How Rousseau Destroyed the West

I’ve told you, Phil, don’t scold the child.
I will not have our son reviled
For being what every child should be:
Com­pletely and entirely free
To be him­self, and not con­trolled
Or forced to fit a social mold.
A child is a noble sav­age;
Don’t bur­den him with moral bag­gage—
Let him grow as nature meant,
Not psy­cho­log­i­cally bent
By silly growth-restricting rules
They teach in sad, old-fashioned schools.
Author­ity makes a child a slave
Insist­ing how he must behave:
A noble sav­age needs no guide
But Mother Nature by his side—
The less soci­ety inter­feres
The more his nat­ural self appears.
Nat­ural man is sweet and gen­tle
Till social forces drive him men­tal.
Don’t judge his actions by your stan­dard—
I will not have my child com­manded!
And when you speak of his “aggres­sion”
You’re lim­it­ing his self-expression.
So please don’t tell him what to do—
You’ll only make a clone, like you!
You were raised tra­di­tion­ally
But I want Johnny to be free
Of all con­di­tion­ing and find
His own ideas in his own mind.
I won’t con­demn his edu­ca­tion
To reg­i­mented rote-frustration:
The child of Nature knows the best
Way to learn, and needs no test
To judge him and dis­crim­i­nate,
Which is the sole cause of hate.
And while I’m here, don’t mend his gram­mar—
Do you want to give the child a stammer?