Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-23
'HASKIN'S
LETTER
PATHFTNDEfS OF AMERICA
nv Frederic i. HasISin

| launched in Detroit, is attracting
| widespread attention and gives
promise of developing into national
| movement. It is called the Path
| finders of America and the work it
| does is described as "human engi-
| neering."
The organization was formed orig
| inally' as q means of reforming and
| training youths whose delinquencies
! had brought them into the juvenile
courts of Detroit. 1t met with such
| success in it's efforts to reclaim
| young men and women In the 1aiis
and house of correction of the Mich
| igan cities, including the prisons at
! Ionia and Marquette
This work has been carried on
] sufficiently long and on a sufficiently
| large scale to demonstrate its mer-
| it's in dealing with a class of young
lpeople who had made a long start on
| the road toward becoming confirmed
| criminals. 1T has involved, natu-
rally. a study of the causes which
lead boys and girls to go wrong,
| ard out of this grew the idea of
undertaking preventive work.
Why wait until boy goes wrong
before attempting the human engi-
neering that puts him on the right
track? Why not CO build into his
life the principals that make good
character that he will not stray
from the straight and narrow path
Such were the questions that Writ
ually asked themselves of J. +.
Wright. the organizer and executive
director of the Pathfinders, and in
answering them the logical thing to
do was to try an experiment among
school children. This was done
first in one of the public schools OF
Detroit where children from all sorts
of homes were in attendance. The
principal and teachers of the school
co-operated in every way and the ex-
ptJ Jiment was an Immediate success.
The work was entirely undenonina-
tional, teaching no system of reli-
gion but sound moral principles and
methods of right living and right
thinking so no opposition was en-
countered in any quarter. II the
outset the effort was made to form
organizations only among children
but younger children became inter-
ested and it is now pla3'-el to in
clude the sixth grade.
I'm so far as our wol!< with the
public school children ~ cci cerned
there is no period in :ie r'story
of our organization 20 corii's with
the year on which we are now en-
tering" said Mr.. Wright in discuss
ing the movement he directs. "At
the close of the last school year we
were represented in elevsh schools
in Detroit Our organizations there
are called Junior Councils. and are
made up of boys and girls VINO join
voluntarily and who without re-
quest or urging any adult study their
lessons in character buildi1 1g. Even
the forming Of new group OF
such school children is entirely in
their hands, and In the past the
number of such groups was limited
only by our ability to handle them.
"If we were better able than we
are 20 direct this movement for self
help in the formation OF character
IN the young, there would be no end
to the organizations we might have
in the schools. AS soon As Ne get
squared away we eXpec. II do 81 me-
thing to meet the urgent demands
that are coming to us not only from
the schools of our own city, but
from all over the country
Teachers and parents report that
through the Junior Councils the
most listless children are made at
tentive, and that uuruly boys become
courteous and helpful in the class
room and at home. That snrt of
thing is almost miraculous in some
cases, and sorely tried teachers
who hear of it, are invariably anx-
ious to know how it is done.
NJ Wright says that the secret
of the success of the teaching fos-
tered by his organization lies IN the
fact that they make clear TO chill
dren the nature of moral conduct, of
their obligation to others. aEd of
what they must do and understand
If they are to develop INTO good men
and women.
"Give him a chance and tell him
how to do it, and there isr't a nor
NAL boy in the world who wouldn't
lather be a good boy than bad
Cre," says Mr.. Wright. AND we
tell these children 5lst what they
must do to become useful ana happy
adults. We tell them just what SO
rany of our letters from prison in
mates tell us that the writer's of
them wish thay had known in early
life. Our motto is to catch 'em
young, not treat 'em rough. and tell
EN- everything"
Court records and the crime news
in the public press indicate mat So
ciety has not been meeting With
much success in its efforts 70 make
people honest and law-abi lang. All
the numerous agencies that are sup
posed. to do this work seem to have
failed in large measure, and accord
ing to Mr.. Wright there Is 9row-
ing conviction among all tnoaght
ful men and women that some new
educational material, perhaps even
a new point of view and new teach
ing methods, must be adopted to
make possible for the future lrore
desirable training for children.
In the work of the prhiic scnools
1t is recognized that tie develop
ment Of moral training has not kept
pace with the work in tr ,iuing the
mind. This is due primarily II not
almost entirely to tht idea that
moral training and religious iustruc-
tion are inseparable and that the
public schools must be kept ertirely
free of sectarianism, hence all
teaching that bears upon religion
must be banned.
The Pathfinders of America seeks
to emphasize the fact that there are
fundamental principles OF moral con
duct and good behaviour that are
common to all religions. tSt ldren
should be taught to do or not TO
do certain things. not because those
actions are commanded or prerorib-
cd by the tenets of a church, but
because of their effect It.
ter and. their influence toward sue
cess and happiness in life.
Experience has indicated. for ex-
ample, that a boy who is told hat
IL he forms certain habits he will