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

Than A More Moderate Share Of    The

One Joined With Some Of    The   Other. But, After Making Due Qualifications,

There Still Remain These Broadly-Marked Divisions; And It Still

Continues Substantially True That These Divisions Subordinate One

Another In The   Foregoing Order, Because The   Corresponding Divisions Of

Life Make One Another _Possible_ In That Order.

 

 

 

Of Course The   Ideal Of    Education Is--Complete Preparation In All These

Divisions. But Failing This Ideal, As In Our Phase Of    Civilisation Every

One Must Do More Or Less, The   Aim Should Be To Maintain _A Due

Proportion_ Between The   Degrees Of    Preparation In Each. Not Exhaustive

Cultivation In Any One, Supremely Important Though It May Be--Not Even

An Exclusive Attention To The   Two, Three, Or Four Divisions Of    Greatest

Importance; But An Attention To All:--Greatest Where The   Value Is

Greatest; Less Where The   Value Is Less; Least Where The   Value Is Least.

For The   Average Man (Not To Forget The   Cases In Which Peculiar Aptitude

For Some One Department Of    Knowledge, Rightly Makes Pursuit Of    That One

The Bread-Winning Occupation)--For The   Average Man, We Say, The

Desideratum Is, A Training That Approaches Nearest To Perfection In The

Things Which Most Subserve Complete Living, And Falls More And More

Below Perfection In The   Things That Have More And More Remote Bearings

On Complete Living.

 

 

 

In Regulating Education By This Standard, There Are Some General

Considerations That Should Be Ever Present To Us. The   Worth Of    Any Kind

Of Culture, As Aiding Complete Living, May Be Either Necessary Or More

Or Less Contingent. There Is Knowledge Of    Intrinsic Value; Knowledge Of

Quasi-Intrinsic Value; And Knowledge Of    Conventional Value. Such Facts

As That Sensations Of    Numbness And Tingling Commonly Precede Paralysis,

That The   Resistance Of    Water To A Body Moving Through It Varies As The

Square Of    The   Velocity, That Chlorine Is A Disinfectant,--These, And The

Truths Of    Science In General, Are Of    Intrinsic Value: They Will Bear On

Human Conduct Ten Thousand Years Hence As They Do Now. The   Extra

Knowledge Of    Our Own Language, Which Is Given By An Acquaintance With

Latin And Greek, May Be Considered To Have A Value That Is

Quasi-Intrinsic: It Must Exist For Us And For Other Races Whose

Languages Owe Much To These Sources; But Will Last Only As Long As Our

Languages Last. While That Kind Of    Information Which, In Our Schools,

Usurps The   Name History--The Mere Tissue Of    Names And Dates And Dead

Unmeaning Events--Has A Conventional Value Only: It Has Not The   Remotest

Bearing On Any Of    Our Actions; And Is Of    Use Only For The   Avoidance Of

Those Unpleasant Criticisms Which Current Opinion Passes Upon Its

Absence. Of    Course, As Those Facts Which Concern All Mankind Throughout

All Time Must Be Held Of    Greater Moment Than Those Which Concern Only A

Portion Of    Them During A Limited Era, And Of    Far Greater Moment Than

Those Which Concern Only A Portion Of    Them During The   Continuance Of    A

Fashion; It Follows That In A Rational Estimate, Knowledge Of    Intrinsic

Worth Must, Other Things Equal, Take Precedence Of    Knowledge That Is Of

Quasi-Intrinsic Or Conventional Worth.

 

 

 

One Further Preliminary. Acquirement Of    Every Kind Has Two Values--Value

As _Knowledge_ And Value As _Discipline_. Besides Its Use For Guiding

Conduct, The   Acquisition Of    Each Order Of    Facts Has Also Its Use As

Mental Exercise; And Its Effects As A Preparative For Complete Living

Have To Be Considered Under Both These Heads.

 

 

 

These, Then, Are The   General Ideas With Which We Must Set Out In

Discussing A _Curriculum_:--Life As Divided Into Several Kinds Of

Activity Of    Successively Decreasing Importance; The   Worth Of    Each Order

Of Facts As Regulating These Several Kinds Of    Activity, Intrinsically,

Quasi-Intrinsically, And Conventionally; And Their Regulative Influences

Estimated Both As Knowledge And Discipline.

