A Dominie in Doubt. Alexander Sutherland Neill
that they will wait to see how you vote."
"What's the best way to begin it?" he asked.
"Simply walk in to-morrow and say: 'Look here, you are going to govern yourselves. I have no power; I won't order anyone to do anything; I won't punish anyone. Now, do what you like'."
Mac looked frightened.
"But, good Lord, man, they'll—they'll wreck the school!"
"Funk!" I laughed.
His eyes were full of excitement.
"It'll be an awful job to keep my hands off them," he said half to himself.
"Funk!" I said again.
"It's all very well, but … well, I'm rather strict you know."
"So much the better! All the better a row!"
"You Bolshevist!" he laughed. He was like a boy divided between two desires—to steal the apples and to escape the policeman. I half feared that his courage would desert him.
"Here," he said, "why not come over to school?"
The temptation was great and I wavered.
"No," I said at last, "I can't do it. My presence would distract the children, and … they won't smash all the windows in front of a stranger. You want my support, you dodger!"
But I would give ten pounds to be in Mac's schoolroom to-morrow morning.
* * * * *
I went out this morning and sat on the school wall and smoked my pipe. I strained my ears for the first murmur of the approaching storm. Not a sound came from the schoolroom.
"Mac has funked it after all," I groaned, and went in to help Mrs.
Macdonald to pare the potatoes.
When Mac came over at dinner-time his face wore a thoughtful look.
"You coward!" I cried.
"Coward!" he laughed. "Why, man, the scheme is in full swing!"
Then I asked him to tell me all about it.
"Your knowledge of children is all bunkum," he began. "You said there would be a row when I announced that I gave up authority."
"And wasn't there?"
"Not a vestige of one. The kids stared at me with open mouth, and … "
"And what?"
"Oh, they simply got out their books and began their reading lesson.
As quiet as mice too."
"And do you mean to tell me that it made no difference?" I asked.
"None whatever. I tell you they just went on with the timetable as usual."
"But didn't they talk to each other more?"
"There wasn't a whisper."
I considered for a minute.
"What exactly did you say to them when you announced that they were to have self-government?"
"I just said what you told me last night."
"Did you add anything?"
He avoided my eye.
"Of course I said that I trusted them to carry on the school as usual," he admitted reluctantly.
"Thereby showing them that you didn't trust them at all," I explained. "Mac, you must have been a thundering strict disciplinarian. The kiddies are dead afraid of you. I fear that you'll never manage to have self-government. This fear of you must be broken, and you've got to break it."
"But how?" he asked helplessly.
"By coming down off your pedestal. You must become one of the gang.
One dramatic exhibition will do it."
"What do you mean?"
"Smash a window; chuck books about the room … anything to break this idea that you are an exalted being whose eye is like God's always ready to see evil."
Mac looked annoyed and injured.
"What good will my fooling do?" he asked.
"But," I protested seriously, "it's essential. You simply must break your authority if you are to have a free school. There can be no real self-expression if you are always standing by to stamp out slacking and noise."
"But," he protested, "didn't I tell 'em I was giving up my authority?"
"Yes, but they don't believe you. You've got the eye of an authority."
He was by this time getting rather indignant.
"I can't go the length you do," he said sourly. "I'm not an anarchist."
"In that case I'd advise you to chuck the experiment, Mac," I said with an indifferent shrug of my shoulders. The shrug nettled Mac; he is one of the bull-dog breed, and I saw his lips set.
"I've begun it, and I won't chuck it," he said firmly. "And I hope to prove that your methods are all wrong. Let it come gradually; that's what I say."
When he came over at four o'clock his face glowed with excitement. He slapped me on the back with his heavy hand.
"Man," he cried, "it's going fine! We had our first trial this afternoon."
"Go on," I said.
"Oh, it was a first class start. Jim Inglis threw his pencil at Peter
Mackie."
"I hope he didn't miss," I said flippantly.
Mac ignored my levity.
"And then I didn't know what to do. My first impulse was to haul him out and strap him, but of course I didn't. I just said to the class: 'You saw what Jim Inglis did? You have to decide what is to be done about it'."
"And they answered: 'Please, sir, give him the tawse'?" I said.
Mac laughed.
"That's exactly what they did say, but I told them that they were governing themselves, and suggested that they elect a chairman and decide by vote."
"Bad tactics," I commented. "You should have left them to settle their own procedure. What happened then?"
"They appointed Mary Wilson as chairman, and then John Smith got up and proposed that the prisoner get six scuds with the tawse from me. The motion was carried unanimously."
"You refused of course?" I said.
"Man, I couldn't refuse. I was alarmed, because six scuds are far too many for a little offence like chucking a pencil. I made them as light as possible."
I groaned.
"What would you have done?" he asked.
"Taken the prisoner's side," I said promptly, "I should have chucked every pencil in the room at the judge and jury. Then I should have pointed out that I refused to do the dirty work of the community."
"But where does the self-government come in there?" he protested.
"Chucking things at the jury is anarchy, pure anarchy."
"I know," I said simply. "But then anarchy is necessary in your school. You don't mean to say that the children thought that throwing a pencil was a great crime? What happened was that they projected themselves on to you; unconsciously they said: 'The Mester thinks this a crime and he would punish it severely.' They were trying to please you. I say that anarchy is necessary if these children are to get free from their dependence on you and their fear of you. So long as you refuse to alter your old values you can't expect the kids to alter their old values. Unless you become as a little child you cannot enter the kingdom of—er—self-government."
I know that Mac's experiment will fail, and for this