,transcriber's note3 ,no text has       
intentionally been changed from the     
original2 no printing errors were found4
 ,there are two unbalanced  quotes in   
the original1 which are duplicated here4
 ,the first is on  p4 #bd1 in the area  
8,when an attempt02 the second is on p4 
#gg1 in the  area 8exclaims ,mill04     
,this text is based on the ,internet    
,archive scan with the identifier       
8philistinegenius#jjsidirich04          
,,philistine ,,and                      
,,genius                                
,,by                       ,,boris      
,,sidis1 ,a4,m41 ,ph4,d41 ,m4,d4        
,medical ,director1 ,sidis ,institute1  
,portsmouth1 ,new ,hampshire            
,,boston3 ,,richard ,g4 ,,badger        
,,toronto3 ,,the ,,copp ,,clark ,,co41  
,,limited                       99      
99        99        99        99        
,copyright1 #aiag1 by ,boris ,sidis     
,all ,rights ,reserved                  
,made in the ,united ,states of ,america
                       ,the ,gorham     

,press1 ,boston1 ,u4 ,s4 ,a4            
99        99        99        99        
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,,to                          ,,the     
,,fathers ,,and ,,mothers               
,,of                             ,,the  
,,united ,,states                       
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,,preface    ,when in #aiji 8,philistine
 and ,genius0 was delivered by me in the
 form of  a ,commencement address before
 the ,harvard ,summer ,school1 my       
prediction  of the coming ,european war 
storm was regarded by everybody as dream
 and  fancy4 ,my best friends and       
sympathisers thought my foreboding      
unjustified and ill-founded4 ,i was an  
alarmist1 a ,cassandra1 when ,i  spoke  
of the coming catastrophe which was to  
shake ,europe to its very  foundation4  
,when 8,philistine and ,genius0 was     
published in #aiaa the  ,american and   
,european press1 dealing with the views 
advanced in this  little volume1        

completely ignored the following warning
 given by me3    8,about the middle of  
the nineteenth century ,buckle made the 
prediction  that no war was any more to 
occur among civilized nations4          
,henceforth  peace was to reign supreme4
 #8,the wolf shall dwell with the lamb1 
and the  leopard shall lie down with the
 kid2 their young ones shall lie down   
together1 and the lion shall eat straw  
like the ox4444 ,nations shall  beat    
their swords into ploughshares1 and     
their spears into pruning  hooks4       
,nations shall not lift up swords       
against nations1 nor shall they  learn  
war any more4' ,this prophecy was rather
 hasty4 ,we have had since  the ,civil  
war1 the ,franco-,prussian war1 the     
,spanish-,american war1 the  ,boer war1 
the ,russo-,japanese war1 not counting  
the ceaseless wars of  extermination    
carried on by civilized nations among   
the various  semi-civilized and         
primitive tribes4 ,civilized nations do 
not as yet  beat their swords into      

ploughshares1 but keep on increasing the
 strength  of their #8armed peace1' and 
are ready to fight bloody battles in the
  quest of new lands and the conquest of
 new markets4    8,in spite of the      
,hague conference1 convoked by the      
peace-loving ,czar1 no  other age has   
had such large standing armies provided 
with such costly  and efficient weapons 
of execution ready for instant use4 ,the
 red  spectre still stalks abroad       
claiming its victims4 ,we still believe 
in  the baptism of fire and redemption  
by blood4 ,the dogma of blood           
redemption is still at the basis of our 
faith1 and1 consciously or              
unconsciously1 we brand that sacred     
creed on the minds of the young         
generation40    ,the present ,european  
upheaval has finally disclosed to the   
impartial  observer the fearful state of
 ,europe as the final outcome of its    
8armed  peace40 ,instead of realizing   
the dangers of armed peace or of        
8preparedness10 we are ready to become a

 military democracy in which  every     
able-bodied man is a soldier or a       
sailor1 every child is a scout1  and    
every woman a nurse or a munition       
worker4 ,we are anxious to waste  our   
resources on preparedness rather than on
 the education of the young4  ,we hanker
 for the greatest navy in the world at a
 cost of several  billions of dollars4  
,we aspire after a million headed1      
billion armed  navy and army4 ,we clamor
 for universal1 compulsory1 military    
service in  which our children should be
 drilled for murder and slaughter at the
  decree of a few autocratic officials  
and officers4 ,we imitate ,europe       
slavishly1 in spite of the fact that the
 policy of preparedness or of  8armed   
peace0 has kept ,europe in a state of   
turmoil for generations1 has  brought   
her to the brink of ruin1 and has       
plunged her into the most  cruel and    
most destructive war ever waged by man4 
,the recent estimate of ,count von      
,roedern1 ,secretary of the ,imperial   

,german ,treasury1 puts the total cost  
of the war to date1 the end of  #aiaf1  
for all the belligerents1 at fifty-nine 
and a half billions of  dollars4 ,the   
,mechanics and ,metals ,national ,bank  
of ,new ,york ,city figures  that       
seventy-five billion dollars will be    
spent for direct military  purposes1 if 
the war lasts another year4 ,the        
enormity of that  expenditure can only  
be realized if we consider that the     
total wealth of  ,great ,britain and    
,ireland is eighty-five billions of     
dollars1 that of  ,germany eighty       
billions1 that of ,france fifty         
billions1 that of ,russia  forty        
billions1 that of ,austria-,hungary     
twenty-five billions1 and that  of      
,italy twenty billions4 ,such waste is  
appalling6    ,according to the figures 
given by ,mr4 ,frank ,h4 ,simonds1      
eighteen and a  half million casualties1
 of which deaths make up nearly         
one-quarter1 is  the toll already levied
 on the fighting men of all the         

belligerent  nations by twenty-six      
months of war4 ,more than any other war 
the present  ,european struggle         
squanders the wealth of empires and     
sacrifices the  lives of nations4       
,our social status is a reversion to    
savagery of the most degenerate  type1  
an atavistic lapse towards the          
paleolithic and eolithic man1 only  more
 brutal1 on account of the greater power
 for evil possessed by  modern man4     
,what ,hun or ,vandal ever dreamt of    
such colossal destruction6  ,the fame of
 ,attila1 ,jenghiz ,khan1 ,batu1 and    
,tamerlane pales and fades  before the  
glory of the ,kaiser4 ,in a couple of   
years the aggressive  ,german 8,kultur0 
has caused more ruin to humanity than   
all the invasions  of the yellow peril  
in the history of mankind4 ,can we take 
issue with  the late ,professor ,royce  
of ,harvard when he declares the ,german
 ,empire  to be 8the wilful and the     
deliberate enemy of the human race08    
,some future historian in describing our

 times will place us below the  moral   
level of our contemporaries1 the        
,bushman and the ,hottentot4 ,he may    
say3 8,towards the end of the nineteenth
 and at the beginning of the  twentieth 
century there took place a vast         
accumulation of wealth1 due to  a rapid 
development of science and practical    
arts4 ,instead1 however1 of  improving  
their condition1 ,european nations      
deteriorated morally and                
intellectually4    8,liberal education  
gave way to technical training4 ,science
 served greed4  ,education became       
mechanical and military in character4   
,the successful  banker1 the greedy     
usurer1 the commonplace storekeeper1 the
 mediocre  shopkeeper1 the philistine   
patriotic business man became the       
patterns1  the ideals1 the guides1 and  
leaders of commercialized nations4      
,advertising and notoriety became the   
rage and the bane of society4 ,the      
thinker gave way to the tinker1 the     
scientist to the mechanic1 the  artist  

to the artisan1 the genius to the       
philistine4 ,false patriotism of  the   
jingo type1 controlled and animated by  
industrial and commercial  interests1   
became the standard of nations4 ,an     
insane frenzy of  militarism seized on  
the minds of nations4 ,blind obedience  
became a  virtue4    8,the state        
enslaved the individual4 ,drill and     
discipline stupefied  people4 ,nations  
boasting of scientific efficiency and   
#8kultur' broke  treaties1 attacked1    
destroyed1 deported1 enslaved whole     
populations of  small1 weak1 neighboring
 countries4 ,women and babes were       
drowned like  rats in the middle of the 
ocean4 ,aeroplanes and ,zeppelins       
showered  explosive missiles on         
defenceless people4 ,for such cowardly1 
inhuman1  and diabolical acts the       
miscreants were decorated and honored as
 heroes  by their alleged superiors4    
,man could not have fallen to any lower 
level4    8,the elements of nature were 
let loose for the ruin of nations4 ,man 

gloried in his devilish1 military1      
inventive power of destruction4         
,professors1 carrying high the banner of
 #8kultur1' exulted in the  degrading1  
vicious process of training by which the
 individual is  hypnotized and          
narcotized into submission to a brutal  
organization of  military junkers1      
hallowed by the name of ,state4 ,all    
conception of free1  individual         
development was lost among the ,germanic
 tribes of ,central  ,europe4 ,it was   
the darkest period in the history of    
mankind4 ,assaults on  countries1       
massacres of nations1 deportation of    
populations into slavery  for powerful  
munition interests1 all such outrages1  
dignified by the  name of war for the   
defense of the ,fatherland1 had not     
their parallel  even in the most        
degrading period of the history of      
humanity4 ,man was  crazed with the lust
 of blood1 frenzied with rapine and     
slaughter40    ,such will be the just   
estimate of our times by a future       

impartial  historian4    ,we possess    
indeed vast stores of wealth1 but we    
have not as yet learned  their use4     
,like silly upstarts1 we use our wealth 
for dissipation and  ruin4 ,our greed   
and cruelty seem to grow with our       
possessions4 ,greed  with its army and  
navy is like the ,biblical horseleech   
that 8hath two  daughters crying1       
#8,give1 give4'0 ,human life1 man's     
genius1 we hold in no  esteem4 ,we sink 
the value of man in the price of his    
product4 ,we raise  the value of stock1 
but lower the worth of man4 ,our young  
generation is  trained by fear into     
discipline and obedience4 ,we suppress  
the genius in  the child1 raise         
mediocrity1 and cultivate the           
philistine4    8,obedience and          
discipline are the mainstay of family   
and school10 told  me an otherwise      
intelligent schoolmaster4 8,i control my
 children with  kindness1 if possible1  
and if needs be1 with force40 ,the child
 is  trained to act not by the light of 

reason1 but by the command of  superior 
force4 ,the child is ruled by fear6     
,as a protection against fear the child 
learns to be secretive1 evasive  of     
truth1 and cowardly of action4 ,these   
traits of character1 acquired in  early 
childhood1 become basic4 ,the child will
 never fully rid himself of  fear and   
its distressing consequences4 ,fear will
 stay with him1 and dog  his steps all  
his life long4    ,fear is one of the   
most fundamental of animal instincts1 it
 is the  companion of the most primitive
 impulse of self-preservation4 ,once    
this  fear instinct is aroused1 it grows
 like an avalanche in its downward      
course4 ,in later life this fear        
instinct becomes manifested in various  
ways1 giving rise to the most           
distressing nervous and mental symptoms4
  ,in my medical practice1 as specialist
 of nervous and mental diseases1 ,i     
have traced again and again the worst   
forms of maladies to the fear  instinct 
aroused in early childhood4    ,training

 by fear1 submission1 and obedience     
opens the door wide to all  kinds of    
nervous and mental germs1 weakening the 
mental and moral  constitution of man4  
,man becomes unreasonable1 capricious1  
driven by the  impulse of               
self-preservation and by the furies of  
the fear instinct4 ,the  impulse of     
self-preservation with its satellite the
 fear instinct  becomes predominant in  
character which lacks the stamina of    
sturdiness1  frankness1 openmindedness  
and independence4    ,a person brought  
up in the school of fear and blind      
obedience lacks  steadiness of purpose1 
courage1 independence1 critical         
judgment1 becomes  bigoted and          
intolerant4 ,he falls an easy prey to   
the suggestions of his  times and       
surroundings1 succumbs to the influence 
of unscrupulous  leaders4 ,such a person
 lacks mental and moral poise1 he is    
wanting in  the true courage of reason1 
present in the fully developed man and  
woman4 ,he can not withstand the        

pressure of social opinion1 being unable
  to stand by his post in the face of   
threatening social opposition4 ,ruled   
by fear at home1 he is governed by      
terror in society4 ,he is afraid of     
social punishment1 8of losing face10 as 
the ,chinese say1 with his  neighbors1  
gossips1 circles and clubs4 ,he dreads  
above all the judgment  of the crowd1   
and is scared by the jeers and ridicule 
of the mob4 ,human  life interests      
become limited by the narrow horizon of 
a mob-ruled  personality4 ,the unceasing
 obedience to the suggestions of the    
crowd  weakens and loosens the reasoning
 and moral fibre1 reduces the energies  
of the mind to the animal level1        
controlled by self-preservation and     
fear4    ,with reduced and impoverished 
energies1 the person1 in case of trouble
  and misfortune1 is unable to fall back
 on his inner resources1 he falls  a    
prey to worry1 fear1 anxiety1 and       
disease4 ,in other cases the            
intellectual and moral powers are       

enfeebled by the rigid discipline and   
by the course of enforced obedience1 the
 person falls a victim to all  forms of 
temptations4 ,with no principle to guide
 him1 with no will to  stay him1 the    
person drifts helplessly on the stream  
of life4 ,lured by  seductive sirens1   
his life is finally wrecked on the rocks
 and reefs of  vice1 sin1 crime1 and    
disease4    ,where stumbling on vice1   
disease1 and crime is avoided1 the      
person  inevitably lands on the dull    
shores of the ,lotophagi4 ,ideas and    
ideals  are forgotten and forsaken in   
the routine of animal existence4 ,this  
is  the land of ,philistinism1 a land   
where all human1 humane interests1      
independent thought1 and courageous     
action are wanting4 ,philistines are    
uncritical1 unconscious of defects and  
faults1 living in the mire of           
self-contented stupidity and mediocrity4
 ,they cease to grow mentally and       
morally4 ,their intellectual and moral  
capacities become paralyzed1  atrophied4

