Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-02-09
CHAPTER XIII.

Il cation should have much to do
with 1t. In general but two methods
OF rearing children are practlced. The
first is to bring them up for ourselves,
the second to bring them up for them
selves.
In the first case the child is looked
upon as a complement of the parents;
he IS part of their property, occupies
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 subordlnation be-
comes a veritable confiscation, 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 ae-
eording to the understanding and lim-
it's of the paternal absolutism. This
family tyranny may be exercised by
people with no strength of character.
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 sighs, supplications or base Sc
ductions. 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
q strong hand on every newcomer, in
order to fit him, in the most IRON
bound fashion, into existing forms. 1t
is the attenuation, pulveriZation and
assimilation Of the individual In a so
tic or simply bureaucratic and routi-
nary. Looked at from WITHOUT, like
system seems the ideal of simplicity
In education. It's processes, in fact,
are absolutely simplistic, and If a
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 a
specimen Of the race, and for that rea-
son this sort of education is far from
being simple in Its results. Men SO
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, fact which
is continually deranging everything.
Al each moment. by some fissure
sme interior force of initiative Is
haking a violent way to the light, pro-
ducing explosions, upheavals, all sorts
| of grave disorders. And where there
are no outward manifestations the evil
lies dormant; beneath apparent order
are hidden dumb revolt, flaws made by
| an abnormal existence, apathy, death.
The system is evil which produces
such fruit, and, however simple it may
appear, Ia reality IT brings forth all
possible complications.
The other system is the extreme OPP
posite, that Of bringing up children for
| themselves. The roles are reversed; the
parents are there fer the child. No
| sooner is he born than he becomes the
| center. White headed grandfather and
| stalwart father bow before these curls.
| His lisplng is their law. A sign from
| him suffices If he cries in the night
| no fatigue Is OF account; the whole
| household must be reused, The new
| conner is not long Ill discovering his
amnipotence, and before he can walk
| he is drunken with it. AS he grows
older all this deepens and broadens.
| Parents, grandparents, servants, teach
| ers, everybody is at his command, He
accepts the homage and even the I'M
notation of his neighbor; he treats like
| a rebellious subject any one who does
not step out of his path. There is only
himself He is the unique, the perfect,
| the infallible. Too late 1t Is perceived
that all this has been evolving q mas
| ter, and what master! Forgetful of
sacrifices, without respect, even pity.
| He no longer has any regard for those
| to whom he owes everything, and he
goes through life without law or check.
This education, too, has its social
counterpart. 1t tiourishes wherever the
| past does not count, where history be-
| gins with the living, where there is no
| tradition, no discipline, no reverence;
| where those who know the least make
| the most noise; where those who stand
| for public order are alarmed by every
| chance conner whose power lies In his
| making a great outcry and respecting
| nothing. 1t insures the reign of transi-
tory passion, the triumph of the infe-
| rior will. | compare these two educa-
| tions-one the exaltation of the envi-
| ronment, the other the tyranny Of the
| new-and l find them equally baneful
1 But the most disastrous of all Is the
| combination Of the two, which pro-
| duces human beings half automatons,
half despots, forever vacillating be-
tween the spirit Of a sheep and the
spirit Of revolt or domination.
Children should be educated neither
for themselves nor Tor their parents,
| for man is no more designed to be a
| parsonage than a specimen. They
| should be educated for life. The aim
| Of their education Is to aid them to be-
| come active members of humanity,
brotherly forces, free servants Of the
civil organization. TO follow method
OF education inspired by any other
| principle is to complicate life, deform
| 1t, SOW the seeds of all disorders.
When we would sum up In phrase
the destiny of the child the word "fu-
ture" springs to our lips. The child is
the future This word says all-the
sufferings of the past, the stress of to-
day, hope. But when the education of
the child begins he is incapable of es-
timating the reach of this word, for
he is held by Impressions of the pres
ent. Who, then, shall give him the
first enlightenment and put him In the
way he should gof The parents, the
teachers. And with very little redec-