Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/662

 NOTES ON EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL EFFICIENCY

PROFESSOR M. V. O'SHEA University of Wisconsin

We are hearing much in our day about the " anti-social " traits of the child. We are told that when he comes among us he is fitted out with profound instincts of selfishness, anger, envy, deception, and the like, which were exceedingly prominent in his primitive ancestors. Granting the truth of this general proposi- tion, it is equally true that the child brings with him from afar marked social as well as anti-social impulses. He early manifests social hunger. He craves personal association, which is shown strikingly in his joyful expressions when he is in the presence of people, and his lamentations when he is separated from them, which expressions do not occur with reference to things as con- trasted with persons. Early in his career he displays a well-nigh irresistible tendency to share his experiences, whatever they may be, with his parents and teachers and playmates. He apparently does not thoroughly appreciate or enjoy any experience unless he can find others to enjoy it with him, or at least to whom he may communicate the experience. Nothing continues to be of genuine worth for him unless it has been approved by the social environ- ment; unless it has social worth, that is to say. If the people about him show no interest in what he makes or discovers, or the feats he performs, his own interest therein will surely decline sooner or later. It is not long before he is governed in all his activities by the manifestations of the people who are always present as vitally interested spectators; present either in the flesh or in the child's imagination, as we say. The child's consciousness is at all times a social one to a greater or less degree ; he is con- tinually communing with people, either actually or in representa- tion. Every act probably has reference, directly or indirectly, to persons. Thus the ego is never completely dissociated from the alter ; the latter is always present in consciousness, either focally

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