Socrates misattribution – bad manners of children – proposed origin 1907

[Garson O'Toole]

Greetings list members. This is my first post. There is a fascinating
quote about misbehaving children in antiquity that is usually ascribed
to Plato or Socrates. I think I may have found its origin in 1907.
Here is an example of a modern variant of the quote from 2008:

"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise." This quote is attributed to Plato in the article
"Generation Me vs. You Revisited" on January 17, 2008 in the New York
Times. A correction dated January 24 is appended that states "Its
origin is unclear, although many researchers agree that Plato is not
the source."

YBQ has a 1948 version from the New York Times on page 717 under
Socrates and correctly notes that it is misattributed.

I believe that the quote was first crafted by Kenneth John Freeman in
his dissertation for Cambridge published in 1907. Here is the original
wording that was modified by later quotemeisters: "The counts of the
indictment are luxury, bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect
to elders, and a love for chatter in place of exercise." Freeman was
not quoting anyone; instead, he was presenting his own summary of the
complaints directed against young people in ancient times.

Citation: "Schools of Hellas: an Essay on the Practice and Theory of
Ancient Greek Education from 600 to 300 BC" by Kenneth John Freeman,
Macmillan and Co., London, page 74, 1908 (First impression 1907). The
scan of this book from Harvard library is downloadable at Google
Books. Internet Archive has it also.

There is a longer version of the quote above that has appeared in
newspapers and books. It was derived by using another nearby passage
from Freeman's book. Here is the original text: "Children began to be
the tyrants, not the slaves, of their households. They no longer rose
from their seats when an elder entered the room; they contradicted
their parents, chattered before company, gobbled up the dainties at
table, and committed various offences against Hellenic tastes, such as
crossing their legs. They tyrannised over the paidagogoi and
schoolmasters."

Garson O'Toole

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