No More Learning

Albeit,
between those who take everything for granted
and these anchorites, there stand the fighters—
that is to say, those who still have hope, and as
the noblest and sublimest example of this class,
we recognise Schiller as he is described by Goethe
in his " Epilogue to the Bell. "
"Brighter now glow'd his cheek, and still more
bright
With that unchanging, ever youthful glow:—
That courage which o'ercomes, in hard-fought
fight,
Sooner or later ev'ry earthly foe,—
That faith which soaring to the realms of
light,
Now boldly presseth on, now bendeth low,
* Selbstverstandlich=" granted or self-understood. "


## p. 12 (#32) ##############################################

12 INTRODUCTION.
So that the good may work, wax, thrive
amain,
So that the day the noble may attain. " *
I should like you to regard all I have just said
as a kind of preface, the object of which is to
illustrate the title of my lectures and to guard me
against any possible misunderstanding and un-
justified criticisms. And now, in order to give
you a rough outline of the range of ideas from
which I shall attempt to form a judgment con-
cerning our educational institutions, before pro-
ceeding to disclose my views and turning from
the title to the main theme, I shall lay a scheme
before you which, like a coat of arms, will serve
to warn all strangers who come to my door, as to
the nature of the house they are about to enter, in
case they may feel inclined, after having examined
the device, to turn their backs on the premises that
bear it. My scheme is as follows:—
Two seemingly antagonistic forces, equally de-
leterious in their actions and ultimately combining
to produce their results, are at present ruling over
our educational institutions, although these were
based originally upon very different principles.
These forces are: a striving to achieve the greatest
possible extension of education on the one hand,
and a tendency to minimise and to weaken it on
the other. The first-named would fain spread
learning among the greatest possible number of
* The Poems of Goethe. Edgar Alfred Bowring's
Translation. (Ed. 1853. )


## p. 13 (#33) ##############################################

INTRODUCTION. 13
people, the second would compel education to
renounce its highest and most independent claims
in order to subordinate itself to the service of
the State. In the face of these two antagonistic
tendencies, we could but give ourselves up to
despair, did we not see the possibility of pro-
moting the cause of two other contending factors
which are fortunately as completely German as
they are rich in promises for the future; I refer to
the present movement towards limiting and con-
centrating education as the antithesis of the first
of the forces above mentioned, and that other
movement towards the strengthening and the in-
dependence of education as the antithesis of the
second force. If we should seek a warrant for our
belief in the ultimate victory of the two last-named
movements, we could find it in the fact that both
of the forces which we hold to be deleterious are
so opposed to the eternal purpose of nature as the
concentration of education for the few is in harmony
with it, and is true, whereas the first two forces
could succeed only in founding a culture false to
the root.
/""


## p. 14 (#34) ##############################################



## p. 15 (#35) ##############################################

THE FUTURE OF OUR
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
FIRST LECTURE.
{Delivered on the \6tk of January 1872. )
Ladies and Gentlemen,—The subject I now
propose to consider with you is such a serious and
important one, and is in a sense so disquieting,
that, like you, I would gladly turn to any one who
could proffer some information concerning it,—were
he ever so young, were his ideas ever so improb-
able—provided that he were able, by the exercise
of his own faculties, to furnish some satisfactory
and sufficient explanation. It is just possible that
he may have had the opportunity of hearing sound
views expressed in reference to the vexed question
of the future of our educational institutions, and
that he may wish to repeat them to you; he may
even have had distinguished teachers, fully quali-
fied to foretell what is to come, and, like the
haruspices of Rome, able to do so after an in-
spection of the entrails of the Present.
Indeed, you yourselves may expect something


## p. 16 (#36) ##############################################

16 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
of this kind from me. I happened once, in strange
but perfectly harmless circumstances, to overhear
a conversation on this subject between two remark-
able men, and the more striking points of the dis-
cussion, together with their manner of handling the
theme, are so indelibly imprinted on my memory
that, whenever I reflect on these matters, I in-
variably find myself falling into their grooves of
thought. I cannot, however, profess to have the
same courageous confidence which they displayed,
both in their daring utterance of forbidden truths,
and in the still more daring conception of the
hopes with which they astonished me. It there-
fore seemed to me to be in the highest degree
important that a record of this conversation should
be made, so that others might be incited to form
a judgment concerning the striking views and con-
clusions it contains: and, to this end, I had special
grounds for believing that I should do well to
avail myself of the opportunity afforded by this
course of lectures.
I am well aware of the nature of the com-
munity to whose serious consideration I now wish
to commend that conversation—I know it to be
a community which is striving to educate and
enlighten its members on a scale so magnificently
out of proportion to its size that it must put all
larger cities to shame. This being so, I presume
I may take it for granted that in a quarter where
so much is done for the things of which I wish to
speak, people must also think a good deal about
them. In my account of the conversation already
mentioned, I shall be able to make myself com-
\


## p. 17 (#37) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 17
pletely understood only to those among my
audience who will be able to guess what I can
do no more than suggest, who will supply what
I am compelled to omit, and who, above all, need
but to be reminded and not taught.
Listen, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, while
I recount my harmless experience and the less
harmless conversation between the two gentlemen
whom, so far, I have not named.
Let us now imagine ourselves in the position of
a young student—that is to say, in a position
which, in our present age of bewildering movement
and feverish excitability, has become an almost
impossible one. It is necessary to have lived
through it in order to believe that such careless
self-lulling and comfortable indifference to the
moment, or to time in general, are possible. In
this condition I, and a friend about my own age,
spent a year at the University of Bonn on the
Rhine,—it was a year which, in its complete lack
of plans and projects for the future, seems almost
like a dream to me now—a dream framed, as it
were, by two periods of growth. We two remained
quiet and peaceful, although we were surrounded
by fellows who in the main were very differently
disposed, and from time to time we experienced
considerable difficulty in meeting and resisting the
somewhat too pressing advances of the young men
of our own age. Now, however, that I can look
upon the stand we had to take against these
opposing forces, I cannot help associating them
in my mind with those checks we are wont to
receive in our dreams, as, for instance, when we
B


