A letter to my son
Sir: Throughout this correspondence I have not seen a single reference to what Mr Raven's son as an individual human being is like—in terms of congenital temperament and self-acquired character.
Any system of home upbringing, or of education, or of general counsel at any age, is liable at best to be a complete waste of time if it does not take these primary factors into account. If we aspire genuinely to help people (as opposed to merely airing our own convictions, with the best possible conscious intentions), and especially infants, child- ren and adolescents, we must respect their individu- ality whatever it may be—excitable or dull, bril- liant or ordinary, conformist or rebellious, and so forth.
This is the primary obligation and the primary common sense, whether we are Christians or humanists or psychologists.
C. G. Byrde 42 Thurloe Square, South Kensington, London SW7
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