{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13301/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13301","id":"gutenberg_13301","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13301","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Education","World War, 1914-1918"],"text":"THE\nNEW IDEAL IN EDUCATION\n\n\nAN ADDRESS GIVEN BEFORE\nTHE LEAGUE OF THE EMPIRE\n\nOn July 16th, 1916.\n\nBY\nFR. NICHOLAI VELIMIROVIC, PH.D.\n\n_Reprinted from the \"FEDERAL MAGAZINE.\"_\n\n\nLONDON\n\"THE ELECTRICIAN\" PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., LIMITED.\nSALISBURY COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NEW IDEAL IN EDUCATION.\n\nBy Father Nicholai Velimirovic, Ph.D.\n\n        \"Nature _takes sufficient care\n        of our individualistic sense,\n        leaving to_ Education _the care\n        of our panhumanistic sense_.\"\n\nLadies and Gentlemen,\n\nIf we do not want war we must look to the children. There is the only\nhope and the only wise starting point. It is not without a deep\nprophetic significance that Christ asked children to come unto Him. In\nall the world-calamities, in all wars, strifes, religious inquisitions\nand persecutions, in all the hours of human misery and helplessness, He\nhas been asking, through centuries, the children to come unto Him. I am\nsure, if anybody has ears for His voice to-day, amidst the thunderings\nof guns and passions and revenges, one would hear the same call: Let the\nchildren come unto Me!--Not kings and politicians, not journalists and\ngenerals, not the grown-up people, but children. And so to-day also,\nwhen we ask for a way out of the present world-misery, when we _in\nprofundis_ of darkness to-day ask for light, and in sorrow for to-morrow\nask for advice and comfort, we must look to the children and Christ.\n\n\nWHY NOT KINGS?\n\nWhy does Christ not ask the kings to come to Him--the kings, and\npoliticians, and journalists, and generals? Because they are too much\nengaged in a wrong state of things, and because they are greatly\nresponsible themselves for such a wrong state of things, and because\nconsequently it is difficult for them to change their ways, their hearts\nand their minds. It would be very hard for Napoleon and Pitt to kneel\ntogether down before Christ and to embrace each other. It would be\nalmost impossible for Bismarck and Gambetta to walk together. Not less\nit would be impossible for the Pope and Monsieur Loisy or George Tyrrel\nto pray in the same bench. Every generation is laden with sins and\nprejudices. That is the reason why Christ goes only a little way with\nevery generation, and then He becomes tired and asks for a new\ngeneration--He calls for children. Christ is always new and fresh as\nchildren are. Every generation is spoiled and corrupted by long living\nand struggling.\n\nBut for a new generation the world is quite a new wonder. God is shown\nonly to those for whom the world is a new thing, a wonder. No one, who\ndoes not admire this world as a wonder, can find God. For the old H\u00e6ckel\nno God exists, just because for him no wonder exists. He pretends to\nknow everything. Christ means for him nothing and he means for Christ\nnothing. Every foolish child, believing in God and in this wonderful\nworld, has more wisdom than the materialistic professor from Germany.\nChrist is getting tired of an old generation. Sadly He calls for a new\none--for children. In our distress to-day, I think, we should multiply\nHis voice, calling for Him, for a new generation and for a new\neducation.\n\n\n\nTHE EDUCATION WHICH MAKES FOR WAR.\n\nIt is called by a very attractive name, the _individualistic_ education.\nThe true name of it is selfishness, or egotism. No religion of Asia ever\nboasted of having been the birthplace of such an education. It is born\nin the heart of Europe, in Germany. It was brought up by Schopenhauer\nand Goethe. It was subsequently supported by the German biologists, by\nthe musicians, sculptors, philosophers, poets, soldiers, socialists and\npriests, by the wisest and by the madmen beyond the Rhine. Unfortunately\nFrance, Russia and even Great Britain have not been quite exempt from\nthis pernicious theory of individualistic education.\n\nThe sophistic theories of Athens of old have been renewed in Central\nEurope--the individuum is the ultimate aim of education. A human\nindividuum is of limitless worth, said the German interpreters of the\nNew Testament. Materialistic science, contradicting itself, agreed on\nthat point with modern theology. Art, in all its branches, presented\nitself as the sole expression of one individuum, i.e., of the artist.\nThe modern socialism, contradicting its own name, supported\nindividualism very strongly in every department of human activity.\nConsequently modern Pedagogy, based upon the general tendencies, put up\nthe same individualistic ideal as the aim to be achieved by the schools,\nchurch, state, and by many other social institutions.