Part 2 — DIVISION VII

Only through the gateway of personal experience does the child enter into the larger understanding of the thought and achievement of humanity.

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CASES ARISING OUT OF THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS

1. The Unsocial Child

Every teacher knows of a first grade child that came moping when all the other pupils were in high glee, that stood by himself when others were enjoying a game, that preferred to come to school alone and to saunter home alone, that took no part in any of the activities that always interest other youngsters, that even seemed indifferent to the friendly approaches of playmates and teacher. There may be no particular harm in having such a child in school, but should he carry such traits into adult life, they would prove a serious handicap; so it is important that the teacher should attempt to help him to throw off his peculiarities. This can be accomplished very easily. In attempting a cure she should not make the child feel that she thinks him different from other pupils.

The best place to begin helping the child is on the playground. Talk to him about the interesting features of the games. Though he may not at first show interest, the teacher should keep this up for several days, until he has learned to know the teacher as a friend. Then she can invite him to join in the games. It is only an abnormal child that will not enter into the sport after repeated invitations.

After the child has taken an active part in the games, the teacher may begin to pay special attention to him 672in the school-room. To cause the child to eliminate his peculiarities is entirely a matter of arousing his devotion to those things which interest other children. The teacher should appeal to his interests until she has won his complete confidence. Then she should introduce him to a new activity. Little by little she will displace the child’s peculiarities with abiding concern in all those things that interest the other children.

The individual who reaches mature life still possessed of characteristics that make him an exceptional person is likely to lead a more or less isolated life unless his peculiarities are such as to make him acceptable as a leader. Under ordinary conditions, “society tends to penalize those who do not conform to its customs, its standards, its attitudes.” This is true even of the unsocial, or non-social individual; still more does it hold in respect to the anti-social member of the group.

2. Anti-Social Tendencies—Selfishness, Jealousy, Cliques and Snobbishness

(1) Selfishness. Selfishness is a trait of character that has always elicited severe criticism from society. Its manifestations are so conspicuous that they provoke men to despise and avoid the confirmed egoist. It is an anti-social trait, hence deserving of the opprobrium placed upon it, yet it is the basis of all the social virtues, hence the place which is here given to it in the division on “Social Instincts.”

We may well believe that selfishness was a universal trait of the race in its infancy. By this is meant 673that every individual instinctively seeks to care for his own interests above those of anyone else. All during the earlier months, and perhaps years, of one’s childhood, he measures the world in terms of its service to his own comfort and pleasure. As one who merges into later childhood and into adult life, he normally narrows the play of this trait of character, and inhibits those impulses which, if followed out, would make him a selfish person. Adults who are justly accused of being selfish are persons who have never fully profited from their contact with their fellows, nor have they learned how to suppress adequately their own personal desires and demands.

Selfishness is a relative term. This is due to the fact that individuals differ from each other widely in the matter of natural endowments. The standard of measure used in judging selfishness in people is both individual and social. Most frequently the charge of selfishness is lodged because an individual is not as unselfish as the group in which he most often appears, but in fairness he must also be judged with an eye to the intensity of his native egoistic impulses. From this point of view, what may be selfish in one person is not selfish in another.

The misunderstanding of children in interpreting their apparent selfishness is very easy. The traditions of the home may have accentuated the natural propensity to care for their own interests beyond that which would have been the case had they had other surroundings.

Furthermore, the known variation in natural endowments, and in the responses to social influences, require 674one to be lenient in passing judgment upon selfish people.

Its Nature

As commonly understood, the selfish individual is one who exhibits an excessive concern for his own welfare, who tends to regard himself as a little god, watching every opportunity to satisfy his desires, tastes, impulses and pleasures. He measures every passing circumstance in terms of its value to him. Even the occasional acts of kindness which he renders to another are planned so as to bring him the largest returns financially or socially.

We must not forget that selfishness is an indestructible instinct of human nature. On this instinct is deeply engraved the law of self-preservation. Experience in associating with ones’ fellows shows to an ordinary person how far he must take precautions in order to maintain his own welfare, but in the case of a few, as we believe, results of experience have not given the wisdom which renders them unselfish.

We are never to forget that the will to live underlies and overtops all other interests and desires in the life of the individual. No sane method will attempt to suppress this impulse, for out of it spring all the impulses that induce the individual to seek his fortune and win success in life.

Causes

For the better understanding of selfishness in children, it is well to survey some of the general causes that operate in prolonging selfishness into later childhood and adult life.

First of all, we mention misconception of one’s actual need. By this we mean that a child overestimates his need for some object that interests him. 675He “wants” it very much, as we say. He is unable, by reason of his immaturity, to estimate accurately his own necessities in the case. Another specific cause of selfishness is a wrong estimate of the value which belongs to the object of his eager desire. For these reasons he is willing to pay too high a price to satisfy himself with that which, if he were better informed, he could forego with little discomfort.

Again, the attainment of success after long and victorious effort may beget in one a spirit of selfishness. Not infrequently a student who has solved a difficult problem after painstaking toil, hesitates to pass on the fruits of his labor to a classmate. He reasons that the expenditure of energy which he has suffered is worth too much to be lightly transferred to another person. Particularly will this be the case if the sharing of his gain will reduce the lustre of his own glory.

Another particular cause of selfishness, both in adults and in children, is the transition from poverty to plenty, from obscurity to prominence, from disesteem to fame. If the father or mother has recently emerged from some retired station in life, the contrast in the situation is very sure to be reflected in the life of the younger members of the family. If the change is from poverty to wealth, the parents are disposed to be miserly in the expenditure of their money. This attitude of mind reappears in the child in a refusal to share his pleasures and privileges with his schoolmates. He carries with him a caution to see that no one trespasses upon his newly achieved rights. In our western civilization such extreme transitions are not 676infrequent, owing to the freedom of opportunity for all.

Many times people who are not widely acquainted with the world are selfish because they do not believe in the good will of others. This state of mind is very often found in young children who have not yet advanced beyond a sort of savagery in which they regard every man as a possible enemy. They refuse to give up to their associates because they do not believe any return will come to them. They fear that all of their possessions will be ravaged and appropriated, and so exercise excessive caution in lending them or in making presents to their friends.

It is not unusual that certain interests of some society, class, or club, are so vividly conceived as to modify the attitude of the entire group.

A fraternity or literary society or a senior class in a high school may hold inflated ideas of their importance, and think necessarily that school interests should rotate around their welfare. Individuals who belong to the club or society become intoxicated with this notion, and exhibit an almost barbaric class-selfishness.

With these and other incentives to selfishness, the situation facing a conscientious teacher is by no means simple. Since selfishness is a very intimate trait of character, the question might be raised why a teacher could take interest in curing children of selfishness. The fault has been generated very largely in the home, and the cure should, naturally, be largely a matter of home concern.

Cure

Nevertheless the public school teacher has a large 677responsibility. He must attempt to improve the character of the child in every way possible. Obviously, the cure of selfishness can be had only by associating with other people. It depends upon the teacher to manipulate these associations in school so as to aid in reforming character at this point.

Just as clearly, the more startling instances of selfishness necessitate care that the rights of other pupils be preserved. This happens so frequently as to demand no elaborate argument.

The teacher’s concern for the general improvement of the moral life of the school requires that striking instances of selfishness should be adequately dealt with.

Lastly, selfishness is a prolific source of other wrongs. If an administrator can cure a selfish child, he has nipped in the bud a whole harvest of undesirable actions and immoral deeds.

First Grade

No teacher would ever think of punishing a first grade child in any way whatever for being selfish. The selfish child is usually an only child or has been made selfish in his desires, by home training. The teacher can do much to overcome selfishness. When a pupil enters the first grade, for the first time, he comes in contact with other children and into surroundings that are new. This is the teacher’s opportunity. The chances are that the child will often display selfish tendencies. It is necessary that the teacher have the child’s confidence, but by this time it is assumed that the teacher has many avenues already mapped out by which to get this needed confidence. Then the thing to do is to teach the child unselfishness each time he 678displays selfish tendencies. It will take but a few weeks to effect some change in the selfish child.

In extreme cases it may be well for the teacher to give the child something for the express purpose of asking him to share it with his playmates—candy, pictures or any little, inexpensive article that a child enjoys.

For example, if the teacher has given candy, she may say, “Now, break it in two pieces and give one piece to Mary.” When the child has done so the teacher should approve the act. It will incline the child away from selfishness for the teacher to say, “You are kind to give Mary some of your candy.” “I like the way you divide with others,” or, “You like to give things to others, don’t you?” This last statement of approval will require the child to reply, “Yes.” This is a necessary positive reaction of the child and a few trials like this may overcome his selfishness.

The trait of selfishness, while not very annoying in the first grade, must be suppressed, for if left to develop, it becomes very annoying in the upper grades. Nothing seems worse than a selfish pupil in the grammar or high school. And no one needs an introduction to the avaricious man of the world who got his first lessons in greed through selfishness in childhood. For the sake of emphasis, then, may it be said again that there is no more opportune time to overcome these undesirable traits in a child, than when he first enters a new world of acquaintances and experiences in the first school year.

