Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-03-08
A SNARE.


4
challenge so,icitous attention.
! would like to entrcat any parent
whose eye falls on this article to read
it through, and would begin by
asking, Do you give any personal at
tentlon to the public schools? Do
you note their modes of instruction
aud discipline? Do you visit the
Que nearest you, say once a month, or
even once a term?
Suppose your own children do not
go there, your interests are yet in
volved in those schools. A mighty
engine is there at work, shaping the
mind of the next generation, forming
the children Of the land, and molding
therefore the destinies of the coun-
try. Be needless, 1 pray you, no
longer
For fear Of being misunderstood,
let me stop here and pay tribute
to the teachers of the public schools.
As class they are earnest and zeal
Gus, able and faithful. Their duties
are most arduous, and they shrink
from no amount of fatigue and self
denial in diseharging them. And,
moreover, under the influence of their
increasing esprit du corps, teaching is
fast rising TO the dignity of profess
sion.
But the teachers themselves are
subjected to system, and who hail
say that it is system incapable of
Improvement; or that it is in every
respect the best attainable A.? Let US
test 1t in one particular. Go with
me, mother OF children, to one of the
public schools.
i is late in the afternoon. The
eacher is finishing her reports for
he daY. Ia the matter Of recitations
she herself is the sole arbiter Of the
records. but ia the matter OF deporr-
meat, each child is put on honor aud
required to snswer for Itself She
calls upon each little one by name to
riae and give an estimate OF It's own
behavior Ten is the highest record
each instance Of misbehavior takes
off one from that number. Now OBJ
serve.
There rises q gay, lively little fell
low, and with a saucy toss of the
head gives his record as nine. He
has played whenever his teacher
looked another way, and has whis-
pered at every opportunity. In fact
be il one fthose children-and there
arc such--who cannot keep STILL
FThink again. Eddie, says the teach
err, who has general sense of the
torment which the little fellow is to
her, without any remembrance of
specifications. Eight be at once re-
spends, dropping his bid one lower
by way Of experiment. Had his
"eight" been challenged he would
have lowered it to seven, but the
teacher has no means Of detecting
the fraud, and eight is recorded. He
knows, and 50 do all his schoolfellows
who are keenly watching, that he
ought TO be marked zero.
Next arises a little girl who has
written several notes and slyly put
them in circulation. She is confident
that they have escaped the observa-
/ ton of her teacher, however, and so
she boldly gives in her record as ten,
Next comes a conscientious child.
You can know it by the hesitation
the changing color-the troubled air.
The teaches knows her to be one of
the best of Che scholars, but she gives
in her record SIS five. How singular
She has seemed so good all day !;
what couid she have been doing
But five it rs, and the child with q
sigh of regret and yet of relief, sits
down, the Prey of conflicting feelings.
She has couhted her violation of rules
so far and diven in her record hon.
estly, but on ! the others do not do
50, and how can she 90 on much lon
ger in this way She has been q
. great deal better than the girl who
was just marked ten and how could
she help it IF her seat-mate did take
her geography without leave and
otlige her 70 make signals in order
to obtain il again, and if the girl be-
bind her dill whisper to her for her
lead PENCIL? And they did not give
10 their record any lower for those
violations, and was it fair that she
should havs to?
Thus the. struggle goes on in the
little breast, each time growing faint
| on. but you: do not perceive it. One
and anotheF is put on the confession
| AL You .only notice how high some
record thetnselves, how low others.
aud how a significant smile passes
| from one little face TO another a. The
calling Of the roll progresses.
| In truth is not this system snare
for the little ones /? Is it not under
mining their truthfulness Z? Does il
nor reward fslsehood and punish hon.
esty? Does it not subject conscien-
tious children every day to what is
to them a dire temptation Does it
not every day prosper untruthful-
ness =? Verify | have cleansed my
heart in vain and washed my hands
in innoconcy !" Why compel chill
dren to exeiaim thus before their
timer Why force on them a prob
lem whioA was "too hard for the
saint of God?
What would you do ?" l have
been asksd. Would you do away
with reports altogether 2" Not at
all but would have no child called
on to give testimony in its own case.
The weakness of human nature is
supposed ID be such that the law
avoids sucBevidence from adults, and
on oath. Why require it from child2
Why entrasO the forming conscience q?
Why ensnere the little feet? Why
not entruaA the record for behavior
a. well as Cor recitations exclusively
to the tedchiT? There would be no
greater probability of error in the
reports ths;n under the present sys-
TEN, and tse danger of favoritism is
as nothing 20 the possibility of weak
ening the conscience, and subverting
| the trnthfFilnaaa IF a uhoia ranara