I ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY
Once I was in possession of the means of attaining my object, I
determined to put my hand to the task without delay. [2] It was now
time to give a precise shape to the vague aspiration that had long
haunted my imagination; and to that end, conscious of my imperfect
knowledge of the art of pædagogy, I sought the counsel of others. I had
not a great confidence in the official pædagogists, as they seemed to
me to be largely hampered by prejudices in regard to their subject or
other matters, and I looked out for some competent person whose views
and conduct would accord with my ideals. With his assistance I would
formulate the programme of the Modern School which I had already
conceived. In my opinion it was to be, not the perfect type of the
future school of a rational state of society, but a precursor of it,
the best possible adaptation of our means; that is to say, an emphatic
rejection of the ancient type of school which still survives, and a
careful experiment in the direction of imbuing the children of the
future with the substantial truths of science.
I was convinced that the child comes into the world without innate
ideas, and that during the course of his life he gathers the ideas of
those nearest to him, modifying them according to his own observation
and reading. If this is so, it is clear that the child should receive
positive and truthful ideas of all things, and be taught that, to avoid
error, it is essential to admit nothing on faith, but only after
experience or rational demonstration. With such a training the child
will become a careful observer, and will be prepared for all kinds of
studies.
When I had found a competent person, and while the first lines were
being traced of the plan we were to follow, the necessary steps were
taken in Barcelona for the founding of the establishment; the building
was chosen and prepared, and the furniture, staff, advertisements,
prospectuses, leaflets, etc., were secured. In less than a year all was
ready, though I was put to great loss through the betrayal of my
confidence by a certain person. It was clear that we should at once
have to contend with many difficulties, not only on the part of those
who were hostile to rational education, but partly on account of a
certain class of theorists, who urged on me, as the outcome of their
knowledge and experience, advice which I could only regard as the fruit
of their prejudices. One man, for instance, who was afflicted with a
zeal for local patriotism, insisted that the lessons should be given in
Catalan [the dialect of the province of Barcelona], and would thus
confine humanity and the world within the narrow limits of the region
between the Ebro and the Pyrenees. I would not, I told the enthusiast,
even adopt Spanish as the language of the school if a universal
language had already advanced sufficiently to be of practical use. I
would a hundred times rather use Esperanto than Catalan.
The incident confirmed me in my resolution not to submit the settlement
of my plan to the authority of distinguished men who, with all their
repute, do not take a single voluntary step in the direction of reform.
I felt the burden of the responsibility I had accepted, and I
endeavoured to discharge it as my conscience directed. Resenting the
marked social inequalities of the existing order as I did, I could not
be content to deplore their effects; I must attack them in their
causes, and appeal to the principle of justice—to that ideal equality
which inspires all sound revolutionary feeling.
If matter is one, uncreated, and eternal—if we live on a relatively
small body in space, a mere speck in comparison with the innumerable
globes about us, as is taught in the universities, and may be learned
by the privileged few who share the monopoly of science—we have no
right to teach, and no excuse for teaching, in the primary schools to
which the people go when they have the opportunity, that God made the
world out of nothing in six days, and all the other absurdities of the
ancient legends. Truth is universal, and we owe it to everybody. To put
a price on it, to make it the monopoly of a privileged few, to detain
the lowly in systematic ignorance, and—what is worse—impose on them a
dogmatic and official doctrine in contradiction with the teaching of
science, in order that they may accept with docility their low and
deplorable condition, is to me an intolerable indignity. For my part, I
consider that the most effective protest and the most promising form of
revolutionary action consist in giving the oppressed, the disinherited,
and all who are conscious of a demand for justice, as much truth as
they can receive, trusting that it will direct their energies in the
great work of the regeneration of society.
Hence the terms of the first announcement of the Modern School that was
issued to the public. It ran as follows:—
PROGRAMME.
The mission of the Modern School is to secure that the boys and
girls who are entrusted to it shall become well-instructed,
truthful, just, and free from all prejudice.
To that end the rational method of the natural sciences will be
substituted for the old dogmatic teaching. It will stimulate,
develop, and direct the natural ability of each pupil, so that he
or she will not only become a useful member of society, with his
individual value fully developed, but will contribute, as a
necessary consequence, to the uplifting of the whole community.
It will instruct the young in sound social duties, in conformity
with the just principle that “there are no duties without rights,
and no rights without duties.”
In view of the good results that have been obtained abroad by mixed
education, and especially in order to realise the great aim of the
Modern School—the formation of an entirely fraternal body of men
and women, without distinction of sex or class—children of both
sexes, from the age of five upward, will be received.
For the further development of its work, the Modern School will be
opened on Sunday mornings, when there will be classes on the
sufferings of mankind throughout the course of history, and on the
men and women who have distinguished themselves in science, art, or
the fight for progress. The parents of the children may attend
these classes.
In the hope that the intellectual work of the Modern School will be
fruitful, we have, besides securing hygienic conditions in the
institution and its dependencies, arranged to have a medical
inspection of children at their entrance into the school. The
result of this will be communicated to the parents if it is deemed
necessary; and others will be held periodically, in order to
prevent the spread of contagious diseases during the school hours.
During the week which preceded the opening of the Modern School I
invited the representatives of the press to visit the institution and
make it known, and some of the journals inserted appreciative notices
of the work. It may be of historical interest to quote a few paragraphs
from El Diluvio:—
The future is budding in the school. To build on any other
foundation is to build on sand. Unhappily, the school may serve
either the purposes of tyranny or the cause of liberty, and may
thus serve either barbarism or civilisation.
We are therefore pleased to see certain patriots and humanitarians,
who grasp the transcendent importance of this social function,
which our Government systematically overlooks, hasten to meet this
pressing need by founding a Modern School; a school which will not
seek to promote the interests of sect and to move in the old ruts,
as has been done hitherto, but will create an intellectual
environment in which the new generation will absorb the ideas and
the impulses which the stream of progress unceasingly brings.
This end can only be attained by private enterprise. Our existing
institutions, tainted with all the vices of the past and weakened
by all the trivialities of the present, cannot discharge this
useful function. It is reserved for men of noble mind and unselfish
feeling to open up the new path by which succeeding generations
will rise to higher destinies.
This has been done, or will be done, by the founders of the modest
Modern School which we have visited at the courteous invitation of
its directors and those who are interested in its development. This
school is not a commercial enterprise, like most scholastic
institutions, but a pædagogical experiment, of which only one other
specimen exists in Spain (the Free Institution of Education at
Madrid).
Sr. Salas Antón brilliantly expounded the programme of the school
to the small audience of journalists and others who attended the
modest opening-festival, and descanted on the design of educating
children in the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or what is
proved to be such. His chief theme was that the founders do not
propose to add one more to the number of what are known as “Lay
Schools,” with their impassioned dogmatism, but a serene
observatory, open to the four winds of heaven, with no cloud
darkening the horizon and interposing between the light and the
mind of man.