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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Practical
school discipline
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
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Title: Practical school discipline

Applied methods, part 2

Author: Ray Coppock Beery

Release date: September 27, 2023 [eBook #71746]

Language: English

Original publication: Pleasant Hill: International Academy of

Discipline, 1917

Credits: Richard Tonsing, MFR, Missing pages were produced

from images generously made available by University
of Victoria Libraries, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book
was produced from images made available by the
HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRACTICAL

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE ***
Transcriber’s Note:
New original cover art included with this eBook is
granted to the public domain.
PRACTICAL SCHOOL
DISCIPLINE
Applied Methods
PART II

By
RAY C. BEERY
A. B. (Columbia), M. A. (Harvard)

President of
International Academy of Discipline
PLEASANT HILL, OHIO, U. S. A.
 Copyrighted, 1917, by
RAY C. BEERY

Copyrighted in Great Britain, 1917

All Rights Reserved
 PREFACE

The present volume, the third on “Practical School Discipline” (the

second on “Applied Methods”), completes the series of books
designed for the I. A. D. Correspondence Course for Teachers.
Some of the members of our Teachers’ Club may be interested to
know that a similar course of correspondence and study has been
prepared for parents. Possibly some of your own “hard cases” can
best be reached indirectly, i. e., by introducing these volumes for the
parents into the home of the hard case. If you know a parent who has
failed to discipline his child properly, why not mention the
Correspondence Course for Parents in your next Parents’ meeting!
Take along your teachers’ book to illustrate the sort of practical
treatment the various “cases” receive in the parents’ books. In
helping the father or the mother, you are also helping the child, the
school, and yourself.
Regarding the present volume our readers will note that in
accordance with the statement contained in Part I, Part II is a
continuation of that book. Partly to emphasize this fact of continuity,
but also to avoid repetition in the complete index in Part II, the
pagination and the numbering of the cases follow in consecutive
order the two similar series of numbers in Part II. The division
between the two volumes is made between topics, however, so that
except for the very close relation between the two books, each of
them may be regarded as complete in itself.
Finally, permit us to express our hearty appreciation of the cordial
responses which are coming from the members of the Teachers’
Club, and again to assure them that their interests are ours.
 CONTENTS

DIVISION V
PAGE
Cases Arising Out Of The Adaptive Instincts 361

DIVISION VI
Cases Arising Out Of The Expressive Instincts 577

DIVISION VII
Cases Arising Out Of The Social Instincts 671

DIVISION VIII
Cases Arising Out Of The Regulative Instincts 745

DIVISION IX
Cases Arising Out Of The Sex Instincts 829

DIVISION X
An Illustrative Contrast Between Failure and Success 859
 DIVISION V

Adaptation may serve either of two ends. It may fix the child in a life of
indifference, of inefficiency, of crime, or it may fit him into a world of noble acts
and lofty endeavor.
 CASES ARISING OUT OF THE ADAPTIVE
INSTINCTS

What are the adaptive instincts? By the adaptive instincts is

meant the power that an individual possesses of fitting himself, more
or less easily, into the situation in which he finds himself. Such
power of adaptability is of the greatest possible value to the human
infant, coming as he does into an extremely complex environment,
physical and social, and with the further certainty before him of
extremely complex activities in adult life.
Fortunately the long period of plastic infancy offers constant
opportunity for readjusting one’s habits, tastes, accomplishments,
etc. Three chief means for making such readjustments are found in
the child’s tendencies, (1) to imitate, (2) to play, (3) to satisfy his
curiosity.
“Example is usually far better than rule and imitation more effective than
explanation....”

—Thorndike.

1. Imitation—of Acts; of Habits; of Social Ideals

Betts[1] defines imitation as “the instinct to respond to a suggestion
from another by repeating his act.” This is simple and entirely covers
the ground. He goes on to say that the instinct is one of the earliest to
appear, being very plainly discernible before the normal child has
reached the age of one year. It often reaches its height by the time the
baby is two or three years old, but is never lost and sometimes
persists strongly into old age. When a child imitates the same thing
several times his imitation becomes a habit, and so two powerful
factors unite to form a customary type of behavior.
1. The Mind and Its Education, 170.
One might think that imitation, being Appealing to the
strongest in young children, would appear Imitative Instinct
almost exclusively in the lower grades of school; but in fact it plays
an important part all the way through the high school. The things
imitated change, but the instinct remains. In treating cases which are
caused or influenced by this powerful instinct, which the great
French sociologist Tarde considers the greatest factor in human
conduct, there are four methods which can be used:

