The Religious Element in Education
An Address Delivered Before the American Institute of Instruction, at Portland, August 30, 1844 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Religious Element in Education: An Address Delivered Before the American Institute of Instruction, at Portland, August 30, 1844<br><br>Why is one woman engaging in person, pure in thought, agreeable in manners, an object of affectionate pride to all who know her; while another, born with a mental and physical constitution in all respects equal, is disgusting in person, impure in thought, licentious in manners, an object of mingled pity and abhorrence to all who behold her Because the one was reared in the bosom of a pious, pure-minded and virtuous family, the other was cast in early life among the very dregs of society, and exposed to all their increasing abominations. Look over the surface of society, and see the immense diversities that exist, and notice how few of them can be traced to constitutional differences, and how many to education; and estimate if you can, the invaluable importance of a right education in early life. In many cases it is all, humanly speaking, that makes one man a benefactor of the human race, and another a drunkard or a thief; all that makes one woman the pride and ornament of society, and another an outcast and a prostitute. Who of us can say, that if our early education had been like that of thousands of others, we should not now, instead of sitting here in this quiet and respectable assembly, surrounded with circumstances of comfort and respectability, have been wallowing in debauchery, the degraded inmates of a prison or a brothel<br><br>It is true that some break through the restraints of early habit, and become good and great in spite of a vicious or defective education; and that others, notwithstanding the influence of an education apparently good, become vicious and perverse.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.