UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 ON TEACHING 
 
 ITS ENDS AND MEANS.
 
 ON TEACHING: 
 
 ITS ENDS AND MEANS. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY CALDERWOOD, LL.D., F.R.S.E. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, 
 AND CHAIRMAN OF THE EDINBURGH SCHOOL BOARD. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 
 
 FOURTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 1875.
 
 Education 
 Library 
 
 C ) 
 (Q15 
 
 TO 
 THE MEMBERS OP THE FIRST SCHOOL BOARD 
 
 FOR THE CITY OF EDINBURGH, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 BY ITS CHAIRMAN, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 404515
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 little volume is published with the 
 view of aiding young teachers in their 
 work It is designed to indicate what I think 
 are usually regarded as the true ends of teach- 
 ing, and to give such hints as to methods 
 suitable for attaining these ends, as may prove 
 suggestive to those who are in daily practice. 
 If these brief discussions direct observation 
 upon important points in procedure, and give 
 form to reflection upon the occurrences of the 
 School-room, they will have gained their 
 primary design. 
 
 If this slight contribution to the cause of 
 Education afford besides some encouragement 
 to the Head Masters of our Primary Schools 
 in their efforts to promote the higher branches 
 of common instruction, and to aim at the
 
 viii PREFA CE. 
 
 higher results of teaching, I shall have addi- 
 tional satisfaction, as I am well aware that it 
 is the desire of the Head Masters to guide 
 their Assistant Teachers and Pupil Teachers 
 in striving after an ideal much above what the 
 Code prescribes and promises to reward. 
 
 Only one thing more I venture to name as an 
 end which may be in some measure gained by 
 a publication of this kind. I have often had 
 occasion to remark the desire of parents to 
 reach some clear conviction as to the best 
 methods for forming the character of their 
 children. I am not without hope that the 
 hints here offered to Teachers may to some 
 extent meet the requirements of a still wider 
 circle. Should this be the case, I shall be 
 specially thankful on account of the import- 
 ance to be attached to a sound home-training 
 as the true support of school-training. 
 
 As one who has spent a large portion of his 
 life in professional teaching, and has been 
 engaged in all forms of it, I would express the 
 hope that under the new order of things in- 
 augurated by the Education Act, we may see
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 an advance in our whole system of education, 
 specially the attainment of a uniform and 
 graduated plan, under which National Schools, 
 and those Schools maintained by private en- 
 terprise, or under public trust, may work well 
 together, and in which primary instruction for 
 the neglected may have as its accompaniment 
 
 higher education for all. 
 
 H. C. 
 
 EDINBURGH, 17th November 1874.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION, .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT, . . . . 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE, . . 24 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 INSTRUCTION, . . . ... 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER, . . 72 
 
 CONCLUSION, . . 108 

 
 TEACHING: 
 
 ITS ENDS AND MEANS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TJTVERY one recognises that a person can 
 -L^ teach only what he knows. This is at 
 once so clear and so important, that there is 
 some risk of the opinion becoming general 
 that teaching is merely the communication of 
 so much knowledge. The progress of educa- 
 tion in a country does not lessen the danger 
 of general approval being given to such a view, 
 but rather increases it. In organizing a National 
 System of Education, and providing guarantees 
 for its efficiency, we are inevitably tempted to 
 narrow the sphere of education to the limits 
 within which our tests are available. The 
 examination test is far from being a complete 
 test of educational results. Yet it is upon this 
 we are constrained mainly to rely when we 
 would take measures to secure a high standard 
 of teaching. Consequently, from the earliest 
 A
 
 2 ON TEACHING. 
 
 stages of preparation for the profession, the 
 young teacher has abundant inducement to 
 think that everything depends upon the 
 amount of knowledge he acquires, and the 
 amount he afterwards communicates. The 
 course of preparatory study favours this view. 
 The fixed curriculum, the uniform examina- 
 tions, the standards of excellence, the certifi- 
 cates of first, second, and third class, intended 
 to indicate professional rank all of them quite 
 essential, every one will allow tend to en- 
 courage the conviction that education is con- 
 cerned only with knowledge. The certificated 
 teacher has the requisite amount of instruction, 
 and is by inference a competent instructor. He 
 has attained what is essential for professional 
 engagement. 
 
 Teachers need to guard themselves against 
 this narrowing of their professional aims, and 
 dwarfing of their own intellectual and moral 
 nature. Many and weighty are the considera- 
 tions which should lead members of the pro- 
 fession to support each other in maintaining a 
 higher ideal of professional life. Happily many 
 of our teachers are alive to the danger, and 
 anxious to guard against it. 
 