1. The expression of strong disapproval of the acts and their

results.
2. Forceful repression—punishment.
3. Changing the nature of the example imitated.
4. The substitution of another and better example for the one
imitated.
The first and second of these four methods are two degrees and
modes of the general means of opposition. They are sometimes
effective, and they are sometimes necessary and wise. If a very great
evil is going on, for instance, it is fully justifiable to use any means to
stop it, before its harmful effects cause too great suffering and
injustice. If a teacher finds a bully imposing on a small child, even
although he may know that a good example to the bully is the means
for his ultimate conversion to kindness and justice, he should stop
the bullying first by the best means at hand, and afterward set about
the character conversion of the bully.
Moreover, with very young children, in whom habitforming is
largely a matter of pleasure and pain in the reactions of their deeds,
punishment that is swift, sure and wise should follow the imitation of
a bad act after its evil nature has been made clear. With older
children, however, who have passed this early stage, the third and
fourth means are usually more effective. Common sense,
supplemented by a fair knowledge of child nature and the rudiments
of psychology, will dictate where one set of methods ends and the
higher set, which trusts more to the child’s developing judgment,
begins.
Imitation begins, as has been said, in infancy. Its forms will be
found to belong to one or another of the following types:
Types of
1. Imitation of commonly observed acts, Imitation
such as shaking hands, eating with a
spoon, making faces.
 2. Imitation of a strong personality, or of strong mannerisms in
any personality, which catch attention and command
admiration or disapproval.
3. Imitation of an imaged ideal, brought to the imitator through
fiction, vivid history instruction, seeing a play, etc.
4. Imitation which is unconscious, usually under stress of high
emotion—mob action.
Of course the most common of these types of imitation is that of
the common customs of the people who surround the young child.
Otherwise it would mean little to a child to be born into a family in
which gentle manners and kind deeds set a daily example fit to be
followed closely. The manners of most children are those of their
homes; only with a certain degree of maturity will they see the
manners of other homes and elect to imitate them instead. Next in
importance to this imitation of the social example, is that of some
strong personality.
This imitation usually comes through admiration, although most
people will also recall the disgust with which they have realized that
they have unconsciously imitated some mannerism of an
acquaintance, of which they heartily disapproved. This shows that it
is not necessary to admire an act in order to repeat it. It is necessary
only that the act make a vivid impression on one, an impression
which may be received by some persons just as readily through
strong repugnance as through strong liking. Twists in pronunciation
are thus imitated in spite of one’s dislike of them, as an involuntary
tribute to the strength of the impression made upon the hearer.
Another strong stimulus to imitation is the desire for the praise of
others. John wins father’s enthusiastic praise for the thorough way in
which he cleaned the motor-car, and his brother Carl cleans it the
next time it is muddy, not because he likes the work but because he
wants to be praised also. Winnie makes a face at the teacher and
wins the praise of her schoolmates in the shape of an approving
laugh, and Jennie imitates her at the first opportunity in the hope of
winning a laugh also. That is one reason why successful people are so
much imitated; in addition to what comes to them through the
admiration of the crowd, there are many who hope to win similar
rewards through similar efforts.
 And then there are those who imitate others because they want to
surpass them at their own game. This is emulation, usually classed as
a distinct instinct by psychologists, and yet so closely related to
imitation that the same general principles of treatment apply to both.
Faults which have been learned by imitation can rarely if ever be
cured by didactic instruction. They have been learned in a far more
vivid way, and their unlearning is best accomplished through the
substitution of other habits, imitated from some attractive and vivid
model. If the process of substitution can be made a pleasant one, the
work goes faster. In general, the dramatizing of the proposed new
order of things is the surest and quickest way of teaching it, with
children who are young enough for this method. Merely to condemn
old habits, without suggesting a new and better way, is usually pure
waste of time.
(1) Mimicry. “The young child imitates mainly the simpler bodily
attitudes and vocal and facial expressions of those with whom he is
in vital contact. As he develops he imitates ever more complex
activities of a social, political, ethical, æsthetic and industrial
character. In the beginning it is the doing of an act, not the results
thereof, that interests the individual; the reverse is usually true in
maturity.”[2] Not infrequently, however, does the child fail to
distinguish between the act that is suitable to imitate and that which
is not. Like every other instinct, although of great value to the
individual when properly directed, yet if not guided into legitimate
channels, it becomes often a source of great annoyance.
2. O’Shea, Social Development and Education, p. 422. Houghton, Mifflin.

