Evening star., 1929-11-03
By META L. ANDERSON, Ph. D.,
Instructor in Psychology.

| who believed that moral muscles were
strengthened by denial. and that the
way to earthly achievement and heaV-
emily salvation lay through unhappiness
and a worn-of- -the-dust scale Of per-
sonal appraiSement.
How great then, would be the tndig-
nation of those stern forebearS II they
knew that principles of education such
as they believed in are now held largely
responsible, not for our virtues, but for
our vices; for the spirit of lawlessness
so rampant today and for the actual
crime wave" of which we hear so much.
Our songs grow sentimental about the
little red schoolhouse; yet the system
of teaching for which 1t stood. and for
which most of its successors still stand,
Is now recognized by psychiatrists as
one of the major causes Of crtminality.
1t is also judged guilty of adding to
the appallingly large population of our
mental hospitals population as large
as that of all the countrys other hos
pitals combined.
Few people outside the public school
system realize how really serious the
situation is; what large percentage Of
the pupils derive almost no benefit from
the education" which the State be-
slows on them at such expense: what
q large number simply occupy their
desks year after year, forced by the
law to do So seldom If ever receiving
promotion; what a host of >hildren.
pushed into a Sullen rebellion against
all authority and never taught to do
anything which they are capable of
doing well, find in crime the Only out
let for their energies and ambitions.
Twenty Years Behind Time.
This realization of the devastating ef-
feet of many public school educationa!
| L. v.Ak i,.AI nNrertN
| belongs to this century. 1t has gained
considerable headway among private in
stitutions, as evidenced by the many
experimental" schools. But in its ef-
forts to remold the free schools 1t has
made comparatively little progress:
practice is always 20 years behind
theory.
However, the last year or two have
shown encouraging signs of an awaken
ing; so it may be that public opinion Is
at last becoming aroused. The recent
appointment, at the suggestion Of DR..
| William j. O'Shea, superintendent OF
schools of New York City, of special
committee to study the reasons for tru-
ancy, which is closely related to crime,
may be an indication, that real reform
is on the way.
The truant is an amateur lawbreaker.
When the crime commission recently
from the truant school. they found that
80 per cent of this number had become
adult offenders and IA per cent profess
sional criminals. Our comment on
these findings, under the influence of
the old ideas Of education, would proba-
bly, be: THAT shows the danger of not
getting an education"
Such an attitude is blind and cow
ardly evasion of our own responsibilities.
| Tho failfirA Nf the TNitYNii in eRh0nl fe
really the failure of the system. In the
face of truancy our comment should be:
What Is wrong with our schools that
these boys and girls could apparently
find in them so little that was indi-
vidually helpful and satisfying" OF
course, 1t is fact that all truancy is
not due to the failure of the schools;
much is due to the failure of the home
or to physical drawbacks. But the
school is to blame in a greater number
Of cases than most of US are willing to
admit.
Realize School Is to Blame.
We, are also coming to the realization
that the school is to blame for the ap-
palling number of retarded pupils, who
year after year repeat the same grades
over and over. In Philadelphia. for in
stance 1t costs an average of $42.29 a
year to put a pupil through the schools.
Last year $4,000 Philadelphia pupils
repeated their grades. The failure of
these children. therefore, cost that city's
taxpayers more than 81 .353 900. Look
ing at the question from purely mate
rial point of view. we ask ourselves:
How long will the taxpayer be willing
to invest his money in business run so
wastefully?"
The responsibility Of the school In
creating not only failures, but criminals.
may be illustrated by the case of Mich
ael. an Irish boy from New York's East
| Side. Michael was IA, mentally Subnor-
NAL but physically strong and well de-
veloped. Since the law says that every
child in New York who is not physically
incapable of doing so must attend
school from the time he is until he is
| l6 Michael attended the regular graded
school of his district. Each year he had
enrolled in the lowest class. each year
he had failed to keep up with its aca-
demic requirements, and each year he
had grown more sullen and resentful.
At the age of II Michael still could
not read or write: in fact, he few into
a temper every time book was put in
front of him. The only thing he did
really well was to hit people over the
head, and that was his answer to almost
every argument and every demand made
| Of him. Some one found Saturday lob
for him, shining shoes; but the first
time he was offered any advice he hit
| his employer over the head and that
terminated his business career. He be-
came the neighborhood bully, the bad
boy.
Finally Michael was sent to another
school. with an entirely different system
| of education. The change at the end
of two years was unbelievable. Instead
of spending his time on the streets, en-
| gaging IN gang battles. he was playing
in the school band and was trusted
leader in all the worthwhile activities of
the school. He had become, in his be-
havior such model pupil that mothers
OF other boys came privately to the
teacher and begged her. Cant you
make my son like Michael?" When he
was is he reluctantly left school and
became grocer's boy, holding the job
with credit.
Modern Psychology Answer.
| What had wrought the miracle IN
Michael? The answer Is modern psy-
chology's answer to the discredited edu-
cational ideas of our ancestors. 1t is an
explanation Of what is wrong with most
OF our present public school systems,
and it Is a practical suggestion of how
those wrongs may be corrected. In
substance 1t Is this: We have, with
SngnC moQlncatlonS mere and there, an
educational system which presupposes
the ability Of most OF the pupils to
reach certain academic standard AS
matter of fact as proved by expert
| ence and modern research. only 80 per
cent of the total population are capable
OF reaching this standard. Those who
cannot reach 1t acquire sullen sense of
inferiority and injustice, a sense Of frus-
| tration and a defiance of authority
which make them potential and fire.
nails