THE SCHOOL BULL1:<7FI IS PUBLICATION' 3. The PMlosophy -OF- JOHN KENNEDY. waiiwiaiNMmnfiimMaMinnnMMMMnnDMHHaiimMHiMii' SYRACUSE, v. j DAVIS, BARDEEN &c CO, DAVIS, BARDEEN & CO. PUBLISHERS, BOOKSELLERS, AND STATIONERS. White Memorial Building, Yanderbilt Square, SYRACUSE, N. Y. TEACHERS' HEADQUARTERS FOR CENTRAL NEW YORK. Magazines and New Books received as soon as is- sued. Any Book published ordered and promptly furnished. School Sup- plies and Books for Libra- ries furnished at low rates. Call or Write for Anything you Want. No Trouble to show EooJcs or give Information. A Newspaper : not a Viewspapev. THE S C H O O TTbUL L E T I N AMD NEW YOBE STATE EDUCATIONAL JOUBNAL. ILLUSTRATED, SIXTEEN TO TWENTY-FOUR PAGES, MONTHLY. $1.00 A. YEAR. The School Bulletin inaugurates a new era In educa- tional journalism, aiming to be not a magazine but a news- paper; to deal not with theories but with facts; to present not papers and addresses but acurate and condensed sta- tistics, reports and descriptions of existing systems, schools, buildings, methods. In short, by presenting what every teacher ought to know and can here most easily learn; it alms to be indispensible to every thinking teacher. BOUND VOLUMES. A few copies of Volume First are still for sale, handsomely bound in browf* clotb, with gilt stamp on side and back. Volume Second, uniform with it but larger, is also ready. Price of Volume First, $2.00; of Volume Second, $1.50; of both. $3.00. Each volume contains in its County Items the most complete record of current educational events in New York ever published in any State; in addition to which the following special features may be mentioned : Volume First, 132 Pages, Contains Common School Law for Common School Teachers, com- plete; a List of Words differently spelled by Worcester and Webster; Lists of Graduates of Wesleyan, Amherst, Hamil- ton and Rochester, who have taught in New York; Educa- tional Histories of Onondaga and Washington Counties; Il- lustrations of Anarchy, six papers, by Samuel Thurber; four Kindergarten papers by Miss Dickinson; extended Re- ports of meetings of the Social Science Association, and the American Institute of instruction; the article on Amer- ican Education from the London Quarterly Review; Exami- nation Questions from New York, Ohio, Indiana, etc.; School-Room Portraits, and many illustrated articles, etc. Volume Second, 200 Pages, Contains The Regents' Questions, 1866-1ST6, complete, together with Examination Questions from N. Y. Normal Schools, New Hampshire* Ohio, St. Louis, London; (Eng.). etc.; Popu- lar Instruction in Drawing illustrated, by Chas. B. Stetson, (the first two papers appeared in Volume First): Language Lessons, by H. B. Buckham; Centennial events, illustrated, by John J. Anderson; Cato s Corner, a series of satirical pa- pers upon educational topics; Science Gossip; Query Box; several Kindergarten articles; many pieces of music from the Bulletin Song Budget; Notes on School Law; State and College News, etc, DAVIS, BARDEEN 8c CO., Publishers, Syracuse, N.Y. THE PHILOSOPHY OF hool Disc p il uin u, p A PAPER READ BEFORE THE MEETING OF THE NEW YORK STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, JULY 25, 1877. / T BY / \s JOHN KENNEDY, BUFFALO, N. Y. SYRACUSE, N. Y. : Davis, Bardeen & Co., Publishers. 1877. Copyright, 1877, by John Kennedy. Ml 9 V This article having met with gratifying favor from the State Teachers' Association, I am induced to publish it in this temporary form with a view to obtaining any sugges- tions or conclusions which the educational public may make upon it. It is simply a study in School Discipline, which may be very much modified by further experience. JOHN KENNEDY. Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1877. THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. In attempting to present a subjective treatment of School Discipline, I am aware that I undertake an ambitious task. — It in- volves in my case the necessity of laying down the postulates of a new science, as it were, and erecting thereon a structure sym- metrical in form, and strong in the fitness and completeness of its parts. As I am not acquainted with any previous attempt to formulate the elements and principles of what I regard as the science of School Discipline, I have been compelled to arrange and give names to the divisions and classifications occurring in the subject. Aiming as I do at a strictly scientific 4 THE PHILOSOPHY OF treatment this becomes a fundamental necessity. But this and many other points in the undertaking make me a very probable vic- tim for the waiting Achilles or Itheriels. We have no record of any science spring ing into existence full-fledged and meeting at the outstart all the necessities of its career. I should be very vain indeed, did I expect my feeble essay to be an exception in its experience to the efforts of those mighty men who in the past almost created new sciences, but failed of completeness. But instead of feeling assured of my founda- tion I stand in awe of the greatness of the subject and the exacting requirements of its details. It is wrong for one who touches the plow to say he expects to fail. — The utmost I can say is that- 1 have tried to succeed. It is due that I state the causes which SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 