16 Aug 2025
One of the (many) themes that comes up in the book is the idea of education as a tool to control...
One of the (many) themes that comes up in the book is the idea of education as a tool to control — sometimes implied, but often overt. During my recent family holiday to NE USA, I was fascinated by Boston Library. It's a fabulous building, covered in inscriptions extolling the virtues of education, such as 'Free to All'.
One inscription in particular made me stop and think: “The Commonwealth requires the education of the people as the safeguard of order and liberty” Today, we can see the desperate need for Lifelong Learning — to feel part of society, to recognise when we are being lied to, and feel empowered to challenge. But where is the line drawn? The “safeguard of order and liberty” could mean exactly that — or could mean the protection of the interests of the ruling elites.
The aristocracy understood the dangers of educating the masses and its potential to disrupt the established order by giving voice to workers’ dissatisfaction. This was most clearly articulated by Davies Giddy, MP, in an 1807 debate on education,
“however specious in theory the project might be of giving education to the labouring classes of the poor, it would be prejudicial to the morals and happiness; it would lead them to despise their lot in life; instead of making them good servants in agriculture and other laborious employment; instead of teaching them subordination, it would render them fractious and refractory, as was evident in the manufacturing counties; it would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books, on publications against Christianity; it would render them insolent to their superiors; and in a few years the legislature would find it necessary to direct the strong arm of power against them”
Education promises liberty — but as Giddy reminds us, it also threatens those who benefit from keeping others in their place.