But there is nothing more unsatisfactory to the philanthropist than
our meagre and inadequate system of education,--a system which aims to
cram the memory with acquired knowledge, which does not develop
original thought, and which does not elevate the moral nature. Such a
system will never elevate society, will never repress any vice or
crime, will never make the educated generation any happier for being
educated. In short, it utterly fails in that which should be its chief
end and aim, and simply leads society on as heretofore in the path of
increasing intelligence, increasing misery, increasing crime,
increasing insanity. What a commentary on our education and
civilization is the common estimate that Europe, now, with the most
complete educational system ever known, has 50,000 suicides a year. In
this, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin take the lead.
(_To be continued._)