Some Rambling Experiences in the Training of Low-Grade Defectives

A true man wants to move the world if he can; he is not satisfied with taking a stone out of the way if he can lift the earth itself to a loftier level." ^ ^ pierson Thinking for a moment of education as a whole, I consider we teachers of these little ones hold an exceedingly responsible and important position therein. We are, as it were, dealing with the foundation of the building, the source of the river, the very ends of the roots of the tree. In each case the whole depends on its beginning. There is an old saying: "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.'' Every farthing we save helps the nation by some means. How much more, then, shall we help by our efforts, by giving ourselves, soul, mind and 'body to raising these children from labour-taking inefficients to labour-saving self-helpful citizens; even if it takes two to carry water or hew wood, they set a more able person free for more effective work Mercier says "Education is a preparation for life, to fit the child for life when he is no longer a child." I ask everyone to consider well the needs of this section of humanity, and their absolute right to have the best preparation possible, so that their maturity may be borne with dignity and happiness, instead of being objects of disgust and too often unwilling, inefficient service. I do not believe that any human being need be merely the subject of pity and' forced attention, except through his own fault. If all that are helpless, in body and in mind, could be recognised as given to increase our knowledge, each medium would be respected as suffering either actively or passively for the common good. We are seeking digestible food for the minds and bodies of those who have no desire to express themselves, either physically or mentally; or who desire so much that there is a constant overflow of energy?disorder reigns, and nothing is expressed. The process reminds me of Southey's "Waters of Lodore" : ? "And dinning and spinning, And foaming and roaming, And dropping and hopping, And working and jerking, And guggling and struggling," etc. When such a case is given us for education, we know he has not paused long enough to register his impressions. He can often run aimlessly about, and …