UC-NRLF $B 2bE EMT ^Ih % si- id. mmi - . ■■#'••!•■'■ REESE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. I ■iAccessiQii'No. Y(oO 3 ^ ■ CloisNo. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/educationasmeansOOellirich \ EDUCATION AS A MEANS OF PREVENTINa DESTITUTION: WITH EXEMPLIFICATIONS FROM THE TEACHING OF THE CONDITIONS OF WELL-BEINQ AND THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF ECONOMICAL SCIENCE AT THE BIEKBECK SCHOOLS. PREFACED BY A LETTER TO THE EIGHT HON. LOKD JOHN EUSSELL, M.P. By WILLIAM ELLIS, Author of the "Outlines op Social Economy," etc. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 1851. l3^^ ^ ik y^ 30 LONDON: PBINTED BY STKWAKT AND MUERAT, OLD BAILEY. CONTENTS. PAGE Letter to the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, M.P. 1 I. Thoughts upon Education as a means of Preventing or Dimin- ishing Destitution 9 II. The Conditions of Well-being as taught in the Birkbeck Schools, and as they ought to be taught everywhere 33 III. The Morality of Expenditure, or of the disposal of Wealth in general 63 IV. What is Competition? 93 IV CONTENTS. V. PAGE Not over-population, but under-education, the cause of Des- titution ; not more Emigration, but more Education, and of better quality, the remedy for Destitution 115 VI. Reasons for insisting that Instruction in Economical Science shall no longer be excluded from our Schools 131 EDUCATION AS A MEAXS OF PREYENTINa DESTITUTION. TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P. My Lord, I AM aware that it must be matter of more than ordinary importance, which alone can justify an ob- scure individual in trespassing upon your time and attention. When I state that the subject upon which I would trouble you is " Education," I think I may flatter myself, that you will not disdain to spare a few minutes for the consideration of what I would now venture to bring under your notice — especially if I add, what is well known to many in this metropolis and elsewhere, that I am not merely a talker or writer, but an actual worker in the great Educational harvest- field. There is, I believe, among all who are taking an active part in the diffusion and improvement of Edu- cation, a common feeling of regret, for the deficiency, both in quality and quantity, of the Education acces- sible to the masses of the people, and also for the backwardness and inability of parents to avail them- selves, in behalf of their children, of the indifferent education offered for their acceptance. No greater difficulty presents itself to the Educa- tional philanthropist than this parental inability. It was dwelt upon at the late annual meeting of the British and Foreign School Society, presided over by your Lordship, and drew forth from you some obser- vations far too valuable to be allowed to pass into oblivion, and which I beg to introduce here as reported in the Tz/we^ newspaper of the following morning (13th May). " It has been said by some who have spoken to-day, and with great truth, that a parent is responsible for his children, and he should be called on to see that no son or daughter of his was ignorant of the truth of religion, nor of their duty to God and man. But, on the other hand, I think it might be said with great justice that the parent has had some excuse who was unable, without the aid of his children, to obtain suffi- cient bread for his family, or a home to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather, or clothes to dress them. These are wants which a parent might justly allege as grounds why he could not afford to give his children that education which they might otherwise reasonably demand. But I trust and hope, that as comforts are increasing, and I believe the means of the great mass of the people are greater than they have been, of providing for their necessaries and com- forts of life — I trust and hope that you will perceive them more anxious for education. I think that there is not wanting in the people of this country the desire of all moral and spiritual good, and that they will be anxious, when they have the means, to confer those blessings upon their children." If it had been compatible with the narrow limits within which you were obliged to compress your re- marks, you would, I dare say, have drawn a distinction between the parents of the present and the parents of the future. At all events, I entertain little doubt that you will agree with me that, among the parents of the present, most of those who are unable to do their duty by their children are the victims of neglected, in- different, or mistaken education, as are the vagrants and criminals of society. They are, as your obser- vations indirectly imply, deserving of the deepest commiseration from all right-minded people. Never- theless, it is our duty to use every effort to circum- scribe the misery which must result to society from the misconduct of these several