Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-10-24
MORAL EFFEGrS OF THEIR
OyER-CRoWDING.
BAD HABITS ARE FORMED
1t les Chiefly During the Time Whom
Teachers Are Hearing One Scc-
t.on Recite while Another Is
studying" Childish FstlSehoods
and Misrepresentation

'''tNN
doing, Ii Is not probable that verv
young children do wrong things az,
libermelg. In the majority ot caseS
their mischief is the result OF mlsdi-
rected activities. Imitation and lack
Of Judgment. The reasoning faculty
lies dormant leaving the child at the
mercy OF impulse and his often too
vivid imagina ton.
One of the most common faults of
little children is that OF telling tglse-
hoods. / am Inclined to think that
most of the cases OF childish false
hoods which do not arise from cow
arfce are due TO wrong Impressions.
All things outside OF mathematical
limits are relative. Our judgments
which seem TO be Instantaneous are
really made up OF numerous compar-
isons whose results are a part of our
mental equipment The proper
growth Of this ability for comparison
and the correct deduction of the laws
of cause and effect depend upon en-
vironment.
a good Illustration Of this point can
be drawn from the old fashioned
game of gossip" The leader OF the
game repeats rather long and
sometimes nonsensical sentence TO the
first OF a hong row OF persons; he In
his turn repeats 1t to the person
seated next 30 him and so on till each
person in the row or circle has
heard and in hir turn repeated tle
sentence, the last person repeating 1t
for the benefit Of the whole company.
different rooms with two companies
as widely separated as possible In
point Of experience III memory ana
quoting work The inexperienced
people made many mistakes, while
the persons with the trained memo
rieS made 50 few changes ia the SEN
fences that II bore no resemblance 10
gossip OF any kind
This IS an llllStnat ton Of the result
Of the training Of the most mechan-
ical Of the faculties but the one which
Is the most easily observed The per.
ception of size and quality, time ana
effort are moi 10 be recognized with.
out careful attention from the OBJ
server. A child fails IN his recitation,
but assures the teacher that he stud
led n long time" and he is probably
honest in his report for the time
spent upon hard or dlsa greeable
task seems long Many teachers
have too little sympathy for their
pupils. The tasks are 80 very rudi
mentary that 1t Is difficult to realize
that they represent new and difficult
matter for the children
one bad result of leaving children
to their own resources while study
ing is the acquiring the habit Of
copying AT first IL Is more than
probable that the child has no
thought of being dishonest Little
ones take great pride In doing all
their work correctly The nearness
OF the desks and the innate tendency
to compare his work with his neigh
boris incllnes him 10 look at his
classmates slate or paper and the
next step, that Of changing his own
results for those or his nelghbor who
is usually successful, is short and
easy but not necessarily vicious. II
II il not checked however 1t leads to
several dcmoalizng habits, namely
slyneSs, dishonesty, lazlneSs and In
accuracy.
The "co. omttee Of ten" has sug
gested much needed change, that
OF dispensing with much Of tlie diff
ficult abstract mathematical work
and supplying exercises In form work
and other exercises calculated to de-
velop accuracy and self reliance. This
change viii dispose Of many inccn
tiyes to dishonesty I'm the matter Of
behavior we require much more m
little children than we ever realize
with Older people with olIr present
facilities for teaching 1t may be I'M.
avoldable. but 1t frequently results Va
injustice TO the child. In class
room containing TWO divisions or
grades. one division mlist remain
quiet while the other ~ recting The
teacher cannot do justice 10 herself
or the class on the iloor II her at
tcntion must be given for part Of
the time b the ttIdylng class.
II Is during these socallcd studying
periods that most Of the school bad
habits are formed After all, the
whispering, dropping of books, teas.
Ing of mates are ~ very slight IN
jury to the child compared with the
development Of slyness, lazlness and
disrcspect for the rights Of others
which tfle custom fosters
Until children reach mental de-
velopmeft which enables them to use
a dictionary intelligently. to reason
logically and work accurately they
should never be compelled to employ
themselves without the care and d.
rection Of a competent teacher Be-
fore the child can study be must be
taught how 10 study.
Ii Ii unfortunate that many par
ems leave nearly al the mo.al train
ing to the teacher. Many more par
ents are incapable of training the