Monday morning, after the opening exercises, he made this announcement: “Now, I want every one of you boys and girls just the moment you have a piece of waste paper in your hand to go to the wastebasket and throw it in. Last Friday our room was a perfect disgrace. On every desk there were slips of torn-up paper and some whole sheets. We can’t get along this way. George, you just this moment dropped a piece of paper in the aisle there at your left. Pick it up at once and put it in the wastebasket as I just told you.” George noisily moved his slow frame according to the order, hardly imagining what would be the case if the teacher’s idea were literally carried out and no more waste papers were thrown upon the floor. As soon as he had reached the basket, Mr. MacFarland discovered that there were several pieces of paper on the floor in different parts of the room, and said, “Each one look about his desk now and see if there is any rubbish on the floor that should be taken away. If so, pick it up at once and throw it into the basket as I told you. This is the thing to do at any time when you want to throw something away.” It need hardly be said that, with a great bustle, each one made the desired search, and about nine pupils soon were on their way to the basket with something or almost nothing that needed to be thrown away. However unsatisfactory the noisy method had proved, it did bring about the condition desired, for at the end of the day there was really nothing that needed to be complained of regarding the cleanliness of the room, so far as waste paper was concerned. CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT A wise teacher does not make so much ado about one aspect of school-room management. Mr. MacFarland could easily have foreseen that he was introducing another evil along with his reform. Reverse the process. Arrange that the wastebasket be passed around mid-way between intermissions according to a definite schedule. Let the passing of the basket be a privilege that is handed down from one pupil to another according as they are seated, beginning with the pupil who sits to the extreme right of the teacher’s desk. One pupil each day is appointed as guardian of waste. The privilege and honor will be appreciated, and with a word of caution, the service can be performed with the very slightest interruption. The following instructions might be properly given to the children when the new system is established: “We are going to save time as much as possible. Four times every day we shall pass the wastebasket and you may put into it whatever you have on hand to be thrown away. Nothing is to be said to the person who carries the basket. He will go quietly, promptly, passing down the aisles, doing a favor to everyone in the room by his careful attention to this matter.” COMMENTS