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diff --git a/13301-0.txt b/13301-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..beb4722 --- /dev/null +++ b/13301-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,492 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13301 *** + +THE +NEW IDEAL IN EDUCATION + + +AN ADDRESS GIVEN BEFORE +THE LEAGUE OF THE EMPIRE + +On July 16th, 1916. + +BY +FR. NICHOLAI VELIMIROVIC, PH.D. + +_Reprinted from the "FEDERAL MAGAZINE."_ + + +LONDON +"THE ELECTRICIAN" PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., LIMITED. +SALISBURY COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C. + + + + +THE NEW IDEAL IN EDUCATION. + +By Father Nicholai Velimirovic, Ph.D. + + "Nature _takes sufficient care + of our individualistic sense, + leaving to_ Education _the care + of our panhumanistic sense_." + +Ladies and Gentlemen, + +If we do not want war we must look to the children. There is the only +hope and the only wise starting point. It is not without a deep +prophetic significance that Christ asked children to come unto Him. In +all the world-calamities, in all wars, strifes, religious inquisitions +and persecutions, in all the hours of human misery and helplessness, He +has been asking, through centuries, the children to come unto Him. I am +sure, if anybody has ears for His voice to-day, amidst the thunderings +of guns and passions and revenges, one would hear the same call: Let the +children come unto Me!--Not kings and politicians, not journalists and +generals, not the grown-up people, but children. And so to-day also, +when we ask for a way out of the present world-misery, when we _in +profundis_ of darkness to-day ask for light, and in sorrow for to-morrow +ask for advice and comfort, we must look to the children and Christ. + + +WHY NOT KINGS? + +Why does Christ not ask the kings to come to Him--the kings, and +politicians, and journalists, and generals? Because they are too much +engaged in a wrong state of things, and because they are greatly +responsible themselves for such a wrong state of things, and because +consequently it is difficult for them to change their ways, their hearts +and their minds. It would be very hard for Napoleon and Pitt to kneel +together down before Christ and to embrace each other. It would be +almost impossible for Bismarck and Gambetta to walk together. Not less +it would be impossible for the Pope and Monsieur Loisy or George Tyrrel +to pray in the same bench. Every generation is laden with sins and +prejudices. That is the reason why Christ goes only a little way with +every generation, and then He becomes tired and asks for a new +generation--He calls for children. Christ is always new and fresh as +children are. Every generation is spoiled and corrupted by long living +and struggling. + +But for a new generation the world is quite a new wonder. God is shown +only to those for whom the world is a new thing, a wonder. No one, who +does not admire this world as a wonder, can find God. For the old Hæckel +no God exists, just because for him no wonder exists. He pretends to +know everything. Christ means for him nothing and he means for Christ +nothing. Every foolish child, believing in God and in this wonderful +world, has more wisdom than the materialistic professor from Germany. +Christ is getting tired of an old generation. Sadly He calls for a new +one--for children. In our distress to-day, I think, we should multiply +His voice, calling for Him, for a new generation and for a new +education. + + + +THE EDUCATION WHICH MAKES FOR WAR. + +It is called by a very attractive name, the _individualistic_ education. +The true name of it is selfishness, or egotism. No religion of Asia ever +boasted of having been the birthplace of such an education. It is born +in the heart of Europe, in Germany. It was brought up by Schopenhauer +and Goethe. It was subsequently supported by the German biologists, by +the musicians, sculptors, philosophers, poets, soldiers, socialists and +priests, by the wisest and by the madmen beyond the Rhine. Unfortunately +France, Russia and even Great Britain have not been quite exempt from +this pernicious theory of individualistic education. + +The sophistic theories of Athens of old have been renewed in Central +Europe--the individuum is the ultimate aim of education. A human +individuum is of limitless worth, said the German interpreters of the +New Testament. Materialistic science, contradicting itself, agreed on +that point with modern theology. Art, in all its branches, presented +itself as the sole expression of one individuum, i.e., of the artist. +The modern socialism, contradicting its own name, supported +individualism very strongly in every department of human activity. +Consequently modern Pedagogy, based upon the general tendencies, put up +the same individualistic ideal as the aim to be achieved by the schools, +church, state, and by many other social institutions. + + +THE RESULTS OF THE