What these measures of restraint or
punishment shall be must depend upon the circumstances of the case; but
in resorting to them, the teacher must be decided and unbending.
The course above recommended is not trying lax and inefficient measures
for a long time in hopes of their being ultimately successful, and then,
when they are found not to be so, changing the policy. There should be,
through the whole, the tone and manner of _authority_, not of
_persuasion_. The teacher must be a _monarch_, and, while he is gentle
and forbearing, always looking on the favorable side of conduct so far
as guilt is concerned; he must have an eagle eye and an efficient hand,
so far as relates to arresting the evil and stopping the consequences.
He may slowly and cautiously, and even tenderly, approach a delinquent.
He may be several days in gathering around him the circumstances of
which he is ultimately to avail himself in bringing him to submission;
but, while he proceeds thus slowly and tenderly, he must come with the
air of authority and power. The fact that the teacher bases all his
plans on the idea of his ultimate authority in every case may be
perfectly evident to all the pupils, while he proceeds with moderation
and gentleness in all his specific measures. Let it be seen, then, that
the constitution of your school is a monarchy, absolute and unlimited;
but let it also be seen that the one who holds the power is himself
under the control of moral principle in all that he does, and that he
endeavors to make the same moral principle which guides him go as far as
it is possible to make it go in the government of his subjects.
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