Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06

Of his own on boy who came to hin
with a very low l. Q-and a mora
record that was lower still.
The teacher is interested in me
chanics and likes to fool with watches
He never has been able, however, U
take a watch apart and put 1t together
again without marking the pieces.
This boy, from a very poor home
knew nothing about the 1nSides Of
watches.
Fife brought him an old watch anc
told him to take it apart and put II TO-
gether again.
You'd better mark the pieces o.
You'll never get them back in the righ
place." he said.
What do I want to mark 'em for
There's only one place for each piece
to go, amt there?" said the boy: :.
He took the watch apart and put i
together so that it ran perfectly. Ht
seemed to sense the relations between
parts.
Yet the boy was a Ounce, officially.
Personality Split.
The personality split in childhood L
sharp.
There is little mixing Of good quail
tiles and bad The bad boy of the type
Fife gets usually appears almost all bad
If there had been much apparent good
the regular teachers would not nave
given the boy up as hopeless.
The angel in the boy is left to wan
der. a fieShleSs ghost, in the darkness
of the subconscious.
Yet. Fife holds from observation. the
bond never is completely severed. Inere
is a bridget may be hard to IND 1t
which the waters of hate have not
washed away
There is a similar phenomenon which
has been observed in the adoleScen'
period. the results of which are exactly
opposite. This is the phenomenon OF
conversion, when normally bad boy
under the influence of intense religious
emotions, has a personality split anc
shows to the world a personality Wnlcf
appears all good, for time. The enc
effects of this split sometimes are a.
devastating as those OF the opposite
type.
Develops Technique.
Fife has been developing a technique
for dealing with the bad type OF Qua
personality which requires two qualities
infinite patience and the ability x
sense quickly when one has prooed tnt
controlling complex, whether it be ont
of inferiority or sexual complex o.
some sort which usually can be tounc
only by trained psychiatr1st.
1t may require months or years OF
observation before the mechanism o.
the personality split is recognized.
These boys, certainly, have not ana.
lived themselves. They don't know
why they are bad They are nearly
all proficient and shameless liars. They
are almost sure TO lie about the things
which they feel most vitality
They generally are immune to thf
pat on the shoulder the fatherly ad.
vice, the assurance of love and kind.
ness, the stories of how good little boys
got along in the world.
They have words for that kind o!
stuff which are not fit to print.
Hunts Root of Trouble.
Fife frequently must go into the
homes TO find the root of the trouble
That is not always an easy thing to do
II the home has conditions which auto.
matically create a bad boy, it is likely
to be hard home to penetrate.
The teacher doesn't always find the
trouble. He admits there Is a gooc
Zeal he doesn't know about this mos
complex of all subjects, the creation
OF personality He is trying to learr
more from actual experience and point;
to his few startling successes as evi'
dence Of the enormous opportunity Of.
Tered by this field for those who know
more than ne does.
The boys are not always transformed
and redeemed. There is always the
danger of giving false impression Of
any work of this kind-of giving the
public the impression that here is &
cure-an for criminality. 1t is merely
nInY7nGF5garr n{F VT saG In- -fx Il
gold IN some places.
Boys Are Not Stigmatized.
The Gales special school consists of &
single room with some desks, black
boards and carpenter tools.
The boys are not segregated. They
are Iot stigmatiZed. They merely arr
students in a division of one of tn,
regular elementary schools of the Dis
trlct. 1t is not a typical school. The,
are not sent there to be reformed ant
then sent back to regular classes.
They remain there through their ele
mentary school careers. 1t is possibl
to give them a year, at least, of JUNO
high school work there.
Once they enter that room I. @. rec
ordS are thing Of the past. The
nave a fresh start, away from every
thing that has gone before.
Many of them, especially the hand
minded" ones. enter the trades FIT
keeps in touch with employers through
out the city. Those who show AGA
demic trends are send ahead into tn
high schools
II is no eight-hour job to deal witt
boys in this way. 1t is a 24-hour jot
One must live their lives with them.
Fife checked his own observation
last Summer by a 14,000-mile tri
through the United States, Mexico an
Canada interviewing boys in reforma
tories and pentitentiaries.
He found hundreds of verificatior
Of his observations of the inferiorit
complex and the determination to &c
even.
Among the boys he talked with wa
William Edward Hickman, the fiend
murderer, than awaiting execution i
San Quentin
Hickman, he says, told him a stor
which he did not tell in court-tha
he first declared war on society as tn
result of being unjustly punished fo
the act of another boy in swapping
kpitball- at teacher.