The Salvaging of CivilizationWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Philosophy
The Salvaging of Civilization
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Civilization, Modern -- 20th century; Education
It fell into two pretty clearly defined parts. We learnt reading and
writing, we made a certain study of grammar, the method of language,
perhaps we learnt the beginnings of some other language than our own; we
learnt some arithmetic and perhaps a little geometry and algebra; we did
some drawing. All these things were ways of expression, means of
expressing ourselves, means of comprehending our thoughts in terms of
other people's minds, and of understanding the expressions of others.
That was the basis and substance of our schooling; a training in mental
elucidation and in communication with other minds. But also as our
schooling went on there was something more; we learnt a little history,
some geography, the beginnings of science. This second part of education
was not so much expression as _wisdom_. We learnt what was generally
known of the world about us and of its past. We entered into the common
knowledge and common ideas of the world.
Now, obviously, this _schooling_ is merely a specialization and
expansion of a parental function.
In the primitive ages of our race the parent, and particularly the
mother, out of an instinctive impulse and practical necessity,
restrained and showed and taught, and the child, with an instinctive
imitativeness and docility, obeyed and learnt. And as the primitive
family grew into a tribe, as functions specialized and the range of
knowledge widened, this primitive schooling by the mother was
supplemented and extended by the showing of things by companions and by
the maxims and initiations of old men.
It was only with the development of early civilizations, as the
mysteries of writing and reading began to be important in life, that the
school, _qua_ school, became a thing in itself. And as the community
expanded, the scope of instruction expanded with it. Schooling is, in
fact, and always has been, the expansion and development of the
primitive savage mind, which is still all that we inherit, to adapt it
to the needs of a larger community. It makes out of the savage raw
material which is our basal mental stuff, a citizen. It is a necessary
process of fusion if a civilized community is to keep in being. Without
at least a network of schooled persons, able to communicate its common
ideas and act in intelligent co-operation, no community beyond a mere
family group can ever hold together.
As the human community expands, therefore, the range of schooling must
expand to keep pace with it.
I want to base my inquiry upon that proposition. If it is sound, certain
very interesting conclusions follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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