parties. We appre- hend vagrants, we confine criminals, we extend the hand of charity to unprotected children, and while smarting under the suffering thus inflicted upon us, and which we can do no more than mitigate in the present, ought we not to take precautions against the recurrence of similar suffering in the future ? As the existence of parents unable adequately to perform the parental duties is mostly a consequence of insufficient teaching and training, so a succession of im- proved parents can only be looked for after the means of education shall have been both improved and extended. I am not insensible to the difficulties that surround this question of the extension of education — the jealousies of the different religious denominations, and the dislike prevalent among most of them of seeing the secular B 2 4 separated from the religious portion of education. But, surely, there ought to be no disinclination any- where so to improve the secular portion of education as to make it as conducive as possible to the dimi- nution, if not to the prevention, of destitution. The purpose of the following pages is to direct attention to what must be embraced by education, to make it effective for this work of circumscribing or preventing destitution. A topic of minor importance to that of parental forethought, and yet not to be overlooked with im- punity, is incidentally referred to in your speech. You remark that " the means of the great mass of the people are greater than they have been." Granted. We have had three abundant harvests in succession ; but bad harvests await us. Potato rots, even, are to be looked for again. When these causes of com- parative scarcity visit our land, are the masses of the people to be badly off — to be unable to fulfil their duties as parents? — or are they to be prepared for these inevitable alternations of good and bad seasons, by saving from the superabundance of good seasons to supply the deficiencies of the bad ones, and thus feel themselves shielded from suffering, and competent to fulfil their duties as parents? What the answers must be to these questions greatly depends upon the character of the secular portion of Education — upon the general prevalence among the people of a knowledge of what they ought to do, how they ought to conduct themselves, and upon an equally prevalent disposition to make their conduct conform with their knowledge. You have assisted largely in removing the shackles from industry ; and for this effort your name will be honourably recorded in history among the benefactors of mankind. But to guarantee and advertise to the world that the rewards of industry, of knowledge, and of other social virtues, shall no longer be intercepted from the people by legislation, does not confer the virtues by which these rewards must be earned. This is the province of education — not of any kind of education, but of an education specially adapted to impart the knowledge and form the habits to qualify them for earning those rewards. And I readily con- fess it would be a source of pride and satisfaction to me if I could prevail upon you to fix your attention, and attract that of others, to the importance of intro- ducing into all educational establishments the improve- ments requisite to attain an end alike, I trust, longed for by all — the prevention or diminution of destitution. The statesman, legislator, or administrator, com- petent and disposed to say or do what is needful in this important matter of Education, has not up to this time been forthcoming. The records of Parliament, and the minutes of the Committee of Council on Education, establish this but too clearly. Let me, then, implore you to step forth, while there is yet an opportunity, and not to delay and thus leave it to others, to supply a want which must ere long be supplied by some " man in authority," and which, unsupplied, obstructs every other effort, however wisely directed, for the elevation of the people. You at this moment occupy a position among your countrymen which causes every recommendation — nay, hint from you, especially if in harmony with our higher intelligences and aspirations, to command a hearing, to sway opinion, and to influence conduct. Again, I say, let me implore you to vouchsafe a little serious attention to what I am making bold to submit to you. Should you, though only partially, agree with me, speak but the word, and make known to the public what in your opinion must no longer be excluded from Education, if it is to be efficacious in warding off destitution. The glory of carrying a comprehensive Educational measure, it may be, will not be yours, nor even the gratification of conciliating a preponderating amount of Educational opinion, but your words will impart courage and vitality to those active spirits which are ever at work to help up the masses from one step in civilization to another. And when, in the natural