Mill\'s Fundamental Ideas That Pertain

¶ … Mill's fundamental ideas that pertain to the need for a liberal education in secondary school and college?

Mill believes that students, once they have gained the elementary fundamentals of knowledge should be taught how to systematize their knowledge and to see how all knowledge is interconnected. "Each science or distinct mode of study reveals but a small part, but the whole of which must be included to enable us to know it truly as a fact in Nature, and not as a mere abstraction." Mill stresses the importance of learning in a 'natural' fashion. One reason that the English knowledge of Greek and Latin is so poor, he writes, despite the time devoted to the study of ancient languages in English universities, is because ancient languages are not taught in a natural way. They should be taught the way a child learns his own language, through repetition and exposure to the words and grammar in context. Learning in a holistic fashion, rather than through rote memorization, is how mastery is achieved. This is true for all the disciplines -- a child must take 'ownership' of his or her language and learning, according to Mill.

What do you find in Mill that relates to the importance of including attention to diverse cultures in education, that is, what are the specific grounds he gives for the importance of studying diverse cultures and languages?

When Mill gave his Inaugural Address to St. Andrews most English universities focused their teaching on classical languages and abstract mathematics. Mill's speech makes a defense of teaching about the present, and the sciences and the languages and history of the present day. Mill is an advocate of what might be called a well-rounded education: "Short as life is, and shorter still as we make it by the time we waste on things which are neither business, nor meditation, nor pleasure, we are not so badly off that our scholars need be ignorant of the laws and properties of the world they live in, or our scientific men destitute of poetic feeling and artistic cultivation." Mill wrote when there was a sharp class division in how education was disseminated: children of the middle and working classes learned practical, technical skills like the natural sciences, modern languages, and trades; while men of refinement from the upper classes learned classical languages, history, and rhetoric. Mill believes that it is impossible to be a great scientist, without having some feeling and sensitivity about the human condition given by the humanities, and someone learning the classics must understand the functioning of the modern world, to give what he or she is learning some significance.

How do the ideas on education of Locke, Jefferson and Mill relate to one another and to the importance of education for a democratic society such as our own?

Mill's stress upon holistic knowledge is essential for a citizen in a democracy -- today, a citizen must vote an elected official into office who can deal with the scientific complexities of global warming and healthcare, and can comprehend the intricacies of foreign cultures. To judge the knowledge base of our elected officials, citizens must also have a well-rounded basis of knowledge. That is why Thomas Jefferson believed so fervently in the need to educate all Americans in elementary schools, and all white, male Americans who could vote on a higher level, in grammar schools. Although he was very much a man of his time regarding the education of African-Americans and women, it is important to note that Jefferson believed in the importance of higher education for voters, although he did not try to increase access to those who could not afford such learning. (Jefferson did believe in the need for some education for non-voters, like women and lower-class, non-property holders, but on a more limited level).