The following letter from a correspondent of the I. A. D. Teachers’ Club
also has a bearing upon the control of smoking on the school grounds:
[Sidenote: Boy Is Caught Smoking]
I was principal and high school teacher in a little school down South.
One of my most interesting pupils was also the most difficult to
manage—Herbert, a bashful, overgrown, intelligent, fourteen-year-old,
the ringleader in all mischief and the idol of the playground.
One of the grade teachers caught one of her boys smoking cigarettes one
day. Upon investigation three other culprits were discovered among her
charges, but it seemed that Herbert was also guilty. The nature of the
case and the custom in that state demanded that the younger boys be
whipped, but I knew that Herbert was more truly responsible and my heart
was heavy, for I had worked hard to gain his confidence and I was fond
of the boy. A mistake on my part would make him sullen and unmanageable
and the smoking would then go on in spite of me.
After school was out, I dispatched the younger boys as quickly as
possible, asking Herbert to wait in another room for me. He was very
sober when I came in and I was wondering how to begin the difficult task
ahead of me, when a glance from him gave me a clue. It was defiant,
appealing and apologetic, all at the same time. The boy and I had been
somewhat like chums up to this time.
“Herbert, tell me all about it, won’t you?” I began. “I want to hear
just how it happened and how much smoking there has been.”
“There hasn’t been very much,” he said, with his eyes down. “We’ve
smoked dry leaves and corn shucks, but we’ve only smoked real tobacco
twice.”
He was on the defensive at once, I saw, but his confidence was in a
measure restored by my opening—giving him a chance to tell his side of
it. I drew him out, not condemning him, but merely looking very grave,
until I had a full account of just when and where the smoking had
occurred. I did not insult him by doubting him and he gradually lost his
defiant attitude and grew more and more shame-faced.
“Herbert,” I said, when the recital had come to an end, “what would your
father say?”
“He would lick me until I couldn’t stand up.” This was literally true,
for the boy’s father was a hard drinker and subject to violent fits of
anger when his children displeased him.
“I shall not tell him, this time. But if it happens again, I think he
should know about it,” I said. “Herbert, you know you can do what you
please with these grade boys here in this school. They look up to you
and follow your leadership. You can make them do what is right or you
can lead them astray.”
He shook his head violently at this, but was too near to tears to speak.
“We may think we aren’t our brothers’ keepers, Herbert, but we are, just
as the Bible tells us. It is really you who are responsible for this
affair, because you are older and know better than the others the evils
that come from the use of tobacco.” And I talked to him a little about
the effects of tobacco upon growing boys. I thought he seemed impressed
and penitent.
“I’m going to put you in charge of the whole matter. I want you to see
to it that there is no more smoking after this. You can report to me
once a week what sort of success you have, but we won’t say anything to
the others about the arrangement.”
He protested that he couldn’t do it, but finally blurted out “I’ll try,”
and I shook hands with him on the agreement.
The reports proved the success of my scheme and I found I had made a
warm friend and ally of Herbert.
(8) _Manners, good and bad._ Nowhere, perhaps, is the influence of the
imitative instinct more potent than in the shaping of one’s manners.
“_Manners make the man_,” is a legend inscribed over the door of one of
the buildings of Oxford University, and in order that the pupils shall
go out from its doors possessed of the high claims to the respect of
their fellow men which good manners affords, exquisite care is taken
that those adults who are daily associated with the pupils are
themselves possessed of such manners as are worthy of imitation. All
unconsciously to themselves, these manners will soon be reproduced in
the pupils with more or less exactness.
But if good manners are assimilated through association with those who
possess them, bad manners are no less surely learned in the same way.
The teacher who is confronted then with a room full of rude, noisy,
untidy children, should never regard these bad manners as a personal
affront to himself, but rather as a result of social “copy”
unconsciously imitated by his pupils and requiring time and patience and
a substitution of “copy” of the opposite sort before such manners can be
eradicated.