5 have prompted me to the undertaking. — During the past ten years I have seen many schools in different states of the Union, and have had opportunity of observing their condition. I have found much bad work done, and great evils entailed upon the country in consequence. I have endeavored to trace the cause of failures which have become so wide-spread as to be truly start- ling. I am led to attribute the cause mainly to a want of clear ideas on the subject of School Discipline. I have seen many loose attempts at disci- pline and, have heard more looser talks on the subject. In this state of things I see no progress, but rather a great waste of effort which might be utilized to good ends. I have concluded that a science of disci- pline is needed to strengthen the teachers in 6 THE PHILOSOPHY OF the field, and to be in its turn advanced by the new wisdom which their experience may bring to light : to be, in short, the standard of our condition and the conserva- tor of our gains. It seems to me also professionally proper that the great body of American teachers should wield a common thought and be actuated by common maxims. It is unpro- fessional to have as many different concep- tions of discipline as there are individuals. It is the province of philosophy to teach men how to think. Our teachers are cap- able of thinking. It is wrong therefore to leave them and their schools at the mercy of mere intuition, or of directions dogmati- cally expressed or empirically conceived. These are among the considerations which have induced me to undertake the formula- tion of philosophy of School Discipline, rather byway of suggestion than instruction. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 7 It is a plea to look for light, and get to- gether on common ground if we can. Since discipline is the condition of suc- cess in schools it lies at the root of instruc- tion and is of vital practical importance. If we stumble in our conceptions of discipline, we paralyze in that measure all subsequent educational work, howsoever soundly conceived. How then may we test the quality and character of our conceptions ? By a subjective study of the thing. What is a subjective study ? It is the logical analysis of a complex idea, making clear the relations of the parts to each other and to the whole. School Discipline is a complex idea. It may be defined to be that power of control which produces and sustains order. If this definition is comprehensive we shall find within it all the parts we seek. If we fix the nature of order and the laws of that 8 THE PHILOSOPHY OF power of control which produces and sus- tains it, it would seem that our task is done. We have proceeded a step in our analysis and found the first division. What is order ? It is fitness of condition in things. As ap- plied to a school it means fitness of con- dition in all the parties comprehended in the idea of a school. The parties in this idea may be enumerated as follows : 1st, the district as a body politic ; 2d, the parents or guardians ; 3d, the children ; 4th, the teachers. The school is in perfect order when, and only when all these parties are in order. These parties are in order when they are in the condition most favorable for the upbuild- ing and advancement of the school. Let us examine the condition of order for each. The district may be said to be in order, 1st, when it is able to pay the necessary ex- penses of the school ; 2d, when it is willing SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 9 to contribute freely to the wants of the school, and 3d, when it possesses a decor- ous and law-abiding public sentiment. The parents are in order, 1st, when they appreciate the value of education to the child ; 2d, when they are wise in the daily management of their children's time with a view to school duties and relations ; 3d, when they are properly affected toward the school, and thereby sustain its manage- ment. The children are in order, 1st, when their hearts are buoyant with unalloyed happi- ness ; 2d, when they have learned respect for their teacher and his office ; 3d, when they are inspired with an interest in the school and pride in its success. The teacher is in order, 1st, when he is thoroughly master of himself : that is a man of robust morality and discretion ; 2d, when he possesses the clearest mastery of the 10 THE PHILOSOPHY OF subject he is presumed to teach ; and 3d, when he apprehends correctly all the rela- tions surrounding and centreing in him. Possessed of this last condition of order, he will be enabled to make a correct diagnosis of a disordered school, to locate the disease and to apply the remedies proper for its cure. We have here intimated a truth, viz : that discipline is mainly a remedial agency de- pendent for success on a knowledge of the conditions of health and the pathology of dis- ease ; that the power of discipline consists in bringing each and all the factors up to their proper conditions of order. This implies a previous disturbance. For the purposes of examination we have indicated three grand divisions of the con- dition of order for each of the factors in a school. The disturbing cause may lie in only one of these twelve particulars, and SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. II yet the disturbance will be felt