■ MB JBgw nH IPs® Pi 0a4 MEMORIAM John Sv/ett J OWNe l i»CON, MINTEItV SCHOOL GOVERNMENT; A PRACTICAL TREATISE, PRESENTING A THOROUGH DISCUSSION OF ITS FACTS, PRINCIPLES, AND THEIR APPLICATIONS; "WITH OEITIQUES UPON CURRENT THEORIES OP PUNISHMENT, AND SCHEMES OF ADMINISTRATION. FOR THE USE OF NORMAL SCHOOLS, PRACTICAL TEACHERS, AND PARENTS. By FREDERICK S. JEWELL, A.M. The government of the child should be kingly.— Abiatotlz. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & CO., Ill & 113 WILLIAM ST., COR. JOHN. 186~6. .Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by FREDERICK S. JEWELL, In the Clerk'a Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. EDUCATE Stereotyped by Smith & McDocqal, 83 & 84 Beekman St., N. T. Printed by Gkorqk W. Wood, 2 Dutch Street PREFACE. The work here presented to the public was under- taken under the deep conviction that a thorough and practical examination of the field of thought involved, was pressingly demanded by the wants of teachers and the interests of our public schools. It has, therefore, been expressly prepared with a view to meet that particular demand, and, hence, has taken upon itself some features which otherwise the writer would have chosen to avoid, as unfavorable to logical exactness in order and execution. Thus, knowing the difficulties in the way of mastering an extended discussion, likely to be encountered by the great body of public school teachers, and growing in- evitably out of the close employment of their time, the wide diversion of their attention, the exhausting nature of their duties, and their lack of philosophical familiarity with the topics suggested, the following general method has been adopted as both just and necessary. The introductory topics have been considered more in detail than might otherwise have been proper ; a com- paratively discursive method in discussion has been, though somewhat reluctantly, adopted ; objections have been particularly considered, and, as naturally suggested, instead of being left to the necessary inferences of indi- vidual reflection ; at the risk of some criticism, princi- 543427 r* V ..'.'..• PREFACE. • pies have- been repeated in different connections, that their relations may always be immediately apparent, and that their nature may be more clearly apprehended in the light of the relations thus evinced ; and studied ex- cellence in style has been steadily made to give place to a diction chiefly intent on simplicity, earnestness, and force. It is hoped that the practical advantages sought to be secured for the less favored class of readers, by the pur- suit of this method, will so far approve it to the good sense of those endowed with higher learning and leisure, as rather to add to their interest in the work, instead of detracting from it. Let us sow, that the many may reap rather than the few. Prosecuted under the pressure of peculiar perplexities, and discussing a subject of peculiar difficulties, it is not for one moment fancied that the work is without its de- fects. Doubtless, here and there, the individual teacher will look for a minute elucidation of some specific diffi- culty, — some question of casuistry, case of discipline, or particular method, — with reference to which his own mind has been exercised, but which has not here been fully discussed. It would not be strange if the cottager should look in vain in the artist's best transfiguration in color of the overshadowing Alp, for the distinct delinea- tion of the particular cleft or crag which, as hovering around, or hanging over his own dwelling place, seems to him the object of especial mark. It will, however, occur to such teachers, upon proper reflection, that it must be impossible within the brief practical compass to which this work has, for obvious reasons, been restricted, to discuss in detail an entire PEEFACE. V field so mazy and manifold in its particulars, as must be that of school government. The only consistent effort must be that of establishing broad principles, and indi- cating clear lines of inference and application, leaving still something to be done by the teacher in his own thought and experiment. It is proper to remark here, that while the work has been, as treating of School Government, more especially prepared for the teacher, it is one which cannot but be highly suggestive and helpful to the parent. The atten- tion of the latter class is earnestly called, therefore, to its claims upon their interest and examination. Such as the work is, it is now offered to the public, in the belief that it is calculated to render important service to those for whose benefit, and in sympathy with whose labors, perplexities, and trials, it has been written. State Nobmal School, Albany, Febbuaby 22, 1866. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE Introduction 9 CHAPTER II. Obstacles in the way of Good School Government Speci- fically Considered 24 CHAPTER III. Derivation of School Government from Parental Authority. 34 CHAPTER IV. The Characteristics of School Government as Derived from that of the parent 43 CHAPTER V. School Government as Related to the School, and its Con- sequent Characteristics 68 CHAPTER VI. General Elements of School Government in Itself Consid- ered 101 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PAGE General Elements Continued. — Discipline. — Requirement... 129 CHAPTER VIII. General Elements Continued.— Discipline. — Judgment 141 CHAPTER IX. General Elements Continued. — Discipline. — Correction or Enforcement, Preventive 168 CHAPTER X. General Elements Continued. — Discipline. — Penal Correc- tion. — Theories op Punishment 189 CHAPTER XI. General Elements Continued. — Discipline. — Penal Correc- tion, or Punishment 218 CHAPTER XII. Application of Principles to Specific Schemes of Discipline and to Departmental Schools 253 CHAPTER XIII. School Government. — General Resume of its Species; their Characteristics, and the Qualifications Requisite to their Administration 282 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. General definition of School Government — Importance generally granted — Results of its absence — Real necessity of government — General maxim — Improvement to have been expected — Expectation not real- ized — Proofs of depression and neglect of government — Rude forms of punishment— Teaching exclusively taught— Learning made the test of qualification in teachers— Should be examined in government— Em- ployment of young teachers — High culture and experience needed for governing — Teachers absorbed in the work of Instruction — Causes of this neglect and depression of School Government — Incidental obstacles in the way of governing— False theory of education — Theory diverts attention from government— The moral element suppressed— Evidences of the fallacy of the theory — Experience shows it — Shown from the laws of the intellect — Injurious results of overlooking these laws- Shown from the order of the human faculties — Causes of this neglect of the moral nature — Learning more easily appreciated than moral cul- ture — Prejudices against moral instruction in schools — Disparting of the intellectual and moral nature in science— Ignoring of the religious element in the soul — Absurdity of this neglect of the moral nature — School Government more closely defined — Definition condensed. School Government, as that branch of practical art to which the attention is to be given throughout this work, may be denned in general terms, as that just ordering of the affairs of the school, which is necessary to the successful attainment of its proper ends. Of its general importance in some reasonable 10 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. and effective form, we apprehend few persons of in- telligence or experience entertain any doubt. Even those, who are most disposed to take exceptions to its specific applications as pressing upon their children or wards, are quite ready to cry out against its marked absence from the school. Indeed, it needs no great sharpness of observation to reveal to any one, disposed to know the truth, the fact that the lack of it can only be productive of serious evils, such as the failure of the pupils to make satisfactory pro- gress, the destruction of the teacher's influence, and the prevalence of disorder and ill feeling throughout the school. Accepting, then, even the current notion as to the nature of education and the functions of the school, ill calculated as that notion is to favor or secure right views of the importance of school gov- ernment, it will be seen that that government is more than merely important to the succcessful completion of the daily round of instruction, and to the main- tenance of general harmony throughout the little commonwealth ; it is a thorough necessity. Indeed, in the school, as elsewhere, the general maxim is, " Order is heaven's first law ;" to which may not in- consistently be added this other, " government is the soul of order." From the general fact of its evident importance, it would naturally be supposed that government in the schools would be marked by a high order of excel- lence. Whatever might have formerly been its char- acter, with our other advances in educational matters, improvement in school government was, as a matter INTRODUCTION. ' -11 of course, to be counted upon. As the old and some- what nebulous luminaries, Murray and Morse, Pike and Daboll, descending through a right parabolic curve, sank at length " slowly and all reluctantly," below the horizon ; as other and better lights began to brighten in the East, and men were seen casting about for better teachers and more enlightened methods of instruction, it was to be expected that the system of control and discipline existing in the schools, would come up for a corresponding interest and attention. This expectation cannot, however, be said to have been realized. True, school government may not be found remaining in the exact chaos which prevailed in that earlier period, when the school entire was " without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Yet it is quite certain that this important part of the scholastic creation has not kept pace with other things. It has not with equal interest and endeavor been evoked from the waste and darkness, and been reduced to true consistency and order. It has been rather neglected and left to its own chance of uncared-for growth and develop- ment. Hence, it still remains in a sadly depressed condition. Of this neglected and depressed condition, there are various indications which deserve to be noticed on account of their practical bearing upon its correction. As the first, we notice the fact that the tide of pro- gress has not yet swept away the older, ruder, and simply violent forms of governmeut, which, while not :1£: • . •' ' ' i . . ■ .' •'*; SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. altogether false in principle, were yet most rude and base in their application. The pitiless rod, the glancing ferule, the burdensome billet of wood, the stooping posture, and others of the banging and bad- gering devices of the former age, while passed some- what into decrepitude and disesteem, are, neither in their more flagitious instances extinct, nor in their really legitimate instrumentalities, reformed and Christianized. Again, even where these evil forms of government have gone into disuse, where better methods of in- struction have sprung up, and where, consequently, especial means are employed for the training of teachers, it is quite commonly the case that the ab- sorbing topic is teaching. We see no good reason why an educational school should not give the subject of government an important place in its curriculum ; no reason why it should not as distinctly have a pro- fessor of the " Theory and Practice of Governing," as well as of the " Theory and Practice of Teaching ;" at least, no good reason why the two should not be dis- tinctly and equitably conjoined in one department, the " Department of School Government and Instruc- tion." And yet, so far as we know, such an organ- ization is not to be found in our normal schools, either in form or substance. In quite the larger por- tion, school government is taught inferentially, and even that as an incidental matter. In the third place, were there nothing else to show that the proper government of the school elicits little if any attention on the part of the public, the fact INTRODUCTION. 13 that teachers are commonly examined and approved upon the basis of mere scholarship, might suffice. That which, in so important a preliminary as the test- ing of the teacher's qualifications, is hardly inquired after, must hold no very high place in the public esti- mation. Certainly, if school government were locked upon as of the first moment, we should find school officers suspending their wise explorations in the direction of geography, grammar, and arithmetic, in order to ascertain whether the prospective teachers are possessed of correct and adequate views of the nature and importance of school government. After they have been learnedly led through the mazy toils of describing the method of finding the least common denominator; of designating the barbarous boun- daries of sundry ill-begotten chiefdoms in Asia ; and of unfolding Brown's singularly philosophical and exhaustive mode of parsing " tweedledum and twee- dledee," would it not be the next most natural thing to submit for their solution questions like the fol- lowing : " "What are the ends to be sought in school government? By what means are those ends to be secured ? "What are the respective relations of force, authority, and influence, in the government of the young ? What facts should be taken into account in the administering of discipline? How is the cor- rectness of a penalty to be determined? What course should be pursued with extreme or seemingly incorrigible offenders?" But no such questions are asked ; and the conclusion already suggested is inevitable. 14 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. Another proof of the neglected and depressed con- dition of school government is, we think, afforded by the fact that young and inexperienced teachers find so ready and so general employment. The wise and effective government of the school is really a delicate and difficult work. For, consider how few are the accessible guides to the successful accomplishment of that work; how subtle and often profound are the principles embraced in its philosophy; how varied and perplexing must be its practical adjustment ; how manifold the difficulties to be encountered ; and how sad may be the results of failure to govern wisely and well. Is this, then, a work proper to be undertaken by any other than a person of broad culture, of thorough self-discipline, of established character, and of ma- ture experience ? Can any other than such a teacher expect to succeed in it? What then must be the effect of entrusting it so commonly to young and in- experienced teachers ; of entrusting it to those who, to the very possible, as very common want of native fitness, superadd the lack of any acquired fitness for the work of governing ? This is the evil of which old Thomas Fuller complains, when he charges it as one of the causes of the defective performance of the duties of the schoolmaster, that "young scholars make this calling their refuge ; yea, perchance, before they have taken any degree in the university, com- mence schoolmasters in the country, as if nothing else were required to set up in the profession but only a rod and a ferule." In such hands, what ex- INTRODUCTION. 15 cellence can school government hope to attain ; how can it, in fact, escape being well nigh destroyed? Why then place it in such hands ? There can be but one answer to the question. It is because the im- portance of the government is not realized ; the pub- lic concern themselves little about its fortunes ; and, hence, the practical conclusion is, it may be entrusted to almost anybody. As a final indication of this neglected condition, we notice the almost universal absorption of the teacher's ambition and the public interest, in the work of instruction. Few thoughtful educators can have failed to observe the fact that in our schools the matter of government has not merely dropped into a subordinate place ; it has sunk almost out of sight. How very infrequent are the indications that the teacher has made the control of his school, and the wholesome discipline of the pupil, the subjects of careful study and systematic preparation? Where are the pupils found possessed with the idea that one of the first objects of their ambition should be to develop into noble subjects of the school government ? Where do you find patrons or parents, upon the oc- currence of school examinations, evincing a lively interest in the moral, as well as the intellectual pro- gress of the child ? On all hands, the interest taken is altogether in the results of the instruction ; the pride evinced is altogether in the amount of know- ledge that the child has gained, and his readiness and brilliance in exhibiting it. The government of the school, which should have made the child 16 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. patient, persistent, high-principled, obedient, noble, — that is held as purely incidental and unimportant ; it is " out of mind as soon as out of sight." We pass now to notice some of the causes of this depressed and neglected condition of school govern- ment. And this must be done somewhat carefully, since, upon the conclusions reached, must depend the proper elucidation of points subsequently involved in the discussion. Of these causes, the first to which the attention may be directed are incidental in their character and influence. Under this head, we summarily include all those accidents of our school systems and school opera- tions, which throw obstacles, either mechanical or moral, in the way of the institution or maintaining of true and effective government. Those defects, therefore, in the accommodations of the school; those errors in its organization; that ignorance or neglect of school officers ; that antago- nistic influence of parental government ; and that in- bred insubordination and lawlessness of human nature, which counteract or oppose the teacher in his efforts to institute, perfect and maintain good government in the school ; — all these tend to defeat his efforts and, by making school government a failure, depress it, and cause it to be neglected. The principle ap- plied here is a plain one. Man everywhere rever- ences success. Success is always an end ; often an idolatry. Hence, the common tendency to treat whoever or whatever is attended with failure, as worthy of little attention or regard. Whatever INTRODUCTION. 17 then, by interposing obstacles in its way, goes to make the government of the youth in our schools either a partial success only, or, what is more often the case, a practical failure, tends to bring it into contempt. Passing from these incidental and minor causes, we find back of them all, another altogether more profound and influential. We refer here to what we shall endeavor to show to be a thoroughly false theory of education. The mis- taken views which have long prevailed with regard to the nature and object of education, are not wholly un- known to our more sound and earnest educators. To such, no fallacy can be more apparent than that in- volved in the common notion that education is sim- ply the development of the intellect, through the ac- quisition of knowledge. Its evil results are spread broad-cast over the whole field of public instruction, and the so-called development effected in the schools. Its direct influence, which, however, seems not so distinctly to have attracted notice, has been to create that diversion of the attention from the subject of school government, already mentioned. This unfortunate result it has effected, not merely by elevating intellectual development too exclusively, but by altogether ignoring moral culture. Discharge education of the moral element or simply reduce it to a secondary position, and where have you any place for school government ? What can it be other than a mere horse-boy to the work of instruction, — that is, a mere means of holding the will in obedient 18 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. waiting upon the intellect in the prosecution of its exclusive demand upon the opportunities and appli- ances of the school ? Not for one moment, we in- sist — not for one moment — can school government take its true place in that system of education in which the moral nature does not stand side by side in privilege, with the intellectual powers ; in which the discipline of the susceptibilities and the will is not held equal, (we had almost said paramount) to the development of the sense, the understanding, and the reason. That the theory which thus, to the discredit and damage of the school government, dissevers the moral discipline from the intellectual instruction, and indeed almost ignores it, — that this theory is a false one, will be quite evident without extended discussion. The practical workings of instruction in the schools show most clearly that the development of the intellect cannot proceed successfully except under the aus- pices of that thorough order which the proper dis- cipline and control of the susceptibilities and the will can alone secure. In other words, the pupil will make progress in learning, only as the school is efficiently governed. This is the testimony of ex- perience. Besides this, the necessary laws of mental growth and progress are in proof. The development of the intellect must be the product of its self-activity. Such self-activity must owe both its inception and continuance to the susceptibilities and the will. What the pupil is led to desire, he purposes ; and INTRODUCTION. 19 what lie purposes underlies and determines the na- ture and extent of his intellectual application. Quite clearly then, that application and the consequent intel- lectual progress can attain the highest character and the most successful results, only as, under proper con- trol and discipline, the combined desires and purposes are brought into a cheerful, steady, and growing ac- cordance with the highest want of the intellect. It is the very common overlooking of this impor- tant principle, which occasions so much waste of time and labor in our schools, so much unsuccessful study on the part of the pupil, and so general a prevalence of a crude or one-sided culture and development among those who have ostensibly been educated. Higher than this, is the proof found in the relative order and end of the faculties. The end of all rational activity is, internally, the attainment of the highest dignity or worthiness ; externally, the highest bene- volence. Hence, as the sense is for, and only for the intellect ; so the intellect is for, and only for the sus- ceptibilities and the will. Clearer perception is no end in itself ; it is only a means to higher knowledge. Higher knowledge is no end in itself; it is only a means to the attainment of purer and more intelli- gent desires and loftier purposes. Develop, then, the intellect as completely as you will without mak- ing that development conduce to a corresponding discipline of the heart, and the product is either half abortive or fairly monstrous ; it is either a crude Hercules or a dread Lucifer. Hence, whatever theory of education inverts this order, and subordi- 20 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. nates the moral to the intellectual, is clearly and in- trinsically false. It is important here that we give some attention to the causes of this failure to do justice to the moral nature in our school training. We shall briefly no- tice three. First, then, it is to be remarked that the economic value of the mere intellectual training makes itself more directly apparent to the vulgar mind. The advantages resulting from the boy's proficiency in " reading, writing, and ciphering," all can appreciate. How those acquisitions work into the business pur- suits of life, and how they bear upon success in those pursuits, they know. But not so readily do men, — of whom the mass have no higher conceptions of the objects of life than the getting of a living or the making of money, — not so readily do they discover the value of true principles and a just self-control as parts of the boy's attainments and character. The bearing of these upon the price (so to speak) wliich he will bring in the market-place of men, or upon the success of his life-career, they cannot well esti- mate. We can hardly expect them to do it. Again, a strange, an unwarrantable (we had almost said cowardly) prejudice against what has been called moral instruction in schools, has quite gen- erally prevailed, and has, doubtless, in some part produced the evil to which we allude. How many, affected by that, for a free and brave people, pitiable fear of " sectarianism" and " priestcraft," have stood ready, not only to decry any attempt to introduce INTRODUCTION. 21 moral instruction into the schools, but to sacrifice outright the child's intellectual training, rather than to have proper pains taken to instill into his mind those moral and religious principles which are the crown of all learning, and to develop in his heart that manly and virtuous strength which is essential to a just education and a true well-being, — without which, indeed, not even that proper government, so necessary to the favorable prosecution of the intel- lectual training, can be secured! And yet, this is tantamount to entertaining so great a fear of some Pharisaical or fanatical cleansing of the cup and platter, that it is preferred that they should remain intact in their original or accumulated vileness, so as to be neither endurable to the touch nor capable of containing anything pure or pleasant. A third cause, perhaps less direct, but not less mischievous, may be found in the fact that almost all the current philosophies have studiously dissev- ered the consideration of the moral nature, from the study of mind, than which nothing can be more unphilosophical. It were bad enough to compound ethics with the philosophy of the moral powers ; but to dissever the latter from the intellectual faculties, in the study of mental science, is an outrage upon the truth of the human soul. Were it possible to sue-, ceed in such an attempt to " Distinguish and divide I A hair 'twixt south and southwest side," the only effect would be, as we have already seen, to 22 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. restrict or distort the views entertained of the intel- lectual nature, and to cast discredit upon the moral nature as neither essential to the former, nor of dominant importance in the soul. Even in those treatises devoted ostensibly to the study of the moral powers, there has been a too common avoidance of all distinct reference to the spiritual or religious element in the soul, into which the moral element must ultimately be drawn up and absorbed, unless it is doomed, as if invested with the curse of the serpent, to go prone upon the dust in actual abandonment and degradation. The natural effect of this course must be, as may be clearly seen, to cast discredit upon that moral training which should form a recognized and revered constituent of all true education, and the essential basis, if not the complete substance, of all true school government. But whatever may be the causes of this failure to do justice to the moral nature of the child, and to provide for his moral instruction, the failure is in the highest degree absurd and pernicious. What is your education, with all its intellectual completeness, if it does not secure that the child shall become the true man, the pure friend, the worthy parent, the noble citizen, to say nothing of the exemplary Chris- tian? These are really what the self-conscious spirit, the dearer associates, the rising generation, the community, the organized state, seek. "Without these, " the rest is leather and prunella." And yet, these higher qualities are to be secured only through the thorough disciplining of the moral nature under INTRODUCTION. 