Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

To Problems In Which They Are

Personally Interested For One Reason Or Another, And That Freemen Work

Much Harder Than Slaves, Because They Feel Within Themselves Strong

Motives For Exertion Which Slaves Cannot Possibly Feel. So, Many

Intelligent Adults, Including Many Parents And Teachers, Have Come To

Believe It Possible That Children Will Learn To Do Hard Work, Both In

School And In After Life, Through The   Free Play Of    Interior Motives

Which Appeal To Them, And Prompt Them To Persistent Exertion.

 

 

 

The Justice Of    Spencer's Views About Training Through Pleasurable

Introduction Pg 3

Sensation And Achievement In Freedom Rather Than Through Uninterested

Work And Pain Inflicted By Despotic Government, Is Well Illustrated By

The Recent Improvements In The   Discipline Of    Reformatories For Boys And

Girls And Young Men And Women. It Has Been Demonstrated That The   Only

Useful Reformatories Are Those Which Diminish The   Criminal's Liberty Of

Action As Little As Possible, Require Him To Perform Productive Labour,

Educate Him For A Trade Or Other Useful Occupation, And Offer Him The

Reward Of    An Abridgment Of    Sentence In Return For Industry And

Self-Control. Repression And Compulsion Under Penalties However Severe

Fail To Reform, And Often Make Bad Moral Conditions Worse. Instruction,

As Much Freedom As Is Consistent With The   Safety Of    Society, And An

Appeal To The   Ordinary Motives Of    Emulation, Satisfaction In

Achievement, And The   Desire To Win Credit, Can, And Do, Reform.

 

 

 

Many Schools, Both Public And Private, Have Now Adopted--In Most Cases

Unconsciously--Many Of    Spencer's More Detailed Suggestions. The

Laboratory Method Of    Instruction, For Example, Now Common For Scientific

Subjects In Good Schools, Is An Application Of    His Doctrines Of    Concrete

Illustration, Training In The   Accurate Use Of    The   Senses, And

Subordination Of    Book-Work. Many Schools Realise, Too, That Learning By

Heart And, In General, Memorising From Books Are Not The   Only Means Of

Storing The   Mind Of    A Child. They Should Make Parts Of    A Sound

Education, But Should Not Be Used To The   Exclusion Of    Learning Through

Eye, Ear, And Hand. Spencer Pointed Out With Much Elaboration That

Children Acquire In Their Early Years A Vast Amount Of    Information

Exclusively Through The   Incessant Use Of    Their Senses. To-Day Teachers

Know This Fact, And Realise Much Better Than The   Teachers Of    Fifty Years

Ago Did, That All Through The   School And College Period The   Pupils

Should Be Getting A Large Part Of    Their New Knowledge Through The

Careful Application Of    Their Own Powers Of    Observation, Aided, Indeed,

By Books And Pictures Which Record The   Observations, Old And New, Of

Other People. The   Young Human Being, Unlike The   Puppy Or The   Kitten, Is

Not Confined To The   Use Of    His Own Senses As Sources Of    Information And

Discovery; But Can Enjoy The   Fruits Of    A Prodigious Width And Depth Of

Observation Acquired By Preceding Generations And Adult Members Of    His

Own Generation. A Recent Illustration Of    This Extension Of    The   Method Of

Observation In Teaching To Observations Made By Other People Is The   New

Method Of    Giving Moral Instruction To School Children Through

Photographs Of    Actual Scenes Which Illustrate Both Good Morals And Bad,

The Exhibition Of    The   Photographs Being Accompanied By A Running Oral

Comment From The   Teacher. In This Kind Of    Moral Instruction It Seems To

Be Possible To Interest All Kinds Of    Children, Both Civilised And

Barbarous, Both Ill-Bred And Well-Bred. The   Teaching Comes Through The

Eye, For The   Children Themselves Observe Intently The   Pictures Which The

Lantern Throws On The   Screen; But The   Striking Scenes Thus Put Before

Them Probably Lie In Most Instances Quite Outside The   Region Of    Their

Own Experiences.