 ,man becomes the equal of the brute4   
,with a philistine education and        
training1 man is fit to become one of   
those unfortunate and pitiful ,european 
pawns and automata who obey  blindly the
 commands of their superior officers4   
,philistines shoot1  stab1 poison1      
pillage1 bum1 outrage1 and murder at the
 command of  unscrupulous1 self-seeking 
leaders1 brutal junkers1 bloodhounds of 
empires4    ,brought up in a school of  
fear1 obedience1 and suggestibility1 the
  philistine1 like ,cain1 murders his   
brother without aim and without         
understanding the full significance of  
the awful deed4 ,he is no more          
responsible than is the machine gun     
which he accurately trains and  points  
at his supposed enemies4 ,philistines   
are led to the battlefield  like cattle 
to the slaughter house4 ,philistines    
have no personality1 no  individuality1 
they are cogs in wheels1 links in chains
 of monster  mechanisms4    ,the        
philistine1 the product of our home and 

school1 is suggestible and  gullible1 he
 is always on the lookout for authority1
 for a leader whom  he should worship1  
by whose opinions and conviction he is  
ready to  swear1 whose command he is    
ready and proud to follow4 ,the         
philistine is  good material for mobs1  
for mental epidemics1 for religious     
crazes1 and  for all kinds of hysterical
 movements in which not reason but      
emotional  automatism is in the         
foreground4 ,philistinism1 stupidity1   
and implicit  obedience of a monstrous1 
efficient war machine are intimately    
interrelated4 ,the individual becomes a 
private1 the nation an army1 and  the   
country a camp4    ,do we as parents    
wish to bring up our children as        
soulless1 willless  machines8 ,do we    
wish them to be without good judgment1  
without personal  convictions8 ,do we   
wish them to be led about like cattle8  
,we certainly  wish them to be of strong
 nature and sturdy character1 able to   
stand by  their convictions1 able to use

 their critical judgment1 able to       
discriminate the right from the wrong1  
able to love the good and avoid  the    
evil4    ,in ,the ,psychology of        
,suggestion1 published by me in #ahig1  
,i arrive at  the conclusion that       
8,personality is suppressed by the      
rigidity of social  organization2 the   
cultivated1 civilized individual is an  
automaton1 a  mere puppet40444 ,again1  
8,under the enormous weight of the      
sociostatic  press 444 the personal self
 sinks1 the suggestible1 subconscious1  
social1 impersonal self rises to the    
surface1 gets trained and  cultivated1  
and becomes the hysterical actor in all 
the tragedies of  historical life40444  
,in recent ,european events the         
suggestible1 social  self plays the     
chief rle4    ,in the same work ,i come 
to the following conclusion3 8,when     
social  conditions are of such a nature 
as to charge society with strong        
emotional excitement1 or when           
institutions dwarf individuality1 when  

they arrest personal growth1 when they  
hinder the free development and         
exercise of the personal1 controlling   
consciousness1 then society falls  into 
a hypnoid condition1 the social mind    
gets disaggregated4 ,the  gregarious    
self begins to move within the bosom of 
the crowd1 and  becomes active2 the     
demon of the demos emerges to the       
surface of social  life1 and throws the 
body politic into convulsions of        
demoniac fury40    ,the ,european       
horrors1 atrocities1 and brutalities1   
dignified by the  stupefying and        
hypnotizing slogan 8,kultur1            
,patriotism10 are due to the  early     
training1 by fear and force1 of the     
individual into submission to  superior 
authority4 ,such pernicious training    
sacrifices the genius of  the child1 the
 originality of the man1 to a highly    
efficient1 but brutal  and blood-thirsty
 ,moloch ,state4 ,the ,european war is a
 mental plague  which attacks gigantic1 
social aggregates when their ultimate   

constituent units1 the individuals1 are 
deprived of independent thought  and    
liberty of decision and action1 when men
 are swayed by hypnotizing  suggestions 
of 8superior leaders0 who represent the 
interests not of  every individual at   
his best1 but of high noble castes and  
of commercial  classes4 ,the organized  
murder of ,european nations is due to   
the stifling  of human genius by the    
cultivation of mob spirit which is the  
cause of  all forms of social insanity  
and mental epidemics4    ,in the        
stifling of the genius of the child and 
the cultivation of the  mob spirit      
,america does not lag behind ,europe4   
,mental epidemics1 excited  by the fear 
instinct and by the impulse of          
self-preservation1 are  prevalent in the
 ,states4 ,as described by me in ,the   
,psychology of  ,suggestion3 8,american 
society oscillates between acute        
financial mania  and attacks of         
religious insanity4 ,no sooner is the   
business fever over  than the delirium  

acutum of religious mania sets in4      
,society is thrown  from ,scylla into   
,charybdis4 ,from the heights of        
financial speculation  society sinks    
into the abyss of revivalism4 ,american 
society seems to  suffer from circular  
insanity40    ,revivalism1 a mental     
frenzy to which the ,american mob mind  
is specially  prone1 is a resurrection  
of ,greek ,bacchanalia and ,roman       
,saturnalia4  ,revivals are emotional   
debauches1 religious orgies4 ,as ,i had 
pointed out  in the same work3          
8,revivalism is far more dangerous to   
the life of  society than               
drunkenness4444 ,as a sot man falls     
below the brute2 as a  revivalist he    
sinks lower than the sot40    ,if       
,europe is in violent convulsions of war
 insanity1 ,america suffers  from no    
less serious mental                     
maladies1--speculation frenzies1 revival
  manias1 and preparedness plagues4     
,mental epidemics are ineradicable      
afflictions of the highly evolved mob   

spirit characteristic of the            
philistine4 ,the evolution of the       
philistine is the involution of genius4 
,philistinism is social decay4 ,the     
progress of humanity is from brute to   
man1 from ,philistine to ,genius4       
,boris ,sidis4   ,sidis ,institute1     
,maplewood ,farm1     ,portsmouth1 ,new 
,hampshire4                             
,,philistine ,,and ,,genius             
,i    ,i address myself to you1 fathers 
and mothers1 and to you1 open-minded    
readers4 ,i take it for granted that    
your life-work is with you a serious    
matter and that you put forth all your  
efforts to do your best in the  walk of 
life which you have chosen4 ,i assume   
that you want to develop  your energies 
to the highest efficiency and bring out 
the best there is  in you4 ,i assume    
that you earnestly wish and strive to   
bring out and  develop to the highest   
efficiency the faculties not only of    
your  children1 but also those of your  
friends and co-workers with whom you    

associate in your daily vocation1 and   
that you are deeply interested in  the  
education of your countrymen and their  
children1 who share with you  the       
duties1 rights and privileges of        
citizenship4 ,i also assume that as  men
 and women of liberal education you are 
not limited to the narrow  interests of 
one particular subject1 to the exclusion
 of all else4 ,i  assume that you are   
especially interested in the development
 of  personality as a whole1 the true   
aim of education4 ,i also assume that   
you realize that what is requisite is   
not some more routine1 not more         
desiccated1 quasi-scientific methods of 
educational psychology1 not the  sawdust
 of college-pseudagogics and philistine1
 normal school-training1  but more light
 on the problems of life4 ,what you want
 is not the  training of philistines1   
but the education of genius4    ,we need
 more light1 more information on 8the   
problems of life40 ,is it  not too big a
 phrase to employ8 ,on a second thought1

 however1 ,i must say  that your        
problems are the problems of life4 ,for 
the problems of  education are          
fundamental1 they are at the bottom of  
all vital problems4  ,the ancient       
,greeks were aware of it and paid       
special attention to  education4 ,in    
rearing his revolutionary1 utopian      
edifice1 ,plato insists  on education as
 the foundation of a new social1 moral  
and intellectual  life4 ,plato in his   
,republic makes ,socrates tell his      
interlocutor1  ,adeimantus3 8,then you  
are aware that in every work the        
beginning is  the most important part1  
especially in dealing with anything     
young and  tender8 ,for that is the time
 when any impression which one may      
desire to  communicate is most readily  
stamped and taken40    ,we may say that 
all man's struggles1 religious1 moral   
and economical1  all the combats and    
conflicts that fill the history of      
mankind1 can be  traced finally to the  
nature and vigor of the desires1 beliefs

 and  strivings which have been         
cultivated by the social environment in 
the  early life of the individual4 ,the 
character of a nation is moulded by  the
 nature of its education4 ,the character
 of society depends on the  early       
training of its constituent units4 ,the 
fatalism1 the  submissiveness of the    
,oriental2 the stheticism1 the          
independence1 love  of innovations and  
inquisitiveness of the ancient ,greek2  
the ruggedness1  sturdiness1 harshness  
and conservatism of the ancient ,roman2 
the  emotionalism1 the religious fervor 
of the ancient ,hebrew2 the             
commercialism1 restlessness1 speculation
 and scientific spirit of modern  times1
 are all the results of the nature of   
the early education the  individual gets
 in his respective social environment4  
,we may say that  the education of early
 life forms the very foundation of the  
social  structure4    ,like clay in the 
hands of the potter1 so is man in the   
hands of his  community4 ,society       

fashions the beliefs1 the desires1 the  
aims1 the  strivings1 the knowledge1 the
 ideals1 the character1 the minds1 the  
very  selves of its constituent units4  
,who has the control of this vital      
function of moulding minds8 ,fathers and
 mothers1 the child is under your       
control4 ,to your hands1 to your care is
 entrusted the fate of young            
generations1 the fate of the future     
community1 which1 consciously or        
unconsciously1 you fashion according to 
the accepted standards and  traditions  
with which you have been imbued in your 
own education4    ,it is related1 ,i    
think1 in ,plutarch's ,lives1 of        
,themistocles telling  with the ironical
 frankness characteristic of the ,greek 
temperament that  his son possessed the 
greatest power in ,greece3 8,for the    
,athenians  command the rest of ,greece1
 ,i command the ,athenians1 his mother  
commands  me1 and he commands his       
mother40 ,this bit of ,greek irony is   
not without  its significance4 ,the mind

 of the growing generation controls the 
future  of nations4 ,the boy is father  
to the man1 as the proverb has it2 he   
controls the future4 ,but who controls  
the boy8 ,the home1 the mother and      
father1 the guides of the child's early 
life4 ,for it is in early life  that the
 foundation of our mental edifice is    
laid4 ,all that is good1  valid and     
solid in man's mental structure depends 
on the breadth1 width1  depth1 and      
solidity of that foundation4            
,,ii    ,that the groundwork of man's   
character is laid in his childhood      
appears  as a trivial platitude4 ,i am  
almost ashamed to bring it before you4  
,and  yet1 as ,i look round me and find 
how apt we are to forget this simple    
precept which is so fundamental in our  
life1 ,i cannot help calling your       
attention to it4 ,if we consider the    
matter1 we can well understand the      
reason why its full significance is not 
realized4 ,we must remember that  all   
science begins with axioms which are    

apparently truisms4 ,what is  more of a 
truism than the axioms of ,geometry and 
,mechanics--that the  whole is greater  
than the part1 that things which are    
equal to the same  thing are equal to   
one another1 or that a body remains in  
the same state  unless an external force
 changes it8 ,and yet the whole of      
,mathematics  and ,mechanics is built on
 those simple axioms4    ,the elements  
of science are just such obvious        
platitudes4 ,what is needed  is to use  
them as efficient tools and by their    
means draw the consequent  effects4 ,the
 same holds true in the science of      
education4 ,the axiom or  the law of    
early training is not new1 it is well   
known1 but it is  unfortunately too     
often neglected and forgotten1 and its  
significance is  almost completely lost4
    ,it is certainly surprising how this
 law of early training is so            
disregarded1 so totally ignored in the  
education of the child4 ,not only  do we
 neglect to lay the necessary solid     

basis in the early life of the  child1 a
 solid basis ready for the future       
structure1 we do not even take  care to 
clear the ground4 ,in fact1 we even make
 the child's soul a  dunghill1 full of  
vermin of superstitions1 fears and      
prejudices1--a  hideous heap saturated  
with the spirit of credulity4    ,we    
regard the child's mind as a tabula     
rasa1 a vacant lot1 and empty  on it all
 our rubbish and refuse4 ,we labor under
 the delusion that  stories and fairy   
tales1 myths and deceptions about life  
and man are  good for the child's mind4 
,is it a wonder that on such a          
foundation men  can only put up shacks  
and shanties8 ,we forget the simple fact
 that what  is harmful for the adult is 
still more harmful to the child4 ,surely
 what  is poisonous to the grown-up mind
 cannot be useful food to the young4 ,if
  credulity in old wives' tales1 lack of
 individuality1 sheepish                
submissiveness1 barrack-discipline1     
unquestioned and uncritical belief  in  

authority1 meaningless imitation of     
jingles and gibberish1  memorization of 
mother-goose wisdom1 repetition of      
incomprehensible  prayers and articles  
of creed1 unintelligent aping of good   
manners1  silly games1 prejudices and   
superstitions and fears of the          
supernormal  and supernatural1 are      
censured in adults1 why should we       
approve their  cultivation in the young8
    ,at home and at school we drill into
 the child's mind uncritical beliefs  in
 stories and tales1 fictions and        
figments1 fables and myths1 creeds  and 
dogmas which poison the very sources of 
the child's mind4 ,at home  and at      
school we give the child over as a prey 
to all sorts of fatal  germs of mental  
diseases and moral depravity4 ,we leave 
the child's mind  an open field to be   
sown with dragon's teeth which bring    
forth a whole  crop of pernicious       
tendencies1--love and admiration of     
successful evil1  and adoration of the  
rule of brute force4 ,from the dragon's 

