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CHAPTER II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

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Summary

OBJECTS AND METHODS OF ADULT INSTRUCTION.

Mechanics' Institutes, to answer their end, must become more educational and practical. Miscellaneous lectures and general readings are not study. A man, after listening to such lectures, and reading good books during a whole life, might not understand a simple science, or be master of a single department of human knowledge. His information, like his reading, would be crude, undigested, not always available when wanted, and very little of it probably connected with his own particular vocation. It would also be much less in amount than if he had applied the same time in regular and systematic study. No patent process has yet been discovered, no royal road yet found out, which will impart to a man the power of knowledge, without going through the labour needful to acquire it.

Education is not an affair of childhood and youth, it is the business of the whole life. The infant and day school but commence education. The education that should cease with youth Avould soon pass away as a dream. It is found that even the ability to read and write is lost in multitudes of instances simply for want of opportunity for using it. This is the case equally with more advanced knowledge.

What, then, is the instruction which Mechanics’ Institutes should offer to the woi-king classes? The answer is twofold. There is an instruction which they should receive to fit them for the position of members of a civilised community, and there is an instruction specially adapted to their individual vocations. We shall offer a few remarks on each of these.

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An Essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' Institutions
And Especially How Far They May Be Developed and Combined so as to Promote the Moral Well-Being and Industry of the Country
, pp. 44 - 84
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1853

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  • CHAPTER II
  • James Hole
  • Book: An Essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' Institutions
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511707346.003
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  • CHAPTER II
  • James Hole
  • Book: An Essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' Institutions
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511707346.003
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • CHAPTER II
  • James Hole
  • Book: An Essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' Institutions
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511707346.003
Available formats
×