(Posted October 3, 1997 ? Issue 17; archived October 3, 1997)
Editor's Note: This issue of HMS Beagle features several pieces that
deal with the importance of science education, and with the
current state of the field. (See Press Box, In Situ, Site Review, and the Poll.) As will be seen in this issue's
Featured Essay (written in 1868), concerned scientists and scholars have long been
stressing the importance, both to the individual and to
society, of every citizen's acquiring at least a basic
understanding of the laws and concepts of science. T.H.
Huxley considered such an education not merely desirable,
but essential - he describes Nature as unmalicious but
implacably unforgiving; the punishment for disobeying Nature's laws is death. On
the other hand, one who masters "a liberal education" will
not only avoid the pitfalls, but will reap "the rewards
which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her penalties."
Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune
of every one of us would, one day or other, depend upon his
winning or losing a game of chess. Don't you think that we
should all consider it to be a primary duty to learn at
least the names and the moves of the pieces; to have a
notion of a gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of
giving and getting out of check? Do you not think that we
should look with a disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon
the father who allowed his son, or the state which allowed
its members, to grow up without knowing a pawn from a
knight?
Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life,
the fortune, and the happiness of every one of us, and, more
or less, of those who are connected with us, do depend upon
our knowing something of the rules of a game infinitely more
difficult and complicated than chess. It is a game which has
been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being
one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The
chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the
universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of
Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We
know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But
also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a
mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To
the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with
that sort of overflowing generosity with which the strong
shows delight in strength. And one who plays ill is
checkmated - without haste, but without remorse.
My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous picture in
which Retzsch has depicted Satan playing at chess with man
for his soul. Substitute for the mocking fiend in that
picture, a calm, strong angel who is playing for love, as we
say, and would rather lose than win - and I should accept it
as an image of human life.
Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules of this
mighty game. In other words, education is the instruction of
the intellect in the laws of Nature, under which name I
include not merely things and their forces, but men and
their ways; and the fashioning of the affections and of the
will into an earnest and loving desire to move in harmony
with those laws. For me education means neither more nor
less than this. Anything which professes to call itself
education must be tried by this standard, and if it fails to
stand the test, I will not call it education, whatever may
be the force of authority, or of numbers, upon the other side
It is important to remember that, in strictness, there is no
such thing as an uneducated man. Take an extreme case.
Suppose that an adult man, in the full vigor of his
faculties, could be suddenly placed in the world, as Adam is
said to have been, and then left to do as he best might. How
long would he be so left uneducated? Not five minutes.
Nature would begin to teach him, through the eye, the ear,
the touch, the properties of objects. Pain and pleasure
would be at his elbow telling him to do this and avoid that;
and by slow degrees the man would receive an education,
which, if narrow, would be thorough, real,
and adequate to his circumstances, though there would be no
extras and very few accomplishments.
And if to this solitary man entered a second Adam, or better
still, an Eve, a new and greater world, that of social and
moral phenomena, would be revealed. Joys and woes, compared
with which all others might seem but faint shadows, would
spring from the new relations. Happiness and sorrow would
take the place of the coarser monitors, pleasure and pain;
but conduct would still be shaped by the observation of the
natural consequences of actions; or, in other words, by the
laws of the nature of man.
To every one of us the world was once as fresh and new as to
Adam. And then, long before we were susceptible of any other
mode of instruction, Nature took us in hand, and every
minute of waking life brought its educational influence,
shaping our actions into rough accordance with Nature's
laws, so that we might not be ended untimely by too gross
disobedience. Nor should I speak of this process of
education as past for any one, be he as old as he may. For
every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day,
and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to
see them. And Nature is still continuing her patient
education of us in that great university, the universe, of
which we are all members - Nature having no Test-Acts.
Those who take honors in Nature's university, who learn the
laws which govern men and things and obey them, are the
really great and successful men in this world. The great
mass of mankind are the "Poll," who pick up just enough to
get through without much discredit. Those who won't learn at
all are plucked; and then you can't come up again. Nature's
pluck means extermination.
Thus the question of compulsory education is settled so far
as Nature is concerned. Her bill on that question was framed
and passed long ago. But, like all compulsory legislation,
that of Nature is harsh and wasteful in its operation.
Ignorance is visited as sharply as willful disobedience -
incapacity meets with the same punishment as crime. Nature's
discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow
first; but the blow without the word. It is left to you to
find out why your ears are boxed.
The object of what we commonly call education - that
education in which man
intervenes and which I shall distinguish as artificial
education - is to make good these defects in Nature's
methods; to prepare the child to receive Nature's education,
neither incapably nor ignorantly, nor with willful
disobedience; and to understand the preliminary symptoms of
her displeasure, without waiting for the box on the ear. In
short, all artificial education ought to be an anticipation
of natural education. And a liberal education is an
artificial education, which has not only prepared a man to
escape the great evils of disobedience to natural laws, but
has trained him to appreciate and to seize upon the rewards,
which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her penalties.
That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been
so trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of
his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that,
as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a
clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of equal
strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam
engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the
gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind; whose
mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental
truths of Nature and of the laws of her operations; one who,
no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose
passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the
servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all
beauty, whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness,
and to respect others as himself.
