Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best mobile ebook reader TXT) 📖

Preface Pg 5

To

 

 

 

Education: Intellectual, Moral, And Physical

 

 

 

 

The Four Chapters Of    Which This Work Consists, Originally Appeared As

Four Review-Articles: The   First In The   _Westminster Review_ For July

1859; The   Second In The   _North British Review_ For May 1854; And The

Remaining Two In The   _British Quarterly Review_ For April 1858 And For

April 1859. Severally Treating Different Divisions Of    The   Subject, But

Together Forming A Tolerably Complete Whole, I Originally Wrote Them

With A View To Their Republication In A United Form; And They Would Some

Time Since Have Thus Been Issued, Had Not A Legal Difficulty Stood In

The Way. This Difficulty Being Now Removed, I Hasten To Fulfil The

Intention With Which They Were Written.

 

 

 

That In Their First Shape These Chapters Were Severally Independent, Is

The Reason To Be Assigned For Some Slight Repetitions Which Occur In

Them: One Leading Idea, More Especially, Reappearing Twice. As, However,

This Idea Is On Each Occasion Presented Under A New Form, And As It Can

Scarcely Be Too Much Enforced, I Have Not Thought Well To Omit Any Of

The Passages Embodying It.

 

 

 

Some Additions Of    Importance Will Be Found In The   Chapter On

Intellectual Education; And In The   One On Physical Education There Are A

Few Minor Alterations. But The   Chief Changes Which Have Been Made, Are

Changes Of    Expression: All Of    The   Essays Having Undergone A Careful

Verbal Revision.

 

 

 

                                                                    H.S.

London, _May 1861_

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 1 Chapter 1 (What Knowledge Is Of Most Worth?) Pg 6

 

It Has Been Truly Remarked That, In Order Of    Time, Decoration Precedes

Dress. Among People Who Submit To Great Physical Suffering That They May

Have Themselves Handsomely Tattooed, Extremes Of    Temperature Are Borne

With But Little Attempt At Mitigation. Humboldt Tells Us That An Orinoco

Indian, Though Quite Regardless Of    Bodily Comfort, Will Yet Labour For A

Fortnight To Purchase Pigment Wherewith To Make Himself Admired; And

That The   Same Woman Who Would Not Hesitate To Leave Her Hut Without A

Fragment Of    Clothing On, Would Not Dare To Commit Such A Breach Of

Decorum As To Go Out Unpainted. Voyagers Find That Coloured Beads And

Trinkets Are Much More Prized By Wild Tribes Than Are Calicoes Or

Broadcloths. And The   Anecdotes We Have Of    The   Ways In Which, When Shirts

And Coats Are Given, Savages Turn Them To Some Ludicrous Display, Show

How Completely The   Idea Of    Ornament Predominates Over That Of    Use. Nay,

There Are Still More Extreme Illustrations: Witness The   Fact Narrated By

Capt. Speke Of    His African Attendants, Who Strutted About In Their

Goat-Skin Mantles When The   Weather Was Fine, But When It Was Wet, Took

Them Off, Folded Them Up, And Went About Naked, Shivering In The   Rain!

Indeed, The   Facts Of    Aboriginal Life Seem To Indicate That Dress Is

Developed Out Of    Decorations. And When We Remember That Even Among

Ourselves Most Think More About The   Fineness Of    The   Fabric Than Its

Warmth, And More About The   Cut Than The   Convenience--When We See That

The Function Is Still In Great Measure Subordinated To The

Appearance--We Have Further Reason For Inferring Such An Origin.

 

 

 

It Is Curious That The   Like Relations Hold With The   Mind. Among Mental

As Among Bodily Acquisitions, The   Ornamental Comes Before The   Useful.

