John 3v.'ett

('.^ ..^'<L^.i^~^

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT

A PRACTICAL TREATISE

FOR

TEACHERS AND ALL OTHER PERSONS INTERESTED
IN THE RIGHT TRAINING OF THE VOUNG

EMERSON E. WHITE, A.M., LL.D.

Author of "White's Series of Mathematics," "Elements of Pedagogy,"
" Oral Lessons in Number," " School Registers," etc

NEW YORK ••.CINCINNATI •.•CHICAGO

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

1894

E\}Z iJHang SfjousantJS of Ceadjers

WHO IN THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS HAVE LISTENED

WITH KIND APPRECIATION TO THE

author's LECTURES ON

SCPIOOL MANAGEMENT

THIS VOLUME
LS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED.

American Book Company.

white's sch. manag't.

PREFACE.

This treatise is a presentation of the subject of
School Management from the standpoint of the
author's experience, observation, and study. It has
been his aim to avoid dogmatism, and, to this end, he
has carefully stated the grounds of his views and sug-
gestions, the primary facts of mental and moral science
being freely used.

Great pains have been taken to be clear in the state-
ment of principles, and practical and suggestive in
their application. A free use has been made of con-
crete illustrations, largely those which have come under
the author's observation or are a part of his experience.
Many minds that have difficulty in understanding an
abstract principle, grasp it easily when presented con-
cretely. Moreover, the illustration being associated
with the principle, assists the memory in recalling it.

It is hoped that this treatise may satisfy the most
thoughtful and experienced teachers, and that it may
also be of special interest and profit to those of more
limited professional training and experience. The
author has kept constantly in mind the condition and
needs of teachers of ungraded rural schools. It has, in
short, been his aim to meet the professional needs of
the great body of American teachers.

It is the author's belief that the time has fully come
for a more earnest consideration of Moral Training as

54ti722

4 PREFACE.

the central function and duty of the school, and no
apology is made for the thoroughness with which this
subject is herein treated. The two most obstructive
foes of needed progress in school training are artificial-
ism in motive^ and mccJianism in method ; and it is hoped
that they are both effectively met in these pages.
Special attention is called to the chapters on " Moral
Instruction" and "Religion in the School."

It is believed that the author's "Elements of Peda-
gogy," has been more widely read and studied since its
publication than any other book on teaching, with one
exception ; and this fact encourages the hope that this
companion treatise may have even a wider welcome.

Columbus, O.
October., 1893.

CONTENTS.

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

PACK

Ends and Means 9

The Teacher as Governor 17

Elements of Governing Power 19

Good Scholarship 21

Skill in Teaching and Managing 26

Heart Power — Love 30

Will Power 34

Good Eyes and Ears 38

Common Sense 41

Moral Character 43

Conditions of Easy Control 48

Requisite Qualifications 48

Requisite Authority 48

Confidence and Cooperation 54

I Attractive Schoolroom and Surroundings 58

I Proper Heating and Ventilation 64

I Proper Lighting 75

Proper Seats and Desks 76

Mech'anical Devices 80

^Proper Seating of Pupils* 80

Daily Programme;^ 86

Self- Regulating System 94

Few Rules 100

MORAL TRAINING.

Principles 105

Will Training 114

Seven School Virtues ' ' 4

Other Virtues 1 23

Moral Worth of School Duties 125

O CONTENTS.

PAGE

School Incentives 130

Principles 130

Artificial Incentives 132

The Prize System ........... 133

Natural Incentives 148

The " Royal Nine " 153

Love and Fear as Incentives 183

Outline of Moral Training 189

Punishment 190

Penal Rules 190

Ends, Nature, and Conditions 192

I. Ends of Punishment 192

II. Characteristics of Punishment 198

III. Limitations and Conditions of Natural Pun-
ishment 207

Improper Punishments 210

Other Modes of Punishment 213

OutHne of Punishment 217

Moral Instruction . " 218

General Principles 221

I. Ends 223

II. Principles 224

III. Materials 226

IV. Method and Spirit 228

Course of Instruction 231

Outlines of Lessons in Morals and Manners . . 232

Materials for Moral Lessons 239

Lessons for Primary Grades 242

Lessons for Grammar Grades 254

Miscellaneous Stories 270

Literary Gems 282

Brief Sayings 291

Maxims and Proverbs 293

Religion in the School 295

Religious Sanctions and Motives in School .... 298

Religious Means needed in Moral Training . . . . 301

The Bible in Moral Training 303

Index 311

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

ENDS AND MEANS.

The first inquiry in pedagogy is, "What is the end
to be attained.^" This is not only the first but the
essential inquiry. It underlies all questions concern-
ing means or methods, and is, indeed, the decisive test
of their value.

A knowledge of the end to be reached serves as a
guide in practice. It not only determines the best means
to be employed, but guides in their use. The more
clearly the end to be attained is seen, the Guide in
greater the inspiring interest, and the more Practice.
skillful the effort. This is true in the simplest arts, as
the pitching of a ball or a quoit ; and it is eminently
true in teaching, the art of arts. It is not only true
as a general principle, but it applies to every exercise
of the school. All aimless teaching is poor teaching,
whatever may be the teacher's zeal. Moreover, it is not
only essential that the teacher have a clear knowledge of
the end to be reached, but this end must be a true one.
A wrong end is a radical and fatal error in education. It
subverts effort, and wastes time, energy, and opportu-
nity. It is better to have no aim than a wrong one.

lO SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

A clear' knowledge of ends is not only important as
a.gui^e^tb effortj.but as a measure of success. The true
Measure test of a teaching exercise is its attainment
of Success. Qf ti^e desired end. If this end has been
attained, the teacher has been successful in the exer-
cise ; if it has not been attained, he has failed. Every
teacher needs such a decisive test of his success. It
not only affords needed satisfaction and stimulus, but it
makes improvement possible. No teacher can grow in
skill and power, who has no means of testing his success
as he advances. It will not do to rely upon a coming
examination to disclose results. Teaching needs to be
daily guided and tested by its ends ; and the clearer
the teacher's knowledge of these, the higher his skill,
and the more certain the evidence of his success. All
true teaching will bear the radical test of true ends.

A clear knowledge of the ends to be attained is also
important as a test of tnea^is or devices. Such a test is
Test of now specially needed. Our educational liter-
Devices, ature abounds in plans and devices of all
sorts and of varying merits. Some of these are very
ingenious and attractive ; and it is feared that many
teachers are using them without an inquiry respecting
the ends reached or the principles on which they are
based. In too many instances the device is supposed
to be an end in itself, and is approved because " it works
well ; " i.e., it interests the pupils, and is readily manipu-
lated. It is surprising that so many useless devices are
used and commended on this erroneous test of merit.
It is conceded that every good device works well in
practice, and, as one condition of working well, it inter-
ests pupils ; but it by no means follows that all devices
which "work well," in this sense, have educational

ENDS AND MEANS. I i

value. Interest is not an end of school training ; it is
only a necessary condition, — a means to the end.

In the light of this true test, the end, it would not be
difficult, though foreign to our present purpose, to show
the worthlessness of scores of devices now
used in American schools, and especially in ele-
mentary schools. They are found in nearly all branches
of instruction, and they abound in reading, language,
arithmetic, geography, and so-called "manual training."
Some of these devices may be properly characterized as
sensatio7is. They arouse interest, afford momentary
pleasure, and give the mind a sort of shock, but result
in little mental power or skill and less definite knowl-
edge. What is needed to correct these errors and
abuses is an intelligent application of the crucial test
of end to all school devices and methods.

And this test should be applied not only to methods
and devices, but also to studies, exercises, courses, etc. ;
and, in such application, it must ever be kept comparative
in mind that the decisive fact is not one of vaiue.
simple value, but of superior value. It is not enough
that a true end is reached ; it must be reached in the
best possible manner. In education this element of
comparative ivorth is a constant factor. The ever re-
peated inquiry is, " What is of most worth ? " and this
is not simply a question of worth for other ends, but
as a means of education. The fact ever to be consid-
ered is, that no device, or method, or exercise, is in it-
self an end, but only a means to an end. The search
of pedagogy is for superior means to attain superior
ends.

It has been elsewhere shown ^ that the comprehensive

* White's Elements of Pedagogy, p. 97.

12 SCHOOL MANAGEATF^NT,

end of education is to prepare man to fulfill the pur-
poses of human existence ; i.e., to live completely.
Ends of This includes not only the preparing of man
Education. fQj- ^j^g highcst well-bcing and happiness, but
for the right discharge of all the obligations and duties
of life. Man is not only confronted by nature with her
forces, laws, and life, but on every side he is surrounded
by human relationships. He is to be the head and
guide of the family, a member of society, a citizen of
the state, and a subject of Divine Government ; and
out of these relations flow duties and responsibilities of
the highest importance.

The purposes and duties of a complete human life
touch all the relations of man as man ; and it is evident
that these are not met by a course of training specially
designed to prepare him to be an artisan, or a merchant,
or a soldier, or even a citizen, but to be a man. Man-
hood is, in a word, the comprehensive end and supreme
test of school training.

But man is endowed with a nature capable of three dis-
tinct classes of activities, — intellectual, moral or spirit-
Kinds of ual, and physical ; and this fact is the basis of
Education, ^j^g thrccfold divisiou of education now gen-
erally recognized. These are designated by the terms
intellectical education, moral edtication, and physical educa-
tion, each having distinct ends, and these being attained
by quite distinct processes. It is not meant that these
processes are always separated in school work. They
are not only more or less united throughout the course
of training, but they often blend in the same exercise.
This fact does not, however, lessen the practical value
of their separate consideration.

The immediate ends of intellectual training are (i)

ENDS AND MEANS. 1 3

the acquisition of knowledge, for guidance, for growth,
and for enjoyment ; ( 2 ) the development of mental pow-
er, including the power to acquire knowl- Endsoi
edge, to express knowledge, and to apply intellectual
or use it ; and ( 3 ) the acquisition of skill, or '''"*'**''k-
readiness and facility in doing or action, especially in
the school arts. The teacher needs to know before
beginning an exercise whether its special end is knowl-
edge, or power, or skill ; and it is obvious that the more
clearly this end is seen, the wiser will be his plans, the
more skillful their execution, and the more fruitful the
results. The difference in end explains the difference in
the two teaching processes called instruction and drill.

But our present inquiry is limited to school manage-
ment, more especially to school discipline ; and here the
prime question is, " W^hat are the ends to be attained t "
Here, as in teaching, the end will determine the means
to be employed, and the manner of their use ; and it
will also afford a decisive test of the teacher's success.

What, then, are the ends to be attained in the govern-
ment of a school } Forty years ago, the answer of four
teachers in every five, capable of giving an Ends of
answer, would have been, " The end of school Government,
government is to secure good order ; " and a few of the
more thoughtful might have added, "and application in
study." These results were in that day widely accepted,
not only as the ends of discipline, but as the true meas-
ure of success. The school that could meet the " pin-
drop " test was approved as admirably governed.

But are good order and application in study the ends
of school discipline.' Are they not rather the mere
comlitious of successful school work, — important as

14 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

conditions, but only as conditions ? They are not only
not ends, but they may be secured by means that sub-
vert the true ends of government, as well as the ends
of the school itself. The teacher who consciously sets
before himself these mere conditions of school training
as guiding ends is liable not only to use improper means,
but to be satisfied with a low mechanical success. At
best, good order and application in study can properly
be made only secondary or subordinate ends.

The government of a school is but a part of a wider

function, — the training of pupils for the duties, responsi-

character bilitics, and obligations of life. The school

Training, jg Qj^jy g^ mcans to this great end. "Con-
duct," says Matthew Arnold, "is three fourths of life,"
but conduct has its source in character ; and hence right
conduct in life is to be secured by the formation of right
character in youth. The prime element in character,
as related to conduct, is the power of self-control and
self-direction ; and hence the guiding end of school dis-
cipline is to train pupils in habits of self-control and self-
direction ; i.e., to prepare them to be self-governing fuen
and women in life.

It is thus seen that the purpose of school government

does not terminate with the school. It faces life, and

Preparation sccks to givc the pupil the ability to live truly.

for Life. It is cvidcut that, to realize such a purpose,
school discipline must include efficient moral training, —
the awakening of right feeling, the quickening of the
conscience, the enlightening of the moral judgment,
and the training of the will to act habitually from high
and worthy motives.

When measured by such ends as these, government
becomes a most important factor in school training ; not

ENDS AND MEANS. I 5

a mere condition of such training, but the most vital
element in it. It is lifted above the mechanical devices
and little arts, which are so often considered its essen-
tial elements, to the plane of character trainings where
right feelings and motives have free and full play. It
ceases to be the sorry business of keeping children
quiet, and becomes a part of the grand art of awaken-
ing and training all that is truest and best in human
nature.

A practical treatment of school government as an art
includes ( i ) the ends to be attained (already consid-
ered) ; ( 2 ) the necessary qualifications of the Analysis of
governor or agent, i.e., the essential elements Treatment,
of governing power ; ( 3 ) the more important conditions
of easy success; (4) mechanical devices and plans;
( 5 ) methods of discipline, including moral instruction
and training; and (6) punishment, its ends, nature, and
methods. To these topics may properly be added the
administration of the graded school, including its
organization, courses of study, classification and pro-
motion of pupils, examinations, etc., — matters now
receiving wide and careful attention, and deserving
fuller treatment than the limits of this volume will
permit.^

What is specially needed is the treatment of these
practical and vital topics in school management in the
clear light of essential principles. This does principles
not involve the divorcing of so-called « the- •«<* ^'^tice.
cry" from practice, but the basing of practice on fun-
damental principles. To this end, the teacher needs

* Sec the author's monograph entitled •* Promotions and Examina-
tions in Graded Schools," issued by the United States Bureau of Educa-
tion, 1 89 1.

1 6 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

not only a clear grasp of the guiding principles of his
art, but the ability to apply these principles in prac-
tice. This ability includes both knowledge and skill,
— a knowledge of principles and methods, and skill in
their use.

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 1 7

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR.

A FEW years since, the writer visited successively
two schools that presented a most striking contrast in
government. The schools were situated in Two
the same building, on opposite sides of a hall, Examples,
and were composed of children of nearly the same age,
and largely from the same families, thus presenting
about equal difficulty in control.