## p. 18 (#38) ##############################################

18 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
imagine we are able to fly and yet feel ourselves
held back by some incomprehensible power.
I and my friend had many reminiscences in
common, and these dated from the period of our
boyhood upwards. One of these I must relate to
you, since it forms a sort of prelude to the harm-
less experience already mentioned. On the occa-
sion of a certain journey up the Rhine, which we
had made together one summer, it happened that
he and I independently conceived the very same
plan at the same hour and on the same spot, and
we were so struck by this unwonted coincidence
that we determined to carry the plan out forth-
with. We resolved to found a kind of small club
which would consist of ourselves and a few friends,
and the object of which would be to provide us
with a stable and binding organisation directing
and adding interest to our creative impulses in
art and literature; or, to put it more plainly:
each of us would be pledged to present an original
piece of work to the club once a month,—either
a poem, a treatise, an architectural design, or a
musical composition, upon which each of the
others, in a friendly spirit, would have to pass free
and unrestrained criticism.
We thus hoped, by means of mutual correction,
to be able both to stimulate and to chasten our
creative impulses and, as a matter of fact, the
success of the scheme was such that we have both
always felt a sort of respectful attachment for the
hour and the place at which it first took shape in
our minds.
This attachment was very soon transformed


## p. 19 (#39) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 19
into a rite; for we all agreed to go, whenever it
was possible to do so, once a year to that lonely
spot near Rolandseck, where on that summer's
day, while sitting together, lost in meditation, we
were suddenly inspired by the same thought.
Frankly speaking, the rules which were drawn up
on the formation of the club were never very
strictly observed; but owing to the very fact that
we had many sins of omission on our conscience
during our student-year in Bonn, when we were
once more on the banks of the Rhine, we firmly
resolved not only to observe our rule, but also to
gratify our feelings and our sense of gratitude by
reverently visiting that spot near Rolandseck on
the day appointed.
It was, however, with some difficulty that we
were able to carry our plans into execution; for,
on the very day we had selected for our excursion,
the large and lively students' association, which
always hindered us in our flights, did their utmost
to put obstacles in our way and to hold us back.
Our association had organised a general holiday
excursion to Rolandseck on the very day my
friend and I had fixed upon, the object of the
outing being to assemble all its members for the
last time at the close of the half-year and to send
them home with pleasant recollections of their
last hours together.
The day was a glorious one; the weather was
of the kind which, in our climate at least, only
falls to our lot in late summer: heaven and earth
merged harmoniously with one another, and,
glowing wondrously in the sunshine, autumn


## p. 20 (#40) ##############################################

20 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
freshness blended with the blue expanse above.
Arrayed in the bright fantastic garb in which,
amid the gloomy fashions now reigning, students
alone may indulge, we boarded a steamer which
was gaily decorated in our honour, and hoisted
our flag on its mast. From both banks of the
river there came at intervals the sound of signal-
guns, fired according to our orders, with the view
of acquainting both our host in Rolandseck and
the inhabitants in the neighbourhood with our
approach. I shall not speak of the noisy journey
from the landing-stage, through the excited and
expectant little place, nor shall I refer to the
esoteric jokes exchanged between ourselves; I
also make no mention of a feast which became
both wild and noisy, or of an extraordinary
musical production in the execution of which,
whether as soloists or as chorus, we all ultimately
had to share, and which I, as musical adviser of
our club, had not only had to rehearse, but was
then forced to conduct. Towards the end of this
piece, which grew ever wilder and which was sung
to ever quicker time, I made a sign to my friend,
and just as the last chord rang like a yell through
the building, he and I vanished, leaving behind us
a raging pandemonium.
In a moment we were in the refreshing and
breathless stillness of nature. The shadows were
already lengthening, the sun still shone steadily,
though it had sunk a good deal in the heavens,
and from the green and glittering waves of the
Rhine a cool breeze was wafted over our hot faces.
Our solemn rite bound us only in so far as the


## p. 21 (#41) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 21
latest hours of the day were concerned, and we
therefore determined to employ the last moments
of clear daylight by giving ourselves up to one of
our many hobbies.
At that time we were passionately fond of
pistol-shooting, and both of us in later years found
the skill we had acquired as amateurs of great use
in our military career. Our club servant happened
to know the somewhat distant and elevated spot
which we used as a range, and had carried our
pistols there in advance. The spot lay near the upper
border of the wood which covered the lesser heights
behind Rolandseck: it was a small uneven plateau,
close to the place we had consecrated in memory
of its associations. On a wooded slope alongside
of our shooting-range there was a small piece of
ground which had been cleared of wood, and which
made an ideal halting-place; from it one could get
a view of the Rhine over the tops of the trees and
the brushwood, so that the beautiful, undulating
lines of the Seven Mountains and above all of the
Drachenfels bounded the horizon against the group
of trees, while in the centre of the bow formed by
the glistening Rhine itself the island of Nonnen-
worth stood out as if suspended in the river's arms.
This was the place which had become sacred to
us through the dreams and plans we had had in
common, and to which we intended to withdraw,
later in the evening,—nay, to which we should be
obliged to withdraw, if we wished to close the day
in accordance with the law we had imposed on
ourselves.
At one end of the little uneven plateau, and not


## p. 22 (#42) ##############################################

22 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
very far away, there stood the mighty trunk of an
oak-tree, prominently visible against a background
quite bare of trees and consisting merely of low
undulating hills in the distance. Working to-
gether, we had once carved a pentagram in the
side of this tree-trunk. Years of exposure to rain
and storm had slightly deepened the channels we
had cut, and the figure seemed a welcome target
for our pistol-practice. It was already late in the
afternoon when we reached our improvised range,
and our oak-stump cast a long and attenuated
shadow across the barren heath. All was still:
thanks to the lofty trees at our feet, we were un-
able to catch a glimpse of the valley of the Rhine
below. The peacefulness of the spot seemed only
to intensify the loudness of our pistol-shots—and
I had scarcely fired my second barrel at the
pentagram when I felt some one lay hold of my
arm and noticed that my friend had also some one
beside him who had interrupted his loading. }
Turning sharply on my heels I found myself'
face to face with an astonished old gentleman, I.
and felt what must have been a very powerful dog
make a lunge at my back. My friend had been
approached by a somewhat younger man than I |
had; but before we could give expression to our i
surprise the older of the two interlopers burst forth
in the following threatening and heated strain:
"No! no! " he called to us, " no duels must be G
fought here, but least of all must you young
students fight one. Away with these pistols and
compose yourselves. Be reconciled, shake hands!
What ? —and are you the salt of the earth, the


