Helping the Maladjusted Child
The Effective School
Othmar Wurth, FSC
Reprinted from
John Baptist De La Salle and Special Education:
A Study of Saint Yon
by Br. Othmar Wurth, F.S.C.
Translated by Br. Augustine Loes, F.S.C.
Adapted by Br. Francis Huether, F.S.C.
Edited by Br. Bonaventure Miner, F.S.C
Part One
The common, tuition-free parish school, in which
for the most part De La Salle and the early Brothers worked, soon developed an
environment, a taken-for-granted, orderly way of operating, within which maladjusted,
disturbed children found security and help. From his writings, we can easily infer the
characteristics which De La Salle believed such a school should possess if it is to be
effective. These characteristics, brought to fruition by dedicated teachers, virtually of
themselves provided the special environment from which educationally handicapped children
benefited.
It is in various parts of the Conduite and the Meditations, particularly the Meditations
for the Time of Retreat, that De La Salle identifies three characteristics of the
effective school. First, the school must be well- organized. Second, it must be staffed by
competent and dedicated teachers. Third, it must maintain a well-defined and appropriate
discipline. We shall examine each in turn, with our principal focus on their function in
special education for the maladjusted child.
The Effective School is Well-organized
The effective school for De La Salle was first of all firmly grounded in the traditional
teachings, liturgy, prayer practice, and parish life of the Catholic Church. While De La
Salle's emphasis on fidelity to Rome may at times seem overly restrictive, it must be
borne in mind that the seventeenth century was the time of Jansenism, and it was important
for the Brothers to be very careful that the religious education they imparted carried no
suspicious elements.
As we have seen, the well-organized school as De La Salle perceived it, included a program
which was integrated, informed, practical, and orderly, and which provided for student
participation. The particular emphasis which De La Salle placed on assisting the students
individually is reflected in the thorough admissions and promotion procedures the Brothers
used. These procedures contributed significantly to the proper organization of the school.
The teacher responsible for the admission of the new student was required to enter
detailed information about the family in the "Register of Admission."
Information was also recorded on the habits or qualities of the child. This practice
assisted the Director in properly placing new students in classes. Improper placement in a
class, De La Salle said, "could place the child in a position of being unable to
learn and in danger of being ignorant the rest of his life." He also warned about
keeping a child too long in the same level, "a situation distasteful to the
teacher, the child, and his parents." (CL 24: 106- 130 passim)
This initial admissions information was supplemented by observations made by the teacher
himself. He kept a file called "Register of the Good and Bad Qualities of the
Students." Another file was kept for strictly scholastic evaluations. At the end of
each school year, the teacher assembled all these entries in a report on each of his
students. He submitted this to the Director of the school, who in turn passed it on to the
new teacher of the student if there were to be a change of class. In this way the teacher
would "come to know his students and the way he ought to act toward them."
(CL 24: 236)
In order to have a personal understanding of the character of each student, the Director
of the school kept all these reports and compared carefully "those of past years
with those of the following years, and those of one teacher with those of another of the
same class with the same students," to determine their degree of similarity and
difference. (CL 24: 238) It was this personal knowledge of each student rather than mere
grades that was the basis for a pupil's advancement through the school's program.
De La Salle knew that it was important to have the family accept the organization of the
school and to collaborate in the task of educating the children. To accomplish this goal,
he made the admission of the student contingent on his family's support of the educational
philosophy of the school, and he urged the teachers to try to change the cultural
resistance of some parents to the whole process of education. (CL 24: 184-184) He
suggested that the teachers speak with parents who neglected to send their children to
school, because he wanted parents to understand their duty toward their children and to
realize the harm absenteeism did. For the remiss parent De La Salle proposed a rather
drastic remedy. "Since these poor parents are generally those on alms, it is
necessary to involve the parish priest . . . so as not to provide any alms until they send
their children to school." (CL 24: 187)
He required parents to have their children take breakfast and lunch in school so that the
children could learn how to eat politely and "in a Christian atmosphere, and to be
sure the children were fed properly." Parents were to be sure that their child
was diligent at schoolwork, that he not gossip about anything that took place in school,
that he not associate with reckless companions, that he come to school properly dressed,
that his hair be well combed and "free of lice," and that he not sleep
with his parents. De La Salle also advised parents not to listen to the complaints of
their child against the teacher, but rather to speak with the teacher when their child was
not present. These warnings suggest situations De La Salle felt were at the root of many
serious maladjustments. (CL 24: 167-169)
. . . . De La Salle recommended that teachers themselves not punish students who had been
absent without permission, but require that the parents punish them at home before
returning the to school. For the punishment of some children, De La Salle recommended that
the teacher meet with the parents to decide upon the best approach. (CL 24: 190)
De La Salle reminded teachers that they too had the grave responsibility of making school
attractive. He pointed out that if the children were learning and liked their classes,
they themselves would put pressure on their parents to keep them in school. This would
often be successful, he said, because "parents desire only what their children
desire, so it will be enough that the children desire to come to school for their parents
to be satisfied to send them there." (CL 24: 187)
This atmosphere of faith, this structured yet personal program, this attention to detail,
this effort, however primitive to understand child and family and to have parents
collaborate with the school, this combination of affirmation and affection ‹ all
these helped to create the environment within which the maladjusted child could find
stability, direction, and purpose, and where he could learn to make some progress in
controlling himself and managing his life.
