Abstract
John Stuart Mill, a supporter of state provision of popular and secular education at a national scale in Victorian England, believed education was a means to foster human mind development, accounting also for the future progress of mankind. Unlike other utilitarian thinkers, like Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill believed that the state, in specific circumstances, should supervise education, therefore guaranteeing its quality and not only quantity. The reforms in popular and general education throughout the nineteenth century accompanied the discussion of what should be included in the curriculum of school or university studies, and of the terms defining compulsory attendance. In this context, this paper intends to explore Mill’s position on education and progress in line with his approach to liberalism and to the problems of his time. We will argue that his concept of liberal education transcended formal instruction in schools. Instead, it should continuously strive for the moral and mental well-being of humankind. By largely delving into periodicals and other writings produced during the Victorian era, we shall describe the changes popular education suffered under the sway of political reform and utilitarianism, bearing witness to the spirit of the age and to Mill’s approach to education.
Highlights
As a member of Parliament (MP), Mill supported the Second Reform Act passed in Parliament in 1867, being most notoriously known for the vindication of the vote for women, which he failed to achieve as propertied women over 30 would only get the suffrage in 1918
Mill does not include the study of these subjects in general education “when we embark upon the sea of metaphysics, (...) and enquire”, arguing that those who do not want to devote to such intellectual enterprise should not “employ much time in attempting to get to the bottom of these questions.” (243) Still, it is “part of liberal education” to become aware of the existence of such speculations and controversies, of open, unresolved questions that result from human inquiries
Education is normally associated with progress and an important vehicle for the dissemination of political, social and even religious ideas but it has not always been a social and political concern shared both by the states and by the society
Summary
According to Simon Heffer, Thomas Arnold “believed in the expansion of education and his quest for the moral improvement of society, his influence set the tone of the reforming classes of Victorian Britain” (Heffer 2). Human improvement could not be coerced by this stationary condition of capital and population; moral and social progress should be nurtured at all times, seizing the benefits of science, industry and “just” institutions.
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