Call it sheer coincidence, or what you may, but, today, even as i was preparing for this essay by Bertrand Russell on Education and Discipline, given in 1935, little did i realise that it would have such a huge relevance to today’s academic environment. Even as chennaiites woke up this morning to the gory news of a teacher stabbed to death by a 15-year old boy who was upset because of the written remarks on his poor performance, The Hindu came out with an article that screamed “It’s time that school managements learnt a lesson!”.
The question is, who should teach the lesson? And at whose expense?
Well, let's have a peek into the great social critic Russell’s views on Education, which is part of my lesson plan for my II year Part II class.
According to Russell, the purpose of education is to civilize the individual, which is partly individual and partly social.
Apart from imparting general knowledge, technical skill etc which are intellectual qualities, and
Impartiality, kindliness, and self-control which are moral qualities, students should also be imparted the physiological quality of zest and joy of life.













