Switzerland; Switzerland -- Politics and government -- 1815-
enriches the memory, and invigorates the power of moral judgment; the
other, by a course of mental gymnastics as rigid as it is perfect,
develops to the utmost the great faculties of attention, analysis, and
generalization. No scholar can doubt that they must always form an
indispensable element in any scheme of liberal instruction, by which
all the powers and emotions of our moral and intellectual nature may
be so touched, quickened, directed, exercised, and informed, as to
attain their largest measure of capacity. But, side by side with the
higher institutions of learning, there should be established schools
where the sciences in their relations to the arts and industries shall
be specific branches of instruction and training; the addition of a
sufficient amount of work in the handling of tools and the manipulation
of materials to a good sound education in languages, mathematics,
history, and science. Young people should be prepared to take a
broad and intelligent part in the life of an age which is eminently
scientific and practical; an age which has to do with a world of
fierce competition, in which trade is not despised, while science of
every kind is a means of making a livelihood; an age which demands an
education that seeks to arm a man as well as to adorn him, _armer_ and
_orner_. There is no warrant for applying the term educational to any
sort of knowledge which does not increase the power of its possessor,
and so make him the more able to satisfy his needs and desires without
disorder and waste. The measure of this ability is the measure of a
country’s economic progress. Industrial training has an economical and
moral as well as an educational value. As Professor Huxley puts it, we
cannot continue in this age “of full modern artillery to turn out our
boys to do battle in it, equipped only with the sword and shield of an
ancient gladiator.”
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account