Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-04-11
Natural Inequality of Men.
CHICAGO journal.


There is a school of popular philoso ply
certainly more popular than it deserves
the keynote of which is that men are very
nearly equal intellectually. and that sue
cess Is mere matter of effort, industry
and perseverance. Prophets of this school
quote with approval that epigrammatic
though astounding paradox of a great
writer: Genius is simply the faculty of
taking infinite palms, and thus youths of
less than mediocre mental endOwmentS are
made up of hope that by hard work and
the consumption of much midnight oil they
may in time rank with the master minds
of the world. While it is by no means
pernicious TO encourage the individual to
put forth his best powers and develop
them, the foundation of such philosophy is
essentially false. No amount of work. no
taking of pains will transform the Ounce
into a genius; and far truer than this phil
oSophy Is the saying of Goethe: The
older one grows the more he prizes natural
gifts, because by no possibility can they
be got and stuck in.
In recent issue of the Nineteenth Cen
fury, Prof. Huxley has an article on the
Natural Inequality of Men, which.
while it may be somewhat unjust to Rous-
seau. whose teaching it assails. is char
acterized by the force and vigor of express
sion that mark all that Mr.. Huxley writes
The author writes from the tripod stand
point of biology, physiology and philoso-
ply: hence it Is not surprising that he
makes short work of the falacies and as
sumptionS of eighteenth century theorists
1t is easy to quote Hobbies to the effect that
''all men are born free. " or to assert with
Rousseau that ali men are born equal; -
and we can easily maintain these positions
so long as we remain in The nebulOus re-
gion of theory. But when we appeal to
facts these crude concentrations can no
longer pass muster, and their hollowness
Is soon shown. Every one must admit
that if ''all men are born equal, then sim
llarlty of experience must result in similar
Ity of character, but we know that such is
not the case. We know from physiology
that the bodies of men and of children diff
fer naturally in many respects, and that
the natural differences between human
brains III size, number of cOnvolutions and
amount of gray matter are an index to
moral and intellectual differences. No
system of philosophy or of teaching that
ignores such fundamental facts can be other
wise than false and delusive The rea-
tive paris PLAYED by natural endowment
ttlINt 'NttNfltlVllGtl ltihtit liitI
widest sense, must be recognized and add
justed by true philosophy and true sys-
tenn of education. 1t is unwise to rashly
seek to circumscribe the sphere of education
or to minimize its vast Importance; but
education cannot be made to work outside
the bounds of natural capacity Within
certain area education can do much;
! outside that limited area it can do nothing
The nurSeryman cannot make tigS GROW
on peach trees; genius cannot be grated
into the Ounce; art cannot be grown in the
inartistic brain; by no possibility can
child with predominant linguistic fac
ulty be nodded into mathematician, or
vice versa. But this is just what our pres
ent educators and educational methods are
trying to do. All children are not round
pegs, to be fitted into round holes; some
are square, others three-sided; these will
not fit into round holes.