 Even if the end of teaching be restricted to 
 the communication of knowledge, it is plain 
 that the possession of so much information is 
 not the only requirement for instructing others. 
 Knowledge of grammar, geography, history, 
 and modern languages does not constitute any 
 one a professional educator. While yet on the 
 benches of the students' class-room, the candi-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 dates for office are constantly led to distinguish 
 between knowledge and teaching power. They 
 find a difference among instructors. It is not 
 always the man who knows most who proves 
 himself the best instructor. The beginner in 
 teaching needs to carry with him the recollec- 
 tion of this difference. When he passes from 
 the students' bench to the position of command 
 on the floor of the class-room, he obtains fresh 
 evidence every day that much more is wanted 
 there, than is implied in drawing upon his 
 stores of information. The test of practice 
 brings out what written examinations had not 
 previously discovered, but had rather obscured. 
 New demands come with the practical work of 
 teaching. He must be his own teacher in the 
 art of teaching, while he is engaged in the 
 practice. Even by his failures, as well as by 
 such success as he is able to command at first, 
 he must learn to rise to higher success. To 
 perceive the need for this is the truest be- 
 ginning. 
 
 The learning to which I refer is something 
 very different from the continued study of 
 books. Such study will secure a fuller know- 
 ledge and a higher culture, but the learning 
 which is even more needful for the teacher is 
 to be gathered by practice in teaching under 
 carefully maintained self-observation. He who 
 would succeed as a teacher must be a censor 
 over his own practice. He must be thoroughly 
 interested and observant as to his own success. 
 As Dr. Arnold admirably said, when inquiring 
 about a master, " I prefer activity of mind and
 
 4 ON TEACHING. 
 
 an interest in his work to high scholarship, for 
 the one may be acquired far more easily than 
 the other." l 
 
 Further, however, it must be considered that 
 the communication of information is not the 
 sole end of teaching. A simple test may satisfy 
 any one that a higher task has been by common 
 consent assigned to the teacher. If the pupils 
 of any school are rude, reckless, and riotous, 
 the school management bears some consider- 
 able amount of blame. The common verdict 
 in such a case is quite decided. Public opinion 
 expects more than knowledge as the result of 
 school attendance. The more this matter is 
 considered the more obvious it will become 
 that the expectation is just. I do not say 
 that the teacher is always fairly judged in this 
 relation, nor do I say that the expectations of 
 parents are always reasonable. Home training 
 is the earliest training, and all teachers are in 
 some degree dependent on what that training 
 has been. Deficiency here shows itself quickly 
 at school. It is unreasonable to expect that 
 school training can altogether make up for 
 neglect or mismanagement at home. No doubt 
 the school must somehow or other protect itself 
 from the evil consequences which flow in upon 
 it because of a break-down in home rule. In 
 such cases, however, a burden is thrown upon 
 the teacher which he should not in fairness have 
 had to bear. Accepting, however, his responsi- 
 bilities, encumbered with all the disadvantages 
 
 1 Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D.D., by 
 Rev. A. P. Stanley, D.D., vol. i. p. 92.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 which may gather around him, the teacher 
 undertakes to exercise supervision over the 
 deportment and conduct of the pupils. 
 
 The combination of such supervision with 
 instruction is the greatest service the teacher 
 can render to families and to the State. In 
 the humblest sphere the teacher may claim 
 this great work as his own. In a National 
 System of education, proper training of the 
 children becomes an important end. Modern 
 civilisation wisely rejects the Platonic idea, 
 that children should be more the children of 
 the State than of their parents. The unity of 
 national life is found to be most secure in the 
 recognition of the sacredness of family life. 
 At the same time, however, we can see the 
 loftiness of aim and motive which made 
 Socrates and Plato seek the good of the State, 
 in the goodness of her citizens. In this we 
 reach the root-idea, made grandly conspicuous 
 by the Christian system, that goodness of 
 character is the end of life. The teacher, 
 then, seeks a grand result when he labours to 
 contribute towards the formation of good 
 character in the young, helping them to fight 
 bravely against temptation, and to persevere in 
 the way of rectitude through all difficulties. 
 
 The National Compulsory System of educa- 
 tion, now fortunately secured for Scotland, 
 suggests another point. The State has charged 
 itself with enforcing the primary education of 
 all the children in the land. This it has done, 
 expressly with the view of meeting an ad- 
 mitted difficulty of vast magnitude, perplexing
 
 6 02V TEACHING. 
 
 to statesmen, philanthropists, and all students 
 of the social problems of our age. Compulsory 
 primary education is avowedly adopted as the 
 best instrument for attempting to cope with 
 the alarming increase of dissoluteness and vice. 
 There is no statesman no thinker of any type 
 who believes that good reading and counting 
 and writing will exercise a spell stronger than 
 the lures to profligacy. What the nation is 
 looking for is a sound moral training, along 
 with instruction, and by means of all the 
 accompaniments naturally attendant on the 
 instructor's work. 1 If the nation is disap- 
 pointed in this, it loses the higher of the re- 
 sults it looked for when setting in motion a 
 complicated and expensive machinery. It has 
 given the whole teaching profession a higher 
 status an immense gain in itself but, by the 
 same act, it has imposed a more extended and 
 more visible responsibility upon the profession. 
 The success of school training is to be tested 
 by the moral condition of the nation in after 
 years. The nation desires not merely that the 
 memory of the children be well stored, but that 
 the intellect be developed, and habits formed 
 which may remain as capital to draw from 
 when the work of life must be done. The 
 great difficulty of our modern civilisation, bred 
 
