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 MEMORIAM 
 John Sv/ett 
 
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 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 <f judgment— Must be 
 deliberate, comprehensive, righteous and decisive — Popular decisions 
 in the school condemned. 
 
 Passing now to the second general element in the 
 discipline of the school, we observe, that under the 
 head of judgment, must be included whatever be- 
 longs to the decision of cases involving discipline. 
 
 The importance of this element will be readily in- 
 ferred from the fact that, not only does the influence 
 and success of the discipline depend on its proper 
 performance, but, without its antecedence, no disci- 
 pline in any just sense, is practicable. In fact, this 
 judgment bears much the same relation to the correc- 
 tion of wrong, that the diagnosis of a disease, in 
 medicine, bears to the subsequent treatment. De- 
 pending upon shrewd intuition and well-defined ex- 
 perience, rather than upon rules and authorities, that 
 diagnosis is the work of the physician, — the work 
 which most tries and evinces his skill. Indeed, the 
 measure of diagnostic accuracy is the measure of suc- 
 cess in the treatment. So, we may say, the proper 
 judgment of the case in discipline determines quite as 
 fully the course of the subsequent correction ; and as 
 such, it is one of the highest and most important 
 elements of the teacher's art of governing. 
 
 The elements of judgment may be classified as 
 threefold ; Detection, Investigation, and Judgment 
 Proper, or Decision. 
 
 Of these, first, detection is simply the discovery, 
 by the teacher, of offenses and offenders. It may be 
 
GENEEAL ELEMENTS: DETECTION. 143 
 
 of two general kinds ; namely, Spontaneous or Imme- 
 diate ; and Mediate, or Circumstantial. In the former, 
 the teacher comes to a knowledge of the offense and 
 the offender, personally and directly, through the ex- 
 ercise of mere ordinary vigilance in observing the 
 operations of the school : he spontaneously witnesses 
 the original act himself. In the latter species of de- 
 tection, the teacher either alone or through his 
 agents, in the exercise of some extraordinary scru- 
 tiny, reaches a satisfactory knowledge of such related 
 circumstances as, to a practical certainty, fix the 
 offense upon the offender. This involves the employ- 
 ment of circumstantial evidence. It differs from in- 
 vestigation, to which it is nearly related, in the fact 
 that it stops short of any open inquiry and public 
 measures, and, hence, in its operations and results, 
 may be wholly unknown to the school. 
 
 Of the propriety and importance of spontaneous 
 detection, there can be no question. It is clearly 
 the duty of the teacher to be always in a position of 
 discovery. It is necessary that he should have some 
 correct knowledge of so much of whatever transpires 
 in his little commonwealth, in the shape of responsi- 
 ble action, as will enable him to understand fully the 
 general drift of conduct in the school, and will thus 
 fully empower him to make proper preparation for 
 possible emergencies, and to wisely select for disci- 
 pline, such offenses as may have a noticeablo bearing 
 on the general welfare. 
 
 This, however, is not to take ground that the teacher 
 is to be suspiciously on the alert, or always watching 
 
14:4 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 for the occurrence of offenses. This is to be vigilant 
 at the expense of some of the finest qualities of his 
 true character, almost at the expense of his manhood. 
 Such a suspiciousness the teacher is, by all means, 
 to avoid. It is a vice of weak minds and weaker 
 governments. 
 
 Hence, let the teacher carefully observe the fol- 
 lowing rules as bearing on spontaneous detection. 
 First. It is. neither necessary nor wise for him to 
 know all the minor misdemeanors, or peccadilloes of 
 his reckless, unthinking, and ill-trained subjects, es- 
 pecially those of the younger class. A knowledge 
 thus minute, will only tend to impair his confidence 
 in his pupils, and may thus induce in him a con- 
 sciousness of evil character and conduct, calculated 
 to affect his manner unfavorably, perhaps even to the 
 extent of impairing their confidence in him. 
 
 Secondly. Even if he knows so much, it is all im- 
 portant that he should not evince his knowledge of 
 it. To do this is practically to compel himself to 
 take judicial cognizance of the offenses involved, since 
 hardly anything can be more demoralizing in its in- 
 fluence upon the moral sense of a school than a 
 teacher's evident neglect of known infractions of law. 
 And yet, as many of these offenses may be altogether 
 venial and quite destitute of any important bearing 
 on the general order of the school, for the teacher to 
 subject them to discipline, would only be to harrass 
 himself and his pupils with an over government 
 hardly less injurious than insufficient government. 
 For a teacher to do this, " is wasteful and ridiculous 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : DETECTION. 145 
 
 excess." Of either extreme, it is better to govern 
 too little than too much. Except in the family, no- 
 where more than in the government of the school, is 
 there need of that noble charity which covers a mul- 
 titude of sins, — nowhere so much advantage in its 
 wise and patient exercise. 
 
 And, lastly, with reference to all facts which, as 
 ostensible misdemeanors, really come to his knowl- 
 edge, let the teacher, while retaining them in thought, 
 as possibly susceptible of grave but yet undiscovered 
 relations, carefully guard against assuming their 
 worst interpretation as a foregone conclusion. Let 
 him rather, habitually assume the probability of a 
 fairer explanation, and generously hold to that opin- 
 ion until it is, by subsequent developments, rendered 
 either dangerous or impossible to do so. 
 
 Passing to mediate, or circumstantial detection, 
 which has already been defined, it may be classified 
 as of two species ; namely, incidental and concerted 
 detection. These rest alike on the same basis of ob- 
 served facts, but differ in the manner of reaching the 
 facts. As is indicated by their names, the circum- 
 stances involving detection under the former species, 
 come to light of their own accord, in the teacher's 
 exercise of ordinary watchfulness, and are only volun- 
 tarily woven, in his judgment, into a web of satis- 
 factory evidence : under the latter species, they are, 
 upon pre-determination and by concerted action, 
 dragged from their concealment and set in such 
 array as effects full detection. 
 
 Of the former species, nothing further need be 
 
14:6 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 urged in this place, since its specific laws are the 
 same with those already considered under the head 
 of spontaneous detection. Of the latter, distinct and 
 thorough notice must be taken both for the reason 
 that it is more complicated in its nature, and far 
 more difficult in its proper exercise. Indeed, in the 
 pre-determined exercise of the function of detection, 
 the teacher will find occasion for the employment of 
 his largest knowledge of human nature, and his high- 
 est skill in dealing with character and circumstance. 
 Instances will not unfrequently occur, which will, for 
 a time, perhaps even finally, baffle his most strenuous 
 efforts. 
 
 A special cause for this difficulty is often met with 
 in the prevalence of a false sense of honor among 
 pupils, which leads them to conceal the misdeeds of 
 their associates. Sometimes, even where there is a 
 better conception of duty, native lack of resolution, 
 or fear of retaliatory abuse, strengthens the tendency 
 to connivance or concealment. In this forced absence 
 of the only direct testimony possible, the teacher is 
 left altogether to circumstantial indications or the 
 developments of time, and will not unlikely find even 
 these insufficient. 
 
 In cases of this kind, it is altogether idle for the 
 teacher to take ground before the school, that this 
 concealment is a wrong, and to insist that those cog- 
 nizant of the offender's criminality shall expose him ; 
 and it is the height of impolicy for him to betray any 
 uneasiness or irritation (if he be indeed so weak as 
 to allow such feeling) at the persistent adhesion of 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : DETECTION. 147 
 
 the pupils to the school code of honor. Nor does 
 the fact that there can be no more question as to the 
 pupil's duty in the premises, than there is in the case 
 of the citizen cognizant of crime committed against 
 the laws of the state, mend the matter. The evil is 
 the result of a misguided conscience ; and, until the 
 teacher can correct the misguiding cause, he must 
 be content with the exercise of patience rather than 
 justice. 
 
 In endeavoring to correct this evil tendency to 
 shield offenders from justice, the teacher may adopt 
 two methods. First. He may labor to impress upon 
 his pupils correct views of their relation to the gov- 
 ernment of the school, and a sense of their duty to 
 sustain its authority as superior to any possible con- 
 sideration due to their delinquent companions. Gen- 
 erously excusing concealment in the case of a first 
 transgression, in which the witnesses have given the 
 culprits no warning of the course that must conscien- 
 tiously be pursued, he may urge it as due to their 
 own manly courage, moral honesty, and just convic- 
 tions of the general necessity, that, on any proposed 
 repetition of the offense, they shall hold themselves 
 absolved from all duty to become particeps criminis 
 by shielding wilful offenders, and shall give tho 
 same, unmistakable assurance that they will be de- 
 nounced as such without fear or favor. 
 
 In the second place, in all such cases of conceal- 
 ment of flagrant offenses which ultimately come to 
 light so as to admit of correction, the teacher may, 
 upon previous announcement, punish the offenders 
 
148 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 with the greater severity, on the ground of having 
 not only transgressed, but also of having insti- 
 tuted a conspiracy against the order of the school. 
 He should also, by a distinct withdrawal of confi- 
 dence from the accessories, until their future amend- 
 ment becomes probable, indicate his sense of their 
 practical disloyalty and partial guilt. This course, 
 if frankly explained and firmly pursued, will tend to 
 produce better views and feelings in the school, 
 with regard to the whole question, and it gives the 
 only promise of any ultimate removal of the evil 
 under consideration. 
 
 It has already been observed that no question can 
 be raised as to the consistency of spontaneous, or in- 
 cidental detection. With regard to pre-determined, 
 or concerted detection, the case is different. Involv- 
 ing the exercise of extraordinary scrutiny, extending 
 perhaps beyonds the periods and precincts of the 
 school, and even involving a species of espionage, it 
 is of a more serious character, and not unfrequently 
 gives rise to grave and anxious questionings La the 
 minds of earnest and conscientious teachers. The 
 position is, nevertheless, here squarely taken, that 
 within certain limits, this species of detection is thor- 
 oughly legitimate and necessary. 
 
 The restrictions to which its use must be subjected 
 are these. First. It must be resorted to, only in 
 those cases in which detection is in no other way 
 possible. Detection itself may be a necessity ; and, 
 while we may not accept the maxim ; " Necessity 
 knows no law," we must urge that, as a general prin- 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: DETECTION. 149 
 
 ciple, necessity must be a law unto itself. Hence, 
 that detection cannot be a necessity to the welfare of 
 the school, without involving the means necessary to 
 its accomplishment. 
 
 Secondly. The misdemeanor must be one of a pos- 
 itive and flagrant character. It must be of the nature 
 of actual vice or crime, and must be clearly demoral- 
 izing in its influence upon the school. No mere pec- 
 cadillo involving the simple occasioning of disorder, 
 or only productive of individual annoyance, can be a 
 sufficient warrant. Grave measures are to be insti- 
 tuted that can only be countenanced by grave offen- 
 ses. Of this class of misdemeanors, perhaps the best 
 illustration is to be found in that, sometimes petty, 
 sometimes serious theft so painfully common in cer- 
 tain kinds of schools. Not only is it illustrative of 
 the criminalty referred to, but also of the difficulty 
 of detection specified under the previous head. Often 
 the vice of pupils from the better families, and the 
 direct product of the prevailing social extravagance 
 and home indulgence ; infecting not only boys, but, 
 sad to say, an older class of girls, who are even worse 
 than boys, it is by the very force of family pride, the 
 more studiously concealed in its perpetration, and 
 the more dangerous to the teacher in his efforts at 
 detection, — so dangerous that its occurrence and ex- 
 posure are alike his terror. 
 
 Thirdly. The detection of such offenses must be 
 solely and sincerely prosecuted for no inferior or pri- 
 vate ends, but only for the sake of the general wel- 
 fare. It must also be carefully guarded so as to touch 
 
150 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 for the sake of discipline, only the actual culprit. 
 For reasons which will appear as we advance, others 
 who may possibly become involved in its disclosures 
 should be proceeded with, only in the way of salutary 
 instruction and warning. 
 
 Applied within these limits, the considerations 
 which establish the propriety of this concerted detec- 
 tion, are brief and positive. First. The moral or 
 organic welfare of the school is of paramount impor- 
 tance. Crimes so demoralizing can not be tolerated, 
 and the teacher is set forth " for the punishment of 
 evil doers" no less than " for the praise of them that 
 do well." Hence, cost what it may ; strike whom it 
 will, the detection of the offender is no matter of mere 
 option ; it is imperative. 
 
 Secondly. The offense is necessarily covert, and 
 as such, admits of no other species of detection. 
 But it is a recognized principle in criminal law that 
 the capacity of a crime to be concealed so that detec- 
 tion becomes difficult or next to impossible, aggra- 
 vates its character, and justly operates to enhance 
 the penalty. This is founded on the fact that, while 
 not intrinsically worse than others, it is vastly more 
 dangerous to society. But it is clear that this very 
 accession to its dangerous character, renders the de- 
 mand for detection the more pressing, and justifies 
 all means really necessary to that end. 
 
 Lastly. The act of the offender is one of practical 
 outlawry. In its commission, he puts himself beyond 
 any claim upon the school government, other than 
 that of strict justice, of which the first element must 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: DETECTION. 151 
 
 be his own clear exposure. Besides this, whatever 
 means of detection may be employed, the culprit has 
 no right to complain of them. In the case supposed, 
 were he seized under the criminal laws of the state, 
 his punishment would be condign. But under the 
 government of the school, nothing farther than ex- 
 clusion is proposed. The detection that seeks ends 
 thus lenient, takes its measure somewhat from the 
 limit within which it contents itself. 
 
 With reference now to the means which may be em- 
 ployed, two questions arise. Frst. May the teacher 
 institute a course of espionage, or himself act the part 
 of a spy ? So far as the mere effort at detection is 
 concerned, undoubtedly. But if there be taken into 
 consideration, the probable influence of such an 
 office-work to induce a biassed judgment or a sus- 
 picious temper, the wisdom of his undertaking it him- 
 self may be questioned. It is of the first importance 
 that, as having ultimately to sit in judgment upon the 
 offense, the teacher should be kept free from all such 
 biassing influences. A mere detective habitually 
 assumes the guilt of the alleged offender. The con- 
 trary course is imperative on the teacher. Besides, 
 as has already been suggested, a suspicious habit is, 
 in his case, almost a vice. Hence, it will be far bet- 
 ter for him, wherever it may be practicable, to em- 
 ploy some other person as his agent in this species of 
 detection. If, for example, he has reliable subordi- 
 nates, let that work be devolved Upon them. And 
 this, not at all that he may escape a painful office- 
 work, but because they are not involved in the ulti- 
 
152 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mate responsibility of judgment ; their state of mind 
 is by no means vitally important in its bearing on the 
 issues of justice ; and they are not exposed to its 
 more dangerous reactions. 
 
 Secondly. May the teacher provide an occasion 
 for the repetition of the act, under proper observa- 
 tion ; in other words, may he set a trap for the of- 
 fender ? We answer, certainly, provided in the first 
 place, he seeks the detection of the guilty, solely for 
 his reclamation, or for the expurgation of the school. 
 
 Provided, further, he carefully guards himself 
 against positive deception or falsehood either overt or 
 covert. In yielding to evil desires, the pupil may 
 deceive himself as to the facts involving his detection ; 
 but the deception must be his own work, not that 
 of the teacher. For example, the teacher may leave 
 a coveted book, or a reticule containing valuables, in 
 the way of the supposed thief. The fancy of the of- 
 fender that he is not observed is his own. He has 
 had no assurance that he will not be watched ; nay, 
 he is to expect that sooner or later he will be dis- 
 covered ; his own caution is a confession of the pos- 
 sible danger ; hence, he is only self-deceived. 
 
 Provided again, lastly, that the teacher takes all 
 possible care to avoid exposing the innocent to this 
 temptation ; or if they chance to be overcome of it, 
 that he distinguishes the act carefully as a first and 
 induced offense, and makes use of it only for their 
 salvation from further transgression. 
 
 " But," says the objector, " this is putting tempta- 
 tion in the way of others." To this we reply, first, the 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: DETECTION. 153 
 
 teacher has the right, as in the case supposed, to put 
 any such articles where he chooses. The school- 
 room is his proper domain, and property is presumed 
 to be justly safe anywhere within the school precincts. 
 Again, the real temptation lies in the depraved pro- 
 pensity of the offender; "He is drawn away of his 
 own lust and enticed." Still further, the induced act, 
 as leading to his detection, is the only means of rous- 
 ing him; before some final and fatal crime, to a sense 
 of the peril and certain ruin of the course he is pur- 
 suing ; it is the only hope of his salvation. Once 
 more, even in the case of the innocent, much the 
 same is true. If he can yield so easily to the com- 
 mission of crime, his only safety lies in the prompt 
 discovery of this liability, and the consequent coun- 
 sel and warning made possible through it. And, 
 lastly, it is quite clear that temptation is not neces- 
 sarily an evil. " Temptations," says Bishop Butler, 
 " render our state a more improving state of disci- 
 pline than it would be otherwise ; as they give occa- 
 sion for a more attentive exercise of the virtuous 
 principle, which confirms and strengthens it more 
 than an easier or less attentive exercise of it could." 
 Were this otherwise, and temptation intrinsically a 
 wrong, then the trial of our First Parents in the gar- 
 den of Eden, which was practically just as much a 
 temptation as any of the acts heretofore supposed, 
 would stand utterly reprehended as evil and ma- 
 licious. 
 
 Passing now to the second general element in judg- 
 ment ; namely, investigation, we observe that it is in- 
 
154 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 elusive of all that formal examination of the truth of 
 facts bearing upon any supposed case of discipline, 
 either as determinative of its actuality or its relative 
 demerit. It will be seen from this, that it differs 
 from detection, in being always premeditated, but 
 without involving any concerted scheme of forced dis- 
 covery ; it applies to cases in which a partial detec- 
 tion is already attained, which however needs to be 
 tested and made complete ; it is formal and open in 
 all its processes ; and it attains its ends only through 
 logical conclusions resting altogether on the basis of 
 evidence. 
 
 These characteristics of investigation, and the evi- 
 dent difficulty to be experienced in determining, 
 through a logical process, both the actuality of the 
 offense and its relative demerit, are at once sugges- 
 tive of the extreme importance to be attached to this 
 part of discipline. Were not this enough, a simple 
 reference to the laws and usages of civil courts would 
 argue the same. All this array of witnesses and jury- 
 men ; all this careful educing and sifting of testimony ; 
 all these elaborate reasonings upon the evidence, and 
 all this patient deliberation upon the whole case 
 preparatory to the rendering of a verdict, are so many 
 grave indications of the importance to be everywhere 
 attached to the proper investigation of offenses. 
 While the extrinsic interest may be the more pressing 
 in the applications of civil government, the intrinsic 
 importance to the school, of well-guarded and certain 
 decisions under its government, cannot be overesti- 
 mated. In the state, an erroneous decision is inju- 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: INVESTIGATION. 155 
 
 rious ; in the school, from the comparative helpless- 
 ness of its subjects, a false judgment is tyranny. 
 
 From this, it follows that inasmuch as, in the ad- 
 ministration of school government, the teacher must 
 be sole jury and judge ; and inasmuch as he be- 
 comes himself an offender if he trusts to the blind 
 guidance of mere impressions, or the doubtful reason- 
 ings of a crude understanding, it becomes imperative 
 on him to possess some consistent knowledge of prac- 
 tical logic, at least so far as it involves a knowledge 
 of the laws of evidence and the deduction of sound 
 conclusions. Hence, not only should a specific train- 
 ing in this direction be afforded to the teacher, by our 
 normal schools, but a concise treatise on evidence 
 should be regarded by him as an indispensable part 
 of his library. And this is the more imperative, from 
 the fact that throughout the community, so many 
 evils result from the prevailing ignorance of the very 
 knowledge to be derived from such works. What 
 those evils are, is patent to every one conversant with 
 the proceedings of our civil, and especially our eccle- 
 siastical courts. 
 
 As has been already intimated, investigation, or 
 judgment proper, involves a logical process. In fact, 
 in every such case of discipline, the teacher has be- 
 fore him the proper consideration of the disjunctive 
 proposition ; " Either A is innocent or he is guilty" 
 which proposition we have taken express pains to 
 state, so that it shall conform to that necessary and 
 noble maxim ; " Every man should be presumed to be 
 innocent until he is proven to be guilty," since, above 
 
156 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 all other adjudicators, the teacher should be most 
 mindful of its observance. 
 
 The evidence upon which the teacher is to rely in 
 the solution of this proposition, is two-fold : Personal 
 Evidence, or Testimony, and Circumstantial Evidence. 
 
 Personal evidence, or testimony proper, as employ- 
 ed by the teacher, must be understood in a restricted 
 sense, and as embracing only the statements made 
 with Reference to the offense itself, by his pupils or 
 others, claiming to have a direct personal knowledge 
 of its occurrence or non-occurrence. This is evidence 
 direct and positive. 
 
 Circumstantial evidence, as employed by the teacher, 
 embraces the statements made by his pupils or others, 
 with reference to such remoter facts as do not involve 
 a direct knowledge of the offense itself, but which are, 
 in the nature of things, related to it, and which so 
 concur in their relation to it, as to find their best, or 
 their only explanation in either its reality or non-re- 
 ality. This evidence is indirect, and may be either 
 corroborative, or, in itself, sufficient. It is, however, 
 not to be accepted as positive evidence. 
 
 To illustrate this, let X be charged with cutting his 
 name on his desk. If it is in testimony that A saw 
 him do it ; or that B saw the desk just before X took 
 his seat, and it had not been cut then ; B or C saw him 
 doing something unlike anything belonging to his 
 proper business, or only like the work of cutting the 
 desk ; and B, C or D noticed the name as freshly cut 
 immediately upon X's leaving his seat ; — this would be 
 of the nature of direct or personal evidence. 
 
GENEBAL ELEMENTS: INVESTIGATION. 157 
 
 If however it is in testimony, rather this, that A 
 saw the freshly cut name soon after X left his seat ; B 
 or C saw fresh whittlings adhering to his clothes after 
 he left the seat ; D found the point of the knife blade 
 broken off in the wood, which point corresponds 
 with a broken blade in X's knife ; E found blood 
 about the cutting, and X's finger proves to have been 
 freshly cut about that time ; these, with the fact that 
 it was X's name, or that the carving resembles other 
 carving of his name indisputably done by himself, 
 and no evidence appears that any one else did, or 
 could have any motive for doing the mischief, would 
 be of the nature of circumstantial evidence. 
 
 From what has been thus far suggested, it must be 
 evident that in the government of the school, circum- 
 stantial evidence, elsewhere in the administration of 
 justice admitted as affording sufficient proof, ought 
 not, except in rare cases, to be received as in itself 
 conclusive. In a commonwealth whose subjects are 
 so often weak and helpless, and over whom the au- 
 thority is so absolute, probability however strong can 
 not afford safe ground for the infliction of punishment. 
 Hence, the teacher's main reliance for proof should 
 rather be placed upon personal evidence, or direct 
 testimony. It is true, in cases of even grave offense, 
 it may be difficult, perhaps even impossible, to obtain 
 such evidence. Shall then the offender " shove by 
 justice ?" Doubtless : so long as certainty in judg- 
 ment cannot be attained, discipline must be suspended. 
 But the influence of impunity in the commission of 
 offenses is evil. Certainly, were such cases the com- 
 
158 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mon rule. They are, however, more likely to be in- 
 cidental, and will, to some extent, be counterbalanced 
 by the moral effect of an evident determination on 
 the part of the teacher, to forego even justice until it 
 is competent to stand forth, in its severity beyond 
 doubt or challenge. 
 
 In this connection, it is important to caution the 
 teacher against an error into which some unhappily 
 fall ; namely, that of compassing a confession by 
 stratagem. It is sometimes the case that, in the con- 
 scious absence of sufficient testimony, the teacher, in 
 laboring with the accused, puts on the show of having 
 established the fact of his guilt, in order to produce 
 in his mind, a conviction of the uselessness of further 
 concealment, and thus to induce an actual confession 
 of the fault. This course is objectionable on several 
 grounds. 
 
 In the first place, it is practically dishonest. It in- 
 volves falsehood by implication. The teacher says 
 by his action ; " I know all the facts. I am fully as- 
 sured of your guilt. I do not need your confession. 
 I only seek it for its influence on yourself, and its 
 bearing on the amount of the punishment." But not 
 one particle of this is true. Now the teacher should 
 take good heed that he does not attempt to establish 
 virtue through the intervention of an immorality. 
 
 In the second place, the use of such means cannot 
 but impair the teacher's own upright self-conscious- 
 ness, and so must naturally tend to destroy that clear 
 open sincerity and confidence of manner upon which 
 so much of his influence over the school depends. 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I INVESTIGATION. 159 
 
 He who can resort to such means, without himself 
 wearing the look of a conscious culprit, is either to 
 be pitied or detested ; certain it is, that if he deals 
 much in such base artifices, he will not long retain 
 in aspect, the fine upright glory of conscious purity 
 and honor. Hence, the teacher may better forego the 
 administration of presumptive justice rather than de- 
 moralize himself. 
 
 Lastly, the pupil is not always so obtuse or simple 
 as not to penetrate the deceitfulness of the artifice. 
 If he does pry into its hidden secret, an irreparable 
 blow has been inflicted upon the teacher's character 
 and influence. Even if the pupil does not clearly 
 discover the imposition, he will, in confessing his 
 fault and being punished, rebel in heart against both 
 however just, as having been reached in some way, 
 to which he has unwisely and half-inexplicably al- 
 lowed himself to be made an accomplice. The influ- 
 ence of any such conviction cannot but be injurious. 
 The civil law wisely relieves the accused from the 
 necessity of testifying against himself, and not merely 
 that he may be saved from the temptation to perjure 
 himself, but that, when he is condemned, he may 
 the more deeply realize the certainty of justice and 
 the righteousness of the authority. This lesson from 
 civil affairs should not be lost upon the teacher. 
 Let his discipline wait patiently until it is able to 
 stand on its own proper basis — sufficient evidence. 
 
 It remains only to give expression to a caution or 
 two in the use of circumstancial evidence, and we 
 pass from it. Regarding it chiefly as a species of 
 
160 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mere corroborative proof, it is incumbent on the 
 teacher always to accept it with great caution, and 
 to sift it with the utmost care. Especially let him 
 be upon his guard against that species of evidence 
 supposed to be found in personal indications of con- 
 scious guilt. A look of surprise, of apprehension, 
 or even of seeming shame, so often taken as proofs 
 of a child's guilt, is, by no means necessarily such. 
 Nay, in the case of children of a nervous, timid, or 
 aspiring character, it may be rather the natural and 
 conclusive indication of innocence. Let, then, such 
 appearances be searchingly scanned, and be clearly 
 discovered to be the foreboding shadow of a clouded 
 conscience, before they are allowed to fling their 
 darkness over the frowning judgment. 
 
 Keverting now to testimony proper, it will be ob- 
 served that its validity must rest upon the existence 
 of proper qualifications in the witness. A brief state- 
 ment of those qualifications will suffice for the present 
 purpose. Their propriety will be more or less self- 
 evident. They are these : 
 
 First. The pupil testifying, must have been clearly 
 in a position enabling him to be personally cognizant 
 of the facts whereof he affirms. 
 
 Secondly. He must claim to have been, and to all 
 appearances, must have been, thus directly cognizant 
 of those facts. 
 
 Thirdly. He must be of sufficient capacity to really 
 know, and to correctly make known, the facts he 
 claims to have witnessed. 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: INVESTIGATION. 161 
 
 Fourthly. He must be generally accepted by those 
 who know him, as properly veracious. 
 
 Fifthly. He must be free from any especial induce- 
 ment, from either impulsiveness, interest, fear, or 
 personal animosity, which might naturally cloud his 
 perceptions, or bias his representations. 
 
 Under this last head, it is necessary to caution the 
 teacher particularly against the peculiar tendency of 
 the child's haste in judgment and vividness of imagi- 
 nation, to control his convictions and shape his testi- 
 mony. Nothing is more common or natural, than for 
 the child, on finding facts leading to a conclusion, to 
 overleap, at once, the remaining steps, and assume 
 what is really to be proved, and then to create, as it 
 were, in his own conceptions, the very appearance 
 which he assumes to have witnessed. Any one who 
 has observed how perfectly the child's imagination 
 effects the most radical transformations in his con- 
 ceptions, and the absolute faith in which he will deal 
 with the transformation thus effected, as reality, will 
 realize the force of the caution here uttered. While, 
 however, the teacher keeps this caution in mind, let 
 him not fall into the error and injustice of charging 
 such perversion of fact to a want of truthfulness in 
 the child. Their source is, as suggested above, in 
 the intellect, and not in the heart. 
 
 The testimony obtained from proper witnesses may 
 be of three species ; namely, Simple, Accumulated, and 
 Concurrent Testimony. 
 
 Simple testimony is that which stands by itself, 
 
162 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and which is unsustained by anything beyond the 
 character of the single witness. 
 
 Accumulated testimony is that which, going beyond 
 the single witness, stands with other testimony of 
 a like kind obtained from multiplied witnesses. It is 
 sustained not only by the character of each witness, 
 but by the very faot of its accumulation. 
 
 Concurrent testimony, like accumulated testimony, 
 involves a multiplication of witnesses, and is, like 
 that, the stronger for this multiplication. The evi- 
 dence involved, does not, however, like that of accu- 
 mulated testimony, rest for its verity or force upon the 
 character of the witnesses, but only upon their concur- 
 rence. This is because the concurrence, in this way, 
 involves the fact ; namely, if the fact really occurred, 
 then such a concurrence becomes clearly possible ; if 
 it did not occur, then a concurrence is, as the case 
 may be, either not probable or not possible. 
 
 The characteristics of the testimony as a whole, 
 upon which the teacher may rest a decision, may 
 now be briefly stated. They are as follows : 
 
 First. It must be definite ; not vague or general. 
 
