Part 15 (1/2)

increases in degree as its dependent muscles perfect the its efforts

It would certainly never occur to any one that in order to educate the voluntary motility of a child, it would be well first of all to keep it absolutelyits li them!) until the muscles become atrophied and almost paralyzed; and then, when this result had been attained, that it would suffice to read to the child wonderful stories of clowns, acrobats and champion boxers and wrestlers, to fire him by such examples, and to inspire in him an ardent desire to e would be an inconceivable absurdity

And yet we do so of the same kind when, in order to educate the child's ”will,” we first of all attempt to annihilate it, or, as we say, ”break” it, and thus hamper the develop ourselves for the child in everything It is by _our_ will that we keep him motionless, or make him act; it is ho choose and decide for him And after all this we are content to teach him that ”to will is to do” (_volere e potere_) And we present to his fancy, in the guise of fabulous tales, stories of heroictheir deeds toof emulation will be aroused and will co the first classes of the elementary schools, there was a kind teacher as very fond of us Of course, she kept us captive and h she looked pale and exhausted Her fixed idea was to make us learn by heart the lives of famous women, and more especially ”heroines,” in order to incite us to iraphies; in order to de illustrious and also to convince us that it was not beyond our powers to be heroines, since these were so numerous The exhortation which accompanied these narratives was always the same: ”You, too, should try to become famous; would not you, too, like to be famous?” ”Oh, no!” I answered one day, drily; ”I shall never do so I care too raphy to the list”

The unanimous reports of the educationists froic and psychological international congresses la a great danger to the race But it is not that character is lacking in the race; it is that school distorts the body and weakens the spirit All that is needed is an act of liberation; and the latent forces of man will then develop

The her question, which, however, can rest only upon one basis: that the will exists--that is, has been developed, and has becoiven to our children, to teach theth of will, is that of Vittorio Alfieri, who began to educate hiery of the rudireat effort He, who had hitherto been a rammar, and persevered until he becaenius, one of our greatest poets The phrase by which he explained his transformation is just the phrase every child in Italy has heard quoted by his teachers: ”I willed, perpetually I willed, with all reat ”decision,” Vittorio Alfieri was the victim of a capricious society lady who hi the slave of his passion; an internal ireat man latent within him, full of powers not yet developed, but potential and expansive; he would fain have turned them to account, responded to their inner call, and dedicated himself to them; but then a scented note from the lady would su would be wasted The power this lady exercised over hiladly have resisted

Nevertheless, the rage and weariness he endured as he sat through the silly perfor that at last he felt that he hated the fascinating lady

His determination took a material form: he resolved to create an _insurly cut off the thick plait of hair which adorned his head, the badge of gentle birth, without which he would have been ashamed to leave the house; then he had himself bound with ropes to his aritation that he was unable even to read a line; it was only thea ridiculous figure, which kept him there, in spite of the impulse to hasten to the beloved one

It was thus that he ”willed, willed perpetually, with all his strength,” and so left the man within him free to expand; it was thus he saved himself from futility and perdition and worked for his own i of the sa about in our children by the education of the will; ish them to learn to save themselves from the vanities that destroy man, and concentrate on hich causes the inner life to expand, and leads to great undertakings; ish the and anxious desire inclines us to draw the shi+elded by us But is there not within the child himself a pohich enables him to save himself? The child loves us with all his heart and follows us with all the devotion of which his little soul is capable; nevertheless he has sooverns his inner life: it is the force of his own expansion It is this force, for instance, which leads his in order to become acquainted with them, and we say to him, ”Do not touch”; he moves about to establish his equilibrium, and we tell hie, and we reply, ”Do not be tiresoate him to a place at our side, vanquished and subdued, with a few tiresos, like an Alfieri in the box at the theater He ht well think: Why does she, whom I love so dearly, want to annihilate me? Why does she wish to oppress me with her caprices? It is caprice whichthe expansive forces within s, merely because I love her

Thus, to save hi spirit, like Vittorio Alfieri; but too often he cannot

We do not perceive that the child is a victi hi_ from his _nullity_ by a _fiat_, by an act of our o hirow

Many will think, when they read the story of Vittorio Alfieri, that they would have wished so more in their sons; they would have wished it to be unnecessary to set upoff of the hair and the binding to the armchair with ropes; and would have hoped that a spiritual force would have sufficed to resist it Like one of our great poets who, singing of the Ro killed herself; since she ought to have died of grief at the outrage, had she been even more virtuous than she was

Now that father with the spiritual ideals would not, in all probability, ask himself what he hi and rise to the level of spiritual aid Very likely he is a father who did his utmost to break the will of his son and make him submissive to his oill No earthly father can hts; this can only be accomplished by the mysterious voice which speaks within the heart of the man in the silence A voice which is strident because it is raised against the laws of Nature, like the voice of the father ishes to subdue another creature to himself, disturbs that ”silence” where, in peace and liberty, the divine works are being acco man” all is vain

It is recorded that a priest once presented to Saint Teresa a young girl ished to becoelic qualities Saint Teresa, accepting the neophyte, replied: ”See, iven this ment, and never will have any; and she will always be a burden to us”

One of the greatest of contes to obtain the canonisation of Joan of Arc had made a profound study of her personality, says, in reference to the suggestion that she was simply the instrument of divine inspiration: ”Let no one deceive himself Joan of Arc was no blind and passive instrument of a supernatural power The liberator of France _had entire coave proof of this by her independent action, both in decisions and in deeds”

I believe that the work of the educator consists pri theing of man into contact with the spirit which is within hih him

VIII

INTELLIGENCE

Let us pause a moment to consider what is the ”key” byabout the realization of the liberty of the child; that key which sets in motion the mechanisms essential to education

The child who is ”free to , is he who has an ”intelligent object” in his movements; the child who is free to develop his inner personality, who perseveres in a task for a considerable tianizes hiuided by an intelligent purpose Without this his persistence in work, his inner forress would not be possible When we refrain fro the child from our personal influence, we place him in an environment suited to him and in contact with the means of developence” His motor activity will then direct itself to definite actions: he ash his hands and face, sweep the roos, lay the table, cultivate plants, and take care of animals He will choose the tasks conducive to his developuided by his interest towards a sensoryfrom another, to select, to reason, to correct himself; and the acquirerowth” but a strong propulsive force to further progress

Thus, passing fro coanizes his character by means of the internal order which forms itself within him, and by the skill which he acquires