In one of these schools he found a teacher evidently
in a struggle from morning to night to control his
pupils. He was earnest and determined, and his pupils
seemed equally so. They walked heavily on the floor,
lounged when reciting, handled books and slates noisily,
and otherwise kept up a din of poorly concealed disor-
der. There was, indeed, insubordination in their look,
voice, and bearing.

In the school on the opposite side of the hall he
found a teacher apparently unconscious of the fact that
the control of fifty pupils rested on her. When he
entered, the teacher was conducting a class exercise at
the right ; and, while he remained, not a glance of the
eye disclosed a want of confidence in her pupils. A
beautiful spirit of love and harmony possessed the
school. The pupils glided noiselessly from seat to
class ; the books and slates were handled carefully ;
and a quiet order, born of affection and good will, per-
vaded the room. Here were blooming all those graces
of spirit and conduct that adorn and make beautiful a
child.

Why this contrast t Why on the one side of this hall

1 8 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

such obvious failure, and on the other such admirable
success ? Some who read these lines may think that
the difference in the success of these teachers was due

Contrast to a difference in their methods ; to the fact

explained, ^hat oue uscd a better system of discipline
than the other. But so far as mechanism is method,
these teachers were using substantially the same method.
They had the same plan of marking, the same system
of reporting to parents, the same " rewards " for success
in study and conduct, etc. There was doubtless some
difference in details, and even in plans ; but the real
secret of the marked contrast in their success was
deeper than method or system. // ivas in the teachers.
One failed because he had not in himself the elements
of control, and the other succeeded because she pos-
sessed them.

And yet, how many teachers are looking for the cause

of their failure in discipline in external conditions, —

Causes of in school fumiturc, in patrons and home

Failure, training, in principal or school director, etc.,
— little realizing that there are teachers, waiting to be
called, it may be, who can step into their places, and,
under the same conditions, easily change discord to
harmony, and conflict to peace.

Other teachers are building their hopes of success on
new plans and devices, or, to use a much misused term,
on method: this, too, without duly appreciating, if see-
ing, the fact that the efficiency of a device or method
depends primarily on what the teacher puts into it ; and
especially the deeper fact that a teacher can never put
into a method what he has not within himself.

These remarks are not intended to question the im-
portance of favorable conditions or the value of true

THE TEACIfER AS GOVERNOR. 1 9

methods in school discipline. These elements of suc-
cess will receive due consideration in these pages ;
and it is here conceded, that, other things The Teacher
equal, the better the method, the higher will the vitai
be its efficiency. But the one truth that ^**=^°''-
demands first and strongest emphasis is the vital need
of proper qualifications in the teacher. Other things
may be important, this is essential. The teacher is the
soul of his measures. If he is weak, they will be weak ;
if he is strong in personal resources, they will be po-
tent. The vital factor in a school is the teacher. He
is cause ; all else is only condition and result.

Elements of Governing Power.

We are thus led to the question, "What qualifica-
tions in the teacher are essential to the easy control
and guidance of pupils.?" In other words, what are
the more important elements of governing power }

In answering this question, it does not seem desir-
able to dwell on such intangible and subtle elements as
"personal magnetism," "the power of pres- personal
ence," etc. These endowments may be im- Magnetism,
portant and real, but they lie beyond the teacher's
conscious control, as well as beyond his easy acquisi-
tion or cultivation. They neither fall from the sky nor
spring out of the ground at one's bidding.

The same is true of that much-coveted endowment
called natural aptitude. This is essential to high suc-
cess in all pursuits and undertakings, and Natural
teaching is no exception. The child is the ^putude.
potential man, and life is but an unfolding and train-
ing of innate powers. The old Latin maxim, Poeta

20 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

nascitur^ nonfit, expresses a principle that runs through
all human achievement. The artist is born an artist,
the soldier a soldier, the merchant a merchant, the
shoemaker a shoemaker, although this may not be
equally true of the artist and the shoemaker. The
higher the skill and insight required in a calling, the
higher the natural gifts required for marked success
therein. The artist not only needs the natural gifts of
the artisan, but he needs some of these gifts in a
higher degree, and, in addition, he needs other special
gifts. The natural endowment required for success in
the trades is much more common than that which is
essential to high success in the arts and professions,
and for the obvious reason that more artisans than
artists are needed-.

It is doubtless true that a special aptitude for a
given pursuit is usually accompanied with an inclina-
tion or impulse to choose it, but neither natural apti-
tude nor inclination determines always the employments
of men. There are born artists in the trades, and born
artisans in the arts and professions ; but these facts do
not affect the principle or law of natural aptitude ; and
especially is this true in teaching, which is one of the
highest and most difficult of callings. No other art
requires higher skill or deeper insight than the art of
forming character. It is the art of arts.

It seems unnecessary to add that the teacher needs
natural aptitude for his high calling. What requires

Special special emphasis is the fact that the teacher

Preparation. ;^^^^j. tnore than natwal aptitude. Inborn

gifts do not make a teacher, any more than they make

an artist or an artisan. Nor are inborn gifts and mere

practice sufficient for high success. Fruitful skill in

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 21

any trade or art is the result of training, and hence it
is that special training is becoming the recognized door
to every skilled pursuit. It is true, that in the absence
of natural aptitude, no person can be made a teacher
by training ; but training can develop natural endow-
ments, and greatly increase insight, tact, skill, and suc-
cess. Increasingly the truth is recognized that the
teacher needs special preparation for his high work.

We are now prepared to consider those tangible
elements of governing power which determine success,
and, for the most part, lie within the teacher's con-
scious control and cultivation.

I. Good Scholarship.

The first of these elements is good scholarships — a
thorough and fresh knowledge of the subjects taught.

This is conceded to be an essential condition of suc-
cessful instruction, but few may see clearly its vital
relation to easy control. Whatever increases
the confidence of pupils in the teacher lessens
the necessity of outer control, and whatever lessens
their confidence increases the necessity of outer con-
trol. This seems too obvious a principle to require
more than a clear statement. Confidence is the sure
basis of cheerful obedience, — the prompt and happy
yielding of the pupils' will to the will of the teacher :
and hence, as confidence grows, the necessity for outer
control lessens ; and, as confidence lessens, the neces-
sity for outer control increases.

Other things equal, the confidence of a school in a
teacher will rise or fall with the thoroughness and
freshness of his knowledge of the lessons taught : and
the reason is obvious. The teacher stands before a

22 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

school chiefly in the office of an instructor, and the
wit of the youngest pupils is sufficient to see that the
teacher should know what he attempts to teach. Thor-
ough and accurate knowledge wins the confidence and
esteem of pupils ; but ignorance and inaccuracy destroy
confidence, and multiply occasions for authoritative
control.

Thorough and fresh knowledge not only wins the
confidence of pupils, but it also awakens interest, holds
Interest and thc attention, and secures diligence in study.
Attention, fj^g principle is evident. The teacher's in-
terest in the lessons taught begets interest in the
pupils, their interest secures attention, and interest
and attention insure application and progress. It is
thus that the teacher's attainments touch the pupils in
all their relations and duties, and, in a sense, create
the conditions which issue in good order. More than
one teacher, weak in what is commonly regarded gov-
erning ability, has easily controlled large classes by the
clearness, accuracy, and fullness of his instruction. It
is believed that more teachers are failing in discipline
from inadequate scholarship than from any other one
cause. Scholarship is governing power.

School experience is full of illustrations. A teacher
enters a strange school, and by his pleasing ways makes
a good impression, and soon wins the confi-
dence of pupils and patrons. Before the
first week closes, a pupil asks him to solve a problem in
arithmetic, and the teacher blunders. His failure is
soon known to the pupils, and other tests follow, until
the teacher is disclosed as incompetent to teach arith-
metic. What follows } If he govern the school
easily after such a disclosure, it will be in virtue of

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 23

superior power in other directions. More than one
teacher has been broken down in discipline by a rumor
reaching his school that he held the lowest grade of
certificate, and that this was granted as a special favor.

On the other hand, many a teacher has won the es-
teem and even the admiration of a school by the fullness
of his knowledge, the clearness of his explanations, and
the glow of his own interest in the subjects taught.
Many years ago, a young man, just passed his majority,
took charge of a Cleveland Grammar School as a sub-
stitute for an experienced principal who had been
granted leave of absence on account of ill health. He
spent in the school most of the principal's last day,
seeking information respecting his new duties. In the
evening he carefully prepared, as he supposed, all the
lessons to be taught the next day, and in the morning
he entered with some confidence upon his temporary
work. After the opening exercises, the classes were
called, and, to his surprise, there appeared before him a
class in physiology, — a branch of which he was entirely
ignorant. His description of that first recitation — the
teacher firmly seated in his chair, with his eyes on the
text, and his finger on the answers to the successive
questions — has amused many an audience of teach-
ers, too many of whom had probably realized in their
own experience at least a suggestion of the situation
described !

But the outcome of the incident suggests a very
important lesson. When the young principal safely
reached the close of that half hour's agony, he resolved
that he would teach the class for the eight weeks of his
engagement without again opening a book in its pres-
ence, and he kept his resolution. He not only mas-

24 SC//OOL MANAGEMEIVT.

tered the lessons as presented in the book used by the
pupils, but he read other books on the subject, inter-
viewed physicians, and even began the study of com-
parative physiology. As a result, he stood before his
class daily "full of physiology," and out of that fullness
he taught the subject with glowing interest and enthu-
siasm. He made like preparation in the other branches,
though less, being familiar with them ; but he " con-
quered the school with physiology," as he was wont to
express it. He governed the great school for two
months without a case of corporal punishment, — an
unusual occurrence in those days, — and at the close of
his engagement received an unsolicited appointment to
a permanent principalship, and thus entered on his pro-
fessional career.

Nor is this young principal's experience exceptional.
Many a young teacher has "won his spurs " and secured
a good position by his superior attainments, — not
simply attainments secured in school and college, im-
portant as these may be, but attainments widened and
freshened by daily study. The knowledge that tells in
the classroom \s fresh knowledge.

We are thus brought to a consideration of the impor-
tance of daily study as a means of growth in governing
power and influence. The necessity of daily
preparation as a condition of successful teach-
ing has been fully set forth in another treatise,^ and all
that is needed here is to show that the easy control of
a school depends on the same condition.

The power to awaken interest and hold the attention
of pupils is due as much, if not more, to the freshness
of the teacher's knowledge as to its fullness. But

1 Elements of Pedagogy, p. 211.

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 2$

freshness of knowledge can only be secured by daily
preparation, and no lesson is so simple as to make such
preparation unnecessary. Even the reading lessons in
a primer require some attention as a condition of the
best possible instruction. The review of a lesson
before teaching it, discloses new facts or new relations,
awakens a fresh interest, makes the memory more
ready and accurate, and in other ways increases the
teacher's ability to interest and instruct a class. More-
over, such a preparation not only makes better instruc-
tion possible, but it saves times. A lesson carefully
prepared can be well taught in much less time than is
possible without such preparation, — a fact abundantly
attested by school experience. Not only is time in class
work thus saved, but the time spent by the teacher in
preparing his lessons comes back to him in the increased
interest and application of his pupils ; in their confi-
dence, obedience, and cheerful acquiescence in. his
wishes.

It is said that Dr. Arnold of Rugby was once asked
why he spent several hours daily in his study, preparing
lessons which he had taught for years, and
that his answer was, " I wish my boys to drink
from a running stream, and not from a stagnant pool,"
— an answer that showed a deep insight into the con-
ditions of all true teaching, and especially that which
takes hold of the heart and life of the pupil.

Many teachers excuse themselves for the neglect of
needed preparation for teaching, on the plea study and
that they are too much exhausted by daily Health,
care and labor to give any thought or attention to
study. There may be cases in which failing health for
bids full preparation, and we would not knowingly lay the

26 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

weight of a straw on the conscience of an overtasked
teacher, struggling against ill health ; but, if our obser-
vation be not at fault, there are ten teachers failing in
health from the want of daily study to one whose health
is impaired by such study. It is not overwork that im-
pairs the health of so many teachers, but ivoriy. They
carry the petty annoyances and trials of their schools
as a constant burden. They are kept in mind by day,
and too often enter into their dreams at night. It is
this that brings pallor to the cheek, and puts a tremor
into the nerves.

The only effective remedy for this useless worry is
to exorcise it by earnest preparation for class instruc-
Remedyfor tiou. That tcachcr is wise who gives daily
Worry- ten minutes to such preparation, to one min-
ute to the petty worries of discipline. This will sub-
stitute a soul-refreshing activity for one that kills. A
teacher who enters her school in the morning light-
hearted, teaches joyously all day, and then, locking all
care inside, goes away to prepare herself for to-mor-
row's teaching, is not likely to suffer in health because
of her occupation ; provided, of course, she teaches in
a properly ventilated room, and takes necessary recre-
ation and outdoor exercise.

2. Skill in Teaching and Managing.

A second element of governing power is skill in teach-
ing and managing.

It is one thing to know a subject, but it is quite
another thing to be able to teach it effectively. The
teacher needs not only knowledge, but skill, — skill in
instruction, skill in drilling, skill in testing results, etc.

THE TEACHER AS GOVEKXOR. 27

Such skill is not only essential to successful teach-
ing, but it wins and increases the confidence of- pupils,
awakens interest, secures attention, imparts skiiiwina
facility in learning, increases application, and confidence,
otherwise enters helpfully into the pupils' efforts and
conduct.

When young, the writer took a few lessons in pen-
manship under that prince of American penmen, Piatt
R. Spencer, who, in his day, taught many large classes
of young people, with little, if any, thought
of order. When Spencer stepped . to the
blackboard to give an illustratiornL he never called for
attention. It was his without the Asking. All eyes
were gladly on the master ; and, as those matchless
forms leaped upon the board, interest gave place to an
admiration that sent increased dexterity into untrained
fingers. The consummate skill of the great penman
was at once an ideal and an inspiration to his pupils.
This is true of all great teachers, not only of art, but of
science, literature, etc. Their masterly skill in instruc-
tion is an inspiring ideal, begetting confidence, interest,
docility, effort, success.