 Secondly. It must to a reasonable extent be accu- 
 mulated. Simple testimony should not be deemed 
 sufficient to conviction. No more in the school than 
 in the state, should the fate of the culprit lie in the 
 hands of a single witness. 
 
 Thirdly. It should be generally concurrent. A 
 proper concurrence is in fact the crowning element 
 in its strength. This may be seen as follows. 
 
 The grounds of the strength of concurrent testi- 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: INVESTIGATION. 163 
 
 mony are twofold : namely, first, the impossibility or 
 improbability of collusion on the part of the wit- 
 nesses : secondly, the absence of any motives in the 
 individual witnesses, which are adequate to lead to 
 the given testimony, without supposing the reality of 
 the fact to which they testify. If both these points 
 can be established, or if it is impossible to detect any- 
 thing to the contrary, the evidence is valid and con- 
 clusive. And this will be so, unimportant differences 
 in the individual testimony, to the contrary notwith- 
 standing. Nay, so long as there is a clear concur- 
 rence as to the main facts, the evidence is really the 
 stronger for these divergencies. 
 
 This may be illustrated by a simple formula. For 
 example, let the several testimonies be represented 
 by A, B, and C ; the main fact by D ; and the unim- 
 portant divergencies by e, f, and g. We have then 
 the following : A = D + e, 
 
 B=D + f, and 
 
 G=D+g. 
 Combining these by addition, we have : 
 
 A + B + C-^D + e + f+g. 
 Here it is clear that D, in which there was a con- 
 currence, has acquired a threefold strength in itself, 
 and so much further importance as is embraced in 
 the sum of e, f, and g. 
 
 Even if the divergencies in minor points, are con- 
 tradictory, the result is still decisive. Let 
 
 A=D + e, 
 
 B=D— e, and 
 
 C=D + f. 
 
164 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Combining as before, we have : 
 
 A + B + C=3D + f. 
 
 In this case D's force in itself is reduplicated as 
 before, and is still further supplemented by f, so that 
 it is stronger for the divergencies, although some of 
 them were contradictory. 
 
 To apply this to a practical case. Suppose that, as 
 in a previous illustration, X has been charged with 
 cutting his desk. Now, A testifies that he saw him 
 do it, and with the little blade of his knife ; B testi- 
 fies that he saw him do it, but with the big blade in- 
 stead of the little one ; and D that he saw him do it, 
 did not see which blade he used, but heard the blade 
 break, and knows that the point found in the desk be- 
 longs to a large rather than a small blade. Here the 
 main fact is raised to a. threefold certainty ; and the 
 certainty is the greater because the divergence in the 
 individual testimony evinces intelligence and inde- 
 pendence in the witnesses. Nor does the contra- 
 dictory divergence of A's and B's testimony impair 
 the force of the evidence, since it is every way prob- 
 able that both are correct. For it is easy to see that 
 C might have first used the smaller blade, and after- 
 wards, from fear of breaking it, changed it for the 
 larger one, before B's attention was called to the act 
 he was perpetrating. 
 
 Other illustrations might be given, but we think 
 the teacher will now be able to apply the foregoing 
 principles for himself. We have taken the pains to 
 develop these logical points so that, in the absence 
 of other sources of information, he may havo at hand 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: DECISION. 165 
 
 enough to answer any such individual and immediate 
 want. 
 
 The element in judgment as a part of school gov- 
 ernment which remains to be considered, is Decision. 
 Decision is the final determination in the teacher's 
 mind, of the innocence or the guilt of the accused ; 
 and, if the latter, of its relative demerit and proper 
 measure of punishment. 
 
 This decision to be valid and complete, must be 
 marked by two characteristics ; namely, it must be 
 positive, overt and explicit. 
 
 As positive, it must embrace either the one or the 
 other result, either that of actual innocence or actual 
 guilt. No halfway conclusion should be accepted. 
 If the guilt be not established, whatever may be the 
 possibilities, assume, as has been before demanded, 
 that the accused is innocent. We hold this principle 
 to be even more imperative in school government 
 than in civil government. 
 
 It is necessary, too, that the decision, when distinctly 
 attained, should be publicly declared. It is neither 
 just to the culprit nor good for the school, that it 
 should be allowed to remain delayed or concealed 
 and consequently inoperative. The steps of the in- 
 vestigation are known : so should be the end reached. 
 And the announcement of the decision should be 
 prompt and explicit. Any halfway, dilatory, or equiv- 
 ocal statement of the teacher's real conviction and 
 determination is discreditable to him and injurious 
 to the school. Let the teacher, at once, kindly but 
 fearlessly render a clear verdict and pass the just 
 
1GG SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 sentence. Nothing can well be more unreasonable 
 and even hateful than the timid or malicious procras- 
 tination- or prevarication involved in the too common 
 announcement ; " I cannot attend to the matter now :" 
 or " I will let you know my decision by and by." It 
 not only impeaches the teacher's judgment Or his 
 courage, but it aggravates the pupil's spirit and per- 
 haps determines him upon a fiercer resistance to the 
 subsequent discipline. 
 
 • From what has thus far been urged, it will be quite 
 evident what must be the general characteristics of 
 judgment in the government of the school. It must 
 be, beyond a doubt, deliberate, comprehensive, righteous, 
 and decisive. "Without proper deliberateness there 
 can be in the teacher, neither that air of quiet 
 strength nor that evident care to secure even-handed 
 justice, which are necessary to his highest influence 
 as a ruler. Without such comprehensiveness in judg- 
 ment as embraces both sides of disputed questions 
 and all the facts bearing upon their full elucidation, 
 no teacher can be secure against undue bias, and 
 against the ultimate impairing of the general con- 
 fidence in the candor and rectitude of his deci- 
 sions. And without that prompt and explicit deci- 
 siveness which, after due investigation, brings a case 
 to a clear and unmistakable conclusion, his govern- 
 ment will fail to command that conviction of its 
 strength and determination, which must underlie just 
 reverence and implicit submission. On these points, 
 no further enlargement is necessary. 
 
 It only remains to add, that it will be seen that no 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : DECISION. 1G7 
 
 provision whatever is made for what may be termed 
 popular decisions in the school, — that is decision by 
 the voice of the pupils. This has been for the reason 
 that, while it is not denied that, in certain limited 
 cases, and for the attainment of minor ends, they 
 may be admissible, they are held to be incompatible 
 with the true view of the school government as auto- 
 cratic ; with the just duty of the teacher as sole ruler ; 
 and with his proper dignity as truly capacitated for 
 his place. Any common or important resort to them 
 must therefore be either deceptive, or if not deceptive, 
 practically absurd, and dangerous. The specific de- 
 velopment of this in application must, however, be 
 reserved for another place. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GENERAL ELEMENTS CONTINUED — DISCIPLTNE — CORREC- 
 TION OR ENFORCEMENT, PREVENTIVE. 
 
 Correction defined and classified as Preventive and Penal — Preven- 
 tive correction defined— Related to arrangement and management — 
 Specific measures — Rewards defined and classified as Consequential and 
 Authoritative — Kinds distinguished — General grounds of lawfulness — 
 Authoritative rewards of the nature of positive institutions — Desire 
 of approval inherent — Abstract virtue beyond the child's comprehen- 
 sion — Authoritative rewards classified as Public Approval, Conferred 
 Privileges and Formal Gifts — Public approval considered — Its use of sym- 
 bols — Requisites to effectiveness — Must be formally expressed — Must 
 be protected against discredit — Conferred privileges distinguished — 
 Superiority of this class — Classified as privileges of Regard; of Com- 
 fort; of Recreation ; and of Improvement — Kinds exemplified — Requi- 
 sites to effectiveness — Must obtain the teacher's interest — Must be held 
 as resumable — Gifts classified, as Gifts of Pleasure and Profit— Kinds 
 distinguished and compared — Gifts of pleasure appeal to the fancy or 
 the imagination — Superiority of the latter — Gifts of profit classified as, 
 affording recreation, real advantage, and aesthetic improvement — 
 Kinds distinguished, and worth compared — Grounds of bestowing 
 gifts twofold; as the basis of mere achievements, and of worthy effort 
 — The latter superior— Manner of bestoivtnent — Must be bestowed pub- 
 licly — Must evince interest — Must be bestowed with discretion— With 
 careful adaptation — Common failure as to adaptation — Bestowed as a 
 grace, and not as a compensation — The error of offering prim* — Induce 
 mercenary effort— Are not resumable — System of " Demerit Marks" 
 deferred to a subsequent chapter. 
 
 We come now to the last of the general elements of 
 discipline in school government ; namely, Correction 
 or Enforcement. 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 169 
 
 Correction we understand to be inclusive of what- 
 ever means the teacher may employ to secure the 
 freedom of the school from offenses against its order 
 and welfare. Correction will, hence, naturally re- 
 solve itself into two kinds ; namely, Preventive and 
 Penal Correction. 
 
 Preventive correction naturally includes all the 
 measures adopted by the teacher, to preclude the oc- 
 currence of occasions for transgression, or to counter- 
 act any positive temptations to wrong-doing, which 
 may exist or arise in the school. 
 
 Of these measures, many of the more general cast 
 will be found included under the head of order, as 
 previously discussed. Hence, nothing more will be 
 needed here, than simply to call the attention of the 
 teacher to the fact that whatever he may do to secure 
 sufficient employment or proper relaxation for his 
 pupils ; whatever he may do to awaken their interest 
 or secure their respect ; whatever he may do to make 
 his regulations simple, explicit, and reasonable, and 
 to render his management animated, reliable, and 
 genial, will, while bearing more directly upon the 
 order of the school, operate effectively also upon the 
 discipline, to prevent the occurrence of either oppor- 
 tunity or inducement to the perpetration of otherwise 
 unthought of misdemeanors. And thus will the wise 
 and masterly ordering of the school serve as admira- 
 ble and, to an important extent, effective means for 
 the prevention, or precautionary correction, of proba- 
 ble offenses. 
 
 But, besides these general means, opportunity may 
 
170 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 occur for the wise adoption of specific measures not 
 definitely provided for in the foregoing suggestions. 
 For example, the teacher may find certain contin- 
 gencies of location, association, amusement or per- 
 sonal feeling, practically offering a premium upon 
 mischief or violence. Thus, a pupil of a mischievous 
 habit may be occupying a seat which so screens him 
 from observation as to favor his roguish projects, and 
 thus multiplies them. Again, two of a like restless 
 and disorderly nature may, by being seated together, 
 become the very flint and steel of mischief in active 
 contact, from which, " like fire in heather set," 
 nothing can be expected but speedy and, perhaps 
 destructive, conflagration. Or, a child of feeble and 
 yielding nature may be so situated as to fall un- 
 der the constant influence or control of a vicious 
 boy who will lead him into evil he would not 
 otherwise have contemplated. It is also quite pos- 
 sible for certain sports, in themselves innocent 
 enough, to favor the rise of disturbances which could 
 not occur in the case of others that might be sub- 
 stituted for them ; or pupils, from antecedent col- 
 lision, may be so affected towards each other that, for 
 them to be left to go their way at the same time, or to 
 get together away from under the teacher's eye, will 
 lead to new difficulties. 
 
 In all such cases, the teacher must promptly anti- 
 cipate the movements of the enemy, and, if possible, 
 flank his position. This he may do, by, for fair rea- 
 sons, or without indicating any reasons, changing the 
 seat of the secluded rogue, bringing him " to the 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 171 
 
 front ;" by separating those pupils whose influence 
 on each other will be detrimental ; by directing the 
 school amusements into better channels, and by 
 shrewdly preventing communication or simultaneous 
 and unobserved movements on the part of bellige- 
 rents. No detailed directions can be given him for 
 effecting these objects successfully. The method 
 must be his own, to be either legitimate or effective. 
 
 A still more important preventive means of cor- 
 recting the possible occurrence of offenses, must be 
 found in the right use of rewards as a stimulus to 
 application and obedience. 
 
 Under the term retcards, we include whatever of 
 either pleasure or profit, a person may, from either 
 the constitution of things, or the positive provisions 
 of authority, attain or win for his obedience or well- 
 doing. Rewards may hence be classified under two 
 general heads ; Consequential Beiuards and Authorita- 
 tive Bernards, 
 
 Consequential rewa rds are such personal benefits 
 in either condition of body, state of mind, or asso- 
 ciated relations, as naturally follow a course of action 
 accordant with the laws of things. Thus, he who is 
 frugal in his fare and temperate in his habits, is re- 
 warded with sound health and physical comfort ; he 
 who obeys the laws of rectitude, is blessed with an 
 approving conscience and a mind at rest ; and he who 
 conducts himself with uniform fidelity and good will, 
 wins the confidence and co-operation of others in his 
 own behalf. All such rewards are commonly regard- 
 ed as the consequences of right action, and, hence, are 
 
172 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 considered as rewards only in a restricted sense. 
 This is due to the fact that they are the original and 
 invariable results attached to primal and universal 
 laws, the institution of which is so far removed from 
 our knowledge, that the whole appears in our con- 
 sciousness, not so much the product of authority, 
 (which it none the less is,) as the mere spontaneous 
 ongoing of cause and effect. 
 
 Authoritative rewards are such favors or benefits 
 bodily, mental or social, as are bestowed in the right- 
 ful exercise of authority by the higher power, upon 
 those who are judged as especially meritorious, gen- 
 erally, as meritorious beyond anything attaching to 
 the naked performance of express duty. This species 
 embraces those rewards commonly understood as such, 
 and it is concerning the use of these in the school 
 that there arises so much dispute among teachers, 
 resulting simply in the unfortunate confusion of many 
 minds, and the practical waste of much logic. 
 
 Of the proper use of rewards in school government, 
 as elsewhere, it is thoroughly certain that it is legiti- 
 mate, and that, whether that be admitted or not, no 
 efforts to the contrary will avail under the present 
 constitution of things, to discharge it from its prac- 
 tical place and power among the elements of human 
 influence and control. And this, for the following 
 reasons. 
 
 First. Authoritative rewards are of the nature of 
 positive institutions, or those institutions which, while 
 they do not arise in the line, and under the laws of 
 natural cause and effect, and are not, therefore, ne- 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 173 
 
 cessary to the existence or operation of things as 
 originally constituted, are still neither contradictory 
 to that original constitution of things, nor in any- 
 wise dispensable under its present modifications 
 and necessities, but are the clear practical product 
 of a potent and provident authority which, through 
 them, rightfully meets and satisfies existing and other- 
 wise unmanageable emergencies in the operation of 
 the moral system. Of this nature, are all such insti- 
 tutions as the church, civil government, even the 
 school organization itself ; and also all such regula- 
 tions, as laws of marriage, laws of contracts, rules 
 for political action, rules for judicial trial, and penal 
 statutes ; and until all these, evidently not necessary 
 under the original constitution of things, nor neces- 
 sarily related to the natural operations of cause and 
 effect, can be abrogated, the institution and use of 
 rewards stands with them, immovable. 
 
 Secondly. The desire of approval for well-doing 
 finds an ultimate and steadfast foothold in the very 
 nature of the moral susceptibility. Until the spirit 
 be constituted so as to abjure all claim for approval, 
 and the conscience shall no longer assume the power 
 of " accusing or else excusing" the moral agent, the 
 desire for rewards, and the impulse to bestow them, 
 must remain imbedded in the first instincts of our 
 nature. For what is a gift or a reward, other than 
 an outward and substantial symbolizing of the in- 
 ward approval of the course pursued or the act per- 
 formed? Hence, always, the natural prompting of 
 the highest satisfaction, gratitude or love, is to get 
 
174 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 out of mere fleeting looks or works, and into a some- 
 thing more tangible and enduring, that, in its pos- 
 sessed and treasured substance, shall seem to set 
 forth more fully the power of the inward affection, 
 and shall, when the personal exhibition of that affec- 
 tion has passed away, stand out clear and impressive 
 before the sense, as its hallowed monument. 
 
 Thirdly. Whatever may be possible in the mature 
 man, in the line of that sublime abstraction, " virtue 
 is its own reward," the child is neither equal to such 
 abstractions, nor are they demanded of him. They 
 may, it is true, be gradually wrought by instruction 
 into the body of his thought, for the sake of their 
 ultimate effect on his principles as a man. But, em- 
 braced as he is, in a world of perceived realities, and 
 only capable of attaining the subtler ideals by pas- 
 sing to them through the fine gradations of a pro- 
 gressively reduced and sublimated reality, it is absurd 
 and tyrannous to rob him of the stimulus, guidance 
 and aid of proper rewards as outward realities fore- 
 shadowing the ideal of absolute virtue, and rendering 
 possible both its conception and attainment. 
 
 On these grounds, then, we hold the use of rewards 
 to be legitimate and necessary, and regard the ob- 
 jections commonly urged, as only valid when applied 
 to their misapplication or abuse. That such abuse 
 is quite possible and, indeed, too common, we readily 
 admit. Some notice of this abuse may be taken 
 hereafter. But.it is sufficient, here, to urge that the 
 abuse of a thing, so far from demanding its condem- 
 nation, is often indicative of a higher excellence in 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 175 
 
 its proper use, since, as Luther has remarked : " The 
 best of God's blessings are often the worst abused." 
 
 Authoritative or positive rewards, as thus recog- 
 nized, may be distributed into three kinds : Public 
 Approval, Conferred Privileges, and Formal Gifts. 
 
 By public approval, we mean such a marked re- 
 cognition of merit, before the whole school, as dis- 
 tinguishes the pupil from his fellows, and declares 
 him to be worthy of general esteem and imitation. 
 In the state, it finds its parallel in the deliberate 
 vote of thanks, or the decree that the 'citizen has 
 deserved well of the commonwealth.' 
 
 As in the state, such public commendation may be 
 accompanied by some tangible symbol, such as medals, 
 badges, or decorations ; so in the school, the teacher 
 may make effective use of corresponding means for 
 giving to his public approval of the pupil's course, a 
 sensible and permanent manifestation. In the case 
 of the larger number of pupils, some such badge or 
 symbol is almost necessary to a full appreciation of 
 the reality of the praise bestowed. The grounds of 
 this necessity will be readily apprehended by those 
 who have carefully considered the child's nature as 
 presented in a previous chapter. 
 
 There are, however, certain requisites to the 
 effectiveness of this species of reward, which, we 
 think, are too generally disregarded, and the absence 
 of which is, we believe, the real cause of the doubt 
 which teachers entertain of its utility. All such de- 
 clarations of merit, to command the real respect of 
 the school, must command the marked attention and 
 
176 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 regard of the teacher. Given carelessly or informally, 
 and without his subsequent steady and respectful re- 
 cognition, they will be regarded by the school as 
 mere idle words, and, as such, will degenerate into 
 mere occasions for mischievous innuendos, than 
 which, nothing can exert a worse influence upon the 
 meritorious pupil and others sincerely emulous of his 
 example. Let the teacher then see to it, that due 
 solemnity attaches to the act of public approval, and 
 that the use of its appropriate symbols is always 
 protected against "ridicule. Indeed, all such ridicule 
 should be treated as itself an offense, not only against 
 the rights of the pupil, but also against the respect 
 due to the teacher. 
 
 Private commendation is not here considered, not 
 because it is excluded, but because it belongs under 
 the head of natural or constitutional rewards, before 
 mentioned. It comes more within the natural line of 
 moral cause and effect ; for the worthy pupil has just 
 as much right, and indeed the same right, to expect 
 the private approval of his course by the teacher, as 
 its approval by his own conscience. That such ap- 
 proval, under only the restrictions of prudence, is to 
 be bestowed when deserved, needs not be argued. 
 It is a law of the moral instincts. 
 
 Under the head of conferred privileges, we include 
 all such liberties, favors or personal advantages, as 
 may, in the teacher's wise exercise of his supreme 
 authority, be, by positive provisions, conferred upon 
 the meritorious pupil. These privileges must, of 
 course, involve no subtraction from, or infringement 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 177 
 
 of, the rights of others. They are simply of the 
 nature of higher or supplementary individual rights, 
 open to the ambition of all, but due only to those 
 distinguished by specific and really attained merit. 
 
 The bestowment of such privileges, it will be seen, 
 involves a public approval, and is subject to the same 
 requisites with that. It, however, transcends public 
 approval in rank and effectiveness, inasmuch as it 
 involves more substantial tokens of recognized merit. 
 Approval involving the use of some distinguishing 
 symbol or badge, approaches these privileges some- 
 what, but still differs from them in the fact that it is 
 a mere honor conferred, and not a real advantage at- 
 tained. This real or substantial advantage, or one 
 regarded as such by the pupil, is a cardinal element 
 in this species of reward. It must be the teacher's 
 study to secure its actual presence in the conferred 
 privilege. 
 
 These privileges may be conveniently classified un- 
 der several heads ; as, Privileges of Regard ; of Com- 
 fort ; of Recreation ; and of Improvement. 
 
 Without resorting to any formal definition, these 
 kinds of reward may be briefly and practically pre- 
 sented with sufficient clearness by simple illustrations. 
 It will now readily occur to the thoughtful teacher 
 how, according to the different susceptibilities of de- 
 serving pupils, he may extend to one the privilege of 
 sitting by, or walking with the teacher, or of being 
 allowed to do him some special service ; to another, 
 the right to occupy some favorite or peculiarly at- 
 tractive seat ; to another, some additional means of 
 
178 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 amusement or time for play, or a part in some espe- 
 cial scheme of pleasure or recreation projected by the 
 teacher ; and to another, the right to engage in some 
 exercise or study beyond his ordinary course ; — 
 in these ways distinguishing each as worthy, and 
 practically rewarding him according to his merits. 
 
 These rewards possess some peculiar advantages. 
 Eising, for example, above the possible emptiness of a 
 mere honor, they involve a substantial benefit which 
 appeals to the better feelings rather than to the mer- 
 cenary impulses. Beyond this, there is the advantage 
 resulting from the fact that they may be temporarily 
 conferred, or may be resumed in case of delinquency. 
 Thus they may not only be endowed with double value 
 by the simple possibility of their being forfeited ; but 
 they may, by being conferred on others, be made sus- 
 ceptible of a wider use and application. 
 
 But in order that these rewards, too little esteemed 
 or employed in the government of our schools, may 
 be made thoroughly effective, proper provision must 
 be made for their application, and a real interest 
 in their bestowment must be evinced. This interest 
 must also be not only evident but permanent, for 
 necessarily the pupil's esteem for them can not be 
 expected to rise above the manifest value attached to 
 them by the teacher. At least, the expert in reading 
 human nature will not expect the child to prize for 
 any length of time, the things which he finds others, 
 and especially those above him, holding as practically 
 more or less wortliless. What is held as dear by one, 
 is very naturally held to be desirablo by another. 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 179 
 
 In this direction also, important use may be made 
 of the principle of resumption upon forfeiture, as al- 
 ready indicated. A steady conviction of the possi- 
 bility and the propriety of such a resumption of the 
 conferred privileges, will, not only serve to demon- 
 strate the teacher's regard for their unimpaired 
 worth and justice, but it will serve also to perpetuate 
 in the pupil's mind a just idea of their true nature 
 and end, and will also operate as a steady stimulus 
 toward persistence in the meritorious course so aus- 
 piciously begun, — all of them objects too important 
 to be, for one moment, overlooked or disregarded. 
 
 We now come to the last class of rewards enumer- 
 ated ; namely, Gifts, a species sufficiently defined by 
 their title. These may be conveniently classed as of 
 two kinds ; Gifts of Pleasure or Profit. 
 
 Under the head of gifts of pleasure, may be includ- 
 ed all articles bestowed as rewards, which are of a 
 kind appealing to the child's love of amusement, or to 
 his sense of the curious or the beautiful. These nat- 
 urally arrange themselves under three divisions, in- 
 cluding severally such as address themselves to the 
 active powers, to the fancy or to the imagination. 
 Of these, the two former are the more available in the 
 case of the younger class of pupils ; but the latter are 
 of the higher order both as it regards their relation 
 to a purer taste and a more enduring influence. It is 
 worthy of observation, however, that the child's im- 
 agination is not so much cognitive as dramatic : he 
 readily creates character and scenes in his daily 
 amusements ; but he does not at all penetrate through 
 
180 SCHOOL GOVEKNMENT. 
 
 the outer shell of the beautiful, to the hidden soul en- 
 shrined within, by the exercise of the creative imagi- 
 nation. Hence, whatever is addressed to his fancy, 
 and to that fancy as somewhat barbaric in its charac- 
 ter, will most commonly give him, for the time being, 
 the greater pleasure. The value of such gifts, how- 
 ever, is fancied rather than real ; and their capacity 
 to produce pleasure is, consequently, limited and 
 short-lived. 
 
 Under the head of gifts of profit, we include what- 
 ever rewards may be applied either chiefly or purely 
 to some economic or useful end. These may be 
 briefly enumerated as of three kinds. First, those 
 which, while affording the child a means of proper 
 amusement, carefully shape that amusement to some 
 useful end of either development or improvement. As 
 examples of these, we may mention the various his- 
 torical, biographical and geographical games so abun- 
 dant at the present time, and the numerous illustrated 
 books upon useful subjects. 
 
 Secondly, those susceptible of conducing to the 
 supply of the child's substantial wants either bodily 
 or mentally. Examples of this kind of gifts may be 
 found in articles of apparel, (applicable in the case 
 of the more destitute class of pupils) ; appliances for 
 toilet use ; articles important in the lighter domestic 
 employments of girls ; such as are useful in writing, 
 drawing, or the care of books, and, lastly, books of 
 solid merit and practical utility. 
 
 Thirdly, those gifts which are of a mixed charac- 
 ter, possessing, not merely a substantial utility, but 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 181 
 
 giving large prominence to the demands of the aes- 
 thetic nature as requiring culture and gratification. 
 As examples of these, some of those mentioned under 
 the preceding head, when they are of a peculiarly 
 ornate or artistic character, may be cited. Others 
 may be found in illustrated works on natural history, 
 science or art, or works of a standard character in 
 the field of polite literature, — the whole ranging from 
 the simple engraving or oil painting, to the choicest 
 specimens of the English classics. Of this last 
 species of gifts, it is to be observed, that, within their 
 proper field of application, they possess a marked 
 superiority over all others, and for the two reasons, 
 that they extend their influence over more of the 
 pupil's susceptibilities ; and, touching the aesthetic 
 faculty, they bring themselves into closer adjacency 
 to the moral nature, towards which, as will be seen 
 hereafter, all such appliances of discipline must faith- 
 fully and firmly look and labor. 
 
 And this brings us naturally to the consideration 
 of that most important topic, the ground upon which 
 alone, rewards may be properly conferred. Its im- 
 portance will appear in the simple fact that the reward 
 often takes its substantial character from the cause 
 for which it was conferred, or the principle which de- 
 termined its bestowment. It is here, much as it is in 
 the case of moral action, the character of which is 
 often purely dependent on the inspiring motive. 
 
 These grounds of bestowment may, we think, be 
 twofold; the ground of achievement and that of 
 effort ; that is, you may bestow rewards for something 
 
182 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 that has been done, or for something that has simply 
 been worthily attempted. In the former case, the 
 measure of the reward must, of course, be the meas- 
 ure of the amount accomplished; in the latter, it 
 must be guaged altogether by the sum of the effort 
 made. 
 
 It is too commonly the case in our schools, that 
 rewards are bestowed exclusively upon the ground of 
 achievement. Now, we grant that there may be oc- 
 casions for the choice of this basis of bestowment as 
 necessary to the attainment of desirable ends. But 
 it will be quite clear to .the observing manager and 
 moralist, that these should be sternly classed and 
 considered as the exceptions, and not as the rule. 
 And for this reason, that the measure of actual ac- 
 complishment is by no means always the measure of 
 true merit, since, either because of higher natural en- 
 dowments, or because of manifold more helps and 
 advantages, one pupil may, with even less regard for 
 the law of the school, and with really no noble inten- 
 tion or endeavor, accomplish more than another who 
 finely exhibits these higher characteristics, but who 
 has been less favored in both endowments and cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Hence, the bestowment of rewards upon the ground 
 of the worthy effort made, must commend itself to every 
 one as, in all respects, the better course, — nay, as the 
 only one which can be either wisely or justly adopted 
 as the law of the school. For, upon no other basis, 
 can the discipline of the school as administered in 
 the bestowment of theso incentives to right action, 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 183 
 
 either place itself on a proper moral foundation, or 
 reach those characters which, before all others, need 
 and claim its correcting or elevating influences. Be- 
 stow rewards upon this basis, however, and you re- 
 cognize, not mere abstract results, but motive, spirit, 
 character, which is, after all, the real thing you are 
 endeavoring to reach and develop under your disci- 
 pline. Bestow rewards on this basis, and you will 
 reach and inspire with better hopes and aims, many 
 a pupil susceptible of actual redemption from his 
 worst failings and faults, who, under any other course, 
 would sink into the complete stupor of hopelessness 
 and self-abandonment. 
 
 Before leaving this topic, some attention needs to 
 be given to the characteristics which should mark 
 the manner in which rewards are bestowed ; since, 
 it is quite possible here, as elsewhere, for manner to 
 outweigh matter in the production of results. Indeed, 
 we are fully of the opinion that many of the objections 
 urged, as it is often supposed with valid force, against 
 the use of rewards, hold good, not at all against their 
 use, but only against the manner in which they are 
 bestowed. 
 
 We urge then, that rewards, to have their best 
 effect, must be bestowed publicly and with due cere- 
 mony. From the objective tendencies of children, 
 as before noticed* it must be seen that they are crea- 
 tures of pomp and show, and borrow largely from the 
 outward symbols of an act or an instrument, their 
 ideas of its intrinsic worth and dignity. Hence, re- 
 wards of whatever species they may be, if bestowed 
 
184 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 in private or informally, will come to be seriously 
 cheapened in the child's estimation, and will not long 
 be regarded as objects deserving of high ambition or 
 strenuous effort. 
 
