KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION
In entering upon the consideration of the part which knowledge plays
in the making of human happiness, it seems impossible to secure a
view of satisfactory breadth. What we, as children, knew as recently
established facts was with our fathers, in many instances, entirely
undreamed-of, so rapidly has the fund of knowledge grown within the
last century. With us now, more than at any other time, is correctness
of judgment advantageous, since, with increased learning, has come a
fiercer competition in all the affairs of life, and more dependent
than ever before is the individual now, upon his intelligence for
his livelihood, as well as for his happiness. In this day, as never
previously, are the words of Bacon true: "Crafty men contemn studies;
simple men admire them, and wise men use them."
At the present time, also, as at no time in the historic past, is
experience gained at the hands of others or through them; so that the
youth of to-day does not have to suffer the consequences of getting
experience "first hand" on account of the lack of books, or of the
prejudice or ignorance of his parents and teachers, as was so often
the case in the not remote past. Furthermore, intelligent parents are
taking their children into their confidence, and informing them upon
all subjects with perfect freedom, since, inasmuch as knowledge must
come to children at some time, it is vastly preferable that it should
come through those who have the interest of the inexperienced at heart,
so that the proper color and perspective may be given to each and every
fact. It is almost an axiom of pedagogics to-day that "ignorance is
the most potent cause of crime." With the unprecedented dissemination
of knowledge which has taken place during the past few decades, there
has necessarily been a proportionate advancement in the culture of the
masses, and, with culture, comes refinement and conscience.
The cheapness and attractiveness of current literature, before the
decline in culture which engulfed this country with the rise of
commercialism and imperialism, was a thing of which America had every
reason to be proud; and while we are now in the trough of the wave of
progress, and will continue to be until money and commercial influence
lose their present prestige, yet it does not take an optimist to see
that, sooner or later, and somewhere, humanity will take advantage of
its hard-won victories of the past and commence again its march toward
better conditions.
Here, again, as with the individual, so with the entire race. As we
outgrow the things of our childhood at the arrival of mature years,
so has and will the human family as a whole. Who cannot remember the
marvelous width and depth of the vistas of youth, as looked back at in
the transmuting light of memory; and yet, when, after years of toil,
we look at the same scenes again in reality, how disappointing and
dwarfed they are! It is not the actual physical distance which has been
altered, but we, ourselves. Our horizons have unconsciously widened
every day; our standards of comparison have been insidiously raised.
Just as an inch, when compared with a foot, seems relatively small,
with a yard, smaller, and so on until we reach the "light year," the
value of the fraction is reduced to almost an inappreciable sum; so, as
we progress through life, the momentous events of our youth lose their
importance, and we look at our past through the minifying glass of
experience, until at last we can hardly believe that the person whose
life we have been reviewing is, in reality, one with our present self.
Furthermore, events seen at a distance assume their true proportions,
and we are less influenced by passions and prejudices after the lapse
of time; hence it is only in retrospection that we are able to secure
a view of anything which we have experienced without distortion. All
normal human beings are so constituted that their psychic activity runs
through a long series of periods of evolution during each individual
life. As Haeckel has shown, five of these, at least, can be clearly
defined:
1st--The Infantile Stage--from birth to the beginning of
self-consciousness.
2nd--The adolescent stage--from self-consciousness to puberty.
3rd--The idealistic stage--from puberty to the period of sexual
intercourse.
4th--The mature stage--from the time of sexual intercourse to the
beginning of degeneration with age.
5th--The senile stage--from the commencement of degeneration with age
until death.
The investigation of a human life, according to this outline, will
prove, quite readily, the psychic possibilities of mundane existence.
As is well known, the child enters life with its cerebellum almost
devoid of functions. The vital processes are carried on through the
cerebrum and the medulla oblongata, purely by virtue of the stamp of
heredity, and it is only after some days that the outside stimuli, such
as light, heat, pressure or contact, etc., of the most elementary and
primitive sort, are responded to by the infant. Its life is a matter
of little or no individual interest to it, and it is usually only
after many months, and, in some cases, years, before the child has any
conception of its own existence. Previous to the comprehension of its
existence, the infant has to learn to see and judge something of the
distance and size of objects by the use of its eyes, if not to invert
the retina image. In a non-monistic sense, the child, during this
period, has no soul, and its life or death is of absolutely no moment
to it.
