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" Muefe pains we taker ) , ** day * Lord Bolingbroke ; " and time bestowed to teach us what to think , but little or none of either to teach us how to thirst- The magazine of the memory is stored and stuffed betimes , but the conduct of the understanding is in effect forbid in all places , and in terms in some . " * This is most true . The yearnings after inquiry of a young and
aspiring mind are discouraged , and intellectual wrestling with its contemporaries upon topics of importance forbidden - Argu * ment upon the mere branches and detail * of a subject ( the conventional premises being : duly admitted ) may perhaps be allowed .
but all discussion upon , or inquiry into grand leading principles is interdicted . For instance , it would be perfectly orthodox for young men to argue upon the point whether the King of England has really or not a right to pass through Temple Bar without the Lord Mayor ' s leave ; but , in the eyes of vehemently loyal people it would be a heinous sin for them to exercise their reason on the abstract question whether there be need of a king
or not . Let us not here be misunderstood . We do not recommend that the tender mind be burdened with the consideration of subjects beyond its capacity . We do not wish children to play at being philosophers and politicians . It would be disgusting could such an attempt succeed . But let the yo ^ ng mind be early taught to think—first on little topics suited t 4 * its age , and so on , by gradual progression , until it
become capable of entertaining those momentous subjects which have agitated the world . But from the first let him be taught to remember that there are two sides to a question , and to require proof of propositions . These seem dry hard terms to use when writing of mere infant instruction , but there is no necessity for the practical application being jejune , bo as to disgust the child , or transform him into a " premature reflecting person : " +-r—instead of damping bia mirth it may be made a part of his sports and enjoyments .
The fault of education is a too great tendency to regard the pupil as a mere passive recipient of certain impressions , instead of a being in whom flourishes the growth of the same faculties which in the preceptor are ( perhaps ) full y developed . It will be saki that without training and direction the tyro would be
incapable of arriving at satisfactory conclusions amidst th # ehaos of conflicting opinions . True , but when we consider the reservations and concealments that are adopted in education , and that youths are not taught to exercise their reason in arriving' at conclusions , but required to accept them ready
•¦ Montaigne has a iimilar remark ; - — ' Nous oe travaillooa qu' a remplir noatra ¦ Umoira , sans noua susttre an pein * da rcgler tti neatre april , * i not ¦ usura . " t Charie * Lamb— The Lot * Essays of Elm ; wfc « v * *•• an tloqu « i&t dafaripfiion of tha afeil 4 r # * of the poor .
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Cursory Ramarfo on Prejudice . 816
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/51/
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