men in their distinct callings; though that most to be taken care of is the gentleman's calling." This might well have been said in any appeal to the public in the matter of education, even in our modern times. In another place, Locke says, "Of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are good or evil, useful or not-by their education; it is that which makes the great difference in mankind."2

What distinguished Locke from the considerable number of other educators of the seventeenth century, who worked against the prevailing educational "traditions as a result of the Renaissance, and exemplified in the grammar schools, was the "fresh view he obtained looking at scholastic questions from the medical standpoint." He looked upon the pupils in a school as the doctor looks upon his patients, each one an individual case, which should be diagnosed separately and dealt with by methods which best suit the specific conditions. To emphasize his viewpoint he says, "There are not more differences in men's faces and the outward lineaments of their bodies, than there are in the makes and tempers of their minds"; and "each man's mind has some peculiarity as well as his face that distinguishes him from all others; and there are possibly scarce two children who can be conducted by exactly the same method."5

Here for the first time, Locke states quite explicitly and practically the principle of educational individualism, which has been the watchword of all progress in education from his day to ours. Most of his predecessors had viewed education as a uniform process-they presented the same subjects in the same way and expected the same cultural effect. Locke on the other hand held that the process which does not adapt itself to the nature of the learner is no true education.

In examining Locke's writing two of his main characteristics ought to be kept in mind: (1) his craving to know and to speak the truth and the whole truth in everything, truth

1 P. IXIII, Locke on Education, edited by R. H. Quick.

2 Sec. 1, Thoughts on Education, p. 1.

3 P. 22, Boyd's "From Locke to Montessori."

4 Sec. 101, Thoughts," p. 82.

5 Sec. 216, p. 189.

John Locke, as a Contributor Toward

Education

DAVID I. JONES, M. A., B. E. L., PRINCIPAL, HIGH SCHOOL,

J

EUGENE, OREGON.

OHN LOCKE, known perhaps better as metaphysician than as an educator, was born in Somersetshire, England, in the year 1632. He received his elementary education at Westminster, and later distinguished himself as a student at Christ College, Oxford. He was not popular among the boys, however, being of a shy disposition, and "poor at games," and he in return took very little interest in the school life. He is said to have had inclinations which gave him a choice of three roads to fame: entering the clergy, where he would have been favored, practicing physic as a profession, or entering the diplomatic service. He chose the second and prepared himself for medicine. And it was through his practice that he became acquainted with Lord Ashley, later Lord Shaftsbury, who, becoming attached to Locke, took him into his family as physician and companion, and tutor to Lord Ashley's son. It was this entrusting of the young man's development to Locke, coupled with the leisure for study that led his thoughts to educational problems. Locke placed an immense importance on education, as seen in the following paragraph from the "Epistle Dedicatory" to "Some Thoughts on Education"; "the well-educating of their children is so much the duty and concern of parents, and the welfare and prosperity of the nation, so much depends on it, that I would have every one lay it to heart; and after having well examined and distinguished what fancy, custom, or reason advises in the case, set his helping hand to promote everywhere that way of training up youth, with regard to their several conditions, which is the easiest, shortest, and likeliest to produce virtuous, useful, and able

men in their distinct callings; though that most to be taken care of is the gentleman's calling." This might well have been said in any appeal to the public in the matter of education, even in our modern times. In another place, Locke says, "Of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are good or evil, useful or not-by their education; it is that which makes the great difference in mankind."2

What distinguished Locke from the considerable number of other educators of the seventeenth century, who worked against the prevailing educational "traditions as a result of the Renaissance, and exemplified in the grammar schools, was the "fresh view he obtained looking at scholastic questions from the medical standpoint." He looked upon the pupils in a school as the doctor looks upon his patients, each one an individual case, which should be diagnosed separately and dealt with by methods which best suit the specific conditions. To emphasize his viewpoint he says, "There are not more differences in men's faces and the outward lineaments of their bodies, than there are in the makes and tempers of their minds"; and "each man's mind has some peculiarity as well as his face that distinguishes him from all others; and there are possibly scarce two children who can be conducted by exactly the same method."5

Here for the first time, Locke states quite explicitly and practically the principle of educational individualism, which has been the watchword of all progress in education from his day to ours. Most of his predecessors had viewed education as a uniform process-they presented the same subjects in the same way and expected the same cultural effect. Locke on the other hand held that the process which does not adapt itself to the nature of the learner is no true education.

