The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-02-15

discussed by the teachers in our county
Would you please publish the following
extract from Pages Theory and Pratice
of Teaching, book which should be care
fully read by every teacher. D.
am aware that when enter this field
| am treading on ground every inch of
which has been disputed l come to the
task of writing on this subject, however,
think, without prejudice or asperity.-
Having nothing to conceal, 1 should ex-
press my own views honestly and frank
ly,-vicws which l entertain after dill
gently seeking the truth for some twenty
years, during which time I have listened
to great deal of discussion, and have
read carefully and candidly whatever has
been written by others. Nor do 1 expect
to give universal satisfaction There are
strong men, and l believe honest men,
who run to the opposite extremes in their
doctrine and practice, and who defend
the one course or the other as if the ex-
istence of the world depend upon the is
sue. There are those, who not only
claim the right to chastise, but who in
sist that whipping should be the first re-
sort of the teacher In establishing his
authority; and to show that this is not a
dormant article of their faith, they daily
and almost hourly dem onstrate their eff
cheney in the use of the rod, so that their
pupils may be living witnesses that they
act in accordance with their creed. A.
gain, there are others who as earnestly
deny the right of the teacher to resort to
the rod at all, and who urge with all their
power the efficacy of moral suason to sub
due and control the vicious and the stub
! born in our schools; and who are ready to
assert unequivocally that no man is fit to
be employed to teach the young, who
has not the ability to govern all the var
ious dispositions he may meet in any
school, without the use Of corporal pun
| ishment.
l have no disposition to question the
sincerity and honestly of each of these
classes, knowing as do, that different
men see with different eyes, even when
the circumstances are the same; much
more when their circumstances are wide
| ly diverse. have no bitterness of lang
uage to apply to those who 60 to the ex-
treme of severity; nor any sneer to be-
stow upon the name of "moral-suasionist" !"
But while l accord to other men the right
of expressing their own opinions, l claim
the same privilege for myself, yet with
out wishing to obtrude my opinions upon
other men any further than they will bear
the test of reason and experience.
1t is agreed on all hands that the teaclt-
er must establish authority IN some acay,
before lie can persue successfully tile objects
Of has school. | have described the quail
fications which the teacher should pos
sess in order to govern we'll, and | have
also given some of the means of secur-
ing good order without resort to Sc
verify. Probably in large majority of
our schools, the teacher with these quail
fcations and the employment of these
means, could succeed in establishing and
maintaining good order without any such
resort. This should in my opinion al
ways be done, if possible, and no one
will rejoice more than myself to see the
day, should that day ever come, when
teachers shall be so much improved as to
be able to do this universally. But in
writing on this subject, it is the dictate Of
common sense to take human nature as 1t
is, and human teachers as they are, and
as many of them must be, for some time
to come,-and adapt our directions to the
circumstances. Human nature, as it is
exhibited in our children, is far from be-
ing perfect; and l am sorry to say that
the parents of our children often exhibit
it in still less fattering light. Perhaps
no language of mine can SO well repre-
sent the concurrence of circumstances
making corporal punishment necessary in
our schools as it has been done by the
Hon. Horace Mann in his lecture OF
"School Punishments" "The first point.
says he, (which shall consider, is
whether corporal punishment IS ever nc
cessary in our schools As preliminary
to decision of this question, let us take
brief survey Of facts. We have in this
Commonwealth, Massachusetts, above
one hundred and ninety-two thousand
children between the ages of four and
sixteen years. All these children are not
only legally entitled to attend our pub
lie schools, but it is our great desire to
increase that attendance, and he who In
creases it is regarded rcformer. All
that portion of these children who attend
school, enter it from that vast variety ot
homes which exist in the state From
different households, where the widest
diversity of parental and domestic inhu-
ences prevails, the children enter the
schoolroom, where there must be com
parative uniformity. At home some
of these children have been INDUCED in
every wish, fattered and smiled upon toI
the energies of their low propensitfes' and
oven their freaks and whims enacted into
household laws. Some have been So
vigorously debarred from every innocent
amusement and indulgence, that they
tLo,n SplvaS waV AZ