 Besides this, the teacher, if at all possessed of his 
 true place in the minds of his pupils, is their stand- 
 ard : they conform their measures of value or impor- 
 tance, to what they apprehend to be the teacher's 
 estimate. Hence, let the teacher turn off the bestow- 
 ment of rewards in a careless uninterested manner, 
 and the pupil will, sooner or later, turn off his recep- 
 tion of them in similar style. It is a fixed law of all 
 dealing with human nature, that, if you would make 
 others count much upon anything, you must first 
 make much of it yourself. Make as much, then, as 
 you consistently can, of the bestowment of favors 
 and rewards. 
 
 Something in the direction of this deep interest 
 can be done by after notice and inquiry as to their 
 nature, the use that has been made of them, and the 
 pleasure which they have produced. In the case of 
 gifts possessing a literary or artistic excellence, some 
 pains should be taken to direct the pupil's attention 
 to the peculiar points of admiration. A gift, wisely 
 chosen with reference to some such subsequent use, 
 may be made a means of especial interest and influ- 
 ence in the school. Called up as a subject of public 
 remark, and skilfully presented in the light of its 
 excellence or utility, it becomes a double prize to its 
 owner and a double incentive to the school. 
 
 Bestow your rewards also with great discretion. 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 185 
 
 They are an extraordinary means of attaining an im- 
 portant, though not properly an extraordinary end. 
 Hence, nothing can be more injudicious or absurd, 
 than a lavish or undiscriminating bestowment of 
 them. Confer them where there is not a clear and 
 outstanding merit, and they become practically a lie : 
 deal them out broadcast, as is too commonly done, 
 and they become even worse than a lie : they are a 
 mere farce. The former method, unjust as it is, is 
 quite compatible with strength and character in the 
 government of the school : the latter is only consist- 
 ent with goodish weakness and want of sense in the 
 teacher. 
 
 Still further, let proper adaptation in the rewards 
 conferred, be carefully studied. The only sensible 
 law on this point, is this : that just as age, condition, 
 and character vary, so must the rewards. As well 
 fail to discriminate in requirement and correction, as 
 neglect to discriminate in the specific adaptation 
 of conferred privileges or gifts. Such a mark of ap- 
 proval as would thrill the very heart of one pupil, 
 would, to another, possess little or no interest, and to 
 still another, would prove only a subject of ridicule. 
 It is, hence, both idle and wasteful to mete out gifts 
 to all in the same style and measure. It would com- 
 pare well with the wisdom and economy of the farmer, 
 who should gather into one inclosure his entire stock 
 of animals, from his trotting horse, down to his pet 
 bantam, and should scatter broadcast before them 
 the same general kind of provender. 
 
 It is for the lack of a just observance of this prin- 
 
186 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ciple, that the rewards of merit, commonly conferred 
 in our schools, so often fail to excite the interest or 
 produce the salutary results expected. It is, hence, 
 in this direction,, that the teacher may, not only evince 
 his nice discrimination of character, and his fine tact 
 in touching individual peculiarities, but may exert a 
 most salutary power to give proper effectiveness to 
 his means of precautionary correction, and to secure 
 a truer appreciation of his measures, and a higher 
 style of sentiment, throughout the school. 
 
 Lastly. Let rewards be conferred purely as a grace, 
 and not as a matter of mere compensation. This in- 
 volves two points ; namely, first, their bestowment as 
 a free exercise of simple authority, and not as a ne- 
 cessary duty ; and, secondly, their bestowment purely 
 as a provisional consequent upon proper well-doing, 
 and not at all as its stipulated price. It is neither 
 inconsistent nor injurious for the pupil to receive the 
 reward, feeling that it is an authoritative result of 
 his well-doing, and a positive symbol of his approved 
 merit. But, for him to become impressed or influ- 
 enced by the notion that he is to do well that he may 
 obtain the reward, is utterly false in principle and 
 vicious in effect. It is practically, to make the ful- 
 fillment of duty a mere matter of barter. 
 
 It is in this direction, that we are to look for the 
 real objection to the offering of prizes. Offer a prize 
 for the performance of any duty, or the accomplish- 
 ment of any proper work, and, whether it be a mere 
 honor won or a gain acquired, the pupil is subjected 
 to a direct and pvjworful tomptation to sink all true 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PREVENTIVE CORRECTION. 187 
 
 and noble motive in mere mercenary ambition and 
 endeavor. He will be hardly human, if he does not 
 sooner or later, under their deceptive stimulus, de- 
 generate into a mere hireling. And the natural con- 
 sequence of such a submergence of principle, and 
 Buch a practical degradation of character; will be the 
 Uprising of that selfishness which so commonly, in 
 connection with the offering of prizes, develops itself 
 in evil arts, in narrow rivalry, and in subsequent 
 heart-burning and recrimination. 
 
 Hence, while we are not prepared to condemn the 
 offering of prizes altogether — for, we can conceive of 
 cases in which, with all their concomitant evils, they 
 may appear as a necessary means to an indispensable 
 though imperfect good — yet, we must urge that they 
 are to be held as a purely occasional and extraordi- 
 nary means, and not at all as a fixed or desirable 
 element in discipline. Rather than suffer them to 
 usurp this latter place in the least degree, let them 
 be proscribed altogether. 
 
 It is proper to add further, that prizes bestowed as 
 rewards, are subject, like gifts, to this grave defect ; 
 that they are, in their very nature, irresumable ; they 
 are beyond reach of forfeiture. However immedi- 
 ately or grossly a rewarded pupil may abandon or 
 reverse his praiseworthy course, you have no power 
 to inflict censure by the retraction of the reward. 
 You are, moreover, by the necessary finality of its 
 bestowment, cut off from the power to hold out the 
 possibility of a forfeiture, as an incentive to continued 
 and persistent well-doing, the securing of which is 
 
188 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the real end sought in your approval. Hence, the 
 superiority of the former species of rewards becomes 
 evident. Hence, also, it becomes clear that prizes 
 are more consistently ultimate ; that is, they more 
 properly find their place at the end of a pupil's course 
 under the school authority. 
 
 It may occur to some, that under this general head, 
 some notice should be taken of the so-called system 
 of " demerit marks." The discussion of that system, 
 like that of several others of a specific character, will, 
 however, be deferred for the present. And for the 
 reasons, that it is somewhat mixed in its character, 
 partaking both of the nature of rewards and of pun- 
 ishments, — a fact which properly assigns it a place 
 elsewhere ; and because the variety of considerations 
 connected with its examination in detail, together 
 with their somewhat diversified relations, and their 
 grave importance, renders a distinct examination both 
 more consistent and convenient. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 GENEBAL ELEMENTS CONTINUED. DISCIPLINE — PENAL COR- 
 EECTION — THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Penal correction defined — Punishment defined— Restricted use of the 
 term — Theory of" natural reactions" (Spencer's) stated — Objections to the 
 theory — Based exclusively upon assumptions with regard to reaction- 
 ary discipline in physical nature — These assumptions unwarranted — 
 The theory framed with reference to physical rather than moral being — 
 Hence, inadequate to reach the higher offenses — Illustration — It 
 ignores fixed distinctions between mind and matter — Ignores cardinal 
 facts in the condition oj the moral nature — Depraved will may nullify 
 internal moral reactions — The external reactions may be wanting — 
 Moral reactions altogether contingent and uncertain — Theory fails to 
 distinguish the authoritative from the consequential — Does not distin- 
 guish the authoritative from the non-authoritative — Government can 
 symbolize its displeasure only through positive inflictions — Cardinal 
 distinctions between government of nature and of authority — Assumed 
 superiority of the " natural reaction" scheme a fallacy — Humanitarian 
 scheme— Relation to the reaction scheme — Animus of both — Infliction 
 of pain as punishment, a necessity in nature — Pain in physical nature 
 a means to a moral end — Human power to inflict pain under author- 
 ity, not usurped or tyrannous — Non-infliction of pain not necessarily 
 humane — Source of the objection to pain, excessive sympathy with the 
 individual — Reformatory scheme — Discipline, not primarily, nor chiefly 
 reformatory — The grand end, the protection of the innocent and the 
 conservation of the body politic — No practical escape from the use of 
 punishment in the school — How reduce its amount — By removing occa- 
 sions for transgression— By the institution of exact and effective dis- 
 cipline — By the use of moral instruction — The introduction of moral 
 instruction into schools argued — As necessary to the attainment of 
 the end of true education — This sustained by history, philosophy 
 and common sense — Moral suasion scheme. 
 
 We pass now to the second general division of cor- 
 rection or enforcement ; namely, Penal Correction. 
 
190 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Under the head of penal correction, or the corrective 
 enforcement of lav/, we include the use of all means 
 calculated to suppress offenses ; to sustain the gov- 
 ernment of the school against the encroachments of 
 offenders ; and to prevent the lapsing of the innocent 
 into transgression. These means, as such, are cus- 
 tomarily termed punishments. 
 
 For the sake of guarding against error, we define 
 punishments in precise accordance with the common 
 apprehension of mankind, as being the authoritative 
 infliction, by some properly constituted sovereignty, 
 of some species of evil or suffering upon wilful offend- 
 ers against the requirements of law. 
 
 By a mere license in speech, growing partly out of 
 convenience in expression, and partly out of a some- 
 what oblique analogy in the mere condition of the 
 transgressor of natural law, and that of the violator 
 of the positive regulations of government proper, the 
 term punishment is sometimes applied to the ordi- 
 nary occurrence of consequential evils. Thus we say 
 of the child who persists in playing with fire and gets 
 burned, or of the person who disregards the laws of 
 health, and incurs some severe illness, that he is richly 
 punished for his misconduct. 
 
 But it is simply a contradiction of the common 
 sense, of mankind, and a perversion of proper lan- 
 guage, to insist that this is, in any true or honest 
 sense, punishment, or to covertly accept and treat it 
 as such. No government has ever accepted the sub- 
 jection of the transgressor to these consequential 
 evils, as, in any part, sustaining the majesty of its 
 
theories: natural reaction scheme. 191 
 
 laws, or fulfilling the ends of justice ; nor lias law 
 ever regarded the occurrence of these consequences 
 as at all forestalling the application of penalty, or in 
 one iota justly abating its measure of infliction. 
 Hence, a somewhat noted modern theorist, while prac- 
 tically treating them as the only proper species or 
 standards of penalty, cautiously admits that " they 
 are not punishments in the literal sense." 
 
 Notwithstanding this admission, these consequen- 
 tial results are, by that writer, practically pressed as 
 the only legitimate species of penalty, and with so 
 much plausibility and earnestness, that it becomes 
 important to notice the theory critically. According 
 to this natural reaction scheme, proper punishments 
 " are not artificial and unnecessary inflictions of pain." 
 It is their peculiarity " that they are nothing more 
 than the unavoidable consequences of the deeds which 
 they follow." It is to " be further borne in mind that 
 they are proportionate to the degree in which the or- 
 ganic laws have been transgressed." These natural 
 reactions " are constant, direct, unhesitating, and 
 not to be escaped," and " they hold throughout adult 
 life as well as throughout infantine life." In be- 
 half of "this system of letting the penalty be in- 
 flicted by the laws of things," it is assumed, "not 
 only that the system by which the young child is so 
 successfully taught to regulate its movements, is also 
 the discipline by which the great mass of adults are 
 kept in order, and more or less improved ; but that 
 the discipline humanly devised for the worst adults, 
 fails when it diverges from this divinely-ordained 
 
192 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 discipline, and begins to succeed when it approxi- 
 mates to it." 
 
 Before entering upon the examination of those de- 
 fects in the theory' which bear most directly upon 
 our main subject, we desire to call the attention to 
 certain general positions taken by its author, which 
 we believe involve mere unwarranted assumption, 
 and form the basis of much sophistical reasoning. 
 The radical facts upon which these positions are 
 sought to be established, are drawn from physical 
 nature and its laws of cause and effect. 
 
 Now it is assumed, first, that these natural reac- 
 tions or punishments " are nothing more than the 
 unavoidable consequences of the deeds which they 
 follow ;" that is, they are not artificial or positive 
 provisions of authority. But is this the ultimate 
 truth? So far as man, the subject, is concerned, 
 they are doubtless immediately apprehended as sim- 
 ply consequences fixed in the ordinary round of na- 
 ture. But, considered with reference to the originat- 
 ing sovereignty, (and it is that with which we have to 
 do,) were they not primally, in the act of creation, 
 really positive provisions authoritatively introduced 
 into the physical scheme of things? Man's short- 
 sighted disposition to rest content with their imme- 
 diate phase as merely consequential, by no means 
 changes the fact that they are ultimately the pure 
 mandates of the Divine will, and just as truly so as 
 any specific provisions subsequently thrust into the 
 system. 
 
 Again, secondly, it is assumed of these consequences, 
 
theories: natural reaction scheme. 193 
 
 that " these painful reactions are proportionate 
 to the degree in which the organic laws have been 
 transgressed." But how wide this is of the truth, 
 every day's experience fully and often painfully de- 
 monstrates. For example, one child carelessly tum- 
 bles over the door step and suffers consequences severe 
 enough to remind him of the necessity of future cau- 
 tion. But who does not know that another may ex- 
 perience the same fall without receiving the least in- 
 jury, while still another is well-nigh killed out-rights 
 So too, one child wilfully, and in flagrant disregard 
 of express warnings, plays with fire, and escapes with 
 impunity, while another, engaging in precisely the 
 same act through pure ignorance, is actually burned 
 to death. So far from these natural reactions being 
 proportionate to the inducing acts, their singular dis- 
 proportionateness is one of the most perplexing mys- 
 teries of the present state of being. 
 
 It is further assumed " that these natural reactions 
 which follow the child's wrong actions are constant, 
 direct, unhesitating, and not to be escaped." But 
 we have just seen that cases may easily occur in 
 which the wrong act may be, and without the painful 
 consequence at all. Beyond this, who does not know 
 the power of mere repetition, to practically nullify or 
 destroy the proper reaction ? For example, the boy 
 takes tobacco, chews it, and he is made sick ; but he 
 continues the practice, and finally ceases to experi- 
 ence the reactionary penalty ; nay, he will be made 
 sick by the attempt to abandon the hateful practice. 
 
 Once more, it is assumed that the transgressor 
 
194 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " soon recognizing this stern though beneficent dis- 
 cipline becomes extremely careful not to transgress." 
 Now while this effectiveness of the natural reactions 
 as a corrective, may be measurably true of the mere 
 minor and aimless violations of physical laws, it is 
 utterly untrue of all that higher and more dangerous 
 class of transgressions, in which the incentives of 
 pleasure or immediate gratification come into play, 
 Society is full of examples of the most painful nature, 
 in which the constant experience of the saddest con- 
 sequences altogether fails to deter men and women 
 from known violations of the laws of the physical 
 nature. 
 
 Without pausing to notice here the various and 
 singular failures of the writer in question to discover 
 the thorough inconclusiveness of many of his infer- 
 ences ; his entire disregard of the most evident dis- 
 tinctions between the facts of the purely physical 
 system and one as purely moral ; and his sometimes 
 winding and painful evasions of the real question at 
 issue, we pass to those more vital errors which vitiate 
 the whole system as one of moral discipline and gov- 
 ernmental correction. 
 
 In the first place, then chiefly, the theory is one 
 developed from the physical constitution of things 
 rather than from the facts and laws of the moral 
 nature. It finds its predominant types and leading 
 principles in the operation of physical causes, and 
 the laws of their effects, or consequences, and not in 
 the exercise of the moral powers and the necessary 
 principles of their just control. Hence, unless there 
 
- THEORIES : NATURAL REACTION SCHEME. 195 
 
 can be established an exact parallelism between the 
 two, or unless the latter can be shown to be merely 
 the ulterior development of the former, the analogy 
 instituted between the two must sooner or later fail, 
 or, if still pressed, must prove utterly deceptive. 
 But no such parallelism or principle of continuous 
 development can be proven. 
 
 This may, perhaps, be more clearly seen in specific 
 illustration. Thus, if one runs a pin into his finger, 
 pain follows : the consequence is immediate and 
 certain. But, if he tells a lie, the moral sequence, — 
 conscious guilt and remorse, — is not, as all experience 
 shows, immediate and certain ; nay, it is more com- 
 monly uncertain, and is reached only through inter- 
 vening pressure and struggle. Again, if one tumbles 
 over a door-step through heedlessness, the slight 
 accident produces a slight pain, whereas a more 
 serious accident would occasion a greater pain. But 
 it by no means follows, that this gradation of effects 
 holds good where action purely moral is concerned : 
 it by no means follows, that he who steals fifty dollars 
 will feel five times the self-condemnatory pain, or will 
 incur five times the opprobium which falls to the lot 
 of him who has taken but ten. Still further, he who 
 spills boiling water on his hands may learn from the 
 resulting scald, a lesson so effective that no persua- 
 sion will induce him again to disregard the laws of 
 his constitution in that way. But no man of common 
 sense needs to be told, that it by no means follows 
 from this, that he who has basely defrauded his 
 neighbor, experiences so keen a pang in consequence, 
 
19G SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 or is visited by such naturally resultant evils, that no 
 inducement of avaricious desire will persuade him to 
 do the same again. Nay, experience teaches that he 
 who has done it once, is, if anything, the more likely 
 to venture upon a second experiment of the same 
 kind, and that one still more flagitious. 
 
 "Without multiplying illustrations, it will, we think, 
 be clearly enough seen from the foregoing, that this 
 method of moral discipline must prove wholly inade- 
 quate to the proper correction of the higher offenses. 
 While, as a subsidiary means, it may render important 
 service in the treatment of all offenses which, involv- 
 ing distinctly the violation of some law of material 
 being, are subject to the vigorous imposition of nat- 
 ural consequences ; when the transition is to the spir- 
 itual being, and the offense becomes more exclusively 
 moral, and, as such, is, in its consequences, not only 
 more subtle, but more varied and uncertain, these 4 
 natural reactions, as they are termed, must of neces- 
 sity fall greatly short of most of the demands made 
 upon discipline. 
 
 Thus, in the case of a child who has carelessly lost 
 his knife, you may insist upon the continuance of the 
 natural consequence, — his deprivation of the privilege 
 of having one. But carry out the assumed intimation 
 of nature when he has failed to acquire the knowl- 
 edge embraced in a certain lesson, and insist upon 
 his continued deprivation of that knowledge as a just 
 punishment, and the whole is simply absurd. Again, 
 suppose a man to have wasted his fortune in riotous 
 indulgence ; and the resultant beggary and disease 
 
THEORIES I NATURAL REACTION SCHEME. 197 
 
 which are the natural consequences of his folly and 
 vice, may serve as a species of discipline, to correct 
 his false notions of pleasure or propriety, and deter 
 him from a repetition of his wild extravagance and 
 destructive indulgence. But, suppose that he has by 
 a base forger}^ reduced his friend to beggary ; or has 
 by an act of perjury deprived an innocent man of 
 character or liberty; or has with cool calculation 
 robbed an unsuspecting victim of life or limb ; — sup- 
 pose any of these, and what natural consequence can 
 you discover to be, with like certainty and severity, 
 treading upon the heels of his transgression, as an 
 adequate and sure corrective ? 
 
 Nor will it avail to plead that, in such cases, the 
 wants of discipline may be met by the use of the 
 higher means, such as the withdrawal of confidence, 
 the demand for restitution, or deprivation of personal 
 liberty ; for in the case of him who has gone to these 
 extremes of crime, there may be an entire insensibility 
 to the verdict of the public sentiment ; restitution 
 may be a simple impossibility ; and as for the incar- 
 ceration of the culprit as an unsafe person, that is 
 not at all a natural consequence ; it is altogether an 
 authoritative act, and one of those positive inflictions 
 pronounced by the theorist, as artificial and useless 
 punishments. By the very terms of his theory, then, 
 the progress of the natural reactionist in this direc- 
 tion is estopped. 
 
 In this direction, then, the theory of moral disci- 
 pline, chiefly through the medium of natural reac- 
 tions, is reprehensible on the ground that it practi- 
 
198 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 cally ignores radical and fixed distinctions that exist 
 between matter and mind ; it quietly, but none the 
 less positively, assumes that natural causes and free 
 causes are confederate on the same basis, are bound 
 by the same chain of consequential necessity, and 
 are to be determined in their practical laws and ap- 
 plications by the same processes of investigation, 
 and reasoning. In all this, it betrays its hearty sym- 
 pathy with that pretentious modem philosophizing 
 (we cannot dignify it as philosophy) which endows 
 each corpuscle with an atom of intelligence, aggre- 
 gates their force in a nervous system, culminates the 
 whole in the cineritous matter of the brain, and thus, 
 identifying mind with sublimated nerve force, ends 
 in pure, though covert materialism. 
 
 Still further, the theory, as just hinted, thoroughly 
 ignores certain cardinal facts in the nature and ope- 
 ration of the moral powers, which underlie all just 
 and effective application of government to the ra- 
 tional subject. Assuming complacently, as it does, 
 that the intimations of nature in the chain of phys- 
 ical causation are a sufficient guide to the conse- 
 quential discipline of those higher offenses which are 
 either chiefly or exclusively moral, it practically de- 
 nies the following facts : 
 
 First. That it is fully within the power of a de- 
 praved will to destroy all natural reaction of the 
 moral nature, so that no such moral punishment will 
 be possible within the consciousness of the offender. 
 Thus, a person may, from the influence of evil asso- 
 ciations, from the strength of habit, or from the power 
 
THEOPJES : NATURAL REACTION SCHEME. 199 
 
 of a depraved propensity, have come to have the 
 reason so perverted in its apprehension, and the con- 
 science so benumbed in its sensibility, that the com- 
 mission of crimes of no inconsiderable magnitude, 
 may awaken no inconvenient consciousness whatever. 
 For example, how often do profanity, falsehood, or 
 petty theft, occur "and give no sign" of any painful 
 sense of guilt, shame, or remorse? But in such a 
 case, where is the certain, the graduated, the inex- 
 orable consequence, that, as natural reaction, is to 
 serve as punishment ? 
 
 But suppose the theorist appeals to the external 
 effects of such misdeeds, — their influence to awaken 
 displeasure and produce reprehension, in others. 
 Who does not know that the same causes may have 
 operated to make another, — a parent, a teacher, a 
 friend, any person so situated as to become cognizant 
 of the offense and to be able to visit his displeasure 
 as a natural reaction upon the offender, — who does 
 not know that he may have been made just as insen- 
 sible to the criminal character of the act, and may 
 have come to be just as much beyond the reach of 
 any painful feelings as a consequence of its commis- 
 sion, as the offender himself ? How many persons 
 are entirely unaffected by the utterance of an oath, 
 or a petty falsehood, or the taking of some fraudu- 
 lent advantage of another. In these cases, where 
 is the chance for that displeasure, or withdrawal of 
 confidence, or censure which as external natural re- 
 actions may serve as punishment ? " But," says the 
 theorist, " the offender is amenable to public senti- 
 
200 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 merit." Suppose, however, your public sentiment, as 
 it often is, is so far debased as to have no voice of 
 condemnation, then what ? There are communities 
 where sabbath-breaking, polygamy or licentiousness, 
 do not shock the public sensibility at all ; nay, 
 where the abuses are even justified : where are the 
 natural reactions here ? 
 
 The truth is, while the physical reactions, upon 
 which the whole scheme is so plausibly based, are 
 somewhat certain and constant the world over, the 
 moral reactions, whether internal or external, indi- 
 vidual or social, are so subject to the contingencies 
 of voluntary action, and are, hence, so variable and 
 uncertain, that it is difficult to see how the attempt 
 could be made to reason conclusively from the former 
 to the latter, with an intelligent or honest purpose. 
 
 As a final objection to this theory, we urge this ; 
 that its proposed provisions for the correction of of- 
 fenses fail altogether to distinguish the authoritative 
 from the general, or non-authoritative, in discipline : 
 it wholly excludes the very idea fundamental and 
 necessary to all government ; namely, that of proper 
 sovereignty. To present this more clearly, take, 
 for example, the case of one who, having eaten to 
 excess, becomes as a natural consequence violently 
 ill. Now the philosophical thinker may, in tracing out 
 the line of causation, discover in the painful result of 
 the excessive indulgence, an indication of the Divine 
 will in favor of temperance as a virtue, and against 
 gluttony as a vice. But not so with the mass of 
 mind. To such mind, the ultimate authority is prac- 
 
THEORIES : NATURAL REACTION SCHEME. 201 
 
 tically submerged in mere natural causation. The 
 whole occurrence, being bounded within the fixed and 
 every way ordinary circuit of natural laws, is, and we 
 may almost add, can only be, apprehended as a thing 
 in nature, and not at all in an authority or govern- 
 ment as beyond and above nature. Hence, the al- 
 most universal experience of mankind is, that such 
 occurrences are apprehended as involving simply an 
 error in action, and serving as an admonition to the 
 exercise of higher wisdom or prudence ; and not at 
 all, as embracing direct guilt, and demanding atone- 
 ment and subsequent obedience to rightful sover- 
 eignty. 
 
 Still further, take the case of a child who has been 
 guilty of falsehood. The natural external reaction 
 by which the offense is to be corrected, is a manifes- 
 tation of displeasure and of withdrawn confidence in 
 the reliability of his word. But suppose the offense 
 to have come equally under the cognizance of A, the 
 parent, and B, a mere acquaintance. The former 
 holds an authoritative relation to the offender ; the 
 latter only a general relation. Yet the reaction is 
 the same in kind in the case of both. How then is 
 this reaction as penalty, to distinguish the authorita- 
 tive from the non-authoritative ; how can it evince 
 the superior rights and responsibilities of the proper 
 sovereignty over those of mere association and gen- 
 eral regard for virtue ? Hence, so far as the " indi- 
 cation of nature" is concerned, the stranger is as 
 competent to apply the corrective, or the punishment, 
 as the parent. But this is abhorrent to the common 
 
202 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 
 
 sense of mankind, and in direct conflict with the 
 necessary ideas of order and justice. 
 
 Lastly, we objec t to this theory of natural reactions 
 according to these assumed intimations of nature, 
 that it disenables the collective authority of civil gov- 
 ernment from the proper censure or punishment of 
 offenses against its rightful sovereignty. So far as 
 individual expressions of displeasure or manifestation 
 of impaired confidence are concerned, we have seen 
 that while they can not cover the required ground 
 necessary for the recognition or maintenance of the 
 authority, they are still possible. But collect all the 
 individuals in a commonwealth, and require them to 
 be represented in a collective authority or govern- 
 ment proper, and where are we to find those direct 
 expressions of look, tone, word or natural action, 
 which can effectively say to the offenders, you have 
 committed an offense ; displeasure is felt ; confidence 
 is withdrawn? Conceive of the culprit as under a 
 government forbidden to go beyond the limit of these 
 natural consequences and reactions, or any others 
 possible in strict accordance with these assumed in- 
 timations of nature, as argued from the primary basis 
 of necessary cause and effect and you conceive of him 
 as in the very realm and paradise of villainy. Con- 
 ceive of a government so conditioned, and you may 
 as well at once append to the law of its constitution 
 the memorable item added by Luther to the twelve 
 articles drawn up by the rebel fanatics under Mun- 
 zer : " From this day forth, the honorable Council 
 shall be powerless, — its functions shall be to do no- 
 
theories: natural reaction scheme. 203 
 
 thing, — it shall sit as an idol or as a log, — the com- 
 mune shall chew its meat for it, and it shall be bound 
 hand and foot." 
 
 The truth is, the system of nature can only compre- 
 hend and consider the being under her administra- 
 tion, as simply creature: government must look 
 farther, and hold him under her control and disci- 
 pline, as subject. Under the former, the only concep- 
 tion of that which lies back of, and is installed above, 
 being, is that of superior agency, as author : under 
 the latter, it is distinctly that of supreme power, as 
 authority. Under the former, therefore, the inflictions 
 are necessarily causal, or consequential : under the 
 latter, they must be positive and penal. Hence, it 
 will be seen that government proper is not the mere 
 natural or constitutional concurrence of creative 
 power and product, cause and effect. It is rather a 
 distinct positive institution, not in conflict with na- 
 ture, but rising clearly and legitimately above nature ; 
 adapted to the higher wants of associated moral be- 
 ings, and providing for the attainment of ends which 
 nature can not reach. Of this character precisely are 
 civil governments, and as such, they must both for their 
 own manifestation and support, be privileged to em- 
 ploy positive inflictions, — those very "inflictions of 
 pain" which the theory stigmatizes as " artificial and 
 unnecessary," and of which judicial condemnation, 
 civil disabilities, "imprisonment or other restraint," 
 are clear and well-defined examples, all plausible pre- 
 tense to the contrary notwithstanding. Government 
 is an artificial symbol of the collective sense and will 
 
204 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of the community, and it must symbolize its own sense 
 and will to a greater or less extent, by corresponding 
 artificial means. Hence, we urge that the theory of 
 natural reactions is objectionable as practically, in 
 its proper consummation, subversive of civil gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Without going into a specific application of these 
 facts, it will be seen generally that, inasmuch as these 
 defects in the theory are radical, the assumed superi- 
 ority of its application to the moral discipline of 
 the child in the school, is wholly fallacious. Under 
 all the fair-seeming philosophy and ingenious reason- 
 ings of its popular advocate, there lies a broad sub- 
 stratum of error in both premises and inferences. 
 This error should not be allowed to escape the notice 
 of the teacher. Left unconscious of its presence and 
 nature, he will, not only be in danger of being divert- 
 ed from the true theory of government, but he will be 
 disenabled to make the wisest use of such just sug- 
 gestions as the theory really contains. 
 
