Macdonald came up to-night. I hadn't seen him for weeks.
"I am making out a scheme of work for the Evening School," he said. "What line did you take?"
"My scheme was simple," I replied, "and luckily I had an inspector1 who appreciated what I was trying to do. I made the history lessons lessons in elementary political economy. Arithmetic and Algebra2 were the usual thing."
"What about Reading and Grammar?" he asked.
"We read David Copperfield, and I meant to read a play of Shakespeare and Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, but I never found time for them. The class became a sort of debating society. I gave out subjects. We discussed Votes for Women, Should Women Smoke? Is Money the Reward of Ability? I told them about the theory of evolution; I began to trace the history of mankind, or rather tried to make out a likely history, but at the end of the session we hadn't arrived at the dawn of written history."
"Did you find any pupil improving?"
"Macdonald, you are a demon3 for tangible4 results. The only tangible result of my heresies5 I can think of is the fact that Margaret Thomson smokes my cigarettes now."
[Pg 98]
"Have a look at this scheme," he said, and he handed me a lengthy6 manuscript. The arithmetic was a detailed7 list of utilitarian8 sums ... how to measure ricks of hay and fields, how to calculate the price of papering walls and so on. My own attitude to utilitarian sums is this: if you know the principles of pure mathematics all these things come easily to you, hence teach pure mathematics and let the utilitarian part take care of itself.
His English part dealt minutely with grammar; he was to give much parsing9 and analysis; compound sentences were to be broken up into their component10 parts.
In History he was to do the Stuart Period, and Geography was to cover the whole world "special attention being paid to the agricultural produce of the British Colonies."
"It is a 'correct' scheme," I said.
"Give me your candid11 opinion of it."
"Well, Macdonald, your ways are not my ways, and candidly12 I wouldn't teach quite a lot of the stuff you mean to teach. Grammar for instance. What's the use of knowing the parts of a sentence? I don't suppose that Shakespeare knew them. If education is meant to make people think, your Evening School would be much better employed reading books. If you read a lot your grammar takes care of itself.
"The Stuart Period is all right if you don't emphasise13 the importance of battles and plots. I haven't the faintest notion whether Cromwell[Pg 99] won the battle of Marston Moor14 or lost it, but I have a fair idea of what the constitutional battle meant to England. The political war was over before the first shot was fired; the Civil War was a religious war. If I were you I should take the broad principles of the whole thing and skip all the battles and plots and executions.
"As for the British Colonies and their agriculture you can turn emigration officer if you fancy the job. The idea is good enough. My own personal predilection15 in geography is the problem of race. I used to tell my pupils about the different 'niggers' I met at the university, and of the detestable attitude of the colonials to these men."
Macdonald shook his head.
"No, no," he said, "a black man isn't as good as a white man."
So we went off at a tangent. I told him that personally I had not enough knowledge of black men to lay down the law about them, but I handed him a very suggestive article in this week's New Age on the subject. The writer's theory is that in India black men are ostracised merely because they are a subject race, and he points out that in Germany and France the coloured man is treated as an equal. When I was told by a friend that the natives of India despised Keir Hardie because he carried his own bag off the vessel16 when he arrived in India I realised that the colour question was too complicated for me to settle.[Pg 100] I have a sneaking17 suspicion that the coloured man is maligned18; the average Anglo-Indian is so stupid in his attitude to most things that I can scarcely suspect him of being wise in his attitude to the native. I regret very much that I had not the moral courage to chum up with the coloured man at the university: prejudices leave one after one has left the university.
I wish I knew what Modern Geography means. A few years ago the geography lesson was placed in the hands of the science teacher in our higher grade schools, and the educational papers commenced to talk of isotherms. I have never discovered what an isotherm is; I came very near to discovering once; I asked Dickson, a man of science, what they were, but a girl smiled to me before he got well into the subject (we were in a café), and I never discovered what an isotherm was.
The old-fashioned geography wasn't a bad thing in its way. You got to know where places were, and your newspaper became intelligible19. It is true that you wasted many an hour memorising stuff that was of no great importance. I recollect20 learning that Hexham was noted21 for hats and gloves. I stopped there once when I was motor-cycling. I asked an aged22 inhabitant what his town was noted for.
