Year: 1869

Here is a glass for the pedagOgues, precep-


tors, tutors, governors, gerund-grinders and


Dimensions. ."-i3TERNE


use the expression tyr0ats in the


old Greek sense, though perhaps the
tyrants of our bows too often be called


so in modern sense as well.


exclude parents and relatives from


the category of rulers Of boys. My


professional preiudices forbid me to


admit them as regular practitioners.


It is maximFeceived among dOmin-


les that parents are no more fit to rule


their sons than philosophers of the


gushing school are to rule England.


Their political economy is all senti-


ment. They refuse to believe that


pets can do wrong, they uphold John


ny's goodness Of heart, and darling


BObby's honesty, with q pertinancy


which AstOnishes the uhprejudiced


observer Of these young gontlemen'e s.


conduct. And even III they are Oblig


ed by the stern logic of facts to Fecog-


nize that darling Johnny and darling


Bobby are not all they ought to be.


they find comfortable phrases with
which TO palliate the harsh disclose
ures, and save their beloved ones from
the consequences which ought TO at
tend all deviation from the right path.
Darling Johnny when ill-tempered
and selfish Is declared to have "a peeu-
disposition, and il is discovered that
severity does nOtanswer when he is
discovered stealing the sugar. An
effectiOnate parent once informed me,
with regard to new pupil, that /
must not be surprised to find that his
son had ga strong imagination" This
/ very soon discovered to be a paternal
and euphemestic way Of putting the
fact that the boy was the
most inveterate liar / ever met with.
There is no straw of sentiment so
small that cOnsanguineOus affection
will not seize hold of it to escape the
unpleasant though sometimes necessa-
~ duty of dragging the child out of
the way in which he should not go.


An old lady of my acquaintance
occasionally speaks to me in great
about agrandsOn Of hers,
who is iOdisputably addicted to lying |
and other disagreeable peculiarities |
Of disposition. But ] don't like to |
punish him she says because his
dead, and his fathers far
away at sea. So in right of his dead |
mother and nautical father, my young /
friend is growing up to be a curse to
himself and society.


This is the way in which these ig-
lOrant people trifie with the education
Of their boys. And we dOminies,
even we, who think so much af our
selves, and who see with such clear
eyes the faults of other peoples chill
dren, and are so prompt to apply the
proper remedies, we must contestant
when we come to deal with our own
we are as much in the dark
rs much liable to human error, as our
lay fellow-creatures. Who ever heard
Of school master who conld think
and deal with his own SON Just as he
thought and dealt with the sons Of
others This miracle of impartiality
has never fallen within my experience
1t least. Either the master will bel.
too indulgent toward his own boy, or
In his anxiety to avoid this extreme,
be will fly to the other, and be too
savage.


1 have seen a schoolmaster who
would have snubbed in the most
ferociOus manner any rash pupil that
dared for a moment to be familiar
with him. have seen such a man
whole company by en-
couraging his own bFats to give utter
ance to precociOus impertinences.
And I have known another school,
genial and kindly to all his
other pupils, but stern, reserved, and
almost cruel to one Of them who had
the misfortune to be his own son.


We think it irregular and improper
for a father to educate his own son,
Just as a medical man would be shock
ed if q layman, however intelligent,
were to prescribe for himself a dose of
Iulep without taking professional adj
vice. And as few doctors will under
take their own cases, but emyloy a
brother Esculapius when they fall
sick, so most wise teachers prefer to
have their sons educated by another
of the craft, who will bring
10 work an unimpassiOned professional
Judgment, and not be likely to mar it
Dy prejudice or sentiment.


So much must be said to justify my
assertion that schoOln:asters are the
1nly fit and legitimate rulers of boys.