The philosophy of education; or, The principles and practice of teaching

Lessons on the Addition of Fractions. Lesson on
Rule of Three. Mental Arithmetic.

297-298

General Principles and Rules. Model Drawing-

Dupuis' System. A simple Piece of Apparatus

for Teaching the Principles of Perspective.

Model Lessons on Drawing.

WRITING

PRACTICAL GEOMETRY AND MENSURATION

Drawing Instruments, &c. Lessons on Geometry

-Observations relative to Familiar Modes of

Exposition.

ALGEBRA. A Lesson on Equations

-

MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE. A Lesson on

RATUS-List of Apparatus for General Use-—

Specimen Forms of School Registers-Specimen

of a Time-Table and Routine of Lessons

CLASSIFICATION. THE PUPIL-TEACHERS

THE

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION;

OR,

THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING.

INTRODUCTION.

As man is not only a physical, but also a thinking and an accountable being, so therefore education, in its comprehensive sense, may be viewed in three aspects—that is, in relation to our physical, intellectual, and moral nature. I here propose to consider the last two departments of education; to determine, if possible, the best methods whereby our nature may be educated intellectually and morally. The end of all education should be, to promote man's happiness, not only during his present transitory existence, but throughout the eternity which is to follow.

The principal means of education in this country are -school instruction, books, public lectures and discourses, and exhibitions of works of science and art. But the efficiency of all the popular means of education are dependent upon, and in fact inseparably connected with, the primary instruction of the schoolroom. The treasures of our literature and science are inaccessible to him who has not been taught the first rudiments of language. Hence it is, that the brilliant productions of the poetic genius, or the gigantic creations of the science of any particular age, afford us no data for estimating the state

B

of education among the mass of the people of that age. On this subject John Forster eloquently observes :— "Long after the brilliant show of talent, and the creation of literary supplies for the national use, in the early part of the last century, the deplorable mental condition of the people remained in no very great degree altered. To pass from beholding that bright and sumptuous display in order to see what there was corresponding to it in the subsequent state of the popular cultivation, is like going out from some magnificent apartment, with its lustres, music, refections, and assemblage of elegant personages, to be beset by beggars in the gloom and cold of a winter night."

The schoolmaster must begin the work of education. The subject of method, therefore, should be treated chiefly in relation to the work of the schoolmaster.

EDUCATION IS A SCIENCE AS WELL AS AN ART.

Practical teachers, as well as the public generally, had, until recently, regarded education more as an art than as a science, consisting merely of a few arbitrary and empirical rules which may be modified or altered to suit the tastes and attainments of the teacher, or to answer the opinions and circumstances of the managers of schools. This unfortunate prejudice has, no doubt, had its origin, to a great extent, in the fact that the greater portion of teachers were unfit for their office. Few minds were capable of viewing education apart from its miserable and unworthy representatives, or dissociating it from the operation of the schools which came within the sphere of their own immediate observation.

Twenty years ago, anybody was considered good enough for a schoolmaster. If a tradesman failed in business, he was thought to be learned enough for a schoolmaster; a feeble, sickly youth, who was not considered strong enough to practise any regular trade, was thought to be sufficiently qualified to undertake the duties of school keeping; if a mechanic happened to get a limb fractured he would, as a matter of course, save

himself from starvation by opening a school; when a man who had seen better days applied to the parish officers for out-door relief, they gravely debated the question, whether it was more expedient to send him to the quarry to break stones, or to confer upon him the office of parish schoolmaster.* Such was the low estimate formed of the qualifications requisite for a schoolmaster. This state of things, doubtless, tended to retard the progress of education both as a science and an art, for the odium attached to the office, as well as the insufficiency of the remuneration, prevented properly qualified persons from undertaking the duties. But within the last fifteen years, a change in public opinion has been gradually taking place: the working and middle classes have been led to see the value of a sound elementary education, and thereby to estimate more highly the difficulties and importance of the duties of the common schoolmaster. This salutary change is in a great measure due to the government schemes of education. I confidently hope that the day is not distant when the force of public opinion will elevate education into the rank of a recognised science.

Elementary education has two great ends: 1. To develope the intellectual and moral faculties; or, in other words, to develope the faculties of the perfect man: 2. To communicate to the pupil that sort of knowledge which is most likely to be useful to him in the sphere of life which Providence has assigned him.

The science of education must be based upon the nature of the being to be educated; that is to say, upon the laws which govern the development of the intellectual and moral faculties. These laws may be determined as well by observation as by psychological analysis.

Every faculty of our nature has its proper period and peculiar mode of development.

* In the towns of Newcastle and Gateshead, twenty-five years ago, two schoolmasters had wooden legs, one had a cork leg, two went upon crutches, two were little better than deformed dwarfs, and not a few were "stickit ministers" and broken down tradesmen.

Livros