Galsworthy, John, 1867-1933 -- Travel -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., English
It seems to me that no amount of political evolution or revolution
is going to do us any good unless it is accompanied by evolution or
revolution in ideals. What does it matter whether one class holds the
reins, or another class holds the reins, if the dominant impulse in
the population remains the craving for wealth without the power of
discriminating whether or not that wealth is taking forms which promote
health and happiness.
A new educational charter――a charter of taste, affirming the rule of
dignity, beauty, and simplicity, is wanted before political change can
turn out to be anything but cheap-jack nostrums, and a mere shuffling
around.
I would just cite three of the many changes necessary for any advance:
(1) The reduction of working hours to a point that would enable
men and women to live lives of wider interest.
(2) The abolition of smoke――which surely should not be beyond
attainment in this scientific age.
(3) The rescue of educational forces from the grip of vested
interests.
I would have all educational institutions financed by the State, but
give all the _directing_ power to heads of education elected by the
main body of teachers themselves. I would not have education dependent
on advertisement or on charity. I would not even have newspapers,
which are an educational force――though you might not always think
so――dependent on advertisements. A newspaper man told me the other
day that his paper had printed an article drawing attention to the
deleteriousness of a certain product. The manufacturers of that product
sent an ultimatum drawing the editor’s attention to the deleteriousness
of their advertising in a journal which printed such articles. The
result was perfect peace. What chance is there of rescuing newspapers,
for instance, until education has implanted in the rising generation
the feeling that to accept money for what you know is doing harm to
your neighbours, is not playing the game. Or take another instance:
Not long ago in England a College for the training of school-teachers
desired to make certain excellent advances in their curriculum, which
did not meet with the approval of the municipal powers controlling the
College. A short, sharp fight, and again perfect peace.
I suppose it would be too sweeping to say that a vested interest never
yet held an enlightened view, but I think one may fairly say that their
enlightened views are rare birds.
How, then, is any emancipation to come? I know not, unless we take to
looking on Education as the hub of the wheel――the Schools, the Arts,
the Press; and concentrate our thoughts on the best means of manning
these agencies with men and women of real honesty and vision, and
giving them real power to effect in the rising generation the evolution
of ethics and taste, in accordance with the rules of dignity, beauty,
and simplicity.
VII
TALKING AT LARGE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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