Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-04-20
NOTES ON EDUCATION.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO PU-
Pill AND TEACHER.
Suggestions for the Cure of an Tnto1-
cradle Schoo1room Nuisance = A
Series of Readers in Primary Grades
How to Call C1asses-Notes.
WhiSDeriug.

Whispering.
How can l prevent whispering? is q
question often asked by young teach
ers. Perhaps the first step toward re-
stricting the evil is to recognize the
fact that it cannot be suppressed. Peo-
Die whisper to one another at church,
teachers whisper at teachers meetings.
Why then should we expect children to
have greater self-restraint? Another
fact that should be considered is that
whispering is not in itself an evils not
a wrong act per Sc. 1t is only because
of surrounding conditions that it is
source of annoyance. The aim then
should be to keep the practice restrict
ed within reasonable limits.
There are two kinds of noisy schools.
There is the noise of confusion, and the
noise of active work. There are two
kinds of quiet schools. There is the
quiet of passive inaction and the quiet
of earnest study. To make the suppress
sion or prevention of whispering an
end in itself to be attained for its own
sake is to expend energy unwisely
But what practical suggestions should
a young teacher receive concerning this
matter? First, the ''ounce of proven
ton is of the highest Importance; for
after the habit is once established, it is
exceedingly difficult to break it up.
Great care should be used to check the
first offenses. Second, plain, sensible
talk to the pupils, setting forth the ad-
VantageS of good order but not over
stating the evils of whispering, will
usually meet with a favorable re-
Spouse; such a talk should of course be
followed by prompt reproof of the first,
even the slightest, infraction. Third,
some devices of management are help
full; few are here noted:
In a mixed country school of all
grades the seating of pupils should re-
eeive careful attention. AS a rule,
where there are double seats, it is best
to have brothers and sisters sit to-
gether. 1t is not desirable to have a
''boys' side" and a girls side," but the
boys and girls should be distributed on
both sides. Members of the same classes
are more likely to whisper to one an
other than pupils who have not the
common interests of studies. A girl in
the Fourth Reader and her brother in
the First Reader class will not feel
much temptation to whisper to each
other. There is, of course, a practical
limit to the application of this device,
determined by the height of the seats
and desks. At any rate, the big girls
and big boys who arrange themselves
in groups on the back seats on the first
day of school should not be allowed to
crystalline into social coteries, but these
groups should be disintegrated by the
seating arrangements.
In a school in which the whispering
habit has grown to be a nuisance, it
may sometimes be broken up in this
way: Re-seat the school, taking some
pains to arrange the pupils in the way
that will be distasteful to the greatest
number. Then announce that another
arrangement of seats will occur a week
later, and all who refrain meanwhile
from whispering will then be allowed
the privilege of choosing their seats.
If even a feW-say half a dozen-re-
frain for week, let them draw num-
DerS by lot and choose in the order of
numbers drawn. Hold out the same
incentive for another week and the
chances are that large number will
earn the privilege of choice.
The boy who whispers can some
times be shamed into good behavior by
a half minutes perfect silence on the
part of the teacher during which time
the attention of the whole school is
fxed upon the offender.
Most teachers of experience have OBJ
served that the dull pupils breathe
through their mouths, the more in
telligent through their noses. The
habit of moving the lips in studying
induces the habit of breathing in the
way that all half-witted people breathe
and in turn, this habit leads to the prac-
tice of whispering. Try to impress up
on the children the fact that breathing
through the nose, with lips closed is
conducive to health, beauty and dig.
nifty.
Some teachers have suppressed whis
pering by judicious use of "whis
pering list in which the names of the
offenders are written on the board, but
this method requires great discretion
or it becomes a source of greater evils
than those it seeks to cure.-Westerr
Noo0hn~