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that 〃Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do〃 and it will be
seen that we have no right to impose a perpetual holiday on children。 If
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we did； they would soon outdo the Labor Party in their claim for a Right to
Work Bill。
In any case no child should be brought up to suppose that its food and
clothes come down from heaven or are miraculously conjured from empty
space by papa。 Loathsome as we have made the idea of duty （like the
idea of work） we must habituate children to a sense of repayable
obligation to the community for what they consume and enjoy； and
inculcate the repayment as a point of honor。 If we did that todayand
nothing but flat dishonesty prevents us from doing itwe should have no
idle rich and indeed probably no rich； since there is no distinction in being
rich if you have to pay scot and lot in personal effort like the working folk。
Therefore； if for only half an hour a day； a child should do something
serviceable to the community。
Productive work for children has the advantage that its discipline is the
discipline of impersonal necessity； not that of wanton personal coercion。
The eagerness of children in our industrial districts to escape from school
to the factory is not caused by lighter tasks or shorter hours in the factory；
nor altogether by the temptation of wages； nor even by the desire for
novelty； but by the dignity of adult work； the exchange of the factitious
personal tyranny of the schoolmaster； from which the grown…ups are free；
for the stern but entirely dignified Laws of Life to which all flesh is
subject。
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University Schoolboyishness
Older children might do a good deal before beginning their collegiate
education。 What is the matter with our universities is that all the students
are schoolboys； whereas it is of the very essence of university education
that they should be men。 The function of a university is not to teach
things that can now be taught as well or better by University Extension
lectures or by private tutors or modern correspondence classes with
gramophones。 We go to them to be socialized； to acquire the hall mark
of communal training； to become citizens of the world instead of inmates
of the enlarged rabbit hutches we call homes； to learn manners and
become unchallengeable ladies and gentlemen。 The social pressure
which effects these changes should be that of persons who have faced the
full responsibilities of adults as working members of the general
community； not that of a barbarous rabble of half emancipated schoolboys
and unemancipable pedants。 It is true that in a reasonable state of society
this outside experience would do for us very completely what the
university does now so corruptly that we tolerate its bad manners only
because they are better than no manners at all。 But the university will
always exist in some form as a community of persons desirous of pushing
their culture to the highest pitch they are capable of； not as solitary
students reading in seclusion； but as members of a body of individuals all
pursuing culture； talking culture； thinking culture； above all； criticizing
culture。 If such persons are to read and talk and criticize to any purpose；
they must know the world outside the university at least as well as the
shopkeeper in the High Street does。 And this is just what they do not know
at present。 You may say of them； paraphrasing Mr。 Kipling； 〃What do
they know of Plato that only Plato know？〃 If our universities would
exclude everybody who had not earned a living by his or her own
exertions for at least a couple of years； their effect would be vastly
improved。
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The New Laziness
The child of the future； then； if there is to be any future but one of
decay； will work more or less for its living from an early age； and in doing
so it will not shock anyone； provided there be no longer any reason to
associate the conception of children working for their living with infants
toiling in a factory for ten hours a day or boys drudging from nine to six
under gas lamps in underground city offices。 Lads and lasses in their teens
will probably be able to produce as much as the most expensive person
now costs in his own person （it is retinue that eats up the big income）
without working too hard or too long for quite as much happiness as they
can enjoy。 The question to be balanced then will be； not how soon
people should be put to work； but how soon they should be released from
any obligation of the kind。 A life's work is like a day's work： it can begin
early and leave off early or begin late and leave off late； or； as with us；
begin too early and never leave off at all； obviously the worst of all
possible plans。 In any event we must finally reckon work； not as the
curse our schools and prisons and capitalist profit factories make it seem
today； but as a prime necessity of a tolerable existence。 And if we cannot
devise fresh wants as fast as we develop the means of supplying them；
there will come a scarcity of the needed； cut…and…dried； appointed work
that is always ready to everybody's hand。 It may have to be shared out
among people all of whom want more of it。 And then a new sort of
laziness will become the bugbear of society： the laziness that refuses to
face the mental toil and adventure of making work by inventing new ideas
or extending the domain of knowledge； and insists on a ready…made
routine。 It may come to forcing people to retire before they are willing to
make way for younger ones： that is； to driving all persons of a certain
age out of industry； leaving them to find something experimental to
occupy them on pain of perpetual holiday。 Men will then try to spend
twenty thousand a year for the sake of having to earn it。 Instead of being
what we are now； the cheapest and nastiest of the animals； we shall be the
costliest； most fastidious； and best bred。 In short； there is no end to the
astonishing things that may happen when the curse of Adam becomes first
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a blessing and then an incurable habit。 And in that day we must not
grudge children their share of it。
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The Infinite School Task
The question of children's work； however； is only a question of what
the child ought to do for the community。 How highly it should qualify
itself is another matter。 But most of the difficulty of inducing children to
learn would disappear if our demands became not only definite but finite。
When learning is only an excuse for imprisonment； it is an instrument of
torture which becomes more painful the more progress is made。 Thus
when you have forced a child to learn the Church Catechism； a document
profound beyond the comprehension of most adults； you are sometimes at
a standstill for something else to teach； and you therefore keep the
wretched child repeating its catechism again and again until you hit on the
plan of making it learn instalments of Bible verses； preferably from the
book of Numbers。