THE PREVENTION OF CRIME.
The result of Criminological studies has indicated most clearly that no
measures for the prevention or repression of crime will ever be adequate
which are not based upon a scientific system of education. Whatever this
system may prove to be, it must have one distinct aim, and that is to
train all its members to love, and to work for, the social state. This
aim must be accomplished most thoroughly no matter what the cost may be.
The decreasing birth-rate points to other conclusions than the obvious
one that a large number of persons must be using preventive means. It
points to a widespread selfishness which regards children as an
intolerable burden, as in fact nothing less than a grievous misfortune.
It is obvious that where children are so regarded a blight has fallen
upon the domestic life. Home cannot be the brightest spot on earth to
them; neither can the father and mother be their sympathetic guides,
counsellors, and protectors. Nor can those children be studied (by those
who alone have the special faculty for studying them) in order that
their secret aims and ambitions and the difficulties which obstruct
these aims and ambitions, may be understood.
It follows then that from parental selfishness a great number (and close
observation leads one to believe that by far the greater proportion) of
the children of this generation and in this colony, are growing up with
less care and attention being bestowed upon them than what their parents
are prepared to bestow upon even their very horses or their dogs. This
factor of parental selfishness cannot be ignored either academically or
practically. It must in some way be overcome, or at least its influence
for harm must be considerably reduced.
It would be interesting to discover how far this parental selfishness
was a deviation from true parental pride. Possibly it may not be so very
great as the vast difference in results may lead us to suppose, and if
this be so the reorganisation of the child's educational system will not
be insuperably difficult.
In many homes where there are more than two or three children, there is
a total lack of domestic sympathy and pride. The children are not taught
to love one another nor to understand and help one another. Adult
influence is very seldom brought to bear upon them, and, worst of all,
parental influence is either wanting, deficient or injurious. What
children suffer from this want in the development in their natures must
of necessity be, and it unquestionably is, sufficient to handicap them
throughout their whole life. Parents profess that they have done their
best with this or that child and that they have failed, but the fault
largely lies in the parents undertaking the task with every expectation
of failure, and the chief characteristics noticed by the child have been
the parental irritability, impatience and incompetence. Having estimated
these the child then knows exactly how to gain its own ends and has
sufficient determination to persevere until it does. A certain amount of
harsh treatment will suffice, until the child is old enough to rebel, in
order to keep it in check, or, as is just as often the case, the child
may be allowed to have its own way entirely. Under such circumstances it
is not a matter of great wonderment that the child should be looked upon
as a burden to be fed, clothed, and tolerated until it is old enough to
"do something" for itself.
But our school system is also at fault, for by it our children are
crammed with an amount of information the whole, or even the greater
part, of which very few of them will ever use. Imagine the object, if
one can, of spending the precious hours of a child's educational life in
teaching it the names of every dozen or so of the different towns of
each county in the United Kingdom, and at the same time entirely
neglecting its moral training and giving very little attention to the
physical.
If a child be bright he has every consideration from his teachers and
receives from his companions the opprobious nickname of "Teacher's Pet."
He gains a reward, perhaps a medal, and at the annual distribution of
prizes the speech-makers point to the coming legislators and successful
men of business in a manner which conveys to this scholar the idea that
the one thing to live for is to gain an exalted position in the world.
This would not be so bad in itself, were it not that the love for honest
labour is not inculcated at the same time, and consequently the children
imagine that they are going to be pitchforked into prominence. As an
evidence, witness the speculative spirit so universal among our youth.
They hope to make their way in life simply by "striking it lucky."
Personally I have spoken to a large number of boys about the ages of
from fourteen to sixteen years and I have never yet been able to find a
boy who could tell me definitely what he would like to be. His father
looks about for something for him to do without any knowledge of the
boy's possibility of greatest success lying in one well marked
direction. The boy remains in a billet only so long as he fails to get
another with a greater wage attached to it, and when perhaps twenty
years of age are reached he is conscious of where the true lines of his
destiny lie; but it is then too late for him to begin the necessary
education, and the consequence is that his life loses its inspiration.
