"Rousseau's educational theories had persuaded teachers] to dispense with the structured systems of learning which have been so successful in the past. [The result is] the belief, taught by Mr Roy Jenkins, that a permissive is a civilised society... A facile rhetoric of total liberty and of costless, superficial universal protest has really been a cover for irresponsibility. Our loud talk about the community overlies the fact that we have no community. We talk about neighbourhoods and all too often we have no neighbours. We go on about the home when we only have dwelling places containing television sets. It is the absence of a frame of rules and community, place and belonging, responsibility and neighbourliness that makes it possible for people to be more lonely than in any previous stage in our history. Vast factories, huge schools, sprawling estates, sky-scraping apartment blocks; all these work against our community and our common involvement one with another."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomJews from the United KingdomPeople from LondonConservative Party (UK) politiciansGovernment ministers of the United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in Luton (3 October 1974), quoted in Andrew Denham and Mark Garnett, Keith Joseph (2001; 2002), p. 262
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Keith_Joseph
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Keith Joseph
Sir Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, Bt, CH, PC (17 January 1918 – 10 December 1994), known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician, intellectual and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a minister under four prime ministers: Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher. He was a key influence in the creation of what came to be known as "Thatcherism". He was the first to introduce the conc
48 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Keith Joseph →
Related Quotes
"Perhaps there is at work here a process, apparent in many situations but imperfectly understood, by which problems re…"
"It was only in April 1974 that I was converted to Conservatism. (I had thought I was a Conservative but I now see tha…"
"The question we must all ask ourselves is how Mr. Benn was able to come within striking distance of the very heart of…"
"We are now more Socialist in many ways than any other developed country outside the Communist bloc—in the size …"
"There is in this country an even more insidious attack on the law than the crime we are experiencing—as no doubt ther…"
"If we are to retain the freedom of our society, we in this House must try to understand the many forces at work, the …"
"The totalitarian antics of the far left, if not firmly handled by the Government of the day, produce a reaction in th…"
"It was not long ago that we thought utopia was within reach... What has happened to all this optimism? Has it really …"
"There is moreover a commercial exploitation of brutality in print and in film which further debases the moral climate…"
"[The NHS is] a great national blessing enabling people to live longer and happier lives."