Miss Garber’s own intolerance may have been the provoking cause of
Grant’s resistance to her authority. If Grant sincerely believed he was
right and his teacher wrong, it was highly desirable that he should
maintain his position until he could be convinced of his error. Grant’s
real offense, then, was not the defense of his position, but the rude
manner in which he spoke. Had Miss Garber met rudeness with politeness
it might have been easier to straighten out the other difficulty. Had
she said, in a kindly manner, “Grant, I am glad you have thought over
the problem enough to feel sure about it, but you must prove to me that
your answer is right, because I think it is the other way: please
explain to the class just why you think your way is right,” her words
might have served as a challenge which would have awakened in Grant a
genuine interest in the problem. At the same time it would have given
Miss Garber an opportunity to show Grant just why his answer was wrong.
In regard to the remark on the school ground, she might better have paid
no attention to it since it was not made to her. Indeed, her own
question as to whether Grant wanted another whipping soon was quite as
impudent as Grant’s remark (about the whipping) was untruthful.
By laying too much stress upon minor points, a teacher weakens her
influence in weightier matters.
(11) _Impudence due to teacher not understanding the pupil._ Adults are
never able quite fully to appreciate the wide difference between their
knowledge and the small amount of general information which is found in
young children. A college instructor, accustomed to deal with college
students, has been known to severely reprimand a well-meaning high
school student for guilty, willful and malicious ignorance, when, as a
matter of fact, she was not yet equipped with the information which she
was supposed to possess.
In like manner, too often a teacher or a parent will lay severe
penalties upon a child who has unwittingly transgressed some law or
custom which has long been well known to adults, but which has never
been especially presented to the attention of the child.
Occasionally a mature pupil returns after a long absence from school
which leads him to ignore many of the little customs that pertain to
school life. The pupil has lost a sense of the relations which a pupil
has to his teacher and his fellows. When he returns, he is more or less
restless under the peculiar methods of association that belong to
typical school life.
Such a pupil is more or less of a misfit until he recognizes his former
adjustment to school conditions. He may behave like a visitor for a time
or act in some other adult fashion which more or less contravenes the
established school custom.