Sometimes gossip or misunderstanding causes parents to oppose the teacher very bitterly. In such a case it is expedient that the teacher go to see the parents and have matters understood, assuring them she will use every means to do what is right and that the parents’ assistance will be of great value. 5. Submission to the Ringleader (1) _Lower grades._ Even in the kindergarten certain children in every class stand out as leaders. In classes above the kindergarten this characteristic of leadership appears more and more strongly. If the leader throws his influence alongside that of the teacher, well and good. The teacher has thus a strong ally. If the leader arrays himself against the teacher, then the teacher’s own influence is weakened and in many cases seriously crippled. In the lower grades such an antagonistic attitude on the part of a single pupil may not be a very serious matter, but in the higher grades, and especially in high school, where the clan spirit dominates, a single pupil may turn an otherwise successful term into a failure. It is highly important then for the teacher to understand how best to overcome an unwholesome leadership on the part of the pupil. There is but one basis upon which the teacher can operate such principles of control as will secure the hearty coöperation of the pupils. That basis is the possession of their confidence. The teacher _must_ have the confidence of her pupils. It _must_ be a confidence that is deep and sympathetic. It cannot be superficial. The pupil is a keen judge and will detect a superficial attitude of the teacher. But the teacher who feels in her heart a love for every boy and girl, a love that desires to do the best for them, to build and strengthen their characters, can not be superficial. It has been said elsewhere, that whatever increases the confidence of pupils in the teacher lessens the necessity of outer control, and whatever lessens the confidence increases the necessity of outer control. This is an important fact and the teacher cannot too thoroughly study it. It is the teacher who loses patience with the boy, when he shows the first signs of waywardness, who fails to attain the ideal in school-room control, who consequently loses the boy’s confidence, thereby increasing the difficulty of control. Such a boy, if he is a natural leader, will form a clique of his own and place himself at its head. He and his clan will see to it that mischief does not languish in that school. The teacher wonders why the boy regards her good admonitions so lightly. He would regard and heed them, if she had not lost his confidence. What, then, shall the teacher do to regain and keep the faith and loyalty of every pupil?