The New York herald., 1922-12-24
BY A HEADMASTER.

n CHOOLMASTERS in general arc
inclined to set pretty definite
values on that frequently ma
ligned individual known as parent
These values vary. But in general they
are not complimentary. 1t is not un-
common TO hear an overwrought head
master exclaim: Parents are a nui-
sancc." Not all are so frank or so
brutal. Yet there are few of the pro-
fession who will not at times agree
that their work would be immensely
lightened and the results of their eff
forts much more satisfactory il they
were wholly freed from unwarranted
interference on the part of those who
for the time being. have seen fit to en-
trust their children to the care and
oversight Of school
The extent OF this feeling is In
fiuenced largely by the character and
location of the school Schools for the
young and those that are known as
"close" undoubtedly suffer most. for.
whether for good or i'll, parents in such
cases are likely either TO take a
liveler interest in the welfare of their
children or to be kept more intimately
Informed OF the progress and peculiari-
ties of their offspring.
My personal experiences with par
ents have, in the main, been of a
happy and helpful kind. The variety
/ have met in many years experience
has been wide and comprehensive. 1t
has included the good, the bad and the
Indifferent. and has not lacked the Pc
culiar. But the good have far. very
far. outnumbered the bad; and my
the Indifferent so greatly predominate.
It is my belief, however, that this
seeming indifference in most cases in
dicates a confidence in the boy and the
school rather than a real lack of in
terest on the part of the parents them
selves; for a word of special COM
mendation or censure rarely falls to
elicit a prompt and appreciative re-
sponse, and not infrequently, when
censure is involved, the appearance of
the parents themselves.
What most parents fail to realize is
that the school at best can only sup
plement the work that has already
been done. whether poorly or well. in
the home itself. Indeed the school
product must of necessity be largely
shaped by the influences that are still
operative in the home while the boy
or girl remains a member of the
school community: and this is hard
for many parents to understand But
this truth starcs the schoolmaster
steadily in the face and adds
nightly to his cares. When, az
often happens, he welcomes his pupils
at the end of a vacation period only
to discover that the painstaking ef-
forts that have been put forth to con-
serve the health and build up mental
and moral fiber have been more than
offset by countless rounds of extrava-
CANT and often demoralizing pleas
ures he is about ready to agree with
"A recent writer, who not untruthfully
remarks that the dangerous age to-
day is not II but AZ.
1t is a bit strange and paradoxical
that parents so often will invest their
savings generously and sometimes
at real sacrifice in sending their chill
dren to school the chief business OF
which is to build up the mental. moral
and physical strength of it's pupils
and then. when once moro the reins
of authority are placed in the parents
own hands. will permit. il they do
not actually encourage, conditions
which can only undermine IL they do
not finally wreck all that the school
has been able to accomplish. School
masters have yet TO find a satisfac-
tory explanation OF this strange and
contradictory behavior Of their pa