The Inner Light, the Inward Teacher, can be a metaphor for interpreting issues in education.

I first read this pamphlet about 15 years ago, while taking a course in pedagogy. I doubt if I finished it--when I was doing graduate work, there was always too much to read and never enough time to read whatever it was. In any case, I missed the mark.

Lacey helps me to understand that clearness, that decision-making, that basic understanding rests on a fullness of understanding what our inward Teacher is calling us to. Quoting Martin Buber, Lacey reminds us that "in every encounter we have with a THOU, the ETERNAL THOU is [also] present."

He sprinkles [Quaker] humor throughout. "We have never forced our child to do anything [they] do not enjoy; we want [them] to be creative and happy. Getting into Harvard doesn't matter to us. Yale will be fine."

Lacey returns again and again to the notion that good education must be inward-centered. It must always be remembered that there is always One Other present in all our endeavors.

Lacey also proposes that in Quaker schools there are real advantages to splitting several grades up into smaller worship groups, where the older students can learn from the younger and vice versa. He also warns against "worshipping the silence" for it is not sacred; it is a vehicle allowing that of God within each of us to emerge and find a voice.

This is a rich pamphlet, worthy of multiple reads. ( )

Lacey addresses the implications for education of the Quaker experience of the Inward Teacher, which is the core of Quaker faith and practice. His insights and conclusions about education are interesting, but the remarkable value of the pamphlet lies in his wonderful explanation of the Inward Teacher, how to seek this guidance and what to do with it. It is in fact a clear summary of Quaker experience and method, and a helpful introduction. While it is not really easy reading, it will richly repay some careful effort.
As examples, Lacey offers wonderful explanations of minding the Light, answering that of God in another, and the communal nature of Quaker spiritual life. He addresses respectfully and with helpful insight the issues around universalism and particular religious traditions (Christianity for him). He is the author of two other PHPs, #241 and #264. ( )