"Now what were you saying about despotism, Mr. Castle?"
Castle is the one who opposes the system developed at Walden the most. He argues that the people at Walden are under the control of a tyrant who dictates how the members of the community should behave and act in various social situations. After spending some time in the community, Castle was forced to admit that the people were not controlled by someone they could call a despot. In fact, it seemed as if Frazier had almost no control over the people whatsoever and that he was just another member of the community, not the founder of it. Thus, Castle was able to see that Walden Two was not the oppressive community he thought it to be and that instead it was a loving and accepting society, always ready to change for the better.
“No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work.’’
In Walden Two, great importance is given to the education of the young. New methods have been implemented to make sure that the children received the best education they could. Frazier notes that modern society makes a great mistake by trying to control a child’s tendency to explore and to express his or hers desires and this effort to try and conceal them is not beneficial for the child. Those tendencies exist for a reason, claims Frazier, and when mankind tries to control them they go against the natural order of things. By disrupting that order, more harm is done than good and the children end up growing and developing undesirable behaviors and emotions that resulted from their efforts at trying to suppress their normal desires.
“A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process.”
The educations system in Walden was also revolutionized to better suit the needs of the children that had to be educated. Frazier analyzed the education system implemented in the outside communities and realized that the problem with it came from the fact that the children were treated as equals when in reality their aptitudes and skills were developing at a different rate. Also, children usually manifest an interest in one or two subjects and they tend to excel at those if they are allowed to study them. at Walden, the educational system tried to adapt to the needs of the children and leave them enough room to choose what they want to do with their future. By allowing them that, they promoted education and created the right environment for the children to grow and develop.
