Our little men and women; modern methods of character building; . of their application have determined the line of all animal and humanadvancement. Andyet today we are sofar neglecting the in-stincts in our methodsof education thatwhat in our rapidlycomplicating socialsystem might be ourgreatest security,often becomes thesource of greatest dan-ger. If we shouldmake the briefest pos-sible statement of sogreat a truth we wouldsay that all the in-stincts of man and alllines of h u m a nachievement are in-cluded in these fourinstincts, n a m e 1 y ,workmanship, imita-tion, competition andco-operat
Our little men and women; modern methods of character building; . of their application have determined the line of all animal and humanadvancement. Andyet today we are sofar neglecting the in-stincts in our methodsof education thatwhat in our rapidlycomplicating socialsystem might be ourgreatest security,often becomes thesource of greatest dan-ger. If we shouldmake the briefest pos-sible statement of sogreat a truth we wouldsay that all the in-stincts of man and alllines of h u m a nachievement are in-cluded in these fourinstincts, n a m e 1 y ,workmanship, imita-tion, competition you will have patience I should like to continue illustra-tions, all of which are taken from the records of our juvenilecourt. It may seem a striking statement, but it is neverthe-less perfectly true, that no case ever appeared in the PittsburgJuvenile Court or any other juvenile court in which the actcommitted was not prompted wholly or in part by some im-pulse which under other relations and other associations couldnot but be both right and A YOUNG SCOUT IN WINTEE 268 WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? Some boys were brought before our juvenile court on thecharge of malicious mischief. They had built a hut in a va-cant lot. They were bad boys, I understand, and their meth-ods were wrong, but their act comes out of the very heart of theinstinct of workmanship. What would this world be had itnot been for this instinct of construction? In this act of theboys centered several immemorial streams of heredity, likeour great rivers into the Ohio, the instincts of shelter, of con-struction, of companionship. Had these play instincts beensupervised and these very acts allowed proper expression, themajesty of the law would not have been offended and thedivine right of these boys would not have been violated. Some bo}^s went into a nickelodeon in Pittsburg. The mov-ing pictures showed Fun in a Grocery Store. Not manynights later these boys broke in and entered a grocery store.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidourlittlemen, bookyear1912
