Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves.
Jean PiagetRead
With regard to moral rules, the child submits more or less completely in intention to the rules laid down for him, but these, remaining, as it were, external to the subject's conscience, do not really transform his conduct.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Moral rules are often accepted by children, but they don't always influence their true actions.
Jean Piaget discusses how children adhere to moral rules set by society or authority, indicating that this external submission does not necessarily equate to an internal change in their behavior or conscience. He emphasizes the distinction between following rules externally and internalizing them, suggesting that true moral development involves a deeper understanding and personal ownership of these rules.
Themes
MoralityChildrenBehaviorConscienceRules
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on child development, this quote could be used to illustrate how moral understanding evolves.
More from Jean Piaget
All quotes →Logical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.
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Children's games constitute the most admirable social institutions. The game of marbles, for instance, as played by boys, contains an extremely complex system of rules - that is to say, a code of laws, a jurisprudence of its own.
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Everyone knows that at the age of 11-12, children have a marked impulse to form themselves into groups and that the respect paid to the rules and regulations of their play constitutes an important feature of this social life.
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Play is the work of childhood.
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The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.
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