The Education of Henry Adams

Paper Summary:

This paper analyses Adams critique of modern education as found in his autobiographical "The Education of Henry Adams". The paper brings out the subtlety and profundity of Adams argument and points out the shortfalls. Adams' principle contention is that education based on science is chaotic and without direction. Science breeds division, yet science-based knowledge neither acknowledges this fact, nor prepares students to cope with it. The paper goes on to highlight Adams' prognostications of how modern education will effect the political, social and gender spheres, and marvels at his prescience.

From the Paper:

"Because he distrusted the autobiographical "I", Adams finds an alternative use of the subject of his autobiography, which is as a manikin doll to test suitably of conventional education, and whether it has prepared him for the world. He states that this act of self effacement is a trend started by Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose semi-autobiographical Emile is really an educational tract. Adams is suggesting that autobiography is automatically a narrative of one's education, and the narrator is simply the means by which this is accomplished. If this is the case, he prefers to do the deed expressly, calling the described character of Henry Adams a manikin doll, and education being the real subject matter. This does not mean that he becomes detached from the character, but he does avoid the "I" throughout, and narrates the story of Henry Adams strictly in the third person. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography. Contributor Donald Hall. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2000.

More papers on The Education of Henry Adams:

• Analytical Essay # 59811 : "Henry Adams's "The Education of Henry Adams"
• Book Review # 75048 : "The Education of Henry Adams"
• Analytical Essay # 123408 : "Education in the Lives of Three Men"

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