Evening star., 1923-10-01
LITERACY VS..
EDUCATION
BY DIR. FRANK CRANE.

There Is a conflict always going on
in the field of education. There are
| two schools of thought in educational
matters quite as marked as the two
contending camps in theological mat
| ters.
! The fundamental trouble with the
reactionary in education is that he
confuses the two things. education
and literacy.
Literacy is the learning of letters.
the accumulation of facts, the acqui-
sition of knowledge, the reading of
books, the hearing of lectures and the
/ like.
Education is the training of the
! mind to think.
While literacy is of use toward edu-
cation, it is not education itself.
| Literacy is merely the possession of
| the tools of education.
A man may be immensely literate,
have a thousand facts stored in his
brain, and yet have no skill to use
them.
On the contrary. man may be very
wise and most truly educated, and
| yet extremely illiterate. 1t is doubt
| full that Socrates or Buddha or Abra-
ham Lincoln was in command OF any
| extensive array of information, yet
they were amazingly efficient in the
use of their minds
Many Chinese are very literate, yet
possess little or no education. They
have learned several thousand ideo-
graphs, which is tantam6unt to know
| ing several thousand puzzles. This in
no way equips them for the business
of life.
The system of education prevalent
in Japan is tainted with the fallacy
that the best educated man is the one
who is familiar with the greatest
number of facts. The student is
swamped with a number of subjects.
He must have a smattering of every
hn aCY,lt i, hn L -rn h
ing very thoroughly.
Everywhere this fallacy of literacy
corrupts the idea of education.
We are all proud of having read
many books, rarely proud of the only
thing we should be proud of, the thor
ough mastering of one subject.
We. are like the fool who would i'm
agine himself to be a good farmer
because he had purchased all sorts
of rakes and hoes, plows and thresh-
agricultural implements, not knowing
how to use any of them.
A common illustration of this is the
value We put upon the knowledge of
foreign. language. We think a man
very clever when he speaks several
he understands several dead ones. As
a matter of fact, he simply owns a
lot of tools, and may or may not know
how to use them to advantage.
of us perk ourselves up because we
have seen many plays, read many
books. met many people and travelled
in many countries. 1t is amusing to
see the airs one gives himself simply
because he has seen something.
Many a traveller runs to and from
upon the earth not to see and enjoy
but for the pleasure he takes in say
ing that he has seen.
To be travelled is not to be expe-
rienced, necessarily.
The trouble with most schools is
that they are swamped with tools.
Not enough attention is given to i'm
proving the quality of the mind which
uses the TOOLS
Reading may easily become little
else than a bad habit. The acquiring
of information is pleasing, and like all
pleasures, needs to be guarded against
and controlled.
The mind is strengthened, the life
is empowered and the soul is enriched
by the degree to which we assimilate
knowledge. and not by the extent to
which We swallow it.
/ have known some very literate,
very learned men, some of whom were
intolerable bigots. and some of whom
were great fools