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Dugald Stewart on Education in His Political Economy

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Dugald Stewart on Education in His Political Economy Dugald Stewart on Education in His Political Economy TOMOYUKI ARAI Chuo University [email protected] 1. Introduction Dugald Stewart lectured in political economy at Edinburgh University from 1800 to 1810, not only on theoretical economics and its abstract principles but also on the application of political economy to real-world problems. Stewart’s desire to provide education in political economy arose from a genuine interest in the improvement of the British education system. In his view, education was an important field, as shown in Outlines of Moral Philosophy (1793), which summarized his lectures on moral philosophy given at Edinburgh since 1785. There was titled ‘Of the Education of the Lower Orders; and of the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes’ under the heading of ‘political economy’ (Works Ⅷ, 5). This shows that Stewart had intended to lecture on political economy even before he began his series of lectures devoted to it in 1800. Additional evidence in this regard is provided by Stewart’s ‘Plan of Lectures on Political Economy, For Winter 1800–1801’, composed of six sections―‘Population’, ‘National Wealth’, ‘The Poor’, ‘Collective Police’, ‘Preventive Police’, and ‘Education’. Although these topics were reduced to four (‘Population’, ‘Wealth’, ‘Poor Relief’, and ‘Education’) in Stewart’s Lectures on Political Economy, education remained an important topic in his mind at the outset of his lectures on political economy in 1800. Stewart’s lectures on education at Edinburgh University in that period influenced many students, especially the so-called Edinburgh Reviewers (Henry Broughm, Francis Jeffrey, Francis Horner, and Sidney Smith). In this paper, I look mainly at Book 4 of Lectures on Political Economy, ‘Of the Education of the Lower Orders’, in order to bring to light the important fact that Stewart proposed various education and education policy reforms and to look at the details of these proposals. Then, on the basis of this discussion, I will try to describe the character and structure of Stewart’s educational thought overall, and to 1 elaborate the general argument that the approach to political economy education pioneered by Stewart had certain important benefits in early-nineteenth-century Scotland, after the death of Adam Smith. 2. Education for the Lower Class (1) In the initial part of Book 4 of Lectures on Political Economy, ‘Of the Education of the Lower Orders’, is the following passage: “Mr. Smith thinks that if, in our parish schools, instead of the little smattering of Latin which is sometimes taught there, and which is scarce ever of any use to the people, they were instructed in the elementary parts of geometry and mechanics, the literary education of the lower classes would, perhaps, be as complete as it well could” (Works Ⅸ, 327-328). Stewart basically agreed with Smith on this point; further, however, according to Stewart, even if the lower orders were to learn geometry and mechanics, it might contribute to their material security but would not help build up their human character or promote the security of the state. Stewart was more concerned with what he saw as moral corruption and immorality among the lower orders than among the upper class, because in his opinion an uncultivated, uneducated lower class would be more prone to agitation and revolt against the government, leading to the collapse of social order (Works Ⅷ, 54). “…I shall confine my attention to the only view of the subject which is immediately connected with the plan of he foregoing lectures; ――the importance of extending the means of an elementary education, not with a view to the discovery or embellishment of natural genius, but as the best security for the morals and good order of the community” (Works Ⅸ, 341). Stewart compares the education of the lower orders in Scotland with that in England. “…［A］lthough England had obtained the benefits of a regular government at a much earlier period than Scotland, the progress of national improvement was, by no means, so rapid there, or universal. This is particularly striking when we attend to the comparative attainments of the lower orders in the two countries; and it demonstrates, that in the present state of society, the diffusion of knowledge, even when assisted by the art of printing, will not be sufficient to secure the instruction 2 of the lower orders, unless proper arrangements for that purpose are made by the part of Government” (Works Ⅸ, 332). That is, according to Stewart, although England was strikingly more economically developed compared to Scotland, the Scottish approach to the education of the lower orders was superior1. This shows that Stewart was not critical of all aspects of the existing Scottish parochial school system, but he certainly did not see it as perfect, and he stated clearly that the government needed to develop more appropriate institutions for education in the future. In