, will often accomplish more than all the re- 
 monstrances and discipline of the teacher. The pupil 
 can seldom resist the force of truth when he finds him- 
 self condemned by the common voice of his com- 
 panions, and is often more humbled by this censure 
 from his equals than by any of the admonitions of his 
 superiors." When public opinion has been thus formed 
 in favour of whatever is lovely and of good report, the 
 new scholar will find that he cannot do as he pleases, 
 or as he has been accustomed to, but he must conform 
 to that which he finds established. But this is equally 
 true whether the teacher form the public opinion of the 
 school or not. It is not in the power of the teacher to 
 prevent its formation. Met together in numbers, rules 
 are tacitly adopted, and a standard of conduct is fixed 
 by which evejy one is tried, and to which every one 
 must submit. Every one entering this society, in a few
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 199 
 
 days partakes of the general tone, at the same time that 
 he imparts to it something of his own. Few can really 
 estimate the power which thus exists in a school, and 
 few have ever felt more strongly than Lancaster the ne- 
 cessity of securing it to the side of good government. 
 
 Lancaster sought to form the public opinion of the 
 school through the means of those children whose 
 lively, active, energetic spirits gave them influence and 
 command with their fellows. His first aim was to at- 
 tach these to himself, by furnishing them employment, 
 involving honour, trust, and command. Having secured 
 them by thus skilfully availing himself of what was 
 the prominent feature in their character, his next 
 step was to secure their co-operation in influencing 
 others. For this purpose he would often -meet them 
 apart, and placing before them one of his plans, he 
 would dwell on its importance to the well-being of 
 the school, and would by every means in his power 
 endeavour to excite their interest in the working of it 
 out. This accomplished, he knew they would influence 
 others, and so the thing would spread until the mass 
 was leavened. 
 
 MEANS OF DISCIPLINE. Two objects, according to 
 Lancaster, are to be kept in view in school discipline. 
 One is to procure order, quietness, diligence, and obedi- 
 ence, these being necessary to the children's progress in 
 learning. The other is the right training of the toill. 
 The last is the most difficult problem in education. To 
 furnish motives which will not only operate in the 
 master's presence, but which will have a permanent in- 
 fluence on conduct and character to bring the will 
 under control, and yet impart to it strength, determina-
 
 200 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 tion, and power of resistance, is the highest object of 
 discipline, as it is the greatest achievement of the edu- 
 cator. Our judgment, then, of the means employed in 
 school government must have reference to their adapta- 
 tion to secure the one or other of these ends; and 
 we must be careful not to confound the one with the 
 other, for a set of means that may be well adapted to 
 secure the first, may be equally so to defeat the second. 
 Order, quietness, diligence, and obedience may be ob- 
 tained at the expense of everything that is really valuable 
 in the character and the will. No ; it is not by their 
 power as present motives to secure order, that we must 
 determine the value of the means employed, but by 
 their power to supply principles which shall have an 
 abiding existence as motives of right conduct and 
 action at all times. It is highly important to bear 
 these considerations in mind during our present review. 
 Lancaster well understood the necessity of supplying 
 motives of action which should be permanent rather 
 than temporary, and he showed his knowledge of human 
 nature in their selection. Yet at almost every step we 
 find something to deprecate, if not in the motives 
 themselves, yet in the means to give them birth. 
 
 Among the means employed to secure order and 
 quietness, besides endeavouring constantly to form a 
 public opinion in their favour, he attached and justly 
 much value to simultaneous movements and action in 
 class work, and in school changes ; to having these 
 done as often as possible by signals instead of oral com- 
 mands ; to having oral commands in the fewest possible 
 words, and in such arrangements as would render idle- 
 ness impossible without being immediately detected. In
 
 JOSEPH LANCASTER. 201 
 
 these things he laid hold of sympathy, imitation, and 
 the love of action, found in children, and turning them 
 wisely to account in matters of easy and pleasant per- 
 formance, he laid the foundation of habits of obedience 
 in matters of graver moment. For he says truly 
 that a child accustomed to obey in little matters will 
 more readily do so in the greater. 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties in school-keeping 
 arises from the number of children who require some 
 external stimulus to get them to plod on with earnest 
 effort at their various lessons. Lancaster successfully 
 encountered the difficulty, but it was by an almost ex- 
 clusive appeal to the emotions of self the love of dis- 
 tinction the hope of reward and emulation. Every 
 boy in class wore conspicuously on his breast the num- 
 ber of his position. Every one who gained the top of 
 his class, wore as long as he remained there a badge of 
 merit. Every one who distinguished himself in read- 
 ing, spelling, writing, or arithmetic, wore a badge setting 
 forth the fact. Every one who distinguished himself by 
 his excellence in all the subjects, or in teaching them 
 to others, or in his efforts to reclaim bad boys, wore a 
 silver medal of the order of merit. To boys who gained 
 the badges of merit four times tickets with a money 
 value were given, which might be exchanged at any 
 time for toys, books, or pictures. To those who obtained 
 the order of .merit, and who continued to distinguish 
 themselves, prizes more costly were given to some 
 silver watches. Now the great objection, as it strikes 
 one, to all this, is not in acting on such principles as 
 the love of distinction, but in making the gratification 
 to consist, not in the thing itself, but in parading it
 
 202 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 before others, and in the material gains which accrued 
 from it. Hence the thing to be feared would be that 
 even if the motive of action did not become permanent, 
 that the lads would slacken their efforts when removed 
 from the school. But suppose such motives to become 
 the permanent principles of action, what would be 
 the result ? A character in which there would be no 
 high aspirations, where there would be no regard to 
 what was good, unless it brought with it distinction 
 applause, and material gain. But how low, how mean 
 how debased, how utterly unbefitting the high destiny 
 of man would be such a character a character in which 
 the love of display was the chief feature ! 
 
 A mode of employing emulation, in use by Lancaster, 
 is worthy of imitation. He set class against class. To 
 two classes he assigned the same work, and that which 
 excelled occupied the highest place until the next trial 
 of strength. In this contest the individual was sunk 
 in the class. It was not for personal distinction, but 
 for the distinction of his class that he contended. 
 Here self gave way before the desire that those with 
 whom he associated should win. Each lad would work, 
 not that he might win, but that his class might Lan- 
 caster states that the experiment was invariably suc- 
 cessful, every lad putting forth his utmost ability for 
 the success of the class to which he belonged. 
 
 Section III. The Intellectual System. 
 
 The instruction under the Monitorial system of its 
 first promoters was the merest rote. It consisted 
 chiefly in mechanical reading, writing, and arithmetic.
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 203 
 
 It is interesting to note this fact, now that there is a 
 tendency under recent legislative actionT^b restrict the 
 work of the school within the same meagre limits. 
 What were the results attained under a system of 
 similar restriction 1 That they were* not satisfactory 
 might be surmised from the eiforts of such men as 
 Wood, Stow, Grant, Shuttleworth, Tate, and many 
 others, to alter or add to the existing system, or to 
 substitute something else for it. But we are not left 
 to conjecture. Brougham's commission of 1816, Pillans' 
 letters, and the earlier reports of H.M.'s Inspectors, 
 have placed the matter beyond dispute. The charges 
 against a system that only drilled in reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic, were, amongst others, that under it 
 progress was not commensurate with the labour be- 
 stowed ; that a large majority, after years of attend- 
 ance, left school with such a smattering as to be practi- 
 cally of no use to them ; that the stupidity under ques- 
 tioning was in a sense appalling ; that intelligence not 
 being cultivated, the habit of reading was not formed ; 
 and that in many cases the power to read and write 
 acquired at school was subsequently lost. 
 
 The first innovation on this state of things was 
 keeping a monitorial organisation, by direct culture of 
 the intelligence chiefly in connection with the reading 
 lesson. The success attending it was such that its 
 promoters, distinguishing it from the mechanical re- 
 iteration of the older monitorial schools, termed it the 
 Intellectual system. Worked out by the disinterested 
 exertions of Mr. Wood, and made known in its chief 
 features by the enthusiastic labours of Professor Pillans, 
 W well as at a later period in the " Account of the
 
 204 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Edinburgh Sessional School," it rapidly made its way 
 both in Scotland and England, advanced here by 
 the fostering care of the British and Foreign School 
 Society. 
 
 The intellectual system originated in a desire to im- 
 prove the matter and methods of instruction of the 
 elementary school, to infuse spirit into all its exercises, 
 and to create activity, energy, and intelligence through- 
 out the classes. To accomplish these things, it was 
 seen that a knowledge of child mind is essential ; that 
 the memory must not be the only object of culture, 
 but that other powers must be brought out, such as 
 perception, imagination, and judgment : and that re- 
 gard must be had to the fact that a child has passions, 
 affections, and a conscience, if his co-operation is to be 
 secured in the process of education. Also the special 
 characteristics of childhood must be borne in mind. 
 There is an aversion to mental exertion when a definite 
 object is not before their mind ; but they possess 
 curiosity in a high degree, which, if properly stimu- 
 lated will overcome their aversion to mental appli- 
 cation; they delight to display their knowledge, and 
 they are ambitious to excel their fellows. 
 
 Assuming this knowledge, it was maintained further 
 that a high state of intelligence and intellectual ac 
 tivity required that such facts and principles as these 
 now to be enumerated should be constantly acted upon. 
 Both teacher and pupil should understand that there 
 is no royal road to learning, that the path is rugged 
 and the toil laborious ; the interest of the pupil should 
 be excited in what he is about, and this cannot be 
 done if what he is engaged on is unintelligible to him ;
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 205 
 
 all real efforts should be praised, and where a dull 
 child finds it impossible to excel others he should be 
 encouraged to excel his forifier self ; as far as practicable 
 the inclinations and capacity of every child should be 
 studied in order to his efficient instruction ; in fixing 
 the branches to be acquired, and the extent to which 
 pursued, regard must be had to the probable length of 
 the school life of the scholars ; and all the school 
 should be kept intelligently, actively, and constantly 
 employed. 
 
 Increasing attention to the nature of education, and 
 to what is essential to intellectual and moral discipline, 
 made apparent that a great mistake had been coun- 
 tenanced, in the opinion that any one might be en- 
 trusted with conducting a school, a mistake similar in 
 kind but more deplorable in results to that which gave 
 operations in surgery to the village barber, or the 
 healing of disease to the rustic herb dealer. Light 
 began to dawn on those who concerned themselves with 
 the subject, that a being of such complicated structure 
 as a child, and such a noble work as its training, de- 
 manded peculiar qualifications in its instructor. This 
 increasing appreciation of the dependence of educational 
 success on the character of its most active agent was 
 manifested by the promoters of the intellectual system. 
 
 Enthusiastic devotedness to education was claimed 
 as the first requisite of a master of a school. Success, 
 it was maintained, depended on the spirit of the 
 master. Of the school he was to be the life and soul. 
 What he was his school would become. His enthu- 
 siasm or indifference would spread through every class, 
 his subordinates and pupils would unconsciously imbibe
 
 206 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 his spirit. And the hourly work would be highly in- 
 vigorating and compassing noble ends ; or would be 
 languid and evil in its results, in proportion to the 
 conception the master had of his duty, and his devotion 
 to its accomplishment. 
 
 Another step in the right direction was the claim 
 that the instructor of others should himself be well in- 
 structed. For, apart from such low ground as that a 
 man cannot give to others what he himself possesses 
 not, there are so many difficulties met with by the 
 young, and the bringing their faculties into play re 
 quires so much nice skill, that it is only the man with 
 large stores in hand that can successfully elucidate and 
 remove the former, or who is himself a thorough student 
 and observer that can acquire the latter. The dis- 
 cipline which a liberal culture gives is necessary to 
 enable a man to discipline others. No control can be 
 had of child mind, no right direction given to its 
 powers, there can be no awakening of an inner life, and 
 no high aspirations excited, but by one who has been 
 the subject of a similar culture in an eminently high 
 degree. Besides, if the schoolmaster is not a well- 
 informed man with a disciplined mind, he will be 
 excluded from educated society, and so run the risk of 
 becoming a man of narrow opinions and prejudices; 
 and who would willingly commit a child at its most 
 plastic period to the culture of such a one 1 
 
 "Apt to teach" is an indispensable qualification. 
 Long practice does not always confer this talent. 
 Many with no " natural gift " certainly become by 
 study and practice respectable teachers, yet those of 
 the highest class owe their position, perhaps, to original
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 207 
 
 endowment. Be this as it may, the quality, whether 
 acquired or original, is essential to success. One who 
 has this aptitude has the power of winning the affec- 
 tions even of the dullest, of identifying himself with 
 his scholars so as to feel their difficulties without 
 which he will scarcely use right methods of surmount- 
 ing them and of presenting knowledge at the time 
 and in the manner in which it is most likely to arrest 
 attention and produce durable impressions. Such a 
 one has the power to draw out what the pupil knows, 
 to make him thus acquainted with his actual state, and 
 prepared to supply with interested effort his deficiencies; 
 he has also tact shown in adapting himself to the 
 capacity, inclination, and want of each individual 
 scholar. 
 
 Two words express the method of this system 
 interrogation, explanation. The first elicited from 
 pupils what they knew, and so made it the means of 
 teaching others less informed ; the other supplied ma- 
 terial for a similar process in subsequent lessons. Thus 
 it was sought that nothing should be communicated 
 until the learner had made an effort of his own ; the 
 principle of mutual instruction was employed, and the 
 process often became one of teaching the children to 
 work out results for themselves, instead of taking in- 
 formation simply at the mouth of their teacher. 
 
 The reading lesson was the great instrument of cul- 
 tivating the intelligence, and may certainly be taken as 
 embodying all that was characteristic of the system. 
 That a child, in being taught to read, should at the 
 the same time be taught to understand what it reads, 
 is so simple a truism, that it excites surprise that its
 
 208 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 necessity should ever have had to be insisted upon. 
 Yet it was the starting point of Wood, who early 
 realised that the mechanical part of reading might be 
 so acquired as effectually to prevent the habit of being 
 attained of reading with attention and profit. Without 
 such a habit any other advantage can scarcely be deemed 
 an adequate result of the labour demanded in the ac- 
 quisition of the mere mechanical power. Still it was 
 thought necessary to defend the practice. This was 
 done by urging that children so dealt with no longer 
 found their reading lesson an irksome drudgery, but a 
 pleasant employment, the result of which was greater 
 animation and energy when engaged thereon ; that as 
 the children's intelligence was quickened by this pro- 
 cess their progress was more rapid, as they became 
 thereby quick to perceive and strong to retain the 
 matter of their lessons ; and that even in the mastering 
 of new words, the child, who was taught to gather the 
 sense as he read, was endowed with two powers, where 
 the less-favoured pupil had but one, and thus was 
 more likely to make them his own quickly. 
 
 Exposition of reading lessons may aim to give such a 
 general command of the language, and such a habit of 
 attention and thought, as will enable the reader to 
 make his own what he reads ; or it may aim at pro- 
 ducing good oral reading, or what is properly the " art 
 of reading." From the attention demanded for it, it 
 would seem that the latter is deemed a more desirable 
 accomplishment than the former. Yet regarded rightly, 
 surely the ability to make a book one's own is of much 
 more importance to a man than the power to read 
 aloud so that others may understand. To be able to
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 209 
 
 read aloud with intelligent emphasis and expression is 
 certainly a valuable power, but in school it ought to 
 be secondary, not regarded as an end, but rather as one 
 of the tests of the power to read with profit. "Wood 
 seems to have formed this opinion, for he claims that 
 the learner shall not be taught simply to understand 
 the passage before him, but shall get a general know- 
 ledge and. command over his own language, and, not to 
 be mistaken as to his meaning, he draws an illustration 
 from parsing, which is not taught that the learner may 
 be acquainted with the sentences parsed, but that he 
 may have power to deal with any sentences. 
 
 To that habit .of attention while reading, to which is 
 due the power of appropriating what is read, there 
 must be added, if a higher discipline is sought, the 
 practice of carefully weighing what is read, and of 
 bringing up former acquisitions for its elucidation, con- 
 firmation, or rejection. That the foundation of such a 
 habit might be laid in school, it was thought desirable 
 to give information on a variety of topics such as the 
 passage might suggest, or its full examination might 
 require. This practice was occasion of abuse. Much 
 irrelevant matter was often introduced especially as a 
 word, and not the sulject read, often suggested the 
 topic or remark. 
 
 The work of the several classes presents a few points 
 of favourable comparison with the system which this 
 hoped to supersede. After the alphabet was acquired, 
 words of two letters took the place of Bell's ba, be, bi, 
 bo, bu, and were presented to the eye in two characters, 
 roman and italics, by which it was found the eye sooner 
 acquired the power of recognising words. Words of 
 P
 
 210 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 three letters followed, arranged on a principle which 
 it was thought facilitated their acquisition. Words like 
 dry, cry, spy, the, were followed by such as act, ink, 
 orb ; these by such as den, men, ten ; and these by 
 such as die, due, dew. This course passed the child 
 entered on books. Here an important step was made 
 in advance. The Bible, hitherto a task book, was 
 removed from its degraded position, and other books, 
 interesting in matter and suitable to the intelligence, 
 put in its place. 
 
 In the method of working a reading class, apart from 
 what was really the life of the system, the practice of 
 spending some time daily in explanation, the most re- 
 markable thing was the immense activity engendered 
 by the practice of place-taking, It is interesting also 
 to note probably a consequence of this practice that 
 on no account was spelling allowed during reading. It 
 had a distinct time assigned to it. 
 
 Section IV. The Training System. 
 
 Few men have done more for the cause of Education 
 than David Stow. Few have exerted in their own 
 lifetime so wide-spread an influence on education. In 
 the schools that exist on his system he has revolu- 
 tionized the ordinary system of teaching and school- 
 keeping, and has affected, for good or evil, more or 
 less, every other system, though founded on principles 
 the opposite of his own. For along time past his prin- 
 ciples and methods haye engaged the attention of many 
 in Europe and America interested in education, and
 
 THK TRAINING SYSTEM. 211 
 
 they have been more or less adopted, wherever they 
 have been thoroughly examined and understood. 
 
 Like many others, whose labours have been of the 
 greatest benetit to human happiness and progress, Mr. 
 Stow had no purpose in the commencement of his 
 great work, but to arrest, in his own sphere, a little of 
 the tide of evil that was bearing so large a portion of 
 the community to irretrievable ruin. In 1816, he 
 then a young merchant gathered on a Sabbath even- 
 ing, into a dingy apartment, in a back lane, about thirty 
 young Arabs of the Salt-market, Glasgow. His aim 
 was to instil religious principles ; to engage their affec- 
 tions in behalf of what was right and good, and to 
 lead them to the knowledge of Him, whose mission 
 was to save that which was lost. He laid down for 
 himself two rules, to the observance of which he traces 
 much of his success in education ; never to strike ; 
 never expel. Amid all their circumstances of rags and 
 filth, he viewed them as on an equality with himself, ra- 
 tional, responsible, and immortal ; having minds as de- 
 licate, as curious, and as complicated in structure as his 
 own ; with emotions that it would be well to cherish, 
 and intellectual faculties and moral powers that it would 
 be possible to train. 
 
 During ten years he laboured, making valuable dis- 
 coveries, and meeting with unexpected results. At 
 length, awaking to the fact that the training of the 
 street was more powerful than that of the school, and 
 that what was done on the Sabbath was but too effect- 
 ually neutralized during the week, and anxious to have 
 a wider sphere for observation, and for testing the dis- 
 coveries he had made, he established an infants' day-
 
 212 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 school, and placed it under the care of that prince of 
 infant teachers, the late David Caughie. Calling to 
 his aid Mr. Wilderspin, who was then engaged in 
 establishing infants' schools, he introduced the system 
 of that gentleman, supplementing it with those other 
 principles and methods of religious and moral training 
 which had borne, and were still producing such good 
 fruit in the smaller sphere of a Sabbath-evening class. 
 For seven years this work went on. During them, by 
 labouring in his Sabbath- class, by daily visits to his 
 school, and working therein, by earnest inquiries in all 
 directions, he increased his experience, added to his 
 principles, improved his methods, and enlarged his 
 views. Convinced of their soundness, and anxious to 
 give wider scope to the application of his principles and 
 plans, he now added to his establishment a juvenile 
 school. He also made it, as he had done the other, 
 the means of confirming or correcting his views, and of 
 diffusing a knowledge of his aims, principles, methods, 
 and results, by opening them as model schools, where 
 teachers could be trained. 
 
 Already his work, had drawn to it a large share of 
 public attention, and many, besides those going forth as 
 teachers ministers of the Gospel, and missionaries 
 about to depart for their fields of labour, visited the 
 schools, and attended courses of lessons therein, that 
 they might acquaint themselves with methods and 
 principles at once so simple and effective as these 
 seemed, for the communication of religious and moral 
 truth. At length so much had his earnest advocacy, 
 his untiring zeal, his enthusiastic labours, and his re- 
 markable success won upon his townsmen, that the
 
 THK TRAINING SYSTEM. 213 
 
 Glasgow Educational Society erected a Normal Semi- 
 nary, established his system therein, and gave him its 
 oversight as honorary secretary. 
 
