CASES ARISING OUT OF SELF-PRESERVATIVE INSTINCTS

Function of Instincts

By instincts are meant those natural impulses to do which are “born in a person,” and which are so strong in animal or man, that each goes on to perform the act toward which he is impelled even though he has had no previous instruction in performing that act, or even though he may not be clearly conscious of what he is doing. The nesting and migrating instincts in birds, the building of beaver dams, the hibernating of certain animals, the swarming of bees, are examples of well marked instincts among animals. Play, curiosity, and the dramatic tendencies, are equally well marked examples of instincts in children.

Their Classification

Professor Kirkpatrick divides the instincts into several groups according to the function they perform in the development of the individual. Chief among these groups of instincts, and becoming prominent in the child’s life in about the order named are (1) the self-preservative and individualistic instincts, (2) the adaptive instincts, (3) the gregarious or social instincts, (4) the parental instincts, (5) the expressive and (6) the regulative instincts.

It will surprise the teacher whose attention has not already been called to the matter to note how many of the disorders of the schoolroom grow out of instincts which are entirely natural to the child and indeed highly useful to the individual for the most part, their 130undesirability in the schoolroom being due only to the lack of proper control, that is, to a power which the child has not yet acquired, and which it is the function of the school to teach.

Consider, for example, the lowest of these groups, the self-preservative and individualistic, as opposed to the altruistic impulses. At first thought such instincts as anger, fear, fighting, selfishness, and acquisitiveness seem ignoble and unworthy of expression. Yet every one of these impulses, undoubtedly, has a useful function to perform in the child’s life, impelling to experiences and habits which lay the foundation, at least, for the development of the higher instincts which are to dominate later.

This is not the place to go into a detailed discussion of the various instincts. The thing to remember is, first, that most of the impulses of children have an instinctive basis hence are not, in themselves, wrong but become wrong only as they fail to be brought under gradual control, and, secondly, the impulses are not to be supressed, but rather the energy found to be expended in harmful ways must be divided into channels of legitimate action. We shall now consider some of the most undesirable forms of the self-preservative and individualistic impulses.

1. Disorders Due to Laziness, Clumsiness, Noise and Fidgets

(1) Laziness. It is almost absurd to advise a teacher what to do with a lazy pupil in the first grade. However, lest there be some teachers who may discover 131a lazy pupil among their number, it will not be amiss to offer a few suggestions. If the first grade teacher can persuade herself that there are no lazy first grade pupils, she will have gone a long way toward an effective preventative of laziness. Too long has song and story focused attention upon the lazy scholar by making him a glaring example of failure only to suggest that he exists, when in reality there are extremely few lazy first grade pupils.

It may be that a child is physically defective or is suffering from languor due to poor food or a badly ventilated schoolroom. Pupils very often are forced to sit near the stove or radiator and the continuous heat makes them sleepy and the teacher accuses them of being lazy. Sometimes parents are so short sighted as to deprive their children of the required amount of sleep, then the child is sleepy the following day, and the teacher mistakes it for laziness. Many children are so active and alive that when they are required to sit still they become drowsy. There are many causes that contribute to a child’s inactivity. It is unnatural for a child to be slow and inactive. Perhaps it would be better to assume that there can be no lazy children in the first grade.

The first thing to do toward a child that seems lazy is to study the case carefully. If the child is inactive, thereby appearing lazy, because of his physical condition or the wrong condition of any part of his surroundings, the cause should be removed. Then, if the laziness does not disappear, it becomes necessary to interest the pupil. Practically the same methods can be used that are applied to the indifferent child. 132It is only a matter of interesting the pupil. With older children a confidential talk showing the unfortunate results of neglect of work will often accomplish much.

Lazy Pupil

Sometimes a teacher has a pupil that is very slow, so slow that is becomes a source of annoyance, because he is always behind. Not a word or look of the teacher should suggest to the child that the teacher even thinks him slow. Little tasks should be assigned and the command added to see how quickly the work can be done. It is quite the wrong thing to say, “Hurry up! Don’t be so slow!” On the contrary it will encourage the child to say, “I want you to see how soon you can do this.” The suggestion should be given in a kind and appreciative manner. As soon as the child has done the task, though it may not have been in a hurry, the teacher should say something to this effect, “I tell you, you can hurry, can’t you! When I want something done quickly, I will ask you to do it.” A smile and pat on the child’s head will encourage the pupil. Two or three lessons a day for several weeks will change the child who is slow merely through habit, and what is better the teacher is doing the child a great service for future life. The teacher must remember that all commands must be suggestive.

ILLUSTRATION 1

The morning after the report cards were given out in the Whittier School in Hanover, Massachusetts, Miss Jamieson was met at the door of her room by Anderson Wheeler, one of the smartest yet most mischievous boys in her room.

133“Miss Jamieson, why didn’t I get more than ‘Fair’ in geography? Harold Stetson got ‘Excellent’ and I know as much as he does.”

“Come into the room, Anderson, and we’ll talk the matter over.”

“Bring your geography up to my desk.”

“Now do you remember the day I asked you to name the mountain ranges in the eastern part of North America?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember that you said you had not studied your lesson?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember the week we studied the industries of New England?”

Anderson nodded his head in assent.

“There was not one day that you could give me a correct answer to a question.”

“Just how much time do you spend in studying geography, Anderson?”

“Not very much.”

“No, Anderson, you could get as high a mark as any boy in this room if you wanted to. You really like geography, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. My father is always talking about things that are in our book.”

“Well, now, Anderson, why don’t you try to learn more about them? You could be of so much help to us in our geography class if you would talk over these subjects with your father.”

“Try this month to work up to an excellent grade. Will you?”

134“Yes, Miss Jamieson. I believe I’ve fooled my time away this month.”

Thus, one teacher stimulated the worst laggard in her room.

(2) Fidgets. Teachers very often speak of certain pupils being nervous, fidgety, or impatient. All these faults will respond to the same treatment. As a rule they are due to the same cause. It is necessary to discover the cause first. Generally, some physical defect of the child causes him to be nervous or impatient. The teacher can not remove this, hence, she must be patient with the child. Patience will not remove the trouble but will go a great way in keeping the child under control. The parents should be consulted and an attempt made to have the child examined by a physician. Most parents will be glad to coöperate with the teacher and soon the child will be happy and contented. Whenever the teacher can not enlist the coöperation of the parents she must do the next best thing. If the trouble can not be entirely removed, it can be allayed. Care must be exercised not to keep the pupil too long at any one occupation. It may be necessary to have some extra busy work or interesting pictures or picture books, so that frequent changes can be made in his work. A nervous child, too, needs more exercise. Have him do some work for the school, e. g., collect pencils or paper. Gradually the teacher should accustom the child to be satisfied with what will interest and keep the other pupils quiet. This can be done by withdrawing his extra attractions and indulgences until he is under the same regime as the other pupils. If the child is nervous and impatient, not as a result of some 135physical condition, then the difficulty can be handled more easily, but by the same method as described above. Children may be nervous and impatient because of home conditions or simply as a habit. In either instance treat as above. A nervous or impatient child should never be scolded for annoyances due to nervousness. He can not help himself. He needs encouragement and kind treatment.

(3) Noise. There are teachers who are constantly annoyed by a ceaseless clatter of pencils, pencil-boxes, rulers, books and other school paraphernalia. This constant din of noise is usually due to the teacher’s bad management. The following was told the author by a teacher who lived through her ignorance and arrived at the place where she saw that she was the cause of the endless noise that pervaded her room. This teacher had “little punishments” attached to various annoyances. One of the most absurd was the requirement that if a pupil dropped a pencil or other desk property, he had to pick up the object and then stand by the side of the desk, as a punishment, until the teacher permitted him to be seated. The most surprising thing about the method was that it did not abate the number of so-called offenses. Little did this teacher remember that she herself sometimes let something fall to the floor, and that the same thing might happen in the case of the pupils. This teacher finally discovered that the dropping of a pencil or book was but an accidental occurrence; and was not at all to be termed an annoyance; and that if she did not notice it no one else would. The teacher who thinks that an occasional dropping of a pencil 136or other object to the floor is an offense is to be pitied.

There is no such a thing as a schoolroom in which nothing ever falls to the floor. It is true, it may become an intentional annoyance on the part of the pupils. But it will not become such until the teacher makes it such by her constant faultfinding about the annoyance. The teacher must assume that pupils do not let things fall to the floor intentionally. Whenever she has that attitude about it she will not be annoyed by the trivial occurrence, and furthermore, her pupils will never let things fall intentionally.