throughout the entire school All will be conscious of the disturbance ; but it requires wisdom and skill to penetrate to the cause and apply the remedy. This special wisdom and skill are the product of the first and third divi- sions of the teacher's action of order. Without them it is evident that he is pow- erless to meet the case at this point. Un- less he' is enabled to create a tendency towards health, his condition will but aggravate the difficulty and hasten its destructive progress. On reaching the diseased member it is necessary to go much further and distin- guish how far its disordered condition is the result of natural deformity, how far of mere neglect, and how far of the reaction of in- justice. It will be found on careful examination that most of the prevalent disorders in 12 THE PHILOSOPHY OF School Discipline may be traced to the last- mentioned cause, and that nearly all the in- justice may be traced directly to teachers and remotely to the system that employs them. If so, we have found an important clue and a means of narrowing the argument. This injustice has probably been far from inten- tional ; but the fruits of injustice are the same whether intended or not. If our propositions are true, we see that justice is an important element in School Discipline, and that the teacher ought to be qualified to perform judicial functions. To remedy existing evils and to avoid the recurrence of future evils the teacher should be incapable of injustice, and he will be so incapable if he is in the condition of order mentioned above. We may examine school justice under the 3d division of the teacher's condition of order. Injustice is a violation of personal SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 13 rights and is a specific form of wrong. Rights are given by the Creator, and are justly alienable only by voluntary choice, or in consequence of crime or of the necessi- ties of society. We have named the persons immediately concerned in a school ; we shall now en- deavor to exhibit some of their rights. The district has a right, ist, to the careful pre- servation of the property it purchases ; 2d, to the comfort of an improved sentiment resulting from a well ordered school ; and 3d, to the enhanced value of property resulting from the same cause. The parents have a right, ist, to feel that their children are handled with thoughtful kindness and care with reference to their physical, moral and mental well-being; 2d, to the gratifica- tion of beholding the developed powers and possibilities of their children ; and 3d, to the assurance that their children are prepared 14 THE PHILOSOPHY OF for correct and successful lives. The child- ren have a right, ist, to find their parents' affection in the teacher's chair, inspiring their faith, hope and perseverance ; 2d, they have a right to sound instruction and cor- rect example ; 3d, they have a right to that perfect and strong maturity that comes of correct training. The teacher's contract gives him no moral right ; he only acquires rights as he gets himself into his proper condition ; he then has a right, ist, to his pay ; 2d, to the obedience and respect of the children ; and 3d, to the confidence and support of the parents and the community. A violation of any these rights works in- justice. Let us now observe how this injustice affects the conditions of order. Let for in- stance the property be continually damaged and destroyed. This is an injustice, and will affect the willingness of the district to SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. I 5 make even suitable provisions for carrying on the school, — one of the conditions of order. Ill-conditioned school houses are not necessarily evidences of inherent penu- riousness in the community. To this add violations of other rights of the community, viz : of improved public sentiment and en- hanced value of property, and we cannot wonder at a low condition of willingness to contribute to the expenses of the school. Again let the children be wronged by harsh and unkind treatment : in this case neither they nor their parents will be prop- erly affected towards teachers as a class. Again let a school be badly disciplined for years, and it will produce a crop of rowdies, and evident lowering of the law-abiding sentiment of the community. In like man- ner it may be shown that for every specific injustice there is a corresponding disturb- ance in the conditions of order. l6 THE PHILOSOPHY OF The teacher who is determined to be just will eventually have a well - disciplined school, though it may take time to restore the demoralized conditions to their proper tone. • The judicial functions of the teacher then consist in clearly defining the rights of all the parties at interest and securing those rights to their possessors in their fullest exer- cise. This is discipline. This is govern- ment in a school and it is government in a State. • We find it a business requiring the most matured powers, and are thus enabled to see the folly of the custom prevailing all over this nation of placing mere children in charge of schools. In this theory of discipline we are search- ing for underlying truths, and should not shrink from any of the consequences of our premises. