Mental and moral culture, and popular education

Front matter

AND

POPULAR EDUCATION;

BY

Introduction

In the present awakened state of the public mind in reference to Education, every thing connected with a subject of such magnitude and importance becomes peculiarly interesting. The indifference which has heretofore prevailed in reference to our institutions of elementary instruction is indeed surprising, but not more so than the disregard manifested towards a variety of other subjects connected with the developement and cultivation of the intellectual and moral faculties of our nature. The truth is, the great principles which lie at the foundation of the mental improvement of our species have not been brought home to the masses of the community, with a force at all proportional to their importance, or in a manner adapted to their clear comprehension. The most ignorant are, in general, the most selfish} and even in those rare cases where no higher motives can be appealed to than those of individual and personal interest, serious inquiry, followed by energetic action in the direction leading to the portals of knowledge and wisdom, will be almost sure to ensue from a skilful application of the selfish principle to the objects, means, and ends of existence. Convince the man who aspires to nothing higher than mere worldly wealth, and who apparently lives for no other or greater object than the gratification of hie animal nature, that the enjoyment of uninterrupted health depf nds upon the observance of certain conditions, the greater part of which are subject to his own control, and he becomes at once a student of physiology, and will, in due time, in all human probability, ascend in the scale of intellect and civilization, until he becomes an enlightened and useful member of society. Convince him, also, that the uniform practice of virtue and morality, in all the varied relations of life, is not only compatible with the acquisition and enjoyment of wealth, and the rational gratification of the physical appetites and wants, but absolutely indispensable to their continued and secure enjoyment, and he becomes at once a moral and benevolent man. In like manner.

8 INTRODUCTION.

convince the most careless and indifferent individual that the present and future happiness of his children is placed in a great measure at his own disposal ; that, at every stage of their progress towards the maturity of manhood, it is in his power to give such a direction to their ductile minds as will, in all probability, insure their welfare in all coming time, while it promotes their present enjoyment; and that, for any neglect in the judicious exercise of the immense power thus conferred, the penalty will be visited upon him in the shape of bodily and mental sufferings endured by his offspring as the direct and inevitable consequence of such neglect; — let him be well and thoroughly convinced of all this, and he becomes a most efficient and intelligent promoter of every institution for popular education. Add to this a conviction that nine tenths of all the children of the republic in which he lives receive the greater part of their intellectual (we cannot say their physical and moral) education in the primary institutions of learning ; that his own children must, throughout their future life, breathe the atmosphere of a public opinion to be formed and sustained by those whose mental discipline is thus matured; and that, by the influence which he may exert, in connection with those by whom he is surrounded, those institutions, instead of being nurseries of idleness, immorality, or, at best, of barren elementary instruction, may become the temples wherein the beaming innocence of spotless childhood may be clothed with knowledge, and wisdom, and virtue, day by day and hour by hour, without parting with its sinless purity of nature ; — let these facts and these principles be impressed upon the mind of the most selfish and worldly man community contains within its bosom, and he becomes a practical reformer in the much abused and greatly perverted system of Common School Education.

We are accustomed to complain that, in a great majority of instances, our primary schools are lamentably inefficient ; that they have utterly failed to accomplish the objects for which they were designed ; that they have miserably disappointed the hopes and expectations which were formed from their introduction and diffusion broadcast throughout our land. But we forget to ask whence arises this deplorable state of things; and, what is still more culpable, we neglect to inquire whether the remedy is in our power, and, if so, what it is. If the husbandman should sow his field, in every direction, with the choicest grain, and should thenceforth abandon it to its fate, or, at best, look on with a cool indifference and neglect to its progress, should we be surprised at the compara-