\n\n\nTHE RESULTS OF THE OLD IDEAL.\n\nWar is the result of the old ideal of education. I call it old because\nit is over for ever, I hope, with this war. The old European ideal of\neducation was so called individualistic. This ideal was supported\nequally by the churches and by science and art. Extreme individualism,\ndeveloped in Germany more than in any other country, resulted in pride,\npride resulted in materialism, materialism in pessimism. Put upon a\ndangerous and false base every evil result followed quite naturally. If\nmy poor personality is of limitless value, without any effort and merit\nof my own, why should not I be proud? If the aim of the world's history\nis to produce some few genial personalities, as Carlyle taught, why\nshould not I think that I am such a personality for my own generation,\nand why should I not be proud of that? Once filled with pride I will\nsoon be filled also with contempt for other men. Selfishness and denial\nof God will follow my pride; this is called by a scientific word\nmaterialism. Being a materialist, as long as I possess a certain amount\nof intellectual and physical strength, I will be proud of myself. But as\nsoon as my body or spirit are affected by any illness (it may be only a\nheadache or toothache), I will plunge into a dark pessimism, always the\nshadow and the end of materialism. Modern Germany was, as you know, the\nhearth of individualism, and consequently also of pride, materialism,\natheism and pessimism. The worship of strong personalities (to-day:\nKaiser William and Hindenburg) holds the whole of Germany in unity\nduring this war, which is not the case either in France or in Great\nBritain or Russia, where the common cause inspires the unity.\n\n\nTHE EDUCATION WHICH MAKES FOR PEACE.\n\nWhen will wars really stop in the world's history? As soon as a new\nideal of education is realised. What is this new ideal of education\nwhich makes for peace? I will give it in one word: _Panhumanism_. This\nword includes all I wish to say.\n\nIndividualism means a brick, Panhumanism means a building. Even the\ngreatest individuality (may it be C\u00e6sar, or Raphael, or Luther) is no\nmore than a brick in the panhuman building of history. The lives of\nindividuals are only the points, whereas the life of mankind is a form,\na deep, high and large form.\n\nIf a great and original individuality were the aim of history, I think\nhistory should stop with the first man upon earth, for our first\nancestor must have been the most striking individual who ever existed.\nMen coming after Adam have been like their parents and each other.\nKaiser William is not such an interesting and striking a creature by far\nas the first man was. When Kaiser William opens his mouth to speak, he\nspeaks words that are known. When he moves or sits, when he eats or\nprays--all that is a _nuance_ only of what other people do, all is\neither from heritage or imitation, and quite an insignificant amount is\nindividual. Whereas every sound that the first man uttered was quite new\nfor the Universe; every movement striking and dramatic; every look of\nhis eyes was discovering new worlds; every joy or sorrow violently felt;\nevery struggle a great accumulation of experiences. And so forth. Well,\nif one striking individuum is the aim of history, history should close\nwith the death of Adam. But history still continues. Why? Just because\nnot Adam was its aim, but mankind; not one, or two, or ten heroes, but\nmillions of human creatures; not some few great men, but all men, all\ntogether, all without exception.\n\nFrom this point of view we get the true ideal of education. The purpose\nof education is not to make grand personalities, but to make bricks for\nthe building, i.e., to make suitable members of a collective body and\nsuitable workers of a collective work.\n\n\nCOLLECTIVE WORKS\n\nAre greater than personal works. A pupil from the old, individualistic\nschool would object:\n\n--And what do you think of the work of Ibsen?\n\n_I:_ I think it is incomparably smaller than the ancient Scandinavian\nlegends.\n\n_He:_ Do you not grant that Alfred the Great was the real creator of the\nEnglish Kingdom?\n\n_I:_ Never. Millions and millions of human creatures are built into this\nbuilding that we call England, or English history, or English\ncivilisation.\n\n_He:_ And what about the man who built St. Paul's Cathedral?\n\n_I:_ It is a collective work, as are all the great works that have been\ndone. The architecture of St. Paul's is one of the ancient styles, and\nno style in architecture was ever invented or created by one person, but\nby generations and generations.\n\n_He:_ And what about Victor Hugo and Milton? Are they not great poets?\n\n_I:_ Yes, they are if compared with certain minor poets, but they are\nnot great if compared with the popular poetry of India or Greece.\nMahabarata, the Koran, and Zend-Avesta, and the Bible, are products of\ncollective efforts--therefore they are superior to every personal\neffort.