 The establishment of the Training System in a Nor- 
 mal Seminary, forms an era in the educational progress 
 of this country. Before this, others had, like Mr. 
 Stow, opened their schools for persons to " learn the 
 system " pqjor to taking charge of schools. But this 
 was an attempt to give students, intending teaching as 
 a profession, a knowledge of educational principles, to 
 furnish them with the knowledge they had to impart, 
 to set before them the best examples of teaching ad- 
 dressed to children in well graduated divisions, and to 
 give them opportunities of teaching under criticism in 
 the presence of skilled masters, after the models and to 
 the same groups, as the lessons in their own presence. 
 The system itself, as now established, was the first for- 
 mal attempt in these islands to combine and exhibit in 
 practice some original principles and methods with 
 whatever had been found valuable in other systems, 
 with the object of training the child in its whole nature, 
 physical and mental, religiously, morally, and intellect- 
 ually. " The Training System," says its founder, with 
 a rare modesty, " is not so much any one system, as a 
 combination of what is valuable in other systems, with 
 additions, not, so lar as we know, hitherto engrafted on 
 juvenile schools, and the sole aim is to arrive at the 
 best mode of cultivating the whole man." 
 
 The designation " Training " was adopted partly as 
 the best one for embodying the fact that no child can 
 be educated unless its whole nature is harmoniously 
 cultivated ; and partly as setting forth what was
 
 214 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 thought to be the peculiar distinction between teaching 
 and the process now contemplated. The former con- 
 sists, it was maintained, in simply setting forth before 
 the child's intelligence what it should know or do ; the 
 latter in taking means to have carried into practice and 
 habit, what should be. But it admits of question if 
 any such distinction can be maintained. " Teach me 
 to live," in Ken's well-known hymn, certaiftly includes 
 all that Stow intended by the term train, and the same 
 is true of other uses of the term. Hence the designa- 
 tion was unfortunate, because seemingly pretentious, 
 and produced opposition from many who were consci- 
 ous that their term teaching included all his term 
 training. 
 
 The proper function of the school in the education 
 of a child must be understood by all who would rightly 
 appreciate Mr. Stow's great work. With many the 
 school is simply a place of instruction and of learning 
 a place where certain arts are first to be acquired, and 
 then applied to the acquisition of other things. This 
 is their sole end and aim ; and if these are secured, 
 then the school answers its purpose, and all further re- 
 sponsibility is escaped from. To such it matters noth- 
 ing what are the habits or character of the children, or 
 the influences at work upon them, except so far as they 
 affect their progress or the convenience of their instruc- 
 tors. There are others who especially when regarding 
 the school for the poor would make its aim to be, in 
 some cases the formation, in all the growth of those 
 habits that are necessary to the proper discharge of the 
 duties and relations of life. With these, school learn- 
 ing is simply an instrument for the acquisition of such
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 215 
 
 a fitness ; its value being not in itself, but in the self- 
 restraint, steady application, and habit of obedience re- 
 quired from the learner. Stow claimed for the school 
 a higher function, and pointed out a nobler aim. The 
 idea of the family must be added to that of the school, 
 and the duty of the parent to the responsibili- 
 ties of the teacher. The school ought to be a place 
 of education of education, not in its popular sense of 
 instruction, but in its real import as implying the for- 
 mation of character. Looking upon the child as in 
 preparation for immortality, Stow considered that both 
 Scripture and reason point out that the formation of its 
 character should be the great purpose of the school, as 
 it is of the family, and as it is of life. 
 
 That the school has a special function, none will 
 deny ; that it is a necessity of our social condition, for 
 the discipline of the intellect and the acquisition of the 
 means of continuing it, is readily granted ; that the 
 family does not and cannot supply that which the 
 school undertakes, is true. All that is clear. The 
 error to be avoided is making this its sole office. For 
 no one, really impressed with the importance of the 
 subject, can doubt whether religious and moral training, 
 the culture of the affections, and the discipline of the 
 will, which belong especially to the sphere of the 
 family, should also be continued in school. Whatever 
 in these things is the duty of the parent is also the 
 duty of the schoolmaster. For children cannot lose 
 their right of having their highest interests cared for 
 during so large a portion of their waking life as that 
 spent in school, because sent there for another purpose. 
 Certainly there is the highest obligation on all en-
 
 216 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 trusted with young immortals in their most plnstic 
 period, when surrounded by so many claimants to their 
 affections, and acted on from without by so many evil 
 influences, to do for them all that the most tender, most 
 conscientious, and most Christian parent would do to 
 save them from evil and train them to good. 
 
 The function of the school is to assist and supple- 
 ment, not to supersede the work of the family. It has 
 to continue and strengthen that which has been begun 
 and is being carried on there. But, alas! there are 
 thousands of homes where these obligations are not felt, 
 where these duties are not practised. A child from 
 such a home has, if possible, a stronger claim to reli- 
 gious and moral culture than others. Here evil, already 
 in possession, has to be neutralized, vicious habits and 
 practices have to be uprooted, right principles have to 
 be implanted, and virtuous habits formed. Religious 
 truth and duty, and the moral obligation of right 
 conduct to others, and of right regard for itself, 
 have to be brought home to its conscience, and it i-, 
 to be trained to feel their force and to yield itself to 
 their sway. 
 
 In claiming these things as belonging to the sphere 
 of the school, Stow cannot justly be charged with rais- 
 ing too high a standard, nor to have sought what is im- 
 practicable. To have done so would have defeated his 
 purpose, for those practically engaged in school work, 
 not realizing their aims, would become discouraged on 
 comparing the results attained with the expectations 
 formed. Interpreted by what was actually done in 
 the schools under his supervision, he aimed at no 
 higher results than every Christian teacher is taught to
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 217 
 
 expect, and at nothing more than was accomplished in 
 numerous instances under his eyes. 
 
 Entertaining such views, it was a natural sequence 
 that school education should be conducted on a distinc- 
 tive religious basis, and that he should place moral 
 training before the special work of the school. So 
 strong indeed was his conviction that moral training 
 should have precedence of everything else, and so ur- 
 gently did he enforce it, that a distinguished writer on 
 education has declared that the prominence given to it 
 by him, and to the means of obtaining it, was the chief 
 benefit his system had conferred on the cause of na- 
 tional education. Nor was this conviction weakened 
 by advancing age and experience ; rather was its hold 
 of his mind the stronger, and his advocacy of it the 
 more earnest. In fact, that those adopting his system 
 should ever keep the importance of moral training in 
 view, he urged in his later years that such schools 
 should be designated Moral Training Schools. 
 
 Moral training he places in leading the child to feel 
 right, and thence to act right that is, to act rightly 
 from right motives ; and this is to be sought until the 
 habit of doing so is formed, as no moral result can be 
 permanent unless it exists as a habit of the mind. Such, 
 training implies in its course the cultivation of moral 
 intelligence, the right culture of the feelings, and the 
 proper discipline of the will. The developments of 
 character, and the habits sought in such training, 
 should include amongst other things " truthfulness, 
 justice, punctuality, kindness, courtesy, forgiveness of 
 injuries, fidelity to promises, and habits of obedience, 
 docility, attention, perseverance, and self-control." That
 
 218 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 these results may be obtained there must be such a 
 cultivation of conscience that it will act rightly within 
 its proper sphere ; and that it may do so, the ground of 
 his duties to God, to man, and to himself, must be 
 clearly shown to the child to be in the relations he 
 sustains to God and man relations involving the 
 obligation of love, reverence, and obedience to God, of 
 benevolence and justice to man, and of purity, patience 
 and humility in himself. 
 
 First among the means for this training is religious 
 truth -religious truth in its precepts, these alone sup- 
 plying the purest morality ; religious truth in its doc- 
 trines, these only furnishing effectual motives to its 
 observance. Instruction in this truth should teach the 
 child the. nature of duty, should furnish reasons for its 
 performance, and should supply powerful motives to 
 obedience. But there is a kind of teaching which fails 
 of these results. Not that teaching not worthy of 
 the name that is merely verbal and textual, but a 
 teaching that really aims to make the truth clear to the 
 intelligence, though it goes no further than building it 
 up in the mind. Such instruction, often found fruit- 
 ful in later life, and therefore not to be despised in the 
 absence of something better, often fails altogether to 
 influence the conduct of the child. This may arise in 
 some cases from the fact that verbal instruction, from 
 the very nature of the case, fails to convey a true con- 
 ception of the truth to the mind. In others, because 
 it does not come with an authority that the child has 
 learned to yield to, the great Master's will not being as 
 yet felt as obligatory upon its conduct. But Stow 
 thinks that it is due often to the form in which the
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 219 
 
 truth is presented. It has not approached the child's 
 mind in conformity with the laws of its nature, and 
 therefore fails to awaken its attention. It should so 
 come to the child as to enlist its feelings, awaken its 
 sympathy, excite its conscience, and stimulate its will. 
 And this it cannot do unless it is presented in such a 
 form as the child can vividly realize in its imagination. 
 Now it requires little knowledge of human nature to 
 see that there is really nothing of a moral character 
 where feeling is not an essential element. It must 
 therefore be conceded to Stow that what he demands 
 in religious instruction is absolutely essential to its 
 having a moral power. It must awaken feeling, or the 
 moral result cannot be produced. Take, for instance, 
 the command "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." 
 This may be understood, assented to as reasonable, 
 kept in memory, and yet be a dead letter. Why ? Be- 
 cause, though it has penetrated the intellect, it has not 
 reached the heart. Now before it can do this, that 
 which is lovable in God must be brought to bear upon 
 the feelings. Agaiu, how shall we get the observance 
 of the golden rule? Not by simply making it clear to the 
 intelligence, but i.y presenting it in instances in which 
 it is applicable, and bringing these out in such a way that 
 the children shall transfer themselves into the circum- 
 stances of others, and thus have brought home to them 
 their present duty from what they would expect in such 
 a case to receive. In this, then, we have one great 
 service rendered by Stow to the cause of moral educa- 
 tion. The matter must be brought out before the ima- 
 gination, that the children may place themselves in th 
 circumstances of others and su enter into their feelings,
 
 220 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 or shall have in vividly described cases of conduct, the 
 means by which they may compare themselves with a 
 right standard, and so obtain those conceptions of duty, 
 and those motives to do it, which are the objects of re- 
 ligious and moral instruction. 
 
 Next to religious truth among the means of moral 
 training, and in fact its essential counterpart, is to as- 
 sociate doing or action with knowledge or feeling. The 
 child must know, feel, and act. Knowledge without 
 feeling is moonshine, clear but cold ; feeling without 
 action is mere sentiment. In all possible circumstances, 
 therefore, doing must be enforced, and in such things 
 as the teacher cannot enforce, pains must be taken to 
 compare the feelings produced under a lesson, with the 
 feelings and actions which come under the teacher's 
 notice in their every-day life. " Training can only be 
 termed moral training when precept is turned to prac- 
 tice. For example, a child may know that it is right 
 to give what he possesses to a poor man, but it is not 
 a moral act until the corresponding feeling and exter- 
 nal act follow. Neither is the action itself moral with- 
 out the understanding and feeling of duty. Know- 
 ledge, feeling, and practice thus combined form complete 
 moral training." " I am no more under training by 
 being told and shown how to make a watch, or hem a 
 frill, or paint a landscape, than I am under moral train- 
 ing by the truths of Scripture being presented to my 
 mind, provided I am not placed in circumstances to 
 practise them : I am only under training when I am 
 caused to do the thing specified." " Train to genero- 
 sity, or obedience, or cleanliness, or any other thing, by 
 making the child practically so, no matter how trivial
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 221 
 
 the action it has been told to do. If a child does a 
 thing improperly, or neglects to do a thing it has been 
 told to do, the simplest way to check such impropriety 
 is to cause the child to do the thing. This method 
 will produce the habit when a threat or a scold may be 
 instantly forgotten. The certainty of being obliged to 
 do is better for the memory than the longest speech or 
 the severest threatening.'' " The point here insisted 
 on," says Mr. Currie, " is one of vital importance ; it 
 constitutes the difference, indeed, between education or 
 training and instruction. The greatest merit, as it 
 seems to me, of Mr. Stow's excellent volume on the 
 training system, is the prominence it gives to action in 
 moral training as distinct from rule : ' The only way 
 to do a thing is just to do it.' Locke long ago enforced 
 the same truth on an age not prepared to understand 
 him. ' And here give me leave to take notice of one 
 thing I think a fault in the ordinary method of educa- 
 tion ; and that is, the charging the children's memories 
 upon all occasions, with rules and precepts which they 
 often do not understand, and which are constantly as 
 soon forgot as given. If it be some action you would 
 have done, or done otherwise, whenever they forget or 
 do it awkwardly, make them do it over and over again 
 till they are perfect, whereby you will get these two 
 advantages : First, to see whether it be an action they 
 can do, or is fit to be expected of them ; secondly, that 
 by repeating the same action till it be grown habitual in 
 them, the performance will not depend on memory or 
 reflection, the concomitant of prudence and age, and 
 not of childhood, but will be natural in them. Pray 
 remember that children are not to be taught by rules
 
 222 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 which will be always slipping out of their memories. 
 What you think necessary for them to do, settle on 
 them by an indispensable practice, as often as the occa- 
 sion returns, and, if it be possible, make occasions. 
 This method has so many advantages, which way 
 soever we consider it, that I cannot but wonder (if 
 ill customs could be wondered at in anything) how it 
 could possibly be so much neglected.' This is the germ 
 of the training system." 
 
 Other reasons present themselves for thus insisting 
 on the necessity of action to moral training. There is 
 an intimate connection between action and knowledge. 
 On the one hand, many moral truths are simply ab- 
 sti'actions, and the language in which they are expressed 
 bare terms, until they are seen in action. What con- 
 ception can a child form of justice, honesty, or kind- 
 ness, unless it has been exhibited before it 1 On the 
 other hand, there are some truths which cannot be 
 learnt, some states of feeling and of intelligence which 
 cannot be reached, until there has been doing. This 
 is true not only of divine truth, but of much that is 
 good and evil in every-day life. Another reason for 
 insisting on action is found in the fact that where 
 feeling and action are not associated, the mind becomes 
 callous and utterly indifferent to the claims of duty. 
 This is experienced alas ! how widely! in connection 
 with the great concerns of religion. Its truths, from 
 not being obeyed, come gradually to lose their power of 
 stirring up the sensibilities, until at length the most 
 appalling descriptions can be listened to, not only as if 
 we had no personal concern in them, but as if they 
 were mere fables. The heart is hardened and the eyea
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 223 
 
 are blinded, so that hearing we hear not, and seeing 
 we see not. The truth, falling on the outward ear, 
 never penetrates to the mind, never touches the heart. 
 Another reason for insisting on action is that no other 
 method can be adopted for undoing the bad habits 
 with which many come to school. The only possible 
 way of removing the evil habit is by practice in its 
 opposite. 
 
 The great means of moral training being thus estab- 
 lished, the next step was to find the conditions which 
 these means require for their effectual application. 
 
 First, he claims that there must be a development 
 of the natural aptitudes, tastes, and tendencies of the 
 child, and of its acquired dispositions and habits, 
 before there can be any training at all. Until these 
 are known, the clue is wanting to the procedure in any 
 given case. " There must be a development of character 
 and disposition ere the process of training can be com- 
 menced. We must actually see the habits and actions, 
 hear the words, and observe the bent of the affections of 
 the child." One of the things that he contends for in 
 this is, that the child shall not be lost in the mass, 
 shall not be treated by a method which, seeing no 
 difference in children, puts them all into one crucible, 
 passes them through the same mould, and subjects 
 them to the same routine ; but rather that each child's 
 nature should be studied, and means employed adapted 
 to its case as circumstances arise or opportunities are 
 found. Doubtless, in view of the endless varieties of 
 child-nature, if we accept practice as the means of 
 moral training, it is a fair deduction that there shall be 
 this study of the individual, and this provision for its
 
 224 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 wants and aptitudes. But how fai is this possible in 
 school, or how far within its sphere 1 ? Where, of 
 necessity, there is much that is common in pursuit and 
 purpose, the means must be wisely adapted to the 
 many rather than to the individual, and the one must 
 be reached through what is designed for all, rather than 
 by special provision ; and even when, as cases arise, 
 the individual is cared for, he alone must not be 
 thought of in the measures employed, but through him 
 all. Still, the necessity of practice to moral training 
 being allowed, and that such practice must be what 
 each child needs, it is evident that the study of 
 character, wants, and aptitudes is a responsibility of 
 the teacher, as is also an adaptation of his measures to 
 the individual, so far as the circumstances of the case 
 admit. 
 
 But it is chiefly as giving the knowledge of the 
 child's character as necessary to the use of means for 
 its benefit, that Stow requires a previous development 
 of its habits and tendencies. Without such knowledge 
 the work of the teacher must be haphazard. Whether 
 he attempt the individual, or adapt his measures to 
 the many, he cannot be certain that they are the best 
 he might employ. Means that in some cases might 
 secure a coveted result are found ineffective, because at 
 random. Features of character, bias, or habit exist, 
 which, being unknown, have not been provided for. 
 Xay, often the purpose is defeated because the teacher, 
 wanting the knowledge required, works in the opposite 
 direction and for a different result than he intends. 
 On the other hand, acquainted with the minds on 
 which he has to work, he can economize his forces,
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 225 
 
 and wisely order all his means to his end. Nothing 
 then is at random. If he fails as he often must, 
 it is with the consciousness that it is due to no 
 omission on his part, nor to the inaptitude of his 
 means, but to the presence of influences not unknown 
 beyond his ability to reach. 
 
 It seems to have been Stow's opinion, that to allow 
 of the development he sought there must be great 
 freedom from restraint, and circumstances provided in 
 which the children would have not only opportunity 
 but temptation to do wrong. He seems to have 
 thought the former necessary to that perfect confidence 
 of the children in their teacher which would allow 
 them " to make him their confidant," with all openness 
 and freedom, of everything that related to them. And 
 he required the latter as giving the means of pointing 
 out what duty is, and as necessary to the growth of 
 virtuous principle. Practically, in the schools estab- 
 lished by him, under the excellent masters placed at 
 their head, these opinions were much modified in their 
 operation. But standing apart they are open to the 
 gravest doubts, if taken without very great limitation 
 as to their educational soundness. 
 
 Perfect confidence was thought to be impossible 
 where fear existed. Hence his objection to corporal 
 punishment and to every other practice that would be 
 likely, as he thought, to induce fear. But fear is a 
 legitimate state of mind, and one that it is desirable to 
 produce ; not abject fear, not the emotion which makes 
 its subject its slave, but that state of mind which 
 avoids the wrong action because afraid of wrong itself. 
 Nor is such fear incompatible with love ; nor is pun- 
 
 Q
 
 226 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ishment, administered with this view and in the right 
 spirit, inimical to that feeling of regard which would 
 make the teacher a confidant of all that concerns the 
 child. But seeking to establish that state of feeling 
 betwixt the teacher and the child, in which it would 
 freely act out itself in his presence, is not sufficient to 
 warrant freedom from restraint or fear. It is very 
 probable that the evil of such freedom would exceed the 
 good. Restraint may often preserve the child from 
 that " first act " which is the beginning of its ruin. 
 Who can estimate the influence on the child's future 
 of a first act in what is a wrong course ? Before that 
 how many struggles it has had, how many victories it 
 has won i A few more struggles and a few more vic- 
 tories, and its safety is secured. But that first act 
 breaks down the bulwark that was its protection. In 
 that first act the citadel is taken, .and the child lies 
 prostrate at the foot of its foe. Freedom from restraint 
 is freedom to the aggressions of evil, not freedom to 
 the child. A recent popular book on life at a public 
 school, where Stow's principle was the leading feature 
 in its management during the head mastership of a 
 man of world-wide fame, has shown the peril incurred 
 by the removal of restraint, by the absence of fear. 
 Where a few were benefited under that regime, hun- 
 dreds, it is feared, were irretrievably ruined. 
 
