Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-05-24
The so-CaIlcd Whipning.Post.

The MOrgantOwn CIV. Na.) NeW DODtjHiOn
is SO good paper-one of the very best out
ofcity papers in this countrv-that we are
astonished, not to say panied, at its use Of
reckless terms forninst corporal punishment
in the public schools Weembody herewith
a few samples of its extravagant technology :
As civilization has advanced the whipping
post has disappeared barbarism shock
ing to the best sentiment of humanity.
The whippng-post, even as punish
ment for the grOSSeSt crimes, Is regarded to-
day as the most offensive and disgraceful
penalty ever tolerated by civilized people
not excepting hanging.
The defenceless, tmid child is subjected to
this disgrace and barbarous inHiction-not
for crime, indeed, but for its innocent
blunders and childish mischief. ANY big
brutal, muscular blunderbus who happens
to be dignitied by the name of teacher is
supposed to have plenary power to intlict
this disgrace upon any timid, trembling
child who is so unfortunate as to be his
pupil, and i'll many instances the victim feels
the disgrace so deeply as to be ashamed and
afraid to appeal to its parents for protection :;
and the outrage goes on until all the manliness
if not all the pride and ambition are crushed
out of the child.
We accept these signs of the times as as
surancc that this barbarity will soon be abol-
iShed from our schools. The only surprise
is that il is anywhere tolerated at this time.
1t is a reflection upon the intelligence of the
age
The Journal is free to admit that if 1.-THE
defenceless, timd child" and the big,
brutal, muscular blunderbus who happenS to
be dignitied by the name of teacher" We're
the rules and not the exceptions, then it
would surrender its conviction that corporal
punishment in the schools is as necessary as
any other disciplinary regulation.
But 1.-THE timid child is the noticnsive
child, and the inoffensive child is rarely, if
ever, whipped. Bring all the instances of
chastisement into court and it will be found
that in ninety-nne cases of hundred the
unoffending pupil has never suffered.
As intimated, 'the big, brutal, muscular
blundcrbus'' is also an exception. Were he
the rule it is safe to affirm there would be no
school.
Aside, then, from the unfairncSs of argtl-
ment based upon exceptional conditions, let
us see where the logic of the Ncr Domjnion
leads
The whipping-post, the "barbarism
which not many years ago was reckoned as
preventive of crimes leading to capital pun
ishment, has disappeared" But it is not
stated that wife-beating is doing a business
livelier than ever at the old stand. We have
simply abolished one 'barbarism'' to cncour-
age another. Nor is it reported that occasions
for hanging have multiplied as civilization
has advanced
And still our contemporary contends i'll
effect that prevention of crime is more hateful
than its cure.
The solemn truth of the whole matter,
boiled down, is--the absence of the rod from
the schools furnishes eligibes for the dis
graceful whipping-pUst, and the disappear
ance of the latter is matriculatng candidates
for graduation on the ignominious Scatfold.
On the other hand, show this paper hui
man wreck whose ruin can be traced to cor
poral punishment in school, and we agree to
produce ten thousand who have incurred
harm from Indulgence superinduccd by foolish
parents, extended by milksop teachers and
popularity endorsed by a new-fangled fancy,
the most false of all the ruinous vagarics
that have obtained countcnancc in an age of
iinical Alterations.