have their source in American homes. Indeed, some of the
most fertile sources of discord in the school may be traced to a
misconception of democracy on the part of the home. One of these
misconceptions is a species of anarchy, which appropriates to itself the
gentler name of democracy. But, none the less, it is anarchy. It
disdains all law and authority, treads under foot the precepts of the
home and the school, flouts the counsels of parents and teachers, and is
self-willed, obstinate, and defiant. Democracy obeys the law; anarchy
scorns it. Democracy respects the rights of others, anarchy overrides
them. Democracy exalts good will; anarchy exalts selfishness. Democracy
respects the Golden Rule; anarchy respects nothing, not even itself.
=Anarchy.=--When this spirit of anarchy gains access to the school, it
is not easily eradicated for the reason that the home is loath to
recognize it as anarchy, and resents any such implication on the part of
the school. The father may be quite unable to exercise any control over
the boy, but he is reluctant to admit the fact to the teacher. Such a
boy is an anarchist and no sophistry can gloss the fact. What he needs
is a liberal application of monarchy to fit him for democracy. He should
read the Old Testament as a preparation for an appreciative perusal of
the New Testament. If the home cannot generate in him due respect for
constituted authority, then the school must do so, or he will prove a
menace to society and become a destructive rather than a constructive
agency. Here we have a tense situation. Anarchy is running riot in the
home; the home is arrayed against the attempts of the school to correct
the disorder; and Democracy is standing expectant to see what will be
done.
=Snobbery.=--Scarcely less inimical to democracy than anarchy is
snobbery. The former is violent, while the latter is insidious. Both
poison the source of the stream of democracy. If the home instills into
the minds of children the notion of inherent superiority, they will
carry this into the school and it will produce a discord. A farmer and a
tenant had sons of the same age. These lads played together, never
thinking of superiority or inferiority. Now the son of the tenant is
president of one of the great universities, and the son of the
proprietor is a janitor in one of the buildings of that university.
Democracy presents to view many anomalies, and the school age is quite
too early for anything approa
|