CHAPTER IV

THAT BOY

"The prime spur to all industry (effort) was and is to own and use the finished product."--HALL.

One day the pedagogue, who was a learned man and addicted to study, shut himself up in his library, bent on devising a method for training boys into men. This master was well versed in the sciences so that he could follow the stars in their courses, make the metals and substances of the earth obey his will, and guide the plants in their growth from seed to blossom. Nor was this scholar lacking in sympathy for the arts, if they were not too fine, for his desires all led to systems and orderly arrangements of matter, and those subjects which would not succumb to analysis he looked upon coldly.

Hence in this problem of education he made a careful survey of the history and development of learning from the beginning--seeking those ideals and standards of culture which had been approved for the _scholar_, because scholars have always been held in high esteem by those patrons who, being ignorant themselves, wanted scholarship nearby. It was found in the course of his delving that the sciences had originated and developed in about this order, mathematics, astronomy, geology, botany, biology, etc. The arts of expression had of course developed as a group, but chiefly through literature from the beginning. There seemed to be a good deal of recent interest in machines and engineering, and of course certain classes had always tilled the soil, because one must have food; but the study of these activities could not lead to culture, because culture had always had to do with thinking, not manual labor. Therefore it became clear to the master that up to the present time, since the end of all scholarly ambition had been a profession (law, medicine, theology, etc.), education must be a very simple matter. All one had to do was to prepare certain capsules of mathematics, grammar, Greek and Latin, and a few, very few, odd pellets of science, etc., and at stated intervals stimulate the boy's mental organism with the various toxins in rotation. Were these subjects not the very basis of culture, and what would be more logical than direct systematic presentation of the fundamental principles? If the patient did not respond nothing could be done but to use more medicine, more lessons; there could be but one line of treatment. With this question settled the good savant signified his readiness to instruct youth in such branches as were desirable for the educated man, and pupils came in numbers to obtain the precious learning, for the pedagogue was favorably known as a great scholar. But these pupils who came, like the master, happened to live in or about the year 1912, when the chief interests of the people were business, science, and engineering; when transportation and communication had become highly developed and systematized; when farming and agriculture were almost arts, the whole welfare of the nation rested on industry, and utility held high rank as an element in culture among the people who worked. Even when a boy of this period did not seek industrial honors and follow in the footsteps of his father, he must needs be interested as a citizen in so important a source of prosperity. Hence the children who set out to become pupils of the learned teacher were alive to the business and activities of their time and surroundings, and were more than willing to learn when the learning led to a useful end. But the scheme proposed by their mentor was such a queer scheme. Of course it was better to go to school than do nothing and one must study a few things, but how much more fascinating and worth while to talk about birds and animals, trolley cars, the railway, electricity, machines, and doing things with a purpose, than to discuss impossible stories written by people who evidently knew very, very little about young people, to learn unending pages of numbers and definitions and facts, which, since one had no use for them, were speedily forgotten to make room for better material?

Now these children were obedient and reverent toward learning and did the tasks assigned them by their master, but in their leisure hours they did a good bit of experimenting along other lines, and found several other studies which were not in the master's scheme much more to their taste. Animals and pets were not only nice, live, soft, downy, fuzzy things to play with, but they had such queer ways and were so useful that one could talk about them forever. And then if one raised numbers of them, often neighbors would desire to purchase, and behold, a business began whereby it was just possible one could make a profit now and then. Again, it was fine if one had even a few tools so that one could put together the toys and playthings _necessary_ to every-day amusement. Of course it was needful to measure and calculate and scheme about materials and costs, but all this scheming led to real purpose, while the questions proposed by the teacher were just questions after all and it couldn't make much difference whether one found the answer or not.

Now the usual thing happened. Because of their reverence for traditional learning and respect for its apostle the youths continued to attend upon the master and go through the ceremonial form of intellectual purification. But really their hearts were outside, wrapped up in the work of the world, where they had found just the tonics which were good for them.

In just so far as the school and home open ways which "enable the student to earn a livelihood and to make life worth living" do we see the passing of the old type school (suggested above) and ideal of training. Not only are there comparatively few in this world capable of receiving high polish through the so-called culture studies, but the definition of culture has changed; now _any activity is cultural which arouses one's best efforts_. Moreover, the boy of the present is on the lookout for a new type of instructor, one born of the new era of industrial success, a teacher who will unlock the mysteries of modern nature, science, engineering and business, and who will make it possible for the student to find his special abilities or bent at an early age. It is no argument at all to say that the boy is too young to know what is best for him, that the mature mind is the only safe guide. The adult teacher and parent becomes a true guide only when he uses as a basis for guidance those qualities and instincts of childhood which cannot be smothered or eradicated. The child, whether boy or girl, knows instinctively some of the kinds of information which do not agree with him, because they possess no significance at the time and he cannot assimilate and fatten on them. The child needs a new and more nutritious mental diet. Father and mother cannot be of great _direct_ assistance because, strange to say, they are not experts with _children_, they merely know _a child_ (their own) passably well, but they can provide a most effective, indirect, contributory stimulus through outside opportunities for healthy play and experiment which will supplement the formal instruction of the school. And children of all ages up to the time they go to college need some strong outside interest, or group of them, which will serve as a finder to determine the trade, profession, or business of the future man.

