Closing the Generation Gap; V. O. Watts

Or, "Experience keeps a dear Dr. Watts is Director of Economic Education, Northwood Institute, a business-oriented col lege with campuses at Midland, Michigan; West Baden, Indiana; Cedar Hill, Texas; and Monterey, California. [costly] school, but fools will learn in no other." In short, man is not "naturally good." Each new individual must learn good conduct. It is not in born or given to us by others. Like all living things, normal humans have an urge to survive and multiply. Humans have also an urge to live better - more abundantly, more wisely, securely, with less pain and discomfort, and enjoying more satisfactions of in increasing variety. Therefore, man finds some con duct "good," depending on whether it brings him more satisfactions than dissatisfactions; and he has an inborn desire to do that which he believes will give him the great est net total of satisfactions. In this sense, he is "naturally good."

That is, life gives to him a desire to live better. But desire for satisfactions is very different from knowledge and 433 434 THE FREEMAN July ability to get them. I repeat, good conduct, whether knowledge or practice of it, is never given to humans at birth, and we cannot get it by gift after birth. Therefore, man must LEARN good conduct. And he must learn it in a lif etime that he will find is all too short for learning all he wants and needs for a good life. Learning Is Hard Work Now this learning process takes hard work on the part of both learners and mentors - parents, playmates, co-workers, employers, friends, hired teachers, and even casual acquaintances. It is work because the effort must continue far beyond the point of immediate enjoyment. In other words, it can not remain on the level of play that is, activity indulged in for its own sake or for immediate pleasures. Because such work is irksome, learning involves stress, strain, pressures. These give rise to te dium, discomfort, fatigue -eye strain, backaches, headaches, stomach aches, giving up parties and other entertainments and forms of escapism.

These discomforts, in turn, give rise to complaints and protests, and search for escape, especially on the part of the immature who have most to learn (including im mature parents, teachers, employers, and others who seek to in struct) . For it is too often for gotten that .good manners, good morals, and even good mental hy giene often require great restraint in expressions of displeasure and reactions to discomfort-Sigmund Freud and his disciples to the contrary, notwithstanding. Student Protests Will Never Cease It should not surprise us, there fore, that earliest writings record the complaints, even the despair, of parents, teachers, and philos ophers about the bad manners, laziness, uncouth dress, and gen eral worthlessness of the youth of their times. And sometimes the subsequent history of the state or nation showed that there was more than usual justification for these complaints, as, perhaps, in the time of Socrates and Plato.

We know little about the feel ings of the young of past eras their aspirations, their complaints about the shortcomings of parents and teachers, and their protests against the pressures for con formity to the standards set by their elders. They could rarely afford, as young people now can afford, the means of recording their opinions~ But we do have enough evidence in the words of the writers in the past to be assured that not all of the young accepted correction and 1973 CLOSING THE GENERATION GAP 435 study assignments with due meek ness. Some, no doubt, were quite docile (a word that means "teach able"); others .were dropouts; and in between these extremes we would find every degree of docility or intractability, of industry or sloth. And often, then as now, pro tests probably brought about changes, both good and bad, in the methods and courses of in struction. (In the third and fourth centuries, the State-supported schools in Imperial Rome degen erated in ways now to be observed in tax-supported schools and uni versities in the United States and other countries.) This "generation gap," there fore, has always been and must always be. It is the gap between, on the one hand, those with more experience and wisdom, and on the other hand, the as-yet untutored, who are more or less able and will ing to learn. Even in the animal world we find evidence of an un comfortable generation gap when a mother bear or lion cuffs a heed less, slow, reckless, or too obstrep-' erous cub.

In humans, because the gap is so very great and getting ev& wider, it takes strenuous effort, I repeat, to close this ever-present "generation gap" in every home, school, club, gang, golf links, bridge party, bowling alley, tennis court, football field, and workshop. And the effort must be a strenu ous one on both sides of the gap, as individuals strive to close it. Learning Requires Good Manners - and So Does Teaching Efforts to close the gaps in learning then, take patience, per sistence, willingness to forgive and forget blunders, effort to un derstand one another's words, aims, and problems. The work also requires good manners, which are means of showing consideration for others, interest in their feelings and opin ions, gratitude, appreciation, and desire for cooperation. Finally, learning requires im proving morals, which include good manners and much more honesty and honor, dependability, truthfulness with courtesy and with relevance, frankness without malice, industry in countless lines of activity, and continuing con cern for the long-run, indirect re sults of one's words and deeds.

Good manners, of course, shade into good morals. Why this is so, and why knowing, mature persons show so much sensitivity and concern in regard to what we may think of as "mere" manners be come clearer when we realize what "good maners" are. In essence, they are ways of letting other peo ple know that we care about them.

436 THE FREEMAN July They are ways of showing con sideration for their feelings, in terests, and opinions, ways of showing· friendliness and a desire for cooperation. We demonstrate them in ap propriate facial expressions, such as a friendly smile of greeting or a look of concern when a friend tells of his misfortune. Good man ners may· be a tone of voice show ing warmth, interest, sympathy, and friendliness. They appear in our choice of words and gestures; in personal cleanliness and sani tary habits; in dress and hair styles which are distinctive in ways which other people consider to be "in good taste"; and in forms of conduct too numerous to mention, from holding open a door for another person to stopping a car at crosswalks for pedestrians. Good manners also include self restraint in all of these respects - avoiding flat, complaining tones of voice; avoiding words and ges tures that annoy, insult, depress, or denigrate others; avoiding pub lic displays of strong emotions; and avoiding actions which other persons consider annoying (e.g., noisy parties) or obscene.