In the second, or adolescent stage, the most important of the
individual's concrete knowledge is obtained--that upon which the basis
of judgment rests in after-years. The developing mentality seizes
new facts with avidity, and the memory is more keen, potentially,
at this stage than at any other. The value of correct associations
at this era cannot be over-estimated, as ideas and habits formed in
this period cling tenaciously to the individual. So deeply seated do
they become that they form a part of what we call, in after-years,
our instinct, and upon these memories and the foundation of habits
we build our later intuition. Voltaire has somewhere remarked that
"Mankind is led more by instinct than by reason," and his observation
is a just one. The acquisition of concrete facts or knowledge, in
a specialized form, takes place at a very much more rapid rate at
this period than during any other one, and the child's mind is very
plastic, and absorbs information greedily. Nature has so arranged it
that at this time, when most is to be learned, learning comes more
easily than before or afterwards. In the normal child, the sense of
duty begins to make itself felt at this juncture, and while this may
be entirely an objective idea, nevertheless, it clearly shows an
appreciation of justice in a regard for the rights of others. Coupled
with this, there is a satisfaction which comes both from a sense of
our knowledge--little though it be--and the feeling that this is being
used as a guide to our conduct; a sentiment which Bacon eloquently
expresses in his aphorism: "No pleasure is comparable with the standing
upon the vantage ground of Truth." With this realization, life for
the first time becomes worth living, and our desire for more knowledge
follows directly upon our appreciation of the power which truth gives
over our destiny. The grasping and comprehension of this idea by the
child is one of the greatest, if not the most important, points to be
attained in any educational system. The absorption of abstract facts
does not constitute, primarily, any part of an education, as Spencer
has so clearly shown; but the implanting of the desire for truth, and
the manner in which we should assimilate and use it, does attain the
highest aim of any scheme of erudition. It is in this second stage
of development that this must be done rudimentally; consequently,
compulsory education must be carried at least through this period.
At the beginning of the third subdivision in the life of the
individual, we find a peculiar nervous tension, which is invariably an
accompaniment of this stage of physical development. The imaginative
faculties are enormously stimulated, and, unless directed into the
right channels, are sure to work to the eternal harm of both male and
female children. They should have been given a general knowledge of
their physical peculiarities, previous to this time, by their parents,
and should be allowed the companionship of playmates of the opposite
sex so long as their characters are not objectionable. These close
acquaintances between girls and boys should be fostered and allowed
to become friendship, rather than be discouraged and ridiculed, by
the parents and guardians, as is so often the case. The polarity of
sex will assert itself at this early age, and the boys will strive to
appear manly, strong and noble, while the girls, in a less positive
sense, perhaps, but in an equally beneficial manner, will attempt to
assume the womanly peculiarities of reserved kindliness and sympathy,
which has made the female character so lovable and universally admired
through all the ages. In this matter of the intersexual association
of children, our public school system is usually in error, since, in
most towns, the playgrounds of the boys and girls are separated by
high fences, and communication is entirely cut off during play times.
The association with a large number of individuals of the opposite
sex gives the child a broader basis upon which to form a judgment
concerning any one, and if taught at the same time to use his mind
analytically, will mean a correspondingly high ideal of his own. The
ideal of the child is but the selected striking characteristics of his
own acquaintances, coalesced into an imaginative being. This ideal
is high or low, just as he has been taught to reverence and worship
beautiful or unlovely and vile things; but, all conditions being equal,
there is no other time in life when the human mind will so readily
respond to the pure and noble stimulation of æstheticism as against the
baseness and depravity of unbridled sensuality.
Much has been said concerning the difference in the systems of
education and the class of facts to be presented to the male, as
distinguished from the female, mind. There can be no doubt that the
desired result of education in either case is broadly similar--the
fitting of the individual for a useful and happy life. But it
does not follow that, because in our present civilization, the
woman is necessarily the guardian of the æsthetic, while the man is
engrossed with the practical, that the same set of facts and power of
investigation and reason are not just as good a preparation with which
to meet the identical world-problems in the one life as in the other.