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. I J We may return over our ground again and see what is implied in the positions taken. What do we mean in saying that the teacher should be thoroughly master ot himself? We mean that he should have all his faculties and powers under full con- trol. This implies a knowledge of those faculties and their respective provinces in the economy of his being. This control implies not only the restraining from excess, but also the enforcing of exercise within their province. This seems severe, but it is true, and gives the only meaning of the ancient admonition : "Know thyself." What do we mean by saying that the teacher should possess the clearest mastery of the subjects he is presumed to teach ? We mean that he must be a student, keep- ing his matter alive by fresh investigations, and by constantly enlarging his mental vis- IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF sion. If he is intellectually lazy or desti- tute of studious tastes his matter will dry up, and he will feed the children on husks. A mere cramming of innutritious and un- digestible things must disturb their condi- tions of order and detract largely from the power of control. The victims of injustice cannot be in order. There may be an un- natural and forced appearance of order under the mere operation of physical fear. But physical fear is foreign to a correct dis- cipline under ordinary circumstances. Its use as a motive is j ustifiable only in case of a thoroughly perverted moral nature. The power of control is seen therefore to be altogether a moral power. We get the highest control over others by teaching them both by precept and example to con- trol themselves. Nature is in order. So is human nature until it is perverted by un- natural disturbances. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 19 / Discipline then in order to the attain- ment of its highest efficiency must have for its object the prevention of perversions and the restoration to sound health of per- verted parts. We are brought again to the teacher's third condition of order, viz : the clear ap- ^ prehension of all the relations surrounding and centreing in him. The clear apprehension of these relations implies a knowledge of very many facts and sequences. Without clear knowledge of these facts and their laws he cannot adjust the activi- ties of his field to harmonious movement. Nature does not pardon ignorance : she strikes back at the bungler with telling force and brings confusion to all his calcu- lations. But she is the faithful slave of the wise, bearing their burdens andredeeming their predictions. 20 THE PHILOSOPHY OF Rights and duties are generally correla- tive terms. Duty then would seem to be the central and fundamental element of dis- cipline ; and the first and most vital duty in the case would be to get wisdom, get un- derstanding. A sense of duty is good, but when it is supplemented with a knowledge of duty it is irresistible. Here we have a complete synthesis of the teacher's three conditions of order, if we may so term them. Knowledge of duty teaches him how to act ; sense of duty en- forces the action. What dignity and grandeur must sur- round the man who is the exponent of cor- rect discipline ! What dignity he must impart to his calling ! What a powerful force for good he^must introduce into society ! He cannot fail to be brought near to that SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 21 Source of all wisdom, love and beneficence, and to have his labors sanctioned and sanc- tified by the approving voice of the great Master who has given his laws to the uni- verse. He becomes the instrument of a Higher Power who has ordered all things well ; his purpose is to know the will of his Superior, and to do that will. In carrying out the purposes of the Creator within his sphere he becomes God-like and a blessing. Cow- per saw him (in his mind's eye,) and pays this tribute to departed worth : — " In college halls in ancient days There dwelt a sage called Discipline. — His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile Played on his lips; and in his speech was heard Paternal sweetness, dignity, and love. — The occupation dearest to his heart Was to encourage goodness. — Learning grew Beneath his care, a thriving plant. — The mind was well informed, the passions held Subordinate, and diligence was choice. — If e'er it chanced, as chance it must, That one among so many o'erleaped 22 THE PHILOSOPHY OF The limits of control, his gentle eye Grew stern and darted a rebuke : — His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe, As left him not till penitence had won Lost favor back again, and closed the breach. — But Discipline at length O'erlooked, and unemployed, grew sick and died. — Then study languished, emulation slept, And virtue fled. — The school became a scene Of solemn farce, where ignorance in stilts, His cap well lined with logic not his own, With parrot tongue performed the scholar's part, Proceeding soon a graduated dunce. — What was learned, If aught was learned in childhood, is forgot, And such expense as pinches parents blue, And mortifies the liberal hand of love, Is squandered in pursuit of idle sports, And vicious pleasures." The purpose of this article has been to fix the nature of discipline in its essence. It would be foreign to that purpose to pro- ceed with the