for in such a connection the good is corrupted and the bad is none
the better for it. I would rather follow exactly the established
method than adopt a better method by halves. There would be fewer
contradictions in the man; he cannot aim at one and the same time
at two different objects. Fathers and mothers, what you desire that
you can do. May I count on your goodwill?

There are two things to be considered with regard to any scheme.
In the first place, "Is it good in itself" In the second, "Can it
be easily put into practice?"

With regard to the first of these it is enough that the scheme
should be intelligible and feasible in itself, that what is good
in it should be adapted to the nature of things, in this case, for
example, that the proposed method of education should be suitable
to man and adapted to the human heart.

The second consideration depends upon certain given conditions in
particular cases; these conditions are accidental and therefore
variable; they may vary indefinitely. Thus one kind of education
would be possible in Switzerland and not in France; another would be
adapted to the middle classes but not to the nobility. The scheme
can be carried out, with more or less success, according to a
multitude of circumstances, and its results can only be determined
by its special application to one country or another, to this class
or that. Now all these particular applications are not essential
to my subject, and they form no part of my scheme. It is enough
for me that, wherever men are born into the world, my suggestions
with regard to them may be carried out, and when you have made them
what I would have them be, you have done what is best for them and