[marktwain]

The "Trust Children, not Adults" idiocy is directly from the silly Rosseuian philosophy of the "noble savage".

The idea is that civilization and learning corrupt people. The claim is people are basically good until they are corrupted.

This is directly against thousands of years of experience and wisdom.

Children do not have to be taught to be selfish.

Children do not have to be taught to steal or to lie.

Children must be taught virtue.

Every child is a wild animal which needs to be tamed for the benefit of society.

The idea that people are basically good only arises where civilization and Christianity have created a society of trust.

[Fai Mao]

“Yes, I believe in Satan. I believe in evil. I believe in Satan because we do not have to teach our children to be bad. We teach them to be good, but never have to have a lesson on how to be bad. If children can be personally evil there must be a personal evil. That evil is called Satan.”

~ Anthony Burgess (On the Merv Griffin Show.)