The schoolhouse as the modern temple: When political reform becomes ideological control

“ Credulity, ceremony, worship, sacrifice and prayer take the place of honest work, of investigation, of intellectual effort, of observation, of experience. Progress becomes impossible.
Superstition is, always lias been, and forever will be, the enemy of liberty.
Superstition created all the gods and angels, all the devils and ghosts, all the witches, demons and goblins, gave us all the augurs, soothsayers and prophets, filled the heavens with signs and wonders, broke the chain of cause and effect, and wrote the history of man in miracles and lies. ”

“ Education is the true art of disseminating the proper method of cultivating advantageous passions in the heart of man. Legislation is the art of restraining dangerous passions; of exciting those which may be conducive to the public welfare. Superstition is only the miserable art of planting the unproductive labour—of nourishing in the soul of man those chimeras, those illusions, those impostures, those incertitudes from whence spring passions fatal to himself as well as to others: it is only by bearing up with fortitude against these that he can securely place himself on the road to happiness. ”

“ Every fact has pushed a superstition from the brain and a ghost from the cloud. Every mechanical art is an educator; every loom, every reaper, every mower, every steamboat, every locomotive, every engine, every press, every telegraph is a missionary of science and an apostle of progress; every mill, every furnace with its wheels and levers, in which something is made for the convenience, for the use and the comfort and the well-being of man, is my kind of church, and every schoolhouse is a temple. Education is the most radical thing in this world. ”

“ We know that millions are seeking the impossible—trying to secure the aid of the supernatural—to solve the problem of life—to guess the riddle of destiny, and to pluck from the future its secret. We know that all their efforts are in vain.
We believe in the natural. We believe in home and fireside—in wife and child and friend—in the realities of this world. We have faith in facts—in knowledge—in the development of the brain. We throw away superstition and welcome science. We banish the phantoms, the mistakes and lies and cling to the truth. ”

“ The doctrine of Evolution has been applied not only to the formation of all created things, but to the development of human knowledge; and this with perfect justice, though with some risk of misunderstanding. It is certain, and, indeed, it is obvious, that knowledge grows. The ordinary experience of mankind becomes larger and clearer in the course of time, and the systematised experience which we call Science makes the same progress in still greater measure and with more assurance. ”

“ It is knowledge, then, acquired by a due exercise of the intellectual powers, and through the course of an enlightened education, which will give men just views of the causes and effects of things, and which, while it teaches them to discover and acknowledge the Divine Being in all his wondrous works, and properly to distinguish him in his providences, preserves them from the miseries of superstition. ”

“ The free state which rests on the suffrage of its citizens is bound in duty to itself to see to it that popular education, which is essential to its perpetuity, is universal. Ignorant men are not competent to take care of themselves and their households, still less to direct the destinies of [Pg 245] an empire. The state has, therefore, the right, not only to provide the means of education, but to compel education. ”

“ The children of the present boys and girls 309in school and college will have had the foundation of the three generations of intellectual training, and will have learned to take what is best for them from Western knowledge and use it as a means of breaking the iron bands of ignorance, superstition, and loyalty to old-time custom and tradition, which stands an immovable mountain in the pathway of true friendship between the woman of the West and the woman of the East. ”

“ But Secularism has a positive as well as a negative mission, and after removing the ruins of exploded idols, the champions of reform will begin the work of reconstruction. Temples dedicated to the religion of progress will rise from the ruins of superstition. Communities of reformants will intrust the work of education to chosen teachers, who will combine the functions of an instructor with those of an exhorter. ”

“ If we thus understand the nation, it follows that not only every man must bear the imprint of his nationality, but that also there is no true science, no man’s science, which is not national. The ancients believed, in conformity with the teachings of the Greeks, that science soars outside of the human life, above the vicissitudes of mortals, beyond the current of history, which is troubled by the fatal conflicts of error, by falterings and doubts, and by the unsatisfied thirst for knowledge. ”

“ Knowledge, viewed as Knowledge, exerts a subtle influence in throwing us back on ourselves, and making us our own centre, and our minds the measure of all things. This then is the tendency of that Liberal Education, of which a University is the school, viz., to view Revealed Religion from an aspect of its own,—to fuse and recast it,—to tune it, as it were, to a different key, and to reset its harmonies,—to circumscribe it by a circle which unwarrantably amputates here, and unduly develops there ”

