THOUGHTS AND NOTES: G.K. CHESTERTON ON EDUCATION

EDUCATION, LEARNING AND VARIOUS CRITICISMS

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a brilliant writer and deep thinker (also he was a devoted Christian), who could give and actually gives some remarkable insights into literature or religious studies, etc. I am also convinced that he did have a lot of very useful and challenging thoughts about other things. For instance, he left several interesting statements about education and educational system.


One of his concerns about the modern state of affairs within the 'academic world' is the problem of studies without learning or memorizing without changing oneself. Learning is really impossible without changes in one's own personality, but this change or self-development is impossible without self-criticism, so...

"Though the academic authorities are actually proud of conducting everything by means of Examinations, they seldom indulge in what religious people used to descibe as Self-Examination. The consequence is that the modern State has educated its citizens in a series of ephemeral fads."

"The purpose of Compulsory Education is to deprive the common people of their commonsense."

"What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but an absence of self-criticism."