166

George Bernard Shaw

Autograph Note Signed, "G.B.S.," to A.D. Corrick Jr., on a postcard,

discussing the importance of religious education to establishing a pupil's moral principles. 1 page, small 12mo, postcard preprinted with message beginning "I am much obliged to you for your letter"; faint scattered soiling, minor scattered smudging or fading to few words of text (but still legible), with cancelled green halfpenny postage stamp on verso showing profile of Edward VII.

[London], 2 February 1909.

  • Notes: "Suppose the child replies 'What the deuce do I care about the happiness of all?' Suppose it says that it doesn't want other people to be happy--that, on the contrary, it enjoys nothing better than seeing its schoolmates beaten or humiliated. A child left in a vacuum as to religion would be quite likely to feel that way. Why shouldn't the Secularist child be a dynamitard or a vicerector? Neutrality in this matter is impossible: there is no such thing as secular education in the sense of irreligious education. I should describe all the religions to a child, and tell it to choose its own line when it was old enough to care."

    Shaw discusses the impossibility of secular education in his  A Treatise on Parents and Children (1910) .
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April 9, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
New York, NY, US

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