Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-23
FORMER SWITCHMAN HELPS
THOUSANDS TO LIVE RIGHT
Teaches Character Building in Prisons
and Schools by Guiding Thoughts
Into Proper Channels.

| ana women IN prison, why would IL not
work on children in school? Instead Of
crime at the source?"
! As a result, Wright got the privilege
| OF talking to children in the school
rooms of Detroit. and one day q little
, seventh grade boy got up and asked II
they could not form q Junior Council
in their school and have him come reg
ularly and teach them the price tags of
life. So then and there the Pathhnders.
OF America began its great work in the
public schools. and during the nine years
| since then 1t has reached more than
| $4,000 school children, besides extending
its work all the time among men and
| women convicted of crime.
Wright now has an office staff in the
Lincoln Building in Detroit, and also Q
corps OF trained teachers. He receives
| b,OOO letters week from school children
and men in jails, reformatories and pris-
onS. His work has been extended to
more than so public schools In Detroit
alone. 1t Is to the great honor Of Supt.
Frank Cody Of the Detroit public schools
that he has fostered and encouraged
| the work, and also to DR.. Edwin L.
Miller, assistant superintendent, who
said recently. Wright has made virtue
more attractive than vice"
In fact, for Is years Wright and his
teachers have been searching for some
place or some type of people where his
philosophy would not work. They have
tried 1t in public schools, private schools.
parochial schools, detention houses, So
cial settlements, reformatories, jails and
penltentiaries. 1t works just as well
among the learned as the unlearned, the
rich as well as the poor, the old as well
as the young. One noted psychologist
said just the other day, Wright, unless
1 mad seen what your lessons do to these
children with my own eyes I simply
would not believe it." When Wright was
invited to teach his Pathfinder lessons,
which are now carefully graded from
.aao i9urth to the twelfth grade, in the
parochlal schools, John Haynes Holmes,
the liberal preacher Of New York City,
said, Wright, this Is the greatest
achievement of the Christian era"
Interested in Realities.
This all means that human character
and conduct know no creeds, theologies,
races or classes. Wright is not inter
eSted in the riddles of theology but In
the realities Of life. He does not teach
a doctrinal religion, but doctrine OF
conduct. His very first Pathfinder
Council consisted Of IL nationalitieS, 3
colorS and 19 religious denominations.
1t Is plain, therefore, that he cannot
teach any particular set of doctrines
about the Bible or its Interpretation.
This first council was In the State Re
formatory at Ionia, Mich, with 500 in.
mates, where the Sunday school had
succeeded In enlisting 10 pupils and the
christian Endeavor had q membership
OF 20. The Pathfinder philosophy laid
such immediate hold on the prisoners
that their council started with 127 char
ter members and in 90 days had 46Ol
And right there is truly startling
ONf If hat
the laws that govern conduct will do for
people. During the first year $40 Of
these prisoners were released on parole.
Now, had the best record that reforma-
tory had ever made in reforming people
prevailed, "a of those paroled young men
would have come back as parole VIOLA
tors. Had the average record prevailed
liz would have come back! Only did
come back. The remainder became self
respecting citizens.
Then you eagerly ask. What does
Wright DO to these people? What has
he got that is different? We have
preached and lectured and warned our
children, but with no such astounding
effects"
Yes. you have lectured and preached
to the child but did you ever council
finder philosophy is system of counsel
Ing, OF reasoning, of appealing to COM
mon sense, of teaching human engineer
ing applied to life as well as to machin-
cry. 1t Is council about lfe-his own
life, In which the child takes part.
You have no idea of the exciting eff
feet this has on children-this sitting in
on discussion Of their own lives.
have often seen the children rise and
cheer when the Pathfinder teacher came
into the school room. They don't do
that when the geography or arithmetic
teacher comes in! Why? I will tell
you why. 1t is because this teacher
nrSt is going to give them q chance TO
talk about the most interesting thing In
the world-their own lives, and, second,
this teacher Is free from all authority.
First they are going to have a good talk,
Just among themselves, about Courage,
Heroism, Courtesy, Cooperation, Cheer.
fulneSs, Ambition, Helpfulness, ReSpon-
S1ofl1ty, Achievement, Duty Love- Friend
ship, Home-Building, How to Treat
Brother and Sister and Parents, How to
Be Good Citizens, etc. (These are
merely subjects of some Of the Path
finder lesSons)
No Examinations to Pass,
But the big second thing Is this-the
child does not have to pass an examina-
ton on it, there is no authority about IL.
1t is not part of the school system, no.
body is going to criticize or scold or give
marks and grades. The child is free
free to be himself, and when you free
men or women or children to be them
selves they throw their whole souls into
whatever they are doing. Nobody has
any ak to grind. That Is why prison
chaplainS are almost universally hated
by prisonerS-they are part Of the sys-
tenn, a part of authority. Parents are
handicapped the same way-authority;
they are the big guns and the child the
little one. 1t is big and little you,"
and the child inwardly rebels. And par
ents and teachers are often too close,
and the child sees their shortcomings
even in the best of them. As one
preachers boy of IL said to Mr.. Wright.
MY dad tells me all those things, but ]
know him too well; I'm on to him"
But the Pathfinder philosophy goes
still deeper, because 1t teaches the child
how to form his own character on the
one hand, how to engineer his life as
an engineer plans bridge or building
and, on the other, it teaches him how
to read the price tags of life. And In
teaching the child how to form his own
habits and not rely on father or mother
or anybody but himself, Wright has got
hold of one Of the biggest things In all
psychology-namely, that every thought
we think does its very best to carry it
self into action. Indeed, Wright goes
still farther and gives the child q
great group of high-powered T N r
thoughts, all ready made and fitted into
his very nervous system. ready to leap
to his aid when he Is In a tight place
and about to yield to temptation. These
high-powered ready-made thoughts are
all given in the Pathfinder lessons and
are simply big and handy psychological
handles to grab hold of when you are
in corner and about to 60 wrong. He
calls them Guide Posts to Character
They are big, white posts scattered all