\n\n_He:_ Do you not appreciate the great economists and what they did for\nthe household, and common-wealth in general?\n\n_I:_ Certainly I do; but their work is too much overestimated. Not a\nhandful of economic writers, like Adam Smith and Marx, but the common\ngenius of generations and generations arranged the house, set the\nfurniture, created the cooking, constructed towns, invented plays and\nenjoyments, customs, language, and so forth.\n\n_He:_ You agree, I think, that Shaljapin and Caruso have wonderful\nvoices, don't you?\n\n_I:_ Yes, I agree. But don't you agree that a choir of millions of human\nvoices would be something much more striking and wonderful than any solo\nsinger since the beginning of time?\n\n_He:_ Don't you believe in the wisdom of wise men like Kant and Spencer?\n\n_I:_ No, I don't. I think there is incomparably more healthy and more\napplicable wisdom in the popular sayings, proverbs, parables, and tales\nof the nations, cultivated and uncultivated, in Macedonia, Armenia,\nCeylon, New Zealand, Japan, &c., than in some dozen of the greatest\nthinkers of Europe.\n\n_He:_ Who is then in your opinion a great man?\n\n_I:_ Only a good man is a great man to me, who is conscious that he is a\ncell in the panhuman organism, or a brick in the building of human\nhistory. Such a man is more a man of truth and of the future than any\nconqueror, who thinks that a hundred millions of people and hundreds of\nyears have waited just for him and his guidance, his work, or his\nwisdom.\n\nThat is what I would say to a pupil of individualism in education. And\nat the end I would remind him of Christ and His call after the children,\nand of the new ideal of education, of panhumanism which stands over\nindividualism, and of the collective work of people which stands over\nevery individual work and merit.\n\n\nEDUCATION AS AN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR.\n\nIt is quite surprising and humiliating that other things can be\ndiscussed and settled as international affairs, before education. Yet\nyou have hundreds of things regulated by international laws, and among\nthese hundred things education is net yet reckoned. You have the\nInternational Institution of the Red Cross, international laws on trade,\nfishery, travel, copyright, political crimes, barbarities in war-time,\n&c. But this war shows quite clearly that education--before anything\nelse--should be a matter of international consideration and regulation.\nBehold, how illusory are all international restrictions when the\neducation of a nation is quite excluded from any control! When the\nNitzschean education of Germany teaches the German youth to despise all\nneighbours, all nations and races as inferior ones, how could you expect\nthe Germans to respect the laws and regulations about Belgium, and\nsubmarines--and Zeppelin-warfare, and use of the dum-dum bullets and of\npoisonous gases?\n\nIf there is anything to be learned from this war it is doubtless this:\nThe education of youth in all the countries of the world must become an\ninternational affair of the very first importance.\n\nTHE RUSSIAN TSAR, MR. CARNEGIE AND NOBEL.\n\nThe Russian Tsar suggested the Peace Conference of The Hague. Mr.\nCarnegie built a wonderful Hall of Peace there, formed several\ncommissions for the investigation of war cruelties during the Balkan\nWars, and founded many public libraries for the instruction of the poor.\nThe noble Nobel left his big fortune for the support of the best works\nof literature or science having as their aim the general good of\nmankind. If I were either the Russian Tsar or Mr. Carnegie or Professor\nNobel I would do neither of the three mentioned things, but I would give\nsuggestions and material support to an International Board of Education.\n\nThat is the point to start with in the consolidation of the World. I am\nsorry to say that no one of these three great friends of mankind listens\nto the prophetic words of Christ: Let children come unto me! and that no\none thought that no great social reform and no real philanthropic\nfoundation of mankind is possible to realise--yea, even to\nstart--otherwise than through the children. The Peace Conference, being\nrather a law court than anything else, is beaten by the uncontrolled\nwarlike education of the German nation. Carnegie's books have been read\nby grown-up people who had already got a direction in life, and\nCarnegie's Hall of Peace in The Hague is still an office without\nbusiness. Nobel's prize was given also to some German professors who are\nresponsible for the new pedagogy in Germany.\n\n\nMOTHERS, PATRIOTS, AND PRIESTS.