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Show WHISTLING AT WORK A CRIME? Not long ago the principal of one of tho largest schools in a neighboring neighbor-ing city went Into his sloyd room where thirty boys wero busily at work, and amid tho din ot saw and hammer his car detected the merry whistle of a happy boy. He turned to the teacher In chnrgo of the room and asked him if ho allowed tho boys to whistle whllo working. The teacher teach-er pondered a moment. "Well," ho replied, "I hadn't .really noticed It Perhaps I had better tell him to stop." "Yes, I would," said the principal. prin-cipal. "We can't have thorn whistling In school." So tho "nolso" was forthwith forth-with stopped, and tho good old standard stan-dard wob maintained. There nro cxtremoly interesting principles Involved In this episode. Tho head ot that school represents In a striking way a certain type of educations ed-ucations procedure. He stnnds lor the notion thnt any Indication of happiness hap-piness in school Is a crime. Tho sacred sa-cred walls of tho school room must not bo polluted with the vile sound of whistling. Ho does not ask himself him-self tho questions What harm was that boy doing by giving vent to a wholesomo sentiment with his lips whllo busily engaged upon some pleco of furnituro for his home? What particular quality does tno sound ot whistling possess that distinguishes It from the sound of hammer and saw and makes it a lit subject for rebuke? Is It inconsistent? When haB It been Inconsistent to whlstlo while nt work? Is it disorderly? Then whom docs it disturb? Why should not nil the boys whistle? Whnt harm could It do? I know a sloyd room where the boys Blng whllo nt work. Yes, they sing If they want to, nnd why not? Should not heart and hnnd go together In tho work of tho world? It is absurd to repress the finest emotions whllo tho declared aim of education Is expression. ex-pression. What is tho sloya room but a place for concrete expression? Tho normal boy Is n verltaule storo houso of potential emotions. Restrict their wholesomo expression, and they aro apt to break out in unwholesome ways. It seems to mo that tho sloyd room is tho placo of all places where tho boy should bo encouraged to give tho fullest nnd freest expression of tho best that Is In him. Herein lies the efllcncy of manual work as a part of our educational procedure. There aro unhappy moments enough In the life of tho nverago boy and if perchance per-chance ho bubbles over with Joy in his school work, It Isn't a Dad omen for tho kind of work ho Is doing or tho attltudo he is taking toward It. Tho question naturally arises how far In Bloyd or other school work can spontaneous expression ot Joy take place without Interfering with tho quality of tho school work as a whole? It has been demonstrated In the sped nl schools of this city, those school' which tnko care of truants and so-called "Incorrlglbles," that considerable freedom can bo given boys In method and In conduct without seriously impeding im-peding tho progress of their work, indeed in-deed they do moro work, perhaps not quite so good in quality but certainly dono with a moro wholesomo attltudo than in regular schools from which they como. In tho special schools, If a boy feels Uko whistling ho whlstlos, It bu feels Uko singing ho sings, It he feels liko boxing bo boxes, provided si w,' other boy will "call hlB bluff." |