Evening star., 1939-02-17
Try to Build
Failing
Children
Study the Causes
To Help Correct
BackWardness
BY ANGELO PATRI,

| Mothers have difficult problems
Of one kind and another with their
| children. No child ever born but
what brought his problems into the
world with him and laid them upon
his mothers heart. Sometimes these
problems can be solved to the COM
plete satisfaction of everybody con-
cerned. Sometimes. sadly enough,
they are never solved until death
ends them.
When child is born with a de-
fectlve nervous organization he
usually dies with it as defective as
at first. If brain center is miss
ing, If nerve tract is diseased or
lost, there is no way of replacing it.
Sometimes we can manage to train
other centers and other tracts to
take over the missing function. and
sometimes we cannot The truth is
that nobody knows for a certainty
what can and what cannot be done
with child. The best any of us can
do is to feel our way, guided by past
experience, illumined by the expert
enced teaching of others, and sus-
tanned by the faith that all children
are born with the desire to do right
and to be right as far as in them lies.
Teachers in public and most paro-
chlal schools have all kinds of
children in their classes. They re-
fuse none that is able to remain
and take instruction. Some of these
children fail again and again in
spite of all that teachers and experts
can do, and they do their utmost.
Such pupils are a severe strain on
teachers and other pupils, and when
parents blame the teachers and the
experts, doctors and specialists for
not doing their duty by this child,
1t is unjust and, to say the least,
discouraging.
THE teacher never gave him
chance" THE sister doesn't like
him" How could he get such a bad
mark when she never called on him
once during the term?" "Of course
he couldn't get on with that teacher.
She hates his religion ""If somebody
called you dumb could you be
smart?" Furnishing a child by
making him stay in and study isn't
going to make him like to 20 to
school and study. Why did she keep
him in? She didn't keep anybody
else"
If ever you find yourself talking
like this about failing child, lust
know that you are talking defensive
ly. Just know that you are talking to
hide the child's failure from yourself
and him. Hiding it won't help. The
first thing to do is to take out that
failure and look at it harder than
you ever looked at anything in all
your life. You must find out why he
is failing and help him to succeed.
Don't waste any time in blaming
anybody because it is rarely indeed
that anybody is to blame for a child's
failure in school.
Have the child examined bv an
expert teacher, an expert psychol-
ogist and children's specialist Not
to get marks for him, not to get an
I. O., but to get at the state of the
child's mental and physical health.
With that information, proceed to
treat him and build up his def
ciencies. Sometimes you can do it.
sometimes you cannot. But you can
always try and you can be sure that
in the process of trying you will dis
cover much that is valuable in the
training and education of this child.
When you have to coach, push,
shove and nag child through grade
after grade. when you have to 90 to
school and insist that he be promoted
on trial while you coach him at home
to make up back work, term and
term again-Stop! Have this child
studied and proceed to teach him
along the lines of his possible growth.
That is the only way you can hope
to succeed. Sometimes you can win,
100 per cent. Sometimes you lose,
but never completely, for every child
has strengths and possibilities and
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