Science in Public Affairs 



But if he is to succeed two things are necessary, the first that 

 this purpose should be ever present to his mind, both when he 

 frames his curricula and when he gives his lessons, and the 

 second that it should be brought home to the boy's mind. The 

 conception of the school as a glass house from which the boy 

 sooner or later is to be let out into the open air, or of education 

 as a process which is going to be finished at a particular date, 

 as girls used to be ' finished ' before they went ' out ' this is 

 what has to be got rid of." 



The fourth consequence of the scientific move- 

 ment in thought which has affected education is 

 the change which it has brought about in the 

 conception of national life. Partly by suggesting 

 the analogy (it is at most an analogy) between the 

 organism and the State ; partly through the practical 

 changes which it has produced in the mechanism 

 of social life, in methods of warfare and in the 

 direction of economic activities, it is familiarising 

 us with the idea of a scientifically organised 

 national existence. The argument of Hobbes is 

 re-stating itself in modern terms. It is conceivable 

 that much of the authority of science might one 

 day be found on the side of those who would 

 curtail with the utmost severity, not freedom of 

 action only, but freedom of speech and of teach- 

 ing, in the alleged interest of the State. That, 

 if it comes, will be an evil day evil because it 

 could only come after some great disaster or peril 

 due to previous want of national foresight. But 

 such distant danger as there is of a repressive 

 government of national defence buttressed by 

 science, can be best averted by a kindling of 

 educational effort so as to produce in all ranks of 



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