Education, rightly understood, signifies the development of all the faculties or capacities of the soul, and, as a necessary consequence, of the brain, in which that soul is lodged, and of the body, which is as essential to the brain as the brain is to the soul. For without the brain there is no soul expression, and in proportion to the condition and development of the brain is the expression of all the soul faculties. A soft and watery brain is always accompanied by feebleness of character and mind. In like manner the manifestations of the brain depend for their strength upon the body, when the lungs and heart fail to send a vigorous current of arterial blood to the brain, its power declines proportionally; and when the current ceases entirely, the action of the brain itself ceases, and with its cessation all manifestations of the soul cease also. Or when the disordered viscera fail to supply a healthy blood, as in fevers of a low type, the brain, like all other organs, is brought down to the level of the depraved blood, and shows by its utter feebleness and by the incoherent expressions of the patient that brain and soul depend upon the body for their power and all their action in this life.[2]
FOUR EDUCATIONAL METHODS.
The process of education by a teacher consists chiefly in establishing the control of his stronger mind over that of the pupil, by placing the latter in the most passive and receptive condition, in which the pupil not only receives the intelligence he gives, but also feels the influence of his will and principles.
There are four methods by which the influence of the teacher is made effective: 1st, the power of conviction or reason; 2d, the spirit of obedience; 3d, the spirit of imitation; and 4th, the spirit of passive sympathy.
In the first method he addresses the understanding, enabling the pupil to understand what is best for him. If Socrates had been right in maintaining that knowledge was the one thing needful to overcome practical errors, and that men sinned only through ignorance (which was a very grave mistake), this would be the most effective method of teaching. But it is effective only with those who are conscientious and thoughtful, who are seeking to do right, and need only to be instructed. It is entirely ineffective with the great majority of wrong doers, whose moral nature and self-control are insufficient to curb their animalism.
The second method, the spirit of obedience, is the method of religion, which is far more effective. Jesus and other religious teachers impress their followers that there is a great and benevolent power, the power to which we are indebted for our present lives and our hope of unlimited future happiness,—to which we owe a profound gratitude, with an unhesitating love and obedience. Our love should not be withheld from our grand benefactor; and if his wisdom transcends our own, the wisest thing that we can do is to ascertain what that wisdom dictates, and obey it implicitly. That which we supremely love and reverence we delight in obeying.
OBEDIENCE AND IMITATION.
The teacher or parent, therefore, should endeavor to hold something like the Divine relation to the child,—should show a superiority of knowledge, an inflexible firmness, an unvarying love, and irresistible attraction, ever endeavoring to win love, while enforcing the supremacy of his will, so that obedience may be a pleasure. Thus may a woman with a masculine strength of will, or a man with feminine strength of love, develop that willing obedience which insures the moral elevation of the pupil. But whenever the teacher fails to elicit both respect and love, his power for good is lost. In this evolution of good the power of the teacher is vastly enhanced by that of music, especially in the form of song, when the pupil is made to sing songs of exalted sentiment; and there are very few natures so depraved as to resist long the combined power of exalted music and a superior teacher, to which should be added the social influence of numbers already elevated by such influences.
In such schools, the power of the third element, imitation, is very great, for the pupil is generally more influenced by the example of his numerous associates in the school and family, with whom he is continually in contact, than by that of his teacher.
To get the full benefit of imitation requires not only the influence of well-trained schoolmates, but systematic exercises in reading, singing, declamation, and deportment, the teaching being given by example.