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 ■i^.^-!i:e./.iv.^ ■-■ :^-i.-'<:i-i:. 
 
The School Bulletin 
 
 And New York State Educational Journal. 
 
 EDITOKS. 
 Hon. JONATHAN TENNEY, Deputy State Superint'd't. 
 DANIEL J. PRATT, Ph.D., Ass't Sec'y Regents of the 
 
 University. 
 Prof. EDWARD NORTH, Hamilton Collegxj, 
 HENRY B. BUCKHAM, Principal Buffalo State Normal 
 
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 ^1^ ^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f i 
 
 tab! ig<%,<%.^,'^<m.^''«>''^'^^^^>'%''^'^'^'^'^''^'^'S' ate 
 Teachers' Association, and from its foundation one of the 
 most successful of educational magazines, is now united 
 with The School Bulletin, which thus becomes the only 
 State journal published. 
 
 Articles upon any subject relating to education are 
 invited from all who have matured opinions to ex- 
 press. They will be selected in no partisan or sectional 
 interest, but Avith an effort to represent fairly and fully 
 every phase of progressive educational thought. Prefer- 
 ence will be given to those which are brief and pungent. 
 SUBSCRIPTION, - ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
 
 g^W° Address all communications to 
 
 The School Bulletin, 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
What is said of the School Bulletin, Vol. I. 
 
 I have come to regard the Bulletin as a valuable 
 contribution to educational literature, judiciously 
 meted out in monthly issues. It is the best State 
 journal that I ever saw. — S. R. Wirvcliell, Principal 
 Milwaukee High School and Editm^ of Public School 
 Record. 
 
 Your paper is spicy and sound too, I think ; and I 
 should like it regularly. — Hon. John D. Philbrick., 
 late Superintendent Schools, Boston. 
 
 I was very much interested in your discussion of 
 School Law, and trust you will continue to send your 
 valuable periodical. — S, M. Etter, Supt. Public Inst. 
 State of Illinois. 
 
 A lively journal full of practical thoughts and 
 sprightly sayings. Its news from the diif erent count- 
 ies tends to give it a strong local claim, while its 
 general discissions recommend it to the jjrofession 
 at large. — The Normal Monthly^ Edward Brooks, 
 Editor ; Millersnille, Pa. 
 
 I have read with gi'eat interest the March number 
 of The School Bulletin, especially the article con- 
 cerning " Common School Law for Common Scho.ol 
 Teachers." I should be pleased to have a file of the 
 Bulletin in this office. — J. K. Jillson, State Supt. of 
 Education, South Carolina, 
 
 Have examined the copy of Bulletin sent me. It 
 contains many able articles. Will you have the kind- 
 ness to forward me the back numbers for 1875 ? I 
 take pleasure in forwarding you one of my last annual 
 reports. Very respectfully, J. W. Simonds, State 
 Superintendent, New Hampshire. 
 
 Enclosed please find one dollar for the Bulletin 
 for 1875. I congratulate you on the success of the 
 enterprise thus far. Few of the existing educational 
 journals surpass the Bulletin in freshness, variety, 
 and excellence of its articles, to say nothing of the 
 County Items, a most valuable department. — E. H. 
 Frisbee,. Principal Binghamton High School. 
 
y 
 
 COMMON SCHOOL LAW" 
 
 FOR 
 
 
 RE-PBINTED FROM 
 
 THE SCHOOL BULLETIN 
 
 And New York State EducMioncd Journal. 
 
 V 
 
 
 ALBANY, N. Y. 
 The School Bulletin. 
 
 1S75. 
 
IT 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Some years ag-o, wMle principal of a union school in 
 this State, the author petitioned the Board of Education 
 to reduce the school-year from forty-two weeks to forty 
 and thus close the term by the fourth of July. His argu- 
 ments were courteo^isly received, and mig-ht have pre- 
 vailed, had not the following- consideration been sug- 
 gested : The expenses of the year had been heavy and 
 it was desirable to secure as larg-e an appropriation as 
 possible from the State ; as this would he jyivportional to the 
 nwnber of weeks taught, it was deemed unadvisable to re- 
 duce the leng-th of the school-year. And the school com- 
 pleted forty-two weeks. Since the Code of Public In- 
 struction plainly states (1864, 555,3,111 §7,55) that the 
 apportionment shall be based, not upon the aggreg-ate 
 but upon the average daily attendance, and since after 
 the fourth of Julj' the average daily attendance decreased 
 nearly one-half, thus considerably reducing the amount 
 received for the year from the State, the ignorance of 
 School Law displayed alike by teacher and bj' board Avas 
 shameful. Yet the same error with the same result was 
 committed last year in another and the largest school of 
 the same county. 
 
 This little treatise is not designed to be profound or 
 exhaustive. It aims to present simply, clearly and ac- 
 curately those features of common and statute law 
 which are most important to teachei's. Where the law is 
 definite, full references are given. Where decisioias vary, 
 as in regard to the right of parents to control the studies 
 of their children, views upon both sides are presented. In 
 regard to matters left by law to the judgment of the 
 teacher, the author has given expression to what he deems 
 the most general and reasonable opinions. 
 
 Thanks are due to the New York State Department of 
 Public Instruction for many courtesies rendered, in- 
 
eluding free access to official records ; and to the Super- 
 intendents of many States for copies of their school-laws 
 and other favors. 
 
 If this little book helps faithful teachers to know what 
 the law requires and permits, it will accomplish its mission. 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 The references in the following pages are mostly 
 these : 
 
 (1.) To legal decisions in New York and other States, 
 The authority is indicated by the number of the 
 volume, the name of the author of the series of reports, 
 and the number of the page. (10 Barbour 396,) indicates 
 the 26th page of the tenth volume of Barbour's Reports : 
 to be found in any law library. 
 
 (2.) To Statute Laws of the State of New York. These 
 are indicated bv three or four sets of figures : the first 
 showing the year in which the law was passed ; the second 
 the chapter of the laws of that year ; the third the section 
 of the chapter or title : the fourth, if given, the title of 
 the chapter. Thus, (1844, 311, 3) indicates the third section 
 of the 111th chapter of the laws of 1844; while (1864, .555, 15, 
 I) indicates the 15th article of the first title of the 
 555th chapter of the laws of 1864. 
 
 (3.) To Decisions of the State Superintendent. These 
 are indicated by the initials of the Superintendent, and 
 by the number of the decision as recorded in the Depart- 
 ment of Public Instruction. __ ^ ,„„„ 
 
 (4.) To the Code of Public Instruction edition of 1868, a 
 copy of which is in the custody of the Clerk of every dis- 
 trict in the State. This copy may be borrowed by any 
 tax payer in the district and kept three days, except with- 
 in five days of a school meeting. References to this 
 volume are indicated bv full faced type showing the page 
 quoted, and are frequently appended to other references. 
 The remarks of the compiler, Superintendent V. M. Rice, 
 are indicated by the initial R. Thus (R 3 5) indicates the 
 remarks of Sunt. Rice, as found on page 35 of the Code. 
 (1867, 21, 2, 283) indicates that section second of the 21st 
 chapter of the laws of 1867, is given upon page 283 of the 
 Code, Those Superintendents' decisions of which ab- 
 stracts ai-e given in the Code are indicated by the initials 
 and the number of the page only. (V. M. R. 335) indi- 
 cates a decision of Superintendent Rice recorded upon 
 page 335 of the Code. 
 
COMMON SCHOOL LAW 
 
 COMiMON SCHOOL TEACHERS. 
 
 1. liCgal Qualification. 
 
 No person can contract or draw pay as a teacher in the 
 public schools of New York, v/ho is not legally qualified 
 by holding an unexpired and unannulled certificate of one 
 of these five kinds, (186i, 555, 41 and 43, VII, 132.) 
 
 I. A diploma from some one of the eight Normal 
 Schools. 
 
 II. A State certificate, granted Iby the State Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 Til. A limited license granted by the State Superintend- 
 ent. 
 
 IV. A ceutificate granted by a legally authorized Board 
 of Education. 
 
 V. A certificate granted by a County Commissioner. 
 
 Of the 29,464 teachers reported to the Superintendent in 
 1873, 633 were thus licensed by Normal Schools, 1163 by the 
 Superintendent, and 37,669 by local oflicers. 
 
 (A) GRANTING OF LICENSES. 
 
 I. To enter any Normal School, pupils must be sixteen 
 years of age, of good health, good moral character and 
 average abilities ; must be appointed by the State Super- 
 intendent upon recommendation of a County Commission- 
 er or City Superintendent ; and must pass a fair exami- 
 nation in reading, spelling, geography, arithmetic as far 
 as the roots, and the analysis and parsing of sentences. 
 The shortest course occupies two years. Students may 
 enter an advanced class, but must remain at least one j-ear 
 
2 Common School Lato. 
 
 to receive a diploma. These schools are located at Albany, 
 Oswego, Potsdam, Brockpoi't, Geneseo, Cortland, Fre- 
 donia and Buffalo. A legal limit to the number of pupils 
 received has been fixed, but has not yet been approached ; 
 so that the schools are practically open to all who wish to 
 fit themselves to become teachers. 
 
 II. State certificates may be granted by the State Super- 
 intendent "on the recommendation of any School Com- 
 missioner or on other evidence satisfactory to him." 
 (1864, 555, 15, 1. 15.)* ' 
 
 III. Temporary licenses to teach, limited to any school 
 commissioner district or school district, and for a period 
 not exceeding six months, may be granted by the State 
 Superintendent whenever, in his judgment, it may be 
 necessary or expedient for him to do so." (1864, 555, 15, 1. 
 16.) This power is rarely if ever, exercised. 
 
 IV. The spfecial laws relating to the schools of several 
 large cities,expressly confer the power of examining their 
 own teachers upon either the board of education or the 
 Superintendent. In these cities, such examination is a 
 condition of contract, and must be submitted to even 
 by those who hold diplomas or State certificates. (V.M. R. 
 411.) Of course such examination qualifies the teacher 
 only for the schools under direct control of the board of 
 education who conduct it. 
 
 *In definite requirements for State certificates, New York 
 is wholly wanting. Ohio requires five years' successful 
 experience in the school room and examination in Natural 
 Philosophy, Physiology, Algebra, General History, Ge- 
 ometry, Story on the Constitution, English Literature, 
 and Theory and Practice of Teaching. Indiana requires 
 a similar examination, with twenty-seven months' ex- 
 perience, and superior professional ability certified to by 
 eminent pei'sons well known to the Board. Illinois re- 
 quires a similar examination and three years' experience. 
 Kansas requires five years' experience, two of which have 
 been in the State ; and attainments and professional skill 
 for oi-ganizing, superintending and instructing a high 
 school. Such attainments and skill to be evidenced by a 
 satisfactory examination, partly oral but chiefly written. 
 
^egcd Q^mUficaUons. 
 
 V. Certificates are g-ranted by School Commissioners to 
 teachers Avithin their own districts. For this purpose, an- 
 nouncements are made that upon a certain day and at 
 at a designated place in each town, the Commissioners will 
 be prepared to examine candidates. Further oppor- 
 tunities are g-ranted as the Commissioner is makinc: his 
 rounds of visits (R. 36) and at institutes. 
 
 The law does not fix the standard of examination, and 
 usage varies most lamentably. But the comments of 
 Superintendent Rice (R. 30-37) and the decisions of the 
 State Superintendent establish the practice substantially 
 as follows : 
 
 The teacher is examined (a) as to his moral character ; 
 (b) as to his learning ; (c) as to his tact in instruction and 
 management, (a). The candidate must present affirm- 
 ative evidence of good moral character, (E. W. K. 410). 
 Certificates should not be granted to persons addicted to 
 drunkenness, (H. H. V. D. 410), to the use of intoxicating 
 liquors (R. 30) or to profanity, (A. B. W. 2191). But the 
 Commissioner must not consider the candidate's religious 
 or political opinions (R. 30), or any feelings of personal 
 dissatisfaction on the part of patrons of the school (V. M. 
 R. 406). 
 
 (b). There is probably not one Commissioner in the State 
 who withholds certificates from all whom he knows to be 
 insufficiently educated. Many attempt to create a de- 
 mand for good teachers by cutting off the supply of those 
 who are worthless, but cheap. Till such attempts are 
 more universal and more vigorous, it will be farcial to 
 quote these branches, set down by Superintendent Rice, as 
 those upon which teachers must show " minute, accurate 
 and extensive knowledge." 1. Definition of words. 2. 
 Arithmetic. 3. Geography. L Use of Charts, Globes and 
 School Apparatus. 5. English Grammar. 6. United States, 
 English, Continental and Universal Histoi'y- "J"- Science of 
 govei'nment, including a knowledge of the character and 
 operation of our State and national governments. 
 
Common School Lmo. 
 
