New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-22

TERED BY the strong emphasis Wnicn nao peen
laid on the words "every boy without ex-
ceutiou.D he raised his hand and encountered
the s.ern gaze OF frowning majesty. Please
Miss.D he faltercd, AZ cannot do IL. have no
father TO write TO. He isn't living" "Ihas
maeea no difference,n was the peremptory re-
sponse. "You can write to him just as we'll
said that every boy in the class must write
letter TO his father, and meant just what
said.n Discipline had to be maintained with
out reference to sentiment or heart-ache The
word had gone forth and was not to be re-
called. The infallibility of the teacher was no'
TO be challenged on SO himsy pretext as
dead father.n The boy must write to MIN
lust the same'' and he did-the mose piteous
letter that child could write-a letter OF
warming "for the touch Of vanished hanu'
and the sound Of voice that is stilP,; ie.'er
over which his mother sobbed all the niRhc
through. The teacher apparently was not
affected by it, for she said nothing wnen ~
was handed to her. and corrected IL In ner
most precise and conventional way. 30 iohB
90 the systemn was enforced without deviation
n the right or to the left, she had compiacent
sense Of having done her duty. 1t MADE no
difference to her, as she had said, whether
the father WIS dead or alive, so long as the
letter was written and the boy taught to obey
without murmuring.
We do not believe that there are many
teachers in the public schools who are as heare-
less as their Brooklyn associate. Nine OUT Oh
ten would undoubtedly have effected q COM
promise on letter to guardian or an uncle;
and nineteen out Of twenty would have antlcl-
pated the difficulties in the way OF the orphans
correspondence and have provided at the outseb
for the contingency which arose. The men
and women employed in our public schools are
not only well equipped for their work, but they
have also kind hearts and instinctivey shrink
from hurting the feelings of sensitive children.
The illustration we have given presents no
doubt an exaggerated type of infexibility, fussi-
ness and heartlessness in school management;
vet il serves to indicate the tendencies of sys-
tematic repression and rigorous enforcement OF
discipline in petty details. This Brooklyn
teacher had become so preoccupied with me-
chanical methods of instruction and all the con-
ventiona ideas Of instruction that she had Tor
gotten that a child has heart and SOUL anu
cannot be converted into an automatic macnine
that can grind out its work, fine or small WITH
ont ever being stirred by emotion or feeling
thrill of pain. With her the occupation OF
school-teaching was simply matter OF IN
terminable routine, ceaseless drill and drastic
discipline. She made no allowance for senti-
ment in sorrowing and lonely child. There
must be one rule for the class-absolute uni
formity in practices and nothing so trivial as
a heart pang must interfere with ." the general
systemr Arnold of Rugby never worked
across the grain Of sympathetic boys affec-
tions. Il was this type of teacher that excited
the lamented Matthew Arnods most cynical
sarcasms in his active career of educational IN
spection in the English schools. He could not
tolerate heartleSsness. If there be one place
above all others where his gospel of sweetness
and light needs to be taught in season and out
of season it is in the school-room.