The Gift of Fire

Richard Mitchell (AKA: The Underground Grammarian) is a critic of modern educational theory and practice, as well as a staunch proponent of bolstering clarity in thought and language. He denounces current tendencies to communicate in relativistic, ambiguous language devoid of meaning. I first read,and highly recommend, Less Than Words Can Say. Here are some of my favorite quotes from The Gift of Fire, which I just finished.

"Behind all of the silly things we do in schools...there is nothing less than a great, pervading spirit of dullness and tedium, of irksome but necessary labors directed completely toward the consolidation of the mundane through the accumulation of the trivial. ...there is no solemnity, no reverence, no awe, no wonder. We would be ashamed to claim that our proper business was with the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, and that this business can be conducted not through arousing pleasant feelings, but through working the mind." (p26)

He spends several pages bemoaning the fact that we have become "Men Without Chests" (referencing C.S. Lewis's essay on the same), who are ruled by our "bellies" (appetites and desires) rather than by our minds and hearts. He contends that, in our time, the art of persuasion has been reduced to "making bellies purr."

"Education is not a 'rank,' like citizenship or captaincy. It is an inward event, like joy or surprise. ...it seems reasonable to understand education as a possible habit...an inclination of the mind to notice what the world surely provides...the habit of looking, of paying attention." (p67)

"The light of problem-solving (as opposed to understanding) is like the light of the moon, a reflection of some greater light. And when we single out the skills of problem-solving and give them the name of intelligence, we make a choice between the moon and the sun..." (p85)

"Children learn what they most need to know from happy stories of the birth of kings, and grown-ups learn again and again what they most need to remember from sad stories of the death of kings." (p128) His explanation of this encompasses a few pages, but is well worth the read.

Though I do not fully endorse all Mr. Mitchell's premises and conclusions, he is a cogent thinker and writer worthy of consideration.