John Locke

“Some Thoughts Concerning Education” 


Crying. Crying is a fault that should not be tolerated in children—not only for the unpleasant and unbecoming noise it fills the house with but for more considerable reasons, in reference to the children themselves, which is to be our aim in education

Their crying is of two sorts; either stubborn and domineering, or querulous and whining.

1. Their crying is very often a contention for mastery and an open declaration of their insolence and obstinacy; when they have not the power to obtain their desire, they will, by their clamor and sobbing, maintain their title and right to it. This is an open justifying of themselves, and a sort of remonstrance of the unjustness of the oppression which denies them what they have a mind to.

2. Sometimes their crying is the effect of pain or true sorrow, and a bemoaning themselves under it.

Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X


My older brothers and sister had started school when, sometimes, they would come in and ask for buttered biscuit or something; and my mother, impatiently, would tell them no. But I would cry out and make a fuss until I got what I wanted. I remember well how my mother asked me why I couldn’t be a nice boy like Wilfred; but I would think to myself that Wilfred, for being so nice and quiet, often stayed hungry. So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.

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