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CASE 124 (FIRST GRADE)

The spoiled child has two dominating characteristics—an intense selfishness and an insatiable appetite for attention. The teacher’s problem is therefore two-fold, first, to reduce his self-consciousness by increasing his interest in the world about him, and, secondly, to enlist his sympathies for others so as to increase his altruism and supplant his selfishness with a wholesome socialization.

Spoiled Child

Karen Gompers was a very bright little girl whom adoring parents, aunts, grandparents and enlisted friends had quite spoiled. She expected her teacher to give her the constant attention she enjoyed at home, and resented the fact that Miss Nelson seemed to think each of forty other children as important as she was.

“I want to sit by you,” she announced as her class seated itself in the circle of little chairs. “I like to be here.”

“You can’t sit by me today, Karen. It is Wilson’s and Eunice’s turn. You may sit in that empty chair over there.”

“But I don’t want to! I want to sit here!” and she stood stoutly by the coveted chair. All the other children were watching her, and she was enjoying her prominence in the scene she was creating. Miss Nelson hated a scene above all things, and prided herself on the perfect mechanics of her teaching.

“Well, Wilson, suppose you let Karen sit here today—that’s a good boy.”

“But you promised me I could!” There were sudden tears in Wilson’s eyes.

“I’ll let you sit here another day, Wilson. Be a 680little gentleman, and remember that gentlemen give up their chairs to girls.”

So Karen had her way because she had learned the despotism of the selfish, who secure their ends by sheer insistence. Wilson lost his faith in his teacher’s word, which did not tend to make him a gentleman, and Miss Nelson proved herself a coward in consenting to sacrifice Karen’s good to her own dislike of a conflict.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

There are occasions when a definite issue for the mastery occurs in the school-room, and this was one of them. Miss Nelson had no right to break her promise to a docile and obedient child, and reinforce the habitual selfishness of a spoiled one. She should have insisted that Karen take her turn with the rest, and if Karen had stormed it would have given her a good opportunity to show her that her usual methods would not work in school. The angry storming of a spoiled child is usually done with an alert eye to the effect produced on the audience; therefore, if Karen had wept and wailed, she should have been carried out into the hall, where she might have been left in lonely state to recover her good temper. Usually one or two such trials convince a spoiled child that he has met his match, and if such children are followed by tactful guidance, and especially if attention can be diverted away from themselves, the worst-spoiled children can in time be thoroughly socialized.

COMMENTS

In every case, the object of the teacher’s treatment is to show the child that he must conform to the conditions 681of the social group he belongs to, instead of fixing conditions to suit himself. She should remember, however, that real unselfishness has not been attained until the child voluntarily surrenders some fancied good. Coercion may sometimes be a stepping stone in leading a child toward the goal, but it is only a stepping stone. True unselfishness requires that the child himself deliberately make the choice that crowns another with the happiness that he desired for himself.

ILLUSTRATION (KINDERGARTEN)

Substitute Altruistic Ideal

Elmer Bronson, an only child, had a difficult task in adjusting himself to his social environment when, at the age of four, he entered the public school kindergarten in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At home all playthings had been his, with none to molest or take away. Moreover, as the grown-ups in his home were very indulgent, practically all objects that he desired to have were placed at his disposal.

But at school a new order seemed to prevail. Elmer not only was not allowed to appropriate many interesting looking objects that lay about on desks and tables, but at times he was not even permitted unrestricted handling of his own things. The situation was perplexing. He couldn’t make it out.

Miss Melbourne, Elmer’s teacher, comprehended the conditions of the problem better than he did. She perceived that Elmer, as yet, had no understanding of the meaning of ownership, nor had he received any training whatever in the recognition of the rights of others. She must begin at the foundation.

682To that end she utilized all sorts of games, stories and dramatic plays as a means for teaching these two lessons, but that part of the program which seemed to captivate Elmer more than any other was the singing of “The Soldier Boy.”

The delightful part of it was that as the song was sung the children marched about the room wearing paper caps of red, white and blue, and each, as he marched, was presented by his teacher with a flag to be proudly borne over the right shoulder. Who could fail to be patriotic and generous under such stimulating conditions!

One day Elmer spied a toy boat on the desk of one of his classmates, Freddie Buzzell. Elmer immediately appropriated it.

“Don’t take my boat,” said Freddie.

“’Tain’t yours. It’s mine,” was the reply.

Naturally, Freddie sprang to the defense of his property rights. Elmer insisted upon the principle of possession as proof of ownership. Thus the battle was raging when Miss Melborne entered the room. Knowing Elmer’s individualistic tendencies, she was not long in getting at the cause of the quarrel.

“Come here, Elmer,” she called from the desk. Elmer came reluctantly, still holding the toy boat. Miss Melborne picked up one of the red, white, and blue caps on the table.

“Who are the boys these caps were made for, Elmer?”

“Sojer boys.”

“And what sort of boys are they?”

“Those ‘whose hearts are brave and twue.’”

683“Now, Elmer, soldiers who are ‘brave and true’ have to fight sometimes but do they fight in order to get something they want themselves, or do they fight to take care of other people?” This was a pretty hard question for Elmer to think out fully. He looked thoughtful but did not answer. Miss Melborne tried a more concrete form of question.

“We would not like to have any one march with the ‘soldier boys’ this afternoon who takes things away from other children, would we?”

Elmer looked very sober, but he shook his head. Miss Melborne followed up the advantage she had gained by adding, “What would a soldier boy ‘whose heart is brave and true’ do, if he had in his hands something that belonged to another boy?”

Elmer looked hard at the toy boat for a full minute, then slowly walked over to Freddie’s desk and carefully placed the boat on it.

“That’s my brave soldier boy!” said Miss Melborne, enthusiastically. “That’s the kind of boy to wear the soldier cap!” and she placed it on his head, adding, as she did so, “You may wear it, dear, till the school bell rings.”

The idea of protection of the rights of others had been substituted for that of selfish possession. Approval had crystallized the experience into an attitude of mind. Many reminders of the soldier boy, “whose heart was brave and true” and who lived for others instead of self, were necessary before the most selfish child in the class became one of the most unselfish, but each application on the teacher’s part of the principles of substitution and approval made the meaning of the 684words more explicit to Elmer and the habit of self-sacrifice more firmly fixed.

CASE 125 (RURAL SCHOOL)

Not infrequently it happens that the selfish child has a continual example of selfishness before him in his own parents.

Parental Example

Not far from the rural school house in District Number 10 was the fine residence of Mr. Allen, one of the directors of the school. His rearing of thoroughbred stock had made his name known throughout the state and had added thousands to his bank account. When his little son, Homer, started to school for the first time, he was oversupplied with pencils, erasers, tablets of all varieties, penholders, stencils, paints, colored crayons and every known aid to first grade work.

Attending the same school was a large family of very poor children named Perkins. The Perkins’ children were poorly, but cleanly, clad in the cheapest of clothing. They had only a few of the necessary textbooks and half of a lead pencil was made to serve two of the family, the parents reasoning that two of them wouldn’t surely need lead pencils at the same time. Joseph and Clarence Perkins were in the first and second grades, respectively. They had the third of a lead pencil to be used in common and a piece of a broken slate (with a two-inch pencil) to be used instead of a tablet.

Miss Shuttlesworth, a young teacher, felt truly sorry for these two bright, little boys because they were thus handicapped in their work, and she allowed 685them to borrow from other children during periods when both should be writing at once.

She even fell into the habit of saying, “Joseph, borrow a pencil from Homer and put your problems on this piece of paper.” Generous and kindly herself it did not occur to her that Homer was reluctant to loan one of his many pencils.

One day Laura Manning, a sixteen-year-old pupil who came past the Allen farm on her way to school, said to Miss Shuttlesworth, “Mrs. Allen said to tell you she would like to have you come and see her soon.” Miss Shuttlesworth foresaw from Laura’s manner of delivering the message that the errand would not be a pleasant one. She had evidently offended Mrs. Allen in some way, but how she could not conceive. She had never been in the Allen home nor had she ever seen Mrs. Allen.

As soon as school closed she made her way to the Allen residence and was not surprised to have Mrs. Allen greet her coldly and haughtily, boldly glaring at her and beginning a speech something like this: “I want you to understand that Homer is not to lend anything of his to the Perkins’ children. We are able to buy anything he needs but we don’t intend to buy for the whole school.” Having more than exhausted this subject Mrs. Allen went on to state that Homer’s seat must be changed because his desk was defective in some way. Miss Shuttlesworth had not noticed that Homer’s desk was different from the others.

She was a young teacher and so was quite overawed by Mrs. Allen’s angry, commanding tones. She changed Homer’s seat and supplied the Perkins’ boys 686with working material herself. She made no effort to change Homer’s attitude of superiority toward the Perkins’ boys. His selfishness only increased under his mother’s management.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

When children are not supplied with the necessary equipment for their work and are too poor to buy for themselves make an appeal to the board of education asking them to purchase the material needed, which material should be considered the property of the school and left there from year to year. Most states require that the school furnish books and equipment for all who are unable to buy them.