[Sidenote: Social Imitation]
Persons outside of the school quite often show a lack of respect for
those whom they meet on the public highways or on the streets. This lack
of proper training is not very different from that of pupils who
constantly disregard the rights of other pupils or who persist in
mistreating other pupils whenever they can get a chance. Those pupils
who persistently do these things are simply following “social copy.” The
motive underlying each of these misdemeanors is the same, namely,
selfishness, which is the basis of impoliteness. No polite child will
jeer at strangers or even acquaintances or schoolmates, nor will he
disregard the rights of schoolmates, expecting more for himself than for
those with whom he associates. He will not mistreat his playmates “just
for fun” or for the pleasure of tantalizing them. Much of such lack of
kindness and politeness is due to neglect on the part of parents. Many
parents never take the time to teach their children to be kind and
thoughtful of others. When such pupils enter the first grade, their
conduct can be changed greatly by the teacher who will make the effort.
It is presupposed that the teacher will himself practice every trait of
politeness and kindness. He will not be guilty of any of the above
misdemeanors. That means much to the pupil who disregards the rights of
his associates. Still the teacher’s conduct along these lines will not
wholly prevent a pupil from practicing one or all of these misdemeanors.
Close supervision of all the school-room and playground activities will
do much to prevent rudeness, but will not entirely abolish it. Naturally
parents and patrons expect the teacher to be the mediator for better
conduct on the part of some pupils.
Perhaps suggestive control will effect prevention in the first grade
better than any other method. Just before school is dismissed the
teacher may tell a story to all the pupils, the point of which is to
teach kindness towards others. She may then suggest how fine it would be
for all of the pupils to go home on this particular evening and be
courteous to every one whom they meet. She can suggest the little
courtesies of saying “Good evening,” etc. Her entire talk must be
permeated by a spirit of kindness and she must expect that her pupils
will do nothing less than she has told them. The chances are that they
will obey her for the first evening, but on the second evening they will
forget. In a few days she may need to repeat the talk. Each time she
makes the suggestion she should follow it up by approving the children
for good conduct while going home.
If the teacher wishes to deal with a pupil individually she can apply
the same methods as for the pupil that quarrels or fights. (See
treatment of quarreling and fighting.)
Often school children show impoliteness in a marked degree. It may be a
result either of poor home training or because of the teacher’s bad
manners. The teacher who is impolite can not expect her pupils to be
polite.
Some teacher may ask, “Just what constitutes impoliteness on the part of
the teacher?”
That teacher is impolite who meets her pupils outside of the school-room
and does not speak to them; who does not beg pardon when she accidently
bumps against a pupil; who does not say, “Thank you,” when a pupil
bestows a favor; who does not greet her pupils with a cheery “Good
morning” or a pleasant “Good night”; who is rude and rough; who speaks
in a high-pitched tone of voice instead of a sweet, low, pleasing tone;
who says gruffly, “What?” when she should say, “Repeat it again,
please,” and who keeps her desk in disorder. There are other traits of
impoliteness, but the above will enlighten the teacher who fails to know
the marks of ill-breeding.
To prevent impoliteness on the part of pupils, the teacher needs but to
practice the opposite of the above. She may give a few talks on
politeness, but the best way to teach that subject is to be polite. The
little ones are imitators. They like formal politeness and will imitate
the teacher. Extremes of formality must be avoided. Overdoing the matter
has a tendency to repel pupils.
Every trait of politeness can easily be taught if the teacher will watch
for its occurrence, and then casually remark how she admires that
particular characteristic in her pupils. A certain little boy tipped his
hat to an elderly lady as she passed the school. The teacher saw it.
When school convened she said, “I am proud of my pupils because I saw
one lift his hat to a lady today.” She said no more, but every boy
aspired thereafter to recognize women by lifting the hat. On another
occasion a little girl picked up her glove. Her recognition of the act
was, “Thank you, my dear.” Others heard it. Afterwards they sought to do
the teacher favors. Again, she stood by the window when a farmer passed
the schoolhouse with a large wagon. The wind blew off his hat. A little
boy ran and picked up the hat and returned it to the farmer. When the
bell rang and all were in their seats, the teacher told the pupils how
proud she was of them because they were polite. She avoided singling the
boy out. That would have caused envy in some of the pupils, but to be
proud of all, made all feel that the act was a possession of the entire
school and that which one boy could do, could be done by any pupil.