The eager, self-confident, strong-willed teacher often rushes into a
program of action that has unfortunate results. If in his own student
days he attended a large, highly organized school where the authorities
easily executed new school policies, he often blunders as a teacher when
beginning work in a smaller school because of unskilled imitation of the
methods of his former teachers.
[Sidenote: Know the Community]
Perry warns the teacher against neglecting to study the psychology of
the crowd. A pupil dealt with alone is but one individual. If another
shares in the conference you have a group. Any punishment shared with
another loses force. If another two are added to the number the
punishment ceases to have real worth. This does not mean that there is
no such thing as the punishment of a social group; but that what is a
punishment for one does not become a punishment for a crowd simply by
being extended to the crowd. The punishment of individuals and of groups
is essentially different, and must be differently planned.