| | Hi Ed,
It's not so funny, that you bring up one of the few statements that Ayn Rand made about children. All the ones I could find ( The Romantic Manifesto) seemed remembrances of times past. I could find no evidence that she studied children in any serious way. Is there any?
My remark that has opened this can of worms, reflected an idea of mine, that had Ayn Rand been a mother and a grandmother, she would have realized (as I did many years ago) that the future of Objectivism lies with children. I think that I have mentioned over the months, that Objectivists would be advised to work with primary grade teachers in order to hasten the spread of Objectivism. I discovered this notion after I read Ayn Rand's words in the Playboy magazine.
"When I came here from Soviet Russia...I wanted to secure a society in which I would be free to pursue my own concerns and goals, knowing that the government would not interfere to wreck them, knowing that my life, my work, my future were not at the mercy of the state or of a dictator's whim. This is my attitude today. Only today, I know that such a society is an ideal not yet achieved, that I cannot expect others to achieve it for me, and that I, like every other responsible citizen, must do everything possible to achieve it."
Because I was a teacher, I knew that children are born "free", lose their freedom to adult autocracy, and then spend the rest of their lives trying to get their freedom back. Later, as I studied child development, I learned how to stop preventing children from thinking. I learned how to stop preventing them from becoming responsible and productive. I learned how to create a free society.
If Ayn Rand had spent serious time with children, she would have noticed this too. She would have focused attention on this in her later years. She would have seen the seeds of her philosophy germinating in her grandchildren. She would have written on how to nurture Objectivism in the developing child.
She would have come to realize, as I have, that freed children will give you the best treatment in your old age. She also missed out on the experiences of her own grandparents; so the problems of the aged never crossed her mind. Ayn Rand wrote all about egoism, but she never wrote about egocentrism.
This is the flaw she and everyone else has missed. And from that young bastion of wisdom, Jenna Wong's friend; "When you have no peer review, it's over".
I'm not saying that Objectivism is over. I'm saying get your kites attached to some children, and watch Objectivism flourish. Get some peer review from the real experts on freedom. It's the Simplest Thing in the World. If you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
If you understand what I'm talking about Ed, please interpret it for Glenn and Landon. They and others have some skewed ideas about young children and schoolmarms.
Thanks for listening. I think I said it better this time. Must have been the audience.
Sharon
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