“Children who are fit to proceed to a higher class may be artificially kept back because the others would get a trauma–Beelzebub, what a useful word!–by being left behind.”
(I realize this is long, but it was too good to skip.)
I’m reading bits and pieces of one of my very favorite books to the kids–The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis–and, just like all the other times I re-browse, I was awe-struck today by his poignant, prophetic insight, especially in light of our recent elections. I particularly wanted to quote the part about education, but had to preface it with quite a bit before. I hope you will take the time to digest it!
Lewis was an exceptional thinker of his day…one of the few who could actually see what others refused to see.
It’s not the easiest read for sure, but even if you have to read it twice–it’s worth it. Wow, I say! Stay with it…he ends up addressing the state of our education system so poignantly it is unbelievable.
Preface: For those who don’t know anything about The Screwtape Letters, it’s brilliantly written from the perspective of one of Satan’s demons–Screwtape, instructing his nephew on the destruction of a human soul. In this quote, he is speaking at the annual dinner of the Tempters’ Training College. Understanding this makes all the difference 😉
You may want to print it off and read it as a family. Great conversations are made of this stuff!
“Let me recall to your minds what the human situation was in the latter half of the nineteenth century–the period at which I ceased to be a practising Tempter and was rewarded with an administrative post. The great movement towards liberty and equality among men had by then borne solid fruit and grown mature. Slavery had been abolished. The American War of Independence had been won. The French Revolution had succeeded. Religious toleration was almost everywhere on the increase. In that movement there had originally been many elements which were in our favor. Much Atheism, much Anti-Clericalism, much envy and thirst for revenge…But by the latter part of the century the situation was much simpler, and also much more ominous. In the English sector a horrible ting had happened. The Enemy, with His usual sleight of hand, had largely appropriated this progressive or liberalising movement and and perverted it to His own ends. Very little of is old anti-Christianity remained….
Believe me, gentledevils, the threat of something like a really healthy state of society seemed then perfectly serious. Thanks to Our Father Below the threat was averted. Our counterattack was on two levels. On the deepest level our dealers contrived to call into full life an element which had been implicit in the movement from its earliest days. Hidden in the heart of this striving for Liberty there was also a deep hatred of personal freedom. That invaluable man Rousseau first revealed it. In his perfect democracy, you remember, only the state religion is permitted, slavery is restored, and the individual is told that he has really willed (though he didn’t know it) whatever the Government tells him to do….
Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose….It will never occur to them that Democracy is properly the name of a political system, even a system of voting, and that this has only the most remote and tenuous connection with what you are trying to sell them….
You are to use the word purely as an incantation…it is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal….
As a result you can use the word Democracy to sanction in his thought the most degrading of all human feelings. You can get him to practice, not only without shame but with a positive glow of self-approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided.
The first and most obvious advantage is that you thus induce him to enthrone at the centre of his life a good, solid resounding lie. I don’t mean merely that his statement is false in fact, that he is no more equal to everyone he meets in kindness, honesty, and good sense than in height or waist-measurement. I mean that he does not believe it himself. No man who says “I’m as good as you” believe it. He would not say it if he did….The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept.
And therefore resents. Yes, and therefore resents every kind of superiority in others…
What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence–moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how Democracy is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods?
One Dictator led an envoy into a field of corn, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain: allow no pre-eminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser, or better, or more famous, or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level; all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals.
Thus Tyrants could practice, in sense, ‘democracy’. But now ‘democracy can do the same work without any other tyranny than her own. No one need now go through the field with a can. The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones. The big ones are beginning to bite off their own in their desire to Be Like Stalks.
In that promising land the spirit of “I’m as good as you” has already become something more than a generally social influence. It begins to work itself into their educational system….
The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be ‘undemocratic’. These differences between the pupils–for they are obviously and nakedly individual differences–must be disguised.
This can be done on various levels. At universities, exams must be framed so that nearly all the students get good marks. Entrance exams must be framed so that all, or nearly all, citizens can go to universities, whether they have any power (or wish) to profit by higher education or not….