\n\nThese three can be the best possible supporters or the worst enemies of\nyour educational scheme. Mothers by nature adore their children and\nexcite their individualism. Patriots try to engage the whole heart and\nimagination of a child for its own country. Priests are asking the whole\nsympathy of a child for their creed and their church. To be\nindividualistic, to be a patriot and a believer are the quite natural\ngifts of a healthy person. But maternal love exaggerates very often the\nindividualism of a child and makes it egotistic and selfish; exclusively\ncultivated patriotism degenerates into chauvinism; and exclusive church\neducation makes a bigot. These three kinds of people (alas! the\nmajority), egotists, chauvinists and bigots, will be against an\ninternational scheme of education. But you must say to the sensible\nmothers: The international education of your child will not kill its\nindividuality, but, on the contrary, will use it to the best advantage\nfor mankind and for itself. You are an enemy of your son if you educate\nhim to be an egotist and egoist. In egotism and egoism one has the worst\ncompany in this life, the company which leads to pessimism and disgust\nof life.\n\nYou must say to the sensible patriots: International education approves\nof patriotic as of a natural inclination; only the new education intends\nto make a window in every fatherland so that the child may see its\nneighbours and stretch its hand to greet them.\n\nAnd you must say to the sensible priests: The international board of\neducation will let every child go to its own church and learn the\ncatechism from its own parish priest; but it will be brought in touch\nwith the children of different creeds, and it will pray with them upon\nthe general ground of all the creeds.\n\n\nTHE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION.\n\n1. It shall consist of the representatives of all the boards of\neducation in the world.\n\n2. The members of the board shall officially represent their own\ncountry.\n\n3. The board will be supported materially by the respective Governments,\nand it will dispose of a great fortune from private legacies. For all\nthe philanthropists and peacemakers and peace wishers will support such\nan institution rather than any other in the world.\n\n4. The authority of this board shall be equal to the authority of an\ninternational political congress.\n\n5. Its duty will be to control education all over the world, banishing\nor restricting individualism, egotism, chauvinism and bigotism, and\npromoting by all means panhumanism by developing the mind for collective\nwork, mutual help, personal goodness and humbleness and social\ngreatness.\n\n\nTO BRING CHILDREN OF THE WORLD CLOSER TOGETHER.\n\nLet them meet as often as possible; I mean the children from England and\nthe children from Serbia, the children from Russia and the children from\nFrance. So they will know about each other that they all are human\nbeings, and that they all can smile in friendliness on each other. Let\nthem travel to each other's country; I mean the children from Germany\nand the children from Italy, the children from Japan and those from\nScandinavia. Let them see how every spot on earth is wonderful in its\nway, and how worthy of love, of patriotism. When will the railway\ncompanies and ship companies say: Let the children come to us? When\nwill they arrange the best trains, better than the royal trains, the\nmost commodious and decorated with flowers and flags of different\nnations and with one special flag of the Children World Union? When the\nmoment comes that the wonderful modern communication begins to help the\nchildren to meet each other and to pay visits to each other, at that\nmoment the invention of steam and electricity will justify itself. In\ntransferring the troops and facilitating crime it does net justify\nitself. Let the word communication be not only for the sake of crime and\nfor the sake of bread; let it be for the sake of peace and of souls.\n\nLet them sing together, everyone in his own tongue; I mean the children\nfrom the East and West and North and South. You should have been the\nother day in the Mansion House when the English and Serbian boys met\ntogether, and have listened to the English singing the Serbian and the\nSerbian singing the English National Anthems, and you would have been\nfascinated by the sweet revelation of the future world.\n\nLet the children from the East and West and South and North, pray\ntogether. Why not? Bring them, thousands of them, to a mountain, upon\nwhich our ancestors prayed, and let them at sunset kneel down and sing\nsome common prayer that they all know, or, if they have no such common\nprayer in their creeds, let them just kneel and silently pray! Such a\nsilent prayer will do more good than any thousand years' old discussion\nabout religion. It is very easy to convince all the children of the\nworld, just because they are children, that they have one Father in\nHeaven, and that they shall send their prayers to Him. But even if they\nsend their prayers in different directions, they will arrive at the same\nplace. All prayers, whenever and wherever sent, go always the same way.