## p. 23 (#43) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 23
intelligence of the future, the seed of our hopes—
and are you not even able to emancipate yourselves
from the insane code of honour and its violent
regulations? I will not cast any aspersions on
your hearts, but your heads certainly do you no
credit. You, whose youth is watched over by the
wisdom of Greece and Rome, and whose youthful
spirits, at the cost of enormous pains, have been
flooded with the light of the sages and heroes of
antiquity,—can you not refrain from making the
code of knightly honour—that is to say, the code
of folly and brutality—the guiding principle of
your conduct? —Examine it rationally once and
for all, and reduce it to plain terms; lay its piti-
able narrowness bare, and let it be the touchstone,
not of your hearts but of your minds. If you do
not regret it then, it will merely show that your
head is not fitted for work in a sphere where great
gifts of discrimination are needful in order to burst
the bonds of prejudice, and where a well-balanced
understanding is necessary for the purpose of
distinguishing right from wrong, even when the
difference between them lies deeply hidden and is
not, as in this case, so ridiculously obvious. In
that case, therefore, my lads, try to go through
life in some other honourable manner; join the
army or learn a handicraft that pays its way. "
To this rough, though admittedly just, flood of
eloquence, we replied with some irritation, inter-
rupting each other continually in so doing :" In the
first place, you are mistaken concerning the main
point; for we are not here to fight a duel at all;
but rather to practise pistol-shooting. Secondly,


## p. 24 (#44) ##############################################

24 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
you do not appear to know how a real duel is
conducted;—do you suppose that we should have
faced each other in this lonely spot, like two high-
waymen, without seconds or doctors, etc, etc. ?
Thirdly, with regard to the question of duelling,
we each have our own opinions, and do not require
to be waylaid and surprised by the sort of in-
struction you may feel disposed to give us. "
This reply, which was certainly not polite, made
a bad impression upon the old man. At first,
when he heard that we were not about to fight a
duel, he surveyed us more kindly: but when we
reached the last passage of our speech, he seemed
so vexed that he growled. When, however, we
began to speak of our point of view, he quickly
caught hold of his companion, turned sharply
round, and cried to us in bitter tones: "People
should not have points of view, but thoughts! "
And then his companion added: "Be respectful
when a man such as this even makes mistakes! "
Meanwhile, my friend, who had reloaded, fired
a shot at the pentagram, after having cried:
"Look out! " This sudden report behind his back
made the old man savage; once more he turned
round and looked sourly at my friend, after which
he said to his companion in a feeble voice: "What
shall we do? These young men will be the death
of me with their firing. "—" You should know,"
said the younger man, turning to us, " that your
noisy pastimes amount, as it happens on this
occasion, to an attempt upon the life of philosophy.
You observe this venerable man,—he is in a posi-
tion to beg you to desist from firing here. And


## p. 25 (#45) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 25
when such a man begs ""Well, his request
is generally granted," the old man interjected, sur-
veying us sternly.
As a matter of fact, we did not know what to
make of the whole matter; we could not under-
stand what our noisy pastimes could have in
common with philosophy; nor could we see why,
out of regard for polite scruples, we should
abandon our shooting-range, and at this moment
we may have appeared somewhat undecided and
perturbed. The companion noticing our moment-
ary discomfiture, proceeded to explain the matter
to us.
"We are compelled," he said, "to linger in this
immediate neighbourhood for an hour or so; we
have a rendezvous here. An eminent friend of
this eminent man is to meet us here this evening;
and we had actually selected this peaceful spot,
with its few benches in the midst of the wood,
for the meeting. It would really be most un-
pleasant if, owing to your continual pistol-practice,
we were to be subjected to an unending series of
shocks; surely your own feelings will tell you
that it is impossible for you to continue your fir-
ing when you hear that he who has selected this
quiet and isolated place for a meeting with a
friend is one of our most eminent philosophers. "
This explanation only succeeded in perturbing
us the more; for we saw a danger threatening
us which was even greater than the loss of our
shooting-range, and we asked eagerly, " Where is
this quiet spot? Surely not to the left here, in
the wood? "


## p. 26 (#46) ##############################################

26 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
"That is the very place. "
"But this evening that place belongs to us,"
my friend interposed. "We must have it," we
cried together.
Our long-projected celebration seemed at that
moment more important than all the philosophies
of the world, and we gave such vehement and
animated utterance to our sentiments that in view
of the incomprehensible nature of our claims we
must have cut a somewhat ridiculous figure. At
any rate, our philosophical interlopers regarded us
with expressions of amused inquiry, as if they
expected us to proffer some sort of apology. But
we were silent, for we wished above all to keep
our secret.
Thus we stood facing one another in silence,
while the sunset dyed the tree-tops a ruddy gold.
The philosopher contemplated the sun, his com-
panion contemplated him, and we turned our eyes
towards our nook in the woods which to-day we
seemed in such great danger of losing. A feeling
of sullen anger took possession of us. What is
philosophy, we asked ourselves, if it prevents a
man from being by himself or from enjoying the
select company of a friend,—in sooth, if it pre-
vents him from becoming a philosopher? For
we regarded the celebration of our rite as a
thoroughly philosophical performance. In celebrat-
ing it we wished to form plans and resolutions for
the future, by means of quiet reflections we hoped
to light upon an idea which would once again help
us to form and gratify our spirit in the future, just
as that former idea had done during our boyhood.


## p. 27 (#47) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 27
The solemn act derived its very significance from
this resolution, that nothing definite was to be
done, we were only to be alone, and to sit still
and meditate, as we had done five years before
when we had each been inspired with the same
thought. It was to be a silent solemnisation, all
reminiscence and all future; the present was to
be as a hyphen between the two. And fate, now
unfriendly, had just stepped into our magic circle
—and we knew not how to dismiss her;—the
very unusual character of the circumstances filled
us with mysterious excitement.
Whilst we stood thus in silence for some time,
divided into two hostile groups, the clouds above
waxed ever redder and the evening seemed to
grow more peaceful and mild; we could almost
fancy we heard the regular breathing of nature as
she put the final touches to her work of art—the
glorious day we had just enjoyed; when, suddenly,
the calm evening air was rent by a confused and
boisterous cry of joy which seemed to come
from the Rhine. A number of voices could be
heard in the distance—they were those of our
fellow - students who by that time must have
taken to the Rhine in small boats. It occurred
to us that we should be missed and that we
should also miss something: almost simultane-
ously my friend and I raised our pistols: our
shots were echoed back to us, and with their echo
there came from the valley the sound of a well-
known cry intended as a signal of identification.
For our passion for shooting had brought us both
repute and ill-repute in our club. At the same


