New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-06-08

from Maine began.
TIE FLOGGING QUESTION AND TIE CITY
SCHOOLS.
The Board of Education on Wednesday last
was engaged once more in discussing the oft
discussed question of Corporal Punishment in
the public schools. This had been referred to
a committee, and there were two reports
The first favored adherence to the present by
law: "No corporal punishment of any descrip-
" ton shall hereafter be inflicted In any OF
"the common schools" 1t was argued that
under this rule there had been a manifest i'm
provement both in discipline and diligence
The highest punishment inflicted is expul-
sion; but upon this point the other
report takes issue, by asking land 1T
is a pretty grave question: whether 1t Is
not Sinking responsibility to expel a
boy because he is hard TO govern f-whether
it is not, in fact, culpablc abandonment OF
duty2 The natural operation of the rule, 1t Is
urged, is to make criminals and truants. IL Is
proposed, therefore, to permit the parent to
determine whether his erring and troublesome
child shall be logged or expelled. He has
Just claim upon the school, its benefits, and
advantages. He has himself the legal right to
whip his child; and if he pleases'to delegate
this authority to the teacher, should he not be
permitted 20 do so, and thus secure contInu-
ance of school advantages to his child Inc
Board came 10 no decision; but having ordered
the two reports to be printed, it will take the
matter up at the next meeting.
There is one solution OF this problem which
does not appear to have suggested Itself. III
would unquestionably be both cruel and I'M
moral To turn a bad boy into the street, there
TO crow worse and worse until the criminal
courts and the penitentiaries shall claim him
AS their own. But we do not see why 1t
sbould be taken for granted that an unman-
aeeable boy must be left ut liberty TO go to
final and complete ruin. Why should there
not be schools-nOt penal schools but regular
seminaries-in which bad boys might be- seDa-
rately instructed II there must be iiagela-
lion. it should be administered where it can
do no harm To the innocent and the uncon-
Eliminated. The law does not permit ttuancy,
but if the truant is to be compelled 10 attend
school, there should be some school graded
and arranged as nearly as possible to meet bis
particular case. Now, when the truant officer
takes the child back, the teacher refuses to
receive him, being duly authorized so to do.
The consequence is confusion, while the boy,
if he is not regularly attending some school,
must be imprisoned.
1t is true that the object to be sought in the
discipline of schools is the greatest good OF
the greatest number. A refractory pupil must
not be permitted TO infect ali his fellows or to
impede the business of the seminary by re-
of thn
strength of the teacher "Flog him and have
" done with him." is the ready suggestion OF
those who favor the rod. The trouble is that
You cannot fog him and have done with him.
Indeed, he may prove Gas they say III the
prize-rng) glutton of punishment and III
time come to regard it as no more than an
agreeable stimulus 1t appears to have been
overlooked that for ages the rod has been in
Use in the schools, and that no per-
ceplble improvement has resulted from
if. while unquestionaby it has been the
occasion of great abuses. Now, when
thoughtful men are proposing to give 1t
up. we are met by the difficulty OF disposing
of the utterly unmanageable THIS, however,
is no more than we should have expected.
This is one of great many difficulties which
we encounter in this delicate business of uni
versal public education. We cannot meet it
merely by slipping back to a system already
for sufficient reasons discarded. That would
be an act of cowardice, or it would prove that
we have attempted something for which we
are not qualified. The question now is. How
are public schools to be managed without re-
course to the rod An answer, TO say the
least, ought not to be impossible.