The Doctrine of Discipline
The historical reason for training children which has come down to us from the religious traditions of the Middle Ages, and more directly from the austere beliefs and practices of the Puritans, is the supposed demand for a curbing of the naturally perverse tendencies of children, for a disciplining of nature into a higher form of morality. This reason has in more recent times been phrased in new terms. The mind, it is said, must be made strong through struggle with difficulties as the athlete becomes skillful and muscular through training. If the training seems for the time being monotonous and overvigorous, well and good; the end justifies the effort. This is the doctrine of discipline.