Children who are fit to proceed to a higher class may be artificially kept back because the others would get a trauma–Beelzebub, what a useful word!–by being left behind. (Kelly: “Does anyone recognize this phrase?”) The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age-group throughout his school career, and a boy who would be capable of tackling Aeschylus or Dante sits listening to his coaeval’s attempts to spell out A cat sat on the mat.
In a word, we may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when “I’m as good as you” has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will vanish. The few who might want to learn will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway the teachers–or should I say, nurses?–will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men. The little vermin themselves will do it for us….
As an English politician remarked not long ago, “A democracy does not want great men”.
How accurately does that define our nation?!
24 comments
Wow! I am speechless!
Wow! If it wasn’t so terribly sad and disheartening, it would be funny, how completely he described our nation today.
But as I know having pulled myself out of that environment (this is my second year homeschooling) it is so incredibly hard to step back and see what’s happening. I saw Andrew Pudewa at a Homeschool Convention and he really changed my life.
He likens it to a jello mold. In public school we’re all made into the jello mold that they chose for us. We get on a conveyor belt and they squirt Kindergarten through 12th grade into our jello mold and then send us on our way.
Having been shaped into that jello mold, it was almost like pulling myself through the tiniest of holes to get out of the mold and see what had been done to me. It was incredibly difficult. And the more I broke the mold, the more it felt like I was freeing myself to actually learn (at almost 30!!) for the first time. And I actually enjoyed school. I got great grades, won scholarships, was 7th out of 250ish in my class, was loved by the teachers, etc… but now I’m beginning to see just how “uneducated” I really am. I learn so much myself while teaching my children.
But golly, is it hard to break free of the mold..
Great quote yet again, Mrs. Kelly! You’re pulling out all of my favorites. 🙂
I would laugh…if this wasn’t such an artfully framed truth. Kind of like reading Animal Farm and then watching this past election.
Sigh.
Great post Kelly. Hey, I bet you’ll never read this book OR Animal Farm in public school. We wouldn’t want to “wake up” the children and let them think now would we. Just keep spoon feeding video games and drugs and keep them nice, quiet and …..moldable.
Many Blessings 🙂
Ace
This quotation reminded me of the pro-homosexual attitude:
As a result you can use the word Democracy to sanction in his thought the most degrading of all human feelings. You can get him to practice, not only without shame but with a positive glow of self-approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided
Civil right, nothin’!
I love the truths in this post.
How can I email you? The email address in your skincare products ebook is defunct. It is the same one on your contact page on your blog (akcrawford5@aol.com). I have an important question about the ebook I bought from you. I’m really
hoping you will please email me at jennifer.robinsong@gmail.com.
Anybody can be educated who wants to be. Books and libraries are available to public school students as well as to homeschooled students, or to people who have never gone to school at all, as Kelly has pointed out before. If our minds are mush, it is our own fault. If you went to public school, private school, or were homeschooled, your formal schooling is just a start on your life-long journey of education.
I agree with you, Mrs. Civilla!
I don’t know if you’re getting what I send you to your email address, Kelly. I got your reply in my email address. It said, and I am quoting literally, “my email address is @aol.com.” I still don’t know how to email you directly. My gmail replied to your message at akcrawford@aol.com, but that was the same as the one that was originally bounced back to me. Is that your current email address? I need to ask you about something. Thanks!
Jenny
I did like the article, and I admittedly HAVENT read The Screwtape Letters.
I will say though that EVERYONE is gifted at SOMETHING. Yes, everyone isnt superior at academics. Good thing, cause I happen to like my car mechanic, as well as the guy at home depot who cuts plywood for me. I know that is somewhat *off topic*; the article was addressing how all society is lumped together to benefit those who dont want to do the work, are less unfortunate, or whatever. But I still believe it is good to remember, and validate, that EVERY person is gifted at something, and has a purpose and something to give this world, that we could not function without them. In some ways I read the article like there is less ‘value’ attached to people who dont show signs of ‘superiority’. academically? true. educationally? imo, false. But, this is just my perspective on the way I read it.
civilla…….i tend to agree. I really had a hard time in ‘bible study’ groups because the books or topical information used in the study, seemed elementary to me…i dont know.
