Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-12-19

Beading Matter on Every Page,
WASHINGTON CITY:
tEsDAY-.....-.-. December IL, 1871


We had occasion lately TO censure certain &C.
eentsse and Notwithstanding punishments in
vented and praetised By some iniudicious teach
erS IN our public schools These punishments we
see, arc tiscountenanced by the most intelligent
OF the School Trustees and in some. If not ali of
the districts, rules have been lately adotted nos
itTely forbidding them.
On the other hand, there is something to be
said as TO the duties OF parents in making chill
dren obedient to the teacher. Parents who
md themselves wholly unable 10 govern their
chiidren' or Keep them in any sort of subortIi-
ration at home, send the m to the teacher charged
with the mental and physical care of sixty nm
Piis, and expect that the over-worked teacher
shall not only perform the miracle of MAKING
the incorrigible youngsters tractabIe and teach
able, but shall also accomplish il without pun
lsh mtnt OF any kind. III the child is whippod
I've don't believe much in whipping, but 80 LONG
~ Is prescribed punishment il must be en-
forcsdD there is q row that sets the vhole
school district in a ferment; il he is susnendad
the father is apt to strsghtway IN AXE his appear.
anee at the sehOOl-room, or before the school
board, and insist that the delinquent shall be
reinstated on the ground that he Day,
taSes, ana has right to have hi.
children educated in the public schools. Teach
ers who are 80 poorly sustained in the govern
u s"AtNi'h ps Hp1nc dutuOr1tlcs have
aRretty hard time of it. The children of sucb
injudicious and unreasonable parents uaturaI,r
go to school in anything but the proper temper
TO be subjected to any wholesome discipline. aud
the consequence II that the school Is in a com
slant uproar with them. The attempt to bring
them to order Is almost inv ariably the signal for
rOugh-and-tumble contest for physical mas
terry, not NJ all to the edcation of the rest of the
school.
Any parents who indulge the belief that they
can, by right of paying taxes, insist on forcing
their insubOrdinate children on the public schools
should at once dismiss that mistaken idea. The
public schools are for 1.-THE greatest good to the
greatest number" III the incorrigible child of
taxpayer stands In the way of the progress and
proper discipline of the fifty-nine other pupils i'm
the school he must leave for the good of the rest
But, says some tender-hearted philanthro-
Pist, "would you have these boys thrown upon
the street, to go from bad to worse -, We
answer, not necessarily. The s'hard-cases- may
he sent to private school of limited numbers
or II yiciously bad, to the Reform School; but
one thing l. certain, they have no business in
our public schools, where, in place of beinp
themselves reclaimed, they may poison the
minds and retard the progress of fifty or sixty
others. First and last, il should he Understood
that our public schools are not Reform Schools
Our best schools are those where there is a
good understanding between parents and teach
eTs; where the parents visit the schools freauent
~, and confer freely with the teachers upon the
pecuharities, tempers, and mental qualities of
their children. In such schools, the authority
OF the teacher is reinforced at home BY the pa
rent. The refractory child, when corrected bv
the teacher, knows that he can expect no SYM
Pathy or encouragement at home. and speedily
settles down to good behavior