The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-03-09
TO IMPROVE MANKIND
ohioan's Theory Fer Training
the Young.
IMPRESSED BY A TEACHERS RULE

Ont OF Her Injunction In school Days
= Pupil, Vow Aged Evolved system
by Wkicn He BeG1Svss Humanity
Car BE Taught Veauntary Obedi-
ence-CiteL Its GOOG ResuIts.
When Miss Flora AtSins, teacher in
q small country scnOo III the Wade dis
trict, near AsntaDula, o., told her pu-
pills in 1888 that sse would rely Oh
them to keep OFfIsE voluntarily she Lit
tie dreamed lAaL the whole course Of
life Of half OF her pupils would be in
duenced by her words, says a CIeve
land CO., d4.patrl.
One of lie Jupils, Deacon Aaron
Pickett of A5AtLDula has followed the
course of each member Of the class and
has put h. lindi2gS into manuscript
He has gone further and has evolved
system OF parental, school and state
government based Oh the result Of Miss
Atkins experiment seyenty-two years
ago.
In the Wade district, so named from
the original home of the family or
United States Senator Benjamin
Wade, stood a small log schOolhOuse
into which were crowded thirty pupils
ranging In age from six to twelve
years. Miss Atkins told them the very
first day that she would expect them to
keep order of their own accord. She
laid down one rule. and only one, but
it was in scope so broad that it covered
all the many rules usually put in force
by teachers. That rule was;
do nothing that will distract the at
tention of another pupil from his
work.
Simple, wasn't It? Yet it covered the
offenses Of whispering, passing notes.
throwing paper balls, general restless
ness and all the deviltFy that a school
boy can invent.
All Of the thirty were induced the
first day to promise to obey the rule.
At the end Of the second day one boy
had broken the rule. He never again
by good department got over on the
side Of the good pupils. AZ the end
Of the third day three had broken the
rule, and In a week fifteen were num-
bered among the unTuly. A week was
long enough to test the staying pow
ers Of all in the cause Of good school
government Those who stuck to the
rule for a week were obedient for the
entire term. The school was evenly
divided all the remainder Of the term
dftoa1 fyOod IN fftnon had
Those who followed the customary
course Of infant rebellion received the
usual modes Of correction and pIodded
along the usual way With their school
work All Of these pupils were in
Miss Atkins school for four years. long
enough to form habits. AS years rolled
along results were carefully watched
by Aaron Pickett, the boy who be-
came so intensely interested IN Miss
Atkins plan Of voluntary obedience.
The pupils left school The young
man kept trace of them. Years rolled
by, and he became old, yet he still fol-
lowed his inquiries. At the end Of
fifty years he compiled a record Of the
class Of thirty, and these were the re-
suits: OF the obedient fifteen there
were alive thirteen. OF the disobedient
fifteen there were only three surviving.
The thirteen Obedient had splendid
records. All were educated, some high
". No one Of them used profane Ian
guage or intoxicating liquor. Only one
had used tobacco, and one had become
involved in a lawsuit. They all bore
good regulations in the communities
where they lived and were numbered
among the best citizens, though not
among the wealthy.
The three disobedient could not claim
yer, ruined by drink and often in Jail.
Another was a small rated farmer fire.
Quently IN trouble. Nearly all Of the
disobedient had been selfsh-more anx-
ious to satisfy their own desires for IL
eenSe than to live for the good Of them
selves and the remainder Of the COM
munity. As a result they were disturb
ers, given frequently to quarrelsome-
ness, their habits being such as would
tend to shorten human life.
At the end Of seventy years Deacon
Pickett took another census. Eight Of
the obedient were living, but only two
Of the disobedient From this record
the deacon has evolved a theory Of ed
ucation. He believes that the entire
human race can be taught voluntary
obedience not only to school rules, but
to the laws of the land and the tenets
Of health and morality.
If the system were adopted in the
schools he believes its influence would
spread. At first only half of the pupils
might be willing to obey voluntarily,
and the only force acting to bring
about such obedience would be tho
teachers. Soon this force would be in
creased by the pupils who had grown
to maturity and had children Of their
own. The percentage Of the nbediRnt
would then become greater, Deacon
Pickett believes, and eventually the
habit would become fixed in the entire
race. This would take some years, he
calculates, but at last it would become
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