Going off of Civilia and AM’s comments – how many “Bible studies” are actually “book studies” with a verse or two thrown in? *groans*
This has dismayed my husband and I for years. Interestingly enough, most of our generation doesn’t “get it” and even our parent’s generation is strangely in tune with the mainstream. BUT we have had some intense, deep converstations with grandparents and their generation.
We have much respect for those that lived a 100 years ago or more – they were much more dedicated to study and intense in their pursuit of God.
We are surrounded by so much “fluff”, sad to say …. and people that don’t really think it through for themselves!
Ashley
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/Jonash2004
It’s been a few years since I read The Screwtape Letters but you have encouraged me to read it again, Kelly. What a great excerpt! It really is a wonderful commentary on human nature.
Mary,
America was not intended to be a democracy (direct rule by the people of a nation. Each individual citizen’s voice is declared to be of equal value to everyone else). The USA is (or was originally) a republic, or commonwealth nation (government in which the people elect representatives which are to carry out the will of the majority via the voting process). A republic differs from an oligarchy in that a republic offers citizens the ability to have a say in who are their leaders and how those leaders direct the matters of the country.
We have been repeatedly told that our country is a democracy, which is incorrect. I think this belief does play strongly into part of our current political frustration. As individuals become more insistent on being granted more and more personal freedoms, the existing freedoms of others will need to be clipped. It is impossible for every single person to be able to have EVERYTHING he/she wants without it affecting others in some way. But that won’t deter many from pressing on to get whatever they can.
The concept of “equality”, in turn, leads to the attitude of entitlement, which opens the door for socialism and eventually, greater government control in people’s lives. Slavery is disguised as freedom and welcomed in with fanfare.
At any rate, I believe Mr. Lewis was stating that people are easily deceived. Democracy itself is not necessarily evil. If all men were basically good (as seems to be an underlying principle of humanism), true democracy would be the ideal, as we could be self-governing.
But by introducing the concept of democracy (all people are equally important so therefore all opinions/lifestyles/worldviews are equally valid) to sinful men, we are seeing the effects of a “self-centric” society in which each person makes his own rules. These rules may or may not adversely affect others but when one is focused so intently inward, it is not likely it will even be noted how someone else might be hurt by them.
With “live however you feel is right” as a new standard, God’s way and the instruction of the Bible are considered to be fetters which must be thrown off in order to fully embrace individual freedom.
The seed of deception (I can be my own authority) is planted. The lie (recognition of God is unnecessary and His rules are stifling to my sense of individuality) is cultivated. A harvest of destruction (eternally lost souls) follows.
My humble opinion of Mr. Lewis’ statements.
Heather
Heather,
Very well said….you nailed some things I’m trying to put together in my mind for a new post…
“The seed of deception (I can be my own authority) is planted. The lie (recognition of God is unnecessary and His rules are stifling to my sense of individuality) is cultivated. A harvest of destruction (eternally lost souls) follows.”
Worse than when this happens in a culture, is when it happens in the church…
Heather,
Excellent comment(s).
Mary,
I agree, this is exactly what has happened within the mainstream Christian church.
Civilla,
Yes, if one REALLY wants to be educated he/she can access independent studies to accomplish this. However, our mainstream society is not seeking independent study because they are all so very blinded by the lie perpetuated through institutionalized education that tells them they ARE educated. Have you ever read “Dumbing Us Down, The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling” by John Taylor Gatto? When I read this little publication I recalled horrible memories of my own institutionalized education and the “hidden” lessons it taught me. As Jamie commented, it is very hard to “break the mold”, but the cracks are growing longer and deeper everyday.
Mrs. B
Wow Heather that is some great insight and very well worded!
Thanks for taking the time to write that!
This is also one of my favorite passages in this book–i remember distinctly how it struck me when I first read it.
The Great Divorce also has a little on the same subject, if I am not mistaken.
Sherry
“With “live however you feel is right” as a new standard, God’s way and the instruction of the Bible are considered to be fetters which must be thrown off in order to fully embrace individual freedom.”
The problem here is: Who decides what’s right? If your reason for being against gay marriage is as simple as “Jesus said it was wrong” – how is that a valid set of agreements for those who do not worship God in your way, or have a similar faith in Jesus?