 1 The German view of this matter is well put in these 
 words : " Primary instruction shall have for its aim to 
 develop the faculties of the soul, the reason, the senses, 
 and the bodily strength." Quoted in M. Victor Cousin's 
 Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia,, 
 Miss Austin's translation, p. 55.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 of our keen competitions, clash of interests, 
 crowding together of multitudes of people, and 
 consequent craving for excitement, is a waning 
 morality. It meets us in all the narrow lanes 
 of our cities lanes which we Scotch naturally 
 describe as " closes." In these piles of build- 
 ing, vice rather than poverty spreads out the 
 signs of human wretchedness. In these shelters 
 of misery multitudes of children have all that 
 they can call a "home." The attractions of 
 home priceless to us are altogether un- 
 known to them. From their earliest days 
 they have a hard and hardening life. Their 
 chances of comfort and respectability are few. 
 What the nation desires is, that skilful and 
 kindly teaching extend to them the chance 
 which they should otherwise altogether miss. 
 Mainly for the sake of these children has our 
 national compulsory system of education sprung 
 into being. The primary education of the 
 humbler classes in other spheres was compara- 
 tively well attended to, though that also will 
 share in the gain coming with more popular 
 and responsible management of our school 
 system. But now special arrangements have 
 been made that the little sufferers from 
 parental neglect and profligacy have education 
 provided for them. It is benevolently de- 
 signed, and wisely projected in the interests 
 of the children, and of all classes in the com- 
 munity. All concerned in the matter, parents 
 who are alive to the interests of their children, 
 members of our School Boards, who will care 
 for those who are not cared for by their
 
 8 ON TEACHING. 
 
 natural guardians, teachers of our public 
 schools, with all members of the profession, 
 and the public generally, must desire to see 
 education in the truest and widest sense pro- 
 vided in our primary schools. Ultimately 
 success must depend upon intelligent and 
 hearty co-operation of School Boards and 
 Teachers. With this view it is needful that we 
 recognise that training, as well as instruction, 
 is to be aimed at. The task of training those 
 children who are not only altogether neglected 
 at home, but sadly ill-used, will no doubt be a 
 difficult one. It is not, however, an unreason- 
 able task which is assigned to the teacher in 
 this case, but so far as its nature is concerned, 
 the common task of all school teaching, and 
 one for which the teacher is in every way 
 competent. 
 
 Some may object that this assigns more to 
 the teacher than belongs to him. On the con- 
 trary, success in the ordinary course of teach- 
 ing implies all this. Truthfulness, honesty, 
 and self-denial are as needful in the discipline 
 of the school as in the regulation of the affairs 
 of life. They must be secured by the prefer- 
 ence of the children themselves, if the teacher 
 is not to be daily hampered with the need for 
 enforcing right action by an exercise of autho- 
 rity in particular cases. Each successive day 
 of school life must tend to develop the virtues 
 of moral character among all the children, if 
 teaching is to proceed with success. If good 
 conduct is extorted only under force of autho- 
 rity, or even by a form of bribery, the work is
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 poorly done. Right actions must be admired 
 by the children themselves, and be done by 
 them as occasion requires, because of their re- 
 cognised goodness, else there is an unnecessary 
 and wasteful strain upon the educational 
 machinery. All educational appliances work 
 at a disadvantage when the effort of the teacher 
 is not supported by a basis of character in the 
 scholars. Hence a great deal is done in the 
 earliest stages of education if a large amount 
 of time is bestowed upon training the children 
 in habits of self-government. Ingenuity may 
 be exercised in discovering the most agreeable 
 and varied methods of attempting this, but the 
 thing itself must be done. The earlier it is be- 
 gun the easier is the task ; the more thoroughly 
 it is done in the opening years of school life, 
 the more rapid the progress in after years. 
 But at no time in an educational course can 
 the teacher wisely surrender all regard to the 
 influence he is exercising upon the character of 
 his pupils. In maturer years, when learning 
 for its own sake may be expected from those 
 who present themselves for instruction, we may 
 reasonably expect that foundation-work is not 
 to be done in morals, any more than in 
 instruction, but even then no teacher can do 
 his utmost for his pupils unless it is made ob- 
 vious to them that he reckons on character, 
 and deals with them on the assumption of its 
 possession. 
 
