H.G.Wells was a great writer and an activist for better education. In his famous book, "A Short History of the World, which I read in 2009 and made a summary of the chapter LVII, if you want to read here is the link, http://thepeopleteacher.blogspot.com/2010/10/short-history-of-world.html , he did a strong defense of education as a tool of progress, social harmony and solution for every problem the humankind was facing in his time. Like me, he believed that real democracy with widespread popular participation, quality education for all and human rights effectively respected was and is the only way for humankind. This post is the second part of the same text from last weekend, the essay published at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51a5/4461ffb9d527b7f8c65f3e521d76a1957148.pdf
H.G.Wells states what he believes to be the fundamental flaw in any government system; the lack of a good quality education for all. Education and its goal of forming a better future seem to be Wells' obsession. Wells' early work had negative overtones that pointed fingers towards those who did not embrace the future. In The Time Machine the human race had deteriorated and gone backwards instead of forwards. The utopia in Wells' novel is not something that was created by a supernatural being or by stroke of luck. The real utopia is based on the people in that world, just as the title suggests, these people are the masters of their own fate and control all aspects of their world. Wells describes how the utopians, after many catastrophes and wars, lifted themselves to new heights of human development. Wells after World War I moved away from writing Scientific novels to focus on a political idea that is depicted in the novel Men Like Gods. The idea is built upon the believe that governing, leadership, should be given to those who have the best education and skill at their given task. The political agenda also calls for the creation of a world state that will control most aspects of human life within the boundaries for democratic freedom. Wells' goal is to create a better world through a peaceful revolution, using education as a tool that slowly creates change. However, many of Wells' contemporaries did not share his views and believed that the creation of a world state would in any way create a better life for the people of England or anywhere. Wells was a highly prolific writer, both in non-fiction and fiction. He dared to speak his mind and give opinion on subjects others were hesitant about and gave his audience aclear indication about what to expect in the future. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932, is a dystopian novel based on Wells' ideas of a world state. In the novel, Huxley creates a world state were humans are controlled by technology. Huxley warns against the so-called "progress" trough the means of science, and he wanted to express caution against unrestricted technological progess, since its goal would only be to further enhance the technology itself. In the novel humans are conditioned with constant platitudes that remind them of their role and the perfect system that supposedly surrounds them. Huxley delves deeper into Wells' novel Men Like Gods and sees the dangers of mixing technology and unchecked power. Even though Wells' political views were controversial, and in some cases radical, it does not mean that his predictions were incorrect. Today, man has become more skilful at using technology to create better conditions for ourselves, and social reform has occurred thanks to unifying organizations with common goals, such as the U.N. or the E.U. Wells was trying throughout the 20's and 1930's to describe a new solution by taking the best of democratic values and mix them with progressive ideas that represented a change from the burdened and often undisclosed way of making politics in his day.
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