“ We feel assured that those Natives who have learnt to think through the medium of our language, have been imbued with our literature and philosophy, have imbibed our ideas,—are faithful to us, and bear towards our nation that heartfelt allegiance which men may feel without at all relinquishing their own nationality. We believe that the education imparted by us to the Natives, so far from leading them towards disaffection, has, happily, the very opposite effect. ”

“ The relative proportions which should be allotted in our University curriculum to general learning and to physical science have of late demanded, and will still demand, special consideration.
Of the students in this University some will follow professions, such as the public service, for which general education alone is needed; others will follow professions, such as the scientific branches, for which special education must be super-added. Up to a certain point general education must be given to both classes of students. ”

“ It is only the effect of false science or imperfect science to divert the mind from God, the origin of truth, or truth itself, and enter upon the path which leads to error, doubt, ignorance, and darkness.
The supremacy asserted for the church in matters of education implies the additional and cognate function of the censorship of ideas, and the right to examine and approve or disapprove all books, publications, writings, and utterances intended for public instruction, enlightenment, or entertainment, and the supervision of places of amusement. ”

“ How do they fulfill their obligation, those who look after education in the towns? By hindering it! And those who here monopolize education, those who try to mold the mind of youth, to the exclusion of all others whomsoever, how do they carry out their mission? By curtailing knowledge as much as possible, by extinguishing all ardor and enthusiasm, by trampling on all dignity, the soul's only refuge, by inculcating in us worn-out ideas, rancid beliefs, false principles incompatible with a life of progress! ”

“ Superstition taught that human love is degrading, low and vile; taught that monks are purer than fathers, that nuns are holier than mothers, that faith is superior to fact, that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road to hell, that belief is better than knowledge, and that to ask for evidence is to insult God. Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom. ”

“ No wonder that fable is the enemy of knowledge. A man with a false diamond shuns the society of lapidaries, and it is upon this principle that superstition abhors science.
In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder. ”

“ Superstition gave us all the prayers and ceremonies; taught all the kneelings, genuflections and prostrations; taught men to hate themselves, to despise pleasure, to scar their flesh, to grovel in the dust, to desert their wives and children, to shun their fellow-men, and to spend their lives in useless pain and prayer. ”

“ Harmony of Knowledge and Holiness, Love and Work;
Yoga and Asceticism in their highest development.
Loyalty to Sovereign."
It must not be forgotten, however, that this movement deserves much more our commendation than our criticism. It is a noble endeavour to pass out of an inherited bondage, a debased creed, a demoralized pantheon, and an all-embracing superstition, into the full wisdom and blessing of a correct vision [400] of God and Duty. If they have failed of the best, they are, nevertheless, with their faces turned toward it. ”

“ Not one tittle of good, not a particle of utility, now proceeds from the Clergy toward the people. They are obstacles to the people's welfare, and their use of means of provision for a new and better Church.
God is the subject of man's adoration. But what is God? Man is but an idiot if he professes adoration beyond his understanding. Indeed, worship is but a synonymy of reason and its cultivation; and as we say:—how can we reason but from what we know? so we may as truly say:—how can we worship what we do not know? There is no worship without knowledge ”

“ Think of the amount of money that has been invested in superstition! Think of the schools that have been founded for the more general diffusion of useless knowledge! Think of the colleges wherein men are taught that it is dangerous to think, and that they must never use their brains except in the act of faith! Think of the millions and billions of dollars that have been expended in churches, in temples, and in cathedrals! Think of the thousands and thousands of men who depend for their living upon the ignorance of mankind! Think of those who grow rich on credulity and who fatten on faith! ”

“ I have no objection to the religion of the Jew or the Christian, that is founded on the spiritual reading of the Bible. Mahometanism is superior to both, while founded on the reading of the letter. The restoration of the Jews to original character and the millennium of the Christians is only to be brought about by the spiritual reading, which will lead to a devotion to science. The future Temple of the New Jerusalem must be a Temple devoted to the promulgation of truth and all sciences, and such must be the Church of Rome, and such our English Church, under any real state of reformation. ”