 If all this be admitted, it must be clear that 
 weight of moral character is essential for high 
 success in teaching. The teacher can exercise
 
 10 ON TEACHING. 
 
 influence over the scholars only according to 
 what is in himself. He cannot lift them higher 
 than he is himself, or induce them to attempt 
 to reach an eminence which he is not himself 
 striving to attain. Far above every other 
 consideration, as a pledge of success in profes- 
 sional work, is the possession of high moral 
 character.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 
 
 SELF-CONTROL is the first requisite for suc- 
 cess in teaching. The work of governing 
 even the youngest children requires government 
 of one's-self. A man must have his powers under 
 command, if others are to have the full benefit 
 of his guidance. This rule holds in all spheres. 
 It is essential for a high standard of success in 
 any profession. Only in this way can the 
 physician give his patient the full benefit of 
 his knowledge and skill. On this condition 
 alone can a man sway an audience with any 
 share of that power which belongs to the 
 orator. On no other condition can a teacher in 
 reality become master over his scholars. Self- 
 command is essential even for teaching a single 
 child, much more when a person must govern, 
 in order to teach, large numbers of children. 
 
 Another phase of this rule is seen when 
 things are looked at from the children's point 
 of view. The youngest children are quick in 
 
 observation. They readily discover what de- 
 
 11
 
 12 ON TEACHING. 
 
 gree of control is maintained by those over 
 them. Guided by their own observations, 
 they quietly submit to be governed only in so 
 far as they recognise the elements of governing 
 power in their superiors. Fond of liberty, 
 prone to catch at a passing opportunity for 
 diversion, children are quick in taking ad- 
 vantage of any deficiency in the power of 
 command, any laxity in the exercise of control, 
 or want of observation. These characteristics 
 are so uniform that they cannot be overlooked. 
 He who would succeed as a teacher must 
 recognise them, must enjoy their comical 
 side, and not merely be disturbed by the test 
 to which they subject himself, but must 
 utilize them so as to make them contribute 
 towards government. The restlessness of 
 children is inevitable, their .fondness for fun 
 is delightfully helpful in saving school work 
 from prosaic monotony. In harmony with 
 these admissions, they must be governed. He 
 who would control them easily and wisely 
 must keep himself in harmony with the chil- 
 dren, which certainly implies that he keep 
 himself in good humour, and shun irritation. 
 
 School government must be a reign of 
 justice. It must be recognised as such by the 
 pupils, and honoured by them accordingly. 
 For this self-control in the teacher is the one 
 essential. Deficiency in self-command will 
 speedily unsettle the very foundations of 
 discipline. It will lead to frequent examples 
 of injustice in the use of authority, which 
 more than anything else risks the discipline of
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 13 
 
 the school. Resentment, which naturally arises 
 under consciousness of injustice, is roused 
 in the hearts of the scholars. No obstacle to 
 chool-management could be more serious. 
 The sense of right is opposed to existing 
 authority, which is as perilous for the School 
 as for the State. It is easy to conceive how 
 detrimental to school-order this must be. Every 
 one who has had anything to do with teaching 
 understands it. Some of the pupils are swayed 
 by a feeling of irritation against their teacher, 
 signs appear of a disposition to make game of 
 the lessons, the teacher becomes restless, in 
 an excited manner he challenges first one, then 
 another ; he threatens to do a good deal more 
 than he carries out, and at last he is hurried 
 into an angry castigation of some of his pupils 
 without complete certainty of his position. 
 His cane has been rattling mercilessly on the 
 table, disturbing the nerves of everybody 
 within hearing, but now it comes down upon 
 the pupils in a style so unguarded that every 
 one of them feels he needs to look out for his 
 safety. Not unfrequently at such times scholars 
 are punished, not for any fault of their own, 
 but simply on account of the want of self-com- 
 mand in their teacher. The recollection of 
 my own blundering in this way makes it easy 
 to describe the scene ; and the painfulness of 
 the recollection greatly strengthens the desire 
 I feel to contribute in some degree to the help 
 of those who have to pass through the ordeal 
 connected with the attainment of self-control. 
 A teacher cannot hope altogether to maintain
 
 14 ON TEACHING. 
 
 the calmness which implies an absence of all 
 nervous excitement, but he must seek that calm 
 which is gained in the absence of anger, and 
 which admits of clear outlook and reflection. 
 
 Here, however, as in most things, a certain 
 amount of painfulness must be expected in 
 acquiring experience. The beginner must look 
 for this, and, aided by the anticipation, bear 
 quietly without dragging the children into a 
 share of his uneasiness. To be without estab- 
 lished habits of government, and yet be under 
 the necessity of regulating the conduct and 
 instruction of a troop of children, is a position 
 of acknowledged difficulty. Every one admits 
 this, and therefore complete success in school- 
 management at the outset is not to be expected. 
 Teaching would be altogether an exception to 
 ordinary rule, if practice did not favour im- 
 provement. The teacher has experience to 
 acquire, and it must be gathered in the school- 
 room. In order to acquire it as rapidly as 
 possible, a teacher needs observation and tact 
 to apply his resources to the ends he has in 
 view. No study of books, however valuable 
 they be, and however helpful their suggestions, 
 can suffice. No degree of reflection on the 
 discussions submitted to review, important as 
 such reflection is for gaining benefit from the 
 experience of others, can meet the demands of 
 the teacher's life. He must make a beginning 
 for himself must face his own difficulties 
 (probably thinking that nearly the worst speci- 
 mens of juvenile humanity have fallen into his 
 hands), must proceed through the midst of
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. l.> 
 
