The New York herald., 1922-04-23

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philosopher is a person who not only
once was but still is a bit of child
He is insatiably curious about life.
and must at least work out some
tenable theories about it. Every nor
NAL child is naturally something of a
philosopher; for he is working over
time doing just that.
This is what parents (those of a
generation ago, that is) too often
failed to realize. They looked upon
philosophers with the eye of healthy
common sense. which frequently
meant without sympathy and with
out insight.
Instead of facilitating ana en-
couraging this scientific research in
which their offspring were consum-
ingly engrossed, more often than not
they stood aside in apprehension (liks
the hen when her brood of ducklings
go on the same sort of expedition)
and resolved that the child really
| should not use his mind so hard; 1t
wasn't good for him at so early an
age. And the youngster, finding that
no one assisted him in the education
he so eagerly sought. wondered
whether this We're another of the
taboos OF relentless governing class
and proceeded to do the best he could
on his own account, ending, as likely
as not. in the cul de sac OF the penny
dreadful. All because his instincts
were too sound and his mental thirst
too great for the comprehension OF
his preoccupied and intellectually in
dolent elders.
Probably no psychologist would
dispute the assertion that the edu-
cation that takes place prior to the
age of fourteen is more determina-
tive than that which comes later.
Restraint upon this early craving for
| knowledge slows up development
and may divert healthy tendencies
into tragic channels. The capacity
OF child for genuine educative ex-
i perience is seldom even approx
mately satisfied.
In school he learns much, with a
great deal OF wasted time and
energy; he may learn in eight years
in the grades almost as much as
John Stuart Mill (whose auto
biography every parent should read)
learned between the ages of four
and six under his fathers instruc-
ton. And he does it with a certain
degree of reluctance because the
things he is supposed to learn and
the things his interest runs to are
not the same.
In the reading he does for pleas
. ure there is far more return per
unit of effort, because between what
!. he is studying and what he is in
terested in there is no disparity.
| The two coincide as they would in
the ideal educational process.
1t used to be common to give
boys books that gratified a senti-
, mental and romantic taste while
thwarting and deIuding the equally
l normal desire to know the truth
I about the actual world in which
5 they were doomed to live. There
J were dozens of alluring tales BY
Horatio Alger that. whether 50 de
J signed or not, tended to cultivate
; ideas as to the relation between
: goodness and valor and pecuniar,
o success that no intelligent person
: could carry into maturity. Som,
young bootblack was always doing ;
: virtuous act and then marrying ;
miilionaire's daughter-by way o
illustrating. no doubt, Emerson
[, Compensation"
!. Children usually are seriousl,
concerned to get at the truth abou
things. and parents who are no
| ordinarily given to the pursuit o
truth for its own sake are incline'
" TO put them off with some substi
! tute or no answer at all. There
no more characteristic picture thal
that of Little Peterkin in Southey'
poem who listens entranced Will
: Old Kaspar tells him about the car
!, mage and wrecking OF happy home
! that came to be called the Battl
OF Blenheim.
And everybody praised the Duke