23 the wise • control and the just sanctions of a proper government in the schools ; not, however, as a sub- stitute for,, but as cooperative with, the government of the family. The latter is prior, and should be superior, instead of being, as is too commonly the case, both inferior and adverse. From all this, it will be seen that school govern- ment is not only the proper controlling of the school, so as to make it practicable to secure the ends of true instruction, as looking toward the development of the intellect ; but it is also, and in a higher sense, the effective disciplining of the school, so as to bring the appetites, desires, and passions of each individual under rational and virtuous control, so that they shall be as perfectly subject to the right, as, by in- struction, the perceptions and judgments are made obedient to the truth. School government is, then, the proper ordering of both the organic and individual action in the schools, so as to secure in the pupils the best possi- ble development of the mind and discipline of the heart. CHAPTEK II. OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF GOOD SCHOOL GOVERNMENT, SPECIFICALLY CONSIDERED. Importance of specific notice — Obstacles accidental, organic, and social — The accidental, external and internal — External contingent — Defective accommodations — The beautiful tends to order — Internal contingent — Insufficient apparatus — Organic obstacles, external and internal — Ex- ternal organic — Improper distribution of departments and labor — Excessive labor demanded — Paralyzes the teacher's energies — Internal organic — Imperfect classification and want of system — Want of com- petitive examinations — Social obstacles — Parental opposition to good school government — Neighborhood antagonism — Official unfaithful- ness — Radical insubordination of human nature — Practical inference* — Difficulties demand improvement the more — Effort should be com- prehensive—Duty belongs not to the teacher alone — Too much not to be expected. In the preceding chapter, allusion was made to certain incidental obstacles which stand opposed to the improvement and perfection of school govern- ment, and which, as such, are a cause of its present depressed and neglected condition. Those obstacles deserve more than a passing allusion, for their impor- tance is such that, without their removal in good part, even the general prevalence of just views of the nature of that government, will not avail to secure the desired reformation. Indeed, the efforts to re- move the one and improve the other, must run parallel, to be either consistent or successful. Furthermore, a proper examination of these ob- OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. 25 stacles bears directly upon some of the points to be subsequently discussed, affording, in case of some of them, a partial elucidation. Proceeding with this examination, we find these obstacles to be threefold, those which are accidental, those organic, and those social, in their origin and character. Under the head of contingent or accidental ob- stacles to good government in the school, we include all those that may be said to involve the material condition of the school. These are properly of two kinds, the external and the internal ; the former in- cluding whatever pertains to the external accommo- dation of the school : the latter involving whatever may relate more directly to the convenience of its internal operations. Among the obstacles of the former kind, the ex- ternal contingent, must be included the unsightly location of school houses, bad or insufficient play- grounds, rude and ill-conditioned buildings, (" Gaunt, ghaistly, ghost-alluring edifices," as Burns would style them) ; buildings not only an outrage upon the possibility of architecture, but utterly insufficient in size to prevent the necessity of crowding the pupils ; rough, unfinished floors and walls ; uncurtained or unshaded windows, and a hard uncomfortable style of desk and seat. The direct tendency of all such insufficient and' unworthy accommodations is to pro- duce a rough, ill-tempered, insubordinate nature. And so directly do they tend to this savagery, and to the consequent destruction of all genial or humane 26 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. control, that only the blindness which grows out of mere greed, can fail to perceive their baleful influ- ence, and the pitiable folly of the " penny- wise" economy which allows them existence. The true correction of some of these evils, that is, that correction which does not stop with attaining the nearer limit of mere comfort, doubtless comes within that nobler field which it is so much the fash- ion to decry, the culture of the beautiful. But decry it who will, the influence of the beautiful is human- izing, and, as such, it tends always to order. Of those obstacles which grow out of internal con- tingencies, we may enumerate the lack of proper or sufficient appliances for carrying on the practical, or in other words, the demonstrative and illustrative portions of the work of instruction. The want of ample blackboards, of numerical frames, of explana- tory cards or charts, of maps and drawings, of mathe- matical blocks, indeed, of apparatus generally, can not but so far narrow down the student's work to the simple book and the mere recitation, as to furnish no proper or pleasing outlet for his surplus activity and ingenuity. In some cases, that activity and ingenuity will doubtless sink back into sheer dullness and stag- nation. But more often it will unfortunately work itself out in acts of disorder, mischief, and, perhaps, overt acts of insubordination, and thus burden or counteract the effort of the teacher to maintain good government in the school. Passing to the obstacles which are organic in their origin and character, wo define them as being those OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. 27 which belong to the constitution, or to the working of the school itself. These may also be subdivided as external and internal ; the former including such as are determined to the school by the will of its patrons or local officers ; and the latter, those that fall more immediately under the jurisdiction of the teacher. Under the external organic, we include such evils as the want of a thorough system of grading, and of a consistent distribution of the departments, wherever such an organization is made practicable by the size of the school ; the assignment of several teachers to one room ; and what is, especially in our city schools, the most common, and everywhere a most intolerable evil, the want of a sufficient number of teachers for the aggregate of the pupils to be con- trolled and taught. These evils all tend directly to discourage every attempt at good government, by the unnecessary labor which they impose, and the inevi- table confusion they create. A simple reference to the underlying principle as unfolded by Political Economy ; namely, that of the necessity for a distribu- tion of labor, will suffice to show the correctness of the position here taken. With regard to the last of the evils specified, there is still a more serious cause of complaint. The diffi- culty is not that there is simply an unwise distribu- tion of labor ; it is rather that the amount of labor required, in order to any proper instruction or gov- ernment, is utterly preposterous ; for the teacher to accomplish any satisfactory portion of it, is among the practical impossibilities. Overwhelmed, as many 28 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. teachers are, with such an excess of numbers as to preclude the possibility of individual observation, at- tention, and effort, and of any direct and adequate per- sonal influence over the pupil, what can be the result other than that the attempt at government should be altogether in the direction of vague, irregular, and arbitrary generalities ? And, under the burden of an enterprise so perplex- ing and so hopeless as that of attempting to secure, in the face of such obstacles, a consistent order, gen- eral interest, close application, quiet obedience and habitual respect and subordination, what can be ex- pected other than that the teacher's ambition will become utterly broken down, and his energies hope- lessly paralyzed ? If this is not the result, then you may safely set down his as no ordinary character ; it is little less than heroic. Under the head of evils which are internal as well as organic, and which, as such, stand in the way of good government, we include such as the lack of a proper classification of the pupils as to studies or relative advancement, the absence of a definite and fixed order of studies, the absence of a systematic order of study, recitation, and exercises, and the failure to provide for the school a system of special examinations determinative of excellence, and condi- tional to advancement. Some of these, it will be seen, directly counteract the interests of good gov- ernment, by inducing general confusion, habits of irregularity or disorder, and, in one instance, posi- tive self-will in the free choice of studies. The List, OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF GOOD GOVEBNMENT. 29 in failing to provide the highest possible stimulus toward superior application and attainments, indi- rectly leads to the same injurious result. It does this by not opening sufficient channels for the coun- ter-diversion of the pupil's activity. In the case of every restless and enterprising nature, each new encouragement offered to a noble ambition is just so far an influence tending to withdraw the attention and the energies from what is petty or culpable. Every such influence favors successful government. We pass now to the consideration of those obstacles in the way of school government, which are of social origin. We fear it is not generally realized that society is practically opposed to all really good and effective government of the young. And, among all the evils which such government is called to encounter, we apprehend this social counter-current is the most wide-spread and persistent. Considered with refer- ence to its immediate sources, it may be designated as three-fold, parental, social proper, and official. To begin with, good government in the family is the exception and not the rule. Parents indulge their children at home, nay, indirectly train them to utter lawlessness. Hence, the impressions of both parents and children, as to the nature and necessity of good government in the school, become perverted, and their feelings under its more personal and press- ing operation become really demoralized. They neither think rightly of it, nor appreciate the good in it. The natural consequence of this is, they set themselves against such government just so soon as it 30 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. touches them. When the lawless will of the child is put under restraint, or his insubordination subjects him to discipline, he rebels and appeals to the parent. When the indulgent or ungoverning parent finds his child under arraignment for his transgression, or suffering the just penalty of the law he has broken, he rebels and, at once, joins issue with the teacher. This done, the evil spreads, " Like fire in heather set." Other children and other parents are in danger. Their feeling is, "Why stand we in jeopardy?" Their sympathies aroused, and their fears excited, they make a common cause in the conflict. And now Gog and Magog all in commotion, what chance has the teacher or his government? Either his cause must be so transparently just that even the dense dust-cloud of the general excitement cannot hide its merits ; or he must possess both a consummate tact and firmness ; or he must have seated himself too firmly in the confidence of the school officers, or a few considerate and influential patrons ; or his cause is practically lost. But how many of our public school teachers can command all or any one of these con- tingencies ? Comparatively few. With the rest, then, the case is clear ; the government of the school must succumb to the home government, and must become as depressed and neglected as that. Nor is this all. It is too often the case that the school officers, being of the community and quite in sympathy with it, fail to sustain the teacher; per- haps they even oppose him. Instead of standing up OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. 31 like men, and, true to their official responsibilities, checking and reversing the popular current, away they go with it, sometimes even drifting down on the fore- most wave, perhaps adding to its destructive rush, by ostentatiously exercising their " little brief authority," in either censuring or removing the teacher. But what can the government of the school ever be under such treatment other than so despicable a thing that there can be found " none so poor to do it reverence ?" And this social counter-current is the more formi- dable because it is no mere surface-evil. It is the surface-manifestation of a deep underlying principle of insubordination in the human soul. Whatever theory may be chosen as accounting for its origin, there is little enough room for doubt as to the exist- ence of the fact that the native position of the human will is one of incipient rebellion against moral re- straint and authoritative control. From the beginning, the outworking self prefers its own way, even to the countervailing of its own best welfare. And, as the general law, only the long-continued pressure of self-interest, the hard discipline of bitter experience, or the constant and constraining influence of acknowledged government, ever serve to correct, to any adequate extent, this " false nature." But not even these are sufficient to the work of completely restoring the moral nature to a true and loyal subjection to reason and right, and thus securing in it an abiding readiness to yield obe- dience to the demands of all just authority. Here is the " ineradicable taint." 32 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. There are certain practical lessons which it were well to learn from the foregoing. The natural effect of discovering such obstacles in the way of all at- tempts to institute and maintain good government in the school, will be to create discouragement. To the enlightened and resolute spirit, however, they will only serve as additional proofs of the need of a more determined effort toward the desired improvement. They, in fact, reveal the province of school govern- ment as, in a pre-eminent sense, the true field for the master spirit. But it should be borne in mind, as has been al- ready suggested, that all efforts in this direction should be comprehensive ; they should not be con- fined to an internal manipulation of the government itself, but should also embrace a reformation of the outside influences which are so adverse. The scheme of order and the system of discipline must, of course, have their share of the attention, and must be made as nearly perfect as may be under the circumstances. But, parallel with this should constantly be kept the effort to remove whatever in the accommodations, appliances, and organization of the school, or in the condition and operation of society, interferes with the attainment of that perfection. And this is broadly suggestive of the fact that not alone is the teacher responsible for the existence of ^ood government in the school. Upon school officers and patrons of schools, upon every member of the community, rests a share of that responsibility. It is for them to see that whatever can be done to re- OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. 33 move the external obstacles of which we have spoken, is done. It is for them to advance means, and to second measures for improvement in the condition and organization of the schools. It is for them to exercise a wise self-control and reticence as to med- dling with the management of the school. It is for many of them to learn to be governed, and to ac- quire the power of governing well at home, before they presume to sit in judgment upon the teacher as governor. And, still further, neither patrons nor teachers should expect too much. Great improvement may, by proper effort, be effected. To accomplish all that can be done in that direction, should be the persis- tent, life-long aim. But let it be borne in mind that many of the evils of human condition are remediless. Hence, perfection is not to be expected ; and when perfection is not attainable, failures should not al- ways be condemned as faults. CHAPTEE III. DERIVATION OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT FROM PARENTAL AUTHORITY. Importance of this derivation— School government and the education of the young, united— That education an onerous work— Not to be undertaken by every one— Must be inspired by parental instinct and love— Necessary reaction on the child's nature— Child-education do- mestic—The idea often considered as Utopian — Not due to a fallacy in the theory— Due to a lack of knowledge and leisure among the poorer classes— To a lack of will rather than capacity among the rich — TJte causes of these deficiencies twofold— -Too little rational love for the child — None live properly for society — The claims of society para- mount—Society demands the proper training of the child— These causes proofs rather than objections— The government of the child goes with his instruction— Parental government the source of school government — It is in fact the key to school government School government re-detined. Before proceeding to the discussion of the nature of school government, it is important that its origin, or derivation be ascertained. From that source, whatever it may prove to be, we may naturally look to obtain light sufficient for the distinct revelation of its more profound principles and of their practical application. In that direction, at least, we must look for the earlier indications of its radical charac- teristics. From what source, then, is the govern- ment of the school derived ? School government, from its very name, and from its definition as already given, must be seen to be inseparably connected with the education of the DERIVATION OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 35 young. It. starts with the first attempts to institute that work ; it grows cotemporaneously and parallel with it ; and only with its completion can it either be superseded or expire. The proper education of the child, commencing as it must, with the earlier developments of its intel- lect, and extending over so large a portion of its existence ; covering, as it must, a period of so much dependence and weakness, and inevitably encounter- ing so many obstacles and adverse influences, is necessarily a lengthy and onerous work. Indeed, it is safe to say that, whenever it has been undertaken with any intelligent and realizing sense of its true nature, it has been felt and found to be one of the most trying that can fall to the lot of imperfect humanity. But a work of this kind, especially one so removed from the chances of pecuniary gain or immediate reward of any kind, will not be ventured upon by those who are governed by no higher incentives than those of personal advantage. A work like this, which must be wrought out slowly year by year, amidst constant discouragements, " And all for love and nothing for reward," must find its potential inducements in the deeper instincts and the purer affections of human nature. For such instinct and affection, it needs little argu- ment to show, we must look alone to the parental nature and relation. Only in the parent's heart, may we expect to find the forces at all adequate to the 06 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. inception and prosecution of this work. Out of the natural relations of the parent as parent and pro- vider, must grow a sense of abiding obligation for the present support and development of the child; out of parental love and ambition, must spring pa- rental concern and effort for the future welfare of the child ; out of both this obligation and concern, must emerge the primitive attempt at the child's educa- tion ; and just in proportion to the full sense of that obligation, and the intelligent maturity of that con- cern, will that attempt develop into an earnest and thorough system of domestic culture. This parental derivation of his culture is also most necessary to the development of a proper filial tem- per in the child. Out of the child's habitual refer- ence to the parent for the fulfillment of this responsi- bility ; out of his daily dependence on the parent for his intellectual sustenance and development ; out of his growing confidence in the amplitude of the pa- rent's capacity as a" source and fount of light ;" — out of all these, must grow that deep, abiding, and much needed regard and reverence which no other being can claim, and which should not be even shared with another. As the voice of the parent's heart must be ; " Those whom I so love must be anxiously trained for their highest well-being, and by myself alone, since no work so solemn and so sacred may be intrusted to another ;" so the answer of the child's heart must be ; "To my parents I owe that developed knowledge, virtue, and power which are the very crown and blessedness of being ; and to DERIVATION .OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 37 those to whom I owe so much, I am first and forever most in debt, and that beyond all possibility of too large a return of love and service." And so should the education of the child, as domestic, reduplicate the force of domestic care and sustentation, and the two bind together, as " with a two-fold cord not easily broken," both parent and child. Thus would the household be blessed with the only possible realiza- tion of a perfect and lasting unity. Hence, we urge that the primary view of educa- tion, notwithstanding all that is contrary to it in the existing order of things, must be that of a purely domestic training. But to many, doubtless, this idea of education will seem fairly Utopian. As they look over the whole field of society, and everywhere find the intellectual training of the child so completely transferred to other hands, and so many schemes on foot, and those often so vast, for its accomplishment elsewhere than in the home, they can hardly conceive any other sys- tem than that of parental abdication and scholastic vice-royalty to be the true one. The feeling cannot but be strengthened by the fact that, under existing circumstances, certain advantages, such as a higher mental stimulus, more extended acquirements, and general harmony in the popular intelligence, are the common results of the prevailing method. These impressions are due, however, not to any fallacy in the theory, but to certain practical difficul- ties in the way of its realization, which grow out of the existing erroneous conformation of society. So 38 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. grave are those difficulties, that we even admit that it would be quite impossible to make the educa- tion of the young conform to the true idea. What they are may readily be shown. For example, among the humbler classes in society, where less ambitious aims and greater simplicity in the style of living might seem to allow opportunity for the performance of this work, insurmountable ob- stacles are to be found in the lack of the culture necessary to the parent's becoming the teacher, and in the lamentable absorption of the energies in mak- ing provision for mere physical comfort or material advantage. Hence, they have neither capacity nor time. J3o the greater interests are swallowed up of the less, — the seven fat kine are devoured by the seven kine lean and ill-favored. Among the more independent and more highly cultivated classes, where the requisite learning and capacity might be found, either the energies are ab- sorbed in the pursuit of the more ambitious ends of life, or the style of living adopted is such as to mul- tiply to an excessive degree the fictitious wants of both the individual and the household. Hence, the heart is altogether pre-occupied,. and the requisite leisure wholly forbidden. And so, ample tithes are paid in mint, and anise and cumin, in the merest fashion and frivolity, while the weightier matters of the law of parental obligation are neglected. And the grand cause of this is two-fold. Near at hand is that of too little intelligent and real love of offspring. Love, merely instinctive or animal, there DERIVATION OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 39 may be ; but that which grows out of a careful and self-denying regard for the higher claims of the child's nature as spiritual and immortal, little enough is there of that. So far as these higher wants of the child are involved, and the parent's rational obliga- tion to provide for them is concerned, the mass are like the ostrich, " which leaveth her eggs in the earth and warmeth them in the dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers : her labor is in vain, without fear ; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her under- standing." Somewhat less immediate, but not less serious, as a cause, is the fact that comparatively all live for themselves and not for society. Setting aside, as be- longing to another and higher field, the religious aspect of the thing, we think it may be consistently urged that, in that associated form of being for which man was designed and adapted, and to which he is, in fact, so necessitated ; namely, the community or the state, that sovereign selfishness which makes every man his own chief end of concern and activity, must be pronounced altogether abnormal and false. Doubtless, he owes somewhat to himself. The prin- ciple of self-love so pronounces. Self-preservation demands it. But, to look only at that side of the question, every man has interests vested in society, and those of the most vital character. Indeed, so close and important 40 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. are the relations of society to all his interests, that upon the condition and character of that very society, de- pends the welfare of most of those individual interests in which he is so apt to become selfishly absorbed. No man can be blind to the best interests of society, or wilfully neglectful of- them, without offering a pre- mium upon his own damage. But beyond this, society has a claim of its own as pre-eminent, and, by just so much as the whole is greater than a part, is the claim made urgent. The true dignity and the true happiness of rational humanity requires that, in society, each individual should benevolently prefer the interests of the whole to his own. Men owe it to their own rational wisdom and moral excellence, that they live for society rather than for themselves. But, we think it cannot but be seen, that, in a very important sense, to live for the proper training of children is to live for the perfected well-being of society. The children of to-day are to constitute the society of to-morrow ; and he who may have little power to amend society among those who now com- pose its fullness and strength, may labor very effec- tively and hopefully among the young, for its future regeneration. The parent who, rising above mere sordid pursuits, and turning a deaf ear to all the seducements of ambition or frivolity, wisely and faithfully trains his child for the intelligent, able, and virtuous discharge of the duties, parental, social, and civil, which may ultimately devolve upon him, is doing society, as well as himself, his best service. Men, however, do not live for society, and hence, they DERIVATION OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 41 do not thus give themselves to the education of the young in accordance with its primitive and perfect idea. While, however, these causes are enough to make the realization of the true idea as thus advanced quite impracticable, a little reflection will suffice to show that they are practically proofs of the validity of that idea. They urge, and with no slight force, the native consistency and excellence of the domestic theory of education. In all the facts which they present, it cannot but be apparent that they lead directly back to the position that the education of the child should be domestic, and to the conviction that it is because men are either ignorant of their primal relations to the race, or are unequal to their pro- per care, or wilfully ignore them, that education is not the thing it should be. Having thus traced the education of the young to the domestic circle as its original and proper terri- tory, and to parental authority and duty as its primal source, we are prepared to assume the position that so soon as, for any cause, the work of education passes out of the house and into the school, just so soon does the moral discipline, or the government, which is one of its essential parts, go with it. The government must domicile with the instruction. This, however, reveals the fact, of which we have been in search, that school government has its origin in parental government ; it is, in fact, a contingence and growth of parental government, and, as such, must, in many points of character, be determined by the stock 42 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. from which it springs. School government as thus de- termined, is the temporary and conditional transfer to the teacher, of all that part of the parent's authority which is dependent upon his exercise of the function of the domestic instructor, and which would be neces- sary to the successful education of the child in the home circle, according to the primitive idea. In parental government, then, we are to look for the key to the real nature of school government. The latter must be, in the temporary and specific, much what the former is in the continuous and total. In the parent must the teacher find in good part his own prototype ; and in the teacher must the parent cheerfully recognize his own natural vicegerent. And so closely will the authority of the two be found affiliated, that, to a most important extent, they must stand or fall together. Hence, school government may be defined, as the exercising of that authority in the control and discip- line of the child, by the teacher as the parent's sub- stitute, which would be the right and duty of the parent were he to undertake the work of educating the child in his own part, supplemented, however, by such increase of power as will make it commensurate with the larger necessities of the school, as involv- ing greater numbers and requiring a more stringent order. CHAPTER IV. