Studying the Child 309 



Consult the popular magazines and the book shelves 

 any day and you will find many lengthy dissertations 

 on the boy and the girl, written not infrequently by 

 persons who have spent a lifetime studying something 

 else. But they are very fond of children and they 

 mistake this fondness for knowledge of an expert 

 kind ; and worst of all, they offer it as such. 



The farm parents who wish to receive expert advice 

 in the treatment of their children must learn to con- 

 sult directly or through literature only those who 

 have made a long and intensive study of child prob- 

 lems. And in the latter case they need not expect 

 to obtain all necessary help from one source alone. 

 Usually the child-study expert is a specialist in only 

 one certain part of the field. For example, at the 

 University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Lightner Wit- 

 mer, there has been made a specialty of the sub- 

 normal child. We should probably obtain from that 

 source more expert help in that one phase of child 

 welfare than from any other source in America. If 

 one wishes reliable help on the subject of diseases of 

 children, he should naturally expect to obtain it from 

 some medical authority, from one who has spent long 

 years practicing in a general hospital for children. 

 One of the very few great sources of information on 

 the general psychology of child development is Clark 

 University, where many child-welfare problems have 

 been worked out by experts under the able direction 

 of Dr. G. Stanley Hall. 