Noiseless Movements

Teachers often experience a great deal of trouble in having pupils handle their books and other desk property quietly. Little wonder! What boy or girl does not recall the following expression? “Oh my! Children how much noise you make! Can’t you put your books away more quietly?” Sometimes the expression is further emphasized by saying, “I will not let you have any recess, if you can’t put your books away with less noise.” The teacher who resorts to such expressions will not be able to abate the noise attendant upon putting books away so long as she uses this method. To pay attention to an annoyance of this nature is only to aggravate it. But this is a very common schoolroom annoyance and must be remedied. It can be remedied, but not by a foolish plan. The first grade teacher on the first day must take occasion to suggest how she wants the books, pencils and rulers put away. Her pupils will do as she has commanded. Though they may have made more noise than she expected, she will win her point if she says, “Thank 137you, children. I like to have you put your books away like that.” The next time she must say, “Now, children, let us put away our books, and let us see if we can do it as nicely as we did this morning.” Such expressions of suggestive control will work upon the children like a charm. They will put their books away much more quietly than before. The teacher must always approve the action of the preceding occasion. To make the method more effective, the teacher may tell the pupils, when a visitor comes in, “Now, children, show Mrs. B. how nicely you can put your books away.” The children will try hard. It is only natural that they should. However, if they make more noise than necessary, the teacher will strengthen her influence by telling the visitor that she is trying to have the pupils put their books away quietly and by approval she wishes to gain her point. There is no doubt she will establish the habit among the pupils. She needs only to keep at it for several weeks, until the putting away of books and pencils will be done quietly as a habit.

Passing Quietly

Some teachers wonder why their pupils walk so noisily in the schoolroom. There are few exceptions where it is not the teacher’s fault. Whenever such an annoyance exists, it is necessary that the teacher have a systematic method for passing about the room and in and out of the room. To call a class and allow it to use its own pleasure in getting to the recitation seat or the recitation room is a prolific source of confusion and noise, and the most tactful methods to abate noise can not prevent it. Pupils should be instructed to slip out of their seats to the right or left, as the teacher 138desires, and then stand at the side of their desks. At a signal of the teacher they should pass forward. If there are several rows of pupils, and if they are required to come forward during the recitation, one row should lead, the others following in order. They should all approach the recitation seats from one side and seat themselves in the same order as that observed in marching forward. In passing from one room to another and in and out of the schoolroom, system will aid materially in abating noise. The wise teacher will remember that there must be some noise, but let it be “orderly noise.”

The following little incident explains a tactful teacher’s method of dealing with unnecessary noise. A certain class had passed to the recitation room quite noisily. The teacher kindly asked the class to return to their seats. When they were seated, she said, with a smile on her face, “Children, let us try to come to the recitation more quietly.” Quite naturally, the class responded; not as the teacher wanted them to do, but better than the first time. With a kindly look on her face, and a smile indicating approval, she said, “Thank you; that was better.” For the next recitation she intimated how pleased she was with their attempt and asked them to repeat it. The teacher had pleased them by her kindly manner, and the pupils responded by complying with her desire. Tactfully she kept this up until it became a habit with the class. Never did she scold or reprimand the class for noisily passing about the room. What this teacher did can be done by every other teacher.

Sometimes a single pupil has the habit of dragging 139himself noisily about the schoolroom. This, too, is easily remedied. The pupil should not be reprimanded for it. The teacher should call him aside after school and in a friendly way tell him about it. It will win the pupil to carefulness if the teacher can say, “I know you never thought about it, and of course I shall appreciate it if you will be more careful.” Now, the pupil may not always be more careful, or may even forget. However, the teacher should take the first occasion to say truthfully, “Thank you; I knew you could get about more quietly.” It may be necessary to use this method for several days, but the teacher should not despair. It will effect a cure.

Every teacher recalls that when a visitor or visitors came in, pupils were far more noisy than usual. It seemed as though they dropped every article they had in their possession, walked as disorderly as they could, and left the room without restraint. And nearly every teacher can recall how she told the pupils, after the visitors were gone, that she was ashamed of them. Telling them that their behavior caused the teacher to feel ashamed did not lead them to act better upon another occasion. It is a far better way kindly to inform the pupils of their mistake and suggest what the teacher expects. Then when the visitor comes expect the behavior desired, as well as see that the pupils are busy. When the visitor is gone, approve whatever efforts the pupils made to do better. It will encourage them to do their best on future occasions. The method of approval will succeed, not the first or second time perhaps, but by patient application.

Too much emphasis can not be placed upon the 140method of dealing with general schoolroom noise. As a rule, not any single annoyance is marked enough to be picked out and dealt with as an offense. General schoolroom noise will always be aggravated by the teacher who treats it as an offense and finds fault with it. The only method to use in dealing with it is to propose a better way and then approve whatever the pupils do. Keep on suggesting the better way and approving, and the desired results will be obtained. The method properly applied can not fail. There is much, too, in the very attitude of the teacher. A teacher who can make her pupils feel that she expects nothing but their best efforts in passing about the schoolroom or handling their schoolroom belongings, will get the pupil’s very best efforts.

(4) Clumsiness. The human race wastes an incalculable amount of energy and nervous force because of the unnecessary noise which it makes in its thoughtless habit of doing things in the first way which presents itself, rather than in a way which has been carefully devised to save noise and confusion and needless expenditure of energy. One of the finest things a good school aims to do is to teach its pupils how to work quietly and to overcome clumsiness.

CASE 20 (EIGHTH GRADE)

John Creel wears big, heavy shoes of cowhide, and walks across the floor with the tread of a small army. He hits a few desk-supports on his way to the blackboard and knocks a paint box off a desk on his way back, giving rise not only to its initial clatter, but to an indignant splutter of protest from the small 141girl who owns the paint box. The teacher, a nervous maiden lady of prim ideas, is greatly annoyed.

“John Creel!” she exclaims. “Do see if you can’t walk without making a noise that would wake the dead, and do try not to hit everything within a mile of you as you move about. If I were a boy of your size, I’d try to overcome my awkwardness, instead of shambling about that way. Now try to sit still until recess.”

John, within his outer mail of grinning indifference, has all a big boy’s sensitiveness to ridicule and reproof. He pretends now, before the other pupils in his school grade to regard the teacher’s reproof with scorn, and frequently scrapes his feet along the floor, just to show that he doesn’t care. But he really wishes that he didn’t fall over everything as he does, and he wishes that his father could afford to buy him the neatly fitting, lighter shoes that other boys wear. But he would not have anyone know these secret longings, for the world, and there is small chance that the prim one at the desk will have insight enough to know what goes on in John Creel’s towsled head and never shows itself in word or deed.

Shambling to a class the next day, John drops a book, from sheer awkwardness, from sheer lack of muscular control. Miss Prunes-and-Prisms quite loses patience at this, and calls out,

“John Creel, you may stand in the corner until you can learn to come to class without making so much noise.”

John goes, stands there in a stoop-shouldered, grinning mockery of young manhood, and becomes the 142devoted hater of Miss Prunes-and-Prisms. The dislike and resentment, which has been undefined in him before, formulates itself now into a powerful resolution to make her life miserable for the rest of the term. And, being not without mental resources, John is able to carry out this resolution; Miss Prunes-and-Prisms has nervous prostration when school is over, as a result, and both John and his school bear a bad reputation.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Treating the Fidgets

Pay no attention to John at the moment. Merely say to yourself, “Here is a bit of disorder for which I have not yet given any lessons in control. I must remedy my neglect in this respect.”

Next analyze John’s problem into its elements. For him to get his drink of water it is necessary that (1) he turn in his seat, (2) get out of the seat, (3) turn toward the hallway door, (4) walk across the floor, (5) open the hall door, (6) drink, (7) close the door, etc.

With these steps of the problem in mind, say to the whole school, later in the day, when the pupils are beginning to get tired and “fidgety”: “Children, you have worked first rate this afternoon. Now let’s play a little while. All take good positions, and I’ll tell you just what to do. I’m going to ask you to turn in your seats just as if you were going to get up, only this time nobody gets up. You are to do it without hitting your elbows against the desk or dragging your feet or doing anything that will make any unnecessary noise. Be all ready when I say ‘one!’” [After a 143pause.] “‘One!’ One boy missed! Try it again! Position! ‘One!’ One girl missed! Once more! Good! Everybody right this time! Now I am going to ask you to rise without making any noise and without touching the desk with your hands. Be ready when I say, ‘Two.’ That was good. Now we’ll try both movements together. ‘One, two!’ Right. Be seated. It is recess time now, and I will count for you. You may turn, rise, and turn again in the same way you did a moment ago. I wonder how many will remember to come back from recess just as quietly!” Do not forget to approve the children for coming in more quietly than formerly.

On the following day drill in the same way on the art of sitting down quietly, as if the pupils had just come in from recess. Repeat these drills whenever they are needed, until the habit is firmly established of moving about quietly and in orderly sequence. Drill in a similar way on other little disorders of the room until each difficulty, one by one, is overcome.

COMMENTS

Planning Reforms

Keep in mind, while planning reforms, the several possible causes for awkwardness and noise, namely:

1. The pupil may not yet have subdued his instinctive impulses to conventional form or to regulation of any kind. All the impulses act at once, we may say, and they get in the way of each other. The child needs to be taught which part of an act to perform first, which second, etc., in order to perform it skillfully, just as in bicycle riding, playing the scales on a musical instrument, etc.