## p. 28 (#48) ##############################################

28 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
time we were conscious that our behaviour towards
the silent philosophical couple had been excep-
tionally ungentlemanly; they had been quietly-
contemplating us for some time, and when we fired
the shock made them draw close up to each other.
We hurried up to them, and each in our turn
cried out: "Forgive us. That was our last shot,
and it was intended for our friends on the Rhine.
They have understood us, do you hear? If you
insist upon having that place among the trees,
grant us at least the permission to recline there
also. You will find a number of benches on the
spot: we shall not disturb you; we shall sit quite
still and shall not utter a word: but it is now
past seven o'clock and we must go there at once.
"That sounds more mysterious than it is," I
added after a pause; "we have made a solemn
vow to spend this coming hour on that ground,
and there were reasons for the vow. The spot is
sacred to us, owing to some pleasant associations,
it must also inaugurate a good future for us. We
shall therefore endeavour to leave you with no dis-
agreeable recollections of our meeting—even though
we have done much to perturb and frighten you. "
The philosopher was silent; his companion,
however, said: "Our promises and plans unfortun-
ately compel us not only to remain, but also to
spend the same hour on the spot you have selected.
It is left for us to decide whether fate or perhaps
a spirit has been responsible for this extraordinary
coincidence. "
"Besides, my friend," said the philosopher, " I
am not half so displeased with these warlike


## p. 29 (#49) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 2g
youngsters as I was. Did you observe how quiet
they were a moment ago, when we were con- •»
templating the sun? They neither spoke nor
smoked, they stood stone still, I even believe they
meditated. "
Turning suddenly in our direction, he said:
"Were you meditating? Just tell me about it
as we proceed in the direction of our common
trysting-place. " We took a few steps together
and went down the slope into the warm balmy
air of the woods where it was already much
darker. On the way my friend openly revealed
his thoughts to the philosopher, he confessed how
much he had feared that perhaps to-day for the
first time a philosopher was about to stand in
the way of his philosophising.
The sage laughed. "What? You were afraid
a philosopher would prevent your philosophising?
This might easily happen: and you have not yet
experienced such a thing? Has your university
life been free from experience? You surely attend
lectures on philosophy? "
This question discomfited us; for, as a matter
of fact, there had been no element of philosophy
in our education up to that time. In those days,
moreover, we fondly imagined that everybody
who held the post and possessed the dignity of a •
philosopher must perforce be one: we were in-
experienced and badly informed. We frankly
admitted that we had not yet belonged to any
philosophical college, but that we would certainly
make up for lost time.
"Then what," he asked, "did you mean when

'


## p. 30 (#50) ##############################################

30 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIO
you spoke of philosophising? " Said I, "W
at a loss for a definition. But to all intent
purposes we meant this, that we wished to
earnest endeavours to consider the best po
means of becoming men of culture. " "Thai
good deal and at the same time very li
growled the philosopher; "just you think the m
over. Here are our benches, let us discuss
question exhaustively: I shall not disturb
meditations with regard to how you are to bee
men of culture. I wish you success and—p<
of view, as in your duelling questions; brand-
original, and enlightened points of view,
philosopher does not wish to prevent your p]
sophising: but refrain at least from disconcer
him with your pistol-shots. Try to imitate
Pythagoreans to-day: they, as servants of a'
philosophy, had to remain silent for five year
possibly you may also be able to remain silent
five times fifteen minutes, as servants of y
own future culture, about which you seem
concerned. "
We had reached our destination: the soler
isation of our rite began. As on the previ(
occasion, five years ago, the Rhine was once irn
flowing beneath a light mist, the sky seemed brij
and the woods exhaled the same fragrance. \
took our places on the farthest corner of the m<
distant bench; sitting there we were almost cc
cealed, and neither the philosopher nor his coi
panion could see our faces. We were alon
when the sound of the philosopher's voice reachi
us, it had become so blended with the rustlii
"N


## p. 31 (#51) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 31
leaves and with the buzzing murmur of the myriads
of living things inhabiting the wooded height, that
it almost seemed like the music of nature; as a
sound it resembled nothing more than a distant
monotonous plaint. We were indeed undisturbed.
Some time elapsed in this way, and while the
glow of sunset grew steadily paler the recollection
of our youthful undertaking in the cause of culture
waxed ever more vivid. It seemed to us as if we
owed the greatest debt of gratitude to that little
society we had founded ; for it had done more than
merely supplement our public school training;
it had actually been the only fruitful society we
had had, and within its frame we even placed our
public school life, as a purely isolated factor help-
ing us in our general efforts to attain to culture.
We knew this, that, thanks to our little society,
no thought of embracing any particular career
had ever entered our minds in those days. The
all too frequent exploitation of youth by the State,
for its own purposes—that is to say, so that it may
rear useful officials as quickly as possible and
guarantee their unconditional obedience to it by
means of excessively severe examinations—had
remained quite foreign to our education. And to
show how little we had been actuated by thoughts
of utility or by the prospect of speedy advancement
and rapid success, on that day we were struck by
the comforting consideration that, even then, we
had not yet decided what we should be—we had
not even troubled ourselves at all on this head.
Our little society had sown the seeds of this happy
indifference in our souls and for it alone we were


## p. 32 (#52) ##############################################

32 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founda-
tion with hearty gratitude. I have already pointed
out, I think, that in the eyes of the present age,
which is so intolerant of anything that is not use-
ful, such purposeless enjoyment of the moment,
such a lulling of one's self in the cradle of the
present, must seem almost incredible and at all
events blameworthy. How useless we were!
And how proud we were of being useless! We
used even to quarrel with each other as to which
of us should have the glory of being the more
useless. We wished to attach no importance to
anything, to have strong views about nothing, to
aim at nothing; we wanted to take no thought
for the morrow, and desired no more than to
recline comfortably like good-for-nothings on
the threshold of the present; and we did—bless
us!
—That, ladies and gentlemen, was our stand-
point then! —
Absorbed in these reflections, I was just about
to give an answer to the question of the future of
our Educational Institutions in the same self-
sufficient way, when it gradually dawned upon me
that the "natural music," coming from the philo-
sopher's bench had lost its original character and
travelled to us in much more piercing and distinct
tones than before. Suddenly I became aware
that I was listening, that I was eavesdropping,
and was passionately interested, with both ears
keenly alive to every sound. I nudged my friend
who was evidently somewhat tired,and I whispered:
"Don't fall asleep! There is something for us to


