The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-05-23
From the -Utd COlOnY JtIeBt05tub,
DISCIPLINE OF SCHOOLS.

To those who are acquainted with the
subject, there can hardly be conceived a
/ more difficult and responsible station. than
that of an instructor of youth. But on the
! other hand, many are found, who think
nothing more easy than to instruct, and no
task tif they admit it to be a task SO pleas
ant and eligible as that of the school-mas-
ter. Truly it has pleasure in common
with labor of every kind-the anticipated
benefit that will result, the primary motive
to all exertion.
But the care and anxiety of the teacher
OF school has reference to a more impor-
tant object--to different view-the for
nation of mind and the development of in
tellect. Here, the Importance of an in
structer's exertions rises upon us in pro-
portion as the intellectual and moral char
acter rises above every other Object
Much, very much, of the success of schools.
depends on the'parents who send children.
II IS IN their power to advance their i'm
provement even under very ordinary teach
ers, and they can also render nugatorv in
a great degree, the excrtions of the best
instructor.
That practice in parents Of giving cred
II and countenance to reports of children
mstigated by the impulses of passion. and
propensity to resist any restraint on evil
hablts they may have acquired and to utter
falsehoods to screen themselves from the
reproofs OF those who ought never to CEN
sure an instructor In the presence of chill
dren, is a most unhappy thing for the good
order and discipline Of schools, and tends
TO paralyze every exertion to advance its
best interests. 1t is the most sure and I'M
errlng way to increase those grievances il
would cure. If the child once finds that
his parents uphold his conduct, or censure
hls instructor, ne then thinks he receives
iull permission to resist every attempt for
M ms Improvement that he happens not to
IKE and there VIII be no end TO mis- Cunr-
plants OF the most trifling moment. But
the parent does not wish his child to be a.
bused-and who does !? But allowing a
child IS punished unreasonably, the better
way for his good, is to avoid letting him
Know you think he is abused But the cas-
es IN which child is sufferer in too
great degree, are less frequent than par
ents imagine. They are apt to look at
facts as represented by their children, in
that false light their feelings prompt them
to give, unattended by the circumstances,
which must modify and essentially alter
the representation. - rf,s:
Could parents enter into the school and
witness the care and solicitude necessary
in its management, and feel the necessity
Of having ga place for every thino and
every thing in its place" they would rarely
lnG iauit with their instructors. believe
SO lar as my experience extends, that those
parents who govern their children well at
nome, scarcely ever have occasion to com
pam OF their being Subjected to too severe
dlsciPine at school. This circumstance
speaks much in the favor of parental au-
thorlty, and should excite those who are
ever complaining Of the severity Of the in
structer, to enquire whether they them
selves are not, by their own indiscretion.