I've just finished listening to one of my last-Friday-of-the-month talks, given by Philip Chaston (who writes for Airstrip One), about the Mechanics Institutes that flourished in the early to mid nineteenth century in Britain. Informally organised, deeply distrusted by the Tory Establishment, they attracted huge numbers of students eager for self improvement and useful mechanical knowledge.
What did these places achieve? Were they, for example, the cause of the British industrial revolution, or were they the consequence of it? Hard to say. Bit of both, probably. The main consequence of listening to the talk, for me, was to stimulate in me a desire to learn more about these things. Philip gave us a blow by blow account of how they developed, what they did, who they taught, what they taught, and so on, and it was very interesting, but I like grand simple, perhaps over-simplified theories of how things work. I like a moral to my stories. Philip did not supply much along these lines. He spoke a bit about the parallel between the Mechanics Institutes and home schooling, but this was rather bolted on afterwards, or so it seemed to me. I grabbed Philip afterwards and asked him about this, and he said, well, yes, I guess it comes from being a historian. "I don't really do morals" he said.
The story did, however, have a bearing on this idea that "official" education systems give birth to unofficial systems which fill in all the official gaps. And here there may be a moral. For the rise of the Mechanics Institutes was not the end of the story. While they filled such a gap (basically technology instead of theology) they flourished. But then the official system finally got around to observing the same gap, got its technological act together and drove the Mechanics Institutes out of business.
I am not sure what the exact moral is of the Mechanics Institute story, apart from it demonstrating how, in certain energetic cultures, people are more than capable of taking steps to educate themselves without need for the State and coercive funding. It also, I think, demonstates how much political and cultural energy is generated by such broadly self-help institutions.
Much the same, can be said in some ways, of the growth of self-help books, therapies and various movements in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and the present, largely in the English speaking world. Regardless of what you think about it, this whole quest for self-improvement and self-help, whether it be in the gym or in a college evening class, is evidence of a similar force to that which animated the founders of the Mech. Institutes.
Australia's MIs didn't have quite the glorious history that those in the UK experienced. Many were set up at the beginning of the 20th century as community centres and social gathering places. These generally had a billiard table as a prominent feature. [So much for education!]There were exceptions, though. The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts was established in March 1833 (the 2nd MI in Oz) and functioned as a centre of mutual education. It became quite important in the educational life of Sydney - large lending library, public lectures, classes. In the 1870s it turned to technical education, though this function was quickly snaffled by the State government. Today, the SMSA is reclaiming its educational position. It has the oldest lending library in Australia, runs an active program of lectures, gives a number of scholarships and awards, and makes grants to other cultural and educational groups.
