Evening star., 1935-09-26
Trying Hard
May Result
In Disaster
Fear Of Error Stirs
Panic, Which Ease
Would Relieve.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

NOV children, be careful. Re
member what I told you. One
inch margin for paragraphs, one-half
inch for the rest of the lines. Begin
every sentence with capital and don't
forget the periods. Three paragraphs,
remember. A beginning, a middle and
an end. Now don't make mistake.
Take pens"
You see, Miss Kitty was young
teacher and this was composition
lesson in the thiro grade. The super
visor had been quite stern about it.
You must be watchful about the
margins and the capitalization and
the punctuation and the spelling.
There are too many mistakes alto
gether." Miss Kitty resolved not to
have so many mistakes this time. so
she told them about it until they
seemed very much impressed.
The third graders scratched away.
their heads bent and their fingers
aching. Composition was hard for
them because there wasn't enough to
say about My Last Vacation" Il
went to grandma's fo- my vacation" :"
seemed to cover the ground After that
one had to make up some things. Then
one might make a mistake? One
might. Marjorie, conscientious and
anxious, sat before her paper not dar-
ing to put a mark on it. One inch IN?
How could she measure that l inch in?
She had no ruler and she needed one
to place that dot in the right spot. No
help. in sight, she sat there very pic
ture of woe.
why Marjorie, what's this? Moth
ing done? Why haven't you written
your composition?"
81 didn't know an inch in Miss Kitty
and I was afraid of making mistake" :"
so you sat here and did nothing?
That means you have failure in COM
position and it pulls your average down.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself
Spelling the class mark like that"
Miss Kitty, remembering the stern
admonition of the supervisor allowed
her eyes to fill with tears. Her voice
shook as she said, Zero. Imagine
paper from this class marked zero after
all I told you"
This was pretty bad. The third
graders looked at each other. Suppose
they had made mistakes after all they
had been told. Indeed they thought
it more than likely. Panic seized them.
Those who had been sure lost all GER
tainty, and those who had been lit
tie less than certain before, now gave
up frankly and ended the matter
somehow. The compositions looked
worse than ever they had looked be-
fore. "And I tried so hard" sighed
Miss Kitty.
Trying hard is likely to result in
disaster. Trying easy is more likely
to bring results. When children are
warned not to make mistakes, when a
mistake Is made more important than
a success, there will be many Of them.
Those brave souls who carry on do so
in desperation. The fearful ones do
nothing at all.
Children are learners. Perfection
Is not for them. Mistakes are charac-
teristic of beginners. Accept them.
Correct just one at time and call the
job success if that one point is made.
Don't frighten beginners about making
mistakes. That bit of advice is good
for beginning teachers. and for super
visors who have beginning teachers to
train. Intelligent workers profit by
the mistakes they make and correct.
If they are afraid to make mistake
they are afraid to work freely and only
the work that is done in a free spirit is
worthy.
(Copyright 1935)