teeth sown  in early childhood there    
rises in later life a whole brood of    
flint-hearted men who blindly jostle and
 fight and mercilessly tear one         
another1 to obtain for some greedy      
,jason1 some witch of a ,medea their    
coveted golden fleece4                  
,ill    ,we regard with disapproval the 
bloody combats of some savage tribe2 we 
regard with horror the sacrifice of     
children and prisoners to some idol  of 
a ,phenician ,moloch or ,mexican        
,huitzlio-,potchli2 we are shocked at   
the  criminal proceedings of the        
infamous ,torquemada with his           
inquisition  glorying in its terrors and
 tortures in the name of ,christ2 we are
  sickened as we read of the religious  
wars in ,europe2 we shudder at the      
horrors of the night of ,st4            
,bartholomew2 we are appalled by the    
recent  slaughters of the ,jews in      
,russia1 by the wholesale massacre of   
the  ,christians in ,turkey4    ,all    
such atrocities1 we say1 belong to      

barbaric ages and are only  committed in
 semi-civilized countries4 ,we flatter  
ourselves that we are  different in this
 age of enlightenment and civilization4 
,are we  different8 ,have we changed8   
,have we a right to fling stones at our 
older  brothers1 the savage and the     
barbarian8 ,we are so used to our life  
that  we do not notice its evils and    
misery4 ,we can easily see the mote in  
the  eye of our neighbor1 but do not    
notice the beam in our own4    ,we are  
still savage at heart4 ,our civilization
 is mere gloss1 a thin  coating of paint
 and varnish4 ,our methods of inflicting
 pain are more  refined than those of   
the ,indian1 but no less cruel1 while   
the number of  the victims sacrificed to
 our greed and rapacity may even exceed 
the  numbers fallen by the sword of the 
barbarian or by the torch of the        
fanatic4 ,the slums in our cities are   
foul and filthy1 teeming with  deadly   
germs of disease where the mortality of 
our infants and children  in some cases 

rises to the frightful figure of #bjd   
per thousand6    ,the sanitary          
conditions of our cities are filthy and 
deadly4 ,they carry  in their wake all  
forms of plagues1 pests and diseases1   
among which  tuberculosis is so well    
known to the laity4 8,tuberculosis10    
reads a  report of a ,tenement ,house   
,commission1 8is one of the results of  
our  inhumane tenements2 it follows in  
the train of our inhumane sweatshops4   
,it comes where the hours of labor are  
long and the wages are small2 it        
afflicts the children who are sent to   
labor when they should yet be in        
school40    8,the ,consumers' ,league10 
says ,mr4 ,john ,graham ,brooks1 8long  
hesitated to  lay stress upon these     
aspects of filth and disease1 because of
 their  alarmist and sensational nature1
 and of the immediate and grave risk to 
the consumer of the goods manufactured  
in the sweatshop and the tenement       
house4 ,if the sweatshop spread         
diphtheria and scarlet fever1 there is  

the hue and cry before personal danger4 
,but these diseases are the very        
slightest elements of the real risk to  
the general good4 ,it is the  spoiled   
human life1 with its deadly legacy of   
enfeebled mind and body1  that reacts   
directly and indirectly on the social   
whole40 ,we do not  realize that we     
drift into national degeneracy4 ,we fail
 to realize that  we raise a generation 
of stunted lives1 of physical and       
nervous wrecks1  of mental invalids and 
moral cripples4    ,we boast of our     
wealth unrivalled by other countries and
 by former ages4  ,we should remember   
the great poverty of our masses1 the    
filthy  conditions of our wealthy       
cities1 with their loathsome city-slums1
 in  which human beings live1 breed and 
teem like so many worms4    ,we spend on
 barracks and prisons more than we do on
 schools and  colleges4 ,what is the    
level of a civilization in which the    
cost of crime  and war far exceeds that 
of the education of its future citizens8

 ,we  spend on our army and navy a      
quarter of a billion dollars1 which is  
found to be insufficient1 while the     
8total money burden of crime amounts  in
 this country to the enormous sum of    
#fjj million dollars a year60    ,the   
cost of crime alone is so enormous that 
a representative of the  ,board of      
,charities of one of our ,eastern states
 considers 8the entire  abolition of all
 the penal codes and the complete       
liberty of the  criminal class40 ,our   
civilization can boast of the city-slum1
 the abode  of misery and crime1 the    
gift of our modern industrial progress1 
wealth  and prosperity4    ,professor   
,james and myself were over once on a   
visit to a charitable  institution for  
mentally defective4 ,with his clear eye 
for the  incongruities and absurdities  
of life1 ,professor ,james remarked to  
me  that idiots and imbeciles were given
 the comforts1 in fact1 the luxuries  of
 life1 while healthy children1 able boys
 and girls1 had to struggle  for a      

livelihood4 ,children under fourteen    
work in factories1 work at a  wage of   
about twenty-five cents a day1 and1     
according to the labor  bureau1 the     
daily wage of the factory children of   
the ,south is often as  low as fifteen  
cents and sometimes falls to nine cents4
 ,in many of our  colleges many a       
student has to live on the verge of     
starvation1 freeze  in a summer overcoat
 the whole winter and warm his room by  
burning  newspapers in the grate4 ,we   
are charitable and help our             
mediocrities1  imbeciles and idiots1    
while we neglect our talent and genius4 
,we have a  blind faith that genius1    
like murder1 will out4 ,we know of      
successful  talent1 but we do not know  
of the great amount of unsuccessful     
talent  and genius that has gone to     
waste4 ,we favor imbecility and slight  
genius4    ,one of the physicians of the
 institution overheard our conversation 
and  attempted to justify his work by an
 argument commonly advanced and         

uncritically accepted--8,our            
civilization1 our ,christian            
civilization  values human life40 ,does 
our civilization really value human     
life8 ,the  infant mortality of the     
slums of our large cities and the       
factory work  of our young children do  
not seem to justify such a claim4       
,the loss of life on our railways is as 
large as one caused by a national  war4 
,thus the number of persons killed on   
,american railways during a  period of  
three years ending ,june #cj1 #aijj1 was
 about #bb1jjj1 while the  mortality of 
,british forces1 including death from   
disease1 during three  years of the     
,south ,african war amounted to #bb1jjj4
 ,in #aija1 one out of  every #djj      
railway employees was killed and one out
 of every #bf was  injured4 ,in #aijb1  
#b1ifi employees were killed and #ej1ebd
 were injured4    ,commenting on the    
statistics of railway accidents1 ,mr4   
,john ,graham  ,brooks says3 8,one has  
to read and re-read these figures before

 their  grewsome significance is in the 
least clear4 ,if we add the mining1 iron
  and lumbering industries1--portions of
 which are more dangerous than the      
railroad1--some conception is possible  
of the mutilated life due to  machinery 
as it is now run40 ,it may also be of   
interest to learn that1  according to   
the calculation made by a representative
 of one of the  insurance companies1    
more than a million and a half are      
annually killed  and injured in the     
,united ,states alone4    ,the waste of 
human life is in fact greater than in   
any previous age4  8,saul hath slain his
 thousands1 but ,david his ten          
thousands40 ,think of  our modern       
warfare1 with its infernal machines of  
carnage1 mowing down  more men in a day 
than the warlike ,assyrians and ,romans1
 with their  crude bows1 arrows and     
catapults1 could destroy in a century4  
,and is not  our country1 our civilized 
,christian society1 with its high       
valuation of  human life1 keeping on    

increasing its army and navy1 and       
perfecting  deadly weapons of slaughter 
and carnage8 ,what about the justice    
dealt  out by ,judge ,lynch8 ,from #ahhb
 to #aijj there were about three        
thousand  lynchings6 ,what about our    
grand imperial policy8 ,what about our  
dominance over weak and ignorant tribes1
 treated in no gentle way by the  armed 
fist of their civilized masters1 who    
send to the benighted  heathens their   
missionaries to preach religion and     
their soldiers to  enforce the sale of  
narcotics and other civilizing goods8   
,,iv    ,we are stock-blind to our own  
barbarities2 we do not realize the      
enormities of our life and consider our 
age and country as civilized and        
enlightened4 ,we censure the faults of  
other societies1 but do not notice  our 
own4 ,thus ,lecky1 in describing ,roman 
society1 says3 8,the  gladiatorial games
 form indeed the one feature which to a 
modern mind is  almost inconceivable in 
its atrocity4 ,that not only men1 but   

women1 in  an advanced period of        
civilization1--men and women who not    
only  professed1 but very frequently    
acted upon a high code of morals--should
  have made the carnage of men their    
habitual amusement1 that all this       
should have continued for centuries with
 scarcely a protest1 is one of  the most
 startling facts in moral history4 ,it  
is1 however1 perfectly  normal1 while it
 opens out fields of ethical inquiry of 
a very deep1  though painful1           
character40    ,as in modern times1 our 
college authorities justify the         
brutalities of  football and            
prize-fights1 so in ancient times the   
great moralists of  those ages justified
 their gladiatorial games4 ,thus the    
great orator1  the moralizing           
philosopher1 ,cicero1 in speaking of the
 gladiatorial  games1 tells us3 8,when  
guilty men are compelled to fight1 no   
better  discipline against suffering and
 death can be presented to the eye40    
,and  it is certainly instructive for us

 to learn that 8the very men who  looked
 down with delight1 when the sand of the
 arena reddened with human  blood1 made 
the theater ring with applause when     
,terence in his famous  line proclaimed 
the brotherhood of men40    ,one feeble 
protest is on record1 a protest coming  
from the mother of  civilization1 from  
ancient ,athens4 8,when an attempt was  
made to  introduce the games into       
,athens1 the philosopher ,demonax       
appealed  successfully to the better    
feelings of the people by exclaiming3   
8,you  must first overthrow the altar of
 pity60    ,the philosopher ,demonax had
 not the compromising spirit of the     
modern  professor4 ,although the brutal 
games of our youth and populace need a  
,demonax1 we certainly should not look  
for one in our colleges and             
universities4 ,our college authorities  
assure us that athletic prestige  is    
indispensable to a good university4 ,in 
fact1 according to some  official       
statements1 football teams are supposed 

to express the superior  intellectual   
activities of our foremost colleges4    
,like ,cicero of old1 we  claim that    
8our games are good1--they train men1   
and no better  discipline can be        
presented to the eye40    ,the fact is1 
man is bat-blind to the evils of the    
environment in which  he is bred4 ,he   
takes those evils as a matter of course1
 and even finds  good reasons to justify
 them as edifying and elevating4 ,in    
relation to  his own surroundings1 man  
is in the primitive condition of the    
,biblical  ,adam1--he is not conscious  
of his own moral nakedness4 ,six days in
 the  week we witness and uphold the    
wholesale carnage1 national and         
international1 political1 economical1 in
 shops1 factories1 mines1  railroads and
 on the battlefields1 while on the      
seventh we sing hymns to  the ,god of   
mercy1 love and peace4    ,we pick up   
the first newspapers or popular         
magazines that come to our  hand1 and we
 read of wars1 slaughters1 murders1     

lynchings1 crimes and  outrages on life 
and liberty2 we read of strikes1        
lockouts1 of tales of  starvation and of
 frightful infant mortality2 we read of 
diseases and  epidemics ravaging the    
homes of our working population2 we read
 of  corporation iniquities1 of frauds  
and corruption of our legislative       
bodies1 of the control of politics by   
the criminal classes of the great       
metropolis of our land4 ,we read of all 
that evil and corruption1 but  forget   
them next moment4    ,our social life is
 corrupt1 our body politic is eaten     
through with  cankers and sores1 8the   
whole head is sick and the whole heart  
is faint4  ,from the sole of the foot   
even unto the head1 there is no         
soundness in  it2 but wounds1 and       
bruises and putrefying sores10 and yet  
we think we  are a civilized people1    
superior to all countries and to all    
ages4 8,the  voice of our brother's     
blood crieth unto us from the ground40  
,how can we  be so callous8 ,how can we 

be so mole-blind and so stone-deaf8     
,the truth is1 we have but a thin       
varnish of humaneness1 glossing over a  
rude barbarism4 ,with our lips we praise
 the ,god of love1 but in our  hearts we
 adore the ,god of force4 ,how much     
physical force is worshipped  we can    
realize from the crowds that throng the 
games of baseball1  football1           
prize-fights and boxing exhibitions4    
,they go into tens of  thousands4 ,how  
many would be drawn by a ,st4 ,paul1 an 
,epictetus1 or a  ,socrates8    ,the    
newspaper1 the mirror of our social     
life1 is filled with the names  and     
exploits of our magnates of high        
finance1 our money-mongers and  usurers4
 ,our journals teem with deeds and      
scandals of our refined 8smart  set0 set
 up as patterns1 as ideals1 after which 
our middle class so  longingly craves4  
,like the ,israelites of old we worship 
golden calves  and sacred bulls4 ,our   
daughters yearn after the barbaric      
shimmer and  glitter of the bejewelled1 

bespangled1 empty-minded1 parasitic     
females  of 8the smart set40 ,our       
college boys admire the feats of the    
trained  athlete and scorn the work of  
the 8grind40 ,our very schoolboys crave 
for  the fame of a ,jeffries and a      
,johnson4 ,if in the depths of space    
there is  some solar system inhabited by
 really rational beings1 and if one of  
such beings should by some miracle      
happen to visit our planet1 he would  no
 doubt turn away in horror4             
,v    ,we press our children into the   
triumphant march of our industrial      
,juggernaut4 ,over #a1gjj1jjj children  
under #ae years of age toil in  fields1 
factories1 mines and workshops4 ,the    
slums and the factory  cripple the      
energies of our young generation4 ,the  
slaughter of the  innocents and the     
sacrifice of our children to the        
insatiable ,moloch of  industry exclude 
us from the rank of civilized society   
and place us on  the level of barbaric  
nations4    ,our educators are          