 Whether a child should be removed from temptation, 
 or should have temptations put in its way, are ques- 
 tions of vital moment in moral training. Stow advo- 
 cated the establishment of schools to remove children 
 from the temptations of the street ; but at school he 
 would not remove temptations, he would rather place
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 227 
 
 them in their way. Now it must be granted that it is 
 impossible altogether to remove a child from what may 
 be temptations to it. And as the attempt would be 
 vain it would be foolish. It would also be unwise 
 because it would be attempting to get free from what 
 is necessary to its training. Much knowledge has to 
 come by experience, especially that which fits for the 
 material and social life. It is better to let a child 
 touch a hot teapot it would not do it a second time 
 than to excite a vain feeling of dread by a hasty 
 " don't touch," but it would be criminal to allow the 
 child to bring the scalding contents of the pot on itself. 
 It would be folly to try to keep a child from those 
 temptations which come necessarily with its daily life, 
 but it would be criminal not to screen it from those 
 iemptations by which it would be certainly overcome, 
 T .nd which would be its ruin, until the power acquired 
 in unalterable circumstances fits it to meet them. Then 
 the best interests of the child require that it shall not 
 be prevented from the encounter. So far we are guided 
 by the analogy of experience in a lower sphere. But 
 to place temptations in the way of a child different 
 from those met by it in its ordinary life cannot be 
 good for it, nor yet necessary to its moral discipline. 
 For a temptation is something that we know will 
 excite a strong desire to do or get, and until there is 
 an acquired power of resistance, the result would be, 
 not to prepare the child to conquer, but to make it the 
 slave of every fleeting desire. 
 
 Claiming this development of character under cir- 
 cumstances comparatively free from restraint, and with 
 temptations not put out of the children's way, Stow
 
 228 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 adopted from "Wilderspin the playground as a neces- 
 sary part of every moral training school. To his earnest 
 advocacy of this the " uncovered schoolroom" is due 
 the fact that few schools are now erected, and none are 
 thought complete without a playground. Without a 
 playground the means of moral training are very imper- 
 fect, and where it is wanting, Stow would not recognise 
 the school as on his system at all. Apart from its 
 physical advantages, yielding the means of drill, games, 
 and fresh air; apart from its advantages to school work 
 in letting off " steam," and invigorating for fresh intel- 
 lectual effort; it is, in his opinion, the only place where 
 the master can get that knowledge of character, habits, 
 and actions, which he has to turn to account for the 
 individual, or use for the general good. The master 
 or " trainer," as he delights to call him " may join 
 in," but not " interfere with the sports ; " he must allow 
 every child " to follow its own bent ; " he must observe 
 " the varieties of tastes and dispositions " as shown in 
 the occupations going on around him, "he must not 
 place things out of the way, but in the way ; " " amidst 
 the busy scene" he "must be present, not to check, 
 but to encourage youthful gaiety." All must be " free 
 as air. If otherwise a full development of character 
 would not take place, and while he takes no notice at 
 the moment, he nevertheless marks what he sees 
 amiss." 
 
 The complement of all this was the use made of what 
 occurred in the playground. " A. moral review " of 
 the occurrences must take place immediately on the 
 return to the " covered schoolroom," or at some more 
 fitting time. This he claims is accessary to the m^ral
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 229 
 
 power of the playground. Without it, its power 
 would be in the direction of evil. The master must 
 conscientiously take up the cases of wrong, or it would 
 be better to have no playground. But such a review, 
 however wisely conducted, must establish a sort of 
 restraint on the conduct of the children, and the more 
 constant the review the stronger the restraint. Cer- 
 tainly it might be as he says a moral restraint rather 
 than a physical one, but nevertheless, so far as it was 
 a restraint at all, it would prevent that freedom of 
 action he was so anxious to secure. But the practice 
 itself we regard as an unmixed power for good, if 
 carried out as Stow, or as Abbott who so admirably 
 carried out the practice would have it. All being 
 calm, no feeling excited, no passions at play, the con- 
 duct is to be quietly but graphically described the 
 actor not being indicated the points in which the 
 good or evil consisted brought out strongly, the con- 
 sciences of the children appealed to as to the moral 
 quality of the action, the teachings of God's word 
 referred to, that there may be no misgiving, and then 
 the whole thing approved or condemned by a simple 
 expression of the moral judgment of children and 
 teacher with a " go and do likewise," or a " sin no 
 more," as the final solemn appeal. 
 
 Stow, though claiming such freedom for the child as 
 would induce it to exhibit itself in act and speech, yet 
 was aware of the hazard run, supposing the forces, at 
 work wherever many are associated together, were in 
 the direction of evil. He next claims that we shall 
 possess ourselves of these forces and give them that 
 direction which will be for the benefit of the children.
 
 230 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 These forces are sympathy, example acting through 
 sympathy and imitation, the public opinion, and the 
 moral atmosphere or moral tone of the school. It is 
 to these he seems to refer in the expression " sympathy 
 of numbers." Nowhere has he defined this term ; but 
 as it is of frequent recurrence, it is easy to gather from 
 its connections that he refers to one or other, and at 
 times to all of the forces now enumerated. 
 
 Children, especially if nearly of an age, are strongly 
 attracted to each other, arid the sympathy which thus 
 draws is a great force in stimulating into activity powers 
 which would otherwise lie dormant. Thus it is fre- 
 quently observed that a child, with no natural bias or 
 aptitude, when placed with other children, after a time 
 develops a certain amount of the same power as that 
 for which these are remarkable. " You place a child 
 that has no natural talent for music among children 
 who possess this gift, and under their tutelage he will 
 soon learn to sing. This fact has been fully substanti- 
 ated in schools." Now it is important to notice that 
 this force, which attracts child to child and stimulates 
 each to be what it observes in the other, becomes much 
 intensified by the mere aggregation of numbers. Here 
 the power of sympathy becomes irresistible in leading 
 the child to attempt what it sees in others. Hence 
 sympathy is a great moral agent, and may be powerful 
 for good or evil In the hands of a skilful operator it 
 may be the instrument of unlimited good. A conse- 
 quence of sympathy between child and child is poignant 
 distress, when a child finds itself excluded from the 
 sympathy of its fellowe. and this distress is much the 
 greater if the sympathy of his associates is against some
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 231 
 
 act of his own. In such a case the very nature of this 
 feeling would lead him to try to regain his place in the 
 regard of his companions, and to obtain their sympathy 
 in his favour, by avoiding that which their sympathy 
 was against. 
 
 Oneness of feeling is likely to pervade a gathering of 
 children who are witnesses of the same act, or who are 
 listening to the same narrative. But this feeling is 
 much greater from the participation of many than if it 
 were confined to a few. The hidden consciousness 
 that it pervades the mass gives it an intensity which 
 otherwise it could not have. It is the same under 
 some circumstances with adults. Let such a catastrophe 
 as that of the Surrey Music Hall occur, and the feel- 
 ings experienced become intensified by the very fact of 
 many possessing them. Here, then, is a power which 
 judiciously used may be made greatly instrumental of 
 good. Stow would have it brought into exercise iu 
 moral lessons and in cases of discipline. Incidents of 
 conduct should be so described not indicating indi- 
 viduals as to produce the desired feeling either in 
 favour of some excellence, or against the carelessness or 
 guilt of some fault. 
 
 A common result of bringing many together with 
 similar objects and pursuits is to establish tacitly it 
 may be certain rules and customs by which everything 
 is tried, and to which every one must submit. Any 
 one coming into such a community is soon aware that 
 this is expected from him. Nor can he remain long in 
 it without wishing to stand well with it, to avoid its 
 censure, and to have its approval. Every one desires 
 the approval, and has a reverence for the judgment of
 
 232 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the society to which he belongs. So it is in school. 
 Here are rules, customs, and opinions, as stringent as 
 in any other society ; and each of its members has a 
 desire for its approval, a reverence for its judgment, a 
 fear of its condemnation, and a dread of its scorn. It 
 is in this condition that we have what is termed the 
 public opinion of the school, and in it we have a force 
 which insensibly moulds the actions and habits, and 
 gives tone to the thinkings and feelings of all that enter 
 it. " From the day that a youth enters this new circle," 
 says Long, " his thoughts and actions become unavoid- 
 ably affected by the thoughts and actions of others ; it 
 is, in fact, the beginning of his career as a member of 
 society. He has exchanged the narrow circle of his 
 family for a wider circle, which gradually embraces all 
 the relations of social life. On entering the new society 
 he is like a stranger who enters a foreign country ; he 
 cannot do as he pleases, or as he is accustomed to do. 
 but he must conform to that which he finds established. 
 His words, Ids thoughts, his actions, in a few days par- 
 take of the general tone, and the individual character 
 is lost in that of the mass." Besides, the very fact of 
 the tendency to desire the good opinion of his asso- 
 ciates, and the influence of sympathy, will lead him to 
 seek in them his example and rule of conduct rather 
 than in the instructions of his master. And for the 
 same reason there may be a force and effectiveness in 
 their opinions and judgment far exceeding any influence 
 or authority of the master. 
 
 Hence it appears that the public opinion of the 
 school is that which really moulds the character of its 
 inmates. How important, then, that it shall be on the
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 233 
 
 side of goodness and virtue ! How desirable that 
 healthy influences shall be at work to give it the 
 right tone ! How necessary that the influence of the 
 master, his discipline, his moral control, his incessant 
 activity, and his highest intelligence shall be brought 
 to bear upon its formation and direction ! Else nothing 
 but evil can be the result. For a schoo^ so unhappily 
 situated as that where the master lacks the power or 
 the disposition to establish a right public opinion and 
 to work through it for the good of its members, must 
 be a place of unmixed evil In such a case the remarks 
 of Reid are too true. " The influence of youth on each 
 other, anywhere but in the well-regulated family, tends 
 to be vicious indeed, very generally is so, where 
 numbers are long together. There is no seriousness, 
 no sense of responsibility for what they say or do 
 about them ; they are full of levity and frolic, light- 
 hearted, short-sighted, and careless 
 
 " Turning to mirth all things of earth." 
 
 Their public opinion is all in favour of a bold, reck- 
 less jollity, turning the most serious subjects to ridi- 
 cule, laughing at any very properly behaved one who 
 may come amongst them till he becomes as bad as 
 themselves ; sneering at the moral lessons of the 
 teacher, which they often mimic in his absence. 
 While thus subdued before the master, they are often 
 rude, rough, tyrannical, and unfeeling to each other, 
 and where they escape the practice of grosser vices 
 (by no means a frequent case), they learn amongst 
 each other to laugh to scorn those minor virtues, 
 delicacies, and proprieties, which are the outposts of
 
 234 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the greater. In any indolence, carelessness, neglect, 
 or lesser vice, each is supported by the example of 
 others, hy the opinion of his fellows in its favour, or 
 at least hy the want of that opinion against it. The 
 master is in a minority; the energetically well dis- 
 posed are in a minority, and the majority, with more 
 than the usual tyranny of a majority, carry the day in 
 favour of recklessness, and a careless indifference to 
 virtue. With beings so impulsive, so unreflecting, 
 with little sense of duty, not much sense of decency 
 or propriety, not even worldly prudence, the spirit of 
 ridicule, the spirit of freedom and enjoyment, are su- 
 preme ; the idle and careless are encouraged, the good 
 contaminated, good principles and good habits gradually 
 undermined, and a foundation is laid for evil on which 
 the world soon raises a large superstructure." 
 
 Stow, with many others, fully aware of this ten- 
 dency of public opinion to become a power for evil, 
 would have the master bend all his energies on enter- 
 ing a new sphere, if he found it did not already exist, 
 to create a right state of opinion. But he was also 
 aware that the ahility to do so would depend alto- 
 gether on his character. He would fail unless he had 
 the power of winning regard, of attaching the children 
 to himself, and thus of inspiring them with respect 
 for his opinions and wishes ; he would fail unless there 
 existed as elements of his character consistency, justice, 
 impartiality, disinterestedness, and kindness ; he would 
 fail unless his example was what he wished their con- 
 duct to be. But supposing the master to be the right 
 man, then his first efforts must be directed to the for- 
 mation of the public opinion of his school. Every-
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 235 
 
 thing else must give way, or be subservient to this. 
 There could not be any right moral training until this 
 great source and medium of influence was established. 
 But let it exist, and then there would be not only a 
 force ever working for good, but there would be an 
 influence ready at any moment to be brought to bear 
 in respect of any action on which a common judgment 
 might be sought. 
 
 The joint action of sympathy, intensified by its par- 
 ticipation by many, and of public opinion, is to pro- 
 duce that oneness of feeling and sentiment which, 
 when in favour of right, constitutes what Stow calls 
 the moral atmosphere of the school, and which, as the 
 ultimate result, forms pre-eminently the " sympathy 
 of numbers." " By oft-repeated simultaneousness of 
 thought, action, and emotion," says Currie, " the mass 
 becomes welded together, takes on one stamp, breathes 
 one spirit. . . . This is that state of feeling so 
 much spoken of as ' the sympathy of numbers,' a con- 
 ventional expression, but one which indicates what is 
 in the first instance an absolute necessity to any train- 
 ing at all, and what when established is a lever of 
 irresistible power in the hands of him who can wield 
 it. When the school collectively has come to have a 
 soul which the teacher knows how to stir up, when he 
 can lay his hand upon its pulse and feel how it beats, 
 then has he the training power; not otherwise. It 
 should be well noted that this training power is not a 
 thing resident in the teacher alone; it lies in the 
 society which forms the school. The teacher's duty is 
 to form it and guide it. It is a power capable of great 
 things; available in every direction of activity j at
 
 236 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 once the stimulus and the guide to progress. And 
 when in the exercise of his prerogative he brings it to 
 bear on the faults or excellences of the pupil, it is 
 instantly felt and acknowledged. The effort to acquire 
 it is the teacher's first trial ; the establishment of it 
 his great triumph." 
 
 Such vvere the aims and principles advocated by 
 Stow for the moral training of children. He sought 
 to enlighten the conscience and to exercise it; he 
 insisted on action in every case in which it was pos- 
 sible to enforce it; he required a playground where, 
 amidst fun and frolic, the children might exhibit them- 
 selves as they were; he claimed that the conduct of 
 the playground should be reviewed, and moral judg- 
 ments elicited in the light of divine truth ; and he 
 insisted that there should be a constant effort to form 
 and guide that " sympathy of numbers " which he 
 looked upon as the most powerful agent in moulding 
 the character. Possessed of these he could do away 
 with inferior and selfish motives, such as corporal pun- 
 ishment, and would train the children to act from the 
 highest principles of virtue and goodness. Such a 
 " moral training school " he deemed to be one of the 
 greatest blessings that could be conferred on any com 
 munity. 
 
 The points in this system that have challenged most 
 discussion are those relating to the principles and 
 methods of intellectual culture, and to the peculiar 
 organization which the former seem to require Many 
 things found in operation in Stow's schools were no 
 doubt common to all schools, and others had been 
 adopted from Wilderspin and others ; but there were
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 237 
 
 distinctive features which, though not new, were yet 
 original. Starting with no pre-conccived theory, and 
 having no purpose at first but the elevation of those 
 whose degraded condition had taken such hold of his 
 mind, his main principles and methods were the off- 
 spring of his experience. This much must be con- 
 ceded. Doubtless many an earnest worker had taught 
 on similar principles and had employed similar methods, 
 and here and there in some forgotten book there might 
 be found expositions of similar practices. Yet Stow 
 was not indebted but to his one work for his know- 
 ledge of them. It is to this fact that must be traced 
 both his excellences and his defects. His own practice 
 was not extensive enough to show him that principles 
 which are quite sound when applied to some subjects 
 or to some ages, are quite inapplicable in other circum- 
 stances. His wonderful success, too, in the application 
 of his principles in the sphere in which they were tried, 
 prevented him seeing the limits within which each was 
 sound and efficacious. Hence he pushes things too far. 
 He does not see that seemingly opposite principles, 
 which within certain limits harmonize in their work- 
 ing, when pushed beyond their sphere, neutralize each 
 other. Here is the secret of the opposition which his 
 system has in many cases encountered. Had he but 
 claimed for each principle or method its legitimate 
 value, had lie but well-defined the nature, operation, 
 and sphere of each, he would have secured acceptance 
 where, as it was, he too often excited scorn. 
 
 A leading principle of Stow relating to the culture 
 of the intellect is that the master's mind should be the 
 constant source of the pupil's activity, instruction, and
 
 238 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 training. Others than he " might gain great expert- 
 ness in forms of questioning, in dealing with the me- 
 chanical, and in points of order ; but for awakening 
 thought, stimulating and directing inquiry, and evolv- 
 ing energies of intellect," none but he could succeed. 
 " To submit for hours daily the finest mechanism on 
 earth the human spirit with all its intellectual ener- 
 gies and capabilities to be handled or tossed about " 
 by inexperienced youth or crudely-formed minds, such 
 as those at work in the schools of that period, was 
 thought to involve peril to the agents themselves, and 
 to be one from which valuable results to the pupils 
 not to say the highest could never be obtained. Those 
 employed were too young to make impressive or attrac- 
 tive, or anything but a drudgery, what was necessary to 
 stimulate the intellect or to awaken moral power. The 
 character was too immature wanting in depth and 
 power to mould rightly by its own silent influence 
 those around. The ability to create an atmosphere 
 genial and gladdening the moral life of which should 
 be of the healthiest, could not exist. And it was 
 thought that the very poor, whose school life is of the 
 shortest, and whose means of intellectual culture are of 
 the scantiest, have peculiar claims to be put into con- 
 stant intercourse with the highest order of mind and 
 intelligence that it is possible to secure. 
 
 That the mind of the master and of the pupil might 
 be in immediate contact all the livelong day would 
 require not merely a new arrangement of existing 
 schools, but an altogether different class of school. 
 Hence, as a proper sequence, there grew up at Glasgow 
 the system of " graded schools," where each school was
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 239 
 
 in fact but one large class, pursuing the same studies 
 and receiving the same lessons under an adult master. 
 In these schools, the large group forming each school 
 was broken up into smaller groups only for the repeti- 
 tion or recapitulation of lessons previously given by 
 the master. In other places not so favourably circum- 
 stanced, or where the thing was misapprehended, the 
 grossest absurdities were practised by attempts to carry 
 out this principle. Thus, a huge gallery was erected, 
 on which were gathered children of ages varying from 
 six to thirteen, and of course of very different attain- 
 ments and capabilities, to be instructed at the same 
 time in the same subject. The idea is sufficiently ludi- 
 crous. It would be thought that no sane man or prac- 
 tical teacher could ever dream of instructing with equal 
 efficiency, at the same moment, in the same lesson, a 
 hundred children varying to the extent these did in 
 age and attainment. Yet the thing was attempted in 
 hundreds of instances. Naturally it broke down, and 
 though such schools were said to be on his system, yet 
 Stow's first principle was sacrificed or acted on but in 
 a very modified form. In other places, especially in 
 America a few years ago Ohio alone possessing 120 
 groups of graded schools were established, and the 
 principle fairly worked out. 
 
 But is the principle, broadly stated as it has been, 
 itself a sound one ? A principle which gives the entire 
 intellectual culture of the pupil into the hands of the 
 master nay, more, that requires that every mental 
 effort of the pupil in school shall be stimulated and 
 directed by the action of the master's mind is this 
 sound ? We think not. But let us be understood.
 
 240 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 We strenuously advocate that the master shall place 
 himself frequently every day in contact with his chil- 
 dren's minds for intellectual and moral culture. But 
 we think that an unsound principle, which seems to 
 make no recognition of the learner's independent efforts 
 in order to his intellectual growth. Fully carried out 
 this principle would do away with text-books as use- 
 less things, would do away with the independent exer- 
 tion of the pupil's own mind, and prevent him having 
 the opportunity of employing any of his previous ac- 
 quisitions, except as required by the master. The pupil 
 is simply an instrument on whose strings it is only the 
 master's privilege to play. In fact, Stow ia too sweep- 
 ing. It is the swing of the pendulum to the opposite 
 extremity of the arc. Up to this time too little value 
 had been attached to the living voice in elementary 
 training. The work of the teacher was only to hear 
 and correct what his pupils had prepared. Stow 
 discovered that oral lessons made lads sharp and intelli- 
 gent, and from the extreme of doing nothing for them, 
 he rushed to the opposite of doing everything. Now 
 there can be no question that in early childhood and in 
 the commencement of entirely new studies, the master's 
 mind should be the source of the pupil's acquisitions 
 and of his activity. But it is of equal importance that 
 as he gains power, he shall have opportunities to exert 
 it without aid. Tt is also true that a master's help is 
 often more valuable to a pupil after he has exerted 
 himself, than it would be in removing difficulties from 
 his path, or even in enabling him to master them. 
 
 The mistake of Stow on the one hand, and of those 
 whose practices he wished to avoid on the other, is not
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 241 
 
 seeing that for the intellectual growth of the child two 
 things are necessary. Teaching, which belongs to the 
 province of the master, is the one ; learning, which is 
 the work of the child, is the other. The former re- 
 quires that the master shall provide suitable nourish- 
 ment for each mental capability, that he shall stimulate 
 each mind to action, that he shall direct the employ- 
 ment of its energies, that he shall solve its difficulties, 
 and that he shall enlarge its views. 
 
 Learning, on the othe^ hand, requires the indepen- 
 dent exertion of the pupil's own mind, and the oppor- 
 tunity of employing, unaided, any of his previous 
 acquisitions. It requires that suitable books be placed 
 in the learner's hands, that he shall be taught to pre- 
 pare his lessons, to dig out meanings for himself, and 
 to meet and if possible master difficulties. To corn- 
 bin teaching and learning is one of the severest prob- 
 lems in an elementary school; but that teacher who 
 sets himself resolutely to solve it will be more success- 
 ful than even his more talented neighbour, whose sole 
 dependence is his ability to teach. 
 