Such an one and no other, I conceive, has had a liberal
education; for he is, as completely as a man can be, in
harmony with Nature. He will make the best of her, and she
of him. They will get on together rarely; she as his ever
beneficent mother; he as her mouth-piece, her conscious
self, her minister and interpreter.
Thomas
Henry Huxley (1825-1895), the great biologist who helped develop the theory of evolution, is
remembered best as "Darwin's bulldog," debating aggressively where the shy Darwin
feared to tread. An immediate convert to natural selection, Huxley's energetic defense
and advocacy of the new theory quickened its acceptance in scientific and public opinion. A top
anatomist and paleontologist in his own right, Huxley argued that birds were descended from
dinosaurs, citing the avian builds of Iguanodon, Archaeopteryx, and Compsognathus.
He was the grandfather of author Aldous Huxley and of Sir Julian Huxley, the latter himself a
staunch advocate of Darwinian evolution who helped bring the field in line with population
genetics. (See Endlinks below for more.)
Tell us about your favorite essay.
Endlinks
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) - a brief biography, including a
precis of his scientific work and a description of his fervent support of
Darwin and the theory of evolution.
Quotes on
Education/Citas sobre Educacion - a large collection of observations on education,
from the inspirational to the entertaining, from sources
ranging from Bertrand Russell to Woody Allen. Divided into
subject areas such as: The Aims of Education; Education and
Ethics; Education and Society; The Joy of Learning; The
Limits of Education; and more. In English and Spanish.
The Official Science Olympiad Web Site - information on the annual science competitions
(regional, state, and national) for elementary, middle, and high school
students. "The Science Olympiad is devoted to improving the
quality of science education, increasing student interest in
science and providing recognition for outstanding
achievement in science education by both students and
teachers."
BioEd:
Biology Education Resources - Links to pages of links on: General Biology Topics;
Cellular/Microbiology; Oceanography/Marine Biology;
EnviroEd: Environmental Science; Software; Biotechnology;
Health Education; and more.
SOFWeb - Schools of the Future,
a massive Australian site rich in links for science resources in Australia
and elsewhere. Supporting "Virtual Classroom Education" - the
integration of the Internet in the classroom - SOFWeb includes
Science Resources for VCE such as
the Australian Academy of Science; Nye Labs Online (from Bill
Nye); Blue Web'n Applications Library; and Science Links.
Biology
Resources include the Australian Biotechnology
Association; The CMS Molecular Biology Resource; Human
Genome Project; Mad Cow Disease. Major SOFWeb areas include Schools of the
Future; Teaching & Learning; Resource Centre; Interactive
Learning; Lifetime Learning; Headlines; Gallery; and
Learning with the Internet.
Association for Women in
Science - AWIS, a nonprofit organization, is "dedicated to achieving
equity and full participation for women in science,
mathematics, engineering, and technology." Membership
benefits include resources for career building; mentoring
opportunities; scholarships; internships; the AWIS magazine;
a new publication, Cultivating Academic Careers; and
information on government relations and science policy.
Purchase
You may purchase this book (paper, 128 pp.) directly from:
Amazon.com
(special order only: $4.95 plus $2.35 surcharge)
Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune
of every one of us would, one day or other, depend upon his
winning or losing a game of chess. Don't you think that we
should all consider it to be a primary duty to learn at
least the names and the moves of the pieces; to have a
notion of a gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of
giving and getting out of check? Do you not think that we
should look with a disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon
the father who allowed his son, or the state which allowed
its members, to grow up without knowing a pawn from a
knight?
Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules of this
mighty game. In other words, education is the instruction of
the intellect in the laws of Nature, under which name I
include not merely things and their forces, but men and
their ways; and the fashioning of the affections and of the
will into an earnest and loving desire to move in harmony
with those laws. For me education means neither more nor
less than this. Anything which professes to call itself
education must be tried by this standard, and if it fails to
stand the test, I will not call it education, whatever may
be the force of authority, or of numbers, upon the other side
To every one of us the world was once as fresh and new as to
Adam. And then, long before we were susceptible of any other
mode of instruction, Nature took us in hand, and every
minute of waking life brought its educational influence,
shaping our actions into rough accordance with Nature's
laws, so that we might not be ended untimely by too gross
disobedience. Nor should I speak of this process of
education as past for any one, be he as old as he may. For
every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day,
and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to
see them. And Nature is still continuing her patient
education of us in that great university, the universe, of
which we are all members - Nature having no Test-Acts.
Thus the question of compulsory education is settled so far
as Nature is concerned. Her bill on that question was framed
and passed long ago. But, like all compulsory legislation,
that of Nature is harsh and wasteful in its operation.
Ignorance is visited as sharply as willful disobedience -
incapacity meets with the same punishment as crime. Nature's
discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow
first; but the blow without the word. It is left to you to
find out why your ears are boxed.
That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been
so trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of
his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that,
as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a
clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of equal
strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam
engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the
gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind; whose
mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental
truths of Nature and of the laws of her operations; one who,
no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose
passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the
servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all
beauty, whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness,
and to respect others as himself.
