" [2]
Our studies should be neither "a couch on which to rest; nor a cloister in
which to promenade alone; nor a tower from which to look down on others;
nor a fortress whence we may resist them; nor a workshop for gain and
merchandise; but a rich armory and treasury for the glory of the creator
and the ennoblement of life." [3]
For in the noble words of Epictetus, "you will do the greatest service to
the state if you shall raise, not the roofs of the houses, but the souls
of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small
houses rather than for mean slaves to lurk in great houses."
It is then of great importance to consider whether our present system of
education is the one best calculated to fulfil these great objects. Does
it really give that love of learning which is better than learning itself?
Does all the study of the classics to which our sons devote so many years
give any just appreciation of them; or do they not on leaving college too
often feel with Byron--
"Then farewell, Horace; whom I hated so!"
Too much concentration on any one subject is a great mistake, especially
in early life.
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