 (c) . Certificates should be granted at first for a term not ex- 
 ceeding a year, and a second one should not be granted to 
 one unsuccessful through ill nature, petulance, or want 
 of tact. (R. 31). Commissioners' certificates are of three 
 grades. Those of the third gi-ade are temporary licenses, 
 granted to novitiates and persons who, for lack of ex- 
 perience or ability, have need to acquire the knowledge 
 and skill necessary for higher positions. They are usually 
 for the period of a year, and may be limited to a particular 
 school (A. B. W. 3015). Those of the second grade, also 
 for one year, are granted to those who have shown tact in 
 instruction and management, but whose youth or limited 
 education preclude their teaching the higher branches. 
 Those of the first grade are for three years, and are grant- 
 ed to those who have experience skill and acquaintance, 
 with the entire range of common school studies. 
 
 (B.) ANNULMENT OF LICENSES. 
 
 As certificate of learning and of ability to teach. Nor- 
 mal School diplomas and State certificates cannot be an- 
 nulled, nor can the holder be subjected to further exami- 
 nation (A.B.W.2191), except as a condition of contract, as 
 by city boards, (V.M.R. 411). But diplomas. State certifi- 
 cates and county certificates may be annulled by the Com- 
 missioner of the district upon satisfactory e\adence 
 against the moral character of the holder. Pre\'lous 
 to such annulment, the teacher must be given reasonable 
 notice [at least ten days (R. 35)] and an opportunity to de- 
 fend himself (10 Barbour 396). The charges must be di- 
 rect and positive ; if, of an immoral habit, one or more 
 instances must be specified. Though intemperance is a 
 sufficient charge, (H. H. V. D. 410, A. B. W. 1942) the an- 
 nulment may be withheld where there is fair hope of re- 
 form (A. B. W. 1907). A single profane expletive uttered 
 out of of school and under sudden provocation, would 
 not warrant annulment (A. B. W. 2003). 
 
 Commissioners' certificates may also be annulled by the 
 Commissioner of the district in which the holder is teach- 
 
Teacliers' ContracU 
 
 ing-, for cleflciency in learning- or ability. Thus, a Com- 
 missioner may annul a certificate given by himself three 
 months before (A. B. W. 3194). The annulment may be ef- 
 fected without notice if determined upon at a personal 
 visit (V. M. E. 409), but only when the result of personal 
 observation (C. M. 40^). Inability to maintain order is suf- 
 ficient cause, but specially adverse circumstances must 
 receive consideration (A. B. W. 1983.) Certificates may be 
 annulled for unnecessary and cruel punishment, but not 
 for choking- or severe blOAVs where resistance is encount- 
 ered (V. M. R. 409.) 
 
 Once in three months. Commissioners are required to 
 report to the State Department the names of all teachers 
 whose certificates have been annulled, with the cause of 
 such proceeding-. 
 
 II. Teaelici's' Contracts. 
 
 In the matter of contracts with teachers, school trus- 
 tees exercise authority almost unlimited. They must 
 hire somebody for twenty-eig-ht weeks, but they may dis- 
 regard the unanimous vote of the district as to the sex of 
 the teacher (A. B. W- 1677), the wages paid (A. B. W. 1864), 
 the conditions of the contract (A. B. W. 1738, 1831), and the 
 individual selected (V. M. li. 395, 397, A. B. W. 1665, 
 1753, 1803, 3114). The law punctiliously forbids a trustee to 
 hire relatives within a given degree, but does not f oi-bid 
 him to hire himself (V. M. B. 416). Upon the last day he 
 holds office, a trustee may make a contract with a teacher 
 which his successor must faithfully fulfil (A. B. ^\. 3345). 
 
 (A) MAKING or CONTRACTS. 
 
 (1) To enter into a legal contract to teach, the applicant 
 m.ust possess two qualifications — one positive and one 
 negative. 
 
 (a) The applicant must hold a valid diploma, license, or 
 certificate. (See Article I, page 1.) A teacher who enters 
 school without being legally qualified violates his contract, 
 and the same is not renewed hj his obtaining a certificate 
 
Common School Law. 
 
 subsequently, unless a ncAV contract is made (V. M. K. 
 410). 
 
 (b) The applicant must not be related to the trustee, or 
 to any one of the three, as grandfather, father, son, gi-and- 
 son, brother; or as husband of grandmother, mother, 
 daughter, grand-daughter, or sister; or as grand- 
 mother, mother, daughter, grand-daughter, sister ; or as 
 wife of grandfather, son, grandson, or brother. This 
 prohibition cannot be evaded by the trustee's delegating 
 the hiring of teachers to his associates (A. B. W. 1825, 2217) 
 or to the principal of the school (A. B. W. 2081). But it 
 may be waived by the approval of two-thirds of the voters 
 at a district meeting (R. 144). This prohibition does not 
 apply to trustees of Union Schools (V. M. R. 401). 
 
 (2) Every district in the State has either one trustee, or 
 three, or (temporarily) two. 
 
 (a) If there be but one trustee, it is only necessary that 
 the contract be clearly understood and definitely ex- 
 pressed. Though the law does not demand that it be 
 written, the Department recommends it (R. 141) and half 
 the disagreements arising between teachers and trustees 
 would be prevented by it. (A. B. W. 1978, 1983, 2008, 2055' 
 etc.) 
 
 (b) If there be three trustees, the law explicitly requires 
 that the contract be made by a majority and at a meeting, 
 of which all three have been notified (R. 134, 135; V. 
 M, R. 39T, 398). The consentof the three trustees sepa- 
 rately makes no contract (E. W, K. 391). A contract 
 made by two trustees in the absence of the third from the 
 district may be annulled at any time by a majority of the 
 three (E, W. K. 400). But a contract may be made by 
 two trustees when authorized by the third (A. B. W. 1910) ; 
 or by one trustee when authorized to act as agent for the 
 three (E. W. K. 399 ; 15 Barbour 323). A contract made 
 by two trustees without consulting the third may be rati- 
 fied at a subsequent meeting (H. H, VD. 400) ; and ^a 
 tacit concurrence of the third trustee (A. B. W. 1919), or 
 even of two trustees where the bargain is made with the 
 
Teaoliers' Contracts. 
 
 third in g-ood faith (H. H. VD. 398) ratifies a fulfilled 
 contract. 
 
 (c) Where the district has two trustees, in its transition 
 from three trustees to one, the contract should be made at 
 a meeting of both. But when one gives to the other diie 
 notice of a meeting which the other neglects to attend, a 
 contract of the one with a teacher satisfactory to the in- 
 habitants of the district may be approved (H. H. VD. 
 400). 
 
 (B) CONDITIONS OF CONTRACTS. 
 
 Contracts should be specific upon three points : 
 (1) Duration. This may be either conditional or 
 definite. 
 
 (a) If hired "during the satisfaction of the district" the 
 teacher may be dismissed unless he can prove that satis- 
 faction exists (A. B. W. 1845). But if hired for one month, 
 to continue if satisfactory, and not discharged at the end 
 of the month, he cannot be subsequently discharged with- 
 out other cause (H. H. VD. 404). 
 
 (b) Contracts may be made for a certain number of 
 months, weeks or days ; though the Department recom- 
 mends that it be by the week (R. 141). The month is re- 
 garded as a calendar month ; "from a given day in one 
 month to the same day in the following month." * (E. W. 
 K. 402.) 
 
 (c) Unless otherwise specified, the contract requires no 
 school upon Saturdays, Sundays, Jan. 1st, Feb. 22d, May 
 30th, July 4th, Dec. 35th, any general election day, or any 
 day appointed by the Governor or President for thanks- 
 giving, fasting, prayer or other religious observance. (V. 
 M. R. 402 ; 1873, 5T7, 1.) And for these days no deduction 
 from wages is to be made. But if the teacher keeps the 
 school open on a holiday, he is not entitled to have snch 
 day's service counted in lieu of another day not a holiday, 
 except by agreement with the trustees (V. M. R. 402). 
 
 * In New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan Iowa, Kansas and other States, 
 lour weeks of five school days each constitute a month. In Wis- 
 consin and Pennsylvania, tweniy-two school days makes a legal 
 month. 
 
Common School Laio. 
 
 (d) 111 allotting school money, the statute allows that a 
 deficiency of not more than three weeks in the twenty- 
 eight be excused Avhen such deficiency was caused by the 
 attendance of the teacher at an institute during his term. 
 The trustees may allow the teacher his time ornot, as they 
 shall elect. (V. M. R. 402.) 
 
 (2) The Teacher's Duties —To be entitled to the fulfilment 
 of the contract, the teacher must fulfil these obligations- 
 
 (a) To keep a successful school. (What is implied in this 
 phrase is indicated upon the next page, (C c). 
 
 (b) To keep school upon every school-day. Absence for 
 a single day without consent of trustees annuls the con- 
 tract (H. H. VD., V. M.R. 406), even though the consent 
 of one of three trustees has been obtained (A. B. "W. 1751). 
 A teacher voluntarily leaving before the close of the term, 
 though at the request of the trustees, can recover wages 
 only for time taught (E. W. K. 403). A teacher finding 
 the school house locked against him, and leaving Avithout 
 application to the trustees, abandons the contract (H. H. 
 VD. 405). But a teacher lea\inj liis school because not 
 sustained by the trustees in the enforcement of reasonable 
 rules is entitled to wages for the time taught (H. H. VD. 
 405). 
 
 (c) To fill the blanks in the School Register, to preserve 
 it, to verify its correctness by oath, and to deliver it to the 
 district clerk. If the Register be lost by carelessness, the 
 teacher is entitled to no pay for his services, but may draw 
 pay if he can make oath that it Avas correctly kept, and 
 lost or stolen through no fault of his (V. M. R. 411). 
 Trustees may permit a teacher to fill up the blanks after- 
 ward, if the district do not thereby lose its school money 
 (A. B. W. 1713). 
 
 Any other duties than these imposed upon the teacher, 
 such as sweeping the school house, must be expressly 
 stated in making the contract. The trustees cannot de- 
 duct from the teacher's wages the sum they have paid for 
 care of the school house (A. B. W. 2139). 
 
Anmdmejit of Contracts. 9 
 
 (3) The Amount and Times of Payment. 
 
 Contracts by the week are the most definitely under- 
 stood, and payment once in four weeks is desirable when 
 it can be made convenient. 
 
 Payment must always be made in cash. Debts or notes 
 due third parties, even the trustees, cannot be offset 
 ag-ainst the teacher's wages (H, H. VD. 40'^.) 
 
 (C) ANNULMENT OF CONTRACTS. 
 
 A teacher once employed by trustees cannot be dis- 
 missed during- the time for which he was to continue,with- 
 out some violation of the contract upon his part (R. 142). 
 But trustees may dismiss the teacher : 
 
 (a) If he close the school upon any school-day. (See 
 pag-e 8, B. 2, b.) 
 
 (b) If his certificate be annulled, even though the annul- 
 ment be plainly illegal and an appeal be made to the State 
 Department (A. B. W. 2145). 
 
 (c) If they are convinced that he is unfit for the place 
 through incompetence or immorality.* Incompetence 
 should be mai-ked to justify trustees in this action. One 
 decision of the State Department upon an appeal for dis- 
 missal reads thus : "The incompetence of the appellant I 
 do not think so conclusively proved as to sustain the pre- 
 sumption of a non-fulfilment of contract by him, 
 though from the testimony on both sides, I am disposed 
 to rate him considerably below the grade of a first-class 
 teacher. Still the trustees can hai'dJy expect to get all 
 the manly and scholarly virtues for $15 a month," and 
 
 the appeal was sustained. (H. H. VD. 404.) 
 
 But for trifling and irrelevant conversation oft indulged 
 in and long continued v/ith the pupils in school hours; pry- 
 ing and impertinent remarks in regard to domestic affairs ; 
 low and, at the least, suggestively vulgar remarks to the 
 older female pupils ; rude, boisterous and harsh language 
 as a means of, or substitute tor, discipline— proved by 
 
 * Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kansas give as causes for dismissa'': 
 incompeLency, cruelty, negligence or immorality. Ohio : ineffi- 
 ciency, neglect of duty, immorality or improper conduct. In- 
 diana: incompetency, immorality.cruelty or general neglect of the 
 business of the school. Iowa : incompetency, partialiiy or derelic- 
 tion in the discharge of his duties. 
 
10 Common School Lwid. 
 
 the testimony of his pupils mth circumstantial minute- 
 ness, as well as for g-rosser forms of immoraKty, trustees 
 may and should discharge the teacher (H. H. VD. 403.) 
 For inflicting unjustifiably severe punishment upon pu- 
 pils for comparatively slight offences, the teacher should 
 be discharged as either incompetent to discharge his du- 
 ties propeiiy as a teacher, or as wilfully regardless of 
 them (A. B. W. 1793). 
 
 III. The Teacher's Authority. 
 
 (A) AS AGENT OF THE TRUSTEES. 
 
