The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-10

QueSt tons are either teachers or parents,
or If so what success has attended their
efforts in the school and in the home.
Many things are discussed as entirely
new or entirely ignored that have always
most nearly concerned the teacher and
the parent, and has always received their
most careful attention. For instance,
Col. Parker recently discussing What
Child Study Has Brought to Children"
named, first physical defects as the
cause of much dullness or backward
ness, and intimated that not until re-
Gently had an attempt been made to dis
cover whether a child was deaf, near
sighted, nervous, or had other maladies.
L am sure that every teacher will urge
that never has there been a day in her
experience when teachers did not care
FULLY study these things. To say that
parents or teachers neither understood
or cared for these things, in the past, is
certainly an amazing declaration. Dur
ing my entire time at school 1 had the
most serious trouble with my eyesight,
ard never had teacher who did not
wisely, quietly and successfully aid me
in overcoming the difficulty. AS a teach
er, as principal and as superint endent,
have seen the most considerate and most
successful treatment of unfortunate chill
dren. 1t is a most serious question
whether abnormaEties should be OBJ
truded, whether the child is benefited by
knowing that his schoolmates and teach
ers are aware of his infirmities, and are
treating him accordingly. Whether
these infirmities should be mea assured and
defined and written in book need not
be argued, 1t may be conceded, but that
this knowledge should lie used in the
school, in such a way as to be under
stood by the children, for the purpose of
correcting perVersity, or of improving
nleGlOcrltV-
are certainly strong arguments in favor
of uniform treatment in public, with such
private assistance and direction as each
child needs The educative conditions
that cure the defects were established
long ago in every school room and every
home where a wise head and a good
heart controlled, and the peculiarities
were not mentioned. May unwise study
of this subject not tend to increase the
ranks of the incorrigibles and the degen-
crates! There is danger. Again he says:
There are stages of men,al growth CO.
ordinate with stages of physical growth,
each stage demanding special conditions
to arouse the needed activities" Yes,
this is true, every word of it. but we
should like to know of a single school
since the days of the early Greeks, pos
sibly since the early Chinese, when this
was not recognized as true. Really tn
nature of some of these questions hills
one with amazement. And yet again
the colonel says: Child study has
brought into home and school a better
understanding of the nature and des-
tiny of the child This also gees wi n
out saying. The three propositions of
this very amiable educator are incontro-
vertible. They are self-evident and have
been since the rearing of children in this
world first began. What Col. Parker
would have US believe is that child study
has just begun. That until within the
memory of those now teaching, no study
OF child nature was attempted. 1t IS
true no one will deny it, that the writ
ings of all ages treat of this very theme,
that the work of great masters come
down through the ages is showing mar
velous treatment of this great subject,
and that men like Thomas Arnold, who
never belonged to any club for child
study, or wrote of abnormalities, left an
influence upon the mind, heart and des-
tiny of children that stirs men of Eng
land today whether they are in South
Africa, India, or 1.-The isles of the sea"
The late queen Of England is most af-
fectionately called the mother queen,
and of all the honors accorded her the
highest is that she was a true mother,
tut would this have been said of her If
she had made much of mother duties
nv writings. speeches and the promotion
of organizations?
Pray. when did child study begin? On
ly when clubs were formed and meas
urements begun? It would be most I'M
wise and unnecessary to disparage meas
urement, but the truest best study Of
the child is by the heart, and NOS by
the head. There are relations between
parent and child in which the destiny
of both is wrapped up. too sacred for
appreciation. There are difficulties in
herent in the natures of children that
should be known to and discussed only
among the parents, the family physician
and the child. And yet again, there are
things too sacred to be spoken Or writ
ten, and yet known to the parent heart.
He knows not life who knows not that
the highest faculties, those that lead
onward and upward to God, are not to
be trained mechanically, but must be
stirred, reused, cultivated and brought
to the full measure of perfection by the
immense resources Of the parent heart,
full of all gentleness, tenderness and
love. The study of the child so far
as the parent is concerned must be car.
ried on between father and mother and
child and so far as the teacher is con-
cerned. by a careful study Of mental op-
erations and an acquaintance with the
supported throughout by ability to rec
ognize physical conditions and environ
ment and a tact and judgment sufficient
for the most delicate situations. Then
should clubs be encouraged? Ye-, With
in certain limits they can be most use
full One of the mistakes that few
members have made is action based upon
belief that there was an utter neglect
of child study and an appalling ignor-
ance of child ne ture until the work was
begun by these organizations, and an
other lies in the danger. of dealing with
matters where they can afford no relief
and may do much harm. These clubs
are not essential in respects like the
| mothers clubs of ST Paul. some of which
at least have done a noble work. Co.
operation with teachers in carrying on
the work of educating the child is Tot
the subject 1 have been discussing at all.
OBJECTIONABLE FEATURES.
Up to the present time I have spoken
of three things here in Chicago that have
called forth some criticism, and that have
led to a mistaken idea of the mean
ing of "faGs," a word I should like to
discard as most Objectionable, and with
meaning quite too vague.
The three things are: Self government
| of children, the right to exercise and the
ability to conduct. being assumed and
! therefore not to DE impaired; the use OF
| fairy stories as necessary article os diet
! for the primitive mind, with which chill
| dren are endowed; the assumption that
! child study has been neglected and that
teachers and parents are ignorant of the
! child nature 1t is but just to say that
| 1 believe that comparatively few schools
| in this city hold to any line or lines of
work that justify censure, and yet there
! are grounds of reasonable criticism. In
my next shall treat of methods.
"A J. Smith.
A Modern Mothers Diary.