Now it is quite possible that if our school system were so reorganised
that parents saw as a result that their children developed a true love
for labour and worked with definite purpose, that they would take a more
intense pride in them and enter more sympathetically into their labours
and ambitions. The education of the child would thus be brought to react
upon the parent and tend immediately to reorganise the domestic life
and bring it closer to the Hebrew conception, which conception when
realised would most thoroughly solve the problem of the moral
regeneration of the race. It is impossible for the State to have to
commence to educate the parent except by reactionary methods and by
compelling the observance of all legitimate obligations. That our
present school system does not react favourably upon the parent must be
obvious from what has already been said. In the past when only the
fortunate few were able to secure the advantages of a good education,
they, for the most part, recognised the greatness of their opportunity
and prosecuted their studies with zeal. But to-day, with an universal
educational system the value of these opportunities is, by the child and
sometimes by the parent, very much lost sight of. The child needs now a
stimulant, something to arouse and sustain his interest in his work. He
should learn to regard his school work with pleasure and his home with
affection.
The three principal standpoints from which education is regarded
are:--(a) the utilitarian, (b) the disciplinarian, and (c) a compromise
between the two.
The Utilitarians consider that an educational system should store the
mind of the child with such knowledge only as shall be of direct value
to it in its after life. The disciplinarians consider that a child's
education should content itself with so developing the faculties that
when matured they may be adequate for such mental tasks as the after
life or vocation may provide. The middle course is held by those who
endeavour to train the faculties of the child in the manner prescribed
by the disciplinarians, but in so doing, they employ the mind upon
exercises, the accomplishment of which, is of immediate and permanent
value.
The education system in New Zealand is constructed upon the utilitarian
basis. The children's minds are crammed with knowledge--USEFUL
knowledge let it be called--and they are encouraged to be diligent
because of the great benefit this knowledge will be to them when they
become men and women--which development the child of eight expects will
be attained sometime before the end of the world, and will then come by
chance. The reward of the child's labour is thrown into the far distant
future, and is so entirely lost sight of as an inspiring factor, that
artificial rewards have to be provided and the child ponders over his
lessons in the hope of winning one of Ballantyne's or Henty's "Books for
Boys."
Now, the facts of a child's life demonstrate conclusively that the child
is capable of having all its interests absorbed in its work. The
diligence with which it will build up a doll's house out of a soap box,
a jam tin, a few stones and any odds and ends that it can lay its hands
on, is sufficient evidence of this. The child loves to make things for
itself, and its affection for the rude creations of its own mind is far
greater than that for its most gorgeous and expensive toys. Upon the
recognition of these facts, the kindergarten system is based.
In Sweden a very successful attempt has been made to construct the whole
of the primary system upon this basis, and for this purpose Sloyd has
been introduced into the schools. Certain Sloyd exercises have made
their appearance in our New Zealand schools and have met with somewhat
severe criticism, the whole system being condemned as being ideal
theoretically, but valueless practically. It took many years before the
Swedish system was perfected, and it should follow obviously that a very
partial experiment, such as the colonial one has been, gives no idea of
what value the complete system may achieve.
By Sloyd, we understand a system of educational hand-work. The children
are employed upon various kinds of hand craft with the object of
developing their mental, moral, and physical powers. The object is
NOT to make artisans of the children, although undoubtedly
those children who afterwards become tradesmen find that the educational
principles of their trade has already been grasped by the intellect, but
the same will apply to those entering any legitimate vocation without
exception.
Although there are many different kinds of Sloyd, woodwork has been
discovered to be the most useful, and it alone survives the severe tests
imposed. A glance at the accompanying table will explain what is meant.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF SLOYD.
Key:
A - Does it accord with children's capability?
B - Does it excite and sustain interest?
C - Are the objects made useful?
D - Does it give a respect for rough work?
E - Does it train in order and exactness?
F - Does it allow cleanliness and neatness?
G - Does it cultivate the sense of form?
H - Is it beneficial from an hygienic point of view?
I - Does it allow methodical arrangement?
