from “The Little Virtues” in The Little Virtues. [pdf]
As far as the education of children is concerned I think they should be taught not the little virtues but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity and an indifference to money; not caution but courage and a contempt for danger; nor shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth; not tact but love for one’s neighbour and self-denial; not a desire for success but a desire to be and to know.
- Not thrift but generosity
- Not caution but courage
- Not shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth
- Not tact but a love of one’s neighbour
- Not a desire for success but a desire to be and to know
I want to return to this short essay to reread and reflect on her ideas about the education of children by parents, including this passage:
In fact school should be from the beginning the first battle which a child fights for himself, without us; from the beginning it should be clear that this is his battlefield and that we can give him only very slight and occasional help there. And if he suffers from injustice there or is misunderstood it is necessary to let him see that there is nothing strange about this, because in life we have to expect to be constantly misunderstood and misinterpreted, and to be victims of injustice; and the only thing that matters is that we do not commit injustices ourselves
.