 

 

 

Happily, That All-Important Part Of    Education Which Goes To Secure

Direct Self-Preservation, Is In Great Part Already Provided For. Too

Momentous To Be Left To Our Blundering, Nature Takes It Into Her Own

Hands. While Yet In Its Nurse's Arms, The   Infant, By Hiding Its Face

And Crying At The   Sight Of    A Stranger, Shows The   Dawning Instinct To

Attain Safety By Flying From That Which Is Unknown And May Be Dangerous;

And When It Can Walk, The   Terror It Manifests If An Unfamiliar Dog Comes

Near, Or The   Screams With Which It Runs To Its Mother After Any

Startling Sight Or Sound, Shows This Instinct Further Developed.

Moreover, Knowledge Subserving Direct Self-Preservation Is That Which It

Is Chiefly Busied In Acquiring From Hour To Hour. How To Balance Its

Body; How To Control Its Movements So As To Avoid Collisions; What

Objects Are Hard, And Will Hurt If Struck; What Objects Are Heavy, And

Injure If They Fall On The   Limbs; Which Things Will Bear The   Weight Of

The Body, And Which Not; The   Pains Inflicted By Fire, By Missiles, By

Sharp Instruments--These, And Various Other Pieces Of    Information

Needful For The   Avoidance Of    Death Or Accident, It Is Ever Learning. And

When, A Few Years Later, The   Energies Go Out In Running, Climbing, And

Jumping, In Games Of    Strength And Games Of    Skill, We See In All These

Actions By Which The   Muscles Are Developed, The   Perceptions Sharpened,

And The   Judgment Quickened, A Preparation For The   Safe Conduct Of    The

Body Among Surrounding Objects And Movements; And For Meeting Those

Greater Dangers That Occasionally Occur In The   Lives Of    All. Being Thus,

As We Say, So Well Cared For By Nature, This Fundamental Education Needs

Comparatively Little Care From Us. What We Are Chiefly Called Upon To

See, Is, That There Shall Be Free Scope For Gaining This Experience And

Receiving This Discipline--That There Shall Be No Such Thwarting Of

Nature As That By Which Stupid Schoolmistresses Commonly Prevent The

Girls In Their Charge From The   Spontaneous Physical Activities They

Would Indulge In; And So Render Them Comparatively Incapable Of    Taking

Care Of    Themselves In Circumstances Of    Peril.

Part 1 Chapter 1 (What Knowledge Is Of Most Worth?) Pg 10

This, However, Is By No Means All That Is Comprehended In The   Education

That Prepares For Direct Self-Preservation. Besides Guarding The   Body

Against Mechanical Damage Or Destruction, It Has To Be Guarded Against

Injury From Other Causes--Against The   Disease And Death That Follow

Breaches Of    Physiologic Law. For Complete Living It Is Necessary, Not

Only That Sudden Annihilations Of    Life Shall Be Warded Off; But Also

That There Shall Be Escaped The   Incapacities And The   Slow Annihilation

Which Unwise Habits Entail. As, Without Health And Energy, The

Industrial, The   Parental, The   Social, And All Other Activities Become

More Or Less Impossible; It Is Clear That This Secondary Kind Of    Direct

Self-Preservation Is Only Less Important Than The   Primary Kind; And

That Knowledge Tending To Secure It Should Rank Very High.

 

 

 

It Is True That Here, Too, Guidance Is In Some Measure Ready Supplied.

By Our Various Physical Sensations And Desires, Nature Has Insured A

Tolerable Conformity To The   Chief Requirements. Fortunately For Us, Want

Of Food, Great Heat, Extreme Cold, Produce Promptings Too Peremptory To

Be Disregarded. And Would Men Habitually Obey These And All Like

Promptings When Less Strong, Comparatively Few Evils Would Arise. If

Fatigue Of    Body Or Brain Were In Every Case Followed By Desistance; If

The Oppression Produced By A Close Atmosphere Always Led To Ventilation;

If There Were No Eating Without Hunger, Or Drinking Without Thirst; Then

Would The   System Be But Seldom Out Of    Working Order. But So Profound An

Ignorance Is There Of    The   Laws Of    Life, That Men Do Not Even Know That

Their Sensations Are Their Natural Guides, And (When Not Rendered Morbid

By Long--Continued Disobedience) Their Trustworthy Guides. So That

Though, To Speak Teleologically, Nature Has Provided Efficient

Safeguards To Health, Lack Of    Knowledge Makes Them In A Great Measure

Useless.