 But there is another species of error current in 
 society, and largely affecting the views of educational 
 reforms. It is not to be found so formally developed 
 in theory as the foregoing ; but is, perhaps, more 
 widely and dangerously operative in fact. Super- 
 ficially, its relation to the scheme of natural reactions, 
 may not be readily apparent. But, substantially, the 
 originating and animating principle is the same in 
 both. What that principle is, and how it leads to the 
 two results, may be seen as follows. Given a con- 
 sciousness in man of subjection to a divine moral 
 
THEORIES : HUMANITARIAN SCHEME. * 205 
 
 government, and of incurred guilt deserving of condign 
 punishment, the anxious problem to be solved, is, how 
 to escape a just subjection to positive pains and pen- 
 alties, beyond the present state of being. Now, very 
 clearly, establish the principle that, under a system 
 of moral discipline among men, all the so-called arti- 
 ficial punishments are unnecessary and unjust : or 
 set up the claim that the authoritative infliction of 
 positive pain, or the use of discipline for any other 
 than reformatory purposes, is inhumane, or, at least, 
 inconsistent with perfect benevolence, and the case is 
 apparently gained. Having thus shut up human gov- 
 ernment within the narrow range of these me^e nat- 
 ural consequences of transgression, and to the mere 
 amiable ends of humane individual reformation, there 
 is but a step from that to tne application of the same 
 laws and bounds to the moral government of God, 
 the result of which, if successful, will be obvious. 
 • It becomes then important that this (for want of a 
 better term) humanitarian scheme of discipline should 
 be carefully examined. The substance of its outcry 
 against its antagonistic system of government and 
 discipline, is that these inflictions of pain are unphilo- 
 sophical, and inhumane, vindictive rather than re- 
 formatory. 
 
 With reference to the question of philosophical 
 consistency, we urge the following considerations. 
 First, the infliction of disciplinary pain is the very 
 thing directly sustained by the indications of nature. 
 In more express terms, the supreme authority in na- 
 ture everywhere inflicts pain for violations of his de- 
 
206 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mands. True, he does it through the medium of 
 what are called natural laws. But that neither makes 
 the infliction less productive of pain, or less an act of 
 the authority. It only makes it the clearer that, root- 
 ed as this painful species of corrective discipline is in 
 the very substratum of nature, its general application 
 under contingent modifications, is not arbitrary nor 
 accidental : it is fundamental and necessary. It 
 shows that the right to inflict disciplinary pain is in- 
 herent in all just authority, and that authoritative 
 subjection to such penal infliction is a necessary con- 
 tingency of all actual transgression. 
 
 Nor does the more manifest connection of these 
 painful inflictions in nature with the physical side of 
 being, invalidate the argument. God, in nature, no 
 more inflicts pain for the "mere physical results, than 
 does man in society. It is done always as a natural 
 and necessary means to a moral end. The blow 
 struck upon the body, in the case of him who, tram- 
 pling on the laws of temperance, suffers the pangs of 
 indigestion or the horrors of delirium-tremens, is in- 
 tended to react upon the soul, which cannot other- 
 wise be reached so well. The outcry of nature in the 
 pain endured is not against the hand which grasped 
 the means of excess, nor the mouth which took in 
 the forbidden elements, nor the stomach which re- 
 ceived and endeavored to appropriate them ; but it is 
 raised against the sinful spirit which demanded the 
 base subservience of these instruments in its bodily 
 nature, to its sensual desires and depraved will. And 
 thus the divine authority in nature stands as a proto- 
 
THEORIES : HUMANITARIAN SCHEME. 207 
 
 type for the human authority in society, in its strug- 
 gle to repress the evil and preserve the good for the 
 great ends of the common weal. 
 
 Nor is it any just counter-plea, that, in nature, it is 
 God who disciplines by pain, while under civil or 
 social law, it is only usurping man. In nature, God 
 has, for the necessary stability of being itself, main- 
 tained himself in immediate presence and active au- 
 thority. But in human society, he has, for the sake 
 of conferred free agency, and the development of 
 voluntary capacity, responsibility and power, with- 
 drawn himself, as it were, from the immediate control, 
 and imposed its exercise, with all its prerogatives and 
 liabilities, upon the human agency itself. Proper 
 human government is, in this sense, a delegated vice- 
 gerent of God himself ; and it is thus that " the powers 
 that be," whether domestic, scholastic, civil, or eccle- 
 siastical, " are ordained of God." And that such au- 
 thorities can not discipline by natural laws, as does 
 God in nature, is no argument that they must not 
 administer correction by means of what are stigmatiz- 
 ed as " artificial inflictions of pain." The prerogative 
 of ruling is not delegated without the right to the 
 means of discipline ; and those means, as has already 
 been seen, involve the positive reaching of the refrac- 
 tory spirit, through the avenues of the bodily organ- 
 ism, and in just such ways as are practicable and 
 effective, whether in accordance with the ordinary 
 laws of nature or uot. Indeed, it is not yet in proof, 
 that even the Divine Euler, in dealing with the more 
 exclusive forms of moral delinquency, has restricted 
 
208 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 himself to the narrow range of corrective means in 
 simple cause and effect, as he does in the case of the 
 violation of physical laws. 
 
 In the second place, as to the plea of inhumanity, 
 which is sometimes urged in objection, it is equally 
 fallacious. The withholding of painful inflictions is 
 not necessarily humane, for it is not clear to any ob- 
 serving and candid mind, that pain is necessarily an 
 evil. Nay, the natural reactionist himself, and in 
 accordance with the common-sense of mankind, ad- 
 mits the benevolent utility of pain in its physical re- 
 lations, as a necessary means to a merciful end : in 
 other words, it is, in the perfect circle of related being 
 and action, an absolute good. Not less distinctly has 
 it, in all human government, been accepted as the 
 same, and both under the same general law, and for 
 the same general reason. Furthermore, if in nature, 
 where only the preservation of individual being is the 
 cardinal end to be attained, the infliction of pain is a 
 necessary good, much more, may it be reasonably 
 argued, is it both just and true in the society or 
 the state, where a broader and more comprehensive 
 being than that of the mere individual is concerned, 
 and higher and more imperative interests than that 
 of mere existence, are at stake. 
 
 It is a significant fact that these objections against 
 the infliction of pain are due in good part to certain 
 errors which characterize these humanitarian schem- 
 ists, in general. One of these is, that, with a vision 
 narrowed by false sympathy with suffering, they see 
 with effective sharpness, only the suffering individual, 
 
theories: reformatory scheme. 209 
 
 while all the broad surrounding circle of related life 
 and interest is lost in vague imperception. Or, if 
 they at all perceive the vital nature and claims of 
 society as a whole, they have, by beginning with the 
 study of the individual sufferer under law, so im- 
 paired the habit and grasp of the apprehension, that 
 when it has even worked up and out to the surround- 
 ing breadth of the social or civil organism, they be- 
 hold it only as a thing reduced and remote. They 
 have bent their gaze upon it, only through the in- 
 verted glass. If they would but reverse the process ; 
 if they would but begin with the greater interests of 
 the organic whole, with the majesty and responsibility 
 of government as the sole conservator of those inter- 
 ests, and thence descend to the proper claims of the 
 individual offender, they would obtain better and 
 broader conceptions of the nature and prerogatives 
 of discipline ; they would discover how much greater 
 the whole is than any of its parts, how much more 
 important to be avoided are the pangs of dissolute 
 or dissolving society, than the pains of the individual 
 transgressor who has fallen into the hands of human 
 justice. 
 
 With reference to the remaining error, — that of 
 assuming the office of governmental discipline to be 
 primarily and chiefly reformatory, — there occurs an 
 inversion of the order of things, no less transparent 
 than in the former case. Indeed a perversely upside 
 down philosophy seems to be the peculiar penchant 
 of these theorizers. Now the reformation of the 
 guilty may, and should somewhere, be an object 
 
210 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 sought ; but rather within the sphere of individual 
 philanthropy than governmental control. The phil- 
 anthropic element in government, so far as it has a 
 place, must concern itself rather with the general 
 welfare. Hence, to all true government, the first and 
 highest end, is the twofold preservation of the loyal 
 and innocent : first, their preservation as a tody 
 politic, intact and secnre from the encroachments of 
 the disloyal and vicious ; and secondly, their preser- 
 vation generally from any endangered loss of their 
 own purity and rectitude, as induced by the baleful 
 presence among them of uncurbed example and 
 crimes " unwhipped of justice." The former, it se- 
 cures by the restraints and disabilities it imposes 
 upon transgressors, and the latter by the inflicted 
 penalties and pains which stand as a perpetual warn- 
 ing to those who have not yet fallen. And we are 
 bold to say, further, that under no true theory of 
 government, can any other than this first and highest 
 end be directly proposed ; the reformatory end, where 
 it is sought, being so properly, only as a means to 
 the better preservation of the innocent. This it ef- 
 fects by securing their more thorough protection 
 against any further trespass upon their rights by 
 the criminal as once brought to justice and through 
 that, if reformed, restored to positive rectitude. 
 
 The application of these broad and comprehensive 
 principles to the use of disciplinary penalties and 
 pains in our schools, as it regards both their utility 
 and natural consistency, is henceforth so clear that 
 we mijrht venture to leave its further consideration 
 
theories: reformatory scheme. 211 
 
 to the sound sense of the teacher himself. And yet, 
 we doubt not there will arise in some minds, more 
 tender in feeling than vigorous in thought, the pain- 
 fully present and pressing question, " Is there, then, 
 no escape from the necessity of employing means of 
 -correction so seemingly pitiless and repulsive ?" 
 ' To this question, Ave can only answer frankly, no, 
 not until there shall appear in the present state, some 
 new and nobler incarnation of the human spirit with 
 both a regenerated moral nature and a restored per- 
 fection of the physical being. So long as man shall 
 continue to exist as a free moral agent, controlled, 
 nevertheless, by a depraved will, and bound in sub- 
 jection to a material organism ; so long it cannot be 
 otherwise, than that, transgressing the higher laws of 
 the spiritual essence within him, he must in some part, 
 for both his own good and that of society, be reined 
 in and driven back from evil doing, by those stem 
 mandates which can only send their living utterances 
 to the soul, through the roused sensibilities of the 
 bodily nature. 
 
 The only question, then, which the practical teacher 
 can raise with just reasonableness, is, how can the 
 necessity for the use oi these penal inflictions in the 
 school, be reduced to its minimum ? This question 
 admits of a more hopeful and happy answer. That 
 answer embraces several practical suggestions. 
 
 First. The necessity for the use of penal inflictions 
 in the school can be largely reduced by the careful 
 institution of such a wise and noble order in both 
 arrangement and management, as will, as has already 
 
212 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 been shown, materially diminish the occasions for 
 transgression, and infuse into the minds of the pupils, 
 a deeper interest and a higher ambition. 
 
 Secondly. It may be further reduced by the insti- 
 tution of such exact and effective discipline, — to be 
 fully discussed hereafter, — as will create a prevailing 
 conviction through all its ranks, of the inevitable 
 certainty of detection and just punishment. 
 
 Thirdly. The last and crowning means of com- 
 pleting this reduction, — means, alas, too seldom and 
 too feebly employed, — is to be found in the earnest 
 and prominent use of moral instruction in the school ; 
 not the mere incidental enunciation of a stale and 
 lifeless ethics, — an ethics discharged of all religious 
 principle, a mere moral cadaver with no divine in- 
 dwelling and energizing spirit, — but the steady and 
 systematic pressing upon the minds and hearts of 
 the pupils, of those great laws and obligations which, 
 as both moral arid religious, are the sole foundation 
 for all pure and perfected character. 
 
 This, we are well aware, is broadly broaching the 
 much-mooted question, whether or not, moral instruc- 
 tion should be introduced into schools under the con- 
 trol of the state, as a fixed «part of its educational 
 system, — a question the solution of which we regard 
 as neither doubtful nor difficult. That solution, how- 
 ever, is possible, only under the condition that a just 
 view be taken of the end to be sought by the state in 
 establishing a system of popular education. For, 
 what the state must seek as its end, determines what 
 
theories: reformatory scheme. 213 
 
 the state must do with moral instruction as a means 
 to that end. % 
 
 Let it then be understood at the outset, that inas- 
 much as government is instituted, not by the individ- 
 ual, but by the community; and inasmuch as it is 
 established, not for the individual benefit, but for the 
 public good, its entire province and prerogative must 
 be limited by its responsibility to the commonwealth, 
 for the common weal. Hence, government must be 
 made to look municipally, — if we may be allowed the 
 word, — at the state, and not individually at the man ; 
 it must be moved by an economical regard for the 
 good of the state, and not by a mere humane concern 
 for the person ; it must act to the one comprehensive 
 end, the conservation and advancement of the state, 
 and not for the simple, prior or prominent object of 
 benefiting *of the individual. That these secondary 
 objects concerning the mere individual man, may be, 
 and, under any proper administration of government, 
 must be attained, is freely granted ; but it is as firmly 
 maintained, that they are not, and never may be, a 
 proper end or direct object of government as such. 
 The first, sole, proper and direct object of the state, 
 then, must be its own conservation and advancement, 
 its own perpetuity, its own prosperity, — these are its 
 objects of concern, its ends of action. 
 
 Hence, not at all for the simple direct sake of any 
 person or persons as such ; not at all for his or their 
 advantage, other than as the merest consequent of its 
 legitimate action, may any proper government provide 
 schools and instruction for the people. Only to this 
 
214 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 end may it do that, — that there may be possible in 
 the stateythat highest and purest exercise of political 
 rights among the people, which will ensure in the state 
 the wisest constitution, the ablest administration, and 
 the most enduring permanence of government, and 
 through these, the true dignity, stability and pros- 
 perity of the state itself. In other words, only to 
 the end of its own conservation and advancement, 
 may the state ever establish or maintain a system of 
 public instruction. 
 
 Here, then, the question, always pertinent, becomes 
 actually vital ; is mere intellectual or scientific culture 
 enough to meet the conditions of the case ; is that 
 sufficient to render a state system of public instruc- 
 tion either competent to the attainment of the desired 
 end, or consistent with it? Give the people such 
 culture only, and will that ensure in themr, and from 
 them, such combined intelligence, virtue and loyalty, 
 as will secure the state, for all time, against its most 
 dangerous enemies, popular ignorance, social corrup- 
 tion, and political abandonment. Will such a culture 
 make a people both intelligent and virtuous, and as 
 virtuous as intelligent, — this is the question, and a 
 vital one it is. 
 
 What now is the inevitable answer to this question ? 
 Let us see. What says history ? All history teaches 
 us, that popular advancement in the arts and sciences, 
 without a corresponding growth in morality and re- 
 ligion, has been always and only an increased refine- 
 ment in individual and national wickedness, a more 
 skilful and subtle abuse of power, and a change of the 
 
THEORIES : REFORMATORY SCHEME. 215 
 
 mere form of civil destruction, from external crush and 
 demolition, to a secret and subtle, yet sure sap and 
 subversion. 
 
 And what says philosophy ? All philosophy teaches, 
 that, for every increase of poAver in the subjected ob- 
 ject, there must be a corresponding augmentation of 
 strength in the controlling agent, and that every 
 advance in individual knowledge, is an augmentation 
 of power, for which there can be no corresponding 
 increase of control, other than that found in a corre- 
 sponding growth and ascendancy of moral principle. 
 
 And what says simple common sense ? Common 
 sense urges, that it is the fact that in all enlightened 
 countries and communities, intellectual and moral 
 culture are, in some way or other, so associated or 
 run parallel, that it is almost impossible to dissever 
 them for the purpose of exemplification and compar- 
 ison ; and that this fact alone is enough to establish 
 the existence of a relation between them, at once so 
 natural and necessary, that to ignore it either in 
 theory or practice, and so to dissever moral instruc- 
 tion from intellectual or scientific culture, is simply to 
 make an educational system stultify itself. 
 
 Without appealing to specific examples, and with- 
 out pressing the argument from principles further, it 
 must be seen from what has been advanced, that the 
 original question ought never to have been entertain- 
 ed at all ; and that the only consistent form in which 
 it can present itself, is rather this, ought moral in- 
 struction ever to be neglected or even subordinated 
 in our public schools r What position, or what promi- 
 
216 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 nence should be assigned to moral instruction ? may 
 be discussed : that it should have some place and im- 
 portance, is a foregone conclusion. 
 
 There are those, however, who will argue, that ob- 
 servation by no means shows, that the lack of this 
 distinct moral culture in our schools is productive of 
 that uncurbed and therefore destructive intelligence 
 to which reference has been made. The answer to 
 this objection is immediately and conclusively this, 
 that the non-occurrence of that dangerous result is 
 not due to the non-existence of a natural cause for it ; 
 but to the existence of important and, to a certain 
 extent, redeeming influences operating on our youth 
 outside of the schools, and accidentally affording them 
 a certain proportion of the lacking moral culture. 
 
 Others may urge, that, even if the moral culture 
 were not thus incidentally secured, the laws would 
 afford the state an adequate protection against this 
 unprincipled or demoralized intelligence. To this it 
 is sufficient to answer, that, not only is there outside 
 of the exact letter of the laws, a wide margin for the 
 most vicious and dangerous exercise of such intelli- 
 gence, but there is in this very intelligence, and sim- 
 ply because it is corrupt, a power equal to the most 
 triumphant evasion, if not the actual defiance of the 
 laws. 
 
 As to those other objections, urged, perhaps, some- 
 times honestly, but intelligently perhaps never, that 
 this necessary moral instruction can better be given 
 elsewhere, and therefore should be, or that its intro- 
 duction into our schools will make them sectarian ; 
 
THEORIES : MORAL SUASION SCHEME. 217 
 
 it is sufficient to say, that they do not commend them- 
 selves enough to the simplest common sense, to claim 
 either a specific notice or a formal refutation. When 
 it shall be shown that it is possible, not to say pro- 
 fitable, to dissever the intellectual and moral faculties 
 in their exercise and development, in this manner ; or 
 when it shall appear that ethics, by being, for the 
 sake of convenience, considered apart from mental 
 science, becomes a body of sectarian dogmas, rather 
 than a system of universal principles ; in other words, 
 when it shall become clear, that we are to build the 
 most wisely and successfully, by first laying up the 
 brick, and then elsewhere, and by other hands, in- 
 serting the mortar; or when it shall have become 
 manifest, that to lay the brick with the mortar, con- 
 temporaneously and conjunctively, is to interfere with 
 the rights of both builder and owner, and actually to 
 destroy the catholic excellence of the masonry ; — 
 when this shall be, the time for a formal notice of 
 those objections may have come : come before it can 
 not ; and till it can, we dismiss them. 
 
 Of the exclusive Moral Suasion Scheme, so much 
 harped upon by certain shallow theorists, no distinct 
 notice will be taken here, for the reasons, that it is 
 substantially identical in spirit and philosophy with 
 those already considered ; taken by itself, it is a mere 
 castle in the air ; and if it needs to be refuted at all, 
 it is sufficiently met by the general principles herein 
 urged at large. 
 
CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 GENERAL ELEMENTS CONTINUED — DISCIPLINE: — PENAL 
 CORRECTION, OR PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Punishment defined— Its necessary elements— Authoritative infliction — 
 Act of proper authority — Infliction of an actual suffering— Process 
 through which effective — Enlightens the intellect — Arouses the sensibili- 
 ties—Moves the will— Infliction must be for the support of law, and 
 for the general welfare — Punishments classified as Privative and Positive 
 — Defined— Privative distinguished, as Primitive and Retractive — Right 
 to punish by deprivation sustained— Consequent superiority of con- 
 ditional rewards — Necessity for positive punishments — Positive pun- 
 ishments defined — Relation to the privative — Positive classified as Pri- 
 vative, Coercive and Compulsive — Coercive described — Essential points 
 to be secured — Actual abandonment of the wrong — Correction of its 
 ovil results— Reparation to the government as such — Voluntariness in 
 the whole — Coercive classified, as reprimands, loss of privilege, restraint 
 or confinement, corporal punishment, and final exclusion— General 
 Pules for infliction— Positive detection must precede— Punishment 
 must be well considered — Must be thorough — Administered with de- 
 liberatcness — Must be public — Objections to publicity considered — Spring 
 from false sympathy or pride — Publicity necessary to the full effect of 
 the discipline — Proper infliction of punishment not brutalizing — 
 The infliction of the punishment to be followed by moral efforts — 
 Evil of neglecting these — Specific methods — For correlative rewards 
 and punishments — For public reprimands — For bodily restraint — Ob- 
 jectionable restraints — Particular consideration of detention after 
 school — Method for corporal punishment — Objectionable inflictions 
 — Compulsive correction — Nature and use illustrated — Grounds of its 
 reasonableness — Objection to involuntariness answered — Final exclu- 
 sion — Occasion of its existence — Must be held as a last resort — Is less 
 a common necessity than is supposed — Specific method— Must be 
 followed by reclamatory efforts — Summary abandonment of offenders 
 a social vice. 
 
 Proceeddig to the proper discussion of penal cor- 
 rection, we define punishment to be, — as it is accepted 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PUNISHMENT. 219 
 
 in the common sense of mankind, — the authoritative 
 infliction, by some properly constituted sovereignty, 
 of some species of pain or suffering upon offenders, 
 because of their wilful violations of lawful require- 
 ment, and for the sake of sustaining the majesty of 
 government, and securing the common weal. 
 
 In the thorough consideration of the several ele- 
 ments embraced in the definition, it will be observed, 
 first, that punishment must be an authoritative inflic- 
 tion, as opposed to mere consequential results. In 
 other words, for reasons already discussed at length, 
 consequences are not to be accepted as, in any proper 
 sense, punishments. 
 
 Again, the infliction must be the act of a properly 
 constituted authority. Proceeding from any other 
 source than such authority, it loses all legality and, 
 in losing its legality, it becomes simply an abuse or, 
 if you will^ an outrage. Thus, suppose that the child 
 committing some act in known violation of parental 
 law, to be caught and chastised by a passer-by ; or a 
 public offender to be seized and subjected to summary 
 retribution by the private citizen, and in neither case 
 would the act be held to be as legitimate, or the inflic- 
 tion be counted as punishment. Nay, both of these 
 self-constituted ministers of justice, would be them- 
 selves held as transgressors. Nor, indeed, is this all, 
 the act must be that of the proper authority, and no 
 other. Thus if, for example, the parent chastises the 
 child for some violation of school regulations not at 
 all embraced in his own rules or directions, or if, in a 
 higher field, one state authority should inflict penal- 
 
220 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ties for crimes committed within the jurisdiction, or 
 against the laws of another commonwealth, the act 
 would, in both cases, be one of usurpation or tyranny. 
 
 Punishment must, furthermore, involve the inflic- 
 tion of something actually counted by the offender as 
 an evil ; and as such t must be capacitated to occa- 
 sion painful restraint or actual suffering. For reasons 
 already noticed as existing in the depraved condition 
 and vicious power of the will, if government be stop- 
 ped short of this extreme of its prerogative in inflic- 
 tion, its penal inflictions are, in the majority of cases, 
 reduced to a sham and a failure. The susceptibilities 
 of the culprit are, of course, not to determine the na- 
 ture or the measure of the infliction ; but, whatever 
 the government shall adjudge it to be, it must be a 
 something real to the offender, and probably sufficient 
 to reach his will effectively. This, however, is not 
 to take ground that, in individual cases, in which 
 it may fail to be thus effective, it is to be forborne ; 
 for government has other ends in its infliction, other 
 than that of the mere correction of the offender. The 
 deterring of the yet innocent, from the commission 
 of similar crimes, may be itself a sufficient ground for 
 the infliction, even when the offender is already clearly 
 hardened beyond the reach of its influence. 
 
 The process through which the punishment is to 
 reach and affect either the guilty or the innocent, in 
 order that the ends of discipline may be attained, is 
 as follows. In the first place, it is designed to bring 
 the intellect to a consciousness of the reality and the 
 magnitude of the offense, by presenting to it a posi- 
 
GENEIIAL ELEMENTS: PUNISHMENT. 221 
 
 tive symbol of the views and feelings of the offended 
 sovereignty. Its language is to this effect; in the 
 measure of the care taken to bring you to condign 
 punishment, and in the measure of the pains inflicted 
 upon you, behold the measure of that wrong which 
 you have inflicted upon pure rectitude, and of that 
 outrage which you have committed against the maj- 
 esty of law. 
 
 Secondly. It is designed to awaken in the sensi- 
 bility, a distinct feeling of the reality and hoinousness 
 of the offense committed. This it effects, partly 
 through the foregoing influence to enlighten the intel- 
 lect, and partly through pressing upon the culprit, in 
 a sense of the pains he bears, a feeling of the loss or 
 the evil he himself incurs, and of the necessary folly 
 or turpitude of the act which was an adequate cause 
 for the infliction of such suffering. 
 
 Thirdly. Through the intellect and the sensibili- 
 ties as already affected, it is designed to reach the 
 will, presenting to it motives, from either conviction, 
 desire or fear, calculated to restrain or reverse its evil 
 purposes, and thus operating to prevent, not only the 
 repetition of the evil act for which the punishment is 
 inflicted, but also the commission of others for which 
 it may be justly demanded. 
 
 The deterring effect of punishment upon the inno- 
 cent, is reached through much the same process, dif- 
 fering only in this, that the operation is one of obser- 
 vation rather than experience. It is, in their case, 
 the more hopeful, inasmuch as there is yet no actual 
 guilt to cloud the apprehension, to warp the judg- 
 
222 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ment or benumb the feelings. Hence, the suffering, 
 though only witnessed, sheds a clearer light upon the 
 offended majesty of the law, upon the magnitude of 
 the offense, and upon the bitterness of transgression 
 in its individual consequences. 
 
 Finally. The punishment must be inflicted for no 
 merely vindictive or even reformatory ends. Its grand 
 object is, directly, the sustaining of law, and through 
 that, the ultimate preservation of the common wel- 
 fare. Whenever it degenerates from this, and is 
 made to compass individual or inferior ends alone, 
 the punishment becomes less condemnatory of the 
 culprit, than of the authority which applies it. 
 
 Passing now to the specific consideration of pun- 
 ishments, we classify them as of two general species : 
 Privative and Positive. 
 
 Under privative punishment, we include every au- 
 thoritative deprivation of rights, privileges or honors, 
 of which the pupil has, by his misdemeanors, wrought 
 just forfeiture. Of these punishments, it is proper to 
 remark that they embrace all of the so-called natural 
 reactions that are really valuable ; and their natural 
 restriction to this head, is itself a proof of the insuf- 
 ficiency of those reactions as a sole means of moral 
 discipline. These punishments, hence, form a sort of 
 connecting link between purely consequential evils 
 and proper punishments. 
 
 These privative punishments may be considered as 
 of two kinds ; Primitive, or the subtraction of such 
 rights or privileges as may, either naturally or by the 
 action of some antecedent authority, have been confer- 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: PUNISHMENT. 223 
 
 red upon the pupil : and Retractive, or the resumption 
 by the teacher of such privileges or honors as may 
 have been authoritatively conferred by him, upon 
 the pupil, either as specific rewards or otherwise. 
 
 As illustrative of these, may be cited, the depriving 
 of the pupil of the right to a recess or play spell ; of 
 the privilege of holding some favorite seat, or some 
 post of honor in a class ; or of the possession of some 
 badge of distinction or token of the teacher's ap- 
 proval and esteem. Others will naturally occur to 
 the thoughtful teacher, either as originally suggested, 
 or as naturally indicated by the peculiar method of 
 reward adopted in his own system of discipline. 
 
 Of the right of the teacher to inflict such depriva- 
 tion, there can hardly be any question. As the abso- 
 lute conservator of those rights, and author of those 
 privileges or honors, the teacher must as truly possess 
 a negative, as well as a positive, control over them. 
 He must have as truly the power to say, when the 
 welfare of the school demands it, these shall not be, 
 as to declare, they shall be. Furthermore, all rights 
 are guaranteed and all privileges are conferred only 
 on the assumed ground that they are to be consistently 
 held and employed. Everywhere, under proper gov- 
 ernment, the malicious use of these rights or privileges 
 to the disadvantage of others or the damage of the 
 sovereignty itself, is naturally held to result in either 
 their partial or complete forfeiture. Resting, as they 
 necessarily do, upon a specific merit or worthiness, as 
 soon as that gives place to its opposite specific de- 
 merit or unworthiness, they must fall to the ground 
 
224 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 for the mere want of foundation. Certainly, the ex- 
 istence of character or conduct which would have 
 precluded their creation, must prohibit their continu- 
 ance. And to this law of resumption there can be 
 no exception, save only in those cases in which either 
 unavoidably or unwisely they have been, by the au- 
 thority itself, made permanent or irrevocable. 
 
 Herein, then, will be discovered a peculiar evil of 
 bestowing permanent gifts as rewards of merit, in- 
 stead of resumable privileges, marks of favor or hon- 
 orable distinctions, already urged as of superior con- 
 sistency and excellence. Bestow upon the pupil such 
 an absolute gift or prize, and, inasmuch as it cannot 
 be resumed, the authority cuts itself off from the 
 opportunity of indicating its displeasure at subse- 
 quent transgression, in one of the most effective ways 
 possible, and also from the power to hold the subject 
 steadily to the principle of continued and progressive 
 worthiness as the true law of excellence, in opposition 
 to that of mere temporary or desultory goodness. 
 Very clearly, any action on the part of the teacher 
 which, as a needless finality, limits his power to re- 
 tain a disciplinary hold upon his pupils, so doubly 
 important as both a stimulus and a restraint, must 
 be, to say the least, exceedingly unwise. 
 