narrow-minded pedants4 ,they are        
occupied with the dry  bones of         
text-books1 the sawdust of pedagogics   
and the would-be  scientific experiments
 of educational psychology2 they are    
ignorant of  the real vital problems of 
human interests1 a knowledge of which   
goes to  make the truly educated man4   
,about the middle of the nineteenth     
century1 ,buckle made the prediction    
that no war was any more to occur among 
civilized nations4 ,henceforth  peace   
was to reign supreme4 8,the wolf shall  
dwell with the lamb1 and the  leopard   
shall lie down with the kid2 their young
 ones shall lie down  together1 and the 
lion shall eat straw like the ox4444    
,nations shall  beat their swords into  
ploughshares and their spears into      
pruning hooks4  ,nation shall not lift  
up sword against nation1 nor shall they 
learn war  any more40 ,this prophecy was
 rather hasty4 ,we have had since the   
,civil  war1 the ,franco-,prussian war1 
the ,spanish-,american war1 the ,boer   

war1  the ,russo-,japanese war1 not     
counting the ceaseless wars of          
extermination  carried on by civilized  
nations among the various semi-civilized
 nations  and primitive tribes4         
,civilized nations do not as yet beat   
their swords  into ploughshares1 but    
keep on increasing the strength of their
 8armed  peace10 and are ready to fight 
bloody battles in the quest of new lands
  and the conquest of new markets4      
,in spite of ,the ,hague conference of  
peace convoked by the peace-loving      
,czar1 no other age has had such large  
standing armies provided with such      
costly and efficient weapons of         
execution ready for instant use4 ,the   
red  spectre still stalks abroad        
claiming its victims4 ,we still believe 
in  the baptism of fire and redemption  
by blood4 ,the dogma of                 
blood-redemption is still at the basis  
of our faith and1 consciously or        
unconsciously1 we brand that sacred     
creed on the minds of the young         

generation4    ,we are not educated to  
see and understand the wretchedness1 the
 misery  of our life1--the evil of the  
world falls on the blind spot of our    
eye4  ,in the name of evolution and the 
survival of the fittest1 we justify the 
grasping arm of the strong1 and even    
glory in the extermination of the  weak4
 ,the weak1 we say1 must be weeded out  
by the processes of natural  selection4 
,the strong are the best2 it is right   
that they should survive  and flourish  
like a green bay tree4 ,the fact is that
 we are still  dominated by the law of  
the jungle1 the den and the cave4 ,we   
are still  wild at heart4 ,we still     
harken to the call of the wild2 we are  
ruled by  the fist1 the claw and the    
tooth4    ,love1 justice1 gentleness1   
peace1 reason1 sympathy and pity1 all   
humane  feelings and promptings are with
 us sentiments of 8unnatural0 or        
supernatural religion which we profess  
in our churches1 but in which we  really
 have no faith as good for actual life4 

,we mistake brutishness for  courage1   
and by fight and by war we train the    
beast in man4    ,all humane feelings   
are regarded as so many hindrances to   
progress2 they  favor1 we claim1 the    
survival of the weak4 ,we are1 of       
course1  evolutionists1 and believe most
 firmly in progress4 ,we believe that   
the  luxuries and vices of the strong   
are conducive to prosperity1 and that   
the evils of life by the automatic      
grinding of that grind-organ known as   
the process of evolution somehow lead to
 a higher civilization4    ,when in the 
beginning of the eighteenth century     
,bernard de ,mandeville  proclaimed the 
apparently paradoxical principle that   
,private ,vices are  ,public ,benefits1 
the academic moralists were shocked at  
such profane  brutality4 ,mandeville    
only proclaimed the leading1 the guiding
 principle  of the coming age of        
industrial prosperity4 ,we now know     
better4 ,are we  not evolutionists8     
,have we not learned that progress and  

evolution and  the improvement of the   
race are brought about by the fierce    
struggle for  existence1 by the process 
of natural selection1 by the merciless  
elimination of the weak and by the      
triumph of the strong and the fit8      
,what is the use of being sentimental8  
,like ,brennus1 the ,gaul1 we throw  our
 sword on the scales of blinded justice 
and shout triumphantly 8,v  victis60    
,,vi    ,we are confirmed optimists and 
sow optimism broadcast4 ,we have        
optimistic clubs and mental scientists  
and ,christian scientists1--all         
afflicted with incurable ophthalmia to  
surrounding evil and misery4 ,we  are   
scientific1 we are evolutionists1 we    
have faith in the sort of  optimism     
taught by ,leibnitz in his famous       
,theodicea4 ,we are the ,candides  of   
our oracles1 the ,panglosses4 ,you may  
possibly remember what ,voltaire  writes
 of ,professor ,pangloss4 8,pangloss    
used to teach the science of            
metaphysico-theologo-cosmologo-noodleolo

gy4 ,he demonstrated to  admiration that
 there is no effect without a cause and 
that this is the  best of all possible  
worlds4 ,it has been proved1 said       
,pangloss1 that  things cannot be       
otherwise than they are2 for everything1
 the end for  which everything is made1 
is necessarily the best end4 ,observe   
how noses  are made to carry spectacles1
 and spectacles we have accordingly4    
,everything that is1 is the best that   
could possibly be40 ,it is such  shallow
 optimism that now gains currency4      
,verily1 we are afflicted with mental   
cataract4 8,if we should bring  clearly 
to a man's sight10 says ,schopenhauer1  
8the terrible sufferings  and miseries  
to which his life is constantly exposed1
 he would be seized  with horror1 and if
 we were to conduct the confirmed       
optimist through  the hospitals1        
infirmaries1 and surgical               
operating-rooms1 through  prisons1      
asylums1 torture-chambers and           
slave-kennels1 over battlefields  and   

places of execution2 if we were to open 
to him all the dark abodes  of misery1  
where it hides itself from the glance of
 cold curiosity1 he  would understand at
 last the nature of this best of        
possible worlds40    ,schopenhauer is   
metaphysical1 pessimistic1 but he is    
certainly not  blinded by a shallow     
optimism to the realities of life4      
,drunk with the  spirit of optimism1 we 
do not realize the degradation1 the     
misery and  poverty of our life4        
,meanwhile the human genius1 the genius 
which all of  us possess1 languishes1   
famishes1 and perishes1 while the brute 
alone  emerges in triumph4 ,we are so   
overcome by the faith in the            
transcendent1  optimistic evolution of  
the good1 that through the misty1       
heavenly1  angelic visions1 we do not   
discern the cloven hoof of the devil4   
,professor ,james in a recent address   
told the ,radcliffe graduates that  the 
aim of a college-education is 8to       
recognize the good man10 when  you see  

him4 ,this advice may be good for       
,radcliffe young ladies2 but1  fathers  
and mothers1 the true education of life 
is the recognition of  evil wherever it 
is met4    ,the ,bible begins the story 
of man in a paradise of ignorance and   
finishes it with his tasting of the     
fruits of the forbidden tree of         
knowledge of good and evil4 8,and the   
eyes of them both were opened and  they 
knew that they were naked4 ,and the     
,lord ,god said1--,behold1 the man  is  
become as one of us to know good and    
evil1 and now1 lest he put forth  his   
hand and take also of the tree of life  
and eat and live for ever4  ,therefore1 
the ,lord ,god sent him forth from the  
garden of ,eden4 ,so he  drove out the  
man40 ,we prefer the sinful1 mortal1 but
 godlike man with  his knowledge of evil
 to the brutish philistine in the bliss 
of ,elysium4                            
,,vii    ,in the education of the young 
generation the purpose of the nation is 
to  bring up the child as a good man1 as

 a liberal-minded citizen1 devoted  soul
 and body to the interests of social    
welfare4 ,this purpose in the  education
 of the young citizen is of the utmost  
importance in every  society1 but it is 
a vital need in a democratic society4   
,we do not want  narrow-minded patriots 
devoted to party-factions1 nor bigoted  
sectarians1 nor greedy entrepreneurs    
fastening in trusts1 like so many       
barnacles1 on the body-politic4 ,we do  
not want ringleaders and mobs1          
unscrupulous bosses and easily led      
voters4 ,what we need is men having at  
heart the welfare of their fellow-men4  
,the purpose of the education provided  
by the nation for its young  generation 
is the rearing of healthy1 talented1    
broad-minded citizens4  ,we need1 above 
all1 good citizens1 active and          
intelligent1 with a  knowledge of life  
and with a delicate sense of            
discrimination and  detection of evil in
 all its protean forms2 we need         
strong-minded  citizens with grit and   

courage to resist oppression and root   
out evil  wherever it is found4 ,a      
strong sense of recognition of evil     
should be  the social sense of every    
well-educated citizen as a safeguard of 
social  and national life4 ,the         
principle of recognition of evil under  
all its  guises is at the basis of the  
true education of man4    ,is it not    
strange that this vital principle of    
education1 the  recognition of evil1--a 
fundamental principle with the great    
thinkers of  humanity1--should remain so
 sadly neglected by our educators and   
public  instructors8 ,our educators are 
owl-wise1 our teachers are pedants and  
all their ambition is the turning out of
 smooth1 well-polished  philistines4 ,it
 is a sad case of the blind leading the 
blind4    ,it is certainly unfortunate  
that the favored type of superintendent 
of  our public education should be such 
a hopeless philistine1 possessed of  all
 the conceit of the mediocre business   
man4 ,routine is his ideal4             

,originality and genius are spurned and 
suppressed4 ,our  school-superintendent 
with his well-organized training-shop is
 proud of  the fact that there is no    
place for genius in our schools4        
,unfortunate and degraded is the nation 
that has handed over its  childhood and 
youth to guidance and control by        
hide-bound mediocrity4  ,our            
school-managers are respected by the    
laity as great educators and  are looked
 up to by the teachers as able business 
men4 ,their merit is  routine1          
discipline and the hiring of cheap      
teaching-employees4    ,it is certainly 
a great misfortune to the nation that a 
good number of  our would-be scientific 
pedagogues are such mediocrities1 with  
so absurd  an exaggeration of their     
importance that they are well satisfied 
if the  mass of their pupils turn out   
exact reproductions of the silly        
pedagogue4 ,what can be expected of a   
nation that entrusts the fate of  its   
young generation to the care or         

carelessness of young girls1 to the  ire
 of old maids1 and to pettifogging      
officials with their educational  red   
tape1 discipline and routine1--petty    
bureaucrats animated with a  hatred     
towards talent and genius8    ,the      
goody-goody schoolma'am1 the            
mandarin-schoolmaster1 the              
philistine-pedagogue1 the               
pedant-administrator with his business  
capacities1 have proved themselves      
incompetent to deal with the  education 
of the young4 ,they stifle talent1 they 
stupefy the intellect1  they paralyze   
the will1 they suppress genius1 they    
benumb the faculties  of our children4  
,the educator1 with his                 
pseudo-scientific1  pseudo-psychological
 pseudogogics1 can only bring up a set  
of  philistines with firm1 set          
habits1--marionettes1--dolls4           
,business is put above learning1        
administration above education1         
discipline and order above cultivation  
of genius and talent4 ,our schools  and 

colleges are controlled by business men4
 ,the school-boards1 the  boards of     
trustees of almost every school and     
college in the country  consist mainly  
of manufacturers1 storekeepers1         
tradesmen1 bulls and  bears of ,wall    
street and the market-place4 ,what      
wonder that they bring  with them the   
ideals and methods of the factory1 the  
store1 the bank and  the saloon4 ,if the
 saloon controls politics1 the shop     
controls  education4    ,business men   
are no more competent to run schools and
 colleges than  astronomers are fit to  
run hotels and theaters4 ,our whole     
educational  system is vicious4 ,a      
popular scientific journal entered a    
protest  against the vulgarization of   
our colleges1 the department-store trade
  methods of our universities1 but to no
 avail4 ,the popular hero1 the          
administrative business superintendent  
still holds sway1 and poisons the       
sources of our social life by debasing  
the very foundation of our  national    

education4                              
,,viii    ,from time to time the        
8educational0 methods of our philistine 
teachers  are brought to light4 ,a girl 
is forced by a schoolma'am of one of our
  large cities to stay in a corner for  
hours1 because she unintentionally      
transgressed against the                
barrack-discipline of the               
school-regulations4  ,when the parents  
became afraid of the girl's health and  
naturally took  her out of school1 the  
little girl was dragged before the court
 by the  truant officer4 ,fortunately   
8the judge turned to the truant officer 
and  asked him how the girl could be a  
truant1 if she had been suspended4 ,he  
didn't believe in breaking children's   
wills40    ,in another city a pupil of  
genius was excluded from school because 
8he  did not fall in with the system0   
laid out by the 8very able              
business-superintendent40 ,a            
schoolmistress conceives the happy idea 
of  converting two of her refractory    

pupils into pin-cushions for the        
edification of her class4 ,an           
8educational0 administrative            
superintendent  of a large1 prosperous  
community told a lady who brought to him
 her son1  an extraordinarily able boy1 
8,i shall not take your boy into my     
high-school1 in spite of his knowledge40
 ,when the mother asked him to  listen  
to her1 he lost patience and told her   
with all the force of his               
school-authority1 8,madam1 put a rope   
around his neck1 weigh him well  down   
with bricks60    ,a principal of a high 
school in one of the prominent ,new     
,england towns  dismisses a highly      
talented pupil because1 to quote        
verbatim from the  original school      
document1 8,he is not amenable to the   
discipline of the  school1 as his school
 life has been too short to establish   
him in the  habit of obedience40 8,his  
intellect10 the principal's official    
letter  goes on to say1 8remains a      
marvel to us1 but we do not feel1 and in

 this  ,i think ,i speak for all1 that  
he is in the right place40 ,in other    
words1  in the opinion of those         
remarkable pedagogues1 educators and    
teachers1  the school is not the right  
place for talent and genius6    ,a      
superintendent of schools in lecturing  
before an audience of  8subordinate     
teachers0 told them emphatically that   
there was no place  for genius in our   
schools4 ,dear old fogies1 one can well 
understand  your indignation6 ,here we  
have worked out some fine methods1      
clever  rules1 beautiful systems and    
then comes genius and upsets the whole  
structure6 ,it is a shame6 ,genius      
cannot fit into the pigeon-holes of the 
office desk4 ,choke genius1 and things  
will move smoothly in the school  and   
the office4    ,not long ago we were    
informed by one of those successful     
college-mandarins1 lionized by          
office-clerks1 superintendents and      
tradesmen1 that he could measure        
education by the foot-rule6 ,our        