Show by your own example that poor people are just as desirable for companions as rich ones, other things being equal. See to it that the children of poor parents be made to forget, while at school, that they are different from others. See to it that democracy reigns on the playground.

Supervise all play.

Do not foster the borrowing habit.

COMMENTS

If children are unable to buy books, allowing them to borrow daily is a source of annoyance to both borrower and lender. Besides it daily emphasizes the contrast in the financial condition between the richer and the poorer. This is wrong. It fosters haughtiness in the one and undue humiliation in the other. While you are supervising play you can easily manage to have 687the neglected children drawn into play and even chosen for the enviable parts in the games. It largely depends upon the teacher’s influence whether the public school is a leveler of false barriers or a hotbed where selfishness is cultivated.

The borrowing habit, if fostered even among children of equal rank, teaches a disregard for the property rights of others. Americans are especially lax in their thought and behavior relative to property rights, and the public schools can do the nation a great service by giving its children correct notions concerning appropriation without ownership, and in selfishness as contrasted with altruism, in both rich and poor. The rich often enjoy display and the poor retaliate by vandalism. Both wrongs are the outgrowth of selfishness.

ILLUSTRATION (RURAL SCHOOL)

Invoking Fairies

Margaret Blake lived not far from the Lone Star rural school. Her father had bought much land years before which had so increased in value that he was very rich. Many people in the Lone Star district were tenants on his farms. Margaret’s mother taught her that she was better than other children and must not “mix” with them more than absolutely necessary. As soon as she was old enough she was to go to a “select” school of her own “class” of people.

Miss Coleman saw the situation the first day of school. Margaret’s selfishness was manifested by her selection of the best seat, the display on her desk of numerous and costly aids for her work, her haughty demeanor and her frequent references to what her mother said she need not do. Whenever she spoke of 688her mother’s wishes she emphasized the “I” in a way to show her difference from others.

Miss Coleman knew that the happiness of Margaret as well as of her other pupils depended upon eradication of the rich child’s selfishness. She made a special study of the effect of various attempts to accomplish this end. She told a story of an unselfish child. This did not seem to appeal to Margaret. She tried another story on the advantages of wealth in terms of ability to serve others. This was nearer the mark. After thus finding the correct avenue of approach Miss Coleman often said something like this to Margaret: “How fortunate you are in having some things which these other children cannot afford to have. How would you like to play you are a fairy and get a new First Reader for little Wilbur Tomlinson, who has no book, and just leave it on his desk with his name in it, and not tell him who gave it to him. I’ll help you pay for it, for I want to get fun out of it too.”

Or, again, “Let’s think what we might plan to do secretly for any child in the room who really needs something we can give. We’ll be good fairies again.”

Margaret took a new interest in other children. She soon began to like to go to school. She enjoyed playing with the other pupils and loved and honored Miss Coleman.

CASE 126 (FIFTH GRADE)

Displaying Fruit

Florence Crane attended school in Michigan. She lived on a fine fruit farm where during the fall one variety of peaches, grapes or pears followed another and when these had all been sold choice apples followed 689in season. So it happened that choice fruit was always a part of Florence’s lunch. This fruit was displayed on her desk and tempted many a child’s eyes away from school tasks. Miss Bush, the teacher, requested all of the children to keep their lunches concealed and away from their desks. Still at recess time Florence had a little group of children around her watching her eat her luscious fruit. Miss Bush could scarcely endure the sight of the hungry eyes devouring every bite with Florence.

One day she was especially tired and without forethought said, “Florence, you shall not bring another piece of fruit to school unless you bring enough for all of the girls.” Imagine Florence’s indignation which was not much greater than that of her associates.

When the girls discussed this together on the playground a little later Florence said, “I’ve a right to bring whatever I please t’ eat.”

Ethel Green, spokesman for the rest, declared, “Teacher’s crazy. We don’t want anybody to bring us lunches. If we hain’t got enought to eat we won’t ask her to give us anything.”

The girls had talked about the matter until the atmosphere of the school-room was that of slumbering rebellion.

That night when Florence told her parents what Miss Bush said there was much indignation and a long discussion which ended in a decision to have Mrs. Crane visit Miss Bush at the schoolhouse next day. On her way there Mrs. Crane stopped to discuss the situation with Mrs. Green, whom Ethel had informed of the previous day’s talk. Mrs. Green was very angry 690and offered to go with Mrs. Crane to the schoolhouse.

The situation was very awkward for Miss Bush. She was reluctant to say in the presence of Mrs. Green that the other girls were always hanging around Florence watching her eat her fruit and yet she had to justify herself in some way. The mothers took advantage of Miss Bush’s embarrassment, assuming that it showed guilt and even accusing her of giving the command to Florence on the previous day in order that she herself might be given fruit. The conference ended with the remark from Mrs. Green, “If you’re hungry yourself, say so, but don’t beg vittles for my children.”

Miss Bush’s joy in her work in that school was ended. The girls might have forgotten the incident but the mothers whenever they met revived the feeling of anger against Miss Bush.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Miss Bush was too superficial in her original treatment of this case. She had had ample time to think out a workable plan that would have caused no friction.

After having all food removed from the desks she might have asked the pupils to find appropriate seats in which to eat their lunches. After lunch time she should have led the way to the playground where all else than play would be easily forgotten.

From time to time short talks on manners should be given to the whole school.

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COMMENTS

It is inexcusable for a teacher to give angry or even unpremeditated treatment to a case that has been developing for some time. Miss Bush touched upon a very serious question when she gave commands concerning what the children had to eat in their lunches. In her talks on manners the teacher can easily place special emphasis upon such phases of the subject as are most nearly related to the habits of her pupils. These general remarks can hurt the feelings of no one, since they are given to the entire school.

The part that unselfishness plays in what is usually termed good manners can thus be clearly brought out. Some teachers ask their pupils to learn the following couplet in this connection:

“Politeness is to do and say

The kindest thing in the kindest way.”

ILLUSTRATION (SECOND GRADE)

Eating Candy

Tommy Holbroke’s father kept a small candy store in Brighton and Tommy often carried candy to school with him. This he ate with a great show of enjoyment in the presence of a group of onlookers. Miss Dean, his teacher, noted the conditions and appreciated its inevitably baneful effect upon Tommy’s disposition. Accordingly she visited his mother and first told her of Tommy’s sunny temper and studious habits. Then she tactfully led the subject to the boy’s health and food. In talking of the candy she said, “Of course we must guard Tommy’s health and his disposition too.” Then she explained that she greatly feared that his bringing 692candy to school would make him selfish because of course it enabled him to have and not share what he knew others wanted. She suggested that Tommy be given his candy directly after his meals and at no other time. The double appeal in behalf of the child’s health as well as his character caused the mother to follow Miss Dean’s advice. Occasionally, however, on “special days” or when the children had a “birthday party,” Tommy’s mother gave him a bag of candy to take to his teacher with the words, “Tell Miss Dean to please give it to all the children.” So Tommy learned, in time, the joy of sharing with others.

CASE 127 (EIGHTH GRADE)

Selfish Play

The grade schools in the suburbs of one of our largest cities give special attention to outdoor play. They even require that the children stay on the school grounds at least fifteen minutes after the school proper is closed, and play games there. They encourage the playing of ball by the girls and are anxious to have them interested in the game.

In one of these schools the principal, Mr. Warren, went to the eighth grade rooms and gave the girls a talk on baseball. He advocated that the girls in each eighth grade room elect by ballot a baseball team and that these teams practice ball with the earnest expectation of being able eventually to conquer any other eighth grade team in the suburb. After school a ballot was taken and those receiving the highest number of votes were considered elected on the team.

Those who failed to be elected felt, of course, various degrees of disappointment and envy. Some proposed 693forming a scrub team of the left-overs. Others were afraid that this would show the “team” that they were jealous of them; whereas, they had been putting on a brave front by saying to their classmates that they would not have accepted a position on the team even if they had been elected.

The entire school grounds occupied about half a city block. This space had to be shared with the boys and girls in all the other grades. It naturally followed that there was little space to be used by each room.

Miss Darnell’s eighth grade ball team girls were anxious to bring fame to themselves as champion players. Mr. Warren’s thrilling speech still rang in their ears. His slogan, “We’ll beat ’em!” was passed from lip to lip. As a result of this enthusiasm, this special team wished to play ball at every intermission and before and after school. When they played, the rest of the girls in Miss Darnell’s room were obliged to keep off the ground allotted to that room. The girls who rebelled against being nothing but “fans” were called “disloyal to their own team” or “green with jealousy.” The play periods were no longer enjoyed by all, but distinct factions arose, consisting of team and “fans,” and as the team grew more and more determined to use the grounds at every available minute the “fans” became less and less enthusiastic in their support.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Mr. Warren did wrong to deprive any pupil of a right use of the playground or gymnasium.

When teams are formed, limit the time they may use 694the field and apparatus so as to accommodate those who are not on the teams at some time during the day.

