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Lorsque le document est trop grand poui- dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 1 2 3 1 5 6 MICROCCPY RESOLUTION 'EST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.0 I.I If 1^ 22 2.0 1.8 ^ APPLIED IIVl^GE 1653 East >;>iin Street Rochester, New York 14609 US« (716) ',d2 - 0300 - Phone (716^ 288-5989 -Fox ^ to Rou>>^. Saint John Regional Library, N.B IDEAL SCHfe^t^'ryfteiPri'M! AN HOW TO SECURE IT. By G. U. Hay, Ph.B., St. John, N.B. ^ When I was invited to read a paper before this Association, I felt that it would be both an honor and a pleasure to comply with the request. But the preparations for the close of a year's work and of final examina- tions bring so many perplexities in th-" train, that you will all agree with me when I state that such is not the time to prepare a thoughtful paper, nor such a one as should engage the attention of a body of thhikers and critics like this. I trust, therefore, that you will he as forbearing and generous as you are thoughtful and critical ; and for my part, I shall be brief, and shall not, I hope, weary you with many dull pla'ti- tudes Oil a somewhat trite subject—" School Discipline, and How to Secure it," " School Discipline " has a^somewhat forbiddirig sound to us at a time when we have turned our backs upon the class-room,— when we from the P:ast join hands with those of the West, either for the first time, or to renew the pleasant associations of other years,_and that, too, in the city of Montreal, which has so many features of interest and beauty, and which for some of us calls up many pleasing recollec- tions of former visits. But your committee, when they sent me this subject, sugar-coated the title in a most inviting way : " Ideal School Discipline." My eye became riveted on the first word, and in a moment of weakness 1 fell an easy victim. For what time is there or what state of mind that that word '' idear does not come to us like the remem- brance of a pleasant dream, recalling the fancies of childhood, or perhaps the high aims and resolves that animated us on the first day of begin- ning our life-work. When at the close of a day's work all the petty trials and discouragements of life seem to have been crowded together in that one day, may we not shut them oiit and turn again and again to our ideal— our high resolves— and gain strength to endeavor to realize them. It is in this spirit that I should like to discuss this question—" Ideal School Discipline, and How to Secure it." And if I treat it too much from the ideal rather than the practical standpoint, it is because ray lot has been cast in pleasant places in this connection, and because I have Sfien. T hoTlP mflnv iHanla roolirTrt/l As the ideal is individual rather than general—and fortunately it is so— I fear that I may not be able satisfactorily to define my subject, and ♦- \ 2 IDEAL SCHOOL DISCIPLINE, thus, with an unsubstantial ba3e, rear a faulty structure. From the second part of the title as given me.—" How to Secure it," I infer that I am expected to treat the subject in a restricted rather than a general way ; to spt-ak of what constitutes the maintenance of good order of the proper guidance of the conduct of the pupils, so that in all the exercises of their every-day life the result shall be the happy and harmonious development of the moral, intelligent and physical natures of those committed to our care ; and even in this limited sense the subject admits of a wide treatment on account of the many ideals as to what constitutes good discipline, for the methods of discipline are as varied as the instincts of human nature, and they must ever vary to suit individual natures and the cn-cumstances in which we may be placed. The ideal of one teacher may be the quiet school where everything proceeds with the regularity of clock-work, where a whisper or a fall of a book is regarded as a penal offence. Another's ideal may be the busy, noisy Tchool where the utmost licence is allowed, consistent, of course, with the per- formance on the part of the pupils of the required work. Both of these Ideals-extremes we may call them-are faulty. To gain the uniformity of the one would sacrifice the individuality of the child for a dull mechanism ; to tolerate the other would be to restrict education to the acquisition of knowledge-a part only of what constitutes a true educa- tion. Our ideal school discipline must be that which has its mainsprina m the mutual love and respect of teacher and pupil ; which assures the industry and attention of pupils by maintaining good order in the school- room and exciting their zeal and a love for knowledge; and which pre- vents or represses all irregularities of conduct and tends to train resolute wills, steadiness of purpose, and characters capable of self-control. This course of discipline not only assures the actual government of the pupils while members of the school, but in the broader sense it is a training for the duties of citizenship. It teaches pupils to govern themselves and shape their life-work after they shall have left school. Further such a discipline, founded upon love, duty, mutual respect, will extend the influence of the school to the entire community, or, as in Euc^by