The same is true of skill in managing. It is not
enough that the teacher knows how a class should be
called or dismissed, how pupils should use the blackboard,
how slates and pencils should be distributed, skiii in
etc., but to this knowledge must be added Managing.
skill of execution. It is actual skill in the arts and de-
vices that enter into school management that increases
the teacher's power of easy control ; and it may be
added that the highest skill in these arts is always free
from the " Company, front ! " of the school martinet. It
secures order, but an order born of an order-loving

28 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

spirit. It causes a school ''to run like a clock," but,
like the clock, by an inner impulse. Such skill is gov-
erning power.

As a means of acquiring this needed skill, whether in

teaching or managing, a teacher must study his art.

Acquisition Skill is uot the result of simple practice or

of Skill, experience, and this is specially true in teach-
ing. It must be a guided experience. One month of
teaching under the inspiration and guidance of true
ideals is worth a year's teaching without such guidance.
The young teacher must make himself familiar with
the best available experience, not for blind imitation,
but for intelligent appropriation. He must study plans
and devices, always subjecting them to the one decisive
test, — the end to be readied. He should study method,
but in the light of sound principles, and, to this end,
he should acquire as clear a grasp as possible of at least
a few of the more fundamental principles of teaching.
Rational methods of instruction are only practicable to
those who have some insight into the principles on
which they are based. The superficial empiric in
teaching is liable to blunder in every new application
of his knowledge.

In devising and adopting plans, the teacher should

take special care to use those adapted to Ids conditions

and ability. Not every Hebrew warrior could fight in

individu- Saul's armor, and it is not every teacher that

^^^ty- can do his best in the pedagogic armor of
Socrates. The plans and methods which a teacher suc-
cessfully uses must be, in a sense, his own. They must
embody his ideals, and be adapted to his individual
characteristics and power. The true teacher must be
more than an operative, following prescribed forms

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 29

and methods. Carpets may be woven and garments
made by pattern, but the unfolding and informing of a
human soul requires the artist's hand and the artist's
spirit.

Nor can the teacher rely on general plans or methods.
V Special adaptations will be required in the several
branches of study, and also in the different subjects in
each branch. Every lesson or exercise has special
its special ends, and every class its pupils p'*"*-
who need special treatment ; and these must be con-
sidered in the teacher's preparation and work. A new
illustration will be needed here, a different presenta-
tion there, and these skillful adaptations will largely
determine success. Growth in skill is the sure, result
of an intelligent and conscientious study of the teach-
er's art, and growth in skill means increasing governing
power.

It only remains to add, that needed skill, whether in
teaching or managing, cannot be acquired without in-
telligent practice. Skill is the result of Need of
repeated action, and hence it requires time Practice,
for a teacher to be at his best in the use of a new plan
or method ; and the more rational the plan or method,
the longer the time required for its mastery. This fact
is often overlooked. True plans are often condemned
and set aside because untrained teachers cannot at once
use them successfully. lilsewhere ^ we have presented
at some length the different plans of calling on pupils
to recite, but the plan there commended cannot be used
by a novice at the first trial. Its easy and skillful use
may require not only some modification, but weeks of
practice.

^ Elements of Pedagc^, pp. 182-192.

30 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

Skill in turning a grindstone is readily acquired ;
and the more mechanical and rutty a plan or device,
Crank- the more readily can untrained teachers
Turning, ygc it. This fact explains, at least in part,
the former well-nigh universal prevalence of the old
rote and turn methods of reciting, and also their present
wide use, notwithstanding the oft-repeated disclosure of
their weakness and failure. Crank-turning in teaching
is a simple process, and hence the large number of
crank-turners in our schools.

3. Heart Power.

Another element of easy control is heart power: i.e.,
love for pupils^ and that love most conscientiously shown
toward those who need it most.

The difficulty in the government of most schools is
limited to the control of a very few pupils ; and these
are usually children born with unhappy dispositions,
and often into unfavorable home life and influence.
Success in governing these pupils means easy success
Condition in the control of the school. As a condition
of Control, of the succcssful government of wayward
pupils, the teacher must win their confidence and es-
teem, — must link them to him with a true affection.
It. may be possible, and sometimes necessary, to restrain
such pupils by authority, or to rule them temporarily by
force ; but they cannot be led except by true affection.
There is no incentive or restraint so potent as that of
love. Love is the last word in the vocabulary of child
control.

But special emphasis needs to be given to the fact
that the teacher's love is to be shown most conscien-

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 3 1

tiously toward the pupils that need it most^ — not to the
most deserving, but to the most needy. This impor-
tant principle is most happily illustrated in Love
the discipline and training of reformatories. torPupiis.
The successful teachers in these institutions are men
and women of heart power, — those who can love the
erring and wayward, — and their happy influence and
success show that the heart knows the heart. A re-
formatory without love would be a prison ; with love, it
may be a home.

A teacher once sent word to the superintendent that
she wished him to call at her school ; that she was fail-
ing in its control. He visited the school, and

1 1 , r 1 1 1 -T-1 Illustration.

soon learned the secret of the trouble. Ihe
teacher had formed a dislike for a few troublesome girls,
and her influence over them was gone. On being urged
to take these girls, several of whom were moral orphans,
lovingly to her heart, she replied that she could not do
it. "I can love," said she, "a lovable child, but I can-
not love a hateful one. I hate some of these girls so,
that I feel relieved when they stay at home." And yet
here were a few girls, without helpful home training
and encouragement, who needed not only this teacher's
instruction, but her interest and her love. Under God
she had the opportunity to win these neglected ones,
and to put some joy and hope into their hearts, and a
little sunshine into their lives. In the presence of such
need and opportunity, this woman's heart was under the
control of mere natural affection, — love for the lovable,
and hatred for the hateful ! The love of the true
teacher takes hold of the child's future, and it sees even
in the wayward the possibility of a noble man or woman.
It is this love that lifts up the fallen, carries light

32 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

into moral darkness, and sends the missionary to the
heathen.

The history of pedagogy presents no more impressive
example of the power of love in the schoolroom than
that afforded by the experience of the great
Swiss reformer, Pestalozzi. To an abiding
faith in the possibilities of child nature, he added a con-
trolling belief that love and kindness would touch and
open the hearts of children, and call forth love and re-
spect in return, — a principle which he demonstrated in
his now historic experiments at Neuhof, Stantz, Burg-
dorf, and Yverdun. If any reader is disposed to dis-
credit the efficiency of this principle of love, let him
read the brief but touching story of Pestalozzi's experi-
ence at Stantz, the stricken Swiss village
where French soldiers had met the heroic re-
sistance of the Swiss peasants with inhuman slaughter,
without distinction of age or sex. Few schoolrooms
have ever been filled with more unlovable and disorderly
pupils than the forty (soon after eighty) destitute and
degraded children whom Pestalozzi received, with open
arms, on that cold day in January, 1 799 ; and with what
love and self-sacrifice were they cared for and served,,
and what a conquest of hearts and reformation of lives
were the results ! *' If ever there was a miracle," says
Michelet, "it was here," — the miracle of love.

The love that thus wins the hearts of children is real
love, and not its profession. We wear no veil over our
Real hearts in the presence of children. As the
Love. electrometer trembles at the presence of the
feeblest electric current, so their little hearts are re-
sponsive to our most secret feelings and impulses.
Love in the heart does not need to be proclaimed. It

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 33

beams from the eyes, radiates from the face, breathes
its benedictions in the voice, and discloses itself in
movement and bearing. Our professions of love must
bear the stamp of the heart, or they will not pass at par
over the x:ounters of childhood.

It is a mistake for a teacher to thrust himself into
his pupils' conduct, and feel that it i':^ personal, — a mis-
take unfortunately not confined to young pupiis'Con-
teachers. It is both unwise and unjust for a duct not
teacher to feel that the misconduct of his P"^°"»'-
pupils is aimed at him, — that they are actuated by con-
scious personal feelings toward him in all that they do
or fail to do. Such a feeling is sure to estrange the
teacher's heart, to lead to personal likes and dislikes to-
ward pupils, and to end in discord. A reference to his
own experience as a pupil ought to dispel such a delu-
sive suspicion from a teacher's mind. The conduct of
a pupil may be aimed at the teacher, may have a per-
sonal feeling back of it; but this is exceptional, — at
least should be so considered. It is a serious mistake
to put the government of a school on a personal basis.
The true policy for the teacher is to keep himself out
of his pupils' condnct, — to consider misconduct as an
offense against the school, and not against himself.

The writer once gave this advice to some young teach-
ers in a county institute in Ohio, and in the evening he
was surprised, and the audience convulsed,

,.,,.. . Illustration.

by a very pat illustration given as an intro-
duction to an elocutionary entertainment. The elocu-
tionist said that at the close of the afternoon session
he put on his overcoat and fur muffler (the first seen in
that section) and, with the words, " Keep yourself out of
your pupils' conduct," ringing in his ears, started for the
3

34 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

hotel. As he was turning a corner, a little imp across
the street yelled out, " My ! ain't that feller got long
ears ! " Supposing that the remark was suggested by
his fur muffler, and aimed at himself, he started across
the street to punish the fellow for his impudence, but, on
glancing up the street, he saw a man leading a mule
with the longest ears he had ever seen. He came
quickly to the conclusion that the boy meant the mule !
"It is usually wise," he added, "to take it for granted
that the mischief of the school is aimed at the mule ! "

4. Will Power.

Another element of easy control is will power, —
the teachers ability to hold first Jiimself and then his
pupils right up, day after day, to uniform conduct and
effort.

This evenness of control not only wins confidence,
but it also establishes right habits, and these are essen-
tial to that facile conformity to system that

Habit. ■' •' , ,

marks a well-governed school. Habit is the
secret and the condition of self-control and self-direc-
tion. It is just as easy for two pupils to sit together
all day and not whisper once, as to whisper all day,
provided that they form the habit of sitting together
without whispering.

But how are habits formed .? Not by a mere resolu-
tion or purpose ; not by a single effort, or by a series of
How fitful efforts, but by repeated and continuous

Formed, activity. Every act of the soul leaves as an
enduring result an increased power to act and a ten-
dency to act again in like manner, and every repetition
of an act increases this power and tendency. When
this resulting tendency becornQ§ so strong that an act

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 35

is repeated without conscious voluntary effort, the re-
sult is called habit. How many admire the skillful
movements of a military company without thinking of
the many hours of persistent drill that are back of all
this precision and uniformity !

This is the secret of the quiet self-control and easy
movements of a well-trained school. These are not
the results of a spasm of order or a single Hawtin
day's effort. It is habit that enables pupils school,
to rise promptly and quietly, to walk on the floor noise-
lessly, to stand gracefully when reciting, to speak in
clear and natural tones, to repress the desire to com-
municate with others, — in short, to do everything
without effort or resistance that is essential to a well-
regulated school. It is habit that makes the pupils'
conduct free, spontaneous, and uniform.

It is for this reason that the first month of a school
term so largely determines the ease with which the
school is to be managed. If, from the first

1 - ., Ill 1 1 /. , First Month.

day, the pupils are held evenly and firmly to
duty, right habits will be formed and right action be
made easy. If, on the contrary, the teacher is capri-
cious and vacillating in his requirements, with neither
uniformity nor firmness in control, right habits will
not be formed by the pupils, and the teacher's energies
will be exhausted in the directing of the school, if not
in the suppression of actual disorder.

This fatal weakness in school discipline is shown in
the experience of those teachers who are subject to
spasms of discipline; who punish one day weaknes.
what they do not notice the next ; who have <»' spasms,
"clearing-up times" in which they bring disorderly
pupils "up standing;" who "turn over a new leaf"

36 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

once a month, or every Monday morning, and then lose
all they have gained by a failure to keep the school in
hand, — a common weakness in the experience of the
old-time schoolmasters, one of whom has a sure place
in the writer's memory. The week in his school always
closed with disorder, and also with a deter-
mined and threatening announcement that
on Monday morning he should "turn over a new leaf."
On Monday the master came to the school "armed"
with whips and a fixed purpose, and he was not long in
conquering a peace. Pupils were punished for the
slightest offenses. The school soon settled into a still-
ness that could be felt, and the master's stern features
began to soften, and an expression of satisfaction soon
stole over his pale face. By Tuesday his vigilance and
determination relaxed somewhat, and some of the more
daring pupils indulged a little in "furtive mischief."
On Wednesday the master's spasm of pluck disap-
peared, and the wonted hum of disorder filled the
place. On Thursday and Friday chaos reigned, with
some threatenings, and the week closed with the an-
nouncement that a new leaf would be turned on Mon-
day ! The writer was then a small lad, but he was old
enough to wonder why the master did not keep the
school in order when he once had it under control.
Fickleness in discipline is sure to end in disorder, but
pupils yield to and respect firmness and evenness of
control.

The fact may need emphasis here, that the will has

Silent most powcr in school discipline when accom-

Tongue. panicd by a silent tongue. No expenditure

of energy in a school is more futile than scolding or

fault-finding. It is not what is said of a pupil's past

TI/E TEAC/fEk AS GOVERNOR. 37

conduct that tells, but ivkat he is required to do. If,
for example, the pupils in a class rise carelessly and
come in a disorderly manner to the recitation seats, no
amount of scolding or talking then and there is likely
to mend matters very much. What is far better is the
prompt and quiet correction of the careless rising by
requiring the pupils to be seated and then rise again,
and to be seated and rise a second time, if this be
necessary ; and, to secure these results, a quiet motion
of the hand is much better than a storm of words.

A superintendent, wishing to secure an efficient dis-
ciplinarian, visited at the opening of a term a school
with many new pupils. A class was called,
and the pupils rose carelessly. They were
promptly seated, and then, by a motion of the hand,
were called again. The second rising was not quite
satisfactory, and they were again seated. At the next
silent signal the pupils all rose properly, and this was
recognized by a pleasant " I thank you ; that pleases
me." This exhibition of quiet power satisfied the
superintendent, and the teacher was invited to take
a better position. "Ten words of praise to one of
censure," is a good maxim in an elementary school.
Right habits are the result of training, not of talking,
and the habit of quiet self-control is no exception.

This leads to the related fact that the teacher's will
is most effective when unsupported by a show of force.
The presence of a rod or ferule always dis- noshow
counts the teacher's personal power, and the <»' ''o'ce-
same is true of threats of punishment. There were
once many schools in which the rod had more f>ower
than the teacher, and there may still be teachers whose
personal weakness needs to be thus supplemented ; but

38 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

these facts do not affect the principle under consider-
ation. A threatening rod is a serious hindrance to the
personal influence of any teacher.