COMMENTS

Mr. Warren’s prime motive in asking to have ball teams elected was to have the girls take delight in vigorous, outdoor sport. In that respect his plan was ideal, but he failed to take into account in any way whatsoever those children who were not on the team. Children are quick to feel an injustice. Their usual mode of reaction is either to resent the teacher’s action or to be jealous of the favored ones. No plan should be advocated or even tolerated that does not give reasonable consideration to the rights and welfare of all the pupils.

ILLUSTRATION (EIGHTH GRADE)

Sharing Dances

A new gymnasium had just been erected at Horton and the principal, Mr. Bergen, was anxious to have all get the benefit of it. The eighth grade girls under Miss Vance were especially pleased with this fine play room. One of their number, Stella Day, had been taking lessons in dancing and promised to teach her special friends the new steps. It so turned out that Miss Vance herself was interested in these new dances and enjoyed watching the lessons. But the majority of the girls in her room cared nothing about dancing and indeed if they had cared the “lessons” were not at all open to them, since only eight of the twenty-one girls were invited to take any part in this exercise.

Mr. Bergen had carefully arranged the gymnasium program so that each room might use it every day. 695The first time he watched Miss Vance’s pupils at “gym” work he was surprised to find so few taking the exercises and furthermore to see that the onlookers were not even enjoying the watching of the dancers. This led him to surmise that they did not take turns in their exercises, otherwise the dejected look would not have been seen on the faces of the observers.

Mr. Bergen made a mental note of those who were dancing and returned the next day to see if the same girls were occupying the whole of the teacher’s attention. Finding that such was the case he explained to Miss Vance that all of her pupils must be really interested in watching or actually engaged in every game during the exercise period. Following his advice, Miss Vance changed the exercise to games in which all could take part, thus making a legitimate use of the gymnasium period.

CASE 128 (HIGH SCHOOL)

Taking the Best

Elizabeth Dyer seemed to be naturally selfish. When the classes were sent to do blackboard work she invariably chose the place where the light was the best. When the crayons were passed she took the unused one. One of the new erasers was always in her hand. When the class was called she always took the recitation bench nearest the teacher, etc., etc.

Little Susan Dillman said to a group of girls on the way home from school one evening,

“Girls, I’m going to tell Bess Dyer what I think of her.”

“Oh, no, you don’t dare,” said the other girls.

“You’ll see,” said Susan.

696That night Susan thought out her plan. She invited three of her closest friends to her home the next evening and disclosed her plan. She had composed this bit of rhyme:

“Just guess if you can

What girl in our class

Appropriates always the best,

Be it crayon or book,

By hook or by crook

She’ll beat to it all of the rest.”

“Now girls, here in the library is Sam’s typewriter. Let’s each write a part of this so we can all say we didn’t write it and lay it on Elizabeth’s desk tomorrow.” All were agreed, so one after another took a turn at writing. After many copies were spoiled they finally wrote one that pleased them. Each took a turn at addressing the envelope. When it was sealed they said, “E-ne me-ne mi-ne mo,” etc., to find out who was to place this on Elizabeth’s desk. The lot fell to Lulu Miller, but she would do it only on condition that Sue go with her and help her place it. The next morning the girls went to school as soon as the doors were opened. They found nobody in the assembly room, so they opened Elizabeth’s geometry text at that day’s lesson. Each took hold of one corner of the envelope and placed it in the book. Then they returned the book to the desk and went into the history room where they diligently studied the maps until school opened.

After opening exercises the four guilty girls watched from a corner of their eyes to see Elizabeth get her missive. Susan saw her take out the letter, open it and 697blush scarlet, while she wiped away tears of vexation. Soon Elizabeth with letter in hand walked up to Mr. Davidson’s desk and talked to him a few minutes. When she came away again she didn’t have the letter.

The girls had not counted upon this turn of affairs.

Before school closed Mr. Davidson asked who put the note in Elizabeth’s geometry. Nobody answered. He then questioned everybody one at a time and each answered “No” to the question. “Did you put it there?” Susan and Lulu tried to think they told the truth because they neither of them did it alone.

Mr. Davidson said, “All right, we’ll stay right here till we find out the guilty party.” Some laughed, others pouted and a few who drove to school from the country looked worried. Mr. Davidson said, “Somebody in this room knows who did that. I’m sorry to think anybody is mean enough to keep all of his schoolmates in because he will not tell the truth.”

Still nobody confessed. Mr. Davidson waited and scolded by turns until dusk, all to no purpose. The girls’ fear of exposure, to say nothing of confession, grew greater with every speech he made. He finally dismissed the school, after saying that he would find the culprit and suspend him.

Daily Mr. Davidson referred publicly to the note and made threats as to what he would do with the guilty one. These frequent references to the affair helped Elizabeth to remember her fault and practically cured her of it. But the guilty ones were never found out and Mr. Davidson had four pupils whose joy and efficiency in school work were greatly diminished.

698

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

When you see that a pupil is truly selfish begin at once to treat him. First find out, if possible, how this trait was developed and then begin to correct the false notions. Say to the selfish one, “I want you to study the pupils of this room this week, and tell me of all the unselfish deeds done that you can make note of, and why you think them unselfish.” Of course, other pupils will be given similar topics and the reports, as well as the original requests, will be made in public. These character studies may be connected with literature in place of the fictitious personalities which are often studied.

When wishing to find the writer of a note go to work at it privately. Having once made a threat do not lightly disregard it. Do not give over to your pupils matters of discipline which you should attend to yourself.

COMMENTS

Mr. Davidson doubtless knew that Elizabeth was selfish, but took no measures to correct the fault. Some teachers say they are not employed as character builders but only as instructors in secular matters. The truth is, however, that they cannot escape instructing in morals. Elizabeth was growing more selfish. The question as to whether character grows during school life is settled. Pupils do change in character. The teacher has no choice. He either confirms or breaks up bad habits. The principle of substitution enables the selfish pupil to grow less selfish by the study and admiration of unselfish pupils and adults. It is in 699order to call forth this admiration that the student is asked to tell why he names certain acts unselfish.

Teachers make mistakes often by publicly announcing a misdemeanor about which there would otherwise be little known. Cases where immediate danger does not threaten should not be made public. Private inquiry is always much more fruitful of good results. Public confession is especially hard. Furthermore, the sidetracking of legitimate school interests by much discussion of misdemeanors can be minimized by letting as few persons as possible know about the wrong deed.

Threats that are not carried out weaken the teacher’s control.

Patient study and planning will show the teacher a way to cure selfishness. By judicious observation a teacher can discover attitudes taken toward a pupil by his schoolmates and these will be of great value to him in any attempt at corrective measures.

It is doubtless true that the schoolmates often develop a wise and effective cure for some wrong trait or attitude. In such cases they may be permitted to carry out their program, without the connivance of the teacher. But a close examination of the conditions is needful, so that neglect of unformed characters may not be appropriately charged against a teacher.

ILLUSTRATION (HIGH SCHOOL)

Earl Foley was fifteen years old when he entered high school and came under the control of its principal, Mr. Mullendore.

700Earl was large, with a round face, thick lips, a big mouth and a too ready smile. He was very active and learned easily, but was unmannerly and above all, selfish. He invariably selected the best for himself, stood between others and the teacher, gave his views unsought, and in many little ways annoyed his teachers and companions.

Selfish Manners

Mr. Mullendore discovered that the boy simply needed teaching, so he decided that in his private talks with Earl he would use illustrations easily understood. He asked Earl one day what famous person he admired above all others. Finding the man to be Lincoln, Mr. Mullendore talked of Lincoln’s unselfishness and humility and even asked Earl what kind of pencil he thought Lincoln would have taken if passed a box containing one good pencil, and the others second grade, Lincoln knowing, meanwhile, that all would be used by his classmates. Mr. Mullendore talked of Earl’s work on the farm and asked him to recall the practice of pigs, cattle and fowls in getting their share of food. He asked Earl to study out the cause for the development of unselfishness in the human race.

All this was said without a single reference to Earl’s own traits. It seemed a part of the study of Lincoln. Earl was not slow to apply the suggestions of the lesson, however, and before many months had passed he was one of the most unselfish pupils in the high school.

(2) Jealousy. Some one has truly said, “In jealousy there is more self-love than love.” It is an attitude which develops early, however. Even very 701young children will sometimes destroy an object rather than have it fall into the hands of another. As a rule the smaller the number of individuals in competition and the narrower the range of their interests the more intense will be the jealousy between them.

The teacher’s problems are complicated by jealousies in two ways: (1) by a spirit of unkindly rivalry among patrons of the school, a feeling which is sure to be reflected in the attitudes of the pupils toward each other, and (2) by a spirit of jealousy arising among and limited to the pupils themselves.

The first type has been treated incidentally in other parts of Practical School Discipline and need not be further dealt with here. The second type, fortunately, is not a very common cause of trouble in the well ordered school-room, but it is a fault so harmful to the child himself and in adult life, so harmful to all who come within its blighting influence, that it can not be too carefully watched and checked in its early development.

