II. VALUE AND ESSENCE OF A GOOD EDUCATION. Harmony, the ultimate object of all things, should exist as in the universe, so in man also, who is a little world in himself. The harmony of the heavenly spheres should be echoed in the soul of an educated man. Since it is thus that man attains to the comprehension of the absolute relations of the created world, and of heavenly beauty, he comes into a constant connection with God. It is to this end especially that education should be directed; which requires: 1. That youth should not hear of anything which may awaken unchaste desires, until they are acquainted with the dignity and loftiness of human nature. 2. That youth should endeavor to attain a ripe development, by means of effort. 3. That parents are the proper educators; and that it is therefore the greatest injustice to separate parents and children. 4. That education should extend over the whole period of youth. PYTHAGORAS. Man becomes what he is, principally by education; which pertains to the whole of life. In education there is a union of watchfulness over the progress of training, and of a course of discipline for intellectual and bodily development. Education must begin even before birth, with the parents themselves; must constitute a rule of action during the entire life and in a certain sense must exist during the whole of it. By a good inward and outward education, the best endowed natures are developed; and such as are superior to any that preceded them; and in their turn they will bring up still more excellent ones. The name of education is not applicable to a system of instruction in methods of gaining wealth or bodily strength, or in any mechanical knowledge, without the intellectual or moral element. A person may be well trained to seamanship or to a trade, and may yet have no true education. Only those who are educated in mind and in will, become good. Such take pleasure in becoming good citizens, who will either govern or obey in righteousness; they become noble men, who go forward and train themselves in whatever of perfection is yet deficient. True education is the most desirable of all that is good; and therefore should not be neglected. In the soul of man, good and evil lie near each other. If the latter, for want of education, gets the upper hand, the man falls beneath himself. But education, which promotes goodness, raises him above himself. PLATO. As long as the youthful mind has gained no moral strength, it should be kept as far as possible from intercourse with the world; for its sins contaminate the inexperienced. In like manner, children should not attend plays; for there vices will creep upon them most easily, by means of wanton representations. Pupils should often exercise themselves in contemplation. The body should be trained with some strictness, in order that the mind may not become refractory. It is god for the young to select some one noble man for a model. But young people should not remain too long in this simplicity; for it would become a means of betraying them into evil. To tell the truth to those in fault should not be omitted. For knowledge of one's faults is the beginning of improvement. And even where the truth appears to find no entrance, the heart often feels it. For noble souls, labor is nourishment. It is not enough to have begun our education; we must also continue it. It is better for a young man to be serious, than to be fond of pleasure and a favorite in large assemblies. For it is with young people as it is with wine; that which is sour when new, acquires a fine flavor by age; but that which is sweet at first, becomes sour. Noble minds are easily excited by what is noble. It is not important how many books are read, but how valuable. In order to assist the weakness of children, they should often be spoken to in similitudes. We should endeavor to reform depraved wills. The mind should be drilled, as much as the body. If instruction in wisdom and virtue is to find a good soil in the mind, delusion and error must first be driven out of it, and the understanding must be cultivated. Just as leaves can not grow green by themselves, but must have a twig through which they may draw sap, so even the best precepts fail, if they stand alone, and are not based upon fixed principles of education; that is, upon the knowledge of what is right, and consistent with virtue. Goodness in man can not be developed until his reason has been trained. SENECA. It has been asserted that what education can accomplish is little; a grain of salt cast into the stream of life, and rapidly disappearing. But the truth is as a Greek philosopher presented it; who took two young dogs from the same mother, and let one of them grow up without training, but taught the other; and then exhibited them both to the people. The former, who had been taught, instead of eating the food placed before him, chased a wild animal which was let loose, and secured it, while the other one fell upon the piece of flesh and devoured it like a beast of prey. Even if education accomplishes no wonders, it can do much—very much. Pride in talents which acquire everything as it were spontaneously, is foolish; for this early ripening is a sign of approaching death; that such learners have become mature before their time. QUINTILIAN. Excellent was the saying of the Lacedæmonian educator: "I will teach the boys to take pride in what is good, and to abhor what is shameful." This is in truth the most beautiful and noble aim which man can have in education. PLUTARCH. The remark was well founded which Crates the Theban was accustomed to make, that if it were possible, he would stand on the highest place in the city, and cry out, with all his power, “What are you thinking of, you people, that you are devoting all your industry to the acquirement of riches, but take no care at all of your children, to whom you are going to leave them?" I might add, that such a father behaves like one who bestows all his care on the sandal, but neglects the foot above it. PLUTARCH. The children of the Persians were from their earliest years taught the love of justice. Thus, as the children in the schools of Greece were trained in the knowledge of learning and liberal arts, the children of the Persians attended their schools for the sake of learning justice. In order to accomplish this object the more quickly, it was not thought sufficient to accustom only their ears to instruction in justice, but they were taught to give just opinions on all matters which came up among them, and to fix upon the proper punishment for every error. Thus the teachers, as public instructors in justice, devoted a large part of the day to hearing and correcting these opinions of the children. ΧΕΝΟΡΗΟΝ. The pre-eminence of man over the other living creatures of this earth consists in this: that he can recognize something higher and better than himself. He becomes what he is, by nature, habit, instruction. The last two, together, constitute Education, and must always accompany each other; the former, however, preceding. Instruction has an inward purpose; for it is beneath a noble nature to inquire into the usefulness of what is learned. Education is to prepare the mind for instruction in morals, as men prepare the soil before sowing seed in it. Only when the mind has become noble and inclined to goodness, can instruction in morality be given with advantage; it is only when good habits already exist, that principles can exert their ennobling influence. He who can command, must first have learned how to obey. The training of youth should be a