Education; Educational psychology; Moral education
Before considering how to educate, it is well to be clear as to the
sort of result which we wish to achieve. Dr. Arnold wanted “humbleness
of mind”, a quality not possessed by Aristotle’s “magnanimous man”.
Nietzsche’s ideal is not that of Christianity. No more is Kant’s: for
while Christ enjoins love, Kant teaches that no action of which love
is the motive can be truly virtuous. And even people who agree as to
the ingredients of a good character may differ as to their relative
importance. One man will emphasize courage, another learning, another
kindliness, and another rectitude. One man, like the elder Brutus, will
put duty to the State above family affection; another, like Confucius,
will put family affection first. All these divergences will produce
differences as to education. We must have some conception of the kind
of person we wish to produce, before we can have any definite opinion
as to the education which we consider best.
Of course an educator may be foolish, in the sense that he produces
results other than those at which he was aiming. Uriah Heep was the
outcome of lessons in humility at a Charity School, which had had an
effect quite different from what was intended. But in the main the
ablest educators have been fairly successful. Take as examples the
Chinese literati, the modern Japanese, the Jesuits, Dr. Arnold, and the
men who direct the policy of the American public schools. All these,
in their various ways, have been highly successful. The results aimed
at in the different cases were utterly different, but in the main the
results were achieved. It may be worth while to spend a few moments on
these different systems, before attempting to decide what we should
ourselves regard as the aims which education should have in view.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account