Evening Star Newspaper, March 6, 1932, Page 75

“World peace stands or falls on education. At the present moment we have no educational philosophy. We make not the shghtest attempt to teach children the truth about the general ideas they employ or to introduce them to the actual mean- ing of words. “The consequence s that when they get a word like ‘Empire’ or ‘France’ or ‘Russia’ they make not the slightest attempt to understand how or why such a word differs from other proper mames, such as Johnnie or Willie or James Smith. They come to think of countries as being of the same sort of order of things as human beings.” —H. G. WELLS. As Told to LESLIE A. PAUL. LONDON. ORE than 13 years have passed since the bugles blew “Cease fir- ing” and the flames of national hatred flickered and burned low, while living men and women who had escaped the Grim Destroyer looked round with tired eyes at the ruin and death which littered the scarred earth. For more than 13 years the representatives of nations have held high council, talked much “hot air” and the world’s helpless hands hung down as it watches conference succeeding con- ference, while all the time the war clouds darken the Eastern horizon and steel begins to scrape in the scabbards. I turned to the one man who seems to hold decided views on such subjects, H. G. Wells, still the leading social prophet of our time, and through courtesy he granted an interview, a rare privilege from such a busy man as this. H. G. Wells needs no eulogy. His record as a novelist, historian, writer and thinker is too well known. But this let me say. He has the knack of striking at the very heart of things, of tearing aside the curtains of comvention and stripping a problem to its very bones. He puts into forthright language the thoughts we ordi- nary mortals struggle and boggle to express. His observations are “human true”; they hit you right. To meet Mr. Wells in person is an event. He THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 6, 1932 is friendliness itself. His geniality dispels the atmosphere of a formal interview and gives one a quickening appetite for his thoughts and ideas. Our discussion focused on education as a means toward the attainment of world peace and, in particular, upon the subject of history teaching in schools. " ORLD peace stands or falls on educa- tion,” said Mr. Wells. “At the present moment we have no sort of educational philos- ophy. We make not the slightest attempt to teach children the truth about the general ideas they employ or to introduce them to the actual meaning of words. They come to think of countries as being of the same sort of order of things as human persons. “They see the whole of international affairs as dramas between personalities of that kind, a delusion very congenial to the human mind. In the Middle Ages they called such an attitude realism, the realistic philosophy. We ought to insure, and in the modern world we are sup- posed to, that our teaching is based on the scientific treatment of things, and our chil- dren ought to be guarded against the delusion of this realism. They should be taught that history is not a battle between personifications. International affairs are not a struggle in which nation-persons try to get the better of each other. “Russia is not a person. Russia is a huge country with a great diversity of climate, peo- ples, languages, methods of production and cul- tural traditions. Yet,” and here Mr. Wells was emphatic, “people still persist either in regard- ing Russia as the wonderful, energetic prophet of a new order or as a wicked and malignant conspirator. Such a way of thinking is perfectly idiotic and in the end is bound to lead to idiotic, monstrous and cruel proceedings such as boycott, wars, blockades and the rest of the foolery that is the lifeblood of international politics.” MENTIONED something about “the drama of it.” “In school,” Mr. Wells continued, “it is pos- sible to teach history in such a manner that, instead of presenting life as a drama, a com- petitive drama in which nations as principals strut the stage, we can present it as the great adventure of the whole human species. “Children are much more interested,” said Mr. Wells, “in the story of human adventure and discovery and human achievement. They are much more interested in the way of life and the hunting, pastoral and nomadic and agricultural stages of man’s history than in the elaborate, blood-stained twaddle of kings and queens and princes, campaigns, smmexations and national prestige with which we try, despite their wholesome, instinctive resistance, to fill their minds today.” Education of Youth the Sole Hope of the Universe, Contends the Eminent Historian as He Pleads for Elimiz nation of Nationalism. In his book-lined study Mr. Wells showed me editions of “The Outline of History” in all languages. ‘This poor little effort of mine,” so he described it, though I protested, for it's neither little nor poor, “has sold 1,500,000 copies.” This, Mr. Wells suggested, was a sure indication that the public wanted new history, for the people who bought