## p. 33 (#53) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 33
learn over there. It applies to us, even though it
be not meant for us. "
For instance, I heard the younger of the two
men defending himself with great animation while
the philosopher rebuked him with ever increasing
vehemence. "You are unchanged," he cried to
him, " unfortunately unchanged. It is quite incom-
prehensible to me how you can still be the same as
you were seven years ago, when I saw you for the
last time and left you with so much misgiving. I
fear I must once again divest you, however re-
luctantly, of the skin of modern culture which you
have donned meanwhile;—and what do I find
beneath it? The same immutable 'intelligible'
character forsooth, according to Kant; but unfor-
tunately the same unchanged 'intellectual' char-
acter, too—which may also be a necessity, though
not a comforting one. I ask myself to what
purpose have I lived as a philosopher, if, possessed
as you are of no mean intelligence and a genuine
thirst for knowledge, all the years you have spent
in my company have left no deeper impression
upon you. At present you are behaving as if you
had not even heard the cardinal principle of all
culture, which I went to such pains to inculcate
upon you during our former intimacy. Tell me,—
what was that principle? "
"I remember," replied the scolded pupil, "you
used to say no one would strive to attain to culture
if he knew how incredibly small the number of
really cultured people actually is, and can ever be.
And even this number of really cultured people
would not be possible if a prodigious multitude,
C


## p. 34 (#54) ##############################################

34 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIO
from reasons opposed to their nature and on
on by an alluring delusion, did not devote 1
selves to education. It were therefore a mi
publicly to reveal the ridiculous disproportio
tween the number of really cultured people an
enormous magnitude of the educational appai
. Here lies the whole secret of culture—namely
an innumerable host of men struggle to achie
and work hard to that end, ostensibly in their
interests, whereas at bottom it is only in order
it may be possible for the few to attain to it. '
"That is the principle," said the philosophy
"and yet you could so far forget yourself a
believe that you are one of the few?
thought has occurred to you—I can see. T
however, is the result of the worthless charactf
I modern education. The rights of genius are b<
i democratised in order that people may be relie
! of the labour of acquiring culture, and their n
of it. Every one wants if possible to recline
the shade of the tree planted by genius, and
escape the dreadful necessity of working for h
so that his procreation may be made possi!
What? Are you too proud to be a teacher?
you despise the thronging multitude of learne
Do you speak contemptuously of the teache
calling? And, aping my mode of life, would y
fain live in solitary seclusion, hostilely isolal
from that multitude? Do you suppose that y
can reach at one bound what I ultimately had
win for myself only after long and determin
struggles, in order even to be able to live like
philosopher? And do you not fear that solitm


## p. 35 (#55) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 35
will wreak its vengeance upon you? Just try ~l
living the life of a hermit of culture. One must
be blessed with overflowing wealth in order to live
for the good of all on one's own resources!
Extraordinary youngsters! They felt it in-
cumbent upon them to imitate what is precisely
most difficult and most high,—what is possible
only to the master, when they, above all, should
know how difficult and dangerous this is, and how
many excellent gifts may be ruined by attempting
it! "
"I will conceal nothing from you, sir," the
companion replied. "I have heard too much
from your lips at odd times and have been too
long in your company to be able to surrender
myself entirely to our present system of education
and instruction. I am too painfully conscious of
the disastrous errors and abuses to which you used
to call my attention—though I very well know
that I am not strong enough to hope for any
success were I to struggle ever so valiantly against
them. I was overcome by a feeling of general
discouragement; my recourse to solitude was the
result neither of pride nor arrogance. I would
fain describe to you what I take to be the nature
of the educational questions now attracting such
enormous and pressing attention. It seemed to
me that I must recognise two main directions in
the forces at work—two seemingly antagonistic
tendencies, equally deleterious in their action, and
ultimately combining to produce their results: a
striving to achieve the greatest possible expansion
of education on the one hand, and a tendency to


## p. 36 (#56) ##############################################

36 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTK
minimise and weaken it on the other. The
named would, for various reasons, spread Ie;
among the greatest number of people; the s
would compel education to renounce its hi
noblest and sublimest claims in order to subon
itself to some other department of life—su
the service of the State.
"I believe I have already hinted at the qi
in which the cry for the greatest possible expa
of education is most loudly raised. This expa
belongs to the most beloved of the dogm
modern political economy. As much know
and education as possible; therefore the gre
possible supply and demand—hence as i
happiness as possible :—that is the formula,
this case utility is made the object and go;
'education,—utility in the sense of gain-
greatest possible pecuniary gain. In the qu,
now under consideration culture would be del
as that point of vantage which enables one to '!
in the van of one's age,' from which one car
all the easiest and best roads to wealth, and
which one controls all the means of communica
between men and nations. The purpose
education, according to this scheme, would
'to rear the most' current' men possible,—' cum
being used here in the sense in which it is app
to the coins of the realm. The greater the nurr
of such men, the happier a nation will be; and
precisely is the purpose of our modern educatic
institutions: to help every one, as far as
nature will allow, to become ' current'; to deve
him so that his particular degree of knowledge;


## p. 37 (#57) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 37
science may yield him the greatest possible amount
of happiness and pecuniary gain. Every one must
be able to form some sort of estimate of himself;
he must know how much he may reasonably
expect from life. The 'bond between intelligence
and property' which this point of view postulates
has almost the force of a moral principle. In this
quarter all culture is loathed which isolates, which
sets goals beyond gold and gain, and which requires
time: it is customary to dispose of such eccentric
tendencies in education as systems of ' Higher
Egotism,' or of ' Immoral Culture—Epicureanism. '
According to the morality reigning here, the
demands are quite different; what is required
above all is 'rapid education,' so that a money-
earning creature may be produced with all speed;
there is even a desire to make this education so
thorough that a creature may be reared that will
be able to earn a great deal of money. Men
are allowed only the precise amount of culture
which is compatible with the interests of gain; but
that amount, at least, is expected from them. In
short: mankind has a necessary right to happiness
on earth—that is why culture is necessary—but
on that account alone! "
"I must just say something here," said the
philosopher. "In the case of the view you have
described so clearly, there arises the great and
awful danger that at some time or other the great
masses may overleap the middle classes and spring
headlong into this earthly bliss. That is what is
now called 'the social question. ' It might seem
to these masses that education for the greatest


