The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-06
INTRUSIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN.
Their Insubordination and Lack OF Rever-
ence, and the Cause Thereof.


Their INSTRUMENTATION and Lack of Rever-
ence, and the Cause Thereof.
Dean Hart, in The Church Eclectic.
AS water will not run higher than its source.
so the character of q school viii not be stronger
than the force which is resident in the head and
his masters Yet ~ man of less weight than
Arnold or Benson may by tact and careful ad-
herence to the examples and dicta of the great
schoolmasters. raise his school toa high standard
of moral excellence The first step toward its
attainment is clear understanding of the
relative positions of the master and the boy.
This Is more needy of definition on this side the
Atlantic than the other. Here children are
obnoxiously intrusive, their familiarity of adj
Dress their shocking want of reverence, their
patent characterization may he all traced to the
wrong relationship in which the child stands
hrst to its parent then to its master
Life 10 started under the supposition that
the child is on par with its elders; reasons are
carefully given for the orders which it is expect
Ell to obey If 1t does wrong, it is reasoned
with, with all the gravity and seriousness which
would be used to a full grown individual 1t is
semi to school, here 1t takes up certain subjects
Text books are placed in its hand which re-
duced to its comprehension Difficulties are
carefully eliminated by the manufacturers OF
these books most probably because these authors
are themselves incapable of mastering them
The ARITHMETIC is finished. The child says lit
is through arithmetic or Through algebra
or even through history" It very naturally
affords. And that the great men it reads Of
whose names are known for mathematical dis
tinct:on. knew, perhaps, a little more, but not
very much more than what it had just 'sgot
through
I met the other day a mother with her
daughter, distingue young miss OF twelve or
thirteen. / was introduced to her. in which
process she behaved with all the gravity of a
duchess. She was just home from school
with the high sounding title of university ard
was informed, as proof of her superior intel
ligence, and / also presume of the powers of the
university, that she had finished algebra in less
than six months!" l replied that indeed the
performance was extraordinary forI myself had
given considerable attention to the same study
for some twenty five years. and felt had prob
ably mastered about one third of the subject
saw. as we parted, that the estimate which she
had held of my mental capabilities fell to zero,
and that the damsel felt herself considerably
above me, at any rate as far as algebra
was concerned. i asked a little girl of eleven
the other day what she was dOingY She had
just finished the binominal theorem! This alb
surd process of what is called, forsooth, educa-
tion ''puffs up the minds of children until
what wonder is itY they feel on a par with their
elders, and disport themselves as men and
women, not knowing, alas! the rules of courtesy
nor having learnt the restraint of self. which is
the root of all decent behavior. A system of
training must be radically wrong which could
produce such young gentleman as we read of
not long ago, who on going into his mothers
drawing rOom found seated there the Roman
Catholic archbishop Strutting up to the great
ecclesastic, with one hand in his pocket he prof
fered two fingers of the other to the Wis
itor, and hailed him with, "How dyer
do, Arch. |" This false relationship is
due to the wrong process of bringing up.n
What an enormous difference has
come over the ehild-world since the beginning of
this century. Ny father used invariably to cali
his father ''sir," not in. the sense in which
it is used in America but in the sense, almost
in which courtier still uses it to a prince
What an insight into the process and atmosphere
of training children does this incident give He
was coming on the top Of the coach, home for
for the holidays as is the wont of travellers the
conversation turned upon where they had
been" This led to a comparing of foreign
countries with England. After much had been
said pro and con, a lull occurred, which WAS
occupied by boys voice-''Well, old England's
good enough for me-" The nearest passenger to
the speaker at once boxed his ears for his ven
turesome Interpolation. and the opposite gen.
tleman approved with the rejoinder: '"Take
care, sir. that you are good enough for old Eng
land" Some may say that this regime was un-
natural and oppressive. Be that as it may, it
certainly produced race of men which for
urbanity and charming politeness have not their
equivalent now.