In the next place comes that which we have de nominated Technical. To this the term Education has been commonly confined; or, rather, the word Education has been used in a sense so unhappily restricted, that it has extended only to a part of that which we call Technical Education. It has not ex tended to all the arts, but only to those which have been denominated liberal.
The question here occurs, What is the sort of education required for the different classes of so duty, and what should be the diffesenee is the twin ing provided far each? Before we ten treat mph cidy of technical we must endeavour is show, in what manner at hest, this question aught to be resolved.
There are certain qualities, the pommies of which is desirable in all dames : There are certain quali ties, the possession of which is desirable in same, not in others. As fax as those qualities emend which ought to be COMIT14111 to all, there ono& to be a correspondent training for all. It is only in speet those qualities which are not dein:hie in all, that a difference in the mode of traiming is re quired.
What then are the qualities, the pommies: of which is desirable in all ? They are the qualfties which we have already named as chiefly subservient to the happiness of the individual himself, and of other men,—Intelligence, Temperance, and Bens. volence. It is very evident that all these qualities are desirable in all men ; and if it were posslile en get them all in the highest possalile degree in all men, so much the more would human nature be exalted.
The chief difficulty respects Intelligence; for it will be readily allowed, that almost equal are might to be taken, in all classes, of the trains leadingto the settled dispositions which the terms Temperance and Benevolence denote. Benevolence, as we have above described it, can hardly be said to be of more importance to the happiness of man in one class than in another. If we bear in mind, also, the radi. cal meaning of Temperance, that it is the steady habit of resisting a present desire, for the sake of a we shall readily grant, that it is not necessary to happiness in one rank of life than in another. It is only necessary to see, that tem perance, though always the same disposition, is not always exerted on the same objects, in the different conditions of life. It is no demand of temperance, in the mss who can afford it, to deny himself animal food; it may be an act of temperance in the man whose harder circumstances require that he should limit himself to coarser fare. It is also true, that the trains which lead to Tem and Benevo lence may be equally culttv in all classes. The impressions which are made to receive, and the trains of others which they are made to copy, may, with equal certainty, be guided to the generating of those two qualities in all the different classes of to ciety. We deem it unnecessary (here, indeed, it is
impomible) to enter into the details of what may be done in the course of technical education, to gene rate, or to confirm, the dispositions of Temperance and Benevolence. It can be nothing more than the application of the principles which we developed, when we endeavoured to show in what manner the circumstances of domestic education might be em ployed for ipmerating the trains on which these mental qualities depend.
Technical Education we shall then consider as having chiefly to do with Intelligence.
The first question, as we have said before, respects what is desirable for all,—the second what is desira ble for each of the several classes. Till recently, it was denied, that intelligence was a desirable qua lity in the great body of the people; and as intelli gence is power, such is an unavoidable opinion in the breasts of those who think that the human race ought to consist of two classes,—one that of the op pressors, another that of the oppressed. The concern which is now felt for the education of the working chews, shows that we have made a great step in knowledge, and in that genuine morality which ever attends it.
The analysis of the ideas decides the whole mat ter at once. If education be to communicate the art of happiness, and if intelligence consists of two parts,--a knowledge of the order of those events of nature on which our pleasures and pains depend.—and the sagacity which discovers the best means for the at •mng of ends,—the question, whether the people should be educated, is the same with the question, whether they should be happy or miserable. The question, whether they should have more or less of intelligence, is merely the question, whether they should have more or less of misery, when happiness might be given in its stead. This has been seized, and made use of as an objection, viz. that men are seen, by daily experience, not to be happy, riot to be moral, in proportion to their knowledge. It is , , wonderfully shallow. Hume said long ago, that knowledge, and its accompaniments, morality and happiness, may not be strictly conjoined in every individual, but they are infallibly so in every age and in every country. The reason is plain : a natu ral cause may be hindered of its operation in one particular instance, though in a great variety of in stances it is sure to prevail. Besides, there may be a good deal of knowledge in an individual, but not knowledge of the best things ; this cannot easily happen m a whole people ; neither the whole nor the greater part will miss the right objects of know ledge, when knowledge is generally diffused.