Erewhon · Theme
Critique of Education
How Erewhon develops Critique of Education.
The Colleges of Unreason teach 'hypothetics' and a dead hypothetical language, stifling originality and promoting conformity, which satirizes the useless and repressive aspects of traditional education.
Where it surfaces
- Birth Formulae
The system teaches children to compromise and accept falsehoods as part of their upbringing, corrupting their 'truth-sense'.
- XX: What They Mean by It
The narrator criticizes compulsory state-aided education as a fetish that burdens families and leads to infanticide, advocating early earning and practical training.
- The Colleges of Unreason
The Erewhonian system of 'hypothetics' and the study of unreason satirize the impractical and rigid educational practices of Victorian England, emphasizing the waste of human energy on barren exercises.
- XXII: The Colleges of Unreason—Continued
The Erewhonian colleges suppress original thought, reward vagueness, and punish clarity, satirizing rigid educational systems.