Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-12
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Queer behavior of all sorts causes
problem children to be sent to the
Gales Special School, a unit of the
District school system.
One 15-year-old boy was sent to the
school because he hated girls. He
couldn't endure a girl around him.
When one came near him he puncheo
her in the face. Neither could he en-
dure woman teachers.
Now at one stage in their lives all
bovs hate girls and are ashamed to
be seen in company with them. That
is the stage when malicious playmates
write with chalk on the sidewalk:
William Smith.
Mary Jones.
They know that it is going to make
William furious when he sees 1t. Inc
effect on Mary may be just as deV-
astating.
But by the time they are Is most
bows have recovered from their dlSllKe
and William begins to feel an absorb
ing attraction for the gawky, Adde'S
cent Mary When this normal de-
yelopment doesn't take place something
Is wrong.
This boys trouble lay in his home
life. His mother had tried to bring
him up as a girl. She had not let
him play with rough little boys. She
had taught him such gentle arts as
sewing and discouraged base ball ana
foot ball. Now it happened that this
particular boy was real boy with all
the boys drives to activity. OTHERWISE
he might have developed into sissy.
Just a Tortured Boy.
There wasn't the stuff of sissy in
him. He was just a pitiable, tortured
boy. When he went to school he
couldn't play with the boys, because ne
never had learned how: His muscles
had been trained for embroidering, not
foot ball. He had to hide his dis
ability in books and daydreams. Sub
consciously he sensed his own difficulty.
If there had been no girls in the world
he would have been allowed to live
like a boy. So he never had recovered
from the stage where boys hate girls
And school teachers were just grown
up girls. He wanted to make them
feel his hate with his fists. There was
no soil for the growth OF gentlemanly
instincts. Girls were Things 10 De
The way out of this trouble, H. D.
Fife, the principal, believes, is to train
the child in the games OF boys until
he is able to hold his own among them.
When the bad effects OF his early
training are overcome it is likely that
his hatred of girls will disappear. OF
itself. But the shy, day-dreaming boy
is not easy to deal with. He breads
nlaving with boys because he is sure
to reveal to them his inferiority. Only
when he is a real boy will he be able
to endure a world with girls in 1t.
Bully Quite Different.
Quite a different problem is that OF
the bully.
He usually is overgrown for his age.
He becomes the master Of his world by
reason of his size and he VIII not study
because he is self-satiSf1ed. He doesn't
want to lose his sense OF superiority py
pitting his brain against the brains OF
brighter boys when he can demohsn
them with his fists. So the bully is gen.
orally dull; he becomes unmanageable
and is transferred from school TO scnooi
without any improvement.
Perhaps the best remedy for him is
10 have him beaten by younger ana
smaller boy. This is not SO dihcult as
1t might seem. The oyergrown bully be-
comes overconfident. He smokes too
many cigarettes and loses his wind.
There is always smaller boy who Is
q faster, cleverer fighter and who VIII
overthrow him in the end. Fife en-
courages these smaller boys-some OF
them in his school are pretty tough
eggs-to challenge the bully. He has
a pair of regulation boxing gloves which
are always at the service of any boy
who has taken all the bullying he can
stand and is determined to whip the
bigger fellow, no matter how many fall
ures he meets with or how bad the beat
ings.
Once the bully is whipped he gen.
orally loses his self confidence and
recognizes the need of other accomplish
ments to put himself on an equality
with his fellows. Moreover. the little
fellow is encouraged to still greater ef-
forts to conquer.
Boys Hate Writing.
Many of the day-dreams of adolescent
boys are concerned with fighting. They
are always whipping gangs, single
handed, in imagination. Fife has shown
this several times by simple expert
ment. Ordinarily boys of the type sent
to the Gales Special School hate Eng
lish composition. They are given a
subject to write on, but ordinarily do a
very poor job.
But masterpieces result when they are
asked to write on the subject of The
WO&ob 11SAlO u CfCA AAdN AAC o0hJSSO
seems to tap well of the imagination
which has infinite possibilities. All the
bloodythirsty nature of boyhood comes
to the surface
When this test was tried the other
day one little Italian boy, who ordi-
narily cannot be encouraged to go more
than four or five lines in composition
wrote furiously until he had covered
six large sheets. He told how he had
encountered the neighborhood gang and
knocked them cold, one by one. Then
with a straight face, he read the COM
position to the class. The other boys, OF
course. laughed. So did the teacher
The little fellow was furious.
The trouble with this dream world
fighting is that it provides a superiority
outlet by the boys personality which is
. not tested in the real world. The great
est fighters on paper are likely to be q
bit yellow when put to the test. Very
likely it is because of this very yellow
streak, which the boy recognizes anc
fears that the individual has withdrawn
into world of phantasy. where he car
fight and conquer to his hearts content
The problem then is to find the source
of the yellow streak and eliminate it
When this has been accomplished the
boys experience in his phantasy battles
helps him in real battles and he is ablt
to conquer his actual environment. Sue
ceSsful pugilists and battle heroes yer.