"The Childrens Era" 玛格丽特桑格
"the children's era"mr. chairman, ladies and gentlemen: my subject is "the children's era." the children's era! this makes me think of ellen key's book -- the century of the child. ellen key hoped that this twentieth century was to be the century of the child. the twentieth century, she said, would see this old world of ours converted into a beautiful garden of children. well, we have already lived through a quarter of this twentieth century. what steps have we taken toward making it the century of the child? so far, very, very few.
why does the children's era still remain a dream of the dim and the distant future? why has so little been accomplished? -- in spite of all our acknowledged love of children, all our generosity, all our good-will, all the enormous spending of millions on philanthropy and charities, all our warm-hearted sentiment, all our incessant activity and social consciousness? why?
before you can cultivate a garden, you must know something about gardening. you have got to give your seeds a proper soil in which to grow. you have got to give them sunlight and fresh air. you have got to give them space and the opportunity (if they are to lift their flowers to the sun), to strike their roots deep into that soil. and always -- do not forget this -- you have got to fight weeds. you cannot have a garden, if you let weeds overrun it. so, if we want to make this world a garden for children, we must first of all learn the lesson of the gardener.
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