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Education and Discipline
Betrand
Russell
Any serious educational theory
must consist of two parts
:
a conception of the ends of
life
,
and a
science of psychological
dynamics
,
i.e.
,
of the laws of mental change. Two men
who
differ as to the ends of life
cannot
hope to agree
about
education.
The educational
machine
,
throughout Western
civilization
,
is
dominated by two ethical
theories
:
that of
Christianity
,
and
that
of
nationalism.
These
two
,
when
taken
seriously
,
are
incompatible
,
as
is
becoming
evident in Germany. For my
part
,
I hold that
where they differ
,
Christianity is
preferable
,
but
where they agree
,
both are mistaken.
The conception which I should
substitute as the purpose of education is
civilization
,
a
term
which
,
as I meant it
,
has a definition which is partly
individual
,
partly social. It
consists
,
in
the individual
,
of both intellectual and moral
qualities
:
intellectually
,
a certain minimum of
general
knowledge
,
technical skill in one's own
profession
,
and a
habit of forming opinions on
evidence
;
morally
,
of impartiality
,
kindliness
,
and a modicum of self-control. I should
add
a quality which is neither moral
nor intellectual
,
but perhaps
physiological
:
zest and joy of life.
In
communities
,
civilization
demands
respect
for
law
,
justice
as
between
man
and
man
,
purposes
not
involving
permanent
injury
to
any
section
of
the
human
race
,
and
intelligent
adaptation of means to ends.
If
these are to be the purpose of
education
,
it is
a question for the science of
psychology
to
consider
what
can
be
done
towards
realizing
them
,
and
,
in
particular
,
what degree of freedom is likely to
prove most effective.
On
the
question
of
freedom
in
education
there
are
at
present
three
main
schools of
thought
,
deriving
partly from differences as to ends and partly from
differences in psychological theory.
There are those who say that children should
be completely
free
,
however bad
they may be
;
there are those who say they
should be completely subject to
authority
,
however good they may
be
;
and there
are those who say they should be
free
,
but in
spite of freedom they should be
always
good. This last party is larger than it has any
logical right to be
;
Children
,
like adults
,
will not all be virtuous if they are
all free. The belief that liberty will
insure moral perfection is a relic of
Rousseauism
,
and
would not survive a study
of animals
and babies. Those who hold this belief think that
education should have
no
positive
purpose
,
but
should
merely
offer
an
environment
suitable
for
spontaneous
development.
I
cannot
agree
with
this
school
,
which
seems
too
individualistic
,
and unduly indifferent to the
importance of knowledge. We live in
communities which require
cooperation
,
and
it would be utopian to expect all the
necessary
cooperation
to
result
from
spontaneous
impulse.
The
existence
of
a
large population on a
limited area is only possible owing to science and
technique
;
education
must
,
therefore
,
hand
on
the
necessary
minimum
of
these.
The
educators
who
allow
most
freedom
are
men
whose
success
depends
upon
a
degree of
benevolence
,
self-control
,
and trained intelligence which can
hardly be
generated where every impulse
is left unchecked
;
their merits
,
therefore
,
are
not likely to be
perpetuated if their methods are undiluted.
Education
,
viewed
from
a social
standpoint
,
must
be something more positive than a mere opportunity
for
growth. It
must
,
of
course
,
provide
this
,
but it must
also provide a mental and
moral
equipment which children cannot acquire entirely
for themselves.
The arguments in favor of a
great degree of freedom in education are derived
not from man's natural
goodness
,
but
from the effects of
authority
,
both
on those
who
suffer
it
and
on
those
who
exercise
it.
Those
who
are
subject
to
authority
become either
submissive or rebellious
,
and each attitude has its drawbacks.
The
submissive lose initiative
,
both in thought and
action
;
moreover
,
the
anger generated by the
feeling of being thwarted tends to find an outlet
in bullying
those who are weaker. That
is why tyrannical institutions are self-
perpetuating
:
what
a
man
has
suffered
from
his
father
he
inflicts
upon
his
son
,
and
the
humiliations which he remembers having
endured at his public school he passes
on to
education
turns
the
pupils
into
timid
tyrants
,
incapable
of
either
claiming
or
tolerating originality in
word or deed. The effect upon the educators is
even worse
:
they
tend to become sadistic
disciplinarians
,
glad to inspire
terror
,
and
content to
inspire
nothing
else.
As
these
men
represent
knowledge
,
the
pupils
acquire
a
horror
of knowledge
,
which
,
among the English upper
class
,
is
supposed to be
part
of
human
nature
,
but
is
really
part
of
the
well-grounded
hatred
of
the
authoritarian pedagogue.
Rebels
,
on the other
hand
,
though they
may be necessary
,
can hardly be
just to what
exists. Moreover
,
there are many ways of
rebelling
,
and
only a small
minority of these are
wise. Galileo was a rebel and was
wise
;
believers in the
flat-earth
theory are equally rebels
,
but are foolish. There is a great
danger in the
tendency to suppose that
opposition to authority is essentially meritorious
and that
unconventional opinions are
bound to be correct
:
no useful purpose is served by
smashing
lamp-posts
or
maintaining
Shakespeare
to
be
no
poet.
Yet
this
excessive
rebelliousness is often the effect that too much
authority has on spirited
pupils. And
when rebels become
educators
,
they
sometimes encourage defiance
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