INTRODUCTION. »

live failure and inefficiency of his crop 1 True, the founders of our institutions were at immense pains in laying broad and deep the foundations of primary instruction 5 and had their descendants faithfully and conscientiously cooperated in their enlightened views in this respect, and carried up the superstructure in its admirable and beautiful proportions, our country would have been advanced at least a century in all those intellectual and moral qualifications which adorn humanity. But the eager prosecution of wealth, the active spirit of speculation, the immense variety of material interests necessarily incidental to the developement of the vast resources of a rapidly expanding civilization in a mighty hemisphere, hitherto comparatively unpeopled, and the diversified combinations resulting from the pressing claims of self-interest and personal and political ambition ; — all these predominating motives impelled to a course of action, and originated and maintained a public sentiment, essentially independent of the claims of primary education, as that term is now beginning to be understood. The common schools, the high schools, the academy, the college, and the university, all, indeed, existed. Outwardly, their organization was as perfect aa circumstances would admit. For successive generations, the greater part of the children of the republic were duly transferred from the nursery to the district or free school, thence, at the proper time, to the high school and the academy, and finally " finished their education " at the college or the university. For all the active and practical purposes of life, they were thenceforth deemed abundantly prepared. In all this routine, thus universally followed and universally countenanced, the two most important and predominating divisions of our nature — those which give the hue to the whole of future life, and determine its destination — the physical and moral attributes, formed no part of the discipline of education, and only occasionally entered into it, when, by a fortunate concurrence of events, the strong common sense and wholesome training of the domestic circle were taken up and carried on in the halls of science. The intellectual faculties were, indeed, partially developed 3 but in the general absence of sound moral aliment on which to act, the higher sentiments were left to take such direction as the propensities and appetites might suggest, controlled only by the operations of a public sentiment, which, however it might restrain within due bounds the grosser and more violent passions, admitted full latitude to the play of many of the lower attributes of our nature. In short, our systems of popular education, from the lowest to the highest,

10 INTRODUCTION.

have been little better than mere systems, beautiful in theory, affording felicitous subjects for self-gratulation at our public anniversaries, but essentially destitute of that living principle which acts upon, and elevates and refines to its greatest possible degree, the physical, the intellectual, the moral and religious faculties.

To remedy this predominant evil, it is, first of all, necessary that we should be fully aware not only of its existence, but of its extent. If the source is corrupt, we have no right to expect, at any stage of progress, those pure and invigorating influences which can be the result only of an uncontaminatcd origin. In the vast majority of instances, the young mind receives its most abiding impressions from the various influences with which it is immediately surrounded ; from its first lessons of man and nature, of intellect and morals — lessons not written in sand, and swept away by the passing breeze, but deeply and ineradicably engraven upon the tablets of memory. There are formed those habits, principles, sentiments, and modes of thinking, feeling, and acting, which will inevitably characterize the future man. It is of the first importance, therefore, to trace these interesting developements as they are successively unfolded, and to ascertain under what influences they are best drawn out, and in what manner their progressive growth may best be secured.

This has been the object which the author has proposed to himself in the following pages ; and, however imperfectly he has succeeded, he has, at least, the satisfaction of believing that his motives will be appreciated by those for whom he has labored. He has sought to direct the attention of the young to considerations intimately connected with their physical, moral, and intellectual education, and the formation of their character, and to point out the facilities, as well as obstacles, to mental culture, which are presented by the varying circumstances of their condition in life, by the institutions of society, and by public sentiment. If this object shall have been accomplished, — if, through his humble efforts, a right direction shall have been given to any inquiring and ingenuous mind, — his utmost ambition will have been attained.

MENTAL AND MORAL CULTURE.

Chapter I. The Philosophy Of Education

1. The present state of physical, intellectual, and moral science marks one of those grand and distinct epochs in the progress of civilization, which are destined to exert an immense influence upon the future. Its distinguishing aim may, perhaps, be defined to be, the attainment of a harmonious combination and judicious cultivation of all the faculties of our nature. Hitherto the physical constitution of man, and the influences which are constantly exerted upon its peculiar organization by the external world, have been regarded as the objects of a separate and distinct science, dependent upon principles peculiar to itself, and related only incidentally to mental or moral manifestation. The intellectual powers have, in like manner, been made the basis of a philosophy of their own ; and have given rise to numerous metaphysical systems, too often abstruse in their conceptions, profitless in their details, and fruitless in their results. Moral philosophy too has, in every age, had its professors, who have vainly attempted to sound the depths, compass the nature, and direct the mighty but wayward energies of the human soul. In the cultivation of each of these sciences, separate and distinct from its indissoluble connection with the others, insuperable obstacles have from time to time been presented ; and a clear and satisfactory conception of the nature and offices, the powers and capabilities of the human mind, considered in all its various relations, has never by this process been attained.

