which possesses them."

But, taking the system as a whole, there are, it seems to me, three great
flaws in it--flaws so serious and vital as to make the word "education" as
applied to it almost a misnomer. The Prussian system is unsatisfactory,
firstly, because it confuses external discipline with self-control;
secondly, because it confuses regimentation with corporate spirit; thirdly,
because it conceives the nation's duty in terms of "culture" rather than of
character.

Let us take these three points in detail.

The first object of national education is--not anything national at all,
but simply education. It is the training of individual young people. It is
the gradual leading-out (e-ducation), unfolding, expanding, of their
mental and bodily powers, the helping of them to become, not soldiers, or
missionaries of culture, or pioneers of Empire, or even British citizens,
but simply human personalities. "The purpose of the Public Elementary
School," say the opening words of our English code, "is to form and
strengthen the character and to develop the intelligence of the children
entrusted to it." In the performance of this task external discipline is no
doubt necessary. Obedience and consideration for others are not learnt in
a day. But the object of external discipline is to form habits of
self-control which will enable their possessor to become an independent and
self-respecting human being--and incidentally, a good citizen. "If I had
to _live under_ Ramsay MacDonald, or the Prussian Lieutenant," says our
writer, "I would choose the latter, for my soul's good." But our British
system of education does not proceed on the assumption that its pupils
are destined to "live under" any one. Our ideal is that of the free man,
trained in the exercise of his powers and in the command and control of his
faculties, who, like Wordsworth's "Happy Warrior" (a poem which embodies
the best British educational tradition):

... Through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw.

Neglect for the claims of human personality both amongst pupils and
teachers is the chief danger of a State system of education. The State
is always tempted to put its own claims first and those of its citizens
second--to regard the citizen as existing for the State, instead of the
State for its citizens. It is one of the ironies of history that no man was
more alive to this danger than Wilhelm von Humbo