Evening star., 1926-10-20
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES L. 7RACEWELL.


Education and the Good Life" by
Bertrand Russell. published by Boni
! & Liveright in May, and now in Its
fifth edition, is a lineal successor tc
Herbert Spencer's essays on educa
! ton.
The value of this book to the av
erage parent or other person inter
ested in education--and who that
thinks is not?-lies in the fact that
Mr.. Russell sums up in more or less
popular fashion scores Of the best
theories in modern psychology.
A reader who might easily enough
be frightened away from Freud will
get from Russell many practical ap
plications of the theories of that great
psychologist, and at the same time
will find them enveloped in an atmos
phere of love.
knowledge welded by love Is what
the educator needs and what his pu
pills should acquire" says this mathe
| matician, philosopher and educator
Advocating the conquest Of fears Of all
| kinds. and the formation Of character
by the age of 6 years. Mr.. Russell
says:
"A generation educated in fearless
freedom will have wider and bolder
! hopes than are possible to us, who
still have to struggle with the super
stitiouS fears that lie in wait for US
! below the level Of consciousness"
A thousand ancient fears, he de-
clares, obstruct the road to happi
| ness and freedom. But love can con
quer fear, and IL we love our children
| nothing can make us withhold the
great gift which it Is in our power
to bestow."
Briefly stated. Mr.. Russell believes
that the first 6 years Of a child's life
are the important ones, not only for
the formation of character, but for
the inculcation Of habits of investiga.
tion, which shall ever after make
the pursuit Of knowledge a happy,
self-started thing.
1T is the business Of early educa.
uon." he says. ITO train the instincts
SO that they may produce a harmoni.
GUS character, constructive rather
than destructive, affecuonate rather
than sulien. courageous, frank and in.
telligent.
The crude material Of instinct Is,
In most respects. equally capable of
leading to desirable and to undesir-
able actions" he continues. ''In the
past men did not understand the train
ing OF instinct and therefore were
compelled to resort to repression.
punishment and fear We're the
great incentives to what we call vir-
tue. We now know that repression is
a bad method. both because 1t Is never
really successful and because 1t pro-
duces mental disorders" 1T may be
sta ted here that this is the Crux Of
the Freudian doctrines as APPLIED to
education and is here briefly and ad-
trir-ably put.)
The training Of instincts is a to
tally different method, involving a
totally different technique. Habits
and skill make, as 1t were. a channel
for instincts. leading 1t to flow one
way or another. according to the di.
rection Of the channel.
by creating the right habits and
the right skill we cause the child s
instincts themselves to promote desir-
able actions" This is the crux OF the
newer education.) There is no sense
Of strain, because there Is no need to
resist temptation. There Is no
thwaIting, and the child has a sense
Of unfettered spOntaneity."
Mr. Russell has much common
sense. however. and realizes such good
as the older methods did-and do
possess. Il do not mean these state
ments to be taken in an absolute
sense" he goes on. There will al
ways be unforeseen contingencies in