Knowledge and understanding: Education in Aldous Huxley’s short stories

Abstract

Aldous Huxley wrote about education all his life. Most of his books of non-fiction contain essays that scrutinize problems in education and propose solutions, while his novels and short stories are full of characters that embody the peculiarities of various educational systems. This article will show that the majority of educational flaws that Huxley highlighted in his essays were first depicted in his short fiction, especially his criticism of conservative teaching methods, self-education and spiritual homeschooling, and so-called intellectual education that lacks a practical dimension and draws a sharp distinction between emotions and rationality. This analysis will also prove that some characters in Huxley’s short stories embody progressive teaching styles that were promoted at the time by Maria Montessori and John Dewey, educators Huxley praised in his essays on education, although he had reservations about their followers.