a treatise on parents and children(父母与子女专题研究)-第12章
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passionate demand for impudent pretences that doctors can cure the
diseases they themselves die of daily； so our ignorance and helplessness
set us clamoring for spiritual and moral quacks who pretend that they can
save our souls from their own damnation。 If a doctor were to say to his
patients； 〃I am familiar with your symptoms； because I have seen other
people in your condition； and I will bring the very little knowledge we
have to your treatment； but except in that very shallow sense I dont know
what is the matter with you； and I cant undertake to cure you；〃 he would
be a lost man professionally； and if a clergyman； on being called on to
award a prize for good conduct in the village school； were to say； 〃I am
afraid I cannot say who is the best…behaved child； because I really do not
know what good conduct is； but I will gladly take the teacher's word as to
which child has caused least inconvenience；〃 he would probably be
unfrocked； if not excommunicated。 And yet no honest and intellectually
capable doctor or parson can say more。 Clearly it would not be wise of
the doctor to say it； because optimistic lies have such immense therapeutic
value that a doctor who cannot tell them convincingly has mistaken his
profession。 And a clergyman who is not prepared to lay down the law
dogmatically will not be of much use in a village school； though it
behoves him all the more to be very careful what law he lays down。 But
unless both the clergyman and the doctor are in the attitude expressed by
these speeches they are not fit for their work。 The man who believes that
he has more than a provisional hypothesis to go upon is a born fool。 He
may have to act vigorously on it。 The world has no use for the Agnostic
who wont believe anything because anything might be false； and wont
deny anything because anything might be true。 But there is a wide
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difference between saying； 〃I believe this； and I am going to act on it；〃 or；
〃I dont believe it； and I wont act on it；〃 and saying； 〃It is true； and it is my
duty and yours to act on it；〃 or； 〃It is false； and it is my duty and yours to
refuse to act on it。〃 The difference is as great as that between the
Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed。 When you repeat the
Apostles' Creed you affirm that you believe certain things。 There you are
clearly within your rights。 When you repeat the Athanasian Creed； you
affirm that certain things are so； and that anybody who doubts that they are
so cannot be saved。 And this is simply a piece of impudence on your part；
as you know nothing about it except that as good men as you have never
heard of your creed。 The apostolic attitude is a desire to convert others to
our beliefs for the sake of sympathy and light： the Athanasian attitude is
a desire to murder people who dont agree with us。 I am sufficient of an
Athanasian to advocate a law for the speedy execution of all Athanasians；
because they violate the fundamental proposition of my creed； which is； I
repeat； that all living creatures are experiments。 The precise formula for
the Superman； _ci…devant_ The Just Man Made Perfect； has not yet been
discovered。 Until it is； every birth is an experiment in the Great Research
which is being conducted by the Life Force to discover that formula。
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The Experiment Experimenting
And now all the modern schoolmaster abortionists will rise up
beaming； and say； 〃We quite agree。 We regard every child in our school
as a subject for experiment。 We are always experimenting with them。
We challenge the experimental test for our system。 We are continually
guided by our experience in our great work of moulding the character of
our future citizens； etc。 etc。 etc。〃 I am sorry to seem irreconcilable； but it
is the Life Force that has to make the experiment and not the schoolmaster；
and the Life Force for the child's purpose is in the child and not in the
schoolmaster。 The schoolmaster is another experiment； and a laboratory
in which all the experiments began experimenting on one another would
not produce intelligible results。 I admit； however； that if my
schoolmasters had treated me as an experiment of the Life Force： that is；
if they had set me free to do as I liked subject only to my political rights
and theirs； they could not have watched the experiment very long； because
the first result would have been a rapid movement on my part in the
direction of the door； and my disappearance there…through。
It may be worth inquiring where I should have gone to。 I should say
that practically every time I should have gone to a much more educational
place。 I should have gone into the country； or into the sea； or into the
National Gallery； or to hear a band if there was one； or to any library
where there were no schoolbooks。 I should have read very dry and
difficult books： for example； though nothing would have induced me to
read the budget of stupid party lies that served as a text…book of history in
school； I remember reading Robertson's Charles V。 and his history of
Scotland from end to end most laboriously。 Once； stung by the airs of a
schoolfellow who alleged that he had read Locke On The Human
Understanding； I attempted to read the Bible straight through； and actually
got to the Pauline Epistles before I broke down in disgust at what seemed
to me their inveterate crookedness of mind。 If there had been a school
where children were really free； I should have had to be driven out of it for
the sake of my health by the teachers； for the children to whom a literary
education can be of any use are insatiable： they will read and study far
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more than is good for them。 In fact the real difficulty is to prevent them
from wasting their time by reading for the sake of reading and studying for
the sake of studying； instead of taking some trouble to find out what they
really like and are capable of doing some good at。 Some silly person will
probably interrupt me here with the remark that many children have no
appetite for a literary education at all； and would never open a book if they
were not forced to。 I have known many such persons who have been
forced to the point of obtaining University degrees。 And for all the effect
their literary exercises has left on them they might just as well have been
put on the treadmill。 In fact they are actually less literate than the
treadmill would have left them； for they might by chance have picked up
and dipped into a volume of Shakespear or a translation of Homer if they
had not been driven to loathe every famous name in literature。 I should
probably know as much Latin as French； if Latin had not been made the
excuse for my school imprisonment and degradation。
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Why We Loathe Learning and
Love Sport
If we are to discuss the importance of art； learning； and intellectual
culture； the first thing we have to recognize is that we have very little of
them at present； and that this little has not been produced by compulsory
education： nay； that the scarcity is unnatural and has been produced by
the violent exclusion of art and artists from schools。 On the other hand
we have quite a considerable degree of bodily culture： indeed there is a
continual outcry against the sacrifice of mental accomplishments to
athletics。 In other words a sacrifice of the professed object of
compulsory education to the real object of voluntary education。 It is
assumed that this means that people prefer bodily to mental culture； but
may it not mean that they prefer liberty and satisfaction to coercion and
privation。 Why is it that people who have been taught Shakespear as a
school subject loathe his plays and cannot by any means be persuaded ever
to open his works after they escape from school； whereas there is still； 300
years after his death； a wide and steady sale for his works to people who
read his plays as plays； and not as task work？ If Shakespear； or for that
matter； Newton and Leibnitz； are allowed to find their readers and students
they will find them。 If their works are annotated and paraphrased by
dullards； and the annotations and paraphrases forced on all young people
by imprisonment and flogging and scolding； there will not be a single man
of letters or higher mathematician the more in the country： on the
contrary there will be less； as so many potential lovers of literature and
mathematics will have been incurably prejudiced against them。
Everyone who is conversant with the class in which child imprisonment
and compulsory schooling is carried out to the final extremity of the
university degree knows that its scholastic culture is a sham； that it knows
little about literature or art and a great deal about point…to…point races； and
that the village cobbler； who has never read a page of Plato； and is
admittedly a dangerously ignorant man politically； is nevertheless a
Socrates compared to the classically educated gentlemen who discuss
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