a treatise on parents and children(父母与子女专题研究)-第21节
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them。 Child life must be socially organized： no parent； rich or poor；
can choose institutions that do not exist； and the private enterprise of
individual school masters appealing to a group of well…to…do parents；
though it may shew what can be done by enthusiasts with new methods；
cannot touch the mass of our children。 For the average parent or child
nothing is really available except the established practice； and this is what
makes it so important that the established practice should be a sound one；
and so useless for clever individuals to disparage it unless they can
organize an alternative practice and make it； too； general。
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The Pursuit of Manners
If you cross…examine the duke and the coster； you will find that they
are not concerned for the scholastic attainments of their children。 Ask the
duke whether he could pass the standard examination of twelve…year…old
children in elementary schools； and he will admit； with an entirely placid
smile； that he would almost certainly be ignominiously plucked。 And he
is so little ashamed of or disadvantaged by his condition that he is not
prepared to spend an hour in remedying it。 The coster may resent the
inquiry instead of being amused by it； but his answer； if true； will be the
same。 What they both want for their children is the communal training；
the apprenticeship to society； the lessons in holding one's own among
people of all sorts with whom one is not； as in the home； on privileged
terms。 These can be acquired only by 〃mixing with the world；〃 no matter
how wicked the world is。 No parent cares twopence whether his children
can write Latin hexameters or repeat the dates of the accession of all the
English monarchs since the Conqueror； but all parents are earnestly
anxious about the manners of their children。 Better Claude Duval than
Kaspar Hauser。 Laborers who are contemptuously anti…clerical in their
opinions will send their daughters to the convent school because the nuns
teach them some sort of gentleness of speech and behavior。 And peers
who tell you that our public schools are rotten through and through； and
that our Universities ought to be razed to the foundations； send their sons
to Eton and Oxford； Harrow and Cambridge； not only because there is
nothing else to be done； but because these places； though they turn out
blackguards and ignoramuses and boobies galore； turn them out with the
habits and manners of the society they belong to。 Bad as those manners
are in many respects； they are better than no manners at all。 And no
individual or family can possibly teach them。 They can be acquired only
by living in an organized community in which they are traditional。
Thus we see that there are reasons for the segregation of children even
in families where the great reason： namely； that children are nuisances to
adults； does not press very hardly； as； for instance； in the houses of the
very poor； who can send their children to play in the streets； or the houses
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of the very rich； which are so large that the children's quarters can be kept
out of the parents' way like the servants' quarters。
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Not too much Wind on the Heath；
Brother
What； then； is to be done？ For the present； unfortunately； little except
propagating the conception of Children's Rights。 Only the achievement
of economic equality through Socialism can make it possible to deal
thoroughly with the question from the point of view of the total interest of
the community； which must always consist of grown…up children。 Yet
economic equality； like all simple and obvious arrangements； seems
impossible to people brought up as children are now。 Still； something
can be done even within class limits。 Large communities of children of
the same class are possible today； and voluntary organization of outdoor
life for children has already begun in Boy Scouting and excursions of one
kind or another。 The discovery that anything； even school life； is better
for the child than home life； will become an over…ridden hobby； and we
shall presently be told by our faddists that anything； even camp life； is
better than school life。 Some blundering beginnings of this are already
perceptible。 There is a movement for making our British children into
priggish little barefooted vagabonds； all talking like that born fool George
Borrow； and supposed to be splendidly healthy because they would die if
they slept in rooms with the windows shut； or perhaps even with a roof
over their heads。 Still； this is a fairly healthy folly； and it may do
something to establish Mr Harold Cox's claim of a Right to Roam as the
basis of a much needed law compelling proprietors of land to provide
plenty of gates in their fences； and to leave them unlocked when there are
no growing crops to be damaged nor bulls to be encountered； instead of； as
at present； imprisoning the human race in dusty or muddy thoroughfares
between walls of barbed wire。
The reaction against vagabondage will come from the children
themselves。 For them freedom will not mean the expensive kind of
savagery now called 〃the simple life。〃 Their natural disgust with the
visions of cockney book fanciers blowing themselves out with 〃the wind
on the heath； brother；〃 and of anarchists who are either too weak to
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understand that men are strong and free in proportion to the social pressure
they can stand and the complexity of the obligations they are prepared to
undertake； or too strong to realize that what is freedom to them may be
terror and bewilderment to others； will drive them back to the home and
the school if these have meanwhile learned the lesson that children are
independent human beings and have rights。
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Wanted： a Child's Magna Charta
Whether we shall presently be discussing a Juvenile Magna Charta or
Declaration of Rights by way of including children in the Constitution is a
question on which I leave others to speculate。 But if it could once be
established that a child has an adult's Right of Egress from uncomfortable
places and unpleasant company； and there were children's lawyers to sue
pedagogues and others for assault and imprisonment； there would be an
amazing change in the behavior of schoolmasters； the quality of school
books； and the amenities of school life。 That Consciousness of Consent
which； even in its present delusive form； has enabled Democracy to oust
tyrannical systems in spite of all its vulgarities and stupidities and rancors
and ineptitudes and ignorances； would operate as powerfully among
children as it does now among grown…ups。 No doubt the pedagogue
would promptly turn demagogue； and woo his scholars by all the arts of
demagogy； but none of these arts can easily be so dishonorable or
mischievous as the art of caning。 And； after all； if larger liberties are
attached to the acquisition of knowledge； and the child finds that it can no
more go to the seaside without a knowledge of the multiplication and
pence tables than it can be an astronomer without mathematics； it will
learn the multiplication table； which is more than it always does at present；
in spite
