On the Future of our Educational Institutions; Homer and Classical Philology: Complete Works, Volume Three — Nietzsche — John Shaqi
On the Future of our Educational Institutions; Homer and Classical Philology: Complete Works, Volume Three
Nietzsche · en
The standard of culture to be aimed at by the man of genius Nietzsche
had in mind was to be found in the model literary and artistic
works which have come down to us from ancient Greece. To understand
these works, of course, the classical authors had to be studied in
the original, and the methods of teaching then in vogue paid too
much attention to inconsequential points (<i>e.g.</i> variant readings)
instead of dealing with the subject in a broad-minded philosophical
spirit. Nietzsche endeavoured to counteract this tendency in the
"Homer and Classical Philology," his inaugural address at Băle
University, by outlining a much vaster conception of philology than
his fellow-teachers had ever dreamt of, laying stress upon the
<i>artistic</i> results which would accrue if the science were applied on a
wider scale--results which would be of a much higher order than those
obtained by the narrow pedantry then prevailing.
It is a very superficial comment on these lectures to say that
Nietzsche was merely referring to the German schools and colleges
of his time. It would be even shallower to suggest that his remarks
do not apply to the schools and teachers of present-day England and
America; for we likewise do not possess the cultural institution, the
<i>real</i> educational establishment, that Nietzsche longed for. Broadly
speaking, the English public schools, the older English universities,
and the American high schools, train their scholars to be useful to
the State: the modern universities and the remaining schools give that
instructionin bread-winning which Nietzsche admits to be necessary
for the majority; but in no case is an attempt made to pick out a few
higher minds and train them for culture. Our crude methods of teaching
the classical languages are too well known to be commented upon; and
an insight into classical antiquity, with the good taste, the firm
principles, and the lofty aims obtained therefrom, is exactly what
our various educational institutions do not aim at giving. Yet, as
Nietzsche truly says, no progress in any other direction, no matter
how brilliant, can deliver our students from the curse of an education
which adapts itself more and more to the needs of the age, and thus
loses all its power of guiding the age. Let the student who, as the
victim of this system, suffers more from it than his teachers care to
admit, read the paragraph on pp. 132 and 133 containing the sentences--
He feels that he can neither lead nor help himself.... His
condition is undignified, even dreadful: he keeps between
the two extremes of work at high pressure and a state of
melancholy enervation.... He seeks consolation in hasty and
incessant action so as to hide himself from himself, etc.,
and then let him confess that Nietzsche's insight into his psychology
is profound and decisive. The whole paragraph might have been written
by Nietzsche after a visit to present-day England.