Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-05-13
TIE KOD AMI rHE CHILD

Inc caro- Oh dlsa Augusta lowell pub |
lished in the APPEAL of yesterday, vindi- |
eating herself from the charges of cruelty to |
one of her pupils, was generally read by the |
public, and while indulgent parents-those |
who have tsbooed Solomon's medicine, both |
at home in the public schools, will still |
condemn Miss Towel, the general reader will |
regard her explanation as satisfactory. She |
Is most excellent teacher, a lady of refine
ment, tender feelings, and would not wan
TONY inficE unnecessary pain on Uncle
Teby's fly, and it will require most conclu-
awe proof TO convince the public that she
has IN the faithful discharge of her duties |
done anything to mar the beauty of her |
character or to bring discrsdit upon the pro- |
fession in which she is useful, bright aud |
shining light. This question, however,
should be thoroughly Investigated. Such
an investigation is due TO Miss lowell, the
public schools and the sggrieved parents.
Less than half q century ago, it was the
prevailing belief that education could be
cudgeled into children. The capacity Of the
teacher was judged by the extent OF his
fondness for foggiDg. When parents or
guardians visited the schools and saw the
pupils foisted high upon sharp puncheon
benches and corner full of frszzled bircbes
thsg we-s delighted with the situation. Ia
those days pedlgogue was OF no account
unless be looked as tsrribl as the evening
storm cloud, aud the children trembled at
his approaching footsteps. If the school
master PERMITTED the rigidity Of his features
to relax no a smile his competency was
placed in jeopardy. He was required to
wrap himself up in "the solitude of mis- own
originsP stupidity, and TO look "grsnd,
gloomy ard PECULIAR Although the child
loves freedom and the open air as much as
bird, it wat tortured in the schooI-rooom ten
hours each day Imagine the horror OF
the old school of pedagogues at such thing
as levity or familiarity between the teacher
and pupil. No ship of war was ever as ex-
treme in its discipline as were the schools OF
those days The bright and joyous nature
of childhood was forever chilled and
crushed by these awful terrors, this
unnatural gloom and severity. But the re-
action has gone TO the other extreme. There
is growing disposition to prohibit hogging
in the schools and in lieu thereof substitute
expulsion Of the incorrigibly hard cases. A
policy so lenient will increase the number of
hard cases, for if a thoroughly bad school
boy is permitted to choose between fustigs-
tion and glorious freedom, with perpetual
vacation, he will not be long in sIzinz up
his mind ia favor of the largest liberty and
loafng without limit, and thus grow up in
ignorance and crime. II is argued on the
other hand that the State is under no obliga.
tion to educate its youth under all possible
circumstances any more than it is bound to
keep them in Sunday. school, or TO see that
they attend church. 1t is again argued that
If a boy is SC bad that it ia necessary to fog
him, be is not fit to be in the school, for the
forcible reason that he will corrupt The inno-
cent. The reason why there is 80 much differ
ence upon these points is that there is some
truth in each of them. A public school ia
compelled TO divide discipline with parents,
and has actual control Of pupils only for =
lew hours each day. 1t is hampered by the
impossibility Of grading individual scholars
according 10 moral standards. II is exc
pected TO train the heart and the intellect,
while theoretically its business is entirely
with the latter. In come OF the Northern
schools it has been proposed to fog unruly
pupils whose parents assent, only expelling
offenders whose parents refuse to allow their
children to be chsslised. The investigation
called for by the charges preferred against
Miss lowell should De conducted fairly,
without fear, favor or affection. While
neither men nor women should be employed
in the public schools who are wholly want
ing in that. imperturbable mildness of dis
position and that supernatural command OF
temper that public school-tescher ought to
have, yet it should be remembered that the
most difficult of all tasks is TO deal with 3
bad boy who takes malicious delight in de-
flying and bullying has teacher and IN making
her life miserable. He is generally as sirong
as,she, aud if hurt ia an encounter il can in
most cases be traced 10 his own violent efforts
at resistance 10 established rules Of disci-
pine. Alter an exaspersting outburst Of in
Bnbozdinstion the boy runs home, holds up
the woeuds Of his own creating, tells his
parents he,has been cruelty abused, and they,
never stopping to inquire what the boy had
done, but accepting his own highly-colored
statement as sullicisnt, raise hue and CRY
against the teacher and spread their griev-
:, an ces before The School Beard and the pub
ia. Efox school-teachsrs, nep and women,
get along as they 90. day ate. day and
year after year, with mob cfyoung sstiars
banded agains. them, and with more savage
mob Of unressoniBg parents lying in wait to
fiud fault, is little short of the mir .oulous.
If boy or girl subjected 10 ne control at
home utterly refuses obedience aud respect,
Welding neither to kind enireaties nor to
threats, and the teacher ioroibiy conpels a
recognition Of authority, the whole neighbor-
hood is up in arms, and the teacher--who in
majority OF cases is gentle young WOMAN,
striving to~pay some attention to siudlous
children without letting the idle ones run
wholly wild--is denounced to the world as
cfo,tsuonster. In about ninstY-nine per cent
oil the reporS-ssseases OF cruel or excessive
punishment In schools, Il turns out Ga 7exam-
ination that the cruelty and violence existed
wholly in the ehild's ungoyerned ims ginatiou,
and that the real fault originated in a want
of home training and the omission Of such
stringent correction as might have proved
benefit 10 The refractory child. 1t is simply
an impo.sibiliiy to carry on a large publiz
Rchool, filed with all manner of children
good and bad-Wiiheut occasional corporal
punishment. Discipline is as necessary in
our public schools as in our military COM
paniss. Parents who transfer to the State
the duly of educating their children must
transfer also authority TO the teacher to cor
rect their children. II they will not do this,
they ought to take care OF their children
themselVes,-of at least teach them subordi-
natign and obedience. In many inst ances it
has been developed that parents who, after
beating and abusing their children at home
and giving them up as incorrigibls,
are the first to complain of any chastise-
in the pdblio schools. The child
disciplined at home is easily disciplined in
the public schools. The child which DISC
beys parents, and is restrained in nothing,
rebels at obedience aud restraint anywhere,
and it grows up overbearing and tyrannical,
and after reaching manhood has to be logged
into respect for others which ought to have
been taught around the hearthstone and in
the public schools. Complaints against
Echool-teachers do not often come from those
who understand the government both of
their children and themselves.
C0LORED MEN HAVE MO CAUSE FOE
COMPLAINT.
The Northern press, with surprise and
Communication, is daily directing attentio6
to the substantial development taking place