ABSTRACT
A static view of society governed the attitudes of many who devoted their energies and money to the education of the poor. Hannah More considered it cruelty to educate a child beyond his station in life. In contrast, Samuel Smiles, expressing his philosophy in Self-Help (1859), sought a more dynamic society. He wanted to see the poor progress both socially and economically, and he urged them to rely on their own efforts to lift themselves up:
Self-help to re-inculcate the old-fashioned but wholesome lessons which cannot perhaps too often be urged—that youth must work in order to enjoy—that nothing creditable can be accomplished without application and diligence—that the student must not be daunted by difficulties but conquer them by patience and perseverance—and that, above all, he must seek elevation of character without which capacity is worthless and worldly success is nought.
Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859) ch IV.