 

 

 

The Essay On "What Knowledge Is Of    Most Worth?" Contains A Hot

Denunciation Of    That Kind Of    Information Which In Most Schools Used To

Usurp The   Name Of    History. It Is Enough To Say Of    This Part Of    Spencer's

Educational Doctrine That All The   Best Historical Writers Since The

Middle Of    The   Nineteenth Century Seem To Have Adopted The   Principles

Which He Declared Should Govern The   Writing Of    History. As A Result, The

Teaching Of    History In Schools And Colleges Has Undergone A Profound

Change. It Now Deals With The   Nature And Action Of    Government, Central,

Local, And Ecclesiastical, With Social Observances, Industrial Systems,

And The   Customs Which Regulate Popular Life, Out-Of-Doors And Indoors.

It Depicts Also The   Intellectual Condition Of    The   Nation And The

Progress It Has Made In Applied Science, The   Fine Arts, And Legislation,

And Includes Descriptions Of    The   Peoples' Food, Shelters, And

Amusements. To This Result Many Authors And Teachers Have Contributed;

But Spencer's Violent Denunciation Of    History As It Was Taught In His

Time Has Greatly Promoted This Important Reform.

 

 

 

Many Twentieth-Century Teachers Are Sure To Put In Practice Spencer's

Exhortation To Teach Children To Draw With Pen And Pencil, And To Use

Paints And Brush. He Maintained That The   Common Omission Of    Drawing As

An Important Element In The   Training Of    Children Was In Contempt Of    Some

Of The   Most Obvious Of    Nature's Suggestions With Regard To The   Natural

Development Of    Human Faculties; And The   Better Recent Practice In Some

English And American Schools Verifies His Statement; Nevertheless Some

Of The   Best Secondary Schools In Both Countries Still Fail To Recognise

Drawing And Painting As Important Elements In Liberal Education.

 

 

 

Modern Society As Yet Hardly Approaches The   Putting Into Effective

Practice Of    The   Sound Views Which Spencer Set Forth With Great Detail In

His Essay On "Physical Education." The   Instruction Given In Schools And

Colleges On The   Care Of    The   Body And The   Laws Of    Health Is Still Very

Meagre; And In Certain Subjects Of    The   Utmost Importance No Instruction

Whatever Is Given, As, For Example, In The   Normal Methods Of

Reproduction In Plants And Animals, In Eugenics, And In The   Ruinous

Consequences Of    Disregarding Sexual Purity And Honour. In One Respect

His Fundamental Doctrine Of    Freedom, Carried Into The   Domain Of    Physical

Exercise, Has Been Extensively Adopted In England, On The   Continent,

And In America. He Taught That Although Gymnastics, Military Drill, And

Formal Exercises Of    The   Limbs Are Better Than Nothing, They Can Never

Serve In Place Of    The   Plays Prompted By Nature. He Maintained That "For

Girls As Well As Boys The   Sportive Activities To Which The   Instincts

Impel Are Essential To Bodily Welfare." This Principle Is Now Being

Carried Into Practice Not Only For School-Children, But For Operatives

In Factories, Clerks, And Other Young Persons Whose Occupations Are

Sedentary And Monotonous. For All Such Persons, Free Plays Are Vastly

Better Than Formal Exercises Of    Any Sort.

 

 

 

The Wide Adoption Of    Spencer's Educational Ideas Has Had To Await The

Advent Of    The   New Educational Administration And The   New Public Interest

Therein. It Awaited The   Coming Of    The   State University In The   United

States And Of    The   City University In England, The   Establishment Of

Numerous Technical Schools, The   Profound Modifications Made In Grammar

Schools And Academies, And The   Multiplication In Both Countries Of    The

Secondary Schools Called High Schools. In Other Words, His Ideas

Gradually Gained Admission To A Vast Number Of    New Institutions Of

Education, Which Were Created And Maintained Because Both The

Governments And The   Nations Felt A New Sense Of    Responsibility For The

Training Of    The   Future Generations. These New Agencies Have Been Created

In Great Variety, And The   Introduction Of    Spencer's Ideas Has Been Much

Facilitated By This Variety. These Institutions Were National, State, Or

Municipal. They Were Tax-Supported Or Endowed. They Charged Tuition

Fees, Or Were Open To Competent Children Or Adults Without Fee. They

Undertook To Meet Alike The   Needs Of    The   Individual And The   Needs Of    The

Community; And This Undertaking Involved The   Introduction Of    Many New

Subjects Of    Instruction And Many New Methods. Through Their Variety They

Introduction Pg 4

Could Be Sympathetic With Both Individualism And Collectivism. The

Variety Of    Instruction Offered Is Best Illustrated In The   Strongest

American Universities, Some Of    Which Are Tax-Supported And Some Endowed.

