In schools where arbitrary standards are set either by supervisors or by the rivalry of teachers, the tendency to help the children by doing part of the work for them for the sake of the apparent results, offers the teacher's most serious temptation to selfishness. In a few cases it is helpful for the teacher to add a few strokes to a drawing or adjust some detail in construction, that the child may see the value of certain small changes in the place where they will mean most to him. Such work should not be exhibited as an example of the child's accomplishment, but should be treated as practice work. As a rule the teacher's demonstration should be made on other material and not on that used by the pupil. In no particular are primary schools open to greater criticism than in the too common habit of setting arbitrary standards of excellence and attempting to force all children to reach them. Such standards are usually too high for honest attainment and tempt or force the teacher to use methods which cannot be defended by any sound principle of pedagogy.
Values change with the purpose of the work. A thing is well made when it serves its purpose adequately. Toys must be strong enough to permit handling. Mechanical toys must work. Sewing must be strong as well as neat. In illustrative problems, in which effect is the chief consideration, technique needs little emphasis, and workmanship may be of a temporary character.
Each thing made should establish its own standard in a way to appeal to the child's common sense.
CHAPTER V
THE HOUSE PROBLEM
The making of a playhouse has long been an accepted feature of primary work, but we have not always made it yield all of which it is capable, either in the self-directed activity of the children or in correlated subject matter. It has, in many cases, been only a bit of recreation from the more serious work of the school. In a house prepared by the janitor or older pupils the children have been allowed to arrange and rearrange ready-made furniture contributed from their playthings at home, but little creative work has been attempted. In other cases an elaborate house, carefully planned by the teacher, has been built and furnished by the children, but, because of the detailed planning, the children's part in it became merely a mechanical following of directions. In some cases relative proportions in rooms and furnishings have received scant attention; in others, color harmonies have been all but ignored. These varying methods of carrying out the house-building idea are not without value and may often be justified by local conditions, but their results are meager compared with the possible richness of the problem.
Playing at house building and housekeeping appeals to an interest so universal that children of all times and nations yield to its power. It is therefore necessary to take account of its influence in their development and to dignify it with the approval of the school. We must refine and enrich it by our direction and suggestion without robbing it of its simplicity and charm.