,regents  are supposed to raise the     
level of education by a vicious system  
of  examination and coaching1 a system  
which ,professor ,james1 in a private   
conversation with me1 has aptly         
characterized as 8idiotic40    ,our     
schools brand their pupils by a system  
of marks1 while our foremost  colleges  
measure the knowledge and education of  
their students by the  number of        
8points0 passed4 ,the student may pass  
either in ,logic or  ,blacksmithing4 ,it
 does not matter which1 provided he     
makes up a certain  number of 8points06 
,college-committees refuse admission to 
young students of genius1 because  8it  
is against the policy and the principles
 of the university40                    
,college-professors expel promising     
students from the lecture-room for  8the
 good of the class as a whole10 because 
the students 8happen to  handle their   
hats in the middle of a lecture40 ,this1
 you see1 interferes  with class        
discipline4 ,fiat justitia1 pereat      

mundus4 ,let genius  perish1 provided   
the system lives4 ,why not suppress all 
genius1 as a  disturbing element1 for   
8the good of the classes10 for the weal 
of the  commonwealth8 ,education of man 
and cultivation of genius1 indeed6 ,this
  is not school policy4    ,we school   
and drill our children and youth in     
schoolma'am mannerism1  school master   
mind-ankylosis1 school-superintendent   
stiff-joint  ceremonialism1 factory     
regulations and office-discipline4 ,we  
give our  pupils and students           
artisan-inspiration and                 
business-spirituality4  ,originality is 
suppressed4 ,individuality is crushed4  
,mediocrity is at a  premium4 ,that is  
why our country has such clever business
 men1 such  cunning artisans1 such      
resourceful politicians1 such adroit    
leaders of  new cults1 but no           
scientists1 no artists1 no philosophers1
 no statesmen1  no genuine talent and no
 true genius4    ,school-teachers have  
in all ages been mediocre in intellect  

and  incompetent4 ,leibnitz is regarded 
as a dullard and ,newton is considered  
as a blockhead4 ,never1 however1 in the 
history of mankind have school  teachers
 fallen to such a low level of          
mediocrity as in our times and in  our  
country4 ,for it is not the amount of   
knowledge that counts in true           
education1 but originality and          
independence of thought that are of     
importance in education4 ,but           
independence and originality of thought 
are  just the very elements that are    
suppressed by our modern barrack-system 
of education4 ,no wonder that military  
men claim that the best  8education0 is 
given in military schools4    ,we are   
not aware that the incubus of           
officialdom1 and the succubus of        
bureaucracy have taken possession of our
 schools4 ,the red tape of  officialdom1
 like a poisonous weed1 grows           
luxuriantly in our schools and  chokes  
the life of our young generation4       
,instead of growing into a  people of   

great independent thinkers1 the nation  
is in danger of fast  becoming a crowd  
of well-drilled1 well-disciplined1      
commonplace  individuals1 with strong   
philistine habits and notions of        
hopeless  mediocrity4    ,in levelling  
education to mediocrity we imagine that 
we uphold the  democratic spirit of our 
institutions4 ,our ,american            
sensibilities are  shocked when the     
president of one of our leading colleges
 dares to  recommend to his college that
 it should cease catering to the average
  student4 ,we think it un-,american1   
rank treason to our democratic spirit   
when a college president has the courage
 to proclaim the principle that  8,to   
form the mind and character of one man  
of marked talent1 not to say  genius1   
would be worth more to the community    
which he would serve than  the routine  
training of hundreds of undergraduates40
    ,we are optimistic1 we believe in   
the pernicious superstition that genius 
needs no help1 that talent will take    

care of itself4 ,our kitchen clocks  and
 dollar timepieces need careful         
handling1 but our chronometers and      
astronomical clocks can run by          
themselves4    ,the truth is1 however1  
that the purpose of the school and the  
college is  not to create an            
intellectual aristocracy1 but to        
educate1 to bring out  the              
individuality1 the originality1 the     
latent powers of talent and  genius     
present in what we unfortunately regard 
as 8the average student40  ,follow      
,mill's advice4 ,instead of aiming at   
athletics1 social  connections1         
vocations and generally at the          
professional art of  money-making1 8,aim
 at something noble4 ,make your system  
such that a  great man may be formed by 
it1 and there will be a manhood in your 
little men1 of which you do not dream40 
,awaken in early childhood the critical 
spirit of man2 awaken1 early in  the    
child's life1 love of knowledge1 love of
 truth1 of art and  literature for their

 own sake1 and you arouse man's genius4 
,we have  average mediocre students1    
because we have mediocre teachers1      
department-store superintendents1       
clerkly principals and deans with       
bookkeepers' souls1 because our schools 
and colleges deliberately aim at        
mediocrity4    ,ribot in describing the 
degenerated ,byzantine ,greeks tells us 
that their  leaders were mediocrities   
and their great men commonplace         
personalities4  ,is the ,american nation
 drifting in the same direction8 ,it was
 the system  of cultivation of          
independent thought that awakened the   
,greek mind to  its highest achievements
 in arts1 science and philosophy2 it was
 the  deadly ,byzantine bureaucratic red
 tape with its cut-and-dried            
theological discipline that dried up the
 sources of ,greek genius4 ,we are  in  
danger of building up a ,byzantine      
empire with large institutions and  big 
corporations1 but with small minds and  
dwarfed individualities4 ,like  the     

,byzantines we begin to value           
administration above individuality and  
official1 red-tape ceremonialism above  
originality4    ,we wish even to turn   
our schools into practical school-shops4
 ,we shall  in time become a nation of  
well-trained clerks and clever artisans4
 ,the  time is at hand when we shall be 
justified in writing over the gates of  
our school-shops 8mediocrity made here60
                                        
,,ix    ,i assume that as liberal men   
and women you have no use for the       
process  of cramming and stuffing of    
college-geese and mentally indolent1    
morally  obtuse and religiously         
8cultured0 prigs and philistines1 but   
that you  realize that your true        
vocation is to get access to the latent 
energies  of your children1 to stimulate
 their reserve energies and educate1    
bring  to light1 man's genius4 ,the     
science of psychopathology now sets     
forth a  fundamental principle which is 
not only of the utmost importance in    

psychotherapeutics1 but also in the     
domain of education2 it is the          
principle of stored up1 dormant1        
reserve-energy1--the principle of       
potential1 subconscious1 reserve energy4
    ,it is claimed on good evidence1    
biological1 physiological and           
psychopathological1 that man possesses  
large stores of unused energy  which the
 ordinary stimuli of life are not only  
unable to reach1 but  even tend to      
inhibit4 ,unusual combinations of       
circumstances1 however1  radical changes
 of the environment1 often unloose the  
inhibitions  brought about by the       
habitual narrow range of man's interests
 and  surroundings4 ,such unloosening of
 inhibitions helps to release fresh     
supplies of reserve energy4 ,it is not  
the place here to discuss this          
fundamental principle2 ,i can only state
 it in the most general way1 and  give  
its general trend in the domain of      
education4    ,you have heard the       
psychologizing educator advise the      

formation of good1  fixed1 stable habits
 in early life4 ,now ,i want to warn you
 against the  dangers of such           
unrestricted advice4 ,fixed adaptations1
 stable habits1  tend to raise the      
thresholds of mental life1 tend to      
inhibit the  liberation1 the output of  
reserve-energy4 ,avoid routine4 ,do not 
let  your pupils fall into the ruts of  
habits and customs4 ,do not let even    
the best of habits harden beyond the    
point of further possible  modification4
    ,where there is a tendency towards  
formation of over-abundant mental       
cartilage1 set your pupils to work under
 widely different circumstances4        
,confront them with a changed set of    
conditions4 ,keep them on the move4     
,surprise them by some apparently       
paradoxical relations and strange       
phenomena4 ,do not let them settle down 
to one definite set of actions or       
reactions4 ,remember that rigidity1 like
 sclerosis1 induration of tissue1  means
 decay of originality1 destruction of   

man's genius4 ,with solidified  and     
unvariable habits not only does the     
reserve energy become entirely          
inaccessible1 but the very individuality
 is extinguished4    ,do not make of our
 children a nation of philistines4 ,why 
say1 you make  man in your own image8   
,do not make your schools machine-shops1
 turning  out on one uniform pattern so 
much mediocrity per year4 ,cultivate    
variability4 ,the tendency towards      
variability is the most precious part   
of a good education4 ,beware of the     
philistine with his set1 stable  habits4
    ,the important principle in         
education is not so much formation of   
habits as the power of their            
re-formation4 ,the power of breaking up 
habits is by far the more essential     
factor of a good education4 ,it is in   
this power of breaking down habits that 
we can find the key for the  unlocking  
of the otherwise inaccessible stores of 
subconscious reserve  energy4 ,the      
cultivation of the power of             

habit-disintegration is what            
constitutes the proper education of     
man's genius4#a    -----    #a ,a well  
known editor of one of the academic     
,journals on ,educational  ,psychology  
writes to me as follows3    8,your      
remarks on the avoidance of routine     
would be like a red rag to a  bull for a
 number of educators who are emphasizing
 the importance of  habit formation in  
education at present40                  
,x    ,the power of breaking down or    
dissolving habits depends on the amount 
and strength of the aqua fortis of the  
intellect4 ,the logical and  critical   
activities of the individual should be  
cultivated with special  care4 ,the     
critical self1 as we may put it1 should 
have control over the  automatic and the
 subconscious4 ,for the subconscious has
 been shown to  form the fertile soil   
for the breeding of the most dangerous  
germs of  mental disease1 epidemics1    
plagues and pestilences in their worst  
forms4  ,we should try to develop the   

individual's critical abilities in early
  childhood1 not permitting the         
suggestible subconsciousness to         
predominate1 and to become overrun with 
noxious weeds and pests4    ,we should  
be very careful with the child's        
critical self1 as it is weak  and has   
little resistance4 ,we should1          
therefore1 avoid all dominating         
authority and categorical imperative    
commands4 ,autocratic authority         
cultivates in the child the             
predisposition to abnormal              
suggestibility1  to hypnotic states1 and
 leads towards the dominance of the     
subconscious  with its train of         
pernicious tendencies and deleterious   
results4    ,there is a period in the   
child's life between the ages of five   
and ten  when he is very inquisitive1   
asking all kinds of questions4 ,it is   
the  age of discussion in the child4    
,this inquisitiveness and discussion    
should by all means be encouraged and   
fostered4 ,we should aid the            

development of the spirit of            
inquisitiveness and curiosity in the    
child4  ,for this is the acquisition of 
control over the stored-up1 latent      
energies of man's genius4    ,we should 
not arrest the child's questioning      
spirit1 as we are often apt  to do1 but 
should strongly encourage the apparently
 meddlesome and  troublesome searching  
and prying and scrutinizing of whatever 
interests  the child4 ,everything should
 be open to the child's searching       
interest2  nothing should be suppressed 
and tabooed as too sacred for           
examination4  ,the spirit of inquiry1   
the genius of man1 is more sacred than  
any  abstract belief1 dogma and creed4  
,a rabbi came to ask my advice about the
 education of his little boy4 ,my       
advice was3 8,teach him not to be a     
,jew40 ,the man of ,god departed and    
never came again4 ,the rabbi did not    
care for education1 but for faith4  ,he 
did not wish his boy to become a man1   
but to be a ,jew4    ,the most central1 

the most crucial part of the education  
of man's genius  is the knowledge1 the  
recognition of evil in all its protean  
forms and  innumerable disguises1       
intellectual1 sthetic and moral1 such as
  fallacies1 sophisms1 ugliness1        
deformity1 prejudice1 superstition1 vice
  and depravity4 ,do not be afraid to   
discuss these matters with the child4   
,for the knowledge1 the recognition of  
evil does not only possess the  virtue  
of immunization of the child's mind     
against all evil1 but  furnishes the    
main power for habit-disintegration with
 consequent  release and control of     
potential reserve energy1 of            
manifestations of  human genius4 ,when a
 man becomes contented and ceases to    
notice the  evils of life1 as is done by
 some modern religious sects1 he loses  
his  hold on the powers of man's genius1
 he loses touch with the throbbing      
pulse of humanity1 he loses hold on     
reality and falls into subhuman  groups4
    ,the purpose of education1 of a     

liberal education1 is not to live in a  
fool's paradise1 or to go through the   
world in a post-hypnotic state of       
negative hallucinations4 ,the true aim  
of a liberal education is1 as the       
,scriptures put it1 to have the eyes    
opened1--to be free from all  delusions1
 illusions1 from the fata morgana of    
life4 ,we prize a  liberal education1   
because it liberates us from subjection 
to  superstitious fears1 delivers us    
from the narrow bonds of prejudice1     
from the exalted or depressing delusions
 of moral paresis1 intellectual         
dementia-praecox1 and religious         
paranoia4 ,a liberal education liberates
  us from the enslavement to the        
degrading influence of all              
idol-worship4    ,in the education of   
man do not play on his subconscious     
sense by  deluding him by means of      
hypnotic and post-hypnotic suggestions  
of  positive and negative               
hallucinations1 with misty and mystic1  
beatific  visions4 ,open his eyes to    

