EDUCATION - THE SECOND PRINCIPLE
The second principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its growth. The idea of hammering the child
into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a barbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who
must be induced to expand in accordance with his own nature. There can be no greater error than for the parent
to arrange beforehand that his son shall develop particular qualities, capacities, ideas, virtues, or be prepared
for a prearranged career. Every one has in him something divine, something his own, a chance of perfection and
strength in however small a sphere which God offers him to take or refuse. The task is to find it, develop it and
use it. The chief aim of education should be to help the growing soul to draw out that in itself which is best
and make it a noble use.
The infant soul in his small nursery school
Mid objects meant for a lesson hardly learned
Outgrow its early grammar of intellect
And its imitation of Earth-Nature's art,
Its earthly dialect to God-language change,
In living symbols study Reality
And learn the logic of the Infinite.