A lad of fifteen was once unwisely intrusted with
the breaking of a vicious colt ; and, in his many con-
flicts for mastery, he was wont to use the

Illustration. ^ • ^ r y • t i • r •

rawhide ireely, sometimes waling the infuri-
ated animal with blows. An experienced horseman, wit-
nessing one of these struggles, sent across the street
to the lad these words : " Boy, boy ! keep your whip
still and your lines steady." The lad acted on the
horseman's advice, and in a month the colt was con-
quered, becoming as docile under the saddle as he was
beautiful in form and step.

Boys, like horses, respect a firm hand and a steady
line. It is evenness of control that wins. An essen-
tial qualification for the easy government of a school
is backbone.

5. Good Eyes and Ears.

Another element of governing ability is good eyes and
good earSy — the ability to know zvhat pupils are doing
ivithoiit watching them ; to " take in " a school without
espionage.

This power is more than good eyesight and acute
hearing. It includes not only acute physical senses,

Present- but the mcutal habit of easy attention to

mindedness. what is goiug ou in ouc's prescucc, — a power

which may be properly called present-mindedness, as

weakness in this direction is called absent-mindedness.

It is soul-sight.

This element may be one of those inborn powers that

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 39

cannot be easily cultivated, and yet the writer has
known conscious weakness in this direction to be over-
come in good degree by attention and effort.

The value of good eyesight and hearing in the gov-
ernment of a school is fully attested by experience.
There is not only the power of restraint but Power of
of inspiration in the eye, — to take one ele- ^^^ ^y^-
ment. What a help to a wayward pupil is the con-
sciousness that the eye of the teacher rests upon him,
not in suspicion, but in sympathy and love ! The
eye of the wise and good has ever been an incentive to
right conduct, and a restraint to wrongdoing ; and this
is especially true in childhood and youth. Evil shuns
the light. There is no such exorciser of evil impulse
and inclination from the human heart as the conscious-
ness that there rests upon man an all-seeing Eye that
is never closed.

On the contrary, there is no one defect in a teacher
that is surer to be attended with more or less disorder
than imperfect sight or hearing. Even well- i^ fg^t
disposed pupils will almost unconsciously take sight and
advantage of such a weakness, while the ill- """"«
disposed may be tempted to actual misconduct. The
writer has had official relations with several teachers in
school and college, who, from age or other infirmity,
were losing acuteness of sight or hearing ; and in each
case this has been attended with more or less decline
in disciplinary power, even when met, and in some
degree counteracted, by increased care and effort.
Teachers who are unconscious of their infirmity, espe-
cially in hearing, are likely to be troubled over what
seems to them an unaccountable increase of difficulty in
discipline.

40 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

But this defect in observing power may not be
physical. It is perhaps more frequently due to a habit

Habit of of iuattentiou to what is occurring in one's
Inattention, prescncc. A tcachcr may have good eyes
but see not, and good ears but hear not, the things
which concern his peace. I have seen pupils in more
than one class pass papers and even slates right before
the face of a teacher who seemed to be looking in their
direction, and yet did not notice what occurred. He was
absorbed in the lesson, and saw and heard little else.

A most striking illustration of this weakness was

once afforded by a visit to a primary school. As we

entered the front hall, we heard, through the

Illustration. , , . . , . . ...

open transom, the hum of mischief within.
We rapped twice at the door before we were admitted ;
and, being seated on the platform, we had full view of
the pranks of the pupils. We have seen many a dis-
orderly school, but we never saw as many imps of
mischief out on parade as were seen in this girls'
school ; and possibly the reader can imagine the scene.
The teacher, a pleasant lady, was conducting an exer-
cise in reading, apparently all unconscious of the din
that filled the room. As we rose to leave for relief, the
teacher, noticing our movements, stepped to the front
of the neatly carpeted platform, and in a very sweet
voice said, " Little girls, little girls ! It seems to me I
hear a whisper somewhere ! " Perhaps she did, but we
would as soon think of listening for a firecracker on a
field of battle !

It seems important to add that this observing power
has also great value as a means of checking incipient
evil. It enables the teacher to discern wrong tenden.
cies in pupils before they lead to positive misconduct,

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 4 1

and thus wisely to exercise control when only a little
may be needed. The highest efficiency in this direction
requires a discerning power as unconscious in its action
as instinct.

There is a little animal, not larger than the domestic
cat, that keeps the valley of the Nile from being over-
run by crocodiles, and yet it is not strong Theich-
enough to harm a crocodile ; but, as it makes neumon.
its journeys up and down the banks of the river, it
sees fresh tracks in the sand, and instinct teaches it
that these are made by the female crocodile, seeking the
sand to deposit her eggs to be hatched by the sun ; and,
following these tracks to the place where the sand has
been disturbed, it opens the same with its little feet,
and breaks each Qg% ; and each ^g'g broken is a croco-
dile dispatched. The ichneumon is the perfect type
of the easy disciplinarian. His whole business is egg-
breaking. He does not wait until mischief hatches out
into misconduct, and then, with a rod or ruler, attempt
its correction ; but he is keen-sighted enough to see
mischief in its incipiency, in its beginning, when a
look or word may dispatch it. This egg-breaking in
discipline requires not only sight, but insight. Every
round object is not an ^gg, and every ^^g does not
contain a crocodile. The killing of mischief in the
^gg involves the knowing of the eggs that contain it.

6. Common Sense.

Another element of governing ability is common
sense, — practical wisdom in dealing with the little affairs
that make up school life.

Common sense is not sense common to all persons,
but sense in common things, — practical wisdom in

42 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

dealing with common affairs. The adjective has slipped
away from the noun which it qualifies.

Common sense, as thus defined, is an important

factor in school discipline. It knows when to speak

and when to keep silent, when to make re-

Importance. ^

quest and when to command, when to com-
mend and when to reprove. Common sense knows how
and when to put its hand on a child's head, how to
appease him when aggrieved, how to unlock the door
to his heart, how to find a side door when the front
door is bolted with anger or obstinacy, how to come up
on the right side of a displeased patron, etc. Common
sense does not turn its ears in all directions to catch
flattery or criticism, does not thrust itself into the
pranks of pupils, and does not lose sleep over useless
worries. It desires real progress, and keeps faith and
step with right and duty.

All great disciplinarians, whether in school or college,

have been persons of strong common sense; of tact

Great ^^^ ^^^7 ^^ detecting, but in dealing with

Discipiina- misdemcauors, — a tact born of common
"^"^* sense and a keen insight into human nature.
The exercise of this sense in dealing with children re-
quires an intimate acquaintance with child nature, the
feelings and motives that govern them, and a genuine,
loving sympathy with them in all their little trials.

It is a very common mistake for teachers to attribute
wrong motives to children, — to suppose that they have

Common bccu influenced by the same feelings that

Mistakes, would influcncc an adult in like circum-
stances. They forget that children act more from im-
pulse than reflection, and that as a result their conduct
is more spontaneous than intentional. Not only is the

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 43

child's knowledge limited, but his power of will to resist
feeling is weak. Many a child has been punished for
insubordination when the real difficulty was an inability
of will to do what was required, — an inability due to
the temporary dominancy of uncontrolled feeling. It
was once not an uncommon occurrence to suspend pupils
from school, or otherwise punish them, for a failure to
speak a piece or read a composition before the school ;
and yet this failure was sometimes, if not often, due to
a positive inability "to pluck up courage" to go through
the severe ordeal. Nothing less than a desire strong
enough to cast out fear can sufficiently reenforce the
will of a diffident pupil under such circumstances. The
old-time teachers failed, either from ignorance or lack
of sympathy, to put themselves in their pupils' places,
— one of the axioms of common sense.

7. Moral Character.

The most vital element of governing power is a posi-
tive moral character and life.

We thus come back, in our analysis, to the one essen-
tial fact of the school, — the teacher; and we reach the
one essential fact in the teacher, — character, character
Through all the methods and measures of and
the school must run the vitalizing influence ^°**"«"«-
of the teacher's inner life. This is the one element of
power that can touch the heart and conscience of pupils
with an inspiring inner influence that makes outer con-
trol unnecessary. It is a great mistake to suppose that
moral influence and character can be divorced. We
might as well attempt to separate the stream from the
fountain. The one is the consequence of the other;

44 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

and, where genuine character is wanting, there will be
missed the irresistible charm and power of indwelling
goodness and manliness. The most potent moral influ-
ence of the teacher emanates secretly from the inmost
spirit of his being.

Addison, in one of his exquisite allegories, describes
a conflict for dominion between Truth and Falsehood.

Allegory ^^ Truth, with her shining attendants, en-
by ters the mythical regions where Falsehood
sits upon her throne, the light which ema-
nates from her person falls upon Falsehood, and the
goddess fades insensibly ; and, as Truth approaches
still nearer. Falsehood, with all her retinue, vanishes
and disappears, just as the stars melt away in the
brightness of the rising sun. We have in this allegory
a beautiful illustration of that marvelous charm, that
almost resistless influence, which flows unconsciously
from an exalted, noble character.

In the training of the young, much more depends on
what the teacher really is than on what he says. If
devotion to God, to truth and duty, does not glow within
his heart and life, his outer efforts to secure such devo-
tion in his pupils will avail very little. His words must
bear the stamp of a true man. Dr. Huntington has
truly said, —

" Not the most eloquent exhortations to the erring and disobe-
dient, though they be in the tongues of men or of angels, can move
mightily upon your scholars' resolutions till the nameless, uncon-
scious, but infallible presence of a consecrated, earnest heart lifts
its holy light into your eyes, hallows your temper, breathes its
pleading benedictions into your tones, and authenticates your entire
bearing with its open seal." ^

^ Huntington's Unconscious Tuition.

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 45

This truth also discloses the secret of the potent in-
fluence, for good or ill, of the teacher s personal example.
Truth translated into life not only wins in- Teacher's
tellectual assent, but it touches the heart. Personal
"There is," says Dr. Blackie, "no kind of Example,
sermon so effective as the example of a good man."
This is especially true in the schoolroom. If the
teacher would banish deception and falsehood from his
pupil's life, he must first exorcise them from his own.
If he would make them gentle, kind, and pure, his own
life must daily exhibit these virtues.
. Not only the example, but the spirit, of the teacher
is an element of influence. A sunny, cheerful, happy
spirit wins children's hearts more surely than Teacher's
words ; and, besides, such a spirit is sure to spint.
awaken cheerfulness and happiness in return. The
writer once visited a primary school in charge of a
cheerful, sunny teacher. A pupil made a mistake in
reading, and the teacher endeavored to lead the child to
see and correct it. Every word was accompanied with
a sweet, assuring smile, which not only put the child at
ease, but lit up her face with happy confidence. On
leaving the room, a friend said he would give five dol-
lars for a picture of that teacher and pupil at the mo-
ment of the latter's success ; that he would like to
show it to several teachers of his acquaintance, who
meet every mistake with a frown. How many teachers
have the habit of talking to their pupils in a high-
keyed, sharp, and rasping voice ! We never enter a
schoolroom where such a teacher is " at his best " with-
out feeling an impulse to make a hasty departure.

What is said above of the influence of a cheerful,
sunny spirit is also true of a generous, unsuspecting,

46 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

trusting disposition. Confidence is as surely attended
by good will as distrust is accompanied by dislike, and
Generous Certainly it is not in human nature to like to
Disposition. ]3g treated with suspicion ; and this is not only
a common but a serious mistake in the government of
children. But what we desire to emphasize is the
happy influence of a positive trust and confidence, — not
a trust born of moral weakness, blind to actual wrong,
and easily deceived, — a weakness sure to be despised
even by the youngest, — but a trust born of love.
" Charity thinketh no evil," but it is not blind to evil.

It is also important that the teacher be free from ijl

temper and a censorious and irascible spirit. Somd

111 teachers mistake severity for thoroughness.

Temper. They rcsort to sharp criticism and sarcasm
to cause pupils "to do their best," as they say, forget-
ting that such treatment prevents any one from doing
his best. Fear dissipates attention and prevents thought.
Teachers who break into anger because pupils make a
mistake, commit a blunder tenfold greater than their
pupils. What tortures sensitive pupils suffer under such
teachers, and especially children who live in an atmos-
phere of sympathy and love at home ! The young
teacher should resist every impulse to be angry, or to
speak in a harsh and petulant manner. If there be a
disqualification which, next to immorality and ignorance,
should be a bar to the teacher's office, it is the posses-
sion of a morose and irascible temper. The man who
cannot control his own temper and spirit is not fitted
to be the guide and pattern of the young.

Truthful- It seems unnecessary to add that the

"«ss. teacher should be a man who speaks the
truth and acts the truth. It is a great misfortune for a

THE TEACHER AS GOVERNOR. 47

child to be under the influence of a teacher who deceives
patrons and visitors as to the real attainments of pupils ;
who trains his pupils to seem to know what they do
not know, as in public examinations, so called ; who
assigns false reasons for his acts ; who pretends not to
be watching pupils that he may "catch them in mis-
chief ; " who makes promises that he does not intend
to keep, or, what is about as bad, forgets to keep ; who
pretends to know that of which he is ignorant ; who
marks pupils in the absence of knowledge ; or who, in
other ways, departs from the truth. In truthfulness,
the teacher cannot be a signboard. He must himself
go the way he points.

It ought to go without the saying that the teacher of
children should be free from vice. He who would form
in the young a controlling purpose to keep
their lives free from evil habits, should keep
his own life free. It is the clear and high duty of the
school to fortify its pupils against evil habits, — habits
that destroy health and reputation, that waste time and
money, that take away self-control, that dishonor one's
self and family, etc. ; but instruction in these matters,
though scientific and even beautiful, will accomplish
very little if offset by the teacher's personal example.
Such instruction must come from the teacher's heart,
and be emphasized by his life.

If the writer had the power of making one law for
the governing of American schools, and only one, and
this in a single sentence, — a law to be written over
every schoolroom door, — he would have little difficulty
in determining what it should be. It would be in about
these words : No man or woman shall enter here as a
teacher, wJiose ctiaracter and life are not fit models for
the young to copy.

