The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-04-21
EDITOR.
discipline i'm the scnooE-Room.

We commend to our readers of the Ed
ucational column, what Oliver Crane sa
under the above heading in the April No.
of "The New York Teacher, and Amer
can Educational Monthly"
]. DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF IT'S
SUCCESSFUL MAINTENANCE.
There are few teachers whoa some point
in their experience, in the schQolf"om,
have not found themselves all aback BY
some special development, or case, for
which their theory made little or no pro
vision. There is not a school anywhere
which has not some peculiarities OF It's
own. There is not teacher possessed OF
ordinary experience in common school
teaching, but has found itvastly easier to-
govern some schools than others. In one
school he meets elements of discord far
more difficult to reduce to system, than in.
another; though to outward view the
school may be made up of much the same
material The pupils may be equally ad
vanced and equally quick or slow to learn,
aud ranging in nearly the same ages and
general classification; and yet there will
be something-what that something is il
may not always be so easy to detect
something in the one, making far lar
ger draft upon the teachers disciplinary
exertiuns, than in another, which it has
been his, il may be but little before, to
govern,
Besides, there is a vast difference in the
mental make of those assayingo to teach
81 ( o&I
quirement to secure and maintain degree
OF orderat which another, perhaps equal
" we'll qualified to instruct, stands almost
understanding how It is that his
more fortunate co-laborer finds it so easy
to do that w hieh costs him such constant
efforts. lie labors hard; he means more
overrte effect thesendihe aims at.5 Tht OK
penditdre Of strength, of thought, and of
patience, in the successful one bears per
haps no comparison with that put, forth
by the SIS perfect though no less earnest
Whence this disparity - Where i the
defect2, Isit-in. the schools? Or inrpaft
there, and in part in the teacller,and Dos
sibly in part in what The. teacher finds
himself little able 10 remove or remedy?
For there are. difficulties, and serious ones
too, frem'a source over which the teacher
possesses hardly any control; andthere are
others which prove to be difficulties only
because they arenot Properly appreEends
ed and wisely dealt with.
Our purp0sesinz the present. article isstsr
glance at few Of these obstacles in theA
way Of securing perfectorder and tlisef#
pline in the schoolroom, reserving for a.
subsequent article thesuggestion Of some
of the means or methods Of their success
full removal; or, where hey may not be
removed, how. they are to be disposed oil
so as not to impede but rather to promote
the desired ends of discipline. 80.
/. The first impediment which we no
tice as one found by many teachers to be
in the way of carrying out their plans Of
government in he.school room, is the in
reference of parental or patronal author
ity. ~...sf ,s.w<>~y /.
This is felt especially by teachers in our
common district and graded schools, who
are expected to receive al Il that are sent
for instruction, and to govern all, !; albeit
they may be pupils who have never
learned even the first principles of sub
lection at home. They come from families
often where has existed no sort IF govern
ment, except the government of will, and
that not .unfrequently of an exceedingly
capricious and arbitrary stamp. Parents
and guardians are not always model discisI
plinarians in the family and in the con-
troll of their wards. Take society as d
whole, and the well governed families are
perhaps among the exceptions; whilst
the majority are specimens of greater or1
less mismanagelnept. Indulgence and
want of wholesome restraint, with self
will unsubdued in children at home are
found by every teacher to be among the
foremost of the sources of embarrassment
in the maintenance of perfect discipline
in the school-room a5aA5s eJT8ahl
At the same time, it not unfrequentlg
happens that the parents in whose house4
holds the least parental authority exists,
are among the firstto enJoin upon the
teacher the necessity of making theirI
children "mind. AA@4 s&F aA&>S
In fact many of them send their chill
dren to schoolwith the express statement |
to the teacher that they cangdo nothing
with them themselves; and the only hope
as confessed by them, to have the teach
er make something Of them-make them,
forsooth, what they themselves,from their
children's infancy, have been assidously
labor,ng to disqualify them to become
obedlent children. Though we would
not. for a moment doubt the integrity OIL
their design-they do not mean to make
their children unrulyand distt spectful of
rightfu authority-yet certainly they
could take no sncer course than they do.
to secure this end, viz by indulging
their children, or correcting them only
when ma passion, and tnen moment af-
ter regretting and perhaps retracting the
whole they had done. .A..~m~se> :.
Let hnwnuer the TEACHER hecrir,n 81, cor.