2. The most scientific, thorough, and practical acquaintance with the physical organization of the body, and of the effect produced upon it by external subtances, obviously affords but an incomplete means of solution of the diversified phenomena constantly presented in the constitution of our complex nature. In order to arrive at satisfactory results in this ample field of inquiry, a knowledge of the various influences which the intellectual and moral faculties exert upon the physical, and of the effects of their combined operations under circumstances continually modified and changed by the constantly changing surface of human events and individual peculiarities of character, is indispensably requisite. Nor can the process of intellectual developement and expansion be correctly apprehended, or wisely directed, without an enlightened appreciation as well of the physical organization as of the moral tendencies, culture, and character of the individual who is the subject of mental discipline. So, too, with the teachings of the moralist and the divine. Elevated and sublime as is, and ever must be, that science which deals with the highest and noblest attributes of humanity, it is lamentably true that its progress and success has hitherto been in no degree commensurate with its importance. Confining itself to the moral and religious nature of man, and rightly assuming, as its standard of attainment, the capacity of that nature for indefinite improvement, it has nevertheless failed to appreciate the ceaseless pressure of diversified external circumstances, and the constant and powerful modifications of the intellectual and moral faculties, which result from physical organization, and the harmonious or discordant play of its complicated and delicate mechanism.

It has dealt too much in vague abstractions and general principles, and too little with the world as it really is. The strongest convictions of the intellect have often been found wholly insufficient to counterpoise the powerful influence of the passions, especially when aided by an unfavorable combination of external circumstances. The most incontrovertible principles of duty, and the soundest dictates of moral and religious truth, are wasted upon that mental soil not previously adapted to their reception by the proper cultivation and supremacy of the higher sentiments. The infinite diversity of human character — the innumerable and depressing physical evils with which mankind have always been compelled to contend — the various operations of the passions and propensities of our common nature, under different combinations of circumstances and events — and the ceaseless modifications of the vast and complicated machinery of society constantly revolving around us — should long since have demonstrated the necessity of an enlightened appreciation of all the various influences, which in the economy of human life are brought to bear upon the formation and developement of character. No permanent advancement of the standard of moral virtue, purity, and truth can reasonably be expected, but through a long and thorough discipline of the whole diversified nature of man ; by clearly unfolding the intimate connection of his duty with his highest interest as well for time as eternity — of the requirements of his Creator with his own present and prospective happiness — and the proper fulfilment of his high destiny, with the harmonious action of every faculty of his being.

3. These principles constitute the foundation of the great work of Education : And it is mainly because they have not been fully understood, or their practical importance correctly estimated, that, comparatively, so little has hitherto been accomplished for the elevation and improvement of the race. And yet we should be guilty of an unjustifiable presumption in assuming that an acquaintance with the fundamental powers and faculties of our nature, and with the intimate relation, which in their united action they sustain to the external world as well of matter as of mind, has not at all times and in all ages been accessible to those for whose happiness such powers were conferred, and for whose benefit such relations exist. It is inconsistent with all our conceptions of that wisdom and benevolence, which pervades the great scheme of things and the dealings of the Creator, to suppose that the observance of certain fixed and invariable laws is necessary to the well-being of the race, individually and collectively, and yet that the means of ascertaining and applying those laws have been withheld. Such a conclusion would be at variance with all the facts which history, observation, and experience have presented to our view. In tracing the progress of civilization through its various stages of advancement, one of the most remarkable phenomena which presents itself, is the slow process by which many of the cardinal principles of knowledge have been matured and established. The elementary materials of the physical world, from which those innumerable combinations of science and the arts, now so familiarly applied, were compounded, have at all times existed, and their

