The danger in rewarding a child is not as extreme as that of
punishing him, but the undermining of the child's morale
through the giving of rewards is more subtle. Rewards are su-
perfluous and negative. To offer a prize for doing a deed is tan-
tamount to declaring that the deed is not worth doing for its
own sake.

No artist ever works for a monetary reward only. One of his
rewards is the joy of creating. Moreover, rewards support the
worst feature of the competitive system. To get the better of the
other man is a damnable objective.

Giving rewards has a bad psychological effect on children be-
cause it arouses jealousies. A boy's dislike of a younger brother
often dates from mother's remark, "Your little brother can do it
better than you can." To the child, mother's remark is a reward
given to brother for being better than he is.

When we consider a child's natural interest in things, we be-
gin to realize the dangers of both rewards and punishment. Re-
wards and punishment tend to pressure a child into interest. But
true interest is the life force of the whole personality, and such
interest is completely spontaneous. It is possible to compel atten-
tion, for attention is an act of consciousness. It is possible to be
attentive to an outline on the blackboard and at the same time
to be interested in pirates. Though one can compel attention,
one cannot compel interest. No man can force me to be inter-
ested in, say, collecting stamps; nor can I compel myself to be
interested in stamps. Yet both rewards and punishment attempt
to compel interest.

I have a large garden. A group of little boys and girls would

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