6. Little Things That Make for EDUCATION.
6. Little Things That Make for EDUCATION.
"The word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little" Isaiah 28:13 The processes of education, both religious and secular, are practically the same. In each we advance step by step, pass through a series of gradations, attain a degree of excellence--as a reward for all the previous years of patience, willingness, and self-sacrificing denial.
Beware of the man or woman pretending to teach a short-cut method to either scholarship or saintliness. But take heed also lest you be deceived respecting the possibilities of an education for yourself, or the attainment of the highest New Testament standard of Christian experience and life.
Both mental culture and spiritual development must accept precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little. Both need atmosphere and surroundings favorable to growth; either of them may triumph over adverse conditions, master circumstances, and stand supreme in the midst of difficulties, by meeting the conditions essential to success.
What is education? It is primarily a leading forth; a training of the mental powers; the informing and enlightenment of the understanding; the formation and regulation of the principles and the character; the preparation and fitting for any calling or business.
Channing said: "The true end of education is to unfold and direct aright our whole nature. Its office is to call forth power of every kind . . .
power of thought, affection, will, and outward action;
power to observe, to reason, to judge, to contrive;
power to adopt good ends firmly, and to pursue them efficiently;
power to govern ourselves and to influence others;
power to gain and spread happiness. The young are to be helped to help themselves. They should be taught to observe and study the world in which they live, to trace the connections of events, to rise from particular facts to general principles, and then to apply these in explaining new phenomena. This power, as thus described, dwells within; perhaps unknown to its possessor until awakened, until called out by processes simple, various, yet valuable.
Dr. Beaumont said: "Knowledge is to be taught as nature teaches--gently, softly, kindly; a little now and a little then, a little here and a little there, a little this way and a little that way. See how nature trains her plants in the field--the sunshine, the rain, the combination of air and soil, slowly, gradually; germ, blossom, growth, form; then fruitage, awaiting the harvest."
Dr. John Todd said: "Education begins with life. The touch first ministers to it; afterwards the sight, and then the hearing. This is our guide in seeking to assist the progress of nature. We must begin with the present and tangible things; we must then give absent things a visible form by picture; and the picture which meets the eye may lead to the description which finds its way to the mind only by the ear. Before we are aware, the foundations ofcharacterare laid, and no subsequent instruction can remove or destroy them." The urgent necessity of this leading forth, this development of brain power in order to measure up to the full requirement of nobility of character--is seen and felt every day and everywhere. No man should content himself with but meager attainment, when it is possible for him to climb the mountainside of intellectual excellence, and view with soul appreciation and satisfaction a wide world of beauty and activity. The wealth of the ages is today laid at our feet. The problems with which men have struggled, and which have hindered them in their progress, have been, or are being, solved for us. These accumulated treasures are present-day possessions, and for any man to die in poverty in the midst of plenty, to remain ignorant when truth and teachers are all around him, is a sad comment upon his ambition, or his lack of it.
Some men feel keenly the deprivation of early advantages, deplore sadly the circumstances of boyhood that prevented study and the helping hand of instructors. These men are all the more anxious that their children should have that of which they were unfortunately deprived, and from their view-point seek to prevent a repetition of their experience by their children. The best facilities and the best instructors are none too good for them. But something more is needed thanfacilities. Richly equipped libraries, laboratories, mechanical contrivances, splendidly endowed institutions and well-qualified instructors in different departments of learning, may all fail in education, in leading out and expanding the power within of intellectual conquest. Men without these have become educated; men with them have failed to rise above the ordinary.
Channing said: "A man in earnest finds means, or, if he cannot find, he creates them. A vigorous purpose makes much out of little, breathes power into weak instruments, disarms difficulties, and even turns them into assistances. Every condition has means of progress, if we have spirit enough to use them."
Hence, to begin with, the education of the man must originate within, or respond to the call from without. Education is for the man who is in earnest, the man or woman with a vigorous purpose, the individual who resolves, who determines, who wills.
Lack of purpose, absence of ambition, is a sure evidence of destined defeat. Unwillingness to undertake, or, if undertaken, to continue--has done more to hinder the coming of a better intellectual dawn, than all the other difficulties combined.
It is true, talent and taste may be lacking, timidity may turn away a soul from so formidable a task as that of attacking error; but these are difficulties easily overcome, if there has first been made the wish, the desire, the longing for intellectual power.