TllE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION. 15

innate properties, powers, and capabilities have been uniformly the same; and yet the most important discoveries and valuable inventions, connected with the welfare and progressive improvement of the race, owe their origin to a period comparatively recent. The same sources of observation which conducted the penetrating minds of Galileo and Newton to a knowledge of the laws which regulate the motions of the heavenly bodies had been open to millions of intelligent and reflecting beings, since the world began ; and although numerous systems and countless theories had prevailed, a just appreciation of uniform facts and a clear conception of their relations and dependencies had not been attained. One of the most simple and important principles of our animal economy, — the circulation of the blood, — remained unknown until the commencement of the seventeenth century ; and yet the inductions, which led the mind of Harvey to its developement were accessible to the observation of every scientific mind of the ancient and modern world. A similar remark is applicable to the more recent discoveries of the nature and functions of the nervous system, by that indefatigable scholar and enlightened physiologist, Sir Charles Bell. Four centuries have not yet elapsed since the discovery of the art of printing and the invention of the mariner's compass so immeasurably facilitated the spread of knowledge, and the annunciation of the existence of a new world opened to the minds of men an inexhaustible source of social, intellectual, and moral power. The ample volume of nature has, at all times, been open to the study and observation of mankind ; and her instructive lessons have ever been ready abundantly to gratify the highest interest of her votaries ; and yet the records of human improvement, worthy of the name, may be comprised within the limits of a few centuries. Indeed after the lapse of nearly six thousand years we can scarcely be said to have penetrated beyond the vestibule of the great temple of knowledge. The essential conditions, however, upon which the well-being of the race have been dependent, in all ages and under all the diversified circumstances in which humanity has ever existed, has nevertheless been placed within the comprehension of every responsible individual of the species.

4. The present may be regarded as emphatically the age of improvement — of progress — of advancement in physical, intellectual, and especially in moral science. The human mind, diverted for a season from the destructive and degrading physical contests waged by ambition, pride and passion for supremacy and power, has passed by a rapid transition through the wide circle of the arts and sciences to a systematic and enlightened examination of its own intrinsic nature, capacities, wants, and destination. From its comprehensive survey of the external universe, its analysis of the properties of matter, its combinations of the innumerable substances of the material world, and its subjection of the physical powers of nature to the various purposes of an advancing civilization — it has ascended to the great source of all knowledge and all power, and traced its own derivation from the spirit of the universe — its innate capabilities — its progressive expansion — its boundless aspirations, and its immortality. From a survey of its own history, in all the diversified forms of its developement from the dawn of ancient civilization through the thick mists of ignorance, superstition and error to the present advanced condition of society, it is beginning to deduce those great elementary truths which lie at the foundation of a wise and enlightened philosophy — truths originally implanted by the Creator on its uncorrupted tablets; truths asserted and re-asserted in every age of its experience by the few who were capable of discerning, through the surrounding darkness, the imperishable landmarks of humanity ; truths yet destined to regenerate the race, and render it worthy of its divine origin and nature.

5. The communication of a knowledge of these truths in their simplicity and purity to the rising generation, in such a manner as to enable them intelligently to appreciate and rightly to apply them to all the practical purposes of life and to the promotion of the true end of their being, is the great object of education. Rightly comprehending the primal source of all the wretchedness and desolation which have withered the energies and blighted the hopes of mankind, the christian, the patriot, the philanthropist, and the statesman now propose to purify the stream at its fountain ; to rescue the beautiful innocence of childhood from contamination ; early to instruct the intellect and strengthen the principles of those, who in their turn are to carry forward the destinies of humanity; carefully to remove those fatal obstacles, upon which the fondest hopes and most flattering anticipations have so often and so calamitously been wrecked; and earnestly and efficiently to apply themselves to the wide dissemination of those enduring truths of civilization and Christianity, which alone can enable man to resume his appropriate station as the intelligent and responsible recipient and dispenser of knowledge, virtue, and happiness. It must, however, constantly be borne in mind that it is upon the ability and the disposition wisely and judiciously to profit by this knowledge, and to render it available to the great purposes of rational existence, rather than upon the extent or comprehensiveness of the knowledge 2 itself, however accurate, that our attainments in the true philosophy of life must essentially depend.

