Tuesday, May 06, 2014
Unteachables
Norman Douglas (1868-1952), How About Europe? Some Footnotes on East and West (London: Chatto and Windus, 1930), pp. 25-26:
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The Western notion seems to be this: some dogs can learn tricks, therefore all dogs must learn them. Are we ever going to realize that we have our unteachables too, and that to keep them in schools is wasting not only our money but their time? Presumably not. The school-age is continually being raised. Soon we shall be doing sums when we might be getting married. Under discipline all the time, and coddled like little girls! The consequence is that England is full of well-groomed adolescents of twenty-five, with no more poise or self-reliance than a Newfoundland puppy.
