「代わり番こ」で公平を学ぶ
公平への要求を,道徳的な躾けでうまく対処しようとしても,まったく無益である。-公平以上のもの(ルール)を与える必要はないが,子供が公平でないことを受け入れること(不公平を甘受すること)を期待してはいけない(注:岩波文庫版の安藤訳では「公平以上のものを与える必要はないが,子供は公平などを求めないと考えてはいけない」となっているが,ずれているのではないか?)。『フェアチャイルド家』の中に「秘かな心の罪」という一章があるが,そこには,避けるべき方法がいくつか例示されている(注:イギリス人の誰もが知っているらしいことから著者名が書かれていないが,著者は英国の児童文学者 Mary Martha Sherwood(1775―1851))。ルーシーが,きょうは行儀よくしていたと言い張るので,母親は,あなたのふるまいは良くても,考えはまちがっていると言って,次の引用をする。「心はとりわけ偽るものであり,絶望的なほど悪に染まっている(定訳?:「心はよろずの物よりも偽るものであり,はなはだしく悪に染まっている)」(「エレミア書」第17章第9節)。そこで,フェアチャイルド夫人は,外面的に行儀よくしているときでも,心の中にある「はなはだしく悪に染まった」事柄を記録させるために,ルーシーに小さな帳面(手帳)を与える。朝食のとき,彼女の両親は妹にリボンを,弟にサクランボを与えるが,ルーシーには何も与えない。ルーシーは,自分は,両親が自分よりも弟や妹を愛しているのだというとてもよくない考えをそのとき抱いた,とその手帳に記録する。ルーシーは,これまで,道徳的な躾けによってこのような考えを抑えるべきであると教えられてきたし,また彼女もそう信じていた。しかし,このような方法では,よくない考えは心の底に追いやられ,大きくなって奇妙な歪んだ結果をもたらすだけである。正しいやり方は,ルーシーが自分の気持ちを言い表し,両親は彼女にもプレゼントを与えるか,それとも,今のところもうプレゼントが手に入らないので別の機会まで待つように,納得するようによく説明して,ルーシーの不満を解消してやることであっただろう。真実と率直さは困難を消散させる一方,抑圧的な道徳的躾けを試みることは,困難をより大きくするだけである。 |
Pt.2 Education of Character - Chap. 7: Selfishness and propertyWhere there is competition for a pleasure which can only be enjoyed by one at a time, such as a ride in a wheelbarrow, it will be found that the children readily understand justice. Their impulse, of course, is to demand the pleasure for themselves to the exclusion of the others, but it is surprising how quickly this impulse is overcome when the grown-ups institute the system of a turn for each. I do not believe that a sense of justice is innate, but I have been astonished to see how quickly it can be created. Of course, it must be real justice ; there must not be any secret bias. If you are fonder of some of the children than of others, you must be on your guard to prevent your affections from having any influence on your distribution of pleasures. It is, of course, a generally recognized principle that toys must be equal.It is quite useless to attempt to cope with the demand for justice by any kind of moral training. Do not give more than justice, but do not expect the child to accept less. There is a chapter in The Fairchild Family on "The Secret Sins of the Heart", which illustrates the methods to be avoided. Lucy has maintained that she has been good, so her mother tells her that even when her behaviour is all right her thoughts are wrong, and quotes: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked " (Jeremiah xvii. 9). So Mrs. Fairchild gives Lucy a little book in which to record the "desperately wicked " things that are in her heart when outwardly she is good. At breakfast, her parents give a ribbon to her sister and a cherry to her brother, but nothing to her. She records in her book that at this point she had a very wicked thought, that her parents loved her brother and sister better than they loved her. She had been taught, and she believed, that she ought to cope with this thought by moral discipline; but by this method it could only be driven underground, to produce strange distorted effects in later years. The proper course would have been for her to express her feeling, and for her parents to dispel it either by giving her a present too, or by explaining, in a way she could understand, that she must wait for another time, as no further present was available at the moment. Truth and frankness dispel difficulties, but the attempt at repressive moral discipline only aggravates them. |
(掲載日:2015.04.10/更新日: )