Means and Ends of EducationSpalding, John Lancaster
Philosophy
Means and Ends of Education
Spalding, John Lancaster
Culture; Education
that the special domain of either is invaded by both. But
differentiation finally takes place, and we all learn to distinguish
between the things of Caesar and the things of God. This separation has
far-reaching results. In asserting its independence, the State was
driven to use argument as well as force. Thus learning, which in the
confusion that succeeded the incursions of the Barbarians was
cultivated almost exclusively by ecclesiastics, grew to be of interest
and importance to laymen. They began to study, and the subjects which
most engaged their thoughts were not religious, in the accepted sense
of the word. The Protestant rebellion is but a phase of this
revolution. It began with the introduction of the literature of Greece
into Western Europe. The spirit of inquiry and mental curiosity was
thereby awakened in wider circles; enthusiasm for the truth and beauty
to which Greek genius has given the most perfect expression, was
aroused; and interest in intellectual and artistic culture was called
forth. New ideals were upheld to fresh and wondering minds. The
contagion spread, and the thirst for knowledge was carried to
ever-widening spheres. It thus came to pass that the cleric and the
scholar ceased to be identical. The boundaries of knowledge were
enlarged when the inductive method was applied to the study of nature,
and it soon became impossible for one man to pretend to a mastery of
all science. And so the principle of the division of labor was
introduced into things of the intellect. Of old, the prophet or the
philosopher was supposed to possess all wisdom; but now it had become
plain that proficiency could be hoped for only by lifelong devotion to
some special branch of knowledge. This led to other developments. The
business of teaching, which had been almost exclusively in the hands of
ecclesiastics, was now necessarily taken up by laymen also. As
feudalism fell to decay, and the assertion of popular rights began to
point to the advent of democracy, the movement in opposition to
privilege logically led to the claim that learning should no longer be
held to be the appanage of special classes, but that the gates of the
temple of knowledge should be thrown open to the whole people. To make
education universal, the most ready and the simplest means was to levy
a school tax; and as this could be done only by the State, the State
established systems of education and assumed the office of teacher.
The result of all this has been that the school, which throughout
Christendom is the creation of the church, has in most countries very
largely passed into the control of the civil government.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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