The Conflict of Studies and Other Essays on Subjects Connected with Education

Capa
Macmillan and Company, 1873 - 242 páginas

No interior do livro

Páginas seleccionadas

Outras edições - Ver tudo

Palavras e frases frequentes

Passagens conhecidas

Página 66 - Admission to its sanctuary, and to the privileges and feelings of a votary, is only to be gained by one means, — sound and sufficient knowledge of mathematics, the great instrument of all exact inquiry, without which no man can ever make such advances in this or any olher of the higher departments of science as can entitle him to form an independent opinion on any subject of discussion within their range.
Página 168 - ... of ability whose attention was fully occupied with studies different from mathematics, or persons of scanty attainments and feeble power who could do little more than pass the ordinary examination. I can distinctly affirm that the cases of hopeless failure in Euclid were very few ; and the advantages derived from the study, even by men of feeble ability, were most decided. In comparing the performance in Euclid with that in Arithmetic and Algebra there could be no doubt that the Euclid had made...
Página 17 - It may be said that a boy takes more interest in the matter by seeing for himself, or by performing for himself, that is, by working the handle of the air-pump; this we admit, while we continue to doubt the educational value of the transaction. The boy would also probably take much more interest in football than in Latin grammar; but the measure of his interest is not identical with that of the importance of the subjects.
Página 224 - ... there shall be introduced examples and questions, by way of illustration or explanation, arising directly out of the Propositions themselves ; but this rule shall not be understood to sanction the introduction of problems into parts of the Examination which are not exclusively devoted thereto.
Página 27 - ... an instrument for the original investigator, has not necessarily promoted its educational value for ordinary students. I remember to have heard from the late Professor Boole, an opinion which I had also formed myself, that the increase in the resources of notation tended to diminish the importance of mathematics as a discipline. If we take, for example, the modern methods of abridged notation in algebraical geometry, while we must admire the genius which has created and developed such a remarkable...
Página 17 - ... through the medium of his sight, that he believes it the more confidently. I say that this ought not to be the case. If he does not believe the statements of his tutor — probably a clergyman of mature knowledge, recognised ability, and blameless character — his suspicion is irrational, and manifests a want of the power of appreciating evidence, a want fatal to his success in that branch of science which he is supposed to be cultivating.
Página 238 - There appear to be three distinct functions which are recognized as pertaining to the university : one is that of examination, one that of teaching, one that of fostering original research. The first of these three has practically been as yet most regarded ; and many of us hope that it will in future decline either absolutely or relatively by the increased development of the other two.
Página 160 - ... for original research. It is naturally humiliating to an American when a foreign mathematician like Todhunter, well known for the fairness and candor of his views, pronounces a judgment on Americans like the following: "I have no wish to depreciate their labors ; I know that they possess able mathematicians, and that in the department of astronomy they have produced meritorious works ; but I maintain that as against us their utmost distinction almost vanishes.
Página 177 - Cyclodes." accepted as aids to geometry — the mind of the student quickened and elevated and his faith awakened by early initiation into the ruling ideas of polarity, continuity, infinity, and familiarization with the doctrine of the...

Informação bibliográfica