 The general management of the school devolves by law 
 upon the trustees, and in large towns is commonly regu- 
 lated by their distinct orders. But in smaller districts, 
 the trustees being often incompetent or indifferent, much 
 of this authority is intrusted to the teacher or assumed by 
 him. Yet it must never be forgotten that in regard to 
 the Hours of School, the Course of Study, the Adoption 
 of Text-Books, the General Regulations, and the Expul- 
 sion of Pupils, the action of the teacher has no legal force 
 until formally endorsed by the trustees. However un- 
 bounded the confidence placed in him, a wise teacher will 
 secure the sanction of the ti-ustees before he announces 
 his own course as to any of these questions. 
 
 I. The hours of school are usually six, three in the 
 morning and three in the afternoon, with recesses in the 
 middle of each session of ten minutes for the boys and 
 ten minutes for the girls. Obvious hygienic requirements 
 make recesses for each sex indispensable where the play 
 grounds are not wholly distinct. It is becoming custom- 
 ary to dismiss primary classes before the close of each 
 session, and is usually advisable. But in these matters the 
 teacher is expected to f oIIoav the usage of the district, 
 unless authorized by the trustees to make changes. 
 
 II. In this State, the power not only of selecting the 
 branches to be taught in school, but also of requiring the 
 pupils to pursue them, has been explicitly attributed to 
 the teacher, subject to the control of the trustees. Thus 
 
Teachers and Trustees. 11 
 
 composition may be required of all (A. B. W. 168T), and a 
 g-irl may be expelled for refusing to declaim, even tho' her 
 father has conscientious scruples against females' speak- 
 ing in public (A. B.W. 1874), But this power should be exer- 
 cised with moderation ; for though the courts of other 
 States have, in many instances, sustained this view of the 
 teacher's authority (38 Maine, 376 ; 33 Vermont, 234), yet 
 the Supreme Court of Wisconsin has recently decided 
 that parents have the privilege of limiting and naming 
 the studies their children shall pursue in the public 
 schools, providing they designate such studies as are there 
 taught.* Pupils cannot be compelled to attend reUgious 
 services (A. B. W. 1752 ; 1763). The law gives no authoritj', 
 as a matter of right, to use any portion of the regular 
 school-hours in conducting any religious exercise at which 
 the attendance of the pupils is made compulsory (A. B. 
 W. 1985). But in most communities in this State, opening 
 the school with Bible-reading and some form of prayer is 
 considered unobjectionable and desirable. 
 
 III. Text-books may be changed by the trustees at any 
 time, even contrary to the vote of the district (A. B. W. 
 1693). In the majority of our country schools a deter- 
 mined teacher can effect the adoption of anj^ new book. 
 The abuse of this power has been a source of frequent 
 and just complaint. Text-books are the teacher' stools, 
 and should be of the best ; acquaintance with new books 
 and new methods is an important part of the teacher's 
 education. But changes should seldom occur and only 
 for definite and demonstrable reasons. 
 
 IV. It is a common custom to draw up, print and con- 
 spicuously post a long series of regulations for the con- 
 duct of pupils in the school-house and about the grounds, 
 the practical effect of which is to suggest to them many 
 forms of mischief which their iinaided ingenuity would 
 never devise. It is only necessary here to remark that 
 the law confers upon the trustees no power to inflict pe- 
 cuniary fines (A. B. W. 2091) ; or to keep tardy pupils in 
 
 * See appendix, page I. 
 
12 Common ScJiool Laic. 
 
 the entry or outside the building, especially in cold weath- 
 er (A. B. W. 1682). So far as these regulations pertain to 
 the necessary discipline of the school, the authority is in 
 the hands of the teacher, and though the methods em- 
 ployed by him do not please the trustees, the teacher can- 
 not he removed except for incompetence or cruelty. (E. 
 W. K. 405). 
 
 V. Trustees may expel pupils for open, gross immor- 
 rality manifested by any licentious propensities,]anguage, 
 manners or habits, though not manifested bj^ acts of licen- 
 tiousness or immorality within the school (8 Cush. 164) ; or 
 for such violent insubordination against reasonable and 
 proper regulations of the school as to render it impossi- 
 ble to maintain necessary discipline and order. (R. 1 32). 
 Though this power is vested exclusively in the ti-ustees, 
 yet a teacher may refuse to instruct large boys Avho treat 
 her disrespectfull7^ and refuse proper obedience. '^ A fe- 
 male cannot be expected to control large boys bj" physical 
 force," (A. B. W. 1735). A boy expelled for impertinence 
 should be readmitted if he apologizes (A. B* W. 169T) ; and 
 cannot be required to apologize upon his knees (A. B. W. 
 1960). 
 
 If a pupil who has been suspended or expelled refuses 
 to leave the building, the teacher or trustee may at once 
 enter a complaint before any justice of the peace or citj' 
 magistrate under (1864, 555, 3, XIIT, 234)Y*'hichreads thus : 
 
 "Any person who shall wilfully disturb, interrupt or 
 disqviiet any district school or school-meeting in session, 
 * * * shall forfeit twejity-five dollars for the benefit of 
 the school district."* 
 
 SV. The Teaclier's Autliority. 
 
 (B) AS RELATED TO THAT OF PARENTS. 
 
 Except as to the power of compelling the pupil to take 
 all the studies pursued by a certain class (see page 11, and 
 reference to appendix) the relation of the teacher's author- 
 ity to that of the parents may be considered definitely 
 establish ed. 
 
 * See appendix, page Xll. 
 
TeacJiers and Parents. 13 
 
 (I.) The teacher does not derive his authority from the 
 parents. He holds a public office created by the law. He 
 is legally responsible only to the trustees who hire him. 
 Between the teacher and the child the parent can 
 personally interfere only by removing- the child from 
 school. (14 Barbour 325 ; 23 Peck 324 ; 38 Maine 376.) 
 
 (II.) The school-house is the school-master's castle. 
 Upon this point the following- forcible statement is fully 
 warranted : 
 
 This old maxim of English law (5 Rep. 92) is as applicable 
 to the school-master as to any other person who is in the 
 lawful possession of a house. It is tji-ue that the school 
 officers, as such, have certain rights in the school-house ; 
 but the law will not allow even them to interfere with 
 the teacher while he keeps strictly within the line of his 
 dutj'. Having- been legally put in possession, he can hold 
 it for the pui'poses and the time agreed upon ; and no 
 parent, not even the Governor of the State, nor the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, has any right to enter it and 
 disturb him in the lawful performance of his duties. If 
 
 Sersons do so enter, he should order them out ; and if they 
 o not go, on being requested to do so, he may use such 
 force as is necessary to eject them. And if he finds that 
 he is unable to put them out himself, he may call on others 
 to assist him ; and if no more force is employed than is 
 actually necessary to remove the intruder, the law will 
 justify the teacher's act and the acts of those who assisted 
 him. (27 Maine 266 ; 1 City Hall Rec. 55 ; 2 Met. 23 ; 6 Bar- 
 bour 608 ; 8 T. R. 299 ; 2 Ro. Abr. 548 ; 3 Selk. 641 ; 1 C. & P. 
 6 ; 8 T. R. 78 ; Wharton's Am. Criminal Law, 1256.) {The 
 Lawyer in the School-Room, 1871, p. 120.) 
 
 In this State, the teacher's best defence against querul- 
 ovis or insulting visits of parents to the school-room is 
 found in that provision of the statute already once 
 quoted : (1864, 555, 3, XIII, 234.) 
 
 Any person who shall wilfully disturb, interrupt or dis- 
 quiet any district school * * * shall forfeit twenty-five 
 dollars for the benefit of the school district. 
 
 It shall be the diity of the trustees of the district, or the 
 teacher of the school, and he shall have the power to 
 enter a complaint against such offender before any justice 
 of the peace of the county * * * The magistrate * * 
 shall thereupon * * cause the person to be arrested 
 and brought before him for trial. 
 
 The efficacy of this remedy against disturbance in the 
 school-room should be more generally imderstood by 
 teachers. The law is explicit, and any justice of the peace 
 
14 Common Bcliool Law. 
 
 is oMiged upon complaint of the teacher, to bring the 
 guilty party to trial.* 
 
 (III.) In regard to what transpires bj^ the way in going 
 to and returning from school, the authority of the teacher 
 is concurrent with that of the parent. To this point, we 
 find in the decisions of this State but a single reference— 
 the following paragraph in a Digest of the Common School 
 Sj^stem of the State of New York, S. S. Randall, 1844, p. 
 362: 
 
 The authority of the teacher to punish his scholars, ex- 
 tends to acts done in the school-room, or play ground, 
 only ; and he has no legal right to punish for improper or 
 disorderly conduct elsewhere,— Per Sipencer Sup't. 
 
 This opinion is not sustained by legal decision in anj' 
 State. (33 Vermont 120 ; 8 Cush. 164 ; etc.) The law upon 
 this subject is well summed up bj^ Superintendent Briggs 
 of Michigan, in The School Laws of Michigan, 18T3, pp. 
 204-206 : 
 
 First— In the school-room, the teacher has the exclusive 
 control and supervision of his pupils, subject only to 
 such regulations and directions as may be prescribed or 
 given by the school board. 
 
 Second— The conduct of the pupils upon any part of the 
 premises connected with the school-house or in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the same (the pupils being thus 
 virtually under the care and oversight of the teacher), 
 whether within the regular school-hours or before or 
 after them is properly cognizable by the teacher. And 
 any disturbance made by them within this range, in- 
 juriously affecting in any way the interests of the school, 
 may clearly be the subject of reproof and correction by 
 the teacher. 
 
 Third— In regard to what transpires by the way in going 
 to and returning from school, the authority of the teacher 
 may be regarded as concui-rent with that of the parent. 
 
 * If any parent, guardian, or other person, from anj' 
 cause, fancied or real, visit a school with the avowed in- 
 tention of upbraiding or insulting the teacher in the 
 presence of the school, and shall so upbraid or insult such 
 teacher, such person, for such conduct, shall be liable to 
 a fine of not more than twenty-flve dollars. (Scliool haw 
 of Indiana, 1873, p. 57.) 
 
 Any parent, guardian, or other person, who shall up- 
 braid, insult, or abuse any teacher in the pi'esence of the 
 school, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable to 
 a fine of not less than ten nor exceeding one hundred 
 dollars. (School Law of Califmmia, 1866.) 
 
Teachers and Parents. 15 
 
 So far as offences are concerned for which the pupils 
 committing them would be answerable to the laws, such 
 as larcency, trespasses, etc., which come particularly 
 within the category of crimes against the State, it is the 
 wisest course generally for the teacher (whatever be his 
 legal power),* to let the offenders pass into the hands 
 of judicial or parental authority, and thus avoid 
 being involved in controversies Avith parents and 
 othei-s, and exposing himself to the liability of being 
 harassed by prosecution at law. But as to any mis- 
 demeanors of which the pupils are guilty in pass- 
 ing from the school-house to their homes, which di- 
 rectly and injuriously affect the good order and gov-ern- 
 ment of the school, and the right training of scholars, 
 such as truancy, wilful tardiness, quarrelling with other 
 children, the use of indecent and profane language, etc., 
 there can be no doubt that these come within the juris- 
 diction of the teacher, and are properly matters for dis- 
 cipline in the school. A recent decision of the Supreme 
 Court of Vermont illustrates and fully accoi'ds with the 
 foregoing positions. The Court decided that such mis- 
 demeanors have a direct and immediate tendency to 
 injure the school by subverting the teacher's authority, 
 and begetting disorder and insubordination among the 
 pupils. The same doctrine is substantially recognized by 
 the Supreme Courts in some other States. * * * The 
 governing principle in all cases like the Vermont case is, 
 that w/iateuer in the misconduct of irapils under like circum- 
 stmices, as to time andjylace, etc., has a direct tendency to injure 
 the school in its important interests, is properly a subject of 
 discipline in the school. 
 
 It is sometimes objected to the foregoing vieAvs that the 
 responsibilities of teachers are in this way enlarged to an 
 Improper extent ; that if their authority extends beyond 
 the school-house limits and the school-hours, their re- 
 sponsibilities must be increased in a corresponding ratio. 
 But to this it may be answered, that the matter is to have 
 a reasonable construction ; that it cannot be expected 
 that a teacher will follow his pupils into the streets to 
 watch their conduct when beyond his view and inspection ; 
 the extent of his duty in this respect can be only to take 
 cognizance of such misconduct of his pupils, under the 
 supposed circumstances, as may come to his knowledge 
 incidentally, either through his own observation or other 
 proper means of information. 
 
 Foitrt^i— Teachers may, at their discretion, detain schol- 
 ars a reasonable time after the regular school hours, for 
 reasons connected with the discipline, order or instruction 
 of the school. This practice has been sanctioned by general 
 
 * The teacher cannot punish a pupil for refusing to 
 confess a crime for which he might be punished at law. 
 Public School Acts of Rhode Island, 1857, p. 53. 
 