 Another principle advocated by Stow is that in 
 teaching nothing should be told, that by a proper use 
 of analogy, experiment, instance, or other mode of 
 illustration the pupil may be led to discover. This 
 valuable principle is really but a part of a more general 
 expression that in everything relating to the formation 
 of character there is required a training to action and 
 self-help. This principle fully carried out would be 
 found materially to limit the operation of the former 
 one. In fact it would make imperative that the leainer 
 shall be trusted in all those cases in which he can
 
 242 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 master difficulties without extraneous aid. But it has 
 not full scope in Stow's system, as the child's mind is 
 always supposed to be in contact with a superior one, 
 no provision being made or intended for unaided effort 
 by the child. Still as a principle to be acted on in 
 oral lessons it received his earnest support, arid indeed 
 is often put forth by him as the special feature of his 
 system. It forms on the intellectual side that distinc- 
 tion between teaching or telling and training, which 
 distinguished, as he contended, his methods from those 
 ordinarily prevalent. Though how there could be 
 teaching of the highest kind where this principle was 
 absent, it is impossible to see. 
 
 Another leading principle of Stow's was that the 
 pupil shall commit nothing to his memory but what hau 
 passed through the understanding. Strong objection 
 has been taken to this by many opponents to his sys- 
 tem. Is it certain that they have understood his 
 meaning ? It has become an axiom through the labours 
 of the followers of Pestalozzi and of Wilderspin that 
 in the training of infants " ideas shall precede words." 
 Stow would have the instruction of boys and youths 
 carried out in the same sense. Clear insight into a pro- 
 cess should be substituted for blindly following a rule, 
 and a general cultivation of the intelligence for that of 
 the verbal memory. Other meaning than this it may be 
 safely predicated he had not. Some opinions attributed 
 to him are opposed to many places in his -writings, and 
 certainly to the practices of his schools. Yet as there 
 are very important principles involved, a brief notice 
 of some of the suppositions may not be without its use 
 in denning the limits of the points in dispute.
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 243 
 
 Some have attributed to him " that no facts shall be 
 acquired by children unless the principles under-lying 
 them are first made clear no words shall be committed 
 to their memories, nor even employed in their hearing, 
 unless previously explained and thoroughly\mderstood " 
 To state this is to answer it. No man of ordinary in- 
 telligence, with opportunities of observing childhood, 
 and with the habit of reflecting on what comes under 
 his notice, could for a moment imagine such a thing. 
 Take for instance words. How often, from earliest 
 infancy, must many fall as mere sounds upon the ear, 
 and how long through this must there be familiarity with 
 them, before there can be the least glimmering of the 
 things they represent ; and as to their full import, that 
 can be reached only by many steps of approximation. 
 How many words children acquire, with whose meaning 
 it is impossible for them to become acquainted, is 
 matter of daily observation, nor could it be prevented 
 even if it was desirable. Words are often to learners 
 the instruments by which they become acquainted with 
 things. Many a quality would escape notice, many a 
 thing be unobserved, but for stored words quickening 
 the senses and stimulating the faculties. 
 
 To get at Stow's meaning, we must have before us 
 what was in his mind when he so strenuously insisted 
 that words and things should be broken down to the 
 intelligence of the young, as the means of finding them a 
 permanent place in the memory. He had in view the 
 almost universal practice then of making school lore a 
 mere matter of rote. Verbiage, by dint of repetition, 
 stimulated by the twigs of the birch, was laid on the 
 memory, to the great peril of the intellect, often to its
 
 244 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 extinction. Yet it was thought that this loading of the 
 memory with forms, signs and rules, was the surest 
 way, permanent though not speedy, of ensuring the 
 discipline of the intellect. Schooltime was not the 
 period of such discipline, hut the storing time of the 
 material. The real discipline would he at the later 
 period, amid the facts, realities, and opportunities of 
 life. Then that laid up in school would come to have 
 meaning and power, and he that had the largest store 
 would win the most. There is something in this : for 
 instance, one whose mind was well filled with the 
 principles of English, would ohtain sooner and perhaps 
 a hetter discipline from sterling writers of English than 
 others wanting that preparation. But would this be 
 the case with all ? Would not the majority he deterred 
 by the recollection of schoolwork, from following 
 the pursuits that were to give such work its value ? 
 Stow doubted of the many, and found in the early life 
 of the child a warrant for the other practice. From 
 its birth, ideas enter the mind through the senses of 
 the child, and rules of action are acquired from expe- 
 rience of realities ; hence Stow sought to continue 
 the process in school. Much that the child learns is 
 not understood. Many words are picked up by it 
 whose meanings are hidden till a large experience sheds 
 its light over them. The same thing must go on in 
 school and in life. But alongside of it Stow demands 
 that the other process shall run that in the work of 
 the school the learner's attention shall be directed to 
 the sense as well as to the form. Though it be true 
 that much that a child learns in school must remain 
 without significance till a later time, though it be true
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 245 
 
 that much of the real discipline coming to him from 
 his school course will be the result of applying what 
 he learns there in the pursuits of later life, yet great 
 advantage in present discipline and future power must 
 accrue from cultivating the intelligence in school. 
 
 Some have understood this principle to warrant the 
 offering to children reasons for everything taught to 
 them, while others have understood it to advocate the 
 training of the logical faculty from the earliest period. 
 Such as would give reasons for everything are of course 
 opposed to dogmatic teaching, and in their practice ap- 
 peal continually to the understanding to justify every- 
 thing they teach. Now, apart from the point whether 
 children should he confined to what they can under- 
 standand, if so, how narrow, how contracted the 
 area of instruction, it cannot hut be full of peril to a 
 child to be continually addressed, as if it must be con- 
 vinced by argument and reason, before it receives what 
 is taught. Conceit would be the least evil fostered by 
 such a course. A sceptical habit must be induced, a 
 habit of rejecting everything the reason of which is 
 not on the surface. But the thing itself is wrong ; for 
 not only are many things, which children cannot be 
 prevented knowing, beyond their insight as to causes or 
 reasons, but childhood is especially the season of faith, 
 and to this principle of faith it is incumbent on us to 
 address much of our teaching. Let us make matters 
 as clear as we can. Let us be careful to give where we 
 can ideas with words, to make clear processes, to bring 
 within the intelligence the facts we give, but let us not 
 appeal to our pupils, as if their understanding was to 
 be the arbiter of truth, or their ability to see the rea-
 
 246 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 sons of a thing the ground on which they are to give 
 it their assent. No ! The principle of authority is 
 essential in early education, and if not rightly employed 
 then, suhmission of the intellect to divine truth at a 
 later period must not be expected. 
 
 Nor does Stow's rule imply that the logical faculty, 
 as such, is to be trained from the earliest period. This 
 faculty works by signs, which are representatives of 
 generalizations from a large experience. There can be 
 no proper culture of its higher functions until the ma- 
 terials on which it has to work have been laid up in 
 the intelligence. Its office is to elaborate from multi- 
 tudes of facts and ideas more general ideas, from pre- 
 mises already in possession to draw conclusions, and by 
 a gradual but constant approximation to arrive at truth. 
 Now, ere this can be attempted, the mind must have 
 been stored with ideas, words must have been acquired, 
 and facts of all kinds and from all sources must have 
 been lodged in the memory. Hence it follows that the 
 cultivation of the logical faculty, as such, is not merely 
 out of place at an early period, but impossible. But, 
 nevertheless, there is an " implicit exercise" of this 
 faculty, long before the individual comes to the consci- 
 ous exercise of it, in its ultimate sphere. Judgment 
 and its associated acts of mind, are manifested from 
 the very earliest infancy, the mind then acting on 
 things present to the senses in a similar way to what it 
 does at a later time on its own creations. Comparison 
 and inference are not strange acts even to a young 
 child. Now, so long as the matters are within the 
 sphere of its intelligence, most valuable results may be 
 expected from the right culture of this implicit judg-
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 247 
 
 meut and incipient reason, care being taken not to tax 
 the nascent facility beyond its power. 
 
 This is what Stow would have done. Thousands of 
 things exist around on which a child may be exercised 
 in discovering relations, resemblances, and proximate 
 way as to elicit "how? " to be followed by "in this way," 
 causes. Many things may be brought before it in such a 
 each involving an intelligent act of the mind, and an 
 implicit exercise of the understanding. And many a 
 process may be made to excite a higher intelligence, by 
 evolving it from the simple reasons not beyond the 
 child's ability to master which underlie it. 
 
 Another principle advocated by Stow is that in teach- 
 ing any subject its outlines should be given first, and 
 in subsequent lessons the details. As thus stated, few 
 things could be imagined more absurd when placed 
 alongside of his dictum, that things must pass through 
 the understanding before being charged on the memory. 
 Outlines express results. They are summaries, general- 
 izations, chief heads. To give these first would be to 
 do what he so strongly condemned as the vice of the 
 school system of his time, and would effectually pre- 
 vent the admission of any subject into the understand- 
 ing. The natural order is to gather facts first. There 
 can be no science until the facts are known. There must 
 be language before there can be a grammar, and the 
 facts of a language must be known before the study of 
 its grammar can commence. Begin the study of a lan- 
 guage by taking an outline of its grammar, and intel- 
 ligence will be slow to follow. The more meagre the 
 outline the more difficult the process, and so with other 
 things.
 
 24:8 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Stow meant no such thing. Yet two of his fol- 
 lowers, earnest workers for thirty years past in the 
 educational field, run away with by this notion, have 
 introduced extensively into schools lesson books in 
 science and Scripture, professedly framed on the plan 
 of giving the outlines first, the result being what might 
 have been expected. In the former books the young 
 mind, which longs for flowers and fancies, is put into 
 a valley of bones, very many and very dry. In the 
 others, every little touch of nature that gives charm to 
 the narrative, or that would come home to the sympathy 
 of the child is rigidly excluded shut out by the rule 
 of giving the outline first. Stow intended no such 
 thing; in fact, he means the very reverse. Em- 
 ploying the figure of a painter as descriptive of the 
 work of the teacher, he urges the latter to give those 
 facts connected with a subject that are prominent 
 likely to fall within the child's experience, and with 
 which it will readily sympathize, ere he offers those 
 facts which from their very nature demand a large 
 acquaintance with the subject before they can be ap- 
 proached at all. Thus to give the outlines of grammar 
 would in Stow's meaning include such special facts as 
 would come under a learner's cognizance, and prepare 
 him for an intelligent study of the subject. He would 
 have patent facts acquired before niceties of inflexion, 
 peculiarities of idiom, or any such details were ap- 
 proached. Such a course is, in fact, the only legitimate 
 way of bringing any subject within the grasp of 
 children, or of making the course of instruction to 
 accord with mental aptitudes and development. 
 
 Dealing with rude and untutored minds, whose
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 249 
 
 energies he wished to awaken and direct to noble ends, 
 it was an early problem with Stow as to the most 
 effective means of doing so. Seeking willing co-opera- 
 tion at their hands, he must have a method, which 
 would not only convey truth to the intellect, but that 
 would exercise strong interest in the process, and that 
 would make them fellow- helpers in working it out. 
 Knowing the power of such works as "Cinderella," 
 Children in the Wood," " Jack and the Bean Stalk," 
 with young children, and of " Robinson Crusoe " 
 and " Pilgrim's Progress " with older ones, he found 
 in them the method he sought. Soon he became aware 
 that an engine of great educational power was possessed 
 by him who could excite the conceptive faculty, operate 
 on the fancy, or bring the imagination of children into 
 play. " Picturing out in words " henceforth became 
 a constant feature of his method, and a chief in- 
 strument for awakening intellectual and moral life. 
 " Picturing out " aims to transfer a picture, idea, or 
 conception, from the mind of the teacher to that of 
 the pupil The analogy is that of the painter, who 
 does by the pencil what the teacher is expected to do 
 by his words. This analogy suggetts a sufficiently 
 difficult process. It being much harder to paint to 
 the imagination by words, so as to give distinct and 
 complete conceptions, than it is by the pencil. Words, 
 as they pass from the lips of the teacher are evanescent, 
 while each stroke of the pencil is permanent. Besides 
 the pupil has to form his own picture from the mate- 
 rials with which he is provided, and can do it but 
 gradually; but the scene on the canvas is presented as 
 a whole, and may be taken in at a glance, or examined
 
 250 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 in detail. This process of painting in words " pic- 
 turing out," consists in graphic description, aided by 
 analogy, familiar illustrations, and suitable gestures. 
 To these Stow would add interrogation, ellipses, simul- 
 taneous answers, and sympathy. But here he evidently 
 confounds devices which a teacher may employ to 
 carry his pupils along with him, or to discover how 
 far successful he is in getting them to form the picture 
 with what alone is essential to the picturing process. 
 These things may be of advantage where picturing in 
 words is employed, but do not constitute any part of 
 the process itself. 
 
 Stow offers the method of picturing in words as 
 applicable to every subject and at every age. This is 
 akin to the offer to cure every ailment by one specific. 
 Tt is as if the mind had not a variety of powers, as if 
 these had no law of development, and as if there were 
 not differences in the subjects on which it employs its 
 energies. Into this absurdity Stow was led by a very 
 preposterous notion, or perhaps it would be nearer the 
 truth to say that paternal affection for the method led 
 him to adopt the notion, " that every word either re- 
 presents an object or a combination of objects, or may 
 be represented by words representing objects." Now, 
 to this, it is sufficient to reply that words not only 
 represent things, but processes and relations, and that 
 while some of the former admit of being "pictured 
 out," the latter are out of its sphere. The origin of 
 many words is involved in obscurity ; other words, 
 though derived from sensible objects, have completely 
 lost their original meaning, and are now expressive of 
 purely mental states ; others relate to intellectual opera-
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 251 
 
 tions which have no counterpart whatever in the 
 world of sense. Hence the sphere of the method is 
 much more contracted than was claimed for it, but in 
 that sphere it is not only effective but indispensable. 
 
 First, it must be conceded that certain classes of 
 words admit of the application of this method. It 
 will help to determine what these are, when it is 
 remembered that to picture out words is to take the 
 ideas embodied in the words, and to spread them out 
 before the mind, so as to make the things for which 
 they stand visible to the mind's eye. Picturing out 
 words, therefore, may be looked upon as the means by 
 which a child is enabled to form an idea of the thing 
 which the word represents when there are no means 
 of presenting the thing itself to the child's senses. 
 It is thus one of three ways by which a child's mind 
 is furnished with ideas or mental pictures of things. 
 These ways are, presenting the object itself for exami- 
 nation, presenting a drawing of it, and describing in 
 words aiding the description with suitable gesture and 
 familiar illustration. The last is picturing out, and is 
 inferior to the other two, except as a preparatory pro- 
 cess, when it excites interest and leads to an exami- 
 nation of the object with closer attention. Suppose, 
 as a simple instance, that the word cube occurred in a 
 reading lesson, and it was found that no child had any 
 1 knowledge of the thing, the idea would be best given 
 by placing a cube before the class for examination, and 
 drawing attention to what was essential to it, in com- 
 parison with other things ; or a fairly correct idea 
 might be given by drawing a cube on the black-board. 
 But supposing that the means are not at hand to adopt
 
 252 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 either of these modes, then by a verbal description, 
 illustrated by reference to a slate, or a page of the 
 book, or anything at hand for the ideas of a square 
 and of surface, and by a motion of the hand describing 
 a cube a child might be led to form an idea, so far 
 accurate as to enable him to pick out a cubical figure 
 from a number of dissimilar objects. 
 
 Such a method of verbal description of things re- 
 presented by words is indispensable to every teacher 
 who would rightly deal with the reading lesson. 
 Occasions are demanding its exercise every day, and 
 it deserves as from the teacher alive to the importance 
 of vivifying the reading lesson it will receive the 
 most strenuous efforts to acquire skill in it. But it is 
 to be feared that few teachers know its value. Few 
 students in training at Normal Colleges, except such as 
 come from infants' schools, ever attempt more than to 
 explain that is, to give synonymous expressions, or 
 a loose paraphrase of words, when engaged on what 
 they misname exposition of a reading lesson. 
 
 But the method is of wider application than to 
 words. Scenes, persons, and things, near or remote, 
 of other times or other lands, or at home and now, 
 admit of being vividly presented and conceived. 
 "When words as representatives of things are dealt 
 with, the idea-forming faculty alone is brought into 
 exercise. But now a higher effort of mind, though 
 one involving this, is required. Imagination is ap- 
 pealed to when a scene, or a person not present, is to 
 be realized. In common with the process on words, 
 the conceptive power must be in play, either in form- 
 ing new ideas or recalling old ones. The materials
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 253 
 
 entering into the picture must be of familiar things, 
 and these must be summoned vividly into the mind. 
 This is essential. Mistake here will spoil the process. 
 If the parts of the picture are not ideas which the 
 pupils have already formed, the picture as a whole 
 cannot enter their minds. The want of attention to 
 this is a fruitful source of failure. Many a good 
 lesson in promise is spoiled because care was not taken 
 to ascertain that the children actually possess the ideas 
 attached to the words employed. 'Twas but the other 
 day that a teacher discovered, at the close of a lesson, 
 that a very animated and graphic description was in- 
 effective, because he had not thought it necessary to 
 ascertain if his children had the idea of a plain, before 
 commencing his picture. 
 
 Taking care, then, that nothing is introduced into 
 the picture of which the children have not a distinct 
 idea, care must be further exercised that out of the 
 materials thus presented they do construct the picture 
 intended. This will always be the more difficult as 
 the object or scene differs from the children's ex- 
 perience. The further removed from this, the greater 
 the difficulty they will have, and the greater the 
 graphic power required in the teacher. One thing to 
 be guarded from is the children losing themselves in 
 the details: they will fail, unless the teacher is watch- 
 ful, to combine the parts together. It is a mistake 
 often made, that because children see clearly each part 
 as the teacher goes on, they therefore see the con- 
 nection between them, and grasp the whole. Another 
 point to be secured is that the analogies and illus- 
 trations employed to aid the children to form a picture
 
 254 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 of the whole, are drawn from the surroundings of the 
 children rather than from the reading of the teacher. 
 In the latter case there is the danger of supposing that 
 what is familiar to his own mind will he equally so to 
 the minds of his pupils. When illustrations are not 
 drawn from the sphere of common life, they them- 
 selves need illustrating ; and analogies not so formed 
 are riddles. 
 
 The importance of picturing out during the period 
 of child- life to which it is applicable, will be readily 
 acknowledged by all those who know the part played 
 by the imagination in the process of mind-growth ; and 
 especially in child happiness. Picturing fills the mind 
 with bright images, on which children will love to 
 linger, long after drier lessons would have faded away. 
 These pictures should be drawn from the whole field of 
 natural phenomena, from the manners and customs of 
 other lands, and from the records of the past. Special 
 value belongs to word picturing in Bible Lessons. Here 
 it is invaluable in giving point, purpose, and permanency 
 to incident and narrative, that would otherwise fail to 
 impress, because of their familiarity. 
 
 "Picturing out " was intended by Stow as part of a 
 larger process, having for its object the discipline of 
 the intellectual faculties, rather than the communica- 
 tion of knowledge, or the furnishing the mind with 
 ideas. Not undervaluing the latter, and knowing well 
 the power of his instrument to effectually accomplish 
 it, yet he wanted something higher for the scholar than 
 this of itself could supply. He desired that children 
 should go forth to the encounter of life with minds 
 disciplined by right modes of culture. Mere know-
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 255 
 
 ledge acquired at school is necessarily scanty and frag- 
 mentary, and is soon lost after school life is ended, but 
 the discipline accruing from the action of right methods 
 remains the heritage of the pupil, and the means of 
 his future advancement. The method he proposed 
 was embodied by him in the formula, " Not to tell any- 
 thing to children, which by a proper use of analogy 
 and illustration, they can be led to discover." To this 
 method he applies the term " training," or " training 
 out." 
 
 This term we deem an unfortunate one. It seems 
 to imply that what you have to teach is already in the 
 pupil's mind, and that you have but skilfully to educe 
 it. Besides, it is apt to be confounded with the term 
 development, as applied by Pestalozzi to the calling 
 forth by appropriate exercise some latent faculty. It 
 is a faulty term, then, because it does not exactly des- 
 cribe the process intended. It is faxvlty, also, because 
 the same term is applied by him to a dissimilar, though 
 in one particular, analogous process. It is in this 
 analogous fact, that we find his reason for using the 
 term. Self-exertion is the predominant feature in 
 moral training, and as this is involved in " not telling," 
 Stow applies the same term to both processes. By 
 " training," doubtless he meant to indicate a process in 
 which the pupil was to discover rather than to receive, 
 and as the former implies more energetic doing on the 
 part of the child than the latter, he thought he was 
 warranted in applying to the intellectual what had been 
 long before appropriately applied to the moral process. 
 It is somewhat difficult to state in words what the 
 method is, so as to give an accurate notion of it to those
 
 256 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 that have not witnessed it. Its principal ideas may no 
 doubt be clearly set forth, but though these may be 
 understood, it is jjot clear that the method itself is. 
 The absurdities that have passed under its name, 
 practised even by those who had had the advantage of 
 special training, sufficiently show this. A notice of 
 these, with a few slight sketches of its right applica- 
 tion, may perhaps convey a faint notion of the method. 
 
