[Sidenote: Laughing Permitted]
Unusual silence reigned in Miss Grey’s room one Friday afternoon, for
she had allowed the children as a special treat for Friday to have a
period of their favorite pastime, paper-weaving. With absorbed attention
they had worked out their own designs and little Teddie Hendricks, in
his eagerness to show his teacher what a wonderful figure he had made,
could not persuade himself to wait until she could come to him; he must
go to her. His older sister had carelessly left her geography on
Teddie’s desk and he had been using it as a sort of framework for his
design. A pile of unused strips of paper lay on one side of the
geography. He picked up the geography upon which both the paper mat and
the strips of paper lay and started for his teacher. When about half way
across the floor a sudden gust of wind from the open window caught his
papers and sent them flying in all directions. With a puzzled look Teddy
stared first at the bare geography which he held in his hands, then at
his teacher, and then burst out laughing.
“Well, Teddie, Mr. Wind is having some fun as well as you, isn’t he?”
asked Miss Grey. “Never mind, we’ll pick them up.”
But the charm which held the room in silence was broken. One giggle
after another was heard from time to time and presently Miss Grey said:
“Children, you have worked so beautifully this afternoon, we’ll all have
a little fun together. Teddie may get the bean bags and we’ll have a
little game of catch. Girls in this row! Boys in that one! Let’s see how
many can catch without once dropping!”
Ten minutes of substitution of one activity for another cured the
giggles and the rested children went quietly back to work with no
further attacks for the remainder of the afternoon.
(5) _Chewing gum._ Frequently some teacher is heard to say that his
pupils annoy him by chewing gum. They even go so far as to chew rubber
or even paper and when told by the teacher to throw away their gum
innocently remark, “I have no gum, it’s only paper.” Whenever such an
annoyance exists it is largely due to the indiscretion of the teacher.
The trouble with too many teachers is that they denounce the chewing of
gum as an evil, making it out as a sin, when in truth, it may be
beneficial to many and often such teachers use it themselves when their
pupils do not see them. Is it any wonder pupils worry them by chewing
gum during school and finish up by sticking it to the under sides of
their desks?
How much better it would be for the teacher consistently to explain to
pupils that there really are benefits to be derived sometimes from
chewing gum, and that when at play or out-of-doors there is no harm in
it, but that in company, in school or in church, it is not a neat thing
to do. Such a teacher has told the truth and her pupils, large and
small, will respect and appreciate her for it and they will do more;
they will not annoy her by chewing gum during school sessions. The habit
is largely a matter of suggestion and imitation. One pupil introduces
the custom, the others follow out the suggestion. By relegating the
custom to the school ground, when the pupils are busy with physical
activities of other sorts, the practice will be reduced to a minimum.