Yet no children can laugh more merrily or more unrestrainedly than these, or make a greater uproar when it is fitting that they should do so.
And if there is no need for punishment, or any other form of repression, in this school, it is equally true that there is no need for rewards.

To one who has been taught to regard competition in school as a sacred duty, and the winning of prizes as a laudable object of the scholar's ambition, this may seem strange.

But so it is.

No child has the slightest desire to outstrip his fellows or rise to the top of his class.

Joy in their work, pride in their school, devotion to their teacher, are sufficient incentives to industry.
Were the stimulus of competition added to these, neither the zeal nor the interest of the children would be quickened one whit, but a discordant element would be introduced into their school life.