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT, AS DE- RIVED FROM THAT OF THE PARENT. The authority of the teacher as delegated— The delegation or transfer complete— Interference with it suicidal— The authority enhanced by the transfer— Parents bound to second and strengthen it— The transfer a finality — The authority not to be resumed— The child not to be with- drawn from under it — Such a remedy worse than the evil— Positively injurious to the child— Disregards even his natural rights— The one possible case of exception— School Government not necessarily invali- dated by errors— The authority of the teacher absolute— -The authority leg- islative per se— The school no democracy— Successful experiments in this direction not an objection — Self-government in the school involves a delusion— School Government looks forward to self-government, but should not formally institute it— False ideas as to self-govern- ment— The authority of the teacher imperative— Decisipns to be au- thoritative, unargued — Logic not always invincible — Reasonings may be used as a supplementary means— Decisions of the authority final — Appeal or reversal reprehensible— Would destroy parental govern- ment—Interference of school authorities deprecated — The teacher must stand his ground against it — If pverborne, must resign — The teacher may himself reverse — The teacher may himself refer to the authorities— This subject to objection— The School Government to be benevolent— T&rental government too often selrish— School Govern- ment not exposed to this error — Too little wise forecast in school management — The ultimate good must be paramount — Temporizing expedients and present ends inadmissible— Passionate or vindictive measures reprehensible — Degrading or annoying measures objection- able — Ridicule restricted in its use — Satire condemned — School Gov- ernment catholic in scope and spirit — The welfare of the whole the paramount consideration — Parental demands for specific privileges objectionable— The general ecouomy of the school as a whole to be carefully studied. Having thus traced the. government of the school to that of the family as its natural source, we are now 44 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. prepared to inquire what, in the light of this deriva- tion, are the characteristics of the government which the teacher is to institute and administer in the school. And, here, we observe, first, that the authority- vested in the teacher, and exercised in governing the school, is substantially, though not formally, a dele- gated authority. It is in substance delegated, since it is identical with that exercised by the parent, and would in fact remain in his hands, but for his transfer to another, of his original functions as instructor. It is, however, not formally made over, since the transfer is no matter of stipulation, the whole being not an act, but a necessary consequence of the pa- rent's demission of the power to teach. This result- ant lack of. formality in the transfer of the authority to govern the child, so far from abating any of the derived characteristics of the authority, only serves to add a new and necessary force to them. Were the authority formally made over to the teacher by the parent, the exercise of it might be assumed to be subject to either the expressed or implied stipulations of the transfer ; but going over to him, with the edu- cational functions as their necessary concomitant, it carries with it all its original attributes in their best and strongest character as not arbitrary, but inevi- table. Hence, out of this unrestricted delegation of the authority of the parent to the teacher, grow certain positive and practical conclusions. And, first, the transfer is complete, and the teacher's right to exer- DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 45 cise the authority is entire. YHiile there are author- itative rights vested in the parent, as parent and providential guardian of the child, which he may not abdicate, and which the teacher may not assume, yet all those which the parent might possess and exer- cise in the control of the child under the process of education at home, belong, under a system of educa- tion in the school, to the teacher alone. If, for ex- ample, the parent in training the child himself might insist upon punctuality or regularity ; if he may de- mand implicit submission and without appeal; or if he may administer discipline or punishment in this or that form, — all this may the teacher do, and without subjection to question or interference. The parent has no right to refuse these prerogatives to the teacher, nor to disturb him in his necessary ex- ercise of them. Indeed, such interference with the teacher's pre- rogative is worse than improper; it is suicidal. Inasmuch as the school government is but a trans- ferred part of the home government, by just so much as the parent restricts the teacher, he practically retrenches his own authority; and by so much as he disturbs the teacher's exercise of authority, he practically damages his own administration of government. Hence, it is commonly seen to be the fact that all such parental interference in the govern- ment of the school re-acts upon that of the home circle, and so, that which began by distressing the former, ends by hastening the demoralization of the latter. Thus, the parent plays the part of a principal 46 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. who distresses an agent, but chiefly to his own detriment. One very important principle evolved in this con- nection, is very generally overlooked. The prevailing impression is that the authority transferred by the parent to the teacher, is in some part diminished by the transfer. Few parents feel that the authority of the teacher is as important as their own. But the fact is, it is, within its sphere, even more important. The transfer of the authority is such as to intensify rather than to depress it. When it passes from the family to the school, it passes to a field in which its situation is more critical, and its success a matter of wider concern. The larger number grouped under one control, the wider diversity of dispositions and habits, the more stringent demands of the one com- mon object, for perfect order and thorough discip- line, — all these call for a stronger hand as well as a clearer head than are imperative in the simpler and more restricted field of the home. The inference to be drawn from this fact is then necessarily, that, so far from any attempt on the part of parents or patrons, to disturb and thus weaken the authority of the teacher, their first and most impera- tive duty is to sustain and strengthen that authority to the full extent of its rightful demand as, for the time being, superior to their own. Hence, the only impression conveyed to the child's mind by either their opinions or actions, should be very distinctly this ; no interference will be attempted except to sec- ond the efforts of the teacher, and sustain the law of DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 47 the school. Complaint is, therefore, worse than use- less, and rebellion only ensures a more complete subjection. Out of the completeness of this transfer of the parental authority, grows another principle ; namely, that, except in a single case, the transfer must be in an important sense a finality. The functions and prerogatives of instruction and government, as we have seen, go together. If now, because of his own incompetence, the parent transfers these to the teacher, he has no right under ordinary circum- stances, to resume the one without resuming the other; nor may he resume both without providing for their better reinstitution elsewhere, and more, for their reinstitution in substance and form, enough better to counterbalance all the evils of change. When then the child has been consigned to the teacher's charge, it is equally for instruction and dis- cipline as one and inseparable. Nor is it competent for the parent or guardian to withdraw the child from under this instruction and discipline which go to make up his education, without providing so much better for his enjoyment of their advantages at home or elsewhere, that the evils resulting from the arbi- trary change, such as the child's loss of t;me, the destruction of his confidence in teachers, the strength- ening of his tendencies to insubordination, and the perfecting of his faith in his power to control the parent as well as the teacher, shall all be overbal- anced by the greater good secured through the pa- rent's transfer of him to some other field of training. 48 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. Unless, the alternative here suggested is secured, it is evident that in most cases the remedy is worse than the evil which is the subject of complaint. Send the child to some other school, and, though he may have been practically in the right before, he is now, from the lesson of insubordination which has been taught him, quite sure to be thoroughly in the wrong at the first opportunity. In this case, either the original battle has to be fought over and fought out at last, or the doubtful experiment of change has to be attempted again, and under circumstances more dubious than before. Retain the child at home, and without securing that the parent's exercise of the functions of instruc- tion and discipline shall be comparatively faultless, and the gain is altogether ambiguous. The parent has practically discharged a quack from abroad, in order to turn empiric himself, at home. Even though the latter were in some respects better than the former, the disease may be aggravated by the loss of time, and so the patient is the worse for the change. So in the case of the child, it is a cardinal principle that the steady and sustained application and enforcement of even a less perfect tuition and rule, are better than a sudden and fractious change to those assumed to be better, or even really so. If, however, as is more commonly the case, the child is simply withdrawn from the school without provision for his education at home, the whole is of the nature of a direct trespass upon his higher rights and necessities. Carlyle has somewhere said, DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 49 " For one to possess capacity for knowledge, and die ignorant, — this, I call tragedy." Yet for the enact- ment of this very tragedy, he makes direct prepara- tion, who thus withdraws the child from such oppor- tunities of training as he has, and leaves him where he has none. It has been intimated that there is one case, and only one, in which the parent's resumption of the au- thority demitted to the teacher, is admissible. That occurs in the extremity of a prevailing abuse of the authority on the part of the teacher, or his complete failure to administer it effectually. But let it be ob- served that the conditions of the resumption are solely a prevailing abuse or a complete failure. The grounds for this limitation are plain. In almost every instance in which this resumption of the autho- rity is attempted, it is based upon some partial ill- success of the teacher, or some isolated instance of faulty discipline. But here, as everywhere, action so radical and violent, upon premises so narrow and unsettled, is not only erroneous but reprehensible. He is not far from being the greater transgressor who, for a natural error or a single fault, makes a man an offender beyond both the enjoyment of rights or the chance of reclamation. There are defects in the administration of the best governments. But until it is quite certain that a per- fect government, and its faultless administration are immediately attainable, it is not wise to denounce the government we have, or to inaugurate actual revolution. Hence, occasional slips of the teacher in 50 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. the exercise of discipline, while they of course mar his government, do not cancel or cut short in one iota the teacher's authority. Adopt the principle that they do, and you bring parental government also to the block, for, as a matter of fact, it is itself noto- riously wide of this very perfection. Indeed, bad as school government is, it is, in the aggregate, much better than the aggregate of domestic government ; and it only fails to reach a still higher standard of excellence, because the latter, in its defectiveness, acts upon it as a perpetual check and counteraction. The parent or guardian, therefore, who pursues the course here reprehended, practically condemns him- self, and only needs to carry out that course in order to be speedily " hoist with his own petard." The second essential characteristic of the teacher's authority as derived from that of the parent, is that it is absolute. By this we do not mean that it is absolute in the highest sense as underived and irresponsible, but only that it is absolute with refer- ence to the relative position of the teacher and the pupil. The authority of the teacher as sovereign in the school is in no way derived from, or dependent on the will of the pupil as subject ; nor is the teacher in any way amenable to the pupil for his mode of exercising it. So far as the pupil-subject is con- cerned, the teacher is, in the better sense of the term, a true autocrat, and may both take his stand and carry himself as such. Out of this essential principle grow certain practi- cal inferences which not only go far towards deter- DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 51 mining the character of school government, but which decisively settle the false nature of some of the methods of government current. Of these infer- ences, this is to be observed, first, that the authority of the teacher in governing the school, is legislative per se. From that authority, as the sole originating source, springs the entire law for the school. Here, as elsewhere, true government originates of natural right, in the higher, more specific, and somewhat ex- clusive field of the superior intelligence and will, and goes down thence, according to its own clearer dictates and steadier purposes, to, and upon those who, as constituting the broader, less intelligent, less self-sustaining and self-controlled mass, are the proper subjects of government. To install the teacher in the school upon any other assumption, is both absurd in itself and false to the nature of school gov- ernment as determined by the law of the domestic government ; indeed, we may add, false to the nature of that domestic government as determined by the law of the divine government which is its natural an- tecedent. It is, then, for the teacher as the select one, and as the superior intelligence and the abler will, to originate the whole scheme of law for the school, and to wield its sanctions throughout the entire field of discipline. And these functions are imperative upon him. Except temporarily, for cer- tain specific ends, he may neither suspend nor trans- fer them. Hence, school government cannot, according to any true view, be taken as a democracy, either pure 52 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. or representative. Its subjects are neither capaci- tated for the exercise of the functions of government, nor naturally entitled to them. To suppose other- wise is to assume that those, who are yet confessedly unequal to the work of self-sustentation and self- culture, are capable of self-government ; that those, who could not originate the school, can wield its organization when it has been provided for them. It is here freely granted that experiments have been made in this direction, and sometimes with no inconsiderable success. These, however, do not in- validate the principle. The democracy in these cases is practically a fiction, though a seemingly fair one ; and its success, however promising, is equivocal if not deceptive, and otherwise fallacious in theory. It is due altogether to the tact and skill of the gov- ernor, and not to the self-active intelligence or power of the governed. Indeed, in such cases, the whole cast of the government is taken from the conception and leadings of the teacher. He is the power that wields the long arm of the lever, while, by his art, the pupil who sits astride of the short arm is induced to exert himself strenuously, as if he were really lifting the weight, instead of being himself the weight lifted. There is perhaps no harm in his making this deceptive effort, no harm in his indulging that flatter- ing fancy ; possible even, some incidental good may, by the skill of the teacher, be induced from both. Still it may be doubted whether it is consistent for the philosopher to assume the appearance to be the fact. DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 53 Neither is the weight self -lifting, nor is the governing self-government, for such an assumption. It is granted here, that school government, as per- haps every government should, looks forward to self- government, and, wisely managed, does prepare the way for it. But it does this rather by maintaining its own autocratic character, than by abdicating the throne and setting up a supposititious self-govern- ment, under the auspices of a delusive democracy. It prepares the way for ultimate self-government, by developing, through the observation and reflection stimulated by a true control, a just conception of the nature and applications of law and its sanctions. Still more significantly does it prepare the way for that self-government, by training its subjects to an habitual reverence for true superiority and to an im- plicit submission to the rightful authority which already is. The idea of self-government irrespective of a con- stant and loyal reference to a government prior to, and higher than that of self, is one of the dangerous fallacies of the times which school government should vigorously endeavor to correct, rather than to w^eakly countenance. So also, the idea of the possibility of the fair institution and sustained exercise of self- government, previous to establishing the habit of sim- ple obedience to the higher authority, is another fallacy as common and as fatal in its tendencies. He who has not learned to obey, has not learned to govern ; and he who has not acquired the habit of reverencing the just requisitions of a higher intelli- 54 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. gence and will than his own, cannot render a true obedience to the self-imposed regulations of his own moral impulses and energies. And how few are thus fitted for the work of self-government, is clearly indi- cated elsewhere in that significant and divinely au- thoritative maxim, " He that ruleth his own spirit is mightier than he that taketh a city." Again, the teacher's authority as absolute, must be imperative, rather than deliberative or demonstra- tive. .His requirements and decisions, in whatever form presented, whether that of request, demand or mandate, must be unargued. What he resolves upon and pronounces law, should be simply and steadily insisted upon as right per se, and should be promptly and fully accepted by the pupil as right, on the one ground that the teacher, as such, is governor. The faith of the pupil in the equity of the law must be begotten of the authority and the law themselves, and not of any reasonings thereupon. When the occasion rightly serves, some pains may be taken to demon- strate the rightness of the authority, but not the rec- titude of the decisions. If that rectitude is neither accepted on the basis of simple faith in the authority, nor on the ground of its own self-evident claims, (which it will be, if the pupil is at all properly dis- posed,) your argumentation will be either thrown away, or it will only serve to suggest objections cal- culated to strengthen and embolden the rebellious spirit. It is a great mistake to fancy that the sound con- clusions of the logical understanding are necessarily DERIVED CIIARACTEKISTICS. 