A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of EducationGall, James
Philosophy
A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of Education
Gall, James
Education
If in this department then, the teacher is to imitate Nature with
effect, there are two preliminary objects of which he ought never to
lose sight. The first is, that he studiously select from the numerous
subjects which may form the staple of education, those only, or at least
chiefly, which are to be most useful, and which may most easily and most
frequently be put to use by the pupil;--and the second is, that whatever
be the truth or the subject taught, the child should, at the time of
learning, be instructed in the methods and the circumstances in which it
may be used. To neglect these preliminary points, is really to betray
the cause of education, and, besides inflicting a lasting injury on the
young, to deceive the public.
In our enquiries into Nature's method of applying knowledge, we found,
in a former chapter, that she employs two distinct agencies in the work.
The one we denominated the Natural, or Common Sense; and the other is
the Conscience, or Moral Sense:--the one appearing to regulate our
knowledge in so far as it refers to the promotion of our own personal
and physical comforts; and the other, in so far as it refers to the
rights and the well-being of others, and to our own moral good. The
method which she employs in working out these two principles, is, as we
before explained, very nearly the same; consisting of the perception of
some useful truth,--the deduction of a lesson from that truth,--and the
application of that lesson to corresponding circumstances. On that
account, our attempts to imitate her operations as exhibited by the one,
will, in form, be nearly the same as in the other. We shall here,
therefore, attend to the methods by which Nature may be successfully
imitated under both agencies, and shall then state a few illustrations
and facts which are more peculiarly applicable to each in particular.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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