"Know Less, Feel More"

In the vast patio of Buenos Aires' Institute Bernasconi, white-smocked high-school kids lined up in ranks. In 14,300 other public schools across the country, students and teachers snapped to attention before their radios. It was the opening of the school year. In the presence of President Peron and la Senora, the new Secretary of Education, strapping ex-Ambassador to Washington Oscar Ivanissevich, explained the educational philosophy of the new Argentina:

"Our doctrine is of peace, of labor, of rational brotherhood and the welfare of all without caste, race or privilege. The only privilege is for the child whom we must shape into a man, not a beast. . . . This is the revolutionary doctrine. From this day forward we will teach it in all the schools.

"We will teach first that children learn to live, afterward that they should learn to know. That they should know less and want more. That they should learn less and think more. That they should know less and feel more. That they should have more time for well-conducted animal spirits. That they should look at and admire the sun, moon, stars, flowers, trees, birds and butterflies. . . .

"We will not place in the fertile soil of their intelligence more seed than their natural capacity can nourish effectively. We will fight with all our might against parasitic . . . intellectualism. . . ."

In this fuzzy Peronista philosophy, knowing listeners thought that they heard echoes of the primitive naturalism of Germany in the thirties. They got a further reminder in Secretary Ivanissevich's announcement of a new section of his Secretariat, which was obviously designed to emphasize the supremacy of the Peronista state over private lives. The new section is named "The Teacher is a Friend." To it, students are urgently invited to bring all personal problems which they feel they cannot discuss with parents, brothers, guardians, or friends.

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