The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1858-01-14

them, no plan Of operations, no system, can
be free from liabilities to offences the avoid.
ance Of them (such are the inirmi,ies Of our
natures) is direct impossibility.. The man
is yet to be who can take the control of "a
multitude of boys of every order Of mind, ca.
pacity and power, of every order of moral
temperament, moulded by every order Of out
ward agencies, without incurring the dis
pleasure of some and the uncharitable views
of others. When the interliuk of feeling
and purpose is preached, whether from Just
or supposititious causes, the existing rela.
donship should be quietly dissolved. My
experience teaches that the greatest barrier
10 the introducing of right system of
management, one that would meet the exi-
geucies of capacity and temperament, and
give life and action, is the misconstructions
of the steps needed to be taken to evolve
proper system, and their being resolved into
partialities, or aversious; forgetting the
truth that justice is distribative, that al!
management must be personal, las all merit
is SOY and that there can be, strictly speak.
ing, no such thing rs cooperative :espcns;-
bility. As intellect is personal, all its opera.
tons must be so rs moral responsibility is
personal, all its rewards and personalities
must be so. As wrong views are conceived,
so wrong actions are propagated. The Of
flee Of teaching, as it daily deals with the
instincts Of natural affections, has great
claims upon the forbearauce Of PARENTS
Every teacher in the universe must be view.
ed in two distinct lights. The first is, that
of his personal identity, in which he is un
related to scholars or patrons the second is
official, in which he is unrelated to himself,
and becomes db o6fcio an obligated and res
ponsible public agent. ... ..
His frs. or unrelated position stretches
up to the line of duty, whence emerge the
responsibilities Of the official relations. The
perception and appreciation of this truth
would dispel all the border differences of
the two positions.
But have only little while ago. init
mated that just system, founded in the in.
| telligence of the teacher, and on the &C. .ope-
ration of the patron, would suggest plan
Of management suitable to the various plas.
tic degrees of capacity. This must likewise
apply to school penalties, and the modes of
inAicting them. An opinion is prevalent,
without the shadow Of reason for its lie.
fence. or the claims Of justc, in its vindica.
tion that the larger and older the offender
the less reason there is for his corporal chas-
tisement, and that such punishments should
be reserved for little fellows. l think Just
the reverse Of this-right backward.
Bringing up the doctrine of relative ca
pacity and power, this heterodox heresy dis
appears at once. The defencibility or ipde-
fencibiity Of conduct can never be separat-
ed from motives and intentions These, which
graduate the character Of all departures
| from the right way, can never be unlinked
from the grades Of intelligence, in which
they originated, by which they have been
concocted, and the physical abilities which
consummate them. The very grounds taken
tojustify big boy offences are the very grounds
Take to couden n'them and the verv grounds
OF excuse and justification are precisely the
proper grounds of condemnation, and mex.
culpation; and upon this conviction shall un
hesitatingly and infexibly administer the
government of my school. The impulsive-
ness of small children, their want Of refec.
;ion, their actions, frequently without mo.
tives or intentions, are extenuating circum-
stances in favor of a more persuasive and
gentler governance. The abandonment OF
the rod is a modern heresy unwarranted by
reason or the word Of God. When moral
suasion and gentle means fail it should be
used without stingiEess. To make farce
of government in school is as ridiculous as
it is absurd. Punishment is due to wilful
offences-against law and order, it is its due.
No opinion was ever so at fault with reason
as that which attaches degradation to pun.
ishment. 1t is the offence that necessitates
the punishment, which degrades, and no:
the punishment, for it is its only justifca-
ton, The next thing which presents itself
in connection with the plastic system, is the
manner Of teaching. Amoment's reference
to the organism Of the mind of children,
will suggest the propriety of the use of
Oral lie. nres. This, as far as possible, is
" the ph a." Judgment takes precedence
before me 1nory; truths conceived are better
understood, saa the mind strengthens by
virtue of its own action. Memory lays up
facts, but never eonceives principles. The
taxing Of one faculty at the expense of 9th.
ers, fetters the genius and retards improve.
ment. The plan here suggested springs
thought by stirring the dormant faculties
into life, and sending them abroad to be as
signed each to its legitimate sphere of ac-
ton. This plan is approved By the cousti.
tuition of the mind itself To achieve with
certainty the glorious results embosomed in