stifling all originality and substituting for it a stock of commonplace
ideas and conventional knowledge.

The process is begun at home. It takes its root in conventionality, the
curse of all individuality and progress. Parents, brought up to be the
slaves of custom, carry on the imbecile traditions that have been handed
down to them from former generations, without stopping to consider
whether they are rational or foolish. It is good enough for the majority
of people that the imbecile things they do were done by their
forefathers before them; and no tradition is more rigidly followed than
that which prescribes the manner of bringing up children.

It would have been thought that those who had themselves suffered from
the effects of bad methods would be careful not to repeat the mistakes
with their own children. But that is the worst aspect of the evil. Its
chief operation consists in hedging round the intelligence with
conventionalities to such an extent as to exclude vigorous and
independent thought. The most intelligent people often find the utmost
difficulty in attempting to shake off the prejudices inculcated during
the early years of life.

Many, before accomplishing this end, have had to pass through a long
period of suffering and adversity. But the average mind is generally a
hopeless case. There must be strong inward impulses, or the necessary
measure of initiative and courage will not be forthcoming. Everybody who
chooses to think for himself knows that it is an operation which does
not usually entail pleasant consequences.

So much for the part played by the parent. The school system stands on a
different plane altogether, and must be considered by itself. For
parents there is, as has been pointed out, a certain amount of excuse.
For the school system there is none.

CHAPTER IV

HUMAN FACTORIES

Distinction must be made, of course, in discussing the effects of
teaching methods upon children, between the various kinds of schools,
and between public instruction and private tuition. It would not be fair
to lump them all together, for the evils they produce are by no means
distributed by them in equal proportion. One must differentiate.
Fundamentally, all education is proceeding on a false principle. In this
respect it is necessary to blame education systems, institutions, school
teachers, tutors, governesses, and parents alike; for all are engaged in
keeping up an educational delusion that is wo