48 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL.

Mere conditions do not determine success ; but,
when favorable, they make success easier, and hence are
worthy of careful consideration. Attention is invited
to several of the more important conditions in school
government.

Requisite Qualifications.

The vital condition, as already shown, is a teacher
possessing requisite qualifications. This is subjective
and essential, and has been fully considered above.
There are other important conditions which also per-
tain to the teacher, but are more external and less
personal.

Requisite Authority.

The first of these conditions is the teacher s possession
of requisite authority, — aji authority clearly recog7iized
by pupils and patrons, and all others directly interested in
the school.

This is an important condition, not only for easy con-
trol, but also for the highest success in instruction.
The more the teacher represents officially as well as
personally in a school, the higher will be the pupils'
confidence in him, the easier his control, the more
effective his plans, and the more successful his efforts.
This is an obvious principle, — too obvious for extended
discussion, were it more generally observed.

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 49

The teacher is not only in loco parentis, but he also
stands in his own place, and, in virtue of his office, is
vested with rights and powers, as well as inherent
with responsibilities and duties. It is im- Authority,
portant that these inherent rights be recognized and
honored by all. It is the beginning of serious trouble
in a school when the officers thereof call in question
the rightful authority of the teacher, and this is often
done ignorantly. There are not a few persons who
suppose that all of the teacher's authority in a school
is delegated by the school board, and hence that this
authority may be limited or denied by such board at
its pleasure. This supposition overlooks the historical
fact that the teacher existed long before the school
board, and that, in virtue of his office, he was endowed
with inherent rights and authority. The law nowhere
denies or annuls these historic and inherent teaching
powers, nor does it invest them in the school board.
They remain with the teacher, an essential attribute of
his high office.

It is true that the law gives school boards the
power to employ teachers, to prescribe courses of study
and instruction, and to exercise supervisory powers of
authority over the schools ; but supervision is school
not teaching, and the supervisory function as so**"***-
cnilxxlicd in the school board does not include teach-
ing functions. The school board may employ teachers ;
but neither its officers nor its members are teachers, and
they cannot wisely or legally exercise teaching powers
or functions.

The authority of the school board to prescribe need-
ful regulations for the government of the schools ought
not to be construed as conferring the right to abridge

50 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

or annul inherent teaching powers. Rules relating to
the details of instruction and discipline should, for this

School reason, be most carefully considered. No
Regulations, school board, for example, can rightfully pre-
scribe that teachers shall punish with a rod any pupil
who whispers without permission, this being a clear
assumption of the teaching function ; but a board may
properly enact, if this be necessary, that no pupil shall
be punished with a rod for failing in a lesson, such pun-
ishment being a clear abuse of the teacher's authority,
and, it may be added, an abuse so obvious that no regu-
lation ought to be required for its correction.

As a rule, school regulations touching the details of
discipline and instruction, if enacted, should be prohibi-
tory of obvious abuses, and not didactic or directive. It
Prohibitory is the tcachcr's function to determine when
Rules. punishment is required, to devise detailed
plans of instruction, to assign lessons and exercises, to
decide when they are properly prepared, and to deter-
mine the steps to be taken in reaching a desired result.
These and other like duties are elements of teaching,
and as such belong primarily to the teacher.

One of the tendencies in present school adminis-
tration that most needs correction is an increasing
assumption by school officers of the rights and duties
Assumption inherent in the teacher's office. This ten-
of Teaching dcucy is uot Only seen in school regulations

Powers, ^j^^^ violate the principles above stated, but
more seriously in supervision, and especially in super-
vision by members of school boards, acting as individ-
uals or as committees. It is believed to be not an
uncommon thing for a school director or trustee to
dictate to teachers the methods to be used in teaching

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 5 I

given subjects, and also what they are to require the
pupils to do. Teachers are told authoritatively that
they must not require pupils to prepare spelling lessons
by writing ; that all spelling exercises must be oral ;
that pupils must be taught the alphabet before they
attempt to read ; that pupils must be permitted to read
at least one verse each, and that they must read twice
a day ; that the pupils must recite by turn ; that pupils
must not " begin multiplication " until they have learned
the multiplication table ; that the rules in arithmetic
must be learned by heart before any problems are
solved ; that the text in geography must be committed
to memory ; that no wall maps are to be used in recita-
tions ; that all tables in primary grades are to be recited
in concert, etc.

It is easy to see the mischief which must result from
such official dictation in the details of teaching, and it
is obvious that such dictation is even more Lj^itsto
mischievous, and perhaps more common, with Director's
reference to discipline ; and all this mischief Authority,
may be done by a school officer without his even dream-
ing that neither the law nor the school regulations give
him an iota of official authority in these matters ; that
he has no more legal right " to play teacher " in the
schools than any other citizen. It may, of course, be
entirely proper for a school director or committeeman
to call attention to what may seem defects in a school,
or to make suggestions looking to its improvement, —
and every true teacher will welcome such efforts to
render assistance, — but we are not now considering
the propriety of official advice^ but of authoritative
direction, — a very different matter.

It is believed that there are thousands of American

52 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

teachers, especially in country districts, who are not
teaching according to their best knowledge or best
Resulting judgment, because of official interference or
Mischiefs, the fear of it; and for this reason hundreds
of schools are in disorder, with a sacrifice of needed
efficiency and progress. What a happy change would
occur in these schools were the teachers officially en-
couraged to do their best, and, to this end, to seek for
the most helpful information and the most approved
plans and methods ! If this were done, in the place of
stagnation and dull routine there would soon appear
order, life, and progress.

This mistake of official dictation is sometimes made
by superintendents and principals ; and it always occurs
when a superintendent prescribes the details of instruc-
Mistakes ^^^^ ^"^^ discipline, and then enforces the
of superin- samc by personal oversight and direction of
tendents. ^^^ tcachcr's work. Such a course of pro-
cedure reduces the teacher to an operative, and is
subversive of all true teaching. The most helpful
supervision does not dictate or prescribe details ; but
it asks for restclts, and then so instructs, inspires, and
guides teachers, that they freely put their best thought
and effort into whatever they do. This means profes-
sional progress, growth in skill, and increasing success.

It was once too common a mistake for superintend-
ents to criticise teachers in the presence of their classes,
Criticism ^^^^^ undermining their influence and author-
of ity, and also lessening the confidence of the
Teachers, pypjig j^ their teaching ability. The fre-
quency of this mistake has been happily lessened by a
better understanding of the supervisory function, and
a clearer knowledge of the means to be employed to

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 53

secure better teaching ; and all this has been the result
of a wide and intelligent discussion of the relation be-
tween superintendent and teacher.

It may be true that neither dictation nor criticism is
as mischievous when made by a superintendent or head
teacher as when made by a school trustee or director.
The superintendent as an expert (if one) would not
only be less likely to give wrong directions or criticisms,
but he would be able to supplement the same by more
helpful assistance, if desired ; but the fact remains
that the teacher has been unwisely humiliated in his
school, and this is always a mistake, if not a- wrong.
Our wisest superintendents are careful not to come
authoritatively between the teacher and the pupil.
They rather seek, in the presence of pupils, to magnify
the teaching office and honor the teacher.

The teacher's authority in matters of instruction and
discipline is perhaps more frequently questioned by
school patrons than by school officers. There are
probably few school districts in which the

^ -' Teacher's

patrons are agreed, for example, respecting Authority
the teacher's right to prescribe rules relating questioned
to the absence or tardiness of pupils ; to take ^ ' "*"'
cognizance of their conduct on the way to or from
school ; to retain them after school for needed assist-
tance, or to complete neglected work ; to require them
to be supplied with the necessary books, etc. ; to re-
quire them to come to school with clean hands and
faces, and otherwise tidy ; and other like matters.

Teachers naturally, often wisely, hesitate to exercise
doubtful or disputed authority ; and the result is a lack
of efficiency, and, as a consequence, a serious loss to
the school ; and this is specially true when teachers

54 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

are not themselves well informed respecting their
authority and duty. Here is a proper field for school
legislation ; and, in most cities and towns, boards of edu-
cation have enacted rules governing these matters, and,
as a result, there is neither doubt nor conflict respect-
ing the authority and duty of teachers. Such legisla-
Rurai tion is greatly needed in all school districts.
Schools, and especially in rural districts where there
may be a disposition to call the rightful authority of
the school in question. Teachers should not be left to
the alternative of exercising disputed authority, or to
permit the efficiency of the school to be sacrificed.
Whatever authority is requisite for the highest effi-
ciency of a school should be generously accorded and
clearly recognized by all who are directly interested in
its success.

Confidence and Cooperation.

Another important condition of easy control is the
confidence and codperatio7i of school officei^s and patrons.

This is perhaps a more vital condition than that of
recognized authority, and it may be wanting even when
the teacher's power is not questioned. Stress has else-
where been laid on the fact that the pupils' confidence
in the teacher is the basis of their cheerful acquiescence
in his wishes (p. 21) ; but confidence will not long
exist in the schoolroom if it be wanting in the home.

It is too common an occurrence for parents to call in
question the wisdom, if not the competency, of teachers

Home in the presence of their children, this being

Criticism, often douc thoughtlcssly. As a result of

such home criticism, the children enter the school with

their faith in the teacher more or less unsettled, and

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 55

this lessens interest in their work, thus impairing their
progress ; and it not infrequently leads to misconduct.
It should be assumed by all who are interested in a
school, that the teacher is qualified for his duties, and
is otherwise worthy of esteem. To act on the opposite
assumption is to discredit the teacher in advance, and
this puts him to a serious disadvantage. Confidence is
withheld at the very time when it is most needed, —
at the opening of the school. What the new teacher
needs, and is entitled to, is the good will of those under
whom and for whom he is to labor ; and every parent
should specially remember that confidence is due the
teacher tmtil it is forfeited. Every pupil should be
sent to school with the assurance that he has a worthy
teacher. This insures a good beginning, and a good
beginning is the promise of a good ending.

Much of the distrust which teachers are obliged to
meet and overcome is due to the unwise manner in
which they are selected and appointed. Such distrust
is almost sure to appear wherever the impression pre-
vails that teachers are selected, not on the Appointment
ground of merit or fitness, but for other and °' Teacher*,
very different reasons. The personal canvass for a
position, which is sometimes unwisely undertaken, is
likely to call out criticism, often disparagement ; and
this occasions distrust, often unjust it is true, but none
the less real and mischievous. The permitting of per-
sonal, political, nepotic, social, or other improper rea-
sons to control the selection of teachers, is a serious
evil. Fitness and merit alone should open the door of
the public school. The appointment of a teacher should
of itself be an assurance of his competency and fitness
for the position.

56 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT,

It is not only true that confidence is due the teacher,
but the more vital fact is that the teacher should be
worthy of it. True worth often wins when the sense
of duty has failed. The teacher cannot demand confi-

Teacher dcuce, but hc cau always deserve it, and
Worthy of hence his chief concern is to be and to do
Confidence. ^}^a^|- should commcud him to the good opin-
ion of pupils and patrons. It is not meant that the
teacher should strive for popular approval. Popularity
can never be made the end of effort without more or
less sacrifice of personal merit, as well as the best
interests of the school. Popularity, like happiness, is
truest and most satisfying when it springs up by the
wayside of duty. Nor can popular approval be always
accepted as evidence of genuine merit or real success,
and this is especially true in teaching. A pleasing
address, patronizing ways, the habit of flattery, and
other like arts, may partially conceal, for a time, incom-
petency and even charlatanry in the schoolroom ; and
other more commendable ways may do much to supple-
ment a teacher's weakness as an instructor ; but, in the
end, it is genuine merit that tells.

This leads us back to the fact, already considered,
that true confidence in a teacher rests primarily on es-
teem for him as a man, — for his character, habits, and

Teacher's ^^^^- The tcachcr's office is one that assumes

Worth as high character in the incumbent ; and it is
^ ^^"* not possible for a teacher to hold public con-
fidence long, after the public has lost respect for him
as a man. It is true that a person of immoral life may
be a skillful instructor in intellectual directions, and he
may even be a martinet in discipline ; but such a teacher
cannot touch the hearts of his pupils with an uplifting

COND/T/OA'S OF EASY CONTROL. 57

power, nor can he inspire them with a love of what is
highest and best in human life. It is thus seen that
the essential condition of the most abiding confidence
is also the condition of the highest success in govern-
ment ; to wit, the leading of the pupil to be a law to
himself.

The teacher should also remember that he is right-
fully judged by a high stajidardy — the highest in the
community, — and that in meeting this he is sure to
win general approval. In morals the higher includes
the lower: and hence the teacher who so ^ ^

Teacher

lives as to meet the approval of the wisest judged by
and best, will have the respect of all. It "'^^
is too common a mistake for young teach-
ers to feel that they have the right to live according
to their own views of propriety without regard to the
opinions of others, and this position is sometimes sup-
ported by an appeal to what is known as "personal
liberty."

But we are not now considering the question of per-
sonal rights or of personal liberty, but the conditions of
needed confidence and cooperation in school manage-
ment, — the conditions of the highest success in the
government of the young. Mr. A. as a private citizen,
and Mr. A. as the teacher of a public school, do not
stand in the same relation to public opinion. The
teacher has all the obligations of the citizen, and more^
— those belonging specially to the high office of a
teacher of youth. What he needs is the esteem of the
truest and best, and, to secure this, he must comply
with the necessary conditions. Scores of teachers are
failing because of habits and practices which offend the
moral judgment of those whose good opinion tl\ey

58 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

greatly need. The Pauline principle, "If meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh," is a safe one
for the teacher.

It seems unnecessary to add, much less to urge, that
the teacher needs the hearty cooperation of school offi-

Cobpera- ^^^-^ and patrous. This is one of those oft-
tion. attested facts of school experience that no
longer needs proof. It is, however, important for the
teacher to see that such cooperation will largely depend
on the confidence which he inspires and wins. As con-
ditions of easy discipline, confidence and cooperation
are practically one ; and that one is confidence, though
confidence may not always secure cooperation.

Attractive Schoolroom and Surroundings.

An important physical condition of easy control is a
pleasant scJioolroom and attractive surroundings.

The connection between physical environment and
human conduct is very intimate. Other things equal.

