The Disarmament of Education

...No nation is any longer capable of se.c'-defense in isolation...

...This means that patriotism, "ithout being in any degree diminished, must be freed from association with an attitude of contempt or hostility towards other nations...

...Friends of pesce, in the past, were spt to advocate mraiures which, if not universally adopted, would weaken those nstions which did sdopt them...

...It is not only in Axis countries that education should be guided into international channels...

...The yoaog in Germany and Japan were taught aa eatleok on life and a view ef the world which made them willing to show heroism and safer desth in s bsd cans...

...Love of one's own country, like love of one's own children, is art instinctive emotion, and one which can be wholly beneficent...

...When this method is adopted, love of pesce will no longer be shown by choosing to be wesk in srmed force, but by tsking a due shsre in creating snd sustsining ths rsign of international legality...

...Nothing but antiquated habits ' mind prevents the recognition of the fact that educational disarmament is as important ss disarmament in planes and tanks...

...There should be s United Nations' Education Authority, one of whose duties should be the preparation of new textbooks for th* schools and universities of Axis countries...

...Both in Germsny snd in Japan, th* years that fo|low our victory must be used to establish an educations...

...if not, th* right foundation will have been laid for whatever new struggle may lie ahead...

...But those who love their own children do not, on thst sreount, wish ill to other children, snd there is no reason why love of our own country should mske us wish 111 to other countries...

...In addition to the ususl work of a university, the international university should study such questions ss were calculated te produce friction between nstions, snd should produce reports upon them by persons not belonging to the interested countries...

...There should also be a complete change of textbooks on all controversial subjects, such ss history...

...America, Great Britain, and Prance were not estranged from each other by any atofoand divergence...

...if any good is to come of victory, the coalition must retain some measure of coherence after the conclusion of peace...

...It is to be expected thst its pronouncements would soon acquire e high degree of authority...

...ss s rule, they fsvored isolationism and diminution of nntional armaments...

...It will be necessary to generate an infermed public opinion, able to lealise what ia necessary if the world is to be saved from a series of great wars...

...When education takes the form of teaching that foreigners are inferior beings, and that it is virtuous to attack and oppress them, the matter is not of merely domestic interest, but a matter of life and death for nations exposed to aggression...

...The victor* at Versailles wore fairly hessegeaeoos ia culture snd political stractare...

...if they had been more wisely educated, they could not have believed anything so grotesque...

...This university shoe Id prepsre the textbooks te be r»commeadsd to nntioaal education •ntherities, and should offer peet-gradeate courses te sll who Intended te bo-com* aaivereity toe bars us their respective countries...

...The Disarmament of Education A Proposal for an International University By Bertrand Russell At the end ef the last war, high hopes aroee in ail A parte ef tee werld mm m result of President Wil-/* sen's advocacy ef the League of Nations...

...system, which will free the coming generation from the incubus of insane national Ism...

...These interests and ideals should be formulated by such of the United Nations as remain united when the war is over, and the teaching of them should be as prominent in education as the national anthem and loyalty to the national flag...

...this would encoursge the choice of such students for academic potts...

...the second half is bsd...

...Among teachers, both in schools and in universities, seme have been enthusiastic Nazis, while others have only made a prudent submission to suthority The latter, but not th* former, should be •Bowed to retain their posts...

...It has generally been held, hitherto, that education is a matter for national, or *ven local, control, not coming within the legitimate sphere of any international authority...

...Nationaliom is a two-fold emotion: love and admiration for one's own nation, hatred and contempt for all others...

...Assuming the military occupation of Germany and Japan after the war, various conditions should be Ststed ss requiring to be t drilled before the withdrawal of •ur garrison...

...Any person who, ss s student, satisfied the suthorities of th* international university should, if subsequently sppointed to a post in hi* own country, receive half his salary from the budget of the United Nations...

...In education, espeeislly, the necessary measures csn be adopted by sll those nstions that are genuinely willing to forego aggression ss a national policy...

