New-York tribune., 1922-11-19
An Ideal for Teachers
By Cecilia FarweIl

THE REFORM OF EDUCATION. BY
Giovanni Gentle. Harcourt. Brace.
FTy HIS is compilation of series
M of lectures delivered to the
b h teachers Of the city of Trieste,
shortly after it's restoration to
Italy, ito welcome them to their new
duties as citizens and officials" 1t Is.
In iact, continuation of what we are
told Is Gentile's special mission, "to
snake Italy out of Its doze Of natural
ism back into idealistic philosophy
Ihere Is certain fascination about
ldeslistic philosophy, even to the realist
who believes that he really sees what he
tnlnks he sees. 1t is something of an
ee;xaitlng experience to be lifted out of
ehe naterlalism of present-day thought
INTO the realm of idealism, where only
the things of the spirit are of worth,
,, Gentiie has been leader of modern
Italian thought. A philosopher and q
student, he has given special atten-
1lon 20 educational and religious prob
.ams, rem snd, says Croce, himself one of
the leaders of italian thought. awe
owe it to Gentle that Italian peda-
gogy has attained in the present dav
a simplicity and depth of concepts
elsewhere unknown. For onr
age, eager and anxious for Faith. is
perhaps not yet completely resigned
10 70 LOOK Tor the new creed Of humanity
there where alone it may be found.
where by firm resolve it may be Sc,
eured--in pure Thought. It is not the
auty or thinkers so settle economic
and political contentious by ineffective
appeals. to the brotherhood of man,
but rather to compose mental differ
eences and antagonisms, and thus form
the new faith of humanity--a new
christianity, or new Humanism, as
we may wish to call it,"
fs was natural under the circurn-
stances, the first lecture had to do with
Education and Nationalism. "a ma
eion is nation only when 1t Wills
TO bs one" The organization of the
state is the expression Of that will
ner as to realize It's own personality
IN the form Of the state, beyond which
there is no collective will, no person
ality Of the people. And it must act
seriously, sacrificing the individual
to the collective whole, and welcoming
martyrdom, which in every case Is
but the sacrifice of the individual to
the universal, the lavishing of our own
self for the ideal for which we
"a nation, then, is not something
which exists in nature, but a great
spiritual reality, therefore, like ali that
10 In and for the spirit, # is never u
fact ready to be escertained, but al
ways a mission, purpose, something
that has to be realized-an action"
This action is the universal will.
The lectures which follow are con-
secutive chapters in the exposition of
the philosophy of the author and it's
application to educational problems.
Unity Of the spiritual life, rather than
the denial Of the realistic philosophy,
tho enemy of this unity, is his thesis.
He does not defy the materialist in a
denial Of the materialistic substance
Of the paper, leather and type forms
(which gives us from generation to
generation the Divine Comedy" but he
tells us that "the book contains for
us exactly what we are capable of
finding there, no more. no less. The
Divine Comedy which we know, the
only one that exists for US, is that one
that lives In our souls and which Is
q function Of the criticism which an
terpretss It, understands 1t and appre-
ciates It,"
So the purpose Of education IL 20
give US understanding, which Gentle
calls culture. Education is the ere
alton Of living culture which shall
be the life of the spirit, which, in
deed, is the spirit" This spirit is al
ways moving forward, reaching out,
grasping the present from the future
to add it to the past, and so enrich
not only the individual past but the
inheritance Of the race. Culture Is
the adaptation of the spiritual inheri
tance Of the race to the spiritual life
"becoming" Couture is what we our
selves are making-it is not in books
nor in the brains of others; it exists
in our own souls as it is gradually
beirg developed there"
The attainment Of culture is always
an effort, striving TO become. But
1t is not to be looked upon as work
In the sense of drudgery, but in the
sense Of liberation and freedom.
Herein is man distinguished from the
animal--man expresses his will and
consciousness in work, and, in turn,
his work Is will and his work Is con-
sciousness. Herein is liberty, since
in the measure of his woSk is man
freeshis constant becoming, to. be
what he Wills to be. FresdNm is o
process, not q fixed thing. 1T, too, is
becoming. Here we get a glimpse
of the doctrine of unity and continuity
of spirit which is the basis of Gentile's
thinking.
None Of this is light reading, and
one finds oneself in deep water as
one follows the chapters on Realism
and Idealism" and the "Baais of Real
isn," where something of knowledge
Of the history of philosophy is as
sumed ON the part of the readers We
are bit aghast as he calls science
mythology" "that science which is
imagined as towering over and above
the men who toll and suffer, think and
struggle in quest Of light and its force,
that science which would be SO beau
tiful and majestic and impressive were
1t not for the fact that it does not
exist" But we find that science is
non-existent, in that it is not infallible,
In that Eve who constitute science are
subject to error, and, being ourselves
prone to fail, we expose science to the
same danger"
Science, then, 10 also part of the uni
~ cG the spirit, part Of culture, having