Not Only In Times Past, But Almost As Much In Our Own Era, That

Knowledge Which Conduces To Personal Well-Being Has Been Postponed To

That Which Brings Applause. In The   Greek Schools, Music, Poetry,

Rhetoric, And A Philosophy Which, Until Socrates Taught, Had But Little

Bearing Upon Action, Were The   Dominant Subjects; While Knowledge Aiding

The Arts Of    Life Had A Very Subordinate Place. And In Our Own

Universities And Schools At The   Present Moment, The   Like Antithesis

Holds. We Are Guilty Of    Something Like A Platitude When We Say That

Throughout His After-Career, A Boy, In Nine Cases Out Of    Ten, Applies

His Latin And Greek To No Practical Purposes. The   Remark Is Trite That

In His Shop, Or His Office, In Managing His Estate Or His Family, In

Playing His Part As Director Of    A Bank Or A Railway, He Is Very Little

Aided By This Knowledge He Took So Many Years To Acquire--So Little,

That Generally The   Greater Part Of    It Drops Out Of    His Memory; And If He

Occasionally Vents A Latin Quotation, Or Alludes To Some Greek Myth, It

Is Less To Throw Light On The   Topic In Hand Than For The   Sake Of    Effect.

If We Inquire What Is The   Real Motive For Giving Boys A Classical

Education, We Find It To Be Simply Conformity To Public Opinion. Men

Dress Their Children's Minds As They Do Their Bodies, In The   Prevailing

Fashion. As The   Orinoco Indian Puts On Paint Before Leaving His Hut, Not

With A View To Any Direct Benefit, But Because He Would Be Ashamed To Be

Seen Without It; So, A Boy's Drilling In Latin And Greek Is Insisted On,

Not Because Of    Their Intrinsic Value, But That He May Not Be Disgraced

By Being Found Ignorant Of    Them--That He May Have "The Education Of    A

Gentleman"--The Badge Marking A Certain Social Position, And Bringing A

Consequent Respect.

 

 

 

This Parallel Is Still More Clearly Displayed In The   Case Of    The   Other

Sex. In The   Treatment Of    Both Mind And Body, The   Decorative Element Has

Continued To Predominate In A Greater Degree Among Women Than Among Men.

Originally, Personal Adornment Occupied The   Attention Of    Both Sexes

Equally. In These Latter Days Of    Civilisation, However, We See That In

The Dress Of    Men The   Regard For Appearance Has In A Considerable Degree

Yielded To The   Regard For Comfort; While In Their Education The   Useful

Has Of    Late Been Trenching On The   Ornamental. In Neither Direction Has

This Change Gone So Far With Women. The   Wearing Of    Earrings,

Finger-Rings, Bracelets; The   Elaborate Dressings Of    The   Hair; The   Still

Occasional Use Of    Paint; The   Immense Labour Bestowed In Making

Habiliments Sufficiently Attractive; And The   Great Discomfort That Will

Be Submitted To For The   Sake Of    Conformity; Show How Greatly, In The

Attiring Of    Women, The   Desire Of    Approbation Overrides The   Desire For

Warmth And Convenience. And Similarly In Their Education, The   Immense

Preponderance Of    "Accomplishments" Proves How Here, Too, Use Is

Subordinated To Display. Dancing, Deportment, The   Piano, Singing,

Drawing--What A Large Space Do These Occupy! If You Ask Why Italian And

German Are Learnt, You Will Find That, Under All The   Sham Reasons Given,

The Real Reason Is, That A Knowledge Of    Those Tongues Is Thought

Ladylike. It Is Not That The   Books Written In Them May Be Utilised,

Which They Scarcely Ever Are; But That Italian And German Songs May Be

Sung, And That The   Extent Of    Attainment May Bring Whispered Admiration.

The Births, Deaths, And Marriages Of    Kings, And Other Like Historic

Trivialities, Are Committed To Memory, Not Because Of    Any Direct

Benefits That Can Possibly Result From Knowing Them: But Because Society

Considers Them Parts Of    A Good Education--Because The   Absence Of    Such

Knowledge May Bring The   Contempt Of    Others. When We Have Named Reading,

Writing, Spelling, Grammar, Arithmetic, And Sewing, We Have Named About

All The   Things A Girl Is Taught With A View To Their Actual Uses In

Life; And Even Some Of    These Have More Reference To The   Good Opinion Of

Others Than To Immediate Personal Welfare.

