The influence of the parents upon the child is a very powerful one, because child and parents are, as it were, syntonised through hereditary dispositions and tendencies. Oscillations of character in the parents spontaneously initiate oscillations of character in the child, but in this syntonic influence there may subsist a very great danger. The healthier the parents, and the better suited they are to one another, the better are the dispositions the children inherit from them, and thereby the children are fitted to receive a better education. Among the lower animals, parents educate their offspring solely in accordance with the dictates of instinct. For the upbringing of the human young, the guidance of human instinct is inadequate; educational aptitudes and special educational knowledge are also indispensable. Normal human parents may desire to give their children the best possible education; but in many instances they do not know themselves what the best education is; and even if they do know this, they will be unable to provide such an education by their own unaided efforts, and will be dependent upon others for the upbringing of their own children. It is quite impossible for anyone to follow a trade or profession, to supervise the management of a household, and at the same time to be the instructor of his or her own child. For this, parents lack the requisite time and energy. As time goes on, the principle of the division of labour comes more and more into application; it is in accordance with this principle that the education of children should be entrusted to professional educationalists.