in their hearts a hatred of study and of teachers, and become a fundamental factor in the retardation of a pupil's growth or its arrest. Among such methods are repeated punishments, reproach, threats, criticism, and the like. Educators, then, must examine the methods they follow in the light of this educational direction, which stresses the importance of respecting the child, taking his opinions into account, placing confidence in him, and encouraging him toward independent thinking and the expression of his ideas, so that the desired result may follow. They must likewise answer the pupils' demands and meet their needs. In this clear, calm atmosphere, education undertakes to bring out the pupils' inclinations and talents and to develop them according to modern scientific and philosophical theories. To that end it prepares varied cultural curricula, so that each of the country's different regions may select the curriculum that meets the need of its inhabitants and accords with their inclinations and desires. For since it takes upon itself the task of preparing every individual of the nation, in the fullness of his qualifications, for actual participation in the life of his society, it charges itself with the responsibility of preparing programs as varied as the capacities and desires of individuals, so that it may attain the goal it seeks.

Scientific tests have shown us that there is a marked variation in mental and material capacities, and in talents and inclinations, among the different individuals of a single society — indeed of a single family. Modern education, therefore, in drawing up its programs, takes account not only of the material endowments of the region and its basic needs, but also of the differences, whether inherited or acquired, in the talents and inclinations of the various pupils and in the mental and material capacities of each of them; and it tries to prepare every pupil, whatever his mental powers, for a fruitful life in his society. Modern education also gives attention to the mental — psychological — factor which pictures to pupils that practical and technical instruction is of a lower rank than

Cleanliness and the Child

Cleanliness... what a tempting word to couple with the child! And is it like him to give it any weight, when his life is confined to playing with water, bits of wood, colored pencils, and the like? Your pardon, Madam — the intent here is not to excuse your child for drawing on the walls of your house, but to soften the force of your anger at seeing him with his clothes all stained. He has his rights, and he has his duties...

Rarely does a child finish his play in the garden and come indoors without his mother descending upon him, scolding him for his dirtiness and thereby spoiling for him the pleasure of play. How is he to combine his fun with clean clothes? And if he tries, he loses his feeling of reassurance and ease. So, to avoid robbing your child of his ease, Madam, what would you say to dressing him in clothes that will bear constant washing and ironing, so that when they get stained you may endure the staining with fine patience?

The child usually takes the comfort he gets from wearing a garment as the measure of its quality or the lack of it, for to him there is no difference between the finest kind of cloth and the shabbiest, between the most complicated of models and the simplest, so long as wearing it gives him comfort. By way of example, hear, Madam, what one child said to his mother on this score. She once dressed him in new clothes and kept forbidding him to play, for fear of staining them. He said to her, with childhood's familiar artlessness: "Take your new suit and give me the ragged old one." Could anything show more plainly than these words that the child wants to wear a garment he is comfortable in? And if every child could have his say on this subject, he would say the very same thing.

The overwhelming majority of children need to bathe daily with the assistance of grown-ups, because most of them understand bathing as merely a wetting with water; hence every mother must watch over her child while he washes, until he proves himself able to bear the responsibility alone.

It is only logical that a child should stain his clothes, so do not expect the impossible of him, Madam; and let it not slip from your mind that he is not one of those inclined by nature to cleanliness. If he shows a wish to wash of his own accord, it is only because of a rebellion stirred up in him by your constant urging.

Aidah Shakir Sab
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