16 Common Scliool Lmo. 
 
 and immemorial usag-e among' the schools, and by the 
 authority and consent of school hoards, expressed or im- 
 plied, and has been found useful in its influence and 
 results. There is no law defining- precisely school hours, 
 as they are termed, or the hours within which schools are 
 to be kept . This is regulated by usag-e, or by the directions 
 of school boards, varying- in different localities, and also 
 in different seasons of the year. The practice under con- 
 sideration, of occasionally detaining pupils after the reg-u- 
 lar school hours for objects connected with the school 
 arrang-ements, rests upon precisely the same authority. 
 The same superintending power that regulates the one, 
 does the same thing in the other ; yet, the right in ques- 
 tion should always be exercised by teachers with proper 
 caution and a due regard to the wishes and convenience 
 of parents. 
 
 This subject of the relation of teachers to parents we 
 have treated at considerable length, because it is commonly 
 misunderstood. The teacher should feel that he is not a 
 hired servant of the individual inhabitants of the district, 
 to be criticised and thwarted and at the best but tolerated. 
 He has legal rights, and no inconsiderable legal authority ; 
 he should deserve and demand the respect due the dignity 
 of his office. "-Puli olf thy hat, Sire,"said the schoolmaster 
 to Charles II, "for if my scholars discover that the king is 
 above me in authority here, they will soon cease to respect 
 me." 
 
 V. The Teaciier's Autliority. 
 
 (C) CX^RPORAL rUNISITlNIENT. 
 
 Paragraph 81 of the present school law of JSTew Jersey 
 reads as follows : 
 
 And he it enacted. That no teacher shall be permitted to 
 inflict corporal punishuient upon any child in any school 
 in this State. 
 
 Some cities, notably New York and Sja^acuse, in Uke 
 manner forbid corporal punishment in their own schools. 
 Other cities like Chicago, permit corporal punishment but 
 discourage it. In the great majority of schools, the 
 teacher has the right, confei-red by usage and confirmed 
 by legal decision, to enforce discipline by means of cor- 
 poral punishment. 
 
Thus the School Laws and Decisions of Pennsijlvaiiia (1873) 
 proclaims, p. 53; 
 
 The right of the teacher to inflict such punishment is 
 founded upon the necessity of the case and not upon 
 statute. It is absolutely necessary that good order should 
 be maintained in schools, and that all proper rules, reg-u- 
 lations and commands of the teacher should be strictly 
 and promptly obeyed. Hence a necessity exists for suf- 
 ficient power to enf oi'ce this duty, and thei'efore it is held 
 that the teacher may inflict such reasonable corporal 
 punishment upon the pupil as the parent might inflict for 
 a similar case. 
 
 Among the Opinions and Decisions appended to theiV'cM; 
 School Law of Licluma, (1873) we find the law summed up 
 in these paragraphs, pp. 87-88 : 
 
 "1. A school teacher, while in the school-room, is 
 responsible for maintaining good order, and he must be 
 the judg;e to some extent, of the degrees and nature of 
 the punishment required when his authority is set at de- 
 fiance ; and although he will be held amenable to the law 
 for any abuse of this discretion, still he will not be held 
 liable on the ground of excessive punishment unless the 
 punishment is clearly excessive, and would be held so in 
 the judgment of reasonable men. 
 
 " 3. A teacher, in the exercise of the power of corporal 
 punishment, must not make such power a pretext for 
 ctaielty and oppression ; bvit the cause must be sufiicient, 
 the instrument suitable, and the manner and extent of 
 the correction, the part of the person to which it is ap- 
 plied, and the temper in which it is inflicted, should be dis- 
 tinguished with the kindness, prudence and propriety 
 which become the station. 
 
 "3. A school teacher is liable criminally if, in inflicting 
 punishment upon his pupil, he goes beyond the limit of 
 reasonable castigation, and, either in the mode or degree 
 of cori-ection, is guilty of any unreasonable or dispro- 
 portionate violence of force : and whether the punish- 
 ment was excessive under the circumstances, is a question 
 for the jury. 
 
 ■•'4. A parent is justified in correcting his child by ad- 
 ministering corporal punishment, and a school master, 
 under whose care and instruction a. parent has placed his 
 child is equally justified in similar correction ; but the 
 correction in both cases must be moderate and given in a 
 proper manner. 
 
 "5. As to the spirit in which the punishment mlustbe 
 administered by the teacher, I would say it should not be 
 in malice, and for the purpose of gratifying a malicious 
 feeling, but in a proper spirit,Avith the sole object of main- 
 taining his authority and preserving the order and de- 
 corum of his school ; and even when inflicted in this 
 
18 Common Sclwol Law. 
 
 spirit, it must not be excessive or inhuman for such ex- 
 cess, the party inflicting it, will be guilty of assault and 
 battery." 
 
 In New York, the compilation of Decisions of the Su- 
 perintendent of Common Schools, published by Supt, 
 John A. Dix in 1837, contained this opinion (pp. 101, 103,) 
 which has since been regarded as authoritative in this 
 State, (Common School System, S. S. Kandall, 18M, p. 263 ; 
 S. Y. 408) : 
 
 " If a teacher inflicts unnecessarily severe punishment 
 upon a scholar, he is answerable in damages to the party 
 injured. * * ^- With regard to the right to punish, no 
 general rules have been laid down, and it would be dif- 
 ficult, if not impossible, to. make any Avhich would be 
 applicable in every case. The practice of inflicting cor- 
 poral punishment upon scholars in any case whatever, has 
 no sanction but usage. The teacher is responsible for 
 maintaining good order, and he must be the judge of the 
 degree and nature of the punishment required, whei-e his 
 authority is set at defiance ; at the same time, he is liable 
 to the party injured for any abuse of a prerogative which 
 is wholly derived from custom." 
 
 Another decision in the same volume, p. 145, shows the 
 view then held by Gov. Dix as to the alternative of 
 punishment and expulsion. 
 
 " A teacher must, for the purpose of maintaining 
 proper order and discipline in his school, have a right to 
 employ such means of correction as he may deem neces- 
 sary to the accomplishment of the object. For any 
 unnecessary or excessive severity he would be answei-- 
 able in damages in a suit of laAv to the person aggrieved. 
 
 '' A teacher ought not, I think, to dismiss a scholar from 
 school. From the nature of the common school system, 
 teachers are, as a general rule, bound to receive and in- 
 struct all children sent to them. If a scholar is so re- 
 fractory that he cannot be managed, and his dismission 
 becomes necessary to the preservation of order, I think 
 the teacher should lay the matter before the trustees for 
 their direction : but not until the ordinary means of cor- 
 rection had been fully tried and found unavailing." 
 
 We believe this to be sound doctrine. While corporal 
 punishment should be seldom necessary, the pupils should 
 not know that the power to inflict it is taken from the 
 teacher. Impertinence, for instance, always the utter- 
 ance of a weak and cowardly nature, can be easily checked 
 only by tke certainty of immediate and physically pain^ 
 
Corporal Punisliment, 19 
 
 ful punishment. Deprivation of recess or extra tasks 
 often develop it into conflrmed insolence, and expulsion 
 follows. The boy whom one ting-ling- blow of the ferule 
 mig-ht have saved, thus g-rows up in low-bred ig-norance. 
 Instances like this we have Known ; and we do not believe 
 that boards of education should take away this right of 
 the teacher, or that teachers themselves should osten- 
 tatiously renounce it. If the teacher has determined to 
 maintain good order without the use of the rod, it does 
 him honor and we wish him success. But let him keep 
 his resolution to himself. There are pupils who fear onlj^ 
 what hurts them, and they may bi'ing- about a crisis when 
 only the rod, and that vig-orously applied, will maintain 
 order in the school-room. 
 
 No line can be drawn between the iise of the rod and 
 its abuse ; but the following- eases will illustrate actual 
 decisions : 
 
 "Rachel Pendergrass kept a school for small children, 
 and punished one of them with a rod to such an extent as 
 to leave marks, all of which were likely to pass aAvay in a 
 short time and leave no permanent injury. The judg-e in- 
 structed the jury that if they believed that the child (six 
 or seven years of age) had been whipped by the defend- 
 ant at that tender age, with either a switch or other in- 
 strument, so as to produce the marks descinbed to them, 
 the defendant was guilty. The jury under this charge re- 
 turned a verdict of guilty, and the case was afterward 
 ai'g-ued in the higher courts. Here Judge Easton held 
 teachers exceed the limits of their authority when they 
 cause lasting mischief, but act within the limits of it when 
 tkey inflict temporary pain. In this case, the marks were 
 temporary and in a short time disappeared. No perma- 
 nent injury was done to the child. The only appearances 
 that could warrant the belief or suspicion that the cor- 
 rection threatened permanent injury were the bruises on 
 the neck and arms ; and these, to say the least, were too 
 equivocal to justify the Court in assuming- that they did 
 threaten such mischief. We think, also, that the jury 
 should have been further instriicted, that however severe 
 the pain inflicted, and however, in their judgment, it 
 might seem disproportionate to the alleged negligence or 
 olf ence of so young and tender a child, yet if it did not 
 tend to produce or thi-eaten lasting mischief, it was their 
 duty to acquit the defendant ; unless the facts testified 
 induced a conviction in their minds that the defendant 
 did not act honestlj' in the performance of duty, accord- 
 ing to her sense of right, but under the pretence of duty 
 
20 Common 8g1iooI Law. 
 
 Avas gratifying- malice. (3 Dever. and R. 3b5. Abridged 
 from T7/e Lawyer in the School-room, pp. 77-81.) 
 
 " Tlie facts appear to be tliat tlie pupil flatly refused to 
 obey the teacher, by not taking- the seat he Avas directed 
 to take. The teacher came toward the boy, intending- to 
 compel him by force to take the seat assigned to him. 
 The boy, Avith an oath, bade the teacher not come near 
 him, and, as the teacher approached, ..the boy struck at 
 him se\-eral times. Tha teacher caught the boy, and Avith 
 force put him in his seat, the boy meantime kicking, 
 striking, yelling- and SAvearing. To stop this outrageous 
 and unseemly noise, the teacher took the most effectiA'e 
 measure at his command ; he intercepted the passage of 
 air betAveen the lungs and the vocal organs, long enough 
 to suppress the distui'bance, but not long enough to 
 injure the boy. But the boy AA^as not subdued by any 
 such gentle restraint, for no sooner Avas he left alone than 
 he ran out of doors. The teacher pursued and caught 
 him, and brovTght him back to the school-room, not, it ap- 
 pears, Avithout some considerable force, for the boy 
 struggled Avith all his strength ; and it Avould really not 
 be strange if in the struggle, he received some severe 
 blOAvs. And for this the Superintendent is asked to annul 
 the certificate of the teacher. I decline to do anything of 
 the kind. The teacher, in the matter of the boy, did no 
 more than he Avas compelled to do ; he might have done 
 much more, and still be acquitted of inflicting cruel and 
 unusual punishment. It Avas not cruel, and if it Avas un- 
 usual, it Avas only so because the conduct of the boy Avas 
 unusual. (V. M. R. 409.) 
 
 A teacher, for an act of disobedience, ordered a boy, 
 fifteen j^ears of age, to hold out a book of the ordinary 
 size used in school, at arms length, Ica'cI Avith his shoulder. 
 The boy, after holding it in that position from five to 
 eight minutes, let it fall and said he could not hold it any 
 longer On being ordered to hold it out again, he per- 
 emptorily refused. The teacher, then, with a curled 
 maple rule, OA^er twenty inches long, one and three- 
 quarters wide, and half an inch thick, struck him from 
 fifteen to twenty blOAVs on his back and thighs, and in so 
 severe a manner as to disable him from lea A'ing the school 
 Avithout assistance. A physician Avas called and found 
 his back and limbs badly bruised and SAvollen. The teacher 
 on the succeeding day sent him to a physician, Avho pro- 
 nounced him '■'• A^ery badly bi-uised." It Avas ten or tAvelve 
 days before he so far recovered as to be able to attend 
 school. The Superintendent expresses his unqualified 
 disappi'obation of a punishment so scA^ere and unreason- 
 able. If the disobedience of the boy had been the result 
 of sheer obstinacy and wilfulness it could not justify the 
 infliction of fifteen or tAventy blOAVs Avith such a bludgeon, 
 upon the back and thigh of a boy, disabling him for a 
 fortnight. Such a measvire of punishment for such an 
 offence would be sufficient ground for annulling a certi- 
 ficate. (S.Y. 407.) 
 
In Logo Parentis. 21 
 
 VII. Tlie Teaclicr's Aiitliority. 
 
 (D.) IN LOCO PARENTIS. 
 
