Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-01-27

By WILSON PALMER.
believe in wise aud just regulations con.
corning the promptness and regular attend
ance of our pupils in school. The pupil
should, however, be taught positively tho
Importance Of promptpess and regularity at
school, rather than negatively. We should
speak frequently Of the merit there is in be.
ing in season, and less frequently of the
Inconvenience and faulty negligence in being
tardy. We should never cause the sensi.
tive boy and girl to fear tardy mark or an
absence that is necessity, rs thoroughly as
they would some dreaded and dangerous
disease. Instruct them to start in ample
season for school, and not to hasten az
though grim death was on their track and
life at stake, on hearing the last warning
strokes Of the bell. Let good common sense
for which there can be no substitute, enter
largely into the example we place before
our pupils, and the words byi which we
counsel them. Let them know that VIC
recognize the fact that there will be reasons,
aside from illness of self or family, why q
pupil may be occasionally absent from
school, and all this in spite Of the regula-
tons. Do not fear to have them UNDER
stand that there are occasionally reasons
for being tardy at school, and when such
hardness occurs, they are to accept It pleas
antly and in a reasonable way, as they
would any other necessary hindrance In
life. You should even confirm this confess
ed and frank avowal Of yours by affirming
that the best of teachers are occasionally
tArdy and absent, for reasons other than
illness of self. family, or friends.
We should make our schools as true to
life rs it is possible, and net something SC
unlike itthat the subsequent life OF the pu-
pil shall be constantand open contradic-
ton to all his school experience. We are
not to conclude that the school which pub.
fishes the highest per cent. Of attendance
and punctuality is necessarily the best
school in the State neither are we to teach
our children so. We may more reasonably
sdJudge that school failure in some of ito
more vital interests, that shows such re-
cord OF attendance and punctuality from
month to montl, as clearly indicates that
such showing of percentages is arrived ct
Only e Sc s estt n e.iesiye comnar;.
son Of itself with other schools.
Themajority Of our pupils who will Bit
terly weep over tardy and an absent mark
will bravely endure with unmoistened eye,
. Lesson but half committed, or wholly un-
Learned. aud we teachers have brought
about just this state of affairs by our ever
lasting lectures on promptness and regular
attendance, and the highest possible per-
centage for publication at the end of the
month. Mr.. Packard, superintendent of
schools in Chicago, Gays, in his last report,
shat where school secures an attendance
OF more than ninety -four per cent, he is
clearly Of tue opinion that such per cent.
has been reached by sacrificing such interest
as should characterize the chiefest excellence
Of the school,"
Do not misunderstood me; most heart
lily believe in the regular and prompt at.
tendance Of our children upon all the exer-
cises Of the school, and they are to be so
taught that these points will be secured.
But We are not to so constantly magnify
them that We shall thereby ride into such
popular favor that we forget, for the time,
other interests belonging TO the pupil I
have never doubted that the order Of that
school is the best that comes from we'll ar
ranged and industrious labor. and were il
possible to secure such in oil cases on the
part of both teacher and pupil, this entire
question of systematic order would settle
itself. 1t would no donbt be natural and
easy, there would be an occasional whisper
about legitimate business, and movement
Of the pupil not unfrequently in the seat for
q more comfortable position, and I do not
question that the pupils in such a school
would look up from their studies to give a
natural and courteous greeting to the
stranger. Or other, on entering the room. II
they would not thus welcome, with eyes
that speak, the approach Of a visitor, they
should be taught SO to do at once by the
teacher even atthe expense. if need be, Of
all the regular studies. II is only the mis-
cradle slave and disgraced prisoner who in
tently and constantly look down; but the
free man and woman, and natural child are
bound to speak, with eyes as well as tongue.
upon all subjects that politely claim The
recognition and attention Of an ordinary
civility and refinement.
That school, the order OF which is SO quiet
that You can hear pin drop, partakes more
largely Of death than Of life. regard that
teacher wicked failure whose love Of red
tape, aud military display and authority is
50 great that it thoroughly kills out all nat
ural expression and manifestation of the
pupils life, and makes him mere machine
that only moves as he, the tcscher, COM
mands.
/ regard our entire list Of duties as none
other than an intelligent business, and not
mechanical process. by which we are to
arrivoat certain results foreordained by a
series of prescribed rules and regulations
carried ont to the letter. A law is essenti.
ally obeyed when the spirit Of obedience is
evident, and that obedience which allows of
the notifications, conditions and ne :essities
ofsurrounding circumstances will or should
satisfy the demands Of the most complete
justice. Pupils have rights that we teach
ers ore bound to respect, most prominent
among which 10 the God.given9right Of be.
ing natural girls and hnvs in Ri srell % o,,&