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Show Kathleen Norris Says: The Hardest Job Bell Syndicate. WNU Features. Thousands of mothers never think of helping Bob and Betty with their lessons; all they know is that Betty and Bob gel bad marks. By KATHLEEN NORRIS IT IS always a mystery to me how any woman can choose to be a school teacher. Children are my favorite fa-vorite people, for company, for amusement, for holidays, picnics, birthdays, summer vacations. But when it comes to marshaling them into classrooms, keeping their restlessness quiet and their utter boredom amused, bringing bring-ing on the dull ones and holding hold-ing in check the smarties who get the whole class into trouble, trou-ble, my spirit fails. Yet there are women so fine in spirit that they can be patient with all this, and year after year start in with a fresh crop, and begin all over 'again on fractions, penmanship, penman-ship, American history and "Our Friends of the Seaside and Wayside." Way-side." It wouldn't be so bad if the mothers carried on their end of education, edu-cation, if children came to school with lessons prepared, with pencils and books in order, and had been taught ordinary care of their possessions; pos-sessions; rubbers, raincoats, lunch boxes, nickels and dimes. It wouldn't be so bad if manners, gentleness, politeness, unselfishness had been inculcated in-culcated at home. Mothers Should Help Children. . But thousands of mothers never think of helping Bob and Betty with their lessons; all they know is that Betty and Bob get bad marks, and that that fussy teacher is always telephoning to ask if they may not have extra coaching. Sometimes one hour of help every week will start the youngsters on the right way of studying, or a simple word of explanation will clear up a problem that has been holding a child back for weeks. But the child doesn't get that hour or that word, and so flounders on uncomprehending, and Teacher has to fill in the gaps out of her own spare time. "One child in my class, a boy of eight," writes a teacher from northern north-ern New York, "used to get so naughty and unmanageable at about 11 every morning that I finally investigated in-vestigated home conditions. He never ate any breakfast, that was the answer. His mother had breakfast break-fast in bed; his father was always gone for the day when he came downstairs; little Tom was usually late, and not being particularly hungry hun-gry he dawdled about for a few minutes and went off to school unfed." un-fed." Another teacher, this one from Arkansas, has this to report: "One bad-mannered child in a room of rather young children, children chil-dren from 8 to 10, can demoralize the whole group. Last year I had a boy who made a fine art of annoying an-noying me. Interrupting work, and getting all the other children into an uproar. For example; he went into a drugstore and bought snuff; for three days he sneezed and sneezed before I investigated. I have 43 children in my room and cannot give each one much individual attention. at-tention. After the snuff episode this boy broke pencils; raised his hand and said sweetly: 'I've broken my pencil.' Other small boys began to break pencils. My little tormentor was quite smart enough to know that If he was refused a pencil he could skip the lesson and report at home that having no pencil he naturally got bad marks. I told him that I would have to charge his mother five cents for every pencil; his mother moth-er promptly got in touch with our principal, who told me that we were not allowed to sell anything to the children; he must be kept supplied. The next day Jack asked me several time If Mr. Stone hai loW. me that HELP THE TEACHER School teachers, despite the fine work they do, cannot take the place of a mother who fails to inculcate the rudiments of decency in her children. Getting tots off in the morning morn-ing clean, rested and well fed is the duty and responsibility of every mother. She also must cooperate when her child shows bad manners to his fellow fel-low schoolmates and displays rudeness or ignorance in the classroom. Mother can make the teacher's work pleasant or hateful. It all depends upon how she raises her children. I couldn't charge Mama for the pencils. Teachers Must Endure Laxity. "The truth is," this letter goes on, "the school teacher has no redress against the rudeness and ignorance of children. If they have had no home training, and the family standard stand-ard of character is low, it is the teacher who pays. Often a woman who is socially acceptable, who is apparently a gentlewoman in all other oth-er relationships, will be exacting and ill-tempered when anything goes wrong at school, and to her anyone except her precious child is to blame. "For example. A girl of nine had not been taught to put her coat, hat and rubbers into her own locker and be responsible for them at school. She scatters them about the play-yard play-yard or the halls, and later the busy teacher has to go all over the place, up and downstairs, hunting for them. Or a smaller girl brings to school the ring, or the five dollar bill, that she got for her birthday and presently it is missing. The mother moth-er telephones in great agitation; will Miss Wilson please find out instantly instant-ly who took it? "Today," continues this harassed Arkansas teacher, "a woman telephoned tele-phoned me in my lunch hour, keeping keep-ing me exactly 12 minutes, while she told me not to let Betty-Lou take off her hair-ribbons. Betty-Lou is nine. 'I want her to learn to preserve pre-serve her things,' the mother said. Every day some mother telephones that her small boy is learning to swear; a situation with which no school has ever been able to deal; the only place in which that can be handled is home. Yesterday one of the teachers from upstairs came down to report that a mother had telephoned to say that for some weeks she would have to leave her girls at the school until six o'clock, would Miss Raymond mind keeping keep-ing an eye on them? Grandma was quite ill, and Mama had to be with her every day. Just why two girls, of 14 and 15, couldn't be with Mama and Grandma Miss Raymond could not see; 'This is about the worst yet,' she said. Mother Ordered Shampoo. "But the worst yet was when two children, eight and nine, got into the habit of coming to school really dirty, with unwashed hands and uncombed un-combed hair. 'Mama isn't up when we start,' was their explanation. The teacher took them into the washroom wash-room and cleaned them, for several days, meanwhile determining that she would go and see Mama. But before her crowded schedule left time for that she had a note from Mama, written incidentally on prettily pret-tily monogrammed paper: 'If you have time at noon recess.' wrote Mama, 'will you give Emily's hair a good shampooing. Many thanks in advance.' " Well, this may give the mothers of I certain young children a few ideas. |