V A Valuation of the New System We have already compared the traditional and the new systems on many points. Let us summarize our results to derive further conclusions. 1. At every moment the student is to some extent free to select the work he will do, i.e., he himself has to organize his work. At times he will be engaged almost exclusively in one subject; at other times he will be less exclusive - that does not matter much. There is in the child a self-regulating. principle - his soul that tends towards a harmonious development, provided the child has been given the freedom and responsibility and has had time to shed the bad habits of the past. T

II The Conception of Progress and the Present World Crisis There was a time when society was almost static in its vision. Children followed the occupation of their parents and transmitted their knowledge and skill to their own children. There was little change from one generation to another. Civilizations and empires grew, bloomed and decayed, without affecting the ways of living and the outlook of the masses. What men perceived in the contemporary events which they witnessed was their intensity, their violence, not their evolutionary trend, which was invisible to them. One can really say that the life horizons of the

VII The Task of the Educator 1. As I have already said, the first task of the teacher is to maintain the class environment well supplied with objects of interest suited to the varied grading of his students. He has to prepare the work-sheets - a considerable work - and the related documentation (photos, pictures, etc.). I hope I have clearly shown that the self-education which is the core of the method can only start and sustain itself when the child finds a satisfaction of his needs in the school equipment. 2. The second task is to organize and maintain the goodwill of the students. For this purpose the teacher must carefully observe the behaviour of e