course of events, relieved from the anxieties of office and in the enjoyment of a well-earned and peaceful retirement, you may be led to indulge in the retrospect of your efforts during a long and arduous public life, I much doubt whether any single effort will be dwelt upon with more heartfelt satisfaction than those spoken words of yours — those tidings of great joy to ignorant and destitute thousands. It has ever been my habit not to solicit, directly or indirectly, man or boy to say what / think, or to act upon my convictions, but rather to think and form con- victions for himself and act faithfully and vigorously upon them. Neither do I depart from this habit now. Self- respect and respect for your lordship alike forbid it. The utmost extent of my demand is, that you will put these few plain questions to yourself: — Is it possible to diminish the pauperism and destitu- tion prevailing in this country ? UNIVEBSITY Must Education form part of the means to be em- ployed for warding off destitution ? Would religious Education, or Education with all the secular portion eliminated, suffice for the purpose ? And if not, what ought to be included in a complete course of secular Education ? These are questions which no man — assuredly no statesman — ought to turn aside from. Failing to answer them, he ought to abandon statesmanship. Finding answers and neglecting to act up to them, or mistrusting his ability to obtain that concurrence with- out which legislative action is impossible, and stifling his convictions, resorting to conventional fallacies culled from the Noodle's oration, or sheltering himself in ignominious silence — it is not for me to characterize the feelings that such conduct must arouse among enlightened and high-minded contemporaries, or to anticipate the stern and unanimous verdict of our more enlightened and high-minded posterity. I am, &c. &c. William Ellis. London f August 1851. I. THOUGHTS UPON EDUCATION AS A MEANS OF PREVENT- ING OR DIMINISHING DESTITUTION. In this world of mingled pleasure and pain, hope and fear, good and bad, love and hatred, peace and strife, truth and falsehood, knowledge and ignorance, it is gratifying to feel a conviction that the better elements ' of the mixture are daily gaining a preponderance. Everywhere around us we see things better done, well-being better provided for than, as far as we can learn from historical records, they were in former times. And when travellers and navigators return from foreign and distant lands, and narrate to us what they have seen and heard, we learn nothing to shake this cheerful conviction of ours, or to mortify us with the reflection that we are falling behind other nations of the earth in our progressive civilization. Turning from the comparison of our present state of semi-civilization with the previous barbarism out of which we are but emerging, and resting our thoughts upon the conflicting elements of barbarism and civili- zation in the midst of which we find ourselves afloat, sadder and soberer reflections are awakened within us. Those of us whose lot is cast among the more bar- 10 b^rous elements, cannot but feel our privation and suffering to be somewhat embittered by the sight and contact of contemporary abundance and enjoyment. Others of us, again, who are floating amid the more civilized elements, unless utterly unworthy, cannot but feel a pang in contemplating the victims of a yet unextinguished barbarism. As our sense of existing misery checks any tendency to boastful exuberance of joy that might possess us while we contemplate our evident progress, comparing the present with the past, so our consciousness of this growing preponderance of good must protect us against despair or despondency while we fix our attention upon the still wide-spread misery around us. What has caused the diminution of misery which we seem to admit? What is likely to favour the continuance of such diminution in the future ? The answers that will . / be generally given to these two questions are — " In- crease of knowledge, and improvement in habits." And if it be asked, how increase of knowledge and improved habits can best be promoted by those who are inclined to engage in the work, the answer will no less generally be, " by Education." If there be one sign of our times more hopeful than another, it is the unanimity with which Education is \j relied upon as the principal means for stifling the barbarism yet unextinguished, and for extending the civilization yet too circumscribed among us. What a contrast is presented by two systems for the preven- tion of evil, in the first of which the main effort is to avert it by removing its causes ; in the other, to cope with it only when these causes have been embodied \/ in effects. Education deals with causes — Punishment 11 with effects. And till within quite modern times, as fiir as the masses of mankind are concerned, the action of