JULIAN HUXLEY 
Education is another subject of basic concern for human 
evolution, for it transmits and can transform the tradition in 
and by which we live. There are many disputes about educa- 
tion, but no dispute that it needs radical improvement if it is 
to do its job successfully in man’s rapidly changing life. 
In the first place, education must aim to give an overall pic- 
ture of the world we have to live in and of ourselves who have to 
live in it, instead of dishing up a curriculum in a series of 
separate “‘subjects’’. It can sketch in the broad outlines of such 
a picture at a very early age, provided that a general approach 
is used from the outset; and it is quite possible to give a coherent 
picture and some real understanding by the age of 15 or 16, 
provided that no attempt is made to present children with a 
premature doctrinal synthesis and that the curriculum is pro- 
perly planned so that subjects (or as I would prefer to say, 
fields of study) are not overburdened with details, do not 
compete, but reinforce each other in a total pattern. 
In such an integrated curriculum, the evolutionary-historical 
idea could provide a central core and the ecological idea could 
cover the branching interrelation of subjects, while the idea of 
science, art, religion and literature as psychosocial organs would 
bring the sciences and the humanities into partnership. Such a 
curriculum would go a long way, not only towards bridging the 
gap between C. P. Snow’s two cultures, but also towards making 
the process of learning much more interesting and enjoyable. 
I remember Bertrand Russell once exclaiming “‘Isn’t it nice to 
know things!”’: our educational system ought to ensure that 
the average boy and girl can echo this sentiment. 
Of course education must also equip people with specialized 
knowledge and specialized skills, but we must beware both of 
excessive and of premature specialization. 
In addition to a curriculum of subjects, we need something 
quite new—a properly thought-out curriculum of experience: 
discovery through projects and travel, through group studies 
and adventure, through participation in activities felt to be 
worth while. In such ways, education could provide for greater 
fulfilment as well as for better learning. 
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