THE POPULAR EDUCATOR.
INTRODUCTION.
At no period in the history of our country was it less necessary to offer an apology for introducing a national work on Education than at the present time. So keen is the competitive spirit of the age, that the advantage of knowledge in the struggle for advancement is apparent to all. The mighty power of steam applied to railways and vessels has developed national and international communication to a degree not dreamt of at the commencement of the century. Telegraphy presents to our view the daily contemporaneous history of the world; and the Press, relieved from those shackles which impeded its action and fettered its influence, has become a powerful medium for the communication of thought between the leading minds of the age. In the political condition of our own country a change has been wrought, the consequences of which the boldest prophet avows his inability to predict, but which all parties agree will be fraught with good or evil, according to the degree in which the new recipients of power may be possessed of the knowledge to use that power aright. The necessity of Education, therefore, which was fiercely combated when this work first saw the light, is now universally admitted, and the mode and the system alone remain to be discussed. This truth was fully recognised by no one more than the late Earl of Derby, the illustrious chief of the Conservative party, and he was pleased to accept the dedication of this work to himself. Gratifying as is this complimentary recognition of the services which the original edition of the Popular Educator has rendered in the promotion of National Education, we feel that the basis of our present claim upon the co-operation of all the friends of that great movement consists in this—that our system has been tested, its efficiency has been proved, whilst a sale of 750,000 copies has testified, on the part of those for whom it was designed, their appreciation of the work and their estimate of its value.
But some twenty years have elapsed since the Popular Educator first issued from the press, and during that period considerable advances have been made in many of the departments of knowledge. To perfect the work in accordance with all the discoveries up to the present day, we have found it necessary to introduce many new subjects, and to re-model many of our old lessons, and we shall spare no expense in making these changes as complete as possible. To amuse, to instruct, to elevate, will be our constant endeavour. To render the workman more perfect in his vocation, the soldier and sailor better fitted for the higher positions of his profession, the naturalist more conversant with the beauties of Nature, the politician further acquainted with the important events in the history of his country, and to place at the command of the student for the Civil Service or University Examinations all the branches of education necessary for his advancement, no effort will be wanting. Our ambition is to place in every English Home an Educational Encyclopædia, invaluable as a manual of study and a work of reference, which, whilst simple, progressive, and interesting in its style, shall be powerful for the improvement and the advancement of its students.
In the three great departments of knowledge which this Work will embrace—History, Science, and Languages—the end of such instruction, viz., its practical application to the affairs of life, will be kept steadily in view. Science will be taught not merely as abstract truth or an interesting intellectual exercise, but as embodying in all its branches those principles, a knowledge of which will explain the various phenomena of the world, and enable us to avail ourselves more intelligently, and therefore more successfully, of all the varied material with which Nature has supplied us.
Instruction in Languages—whether living or dead—will be so conveyed as to enable the student not only to understand a given set of books in any particular tongue, but to make him master of the language itself by gradual and easy, but yet real and tangible stages.
The Historic Sketches, by means of which we shall teach History, will, we hope, render that study no longer a mere record of battles, an obituary of kings, a mighty chaos of incident; but will illustrate how each nation has discharged its functions in the world's history how each epoch has played its part in the drama of a nation's life.
A reference to our list of contents will show that under various heads will be included every branch of study which can possibly be useful in the varied walks of life.
The great aim and object of this Work is to enable the people to educate themselves. We have only to ask them to realise the magnitude and grandeur of tho work in which they will be engaged if they determine to do so. Obstacles will be overcome by united resolution. Every difficulty surmounted will be additional strength for further victories. A good education is the best legacy we can leave to our children. It is the best investment we can make for ourselves. The educated man in every walk of life carries with him his own capital—a capital unaffected by monetary crisis—an investment whose interest is not regulated by the success of speculation—a legacy which none can dispute, and of which none can deprive.