the former, in imparting knowledge and implanting habits, has been comparatively neglected ; while the efficacy of the latter, in deterring from acts committed through ignorance and ill-regulated propensities has been blindly relied upon. For example, men in want steal. All agree that theft must, if possible, be pre- vented. The Educator would prevent theft by pro- viding such teaching and training as will enable all to keep themselves from want, and out of temptation. The Punisher would prevent theft by exhibiting to hungry men how other hungry men have brought down legal penalties upon themselves by stealing in order to allay the pangs of hunger. Very different notions, it is true, prevail among the persons out of whose mouths the word "Education" finds utterance. But also some similar notions are combined with the different ones. Hence, systems and schemes of every conceivable form and variety, some approaching so nearly as if about to unite ; others diverging so widely as if never destined to co-operate ; the promoters of which all lay claim to one common purpose — the improvement of mankind. Let us now endeavour to separate, draw forth, and bring into bold relief that in which most thoughtful men cannot fail to agree — be the other ingredients of their several Educa- tional schemes ever so important or indispensable in their opinions. It being once conceded that Education, in some one of the many forms in which it is conceived, ought to be accessible to every individual ; no excuse can justify our tolerating a state of things where this Education 12 is practically inaccessible to large masses of the people. To grant that Education is indispensable for all, is to y^ grant that the withholding it from some is an act of revolting atrocity. If the question were not the edu- cating, but the feeding, of the people ; and while it was admitted on all hands, that the people ought to be fed, some contended that the people must not eat fish, and others, that they must not meat, what would be thought of the sense or humanity of those who should be prepared to leave the people without bread till it could be agreed whether this bread should be com- bined with fish or flesh, or some dish made by an impossible compromise of the two ? Are there any ingredients that can be considered as the farinaceous parts of Education ? Doubtless there are ; and be ours the task to enumerate them. Once clearly seen and understood, he who could think of withholding them from the people would be a monster, — let us hope a fabulous monster. To drop metaphor — the most cursory glance at what it is agreed ought to be taught everywhere will suffice to satisfy us that there is some unanimity in the midst of antagonism. For example, in all Educational schemes it is agreed that Reading, Writing, Arith- /metic, Geography, and Elementary Mensuration and Astronomy, should be taught; and, despite the con- tradictory views as to the means to be used for the accomplishment of what is desired, it is no less unani- mously admitted that attention ought to be directed to the formation of habits of Industry, Economy, V Sobriety, Trustworthiness, Punctuality, and Orderly "^ Conduct. Basing the inquiry, in which I invite you to accompany me, upon this unanimity undeniably 13 existing to a certain extent, and desirable to a greater, I shall endeavour to draw forth a little more in detail what, as I conceive, ought to be universally agreed upon as essentials in Education, turning aside from those other portions of Education, however important they may be, upon which differences of opinion exist, of such strength and, perhaps, so deep seated as to be ineradicable in our time. In order not to be led astray into a purposeless inquiry, we will begin by asking ourselves what con- sequences can be rationally expected from Education. Education can neither alter the structure of the uni-' verse, nor our own organization. The utmost that it can do is to make us acquainted with that structure, with our own organization in relation to it, and how we should conduct ourselves so as to secure that amount of well-being which, as far as our knowledge tells us, is attainable; training us, at the same time, to the habits leading readily to that conduct which knowledge has recommended for our adoption. But if Education can accomplish this wherever it is brought to bear, and if it can be brought to bear generally, there will be little reason to regret that it can accom- plish no more. It is evident at once that Education, viewed as a means of conferring the knowledge and forming the / .CKS JUN2C 1978 \ m 2 1 1979 ■KLU. Uil jOfj J> 1 1379 1 NOV 2 11985 4 ■wen NOV 2) 198. m JUL 2 8 2002 -^ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELE 1 FORM NO. DD6, 40m, 3/78 BERKELEY, CA 94720 ^ GENERAL LIBRARY - U.C. BERKELEY I 11 BQDm37t.S7 UNIVEEISITVOF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY ^^ 'f'jjWWM