A representative argument for sciences in the course of study is that made by Herbert Spencer (Fig. 52) in his essay on _What Knowledge Is of Most Worth_. He ventured to raise the whole question of the purpose of education. He held that “to prepare us for complete living is the function which education has to discharge; and the only rational mode of judging of any educational course is, to judge in what degree it discharges such function. Our first step must obviously be to classify, in the order of their importance, the leading kinds of activity which constitute human life. They may be arranged into: 1. Those activities which directly minister to self-preservation; 2. Those activities which, by securing the necessaries of life, indirectly minister to self-preservation; 3. Those activities which have for their end the rearing and discipline of offspring; 4. Those activities which are involved in the maintenance of proper social and political relations; 5. Those miscellaneous activities which make up the leisure part of life, devoted to the gratification of the tastes and feelings. The ideal of education is complete preparation in all these divisions. But failing this ideal, the aim should be to maintain a due proportion between the degrees of preparation in each, greatest where the value is greatest, less where the value is less, least where the value is least.” [Sidenote: for all of these, sciences are most useful;] [Sidenote: and a change of educational content is advocated.]