The repressive method of training is founded on the principle of negation. It seeks to make the boy do right by constant admonition not to do wrong. It proceeds on the theory that elimination of the bad will, leave the good. It is indirect in its methods as well as its results. The negative system of training manifests itself in such commands as, “Don’t make that noise;” “Don’t bother me, I’m busy;” “Don’t slide down the cellar door;” “Don’t talk so loud;” “Don’t play in the house;” “Don’t tease sister;” “Don’t eat so much;” “Don’t soil your clothes;” “Don’t bring those boys into the house;” “Don’t scuff out your shoes;” “Don’t get your hands dirty;” “Don’t be tardy at school;” “Don’t wear out the seat of your pants;” and so on without end. No boy ever thrived on an indigestible diet of don’ts. Jacob Riis, writing in the _Outlook_, says: “Write the one word ‘Don’t’ there, and only that, and the boy if he has any spirit will take to the jungle. Every father knows it; every teacher has learned it, if he has learned anything.” While this system has a modicum of worth in certain of its applications, it lacks the comprehensiveness and directness necessary to accomplish the best results. The prohibition of reading dime novels, nickel libraries and other blood-and-thunder tales, without the suggestion of adventure stories of definite ethical and moral value to fill the vacuum thus created in his emotional life, is another conspicuous example of the repressive method of training--which does not repress but impels the boy to continue his lurid reading in secret. The error of the system lies in taking something essential away from the boy without giving him an adequate substitute. It is damming up the stream without providing a spillway, and is as ineffective as it is unpsychological. The current of his activities will find a channel as surely as water will find its level. Instead of attempting to check the flow, we should direct it into channels for good. This repression, if persistent, will dwarf the child’s initiative and compel him to grope in the dark to find out what is permissible. It is as fallacious in practice as a system of teaching, if such could be conceived, which would give the boy a hundred guesses to learn a fact, instead of the teacher’s direct statement of the fact. It is the maze of a labyrinth which envelops the traveler in hopeless confusion and its effect can only be depressing and disheartening to the child. We frequently make the mistake of underestimating the reasoning powers of our children, which prompts us with autocratic dogmatism to forbid their acts without an explanation of the reasons why or the suggestion of a substitute to fill the void caused by the prohibition.