Progress in Manners and Morals Some "good manners" are tribal or national customs, rather than universal: for example, kinds of eating utensils and ways of using them, ways of eating or drinking, dress and hair styles, and modes of greeting. Yet it is nonetheless necessary f or members of these tribes and nations, and for their guests, to learn and follow these local cus toms if they wish to show respect for the residents' opinions and to win the friendliness and coopera tion they need to survive and to avoid unpleasantness among those groups. Many young people today, hav ing discovered that what is con sidered good manners differs greatly from place to place, have unwisely concluded that good man ners may become largely matters of individual choice. They may even think that they help to bring about this freer and happier day by flouting local conventions and customs. This is another factor aggra vating the "generation gap," one that English tutors recognized centuries ago in preparing their students for foreign travel by warning them, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

True, manners and customs are changing everyw her~ - we hope for the better. There is evidence, I believe, that certain elements in good manners are going to be come more universally accepted and necessary for coping with life's problems "'- for example, 1973 CLOSING· THE GENERATION GAP 437 higher levels of personal clean liness and neatness, a pleasant smile, a friendly greeting, a warm voice, avoiding excesses in public displays of emotion, refraining from Iittering streets and public places, avoiding air pollution with tobacco smoke (some airplanes now segregate smokers), temper ance and sobriety in all things, due attention to fashion and "style," and expressions of grat itude for favors and kindnesses. A Never-Ending Struggle for Self-Improvement Similarly, certain forms of con duct which we call "moral" be cause they are even more impor tant for long-run welfare - or are believed to be so - will remain valid as long as humans want something theYJlon't have or some thing better than they now have and gain the wisdom necessary to achieve their goals.

For, in order to get more or in some way to better ourselves, we must have more honesty, more dependability, more truthfulness, more regard for the feelings and aspirations of other persons, and more willingness to invest time and energy for long-run gains. And we must have this moral progress everywhere if we are to have continuing progress any 'where - in Soviet Russia and mainland China, for example, as well as in the United States and Canada. These gains will not come· mere ly by wishing or hoping for them. They will come only as more and more individuals, everywhere, learn to look further ahead, un derstand more fully the results of their conduct, and show more pa tient determination in their strug gles for self-improvement and in discharge of the obligations neces sary to win and keep the needed cooperation of their fellows. This involves widening the "generation gap" between adult and infant or child, between men tor and student, as well as the gap between mature and immature adults. To close this widening gap, as individuals in each generation must do, we must release the in structional procedures from the cramping confines of bureaucratic contro1.

And perhaps even before this release may take place, we must somehow gain far more general recognition and acceptance of the responsibility of each individual of every age and occupation for dedicated effort in lifelong edu cation in the broadest sense of that much-abused word. A Retreat from Learning Unfortunately, age does not al ways bring· wisdom. Neither do academic degrees and titles. A 438 THE FREEMAN July teacher schooled in ancient myths may be a blind leader of the blind. The historian who is ignorant. of economics, for example, is likely to be a poor guide to an under standing of history; an economist who knows little history may en dorse policies which repeated trials in the past have proven disastrous ..A teacher of philosophy may so enjoy baiting his students by playing the role of "devil's advocate" that he promotes con fusion and distrust of reason rather than a desire for truth or love of wisdom.

Teachers lacking in courage and scruples often pander to their student's prejudices, indolence, and desire to escape the burdens of responsibility. Demagogy is as rif e in many classrooms as in po litical assemblies. In particular, the modern estab lished schools are doing to educa tion what established churches do to religion. The Founding Fathers of this country sought to outlaw "established" (religion, that is, the use of tax funds to support relig ious efforts. They had found by experience - what experience has demonstrated again and again in other lands - that tax support sapped the clergy of enthusiasm, initiative, and responsibility, so that the American people had lost much of their former interest and faith in religion. State-Established Schools Now schools and universities supported by taxes and populated by conscripted students are dis playing the same defects, for the same reasons, that were evident in the established churches. In stead of helping to close the pe rennial generation gap, tax-sup ported educators and their grad uates too often operate to widen it. Because they believe that par ents and students cannot be indi vidually responsible for education, they develop a chronic skepticism of freedom and individual respon sibility in every field of human endeavor.

Therefore, they fail to develop in their students a sense of per sonal responsibility. Instead, they teach that "society," or "govern ment," of "the establishment" is responsible for both the individ ual's problems and the solutions. They inculcate distrust and scorn for the achievements of free men and inspire a nihilistic urge to sabotage and destroy what free men have achieved. Thus. too often,. they make the immaturity of their students a chronic con dition. Truly, as many observers are now pointing out, this creates a gap, not so much between genera tions, as between the builders and the destroyers of civilization. This teaching of irresponsibility 1973 CLOSING THE GENERATION GAP 439 and subversion _of free institutions is a betrayal of trust by those who profess superior knowledge and wisdom. It is not new in world history, but we have been experi encing in recent decades a virulent recrudescence of this "treason of the intellectuals," worldwide.

We must recognize and expose this retreat from learning for what it is if human progress is to continue. ~ IDEAS ON LIBERTY Artificial Distinctions IT IS to he regretted that the rich and powerful too often hend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not he, produced hy human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection hy law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humhle members of soci~ty - the farmers, mechanics, and laborers - who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide and unnecessary departure from these just principles.

From ANDREW .JACKSON'S Veto of the Charter of the Bank of the United States, July 10, 1832.