The Principles of Rational Education (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from The Principles of Rational EducationThe F ranco-prussian War was the occasion that induced this country to adopt compulsory education of all its children, for it was considered that the success of the Germans in that war was due, in great part, to their superiority in education. There was no very convincing evidence, even if there was any evidence at all, that the education of the Germans was superior to that of the French, nor was there any evidence that if the education of the Germans was superior, their success was due to this superiority but for half a century we had looked upon the French as the country in Europe best organized for war, and their defeat demanded explanation. We were not taught then, and we have not been taught since, the true principles of explanation, and therefore we seized upon anything that came handy and looked as if it might be an explanation, and accepted that with unreasoning credulity as the explanation of the German success. If we had been trained in proper methods of assigning causes, we should have found in the corruption of the French Court, consequent incompetence of the French Higher Command, and the divided allegiance and personal jealousies of the French generals, ample explanation of the French defeat, without ranging far afield to ascribe it to an hypothetical inferiority in education.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.