Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-17
COMMON SENSE RULES
TRANSFORM HABITS OF
FEEBLE-MINDED YOUTH
Mrs. Carrie C. Webb Won In
corrigible Glass of Negro
Children by Perseverance,
in Practical Methods
A CLASSROOM IRE

Sixteen feeble-minded negro boys anA
girls have been made into useful. peaceful
little citizens through the educauonal ef-
forts of Mrs. Carrie G. Webb, young
woman OF their own race. Mrs. Webb is
disregarding theory and putting Into prec-
tice a plan that produces results. Mrs.
Webb is the wife of Walker b. Webb,
messenger to Mayor Smith.
She is n teacher I'm the Thomas Dur
ham School. 18th and Lombard streets,
an institution attended entirely by col
ored pupils. When Mrs. Webb was as
signed to the Durham School she learned
that there was one class there that teach
ers had previously refused to "handle.'
It was known officially as the "ortho-
genie class" and because of the difficulty
experienced by other instructors the au-
thorities had difficulty in obtaining a
teacher. All OF the pupils we're unruly
and many of them showed criminal ten
dencles Discipline had been Impossible.
But because of the very difficulty OF the
task Mrs. Webb volunteered to teach this
class.
Her first step in solving the problem
was to arouse the interest of the pupils
in ordinary affairs. She talked to the
children about the weather. AT first they
seemed to be unconscious OF what she
was saying, but eventually the unfor-
that there was such phenomenon as
weather and they displayed as much In
terest in It as normal folk.
Discipline was the next question to be
considered Mrs. Webb devised code
of ethics for the pupils and enforced II
rigidly. The youngsters soon learned, In
their own peculiar way, that every act
affected every other person In the class
and they learned OF system OF rewards
and punishments. She carefully avoided
physical force in carrying out her plan.
Mrs Webb has established a store"
..I aNrs asnI
into n corner of the classroom and mako
believe money" valuable In the eyes or
the children, is distributed. 1t serves as
"pay' for faithful work and system
of fines is employed TO discourage infrec-
tion of the rules.
The children buy oatmeal and aprons.
candy and pencils, learning In this way
how to count. This cystem also serves to
develop thrift. Since the store was estab-
lished none of the scholars has been found
guilty of theft. an offense common among
feeble-minded juveniles. There have been
little defiance of school law.
The stock contained in the school store
Is furnished free by the Educational
Foundation. a New York philanthropic in
stitution. The work of Mrs. Webb has at
tracted attention of pedagogues and
psychologists In all parts of the country.
Social workers and specialists in mental
diseases visit the classroom almost daily
for observation purposes.
There is really nothing wonderful about
this" said Mrs. Webb when asked to ex-
plain her unusual methods. II just use
common sense. Instead of bothering about
psychic laws and reading the reports OF
painstalSing investigations. try to un-
derstand human nature; not human ma
ture as we find 1t in the world of normal.
everyday people The feeble-minded child
is strange. He must be treated dinerent-
ly: but IL we meet the disease with the
proper medicine. we can destroy some OF
it's bad effects, IL we can't cure the all
ment altogether"