WHISTLING AT WORK?A CRIME? By Herbert F.
Principal
Olive
Clark,
Special School,
Los
Angeles,
Cal.
long ago the principal of one of the largest schools in a neighboring city went into his sloyd room where thirty boys were busily at work, and amid the din of saw and hammer his ear detected the merry whistle of a happy boy. He turned to the teacher in charge of the room and asked him if he allowed the boys to whistle "Well," he rewhile working. The teacher pondered a moment. I had better it. tell him to noticed Perhaps I hadn't really plied, "We can't the have them said principal, I stop." "Yes, would," was forthwith stopped, and the noise the So in school." whistling good old standard was maintained. There are extremely interesting principles involved in this episode. The head of that school represents in a striking way a certain type of educational procedure. He stands for the notion that any indication of happiness in school is a crime. The sacred walls of the school room must not be polluted with the vile sound of whistling. He does not ask himself the questions?What harm was that boy with his lips while doing by giving vent to a wholesome sentiment for his home? What furniture of busily engaged upon some piece of sound the whistling possess that disparticular quality does Not
"
it from the sound of hammer and saw, and makes it a for rebuke? Is it inconsistent? W^hen has it been inconsistent to whistle while at work? Is it disorderly? Then whom does it disturb? Why should not all the boys whistle? What harm could room where the boys sing while at work. it do? I know a
tinguishes fit subject
sloyd not? Shouldn't heart sing if they want to, and why It is absurd to repress world? the of and hand go together in the work is expression. education of aim the finest emotions while the declared The concrete for expression? What is the sloyd room but a place Restrict emotions. normal boy is a veritable storehouse of potential their wholesome expression, and they are apt to break out in unwholesome ways. It seems to me that the slo^d room is the place of all the fullest and places where the boy should be encouraged to give lies the efficacy freest expression of the best that is in him. Herein of manual work as a part of our educational procedure. There are and if unhappy moments enough in the life of the average boy, Yes, they
all
(17)
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
18
he bubbles over with joy in his school work, it isn't a bad for the kind of work he is doing or the attitude he is taking
perchance omen
toward it.
question naturally arises,?How far in sloyd or other can the spontaneous expression of joy take place without with the quality of the school work as a whole? It has interfering been demonstrated in the special schools of this city, those schools which take care of the truants and so-called 'incorrigibles,' that considerable freedom can be given boys in method and in conduct without seriously impeding the progress of their work. Indeed they do more work, perhaps not quite so good in quality, but certainly done with a more wholesome attitude, than in the regular schools In the special schools, if a boy feels like from which they come. if feels like singing he sings, if he feels like he he whistles, whistling other boy will 'call his bluff'. some he boxes, provided boxing is it all there required of him a certain amount of school Through work each day and this work he must do. The result is that the boys soon learn to get their work done amid considerable confusion, which in itself isn't a bad lesson to learn. There is hardly any place in real life, excepting at funerals, where people walk on tiptoes and one can hear the clock tick. The notion that we must have absolute quiet in order to be able to concentrate our minds, is a relic of a past age. Real life is busy and bustling, and fortunate is he who can go about The
school work
his
own
work and be
so
absorbed in it that he
can
tune and be heard above the noise of his fellows.
the
boy
in
our
story
was
whistle
That is
what
doing, and for that he was rebuked. What to drop the flimsy mask of false dignity and
teachers need to do is the boy as a boy and not as an automaton. realize that growth of mind comes through wholesome we
a merry
just
regard
We need to expression and
not
through repression, and that wide latitude should be given each child in the kind of emotion he may express. We need to remember that a child cannot really be happy unless he is expressing his happi-
in some emotional form. To inhibit the expression is to destroy the emotion in the child, and this is an educational sin. Of course it takes a stronger teacher to manage a group of children
ness
where this wider freedom is given. Any policeman can control a of large group people without disorder, but he cannot arouse their interest and lead them into
The teacher new fields of mental activity. of his educational vision, so that he can discern wholesome motives in the conduct of his pupils and so direct them that these motives shall be dominant. He needs the power to use needs
a
broadening
school facilities may think best
as means
to
ignore
in
dealing with his regular school
the
children. program
To-day he altogether.
WHISTLING AT WORK.
