Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/125

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118
CHILD LABOUR PROBLEM.

the case in the United States, because the educational system is not so shaped as to appeal either to the parent or the child.

The boy of twelve who wishes to continue school has no choice. Be his mind square, triangular, or hexagonal, it will be hammered, pushed, and pulled through the same round hole, the school curriculum, which has been worn smooth and polished by the passage of other minds, square, triangular, hexagonal, which were one and all hammered, pushed, and pulled through the identical round school curriculum in the same manner. The boy of twelve who wishes to go to work has an infinite variety of choices before him. Each business holds out a different inducement, appealing to a peculiar temperament. There is no attempt at uniformity. Every opportunity is offered for individual selection.

The boy faces the dilemma presented by the school on the one hand and employment on the other. The school offers monotony, sameness, discipline, and dependence; while employment offers interest, variety, freedom,