citizen make it a practical necessity. No
narrow, one-sided culture will ever equip a child to act a just part in
the complex social, political, and industrial society of our time. But
the demand for _depth_ of knowledge is just as imperative as that for
_comprehensiveness_.

It is clear that two serious _dangers_ threaten the quality of our
education: First, loose and shallow knowledge; second, overloading with
encyclopedic knowledge. What can concentration do to remedy the one
and check the other? The _cure_ for these two evils will be found in
so adjusting the studies to each other, in so building them into each
other, as to secure a mutual support. The study of a topic not only as
it is affected by others in the same subject, but also by facts and
principles in other studies, as an antidote against superficial
learning. In tracing these causal relations, in observing the
resemblances and analogies, the interdependence of studies, as
geography, history, and natural science, a thoughtfulness and clearness
of insight are engendered quite contrary to loose and shallow study.

Secondly, concentration at once discards the idea of encyclopedic
knowledge as an aim of school education. It puts a higher estimate
upon related ideas and a lower one upon that of complete or
encyclopedic information. All the cardinal branches of education
indeed shall be taught in the school, but only the _essential_, the
_typical_, will be selected and an exhaustive knowledge of any subject
is out of the question. Concentration will put a constant check upon
over-accumulation of facts, and will rather seek to strengthen an idea
by association with familiar things than to add a new fact to it. No
matter how thorough and enthusiastic a specialist one may be, he is
called upon to curtail the quantity of his subject and bring it into
proper dependence upon other studies.

_Historically_ considered the principle of concentration has been
advocated and emphasized by many writers and teachers. The most
striking and decided attempt to apply it was made by Jacotot in the
first quarter of this century and had great success in France. Mr.
Joseph Payne, in interpreting Jacotot (Lectures on the Science and Art
of Ed. p. 339), lays down as his main precept, "_Learn something
thoroughly and refer everything else to it._" He emphasized above
everything else _clearness_ of insight and _connection_ between the
parts of knowledge. It was principa