“No, I say, I do not want to put a theatre into every school—I want every school to be a Theatre in which a Guild of Young Artists will learn to do the work of the world without ceasing to be free and happy.
“I hope I have succeeded in making myself clear?”
XIX. The Drama of Life
AS to his immediate proposals, I think the Artist has made himself quite clear. But he opened up an interesting vista of possibilities when he spoke of being Minister of Public Education. He said he couldn’t do certain things because he wasn’t Minister of Public Education. What we would like very much to know is what he would do if he were!—Do you mind telling us?
The Artist. “In the first place I would set fire to—But you are sure I am not taking up your time unduly?”
No, no! Go on!
The Artist. “I would set fire to the coat-tails of all the present boards of education who are now running our educational system in complete indifference to the interests of the child. I would institute democratic control: turn the school system over to the National Guild of Young Artists. My career as an educational autocrat would necessarily stop right there, so far as the internal revolutionizing of education is concerned—for what I have been telling you is simply what I think the children themselves would do with the schools if they were allowed to run them.
“But Education, as I understand it, does not stop short with the school—it extends throughout all life. It is what I would call the civilizing process. And there is much to be done to many departments of life before they can become part of a real civilizing process. I will describe only one, but not the least fundamental of these changes—the democratizing of the Theatre. Or rather, as I should say, turning it into a school.