 The leading ideas involved in the method are, that 
 children shall from facts known or communicated infer 
 other facts, or establish for themselves the principles 
 underlying the facts ; and that in doing so, they shall 
 receive no assistance from the teacher in the way of 
 suggestion. It is his business to supply the data on 
 which their minds have to be exercised, and to employ 
 analogies to indicate the course to be pursued. The 
 method may have been suggested by that of Socrates 
 whose was a method in which, by a skilful adaptation 
 of his questions to the previous answers, it was made 
 to appear as if the pupil was instructing himself, 
 rather than being instructed. 
 
 Among the absurdities that have passed under the 
 name of " training out," may be mentioned the notion 
 that has run away with some people, that in teaching 
 nothing is to be told. This is absurd. Many matters 
 of fact must bo communicated. To attempt otherwise 
 is a waste of time, if not attended by even worse 
 results. The art of the teacher is shown in communi- 
 cating what is indispensable and no more, and in com- 
 municating it as material out of which the pupils are 
 to frame their own ideas and thoughts under his 
 guidance. From the notion that nothing is to be told.
 
 THE TBAINING SYSTEM. 257 
 
 or from an entire misapprehension of the method, some 
 question in such a way as to elicit nothing but guesses, 
 or they string a lot of questions together so as to get 
 out what they want, but at the same time to be as far 
 as possible from getting it by legitimate inference. 
 This fear of telling anything is carried sometimes to the 
 ridiculous length of not telling even the subject of the 
 lesson. That is to be got at by a succession of guesses. 
 On one occasion a lesson was .introduced by a question 
 as to what would be found in the Great Exhibition ? 
 After expending half-au-hour in fruitless guesses, in 
 in which every imaginable thing was named, one lucky 
 urchin exclaimed, " a button," when the class was 
 gravely informed " Yes, our lesson is to be on buttons." 
 Another mistake, which passes under the name of 
 " training out " is, that it is the getting of words from 
 the class. Sometimes eliciting words is a valuable pro- 
 cess, especially in connection with reading, as it serves 
 to bring out the distinctions between nearly synony- 
 mous words, and besides adding to the learner's stock 
 of words, is a good analytic exercise, but the doing so 
 is not necessarily an inferential process. Sometimes 
 time is wasted in trying for a word, where the better 
 plan would be to give the word required. For instance, 
 it often occurs that after a teacher has clearly developed 
 an idea in his pupils' minds, he questions them for the 
 most appropriate expression, not seeing that this really 
 implies that the idea had been theirs before. But sup- 
 posing that in this case, by some happy chance the 
 right word is obtained, still the process was not one of 
 training, inference, or induction. Of other modes of 
 word getting, there are two varieties. Sometimes a 
 
 a
 
 258 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 teacher wanting a word puts out a feeler for it. His 
 question elicits an answer, his treatment of which gives 
 the clue to his class, and they ransack their stores for 
 all words similar in sound or sense, it matters not 
 which, until they put their hands on the right one. 
 The other mode is of so ludicrous a nature as to have 
 attached in the minds of many teachers the utmost 
 contempt to " training out," nothing better under that 
 name having been under their notice. We refer to the 
 not uncommon practice of getting out two or three 
 words, and of combining them to get the word sought. 
 This, instead of being a training process, is a sugges- 
 tive one, and seldom fails to involve the employer of it 
 in the ridiculous. One or two actual instances may be 
 given to show our reference. A teacher in a lesson on 
 the cuticle, for which he wanted from the class the 
 name scarf-skin, proceeded to get it by asking for an 
 article sometimes worn round the neck, and after some 
 trouble got the word " scarf; " then pointing to the skin 
 obtained the word skin. " Now," said he, " this skin 
 is therefore the scarf-skin." Another, giving a lesson 
 in geography, and wanting the name of a town evi- 
 dently unknown to his class, proceeded What are the 
 people in Wales called ? Obtaining his answer, and 
 describing a hole filled with water, he led them to call 
 it a pool " then the name of this town is WelshpooJ." 
 Another, giving a lesson on the lever, and wanting the 
 term fulcrum, proceeded thus- - " When your mother 
 pours your tea into the cup till it can hold no more, what 
 do you say the cup is? " Full. " And when she has 
 been cutting bread, what is there on the table about 
 the loaf? " Crumbs. "Then this is the fulcrum."
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 259 
 
 Nothing could be more ridiculous, as specimens of 
 teaching, than the foregoing, yet they are not uncom- 
 mon instances of what are deemed training-out pro- 
 cesses. 
 
 The simplest instance of the right application of the 
 method is where you lead to the discovery of facts by 
 the way of inference from other facts. For example, 
 in a lesson on the Rhine, two points are named, its 
 source and Basle, and giving the rapidity of the stream 
 the children infer the great diiference in level, or giving 
 the difference in level they infer the rapidity of the 
 stream. A lengthier example is given by Stow of a 
 teacher leading children to infer that in Egypt kilns 
 were not used in making bricks. 
 
 A higher application of the method is in reading or 
 Scripture lessons, when it is employed to discover the 
 meaning of the writer. Thus, in the question put by 
 Job, " How oft is the candle of the wicked put out 1 ?" 
 After showing that according to the placing of the em- 
 phasis, and by the tone in which it is uttered, it is sus- 
 ceptible of opposite meanings, the question comes up, 
 Which is the true one ? In conducting to the answer, 
 reference is made to hot countries, to dangers from ser- 
 pents, to the fact that lights are used to scare them 
 away then Who can afford to keep lights always? 
 The rich. Now, suppose a house always lighted at 
 night suddenly ceases to be lighted, the candle is put 
 out. What is the inference 1 The man has be- 
 come poor. Then refer to the scope of Job's argu- 
 ment. His friends had maintained that afflictions in 
 this life are signs of God's displeasure ; he contends 
 for the opposite, and asks How oft is the caudle
 
 260 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 of the wicked put out? The children are then ex- 
 pected to infer the truth for which Job was con- 
 tending. 
 
 Another application of the method requires the 
 highest teaching ability, and secures, where practised, 
 the best mental discipline. It is sometimes called 
 the historic method, or when applied to the right 
 class of subjects, the inductive method. It consists 
 in conducting the pupils through the various pro- 
 cesses of thought, by which a certain result is 
 reached; or in taking them along the path of ob- 
 servation, hypothesis, and experiments by which 
 discoveries have been made. Thus in a lesson on 
 the Davy lamp, the matter was so treated, that the 
 learners suggested the doubts, "hypotheses, and expe- 
 riments through which it might .be supposed that 
 the inventor himself passed ere he succeeded in his 
 object. It must be remembered that the essence of 
 the method consists not in laying before the pupil the 
 processes of thought, as is done in Euclid, but in so 
 skilfully touching the intellect with questions or 
 facts, that he may discover and pursue these pro- 
 cesses for himself. Than this no other method 
 yields, when employed at the proper age, such valu- 
 able results. For while books give the results of 
 others' thinking, this leads the pupils along the path 
 by which such results were obtained. Suppose a boy 
 acquainted with addition and multiplication, to sit 
 down without the aid of books or tutors, to discover 
 for himself the methods and rules of division. Sup- 
 pose him after much thinking, after repeated efforts 
 and repeated failures, to hit upon them and to be
 
 THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 261 
 
 able to verify each of his conclusions no one would 
 deny the mental discipline of such a process. Well, 
 suppose the same done under the stimulus of a 
 teacher's questioning, and under the correction of a 
 teacher's knowledge, and you have an example of 
 " training out " and nearly the same amount of mental 
 discipline as in the first supposition. 
 
 Other points connected with intellectual culture in 
 Stow's system are those of oral or collective lessons in 
 which a text-book is not employed, and the use of 
 ellipses and simultaneous answers. These were adopted 
 from the infant school, partly from the life and vigour 
 which their right use excites in a large group of chil- 
 dren, and partly because they allow just that degree of 
 assistance from the teacher which stimulates but does 
 not supersede the scholars' efforts. The independent 
 oral lesson was advocated on other and higher grounds, 
 as in fact the only one which gives the teacher the 
 opportunity of taking his pupils through processes of 
 discovery, and of thought leading to discovery, and as 
 furnishing the only occasion in which the higher form 
 of training-out can be employed. These were exten- 
 sively adopted, even where Stow's methods were not 
 accepted, but there has come lately a reaction, which 
 threatens to the great detriment of educational pro- 
 gress to banish them from the elementary school. 
 
 In concluding these imperfect notes of the training 
 system, it is but right to refer to the great services ren- 
 dered by those employed in the Glasgow Institution, 
 both in working out the system, and in putting some 
 of its methods into a practical shape. We extract on 
 this point the following remarks from a recent article
 
 262 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 by Mr. William Sugden, who was himself an able and 
 energetic worker for years in that institution, and who 
 has conducted with singular ability and success a 
 Normal College in London on the training system : 
 " Like most men who have been eminent in carrying 
 on great works, Mr. Stow seems to have been skilful 
 iii selecting and attaching to himself able fellow- 
 labourers and associates. In carrying on this institu- 
 tion at Dundas Vale, he was aided by a band of 
 teachers of noble spirit and of great ability; among 
 whom it is not invidious to others to name Mr. Robeit 
 Hislop, at that time its rector, and Mr. William 
 Eraser, now the minister of the Free Middle Church 
 in Paisley. No one could be more ready to acknow- 
 ledge the assistance derived from men like these than 
 was Mr. Stow." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 AMATEURS AND HELPERS. 
 
 THE interest now so general in the cause of the educa- 
 tion of the people, is a growth of the present century. 
 It originated, doubtless, in the zealous labours of Bell 
 and Lancaster, Wilderspin and Stow, and was greatly 
 promoted by the societies which were formed in con- 
 nection with them. But it was the condition of 
 the people, and the dangers which seemed to threaten 
 the very existence of the nation, that gave it an impe- 
 tus, and made it grow to its present proportions. Lead- 
 ing statesmen and eminent philanthropists came to
 
 AMATEURS AND HELPERS. 263 
 
 regard it as the sole means of securing the safety and 
 promoting the prosperity of the nation. Educational 
 societies were formed in many parts of the country for 
 the purpose of gathering statistics, and of united action. 
 Public meetings were held for discussion, and for agi- 
 tating the question of educational reform. Committees 
 of Parliament sat to gather information, and at length 
 action was taken by the legislature. 
 
 Foremost in this work was Brougham. In 1816 he 
 obtained a Committee of the House of Commons to 
 inquire into the state of education. Somewhat later 
 he was one of those who established the first infants' 
 school, and in 1824 he formed the first infants' school 
 society. But his greatest work was the formation of 
 the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He 
 convened the first meeting in 1826. Its first publi- 
 cation was in 1827. It was incorporated in 1832. 
 This Society did much indirectly to promote education. 
 Amongst many invaluable publications, it issued the 
 Journal of Education. The scope of this serial was 
 to bring into an accessible form the best contribu- 
 tions to education of ancient and modern writers, to 
 make known the educational systems of other coun- 
 tries, to bring into prominence all efforts that were 
 made for elementary, industrial, and secondary edu- 
 cation, and to publish articles by good writers on 
 educational topics. In 1836, a selection of articles 
 was published in two volumes, with the title of 
 " The Schoolmaster." 
 
 In 1836, some of the more prominent members 
 formed with others the Central Society of Education. 
 The object of this society was to take measures to
 
 264 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 place education on a scientific basis, to establish 
 training schools for teachers, to make education com- 
 pulsory, to throw its support upon the rates, and to 
 have it under the direction of a permanent board 
 and a minister of education, who should be a member 
 of the Cabinet. It also proposed to supply informa- 
 tion on the existing state of education, on the 
 several modes of teaching the poorer classes, on the 
 systems of education extant, and generally to dis- 
 cover the means by which all classes may be best 
 fitted in health, in mind, and in morals, to fill the 
 stations they are destined to occupy in society. 
 
 The formation of the society was the occasion for 
 an outburst of bigotry and invective. It was de- 
 nounced as secular, as intending to put out the 
 Bible from schools, and as intending to prepare the 
 way for the establishment of Popery. It did good 
 service. One of its first works was to make inquiry 
 into the state of education. It did this very thoroughly, 
 but not without opening itself to the charge of de- 
 siring to make out a case against the British and 
 National schools, than to ascertain the real benefit 
 conferred by them. They charge these schools with 
 having nothing in them that deserves the name of 
 education ; their methods as having a tendency to 
 crush the mental energies, and to extinguish all moral 
 life ; and their public examinations as a gross deception. 
 Its other Avork was to publish a series of volumes, in 
 which educational topics were discussed ; one of these 
 consisting of prize essays, being one of the most valu- 
 able contributions to professional literature of recent 
 times. The growth of education during the last forty
 
 THOMAS WYSE. 265 
 
 years owes much to this movement, and we shall mark 
 its character by some brief notices of its more promi- 
 nent agents. 
 
 Section I. Thomas Wyse. 
 
 Thomas Wyse took an active part in the establish- 
 ment of the Irish system. He was the author of a 
 book on Educational Reform, in which he sketched a 
 system of national education. He had a large ac- 
 quaintance with ancient and modern education, and he 
 was the advocate of principles and practices far in ad- 
 vance of the age he addressed. " Education should fit 
 each citizen for the duties which his several relations 
 enforce upon him, by giving to the physical, intellect- 
 ual, and moral faculties the full perception of which 
 they are susceptible. That such education may be 
 effectual there must be on the part of the educator a 
 knowledge of mind and body. In physical education 
 it is conceded that a knowledge of physiology is essen- 
 tial ; but it is equally true in that of mind. Take the 
 very lowest point, the furnishing of the mind ; a mind 
 taught at random without a knowledge of its capaci- 
 ties and forces is a lumber-room, but a mind educated 
 is a well-ordered storehouse. To think of working on 
 the human mind without a knowledge of it seems an 
 absurdity so glaring, that it would never have been main- 
 tained in practice if the real object of school work 
 had been education. The science of mind, at least such 
 portions as bear on practice, is essential. Without it 
 the schoolmaster may blunder into right, but at best 
 he is but an empiric, and never sure that he is not 
 wrong."
 
 266 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Education must be moral, and in order to that it 
 must be religious. First consider the relation of 
 moral to intellectual education. These two cannot be 
 separated. Those who would do so attempt impossibi- 
 lities. Half of our being cannot be torn from the 
 other half, they are so intertwisted. It is also difficult 
 to say where one ends and the other begins. Senti- 
 ment and reason are the two prime movers of the moral 
 nature. The first takes precedence in early education. 
 Sentiment is the foundation of all morality and reli- 
 gion. It thus becomes possible to train very young 
 children morally and religiously. The feelings which 
 may be excited in a child towards the Author of all 
 good, differ in no way but in their object from those 
 with which a parent should be regarded. It is thus too 
 that He is first made known to the child. But a later 
 stage is reached when conviction is required, and judg- 
 ment comes in as well as feeling. Otherwise the child 
 grows into a mere creature of chance and impulse, 
 vacillation, and incoherence. Thus it is evident that 
 true morality requires the presence of intellectual as 
 well as of moral elements." 
 
 Charged with secularism by those who opposed his 
 system of unsectarian instruction, he is anxious that no 
 mistake should exist as to the real nature of moral 
 education. There can be no moral education without 
 religion ; and no religion supplies the standard, the 
 precept, and the motive power, but the Christian. 
 This introduces the question, first mooted in the con- 
 troversies of the time, whether the Bible should be 
 the source of this instruction 1 Wyse is clear on the 
 chief point. " The Holy Scriptures alone, in their
 
 THOMAS WYSE. 267 
 
 speaking and vivifying code, teaching by deed, and 
 sealing by death, give that law of truth, of justice, 
 and of love, which has been the thirst and hunger of 
 the human heart in every vicissitude of its history. In 
 all stages of life this ought to be the book of books. 
 But everything depends on the manner in which it is 
 taught. It is not enough to teach the Scriptures, we 
 must remember whom we are to teach, and by what 
 instruments we are to teach. We are to teach children. 
 We are to teach by the means God has put into our 
 hands. These means are human intellects and human 
 affections ; but though the same in both, they are not 
 developed to the same extent in children as in men. 
 Therefore there must be adaptation to the actual con- 
 dition. A child materializes and localizes ; a man 
 spiritualizes and abstracts ; hence the routes to the 
 same end are different. The ideas of every one are 
 limited by his experience, a child's being very con- 
 tracted. Yet we can only build with the materials we 
 have got. To comprehend new ideas we must employ 
 the ideas we have. Further, a child's vocabulary is 
 even more circumscribed than its ideas. Yet it is 
 only through words that spiritual things can be con- 
 vex ed to its mind. Now these facts must govern 
 the teaching of Scripture to young children. Go con- 
 trary to them and there will be positive and enduring 
 fevil. Children form associations with marvellous ra- 
 pidity in despite of their teachers and in despite of 
 themselves. If they meet obscurity where there 
 should be light, if pain where there should be plea- 
 sure, the associations cling and the Bible remains 
 a closed book, when free to choose for themselves.
 
 268 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Meet the difficulty by following the law of God 
 and nature. Scripture must be taught, but so 
 taught as to be understood. Such parts then as can 
 be understood are to be given to children. This 
 implies selection, and therefore exclusion. Selections 
 first should be placed in their hands, differing according 
 to their age and understanding ; but as education 
 proceeds, the Sacred Volume itself may be intrusted to 
 their study and inquiry. In the selections for such a 
 course of Scripture reading two rules should be observed, 
 they should be adapted to the capacity, and they should 
 be accompanied by needful explanation," 
 
 Turning to the cultivation of the intellect, Wyse 
 lays done two principles. The first is that the mate- 
 rials of intellectual education are the human faculties ; 
 evidently meaning that the discipline of these is the 
 object to be sought, rather than the storing of the 
 mind with learning. Early education is important, 
 for every motion of mind or body tends to the forma- 
 tion of a habit, and of habits the man is formed. 
 Hence the importance of a right culture of the senses. 
 These are the great instruments of knowledge. If not 
 cared for at school, when wanted they will be found 
 rusty or blunted. Without culture all is haziness, 
 with it vividness and freshness. The difference is 
 that betwixt a waking state and a dream, between 
 reality and unreality. Right culture of the senses 
 tends to clearness of ideas, accuracy of language, and 
 justice of reasoning. He is also of opinion that each 
 sense has its organ benefited by its acquiring greater 
 delicacy and sensibility. Education from the very 
 first ought to be general All the powers of a child
 
 THOMAS WYSE. 269 
 
 are in action contemporaneously. We do not discover 
 the action of the higher powers so readily because the 
 child is working with ideas and not with language, 
 but the results prove that the processes were there. 
 Of course there is order. We must begin with the 
 beginning. We live before we think. The senses are 
 the first objects. But when cultivating the mind 
 through these, we must not act as if it was only 
 recipient or perceptive. It is impossible thus to con- 
 tract its operations. As growth proceeds it becomes 
 still more necessary to keep in exercise all the faculties, 
 or the product is only half a man. Proportion and 
 symmetry are the two great rules in education, No 
 single chord should be left untouched or unstrung. 
 Sounded singly there is monotony, sounded without 
 order it is discord ; harmony is the result of the 
 scientific culture of all. 
 
 His second principle is that the instruments of in- 
 tellectual culture are right methods. There is no 
 method adapted to all stages and to all subjects. That 
 which is suitable at an early period may be pernicious 
 at a later. Method should be eclectic. He instances 
 Pestalozzi and Fellenberg. The former was dominated 
 by an idea, and when in a region where it was inopera- 
 tive he egregiously failed. The latter, with a fuller 
 conception of a child's nature and of a child's needs, 
 had methods adapted to all stages of development, and 
 to the object in view. 
 
 Much of his book is devoted by Wyse to the methods 
 of teaching school subjects, and contains on these points 
 meny valuable hints.
 
 270 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Section II. Horace Grant. 
 
