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Cooperation.

1. Participation in group activities:

(a) Planning together for any future event.

(b) Working together toward a common goal, such as bringing papers for a paper sale, decorating the Christmas tree for the school.

(c) Contributing to a room exhibit, illustrating some phase of school work. 2. Collection of data and editing a school paper.

3. Organization of a school museum.

Fair play and honesty.

1. Engaging in sports; playground activities; inter-school meets.

2. Using streetcar tokens for transportation to and from school when furnished by school system.

3. Running errands involving expenditure of money.

4. Facing situations truthfully.

5. Using cash register in cafeteria training classes.

6. Marketing and school banking experiences.

7. Using one's time without waste.

8. Assisting in sale of toys and other hand work. Self-reliance and courage.—

1. Planning school plays.

2. Participating in auditorium activities.

3. Reading stories to a group of younger children.

4. Keeping a list of individual achievements:

(a) Making a toy.

(b) Keeping an orderly desk.

(c) Learning to read, spell, write, or figure.

(d) Recording any special talents:

(1) Singing solos.

(2) Playing any musical instrument.

5. Doing something for others. A special class in a very poor district discovered that towels were no longer furnished to the school; so they collected sugar sacks, washed and hemmed them, and made them ready for use as towels in the school. They hemmed 400 towels. This same class dressed 35 dolls for the holiday bureau, which were given to needy children. Another group made toys for the children in a mining camp. Other groups collected pictures and made them into scrapbooks for sick children in hospitals. Others filled baskets for Thanksgiving offerings.

Loyalty.-Loyalty to the home and its members can be developed with participation in experiences described under "Social Experiences in Home Life" (p. 36). Loyalty to school will be the result of many of the experiences listed under "Social Experiences in School Life" (p. 38). Loyalty to church, clubs, and friends can be developed through almost daily experiences if there is a real awareness on the part of the teacher. In fact this is the crux of the whole matter.

Problems of Parents and Teachers

It is important to realize that parents and teachers are frequently in need of the services of mental hygiene as much as or even more than the child. The difficulty which confronts many a child has its origin in the maladjusted life of the parent or other adult who is in the position of guiding him. When the proper solution in the life of the adult has been found, the child's problem often disappears. For this reason mental hygiene for children who have problems must also be directed at the teachers and parents of those children. The dictatorial, restless, antagonistic, moody teacher or parent is showing signs of mental trouble himself. Such an adult cannot expect to be successful in helping to solve the emotional maladjustments of children. He should realize that he must try to put into his own. life the same characteristics which he seeks in the life the child, namely, courage, a reasonable degree of independence, calmness, cheerfulness, friendliness. He should make his own life as free as possible from unnecessary hurry and worry and high pressure, finding happiness in the development of wholesome interests and activities that bring a feeling of success and worth-whileness.

Mental Health the Essence of the Entire Curriculum

The concept of mental health thus permeates the whole curriculum. It is not possible to set apart a half hour each day for instruction of this kind.

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Courtesy: Elwyn Training School, Elwyn, Pennsylvania

Wholesome outdoor play and exercise are conducive to physical

and mental health.

Mental health begins with the teacher's understanding of the child's need; it finds expression in every activity of the day in which the child is helped to live socially with other people and to contribute his bit to the total welfare. Every unit of experience gives opportunity for demonstration of habits of cooperation, thoughtfulness, honesty, and other socially desirable traits. The time to impress them is not after school when some child has been detained for infringement of the rules, but in the actual work and play and discussion that take place in the course of the day. Situations as they arise constitute the subject matter of instruction. The teacher who would use the principles of mental hygiene must be quick to see and to use the opportunities growing out of the homely happenings of the day. He must be able, too, to plan a program of work that will make maximum provision for the development of situations in which mental hygiene and character education will function. Every activity and experience of the curriculum can help to bring this about.

Summary

1. Physical and mental health is the foundation stone upon which happiness and efficiency are built. Hence health education, including both physical and mental hygiene, is basic to all curricular activities.

2. The content of health education is the same for retarded children as for intellectually normal children, with recognition of the need for simplifying instructional methods in keeping with the limitations of the child.

3. Every unit of experience involves aspects of work which can be utilized for the development of physical and mental health, life situations furnishing the material for impressing the lessons needed.

4. Each child should be studied, his strength and weakness evaluated, and tasks fitted to his nature and his needs as long as he remains under educational direction.

5. The teacher who is a living example of mental health and personality adjustment is most likely to be able to guide children in the same direction.

Social and Civic Experiences

TO LIVE HAPPILY a man must be able to get along with

his fellows, respect the rights of others, recognize the value of cooperation, desire to earn an honest living, and respect the laws of the country in which he lives. The highest type of behavior along these lines can be obtained only through constant practice in the early years. If there is sufficient repetition of a specific situation, a behavior habit is formed. A habit once formed is not easily broken. The school should accept its responsibility along with the home and the church in helping to develop socially acceptable habits. Hence, social and civic experiences should play a vital part in the life of the school.

The Home, the School, and the Community

Prior to the child's entering school, he has been associated mostly with members of his own family. The relationships, duties, responsibilities, and attitudes commonly found in the home may well be the point of departure which the teacher uses to aid in the adjustment of the child to the new situations in which he finds himself in the school. The teacher should as far as possible make contacts with the homes represented in his class. He can in this way learn of each child's environment and obtain the cooperation of the home in bringing about needed improvement of attitudes and relationships.

Next to the home in the experience of the child comes the school, and after the school comes the community. The teacher can draw freely upon each of these fields in the development of units of experience that will place the child in social situations of vital importance to his growth as a social being. Suggestions taken from school life and from community life are given in the outline on pages 38 and 39. Each experience will function best if it is made a part of a larger situation or experience in which the children are actively participating. Almost any one of them can be made

the background for effective training in social habits and attitudes. For example, if a trip to a farm or factory is in prospect, an informal discussion can be developed in which the children themselves will set the standards for their personal appearance and conduct. And when they have returned, another informal discussion can be used as a basis for checking their achievements in these directions, as well as for considering the content of their observations.

Retarded children will grow up to be adults. They will be voters and citizens of the community. Somewhere in their school program there should be a place to consider community civics and the problems of government common to all localities. The older boys and girls can be helped to comprehend some of the vital issues of the day. What makes a community a good place in which to live? What regulations for health and sanitation are important? What kind of a person makes a good city or county official? Why do workmen strike? If there is a strike pending or under way in the community, what are the pros and cons? What other local problems exist that need to be worked out by all the citizens?

For boys and girls who are ready to leave school and to take their places in the working world, the employment opportunities of the community should be investigated. This is a social experience of intense practical value. A list of possibilities can be made out in class through group participation, visits can be made to some of the plants under consideration, and requirements, advantages, and hazards of respective jobs can be analyzed. The boys and girls who, when they leave school, have some familiarity with the types of jobs that they can probably fill with reasonable satisfaction have taken a big step toward getting one of those jobs. Certainly the school should do as much as possible in laying the foundation for this important phase of the young man's or young woman's life.

SUGGESTED SOCIAL EXPERIENCES TAKEN FROM HOME LIFE, SCHOOL LIFE, AND COMMUNITY LIFE

(To be adapted to needs of age and ability levels)

A. Social experiences in home life.

1. Experiences for all children:

(a) Visiting a home near the school, not too far above the level of homes known by the children, but neat and well-kept, to observe items important

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