concern of the state. Crying is a useful exercise to children. Children's plays should be representations of their future occupations. Education is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity. Parents who secure a good education to their children, are more useful than those who merely beget them. The children of such parents owe them not only existence, but an honored and happy existence. As the eye receives light through the surrounding atmosphere, so does the soul through instruction. That scholar makes good progress, who follows after those who precede him, and does not wait upon those who linger behind him. ARISTOTLE. As once Surdarana, a noble Indian prince, sat on the bank of the Ganges, he heard two sayings, of which one praised the excellence of wisdom, and the other was, "Youth, abundance, high birth, and inexperience, each in itself, are sources of destruction. What must be the lot of those who possess all four?" And the king reflected within himself, "What is the use of a son neither learned nor virtuous? and what is the use of a blind eye?" A child with capacity and talent is a blessing; but not a hundred children who are corrupt and ignorant. One moon disperses the darkness sooner than a whole troop of stars. Fathers and mothers are the enemies of their children, if they do not cause them to be instructed; for a man without knowledge remains without fame, then if he possesses youth, beauty and high birth; he is like a blossom without fragrance. Like the glitter of the castern mountains in the light of the sun, is a man of low birth, influenced by the stimulus of good writings. Youth should avoid evil company, for by it they become corrupted, as sweet water becomes undrinkable by mixture with the ocean. Education is of higher value than beauty or hidden treasures. It accompanies us in traveling through strange countries; and gives us inexhaustible powers. A man without education is like the beasts of the field. Amara Sukti, a learned king, had three sons, without industry or tal ent. Considering this fact, their father called together his council, and consulted it as to the means for cultivating their minds. Then one of the council answered, Since life is short and learning is long, it is necessary to consider how to abbreviate the road of learning, and to bring the substance of it into a compressed form. Thus must the essence of learning be acquired: as the swan draws milk from the water. Indian Tale. Since complete happiness only comes with advancing years, for the reason that then only can we co-operate in producing the happiness of others, no reasonable man would wish to pass his whole life in the condition of childhood. Since every art, and all instruction, is intended to supply what is wanting by nature, the general problem of education is, to develop children, as imperfect beings, into perfect ones. Therefore the neglect of education is most harmful to the state itself; since the maintenance and well-being of the state depend upon it. The best laws are of no use, if the citizens are not morally and intellectually developed. The best natural endowments will always produce the best political constitution. But aside from this, it is a shame not to have been educated; for he who has received an education differs from him who has not, as the living does from the dead. The object of education is to train children, and others who need it, that they shall learn to know the beautiful, and shall be instructed in everything that is necessary and useful. The citizen must be morally good, and be capable of noble deeds. Therefore, the domination of the animal passions must be broken down by the laws. Reason and understanding are, in man, the aim of nature. The understanding must be trained through the heart. Right education consists in this: that men should from their youth up be accustomed to be rejoiced and afflicted as reason requires; and above all, that the lower part of the soul be in subjection to the higher, the reason. A sound and well trained mind, in a sound and well adapted body. The better part of man is the reason; which must therefore be the chief object of education. Only he who lives in accordance with his nature-his reason-and entrusts to it the care of himself, and thinks and acts in such a manner as is worthy of a reasoning being-only such a min is pleasing to God. Since the gods concern themselves about men, it follows that the noblest part of man, the development of the mind and of the moral feelings, is especially near their hearts. With men to whom this better portion of human endowments is denied, education is wasted. It can improve nature, but not completely change it. ARISTOTLE. There is no living being whose nature is so obstinate and cross-grained as that of man; who has a natural tendency towards what is forbidden and dangerous, and does not willingly allow himself to be influenced. But these sinful natural tendencies can be improved by wise laws, by a mild and just administration of them, and by an education which unites firmness and love. SENECA. When parents, either from avarice or lack of conscience or ignorance or any other cause, neglect the education of their children, the sad consequences which avenge this neglect do not fail to follow. When sons so treated become men and give themselves up to the most fearful vices, then, when it is too late, the parents who ruined them, experience profound sorrow. A good education, including proper instruction, is the first, second and last, principal means by which youth become virtuous and happy; and all other advantages, as riches, high birth, beauty, &c., in comparison with such an education, are not worth striving after. PLUTARCH. That usual complaint is altogether a mistake; namely, that but few men are by nature endowed with the capacity for comprehending what is brought before them. On the other hand, it is found that most men manifest ease in thinking, and aptness to learn. This is an important distinction between man and beast. As birds have born in them the capacity for flying, horses for drawing, and wild beasts their untamableness, so is the faculty of thinking peculiar to man. Although one man may possess more capacity than another, yet none can be found who can not by education be improved at all. Intellectual monsters are as rare as corporeal ones. Therefore, parents can not give enough care to the education of their children; nor be careful enough to provide them with nurses whose morals are not corrupted. QUINCTILIAN. The young should be accustomed to obedience, in order that they may find it easy to obey reason. They should be led in the best pathway of life; and the habit will soon become pleasant to them. PYTHAGORAS. Private and public instruction should be connected, as far as possible, in order to join their advantages and to prevent their disadvantages. Where this is impracticable, the light of a good school is always better than the dark prison of a home education; for the moral character is there in much less danger than with bad domestic tutors, and in an impure and narrow family life. The best teacher experiences a higher sense of his vocation with a greater number of scholars; and one scholar stimulates another; advantages which far outweigh the exclusive devotion of a teacher to a few scholars. QUINCTILIAN. Man should raise himself, by instruction, to a state pleasing to God, and of true freedom; and to a condition of mind desiring only what is good. The truly educated man enjoys the most beautiful and delightful results; passionlessness, fearlessness, freedom. |