Last:  we must hand on to it all those refinements of life which the past has given to us—­the hoarded culture of the race.

Only if we do these four things thoroughly can we dare to call ourselves educators in the full sense of the word.

Now, turning to the spiritual interests of the child:—­and unless we are crass materialists we must believe these interests to exist, and to be paramount—­what are we doing to further them in these four fundamental directions?  First, does the average good education train our young people in spiritual self-preservation?  Does it send them out equipped with the means of living a full and efficient spiritual life?  Does it furnish them with a health-giving type of religion; that is, a solid hold on eternal realities, a view of the universe capable of withstanding hostile criticism, of supporting them in times of difficulty and of stress?  Secondly, does it give them a spiritual outlook in respect of their racial duties, fit them in due time to be parents of other souls?  Does it train them to regard humanity, and their own place in the human life-stream, from this point of view?  This point is of special importance, in view of the fact that racial and biological knowledge on lower levels is now so generally in the possession of boys and girls; and is bound to produce a distorted conception of life, unless the spirit be studied by them with at least the same respectful attention that is given to the flesh.  Thirdly, what does our education do towards preparing them to solve the problems of social and economic life in a spiritual sense—­our only reasonable chance of extracting the next generation from the social muddle in which we are plunged to-day?  Last, to what extent do we try to introduce our pupils into a full enjoyment of their spiritual inheritance, the culture and tradition of the past?

I do not deny that there are educators—­chiefly perhaps educators of girls—­who can give favourable answers to all these questions.  But they are exceptional, the proportion of the child population whom they influence is small, and frequently their proceedings are looked upon—­not without some justice—­as eccentric.  If then in all these departments our standard type of education stops short of the spiritual level, are not we self-convicted as at best theoretical believers in the worth and destiny of the human soul?

Consider the facts.  Outside the walls of definitely religious institutions—­where methods are not always adjusted to the common stuff and needs of contemporary human life—­it does not seem to occur to many educationists to give the education of the child’s soul the same expert delicate attention so lavishly bestowed on the body and the intellect.  By expert delicate attention I do not mean persistent religious instruction; but a skilled and loving care for the growing spirit, inspired by deep conviction and helped by all the psychological knowledge we possess.  If we look at the efforts