Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1905 — The Child As A Responsive, Self-Governing Being. [ARTICLE]

The Child As A Responsive, SelfGoverning Being.

The power of thought over the body can not too early be taught a child to develop its creative energy as a self-governing force, keenly alive and responsive to all true sentiment. It is the mis-direction of this force within, seeking activity, or expression in creation of some form, which constitutes the child’s chief burden in his school life. The greater the creative force of the child, the greater his strength of character, the greater the teacher’s responsibility to that child as, also the greater his duty to develop that child’s force into a self governing being, responsive to the demands of true citizenship The thoughts a teacher thinks of the child produces a mental atmosphere to strengthen or binder its development, for others as well as the child will receive the same thoughts from the teachers, and multiply creative force to help or obstruct its development, and the quality of thought that stimilates its mind daily, chisels its outward form, and as it develops, orrepresses its strength as a responsive force, so is the child drawn to, or repelled from all uplifting associations. To me, the teacner that can take the child whose face is so expressive of the vitality within, and leave that expression unmarred by fear and vicious thought, is a greater success as a teacher than the one who governs by fear, for the thought of fear is a positive poison produced in the body, reducing vitality and causing the body to be open to disease germs. If the child leaves a teacher with a countenance changed from one of hope and joy to that of sullen depression, then it all has been a miserable failure.

HELEN MAR.