Shortage of Fagins

The rise in juvenile delinquency since 1940, according to the U.S. Children's Bureau, has been 16%. A sardonic and searching statement on this subject was made in the current Educational Forum by Paul W. Alexander, Toledo's Juvenile Court Judge. Wrote Judge Alexander:

". . . Most juvenile delinquency is ... taught. . . . Some astonishing techniques have been developed . . . [although] there are not many Fagins.... An overwhelming proportion of delinquency is taught in the home. . . . Parents are by far the most proficient teachers. Much is taught on the streets, in eating and drinking spots and other places where youths congregate, in drugstores and confectioneries housing pinball or slot machines. Much is taught over the radio and in the movies--and with real subtlety . . . their thrillers cleverly teach delinquency by planting the idea of crime . . . sometimes even by glorifying the criminal and demonstrating criminal techniques."

A Dog's Name. The son, brother, husband and father of schoolteachers. Judge Alexander nevertheless did not spare the teaching profession. He continued: ". . . Much delinquency is taught in ... schools. . . . Some [teachers] have tested out techniques worthy of mention. ... Johnny didn't smell like a rose. Even a bad head cold wouldn't have availed you. He really didn't smell bad on purpose. He was a dull normal, his mother probably a moron. When verbal warnings failed to beget the desired attar of roses, teacher moved him four seats from the nearest pupil and by gesture and innuendo, if not by edict, conveyed to the class the idea that Johnny was ostracized. This technique worked beautifully. Johnny too got the idea. They were against him. Ergo, he was against them. So he stabbed the leader of the class in the spine. ... A simple technique is to call the child a name. Willie, a 'sensitive' child, used to smoke during recess. Teacher . . . came up with this interesting bit of logic: Smoking is against the rules; hence the smoker is against the rules; hence he is antisocial, antigovernment, anti-American; the Japanese are anti-American; therefore Willie is a Jap . . . Willie took it literally. Soon his seat was vacant. It continued vacant. Then Willie was haled to juvenile court for truancy. ... He screamed and went into tantrums at the mere mention of school. He was beset with nightmares wherein he was a Jap, rejected, persecuted and tortured by American children and by his teacher.

"... Other techniques tested by teachers [are] ridiculing the child; embarrassing him; comparing him unfavorably with another; shaming him publicly; unduly mistrusting him; allowing the other children to make fun of or take advantage of him . . . especially failing to recognize and report behavior problems in their incipient stage and ... to see that they receive proper treatment. Simple as these techniques are, comparatively few teachers seem able to master them. It requires dogged determination and undeviating devotion to the cause of bigger and better delinquents."

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