The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-06-11
The Roa in the Schools.

1t seems to US that the question as tc
whether corporal punishment shall be al
lowed in the public schools admits of a
simple answer. A school is little mon
archy in which there will always be some
unruly subjects, and authority over them
must be given to the teacher, with power
to maintain il. No scholar can remain in
a school who is not subject to the teacher
in all matters affecting school discipline;
and as the time may come when obedience
can only be enforced with the rod, the
teacher should have the right to use the
rod or expel the rebelliOus pupil Which
course he shall take should be settled be-
torehand between the parents of each
scholar and himself. As general rule
those children whom their parents esteem
too tender and precious for beating will
have grown 80 accustomed to the rule of
kindness at home that they will not be apt
to come into open conflict with the teacher,
and il they do they should be sent to their
parents to learn how to behave themselves
so as to deserve immunity from the rod.
Children whose father and mother are
ready and willing to intrust them to the
teacher with the injunction to fog them if
they do not obey the rules are generally
well used to the birch, and are apt to put
their preceptor to the frequent exercise of
his authority. At best corporal punish
ment is a harsh and brutal remedy for bad
behavior, and those families, schools and
communities in which it is seldom or never
used are the happiest and the best discip-
lined. Until it ceases altogether in fami-
lies it is idle to expect II to be laid aside
altogether in scholars and after there is
no further necessity for it in schools, socie-
tY may get along without it. The parents
have but few children to manage; they
control them from infancy and have every
claim to their respect and love. When
they can secure perfect obedience in their
family circle, silence at will, and industry
for FIVE hours in the day without the use
Of the rod, they will supply material to a
school which no teacher will need to whip
into shape, and on which they should not
allow any one to lay hand save in the
way OF kindness. When they have
brought up boys and girls who are impu
dent, idle ard disobedient. and when they
can only maintain the peace of their house
hold by the constant infection of punish
meDt, they must not expect that teacher
can rule the children whom they have
spoiled without resorting at times to the
methods which they have abused. Such
parents must grant more than usual gu
thority over their unruly children, and tC
refuse to allow teacher TO punish them
would be to introduce anarchy into the
school. For such parents the remedy Of
expulsion applied TO their children would
be a source Of never ending torment, as
they would always have their boys and
girls coming home to them like bad coin
A bad school, like bad family. is known
by the amount of foggiDg in it. In pro.
portion as the rod is unknown perfection
Of discipline may be inferred, and good
order is the main requisite for rapid pre-
gress IN knowledge A teacher Who has
to spend the most of his time in beating
boys is soon good for nothing else, as he
loses the temper and habits of an instruct
or. Such person ought 10 be put out OF
school ct once, since he will be violent
and inefficient whether the rod be taken
away from him or not. By selecting men
and women possessed of the natural tact,
dignity and force of character required to
impress and control a number of children
of every sort brought together 10 one
enormous family. the school commission
ers will 90 more to abolish corporal pun
ishment than by passing a hundred rules
prohibiting it. Such teachers will be able
to get along without using the rod, and the
sentiment OF our times will insist upon
having such teachers, since the old days OF
education by rulers, canes, leather straps
and raw hides belong to the era when they
logged sailors 10 the navy and considered
Solomon literally the wisest man that ever
lived.