This book criticizes sharply the way in which schools create, exacerbate and ignore the distress of children, when in fact the place that is supposed to provide a humane response to that very distress. Taking a broad critical and interdisciplinary approach (philosophical, sociological, psychological and educational), the book points out the organizational, psychological and functional difficulties of today's public school, which prevent the adults working there from sensing taking responsibility for and acting to alleviate the distress of children.