There are no two persons in all the world, however separated by space or
circumstances, who do not in some way affect each other. This influence
is unseen and untraceable in most cases; it is only when the relations
are very immediate and obvious that we realize how unified is the life
of the people on the earth. The welfare of the whole race is tied up in
the welfare of each man, woman and child; and so it is the duty of each
to work for the welfare of all his fellows. When each person controls
his actions and contributes his influence so as to further the interests
of all, present and future, the world is in harmony, civilization
progresses and happiness reigns on earth.
But it is not natural for people unselfishly to strive for the good of
all other people. All men are born with strong instincts of
self-preservation, and their limited outlook upon life, their small
knowledge of remote things, often prevents their seeing that, in the
end, social action best protects their own interests.
Instinct urges, “Look out for number one. Enjoy yourself. Catch at the
immediate good, for you are not sure of the future.” Something higher
than instinct in man says to him, on the other hand, “Deny yourself for
the good of others. Find a greater life in the life of the race. Endure
hardship now, submit to privation, that in the future you and others may
be more happy.”
It is this higher standard of thought and action which we call right; it
is passive submission to the dictates of selfish instincts which we call
wrong. Right and wrong have other phases than these of social effect,
but upon these most men, of whatever faith or philosophy, agree; and
these social phases are the ones which affect the whole problem of
discipline most. Briefly, then, we may say that for our purposes those
things are right which contribute to the welfare of men, and those
things are wrong which interfere with their happiness and progress.
The great men and women of the world are they who make the richest
contribution to human progress and happiness. They are the artists, the
thinkers, the givers of every kind, who leave their fellows better for
their passing by. They who in their coming and going add nothing to the
sum of human welfare, are the paupers, the criminals, the imbeciles.
Paupers may live in palaces, and criminals may for generations receive
great honor of men, but unless they have really made the world better,
men in their final judgment can not count such glorious rascals among
their friends. They are not civilization-builders, they are not
race-leaders, nor have they real strength in themselves, for they have
never conquered those selfish instincts which dominate men in the lowest
stages of their development.
The big problem of mankind, then, is to make of the naturally selfish
and self-centered individual a helper in a great social enterprise, that
is, to make him nothing less than a contributor to the evolution of the
whole race toward its final high estate. How can this be done? And who
is to do it? These questions are fundamental to human progress. Men have
been grappling with them for centuries. This is a great world-question
which, looming behind the more immediate problem of discipline, gives it
all the significance it has. It is because through disciplinary
processes the world is to be made better, and not primarily because such
processes will make schools more orderly and homes more delightful, that
we study the subject and hope to become skilled in the practice of its
technique.
The responsibility of making each person a contributor to social
progress rests largely with those who hold in their hands the training
of the young. Hence such training is, in a peculiar sense, the business
of parents and teachers. Not for long have people worked intelligently
toward the socialization of human interests. Christ taught this doctrine
nearly two thousand years ago in Galilee, but only lately have very many
persons realized that His message is a practicable one. The Middle Ages
were given to an effort to realize the gospel individually; today we see
a great effort to apply it universally. But the individualism of the
past still dominates the thinking of the older generation; selfishness
and prejudices, which are intrenched in tradition, seem altogether
justifiable to peoples whose children will fully realize their
inadequacy and falseness.
It is in these children that the hope of the race inheres; these are
they who must bring about the new order of things. Not in reforming the
adult criminal, not in making the adult pauper a producer, not in making
the adult individualist a humanitarian, lies the true secret of
world-betterment, but in rearing a new generation which shall meet the
old problems with instincts controlled, powers trained, and with a
potent altruism that has been developed from impulse to habit and from
habit to conviction.
Society is sadly taxed to care for its undisciplined members.
Alms-houses, slums, jails and prisons are filled with the more
hopelessly uncontrolled, while every forward movement is hampered by the
indifference or opposition of those whose individualism is of a more
mild and respectable type. It is from the ranks of the undisciplined
that all trouble-makers come; it is the disciplined soul who not only
makes his own life successful but who gives freely for the advancement
of others.
These premises involve strong claims for discipline. If it is true that
discipline bears this close and vital relation to human progress, then
it is indeed a topic for the closest and most careful study. Before the
reader can judge for himself of the claims made, he must know more of
the nature of the discipline for which so much is claimed. For the
discussion of its nature he is referred to the following paragraphs.