The Forgotten Man, and Other EssaysSumner, William Graham
Science
The Forgotten Man, and Other Essays
Sumner, William Graham
Economics; Social sciences
Here then is where sensationalism may do its greatest harm, and
where integrity of method is most important. The untruthfulness of
sensationalism here becomes a germinal principle, which develops into
manifold forms of untruthfulness in character. Young people cannot
practice show and pretense and yet be taught to believe that the only
important thing is what you are, and not at all what people think
about you. They cannot practice the devices which give a semblance of
learning, and yet be taught to believe that shams are disgraceful and
that the frank honesty which owns the worst is a noble trait. They may
learn to be ashamed when caught in a false pretense, but they will
not learn shame at deceit. I do not say that they will lie or steal,
but it is a pitiful code which defines honesty as refraining from
seizing other people’s property. Honesty is a far wider virtue than
not-stealing. It embraces rectitude of motive and purpose, completeness
and consistency of principle, and delicacy of responsibility.
Truthfulness is the very cornerstone of character, and an instinct of
dislike for whatever is false or meretricious is one of the feelings
which all sound education must inculcate. It cannot do so, however,
unless its _personnel_ and its methods are all animated by unflinching
integrity.
I mentioned also, at the outset, amongst those things which are
embraced in education and to which I desire to see the principle of
integrity applied, good manners. Some people make an ostentatious
display of neglect for good manners. They think it democratic, or a
sign of good fellowship, to be negligent in this respect. They think
it something to be boasted of that they have no breeding. Some others
make manners supersede education and training and even character.
It is the latter error which most invades the sphere of education.
We are familiar with its forms. It gives us the mock gentleman of
the drawing-room under the same coat with the rowdy of the bar-room.
When this system triumphs, it fits our young people out with a
few fashionable phrases, which suffice for the persiflage of the
drawing-room, when a scientific subject by chance comes up. Girls are
the victims of this system far more than boys, but in “cultivated
circles” cases are common of this kind, in which a smattering of books
has been engrafted on the culture of the dancing school. Young men
and young women who have tacked together a few miscellaneous phrases
current amongst the learned will deliver you their opinions roundly
on the gravest problems of philosophy and science. The phrases which
stick in their minds the longest are those which are epigrammatic and
paradoxical, whether true or not. In fact, they could not analyze
or criticize their mental stock if they should try. They have never
learned to consider a subject and form an opinion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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