55 invincible. That is or is not, altogether as the will may be positioned. Reason with the will accordant, and all goes " merry as a marriage bell :" reason against the inclination or fixed purpose of the will, and your logic "wastes its sweetness on the desert air." Especially is this true of the impulsive and unreasoning multitude; and the child's nature is pre- cisely that of the multitude. With both, your reason- ing has force only as it accords with the inclination. Hence, in the school, as in the family, faith in the authority is a far better basis for enforcing the de- cisions arrived at in governing, than any display of their logical consistency. Hence, further, the thorough subjugation of the will to the authority as absolute should always antedate any resort to discus- sion or demonstration. When effective discipline has reduced the subject of government to cheerful obedi- ence, conclusive logic may sometimes happily follow up the work, and complete it by compelling the un- derstanding to endorse the surrender of the will. Once more, in the government of the school, as in that of the family, the decisions of the authority as absolute must be final, or in other words, must be substantially beyond appeal or reversal. To allow any such appeal or reversal as a recognized element in school government, is to conspire its speedy over- throw. Any such reference to the outside authority of parents or patrons is no more to be countenanced or endured than it would be in the case of the home government. Against its subversive influences, pa- rental authority could not long make head ; no more 56 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. can the authority of the teacher. The principle is of equal application to both: here, they stand or fall together. This is, in a certain shape, one of the very obstacles that parental government has to encounter. Many a conscientious parent understands its working. Some stringent but wise restriction is imposed upon his children. It soon gets to the ears of the neighbor- hood. It is at once caught up as indicative of pride or exclusiveness, or as involving a tacit rebuke of the ungoverned state of other families. Then it is openly condemned so that the censure passes from child to child until it reaches those under restraint. To them it comes with all the force of a sustained reference or appeal. Up springs from this an incipient rebellion. To meet this, the government of the parent is, per- haps, put upon its defense, and thus its authority is irreparably damaged. As with the domestic govern- ment, so with that of the school, only that, in the latter case, the mischief is the greater, since school government is more often, by both children and parents, held as a lawful subject of animadversion. Nor is an appeal to the school authorities, whether it be informal or legally regular, less injurious. The teacher may err in his decisions, and, at times, his exercise of authority may be unhappy; yet, in the sight of the school, both should be fairly sustained. Jieverse the one or denounce the other, and you attack his government in its most vital part ; you im- pair its capacity to command respect and submission even where its demands are intrinsically perfect. DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 57 Everywhere among our youth, the spirit of insubor- dination is so predominant that it is not safe to relax the reins of government at all, not even when they have been improperly tightened. Doubtless, some incidental evils may result from this unyielding grasp of the authority; but let those who are governed charge them where they belong, that is, to their own insubordination. Hence, rather than touch the gov- ernment of the school, let the school authorities, while, perhaps, privately counseling the teacher against future errors, promptly refuse to entertain any appeal against his authority. Let them bear in mind, that errors in government are nowhere un- avoidable except in the fancies of fools, and that invariably a defective government is better than none. Hence, also, the teacher who finds his authority thus, through the error or the weakness of school officers, made subject to appeal and counteraction, should, out of regard both to the preservation of his own dignity and the maintenance of government in the school, coolly stand his ground, and insist upon the enforcement of his decisions. If he finds this made impracticable by the stubborness or the mag- nitude of the opposition, let him promptly resign. To remain under such circumstances, is to acknow- ledge himself a subject ; is to confess himself defeated, and, hence, he can expect but little more than to be treated as a conquered enemy. To maintain his au- thority and secure good government in spite of these adverse influences, will be found a difficult and a doubtful task. Both self-respect and just policy, 58 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. then, dictate the one course. A change of base will tend to re-establish his character as a strategist, and secure a clearer field of operations. While we object to any appeal from the authority of the teacher to any other extraneous source of power, we by no means cut off the teacher himself from the right to reverse his own decisions, or reform his own administration of government. As absolute, he may both make and unmake law, only let him bear in mind that the latter is the much more delicate work of the two. To take a position is easy, but to retrace the steps taken, that is the work. This retrac- tion is, however, sometimes both a necessity and a necessary evil. In such a case, great must be his ad- dress who can effect it gracefully and with unimpaired influence. If he can do this, let him do it by all means ; only let him carefully count the possible cost beforehand. Always, too, let it be undertaken at his own instance, and as his own exclusive prerogative. Beyond this case of positive reversal or retraction, it may sometimes occur that the teacher himself chooses to refer the points in question to the consti- tuted authorities. He may, for instance, be well as- sured of being sustained by those authorities, in which case, a reference only completes the discomfi- ture of the refractory pupil. He may also, in the case of matters which he does not consider vital, and as to which he has no choice, prefer a reference as a means of escaping a direct responsibility. Both of these are, however, open to the objection that the action of the teacher is politic and evasive, rather DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 59 than frank and independent. In the first instance, the pnpil is partially imposed upon, for there is no real intervention in his behalf ; and in the second, the idea of a divided authority is directly countenanced. For these reasons, while the right of the teacher to allow the reference is clear, the propriety of resorting to it is doubtful. On these general grounds, then, and with these ex- ceptions, it is urged that the decisions of the teacher, as absolute in his authority, must be accepted and maintained as a finality. Returning to the characteristics of the school gov- ernment as derived from that of the parent, it is urged finally, that it must be benevolent. The end for which the authority is exercised in the case of the teacher, as in that of the parent, lies wholly out of, and beyond himself. The control and discipline of the child are not for the parent, nor for the teacher, but for the child only. An incidental good may ac- crue to both the former, but the good directly sought is that of the child alone. And that good must be sought even though no such incidental good, but rather a positive evil, seems to be the reward of those who govern. In this principle, is summed up the grand humanity of both domestic and school govern- ment. They are, neither of them, " finely touched, but to fine issues," and of those issues, this benevo- lence is the noblest. But plain as this principle is, it is too often over- looked in both parental and school government, though most signally, as we believe in the former. CO SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. In the vast majority of cases, parental authority is exercised in pure selfishness. Not what is for the child's real injury is condemned and punished, but what is productive of inconvenience or loss to the parent. For example, the child, disregarding the parent's caution against carelessness, breaks a win- dow. The fault, now, which is brought home to his conscience, and for which he is made to believe him- self punished, is simply the loss he has occasioned by the breaking of so much glass. The real fault, how- ever, was solely his disregard of the warning given him against carelessness. That warning was given altogether, (or, at least should have been so given,) to prevent his acquiring the always mischievous habit of being careless. And yet, little pains is taken to impress upon the child's heart a sense of his guilt in this direction. Not thus is he made to feel: "It was unfilial and unkind in me to give so little heed to that wise and loving caution against carelessness." More commonly the only feeling awakened amounts to this, " Confound that old window ! I wish glass did'nt cost anything ;" a finality that would be su- premely ridiculous, were not the error it reveals so fatal. In the government of the school, the tendency to this evil is not so great. The combination of syste- matic instruction with the exercise of authority, necessarily keeps the teacher's mind steadily under the influence of an object that can only be sought for the good of the pupil. Thus, the steady purposes of the instruction as a benevolence, serve to correct the DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 61 possible tendency of the discipline towards seliish- ness ; and so strong is their pressure in this direction, that it will be only a narrow and half-brutal nature, such as, we believe, is seldom to be found among our teachers, that can fail to be controlled by them. Hence, it is not, and cannot be at all common for teachers to govern according to the mere dictates of personal convenience, or to administer discipline un- der the irritated impulse of some sense of incurred discomfort or damage. If, however, the teacher's temptation to such departures from the spirit of true school government be less, it behooves him to see to it the more carefully that all his action is ordered the more perfectly in accordance with the truest good of the pupil as the only end to be sought. But there is a point of great importance beyond this. There is in all our school operations, a lack of forecasting wisdom and beneficence, and a dominant content with such provisions and attainments as are altogether present and temporary. The child in the school is seen and held, only as the child he now is. What he is to be as the final growth of his present being is altogether overlooked. The school is nothing beyond its present necessities and effects. Its need, as looking forward to the largest ultimate result, is of no account. Hence, everywhere the insufferable school-house, the crude furniture, the naked walls, the absence of maps, blackboards, and apparatus, and the old books. Hence, also, the cheap teacher, the unstudied methods of instruction, and the tem- porary devices in government. But, were it borne in 62 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. mind that the child is growing to be a man, and that under the training of these mean and miserable in- fluences ; were it realized how much these may have to do with making him in recollection, spirit and ac- tion, the very man he should not be, it would seem incredible that the provision made for the merely present in the school, should not be raised so as to conform to the necessary demands of the future. All this should impress upon the teacher the im- portance of the grand principle, that in all his bene- volent control of the pupil, he is to give the first and most anxious concern to his ultimate welfare. Pres- ent considerations may have a certain importance; but they must never come into competition with the graver elements of a future and more imperative good. What the child is to-day must not, either in the instruction or the government of the school, be overlooked ; but what he is to be hereafter, as having been molded by that instruction and government, must be the paramount consideration. Not then what will suffice for the immediate pleasure or profit of the pupil, should be the teacher's guide, or his measure of content in determining the direction of the law or the sum of the discipline in the government of the school. The controlling question with the teacher must be, what, notwithstanding its cost to me, or its pressure upon the pupil now, is best for the prospec- tive welfare of the latter as a member of society and a subject of civil government ? From the foregoing, the folly and the vice of all temporizing in discipline will be evident. The teacher DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 63 is sometimes induced to rest content with temporary expedients and half-way measures. But the very sources of this inducement might suffice to reveal his error in yielding to it. Those sources are generally his own indolence or sensitiveness. The rationale of their influence is this ; foreseeing a conflict as the result of adopting the latter, but more severe, course in discipline, the teacher is unwilling to make the strenuous and persistent effort necessary to a success- ful issue, or he shrinks from the pain which he must, for the present, both cause and endure, and so he falls back upon measures that promise the compara- tive attainment of the immediate end with less ex- pense to the energies and the sensibilities. The natural result, however, of all such evasions of duty is " only evil and that continually." They commonly fail to secure even the present end which the teacher has in view ; and the painful but important conflict which he seeks to avoid, is only deferred until the occurrence of some future and aggravated complica- tion, in the adjustment of which, the labor and the pain incurred will often be more than doubled. And the failure to secure the truest welfare of the pupil in the direction of moral discipline and develop- ment is equally complete. Instead of learning the salutary lesson at once, and being thus enabled to grow from day to day, under its fashioning influence, into the perfect subject of just government, he goes on until the final struggle, unsubdued, stimulated by delay to a more stubborn resistance, and roused by the ultimate but unexpected overthrow, to the indul- 64 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. gence of far more bitter and revengeful feelings than would have been possible under a contrary treat- ment. Of the unhappy influence of all this upon the after ideas and temper of the man, every teacher can judge for himself. As another inference from the benevolent charac- ter of the school government, all passionate, violent or vindictive measures must be condemned. Of these, little need be said. Act directly as an influence and an example, on the pupil's evil passions, to counte- nance, aggravate, and perpetuate their indulgence, they assuredly will. As certainly will they re-act un- favorably on the teacher's character, on his influence in the school, and on the authority of his government. The least that can be said of such measures, is that they are unwise and injurious. The truth more nearly is, they are unmanly and inhumane. Not less severely must all means or appliances of discipline, which are of a merely degrading character, or which are simply calculated to badger and exas- perate the pupil, without leading to real subjection, be reprehended. As it is inconsistent with the pa- rent's self-respect that he should basely humiliate himself in the person of his child, and as his wisdom and benevolence must forbid all seeming effort at mere petty annoyance or retaliation, so must both these be inconsistent and reprehensible in the teach- er's administration of government, resting, as that government must, upon the parental basis from which its derivation has just been traced. Perhaps, also, no more fitting place will occur for DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 65 a proper reference to the use of satire or ridicule. It is true the topic is closely related to the consideration of child-sensibility, as developed in the following chapter. But commonly the use of these two ele- ments is rather a matter of self-indulgence or self- gratification, and so bears directly against the princi- ple of benevolence or unselfishness in government. A free use of ridicule or satire,, regardless of their species and influence, is pure selfishness. Here, then, there is occasion for discrimination and self-control on the part of the teacher. Within a cer- tain restricted limit, a simple scholastic ridicule ; namely, that employed purely for the purpose of cor- recting needless error in knowledge, or persistence in self-neglect, and where, from the pupil's known char- acter, or from the nature of the error, no other means will subserve the desired end so well, — such a ridicule is legitimate. But whenever ridicule becomes purely personal, and touches defects which are not due to the failure of the voluntary nature, but are constitu- tional or excusable ; whenever it is indulged in for the purpose of mere self-gratification, is mingled with any irritation of feeling, and is enjoyed with the keener relish because it is seen to sting and wound, — when- ever any of this is true, ridicule is to be utterly con- demned. As to satire, much the same is true, saving only this difference, that as satire is usually more ex- tended and caustic in its character, it is even more dangerous than misguided or malicious ridicule. As- suming this as correct, it follows necessarily, that all harsh, discourteous, vituperative language is to be 66 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. utterly reprobated, and for reasons the more evident, because it can not involve a particle of either bene- volence or self-respect ; it is more properly the very embodiment of coarse incapacity and incipient ma- levolence. Lastly, like the parental government, that of the school should be catholic in its spirit and administra- tion. Always considerate with regard to individual wants, the teacher must, nevertheless, order and gov- ern the school for the whole rather than for a part. This is his only consistent and safe rule. Some things which are individually desirable may even be promotive of the general welfare. In addition to the specific comfort or advantage which they secure, they may reflect general credit on the government for dis- crimination and kindliness. Other personal provis- ions may not noticeably interfere with the broader in- terests of the whole. OtherSj again, may, as inter- fering with the general regulations, or as establishing subversive precedents, directly conflict with the wel- fare of the whole. In all these cases, the application of the principle of catholicity is clear. In the first, it fully sustains the propriety of the individual provis- ions ; with reference to the second, it is silent ; as to the third, its voice is a decided prohibition. The general law is, then, this ; while, as will be shown elsewhere, all proper discrimination as to individual nature or need must be made, the general welfare must ever be the dominant consideration. Ignorance or disregard of this principle often leads parents and guardians into the grave error of de- DERIVED CHARACTERISTICS. 67 manding individual privileges for tlie child which are inadmissible because inconsistent with the good of the whole. Thus, for example, an irregular choice of studies is demanded for one ; for another, a priv- ileged class or seat ; for another, release from some prescribed duty ; for another, exemption from some specific restriction or exercise of discipline. These, while, perhaps, in certain isolated cases possibly unob- jectionable, may, and more commonly must, as dis- turbing the general order or establishing dangerous precedents, be positively injurious. It will, then, doubt- less, be the wiser course to prefer no such claims. But in case, on mature reflection, they seem desira- ble, let them not be pressed upon the teacher against his convictions. Let him be left free to act according to the demands of catholic unity in the school, and catholic rectitude in its government. From this, it will be seen, that the teacher, instead of acting from blind impulse or specific impressions, needs to study carefully the economy of his school and its system of government, as a whole, so that in their clear and full comprehension, he may be enabled to prevent any maladjustment or undue prominence of parts, to the disadvantage of the whole. Hence, also, his constant effort should be to impress upon the mind of the entire school, a sense of its prevail- ing unity, and of the rightful predominance of the general interest over every other. CHAPTEE Y. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT, AS RELATED TO THE SCHOOL AND ITS CONSEQUENT CHARACTERISTICS. Importance of considering government with reference to its subjects — All government to be adapted to those controlled— True particularly of school government — School government to be applied to two classes, children and youth, more especially to children — More such in our schools — Children more governed than youth— Too much license allowed the latter — This practice reprehensible — Child-character in the school— Method of discussion— Careful classification necessary — Traits classified as individual and general — Individual traits classified as inher- ent and contingent, mental and physical — Mental characteristics:— Act- ivity considered— Mischief often a legitimate result of activity— Activity must be provided for— Neglect of this in public schools — Objectivity — Objective representations necessary — Indirect utility of apparatus — Direct application of objective means — Christ's use of this means — The objective a means, not an end — Spontaneity — Effect on observa- tion, attention and memory — Inferred laws — Care as to involuntary impressions— Suggested particulars — Care in presenting things — Rep- etition necessary — Careless repetition injurious — Lack of method — Method indispensable — Government must be systematic — Intellect ready but not strong — Inferences prompt but invalid — Explicitness de- manded — Principles especially applicable to the child's reason — " Do right" an insufficient rule — Practically deceptive — Its only advantages — Sensibilities naturally acute — Child often abused for feeling — Govern- ment must be sympathizing and gentle — Feelings to be diverted rather than suppressed — Double utility of their diversion — Child sensitive to praise and blame — Love of esteem radical and deep — Exceptional cases due toabuse — Government must be stimulating, not depressing— Stim- ulating kindness especially adapted to the worst cases — Method of its application— The child' s purposes fltf uL—¥itfu\nesB impairs development — Increases the teacher's labors — Government must counteract lack of persistence — Failure to do this a prevailing defect — Defect aggravated by so-called improved methods of instruction— Particularly by tho exclusive object system— Physical character Mies— Activity or restless- RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 69 ness — Origin both mental and organic — The latter cause more espe- cially considered — Exercise to be secured — No fixed rule for exercise possible — Common sense on gymnastics — Gymnastics restricted in their field — Absurd in case of young children — Nature's gymnastics superior— These principles applied to girls— Military drill compared with gymnastics — General inference as to kind, and management of exercise — Child' 1 s frame immature — Violent usage to be avoided — Evils possible — General characteristics contingent on tlie constitution of tJie school — Mingling of the sews— Constitutional differences of the tv o to be regarded — Influence of these differences increases with age — May become the only means of control — Effect of contrasted sex between teacher and pupil — Error in instructional organization of boy's and girl's schools — Heterogeneousness of pupils — Variety extensive and complex — Organic adaptation consequently impracticable — Au- thoritative discrimination the only reliance — Discrimination not partiality. The study of school government as derived from that of the domestic circle reveals to us some of its original and more comprehensive characteristics. But the study of its nature in the opposite direction, as determined by the body politic to which it is to be applied, is equally important as calculated to unfold to view some of its more specific and practical traits. No government, however perfect in theory, can be a true and proper government unless, in all its prac- tical elements it is so framed as to be fitted as far as possible to the peculiar character and consequent wants of the commonwealth over which it is to be in- stalled as supreme. That which is a true and good government for an intelligent and virtuous commu- nity, cannot be the same for a body ignorant and vicious; nor can one adapted to the wants of the mature, the considerate, and the self-controlled, be 70 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. expected to answer as well for those who are young, inexperienced, and dependent on others for both pro- tection and guidance. Hence, while school government must have its fixed original characteristics, it must also possess those which are in some sense acquired, that is, which must grow out of the character and condition of those who are to be subjected to its authority. School government, then, as related to the school, we find applied to two classes ; namely, to children and to youth, or those who have advanced so as to stand midway between childhood and early man- hood. Of these classes, the more prominent must be the former, since for several reasons, it is more generally applied to that class. First, it is quite evident that as our schools are constituted, our primary and public schools, or those chiefly made up of children, must constitute the largest class, so that even though their individual numbers may be less, their aggre- gate of pupils must exceed that of the youth, or the older class embraced in our higher institutions of learning. Secondly, it is, we think, the fact, though an anom- alous and unreasonable one, that the government is practically made to be more for the children than for the youth of the community ; that is, it is made more continuous, systematic, and rigorous for the former than for the latter class. Indeed, it is one fault of the higher schools, that their government instead of increasing its demands with the increased capacity RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 71 and responsibility of the pupil, tends contrarywise to greater irregularity and laxity, in many eases amount- ing to little more than an apology for government. Indeed, in the management of these youth, according to the usages of many of our higher schools, the only end directly sought seems to be that of acquired learn- ing, the matter of discipline in training being treated altogether as secondary and incidental, — in fact, as a sort of necessary evil. The sum of the teacher's anx- iety and inquisition is the mere result in recitation ; the student's methods and habits of study, matters far more important to his after success, are left to his own ignorance and unconcern. If the student recites the prescribed amount correctly, his work is accepted as done, and the teacher's duty as discharged ; and yet the student's study may have been exceedingly desul- tory and vicious, a thoroughly ragged compound of application and skylarking, to the correction of which the teacher has given no thought whatever. Now, the least that can be said of this lax system of controlling the youth in our schools, is that it is exceedingly questionable. Instead of this general presumption in favor of the teacher's release from re- sponsibility for the student's habits, and in favor of the student's capacity and disposition for self-control and discipline, it is a question whether it were not wiser to bring these half-grown candidates for future lawlessness and misrule, under the same exact disci- pline which is meted out to their younger, but no more needy, associates. It is a question whether, of the two evils which mark our management of our 72 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. youth ; namely imperfect government, and too early emancipation from what government there is, the lat- ter is not the least excusable, and the most pernicious. Against the former, human nature might offset its own weakness ; but over against the latter, it has nothing to place but its own culpable folly and indulgence. Finding school government practically applied to children rather than youth, we pass to the considera- tion of child-character in the school as determinative, in some part, of the character of the government re- lated to it. In a former portion of this work, we dis- cussed the derivation of school government, and its consequent characteristics, in separate chapters. In considering, however, its application to children in the school, it is practically more convenient and ef- fective, to present the facts and inferences together, so that the characteristics deduced shall be found in immediate dependence on the personal traits which give rise to them, and with which they are closely in- terwoven. Inasmuch, now, as the field upon which we are entering is somewhat intricate, a close and somewhat formal classification of the facts will be necessary. Aside from this, the importance of the conclusions to be reached, makes a certain degree of thoroughness imperative. The facts or traits of child-character, to be consid- ered in this connection, may be primarily classified, as individual and general ; or those which belong to the child as an individual, and those which mark the children of the school as a body. The class termed individual may be further divided into two species ; RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 73 the inherent and the contingent, — the former including such characteristics as belong to the child's nature in itself considered, and the latter embracing those traits which have been fastened upon that nature by pecu- liar external influences. Without running into the trite and, for our purpose unnecessary, threefold di- vision of these characteristics, into the physical, in- tellectual, and moral, we shall content ourselves with distributing them, summarily without definition, un- der the two main heads, the mental and the physical, and with considering the inherent and the contingent together. We are now prepared to enter upon the consideration of the characteristics of the child's mental exercises. Of these characteristics, the first in order, and perhaps the most noticeable of all, is activity. There may be cases in which the child's mind appears to be either sluggish or inactive. This, however, should be assumed to be altogether an ab- normal condition. In most cases, it can be directly traced to physical malformation or debility. In proper health, mental activity is at once the symbol of the health, and the law of the child's mind. Idle, it cannot and will not be. Its whole nature revolts from it. What is currently stigmatised as mischief, is but the perpetual protest of the child's nature against lack