 Hence, the teacher can not be too careful in all 
 disciplinary action of this kind, not only to give his 
 preference to resumable rewards, but also to make 
 the school fully understand that they are held subject 
 to sucn retraction in case of just forfeiture ; and that 
 their sole object is not the mere temporary approval 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PUNISHMENT. 225 
 
 of specific acts, but rather the public evincing of a 
 desire to secure that permanent excellence of charac- 
 ter of which these acts appear as the natural and 
 steady outworking. The feeling sought to be aroused 
 should be distinctly and invariably this ; these re- 
 wards were given, not because this was done, but be- 
 cause there was evinced a constant disposition to do 
 it ; and so soon as that disposition is wanting, the 
 right to hold them will be just as truly gone as would 
 be the right to receive them. Wherever, also, this 
 principle of conditionally, or this reserved right of 
 retraction is understood, so that its exercise does not 
 take the pupil by surprise, the resuming of the con- 
 ferred favor more powerfully sets forth the equity of 
 the teacher's administration than did the original 
 bestowment ; and for the reason that the latter was a 
 grace rather than a duty, and was a natural occasion 
 of satisfaction on both sides ; but the former is an 
 act of duty alone, and, as productive of mutual pain, 
 would naturally be shunned, but for the pressing 
 claims of higher obligation. 
 
 But it will be seen from the foregoing, that these 
 privative punishments are necessarily limited in their 
 application to the smaller number of offenses, and 
 those of the more venial character. To meet all its 
 wants, and to be able to reach effectively the more 
 hardened offenders, and the more flagitious acts of 
 criminality, the government of the school must be 
 empowered to go beyond mere negative punishment ; 
 it must have access to those which are positive, and 
 which produce, not merely deprivation and discom- 
 
22G SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 fort, but which occasion actual suffering, either bodily 
 or mental. 
 
 By positive punishments, or punishments proper, 
 are to be understood all those actual inflictions by 
 the constituted authority, which subject the pupil to 
 pain either bodily or mental, and which are needful 
 for the correction of wrong, and for the maintaining 
 of the teacher's sovereignty as the conservator of the 
 school. 
 
 The transition from privative to positive punish- 
 ments is not abrupt. The one rather passes into the 
 other by gradation. Hence, privative punishments 
 may assume much the character of positive inflictions. 
 For example, let the act of deprivation be a simple 
 act, and let it occasion no other feeling than a clear 
 consciousness of the loss incurred, and the punish- 
 ment is purely privative. But couple the act of de- 
 privation with circumstances which give it the force 
 of a public censure, or a distinct degradation, and 
 cause the feelings occasioned by it to be those of 
 mortification or remorse, and the punishment becomes 
 properly positive. Beyond its bearing upon the fol- 
 lowing classification, this fact possesses a practical 
 importance, as indicating to the teacher a means of 
 giving effective force to punishments otherwise purely 
 privative, and, as such not unfrequently found to be 
 powerless. 
 
 Positive punishments may be classified as of three 
 kinds ; Privative, Coercive and Compulsive. The first 
 of these has been indicated with sufficient clearness 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PUNISHMENT. 227 
 
 under the preceding head. Its further consideration 
 will consequently be waived altogether. 
 
 Coercive punishments may be concisely described, 
 as such inflictions of pain, either bodily or mental, as 
 acting upon the will through the sense, the intellect 
 and the feelings, induce a voluntary abandonment 
 of the wrong-doing for which discipline is instituted, 
 and, as far as is practicable, a proper correction of the 
 evils it has occasioned, whether they be individual or 
 general. 
 
 Upon four points herein mentioned, particular 
 stress must be laid. First. There must be the ac- 
 tual abandonment of the wrong-doing. This is op- 
 posed to any merely partial correction of the evil 
 course in question. There may be cases in which 
 this partial correction is better than nothing ; in which 
 that may even have to be accepted as practically all 
 that, under the circumstances, can be attained. But 
 the government of the school is false to the claims 
 of its own dignity, and of the general welfare, as well 
 as to the true interest of the offender, if it rests satis- 
 fied with the attainment of any such end. To be 
 content with this, except upon practical compulsion, 
 is to make itself, in one sense, a "particeps criminis" 
 in whatever of the wrong-doing lies beyond that cor- 
 rected. This is clearly illustrated in civil affairs, in 
 the neglect of the state to restrain altogether the 
 public sale of noxious drinks, instead of contenting 
 itself with a system of restrictive licenses. 
 
 Secondly. There must be the proper correction of 
 the evils occasioned by the wrong-doing. Abandon- 
 
228 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ment without reparation, is mere external amend- 
 ment. It contains no evidence that the real root of 
 the transgression has been reached. It is perfectly 
 consistent with pure hypocrisy. For the government 
 of the school to countenance this last, even indirectly, 
 is a vice. In the disciplining of offenders by punish- 
 ment, then, no pains must be spared to point out the 
 possible modes of making proper reparation, and to 
 bring the offender to the full and resolute under- 
 taking of that, perhaps, self-sacrificing, but yet neces- 
 sary work. We greatly fear, however, that teachers 
 generally, either from a failure to apprehend its pri- 
 mary importance, or from indisposition to undertake 
 the necessary moral effort, fail to do anything of the 
 kind. Such a failure is, so far as it goes, a positive 
 pronunciation against their fitness to govern. . 
 
 Thirdly. The reparation must just as distinctly 
 embrace the wrong done to the government of the 
 school, as that inflicted upon any of its individual 
 members. Too commonly the offending member of 
 the school attains no other idea of his act than that 
 embraced in its relation to an individual, either some 
 fellow-pupil, if it is a personal offense, or if not, then 
 the teacher alone. He reaches no conception of its 
 character beyond and above everything individual, as 
 an offense against the whole school either as such, or 
 as represented in its government. And yet this last 
 is the vital point. In no organized community, can 
 crime be crime, only or chiefly against the individual. 
 Like a blow struck against any part of a compact 
 body, it vibrates through the whole ; and by just so 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PUNISHMENT. 229 
 
 much as that body stretches out on every side, by 
 just so much do its vibrations tremble along succes- 
 sive waves of concentric relation, more or less sensi- 
 bly affecting the whole. It is the ignorant or the 
 studious oversight of this principle, which inspires the 
 pseudo-humanity of that dangerous class whose sym- 
 pathy for public criminals is, at the present day, in- 
 fecting and debasing the popular notions of justice. 
 Let the teacher, then, bear this in mind, and see to it, 
 that in the school, this higher idea of the relation of 
 offenses is understood and felt, and the consequent 
 reparation demanded and made. 
 
 Lastly. Let not the voluntary element be over- 
 looked or dispensed with. Amendment which is 
 strictly forced, is sometimes all that can be reached. 
 Even, as such, it is better. than none. It externally 
 sustains the majesty of law, and shuts off the evil 
 example. Sophistry sometimes pleads against this 
 principle, the analogies of nature, as in the case of 
 disease or danger, where mere external improvement 
 may be itself injurious. But it is a lying philosophy 
 which reasons thus from the physical to the moral. 
 Better is that reasoning which, appealing to the case 
 of evils like those of licentiousness or drunkenness, 
 profanity or sabbath-breaking, finds that though, 
 in their secret hiding-places, they are beyond the 
 reach of the law, yet, in their very seclusion, they 
 attest the virtue and the power of the law, and are 
 forced to forego the baleful exercise of a wide-spread 
 influence and an unblushing example. 
 
 Nevertheless, generally, and especially in those sa- 
 
230 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 cred precincts, — the family, the school, and the church, 
 that correction which lays the ax " at the root of the 
 tree," is better, and is to be studiously sought, Here, 
 higher and holier aims than those of mere legality, 
 must predominate. In these, then, authority must 
 not rest content until, with its appliances and influ- 
 ences, it has reached the heart and secured that that, 
 in its voluntary obedience to the claims of pure rec- 
 titude, shall " magnify the law and make it honor- 
 able." And the lesson herein taught the teacher is 
 this ; that while, in the use of legitimate punishments 
 he more immediately coerces the offending will, he 
 is not to rest satisfied, until coercion has become 
 transfigured in true and permanent submission. 
 Great concern, painful severity, and much benevolent 
 and pains-taking afterwork may this entail upon him. 
 But it is the law of his office, and let him cheerfully 
 accept its issues. 
 
 Passing from these considerations bearing on our 
 definition of coercive punishment, we observe that 
 in its several species, it may consist of these general 
 forms of infliction, namely : public reprimands either 
 with or without temporary exclusion from rights and 
 privileges ; subjection to personal restraint or incon- 
 venience ; bodily chastisement, or corporal punish- 
 ment proper ; and final exclusion from the privileges 
 and precincts of the school. The specific nature, 
 restriction and application of the several kinds of 
 punishment will, for the sake of convenience be con- 
 sidered together, under their respective heads. 
 
 It will, however, bo first incumbent on us to attend 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: PUNISHMENT. 231 
 
 carefully to those general principles which must gov- 
 ern the teacher, in the use of all the several species 
 of coercive punishments. These principles are, to a 
 qualified extent, applicable to all the foregoing kinds 
 of punishment ; but they are more especially consid- 
 ered here with reference to those which, as positively 
 coercive, are more important in their nature, and 
 more serious in their contingencies. 
 
 First. "Whatever punishment it is proposed to in- 
 flict, it must be preceded by positive detection or 
 proper investigation. Without this, there can, of 
 course, be no certainty that the teacher's decision is 
 righteous, and the punishment just. Of the necessity 
 of these, little need be said. They are vital to the 
 interests of all concerned, from the government, down. 
 Neither must unjust punishment be inflicted, nor 
 must punishment be unjustly inflicted. To this there 
 is no alternative. 
 
 And yet, it is not unfrequently the case that the 
 latter wrong is perpetrated by the teacher. How 
 often, — shame, that it must be said ! — does the blow 
 fall upon the mere victim of mischief, rather than 
 upon the real, though concealed offender ! For ex- 
 ample, how often does a day pass in our schools, with- 
 out witnessing such justice as this ? A pupil natu- 
 rally impulsive and brimful of giggle, is purposely 
 set a-laughing by some cool-headed, long-faced rogue 
 in his neighborhood, who carefully screens himself 
 from the teacher's observation. Sequel, under these 
 'second Daniels come to judgment', — the helpless 
 laugher is punished, sometimes regardless of his 
 
232 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 defense, and the mischief maker goes scot-free. It 
 is simply a falsifying of terms, to call this govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Secondly. All such punishments must be well con- 
 sidered, and with sharp reference, not only to their 
 nature and application, but also to their possible re- 
 sults. This involves the exercise of special care that 
 no material injury, either bodily or mental, shall re- 
 sult to the pupil. It also demands that the teacher 
 shall have taken a just measure, not only of the true 
 merits of the case, but also of the possible demands 
 of the infliction upon his own strength or firmness. 
 Nothing can be more unfortunate, than for the teacher 
 to attempt the infliction of punishment, and to dis- 
 cover at length, that he has not rightly estimated the 
 refractoriness to be subdued. He will either come 
 out himself half-conquered, or if ultimately the victor, 
 only such, at the expense of a painfully unexpected 
 conflict. Of the two evils of inconsiderateness, it is 
 doubtful which is the worst, the infliction of punish- 
 ment unduly severe, or that pitiably insufficient or 
 half-successfully resisted. 
 
 Thirdly. Punishment must be thorough and effect- 
 ive. It must be no paltering sham. Once well-con- 
 sidered and rightly began, it must go through to the 
 bitter end. For example, if the pupil is to be sub- 
 jected to detention after school, for the performance 
 of some neglected duty, let that detention go on in- 
 exorably till the work is done, even if it runs out of 
 the daylight into the evening shadows. This par- 
 ticular point is pressed with great earnestness, be- 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PUNISHMENT. 233 
 
 cause it is believed that no species of punishment is 
 more common in our schools than this of detention, 
 and that none can be found more commonly a prac- 
 tical failure. And it is little to its credit, that it is 
 unconsciously chosen because it favors an escape 
 from the use of severer but more effective punish- 
 ments, and because it admits of some ultimate eva- 
 sion of its own real demands and just extension. It 
 is no more to its credit, that its failure is due either 
 to the teacher's want of firmness in carrying it out, 
 or to his weak willingness to escape the pressure of 
 its own inconvenience upon himself. 
 
 If corporal punishment is to be applied, the same 
 general principle holds good. All the proper pre- 
 liminary steps having been taken, the wise and just 
 penalty must be inflicted, and until the desired sub- 
 mission is secured. Half-way punishment is a fatal 
 blunder. It, not only fails of the true end, but ag- 
 gravates the assailed evil. Two blows may only 
 toughen the refractoriness, when ten would reduce it 
 to tenderness and submission. Half-complete pun- 
 ishment is, furthermore, false mercy. Ten blows 
 may secure a finality, when two would only prepare 
 the way for twenty in the future. A most pitiable 
 conclusion of administered discipline is that which 
 compels the teacher to exclaim within his heart : 
 
 " We have scotched the snake ; not killed it." 
 
 Fourthly. The punishment must be administered 
 with due deliberateness and resolution. This involves 
 three points ; proper preparation, deliberateness in 
 
234 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 application, and resolution in the manner of carrying 
 it out. It is equally unfortunate for the teacher to 
 undertake to inflict punishment without full prepara- 
 tion for possible contingencies ; to proceed to the 
 work in haste or passionate heat ; or to evince in its 
 prosecution, anything like hesitation or half-regret. 
 
 Hence, if a lengthy and persistent detention of the 
 offender is to be instituted, let the parent be, if pos- 
 sible, duly notified so that no undue anxiety will be 
 occasioned at home ; let everything necessary to 
 the cool carrying out of the teacher's purpose be 
 provided at the school, and then let him proceed with 
 calm and imperturbable patience and firmness to the 
 end. Or if corporal punishment is to be inflicted, and 
 the case bids fair to be a severe one, let the parent 
 be notified or even consulted and made to feel the 
 just demands of the case ; let the proper appliances 
 be provided beforehand, and then let the whole, 
 however painful, be carried through with immovable 
 coolness and steadiness, to the very end. With re- 
 ference to the second point especially, let no teacher 
 resort to such pitiful devices (sometimes even osten- 
 tatiously practiced,) as that of punishing impromptu, 
 and sending pupils, on the instant, to cut the necessary 
 rod for the occasion. It is the next vice to that of 
 displaying a whip always, to use a heraldic phrase, 
 " rampant gardant." 
 
 Fifthly. With regard to publicity, the general law 
 can only be : as is the offense, so must be the correc- 
 tion. Given a purely private offense, if such can be, 
 one exerting no public influence and susceptible of 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PUNISHMENT. 235 
 
 private correction, and the institution of open in- 
 vestigation or the public infliction of punishment, 
 must carry on its face the appearance of either an 
 indiscretion or an abuse. But on the same principle, 
 an open offense, affecting the general welfare, and 
 exerting a public influence, must, with few exceptions, 
 be as publicly investigated and corrected. Hence, 
 generally, there must be no discipline in secret, for 
 offenses committed upon the house-top. And the 
 law applies equally to the various species of punish- 
 ment, reprimands, restraint, chastisement and ex- 
 pulsion. 
 
 We are aware that strong ground is sometimes 
 taken against this publicity. That ground, however, 
 is not tenable. The secret occasion for taking it is 
 itself significant. Sometimes it is little less than a 
 false sympathy for the personal pride of the offender. 
 But if he had not self-respect enough to forbear the 
 commission of the evil act, what claim has he to so 
 sensitive a regard for his reputation under the inflic- 
 tion of the just penalty ? Is not his truest, and, un- 
 der the circumstances, only possible honor, that of 
 manfully acknowledging the wrong and submitting to 
 the full demands of justice ? Sometimes, again, the 
 objection to the public infliction of punishment, is 
 either a similar regard for parental pride, or a con- 
 cern with reference to parental vindictiveness. If it 
 be the former, the answer is as before ; the true con- 
 servation of family honor is to be found only in the 
 thorough and manly endorsement of the full claims of 
 justice, and the unflinching acceptance of whatever 
 
236 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 is necessary to a complete and final correction of the 
 evil. So far as the second motive is concerned, it is 
 unworthy in the teacher to regard it. Let him do 
 justice though the heavens fall. 
 
 Still further, the objections too often rest, really, 
 though unconsciously, upon the mere reformatory 
 notion of discipline, which has already been seen to 
 be erroneous. If the administration of discipline is 
 for the preservation of the innocent, no less than for 
 the correction of the guily, manifestly, the pains and 
 penalties incurred as the result of wrong-doing, must 
 be as public as the offense. Shut them up from the 
 observing eye of the commonwealth, and how are its 
 members to learn that " the way of transgressors is 
 hard ?" The very " intimations of nature," more often 
 than otherwise, sustain the general principle that, to 
 secure the widest and best influence, the evil con- 
 sequences of wrong-doing must, sooner or later, be- 
 come public. Indeed, nature sometimes visits even 
 secret transgression, with open punishment. 
 
 With regard to the public infliction of corporal 
 punishment, the cry is sometimes raised, that it is re- 
 prehensible, because brutalizing. To this we reply, 
 that the conclusion is based upon a mere assumption. 
 It is not the proper infliction of this species of punish- 
 ment, that is brutalizing ; it is only its abuse. Let 
 the infliction of such punishment be characterized by 
 undue frequency, by needless roughness or excess, or 
 by fierce passion, and doubtless it will, in some part, 
 go to harden and brutalize the nature. But so does 
 tho sight of human suffering and sorrow, when they 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS I PUNISHMENT. 237 
 
 come to be pressed too frequently upon our sensibili- 
 ties or are inseparably bound up with groveling and 
 depraved associations. Even the death of the human 
 being, when crowded upon the soul under the sweep 
 of the pestilence or the clash of the battle field, or 
 when it glares out from the drunken carousal or the 
 bed of vice and rottenness, — even that otherwise, 
 tender and soul-subduing spectacle may, under such 
 circumstances, exert only a benumbing and debasing 
 influence. But who cries out and demands that na- 
 ture and society should, therefore, fling the pall of 
 isolation and secrecy over its legitimate occurrence ? 
 There is, however, another grave oversight com- 
 mitted by those who pronounce thus summarily 
 against public punishment in the school. In their 
 anxiety about the immediate, they ignore the ultimate. 
 They fail to inquire whether in this proposed sub- 
 traction from punishment, of one of its most effective 
 elements of power as a means of general prevention, 
 the way is not opened for a practical demoralization 
 of the school, as it regards its notions of crime and 
 its retributions, that is itself brutalization in fact, if 
 not in the accepted form. Is he who, through a false 
 pity, pride or fear, withdraws from active influence 
 upon the school, the highest possible warning and 
 safeguard against transgression, doing any less to 
 brutalize its moral sensibility, than is done by him 
 who, perhaps too rudely, shocks that sensibility to 
 allow of its most wholesome reaction? We urge, 
 then, that the objection has no valid force whatever 
 against public punishment as properly administered ; 
 
* 
 
 238 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 that is, justly, deliberately, thoroughly, and with due 
 pains to secure the subsequent moral results. 
 
 Lastly. Whatever punishment is inflicted, the in- 
 fliction must by no means be accepted as the end of 
 the teacher's opportunity and responsibility. Hardly 
 could a graver mistake be committed. As well might 
 the physician who has by powerful remedies broken 
 the fever, suspend all further treatment of the case. 
 Mere coercion is not the highest end. That is rather 
 persuasion. But coercion is often the necessary pre- 
 parative for persuasion. Negotiations and amicable 
 arrangements are often impracticable until after a 
 satisfactory trial of arms. Punishments, then, are 
 sometimes chiefly effective as opening the way for the 
 unimpeded application of moral influences. Hence, 
 they should be regarded by the teacher, rather as 
 the rough ladder leading to the only hopeful landing 
 place of moral suasion. Let him, then, see to it that 
 he does not rest content with merely having reached 
 that landing place, instead of zealously pressing up 
 the new and nobler ascent which the former has just 
 rendered practicable. Every infliction of coercive 
 discipline must, then, be carefully followed up and 
 supplemented by sound suggestions and friendly in- 
 fluences, until, if possible, to the subjugation of the 
 will, there has been added the winning of the heart. 
 
 And this subsequent use of moral means rises in 
 its imperative claims, just in proportion to the im- 
 mediate severity or aggravating circumstances of the 
 punishment inflicted. Certainly, the more critical the 
 case, and the more violent the treatment, the more 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PUNISHMENT. 239 
 
 pressing the need for the watchful and unwearied ap- 
 plication of the subsequent restoratives. He, then, 
 who fails to perceive this last responsibility, or who 
 lacks either the patience or the firmness to press for- 
 ward in its discharge to the complete result, practi- 
 cally sounds a retreat in the midst of a half-won bat- 
 tle, and accepts the issue of a substantial defeat. 
 And this is the fatal error of most of the discipline 
 administered in our schools. To this alone, is charge- 
 able much of the need of frequent punishment, much 
 of its failure to prove effective, and much of its al- 
 leged brutalizing tendency. Let teachers ponder 
 this well. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected by some, that all this 
 is calculated to render the administration of disci- 
 pline in the school, too complicated and laborious. 
 We answer, not at all, if all this is necessary to its 
 consistency, efficiency, and most benign success. 
 Furthermore, the more of a real, pains-taking labor 
 it is, the less likely will the teacher be to enter upon 
 the work of disciplining offenses hastily or for trivial 
 causes. The grand law of the whole argument is 
 summed up in this indisputably just maxim ; less 
 frequency but greater thoroughness. 
 
 Beyond these general rules, there are certain spe- 
 cific points bearing on these various kinds of punish- 
 ment that claim attention. 
 
 First. Correlative rewards and punishment a should 
 rest upon similar bases. If you bestow a reward for 
 a specific excellence, you may punish by retracting 
 the reward, but only for delinquency in the same direc- 
 
240 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 tion. Thus, you may punish for bad scholarship by 
 resuming a reward bestowed for good scholarship, 
 but not at all by retracting one conferred for good 
 behavior. The last would be a practical injustice. 
 
 Secondly. Public reprimands should set forth 
 clearly the personal unworthiness and the public in- 
 juriousness of the act censured, and should, as the 
 case may be, be more or less pointed and severe. 
 But they should never be sarcastic or vituperative. 
 No true force is gained by such means, and they 
 seriously impair the teacher's dignity and dispas- 
 sionateness of manner in the administration of dis- 
 cipline. Care should be taken to guard the school 
 against the error of summing up the censure in the 
 act of its pronunciation. It must be understood to 
 hold good until, upon amendment, the offender is 
 formally released therefrom. In the meantime, while 
 he is not to be treated unkindly, he is to be held as 
 standing in disfavor. In this direction, some accom- 
 panying restriction of privilege will be seen to be of 
 service, inasmuch as it affords a sensible and abiding 
 symbol of the existing censure. 
 
 Thirdly. Bodily restraint or confinement as to 
 either position or place must be simply such ; it must 
 not be conjoined with contemptible, alarming, or mis- 
 chievous adjuncts. Stand the offender upon the floor 
 in noticeable isolation from his fellows, if need be ; 
 but do not stoop to those abominations practiced of 
 old time, such as adorning him with leather spec- 
 tacles, split sticks, or a fool's cap, or loading him 
 with billets of wood, or forcing him to stand with his 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: PUNISHMENT. 241 
 
 finger upon some crack in the floor, — to him, in a 
 very literal sense, the "crack of doom." These are 
 not only needless, but also base and even cowardly 
 devices. We say cowardly, for more often than 
 otherwise, they are chosen because they are a means 
 of dodging the infliction of corporal punishment, or 
 because those upon whom they are imposed are either 
 unable to resist, or dare not in any way protest against 
 the indignity. So too, with regard to separate con- 
 finement, avoid immuring the offender in some filthy 
 or dark closet or apartment. It is not well, for any 
 purpose of correction, to attack a pupil's constitu- 
 tional courage, or his acquired habits of neatness. 
 The reasons are obvious. 
 
 We have already noticed somewhat particularly, 
 the use of detention after school as a punishment. 
 That the current method pursued with regard to it, 
 is radically defective and needs to be reformed al- 
 together, must be apparent to the thoughtful teacher. 
 Instead of resorting to it with foolish frequency, con- 
 ducting it so that it is sure to be as great an annoy- 
 ance to the teacher as it is to the pupil, and cutting 
 it summarily short at the occurrence of the first pos- 
 sible excuse for so doing, how much better for a 
 course to be pursued, somewhat as follows. Having 
 a just occasion for a thorough detention of a delin- 
 quent pupil, let the teacher close his school, send 
 notice of the detention to the parents, if he has not 
 apprized them of it beforehand, and then calmly 
 stating to the offender precisely what he intends and 
 expects, let him set himself quietly about some ap- 
 
242 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 parently consistent and earnest employment, and 
 without concern or uneasiness, await the end. Sooner 
 than stop short of its full attainment, let him, if need 
 be, bring forward both lunch and lights, share them 
 pleasantly with his prisoner, and go on as before. A 
 cool preparation and persistence like this, will almost 
 invariably bring the culprit to terms. When this 
 point has been properly attained, let the teacher lay 
 aside the stern character of the ruler, and as a friend 
 calmly and kindly confer with the offender upon the 
 evil nature of the course he has pursued, and exhort 
 him to new and better things. Then let him put up 
 his work, close the school-house, and, if practicable, 
 accompany the pupil home, by the way appearing 
 only as the friend, and seeming to be utterly oblivious 
 of what has just passed. His presence will keep the 
 pupil thoughtful and under restraint until the period 
 for any passionate outbreak has passed, and his for- 
 bearing silence as to the discipline will tend to awaken 
 grateful regard. And, subsequently, let nothing be 
 said about the affair, to the school. It is not neces- 
 sary. The details of the struggle and the result will 
 find their own utterance, and with comments quite 
 calculated to impress upon its members, the wisdom 
 of prompt obedience. To some teachers, we doubt 
 not, all this will seem like pure extravagance. But 
 what a pity it is, that in the use of punishment, in 
 both the family and the school, there is not more of 
 the extravagance of thoroughness, and less of the 
 extravagance of idle frequency and stupid failure. 
 Fourthly. With regard to chastisement or corporal 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PUNISHMENT. 243 
 
 punishment proper, it is premised that we here con- 
 template only the legitimate and divinely established 
 use of the rod. There have been found not a few 
 who, without any warrant either rational or revealed, 
 have gone beyond this and hit upon implements and 
 appliances that might have made the users thereof 
 exclaim : 
 
 " Come seeling night, 
 Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day." 
 
 These were they who, finding a hard, rough-hand 
 in readiness, brandished it like Talus' iron flail about 
 the ears and head of the pitiful culprit to the endan- 
 gering of his very brains ; who, possessing a sinewy 
 arm, grasped the helpless victim and, wrenching him 
 from his seat, spun him around like a demon-driven 
 top, in indescribable gyrations upon the mid-floor, 
 and perhaps ended with dashing him down more like 
 a billet than a human being ; or who, clutching the 
 massive ferrule, either hurled it like Jove's thunder- 
 bolt, at doomed heads in the distance, or, seizing the 
 tender and half-knit hand, beat out with quick re- 
 morseless blows the fiery grain of pain, if not of peni- 
 tence, upon the sad threshing-floor of the quivering 
 palm. 
 
 For such punishments there is no stint of condem- 
 nation. Irrational and base, they might produce fear, 
 but could create no reverence or regard for govern- 
 ment. . Indiscriminate and unsparing, they alike 
 crushed the innocent and weak, and exasperated the 
 robust and daring. Blind and dead to the presence 
 and oflice-work of the understanding and the con- 
 
244: SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 science, they brutalized the feelings, and often beat 
 down all that was sweetest and noblest in the child's 
 nature. It is to be hoped that these are already 
 numbered with the things that were. 
 
 With regard to corporal punishment in its proper 
 form as already indicated, much the same course is 
 to be pursued as in the case of restraint or confine- 
 ment. Whatever of antecedent preparation, of care- 
 ful explanation, of calm deliberateness, of cool and 
 thorough persistence, and of subsequent moral effort, 
 was needed there, is still more necessary here. But it 
 must all be natural and real, not pretentious or with a 
 studied attempt at effect. Any display of preparations, 
 or tantalizing delay of proceedings, or pompous 
 solemnity of manner, intended to alarm the offender 
 or overawe the school, is worse than weak and ridi- 
 culous ; it's " villainous, and shows a pitiful ambition 
 in the fool that uses it." 
 
 From this, it will be seen that, for obvious reasons, 
 no hasty infliction of punishment is here contemplated. 
 Still it is not denied that cases may arise in which 
 summary punishment must be inflicted ; as, for ex- 
 ample, when the offender is of a character likely to be 
 strengthened in resistance by delay ; when there is a 
 prevailing impression that the teacher's deliberateness 
 is caused by a temporizing fear to punish ; or when, 
 from lack of physical power, he must take his anta- 
 gonist at an advantage. Here, it may be necessary 
 for the stream to " be quick and violent." But these 
 are the exceptional cases, and are to be avoided if 
 possible. The teacher must be his own judge as to 
 
GEKE11AL ELEMENTS: FUKI8HMEKT. 245 
 
 the real occurrence of any of these contingencies. In 
 case he accepts one of them as instant, let the blow 
 be sudden and decisive, and only sudden that it may 
 be decisive. 
 
 It is sometimes both proper and necessary in the 
 administration of discipline, in the school, to go 
 beyond proper coercion, and make use of sheer com- 
 pulsion. That is, the teacher, instead of bringing 
 the pupil by coercive measures to the voluntary per- 
 formance of the required act, may apply sheer force 
 and, whether he wills or not wills, may compel him 
 to do it. This species of discipline is quite restricted 
 in its application, and is, only under certain contin- 
 gencies, and in a modified sense, punishment. But 
 being a disciplinary corrective so far as it goes ; 
 tending to inculcate the necessity of submission to 
 the higher power ; and not unfrequently causing the 
 pain of feeling ignominiously overcome and justly 
 compelled to submit, it is not improper to consider it 
 under the head of punishments. 
 
