_Of the First Foundations of Education._
To remedy the evils just complained of, it is of material consequence to
commence a system of education from _Infancy_: this tender period, which
is too often intrusted to imprudent and irregular women, is, in truth,
the most susceptible of the strongest impressions, and consequently has
a great influence on the future regulation of life.
As soon as children can lisp, they may be prepared for instruction: this
may be thought paradoxical--but only consider what a child does before
it can talk. It is learning a language which it will, by and by, speak
with more accuracy, than the learned can speak the dead languages,
although studied at a mature period of life. But what is the learning a
language? It does not consist solely in treasuring in the memory a great
number of words--but in comprehending, says St. Austin, the meaning of
each particular word: the child, amidst its cries and amusements, knows
for what object each word is designed: this is obtained sometimes by
observing the natural motions of bodies which touch, or shew, the objects
of which one is speaking--sometimes by being struck with the frequent
repetition of the same word to signify the same thing. It cannot be
denied but that the brain of children is admirably calculated, from
its temperament, to receive impressions from all these images; but what
strength of mental attention is requisite to distinguish them, and to
unite each to its proper object?
Consider too, how children, even at such a tender age, attach themselves
to those who flatter, and avoid those who restrain, them: how well they
know to obtain their object by a tear, or silent submission: how much
artifice and jealousy they already possess! "I have seen," exclaims St.
Austin, "a jealous child: it could not speak; but its face was pale, and
the eyes were irritated against an infant that suckled with it."
From this it may be inferred, that infants know more at such an early
period than is usually imagined: thus, by soft words and appropriate
gestures, you may incline them towards honest and virtuous connexions,
rather than introduce them to those which it would be dangerous for
them to caress.--Thus, again, you may, by appropriate looks and tone
of voice, represent to them, with horror, those whom they have seen
exasperated with anger, or any other furious passion; and, on the other
hand, by a correspondent serenity of manner, depicture to them those who
are amiable and wise.
I do not wish to lay too great a stress on these subordinate matters:
but, in reality, these different dispositions form a commencement of
character which must not be neglected; and this mode of foreseeing,
as it were, the future dispositions of children, has imperceptible
consequences which facilitate their education.
If we still doubt of the power of these early prepossessions on future
maturity, we need only call to mind how lively and affecting, at an
advanced age, is the remembrance of those things which have delighted
us in childhood. If, instead of terrifying the minds of young people
with absurd notions of ghosts and spirits, which serve only to weaken
and disturb the still delicate texture of the brain: if, instead of
abandoning them to the caprice of a nurse for what they are to like or
dislike, we endeavoured always to impress on their minds an agreeable
idea of good, and a frightful one of evil--this foresight might
hereafter be the foundation of every practical virtue. On the contrary,
we frighten them with the idea of a clergyman clothed in black--we
talk of death merely to excite terror--and recount tales of the dead
revisiting the earth, at midnight, under hideous shapes! All this has
a tendency to weaken and agitate the mind, and to excite a prejudice
against the soundest doctrines.
One of the most useful and important things during infancy is, to be
particularly careful of the child's health; endeavouring to sweeten
the blood by a proper choice of food, and a simple regimen of life:
regulating its meals, so that it eat pretty nearly at the same hours,
and as it feels the inclination; that the stomach be not overloaded
before digestion takes place, and that no high-seasoned dishes be
introduced, which must necessarily give a disrelish for more healthful
food. Lastly, too many dishes should not be allowed at the same time;
for such a variety of food begets an appetite even after the real call
of hunger is satisfied.
Another very important consideration is, not to oppress the faculties
by too much instruction; to avoid every thing which may kindle the
passions; to deprive a child, gently and by degrees, of that for which
it has expressed too vehement a desire to obtain; so that, eventually,
it may be insensible of disappointment.
If a child's disposition be tolerably good, it may, by the foregoing
method, be rendered docile, patient, steady, cheerful, and tranquil;
whereas, if its tender years be neglected, it becomes restless and
turbulent during the remainder of its life; the blood boils, bad habits
are formed, and the body and mind, both equally susceptible, become
prone to evil. Hence arises a sort of second original sin, which, in
advanced age, is the source of a thousand disorders.
As soon as children arrive at a more mature period, or their reason
becomes unfolded, we must be careful that all our words have a tendency
to make them love truth, and detest artifice and hypocrisy. We ought
never to be guilty of any deception or falsehood to appease them, or to
persuade them to comply with our wishes: if we are, we instruct them in
cunning and artifice; and this they never forget. Reason and good sense
must be our instruments of regulation.
