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Untitled Article
. " The science of jurisprudence tells the legislator to excite , if he can , a demand . for education where it is wanting : the science of political economy teaches him to leave the supply to be regulated by the demand . " With regard to the influence of Government , however the case may stand with regard to England , it seems very certain that no progress can be made in education in Ireland without the aid of Government money * . and it never
should be forgotten , as has been well observed by an Edinburgh Reviewer , ( Vol . XXXIV . p . 221 , ) that " the natural effect of the system is to increase , beyond all-calculation , the power and energy of the people generally , and especially to furnish , in each individual instance , the very antidote most adapted to counteract any tendency which the mode of tuition might have
unfriendly to perfect independence . ' * Mr . Bryce's idea is , moreover , far less objectionable than Mr . Brougham ' s in the rejected Education Bill ; and he has the merit of perceiving , what seems to have escaped the cognizance of that keen-sighted man , the necessity of making provision for the instruction of teachers of the people . Mr . Bryce bestows great commendations upon the plan adopted by Lovell Edge worth , Esq ., at Edge worth Town .
e About ten or twelve years ago , he established a school , intended at first merely for the poor of his town and estate . " He therefore made " the education so cheap , that the poor could count it no hardship to pay , " and he made " the education so good , that , without his ever having calculated upon such a result , the rich found it of no hurt to their children to send . Many of
the most respectable persons in that quarter of the country , and even at a considerable distance , requested him to allow their children to attend : he fitted up a neat house adjoining the school for the reception of pupils from a distance , and placed it under the charge of a proper person , and it is generally full . There are , besides , boys of a very respectable description , who board or lodge in private houses through the town . "
Objections have , we are informed , been made to this plan , on the ground of the mixture of ranks in the school ; but it is perfectly voluntary on the part of the rich ; the boarders have no intercourse with the other scholars except during the lessons ; and we cannot help thinking any possible disadvantages which might result occasionally from this mixture , would be more than compensated by the lessons which the richer members might learn respecting the necessity of mental exertion , and the worthlessness of mere external advantages in a iield where mental and moral acquirements form the only ground of distinction .
Among the most necessary qualifications of a teacher , Mr . Bryce ranks that of an acquaintance with the science of the human mind—with " the few facts which have been ascertained concerning its operations , in order that they may be able to act rationally and effectually in their endeavours to manage and instruct the minds of their scholars , " ( p . 15 , ) previously to all question of the best practical methods of imparting knowledge . < f A good and solid general education" is also , very properly , insisted upon . Yet , on
the whole , we are inclined to think that Mr . Bryce has laid rather too great a stress on mere intellectual education ; that he expects a result from the mere communication of outward knowledge which experience does not warrant . While his general principle , which is that of giving all the knowledge we can to the poor as well as to the rich , may be a goo ^ l one , we would say that , for the poor , no less than for the rich , do we desire to see less stress laid upon acquisition , and more upon education . If observation be attentively exercised upon the defects of our national character , surely it must be seen that the real want i 3 cultivation of the domestic , rejigiqus , a , nd social
Untitled Article
£ 42 National Education for Ireland .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 242, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/18/
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