What is the attitude of public school teachers toward the behavior problems of their pupils? Are they most concerned about violations of school regulations, or are they most concerned about the personality deviations that are likely to disturb the child's happiness and to retard his general development? Does the teacher think of a "problem child" as one "who is disorderly, restless, disobedient," or as one "who is unsocial, feels inferior, does not know how to play with other children"?
SUMMARY OF LITERATUREWickman 1 attempted to ascertain teachers' attitudes toward children's behavior in a study conducted in a Minneapolis public school in 1924 and in a Cleveland public school during 1925-1926. Twenty-nine Minneapolis teachers and twenty-seven Cleveland teachers listed types of problem behavior that they had observed in pupils. A list of fifty-one items thus obtained was submitted to the twenty-three "home-room" teachers in the Cleveland group, and the teachers were asked to rate each of their pupils with respect to each item, stating whether the behavior in question "has never occurred," "has occurred once or twice," "recurs with occasional frequency," or "has become almost habitual." Basing his judgment upon these ratings, Wickman concluded that the behavior problems which most interest teachers are those relating to school requirements-infractions of classroom rules and routine and failure to meet school work requirements. The personality problems of the children, according to Wickman, are subordinated to problems of classroom management.The twenty-three Cleveland "home-room" teachers were also asked to state for each pupil whether he was "exceptionally welladjusted," had "only minor behavior difficulties," had "behavior difficulties of some importance," or presented an "extremely serious 1
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