Thus, the ideals of consistency and harmony, of per-
fection and progress, of loyalty and unity, must be instilled
into the pupiFs mind, if he is to be made willing to fulfill
his life's work and to make use of his knowledge and of his
training. However rich the instruction may be, this work
of inspiration gives character and direction to it. There is
no knowledge and no training which may not be misused,
and no one can be called truly educated simply because he
has acquired the ability to perform his task. True educa-
tion demands the devoted belief in the value of the task and
the enthusiastic willingness to subordinate the personal
gratification. Not every one can be inspired with equal
strength by every one of the human ideals. There are in-
dividual differences as well as national ones. There is no

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doubt, for instance, that the ideal of perfection and of con-
sistency does not take hold of the average American man
as deeply as the ideal of progress and morality and re-
ligion. In the same social group one man may be carried
away by the enthusiasm for social reform, another with
that for industrial development, one with delight in liter-
ature, and another with devotion to natural sciences; one
may be enthusiastic over harmony among men, another
over the relation of men and God ; one may live in the joy
of his faithful labor, another in his family duties; and yet
every one of the human ideals ought to exert some power
over every educated being. However much we may be ab-
sorbed by our labor, by efforts for service and work and
progress, we can never afford to be entirely indifferent to
the harmony or disharmony of the life about us, to the
beauty or ugliness of our surroundings, or to the connect-
edness or distortion of our thought.
