e very definite here, for when a teacher has to leave the
class-room, she calls one of the children, who, during her absence, is
charged to write the names of the "Good" and the "Naughty" in two
columns on the blackboard under these headings. The child, however,
who is called out is quite capable of judging, for nothing is easier
than to distinguish between goodness and naughtiness in schools. The
good are those who are quiet and motionless; the naughty are those who
talk and move. The results of the classification are not very serious.
The teacher gives good or bad "conduct marks." The consequences are
not disastrous; they are, so to speak, akin to the social judgments
passed upon men whose conduct is appraised as good or bad. This does
not affect society, and the judgment entails neither honors nor
imprisonment. It is merely a pronouncement. But "esteem" and even
"honor" depend upon it, things which have a high moral value. In
school "good conduct" means inertia, and "bad conduct" means activity.
The "esteem" of the head mistress, of the teacher and of
schoolfellows, the whole "moral" part, in fact, of the system of
rewards and punishments, depend upon these appreciations. As in
society, they require no "judicial qualifications," no "authority" in
those who form them; they are based on something that "all" can see
and judge; they are the true moral judgment of the environment;
indeed, any one of the children themselves, or even the class-room
attendant, may write the list on the blackboard. There is, in fact,
nothing mysterious or philosophical in conduct; it is the sum of acts
committed, the facts of life itself, accessible to all, which
determine it. And all can see it and pronounce upon it.

On the other hand, there are much more serious acts, the consequences
of which affect the community and touch those principles of justice on
which all are entitled to rely; they therefore require "authoritative
judgments" against which there is no appeal; a kind of Supreme Court
hastily convoked.

When in an examination the children, seated side by side, have there
and then to give samples of what they have learnt, that is, to hand in
that veritable legal document, an evidence visible and accessible to
all judgments, the written task, be it dictation, composition or
problem; if then one child helps another, he is not merely naughty,
but wicked, for he has not only displayed activity, but activity for
the benefit of another. T