of proper and sufficient employment. So far from being blameworthy for the ingenious and indefatigable inauguration of so much of this so- called mischief, the child is innocent, and, in the light of nature, even praisworthy. He is but exercising as 4 74 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. he best can, the powers he was designed to exercise, and through exercise, develop. It is the parent or the teacher who is at fault ; and, in censuring the child, he stands really self-condemned, for he prac- tically pleads guilty to the knowledge of active facul- ties, for which he has taken no care to furnish proper and sufficient employment. The principle to be deduced from these facts, is unmistakable. The teacher must, in his management of the school, make ample provision for this super- abundant activity. It is impossible, otherwise, for his government to be just. If he leaves the child to idleness during any portion of the school session, or throws him upon his own resources for proper em- ployment or amusement, it will certainly not be com- petent for him to hold that child amenable to strict discipline, because, forsooth, his self-applied activity, in any part fails to accord with the aims or regula- tions of the school. But, inasmuch as it cannot con- sist with the teacher's duty or policy to license any such discordant activity, it is imperative on him to provide for it outlets that are both proper and profit- able. In the case of the more active and somewhat restless minds, this must be a subject of careful study* and an object of ingenious and patient effort. In this direction, lies one of the gravest faults of our public schools, in their treatment of primary pupils. Not advanced enough to employ their time profit- ably or pleasantly in the study of assigned lessons, they are condemned, during the intervals between their exercises, to sit in irksome idleness, upon seats RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 75 or benches "which are only adapted to the purposes of torture, waiting painfully for the next exercise, or longing for the coming of the recess. "With nothing provided for their pleasant employment, — no slates and pencils, no alphabet blocks, no picture cards, not even scissors and paper, or peas and sticks, they might well be pardoned, not only for occasioning dis- order, but even for openly revolting against a system which seems expressly designed to oppress their nat- ural activity. A second characteristic of the child's mind, to be noted for its bearing on the government of the school, is its tendency to objectivity. Things taken in the ab- stract, or considered with sole reference to the sub- jective idea, are thoroughly foreign to his nature. Bring before him the objective form of which he may take cognizance through his ever active senses, and in which he may see symbolized the inward idea or the dry abstraction, and he is at once at home and on the alert. The world of sensible forms with all their variety, beauty and mystery, is eminently the child's world ; in it, he dwells with living delight ; upon it, his craving mental activity fastens for suste- nance ; through it, his perceptions feel their way to hidden truths ; and out of its elements, his restless though simple and somewhat barbaric fancy is ever struggling to build new combinations of his own, often the prototypes of the ultimate creations of the manly imagination. Out of this, arises the necessity of the teacher's availing himself, as far as is practicable, of objective 76 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. reference or illustration, in his presentation of facts, principles and relations, in order that the child's ob- servation may be attracted towards that which may be otherwise abstract or alien to his thought ; and that his attention may be happily aided in its attempt to fasten upon, and fix in the apprehension, things that must be otherwise vague and unsatisfactory. While the common idea is that blackboards, dia- grams, maps, and apparatus generally, are only ap- plicable to the purposes of instruction, a truer view discovers in them an important susceptibility of application to the uses of government. Certainly, just so far as the proper employment of these objec- tive instrumentalities meets the wants of the child's mind, and absorbs all its activity in the new interest created, just so far does it divert his attention from unlawful objects, and forestall his temptation to in- dulge in idle mischief or actual disorder. To one conversant with school operations, no truism is clearer than this ; the more interesting all the exercises of the school, the more easy its general control. But still further, it is even possible to make a direct use of objective means in the administration of the government of the school. It is quite within the power of the skillful teacher to lead the child's mind, by some seemingly remote reference to objective facts, to an unconscious admission of principles that are ultimately discovered to have a close and conclu- sive personal application. Take as illustrative of this, Christ's reference to the tribute-money and his de- mand; "Whose image and superscription is this?" RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 77 How readily lie elicited tlie fatal admission that the currency in use as legal tender among the Jews was of Eoman coinage! And this granted, how unan- swerable the conclusion that the nation, being thus confessedly subject, might rightfully be laid under tribute ! The consequent duty was thus put beyond all cavil. Again, objective allusion or illustration, may often be employed to give additional vividness to the ap- prehension of truth, and consequently increased force to the resultant law. In exemplification of this, let us refer again to the same great teacher. Observe, how, when his disciples were contending for an idle supremacy, he adroitly " took a child and set him by him," and then, in the light of this objective lesson, proceeded to unfold to them, and to enforce upon them, the combined laws of personal humility, mu- tual condescension, and child-like obedience. "Without further exemplification here, which indeed our space does not allow, it is perhaps sufficient to refer the teacher to the scripture account of Christ's mission generally, as affording some of the finest in- stances on record, of both the intellectual and moral application of this method. Did his life possess no higher claim for diligent and reverential study, its value as affording models for the teacher, so sagacious and authoritative, might well commend it to the earn- est investigation of every student in didactics. Before leaving this topic, let one other thought be carefully impressed upon the teacher's mind, that is, that while he is to avail himself of the objective ten- 78 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. dency in the child's mental exercises, he must guard against perpetuating it. This objectivity is a primal condition of the child's mind ; but it is not designed to become a permanent or ultimate state. The facts of the outward world, and the exercise of the sense, are, of course, necessary to the development of the mind and to the uses of temporal existence. But there are higher faculties in the soul than the sense ; and there is a world of fact within the thought, more refined and subtle, but not less real, than the sensible creation. The exploration of this field lays the high- est claim upon the human energies, and the develop- ment of those faculties only, can lead the soul to its highest triumphs. Hence, in all objective training, there should be a constant endeavor to lead the mind from the sensible to the abstract, in order that its growth may be steadily towards a profound subjec- tivity, (if we may so speak,) in exercise and attain- ment. Objective instrumentalities must be kept rigorously subordinate as a temporary means to be steadily reduced from their maximum use in juvenile training, to their minimum employment in the ma- turer discipline of the adult mind. We pass from this, to notice the third characteristic of the child's mental exercises ; namely, spontaneity. Few observing minds can have failed to discover that rarely does the child think, feel or purpose under the guidance of antecedent reflection, or in obedience to deliberate self-controlled conviction. Some imme- diate object or incident serves as an occasion for those exercises, and determines their direction -, and RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 79 then comes the instantaneous and uncontrolled im- pulse, and arouses the faculties to action. And so generally is this true of all the child's activity, that it may be safely affirmed that in his nature, reflec- tion is at the minimum, spontaneity at the maximum. As a necessary consequence, observation, attention and memory, in the child, will be found subject to important modifications. So far as the exercise of those faculties is casual and spontaneous, it will be found marked by a not unfrequently singular sharp- ness and vigor. Whatever has come accidentally before the child's mind, or at least in the natural track of his unpremeditated activity, even though utterly unobserved by the mature looker-on, generally produces a, somewhat permanent impression. But, on the other hand, whatever is brought before his mind for voluntary and controlled observation, atten- tion, or retention, is subject to quite the opposite result. It will be seized upon by the observing spirit with less avidity ; its construction in the atten- tion will be more vague and incomplete, and its hold upon the memory will be altogether forced and tran- sitory. From these facts, there may be deduced several laws which must be recognized by the teacher in the government of the school. And here, first, it will be seen that it is not enough for the teacher to be watchful as to whatever is di- rectly set before the pupil's mind in the ordering of the school. It is necessary for him to exercise great watchfulness over everything that may appeal inju- 80 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. riously to this sharp thinking spontaneity. The pecu- liar vividness and permanence of the impressions produced unexpectedly under its auspices, make it imperative that objects and facts, principles and ac- tions, that may create false impressions, should be zealously sought out and be carefully removed or corrected. It is, of course, not possible for the teacher to anticipate the existence or counteract the influence of all of these occasions of evil impressions, for it is their nature to exist and to operate unexpectedly. But he should not lack the will to be watchful, nor should he stint his endeavor to accomplish all that may be practicable. All this is strongly suggestive of what has already been referred to ; the importance of securing in all the external accommodations of the school a predom- inance of whatever is comfortable and attractive, and hence, naturally productive of refined, happy, and grateful impressions. Not less suggestive is it of the necessity of securing the earliest possible correction of such character and example in the leading spirits in the school, as must be malevolent in both their un- seen and their outstanding influence. And if this, then what as to the teacher's own manners and bear- ing, and what as to the evident temper of his govern- ment ; — what as to these, other than that the same jealous watch should be kept over them so as to se- cure in himself an example of whatsoever things are L > vely and of good report ? In the second place, it fol- lows from the laws of the child's exercises as sponta- neous, that great care must be taken in presenting to liis RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 81 mind, matters which call for the deliberate and some- what arbitrary exercise of observation, attention and memory. Always, so far as may be, they should be brought forward in some way calculated to appeal to his feeling of interest. And if that be to any degree impracticable, they should be announced with a delib- erateness, clearness, and positiveness that cannot fail to fix the attention and secure their thorough ap- prehension. To this should be sometimes added such a repetition of that presentation as will leave no doubt as to its immediate apprehension, and no ex- cuse for any subsequent slips of the recollection. There is reason to fear that children, through the haste or carelessness of parents and teachers in this direction, or, perhaps, through their too ready as- sumption of the child's actual reception of the facts, are sometimes positively made transgressors, and are subjected to consequent punishment, when the al- leged fault was simply an induced failure of the in- tellect, and not at all a willful trespass upon the reason and the conscience. Let it be observed, how- ever, that the repetition which is suggested as tending to prevent this serious error just alluded to, is a thor- oughly deliberate and pointed repetition, — a repeti- tion with an earnest and well-defined purpose in it. Mere idle repetition, that which is ill-considered, hasty, and perhaps, confused, is injurious. So far from fix- ing the attention upon the matter presented, its only practical effect is to induce inattention. The law hero, is the law of the school in everything else ; what- 32 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. ever is nofc done deliberately and to a definite end, is done to little or no good purpose. Another of the characteristics of the child's mind bearing upon the nature of the school government, is irregularity or want of method. Method is by no means a common trait among mankind at large. Of the two faults, ignorance of things to be done, and ig- norance of a methodical way of doing them, the latter is certainly the more universal. In the child, we dis- cover the germ of this prevailing evil. It is not strange that it should be so. It is the natural prod- uct of the objectivity and spontaneity already no- ticed. He whose thinking is determined by the mere contingency of objective occasion for thought, and whose mind ever follows the unsettled track of his own uncontrolled spontaneity, must be unmethodical. Method is a subjective accomplishment, and the re- sult of discipline. It must be based upon penetrating and self -controlled thought. It must be antedated by analysis and classification. These, however, are ope- rations both beyond the child's capacity, and contrary to his undisciplined nature. But nothing can be clearer than that orderliness is indispensable to the harmonious and successful opera- tion of the school. Just so far as the teacher can secure it, just so far he facilitates his management, and lightens the burden of discipline. Quite gene- rally too, with the development of orderliness, or reg- ularity of method in the pupils of the school, there will occur the simultaneous development of easy ac- quiescence in the system of control established by the RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 83 teacher, and spontaneous conformity to its move- ments. Nor can there be any question as to the truth of this, so long as common experience testifies that it is the wild, impulsive, unorderly nature that is forever unexpectedly running athwart the legitimate track of the school order, and introducing some errant clash and jar into its otherwise harmonious movement. Out of these facts grows the requisition that the whole ordering of the school should, both directly in its methods and requirements, and indirectly as an example and an influence, tend to the correction of this element of irregularity and disorder in the child's mind. Whatever the teacher himself does, and what- ever he requires the child to do, should be carefully sj^stematized, so that both the pupil's observation and action shall lead steadily in the direction of methodical habits. This, both the immediate claims of the school government, and the ultimate wants of the pupil clearly demand. To pass from these more general characteristics of the child's mind, to those more restricted, we may remark that in the intellect proper, his conceptions and judgments, while rapidly formed, are apt to be vague and erroneous. Prom his very impulsiveness and disinclination to severe thought, the child is too ready to accept statements on faith, to the entire neglect of any searclTafter their certainty, and of any examination of the details involved. For similar rea- sons, adopting premises hastily and with little ques- tion as to their soundness, it is quite common for him, 84 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. notwithstanding he draws conclusions with curious directness, to reach results altogether deceptive. In short, the child's intellect is ready rather than strong ; acute rather than comprehensive, and trustful rather than searching. Hence, it behooves the teacher, in the government of the school, to see to it that every principle advanc- ed, every regulation proposed, and every considera- tion urged, is made thoroughly explicit, and is un- mistakably apprehended. Equal care must be taken to secure that the pupil is not misled by mistaken in- ferences the result of his own imperfect procesess of reasoning. It is quite possible for the pupil to bo led through these very errors and misapprehensions, into transgressions of rule for which discipline may be adjudged necessary, when, after all, the teacher may be the original occasion of the whole. These principles are especially applicable to the reason in its apprehension of ultimate truths of either beauty or virtue. As the child's notions of the beau- tiful are essentially crude and barbaric, so also are his notions of rectitude. The gaudy and the glitter- ing are to him, the beautiful, more often than the subdued, the natural, the harmonious. So also are the desirable or convenient more often to him, the right, than the just, the worthy, and the benevolent. This finds ample illustration in the well-known indefi- niteness of the child's ideas as to the right of privi- lege or of property. Indeed, generally in his mind, the rational faculty is either in the germ or but feebly KELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 85 operative, and, hence, left to itself, it is by no means a safe guide for his action. Hence, we are inclined to regard the generalized principle, " Do right," sometimes laid down by teach- ers as the sole law of the school, as, of itself insuffi- cient, deceptive and dangerous. That it is insuffi- cient, may be seen from the fact that is not in any proper sense a law for the school, but only a funda- mental principle, the basis for all law. Moreover, it leaves the specific applications, which are practically the law for the pupil, to his own judgment or reason, both of which, as has been seen, are unreliable. That it is deceptive, may be seen in the fact that, instead of really leaving these applications to be de- termined by the pupil, the teacher practically reserves that right wholly to himself, inasmuch as he develops the general principle into specific rules, as fast as he finds occasion in the pupil's delinquencies for doing so. In this light, the so-called law verges closely upon an imposition, since, instead of being the sole law, it is more of the nature of a temporary device, and furthermore, ostensibly endows the pupil with a prerogative which is seeming and not real. Thus in- sufficient and deceptive, it needs not that we demon- strate the danger of depending upon it. The only advantage that can result from the pro- posing of this principle at the outset axe, first, that it enables the teacher to defer the promulgation of spe- cific rules, until circumstances seem to present a natu- ral demand for them. This enables the government of the school to conform itself to the principle of 86 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. growth or development, and thus to adapt itself the better to the unfolding capacities of the pupils, and to the evident wants of the school. And, secondly, properly set forth, it makes itself as a general law, appear to be of the nature of a reason for each speci- fic rule; indeed, wisely applied by the teacher, it becomes demonstrative of the rectitude of each indi- vidual provision. Hence, it should be proposed only with these ends in view. Passing now to the sensibilities, it is important to notice the fact that in the child's nature, these, while fluctuating and transitory in their exercises, are yet peculiarly acute. How slight the word or tone, how seemingly trivial the act or circumstance, that sad- dens the young face and fills the eyes with tears ! And thus it should be. It is the natural product of that delicacy of feeling which is yet a fresh and un- wasted legacy to humanity, from the lost Eden to which the child is so much nearer than the man. In his normal state, the child must be a creature of much sensibility. If he is not found to be such, it may be depended upon that his sensibilities have been impaired by malconformation ; or they have been deadened or brutalized by bad treatment. The latter is the more sure to be the case, from the commonness of the practice of abusing children for giving vent to their feelings. Nothing is more com- mon than for their outburst of sorrow to be made an occasion of false consolation, or of ridicule ; or still more detestably, of angry crimination. Some- times this abuse is visitod upon them because their BELATIVE CHAEACTEEISTICS. 87 outcries are productive of inconvenient disturbance ; or sometimes because they create apprehension of censure ; sometimes even out of pure irritability, or, possibly, of intrinsic malevolence. In every case, it is unnatural and inhuman. From this arises a natural demand that the govern- ment of the school, while just and firm, should always be marked by a sympathizing spirit and much gen- tleness of manner. Let the teacher sedulously avoid that current frigidity and folly which attempt to im- pose on the childish conviction, the belief that the ills lamented are unreal; and which would salve the wounds of the juvenile sufferer with consolatory false- hood or pitiless stoicism. It is the part of both true courtesy and sincerity, to accept fairly the child's trials according to the child's estimation of them, just indeed, as the teacher would desire his own afflictions to be entertained in the apprehension of his friends. Having done this, let him, without exaggerating those ills, or weakly humoring them, both unfavorable to the development of true patience and fortitude, pro- ceed with mingled tenderness and tact to apply the proper remedy. In all such cases, the legitimate mode of reaching the desired end, is through diversion of thought rather than suppression of feeling. As the sensibili- ties were reached before through the intellect, so the feelings, being the after-growth of the thought, must be reached again through the same avenue. Let the teacher, then, first enter into the feelings of the child, in a genuine sympathy, and then proceed 88 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. adroitly to lead the attention to other and more pleasing subjects. Just so far as he can succeed in effecting this transfer of the thoughts, (and such is the child's volatility that it is not a difficult task to ac- complish,) he will succed in abating the feelings which were the object of his immediate concern. In effecting this result, the teacher secures a two- fold gain. It is something to have soothed the feel- ings of the distressed child ; it is no less an advantage to have enshrined himself in the child's heart as a true and trusted friend. In this direction, the occur- rence of these youthful trials are, if rightly improved, golden opportunities for the teacher. Out of them, he may develop the sweetest and kindliest regard of the pupil for himself, and a genuine and effective re- gard for his system of control. Thus employed, they will quite invariably prove that, in gaining the true mastery of the pupil and the school, an ounce of sin- cere sympathy, skillfully employed, is worth a pound of authoritative discipline. In this connection, it is also worthy of remark, that while the child's sense of moral obligation, following in the wake of his yet unillumined reason, is by no means ready or acute, he is, nevertheless, more or less sensitive to praise or blame. Now, it is not assumed that the feelings he may evince in this direc- tion are purely the product of his moral susceptibili- ties. They are more likely the combined product of his constitutional sensitiveness, and his insatiable craving for esteem and love. Whatever may be ac- cepted as to thoir source, they are certainly a fact in RELATIVE CHAEACTEEISTICS. 