Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-12-02
Remember Elements of Arith-
metic before Enforcing Rule.
Parents Make the Mistake Of Expect
ing Too Much OF Their Children
when They Fail to Apply
Common Sense.

records and Tor maintaining STANDARDS
Of speed. Each girl was going through
a few simple motions making a very
small fraction of a part of the factory's
product Every hour the record OF her
output fell below a certain figure for
two consecutive hours she was quietly
informed that her work had fallen be-
low her average" or below the aver
age Of her department. Then the girl
would speed up her work. and again Gull
tivatlng nervous prostration. dropping
out Of the factory In few days or
weeks. or she would make good" and
help raise the average" for the depart
ment The manager told me with some
pride that In less than year he had
been able to raise the average out
put for all departments more than 30
per cent. through these methods. He did
not tell me, however, that he had taken
pains to explain to the girls just what
the average is.
A little thought will show any one
who understands the elements OF arith-
metic that this manager perpetrated
cruel fraud upon the girls every time
no called attention to the output falling
below the average" The average Is
figure that results from combining the
lowest and the highest with all the others,
and our everyday experience would lead
us to expect that about as many individ-
uals would rise above the average as
drop below tho more and no fewer.
But the young worker feels n certain
stigma attaching to the grade below
average" and either does not understand
enough or has not assurance enough to
hot a. la ccti fnr oil 70 lho
average or better Average assumes
below as we'll as above. and within GER
tain limits 1t is quite as normal to be
below the average as above.
1t Is the failure to recognize the mean
ing of average" that leads to much Of
the failure in the training Of children,
whether in school or at home. as we'll as
to many injustces In all Of our relations.
In school the teacher attempts to apply
certain rules Of pedagogy. based on gen.
ordinations about the average" But
too frequently she attempts to make
her idea OF the average fit every sin
gle child in the class. She knows the
average distance between the printed
page and the eye. and she may in
sist on every child maintaining the same
distance, Notwithstanding the fact that
no two pairs Of eyes are exactly alike.
She realizes that she cannot maintain
uniform distance between the black
board and the eyes. so she usually does
nothing about that, although she might.
for example, seat her children so that
each would have the most favorable To-
cation with regard to his own eyesight.
She knows the average time required for
completing a given task in number work
she frequently insists that every child
finish within the given time and she fire.
| quently suspects slovenliness or inaccur-
acy in the child that takes less than the
allotted time.
A similar failure to apply common
sense Is shown when teachers apply their
rules and their programs-based as these
are on average" experiences-to all chill
dren without discrimination. And the
same failure Ia frequently found among
parents. From the parent who becomes
worried because her child does not weigh
as much as the average" for his age
to the parent who finds out what is
the right" amount Of time that a child
should give to his home lessons or his
plano practice. and then insists upon tbs
average" number of minutes. no more
and eager mothers. del Ided by a formula
When the teacher reports to you that
Margaret's handwriting is not up to the
average. you rather resent the teachers
complaining. OF course her handwriting
Is below the average. you always knew
that Margaret was not very strong ir
hand control; and you are satisfied tina,
Margaret more than holds her own In
other kinds OF effort But you yourself
are constantly applying average" stand
ards to Margaret's conduct at home
with this disadvantage; whereas the
schools standards are derived from large
numbers. the home standards are usually
based on comparatively few experiences
You will compare Margaret's behavior
with Georgiana's. or with that of some
restricted group. But at home as ir
school. it Is necessary to recognize thai
one may be able to do what many others
cannot do, or that one may fail where
many others succeed.
In many families the first child es
tablishes the rules and expectations fol-
the others. II the later children exceed
the expectations. or easily adapt them
selves to the routine which they fint
awaiting them. all Is we'll But II the.
fall short, the parents are likely to fee
aggrieved and to make frantic effort!
to force the children up to the standard
Ernest was never afraid as child VIII!
should any OF the other children ever b.
afraid? Ernest slept from six to ST,
when he was less than three months old
why should not the other children do thu
same? But II Ernest, the eldest, hat
been afraid would you brighten the other.
into being afraid also? Or II Ernest haC
broken your sleep at five every morning
would you wake the others at five. al
though they were quite willing to sleel
until after six?
Records are OF value In industry ant
in government. in school and In tn
home. And the averages derived from
the records are important. 1t is valuable
to know what may be expected OF groups
according to age, or sex. or training OF
according to any other classification. Blu
each Individual must In the end be studied
and treated according to his capacit,
or limitations. Averages show us In gen
eral what many have in common; bu
every child is different" and his diff
ferences demand consideration.-Sid
Matzner Gutenberg in Boston Record.