The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-05-18

der from the Bible regularly, as the time
will admit, once or twice around, few
verses, and the teacher open the school
with prayer During prayer the pupils
are required TO maintain a revcrcnt pos
ture, either by bowling the head upon th @
desk before them, or kneeling, as may be
convenient.
Afterwards, when there arc pupils of
different ages in school, the young por.
ton should be taught, while the older
members prepare their lessons. Little
children become listless and weary il
neglected till the older ones are attended
to. 1t becomes much more difficult to
secure their attention, and consequent
improvement, if their lesson is deferred
till near the close of the school. After
their reading and spelling lesson, which
is conducted in class, the little ones
are allowed to use their states and pom
ellis for time, copying marks, letters,
figures or pictures from the black board,
where the teacher or some older pupil
has placed the copy. At ten, long re
cess is given to the younger portion of
the school, near the close of which, the
older pupils join them for short recess.
Great pains arc taken to prevent par
rot.like recitations. The pupils are
taught to think and reason. as we'll as to
commit to memory and recite. A rcgu-
lar hour isassigncd to each recitation aud
every lesson is required at Il appoint d
time. Order and system are absolute
ly necessary to accomplish anything in
the scbool-room. The exercises of one
day are similar to those of others. ex-
cepting. sometimes. to promote vivacity
and excite ali interest variety is allowed.
TO this end. singing, chanting. marching.
are at discretion promscuously introduc.
ed. Wednesday afternoon and Satur.
day forenoon are reserved from the reg
ular school exercises, devoted to various
pursuits, according to the wants Of the
school In this variety are included
Pcnmanship, Drawing, Composition, Dec
lamation, Analysing Flowers, Uttcring
the Elementary sounds, and various ct
ceteras, with which, every moment Of
the time is psoitably occupied. Mach
greater Improvement is thus secured
than with the same exercises upon those
days as the others.
Communications are the sources Of
much that is evil in school. When these
are broken up, the fountain of mischief
is in measure gone. They cause much
idleness and violation of the rules Of
school For the suppression of commu
nications, the same general course i:
pursued as in other cases of transgres-
sion. The scholars are reasoned with
as intelligent and accountable beings
They are taught the necessity of con
forming to the rules of the school. They
are made to feel that it is for their good
the rules are established, that if one
may violate them with IMMUNITY, ali
may, and no regulations will exist, and
no improvement cnsue. Finally they
are asked how many think it necessary
to have these rules and how many will
sustain them. When the majority arc
secured upon the right side, las they al
ways will be- it is comparatively easy
to enforce obedience to all reasonable
and necessary rules. When the tone Of
moral feeling is sufficiently elevated, at
the close of schoo. each night, let it be
ascertained how many have failed to
comply with the rules forbidding com.
munications, and the cause of such fail.
ure.-It is better. that communications
exist in school rather than pupils be
taught to deceive. Let those who fail.
be appealed to as being capable of doing
as well as those who succeed After a
few failures, detention after school, or
some other mild punishment is inflicted
and seldom is resort necessary to moro
stringent measures, If whispering
simply is forbidden, much time is often
wasted in communication by writing
and other methods Of evasion are resort.
ed to, without direct violation of the
rules of school, and duplicity of charac.
ter is thus formed If continued fail.
urcs to conform to the rules remain, the
same frmncss is necessary here as in
all other cases. The pupil must yield
or leave the school. So long as the
school continues, rules must be ooeyed
The subject of communications will il
lustrate other cases of discipline, but
this topic was selected, as by many it is
thought to be very trivial one--E Elk
pericnce proves it far otherwise
Emulation is thought by many to pro
duce more evil than good in school. Thi.
is only when misapplied, as everything
good is liable to be in this world. Chill
dren need motives to incite them to &C
ting Emulation is among the most pow
erful motives that can be brought to beal
upon the juvenile mind. Why throw
it away because it may be perverted
1t is not necessary that it be so. Great
care must be taken to instill right prin
ciples of action into the minds Of chill
dren. The teacher possesses powerful
influence to this effect, which should b,
faithfully improved When this inau
ence is exercised to its greatest, pures
and hottest extent, then is District
School managed in the best mode.
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