application of it to particular cases. Its application will pertain to Prac- tical School Ethics, a system of formulat- ing particular rules founded on these general SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 23 principles. Our purpose is fulfilled if we have indicated a sound underlying philo- sophy in the light of which the solution of particular problems may be pursued. There can be no correct practice that is not allied to sound theory, and the out- growth of it. A rule of practice not resting on the con- nected links of relations from the first prin- ciples of things or axioms of knowledge is worthless. An attempt to form such rules is simply empiricism and bungling. Nothing could be more valuable to our schools, more powerful to eradicate existing evils, than the inculcation of sound Prac- tical School Ethics. We shall doubtless have such a system blossoming out of the experience of teachers who encounter their work in the proper condition. School Bulletin Publications. The School Bulletin. 16 to 24 pages monthly, per year.. .$1.00 The School Bullitin Year Book, 1877 1.00 Kennedy's Philosophy of School Discipline 15 Common School Law for Common School Teachers 50 Hoose's Studies in Articulation, 3d Edition 50 The Regents' Questions, complete, interleaved 1.00 " " " Arith.. Geog., Gram., Spell., each .25 " " " Key to Arithmetic Questions. . . .25 ""«« " " Key to Geography Questions.. . .25 """**"*" " Arithmetic Card-board Slips, 1.00 Constitution of the State of New York, last amendments .25 Bradford's Thirty Problems of Percentage 25 .Beebe's First Steps Among Figures 50 " " " " " Teacher's Edition.. 1.00 Roe's Work in Number 50 DeGraff 's School-Room Guide 1.00 Ryan's Weekly School Record, per 14 sheets 50 The School Institute Song Budget, 15 The Bulletin School Ruler, per dozen 15 Commissioner's Certificates, per book of 100 1.15 Teacher's Contracts, per pair 10 Butler's Improved Reading Case 5.00 Order of Evening Prayer, per hundred 1.50 Familiar Statement as to the Prot. Epis. Ch., per hun'd 1.00 FROM SCHERMERHORN'S BANKRUPT SALE, The publishers of the Bulletin would announce that at the recent closing out sale of Scbermerhorn's School Supplies they were large purchasers, and will henceforth fur.iish to school-boards and teachers a large proportion of the goods heretofore controlled by J. W. Schermerhorn & Co. Of most of these articles we have lowered the retail prices, and upon them all we shall give liberal discounts for large orders. We would call particular attention to the following New Book*. JohannoVs School-Houses. This new and finely illustrated octavo volume is the standard work upon the subject, and should be in the hands of every school principal, and of every school-board. We bought the eutire edition, and have lowered the price from $3.00 to $2.00. What the Xeicspajjers Say. "The book supplies a real want." — Christian Advocate. " We thank the publishers tor producing such a book.'" — Th e Presbyterian . " Every school-board in the land should have a copy of this work.""— Lutheran Observer. "The illustrations in this volume are good, and the test is brief and clearly written." — New York World. 26 schermekhorn's "We have seen nothing to equal it in completeness and practical suggestions." — Philadelphia City Item. "We take pleasure and pains in commending this book as- one likely to work a salutary reform." — New York Observer. "Those who are thinking of building, or of improving school-houses, will do well to consult this volume." — Baptist Union. " The work is one of unqestionable practical utility, and its mechanical execution is a model of choice typography." — New York Tribune. " With this volume in their hands, school committees and teachers would lose all excuse for uncomfortable and unat- tractive houses." — National Baptist. " It is certainly a valuable work, not only for teachers, school committees, legislators and builders, but for parents and general readers." — Sunday School Times. " This book is comprehensive and thoroughly good — the suggestions are so evidently dictated by common sense as to commend themselves at once." — New York Evening Maih "It would not be amiss if the State should furnish one copy of this admirable work to every county and city super- intendent, so that it might be accessible to all schools and building committees." — Wisconsin Journal of Education. " This is a most important, practical book ; every taacher in the land, every school commissioner, and trustee, and superintendent, will fail of his duty to the public and to the rising generation, who does not at once purchase this very valuable book; it is full of wise, judicious and practical suggestions." — HalVs Journal of Health. "We commend it heartily, because the efficiency of our common school system depends almost as mnch upon the school-houses as the schools. If the lessons it teaches are heeded, the unsightly buildings where American children are compelled to receive their education will be gradually replaced by better structures, and the multiplication of school-houses become a great good to the people." — New York Herald. " This is an elegant and extremely valuable work on the proper construction of school buildings. It contains finely- drawn designs, ranging from the plainest and cheapest styles to the most ornate and