 The nature and occasion for such a species of in- 
 fliction maybe made clearer by illustration. Take, 
 in the first instance, a very young pupil, who has yet 
 no adequate idea of superior power as in authority 
 over him, and who may be hardly mature enough to 
 comprehend the just claims of authority as rightly 
 constituted. Suppose such an incipient representative 
 of our ungovernable democracy to set himself up pre- 
 cociously as one of the sovereigns, — a by no means 
 rare occurrence in either the family or the school. 
 He is, for example, directed to take a certain seat, 
 
246 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 or, perhaps, to sit down somewhere, and refuses to 
 obey. Here it may be both proper and sufficient for 
 the teacher to take him and, by the simple exercise 
 of force, compel him to take the prescribed place. A 
 similar emergency may arise in the case of an older 
 pupil who has been too exclusively controlled by 
 force at home, or who, in the overweening sense of 
 his own strength, doubts the teacher's possession of 
 the power to master him, and to compel him to sub- 
 mit. Here, as before, the teacher may with perfect 
 consistency resort to simple compulsion ; he may, by 
 the mere exercise of superior strength, force the delin- 
 quent to perform the required act, — the act of course 
 as in the former case, being one of a kind properly 
 within reach of force. 
 
 While on general principles, or if too largely em- 
 ployed, such a species of discipline may seem objec- 
 tionable, it is within the range above indicated, quite 
 reasonable. It is not always desirable, as in the first 
 case supposed, to inflict corporal punishment on the 
 extremely young. Nay, in many cases there is no 
 need of applying the rod at all; the thoroughly 
 attained consciousness that the teacher has ample 
 power to enforce his demands, being quite sufficient 
 to prevent further attempts at resistance. Beyond 
 this, there are minds, not only juvenile but adult, in 
 which the primary idea of supremacy is simply that 
 of superior power. This is, of course, not tho truest 
 idea, nor the one ultimately to bo established. But 
 wherever it prevails, the capacity and the rectitude 
 of the authority as resting en this basis alone, must 
 
GENEKAL ELEMENTS: PUNISHMENT. 247 
 
 be practically demonstrated, otherwise the way is not 
 open for the effective development of the higher basis 
 of the authority as properly constituted and as essen- 
 tial to the general welfare. Hence, satisfy the rebel- 
 lious subject, that the power exists and will be un- 
 hesitatingly applied, and one important point, — to 
 him the one first important point, — has been gained. 
 His apprehension, cleared as to the question of power, 
 will be more open to the force of other and higher 
 considerations, into the proper appreciation of which 
 he will speedily grow. 
 
 • If it be objected that in such cases the submission 
 secured is destitute of any voluntary character and is 
 so far defective ; it is sufficient to reply, that under 
 the force of the conviction already gained that re- 
 sistance is futile, the subsequent obedience will be- 
 come voluntary, and that, while it is not voluntary 
 upon the best or ultimate basis, yet the tendency of 
 all voluntary obedience is toward a growing recogni- 
 tion of the simple rightfulness of authority and of the 
 worthiness of pure rectitude. One of the worst effects 
 of unconquered insubordination is, not that it estab- 
 lishes the will in its rebellion, but that it works a 
 growing paralysis of the judgment and the reason, so 
 that the offender becomes incapable of discovering 
 the true relations of himself and his evil conduct, and 
 of apprehending the nature and the claims of proper 
 rectitude. 
 
 The specific rules for the application of this species 
 of discipline, both immediate and subsequent, being 
 
248 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the same as in the case of the other kinds of punish- 
 ment, their consideration here is unnecessary. 
 
 With regard to final exclusion as a means of cor- 
 rection, it is to be remarked at the outset, that so far 
 as the great body of our public schools are concerned, 
 but little need be said of it in this place, since the 
 prerogative of applying it, is lodged quite exclusively 
 in the hands of the higher authorities, the teacher 
 having little to do in the premises, beyond the mere 
 making of the proper representation as to its necessity. 
 In certain private schools, however, which are the 
 sole property of the teacher, it may be otherwise. 
 Here, the whole power lying in the hands of the 
 teacher, he may have the right to exclude, just as 
 truly as to inflict any other species of punishment. 
 In still another class of schools generally assumed as 
 of a higher order, — in this direction what they are 
 only because of the higher pride or prejudice of the 
 patrons, — the prerogative of exclusion passes wholly 
 into the hands of the teacher, and becomes common 
 and necessary, simply because he is practically pre- 
 cluded from the use of its only substitute and alter- 
 native, corporal punishment. On these accounts, it 
 is proper to bestow upon this species of correction, a 
 somewhat careful consideration. 
 
 First, then, final exclusion, which is a punishment 
 only under the same limitation which marked the last 
 species, must always be held as a last resort and to 
 be accepted as a necessity, only when all other and 
 better appliances, faithfully applied, have proved 
 utterly futile. And for the two reasons, first, that it 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS : PUNISHMENT. 249 
 
 not unfrequently cuts the teacher off from the power 
 to benefit or save the offender ; and, secondly, because 
 it involves a practical confession of failure on the 
 part of the government of the school, to secure the 
 best and noblest ends of discipline, just as the am- 
 putation of a diseased limb is an acknowledgement 
 of the failure and further powerlessness of the proper 
 curative agency. It is, in short, a practical defeat, 
 since whatever victory it may secure, it is not the one 
 sought by tlio authority : the result is not one of 
 proper and wholesome subjugation ; it is the conquest 
 of extermination. Hence, no true teacher will have 
 recourse to it, except he is reduced to it as an absolute 
 and somewhat humiliating necessity. 
 
 Secondly. Excepting perhaps in those schools in 
 which corporal punishment is forbidden, the occasions 
 for its use are less common, than is often supposed. 
 It is hardly to be doubted that it is often accepted 
 as imperative, either because the teacher lacks real 
 force in the use of other means of discipline ; because 
 he is of too hasty or arbitrary a temperament ; or 
 because he is indisposed to undertake patiently and 
 resolutely, the perhaps lengthy and painful struggle 
 necessary to a victory through the use of other and 
 better means. We have in mind two cases occurring 
 in our own early experience, which we can now clearly 
 trace to the first of these causes, immaturity and lack 
 of thorough acquaintance with the work to be done. 
 We recall also a later case of a most marked char- 
 acter, in which a seemingly hopeless young man was, 
 , through the use- of the proper patience and tact, re- 
 
 11* 
 
250 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 duced to perfect control and won to a real and most 
 friendly regard. And jet this very young man was, by 
 his very next teacher, and for no greater insubordi- 
 nation, summarily excluded from the school, with 
 certainly no better results to the latter, and to the 
 entire destruction of that teacher's influence over 
 him. In this case, the course pursued was due to no 
 lack of power or experience, for both were of a supe- 
 rior order, but to an arbitrariness of temper growing 
 out of an excessive sensibility to the claims of pure 
 justice. We doubt not a careful review of their own 
 experience would bring the conviction of most teach- 
 ers to this same self-judgment. 
 
 Thirdly. When exclusion has become a true neces- 
 sity, if it be public, it is to be administered according 
 to the same general rules already suggested under 
 the head of coercive punishments. Its specific 
 method is the same with that of public censure. If 
 the exclusion is to be private, as is most commonly 
 the case in those schools in which it takes the place 
 of corporal punishment, its form is so anomalous, 
 that its specific method must be determined alto- 
 gether by the judgment of the teacher, as guided by 
 the particular circumstances of the case. 
 
 Lastly. When exclusion has been resorted to, let 
 the teacher by no means accept it as necessarily a 
 finality. Possibly, he may yet in some way be able 
 to reach the offender for the purpose of reformatory 
 effort. If any such way be open, let him seek out 
 the excluded member, and privately press upon him 
 the unworthiness of sitting down cither stubborulv 
 
GENERAL ELEMENTS: PUNISHMENT. 251 
 
 or stolidly under the burden of the inflicted disgrace ; 
 open to his mind the practicability of reclaiming his 
 position and redeeming his character ; and urge upon 
 him the inherent nobleness of a resolute effort at 
 amendment. When the teacher becomes reasonably 
 assured that these considerations are properly felt, 
 and that reparation and reformation will be heartily 
 attempted, let him take measures to secure the re- 
 versal of the decree of exclusion, and effect the res- 
 toration of the offender to his former place. In some 
 cases it may be well, with the private consent of the 
 proper authorities, to reinstate him quietly upon 
 trial, reserving the formal restoration to such a time 
 as may have sufficed to evince his sincerity and prob- 
 ability of success in the direction of permanent 
 amendment. If the teacher is successful in these 
 endeavors, his victory is signal and cannot fail to 
 sustain powerfully both the vigor and the benevo- 
 lence of his administration. Still we insist that the 
 better victory is that won, as previously counseled, 
 before and without exclusion. 
 
 The overlooking of this last grand principle is not 
 confined to the precincts of the school ; it is one too 
 painfully common throughout society, to which fact 
 the teacher is doubtless largely indebted for his own 
 tendency in this direction. To the thoughtful mind, 
 there will readily occur the sorrowful spectacle of 
 many a difficult and abortive attempt at the reclama- 
 tion of the fallen who have been summarily excluded 
 by society from its pale, and abandoned to their fate. 
 And the conviction can hardly be escaped that had 
 
252 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 they been seized upon with the same resolution and 
 benevolence, while they were yet within sight of the 
 lost Eden of blessing, and painfully alive to their 
 present degradation and impending ruin, the moment 
 of imminent and priceless opportunity would have 
 been won, and they would have been found despair- 
 ingly eager to snatch at the feeblest chance of re- 
 demption. But no ; the sublime and touching lesson 
 taught by the Great Teacher in the case of the adul- 
 terous woman, is lost upon the higher virtue and 
 severer rectitude of human society; and so, multi- 
 tudes of those, originally the noblest and the most 
 lovely, are consigned to a doom which makes the 
 pitying soul sicken and cry out with mingled indig- 
 nation and anguish. 
 
 It must not be understood, however, that in press- 
 ing these considerations, the ground is taken that 
 this noble reformatory effort is, in either society or 
 the school, the proper work of government as such. 
 It should be heartily countenanced and seconded by 
 government : but is not to be authoritatively under- 
 taken by it. It belongs properly within the province 
 of individual or associated pliilanthropy. 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES TO SPECIFIC SCHEMES OF 
 DISCIPLINE AND TO DEPABTMENTAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 Occasion for examining specific Schemes — Self-government method — Gen- 
 eral objections — Self-government in the school of two kinds, — partial 
 and complete — Objections to the first — Practically an imposition — Ob- 
 jections to the second — Still a delusion — Overburdens the teacher — De- 
 stroys true ideas of government — Distracts the pupil's attention — 
 Tends to dissatisfaction — Self-reporting scheme — General nature — Re 
 stricted use allowed — Objections to the scheme — Teacher evades his own 
 duty — Impairs the pupil's moral sense — Destructive of faith in the 
 teacher's rule — Demerit mark scheme — Its features — Subdivided into 
 Pure Merit Scheme, Mixed Form, and Pure Demerit Scheme— Merit 
 scheme — Proper method characterized— Its practical difficulties — Mixed 
 form — General objections — To be treated as a demerit scheme — Pecu- 
 liar features of the pure demerit method — Evils of the method— Based on 
 the false principle of depression — Child apt to bo left in ii^norance of 
 its real significance — Tempts the teacher to neglect to inform him — 
 Leads to minute rules — Fails to evince the real relation of offense and 
 punishment — Too liable to irregular, hasty, and unjust marking — 
 Peculiar difficulty resulting from the use of two rolls, one of scholar- 
 ship, and one of standing — Only proper use to be made of rolls of 
 standing — The application of the demerit mark scheme to higher schools 
 — Its difficulties — Sometimes, nevertheless, a necessity — Specific rules 
 for its use — Proper government for adult schools, that of influence — Its 
 obstacles and its aids— Departmental schools — Classified as Lower and 
 Higher — Kinds distinguished — Differences in organization — Theoret- 
 ical and current — Specific rules for government in the lover species — 
 Subordinate should be the ruler in his own field — Should govern 
 in harmony with the general method of the school — Principal should 
 not make the subordinate a mere cipher — Should, in punishing, only 
 act as an executive agent for the subordinate — General directions for 
 
254 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the higher order of departmental schools — Offenses of two kinds; class 
 offenses, general offenses — Proper method of adjudicating them. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of discipline entirely, it 
 is not improper that some attention should be given 
 to certain specific schemes, sometimes devised for its 
 administration, and to the particular application of 
 the foregoing principles to those higher schools whose 
 peculiar wants have not thus far in the discussion 
 been especially noticed. It is true that the general 
 principles already laid down might seem a sufficient 
 guide to the truth in those directions. But there are, 
 nevertheless, points of particular importance or diffi- 
 culty involved, which may escape the notice of the 
 practical teacher, or which, if they occur to him, may 
 not be so clearly accompanied by their proper solu- 
 tion, as to prevent doubt and embarrasment. 
 
 As a further reason for turning the attention in this 
 direction, at this stage of the discussion, we urge that 
 these schemes of discipline, and the difficulties of the 
 schools referred to, are intimately related to the vexed 
 question of the " to be or not to be " of corporal 
 punishment, — the former, indeed, having their un- 
 suspected but real origin in a desire to escape the 
 necessity of using it, and the latter, substantially 
 arising from obstacles, either natural or merely no- 
 tional, thrown in the way of its employment, and not 
 unfrequently amounting to its practical prohibition. 
 And these facts with regard to the origin of the mat- 
 ters in question, and which we believe have seldom 
 occurred to our educators, have here a peculiar signi- 
 ficance, and deserve to be kept constantly in mind 
 
SELF-GOVEKNMENT SCHEME. 255 
 
 during the progress of the discussion, since they are, 
 to some extent, the secret key to the real nature of 
 the schemes of discipline now to be examined. 
 
 Of these schemes, that of Self- Government comes 
 first in order. So far as its relation to the fundamen- 
 tal principles of school government is concerned, this 
 scheme has already been briefly noticed, and its radical 
 errors suggested. That it disregards the law of its 
 derivation as originating in parental government; 
 that it practically assumes the pupil to be capacitated 
 for the exercise of such functions, and sufficiently 
 disposed to render obedience, to be entrusted with 
 the sovereign power; and that it recognizes in the 
 teacher the right to transfer the performance of his 
 own chief duty or any important part of it, to others ; 
 — that it does anything of this, is enough of itself to 
 settle the character of its claims. 
 
 There are, however, other considerations that pro- 
 nounce against it. Self-government in the school 
 must be of one of two kinds ; it must be either in- 
 formal and partial or somewhat systematic and com- 
 plete ; that is, it must be summed up in incidental 
 and apparent references of questions and measures 
 to the voice of the school for their decision and execu- 
 tion ; or it must attempt something of a formal or- 
 ganization of the school as a body politic, with power 
 to detect, decide and perhaps even discipline offenders. 
 
 Now of these two methods, it has already been seen 
 that the first is practically an imposition on the simple 
 faith of the pupil ; for he exercises only a seeming, not 
 a real power. The teacher either influences and guides 
 
256 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the decisions and consequent action, or he stands in 
 instant readiness to interfere and to counteract the 
 measures of the school, whenever they are likely to 
 conflict with his own convictions of justice or necessity. 
 Like the priest behind the miraculous image, he 
 stands concealed behind the whole democratic ma- 
 chine, and practically determines its movements. 
 Whether such a scheme is really worthy of the 
 teacher's own sound judgment or just integrity ; 
 whether it is really a peculiar benevolence to the 
 pupils themselves; or whether it can be expected 
 long to work well or to accomplish any very impor- 
 tant ends; or whether it will not speedily be dis- 
 covered to be precisely the mere sham it is, let the 
 sober-thinking teacher judge for himself. 
 
 But suppose that the second form is the one chosen ; 
 how will the case stand? To begin with, no such 
 formal democracy can be consistently practicable ex- 
 cept in those schools in which the pupils are some- 
 what advanced in maturity and knowledge. With- 
 out the presence among the pupils, of a certain sound 
 judgment and manly self-control, the real power and 
 the actual labor must remain, as in the former case, 
 with the teacher alone ; ostensibly a mere " primus 
 inter pares," he is, after all, absolutely imperator. 
 The whole scheme is thus eviscerated of any true 
 reality or popular independence. But this necessary 
 restriction of this system of school government to the 
 maturer class of pupils, at once, decides the question 
 as to its general adaptability or usefulness. 
 
 Again, the work of governing, which, as having to 
 
SELF-GOVERNMENT SCHEME. 257 
 
 be carried on conjointly with the work of instruction, 
 needs to be as simple as possible, is, under this 
 scheme, necessarily complicated with much new and 
 really cumbrous machinery, — machinery, too, largely 
 subject in its movements, to the notions of the multi- 
 tude, and, therefore, additionally perplexing from its 
 inherent uncertainty and need of constant watch 
 and control. Now he must be a veritable Atlas, who 
 can properly sustain himself amidst the multifarious 
 duties and burdens of the school, with this new 
 world of a scholastic democracy upon his shoulders. 
 It is certainly competent for us to urge that he who 
 can do this and properly carry out his scheme of self- 
 government, is amply able to govern successfully upon 
 the truer and simpler basis of pure absolutism, and 
 consequently has no need of the scheme at all ; and it 
 is positively certain that he who cannot govern wisely 
 and well upon this latter basis, is necessarily unequal 
 to the use and perfection of any scheme of popular 
 self-government in the school, and should, therefore, 
 never attempt it. 
 
 Still further, the natural tendency of the scheme 
 must be to pervert the pupil's ideas of the nature of 
 true government, to lower his conceptions of the just 
 majesty of law, and to lay the foundation for restless- 
 ness under any other control than that of his own 
 will. For, is it not an error to, in any way inculcate 
 the idea that government must necessarily originate 
 in the will of the governed, however inferior in capac- 
 ity, condition or virtue they may be ? Can it other 
 than eventually belittle government and abase law, 
 
258 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 to transfer the lawgivership from the higher respon- 
 sibility and capacity of the teacher, and bring it down 
 to the level of an investment in the child's sovereignty ? 
 Should not he who is to be governed, be able to 
 look up with reverence to, and with faith in, authority 
 as enthroned in superior power, wisdom and good- 
 ness ? But can the child thus look up to, and believe 
 in himself or in a government thus begotten of, and 
 bounded by, himself? Now as to the other question, 
 — that of the influence of such schemes in the school 
 to engender future restlessness under authoritative 
 restraint, and general insubordination, — we are in- 
 clined to the opinion that a salutary lesson may be 
 learned from the necessity of our late tremendous 
 struggle, to the preservation of the national unity and 
 the integrity of its government, and to the awakening 
 of the people to a just sense of the vital importance 
 of undivided loyalty, reverence for constituted author- 
 ity, and self-sacrificing obedience to law. 
 
 But once more, finally. In whatever shape the 
 scheme of popular self-government in the school may 
 be put forward, it is subject to these other practical 
 evils. Just so far as the details of government are 
 imposed upon the pupil, their influence must be to 
 divert his attention from that undivided interest and 
 application necessary to his best progress in study. 
 Still further, its tendency must be to create in him 
 an over-critical propensity in judging of the proper 
 acts of the teacher, and, from the habit of debating 
 matters of general moment in his own mind, and of 
 expecting to have a choice as to their decision, to 
 
SELF-BEPOKTINa SCHEME. 259 
 
 induce in him a disposition to be dissatisfied with 
 even the conclusion reached through the general 
 suffrages of the body politic. Every one knows how 
 easily a question, quietly decided at once for a class 
 or a school, by the proper authority, becomes, when 
 thrown open for general discussion and popular de- 
 cision, an occasion for difference, contention, and ul- 
 timate dissatisfaction. Hence, the weakness and folly 
 of teachers who are forever ready to resort to a pub- 
 lic vote in the school, for the decision of matters of 
 any real importance. 
 
 Closely related to this scheme of self-government, is 
 the Self- Reporting Scheme, a partial method, employed 
 generally in combination with some other fancied 
 system of discipline such as that of popular sover- 
 eignty or that of demerit marks. It differs from the 
 former scheme chiefly in that it devolves upon the 
 pupil, not so much the prerogatives of legislation and 
 execution, as that of self-judgment. Its marked 
 feature is, that it allows or requires him to report to 
 the teacher the measure of his own merit or demerit, 
 according to his own judgment. It sometimes even 
 goes to the ridiculous extreme of devolving upon him 
 the determination of the reward or the penalty to be 
 attached. 
 
 Now, the teacher may, in his private conferences 
 with the pupil, endeavor to draw from him his view 
 of his own merit or demerit, not at all as a basis of 
 judgment, but only that, if his view be correct, the 
 pupil may be made to feel that his own reason and 
 conscience are to have a voice with regard to his con- 
 
260 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 duct, either " accusing or excusing ;" or, if he has 
 judged improperly, that the teacher may be able to 
 show him his error, and thus enlighten and guide him 
 in his apprehension of truth and his convictions of 
 desert. 
 
 So, too, as merely an incidental act, not at all as a 
 matter of regular or frequent occurrence, the teacher 
 may, when he knows the precise facts in the case, 
 even publicly call for a pupil's opinion as to his own 
 effort or behavior ; not that this opinion may serve, 
 in any part, as a basis for his own judgment in the 
 premises, but that, by correcting its error kindly and 
 without personal reference, he may impress upon the 
 school their liability to misjudge both as to the char- 
 acter of their own conduct and the provisions of his 
 government, and may thus give them moral instruc- 
 tion of a most practical and important nature. 
 
 But, employed in any other way, or pursued to any 
 extent as part of a scheme of discipline, the method 
 under consideration is both stupidly ingenious and 
 transparently vicious. For, first, if this opinion of 
 the pupil as to his own merit or demerit is sought as 
 a basis for the teacher's judgment, the thing is false 
 in its first principles. As ruler in the school, and 
 knowing what to establish as law, what are you next 
 to know but when, where and how to apply discipline 
 for the support of law ? To read the pupil's char- 
 acter, to discover his merits, to detect his misde- 
 meanors, and to divine the proper means for stimulus 
 or correction, — this is the teacher's art of governing, 
 most "express and admirable." As such, we hold 
 
SELF-REPORTING SCHEME. 261 
 
 that he has no right to throw it upon the pupil, either 
 in earnest or in mere pretense. If he does the former, 
 he impeaches either his own capacity or faithfulness ; 
 if he does the latter, he imposes upon the simple 
 faith of the pupil. 
 
 In the second place, the direct tendency of this 
 species of practice is to blunt the moral sense of the 
 pupil, and to induce deception and falsehood. Nor is 
 it of any avail to argue the contrary. Let the pupil 
 suppose that you do in any part rest upon his decision, 
 and how powerful is the stimulus to make out a fair 
 case for himself, even though at the ultimate ex- 
 pense of the truth ! Even suppose that he may start, 
 and for a time continue honest, how long under such 
 temptation, will he be able to retain a keen sense of 
 the difference between the exact truth and a self-in- 
 terested misrepresentation of facts ? Go beyond the 
 child in the school, and apply the same practice to 
 every John Doe and Richard Eoe in our courts of 
 justice, and how long would it be before every honest 
 man would be compelled to exclaim with deeper feel- 
 ing and graver cause than did Falstaff; "Lord ! how 
 this world is given to lying !" But is it to be sup- 
 posed that the heedless boy who does not so much 
 discriminate between right and wrong, as between 
 birch and not birch, — is it to be supposed that he 
 will be proof against the temptation thus thrown in 
 his way ? We say to the teacher, with the profound- 
 est feeling, before you thus call upon the child to 
 report for or against himself, see to it that you first 
 
262 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 soberly repeat to yourself the prayer, " Lead us not 
 into temptation." 
 
 In the third place, there is another evil incident to 
 the use of this scheme, if not certain to accompany 
 it. Suppose that the teacher, while making use of 
 tho pupil's self-reporting statement, does not accept 
 it without qualification, as a basis of judgment, but 
 corrects it by his own knowledge. Here, the trust of 
 the first act is practically supplanted by the distrust 
 of the second act, and how long will it be, before the 
 pupil will penetrate to this secret of your strategy ? 
 But you may depend upon it, that just so soon as he 
 becomes satisfied that you go back of his untrustcd 
 word, after the trusted facts, the fair fabric of your 
 whole scheme will dissolve like the frail frost-work 
 of the night under the morning sun, and, what is 
 worse, with it will vanish the pupil's better estimate 
 of your character as worthy of his admiration and 
 confidence. The fact is, in dealing with the young, 
 no truth is more distinct and vital than that there is 
 no safe half-way between distrust and faith. 
 
 "We pass now to the consideration of the last of 
 these specific schemes which involve a practical at- 
 tempt to escape the use of penal infliction in the cor- 
 rection of offenses. This scheme, which is a sort of 
 double-entry affair, and, in its way, collects and pres- 
 ents the debits and credits of the pupil's dealing in 
 the school, will perhaps be most readily recognized 
 as " The Demerit 3Iark System." This title, however, 
 belongs properly to one of its extreme phases ; for a 
 system of discipline through a record of standing, 
 
DEMERIT MARK SCHEME. 2f>3 
 
 may involve three species; namely, that of Pure 
 Merit; the Mixed Form; and the Pure Demerit 
 System. 
 
 The merit scheme should be marked by the follow- 
 ing characteristics. It should start with a certain 
 average standard of character, or sum of merit, as- 
 sumed as common to all the members of the school. 
 This starting point, however, should never be zero. 
 That would be like compelling an inexperienced man 
 to commence a difficult business without capital ; to 
 begin the building of a house without even foundation 
 or site. On the contrary, every pupil should be made 
 to feel that he possesses some actual merit that is 
 appreciated, and that appears on the roll of standing, 
 fairly credited to him. This gives him a hopeful 
 foundation upon which to build ; an encouraging ac- 
 cumulation to which he may add, the natural stim- 
 ulus nowhere so necessary as in the creation of char- 
 acter, and above all, in its formation and improve- 
 ment among the young. 
 
 Proceeding upon this assumed basis of merit, the 
 teacher should carefully add to the credit of the 
 pupil, upon his roll, the sum of everything worthily 
 done beyond the regular order, or done above a mere 
 average within it. That it should rise above a mere 
 average in performance, is clear, since that alone in- 
 dicates no real advance from the starting point ; and 
 that whatever is done beyond the regular order 
 should be credited entire, rests upon the fact that it 
 is just so far an advance beyond mere ordinary merit. 
 
 But no notice whatever is to be taken of acts of 
 
264 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 demerit : it is foreign to the entire principle and spirit 
 of the scheme. Tour object is to develop merit by 
 encouragement. So far as you do that, you are, not 
 only discountenancing, but really supplanting demerit, 
 and in a really more effective manner, because it is 
 indirect and unobserved. Hence, it is of vital im- 
 portance that the pupil's attention should be studi- 
 ously kept fastened solely upon the more hopeful 
 prospect, — that of increasing merit, or growing ex- 
 cellence. The same law holds good here, that obtains 
 in the case of generous approval and encouragement 
 as opposed to depressing criticism and habitual 
 censure, of which notice has elsewhere been taken. 
 
 Of the general correctness of this scheme, there 
 can be no doubt. We suspect, however, that it is 
 rarely, if ever, practically adopted. And, probably, 
 for the reason that it is attended with the following 
 difficulties : it is more congenial to human nature to 
 interest itself in the faults of others than in their ex- 
 cellences ; it is really easier to detect and to measure 
 the former satisfactorily to one's self than it is to 
 properly discern and estimate the latter ; and, lastly, 
 in the work of deciding upon the character and 
 measure of a wrong, passion affords a powerful aid 
 (we say nothing of its worthiness) which is not present 
 or available when one has to sit in judgment upon a 
 just or virtuous action. How far these difficulties 
 should be suffered to have weight with the intelligent 
 and earnest teacher, we leave for him to decide. 
 
 Of the mixed form of the marking system, it is 
 difficult to speak satisfactorily. In its general method, 
 
DEMERIT MARK SCHEME. 265 
 
 it of course includes a recognition in the roll of stand- 
 ing, of both merit and demerit. But this very fact 
 subjects it to grave exception. From what has just 
 been urged, it will be seen that so far as it is a demerit 
 scheme, it is necessarily false in principle, and un- 
 happy in its tendencies. Besides this, it will be 
 equally apparent that the combination of the two 
 methods involves a practical incongruity in the whole, 
 which is objectionable ; and further, if both the merit 
 and demerit elements are equally developed, the 
 scheme is rendered altogether too complicated to 
 secure a just attention and application. A perhaps 
 worse evil than even these is the fact that, for reasons 
 already suggested, the demerit element will like Pha- 
 raoh's kine, lean and ill-favored, practically devour the 
 rest, and without becoming itself the fairer or the 
 better for the operation ; that is to say, in the minds 
 of both teacher and pupils, the demerit marking will 
 come eventually to assume the chief, if not the sole 
 importance and interest. 
 
 The facts, just noticed, show this mixed form of the 
 marking scheme to be so nearly related to that of 
 pure demerit, that we shall, proceed to the considera- 
 tion of that, at once. The attention will first be 
 directed to its characteristics as applied to schools 
 for the younger class of pupils, in which the use of 
 punishment is not wholly discarded. The method 
 here pursued is substantially the following. The 
 slips and misdemeanors of the pupil, sometimes even 
 those of a minute and trivial character, are carefully 
 noted, and, by means of a set of symbols, charged to 
 
2G0 RCnOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 his account upon a class roll. Sometimes, as a sort 
 of refinement upon its already complicated provisions, 
 a weekly bill of the accumulating wickedness is made 
 out upon a card, and transmitted to the parent for 
 his examination and endorsement, generally with no 
 accompanying explanation of its mysterious symbols 
 or provisions. When the pupil has, in due process 
 of time, either exhausted the patience of the teacher, 
 or run up an amount regarded as sufficiently fla- 
 grant, the account is balanced by inflicting the actual 
 punishment, ostensibly for the last transgression, 
 though perhaps really for the sum total. 
 
 Now, to all this, there are certainly grave objec- 
 tions. First. The whole scheme is based on the 
 false principle already suggested, — that of censure 
 rather than approval ; of depression rather than 
 stimulus and encouragement. 
 