 We conic noAv to a relation toward his pupil too broad 
 and general to be defined by statute law, but referred to 
 in common law under the expression in loco parentis— in 
 place of the parent. Just now, there is a tendency to re- 
 gard this phrase as a legal fiction, and to consider it the 
 sole duty of the teacher to instruct in the branches laid 
 down in the course of study. For instance, it is becom- 
 ing common to forbid all exercises of a religious character. 
 This action is usually prompted by a desire to anticipate 
 and prevent demands for sectarian apportionments ; but 
 some regard it as a first step toward relieving the teacher 
 at once of the responsibility and of the right to control 
 the pupils in any thing outside of their studies. The at- 
 tention and the character of pupils and even their con- 
 dvict while in school would be no concern of the teacher. 
 If the child fails to comply with the prescribed regu- 
 lations, their remedy would be simply to expel him. 
 
 This view, emphatically set forth in a last month's maga- 
 zine,* we believe no true teacher ever held. Our public 
 schools were created to make not scholars, simply, but 
 men and women. When education is confined to the im- 
 parting of cei'tain branches of knowledge, it will have no 
 claim to be maintained at public expense. Penmanship 
 and physics taught where only the intellect is trained, are 
 as likely to be the weapons of the forger and the burglar 
 as they are to be the support of law-abiding citizens. 
 Healthy care for the mind and body, a right purpose in 
 life, sound and Intelligent morality— these are the lessons 
 the public school should Instil ; beside them, arithmetic 
 and grammar and geography are Incidential in import- 
 ance. They must first be exemplified in the teacher's life, 
 and thus become a continual lesson to every pupil. But 
 
 *The National Teachers'' Monthly, for June, 1875. 
 
Common ScJiool Laic. 
 
 this is not enough. The true teacher will know his pupils 
 as individuals and will feel in each an interest which only 
 the term parental describes. 
 
 He sees among his pupils a slovenly hoy. Judiciously, 
 quietly, here a little and there a little, he conveys hints 
 which bear fruit in clean hands, blacked boots and brushed 
 clothes. He notices a g-irl too showily dressed, and, choos- 
 ing- his time, appeals to her kindness not to make her less 
 wealthy neig-hbors uncomfortable. He observes a pale 
 student who never g'oes out at i-ecess, invites him to a 
 walk and impresses upon him the f vitility of cultivating 
 the mind to the neglect of the body. He overhears the 
 coarse expressions of a good-natured stable-bred young 
 fellow, and finds occasion to point out to him that the 
 only sure indication of cvilture is the language one uses. 
 He finds untruth a prevalent vice. Not satisfied with 
 general instruction, exhortation and reproof, he seeks 
 out the individuals in whom it is most alarming, and im- 
 presses upon each that the lie stamps the vitterer at once 
 a coward and a fool. He sees in a pale face, and reserved, 
 absent-minded manners, indications of a most common 
 and deadly crime. Cautiously, kindly, but steadfastlj", he 
 labors to save a life from ruin and a soul from perdition. 
 These and such as these are the efforts which task the 
 conscientious teacher. He dishonoi-s his prof ession who 
 neglects them. 
 
 We are told that this is a great deal to require ; that it 
 demands of the teacher a combination of talents with 
 common sense which would make him eminent in any 
 profession. True enough : and why not ? The time has 
 been when he became a teacher who lacked the brains to 
 succeed at anything else. The time is V^oming when he 
 shall become something else who lacks the brains to suc- 
 ceed as a teacher. Away^with the narrow-minded notion 
 that the teacher need only impai't square feet of prob- 
 lems and linear yards of paradigms. No other profession 
 exacts at once such versatility and such thoroughness ; 
 such judgment and such insight into human nature j-sueh 
 
Ill Logo Parentis, 33 
 
 sincere politeness and such honest manhood and woman- 
 hood. The writer of these articles has been under the 
 instruction of many teachers, in ungraded, grammar and 
 high schools, in the academy, in the college and in the 
 professional school. Among these teachers were learned 
 men and noble men, whom he respects and reveres. But 
 of them all, he recognizes but one as having exerted upon 
 him a marked influence. Nor can he better close these 
 articles than by quoting here a grateful reference which 
 he made years ago to the truest teacher he ever knew— 
 Rev. William Hutchison, noAv principal of Norwich 
 (Conn.) Free Academy. 
 
 " T can imagine no life more unsatisfactory than that of 
 an incapable teacher. Bullied by the large boys ; himself 
 a bully to the smaller ; jeered to his face ; insulted behind 
 his back ; his school a bedlam ; his recitations a farce ; 
 hired only because cheap— he draws his grudgingly paid 
 stipend in the delusion that he is respectable because a 
 professional man. 
 
 " Such wert not thou, Zeus,— name fortuitously be- 
 stowed, but applied in no disrespectful spirit, and 
 cherished among the healthiest recollections of the past. 
 Happy were we who sat at thy feet. Happy in sound and 
 accurate instruction ; happy in the instilment of a love 
 for thorough scholarship ; happy in the example and 
 fellowship of one who was in every way a man. We were 
 careless and Avayward; far less than we ought did we 
 profit by thy teachings : but the most indifferent of us 
 failed not to catch some warmth from thy glowing counte- 
 nance, and the most earnest gladly acknowledge thy 
 quickening influence. If it be noble to give one's every 
 energy to his calling ; to Avrestle with bodily infirmity 
 that one's duty be faithfully performed ; to persevere 
 amidst perverseness and ingratitude in conscientious at- 
 tention to the minds and characters of one's pupils ;— 
 then wert thou a nobleman. And if it be a satisfaction 
 to have wrought in all committed to thy charge a lasting- 
 impression of the dignity of Christian manhood, then has 
 thy life's labor been not unrewarded." 
 
IN 
 
 New York School Law^ 
 
 Chap. 567, Laws of 18T5. Passed June 9, 1875. 
 
 THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 (Section 4, Title I, page 3.) The salary is raised from 
 $3,500 to »5,000. - ■ ■ ■ 
 
 (5,1,3.) The yearly allowance for clerks is raised from 
 
 $5,ooD to $9;ooo. ■ ' - 
 
 [The appropriation bill for 1875 allows also $3,000 for 
 salary of Deputy Superintendent, and five hundred dol- 
 lars for travelling- expenses Of the Superintendent.] 
 
 (7,1,4.) He is no longer ecfj-oj^cio chairman of the State 
 Normal School ait Albahy . 
 
 (9,1,5.) Blind persons of suitable age, and qualification, 
 if residents of New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk or Rich- 
 mond' counties, are to be sent to the institution for the 
 blind in the city of New York; those residing in other 
 counties, to the institution at Batavia. .All siich ap- 
 pointments, with the exception of those to the institu- 
 tion at Batavia, shall' be made by the Superintendent upon 
 application. ■•-•'' ... 
 
 (15,1, 15.) State certiflcates may be granted by him only 
 upon examination. He shall determine the manner iti 
 Which such examinations shall be conducted, and may 
 designate proper persons to condu.ct the same and re- 
 port the rfesuitto him.' He may also appoint times and 
 iolaces for holding such examinations, at least once in 
 each year, and cause due notice thereof to be given. 
 
 SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 (Subdivision [1,] IS, 11, ^2.) Amended records of school 
 district boundaries may be' made, if they are defective, 
 indefinite, or in dispute. All necessary expenses incurred 
 in establishing such amended records shall be a charge 
 upon'the district or districts affected, to be audited and 
 allowed by the trustee or trustees thereof, upon the cer- 
 tificate of tiie school commissioner. 
 
Changes hy the Act of June 9, 1875. 25 
 
 SCHOOL MONIES. 
 
 (c,III,14.) "■' On the first working- day of each month, 
 the Treasurer shall make to the Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction a written statement of the condition of the 
 free school fund, showing- the amount received and paid 
 during- the preceding month, and the balance remaining- 
 on hand. The bank in which such monies ai-e deposited 
 shall furnish the Superintendent of Public Instruction a 
 book, in which the olficers of such bank shall make en- 
 tries of all sums deposited therein by the Treasurer, from 
 time to time, to the credit of said free school fund." 
 
 (6,111,43.) For city superintendents, instead of S500 
 for each member of Assembly to which the city is en- 
 titled, $800 shall be apportioned to each of the cities of the 
 State, which under a special act, employs a Superintend- 
 ent of common schools, or a clerk of the Board of Edu- 
 cation who does the duty of supervision ; and in case any 
 city is entitled to more than one member of Assembly 
 according to the unit of representation adopted by the 
 Legislature, five hundred dollars for each additional 
 member of Assembly, to be expended according to law, 
 for the support of the common schools of the city. 
 
 (14,111,48.) The school monies apportioned by the 
 Superintendent shaU be payable April 1st, instead of 
 Feb. 1st. 
 
 (31,111,63.) " Whenever the olflce of a supervisor shall 
 become vacant, by reason of the expiration of his term 
 of service or otherwise, the county treasurer shall re- 
 quire the person elected or appointed to fill such vacancy 
 to execute a bond, with two or more sureties, to be ap- 
 proved by the treasurer, in the penalty of at least double 
 the sum of the school monies remaining- in the hands of 
 the old supervisor, when the office became vacant, con- 
 ditioned for the faithful disbursement, safe-keeping and 
 accounting for such monies. But the execution of this 
 bond shall not relieve the supervisor from the duty of 
 executing the bond first above mentioned." 
 
 ( [1,] 6, IV, 69.) Library monies apportioned to the dis- 
 trict, if they do not exceed |3, and library monies made 
 so applicable by the approbation of the State Superin- 
 tendent, are no longer classed with those applicable to 
 teachers' wages. 
 
 ( [3,]6,IY,69.) This section now reads: " To disburse the 
 library monies upon, and only upon, the written orders of 
 a sole trustee, or of a majority of the trustees." 
 
26 Common School Law. 
 
 FORMATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 
 
 (9.VI,S9,) The residue after the sale of the property 
 of a dissolved district shall be divided among the owners 
 or possessors of taxable property, instead of among- the 
 taxable inhabitants. 
 
 SCHOOL, DISTRICT MEETINGS. 
 
 (6, VII, 9 6.) No business shall be transacted at a special 
 meeting-, except that which is specified in the notice. 
 
 (9,VII,9'?'.) " If the district possesses no school-house, 
 or if the school-house shall be no long-er accessible, then 
 the annual meeting- shall be held at such place as the 
 trustee, or if there be no trustee, the clerk, shall desig-- 
 nate in the notice." 
 
 ( ['7,] 16, VII, 104.) The inhabitants at district meetings 
 shall have power to vote a tax to improve, as well as to 
 lease or purchase school-house sites. 
 
 (19, VII, 121.) Instalments for building, hiring or pur- 
 chasing school-houses may be extended ten years instead 
 of five. " For the purpose of giving effect to these pro- 
 visions, the trustees are hereby authorized, whenever a 
 tax shall have been voted to be collected in instalments 
 for the pui*pose of building a new school-house, to borrow 
 so much of the sum voted as may be necessary, at a rate 
 of interest not exceeding seven per cent., and to issue 
 bonds or other evidences of indebtedness therefor, which 
 shall be a chai-ge upon the district, and be paid at ma- 
 turity, and which shall not be sold below par ; due notice 
 of the sale of such bonds shall be given at least ten days 
 prior thereto, of time and place of such sale." 
 
 SCHOOL TRUSTEES. 
 
 (50,VII,146.) A vote of the district shall be required 
 either to expend a sum not exceeding fifty dollars in the 
 erection of necessary out-buildings, where the district is 
 wholly unprovided with such buildings ; or to purchase 
 maps, globes, or other school apparatus. 
 (66,VII1,70.) This section now reads as follows : 
 School district taxes shall be apportioned by the trustees 
 upon all i-eal estate within the boundaries of the district 
 which shall not be by law exempt from taxation, except 
 as hereinafter provided, and such property shall be as- 
 sessed to the person or persons or corporation owning or 
 possessing the same at the time such tax list shall be made 
 out; but land lying in one body and occupied by the same 
 person, either as owner or agent for the same principal, 
 
Changes by the Act of June 9, 1875. 
 
 or as tenant undqj' the same landlord, shall, though situ- 
 ated partly m two or more school districts, be taxable in 
 that one of them in Avhieh such occupant resides. This 
 rule shall not ai ply to land owned by non-residents of 
 the district, and which shall not be occupied by an ag-ent, 
 servant or tenant residing- in the disti-ict. Such unoc- 
 cupied real estate shall be assessed as non-resident, and a 
 description thereof shall be entered in the tax list. The 
 trustees shall also apportion district taxes upon all persons 
 residing- in the district, and upon all corporations liable to 
 taxation therein, for the personal estate owned by them 
 and liable to taxation. They shall also apportion the 
 same upon non-resident stockholders in banks or banking- 
 associations situated in their districts for the amount of 
 stock owned by them therein, and upon individual bank- 
 ers doing- business in their district in accordance with the 
 provisions of chapter seven hundred and sixty-one of the 
 laws of eig-hteen hundred and sixty-six. 
 
