likely to be an increased sense of responsibility, well as an
increased self-respect; whereas the ideal of "beating" others may in
many cases keep the girl or boy at a rather low level of achievement,
compared to the child's own capacity.

This competitive ideal is illustrated by the girl who is ambitious
to stand at the head of her class, and receives encouragement
enough. But we give very little thought to the child whose ideals
are for service to others or to the community. It is very often the
same child that at one time glories in successful emulation under
the encouragement of our approval, and that later fails to develop
the germs of altruistic ideals because we fail to recognize, or at
least to encourage, them. We cannot expect from the schools an early
change of emphasis from the competitive type of ambition to the
ideal of cooperation or service, although the teachers who have
tried to encourage the latter have found the school work to proceed
more satisfactorily than it does under the spirit of emulation. But
in the home it should be much easier to encourage these higher types
of ideals, for we do not have to set one child against the other,
and there is greater opportunity for individual service on account
of the greater differences in the ages and attainments of the
children.

It is interesting and significant that, of the thousands of children
who have given expression to their ideals and ambitions, a very
small number--less than one in every hundred--have appeared to be
quite content with themselves and with their surroundings. The
normal child craves for some thing better, and roams as far afield
as his knowledge and opportunities let him in his search for the
best. It is during the years from the tenth to the fifteenth or