CHILD TRAINING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 22 July 1937, Page 13

CHILD TRAINING

WORK OF MODERN CLINICS. AYELLINGTON, July 21. That the child is but rarely responsible for hie delinquencies, and that rather the parent or the home environment should he blamed, was the view advanced by Dr. AVilliam Boyd, head of the department of education in the University of Glasgow, during his lecture on “Educational and Amcational Guidance,” at a New Education Fellowship seminar to-day. Guidanco, the leading rather than the ordering of the child, was a new attitude on the part of teachers, Dr. Boyd said. The niovement was yourtg, having been inaugurated only some ten years ago. It was first tried in the difficult cases, for the good reason that litle method was needed with the bright child, whereas it took a good teacher to make anything of the “weaker brother.” In the way our ideas on prisons had changed, so had our ideas on schools. “The problem child”—the average child who had gone wrong —was now being studied. It was often found that a child would be good at some things yet mediocre at others. The subjects were not at fault; it was the child that was wrong. Something had been slurred over in his earlier education, or he may have been subjected to excessive firinness on the part of a parent. In this respect teachers, military men and ministers, were “awfully dangerous to have l as fathers.” There was much the teacher could do to help children over educational stjles. but this could only be done by those who had the psychological training to fit them for the task. ■ The correction of behaviour could best be done in the' 1 school, where motives for disobedience, theft, or laziness could he investigated. ; Especially with cases of theft or disobedience was the parent of the child the one to approach. A short talk with a parent, a few questions about the home life .and the root of the trouble was often reached. With the future of the child at stake a parent would listen to a straight talk on is character, although such might be impossible otherwise. The youthful liar was no criminal. “‘A lie is an abomination unto the Lord but- a very present help in time of trouble.’ Eradicate the need for Ring, the fe ,, rsnnd repression which lead to it, and you eradicate lying.” In replv to a question on vocational guidance. Dr. Boyd said that no attempt to find out the-child’s aptitudes should be made before the age of 14. Then, with the aid of a few simple tests, and after collaboration between teacher and trained vocational officer, could a general idea be formed of the child’s probable niche in life.