During adolescence and afterwards, jealous attitudes arise mainly out of sports and out of competition for sex recognition and appreciation. Jealousy breeds an angry resentment toward a person who holds or seems likely to acquire one’s property or personal privilege. It embraces a feeling of fear and a sense of helplessness in the face of the aggressor. It develops an enlarged appreciation of the treasures involved and a disposition to care for them by violence, or if defence is useless, to destroy them.

Jealousy, envy, rivalry and covetousness are only 702varying forms of the same anti-social attitude of selfishness. Tact and patience on the part of parent and teacher and the judicious application of the Five Fundamental Principles will uproot them all in time.

CASE 129 (THIRD GRADE)

Julia Jenkins was a beautiful child with a sunny disposition and an inclination toward sociability. Her voice was well modulated for a child, and her manners were charming. She loved everybody. Her dresses were fashionable, dainty and immaculate, her curls always becomingly arranged. Altogether she was such a child as one delights to see, one who brought a smile to the faces of almost all whom she met, strangers as well as friends. As she entered the third grade school-room for the first time, Miss Elliot, the teacher, exclaimed, “What a darling!”

Among other pupils in the room was Caroline Hillis, a timid little girl with a solemn, little old-looking face. Her language was crude, her manner unpolished and her dresses ill-fitting, coarse and faded. She was the eldest of four children and long before she reached the third grade was considered by her mother too big to be kissed and petted.

Jealous of Playmate

How Caroline watched Julia! at first with admiration only. But as the days went by her attitude gradually changed to jealousy. Julia always knew her lessons. Julia’s language was always correct. Julia never slammed doors or walked noisily, and oh, most enviable privilege of all, Julia often stood near Miss Elliot as she sat at her desk and put her arm around the teacher’s neck. At such times Miss Elliot smiled 703at Julia in an intimate way. How much Caroline would give to be able to stand there thus and show her love for Miss Elliot in the same way but she simply could not. Little did Miss Elliot think that Caroline had planned to do just that very thing. As Caroline lay in bed before she went to sleep she thought, “Now, tomorrow I’ll ask Miss Elliot how to work a problem and I’ll stand by her and put my arm around her neck, just as Julia does and Miss Elliot will look at me just as she does at Julia.”

But alas! just as Caroline tremblingly approached Miss Elliot, thinking to carry out her plan, the teacher arose to discover the location of a mild disturbance in the back of the room and Caroline in confusion told her errand and went back to her seat where she shyly brushed aside a few stray tears. With heroic courage she decided to try it again and this time she found Miss Elliot seated, but before Caroline reached her she said hurriedly, “What is it, Caroline?” with no smile and in such a matter-of-fact voice that Caroline stammered her question before she really reached Miss Elliot’s side. It was of no use. She didn’t believe Miss Elliot liked her as well as she did Julia. Whereas Miss Elliot soliloquized, “What an awkward, timid, unlovable child Caroline is today, she seemed afraid of me. I know the rest of the children like me. I can’t pet her in order to win her confidence. I’ve got to treat them all alike.” Because Caroline regarded her teacher with such sad eyes, the idea grew in Miss Elliot’s mind that Caroline disliked her.

In Caroline’s mind the thought persisted that Julia was favored by everybody. She began to think of 704Julia’s faults. As she sought them earnestly she found them: Julia always talked too much, she liked too well to speak of her brother Eugene who was in college, she talked of Miss Elliot as if she owned her.

One day a little girl spoke of her doll, another of a doll’s party and soon Julia said, “Oh, girls, let’s all bring a doll tomorrow and have a dolls’ party at recess! Wouldn’t that be fun?” All agreed but Caroline, who was on the edge of the group. Her downcast face was unnoticed. The truth is that Caroline’s only doll was badly soiled and somewhat dismembered.

Julia easily gained the encouragement of Miss Elliot in her plan for the next day. Some of the girls went early with their dolls. Julia’s was a cunning little character doll. Caroline brought none. She imagined that she could hear Miss Elliot say, “How cunning!” as she looked at Julia’s doll, and then Julia and the teacher would exchange that intimate smile; Caroline would be the only one who had no doll. She never could have Miss Elliot’s approval.

While Caroline was feeling rather than thinking all this Julia said, “Let’s lay all our dolls on Miss Elliot’s desk and then when she comes have her guess which one belongs to which girl.”

“That will be fun,” said the others, so it was quickly done. Caroline stood at a little distance feeling left out of the fun.

“Let’s go and meet Miss Elliot,” said Julia, “and tell her about it. Soon all the girls but Caroline were out of the room and starting down the street.

Caroline presently said to herself, “I’ll hide her doll and then I guess Miss Elliot can’t brag about it.”

705She cast her eyes about the room for a hiding place. There stood the piano! Mrs. Fitzhugh had said yesterday that she kept her ring in the piano. Hastily grabbing up Julia’s doll Caroline stood upon the piano bench and lifting the lid of the upright piano, laid the doll inside upon the hammers, closed the lid and jumped down to the floor just in time to gain a place by the window before the girls and Miss Elliot came in.

They led Miss Elliot to her desk, having already told her what they wanted her to do. Almost immediately they noticed that Julia’s doll was gone. Caroline, now remorseful and silent, was questioned. She said she knew nothing about it. The girls sought everywhere for the doll until school time, Caroline helping them look into desks and on closet shelves.

Caroline, growing more and more remorseful as one girl after another pitied Julia, resolved to return to the room at noon time, when everybody was out of the room, and put the doll on Julia’s desk.

Imagine Caroline’s dismay when the piano was found out of order by Miss Elliot as soon as she started to play the opening song.

Miss Elliot opened the piano lid and gave a little start. There was the lost doll! Julia rushed for it and cuddled it. Molly said aloud, “How did it get there?” Caroline hung her head and Miss Elliot looked very grave.

“Caroline, come here,” she said. “Why did you put Julia’s doll into the piano?”

“I don’t know,” said Caroline, with a degree of truth.

706“It is a marvel that it isn’t broken. I’ll have to whip you for that.”

Taking a strap kept for the purpose Miss Elliot explained to Caroline that she had lied as well as concealed the doll with a probable hope of stealing it later. She then gave the child a severe whipping. Caroline dumbly felt that she was misjudged and yet could not explain why, even to herself.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Miss Elliot should have satisfied herself fully as to the motive underlying Caroline’s action before punishing her. Always delay a punishment until you have found the real cause of the misdemeanor.

When a child shows a tendency to withdraw from group activities take special pains to draw him into the play circle. Take the timid child by the hand rather than the one who rushes to you. Say to the child who shrinks back into her corner, “We need one more little girl here.” Hold out your hand toward her as you speak. The gesture will reinforce the words, and be to the child a suggestion of welcome into the group.

COMMENTS

There is no more faulty method of discipline than that of severely punishing a child for some outbreak against moral or school law before a hearing has been given him; not merely giving a chance to confess his wrong, but going to the bottom of the matter and finding, if possible, the underlying motive or instinct 707which led up to the outbreak. Skillful questioning ought to bring this out.

Very often the slow and timid child is longing for your friendship but does not know how to show his desire. Whether or not he is conscious of needing your aid, he, nevertheless, does need it.

ILLUSTRATION (SIXTH GRADE)

June Dacey was a frail city girl whose health was such that her parents feared to send her to the public schools in New York. One September morning June’s father said to her: “June, how would you like to spend a year in the country and attend school with your cousins?”

June thought it would be, “Just fine!” and Mr. Dacey was not long in arranging with his brother in Massachusetts to receive June into his home and to see her well started in the country school.

All went well until June’s cousin Carrie Dacey began to show signs of jealousy toward June. The two girls were just of an age, but Carrie was an unusually vigorous, strong, healthy girl with double the amount of endurance possessed by June. As a consequence the two girls received very different treatment by their elders and even in a half unconscious way by the other children who were, indeed, somewhat overawed by June’s pretty clothes and refined manners.

“O, yes! of course June can have everything and I can’t have anything,” said Carrie one day in a fit of petulance. “She has all the nice clothes and I have to wear this old thing. She can ride to the picnic while I have to walk. The teacher is always doing things for 708her and nobody ever does anything for me. At home it’s just the same way, June gets all the attention.”

Miss Scott, the teacher, happened to overhear the remark, although it was not intended for her, and was thereby made conscious of the ill-will that was springing up between the two girls. She had had no desire to show partiality in any way toward June but only to protect the frail girl from too fatiguing sport. Now she said to herself, “This won’t do! We shall have a tragedy here soon! I must think out some plan to overcome this feeling between the two cousins.”

It so happened that the children had for their reading lesson “The Story of the Twins.” The story was full of activity and fun and mischief and the children liked it. Miss Scott had promised the class that when they could read it very well they might dramatize it some day.

“You two girls who are just of an age must be our twins,” said Miss Scott, “the other children may take the other parts. Mary and Jane, come help me make this crepe paper into costumes for ‘the twins.’ They must dress just alike.”