...I SUGGEST, therefore, thst, after the wsr, those na tions that genuinely desire to maintain peace should compose * joint educational program to be as pervasive a part of the school atmosphere as patriotism is and should continue to be...

...The first half of this emotion, which alone deserves the name of patriotism, is good...

...The victors ia this war— America, Raasis, snd Chins—hare neither com anm traditions aar common political theories, snd R la dmWult to imagine any whole-hearted co-•yeretlea between them in directing the werld towards near...

...TllKRE is no reason the desirable educational reforms should wait until sll nstions sre willing to sdopt them...

...The conquered countries would have to provide evidence of the geruineness of reform, fsiling which the military occupation would continue...

...In future, the friends of peace must aim rather at the creation of a strong international law backed by force, and, as a necesssry preliminary, at the creation of the sentiments and beliefs without which such a system is unworkable...

...At present, in every pert of the civilized world, most people sre vividly swar* thst other nations have their faults, but only reluctantly and half-heartedly willing to admit that perhaps their own nation is not wholly perfect, Since tin* attitude ia encouraged by natural self-esteem, it needs to be deliberately corrected by education if it is not to hava harmful effects...

...The war will have been won, not by any one nation, but by a coalition...

...This view fail* to do justice to the importance of education...

...Very few people desire great wars, but very many people cannot resist the amotions and beliefs out of which great wars springy Many Germans, in the yesrs before 193V, sincerely believed that Hitler stood for peace...

...The pmmm proved vain, and the world marched on, as if meted by the inexorable fates, through mistakes and fallr— and crimes to the present straggle...

...coherence between different nations cannot be based upon their seversl nationalisms, but must be based upon interests and ideals in which the various nations tan all share equally...

...Nations which genuinely desire world peace will listen to the advice of the international authority in adapting their educational systems to the needs of the modern world...

...This part of the program should aim at impartiality in the teaching of history, at respect for whatever deserves respect in other nstions, snd an eliminating not only political isolstionlsm, but that moral isolationism which at present exists in most boys snd girls...

...An international authority should devise wsys of correcting it, partly by teaching that the preservation of peace must be s collective undertaking, partly by producing Impartial textbooks of history...

...Thm time, aa the end spprooches, there is ae apllmmm shoot the near fatare...

...In this work those nstions thst believe in it can cooperate without waiting for the rest of ths world, since it will strengthen, not wesken, them when resistance to sggression is railed for...

...Whatever degree of self-government, either local or national, may be allowed in Germany while our military occupation lasts, those who have held any official post in the Nazi Party should neither vote nor be eligible...

...Among these conditions should be sn adequate reform of education, involving cessstion of th* glorification of war apd of the doctrine of the master race...

...But it is not altogether essy to decide on s method of achieving this end...

...Perhaps, however, ear mere sober ¦seed may easbte no to approach **r goal more reeiktkeaily, aad to avoid the diaappeiatment* which make cyaica eat of former idealists...

...For the purpose ef generating s well-informed body of impartial international opinion, there should be an international university, whose pro feasors should he men who combine academic eminence with th* proved capacity te rlee abov* merely national prejudices...

...If other nations gradually join in, all will be well...

...resistance to aggression, if it is to be successful, must be undertaken cooperatively by many nations...

...With better education, all the very real moral qualities required to make ¦ br*v« soldier might have been of use to the world, instead of being only a source of death and destruction...

...The victorious Great Powers cannot, like their defeated enemies, lie forced to reform their education, but it is to be hoped that they will themselves recognize the need of certain reforms...

...So long ss this second half is not counteracted by education, it will be scarcely possible to maintain the degree of international solidarity which is necessary for the prevention or quick defeat of aggressive war...

...Perhaps we may assume, in Germany, a consider able revulsion of feeling against the Nazis as a result of defeat...

...So far as possible, the initiative in such measures should be left to Germans, bat in any case the measures should be taken...

...A long educational process will b* nacesssry before sincere cooperation among the Great Powers becomes passible—education in the schools, education in the ¦adversities, and education of adults...