Violence: A Neglected Mode of Behavior

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 364, Heft 1, S. 50-59

Abstract

Despite Freud's recognition of man's tendency towards aggression and violence, our educational system pro ceeds as if these tendencies exist neither in society nor in man. Therefore, our children do not receive any help from our schools in recognizing the omnipresence of the tendency to act with violence, nor in techniques for dealing with it in con structive ways. In the following paper, examples are presented on how education to learn to read, for example, could proceed much more successfully if our teachers would take cognizance of children's fascination with thoughts of violence and aggres sion, and teach them both to recognize this and to deal with it.