CASE 62 (SIXTH GRADE)

Miss Burch was from Massachusetts, and Mimicry of

had an exquisitely soft voice and Speech
unimpeachable pronunciation. She came to Peoria, Illinois, to teach
in the public schools, and found these two assets very much in the
way. Mabel Gulliver, a little girl whose cleverness was largely the
product of much running of streets, turned both to account in a
series of imitations that “delighted crowded houses” whenever she
chose to hold forth. As she did this frequently, poor Miss Burch soon
found herself helpless and ridiculous in her own school-room.
“Authah, will you ausk the janitah to give us a little moah heat?”
Mabel would flute, with inimitable saccharinity. “And I want you all
to cease lawfing at once, foah this is the clauss in correct
pronunciation, and if youah to be cleavah like me you’ll learn how to
do it properly.” Miss Burch’s manner was the perfection of
simplicity, but in Mabel’s imitation it appeared with a simpering
ingenuousness both funny and untrue.
Miss Burch realized the situation and wept over it. She did not
know what to do. Realizing she was the subject of ridicule, she
became self-conscious and timid, and her discipline grew worse and
worse.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Things were in this bad shape when Mr. Nearing, the

superintendent, came to visit her one day. He was so kind and
sympathetic that after school Miss Burch told him the whole story,
and asked his advice.
“The trouble with you is,” he said, “that your most prominent
characteristic is one which lends itself to ridicule here in the Middle
West, where we don’t know an Italian “a” from a mud-pie. Now,
don’t think of changing your pronunciation; to do so consciously
would be to be affected. But make the children forget it in something
more exciting. If you’d start a museum for your nature study, or get
up a little play for Christmas, and make Mabel its chief factotum,
she’d have an outlet for her energies, she would still lead her crowd
and have their admiration, and your pronunciation would fade into
the background of the Things That Are. It’s all a matter of relative
emphasis.”
Miss Burch did try this plan. She had her room dramatize and then
play The Birds’ Christmas Carol, and in the intense interest of this
project the teacher-mocking was forgotten. When Mabel
remembered it again, she and Miss Burch were such good friends
that it was out of the question.
COMMENTS

When the imitation takes place in the school-room the matter is

much more under the teacher’s control, for there is no end of ways in
which the child can be kept too busy to indulge in histrionic
performances. But whatever is done, the teacher should not appear
to notice that a pupil is disrespectful to her.

ILLUSTRATION (SEVENTH GRADE)

George Henderson was dubbed by his classmates “the clown”

because he was always doing something laughable. Usually his fun
was of a harmless type, but occasionally his pranks overstepped the
bounds of propriety.
His teacher, Miss Stanton, had Mimicry of
unconsciously fallen into the habit of Gesture
making nervous little gestures when she was explaining lessons to
the pupils, and, indeed, when she was talking with the pupils outside
of school. Several times during recitations she had noticed George
entertaining the pupils near him by imitating, under the shelter of
the desk, of course, all the little movements of her nervous, energetic
hands. She resolved to overcome the habit of emphasizing her words
by gesture, but the more absorbed she became in her teaching, the
less could she think about her hands. If she concentrated attention
upon her hands, her teaching suffered and the whole class became
listless. Resolved not to sacrifice the class for the sake of one fun-
loving boy, Miss Stanton next tried another plan.
“Mary, you may name all the capitals of the countries of Europe,”
she said.
When Mary was about half through with her list of capitals, Miss
Stanton interrupted her with,
“That is far enough, Mary; George may finish.”
Now George knew the capitals perfectly, but he had been busy
behind the desk with a particularly successful imitation of Miss
Stanton’s movements, and suddenly surprised, could not recall
where Mary had left off.
 Miss Stanton waited just a moment, then said, gravely, but without
any indication of resentment,
“I am sorry to have you fail on anything so important as this,
George. Jack may go on.”
George sat quite demurely for several minutes, for he was a little
disappointed at losing a chance to recite a lesson which he had really
prepared with considerable care. However, he comforted himself by
thinking: “Well, she called on me once. She won’t do so again,” and
after a short time he went serenely on with his dramatics.
Miss Stanton also went on apparently oblivious to what was taking
place behind the desk. After a few minutes she said,
“Stephen, beginning with the northern countries, tell us what the
farmers raise in each of these countries.”
Again she stopped the recital in the midst of it, with
“That will do. George, go on.”
Again George lost his chance to recite, not because he did not
know the lesson, but because he had not been listening to Stephen.
In his confusion his face flushed, especially when Miss Stanton said,
in a low tone:
“How is this, George? Two failures in one day? I shall expect a
better lesson than this tomorrow. Wilbur, will you finish the
recitation?”
George sat quietly for the remainder of the recitation, thinking to
himself:
“Well, if she has called on me twice, she may get around again.
Gee! I knew all that.”
Miss Stanton did not call upon him again, however, that day. On
the following day George decided that it would be well to give enough
attention to the recitation, at least to “keep tab” on what the others
were reciting, and gradually he learned that he was likely to be called
up at any time that he allowed his attention to wander far away from
the work of the hour. Not a word had been said about his pranks, but
they ceased to be troublesome to teacher or class.
Some children are natural actors. They mimic grown-ups in a
ludicrous way. This may be done unconsciously, but sometimes
pupils purposely imitate a teacher’s walk, attitude, voice or
phraseology, just out of a desire to raise a laugh at the teacher’s
expense.

