The Barns Experiment [antikvár]

PREFACE I HAVE tried to write a book that he who runs may read. I have, therefore, tried to avoid the use of words that might send the general reader running to his dictionary, only to find that they are not there because they are not Enghsh, but the esoteric jargon of the psychologist. I hope that any such of the cognoscenti as may read it will forgive what may seem to them an over simplification of concepts that cannot easily be expressed in everyday English. Everyday English it is indeed, for it has had to be a book that he who runs has written. Hastily scribbled in snatched half-hours and brief holidays, it has no more claim to elegance of style than to erudition of matter. In this, too, I hope I may be indulged. For it is a tale, I feel, that needs to be told. One of its earliest critics, who read part of the manuscript, asked : "Who is it intended for ? " and perhaps this is the place to answer that question. It is intended to "Strengthen such as do stand ; and to comfort and help the weak-hearted." The kind of approach to problems of juvenile behaviour which I have here outlined is one that, while still in its infancy, is become a fairly lusty infant. But there are those who (whether using, or merely interested in this approach) are oppressed by the difficulties, both of application and opposition, and I hope they may derive some help and encouragement from the perusal of our experience at Barns. But that is not all. In a democratic society such as ours aspires to be, nothing is entirely the province of the specialist, and true progress is a plant whose roots reach wide and deep among an informed and enlightened populace. I want indeed to see the arm of those who attempt to use this kind of method strengthened, but that is best done by the sustenance of public approval. The public can approve only what it knows ; this book is an attempt to help in the dissemination of that necessary knowledge. I shall have frequent recurrence in what follows to the first person singular. There are two reasons for this. One is simply that I find that mode of wridng easiest. The other is that I have given frequent expression to opinions tor which I have not sought the concurrence of my colleagues. Our work has involved the co-operation of a number of different bodies including Public Authorities, such as the Peeblesshire County Council, who are quite innocent of any measure of responsibihty for the method