Social Education is that in which society is the Institutor. That the society in which an individual moves, produces great effects upon his mode of thinking and acting, every body knows by indubita ble experience. The object is, to ascertain the ex tent of this influence, the mode in which it is brought about, and hence the means of making it operate in a good, rather than an evil direction.
The force of this influence springs from two sources: the principle of imitation; and the power of the so ciety over our happiness and misery.
We have already shown, that when, by means of words, and other signs of what is passing in the minds of other men, we are made to conceive, step by step, the trains which are governing them, those trains, by repetition, become habitual to our own minds, and exert the same influence over us as those which arise from our• own impressions. It is very evident, that those trains which are most habitually passing in the minds of all those individuals by whom we are surrounded, must be made to pass with extra ordinary frequency through our own minds, and must, unless where extraordinary means are used to prevent them from producing their natural effect, en gross to a proportional degree the dominion of our minds. With this alight indication of this source of the power which society usurps over our minds, that is, of the share which it has in our education, we must content ourselves, and pass to the next.
Nothing is more remarkable in the proceedings of human nature, than the intense desire which we feel of the favourable regards of mankind. Few men could bear to live under an exclusion from the breast of every human being. It is astonishing how great a portion of all the actions of men are directed to this object and to no other. The greatest princes, the most despotical roasters of human destiny, when asked, What they aim at by their wars and conquests? would answer, if sincere, as Frederic of Prussia an.. swered,r faire park r de soi ; to occupy alarge space in the adi-iration of mankind ? What are the ordinary pursuits of wealth and of power, which kindle to such a height the ardour of mankind? Not the mere love of eating and of drinking, or all the physical objects which wealth can purchase or per corn.. mend. With these every man is at bottom speedily satisfied. It is the easy command, which those ad vantages procure over the favourable regards of so.
ciety,—it is this which renders the desire of wealth unbounded, and gives it that irresistible influence which it possesses m directing the human mind.
Whatever, then, are the trains of thought, what ever is the course of action which most strongly re. commends us to the favourable regards of those among whom we live, these we feel the strongest mo tive to cultivate and display; whatever trains of thought and course of action expose us to their un favourable regards, these we feel the strongest mo tives to avoid. These inducements, operating upon us continually, have an irresistible influence in creat ing habits, and in moulding; that is, educating us, in to a character conformable to the society in which we move. This is the general principle; it might be illustrated in detail•by many of the most interest ing and instructive phenomena of human life; it is • inquiry, nquiry, however, in which we must not indulge.
To what extent the habits and character, which those influences tend to produce, may engross the man, will no doubt depend, to a, certain degree, up on the powers of the domestic and technical educa tion which he has undergone. We may conceive that certain trains might, 13 the skilful occupation of the early years, be so habitual as to be un.. controllable by any habits which the subsequent pe riod of life would induce, and that those trains might be the decisive ones on which intelligent and moral conduct depends. The influence of a vicious and ignorant society would in this case be greatly re duced ; but still, the actual rewards and punishments which society to bestow upon those who please, and those who lease it ; the good and evil which itgives or withhcil , are so great, that to adopt the opi nions which it approves, to perform the acts which it admires, to acquire the character, in short, which it " delighteth .to honour " can seldom fail to be the leading object of those of whom it is composed. And as this potent influence operates upon those who conduct both the domestic education and the tech nical, it is next to impossible that the trains which are generated, even during the tine of their opera tion; should not fall in with, instead of counteract ing, the trains which the social education produces; it is next to impossible, therefore, that the whole man should not take the shape which that influence is calculated to impress upon him.