 Horace Grant was another amateur whose labours 
 have aided educational progress His friend Chad- 
 wick, in a notice prefixed \o a recent edition of his 
 books, classes him with Comenius, Pestalozzi, and others 
 who have devoted themselves zealously to the especial 
 study of the minds of children, and to the best means 
 of cultivating them. Having been obliged by failing 
 health to resign the East India Company's service, he 
 devoted himself to education. He found grievous 
 defects in the construction of schoolbooks and in 
 methods of teaching. The chief fault of the former 
 was, that they were calculated to display the knowledge 
 of the writers than to interest the children. The 
 chief faults of the latter, that they imparted matters 
 by rote, and were utterly unfitted to develop and 
 discipline the mind. He framed lessons and wrote 
 them out on this principle, that each lesson was by 
 its own intrinsic interest to sustain the attention of 
 the learner. He borrowed children for the purpose 
 of his trials and observations, and he circulated in 
 manuscripts the lessons he had tried amongst intelli- 
 gent and practised teachers, and obtained the results 
 of their experience. He embodied the results of his 
 observations and experiments in a series of volumes 
 first published by the Society for the Diffusion of 
 Useful Knowledge, and recently issued afresh by 
 Bell and Daldy. They include exercises for the 
 senses, two treatises on arithmetic, and others on 
 geography, drawing, and elementary geometry. 
 
 Grant brought to his adopted work valuable qualifi-
 
 HORACE GRANT. 271 
 
 cations, the most important of which was his know- 
 ledge of mental science, and especially of mind as it 
 develops itself in young children. He himself held 
 this to be an essential thing for one who would success- 
 fully educate. Mr. Chadwick gives the following ex- 
 tracts from a letter : " A gentleman would scarcely 
 presume to break in a colt or a pointer puppy, without 
 first ascertaining the precise object to be obtained, and 
 studying the character, habits, and organization of the 
 animal, and the fitting mode of acting upon it. Yet 
 surely a common child is as difficult to be understood 
 as a pointer puppy." " You cannot act upon children 
 unless you understand them, and you cannot under- 
 stand them without studying them attentively, having 
 first discarded all previous notions gathered from the 
 cloister or the desk. It will not do for gentlemen to 
 retire to their study, like German metaphysicians, and 
 extract from their inmost consciousness all that is ne- 
 cessary for understanding and instructing their juvenile 
 fellow creatures. As teachers of children, it appears 
 to me, that your masters have everything to learn ; 
 that they have no suspicion of this, and that unless 
 they will first condescend to go among children as 
 learners and students, their zeal and industry as 
 teachers will be of little avail." 
 
 His study of children made him in favour of short 
 lessons. " There is a variety of temperament and a 
 difference of capacity arising therefrom, which shows 
 itself in the degree and duration of attention. Very 
 young children cannot give attention longer than a few 
 minutes ; the power increases with training and growth, 
 but even with other children lessons requiring mental
 
 272 ' SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 effort should rarely exceed half-an-hour." The re- 
 medy is in change of work. For though it is a law of 
 their nature that they cannot he engaged on one thing 
 long, it is equally true that they cannot remain idle. 
 " They make innumerable short essays in all directions, 
 by which inind and body are trained. Keep them al- 
 ways at one kind of bodily labour, and they become 
 deformed and stunted, and attain not the proportions 
 and powers of the perfect animal. Train one, or but a 
 few of their faculties, and they are ever afterwards dwarfs 
 in intellect, or at best ill- proportioned spirits. Train 
 their moral faculties in the same injudicious manner, 
 starve many, over excite a few, and you produce 
 immoral or morally diseased beings." 
 
 Children must be employed. A healthy child at 
 liberty to do what he likes goes through great bodily 
 and mental exercise. " There are innumerable objects 
 observed, inquired into, and experimented on ; endless 
 reasonings, imaginings, inventions ; and there are 
 worlds of fancy into which his old materials are con- 
 stantly being marshalled. Yet all this hard work is 
 pleasure to the child, it is play ; but such play makes 
 men." " Overwork is most pernicious ; but one thing 
 is worse : forcibly to restrain him from that active em- 
 ployment which his constitution craves; thus imprison- 
 ing mind and body. Children rarely suffer from over- 
 work, but often from improper work, the smallest 
 quantity of which is pernicious." Anything which 
 strains the attention, as rote work of every kind, with- 
 out employing the faculties, does mischief. 
 
 Not many but much is a good rule in teaching. 
 "Where many things are attempted, there must be
 
 HORACE GRANT. 273 
 
 brevity, and consequently, poverty. "Half-a-dozen 
 simple points investigated and discovered by the pupil, 
 will be of more value than a book-full of geometry, 
 to which he merely gives a cold assent. In the one 
 case, the knowledge forms part of the mind; it is 
 remembered, is ever present when wanted, and is 
 ready to be connected with, and to aid, other know 
 ledge ; it assists in building up an intellect as well as 
 furnishing it. In the common mode, however fre- 
 quently a thing is gone over, it forms no part of the 
 mind : it is joined with nothing useful or experi- 
 mental ; it is kept at an out-station apart from our 
 trains of thought, and it can have little influence on 
 the intellect or character." 
 
 The right starting-point is with the senses, and in 
 all subjects the natural development of the mind sug- 
 gests that the concrete shall precede the abstract, the 
 near shall be taken before the remote, and the particu- 
 lar shall be given before the general. It is also neces- 
 sary that the illustrations and experiments shall be 
 interesting, for the great purpose is that the child shall 
 find pleasure in its work. His careful study of children 
 led him to observe that certain subjects are more suit- 
 able than others for the development and discipline 
 he sought. Thus observing the vast amount of time 
 and labour spent by every child in the first ten years 
 of its life in investigating the forms and qualities of 
 things, and noting the influence of the former in giving 
 the child the power of analysis, of distinguishing things, 
 and of forming clear ideas, he gives a prominent place 
 to form in early culture. He also attaches great im- 
 portance to arithmetic, when it is so taught as to be 
 T
 
 274 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 a matter of investigation to the children, as well as of 
 reasoning based on operations presented to his senses. 
 His two works on arithmetic should be in the hands 
 of every teacher ; they are invaluable contributions to 
 right methods of instruction. 
 
 The following remarks from the Saturday Review 
 set forth distinct!} the principles of Grant's books on 
 arithmetic. " The main principles upon which instruc- 
 tion in arithmetic to young minds is founded are 
 simple and sensible. The first is that children should 
 learn to realize the meaning of arithmetic by concrete 
 symbols. They should not only know but see, that 
 two and two make four. The number nine should not 
 only be thought of as produced by the addition of a 
 unit to eight, but should spontaneously call up a vision 
 of nine spots arranged in various diagrams which show 
 its identity with sets of five and four spots, or with three 
 sets of three spots. The mere blank expression is thus 
 translated into a sensible reality, and is much more 
 easily dealt with by the childish understanding. And, 
 secondly, the child should be made to understand the 
 more difficult rules by a process resembling that which 
 must have led to their first discovery. Instead of 
 having a magical formula stamped upon his memory, 
 the application of which will, for some mysterious 
 reason, bring out the desired result, his infant powers 
 should be gradually stimulated until the rule presents 
 itself to him as the summary and complete expression 
 of his crude anticipation. 
 
 " The old method was the reverse of this. It gave 
 the logical instead of the natural order. The abstract 
 conceptions which had been slowly reached by the
 
 SHUTTLEWORTFI. 275 
 
 mature intellect were impressed upon the childish 
 mind, and the rules founded upon them explained in 
 the most abstract language. Instead of developing the 
 principles latent in the childish mind, a complete and 
 ready-made system was thrust in, and frequently 
 remained as a mere set of rules obstinately refusing 
 to assimilate with previous acquisitions. But it is 
 true of the matter with which arithmetic deals, that a 
 vivid realization through the senses of its first truths 
 is the best mode of approaching its difficulties. This 
 study, like all others, has really its base in outward 
 fact, and it must, like all others, be attained through 
 the medium of sensible experience." The result will 
 come the sooner, if every operation is given as a problem 
 to be solved, and not as an example to which a rule is 
 to be applied ; and if the work given exemplifies in 
 every new question a distinct principle or rule from 
 that in the operation just completed. 
 
 S&tion Ill.SJiuttlew&rth. 
 
 Till within the last forty years primary education in 
 England was left in the hands of individuals and 
 societies. The prevailing destitution was however too 
 widespread to be met by voluntary associations, and it 
 consequently became necessary that the State should 
 take some share in the education of the people. So 
 early as 1807 Whitbread made an ineffectual attempt 
 to move the House of Commons to take up this duty. 
 Brougham, more fortunate, obtained the appointment 
 of committees of inquiry. Many others were engaged 
 in efforts to awaken and inform the public mind,
 
 276 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 through the press and on the platform, until at length 
 the duty of the State to aid in the education of the 
 people was owned in 1833 by parliamentary grants dis- 
 tributed by the Treasury. The obligation having been 
 once admitted the necessity of further aid was soon 
 apparent. In 1838 evidence was laid before a Par- 
 liamentary Committee that was quite appalling, and 
 especially the statement by prison authorities : " That 
 the leading characteristic of the vast majority of those 
 unhappy beings who came under their charge was a 
 heathenish ignorance of the simplest principles of mo- 
 rality and religion." The conscience of the best part of 
 the nation was grieved that such a vast amount of misery 
 should arise from its own neglect. It found expression 
 in the increase of the Parliamentary grant, and in the 
 appointment on the 10th April, 1839, by an Order of 
 Council of a Committee of the Privy Council to ad- 
 minister it. Of this Committee Sir J. P. K. Shuttle- 
 worth was the first secretary. Under his auspices were 
 inaugurated a number of measures that have done more 
 to place education on a satisfactory footing than all 
 previous measures. Though it is perfectly true here as 
 in physical science, that the labour of the present worker 
 would have been impossible had it not been preceded 
 and prepared for by those who have gone before. 
 Amongst the measures of importance set on foot soon 
 after his accession to office were the appointment of 
 inspectors of schools, grants towards the erection and 
 fittings of school buildings, provision for the training 
 of teachers, and aid towards the maintenance of schools, 
 by payments of the stipends of pupil-teachers, by 
 gratuities to their teachers for instructing them, and by
 
 SHUTTLK WORTH. 277 
 
 certificates to teachers, with a money value, the amount 
 being determined by the grade of the certificate, and 
 made dependent on the report of the inspector. Sub- 
 sequently, aftu Shuttleworth had retired from the 
 secretaryship; the modes of aid and the regulations 
 respecting school were so frequently changed, that 
 teachers were in a state of constant alarm, not knowing 
 what a " Minute " might bring forth. 
 
 Amongst the services rendered by Shuttleworth was 
 the drawing up of instructions on method in the form 
 of minutes. His first minute describes a form of 
 school organization which he introduced into the 
 practising school at Battersea. It was an attempt to 
 combine the advantages of Stow's system and that of 
 monitorial schools. Four groups of paralled desks 
 were so arranged that two contiguous classes could be 
 formed into a division for a collective lesson by the 
 master, while the other classes were worked by pupil- 
 teachers. He called this the mixed mode, but it came 
 to be better known as the Battersea Method. Other 
 minutes dealt with methods of teaching. A tour 
 through Europe, to acquaint himself with principles 
 and methods of teaching, had imbued him thoroughly 
 with a preference for synthetic methods. He bases 
 his preference on what he supposed was nature's mode 
 of educating the child. " During infancy the child has 
 to become acquainted with the external world ; his 
 senses are in incessant activity ; the sense of sight has 
 to be placed in harmony with the sense of touch and 
 of muscular movement; the distance, form, weight, 
 and other qualities of objects have to be determined ; 
 the child is making continual discoveries ; it constantly
 
 278 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 presses upon the region of the unknown. This process 
 is chiefly synthetical. It is "by the acquisition of new 
 facts, and their combination with those already known, 
 that the child gradually acquires knowledge, and cor- 
 rects the errors into which he has fallen. In the ac- 
 quisition of language he is greatly aided by his faculty 
 of imitation. In the use of this faculty he proceeds 
 in two separate directions. In the imitation of sounds 
 he first tries those which are shortest and simplest, and 
 gradually acquires the more complex. A similar law 
 determines his progress in all that relates to the struc- 
 ture of sentences. He acquires the names of objects 
 with which he is familiar, and first of those which in- 
 terest his aifections. Then he learns to name the qua- 
 lities of those objects. Their motions, actions, and 
 influence on other bodies follow ; and in these and 
 every other part of his acquirements the simple pre- 
 cedes the complex. By this constructive process all his 
 early acquirements are made." Now it is obvious in 
 these cases the infant mind had gone through a process 
 of analysis before entering on the constructive stage, 
 and every practical teacher knows that the success of 
 educational efforts depends on the proper combination 
 of both analytic and synthetic methods. 
 
 The application of a synthetic method to reading he 
 endeavoured to secure, by obtaining the services of two 
 foreigners, one to analyse the English language into its 
 elementary sounds, the other to arrange in a couple of 
 books the characteristic words of the language, in a 
 series, which would admit of the Phonic Method. 
 This compliment to Englishmen was made with full 
 knowledge of the fact that the Phonic Method was
 
 SHUTTLEWORTH. 279 
 
 first applied by Edgeworth. In favour of the Phonic 
 Method he observes, " It recognises in the child a 
 being whose reasoning powers are immature, yet a ra- 
 tional creature, whose memory maybe most successfully 
 cultivated when employed in subordination to the rea- 
 soning faculty. It depends to a large extent for its 
 success on the truth that it is more difficult to remem- 
 ber contradictory facts (or those which seem so) than 
 classes of consistent facts which express a rule or law 
 satisfactory to the reason. In the former case, each 
 fact has to be separately remembered, and the memory 
 is therefore vexed with numerous independent efforts. 
 In the latter, the pupil remembers classes of facts 
 associated by some law more readily than he remembers 
 the individual facts when presented to his mind with- 
 out any attempt at arrangement. In the former case, 
 the facts appear to be not merely separate, but contra- 
 dictory ; and in proportion as they are irreconcilable 
 with any effort of the reason will they be difficult to 
 remember. On the contrary, to show to a rational 
 creature the mutual relations and dependences of facts 
 presented to its intelligence, is to afford the greatest 
 assistance to the memory, by enabling it to associate 
 those facts in consistent groups, under comparatively a 
 small number of laws. For a child to commit to me- 
 mory that which it cannot understand is a difficult and 
 by no means salutary exercise of the intelligence ; but 
 to conduct the instruction of a child, not only without 
 any attempt to cultivate its understanding, but to re- 
 quire it to charge its memory with facts which, be- 
 cause contradictory, must be repulsive to its reasoning 
 powers, is worse than useless. By such means a child
 
 280 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 at an early period separates all ideas of pleasure from 
 instruction. The tyranny of schools commences when 
 any unreasonable effort is required. In this way, like- 
 wise, is repressed that earnestness which characterizes 
 the early efforts of childhood. Its generous spirit can 
 only be cherished by leading it from one truth to 
 another, and not from one contradiction to another. It 
 is hurtful to the moral sense to commence the instruc- 
 tion of children by requiring them to commit to me- 
 mory what they do not understand, or what is contra- 
 dictory, and therefore revolting to their understandings. 
 The moral sense can only be successfully cultivated by 
 inspiring the child in every process of education with 
 a love of truth. 
 
 " The first step to this result is to satisfy the intelli- 
 gence on every point which can be rendered clear. 
 The means to this end are the arrangement of the facts 
 presented to the mind of the child in such order that 
 each new truth may naturally succeed, and be sup- 
 ported by those which have preceded it, so that the 
 child may require neither any great effort of the intel- 
 ligence to comprehend, or believe, or remember, that 
 which it is the object of the master to teach." 
 
 Now all this is excellent, but it is irrelevant. It 
 has force against the method of teaching to read by 
 teaching to spell with the names of the letters, but it 
 does not support the phonic method. It is rather true 
 of a synthetic arrangement of reading and other 
 lessons than of the method to be used in each lesson. 
 Here he is decidedly wrong in maintaining that analytic 
 methods should be reserved till a very late stage in 
 the child's progress ; and only synthetic ones employed
 
 SHUTTLEWORTH. 281. 
 
 in the earlier, for following the rule he himself lays 
 down, of following nature, every teacher must employ 
 both analytic and synthetic methods. 
 
 " In observing the process which nature pursues in 
 developing the intelligence, we see the senses of the 
 infant first in activity ; they are employed in collecting 
 facts ; the mind then gradually puts forth its power, 
 it compares, combines, and at length analyzes the facts 
 presented to it. Thus the child raises his attention 
 above material objects. But whatever may be the 
 differences which mark these successive periods of 
 intellectual progress, the method of education which, 
 suits them is always the same. From the most 
 elementary knowledge to the highest speculations one 
 method is universally applicable. This consists, first, 
 in carefully examining the constituent parts of any 
 object before us, i.e., in analyzing it; secondly, in 
 classifying and separately considering these component 
 parts. This is the work of the teacher in elementary 
 schools; thirdly, in reconstructing the object which 
 has thus been decomposed by the analysis of the 
 educator, i. <?., in operating by synthesis. This is the 
 work of the pupil, by which he is prepared for the 
 more difficult work of analysis. When his mental 
 powers are exercised in this way the attention is 
 actively engaged." Holding these opinions he had 
 prepared besides reading-books, manuals, and tablets 
 for the promotion of writing and vocal music, the 
 former on the method of Mulhauser, the latter by 
 Hullah. 
 
 Other services were rendered by Shuttleworth to the 
 cause of elementary education. He was the founder of
 
 282 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Battersea Training College, and this institution retained 
 for many years the impress of his mind. That the 
 system he tried to establish, taken from Switzerland, 
 was ultimately abandoned, arose from its being not 
 suited to English habits and circumstances. His able 
 coadjutors at ! Battersea were Tate and Maclecd, men to 
 whom English education is so much indebted. To 
 Shuttleworth was due the system of school inspection, 
 for which he drew out an elaborate scheme, a scheme 
 that has not been improved by the departures there- 
 from. 
 
 Section IV. Inspectors. 
 
 The earlier reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors of 
 schools contained many valuable contributions to 
 common school education. It was the practice to 
 scatter these reports broadcast over the land. Many 
 a teacher labouring in a remote district found himself 
 encouraged and stimulated by what he found in them. 
 Many a teacher had his mind first awakened to the 
 importance of his work, and himself set on the right 
 track, by the earnest spirit which breathed through the 
 writings of Moseley, Fletcher, and others. To these 
 early volumes, coming into his hands just as he was 
 beginning his work, many a young teacher was indebted 
 for many valuable hints, and for many important prin- 
 ciples. Here he first learned the real nature of his 
 work, and the spirit in which it should be conducted ; 
 and from them he obtained invaluable plans for its 
 accomplishment. It was a pity that the low estimate 
 of the work of the school, and the false parsimony 
 which attended it, ushered in by the Revised Code, led
 
 INSPECTORS. 283 
 
 to alterations in the reports themselves, and to the 
 stoppage of their gratuitous circulation. 
 
 The reports of Professor Moseley cover a period of 
 eleven years, and touch, amongst many other topics, 
 some of the most important in elementary instruction. 
 On religious instruction he observes, " I see the 
 desire to implant principles of sound doctrine, and to 
 furnish the memory with Scriptural truths, all, in 
 short, eifected that may be learned as a lesson and en- 
 forced as a task, but little, I fear, that appeals to those 
 sensibilities which are the springs of action in child- 
 hood, and the elements out of which the Christian 
 character collects itself in youth and manhood. The 
 way to the hearts of children is easy to those who seek 
 it ; and I know not why the schoolmaster, who can 
 call to his aid that power which is given him over 
 the affections by the sympathy of numbers, should 
 pass it by in the matter of their religious teaching, 
 seeking rather to store their memories with the language 
 of Scripture hereafter to be applied if, indeed, 
 religion ever becomes to them a matter of personal ap- 
 plication, or exercise their judgment with questions of 
 controverted doctrine, in anticipation of a period when 
 they may be called upon to defend it." " Religious truth 
 should be presented to children so as to awaken the 
 sensibilities and arouse the conscience, for they act not 
 from what they know, but from what they feel Their 
 characters are forming themselves not upon principles, 
 but upon feelings, reiterated until they become habits 
 of feeling and laws of action. Religion is best pre- 
 sented to the mind of a child under the form of a 
 principle of action. Appeals of Scriptural truth find
 
 284 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 their way most readily to the heart when supported by 
 admonitions of conscience." " We are too much accus- 
 tomed to confound our notion of a religious education 
 with that of religious instruction, and not to consider 
 that a place should be sought for religion in the 
 heart and affections of children, as well as in their 
 memories and understanding." " It is often difficult to 
 know how religious principles are to be applied under 
 certain practical conditions, and this stands in the way 
 of the application of them. As, then, in secular, so in 
 religious education, the science of application is of 
 grsat importance. Our elementary schools should in 
 this respect be schools of application, of application 
 by precept and by example ; application so simple as 
 to include the experiences of the child, but based upon 
 principles which involve the destinies, for time and 
 for eternity, of the man. The example of a school life 
 controlled by Christian principles of the mind that 
 was in Christ, is a result which the faithful teacher 
 will not fail to pray for, and which by God's blessing he 
 may hope in some measure to attain to." 
 