19
To-morrow he may reverse its operation, but always he will have the happiness and welfare of his group of children at heart. He utilizes the emotional tides of his class as well as of the individuals, in order that their expression may have in it the spirit of the group and of spontaneous endeavor. That whistling boy is a perfect type of joyous
expression,
land
a
and
our
thousand-fold.
educational aim should be
to
increase his
Principal
Olive
Clark,
Special School,
Los
Angeles,
Cal.
long ago the principal of one of the largest schools in a neighboring city went into his sloyd room where thirty boys were busily at work, and amid the din of saw and hammer his ear detected the merry whistle of a happy boy. He turned to the teacher in charge of the room and asked him if he allowed the boys to whistle "Well," he rewhile working. The teacher pondered a moment. I had better it. tell him to noticed Perhaps I hadn't really plied, "We can't the have them said principal, I stop." "Yes, would," was forthwith stopped, and the noise the So in school." whistling good old standard was maintained. There are extremely interesting principles involved in this episode. The head of that school represents in a striking way a certain type of educational procedure. He stands for the notion that any indication of happiness in school is a crime. The sacred walls of the school room must not be polluted with the vile sound of whistling. He does not ask himself the questions?What harm was that boy with his lips while doing by giving vent to a wholesome sentiment for his home? What furniture of busily engaged upon some piece of sound the whistling possess that disparticular quality does Not
"
it from the sound of hammer and saw, and makes it a for rebuke? Is it inconsistent? W^hen has it been inconsistent to whistle while at work? Is it disorderly? Then whom does it disturb? Why should not all the boys whistle? What harm could room where the boys sing while at work. it do? I know a
tinguishes fit subject
sloyd not? Shouldn't heart sing if they want to, and why It is absurd to repress world? the of and hand go together in the work is expression. education of aim the finest emotions while the declared The concrete for expression? What is the sloyd room but a place Restrict emotions. normal boy is a veritable storehouse of potential their wholesome expression, and they are apt to break out in unwholesome ways. It seems to me that the slo^d room is the place of all the fullest and places where the boy should be encouraged to give lies the efficacy freest expression of the best that is in him. Herein of manual work as a part of our educational procedure. There are and if unhappy moments enough in the life of the average boy, Yes, they
all
(17)
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
18
he bubbles over with joy in his school work, it isn't a bad for the kind of work he is doing or the attitude he is taking
perchance omen
toward it.
question naturally arises,?How far in sloyd or other can the spontaneous expression of joy take place without with the quality of the school work as a whole? It has interfering been demonstrated in the special schools of this city, those schools which take care of the truants and so-called 'incorrigibles,' that considerable freedom can be given boys in method and in conduct without seriously impeding the progress of their work. Indeed they do more work, perhaps not quite so good in quality, but certainly done with a more wholesome attitude, than in the regular schools In the special schools, if a boy feels like from which they come. if feels like singing he sings, if he feels like he he whistles, whistling other boy will 'call his bluff'. some he boxes, provided boxing is it all there required of him a certain amount of school Through work each day and this work he must do. The result is that the boys soon learn to get their work done amid considerable confusion, which in itself isn't a bad lesson to learn. There is hardly any place in real life, excepting at funerals, where people walk on tiptoes and one can hear the clock tick. The notion that we must have absolute quiet in order to be able to concentrate our minds, is a relic of a past age. Real life is busy and bustling, and fortunate is he who can go about The
school work
his
own
work and be
so
absorbed in it that he
can
tune and be heard above the noise of his fellows.
the
boy
in
our
story
was
whistle
That is
what
doing, and for that he was rebuked. What to drop the flimsy mask of false dignity and
teachers need to do is the boy as a boy and not as an automaton. realize that growth of mind comes through wholesome we
a merry
just
regard
We need to expression and
not
through repression, and that wide latitude should be given each child in the kind of emotion he may express. We need to remember that a child cannot really be happy unless he is expressing his happi-
in some emotional form. To inhibit the expression is to destroy the emotion in the child, and this is an educational sin. Of course it takes a stronger teacher to manage a group of children
ness
where this wider freedom is given. Any policeman can control a of large group people without disorder, but he cannot arouse their interest and lead them into
The teacher new fields of mental activity. of his educational vision, so that he can discern wholesome motives in the conduct of his pupils and so direct them that these motives shall be dominant. He needs the power to use needs
a
broadening
school facilities may think best
as means
to
ignore
in
dealing with his regular school
the
children. program
To-day he altogether.
WHISTLING AT WORK.
19
To-morrow he may reverse its operation, but always he will have the happiness and welfare of his group of children at heart. He utilizes the emotional tides of his class as well as of the individuals, in order that their expression may have in it the spirit of the group and of spontaneous endeavor. That whistling boy is a perfect type of joyous
expression,
land
a
and
our
thousand-fold.
educational aim should be
to
increase his
