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Thursday, January 13, 2005
Isabel Paterson on Public Education
The Germans are notably literate; and they had very fine technical schools. Their literacy enabled them to read "Mein Kampf," and their technology enabled them to build up a war machine which must destroy them. That is what education under the political power must do, once it has obtained full control. It routes human energy into the dead-end political channels.
The most vindictive resentment may be expected from the pedagogic profession for any suggestion that they should be dislodged from their dictatorial position; it will be expressed mainly in epithets, such as "reactionary," at the mildest. Nevetheless, the question to put to any teacher moved to such indignation is: Do you think nobody would willingly entrust his children to you to pay you for teaching them? Why do you have to extort your fees and collect your pupils by compulsion?
Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine, 1943
Posted by PUBLIUS on January 13, 2005 at 05:38 PM | Permalink
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Comments
And yet you managed to quote Isabel Paterson after all. I'll have to see if I can meet the challenge as well. By the way, I mentioned God of the Machine almost to see if I could trip you up a bit; it seems like you have read just about everything! Have you read The Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane? I have found it every bit as enjoyable, perhaps more so, than Isabel Paterson. And much more quotable.
Cheers, Gods.
Posted by: MapMaster | Jan 13, 2005 10:59:20 PM
You know, the name Rose Wilder Lane has been kicking around in my head for years but I've never picked her up. What edition of God of the Machine do you have, is it the one with Stephen Cox's biography included? If you so, don't you find it incredibly ironic that R.B. Bennett was once Isabel Paterson's employer? Also, how Paterson, who was a Canadian, acted in ways that seem so very unCanadian today. It's hard to remember but this country was once noted for its self-reliance and toughness. Our soldiers consider some of the fierciest around. And now we have Trudeaupia. My next In Profile will probably be on Isabel Paterson, depending on how much time I have this weekend.
Regards to all Those in Foggy London Town,
Posted by: Publius | Jan 14, 2005 7:54:39 AM
Yes, I have the Transaction edition with the Stephen Cox biography, and I was busy telling everybody how she was a Canadian who had worked for R.B. Bennett. Of course, nobody really cared because nobody had read the book! I'm going to get Lisa to read it as soon as I am done with it.
Rose Wilder Lane is an excellent read, with a take on the idea of the flux and direction of human energy that is very similar to Isabel Paterson's notion of mechanism. It is almost metaphysical-sounding to my postmodern ears, but I can digest it much more easily by assuming that what she calls energy is a metaphor rather than the (meta)physical concept which, to me, it sounds like she is conveying. Perhaps I am not as versed in the literature of the era to really feel comfortable with those authors' styles of expression.
Both Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson were raised in what we would call today absolute poverty, spoiled sons and daughters of capitalism that we are. In the case of Lane, she was born in a dugout in North Dakota, I believe. Nor did she have electricity, or see a car or airplane until she was old enough to appreciate the incredible change these innovations would effect on the landscape. This kind of upbringing must surely inform their theories and writing; it is hard to imagine the impact of seeing automobiles and airplanes for the first time, and harder yet to fail to appreciate the minds that can grasp the true source of this innovation, no matter the style in which they articulate this grasp. At least a few people around recognize not only the change that the internet has had on our lives but also that the free actions of individuals is responsible for its success.
Lane was also the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the Little House on the Prairie books. I cannot think of little Half-Pint and Michael Landon in the same way I used to!
Respectfully yours,
MapMaster
If you are ever coming to London, in the event you have a self-destructive streak, let us know!
Posted by: MapMaster | Jan 15, 2005 8:18:36 PM
In some ways I think Paterson and Lane were spoiled. They lived in a society where independence and self-reliance were considered norms. The idea that someone owed you a living would have been laughed off as absurd the year Paterson was born, 1886.
As for visiting London, I've never been south or west of Kitchener (Berlin). Oddly enough my safety school was Western. I'll have my brief bio of Paterson up on Monday before noon.
Regards,
Posted by: Publius | Jan 15, 2005 9:00:48 PM
