Henry Adams View on Education Applied to Education Today
The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same: A Comparison of
Henry Adams View on Education Applied to Education Today
Henry Adams laments his education at Harvard. Adams repeatedly expresses distain in his formal education, grounded in the classics, history, and literature, which was the of way education during his time. "Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts"(42). His education did not give him the scientific and mathematical knowledge needed to grasp the scientific breakthroughs that happened during his lifetime. Adams identified problems with his education, from the lack of diversity, to the "stamp" Harvard put on its students before sending them off. The educational issues that Adams saw and deplored during his time at Harvard are still around today. The Education of Henry Adams does use an interesting literary device that adds to the narrative--third person. Since Adams writes this narrative from the reflective perspective at an old age, the third person perspective makes a separation from himself that allows for him to seem as an observer away from the situation. This allows Henry Adams to write and not have the readers thoughts diverted by the use of "I". Writing in the third person allowed for freedom when commenting on the actions of Henry Adams 's youth and education. This is because the criticism of Harvard might be easier to dismiss if it came from the defiant twenty-year-old Adams.
Adams viewed Harvard as only producing identical people with little diversity. "In four years of Harvard College, if successful, resulted in an autobiographical blank, a mind on which only a water-mark had been stamped"(32). When referring to the stamp Adams is surprised the, "Stamp of education does not ruin everybody concerned in it, teachers and taught"(32). Adams viewed the stamp in most ways as a negative. The students were at Harvard to serve their time and move on.
Henry Adams View on Education Applied to Education Today
Henry Adams laments his education at Harvard. Adams repeatedly expresses distain in his formal education, grounded in the classics, history, and literature, which was the of way education during his time. "Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts"(42). His education did not give him the scientific and mathematical knowledge needed to grasp the scientific breakthroughs that happened during his lifetime. Adams identified problems with his education, from the lack of diversity, to the "stamp" Harvard put on its students before sending them off. The educational issues that Adams saw and deplored during his time at Harvard are still around today. The Education of Henry Adams does use an interesting literary device that adds to the narrative--third person. Since Adams writes this narrative from the reflective perspective at an old age, the third person perspective makes a separation from himself that allows for him to seem as an observer away from the situation. This allows Henry Adams to write and not have the readers thoughts diverted by the use of "I". Writing in the third person allowed for freedom when commenting on the actions of Henry Adams 's youth and education. This is because the criticism of Harvard might be easier to dismiss if it came from the defiant twenty-year-old Adams.
Adams viewed Harvard as only producing identical people with little diversity. "In four years of Harvard College, if successful, resulted in an autobiographical blank, a mind on which only a water-mark had been stamped"(32). When referring to the stamp Adams is surprised the, "Stamp of education does not ruin everybody concerned in it, teachers and taught"(32). Adams viewed the stamp in most ways as a negative. The students were at Harvard to serve their time and move on.
Cited: Adams, Henry. "The Education of Henry Adams." Ways of Reading. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford St. Martin 's, 2005. 27-61. Kreis, Steven. "Karl Marx, 1818-1883." The History Guide. February 2006. The History guide.org. February 14 2007