\n\nLet the children from the northern ice and from the tropical heat carry\non a correspondence. Millions of letters are written and sent every day,\nwhich mean nonsense and evil. The post communication will justify itself\nmuch more by bearing the children's mail, with truth and love, than by\nbearing perfidious diplomatic notes or letters which mean nonsense and\nevil. One of the unforgettable events in Serbia during this war happened\nin 1914 on Christmas Day, when an American ship arrived and brought\ngifts and letters from the children of America to the children of\nSerbia. This wonderful mail produced the greatest imaginable excitement\namong the Serbian children. They were busy, very busy for some weeks,\nreading the friendly letters from so far, and answering them. I am sure\nthey will forget many sad events of the war, but they never can forget\nthis wonderful and surprising mail, which made for peace more than any\nof the costly commissions for the investigation of war cruelties, or any\nof Carnegie's empty, although wonderful, luxurious halls of peace.\n\nLet the children, the representatives of all the countries in the world,\ncome to The Hague to hold the International Peace Congress. The\nprogramme of this Congress should be: Singing, playing, dancing, smiling\nand praying. They will meet as friends and speak every one in his native\nlanguage, and they will understand each other very well as friends\nalways understand each other. This Children's Hague Conference will\npromote the world peace more than The Hague Conference composed of\nenemies, mutually annoying themselves by obligatory politeness and bad\nFrench.\n\nBut, you will ask, who is going to arrange and execute all this? The\nInternational Board of Education.\n\nBut, you will say, it will be very expensive? Yes, but, supposing it\nwill be as expensive as the war, for which of the two do you prefer to\ngive money--for such a salvatory experiment or for the war? Yet, I am\nsure of one thing, it will cost less than a war.\n\n\nTHE INTERNATIONAL CONTROL OF EDUCATION.\n\nIf you do not watch the education of a country all other international\nprecautions for peace and mutual understanding will be wholly illusory.\n\n\nAn International Board of Education should control the programmes of\neducation of all countries. It should watch that one principle prevails\nin every educational programme, i.e., the principle of Panhumanism. It\nshould not interfere as to the form of education, no, far from that, but\nlook to the unity of the principle of education upon the whole globe. It\nshould carefully avoid all the watchwords which make for separations and\nwars, like \"Germany, Germany _over all!_\" The child must love its own\ncountry, but it must know also that its country is not the thing over\nall other things. It must be taught that God and mankind are something\nwhich stands above its country.\n\nIt should control not only the governmental programmes of education, but\nit should also watch the mothers, patriots and priests. It should try to\nhave these three world-powers not for the enemies but for the allies and\nmissionaries of a higher, and a panhuman education.\n\n\nTHE THIRD STAGE OF THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION.\n\nThere are three stages of the Christian European education:--\n\n1. Compulsory obedience. This was in the Middle Ages when men were\ncompelled to do the common work by the authority of the church and\nnobility.\n\n2. The experiment with Individualism. This has been since the\nRenaissance, especially since Rousseau--a personality put as the centre\nand aim of education, the abhorrence of every compulsion whatsoever.\n\n3. Voluntary Obedience. It is the education of tomorrow. It is a stage\nwhere all men will see their mission in their collective work, and\ntherefore voluntarily enchain themselves into the panhuman organism,\nplunging their imaginative, pointlike personalities into a big and\nmystic personality of mankind.\n\nThe Voluntary Obedience will mean a voluntary slavery. We are going to\nbe slaves again, but not by royal or papal compulsion, but by our good\nwill; we are going to be slaves as the parts of a body are slaves and\nservants of each other, and as the bricks are slaves and servants of a\ngreat building. We are going to be \"prisoners of the Lord,\" as St. Paul\nsays, instead of being as now the prisoners of our dreams, imaginations\nand ambitions.\n\nThis war will close a period of a wrong education, and will open a\nperiod of a right one. It will open our eyes that we may see how we all\nare one, and how the greatest of us is nothing else than a bigger cell\nin the immense organism of history.\n\nThere is no hope for the future in the politicians, or generals, now\nstruggling. The only hope and guarantee lies in the children. A new\neducation in _personal goodness_ making for _social greatness_ is the\nonly salutary war. Therefore, let us look to the children!","title":"The New Ideal in Education: An Address Given Before the League of the Empire on July 16th, 1916","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":4071}