Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-03-11
Backward
Children
Need Help
M e deal Attention
Is Sometimes
Necessary.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

THE teacher was new, so when she
saw little girl off in the corner
of the playground, her head on her
bent elbow, the tears dripping, she
went to her and spoke softly. What
is the matter, child?"
The child only shook herself mega
lively and continued to weep oh,
don't worry about her She's always
| like that. She's the dummie She
never knows her lessons. SO the teacher
always has to take her by herself and
try to put something into her head.
But she can't. Mary Ellen is Just
plain dumb. Aren't you. Mary Elem"
Mary Ellen lifted her face, stained
and Redeemed by tears, and a flash of
anger crossed it as she said I'm not
as smart as YOU, Jim ToWney, but l
know better than to hurt folks feel
ingS the way you do. If I'm a dunn
ME you're a plain pig"
The teacher laughed sympatheti-
cally and said, You don't sound so
dumb to me, Mary Ellen. Jim asked
for that. Come along and tell me
about this. You don't have to stand
in the corner and cry There's surely
something better than that to do
Il can't play jacks, and jumping
rope is too fast for me. I was cry
ing because they called me Dummie.
know I'm not smart, but they have
no right to call me names. I'd be
smart if could, but I can't
The reason that Mary Ellen was
not smart was the great difference in
power between her right eye and her
left eye. She couldn't see what other
children saw, nor see it in the way
they saw it. So she couldn't play
jacks and she couldn't jump rope She
could not read rapidly because she
had to shut first one eye and then
the other alternately to see at all.
When that condition was remedied
Mary Ellen went ahead of Jim Tow
ney, class star.
But it is not always possible to
cure the slow child. Sometimes the
defect is permanent. Then all we
can do is to find the strengths the
child possesses and build along them
SO he can achieve some degree of
success.
Such children require the undivided
attention of teacher for some time
each day and that is out of the ques-
ton in classes that number anywhere
from IS to so. All the best teacher
can do in such circumstances is to
group the children according to ability
and go on from there. That leaves
the dull child high and dry. He is
put in the slowest group. is promptly
labeled by his brighter companions,
and the end is worse than the begin
ming for him.
Placing him in the special classes
helps in his training, but it does not
help in his social position. He is an
outcast and his name is shouted from
one end of the playground to the other.
That discourages him completely and
he is soon the antisocial person who
stands in need of custodial care.
To save such children special teach
ers, in private schools in the homes,
are needed. Even then they must
suffer the scorn of their happier
mates. 1t seems to me that it would
be well to teach such children to &C
cept their handicaps at the start.
When child cheerfully acknowledges
that he is not good at this or that he
has taken long step in his social
adjustment. If after that he finds
some one thing in which he can shine
he has achieved his salvation. What
he needs most of all is the respect of
| his mates and that is about the best
way to win it.
copyright, 1879