FREEDOM, LEISURE AND EDUCATION

« leisured people voluntarily abandon themselves to a servitude of amusement and social duties, more pointless tban work and often quite as arduous.

Consider another point often insisted upon by the prophets of Utopia.

"Travel", they say (and with reason), "is a liberal education.

Freedom to travel bas been a privllege reserved to the rich.

Leisure, with cheap and rapid transport, will make this privilege accessible to ali.

Therefore ali will receive the liberal education which only a few were once at liberty to enjoy".

However, travet is educative because it brings the traveUer into contact with people of different culture from his own, living onder alien conditions.

But the more travelling there is, the more will culture aÎld way of Hfe tend everywhere to be standard­ ized and therefore the less educative will travet become.

There is still some point in going from Burslem (1) to Udaipur (2).

But when ali the inhabitants of Burslem have been sufficiently often to Burslem, there will be no point whatever in making the journey.

The two towns will have become essentially indistin­ guishable.

( 1) A town in England.

(2) A town in Jndia.

1.

Commentaire dirigé ALDOUS HUXLEY, Music at Night.

1) Do you agree with the statement that "increasing freedom from work will give increasing happiness" ? 2) Speaking of machinery, leisure and education, Aldous Hux­ ley refers to the "prophets of Utopia".

What does it suggest about his own stand point concerning the future? 3) What is, according to the writer, the part played by travet in the education of the young? Do you agree with him? 4) What danger, or at least what drawback, could arise from too much travelling? Do you think this danger is already perceptible?. »