CASE 63 (FOURTH GRADE)

George had an unusual gift of ability to Mimicry of Walk

mimic others. Even at the age of nine years
he could easily entertain his classmates by imitating various men of
the town. His teacher, Miss Giles, was a stout little woman whose
arms seemed not to hang closely enough to her body, and as she
walked she swung them as if they propelled her through the air. Her
voice was fretful whenever she repeated a command, which was
often, or whenever she expected disobedience. One day as he
followed Miss Giles across the room, the impulse seized him to
mimic her gait. This he did, with marked success. When he returned
to his seat he began to study her mannerisms with a view to
entertaining others. At recess he showed the boys how she held her
hands and nodded her head while she talked. The next step was to
imitate her voice. This he did successfully.
One day, about ten minutes before the afternoon session began,
Miss Giles was sitting at her desk, grading penmanship papers, when
Marie Allbaugh rushed in and said: “Miss Giles, come out here and
listen to George. He’s playin’ like he was you.”
Miss Giles hardly understood what Marie wished to tell her, but
she followed the child to the front yard where a crowd of children
were around George. Unnoticed by most of them, she joined in the
circle in time to hear George say in a very good imitation of her voice,
“Children, quietly take your books,” then in a fretful tone with a
frown, “I said quietly.” “Whoo-ee,” shouted one of the listeners, and
all joined in a laugh when suddenly they noticed Miss Giles standing
there.
“George, march right into the house,” said she in her harshest
tones. “You shall not have another recess until you have apologized
to me for this.”
Soon the bell sounded for the afternoon session. When the recess
period came, George started to walk out with the other children.
Miss Giles saw him, and said, “George, take your seat.”
 After the other children had all left the room, she went to George’s
seat and said, “Are you ready to apologize?” Just then a shout came
through the window from the children at play. George wanted badly
to join them. He said, “I don’t know how.”
“Say, ‘Miss Giles, I’m sorry I mocked you at noon,’” said she.
George considered. If he said he was sorry he would be telling a
falsehood. He would try to be excused without that so he said:
“Mother lets me play like I was other people. She don’t care, so I
thought you wouldn’t.”
“But, George, you must always show respect for your teacher.”
George meditated again. The shouts of the children at play gave
him an idea. Wasn’t he sorry he did it? Wasn’t that just what was
keeping him indoors while others were at play? Of course, he didn’t
want to stay in, so of course he was sorry he had done the thing that
kept him in. With a bright, smiling look at Miss Giles, he said: “I am
sorry, Miss Giles, that I mocked you at noon.” It looked like a sincere
apology and it passed for such.
“You may go,” said she. She considered the case well handled.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Miss Giles would do well to join in the laugh at her own expense.
She should supervise every moment of the children’s play period.
George will not then have an opportunity to use his imitative powers.
He will be swept into active games and be only one of a crowd.
An apology should not be demanded of a pupil for any mark of
disrespect toward the teacher. Respect can not be developed by force.
If, in spite of these precautions, you sometimes find yourself the
butt of the children’s sport, quietly drop into the play school, take a
seat as one of the play pupils and carry off your part as a naughty
child. “Take off” the troublesome child so well—(not any particular
one, however)—that the children will laugh with you and the whole
thing will pass off as play, nothing more.

COMMENTS