The children who enter the school, from whatever grade of society or given race, are all much alike--lively little animals that sleep, eat and talk continuously, and play, though play and expression are one and the same. They do what all animals do--keep on the move, acquire muscular skill and precision, and endeavor by every possible means to express their ideas and convey them to others. This expression takes on a constructive phase when children play at store, keeping house, fire engine, and make toys of paper and cardboard, and such amusement is the forerunner of that intense mechanical interest which overtakes boys about the age of ten or eleven.[I] Girls have an equally positive leaning which is characteristic and will be noted elsewhere. Watch any group of boys of average parentage and surroundings and make a list of the things they construct for themselves, for their own ends. In any such list extending over a period of several months will be found, according to locality, such things as wagons, sleds, whistles, kites, dog houses, pigeon roosts, chicken coops, boats, guns, etc., etc. The young artisan uses whatever raw material he can; he is chiefly concerned with the plan, and makes the best of conditions and materials. The things he makes are always for real use, a principle held in high esteem in all the arts. In making these toys the boy acquires some exceedingly valuable information and a physical skill and perfection which can only be secured at an early age. He learns about things, about raw material, about tools and utensils common to every household; he gets on speaking terms with the fundamental laws of mechanics and, more than one would imagine, develops a real ingenuity in molding material to his immediate needs. The construction of a bird house or kite is in itself simple enough, but the boy has to spend considerable effort in finding out how to do it, which is beneficial. Moreover, this constant struggle to get into tune with his physical environment and subdue it results in a considerable independence, confidence, and resourcefulness, which under moderately favorable conditions will produce a boy alert to the world in which he lives and full of the spirit of investigation--the critical attitude. Such a boy will not lean on others for either learning or pleasure.

Actually, however, the modern boy has not been encouraged along these lines, nor has he been taken very seriously in those activities which affect him most; hence his struggle toward any real efficiency. A prominent man once said:

"When I was fifteen years of age I could break wild horses to saddle or harness, and teach kicking cows to stand while they were being milked. I could fell trees and drop the tree in any direction desired. I knew the relative value of all native woods, appreciated the differences in soil, grains, fruits, and simple minerals. I could use the draw-shove, adze axe, broad axe, cross-cut saw, sickle and cradle. I could make a figure-four trap, an axe helve, a neck yoke, axe yoke, whiffletree, clevis, and could braid an eight-strand cattle whip. We used to mend our harness on rainy days and I could make a wax-end and thread it with a bristle, and use a brad-awl. I knew how to construct an ash-leach and to make soft-soap, apple butter, and pumpkin pies. I knew the process of weaving flax and wool, of making and burning brick. I knew on sight and had names for a score or more of birds, and had a good idea of the habits of squirrels, skunks, wolves, and the fishes that swam in the creeks. I knew how to cure hams, shoulders, and side-meat: to pickle beef and cover apples with straw and earth so that they would keep in safety through the most severe winter, and open up in the spring fresh and valuable. Of course my knowledge was not of a scientific order, and I could not have explained it to another, because I never knew I had it."

How many boys or girls of the present time possess anything like this sum of _useful knowledge_--useful for the conditions in which they live? There was a time when children had to learn in order to survive, and now that the necessity is removed and children are simply allowed to grow without purpose, the boy and girl inevitably lose one of the best elements in their training unless new opportunities are opened.

It is not difficult to see how the boy's interest in construction grows and expands; mere acquaintance with boys will furnish the data. At a comparatively early stage the youthful experiments are naturally sifted to a few specialties, which assume prominence either because of the boy's reading or the type of locality in which he lives. From time to time his interest may shift, investigating one subject after another, always seeking the unknown avocation. The process will probably lead in time to a more or less fitting selection of trade or profession. How else is the boy to find himself?

After he has passed through the preliminary stages of mere play and haphazard amusement the boy becomes conscious of the mysterious, unusual forces of electricity; they hold even adult attention and wonder, but the boy, being more impressionable and confident, immediately forages for information, reads enormously, and experiments. He takes in the whole subject with a vim and sureness that is _de facto_ evidence of its intrinsic worth for study purposes. And in a much shorter time than adults would require, he has mastered the fundamental laws and is eager to put this wonderful force to work, to make things move. He has the same attitude toward steam and gas engines, water motors, and studies them with the same intensity of purpose. Here are dynamic elements which appeal to the human appreciation of _power_ and which may be harnessed, subdued. The idea is comparable to the ancient reverence for fire, water and the storm. Since modern science has organized engineering and mechanical knowledge and simplified it, the student can have at his disposal just the books and periodicals needed to unlock this storeroom of mystery; these publications were written for the purpose. But there are several other openings for creative effort which appeal no less strongly, and among which both the boy and girl may choose, with complete confidence that there will be ample room for initiative, ingenuity, and utilitarian bias.

