Notable Quotations
"Ninety-nine out of a hundred are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which, scientifically defined, is the subsumption of the individual."
And in that same book, The Philosophy of Education (1906), he writes:
"The great purpose of school can be realized better in dark, airless, ugly places ... It is to master the physical self, to transcend the beauty of nature. School should develop the power to withdraw from the external world."
Critics cite these passages to portray Harris as a proponent of self-alienation in order to better serve the great industrial nation of America. In fact, argue supporters, it can be found that quite the opposite is true of Harris when you are able to go beyond the surface of his educational philosophy. According to Harris's supporters, as a devout Christian he was quite concerned with the development of morality and discipline within the individual. Harris believed those values could systematically be instilled into the pupils, promoting common goals and social cooperation, with a strong sense of respect for and responsibility towards one’s society.
Harris was a strong proponent of the American colonial projects in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. In an article entitled "An Educational Policy for Our New Possessions", Harris wrote:
“…f the other people of the world to the number of some fourteen hundred millions are united under the five great powers of Europe, while we in turn have only one hundred millions, our national idea will be threatened abroad and have more dangers than ever at home.” “We must accept the charge of as many of these colonies as come to our hand. We must seek to give them civilization in the highest sense that we can conceive of it.” “The highest ideal of a civilization is that of a civilization that is engaged constantly in elevating lower classes of people into participation of all that is good and reasonable and perpetually increasing at the same time their self-activity. Such a civilization we have a right to enforce on this earth .”
Read more about this topic: William Torrey Harris
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or quotations:
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A book that furnishes no quotations is, me judice, no book—it is a plaything.”
—Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866)