The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-17
rrAcnrR AND rurrI..

The sup1ect or corporal punishment in schools is often discussed, and. as Is the case with almost any other sub ject. the opinions are kdui.e diversified. There are some xealous humanitarians who insist that whipping children is a relic of barbarism and should not be allowed. some crusty writer, perhaps in abandoned old bachelor declares that ''ail Boys are barbarians." and if his diagnosis is correct 1t may be in- ferred that little barbarism applied to them will not come amiss
 However this may be 1t is beyond doubt that in this respect, as in vari- ous others. times and practices have changed. No doubt many of our older readers call to mind their school days Of fifty or sixty years ago, and remem- Der that the switch was an indispen- sable portion of teachers outfit. without which 1t was not thought pos sible to control the children. Some of us, moreover. retain feeling memory of the skill, frequency ana discern ment with which the teacher per lOIAucu lHiS PdEI OI HIS lAQASe dS Y W oS then considered We well remember one school that we attended where the steaeher--a most excellent one in most respects--had the switch in his hand most of the time and the way he could apply 1t where 1t was supposed to do well as effective. We we'll remember, also, that in this case the smaller children were kept in such constant terror that they learned little.
 That was an extreme case and harm instead of good was the result. The teacher in nSquestion was highly edu- cated, conscientious man, and for the larger boys he was a good teacher, but his extreme severity worked to the disadvantage of the small pupils and really prevented them from being benefited at his school We do not know if there are any such teachers to be found now. for hardly any com munfty would tolerate such severity, but corporal punishment nas not gone entirely out of vogue, and we suspect that the average opinion would be that 1t should not completely dlsap- pear.
 Che of the latest items Of informa- tion on the subject comes from L,e- banon, Pennsylvania, where a jury, as we are told, after five minutes delib- eration, acquitted a teacher in the public schools of North Cornwall town ship of the charge of assault and bat tery in severely punishing sn 11year- old boy, who was one of his pupils. It appeared in the evidence at the trial that the boy had been persis- tently disobedient and defiant; and that. when. the teacher attempted to discipline him. he bit the teacher and threatened him with e knife. Not on- ly was the teacher acquitted of the charge against him. but the costs were placed on the boys mother, who had brought the prosecution"
 Here is a late instance of the law taking a hand, and of a righteous jury verdict, as we must consider it. WC have seen no statement of the evi. | dence in the case, and do not know how severely the teacher punished th' boy, but the jury evidently though the youngster did not get more thai l he deserved, and they decided accord 1 inaly What do the advocates and ex | ponents of moral suasion think of thi ] case? What was the teacher to d. under such conditions2 He might hav expelled the boy 1t Is true. but tha | would in all probability have made hin worse. A boy with such temper an' | disposition as that one- exhibited can not be improved by dtmissal iron school He would rather like tha form of punishment and wouldn't car 1 how often 1t was administered. Xvi dently nothing but a liberal applica ton of hickory juice could cure him.
 And so we find and must take int
 consideration the fact that there ar
 boys and boys. We must also remem I Der Dryden's saying that "men are bu ! children of larger growth Some me
 can be drawn from evil ways by goo
 example, by advise and persuasion, bu
 others can only be controlled by tn | strong arm of the law. Good counse
 kindly reproval and judicious appeal
 to their better natures is all that needed to keep some boys straight bu
 all this is like pouring water on
 ducks back when applied to some othe
 boys. Then. if the parent or teache
 does his duty he will apply the TOO
 So thought the Pennsylvania jury, an
 who will say that their verdict wa
 wrong?