"It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach"
About this Quote
Locke slips a small blade between two kinds of authority: the kind that gets results on paper, and the kind that actually builds a mind. “Command” is the fast, gratifying move. It produces obedience, quiet, visible order - the tutor as miniature sovereign. “Teach,” by contrast, is slower and more intimate: it requires patience, persuasion, and an acceptance that understanding can’t be forced on schedule. The line works because it’s less a moral sermon than a diagnostic of human laziness. Power is efficient; education is work.
The subtext is political as much as pedagogical. Locke is writing in an England still arguing about who gets to rule and on what grounds, and his philosophy famously treats legitimate authority as conditional, limited, and accountable. In the tutorial room, he’s pointing to the same problem: coercion can manufacture compliance without cultivating judgment. A tutor who “commands” trains a child to submit to external pressure; a tutor who “teaches” trains the child to govern themselves - the liberal ideal in miniature.
The intent is also a warning about incentives. Tutors, schools, even parents are rewarded for control: punctuality, recitation, good behavior, testable output. Teaching is harder to measure and easier to fail at in public. Locke’s neat asymmetry exposes how quickly education can collapse into management, and how easily the educator’s ego can masquerade as discipline. The line lands because it indicts a temptation that never went away: confusing silence with learning.
The subtext is political as much as pedagogical. Locke is writing in an England still arguing about who gets to rule and on what grounds, and his philosophy famously treats legitimate authority as conditional, limited, and accountable. In the tutorial room, he’s pointing to the same problem: coercion can manufacture compliance without cultivating judgment. A tutor who “commands” trains a child to submit to external pressure; a tutor who “teaches” trains the child to govern themselves - the liberal ideal in miniature.
The intent is also a warning about incentives. Tutors, schools, even parents are rewarded for control: punctuality, recitation, good behavior, testable output. Teaching is harder to measure and easier to fail at in public. Locke’s neat asymmetry exposes how quickly education can collapse into management, and how easily the educator’s ego can masquerade as discipline. The line lands because it indicts a temptation that never went away: confusing silence with learning.
Quote Details
| Topic | Teaching |
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