Parents and teachers make it a business to influence children be-
cause they think they know what children ought to have, ought
to learn, ought to be. I disagree. I never attempt to get children
to share my beliefs or my prejudices. I have no religion, but
I have never taught one word against religion; nor for that mat-
ter against our barbarous criminal code, nor against anti-
Semitism, nor against imperialism. I would never consciously
influence children to become pacifists, or vegetarians, or re-
formers, or anything else. I know that preaching cuts no ice
with children. I put my trust in the power of freedom to fortify
youth against sham, and against fanaticism, and against isms
of any kind.

Every opinion forced on a child is a sin against that child. A
child is not a little adult, and a child cannot possibly see the
adult's point of view.

Let me give an illustration. One night, I said to five boys
whose ages ranged from seven to eleven, "Miss Y has influenza
and is feeling bad. Try not to make a noise when you are go-
ing to bed." They promised to be quiet. Five minutes later,
they were having a pillow fight with great noise. Leaving out of
consideration the chances of their having an unconscious desire
to make life nasty for Miss Y, I contend that the fault lay in
their age. It is true that a stern voice and a whip would have
secured peace for Miss Y, but peace at the expense of introduc-
ing fear into the lives of those children. The universal method
of dealing with children is to teach them to adapt themselves
to us and our needs. This method is wrong.

Few parents or teachers ever grasp the truth that talking to a

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