The greatest delight of every individual, whether child or adult, is to be occupied in accordance with its own inclinations, and to be treated by others in a manner suited to its own peculiar tendencies. This perhaps depends upon one of the primary laws of physics, that motion takes place in the direction of least resistance. Individualisation in education is an exceedingly difficult matter; and yet it is less difficult than appears at first sight. Differences in individual character are far less extensive than is generally believed, and it is an error to suppose that the character of every child differs in important respects from that of every other. It is an impossible aim of education to make every child a being with a well-marked individuality. If the differences were too great between those whose education is completed--that is, between those grown persons who play their parts in ordinary human intercourse, such intercourse would be less extensive and more difficult than it now is. The child must be educated in such a way that its actions are not instinctive and uncontrolled, but consciously purposive and self-controlled; but at the same time the educationalist must guard against the danger of making the child into a will-less puppet. It has frequently been observed that obedient children are unlikely to grow up into men of any particular note, the reason being that they are accustomed to do only what they are told, and have never learned to act on their own initiative. Knowledge is a mighty weapon, but it is one which can be used either to good purpose or to ill, and it is _per se_ neither moral nor immoral. Knowledge is Power, but it is not Virtue. It is not the ability to read and to write which matters; the important question is, what one reads and what one writes. Among those who can neither read nor write, we find many who are extraordinarily rich in practical experience. This is to be explained by the fact that those who can read and write are able to gain impressions indirectly as well as directly, whilst illiterate persons are entirely dependent upon their own direct experience of life. Among the causes of crime, illiteracy by no means plays so important a part as is generally believed. For this reason, when we are studying the condition of any particular country, we must avoid laying too great a stress upon the percentage of illiterates among its population. The number of illiterates depends in part also upon the proportions of persons at various ages, inasmuch as, in reckoning the percentage of illiterates to the general population, those under school age are left out of the account. By no means is it the aim of education to provide general culture. The State cannot possibly insist that every individual should devote himself to the acquirement of general culture, for the most talented person is at times unable to earn his own living. In the struggle for existence, general culture, taken by itself, is utterly useless.