The portrayal of the situation which caused our early forefathers to rob
birds' nests and kill young animals will no doubt shock the
sentimentalist who orders eggs or veal as a matter of course. There
might be good ground for his feeling were there not present in the child
the instinct to do similar deeds even though living under social
conditions that do not justify such acts. Any one who will take the
trouble to recall his own childhood, or to make the acquaintance of
children of six and a half or seven years, will realize that such
instincts are present, and that they must find expression in one form or
another. Is it wise to ignore the facts of the case and allow the child
to form the habit of gratifying his blind instincts, or shall we
recognize the situation and meet it with all the wisdom at our command?
Is it not the better plan to tell the child frankly of the way in which
people lived at the time when they did what he would like to do now, and
lead him to discover the changes that have taken place that lead us to
disapprove of actions which, under different conditions, were considered
good?
The teacher who knows that she has good ground for her convictions is
not afraid to look upon a question from all sides. The fact that the
teacher is willing to look at a question from the child's point of view
is a means of establishing sympathetic relations between her and the
child, who thus becomes willing to look at the question from the
teacher's point of view. A sounder morality can be developed by honestly
facing the facts with the child and by giving him the benefit of a
broader experience, than by leaving him to face the situation alone in
the light of but part of the facts. The problems with which the child at
this time is grappling are so similar in character to those of the race
during the early periods of its development that they afford the child a
rich background of experience suited to his own needs. The successful
solution of these problems is as important with reference to the
development of the individual to-day as then in determining the welfare
of the race. A firm basis for the development of the intellectual, the
moral, and the physical life can thus be laid at this time by a wise use
of the experiences of the race when it was laying the foundations upon
which our civilization rests. It must be remembered that there is as
wide a difference between the real situation in the hunting life and the
scenes depicted in this book as there is between the real attitudes of
primitive people and those of the child, which are idealized forms of
the same attitudes.[1] The child would shrink in terror from the real
conflict. His interest is in the dramatized form. If this dramatic
interest of the child is satisfied, it can be made to pay tribute to the
sciences and the arts. If it is ignored or repressed, it is liable to
find expression in acts of cruelty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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