 (69, VII, 183.) This section now reads as follows : 
 When a district embraces parts of more than one town, 
 it shall be the duty of the supervisors of such towns so 
 in pai't embraced, upon receiving- a written notice from 
 the trustee or trustees of such district, or from three or 
 more persons liable to pay taxes upon real estate therein, 
 to meet, at a time and place to be named in such notice, 
 which time shaU not be less than five or more than ten 
 days from the service thereof, and a place within the 
 bounds of the towns so in part embraced, and proceed to 
 inquire and determine whether the vahiations of real 
 property upon the several assessment rolls of said towns 
 are substantially just as compared with each other, so far 
 as said districts are concerned ; and if ascertained not to 
 be so, they shall determine the relative proportion of 
 taxes that ought to be assessed upon the real property of 
 the parts of such district lying in different towns, and the 
 trustees of such district slaall thereupon assess the pro- 
 portion of any tax thereafter to be raised, according- to 
 the determination of such supervisors, until new assess- 
 ment rolls of the towns shall be perfected and filed, using- 
 the assessment rolls of the several towns to distribute the 
 said proportion among- the persons liable to be assessed 
 for the same. In cases when such supervisors shall be 
 unable to agree, they shall summon a supervisor from 
 some adjoining town, who shall unite in such inquiring-, 
 and the finding- of a majority shall be the determination 
 of such meeting-. 
 
 (75, VII, 1 87.) These clauses are omitted : 
 " Or the taxes upon rents reserved in any cases in fee, 
 or for one or more lives, or for a term of years exceeding- 
 twenty-one years." 
 
— : , _ 
 
 28 Common School Laio. 
 
 (78,VII,190.) This section now reads. thus : 
 Such account, affidavit and certificate shall be laid by 
 the county treasurer before the board of supervisors of 
 the county, who shall cause the amount of such unpaid 
 taxes with seven per cent, of the amount in addition 
 thereto, to be levied upon the lands of non-residents on 
 which the sarfie were imposed ; and if imposed upon the 
 lands of any incorporated company, then upon such qpm- 
 pany ; and when collected, the same shall be returned to 
 the county treasurer to reimburse the amount so ad- 
 vanced, with the expenses of collection ; and if imposed 
 upon the stock of a non-resident stockholder in a banking- 
 association organized under the laws of Congress, then, 
 the same, with seven per cent of the amount in addition 
 thereto, shall be a lien upon any dividends thereafter de- 
 clared upon such stock ; and upon notice by the board of 
 supervisors to the president and directors of such bank, 
 of such charge upon such stock, the president and direct- 
 ors shall thereafter withhold the amount so stated from 
 any future dividends upon such stock, and shall pay the 
 same to the collector of the town duly authorized to re- 
 ceive the same. 
 
 (83,VII,193.) The collector's bond shall be approved 
 by a majority of the trustees, instead of by one or more. 
 
 SCHOOL DISTRICT LIBRARIES. 
 
 (l,Vni,199.) The limit of the tax levied for the district 
 library in any one year is fixed at fifty dollars instead of 
 ten. 
 
 Chap. 32'^, I.aws of 1875. 
 
 INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING- 
 
 Section 1. In each of the State normal schools the 
 course of study shall embrace instruction in industrial or 
 free hand drawing. 
 
 § 2. The board of education of each city in this State 
 shall cause free instruction to be given in industrial or 
 free hand writing in at least one department of the schools 
 under their charge. 
 
 § 3. The board of education of each union school free 
 school district incorporated by special act of the Legis- 
 lature, shall cause free instruction to be given in indus- 
 trial or fi-ee hand drawing in the schools under their 
 charge, unless excused therefrom by the Superintendent 
 of public instruction. 
 
 «:§ 4. This act shall take effect October first, eighteen 
 hundred and seventy-five. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The '^Viscousin Decision (HI, A, II, Pag-e 11,) 
 
 A principle so important is involved in this decision, 
 and the discussion of it is just now so general, that it may 
 be well to supplement the reference made in this article 
 t>y a fuller treatment of the legal right of parents to deter- 
 mine the studies pursued by their children. 
 
 A note in the School, Bulletin for April, read as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Upon the 18th of November, 1873, the plaintiff, a quali- 
 fied teacher under a contract with the District School 
 Board, commenced teaching a district school in Grant 
 county. The defendant, an inhabitant of the district, 
 sent his son, a boy about 13 years of age, to the school. 
 The defendant wished his boy to study orthography, read- 
 ing, writing, and also Avishedhim to give particular atten- 
 tion to the subject of arithmetic, for very satisfactory 
 reasons Avhich he gave on trial. In addition to these stud- 
 ies th^ plaintiff at once required the child to also study 
 geography and took pains to aid him in getting a book for 
 the purpose. The father, on being informed of this, told 
 the boy not to study geography but to attend to his other 
 studies, and the teacher was properly and fully advised 
 of this wish of the parent, and also kncAV that the boy 
 had been foi'bidden by his parent from taking that study 
 at that time. But claiming and insisting that she had the 
 right to direct and control the boy in respect to his stud- 
 ies, even as against his father's wishes, she commanded 
 him to take his geography and get his lesson. And when 
 the boy refused to obey her and did as he Avas directed by 
 hJs father, she resorted to force to compel obedience. 
 All this occurred in the first week of school. ***** 
 Under the circumstances, the plaintiff had no right to 
 punish the boy for obedience to the commands of his 
 father in respect to the study of geography. She entirely 
 exceeded any authority Avhich the laAV gave her, and the 
 assault upon the child Avas unjustifiable.— Decision of 
 THE Court. 
 
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has, in my estimation, 
 rendered a valuable and timely service to the real inter- 
 ests of common schools by this decision.— Hon. Newman 
 Bateman, in Tenth Biennial Beport. The decision is 
 so equitable in itself that we can only marvel at the obsti- 
 nacy which permitted the question to come before a 
 judicial tribunal.— Hon. E. E. White, in National Teacher. 
 
 It seems that this opinion was not that of Hon. E. E. 
 White, however, but was expressed by Rev. Dr. Moore, 
 Avho supplied the editor's place for that issue. In the 
 January number, Mr. White remarks that the editorial in 
 question did not present his views upon the question ; 
 adding : 
 
 "In this case we can endorse his position with a qualifi- 
 cation which we shall hereafter make." 
 
 In the March number he continues : 
 
 "A careful reading of the full text of the Wisconsin 
 Decision on the rights of parents to determine the 
 studies to be pursued by their children in school shows 
 that it does not expressly deny the right of boards of 
 education to prescribe the studies of pupils. The court is 
 careful to say that 'this decision is not designed to interfere 
 with the making of needful i-ules and regulations for the 
 organization, gradation and government of the schools'— 
 duties enjoined upon boards of education by the statute. 
 What is denied, is the right of a teacher, in the absence of 
 authority conferred by the board, 'to inflict cor%)orali^unish- 
 ment upon the child for the purpose of compelling it to 
 pvn^sue a study forbidden by the father.' * * * The 
 court does, however, affirm the right of the parent 'to 
 make a reasonable selection from the prescribed studies 
 for his child to pursue,' and the inference is, that such 
 'reasonable choice' should not be forbidden or denied by 
 the rules of the board. The court does not say who shall 
 decide that the parent's choice is reasonable. We learn 
 from the Com mon School * that the Supreme Court of Iowa 
 has decided that 'directors may determine what studies 
 shall be taught in the school, but a parent may select, 
 Avhich of such pi-escribed branches his child shall study.' 
 This decision, if correctly reported, covers the whole 
 ground, and is subversive of all proper classification and 
 gradation of public schools. It is, at least, not easy to see 
 how pupils can be divided into classes and transferred 
 successively from room to room, if at every step in the 
 course, parents have the sole right to select the studies 
 Avhich their children shall pu rsue. * * To deny parents 
 
 * This statement appeared in the Common ScJwol for De- 
 cember 1814, but Avas incorrect, and has since been re- 
 tracted, [Ed.] 
 
Upon Parents' Control of CMldren's Studies. 
 
 all right to determine the studies of their children seems 
 to us an opposite extreme. There are cases in which the 
 wish of the parent should be both expressed and heeded. 
 While it is neither necessary nor best for all pupils to take 
 precisely the same course of study, it is necessary that all 
 irregularity be under the direction and control of the 
 school authorities. * * They must decide whether the 
 request of the parent respecting the studies of his child 
 can be granted without detriment to the school and conse- 
 quent prejudice to the rights of other children. We 
 believe that the course of study in public schools can be 
 made flexible enough to permit all needful departures 
 from uniformity." 
 
 Assistant Superintendent Pradt, of Wisconsin, expressed 
 
 the following official opinion of this decision : 
 
 "I should have held with the Circuit Court, that the 
 teacher, not as an individual, but as the representative of 
 the school authorities, is justified in requiring the pupil 
 to attend to the usual studies of his class, and that if ex- 
 emption is granted in any special case, it should be, not at 
 the demand of the parent as a right, but with the consent 
 of the board. * * But if the teacher, who very likely 
 was young and inexperienced, had been thoughtful enough 
 to refer the matter to the board, and the board had sus- 
 tained the position that all pupils must take all the studies 
 of the class unless exempted on request of the pai-ent, as 
 a favor, the question of paramount authority would 
 have been raised in a more satisfactory Avay, and the 
 judgment of the higher court woiild have covered a 
 broader ground." 
 
 Supt. F. S. Williams, of Wheeling, W. Va., thus con- 
 cludes an article in the National Teacher: 
 
 "If I mistake not, there is a provision in the school law 
 of Ohio, to the effect that boards of education may pre- 
 scribe the branches of study to be piu'siied in the schools 
 of the state ; and in case a pupil by his own option or by 
 the direction of the parent, shall refuse to pursue any 
 study prescribed for a particular school or grade, the 
 committee may direct that such pupil shall not be taught 
 in other branches ; and, in the absence of such order, the 
 teacher may refuse to instruct such pupil in other studies. 
 Such, too, is the law in other states, and if I mistake not 
 it is the law of the land." 
 
 Supt. J. P. Wickersham, of Pennsylvania, prefaces a 
 report of the decision with this remark : 
 
 "We are not quite sure that the decision would be con- 
 sidered good law in Pennsylvania, and yet it seems to rest 
 on ground of considerable strength," 
 
 He also quotes these conclusions of Supt. Bateman : 
 
The Wisconsin Decision 
 
 "(1) Pupils can study no iDi-anch which is not in the 
 course prescribed by the dii-ectors (trustees). 
 
 (3) Pupils can study no branch of such prescribed 
 course for which they are not prepared, of Avhich prepa- 
 ration the teachers and directors shall judge. 
 
 (3) Pupils shall study the particular branches of the 
 prescribed course which the teachers, with consent of the 
 directors, shall direct, unless honest objection is made by 
 the parents. 
 
 (4) If objection is made in good faith, parents shall be 
 allowed to select from the particiilar branches of the 
 prescribed course for which their children are fitted, 
 those which they wish them to study ; and for the exercise 
 of such right of choice the children shall not be liable to 
 suspension or expulsion." 
 
 "With a desire to ascertain the opinions of the best 
 authorities upon this subject, we sent the above article to 
 all the State Superintendents and to many other well- 
 known educators. The replies vary remarkably, as will 
 be seen by the letters appended : while not a few, whose 
 letters we omit, confessed themselves unable to express a 
 definite opinion. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, \ 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE, 
 
 1^ Grand Street, New York, May 34th, 1875. ) 
 
 To the Editor of the "School Bulletin :" 
 
 Dear Sir :— I am in receipt of yours of the ITth inst., 
 enclosing an article in regard to the Common School Law 
 as to studies in schools, and asking my opinion of the 
 validity of Mr. Bateman's "Fourth Conclusion." 
 
 The question involved has never been i-aised in this 
 city, as far as I know ; that is, the right of the school 
 authorities to prescribe by rules the studies to be pursued 
 in the common schools, and to enforce such rules, inde- 
 pendently of the wishes of parents, has never been ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 This appears to me to be the only sound policy ; since 
 all classification would be at an end if every parent could 
 dictate what particular branch of study his child should 
 pursue or omit. Hence, I cannot think Mr. Bateman's 
 conclusion valid. Respectfully yours, 
 
 HENRY KIDDLE, City Supt. 
 
 36 DARTMOUTH ST., i 
 
 Boston, May 19th, 1875. f 
 My Dear Bulletin : 
 
 I cannot concur with Mr. Bateman in his 3d and 
 4th conclusions. Who is to decide whether an objection 
 is honest or not ? And besides, an objection may be honest 
 
but very unwise. If an objection is honest and at the 
 same time manifestly unwise, must the school authorities 
 and teacher yield ? I think not. Ig-norant parents may 
 sincerely desire the best instruction for their children, but 
 Avithout the requisite intelligence they are incapable of 
 wisely directing- the education of their children. Again, 
 in No. 4, "objection in good faith," amounts to the same 
 thing. If objection from one is valid as against the school 
 authorities, the objection of all is valid, and all classifica- 
 tion is utterly abolished. No, the poAver to determine 
 Avhat every scholar shall or shall not study must be in 
 the hands of the authorities. But they should, and of 
 course, will, as far as possible grant the privilege of devi- 
 ation from the course to particvilar pupils, where they can 
 do so to the advantage of such pupils, in their judgment, 
 after being informed by parents of their reason for such 
 deviation, and without too great detriment to the general 
 interests of the class. Yours, very truly, 
 
 JOHN D. PHILBRICK. 
 
 OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I 
 St. Louis, May 20th, 1875. f 
 Editor "School Bulletin:" 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 In reply to your query as to the question of the 
 right of individual parents to choose the covirse of study 
 for their children, I will say that only in the most rudi- 
 mentary form of the country school can this be conceded, 
 and there only by long established custom. In all schools 
 where an attempt at grading is made such a right could 
 not be allowed at all. Such a right conceded to parents in 
 our towns and villages would prevent the possibility of 
 any higher organization than the old fashioned ungraded 
 school. Hence such powers have been vested in school 
 committees, almost Avithout exception. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 WM. T. HARRIS. 
 STATE OF VERMONT. / 
 
 OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION, > 
 
 Randolph, May 31, 1875. ) 
 To the "School Bulletin :" 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Your letter of the 17th, inst., is received with the 
 enclosed proof of an article for your June number. 
 
 Mr. Bateman's conclusion seems to me to be sound. 
 And as stated in connection Avith his first three conclusions 
 it seems to me to give to the school authorities all the 
 poAver that should be granted to them. The schools, I 
 suppose, are for the people; not the people for the schools. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 EDWARD CONANT, Supt of Ed. 
 
The Wisconsin Decision 
 
 STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVI- 
 DENCE PLANTATIONS, 
 
 DEPARTMENT OP PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, 
 
 Providence, May 19th,l875. J 
 To the Editor of "The School Bulletin ;" 
 
 Dear Sir :— Your note of the 17th, enclosing notes on 
 "School Law" is received, I have not the time, or dispo- 
 sition at present, owing- to ill-health, to enter into anj- 
 discussion of the subject referred to. 
 
 In regard to the "Fourth Conclusion" I am, however, 
 free to say, that I do not think it sound in practice, what- 
 ever it may he in Wisconsin law. No social or political 
 organization can exist for any length of time, where the 
 individual has the power to assert his opinion above that 
 of the majority. 
 
 Should you publish anything relative to this subject I 
 shovild be pleased to see it. 
 
 I am yours very respectfully, 
 
 THOS. B. STOCKWELL, Com. Public Schools. 
 
 STATE OF NEW JERSEY. ) 
 
 department or public instruction, > 
 Trenton, May 33, 1875. ) 
 In answer to your inquirj', I will state that Supt. 
 Eateman's conclusions have no application in this state. 
 Our school law provides distinctly that the text-books 
 used and the course of study pursued in our public 
 schools shal] be determined by the trvistees and the County 
 Superintendent. Yours truly, 
 
 ELLIS A. APGAR, State Supt. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE STATE BOARD OF ) 
 EDUCATION, [ 
 
 Baltimore, May 19th, 1875. ) 
 Messrs. Editors : 
 
 Your favor of the 17th inst., duly received. We have no 
 clause in our school law touching the points prescribed 
 (Mr. Bateman's fourth Conclusion) and no decision of our 
 courts. Under these cii'cumstances, should the question 
 arise in Maryland it would be decided by the State Board 
 of Education. 1 can not say in advance what the decision 
 of the State Board would be in any given case, but I am 
 prepared to advise the Board as follows : 
 
 1st. The school law of the State presci'ibes the studies 
 to be taught in the public schools. 
 
 3d. the school law has placed all the details of the ad- 
 ministration of school matters in the hands of certain 
 constituted authorities. 
 
 3d. No rights of dictation, interference, or control are 
 reserved to parents, as such. 
 
 4th. The Board of Trustees, or of School Commissionei'S, 
 may, at their discretion, comply with the reasonable re- 
 
quests of parents respecting- the studies which their 
 children shall take up or neglect. 
 
 5th. The School Board is under no obligation to comply 
 with the wishes of parents in this or any other matter. 
 
 6th. It is contrary to public interests to allow parents 
 any control in this matter. 
 
 7th. When the State undertakes to perform any duty in 
 behalf of a citizen, the rights of the citizen ax-e absorbed 
 in the rights of the state. 
 
 8th. A citizen has no more rig-ht to interfere in the man- 
 agement of the schools than in the administration of the 
 courts of justice. 
 
 9th. If Mr. Bateman's fourth conclusion were carried 
 out, it would cripple and probably disorganize the schools. 
 Yours Truly, 
 
 M. A. NEWELL. 
 
 "School Bulletin" 
 
 OFFICE OF ) 
 
 STATE COMMISSIONER OF COMMON SCHOOLS, V 
 Columbus, Ohio, May 36, 1875, ) 
 
 Editor "School Bulletin :' ' 
 
 Dear Sir :— You ask my views of the validity of Supt. 
 Bateman's conclusions with reference to the rights of 
 parents to determine the studies to be pursued by their 
 children. 
 
 If we admit Mr. Bateman's (1) conclusion as correct, we 
 recognize a principal which, if carried out, may ignore 
 the right of the parent to determine what studies his 
 child shall piirsue quite as effectually as would a refusal 
 to allow the parent to select from particular branches 
 of a pi-escribed course, those studies he may wish his 
 childi"en to study. 
 
 The conclusion that "pupils can study no branch which 
 is not in the course prescribed by the directors, " recog- 
 nizes the directors, or Board of Education, as the proper 
 authority to determine ivhat studies are best for children 
 to pursue in the public schools. 
 
 That the parent should have some voice in deciding 
 what particular studies his child shall pursue, as also what 
 course of training and instruction he shall receive, seems 
 reasonable and right ; but, since individual wants cannot 
 be completely supplied in the public schools, since the 
 needs of the school or of the class which are (Common, 
 demand the attention and time of the teacher to the over- 
 looking of many individual needs, the parent must, from 
 necessity, accept for his child that coui'se of study which 
 Is thought best for all pupils. Any other course than this 
 would overthrow all the many great benefits that are 
 derived from gradation and systematic classification. 
 
 The minutiae of individual interests and the demands of 
 individvial capacity or of special or congenital adaptability 
 cannot be closely attended to in the public schools, from 
 
the fact that masses, not individuals, must be looked after, 
 and these masses frequently composed of the most hetero- 
 geneous elements, ditfering in physical poAver, energy, 
 ambition, habits, home-training and influence— indeed 
 differing in every conceivable form and shade of differ- 
 ence. 
 
 Only by intelligent classification and frequent gradation 
 can the wants of the class or of the school be approxi- 
 mately supplied. If the teacher should be compelled to 
 take time from his school to look after the wants of some 
 individuals, even though these wants be apparent and the 
 demand that they be looked after, seem reasonable, under 
 other circumstances, the good of the school would be lost 
 sight of and the many would from necessity suffer while 
 the few Avere being benefited. 
 
 The objections to the Wisconsin decision made by Supt. 
 Williams, of Wheeling, are, I think, Avell founded. The 
 difficulties mentioned as in the Avay of conceding to 
 parents the right to determine Avhat studies their children 
 shall pui'sue, have been found in the experience of ail 
 teachers. 
 
 That efficient classification and gradation be secured, it 
 seems to me absolutely necessary that the board of edu- 
 cation shall prescribe a course of study for all the pupils 
 Avho attend or may attend the school, and that each pupil 
 must study the branches of the prescribed course, luiless 
 reasonable objection is made by the parents, and the 
 board of education must be the authority to decide as to 
 the reasonableness of the objection. 
 
 If it is generally conceded by intelligent people that a 
 passable acquaintance Avith the common English branches, 
 as taught in our public schools, is necessary to success in 
 any legitimate pursuit the child may folloAV in after 
 life, then I conclude that the school authorities should 
 heed no objection made by the parent against his child 
 studying the branches of th# prescribed covu-se— except 
 only that the child is physically unable to take the full 
 course of study. Yours truly, 
 
 CHAS. S. SMART. 
 
 STATE OF MICHIGAN. 1 
 
 ^ DEPARTMENT OP PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, ! 
 
 Office of Superintendent, f 
 
 Lansing, May 25, 1875. J 
 Editor 5f "School Bulletin," Albany, N. Y.: 
 
 Dear Sir :— Yours of the 17th inst., (with the proof of 
 an article on the "Wisconsin Decision" enclosed) has just 
 been reached in the order of correspondence. And in 
 reply I will say that Supt. Bateman's fourth conclusion 
 impresses me as being eminently sensible and sound. The 
 laAv of our state clothes school district boards with 
 supreme poAver. They liaA'e the excli^siA-e authority to 
 enact all x^egulations for the management of the schools, to 
 prescribe the text-books that shall be used, and define the 
 
Upon Parents' Control of CMldren's Studies. 
 
 course of study that shall be pursued. It seems very 
 proper that school boards should have the power that is 
 conferred and should exercise it, yet at the same time, 
 pax-ents have rights which school boards are bound to 
 respect. And this is one of them— the rig-ht to say what 
 studies their children shall pursue, provided the selection 
 made does not conflict with the g-radation and classifica- 
 tion of the school, and they be studies in the prescribed 
 course. There seems to be no justice in the stringent 
 rule that is too frequently enforced that every pupil must 
 study even) book in the prescribed course. For any reason- 
 able exercise of this right of selection the child should 
 not be shut out from school privileges by suspension or 
 expulsion. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 DANIEL B. BRIGGS. 
 
 STATE OF INDIANA. 1 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, \ 
 
 Office of Superintendent, \ 
 
 Indianapolis, 5-24, 1875. J 
 Editor "School Bulletin :" 
 
 Sir :— Yours at hand. I cannot give an opinion concern- 
 ing the "4th point," unless I can be permitted to place a 
 specific interpretation upon the term "good faith," and 
 unless I can determine the tribunal by Avhich the quality 
 of the faith is to be tried. 
 
 While it is true that in some cases children in our public 
 schools ought to be excused from taking all the branches 
 provided for in the prescribed course, I think it would be 
 detrimental to the best interests of the schools to give to 
 the parents the right to render peremptory judgement in 
 the matter. 
 
 Experience has shown me that in a majority of cases in 
 which parents desire their childi-en to take a less number 
 of branches than those usually required, the whims of 
 the children are consulted and not their welfare. 
 
 I would construct the proposition as f oUoavs : 
 
 (4.) When parents desire their children to omit any of 
 the regularly prescribed branches of study, and shall state 
 the reasons thei'efor to the school directors, they shall 
 permit such omission if in their judgment the best inter- 
 ests of the children will be promoted thereby. 
 Very truly youi'S, 
 
 J. H. SMART, Supt. Pub. Inst. 
 
 STATE OF IOWA. ) 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, r 
 
 Des Moines, May 20, 18T5. ) 
 
 The "School Bulletin," Box 95, Albany, N. Y, : 
 
 The following letter dated Feb. 11, 18T5, copied from 
 the Opinion Book of this Department, will, I presume, 
 answer your inquiry of the 17th inst. : 
 
 "Boards of Directors are empowered by virtue of the 
 general supervisoi'y and discretionary powers with which 
 
they are invested, and of the authority to establish graded 
 schools by the provisions of sections 1,726 & 1,806. S. L. 1874, 
 to prescribe courses of study and branches to be taught in 
 the schools of their district. 
 
 The teacher, principal or superintendent, under the 
 direction of the board, determines the studies to be pur- 
 sued by each pupil. (See see. 1,734, S. L. Ib74; and notes.") 
 Yours truly, 
 
 ALONZO ABERNETHY, 
 
 Supt. Pub. Inst. 
 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS. ) 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, > 
 
 Springfield, May 24th, 1875. ) 
 The "School Bulletin," Albany, N. Y. : 
 
 Your favor of the 17th inst., asking opinion of Dr. 
 Bateman's fourth conclusion, concerning the right of 
 parents to select from the prescribed course such studies 
 as their children shall pursue, is received. 
 
 In reply, I have the honor to say : The fourth conclu- 
 sion, with the qualification, "It the objection is made in 
 good faith," appears to me eminently right, for many very 
 substantial reasons, in addition to those so forcibly ad- 
 duced by my predecessor, in the Tenth Biennial Report 
 from this Department. One additional reason, I wiU 
 briefly mention. 
 