## p. 38 (#58) ##############################################

38 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIC
number of men was only a means to the e
bliss of the few: the ' greatest possible expj
of education' so enfeebles education that
no longer confer privileges or inspire respect,
most general form of culture is simply barbj
But I do not wish to interrupt your discussic
The companion continued: "There are
other reasons, besides this beloved econoi
dogma, for the expansion of education th
being striven after so valiantly everywhere,
some countries the fear of religious oppression
general, and the dread of its results so mai
that people in all classes of society long for cu
and eagerly absorb those elements of it which
supposed to scatter the religious instincts. I
where the State, in its turn, strives here and t
for its own preservation, after the greatest pos<
expansion of education, because it always J
strong enough to bring the most determined en
cipation, resulting from culture, under its y<
and readily approves of everything which te
to extend culture, provided that it be of sen
to its officials or soldiers, but in the main to it;
in its competition with other nations. In 1
case, the foundations of a State must be sufficier
broad and firm to constitute a fitting counterp
to the complicated arches of culture which
supports, just as in the first case the traces of so
former religious tyranny must still be felt foi
people to be driven to such desperate remedi
Thus, wherever I hear the masses raise the cry
an expansion of education, I am wont to a
myself whether it is stimulated by a greedy h


## p. 39 (#59) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 39
of gain and property, by the memory of a former
religious persecution, or by the prudent egotism of
the State itself.
"On the other hand, it seemed to me that there
was yet another tendency, not so clamorous,
perhaps, but quite as forcible, which, hailing from
various quarters, was animated by a different
desire,—the desire to minimise and weaken
education.
"In all cultivated circles people are in the habit
of whispering to one another words something after
this style : that it is a general fact that, owing to the
present frantic exploitation of the scholar in the
service of his science, his education becomes every
day more accidental and more uncertain. For
the study of science has been extended to such
interminable lengths that he who, though not
exceptionally gifted, yet possesses fair abilities,
will need to devote himself exclusively to one
branch and ignore all others if he ever wish to
achieve anything in his work. Should he then
elevate himself above the herd by means of his
speciality, he still remains one of them in regard
to all else,—that is to say, in regard to all the most
important things in life. Thus, a specialist in
science gets to resemble nothing so much as a
factory workman who spends his whole life in
turning one particular screw or handle on a certain
instrument or machine, at which occupation he
acquires the most consummate skill. In Germany,
where we know how to drape such painful facts
with the glorious garments of fancy, this narrow
specialisation on the part of our learned men is


## p. 40 (#60) ##############################################

40 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTK
even admired, and their ever greater de-
from the path of true culture is regardec
moral phenomenon. 'Fidelity in small t
'dogged faithfulness,' become expressio
highest eulogy, and the lack of culture outsii
speciality is flaunted abroad as a sign of
sufficiency.
"For centuries it has been an understood
that one alluded to scholars alone when one i
of cultured men; but experience tells us tr
would be difficult to find any necessary rel
between the two classes to-day. For at pr
the exploitation of a man for the purpose of sc
is accepted everywhere without the slig
scruple. Who still ventures to ask, What
be the value of a science which consumes
minions in this vampire fashion? The div
-of labour in science is practically struggling
wards the same goal which religions in cei
parts of the world are consciously striving afte
that is to say, towards the decrease and even
destruction of learning. That, however, whicl
the case of certain religions, is a perfectly jus
able aim, both in regard to their origin and ti
history, can only amount to self-immolation w
transferred to the realm of science. In
matters of a general and serious nature, <
above all, in regard to the highest philosophi
problems, we have now already reached a po
at which the scientific man, as such, is no lonj
allowed to speak. On the other hand, that;
hesive and tenacious stratum which has now fill
up the interstices between the sciences—Jourm


## p. 41 (#61) ##############################################

FIRST LECTURE. 41
ism—believes it has a mission to fulfil here, and
this it does, according to its own particular lights
—that is to say, as its name implies, after the
fashion of a day-labourer.
"It is precisely in journalism that the two
tendencies combine and become one. The ex-
pansion and the diminution of education here join
hands. The newspaper actually steps into the
place of culture, and he who, even as a scholar,
wishes to voice any claim for education, must avail
himself of this viscous stratum of communication
which cements the seams between all forms of life,
all classes, all arts, and all sciences, and which is
as firm and reliable as news paper is, as a rule. In
the newspaper the peculiar educational aims of the
present culminate, just as the journalist, the servant
of the moment, has stepped into the place of the
genius, of the leader for all time, of the deliverer
from the tyranny of the moment. Now, tell me,
distinguished master, what hopes could I still have
in a struggle against the general topsy-turvification
of all genuine aims for education; with what
courage can I, a single teacher, step forward,
when I know that the moment any seeds of real
culture are sown, they will be mercilessly crushed
by the roller of this pseudo-culture? Imagine
how useless the most energetic work on the part
of the individual teacher must be, who would fain
lead a pupil back into the distant and evasive
Hellenic world and to the real home of culture,
when in less than an hour, that same pupil will
have recourse to a newspaper, the latest novel, or
one of those learned books, the very style of which


## p. 42 (#62) ##############################################

42 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
already bears the revolting impress of moc
barbaric culture"
"Now, silence a minute ! " interjected the ph
sopher in a strong and sympathetic voice,
understand you now, and ought never to h
spoken so crossly to you. You are altoget
right, save in your despair. I shall now proc
to say a few words of consolation. "
"\


## p. 43 (#63) ##############################################

SECOND LECTURE.
{Delivered on the 6th of February 1872. )
Ladies and Gentlemen,—Those among you
whom I now have the pleasure of addressing for
the first time and whose only knowledge of my
first lecture has been derived from reports will, I
hope, not mind being introduced here into the
middle of a dialogue which I had begun to recount
on the last occasion, and the last points of which
I must now recall. The philosopher's young com-
panion was just pleading openly and confidentially
with his distinguished tutor, and apologising for
having so far renounced his calling as a teacher
in order to spend his days in comfortless solitude.
No suspicion of superciliousness or arrogance had
induced him to form this resolve.
"I have heard too much from your lips at
various times," the straightforward pupil said,
"and have been too long in your company, to sur-
render myself blindly to our present systems of
education and instruction. I am too painfully
conscious of the disastrous errors and abuses to
which you were wont to call my attention; and
yet I know that I am far from possessing the
requisite strength to meet with success, however
valiantly I might struggle to shatter the bulwarks


