CHAPTER XII SOME UNCONSIDERED ASPECTS OF MORAL TRAINING           Three Foundation Principles.—Three principles which underlie the educational thought of the Union,[1] and the furtherance of which some of us have deeply at heart, are:—(a) The recognition of authority as a fundamental principle, as universal and as inevitable in the moral world as is that of gravitation in the physical; (b) the recognition of the physical … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 12

CHAPTER XI SOME UNCONSIDERED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL TRAINING           We are Law-abiding in Matters Physical and Moral.—We all recognise that we are under the reign of law so far as our bodies go. We know that ‘put your finger in the fire and it will be burnt,’ ‘sit in a draught and you will catch cold,’ ‘live a vigorous and temperate life and health will … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 11

CHAPTER X SOME UNCONSIDERED ASPECTS OF PHYSICAL TRAINING PERHAPS never since the days of the Olympian games has more attention been paid to physical culture than it receives in England to-day. But possibly this physical cult suffers from the want of unity and sanctity of purpose which nullifies to a considerable extent most of our educational efforts.           Does our Physical Culture make Heroes?—We want … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 10

CHAPTER IX A GREAT EDUCATIONALIST (A REVIEW)           We look to Germany for Educational Reform.—We in England require, every now and then, to pull ourselves together, and to ask what they are doing on the Continent in the way of education. We still hark back to the older German educational reformers. We may not know much of Comenius, Basedow, Ratich; we do know something of … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 9

CHAPTER VIII CERTAIN RELATIONS PROPER TO A CHILD           GEOLOGY, mineralogy, physical geography, botany, natural history, biology, astronomy—the whole circle of the sciences is, as it were, set with gates ajar in order that a child may go forth furnished, not with scientific knowledge, but with, what Huxley calls, common information, so that he may feel for objects on the earth and in the heavens … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 8

CHAPTER VII AN ADEQUATE THEORY OF EDUCATION           A Human Being.—I have laid before the reader, as a working hypothesis,—that man is homogeneous, a spiritual being invested with a body—capable of responding to spiritual impulses, the organ by which he expresses himself, the vehicle by which he receives impressions, and the medium by which he establishes relations with what we call the material world;—that will, … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 7

VI SOME EDUCATIONAL THEORIES EXAMINED             Theories of Pestalozzi and Froebel.—It  is refreshing to turn to that school of German educational thought which has produced the two great apostles, Pestalozzi and Froebel. What we may call the enthusiasm of childhood, joyous teaching, loving and lovable teachers and happy school hours for the little people, are among the general gains from this source. To look … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 6

CHAPTER V PSYCHOLOGY IN RELATION TO CURRENT THOUGHT           Educational Thought in the Eighteenth Century.—If the end of the eighteenth and the end of the nineteenth centuries have one feature in common more than another, it is, that in both education comes to the front as among the chief ends of man. The eighteenth-century people had the best of it. They had clear oracles in … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 5

CHAPTER IV SOME OF THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN AS PERSONS           Children should be Free in their Play.—We have considered the wisdom and duty of ‘a wise passiveness,’ ‘a masterly inactivity,’ in the bringing up of children. It remains to glance in detail at the various points in a child’s life, where this principle should govern us. And, first, as regards children’s … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 4

CHAPTER III ‘MASTERLY INACTIVITY’           Increased Sense of Responsibility.—It would be an interesting task for a literary expert to trace the stages of ethical thought marked by the uses, within living memory, of the word responsibility. People, and even children, were highly responsible in the fifties and sixties, but then it was for their own character, conduct, and demeanour. It is not … Continue reading School Education Volume 3 Chapter 3