"Judgment comes with experience. ... As far as you are able, be
just. If your watchfulness fails sometimes to detect the single
offender in a group of children and you must send out the group
to put an end to some mischief, say so simply, and they will see
that they suffer not from your hard heartedness, but from the
culprit's lack of generosity or from the insufficiency of their
devices for concealing him. Be philosophical. Most disturbance is
only mischief and properly treated will be outgrown. Stop it
promptly, but don't lose your temper, and don't get worked up. To
the juvenile mind, 'getting a rise' out of you is no less
exhilarating than the performance which occasions it. Habitually
deny them this gratification and mischief loses its savor.
"Talk little about wrongdoing. Don't set forth to a child the
error of his ways when the 'ways' are in process of being
exhibited, and the exhibitor is fully conscious of their nature.
Choose another time--a lucid interval--for moral suasion.
"When children are intentionally troublesome, the simplest means
of discipline is exclusion from the room; when necessary, formal
exclusion for a definite period with a written notice to parents.
The authority of the library should be exercised in the
occasional cases where it is needed, both for the wrongdoer's own
good and for the sake of the example to others.
"Provided you are just and sensible and good-tempered, your
patrons will respect the library more and like you none the less
for exacting from them suitable behavior. We talk a good deal
about the library as a place of refuge for boys and girls from
careless homes, and they do deserve consideration from us, but to
learn a proper regard for public law and order is as valuable as
any casual benefit from books. The children of conscientious
parents whether poor or well-to-do also deserve something at our
hands, and we owe it to them to maintain a respectable standard
of conduct for them to share. Let us be hospitable and
reasonable, but let us be courageous enough to insist that the
young citizen treat the library with the respect due to a
municipal institution."
It has been impossible to publish in full all of the replies to
the circular letter sent out, but as much as possible has been
incorporated in this report, believing that each situation
delineated may give helpful hints toward the solution of this
general difficulty. The list of questions is given in the
synopsis appended to the admirable and helpful report contributed
by the chief of the children's department in Pittsburgh.
Miss Frances Jenkins Olcott, Pittsburgh
After ten years of experience we find our most difficult question
of discipline arises when the older boys and girls come into the
library. They usually come in the evening and we have the
greatest trouble with the boys. Sometimes we suspect that our
trouble with the boys is due to the influence of the girls, who
know how to keep quiet and yet make confusion!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account