SECTION V. WHAT IS THE EDUCATION MOST NEEDED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE? "In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."-WASHINGTON. "In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness”— religion and morality-" these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."-Ibid. I HAVE already intimated, that education is a right of every human being, and in the previous sections of this chapter, I have endeavoured to explain, what kind and degree of education is called for, everywhere, by the condition. of man as man. It is important to determine, farther, in what way the education of the people ought to be modified, by the spirit of the age, and especially by the condition of our own country. Every state of society, and every form of government has its dangers as well as advantages, and we should never forget, that it is through education, which incorporates principles and habits with the very nature of children, that we can most effectually avert the one, and secure the other. What, then, are the dangers and advantages of our condition? It is believed, that a slight examination of them will satisfy us that special and most anxious attention ought, now, to be given to 1. Moral and Religious Education. Moral motives and restraints, which are always necessary, have become, in this age and land, of the last importance. "Where is the security," asks Washington, in his farewell address, "for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of in vestigation in courts of justice," and which bind, it may be added, incumbents of office to the faithful discharge of their duties? Moral ties once dissolved, those of a political nature would be utterly powerless. And if this is the case, everywhere and at all times, it must be especially so with us, and at this time. Men are, now, less patient than they once were, of the restraints of authority and even of law, and are more bent on change. They are excited, and sometimes almost maddened, by the vast revolutions which are accomplished, with magical celerity, in the physical relations of nations and individuals. Constantly they are tempted, to grasp at glittering prizes held out by a material and sensual civilization, and to substitute hazardous and gambling speculation for industry, frugality, and virtue. A gross and outward success occupies, in the minds of the people, that place which ought to be given only to worth; and a man is thought to be nothing unless he is rich, or popular, or installed in office. In this country, with immense general industry and activity, there is still a great want of regular occupation-which the individual adopts for life, and which he pursues in a contented and cheerful spirit. Each one seems to be struggling for something other, and, as he vainly imagines, better than his own; yet, though rarely satisfied with his lot, he is apt to be abundantly satisfied with himself. Politicians find it expedient to flatter the people grossly, in order to lead them; and the people, while glorying in their collective liberty, exhibit, too often, the sad spectacle of being, as individuals, overawed by public opinion or enslaved by faction. In such a state of things, there may be a high degree of outward refinement, much of the show of virtue, and even brilliant advances in what styles itself civilization. The danger is, lest, under this fair exterior, the soul of true virtue be eaten out-lest the lower passions and propensities, by becoming everywhere predominant, gradually sap the very foundation of the social edifice, and leave it to perish through its own weight and rottenness. Situated as the people of this country are, they cannot too vigilantly guard against the approach of that era of dark and fatal degeneracy, when, according to the ironical defini tions of Fielding, patriot comes to mean a candidate for place; worth, power, rank, and wealth; wisdom, the art of getting all three. I am well aware, that these evils and dangers are counterpoised by signal advantages, both in our institutions, and in our position. But with all these, we shall still need the utmost aid of moral and religious culture. We need that, in the absence of positive laws, the people shall be able to restrain and direct themselves; and that, when laws are established, they shall be objects of profound respect and submission. We need that our youth should be taught, in their earliest years, to entertain the deepest horror of fraud and falsehood, and to resolve that, through life, their faith, when once plighted, whether in private or public contracts, whether in affairs of a personal or political nature, shall be sacred * A great poet points out the fatal defect of this species of civilization. "Egyptian Thebes, Tyre, by the margin of the sounding waves, And the arts died by which they had been raised. Call Archimedes from his buried tomb Upon the plain of vanished Syracuse, To save themselves from rank forgetfulness!" WORDSWORTH. and irrevocable. We need to build up a force of character, and a strength of principle, which will enable men to breast themselves against the corrupt influences of fashion, party, and prevailing immorality; and to lift their protest, when necessary, with meekness, but yet without fear, against the encroachments of an unhallowed public opinion. We need, too, a training which shall inspire the young with deep reverence for parents and for old age, with proper deference towards the judgment of the wise and good of all ages, and with that graceful diffidence in their own sagacity and power, which will lead them, without surrendering their own independence, to have due respect for the recorded wisdom and experience of the past.* * By reverence I mean "that earnestness in contemplating things, which strives to know their real character and connexion, and the absence of arrogant forwardness and self-sufficiency, which considers everything silly, useless, or unmeaning, because not agreeing with its own views, or not showing its character at once to the superficial observer; and, lastly, the habit of honesty. We have seen that it is the high prerogative of man to acknowledge superiors and inferiors, to have laws, and to obey them; but, since individual interest, as well as the pleasure or allurement of resistance and opposition, is in itself frequently very strong, as selfishness is but too apt to grow up like a rank weed, we ought to imbue the young early with true loyalty, that is, a sincere desire to act as members of a society, according to rules not arbitrarily prescribed by themselves, and with a submission of individual will and desire to that of society. They ought to learn that it is a privilege of men to obey laws, and a delight to obey good ones. That these habits, early and deeply inculcated, may lead to submissiveness and want of independence, is only to be feared when education is imperfect or liberty at a low ebb. The greater the liberty enjoyed by a society, the more essential are these habits, especially in modern times, when various new and powerful agents of intercommunication and diffusion of knowledge have produced a movability and thirst for inquiry, which cannot leave in us any sincere fear on the ground of dull tameness in the adult wherever liberty is at all established. The ancients knew the value of these habits, and all their wise men We also need to join with the spirit of enterprise, which is carrying forward all our people to an improved condition, a spirit of contentment with a life of labour, together with a just appreciation of its advantages and duties, and a cheerful acquiescence in the allotments of Providence. And, finally, we need to cultivate, in the young, a settled detestation of all those incitements and indulgences, which are multiplied by a vulgar civilization, and which inflame their lower propensities, while they arm them against the holiest influences of truth and virtue-such as the intoxicating cup and the gaming-table.† And, while employing means for this purpose, "let us, with caution," to borrow again the words of the great and wise, "indulge the supposition, that insisted upon them. Nations which lose the precious habit of obeying, that is, self-determined obedience to the laws, because laws, lose invariably, likewise, the precious art of ruling. Greece, Rome, and Spain, for the last centuries, as well as the worst times of the feudal ages, are examples."-See Lieber on Political Ethics. * Idleness, as a political evil, reached its "classical age" in the worst periods of Grecian democracy and in Rome. In the former, attendance at the popular assembly came to be paid for, as in the worst times of the French Revolution. During the decline of Rome, the idling wretches sank so low, that, too cowardly to march against the conquering tribes, they nevertheless were delighted at seeing the agony of the dying gladiator. When Treves was devastated by German predatory tribes, the first thing which the inhabitants, deprived of house and property, asked for, was, Circensian games.LIEBER'S Political Ethics, vol. ii., p. 243. + The contrast between the energy of barbarians, and the imbecility of a people rendered sensual and sordid by a vicious civilization, is forcibly exhibited, in the following passage from the late work of Dumas on Democracy. "He (Genseric) arrived before Carthage; and while his troops were mounting the ramparts, the people were descending to the circus. Without was the tumult of arms, and within, the resounding echoes of the games: at the foot of the walls were the shrieks and curses of those who slipped in gore and fell in the melée; on the steps of the Amphitheatre were the songs of musicians and the sounds of accompanying flutes." |