Begin with easy things; learn the simple elements of a task, of a service, of a book--and then will come, by and by, an enthusiasm, an excitement, a resistless abandon to reach the outer edges, or delve to the lowest strata of the subject in hand.
A taste for reading can be acquired. A talent for study may be developed. Only desire and will it, and a world brings contributions to you, throws open her doors of unmined wealth. Only resolve, and the rich treasures of thought of all the ages may come, slowly but surely, to you as honey from many hives. Be determined, and the hand and eye and ear will be trained for service and become servants to the mind. This, then, is the first of little things that makes for education.
1. Attention. That ’s the cry of the drill-master, the call of the teacher, the necessity of the student. To fix the mind steadfastly upon this one subject in hand; to bring it back from it wanderings, and keep it at work--this is essential to the mastery of the theme, necessary to mental development. In the intellectual world, how many and how strong are the inducements to leave the task at hand and consider other subjects--to try to do two things at once, and fail in both! The temptations in thementalworld are just as many, and just as hard, as those in the realm ofmorals.
Attend, then, to the task assigned; bring the mind to consider it; make a vigorous effort to exclude all other thoughts, all other calls, until at least you can go away from the task or truth, and yet so fix it in mind that, unconsciously and without evident volition, your mind is still at work adjusting itself to the problem and considering the factors involved, or returns to the task with vigor and increased pleasure.
Ask questions. A question is said to be next to an idea. Said Lord Bacon: "To ask questions is the half of knowledge." "Life without questions," said Socrates, "is no life at all." Follow up the answer with other questions. Compare, form a judgment. Keep the mind on the subject; whether it be a statement of history, a question of science, a problem in mathematics, or a lesson in morals--ask questions--not to cavil, but to know, and to bring all other truth into harmony with the one at hand, and to fix the mind attentively upon the truth stated.
If the will has brought the mind to seek knowledge and possess power, and the habit of attention is formed. The second little thing that makes for education, is that of
2. Discipline. By constantrepetitionwe soon make truth our own by daily training; the mind is mastered, ceases to wander, and becomes an obedient servant. By discipline, the inert and nerveless fingers become active and responsive to the wish of the mind; then the power of self-mastery is attained. This makes the difference between the man of civilization and the barbarian; namely, the power of self-mastery, ability to understand, and to reason, and to execute.
It is not an altogether easy or delightful task, this ofdiscipline. Most of us would rather pass carelessly and quickly from one thought to another, from one truth to another, staying just so long here or there, as the thought or truth gave us temporary pleasure; then leaving it when its greater depths were opened up, or dismissing it altogether when it gave signs of serious study required, or became, as we say, "too deep." The failure to master, step by step, the lesson in hand, thinking that "this can be omitted; it will be more interesting farther along, and perhaps a little easier," has been the cause of much trouble and consequent intellectual weakness. Theseforts of the enemymust be conquered, or their guns at least silenced--else we shall have an annoying experience of an enemy both in front and in the rear.Make progress slowly, but surely. That we shall never be able to master all the problems, even of a blade of grass, of a bird’s wing, or the pebble at our feet; that these and similar simple objects may require a lifetime to fully discover and answer, is very evident. Therefore, we would be foolish to refuse to go forward until we know all about the first blade of grass, or the feather from the wing of a bird, or thewhyandhowandwhatof the grain of sand by the seashore.
A survey of the vast world is the best we may be able to do; but devotion to someone part of the vast world’s treasures may be the call our being makes upon us. In this, and FOR this,long years and constant service in training and discipline is absolutely necessary.
3. Teachers. From infancy to old age, in this matter of education, we shall have need of teachers. Man is the mosthelplessof all the animal creation, and needs, from the first, instruction, direction, training, and discipline.
He who has gone ahead--comes back to tell us what he has seen, what he has learned, and to warn us of errors he has discovered, and encourage us by his experience and observations. How constantly do we need correction, advice, help, reproof, as well as sympathy, in the effort to become educated!
We have been fortunate, in our day and generation, in the excellence and number of well-trained and conscientious teachers, and in the advantages of a free public-school system. With the disadvantages of the past, or the folly that is seen in parents not taking advantage of opportunities granted them, there are a multitude of children in our public schools who, were it not for its freedom from cost, could not fit themselves properly for life’s duties and responsibilities.