89 tlie child's nature ; and they possess a power over his conduct which cannot but make them an important element as related to the government of the school. This latter feeling, the child's love of esteem, is peculiarly deserving of notice as one of the most deeply rooted in his nature. Seeming to be born of his instinctive sense of inferiority and dependence, his looking and longing for esteem and love, are like the reaching forth of the apprehensive spirit after the token and assurance of that concern in its behalf, among the higher and ruling natures around it, which may serve it as a sure ground of kindred feeling and peaceful trust. Imbedded thus in the very instincts of the feeble and dependent spirit, it will be found generally very tenacious in its hold upon the impulses, lingering about them long after the external aspect has been case-hardened by neglect or abuse. That there are many children in our schools who appear to be comparatively insensible to praise or blame, and who appear destitute of the love of esteem, is doubtless true. This, however, by no means invalidates the main principle. Such cases are ab- normal in their character. Some of them are very possibly due to an original moral obtuseness, just as there are cases of a constitutional stolidity of intellect. But much the larger proportion are solely the hard growth of unnatural training at home, — training in which the longing for love has been mocked with stony-hearted coldness and neglect, and the grateful emotions, ready to be warmed into life by the genial breath of approval, have been blighted and beaten 90 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. down by the blasts of ridicule, censure or angry vituperation. The influence of these facts should be to impress upon the teacher the importance of guarding the government of the school against degenerating, through the predominance of ridicule and satire, criti- cism and censure, into a mere engine for depression. Rather let him see to it that it everywhere evinces a delicate regard for the finer feelings, a watchful desire to discover the first traces of true merit, a hearty appreciation of the feeblest endeavor to do well, and a cheerful readiness to bestow upon the humblest and least promising claimant, every just meed of encour- agement and praise. In this way, it is possible to make the government of the school a living and effec- tive stimulus, by its steady appeal to the better aspi- rations of the child's heart, provoking it "to love and good works." Especially let it be borne in mind, that this system of encouraging appeal to the love of approval and esteem is pre-eminently adapted to those who be- longing to the hardened class above referred to, are seemingly the most incorrigible. This is so, first, be- cause of the inherent power of that principle in the human heart, of which society every day furnishes the most striking examples. What alone has ever surely saved the drunkard? The clear, sun-bright evidence that he has yet a hold upon some one's esteem and confidence, and may regain that of others which he had fancied to be hopelessly lost. What alone prevents the glad redemption of the pitiful vie- RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 91 tim of seductive wiles ? The crushing consciousness that a villainous proscription by a pharisaical virtue, has cut her off from all generous regard or hope of re-established esteem and confidence. Still further, the method referred to is the best for the more vicious pupils, because, secondly, it is so entirely opposite to 'their experience and expectation, that it, as it were, takes them unawares, and upon the side of their na- ture least fortified against approach, and therefore most susceptible to influence. The truth of this is amply illustrated in the history of every reformatory effort for the reclamation of abandoned youth. Kag- ged schools, schools of reform, industrial schools and the like, have everywhere been successful, just so far as they have skillfully availed themselves of the child's desire of approval and love of esteem. A proper ap- peal to those principles has in it the true magician's art ; it will disenchant and restore to his better form the enthralled victim of demoniac wiles. The method to be employed in applying this appro- batory stimulus is exceedingly simple. In the first place, let the teacher avail himself of the first occa- sions, whether real or only seeming, for bestowing praise and evincing confidence, and carefully follow up each attained success, by judicious but increas- ing demonstrations of that character. In the second place, where, from the extremity of the case, no occasion seems to offer, let him adroitly create one. This he may do by politely appealing to the child's love of activity, or ambition to be helpful (a powerful feeling in most children), for some incidental but os- 92 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. tensibly important aid. Here is, at the outset, an un- expected exhibition of confidence which may at first puzzle the pupil, but which will ultimately and the more surely, because it puzzles him, beguile him like a fascination into the bestowment of the required assist- ance. This done, the way is open for a kind and deferential acknowledgment on the part of the teacher. The course is now clear. Carefully repeat the pro- cess until the pupil grows into the feeling that he is of some real value. This effected, you may openly and confidentially appeal to his ambition to become more useful and worthy. The utility and certain efii- ciency of this whole process might easily be illus- trated by specific cases. Space, however, does not allow their introduction here ; and, besides, to the minds of many teachers, they will occur spon- taneously. Passing from this discussion of points bearing on the susceptibilities, it remains for us to notice one characteristic of the child's voluntary nature, and that is, the prevailing fitfulness of his purposes ; in other words, his lack of true persistence. Resulting, as this does, from the traits already noticed, it is not necessary to regard it as a fault, as is too commonly done. It is, however, a deficiency, to the correction of which the government of the school should be carefully adapted. And this, first, because unsteadiness, or lack of persistence, must always stand in the way of the child's best development. Indeed, it might not in- consistently be urged that failure to develop a proper RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 93 persistence is failure to develop the first manly ele- ment in the child's mind, — failure to develop in him the master-requisite to his future success in the active walks of life. This conclusion, all the current max- ims of men relative to the power of perseverance amply sustain. These all show that while intelligence and perseverance are both necessary, the latter bears the palm as, single-handed, the better champion. But, further, this lack of persistence tends directly to increase the demands made on the teacher's energies in the control of the school. It certainly stands in the way of his readiest attainment of the proper object of the school. "When, for example, the pupil recoils from the determined pursuit of his study, he will either fall back on some schoolmate for aid, which at once tends to confusion, or he must resort to the teacher, in which case, the latter must undertake the pupil's work, as his substitute, or he must task himself to bring up the flagging energies of the little straggler, and command his faltering spirit again to the persistent attack. Or, if in another case, the pupil fails through lack of steadiness, as is the more common fact, to maintain a course of in- tended obedience, either the teacher must give him- self promptly to the work of girding up the relaxing purposes, or he will have to address himself to the work of administering discipline in the correction of overt transgression. Hence, it follows, that while the government of the school must recognize this lack of persistence in the child as a constitutional weakness for which in all 94 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. judgments, due allowance is to be made, yet it must, in all its example, influence and requirement, work steadily for the counteraction and correction of the defect. In order to do this, it must, while always both properly helpful and hopeful, carefully avoid any relaxing of its own demands. It must be itself a model of considerate steadiness and inflexibility. So too, it must set itself persistently against all vicarious performance of duty. Duties should be judiciously assigned, but once thus assigned, by mingled encour- agement and quiet demand, they should be pressed steadily home upon the pupil for his sole and un- flinching performance. The failure to do this, we believe to be a common vice in the government of our schools. The conse- quence is that no true foundation is laid in the will, for steady and thorough scolarship in the pupil's sub- sequent educational course, or for manly decision and persistence in Ins after business career. And so we find perpetuated throughout the community, a fitful- ness of purpose, an unsteadiness in application, and an entire uncertainty as to the persevering attainment of proposed ends, which necessitate constant fluctua- tion in the currents of society, and ever recurring personal failure and disaster. This lack of persistence is, we fear, constantly en- couraged by the methods of instruction becoming every day more prevalent. No thoughtful educator can have failed to observe that the entire tendency of our assumed improvement in teaching is to simplify books, to elaborato all the processes of reasoning for RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 95 the pupil, and to made the teacher more minutely helpful. In short, we are practically running into a system of study made easy. Now while it is clear that all the difficulty attending the work of learning, which grows out of preposterous or ill-adapted requi- sition, and needless obscurity or complexity in the presentation of truth, should be fully obviated, it is to be doubted whether that simplicity or helpfulness, which relieves the pupil from close application, earn- est thinking, and resolute self-assistance, is anything less than a positive evil. There is every reason to believe that, while the youth who emerge from our schools may know more, and may be more sharp and confident than those of the former generation, they will lack that power of persistent application, of in- dependent thought, and thorough self-reliance, which are only to be developed under the seemingly hard but yet salutary discipline of a system which compels the pupil to do for himself, instead of leading others to do for him. Not that which is the easiest and most agreeable, is always the wisest or the best. In this connection, a grave question arises as to the influence of a too exclusive use of the " Object System," so prominently, of late, set forth before the public. Involving as it does an almost const mt pres- ence and prominence of the teacher as the author of the derived knowledge, how can it other than insensi- bly and surely lead the child into utter obliviousness of his own independent acquisitive power and purely individual duty ? Always flinging around his attain- ment of the conveyed knowledge, the halo of the 96 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. teacher's presence, interest, and attractive skill, how can it do other than envelop his solitary and unaided application, with a sadly contrasted cloud of dulness and uninterest? Our own observation leads us to the almost inevitable conviction that pupils who have been, to any great extent, trained upon this exclusive method, may really be quite acute and observing as to whatever appeals to the senses, or comes through some living source of presentation, but will, when thrown upon books and their own powers of reflec- tion, be found painfully lacking in capacity for sober and persistent self-application. Turning the attention now to those physical char- acteristics which the government of the school must recognize in the child, and to which it must adapt its management and discipline, we find two that require at least a brief notice. It needs but little observation to show that in the child, while there is a lack of enduring strength, there is a high degree of physical activity ; in fact, in pro- portion to his real power, his physical activity is at the maximum. So marked is this peculiarity, that it may not inaptly be styled the leading characteristic of his bodily nature, and the symbol of its proper conformation and perfect health. This activity may be traced to two sources, the mental activity of which we have before spoken, and the superabundant vitality bestowed upon the youth- ful organism. Necessarily, the restless objectivity of the child's mind must call for a constant employment of his physical powers in ministering to the wants of RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 97 his intellect. Then, too, the child, instead of holding the physical powers in abeyance in his thinking, from his very impulsiveness, commands them into the ser- vice of his thoughts, as vehicles of expression. Hence, we might almost say, he thinks with his whole body. It is thus that the child is naturally a pantomimist. The more important aspect of its origin, however, is found in excess of vitality as subservient to bodily growth. Necessarily, as the child's frame must be a growing one, there must be in all its organic elements a vital energy more than adequate to the claims of mere sustentation. There must be in them a power capable of adding to what is, that which is to be, and so, adequate to the building up of the child into the man. And as this requires not only accumulation, but a growing assimilation, compactness and hardi- hood, there must also be the abundant exercise of all the maturity and power already attained. Nutrition adds, but exercise adjusts and establishes. Hence, exercise is one of the ruling instincts of the child. However much inconvenience, then, this activity may occasion to the teacher, it is idle for him to either disregard it or quarrel with it. It is a fixed fact in the child's nature, and must be provided for. Hence, in his management of the school, the teacher must see that adequate provision is made for this physical want. He should, as far as he can, have a care that the confinement of the pupils during the daily sessions is not so lengthy or rigid as to produce a languor and exhaustion from which they do not readily recover. In the case of the younger class of 5 98 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. pupils who are not able to study, those of a feebler class whose tendency is to morbid inactivity, and those who are constitutionally over restless and ac- tive, he should strive to make especial provision. What these need, however, is not so much specific artificial exercise, as release from idle confinement, and opportunity for natural amusement. With re- gard, then, to all his pupils, the teacher's manage- ment must be governed by the general principle that, while the child's physical nature must experience some natural inconvenience from the necessary con- finement and restraint of the school-room, his bodily health and development must not be made to suffer by allowing that confinement and restraint to be un- duly extended or severe. Beyond this, no fixed or invariable rule is possible. For example, in the rural districts, where the freedom of nature is enjoyed, and people are brought up to wholesome industry, school children rarely suffer for want of exercise. It is abundantly supplied by their home amusements and avocations, their journeys to and from school, and the recesses customarily allow- ed them during the daily sessions. But in the case of the children in the schools of our larger towns and cities, whose opportunities for natural, open air amusement and development are more restricted, greater attention must be given to the matter of arti- ficial exercise. But whatever may be the locality, school, or class of children, the teacher must, to a greater or less extent, discriminate for himself as to the time, quantity, or quality of the exercise. No RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 99 specific rules can be given him. His guide under the general law indicated above must be simply sound common sense. The reference, which has just been made to artifi- cial exercise, suggests the importance of raising some question as to the utility of gymnastics. And this the more particularly, because, reacting from our former complete neglect of physical culture, there is among our educators, a growing tendency to swing to the extreme of making this species of artificial ex- ercise everything. That gymnastics, like military drill, have their place and utility, it is useless to doubt. For example, given a class of pupils who have been trained in habits of physical indolence and inac- tivity ; one precluded by the false feminine usages of society from active out-door pursuits or amusements ; or one, by absorption in study, made oblivious of the physical wants, — given either of these classes, and an established order of gymnastic exercises is probably the only thing that can effectively supply the defi- ciency. Here, their use may be set down as a neces- sity ; for, where natural means fail or are foolishly discarded, a resort to those which are artificial is inevitable. But from this, it is quite apparent that the field within which gymnastics as an established mode of exercise and culture are applicable, is restricted. In the case of the pupils in our country schools, who enjoy the facilities for physical activity and develop- ment, afforded by rural life and industrious habits, and even in that of the children of the laboring 100 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. classes of our larger towns and cities, who, when not industriously employed, enjoy the wild freedom of the streets, — in the case of both these classes gym- nastics are practically superfluous. What need of staves, or rings, or dumb-bells, or Indian clubs, to the young " sans culotte" of the streets and alleys, or to the farmer-boy, who, in addition to the games of the recess and noon-spell, has his mile walk in going to and from school, and his " chores to do" morning and night at home ? This, however, is not the limit of their restriction. In the case of young children, their application is little other than absurd. And this because, with a " Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself," it claims to be a wisdom above nature. Nature has indicated with unmistakable clearness, the means by which the young child is to secure the physical ac- tivity requisite to a proper development of its bodily powers. Its own spontaneous vivacity, its own rest- less curiosity, its own ever-ready imitation of the movements of men, its own insatiable love of asso- ciated sports, — these are nature's occasions for exer- cise. Through the activity thus secured, she has provided for them a means of physical development more accessible, more varied, more extensive, more practical, more completely pervaded by an intelligent interest, and to the child, every way more delight- some. To all this class, formal gymnastics are a forced and unnatural work. Their simple appearance under its processes is a continual protest against BELATIVE CHARACTEEISTICS. j ;' , J^l* these factitious devices. Their difficulty in effecting accurate movements, tlieir strained and anxious look of attention, and tlieir lack of hilarious interest, show that nature's law for the child's exercise is spon- taneous and unconscious activity. Now, if the indi- cations of nature are worth anything, (and the attempt of some modem educators is to make them para- mount,) this is the very field where they are most clear and decisive. Beyond this, we question whether these principles should not be applied to another class to whom the modern gymnast holds out his exercises as a desidera- tum ; we mean to our incipient and precociously de- veloped young ladies. Give them open grounds, a common-sense attire — one adapted to both activity and cleanliness — full liberty of action, and the choice games of their brothers, and we verily believe nature would soon evince the superiority of her modes over all systems of artificial training. Put into the girl's hand the hoop and stick instead of the staff, the ball and bat instead of the dumb-bells ; let her run and jump instead of striding extravagantly by rule, in prescribed dirctions ; get her enlisted in " hide and seek," "prisoner's base," or "I spy," instead of twist- ing and twirling herself in unimaginable curves and spirals, and depend upon it, the physical development will not be found lingering like " a laggard in a lady's chamber," but will speedily show itself foremost in the field. The only difficulty in the way is this ; gymnastics are fashionable ; games for girls, vulgar ! It is, perhaps, not improper that some reference 102 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. should here be made to military drill as a means of physical culture, since, in the minds of many educa- tors, it has come to hold an important place. Of this we think it may be said, that, whenever it is applica- ble, it has its advantages, and is, in some respects, superior to mere gymnastics. In the first place, it has that moral superiority which is a cardinal virtue in any exercise ; namely, a recognized end beyond itself, and beyond that of mere bodily development. The influence of this to create a sustained and sus- taining interest, and to dignify its whole routine, is unmistakable. Beyond this, it is impossible for it to run into mere conceits or absurd and repulsive exag- gerations in movement. Hence, also, its influence on the mien or* carriage generally, is more manly and en- nobling, than it is possible for that of gymnastics, with its larger license and purely material ends, to be. Lastly, its power to establish habits of implicit obedi- ence is necessarily greater, inasmuch as that obedi- ence is not merely enforced by the present command, "but is also fixed by all the associated ideas of the sub- lime art to which it is subordinate, and in which that obedience is seen to be a beauty and a power. But, as was suggested, the application of military drill is limited, for it requires numbers, a certain degree of maturity, and is altogether a masculine exercise. The general inference to be drawn from these facts is, that while gymnastics may be employed where they are adapted, more attention should be given by teachers to the natural means of exercise enjoyed by their pupils. Hence, the teacher should recognize it RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 103 as one of liis duties, not only to provide proper and sufficient occasions for relaxation and amusement, but also to personally oversee the out-door- or play- house sports (for every school should have its play- house) of his pupils. He should do this, in order that he may influence them in the choice of their games, advise with them as to the conduct of those games, secure to all a proper participation, guard any against excess, or exposure, or serious accident, and provide against the occurrence of injustice or angry contention. We believe that the common neglect to perform this supervisory service is a great mistake both as to duty and policy. Not only do physical evils result from it, but not unfrequently moral com- plications arise, which affect the harmony of the school, and, in the end, severely tax its government. Returning from this somewhat divergent discussion, to the child's physical characteristics, it is important to notice that, even when healthy or stoutly built, the child's frame is not mature or well knit, and that, in the majority of cases, it is even. slender or positively feeble. It is consequently not at all adapted to ex- cessive physical effort, or to rough and violent usage. Hence, where either of these evils is allowed, serious mischances may not only result, but must rather be expected. This, it will at once be seen, enforces the duty just suggested, — that of carefully supervising the sports of the pupils. It renders it equally imperative upon the teacher to be watchful against roughness or sud- den violence in the administration of discipline. 104 SCHOOL GOVEI1NMEOT. Nothing is, however, here determined as to the ques- tion of corporal punishment. It is only affirmed that, if it be accepted as legitimate, it should be adminis- tered in such ways as will not endanger the child's frame as yet immature or slender. No sudden and violent jerking of the pupil or whirling him about the room should be tolerated. Either may easily result in the dislocation of some joint, the fracture of some of the small bones of the limbs, or in the infliction of some injury to the spine, ultimately producing weak- ness in the back. Nor should any heavy implements ever be employed in inflicting blows upon the child ; and, above all, no blows should ever be inflicted upon any part which, from its direct connection with the nervous centres, must be dangerously sensitive to any severe shock or contusion. All such treatment of the pupil is undignified and brutaL It is simply the outbreak of passionate unreason. It is not discipline. Having thus somewhat fully discussed the indivi- dual characteristics of the child's nature, as subject to the government of the school, we have to turn the attention to those which are general, and contingent on the constitution of the school. These traits, unlike the preceding, must mark the many rather than the few, and, hence, require the children in the school to be taken into view as a body. Here, then, it must be observed that, necessarily in the great majority of our public schools, the children must be of both sexes. Even were it the better course to separate the sexes, which admits of question, in the larger number of cases it would be impracticable. RELATIVE CHAEACTEEISTICS. 105 Hence, in these schools, boys and girls must be taught and trained together; and the teacher who would govern justly or most successfully, must re- cognize this necessity, and adapt his government accordingly. But to do this, he must keep in mind the fact that there are distinctions in the character of the two, which render a common adaptation insufficient. There are specific traits in each, which require speci- fic modifications. In the earliest or comparatively infantile period, the divergence in these traits is less marked, and a common method will avail equally for both boys and girls. But as they advance to child- hood, the divergence is marked, and demands dis- crimination. For example, the boy's nature responds more readily to appeals made to his manly ambition ; the girl is more sensitively alive to personal appre- ciation and love. The boy will better bear a frank and somewhat bluff manner ; the girl instinctively craves an approach marked by the sympathizing look, the gentle word, and the kind caress. And these influences grow severally stronger as the two advance to the keener self-appreciation of youth ; for both then comprehend more clearly the import of the teacher's bearing toward them. The boy dis- covers in it the distinct and generous recognition of his manhood ; and the girl feels in its fine courtesy and considerate regard, the first dawn of the homage her womanhood may always claim from the true man. It is quite possible also for these means of influ- ence to become of the first importance, since, with K06 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. growth in years, the force of mere authority over the mind diminishes. Hence, the feelings just indicated in the boy or girl, may come to be the only available sources of control. Happy, then, -will be the teacher who has fixed himself in the hearts of both, as a gen- erous and appreciative friend, — in that of the boy, by a hearty confidence in his trustfulness, and pride in his manly energy ; and in that of the girl, by a re- fined and chivalric attention and esteem. A fact, by no means to be overlooked here, is this ; that in the exercise of this influence, a contrast of sexes between the teacher and pupil, reduplicates its power. Hence, often, a boy, who would be quite in- sensible to the confidence or praise of a man, will be completely taken captive by the same means skill- fully employed by a genial and attractive woman ; and, contrariwise, a girl, whose supreme delight would be to contemn and caricature a teacher of her own sex, will evince a most considerate and obedient re- gard for a preceptor who gives her, by his tact and courtesy, the always pleasing assurance that he both understands and appreciates her character. Hence, it is seriously to be questioned, whether a grave mis- take is not made in our boys' schools, by employing tutors exclusively, and in our female seminaries, the corresponding one of placing the pupils almost wholly under the instruction and control of lady teachers. The natural tendency.of this course, we believe to be, the perpetuating in the former, of rough manners and unamiable passions ; and in the latter, the thorough consummation of boarding-school diablerie. RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 107 But we pass, in conclusion, to notice the hetero- geneousness of the school, as giving rise to contingent traits of character, that bear a vital relation to the government. As our schools are constituted, it is well known the pupils must be marked by the great- est possible diversity of age, constitution, tempera- ment, character, social condition, and antecedent training. Some are hardly past sheer infancy ; while others are verging upon manhood and womanhood. Some are slender, even to helplessness ; and others are hardy and domineering. Some are sensitive ; while others are rough and unfeeling. Some are ready and versatile ; and others slow and even pitia- bly obtuse. Some are burdened with conscious poverty ; others are full of pride of position. Some have been humored, and perhaps enfeebled, by over indulgence ; while others have been hardened and almost imbruted by passionate and unnatural abuse. And between these various extremes, the in- dividual character may run through a whole gamut of the most perplexing gradation. Now, it is quite clear that no government that does not in some way, and