The children caught the idea, and, just as Miss Scott intended they should do, immediately nicknamed the two girls “The Twins.” Miss Scott strengthened the tendency still further by saying occasionally, in a playful way, “Will the twins pass the paint boxes for us?” “Will the twins collect the pencils?”

Carrie was soon quite cured of her jealous complainings. Through suggestion, the feeling of coöperation and comradeship had been substituted for the selfish emotion of jealousy, and in thus being linked together 709in school duties and sports, in a way, too, that emphasized the relation of equality, the two children soon became firm friends.

CASE 130 (EIGHTH GRADE)

Wendell Smith was a son of Dr. Smith, one of the most influential men in the village. He was handsome, well-dressed, well-mannered and very intelligent. He had delightful books, mechanical and constructive toys, a bicycle, a watch, and now a few days after he entered the fourth grade his father gave him a pony and carriage for a birthday present.

Jealous of “Rich Boy”

Mark Hazard was in the same grade at school. Their teacher was Miss Hosiner. Mark was a wide-awake boy who was often in mischief. He was coarse in his speech and manners. He criticized adversely every one of Wendell’s possessions and was always glad when for any reason Wendell failed to recite well. When the boys played, Mark would say: “Don’t ask Wendell to come, he might get his clothes dirty.” When Wendell missed the word “giraffe” Mark whispered sibilantly, “He can spell ‘pony’; that’s all the animal he knows.”

Miss Hosiner knew that Mark disliked Wendell and felt sure that jealousy was at the bottom of his sneers and coarse remarks, but she didn’t know how to bring about a change.

There was a pool of muddy water near the back door after every rain. This was spanned by a plank over which the children walked to the playground.

One day Mark and Wendell were both on the plank when Mark deftly tripped Wendell, who fell splash into 710the muddy water. Had Mark used common courtesy Wendell would doubtless have laughed at his own plight, but when he looked up to see Mark’s sneer as he said sarcastically, “Now you’re some dolled up ain’t you?” he said, “Mark Hazard, you’ve got to smart for this.”

Miss Hosiner had seen it all from the window and understood the situation perfectly. She went to the door and said, “Wendell, you may go home and change your clothes; Mark, you may go in and take your seat and you may have all of your intermissions alone for a week. As soon as you come in the morning, and at noon, you may take your seat at once. I will allow you a separate time for your recess from that of pupils who know how to behave toward each other. Since you can’t act decently toward other boys, you may play by yourself.”

As the group separated Mark shook his fist at Miss Hosiner’s retreating back and openly made an ugly face at Wendell.

Not only during the week of his punishment but throughout the year he showed insolence toward Miss Hosiner and distinct dislike for Wendell.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Go privately to the boy of whom one or more of the pupils are jealous and tell him how to treat the jealous ones. In the above instance say to Wendell as soon as you first observe that Mark is jealous of him, “I have observed that Mark is not friendly with you. I know you would be much happier to have his friendship. He is not sure that you want to be friends and since 711you have more to give him by becoming friends than he can give you I can’t blame him much for wanting you to make the start.

“If one man had $1,000 to put into business and another $10,000, you couldn’t expect the man with the $1,000 to have audacity enough to ask the $10,000 man to go into partnership with him, but how glad he’d be if the richer man should invite him to become a partner in his business.

“Now, that’s just the way it is with you and Mark. You’ll have to make him see that you really want to be friends before he can believe that it is so. I heard one of the boys say that you are going to give them all a ride in turn in your new pony carriage. If I were you I would ask Mark to be the first one. I’d ask him first to share all of my good things, because he suffers most for the things that you have. That’s what makes him feel out of sorts because he can’t have them.

“It takes more skill to be a gracious receiver than to be a gracious giver, so don’t feel offended if Mark doesn’t know how to act at first. Keep on trying to show him that you like him until you succeed.”

COMMENTS

The question of inequality so pitifully and constantly understood by many sensitive children is often the cause of jealousy that grows until it becomes a menace to peace in a school. This feeling should be checked as soon as it appears. Punishing the one who is jealous only makes him entertain a feeling of resentment toward both the teacher and the one who is 712envied by him. The right interchange of feeling can be secured only by assisting the more favored pupil to show genuine friendship for the one who is jealous.

ILLUSTRATION (FOURTH GRADE)

Emeline Carlisle was a little girl who talked about the maid, the cook and the nurse at their house, of the company they had, the vacations they spent and the clerks in “father’s store.”

Jessie Dodge was a child of a poor but refined widow who, with extreme difficulty, was able to provide sufficient clothing and food for her.

Jealous of “Rich Girl”

Miss Dunlap, the teacher in the fourth grade, saw that Jessie was destined to become jealous of Emeline. So she pointed out to Emeline from time to time the superior gifts and traits of Jessie. She would say:

“Jessie Dodge is such a refined girl. She knows how to reply whenever she is spoken to. I think the girls who are her special friends are fortunate.”

She appointed these two girls to do tasks together, saying, “Jessie and Emeline may work together on the fifth problem, Emeline writes well and Jesse thinks well. They will make good companions for this work.”

By such handling of the situation, Emeline and Jessie became good friends.

CASE 131 (HIGH SCHOOL)

A western college gave a high school tournament every spring. Surrounding high schools were invited to assemble with their competing candidates for athletic contests in the afternoon, followed by reading 713and oratorical contests that night. Prizes were given to the winners either by the college or individuals in the college town.

Jealousy Between Schools

This tournament was one of the big events of the year for the high schools. They trained for it from September till May. The victors were lionized in the typically enthusiastic high school manner, while the citizens of the towns in which the schools were located talked of the event for weeks and knew and honored not only the schools but the individuals who had won the prizes.

For two years Eastman pupils had won in athletics, and now (1915) they were reputed to have an excellent reader who was going up to the oratorical contest. The slogan in more than one school had been “Beat Eastman.”

The meet occurred on Friday. On Thursday evening Principal MacKenzie of Dwight said to his contestants, “I believe we’ll win tomorrow. I believe we have the kind of muscles and brains that will ‘Beat Eastman.’”

“Hurra-a-a!” sang out the boys—all but one, John Nealy.

An inscrutable look had come into his eyes when Mr. MacKenzie uttered the words, “Beat Eastman,” and he had been too intently following up some idea to join in the shout.

On the way to the college town the next morning he said to his colleagues, “Boys, I’ve thought of a way to beat Eastman.”

“How?” they said, eagerly.

“We’ll take the boys to a ‘feed’ at noon. We’ll 714order everything eatable for their runner and jumper and we’ll get them so filled up that they can’t make good.”

“But will they go with us?”

“Sure, they’ll go. Their runner, Fernald, is a good friend of mine.”

“We won’t dare overeat.”

“Can’t we just pretend we’re eating everything?”

The details were arranged.

Now, Harmon Walsh, one of the Dwight boys, had a fine, upright character and he could not be party to this foolish scheme of John’s. He finally decided to tell Mr. MacKenzie about it.

The latter, astonished, took the Dwight boys under his special care, forbade their inviting anybody to lunch with them, and never left them until they were on the athletic field.

That year Eastman came out second and Dwight third.

When they returned to Dwight, Mr. MacKenzie called John into his office and inquired why he had proposed his “lunch scheme” on the way to the meet.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing Eastman’s praises,” said John. “I’d do anything to beat them.”

Thereupon Prof. MacKenzie talked so harshly to John on the subject of jealousy that he quit school, as he had begged to do before. So he missed getting his high school education because his teacher was not able to cultivate in him a spirit of competition without jealousy and unfortunately was unable to handle properly a case of jealousy when it appeared.

715

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

In dealing with inter-high school competitive programs talk much about the good qualities of your school’s opponents. Secure personal favorable items of interest concerning opposing debaters and ball team members. After a game or debate, talk of the good qualities or traits of character exhibited by the opponents. Talk on such themes as, “I’d rather be right than be president.”

COMMENTS

The dividing line between legitimate ambition to win for one’s school and jealousy of a winning opponent is hard to fix ofttimes. High school students should be drilled against personal antagonism and mean advantage by the principal, who should always laud the clean, fair, open game.

ILLUSTRATION 1 (HIGH SCHOOL)

The big, final basket ball game between Danvers and Winfield high schools would determine which was the best team in the state. Prof. Beatty of Danvers wrote to Prof. Ryland of Winfield and said, among other things:

Appreciating Opponents

“Kindly write me a few words about each boy on your team to read to our boys. Are they country or town boys? What is the favorite study of each? What does each expect to do when he gets out of high school? What do you consider the finest trait of each?

When the answer to this letter came, the Danvers boys read it eagerly and later met the Winfield boys 716as friends. Not a hint of jealousy was shown by Danvers when Winfield won.

ILLUSTRATION 2 (HIGH SCHOOL)

Occasionally, a student overworks in the effort to secure the highest place in the teacher’s appreciation. In a certain high school the history teacher had two boys in her class in modern history who were rivals for first place.

