Morning journal and courier., 1880-11-09

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS. The report of subcommittee of the Bos- ton school committee on the subject of cor ! poral punishment in the schools of that city has excited general interest in this impo rtant question. In the majority report those who make it recall the universal practice of cor poral punishment in the past as means of discipline show how step by step it has been abolished in the army, navy and marine service, and in the colleges, universities, aca- denies and private schools, and the progress made in other countries and cities towards its abandonment. Throughout France all corporal punishment in schools has ceased
 In Austria it was abolished by law as long ago even as the last century. In Holland. or the Netherlands, and Prussia where it is said there are the best schools in the world it has been legislated out of existence. In this
 country, in the State of New Jersey, corporal
 punishment was prohibited in 1s66 In New
 York city the Board of Education prohibited
 corporal punishment in 1870, and in Syracuse
 1t was abolished in 1867; and even the col
 ored schools of Maryland, established shortly
 after the late war for the education of the
 children of the freedmen, were started and
 successfully conducted without this degrad
 ing species of discipline. It is certain the
 report continues that corporal punishment
 has during the last quarter of a century been
 steadily diminishing and that in many of the
 best conducted schools in this country it has
 been either voluntarily abandoned by the in
 struetors themselves'or absolutely forbidden
 Tho
 taken by the city of New York resulting in
 the abandonment of this species of discipline
 are given in detail and the result of its aboli-
 ton shown by an extract from the last Annu-- al report of City Superintendent Randall,
 who says there are fewer dismissals from
 school for misbehavior," 7" and that kindness,
 as rule, has greater influence in securing
 discipline and respect than physical force" Similar results in Syracuse and in Philadel-
 phla are also recorded.
 The majority of the committee are fully convinced that the public school system would be greatly advanced in the line of true prog ,the teacher's profession elevated, tho chil- dren's sacred rights protec ted, and the honor and reputation of the city subserved, by the inn mediate and absolute prohibition of corporal punishment in all the schools But they be- heVe that the disuse of such punishment may be brought about by other and less radical means than immediate and absolute prohi- bltion. They have no doubt that it will be done away with by ridding the schools of incompetent teachers. They are of opinion that one of the best ways to rid the schools of the incompetent teachers is to place the whole responsibility of the disci- pl1ne on the principals. If corporal punish ment must be inflicted, they say, let the prin- clpals infict it themselves. And let the pun ishment be inflicted at session subsequent to the one at which the offence is committed Let each case be reported in full with 8 state ment of the offence, the name of the offender, the number of blows struck, and their effect real or apparent, upon subsequent behavior Then abuses, if they do not cease, will be reduced, and the influence of the principals will be enlisted in quietly, but surely, ridding the schools of incompetent teachers, 'teach- CTS who cannot conduct their classes without 1 the aid of that degrading and demoralizing species of discipline which the greater part of the civilized world has outgrown.''
 The member of the committee who makes 1 the minority report has long been teacher, and thinks, with Solomon, that children need the rod. He is in favor, therefore, of leaving | the matter as it stands. The present regula- l lions allow corporal punishment of girls in l the primary schools and of boys in the pri- | mary and grammar schools of Boston, the l only restriction on the teacher being that the l punishment shall be on the hand with a rat | tan, preceded by an explanation of the nature | of the offence to the pupil and followed by a report from the teacher at the close of the | lay to the principal, and in primary schools to the supervisor in charge, and by the prin- ,ipal to the board of supervisors once month.
 The plan proposed by the majority of the no corporal punishment be permitted in the primary high schools, or on girls in the grammar schools, and on boys only after the intervention of one night and by principals-is a reasonable one and would not hamper any good teacher. Where cor poral punishment is allowed with few re- strictions it is certain to be inflicted too ire 4uently and too severely. If it is not thought wise to abolish it entirely, it should be surrounded by effective restrictions against fca ab1,co |