“ In this way the brain of man has become a kind of palimpsest upon which, and over the writings of nature, superstition has scrawled her countless lies. One great trouble is that most teachers are dishonest. They teach as certainties those things concerning which they entertain doubts. They do not say, "we think this is so," but "we know this is so." They do not appeal to the reason of the pupil, but they command his faith. They keep all doubts to themselves; they do not explain, they assert. ”

“ If the nation under our charge be regarded in its corporate existence, we shall find that primary education supplies material for secondary education; that advancement of secondary or intermediate education reflects back energy upon primary education; that secondary education leads up to high education, which, again, elevates the tone of everything below it, and supplies the fittest instruments for all other sorts of instruction. National education in its totality may be likened to the beautiful structure in which we are now assembled. ”

“ Primary education is as the plinth with the foundation broad and deep; secondary education is as the superstructure with its walls and pillars; high education is as the roof with the domes and towers. ”

“ Natural and Physical Science. Our object is to obtain for this a larger place than heretofore in our educational system. The study of the physical sciences is now recognised in all countries as an integral part of the national education, and the recognition is everywhere assuming forms more and more tangible and definite. Besides its general value which is felt in all countries, this study has in India a special value. It qualifies our Native youth for professions in which they have hitherto had little or no place. ”

“ As children leave the schools at fourteen or fifteen they should know and appreciate many such things, wherein man, by his wit and ingenious use of natures forces, has triumphed over difficulties. How are glass and soap made? What has a knowledge of natural science to do with the construction of stoves, furnaces, and lamps? How are iron, silver, and copper ore mined and reduced? How is sugar obtained from maple trees, cane, and beet root? ”

“ There are but five years within which a young man must learn all that is to be learnt at College for the purpose of his profession. If he is to be a chemist or a botanist, or a professor of art or science, or a medical man, or a forester, or a civil engineer, he ought to have as large a part, as possible, of the five years for acquiring his technical and special knowledge. For all such cases endeavour has been, and will be, made to lighten the weight of general education so as to give time and opportunity for the scientific pursuits. ”

“ It diverts from the older professions, namely the law and the public service, some of those surplus students who would otherwise overcrowd those professions. It displays before the Natives not only new ranges of thought, but also fresh methods of thinking. It initiates the Natives from their early youth in those sciences, the successful pursuit of which distinguishes the Western civilization of modern times. It applies the whole force of education to the promotion of that material progress, in which India has so much way to make up, before she can come abreast of the more advanced nations. ”

“ The aim of technical instruction is to help Native youths to qualify themselves for earning a livelihood as medical practitioners, as chemists, as foresters, as scientific gardeners, as land-surveyors, as civil engineers, as trained mechanics, as engravers.
⁠But, although practical knowledge must occupy a larger part than heretofore in our middle class education, we must continue to bestow care as much as ever, or more than ever, on ethical instruction and moral culture. ”

“ The field of education should be restricted, so that its culture may be deep, rather than that it should be extended with culture of lesser depth. Our general instruction should strive to arm the student with those mental resources that may render him victorious in any special arena he may enter. Let us, as an University, proceed in the van of that beneficent movement with which natural science is stirring mankind, and which, if directed aright in India, will raise the Natives to an economic and social status unparalleled even in grandest records of their antique civilization. ”

“ If character is set as the basis of morality, then every science and every form of culture, even those which aim at evil, considered in themselves, as the life of the intelligence must have a moral value, must be governed by an inviolable law. By spiritual steadfastness, which is the condition of spiritual productivity, man sacrifices himself to an ideal and constitutes his moral personality, whether he die for his country or whether he 217 labour to bring light amid his thoughts. Life in all its phases is the untiring fulfilment of duty. ”

“ Man, the more he thinks, the more he alters himself, the more objective that reality becomes which he realises by self-consciousness, the more fully he sees the variation, the development, the growth, the enhancement of the object—the world he knows. ”

“ For as body and as sense, in so far as we exist and know of our existence, we belong to this nature. Antagonism and duality import the limitation of each of the opposed terms and exclude freedom which is not to be found within fixed limits; for freedom, as we have said, means infinitude.
The spirit is free only if infinite. It cannot have any obstructing barrier in its path. It can be conceived as freedom only after it has overcome dualism, and when in nature itself and in the body we see the effect of the activity of the spirit. ”

