TAKING IN TOO MUCH.

3

buted by James Mill to the Encyclopædia Britannica,' the end of Education is stated to be, ' to render the individual, as much as possible, an instrument of happiness, first to himself, and next to other beings.' This, however, should be given as an amended answer to the first question of the Westminster Catechism- What is the chief end of man?' The utmost that we could expect of the educator, who is not everybody, is to contribute his part to the promotion of human happiness in the order stated. No doubt the definition goes more completely to the root of the matter than the German formula. It does not trouble itself with the harmony, the many-sidedness, the wholeness, of the individual development; it would admit these just as might be requisite for securing the final end.

James Mill is not singular in his over-grasping view of the subject. The most usual subdivision of Education is into Physical, Intellectual, Moral, Religious, Technical. Now when we inquire into the meaning of Physical Education, we find it to be the rearing of a healthy human being, by all the arts and devices of nursing, feeding, clothing, and general regimen. Mill includes this subject in his article, and Mr. Herbert Spencer devotes a very interesting chapter to it in his work on Education. It seems to me, however, that this department may be kept quite separate, important though it be. It does not at all depend upon the principles and considerations that the educator, properly so called, has in view in the carrying on of his work. The discussion of the subject does not in any way help us in educational matters, as most commonly understood; nor does it derive any illumination from being placed

side by side with the arts of the recognized teacher. The fact of bodily health or vigour is a leading postulate in bodily or mental training, but the trainer does not take upon himself to lay down the rules of hygiene.

The inadvertence-for so I regard it-of coupling the Art of Health with Education is easily disposed of, and does not land us in any arduous controversies. Very different is another aspect of these definitions: that wherein the end of Education is propounded as the promotion of human happiness, human virtue, human perfection. Probably the qualification will at once be conceded, that Education is but one of the means, a single contributing agency to the all-including end. Nevertheless, the openings for difference of opinion as to what constitutes happiness, virtue, or perfection are very wide. Moreover, the discussion has its proper place in Ethics and in Theology, and if brought into the field of Education, should be received under protest.

Before entering upon the consideration of this difficulty, the greatest of all, I will advert to some of the other views of Education that seem to err on the side of including too much. Here I may quote from the younger Mill, who, like his father, and unlike the generality of theorists, starts more scientifico with a definition. Education, according to him, 'includes whatever we do for ourselves, and whatever is done for us by others, for the express purpose of bringing us nearer to the perfection of our nature; in its largest acceptation it comprehends even the indirect effects produced on character and on the human faculties by things of which the direct purposes are different; by laws, by forms of government, by the industrial arts, by modes

UNFRUITFUL DEFINITIONS.

5

of social life; nay, even by physical facts not dependent on human will; by climate, soil, and local position.' He admits, however, that this is a very wide view of the subject, and for his own immediate purpose advances a narrower view, namely-'the culture which each generation purposely gives to those who are to be its successors, in order to qualify them for at least keeping up, and, if possible, for raising, the improvement which has been attained.' '

Besides involving the dispute as to what constitutes 'perfection,' the first and larger statement is, I think, too wide even for the most comprehensive Philosophy of Education. The influences exerted on the human character by climate and geographical position, by arts, laws, government, and modes of social life, constitute a very interesting department of Sociology, and have their place there and nowhere else. What we do for ourselves, and what others do for us, to bring us nearer to the perfection of our nature, may be education in a precise sense of the word, and it may not. I do not see the propriety of including under the subject the direct operation of rewards and punishments. No doubt we do something to educate ourselves, and society does something to educate us, in a sufficiently proper acceptation of the word; but the ordinary influence of society, in the dispensing of punishment and reward, is not the essential fact of Education, as I propose to regard it, although an adjunct to some of its legitimate functions.

Mill's narrower expression of the scope of the subject is not exactly erroneous; the moulding of each generation by the one preceding is not improperly described.

1 Inaugural Address at St. Andrews, p, 4.

as an education. It is, however, grandiose rather than scientific. Nothing is to be got out of it. It does not give the lead to the subsequent exposition.

I find in the article Education,' in Chambers's Encyclopædia,' a definition to the following effect :- In the widest sense of the word a man is educated, either for good or for evil, by everything that he experiences from the cradle to the grave [say, rather, "formed," "made," "influenced"]. But in the more limited and usual sense, the term education is confined to the efforts made, of set purpose, to train men in a particular way -the efforts of the grown-up part of the community to inform the intellect and mould the character of the young [rather too much stress on the fact of influence from without]; and more especially to the labours of professional educators or schoolmasters.' The concluding clause is the nearest to the point-the arts and methods employed by the schoolmaster; for, although he is not alone in the work that he is expressly devoted to, yet he it is that typifies the process in its greatest singleness and purity. If by any investigations, inventions, or discussions we can improve his art to the ideal pitch, we shall have done nearly all that can be required of a science and art of Education.

I return to the greater difficulty-namely, the question what is the end of all teaching; or, if the end be human happiness and perfection, what definite guidance does this furnish to the educator? I have already remarked that the inquiry is acknowledged to belong to other departments; and, if in these departments clear and unanimous answers have not been arrived at, the educationist is not bound to make good the deficiency.

THE WORK OF THE SCHOOL.

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For this emergency, there is one thing obvious, another less obvious; the two together exhausting the resources of the educator.

The obvious thing is to fix upon whatever matters people are agreed upon. Of such the number is considerable, and the instances important. They make the universal topics of the schools.

The less obvious thing is, with reference to matters not agreed upon, that the educator should set forth at what cost these doubtful acquisitions would have to be made; for the cost must be at least one element in the decision respecting them. Whoever knows most about Education is best able to say how far its appliances can cope with such aims as softening the manners, securing self-renunciation, bringing about the balanced action of all the powers, training the whole man, and so forth.

We shall see that one part of the science of Education consists in giving the ultimate analysis of all complex growths. It is on such an analysis that the cost can be calculated; and, by means of this, we can best observe whether contradictory demands are made upon the educator.

What we have been drifting to, in our search for an aim, is the work of the school. This may want a little more paring and rounding to give it scientific form, but it is the thing most calculated to fix and steady our vision at the outset.

Now, for the success of the schoolmaster's work, the first and central fact is the plastic property of the mind itself. On this depends the acquisition not simply of knowledge but of everything that can be called an ac