Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1907-03-01
DISCIPLINE.


quiet as O room foil Of horrors. We
have seen the pupils sitting In strained
positions, with head erect, hands by
side, or arms folded, turning neither
10 the right nor the LETT, or. il NOV.
ne, moving slowly, almost YEARLY
With dOWncsst eye, on tip-toe, with
hands elias ped behind the back, whs-
pering not, smiling not, with the light
~ the eve dull. and all the ioyousness
Of child hood driven from the faces az
he pupils by the fercenep OF the
methods OF the petty tyrsnt 10 charRe.
We have wondered Wheihsr the So
called school was not prison, or a
,"'ormatory institution ~ some kind
ard ~ can remember how glad W.
we've TO re- ont again into ia" frp-h az
srd ihe bright suush'n" of the op',r
world, where vt could again see 4
'hi'd ,Ti'" aud hear the merry laugh.
aud earnest happy voices o. those who
were free.
We have heard snch schools praised
models Of excellence, as schools 81
fsultless discipline, whose teachers, 80
earnest, 50 skilled, we're worthy 81
memorials in bra,s or marble.
We never heard what became =
those teachers. They are not mem
tened With Arnold. or Froebel. or Pes
talozzi. We are inclined to think that
che progressing wares OF modern edu-
rationsl thought have overthrown or
overiappe1 them, aud has left to Us
M trace OF their doings or existence,
II vas not disciplne-it was croelIy,
torture, or devitry. 1t was the or.
uression of q weak child by q strong
grown man or woman. II DEVELOPED
neither strength OF character. nor ne
hlity Of purpose. Itdrova opt all joy.
ousnets. all love, AMI made the child
worse by far tlan il il had trained
wit the gsmins OF the gutter. Who
can lay that lives have not been
wrecked by some petty cruelty of some
petted teacher. Who csn say that the
moroEeness, the sullennPss, the petty
spite or mean sections OF some man
hood may not rave been the result Of
acts NJ oppression, committed thought
lessly 10y the teacher OF HE boyhood?
Too much discipline, 100 much role
and regulation, too much OF the mar
tinet in the tormalities Of the school.
room is far worse than the absence OF
all restraining rules For. IL a child
/. guided properly. carefully, thought.
folly. it will develop for good. but II
IL is contiu ually aud forcihly held back.
IL it ia deprived OF ell freedom OF
speech or sction. IL will place itself in
sntsgonism to the teacher, to the au.
thority OF the school, TO society. The
antagonism wins in the contest, bot il
is st the expense OF society. The had
hoy, 20 made by this faulty discipline,
becomes bad man. Who is respOn.
sible?
We have. in our later days, come to
see some roiuts on child manners and
movements which we wish We had
seen when we were younger. We
might be happier. We know we should
be prouder
Many Of the so-called disobedienc's
OF children are not wilful Many Of
their bad deeds are the results OF de-
liberst- thought. Many Of them are
the results OF psrentage-of home
training and surroundings. should we
not. then, carefully and patiently
guide a child into the right path IL We
susye"t such infuencesy Shall We
BE- at i. back. or scold it back? Or shall
we, when it wanders from the path,
place it again and again on the track
until the little feet, by constant going,
have worn 8 path from and for its own