Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-16
No Soviet In Old Time Schools.

A school teacher on trial Tor using the
rod on two Of her unruly children, in the
New Jersey court where thcir> parents,
who are aliens, sought to recover damages
for the whippings, and the awarding OF
SIC. 900 damages to the parents of boy
who was expelled from school for an allcg-
ed infraotion Of the rules Of discipline
serve to call our attention to the fact that
the days when the school master WINS boss
of the school are passed. The scrru'e and
the rod have given way under the new
democracy in the school room, and the
teacher who attempts to ply the switch
upon unruly pupils finds herself an outlaw
and NAV be compelled 10 expand hall her
years salary to defend her effort to NAM
tain order in school.
1t is very doubtful indeed whether sdu-
cation has progressed any in tho d rection
| Of discipline since the days when there
| WAS no one 70 dispute the rule OF the mas
ter. He may have been trysnt In our
| Young eyes but a. we recall tho chast se-
ment.. severe and sting ng MS they seemed
A. the time and Are yet, in memory al
willingly admit that they but htted the
provpcation and did us world OF gooo III
correcting those little foibles that seem W
be imbedded in the Juvenile mind.
When there wns having to be DONE .ile
schoolmastcr attended to 1T 40 Thoroughly
! that he needed no aid or outside supRes-
tion. More often WAS the carrier SCI -
master chosen for hi, physical than DIS
mental training. and his diploma OF high-
%, reference usually declared him W nave
so,,ndy licked the worst boy IN .'e
school where he had taught the preceo'ns
wear. which reputation he Immediately
sought to strengthen on his advent 'n
new field
If his punishment was severe, II wss 81
most invariably just; for he was 7"
PROMPT 20 reward a. 70 punish, and after
he had shown the biggest of the sohooi
"bulIie." that be was boss, he gnlneo u'e
! affectionate admiration Of his pupils anu
the schoo' proceeded swimrningly 10 'he
end Of the term. Even the unruiy sP'
MN Is were not immune from the "hoie-
some discipline Of this kindly, Just Nhs'
The ferrule was called in To use to meet
their cases and with few well-laid-o'
rams in the outstretched palm, they "cle
made 10 see the error Of their ways ana '"
promise 70 be good thereafter, pie"ee
thev invariably kept # they escapeo
further correction !,
One could imagine the star part thih o'o
time teacher would have played had 'ieie
been a strike against any OF his ru'hltS
| He would have been referee and s'l'he
breaker. all in one, and his protesting laos
would have soon been hmplng, suodued'
tanned and humble, and every sugses'ioh
70 have gone out" again wonid hANe
been voted down UNANIMOUSLY
Soviet rile could not have had = 1907
hold in those DAYS. 1t was the one man
onarchy period which we recall "e
students had no voice in how the schoo'
should be conducted; their part WAS .
study and recit- their lessons they 'hhe"
how far they could 60 without mourning
the vengeance Of the chastiring ROD anu y
wssrare they ventured beyond that Inc
once they gauged it correctly courts
were not asked to decide II the WhippiNs
was warranted or legal, and there were
no maternal protests when the teaeher
sent a note home with the obs'reperous
pupil referring TO the chsstlsemenf, nor
was there sny suggestion Of apology
Frequently there was another "iall'ne
Of the oulprit by father or mother
Those who have sat under the roc q
those teachers wonder if the modern
method of correction ls not much INFERIOR
TO the older. Children in the schools were
more obedient and studied harder than
those of the later day Whether theschools
have suffered bv the withdrawal OF the
rod from the curriculum is open 10 DOUBT
bu, we will venture 10 say that these VINO
have been called up on the carpet he
fore the teacher Of the earlier days VIII ao-
init they deserved all they received ana
more. from the descending switch-
However. whipping the boys was not
an easy task and every teacher To-Day Ii
doubtless reioiced that corporal punisn'
ment has been forbidden, even thougi
"sparing the rod may spoil the child