OLD IDEAL. + +War is the result of the old ideal of education. I call it old because +it is over for ever, I hope, with this war. The old European ideal of +education was so called individualistic. This ideal was supported +equally by the churches and by science and art. Extreme individualism, +developed in Germany more than in any other country, resulted in pride, +pride resulted in materialism, materialism in pessimism. Put upon a +dangerous and false base every evil result followed quite naturally. If +my poor personality is of limitless value, without any effort and merit +of my own, why should not I be proud? If the aim of the world's history +is to produce some few genial personalities, as Carlyle taught, why +should not I think that I am such a personality for my own generation, +and why should I not be proud of that? Once filled with pride I will +soon be filled also with contempt for other men. Selfishness and denial +of God will follow my pride; this is called by a scientific word +materialism. Being a materialist, as long as I possess a certain amount +of intellectual and physical strength, I will be proud of myself. But as +soon as my body or spirit are affected by any illness (it may be only a +headache or toothache), I will plunge into a dark pessimism, always the +shadow and the end of materialism. Modern Germany was, as you know, the +hearth of individualism, and consequently also of pride, materialism, +atheism and pessimism. The worship of strong personalities (to-day: +Kaiser William and Hindenburg) holds the whole of Germany in unity +during this war, which is not the case either in France or in Great +Britain or Russia, where the common cause inspires the unity. + + +THE EDUCATION WHICH MAKES FOR PEACE. + +When will wars really stop in the world's history? As soon as a new +ideal of education is realised. What is this new ideal of education +which makes for peace? I will give it in one word: _Panhumanism_. This +word includes all I wish to say. + +Individualism means a brick, Panhumanism means a building. Even the +greatest individuality (may it be Cæsar, or Raphael, or Luther) is no +more than a brick in the panhuman building of history. The lives of +individuals are only the points, whereas the life of mankind is a form, +a deep, high and large form. + +If a great and original individuality were the aim of history, I think +history should stop with the first man upon earth, for our first +ancestor must have been the most striking individual who ever existed. +Men coming after Adam have been like their parents and each other. +Kaiser William is not such an interesting and striking a creature by far +as the first man was. When Kaiser William opens his mouth to speak, he +speaks words that are known. When he moves or sits, when he eats or +prays--all that is a _nuance_ only of what other people do, all is +either from heritage or imitation, and quite an insignificant amount is +individual. Whereas every sound that the first man uttered was quite new +for the Universe; every movement striking and dramatic; every look of +his eyes was discovering new worlds; every joy or sorrow violently felt; +every struggle a great accumulation of experiences. And so forth. Well, +if one striking individuum is the aim of history, history should close +with the death of Adam. But history still continues. Why? Just because +not Adam was its aim, but mankind; not one, or two, or ten heroes, but +millions of human creatures; not some few great men, but all men, all +together, all without exception. + +From this point of view we get the true ideal of education. The purpose +of education is not to make grand personalities, but to make bricks for +the building, i.e., to make suitable members of a collective body and +suitable workers of a collective work. + + +COLLECTIVE WORKS + +Are greater than personal works. A pupil from the old, individualistic +school would object: + +--And what do you think of the work of Ibsen? + +_I:_ I think it is incomparably smaller than the ancient Scandinavian +legends. + +_He:_ Do you not grant that Alfred the Great was the real creator of the +English Kingdom? + +_I:_ Never. Millions and millions of human creatures are built into this +building that we call England, or English history, or English +civilisation. + +_He:_ And what about the man who built St. Paul's Cathedral? + +_I:_ It is a collective work, as are all the great works that have been +done. The architecture of St. Paul's is one of the ancient styles, and +no style in architecture was ever invented or created by one person, but +by generations and generations. + +_He:_ And what about Victor Hugo and Milton? Are they not great poets? + +_I:_ Yes, they are if compared with certain minor poets, but they are +not great if compared with the popular poetry of India or Greece. +Mahabarata, the Koran, and Zend-Avesta, and the Bible, are products of +collective efforts--therefore they are superior to every personal +effort. + +_He:_ Do you not appreciate the great economists and what they did for +the household, and common-wealth in general? + +_I:_ Certainly I do; but their work is too much overestimated. Not a +handful of economic writers, like Adam Smith and Marx, but the common +genius of generations and generations arranged the house, set the +furniture, created the cooking, constructed towns, invented plays and +enjoyments, customs, language, and so forth. + +_He:_ You agree, I think, that Shaljapin and Caruso have wonderful +voices, don't you? + +_I:_ Yes, I agree. But don't you agree that a choir of millions of human +voices would be something much more striking and wonderful than any solo +singer since the beginning of time? + +_He:_ Don't you believe in the wisdom of wise men like Kant and Spencer? + +_I:_ No, I don't. I think there is incomparably more healthy and more +applicable wisdom in the popular sayings, proverbs, parables, and tales +of the nations, cultivated and uncultivated, in Macedonia, Armenia, +Ceylon, New Zealand, Japan, &c., than in some dozen of the greatest +thinkers of Europe. + +_He:_ Who is then in your opinion a great man? + +_I:_ Only a good man is a great man to me, who is conscious that he is a +cell in the panhuman organism, or a brick in the building of human +history. Such a man is more a man of truth and of the future than any +conqueror, who thinks that a hundred millions of people and hundreds of +years have waited just for him and his guidance, his work, or his +wisdom. + +That is what I would say to a pupil of individualism in education. And +at the end I would remind him of Christ and His call after the children, +and of the new ideal of education, of panhumanism which stands over +individualism, and of the collective work of people which stands over +every individual work and merit. + + +EDUCATION AS AN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR. + +It is quite surprising and humiliating that other things can be +discussed and settled as international affairs, before education. Yet +you have hundreds of things regulated by international laws, and among +these hundred things education is net yet reckoned. You have the +International Institution of the Red Cross, international laws on trade, +fishery, travel, copyright, political crimes, barbarities in war-time, +&c. But this war shows quite clearly that education--before anything +else--should be a matter of international consideration and regulation. +Behold, how illusory are all international restrictions when the +education of a nation is quite excluded from any control! When the +Nitzschean education of Germany teaches the German youth to despise all +neighbours, all nations and races as inferior ones, how could you expect +the Germans to respect the laws and regulations about Belgium, and +submarines--and Zeppelin-warfare, and use of the dum-dum bullets and of +poisonous gases? + +If there is anything to be learned from this war it is doubtless this: +The education of youth in all the countries of the world must become an +international affair of the very first importance. + +THE RUSSIAN TSAR, MR. CARNEGIE AND NOBEL. + +The Russian Tsar suggested the Peace Conference of The Hague. Mr. +Carnegie built a wonderful Hall of Peace there, formed several +commissions for the investigation of war cruelties during the Balkan +Wars, and founded many public libraries for the instruction of the poor. +The noble Nobel left his big fortune for the support of the best works +of literature or science having as their aim the general good of +mankind. If I were either the Russian Tsar or Mr. Carnegie or Professor +Nobel I would do neither of the three mentioned things, but I would give +suggestions and material support to an International Board of Education. + +That is the point to start with in the consolidation of the World. I am +sorry to say that no one of these three great friends of mankind listens +to the prophetic words of Christ: Let children come unto me! and that no +one thought that no great social reform and no real philanthropic +foundation of mankind is possible to realise--yea, even to +start--otherwise than through the children. The Peace Conference, being +rather a law court than anything else, is beaten by the uncontrolled +warlike education of the German nation. Carnegie's books have been read +by grown-up people who had already got a direction in life, and +Carnegie's Hall of Peace in The Hague is still an office without +business. Nobel's prize was given also to some German professors who are +responsible for the new pedagogy in Germany. + + +MOTHERS, PATRIOTS, AND PRIESTS. + +These three can be the best possible supporters or the worst enemies of +your educational scheme. Mothers by nature adore their children and +excite their individualism. Patriots try to engage the whole heart and +imagination of a child for its own country. Priests are asking the whole +sympathy of a child for their creed and their church. To be +individualistic, to