On Education: Especially in Early Childhood

"If parents desire a good education for their children, there will, I am convinced, be no lack of teachers willing and able to give it." This, Bertrand Russell argues, is possible with improved involvement of parents on the one hand, and an improved system of education on the other. This well-known treatise provides conclusions to universal educational perplexities by taking a fresh look at the aims of education, the kind of individuals, and the kind of community, that is hoped to be produced by education. Russell attaches great importance to modern psychological discoveries to demonstrate that character is determined by early education. The book discusses intellectual education, its aims, its curriculum, and its possibilities, from the first lessons in reading and writing to the end of the university years. The emphasis of the study is to clearly distinguish between education of character and education in knowledge.