During the eighteenth century, the ideas of freedom, democracy,
and self-determination were proclaimed by progressive thinkers;
and by the first half of the 1900's these ideas came to fruition in
the field of education. The basic principle of such self-determina-
tion was the replacement of authority by freedom, to teach the
child without the use of force by appealing to his curiosity and
spontaneous needs, and thus to get him interested in the world
around him. This attitude marked the beginning of progressive
education and was an important step in human development.

But the results of this new method were often disappointing.
In recent years, an increasing reaction against progressive educa-
tion has set in. Today, many people believe the theory itself
erroneous and that it should be thrown overboard. There is a
strong movement afoot for more and more discipline, and even
a campaign to permit physical punishment of pupils by public
school teachers.

Perhaps the most important factor in this reaction is the re-
markable success in teaching achieved in the Soviet Union. There
the old-fashioned methods of authoritarianism are applied in full
strength; and the results, as far as knowledge is concerned, seem
to indicate that we had better revert to the old disciplines and
forget about the freedom of the child.

Is the idea of education without force wrong? Even if the idea
itself is not wrong, how can we explain its relative failure?

I believe the idea of freedom for children was not wrong, but
the idea of freedom has almost always been perverted. To discuss

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