n which every
person will be free to do the things he likes best--as if that blissful
condition were utterly unattainable here.

Whilst such anomalies exist as those which curse the existence of the
majority upon this earth, criminals will continue to be produced. And if
we concede that these anomalies are directly or indirectly brought about
by false and irrational methods of educating the youth of the country,
we must also allow that education helps to manufacture criminals and to
encourage crime.

CHAPTER XI

MENTAL BREAKDOWN

It was frankly stated in the last chapter that there is no concrete
evidence of a reliable nature as to the immoral effects of our education
system. The inquirer has to depend rather upon the logic of
philosophical speculation than upon the testimony of our available
statistics, common sense being generally a far more truthful witness
than figures that can be manipulated to mean almost anything.

But when we come to inquire into the physical evils that are produced by
cramming and injudiciously-applied instruction, it must be acknowledged
that the evidence as to their existence rests upon a much more solid
foundation. Clever brain specialists, who have made a lifelong study of
mental diseases and the causes of mental breakdown, are in a position to
state very definitely, from actual experience, whether or not the
cramming system of modern education is productive of physical ill on a
large scale.

We all of us know, probably, of some isolated instances here and there
where the severe strain of cramming for a competitive examination has
resulted in loss of health and physical breakdown. Some are even aware
of cases in which the unhappy victim of overwork has lost his reason
altogether, and has been compelled to be placed under restraint. But it
is only the physician who has made a special study of mental diseases
that is in a position to form wide and accurate generalizations on the
subject.

In approaching this question, therefore, I have realized the importance
of obtaining the opinions of experts who are alone qualified to express
a well-balanced judgment upon a matter demanding knowledge and
opportunities of observation of a very special nature. Accordingly, I
have consulted some of the greatest brain specialists in this country,
and the brief remarks that I am enabled to make on the subject of
educational cramming and mental breakdown are chiefly based upon the
valuable hin