J - Does it teach dexterity of hand?
------------------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-----------+
Branches of Sloyd.| A | B | C | D | E |
------------------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-----------+
| | | | | |
Simple Metal Work |Yes & No|Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes & no |
Smith's Work |No |Hardly |Tolerably|Yes |No |
Basket Making |No |Hardly |Tolerably|Yes |No |
Straw Plaiting |Yes |Yes? |Yes |Yes & no|Yes |
Brush Making |No? |Yes?? |Yes |Yes? |Tolerably |
House Painting |No |No |Yes & no |Yes |No |
Fretwork |Yes? |No & yes|No & yes |No |Yes |
| | | Yes | | |
Bookbinding |No |No & yes|Tolerably|Hardly |Tolerably |
| | | | | Yes |
Card-board Work |Yes & no|Yes? |Yes |No |very high |
Sloyd Carpentry |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes? |Yes |
| | | | |partly (not|
Turnery |No |Yes |Yes? |Hardly |quite No) |
Carving in Wood |Yes? |Yes & no|Yes & no |No |Yes |
Clay Modelling |Yes |Yes |No |No |Yes & no |
------------------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-----------+
From "Theory of Sloyd," Salomon.
Table continued
------------------+---------+--------+--------+--------+---------
Branches of Sloyd.| F | G | H | I | J
------------------+---------+--------+--------+--------+---------
|Tolerably| | | |
Simple Metal Work | No |Yes |Yes? |Yes |Yes
Smith's Work |No |No? |Yes & no|Perhaps |No
Basket Making |Yes? |No |No |No |No
Straw Plaiting |No & yes |No? |No |Yes |No
Brush Making |Yes |No |No |No |No
House Painting |No |No |No |No |No
Fretwork |Yes |No & yes|No |No & yes|No
| | | | |
Bookbinding |Yes? |No |No? |Perhaps |Tolerably
| | | | |
Card-board Work |Yes |Yes? |No |Yes |No?
Sloyd Carpentry |Yes |Yes |Yes? |Yes |Yes
| | | | |
Turnery |Yes? |Yes |No |No |No
Carving in Wood |Yes |Yes & no|No |Yes |No
Clay Modelling |No |Yes |No |Yes |No
------------------+---------+--------+--------+--------+---------
The objects of Sloyd are:--(a) to instil a taste for, and love of,
labour in general.
NOTE.--(For this analysis of the Sloyd system the author has
based his study upon Herr Salomon's works "The theory of educational
Sloyd" and "The Teacher's hand book of Sloyd.")
Children love to make things for themselves and prize their own work
much more than ready made articles. The educator should follow Nature's
lead and satisfy this craving. By a skilful direction of the child's
interest a love for labour in general is instilled, and rewards are
found to be unnecessary, the children being only too eager to achieve.
To sustain their interest in the work they are engaged upon must be
useful from THEIR OWN STANDPOINT. The work should not be
preceded by fatiguing exercises, but the first cut should be a stroke
towards the accomplishment of the desired end. The exercise must afford
variety. The entire work of the exercise must be within their power and
not requiring the aid of the teacher to "finish it off." It must be real
work and not a pretence; and the objects should become the property of
the children. To give children intricate joints to cut is of no real
value. The child has no genuine interest in what are simply the parts of
an exercise, it must make something complete and useful in itself. To
make a garden stick accurate according to model is of more value than to
make the most intricate joint. One may say that the child who could do
the one could do the other, but that is not the point, for the object
is not merely to gain manual dexterity but to develop all the faculties
of a child, and this is what the complete exercise achieves and in what
the partial exercise absolutely fails.
(b) To instil respect for rough, honest, bodily labour, which is
achieved by the introduction of the work into schools of all grades so
that ALL classes of the community may engage upon it, and by the
teachers taking pride in it themselves, and by their intelligent
teaching of it to their classes.
(c) To develop independence and self-reliance. The child requires
individual attention, the teacher must not tell too much, the child
should endeavour as far as possible to discover by experiment the best
methods for holding and manipulating tools, and also to be allowed as
much free play as possible for its judgment.
