The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-09-23
Rights Of School Children.

The following article from the
Picayune will we'll repay for its
perusal:
The first and earliest right of !,
child is the right to Il sutticiency
of wholesome provision and that
care for health and preservation
which it cannot take for itself.
This right is the concern of pa
rents alone or chiefly.
The second right Of a child is
to be happy, and this is i, care
| which is shared in no small part
by teachers. With children hap
piness is essential to health. a
state OF fretfnlness and discon-
tent is also 4 state of disease.
The child that is moody and
peevish is in danger of becoming
morose and misanthropic in after
years but Il happy childhood
gives a tinge and glow of enjoy
ment to all the following life
time. Chccrfulness is an ele-
mcnt Of strength in contending
against all the pains and griev-
anccs, the troubles and trials to
which life is doomed. II Il boy
passes his first ten years in whole
some play and harmless .jollity,
he will be very apt to look at the
bright side of things for the bal
ance Of his life; and the little
girl that goes dancing; and laugh
ing to her happy home from a
happy school, and whose face is
seldom without a smile, will be
very apt to become I, cheerful
woman, who will take bad luck
as a joke, who will dispel gloom
from her presence, who will inspire
the atmosphere of her fathers
house with the spirit of buoyant
pleasure, and who will make glad
hearts and shining faces around
her continually. There is some
thing out of joint in the school
where pupils are fretful and
gloomy. n sad. faced child is a
melancholy sight anywhere, and
the gloomiest Of all pictures is a
school-roon filled with such.
\ third right Of children is to
be taught, while young, those
things which they will be COM
PEELED to practice when Of mature
age and when thrown upon their
own resources. They are soon to
start upon Il serious journey, and
they have right to be well and
duly trained for the undertaking.
They need useful knowledge, and
and they need the trained and
disciplined capacity to acquire
and classify information without
the help Of teachers after their
school days are over. An infant
is not taught to walk by being
carried constantly in Il swing, nor
is /, youth in the proper course
who is not learning more and
more day by day to trust to his
own resources. The great lesson
OF independence must begin in
the school room. When the boy
quits school and enters in earn
est upon the great field Of work
and competition his education is
just begun, and if he has been
trained in true methods and
taught selt-reliance, all his ways
will be ways Of pleasantness. a
cheerful, hopeful, self-dependent
boy, made capable Of selt-instruc-
ton, and eager for knowledge, is
sure of success and promotion.
He enters the great industrial
match Of life with a clear head,
an observant eye and Il thought
full mind, and when he finds his
fit labor ]le takes hold of it with
Intelligence and good humor. y
boy we'll taught, who has learned
to arapple with difficulties and to
love the labor of overcoming
them, who has learned the keys
and methods Of knowledge, and
how to employ them, has Il sue
cess insured against everything
but vice and i'll health.
y fourth right of children is
to be treated with proper regard
for their respective capacities.
The child that has IL quick, Wig
orous and ready mind ought not
to be kept drilling and hammer
ing for weeks over dull lessons
because there are ,lnluck% boys
in his class who are slow of ap-
prchensiOn. Some minds ac-
conpiisf more in IN hour than
others do in:l day. There is no
justice in holding back the mental
hawks to accommodate the slow
er flight of birds OF heavier wing.
They have Il right to Il fair pro
portion Of the teachers time and
help as well as the dull, and
these in their turn have Il right