Truth is the same to the boy as to the girl, and the material facts
do not change whether faced by one sex or its opposite. Since in our
industrial life, we have allowed woman to assume already no mean part,
we have more than ever a valid reason for giving her the same course
of training in general which we prescribe for her brother. Nor are we
speaking of intellectual and moral education alone--but the physical
as well--and this in its broadest sense. If we can but stamp indelibly
upon the minds of our children that the natural consequences of their
actions are the punishments, _per se_, which they must suffer in
person, we have done about all possible toward making their pathways
through the world lead at least through negative enjoyment, in place
of absolute grief. There must be inculcated a frankness and sincerity
into the processes of their mentality, before correct judgment can
exist, and, without this, no scheme of education can fulfill its
mission. This honesty of character or intro-active integrity is a hard
matter to instill into the child, since our methods and actions are
very rarely consistent, as Richter, Rousseau, Spencer, and others--in
truth, all of our great educational thinkers--have so well realized.
The indispensability of this candor and fervor is none the less
appreciated, however, owing to the almost insurmountable difficulties
attending its procuration. It is just in this connection that intimate
friendships with members of both sexes so nicely supplement the work
accomplished by parental association, since the restraint certain to
come from the authority of the parent or guardian, is unknown as an
influence between those equal in age and station in life.
In the use of the beginning of sexual intercourse, as a line of
demarcation between periods of human existence, it would seem that
a most natural and rational selection were made. As a proof of this,
it is but necessary to call to mind the large number of barbaric and
semi-civilized peoples who observe some initiatory rites or mysteries
connected with the arrival of the individual at puberty or nubility,
which with them is, to all intents and purposes, the same as, if not
absolutely identical with, the beginning of sexual indulgence. Under
our civic law, it is at this time that, through marriage, the human
being assumes his full responsibilities, and, by the beginning of an
independent family relation, becomes an integral, co-ordinate member
of the state. It is at this "stress and storm" period that the real
work of life--the fruition of existence--takes place. Beginning with
the intimate association with another human being, whose rights and
privileges are so interwoven with our own that it is frequently a
hard matter to respect them without becoming distant, tolerating the
idiosyncrasies, and lauding the virtues, in such a way that the former
are diminished, while the latter are increased; trying to anticipate
the wants and wishes of the other so that they may be gratified--not
for their own satisfaction, primarily, but for our own; seeing the
pleasures of sensuality transmuted in the crucible of pain into the
gold of a new existence; feeling the supplementary affection and
interest, which, for the want of a better name, we call parental
love, and, as the offspring grow older, the pride and elation which
comes with their achievements; standing at last beside the grave,
crushed with grief, raving like Macbeth in despair, or inspired with a
transcendental insanity like Richter's--these all are the vicissitudes
of mature human life, when at its best.
But, great and varied as they are, we find them, in fact, very closely
fused together; and like all life-processes, they take place at a
comparatively slow rate, so that before we are aware, we have arrived
at the beginning of senile degeneration.
Prior to the ending of this fourth stage, the education of the
individual has been finished, and it depends largely upon the
previous mode of living, and the manner of thinking whether he
may not remain at his best for a while, or must at once begin the
descent, from which there is no return. Fortunate, indeed, is he
whose "star remains long bright at the zenith." Considering now what
constitutes an education and the best means of obtaining it, we can
profitably review the principles involved. As Spencer has shown,
intellectual, moral, and even physical development for the human
being must proceed in one direction--call it what we will. There can
be no question that the infant, as an individuality, is homogeneous
in its ignorance and positive influence; that the first facts which
dawn upon its germinating intelligence are concrete and empirical,
and that all of its acts are simple, resulting from comparatively
simple stimuli. Education, in its broadest sense, is the development,
cultivation, and direction of all the natural powers of man, and
its purpose should be to fit the individual for a useful and happy
life. Education can come only through the acquisition of knowledge,
but knowledge can be obtained in two ways. By knowledge, we mean
assurance born of conviction, based upon sufficient evidence, that
a mental conception corresponds with that which it represents. The
primal way of gaining knowledge is by experience, and undoubtedly
this is the most satisfactory and thorough in all cases, where the
result of such experience is not of such a nature as to potentially
lessen the possibilities of the individual for future usefulness and
happiness. Where this would occur, or where, for any reason, such as
lack of time or opportunity, it cannot be resorted to, the accurately
recorded experience of others can be assimilated through the memory and
reasoning faculties, and added to the store of knowledge for the mind's
use. In using the second method of acquiring knowledge, we should not
only exercise the utmost care in selecting authorities who have a
reputation for keenness of perception and truthfulness of narration,
but we should not accept their dictum for what seems to be to us
contrary to our previous experience, and unsound to our reason and
judgment. Unless we are able to follow with our reason their narration
of the causes of events, it is of but little avail that we reach their
conclusion.
