The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1893-01-07

Tom" Ankney is one of the cid
Mc-o~-oI;, A~oIoxo,, ko..a


town when he was here school boy,
remembers Tom
tom" is now leading lawyer
at the Minneapolis bar. He is not
only leading lawyer, but be is an
enterprising, influential citizen in
thst great Western city, command
ing universal respect for his high
character and ability.
Some time ago TON" was the
leader, AZ we gather from the press,
in movement to wipe out the iniq-
uity and barbarism of corporal pan
ishment in the public schools. He
is a member of the Board of Educa-
tion Of that city and succeeded in
having a substitute for corporal
punishment adopted which was a
christian, civilized method, and
which as a matter of discipline, it is
alleged, had proved to be the best
system known in the world. 1t
provided that when a pupil became
unruly or disorderly be could be
sent to the principal for reprimand.
If this failed to secure the proper
results he could be sent by the prin-
!
cipal to the Superintendent for ex-
pulsion. If a pupil became refrac-
tory or insulting to teacher the
janitor could be called in and the
pupil elected
1t is claimed that this system
worked like charm. 1t not only
abolished the rod, but no necessity
had ever arisen to expel pupil.
Nevertheless all old moss-back
pagan of the school board wanted
to restore the rod, and Tom Ank-
ney became SO outraged at the sug-
gestion that reading between the
lines of the newspaper reports, we
assume that be jumped on the said
moss-h back with both metaphor
ically speaking-and tramped all
over him until there was not a
grease spot left.
The moss back then came at Tom"
through the newspapers and We find
Tom s. reply in a recent number of
the Minneapolis Journal 1t pos
sesses so much point Of good sense,
and is altogether so conclusive and
unanswerable in itself that we here
reproduce ii for the benefit Of the
pagan portion of our community
which still endorses corporal punish.
ment:
First--The whole civilized world to-
day looks with adherence upon the
practice of corporal punishment in the
public schools. There is not a nation
or state upon the globe which in ex-
press terms allows and authorizes it,.
On the contrary, wherever it may be
mentioned in public laws it is always
under close restrictions. Such nations
as Finland, France, Italy and Brazil,
expressly prohibit it in their public
laws.
! In England, where the public school
system is only 20 years old, it is al
lowed, but severely guarded. The re-
ports say that so unpopular is it that
frequent actions for assault and battery
are brought against teachers in the
courts. In Prussia there is no prohi-
bition, but unreasonable punishment
meets the seyerest censure of the law.
So far as | have been enabled to ex-
anime there is not state in the Union
which in terms allows it, and the
school laws are mostly as they are in
Minnesota, silent upon the subject.
In Massachusetts, which is the parent
of popular education in this country,
the school law expressly says that the
remedies for discipline are first, re-
primand; second, suspension; third,
expulsion. Truant schools and refor-
matories are there provided, and Min
nesota has so far followed her example
by providing reformatories for incor-
rigible children. In New Jersey the
following noble language is used in
her school laws: ssNo corporal pun
ishment shall be inflicted upon any
pupil in the schools of this state"
Second-There is only one theory
, upon which the right to inflict corpora
punishment upon pupils can rest
That is the common law fiction thai
the teacher for the time stands in the
place Of the parent-in loco PARENTS
But this is pure fiction, as thous
and other hoary-headed wrongs have
been. 1t grew up when the master
actually owned his servant, and tt
/ correct him might clip off his ears
when men were imprisoned for deb
and hung for theft: when 'mucf
gaynful pilladge" was gathered on thu
5 shores of Africa, and when human
+ rights were held to be the sole proper
ty of the king. Thank Godl most o
these expressions have gone down I'm
der the sledge-hammer of enlightened
. opinion, and this tyranny to slittl
children almost alone remains. TIL
child when it leaves his home an(
enters the school, necessarily becOme
: subject to the rules of the school.
, does not lose its parentage, nor does i
change its relation to society. 1t ais
becomes subject to the rules of tn
r city when it enters the crowded
y thoroughfare; the same when it enter
, the church, the museum, the art gal
= lery, the library. Has any Learned
: Judge ever maintained that when tn
: child entered one of these places it &C
! quired new parentage-became tn
, child of the policeman, the minister
= the proprietor Of the museum, the ar
! gallery, the library? Why, then whe
it enters the school? The truth is
the doctrine is ridiculous, and the or
ly solution of the difficulty is tina
$ whatever the child does, and whel
: ever it may stop, it simply become
|, subject to the rules of the place an
= the doctrine of loco PARENTS is tn
y veriest moonshine.
b Third-Let me go step furthe
and which at first blush may seer
radical. / believe that no privat
q human being on earth, not even
# parent, may lawfully inflict physic;
!, punishment upon another human b.
ing, excepting that it be in self dc
J. Tense, and then only with no create
power than is sufficient to repel tn
assault. No man will dissent from til
:. main proposition, but some still clail
y the right of the parent to so chastis