The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-12-12
The Rod and the Child.

Inc Rod and the Child. ',, .
Phildelpaia Times. .,.. .-. B.. -..t .,-.I.
: A schoolboy thinks it great fun to
defy and bully his teacher and make
her life miserable He is as strong rs
she and she can't hurt him. He does
not think it necessary to relate his ex-
ploits at home, or he tells them with
such embellishments as represents the
poor little teacher as a hardened ty-
rant. BY and by there comes q time
when the boy meets his master. After
more than usually exasperating cut
burst of INSTRUMENTATION he is stood in
q corner Or given shaking or perhaps
the fragment of the thrashing that he
deserves-the sslutary Use of the birch
being unfortunately much restricted
in our schools. Then the boy runs
home and tells his parent that he had
been cruelty abused, and they. never
stopping to inquire what the boy had
done, but accepting his own highly
col red statement as sufficient. raise
hue and cry against tine teachers and
spread their grievances in. the news
papers. ...-..-s. ...,...~.-- ...-.,--.
is possible that there are some
teachers in pubic schools who have
not that imperturbatle miIdness OF
disposition, that Supernatural COM
mand of temper that u public school
teacher ought to have. But for mere
men and women to get along as they
10, day after day, and year after year.
with a. mob OF young rutfians handed
against them; and with a more savage
mob Of unreasoning parents living in
wait to find occasion for fault finding
is little short Of miraculous. Ii boy
or girl utterly refuses obedience and
respect, yielding neither to entreaties
nor to threats. and the teacher forcibiy
compels q recognition Vt authority, the
whole neighborhood is up in arms, and
the teacher-who in a majority of
cases is a gentle young woman strug-
Cling with headache and a bacKache
and trying hard to pay SINE attention
TO the studious children without letting
the idle ones run wholly wild-is de
nouuced to the world as a hardened
ruffan. ..lI ~ o.. t...... ,..o
lu about ninety-nine per cent OF
the reported cases OF cruel or excessive
punishment in schools. it turns out ON
examination that the cruelty and vio-
lence existed wholly in the cbild's un-
governed imagination and that the
real fault has been the omission of
such stringent correction IS might
have proved benefit to the child.
It is simple impossib;lity to carry OF
a large public school, filled with all
manner of children, good and bad,
without at least the power Of appeal.
when. occasion demands, to physical
force. Parec:s who transfer to the
state their duty uf bringing up their
own children must transfer also, their
suthority. the state, by its represents
alive the puDlic teacher, stsnding for
the time being it the parents place.
If they will not do this they ought to
take care of their c ildren themselves,
or at least teach themi subordisatiou
and obedience. The parents who make
fuss when a teacher pinches q boys
ear or raps a girls knuckles with a
ruler are very conmonly those who
beat and abuse their children at home
and then give them up as incorrigible.
Tie complaints do not often come from
those who understand the government
both of TIMER childr enaud Of them
selves. =.