The Effective School is Staffed by Competent and Dedicated Teachers
The Conduite is a compendium of the best which De La Salle could find in existing
works on pedagogy, an eclectic work refined by his own insights and the experience of the
Brothers themselves. The Conduite constituted the basic instrument for the preparation of
the Brothers. Along with this detailed text went careful supervision of the new teacher
and, eventually, a normal school or teacher-training institution. These elements,
innovative in the synthesis De La Salle made of them, demonstrated his determination that
the teacher be prepared for his arduous and responsible work.
But De La Salle was concerned not only that the teachers have an adequate technical or
professional preparation, he also wanted teachers to be exemplary persons. The religious
lifestyle which the Brothers embraced, together with the spiritual principles of the
meditations De La Salle wrote and the retreats he scheduled, helped achieve this goal. (CL
24: 45-90 passism: CL 13: 30-67; CL 12: 45-71)
De La Salle was not satisfied simply to prepare the Brothers for the practical work of the
classroom, nor did he limit himself to urging the Brothers to have a good understanding of
their students. He wanted the Brothers to love their students, for he was aware of the
educational power of affection, particularly for the troubled child. He also wanted the
teacher to win the reciprocal love of his students. In one of his meditations, he asks,
"Do you take advantage of the love students have for you to lead them to God?"
He even wanted the teacher "to make [the students] love the school." (CL
12: 45).
Finally, De La Salle insisted on the importance of the teacher's good example. According
to him, this example makes a much greater impression on the minds and hearts of children
than do words, because children are not yet sufficiently "capable of reflection"
and "ordinarily model themselves on what they see." He went on to say
that children are drawn to do "what they see done, more than by what they hear
said." Indeed, it was the example of the teacher which, he believed, would most
help the maladjusted child. (CL 13: 32).
The teacher's relation to his students, his love for even the most troubled, and his
vision of his life as a vocation in the Church were very often the subjects of those
meditations De La Salle wrote for the Brothers for their daily prayer, for retreats, and
for certain church feasts.
[The Brothers] will love all their students tenderly.
You must look upon the obligation you have of winning their hearts as one of the principal
means of engaging them to live as Christians.
Let your zeal give concrete evidence in your actions that you love those whom God has
entrusted to you.
It is necessary to show affection for [the students].
At the same time, De La Salle recognized that the teacher must exercise an appropriate
firmness. He wished the teacher to couple the tenderness of a mother with the firmness of
a father.
If you have the firmness of a father toward them, in order
to pull them away from disorder and keep them from it, you must also have the tenderness
of a mother for them, in order to protect them and do all the good for them that is
dependent on you. (CL 13: 19)
Knowledge of the character of each student, De La Salle believed, allowed the teacher to
individualize his guidance and balance tenderness with firmness.
It is necessary to have more gentleness for some, more
firmness toward others. Some require much patience, others need to be prodded and
encouraged. Some need to be reproved, punished, and corrected for their faults; others
need to be supervised continually to prevent them from hurting themselves or wandering
away. (CL 12: 104)
But De La Salle knew that preparation, conviction, and affection on the part of the
teachers were not enough to make the school effective. The Brothers themselves had to be
effective in the realities of the classroom. This was particularly important with the
maladjusted child, for whom all too often learning difficulties were the root of his
maladjustment.
De La Salle showed much affection for students with limited ability, and it can be said
that he treated these students with extreme sensitivity. His concern can best be
understood in terms of the profound faith he had in his own vocation as an educator of
those deprived of even common resources. Better than any commentary, his own words bear
witness to this fact.