1442. When boys and girls reach the period of rapid growth, the body itself is changing its proportions; naturally, it takes time to adjust one’s self to one’s body. Meanwhile there is an “awkward age,” which is annoying to the teacher, but much more so to the child. The teacher should recognize the fact that this is transition time and treat it as a perfectly natural physiological period, doing what she can all the while to eradicate bad habits of posture and movement, but recognizing at the same time that some patience is necessary on the part of both pupil and teacher.

3. Awkwardness may be due to imperfect development of the muscles or of the nerves which extend to the muscles.

None of these cases can be helped by scolding or nagging or impatience of any kind. The first can be remedied by drills similar to those indicated above. The second can be greatly helped by games requiring exactness or grace of movement. The third can not be remedied except sometimes indirectly when the trouble is due to illness or malnutrition, where the cause of the difficulty may be within control.

The following illustration indicates how the drills may be utilized to prevent disorder. The next shows how to make use of the games.

ILLUSTRATION 1 (FIRST GRADE)

Training muscles to unaccustomed work.

Training Muscles

Miss Kate Winslow was a first grade teacher who had just graduated from a normal school in which great attention was paid to the use of water colors as an aid to nature study and art. Miss Winslow was 145anxious to introduce water color work in her own schoolroom.

“Take my advice,” said a fellow-teacher, “and do nothing of the kind! I tried it once and it nearly gave me nervous prostration. Not a day passed but somebody spilled the water or overturned his ‘paint,’ and before the end of the first week the desks were daubed with pigments from one end of the schoolroom to the other. If you are wise you’ll keep out of it. First grade children are too young for that kind of work.”

Miss Winslow was not daunted, however. “I believe I can teach the children how to handle the materials,” she said to herself. “If I use the same methods which have already proved successful in training them to put away their books, to care for their wraps, to come in quietly at recess, and to keep the room tidy, and to take care of the plants and the waste paper—I’m going to try it, anyway.”

“Yes, I think you can manage it. If only you are not in too great a hurry to get at the real work of painting,” said her principal when Miss Winslow proposed her venture to him. “Better take a few days just for drill, and not try to do any real work of painting until all the preliminaries can be successfully executed by the children without loss of time and without confusion.”

Thus encouraged, Miss Winslow analyzed the process of distributing the materials that would be needed, into its elements, and then took the whole time of the lesson period for one week for teaching the children how to distribute and handle the material. She first 146told the children that she had planned a great pleasure for them in their school work, arousing their interest and curiosity and desire to coöperate with her in the attempt to reproduce in colors some of the beautiful things they had been studying in the nature study period. “Only careful children can do such wonderful work as this,” she said, “so the very first thing we have to learn is how to do every part of the work in a careful way. These little dishes that I have in my hand are for the water. You may name one boy and one girl whom you think could pass all these little dishes to the children without making a noise when they are placed on the desks.

“Very well—George and Mary. I have found two little trays just large enough for first grade children to carry. George may take one tray of water dishes and Mary the other. The children at the seats may watch and tell, by and by, which was the more quiet, George or Mary.”

In watching, comparing one with the other, and deciding between the two pupils chosen, the onlookers are also learning how to do the work properly; but the teacher must not fail to commend both the children who have passed the dishes, and then may say:

“Mary, you may choose another careful girl and George may choose another careful boy to gather up the dishes without making any noise that can be helped. That was well done. Now, this time I am going to choose a boy and a girl to pass them a second time. They are going to try just as hard as George and Mary did.”

This time the teacher will choose a clumsy boy and 147a clumsy girl to do the work. They will have had the example of the more deft children to help them, and at the same time are getting a lesson in motor control that will soon be needed.

The teacher must not blame the children if they do less well. Say, rather:

“Thank you, children. You did try, didn’t you?” Then, turning to the school, say: “How many of you would like to see when you go home tonight if you can place some hard thing like a salt-cellar or jackknife or little dish down on a hard table and do it so quietly that nobody can hear you? I’ll ask you tomorrow to tell me how many could do it, and tomorrow we are going to do something even harder than we have done today. I’m going to let you choose some one to fill all these little dishes with water and not spill one drop. You be thinking tonight whom we can ask to do such a very hard thing as that.”

In this way, Miss Winslow drilled the children on every part of the process of water color painting, including the mixing of the pigments, so that when the actual use of the pigments began it was done without noise or confusion or loss of time, and with only very rare accidents. The children were delighted and asked for no higher honor than to be able to fill or empty the water glasses—the most difficult thing for little children to do “without spilling.” So eager were they to be thus honored that they frequently drilled themselves at noontime in carrying a glass of water across the room on one of the little trays.

148ILLUSTRATION 2

Use of games in securing motor control.

Games

Miss Winter, the efficient young principal of the city’s newest and best-equipped grammar school, had realized keenly that her older pupils were entering the “awkward age,” and she determined to eliminate that uncomfortable time from her school so far as possible. She reasoned that too much talking to the pupils about clumsiness and awkwardness would merely make them self-conscious, and hence even more awkward to coöperate with her and with each other in training to quiet and orderly movements in the schoolroom. She realized that another effective aid in this work would be the use of games requiring exact motor control. She encouraged the use of basketball, croquet, tennis, games of skill of all kinds. “House games” that could be adapted to the schoolroom were often introduced into the regular routine as “rest periods,” after a particularly fatiguing period of study. The children became very deft in catching bean-bags, knocking down Indian clubs, hitting a mark, catching balls, etc., and with each new accomplishment came a little better control over the clumsy muscles, though, of course, the pupils were not thinking much about this part of the program.

One part of Miss Winter’s plan for physical development was just now causing her much perplexity, however. The big sanitary swimming tank in the gymnasium was the chief pride of the school, and now the fond mothers seemed leagued to prohibit its use. She had just received five letters complaining that Johnnie, Bess, and Margaret had caught colds from the frightful 149exposure of damp heads to the winter air. But that was absurd. No gymnasium teacher could be more particular than hers about dry heads after the water frolics. Colds that came from other sources were being blamed on the innocent swimming tank by women who believed it a new-fangled superfluity. Surely they did not understand its significance in the lives and health and training of their children, or they would coöperate instead of oppose!

Miss Winter reread the letters. Her impulse was to ignore and override their protests. Didn’t the school board know better than the individual parents the needs of the children at large? But—such a course would generate antagonism between herself and the parents of her pupils, and she wanted harmony. But how could she avoid the discord and induce the mothers to applaud the innovation which they now resented? A solution presented itself—a demonstration of the benefits of the tank! Rapidly she sketched out ideas. Then she called a teachers’ meeting for the afternoon and set her plan afoot. And the children were delighted with its announcement next morning.

Three busy weeks passed, and then the day arrived for the swimming exhibition. At two o’clock all the members of the school repaired to the gymnasium and ranged themselves along the walls, smiling consciously up at mother faces lining the balcony above. For the parents had responded warmly to an attractive invitation and had come in a body, each bringing a quarter to help pay for a wonderful new electrical apparatus for drying hair. That precaution at least, 150if they must concede the tank, was sensible and praise-worthy, they had said.

Such doings! Jimmy Cole exhibited his backward dive from the spring-board; Frank Lane, his marvelous ability to swim under water; and Alfreda Johnson floated serenely for five minutes while she smiled up at her mother in the gallery. Then there was a model first swimming lesson, and next somebody trod water, and after that a whole class joined in an exciting game, amid so much splashing and laughing and rollicking fun that the mothers felt young as they watched, and ceased to begrudge the time filched from readin’, ’ritin’, and ’rithmetic and the dollars spent on swimming suits.

And after two absorbing hours it was all over and the excellence of the new drying instrument was proved.

The mothers were completely won over and proud of their young swimmers. The big tank lacked no champions now, and Miss Winter as she looked upon the radiant faces all about her, clasped her hands and was thankful that a threatened opposition had melted into hearty approval.

Children are frequently blamed collectively for being a “hard school to manage,” when the causes of ill-behavior might be found in schoolroom conditions for which the children are not at all responsible.

CASE 21 (SEVENTH GRADE). IMPROPER PHYSICAL CONDITIONS

Strained Eye

Miss Cornelius was a thoroughly conscientious seventh grade teacher who secured excellent results from 151most of her pupils but who had one row of particularly troublesome children who frequently failed in their lessons and still more frequently diverted her attention from her recitations by their inattention to their studies and by fighting. It was not merely these mild form of restlessness, however, which troubled Miss Cornelius and violated her high ideals of what good order should be, but frequent indisposition in the case of several of them kept them constantly behind the other members of the class in their school work. Frequently one or another of the children would be found with his arms folded on the desk and his head in his arms, and when questioned would say, “O, Miss Cornelius, my head aches. Won’t you please excuse me from reciting today?”