 Secondly. It is quite possible for the child to fail 
 altogether of obtaining a clear idea of the real pro- 
 visions of the scheme and of the symbols employed 
 in marking the charges against him. Indeed, we 
 have known the scheme to be employed with no de- 
 cent, not to say adequate, pains on the part of the 
 teacher, to explain it to him, so that he might under- 
 stand his true position under discipline, and the real 
 purport of the entries made against him. We have 
 known a little fellow to be left so lost in its luminous 
 provisions, that he represented hhnself as having 
 "got a deportment," the precise nature of which 
 disaster he was unable to state. We have seen an- 
 other sorely puzzled about what he called "a minus 
 
DEMERIT MARK SCHEME. 267 
 
 extra," when he knew no more of the meaning of 
 minus and extra, than he did of Minos and Rhada- 
 manthus. We have overheard still another, who was 
 dubiously balancing himself upon the curb-stone after 
 school, complaining to his companion that he had 
 been marked by his teacher, and without his knowing 
 for what. 
 
 Now, it is an imperative rule in all discipline of 
 children, that they should be made to know unmistak- 
 ably both the nature of their fault and the significance 
 and justice of the penalty. But in the scheme under 
 consideration, it is easy to see how painfully this very 
 knowledge may be wanting. Nor is it any excuse to 
 urge that, in such cases as the above, its absence is 
 chargeable to the neglect of the teacher rather than 
 to the viciousness of the scheme itself. 
 
 For thirdly. We charge that it is in the very nature 
 of the scheme to induce this gross neglect. Removed 
 from the necessity of immediately inflicting punish- 
 ment, the registry of the charge which might justify 
 it comes to be unconsciously regarded as a mere 
 matter of marking down a certain symbol, and, hence, 
 the inevitable tendency is to do the whole informally, 
 and with no feeling sense of its real bearing upon the 
 pupil, and, consequently, with no effort to impress 
 upon him, its disciplinary nature and importance. 
 It is not strange, then, that teachers who employ this 
 method, rarely follow up the use of demerit marks 
 with those subsequent moral applications which are 
 so essential to all just and wholesome discipline. 
 
 Fourthlv. In the same direction lies another evil. 
 
268 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 For the same reasons as in the preceding case, the 
 teacher is subjected to the constant temptation to 
 mark for trivial offenses, and will consequently mul- 
 tiply minute rules to meet such offenses, and to justify 
 the recorded censure. Yet, as has already been seen, 
 all such minute requisitions and inflictions are a con- 
 tradiction of the fundamental principles of all good 
 government, and a trespass upon the first elements 
 of the child's nature. Their direct tendency is either 
 to keep the pupil under a petty and perpetual ha- 
 rassment, or to blunt the fineness of his moral sensi- 
 bility. 
 
 Still further, from this minuteness in requisition, 
 and informality in attaching penalties, the pupil is 
 trained to a feeling of contempt, not only for the 
 punishment, but for the actual transgression, and so 
 comes to entertain a low idea of the importance of 
 law, and of the force of moral responsibility. Yet 
 nothing can be clearer than, that discipline which 
 does not, in the apprehension of the subject, magnify 
 the law and make it honorable ; which does not set 
 in clearer light the evil of transgression ; and which 
 does not sharpen the sense of responsibility, is just 
 so far demoralizing and vicious. And that all this is 
 really the practical result of the use of this marking 
 scheme in juvenile schools, we believe the experience 
 of every observing teacher will attest. 
 
 Fifthly. In case the pupil is finally punished, there 
 arise these other evils. If he is punisjied simply for 
 the last offense for which he is marked, inasmuch as 
 no reason may appear for his not being punished for 
 
DEMERIT MAItK SCHEME. 269 
 
 the others which preceded, either the teacher will seem 
 unjust for not having inflicted punishment for the 
 others ; or if they did not deserve it, then he will seem 
 unjust in inflicting it for the last. If, however, he is 
 punished for the sum total which, since the teacher 
 cannot well keep out of mind the entire result of his 
 marking, is likely to be practically the fact, the pupil 
 will fail to get any just idea of the relation existing 
 between transgression and penalty. What he was 
 marked for, — the actual fault, — he has forgotten. 
 What he has in mind is simply the marks either 
 separately or in their sum. Hence, associating the 
 penalty only with what he immediately knows, he 
 apprehends himself as punished for the so many 
 marks. Yet, he is neither likely to discover any real 
 criminality in the existence of so many marks against 
 him, nor is he capable of perpetrating such an ab- 
 straction as to apprehend the sum total of the marks 
 as a fixed symbol of the accumulated wickedness for 
 which he is punished. 
 
 Finally. Nothing can be clearer than that there can 
 be no certainty of the exercise of cool and evenhanded 
 justice in affixing the marks of demerit to the pupil's 
 standing. Where there are several teachers, as in a 
 departmental school, no two teachers can be expected 
 to form the same precise judgment as to the character 
 of the same act, or as to its proper measure of de- 
 merit. In one room or class, the pupil will be marked 
 severely, and in another, lightly for the same offense. 
 Besides this, even in the case of the single teacher, 
 there is every probability that he will mark differ- 
 
270 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ently, at different times, for the same act. At one 
 time, it will appear to him, and from the better con- 
 dition of his judgment and feelings, quite justly, as 
 comparatively trivial and unworthy of notice. At 
 another, when he is harassed with the pressure of 
 his other duties, or vexed with some unexpected com- 
 plication of affairs, or, perhaps, simply ill or out of 
 temper, down will go upon his roll a singeing token 
 of his displeasure in the shape of a ten or a twenty, 
 — we have even known a teacher call out to an 
 offender in the class, " I give you eighty demerits for 
 conversation," — the only effect of which was to set 
 him at a ludicrous calculation of the particular per 
 cent, effect of the operation upon his standing. A 
 system open to such flagrant abuses, is certainly 
 " more honored in the breach than the observance." 
 
 There is another difficulty sometimes experienced 
 in connection with this marking method which is al- 
 together peculiar. By a refinement in details, the 
 scheme is made to embrace two distinct rolls of 
 standing, one for scholarship and the other for good 
 behavior. Now in theory, it is not only right that 
 conduct should be recognized in the marking, but 
 it should stand foremost as the basis of merit or 
 demerit. This principle has been fully presented 
 in connection with the subject of rewards. And yet, 
 here arises the difficulty. It is found that when two 
 rolls are thus employed, not only does not the mark- 
 ing for conduct enlist the first interest ; but, if the 
 standing on the scholarship roll is low, a high stand- 
 ing on the conduct roll is a cause of uneasiness. 
 
DEMERIT MARK SCHEME. 271 
 
 Both the nature and the philosophy of the fact 
 may be seen from an illustration. Let A stand on 
 the scholarship roll at 2, on a scale whose maximum 
 is 10, and at the same time stand at 8, on the con- 
 duct roll. A is then one of the best boys in the 
 school, but one of the poorest scholars. Now what 
 is the inference on the part of pupil and parents? 
 Simply this, A is one of the poorest scholars, not 
 because he is a bad boy, but because lie is dull and 
 stupid, his very goodness serving as a proof that he 
 has done the best he can. Now the conduct roll, by 
 evincing his goodness, comes to stand as proof of his 
 dullness ; for, without it, it might have been inferred 
 that A was smart enough, but had been negligent. 
 The evident tendency of all this must be not only to 
 destroy the disciplinary utility of the conduct roll, 
 but really to induce bad behavior in poor students. 
 
 Now, unreasonable as this view of things may be, 
 it is unavoidable. It grows out of the fact that men 
 respect ability more than goodness. Hence, in their 
 apprehension, ability, like charity, covers a multitude 
 of sins. It is out of this, that there arises the ten- 
 dency of teachers to mark lightly and with reluct- 
 ance, the offense of a good scholar ; while, for the 
 same offense committed by the luckless scape-goat 
 of the class, they will slap down on the roll promptly 
 and with a grim sort of satisfaction, the full charge 
 of demerit. For the same reason, the parent will 
 evince far greater complacency under the charge 
 that his boy is a rogue, than is possible under the 
 implication that he is a lackbrain. Whatever com- 
 
272 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 plaint you may make of his behavior, give him the 
 credit of being the best scholar in the class, and yon 
 salve the wound effectually. The scholarship gratifies 
 the parent's pride ; the roguery he complacently dis- 
 poses of as " wild oats," — a grain which we fear is 
 getting to be the rule rather than the exception, 
 among our youth. But assure the parent as warmly 
 as you will, that, while the boy is one of the dullest 
 of scholars, he is a very model of good conduct, and 
 in nine cases out of ten you will inflict a, perhaps 
 concealed, but yet mortal wound. 
 
 The influence of all this to complicate the marking 
 system, and destroy its effectiveness, needs no further 
 illustration. 
 
 With regard, now, to the use of the demerit mark 
 scheme in schools for pupils of a maturer class, the 
 reflecting teacher will at once see that many of the 
 objections, just urged against it, hold equally good 
 in this higher field. It is here, just as truly as before, 
 opposed to the true theory of discipline, — that of ele- 
 vation or encouragement ; and it is quite as certain 
 to be irregular, capricious, and even unrighteous in 
 its application. There will, of course, from the greater 
 maturity of the pupils, be less room for ignorance or 
 misapprehension as to its provisions and their imme- 
 diate bearing on the offenses in question. But that 
 very maturity, and the capacity it gives to compre- 
 hend thus much, will also enable them to detect more 
 easily its errors. It thus ensures the certainty that, 
 unless the scheme be employed with a masterly skill, 
 it will come to be held in still deeper contempt than 
 
DEMERIT MARK SCHEME. 273 
 
 was possible in the case of younger pupils. And it 
 cannot but be seen that this contempt must be the 
 more certain and aggravated from the simple fact 
 that the teacher is powerless to supplement its weak- 
 ness, by the sterner sanctions of penal infliction. 
 
 Here, then, arises the all-important question, 
 " What is the teacher in these higher schools to do ? 
 He may not make use of penal inflictions ; if he is 
 not to employ this marking scheme of discipline, 
 what resource has he?" To this we answer, first, 
 "Necessity knows no law." Bad as the demerit mark 
 scheme is, he may have to employ it. But if he does 
 resort to it, let him, in the light of the foregoing 
 considerations, correct its common defects as far as 
 he can. Let him employ its symbols solely as private 
 memoranda which may serve as a basis for a just 
 knowledge in laboring with the pupil in private, and 
 for a righteous judgment in determining the propriety 
 of final exclusion. Let thorough dispassionateness 
 characterize all his marking, and, if he can not other- 
 wise secure this, let him never mark at the instant 
 nor upon the immediate impulse. If he be indisposed 
 or irritated, he had better not mark at all ; let not 
 both teacher and pupil suffer at once for the infirm- 
 ities of human nature. 
 
 And, lastly, let him never announce the marking to 
 the pupil in public : it is an error in principle, and an 
 abomination in practice, which is only calculated to 
 react in either exasperation or contempt, upon the 
 discipline itself. Let not the teacher, even in his 
 private conferences with the pupil, mention it in 
 
274 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 form ; this is hardly less mischievous than the other. 
 The roll is the teacher's private guide ; the pupil 
 has no more right of access to it than he has to 
 his "Daily Memorandum." The teacher's final de- 
 cision as to the pupil's standing embraces general 
 facts beyond the reach of the roll. If, now, he pre- 
 viously announces the pupil's standing according to 
 the mere roll marks, his subsequent judgment is cut 
 off from modification ; or, if modified, is likely to be 
 disputed by the pupil. Once more, announce the 
 standing according to the roll marks with any degree 
 of frequency, and the pupil will soon be taught to 
 study merely for the mark standing, and not at all 
 for the higher ends of duty and self-conscious 
 worthiness. He becomes a mere mercenary laborer, 
 as in the case of prizes. 
 
 The truth is, all that should come to the knowledge 
 of the pupil is the substantial character of his con- 
 duct, as it lies in the teacher's mind, and as positively 
 defined by his record. This may, and should, be as 
 distinctly set before the pupil, as is needful to secure 
 in liim a just knowledge of his delinquency and duty, 
 and to afford a sufficient ground for the presentation 
 of those moral considerations which are, in his case, 
 the only real means of correction. 
 
 This last thought naturally suggests the second 
 answer to the main question. And that is, that just 
 in proportion as the pupil advances toward maturity 
 of age and capacity, the government of the school 
 must pass from the lower to the higher species. The 
 government of mere force must necessarily expiro at 
 
DEPARTMENTAL SCHOOLS. 275 
 
 an early period. The government of authority en- 
 dures longer. It may indeed be regarded as holding 
 some important place throughout the whole of the 
 pupil's career in the school ; latterly, not as the chief 
 means or reliance, but rather as a sustaining element 
 in the use of the higher species. In the last stage, 
 the government of influence enters the field as the 
 chief, and often sole means of hopeful and effective 
 control in the school. He, therefore, who, in the 
 government of adult pupils, cannot skilfully and suc- 
 cesfully apply its provisions, will sooner or later be 
 driven to an unconditional surrender of his preroga- 
 tives as ruler. To this, there is but one alternative, 
 and that too seldom practicable among us ; namely, 
 the establishment of a purely military rule. 
 
 The resort to the government of influence in our 
 higher schools, unsupported, as to a great extent it 
 must be, by the direct sanctions of positive authority, 
 will undoubtedly be attended with some difficulties. 
 But, inasmuch as those difficulties are only such as 
 always attend the proper management and control of 
 men, they are no just cause for discouragement. 
 Nay, rather, the field thus opened to the true teacher 
 should be one of especial ambition, since here only 
 is it that his highest executive skill, his truest practi- 
 cal greatness as a man, is to be developed or evinced. 
 
 And, further, in this transition from the lower to 
 this higher species of government in the school, there 
 are, with the increased difficulties, some peculiar 
 attending advantages. That very maturity which 
 compels a resort to influence, renders the pupil more 
 
276 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 accessible to its effective use. He can now better 
 understand and appreciate the genial good will which 
 brings the teacher into closer association with him as 
 a companion and friend. He can more clearly com- 
 prehend the nature and force of the reasonings by 
 which his true interest and obligation are enforced 
 upon his conscience. And his moral susceptibilities, 
 though often sadly blunted, are yet, if properly 
 approached and wrought upon, better adapted to 
 substantial and permanent effects, than is to be ex- 
 pected in the case of younger pupils. If, with these 
 facts before him, the teacher is still incapable of 
 applying himself patiently and resolutely to the use 
 of this higher species of control, he is fitter to be 
 governed than to govern. 
 
 There are certain points connected with the govern- 
 ment of departmental sehools, which, while not ne- 
 cessarily involved in this connection, may be more 
 conveniently noticed here than elsewhere. We shall 
 therefore give them such attention as their general 
 importance demands, though necessarily in brief. 
 
 By departmental schools we mean such as are 
 under the conduct of a number of teachers, principal 
 and subordinate, and as consequently appear in 
 several divisions, either more or less distinctly organ- 
 ized. They are of two kinds ; those of a lower order, in 
 which the several teachers are not held as constituting 
 a faculty proper, in which the division of the school 
 is not one of specific departments, and in which the 
 pupils, during the school hours, are held to a fixed 
 and common place of study ; and those of the higher 
 
DEPARTMENTAL SCHOOLS. 277 
 
 order, in which the departments are organized on the 
 basis of specialties in instruction or distinct courses 
 of study, in which the teachers or professors form a 
 proper faculty, and in which the pupils are congregated 
 only in class rooms and for the purpose of recitation. 
 These last are departmental schools proper. 
 
 With regard to the first or lower order of divided 
 schools, there are some practical difficulties bearing 
 upon their government, which it is not easy to reach. 
 For example, the attainment of the most thorough 
 supervision of the several pupils, the greater simpli- 
 fication of the discipline, and the more direct and 
 effective individualizing of cases under treatment, 
 would suggest the somewhat equal distribution of the 
 pupils in different study-rooms under the different 
 teachers, and the consequent equalization of the re- 
 spective shares of the latter in the instruction and 
 government. On the other hand, convenience in the 
 movements of the pupils and the change of classes, 
 economy in the provision of school rooms, and the 
 difficulty of securing the proper governmental capacity 
 in all the teachers, to which may be added the public 
 hostility to the infliction of the severer punishments 
 except by the highest authority, — all these demand 
 the general congregation of the pupils in one study- 
 room, and the devolving of their general government 
 chiefly upon one teacher, the others being restricted to 
 the simple charge and control of classes in recitation. 
 
 We shall enter into no discussion of the relative 
 merits of these two forms, since it is a question of 
 ^organization rather than government, and since its 
 
278 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 decision must rest, not upon theories, but upon the 
 practical facts involved. But, inasmuch as the latter 
 species of organization is the one more commonly 
 adopted, and so far appears to be practically accepted 
 as the best possible under the circumstances, we shall 
 confine ourselves to its exclusive consideration. 
 
 So far now, as, under this organization, the general 
 government of the school as devolving upon the 
 teacher permanently in charge of the study-room, is 
 concerned, the principles of the art as herein set forth 
 are of direct application, and constitute of themselves a 
 sufficient guide. But there are specific questions that 
 may arise with regard to the duties and prerogatives 
 of subordinates, merely in charge of classes in recita- 
 tion, that require a more definite solution. The fol- 
 lowing considerations are, therefore, urged as chiefly 
 important in the premises. 
 
 First. So far as the teacher has the privilege of 
 governing his class, he should be guided by the prin- 
 ciples of school government in general as herein set 
 forth ; and, so far as he can, within his limited field 
 and with his restricted powers, he should faithfully 
 endeavor to carry them out. This is essential to the 
 welfare of his class as, for the time being, the body 
 politic, and to the maintenance of his authority as 
 ruler for the time being. 
 
 Secondly. He should, nevertheless, endeavor, even 
 though at the sacrifice of some personal convictions, 
 to govern in substantial accordance with the general 
 method established for the whole school. This is 
 necessary that there may be no clash between de- 
 
DEPARTMENTAL SCHOOLS. 279 
 
 partments, no failure on the part of eacli department 
 to supplement and sustain the rest, and no occasion 
 for invidious comparisons of individual departments 
 or teachers. The work of providing such a general 
 method and of harmonizing its specific application 
 by the several teachers, should be one of the first 
 and chief objects of concern on the part of the proper 
 principal. 
 
 Thirdly. Great pains should be taken by the prin- 
 cipal not to denude the individual teacher of disci- 
 plinary power so completely that he becomes, as is 
 too commonly the case, a mere puppet before his 
 class. A supervision which destroys the independ- 
 ence of a subordinate, or an absorption of power 
 which reduces him to a mere cipher, is narrow in 
 policy and eventually destructive in practice. Eeduce 
 the class-teacher to the mere privilege or duty of re- 
 porting offenses, — a practice peculiarly incident to 
 the extended use of the marking system, — and you 
 impair the teacher's sense of personal responsibility ; 
 you encourage him to neglect the duty of laboring 
 individually with offenders, and you offer a premium 
 upon the exercise among his pupils, of a thorough 
 and contemptuous disregard for his position .and 
 authority. 
 
 Hence, so far as may be practicable, he should be 
 empowered to investigate, decide, and discipline 
 within his own sphere, subject only to the general 
 restriction suggested under the second head. If, 
 further, it may be, for any cause, necessary to with- 
 hold from him the right to inflict punishment, let it 
 
280 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 be done only with reference to the severer penalties 
 which, as bearing more directly upon the delicate 
 sensibilities of the public, may endanger the peace or 
 safety of the school authorities. And, in inflicting 
 those punishments at the instance of the subordinate, 
 let the principal, by all means, do it in the proper 
 field and immediate presence of the subordinate, and 
 substantially under his direction, so that, to the eye 
 of the class, the latter shall practically stand forth as 
 the authoritative ruler in his own department. In no 
 other way is it possible for the principal to preserve 
 the self-respect of the subordinate or hold him stead- 
 ily to his proper responsibility ; in no other way can 
 he hold the class firmly to the exercise of a respectful 
 regard for the position and authority of the subordi- 
 nate, or a uniform obedience to the general order of 
 the school. 
 
 Of those higher departmental schools, in which 
 there is a properly organized faculty and no fixed 
 congregation of the pupils, during the school session, 
 in a common study-room, little need be said. The 
 offenses here are of course restricted to those com- 
 mitted against the proper order of the recitation 
 room, and those committed outside against the gen- 
 eral order of the school. 
 
 Of these, the former fall exclusively under the juris- 
 diction of the teacher or professor proper, and should, 
 in accordance with the foregoing rules for the lower 
 schools, be adjudged and disciplined by him alone, 
 except in case of reference or appeal to the faculty 
 entire. For obvious reasons elsewhere suggested, 
 
DEPARTMENTAL SCHOOLS. 281 
 
 such discipline should be always in substantial con- 
 formity with the general order agreed upon for the 
 whole school. 
 
 Those general offenses which bear upon the gov- 
 ernment of the school at large, should, as a matter 
 of course, be properly considered and adjudged by 
 the faculty as such. Only in this way can organic 
 unity in oversight, responsibility, effort, and influence 
 be secured throughout the whole corps. This, how- 
 ever, is by no means to relieve the individual teacher 
 from his obligation to make direct personal effort for 
 the correction of offenses of which he is cognizant ; 
 nor is it to detract from the sovereign prerogative of 
 the principal to have a voice and power over and 
 above the will of the faculty, when in the exercise of 
 a superior sagacity, it may seem necessary to trans- 
 cend that will. Generally, however, when there is in 
 the superior officer, the proper executive capacity, 
 such a necessity will seldom occur. The exercise of 
 what should be, in a principal, a characteristic good 
 sense and tact, will usually succeed in commanding 
 the reasonable acquiescence and support of all, with- 
 out the need of overruling any. 
 
CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT — GENERAL RESUME^ OF ITS SPE- 
 CIES ; THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, AND THE QUALIFICA- 
 TIONS REQUISITE TO THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Species classified, as those of Force, Authority, and Influence — General 
 elements, means, ideas, and ends, severally stated— Relative order and 
 importance of the species considered — Government of force, inferior, 
 restricted, and insufficient alone — That of authority higher — Needs to 
 be supplemented by the others — That of influence, superior — Insuffi- 
 cient alone, in a depraved moral system — Government must combine 
 all three species — Qualifications, why reconsidered, or stated anew — 
 Qualifications for the use of force — Strength, promptitude, and resolu- 
 tion — These severally considered — Qualifications for the exercise of con- 
 trol — Good bodily presence — Includes physical exterior and mien or 
 carriage— Power of these — Gross defects to which they are opposed — 
 Illustration of the power of these qualifications — Intellectual qualifi- 
 cations — Sound judgment — Its importance} — Its elements, accurate per- 
 ception of facts, ready apprehension of just method of treatment — 
 Method of culture — Imperturbable temper — Evils of a lack of this — 
 Faults sure to be aggravated unless thoroughly corrected — False apol- 
 ogies for indulgence in hasty temper — Intelligent persistency — Not mere 
 blind stubbornness— Importance of rational persistency— Qualifica- 
 tio?is for the use of the government of influence — Genial nature — Neces- 
 sity to the existence of sympathy and love between teacher and pupil 
 — Logical skill — Restriction in the use of reasoning with the pupil— 
 Proper use — Personal goodness— Not a weak easiness or indulgence — 
 But positive worthiness, the result of self-conquest — Base character 
 sure of ultimate detection and defeat — Tact — Its nature — Relation to 
 good sense — Its utility — Means of development — Persistence — As dis- 
 tinguished from authoritative persistence — Power of retraction — Diffi- 
 culty of retracting successfully — Rule* fur retraction— Not every error 
 needs correction — Even important errors, when observed, not always 
 to be corrected — Folly of petty apologies and constant retraction — 
 Government must simply evince power and willingness to correct 
 
RESUME OF SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT. 283 
 
 when best — Retraction to be made frankly, but unostentatiously — Sug- 
 gested facts — Difference of female qualifications — Woman's lack of the 
 stronger physical and intellectual qualities — Her superiority in the 
 more delicate moral qualifications — Error of those who demand mere 
 masculine vigor in the woman as teacher — Differences in power and qual- 
 ification among men — All have not, and cannot acquire, the same — Ex_ 
 elusive forms of government objectionable — The best form that the man 
 can best apply — Government summed up, not in the measures, but 
 the spirit of the man. 
 
 We are now prepared for our closing work, a com- 
 prehensive resume of school government considered 
 with reference to its general species, their character- 
 istics, and the qualifications requisite to their suc- 
 cessful administration. 
 
 From the preceding discussion, it has been seen 
 that the government of the school is practically of 
 three general species : 1st, that of Force ; 2d, that of 
 Authority; and 3d, that of Love. 
 
 The general elements of effect in these species re- 
 spectively are, in the first, mere physical capacity, or 
 Strength; in the second, Poiver, either bodily or 
 mental ; and in the third, Influence, both intellectual 
 and moral. 
 
 The general means employed in each respectively 
 are, in the first, Compulsion ; in the second, Requisi- 
 tions or Mandates, either with or without reasonings 
 or penal inflictions; and in the third, Persuasion, 
 either argumentative or pathetic. 
 
 The general idea entertained of the subject, under 
 each respectively, is as follows : under the govern- 
 ment of force, he is regarded as a mere unreasoning 
 creature ; under that of authority, he is held as an 
 intelligent subject; and under that of love, he is 
 
284 SCHOOL GOVEKNMENT. 
 
 looked upon as not only an intelligent subject, but 
 as capacitated for the exercise of a true and loving 
 loyalty. 
 
 The ultimate supremacy attained in the successful 
 administration of the three general species respect- 
 ively, is of different kinds corresponding. In the 
 first, the supremacy is that of mere Mastery ; in the 
 second, it is that of Sovereign Control, or Lordship ; 
 and in the third, it is that of Moral Supremacy. 
 
 This analysis at once reveals the relative import- 
 ance of these species of government in the school, to 
 be precisely that of the order in which they have just 
 been presented, beginning with the lowest and ending 
 with the highest. 
 
 The government of mere force, resulting only in 
 physical mastery, however just in its place, or com- 
 plete in its success, stands necessarily lowest in the 
 scale. It is inferior in its governing idea, in the 
 means it employs, and in the ends attained. Fur- 
 thermore, although necessary and useful within its 
 prescribed limits, it is insufficient of itself; it is 
 unable and unfit to stand alone ; and if made the 
 sole or chief reliance, must even be pronounced to 
 be the necessary resource of mere incompetence to 
 govern, and to be, in its essential character, base and 
 despotic. 
 
 Far higher in the scale stands the government of 
 authoritative power, or true control. It is nobler in 
 the idea cherished both of itself and of its subjects, 
 more comprehensive in its capabilities and means, 
 and more effective and salutary in its results. Yet 
 
RESUME OF SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT. 285 
 
 even this species can hardly be considered as, in 
 itself, sufficient or complete. Without the co-opera- 
 tion of the first, it may sometimes fail for lack of 
 material power to command universal obedience. 
 Without the full alliance of the last species, the gov- 
 ernment of love, it must often stop short of evincing 
 the highest elements of excellence, and must fail to 
 attain the truest and noblest results. It is, of itself, 
 adequate to the preservation of substantial order and 
 organic harmony and prosperity. But it cannot reach 
 that perfect crown of all governmental success in the 
 school, the thorough and benign transformation of 
 character, and the permanent alliance of its subjects 
 in the cause of its own perpetuation and perfection. 
 
 The last, the government of influence, or true su- 
 premacy, is, in its individual character, whether we 
 look at its controlling idea, its specific appliances or 
 its ultimate achievements, doubtless the purest and 
 best. Still, it must not be forgotten, that, taken as an 
 exclusive mode, even this species of government is 
 not without its defects. In a perfect moral system, yet 
 unvitiated by the introduction of depraved passions 
 and a disloyal will, it might, perhaps, be able to 
 stand and rule alone. But where the opposite char- 
 acteristics are prevalent ; where the subjects of moral 
 government are, not only imperfect in apprehension, 
 but depraved in nature ; where there are endless 
 counteracting notions, desires, examples, and influ- 
 ences, it stands in reason, that the case is different. 
 Here, it lacks the grand element which is alone able 
 to secure free scope and fair play for the exercise of 
 
280 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 its own better appliances, and which only can guar- 
 anty it either safety or success. Able it may be, 
 when the way is clear, to secure the desired trans- 
 formation of character, and substantial order as con- 
 sequent ; but it is not unfailingly competent to make 
 that way clear when once it has been obstructed. It 
 may indeed go down upon the realm of a corrupted 
 nature, and 
 
 " Tempt with wand'ring feet 
 The dark, unbottomed, infinite abyss ;" 
 
 but it can give no sure pledge that it will not at the 
 last be driven, 
 
 " Bootless home, and weather-beaten back," 
 
 Generous then may be the nature which espouses 
 its cause, and seeks to rely on it alone ; but it is 
 neither well informed nor practically wise. Hence, 
 we are forced to accept the general conclusion, that 
 in the school, as indeed elsewhere, the system of 
 government chosen and administered must be eclectic 
 rather than partial or exclusive : it must range freely 
 through all three of the foregoing species, and, em- 
 ploying them in their proper order and proportion, 
 must perfect itself in a just alliance and harmonious 
 co-operation of the whole. A just apprehension of 
 the validity and force of this conclusion would go far 
 toward the effective correction of the too current ten- 
 dency to assume the sufficiency and exclusive lawful- 
 ness of the various schemes, of natural reactions, 
 moral suasion, and reformatory discipline, — schemes, 
 in themselves considered, not destitute of individual 
 
SPECIES I REQUISITE QUALIFICATIONS. 287 
 
 excellencies, but which, as commonly taught and 
 urged, are only deceptive and dangerous. 
 
