No more harmful misdemeanor than lying can be discussed. It is fortunate
that it is not very prevalent in the first grade; still that does not
remove the very urgent importance of using every caution to prevent and
cure it whenever and wherever it is found. When one learns that most of
the great newspapers of the country will flagrantly print lies to make
otherwise unnoticeable articles of news “catchy” and exciting; that
great stores, and small ones as well, have systems of lying devised to
allure trade; that everywhere in this busy world lying is the basis of
all dishonesty and graft, the teacher can not fail to see the necessity
for right training in this direction. A lie is not so many untrue words;
it may be work not done as agreed upon, a contract worded in such a way
as to evade responsibility, or a thousand other ways of deceiving. Lying
has crept into every avenue of municipal, state and national affairs. In
view of all this, the teacher must do all in her power to prevent and
cure lying.
[Sidenote: Types of Lies]
Lying may be variously classified, according to motives. However, for
the teacher’s purpose, it is only necessary to recognize four types of
lying according to the motive.
First, a pupil is often forced to lie, because the teacher pursues some
indiscreet method which he mistakes for shrewdness, but which, in
reality, is only a trap in which to catch pupils, with the result that a
lie is the product of the method.
Second, pupils that have very imaginative minds often tell the teacher a
story or some incident which they color to suit their keen imaginations
and thereby strain the truth.
Third, children lie very frequently because of fear.
Fourth, perhaps the worst form of lying is that by which children try to
obtain things they want, believing they can not secure them by being
truthful.
In a certain school some petty offense had been committed on the
playground. The teacher did not know who had done it. After the bell
rang and every pupil was in his place, the teacher passed from pupil to
pupil down and up each row of seats asking, “Was it you?” To make her
questions more imperative she punctuated them by a sharp look or
pointing her finger at each pupil as she asked the question. From each
little tot came a simple, “No.” But some one of the pupils had committed
the offense and all replied, “No,” therefore one of the pupils had lied.
Why? The teacher had instigated the lie. Little do teachers think that
such methods as this are productive of more harm than good. Finally this
same teacher will ask, “Does any one know who did it?” All are afraid to
admit who did the act in spite of the fact that every pupil knows just
who committed the offense. In the last round of what the teacher deems
her shrewdness, she has led every pupil to lie. Teachers who follow such
tactics know little or nothing about human nature or child psychology.
[Sidenote: A Teacher’s Blunder]
The teacher who bluntly asks a pupil, “Did you do that?” is paving the
way for a falsehood. Again, what teacher can not recall entering the
schoolroom and finding a vase broken, a window pane broken, or a choice
sentence erased from the board and at once commenting in a strained tone
of voice, “That is too bad! I wonder who did it.” Again the opportunity
for a falsehood is provided. The thoughtful teacher, from the above
suggestions, will be able to recall many instances where she in effect
forced pupils to tell falsehoods.
To prevent all such lying, the teacher must carefully study the method
she is planning to use in ferreting out some mischief, before she uses
it. _She must study its effect upon the children; if it has the
slightest tendency to cause them to prevaricate, then it is far better
to leave the mischief unnoticed than to cause pupils to tell lies._
[Sidenote: Talking on Truth-Telling]
In this instance the teacher would have done the right thing had she
explained to the pupils the value of truth and how she appreciated a
child that told the truth. She should have explained that older people
break things, commit offenses and make other mistakes. The mistake is
not so bad in itself, for every one is liable to make a mistake.
Further, the teacher should plainly point out to the pupils that when
any one has made a mistake or committed an offense, or broken something,
the deed is smoothed over and mitigated when the offender tells the
truth about it. Teachers have no right to make a new law for themselves;
it is God’s law to forgive any and all offenders, if they will but come
to him and confess. What is confession but telling the truth?
