The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-04-27
THE EDUCATION FOR SIMPLICITY.
VHHE Simnln life heinz nhnrn


of mind. it is natural that adu-
cation should have much TO do
with it. In general. but two methods
of rearing children are practiced. The
first is to bring them up for ourselvc;
the second 10 bring them up for item
selves
In the first case the child is looked
upon as a complement of the parents
he is part of their property. occupies Il
place among their possessions. some
times this place is the highest. espe-
cially when the parents value the life
Of the affections. Again. where ma.
terial interests rule. the child holds
second, third or even the last place.
In any case he is a nobody. While he
Is young he gravitates round his par
ents, not Only by obedience. which is
right, but by the subOrdination Of all
his originality, all his being. As he
grows older this subordnation be
comes a yeritable coniscation. extend
ing to his ideas, his feelings. every
thing. His minority becomes perpet.
ual. Instead of slowly evolving into
independence the man advances into
slavery. He IS what he is permitted
to be, what his fathers business. re
ligious beliefs, political opinions or
aesthetic tastes require him to be He
will think. speak, act and marry ac-
cording to the understanding and linn
its of the paternal absolutiSm. This
family tyranny may be exercised by
npnnln with n Ctpnnuth Of oh
1t is only necessary for them to be
convinced that good order requires the
child to be the property of the parents.
In default of mental force. they pos
sess themselves of him by other means
by signs, supplicationS or base Sc
auctions, If they cannot fetter him
they snare his feet in traps. But that
he should live in them, through them,
for them, is the only thing admissible.
Education of this sort is not the
practice of families only. but also of
great social organizations whose chief
educational function consists in putting
a strong hand on every newcomer, in
order to fit him, in the most iron
bound fashion, into existing forms 1t
is the attenuation, pulveriZati0n and
assimilation of the individual in Il So
'al body, be it theocratic, communis-
&c or simply bureaucratic and r0uti-
nary. Looked at from without. a like
system seems the ideal of simplicity
in education. Its processes. in fact.
are absolutely simplistic, and if Il
man were not somebody, if he were
only sample of the race. this would
be the perfect education. As all wild
beasts, all fish and insects of the same
genus and species have the same mark
ings, so we should all be identical.
having the same tastes, the same Ian
guage, the same beliefs, the same tend
encies. But man is not simply
specimen of the race, and for that rea.
son this sort of education is far from
being simple in it's results. Men 50
vary from one another that number
less methods have to be invented to
suppress, stupefy and eXtinguish in
dividual thought. And one never ar
riveS at it then but in part a fact which
is continually deranging everything
At each moment. by some assure,
ls5le for men of good intentions, of
however diverse social standing, to col
laborate without any friction arising
from the conventional distance that
separates them.
If the spirit of caste causes the loss
of respect, partisanship, of whatever
sort, is quite as productive of it, In
certain quarters children are brought
up in such fashion that they respect
but one country-their own; one sys-
tenn of government-that of their par
ents and masters; one religion that
which they have been taught Does
any one suppose that in this way men
can be shaped who shall respect coun-
try, religion and law? Is this a proper
respect-this respect which does not
extend beyond what touches and be-
longs to ourselves? Strange blindness
of cliques and coterieS, which AFRO
gate to themselves with so much in
genuous cOmplacence the title of
schools of respect, and which, out
side themselves, respect nothing In
reality they teach Country. religion,
law-we are all these!' Such teaching
fosters fanaticism, and if fanaticism is
not the sole antisocial ferment it is sure
ly one of the worst and most energetic
If simplicity of heart is an essential
condition of respect, simplicity of life
is its best school Whatever be the
state of your fortune, avoid everything
which could make your children think
themselves more or better than others.
Though your wealth would permit you
dress them richly, remember the evil
u might do in exciting their vanity
Preserve them from the evil of be-
lieving that to be elegantly dressed
suffices for distinction, and, above all,
do not carelessly increase by their
clothes and their habits of life the
distance which already separates them
from other children. Dress them sim
ply. And it, on the contrary, it should
be necessary for you to economic to
give your children the pleasure of fine
clothes, | would that | might dispose
you to reserve your spirit Of sacrifice
for a better cause. You risk seeing it
lily recompensed. You dissipate your
money when it would much better