"When I coom to think of it," he said as he scratched his head, "the North Eastern Railway passes through it."
But the old geography familiarised you with[Pg 101] the look of the map. Where it failed was in the appeal to the imagination. You learned a lot of facts but you never asked why. I should imagine that the new geography may deal with reasons why; it may enquire23 into racial differences; it may ask why London is situated24 where it is, why New York grew so big.
For weeks before I left my school my geography lesson consisted of readings from Foster Fraser's The Real Siberia. I began to feel at home in Siberia, and what had been a large ugly chunk25 of pink on the map of Asia became a real place. There is a scarcity26 of books of this kind. Every school should have a book on every country written in Fraser's manner. I don't say that Fraser sees very deeply into the life of the Russian. I am quite content with his delightful27 stories of wayside stations and dirty peasants. He paints the place as it is; if I want to know what the philosophy of the Russian is I can take up Tolstoy or Dostoeivsky or Maxim28 Gorki.
To return to isotherms ... well, no, I think I'll get to bed instead.
* * *
I was down in the village this morning. A motor-car came up, and two ladies and a gentleman alighted.
"Where is the village school?" asked the gentleman, and I pointed29 to the ugly pile.
"We are Americans," he drawled in unrequired explanation, "and we've come all[Pg 102] the way from Leeds to see the great experiment."
"Yes," said one of the ladies—the pretty one—"we are dying to see the paradise of A Dominie's Log. Is it so very wonderful?"
"Marvellous!" I cried. "But the Dominie is a funny sort of chap, sensitive and very shy. You mustn't give him a hint that you know anything about his book; simply say that you want to see a Scots school at work."
They thanked me, and set off for the school.
I loafed about until they returned.
"Well?" I said, "what do you think of it?"
"The fellow is an impostor!" said the man indignantly. "I expected to see them all out of doors chewing gum and sweets, and—"
"There wasn't a chin moving in the whole crowd!" cried the young lady.
"The book was a parcel of lies," said the other lady, "and when I next want a dollar's worth of fiction I reckon I'll plump for Hall Caine or Robert Chambers30. The man wouldn't speak."
"I mentioned Dewey's Schools of To-Day," said the man, "and he stared at me as if I were talking Greek."
I directed them to the village inn for lunch, and I walked up the brae chuckling31.
I had had my dinner, and was having a smoke in the bothy when I heard the American's voice: "We want to see the dominie!" Margaret came to the door, and I walked out into the yard. The trio gasped32 when they saw me;[Pg 103] then the man placed his arms akimbo and looked at me.
"Well I'm damned!" he said with vehemence33.
"Not so bad as that," I said with a grin, "had is a better word." Then they all began to talk at once.
He explained that he was a lawyer from Baltimore: I told him that his concern about the absence of chewing-gum had led me to conjecture34 that he manufactured that substance. This seemed to tickle35 him and he made a note of it.
"Be careful!" smiled the pretty lady—his daughter—, "he'll hand over his notes to the newspaper man when he goes back home."
The lawyer knew something about education, and he told me many things about the new education of America; he was one of the directors of a modern school in his own county.
"Come over to the States," he said with eagerness; "we want men of your ideas over there. I reckon that you and the new schools there don't differ at all."
I gave him my impressions of the American schools described by Dewey in his book.
"It seems to me," I said, "that these schools over-emphasise the 'learn by doing' business. Almost every modern reformer in education talks of 'child processes'; the kindergarten idea is carried all the way. Children[Pg 104] are encouraged to shape things with their hands."
"Sure," he said, "but that's only a preliminary to shaping things with their heads."
"I'm not so sure that the one naturally leads to the other," I went on. "Learning by doing is a fine thing, but when little Willie asks why rabbits have white tails the learning by doing business breaks down. In America you have workshops where boys mould metal; you have school farms. But I hold that a child can have all that for years and yet be badly educated."
He looked amazed.
"But I thought that was your line," he said with puzzled expression, "Montessori, and all that kind of thing!"
