The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-03-02

We tdhc ny tOudy lhC oeuNy VI SAS
Indiana Boys school. which is situated
about IA miles west of Indianapolis
and one mile southwest of Plainfield.
Here over 500 boys, many of them
growing into young manhood, are de-
| tanned as wards of the state. Wayne
county has Is of its boys in this insti-
/ tuition, although 1t Is entitled to have
only five there Five of the Is boys
were committed for incorrigibility;
seven for larceny; and three for truan-
cy. Several interesting questions arise
as one studies the charges against the
boys.
! At what exact point may boy be
said to become incorrigible, unruly, or
! rebellious? 1t has not been deter
mined but someone must decide the
tissue. There are some people who are
as poor at commanding as others are
at obeying and some of these people
happen to be parents. Many parents
are extremely nervous and impatient.
| Their discipline is administered &C
cording to their feelings. There Is
| little evenness or constancy about
their rule. One moment they smother
with kindness and the next they
threaten to skin their offspring alive.
Some Withhold Discipline.
They often withhold discipline so as
to "ayoid fuss" and so it goes. There
are some parents who are unjust and
overbearing, adults would not live
with them, but their children have no
other place to 60 Because they are
parents they expect their children to
yield instant and implicit obedience
and their only answer to child who
asks why he is told to do so-ani-so is
/ because | say So" Those parents
who cannot give intelligent reasons
for their commands ought not to ex-
pect obedience. There are parents
whose examples speak louder than
words and often clash with each other.
These parents should be consistent
and raise both words and actions to
the highest possible plane. 1t is
fact that children will obey some peo-
pie better than others showing that
the fault does not lie entirely with the
children. Parents should study the
proposition long and carefully before
they prefer charges against their chill
dren. They should look into their own
Lives and dispositions to see If they
are not partly to blame, for their IN
Happy homes.
| CnlIQren MOT iHITlOt al.
Seven boys committed larceny and
: are expiating their crime. Parents
and other adults should know that
children are neither moral or immor-
al, they are immoral. Crowded into
childhood are centuries of the develop
ment of the race and primitive man
took things when he wanted them
either by trickery or by force or both
The boy is the plaything OF impulse
which lacks logic or regard Tor prop
erty rights.
Many famous man "swiped" things
when he was a boy, but proper moral
. and religious backing carried him
,, through this primitive stage without
disaster. When boys come home and
tell the family of their luck in find
ing" things the family would do well
ITO investigate. Some boys have
phenomenal luck" They seem to find
exactly what they want, whether mon
ey or articles such as bicycles, toys
candy or anything that youth regards
as indispensable.
The stories that they tell are plaus
, ible, but they are lies and lie is the
: defense of the immoral. 1t is not lie
, to him, but camouflage, and therefore
] proper. 1t is the same as mimlcry
: in nature, whereby insects, birds anC
beasts seek to protect themselves from
: danger and destruction. Sometimes
: the family is told that some person Oh
I persons gave" things to the boy. This
: finding" and giving have been plair
+; stealing.
v Articles Disappear
: Things disappear that youth need:
, or thinks it needs-pens, books, sweat
: ers, bicycles, anything that young bloot
covets Parents should not allow thu
e conduct of their boys to reach thu
: point where the law must take notice
and punish the offender II we wan
s to correct this deplorable habit, lie
d us not commit the boy to plac
where he will be taught the finer point
of the light-fingered art.
What about the boys who played tru
ant? There was a time when 'playlni
hooky'' was not an offense, but in tn
refinement of custom and usage, SOC
ETY. has made that youthful transgres
sion a crime and has prescribed per
altv to cover it. The penalty is no
: necessarily reformative. Again, man
: famous men played hooky" whel
:, bows, but there was either enough tibe
in them to help them over the erro
: of their ways or the atmosphere whic
surrounded them helped them to &c
into line before it was too late. VIII
: do some boys play truant?
School is seldom the happiest plac
;, on earth for healthy boy, even at 1t
= best, but is every room at its best
! In every teacher con the job?"
> every teacher sympathetic towar
youth and youths viewpoint? Doe
: the school system take into account
. boys essential individuality and try t
Il develop it to it's highest degree, or ar
!, bows Jumped together? There ar
u many cultured and highly educate
adults who do not "see the good
certain subjects and methods, an
! when a boy does not see the good
8 he does not go to school.
Il Gets Into Trouble.
His protest is direct and forcefl
but it gets him into trouble. 1t Nigh
be we'll to investigate his protes
This is a work for parent-teachers' a
sociations to discuss. A boy who is
= truant is often a dreamer and when h
finds himself he will take the shorte:
10 path toward his hearts desire. W
cannot expect the boy mind to ''se
20 the sense" of certain things until h
w has gained in eyperienee We hes