 On discipline and moral training the following 
 remarks are especially valuable : " I have often been 
 struck, in intercourse with teachers, with what appeared 
 to me a want of faith in education. They have seemed 
 to me not to have that confidence in the resources 
 of it which, on the authority of Scripture and of 
 reason, we are justified in having. We know that if 
 we could but ' train up children in the way they should 
 go, when they are old they would not depart from it ; ' 
 and every day's experience tells us that men and women 
 are very much what they were trained up to be as
 
 INSPECTORS. 285 
 
 children. Yet very little attention is given to the 
 training of children in schools. I believe the root of 
 this lies in a want of faith in the power of the school 
 to do anything for the training of the child, but only 
 for its teaching. Yet the child is for six hours a day 
 in the presence of the teacher, looking up to him for 
 everything, at that period of its life when it is most 
 open to the influence of example, when habits of 
 thought for good or for evil are most readily formed, 
 and when the heart and affections lie near the surface. 
 It is, too, a great resource to the teacher to minister 
 to the understanding of the child its daily food, to 
 have the first tottering steps of its mind stayed upon 
 his, to have the will of the child absorbed into his ; 
 and, if he be a skilful teacher, to command the public 
 opinion of his school ; and all this at that age when 
 thus to be fed with the first elements of knowledge, 
 thus to be supported in the first uncertain steps of the 
 understanding, thus to yield to authority, is natural." 
 The schoolmaster possesses vast power for training the 
 children of his school, and he is always for good or 
 evil unconsciously exercising it. " " As I go from school 
 to school I perceive in each a distinctive character, 
 which is that of the master ; I look at the school and 
 at the man, and there is no mistaking the resemblance. 
 His idiosyncrasy has passed upon it. I seem to see 
 him reflected in the children as in so many fragments 
 of a broken mirror. What importance this gives to 
 the character of the teacher, and to his religious and 
 moral training ! It is not one of the least difficulties 
 of his work that the children in whose presence he 
 lives, and who will form themselves on his model, have
 
 286 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 a singular instinct in comprehending their teachers, 
 piercing them with their little eyes through and 
 through." 
 
 " Discipline in too many schools is maintained by 
 the aid of corporal punishment. In some its infliction 
 is limited to offences partaking of the nature of moral 
 delinquency. In the great majority the punishment is 
 awarded irrespectively of the nature of the offence." 
 
 He gives it as his opinion that the efficiency of a 
 school, judged either as a place of moral training or of 
 secular instruction, is in inverse proportion to the 
 amount of corporal punishment inflicted in it; and 
 for this obvious reason., that the master who dispenses 
 with corporal punishment falls back upon those other 
 resources of discipline which are of a moral character 
 and a more abiding influence. He remarks, too, on 
 the extent to which the habit of inflicting corporal 
 punishment may grow upon the master, and of the 
 callous endurance of it by children, as showing how 
 pernicious it is. The school is ill-managed in which 
 the moving principle is terror of the rod. Its un- 
 healthy moral condition may be disguised from the 
 master, but it is palpable to others. The very faces of the 
 children show it. Sentiments of fear being habitual, 
 a sullen apathy, or the sinister expression of a silent 
 but resolute opposition, is the prevailing condition. 
 
 He attributes the prevalence of this mode of punish- 
 ment either to want of temper or to ignorance of his 
 profession on the part of the master. " The rod or 
 the cane is an obvious and a simple expedient for 
 getting the children's lessons learned, to which a 
 teacher unskilled in the higher resources of his art
 
 INSPECTORS. 287 
 
 invariably resorts, with the more energy as he is the 
 more zealous for their welfare, and the more ignorant 
 of the best means of promoting it. The demoralizing 
 influence of a course of discipline like this outweighs 
 any amount of technical knowledge of which it may be 
 the price." " We little appreciate the power in 
 education of patient, enduring, abiding love. Could 
 we but bring to bear upon the work of the teacher 
 the whole power that there is in love never to be 
 discouraged, wearied, or repulsed, there is per- 
 haps no obduracy of the heart of a child that 
 would resist it, and no evil that it would not reach 
 and purify. If in a school the spirit of love could 
 remain unbroken from day to day and from year to 
 year, that would constitute the perfection of its dis- 
 cipline. . . Men readily understand the discipline 
 of punishment to secure obedience, or of reserve ; 
 these are easy expedients, in the power of a bad 
 teacher as entirely as a good one ; but they do not so 
 easily comprehend the discipline of love. Its fruits 
 are not seen at once. It demands time, patience, 
 perseverance, and is an expedient only within the 
 power of a good teacher." 
 
 On the equipment of the teacher, the necessity of 
 professional training, and the principles that should 
 guide teaching, there are many remarks distributed 
 through the reports. A schoolmaster is required to 
 be meet not only for learning, but for dexterity in 
 teaching. He must indeed not only have acquired the 
 knowledge which he has to communicate, but be ac- 
 quainted with the best methods of communicating it, 
 and thoroughly practised in the use of those methods.
 
 288 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 It is in the experience of every teacher, that to 
 embrace a truth one's self, and to be able to present 
 it under the simplest form to another, are essentially 
 different things. It is necessary that teaching as an 
 art should be made the subject of study. Mere 
 practice of this art does not give proficiency. It has 
 principles and rules,* which mustbe the subjects of 
 rational investigation. There must be the habitual 
 study of the best methods, and of the principles on 
 which they are based. It is to be borne in mind that 
 the work of the elementary schoolmaster is one of no 
 ordinary difficulty. That the children who come to 
 him have never been taught to think, have no know- 
 ledge which may form the subject of thought, and are 
 without the means of acquiring that knowledge. He 
 has to act on untutored minds, to give them the arts 
 of learning, to teach them to think and understand, 
 aud to store their minds with material for thought. 
 This is impossible to those who are not acquainted 
 with teaching as a science as well as practised in it as 
 an art. 
 
 " It is the triumph of the art of the teacher to 
 break down the separation interposed between his own 
 and the uneducated mind. From his own ample stores 
 to select those adapted to form the first elements of 
 the knowledge of a child, and so to present them as 
 best to lead the child to reason upon them and to 
 understand them. The principal object ef a lesson 
 has been lost in respect to any child on whose mind 
 no impression remains when the lesson is over; and 
 an obstacle has been interposed to its further progress 
 if its reasoning powers have not been exercised, and ita
 
 INSPECTORS. 289 
 
 inceAieence gathered strength from it. The child's 
 mind has been unjustly tasked, and its attention, 
 claimed where it was not due, has heen simulated. 
 Thus the efforts of the teacher, which ought to ac- 
 custom it to apply its thoughts and to reflect on what 
 it has learned, result in giving it the habit of a feigned 
 attention and a Avandering mind. 'But of all the evils 
 inflicted on a child who is compelled to listen to a 
 lesson which it does not comprehend, the greatest 
 probably is that which is involved in the sacrifice made 
 of its faith in the teacher. ' The child comes into the 
 world,' says Pere Girard, ' not only with faculties to 
 learn from others what he is ignorant of, but with a 
 happy tendency to believe them. He is told and he 
 believes. It is thus that the knowledge of others 
 becomes his. Take away faith from the heart of a 
 child, and how can it learn 1 ' When day by day the 
 child is compelled to sit a patient listener to instruc- 
 tions to which it attaches no intelligible meaning, 
 how entirely is this faith sacrificed ! " " The deception 
 is carried on to positive falsehood when, in the exa- 
 mination which follows the lesson, the child is made 
 to profess himself to have understood what he did not 
 understand." " The failure of a schoolmaster as a 
 teacher must impair his influence in whatever else, 
 besides teaching, belongs to his office, a proposition 
 the converse of which is also true. Such a teacher is 
 likely to claim of the children that they should 
 understand what he supposes himself to have ex- 
 plained to them, but really has not ; and he is likely 
 to te angry with them if they have not understood it. 
 By this injustice he raises up an antagonism in the 
 TJ
 
 290 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 n?fuda of the children, the more demoralizing that it 
 n;ust be disguised ; or if the child remains un- 
 conscious that the failure is on the side of the master, 
 and sets it down to his own incapacity to understand 
 what the master has tried to teach him, the injury to 
 the child is none the less by reason of the discourage- 
 ment which he has experienced, and the distrust 
 which, without foundation, has been created in his 
 mind, of his power to reason and understand." 
 
 " Oral instruction is especially an agency by which an 
 uninstructed child may be taught to think and reason ; 
 whilst it is the most direct, it is probably the most 
 effectual means of imparting to it that definite amount 
 of knowledge which the master may happen himself to 
 possess. By a most useful reaction it becomes to him 
 moreover a continual process of self -instruction, exer- 
 cising his faculties of reasoning, and his powers of 
 exposition, prompting him to study the minds of his 
 scholars, and encouraging him to enlarge the boundaries 
 of his knowledge. With this form, of instruction it is, 
 however, most important that the use of books should 
 be combined. The child must be made a student. It 
 ia not enough that a certain amount of knowledge be 
 imparted to it ; if a process of self- instruction be not 
 induced in the process of oral instruction a child is 
 never an independent agent ; he neither seeks know- 
 ledge for himself, nor unaided encounters any of the 
 difficulties opposed to its acquisition. His mind leans 
 continually on the mind of his teacher ; and, unaccus- 
 tomed to support itself, if some other state be not made 
 to alternate with this, it goes with difficulty alone. It 
 is m tne well-baianced union of the two methods of
 
 INSPECTORS. 291 
 
 oral instruction by the master, and self-instruction by 
 the child, that the secret of elementary education 
 appears to consist." 
 
 In oral lessons there is too often a tendency to travel 
 out of the sphere of the intelligence of the children, 
 and to bring before them subjects in forms unsuited 
 to their years, and foreign to their interest. There is 
 also a want of vivacity and energy in examination. The 
 vagrant thoughts of the children constitute the chief 
 obstacle a master has to contend with in teaching them . 
 This unsettled state of the mind in children, the skilful 
 master, knowing it to be proper to their years, rather 
 seeks to turn to his use than to contend with. To keep 
 alive the interest of the children in the lesson he varies 
 it by frequent examinations his questions follow in 
 rapid succession ; they tend to a drawing out of the 
 reason rather than the memory, and he shifts continually 
 the point of view in which his subject is presented, 
 giving prominence to those features of it by which it 
 is related to things familiar to the children themselves. 
 All that he does is founded on a careful study of the 
 characteristics of childhood, and a just appreciation of 
 them. He has carefully observed the ways of children, 
 and the efforts they make to reflect, reason, and under- 
 stand. Of the knowledge he has thus acquired he 
 avails himself to command their attention ; and when 
 this fails he calls the sympathy of numbers to his aid, or 
 throws in the element of emulation. Warming with his 
 task, the interest he feels passes to the children, and the 
 whole group glows with the desire to know. This condi- 
 tion of mind is not transient, the lesson is repeated 
 daily, and it becomes therefore in some degree habitual.
 
 292 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Of defects in oral lessons he observes, " Had the 
 teacher known more of the subject-matter of his 
 lesson, it has been my constant observation that he 
 would have been able to select from it things better 
 adapted to the instruction of children, and to place 
 them in a simpler point of view. That he may be able 
 to present his subject to the minds of the children in 
 its most elementary forms, he himself must have gone 
 to the root of it ; and that he may exhaust it of all 
 that it is capable of yielding for the child's instruction, 
 he must have compassed the whole of it." " The car- 
 dinal defect of oral lesson in elementary schools is an 
 inadequate knowledge on the part of the teacher of 
 that which he is teaching. If his knowledge of it had 
 covered a larger surface he would have selected matter 
 better adapted to the instruction of the children. If 
 he had comprehended it more fully he would have 
 made it plainer to them. If he had been more familiar 
 with it, he had spoken more to the point. I will en- 
 deavour to illustrate this by an example. A teacher 
 proposing to give an oral lesson on coal, for instance, 
 holds a piece of it up before his class, and having 
 secured their attention, he probably asks them to which 
 kingdom it belongs, animal, vegetable, or mineral, a 
 question in no case of much importance, and to be 
 answered, in the case of coal, doubtfully. Having, 
 however, extracted that answer which he intended to 
 get from the children, he induces them by many ingeni- 
 ous devices, much circumlocution, and an extravagant 
 expenditure of the time of the school, to say that it is 
 a solid, that it is heavy, that it is opaque, that it is 
 back, that it is friable, and that it is combustible. In
 
 INSPECTORS. 293 
 
 such a lesson the teacher affords evidence of no other 
 knowledge of the particular thing wliich is the subject 
 of it than the children might be supposed to possess 
 before the lesson began. He gives it easily, because 
 the form is the same for every lesson ; the blanks having 
 only to be differently filled up every time it is repeated. 
 All that it is adapted for is to teach them the meanings 
 of some unusual words, words useless to them because 
 they apply to abstract ideas, and which, as the type of 
 all such lessons is the same, he has probably often taught 
 them before. 
 
 " He has shown some knowledge of words, but none 
 ofthings. Of the particular thing called coal as distin- 
 guished from any other thing he knows nothing more 
 than the child, but only of certain properties common 
 to it and almost everything else, and of certain words, 
 useless to poor children, which describe those properties. 
 Coal is a common thing to the child, one with which 
 its daily observation is familiar, intimately connected 
 with uses of its life a substance about which it might 
 be taught many things which would probably be of 
 great use to it in after life, things which it would not 
 be likely ever to know unless it were so taught them. 
 This tendency, from ignorance of things, to teach 
 children words only, runs in a notable manner through 
 almost all of the lessons on physical science which I 
 have listened to." 
 
 Other defects are noted. " An earnest teacher, by 
 an excess of earnestness, sometimes becomes minute and 
 interfering, and unconsciously he is unjust, not giving 
 the children credit for being right in their answers when 
 they are right, compelling them to shape such answers
 
 294 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 precisely in the words which he himself would use, 
 words not so good, perhaps, as the child's, because not 
 so simple. This tendency is a cardinal defect in teach- 
 ing, and I believe its influence to be extremely demoral- 
 izing." "An examiner ought not to require the answer 
 in a tone of command, authoritatively, but simply as an 
 interrogation, not leading but following the train of 
 thought of the person examined, and, as it follows, 
 guiding it. Some teachers seem to think that all that 
 is required for a good examination is to question rapidly, 
 unhesitatingly. The teacher should specially be upon 
 his guard against an abrupt and over-confident manner 
 in teaching, and a tendency to contradict the children 
 for no other assignable cause than self-assertion when 
 they have answered rightly. His mind should be en- 
 tirely upon the children, and away from himself." 
 
 The plan first suggested by Professor Moseley, of 
 organizing a common elementary school in three divi- 
 sions, corresponding to the threefold work of such 
 school, bore excellent fruit. The principles which he 
 lays down are admirable. " To educate children, the 
 action of an enlightened teacher upon them is required, 
 with an individual application to each individual 
 mind. There must be the separate contact of the mind 
 of the master with the mind of the child ; the separate 
 study of it ; the separate ministering to its wants, 
 checking its waywardness, propping up and guiding 
 and encouraging its first efforts, building it up and 
 establishing it. The whole time allowed out of the 
 life of a poor child for its school days is all too short. 
 Nothing can be done unless the most powerful of the 
 resources of the schoolmaster be brought to bear upon
 
 INSPECTORS. 295 
 
 every moment of it. If his work be not taken in 
 hand forthwith, not only will he have lost the most 
 favourable season for it, but the whole opportunity. I 
 claim, therefore, as a privilege of the child, and as a 
 paramount duty of the master, that his own individual 
 culture of the child's mind, his own direct and per- 
 sonal labour upon it, should begin from the moment 
 the child first enters the school, and never be inter- 
 rupted until he leaves it. That tho child should not, 
 for instance, be tossed about, as it passes through the 
 school, from hand to hand, from teacher to teacher, 
 beginning at that of the lowest merit, until, if it ever 
 reach the first or second, it comes at length under the 
 master mind of the school, which should have operated 
 upon it throughout. It is n t by a process thus 
 broken and disjointed that anything great or perma- 
 nent will be realized. Many elements of the character 
 of the child, which the master would easily have 
 read in the lowest class of the school, will be dis- 
 'guised from him if he first takes it up in the highest ; 
 many evils, which he might have corrected then, will 
 now have become incorrigible ; much that he might 
 have built up by a gradual process, growing with the 
 child's growth and strengthening with its strength, 
 will be impracticable to any less sustained and con- 
 tinuous effort." 
 
 Accordingly he recommends that each school shall 
 be formed into three groups, and that each group shall 
 pass in turn into a room for oral instruction by the 
 master ; the other groups, being one at preparatory 
 work in classes and drafts, the other at silent exercises 
 in desks. The system thus recommended largely
 
 296 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 modified the organization of schools. Provision was 
 more extensively made than heretofore for oral teaching 
 by the master, but the system as a whole never made its 
 way, and for obvious reasons. It exacted more from 
 the master than could be given long with safety to his 
 health, and it made no provision for that moral over- 
 sight which at least is of as much importance as intel- 
 lectual culture. The tripartite organization was sub- 
 sequently adapted by Fletcher to the Borough Road 
 Practising Schools, and in a modified form was exten- 
 sively adopted in other schools. 
 
 This form of organization, modified to meet special 
 circumstances, will probably continue to be employed 
 in village schools. But the Act of 1870, in the 
 powers with which it has invested school boards, has 
 made possible an organization of schools which would 
 go far to solve the problem how to educate to the best 
 advantage the children of our urban population. This 
 would be best done by a system of grade schools, but 
 materially differing from those established by Stow. 
 In his system each school was distinct under its own 
 responsible master, but all the schools in the group 
 were under one roof, with ahead master, who wasnot only 
 responsible for his own school, but for unity of system in 
 all. In lieu of this plan, it would be better to place a 
 group of grade schools in a district of given area, each 
 school easily accessible from all parts of it. Each 
 school in the group, occupying its own separate and 
 distinct building, should have its own curriculum, 
 corresponding to what now constitutes a standard of 
 the Education Department. This should form the 
 minimum of attainment in its own school, and the
 
 INSPECTORS. 297 
 
 ability to do it should be the test for admission into 
 the school of the next higher grade. Thus a system of 
 schools would be established, each preparatory to the 
 next in advance ; each school would be under a head 
 master, who would be absolutely responsible for its 
 progress within the defined limits, but who would not 
 be restricted to them, during the time the scholars 
 were under his charge. Thus, too, there would be a 
 system of schools which would begin at the very 
 lowest point of elementary attainment, and proceed by 
 easy gradation to the highest point of culture. 
 
 SEYMOUR TREMENHEERE was one of the earlier in 
 spectors of schools. The faithfulness of his reports in 
 pointing out defects in schools, and especially those 
 found in British schools, ultimately led to his " pro- 
 motion " from the inspection of schools to the inspection 
 of mines. Yet he could appreciate and praise good work. 
 " In the boys' school at the village of Illogan the 
 Scriptural and catechetical lessons are made to consist 
 of much more than mere reading and repetition. The 
 due exercise of the understanding seems to be kept 
 very constantly in view. Maps and a few books illus- 
 trative of Scripture are used to assist the apprehension, 
 and to awaken greater interest by giving clearer per- 
 ceptions. Lessons in geography, in the elements of 
 astronomy, on physiology, on metals and minerals, 
 flowers, and other subjects of natural history, tested 
 afterwards, either catecheticatly or by writing, enlarge 
 the circle of ideas and arouse curiosity. Maps are 
 drawn on the black-board from memory, also on paper. 
 The black-board is used for drawing and illustrating 
 geometrical figures and simple objects of natural
 
 298 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 history or of art. Grammar is attended to. The 
 arithmetic frame is used for beginners. Some few 
 boys had gone through Bonnycastle's " Mensuration ; " 
 others had begun simple equations and " Euclid." 
 None were above thirteen years of age." 
 
 In the same report of 1840 he thus incidentally 
 speaks of oral collective lessons : " The daily oral 
 lesson, as given in the most improved day schools) 
 tested by questions, or by writing its substance, could 
 not fail of its usual result in awakening intelligence 
 and a taste for knowledge. The tendency to fall into 
 mere dogmatical teaching, outrunning in language and 
 subject the intelligence of the children, is natural to 
 those who have not prepared themselves, by previous 
 consideration of each proposed oral lesson, for the diffi- 
 cult and important art of communicating it. The 
 power of mastering any continuous subject, of reducing 
 it to clear, logical order, and of presenting it to the 
 minds of young children in simple terms, in regular 
 gradation from its first steps or simplest element, so as 
 to lead the learner along a clear yet almost insensible 
 path of progression, is far from being of easy acquire- 
 ment, and yet is amongst the first principles of sound 
 teaching. The skill also by which every answer and 
 every incident is turned to account by an adroit 
 master, for moral or mental discipline, cannot be 
 gained without attention and cultivation." 
 
