Publication
Lexington, VA: Printed at the "Gazette" Office. R.H. Glass, Printer.
Physical description
31 p.; 22 cm
Notes
Opening words:
Gentlemen, Alumni of Washington College:
It is a truth as fully established by experience as any other, that the human mind is eminently susceptible of improvement by culture. Indeed it cannot be denied that without some kind of education the intellectual faculties would not be developed; and although the body might grow up to manhood, the mind would remain in a state of infantile feebleness. This truth is beautifully illustrated by a classic writer, who compares the uncultivated mind to the statue while it remains in the block of marble.
But although the necessity of education to improve the mind is acknowledged by all; yet there exists much difference of opinion, respecting the best means of cultivating and strengthening the various powers and faculties which appertain to human nature. This is a subject on which knowledge can only be acquired by experience or the observation of facts. Here, mere theory is rather hurtful than beneficial. It is, indeed, by no means certain, that the best method of training and improving the faculties of the mind has been discovered. It would therefore, be unwarrantable to assert, that the systems of education, heretofore in use, were incapable of improvement. New discoveries may be made in regard to the laws of mind, as well as those of matter; but the difficulty in this investigation is, that we cannot make experiments with safety. The mind of every human being is too precious a material, to be made the subject of experiments, to ascertain what improvements might be made in the methods by which it should be educated. No man would consent to have his son trained in some untried way, the effect of which could not be foreseen. There have, indeed, been many pretenders, who professed to be in possession of the secret of bringing forward the faculties of man much more rapidly, and of elevating them to a much higher standard, than can be done by the system in common use. But experience has taught the most credulous, that all such pretensions are vain. The common beaten track, along which so many have risen to eminence and celebrity, is, after all, the safest and best. When new discoveries are made in the science of education, they will probably be incidental, and should be cautiously and gradually introduced. . . ."
Gentlemen, Alumni of Washington College:
It is a truth as fully established by experience as any other, that the human mind is eminently susceptible of improvement by culture. Indeed it cannot be denied that without some kind of education the intellectual faculties would not be developed; and although the body might grow up to manhood, the mind would remain in a state of infantile feebleness. This truth is beautifully illustrated by a classic writer, who compares the uncultivated mind to the statue while it remains in the block of marble.
But although the necessity of education to improve the mind is acknowledged by all; yet there exists much difference of opinion, respecting the best means of cultivating and strengthening the various powers and faculties which appertain to human nature. This is a subject on which knowledge can only be acquired by experience or the observation of facts. Here, mere theory is rather hurtful than beneficial. It is, indeed, by no means certain, that the best method of training and improving the faculties of the mind has been discovered. It would therefore, be unwarrantable to assert, that the systems of education, heretofore in use, were incapable of improvement. New discoveries may be made in regard to the laws of mind, as well as those of matter; but the difficulty in this investigation is, that we cannot make experiments with safety. The mind of every human being is too precious a material, to be made the subject of experiments, to ascertain what improvements might be made in the methods by which it should be educated. No man would consent to have his son trained in some untried way, the effect of which could not be foreseen. There have, indeed, been many pretenders, who professed to be in possession of the secret of bringing forward the faculties of man much more rapidly, and of elevating them to a much higher standard, than can be done by the system in common use. But experience has taught the most credulous, that all such pretensions are vain. The common beaten track, along which so many have risen to eminence and celebrity, is, after all, the safest and best. When new discoveries are made in the science of education, they will probably be incidental, and should be cautiously and gradually introduced. . . ."