“Then can a mechanic make as much as a doctor?”
“About the same. As soon as any difference is observed, more are encouraged to enter the calling that tends to the higher pay, and so made to preserve the uniformity.”
“Well, if the state begins when the child is weaned, to take care of it, why should it not begin before—a long time before in fact? For ante-natal influences are often of the most powerful kind; and when they are mischievous, no amount of subsequent education is able to neutralize or rectify them. That was all thought out in my day by the more advanced thinkers.”
“O they have “maternity hospitals” and “Homes for Ladies” and all that sort of things—of course—but what you mean; not yet. That is still in the future—but we shall find it by and by in a way that will surprise you.”
“Well it seems to me, to get even where they are they must have met and solved some rather difficult riddles,” said I. “For example in my day there was a desperate struggle between Protestants and Catholics in regard to the religious education of the children. The Catholics hated the public schools, because they were “godless.” They insisted on having their children brought up in their own faith. They wanted a share of the public money so they could have schools of their own and mix their catechism with the rules of grammar and the rule of three. How did they ever settle this difficulty—or did they settle it?”
“O yes,” he said, “they settled it, or rather it settled itself. At first the Catholics and in some places the Lutherans and other sects of Protestants insisted on maintaining their own schools, kindergartens etc., but the state institutions were so far superior to what these sectarians could furnish, that the laity broke away from the control of their priests in this respect and followed their interests in putting their children under the care of the state. As however the state monopolized more and more of the pupils’ time, it was conceded that if the whole population was not to become “godless,” it would be necessary to allow religion to be taught in these public institutions in some form. So they compromised. The different religious bodies were allowed to hold Sunday schools and classes for religious instruction of the pupils in the creeds professed by their parents. The children were also taken to church according to the same rule. This was at first made compulsory if desired by the parents, but after a time compulsory attendance upon religious instruction was remitted at the age of 12 and the pupils were allowed to choose their religion. This arrangement preserved the proportions of the sects to each other fairly well, but in the meantime there arose conditions that made this preservation of small moment. These were such changes in the spirit and feeling of the members of different churches toward each other, and such a liberalizing of creeds that all were brought together and became not only tolerant, but even cordial toward each other. The schools themselves did more than anything else to bring about this result, for as the older scholars were given their freedom of choice, it gradually became a fashion or fad amongst the pupils and finally a part of the regular curriculum to attend each other’s meetings and interchange ideas and arguments. As the ability grew amongst all, both the young and old, to reason more justly and logically, all sides became less tenacious of the dogmas they found themselves unable to prove. When these were lopped off from the various conflicting creeds their professors found themselves all standing on practically the same platform of facts and plain human duties. The things they differed on were mostly mere hypotheses. They still continued to differ, but no longer regarded their differences of such vital consequence as formerly. It came to be generally admitted as absurd that the future post mortem condition of men should depend on their intellectual convictions regarding unprovable metaphysical theories.”
“Doubtless the bringing together of the children of all creeds and educating them in each others notions had much to do with this liberalizing process; had it not?” I asked.
“It had of course, but the education of the children together, was itself a result of a liberalized public opinion. The fact is the human mind was constantly undergoing a process of expansion and growth. It could no longer be satisfied with the crude and childish notions of former generations, and was outgrowing them as children outgrow the fables of the nursery. Until men got capacity, argument and logic were of no avail. Education in the great facts and discoveries of science and philosophy gave them capacity.”
“From what you say, I should suppose there has been a great modification of creeds?”
“There has been. No church remains the same either in theory or practice that it was in your day. Several of the minor protestant sects have entirely disappeared.