two elements separate. The great essential is that this
"combination," this "adaptation," should take place and establish
itself as a supporting girdle at the margin of consciousness. Hence it
is necessary to induce active exercise as soon as possible, since this
is essential to such a degree of development. The aim in view is not
to make the child a little precocious "gentleman," but to induce him
to exercise his powers of volition, and to bring about as soon as
possible the reciprocal contact of impulses with inhibitions. It is
this "construction" itself which is necessary, not the result which
may be achieved externally by means of this construction.

It is, in fact, merely a means to an end: and the end is that the
child should act together with other children, and practise the
gymnastics of the will in the daily habits of life. The child who is
absorbed in some task, inhibits all movements which do not conduce to
the accomplishment of this work; he makes a selection among the
muscular coordinations of which he is capable, persists in them, and
thus begins to make such coordinations permanent. This is a very
different matter to the disorderly movements of a child giving way to
uncoordinated impulses. When he begins to respect the work of others;
when he waits patiently for the object he desires instead of snatching
it from the hand of another; when he can walk about without knocking
against his companions, without stamping on their feet, without
overturning the table--then he is organizing his powers of volition,
and bringing impulses and inhibitions into equilibrium. Such an
attitude prepares the way for the habits of social life. It would be
impossible to bring about such a result by keeping children
motionless, seated side by side; under such conditions "relations
between children" cannot be established, and infantile social life
does not develop.

It is by means of free intercourse, of real practise which obliges
each one to adapt his own limits to the limits of others, that social
"habits" may be established. Dissertations on what ought to be done
will never bring about the construction of the will; to make a child
acquire graceful movements, it will not suffice to inculcate "ideas of
politeness" and of "rights and duties." If this were so, it would
suffice to give a minute description of the movements of the hand
necessary in playing the piano, to enable an attentive pupil to
execute a sonata by Beethoven.