Truth is within ourselves; and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,—
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.
THIS famous saying of the poet gives us a concept of the nature and process of education which is rapidly supplanting the old idea of it as an accretion. We are coming to see that education is not a bequest. It is impossible to bestow it upon another. It is an individual conquest; therefore the work of the teacher is to modify environment by removing the sense of limitation, ignorance, superstition, in fact any and every obstacle which would in any way retard this conquest. Education is an art. Yes, the highest art. We commonly think of art in connection with painting, music, sculpture, architecture, but rarely do we realize that the art of furnishing a mental environment conducive to the highest development of the child, an environment whereby he may so successfully make this conquest that the "imprisoned splendor," the character clothed with intelligence, strength, courage, and nobility of purpose, may be revealed,—that of all arts this is the highest.