At first Miss Cornelius did excuse the children when requested to do so, but, finding these same children seemed perfectly well when they came to school in the morning, and that they never moped very long on the school grounds before joining in the games as heartily as the others, she decided that the children were imposing upon her, and thereafter became more and more severe in dealing with them, frequently keeping them after school to make up the missed lessons.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Miss Cornelius received some light on the subject a few days later which caused her to open her eyes widely.

The “Trouble Department”

“Oh, yes,” she said to the visiting nurse when she appeared at the schoolroom door with a request that she might test the vision and hearing of the children 152in that room; “test any of the children that you want to. That row over there is my ‘Trouble Department,’” she added jokingly. “Suppose you begin there. That will give me a chance to conduct this geography lesson in peace.”

The nurse smiled and began calling one after another of the children to the examiner’s office, where she tested each of the children for adenoids, weak lungs, defective vision and hearing, etc. At the recess period she came to Miss Cornelius with the query,

“Why did you tell me that this row of children was your ‘Trouble Department’?” Miss Cornelius laughed a little.

“Because they make me so much trouble by just fidgeting and wriggling about, and by having such poor lessons. They are always inventing some excuse or other for not doing their work.”

“Why do you think they ‘invent’ their excuses?” asked the nurse, rather gravely.

“Oh, because they are all right in the morning, and many times when I stay here after school, for one reason or another, I see the very same children going past with other boys or playing as I pass them on my way home. They can’t be very ill if they recover so quickly.”

“At what time in the day do the children begin to be troublesome? You say they are all right when they come to school in the morning.”

“About half past ten or eleven o’clock, I should think. I never noticed particularly.”

“About what time does the sun begin to shine in at that row of windows?”

153Miss Cornelius looked surprised, but answered, “About ten o’clock.”

“Are the text-books that the children are using printed on dull or glazed paper?” pursued the nurse.

“Most of them are printed on glazed paper. We get the most attractive books for the children that we can find,” answered Miss Cornelius proudly.

“I see,” said the visiting nurse. “May I tell you what I have found in this examination? Six of the children who sit in that row have defective vision in the left eye, that is, in the eye next to that row of windows.” It was Miss Cornelius’ turn to look grave.

“The glaring sunlight which streams in through those windows after ten o’clock, shining on the glazed pages of those text-books, is ruining the eyesight of your pupils. It is eyestrain that makes them so nervous and fidgety. I shall immediately ask the board to change the lighting of the room, and I advise you, when ordering more text-books, to see that you get those which are printed on unglazed paper.”

COMMENTS

Two elements in this situation should have put Miss Cornelius on her guard, (1) the fact that none of the children in the “window row” were personally hostile toward the teacher, at least not before they were kept after school so frequently to make up lessons; and, secondly, that they were all located in one row. These considerations should have suggested to the teacher that there must be some general cause, not yet discovered, which would account for the apparently unaccountable disorder of that particular group 154of pupils. Further analysis of the situation would have disclosed the fact that after the sunlight became very bright the children’s faces flushed, the eyes looked tired, heads drooped on the hands, and finally on the folded arms, and in the case of the children who were suffering most-real headaches, sometimes even inducing nausea after the long-continued effort to keep looking at the glazed page of the text-book.

It is a difficult matter at best to control the lighting of a schoolroom so that no one will suffer. But something will be accomplished if teachers will remember that too much light is just as harmful as too little. The best results will perhaps be attained if the windows are provided with shades which can be drawn for either the upper or lower half of the window without covering both halves at the same time. This can be accomplished by having two shades for each window instead of one, one rolling from the top of the window down to the middle, the other beginning at the middle and rolling down the remainder of the way, or else rolling up from the bottom. Very few adults who are suffering from eyestrain can sit quietly. Still less can children do so, especially when they do not at all realize what is making them so uncomfortable. Even if they could be made to sit quietly, this would not in any degree justify the injury from eyestrain that is being wrought through ignorance or neglect on the part of school authorities.

ILLUSTRATION (SECOND GRADE)

Miss Cornelius was not an intentionally negligent teacher. She simply had not learned to keep on searching 155for the cause of trouble until the real cause was found. Miss Jackson, referred to below, took a more thorough method of testing out her difficulty.

Sick Child Cannot Study

Miss Jackson taught second grade, and took great delight in making her school work as attractive as possible to the children. They rewarded her, for the most part with unlimited devotion, but in spite of her best effort she had never been able to awaken the interest of one of her pupils, a beautiful, winsome child of nine years—a year older than most of the children in the class. Jeanette was not obstinate. She tried to get her lessons, but she never had them. She held her book patiently before her eyes day after day, and, after long perusal of her lesson, invariably answered, when the recitation period came, “I don’t know, Miss Jackson.”

One day, when Miss Jackson’s patience was about exhausted, she sat down by Jeanette’s side, determined to find out if her failure was due to “just laziness.”

“Jeanette, tell me why you did not have your lesson today?”

“I don’t know, ma’am. I studied.”

“Are the lessons too hard? You understand them when I explain them, do you not?” As Miss Jackson said this she reached out her hand hoping to increase the confidence between herself and Jeanette, and clasped it over hers. As she did so she noticed how hot was the little hand that lay in her own. Surprised, she looked at Jeanette’s face. It was beautifully flushed, though ordinarily rather pale, and the eyes were bright but a little unnatural. “Never mind, dear!” said Miss Jackson, without waiting for Jeanette 156to answer, “I know you try. I see you try every day. Some day you are going to understand it all. That is enough for today. I want you to have a nice play now. Would you like this orange?”

Miss Jackson went home very much dissatisfied, and hardly able to wait for the following day to come when she would see Jeanette again. Miss Jackson had taken a course of lectures in nursing one year when she had been ill herself and was not yet strong enough to teach, but she thought the lectures on nursing would be a help sometime in taking care both of herself and her pupils. The little hot hand of Jeanette had brought all those hospital lectures vividly to mind again.

Next morning she slipped her clinical thermometer into her hand bag, and before school opened she called Jeanette and said:

“Was the orange good? Let’s play this morning that Miss Jackson is the doctor and is going to take Jeanette’s temperature. Open your mouth, dear.”

It was as Miss Jackson suspected. The thermometer read 101.2 degrees. Miss Jackson immediately phoned a request for the visiting nurse to call. The nurse looked even more grave over Jeanette’s case than Miss Jackson did, when she said,

“I’m afraid, Miss Jackson, that it’s a case of incipient tuberculosis. We must notify the parents at once.”

The result of the interview was that Jeanette was taken out of school and put under the doctor’s care. Later when much better she was transferred to the open air school and today she thanks Miss Jackson for being a comparatively strong girl, fully up to grade 157and no longer struggling with lessons which could not be learned. Miss Jackson had gone to the bottom of Jeanette’s laziness.

2. Indifference

(1) Indifference due to lack of accord between school requirements and instinctive interests. Frequently, a teacher complains that certain pupils can not be kept at work. This is due to indifference, and in some instances affects an entire room or school. Often the physiological conditions of the child or of the schoolroom are such as to make the pupil dull. If a pupil is indifferent because of such conditions, it is necessary to remove the defect. The parent must be enlisted. If this can not be done, then the teacher must do the best that can be done to interest the child. This may help, but it will not remove the condition of indifference, for no one can manifest an interest in that which surrounds him when his ailing body demands his attention.

If inattention or indifference is due to improper physical conditions of the schoolroom, then the teacher must shoulder the blame. There is no excuse for such conditions. The schoolroom must be properly heated. No teacher should be so indifferent himself as to allow a room to become too hot or stuffy when an open window or two would remedy either condition. Ventilation is one of the most important features of schoolroom sanitation. Study it carefully and then see that the ventilation is as nearly perfect as it can be made. Even though there is a janitor, by no means depend 158upon him entirely to care for the ventilation; look after it personally.

Sometimes pupils may be indifferent because they fail to find enough in their school work to interest them. When such is the case it is a tell-tale condition, and means that the teacher is failing to do her duty. It is not a difficult matter for a primary teacher to interest every pupil. It is her business to see that the little ones have something to do, and that that something shall interest them and advance their development.

Hates School

The primary teacher is sometimes confronted by a pupil who does not like to go to school. Even after several weeks, when the teacher believes she has done all she can do to interest the child, he still insists he does not like to go to school. What is worse, the dislike is growing and retarding the child’s progress.

A procedure that has saved many a child that disliked the school is to go to the parents and in a friendly way take up the matter. The teacher should not try to evade the matter, but tell the mother plainly that the child dislikes school, and assume that it may be the teacher’s fault. The teacher should inform the mother that if she is at fault she would consider it a great favor if the mother would tell her just where the trouble lies. Assurance should be given that the teacher will be glad to remedy any defects on her part. At this point the teacher must not fail to approve of the child in any way she can. She should compliment the work he has done, and point out what the possibilities are in the child. The child’s deportment should be complimented also. No teacher knows until she has 159tried what effect it may have upon a mother, especially if she adds to her remarks, “I really like your little boy (or girl),” and then states just why. Usually, this method will effect the remedy. When the child learns from his mother of the teacher’s interest, he will look upon the teacher as upon one who loves him.

