Miss Hutchins made a great mistake in giving in to Blythe’s weakness.
The girl would not have begged to remain seated, would not have excused
herself because of nervousness, if Miss Hutchins’ attitude had been one
to instil confidence in the girl.
Miss Hutchins only encouraged her pupil to further fear by providing a
means by which Blythe would not have to read her paper before the
literary society, and still further by speaking of this before the
entire class.
So again, when Miss Hutchins was making out the program for
Commencement, even if she thought it was necessary to seat Blythe as she
did, she should not have called the girl’s attention to the cause. Such
evidence that Miss Hutchins recognized her pupil’s fear, served only to
augment this weakness, as was seen in Blythe’s final remarks.
By appealing to the pupil’s personal experience, any fear she may have
will be likely to be dispelled, since she is on perfectly familiar
ground. By saying, “I am sure the class will enjoy hearing it, too,” you
are establishing in the girl’s mind your confidence that she _will_
recite. Further by implying your question in a declarative form of
statement, you are driving out the fear that a direct question often
suggests.
Pupils of high school age are old enough to be stimulated by the
suggestion that it is becoming more and more necessary now-a-days for
women to preside over meetings and in many ways take the lead in
circumstances that bring them more or less into prominence; and that the
very best place to train one’s self for such work is in the little class
affairs where only kindly sympathy will be felt for any one who is a
little timid; and, furthermore, that a few triumphs over self will
banish the fear.