The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-12-11
CONFERENCE AIM TO
RAISE CHILD LEVEL
Continued From Page Eight

herds, the prOmpIHeSS VI uSlNoiy'
refrigeration, medical advice on
the sugars etc. Each of these fact
ors reasons for what they do. If
any part of this task is not well
done, the little headstones in the
cemetery mark it well.
Just beyond babyhood is another
whole series of organized services
between the mother and her child.
In the Kindergartens, Fairgrounds
and schools either private or pub
lie where the time of the child is
spent we face absolute necessity
of expert training.
It is probably true that it is be-
yond the capacity of the individual
parents today to train her child to
fit the the intricate, interviewer,
interdependant social and economic
system which we have developed.
About all we as an organized peo-
ple can do is to insist on the spec
tally trained and by having them
work under the best experts we
can discover.
Our problems and the future
are in the school rooms of America
TODAY. In them are the future Pre-
sidents as we'll as the racketeers.
Every one of the elements of our
future population are there right
now, the future gamblers, the in
sane, the criminals, the prostitutes
as we'll as the business men and
women, the lawyers, the physicians
and the laborers of the future. But
most significant of all, the fathers
and mothers of the days ahead
are there.
Our declining birth rate gives us
the prospect of a partially station
ary number of children entering
our schools. There is less immigra-
ton than at any previous period
and we are more familiar than
ever with the stocks making up
our populations. Therefore a ma
tional programme of child welfare
can be laid down with more facts
in hand than ever before.
In general, I think we all agree
that we must assist children in
their own development, not bring
them up as has been so often done
in the past. Children should not be
used as test-tubes for opinionater
programmes with no basis of
science or fact. I think we are all
more or less suspicious of those
hearts impel them to edo good" to
children when their minds are UNI
trained or they are guided by
crank" theories.
Life is a process that constantly
progresses with increasing vigor
up to a certain point and then re-
cedes at a diminished rate until we
go cover the hill" The most vital
and valuable quality in the child is
his elasticity to meet the new and
the unexpected.
Early rigidity of the mind, I'M
consciously developed at times,
leads most of our mass habits and
mass follies. There is a menace
in our marshalled athletics, in our
dominated recreations for all ages,
in our over-confident coaches and
yelling sections. There is too much
seeking out of special performers
and not enough play of personal
initiative and juvenile leadership.
Cooperation is requisite and
team play necessary but the coer-
cion of the crowd is to be fought
against. We need to fight the cry
stallizing effect of habit upon our
methods of dealing with children
and particularly with regards to
the school curriculum.
One of the reasons for this Con-
ference is to bring us to a common
understanding as to where we are
in our programme for children.
One of the most striking facts of
life is the diversity of human ma
terial. More significant still is the
need for the development of that
diversity in order to safeguard our
civilization. While we think most
frequently of the few outstanding
geniuses of the race, we must re-
member that there are hundreds
of thousands of individuals of
more than ordinary ability in our
population at all times.
Many of these are serving us but
others for lack of opportunity, lack
of self-control, or training or bad
habits the use of drugs or other
vices-have been blighted. While we
must seek out and open those fac
tors which curtail full develop
ment. For each and all we must
mold the environment about us
with all of our children constantly
in our minds.
My sympathy goes out to the
child who is facing the years
ahead of us. It is not easy to get
along with an active restless mind
receiving new impressions every
hour. It is not easy to develop in
fluence and varied associates. It is
my feeling that the modern par
ent with his or her ideas of cod
liver oil, conduct and vitamins is
at times, an undesirable associate
in the eyes of many of our child
rem.
Children, like the sick, respond to
what they understand. More time
in explanation often leads to less
in correction for disobedience, My
sympathy goes out to those child
rem who have been classified as
handicapped, those who are differ
ent from their fellows yet hope to
win out in the game of life. These
can be a great social asset to us.
There is much to be done to make
them more effective and happier.
The wretched frame of a little
body may have in it the brain and
spirit of Keats, Cicero, a Stein
metz, Shelly or a Roosevelt. It is