## p. 44 (#64) ##############################################

44 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIO
of this would-be culture. I was overcome
general feeling of depression: my recours
solitude was not arrogance or superciliousi
Whereupon, to account for his behavioui
described the general character of modern
cational methods so vividly that the philosc
could not help interrupting him in a voice fi
sympathy, and crying words of comfort to hir
"Now, silence for a minute, my poor frie
he cried; "I can more easily understand you i
and should not have lost my patience with;
You are altogether right, save in your despair,
shall now proceed to say a few words of com
to you. How long do you suppose the stab
education in the schools of our time, which see
to weigh so heavily upon you, will last? I shall
conceal my views on this point from you: its tim
over; its days are counted. The first who will d
to be quite straightforward in this respect will h
his honesty re-echoed back to him by thousar
of courageous souls. For, at bottom, there is
tacit understanding between the more nobly gift
and more warmly disposed men of the prese
day. Every one of them knows what he has hi
to suffer from the condition of culture in school
every one of them would fain protect his offsprir
from the need of enduring similar drawbacks, eve
though he himself was compelled to submit (
them. If these feelings are never quite honestl
expressed, however, it is owing to a sad want c
spirit among modern pedagogues. These laci
real initiative; there are too few practical mei
among them—that is to say, too few who happei


## p. 45 (#65) ##############################################

SECOND LECTURE. 45
to have good and new ideas, and who know that
real genius and the real practical mind must
necessarily come together in the same individuals,
whilst the sober practical men have no ideas and
therefore fall short in practice.
"Let any one examine the pedagogic literature
of the present; he who is not shocked at its utter
poverty of spirit and its ridiculously awkward antics
is beyond being spoiled. Here our philosophy
must not begin with wonder but with dread; he
who feels no dread at this point must be asked
not to meddle with pedagogic questions. The
reverse, of course, has been the rule up to the
present; those who were terrified ran away filled
with embarrassment as you did, my poor friend,
while the sober and fearless ones spread their
heavy hands over the most delicate technique
that has ever existed in art—over the technique
of education. This, however, will not be possible
much longer; at some time or other the upright man
will appear, who will not only have the good ideas
I speak of, but who in order to work at their
realisation, will dare to break with all that exists
at present: he may by means of a wonderful
example achieve what the broad hands, hitherto
active, could not even imitate—then people will
everywhere begin to draw comparisons; then men
will at least be able to perceive a contrast and will
be in a position to reflect upon its causes, whereas,
at present, so many still believe, in perfect good
faith, that heavy hands are a necessary factor in
pedagogic work. "
"My dear master," said the younger man, " I
S


## p. 46 (#66) ##############################################

46 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
wish you could point to one single example wl
would assist me in seeing the soundness of
hopes which you so heartily raise in me. We
both acquainted with public schools; do you th
for instance, that in respect of these institutions a
thing may be done by means of honesty and g<
and new ideas to abolish the tenacious and ai
quated customs now extant? In this quarter
seems to me, the battering-rams of an attack:
party will have to meet with no solid wall, 1
with the most fatal of stolid and slippery princip]
The leader of the assault has no visible and tangil
opponent to crush, but rather a creature in disgu
that can transform itself/into a hundred differe
shapes and, in"fe^£h-OTthese, slip out of his gra;
only in order to reappear and to confound i
enemy by cowardly surrenders and feigned r
treats. It was precisely the public schools whi<
drove me into despair and solitude, simply becau
I feel that if the struggle here leads to victory a
other educational institutions must give in; bi
that, if the reformer be forced to abandon h
cause here, he may as well give up all hope i
regard to every other scholastic question. There
fore, dear master, enlighten me concerning th
public schools; what can we hope for in the wa;
of their abolition or reform? "
"I also hold the question of public schools t<
be as important as you do," the philosopher replied
"All other educational institutions must fix theii
aims in accordance with those of the public schoo
system; whatever errors of judgment it maysuffei
from, they suffer from also, and if it were ever


## p. 47 (#67) ##############################################

SECOND LECTURE. 47
purified and rejuvenated, they would be purified and
rejuvenated too. The universities can no longer
lay claim to this importance as centres of influence,
seeing that, as they now stand, they are at least,
in one important aspect, only a kind of annex to
the public school system, as I shall shortly point
out to you. For the moment, let us consider,
together, what to my mind constitutes the very
hopeful struggle of the two possibilities: either
that the motley and evasive spirit of public schools
which has hitherto been fostered, will completely
vanish, or that it will have to be completely
purified and rejuvenated. And in order that I
may not shock you with general propositions, let \_
us first try to recall one of those public school
experiences which we have all had, and from which
we have all suffered. Under severe examination
what, as a matter of fact, is the present system of
teaching German in public schools?
"I shall first of all tell you what it should
be. Everybody speaks and writes German as
thoroughly badly as it is just possible to do so in
an age of newspaper German: that is why the
growing youth who happens to be both noble and
gifted has to be taken by force and put under the
glass shade of good taste and of severe linguistic
discipline. If this is not possible, I would prefer
in future that Latin be spoken ; for I am ashamed
of a language so bungled and vitiated.
"What would be the duty of a higher educa-
tional institution, in this respect, if not this—
namely, with authority and dignified severity to
put youths, neglected, as far as their own language
V


## p. 48 (#68) ##############################################

48 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
is concerned, on the right path, and to cr
them: 'Take your own language seriously!
who does not regard this matter as a sacred i
does not possess even the germ of a higher cul
From your attitude in this matter, from j
treatment of your mother-tongue, we can ju
how highly or how lowly you esteem art, anc
what extent you are related to it. If you nc
no physical loathing in yourselves when you n
with certain words and tricks of speech in
journalistic jargon, cease from striving after i
ture; for here in your immediate vicinity, at ev
moment of your life, while you are either speak
or writing, you have a touchstone for testing h
difficult, how stupendous, the task of the cultu
man is, and how very improbable it must be tl
many of you will ever attain to culture. '
"In accordance with the spirit of this addre
the teacher of German at a public school woi
be forced to call his pupil's attention to thousan
of details, and with the absolute certainty of go
taste, to forbid their using such words and expr<
sions, for instance, as: 'beanspruchen] 'verei
nakmen,' 'einer Sache Rechnung tragen' 'die Ini
ativeergreifen''selbstverstdndlick'* etc. ,cum tcea
in infinitum. The same teacher would also ha-
to take our classical authors and show, line for lin
how carefully and with what precision every e:
pression has to be chosen when a writer has tl
* It is not practicable to translate these German solecisn
by similar instances of English solecisms. The reader wl
is interested in the subject will find plenty of material in
book like the Oxford King's English.
N