The Directors of each house or the Inspectors of Schools
must keep a very exact vigilance over all their teachers . . . and make sure that they
carefully apply themselves to teach their students, that they neglect none of them, and
that their concern be equal toward all, even greater toward the slowest and the most
negligent. (CL 24: 188)
De La Salle gave many pedagogical and practical guidelines to his teachers for dealing
with the slow student:
If it happens that a student is so slow that he cannot
even repeat an answer that several others have recited one after another, the teacher will
help him remember by having the answer repeated four or five times alternatively by a
student who knows it well and then by the one who does not know it, in order to make it
very easy for him to learn it. The teacher will use simple expression and words easy to
understand in his questions . . . and he will make the questions and the answers as short
as possible. (CL 24: 116ff)
He urges the teacher to show a practical concern for the slow
learner or the child frightened by schooling or ill-adjusted to it. Take things slowly, he
recommended. "Help the children to read exactly, not skipping syllables."
Slower students should be questioned often, helped by repetition, whether by themselves or
by others, but not required to do what they obviously cannot.
The teacher will not allow anyone to laugh at a student who does not give a good answer,
nor allow any prompting. (CL 24: 101)
It is . . . your duty . . . to motivate those who lack
courage . . . and to support the weak . . . You will have to give an account to God . . .
if you have neglected those who are most ignorant. (CL 13: 30-31)
Many maladjusted students, of course, found it difficult to
maintain attention and to concentrate in the Brothers' classes. In the Conduite, De La
Salle alluded to this problem.
Teachers will help students to be completely attentive,
which is not naturally easy for children. Ordinarily their attention is of very short
duration. (CL 24: 22)
The teacher will keep a very attentive eye on those who do not like to follow the
lesson and those who most easily excuse themselves from paying attention. (CL 24: 23)
In order to keep students, especially slow students,
attentive and prevent them from becoming bored, De La Salle offered several specific
suggestions. The teacher should:
- avoid talking too much
- avoid speaking in a boring manner and in a way that is
uninteresting
- frequently ask questions, especially of those who are slow
- make the questions short and use a simple vocabulary
- avoid belittling and embarrassing students, either by word or
in some other way when they cannot answer well
- involve the students and help them to say what they have
difficulty remembering
- give rewards to the slowest when they have tried their best to
learn
- sometimes question a student unexpectedly to see if he is
attentive
- from time to time, ask those students to read who do not like
to follow the reading, but have them read only a little each time. (CL 24: 22-23, 97-100)
De La Salle noted that the teachers "will
use those other similar ways which prudence and charity will help them discover, in order
to have the students learn more quickly and to remember with greater ease." (CL:
100)
De La Salle was not satisfied with having a good relationship established between teacher
and student. Aware of the detrimental effect of the lack of a good role model, De La Salle
also was aware of the rehabilitative effect students could have on one another. The
quality of interaction among students in matters of learning and discipline was important,
and De La Salle wanted to take every opportunity to foster it. Even classroom seating
became significant in this regard.
The Conduite lists some interesting ways of grouping students. De La Salle
recommended that students be seated according to a strategic plan, so that "a
thoughtless and flighty student is placed between two sensible and self-controlled
students; a reckless student, alone or between two who are of stable character, a
talkative student between two who are quiet and very attentive," and so on. A
student was even to be assigned the task of taking from his classmates objects that might
disturb the lesson. (CL 24: 119-121 passim)
In the seating arrangement, the teacher was also to take scholastic factors into account.
He was to seat a student who was beginning in the writing section next to one who was
perfecting his skill in writing, or one who was in the next upper section; a student who
was having difficulty making a stroke, next to one who made the stroke with ease; a
student who had a problem holding his body or his pen, next to one who did both well; and
so with the rest, so that they would be able to learn from others.
When a new student came to a class in reading, the teacher was to assign him for several
days, as he judged necessary, "to a companion who will teach him how to follow in
his book while others are reading." (CL 24: 262)
It has been noted already that when a student was admitted to the school, De La Salle
required the parents to ensure that he associate with good companions. The Brothers'
desire that the students not be subjected to bad example was doubtless the motive for the
practice of assigning to each student a classmate as a companion to and from school. (CL
24: 121)
To develop accountability and mutual support among the students, De La Salle also
established the office of "visitor of those absent." In each class, two
or three students were made responsible for checking up on the absent classmates who lived
in their respective neighborhoods. These visitors of the absent were chosen from those
"most attached to and most diligent at school." (CL 24: 32)
The visitors had to have intelligence, be of upright conduct, and be judged capable of
resisting corruption. They also had to give evidence of a great respect for the teacher
and an "entire obedience and docility of spirit." They visited the
parents of the absentee in order to learn the cause of his absence and then reported to
their teacher on the situation. When absentees were sick, the visitors saw them from time
to time "to give them comfort and to encourage them to suffer their sickness with
patience for the love of God." They then kept their teacher informed of the
progress of their classmates' health. (CL 24: 245-246)
 
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