But let us examine with a little more attention the exact dispositions
of children, and what more particularly regards their treatment. The
substance of their brain is soft, but it becomes harder every day: it
has neither experience nor judgment to discriminate one object from
another, and every thing is, therefore, new to them. From this softness
and pliability of the brain, impressions are easily made; and the
surprize which accompanies novelty, is the cause of their continual
admiration, and extreme curiosity. It is true that this ductility of the
brain, attended with considerable heat, produces an easy and constant
motion; hence arises that bustle and volatility of youth, which is as
incapable of fixing the attention on one object, as it is of confining
the body to one spot.
Again, children are incapable of thinking and acting for themselves;
they remark every thing, but speak little; unless they have been
accustomed to talk much--an evil, against which we must be constantly on
our guard. The pleasure which we derive and express from the sight of
_pretty children_, spoils them; for they are, in consequence, accustomed
to utter every thing which comes uppermost, and to talk on subjects
of which they have no distinct ideas; hence is formed an habit of
precipitately passing judgment, and of discussing points they are
incapable of comprehending; an unfortunate circumstance! and which,
probably, adheres to them through life.
This admiration of _pretty children_ has another pernicious consequence;
they are sensible that you look at them, watch all their actions, and
listen to their prattle, with pleasure--hence they flatter themselves
that all the world must follow your example.
During this period, when applause is perpetually bestowed, and
contradiction seldom obtruded, children indulge chimerical hopes, which,
alas! are the source of endless disappointments throughout life. I have
seen children who always fancied you were talking about them, whenever
any thing was privately said--and this, forsooth, because it has
_sometimes_ actually been the case: they have also imagined themselves
to be most extraordinary and incomparable beings. Take care, therefore,
that in your attentions to children, they are unconscious of any
particular solicitude on your part: shew them that it is from pure
regard, and the helplessness of their condition to relieve their
own wants, that you interest yourself in their behalf--and not from
admiration of their talents. Be content to form their minds, by degrees,
according to each emergency that may arise: and if it were in your
power to advance their knowledge much beyond their years, even without
straining their intellect, by no means put it in practice; recollect
that the danger of _vanity_ and _arrogance_ is always greater than the
fruit of those premature educations which make so much noise in the
world.
We must be satisfied to follow and assist nature. Children know little,
and should not be stimulated to talk: but the consequence of this
ignorance is, they are continually asking questions. We should,
therefore, answer them precisely, and add sometimes little comparisons,
which may throw light on the information we give them. If they judge of
some things without sufficient knowledge, they should be checked by a
new question, which might make them sensible of their error without
rudely confounding them; at the same time take care to impress on their
minds, not by vague praises, but by some effectual mark of esteem,
that they afford much more satisfaction when they _doubt_, and _ask
for information_, on points they do not know, than when they happen to
decide rightly. This is the sure method to implant in them a true sense
of modesty and politeness; and to excite a contempt for those idle
controversies in which ignorant young folks are too apt to indulge.
As soon as we begin to watch the dawn of reason spreading, we should
seize it as a favourable opportunity to guard them against presumption:
"You see," we should exclaim, "that you are much more reasonable and
tractable than you were last year--and in the _following_ year you will
observe things yet more clearly than you do at present--if, during the
last year, you were eager to have passed judgment on things which you
now know, and were then ignorant of, you would assuredly have judged
wrong. You would therefore have been to blame in offering opinions on
subjects above the reach of your intellect. There are, at this moment,
many things which remain for you to know; and you will one day be
convinced how imperfect are your _present_ conceptions. Nevertheless,
adhere to the counsel of those who judge of things as you yourself would
judge, were you gifted with their years and experience."
As the curiosity of children is a faculty which precedes instruction, we
should be careful to make them profit by it. For example, in the country
when they see a mill, they wish to know what it is--here, then, you
may shew them how that food is prepared which nourishes man. A little
further they perceive reapers--and you must explain to them their
occupation; how they sow the grain, and how it multiplies in the earth.
In the town they see a number of shops, where various trades are
exercised, and various merchandize is sold. Never consider their
questions as importunate; they are overtures which nature makes to
facilitate instruction--shew them, therefore, that you take pleasure in
these questions--for, by such means, you teach them insensibly how every
thing is made, which conduces to the comfort of man, and extension of
commerce. By degrees, and without any particular study, they become
acquainted with every article that is useful, and with the price affixed
to each, which is, indeed, the true foundation of economy. This kind of
knowledge, which no one should despise, because no one is willing to be
cheated from the want of it, is particularly necessary for women.