## p. 49 (#69) ##############################################

SECOND LECTURE. 49
correct feeling in his heart and has before his eyes
a perfect conception of all he is writing. He would
necessarily urge his pupils, time and again, to ex-
press the same thought ever more happily; nor
would he have to abate in rigour until the less
gifted in his class had contracted an unholy fear
of their language, and the others had developed
great enthusiasm for it.
"Here then is a task for so-called 'formal'
education * [the education tending to develop the
mental faculties, as opposed to ' material' educa-
tion^ which is intended to deal only with the
acquisition of facts, e. g. history, mathematics, etc. ],
and one of the utmost value: but what do we find
in the public school—that is to say, in the head-
quarters of formal education? He who under-
stands how to apply what he has heard here will also
know what to think of the modern public school
as a so-called educational institution. He will dis-
cover, for instance, that the public school, according
to its fundamental principles, does not educate for the
purposes of culture, but for the purposes of scholar-
ship; and, further, that of late it seems to have
adopted a course which indicates rather that it has
even discarded scholarship in favour of journalism
as the object of its exertions. This can be clearly'
seen from the way in which German is taught.
"Instead of that purely practical method of
instruction by which the teacher accustoms his
pupils to severe self-discipline in their own
language, we find everywhere the rudiments of a
* German : Formelle Bildung.
t German : Materielle Bildung.
D
f~


## p. 50 (#70) ##############################################

50 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIO:
historico-scholastic method of teaching the mc
tongue: that is to say, people deal with it a«
were a dead language and as if the presenl
future were under no obligations to it whatsc
The historical method has become so univers
our time, that even the living body of the lang
is sacrificed for the sake of anatomical study,
this is precisely where culture begins—namel;
understanding how to treat the quick as sometl
vital, and it is here too that the mission of
cultured teacher begins: in suppressing the ur|
-- claims of ' historical interests ' wherever it is at
all necessary to do properly and not merely
know properly. Our mother-tongue, howevei
a domain in which the pupil must learn how
do properly, and to this practical end, alone,
teaching of German is essential in our schola;
establishments. The historical method may c
tainly be a considerably easier and more co
fortable one for the teacher; it also seems to
compatible with a much lower grade of abili
and, in general, with a smaller display of ener
and will on his part. But we shall find that tl
observation holds good in every department
pedagogic life: the simpler and more comfortab
method always masquerades in the disguise i
grand pretensions and stately titles; the real!
practical side, the doing, which should belong to cu
ture and which, at bottom, is the more difficult sid
meets only with disfavour and contempt. Tha
is why the honest man must make himself am
others quite clear concerning this quid pro quo.
"Now, apart from these learned incentives to;


## p. 51 (#71) ##############################################

SECOND LECTURE. 51
study of the language, what is there besides which
the German teacher is wont to offer? How does
he reconcile the spirit of his school with the spirit
of the few that Germany can claim who are really
cultured,—i. e. with the spirit of its classical poets
and artists? This is a dark and thorny sphere,
into which one cannot even bear a light without
dread; but even here we shall conceal nothing
from ourselves; for sooner or later the whole of it
will have to be reformed. In the public school,
the repulsive impress of our aesthetic journalism is
stamped upon the still unformed minds of youths.
Here, too, the teacher sows the seeds of that
crude and wilful misinterpretation of the classics,
which later on disports itself as art-criticism, and
which is nothing but bumptious barbarity. Here
the pupils learn to speak of our unique Schiller
with the superciliousness of prigs; here they are
taught to smile at the noblest and most German
of his works—at the Marquis of Posa, at Max and
Thekla—at these smiles German genius becomes
incensed and a worthier posterity will blush.
"The last department in which the German
teacher in a public school is at all active, which is
often regarded as his sphere of highest activity, and
is here and there even considered the pinnacle of
public school education,is the so-called German com-
position. Owing to the very fact that in this depart-
ment it is almost always the most gifted pupils who
display the greatest eagerness, it ought to have been
made clear how dangerously stimulating, precisely
here, the task of the teacher must be. German
composition makes an appeal to the individual, and


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52 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
the more strongly a pupil is conscious ol
various qualities, the more personally will h<
his German composition. This 'personal do
is urged on with yet an additional fillip in s
public schools by the choice of the subject,
strongest proof of which is, in my opinion,
even in the lower classes the non-pedag<
subject is set, by means of which the pupil is
to give a description of his life and of his devel
ment. Now, one has only to read the titles of
compositions set in a large number of pul
schools to be convinced that probably the la
majority of pupils have to suffer their whole In
through no fault of their own, owing to t
premature demand for personal work—for 1
unripe procreation of thoughts. And how oft
are not all a man's subsequent literary perfon
ances but a sad result of this pedagogic origir.
sin against the intellect!
"Let us only think of what takes place at su<
an age in the production of such work. It is tl
first individual creation; the still undevelope
powers tend for the first time to crystallise; tr
staggering sensation produced by the demand fc
self-reliance imparts a seductive charm to thes
early performances, which is not only quite nev
but which never returns. All the daring of natur
is hauled out of its depths; all vanities—n<
longer constrained by mighty barriers—an
allowed for the first time to assume a literarj
form: the young man, from that time forward
feels as if he had reached his consummation as a
being not only able, but actually invited, to speak


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SECOND LECTURE. 53
and to converse. The subject he selects obliges
him either to express his judgment upon certain
poetical works, to class historical persons together
in a description of character, to discuss serious
ethical problems quite independently, or even to
turn the searchlight inwards, to throw its rays
upon his own development and to make a critical
report of himself: in short, a whole world of
reflection is spread out before the astonished young
man who, until then, had been almost unconscious,
and is delivered up to him to be judged.
"Now let us try to picture the teacher's usual
attitude towards these first highly influential
examples of original composition. What does
he hold to be most reprehensible in this class of
work? What does he call his pupil's attention
to? —To all excess in form or thought—that is
to say, to all that which, at their age, is essentially
characteristic and individual. Their really in-
dependent traits which, in response to this very
premature excitation, can manifest themselves only
in awkwardness, crudeness, and grotesque features,
—in short, their individuality is reproved and
rejected by the teacher in favour of an unoriginal
decent average. On,the other hand, uniform medio-
crity gets peevish praise; for, as a rule, it is just the
class of work likely to bore the teacher thoroughly.
"There may still be men who recognise a most
absurd and most dangerous element of the public
school curriculum in the whole farce of this
German composition. Originality is demanded
here: but the only shape in which it can manifest
itself is rejected, and the ' formal' education that


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54 FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
the system takes for granted is attained to on!