under Arnold or Uppingham under Thring, to a whole empire. The example of the Great Teacher of mankind is ever present to us animating us when our ideal seems a failure. We look upon that life with Its trials, Its sufferings, its accomplishment. Every incident in it has Its lesson of duty, forbearance, denial of self for the sake of others -while the exceeding love of this Great Teacher is the lode-stone wiiicii must ever attract us if we would gain inspiration and strength to carry out our cherished ideals. I AND HOW TO SECURE IT. 3 ^ The ideal school discipline then will be thnt which makes the acquisi- tion of knowledge go hand in hand with the zealous discharge of duty because it isduty ; the subduing of all sellish and pergonal feeliiigs, and making tliem subordinate to duty ; the teaching of habits of industry, sell- control, repressing idle and mischievous tendencies, and in their stead calling out higher motives, thus training for the larger world without the school-room. Finally, that love which loses sight of self and reaching downward and outward lifts up others. One thought in the valedictory of a graduating class a few weeks ago occurs to "me— "Surely, there never was a class more closely bound together by sympa- thy and friendship than ours. Any honor conferred upon one of its members has ever been to one and all a matter of hearty congratulation, and any sorrow falling to the lot of one of our members was the grief of all." I like to see such a sentiment as this in a class going forth from the school. How to secure Ideal School Discipline : I would group all the means by which we may secure this under two heads : First, There must be love and respect between teacher and pupil. Scco7id, The pupil must be in sympathy with his environment. In regard to the first, I have said before that the mainspring of action in a school, the life thut enters into all its exercises, whether of work or play, is mutual love and a sympathy of aim. Indeed, if we had these, —a mutual love founded upon mutual respect, a sympathy of aim, with that aim useful, unselfish and inspiring,— we might say that these com- prehend everything, and everything else is included in them. And I use the word love in its highest and best acceptation, tliat which springs from duty, from respect, from obedience, gently but firmly insisted upon, from repressing those inclinations " the child that are shown to be wrong and mischievous in their tendency, and insistence at all times on the performance of right because it is right ; that love which is a response to a hearty and spontaneous approval, on our part, of work performed, of duty conscientiously fulfilled. Is it not your experience that pupils respond, slowly periiaps, but surely, to these incentives ? I remember, a few days ago, on rising to address a meeting of teachers in St. John, I saw before me my first school teacher. Her presence was an inspiration to me ; for what I remembered chiefly was her generous api)roval of what was right,— her quiet but marked disapprovafof what was wrong. In this connection let mc speak of the importance of drawing inspir- ation from ideals. These ideals may be those great teachers" of thQ IDEAL SCHOOL DISCIPLINP}, higher our ideal, tho more will it accord wifh Ih. Sv. T ahtytil'r t/""" '"° '" "^ " «"'"' *°"' f-f™""' -e have ments. They are most unwelcome guests when they first iutrudlTf" -■izeit. Discou:.g^i:tr;3t:s:c; t:r° r^-^ full fruition of our hopes our work j," ""'° '""'««'" ""ce the up of character aud fut'eU ct w: expeeV ,1 Z t™"" ''" '"'"*"S discouraged because we do not see th!m Whit '°™' °""' "" ""= plish in a few days or weeks can ly be 'acclp shed T"' '° """■ or perhaps in a lifetime. I am sure wedT , """^ >'™'-^ measure of what we attempt tol T ,• "''"''"'' "^^»" ••« »'°"» . that very discouragerrr the g;rri:creTaT'"T'- "" S:2-;-r:£7irswr^^^^ rrirt^rwrdoCni^TdrH-^^^^^^^^^^^ recall what blessings these twin f^ienl-def at ^7 , "^ "' "' ™'> have been to us. how thev havp *!! i f discouragement- discipline others. ^ "''"'"'' "' »" th"' '"'Iped «s to place. This id^l I::s t ClZt^iltr """^''''^^''P"'' interest and comprehending his'duty twit a^^d^r^ am -■ °™, I I f AND HOW TO SECURE IT. . course, and because it is from thn fo„.) • . , . so to fin Ti..f ^ . IS, irom the teacliors standpoint, Aw inter^f^t can 6e««„c"T„ ' •■; ^°°\'j» «"- -• "-" tho only ,,„,,;,, Lo guide „„d directi,,,, powe,. of U,o sol. . tL ^yofZT T wor d— and when T ^ro^lr r.f f i t ^ °* teachers in the p.ehe„,ive set -mit J " ''r '"?"" ''"^'"•■" '" "'« '"-' -™- Bess that we get from the world should to reflL i„^> « """P"- it should enrich us and tlm,^ IT \^ ' mfluence.-tbat tact? And if we mnt th 71! f I "" ""' '"'"''S'" '» '^""y <=»"- should beable toTut our Dul°' *"' " "'" '" '^"^ "» ^l'"" *"' "» And if we <, Z the ZJZ "'""T^' "'* "'^" ™"roament. ^.ed upon i4t,nX."rcrtitnesVard rr ^^-^'^ development of their morfll r.h.r • i ! ^'^^^ harmonious mttted to gam even a glimpse of this id»»l ^.^ J-h '- - ■ • ? ment of body and mind and spirit that ThaveT^ker^orBrtr"'" selfish worker must be twined to endure slowUlt i^^ZZ 6 IDEAL BOIIOOL DIHCIPMNK, KTowth The sood that wo plant in the earth, aro wo rosponsihlo for Its growth un.l perfootion ? No ; our duty is to nourish it, to watch and SonmoUhemeaaH to place the pupils in sympathy with their envi^ ronmr,nt.