 mingled failures and successes, must note his 
 blunders, and learn from them, as well as 
 accept gladly the encouragement found in suc- 
 cess. Only by slow degrees can dexterity in 
 professional duty be attained. The real tests 
 of advance are found in the measure in which 
 intelligence and not feeling, justice and not 
 temper, kindness and not mere force, have 
 determined the management of classes. Upon 
 all these things a teacher must carefully ad- 
 judicate, not as the scholars judge, by their 
 own comfort or misery, but deciding how far 
 the practice has been in conformity with the 
 ideal which he keeps before his mind. In pro- 
 portion as that ideal is lofty, and his purpose 
 resolute, will be the freshness of interest 
 with which he daily returns to work. He must 
 throw off the burdensome sense of past failures; 
 he must save his pupils from a painful inherit- 
 ance from previous irritations, and seek by 
 new efforts some conquest over temper and 
 feeling, with freer use of his own intellect and 
 conscience. 
 
 For success here, it is necessary to recognise 
 the conditions which are unfavourable, but 
 inevitable, and which must therefore be ac- 
 cepted. The bustle of the school is no doubt 
 the reverse of favourable to a quiet spirit, but 
 it is unavoidable. There are circumstances in 
 which it would be a marvel if a man were 
 anything but calm; the circumstances of 
 the teacher are such as to make calmness 
 specially difficult, and yet his duties make it 
 essential. It is natural to wish for quiet when
 
 16 ON TEACHING. 
 
 a difficult thing is to be done, but the teacher 
 cannot have it. He may as well ask that 
 difficulties be changed into simplicities. Hear- 
 ing one read, and at the same time observing 
 scores of others around, he must have an eye 
 open for every movement, an ear for every 
 sound, and yet he must carry forward without 
 allowance for obstruction the real work of the 
 school. 
 
 Further, it must be expected that the 
 teacher's work will vary in difficulty according 
 to the sphere which he occupies. The teacher 
 cannot get pupils "made to order" in any 
 case. But, granting that diversity of disposi- 
 tion is to be expected among pupils in all 
 schools, the task of teaching becomes increas- 
 ingly arduous according to the increase of 
 numbers and deficiency of home-training. 
 The degree of self-command which may be 
 ample for the management of a class of thirty 
 boys who have been long accustomed to the 
 discipline of school life, may be utterly un- 
 equal to the task of governing a mixed school 
 of two or three hundred children. Wider 
 range of observation is required, far greater 
 tact in adaptation to the greater variety of 
 demands, and withal there is a greater waste 
 of brain and nerve energy, directly tending 
 to increased irritability. A lower range of 
 attainment may suffice for the teacher of a 
 primary school than for the teacher of the 
 highest classes in an advanced school ; but the 
 teacher of the primary school will find a 
 heavier demand made upon breadth of moral
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 17 
 
 power and upon organizing and administrative 
 ability than falls upon the teachers of the 
 higher subjects of instruction. In fact, it must 
 be recognised by our School Boards, and 
 should be considered by teachers in judging of 
 personal adaptation to various forms of work, 
 that pre-eminent ability of one type is wanted 
 for the government of our larger primary 
 schools, and pre-eminent ability of another 
 type for those who are to guide studies in 
 classics, mathematics, and the higher literature. 
 Pre-eminence in either field must carry with 
 it a high remuneration. In the primary 
 school, payment must be not only for what a 
 man knows, but in addition for power of 
 government, without which no eminence in 
 attainment can suffice. 
 
 Returning now to what is common to all 
 teachers, I would remark that speciality of 
 disposition in a few of the pupils is likely to 
 make a special demand on the self-control 
 attained by the teacher. Specialities increase 
 difficulties. This is apparent in the relation be- 
 tween school-management and self-government. 
 All children cannot be governed on exactly 
 the same model ; the more peculiar the child 
 in bent and emotional nature, the more con- 
 sideration he requires from the teacher. If 
 such consideration is to be given, and recog- 
 nised specialities are not to be swallowed up 
 in the mass, an additional strain is put on 
 self-command. Your peculiar children are 
 certain to discover their peculiarities at the 
 most inconvenient times. When any such 
 B
 
