The prevalent theories of education were, of course, not without influence upon the philosophical and ethical views of the great poets, and especially the philosophers. The influence of Kant, with his " categorical impera- tive" (the good is to be sought for its own sake), was especially powerful in the tield of ethics. Fichte de- clared that the individual must be trained to become a useful member of society (for his views on public edu- cation, comp. his Reden a. d. deutsche Nation') ; Schel- ling maintained {Vorlesungen iiber d. akadem. Stadium) that the great object sought in teaching shoidd be to bring the individual into right relations to the human race and the divine law, so that the latter may be ac- tualized in him; Hegel held that the moral character of the individual is to be developed by leading him to disregard the particular, and causing him to give at- tention and effort to the promotion of the general good (comp. Thaulow, Ihgels Ansichten iih. Erziehung ii. Un- terricht [Kiel, 1854]); and Schleiermacher taught that the individuality of each person must be develoiied, that he may be fitted to fill his proper place, as a mem- ber of the whole, in the family. Church, and State (comp. Hagenbach, Ch. Hist, oj" the iHth and 10//; Centuries, ii, 145 sq. ; Hurst, Hist, of Ratiomdism, p. 184 sq.). An attempt to lay a psi/chological sub-basis for modem education has been made by Johann Friedrich Hcrbart (each soul a monad and unchangeable; the educator mereh' changes its conditions), and by Zeller, Waitz, and Stoy, who teach the analogous doctrine that each pupil is to be regarded simply as an individual. F>iedr. W. Beneke {Ei-ziehuiigs- u. Unterrichtslehre [Berl. 1835- 30, 2 vols. 8vo; 2d ed. 1842]), conceiving of psychology as a natural science, seeks to frame a mcthodologj' of the physical sensations, upon which to ground a system of education. Niemeyer, and especially Diesterweg, have also rendered meritorious service in this depart- ment. The latter has now many adherents, and they regard as the aim (Ziel) of pedagogics, development of man for self-activity in the interests of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
In England there are several prominent thinkers of our century who have earnestly labored to propagate ideas akin to the German. Oftentimes they have risen to a nobler ambition, and have striven for a union of the Church anti the School, recognising the imiiossiliility of training the head without the heart, and yet appreeial ing the unfitness of the secular teacher for the cultivation of man's emotional nature. Lord Brougham and Dr. Matthew Arnold were especially active in causing the English people to take hold of this idea, and they suc- ceeded so well that it became the connnon language of all those who deemed that the frame and temper of so- ciety needed an extensive renovation, and that this reno-
PEDAGOGICS
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PEDOBAPTISM
vatiou must begin with the young. The presumptuous turn of mind, tlie reliance on intellectual ability, sup- posed to result from instruction addressing itself to the intellect alone, were to be corrected by a strong diver- sion in favor of a more subjective course of study. The student was to be imbued with principles and tastes rather than positive acquirement?. The main object of the instructor was to be the formation of moral char- acter by habit, not the im])arting of what is commonly called learning. Nay, much was to be unlearned — much rubbish taken down before men conld begin afresh on the old foundations — much of the sciolism of recent centu- ries removed ; natural science and literary acquirement were to be brought down from that undue exaltation to which they had been raised in modern times by gener- ations wanting in the habits of reverence and earnest- ness of feeling. Catholic (i. e. Protestant, of course) theology and moral philosophy, in accordance with catholic doctrine, were to be the main foundation of the improved education of these newer days; science and literature were not, indeed, to be neglected, but to be cultivated in subordination only to these great architectonic sciences, and discarded wherever they could not be forced into subjection. Thus a new gener- ation was to be trained in which inferiority in respect to mere objective knowledge, if such should really en- sue, was to be far more than compensated by the higher cultivation of the immortal part, the nobler discipline of piety and obedience. Such aspirations may be traced in most of the many writings on the university system which the crisis near the beginning of the second quar- ter of this century (a,bout 1833) brought out; while those who are ac()uainted with the practical details of the subject know full well how deep a tincture has been introduced into the actual studies and habits of both universities, but especially of that of Oxford, by the prev- alence of views such as these, expressed by energetic men, in language at once startling and attractive.
In the United States, men of intellectual ability have worked for the general diffusion of knowledge through a common-school system, but there has never been anj' pronounced effort for the training of the young relig- iouslj'. Indeed, in our day the cry is for mental devel- opment independent of spiritual care; and while in ra- tionalistic Germany there is provision for the religious training of every j'outh up to the highest class in the gymnasia, where the pupils are often over twenty years of age, in this country there is no public provision for the moral or religious training of the child. Diesterweg's notion (see above) is gradually coming to prevail. In our higher schools, i. e. the colleges and seminaries, in so far as they are under denominational control, ample pro- vision for religious training now exists; but should the state-college idea continue to grow in favor, the time may come when the Sabbath-school w ill afford the only opportunity for the religious training of coming American generations. True, chancellor Kent {Commentaries, ii, 187 sq.) lias laid down the maxim that under our form of government the parent should be held responsible for the moral training of the child; but the chancellor ig- nored the fact that we are largely njloatinr/ population, constantly amalgamating with different races of differ- ent educational grades and various religious notions, and that in a republic which acknowledges the (Jliris- tian civilization as its guide and base, the state should so educate the coming citizen that he may not only be able to interpret the law and have a head to understand, but a heart to cherish and .observe it.