The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-01-13
THE DISCIPLINE OF THE
SCHOOL.

THE DISCIPLINE OF THE
SCHOOL.
Continued from last sOeeE.
PUBLIC OPINION A POWERFUL ALLY.
4. Still another MOULDING AID con-
trolling poa0e1' IN the school aooap is
public opiqaion.-This must be created
and directed by the master, q he is
powerless. And first of all h, must
create favorable opinion of himself
that is, must gain the confidence of his
patrons and pupils. To this end he
must form an intimate acquaintance
with both parents and pupils; he unjust
interest himself in what interests
them. and adapt himself to their vary.
ing tastes and peculiarities. On terms
Of friendship and in full sympathy
with all, he is prepared to secule their
cooperation, and thus carry out his
plans and purposes for the Welfare of
his school. But the master win not
secure the confidence of his pupils by
an attempt to crafty all their wishes.
The reckless are always the first to find
fault with loose discipline. If he
would be respected in his office, hewill
govern with sternness and vigor, and
yet he must always act with kindness,
magnanimity, and justice.
Public opinion must also be en-
ployed to secure good order, control
recklessness, subdue rebellion, and
crush out the evil tendency of badh
it's. Whatever is right and proper and
necessary to make a good school must
be made popular. Whatever is wrong
and Of evil tendency must be made
unpopular. This can be done, but the
teacher must have skill, patience and
perseverance.
QUINCY SCHOOL.
When Superintendent Philbrick was
master of the Quincy school, in Boston,
he had charge of seven hundred pupils,
gathered promiscuously from the dis
trict. The school building had been
erected and occupied several years and
yet / was told by him that not a mark
of pencil or knife could be found upon
the benches or walls of the building,
or even upon the playground fence.
inquired how such remarkable result
had been secured. His reply was, By
piling on motive" by the power of.
public opinion.
RECREATION ESSENTIAL TO DIsCIPLIN
5. Mental and physical recreation
are important disciplinary agencies
The mind and body are inseparably
connected. Hence mental culture can
not be successfully carried on without
physical culture. Both mind and BODY
must have recreation more than the
ordinary recesses and holidays afford,
and as every teacher knows there are
certain hours and days when the fend
disorder seems to reign in the school
room. He cannot assign any reason,
but the very atmosphere is pregnant
with anarchy and confusion. And
what can the teacher do to overcome
the evil? He may tighten his dlsci-
pline, but that will not bind the vola-
tile essence Of confusion. ! He may ply
the usual energies of his adminBtra-
ton, but resistance is abnormal. He
may fog, but every blow uncovers the
neddlepoints Of fresh stings. He may
protest and supplicate, scold and argue,
inveigh and insist; the demon is not
exercised, nor even hit, but is only dis
tributed through fifty fretty and fdg-
ETY. forms. He will encounter the mis-
chief successfully only when he en-
counters it indirectly. Here applies
the proposed remedy, mental and ply
steal recreation. Let an unexpected
change divert the attention of thepu-
pills; let some general theme be intro
duced in q familiar lecture or exciting
narrative; or, if nothing better is at
hand, let all say the multiplication
table or sing "Old Hundred" and the
work is accomplished. "The room is
ventilated Of its restless contagion, and
the furies are fed" Now add to this
mental the physical recreation of
school gymnastics, and the remedy is
still more sure.
VALUE OF SCHOOL GYMNASTICS.
Gymnastics are not only useful and
important as means of physical de-
velopment, but also of school govern
ment. The exercise serves as safety
valve to let off the excess of animal
spirits, which frequently brings the pu-
pill in collision with his master. 1t re-
lieves the school of that morbid insen-
sibility and careless Indifference which
so often result from the monotony and
burdened atmosphere of the school
room. It sets up a standard of self
government and forms the habit of
subsection to authority, and as it is a
regulator OF the physical system, it be-
comes such to the conduct under law.
The gymnastic resembles the military
drill, and has the same general inf1u-
ence upon the pupil that the military
has upon the soldier, to produce sys-
TEN, good order, and obedience. GYM
nastics also create self-reliance and
available power. This is more import
ant in life than brilliant talents Or