 18 ON TEACHING. 
 
 turn comes, it must not be got over in a rough 
 and ready way. Nothing has worth here 
 which is not the result of thought. Hurry 
 may do grievous hurt. Skill in teaching may 
 be largely increased by the need for occasional 
 consideration of the most judicious, discriminat- 
 ing treatment of difficult cases. More careful 
 reflection is required for the proper manage- 
 ment of a fiery spirit than can ever be needful 
 in the training of a gentle nature. There is 
 more test of a teacher's power in the attempt 
 to govern a stubborn child, and to help him in 
 honest efforts to govern himself, than in long 
 superintendence of the amiable. Whatever 
 the variety of disposition presented, the first 
 requisite for success in dealing with it is self- 
 command. This is only partially established if 
 it be equal to nothing more than the govern- 
 ment of the more pliable class of pupils. A 
 teacher should accept a specially difficult case, 
 as a valuable test of his progress in professional 
 skill. Successfully managed, it not only 
 strains but strengthens a teacher's power. 
 Every child in the school reaps the advantage 
 of such a victory ; submission to discipline is 
 more effectually established, and fresh influence 
 is gathered for future advantage to all. There 
 is thus a sense in which the bad cases are the 
 best cases, as I really believe that the most 
 troublesome of boys may turn out the best of 
 men. As a physician will concentrate his 
 interest on a critical illness, and feel a peculiar 
 joy in bringing his patient through ; as counsel 
 intrusted with the duty of placing a compli-
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 10 
 
 cated claim before the Court will set himself 
 to master its details, and marshal the 
 weightiest arguments ; as a minister of religion 
 will feel his mind attracted towards one as- 
 sailed with doubts, striving to bring light in 
 upon the darkness ; so will the true teacher feel 
 deep interest in seeking to prove the instructor 
 and guide of one who resents and resists every 
 form of control. A passionate child, whose 
 anger rises on the slightest offence from a 
 neighbour; a boy who will stand unmoved 
 while repeating a series of falsehoods to screen 
 himself from suspicion; a pupil who will 
 greedily snatch at a passing opportunity for 
 cheating a companion, will be the object of 
 concern to a teacher, and often engage his 
 private reflection. Corporal punishment does 
 not afford the direct line to success ; a teacher's 
 task is not so simple as this would imply. 
 There is no specific for the cure of all diseases, 
 and there is no single method for correcting 
 all the faults of children. Faults are not 
 merely to be put down, but the dispositions 
 from which they originate are to be rooted 
 out and supplanted. Skill more than force is 
 wanted for this ; reflection more than flogging, 
 which might be done by a machine by "a 
 thrashing-mill," as an ingenious school-fellow 
 named a teacher given to the rough and ready 
 use of the strap. Leather may be a useful 
 commodity, but it is not a substitute for 
 thought. Punishment may awaken fear, and 
 fear may help reflection ; but everything de- 
 pends upon the justice of the punishment, and
 
 20 ON TEACHING. 
 
 its adaptation to the case. Fear may suppress 
 a threatened outbreak of anger, but it is in- 
 sufficient to overcome the irritable disposition, 
 as the teacher may see by a glance into the 
 playground. Terror may drive back a false- 
 hood from the tongue, but it may also afford a 
 motive for the practice of deceit. The boy who 
 will not cheat when there is risk of detection, 
 may cheat with alacrity when advantage is 
 certain. A reign of terror may thus encourage 
 cowardice and cunning. For success in train- 
 ing others there is no easier method than the 
 arduous task of self-government, reflection, and 
 carefully devised experiments illustrating how 
 those who are younger may become better. 
 
 When self-government has been attained in 
 some considerable measure, the young teacher 
 has the one grand essential for success in school- 
 practice. Command of a school then becomes 
 an easier thing, making allowance always for 
 such occasional perplexities as are incident to 
 all forms of effort. Children, recognising the 
 power of command as a reality existing in the 
 midst of them, never think of experimenting 
 on the probability of a break-down. This oc- 
 casions the difference recognised in a school 
 when a stranger steps into command, and when 
 the teacher is present who has established him- 
 self in the confidence of the pupils. In the 
 latter case the children know that they have a 
 strong hand over them, and they experience 
 the comfort of settled government. Without 
 self-command in the teacher, no amount of
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT, 21 
 
 attainment will suffice to gain the respect and 
 submission of the children. At the early 
 stages of school life there is small reverence for 
 learning. I shall never forget the warning on 
 this subject which stands out before me from 
 my recollections of school days. Our teacher 
 was a gentleman of large attainments, and vast 
 energy of character, with immense muscular 
 power, but, unfortunately for himself and us, 
 an irritable temper. He was in no wise re- 
 strained by the new-fangled notions adverse to 
 corporal punishment. If sternness of manner 
 and severity of chastisement could have de- 
 terred boys from disturbing a master, he should 
 have dwelt in perfect peace. Instead of this, 
 his life and ours were subjected to constant 
 worry. The scourging went on hotly each day, 
 and the disorder roared around in the grandest 
 style. He was fond of a good implement, 
 which would swing well round his shoulders, 
 and come firmly down upon ours. This he 
 found in a strap, which he applied with the 
 buckle-end, after the strap had been drawn 
 through the buckle. Soon after the school had 
 been opened for the day, the din began to rise ; 
 his eyes wandered about excitedly, his fingers 
 twitched nervously around the belt ; speedily 
 some poor unfortunate was observed com- 
 mitting a trivial offence, for which in ordinary 
 circumstances a word of rebuke would have 
 been ample punishment, but the teacher was 
 incapable of resting with moderate measures ; 
 this youth's fault gave occasion for the inevit-
 
