THE AIMS OF EDUCATION
SIR,—I am dismayed by my friend J.A.B.-C's note, in which he attri- butes with apparent approval to Mr. Butler a definition of the objects of our educational system as: (1) the provision of the best brains to serve the country, (2) the stressing of the dignity of work, (3) the development of the right character. As secondary consequences of primary aims, these are useful. As primary aims they are the doctrines of Plato's Republic, the origin of the dictatorships. They might have been given with the same approval, and almost the same words, by Hitler. Their danger is that they sound well to the thoughtless ; but they are at the opposite pole to the Christian doctrine that all souls are equal before God.
What is "the countly " ? To a politician it may come to mean the State machine. What is " work " ? To a politician it may come to mean what he wants done, including secret police and gas-chambers. What is "right character " ? To the politician it may come to mean the character of the thick-and-thin supporter of official doctrine, the S.S. man. I can only hope that J.A.B.-C. has misquoted, and that Mr. Butler will disown what is attributed to him. Whatever happens, no one with these views must ever attain political power in Britain.—Yours faithfully,
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