The Washington times., 1915-02-10
BAD BOYS? THERE ARE
NONE, SAY EXPERTS
Child Study Club Finds Some
Reasons Why There Is In.
corrigibiIIity.
BY j. r. HILDEBRAND.

"If I were n boy living in southwest
Washington ! should be tempted to
break every window light I saw until
was given a playground" declared
| Mrs. J. =. s. Neigh. resident worker
at the Neighborhood House. before the
| Special Child Study Club last night.
1t was Bad Boy night Capitals and
| alD. Child experts, from half dozen
| institutions dealing with child life. as
sembled at the Public Library to pay
| tribute to the Bad Boy. Stories OF his
daily pranks that We'd with Peck and
| Judge Shute were related. though the
almost unanimous verdict OF these
/ child experts was that there amt no
sech thing except for the purposes
| of argument.
Mrs. j. P! S. Neigh. friend OF all bad
boys in Southwest Washington. di-
vided the city boy into two types.
! those who are troublesome because or
some physical defect not properly un-
derstood, and those who are too
| healthy for a city environment.
"It is the latter type that has my
| sympathy in our southwest section.
she said. my own brother needed a
vitality. We were glad to give it to
him. If he had lived in southwest
Washington I don't know what would
| have become OF him..
The Girl a Factor.
B. Howard Clark. chief probation Of
ficer, had another diagnosis for the bad
! boy germ.
"Manv bad boys are caused by the
girl in the family. who always occu-
pies the second floor front, and the boys
| in the family are left to shift for them
selves over the Kitchen" said Mr..
Clark. Il know. because there were
| three boys and one girl in my family"
Plausible excuses given by automo-
bile speeders to policemen encourage n
disregard of law and authority among
boys, according to w. 8. Peabody. presi-
dent of the street Safety Association.
cent of the automobile owners in Wash
ington have been arrested said Mr.:
Peabody. But II per cent of the total
population of washington has record
Of court appearances. Therefore, one II.
four plotorists is arrested for violating
| one law. that against speeding. wnile
only one in eight of the total population
is arrested for possible ninety misde-
| meanors.
| Boys congregate when an arrest Is
made they listen to the colloquy be-
| tween the policeman and the man ar
| rested, and then they formulate the
same excuses when they are caught IN
an alley crap game. The moral dangers
greater than the physical dangers. FOR
| only four boys between ten and six
| teen years were killed in our streets
| last year w
saved from criminal courts since the
| establishment. in 1906. Of schools for
| special children in Washington. ac-
cording to w. B. Patterson, supervising
principal in charge of these special
schools.
Bad Home Environment.
The bulk of our children show a
history of bad home environment" said
Mr.. Patterson. "Our ungraded school
is not for incorrigible boys. for 1 don't
| believe there are such boys. l prefer
to call them semi-incorrigibles All they
need is study and understanding. ]
have had the pleasure of sending scores
of such boys forth from the ungraded
| teacher, Mrs. Margaret NJ Barber, back
into the grades where they made good
| records"
The typewriter is one royal road to
| curing bad boys. in Mr.. Patterson's s
| opinion. Washington was the first city.
| he said, to introduce a typewriter In it's
| schools for unmanageable boys. and
also in the atypical schools. for the
writer, he stated. is a valuable adjunc,
to teaching coordination and muscular
| control.
or the 800 boys who have passed
| through the special grades the rolls of
| the training schools and similar cor
| rective institutions show but seventeen
| who have landed there.
Chief Probation Officer Clark vindi-
Gated the ''movies' OF much Of the
| blame now attributed them for their
| effect on boys.
1T is not what boys see at picture
| shows that hurts them" he said 1T is
| that the pictures furnish them with
| excuses for getting into real mischief.
| They would be better off If they went
to the picture shows.
The Critical Age.
TOO many parents seem to have the
| idea that when they have raised boy
| to about twelve years their duty is
done. and If the boy doesn't make good
| from that time on it is his own fault
| That is when a boys real training
should begin. and then is when he
needs most intelligent care.
| There are too many people in Wash
| ington who get children hailed before
Juvenile Court because OF trivial Of
| lenses. In one case a woman had -four
| children arrested for laughing at her
| and one of them was only siXe years
old. and so frightened he had to he
carried to court"
| Th" best work the juvenile Court
can do. Judge !. Wilmer I.atimer. oi
haf enid l..