undisguised reality4 ,teach him1 show   
him how  to strip the real from its     
unessential wrappings and adornments and
 see  things in their nakedness4 ,open  
the eyes of your children so that they  
shall see1 understand and face          
courageously the evils of life4 ,then   
will you do your duty as parents1 then  
will you give your children the  proper 
education4                              
,,xi    ,i have spoken of the           
fundamental law of early education4 ,the
 question is  8how early80 ,there are1  
of course1 children who are backward in 
their  development4 ,this backwardness  
may either be congenital or may be due  
to  some overlooked pathological        
condition that may be easily remedied by
  proper treatment4 ,in the large       
majority of children1 however1 the      
beginning of education is between the   
second and third year4 ,it is at  that  
time that the child begins to form his  
interests4 ,it is at that  critical     
period that we have to seize the        

opportunity to guide the  child's       
formative energies in the right         
channels4 ,to delay is a mistake  and a 
wrong to the child4 ,we can at that     
early period awaken a love of  knowledge
 which will persist through life4 ,the  
child will as eagerly  play in the game 
of knowledge as he now spends the most  
of his energies  in meaningless games   
and objectless silly sports4    ,we     
claim we are afraid to force the child's
 mind4 ,we claim we are afraid  to      
strain his brain prematurely4 ,this is  
an error4 ,in directing the  course of  
the use of the child's energies we do   
not force the child4 ,if  you do not    
direct the energies in the right course1
 the child will  waste them in the wrong
 direction4 ,the same amount of mental  
energy  used in those silly games1 which
 we think are specially adapted for the 
childish mind1 can be directed1 with    
lasting benefit1 to the development  of 
his interests in intellectual activity  
and love of knowledge4 ,the  child will 

learn to play at the game of            
knowledge-acquisition with the  same    
ease1 grace and interest as he is       
showing now in his nursery-games  and   
physical exercises4                     
,,xii    ,aristotle laid it down as a   
self-evident proposition that all       
,hellenes  love knowledge4 ,this was    
true of the national genius of the      
ancient  ,greeks4 ,the love of wisdom is
 the pride of the ancient ,greek in     
contradistinction to the barbarian1 who 
does not prize knowledge4 ,we  still    
belong to the barbarians4 ,our children1
 our pupils1 our students  have no love 
of knowledge4    ,the ancient ,greeks   
knew the value of a good education and  
understood its  fundamental elements4   
,they laid great stress on early        
education and they  knew how to develop 
man's mental energies1 without fear of  
injury to the  brain and physical       
constitution4 ,the ,greeks were not     
afraid of thought1  that it might injure
 the brain4 ,they were strong men1 great

 thinkers4    ,the love of knowledge1   
the love of truth for its own sake1 is  
entirely  neglected in our modern       
schemes of education4 ,instead of       
training men we  train mechanics1       
artisans and shopkeepers4 ,we turn our  
national schools1  high schools and     
universities into trade-schools and     
machine-shops4 ,the  school1 whether    
lower or higher1 has now one purpose in 
view1 and that  is the training of the  
pupil in the art of money-making4 ,is it
 a wonder  that the result is a low form
 of mediocrity1 a dwarfed and crippled  
specimen of humanity8    ,open the      
reports of our school superintendents   
and you find that the  illustrations    
setting forth the prominent work        
performed by the school  represent      
carpentry1 shoemaking1 blacksmithing1   
bookkeeping1  typewriting1 dressmaking1 
millinery and cookery4 ,one wonders     
whether it  is the report of a factory  
inspector1 the 8scientific0             
advertisement of  some instrument-maker 

or machine-shop1 a booklet of some      
popular hotel1  or an extensive circular
 of some large department-store4 ,is    
this what  our modern education consists
 in8 ,is the aim of the nation to form  
at  its expense vast reserve armies of  
skilled mechanics1 great numbers of     
well-trained cooks and well-behaved     
clerks8 ,is the purpose of the nation   
to form cheap skilled labor for the     
manufacturer1 or is the aim of  society 
to form intelligent1 educated citizens8 
,the high-school and college courses    
advised by the professors and  elected  
by the student are with reference to the
 vocation in life1 to  business and to  
trade4 ,our schools1 our high schools1  
our colleges and  our universities are  
all animated with the same sordid aim of
 giving  electives for early            
specialization in the art of            
money-getting4 ,we may  say with ,mill  
that our schools and colleges give no   
true education1 no  true culture4 ,we   
drift to the status of ,egypt and ,india

 with their  castes of early trained    
mechanics1 professionals and            
shopkeepers4 ,truly  educated men we    
shall have none4 ,we shall become a     
nation of  narrow-minded philistines1   
well contented with their mediocrity4   
,the  savage compresses the skull of the
 infant1 while we flatten the brain  and
 cramp the mind of our young generation4
                                        
,,xiii    ,the great thinker1 ,john     
,stuart ,mill1 insists that 8the great  
business of  every rational being is the
 strengthening and enlarging of his own 
intellect and character4 ,the empirical 
knowledge which the world  demands1     
which is the stock in trade of          
money-getting1 we would leave  the world
 to provide for itself40 ,we must make  
our system of education  such 8that a   
great man may be formed by it1 and there
 will be a manhood  in your little men  
of which you do not dream4 ,we must have
 a system of  education capable of      
forming great minds40 ,education must   

aim at the  bringing out of the genius  
in man4 ,do we achieve such aim by the  
formation of philistine-specialists and 
young petty-minded artisans8    8,the   
very cornerstone of an education10 ,mill
 tells us1 8intended to form  great     
minds1 must be the recognition of the   
principle1 that the object  is to call  
forth the greatest possible quantity of 
intellectual power1  and to inspire the 
intensest love of truth2 and this       
without a particle  of regard to the    
results to which the exercise of that   
power may lead40  ,with us the only love
 of truth is the one that leads to the  
shop1 the  bank and the counting-house4 
,the home controls the school and the   
college4 ,as long as the home is        
dominated by commercial ideals1 the     
school will turn out mediocre           
tradesmen4    ,this1 however1 is one of 
the characteristic types of the         
,american home3  the mother thinks of   
dresses1 fashions and parties4 ,the     
daughter twangs  and thrums on the      

piano1 makes violent attempts at singing
 that sound as  8the crackling of thorns
 under a pot10 is passionately fond of  
shopping1  dressing and visiting4 ,both1
 mother and daughter1 love society1 show
 and  gossip4 ,the father works in some 
business or at some trade and loves     
sports and games4 ,not a spark of       
refinement and culture1 not a redeeming 
ray of love of knowledge and of art1    
lighting up the commonplace and         
frivolous life of the family4 ,what     
wonder that the children of ten and     
eleven can hardly read and write1 are   
little brutes and waste away their      
precious life of childhood in the close1
 dusty1 overheated rooms of the  early  
grades of some elementary school8       
,commercial mediocrity is raised  at    
home and cultivated in the school4      
8,as a means of educating the many1 the 
universities are absolutely  null10     
exclaims ,mill4 ,the attainments of any 
kind required for taking  all the       
degrees conferred by these bodies are1  

at ,cambridge1 utterly  contemptible40  
,our ,american schools1 with their      
ideals of money-earning  capacities1 our
 colleges glorying in their athletics1  
football teams and  courses for         
professional and business               
specializations would have been         
regarded by ,mill as below contempt4    
,what indeed is the worth of an         
education that does not create even as  
much as an ordinary respect for learning
 and love of truth1 and that  prizes    
knowledge in terms of hard cash8 ,what  
is the educational worth of  a college  
or of a university which suppresses its 
most gifted students  by putting them   
under the ban of disorderly behavior1   
because of not  conforming to           
commonplace mannerisms8 ,what is the    
educational value of a  university which
 is but a modern edition of a           
gladiatorial school with a  smattering  
of the humanities8 ,what is the         
educational value of an  institution of 
learning that expels its best students  

because they  8attract more attention   
than their professors08 ,what is the    
intellectual  level of a college that   
expels from its courses the ablest of   
its  students for some slight           
infringement1 and that an involuntary   
one1  under the pretext that it is done 
for the sake of class-discipline1 8for  
the general good of the class08 ,what   
travesty on education is a system  that 
suppresses genius in the interest of    
mediocrity8 ,what is the  cultural1 the 
humanistic value of an education that   
puts a prize on  mediocrity8            
,,xiv    ,discipline1 fixed habits      
approved by the pedagogue are specially 
enforced in our schools4 ,to this may be
 added some 8culture0 in the art  of    
money-getting in the case of the boys1  
while in the case of girls the  sthetic 
training of millinery and dressmaking   
may be included4 ,the  colleges1 in     
addition to class-discipline looked     
after by the professors  and            
college-authorities1 are essentially an 

organization of  hasty-pudding clubs1   
football associations and athletic      
corporations4  ,what is the use of a    
college if not for its games8 ,many     
regard the  college as useful for the   
formation of business acquaintances in  
later  life4 ,others again consider the 
college a good place for learning fine  
manners4 ,in other words1 the college   
and the school are for athletics1  good 
manners1 business companionship1        
mechanical arts and money-getting4      
,they are for anything but education4   
,we have become so used to college      
athletics that it appears strange and   
possibly absurd to demand of a college  
the cultivation of man's genius4  ,who  
expects to find an intellectual         
atmosphere among the great body of  our 
college undergraduates8 ,who expects of 
our schools and colleges true  culture  
and the cultivation of a taste for      
literature1 art and science8  ,a dean1  
an unusually able man1 of one of the    
prominent ,eastern colleges  tells me   

that he and his friends are very        
pessimistic about his students  and     
especially about the great body of      
undergraduate students4  ,literature1   
art1 science have no interest for the   
student2 games and  athletics fill his  
mental horizon4    ,in the training of  
our children1 in the education of our   
young1 we think  that discipline1       
obedience to paternal and maternal      
commands1 whether  rational or absurd1  
are of the utmost importance4 ,we do not
 realize that  in such a scheme of      
training we fail to cultivate the       
child's critical  faculties1 but only   
succeed in suppressing the child's      
individuality4 ,we  only break his      
will-power and originality4 ,we also    
prepare the ground  for future nervous  
and mental maladies characterized by    
their fears1  indecisions1 hesitations1 
diffidence1 irritability1 lack of       
individuality and absence of            
self-control4    ,we laugh at the       
,chinese1 because they bandage the feet 

of their girls1  we ridicule those who  
cripple their chest and mutilate their  
figure by  the tight lacing of their    
corsets1 but we fail to realize the     
baneful  effects of submitting the young
 minds to the grindstone of our         
educational discipline4 ,i have known   
good fathers and mothers who have       
unfortunately been so imbued with the   
necessity of disciplining the  child    
that they have crushed the child's      
spirit in the narrow bonds of  routine  
and custom4 ,how can we expect to get   
great men and women when  from infancy  
we train our children to conform to the 
philistine ways of  ,mrs4 ,grundy8      
,in our schools and colleges1 habits1   
discipline and behavior are  specially  
emphasized by our teachers1 instructors 
and professors4 ,our  deans and         
professors think more of red tape1 of   
8points10 of discipline  than of study2 
they think more of authoritative        
suggestion than of  critical            
instruction4 ,the pedagogue fashions the

 pupil after his own  image4 ,the       
professor1 with his disciplinarian      
tactics1 forces the  student into the   
imbecile mummy-like mannerism of        
,egyptian pedantry and  into the        
barrack-regulations of class-etiquette4 
,well may professors of  our            
8war-schools0 claim that the best       
education is given in military          
academies4 ,they are right1 if          
discipline is education4 ,but why not   
the  reformatory1 the asylum and the    
prison8    ,we trust our unfortunate    
youth to the ,procrustean bed of the    
mentally  obtuse1 hide-bound pedagogue4 
,we desiccate1 sterilize1 petrify and   
embalm our youth in keeping with the    
rules of our ,egyptian code and in      
accordance with the ,confucian          
regulations of our school-clerks and    
college mandarins4 ,our children learn  
by rote and are guided by routine4      
,,xv    ,being in a barbaric stage1 we  
are afraid of thought4 ,we are under the
  erroneous belief that thinking1 study1

 causes nervousness and mental          
disorders4 ,in my practice as physician 
in nervous and mental diseases1 ,i  can 
say without hesitation that ,i have not 
met a single case of nervous  or mental 
trouble caused by too much thinking or  
overstudy4 ,this is at  present the     
opinion of the best psychopathologists4 
,what produces  nervousness is worry1   
emotional excitement and lack of        
interest in the  work4 ,but that is     
precisely what we do with our children4 
,we do not take  care to develop a love 
of knowledge in their early life for    
fear of  brain injury1 and then when it 
is late to acquire the interest1 we     
force  them to study1 and we cram them  
and feed them and stuff them like geese4
  ,what you often get is fatty          
degeneration of the mental liver4       
,if1 however1 you do not neglect the    
child between the second and third      
year1 and see to it that the brain      
should not be starved1 should have  its 
proper function1 like the rest of the   

bodily organs1 by developing  an        
interest in intellectual activity and   
love of knowledge1 no forcing  of the   
child to study is afterwards requisite4 
,the child will go on by  himself1--he  
will derive intense enjoyment from his  
intellectual  activity1 as he does from 
his games and physical exercise4 ,the   
child  will be stronger1 healthier1     
sturdier than the present average child1
  with its purely animal activities and 
total neglect of brain-function4  ,his  
physical and mental development will go 
apace4 ,he will not be a  barbarian with
 animal proclivities and a strong       
distaste for knowledge  and mental      
enjoyment1 but he will be a strong1     
healthy1 thinking man4    ,besides1 many
 a mental trouble will be prevented in  
adult-life4 ,the  child will acquire    
knowledge with the same ease as he      
learns to ride the  bicycle or play     
ball4 ,by the tenth year1 without almost
 any effort1 the  child will acquire the
 knowledge which at present the best    

