What’s in the fresco?

This image depicts Augustine’s first steps into his school years.  Monica, Augustine's mother, is pictured on the left with a halo and is wearing a vibrant white dress.  The observer is drawn to this white dress, causing him or her to read the picture from left to right.  The picture is split down the middle by the alleyway and church tower between the two buildings in the foreground.  On the left is Augustine’s teacher acting very kindly towards Monica, Augustine, and Augustine’s father.  As in many of the frescoes, the same characters appear several times.  So on the right, the same teacher is seen again whipping a young child as Augustine stands to his left and watches obediently.   It is clear that the left side of the fresco depicts the outward appearance of Augustine’s schooldays.  In the eyes of his parents, his teacher appears to be welcoming and kind and school is a safe place.  The right side shows the reality of the typical school day in Augustine’s life.  Hidden from his parents’ sight are the beatings Augustine witnesses and to which he is sometimes subject when he is lazy in school.  To describe his experiences as a child in school, Augustine says, “I would be beaten whenever I was lazy about learning.  This punishment was taken for granted by grown-up people and many a pupil had undergone it before we did, laying down those rough roadways along which we were now being driven, as we bore our part in the heavy labor and pain allotted to the sons of Adam” (1.9.14).

What’s in Confessions?

In his Confessions, Augustine reflects on how he was taught to obey and behave in a certain manner in order to absorb the lessons he was taught and become successful.  However, Augustine quickly comes to hate school and does not want to learn his lessons.  The “program for right living” prescribed to him is intended to teach him how to “get on in this world and excel in the skills of the tongue, skills which lead to high repute and deceitful riches” (1.9.14).   In spite of this, he lacks the desire to learn, and he and his friends began to sin by engaging in activities that lacked focus and direction.  He realizes how he “did sin at that time, Lord my God, by disobeying the instructions of my parents and teachers” (1.10.16).   Punished frequently by his teachers, Augustine did not understand why the actions of adults were referred to as “business” while children were punished for acting in the same manner (1.9.15).  Thus, a timeless double standard exists between the world of adulthood and the world of childhood.  As depicted by the fresco, this dichotomy between appearance and reality in these two worlds is described as hypocritical in a child's eyes.  Unaware of the reality, Augustine’s parents continued his education as their son fell in love with playing games and started the path toward a sinful life.

What’s in it for us?  

Many children pick up on the hypocrisy of adults when they come to school.  Teachers and parents set down rules for the sake of order but then break them while no one is watching.  Although they are disturbed by this as children, eventually they grow up and gradually come to act in the same manner as the adults did.  They forget what it was like to be the subject of unfair rules and regulations and act with a sense of entitlement instead of understanding.  At the same time, this next generation of children feels unfairly regulated by rules that even adults can’t obey.  Thus the vicious cycle of misunderstandings between children and adults is worsened.  Augustine argues for children: “It was not that we lacked intelligence or ability … it was simply that we loved to play, and we were punished by adults who nonetheless did the same themselves” (1.9.15).  Not only does this cycle exist between children and adults, but it can also be observed in the interactions between adults in everyday situations.  For example, an employee may receive a warning if he or she is late for an important meeting; however, the employer who is late to the same meeting will not be punished.  This theme of hypocrisy is prevalent in Augustine’s life as well as the contemporary world.