(d) To train in habits of order, exactness, cleanliness, and neatness.
Which are acquired by keeping the models well within the children's
range of ability, demanding that the work shall always be done in an
orderly manner and with the greatest measure of exactness that the child
is capable of. How far cleanliness and neatness may be instilled is
apparent from the nature of the work.
(e) To train the eye, and the sense of form. To cultivate dexterity of
hand and develop touch.
The models are of two kinds:--rectilinear and curvilinear. The former
are tested by the square, the rule and the compasses, but the accuracy
of the latter depends upon the eye, the sense of form and that of touch.
This training enables the child to distinguish between good and bad work
and to put a right value upon the former, to understand the right use of
ornament, and also cultivates the aesthetic taste upon classic lines. An
enormous number of jerry built articles are sold, which the public
readily buy simply on account of their ornamental appearance. If the
ability to distinguish between good and bad work were more universal it
would go far towards improving trade morality.
(f) To cultivate habits of attention, interest, etc. The success of the
work requires that the mind shall be closely concentrated upon it. The
nature of the work excites the interest of the child, and under careful
direction this interest is sustained throughout. A genius has been
described as a man capable of taking pains--a master of detail. Sloyd is
eminently suited for concentrating the attention upon the details of
work and for training the Sloyder to be thorough and never content with
"making a thing do."
The desire of the child to finish the work and to finish it well,
overrides any element of impatience or irritability that may be in his
character, and in a natural way introduces the elements of patience and
perseverance in his work. These qualities are not confined to his Sloyd
work but extend throughout his character, so that he realises that the
work of life all contributes to some definite aim.
(g) Uniform development of the physical powers. Statistics collected
from any country show that many forms of disease before unknown among
the young, are now very prevalent among the children taught in the
schools. These diseases are attributed to the many hours during which
children are required to sit and to the bad positions they assume during
those hours. Skoliosis--curvature of the spine--a serious disease, as it
produces displacement of the internal organs, nose bleeding, aenemia,
chlorosis, nervous irritation, loss of appetite, headache, and myopia,
are diseases which are declared by experts to accompany the present
system of education.
Sloyd when properly taught tends to develop the frame according to the
normal standard. It may not be as good as gymnastics in this direction:
but it has this advantage that it trains the pupil to engage in his work
in such a manner as not to hinder nor stunt the development of his body,
and not to cramp the vital organs in such a manner as to interfere with
the discharge of their functions. The pupils are taught to use both
hands and to develop both sides of the body. The following chart from
Herr Salomon's work will show to what degree the body may develop on a
lopsided manner when one side only is used in performing work. The chart
shows the sectional measurement of the chest of a boy of thirteen years
of age who for three years had worked at a bench using the right side
only.
The foregoing brief analysis may show the ends which Sloyd is destined
to accomplish, and upon the value of those ends no explanation is
required. Habits of industry, patience and perseverance are inculcated.
The child learns to know his own power and how best to use it. His
tastes are cultivated and he learns to love work and understand the true
dignity of labour. Such results are not the results of the copy book but
they are permanently impressed upon the child's character. That such an
education must react upon the parent is obvious. The child's life is
full of aim and he does everything with a purpose, and in such a child
only the most depraved parent will fail to take interest, and children
have this characteristic, that they force their knowledge upon the
notice of their parents whenever they can. The boy who begins to learn
house painting soon expresses the wish to paint his own home; if
carpentry, he wishes to build a shed; if joinery, he wishes to make a
table; and how often one notices a home where tidiness and order are due
to the educated child, and where taste in furnishing is accounted for by
the daughter's cultivated aesthetic taste. Children then, so trained as
the Sloyd system provides, may contribute enormously to the happiness
and brightness of the home life. Instead of regarding them as a burden
their parents will behold them with delight and pride, and instead of
looking out for "something for them to do," indifferent whether it be
driving a cart, selling in a shop, or clerking in a lawyer's office,
they will find that the child himself has a definite idea of where his
after course should lie, and they will do their utmost towards assisting
him to follow it.
