WHAT IS EDUCATION ?*
BY
Sir RICHARD LIVINGSTONE, M.A., Hon.D.Litt.,
Hon.LL.D.
We have-most of us-to earn a livelihood. We find ourselves on an immense stage called the universe,
occupied by strange creatures called men, and we must have enough knowledge of this scene and of its inhabitants to play our parts intelligently. And we are human beings, with a body, a mind, and also something elusive and indescribable but very real, which we call a soul or spirit-three elements which combine in our personality and which interact on each other; and we wish to make the best of all of them, so far as our natural endowments allow. For even if there were no Great Assize before which at the end we shall be summoned to say what we have done with ourselves and our talents, the world will judge us; and, what is more disquieting, in moments of insight and- reflection we shall judge ourselves.
These three needs determine the aims of education. It should prepare us, either by a general or a vocational training, to earn our bread; it should give us some
understanding of the universe and of men; and it should help us to become fully developed human beings. Of these three aims the vocational one which concerns us as breadwinners is least likely to be overlooked; and I shall therefore say nothing about it, but concentrate on the other two aims-the making of intelligent citizens of the world and of good human beings-homines maxime homines. These two are the most important to us as men, but, since they are the less obvious and the more difficult, they may be neglected, and especially the last of them. Yet the human being is a work of art, capable of a quality and beauty of its own, quite apart from any practical purposes to which its powers are put.
Science an Essential Part of Education
We have to live in a material universe inhabited by men, and to live intelligently we must know something of both. The keys to a knowledge of the material world are commonly called (not very...