Raw Uncorrected AI-generated Transcription
urged by the rebels that they had to he down lor breakfast punctually at eight, while the staff could stroll down at half-past. When they heard that the staff often sat up till midnight or later, while they themselves went to bed four or five hours earlier, no' more was said of that extra half-hour in the morning. I he same spirit of co-operation between children and staff can he seen in the discussions that arise round the fire in the evening, when one of the Directors reads aloud. The word “ evil" occurs. “ What is evil?” asks someone instantly. The Director, proceeding cautiously, suggests that it is doing something wrong that hurts somebody else. " But if you stole one apple out of an orchard, that would he wrong without hurting anybody, wouldn't it?* is a prompt rejoinder. Before the Director has time to reply, there comes a half scornful retort from someone else, " Of course it would, silly! It would hurt your mother. Wealthier parents, whose sons return so often from one term at a hoarding school with their whole standards reversed, especially in their attitude towards mother and sisters, would envy the Caldecott parents. They too form part of the Community, and are encouraged to go down for week-ends during term and to share in the experiment. I went down with one father who from the rapturous welcome he received, might have been the father of them all; and 1 travelled hack with a mother, laden with flowers and country produce, whose three days at Charlton had more than assured her that the ties between her and her little daughters were strengthened rather than loosened in the healthy atmosphere of Charlton. Most of us know how difficult it is, when living with children, to steer a medium course between being sentimental and being impatient. No one is perfect at Charlton ; hut it seems to me that every (rown-up person there aims at this wholesome attitude of mind, and so elps to create the right atmosphere of comradeship. That so big a step in educational reform should have been taken with children drawn solely from the workers' ranks, renders the experiment of the Caldecott Community doubly important in the eyes of those who think that the great hope of the future lies in abolishing class distinctions, and in developing the vast resources that now lie hidden in the hearts and minds and souls of those thousands of the people whom we classify vaguely as " labour.” Until this is done, as it must he eventually, on a national scale, all individual enterprises tending towards this end. and at the same time raising the whole educational ideal, have a very special claim upon the support of the workers who have so long keen kept out of tneir own where education is concerned. How magnificent the material is. both mental and spiritual, that is wasted in our crowded elementary schools, in spite of the efforts of many splendid teachers to cope with classes of sixty children, has keen proved at the Caldecott Community's school. That is why it has already received the support of prominent Labour leaders, why the Caldecott parents pay fees ol an amount in proportion to their incomes that would astonish many richer parents, and why Labour may he looked to in the future to see to it that the experiment does not fail for want of funds.