The teacher should then make the most of the advantages gained by the visit to the mother. Show the child every consideration in the schoolroom. If he does not have his lessons as he should, there should not be a word or sign of faultfinding. That would off-set all the good done by the visit. Whatever the child does accomplish should be approved and assistance given where needed.

Within a few days the teacher should make it her business to visit the home again, and if the child has shown the slightest increase in interest the teacher should very tactfully approve it. Care must be taken not to overdraw the situation, since, to the parent, such statements may seem to be false. No one knows a child’s likes and dislikes better than the mother knows them.

(2) Indifference due to parent’s attitude. Sometimes the parents themselves through suggestion unconsciously stimulate a feeling of indifference on the part of the children which handicaps them throughout all their school life.

CASE 22 (FIRST GRADE)

Beginning School

“John is six years old today and I’m going to start him off to school. I’ll be thankful enough to be rid of his noise for a few hours in the day and to get a 160chance to do my work in peace. John is such a noisy boy! He nearly drives me distracted sometimes!”

It was Mrs. Basset who was speaking. John continued ‘playing sojer’ long enough to give his drum an extra loud banging, as he remarked, “I ain’t going to school. I’m a sojer. Sojers don’t have to go to school.”

The truth was that John, having no older brothers and sisters to instruct him in such matters, had very little idea what sort of a place school was, but from the irritation expressed by his mother’s words, and the slight whine in her voice, he not unnaturally drew the inference that school was a place where mothers sent children to get rid of them and to punish them. Naturally this impression did not cause John to be kindly disposed toward his new environment. He left home crying, was still crying when he reached the school room, and sulked and wept by turns throughout the day, remembering meanwhile his beloved drum and the disillusionment of “sojer” life. “Time softened somewhat the poignancy of his grief” at having to go to school but he never got over the feeling that school was a place of punishment—a feeling that grew stronger rather than weaker as days went by, because of various and frequent punishments, which his teacher felt bound to administer as a result of his indifference and in order to keep him up to grade. John never learned to like school.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Treat with redoubled kindness the child who is doubly handicapped by not only being suddenly 161thrown into new surroundings, but by being obliged to meet this ordeal without the active encouragement and sympathetic coöperation of members of his home. During his first year his attitude toward school is being formed for all future years. The teacher then may well make a special effort in behalf of such a child in order to win his confidence and secure his hearty coöperation in the daily lessons.

All the while the teacher is working to gain the child’s liking for school, he may encourage the child with little expressions of approval, play with him on the schoolground and see that he enjoys himself in school. The teacher can walk home with him and tell him fascinating stories, or it would not at all be out of the way to give him some little favor as candy, pencil, or a picture. There can be no question that the child will learn to like school if the teacher tactfully uses this method.

Never try to conquer a child’s dislike for school by punishments. Unhappiness can not be cured by adding more unhappiness.

COMMENTS

John’s teacher did not analyze the situation sufficiently to discover the relation between John’s attitude toward school and the home attitude toward John and toward his individual interests. The mother was wrong, of course, in feeling that peace and quiet and the accomplishment of a certain amount of work was of more importance than intelligent understanding of John’s childish impulses, interests and instincts; but John’s teacher made exactly the same mistake in 162feeling that by accomplishing a certain amount of work, “keeping up to grade,” her responsibility was discharged. Both parent and teacher failed to apply the principle of initiative in coöperation. Both tried to suppress John’s individualistic instincts rather than to utilize them for his advancement.

ILLUSTRATION (THIRD GRADE)

Dislike of School

Mr. James was a teacher in a private school in Kentucky. He had one third grade pupil who threatened to leave school. Mr. James could not learn why, but decided he would visit the home. He took initiative and told the pupil that he would spend Sunday in the home. While there he said nothing about the child’s dislike for school, but tactfully approved all his good traits. When the parent spoke of the child’s dislike for school he remarked, “When he has gone a little longer, he will like school so well you can’t coax him away.” Mr. James strove to make himself genial and jovial in the home. He showed an interest in the other children, in the home itself and in its activities, and he captivated the child when he went out in the afternoon with the father to look at the cows, horses, and swine, and to take a walk over the farm. All the while he had the child by the hand and manifested no end of pleasure in the farm products. The visit had the desired effect. The child never again even hinted at a dislike of the school. He came regularly and was one of the best pupils.

163CASE 23 (EIGHTH GRADE)

Truancy

(3) Indifference due to truancy. The Milville School was noted for the good attendance of its pupils. Mr. Benson of the eighth grade had been especially anxious that his room should be the “banner room” in that respect. He often said to the pupils, “You know, boys and girls, that you are the highest grade. You are older than the other pupils and surely you should have the best record of any grade in town.”

One warm, dull, spring day, three of the eighth grade boys were absent. Mr. Benson’s inquiries as to their whereabouts failed to bring the desired information but as he was going home that night, one of the smaller boys confided to him, “I saw some of the big boys goin’ a-fishin’.”

The following day Mr. Benson requested the three boys to remain after school. They admitted the truth of the charge that they had played truant in order to go fishing, but promised not to offend again in this way if they could be excused for this once.

“Boys, I can not let this pass without a punishment,” said Mr. Benson. “Your offense is too serious. You not only have broken the regulations of the school but you are now behind in your lessons and, furthermore, you have lost for the grade the chance of being the ‘banner grade’ in attendance. I shall punish each of you severely.” Taking a rule from the desk he struck several severe blows upon the palm of each boy’s hand.

164The boys never absented themselves from school again, but, on the other hand, their indifference toward their studies was even more marked than before.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Fishing

1. In dealing with such a case remember, first of all, that the liking which the boys have for fishing is not something wrong in itself. It will help to soften your own anger and disappointment in losing the “banner” for attendance, to picture to yourself the coolness and sweetness and lure of the woodsy stream which tempted the boys away.

2. Admit to yourself that the reason the boys went was because the woods and its game were vastly more interesting to them than the schoolroom. Then say to yourself, “Have I made the schoolroom work just as interesting as it is possible to make it? Would the boys have done this thing if I had joined in their sports on the playground, or if I had had a nature study lesson planned for that afternoon with some one of their animal pets as the subject of the study?”

3. Do not allow your personal feelings of disappointment to have an influence in determining the form and degree of punishment. Whipping a boy may relieve your own disappointment and indignation, but it does not cure the disease for which it is administered, namely, indifference or lack of interest toward the school work.

4. The regulations of towns, cities and states regarding what kind of punishments a teacher may or may not administer differ so much in different places that it is impossible to give a rule that can be followed 165in every case. Every teacher should inform himself as to the law in his particular state or city. But if there is no regulation to the contrary, the following course of treatment would doubtless be a more effective punishment than whipping, and at the same time leave less resentment in the minds of the pupils:

As soon as you are certain that the boys really went fishing write a note to each of the fathers of the three boys as follows:—“Dear Sir: I dismissed your son this morning for truancy from school. He may return if you will guarantee his satisfactory conduct from this time on.” Send these letters by mail, not by the boys.

The probability is that in a very short time the boys will return with the father, or with the father’s guarantee, and you will receive them on the same terms as before their offense. But meanwhile resolve to make good use of the principles of substitution and initiative in coöperation. If the boys may not be allowed to go fishing in school hours, try to have some part at least of the day’s work equally attractive. Share in the personal life of the boys on the schoolground and at home. Study to further their plans in all good things, and to coöperate with them whenever there is opportunity. Plan a fishing party for Saturday afternoon that all the boys can join in, and go with them. They will be the more ready to coöperate with you in enforcing regulations that are laid down for the good of all.

5. Boys in the eighth grade are old enough to understand and respond to the appeal of altruism or coöperation. Make very clear to the school in general talk some day how much the whole body suffers, (as in 166the loss of the “banner”) when one member allows his individualistic impulses to carry him too far.

ILLUSTRATION 1 (SEVENTH GRADE)

Goldfish

Rudolph was a mischievous, meddlesome boy. At least his teacher, Miss Green, thought so. He was forever bringing to school grasshoppers, toads, white mice, fish-worms and small snakes. He delighted in tormenting the little girls by parading his pets when Miss G. was not looking.

One day in geography class he drew from his pocket a toad, and sent it hopping down the aisle. The toad performed its feats gracefully and the children on both sides of the aisle watched it with keen interest, the boys leaning over in order to see it better, and the girls drawing their skirts around them and uttering little broken exclamations. Miss G., sitting at her desk, could not see the disturbing toad and corrected the children several times for making so much noise.

Then, at last, she saw the toad, and anticipating its source, told Rudolph to take the toad to his home.

