OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION, &c. PART I. PRINCIPLES AND RECENT HISTORY. CHAPTER I. OF THE SUBJECTS OF EDUCATIONAL STUDY. SECT. 1. Of Education in General. 1 THE Education of the youth of any community in general is one of the most important concerns about which members of the community can have to deliberate; for upon this education depend the preservation, the order, the prosperity of the community, its moral and its intellectual condition. The education of the upper classes of the community is still more especially important; both because the characters of members of those classes have a greater influence upon the conduct and fortunes of the general body, and because the education of the lower classes will in a great measure depend upon that of the upper. The education of the upper classes is termed Liberal Education, and the Higher Education*: the education of the middle classes The French distinguish l'instruction secondaire, which includes what we term a liberal education, from l'instruction supérieure, which denotes professional education; but I do not think the corresponding English phrases are used with this distinction. [PT. I.] 2 will commonly be, in its highest parts, an imitation of the Higher Education, more or less incomplete; and the education of the people, when they are educated, must generally be an Elementary Education; including little more than the first elements of the Higher Education. A Liberal Education then,-the Higher Education in every community, -is important, both as being the education of those who must direct the course of the community, and as alone exhibiting, in any completeness, the Idea of Education. 2 In proportion to the great importance of our deliberations on the subject, is the difficulty of deciding what the Higher Education ought to be, in our own nation. Such a decision requires a deep insight into the circumstances, character and tendencies of the nation, and a comprehensive and correct knowledge of the past history and future prospects of all branches of Education; that is, of the studies, employments, and influences by which the minds and characters of young men in past times have been, and hereafter may be formed. The consideration of the greatness of this difficulty ought, perhaps, to operate in making men less ready than they often are, to deliver their opinions of the modes in which Education may be improved. Perhaps, also, the same consideration may tend to procure a more favourable reception for remarks on this subject, which do not arise from mere transient, general, speculative views, but which are suggested and directed by a long continued careful attention to the subject, growing out of official position, and applied with a view to practical results. 3 The Remarks now offered to the Reader, however, though based upon the general conditions to which a Liberal Education must necessarily be subject, solicit attention, in the first place, with reference to their practical application to the present state of the University of Cambridge. On this subject the writer has various grounds for venturing to offer his opinion. He has, during a long course of years, occupied a series of active educational offices in the University, and has been engaged, along with others, in shaping most of the changes which have, during that time, taken place in the Educational System of the University: and he has so far attended to the general principles of Education, as to have repeatedly published upon them*. This latter circumstance makes him hesitate the less to offer himself again to the notice of the University and the Public with such Remarks; inasmuch as, looking back to what he has previously published on this subject, he finds nothing which subsequent thought and experience do not appear to him to have confirmed. 4 It may be a matter of interest to some persons out of our University, to know something of the principles on which we conduct, or attempt to conduct, Education within it. And even within the University, a publication of such principles, by one who has necessarily to take a share in what is done, may not be without its use; since the constitution of the University makes it very important that, in administering the educational system, various classes of persons should co-operate and sympathize; while the habits of the University do not provide any common channel through which a person in one class makes known to persons belonging to other classes, the principles on * Thoughts on the Study of Mathematics as a part of a Liberal Education. 1835. On the Principles of English University Education. 1837. Also several Remarks in the Prefaces to the various Editions of the Author's Treatises On Mechanics, On Dynamics, and especially of the Treatises On the Doctrine of Limits, and On the Mechanics of Engineering. Also in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Book XIII. Chap. 3. will be found some remarks on Intellectual Education, and on the subjects which, in a highly cultivated nation, it ought to include. which he acts, and the views which he entertains. It may tend to make the continuation of our system more steady, and changes in it, when any have to be made, less abrupt, if those who necessarily must take a part in producing or resisting change, explain to each other their objects and their reasons. I trust, therefore, that the publication of such remarks as I have to make will be found to be a step naturally connected with the official position to which I have already referred. 5 If my leisure allowed me, I should be desirous of discussing the subject of a Liberal English Education in its general aspect ;-of examining what is involved in the Idea of such an Education, and in what measure the actual Education of England may be brought nearer to this Idea. But for the present, I must confine myself within much narrower limits. Omitting the consideration of Moral and Religious Education, I shall now treat of Intellectual Education only; and even with regard to that subject, I shall direct my remarks so as to make them applicable in an especial manner to the present condition of the University of Cambridge. On questions connected with this point, I shall perhaps go into details which may appear to a general reader uninteresting or obscure. Such readers can, of course, cease to follow my remarks, when they become too local or technical, But in order that they may excuse me for this mode of treating the subject, they will perhaps recollect, not only that our local questions are important to ourselves; but also, that general doctrines, on this as on other subjects, are saved from the danger of being loose, impracticable, and extravagant, by being treated with a view to their actual practical application in a special instance; and further, that the general doctrines respecting Intellectual Education which are true with regard to one Institution, must be true with re gard to others also. If I can succeed in bringing into view solid and comprehensive Principles applicable to Education at Cambridge, such Principles cannot well fail to have some value for those who are concerned in administering other existing Institutions of the Higher Education, or in establishing new Institutions of the same kind. 6 I hope, also, that the special purpose aimed at in the Remarks here made, will be accepted as an excuse for any want of symmetry or comprehensiveness in the course of intellectual culture here recommended. It would not be difficult to draw up a much more complete scheme of Literature and Science, and to require that our plans of a Liberal Education should be based upon this scheme. I do not think it would be found easy, under any circumstances, to carry into effect an Education so planned; but at any rate, it is not likely that the discussion of such a plan would be the best way of pointing out what steps are advisable in the present condition of our University. I state this, hoping that the view here given of the proper elements of our Liberal Education will not be regarded as if it were intended for a complete scheme of human knowledge. I am well aware how much it falls short of the latter idea. 7 In order to indicate the relation between the subject of Liberal Education in general, and that portion of it which I shall at present examine, I may remark, that I have already distinguished Moral and Religious Education, which I here pass by, from Intellectual Education, which I here consider. Further, of this branch of the subject, there is a subdivison which I shall employ in my discussion. The Studies by which the Intellectual Education of young men is carried on, include two kinds; which, with reference to their subjects, we may describe as Permanent, and Progressive Studies. To the former class belong those |