The eugenic appeal in moral education / by John Russell.

  • Russell, John.
Date:
[1912?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The eugenic appeal in moral education / by John Russell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE EUGENIC APPEAL IN MORAL EDUCATION.1 By John Russell, M.A. “ Thou are young and wishest for child and marriage. But I ask thee : are thou a man who darest to wish for a child ? Art thou the victorious one, the self-subduer, the commander of thy senses, the master of thy virtues ? Or, in thy wish, doth there speak the animal, or necessity, or solitude, or discord with thyself ? I would that thy victory and freedom were longing for a child. Thou shalt build living monuments unto thy victory and liberation. Thou shalt build beyond thyself. But first thou must be built thyself square in body and soul.” (Nietzsche.) I am beginning to regret the undue emphasis on “ moral education,” as I have long regretted the undue emphasis on “ Sunday.” All days are holy (or unholy), and all education moralises (or demoralises). In this paper I shall speak of “ education ” only, although I have allowed “ moral ” to appear in the title. I shall say little, too, of the Science of Eugenics except to restate (in my own words) what I understand to be its funda¬ mental postulates : (i) That the quality, actual and potential, of a child at birth (the man or woman that is to be), depends almost entirely upon the inherent qualities of its father and mother (the man and woman that are), and (2) that this sequence in quality is a natural sequence, subject, in the measure of human knowledge and purpose, to understanding and control. The law of cause and effect is too seldom taken seriously. 1 Communicated to the Second International Moral Education Conference, The Hague, 1912.