Special Gifts, Devices, and Techniques : Page 125

The only type of critical teasing that has a function and should not be entirely forbidden is that directed against correctable faults in one's associates. Young people are not supposed to be civilized, they are supposed to become so. Consequently, going to school is not merely a matter of learning, but of evolving from impulses to discipline. If a boy cannot accept an umpire's rulings, it is quite proper that he should be teased about it until he does. If a girl wears clearly and certainly immodest clothes and over-paints her face, she may well be teased into more propriety. If a boy tends to be "fresh" toward girls, or mawkish, a good dose of teasing may and should correct him. That sort of critical teasing is a valuable device for bringing young people into line — into the manner and mores of the community. It is not the same thing as teasing or "razzing" people upon factors over which they have no control or which are not a matter of character. However, even such corrective teasing ought to be imbued with St. Paul's rich charity. Usually better than teasing is to call an offender aside and in a kindly way point out to him his irregularity of behavior or manner. But such wisdom, I have found, cannot be expected from many young people. "Razzing" will probably continue as the most powerful device for