Saturday, September 22, 2007

It is not too much to say that the chief problem in dealing



with an erstwhile savage race is to overcome the universal loss
of interest and decline in energy which inevitably follows upon
the development of that semblance of civilization which is
enforced with the advent of the white man
It is not too much to say that the chief problem in dealing
with an erstwhile savage race is to overcome the universal loss
of interest and decline in energy which inevitably follows upon
the development of that semblance of civilization which is
enforced with the advent of the white man. The establishment of
manual training schools wherein arts and crafts which may be
profitably practiced by the natives as life-professions, is a
first essential to the salvation of the race. These schools
should and would in no manner interfere with the religious
teaching received from missionaries, but would indeed be a most
potent factor in the spread of true Christianity among the
natives. Whether Christianity be true or false does not affect
the case, for the natives are destined to be dominated by
Christian peoples, and it primarily essential that they should
understand at least the rudiments of Christian ideals and
behavior.




As a third instance of the wrong form of revolt against



the public schools, I may mention the habit of using the word
aristocracy with a double implication
As a third instance of the wrong form of revolt against
the public schools, I may mention the habit of using the word
aristocracy with a double implication. To put the plain truth
as briefly as possible, if aristocracy means rule by a rich ring,
England has aristocracy and the English public schools support it.
If it means rule by ancient families or flawless blood,
England has not got aristocracy, and the public schools
systematically destroy it. In these circles real aristocracy,
like real democracy, has become bad form. A modern fashionable
host dare not praise his ancestry; it would so often be an insult
to half the other oligarchs at table, who have no ancestry.
We have said he has not the moral Courage to wear his uniform;
still less has he the moral courage to wear his coat-of-arms.
The whole thing now is only a vague hotch-potch of nice and
nasty gentlemen. The nice gentleman never refers to anyone
else"s father, the nasty gentleman never refers to his own.
That is the only difference, the rest is the public-school manner.
But Eton and Harrow have to be aristocratic because they consist
so largely of parvenues. The public school is not a sort
of refuge for aristocrats, like an asylum, a place where they
go in and never come out. It is a factory for aristocrats;
they come out without ever having perceptibly gone in.
The poor little private schools, in their old-world, sentimental,
feudal style, used to stick up a notice, 'For the Sons of
Gentlemen only.' If the public schools stuck up a notice it
ought to be inscribed, 'For the Fathers of Gentlemen only.'
In two generations they can do the trick.