Children in the first grade are not too young to have the matter of
truth put before them in this manner. After the talk the teacher must
avoid any attitude of questioning or even of suspicion, but go on about
her work in the kindest mood. As a rule, before many hours her patience
will be repaid by a little form at her side, whose eyes fill with
penitent tears, and she will hear a story of truth that will gratify her
heart.
What should the teacher do with such an admission? Approve such a child
for its truthfulness. Thank him. He deserves all the kindness and
sympathy a teacher can extend. To treat a child like this about an
offense will remove the motive for lying and the chance for offenses.
Besides he has been encouraged in telling the truth and afterward will
doubtless continue to be truthful.
Every community has its liars. Some communities have more than their
share. Who knows but that these liars may not, once, have been children
who told incidents, accidents and stories to parents, playmates and
teachers and, by reason of an imaginative mind, added little flourishes
of their own. Some teachers do not call such statements lies, but
whatever part of the incident, experience, or story, was recited for the
purpose of deceiving was false. It is true, children are called upon in
language classes to write about such subjects as, “A Ride on an Ocean
Steamer,” “A Street Car Accident,” and many others that describe
something that has never entered into their experience. This is
imagination, and while it has its value, it has its dangers also. There
is a movement away from the practice of having children write about
imaginary things; instead they are instructed to write about real
things. This tendency is very proper, but does not mean a total neglect
of the cultivation of imagination.
[Sidenote: The Imaginative Lie]
To illustrate just what is meant by the lie that may grow out of the
imagination, a child comes to the teacher and begins telling her about
the antics of a little baby brother or sister. The teacher shows an
interest in what the child is telling. Every child likes to be admired
and approved because of what he can do or tell. The teacher’s pleased
look and smile stimulate the child to make his conversation as
interesting as possible, and almost without any effort he can put
touches of exaggeration into the conversation about the baby.
Again, who has not watched a group of first grade pupils at play, and
overheard them telling things to each other which could not possibly be
true? They imagine themselves merchants, aunties and uncles, and concoct
conversations that would rival the art of any story-teller. It is this
imaginative impulse that prompts them to color so many of the incidents
they relate and often leads them to tell for the truth things that never
happened.
It is a question whether it is best to throttle the imaginative
wanderings of the child mind or not. It is doubtful if harm can come
from the imaginary conversations of children at play. In reality they
are getting themselves ready for the activities of adult life and mayhap
it is the best wisely to guide them in their play activities rather than
suppress them.
But should a child let his fancy persuade him to strain the truth when
he tells an actual occurrence? The teacher can very easily curb this
tendency by not showing an interest in what the child is telling. How
should this be done?
Every teacher knows that as the child talks he looks into the face of
the teacher. There he notes the raising of the eyebrows, the twinkle of
the eyes, the faint trace of a smile, and the line of the lips, all of
which are indices of the mind of the teacher. Every teacher knows quite
well that his face indicates to a pupil whether the answer he is giving
to a question she asked, is right or wrong. These signs in the teacher’s
face either encourage or discourage a child. The teacher who wishes to
disapprove of any untruths a child may weave into his conversations,
needs but to lower his eyes at those points of the conversation where
she feels that the child is not relating the truth. Care should be taken
not to discourage him in what he is telling. Rather do the opposite. It
is the province of the school to enable children to express freely and
in good English, those things they know, see and experience. Then it is
expedient to show, by the features, disapproval of that part of the
conversation only that is untruthful. Encourage conversation about the
real. Such a method will hold the child to the truth and will tend to
make him strive to tell the truth under all circumstances. However, the
teacher must remember that he may still continue to speak of fanciful
things, and it is well for her not to attempt to remedy that.
There can be no mistake in using the direct method of teaching
truthfulness. To do this a teacher need not say, “Do not lie.” She
should use the positive method—tell stories bearing upon the value of
truth. She can weave truth into her every day life, the daily lessons,
and all other activities of the schoolroom and the playground.
The teacher who tells the pupils how fine it is to be truthful, is
dropping a seed which will grow into a great plant of truthfulness in
the child’s life.