college-graduate obtains with infinite  
labor and pain4 ,that this can be       
accomplished ,i can say with authority2 
,i know it as a fact from my own        
experience with child-life4    ,from an 
economical standpoint alone1 think of   
the saving it would ensure  for society4
 ,consider the fact that our children   
spend nearly eight  years in the common 
school1 studying spelling and           
arithmetic1 and do not  know them when  
they graduate6 ,think of the eight years
 of waste of  school buildings and      
salaries for the teaching force4        
,however1 our real  object is not       
economy1 but the development of a       
strong1 healthy1 great  race of genius4 
,as fathers and mothers it may interest 
you to learn of one of those boys  who  
were brought up in the love and         
enjoyment of knowledge for its own      
sake4 ,at the age of twelve1 when other 
children of his age are hardly  able to 
read and spell1 and drag a miserable    
mental existence at the  apron strings  

of some antiquated school-dame1 the boy 
is intensely  enjoying courses in the   
highest branches of mathematics and     
astronomy at  one of our foremost       
universities4 ,the ,iliad and the       
,odyssey are known to  him by heart1 and
 he is deeply interested in the advanced
 work of  ,classical ,philology4 ,he is 
able to read ,herodotus1 schylus1       
,sophocles1  ,euripides1 ,aristophanes1 
,lucian and other ,greek writers with   
the same  zest and ease as our schoolboy
 reads his ,robinson ,crusoe or the     
productions of ,cooper and ,henty4 ,the 
boy has a fair understanding of         
,comparative ,philology and ,mythology4 
,he is well versed in ,logic1 ,ancient  
,history1 ,american ,history and has a  
general insight into our politics  and  
into the groundwork of our              
,constitution4 ,at the same time he is  
of  an extremely happy disposition1     
brimming over with humor and fun4 ,his  
physical condition is splendid1 his     
cheeks glow with health4 ,many a girl   

would envy his complexion4 ,being above 
five feet four he towers above  the     
average boy of his age4 ,his physical   
constitution1 weight1 form and          
hardihood of organs1 far surpasses that 
of the ordinary schoolboy4 ,he  looks   
like a boy of sixteen4 ,he is healthy1  
strong and sturdy4    ,the              
philistine-pseudagogues1 the            
self-contented school-autocrats are so  
imbued with the fear of intellectual    
activity and with the superstitious     
dread of early mental education1 they   
are so obsessed with the morbid  phobia 
of human reflective powers1 they are so 
deluded by the belief  that study causes
 disease that they eagerly adhere to the
 delusion1 to  quote from a             
school-superintendent's letter1 about   
the boy being 8in a  sanitarium1 old and
 worn-out40 ,no doubt1 the cramming1 the
 routine1 the  rote1 the mental and     
moral tyranny of the principal and      
school-superintendent do tend to nervous
 degeneracy and mental  break-down4     

,poor old college owls1 academic        
barn-yard-fowls and worn-out  sickly    
school-bats1 you are panic-stricken by  
the power of sunlight1 you  are in      
agonizing1 in mortal terror of critical1
 reflective thought1 you  dread and     
suppress the genius of the young4    ,we
 do not appreciate the genius harbored  
in the average child1 and we  let it lie
 fallow4 ,we are mentally poor1 not     
because we lack riches1 but  because we 
do not know how to use the wealth of    
mines1 the hidden  treasures1 the now   
inaccessible mental powers which we     
possess4    ,in speaking of our mental  
capacities1 ,francis ,galton1 ,i think1 
says that  we are in relation to the    
ancient ,greeks what the ,bushmen and   
,hottentots  are in relation to us4     
,galton and many other learned men      
regard the  modern ,european races as   
inferior to the ,hellenic race4 ,they   
are wrong1  and ,i know from experience 
that they are wrong4 ,it rests in our   
hands  either to remain inferior        

barbarians or to rival and even surpass 
in  brilliancy the genius of the ancient
 ,hellenes4 ,we can develop into a      
great race by the proper education of   
man's genius4                           
,,xvi    ,one other important point     
claims our attention in the process of  
education of man's genius4 ,we must     
immunize our children against mental    
microbes1 as we vaccinate our babies    
against small-pox4 ,the cultivation  of 
critical judgment and the knowledge of  
evil are two powerful  constituents that
 form the antitoxin for the             
neutralization of the  virulent toxins  
produced by mental microbes4 ,at the    
same time we should  not neglect proper 
conditions of mental hygiene4 ,we should
 not people  the child's mind with      
ghost-stories1 with absurd beliefs in   
the  supernatural1 and with articles of 
creed charged with brimstone and  pitch 
from the bowels of hell4 ,we must guard 
the child against all evil  fears1      
superstitions1 prejudices and credulity4

    ,we should counteract the baneful   
influences of the pathogenic1           
pestiferous1 mental microbes which now  
infest our social air1 since the  child1
 not having yet formed the antitoxin of 
critical judgment and  knowledge of     
evil1 has not the power of resisting    
mental infection1 and  is thus very     
susceptible to mental contagion on      
account of his extreme  suggestibility4 
,the cultivation of credulity1 the      
absence of critical  judgment and of    
recognition of evil1 with consequent    
increase of  suggestibility1 make man an
 easy prey to all kinds of social       
delusions1  mental epidemics1 religious 
crazes1 financial manias1 and political 
plagues1 which have been the baleful    
pest of aggregate humanity in all  ages4
    ,the immunization of children1 the  
development of resistance to mental     
germs whether moral1 immoral or         
religious1 can only be effected by the  
medical man with a psychological and    
psychopathological training4 ,just  as  

science1 philosophy and art have        
gradually passed out of the control  of 
the priest1 so now we find that the     
control of mental and moral life  is    
gradually passing away from under the   
influence of the church into  the hands 
of the medical psychopathologist4       
,the physical life of the nation is now 
gradually being regulated by  medical   
science with a consequent decrease of   
disease and mortality4  ,gradually and  
slowly the school begins to feel the    
need of medical  advice1 both as to the 
health of the pupils and their more     
efficient  training4 ,gradually the     
medical man assumes the responsibility  
of  guiding the teacher and telling him 
why the pupils are defective in  their  
studies and why the pedantic methods of 
academic pedagogy are arid  and sterile4
 ,in some cases the doctor actually     
undertakes the training  of the young4  
,thus the ,italian doctor1 ,maria       
,montessori1 from the  education of     
defective children has finally          

undertaken1 with immense1  almost       
phenomenal1 success1 the training and   
education of normal  children4    ,as we
 look forward into the future we begin  
to see that the school is  coming under 
the control of the medical man4 ,the    
medical man free from  superstitions and
 prejudices1 possessed of the science of
 mind and body1  is to assume in the    
future the supervision of the education 
of the  nation4    ,the schoolmaster and
 the schoolma'am with their             
narrow-minded1 pedantic  pseudogogics   
are gradually losing prestige and       
passing away1 while the  medical man    
alone is able to cope with the serious  
threatening danger of  national mental  
degeneration4 ,just as the medical      
profession now saves  the nation from   
physical degeneration and works for the 
physical  regeneration of the           
body-politic1 so will the medical       
profession of the  future assume the    
duty of saving the nation from mental   
and moral  decline1 from degeneration   

into a people of fear-possessed1        
mind-racked  psychopathies and          
neurotics1 with broken wills and crushed
  individualities on the one hand1      
accompanied1 on the other hand1 by the  
still worse affliction and incurable    
malady of a self-contented  mediocrity  
and a hopeless1 ,chinese philistinism4  
,there are in the ,united ,states about 
two hundred thousand insane1 while  the 
victims of psychopathic1 mental maladies
 may be counted by the  millions4       
,insanity can be greatly alleviated1 but
 much1 if not all1 of  that psychopathic
 mental misery known as functional      
mental disease is  entirely preventable4
 ,it is the result of our pitiful1      
wretched1  brain-starving1              
mind-crippling methods of education4    
,,xvii    ,in my work of mental and     
nervous diseases ,i become more and more
  convinced of the preponderant         
influence of early childhood in the     
causation of psychopathic mental        
maladies4 ,most1 in fact all1 of those  

functional mental diseases originate in 
early childhood4 ,a couple of  concrete 
cases will perhaps best illustrate my   
point3    ,the patient is a young man of
 #bf4 ,he suffers from intense          
melancholic  depression1 often amounting
 to agony4 ,he is possessed by the fear 
of  having committed the unpardonable   
sin4 ,he thinks that he is damned to    
suffer tortures in hell for all         
eternity4 ,i cannot go here into the    
details of the case1 but an examination 
of the patient by the hypnoidal  state  
clearly traced his present condition to 
the influence of an old  woman1 a       
,sunday school teacher1 who infected him
 with those virulent  germs in his very 
early childhood1 about the age of five4 
,let me read to  you a paragraph from   
the patient's own account3 8,it is      
difficult to  place the beginning of my 
abnormal fear4 ,it certainly originated 
from  doctrines of hell which ,i heard  
in early childhood1 particularly from a 
rather ignorant elderly woman1 who      

taught ,sunday school4 ,my early        
religious thought was chiefly concerned 
with the direful eternity of  torture   
that might be awaiting me1 if ,i was not
 good enough to be  saved40    ,another 
patient of mine1 a clergyman's wife1 was
 extremely nervous1  depressed1 and     
suffered from insomnia1 from nightmares1
 from panophobia1  general fear1 dread  
of the unknown1 from claustrophobia1    
fear of  remaining alone1 fear of       
darkness and numerous other fears and   
insistent  ideas1 into the details of   
which ,i cannot go here4 ,by means of   
the  hypnoidal state the symptoms were  
traced to impressions of early          
childhood2 when at the age of five1 the 
patient was suddenly confronted  by a   
maniacal woman4 ,the child was greatly  
frightened1 and since that  time she    
became possessed by the fear of         
insanity4 ,when the patient gave  birth 
to her child1 she was afraid the child  
would become insane2 many a  time she   
even had a feeling that the child was   

insane4 ,thus the fear  of insanity is  
traced to an experience of early        
childhood1 an experience  which1 having 
become subconscious1 is manifesting     
itself persistently in  the patient's   
consciousness4    ,the patient's parents
 were very religious1 and the child was 
brought up  not only in the fear of     
,god1 but also in the fear of hell and  
the devil4  ,being sensitive and        
imaginative1 the devils of the gospel   
were to her  stern realities4 ,she had a
 firm belief in 8diabolical possessions0
 and  8unclean spirits02 the legend of  
,jesus exorcising in the country of the 
,gadarenes unclean spirits1 whose name  
is ,legion1 was to her a tangible       
reality4 ,she was brought up on         
brimstone and pitch1 with everlasting   
fires of the 8bottomless pit0 for       
sinners and unbelievers4 ,in the        
hypnoidal state she clearly remembered  
the preacher1 who used every  ,sunday to
 give her the horrors by his picturesque
 descriptions of the  tortures of the   

8bottomless pit40 ,she was in anguish   
over the unsolved  question3 8,do little
 sinner-girls go to hell80 ,this fear of
 hell made  the little girl feel        
depressed and miserable and poisoned    
many a  cheerful moment of her life4    
,what a lasting effect and what a       
melancholy gloom this fear of ghosts    
and of unclean spirits of the bottomless
 pit produced on this young life  may be
 judged from the following facts3 ,when 
the patient was about  eleven years old1
 a young girl1 a friend of hers1 having 
noticed the  patient's fear of ghosts1  
played on her one of those silly1       
practical  jokes1 the effect of which on
 sensitive natures is often disastrous  
and  lasting4 ,the girl disguised       
herself as a ghost1 in a white sheet1   
and  appeared to the patient1 who was   
just on the point of falling asleep4    
,the child shrieked in terror and       
fainted4 ,since that time the patient   
suffered from nightmares and was        
mortally afraid to sleep alone2 she     

passed many a night in a state of       
excitement1 frenzied with the fear of   
apparitions and ghosts4    ,when about  
the age of seventeen1 she apparently    
freed herself from the  belief in ghosts
 and unclean powers4 ,but the fear      
acquired in her  childhood did not      
lapse2 it persisted subconsciously and  
manifested  itself in the form of       
uncontrollable fears4 ,she was afraid to
 remain  alone in a room1 especially in 
the evening4 ,thus1 once when she had to
  go upstairs1 alone to pack her trunks1
 a gauzy garment called forth the       
experience of her ghost-fright2 she had 
the illusion of seeing a ghost1  and    
fell fainting to the floor4 ,unless     
specially treated1 fears acquired  in   
childhood last through life4    8,every 
ugly thing10 says ,mosso1 the great     
,italian physiologist1 8told to  the    
child1 every shock1 every fright given  
him1 will remain like minute  splinters 
in the flesh1 to torture him all his    
life long4    8,an old soldier whom ,i  

asked what his greatest fears had been1 
answered  me thus3 #8,i have only had   
one1 but it pursues me still4 ,i am     
nearly  seventy years old1 ,i have      
looked death in the face ,i do not know 
how  many times2 ,i have never lost     
heart in any danger1 but when ,i pass a 
little old church in the shades of the  
forest1 or a deserted chapel in  the    
mountains1 ,i always remember a         
neglected oratory in my native  village1
 and ,i shiver and look around1 as      
though seeking the corpse of a  murdered
 man which ,i once saw carried into it  
when a child1 and with  which an old    
servant wanted to shut me up to make me 
good4'0 ,here1 too1  experiences of     
early childhood have persisted          
subconsciously throughout  lifetime4    
,,xviii    ,i appeal to you1 fathers and
 mothers1 and to you1 liberal-minded    
readers1 asking you to turn your        
attention to the education of your      
children1 to the training of the young  
generation of future citizens4 ,i  do   

not appeal to our official educators1 to
 our scientific1  psychological         
pseudagogues1 to the clerks of our      
teaching shops1--for  they are beyond   
all hope4 ,from that quarter ,i expect  
nothing but attacks  and abuse4 ,we     
cannot possibly expect of the           
philistine-educator and                 
mandarin-pseudagogue the adoption of    
different views of education4 ,we       
should not keep new wine in old         
goat-skins4 ,the present school-system  
squanders the resources of the country  
and wastes the energies1 the  lives of  
our children4 ,like ,cato our cry should
 be ,carthago delenda  est1--the        
school-system should be abolished and   
with it should go the  present          
psychologizing educator1 the            
schoolmaster and the schoolma'am4       
,fathers and mothers1 you keep in your  
hands the fate of the young  generation4
 ,you are conscious of the great        
responsibility1 of the vast1  important 
task laid upon you by the education of  