be a patriot and a believer are the quite natural +gifts of a healthy person. But maternal love exaggerates very often the +individualism of a child and makes it egotistic and selfish; exclusively +cultivated patriotism degenerates into chauvinism; and exclusive church +education makes a bigot. These three kinds of people (alas! the +majority), egotists, chauvinists and bigots, will be against an +international scheme of education. But you must say to the sensible +mothers: The international education of your child will not kill its +individuality, but, on the contrary, will use it to the best advantage +for mankind and for itself. You are an enemy of your son if you educate +him to be an egotist and egoist. In egotism and egoism one has the worst +company in this life, the company which leads to pessimism and disgust +of life. + +You must say to the sensible patriots: International education approves +of patriotic as of a natural inclination; only the new education intends +to make a window in every fatherland so that the child may see its +neighbours and stretch its hand to greet them. + +And you must say to the sensible priests: The international board of +education will let every child go to its own church and learn the +catechism from its own parish priest; but it will be brought in touch +with the children of different creeds, and it will pray with them upon +the general ground of all the creeds. + + +THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION. + +1. It shall consist of the representatives of all the boards of +education in the world. + +2. The members of the board shall officially represent their own +country. + +3. The board will be supported materially by the respective Governments, +and it will dispose of a great fortune from private legacies. For all +the philanthropists and peacemakers and peace wishers will support such +an institution rather than any other in the world. + +4. The authority of this board shall be equal to the authority of an +international political congress. + +5. Its duty will be to control education all over the world, banishing +or restricting individualism, egotism, chauvinism and bigotism, and +promoting by all means panhumanism by developing the mind for collective +work, mutual help, personal goodness and humbleness and social +greatness. + + +TO BRING CHILDREN OF THE WORLD CLOSER TOGETHER. + +Let them meet as often as possible; I mean the children from England and +the children from Serbia, the children from Russia and the children from +France. So they will know about each other that they all are human +beings, and that they all can smile in friendliness on each other. Let +them travel to each other's country; I mean the children from Germany +and the children from Italy, the children from Japan and those from +Scandinavia. Let them see how every spot on earth is wonderful in its +way, and how worthy of love, of patriotism. When will the railway +companies and ship companies say: Let the children come to us? When +will they arrange the best trains, better than the royal trains, the +most commodious and decorated with flowers and flags of different +nations and with one special flag of the Children World Union? When the +moment comes that the wonderful modern communication begins to help the +children to meet each other and to pay visits to each other, at that +moment the invention of steam and electricity will justify itself. In +transferring the troops and facilitating crime it does net justify +itself. Let the word communication be not only for the sake of crime and +for the sake of bread; let it be for the sake of peace and of souls. + +Let them sing together, everyone in his own tongue; I mean the children +from the East and West and North and South. You should have been the +other day in the Mansion House when the English and Serbian boys met +together, and have listened to the English singing the Serbian and the +Serbian singing the English National Anthems, and you would have been +fascinated by the sweet revelation of the future world. + +Let the children from the East and West and South and North, pray +together. Why not? Bring them, thousands of them, to a mountain, upon +which our ancestors prayed, and let them at sunset kneel down and sing +some common prayer that they all know, or, if they have no such common +prayer in their creeds, let them just kneel and silently pray! Such a +silent prayer will do more good than any thousand years' old discussion +about religion. It is very easy to convince all the children of the +world, just because they are children, that they have one Father in +Heaven, and that they shall send their prayers to Him. But even if they +send their prayers in different directions, they will arrive at the same +place. All prayers, whenever and wherever sent, go always the same way. + +Let the children from the northern ice and from the tropical heat carry +on a correspondence. Millions of letters are written and sent