But they should never
be so high that they will invite discouragement, disaster, and failure.
The teacher should guard against elevating hurdles as an exhibition of her
own reach. The gymnasium is not a stage for exhibitions. On the contrary,
it is a place for graduated, cumulative training.
Our inclination is to make life easy and agreeable to our pupils rather
than real. To this end we help them over the difficulties, answer
questions which they do not ask, and supply them with crutches when we
should be training them to walk without artificial aids. The passing mark
rather than real training seems to be made the goal of our endeavors even
if we enfeeble the child by so doing. We seem to measure our success by
the number of promotions and not by the quality of the training we give.
We seem to be content to produce weaklings if only we can push them
through the gateway of promotion. It matters not that they are unable to
find their way alone through the mazes of life; let them acquire that
ability later, after they have passed beyond our control. Again quoting
from Professor Swift, "Following a leader, even though that leader be the
teacher, tends to take from children whatever latent ability for
initiative they may have."
There is a story of an indulgent mother who was quite eager that her boy
should have a pleasant birthday and so asked him what he would most like
to do. The answer came in a flash: "Thank you, Mother, I should most like
just to be let alone.
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