Educating Arthur

In 'The Once and Future King' we see the unfolding of the relationship between the Wizard Merlin and his pupil, the future King Arthur. This relationship, of teacher & student, has been ever-present in our pop culture from Gandalf & Aragorn to Ben & Luke; from Frank & Rita to Morpheus & Neo.

The most recent example is the dynamic between River Song & The Doctor in BBC's 'Doctor Who'. The parallel to Merlin & Arthur is firmly highlighted by The Doctor's tendency to travel backwards along River's timeline; like to Merlin who was 'born at the wrong end of time'. There is a distinct contrast between the Merlin-Doctor and the Arthur-River characters.

The Doctor is a teacher, a person of thought who educates so as to see the world anew:

'Because I can't see it any more... That’s the problem, you make all of space and time your backyard and what do you have? A back yard.  But you, you can see it. And when you see it, I see it.'        - The Doctor in an unreleased Scene from Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice ', BBC's 'Doctor Who'. [Youtube link]

Merlin seeks learning for learning's sake. In his world work is it's own reward. Truth is the purpose and result of both work and contemplation, with the belief that Truth is always the best thing:

'He was frightened of what he had done to the king, feeling as if he was trying to revive a drowned man with artificial respiration, who was nearly too far gone. But he was not ashamed. When you are a scientist you must press on without remorse, following the only thing of any importance, Truth.'       - Merlin in 'The Book of Merlyn', 'The Once and Future King'.

River is a student. She is a character of destiny; and her reward has time and again been the Doctor. Her studies and mastery have been for the achievement of her dreams and rewards. She gains wisdom and her mastery to produce affects:

'Not those times, not one line. Don't you dare!'.
- Dr River Song in 'Forest of the Dead', BBC's 'Doctor Who' in response to the Doctor's plea that time can be rewritten.

Arthur learns from his tutor in order to prepare for his future. The aim to meet his destiny, too gain at the end; working to get the reward, to complete the quest and reap the glory:

'Oh, sir... I have been on that quest you said for a tutor, and I have found him. Please, he is this gentleman here, and he is called Merlyn... He is a great magician, and can make things come out of the air.'      - Arthur in 'Sword in the Stone', 'The Once & Future King'.

This dynamic and the trials faced remind me of the alchemist's journey. In versions such as Paolo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' (1988) we see those who pursue destinies, the philosopher's stone or the elixir of life having to make a choice: will they pursue enlightenment or gold?

Education is struggling with this dynamic right now. Maybe because states are working so hard to be economically powerful, everyone feels under threat from this frantic drive toward economic supremacy. Maybe these fears are threatening our Liberty, as we throw our money behind the safety of one horse or the other. What was it Benjamin Franklin said about Liberty & Safety?

'They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.'

In any discussion of liberty this is an important matter to consider. To weigh the management of human productivity against human enlightenment. Yet the 'Vital Power' of John Stuart Mill (1859) speaks to both a humanity free to be enlightened and free to be productive.

We suspend liberty to grease the wheels of the machine, we limit the time and resources available to researchers, thinkers & teachers; all to speed up the process of churning out the research and the students. We limit the power of individual enterprise in order to make market places run more smoothly, more efficiently.

Yet studies into education, into motivation at work and even into the sheer potential options that our language offers us, suggest that these restraints only hold us back from our potential. The evidence suggests that rather than competing forces they are complementary; that a society which can provide space & time from distraction to pursue enlightenment and the freedom of enterprise can be more productive than either alone.

In 'Doctor Who' the TARDIS acts as this perfect social setting. It liberates the Doctor to teach and River Song to achieve astounding feats. It is the setting that allows the Doctor and his students to rise above the everyday issues that drag down other pairings, such as Merlin & Arthur. In doing so it demonstrates how we are at our best when we are free to think and free to act. Everything else is just a matter logistics.

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References:
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+ T.H. White's 'The Once & Future King'; Voyager, Reissue 1996.

+ Paolo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'; Thorsons, 1988.

+ Benjamin Franklin & William Temple Franklin's 'Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin'; 1818.

+ John Stuart Mill's 'On Liberty'; 1859.