^On,,^n'eat numnsisto n.ako thoni acousto.nod to work, and I was .,>.„g to say, plenty of it. But there is an impression anion./us down by the sea. and I think I have heard it whispered in other partes of Cana.la. that there are too n.any subjects taught in the schools ; that the teacher ,8 a task-master, and is laying heavy tasks and grievous to bo borne on the boys an.l girls. No, that is not a fact. There may be some lesson-hearers who are hard task-masters, who are underminino. the constitutions and stultifying tho intellects of the boys and cn,.Is"bya system of cram and useless meraoruing. But teachers are not doing their work that way. They are teaching their pupils to think and to work ; and such tasks are too inspiring to be burdens. When you enter a school and see the impress of thought and earnestness on the faces before you. that is an index of the quality of the work that is being done there And what a source of inspiration that is. is it not? to make every face before you bear the impress of honest effort, of mental activity Is there any effort to maintain a proper discipline there ? No Was there any eflbrt to secure it at first ? Ah, yes. great efforts, efforts that only those t^vin friends of ours - defeat and discouragement-could help us to maintain and persevere in. That is the kind of discipline that goeth not out except by work and faith. If you have faith that you can do the hardest thing in the world and then set to work to accomplish it, you will remove mountains-of Ignorance, disorder, inattention. Now, what is this hardest work ? It IS teaching the average boy and girl to think-the average boy and girl. Let us not be deceived into imagining we are doing this if we are leadmg along the half do.en or so of bright pupils who would think If left to themselves, or at least who would think in a mediocre way suf- hcient to satisfy the schoolmaster. Do not the vacant looks of the majority appeal to us to come over and help them ? How long shall we resist the appeal ? How many teachers are there yet jostling and sway- ing m the crowds along the plains at the foot of the mountain ? It is the firs step that costs, and they have not taken that step to climb to the tableland above, across which is moving that orderly procession of thmkers and workers, their thoughts and work keeping pace with their orderly march and preparing them to scale the greater heights b eyoud Now what, I repeat, can we do, not only for the average boy and girl' but for those of the lowest capacity,-for the idla tha iVHifV.r.nt th- shirks ? Some of them, nay, all of them, perhaps, wiU do anything ex- V--. AND IfOW TO SFfTfiK IT. m oept to think to oUrvo. Th.y will appropriate and repeat the thoueht, of other,, „„d they will not have the ren.otct idea that they ar, !m nmt,„K petty h.rceny. They will read for you, or they wi 1 »u, 2 alooK over the jrHited page; they will work out prnblen.H in arithmet e pr.«,ded they know what the answer i. ; they will Ln,ori.„ pa" " toxt-hook, but they w,ll not think. The plain at the foot of the mo ,n! tarn « good enongh for the.n, theyargne, ifiti, .„od enough for their master ; and the master says it is g„„d enough for hi,n, for' good elsv .sonl, he s,ts „. h,s chair, and points cemplaeently to the n.ouiin „" d says, "Come, hoys, climb." ' And yet these dull one, are not dull outside of the school. Whoso fault .s ,t that they are dull in s.^hool J I was in a school a few week! ag<. where a class was being instructed in geometry ; there was plenty of ume for thought an interest, a closeness of attention that nevel fl,ag,ed or a moment. There were, in general, just eonclu,,io„, drawn. Wteo there was a wrong or impotent oonelusion, a just one was reached with admirable patience and skill, but it had to be reached by the pupil 7Z l.revious steps, no matter what time it took. ■. The. ■ i, a lad ■• \mZ teacher, .• who has bcenin the schoola year ; he was tL pl„ t of dullness, hut about two months ago he waked up, he be-mn to think uud he has been thinking ever since." And when I boked a" h s 1 earnest ga^e of the boy, I felt that the light which had been kindled would, under proper direction, never boquenchcd. What an inspirati n the though grves that we can put a spark into a ,lull mind and li,* en .tupforalltrme. Now, what waked the boy up, what set°h m a-thinking? are questions the- may help the dull pupil, if it sets us to working out the problem. But it u a problem that we have aH worLd out at least I hope we have. But is it not a problem that we have to work afresh every day of our lives v and though we may vary the , r^ cesses and formute rn our method of solution, the answer comes out the same every time, and it is this: that dull face must be made to light up, that listless air give place to the eager look, and an honest attentive pupil must be made t» take the place of that shirker away off m the corner seat. ^ Will love do this ? Will work do '.io ? Tq t>,nf oii 9 ixr ^^ include all. What makes the school ? 1 it not tht 1 1 ' ''"'' '^^^ intelligent gathering knowledge and exper ence as^'^tes'att"" ,Z' morrow that will pynpl the .«v..f it .„ ^J' ^ "laKing an ideal for to-