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George S. Boutwell. Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions
Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions
Table of Contents
THE INTRINSIC NATURE AND VALUE OF LEARNING, AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON LABOR
[Lecture before the American Institute of Instruction.]
EDUCATION AND CRIME
[Extract from the Twenty-First Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education.]
FOOTNOTES:
REFORMATION OF CHILDREN
[Address at the Inauguration of William E. Starr, Superintendent of the State Reform School at Westborough.]
THE CARE AND REFORMATION OF THE NEGLECTED AND EXPOSED CLASSES OF CHILDREN
[An Address delivered at the opening of the State Industrial School for Girls, at Lancaster, Massachusetts.]
ELEMENTARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
[Extract from the Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education.]
THE RELATIVE MERITS OF PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS AND ENDOWED ACADEMIES
[Remarks before the American Institute of Instruction, at Manchester, N. H.]
THE HIGH SCHOOL SYSTEM
[An Address delivered at the Dedication of the Powers Institute, Bernardston.]
NORMAL SCHOOL TRAINING
[An Address delivered at the Dedication of the State Normal School, at Salem.]
FEMALE EDUCATION
[An Address before the Newburyport Female High School.]
THE INFLUENCE, DUTIES, AND REWARDS, OF TEACHERS
[A Lecture delivered at Teachers' Institutes.]
LIBERTY AND LEARNING
[An Address delivered at Montague, July 4th, 1857.]
FOOTNOTE:
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL FUND
[Extract from the Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education.]
Key to Column Headings:
Key to Column Headings:
FOOTNOTES:
A SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
[An Address before the Barnstable Agricultural Society, Oct. 8, 1857.]
FOOTNOTE:
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George S. Boutwell
Published by Good Press, 2019
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The division of these products upon any principle conceivable leaves for the laborer a larger quantity than he could have before commanded; for, although the share of the wealthy may be disproportionate, their ability to consume is limited; and, as poverty is the absence or want of things necessary and convenient for the purposes of life, according to the ideas at the time entertained, we see how a laboring population, necessarily poor while ignorance prevails, is elevated to a position of greater social and physical comfort, as mind takes the place of brute force in the industries of the world. Learning, then, is not the result of social comfort, but social comfort is the product of intelligence, and increases or diminishes as intelligence is general or limited. It is not, however, to be taken as granted that each laborer's position corresponds or answers to the sum of his own knowledge. It might happen that an ignorant laborer would enjoy the advantages of a general culture, to which he contributed little or nothing; and it must of necessity also happen that an intelligent laborer, in the midst of an ignorant population, as in Ireland or India, for example, would be compelled to accept, in the main, the condition of those around him. But there is no evidence on the face of society now, or in its history, that an ignorant population, whether a laboring population or not, has ever escaped from a condition of poverty. And the converse of the proposition is undoubtedly true, that an intelligent laboring community will soon become a wealthy community. Learning is sure to produce wealth; wealth is likely to contribute to learning, but it does not necessarily produce it. Hence it follows that learning is the only means by which the poor can escape from their poverty.
In this statement it is assumed that education does not promote vice; and not only is this negative assumption true, but it is safe to assume, further, that education favors virtue, and that any given population will be less vicious when educated than when ignorant. This, I cannot doubt, is a general truth, subject, of course, to some exceptions.
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