your children4 ,for1  according to the  
character of the training and education 
given to the  young1 they may be made a 
sickly host of nervous wrecks and       
miserable  wretches2 or they may be     
formed into a narrow-minded1 bigoted1   
mediocre  crowd of self-contented       
8cultured0 philistines1 bat-blind to    
evil2 or  they may be made a great race 
of genius with powers of rational       
control of their latent1 potential1     
reserve energy4 ,the choice remains     
with you4                               
,,appendix                              
,,precocity ,,in ,,children#a    ,by    
precocity ,i mean the manifestation of  
the child's mental functions at  a      
period earlier than the one observed in 
the past and present  generations of    
children4    ,in the course of his      
growth and development the individual   
unfolds his  inner powers through       
acquisition of the stored-up experiences
 of  previous generations4 ,the well    
known biogenetic law may1 with some     

modifications1 be applied to mental     
life4 ,the development of the           
individual is an abbreviated            
reproduction of the evolution of the    
species4 ,briefly put3 ,ontogenesis is  
an epitome of ,phylogenesis4 ,this      
biogenetic law holds true in the domain 
of education4 ,the stored-up            
experiences of the race are condensed1  
foreshortened1 and recapitulated  in the
 child's life history4 ,this process of 
progressive 8precocity10 or  of         
foreshortening of education1 has been   
going on unconsciously in the  course of
 human evolution4 ,we have reached a    
stage when man can be made  conscious of
 this fundamental process1 thus getting 
control over his  own growth and        
development4    ,although the process of
 foreshortening of education has been   
taking  place throughout the history of 
mankind1 and especially of civilized    
humanity1 still the process has remained
 imperceptible on account of its        
extremely slow rate of progress4 ,hence 

the fact of 8precocity10 or of  early   
development of children1 has been       
hitherto regarded as rare1 as           
phenomenal4 ,like all rare phenomena1   
precocity1 or early child  development1 
is considered as unique1 as abnormal1   
and even as  pathological4 ,in fact1    
many still regard precocity as some form
 of  malady akin to mental alienation4  
,it is well to bear in mind that        
phenomena1 at first scarce and rare1 may
  under favorable conditions become     
sufficiently numerous to be quite       
common4 ,in fact1 we may lay it down as 
a law that all discoveries1  inventions1
 and changes in general1 economical1    
political1 social1  mental1 moral1 and  
religious1 first appear on a small scale
 in limited  areas from which they      
spread in various directions4 ,organisms
 start1 as  variations or mutations1    
from minute nuclei of growth2 species   
have  their origin in small centres and 
restricted areas4 ,a new species may    
begin with some apparently insignificant

 variation which may grow and  develop1 
and which1 from a certain standpoint1   
may be regarded as an  abnormality4     
,what at present is considered as       
8precocity10 and hence as an            
abnormality1 may really be the          
foreshadowing of the future4 ,the       
apparently precocious variation may and 
will turn out a normal  phenomenon4 ,the
 stone which the builders refused is    
become the head  stone of the corner4   
,early education1 precocity1 is to      
become the corner  stone of human life4 
,at present the preliminary period of   
child  education is unduly retarded to  
the detriment of the individual and     
society4    ,the truth is1 we do not    
realize the importance of early         
training4 ,we  begin education late in  
the child's life1 when dispositions have
 become  formed and habits have become  
rigid4 ,this delay seriously injures the
  growth of the child by lowering the   
level of mental activity4 ,the  critical
 points of formation of mental interests

 are allowed to slip by1  leaving the   
individual irresponsive to mental1      
sthetic1 and moral  interests4 ,the     
critical turning points1 when the best  
energies could be  brought out1 are not 
taken care of at the right moment4      
,the mental functions become prematurely
 atrophied and degenerated4 ,when  we   
later on attempt to awaken those        
functions1 we are surprised to find     
them absent4 ,we labor under the false  
impression that the child is  naturally 
inapt and deficient4 ,to make up for    
this apparent deficiency  we force the  
child's mind into narrow channels1      
crippling and deforming  it into mean   
mediocrity4 ,the child is run into the  
rigid moulds of home1  school1 and      
college with the result of permanent    
mutilation of  originality and genius4  
,the individual is deformed1 because the
 critical  spirit of inquiry and        
originality is racked on the            
,procrustes' bed of  home and school4   
,the unfortunate thing about it is the  

firm belief that  the crippled spirit of
 the child is a congenital mediocrity4  
,instead of  shouldering the fault1 we  
put the burden on ,heredity4 ,darwinism 
with its  spontaneous variation and     
hereditary transmission1                
,austro-,germanic  ,mendelism1          
accompanied by a widespread propaganda  
of ,eugenics1 have  blotted out from    
view the far more fundamental factors of
 environment  and education which play  
such a paramount rle in man's life4     
,we may profit by recent studies in     
,psychopathology4 ,in my investigations 
,i have shown the important rle which   
early child experience plays in  the    
patient's life4 ,psychopathic affections
 can be traced to child fears  which    
become afterwards reinforced by         
unfavorable conditions of life4  ,this  
is formulated in my works on            
,psychopathology4 ,psychopathology      
clearly brings out the significant fact 
that a good start in early  childhood is
 of the utmost consequence to the       

individual4 ,only a good  education in  
early life can save man from the        
innumerable psychopathic  maladies to   
which he is subject4 ,the seeds of      
vicious habits and of  criminal         
tendencies can be eliminated in early   
childhood4    ,early development or what
 is termed 8precocity0 in children will 
not  only prevent vice1 crime1 and      
disease1 but will strengthen the        
individual along all lines1 physical1   
mental1 and moral4 ,we should be        
careful not to cast the child's mind    
into ready made moulds1 not to  subject 
his mind1 his character to the yoke of  
meaningless mannerisms  and rigid       
formalities4 ,we should have respect for
 the child's  personality4 ,we should   
remember that there is genius in every  
healthy1  normal child4    ,we are blind
 to the child's latent genius1 because  
we look to brute  force as our standard4
 ,like savages1 we are afraid of genius1
 especially  when it is manifested as   
8precocity in children40 ,this abject   

fear of  genius and of precocity is one 
of the most pernicious philistine       
superstitions1 causing the retardation  
of the progress of humanity4 ,the  fear 
of mental precocity is essentially the  
phobia of the inveterate  philistine4   
,we should bear in mind that the        
philistine is an insignificant1 though  
exact part of a huge social machine1 of 
a ,frankenstein 8kultur0 before  which  
the philistine prostrates himself in    
dust1 a social monster of  which he is  
proud to form an irresponsible mite4    
,whether he be an atom  of a political  
organization1 of a nation1 or of a      
military  kultur-system1 the philistine 
is trained to be content to play the    
same  ignoble1 slavish rle of           
submission1 obedience1 and              
irresponsibility4  ,without personal    
conscience1 without personal will1      
without personal  initiative1 the       
impersonal philistine is like the stupid
 genie of  ,aladdin's lamp who slavishly
 obeys the master of the magic lamp4    

,the present horrible ,european war     
7predicted in this volume several  years
 before the onset of the war4 ,see pp4  
#cj1 #ca7 is the unfortunate1  but      
natural outcome of philistine education 
and philistine life4 ,the  immediate    
cause of the war may be traced to       
politics1 greed1  competition1 to       
commercial1 industrial1 cultural1       
national1  international1 and racial    
complications4 ,at bottom1 however1 the 
present  ,european war is ultimately due
 to our pernicious system of training1  
the  bane of our industrial1 social     
life4 ,millions of men are drilled and  
disciplined to act as automata2 men are 
trained from childhood1 at home1        
school1 college1 and university to      
surrender their individual judgment1    
and follow blindly an alleged 8social   
consciousness10 entrusted1 by a  set of 
philistine bureaucrats1 to superior     
leaders1 to generals1  admirals1 and    
field-marshals4 ,men are hypnotized by a
 pernicious and  vicious system of      

training and quasi-education to consider
 it a high1  sacred ideal to obey       
implicitly the will of a few officials  
and  diplomats1 to attack1 plunder and  
slaughter at the command of generals    
and officers1 in the interest of a      
plutocratic oligarchy1 hallowed by  the 
vague shibboleth3 8,flag1 ,country1     
,patriotism40#b ,the youth of  nations  
is debauched with the belief in the     
supreme grandeur of  delivering their   
personal responsibility in the keeping  
of a handful of  ,byzantine bureaucrats1
 irresponsible junkers1 and half-crazed 
,csars4    ,the principle 8,be          
,childlike0 is paramount in the         
education of mankind4  ,the child       
represents the future1 all the          
possibilities1 all the coming  greatness
 of the human race4 ,we1 the adults1 are
 contaminated by the  brutal passions   
and vices incident to the struggle for  
existence and  self-preservation4       
,plasticity of mind is characteristic of
 genius4 ,plasticity of mind and  body  

is preminently characteristic of the    
child4 ,adaptability and  plasticity are
 found in all young tissue1 muscle1     
gland1 and nerve4 ,as  the organism     
ages1 becomes differentiated1 and       
adapted to special  functions and       
conditions of life1 it loses its        
original plasticity4 ,the  tissues      
become fixed and the functions set4 ,the
 adult's brain and mind  begin to work  
in ruts4 ,the child is superior to the  
adult4    ,the child looks at the world 
with eyes simple1 clear1 bright1 not    
blinded by the heavy scales of          
traditions1 superstitions1 and          
prejudices  of remote ages4 ,the        
intricate worries1 complex fears1       
selfish motives1  brutal passions1      
greed1 revenge1 malice1 vice1 enmity do 
not as yet mar  the soul of the child4  
,artificial needs1 strong animal        
passions have no  firm hold on the      
child's mind4 ,the child's mind is      
purer1 fresher1  brighter1 far more     
original than the adult intelligence    

with its  philistine notions and        
hide-bound habits of thought and belief4
    ,with age the mind becomes          
specialized and degraded in quality4    
,unless  checked by a good education and
 by a persistent course of mental       
activity1 intellectual and other mental 
interests1 the adult mind is apt  to    
deteriorate4 ,unless controlled by a    
good education and by intense  mental   
interests1 free from service to animal  
needs1 the emotions of  self-regard1 the
 impulse of self-preservation with its  
fear instinct  gradually gain in man the
 upper hand4 ,in the child1 on the      
contrary1 the  personal interests are   
relatively weak1 and fluctuating1 hence 
the  possibility of pure                
disinterestedness1 pure curiosity1 love 
of learning1  the root of all           
originality present both in genius and  
the child4 ,the  child presents the     
innocence and gentleness of human       
genius1 the adult  philistine is the    
embodiment of the force and cunning of  

the brute4    ,we should not be scared  
by the bug-bear of precocity4 ,we should
 awaken  man's genius by giving the     
child an early1 a 8precocious0          
education4 ,we  should bear in mind that
 the knowledge of our schoolboys and    
schoolgirls  far surpasses that of the  
ancient sages or of the medival doctors4
 ,we  should learn to understand and to 
utilize the process of progressive      
foreshortening of race acquisitions in  
the history of the individual4    ,the  
great biologist1 ,professor ,c4 ,s4     
,minot1 comes to a similar  conclusion1 
as the result of his profound biological
 investigations3 8,i  believe10 says    
,minot1 8that this principle of         
psychological development1  paralleling 
the career of physical development1     
needs to be more  considered in         
arranging our educational plans4 ,for if
 it be true that  the decline in the    
power of learning is most rapid at      
first1 it is  evident that we want to   
make as much use of the early years as  

possible--that the tendency1 for        
instance1 which has existed in many of  
our universities1 to postpone the period
 of entrance into college1 is           
biologically an erroneous tendency4 ,it 
would be better to have the young  man  
get to college earlier1 graduate        
earlier1 get into practical life or     
into professional schools earlier1 while
 the power of learning is  greater40    
,i may say that within my experience    
children who had the advantage of an    
early education and training manifested 
a higher grade of intellectual  and     
moral life1 a far better state of       
physical health than children  brought  
up under the present retarding and      
crippling system of  education4 ,in     
conclusion ,i may add that in order to  
gain access to man's  ,reserve ,energy  
we must have recourse to early child    
education1 to the  much maligned1 and   
greatly feared 8,precocity in           
,children40    -----    #a ,reproduced  
in part1 with the kind permission of the

 publishers1 from  my contribution to   
the forthcoming ,encyclopdia of         
,education1 published  by ,sir ,isaac   
,pitman and ,sons1 ,london1 ,england4   
#b 8,the cheapest form of pride10 says  
,schopenhauer1 8is national pride2  for 
if a man is proud of his own nation it  
follows that he has no  qualities of his
 own of which he can be proud2 otherwise
 he would not  have recourse to those   
which he shares with his fellow-men4444 
,every  miserable fool who has nothing  
at all of which he can be proud adopts  
as  a last resource pride in the nation 
to which he belongs2 he is ready and    
glad to defend all its faults and       
follies1 tooth and nail1 thus           
reimbursing himself for his own         
inferiority4444 ,national character is  
only another name for the particular    
form which the littleness1  perversity1 
and baseness of mankind take in every   
country40444  8,narrowness1 prejudice1  
vanity1 and self-interest are the main  
elements  of patriotism40444 8,does not 

all history show that whenever a king is
  firmly established on the throne1 and 
the people reach some degree of         
prosperity1 he uses it to lead an army1 
like a band of robbers1 against         
adjoining countries8 ,are not almost all
 wars ultimately undertaken for  purpose
 of plunder80444 ,schopenhauer          
prophetically warns his countrymen3     
8,all war is a matter of robbery1 and   
the ,germans should take that as a      
warning40