Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1865-1872, 1868-03-13
For the American.
Reply TO ar. w. j."

Mr.. EDITOR, Dear Sir: l have not
before had time to notice the reply of ar.
w. j." to my article of Jan'y Gath, and
even now l must DO so hurriedly. / begin
by saying to "R. w. j." that | do not
feel at all sensitive to your thrusts at
school officers. l regret your remarks
about "bOys being boys, &C., in the con-
neetion in which they stand, as they seem
almost an apology for keeping a shabby
school-room; that windows and school
furniture must be broken and desks and
seats scored and ruined by the knives of
iil-goverued pupils, and there is no help
for it. i have known similar reasons Civ
en- for permitting profanity, obscenity aud
fighting, aud the preceding class Of wrongs
is scarcely less to be excused than the lat
ter. The teacher who permits any ofthem
occupies a much lower standpoint in his
profession than he should. School furni-
ture and buildings can be kept in good
order for any number of years; the walls,
wood work and desks free from knife and
pencil marks, or as long as the teacher
lsbes TO have them so. If so, then it is
his fault if such property be injured or de-
stroyod whilst he has the care of it.
Let the children be brought to feel q
pride in their school room Give Johnny
and Henry desk, and make it matter
of generous rivalry between them and
James aud Willie which party shall show
at the end Of the term the best kept desk,
aad 50 of Lucy and Lizzie, Mary aud Jen.
ME, or adopt any other method by which
the children can be enlisted in the good
work. Have some system, and let it be
your oIcn, and DO sure to carry it out thor
oughly. You must be iarentice, and if
you find yourself falling. blame yourself,
and use a little more thought. Mind that
you can do anything of this sort, if you
have sufficient tact, and the industry to use
il. good teacher can do almost any
thing with his school, necessary to be
done, if Re will only lore his pupils and
win their love. and then introduce his re-
forms gradually, treating them as rational
beings, capable Of understanding and en-
tering into his enterprises. Boys can
soon thus be brought to protect and pre-
serve school property, to love good order
and the prosperity Of the school.
Do not tell me it cannot be done.
knop better / have seen all these things
done over and over again. l have seen
school.room in which you could not find
for all your looking, n knife or pencil
mark on desks, walls or woodwork, where
seventy-fye pupils had been kept for
year; and better-taught school l have
never seen. The love felt by those chill
dren for that teacher will last while they
live; proving that he had led them by silk
en- cords, and was their dearly loved friend,
aud not their grant | have seen dozens
of merry, noisy children playing for
months in school grounds, among newly
planted trees, not one of which was dis
turbed, and every one Of which grew.
have seen school grounds decorated with
Howers. planted and cared for by teacher
and scholars; and the finest bed Of tulips
have ever seen, grew in school grounds
in front Of. AMI not fifty feet from the
door Of q school building whore
nearly one hundred children attended dur
ips the Whole season. 1t was not that