T. H. Huxley

Pre-reading

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) was described by American journalist H. L. Mencken as “the greatest Englishman of the 19th century” and a writer of “nearly perfect English prose”. Remembered today as an influential advocate for Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories, Huxley was a highly regarded scientist and philosopher with a talent for explaining complex subjects clearly and forcefully.

A Liberal Education is an excerpt from a longer essay, A Liberal Education; and Where to Find It, which Huxley presented in 1868 at the South London Working Men’s College.

Prompts for Your Reading

1.What is the equivalent of “liberal education” in Chinese?

2.How does the author’s opening analogy — comparing life to a chess game — prepare readers for his discussion of the value and purpose of education?

3.What is Huxley’s image of life?

4.How does the author position education in the game of life?

5.What role does Nature play in education?

6.What is the approach of reasoning the author uses when he tries to explain his sense of“compulsory education”?

7.What does the author mean by “artificial education”?

8.What is the relationship between natural education and artificial education?

9.In what ways does liberal education train a man?

10.Are there any allusions in this essay? What are the sources of the allusions?

11.What images or figures are brought to your mind when you read about the author’s definition of “liberal education” at the end of this essay?

[1] By way of a beginning, let us ask ourselves — What is education? Above all things, what is our ideal of a thoroughly liberal education? — of that education which, if we could begin life again, we would give ourselves — of that education which, if we could mould the fates to our own will, we would give our children? Well, I know not what may be your conceptions upon this matter, but I will tell you mine, and I hope I shall find that our views are not very discrepant.

[2] 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 at 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 disapprobation1 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?

[3] 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 chess-board 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.

[4] My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous picture in which Retzsch2 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.

[5] 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 fashioning3 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.

[6] 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 faculties4, 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 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.

[7] 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.

[8] 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 anyone, 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 “Poll5”, who pick up just enough to get through without much discredit. Those who won’t learn at all are plucked5; and then you can’t come up again. Nature’s pluck means extermination.

[9] 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.

[10] 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 pleasure, 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.

[11] 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 heel6 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.

[12] Such a 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 mouthpiece, her conscious self, her minister and interpreter.

Notes

1.disapprobation: moral or social disapproval

2.Retzsch: Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch (1779-1857), German artist. One of his paintings is The Chess Players in which Satan and Man are the two principal protagonists.

3.fashion: change, alter

4.faculties: physical and mental abilities

5.poll and pluck: poll在本文中取其“剪毛”之意，与pluck的“拔毛”的意思形成对比。前者指大多数人可以比较体面地经受挑战，总结教训，而有一些人则背道而驰，最后教训惨痛。

6.come to heel: follow closely

Questions for Further Thinking

1.According to Huxley, a liberally educated man is in harmony with Nature. In what ways do you think this man can present himself as Nature’s conscious self, her minister and her interpreter?

2.Huxley’s liberal education coincides with the idea to generate free and autonomous“whole persons”. Do you think the learning outcomes of this education can be aligned with the ever-upgrading skills most desired in industries in reality?

3.Huxley believes that a liberal education is an artificial education which can prepare a man to “escape the great evils of disobedience to natural laws” and to “appreciate and to seize upon the rewards which Nature scatters”. What are some of these evils and rewards?

4.How do you think school education can offer the tools required for students to understand both themselves and the world in which they live, as in Huxley’s chess game?

5.In what ways do you think Huxley’s notion of education fits in with his evolutionary perspective, considering he is a strong advocate of Darwin’s theory of evolution?

6.In defining liberal education, the author uses a variety of methods and techniques to make his points clear and understandable. What are these methods?

7.How will you comment on the writing style of Huxley?

After-reading Assignment

Oral Work

1.Can you name some of Chinese philosophers and thinkers who have touched upon the topic of liberal education? What do they say? Summarize their points and present them to your class.

2.Confucianism embodies a powerful educational philosophy that addresses many similar themes concerning liberal education. Research into the Confucian views on liberal education and report them to your class in a 3-minute presentation.

3.Translate Paragraph 11 and compare your version to other existing versions in terms of use of words and conveyance of meaning. Then state your results with the help of a PowerPoint presentation.

4.Many Chinese universities have begun initiatives to steer the style of their education closer to liberal education. Have there been any initiatives of liberal education in your university or in the universities in your city? Find out these initiatives and report them to your class.

Written Work

1.Work with your classmates and probe the origin and history of liberal education. Sort out your findings and write a report.

2.The Enlightenment tradition in the 18th century views liberal education as one to“free students from their antecedent opinions, from the idols of their tribe, from the provincialism of their perspectives on life”. Do you think such a liberal education can take root in China, considering China’s cultural tradition? Write a 500-word essay to explain your views.

3.Write a 400-word essay defining an abstract or technical term. Learn to use methods such as analogy, comparison and contrast, description, exemplification, etc. to make your definition clear and effective. You may define terms such as jealousy, the post-95 generation, or sharing economy.

4.Fareed Zakaria, author of the book In Defense of a Liberal Education, acknowledges that liberal education has always been an elite enterprise. What is your opinion on his statement, particularly when it comes to China’s context? Write an essay about 400 words to explain your views.