I want to point out that my issue is never, ever with how you decide to worship. That is up to you. My issue is with governing others with your beliefs. While they are right and valid to you – that doesn’t necessarily hold with everyone in America. So by denying gay rights to marriage, for example, allows your rights (although I still kind of fail to see how this adversely affects your life but that is a separate issue) – but who is to say that this is appropriate? One is given, one is denied.
“The seed of deception (I can be my own authority) is planted. The lie (recognition of God is unnecessary and His rules are stifling to my sense of individuality) is cultivated. A harvest of destruction (eternally lost souls) follows.”
To you, we are lost. To us, we are found. 🙂 To not recognize God is not a “lie” in my opinion. It is a difference of belief systems.
I do want to add that I admire your literacy and passion Catherine despite my disagreement – and I wish you a very happy thanksgiving!
Whoops, I meant to say that I admired HEATHER – pressing “publish” too quickly there!
MOD,
I think you ask a very logical question…probably one I would ask if I didn’t believe in God.
We happen to believe that Christian or not, everything “moral” ultimately comes from God. When immoral choices are made, it DOES affect the whole. Maybe subtly at first, and then the snowball.
If you look at any nation, compare history at any point, when a nation embraces morality–virtue, godliness, etc. the nation prospers as a whole, even if not every citizen is a Christian.
Conversely, when a nation turns away from God, morality declines, and destruction ensues. (The Bible even expressly predicts this pattern.)
We aren’t “against homosexuals” because we’re mean or don’t like them (I’ll be sharing my Thanksgiving meal with one tomorrow.)
We believe that if God says sodomy will be judged, that it is for the good of everyone to preserve the integrity of the nation, and keep sodomy as the crime that it has been considered throughout history.
I guess I would ask anyone who doesn’t believe in God if they cannot clearly see the correlation between the moral decline of this nation over the past century? Or the patterns in other cultures as nations have turned to God? It’s so obvious it hits you in the face.
Bottom line is, moral laws come from God and are good for the whole society.
If we throw them away, one at a time, and create a relativistic society where each governs himself, anarchy will be the natural result. Then destruction, then turning back to God, then prosperity again. It’s the same pattern every time. That’s hard for even an atheist to deny.
MOD,
P.S. I knew you had it in you to make a point without an insult. Thank you!
I might be the only guy in this conversation, but oh well – I just had to comment on the differences between our founding fathers’ intent and democracy – so, here goes.
In the United States of America, we chose to be a representative republic where people are governed by laws. Totalitarianism results in the oppression of the many by the few. Democracy results in the oppression of the few by the many. Both are oppressive.
Our founding fathers envisioned a government where all were equal UNDER THE LAW.
Our founding fathers were specifically attempting to avoid oppression from either extreme. Their intent was to put in place a system where the people elected men of good judgment who could determine right from wrong. These men were to be elected to three separate branches of government and each group was to be entrusted with one aspect of managing the Law of the Land. The Legislative branch was to make laws, but had no power to interpret the law or enforce it. The executive branch was to enforce the law, but had no real legislative or interpretive role. The Judicial Branch was to interpret the law, but was not to have any legislative role, or enforcement role. The reason for this elaborate system of balancing power, was to protect our government from any one person or group of people gaining power over more than one function at a time. This was because of the Christian viewpoint that man is basically evil and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The weakness our founding fathers saw in democracy was that in order for it to work mankind must be basically good, (as humanism holds)and what is good for the majority must be good for all. Truth must be a relative concept, and might is right.
Our founding fathers did not want the few to rule over the many, or the many to rule over the few. They wanted instead for all to be equal under the law. They believed the law was to be an outgrowth of the decisions made by men of good judgment determining right from wrong, and they believed that there was such a thing as absolute right and wrong, which originated from the Creator God.
I am not saying that this is what our country is today. Most people in our nation now believe we are a democracy. We have judges legislating from the bench. We have two main political parties that in my opinion play us against each other in public, and then collaborate with each other behind closed doors, and they control two of the three separate branches of government.
For what it’s worth,
Craig (the simple guy)
No, Mrs.B. I haven’t read “Dumbing Down”. I’ll have to try to get it. I have read “The Closing of the American Mind”, and it was good.