For your Own Good; R. Clites

The paradoxical thing about their goals is that not all of them are bad for us. If these experts did not foster a rebelliousness in us by insisting on bending us to their will, we might even do some of the things they feel we must be compelled to do. A simple and personal example is the matter of exercise. When I was growing up, children often walked many miles a day to organize a baseball game on a vacant lot or at a city park. Then they would exercise for hours on end-throwing, swinging a bat, running between the bases and in the field, and playing all sorts of games. They did not do this because it was good for them. The exercise was a by-product of doing what was fun. As time passed adults got involved. The involvement took at least two different forms. One was organizing children's fun into Little Leagues, into which adults insin uated themselves. Often they purchased expensive equipment for the players. They took away the spontaneity by grouping the kids into teams determined by the adults, by setting up leagues, and by scheduling when Professor Clites teaches at Tusculum College.