We need teachers; we shall always need them. When we have passed out from schoolroom privileges, and away from restraints and rules of discipline, we shall find teachers everywhere, ready to help and encourage us, if we are wise enough to seek them and use them.
There is not a speaker, be his speech public or private, but can teach us something. The possession of ateachable spiritis a great possession. To be willing to learn, to increase one’s stock of knowledge from every source, eager to know, to compare, and, in turn, impart instruction to others--makes life a great university--the men and women we meet, its teachers and instructors. As knowledge increases, the less critical one becomes of the non-essentials in manner and style of these teachers. The wider vision ofthe vast ocean of truthhumbles and subdues the truth-seeker, making him wait, reverently, with suppressed anxiety, the revelation of knowledge by any and all agencies, high and low.
Next to the living instructor and the aid of the schoolroom and the college--are BOOKS, the living thoughts of the dead, or the present forceful facts of the absent--with which one may become liberally educated, if the first few steps of willingness, application, and discipline be taken.
If in the realm of the intellectual any one exhortation above another should be given, let it be, "Give attention to reading!" Learn to love books; make them your choicest and closest companions. Read for information; read for culture; read for advantage. Master the best and truest thoughts of the age, and of the ages. Read history; read poetry; read descriptions of places and peoples; read essays; read sermons; read biography; read books of humor; read fiction; but be choice in this, as you would be in the choice of other companionship. He cannot be ignorant, lonely, or poor--who has all the wisdom of all men and the thought of all time, at his disposal. He is wise who will gather about him standard writings, adding to their number from time to time, until, in the presence of such company, he can defy all unrest, all perplexity, poverty, or sorrow, and become in turn a helper to the helpless.
It is by precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little, that theunlearnedandignorantpass into the company of thewiseandprudent. It is not by the work of a day, nor merely the experience of a year, that men are madegoodorwiseorgreat. The patient plodder, the resolute soul, making diligent application of time and strength and talent, submitting to tiresome discipline, attention to teachers whose truths, spoken or written, light up the way and make life broader and better--this is the student who will become educated and make the most of life. Who is the educated man? There have been great minds that could drive a dozen sciences abreast, and manage well all of them. There have been linguists, who could speak and read and write thirty languages. But such men are few. Yet of educated men there are many, and women too, who have trained themselves for the arts and sciences and economies of life, who yet may be but learners, or know but vaguely of many other things.
I saw a man, rough and grim in appearance, pass around a locomotive engine, oil-can and wrench in hand, stop here and there in examination, adjust this, tighten that, apply oil where needed, then leap into the cab, and, in response to a signal, lay his hand upon the lever, move out and on across the fields and streams, with that mighty engine and train of cars loaded with precious freight and still more precious lives--and do the deed with such calmness and assurance and sense of mastery, that I said: "Here is an educated man."
He may have known little of books, less of language, nothing of esthetics, but his mechanical skill had been developed; he had trained his hand, his eye, his brain, and in the position he occupied he was worth a score of men who had mastered the theory, who had learning and culture, but had no practical knowledge of the "iron horse," how to handle, feed, and manage him aright.
I went into an electric-light and power plant; the dynamos were throbbing with life; the lights shone brightly, while a multitude of wire and delicately constructed instruments were here and there in orderly bewilderment. Properly clad, a man moved in and around, adjusting this, checking that, and then sat down amid the immense room of generators and engines, just as calmly as a farmer would observe a field of growing corn, and took up a paper to read, to pass the time away, and learn what was going on in some other field of labor and of thought. By the same processes of resolution, application, discipline, and instruction--he had arrived at that responsible place, as had the professor in the college or the judge on the bench. A well-known lecturer was giving a definition of an educated man, taking in the training of hand and eye and ear, as well as the brain--the ability to know and to do as a part of the process. A friend, who was a mechanic and knew his trade better than he knew books, said to him: "Mr. Smith, I can give you a better definition of an educated man than the one you gave."
"Can you? What is it?"
"An educated man," said the mechanic, "is a man who is knows and performs his job well." This may be commonplace, but it has the merit of terseness and accuracy. But every such man, who knows how to do the task assigned him, may, by just such an experience and further study, be able to assign men himself to that place he occupies, and be "on to another job," requiring more skill and knowledge, in the same realm of mechanical science. A well-known college professor, lecturing lately before a college society, told the members that there werefive principal evidences of education. The man or woman presenting these five evidences could be fairly called educated, whether by a college training or without any. The first evidence of education, he went on to say, was "correctness and precision in the use of the mother tongue."
