To conclude then, physical education must be encouraged, but as
spiritual training and as formation of character. Gymnastic exercise,
therefore, far from being the only way to this end, may even lead in the
opposite direction; and it will do so as long as it is considered apart
from the remainder of education, with a particular scope of its own, and
with heterogeneous contents in respect to spiritual education properly
so-called. The teacher of physical education must always bear in mind
that he is not dealing with _bodies_, bodies to be moved around, to be
lined up, or rushed around a track. He too is training souls, and
collaborates with all the other teachers in the moral preparation and
advancement of mankind. If, in addition to his special qualifications,
he does not possess culture enough to enable him to discern the spirit
beyond the body, and to understand therefore the moral value of order,
of precision, of gracefulness, of agility, by which man externally
realises his personality, he will no doubt fulfil the ordinary demands
of physical culture, but he will just as certainly antagonise and
disgust those of his pupils who are most highly gifted and otherwise
better trained, and he can therefore lay no claim to the title of
educator.
Education then is either one or not effective. The assumption that there
are many kinds of education leads to very disastrous results. Education
is one; and as a whole it appears unchanged in each one of the parts
that we ordinarily distinguish in it, according as we approach the human
spirit now from one side and now from the other.
CHAPTER X
THE IDEAL OF EDUCATION
ART AND RELIGION
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