American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-06-14
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
To Me Editors Of The Anerican Telegraph.

~ be LdHo/S " tHe 1iHteTtcan Ietegrdph.
GENTLEMEN:-I find in your paper two ar
tlcles IN reply to my communication which ap-
peared on the 9th, viz: one on the 10th by 81.
ID. J.," and one OH the 18th by ''H. L. W"
will notice some points i'll each of these articles
In the first place, however, | must beg the
printer to indulge my orthographical preference
and not change my corporais to corporeals.
am glad to be assured by ST. ID. j." that the
views OF the negative" are not misappre-
hended; but have one question to ask him.
lie takes the ground that, in proportion as
teachers rise in mental and moral culture, they
will act upon their pupils by means of far
higher order than mere infiction of bodily
pain" Very good. But how far does he sup
| pose this Improvement capable of being carried?
| Does he think that when teachers have reached
the highest attainable point Of excellence, their
eyes will be SO clear, and their hands so skilful,
as to enable them to 'lnanage those slken cords
whose vibrations give right tone to the undying
soul'-or, in palmer terms, to train a boy in
the way he should go-without any application
OF the rod? The position looks well in theory,
but think that the morat friction incident to
human nature and incapable Of being entirely
separated from it in this world, will prevent the
practtcM application from being realized.
- Z. W." after some preliminary remarks,
which do not require reply, states five points,
on which mainly the arguments of the atfirma-
tive are based. The first he has attempted to
prove, viz. There is nothing more directly
calculated to brutalize the feelings of the child
than corporal punishment" The other points
| suppose he will take up in order j shall
therefore confne myself at present to the one
already stated. In supporting this position he
says: The pupil never seats himself after he
has been punished without meditatng the
blackest revenge against his teacher that his
excited feelings can invent" To this conclu-
sion he has been brought by 1.-the experience
and observation of twenty years in the school
room, either as pupil or teacher" | will not
tell how many years Of experience, or how
many pupils | have, lest | should furnish clue
to the discovery of both my name and age; and
| wish to keep myself entirely in cog, so that
may the better repent, in case l should be van
quished in this contest and driven from the
field. But ! deny, most confidently, the asser-
tion last quoted. That these effects may and
sometimes are produced by the application of
the rod Of correction, is no doubt true; that
they necessarily follow, | do not believe, and
think the writer must have been most unfortu-
nate in his experience, if such have been the
results. My experience has led me to conclude
that, in nine out Of ten at least where cor
poral punishment is inflicted judiciously-where
the pupil sees clearly that he is paying the penal
ty OF violated law, and that without any gratifca-
ton of passion or ill-will the part of the
teacher-neither his lore respect for that
teacher will be diminished For the results of
injudcious management / do not, in this argu-
ment, hold myself accountable. As to the effects
of g frequent castigation, which he so glow
ingly describes, am as far from advocating that
as g H. +. W" can be. That some modes of pun
ishment are sometimes indispensable, no one,
presume, will deny. A comparison of the diff
ferent methods must be reserved for future
time. c.
We think this subject is so strictly profess
sonal as not to warrant our giving much space
to it in the columns of the 7elegraph