 22 OA T TEACHING. 
 
 able outbreak ; the " strapping" process began, 
 and soon became general, to the mingled con- 
 sternation and delight of most of us, who 
 dreaded a " whack," but exulted in a " row." 
 Government in such circumstances became 
 hopeless. Worst of all, the teacher was often 
 at fault in the distribution of his merciless 
 strokes. The love of fair play awoke sym- 
 pathy for the innocent sufferer, and enmity 
 .against the teacher. Once a book was thrown 
 at the master by some one more daring than 
 the rest. In his fury the teacher rushed upon 
 one of the pupils and belaboured him. Un- 
 fortunately, he had selected the wrong boy. 
 Things reached their climax. The actual 
 transgressor stepped out on the floor, his face 
 glowing with indignation, while he shouted : 
 " Why do you strike him 1 He did nothing. 
 I threw the book." The scene of application 
 was changed. The strap now flew round the 
 proper shoulders, but a fight ensued, in which 
 the teacher had the worst of it morally, if not 
 physically. Teaching in such circumstances 
 was hopeless, and the attempt soon came to 
 an end. The teacher abandoned the profession, 
 entered upon a business life, and afterwards 
 rose to eminence in it. Self-command, if it be 
 only made a primary consideration with the 
 teacher, will save from perplexities unimagined 
 by those who have not witnessed scenes of 
 disorder at school. Nowhere can a man be 
 more thoroughly tormented in our day than in 
 the school-room, if he lack power of command.
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 23 
 
 There are few spheres in which one can have 
 a more important field of usefulness, with in- 
 terest to himself, and ample encouragement, if 
 only he understand how to command others. 
 For this the very first requisite undoubtedly 
 is, that he be able thoroughly to command 
 himself.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 
 
 FROM self-control we pass naturally to the 
 management of the scholars. With the 
 teacher, self-command is a means to a recog- 
 nised end. He governs himself in order that 
 he may the better govern others. We are 
 here concerned with the practical aspects of 
 school government. Such government exists 
 for the two ends of instructing and training the 
 children. All school arrangements must point 
 towards these two results. 
 
 For successful government there must be 
 harmony with the nature of the children. 
 Regard must be had to their intelligence, and 
 also to the motive forces which both quicken 
 their intellectual life and sway their conduct. 
 Bad motives will also be found playing their 
 pernicious part, and suitable methods must be 
 adopted to check their play. All this is in- 
 volved in the maintenance of a healthy school 
 discipline. The task is not an easy one, any 
 more than the work of self-control. But the
 
 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 25 
 
 performance of it is an essential condition for 
 successful teaching. The patience and dis- 
 crimination requisite must be cultivated by all 
 who aim at an honourable place in the pro- 
 fession. 
 
 And here it is to be observed that school 
 government must proceed not only in the midst 
 of lesson-learning, but while the lessons receive 
 the chief attention. This secondary position, 
 so far as arrangement and outward appearance 
 go, must not be overlooked as that which be- 
 longs to the essential matter of government. 
 The teacher is at all times engaged instructing, 
 as if that were his only work, but he is covertly 
 and by necessity governing all the while. It 
 is in every way better for himself and for all 
 the scholars if this latter exercise do not be- 
 come very conspicuous. It best serves its end 
 when it is quite secondary on the field of ob- 
 servation. Teaching does not exist for the 
 sake of discipline, but discipline for the sake of 
 teaching. Like the instrumental accompani- 
 ment to a song, it attends upon the teaching, 
 supporting it throughout. This subordinate 
 position is thoroughly compatible with effi- 
 ciency ; for discipline is not to be secured by 
 complicated methods such as might largely 
 engross the attention of the teacher. Govern- 
 ment with the least possible manifestation of 
 care and effort is that which is most easily 
 established. Once established, it accomplishes 
 its object with the silent consent of all con- 
 cerned. 
 
 The chief interest at this point gathers
 
 26 ON TEACHING. 
 
 around the question, What are the best 
 methods for securing discipline ? The teacher 
 must have it clearly and finally settled in his 
 own mind what are the conditions on which 
 he can hope to sway a company of children. 
 Such sway can be obtained only by taking 
 account of what the children naturally look 
 for in a superior, in order that they may re- 
 spect and trust him. They want to see quietly 
 and consistently the evidence not only of supe- 
 rior knowledge, but also of practical wisdom 
 and of warm genuine sympathy. No one 
 among them could tell in so many words what 
 they wish to find in their teacher, but these 
 are the things they are all alike feeling after. 
 The teacher, then, must look at the scholars, 
 teach them in every subject, and control them 
 in their procedure, under constant recognition 
 of the facts that they are amenable to reason 
 and to good feeling, and are all anxious to 
 live in the good opinion of their teacher. By 
 these considerations he must be ruled, if he is 
 to find it a reasonably easy task to keep order 
 among a host of children. 
 
