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Untitled Article
observes , " is the developcment of mind in the learner ; and it is cfear ffcat that end is most effectually answered , not by what is dose for him it * a literal version , but by what general rules and habits of analysis enable ham to do for himself . " It is said , however , that , though it rriay be necessary , in order to acquire a scholar-like proficiency , that the learned languages should be studied by a slow and somewhat painful process , yet that in so doing we sacrifice other
more important objects ; that , in short , on the present plan every thing else is given up to the acquirement of these languages as the single end and object of education . We answer , that if it be so , there is no necessity for it ; that because one thing is done well , it does not follow that every thing , or that any thing else , should be done ill ; on the contrary , that doing one thing well lays a foundation for proficiency in others . A youth well taught and disciplined in his main pursuit is notoriously the one who , with the least difficulty and most success turns to another , when he comes to an age to do
so with any beneficial effect . If the tutor or parent is so stupid as to sacrifice the end to the means , and to think that when the foundation is well laid there is no need of a superstructure , he must be left to his own folly . Tha truth is , that it is only in modern days that a theory has been industriously propagated by minds seeking an apology for laziness and slovenliness , that an excuse may be found for the neglect of the rudiments of sound education in an assumption that , if the latter had been duly cultivated , the more showy ( or , as they are pleased to call them , the more useful ) acquirements must
have been sacrificed . We should be glad to be informed what pursuits there are which can be usefully substituted as the basis , as the principal employment of the hours of study , between the ages say of 8 or 9 and 15 or 16 , for those which form the usual basis of education ; and we would also inquire , with what objects which can be cultivated to much purpose during t , hose ages , the pursuit of classical studies needs to clash ? It seems to us , that there are none of the scientific or physical facts proposed to be thrust by the hot-bed system into a boy's head , which he will not acquire without the least difficulty , when he has spent his early years in habits of industry and
precision . There are still left to him hours and years of study in which he may acquire whatever his taste , inclination or ultimate calling may dictate . If he is intended for a learned profession , has the time really necessary for a sound acquaintance with the classics trenched an hour upon whatever time could be at all usefully directed in those years towards the more peculiar studies of his future profession ? What pretence is there for our
theologians , for instance , endeavouring to excuse a disgraceful ignorance of the Tudiments of all sound education , by pretending that they have been better employing their time , when the truth must almost always be , that those years which ought to have been sedulously employed in pursuits properly adapted to them have been thrown away ? Our standard of qduqatfon hajs , so far as regards the severer studies , become too low ^—far lower than it was , for instance , among the Dissenters a century ago , notwithstanding our increased
facilities . Theologians of old regarded the learned languages as the tools of their trade , the first acquisition to be made , without which they would not have considered themselves competent to commence . They not only read but wrote with facility in the learned languages , and would never have expected to see men , ignorant of their very elements , set up for theologians , and cover their deficiencies under the pretext of regard for higher object ? , which it is qujte time enough to begin upon , when the master-key haa been
Untitled Article
Review . S —Humittonian ystem . \ i \
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/31/
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