In the meantime Miss G. had formulated a plan to outwit and interest Rudolph.

The next day at recess, Miss G. called Rudolph to her and said,

“Rudolph, I’m going to bring some goldfish to school and I want you to take care of them.”

Now this just suited Rudolph, for he had always admired the goldfish he had seen in the pond in Central Park and was anxious to have some to take care of himself. He was at school early next morning and fed the fish before school began.

167For two weeks he daily changed the water on the fish and fed them every day. Then Miss G. passed the privilege of caring for the fish around the room, giving each pupil the care of the fish for one week. There was the ever-present interest of watching the growth of the fish, their frantic maneuvers when being fed, and their skillful swimming. There was also the admiration of the beautiful colorings of the fish—the pearl fish with its many gleams and shades, the goldfish with its gorgeous, flaming brilliancy, and the red fish with its darker tones, suggesting depths of beauty.

Then one day Miss Green realized that Rudolph was an obedient, orderly, altogether changed boy.

ILLUSTRATION 2 (HIGH SCHOOL)

Milk-Testing

The new superintendent had arrived in town and was lunching at the restaurant. A youth of fifteen was serving him.

“My name’s Joe Jones and they always say I can cause more trouble in school than most anybody else,” volunteered the lad behind the counter.

“Well, I guess we won’t have any trouble,” said the schoolman. “I am sure we can be friends at least.”

The superintendent’s inquires brought out the facts that Joe was working in the agricultural department and that his school record had not been the best. If something else interested him more than school, away he would go to that. He was afflicted with the “wanderlust” and apparently could not help himself at times. He did not always mean to transgress but his lack of self-control asserted itself now and then and off he would go.

168As a result he would get behind in his school work and then lose interest. He was a bright, capable, good-hearted boy when he wanted to be. His home environment was poor so that he largely looked out for himself.

“Say, Joe, I have a problem here for you,” said the superintendent one day as Joe was returning from one of his periodical absences.

“Humph, no arithmetic in mine. Them problems are not in my line,” responded Joe with more enthusiasm than grammar.

“Oh, this problem isn’t in arithmetic, Joe, it’s a real live problem.”

Joe’s face brightened, for real live problems did interest him.

“What’s your problem, then,” said Joe with a great deal of curiosity.

Now Joe liked to work but he was not overfond of books. One thing connected with school he especially liked was milk-testing. He needed no books in this after he was once started.

“Well, Joe, these other boys here have no system of keeping a record of their tests and I want you to help them in the testing; keep a record of all the tests yourself, and show them how to keep a good record. Will you do it?”

“Guess I can,” returned Joe, taking charge of things at once as they reached the classroom.

For two months, during the testing, Joe was always on hand, the most enthusiastic fellow in the class. During this time, by occasional suggestions on the part of his teacher, he also kept up his regular work in good shape.

169The testing over, however, Joe began to get back into his old habits.

About this time a new savings bank system was started in connection with the school. Each pupil must be provided with blanks whenever he might call for them.

“Joe,” said the teacher one day, “how would you like to take charge of giving out the blanks and keeping a record of them? Your work in keeping testing records was so good I want to give you first chance here.”

“Suits me all right,” said Joe, with a smiling face. “Guess I can do it, if anybody can.”

Joe’s new responsibility required him to be present every day. He became very much interested in his work and really did it remarkably well.

Thus, by a little praise and a little responsibility placed on Joe, he gradually became regular in his habits and later completed his school work. He is now a very successful business man.

3. Stubbornness

Stubbornness is closely related to temper, still what may subdue an ungovernable temper will not always pacify stubbornness. There are on record but few cases of stubbornness in which it did not result in some outbreak of ill-temper. Stubbornness is generally considered an inherited trait; it naturally gives rise to certain habits. These habitual states of mind and forms of conduct require treatment according to the principles of this Course, with due patience on the part of the disciplinarian, until a cure is effected. It 170may take several years of patient training. Then, too, the teacher must remember that she can deal with stubbornness in older pupils better than in first grade pupils. However, much valuable training can begin—and it is most imperative that this training should begin in the first grade.

The first step in dealing with a stubborn child is to learn what causes the child to become stubborn. Whatever it is that will provoke the child into stubbornness must be avoided by the teacher. The teacher must go further, she must arrange the child’s work and play and his associations with the other pupils as to avoid any and all causes for stubbornness. Could this plan be worked out perfectly, the child would have no occasion for becoming stubborn. After several months or a year of such close supervision, the trait would become weakened and the tendency to become stubborn would be less marked. It is a fact that any trait in an individual is strengthened by using it. The opposite also is true, that any trait in an individual will be weakened and finally die out if it is not used or exercised.

If the teacher were able to keep up a close supervision of the child she could hope to effect a complete cure; but with so many things in the schoolroom to occupy his attention, there will be times when the child will find a reason for being stubborn. Whenever that happens, the teacher must remember that to notice the stubbornness will only intensify it. Assuming that the pupil is in a recitation and the teacher calls upon him or asks a question and fails to get a response, the teacher should pass on the recitation to another pupil, 171paying no attention to the child. The chances are that he will respond in a very indifferent way. By no means should the teacher fail to accept it, nor should he make any adverse criticism upon it, even though the recitation may have been wrong. Instead the teacher should approve the effort. A winning smile and words to this effect will rock the child’s citadel of stubbornness. “That was good; I am glad you tried. Thank you.” The child may not be cured of stubbornness; however, by calling on him to recite, the teacher has taken a step in the right direction, she has done all she can under the circumstances; the child has responded, at least, with some little feeling of gratitude. This lays the basis for confidence and complete obedience.

At the close of the recitation, if busy work is to be assigned, the teacher should give it to each pupil, and the stubborn child, alike. If he does not respond, nothing should be said. No look or word of disapproval should be given by the teacher. A special trip to his seat and very kind assistance will get some work from him. This work should be approved. The child should now be left alone. Just as soon as he shows signs of coöperation, the teacher should talk in a friendly way, show some puzzle, or give some kind notice. This method will, as a rule, effect a check to stubbornness in any first grade pupil.

In addition the teacher may tell stories and give direct instructions against stubbornness, but the most emphatic caution is necessary. Such instruction must be given when the child is in his very best mood. The teacher must do such instructing in all kindness, never 172once hinting to the child that she is instructing in this way because of his stubbornness. This last method may be effective in some cases. Really it should be a last resort, and if possible it should not be used at all. The first two methods will effect prevention if consistently and persistently used. Do not whip a child for stubbornness. Such action may stop it for the time being, but whipping does nothing to remove the trait. Any kind of discipline that does not eradicate traits and habits, considered misdemeanors, is not discipline but cruelty. The kind of discipline that is corrective and worth while is that which is lasting: that which helps the child for all his life by aiding him to control himself.

CASE 24 (SIXTH GRADE)

Sulks

(1) Stubbornness due to an unwise parent. Olive Montgomery was an only and a spoiled child. She had a sunny temper usually, but there were times when her face was clouded, her brows contracted, her lips protruded and her whole attitude one of gloomy defiance. At such times her mother was wont to say, “When Olive looks like that, there’s no use to try to do anything with her. You just have to let her alone until she gets over it.” In spite of the fact that her mother unintentionally strengthened this trait she was outgrowing it somewhat, because of the daily association with other children.

When she was twelve years old there was one day on which she was especially tried.

She had attended a party the night before. Miss Rhodes, her teacher, had found fault with her for not 173knowing her lessons. She had borrowed Miriam Sharpe’s problems in arithmetic to copy and lost them. Miriam threatened her with exposure if she didn’t return the problems. She now borrowed Lucy Partridge’s problems and was expecting to stay in at recess and make one copy of them for herself and one for Miriam. She was angered at the thought of losing her recess, and moreover was tired and half ill.

When Miss Rhodes said, “Put your books in order,” Olive sat up but left her arithmetic open on her desk. This book she placed there to hide the fact that she had been copying and to give a pretense of original work. Miss Rhodes said, “Olive, put your books in order.” Olive began to pout and did not obey; when the others arose to pass out she remained in her seat. “Olive, you must go out and play with the rest,” said Miss Rhodes. Olive sat inactive, with a defiant look upon her face.

As Miss Rhodes started toward her she hastily concealed Lucy’s paper but settled more defiantly into her seat. Miss Rhodes now said, “Olive, don’t you hear me?” No answer. “Olive, I am talking to you,” in a sterner tone, “you must go out and play.” Still no response. “Olive, you must put your desk in order. If you don’t I’ll punish you.” Olive gave no sign of hearing this threat.

Miss Rhodes took from her desk a ruler and told Olive to put out her hand. Olive sat like a statue of gloom personified. Finally, Miss Rhodes seized her hand and struck the palm with the ruler. A few tears slid over Olive’s cheeks but that was the only visible effect of the stroke. Puzzled Miss Rhodes again 174struct her hand two sharp blows. Still Olive scarcely moved.

