Common sense and its cultivation / by Hanbury Hankin ; with a foreword by Dr. C.S. Myers.

  • Hankin, E. Hanbury (Ernest Hanbury), 1865-1939.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Common sense and its cultivation / by Hanbury Hankin ; with a foreword by Dr. C.S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE There is a widespread desire to know more of the nature of common sense, in what it consists, to what degree it is present in persons of different mental habits, what conditions are favourable or otherwise to its develop¬ ment and, lastly, whether its development may be stimulated by any practical changes in our educational methods. It is hoped that the facts recorded in this book will throw light on such questions. Signs are not wanting of discontent with our present system of education. In current literature we find a psychologist writing of the ordinary mind-wrecking processes that take place in schools, a doctor of the evils of over-education, a man of science asserting that our universities are destructive of originality, and a philo¬ sopher that our educational methods, whatever their matter, are fundamentally vicious in their manner. Above all this there is a suspicion that education does little or nothing towards the development of common sense. Hence it need cause no surprise if our study leads to serious criticisms of the ordinary present day school curriculum. My thanks are due to the editor for permission to reprint an article that appeared in Science Progress for April, 1922, dealing with the mental ability of the Quakers, and also to Messrs Butterworth and Co. for their permission to incorporate extracts from my book,