Johnson: “Well, madam, and you ought to be perpetually watching. It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world.”

Teachers should heed Johnson’s warning and be scrupulous, even as they inculcate scrupulosity in their students.

Consecrated Lies

This leads to a paradox.

Telling the whole truth is impossible. All generalities are lies. It is essential for minute particulars to be true. Truths are only expressible through story. The value of story lies in its truth. Stories are necessarily false. Something must be taught, even if it is a life.

The way out of this paradox? Samuel Johnson, as reported by Boswell in his Life of Johnson.

“There are (said he) inexcusable lies and consecrated lies. For instance, we are told that on the arrival of the news of the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy, every heart beat, and every eye was in tears. Now we know, that no man eat [sic] his dinner the worse, but there should have been all this concern; and to say there was (smiling) may be reckoned a consecrated lie.”

In the teaching that teachers do, in the stories that teachers tell, in the half-knowledge that teachers impart, teachers may be reckoned not guilty of unvirtuous conduct. Teachers do the best they can. They wrestle with the truth. Yes, in some absolute sense, in telling their stories, they tell lies. But they tell, in Johnson’s wonderful phrase, consecrated lies.