The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-03-29
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAKING
CORRECT REPORTS.


"What kind Of a report shall we
send the Superintendent and the
parents2 A correct report? A guess
report? Or a false report? What ef-
feet. win such report have on the char,
acter and life Of the pupils?"-Supt.
Todd.
A correct report, under all clrcum-
stances, is the desirable one to be
rendered. By this only can the SUI
perinlendent and parents ascertain
how much OF the required amount OF
learning the child is getting, If the
grades run low there are these things
Indicated; either the teachers work
Is defective in thoroughness or the
child is defective in assimilation of
the instruction given, or that the
pupil Is not sufficiently interested In
the school work to give il the requir-
I'd attention to make impressions
deep and lasting.
A TRUE REPORT of the child's men,
tai condition Is as valuable TO those
Interested In his welfare assumptions
are to the doctor in diagnosing the
malady OF his patient. 1t is what
the square is to the carpenter; what
the yard stick is to the merchant;
what the compass is to the mariner;
what the thermometer Is to the wealth
er man; what the telescope Is to the
astronomer: what the microscope Is
to the bacterolOgist; what the speed
ometer is TO the chauffeur; what the
law Of God IS to the sinner.
A true report enables the county
superintendent to render true re-
port to the state superintendent,
whereby he is able to compare re-
ports from the entire state and to
learn of the virtues and defects OF
the system Of public education now in
practice over the state. 1t gives him
l.
a true basis on which to build reform
measures for the improvement of
the school system.
A GUESS REPORT Is Of little value
from the fact that teachers, as well
as parents invariably think their
children smarter than they really are
and therefore guess reports are made
too high. Teachers are most likely
to form their guess from the instruc-
tlon. They take it as matter Of
fact that the pupil has assimulated
the whole OF the lesson gone over
The real comprehension Of the pupil
cannot be ascertained by guess work
The guess report also reveals slip
shod superficial character in the per-
son of the teacher, who would be sat
istied with simply guess report as TO
the mentality Of the child intrusted
to her care.
A FALSE REPORT Is positively bad.
The influence is disastrous, We are
living in an age when Fan things are
not what they seem" Many persons
seem to have disposition to magni-
fy realities for the sake Of appearance,
They thus make a false show for the
purpose OSdeceiying the public. This
tendency even extends to natures
endowments OF the personality. DC
caslonally you will discover beauti-
ful head OF raven tresses, to be largely
composed OF manila hemp, skillfully
dyed, and that lovely set Of milk
white teeth have been moulded in
some porcelain factory, A handsome
complexion with the glowing tlnts
OF health beaming from every glance
can be made up, in few seconds, by
delicate fingers cosmeticized. We
leave the individual and glance at
the business world. Down at the
grocery store we see the fresh red
berries on top Of the box and the
moldy ones beneath. The big red APP
pies on top of the barrel and the lit
tie ones deeper down, too timld to
face the gaping public. The lovely
yellow butter in the refrigerator is
not ALWAYS made from green grass,
but sometimes takes the druggists
medicine like any other invalid. By
its intimacy with the apothecary
there has come to our tables the
twelve ounce butter, reminding US Of
The gold bricks sold by the bunco
man.
The coal dealer sometimes weighs
out sixteen hundred pounds OF coal
and reports 1t, on your BILL one ton.
In the political world we hear the
politician pledglng himself to stand
by his constituency, in his office we
hear OF him standing by his own in
teres Is. We are told that corpora
lions water their stock and sell the
false values to the gullible public.
All OF the raw material from which
the individual members of society
came, all OF the raw material from
which the business world has been
built, all of the raw material from
which the political world has been