The things philanthropists barely excuse (or do not excuse) in the life of the laboring12 classes are simply the things we have to excuse in all the greatest monuments of man. It may be that the laborer13 is as gross as Shakespeare or as garrulous14 as Homer; that if he is religious he talks nearly as much about hell as Dante; that if he is worldly he talks nearly as much about drink as Dickens. Nor is the poor man without historic support if he thinks less of that ceremonial washing which Christ dismissed, and rather more of that ceremonial drinking which Christ specially15 sanctified. The only difference between the poor man of to-day and the saints and heroes of history is that which in all classes separates the common man who can feel things from the great man who can express them. What he feels is merely the heritage of man. Now nobody expects of course that the cabmen and coal-heavers can be complete instructors17 of their children any more than the squires19 and colonels and tea merchants are complete instructors of their children. There must be an educational specialist in loco parentis. But the master at Harrow is in loco parentis; the master in Hoxton is rather contra parentem. The vague politics of the squire18, the vaguer virtues20 of the colonel, the soul and spiritual yearnings of a tea merchant, are, in veritable practice, conveyed to the children of these people at the English public schools. But I wish here to ask a very plain and emphatic21 question. Can anyone alive even pretend to point out any way in which these special virtues and traditions of the poor are reproduced in the education of the poor? I do not wish the coster’s irony to appeal as coarsely in the school as it does in the tap room; but does it appear at all? Is the child taught to sympathize at all with his father’s admirable cheerfulness and slang? I do not expect the pathetic, eager pietas of the mother, with her funeral clothes and funeral baked meats, to be exactly imitated in the educational system; but has it any influence at all on the educational system? Does any elementary schoolmaster accord it even an instant’s consideration or respect? I do not expect the schoolmaster to hate hospitals and C.O.S. centers so much as the schoolboy’s father; but does he hate them at all? Does he sympathize in the least with the poor man’s point of honor against official institutions? Is it not quite certain that the ordinary elementary schoolmaster will think it not merely natural but simply conscientious22 to eradicate23 all these rugged24 legends of a laborious25 people, and on principle to preach soap and Socialism against beer and liberty? In the lower classes the school master does not work for the parent, but against the parent. Modern education means handing down the customs of the minority, and rooting out the customs of the majority. Instead of their Christlike charity, their Shakespearean laughter and their high Homeric reverence26 for the dead, the poor have imposed on them mere16 pedantic27 copies of the prejudices of the remote rich. They must think a bathroom a necessity because to the lucky it is a luxury; they must swing Swedish clubs because their masters are afraid of English cudgels; and they must get over their prejudice against being fed by the parish, because aristocrats28 feel no shame about being fed by the nation.

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收听单词发音

1
embarrassment
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n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫 | |
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2
irony
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n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄 | |
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3
vile
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adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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4
seduced
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诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 ); 勾引; 诱使堕落; 使入迷 | |
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5
taboo
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n.禁忌,禁止接近,禁止使用;adj.禁忌的;v.禁忌,禁制,禁止 | |
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6
hideous
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adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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7
bereavement
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n.亲人丧亡,丧失亲人,丧亲之痛 | |
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8
psychology
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n.心理,心理学,心理状态 | |
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9
lessen
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vt.减少,减轻;缩小 | |
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10
stuffy
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adj.不透气的,闷热的 | |
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11
chattering
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n. (机器振动发出的)咔嗒声,(鸟等)鸣,啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的,啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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12
laboring
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n.劳动,操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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13
laborer
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n.劳动者,劳工 | |
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14
garrulous
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adj.唠叨的,多话的 | |
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15
specially
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adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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16
mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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17
instructors
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指导者,教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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18
squire
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n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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19
squires
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n.地主,乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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20
virtues
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美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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21
emphatic
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adj.强调的,着重的;无可置疑的,明显的 | |
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22
conscientious
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adj.审慎正直的,认真的,本着良心的 | |
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23
eradicate
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v.根除,消灭,杜绝 | |
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24
rugged
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adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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25
laborious
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adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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26
reverence
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n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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27
pedantic
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adj.卖弄学问的;迂腐的 | |
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28
aristocrats
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n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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