Anger showed plainly in the teacher’s voice and face. Brute force was going to settle the question of which was to be the winner. Miss Rhodes slammed the arithmetic into the desk; in doing so the lost arithmetic paper fell, name uppermost, at her feet. She was too blinded by anger to see it. She jerked Olive out of the seat and literally put her out of the room. She thought her duty was well done!

Olive felt greatly “insulted” by the treatment she had received. She used her influence to have Miss Rhodes dubbed “Miss Highway” when she seemed especially lofty to her pupils and “Miss Alley” when she reproved them. These nicknames were shortened to the deaf and dumb A and H and were soon signalled back and forth across the room by all the pupils. It was impossible for Miss Rhodes to build up confidence and a coöperative atmosphere in the face of this great obstacle.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Determine at once when some one fails to comply with a request made to all pupils at the same time whether the cause is inattention or rebellion.

As Olive’s case is one of rebellion let her alone until the others have left the room, then in a kindly manner find out the cause of her disobedience. If she refuses to talk, take no further notice of it at that time, being sure that the fault lies in part with yourself. While you are resting the case for the time being, review your attitude toward the child and plan 175with great care the right approach for the next interview.

The next day, at some moment when you are sure that Olive is her normal self again and no one is about you, talk frankly with her about her stubborn conduct.

Do not use the word “stubborn” or any accusing term in talking about it. Begin something like this: “Olive, yesterday at recess when you seemed not to hear me, I may have been at fault. I wanted more than anything else to help you over a hard day. Perhaps my manner or voice did not tell you that but I just wanted you to know how I really felt about it.”

COMMENTS

There seems to be no more frequent blunder in a teacher’s management of an insubordinate child than that of acting without foresight.

What diagnosis is, in medicine, analysis of a child’s thoughts and feelings is for the teacher.

This injunction can not be too often repeated since each instance of disobedience or other wrong action has unique features that require unique treatment.

Miss Rhodes gave not one moment to seeking a cause for Olive’s misbehavior; her attention was devoted wholly to getting the girl to “obey.”

By this neglect Miss Rhodes lost a good opportunity, and delayed a much needed reform. In this instance Olive showed a rebellious spirit. Her classmates had been carefully drilled so that nearly all of them pleasantly accepted the orderly methods of their teacher. They enjoyed having their desks in good order and liked the class exercises that involved rhythmic movements 176and team-work. There was left little opportunity for inattention or tendency toward it.

Having decided that the child is sulking there is nothing to be permanently gained for Olive by forcing her to obey. A rebellious mood is not dissipated by coercion; one must wait until the wave of resentment has passed. Unless physical danger or great disaster threatens, because of a retarded obedience, it is better to let the child alone until the rebellious feeling has passed away.

Novelty Cures Moodiness

The only alternative is to distract the mind by presenting objects of interest. No one, child or adult, is able to maintain moods of resentment, rebellion, or injured pride very long if he can be induced to attend closely to some neutral object.

One of the richest sources of information on the control of children is observation of children as they associate together. For example, children do not often parley long with a moody playmate. They leave her out of their plans; she soon begins drinking of the bitter dregs of isolation and abandons her unsocial attitudes.

The teacher has no need to fear that her control of other children who witness a stubborn child’s behavior will be threatened if she does not at the moment enforce obedience. They will understand that this child is simply being “left out of the game” until she gets ready to “play” again. If the teacher has not yet established confidence between herself and her pupils by use of methods of coöperation and feels forced to compel obedience at the moment, she must be absolutely sure that the child is given no cause for suspecting 177any antagonism whatever in the teacher’s attitude. The use of the ruler was wrong because it brought in the element of vengeance or reciprocal antagonism. If the stubborn child is constrained to fall into line with commands the forcing should be done in a happy, helpful spirit, so that the child may say to herself, “Miss Rhodes is helping me to do what I know I really should do.”

A word as to the interval that may elapse between an offense and the interview between teacher and pupil. As a rule it is best to confer with a pupil as soon after the misdeed as his mind is free from the peculiar feelings generated in the wrong act and when his thought is closely associated with it.

A delay of several days makes a review of the incident out-of-date, disagreeable and unduly antagonizes the pupil. He tends to forget the incident; its revival even under the best circumstances is an occasion of strain between pupil and teacher.

It is therefore an economy to settle the whole matter while it is of necessity fresh in the pupil’s mind and yet when his passions have cooled down. This will relieve the dread of all persons involved and will restore speedily the usual flow of personal relations.

The basis of Olive’s trouble was the oft-repeated word of her mother, “When Olive looks like that you can’t do anything with her.”

This has possessed her mind until, by prolonging her negative mood she has been able to create a considerable stir in the family life and to make a record to which no one else in the family has attained.

The school has a duty in killing this sort of impulse 178to win attention. The method of starvation will work the best cure. That is, if Olive receives no “credit” at school for her “excellence” in pouting, the desire to try for honors in this matter will finally vanish.

The teacher must find out this small fact and conduct her treatment as suggested, omitting allusions to “sulkiness,” “rebellion,” “stubbornness” so as to make room for positive and constructive suggestions.

A huge wave of good feeling and sympathetic interest from Miss Rhodes with suitable coöperative action will have the desired effect.

ILLUSTRATION (SIXTH GRADE)

The Cure

Dorothy Jones had been stubborn from babyhood. Her mother had very frequently said to her father: “Dorothy had one of her stubborn spells today. I can’t make her do a single thing when she takes one of these spells.” Her father would give a sly wink at Dorothy and reply, “O, she’ll outgrow it.”

The injured tone which her mother used when speaking of the matter gave Dorothy the opinion that her stubbornness was a good means of punishing her mother for putting her under too many restrictions and her father’s attitude caused her to believe that her conduct was a shrewd procedure.

When Dorothy started to school Mrs. Jones accompanied her and told her teacher that the child was dreadfully stubborn at times. True to her mother’s prophecy Dorothy was stubborn and this trait of hers was displayed to successive teachers until she reached the sixth grade.

179Miss Schilling, her sixth grade teacher, decided to cure her. She secured the child’s friendship by giving her to understand that she knew Dorothy’s wishes and enjoyed granting them whenever possible. One cold day, however, Dorothy wished to go out to play without wraps. Miss Schilling asked her to put them on. She was out of sorts already because Neva Yoder had been chosen queen in a game called, “Queen of the May.” When Miss Schilling asked Dorothy to put on her sweater she stalked into the room and flung herself into her seat, pouting. The girls gathered round her and said, “O, come on Dorothy, come on Dorothy, hurry up, hurry up, let’s play.” Dorothy gave no heed except to cast a furtive glance at Miss Schilling to see how she was taking her punishment. What was her surprise to find that Miss Schilling was taking no notice whatever of her mood. Dorothy supposed that surely Miss Schilling had not noticed her, and resolved to make her do so. The girls soon tired of talking to her and ran out to play. She still sat there and pouted. Now and then she shuffled her feet or slightly coughed to attract Miss Schilling’s attention. And her wonder grew when her teacher only looked at her and smiled. She determined to make the desired impression: viz., that she had been wronged and was accordingly punishing her tormentor. So she kept her seat and pouted through the recess and into the next session. When her first class was called, she expected to match wills with Miss Schilling but to her surprise Miss Schilling simply said to the girls who glanced round to see if Dorothy was coming, “Please excuse Dorothy, she doesn’t wish to recite this time.”

180Five minutes afterwards she stealthily took out a book and began to study. When her next class was called she was her usual self.

CASE 25 (EIGHTH GRADE)

Recitation

(2) Stubbornness due to fear. Miss Scott taught in the country at District No. 10. She was hearing a geography class recite when Mr. Blanden, a director, came to visit the school. Miss Scott was nervous herself and so the pupils were ill at ease.

“What’s the capital of Oklahoma?” she asked.

Susie Fry, who stood trembling ready to recite, couldn’t remember.

“What! Don’t you know that!” exclaimed Miss Scott. “Who does know?”

No hands went up. Everybody was embarrassed.

“It can’t be possible that none of you know that!” she said as she quickly pointed a threatening finger at Elmer and said, “What is the capital of Oklahoma?” All eyes turned toward Elmer. He instinctively slid down a little lower in his seat and said nothing.

“Elmer, stand up and recite,” said Miss Scott in a threatening tone. Elmer looked dogged and defiant but made no effort to stand. Miss Scott repeated her command. Elmer stubbornly remained silent. She then went to him and not very gently stood him on his feet and pushed him up beside her desk and went on with the recitation.

Greatly exasperated, she struggled on with the lesson and wondered at Elmer’s unusual stubbornness.

181CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Do not unexpectedly spring questions upon a child. Ask the pupil to stand and then put your question. Do not suggest by your statements that nobody in the class knows the answer to your question. Strive to control your own fear or embarrassment in the presence of visitors. It will certainly prove contagious.