 

 

 

If Any One Doubts The   Importance Of    An Acquaintance With The   Principles

Of Physiology, As A Means To Complete Living, Let Him Look Around And

See How Many Men And Women He Can Find In Middle Or Later Life Who Are

Thoroughly Well. Only Occasionally Do We Meet With An Example Of

Vigorous Health Continued To Old Age; Hourly Do We Meet With Examples Of

Acute Disorder, Chronic Ailment, General Debility, Premature

Decrepitude. Scarcely Is There One To Whom You Put The   Question, Who Has

Not, In The   Course Of    His Life, Brought Upon Himself Illnesses Which A

Little Information Would Have Saved Him From. Here Is A Case Of

Heart-Disease Consequent On A Rheumatic Fever That Followed Reckless

Exposure. There Is A Case Of    Eyes Spoiled For Life By Over-Study.

Yesterday The   Account Was Of    One Whose Long-Enduring Lameness Was

Brought On By Continuing, Spite Of    The   Pain, To Use A Knee After It Had

Been Slightly Injured. And To-Day We Are Told Of    Another Who Has Had To

Lie By For Years, Because He Did Not Know That The   Palpitation He

Suffered Under Resulted From Overtaxed Brain. Now We Hear Of    An

Irremediable Injury Which Followed Some Silly Feat Of    Strength; And,

Again, Of    A Constitution That Has Never Recovered From The   Effects Of

Excessive Work Needlessly Undertaken. While On Every Side We See The

Perpetual Minor Ailments Which Accompany Feebleness. Not To Dwell On The

Pain, The   Weariness, The   Gloom, The   Waste Of    Time And Money Thus

Entailed, Only Consider How Greatly Ill-Health Hinders The   Discharge Of

All Duties--Makes Business Often Impossible, And Always More Difficult;

Produces An Irritability Fatal To The   Right Management Of    Children; Puts

The Functions Of    Citizenship Out Of    The   Question; And Makes Amusement A

Bore. Is It Not Clear That The   Physical Sins--Partly Our Forefathers'

And Partly Our Own--Which Produce This Ill-Health, Deduct More From

Complete Living Than Anything Else? And To A Great Extent Make Life A

Failure And A Burden Instead Of    A Benefaction And A Pleasure?

 

 

 

Nor Is This All. Life, Besides Being Thus Immensely Deteriorated, Is

Also Cut Short. It Is Not True, As We Commonly Suppose, That After A

Disorder Or Disease From Which We Have Recovered, We Are As Before. No

Disturbance Of    The   Normal Course Of    The   Functions Can Pass Away And

Leave Things Exactly As They Were. A Permanent Damage Is Done--Not

Immediately Appreciable, It May Be, But Still There; And Along With

Other Such Items Which Nature In Her Strict Account-Keeping Never Drops,

It Will Tell Against Us To The   Inevitable Shortening Of    Our Days.

Through The   Accumulation Of    Small Injuries It Is That Constitutions Are

Commonly Undermined, And Break Down, Long Before Their Time. And If We

Call To Mind How Far The   Average Duration Of    Life Falls Below The

Possible Duration, We See How Immense Is The   Loss. When, To The   Numerous

Partial Deductions Which Bad Health Entails, We Add This Great Final

Deduction, It Results That Ordinarily One-Half Of    Life Is Thrown Away.

 

 

 

Hence, Knowledge Which Subserves Direct Self-Preservation By Preventing

This Loss Of    Health, Is Of    Primary Importance. We Do Not Contend That

Possession Of    Such Knowledge Would By Any Means Wholly Remedy The   Evil.

It Is Clear That In Our Present Phase Of    Civilisation, Men's Necessities

Often Compel Them To Transgress. And It Is Further Clear That, Even In

The Absence Of    Such Compulsion, Their Inclinations Would Frequently Lead

Them, Spite Of    Their Convictions, To Sacrifice Future Good To Present

Gratification. But We _Do_ Contend That The   Right Knowledge Impressed In

The Right Way Would Effect Much; And We Further Contend That As The   Laws

Of Health Must Be Recognised Before They Can Be Fully Conformed To, The

Imparting Of    Such Knowledge Must Precede A More Rational Living--Come

When That May. We Infer That As Vigorous Health And Its Accompanying

High Spirits Are Larger Elements Of    Happiness Than Any Other Things

Whatever, The   Teaching How To Maintain Them Is A Teaching That Yields In

Moment To No Other Whatever. And Therefore We Assert That Such A Course

Of Physiology As Is Needful For The   Comprehension Of    Its General Truths,

And Their Bearings On Daily Conduct, Is An All-Essential Part Of    A

Rational Education.

 

 

 

Strange That The   Assertion Should Need Making! Stranger Still That It

Should Need Defending! Yet Are There Not A Few By Whom Such A

Proposition Will Be Received With Something Approaching To Derision. Men

Who Would Blush If Caught Saying Iphigénia Instead Of    Iphigenía, Or

Would Resent As An Insult Any Imputation Of    Ignorance