But the systems of education in vogue have always lagged behind the
clear views of educational _reformers_. Two hundred fifty years ago
Comenius projected a plan of education for every boy and girl of the
common people. His aim was to teach all men all things from the
highest truths of religion to the commonest things of daily experience.
Being a man of simple and profound religious faith, religion and
morality were at the foundation of his system. But even the principles
of intellectual training so clearly advocated by Comenius have not yet
found a ready hearing among teachers, to say nothing of his great
moral-religious purpose. Among later writers, Locke, Rousseau, and
Pestalozzi have set up ideals of education that have had much
influence. But Locke's "gentleman" can never be the ideal of all
because it is intrinsically aristocratic and education has become with
us broadly democratic. After all, Locke's "gentleman" is a noble ideal
and should powerfully impress teachers. The perfect human animal that
Rousseau dreamed of in the Emile, is best illustrated in the noble
savage, but we are not in danger in America of adopting this ideal. In
spite of his merits the noblest savage falls short in several ways.
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