Physical ^^^ morc attractive one's surroundings, the

Environ- higher will be his aspirations, and the easier
™^"*' their attainment. It is not meant that phys-
ical environment determines conduct or character; for
history is full of examples of high achievement without
a favoring environment, and also of sad failures with
the most helpful surroundings. But while human life
has its causal principle within the individual, its activ-
ity is greatly influenced by external conditions. It is
doubtless within the truth to assert that the more
favorable one's environment, the easier will be his suc-
cess in right living, and this is specially true in child-
hood. All thoughtful parents and teachers recognize

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 59

the importance of right influences in the training of
the young, but few comparatively attach sufficient
importance to attractive and helpful physical condi-
tions.

The beneficent influence of a beautiful schoolroom
has been experienced by many a teacher. Possibly a
few of the readers of these pages will recall ^ ^^.^^j
the happy change that came over the old schooi-
backwoods school when the approach of '^°°'"'
summer permitted the transforming of the rude hovel,
in which "school was kept," into a bower of beauty.
How pleasant was the task of cutting the green
branches from the trees near at hand, and filling up the
old wide-mouthed fireplace, and covering the rafters
with living green, and then flecking all with boughs of
the Juneberry, laden with white blossoms ! As beauty
came into the humble school, how mischief went out !
Even the rude bouquet of wild flowers in the rusty tin
cup on the teacher's table was an invitation to beauti-
ful conduct. How easy were the lessons, and how
happily all responded to the teacher's wishes !

In his early experience as a teacher, the writer had
the privilege of transferring a high school ^ from an old
and dilapidated schoolhouse to one of the Author**
most beautiful school buildings then in the Experience,
country. He had an orderly and well-disposed school
in the old house; but the change that attended the
removal to the new building, with its elegant furniture,
beautiful pictures on the walls, etc., was marked and
happy. For months the great school ran as smoothly
as the clock that faced the teacher, there being not
even an occasion for reproof. The spirit of the school
1 Qeveland Central High School.

6o SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

responded to the beauty of its new surroundings, and
disorder seemed out of place. This is not an excep-
tional experience. The removal of a school to a new
building has transformed many a school, and many a
teacher has thus been made happy. On the con-
trary, a dirty, dingy, and dilapidated schoolhouse is a
constant temptation not only to disorder, but to low
aims.

A State Superintendent once visited a beautiful vil-
lage to give an address. The people lived in pleasant
striking homcs, bright with paint, and surrounded
Illustration, ^fq\x\x wcll-kcpt grouuds, omamcuted with
shrubbery and flowers. He expected to find a school-
house in harmony with the thrift and taste of the peo-
ple ; but, to his surprise, the public school occupied a
dilapidated wooden structure in an open lot, without
shrub or tree for ornament or shade. On reaching the
front porch, he found the doors and casements cut and
otherwise disfigured with obscenity, and, on entering,
he found the rooms equally disgraceful. The floors
were stained with ink and dirty ; the curtains, if any, in
tatters ; the outline maps torn and dirty ; and the desks
staring with obscene words and figures. He called the
attention of the members of the school board, who were
with him, to the desks, and entered an earnest protest
against their permitting innocent children to occupy
such seats. He was met by the remark, " It is no use
to put nice furniture into a schoolhouse in this town ;
we have the worst set of boys in the country." The
superintendent suggested that the obscene schoolhouse
might be somewhat responsible for the depravity of the
boys, and he earnestly urged that the place be purified,
— if necessary, by fire !

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 6 1

A few weeks later this same superintendent visited
another village ^ to give an address on the occasion of
the graduation of a class from the high Another
school. The school building, a plain brick "'""ration,
structure, occupied an entire square near the center of
the town. The lot was surrounded by double rows of
shade trees, and the grounds in front were neatly laid
out, with winding walks from gates to doorways, and
tastefully ornamented with shrubbery and flowers, — all
as well kept as the grounds of a private residence. On
entering the building, he found everything in keeping
with the beautiful exterior. The floors were clean, the
stoves polished, the curtains and maps in place and in
good condition, pictures on the walls, flowers in the
windows, desks nearly as good as when new fifteen
years before, and the halls from the first to the third
floors apparently untouched by pencil or knife. On
the third floor was a large and well-used library, and
a fine collection of minerals and other natural-history
specimens, — all the results of the efforts of teachers
and pupils.

On inquiry it was learned that the people took great
pride in their schools, and that for years there had been
very few cases of punishment, — a somewhat unusual
experience at that day. It did not require the gift of
prophecy to see that the youth here schooled would, as
a result of these beautiful surroundings, have an extra
picture on the wall of their homes, howsoever humble,
an extra rosebush in the yard, and higher virtue in
the life.

These several illustrations show, more forcibly than
formal directions, what is needed to meet the condition
* Troy, O.; William N. Edwards, superintendent.

62 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

of easy discipline, now under consideration. They give

assurance that the time and care spent in making the

Beautifying surroundiugs of the school pleasant and

School- attractive will come back to the teacher in

rooms, increased interest and application in study,
and in improved order. In no place has a beautiful
picture more influence for good than on the walls of
an elementary school, and how easy it now is for an
earnest teacher to secure pictures for this purpose !
Engravings, chromos, and other pictures are within the
easy reach of nearly every school in the country ; and
the need of suitable frames can be met by making rustic
frames, — an art that is not beyond the skill of pupils,
with a little assistance.

There are many school districts in which the tempo-
rary loan of pictures by the patrons of the school can

Pictures ^^ secured by simply awakening an interest
easily amoug the pupils. The wall back of the

secured, tcachcr's table in a rural school was thus
adorned with appropriate pictures during an entire
school session. At the beginning of each month, a
new picture took the place of the one that had hung
there the previous month, and each successive picture
awakened a new interest.

It seems proper to add that care should be taken
in selecting pictures for a school. It is easy to dis-

Carein figurc a schoolroom with daubs of color that

Selection, jgj^^^ j^o charm, but rather dull the aesthetic
sense and vitiate the taste, — pictures that have neither
beauty nor story. The schoolroom is not the place
for the portraits of men or women of immoral life.
Goodness is more important here than fame or station.
The school should keep in the eyes of its pupils, as

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 63

well as in their hearts, the beautiful sentiment of

Tennyson, —

" Howe'er it be, it seems to me,
'Tis only noble to be good."

To a child goodness should ever appear as the only true
greatness.

Much may also be done in this direction by adorn-
ing the unused portions of blackboards with crayon
drawings and sketches ; and, since stencils Blackboard
remove the necessity of high skill in draw- Pictures,
ing, no teacher needs to neglect this means of adding
to the attractiveness of the schoolroom.

The observance of Arbor Day in recent years has
done much to awaken an interest in the planting of
trees and shrubbery in school grounds.

Arbor Day.

There are now thousands of school grounds
thus ornamented, and the good work is widening,
though sometimes perverted by demonstrations more
showy than fruitful.^ It is hoped that it may soon
reach, not only the school premises in cities and towns,
but the school grounds " at the cross-roads " and on the
hillsides. The school should gratify the love of chil-
dren for trees and flowers.

There is also a gratifying improvement in the archi-
tectural appearance of our schoolhouses. The old " box "
house, the unsightly representative of un- Architectur-
adorned economy, is disappearing, and its •iimprovc-
successor has promising signs of growing "'"*•
architectural taste. The schoolhouse should represent
at least the average taste and comfort of the community.

^ This is true where the day is devoted to outdoor parade, while the
school premises are left without tree or shrub. A school celebration ol
Arbor Day should not overlook the school grounds.

64 • SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

But neither pictures, nor shrubbery, nor architectural
appearance, can take the place of cleanliness and neat-
ness. No beauty of adorning can offset the

Neatness. , , . ^

bad influence of dingy walls ; curtains and
maps soiled and hung awry ; a dirty floor, covered with
ink spots and strewn with litter ; a rusty and foul stove ;
text-books torn and disfigured with unseemly marks ;
desks in disorder, etc. Cleanliness is not only next to
godliness, as the old proverb puts it, but cleanliness
makes for godliness (p. ii6). There is a very close
connection between clean hands and faces and a pure
heart, and there is a like connection between neatness
in person and surroundings and purity and manliness in
the life. Many school outhouses are vile and shameful
— an evil demanding prompt correction.

Th'e influence of neatness in work is also worthy of
notice here. The habit of scribbling is closely associ-
ated with careless conduct, and, on the contrary, the
habitual exercise of care in one's work makes like care
as to conduct easy. Neatness and order in work are
closely allied to virtue in conduct.

Proper Heating and Ventilation.

Another physical condition of easy control, worthy of
consideration here, is proper heating and ventilatio7i.

The connection between the temperature of a school-
room and the order and application of the pupils is very
Influence ^losc. School experience shows that pupils
of Temper- cauuot do their work quietly and successfully
ature. when suffering from cold, or depressed by
excessive heat. Too high or too low a temperature
causes restlessness, distracts attention, and lessens ap-

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 65

plication. Restlessness is perhaps more obvious when
the temperature is low than when it is high, but a high
temperature interferes with application more than a
moderately low temperature. The attempt to read or
write in a room heated to 80° Fahrenheit will verify
this statement. It requires but a few minutes in such
a temperature to cause dullness, lassitude, and ner-
vous irritation, if not headache. The fact that a high
temperature is not favorable to intellectual activity
is attested by the almost universal custom of closing
educational institutions during the heat of summer.

There is some difference of opinion respecting the
proper temperature of a schoolroom, the temperatures
recommended ranging from 66° to 72°; 6%"" Proper Tem-
being, perhaps, the standard most frequently peratnre.
prescribed by boards of education. This would perhaps
be a sufficiently high temperature at, say, less than five
feet from the floor, were all the pupils in the room
properly clothed ; but the writer's observations in three
cities show that there are few public schools in which
this condition exists. All pupils are not properly
clothed, much less equally clothed. Some boys wear
underclothing ; others do not. Some wear woolen un-
derclothing, others cotton, etc. Girls, as a rule, are not
as warmly clothed as boys ; and, as a result, they need
an indoor temperature a little higher than boys. All
things considered, the proper temperature of a school-
room is about 70° at five feet from the floor; and it
should not be permitted to rise above 72°, or fall
below 68°.

There are practical difficulties in ascertaining the
real temperature of a schoolroom. For obvious rea-
sons, the teacher should not depend on his own feel-
5

66 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

ings. He may be nearer the stove or register than
most of the pupils ; may not be so much exposed to
currents of cold air near the floor, etc. ; and, besides, a
live teacher is physically more active than his pupils —
at least his activity is more continuous.

The temperature of every schoolroom should be

regulated by a good thermometer, and this should be

Thermome- huug, and also obscrvcd, with great care. It

ter- should be hung about five feet from the floor,

at some distance from the door, and also from the stove

or register, and, when practicable, on an inner wall.

A thermometer hung higher than five feet from the
floor will indicate a higher temperature than when
hung nearer the floor (the higher the thermometer,
the higher the temperature), and a thermometer hung
on an inner wall will show in winter a higher tempera-
ture than when hung on an outer wall ; and the re-
verse will be true in summer.

It has been found an excellent plan to have some
pupil, assigned to this duty, observe the temperature

Record of ^^ indicated by the thermometer, say, every

Tempera- half hour, and record the same on the black-
*"'^^* board or a large slate. This not only assists
the teacher in preserving an equable temperature, but
it affords pupils a valuable practice in making obser-
vations. Pupils may serve as observers a week each
without serious interference with their other duties.

Closely connected with heating is ventilation, — the

supplying of the schoolroom with needed pure air.

This is not the proper place to consider the

Ventilation. m . , i i i

relations of ventilation to health, or the sani-
tary reasons for careful attention to this subject. Our

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 67

present purpose is more specially limited to a consider-
ation of its relation to the order of the school and its
easy control.

Pure air promotes both physical and moral vigor.
Impure air lowers the energy of the body, and ener-
vates the will. It occasions such physical dis- Effects of
comforts as dullness, drowsiness, headache, impure Air.
nervousness, etc., and these cause pupils to be listless,
restless, and irritable; and these unhappy effects are
shared by the teacher. These results are matters of
too common experience to call for a full scientific ex-
planation in this connection. It must suffice to say
briefly that respiration exhausts the oxygen of the air,
and expels from the lungs with every breath carbonic-
acid gas, and that this is attended with impure exhala-
tions from the body. This loss of oxygen and increase
of carbonic-acid gas, with other exhaled impurities, soon
render the air unfit to meet the vital needs of the body,
and the evil effects named above follow.

In a schoolroom filled with pupils, this process of
vitiation is rapid, and the only remedy is the admission
of fresh air and the removal of the vitiated Remedy
air ; and, to these ends, there must be secured »ought.
a flow of fresh air into the room, and a flow of the
impure or vitiated air froitt the room. The object of
ventilation is to secure these results.

The ventilation of school buildings has received much
attention of late years, and many buildings are now
heated and ventilated in a satisfactory man- ventiution
ner ; and it is a matter of common observa- of schooi-
tion that improved ventilation has made the »»ou«e«.
discipline of the schools easier. But the great majority
of school buildings are still without improved appliances

6S SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

for ventilation, the windows and doors being the only
means for securing needed fresh air ; and this is gener-
ally true of the smaller schoolhouses in country districts.

It is surprising, that after all that has been said and

written on the subject, and all the decisive experi-

surprising mcuts that have been made, boards of edu-

Practice. catiou, cvcu iu citics, are still erecting large
buildings without using any approved system of venti-
lation. Many school boards have not yet learned that
unheated ventilating shafts or ducts are useless, — that
foul air is not sufficiently anxious to get out of school-
rooms to force itself up a cold air-duct against the
force of gravity !

It is perhaps even more surprising, that so few school

boards have any knowledge of the ventilating stove, —

Ventilating 3- simplc and inexpensive device for heating

stoves, and ventilating small schoolhouses and sepa-
rate rooms. It is now nearly forty years since the
ventilating stove was invented, and it has since been
greatly improved ; and yet few rural schoolhouses are
supplied with it. School boards are still buying com-
mon stoves, when a small additional expense would
secure an improved ventilating stove with all necessary
appliances for successful ventilation. The principle and
construction of the ventilating stove, whatever may be
the pattern, is so simple that we feel justified in
attempting to give a description.