6. To him who rightly appreciates the intrinsic value, the vast capabilities and high destination of the human mind, no consideration can be more solemn or momentous than that of the responsibility involved in its constitution. We are, indeed, ' fearfully and wonderfully made' — not alone with reference to our merely physical organization, complicated and perfect as we know that crowning workmanship of the Almighty hand to be — but chiefly and more especially in that inexplicable and mysterious union of mind and matter which connects our animal frame with the spirit of the universe — elevates us in the magnificent scale of creative wisdom to a station ' a little lower than the angels' — and calls upon us to aspire to that perfection of character which alone can enable us to fulfil the objects of our existence. Nor is this high responsibility thus devolved upon us, in any degree lessened, or its requisitions modified, by the general prevalence of degenerate views and erroneous conceptions of our origin, duties and destination — by the disturbing influences which surround us on every hand, or the manifold temptations which encompass our progress, and constantly urge us to diverge from the narrow path of truth and duty. The standard of rectitude is imperishable and eternal. It varies not with the incessant vicissitudes of erring humanity ; and wherever a human being exists, conformity to its requirements is absolutely essential to happiness and permanent well-being. Reason and revelation combine to assure us that in the bestowment of the inappreciable boon of humanity, the Creator designed to confer upon us as its legitimate end, the highest degree of happiness and enjoyment of which our nature is susceptible. Our physical structure in all its parts is admirably adapted to the entire constitution of our being ; and the highest effort of human wisdom is inadequate to the execution, or even the conception of the slightest improvement in the exquisite mechanism of those organic functions, from the harmonious play of which we derive the abiding consciousness and the full enjoyment of our animal existence. The same perfection of organic structure pervades the infinite and incomprehensible variety of animal life, throughout every portion of the universe within the scope of our most extended observation. All the orders of being below humanity accomplish unerringly the specific objects for which they were designed. It is from those attributes alone, which constitute our proper humanity, that we derive the fearful power of transgression; and with it that responsibility for the appropriate exercise of our intellectual and moral faculties, which necessarily results from the relation of the creature to the Creator.

7. All degrees of animal and vegetable life below humanity, are created originally perfect ; with powers, faculties and instincts adapted to the peculiar scale of being they are destined to occupy — neither requiring nor admitting cultivation — and incapable by the very constitution of their nature of transcending or violating in any essential respect the fundamental conditions of their existence. Man alone of all the inhabitants of our planet, is created with the power of improving indefinitely his condition — of transgressing by a voluntary effort of his will, the laws of his being, and of counteracting, if we may be allowed to use the expression, so far as he himself is concerned, the benevolent design of his Creator, in the bestowment of the high privilege of an intelligent existence. With him alone the work of education and the formation of character commences in early infancy, and is susceptible of continued progress through all the subsequent stages of life. He alone possesses that indestructible germ of being which we term the soul or spirit — the badge of his proper humanity — the pledge of his immortality — the distinctive characteristic of his high nature. The external avenues of communication with the world of matter and of mind are possessed by him in common with the inferior animals. The rays of light are conveyed to them, as to him, through the medium of the eye : the vibrations of the air which constitute sound, are communicated through the same organs of hearing : the same faculties of touch, of taste and of smell, are conferred upon them by an organization substantially similar to his own ; and each of these senses are possessed by various species of the animal creation in greater perfection, and with a more extended scope of action than by him. Most, if not all the perceptive faculties — those which take cognizance of the forms, hues, dimensions and localities of external nature — which discover and discern existences — note events as they occur — recall impressions and furnish the various materials for the exercise of reason and judgment in man, are possessed by the brutes ; and in them their various functions are regulated by an unerring instinct.

8. As the animal organization approaches in complexity and perfection to the human, the sphere of intellectual action is proportionally expanded, and the range of the propensities and affective emotions, with which it is also endowed, elevated and enlarged. These propensities and emotions likewise correspond in a considerable degree to those of man. It is the same animal instinct in both which prompts to anger, violence, strife and carnage : the same in both which incites to deception, concealment and theft : the same in both which induces a disregard of the interests and feelings of others, and a concentration of every energy upon self: the same in both which impels to covetousness and cunning, — in short, the same in both, which in its unregulated and unrestrained action has emphatically

' Brought death into the world, and all our woe.'