short, Stewart asserted the need for education reform in Britain in his era. He gave considerable attention to the education systems in foreign countries in Europe as well as in the United States, on the basis of various pamphlets and papers. For example, he explains the structure of parochial school in Denmark on the basis of William Coxe’s Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark (1792). According to Coxe, in Denmark different schools for “boys” and “females” of the lower classes existed, where they learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. “[T]he children, who are unable to bear the expense of a proper education” could attend these schools and pay low tuition fees equivalent to only £6 a year, and the boarders £20. They learned history, geography, arithmetic, religion, and the German, French, and English languages (Works IX, 335-336. Cf. Coxe [1792] 2005. 186-188). Thus, in Denmark, education for women and affordable tuition were already a reality. The advanced Danish education system as described by Coxe had great impact on Stewart’s view of education. He remarks as follows on this topic in the introduction of Lectures on Political Economy (a text which was originally intended instead to be presented in the part third of his planned Dissertation: Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy, a work which was ultimately not published until 1855, by William Hamilton in The Collected Works of Dugald Stewart). “This view of education, indeed, (considered in its connexion with intellectual improvement and the advancement of human knowledge,) properly belongs to the Philosophy of the Human Mind; which will be found to be very intimately connected with the most important objects of Political Economy. 1 Concerning the difference of authority and reputation in university between Scotland and England, see Withrington(1999, 9-17)，Rothblatt (2003, 226-236). 3 In this respect, as well as in many others, the education of females (to whose care the task of early instruction must be, in a great measure, intrusted) will be found not undeserving of attention” (Works Ⅷ, 55). Stewart goes on to contrast the status of woman in the modern age, asserting that it was much higher than in ancient times (Works Ⅷ, 55-56), when, according to Stewart, they had been wholly overlooked as part of the social system (Works Ⅷ, 55). The reason why education for women had not ever been considered, according to Stewart, is that “systematical writers” had overlooked the natural endowments of the sexes and confounded the provinces and the duties of both sexes together.2 Stewart does not remark in detail on the subject of education for women in every part of the Lectures. But his basic assertion of the need of education for women still deserves attention in his context, since with the notable exception of Mary Wollstonecraft, few or no writers of the era discussed this matter extensively. Besides the case of Denmark, Stewart also considered other education systems in Continental Europe. In particular, in his view, the most remarkable advancement of education, on the basis of “the most enlightened and liberal principles[, had been seen] in some parts of Germany” (Works Ⅸ, 336). For this, Stewart primarily credited Frederick the Great of Prussia, although the matter is not explained in detail in his Lectures3. Stewart also paid close attention to education in America. He shows the school bill called “the hundred” which was proposed by the Committee of the first Virginian Assembly under the New Government of America. According to Stewart, the “hundred” in question was a plan to divide every county in Virginia into small school districts of five or six miles square for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to every child for free, and Latin and higher branches of arithmetic to small numbers of scholars. Stewart called this “a very beautiful idea,” because all children had the opportunity of education and because of the progressive 2 “Notwithstanding, however, these circumstances, the education of women has, till very lately, been almost entirely overlooked by systematical writers; and among the few who have treated of it, there has been, in general, a strange disposition to run into extremes. One set of theorist, undervaluing the natural endowments of the other sex, and inattentive to their immense importance in the social system, have adhered even in these times to the confined notions of our forefathers……” (Works Ⅷ, 56). 3 Stewart’s view of education in Germany is something like unclear, as Stewart does not point out Berlin University founded by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1806 in Lectures. 4 scholarship system. This law, as he pointed out, had only been proposed and not passed by the Virginia assembly, but had nevertheless been greatly influential in the other states after the American Revolution. In those days, as state constitutions were being written and ratified, there was a major focus on equality of opportunity for all the people of education in those documents (Tsuburaku 1975, 58-60).
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