UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
What are some of the practical applications of different kinds of knowledge? Is Newman correct in saying that knowledge need not serve any "useful" social purpose to be worth acquiring? Why or why not?
How does Newman define "liberal" as it applies to knowledge? Which subjects in
a contemporary college or university would Newman consider "liberal knowledge"? Which would he consider "useful knowledge"? Is this distinction valuable? Why or why not?
What kinds of physical exercises does Newman consider "liberal"? What is the difference between useful physical exercise and "liberal exercise"? Is the distinction the same as it is for intellectual pursuits?
According to Newman, what is the consequence of requiring that education correspond to certain notions of "virtue"?
In Newman's opinion, what role does enjoyment play in the motivation to acquire knowledge? In your opinion, is learning most enjoyable for its own sake or for its practical use?
Examine the ways that Newman incorporates quotations and references from ancient Greek and Roman authors. How well do these citations prove his points? How well do they illustrate his arguments?
Does Newman believe that liberal education is more valuable than career-oriented education? Which kinds of education would his ideal university accomplish?
MAKING CONNECTIONS
How does Newman's view of the value of education compare with that of Frederick Douglass (p. 24)? Do you think that Douglass would agree that acquiring knowledge is an end of its own? Why or why not?
Does Newman's religious approach to education resemble that of Hsun Tzu (p. 5), Seneca (p. 13), or Nussbaum (p. 61)? In what way can an education that does not specifically promote virtue be "religious"?
Compare Newman's understanding of the role of "useful education" with Richard Feynman's view that education must be practical and hands-on to be understood (p. 53). Do the two views contradict each other? Why or why not?
How might Newman respond to Gorgias (p. 166) or someone else who argues that rhetoric always has as its purpose the persuasion of others? Is it possible for rhetoric to be "liberal" in Newman's sense of the word?
WRITING ABOUT THE TEXT
1. Obtain a catalog from your own college or university and examine the general education curriculum. Write an essay discussing this curriculum in relation to
Newman's "Knowledge Its Own End." Support or oppose these requirements for all students, regardless of their majors.
Compare Newman's view of liberal education with Seneca's (p. 13). In what ways does Seneca mirror Newman's contention that education does not need to be useful?
How "useful" or helpful do you find Newman's distinction between "useful" and "liberal" knowledge? Consider your education thus far. How much of your knowledge meets all the qualifications of "liberal knowledge"? How much is "useful" and practical? Where do the two kinds overlap?
Write an essay titled "The Idea of a University," explaining your view of what college should be and how it should function. Do not feel bound to Newman's ideas, but refer to them when appropriate.
rabindranath tagore
To Teachers
[1923]
RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861-1941) is considered by many to be one of India's most important literary figures. Born and raised in Calcutta, Tagore primarily spoke and wrote in Bengali—the second most spoken language in India and the seventh most spoken language in the world. He was a scholar, educator, novelist, musician, painter, and poet. It would be difficult to overstate Tagore's influence on the culture of his region, where he is held in the same regard as William Shakespeare in England or Benjamin Franklin in the United States. Two modern nations—India and Bangladesh—use songs written by Tagore as their national anthems.
Outside of India, Tagore is best known for his book of poetry Gitanjali or Song Offerings (1910), the first Indian work to be widely read and praised in the West. In 1912, Tagore translated the poems into English himself and published them in London, where they quickly became a sensation. The next year, Tagore became the first non-European writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He used his prize money from the Nobel committee to start Visva-Bharati, now called Visva-Bharati University, one of the premier institutions of higher education in India.
Visva-Bharati grew out of a coeducational school for children that Tagore established on his family property in 1901. Its name means "the communion of the world with India," and Tagore frequently invited notable people from India or Europe to spend time at the school. Classes were often held outdoors, as Tagore believed that students learned best when they were close to nature. And courses did not begin and end on specific dates on the calendar. Students continued taking the course until both they and the instructor were satisfied that they had learned the material.
In 1924, Tagore was invited to China to give a series of lectures on education and the philosophy behind Visva-Bharati. He spent nearly two months touring the country and speaking at universities. His generally conservative approach to education was not well received by students, who were in the midst of a revolutionary fervor that would soon overthrow the Confucian and Buddhist traditions that he supported. But these lectures did give him the opportunity to distill his educational philosophies into concrete statements of value and purpose.
The essay that follows, "To Teachers," comes from Tagore's own published account of his trip to China. It consists of a lecture that he gave, probably multiple times, to the faculty of the schools he visited. Tagore builds this lecture around a set of contrasts: natural versus artificial, childhood versus adulthood, freedom versus constraint, and others. Each of these contrasts contributes to the overall picture
of education that Tagore draws: a school should work with the natural curiosity of a child's mind to stimulate creativity and understanding, and should introduce children to people from as many different backgrounds and worldviews as possible so that they do not grow up with the prejudices and blind spots of their elders. It should not be an "education factory" that warehouses students and teaches them in ways most convenient for adults. Such is the vision that Tagore had for his beloved Visva-Bharati.
I have been told that you would like to hear about the educational crusade I have undertaken, but it will be difficult for me to give you a distinct idea of my institution of learning, which has grown gradually during the last twenty-four years. My own mind has grown with it, and my own ideal of education has reached its fullness so slowly and so naturally, that I find it difficult to analyze and place it before you.
The first question you may all ask is: what urged me to take up education. Until I was forty or more, I had spent most of my time in literary pursuits. I had never any desire to participate in practical work because I had a conviction that I did not have the gift. Perhaps you know the truth, or shall I make a confession? When I was thirteen I finished going to school. I do not want to boast about it, I merely give it to you as a historical fact.
So long as I was forced to attend school, I felt an unbearable torture. I often counted the years before I would have my freedom. My elder brothers had finished their academic career and were engaged in life, each in his own way. How I envied them when, after a hurried meal in the morning, I found the inevitable carriage that took us to school, ready at the gate. How I wished that, by some magic spell, I could cross the intervening fifteen or twenty years and suddenly become a grown-up man. I afterwards realized that what then weighed on my mind was the unnatural pressure of a system of education which prevailed everywhere.