They seemed to see clearly the absurdity of such a scheme.
"Besides," I continued, "the trustees of this school have committed it
to my charge; they hold me responsible; the public hold _me_
responsible, not you. Now if I should surrender it into your hands, and
you, from any cause, should manage the trust unfaithfully or
unskillfully, I should necessarily be held accountable. I could never
shift the responsibility upon you. Now it plainly is not just or right
that one party should hold the power, and another be held accountable
for its exercise. It is clear, therefore, in every view of the subject,
that I should retain the management of this school in my own hands. Are
you not satisfied that it is?"
The scholars universally answered "Yes, sir." They seemed satisfied, and
doubtless were.
It was then stated to them that the object in asking them to vote was,
in some cases, to obtain an expression of their opinion or their wishes
in order to help _me_ decide, and only in those cases where it was
expressly stated did I mean to give the final decision to them.
Still, however, if cases are often referred to them, the feeling will
gradually creep in that the school is managed on republican principles,
as they call it, and they will, unless this point is specially guarded,
gradually lose that spirit of entire and cordial subordination so
necessary for the success of any school. It should often be distinctly
explained to them that a republican government is one where the power
essentially resides in the community, and is exercised by a ruler only
so far as the community delegates it to him, whereas in the school the
government is based on the principle that the power, primarily and
essentially, resides in the teacher, the scholars exercising only such
as _he_ may delegate to _them_.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91