And, the earlier the
period of life at which the handicraftsman has to enter into the
actual practice of his craft, the more important is it that he
should devote the precious hours of preliminary education to
things of the mind, which have no direct and immediate bearing on
his branch of industry, though they lie at the foundation of all
the realities."
He compared his own handicraft as an anatomist with the handicrafts of
artisans, and declared that the kind of preliminary training he would
choose for himself or for his pupils was precisely the training he
would provide for them. He did not wish that one who proposed to be a
biologist should learn dissection during his school-days; that would
come later, and, in the meantime, broader and deeper foundations had
to be laid. These were the ordinary subjects of a liberal education:
physical training, drawing, and a little music, French and German, the
ordinary English subjects, and the elements of physical science.
Against such costly schemes of education for the whole population of a
nation, many objections have been urged. Of these, perhaps the chief
is that the majority of human beings even in the most civilised
country are not capable of profiting by or taking an interest in, or
certainly of advancing far in, most subjects.
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