Every child loves to go camping, and in common with his elders reveals the close connection with primitive life in general through the pleasure derived from the simplicity of camp life. There in the woods, where conveniences are few, every device and construction counts the utmost, and its purpose is apparent. The whole spirit of such living is more in harmony with child nature and longings than the modern city home; it supplies the craving for physical freedom and places the boy or girl almost entirely on his own resources. What he obtains in the way of pleasure comes from his own efforts and is correspondingly precious. The boy especially finds in camp just as much chance for mechanical skill as elsewhere. Temporary furniture, utensils, cooking conveniences, the shelter, traps, etc., are suggestive. And lastly the unconventional, untrammeled outdoor life stands in that same relation to the boy as it did to the savage (because boyhood is a primitive stage); he puts forth his strongest endeavors to conquer the elements, the climate, the earth, and growing things; to provide himself with food and shelter--in other words, to survive as the savage sought to survive. The idea is truly epic. No wonder the child expands and develops under the simple responsibilities imposed, and absorbs woodcraft with such astonishing ease. The recent extraordinary growth of the summer camp among boys' schools, and the results suggested in the writings of Ernest Thompson Seton, are, with the unfolding of industrial education, two pointed examples of the shifting view of education in the home as well as school. Probably no outside agency will in time become so effective for good as the Boy Scouts, whose code is based on a very primitive framework suited to boys. During a recent visit to California, and while crossing the flat prairies of Kansas, the writer saw a company of scouts at work. It was borne in upon the observer that there was an organization which fitted every locality, every climate; it appealed to _boy_, not _creed_, _social order_, time, or _adult dogma_.

One should at least mention athletics in this connection, because of the excellent physical benefit in both activities. Athletics, however, contains an element which is all-important--team work. And no restraint is so much needed, nor so cheerfully heeded for that matter, by the restless boy and girl as a community of effort. The elimination of a purely selfish personal point of view is very difficult to bring about with the best of children, because they are wrapped up in their own affairs, and nothing serves to introduce them to the rights of others and the value of concerted action for a common good so well as sport. The kind does not matter. Any well-conducted, clean enjoyment of this kind develops that mental pliability and willingness to _take a part_ which is a fundamental of citizenship. Incidentally leaders arise, and the beginnings of organization dawn. It is a great day when the boy learns his first code of signals in the ball team!

There is one more side (at least) to the boy and girl business--_earning money_. It is nothing short of marvelous that this desire for personal income, however small, has not been taken seriously. Why do children want to earn money? For the best reason in the world, _independence_. Man's entire existence from the earliest age down to the twentieth century has been one long struggle toward it--toward survival. First he had to combat the elements and animals, then his fellows, for possession of food, lands, water, raw materials, and wives. When he found that possession of certain commodities added to his importance and therefore comfort and safety, and especially to his privilege, he sought wealth and its freedom. Now the boy and girl follow stages in development toward similar independence, and among the privileges most desired is that of money or possessions of value. If they earn it, the amount represents so much work and gives the coins a fixed worth which cannot be established in other fashion. Moreover, this desire for income (rather than money) is one characteristic of the child between the ages of thirteen and fifteen years. His power of reasoning and organization are developing rapidly, and it is the time when adult ideals and actions first look attractive. The time is ever ripe for launching the boy or girl into any avocation which holds their fancy, that they may forget their own oblique tendencies to laziness, stubbornness, wayward action, and selfishness; these are all characteristic of the stage. Sex changes too play no inconsiderable part, because the boy's companions are for a time all masculine. Business of some kind is just what he needs, and if that business is profitable, a powerful motive is supplied. Perhaps the keenest interest is that in nature, and most children at some time have desired pets--chickens, rabbits, pigeons, dogs, song birds. There is scarcely a town or city condition where some animal hobby cannot be pursued without disturbing others' peace of mind. But it should be looked into seriously as a business, a miniature counterpart of other like enterprises. The disposal of personal service and products to others brings the child in close contact with numbers of adults and adult standards and business connections. It fosters responsibility and places upon the child the burden of proof, to show that he is entitled to a place as a valuable member of society. And just here it may be well to say, even if the child does not need the money he earns, it will be the most precious he will ever own, because since it came through effort, it will be spent with due caution.