to a good degree, reach these differences, can be either just, merciful, or effective. And, yet, it must be quite impracticable to frame a government that shall in its organic structure be able to effect this object. A surface of collective charac- ter so tortuous in its corrugations can not easily find any organic whole that will readily touch it at all points. To endeavor then to secure adaptation by specific .provisions would result in such multiplication 108 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. of details as would destroy all simplicity, intelligibil- ity and effectiveness. The great want can then be met only by the appli- cation, under the teacher's absolute prerogative, of the one principle of authoritative discrimination in the application of either requisition or discipline. In dealing with the individual pupil, as comprehended in his condition and character by the teacher, the various provisions of his government must be fear- lessly suspended or modified according to the case, so as to make the pressure, as far as may be, practi- cally equal. Hence, from the beginning, the teacher should explicitly avow his right and his determina- tion to do this ; and the school should be made to see and feel, not perhaps the justness of each specific ap- plication, that must rest on the teacher's simple au- thority, but that of the general principle. Nor should such discrimination be charged as par- tiality. While it is not to be doubted that the gov- ernment of the school should be comprehensive, that is, that it should be a government for the whole, and not for a part to the detriment of the whole, nothing can be clearer than that to neglect or refuse to dis- criminate in behalf of any part according to its natu- ral claims, whenever that can be done without injury to the whole, is to dispense with both adaptation and justice, and make the government the iron engine of blind theory and arbitrary will. Hence, the teacher who exhibits a deference or regard for a thoroughly good pupil, which he would not evince toward a vicious and disobedient member of the school ; who ex-tends a RELATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 109 lenity to a feeble and uncared-for child, which he withholds from one robust, or possessed of ample ad- vantages; who bestows a painstaking kindness and labor upon the dull, the timid, or the easily depressed, which he denies to the ready, the resolute or the for- ward ; who allows privileges to the infantile members of his flock, which he refuses to grant to the older ones ; who, in a hundred such ways, while planning for the whole, discriminates for the benefit of the parts ; — such a teacher is not partial ; he is simply sensible and just. Partiality is discriminating or showing favor without, or against, just reasons. But discriminating or showing favor for wise and suffi- cient reasons, although often thus stigmatized, is no partiality ; it is rectitude. Let the teacher, then, see to it that his government is neither from ignorance nor fear, undiscriminating ; nor from blind prepossessions or prejudices, simply partial. CHAPTEE VI. GENERAL ELEMENTS OF SCHOOL GOVERNMENT IN ITSELF CONSIDERED. Main theme resumed — General elements classified, as Order and Disci- pline — Necessity for the two, common — Order defined and classified, as Arrangement and Management — Arrangement defined — Characteristics of arrangement — Simplicity necessary — Definiteness considered — Rules a necessity — School, mechanical as well as moral— System important— Secures harmony — Secures thoroughness — System liable to abuse — Must be practical — Specific applications of arrangement — To juvenile class exercises — To outside study — To recesses — Management defined — Its characteristics — Promptness — Evils of tardiness— Causes loss of time and confusion — Promptness induces general punctuality — Steadif ness — Fluctuation a prevailing evil— Steadiness produces respect — Creates faith — Cultivates popular stability — Earnestness — Promotes proper confidence of manner — Creates enthusiasm — Geniality — Pleas- ure as well as profit of the pupil to be studied — Importance of sympathy — Induces a loving regard — Quietness — Not mere sluggish unconcern — Quietness favors intelligent apprehension — Tends to quiet order in the school — Favors proper reticence in the teacher — Induces higher respect for the teacher — Good management promotive of general order — Reduces the need for discipline. The preceding topics, which were in some sense general and preparatory, have been already seen to be of vital importance. As possessing such impor- tance, and yet, as too generally securing only a pass- ing notico, it was judged proper to discuss them with a good degree of thoroughness. In doiug that, some points belonging to the main subject were, of neces- sity, anticipated, and that at the risk of subsequent repetition. Notwithstanding that fact, they will bo GENERAL ELEMENTS : OKDEE. Ill noticed in what follows, in their proper place, and according to the just demands of the occasion. This will be considered as fully justified by the too com- mon neglect of them ; by the new light thrown upon them by their immediate relations ; by their intrinsic importance ; and by the necessary claims of our whole scheme to systematic completeness. We pass then, after so much delay, to the consid- eration of the main theme, or school government in itself considered. Bearing in mind the fact, as before stated, that school government is the proper ordering of the organic and individual action in the school, so as to secure in the pupils the best possible develop- ment of mind and discipline of heart, with reference both to present and future welfare, we proceed to the consideration of its general elements viewed as those distinct parts of the teacher's exercise of his intelli- gence, skill, authority and virtue, which make up his entire system of control. These we classify under tw T o general heads ; namely, Order and Discipline. A very common error of the public, and probably of a majority of teachers also, is that of regarding the government of the school as summed up in the discipline alone. This is possibly due to the fact that the discipline is the higher and more striking element, and as such, appeals more forcibly to the apprehension of the common mind. Were the esti- mate rested upon this comparative superiority,- and the discipline accepted as simply representative of the whole, there would be no particular ground of complaint. But when it is allowed to overshadow 112 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. and conceal the other element, the thing is altogether inconsistent and injurious. For a variety of reasons, both of these elements, though in some features distinct, are inseparable and alike necessary. That they must be so taken, will appear from the following facts stated in brief ; their general institution and conduct must run quite paral- lel ; their perfection must depend on the same exe- cutive qualities; and their facts are, all the time, mutually emerging from, or re-acting upon, each other. Indeed, nothing can be clearer than that the right ordering of the operations of the school must bear strongly, both upon the amount of the discipline required, and upon the ease with which it may be ad- ministered. Certainly, no ill-ordered school can be, without a corresponding multiplication of offenses ; nor can those offenses be corrected without a corres- ponding draft upon the power to be exercised. Con- trariwise, also, the just discipline of offenders must re-act powerfully upon the regular operations of the school, making the mere conduct of its daily system the more easy and successful. The thorough defeat of misrule in any school, is the certain triumph of its general order. By the order of the school, we mean that which includes its general system, or which covers all its ordinary operations as determined by the teacher. This will, of course, include the two subdivisions, Arrangement and Management. Arrangement is inclusive of all that pertains to the systematic disposition of the sessions and recesses of GENERAL ELEMENTS : ARRANGEMENT. 113 the school, of its studies, recitations and exercises. Of the absolute importance of arrangement, little need be said. As being simply the nice adjustment of the regular machinery of the school, it bears too directly upon its daily running, to be at all obscure or doubtful in its influence. Nothing can do more to secure the movement of the whole machine against irregularity, friction or jar, and retardation. Indeed, a proper arrangement may justly be styled the better half of good management. A proper arrangement must be marked by four leading characteristics; simplicity, definitencss, sys- tem and practicality. First, it must be simple. Such is the defective organization of our public school systems generally, that, in most schools, any disposition of the daily operations will be complicated enough. But that the arrangement may not burden the teacher's mind to the detriment of other parts of his work, and that it may not, through any needless cumbrousness, be pre- vented from being successfully carried out, it is quite clear that it should involve as few parts, and be sub- ject to as few rules as possible. Whether the teacher is able to reach any ideal, or prescribed model of simplicity or not, let simplicity be carefully studied and persistently sought. While, however, simplicity is to be a constant aim, let it not be secured at the expense of definiteness, There should be no vagueness or uncertainty in the operations of the school. Purely incidental matters may, of course, be left to an incidental or impromptu 114 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. adjustment. This will serve to cultivate in the teacher, both that quick perception and ready skill which are necessary to his perfect mastery of his position, and to secure in the adjustment effected, a truer adaptation to the immediate wants of the occasion. But for everything else, there should be a well-deter- mined time and place, otherwise the ^scheme of the school will operate somewhat and somewhere to the discredit and, perhaps, the embarrassment of the teacher, and to the disadvantage or the injury of those under his charge. From this, it will be quite apparent that rules will be necessary. Certainly, the teacher can have no fixed or definite arrangement, without laying down specific rules for himself ; nor can he expect to secure conformity to his own laws of arrangement, among his pupils, without laying down rules as specific for their guidance. Some educators are accustomed to set forth with an ostentatious flourish of supposed philosophy, the doctrine that the teacher is to make no rules for the school, and that he who does it is, per se, unfit for his business. As is usually the case with superficial thinkers who would be wise over- much, they fail to discover one very important fact ; namely, that as an organized body, the school is mechanical as well as moral ; it has parts and opera- tions that must be fixed by positive regulations, as well as those which must be determined by moral principle. The general law, " Do right," upon which these theorists lay so much stress, and which has been somewhat carefully noticed elsewhere, even if GENEKAL ELEMENTS : ABEANGEMENT. 115 it answered the ends of the moral element in the school, would be utterly absurd if applied to its me- chanical operations. For example, such questions as, where, or in what order pupils shall attend to such and such exercises, are questions of scholastic econ- omy, and not personal rectitude. They are to be de- termined by the judgment, and not by the reason. They find their claim to obedience in the positive au- thority of the teacher, and not in the enlightened im- pulse of the pupil's conscience. The same is true of many other requisitions which will be noticed here- after under this general head. Again, both for the sake of its own perfection, and in order to secure various important ends, the ar- rangement of the operations of the school must be systematic. Some of these have already been noticed in the discussion of government as applied to the child-nature. Another will be found in the simple power of system to reflect the teacher's capacity *as a practical analyst and comprehensive manager. Fur- thermore, system in arrangement favors the sim- plicity and definiteness to which reference has just been made. Indeed, it is only through the clear analysis which must antedate and determine the sys- tem chosen, that the teacher becomes able to simplify his arrangement by rejecting non-essentials, and to render it definite by applying rules according the relative demand of its various parts. Beyond these, system is necessary to harmony both in the arrangement and the conduct of the school operations. Not until every part is adjusted in its 116 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. place under the inspiring spirit of true system, can the whole become a self-consistent unit; and not until this pervading unity is attained, can the whole movement be secure against possible friction or con- flict. System is thus in the school, as elsewhere, "The hidden soul of harmony." But to this very harmony, thoroughness, or compre- hensiveness is necessary. It is only under the light of a systematic classification of the facts of the ar- rangement, that the whole field stands clearly revealed in all its parts, their proportions and relations, so that the judgment may determine whether aught is wanting to the just completeness of the whole. And the importance of this completeness is seen in the simple fact that it is the only safeguard against spe- cific or incidental legislation, which is always waste- ful of power and injurious to harmony. As in build- ing, the thrusting of modifications into the original plan, always enhances the cost disproportionally, and endangers the ultimate symmetry of the edifice ; so is it with the thrusting in of impromptu regulations to meet overlooked contingencies in the order of the school ; they endanger its consistency, and unduly bur- den its movements. While, however, the teacher must hold system as essential, he must not forget that it is susceptible of abuse. He must not forget that just in proportion as it aspires to perfection, it is in danger of withdrawing itself from the conservative influence of circumstances, and of becoming consequently alto- gether speculative and impracticable. Such a system is necessarily unfitted to the wants of our schools, in GENERAL ELEMENTS : ARRANGEMENT. 117 which, so generally, stubborn facts both confront and confound fine-spun theories. It is also the more to be guarded against, because under the existing and growing passion of education for absolute schemes based upon exhaustive analyses, the, perhaps, domi- nant and most dangerous tendency of popular educa- tion is to swing to impracticable or vicious extremes, and not unfrequently, through arcs of oscillation either tremendous or absurd. Hence, the arrangement of the school operations, while systematic, must be practical. While in con- stituting it, the teacher may be guided by well-con- sidered theory, he must still see to it, that the insuffi- ciencies or aberrations of his theory are constantly corrected by a careful induction of facts, — the very facts which his method must meet and master, or prove a failure. Better, if need be, sacrifice some- what of theoretical perfection than come short of practical adaptation. As illustrative of what we mean in this connection, take the following specific applications of the princi- ple. In every public school, there are commonly, some general exercises in which the larger portion of the pupils may engage simultaneously. Sightly managed, these are quite desirable, as they serve to develop skill and energy in the teacher, and unity of feeling and harmony of action among the pupils. The studies adapted to such exercises are gymnastics, singing, spelling, and reading. Now the principle of arrangement, under consideration, requires that these should be set apart for the opening or the close of 118 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. school, for the reason that they will then least inter- fere with individual application to study, the pupils having either, not begun their work upon their lessons, or having already finished it. So too, of these exer- cises, those should be set down for the opening, which require the least antecedent preparation, because there has yet occurred no time for such preparation. Still further, those that are most exhausting should come in the same connection as the preceding, be- cause at that time, the physical powers are most fresh and vigorous. Again, the training of the juvenile classes in the alphabet and reading, the object exercises if there be any, and the reading lessons of the larger classes, should occur in the early part of each session, so as to afford time for the preparation of the various les- sons to be recited by those who are mature enough to study. Among the first of these, may also be in- cluded the recitation of lessons prepared the evening beforehand, at home, for the obvious reason that they are in readiness, and should be put out of the way of the daily study. The assignment of those lessons to be learned at home should not be made without regard to principle. They should embrace studies which the pupil can pursue independently to the best advantage, and which will require the least transportation of appa- ratus or materials, or those which require results in writing rather than those in abstract retention. In the distribution of exercises or studies between the two sessions, those should be assigned to the GENERAL ELEMENTS: MANAGEMENT. 119 morning session, which are the least interesting or the most severe, since during that portion of the clay, the powers of both the teacher and the pupils are most fresh and vigorous. The assignment of the recesses should also be care- fully regulated by this principle of practical adapta- tion. Nothing can be more absurd than the common custom of having one and the same recess for the older and the younger pupils ; for those who can, and those who cannot study. The latter should have two or three recesses rather than one, for it is little other than cruelty to compel them to sit idly and wearily waiting the coming of the, to them, long-delayed re- cess. Of the former class, there are frequently some to be found who should almost be ashamed to take one recess, as if it were practically an impeachment of their power of fixed application. The principle of practical adaptation will also raise the inquiry, whether the recess should occur precisely in the middle of a session, at which time, while the pupil has not become fatigued, his mind has only just got most closely and vigorously at its work ; or nearer the close when his study is done, or is nearly so; when he is actually fatigued ; and when a recess will refresh his powers preparatory to the work of recita- tion. But we pass from these illustrations of the bearing of practicality upon the arrangement, to the subject of management. Management is that part of order which includes all that belongs to the proper conduct and complete carrying out of the system of arrange- 120 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. ment adopted. It hence, covers the whole of the teacher's bearing and action during the progress of the various parts of his system, and in carrying his school through them, whether they are sessions or recesses, exercises or recitations. A proper management must be marked by five general characteristics ; namely, Promptness, Steadi- ness, Earnestness, Geniality and Quietness. First, it must be prompt. Generally in the public schools, there is an excess of work, and hence, a de- ficiency in time. It is rarely, if ever, the case that the teacher is able to carry the whole daily order through with sufficient or invariable thoroughness. Either all of the parts must be somewhat abbreviated or hurried, or some of them must be practically neg- lected. Promptness, then, as a means of saving time, is indispensable, for this saving of time is necessary to the perfection of the teacher's work. Hence, the teacher must be instant to the time, as the peal is to the flash. Then, again, tardiness is necessarily confusion. An exercise delayed is either an exercise cut unduly short, or inconsistently crowded upon its fellow. Whichever it may be, the order of the school is out of joint, and so far the result is confusion. Not un- frequently, too, the first pressure caused by the loss of time, throws the teacher into a nervous hurry for the whole session, and thus the disorder is perpetuated. The only preservative against such hurry aud con- fusion is promptness. Still further, promptness in the teacher operates GENERAL ELEMENTS : MANAGEMENT. 121 both indirectly and directly to secure punctuality and readiness throughout the whole school. Of the bear- ing of these upon the general harmony and success, little need be urged. Prevailing dilatoriness is little better than prevailing insubordination. It is the necessary concomitant of lack of interest ; and lack of interest is lack of order. Hence, it is always safe to conclude that unless the teacher's management is prompt, his discipline must be defective, if not a failure. Again, the teacher's management must be steady. One of the most common evils in both parental and school government is that of constant fluctuation. There is no steady and continuous pressure of the authority, in the direction chosen, and to the very end of a complete attainment. To-day decisive measures are adopted and pressed with vigor. To-morrow the effort is relaxed, and the preceding policy practically contradicted. It may be even worse than this; through fickleness of purpose or love of novelty, the old measures or methods may be summarily aban- doned, and new ones fitfully introduced in their place. One of the necessary results of this unsteadiness is loss of respect for him who has the management of affairs. Unsteadiness argues either ignorance, lack of forecast, or weakness of purpose, any one of which is enough to secure the just condemnation of the teacher. But, very clearly, the finest attainment of order must depend very largely upon the respect which the teacher commands. Without that respect, he can carry neither methods nor measures to a 6 122 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. happy completion. His sole dependence mnst be mere arbitrary authority, perhaps what is still worse, mere brute force. But however proper these may be in their place, without the concurrence of respect, the success they may win is half failure. Beyond this, unsteady management destroys faith in the certainty of things. Few principles are more productive of uniform and orderly action among men than that of the invariable uniformity of nature. Since the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Ma- homet must go to the mountain. Nature will not change, hence, man conforms to nature. So the reg- ularity of nature begets regularity in man. Thus, in the school, the inflexible steadiness of the manage- ment creates among the pupils, unwavering faith in the certainty of results, and a fixed conviction of the necessity of conformity to the consequent condition of things. This is itself order. Order thus begotten is habit. And. habit is self-controlling. Hence, steadiness itself is power. But aside from its direct bearing on the manage- ment of the school, this steadiness has a most impor- tant prospective influence. As tending to the creation of habitual steadiness of action among the pupils of our schools, it operates ultimately as a corrective of one of our worst national characteristics, popular in- stability. With us, everything, from the action of individuals to the gravest matters of national legisla- tion, is in a state of constant fluctuation. Violently receding from one extreme, only to rush as violently to another; up for a measure like a flood-tide or an GENERAL ELEMENTS I MANAGEMENT. 123 inundation, and then, tinder the influence of some counter excitement, subsiding or ebbing until, in the old direction, nothing is visible but dreary mud-flats or barren sand-spits ; it becomes a question whether we are really susceptible of becoming stable. This much, however, is certain, that if that stability is ever to be established as a national trait, its foundation must be laid in the individual character as developed in the home and in the school. And yet there is reason to fear that unsteadiness in management is one of the most common and most incorrigible faults of both. Again, the management of the school must evince earnestness. Promptness and steadiness carry with them the appearance of mere power, and are, hence, liable to give to the teacher's bearing and action an air of stiffness and coldness, which can never prove favorable to the best development of the young mind. This evil can only be countervailed by the presence and pervading influence of some heart-principle in the management. Hence, it is every way important that all that the teacher does should be characterized by thorough earnestness. For more particularly, a thorough earnestness always produces in the teacher an air of firm assurance that carries to the mind of the pupil a full conviction of the teacher's ability. Proper self-reliance, or confidence, is itself a source, as well as an evidence, of power. This is eminently true of the confidence or assurance begotten of true earnestness. But, for the possession of that earnest- ness, the teacher's entire business is a continual plea. 124 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. Hence, for the lack of it in his management, he has no excuse. Still further, this earnestness on the part of the teacher, in all the various exercises of the school, is contagious. It passes beyond himself. It flies from heart to heart throughout the little commonwealth. It finds and arouses in each a kindred spirit. Up springs through all ranks and classes a kindred zeal. This general earnestness, or zeal, at once commits the whole school to the order which the teacher has instituted, and in which he is so deeply and evidently interested. In this way, the teacher's earnestness, by commanding spontaneous co-operation, reduplicates his power and ensures success. Partly out of this demand for earnestness, grows the demand that the management should be genial. That earnestness is supposed to be generous, not wrapped up in the attainment of ends concerning the teacher alone, but ever looking forward to the wel- fare of the pupil as the highest good. A genuine in- terest in this latter object will naturally shed over the teacher's whole bearing and action in the conduct of the school, the light of a constant and considerate good will. Hence, so far as it can be done without destroying dignity or infringing upon order, the teacher should come down pleasantly to the pupil's level, evince a sympathetic feeling for him, and skill- fully adapt things to the production of his pleasure, as well as his profit. This, by no means argues that he should humor the pupil in what is weak or inju- rious, nor that he should stoop so far as to mingle in GENERAL ELEMENTS: MANAGEMENT. 