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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
The Infinite School Task
The question of children's work； however； is only a question of what
the child ought to do for the community。 How highly it should qualify
itself is another matter。 But most of the difficulty of inducing children to
learn would disappear if our demands became not only definite but finite。
When learning is only an excuse for imprisonment； it is an instrument of
torture which becomes more painful the more progress is made。 Thus
when you have forced a child to learn the Church Catechism； a document
profound beyond the comprehension of most adults； you are sometimes at
a standstill for something else to teach； and you therefore keep the
wretched child repeating its catechism again and again until you hit on the
plan of making it learn instalments of Bible verses； preferably from the
book of Numbers。 But as it is less trouble to set a lesson that you know
yourself； there is a tendency to keep repeating the already learnt lesson
rather than break new ground。 At school I began with a fairly complete
knowledge of Latin grammar in the childish sense of being able to repeat
all the paradigms； and I was kept at this； or rather kept in a class where the
master never asked me to do it because he knew I could； and therefore
devoted himself to trapping the boys who could not； until I finally forgot
most of it。 But when progress took place； what did it mean？ First it
meant Caesar； with the foreknowledge that to master Caesar meant only
being set at Virgil； with the culminating horror of Greek and Homer in
reserve at the end of that。 I preferred Caesar； because his statement that
Gaul is divided into three parts； though neither interesting nor true； was
the only Latin sentence I could translate at sight： therefore the longer we
stuck at Caesar the better I was pleased。 Just so do less classically
educated children see nothing in the mastery of addition but the beginning
of subtraction； and so on through multiplication and division and fractions；
with the black cloud of algebra on the horizon。 And if a boy rushes
through all that； there is always the calculus to fall back on； unless indeed
you insist on his learning music； and proceed to hit him if he cannot tell
you the year Beethoven was born。
A child has a right to finality as regards its compulsory lessons。 Also
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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
as regards physical training。 At present it is assumed that the
schoolmaster has a right to force every child into an attempt to become
Porson and Bentley； Leibnitz and Newton； all rolled into one。 This is the
tradition of the oldest grammar schools。 In our times an even more
horrible and cynical claim has been made for the right to drive boys
through compulsory games in the playing fields until they are too much
exhausted physically to do anything but drop off to sleep。 This is
supposed to protect them from vice； but as it also protects them from
poetry； literature； music； meditation and prayer； it may be dismissed with
the obvious remark that if boarding schools are places whose keepers are
driven to such monstrous measures lest more abominable things should
happen； then the sooner boarding schools are violently abolished the better。
It is true that society may make physical claims on the child as well as
mental ones： the child must learn to walk； to use a knife and fork； to
swim； to ride a bicycle； to acquire sufficient power of self…defence to make
an attack on it an arduous and uncertain enterprise； perhaps to fly。 What
as a matter of common…sense it clearly has not a right to do is to make this
an excuse for keeping the child slaving for ten hours at physical exercises
on the ground that it is not yet as dexterous as Cinquevalli and as strong as
Sandow。
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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
The Rewards and Risks of
Knowledge
In a word； we have no right to insist on educating a child； for its
education can end only with its life and will not even then be complete。
Compulsory completion of education is the last folly of a rotten and
desperate civilization。 It is the rattle in its throat before dissolution。 All
we can fairly do is to prescribe certain definite acquirements and
accomplishments as qualifications for certain employments； and to secure
them； not by the ridiculous method of inflicting injuries on the persons
who have not yet mastered them； but by attaching certain privileges （not
pecuniary） to the employments。
Most acquirements carry their own privileges with them。 Thus a
baby has to be pretty closely guarded and imprisoned because it cannot
take care of itself。 It has even to be carried about （the most complete
conceivable infringement of its liberty） until it can walk。 But nobody
goes on carrying children after they can walk lest they should walk into
mischief； though Arab boys make their sisters carry them； as our own
spoiled children sometimes make their nurses； out of mere laziness；
because sisters in the East and nurses in the West are kept in servitude。
But in a society of equals （the only reasonable and permanently possible
sort of society） children are in much greater danger of acquiring bandy
legs through being left to walk before they are strong enough than of being
carried when they are well able to walk。 Anyhow； freedom of movement
in a nursery is the reward of learning to walk； and in precisely the same
way freedom of movement in a city is the reward of learning how to read
public notices； and to count and use money。 The consequences are of
course much larger than the mere ability to read the name of a street or the
number of a railway platform and the destination of a train。 When you
enable a chil