 

 

 

Thoroughly To Realise The   Truth That With The   Mind As With The   Body The

Ornamental Precedes The   Useful, It Is Requisite To Glance At Its

Rationale. This Lies In The   Fact That, From The   Far Past Down Even To

The Present, Social Needs Have Subordinated Individual Needs, And That

The Chief Social Need Has Been The   Control Of    Individuals. It Is Not, As

We Commonly Suppose, That There Are No Governments But Those Of

Monarchs, And Parliaments, And Constituted Authorities. These

Acknowledged Governments Are Supplemented By Other Unacknowledged Ones,

That Grow Up In All Circles, In Which Every Man Or Woman Strives To Be

King Or Queen Or Lesser Dignitary. To Get Above Some And Be Reverenced

By Them, And To Propitiate Those Who Are Above Us, Is The   Universal

Struggle In Which The   Chief Energies Of    Life Are Expended. By The

Accumulation Of    Wealth, By Style Of    Living, By Beauty Of    Dress, By

Display Of    Knowledge Or Intellect, Each Tries To Subjugate Others; And

So Aids In Weaving That Ramified Network Of    Restraints By Which Society

Is Kept In Order. It Is Not The   Savage Chief Only, Who, In Formidable

War-Paint, With Scalps At His Belt, Aims To Strike Awe Into His

Inferiors; It Is Not Only The   Belle Who, By Elaborate Toilet, Polished

Part 1 Chapter 1 (What Knowledge Is Of Most Worth?) Pg 7

Manners, And Numerous Accomplishments, Strives To "Make Conquests;" But

The Scholar, The   Historian, The   Philosopher, Use Their Acquirements To

The Same End. We Are None Of    Us Content With Quietly Unfolding Our Own

Individualities To The   Full In All Directions; But Have A Restless

Craving To Impress Our Individualities Upon Others, And In Some Way

Subordinate Them. And This It Is Which Determines The   Character Of    Our

Education. Not What Knowledge Is Of    Most Real Worth, Is The

Consideration; But What Will Bring Most Applause, Honour, Respect--What

Will Most Conduce To Social Position And Influence--What Will Be Most

Imposing. As, Throughout Life, Not What We Are, But What We Shall Be

Thought, Is The   Question; So In Education, The   Question Is, Not The

Intrinsic Value Of    Knowledge, So Much As Its Extrinsic Effects On

Others. And This Being Our Dominant Idea, Direct Utility Is Scarcely

More Regarded Than By The   Barbarian When Filing His Teeth And Staining

His Nails.

 

 

 

 

If There Requires Further Evidence Of    The   Rude, Undeveloped Character Of

Our Education, We Have It In The   Fact That The   Comparative Worths Of

Different Kinds Of    Knowledge Have Been As Yet Scarcely Even

Discussed--Much Less Discussed In A Methodic Way With Definite Results.

Not Only Is It That No Standard Of    Relative Values Has Yet Been Agreed

Upon; But The   Existence Of    Any Such Standard Has Not Been Conceived In A

Clear Manner. And Not Only Is It That The   Existence Of    Such A Standard

Has Not Been Clearly Conceived; But The   Need For It Seems To Have Been

Scarcely Even Felt. Men Read Books On This Topic, And Attend Lectures On

That; Decide That Their Children Shall Be Instructed In These Branches

Of Knowledge, And Shall Not Be Instructed In Those; And All Under The

Guidance Of    Mere Custom, Or Liking, Or Prejudice; Without Ever

Considering The   Enormous Importance Of    Determining In Some Rational Way

What Things Are Really Most Worth Learning. It Is True That In All

Circles We Hear Occasional Remarks On The   Importance Of    This Or The

Other Order Of    Information. But Whether The   Degree Of    Its Importance

Justifies The   Expenditure Of    The   Time Needed To Acquire It; And Whether

There Are Not Things Of    More Importance To Which Such Time Might Be

Better Devoted; Are Queries Which, If Raised