Bertrand Russell's Best; Silhouettes in Satire, selected and introduced by Robert E. Egner. (London; Allen & Unwin, 1958. 113 p. 20 cm.)
An essay introducing the section 'Education'
Although Lord Russell's contributions to education have not been as titanic or promethean as his contributions to mathematics and philosophy, the impact of his views on education has been considerable. He is an ardent leader of those who insist that education ought to emphasize scientific methods of inquiry rather than the transmission of a settled body of knowledge. He refuses to compromise with those who adopt persecution, censorship, and other controls over education. (挿絵出典：B. Russell's The Good Citizen's Alphabet, 1953.)Lord Russell has had wide personal experience with a variety of educational problems. From 1927 to 1932 he and his wife, Dora Winifred Black, directed the activities of an experimental school for young children. Since 1900 he has lectured widely in England, America, and the Far East at such notable institutions as Cambridge University, England; the University of Chicago, the University of California, and Harvard University in the United States; and the National University in Peking, China. He has also been prevented from accepting a number of other professorial engagements because he advocated 'dangerous' ideas. He has been called an enemy of religion and morality by those who prefer that educators instil dogmatic creeds, instead of a spirit of critical inquiry.
During the present century considerable attention has been focused upon the more desirable values of education - the developing of scientific attitudes and the forming of mental habits which lead to sound judgments. To these, however, much as enlightened educators may regret it, most students react with indifference. What they really value from the education to which they are exposed are final answers to problems. The thought that objective methods of inquiry are more valid than fixed answers to problems rarely occurs to the stereotyped mind. What is needed in education are not systems of dogma, but rather an attitude of scientific inquiry. Students ought to be taught to base theier beliefs upou observation and inference as impersonal and as much devoid of dogmatic bias as is possible for human beings.The flashes of wit that Lord Russell displays in the selections which follow point up the struggle between those who adovocate inflexible doctrines and those who advocate freedom in education. The former are largely responsible for planting seeds of fear, hate, and intolerance in the minds of the young which often blossom into full scale persecution crusades. History records numerous instances of the dreadfful consequences of this kind of education. Hitler's Germany is a case in point. There are other undesirable results of this educational method. Science, for example remained static until a few brave men challenged the opinions of ancient authorities. Before 1500 anyone who dared disagree with the official opinion of the Church or State was silenced.
It is only in a spirit of free inquiry that desirable learning can take place. In this kind of atmosphere students are not compelled to believe in tenets, but only in evidence which is objective. The substitution of evidence for dogma, as a basis for belief, is one of the great achievements that science has conferred upon mankind. Lord Russell refuses to surrender to the pressures of those who insist upon less than a scientific attitude in education.