Jealous of Scholarship

One belonged to a wealthy family and had every help and encouragement; the other was away from home and working his way through school. It was the latter boy who worried his teacher. He was up early in the morning and late at night attending to furnaces in winter, gardening and cleaning in the spring; and after these exertions he read carefully all the references given, lest Charles Schofield should do better work than he. Of course this soon told on his health, but he kept doggedly at his heavy tasks. When he grew so listless that he had to rouse himself with a visible effort to recite, Miss Van Leer kept him one day after class for a talk.

“You mustn’t think of trying to keep up with Charles Schofield,” she said firmly. “Why, he has nothing to do but eat and sleep and take a little exercise and study.”

“I know that. But you said last term that he did the best work in the class, and I resolved that he shouldn’t do the best this term, just because he has a big library at home and all the time in the world. You know I want to show you what I can do, Miss Van Leer.”

717“I want you now, Ben, to show me how much common sense you have. You are simply allowing a foolish pride to run away with your good judgment. Promise me you’ll merely read through the text assignment for a fortnight.”

“And hear him rattle off reams from Adams and all the rest of them? Not I! You would think me a piker, for all you say.”

“Will you do it for me—as a personal favor?” Miss Van Leer was forced finally to put her wish on a personal basis. This succeeded where all appeal to self-interest had failed.

(3) Cliques and snobbishness. One phase of this subject, that of the ringleader, will be treated under the heading “Regulative Instincts.” At the present time the gregarious aspect, or the tendency of young people to join together in little bands, will be noticed chiefly. Such a tendency is, of course, only indirectly harmful. It is both social and anti-social—social because of the impulse toward companionship, anti-social because of the selfishness that excludes from the social group all except a few chosen favorites.

CASE 132 (SIXTH GRADE)

In the town of Fairfield Center, there was a little group of girls, four in number, who considered themselves superior to the other girls in school. Miss Baldwin was repeatedly annoyed by their aloofness, but the other children in her room felt it most.

Aping the High School

At recess time, when a game of “I spy” was suggested, this little clique would withdraw from the crowd and walk, instead. This habit became so influential 718that many of the other girls stopped playing at recess. Unwholesome gossip was the result. It remained for Miss Sayre, who took charge of the room the next year, to break down the barriers. She, too, failed, but for another reason.

Miss Sayre called these four girls to her one day after school, when they were in a hurry to go home, and gave them some good advice.

“You girls seem to run off by yourselves and not to play with the others. I want to know why.”

“O, we don’t like their games. They always play such silly games. The girls in high school don’t do things like that.”

“But you aren’t high school girls—you are just little girls of the sixth grade. Drop that nonsense. I want you to break up this cliquing and moping around and act like girls. Now, do you understand?”

“Yes,” in a chorus. But nothing came of it.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Instead of a direct attack, draw these girls into activities that require them to act in close coöperation with other girls. Try committee work.

“Gladys is sick with pneumonia. She can’t come to school for two weeks yet. I want to appoint a committee of two to call on her and take her some flowers. I’m going to appoint Eva and Annette for this work.”

Be sure to make combinations that promise enough congeniality to provide at least a temporary friendship. Repeat the process very frequently, yet avoid disclosing a purpose to disrupt the friendship of 719chums, for that will excite antagonism and so spoil the whole plan.

Children are very jealous of their friendship, and delicate handling is needed in order that no real injustice may be done them. Close friendship is usually of great value and the growth of attachments between children of the same sex is to be fostered.

The danger is in settling into grooves of thought that cramp the mind and improverish it for lack of wide association. It is very clear that the more human beings a person knows, the broader will be his personality and the richer his information. Hence, teachers are everywhere duty bound to democratize the life of their charges.

ILLUSTRATION (FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES)

Misses Phelps and Bender took a wise course in curing the fifth and sixth graders under their charge, of snobbishness. They combined forces and went into flower gardening on a small scale. A plot of ground was procured and the children grouped by pairs according to an inflexible rule adopted at the very start. There were several motives behind this project, but we need consider only this one point.

Gardening in Pairs

To insure a genuinely democratic spirit, two pairs were assigned each day for work in the flower garden. Boys were paired with boys and girls with girls; there were usually four children at the garden, each day, rain or shine, if not to work, at least to note conditions and report to their teachers.

Some of the girls resented slightly the comrades 720selected for them, but no real insult was perpetrated by the assignments made.

The teachers took turns in sharing the responsibility for management, except when wishing advice on cutting and giving flowers, then all the pupils went to Miss Phelps.

Fifty pupils took part in the venture. It solved several social school problems and created a fine spirit of fraternalism among children of varied social standings.

When young people reach the high school age, the period in which all the changes of adolescence are most actively going on, they sometimes develop a tendency to form clubs and secret societies which is often disastrous to school discipline. When the clique evil is fully developed, snobbishness and false standards run rife.

There must be democracy in the school if the best results are to be obtained, and the clique spirit may work great havoc, especially in a small high school where a well-defined group or clique is necessarily very conspicuous.

CASE 133 (HIGH SCHOOL)

Sororities

A high school of about 150 pupils in a prosperous little western town became afflicted with the clique disease. Margaret Hancock, the daughter of one of the town’s most prominent citizens and rather a spoiled child at home, returned from a winter spent in a southern city, where she had gone to a large high school and had been admitted to one of the numerous sororities there. She came back thoroughly imbued with the ideals of the southern high school, which was in 721the wealthy, aristocratic part of the city and attended by girls who expected to become debutantes in a few years and make “society” their career. This southern high school was a large one and the clique spirit was not so harmful because there were several such groups to offset each other and the pupils were, on the whole, of the same social class.

Back in her home town again, Margaret succeeded in organizing a sorority before the first month of the school year had passed. She included in her secret society the girls whom she thought the “nicest” in the school. These girls were the ones who most nearly approached the prospective belles of the southern high school in type—the girls with the most money and the prettiest clothes, the ones whose parents were frequent visitors in Margaret’s home. This clique or sorority included about twenty pupils in its membership and, needless to say, in a school of that size was quite out of place.

It was not long before the boys followed the example set by the girls and formed a secret club of limited membership, and then how the two organizations did lord it over the rest of the school!

Boys who had come in from the country and worked for their board in order to get a high school education were looked down upon and made to feel ashamed of their rural origin and their manner of life. Girls whose clothes were not so fine or so numerous as those of Margaret’s friends were hurt to the quick by the sneers of their classmates and by being left out when invitations to little dances and home parties were being given out.

722The two clubs soon managed things so that all the class officers were from among their members and all school functions were under their management. The school became not a democracy, but an aristocracy of the narrowest variety.

There were so many club functions and good times that school work suffered and these affairs had to be talked over so extensively, by those who had and had not been present alike, that there was more trouble than ever before about whispering and note-writing.

Several of the pupils who had been neglected and left entirely out of the social whirl lost interest in school altogether and dropped out.

It was thus that the clique spirit upset the morale of the whole school and lowered the quality of the work many degrees.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

The wise teacher will emphasize the school spirit, or even class spirit, in dealing with situations involving the clique evil. Try to make the snobbish ones forget their exclusiveness in their interest in athletics or other contests in which the best man or team wins and in which the whole school is the party to gain or lose by the outcome.

As a last resort, the parents of the ringleaders in the cliques should be appealed to, to make their offspring see the folly and the falseness of the standards they are setting up, for snobbish children have generally been more or less encouraged in their snobbish tendencies at home.

723

COMMENTS

Children of all grades do their best work when they have interest and enthusiasm for the work and the school. School spirit can be carried to extremes, but in moderation it should be encouraged. The clique evil needs careful, tactful treatment, for the suppression of school societies sometimes leads to the formation of secret organizations imbued with all the mystery and solemnity of the adults’ lodge, which are much harder to eradicate than the open, above-board kind, and seem to be many times more attractive to the adolescent mind.

Adolescence is the sensitive age, the age when small slights cut deepest and pride is most easily wounded, as well as the period when secrets and mystery are most alluring. It is positively cruel for the young people of a school to make their classmates suffer as they have the power to do, by organizing good times and meetings from which the majority of the school are excluded.

The clique evil is much more likely to develop into serious proportions in a small school of a few hundred than in a large one of a thousand or more.

Children, as well as adults, choose for friends persons of the same or similar tastes, but in a small school the grouping of these kindred spirits into an exclusive organization is particularly bad, because there are usually not enough other pupils with the spirit and initiative to form rival organizations; there is usually one clique only, which excludes the majority of the school from its ranks, instead of several which offset each other.

724

ILLUSTRATION

The clique spirit is met with in many other places besides the school-room.

Stocking Factory

The manager of a stocking factory found one group of girls among his operatives making the days and nights miserable for the others in his employ. They made loud and unpleasant remarks about other girls in the dressing-room, were rude at all times to those not of their group, and, by intimidation, forced the foreman to give them the advantage when there was one to be given.

Things finally came to such a pass that no girl whom the clique disliked could be induced to work in the factory, so unpleasant did the clique make it for her.

The manager studied the situation long and earnestly when he realized how serious it was, and finally hit upon the scheme of providing a gymnasium for his women operatives. He hired a trained social worker, who was also a gymnasium teacher. She developed team work and the spirit of good sportsmanship in the course of a year’s work in gymnastic classes and athletics, but it was largely the influence of her own personality and the soundness of her teaching and example that worked the change.

