John Stuart Mill: Education, Freedom, and Dependence

Though not always recognized as such, J.S. Mill was a theorist of education. Throughout his writings, he offered various proposals for reforming the system of education in his native England in the pursuit of both greater civilizational progress and increasing individual freedom. He argued that everyone should have access to a good education and that the state should step in to ensure this is the case if parents are unable to do so. A progressive in his time, Mill was also an ardent proponent of expanding access to education for women. He believed that the differences in education between the two sexes accounted for many disparities traditionally thought of as “natural.” Beyond his political proposals for educative reform, Mill also offered a philosophical account of the role of education in the development of individuals. He argued that a good education, namely one that focuses on teaching students how to think rather than what to think, helps to unlock individuals’ capacity for autonomy as they become adults. Hence, the dependence entailed during adolescence, or what Mill referred to as the “stage of education,” is necessary to prepare the way for the sort of independence he associated with adulthood.