The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1914-08-06
by M. V. o'shea, professor of educa-
\ tion TTnivers;tv IF Wisconsin

Here is typical example OF the way
many parents "helpn their children in
their school work. A boy ten years
OF age, engaged in writing a little es-
say which had been assigned as home
task, wished to use the WORD ordinary
It seemed little strange to him, and
he had got into the habit of always
asking for assistance whenever he came
to anything new, either in spelling or
in any other study. So he called out
to his mother, elbow do you spell ordi-
nary?" The mother spelled it for him,
and he wrote it down as she dictated
it. She did not ask him to make an
effort to spell it himself. After she
had spelled it, she did 10: require him
to spell it after her. She made no test
to see whether he had really learned the
word, or whether he had simply writ
ten it mechanically in order to get
through with the special task in hand.
1t is practically certain that he did
not learn to spell it, because he was
not in learning frame Of mind. He
simply wanted to be helped out of his
present difficulty; and he was utterly
Indifferent to possible future need in
regard to this same word.
In this respect he was entirely nat
ural. Nature does not make an I'M
trained child anxious about future
needs. If child on his own initiative
were constantly thinking of future
needs and learning what would help him
to meet these needs, he would cease to
be child. The difference between an
unframed and undeveloped child, and
one who is well trained and we'll de-
velpoed, lies mainly in the fact that the
latter is conscious of future needs and
plans to meet them, while the former is
concerned only with the situations i'm
mediately before him. If he can get
out of present difficulty, he is salts
fed; h does not consider that the diff
fculty may arise again, and he had
best be prepared to meet it. The chief
work in education is to develop what
we call tnoughtfulness or foresight in
children.
To return to the boy receiving help
in spelling ordinary. he parents in
that home always do the work for this
boy whenever he asks them for aid.
He frequently brings home tasks from
the school, as he should do, because the
typical child cannot do all the work
that he ought to do during school hours.
When boy has reached the age Of ten
he should have at least a half hour of
work at home every evening, provided
he does not acquire bad mental habits
in doing it. Unfortunately this par
ticular boy is fast acquiring mental
habits which viii handicap him heavily
later on. That is to say, he is not
learning to help himself, at least so far
as his work at home is concerned. His
parents either do not want to take the
time to make him self-helpful, or they
do not know how to do it. Possibly
they want to relieve him from the
strain and stress of solving his own diff
ficulties. Many parents feel that they
serve their children best when they
bear their school burdens for them.
But suppose when this mother was asked
by her boy for assistance in spelling
ordinary, she had required him to spell
each syllable which he could have done.
In quarter of minute she could have
led him to spell that word largely on
his own initiative. IF she had followed
this method whenever the boy asked
her for assistance in spelling, she
could soon have trained him so that
he wouldn't need to ask for assistance
When he came to a new word, he would
break it up into syllables, and he would
thus be able to spell most, at any rate,
of the words he would need to use. IF
the mother could make use of this
method for several years, she would
train him to be self-helpful. But when
she simply does the work for him, she
neither teaches him nor develops him
in the way of solving his own prob
lens.
The inference should not be drawn
f1om what has been said that the par
ent should do nothing for his child.
Occasionally, one finds a parent who
when child asks for help in solving
a problem will say, "Do it yourself. -
Often child keeps working away at
a problem which he cannot possibly
solve because he has not been trained
properly. To say to such child, do
it YOURSELF is often TO discourage
him, and to cause him to waste time.
There is middle course etxeen doing
nothing for the learner, and doing ev-
erything for him. This middle course
is to cause him by appropriate questions
to take the necessary steps to help him.
self. This is really what teaching
means, whether it be in the home or In
the school. Telling is not teaching,