Adam Smith on education, his views and opinions on education of youth and an analysis of those views.

1. ADAM SMITH
On Education and Morality
Sarah Monda

2. QUOTE
“How selfish soever man may be supposed,
there are evidently some principles in his
nature, which interest him in the fortune of
others, and render their happiness necessary
to him, though he derives nothing from it
except the pleasure of seeing it” (Smith, The
Theory of Moral Sentiments, pt. 1, ch. 1, sec.
1)

3. SUMMARY AND SIMPLE DESCRIPTION
 Adam Smith was a teacher, lecturer, and
philosopher whose interests ranged across
both public and private matters and who,
through his writings and lectures on human
relationships, explained in simple terms what
it meant and took to be an honest and good
human being amidst the chaos of the cut-
throat economic and natural realities of life
as he saw them.

4. THINGS TO ADMIRE
 Theory on sympathy/empathy and the creation of self identity
through observing others (Smith, The Theory of Moral
Sentiments, 1790, pt. 1, ch. 1, sec. 2).
 Judgment of action based on their context and ascribing reward
or punishment accordingly (Smith, TMS, 1790, pt 2, ch. 1, secs.
2-3).
 Advocated the establishment of small, local schools paid
affordable for all.
 Universal education for all classes*
 System of competition among schools and teachers for attracting
and retaining students (Smith, Wealth of Nations, 2005/1776, pp.
622-625)
* In Smith’s time this meant universal education for boys only. Girls were commonly educated in
the home to “form their mind to reserve, to modesty, to chastity, and to economy” (Smith, Wealth
of Nations, 2005/1776, p 636-637).

5. WHAT NOT TO LIKE
 Failure to realize the value of educating women in
pursuits other than the basic, domestic activities.
 What Smith’s true feelings on the education of women
were is difficult to determine because he rarely broached
the subject. His only mention of women in Wealth of
Nations outside of education excludes them from public life
(Smith, WN, 2005/1776). When it comes to education, he
extolls the virtues of the home education of women and
girls in, thus implying that he believed the proper place for
women was in the home and that their education should
reflect the duties they would be required to fulfill as wives
and mothers (pp. 636-637).
 Danger in creating too aggressive and unregulated a
competition for students and for prestige.
 When schools become all about the money, they become
businesses first and schools second. As a result, fees
increase and access to education suffers even if the
quality, which was Smith’s main concern, does not. We see
this in our university system today where students must
incur massive debts if they wish to attend a prestigious
school that is funded mainly by tuition rather than public
funds.

6. CHARACTER LENS-SYMPATHY & EMPATHY
 Smith’s description of sympathy as the
“fellow-feeling” (The Theory of Moral
Sentiments, 1790, pt. 1, ch.1, sec. 3) one
might get on witnessing the fortunes and
feelings of another person, more closely
approaches our modern definition of the
word empathy. He also explains that the act
of watching other people creates not only a
sense of empathy, but also a sense self and
of personal and social morality (TMS, 1790,
pt1, ch1, sec. 20).
 In his own life, he was often described as a
person with “inexpressible benignity” (Rae,
1895, pp. 271 and 439 ) who at one point
took on the role of tutor to a blind boy of
“humble situation” (Dr. James Currie to
Thomas Creevey [letter], 1793) in the
neighborhood where Smith lived. After
tutoring him for some time, Smith sent the
boy on to David Hume. In time, that boy went
on to become a noted lecturer in his own
right. His name was Henry Moyes.

7. CHARACTER LENS-HONESTY
 Smith lamented the lack of honesty among “superior
stations of life” where “flattery and falsehood” (Smith,
TMS, 1759, pt, 1, ch. 3, sec. 33) were the orders of the
day. In his opinion, the world would be a better place if
honesty truly was the “best policy” (pt 1.ch. 3. sec. 32)
 In keeping with his ideas on honesty among people,
Smith was often brutally honest in his observations of
others and his opinion of them, even if they might be
flawed. He was guilty of being partial to those who held
beliefs similar to his own, but his intent was never to
damage those with whom he disagreed. His friend Dugald
Stewart said of Smith that he was “generally too
systematic to be just, leaning ever, however, to charity’s
side and erring by partiality rather than prejudice” (Rae,
1895, pp. 270-271).

8. WORDS TO DESCRIBE ADAM SMITH
 Intellectual
 The sheer variety of his works shows that his mind was never
at rest when it came to all matters of human interaction.
 Amiable
 His contemporaries described him as a funny looking man, but
a likeable one. He is credited with describing himself as “a
beau in nothing but my books” (Buchholz, 2007, p. 24) and
always being ready to entertain guests, even on his deathbed
(Rae, 1895, pp. 342-343).
 Charitable
 In addition to taking on a blind pupil of only moderate means
and then introducing him to David Hume, Smith was also know
to give away money to those he felt needed it. His relative,
Miss Ross, confided to Dugald Stewart that he often gave
away such sums that were “on a scale much beyond what
would have been expected from his fortune” (Rae, 1895, p.
437).

9. RESOURCES
 Buchholz, T. G. (2007). New Ideas From Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic
Thought. New York: Plume.
 Dr. James Currie to Thomas Creevey [letter]. (1793, February 24). Retrieved June 02, 2014,
from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/53551
 Rae, J. (1895). The Life of Adam Smith. London: MacMillan & Co.
 Smith, A. (1790). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Retrieved June 01, 2014, from Library of
Economics and Liberty: http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS.html
 Smith, A. (2005). On the Revenue of the Soverign or Commonwealth [ch. 1, part 3]. In An Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations [PDF file] (pp. 591-668). Perdue University.
Photographic Sources:
 Slide 1:
 Adam Smith Portrait: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Portraits/smith.gif
 Slide 5:
 Seated Woman: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vae48fD0APE/S3l7AvOBlAI/AAAAAAAAAXI/Ml-
j38f4DCc/s320/daydressc_1800b%26w.jpg
 Hat on Money: http://cheapscholar.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/collegemoney1.jpg
 Slide 6:
 Sympathy (mirror neurons image used):
http://theintentionalworkplace.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/brains-460x3071.jpg