 We are now prepared to notice the qualifications 
 requisite to the successful administration of the gov- 
 ernment of the school, as set forth in this analysis. 
 In doing this, we shall follow the order of the fore- 
 going analysis as the most convenient, and as 
 susceptible of presenting each class in the better 
 light of its relations and comparative importance. 
 Some of these will doubtless occur to the reader, as 
 having been suggested in the previous discussion. 
 These, however, cannot be entirely excluded here, 
 without impairing the general classification and losing 
 the benefit of such additional light as may be thrown 
 upon them. But the notice taken of them will, for 
 the reason just suggested, be comparatively brief. 
 
 Others will be presented, not because the attain- 
 ment of them is possible in the case of every teacher, 
 nor because the effort toward such attainment is ob- 
 ligatory on those naturally deficient ; but because they 
 properly have their place in the complete scheme of 
 qualifications ; because they are suggestive of direc- 
 tions in which important culture and improvement 
 may be sought ; and because the mention of them 
 will evince the greater advantage and responsibility 
 of those who have been, by a beneficent nature, 
 thus nobly endowed. Let the earnest teacher, then, 
 be upon his guard against being discouraged by the 
 early discovery of his natural or constitutional lack 
 of any of these particular qualifications ; and be 
 equally careful not to form a hasty estimate of their 
 
288 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 value, upon the unfair basis of a partial or ill-digested 
 examination of the entire scheme. Our object is to 
 explore faithfully the whole field before us, that, so 
 far as it may be possible, everyone may be able to 
 find something clearly adapted to his own individual 
 necessities or responsibilities. 
 
 To proceed, then, the qualifications requisite to the 
 successful administration of the first species of gov- 
 ernment, that of mere force, are few and simple, 
 being primarily, mere physical strength ; and, second- 
 arily, when the former is inadequate alone, alertness, 
 or promptitude in action. Every one knows how 
 potent an element this last is in a trial of strength, 
 in which the parties are unequally matched, and how 
 often it is itself sufficient to secure the victory. In 
 cases in which both of these elements of mastery are 
 either wanting or are inadequate to the task imposed 
 upon them, there is no resource except 
 
 " The mind and spirit remains 
 Invincible." 
 
 The higher strength must be found in aroused and 
 determined resolution. Every one conversant with 
 human conflict knows how possible it is for such res- 
 olution to reduplicate, for the time being, even the 
 physical powers. Indeed, here, as well as in the 
 higher fields of struggle, it is often true that the 
 measure of the will is the measure of the ability. 
 
 The qualifications favoring the happy administra- 
 tion of the second and higher species of government, 
 that of control, or proper sovereignty, are more varied 
 
SPECIES : REQUISITE QUALIFICATIONS. 289 
 
 and deserving of a fuller consideration. They are, 
 first, a good physical exterior or bodily presence. 
 This includes several distinct elements, such as size, 
 just proportions, proper solidity of frame, an eye 
 keen and penetrating or clear and commanding, and 
 a voice full, distinct, and naturally authoritative. 
 Milton recognizes the general principle when he says 
 of Adam : 
 
 " His large, fair front and eye sublime declared 
 Absolute rule." 
 
 As has been intimated, however, these qualities are 
 not always at command ; nor is he to be judged ne- 
 cessarily incompetent, who may be wanting in them. 
 Still it must be patent to every observing mind, that, 
 other things being equal, he who possessing these, 
 
 looks 
 
 " Every inch, a king," 
 
 will, at once, command a respectful attention and a 
 prompt obedience, which will be denied to a person 
 of feeble or insignificant appearance, and which the 
 latter must first conquer by the force of a subsequent 
 development of hidden and unsuspected power, before 
 he can confidently and surely claim them. 
 
 Secondly. A becoming or noble mien, or carriage 
 of one's self, is important, and, aside from the general 
 reason, — its bearing upon the government, — because 
 it is a direct symbol of the inward spirit which cer- 
 tainly has some just claim to a fitting outward repre- 
 sentation ; because it is to a good degree susceptible 
 of development in every person of any force of char- 
 acter ; and because, in some of its elements, Ameri- 
 
290 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 cans are notoriously and culpably deficient. This 
 quality embraces the several elements ; erectness of 
 form ; self-possessed steadiness in movement and 
 certainty in action ; unembarrassed directness of look 
 and address ; and a deliberate and unfaltering utter- 
 ance. 
 
 The faults to which these are opposed are an un- 
 natural and unhealthy stoop, and careless or lounging 
 postures, — both matters of the merest habit, and 
 simply inexcusable ; undue haste or fitful irregularity 
 in movement, either original or acquired; clumsy 
 and imperfect action in doing things, not uncommonly 
 the result of conscious incompetence; a lowering, 
 downcast, or averted look, either the product of con- 
 stitutional timidity or mere mauvais horte; a hesitating 
 or bungling style of address, quite generally the just 
 retribution of our common disloyalty to the study of 
 our noble " mother tongue ;" and a thick, feeble, or 
 vulgar utterance, sometimes natural, but more often 
 the base birth of the abominable neglect in our 
 schools, of the noble art of reading. " From such 
 withdraw thyself," if thou art either an earnest 
 teacher or indeed but half a man. Contentment with 
 them is a vice. 
 
 Of the utility of this grand qualification, we urge 
 nothing beyond its self-evident claims, except by way 
 of brief practical illustration. Let, for example, a 
 command be issued, and with a cool, self-possessed 
 mien, and a direct and confident look and tone, and 
 who does not know that it carries with it, a clear 
 conviction to the mind addressed, not merely of the 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 291 
 
 necessity of obedience, but also of its own inherent 
 rectitude. " Confidence," says Tupper, " was bearer 
 of the palm because it looked like conviction of 
 desert." So too, what skillful teacher has not wit- 
 nessed the simple and effective power of a sudden 
 pause, profound silence, and a steady and penetrating 
 look fastened upon some thoughtless and disturbing 
 member of the little commonwealth? Looks, like 
 gestures, are often mightier than words, and their 
 right and effective use might well be more frequently 
 a subject of study among our teachers. In practical 
 dealing with human nature, it is a cardinal maxim ; 
 that manner is more vital than even matter. 
 
 But nothing here urged is to be accepted as coun- 
 tenancing a mere studied pompousness or preten- 
 tiousness of manner. Simple affectation or pretence 
 in the teacher is a vice of no insignificant dimensions. 
 But a properly cultivated or a naturally noble man- 
 ner is quite another thing, and is both legitimate and 
 desirable. 
 
 Passing, thirdly, to the higher and more exclusively 
 intellectual qualities, the first to be noticed is sound 
 judgment or, in common phraseology, good common 
 sense. This is of the utmost importance. It is for 
 the teacher, (as indeed for every man who has to deal 
 with human affairs,) the touchstone of practical char- 
 acter and endowment : it is the master attribute. 
 No other good qualities which he may possess, can 
 counterbalance any especial deficiency in this direc- 
 tion. The best designs and the fairest plans may 
 be hopelessly marred or foiled, by the simple lack, 
 
292 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 on the part of the teacher, of good common sense. 
 With it, those even intrinsically defective may count 
 upon a reasonable success. 
 
 Its elements are few and simple, being, first, a 
 prompt and accurate perception of the facts in the 
 case, and, secondly, a ready intuitive apprehension 
 of their just relations to the probable treatment de- 
 manded. They may be summed up, in a rapid and 
 transparent survey of the whole field of the specific 
 fact or measure concerned, irrespective of mere per- 
 sonal prepossessions or considerations. It involves 
 really the power of wholly discharging the observer 
 himself, from the view taken, and of looking at things 
 in their own nature and relations exclusively. In the 
 lack of this power, lies the real secret of the failure 
 of many persons to evince sound judgment or com 
 mon sense. They cannot, in their judgments, get 
 out of, away from, and above themselves. Hence, 
 self-conceited and egotistical minds must always be 
 wanting in this quality. 
 
 Good judgment or common sense is usually, to a 
 great extent, a native endowment. Its attainment, 
 when it is not native, is a matter of some difficulty ; 
 in some cases, it is seemingly impossible. Yet 
 teachers should guard against too readily accepting 
 this last as the fact in their own case. For the 
 quality may be, to an important degree, either ac- 
 quired or cultivated. 
 
 The proper means to be employed in that direction 
 are simple and within reach. They are first, a well- 
 balanced culture of the intellect generally ; secondly, 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 293 
 
 the habit of hearty association with others ; thirdly, 
 the constant practice of close observation both of 
 men and things ; and lastly, the thoughtful and con- 
 tinued study of one's own experience. The last is, 
 of itself, in many cases sufficient. Indeed the uni- 
 versal value attached to experience is really due to 
 the fact that it produces, not merely enlarged knowl- 
 edge, but enlarged common sense. And these means, 
 so simple and accessible, can neither be too highly 
 esteemed, nor too assiduously employed. Teachers 
 are, we fear, too prone, either from original indispo- 
 sition to self-culture, or from entire preoccupation 
 with books, to neglect them. But the error is a fatal 
 one. Sooner or later, the price must be paid and to 
 the uttermost farthing. Hence, (to vary the maxim) ; 
 " caveat doctor ;" let the teacher beware. 
 
 Fourthly. Let the teacher either possess, or fully 
 acquire a cool and imperturbable temper. Of the 
 practical and pressing importance of this qualifica- 
 tion, little need be said. Easy excitability or hasty 
 violence are, of necessity, dangerous elements in the 
 government of the school. Their tendency to weaken 
 the teacher's influence ; to impair the accuracy of his 
 judgment ; to complicate his administration of disci- 
 pline ; to occasion positive injustice ; and to stimu- 
 late and strengthen both by example and direct colli- 
 sion, the fiercer passions of his pupils, is unmistak- 
 able. 
 
 Furthermore, these faults cannot remain stationary. 
 Unless effectually subdued, they must grow in fre- 
 quency of exhibition and in power. The school will 
 
294 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 afford a thousand petty occasions for the aggravation 
 of the one, and the stimulation of the other to un- 
 seemly and destructive outbreaks. Correction is, 
 then, the only safety. It is idle to plead that the 
 teacher is naturally hasty, or to rely upon that shal- 
 lowest of all subterfuges that it will soon be learned 
 that it " is his way. 4 ' As to the first, he has no right 
 as teacher to leave so public a fault uncorrected ; 
 and for the second, let him remember that he rules 
 among those, who, in their yet unsophisticated views 
 of consistency, are not likely to feel the force of the 
 apology. There is no evading of this grand principle ; 
 he who cannot or will not control himself, is not fit 
 to control others. 
 
 Lastly, under this second species of government, 
 we notice as a requisite qualification, intelligent sta- 
 bility of will, or persistency of purpose. We say dis- 
 tinctly, intelligent persistency ; for simple blind perti- 
 nacity, or mere stubbornness is itself an infirmity, of 
 which can come but little good, and if any, that only 
 by chance. The famous, and often nauseatingly re- 
 iterated maxim ; " perseverance conquers all things ;" 
 is true only with limitations. Perseverance may 
 possess this power, but only when it is rational, that 
 is, when it is inspired and guided by proper knowl- 
 edge and sound judgment. An ass may be conceived 
 as kicking with the characteristic stubbornness of his 
 race, against, for example, the Hoosic mountain, till 
 " the crack of doom ;" but it does not therefore follow 
 that he will eventually, by the mere virtue of his per- 
 severance, either buffet back its iron walls, or con- 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 295 
 
 quer for himself a successful subterranean passage 
 to its farther slope. 
 
 But of an intelligent, a rational persistency, all 
 may be promised that is possible. Hence, let the 
 teacher either have or acquire this important char- 
 acteristic. He will have large and constant occasion 
 for its exercise, as has elsewhere been shown. If he 
 is naturally deficient, he may do more to correct the 
 evil than many suppose. It is quite possible for him, 
 by the simple practice of carefully considering before- 
 hand the work he proposes to undertake, by repeat- 
 edly and firmly bringing himself back from any ir- 
 resolute lapsing therefrom, and by renewedly girding 
 himself up to the unflinching endeavor, — it is quite 
 possible through the use of those means, to almost 
 recreate the will. And a firm will is a power in the 
 school. 
 
 Of the qualifications calculated to insure success 
 in the administration of the third, and last species of 
 government in the school, that of influence, or moral 
 supremacy, the first in order is a genial nature. 
 
 Influence can only be secured and exerted where 
 there is a certain amount of mutual attraction ; and 
 attraction involves mutual modifications, different, 
 perhaps, in degree, but yet similar in kind. To ob- 
 tain this power over the pupil, the teacher must be 
 able to arouse and enlist in his own behalf the more 
 genial side of the pupil's nature. The only direct 
 means of effecting this is to disclose and apply the 
 genial elements of his own nature. Certainly, if he 
 be of a cold or distant temper ; if he stands aloof 
 
296 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 from the most susceptible and sunny of all natures, — 
 that of the child ; or if he approaches it, but with no 
 near and sympathizing contact, with no warm and 
 radiant sunshine from his own heart, he cannot ex- 
 pect to bring the child out from his isolation, distance, 
 timidity, or antagonism, into the realm and atmos- 
 phere of influence and regard. Unrelenting rigidity 
 and frost have no business to look for the evoking of 
 a bland and blooming spring. 
 
 The importance, then, of the teacher's careful cul- 
 tivation of a pleasant and kindly address, if he has 
 it not by nature ; of his unbending himself at the 
 proper times, from his sterner moods and duties, to 
 seek a proper companionship with his pupils, and of 
 his careful exhibition of a just but lively sympathy 
 with them in their little joys and sorrows, becomes 
 again not less apparent than it has been already else- 
 where seen to be. 
 
 Secondly. Under this general head, logical ability 
 or skill must be included as a qualification of no 
 slight value. We embrace in this, not only a capacity 
 to discover consistent reasons for things required, but 
 also proper skill in presenting them to the mind to 
 be influenced. In the exercise of authority proper, 
 the teacher has need, for his own sake as legislator 
 and ruler, to be a clear and self-consistent thinker. 
 But, as has elsewhere been hinted, his logical con- 
 clusions, are not, under that species of government, 
 except to a very limited and guarded extent, to be 
 applied directly to the understanding of the subject. 
 Requirements and decisions are, by the very nature 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 297 
 
 of authority, to be generally unargued. But, under 
 the rule of influence, it is often quite otherwise. 
 Whenever the pupil is in a proper frame of mind ; is 
 somewhat effectively drawn to the teacher by an in- 
 cipient or substantial regard ; and is already meas- 
 urably prepared to yield obedience for its own sake, 
 the way is open for the generous unfolding to him of 
 the reasons which reveal the justice or benevolence 
 of the claims laid upon him, and the dignity and 
 beauty, not merely of obedience, but of hearty co- 
 operation. And when tins can be done, it is an ele- 
 ment of the purest power. 
 
 Here, then, the teacher who possesses this logical 
 ability or skill will have a most important advantage 
 over those not thus endowed or qualified. And it is 
 in this direction, that that system of professional 
 training which, despising a mere martinet drill in 
 formal rules and methods, seeks to develop in the 
 teacher the power of acute, vigorous and independ- 
 ent thought, at once reveals its just superiority. Let 
 no teacher in process of professional training be con- 
 tent with any other. To do so is simply slavish and 
 suicidal. Mastery of form, avails him, only when the 
 forms apply. Power to think makes him master of 
 the entire position, at the very time of his need, and 
 precisely as he needs it. 
 
 A third qualification for the attainment and exercise 
 of influence is personal goodness ; not a mere incon- 
 siderate or weak goodishness, but that clear, strong, 
 positive, rational worthiness which is more especially 
 the product of pure self-conquest. He is, for tho 
 
298 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 use of this moral influence, the most truly and 
 effectively pure, and good who, whatever may 
 have been his original defects of notion or char- 
 acter, has hunted the on out and dethroned them ; and 
 who has, for the sake of his own virtue, installed in 
 their stead, traits and principles both admirable and 
 sure-founded. Here, it is quite possible for the last 
 to become signally the first. Constitutional amia- 
 bility is, of course, lovely ; but acquired worthiness 
 is the most mighty, and the most to be revered. 
 
 But, whether it be constitutional or acquired, the 
 worthiness must be. Base character may by self- 
 concealment and artifice, attain and wield a potent 
 influence. But that influence is uncertain. There is 
 always lying under it the dangerous powder-heap, to 
 which some unexpected revelation of the hidden de- 
 formity may apply the igniting spark and fatally ex- 
 plode the whole of the seemingly fair fabric. To 
 command a true and abiding influence, there must be 
 that near approach of character to character ; that 
 direct contact of thought, feeling, and sympathy, 
 which renders no one permanently safe and sure, who 
 cannot, in the full assurance of conscious rectitude 
 say, and with a better principle and purpose than 
 did the subtle Iago : 
 
 " I will wear my heart upon my sleeve 
 For daws to peck at." 
 
 In the fourth place, and pre-eminently, the teacher 
 must possess tact. This quality, so often incompre- 
 hensible to those who are destitute of it, is really no 
 
SrECIES: REQUISITE QUALIFICATIONS. 299 
 
 mystery. Tact is simply good sense skilfully opera- 
 tive. Between the two, the difference is that good 
 sense is internal; tact external: good sense is re- 
 flective ; tact applicative : good sense is the subject 
 matter ; tact is its just delivery. Indeed, the two are 
 but necessary parts of a perfect practical duality of 
 powers. Good sense and tact are the two contiguous 
 plates in the one electrical combination, — the one on 
 the negative, the other on the positive side of the 
 circuit, but both equally necessary to the evolution 
 of the required force. Hence, tact is indispensable 
 to the attainment and exercise of true and effective 
 influence. Tact is the golden groove along which you 
 glide unperceived to the very gate of the human 
 heart : tact is the cunning sap by which you press 
 your way beneath its stubborn outworks to the inner 
 citadel : tact is the master key that commands all its 
 complicated locks, and gives you entrance to its secret 
 vaults and hiding places. Were every other power 
 denied the teacher, tact might still avail to win an 
 important success. 
 
 The close relation just shown to exist between good 
 sense and tact, will suggest the fact that much the 
 same laws are true of the existence or the acquisition 
 of the latter, as prevail in the case of the former. 
 The difficulties to be encountered in the work of 
 acquiring it, and the means to be employed in the 
 prosecution of that work, are substantially identical 
 with those already noticed under the head of good 
 sense. They need not then be repeated. 
 
 Much the same may be said of the last quality to 
 
300 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 be considered under this head; namely, persistence. 
 Essential to the highest success in the administration 
 of the preceding forms of government, it certainly 
 can be none the less so here. Indeed, the attainment 
 of important ends through the use of purely moral 
 means, or through influence and persuasion, is gen- 
 erally a more circuitous, tardy, and complicated op- 
 eration, than could be the attainment of the same 
 results through the use of mere authority. Its path, 
 like 
 
 " That, on which blessing comes and goes, doth follow 
 The river's course, the valley's playful windings, 
 Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines, 
 Honoring the holy bounds of property ; 
 And thus secure, though late, leads to its end." 
 
 But this very circuitousness, this very regard for 
 the rights of human feeling and imperfection, and 
 this pure reliance upon peaceful, but indirect and 
 slow-paced measures, renders the demand for patient 
 persistence the more imperative. 
 
 There is, however, this difference between the per- 
 sistency of this last species of government, and that 
 of the two former, which it is instructive to notice 
 The steadiness of purpose involved in the exercise of 
 either force or authority, is, like all the attributes of 
 those two forms of government, more positive and 
 outstanding. It stands forth with unconcealed arms 
 and unrolled banners of battle, on the very edge of 
 the first onset. In pressing the milder plans and 
 purposes of influence, it must bo none the less pres- 
 ent, but more quiet and undemonstrative It lies, 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 301 
 
 rather in abeyance, like a concealed but ready and 
 powerful reserve. Its presence, if at once revealed, 
 would only betray the whole projected movement to 
 the hostile pupil, and would only tend to put him 
 upon his guard, and stiffen his resistance. Hence, it 
 should be rather unconsciously felt than immediately 
 seen. It should rather shine out steadily in the quiet 
 progress of the patient effort, than appear 
 
 " Before the cloudy van, 
 On the rough edge of battle ere it join." 
 
 One more general qualification, belonging equally 
 to all the various species of government enumerated, 
 remains to be noticed, and we have done. This is 
 the poiver of retraction, or the capacity to correct 
 and atone for the errors which may have occurred in 
 the teacher's administration of the government of 
 the school. It is doubtless true in principle that 
 errors should not be committed, especially those of a 
 grave or far-reaching character. But inasmuch as 
 the teacher is not infallible, and is, moreover, hedged 
 about by difficulties both complicated and constant, 
 " it must needs be that offenses come ;" and, looking 
 at the pain and peril incident upon the attempt to 
 retrace the false steps taken, we may also add, "but 
 woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." He 
 will sooner or later learn the truth of the ancient 
 saying : 
 
 " Facilis decensus Averni ; 
 Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, 
 Hoe opus, hie labor est." 
 
302 SCHOOL GOVEBNMENT. 
 
 In case, then, the hard necessity of retraction seems 
 to be pressed upon the teacher, let him accept the 
 issue fairly, and observe the following maxims. First. 
 Not every error needs correction. Some may not 
 have been observed by the pupils, and others may 
 be altogether of minor importance. Here, the at- 
 tempt at correction will only reveal errors before un- 
 suspected, or will unfortunately exaggerate the im- 
 portance of those discovered. The evils thus induced 
 will more than counterbalance the good proposed in 
 the attempted retraction. The true course in such 
 a case is for the teacher to stand quietly still upon 
 his reserved rights, and leave the error to the natural 
 correction of his subsequent administration of affairs. 
 
 Secondly. Even where the errors may have been 
 observed, or may possess some grave importance, 
 the teacher is not to regard himself as scrupulously 
 bound to make public amends for every one. One 
 of the most pitiable of weaknesses in him who gov- 
 erns, is that of ostentatiously engaging in the punc- 
 tilious correction of his own short-comings, by per- 
 petual declarations and petty apologies. Nothing 
 can be more foreign to the evincing of true govern- 
 mental capacity ; nothing more destructive to confi- 
 dence in the government, and esteem for it. Its folly 
 may be seen in the fact that it is the product of either 
 a pitiful timidity in ruling, or as pitiful a conceit of 
 superior rectitude. It is as if the teacher should 
 confess that he dare not steadily press forward to the 
 attainment of the greater objects in view, undaunted 
 by temporary failures ; or as if he should be con- 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 303 
 
 stantly crying out, " Behold the marvel of my unfail- 
 ing and fearless conscientiousness." The whole is a 
 vice, only inferior to sheer vanity or obsequiousness. 
 
 What is wanted in the teacher as governor, is not 
 the correction of every noticeable fault, but the evin- 
 cing of complete power and willingness to correct 
 them, when, in his higher judgment, that is truly de- 
 manded by the general welfare. Evince this power 
 and willingness, and the uncorrected errors will not 
 only, not materially impair his authority or influence, 
 but they will not unfrequently, by their very incor- 
 rection, suggest to the pupil the possibility of higher 
 capacity and superior reasons, unknown to himself, 
 but determining the teacher's course. The tendency 
 of this will naturally be to strengthen the general 
 confidence in, not only his ability, but even his rec- 
 titude. 
 
 When correction is clearly just and necessary, let 
 the retraction be frankly and fearlessly made, but 
 without any needless comment or display, and above 
 all, without personal reference, elaborate regrets, or 
 unmanly whining. Let the teacher show that he still 
 stands strong in conscious rectitude, and unimpaired 
 in manly self-respect. Let him remember that what 
 might be due between man and man, in the correction 
 of faults, is not to the same extent demanded between 
 government and subject. The broader claims, the 
 far more difficult responsibilities, and the higher 
 necessities of government as involving the welfare of 
 the whole, are, in some part, an apology for its inci- 
 dental failures. The preservation of its authoritative 
 
304 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 dignity and power are too vital to the general inter- 
 ests of the whole commonwealth, to be subjected to 
 the needless humiliation of minute confessions and 
 demure eontritiou. Let, then, enough appear in 
 formal retraction to shed a clear and satisfactory 
 light upon the subsequent amendment in governing, 
 and, for the rest, let this latter correction be the sole 
 reliance. The maxim of government in the correction 
 of faults must be ; not words without deeds, but deeds 
 rather than words. 
 
 The power to institute such wise and successful 
 retraction, it will be now seen, is one of rare com- 
 bination and great importance. It involves a happy 
 and effective blending of all the more important in- 
 tellectual and moral qualifications which have just 
 been set forth. Fortunate is he who finds this 
 master combination instant in his nature, or solidly 
 built up in his acquired endowments. « 
 
 In two directions, the foregoing considerations as 
 to the qualification of the teacher, suggest facts de- 
 manding a passing notice. It will doubtless have 
 occurred to some, that of the qualifications demanded, 
 there are those that are neither so native to woman, 
 nor so easily to be acquired by her ; as, for example, 
 those of physical strength, commanding presence and 
 authoritative voice, and logical breadth and power. 
 It is, however, by no means necessary that she should 
 either possess or seek to acquire these, at least in 
 their more masculine or manly phase. She possesses, 
 to a more eminent degree and excellence than man 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 305 
 
 can boast, others that more than counterbalance any 
 loss accruing from want of these. In 
 
 " Those graceful acts, 
 Those thousands decencies, that daily flow 
 From all her words and actions," 
 
 she is possessed of a power for the successful ad- 
 ministration of that highest species of supremacy, — 
 the supremacy of loving influence, which not unfre- 
 quently, in its proper sphere, puts to shame man's 
 more stern and positive capabilities, sometimes, even 
 conquers them outright. Indeed, in her sharpness 
 of perception ; her instantaneous certainty of intuition, 
 sometimes amounting to even a prophetic instinct ; 
 her facile adaptation ; her winning grace ; her subtle 
 tact ; and her pure and noble sympathies, she is, in 
 this field of direction and control, without a peer. 
 Let her* then, cultivate others so far as she may 
 without disloyalty to her sex ; but let her rely rather 
 upon these her own pre-eminent and altogether suffi- 
 cient endowments. 
 
 In this direction may be seen, at a glance, the 
 stupidity of those who either possess or affect a con- 
 viction of the superiority in the woman as teacher, 
 of the more masculine traits of strength, courage, and 
 so-called energy. They either fail to possess, or they 
 foolishly ignore the knowledge of the highest, sweetest 
 and most effective endowments of the sex. We say 
 to such, 
 
 " There are more things in heaven and earth, 
 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 
 
306 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 * 
 
 Hence, a hundred times greater importance is to 
 be attached to the quiet, all pervading and sweetly 
 transforming influence of her, who in the school room 
 moves on serenely from day to day, in all her pure 
 proprieties and loving efforts, unconsciously both 
 blessed and blessing, than can be attributed to the 
 sturdy vigor and storming energy of those who either 
 unthinkingly or unblushingly sacrifice the sweeter and 
 more benign elements of their better nature, upon the 
 altar of a masculine ambition. 
 
 It may, furthermore, occur to some that, after all 
 that may be done by teachers in the way of personal 
 and professional culture and acquirements, there will 
 still exist unavoidable individual differences in quali- 
 fication, which must seriously affect them in their 
 administration of the various species of government 
 herein set forth ; and which may even preclude the 
 possibility of the highest success in either as an ex- 
 clusive form. One lesson taught by this is that of a 
 necessary eclecticism in the choice of means and 
 methods, which has already been touched upon. 
 
 It remains, however, to suggest here, another im- 
 portant and concluding principle. There is, doubt- 
 less, a purest and best form of government. But as 
 all are not adapted to be controlled by this theoreti- 
 cally superior form ; so are all no more adapted to its 
 exercise. This superior scheme of government should, 
 beyond question, be so far understood and aspired to, 
 as will secure its presence in the thought, as an in- 
 spiring and informing influence toward the steady 
 improvement of the method nocessarily chosen. But 
 
species: requisite qualifications. 307 
 
 it is not imperative, nay, it may be simply a folly to 
 aspire to its exclusive use and realization. The 
 particular qualifications of some teachers may, not 
 only rentier this an impossibility, but may render an 
 attempt in that direction, only a source of constant 
 embarrassment and failure in that especial province 
 in which, though inferior, a signal success awaits 
 them. All attempts, then, at imposing a one best and 
 exclusive form of governing upon the teacher, are 
 simply absurd and tyrannous. 
 
 The general law in this direction, has been tersely 
 and truly expressed by Pope : 
 
 "For forms of government let fools contest, 
 Whate'er is best administered is best." 
 
 The substance of it is this : some government is better 
 than none, and government is as truly relative to the 
 capacity of the ruler, as to the condition of the sub- 
 ject. The wise teacher, then, while carefully availing 
 himself of the offered aid of all, will rely chiefly upon 
 that species of government for which he intelligently 
 discovers himself to be the best adapted. "The 
 government of the school," said an able teacher to us 
 once, " is summed up, not so much in the measures, 
 as in the spirit of the man.'' But that clear and com- 
 manding spirit is possible, and can be free and effect- 
 ive, only in that field where he who rules is consciously 
 at home. David was mightier with his sling and 
 stone than he could have been, girt with all the 
 panoply of Saul, and he had both the good sense to 
 know it and the courage to avow it. Let the teachers 
 learn from his example. 
 
308 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Nor let them learn from it only this one lesson. It 
 is instinct with even nobler truth. Beyond his judi- 
 cious preference for his own well-approved, though 
 unpretending weapon^ beyond his modest,\but self- 
 respectful fohance jtoon his own self -dSyfilopeNd pow- 
 ers; beyond his prompt, but unostentatious accep- 
 tance of the duty and the trial providentially imposed 
 upon him ; beyond that imperturbable coolness and 
 calmness which stamped him every inch a man, as 
 well as a hero ;— beyond all this, let the true teacher 
 discover, and ponder well, that lesson of simple un- 
 wavering faith in a divine guidance and support, which 
 he, in his conflicts with ignorance and insubordination, 
 needs not less than did David in his memorable com- 
 bat with the giant of Gath ; and may he, in his time 
 of need, both seek and find that guidance and support, 
 and through them, come off conqueror indeed. 
 
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