Children in the first and second years will be willfully disobedient
only when they have not learned obedience at home. Children come to
school ready-made. Their habits and ideals have been developed at home
or upon the street. Many of these are entirely contrary to school
standards, and moreover, are disapproved by common conscience.
Parents are often quite unable to comprehend the necessity for strict
conformity to a teacher’s plans of instruction, or to the general rules
for good school procedure. Often this is due to the fact that the
parents have never taught the child the value of good order and
obedience. The child rather has learned the many different ways in which
he may evade his parents’ wishes. So he starts to school accustomed to
disobey commands, as in the following instance.