Here's how Blake expressed his views:
* In "The School Boy," he portrays a young boy who is forced to attend school and is unhappy with the experience. The poem highlights the stifling nature of traditional education:
> "I love to rise in a summer morn,
> When the birds sing on every tree;
> The merry lark, the shrill-voiced wren,
> Have nests within the ivy green.
> I love to hear the little birds
> That sing with their sweet summer chords"
> "But oh, I fear to be a school-boy's fate,
> To-morrow I must go to school,
> I must be bound to rules and laws,
> To-morrow I must go to school."
* In "The Clod and the Pebble," Blake contrasts the rigid, unyielding nature of traditional education with the boundless potential of imagination:
> "Love seeketh not itself to please,
> Nor for itself hath any care,
> But for another gives its ease,
> And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."
> "So sang a little Clod of Clay,
> Trodden with the foot of man,
> And the Pebble answered, 'I will say
> That I can love a little grain.' "
* In "The Chimney Sweeper," Blake uses the plight of a child chimney sweep to illustrate the exploitation and oppression inherent in the education system of his time:
> "When my mother died I was very young,
> And my father sold me while yet my tongue
> Could scarcely cry 'weep! weep! weep! weep!'
> So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep."
> "There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
> That curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd, so I said,
> 'Hush Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
> You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.' "
Blake's works suggest that he believed true education should nurture the imagination, foster individual expression, and empower children to think for themselves. He believed that schools should encourage creativity, critical thinking, and a sense of wonder, rather than simply enforcing conformity and obedience.
It's important to note that Blake's critique of schools wasn't simply a blanket condemnation of all education. He believed in the power of learning, but he also believed that education should be about more than just memorizing facts and figures. He sought to create a system of education that would foster a sense of awe and wonder in the world, and that would empower children to use their imagination to create a better future.