[Sidenote: The Lie of Fear]
There is no excuse for the teacher who has a pupil in her room who tells
lies because of fear of her. How true it is that so many children tell
falsehoods because of fear. In the home, of all places where love and
confidence should reign supreme, children are taught to lie because they
fear the unreasonable punishments of parents. These children enter
school where a cruel teacher sets up a code of rules that she can not
obey herself, but expects the pupils to obey. Naturally, in the
activities of the schoolroom these children trespass on the teacher’s
sacred rules. Then they fear punishment. In order to escape this
punishment they tell falsehoods. This is all wrong, and childhood cries
out against it. Why can not parents win the confidence of their children
by love and sympathetic guidance and treatment, so that they will openly
and frankly admit when they have been mischievous? Why can they not so
teach their children that they will tell the truth about their petty
offenses? Why, then, can they not pardon them and confidently admonish
them to offend no more? Parents are too prone to forget that as children
they, too, were mischievous. This is not a discussion for parents, but
what has been said is also of value to the teacher, for the teacher
receives these children at the age of six and is expected to cure them
of all the evils that short-sighted and inexcusable parents have taught;
hence, it becomes the teacher’s duty to correct the child that tells
falsehoods because of fear.
Heroic measures are not needed. The prudent teacher will have no
alarming code of rules or other guideposts to right conduct displayed in
her schoolroom. She will act as the guidepost herself. She will
discreetly lead the young lives intrusted to her by love and sympathy. A
six-year-old child needs direction and instruction, and not punishment,
as so many teachers believe. Then the teacher who loves and controls her
pupils aright will have the confidence of her pupils. They will not fear
her. They will not need to lie to cover up their misdemeanors. They will
tell them to the teacher, because they know she will wisely counsel
them. Fear being removed, truthfulness will naturally follow.
[Sidenote: Lying for Gain]
The pupil that has acquired the habit of lying to obtain the many things
he wants is the most difficult to handle. This habit is usually the
result of very poor home training, but in many instances the child
resorts to falsehoods to obtain his ends in school, and the habit is
begun after the child enters school. While all types of lying are
pernicious, none is worse than the one which tempts a child to lie to
gain some material end.
In many instances a pupil secures something from the teacher by means of
a misrepresentation and the teacher is not aware of it, but later learns
that the pupil has secured the coveted object by false methods. There is
nothing left for the teacher to do, except to tell the child about his
misrepresentation and request him not to repeat it. This must not be
done in a faultfinding way, but as a means of instruction. Sometimes the
misdemeanor may be of such proportions, that all that can be done is to
give direct instructions against it; but when this becomes necessary,
the teacher must do it in a way that will win the child’s confidence.
Not a word nor look of criticism should escape the teacher. Her
instruction should make plain to the child the evil results that will
arise from such falsehoods. If the teacher is not careful she will make
the child more evasive in his attempts to misrepresent. After that he
will use all the tact he can, to keep his falsehoods hidden; so it
becomes very imperative that the teacher give direct instructions with
the utmost care. It is indispensable that she remain within the child’s
confidence. It can not be emphasized too much, that but little can be
done for a child in the way of direct or indirect instruction, if the
teacher has lost the confidence of the offender.
Usually the teacher can detect from the child’s manner, that he is lying
to obtain what he wants. In such a case the teacher can more easily
apply an effective method and one that will in due time remove the habit
from the child. Often the teacher can lead the child to the truth by a
series of careful questions. Answers to the questions are the child’s
gradual admission of the truth. These admissions can be drawn from the
child by facial suggestion; that is, the teacher can approve by a
pleased countenance that reply which she deems the truth and disapprove
that reply which she deems a falsehood by merely assuming an unmoved
countenance or expressing negation. Also, negative movements of the
head, suggest, “No,” to the child when he is telling a falsehood and
this suggested “No” will bring out the truth. The positive movement of
the head consents to the truth when stated by the child.