it, he suggested, must have been dissatisfied with what they had learned at school and wanted something to fill up the gaps in their understanding. “I am still amused at the reactions of the public to my ‘Outline of History,’ said Mr. Wells with a smile. “There are still frenzied ‘fors’ and ‘againsts’ My conception was a his- tory of the human race written by a citizen of the world for his fellow citizens of all nations. It scorned a narrow nationalism. It presented human history as it might be presented by an intelligent visitor from Mars who had con- ceived an impassioned interest in the welfare of our species. It gave, and aimed at giving, to FEngland and America, to Rome and to China, to Christ and to Buddha, to Julius Caesar and to Kublai Khan just that amount of attention which, from the Martian’ standpoint, they de- served, neither more nor less. This was its ob- ject. “I felt there had been a need of some such account of man’s history in the universe. I re- garded it as a necessary part of any properly conceived education. Why do we teach history to our children? We teach history to take them out of themselves to place them in a conscious relationship to the world in which they live, to make them realize themselves as actors and authors in a great drama which began before they were born and which opens out to issues for transcending any personal ends in their interest and importance. “Unfortunately the teaching of history in schools has followed the movement of the stu- dent of history and not the needs of the com- mon citizen toward ampler views, because there has never yet been a proper recognition of the difference in aim between study for knowledge, the historical study of the elect, on the one hand, and teaching, the general education of the citizen, for the good not only of the citizen but of the community, on the other. 11T0 me,” said Mr. Wells, “two things are fundamental to world peace: The re- placement of the narrow nationalism which passes in many schools as history teaching and the abolition of tariff barriers. The child should learn from its earliest days to look upon the world as a unit, economically, politically and epiritually. The child should be taught cosmopolitan universal history beginning with early man, following the rise and fall of civil- ization which had led to our own mechanical age. “I do not agree with the commonly accepted theory that the romantic age should be studled during the period of adolescence. I favor an alternative history syllabus, such as is advo- cated by Prof. Lloyd, and I am convinced that in a very short time we could have the broad facts of human history taught today in prac- tically the same terms throughout America and Europe. On minds prepared in this fashion it would be possible to build the new conceptions of an organized world peace. “Unfortunately, teachers, boards of educa- tion, public opinion, examinations, syllabuses and text books bar the way. The vast ma- jority of teachers are too overburdened to tackle any mental reconstruction. If I could have my way, every teacher would enjoy 10 years of real living after his college training and before taking up his profession. There * would then be time and leisure for some basic thinking. Those to whom children are in- trusted should be imbued with vitality, with life itself and with creative living. Scholarship is mere formalism. It weighs the public schools with tradition and turns out men and women whose mental outfit is inadequate for the de mands of modern life. In short, idealology lies behind our mechanical progress.” Too many people are still impressed by an array of flowers in the principal’s garden and by the boys in white flannels. Of what use is such a charme ing picture when the mental conditions s archaic? 11 THE modern community has yet to develop a type of teacher with the freedom and leisure to make a thorough and continuous study of contemporary historical and other scientific knowledge in order to use these ac- cumulations to the best effect in general edu- cation. This is work for teachers and not for historians. The insufficient number of teach- ers maintained are kept closely to the grind- stone of actual lesson-giving. Perhaps a time will come whken, over and above the teachers and professors actually in contact with pupils and classes, there will be a considerable organ- ization of educationalists whose work will be in this intermediate selection and preparation of knowledge. Such master teachers may be appearing in the United States of America and in other countries, but in Britain there seem to be few, and there are no signs of any devel- opment of this broader, more philosophical grade of teacher. “Of course,” continued Mr. Wells, “responsi= bility for the present state of affairs does not lie primarily with the teachers. Parents must remember that they compose probably the larger part of the electorate. Members of Par- liament and local education committees are answering to them finally, and not to the teach- ing profession, for the kind of education pro- vided in our schools.” (Copyright. 1932.)