125 his rough sports, — himself a mere boy among hoys. But it does imply that he should comfort the child when he is in trouble, encourage him in his efforts to do. well, evince an interest in his amusements, and lend him a helpful" aid in planning or perfecting such as are really wholesome and gleeful. The natural influence of all this, it is easy to see, will be to enlarge the pupil's confidence in the kindli- ness, as well as the ability, of the teacher, and to draw both together in the bonds of a common and a grow- ing love. The effect of such a love is to secure on the part of the pupil, a hearty co-operation in all the plans of the teacher, and to ensure to his manage- ment a perfect success. It is in reaching the sources of this love, as will be elsewhere shown, that the teacher attains the seat of his highest influence and power. There is, however, one tendency of high earnest- ness which must be guarded against, and the more carefully, because the influence of all this pressure upon the teacher in the direction of perfect manage- ment, goes to increase that tendency. We speak here of the liability of the teacher to a sort of over energy in his management, degenerating, perhaps, into mere boisterousness. As opposed to this, it is demanded that the management be quiet. And by this is intended, not the quietness of sluggish unconcern, not the quietness that grows out of a fear of trouble, a dislike of labor, or a love for the comfortable but debasing recesses of an easy chair. The quietness proposed is not so much con- 126 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. stitutional or involuntary, as deliberate. It is the quietness of one who has carefully taken his own measure, and that of the objects he seeks to effect ; and who, confident of the end, calmly moves on, with- out haste, without perturbation, without tumult, without violence, towards its attainment. Nor is there anything in this which conflicts with the pene- trating glance, the firm tone, the animated move- ment ; it conflicts only with whatever is fussy, voci- ferous or violent. As a result of this quietness, it will be seen clearly that it favors the most intelligent understanding on the part of the school, of what is desired, or what is being done. All needless noise or parade of energy, by distracting the attention, and, perhaps, stunning the senses, tends to impair the distinctness of the pupil's perceptions, and so stands in the way of his receiving the clearest and most enduring impressions. Aside from this, as in the preceding instances, the tendency of the teacher's manner is to reproduce itself in that of his pupils. A quiet teacher may have noisy pupils, but it will be because the quietness is negative, and is, hence, coupled with positive ineffi- ciency. It is, nevertheless, the natural effect of the true quality, to repress the noisiness so common among children. Kightly employed, it is one of the most powerful means of securing an orderly silence in the school. Again, this rational quietness is favorable to the exercise of proper reticence, and may oven produce it. By this reticence, we mean a wise reserve in the GENERAL ELEMENTS: MANAGEMENT. 127 teacher as to the antecedent betrayal or proclama- tion of his intentions or plans, to the school. There are, as has been stated, cases in which this previous announcement of measures, as a means of intelligent understanding among the pupils, and as guarding them against unwitting errors, is necessary. But the object here, is to guard the teacher against a thoughtless habit of gossiping about his proposed measures, or of conceitedly flourishing them before the school. It cannot but be seen that it adds little to his credit, to be unable to keep his own govern- mental secrets. Besides, any such heedless or ostenta- tious parade of his plans much beforehand, leaves no room for unobserved modifications in case of diffi- culty or disappointment ; it operates directly, by tak- ing off the edge of novelty or newly expectant interest, to impair their effectiveness ; and it sometimes actu- ally leads to graver complications in the matters in- volved. A reticent quietness is, therefore, one of the finest attributes of the teacher's management. As a last excellence, this quiet management tends directly to create a higher respect for the teacher. To the observing pupil, nothing in the teacher can be more suggestive of manly self-control, and of power in re- serve. It is easy for him to see occasions enough for very natural outbreaks of vehemence in voice, or haste and disorder in action. It is easy for him to see how the teacher, by means sudden and startling, al- though tending to disquietness and violence, might summarily secure the ends he seeks. But when he sees all this calmly forborne, and unmoved quietness, 128 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. and quiet immobility still the teacher's sole reliance, he can not but feel a profound reverence for a char- acter so self-poised, and an authority so significantly reticent. The influence of such a reverence, on the teacher's success in the order of the school, is too ap- parent to need further discussion. It only remains then, for us, under this general head, to urge upon teachers a closer attention to the arrangement and management of the operations of the school, as a part of their government, eminently adapted to reduce the occasions for any uprising need of discipline. It is, indeed, the proper field for the finest exercise of judgment and tact in the appli- cation of the old maxim ; " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Discipline is chiefly cura- tive : arrangement and management are eminently preventive. They are the shrewdest allies of that master-art in the control of the young, — the art of counter-diversion, to which, as applied to individual cases, reference has already been made. What is true of its power over the child as an individual, is as true of its influence on the school as a whole. Hence, it is quite possible for the school when ready, either from prevailing weariness or general irritation, to break out into overt acts of subordination, to be, un- suspectingly to itself, swept by some skilful counter- diversion, into a new channel or new current of aroused interest or restored good feeling. For the attainment of such results, the teacher's management is responsible. CHAPTEK VII. GENEBAL ELEMENTS CONTINUED — DISCIPLINE — REQUIRE- MENT. Order and discipline related— Discipline distinguished from order— Dis- cipline defined— Elements classified, as Requirement, Judgment and Enforcement, or Correction— Discipline as specifically related to school government — Requirement distinguished— Specific duties of the pupil classified ; as, Personal, Associated, and Filial and Scholastic — Claims of these self-evident — Requirement restricted — Illustration — Duties required out of school — Offences in transitu — School jurisdic- tion limited— InfluSce but not authority to be employed— Excep- tional cases considered— Characteristics of requirement, moderate- ness, naturalness, fairness and firmness — Moderateness distinguished and enforced — Naturalness distinguished and enforced — Fairness dis- tinguished and enforced— Firmness considered. In passing to the consideration of discipline, it must be premised that it is so closely related to order, that it is difficult to treat them so far separately as to have no points in discussion common to both. And yet, general convenience and the real differences that exist in their nature, require them to be thus separated. But in order that their points of approximation and divergence may be clearly distinguished, we shall place the two in careful contrast, as follows. Order in the government of the school, embraces whatever is merely mechanical, or organic ; discipline is in- clusive of whatever is moral in its nature or ends : order has jurisdiction over the field of practical G* 130 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. economy or convenience ; discipline extends its sway over that of personal responsibility or duty : order stands upon the claims of positive authority ; disci- pline is founded upon the ultimate principles of rec- titude : order regulates the exercise of the faculties as all subsidiary to the development of the intellect ; discipline exerts control over the moral faculties, the conscience and the will, as determinative of their own conditions, or of character. Hence, finally, the grand law of order is expeeliency ; that of discipline is rec- titude. Discipline, in its highest sense, may thep be defined as the proper control of individual power and responsibility in the school, with reference to the higher laws and aims of pure morality. The elements of discipline, as thus defined, may be arranged under three general heads ; the legislative, judicial, and executive, and, as thus classified, may be specifically designated as ; Requirement, Judgment, and Enforcement, or Correction. In the light of this classification, it will be seen that discipline, as here treated, while bordering closely upon government as commonly understood in the state, is only a specific part of government as requir- ed for the school. The reason why government in the school is thus made more comprehensive than government in the state is clear. In the state, the maturity and independent capacity of the citizen, the necessary variety of his pursuits, and the freedom of application demanded, render a fixed and comprehen- sive method of action inconsistent, if not impractica- ble. In the school as a commonwealth, from the GENERAL ELEMENTS : REQUIREMENT. 131 immaturity and dependence of its members, and the necessity for the united and harmonious pursuit of a specific end, order becomes an essential part of the general control, and, hence, must be included as the first grand element of the government, as discipline is the second. Under the head of requirement as the first gen- eral element of discipline, must be included all de- mands made upon the pupil as susceptible of moral relations, and subject to moral obligation in the school. In other words, whatever the teacher may either posi- tively or negatively require as based upon principles of morality ; as apprehended by the reason and felt in the conscience to be obligatory, — all this may be made a matter of disciplinary demand. Requirement, then, covers the whole ground of the pupil's moral obligation as a member of the school. The specific duties embraced under the head of re- quirement may be classified thus : 1. Personal, or those the child owes to himself as pupil, as, for example, self-improvement : 2. Associated, or those the pupil owes to his com- panions as members of the school ; namely, Equity and Kindness : 3. Filial and Scholastic, or those the pupil owes to the parent so far as his commands reach the school, and those he owes to the teacher as its ruler, — or Obedience and Eeverence. Upon these duties severally considered, little need be said. The obligation of the pupil to fulfill them to the best of his ability is self-evident. That he should 132 SCHOOL GOVEIINMENT. be a member of the school, necessarily involves his hearty co-operation in the effort of the school author- ity to secure his best development and discipline : he could not be anywhere associated with his compan- ions, much less in the intimate and important rela- tions of the school, without being bound to respect the rights and feelings of all : from the duties of filial obedience and regard, no place or position can re- lease him, much less his membersliip in the school which the parent has provided for the better advance- ment of his highest interests : and his obligation to obey and reverence the teacher as the specific repre- sentative of the parent, for the time being, and as the rightful and necessary head of the school and soul of its operations, is founded on the very nature of things. It will be observed, however, that the moral obli- gation involved in all these duties, is restricted, as if bounded by the pupil's relation to the school. This must be of necessity. School government is specific in its aim, and limited in its field of application. While, then, ethics entire may be properly embraced in the instruction given in the school, only such of its principles as are distinctly applicable to the control of the child as a member of the school, can be pro- perly embraced in its system of government. These principles as constituting the body of school ethics, are all those which may be consistently noticed here. As illustrative of this restriction of school ethics, the following specific cases may be taken. The prin- ciples of ethics bearing upon " Duties to tlie State," GENEEAL ELEMENTS : EEQUIEEMENT. 133 can have no place whatever among the requisitions of school government ; for, neither is the child yet a citizen, nor would the school be held responsible for his treatment of those duties, even if the pupil had attained his majority. All that belongs to the rela- tions the pupil (if he be of age) holds to the state, and hence it is altogether within the province of civil government. The state, it is true, recognizes the school, but surrenders to the school none of its pre- rogatives. Again, the "Duties to the Parent" belong in gen- eral to the domestic relation, and properly come under the cognizance of the home government alone. It is quite clear, however, that out of the relation which the parent holds to the child in the school, and out of the relation which the teacher, as his agent or substitute, holds to the parent, there may arise spe- cific duties to the latter, which the former must re- cognize in his government. The parent may, for in- stance, with the consent of the teacher, lay certain specific requisitions upon his child as a member of the school ; and the government of the school may claim and enforce obedience to these requisitions. The duty of obedience in this case, while a quasi duty to the teacher, is primarily a duty to the parent. Such, and such only of the child's duties to the parent come within the jurisdiction of the teacher. Similar illustrations might be drawn from the duties of the pupil to the teacher, to his associates, and to himself. It is not necessary, however, to cite them, since the general principle is sufficiently clear ; name- 134 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. ly, that whatever the duties may be, to fall properly under the cognizance and authority of the school government, they must both practically come within its reach, and must evidently pertain to the facts and relations of the school as the commonwealth con- cerned. This general principle may be profitably applied to the solution of the question often raised as to the teacher's jurisdiction over the pupil's duties out of school, and especially over offences occurring in tran- situ. With regard to any school duties required to be performed at home, it must be clear that the teacher has no original prerogative whatever. His right to assign such duties or to enforce their fulfil- ment, must rest wholly on an understanding with the parent, either tacit or explicit. Even in this case, his application of authority must be indirectly to the de- ficiency evinced by the pupil in the school, rather than directly to the delinquency that occurred at home. For instance, in the case of lessons to be learned at home, it is competent for the teacher only to take cognizance of the fault of failure in recitation ; it belongs to the parent alone to correct the indolence or misappropriation of time at home, which was the real offence. The question as to offences occurring during the the period of the pupil's transition from his home to the school, and vice versa, is more intricate. And this, for the simple reason that the limits of the school jurisdiction are somewhat obscure. But the very cause of the difficulty is suggestive of the direction GENERAL ELEMENTS : REQUIREMENT. 135 in which we are to look for the chief responsibility in such cases. "We may accept this, then, as a first principle ; that where the limits of jurisdiction are the broadest and most definite, there is to be found the direct responsibility for the correction of the of- fences in question. Any other responsibility in this direction, must be wholly conditioned and incidental. It needs now no argument to show that only the authority of the parent is thus comprehensive and complete in its application. The parents' jurisdiction over the child, and responsibility for his conduct, are subject to no restrictions of either place or time. Not merely within the precincts of the home, nor during certain set periods of employment, is the child held to the duty of obedience to parental law. It is a duty for all time and place. But it will certainly not be urged that the jurisdic- tion of the school government is thus far-reaching and comprehensive. Limited alike in its object, time, and place of action, nothing can be more evident than that the application of its authority must find a necessary circumscription within corresponding limits. Not for the child's general conduct in society, at the home nor any more in the highways ; not for his be- havior upon holidays, at morning or at night, nor any more during any time not within the immediate neighborhood of the school sessions, can the teacher, as teacher, be justly held responsible. The parent's authority may rightfully maintain its hold upon the child until he comes under the eye of the teacher, and within reach of his voice and hand ; but the teacher 136 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. has no right to extend his rule contrariwise over the child until the moment when he passes into the sacred precincts of the home, and into the parent's presence and power. It is demanding for the less, what can only be due to the greater. This, however, is not to take ground that the teacher may evince a stolid unconcern as to the conduct of his pupils elsewhere than within the precincts or the periods of the school ; nor is it taking from him the power to do anything outside of those limits, to ef- fectively subserve the pupil's welfare and the ends of good order. As a citizen and as a friend, he may, so far as he can, keep a kindly and careful eye upon the pupil's conduct during the periods of transition from the home to the school, and vice versa y and may exert all his influence to prevent the occurrence of offences, or to secure atonement for them ; but it is influence which he is to exert, and not authority. And not only may he do much in this way ; but it is believed that the very regard which he thus evinces for the rights of relative jurisdiction will add weight to his influence, and secure in the end better results than would be possible under what must necessarily be an arbitrary exercise of power. This, however, must not be construed in any sense, as ignoring the possibility of exceptional cases. For example, flagrant outbreaks of injurious violence for which there is no parental preventive or correc- tion, may come to the immediate notice of the teacher. Here it may be necessary for him to interfere, and the interference may be justified on the ground that GENERAL ELEMENTS : REQUIREMENT. 137 arbitrary rule is better than licentiousness. So, too, cases may occur in which evil-disposed pupils may avowedly take advantage of the supposed absence of jurisdiction, to do after school, what the teacher has forbidden in school. In this case, the teacher may take cognizance of the act as an insolent evasion equivalent to quasi insubordination. The case some- times cited, of a pupil's playing by the way, and so becoming late to the detriment of the school order, is not properly an exception ; for while the teacher may not claim jurisdiction over the act of loitering which was the major fault, the tardiness itself is an immediate and legitimate occasion for discipline. The distinction and the method involved in this case, will be found applicable in many others, and their proper application will enable the teacher to avoid the two injurious extremes of arbitrary jurisdiction and allowed disorder. Having thus denned the proper limits of require- ment as a department of the school government, we pass to the consideration of its general characteristics. These may be enumerated as chiefly four ; Moderate- ness, Naturalness, Fairness, and Firmness. The propriety of these characteristics, especially as determined by the traits of the child's nature as subject to the government of the school, has been partially considered under a previous head. It is, therefore, only necessary that they should be briefly noticed here and more especially with reference to their bearing on the government in itself considered By moderateness in requirement, we mean that the 138 BCHOOL GOVERNMENT. teacher should, in all his demands upon the pupil as subject to moral obligation, study to avoid severity or excess. It is better policy for him to fall somewhat under the full measure of exact requirement, than to incur any risk of overgoing it. Aside from lenient adaptation to the child's feebleness or imperfection, it is far easier to secure the perfect enforcement of moderate demands, or if need be, to bring them up •to the full standard of just requisition, than it is to maintain those which have be on strained at the out- set, to their farthest limit, or to abate successfully those which have been found to be excessive. In school government, as in every other, practical excel- lence is to be determined, not so much by the abso- lute perfection of the laws, as by their capacity to be perfectly administered. By naturalness in requirement, we mean, not so much naturalness in the demands themselves, as in the method of their successive development. It is here considered as tantamount to that progressive- ness in school legislation, which has been elsewhere noticed. The ground consequently taken, is that of the inexpediency of pre-enacted codes of requisitions, or laws for the moral government of the school. And this, for the general reason that no such code can be made for any commonwealth, as it were to order, and be either wise or just. Law for the government of any community, has its grand principles which are co-existent with the possibility of a community. But beyond those principles, law is the creature of the common need ; and what that need is can only bo GENERAL ELEMENTS : EEQUIBEMENT. 139 determined by the developing power of circumstances. Hence, ail specific laws should be, as it were, the nat- ural growth of circumstances. So in the government of the school, specific rules, to have a natural origin, fitness, and power, should be made, only as facts de- velop a need for them. Let the teacher pursue the 'opposite course, and lie will burden his system of discipline \utli minute and ill-digested provisions, many of which he will either have to repeal or violate as unreasonable or oppressive. This, however, is not to be interpreted as contravening the careful promul- gation of general principles, elsewhere urged as ne- cessary. Beyond this, it is demanded that the teacher's re- quisitions in governing be thoroughly fair or honest. By this we mean, first, that all the means and ends of the requirement should be transparently what they purport to be. No subject of the school government should ever have occasion to suspect that he has been misled or overreached by policy or artifice. Any such impression will prove destructive to his confidence in the teacher, and respect for him ; and when those are wanting, authority may compel sub- mission, but it cannot command true obedience. Again, the requirement should be explicit so as to be beyond the possibility of misconception. Pains should be taken, not only to unfold the demand fully and fairly, but also to ascertain whether it has been as fully and fairly understood. The government which, failing in this direction, exposes the pupil to unwitting transgression, stands itself impeached as 140 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. first in the fault. Still further, there should be no sudden revival and application of rules which, having lain dormant or lacked recent use, have passed out of the pupil's mind, or have been practically accepted by him, as inoperative. All such action will assume the aspect of ex post facto legislation, and will appear, if it is not even what it appears, narrow and unjust. The government of the school must then in all its re- quirements, be thoroughly frank and fair. The presence of the foregoing qualities in the school government, it will be seen, prepares the way for the existence of that firmness without which it hardly deserves the name of government. Given, requirements which are moderate, the product of a natural want, and thoroughly sincere and fair, and the teacher may press the demand for obedience, with the most inflexible firmness. Nay, in such a case, the greater, the more stubborn, the firmness, if we may so speak, the higher the rectitude of the school govern- ment, and the more absolute its claim to obedient re- gard. It is in the power of this unalterable firmness to dignify even the dying struggles of a bad cause. Much more is it able to gather about the upright front of righteous rule, the radiant symbol of divine excellence. Not only, then, for the pupil's sake, as has elsewhere been urged, but for its own, let the government of the school, in the firmness of its re- quirements, be " Constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament." OHAPTEE VIII. GENERAL ELEMENTS CONTINUED. DISCIPLINE — JUDGMENT. Judgment defined — Importance considered —Elements classified, as De- tection, Investigation, Judgment Proper or Decision — Detection dis- tinguished and classified, as Spontaneous, or Immediate and Mediate, or Circumstantial— Kinds distinguished — Spontaneous detection jus- tified — Its rules stated— Exery offense not to be known — Knowledge of offenses, not always to be betrayed — Offenses to receive the most favorable construction — Mediate detection classified, as Incidental and Concerted — Importance of the latter — Especial difficulty arising from the school code of honor — Folly of condemning the code summarily — Course to be pursued — Pupils must be taught right views — Severer pun- ishment in case of conspiracy to conceal — Rules for concerted detection — Must be the sole means of discover}' — Offenses must be of a flagrant character — Detection must be prosecuted for no inferior or private ends — Grounds of consistency — Detection demanded for the general safety— The offense is necessarily covert— It is one of practical out- lawry — Method to be pursued — Detection should be devolved on a sub- ordinate agent — Propriety of setting a trap for offenders — Caution against seeking personal ends — Against the use of positive deception — Against undue exposure of the innocent — Objection to the use of temptation answered — Investigation described — Importance of investi- gation — Need of attention to practical logic — Logical process in inves- tigation considered — Evidence classified, as Personal and Circumstan- tial — Kinds distinguished and illustrated — Testimony the chief reliance — Confession by stratagem unwarrantable — Practically dishonest — Impairs the teacher's self-respect — Demoralizing to the pupil — Particular caution as to the evidence of personal appearance — Requi- sites in witnesses — Opportunity, direct knowledge, capacity, veracity, freedom from prejudice— Caution as to the testimony of children — Kinds of testimony — Simple, Accumulated and Concurrent — Defined — General characteristics of testimony — Must be definite, accumulative, concurrent — Grounds of strength in concurrent testimony — Logical and 142 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. practical illustration — Decision — Defined — Characteristics — Must be positive, overt, explicit — General characteristics