In the brute creation these propensities subserve a wise and specific purpose : they are restrained within impassable bounds : and their exercise constitutes the ultimate end and the greatest happiness of their possessors. Upon man too, these propensities were conferred by Omniscient Wisdom for the attainment of beneficial ends : but upon him was bestowed a higher and nobler order of. faculties to which they were designed to be subservient, and by which they were intended to be restrained ; and that impassable barrier which renders transgression and its fatal consequences physically impossible to the brute, finds no place in his mental or moral organization. The higher attributes of his being- — the capacity to reason and to decide by an intelligent appreciation and comparison of conflicting motives, objects, ends and aims — the power of widening the sphere and dispersing the mists of his intellectual vision — and of so disciplining his moral sense as to render his conduct practically subservient to the will of his Creator, and in harmonious accordance with the design of his existence — these belong to man alone: and their exercise to a greater or less extent, or their total neglect, and the abandonment of the reins of intellect, judgment and conscience to the guidance of the passions, and the impulse of circumstance, determine the character and shape the destiny of each individual of the human family.

9. In this power, resulting from the union of the spiritual and material portions of our being, and in the consequent responsibility which its exercise involves, consists the highest and noblest attribute of humanity. The intellectual and moral facuhies of our nature cannot assume and retain a stationary position. There is no mental equilibrium, in which knowledge, and the various passions and emotions can rest, undisturbed by any impulse or preponderance from without or within. In the cultivation and discipline of our mind, in all its complicated relations, we must continually advance, or we shall be irresistibly compelled to recede. We have no alternative, other than a progress in virtue, in knowledge and in goodness, on the one hand, and a failure on the other, not only to accomplish that full measure ot happiness and enjoyment designed by the Creator in our formation, but in any considerable degree to apprehend the end and object of existence itself, or to avoid the innumerable calamities physical and moral, incidental to ignorance and error. In what manner then, may we best discipline our whole nature, so as to accomplish to the greatest practicable extent the will of our Creator — fulfil the objects and purposes of our being — cultivate and develope the various faculties of our mind — and fit ourselves for usefulness and enjoyment in the circumstances which surround us, and the respective stations in which it may be our fortune to be placed ?

Chapter II

. PHYSICAL, INTELLECTUAL, AND MORAL CULTURE.

1, In our endeavors to ascertain the true mode of developing the powers and faculties of the mind, with a view to a systematic education of the whole of our compound nature, it is first of all necessary to acquaint ourselves with the fundamental principles of that nature. On no subject has a greater diversity of opinion prevailed, than on that of the nature and essence of the human mind; and on no subject, certainly, have the materials for observation been more ample and abundant. In addition to the con» sciousness which each intelligent individual possess ses, of the operation- of his own mind, a vast field of instruction is daily presented in the conduct and character of others, and an inexhaustible repository of facts illustrative of this great subject exists in the annals of history. And yet if we may, even now, be permitted to congratulate ourselves upon the possession of an enlightened and practical philosophy of the mind, the period is quite recent since a thorough analysis of its various faculties, and a satisfactory elucidation of its nature and powers, ceased to be a desideratum in the acquisitions of science. Metaphysicians, it is true, have abounded in every age ; and as intelligence and civilization have advanced, a perceptible progress has been made in psychological inquiries ; while the frequent revolutions which the opinions of scientific men have undergone, and the varying and even opposite standards which have from time to time prevailed, have afforded the most conclusive evidence, that the solid foundations of truth and nature were yet to be reached. In the expressive language of De Bonald, an author whose views on this subject are cited with approbation by Dugald Stewart at the close of the eighteenth century, ' diversity of doctrine has increased from age to age, with the number of masters, and with the progress of knowledge ; and Europe, which at present possesses libraries filled with philosophical works, and which reckons up almost as many philosophers as writers — poor in the midst of so much riches — and uncertain, in the midst of all its guides, which road it should follow — Europe, the centre and focus of all the lights of the world, has yet its philosophy only in expectation.'