The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-03-22
G0ufatio onaI.


is fair specimen Of its articles, we would
like to have it.
From the Conn. Common School Journal.
School Discipline.
1t is not right to regard any sort Of
discipline as convenient, or even a ne
cessary help to education. 1t is itself the
great educational process. A well dis
ciplined mind is a well educated mind,
whether it has much knowledge or little;
and the mind that is not disciplined is not
educated, though it is familiar with the
whole route from A to Astronomy.
| The true business, then, of the teacher
is that of discipline. The wild colt of the
prairies is unfit for gentle uses, but he
may be brought to drag the plough or to
be driven by child. He needs to be
tanned, but receives no new powers. The
child that is to be the future citizen or
lawgiver, with all bis wild, untamed IN
pulses, mental and moral, comes to the
teacher. He comes to be disciplined.
The popular idea of school discipline
has reference to the whole apparatus of
acquisitions and prohibitions, restraints
and stimulants, which are designed to reg
ulate the pupils habits of study and de-
pertinent. Let US consider for the pres
ent this application ofthe subject, guided
by the proceeding observations. Among
the many evils which teachers commonly
seek to prevent, such as the following are
prominent. Absence and hardness, idle
ness, whispering, all disorderly move
ments in the sohool-roOm, injury to any
school property by making, cutting, de-
filing, &c, rndeness of speech or act In
school intercourse, or in passing to and
from school, profanity, every form Of in
cipient rowdyism, &C., sc.
Among the objects to be secured, some
of which are implied BY their opposites
just named, ore regularity Of attendance,
promptness in every duty, unguestioning
/ obedience, truthfulness and conscientious
nes, earnestness, diligence, thorough prep
aration of lessons, neatness in dress and
school-room habits, the golden rule" as
the rule of intercourse with companions
and teachers, &c. These lists of school
virtues and vices might be much enlarged;
but, at least, those named should be
watchfully cared for by every teacher in
his system of discipline. And this, be it
remembered, not so much to promote the
business of the school-room, as because of
the certain shaping those daily school
room habits, whether good or bad, are to
have of individual character and destiny
for this world and the next.
| A system of discipline ought to accom-
pliSh completely The Object 1t aims at 1t
should have 10 rules that have not been
well considered beforehand 1t should
then admit of no exceptions but for the
most indispensable reasons. Let down
the bars to-day,and scholars will leap the
fences tomorrow, and snap their fingers
at all barriers the day after. The system
while it lasts must be infexible, earnest,
strong, thorough. 1t is much easier to
govern perfectly than partially, to say
nothing of the clear gain in temper and
comfort. Whatever is worth doing at
all, is worth doing thoroughly. Ifan evil
ought to be prevented, let the teacher de-
liberate and then prevent it. He can do
it if he will. He must be patient, but
determined. If any positive advance
ment is to be made, the matter should
be well considered, then let the teacher
will and act like Napoleon. A go0d school
discipline is characterized bg energy and
efficiency.
Government should be equable and u
inform, not ftful and capricous. Schol-
ars should know upon what they may
rely. They will acquiesce more cheer
fully in rule if it is constant, than it is
only executed occasionally. Habits OF
obedience makes obedience easier to Zen
der and secure. 1t is moreover unjust
to pupils to enforce a regulation with
str;ctness at one time, which laxity at an
other has led them to believe may safely
be disregarded. Any scheme of discip-
line, to be successful, must be sure to
embrace details, the "Ah1e things" ot
school life. 1t is utterly impossible to
bring a community of children into hap
py and healthful state of discipline. or TO
keep them there, without the most yigi-
liant attention to those innumerable little
acts and ways which betray the disposi-
ton and tendencies. If boy walks or
sits in your room in staggering or care
less manner, he is sure to be equally care
less in his conduct in more material re-
spects. And if by any amount of patient
culture, you can establish the principle
and habit Of doing ereyy httle thing i,a Tx
,, reyy best acag you may be unconcerned
about his great lines of conduct The
boy is safe. If young miss is pert or
rude in speech or manners, there is a
counterpart within; and ifyou regard with
indifference these slight but true glimpses
of the soul within, there may be much to
regret at future day. Tones OF voice,
carelessness in pronunciation and phrases
ology, coarseness and uncouthness Of
language, untldiness of dress, gait, atti-
tude, &C., have the sound of"little things
But they are each signs and symptoms,
and with certain index point out the path
into the future. More than this. Ii a
pupil commits a. trifing breach of deco.
rum, he thereby strengthens the impulse