Herbert Spencer
English philosopher and sociologist (1820 to 1903); author of Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical.
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What they believe
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In education, as in dress, the ornamental has come before the useful
Among mental as among bodily acquisitions, the ornamental comes before the useful. Not only in times past, but almost as much in our own era, that knowledge which conduces to personal well-being has been postponed to that which brings applause.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1854–1861This on korrents
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Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 18 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
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In education, as in dress, the ornamental has come before the useful
Among mental as among bodily acquisitions, the ornamental comes before the useful. Not only in times past, but almost as much in our own era, that knowledge which conduces to personal well-being has been postponed to that which brings applause.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Boys are given a classical education simply to conform to public opinion
If we inquire what is the real motive for giving boys a classical education, we find it to be simply conformity to public opinion.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Education's function is to prepare us for complete living, and should be judged by that
To prepare us for complete living is the function which education has to discharge; and the only rational mode of judging of an educational course is, to judge in what degree it discharges such function.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
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Teaching how to keep healthy is as important as any teaching there is
We infer that as vigorous health and its accompanying high spirits are larger elements of happiness than any other things whatever, the teaching how to maintain them is a teaching that yields in moment to no other whatever.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
The belief that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion
The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed, is a delusion.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Neglecting science, not pursuing it, is what is irreligious
So far from science being irreligious, as many think, it is the neglect of science that is irreligious—it is the refusal to study the surrounding creation that is irreligious.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Learning the meanings of things is better than learning the meanings of words
In all its effects, learning the meanings of things, is better than learning the meanings of words. Whether for intellectual, moral, or religious training, the study of surrounding phenomena is immensely superior to the study of grammars and lexicons.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Science is the knowledge of most worth on every count
Thus to the question we set out with—What knowledge is of most worth?—the uniform reply is—Science.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Children should be told as little as possible and led to discover as much as possible
A second corollary from the foregoing general principle, and one which cannot be too strenuously insisted on, is, that in education the process of self-development should be encouraged to the uttermost. Children should be led to make their own investigations, and to draw their own inferences. They should be told as little as possible, and induced to discover as much as possible.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
When learning is made painful, people tend to stop once nobody forces them
As long as the acquisition of knowledge is rendered habitually repugnant, so long will there be a prevailing tendency to discontinue it when free from the coercion of parents and masters.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
There is no rational case for leaving the art of education out of the curriculum
No rational plea can be put forward for leaving the Art of Education out of our curriculum.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Anger between parent and child is especially harmful because it weakens their bond
Whether in parent or child, anger, however caused, and to whomsoever directed, is detrimental. But anger in a parent towards a child, and in a child towards a parent, is especially detrimental; because it weakens that bond of sympathy which is essential to beneficent control.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Let children suffer the natural consequences of their actions rather than over-controlling them
Satisfy yourself with seeing that your child always suffers the natural consequences of his actions, and you will avoid that excess of control in which so many parents err. Leave him wherever you can to the discipline of experience, and you will save him from that hot-house virtue which over-regulation produces in yielding natures, or that demoralising antagonism which it produces in independent ones.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Consistent harsh discipline is better than humane discipline applied inconsistently
Better even a barbarous form of domestic government carried out consistently, than a humane one inconsistently carried out.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Discipline should aim to produce a self-governing person, not one governed by others
Remember that the aim of your discipline should be to produce a self-governing being; not to produce a being to be governed by others.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Appetite can safely be trusted as a guide for children
We contend that, as appetite is a good guide to all the lower creation—as it is a good guide to the infant—as it is a good guide to the invalid—as it is a good guide to the differently-placed races of men—and as it is a good guide for every adult who leads a healthful life; it may safely be inferred that it is a good guide for childhood.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Bodily ills come mainly from disobeying our sensations, not from obeying them
It is not obedience to the sensations, but disobedience to them, which is the habitual cause of bodily evils.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
Over-education is harmful in every way, from forgotten knowledge to lasting ill-health
We contend, then, that this over-education is vicious in every way—vicious, as giving knowledge that will soon be forgotten; vicious, as producing a disgust for knowledge; vicious, as neglecting that organisation of knowledge which is more important than its acquisition; vicious, as weakening or destroying that energy without which a trained intellect is useless; vicious, as entailing that ill-health for which even success would not compensate, and which makes failure doubly bitter.
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1854-1861) Said c. 1854–1861
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