The second, "refined and gentle manners, which are the expressions of fixed habits of thought and action."
The third, "the power and habit of reflection."
The fourth, "the power of growth."
And the fifth, "efficiency, or the power to do."
Without these characteristics, knowledge can never become power--but in their possession lies the secret of gaining an education, no matter where that education is secured. Education means:
Good English; do we speak it?
Good manners; do we observe them?
Good, hard thinking; do we do any?
Good, steady growing; do we keep it up?
Good work; do we accomplish any?
Philip Gilbert Hamerton says that the intellectual life is really within the reach of every one who earnestly desires it. It is the constant preference for higher thoughts over lower thoughts. Books are necessary to such an education; but books alone cannot give the best part of it. No diploma confers it. We can begin and finish it without ever entering a college. We can gain it for ourselves; and when gained, no stranger can meet us, no comrade live beside us, without recognizing that we are educated, and well educated, men or women. Our civilization is becoming more and more complex; multiplied industries and vast agencies are being developed, so that, from the public schools, colleges, and universities, men and women are coming to engage in life’s duties with more or less of accumulated power. These should seek by constant effort, in whatever department of work or oversight they may find themselves, to make each year, each month, nay, each day, a step in advance of all other previous attainments. "Line upon line, here a little there a little." But education, highest culture, like wealth or religion, fails of its highest purpose if soughtmerely for itself, or attained forself-gratification. The man who earns and saves and refuses to join in any public enterprise, or to cooperate in the development of helpful things, becomes amiser, an abject object of contempt. The very religious man, whose holiness drives him into seclusion or to expressions of severe criticism of the activities of others in the busy marts of trade (a man without sympathetic helpfulness), becomes an ascetic or a fanatic, which state ends his growth and circumscribes his usefulness. The educated man, to enrich and enjoy his stock of knowledge, must measure himself with others; must submit to criticism as well as serve as critic; should become a teacher to others; for in no other way can that best be accomplished which is the primary idea of education--to communicate ideas to others.
While there may be much to depress in a community, such as a missionary finds in a heathen land, yet every effort at enlightenment will draw upon the resources of the man, and cause him to devise expedients whereby truth may be conveyed to the simple and ignorant about him. So it is everywhere. Hence, if the educated man would retain and increase his power of thought and his measure of culture, let him impart to others.
"I feel my deficiency," said a musician to another, "and I have concluded to find a teacher to help me."
"Nonsense," exclaimed the other, "find a pupil instead of a teacher, and you will learn while you teach."
It is not the imposition of our learning, our ideas of truth and our knowledge of fact and principle upon others--that will help them or us. It is the contact of truth-seekers, one with the other, as flint strikes flint, that produces the light.
Determine to know, to learn from any source; apply the mind attentively; go over and over the fact and the formula and the act, until it is your own by self-discipline; owe loyal allegiance to teachers; make yourself a faithful subject of Truth wherever found; read books--the recognized standards; study events; become helpers to those who also are struggling up the mountain-side of truth and knowledge, until they stand beside you and rejoice in the wider vision of human and eternal life.
One final and most important truth. The education of the man is but partial, if only the intellect is cultured and disciplined by the processes already indicated. These principles and rules are most faithfully taught and emphasized in the public schools and colleges of our land.
Unless, however, the moral nature, the spiritual life, which is superior to the intellectual as the mind is superior to the body, receives attention--all the vast wealth of the world’s accumulation of thought and truth will be but the prelude to a magnificent ruin. "Know yourself;" but know God first and always. The conversion and culture of the soul is essential to the completion and permanency of mind-culture and the training and discipline of the powers of the intellect.
Capacities may not be equal in the field of the intellect. All may not be wise in the wisdom of the world; but soul culture, soul growth is possible to all rational creatures, and that education which will bring the greatest satisfaction may be secured by communion and contact with Jesus Christ, who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.
Give God an attentive hearing;
Compel allegiance to His law;
Maintain a teachable spirit;
Seek counsel of His Word;
Lead a prayerful life.
Thus, with precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little, from the facts of nature and the experiences of life and the lessons of God’s Word, will the processes of education be maintained.