 The oral lesson needs not only careful preparation, 
 and a just appreciation of the several devices to be 
 employed to secure attention and work, but a proper 
 division of the children. "A school of 100" would 
 be divided for this purpose into three large groups,
 
 1NSPECTOKS. 299 
 
 each of which would receive in turii its lesson from 
 the master. Such a lesson is thus described by M. de 
 Gerando, "In this lesson the teacher instructs and 
 directs a certain number of children together, he 
 addresses to all the same language, the same demon- 
 strations ; all execute at once the same things and act 
 in union. He has his eye on all, and all observe and 
 hear him. There is therefore more simplicity and more 
 rapidity in his operations ; the strength and time of 
 the instructor are distributed with more economy; 
 imitation and sympathy animate and sustain the 
 children in that common progress which they are 
 making together ; the harmony of their labour keeps 
 up a natural discipline. 
 
 " It is of the essence of this mode of aiTangement 
 and teaching that the children should be divided into 
 large groups, each as nearly as possible equal in age, 
 capacity, and progress. But even under the most 
 careful management this method has its defects, ' as it 
 cannot always happen, when the group is numerous, 
 that all the children should really be of the same degree 
 of capacity and advancement. The weaker therefore 
 remain behind, or the more able are obliged to stop and 
 wait for their comrades.' The mode of simultaneous 
 answering is not an essential part of the simultaneous 
 method of teaching. It is a very questionable practice, 
 as affording a considerable opening for deception. The 
 first words of the answer of the quickest often suggest 
 the whole, is caught with rapidity by the rest, and 
 passes as theirs. A better mode is to desire all who 
 can answer to hold up their hands, and to take a cer- 
 tain number before deciding which is right."
 
 300 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 On the function of the school to attend to the edu- 
 cation of the whole child he has the following observa- 
 tions : " The name of Pestalozzi is now so commonly 
 and so exclusively associated with one of the valuable 
 principles on which he insisted that of making it a 
 primary object of education to draw out and strengthen 
 all the faculties, the physical as well as the intellectual 
 and moral, that it appears to be overlooked that in 
 enforcing this he was only reviving and giving a more 
 extensive application to what had been the enlightened 
 practice of former times, and the principle of all the 
 most philosophical writers on the subject of education 
 down to his own day." The public and private educa- 
 tion of Athens and Home was eminently one designed 
 to develop all the faculties, in the language of Milton, 
 "to lit a man to perform justly, skilfully, and mag- 
 nanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of 
 peace and of war." Fenelon was of opinion that it was 
 of the first consequence "that this should be well 
 heeded." Milton and Locke are of the same mind. 
 Dugald Stewart thus defines the essential objects of 
 education : "They are, first, to cultivate all the 
 various principles of our nature, both speculative and 
 active, in such a manner as to bring them to the great- 
 est perfection of which they are susceptible ; and, 
 secondly, by watching over the impressions and asso- 
 ciations which the mind receives in early life, to secure 
 it against the influence of prevailing errors, and, as far 
 as possible, to engage its prepossessions on the side of 
 truth." 
 
 That the teacher may rightly fulfil his duty in de- 
 veloping and improving the faculties, and in calling
 
 INSPECTORS. 301 
 
 forth and regulating the affections of those committed 
 to his charge, it is essential that he should have some 
 acquaintance with the principles of the human mind- 
 In general, his utmost aim at present, corresponding 
 with the extent of his capacity, is to lead the intellect 
 through some of the lower processes of elementary 
 teaching. Even this branch of duty opens to him a 
 field of usefulness on which he is seldom prepared to 
 enter. Stewart says, " To instruct youth in the 
 languages and in the sciences is, comparatively, of 
 little importance if we are inattentive to the habits 
 they acquire, and are not careful in giving to their 
 different faculties, and all their different principles of 
 action, a proper degree of employment. Abstracting 
 entirely from the culture of their moral powers, how 
 extensive and difficult is the business of conduct- 
 ing their intellectual improvement ! To watch over 
 the associations which they form in their tender years ; 
 to give them early habits of mental activity; to rouse 
 their curiosity, and to direct it to proper objects ; to 
 exercise their ingenuity and invention ; to cultivate in 
 their minds a turn for speculation, and at the same time 
 preserve their attention alive to the objects around 
 them ; to awaken their sensibilities to the beauties of 
 nature, and to inspire them with a relish for intellec- 
 kial enjoyment these form but a part of the business 
 of education ; and yet the execution even of this part 
 requires an acquaintance with the general principles of 
 our nature which seldom falls to the share of those to 
 whom the instruction of youth is commonly entrusted." 
 In the same direction are the following remarks : 
 " The power of furnishing the mind, of enlarging and
 
 302 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 improving it, can obviously belong only to a master 
 who can command the stores of a well-cultivated mind, 
 and has also learned the art of using them. It is such a 
 one alone who can rise above the mere mechanism of 
 teaching can call forth all the latent faculties of his 
 pupils, and raise them towards the level of his own. 
 Such a one will see in the world around him some of 
 the most important subjects on which to found his in- 
 struction, and will lead the young mind to test, by the 
 true spirit of Christianity, its various acts, responsi- 
 bilities, and duties. He will not overlook the import- 
 ance of raising and regulating the character, through 
 a due cultivation and development of the moral sen- 
 timents, and a watchful superintendence over the 
 habits and conduct. To this end he will do what, in 
 the generally over-anxious desire to convey a mere 
 knowledge of material facts, is too often omitted he 
 will open the stores of high and generous examples 
 which history contains, to warm the mind of youth, to 
 raise the thoughts of age, and to invite imitation. The 
 effect of not familiarizing the mind of the young with 
 instances of this kind, inspiring a sympathy with 
 generous natures, awakening admiration for acts of 
 magnanimity and self-sacrifice, and kindling a love of 
 country, is to produce a distrust of the existence of any 
 such motives, and therefore to obstruct and discourage 
 in many ways the cause of public improvement." 
 
 "The domain of imagination, through an acquaint- 
 ance with our best poetry, is far too little cultivated in 
 the ordinary day schools. It is almost entirely ne- 
 glected. There can be no valid reason for overlooking 
 so powerful an auxiliary in the work of raising the mind
 
 303 
 
 and mending the heart. Selected passages of some 
 poetry and of the best prose might be committed to 
 memory in every common school ; and the sources of 
 the most refined pleasure thus opened to the mind of 
 youth would most probably yield support and refresh- 
 ment to a whole life of temptation and toil. A sense 
 of what is beautiful in taste, correct in thought and 
 feeling, and exalted in conduct, might thence be dif- 
 fused more widely, and the sentiments thus worked into 
 the national mind would result no less in a just appre- 
 ciation of the literature and institutions of the country 
 than in a proper self-esteem. A schoolmaster who 
 rightly estimates his power of benefiting the community 
 will not throw away this instrument of its welfare. In 
 every common school, passages copied into a book 
 during the school hours might be learnt by heart at 
 home." 
 
 He thus describes a class in a school inspected in 
 1842 : "Their reading lessons were so conducted as 
 to become a valuable intellectual exercise. If any in- 
 accuracy arises, or any error in pronunciation, accent, 
 or emphasis, the sentence is read again by the boy 
 making the fault until it is corrected. An effort is 
 thence induced to be accurate in the first instance. 
 The meaning of the sentence is then required in their 
 own language; the etymology of every compound word ; 
 various derivatives of the same root ; the various mean- 
 ings of the same word ; the mode of its use in different 
 senses ; the words or clauses in a sentence, in opposition 
 to or in connection with each other ; finally, its gov- 
 ernment and the examples it affords of the rules of 
 grammar and composition. A dozen pages gone
 
 304 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 through in this manner, slowly and carefully, will 
 have done much towards giving a knowledge of 
 language ; while the mental effort required will have 
 raised and strengthened the faculties. The advantage 
 of this kind of training was shown by these boys in 
 their writing exercise." He thus speaks of a class in 
 another school : " In the second class the iirst lessons 
 are given on etymology."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ABBOTT ; on reproof, 188 ; on character, 197 ; moral review, 229. 
 
 JSsop's Fables a reading hook, 36, 47 
 
 Alphabet; plain card, 45 ; on teaching me, oi ; Bell's plan, 172 ; 
 
 kindergarten, 159. 
 Amateurs and helpers. 262. 
 Analysis and synthesis, 280. 
 Apt to teach, 206, 287. 
 Arnold on chiding hastily. 7. 
 Aristotle on emulation, 184. 
 Arithmetic ; early lessons, 53, 84 ; Pestalozzian, 145 ; Dunning 
 
 on, 146; Mayo, 148; De Morgan, 148; kindergarten, 159; 
 
 Lancaster, 193 ; Grant and Saturday Review, 274. 
 Ascham's schoolmaster, 4. 
 Attention, 33, 56, 166, 271. 
 Authority in moral training, 29. 122. 130. 
 
 .Bell's monitorial system, 162. 
 
 Books, 14, 36, 45, 61, 68, 173. J91. 208. 
 
 Brougham, Lord, 263. 
 
 Caughie, prince of infant teachers, 212. 
 Caxton, 2. 
 
 Cecil on corporal punishment, 5. 
 Central Soci ty and its work, 264. 
 
 T
 
 306 IN7EX. 
 
 Chadwick on Grant, 270. 
 
 Character a growth, 197. 
 
 Chaucer, 2. 
 
 Child-nature, 26, 28, 79, 122, 155, 224, 299. 
 
 Child, necessity of exertion, 69, 166, 168. 
 
 Children must be employed, 166, 272. 
 
 Cicero, 8, 11. 
 
 Classical learning and its advantages, 39. 
 
 Classification in school, 177, 192, 194. 
 
 Colet founds St. Paul's School, 3. 
 
 Collective teaching, 261, 290, 298. 
 
 Colour and form, 141, 160. 
 
 Comenius, 13. 
 
 Composition, 38, 47. 
 
 Conscience, culture of. 115. 
 
 Cornewaile introduces English into schools, 1. 
 
 Corporal punishment, 6, 8, jjl, 189, 286. 
 
 Curiosity, 33. 
 
 Currie ; action, 221 ; sympathy of numbers, 235. 
 
 Daily News on praise and blamo 8 
 
 Development in education, 90, 97. 99, 102, 225. 
 
 Devices in school work, 170. 
 
 Discipline, 6, 18, 29, 62, 80, 120, 182, 190, 220, 28tf. 
 
 Discipline of natural consequences, 32, 62, 128. 
 
 Distinction, love of, 201. 
 
 Doddridge, pictures in early training, 14. 
 
 Drawing, 49, 159. 
 
 Dunning, 96, 116, 122 
 
 Edgeworths, father and daughter, 48. 
 
 Education ; according to bias, 28, 40, 123 ; general, not special, 
 41, 72, 165 ; should be religious, 88, 104, 217, 266 ; principles, 
 88 ; should be organic, 89 ; harmonious, 91 ; must have unity, 
 104; essential conditions, 166; golden rule in, 167; relation 
 to citizen, 265. 
 ducation, tendency to lose ground in, 93; \vant of faith in, 28,5.
 
 INDEX. 307 
 
 Educational Department and its work, 276. 
 
 Educational systems, testa applied to, 103, 163. 
 
 English fiist taught in schools, 1. 
 
 Elementary school, 162 ; its function moral, 214. 
 
 Emulation ; a powerful agent, 184 ; class, 202. 
 
 Enthusiasm necessary, 205. 
 
 Example stronger than precept, 119. 
 
 Experience the starting-point in moral culture, 1 18. 
 
 Exposition of reading lesson, 208, 303. 
 
 Evil should never be suggested, 27. 
 
 Fear in education, 18, 31, 63, 225. 
 Feelings, culture of, 113. 
 Fellenberg on public opinion, 198. 
 Form and colour, 141 ; form, 148 ; kindergarten, 158. 
 French ; on learning, 38, 46. 
 - Frobel's kindergarten, 154. 
 
 Geography, 47. 
 
 Gill, Alexander, 4. 
 
 Glasgow Educational Society, 213. 
 
 God, child's first notions of, 106. 
 
 Grade schools : a system of wanted, 297 
 
 Graded schools, 238. 
 
 Graduation of lessons, 100, 142, 192. 
 
 Grammar and composition, 38, 46, 62. 
 
 Grant, Horace, 270. 
 
 Guessing, ludicrous instances, 257. 
 
 History; a home subject, 47 ; how taught, 61. 
 Home and Colonial School Society, 93. 
 
 Imitation a strong agent, 119. 
 
 Infant culture, 48, 83, 100, 135, 148, 273. 
 
 Infant school organization, 97. 
 
 Infant's schools ; Oberlin, 76 ; Wilderspin, 77 ; Mayo's, 85 : 
 
 Home and Colonial, 93 ; kindergarten, 154. 
 Inspectors of schools ; their reports, 282.
 
 308 INDEX. 
 
 Intellectual system established, 202. 
 Interrogation and explanation, 207. 
 Intuition, 66, 135. 
 Invention, 50, 158. 
 
 Kindergarten system ; anticipated, 48 ; Frobel's, 154. 
 Knowledge, first through the senses, 66. 
 Knox's system, 38. 
 
 Lancaster's monitorial system, 189. 
 
 Langlande's Piers Plowman, 2. 
 
 Langler's phonic method books, 52. 
 
 Language ; an instrument of culture, 16 ; pupils' ignorance of, 
 59 ; Pestalozzi's practice, 73 ; ideas before words, 83 ; object 
 lessons, 136 ; exposition of, 208 ; word-getting, 257 ; Tremen- 
 heere on exposition, 203. 
 
 Latin, how to be learnt, 12, 45. 
 
 Learning; objects of, 7, 33; thorough and familiar, 10, 57, 171; 
 sham leads to immorality, 17; relation to character, 21 ; not 
 made irksome, 34, 50 ; not to be a game, 34, 41 ; no false 
 associations with, 56 ; definite lessons, 170 ; relation to teach- 
 ing, 240. 
 
 Learning, revival of, 3. 
 
 Lessors; short, 67, 271 ; on form and colour, 141; on objects, 
 71, 86, 136 ; on animals, 139; connection in, 68. 
 
 Liberty, not coercion, 90. 
 
 Little things in obedience, 201 
 
 Locke, John, 19, 83, 221. 
 
 Logical faculty, when cultivated, 247. 
 
 Long quoted, 183, 232. 
 
 Love of approbation, 132. 
 
 Managers of schools, how treated, 123. 
 Master ; duties, 180 ; qualifications, 204. 
 Mayos, 64, 85, 96, 116, 119, 135, 141. 
 Memory, 7, 43, 242.
 
 INDEX 309 
 
 Mental faculties, all to be trained, 72, 269, 299. 
 
 Method ; importance, 42 ; with young children, 69 ; of discovery, 
 
 241; outlims first, 247 ; picturing out, 249 ; training out, 255 ; 
 
 induction, 260 ; in education, 269 ; synthesis, 277. 
 Milton's views on education, 14. 
 Mind, knowledge of, necessary, 204, 26-5, 271, 298. 
 Mistakes; how corrected, 8 ; not t > he ridiculed, 33. 
 Monitorial system ; Bell's, 162 ; Lancaster's, 189. 
 Monitors; Comenius, 14 ; Bell, 175; Lancaster, 195. 
 Moral training; its po.-ition, 23 ; barriers, 25 ; discipline, 62, 111 ; 
 
 chief aim, 80; moral intelligence, 74; nature, 81, 89 ; moral 
 
 diseases, 89, 127; practice, not precept, 29; mistakes, 114; 
 
 emotions of self , 116; moral instruction, 117 ; conditions, 223 ; 
 
 playground and moral review, 228 ; inseparable from religious, 
 
 190, 215. 
 Moseley's reports, 283. 
 
 National system of education first mooted, 275. 
 Natural consequences of actions, 32, 62, 187. 
 Necker on a storm of words, 188. 
 Normal college first established by Stow, 213. 
 
 Obedience, 63 ; in little things, 201. 
 
 Object lessons, 71. 86, 136, 292. 
 
 Obstinacy, 32, 64, 128, 130. 
 
 Offences and offenders, 185. 
 
 Ogle on punishments, 125. 
 
 Oral teaching, 208, 238, 261, 290, 298. 
 
 Order of merit, 201. 
 
 Organization ; grammar school, 47 ; infant schools, 97 ; Bell's 
 
 plans, 174 ; Lancaster's, 193 ; graded school, 238 ; Batteisea, 
 
 277 ; tripartite, 294. 
 Overwork is pernicious, 272. 
 Owen on infant training, 76. 
 
 Pain, its use in moral training, 30. 
 Palmerston on good writing, 174.
 
 310 INDEX 
 
 Penmanship, 37, 174. 
 
 Pestalozzi, 14, 16, 48, 54, 56, 64, 86 300. 
 
 Phonic method of learning to read, 61 , 2 : 9. 
 
 Physical education, 22, 79. 
 
 Pictures ; in early training, 49 ; in books, 14 ; in religious in- 
 struction, 108. 
 
 Picturing out, 14, 249. 
 
 Pillans' Letters, 203. 
 
 Pioneers in education, 1 . 
 
 Plagiarism prevented, 47- 
 
 Plato, 7, 44. 
 
 Playground, 80, 82, 228. 
 
 Poetry, 62 302. 
 
 Practice must he frequent, 195. 
 
 Praise, 32, 132, 184. 
 
 Precept and practice, 29, 74, 76, 81, 220. 
 
 Precept and example, 81. 
 
 Principles and plans, 170. 
 
 Province of the school, 163, 190. 
 
 Public opinion in school, 186, 198, 231. 
 
 Punishment ; discrimination between offences, 6 ; depriving of 
 food, 25; seldom in a good school, 124; prevention, 125; 
 spirit of, 127; by natural consequences, 128; design, 186; 
 Moseley on, 286. 
 
 Quintilian, 44, 162. 
 
 Reading, 18, 34, 36, 44, 61, 161, 172, 192, 203, 208. 
 
 Redgrave on colour, 141. 
 
 Registers; paidometer, 181 ; of offences, 186 
 
 Reid on public opinion, 233. 
 
 Religious education, 75, 104, 106, 163 218, 266, 284. 
 
 Repetition, 171. 
 
 Reproof, 187. 
 
 Restraint, 91, 226. 
 
 Rewards, 32, 132. 
 
 Reynolds on moral instruction, 119. 
 
 Richter on toys, 49.
 
 INDEX. 311 
 
 Rote teaching a failure, 203. 
 
 Saturday Review quoted, 34, 274. 
 
 Sc ptical habit formed, 245. 
 
 School ; work olten fruitless, 67 ; a happy place, 80 ; a micro- 
 cosm, 82 ; method tends to routine, 93 ; province, 163 ; moral 
 function, 214. 
 
 School- keeping an art, 179. 
 
 School life i eriods, 100, 191. 
 
 Schoolmaster, 263. 
 
 Scripture piints, 168 ; instruction, 105 ; how used, 266. 
 
 Self-help, 167. 
 
 Senses in education, 66, 68, 83. 88, 135, 268, 273, 278. 
 
 Shame, the aim of punishment, 30. 
 
 Shuttleworth, 275. 
 
 Simple to complex, 70. 
 
 Size and weight, 145. 
 
 Spectator used in teaching English, 47. 
 
 Spelling to follow reading, 73. 
 
 Stewart, Dugald, on educating the whole man, 299. 
 
 Stow, David, 14, 83, 96, 210 
 
 Sugden on Stow's system, 262. 
 
 Syllabification, Bell's plan, 173. 
 
 Sympathy ; moulds character, 120 ; easily excited, 129 ; of 
 numbers, 230. 
 
 Synthetic method, 277. 
 
 Taylor, Isaac, 134. 
 
 Tate's Arithmetic, 56. 
 
 Teacher ; choice of, 21 ; confess ignorance, 34 ; few skilful, 93 ; 
 
 weight of character, 125 ; not slave to routine, 170 ; influence, 
 
 183; qualifications, 204; should teach, 237; example, 280; 
 
 skilful, 287. 
 Teaching; method, 83; tests, 167; requires enthusiasm, 190; 
 
 outlines first, 247 ; should he studied, 288 ; inefficient, 292. 
 Tegetmeier on lessons on animals, 139. 
 Temptation as a moral agent, 226. 
 Things before words, 16, 69, 83, 88.
 
 312 INDEX. 
 
 Thorough learning, 171. 
 
 Threats, 128. 
 
 Training system, 210. 
 
 Training and teaching, 213 ; training out, 254. 
 
 Tremenheere's reports, 296. 
 
 Trial by jury, 186. 
 
 Tripartite organization, 294. 
 
 Understanding and memory, 242. 
 Understanding essential to learning, 10. 
 
 Ward anticipated Pestalozzi, 56, 146. 
 
 Whitbread attempts to obtain aid to education, 275. 
 
 Wilderspin, 77, 96. 
 
 Will, training of, 63, 199. 
 
 Wits, quick and hard, 9. 
 
 Wolsey's instructions to masters, 3. 
 
 Wood's Intellectual System, 202. 
 
 Words pictured, 251 ; word-getting, 258. 
 
 Writing, 37, 159, 170, 174. 
 
 Wykeham's school at Winchester, 2. 
 
 Wyse oil educational reform, 265. 
 
 THE END.
 
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