The Story of My Experiments with Truth · Chapter
Tares Among the Wheat explained
Gandhi defends his decision to keep his own sons in close association with unruly boys at Tolstoy Farm, arguing that such exposure is a necessary discipline and that good children, under watchful care, will not be corrupted by bad company.
What happens
Gandhi defends his decision to keep his own sons in close association with unruly boys at Tolstoy Farm, arguing that such exposure is a necessary discipline and that good children, under watchful care, will not be corrupted by bad company.
Themes in this chapter
Education and Self-Improvement
Gandhi's experimental approach to education, where children learn moral discrimination through exposure to diverse company under parental guidance.
Self-Discipline and Simplicity
The discipline required of both children and parents in a mixed community, rejecting protective isolation.
Characters to notice
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Defends his educational philosophy of mixing good and bad children.
- Hermann Kallenbach
Raises concern about the moral risk to Gandhi's sons from associating with unruly boys.
Key passages
“Your way of mixing your own boys with the bad ones does not appeal to me. It can have only one result. They will become demoralized through this bad company.”
Kallenbach warns that associating Gandhi's sons with unruly boys will corrupt them.
Kallenbach's objection to Gandhi's inclusive approach at Tolstoy Farm.
“How can I distinguish between my boys and the loafers? I am equally responsible for both.”
Gandhi refuses to separate his sons from the other boys, feeling a duty to all.
Gandhi's principle of equal responsibility for all children under his care.