Chrestomathia

by Jeremy Bentham

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484 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 1984

About the author

In 1748, Jeremy Bentham was born in London. The great philosopher, utilitarian humanitarian and atheist began learning Latin at age four. He earned his B.A. from Oxford by age 15 or 16, and his M.A. at 18. His Rationale of Punishments and Rewards was published in 1775, followed by his groundbreaking utilitarian work, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Bentham propounded his principle of "the greatest happiness of the greatest number." He worked for political, legal, prison and educational reform. Inheriting a large fortune from his father in 1792, Bentham was free to spend his remaining life promoting progressive causes. The renowned humanitarian was made a citizen of France by the National Assembly in Paris. In published and unpublished treatises, Bentham extensively critiqued religion, the catechism, the use of religious oaths and the bible. Using the pen-name Philip Beauchamp, he co-wrote a freethought treatise, Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion on the Temporal Happiness of Mankind (1822). D. 1832.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_B...

http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bi...

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeremy_B...

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...

http://utilitarianism.com/bentham.htm

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect...

Reviews

[DW]

A proposal for a new type of school (building, philosophy, even disciplines of knowledge). Very radical ideas proposed for the times: an end to corporal punishment; students teaching students; a system of ranking that ensures every student meets a bare minimum and only then begins increasing in difficulty through iteration; breaking up all fields of knowledge into stages where the most physical ways of learning about [x] are employed early and then get more abstract as a child ages. And my absolutely favourite, the malleability of the disciplines (instead of the rigidity of 'this is science, this is math, this is art, etc.')

It's damn boring to read though. Especially the sections on the bifurcation of all the branches of knowledge, uh, ever, and how Bentham would recreate them. A librarian paradise but in Victorian prose, hence total tedium. Like 350 pages of this. The first 150 are far more interesting.

Take-aways:

-Break up knowledge and encourage kids to teach in the ways that make sense to them (it is not all lecture and books)

-Get them to support each other

-Make competitions and ranking systems as a meant to an end, but have the strength of the class be of paramount importance (hence a motivation to help those who are struggling)

-Have fun learning.

-BUT remember that Bentham is still thinking of this as a social engineering projects, so it is still pretty creepy if you implement the whole thing. His goal was to make an efficient school with the minimum number of personnel required and the book is a long precise for what is really a business venture. He did get results on his initial attempts of this style of teaching, which is something, but his school was never actually built.