REASONS AGAINST GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN EDUCATION: SHEWING THE DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES OF ENTRUSTING A Central Government WITH THE EDUCATION OF ITS SUBJECTS, AND EXPLAINING THE ADVANTAGES OF LEAVING IT TO BE REGULATED BY INDIVIDUAL, BY AN OBSERVER OF THE RESULTS OF A CENTRALIZED SYSTEM RESIDENCE IN FRANCE. LONDON: T. WARD AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCC XLIII. TO THE PUBLIC. THE Author of the following pamphlet died in October 1841, at the age of thirty-four. The subject of Education appeared to his mind to bear so intimately and powerfully on man's temporal happiness, that its investigation became one of the favourite employments of his "short allotted span." The opinions and conclusions which are embodied in the pamphlet may therefore be considered as the result of careful examination; and it is hoped that the arrangement and expression of these ideas may be found sufficient for their elucidation; and, if otherwise, that a liberal public, in the course of their criticism, will not overlook the fact, that part of the pamphlet was brought into its present shape under the influence of disease, and that its final examination and preparation for the press was not accomplished, when the hand of death had brought the author's labours to a close. The lateness of its appearance must be attributed to the hesitation of his friends regarding its publication, and to other unavoidable circumstances, and its appearance now, after so much delay, to the conviction that has reached them, of its being intimately connected with the present discussion regarding the Education clauses of the Factories Bill. Alterations in some of its passages were at one time meditated, and would have been made, if, after the determination to publish, time had allowed of their judicious accomplishment. The work is now submitted to the perusal of the public, with all its faults, leaving it to their own discrimination to sift and separate its contents, and select whatever they may consider as likely to be of use in the present discussion. CONTENTS. That there is a party in Britain disposed to give up the direction and superin- tendence of Education to the Government Propositions proved by quotations from Mr. Wyse, page 1; from Mr. Simpson, 2; from Professor Pillans and the Educational Magazine, 4; The centralized system of education in France, 8; its results, from per- sonal observation and Inspectors' Reports, 10; Education in America and other countries, 12; and in Prussia; its success there accounted for, Influence of State education upon the people, in the history of France, 19; Centralization and self-government explained and compared, 21; great democratic argument in favour of centralization and official teaching PAGE That whatever be the Form of Government, Educational Liberty should be Two kinds of Government interference, 34; Lord Denman answered, 36; Proposition proved by an appeal to the existing contradictions in religion and moral science, 37; in educational and medical science, 38; in history and natural philosophy, 40; Objections to proposition an- AGAINST GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN EDUCATION. CHAPTER I. That there is a party in Britain disposed to give up the direction and superintendence of Education to the Government. It will perhaps be necessary that I should adduce a few facts in support of the above proposition, for state direction or guidance in general, and more especially in education, is so inimical to British institutions, so un-British, in a word, that some will be inclined to question my assertion. However, that there is such a party, appears evident from the multitude of books and pamphlets which have been published during the last ten or twelve years on the subject of National Education, a topic which has become the daily theme of declamation at our public meetings, and of occasional discussion, even from our pulpits. It is called the all-important question-the momentous questionthe "question of questions." It is looked upon as the panacea, the universal cure for all the ills that betide humanity. We cannot open a newspaper but the words "National Education," in large capitals, immediately meet the eye. National Education-National Education is echoed and re-echoed throughout the length and breadth of the land. Now all this would be very well if the word "education" were simply used alone. No man has a firmer and fuller faith than I have in education, as a means of improving and moralizing the whole human race; but this can never be done nationally, above all, in Britain. It is the attempt to make a national concern of what should remain a local one-I was going to say, a family concern, and to a certain degree, an individual one-which paralyses many otherwise praiseworthy exertions. While it may be doubted whether many of the National Education men know what they would be at, it is manifest that their leaders are quite clear upon the subject. What they aim at is, to establish a system of National Education, the direction of which is to be given over to the State. They wish to create a separate ministry for the thing, the chief of which is to be called, "The Minister of Public Instruction." Mr. Wyse, the able advocate for Educational Reform, now a Lord of the Privy Council, a man with whom I sympathize on B |