The vegetable and flower garden may be made to yield similar returns and such products are always salable. In addition, every house, every yard, every farm is in constant need of repairs, changes and care which the alert boy or girl can furnish. The development of such odd tasks into a business parallels the development of every large enterprise which began in a modest way. It fosters the best of personal and civic ideals, and tames the restless, self-conscious energy of youth into smooth and profitable channels through which to journey in peace to a sane maturity.

Is it any wonder that education is so ineffective at times? In the light of present-day appreciation of physiology and psychology it is increasingly clear that education has furnished an impersonal, rather stilted system of stuffing along restricted lines for a warm-hearted, all-inquisitive, nature-loving human animal which automatically refuses to be nourished thereby, and forages elsewhere. Although the child's judgment can by no means be followed concerning what is best for him, his instincts and possible future will serve as a most excellent guide. His early training must take into account those interests which are most keen and lasting and use them as the framework for instruction, and all subsequent stages of training involve a distinct obligation to build upon this elementary foundation, with a view to social worth. Most children will have to earn a living (the girl usually helps by managing the home), and this necessity is preëminent. But whether rich or otherwise, the ideal of social worth remains for all. And the least the home can do is to nurse childhood's efforts and experiments in play and occupation which lead finally to mature judgment and conceptions.

_How to Use Books with Boys_

Boys probably obtain more help from books than girls do because they are more self-reliant, more assertive and impatient. And as has been indicated, more books have been written for boys, but the same general method of use is common to both. The boy too finds in the book of crafts, mechanics, science, or sport a stimulant and incentive. He reads it much as he would a story of adventure. No matter what his greatest enjoyments may be, the perusal of accounts of others' juvenile activities widens the productive horizon in a way not to be ignored, and for this reason "How to Do" books of all kinds are a serious element in the boy's life, at a time when he is less concerned with what to do than with how to produce something. But there is a danger in this catholicity of interest: it may become dilettantism. The boy may merely potter or fuss with one hobby after another, more because he cannot supply the need for more and more information, than because he does not care. Hence it is worth while from time to time to add more fuel to the flame of ambition in a given direction, to provide books and tools, a working place or shop, and open the way for progress in some stated direction.

Specifically, books like those on "Mechanics, Indoors and Out," "Electricity," and "Carpentry," and parts of "Outdoor Work" may be considered as of one type. When he receives the books the boy will spend days in absorbing their contents, maybe dreaming a bit over the possibilities in view, and finally, by a process which will always be unintelligible to the adult, will light upon a problem or group of them that meets his wishes, as the kite for instance; all he needs from then on is human sympathy with the, to him, important undertaking, and he will gallop through all phases of the kite construction and devices, aeroplanes, propellers, forms of motive power, probably bringing up short at the steam or gasoline engine, which opens another chapter. The really important item connected with the use of such books is to keep the young mechanic on one thing at a time. A bit of judicious questioning now and then, always aimed at a group of related problems upon which he may be engaged, will keep his mind working connectedly. His efforts will then be cumulative in effect. Visits to the aero park, the museums, to the shops and technical schools, and to the local power plants are other distinct aids which should be invoked to supplement and emphasize reading and experiment. In some of the cities model kite and aeroplane contests are held at regular intervals, and these put boys on their mettle to succeed. In fact the proper way to use books of this kind is to _let the boy use them_; let him begin in the middle of the book and work outward or at the end and go backward, but see that he has books which present the subject vividly, simply. Provide him with the essential tools and materials and a place to work. About the surest way to make a success with boys is to let them have a room or corner of their own where they can work to their hearts' content, where they can store their precious belongings, and where companions may come and talk over things. Really the book is inadequate alone. Unless one provide the opening for action, books but aggravate and excite the mind, mockingly spur the student on to "do." Hence with the book goes a tacit obligation to provide means and place, even the most modest, for putting the book to test.

There is yet another phase to this use of books, and it is one which the boy will usually meet, if the texts are adequate. It is this: whatever the young student does best will be the result of real desire, real personal enthusiasm. It is a fallacy to suppose that the boy interested in tools should always put up shelves, mend the door, or fix the fence. He will execute these tasks cheerfully, but they are not the subject of his dreams. On the other hand, if the desire be to earn money, to have a small business of his own, fences and shelves and plant stands may be the most interesting things in the world to him, because they are _means_, not _ends_. Hence the printed book is no teacher or trainer of children, no direct guide to future vocation, but is the very essence of inspiration, the foundation from which the young secures nourishment for day dreams and ambitions, out of which he patiently weaves the rich fabric of experience.

FOOTNOTE:

[I] This bias toward mechanics has already been noted by teachers and parents, but in recent years has assumed unusual significance because of the extraordinary development of industry. This, combined with the researches of modern psychology and pedagogy, has introduced a new, a powerful motive into teaching.