Travel as a Part of Education
There is a story, called “Eyes and No-eyes”, of two school-boys who one day went the same country walk, but at different times. When they got back, their teacher asked them what they had seen. One boy said he had seen nothing; it was the same old walk he had been dozens of times. But the other had seen a lot of interesting things. He had found two new wild-flowers, and seen several new butterflies. He watched a pair of thrushes building their nest. He watched men fishing in the river, and saw the grinding of corn in the old windmill. And so on and so on. Both boys had eyes. The difference between them was that one used his eyes, and the other did not.
It is the same with travel. Whether travel in foreign lands will help to educate the traveller depends entirely on the traveller himself. Mr. Eyes will learn a lot, and come back with his mind broadened and his views of life enlarged. Mr. No-eyes will learn little or nothing, however far he has travelled and however many lands he has visited.
In these days of rapid and comfortable travel, well-to-do people travel a lot. They pose as know-alls and globe-trotters, who have seen the world, and pity poor stay-at-homes who have never left their native land. ‘Yet if you ask them about all they have seen, many of them have little to tell you. They have been to Italy, Germany, France, have stayed in New York and Yokohama, have visited New Zealand and Australia ; yet they seem to have seen little or nothing to tell you about. Such travel does nothing in the way of education.
If you want to make travel educative, you must keep your eyes open and your mind alert. Before you start for, say Italy, read up all you can about the country and its people, and the most important and interesting things to see. When you get there, make for the places you most want to see. Use your eyes, keep your ears open, and don’t be afraid to use your tongue. If you know the language, talk with the people, and learn from them. In this way you will be learning all the time. And when you get home, you will see your own country, too, in a new light. For, as Kipling said,
“What do they know of England.
Who only England know ?”
