第三部 知性の教育_第17 通学制の学校と寄宿制の学校 - 通学制学校を支持する議論
けれども,通学制学校を支持する議論もかなりあり,大いに考慮する必要がある。学校では,生活の多くの側面が現れてこない。学校は,人為的な世界であり,そこでの問題は,世間一般の問題ではない。休暇の間だけ家に帰り,その間家族全員からちやほやされる少年は,毎朝毎晩家にいる少年よりも,生活の知識を身につける見込みがずっと少ない。これは,現在のところ,少女には男の子ほどあてはまらない。なぜなら,多くの家庭では,少女は,少年よりも多くのことを求められるからである(注:多くの家事をやらされる)。しかし,少女の教育が少年の教育に同化されるにつれて,彼女らの家庭生活も,少年のそれに似たものになり,また,彼女らが現在少年よりも多く持っている家事に関する知識も消えてなくなるだろう。15歳ないし16歳を過ぎれば,少年や少女が,ある程度,親の仕事や心配事に関与する(共にする)ことはよいことである 確かに,度を過ごすと教育の妨げになるのでいけないが,おとなも,彼ら自身の生活や関心事や,大切なものがあることを,子供が理解できないようなことのないように,ある程度関与(思いや経験を共有)したほうがよい。学校では,若い人たちだけが大切にされ,何事も彼らのためになされる。休暇のときには,家庭の雰囲気は,若い人たちによって支配されがちである。その結果,彼らは倣慢で気むずかしくなりがちであり,また,おとなの生活の種々の問題については何も知らずに,両親からまったく遊離してしまいがちである。 |
Pt. 3: Intellectual education - Chap.17 Day schools and boarding schoolsWhen it is desired to try any innovation in educational methods, it is almost inevitable that it should first be tried in a boarding school, because it is unlikely that the parents who believe in it will all live within one small area. This does not apply to infants, because they are not yet wholly in the grip of the education authorities ; consequently Madame Montessori and Miss McMillan were able to try their experiments upon the very poor. Within the recognized school years, on the contrary, only the rich are allowed to try experiments with their children's education. Most of them, naturally, prefer what is old and conventional ; the few who desire anything else are geographically widely distributed, and hardly anywhere suffice to support a day school. Such experiments as Bedales are only possible for boarding schools.The arguments on the other side are, however, very considerable. In a school, many aspects of life do not appear ; it is an artificial world, whose problems are not those of the world at large. A boy who is only at home during the holidays, when everybody makes a fuss over him, is likely to acquire far less knowledge of life than a boy who is at home every morning and evening. This is, at present, less true of girls, because more is demanded of them in many homes ; but in proportion as their education is assimilated to that of boys, their home life also will become similar, and their present greater knowledge of domestic affairs will disappear. After fifteen or sixteen, it is good for boys and girls to have a certain share in parental occupations and anxieties--not too much, it is true, since that would interfere with education, but still some, lest they should fail to realize that the old people have their own life, their own interests, and their own importance. In the school, only young people count, and it is for them that everything is done. In holidays, the atmosphere of home is apt to be dominated by the young people. Consequently, they tend to become arrogant and hard, ignorant of the problems of adult life, and quite aloof from their parents. |
(掲載日:2015.07.25/更新日: )