COMMENTS

Elmer was startled by Miss Scott’s sudden pouncing upon him and then, after having all eyes turned upon him, was either too embarrassed or too offended to reply. The more she urged the more embarrassed he became. Miss Scott not only startled Elmer into silence by her method, but prolonged it into stubbornness by her untactfulness. If a child seems to be unusually self-conscious he may need special gentleness.

ILLUSTRATION (UNGRADED SCHOOL)

Coaching

Miss Curtis, who taught in the country, had noticed that Rena Brewer was an especially self-conscious child and was very reluctant to recite, especially when she had to put work on the blackboard in the presence of all the pupils. So she asked her to come to school a little early in the morning. While she and Rena were alone together she gave her an arithmetic problem to put on the blackboard, commended the straight rows of numbers, pointed out the well-made figures and said, “Now, today I shall ask you to put this same problem on the board at recitation time. I’m sure you can do it well.”

182A few morning drills like this gave Rena self-confidence and she worked with ease and pleasure in the presence of others.

4. Ill-Temper

Whether ill-temper is an inherited trait or not does not belong in this discussion. Nor is it worth while to explain just how a little temper may or may not be helpful. If the teacher can realize that some of the most dastardly acts and crimes committed were done in moments of ungoverned temper, then she will understand the necessity of controlling temper wherever and whenever its tendencies are displayed in any child.

(1) Ill-temper in the first year of school. It is true that outbursts of ill-temper often take place among first grade pupils, not necessarily because the teacher causes them but something a playmate may have said or done, or something about school work that may have gone wrong, causes temper to exhibit itself. It is, indeed, a disgusting trait and needs wise control.

CASE 26 (FIRST GRADE)

Busy Work

Elsie Johnson was the happiest girl in Camden, when her mother said to her one morning, “Elsie, mother is going to let you go to school this year along with sister Jane. Won’t that be fun?” It was indeed “fun” for Elsie Johnson. She liked the teacher, the other little girls, the wonderful action songs and the music, but best of all the “busy work.”

One day as a special treat Elsie’s teacher, Miss Wells, gave her a box of wooden kindergarten beads to string. All too soon the warning bell rang, notifying 183the children that it was time for school to close and work must be put away. But Elsie had just invented a new design. To lay aside her precious beads in the midst of working it out was the last thing she desired to do. “Elsie, put up your work now,” said the teacher. The nervous fingers only worked the faster.

“Put up your work, Elsie,” repeated the teacher. No response save a tighter clutch on the beloved beads. Miss Wells stepped up to the desk, took the string of beads forcibly, and not very gently, out of Elsie’s hands, and was just reaching for the box containing the unstrung beads, with the intention of putting them away for the night, when Elsie suddenly stamped her foot in a rage, threw the box on the floor, the beads rolling in all directions, and burst into a violent fit of weeping.

“Why, Elsie Johnson! What a naughty, naughty girl!” said Miss Wells. She dismissed the other children, then, taking hold of Elsie’s arm, she lifted her quickly out of her seat, partly carried, partly dragged her to the wardrobe, and forcibly put on Elsie’s wraps. When Jane came to take her sister home, Miss Wells pointed to the beads still lying on the floor and said, “Tell your mother, Jane, that Elsie has been a bad, bad girl today. She did not mind when told to put away her work; she threw the beads on the floor, then kicked, cried and stamped her feet when I told her to put on her wraps. I am very, very much ashamed of her.”

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

In such a case as this, use the principles of expectancy and suggestion. Say, “Elsie, it’s time to go 184home now. We’re all going; everybody is waiting on us.”

Generally, the sight of all the other children with folded arms, and position of waiting for dismissal, will lead the child, through imitation, to take the same position; but if Elsie continues to work in spite of this, step to the desk and say, “Let me see the pretty thing you have made.” Elsie will probably reach it toward you. You will admire it and approve her good work and then say, “I will let you play with the beads tomorrow. Hand me the box.” (Hold out your hand at the same time as a further definite suggestion.) “Tell mother when you get home what a nice time you had with them today.”

The moment’s conversation, your suggestion of the pleasure awaiting Elsie on the morrow and the substituted pleasure of “telling mother” will lead Elsie to place the beads cheerfully in your hands and to assume the position which she sees the other children to be in as they wait to be dismissed.

Imagination can often be used by the teacher with the greatest advantage in dealing with children of this age. For example, in the present case, the teacher might have said to Elsie (who delights in brownie and fairy stories), “Your little (bead) brownies have played a long time with you. They are tired now. Let’s put them all to bed so they can rest and be ready to play with you again tomorrow. We’ll have to get them to bed quickly, for the little children are getting tired too.”

Generally speaking the teacher should so closely supervise all his school work and play and recreation 185that there will be no chance for the pupil to be irritated or provoked into an outburst of ungovernable temper. The teacher who can succeed in doing this will need no further advice on remedying the annoyance, as he will not be annoyed.

However, in an unguarded moment even with the best of care, a pupil may have his temper upset. The teacher must remember that his pupil is but a child, nearly a baby, and by kindness can easily be governed. A few kind words and a sympathetic suggestion about something that will divert the child’s mind from that which provokes, will effect a remedy. For example, the teacher can say, “Just wait a minute, I will get you something you never saw before.” This will arouse the childish curiosity and, while the teacher is getting the something, will tend to allay the child’s temper. The teacher who is discreet always has a curious “something” to get. What is there to prevent him from having in a box on his desk the first book he ever had, the little book he read in the first day he went to school, the first picture he ever drew, a curious bird’s nest, or a score of other articles that will capture the attention of any child, regardless of whether he is indifferent, lazy, slow, stubborn or in a “fit of temper.” Each time the child exhibits ill-temper, the teacher can pursue some method similar to those indicated above. In a comparatively short time, he will be cured of his exhibitions of temper.

Never snatch anything from a child nor take it from him forcibly if it can be avoided. Even an adult would resent this manner of treatment. Do not make the 186mistake of supposing that “obedience” and “yielding to force” are synonymous terms.

Try to put yourself in the child’s place and discover the instinct underlying the act. Then you will be able to utilize and satisfy the instinct even while checking the undesirable specific act.

COMMENTS

Miss Wells’ first mistake was in dealing too abruptly with Elsie. Elsie’s failure to respond to her teacher’s signal was not due in the slightest degree to disrespect for her teacher, but rather to intense absorption in her work. She was thinking out a design and it irritated her to be disturbed, just as it irritates her teacher to be disturbed while planning a Christmas program, or while reading the most interesting chapter of an exciting novel. But there was this difference between Elsie and her teacher. While the latter understood the necessity for interruptions, and immediately though reluctantly, responded to them when necessity required it, Elsie had not yet reached the age when she could understand why she might not go on as long as she desired. Bells and signals meant no more to her than an arbitrary desire on the teacher’s part to interfere with something Elsie desired to do. Until a habit of acting in response to given signals is formed, first grade children will need to be told repeatedly the meaning of the signal.

While it was necessary in this instance that Elsie should lay aside her work, yet the value of the individualistic instinct that impelled Elsie to stick to her work until it was accomplished should be fully recognized 187by the teacher, not regarded by her as something evil, in itself, or as “pure obstinacy.”

ILLUSTRATION (FIRST GRADE)

Snatching Pencils

Miss Donaldson, a first grade teacher in Davenport, was one day conducting a nature study lesson, in which the children were dramatizing the care of the parent birds for the little ones. Five children had cuddled into the corner to represent the little birds in the nest and two others were industriously bringing food to put into their open mouths, when one of the boys who was supposed to be watching the performance, snatched a pencil out of the hands of his nearest neighbor, Charles Drew. Charles, with fists upraised, was just about to administer summary punishment upon the offender, when the teacher glanced up, and immediately taking in the situation said,

“Oh, boys! The little birds are going to fly away in just a minute, and you won’t see where they go to.”

Instantly the attention of both boys was riveted on the little birds. Suggestion had averted a catastrophe.

5. Disrespect for the Teacher

The old idea that there must be enmity between teacher and pupils is of course everywhere admitted to be wrong. Yet a surprisingly large number of teachers show by both their words and actions that there still lingers the thought that if only there is sufficient silence and obedience in the schoolroom to allow the maximum amount of work to be done the 188spirit of mutual trust is of minor importance. While modern teachers realize the absurdity of Pete Jones’ motto, “No lickin’, no larnin’,” many are slow to admit that there is no necessity for a show of authority, for its own sake.

The teacher who talks of “breaking a child’s will” is the one who is in danger of suffering from disrespect paid him by his pupils.

In one of our States foremost in education, a minister, who is a member of the board of education governing his village school made a speech at the beginning of the school year. He emphasized the thought that the pupils must behave, that the school board would back up the teachers in the matter of keeping order. His speech left the feeling on the part of the pupils that they were expected to lose in the combat between teachers and pupils, but that there must be a continued combat there was no question.