Catoctin clarion., 1921-12-15


the grades where they say of US "they
only play"
We do play with your children. Do
you? Do you take time to play with
them and do you know how?
So few of you have seen US play in
school. Sometimes, l wonder why
you don't find our latch string. Had
l the time and ingenuity to plan more
new games your child would know
more and love his school better than
he does. The teacher who can play
with the children is their comrade.
And the teacher who can be a comrade
"a pal-to the children in his or hel
care has made long step in the right
direction.
An educator has said "Play is Gods
way of teaching children how to
work." | would not presume to i'm
prove the Creators way. 1t is nat
raj method.
What is the difference between
work and play. The play children
love and the work they so often de-
spise. Play is being interested in a
process for it's own sake. Work is
the result aimed for by conscious eff
fort directed by ones self or another.
For example, two boys who were
paid to clear a potato patch of bugs
found it most disagreeable work at
first, and did it only for the money or
to escape punishment for disobedience
or both. But when the play-spirit
was introduced that the bugs were
pearls and each tried to get the larg-
est collection-then the money was no
longer the largest factor, but the pro-
cess became the absorbing interest.
1t was play. Now, you and | didn't
play in school, of course not. My
fingers were slapped for doing less
than playing in school.
Just what did we do in school under
the old regime when slight provoca-
tions were punishable by whippings.
Too well do | remember the nervous
little girl who sat on tall seat (no
support for the little legs that dangled
all day. and leaned forward on a much
carved desk. (That desk was a silent
plea for constructive handwork.)
There was slate that smelled of spit
tie, stub pencil and terrible slate
rag. All day long for seat work that
little girl printed and wrote rows Of
meaningless numbers. The teacher
always saw when she stopped her
work or visited neighbor. Would
you have your child go back to this
kind of work? Can you imagine your
child sitting all day doing that kind
of work?
What was accomplished the first
year under the old method? ! had
read primer through many times
and sighed for new words to conquer.
l could spell columns of words that
had no place in my vocabulary and
write those meaningless numbers.
The one story that came in those
first early years was George Wash
! ington and the Hatchet." l learned
the Twenty-third Psalm by ABSORPTION
but was deprived of the pleasure of
going out in that meadow, in my i'm
agination, to see the shepherd. My
teacher forgot to tell me the story of
David.
What of your child's fund of knowl-
edge in the first few school-years ?
AS he brings it home to you bit-bybit
does it not prove to you that he is
nearer learning to make a living and
life? Did he tell you that we play
games and have charts to help US re-
member to keep clean teeth and bod
les. That if we would keep the sun
shine on our faces we must sleep ten
hours in room with an open window :!
Who can measure what he grasps in
the passive forms of play: rest exer-
cises, stories, poems, pictures, beauty
in all?
The late Theodore Roosevelt said
"The man who can play is the one who
can work."
Those of US who have observed
children, know it is true of them as
well. The listless player or the one
who does not remember rules seldom
does good school work.
We play to win to win not as in
dividuals,, but as group-our side
This presupposes cooperation, team
work, alertness and fairness as games
with little folks are supervised-not
dominated.
With these qualities of the games
in mind, are we not laying the foun-