The clique spirit vanished as the result of her efforts. The manager of the factory had realized the loss he was suffering in the lessened efficiency of his workers; this loss was remedied only after the company had expended much money.

725

CASE 134 (HIGH SCHOOL)

School Clubs

Miss Reynolds, teacher of the senior year high school, had long foreseen the trend of the social impulse in the Lewiston School. Such notices on the blackboard of the assembly room as “Meeting of the Adelphian Society this afternoon,” and “L. A. C. business meeting tonight,” stood as evidence that the club idea was growing into prominence.

When the subject was brought up at faculty meeting, Miss Reynolds voiced her opinion as follows:

“This club idea is only a natural one with children. They get their incentives from the social organization at home. Mother belongs to the Mothers’ club or literary society; Father belongs to the Manufacturers’ Association or Industrial League. It seems to me the only solution is to provide as many opportunities as possible for outlets for this social instinct. It is our place to encourage the formation of societies along literary, social and athletic lines.”

Heated discussion followed. A vote was taken on the motion: “We will encourage the formation of literary, social and athletic clubs,” with the result that it was carried.

But it was soon markedly noticeable that the clubs drew finer social distinctions until the whole atmosphere of the school was undermined by a spirit of snobbishness, ill-feelings and entire lack of coöperation between pupil and teacher.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Allow no organizations to be formed without the approval of the faculty. When officially recognized, 726see that the society elects an advisory board which shall consist of two teachers, two or more pupils, who shall be the officers of the society, and the principal of the school, who shall act as honorary member. This board is to act as a “court of appeal” in the decision of questions which concern the activities of the organization. It is in no sense to be a dictatorial power.

COMMENTS

Miss Reynolds had the right idea when she encouraged the formation of school organizations, but she failed to realize that the activities of such societies should be tactfully supervised by teacher and principal, under the direction of leaders who have the interests of the society at heart and who will lend their good judgment to its best development; such an organization may be depended upon as a standard of conduct on all questions which affect the name of the school. Unguided organizations are the source of many of the evil tendencies in school life.

ILLUSTRATION (HIGH SCHOOL)

Athletic Associations

When Mr. McDaniels, the physical director of the Edgeville High School, advised the boys that their games would be better organized and they would be more certain of help from the faculty if they formed an athletic association, they decided immediately to organize. Accordingly, a meeting was called for the afternoon, of all the boys who were interested in athletics. As might be imagined, there were very few absent. Mr. McDaniels offered to help them conduct the 727meeting. After the boys had elected president, vicepresident, secretary and treasurer, inasmuch as Mr. Chadwick (the principal) was much interested in the formation of athletic organizations, Mr. McDaniels proposed that he be chosen as honorary member of the association. The boys rose to the occasion and elected Mr. Chadwick to this position.

“Now it has been my experience that questions come up for decision which call for mature judgment. I suggest that you elect an advisory board to be made up of your officers, two members of the faculty and Mr. Chadwick.”

Knowing that Mr. McDaniels had their interests in mind, the boys immediately responded to his suggestion.

The result was that a coöperative body of pupils and teachers was organized to the great advantage of all interests concerned.

3. Altruism

A man may be thoroughly acquainted with the highest moral laws and yet have a very weak character.—Hughes.

If the above statement is true, and we believe it to be so, then the futility of trying to make people good merely by teaching them principles of goodness, is immediately apparent. Some more effective means of training must be found and those means undoubtedly should be experience and habit. Especially is this true of little children. To them principles and laws are mere words; experience is everything. With 728adults the precept is more effective, not because they are so different from children, but because they already have had experiences by means of which they are able to interpret and apply the principle, or proverb, or law. Principles, proverbs, laws, are only deductions from experiences.

If real morality is the outgrowth of experience, it follows of necessity, that the best and surest and indeed the only way to teach anything more than the outward form, is to give to pupils opportunities for performing moral acts. There must be self-guidance, there must be a yielding of one’s own desires to the rights of others, there must be coöperation, teamwork.

The kindergarten, better than any other branch of our school system, has realized the necessity for this type of social training. There the aim is to have children learn, through give-and-take relations with associates, what sort of conduct will best promote the happiness of all. Instead of exhortations about the obligations of children to parents, the little ones dramatize those relations, thus gaining just those experiences which enable them to comprehend the obligations. So with the industries, the wild animals, the busy bees, the birds, even the flowers and trees. One by one, the life of each is “tried on,” so to speak, in play, and inner relations of man to man and of man to his environment are thus discovered.

It goes without saying that these inner relations, upon an understanding of which all true morality is based, cannot be discovered all at once. Years of “trying on” of racial experiences and relations are necessary, and even then the comprehension of obligation 729will be just as narrow as experience has been. Meanwhile the inexperience of the child must be supplemented by the larger knowledge of the adult. The right outward form of action must be stimulated by approval, expectation, suggestion, substitution of better forms for the child’s crude, impulsive act, and coöperation on the teacher’s part in such activities as will lead toward higher forms of altruistic action than the child is able yet to fully comprehend. The teacher must never lose sight of the fact that moral insight depends upon a process of growth; nor must he be discouraged if the moral horizon of his pupils is extremely limited. It is as wide as experience has been. The remedy for narrowness is to supply the experience that will furnish the wider outlook.

Appealing to Reason

(1) Infancy and early childhood. Many parents and teachers make the sad mistake of beginning the rational training of their children before the period of rational thought has arrived. An amusing example of common sense and the lack of it occurred one day in a family which consisted of a mother, who had imbibed some ill-digested, sentimental ideas of rational training, her eight-year-old son, and her three-year-old daughter.

CASE 135

The child was playing with a cat upon the rug, and finding great delight in its piteous meows when she pulled its tail. The mother remonstrated at each outcry in about this fashion:

“Margy, dear, don’t pull poor kitty’s tail like that! Don’t you know it hurts poor kitty? How would you 730like to have mamma pull your hair? I wouldn’t do it now. Try to make kitty happy.”

“Why don’t you pull her hair, and show her what it’s like?” inquired Donald, who was reading in the window-seat.

“I want her to learn to think such things out for herself,” the mother replied with a wise air. “I want her to put herself in kitty’s place.”

“Huh—she’ll never do it unless you make her. Let me show her, will you?”

“No, indeed, Donald. I’m afraid your method wouldn’t be very gentle.”

“Well, I bet the cat doesn’t think she’s very gentle, either,” and Donald went back to his story.

“Margy must learn to do her own thinking, of course. I remember when you were a baby, Donald—Margy, child! Mercy, what a howl. Pussy! Margy, can’t you see you hurt poor pussy? Hurt it, dear—just hear it cry! Makes it feel all badly, as Margy does when she’s ill. Just hear poor kitty cry!”

Margy was “hearing poor kitty cry” with new delight at each piteous meow, which she took to be dear kitty’s means of entertaining her—having never been taught to associate the sound with pain of any kind. Just then the door bell rang, and the mother had to leave.

“Donald, dear, you look after Margy while I’m gone,” she said, as she closed the door.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Before allowing a three-year-old child to handle a cat at all, give explicit lessons on how to handle it 731properly. Teach the child the meaning of the words “Don’t hurt” by inhibiting the movement of her hands before she has done the mischief. (See lesson on “Don’t Touch” in “Easy Lessons for Teaching Obedience in the Home,” Book I, p. 46—Beery.)

Give an imitative lesson. Holding the cat yourself, gently stroke its fur, showing Margy the proper way of handling the cat. Then take Margy’s hand and gently pass it over the fur in the same way.

See to it that the child does not have the cat at all except when some older person is there to control her action, until such time as she has learned the meaning of the command, “Don’t hurt,” and will obey it. In other words, do not allow the wrong habit to become established before the right way is comprehended.

COMMENTS

Margy’s mother was assuming an understanding in matters concerning which there had been no adequate experience on Margy’s part. Protected continually from pain herself, how could she understand the meaning of the word! To her the cat was just another musical instrument. Best of all, it was one upon which she could play. Donald’s method, though not recommended here for general acceptance, was at least effective.

ILLUSTRATION I

Donald Takes a Hand

Donald was an obedient child, and closed his book promptly. He also, with some satisfaction in the duty assigned him, sat himself down on the rug near his 732baby sister, and his attitude of watchful waiting might have struck an observer as purposeful and determined.

Margy held pussy firmly by the loose fur at the back of the neck. She stroked her until she was fairly quiet again, then quickly gave the long tail another hard pull.

Quick as thought, Donald reached over and pulled his sister’s hair vigorously. She howled lustily, and the cat ran away. Donald let her cry for a little while, then gave her back the recaptured cat and sat again near her. Before long the pulling occurred again, and again Donald pulled as lustily at Margy’s curls.

“Do you see what it’s like? Do you like to have your hair pulled? Are you going to quit it?” he inquired. Margy adored Donald, and it did not occur to her to resent his means of enforcing his lesson.