In the words "good" and "evil" we include the most varying ideas, and
we confuse them especially _in our practical dealings with little
children_.
The tendencies which we stigmatize as _evil_ in little children of
three to six years of age are often merely those which cause
_annoyance_ to us adults when, not understanding their needs, we try
to prevent their _every movement_, their every _attempt to gain
experience for themselves in the world_ (by touching everything,
etc.). The child, however, through this _natural tendency_, is led to
_coordinate his movements_ and to collect impressions, especially
sensations of touch, so that when prevented he _rebels_, and this
rebellion forms almost the whole of his "naughtiness."
What wonder is it that the evil disappears when, if we give the right
_means_ for development and leave full liberty to use them, rebellion
has no more reason for existence?
Further, by the substitution of a series of outbursts of _joy_ for the
old series of outbursts of _rage_, the moral physiognomy of the child
comes to assume a calm and gentleness which make him appear a
different being.
It is we who provoked the children to the violent manifestations of a
real _struggle for existence_. In order to exist _according to the
needs of their psychic development_ they were often obliged to snatch
from us the things which seemed necessary to them for the purpose.
They had to move contrary to our laws, or sometimes to struggle with
other children to wrest from them the objects of their desire.
On the other hand, if we give children the _means of existence_, the
struggle for it disappears, and a vigorous expansion of life takes its
place. This question involves a hygienic principle connected with the
nervous system during the difficult period when the brain is still
rapidly growing, and should be of great interest to specialists in
children's diseases and nervous derangements. The inner life of man
and the beginnings of his intellect are controlled by special laws and
vital necessities which cannot be forgotten if we are aiming at health
for mankind.
For this reason, an educational method, which cultivates and protects
the inner activities of the child, is not a question which concerns
merely the school or the teachers; it is a universal question which
concerns the family, and is of vital interest to mothers.
To go more deeply into a question is often the only means of answering
it rightly. If, for instance, we were to see men fighting over a piece
of bread, we might say: "How bad men are!" If, on the other hand, we
entered a well-warmed eating-house, and saw them quietly finding a
place and choosing their meal without any envy of one another, we
might say: "How good men are!" Evidently, the question of absolute
good and evil, intuitive ideas of which guide us in our superficial
judgment, goes beyond such limitations as these. We can, for instance,
provide excellent eating-houses for an entire people without directly
affecting the question of their morals. One might say, indeed, that to
judge by appearances, a well-fed people are _better, quieter, and
commit less crime_ than a nation that is ill-nourished; but whoever
draws from that the conclusion that to make men good it is _enough_ to
feed them, will be making an obvious mistake.
It cannot be denied, however, that _nourishment_ will be an essential
factor in obtaining goodness, in the sense that it will _eliminate_
all the _evil acts, and the bitterness_ caused by lack of bread.
Now, in our case, we are dealing with a far deeper need--the
nourishment of man's inner life, and of his higher functions. The
bread that we are dealing with is the bread of the spirit, and we are
entering into the difficult subject of the satisfaction of man's
psychic needs.
We have already obtained a most interesting result, in that we have
found it possible to present _new means_ of enabling children to reach
a higher level of calm and goodness, and we have been able to
establish these means by experience. The whole foundation of our
results rests upon these means which we have discovered, and which may
be divided under two heads--the _organization of work_, and liberty.
It is the perfect organization of work, permitting the possibility of
self-development and giving outlet for the energies, which procures
for each child the beneficial and calming _satisfaction_. And it is
under such conditions of work that liberty leads to a perfecting of
the activities, and to the attainment of a fine discipline which is in
itself the result of that new quality of _calmness_ that has been
developed in the child.
Freedom without organization of work would be useless. The child left
_free_ without means of work would go to waste, just as a new-born
baby, if _left free_ without nourishment, would die of starvation.
_The organization of the work_, therefore, is the corner-stone of this
new structure of goodness; but even that organization would be in vain
without the _liberty_ to make use of it, and without freedom for the
expansion of all those energies which spring from the satisfaction of
the child's highest activities.
Has not a similar phenomenon occurred also in the history of man? The
history of civilization is a history of successful attempts to
organize work and to obtain liberty. On the whole, man's goodness has
also increased, as is shown by his progress from barbarism to
civilization, and it may be said that crime, the various forms of
wickedness, cruelty and violence have been gradually decreasing during
this passage of time.
The _criminality_ of our times, as a matter of fact, has been compared
to a form of _barbarism_ surviving in the midst of civilized peoples.
It is, therefore, through the better organization of work that society
will probably attain to a further purification, and in the meanwhile
it seems unconsciously to be seeking the overthrow of the last
barriers between itself and liberty.
If this is what we learn from society, how great should be the results
among little children from three to six years of age if the
organization of their work is complete, and their freedom absolute? It
is for this reason that to us they seem so good, like heralds of hope
and of redemption.
If men, walking as yet so painfully and imperfectly along the road of
work and of freedom, have become better, why should we fear that the
same road will prove disastrous to the children?
Yet, on the other hand, I would not say that the goodness of our
little ones in their freedom will solve the problem of the absolute
goodness or wickedness of man. We can only say that we have made a
contribution to the cause of goodness by removing obstacles which were
the cause of violence and of rebellion.
Let us "render, therefore, unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and
unto God the things that are God's."