Miss Black erred by placing more importance upon the punishment of the
offense than she did upon removing the causes which brought about the
offense.
She erred again in feeling that the case was disposed of with the
pronouncement of the punishment by herself and with the acceptance of
the same by the boys. In truth, she had not even touched upon the more
serious aspects of the case.
Had Miss Black been on the alert, she probably would have earlier
discovered tendencies among the children to make fun of John. This
should have been treated in a general way by means of story work, talks
on good manners, etc., and thus the quarrel very likely might have been
averted.
Miss Black erred again by being in too great haste to have the matter
settled. Very much is gained, in such a case, by waiting until the first
heat of passion has passed away. The settlement must not be too long
delayed, however. Once the incident is partly forgotten, the lesson
which might have been learned from it loses its force, by again dragging
back into consciousness the angry feelings which accompanied the
original act.