The stove proper is incased in a manner similar
to a hot-air furnace, with openings at the top ; and

Construe- this casiug opens at the floor into a fresh-

tion- air duct, extending under the floor to and

through the outer wall, the opening being protected

by a grate. When there is fire in the stove, the in-

CONDITIONS OF EASY CON/i^of 69

closed air surrounding it is heated, ana rises, passing
out into the room ; and this "draws in" fresh air from
the outside, which, as it passes around the stove, is in
turn heated, and rises, passing out of the top openings.

Thus a constant current of wai-m, fresh air is flow-
ing into the schoolroom. Meanwhile the draught of
the stove is taking a constant current of air out of the
room, and thus a complete circulation of air circulation
is maintained ; warm fresh air coming into of Air
the room, and foul or vitiated air passing out. »«=""<*•
Experiments show that the entering warm air does not
settle to the floor near the stove, but passes as an upper
current to the opposite walls of the room, where it is
deflected downward, and returns to the stove as a floor
current, thus keeping the feet and limbs of the pupils
warm.

But it is found that the draught of the stove is not
sufficient, except in small rooms with a few pupils, to
take the requisite quantity of air from the room, the
return or floor current being too feeble. This may
be successfully remedied by supplementing the stove
draught by an escape-air opening at the floor, Escape- Air-
and entering a heated chimney or duct. This ^"<=*-
is easily effected by continuing the chimney duct to the
floor, and putting in the wall at the bottom a register,
the register ordinarily used to admit hot air from a
furnace answering the purpose well. The heat from
the stove warms the chimney duct, and thus causes the
needed upward draught from the room. It is well to
put the stove a few feet from the chimney. The
accompanying cut (p. 70) shows the arrangement.

In case the current of air entering the chimney at
the fioor lessens too much the draught of the stove in

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

the morning, the escape-air register can be kept closed
until after the assembling of the school, and then opened.
It is solely for ventilation, and so need not be open
except when ventilation is needed. The chimney duct
may, if preferred, be divided by a thin sheet of galva-
nized iron, thus separating the ventilating duct from
the stove duct, the hot air from the stove heating the
sheet-iron division, and thus the ventilating duct. This

sheet-iron division is, however, not necessary, since the
ventilating duct can open, as above stated, directly into
the chimney shaft, if it be made secure against fire at
the floor.

But the best plan for securing the needed outflow

of vitiated air is to put a Ji replace or grate in place of

Ideal ven- the register at the bottom of the chimney

tiiation. duct. This will always ventilate the room,
large or small, and a small fire will answer the purpose.
A ventilating stove to supply a schoolroom with warm

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. J I

fresh air, and a fireplace or grate to remove vitiated air,
is an ideal system of Iieati7ig and ventilation. No ex-
pensive system excels it in efficiency ; and all systems,
depending on heat to produce the desired circulation,
embody its principle. It is the plan for separate rooms
and small schoolhouses. The amount of fuel required
for both stove and grate is not equal to that consumed
by an ordinary stove with open-window ventilation ;
while the extra labor necessitated by the small fire in
the grate is offset many fold by the health and comfort
thus secured.^ There is certainly no excuse for poorly
ventilated schoolrooms.

It is not, however, sufficient to describe and commend
improved plans for heating and ventilating schoolrooms.
The sad fact is that thousands of schools are still
occupying rooms heated by ordinary stoves, and with
no means, except the windows, for ventilation. What
can be done to afford some relief to teachers and pupils
in these schools }

It is first to be noted that the usual attempt to ven-
tilate schoolrooms by means of the windows is attended
with serious evils. A competent observer has ex-
pressed the fear that the open window is doing Window
more harm in our schools than impure air, as ventilation
great as is the mischief done by the latter, ^-^k"""*-
" Though foul air," says Dr. Angus Smith, " is a slow
poison, we must not forget that a blast of cold air may
slay like a sword." Few schoolrooms are large enough to
permit the seating of all the pupils at a suitable distance
from windows, and in most schoolrooms a considerable

* A coal-oil lamp Iwck of the register, and kept burning during school
hours, may take the place of the grate fire. The essential thing is a
heaUd ventilating duct with large opening at the floor.

72 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

number of pupils necessarily sit near windows. The
raising or lowering of the sash for ventilation exposes
the pupils sitting near, often thinly clad, to currents of
cold air, thus occasioning colds, catarrhal and bronchial
troubles, pneumonia, earache, neuralgia, etc. The
physical ills thus caused are much greater than teachers
as a class even suspect^ The attending discomfort, even
when health is not endangered, is the source of much
restlessness, inattention, and disorder.

The effective ventilation of a schoolroom by means

of windows and doors is a very difficult undertaking ;

and the most that can be done, in this connection, is to

add a few suggestions for the lessening of the

Suggestions ^^ °

respecting Gvils which usually attend it.

Window I. As a rule, the windows should not be

lowered or raised in cool weather on the
windward side of the room, especially when there is
wind, even slight. North windows should not be
opened when there is a north wind, nor east windows
when there is an east wind, etc.

2. It is better usually to lower windows from the top
than to raise them from the bottom : and it is better to
lower several windows, each a little, than to open one
window much, unless the window thus opened is near
the stove or register, and at a good distance from the
nearest pupils.

1 In visiting schools, the writer has frequently found delicate children
sitting in window draughts that evidently endangered their health, and
again and again he has called the attention of teachers to such exposures.
He has known many cases of sore throat, earache, neuralgia, severe colds,
and even pneumonia, arising from open-window exposures in school. An
intelligent mother once said to him that two of her children had suffered
so much from open-window exposures, that she was obliged to take them
out of school. The teacher was a crank on the subject of ventilation.

CONDITIONS Oh EASY CONTROL. 73

• 3. The lower sash may be raised, and a closely fitting
board, say three to five inches wide, placed under it.
This will leave a narrow opening between the lower
part of the upper sash and the upper part of the lower
sash ; and the air that enters the room passes upward
between the panes of glass, and flows as an upward
current into the room. This device is quite satisfactory
when only a small quantity of fresh air is needed.
When more air is required, the board under the lower
sash of windows distant from pupils may be removed
and placed, properly supported, in front of the opening,
an inch or so distant from the sash. The board should
be some wider than the opening, thus giving an upward
movement to the entering air. Instead of removing
the board, as above suggested, holes may be made in
it, and tin tubes extending upward inserted. These
tubes will give the entering air an upward movement,
and thus cause it to pass above the pupils,

4. The best device for window ventilation is to
attach to the upper edge of the upper sash a thin board,
or strip of tin, say from four to six inches wide, at such
an angle as will cause the current of air which enters
when the sash is lowered, to flow upward into the
room, thus passing over the heads of the nearest pupils,
and mingling somewhat with the warm air of the room
before descending to the floor. Currents of air are
easily directed, and this simple device prevents the
entering cold air from falling, like a cataract, on the
heads of the pupils who sit near the window.

In case the attached strip prevents the closing of the
upper sash, when the opening is not needed for ventila-
tion, the strip may be attached by means of hinges,
and raised or lowered at pleasure by means of a cord or

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

pulley, as shown in the accompanying cut. The ex-
pense involved in attaching these improved air directors
(the writer's invention) to the windows of a schoolroom
is very small.

The slight inflow of air between the upper and the
lower window sash may be easily prevented, if desira-

8KETCH Showing

METHOD OF

ATTACHING STRIP

TO SASH

Onrrmto!.Mr

Any desired position
or Angle of Strip may
be obtained by use of
the Cord and Pulley

SKETCH SHOWING
SASH OPEN

SKETCH SHOW4NQ
SAaH CLOSED

ble, by placing a strip of tin or rubber, or even paste-
board, on the upper edge of the lower window sash, so
adjusted as to touch the panes of glass in the upper
window sash.

5. The above devices may be inadequate in a crowded
schoolroom ; and, as a last resort, it is suggested that
needed change of air be secured by opening the win-
dows, and meanwhile giving the pupils active physical

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 75

exercise, — gymnastic or calisthenic. Five minutes
thus spent at the close of each hour will do much to
effect a change of air, and, at the same time, the pupils
will be given needed physical relief.

Proper Lighting.

Another physical condition of easy discipline is the
proper lightifig of the schoolroom.

It is now generally agreed that the windows of a
schoolroom should be at the left of the pupils, and that
the pupils when seated should face a blank. Position of
or dead, wall. The facing of windows in windows,
school often produces not only pain in the eyes and
headache, but also a general ' nervous irritation, not to
mention possible injury to sight. It results in rest-
lessness, neglect of study, and, not infrequently, in
disorder. The best sanitary condition for the eye
thus becomes the best condition for good order and
application.

The importance of the proper lighting of school-
rooms formerly received little attention, and, as a result,
there are few schoolrooms that have windows Arranging
only on one side. Most schoolrooms have ©'Seats,
windows on two sides, and many on three sides, and in
such rooms proper lighting is not easily secured. When
practicable, the seats should be so arranged as to bring
the windows at the left and back of the pupils ; and
the windows at the right and in front, if any, should be
shaded. If necessary to admit some light from the
right or in front, the windows should be shaded with a
white or thin buff curtain. In no case should pupils
be permitted to sit facing a bright sunlight.

J 6 SCHOOL MANAGE MB: NT.

Mr. A. p. Marble, superintendent of schools, Worces-
BestExpe- ter, Mass., has put into a few sentences the
rience. rcsults of the bcst experience in the lighting
of schoolrooms. He says, —

" It is agreed by an overwhelming weight of evidence that the
best light for a schoolroom is exclusively on the side of the room
to the left of the pupils ; that the windows should be massed as
closely as safe construction will allow along nearly the whole of the
side ; that the windows should be square at the top (not circular),
and extend quite to the ceiling, and that the windowsill should be
higher than the tops of the pupils' desks ; that the seat farthest from
the window^s should be about twice the distance from the tops of
the desks to the ceiling, or, in general, once and a half the height
of the room ; that, when necessary to shut off a part of the light,
the lower part of the window, and never the top or sides, should be
shaded ; that shades should therefore always roll from the bottom,
and, where the direct rays of the sun enter the room, white or very
light curtains should roll from the top merely to soften but never
to shut out the light, and, if blinds are used, they should be made
in sections, and slide up and down ; and that blackboards should
never be placed between windows. The walls and ceiling of the
room should be tinted a light pearl, lavender, or brown color,
rather than a darker shade, or any shade of yellow ; and the shades
(rolling from the bottom) should be of a similar color, or of a
greenish tint. The shades of yellow for this purpose are quite
common, but they are not good for the eyes." — Annual Report.,
1891, p. 30.

Proper Seats and Desks.

Another condition of easy control is proper seats and
desks.

A common source of discomfort in school is the use
of seats and desks not properly adapted to the size of

Too High the pupils. The most frequent mistake in
Seats. this direction, especially in schools contain-
ing primary pupils, is the use of seats too high to per-

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 77

mit the pupils' feet to rest on the floor. For obvious
reasons, dangling feet are soon attended with physical
discomfort and restlessness ; and so good order, as
well as health and comfort, forbids the use of seats too
high for the pupils.

This difficulty is perhaps most serious in graded
schools, where the pupils, who are seated in the sev-
eral rooms, belong to the same grade or class. This
seating of pupils of the same grade in each room has led
to the general practice of furnishing each room with
desks of one height, it being assumed that Desks of
pupils of like attainments will be of like same
size. But observation shows that pupils of ^^^e.^^-
the same grade differ much in size. We have seen few
schools where desks of at least two sizes were not re-
quired for the reasonable comfort of the pupils. In
primary schools a few of the pupils will be much above
the average height, and in upper grades a few of the
pupils may be much below this average.

It is not easy to remedy this difficulty in a satisfac-
tory manner. The fact that the modern desk unites
desk and seat (required by economy) prevents
the use of desks of different sizes in the same
row ; and so the best that can be done is to put desks
of a larger or smaller size, as the need may be, in one
or two rows in each room, and even this mars some-
what the appearance of the room. The evil resulting
from too high seats may be in good part rem-
edied by the use of foot rests, a very simple
device that has so far been little used in this country.

Various attempts have been made to construct "ad-
justable desks," — i.e., desks that can be adjusted to
the size of the occupant, — but, so far as our knowledge

yS SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

goes, the results of these attempts have not been satis-
factory. Cheapness, durability, and firmness are too
greatly sacrificed, and these are important qualities of
all school furniture.

Another source of discomfort is the use of the
curved seat. A decided curve in a seat causes the
weight of pupils' limbs to rest chiefly on the edge or
ridge of the seat, thus occasioning pressure
on the cutaneous nerves on the lower or back
side of the upper leg. This pressure is greatly in-
creased when pupils lean forward to write or to do
other work on the desk. The resulting nerve irritation
causes discomfort, if not positive pain ; and it may be-
come so severe as to involve the nervous system gen-
erally, causing a pupil to feel "as if he would fly."^
Relief can only be secured by a change of position, this
being often only temporary ; and it is cruel, as well
as useless, to require a pupil to sit still under such
discomfort.

A similar discomfort is experienced when pupils sit
Too Wide on seats so wide that the needed support of

Seats. the hips and back can only be secured by
sitting in a position that lifts the feet from the floor, —
a position too common to need illustration or comment.

Our present purpose forbids due consideration of the

Resulting bodily harm often caused by the long use

Evils. of improper seats and desks. Physicians of

wide observation and experience trace to this cause

1 This result may be experienced by any one who will attempt to write
at a table while seated in a chair with the bottom sufficiently sagged to
cause the weight of the limbs to rest chiefly on the edge. Only a few
minutes will be required to occasion unpleasant nervous irritation and
positive discomfort. A like result may be experienced by riding a half
hour in a modern street car with curved seats.

CONDITIONS OF EASY CONTROL. 79

certain nervous disorders, round shoulders and sunken
chests, curvature of the spine, impairment of internal
organs (especially those inclosed by the pelvis), and
other infirmities.

The proper seating of schoolrooms certainly deserves
wide and earnest attention, and teachers can do much
to secure this result. What is specially needed is an
intelligent observation of the discomforts Duty of
and physical ills occasioned by imperfectly Teachers,
constructed seats, and the publication of the facts.
Manufacturers of school furniture are seeking such in-
formation, and they will not be slow in acting upon it.
Unfortunately, there is much of this improper furniture
now in use in the schools, and the only feasible present
remedy for resulting ills is the making of provision for
frequent changes of position, and physical exercises.