expensive, accompanied by clear and intelligent comments and explanations. The important subjects of heating and ventilation, as well as other scarcely less important ones of comfort and convenience, are fully attended to. A copy of this book ought to be in the hands of every body of men having charge of the construction of a new school-house, or the renovation of an old one." — New York Times. BANKRUPT SALE. 27" FrobUher'8 Good Selections. Of late years, there has been a demand for a cheap book of fresh pieces of prose and poetry for reading and elocution classes Of all the books published to meet this want Fro' bisher's seems to us the best. We purchased the entire edition, have had it rebound in handsome shape, and have lowered the price from 30 cts. to 25 cts. The book contains 168 pages, and should be in the hands of every teacher. A handsome edition in boards, on tinted paper, is published at 40 cents. What the Newspapers Say. Momil eUentl escellent! "-^ Virginia Educational ™^!K rece , n ^. auth . ors are represented, including some capital tTEnsl&Uons."~Michigan Teacher. cmamg some theTeYeo 3 t t fon e 5! X - ell T^^ and amuse 7 ment are well blended in me selections. — The Commonwealth (Boston.) "A pieasing variety of wisdom and fun, with an amoendix ter J, h ^ D t d h e e aV t°Jen f t £? SX^hlThJS fafelvThoTn such unprecedented activity/'-^Jr^X.^* 617 Sh ° Wn + a lV PrOI ^ SS , M, I i ,rob J sher ' in the maj n, displays admirable taste and skill in these selections. They overflow wTth life ^il anety ' Wlt and Path0s " nature and y interest/'-i^S ««l' In + it u are sk . etches and poems from our most Domilaranrt are^eatred^nr-'T 111 ^ 130 / 8 from ^nZle^amations are required and girls who have recitations to make will find just suited to their purpose."-.^ York Tribune ' The selections are choice, inspired bv eood taste and comprise poems that touch upon nearl/ every chase of emotion, or sentiment. The suggestions as rn rfnhiir *rL? ings character readings, witty alf humorous reading ™ tc are very judicious and practical. "-Christian Inumgint* +v, v he A sel f ctions are made with great care and taste from. £S n S?n c °> al CU1 ' rent literatur * and something wiif Te Sirt of the h a S°- St .\ Very occa ^on. Not the leasWahmblt part of the book is the appendix, which contains helnfnl JSP^T t^e culture and management o! P th£ voice. —The Advance, (Chicago.) 28 schermerhorn's •'The selections are new as readings, and seem to be judicious as well as spicy. We welcome anything that will help our boys to speak well when they become men. The average American citizen has numerous opportunities for public speech. He would be far more effective if he were trained to speak better." — Home Magazine. " The appendix is the most ingenious part of the volume. In it the sayings of successful speakers on certain points of eleocutionar? introduced among the compiler's own essays in such manner as to give many good hints without mar- ring the unity of the whole, which is a fair treatise on suc- cessful delivery."— National Teachers' 1 Monthly. "This is a work that will be interesting to all who love pure literature, and especially valuable for those who are studying the science of elocution. Prof. Frobisher is well known in New York and Brooklin as one of our most accom- plished elocutionists, and his remarks on that subject, at the end of the volume, are straight to the point." — Christian Union. Diadem of School Songs. This was the most at- tractive and popular of the several music books published by Schermerhorn & Co. We bought the plates and all the copies, and have lowered the price from 60 cts. to 50 cts. a copy. For the present, sample copies will be sent at half price to teachers who wish to examine the book with a view to intro- duction. The price per dozen will be $5.00; per hun- dred, $40.00. American Library of Education. Mr. Schermer- horn did an excellent work in providing for teachers the standard treatises on education in cheap and portable form. These six little books contain each some 200 pages, and will prove of benefit to any teacher. The price was 25 cts. per volume. We bought the entire edition and have lowered it for the three volumes of which there were the most volumes on hand, in order to furnish as many even BANKRUPT SALE. 29 sets as possible. The volumes will be seut post-paid at the following rates : I. Locke's Essay on Education, 15 cts. II. Locke on Reading and Milton on Edu- cation, 25 cts. III. Horace Mann on Physiology in Schools, 25 cts. IV. University Addresses of Fronde, Carlyle. Mill, etc, 25 cts. V. VI. TJie Bible in the Public Schools, both volumes, 25 cts. We shall also keep regularly on hand the following books for teachers, which will be sent post-paid on receipt of the prices annexed : Sheldon's Elementary Instruction, $ 1 .50 Sheldou's Object Teaching, 1.50 Kiddle & Schem's How to Teach 1.25 Catherine Beecher's Educational Reminiscences 1.00 Life of Horace Mann, 3.00 Life of Emma Willard, 2.00 Also all the works now considered standard in this department. School Records. The Peabody Class Records: on a New Plan. (Patent applied fer.) The Peabody Class Record (the invention of Mr. Towle, a New 5Tork Teacher,) gives the most complete, comprehensive, concise and convenient system for keeping Class Records ever