Evening star., 1938-09-15
Crime eCan Be
Avoided by /.
Teaching |. ::!|l!! !: J =.
Society to Blame
For Inadequate d,
School Aids. ..
H ANGELO PATRI.

THE on,cial' reports tel Us that
many Of the criminals caught tn
the nets of the police are young. They
are At the time Of greatest happiness
their youth. What u wrong7
Many oncials point to the schools
and say they are not doing their duty
BY the children. I will agree 10 that
only If society says that the school
have done well what society allowed
them to do-teach the subjects Of the
course Of study. That u the limit Of
freedom any public school enjoys. II
has no power to teach anything out
side the course, and the course Is In
the majority Of school systems, q
book course.
Studying out Of books. even under
the best and w4sest Of teachers, il not
enough to round . child's character
Character training Is . matter Of per-
sonal experiences. And that implies
opportunity for the election Of GER
tain kinds Of behavior. II there Is nc
chance for elected behavior. If be-
havior u imposed within . rigidly set
code, as 1t Is in most public schools In
the world. the scope of the teachers
work Is extremely limited.
1t is true that we can teach truth
and the beauty of truth through
mathematics and its allied branches
We can teach ethics and the better
way Of life through history and ita
allied topics. And 50 on through the
course of study. And the teachers
examples are powerful aid. But with
all that there 10 something else to be
remembered, Z simple. elemental truth
about human children. Few of them
have the power to translate book
teaching, bookish ideals, into ordinary,
everyday behavior. They are too far
away. Human children need experi-
ences that can be felt. tasted, hefted,
seen, constructed by their own efforts,
to learn about life and its ways.
believe that the 1irst step toward
righteous living for children Is a good
diet. Well-nourished children, happy,
well-adjusted children rarely get into
trouble with tle police. Feed the chill
dren and you starve the criminals at
the very start.
Happiness Is . tonic influence on
mind and body. Children live In
school II they have the chance. Hav-
ing the chance means that their
school allows the children to stay alive
for the hours they spend there. They
have work to do, work they enjoy
doing; work with their hands as well
as with their heads; they play there.
real play, not the hushed, mufned,
smothered play Of the silent schools
they have friends there, In the teach
ers and principals; they can laugh
and sing and work in earnest because
life moves through the school building
in much the same spirit Is It moves
along the streets. Only much cleaner.
II society has given It's children such
opportunities as these then the blame
for youthful crime must lie elsewhere.
II society has fed the children heartily.
II 1t has given them decent, clean
houses where It Is easy for them to be
clean. easy for them TO sleep and rest
and cooperate with the family-if
society has built and equipped schools
that, in their very lay-outs speak Of
living, working, singing children, then
ancietv Ia not tn blame
Until society can point TO such
schools-schoos equipped for living
the present-day schools can hold up, .
pair Of clean hsndA casan, but snpty.
tessssteAt, 1881