These Universities Maintain A Great Variety Of    Courses Of    Instruction In

Subjects None Of    Which Was Taught With The   Faintest Approach To Adequacy

In American Universities Sixty Years Ago; But In Making These Extensions

The Universities Have Not Found It Necessary To Reduce The   Instruction

Offered In The   Classics And Mathematics. The   Traditional Cultural

Studies Are Still Provided; But They Represent Only One Programme Among

Many, And No One Is Compelled To Follow It. The   Domination Of    The

Classics Is At An End; But Any Student Who Prefers The   Traditional Path

To Culture, Or Whose Parents Choose That Path For Him, Will Find In

Several American Universities Much Richer Provisions Of    Classical

Instruction Than Any University In The   Country Offered Sixty Years Ago.

The Present Proposals To Widen The   Influence Of    Oxford University Do Not

Mean, Therefore, That The   Classics, History, And Philosophy Are To Be

Taught Less There, But Only That Other Subjects Are To Be Taught More,

And That A Greater Number And Variety Of    Young Men Will Be Prepared

There For The   Service Of    The   Nation.

 

 

 

The New Public Interest In Education As A Necessary Of    Modern Industrial

And Political Life Has Gradually Brought About A Great Increase In The

Proportional Number Of    Young Men And Women Whose Education Is Prolonged

Beyond The   Period Of    Primary Or Elementary Instruction; And This

Multitude Of    Young People Is Preparing For A Great Variety Of    Callings,

Many Of    Which Are New Within Sixty Years, Having Been Brought Into Being

By The   Extraordinary Advances Of    Applied Science. The   Advent Of    These

New Callings Has Favoured The   Spread Of    Spencer's Educational Ideas. The

Recent Agitation In Favour Of    What Is Called Vocational Training Is A

Vivid Illustration Of    The   Wide Acceptance Of    His Arguments. Even The

Farmers, Their Farm-Hands, And Their Children Must Nowadays Be Offered

Free Instruction In Agriculture; Because The   Public, And Especially The

Urban Public, Believes That By Disseminating Better Methods Of    Tillage,

Better Seed, And Appropriate Manures, The   Yield Of    The   Farms Can Be

Improved In Quality And Multiplied In Quantity. In Regard To All

Material Interests, The   Free Peoples Are Acting On The   Principle That

Science Is The   Knowledge Of    Most Worth. Spencer's Doctrine Of    Natural

Consequences In Place Of    Artificial Penalties, His View That All Young

People Should Be Taught How To Be Wise Parents And Good Citizens, And

His Advocacy Of    Instruction In Public And Private Hygiene, Lie At The

Roots Of    Many Of    The   Philanthropic And Reformatory Movements Of    The   Day.

 

 

 

On The   Whole, Herbert Spencer Has Been Fortunate Among Educational

Philosophers. He Has Not Had To Wait So Long For The   Acceptance Of    His

Teachings As Comenius, Montaigne, Or Rousseau Waited. His Ideas Have

Been Floated On A Prodigious Tide Of    Industrial And Social Change, Which

Necessarily Involved Wide-Spread And Profound Educational Reform.

 

 

 

This Introduction Deals With Spencer's Four Essays On Education; But In

The Present Volume Are Included Three Other Famous Essays Written By Him

During The   Same Period (1854-59) Which Produced The   Essays On Education.

All Three Are Germane To The   Educational Essays, Because They Deal With

The General Law Of    Human Progress, With The   Genesis Of    That Science

Which Spencer Thought To Be The   Knowledge Of    Most Worth, And With The

Origin And Function Of    Music, A Subject Which He Maintained Should Play

An Important Part In Any Scheme Of    Education.