Saturday, June 16, 2007

Chesterton on Education

Random quotes from What's Wrong With the World ...

"The main fact about education is that there is no such thing. It does not exist, as theology or soldiering exist. Theology is a word like geology, soldiering is a word like soldering; these sciences may be healthy or no as hobbies; but they deal with stones and kettles, with definite things. But education is not a word like geology or kettles. Education is a word like 'transmission' or 'inheritance'; it is not an object, but a method. It must mean the conveying of certain facts, views, or qualities to the last baby born. They might be the most trivial facts, or the most preposterous views, or the most offensive qualities; but if they are handed on from one generation to another they are education."

"It is quaint that people talk of separating dogma from education. Dogma is actually the only thing that cannot be separated from education. It is education. A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching."

"There are no uneducated people. Everybody in England is educated; only most people are educated wrong."

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