In order

make its pupils masters of the art of living. to perform it, the school must rid its pupils of what Plato called the lie in the soul, self-deception, as to the ultimate goods of life. It must make them realize that not in their wealth, not in their social position, not in their reputation, but in themselves is to be found that which makes life a success or a failure.

It is not of course intended that these things are to be taught to little children, or to students of any age as matter to be memorized. They are to be taught, not as concepts, but as ideals; to be taught in such a way that they may become the underlying forces of life.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT.

1. What are some of the fundamental conceptions of science? 2. What do you understand by proof?

3. Why cannot conclusions as to the end of education be proved? 4. State and illustrate what Professor Ormond means by "lower immediacy," "mediacy," and "higher immediacy."

5. What did Aristotle mean by theorizing activity?

6. Mention the other ultimate goods which education should seek to realize.

7. Which of the ultimate goods of life must take precedence of the rest, and why?

8. Show that our conclusions furnish a standard by which institutions may be judged.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. Show that in the very nature of the case proof presupposes something which is known without proof.

2. What do you understand by the phrase, “end of education "? 3. Show that the end of education must be incapable of proof. 4. Can you mention any changes that would have taken place in the schools of the Middle Ages if the end of education had been clearly understood?

5. Do you think that American public opinion correctly apprehends the true object of education?

6. If the people of your town should come to believe what the text teaches as to the purpose of education what changes would they require in your school?

7. Do the conclusions of the text enable you to determine in what national greatness consists?

CHAPTER VII.

EDUCATION AS PREPARATION FOR RATIONAL LIVING.

Education and Public Opinion. — At this point the edu

cational statesman takes up the argument. All this, he says, would be very well in the garden of Eden, in a world where men were like the lilies of the field. But in our workaday world men have to earn their living by the sweat of their brows, and the public insists that their education shall prepare them for it. And though people in general may be mistaken as to what genuine advancement in life means, we must take their opinions into account, else we shall find that the schools we would establish will lack money for their support, and those we open will be without pupils.

Blunder of the Old Greeks. The educational philosopher finds no difficulty here. Insisting so strenuously on the ultimate end of education, he must not lose sight of the mysterious union of mind and body, and the consequent necessity of training with that in view. The fundamental blunder of the old Greek thinkers was their tendency to treat education as though we had no bodily necessities to provide for. As the modern business man inclines to regard education as purely a means of making better provision for the body -clothing it with finer garments, feeding it with more beautiful houses

richer food, sheltering it with so the old Greek was wont to

look upon education as though it had to deal with detached souls. And while the former's opinion is the more fundamentally false, a real philosophy of education must admit that both views are one-sided.

This statement would. be true if, in providing for one's needs, one had to consider himself alone. But it is in earning one's living that one finds his best opportunity to render effective service to society.

A constantly increasing number of men consider the earning a living as incidental to the service they are rendering society. Their bodies must be provided for, of course, but so must their souls. The higher, intellectual life, however, attains its supreme worth only as it is employed in rendering useful service to society. The ultimate reason, then, for work is that by means of it we find our best opportunity to give expression to our noblest impulses. The education, therefore, that prepares us to do it in this spirit, and to do it well, ministers to our best self.

We are bound all the more rigorously to take this view since from another standpoint it is evident that these bodies of ours are not such mistakes after all, and the necessity of making provision for them not the curse that it seemed. To Greeks like Plato and Aristotle they seemed a sort of blunder, and the work of providing for them so essentially degrading as of necessity to cut off those engaged in it from participating in the duties and privileges of citizenship. But we have learned that doing whatever we have to do honestly and well brings peace, "as much as seems possible to the nature of man; that, ascending from lowest to highest, industry wisely followed brings happiness. Ask the laborer in the field, at the forge, or in the mine; ask the patient delicate-fingered artisan, or the strong-armed fiery-hearted

worker in bronze and in marble, and with the colors of light; and none of these who are true workmen will ever tell you that they have found the law of life an unkind one - that in the sweat of their face they should eat bread till they return to the ground." 1

Respect, then, for any kind of useful work, preparation to do it well, is a part of the equipment of life even from the standpoint of the philosopher. In the solution of the problems connected with our work our theorizing activity finds large scope for exercise, and in the conscientious performance of it our loyalty to duty finds its most beneficent expression, and our lives the highest attainable peace.

Mr. Spencer's Theory.-All the other elements of Mr. Spencer's conception of complete living become clear and definite in the light of the ultimate aim of education. Το live completely, he says, we must know how to treat the body. Why? Because health is an end in itself? No, but because we are hampered in our efforts to attain the great ends of life without it. Without health we can neither think, nor appreciate beauty, nor feel affection for our friends and family, nor work beneficently for our fellows as we otherwise might.

From this point of view, also, we are able to see the true meaning of the phrase, "in what way to treat the mind." We treat the mind most wisely when we help it most effectively to ascend in "dignity of being." Now we know to what end we should train our children: to the end that they shall so realize that the best thing in life is mental wealth as to strive supremely to attain it.

1 Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, p. 155.