Evening star., 1902-08-27

school hero is usually the boy who pos
sesses these qualities
We have seen that excessive brain work
may dwarf the stature and weaken the
constitution. We know also that from IS
TO 90 per cent of our children become near
sighted before leaving our schools; that a
very large proportion especially OF the
girls, have curvature OF the spine; that a
great many become nervous and not a few
have chorea; that among the girls at least
only very small proportion finish the higa
school in state OF good physical health.
Not al OF these evils are due TO the school.
but AZ least a part are. To that part for
which the school is responsible there are
two elements-the one due to overwork and
worry and the other 10 being indoors ara
enforced inactivity.
Difficult to Sit Still.
We have seen how difficult II Is for IN.
child 10 sit still; that Il Is this which nakes
school disagreeable TO him: that his person.
al discomfort makes Il hard for him 10
Keep his mind on his task: that long re-
straint tends to make him nervous How
ever ever: II seems probable that the lesson Of
yuIetness is one which It is necessary for
the child TO learn. There Is no prohabtlity
OF MS acquiring the power of deIlberatfon
until he has learned to be stiII. We have
conjecture also that the high press,re ~
motor areas may be instrumental In nal
ing their associated connections permeabIe.
False Ideas of Education.
We are suffering from a false ideal n,
education which has been handed down y,
US from the Renaissance. We seem 20
think that to master books Is the only way
10 become learned. and to become learned
Is the object Of education, whereas neither
OF these propositions is true One can
sam hothing but secondhand Information
from DOCKS, and the object of educat tion
Is not 10 make men scholars The time
Nntn q man hRpnFna
DOCKS alone has already passed We live
III an age of science, and observation
ana experiment are its fundamental meth
oos Our ideal student Is no longer an
emaciated consumptlve with a Wet touzaI
about his brows, bending over his Homer I'm
the small hours OF the morning but rather
tne Weil-rounded man Of the world; one
VINO knows books, bat who knows mon and
aHalrs as well; one who has drunk deepiy
from every experience an honorable life
can orer him; one who has ideals Of ac-
elon s as well as thought How absurd in the
race OF modern culture TO teach the child the
contents or few books and think We are
educating him. All our cities are becoming
cosmopolitan Almost anything that can be
learned from books can be better learned
from the observation of the things around
US Ihe city in its parks, museums. libra
RES art galleries, theaters, sermons busi-
neSs. ETC. offers liberal education to
every one whose mind is open to receive IL
Against Book Learning.
Inc charse or impractlcability can al
ways be preferred against book learning II
Is less often called up by our everyday ex-
perience; its lessons are less easily apnlied:
they are acquired with greater difficulty
and more easily forgotten than lessons
from observation and experience II IS at
least as important that a child be able Ia
observe Well as that he be able 10 master
books. Observation is usually of things
r.sht about us which will touch our lives
the oftenest The problems which life
gives every man TO solve cannot be solved
from books. He must learn to study from
nature herself those things on which his
success depends. That man Is best edu-
Gated who best knows how to solve his life
problems, drawing on every resource ey-
eryWhere that can help him TO that solu-
tion. But knowledge in its largest sense is
very small part of a weii-rounded educs-
ton II Is surely as worthy an aim to ad-
mlre a beautiful picture or poem as to
know how 1t was constructed; II is as much
20 love a great good man as to know his
biography. and to be able To do a thing Is
surely greater than to know how IL is
done"