if a man were not
somebody, if he were only a sample of the race, this would be the
perfect education. As all wild beasts, all fish and insects of the same
genus and species have the same markings, so we should all be identical,
having the same tastes, the same language, the same beliefs, the same
tendencies. But man is not simply a specimen of the race, and for that
reason this sort of education is far from being simple in its results.
Men so vary from one another, that numberless methods have to be
invented to repress, stupefy, and extinguish individual thought. And one
never arrives at it then but in part, a fact which is continually
deranging everything. At each moment, by some fissure, some interior
force of initiative is making a violent way to the light, producing
explosions, upheavals, all sorts of grave disorders. And where there are
no outward manifestations, the evil lies dormant; beneath apparent order
are hidden dumb revolt, flaws made by an abnormal existence, apathy,
death.

The system is evil which produces such fruit, and however simple it may
appear, in reality it brings forth all possible complications.

* * * * *

The other system is the extreme opposite, that of bringing up children
for themselves. The roles are reversed: the parents are there for the
child. No sooner is he born than he becomes the center. White-headed
grandfather and stalwart father bow before these curls. His lisping is
their law. A sign from him suffices. If he cries in the night, no
fatigue is of account, the whole household must be roused. The new-comer
is not long in discovering his omnipotence, and before he can walk he is
drunken with it. As he grows older all this deepens and broadens.
Parents, grandparents, servants, teachers, everybody is at his command.
He accepts the homage and even the immolation of his neighbor: he treats
like a rebellious subject anyone who does not step out of his path.
There is only himself. He is the unique, the perfect, the infallible.
Too late it is perceived that all this has been evolving a master; and
what a master! forgetful of sacrifices, without respect, even pity. He
no longer has any regard for those to whom he owes everything, and he
goes through life without law or check.

This education, too, has its social counterpart. It flourishes wherever
the past does not count, where history begins with the living, where
there is no tradition, no discipline, no rever