to dress, as to
the manner of taking food, as to the way of wearing the hair, school
boys are apt at first to look down upon those of their schoolfellows
whose appearance or habits differ from their own. Teachers should help
boys to get over these trivial differences and to think instead of the
one Motherland to which they all belong.

We have already said that patriotism should be taught without race
hatred, and we may add that understanding and loving other nations is
part of the great virtue of tolerance. Boys are obliged to learn the
history of their own and of other nations; and history, as it is taught,
is full of wars and conquests. The teacher should point out how much
terrible suffering has been caused by these, and that though, in spite
of them, evolution has made its way and has even utilised them, far more
can be gained by peace and good will than by hatred. If care is taken to
train children to look on different ways of living with interest and
sympathy instead of with distrust and dislike, they will grow up into
men who will show to all nations respect and tolerance.

4. _Cheerfulness_. No teacher who really loves his students can be
anything but cheerful during school hours. No brave man will allow
himself to be depressed, but depression is particularly harmful in a
teacher, for he is daily in contact with many boys, and he spreads among
them the condition of his own mind. If the teacher is depressed the boys
cannot long be cheerful and happy; and unless they are cheerful and
happy they cannot learn well. If teachers and boys associate
cheerfulness with their school life, they will not only find the work
easier than it would otherwise be, but they will turn to the school as
to a place in which they can for the time live free from all cares and
troubles.

The teacher should train himself to turn away from all worrying and
depressing thoughts the moment he enters the school gate, for his
contribution to the school atmosphere, in which the boys must live and
grow, must be cheerfulness and energy. The best way to get rid of
depression is to occupy the mind with something bright and interesting,
and this should not be difficult when he is going to his boys. Thoughts
die when no attention is paid to them so it is better to turn away from
depressing thoughts than to fight them. Cheerfulness literally increases
life, while depression diminishes it, and by getting rid of depression
the teacher increases his en