“Our children, like our adults, are perfectly free, are not _compelled_ to do anything they do not wish to do. We do not try to _compel_ them to be _good_, nor to _work_, nor to _attend school_ against their wishes. We think that any act which is so repugnant to human nature, _under right conditions_, that exhortation and the reward of its agreeable consequences cannot induce a man or a woman or a child to perform that act without the application of physical force, is not worth doing; it must be unnatural. “The only object of education is to discover truth, so that we may be able to live in accord with the facts of the universe, the only possible condition under which we can enjoy the greatest happiness; for every violation of a natural function is a violation of a natural law, and every violation of a natural law is attended with suffering; therefore we should be educated. To enjoy the greatest happiness and to avoid all misery should be the end and aim of all education. And that system of education which accomplishes this end most completely is the best system. Therefore, one who possesses information which enables him to live most completely in harmony with the laws of nature is in the true sense most highly educated. “We believe that in the widest sense and in the only true sense, the whole world should be the school-house, mankind the pupils, our environment the teacher, the entire life of man the school age, and the phenomenal universe the curriculum. “With these few preliminary remarks, I think I shall be able to give you a clear idea of our schools and our methods of teaching. “The child’s education with us begins long anterior to its pre-natal existence. The parents’ smiles, virtues and temper reappear in the child after its birth. After birth the child’s _direct_ education begins; but during the period of lactation it is both _direct_ and _indirect_. The first nursery and school of the child, then, is the internal mother’s bosom, then the mother’s arms, then the house nurseries, then the outdoor nurseries, and then in the whole community and in the whole world. In this manner its sphere of action is constantly enlarged. It continually acquires more independence, and hence a stronger self-reliance. During all its life it is surrounded by adults and by children of various ages, who teach it by pleasant precepts and examples.