In examining Locke's writing two of his main characteristics ought to be kept in mind: (1) his craving to know and to speak the truth and the whole truth in everything, truth

1 P. IXIII, Locke on Education, edited by R. H. Quick.

2 Sec. 1, Thoughts on Education, p. 1.

3 P. 22, Boyd's "From Locke to Montessori."

4 Sec. 101, "Thoughts," p. 82.

5 Sec. 216, p. 189.

not for a purpose, but for itself. He himself says, "Believe it, my good friend, to love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world and the seed-plant of all other virtues"; (2) his perfect trust in the reason as the grand and only guide to truth. "The faculty of reasoning seldom or never deceives those who trust to it." In various letters he states that intelligent honest men cannot possibly differ.

Locke begins his "Some Thoughts on Education" with that which he has deemed fundamental and the basis of all elsephysical development or education. He is also the first educator to embody in any of their treatises rules for the presentation of health. He begins thus, "A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world; he that has these two has little more to wish for; and, he that wants either of them, will be but little the better for anything else."

The art of education seemed to be for Locke synonymous with the art or hygiene in its broadest sense the formation and the maintenance of a healthful life, mental and moral, as well as physical, and he gives us a simple rule for forming such a healthful life: Accustom ourselves to a healthy mode of living. Here, as elsewhere, we see that "habituation" is the keynote of whole pedagogy." There has been no attempt, however, to connect the mind and the body, as some hasty interpreters of Locke would have it. They are on the contrary held to be very distinct from each other. Though our chief care should be about the inside, yet the clay cottage is not to be neglected. I shall therefore begin with the case, and consider first, the health of the body." He goes into rather minute details as to the care of the body in general and its various parts, and the effect of various surrounding conditions on the general health. He has even been so careful as to warn against the awakening of the child suddenly, or

6 In a letter to Boede.

7 Sec. 1, p. 1.

8 P. 90, Misawa's Modern Education and their Ideals.

9 Sec. 2, p. 1.

with any noise or violent motion, which might frighten him, but to speak gently and kindly until he has "come perfectly to himself." His rules for health are summed up as follows: "Plenty of open air, exercise, and sleep; plain diet, no wine or strong drink, and very little or no physic; not too warm and strait clothing and the feet often used to cold water, and exposed to wet.10 The value of Locke's rules, with the exception of the last named, has been often enough determined. If anything, one finds that Locke tends toward the harsher treatment, which may well enough harden the sturdy, but may, on the other hand, tend to weaken the weak. He says in one place, "I would also advise his feet to be washed every day in cold water, and to have his shoes so thin that they might leak and let in water whenever he comes near it."11 The remainder of "Some Thoughts Concerning Education" may roughly be divided into three parts: (1) His advocacy of private education, (2) His treatment of what he termed his second educational aim after "vigor of body," viz., “virtue in the soul, with its manifestation in good breeding"; and (3) His third aim, "knowledge or mental acquisition."

Limiting our choice to our educational literature, Locke may be named as the chief advocate of private, as opposed to public education. He believed that he who was expected to become a "gentleman" ought to be entrusted to a tutor and kept at home where he might be influenced by following the example set by his father and his associates, rather than be contaminated by contact with any and every man's son at the public school, where all kinds of youth were permitted. Also, the schoolmaster in charge of from fifty to a hundred students cannot possibly give his attention to any one personally, so as to "form their minds and manners," and Locke placed virtue and good manners above school learning. Locke felt confident as to the result of private instruction and was willing to compare it with the result of public schooling. He says, "Take a boy from the top of a grammar school, and one

10 Sec. 30, "Thoughts," p. 20.

11 Sec. 7, p. 4.