invented. It is peculiar in many particulars, among which are the following: The Names of the Class, once written, need not be rewritten during the year, even though several pages be required for the marks ; the Names of all the class appear on one page before the Teacher; the Order of Recitations can be arranged to suit the wishes of each Teacher; the Marks of each Pupil are permanent, and readily referred to any time; its paramount advantage is the great saving of time to the over-taxed teacher. It is not easy to explain briefly the construction 30 SCHERMERHORN S of these Records. The plan of ruling and cutting to accomplish their desired purposes must be seen to be appreciated. Ample printed directions and sug- gestions accompany them. There are two sizes, each adapted to a year's use. The smaller, No. 1, may be styled a " Pocket Edition." Sizes and Prices : No. 1—5 inches wide x 9 inches long, 100 pages. . .$1.00 No. 2—8 inches wide x 10>£ in. long, 100 pages. . . 1.50 (Specimens mailed on receipt of the price.) Strong's Scholar's Diary is designed to exercise the young in making a daily record of items and events. It cultivates habits of observation and accuracy. Such a record, faithfully kept, will prove a history of the writer's life, its value increasing with passing years. It contains:— I. Specimen pages of a Diary, "suggesting manner of making daily entries. II. Rules and Maxims. III. Subjects for Compositions, with simple suggestions. IV. Rules for Capitals. V. Rules for Punctuation. Price, (Specimen by mail, Oc.) per dozen, reduced from $2.50 to $1.00. Shaw's Scholar's Register is a complete record for the pupil, arranged for Attendance, Conduct and Recitations, for fourteen weeks. Also, Abstract for Term, so condensed that comparative standing may be observed at a glance. A recitation is marked by the pupil, with lead pencil. The teacher can mark with ink such changes as are needed, make average for week, and carry it forward to Abstract. There are spaces for the parent to make remarks, and specify weekly time given to study at home. The cor- rect use of Scholar's Register will save the teacher's time, and stimulate pupil to better conduct and better lessons. He will be careful that his own hand may not record irregularities, misdemeanors, or poor lessons. Price, (Specimen by mail 6c. ) per dozen, reduced from $1.00 to 50 cts. American Educational Monthly. We bought the entire lot of bound volumes of this excellent jour- nal, extending from 1865 to 1874. These volumes are octavos of several huudred pages, uniformly bound BANKRUPT SALE. 3 I in cloth, and containing an amount and variety of •educational information and suggestion not to be elsewhere obtaiued at several times the amount asked. For the present, we will send these volumes, post-paid, at the following rates : 1865, 6, 7, 8. 9, at 50 cts. each; 1870, 71, at 91. 00 each; 1872 at $2.00; 1873, 4, at 75 cts. Tae few complete sets we have will be sent by express at 15 00 for the ten volumes. For school libraries, this is a rare opportunity. Aids to School Discipline. The Aids may be used in various ways. This is convenient: in the morn- ing give each pupil a card (5 merits), representing a perfect day, to be forfeited for misdemeanor, or fail- ure in recitation. Single Merits and Half Merits are for pupils who fail to retain their Cards and yet worthy of some credit. Five Cards held by any pupil are exchanged for a Check (25 merits), repre- senting a perfect School Week. Four checks are ex- changed for a Certificate of Merit, representing 100 merits or a perfect Month. These certificates bear the pupil's name, and are signed by the teacher. The number held shows the pupil's standing. If prizes or medals are awarded at close of session, there can be no mistake in determining to whom they belong; the decision being made by each pupil exhibiting his Cards and Certificates, no idea of favoritism can arise. The Aids naturally and invariably awaken a lively interest, for the pupil takes home with him the ivit- ness of his daily conduct and progress. They are neat in design, printed in best colors. The certificate* are prizes which pupils will cherish. Single Merits and Half-Merits are printed on card- board ; cards and checks on heavy paper, so as to be used mauy times — heuce the system is cheap. They are put in sets of 500 there being 80 Certificates, 120 Checks, 200 Cards, 100 Single Merits and Half- Merits. Price per set (mailed), $1.25. Handsome 'Testimonials, executed in the finest style, with border, appropriate designs aud sketches, etc. Finely printed on Plate paper, size, 19x24 inches, each 25c. 32 SCHERMERHORN S BANKRUPT SALE. School Room Mottoes. These mottoes, 16 in num- ber, are printed by Praug, are h% by 13>£ inches, and contain the following mottoes : Be Polite, I Will Try, I Am Late, I Am Early, Obey Orders, Know Thy- self, Time is Money, Learn to Wait, Speak the Truth, Strive to Please, No Lie Thrives, Truth is Noble, Knowledge is Power, Dare to Do Right, Idleness Leads to Vice, and You Can if You Will. Price per set of sixteen, $1.00. Johyison's Solar System Chart. Dr. Johnson's In- destructible School Charts are well known, being mounted on enamelled c'oth and painted by hand (not printed). Of them all. that of the Solar System is by far the handsomest, being in a blue ground with white and colored lines. Having bought the entire edition, we offer them at a price reduced from 13.00 to $1.00. This is the cheapest school-room adornment ever offered. DAVIS, BARDEEN & CO., White Memorial Building, Syracuse, N. Y. 1. The School Bulletin and New York State Educa- tional Journal. — 1 lie largest and cheapest monthly School Journal in the United States. One Dollar a year. Specimens Ten Cents. 