“ In this life, such as we 57 see it from the interior when we do not fantastically materialise it with our imaginations, the spirit is free because it is infinite.
Education then posits this liberty in the pupil, for it presupposes in him a susceptibility of development,—educability, as we may call it. The learner could not possibly be educable, that is, susceptible of receiving instruction, unless he were able to think. But thinking, we have already seen, signifies freedom. And not only is freedom presupposed by the educator, but it is the very thing he is aiming at in his work. ”

“ It is always, however, different from us and from our knowing it; so much so that the possibilities of going astray are very great. But for the life of culture, which is the life of our spirit, we have no need of being informed by the experience of others, or even of ourselves. We live it. It is our very thought,—this thought which may indeed err in respect to what is different from itself, as not tallying with it; but which cannot possibly deceive us in regard to itself, since it is unable not to be itself. The life of culture is not a spectacle but an activity. ”

“ Language may or may not be in the formation of a man’s nationality. What however must be ever present is the Will by which man every moment of his life renovates his own personality. Can the Will, by which each one of us is what he is, be his own Will, exclusively his own? Or is the Will itself, like language, not perhaps a national heirloom, but surely a common act, a communion of life, in such a way that we live our own life while living the life of the nation? ”

“ Though we long for the day when the people wall undertake the task of national instruction by private resources and private organization, subject only to a general control by the State, still, we see that at present in Western India this task has to be performed mainly by the State, and we consider ourselves answerable for holding the balance between the claims of the several branches of education. We cannot say that any one of them is more important than the others; all are conducive to the good of the people. Nor can any one be treated separately from the others. ”

“ It can hardly be denied that when the responsibility of educating the people has been accepted by the State, some considerable portion of the educational resources must be devoted to high education. To institute public education without providing for superior instruction, would be to make a spear without a spear-head, or a sword without a sharp edge. ”

“ Doubtless, young Natives of promise and ambition seek University degrees for many other objects besides admission to, or promotion in, the service of Government—indeed, this University has never ceased to impress on its alumni that its degrees should be sought for their own sake. Still, in such a country as India, the public service offers a large field for the educated youth,—the largest, probably, of all the fields as yet open to them. It is due to the cause of education that its followers should have a surer access to that field, in proportion to the superiority of their attainments. ”

“ At all events, we have solemnly undertaken to educate the Natives in all the Western learning and philosophy which have helped to raise England to her height among the nations of the earth. We anticipate nothing but the most favourable consequences politically from such education. But be the consequences what they may, we shall, I trust, persevere in that educational policy which, being liberal and enlightened, is prescribed to us by the dictates of our duty as trustees for the people of India. The second topic relates to instruction in natural and physical science. ”

“ Again, notwithstanding the considerate intentions of the Government that those who acquire the higher education should have due advantages respecting admission to the upper grades of the public service, it has been found that University graduates in arts frequently fail, through no fault of their own, to obtain the situations or positions to which their attainments might be expected to entitle them, and which they see filled by those who had not been reared in the colleges, but who had won their way by actual work. ”

“ The failures of education are due primarily to the teacher's error in substituting compulsion for persuasion and despotism for encouragement. The excellences and defects of the human character are not due to occult causes beyond the reach of ingenuity to modify or correct, nor are false views the offspring of an irresistible destiny. Our conventional schools are the slaughterhouses of mind; but of all the external influences which build up character and opinion, the chief are political. It is Godwin's favourite theme, and he carries it even further than Holbach and Helvétius had done. ”

“ These enthusiasts do not scruple to avow their opinion, that a state can subsist without any religion better than with one, and that they are able to supply the place of any good which may be in it by a project of their own,—namely, by a sort of education they have imagined, founded in a knowledge of the physical wants of men, progressively carried to an enlightened self-interest, which, when well understood, they tell us, will identify with an interest more enlarged and public. ”

“ The moral to be pointed is this, that a really good general education should enable a man to apply himself to the acquisition of any sort of knowledge, however novel or alien it may be; to perceive the points and bearings of every case or class of cases which may be presented to him; to assimilate into the mental system the ideas peculiar to any profession he may enter. In a word, general knowledge should be so ordered as to be a key wherewith to unlock the door of any special subject which its possessor may need to approach. ”