80 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

MECHANICAL DEVICES.

It is not easy to preserve fully the distinction be-
tween conditions and devices in school government. A
device may be only a means for securing a favorable
condition ; and a condition, when intelligently secured
by the teacher, becomes in a sense a device. But
nothing is lost, and for practical purposes much is
gained, by treating the several means of school govern-
ment under the two heads of "conditions" and "de-
vices." The term "mechanical" is added to indicate
that the devices here presented are more preventive
than formative, their chief purpose being to remove
temptations to misconduct and lessen the occasions of
failure in effort.

Proper Seating of Pupils.

The first device in school discipline to receive our
attention is the proper seating of pupils with reference to
physical conditions.

An important result to be secured in such seating is
the pupils physical comfort. When the seats in a room

Physical ^rc of different heights, care must be taken.

Comfort, for rcasous before given, to give the smaller
pupils the lower seats. When no seats are sufficiently
low, the smaller pupils should be provided with foot rests,
a device much used in Europe. When a schoolroom is
furnished with seats too high or too wide, or too much
curved, the best that the teacher may be able to do is
to provide, as far as may be practicable, for needed phys-
ical relief. Nor is it wise to wait until the pupils'

MECHANICAL DEVICES. 8 1

restlessness indicates their need of such relief. The
time-table should make provision for brief gymnastic
and other physical exercises, at sufficiently frequent
intervals to avoid bodily discomfort.

Special pains should be taken to avoid the seating of
pupils in positions that will cause them to face a win-
dow, or otherwise expose their eyes to the injurious
effects of too intense a front light. An ob- Eye
servance of the suggestions already made Pfotection.
(p. 75) respecting the admission of light to the school-
room will greatly lessen the discomfort and consequent
disorder attendant upon a neglect of these matters.
The devices for regulating light in a schoolroom are so
simple and inexpensive, that no teacher is excusable for
such neglect. In no case should a glare of sunlight be
permitted to fall on the desks or books of pupils when
studying.

It seems unnecessary to repeat here that pupils
should not be seated too near the stove or register, or
too near an open window, or where they may Distance
otherwise be exposed to draughts of cold air. 'fo™ stove.
The bodily discomfort thus occasioned is sure to result
in restlessness and disorder, to say nothing of more
serious evils.

We must emphasize, in this connection, the teacher's
duty to prevent, as far as may be possible, the bad pos-
tures of pupils, so obviously attended with B«d
serious evils ; and a word of caution respect- Postures,
ing the numerous mechanical contrivances that have
been invented to remedy some of these evils, may be
wi.se. These inventions, patented and unpatented, in-
clude such devices as (i) face or forehead wire supports
to keep the eyes the proper distance from the paper
6

82 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

when writing or drawing ; (2) book racks to keep books
at the right angle when pupils are studying ; (3) shoulder
braces to prevent stooping ; (4) finger supports to keep
the hand in the right position when writing, etc. Some
of these devices are very ingenious, and they are com-
mended by educators of high standing, but not often
used in their schools.

The inventors and users of these mechanical devices
forget that the one sure remedy for a bad position is the
making of a right position an easy habit, and that habit
is the result of repeated free action. What pupils need
is not mechanical braces, but practice under keen and
firm guidance ; and, to this end, what is needed is a
teacher with an eye and a will.

There is much insight, as well as practical wisdom, in
the recent suggestion that what is most needed in our
"Adjustable schools, in the absence of adjustable desks,

Pupils." are "adjustable pupils;" i.e., as we see it,
teachers who know how to adjust pupils to their
physical environment. 'It is very desirable that pupils
be surrounded with a well-adjusted environment ; but,
when this condition is wanting, the pupils must be
wisely adjusted to their surroundings.

It is surprising how much of comfort, and even health,
a wise and tactful teacher can put into a school in an

Change ill-coustructcd, ill-furnishcd, and poorly venti-
of Position, latcd room ; and the secret of his art is change.
A boy can stand on one foot or sit on a high seat with-
out harm, provided that he does not stand or sit too
long. The position may be even beneficial if followed
by another, calling into play other muscles. The human
body is not so imperfect a mechanism that it must
always be carefully poised with reference to its center of

MECHANICAL DEVICES. 83

gravity. It is, on the contrary, a marvelous organism,
capable of many motions and attitudes, and strength-
ened by a varied activity. The bent twig may incline ;
but the bent boy has joints and sinews and muscles
that can pull him back, and even bend him the other
way. The twig is not self- adjustable, the boy is; and
this is a very great difference. The physical harm done
by school life is not so much due to the fact that pupils
sit or stand in unfavorable positions, as to the fact that
they remain in these positions too long. It is continu-
ance in ill doing that tells upon health and vigor.

We are thus brought back to the importance of phys-
ical training as a practical remedy for the bodily ills
induced by school life with its unfavorable Physical
environment. What is needed is not only Training,
exercises which will afford bodily relief, this being im-
portant, but such as will correct improper tendencies,
and also secure, as far as may be practicable, a proper
development and strengthening of all parts of the body.

It is now more than twenty-five years since light gym-
nastics were widely introduced into American schools,
more particularly into high schools, normal
schools, and academies. In many instances
the training was overdone, and in others the interest
awakened proved temporary ; but in many schools the
exercises have been continued with good results. The
use of wands, dumb-bells, etc., was for a time more or
less superseded by exercises that involve no apparatus,
and also that require moderate exertion. There is not a
rural school anywhere that cannot introduce pleasing and
salutary physical exercises. The writer has witnessed
such exercises in schoolrooms crowded with desks.

This subject is now receiving renewed attention in

84 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

many of our cities and towns. The city of Boston has
made provision for systematic daily physical training in
all of its schools, and the training is under the direction
of special teachers. Other cities are making similar
provisions, and there is a wide revival of interest in
physical training.

But the schools need not wait for the advent of some
improved ''system." It is not difficult for any live
teacher to pick up exercises that will at least afford
bodily relief and otherwise conduce to the health and
comfort of pupils, and, what is specially pertinent in
this connection, prove a valuable aid in discipline.

A second device is the proper seating of pupils with
reference to eacJi other.

An important result to be secured by such seating is
the obviation, as far as practicable, of all occasions for
disorder, and especially of all tmnecessary temptations to
disorder. '* An ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure."

One of the devices for securing this result is the
seating of pupils in such a manner that those in the

Alternate samc class may not sit adjacent to each
Class other. When, for example, a school is com-

seating. pQgg^^ gf ^^q classcs, the pupils therein may
be seated alternately, or in alternate rows : i.e., a row
of pupils of the first class, and next a row of the
second class ; then a row of the first class, and next a
row of the second class ; and so on. The advantages
thus secured are obvious. The pupils who are prepar-
ing the same lessons are separated from each other,
thus securing more independent study, and also greatly
lessening the temptation to communicate about lessons

MECHANICAL DEVICES, 85

and other matters. It also distributes the pupils re-
maining in the room for study when the ether pupils
are reciting; and the advantage of this is specially
obvious when pupils pass to another room or occupy
separate seats in class exercises.

This plan of seating is most easily carried out when
there are but two classes in a room, and it is perhaps
least helpful in an ungraded school, containing several
classes. But the principle can be more or less utilized
in any school.

Another result to be secured in the seating of pupils
is the separation of those who are especially weak in
each other's presence. Nearly every school separation
contains pupils with such common weak- of weak
nesses or with such personal relations, that P"p»>s.
they are an undue temptation to each other. It is not
wise to permit such pupils to sit together. There are
other pupils who need the special assistance of the
teacher's eye, and it is a help to them to sit "well to
the front" — not to be watched, but to be seen, and
thus helped.

It requires good judgment, and not a little tact, to
secure these desirable results without giving offense,
and thus doing harm. The writer has ad- First-Day
vised many young teachers, taking charge of seating.
a strange school, not to seat the pupils the first day,
except temporarily, but to make the more permanent
seating near the close of the week, or even later. A
few days of observation will enable the teacher not
only to classify the pupils, but to learn what pupils
should be separated, and what seats the several pupils
should occupy. The seating should not apply to a few
pupils only, but all seats should be formally assigned.
This will avoid the giving of offense.

S6 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

The more fully and wisely the foregoing results are
attained in the seating of a school, the easier will be
its control, and the more satisfactory the progress of
the pupils.

Daily Programme.

Another important means of school management is
a well-arranged daily programme of class exercises and
study.

The value of a programme of class exercises is gen-
erally recognized, especially in graded schools ; but the
Lesson and i^^portauce of regulating the study or seat
study work of pupils is too little appreciated. It
Programme, sge^is ^q ^g assumcd by many teachers that
the class programme necessarily regulates seat work ;
but this is often a mistake, and especially when there
are more than two classes of pupils in a room.

The daily programme has few difficulties in graded

schools, and is easily carried out. The conditions are,

however, very different in ungraded schools.

Programme -^

for and especially in schools composed of pupils
Ungraded in all gradcs of advancement, — from the first
primary to the higher grammar inclusive.
In such a school there is necessarily a large number of
class exercises each day ; and, as a result, but a few
minutes can be devoted to each class, and this time
must vary with the nature of the exercise. As a conse-
quence, the daily class programme must provide for
from twenty to thirty exercises of from five to twenty
minutes each ; and it is evident that the observance of
such a programme involves either the wasting of much
of the teacher's energy in watching the time, or the
assistance of a ''time monitor." The mere attempt to

MECHANICAL DEVICES. %J

prepare a class time-table for an ungraded school will
satisfy any one that its observance will be attended
with serious difficulties. The writer has examined care-
fully prepared class programmes for ungraded schools,
and several published ones, and they all involve either
an unwise reduction in the number of classes or the
weakness of too many exercises, and these of varying
length.

Moreover, these uniform class programmes overlook
the fact that it is not possible in an ungraded school to
devote precisely the same time to each exer- Flexibility
cise from day to day, and especially under the needed,
pressing necessity of using every minute to the best
possible advantage. To-day an exercise may require
only ten minutes, and to-morrow fifteen may be needed
to do equally good work. There must be more or less
flexibility in a class programme in an ungraded school ;
the more the better, within certain limits.

But the most serious weakness of the class pro-
gramme in ungraded schools is its failure to regulate
the study or seat work of pupils. The several study
exercises are too brief and of too unequal Programme,
length to secure this greatly needed result. In order
that it may regulate seat work, the intervals of a pro-
gramme must be of nearly equal length, and they must
also be adapted to the needs of the different grades of
pupils. The younger or primary pupils cannot profit-
ably spend more than from twenty to twenty-five minutes
in continuous seat work, while the more advanced pupils
can readily devote two such periods to study. These
well-adjusted study intervals cannot well be provided
in a class programme, but they may be readily secured
in a grade programme ; that is, a programme which

S8 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

assigns given periods to the exercises and study of
pupils in the several grades into which a school may be
divided.

The best arrangement of an ungraded school for this
purpose is its division into three sections or grades, —
Three- primary, secondary, and advanced or gram-
Grade mar. The lowest or primary grade may
Programme, j^^lude all pupils who usc a book only in
reading; their instruction in language, number, place,
etc., being oral. The secondary grade may include
pupils who use text-books in reading, arithmetic (first
book), and, later, geography (elementary), — pupils
from the third to the fifth school year inclusive.^
The advanced grade may include all pupils above
the secondary, — those sufificiently advanced to use a
complete arithmetic and a higher geography, and also
those who may study English grammar, physiology,
and United States history. If the division be made
on the basis of reading, the primary grade may
include pupils in the two lower readers ; the secondary
grade, pupils in the third and fourth readers ; and
the advanced, pupils in the fifth or higher reader.

Whatever may be the basis of the grading, the result
will be about the same as that secured by the division
of an elementary school into three departments, as may
be done when the number of pupils is sufficient to
employ three teachers, — one for the primary classes,
another for the secondary, and a third for the more
advanced or grammar.

^ This plan was first recommended by the writer, if his information be
correct, in the annual report of the state commissioner of common
schools of Ohio in 1864. It has since appeared, more or less modified,
in several works on school management, and its practicability has been
tested in hundreds of country schools.

MECHANICAL DEVICES, 89

This is a natural and simple grading for a rural school
with only one teacher. The distinction in the work of
the several sections or grades is sufficiently marked ;
and, at the same time, the several classes in each section
can with advantage be taught in the same period in
such exercises as writing, language, drawing, and music,
— a very important consideration. The number of
classes in the two upper sections or grades in other
branches need not exceed two each, and not more than
three separate classes will be needed in the primary
grade ; making, in all, some seven different classes in
studies not taught in the same period, and three
classes in each of those studies.

The programme of class exercises and seat work
shown on the next page is adapted to a school divided
into the three sections or grades as above outlined.
The class exercises are indicated by boldface type, and
the study or seat work by common type.

The programme divides the day session into periods
of twenty, twenty-five, and thirty minutes each, the
spelling drills in the two upper grades being con-
sidered one period. It also divides the teacher's time
equitably among the three grades of pupils. In the
forenoon, the A grade has three exercises ; Division of
the secondary or B grade, two exercises ; and Time,
the primary or C grade, two exercises. In the after-
noon, the A grade has three separate exercises (includ-
ing spelling) ; the B grade, two exercises ; and the C
grade, two. All three grades have two simultaneous
exercises, — one in writing and language, and one in
drawing, singing, etc. It is thus seen that the A-grade
pupils have eight exercises each day, the B-grade six
exercises, and the C-grade five ; but it is to be observed

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

THREE-GRADE PROGRAMME.

Closing
Time.

Min-
utes.

Primary (C).

Secondary (B).

Advanced (A).

9:10

OPENING EXERCISES.

9:35

Seat Work.*

Arithmetic.

10:00

Number.

(Oa slate or with objects.)

Arithmetic.

Geography.

10:25

Number.

Geography.

10:45

Form Work.

(Paper folding.stick laying, etc.)

Geography.

10:55

RECESS.

11:15

Silent Reading.

Geography.

Grammar.

11:35

Reading and
Spelling.

Form Work.

(Map drawing, sand molding,
etc.)

Grammar.

12 : 00

Excused from School.

Reading.

Grammar.

NOON INTERMISSION.

I :io