Bio-Green Books Education and the Good Life

by Bertrand Russell

Education and the Good Life is aimed at showing how psychological constructiveness differs from machine-like constructiveness. A broader understanding of psychological constructiveness could help us develop outstanding individuals. Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist and Nobel laureate.

Genres: Philosophy, Education, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, was a Welsh philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, pacifist, and prominent rationalist. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

Reviews

[Peiman E iran · Rating 5 out of 5]

‎کتابی بی اندازه مفید و خردمندانه، از فیلسوفِ گرانقدر «برتراند راسل» که یادش همیشه گرامی باد
‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، این کتاب از 169 صفحه و 4 بخش تشکیل شده که شاملِ این بخشهاست: آموزش و زندگیِ بهتر- تربیت و اخلاق- آموزشِ فکری و عقلانی
---------------------------------------------
‎عزیزانم، این کار غیرممکن است که همۀ بچه ها تعلیماتی در سطح بالا و بسیار عالی ببینند یا هیچکس نبیند، اگر این روش عملی شود، لطمۀ بزرگی به علم و دانش خواهد خورد و سطحِ معلوماتِ عمومیِ یک کشور و سرزمین پایین خواهد آمد... پیشرفت را نمیتوان قربانیِ فرضیۀ تساوی حقوق کرد... ما باید در بخشِ آموزش، دموکراسی را با دقتِ بسیار زیاد بگنجانیم، که نه حقی ضایع شود و نه معلومات متوقف بماند... در هر صورت تربیت و تعلیمِ یک کشور کامل و رضایت بخش نیست، مگر اینکه عمومیت داشته باشد... امروزه میبینیم که در بسیاری از کشورها، تساویِ حقوقِ جنسی برایِ زن و مرد قائل شده اند و میگویند باید همان آموزشی که پسران میبینند، دختران هم ببینند ولو اینکه آن آموزش برایشان مفید نباشد
‎تعلیم و آموزش باید مفید و هدفمند باشد... دوستانِ عزیزم، تصور کنید به بچه ها آموزش بدهند که زمین را حفر کنند و یا زمین را بِکنند... و اتفاقاً عده ای هم به خوبی از عهدۀ این کار بر آمده و به خوبی چاله حفر میکنند... ولی به آنها آموزشی پس از سوراخ کردن و حفر کردن نمیدهند! این چه آموزشیست؟... ولی اگر به آنها آموزش دهند که زمین را بِکنند و در آن دانه و بذر بکارند تا آن زمین محصول دهد و از محصولِ آن خوراک تهیه شود و احتیاجاتِ زندگیِ انسان تأمین و تضمین گردد، آنگاه میتوان گفت که این آموزش مفید و هدفمند بوده است
‎گاهی اوقات تنها هدفِ آموختن، استفاده کردن نیست، بلکه مزایایِ دیگری برایِ انسان دارد، مثلاً، خواندنِ برخی از کتابهایِ شعر و یا کتابهایی، مانندِ آثارِ «شکسپیر» ممکن است در زندگی استفاده ای نداشته باشند، ولی خواندش باعثِ روشن شدن و بازشدنِ فکر میشود و آثاری همچون شاهنامهٔ فردوسی خردمند، چه در روشن شدنِ اندیشه و خرد و چه در آموزشِ روش زندگیِ انسانی و نیک، بسیار برای فرزندانِ ایران زمین میتواند مفید باشد
‎بهترین روش برایِ تربیتِ کودک این است که اعتدال را رعایت کنیم، نه بچه زیاد لوس شود و نه زیاد شدتِ عمل به خرج دهیم، البته هرکاری که برایِ آسایشِ او لازم است باید انجام شود... وقتی سرد است، گرمش باید کرد و وقتی خود را خیس میکند باید لباسش را عوض کرد، ولی وقتی گریه میکند، همیشه حق با او نیست، نباید به گریۀ او اهمیت داد، وگرنه در اثر عادتِ انسانها، بچه موجودی سمج و مزاحم میشود... البته باید بدانیم که او به چه چیزهایی احتیاج دارد و برایش انجام دهیم، ولی کارهایی که برایش انجام میدهیم باید به صورتِ طبیعی باشد نه به عنوانِ اینکه برایِ بچه فداکاری کنید... زیرا وقتی بزرگ شد منتظر خواهد بود تا همه برایش فداکاری کنند و سرانجام نا امید خواهد شد و ضربه میخورد
‎عزیزان، با بچه ها مثلِ یک انسان برخورد کنید، ولی از او انتظار نداشته باشید که همچون انسانِ بالغ رفتار کند،... بچه ها را وسیلۀ تفریح قرار ندهید، چون آنچه انجام میدهد عادتِ دوم و یا ثانویِ او خواهد شد،... نباید کاری کنید که بچه خود را هستۀ زندگی بداند و برایِ خود اهمیتِ زیادی قائل شود، چون در سنینِ جوانی و بزرگسالی دچار ناامیدی و یأس خواهد شد و بیش از همه خودش در جامعه آسیب میبیند
---------------------------------------------
‎امیدوارم این ریویو برایِ شما خردگرایان، مفید بوده باشه
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

[Zohreh Samiei · Rating 3 out of 5]

از متن كتاب:
صفات اوليه انسان را مي توان با تربيت به سمت خوبي يا بدي راهنمايي كرد. ....

