The New York herald., 1922-12-17
D'A BOYS HOME. TRAINING

dents has brought me into very close
acquaintance with youthful character
istics and their relation to earlier in
-fuences. particularly in the home.
While the great majority of parents
| meet their obligations wisely and EN-
ciently. / am amazed to note how little
some parents appreciate the sigeifl-
| canoe of the part which they are to
play In the education and development
Of their children. During the mold
able period more constructive work
along the line~o general development
cap be done in short period of time
than can be accomplished in a four
year course in college. Absence of
proper instruction at this important
period may lead to the formation Of
unfortunate habits which may follow a
man not only through his four years
Of college but through life as well.
Some time ago wealthy New York
business man brought his son to the
president of one of our New England
colleges. He told the president that
he had been a very busy but success
full man, with little time to give to his
family. "In short" he said, my son
here has had no bringing up. 1 want
your institution to take the job, make
man of him and I will pay you lib
orally for It," .r,,e. e..l.
Worst Habit ofthe Student
Is Deep Rooted Procrastination
Among the many failings and short
comings which we discover in the stu
dent to-day, the first to attract our
attention. and probably one OF the
most stubborn to deal with, is the
habit of procrastination. 1t is deep
seated, originates in most cases in the
home, thrives under the sunshine of
jndulgent parents and makes little re-
sponse to the patient and persistent
corrective effort OF the preparatory
school teacher. The modern. youth is
growing UP in the midst of multitude
of alluring influences for which his
parents are largely responsible. Nat
urally he will be intensely interested
In these things. There are not enough
hours in the day to do all the things
he ought to do and the things he
wants to do. Therefore. unless he has
very careful instruction and direction
he will easily fall into the habit OF
putting off the more serious and i'm
portant tasks, which of course are
distasteful. to the latest possible mo-
ment.
A very striking indication Of faulty
home training appears in the ten
6ency on the part of some of the stu
dents to resort. to dishonest or decep-
tive methods IN the performance of
his college tasks. In practically every
case where this failing has been
brought to my attention I have dis
covered that the practice began and
was allowed to continue either in the
home or the preparatory school, where
little or no criticism apparently was
offered r !
SO frequently is the practice re-,
sorted to by pupils during their pre-
paratory school training that we. find
ii exceedingly difficult to convince
the student that there is any harm in
It provided he can carry 1t out without
discovery. One Of our students IN the
department of English handed in a
splendidly written theme. superior to
anything he had previously written.
Our suspicious were~ at once aroused
and the young man was asked to give
an account of himself. He finally adj
mitted that his mother had written
the whole theme for him without any
conference with him, and had directed
him to sign his own name to it. 1t
was not until the boy was suspended
from. college that he sand his mother
awoke, to the fact, that they had done
anything worthy of criticism.
Parents frequently resort to va
riety or semi -deceitful or underhanded
methods I'M sealing with members OF
the family or with their relatives or
acquaintances outside, little knowing
that in this way they not only belittle
the value Of truth and straightforward
| living, but actually plant the seeds of
deceit and dishonesty. ,. ~t
During the last few years the stu