2. Bound Volumes of the School Bulletin.— Volumes First and Second, each handsomely hound in Drown cloth, with gilt stamp on side and hack. Volume First $2.00. Kolnme Second $1.50. 3. Common School Law for Common School Teachers.— The standard text-hook, pocket edition, handsomely hound. President White of Cornell says ; " Not only every teacher in the State, hut every member of the Legislature and every Supervisor and School Commissioner should have one." The London Schoolmaster (England), says: -'-It would seem tliat a similar work treating of the legal rights, duties and statutes of English Schoolmastery is much needed." Fifty Cents. 4. Studies in Articulation.— By James H. Hoose. Ph. D., Principal of the Cortland State Normal School. This not only analyzes each sound in the language, hut gives as il- lustrations hundreds of words commonly mispronounced. Hon. W. D. Henkle. editor of the Nation a l readier, and of Educational Notes and Queries, says : "It is needless to say- that we are pleased with this hook, for it presents just what we have for years discussed in Teachers' Institutes and urged should he taught in schools. Fifty. Cents. 5. The Eegents' Questions, 1866 to 1877.— These are the questions given from the first hy the Regents of the Univers- ity of the State of New York, to determine what pupils in Academies and Union Schools are sufficiently advanced in Arithmetic, Geography. Grammar, etc. to pursue the higher branches. The questions are therefore practical and an admirable drill in any School. Complete, cloth, One Dollar. 6. The Eegents 1 Questions Separately.— Four volumes, cloth hound containing respectively the questions in (1) Arithmetic, (2) Geography. (3) Grammar, (4) Penmanship and Spelling. These handsome little books are admirably adapted to class use. Twenty-five Cents each. Keys to the Arithmetic and Geography, Tvoenty-fice Cents each. 7. The Eegents' Arithmetic Question Slips.— Each ques- tion is printed on a separate slip of cardboard, the color corresponding to the subject of arithmetic which the prob- lem illustrates. One box answers for a whole school, and questions suited. to any grade may be selected at sight by t'^e color of the cards. A key accompanies the box. One Dollar. 8. The Constitution of the State of New York, em- bodying the latest amendments. Cloth bound, uniform With the Eegents 1 Questions. Twenty-tive Cents. 9. DeGraff's School Room Guide embodying tlie Instruc- tion given by the author at Teachers' Institutes, and es- pecially intended to assist District School Teachers ia the practical work of the school room. Part I, Language and Letter Writing. Cloth, uniform with the Regents' Ques- tions. Twenty-five Cents, 10. Frobisher's Good Selections.— Tins book admirably meets the demand for a book of fresh pieces of prose and poetry for higher reading classes. It contains 163 pages in clear type, and should be in the hands of every teacher. Paper Twenty-five cents,- boards Forty cents. 11. Johannot's School Houses.— This new and finely il- lustrated octavo volume is the standard work upon school architecture, and should be owned by every School Board. Two Dollars. 12. American Library of Education.—!. Locke's Essay on Education, II. Locke on Reading and Milton on Educa- tion. III. Horace Mann on Physiology in Schools. IV. University Addresses of Froude, Carlyle. Mill, etc. V, vi. The Bible in the Public Schools. Twenty -five cents eacli. IB. The Institute Song Budget. — is pages, 64 Songs, 5 full page illustrations. This will be sent post-paid in any quantity for Fifteen Cents a Copy. 14. The Diadem of School Songs, by Wm. Tillinghast, with a Complete System of Instruction, and pieces adapted to every occasion. 160 pages, boards. Fifty Cents. 15. Ryan's School Record —The entire record of a school may be kept without copying and a weekly report sent home each week at the expense per term of 14 weeks for 56 upils, of Fifty Cents. 16. The Peabody Class Record, a unique system of per- manent class reports. The plan of ruling and cutting must be seen to be appreciated. It saves time as no other can. No. l, 5x9 inches, loo pages, $1.00; No. 2, 8xl0>£ inches, $1.50. IT. Shaw's Scholar's Register.— The recitation is mark- ed by the pupil in lead pencil. The teacher marks the changes with ink. makes the average for the week and car- ries it to the abstract. Siwcimens Six Cents,- per dozen Fifty Cents. IS. Commissioners' Certificates.— We now print the cer- tificates issued to teachers by nearly all the commissioners of the State. We print the name of the Commissioner, county and District, and bind in books of one-hundred each of any grade wanted. One Dollar per boolc. Postage Fifteen Cents. 19. Complete Illustrated Catalogue of these and the rest of the School Bulletin Publications. Mailed to any ad- dress on receipt of two three cent stamps. Davis, Bardeen & Co , Publishers, Syracuse, N. Y.