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not produce intelligible results。 I admit； however； that if my
schoolmasters had treated me as an experiment of the Life Force： that is；
if they had set me free to do as I liked subject only to my political rights
and theirs； they could not have watched the experiment very long； because
the first result would have been a rapid movement on my part in the
direction of the door； and my disappearance there…through。
It may be worth inquiring where I should have gone to。 I should say
that practically every time I should have gone to a much more educational
place。 I should have gone into the country； or into the sea； or into the
National Gallery； or to hear a band if there was one； or to any library
where there were no schoolbooks。 I should have read very dry and
difficult books： for example； though nothing would have induced me to
read the budget of stupid party lies that served as a text…book of history in
school； I remember reading Robertson's Charles V。 and his history of
Scotland from end to end most laboriously。 Once； stung by the airs of a
schoolfellow who alleged that he had read Locke On The Human
Understanding； I attempted to read the Bible straight through； and actually
got to the Pauline Epistles before I broke down in disgust at what seemed
to me their inveterate crookedness of mind。 If there had been a school
where children were really free； I should have had to be driven out of it for
the sake of my health by the teachers； for the children to whom a literary
education can be of any use are insatiable： they will read and study far
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more than is good for them。 In fact the real difficulty is to prevent them
from wasting their time by reading for the sake of reading and studying for
the sake of studying； instead of taking some trouble to find out what they
really like and are capable of doing some good at。 Some silly person will
probably interrupt me here with the remark that many children have no
appetite for a literary education at all； and would never open a book if they
were not forced to。 I have known many such persons who have been
forced to the point of obtaining University degrees。 And for all the effect
their literary exercises has left on them they might just as well have been
put on the treadmill。 In fact they are actually less literate than the
treadmill would have left them； for they might by chance have picked up
and dipped into a volume of Shakespear or a translation of Homer if they
had not been driven to loathe every famous name in literature。 I should
probably know as much Latin as French； if Latin had not been made the
excuse for my school imprisonment and degradation。
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Why We Loathe Learning and
Love Sport
If we are to discuss the importance of art； learning； and intellectual
culture； the first thing we have to recognize is that we have very little of
them at present； and that this little has not been produced by compulsory
education： nay； that the scarcity is unnatural and has been produced by
the violent exclusion of art and artists from schools。 On the other hand
we have quite a considerable degree of bodily culture： indeed there is a
continual outcry against the sacrifice of mental accomplishments to
athletics。 In other words a sacrifice of the professed object of
compulsory education to the real object of voluntary education。 It is
assumed that this means that people prefer bodily to mental culture； but
may it not mean that they prefer liberty and satisfaction to coercion and
privation。 Why is it that people who have been taught Shakespear as a
school subject loathe his plays and cannot by any means be persuaded ever
to open his works after they escape from school； whereas there is still； 300
years after his death； a wide and steady sale for his works to people who
read his plays as plays； and not as task work？ If Shakespear； or for that
matter； Newton and Leibnitz； are allowed to find their readers and students
they will find them。 If their works are annotated and paraphrased by
dullards； and the annotations and paraphrases forced on all young people
by imprisonment and flogging and scolding； there will not be a single man
of letters or higher mathematician the more in the country： on the
contrary there will be less； as so many potential lovers of literature and
mathematics will have been incurably prejudiced against them。
Everyone who is conversant with the class in which child imprisonment
and compulsory schooling is carried out to the final extremity of the
university degree knows that its scholastic culture is a sham； that it knows
little about literature or art and a great deal about point…to…point races； and
that the village cobbler； who has never read a page of Plato； and is
admittedly a dangerously ignorant man politically； is nevertheless a
Socrates compared to the classically educated gentlemen who discuss
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politics in country houses at election time （and at no other time） after their
day's earnest and skilful shooting。 Think of the years and years of weary
torment the women of the piano…possessing class have been forced to
spend over the keyboard； fingering scales。 How many of them could be
bribed to attend a pianoforte recital by a great player； though they will rise
from sick beds rather than miss Ascot or Goodwood？
Another familiar fact that teaches the same lesson is that many women
who have voluntarily attained a high degree of culture cannot add up their
own housekeeping books； though their education in simple arithmetic was
compulsory； whereas their higher education has been wholly voluntary。
Everywhere we find the same result。 The imprisonment； the beating； the
taming and laming； the breaking of young spirits； the arrest of
development； the atrophy of all inhibitive power except the power of fear；
are real： the education is sham。 Those who have been taught most
know least。
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Antichrist
Among the worst effects of the unnatural segregation of children in
schools and the equally unnatural constant association of them with adults
in the family is the utter defeat of the vital element in Christianity。 Christ
stands in the world for that intuition of the highest humanity that we； being
members one of another； must not complain； must not scold； must not
strike； nor revile nor persecute nor revenge nor punish。 Now family life
and school life are； as far as the moral training of children is concerned；
nothing but the deliberate inculcation of a routine of complaint； scolding；
punishment； persecution； and revenge as the natural and only possible way
of dealing with evil or inconvenience。 〃Aint nobody to be whopped for
this here？〃 exclaimed Sam Weller when he saw his employer's name
written up on a stage coach； and conceived the phenomenon as an insult
which reflected on himself。 This exclamation of Sam Weller is at once
the negation of Christianity and the beginning and the end of current
morality； and so it will remain as long as the family and the school persist
as we know them： that is； as long as the rights of children are so utterly
denied that nobody will even take the trouble to ascertain what they are；
and coming of age is like the turning of a convict into the street after
twenty…one years penal servitude。 Indeed it is worse； for the convict may