 Let it be once established that the parent may not, 
 under any circumstances, select from the prescribed 
 course such part of it as the child shall pursue, the last 
 remaining vestige of any right to dii-ectthe education of 
 his child, in the public schools, is taken away from him, 
 and turned over to the state. The qualifications of school 
 oificers who prepare the courses of study, and the knowl- 
 edge of many of the teachers who apply them, are not 
 such as to make this condition of things desirable, 
 
 The "Bulletin" is received regularly, and read with 
 interest. Very respectfully, 
 
 S. M. ETTER, Supt. Pub. Inst. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT, ) 
 Nashville, Tenn., May 19th, 1875. f 
 
 To the "School Bulletin :" 
 
 Your favor of May 17, addressed to my worthy prede- 
 cessor, I have not deemed proper to direct to him, as he 
 has retired from the position of State Superintendent. If 
 my opinion is deemed desirable, I will say that questions 
 of abstract right seldom meet an issue of this kind fairly 
 and impartially. There is 1st, the rights of parents ; 2d, 
 the rights of school authorities, and 3d, public policy, to 
 be considered. The parent, as the natural guardian, has 
 the right to select for the child. The school authorities 
 have the legal right to manage the government and pre- 
 scribe the cuiTiculum of the school. If they come in con- 
 
flict, the school authorities have to consider whether the 
 parent's demand will atfect the general discipline and 
 nullify the regulations of the school. If the demand can 
 be complied with without such material injury, it should 
 be done, as the pupil has the right to the benefits of the 
 school; and this should be determined in a spiritof accom- 
 modation. In general, it may be said that a demand of 
 this kind will inflict serious injury onlj^ on the pupil whose 
 parent insists on leaving out a particular study, and there- 
 fore his request may be passed over as not interfering 
 Avith the general discipline and government of the school. 
 If the demand of the parent clearly interferes with school 
 government, it should be rejected. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 LEON TROUSDALE, State Supt. 
 
 STATE OE MINNESOTA. ) 
 
 Office of Supt. of Public Instruction, > 
 St. Puul, June 3, 1875. ) 
 " School Bulletin," P. O. Box 95, Albany, N. Y. : 
 
 Dear Sir : In reply to yours of May 17th, addressed to 
 my predecessor, I will say that the school laws and the 
 public sentiment of Minnesota Avill not tolerate anything 
 more stringent than Mr. Bateman's fourth decision. It 
 recognizes the rights and responsibilities of parents and 
 accords with good sense. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 D. BURT, Supt. Pub. Inst., 
 
 State of Minnesota. 
 
XII. Pupils Suspended or Expelled^ (Page 12.) 
 
 Avon, March 18, 1875. 
 
 Dear Sir. — Agi'eeable to request, I send you a brief 
 synopsis of what occurred here last winter. Previous to 
 opening our school, at the commencement of our school 
 year of 1873-4, our Board of Education, at the request of 
 the Principal, passed a certain set of rules and regulations 
 bj' which the teachers and pupils were to be governed, (of 
 Avhich I fui'nish you a copy.) A large number of the pupils 
 in the Academic and Intermediate Departments declared 
 publicly that they would not observe or be governed by 
 said rules, and, in connection with some of their parents, 
 thought the Board had no authority to pass them. And 
 they also declared that no Principal could enforce the 
 same, or remain in the school if he attempted to. In a few 
 Aveeks three of the larger boys came in late one afternoon, 
 and somewhat intoxicated, for the express purpose of 
 testing matters, aistui-bing the quiet of the school hy their 
 general condition and iingentlemanly conduct. The Prin- 
 cipal, thinking perhaps, there might be trouble ahead, 
 sent for the Board, who came and requested said pupils to 
 leave, but were insulted and abused by the leader, al- 
 though they left without any foi'ce being used. In the 
 evening, at a Board meeting, they were expelled, after- 
 Avards prosecuted and fined $35 each for disturbing the 
 school. A short time after, three more were suspended 
 by the Principal for a violation of Regulation No. 8, and 
 other petty annoyances, at about 11 A. M. They returned 
 in the afternoon without conforming to the requirements 
 of their suspension papers given by the Principal, who 
 informed them that they could not recite in their classes, 
 and that they were not members of the school. 
 
 When the classes were called they took their places as 
 usual, but were ordered to take their seats, Avhich they did 
 not do. The classes were then sent to their seats without 
 reciting and the Board sent for, who ordered the school to 
 be dismissed for the afternoon. In the evening the Board 
 met and expelled them. They came again in the morning 
 and were notified of their expulsion and ordered to leave, 
 but Avould not, taking their seats quietly however without 
 saying a Avord. The Board was sent for, Avho told them 
 that they were expelled, and asked them if they would 
 leave quietly or be put out. They said, "We Avill not leaA^e 
 until put out." Hence they were led out, making no re- 
 sistance however. For Avhich ofl:ence they Avere prose- 
 cuted and fined %2o each. 
 
 The prosecution held that they had no right AvhateA'er in 
 or about the school buildings after they Avere suspended, 
 and that the Principal had a right to suspend them for a 
 A iolation of orders, and that the harmony of the school 
 Avas disturbed by their coming there upon being suspend- 
 ed, A jury trial Avas granted. 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 E. GRAVES, M. D., 
 Principal of Graded School. 
 
At the urgent request of many school-officers, we have 
 prepared the blank for Teachei's' Contracts shown upon 
 the two following- pag-es. Written contracts are legally 
 required in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, 
 Nebraska, Virginia and other States, and are invariably 
 recommended by school officials. From the many letters 
 received as to the desirableness of preparing such a blank 
 and as to its form, we present the f olloAving as indicative 
 of the general feeling upon the subject. 
 
 STATE OF NEW YOEK, 1 
 
 Department of Public Instruction, [ 
 
 Superintendent's Office. ,' 
 
 Albany, Jan. 18, 18T5. I 
 
 The " School Bulletin :" 
 
 I think that a form more simple than the one you refer 
 to in the Code might be made. Anj^ good lawyer accus- 
 tomed to drawing contracts could undoubtedly make 
 some good suggestions. 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 NEIL GILMOUR, State Supt. 
 
 STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL, { 
 Oswego, N. Y., Jan. 13, 1875. ) 
 Dear Sir :— I always think the the simplest forms the 
 best. Yours truly, 
 
 E. A. SHELDON. 
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, I 
 
 Geneseo, N. Y., Feb. 11, 1875. f 
 Editor " School Bulletin :" 
 
 Sir:— Some days ago I received from you a letter of 
 inquiry concerning a form of contract for teachers and 
 trustees. I looked into the matter at the time I received 
 your letter, but neglected to replJ^ My own judgment is 
 that you would do good service to teachers and injure the 
 practice of lawyers by such a paper as that proposed. I 
 heartily approve the plan and I am sure it will meet with 
 universal acceptance. The form in the Code seems to me 
 to be very good- However it does not entirely answer the 
 purpose in its present form, inasmuch as contracts are 
 frequently made bj^ the day and no pay allowed for holi- 
 days. If it could be so modified that the engagement 
 might be made for the day, week or month, with or with- 
 out pay for holidays, I think it Avould be as good as any 
 form I can think of. 
 
 Yours trulj^ 
 
 WM. J. MILNE. 
 
Tectcher''s Goritract, (Page 6.) 
 
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TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LEGAL QUALIFICATION 1 
 
 GKANTING of LIC"^,NSE8. 
 
 Normal SchoCx Diplomas 1 
 
 State Certificates 2 
 
 Superintendent's Licenses 2 
 
 City Licenses 2 
 
 Commissioner's Certificates 3 
 
 Moral Character 3 
 
 Scholarsliip 3 
 
 Ability to Teach 4 
 
 Annulment of Licenses 4 
 
 Charges against Moral Character 4 
 
 Deficiency iu Learning or Ability 4 
 
 TEACHERS' CONTRACTS 5 
 
 Making of Contracts 5, XII— XV 
 
 rreiequisites 5 
 
 Legal Qualification 5 
 
 No near relation to Trustee 6 
 
 Number of Trustees 6 
 
 Conditions of Contracts 7 
 
 Duration ; 7 
 
 During Satisfaction 7 
 
 By Months, Weeks or Days 7 
 
 Holiclaj's 7 
 
 Teachers' Institutes 8 
 
 The Teacher's Duties 8 
 
 To Iveep Succerisful School 8 
 
 To Iceep Every School Day 8 
 
 To fill School Register 8 
 
 Amount and Times of Payment 9 
 
 Annulment of Contracts , 9 
 
 I'or Closing School 9 
 
 For Annulling of Certificate 9 
 
 For Incompetence or Immorality 9 
 
 THE TEACHERS' AUTHORITY 10 
 
 As Agent of the Trustees 10 
 
 Hours of School 10 
 
 Course of Study 10 
 
 The Wisconsin Decifion 11, 1— XI 
 
 Text Boolvs 11 
 
 Rules and Regulations 11 
 
 Expulsion 12, XII 
 
 As Related to that of Parents 12 
 
 Not Derived from Parents 13 
 
 School-house the School-master's Castle 13 
 
 Pupils Going To and Returning From School — 14 
 
 Corporal Punishment 16 
 
 The General Law .17 
 
 New York Decisions , 18 
 
 No Sanction but Usage 18 
 
 Preferable to Expulsion 18 
 
 Illustrations of Test Cases 19 
 
 Rachel Pendergrass 19 
 
 Unusual Punishment for Unusual Conduct 20 
 
 A Teacher Severe and Unreasonable 20 
 
 In Loco Parentis 21 
 
 Tendency to Limit the Teachers Responsibility 21 
 
 A True Teacher 23 
 
What is said of the School Eulletin, Vol. I. 
 
 I consider the County Items alone worth many 
 times the price of subscription. — Prof. J. IT. Cocague, 
 Johnson College, Quinoi/, III. 
 
 We advise every teacher to take the School Bul- 
 letin. The articles have edge and a certain steel-like 
 vigor. — Chmnherlain Institute Journal. 
 
 I look for it the first of the month and greet it as 
 an old friend. Reading it is as good as attending an 
 Institute. — Pi'incipal L. W. Lake, PatcJdn. 
 
 I heartily congratulate you upon the success already 
 achieved. The news columns I have never seen so 
 full and perfect. — J. Porman Steele, Elmira. 
 
 The Bulletin supplies a want that teachers have 
 long felt. It is 'practical. We have had too many 
 theories of teaching and not a sufficient exposition of 
 results. — Principal E. R. Adams, Carthage. 
 
 I value the Bulletin ve^y highly :^r its news and 
 for its independence. It is always very welcome here 
 and I am glad to see it prospering. — A. B. WatMns, 
 Ph. D. , Principal Hungerfoi'd Collegiate Institute. 
 
 That racy, spicy Bulletin has put in an appearance 
 again. I am beginning to wonder how we ever got 
 alqng without it. It is already a necessity to every 
 teacher. — Revi. A, Mattice, Principal Fort Plain Sem- 
 inary. 
 
 You are making your journal spicy, readable, and 
 very valuable as an educational newspaper. It is cer- 
 tainly very well edited and far ahead of anything of 
 the kind in the State.— f/erome Alle7i, Geneseo Normal 
 School. 
 
 From a Prominent Institute Instructor. — I confess 
 that I am -surprised at the excellence of your paper. 
 Taking its scope, variety, news, spice and tone, it is 
 for the common school teachers of our State the best 
 paper we have ever had. It will interest and instruct. 
 It is cheap; therefore they will take it. — Charles T. 
 Pooler. 
 
What is said of the School Bulletin, Vol. I. 
 
 I. like your paper much. Enclosed find , for 
 
 which please send the Bulletin one year, as follows. 
 — W. L. Baker, Scho:)! Commissioner 2d District, Ot- 
 sego Co. 
 
 The School Bulletin I like. Of the copies sent 
 me I have mailed three to principals of large graded 
 schools. Enclosed I send one dollar for the Bulletin, 
 and will bring its claims before the Institute beginning 
 May 17th.- — Joseph H. Palmer, Commissioner Ist 
 District, Westchester County. 
 
 Finding the tone of the Bulletin spirited in edu- 
 cational interests, I take pleasure in recommending it 
 
 to teachers in my district. Inclosed find for 
 
 which you will add to your subscription list for one 
 year the following names. — Isaac JelUff, School Com- 
 missiomr, 2d District, Sullivan Co. 
 
 Enclosed find , for which please send the Bul- 
 letin one year to the following persons : * * * (His 
 fourth list. ) It gives good satisfaction. The only 
 complaint I hear is that, like every other good thiag, 
 it doesn't last long enough. — W. D. Leiois, School 
 Commsssioner, 1st District, Lewis Co. 
 
 I hereby send you a specimen copy of the School 
 Bulletin, in hopes that you will subscribe for it im- 
 mediately, by sending one dollar to your Commission- 
 er, or to E P. Howe, of Syracuse, and a receipt for 
 the paper for one year will be forwarded to your ad- 
 dress. — Sent with a copy of the Bulletin to every 
 teacher in his District, hy J. W. Hooper, School Com- 
 missioner, 2d District, Onondaga Co. 
 
 We have received Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Bulle- 
 tin, and shall be greatly obliged to you for Nos. 1, 2, 
 3 and 4. We are anxious to have our files comnlete 
 for binding. We have been subscribers to the iV. Y, 
 State Educational Journal from its commencement, 
 and desire to continue as such under the consolida- 
 tion. — S. B. Woolyoortli, Secretary of the Regents of 
 the University. 
 

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