God,
Good
Geometry
Society
and
the
SIDNEY HOOK
0
NE OF THE
noteworthy features of the American scene today is
the revival of classicism and religion in education.
It
ties neatly into
the reactionary pattern whose outlines are clearly visible in almost all
fields of contemporary culture from politics to art. The underlying
causes of this revival are to be found in the frustrations of democratic
life and scientific method created by an economy which is gradually
losing its liberal capitalist character without acquiring a socialist one.
The fevers and convulsions of our times have brought a yearning for
some large unifying faith; it has been forgotten that, except for the
last quarter century, the golden age of faith was the most bloodthirsty
in European history. At any rate, the failure of the democratic revo–
lution to bring a healing draught to a society in crisis has given the
counter-revolution its opportunity. And with incantations about the
eternal, timeless and traditional, the counter-revolution is at work.
In recent months an educational faction, whose slogan seems to
be "For God, geometry and hierarchical order," has launched a power–
ful offensive, not only against current American practices-many of
which are deplorable-but against progressive education which until
now has been the chief critic of these practices. The success of this
movement is problematical.
It
depends largely upon whether big
business, after it takes over the New Deal or throws it into discard,
will unite with the Church and othe:r pressure groups to foster educa–
tion for an anti-secular faith. This faith may be called education for
"freedom" or "duty" or something just as edifying.
Looking aside from the causes of this movement, I wish to ex–
amine briefly some of the grounds that are currently being offered by
the educational counter-reformation for its program. Like all move–
ments of this character it has a left wing, not always conscious of the
uses to which it is put, that appeals to men of good will and does not
draw explicit organizational conclusions of a social and political kind.
By neglecting the specific historical context of all educational pro–
posals, these left-wing spokesmen may even come to believe that
organizational matters are irrelevant. By deceiving themselves, they