[James Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fantastic. For all of his naturally borne aristocratic prejudice, Russell is a truly humanist soul. A professor of mine once criticised my use of a Russell quote in an essay - and not because the quote was unsuited or out of place, but because it was issued by a man against whom he, my professor, was himself prejudiced. I took offence at his criticism, and suggested he ought to read more more of this great man before flippantly throwing about comment. Maybe if he had read this book beforehand, he would never have made his criticism; perhaps had I, then maybe my offence might never have been felt. Much can be learnt from the philosophic soul.

[Kianosh Kalantari · Rating 4 out of 5]

یک کتاب بسیار شیرین و مفید در باب تعلیم و تربیت انسان از دوران کودکی تا بزرگسالی
ترجمه کتاب عالی و نوع نوشتار سبک داستانی داره
واقعا نکات جالبی یادگرفتم باز هم باید بخونم در آینده ای نه چندان دور

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE FAMED PHILOSOPHER GIVES HIS OPINIONS ABOUT THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was an influential British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and political activist. In 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in recognition of his many books.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1926 book, “The education we desire for our children must depend upon our ideals of human character, and our hopes as to the part they are to play in the community… My aim and purpose, wherever possible, will be to avoid controversial issues… What I have to say is the outcome of perplexities in regard to my own children; it is therefore not remote or theoretical, and may, I hope, help to clarity the thoughts of other parents faced with a like perplexity… I propose… to consider first the aims of education: the kind of individuals, and the kind of community, that we may reasonably hope to see produced by education… I attach great weight to modern psychological discoveries which tend to show that character is determined by early education... Finally I shall discuss intellectual education, its aims, its curriculum, and its possibilities… to make men and women capable of learning from experience should be one of the aims which early education should keep most prominently in view.”

He praises recent “pedagogical discoveries”: “The fundamental idea is simple: that the right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities. What is astonishing is the great success in finding technical methods of embodying this idea in education. For this, Madame Montessori deserves the highest praise.” (Pg. 36-37) He adds, “The substation of the driving-force for the rod is one of the great advances of our time.” (Pg. 42)

He states, “I make no distinction whatever between male and female excellence.” (Pg. 60) Later, he adds, “Women in whom love is cramped encourage brutality and hypocrisy in their husbands, and distort the instincts of their children. One generation of fearless women could transform the world, by bringing into it a generation of fearless children… It is education that gives us these bad qualities, and education that must give us the opposite virtues. Education is the key to the new world.” (Pg. 83)

He notes, “It is useless to obtrude moral ideas at an age when they can evoke no response, and at which they are not yet required for the control of behavior. The only effect is boredom, and imperviousness to those same ideas at the later age when they might have become potent. That is one reason… why the study of child-psychology is of such vital importance to education.” (Pg. 131) Later, he argues, “It is a bad thing for intelligence, and ultimately for character, to let instruction be influenced by moral considerations. It should not be thought that some knowledge is harmful and some ignorance is good.” (Pg. 240)

He observes, “the real education in justice can only come where there are other children. This is one of many reasons why no child should long be solitary. Parents who have the misfortune to have an only child should do all that they can to secure companionship for it, even at the cost of a good deal of separation from home, if no other way is possible.” (Pg. 149-150)

He says, “Parents who wish to be loved must behave so as to elicit love, and must try to give to their children those physical and mental characteristics which produce expansive affections.” (Pg. 188) Later, he adds, ”Affection cannot be created; it can only be liberated.” (Pg. 206)

He also asserts, “One other thing is essential in teaching about sex-love. Jealousy must not be regarded as a justifiable insistence upon rights, but as a misfortune to the one who feels it and a wrong toward its object. Where possessive elements intrude upon love, it loses its vivifying power and eats up personality; where they are absent, it fulfills personality and brings a greater intensity to life.” (Pg. 220)

He points out, “I think the arguments in favour of the nursery-school are quite overwhelming---not only for children whose parents are poor, ignorant, and overworked, but for all children.” (Pg. 224) He adds, “The nursery-school, if it became universal, could, in one generation, remove the profound differences in education which at present divide the classes, could produce a population all enjoying the mental and physical development which is now confined to the most fortunate, and could remove the terrible dead-weight of disease and stupidity and malevolence which now makes progress so difficult.” (Pg. 230)

He explains, “I should encourage a habit of intelligent controversy among the older boys and girls, and I should place no obstacles in their way even if they questioned what I regarded as important truths. I should make it my object to teach thinking, not orthodoxy, or even heterodoxy. And I should absolutely never sacrifice intellect to the fancied interest of morals.” (Pg. 287)

Russell’s advice does indeed come from his own experience in running a progressive school [Beacon Hill School] with his second wife Dora Black from 1927-1932. This book amply illustrates a different “side” to Russell’s philosophy, and is still of interest to parents, and those interested in progressive educational methods.

[Bala · Rating 3 out of 5]

“All great art and all great science springs from the passionate desire to embody what was at first an unsubstantial phantom, a beckoning beauty luring men away from safety and ease to a glorious torment. The men in whom this passion exists must not be fettered by the shackles of a utilitarian philosophy, for to their ardour we owe all that makes man great.”