every day, +which mean nonsense and evil. The post communication will justify itself +much more by bearing the children's mail, with truth and love, than by +bearing perfidious diplomatic notes or letters which mean nonsense and +evil. One of the unforgettable events in Serbia during this war happened +in 1914 on Christmas Day, when an American ship arrived and brought +gifts and letters from the children of America to the children of +Serbia. This wonderful mail produced the greatest imaginable excitement +among the Serbian children. They were busy, very busy for some weeks, +reading the friendly letters from so far, and answering them. I am sure +they will forget many sad events of the war, but they never can forget +this wonderful and surprising mail, which made for peace more than any +of the costly commissions for the investigation of war cruelties, or any +of Carnegie's empty, although wonderful, luxurious halls of peace. + +Let the children, the representatives of all the countries in the world, +come to The Hague to hold the International Peace Congress. The +programme of this Congress should be: Singing, playing, dancing, smiling +and praying. They will meet as friends and speak every one in his native +language, and they will understand each other very well as friends +always understand each other. This Children's Hague Conference will +promote the world peace more than The Hague Conference composed of +enemies, mutually annoying themselves by obligatory politeness and bad +French. + +But, you will ask, who is going to arrange and execute all this? The +International Board of Education. + +But, you will say, it will be very expensive? Yes, but, supposing it +will be as expensive as the war, for which of the two do you prefer to +give money--for such a salvatory experiment or for the war? Yet, I am +sure of one thing, it will cost less than a war. + + +THE INTERNATIONAL CONTROL OF EDUCATION. + +If you do not watch the education of a country all other international +precautions for peace and mutual understanding will be wholly illusory. + + +An International Board of Education should control the programmes of +education of all countries. It should watch that one principle prevails +in every educational programme, i.e., the principle of Panhumanism. It +should not interfere as to the form of education, no, far from that, but +look to the unity of the principle of education upon the whole globe. It +should carefully avoid all the watchwords which make for separations and +wars, like "Germany, Germany _over all!_" The child must love its own +country, but it must know also that its country is not the thing over +all other things. It must be taught that God and mankind are something +which stands above its country. + +It should control not only the governmental programmes of education, but +it should also watch the mothers, patriots and priests. It should try to +have these three world-powers not for the enemies but for the allies and +missionaries of a higher, and a panhuman education. + + +THE THIRD STAGE OF THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION. + +There are three stages of the Christian European education:-- + +1. Compulsory obedience. This was in the Middle Ages when men were +compelled to do the common work by the authority of the church and +nobility. + +2. The experiment with Individualism. This has been since the +Renaissance, especially since Rousseau--a personality put as the centre +and aim of education, the abhorrence of every compulsion whatsoever. + +3. Voluntary Obedience. It is the education of tomorrow. It is a stage +where all men will see their mission in their collective work, and +therefore voluntarily enchain themselves into the panhuman organism, +plunging their imaginative, pointlike personalities into a big and +mystic personality of mankind. + +The Voluntary Obedience will mean a voluntary slavery. We are going to +be slaves again, but not by royal or papal compulsion, but by our good +will; we are going to be slaves as the parts of a body are slaves and +servants of each other, and as the bricks are slaves and servants of a +great building. We are going to be "prisoners of the Lord," as St. Paul +says, instead of being as now the prisoners of our dreams, imaginations +and ambitions. + +This war will close a period of a wrong education, and will open a +period of a right one. It will open our eyes that we may see how we all +are one, and how the greatest of us is nothing else than a bigger cell +in the immense organism of history. + +There is no hope for the future in the politicians, or generals, now +struggling. The only hope and guarantee lies in the children. A new +education in _personal goodness_ making for _social greatness_ is the +only salutary war. Therefore, let us look to the children! + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The New Ideal In Education, by Nicholai Velimirovic + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13301 *** |