Welsh Journals

Materialism Applied Science deals primarily versus Humanism with mechanism the German ideal is, therefore, quite naturally the spirit of organisation, and this is the real meaning of the term Kultur," which puzzled us so long. But soul and spirit defy organisation, and here we have the root defect of the educational system of modern Germany. The Germany of the past, the Germany of Goethe, Schiller, and Heine, was essen- tially humanistic its ideal was Culture, as we use the term, that broad training and enriching of the facul- ties which, in Matthew Arnold's words, enable a man to see life steadily and to see it as a whole. This older humanism has now been thrust aside by Prussian materialism Culture has given way to Kultur. Lesson deduced The lesson we may learn from the from comparison comparison of our own institu- tions with those of our great enemy is thus two-fold (I) That Science and its applications may not be neglected without grave danger to the State (2) That the nation that forgets in its system of education the truth that the proper study of mankind is man," may one day find that it has armed against itself the heart and conscience of the civilised world. Danger of over- But this is not all. The spirit of organisation in organisation, as we have seen, is education not favourable to the development of the spiritual faculties, to which individuality and freedom are essential. In the educational domain, in particular, it is continually working in the direction of mechanical uniformity. Not that we can do without organisation even in education, but unless a sleepless watch is kept it will for ever be trying to stifle the free spirit without which education sinks into mere instruction. (I) in the exam- And here let me offer a word of ination system warning to parents and guardians. It is no easy thing while a boy is at school to tell whether he is being educated or only instructed, whether he is acquiring knowledge or only useful information, though the difference is all important for his after-life. Examination, the only official test we have, is a very imperfect instrument. Every examiner knows how many cases comes before him in which he finds it impossible to say whether the candidate really knows the subject, or has only got it up for the examination. Is education, then, not to be judged by its results ? Most certainly but let us be quite sure what we mean by results. Do we mean examination results or life results} Surely school is a preparation not for examinations, but for life and the real test of a school is what the boys and girls who have been through it do in after life. Examinations are doubtless useful, perhaps indis- pensable. but to take them as the true measure of school efficiency is a fundamental error. The real security lies not in the examinations, but in the teacher, for the work of education is not a mechani- cal routine by which information is, so to speak, ladled into brain-receptacles, it is the development of the powers of the mind and spirit, and this can only be the work of personal communion, spirit acting on spirit, mind on mind. At bottom educa- tion is a personal question, and the problem for the governing body of a school is to get the right head- master the rest is little more than leather and prunella." (2) in the sup- But to return to my main point, pression of free- the organising spirit contains a dom of thought further menace to education, for complete organisation means com- plete centralisation, and complete centralisation may convert the educational system into a machine for standardising the national intellect, and turning out all the youth of the country with the same set of cut and dried opinions. In Germany we see the most portentous example of this evil. The German Government has complete control of the educa- tional system, and by means of the Universities and Schools it has trained the German nation to believe what it is told by authority. The Germans believe that they are the victims of an unprovoked attack by an unscrupulous conspiracy they believe that the destruction of Belgium was only the punish- ment of an organised system of horrible barbarities inflicted by the Belgian women on the German wounded they believe that their Zeppelins have laid Liverpool in ruins they believe that the Ger- man Submarine Blockade (proclaimed on Feb. 4th) was provoked by the British Blockade (an- nounced on March I lth). And throughout the whole of the war they have believed and will con- tinue to believe every new lie with which the German Government seeks to excuse or magnify itself or to slander and discredit the Allies. One might almost say that in Germany belief is regulated by administrative order. Kaiser use of It was not always so. There was the Educational a time when Lehrfreiheit (freedom Machine of teaching) was the charter of the German teacher, but the auto- cratic temper of the present Kaiser soon got rid of