James Mill on Education

Cambridge Texts and Studies in the History of Education

by James Mill, W.H. Burston (Editor)

James Mill's two principal published works on education are the article 'Education', for the Encyclopedia Britannica, written in 1815, and the pamphlet Schools for all, in preference to Schools for Churchmen only, written in 1812. The first was general and theoretical, and raises points about the relationship between the aims of education, psychological theory and social life. It is a classic document of utilitarianism. The second was written as part of the debate about the interlocked themes of primary education, monitorial education, and religious education. It is practical and political, and one of the first statements about secularism in education and the need to provide primary schooling for all in England. Mr Burston's introduction relates the two pieces to Mill's general intellectual and philosophical position, and to the historical context in which he wrote. Notes explain allusions in the text, and there is a bibliography.

216 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 1969

About the author

James Mill (born James Milne) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. His son, John Stuart Mill, was also a noted philosopher of liberalism, utilitarianism and the civilizing mission of the British Empire.

Although he never set foot in India at any time in his life, James Mill took upon himself the task of writing the monumental History of British India, a classic of colonial self-congratulation which contains a complete denunciation and rejection of Indian culture and civilisation and which both exhorts and extolls the civilizing mission of the British in the subcontinent. He was the first writer to divide Indian history into three parts: Hindu, Muslim and British, a classification which has proved surpassingly influential in the field of Indian historical studies, but which is seen in recent decades as being deeply problematic.