Evening star., 1923-04-08
1. No talking.
2. Keep your head"
3. Obeyina orders

l. No talking.
2. Keep your head"
3. Obeyine orders.
Each child has a set of these laws
and once month his paper Is
marked by the student council He
gets a mark beside each law broken
more than three times. After the
papers are marked they are given
back to the children for free discus
sion In class meeting. Any child
has right to protest against a
mark and the student council must
be able to make him see why he de-
served 1t.
Latitude Given Children,
In a school run thus the teacher
must allow the children to decide as
much as possible alone. making tact
full suggestions when 1t is necessary
to turn the tide of thought in the
fair direction.
In one school where the children
are served with luncheon, a little girl
was marked in "be clean" because
she didn't wash her hands before the
meal. In class discussion she denied
that she deserved the mark. The
teacher, seeing that sheh was one of
the there meat; mnst tidy bs .e children; thought
called on the student council to ex-
plain Its marking. One little girl
member arose: Every day at lunch
Margot would say to me, I'm not
going to wash my hands" This
Margot admitted. adding that she had
only been teasing and had really
kept the law. Here the teacher was
confronted with a problem-on the
one hand the child stating that she
had kept the law and on the other
hand the council member who had
been led to believe she had not. The
teacher settled IT. "Margot really
deserves the mark. even though she
did not break the law. She is being
marked in what she pretends to be
and not what she really is. She pre-
TENDS to be naughtier than she is"
ASIDE from the student council laws
tnere are more serious disciplinary
cases that come before the council or
the whole class. In one school there
was little boy who found it diffi-
cult to tell the truth. Time and time
again he told falsehoods because he
gerated tales brought him. When
the class was studying coal he told
or exciting experiences he had living
ntnd,sd neaT a veal coal !, mine. Inc, When they
the prairIes. Finally the children
began to doubt his word and to listen
incredulously to his stories. At last
they felt that something must be
piled to this case for they felt that
to put no lying" on their papers
would reflect on the whole class
His mother was asked to come and
consult with the council. The mother
was most understanding.
Asked Help of Children.
She said she had been trying all
his life to break John of his very bad
habit of untruthfulness. and she
would be most thankful if the
children could find way to cure
him. Various Ineffective punish
ments. such as keeping after school,
etc. were tried. but John continued
blissfully on his way telling stories
at every turn. Not a day passed
without some small bit of deception,
such as signing his own arithmetic
paper SO his mother would not see
his poor marks and the like. At
last, one day the children found him
coloring a map which the teacher
had forbidden him to touch. On be-
ing challenged he answered that 1t
was his. his father gave it TO him.
for he had a map-making machine
that made maps just like school ones.
He went into details and described
the machine. Then few of the
wise members of the class arose. One
said, John, we do not believe you
because you have told SO many
things that were not so. We shall
phone your mother and see if this
time you are telling us the truth"