The adoption of the scientific as distinguished from the Aristotelian
system of education by the leading teachers of all the Occidental
countries within the last century, has been of enormous benefit to
the human race. We know now that the first thing to be learned is
to maintain the body in as nearly perfect physical condition as
possible--since the mind, to a marked degree, reflects the pathological
state of the flesh. Consequently, hygiene becomes the fundamental
science in the education of the human being, and facts relating thereto
should take precedence generally over all others in the priority of
time in a youth's education.
With the habit of health once established, the next matter is to see
that those studies which will place the individual in possession of
the greatest numbers of facts concerning his physical and mental
environments, and which will give him the best training in observation
and reasoning, are pursued.
For this, natural science and its accompanying mathematics, are
supreme, although enough manual training and domestic science should be
included in the curriculum to insure an acquaintance with the matters
of everyday life. Human physiology and anatomy, as well as the subject
of parenthood, should also have a share of attention commensurate
with their importance--and this has long been denied them. Elementary
psychology must also have a place even in that course of education
which should be made compulsory in every State. A knowledge of the
elementary Latin and Greek is also to be desired in those countries
whose vernaculars are largely made up from word-roots to be found in
these dead languages.
As a matter of amusement and erudition every individual should have
some line of work other than that of his daily routine, upon which to
devote his spare time, regardless of the educational advantages which
he may have had before assuming his responsibilities in the world's
work. This is equally true of woman. However, this should not be done
with the intention of winning fame--although that is not impossible,
since Newton developed his Calculus in his spare time after hours,
while working as a clerk upon a very moderate salary--or attracting the
attention of others, but as a means of self-development. Either some
particular unsolved problem may be taken hold of, such as the sciences
of chemistry, physics, or biology are so replete with, or the subject
of literature and _belles lettres_ may be studied most entertainingly
and profitably. This class of workers were very much more numerous
formerly than at present, owing to the rise of commercialism recently
over the whole world, and it is among these that labor for love, rather
than for profit, that much of the real accomplishment occurs. From
our standpoint, no plan of human existence can be complete, in the
highest and best sense of the word, which does not include this phase
of life, nor can any scheme of education be comprehensive which does
not lead up to it. There is probably no natural law, the knowledge
of which is of so much importance to the human race at large, as that
commonly known as the law of compensation. How many of the thinking
vulgar have for ages repeated the ancient adage: "You cannot have your
pie and eat it." But it has remained for modern science to demonstrate
how absolutely true this is, and Emerson only partly stated his case in
one of his best essays: "Tit for tat; an eye for an eye; a tooth for a
tooth; blood for blood; measure for measure, love for love. Give and
it shall be given to you. Nothing venture, nothing have. Thou shalt be
paid exactly for what thou hast done, no more, no less. Who doth not
work, shall not eat. Harm watch, harm catch. Curses always recoil on
the head of him who imprecates them. If you put a chain around the neck
of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own. Bad council
confounds the adviser. 'What will you have?' quoth God; 'pay for it and
take it.'" It is one of the largest parts of any education, yea, it is
the major, to know that you must pay for what you get in life whether
you will or no, and that you are forced constantly to bargain and
barter what you have for what you have not, and it is imperative that
you see that you get something which you really want, and which will
add to your happiness. And, in spite of yourself, you will get what you
really want, for you can't help it; but for it you will have to pay out
something, as you are doing all the time. Be sure to get something back
of value, let your ideals be high, choose the thing which will give you
the most happiness, but, remember, that you must pay its price. It is
the sudden realization of the law of compensation, held possibly to an
untenable extreme, that accounts for the recent rapid proselyting of
the Christian Science cult.