"I don't know what Montessorianism is," I said; "I have forgotten everything I ever read about Froebel and Pestalozzi. All I know is that reformers want the child to follow its own processes—whatever that phrase may mean. I heartily36 agree with them when they say that the child should choose its own line, and should discover knowledge for itself. But my point is that a boy may act every incident in history, for instance, and never realise what history means. I can't see the educational value of children acting37 the incident of Alfred and the burnt cakes."
"Ah! but isn't self-expression a great thing?"
"It is," I answered, "but the actor doesn't[Pg 105] express himself. Irving expressed himself ... and the result was that Shakespeare was Irvingised. A school pageant38 of the accession of Henry IV. may be a fine spectacle, but it is emphasising all the stuff that doesn't matter a damn in history."
"But," he protested, "it is the stuff that matters to children. You forget that a child isn't a little adult."
"This brings us to the vexed39 question of the coming in of the adult," I said. "You and I agree that the adult should interfere40 as little as possible; but the adult will come in in spite of us. Leave children to themselves and they express their personalities41 the livelong day. Every game is an expression of individuality. The adult steps in and says 'We must guide these children,' and he takes their attention from playing houses to playing scenes from history. And I want to know the educational value of it all."
"It is like travel," he said. "When you travel places become real to you, and when you travel back into medi?val times the whole thing becomes real to you."
"I see your point," I said, "and in a manner I agree with you. But why select pageants42? You will agree with me when I say that the condition of the people in feudal43 times is of far greater importance than the display of a Henry."
"Certainly, I do."
"And the things of real importance in history[Pg 106] are incapable44 of being dramatised. You can make a modern school act the Signing of Magna Charta, but the children won't understand the meaning of Magna Charta any the better. You can't dramatise the Enclosure of the Public Lands in Tudor Times; you can't dramatise the John Ball insurrection; all the acting in the world won't help you to understand the Puritan Revolution."
"You are thinking of children as little adults," he said.
"But they are little adults! Every game is an imitation of adult processes; the ring games down at the school there nearly all deal with love and matrimony; the girls make houses and take in lodgers45. And if you persuade them to act the part of King Alfred you are encouraging them to be little adults. They are children when they cry and run and jump; whenever they reason they reason as adults. They are very often in the company of adults ... and that's one of the reasons why you cannot trust what are called child processes. Child processes naturally induce a child to make a row ... and daddy won't put up with a row. The child cannot escape being a little adult. It's all very well for a Rousseau to deal abstractly with child psychology46. I am not Rousseau, and I tackle the lesser47 problem of adult psychology. The problem before me is—or rather was—painfully concrete. I set out to counteract48 the adult influence of the home. I saw Peter MacMannish shy divots[Pg 107] at the Radical49 candidate because Peter's father was a Tory; I saw Lizzie Peters put out her tongue at the local Christabel Pankhurst because Lizzie's mother had said forcibly that woman's place is the home."
"I see," said the American thoughtfully, "you used your adult personality on the ground that it was the lesser of two evils? But don't you think that that was a mistake? Was the freedom of behaviour and criticism you allowed them not the best antidote50 to home prejudices?"
"If the children had not been going to homes at night I should have trusted to freedom alone. As it was the poor bairns were between two fires. I gave them freedom ... and their parents cursed me. One woman sent a verbal message to me to the effect that I was an idiot; one bright little lassie came to me one day with the words of the woman next door, 'It's just waste o' time attendin' that schule.' Do you imagine that all the child processes in the world could save a child from an environment like that?"
When the American departed he held out his hand.
"I came to see a reformer of child education," he said with a smile, "and I discover that you aren't a reformer of child education at all; your job in life is to run a school for parents."
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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algebra
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| n.代数学 | |
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demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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utilitarian
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| adj.实用的，功利的 | |
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parsing
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| n.分[剖]析，分解v.从语法上描述或分析（词句等）( parse的现在分词 ) | |
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component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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emphasise
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| vt.加强...的语气，强调，着重 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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predilection
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| n.偏好 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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maligned
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| vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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noted
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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situated
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chunk
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scarcity
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delightful
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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pageants
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| n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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lodgers
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| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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