“This will never do!” she said, the next morning. “You must learn not to interrupt the school work this way. Now, I want you to see how well you can keep to your work this morning. We will not give any permissions to leave the room between now and recess and between recess and noon time.” In the afternoon she relaxed somewhat. The next day more permissions were granted, and finally the situation became as bad as ever. CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT This effort at reform needs system. Adopt the simple rule that only one person at a time will be given permission to leave the room. Ask that each request be presented by first raising the hand. _If your pupils respond readily to your management_ you may sometimes trust them to write the name on the board near the door instead of asking permission vocally. This plan, however, is more suitable to the high school, and even then supervision of the privilege must not be relaxed. If you do have pupils write their names on the blackboard, upon their return, require them to note after their names the number of minutes they were absent and let them make up this “lost time” at intermission. In case any pupil insistently leaves the room more often than you would expect, institute an inquiry as to his physical health. Ask the family physician or the mother for this information. In order to cut off the bad effects of his example before the other pupils, you can pass the word about, privately, that the doctor has asked you to give Tom or Mary several interruptions of study during the day. COMMENTS It is easy to catalog the causes that lead to excessive attempts to leave the classroom, study hall, or grade room—restlessness, indolence, mischief-making, desire to play, conspiracy to meet another pupil, carelessness in habits of nature, physical ill-health. Trouble arises over this matter by careless management on the part of teachers. Caution is necessary at two points: (1) Do not allow too many interruptions of the work; (2) Do not injure the health of pupils by refusing necessary privileges. ILLUSTRATION (SIXTH GRADE) [Sidenote: Simultaneous Absences] In the Normal (Ill.) public schools there were twelve rooms. Miss Haybarger had the sixth room. Soon after the opening of school in the fall, a most obnoxious situation arose because from three to twelve pupils were released continually. There were enough pupils out of the rooms to meet on the grounds and indulge in games. Miss Haybarger decided to save her pupils from this misdemeanor by insisting that only one pupil leave the room at a time and that all “time lost” should be made up. She reported that some days passed in which there was not a single request for permission to leave the room. This result can be further explained by the fact that every minute of school time was filled with carefully planned and interesting work. Her general manner made work and diligence the only possible order of the day.