[Illustration: _To perceive the amount of distortion, fold the paper
along the axis of the diagram, and hold it between the eye and the
light._
_From "Theory of Sloyd"_--SALOMON.]
It cannot be supposed that Sloyd will succeed in the midst of
incongruous surroundings. To train the eye to a sense of the beautiful
in a dirty schoolhouse is somewhat difficult. The glorious handiwork of
God will not be taught in the playground which, with its mudholes, ruts,
and filth, more resembles a cattle yard than anything else. A school and
its grounds must at least show that the authorities themselves really
appreciate the lessons they are endeavouring to have instilled into the
minds of their scholars. So, too, a similar system must underlie the
method of teaching the ordinary lessons at the school desk. How many
children will say "I love history but I detest dates"? What value are
the dates? Let history be taught as Fitchett teaches it in his "Deeds
that won the Empire" and the end will be accomplished, patriotism will
be inspired, and the nation loved. Dates, names of deeds, causes of war,
international policies may easily be introduced incidentally. Let
geography be taught as Fraser teaches it in his "Real Siberia" or Savage
Landor in his "In the Forbidden Land" and the map will be studied with
interest and the subject never forgotten. Let the notation be dispensed
with until the child understands the problem or theorem and Euclid will
become fascinating.
Without a shadow of doubt the best preventive of crime is an universal
system of education so designed that the whole interest of the child is
absorbed in its work. An absolute solution of the whole problem
undoubtedly requires that the religious education of the child be also
undertaken and effectively carried out. The question of the religious
education of the young is one which is exciting attention throughout the
whole of the English speaking world. There are those who advocate that
instruction in the Bible lessons should be given by teachers during
school hours to the scholars attending the Government schools, and there
are those who vigorously oppose such a course.
The advocates base their arguments upon their belief that no system of
education which ignores religious teaching can be effective or complete.
Their opponents declare that it is unjust to call upon the teachers of a
secular education to give instruction in religion, or for the State to,
in any way, subsidise the various religious denominations or to
supplement their efforts in this particular direction. Both sides
petition the Government and both sides prepare the people for a possible
referendum upon the question.
The State cannot be expected to regard the matter from other than a
purely utilitarian standpoint. "Will it make the people better
citizens?" it enquires. "Will it lesson crime and promote honesty,
thrift and loyalty?" These questions still remain unanswered, and in the
midst of so much rationalistic teaching, and especially with the
example of the noble lives of many rationalists before it, the State
believes that there is room for much difference of opinion, and
therefore it cannot move in the matter. The advocates of religious
education seem to take it for granted that their beliefs are
unassailable and that they are simply fighting against the powers of
Darkness: but they forget that they are doing very little to bring
others to hold the same convictions as themselves. It should not be a
difficult task to answer to the utilitarian position with an emphatic
affirmative and to bring conclusive evidence to support that
affirmative. Where, it may be asked, are to be found the men who are
leaders in thought and action who have, without any religious influence
whatever, risen from the depths of misery, crime and filth? Where are to
be found the families now living in honesty and virtue, though still in
poverty, families in the midst of which every form of wickedness was
once to be seen, who owe nothing to religious influence? The rationalist
may claim that when his educational theories are adopted and put into
practice all dens of misery and vice will disappear, but he cannot
support his statement with convincing proofs. The teacher of religion is
infinitely better off. While he strenuously supports the adoption of
better and larger educational effort, he insists that, in order to gain
the active co-operation of those on behalf of whom it is to be employed,
religious influences must be brought to bear, and for the support of his
statement he need only say "open your eyes and look around you."
The influence of religion in regaining criminals cannot be gainsaid by
any, and the United States Educational Report for 1897-98 declares that
it is most important for the inculcation of sound morality, that
children should, from a very early age, be brought under the influence
of good religious teaching.
When the State is convinced that religious education is an absolute
necessity, it will approach the question of ways and means with a
determination that a satisfactory solution must be arrived at, and what
it will then demand is not so much an emasculated Bible as the bringing
to bear upon the children of the vital regenerative influences of
religion.