 It may not be unnecessary, however, to sug- 
 gest here that a teacher needs to guard himself 
 against the tendency to expect the impossible. 
 He aims at the most complete order and quiet 
 compatible with work, but he does not expect 
 absolute stillness. Children are by nature 
 restless, and that restlessness is to be allowed 
 for. It is natural, and cannot be regarded as i 
 breach of order without injustice, which must 
 result in cruelty to the children, and must
 
 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 27 
 
 imperil discipline itself. The natural restless- 
 ness of youth must be considered, and school 
 arrangements adapted to it. If there is a 
 constant supply of fresh air, without exposing 
 the children to currents, and if during winter 
 a sufficient degree of warmth is at the same 
 time maintained, the physical conditions are 
 so far complied with under which children can 
 be expected to conduct themselves as if they 
 were comfortable. But still further in the 
 same direction, it is a great aid to discipline if 
 there be from time to time change of posture, 
 as well as variation in the subject of study to 
 suit the capacity of sustained attention in the 
 pupils. It is useless to theorize on such matters. 
 The observation of the teacher must decide 
 upon the times and forms of variation desir- 
 able. What we need to be delivered from in 
 such matters is a system of routine, blindly 
 ordaining that all school life be crushed within 
 cast-iron frameworks. A tramp through the 
 school-room to a good march, played on the 
 piano or harmonium, would at once change the 
 feelings of scholars growing weary with work, 
 and would secure order with greatly less toil 
 to the teacher. 1 Regard to the physical con- 
 ditions on which attention can be secured is 
 
 1 Frobel's Kindergarten system for interesting and train- 
 ing very young children deserves study. Frbbel was the 
 worthy disciple of Pestalozzi. His method is presented in 
 accessible form in a lecture by Joseph Payne, Professor of 
 the Science and Art of Education in the College of Pre- 
 ceptors, London Friibel and the Kindergarten System. 
 II. S. King and Co., London.
 
 28 ON TEACHING. 
 
 constantly required in teaching, but it is only 
 preparatory to the more important intellectual 
 and moral conditions. 
 
 Discipline is subjection to the teacher's 
 authority, in accordance with the order which 
 has been prescribed for educational ends. It 
 must be all-pervading in the work of the 
 school, but not always asserting itself. Silent 
 as the air around them, it must provide for the 
 healthy development of the children for whose 
 life-wants it is adapted. What is wanted is the 
 sense of subjection on the part of the pupils, 
 with as little as possible of the assertion of 
 authority by the teacher. 
 
 A variety of methods for swaying the action 
 of his scholars lies open to the teacher. He 
 must decide, on clear grounds, to what degree 
 he may employ any of these, and to which 
 preference should be given. Order must be 
 maintained, and to this end obedience must, if 
 needful, be enforced. The pressing question 
 is, how best to secure the desired result. By 
 looks, by words of encouragement, or by words 
 of warning and reproof, and by appropriate 
 punishment for breach of order, he may act 
 upon the determination of the scholars. The 
 teacher who would establish discipline on a 
 sure basis must decide what is the most potent 
 form of influence, and which ought, therefore, 
 to be the prevailing form in use from day to 
 day. I incline to think this may be decided 
 clearly and finally. The use of the Eye is the 
 basis of power ; only after that in point of 
 influence comes the use of the Voice, or of
 
 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 29 
 
 recognised signs, which may save the need for 
 utterance ; and only as a last resort, by all 
 means to be avoided until dire necessity lias 
 arisen, Punishment. 
 
 The power of the Eye is the primary 
 source of the teacher's influence. Only let the 
 pupils feel that the eye of the teacher runs 
 swifter to the mark than words fly to the ear, 
 and his power will be felt. The conduct 
 which is to be regulated must be observed. 
 To the extent to which this is possible, every- 
 thing done in the school must be under the 
 eye of the teacher. To forget this, or to be- 
 come indifferent to the need for it, is a serious 
 mistake. As a pre-requisite, it is of conse- 
 quence to have the 'scholars so placed that 
 observation is easy. Any arrangement of seats 
 which makes it difficult, involves a wilful sur- 
 render of a large part of a teacher's power, 
 and at the same time of the children's benefit. 
 The eye is much more the expression of all 
 that the teacher is than the best-chosen words 
 can be. The scholars can understand it more 
 quickly than they can understand words, and 
 there is nothing for which the eye is more 
 available than the expression of satisfaction or 
 dissatisfaction with what is seen. The eye is 
 hardly misinterpreted by one who observes its 
 play. In addition, it is the most quick and 
 most silent of messengers. There is no quicker 
 telegraph for the school-room, and it is practi- 
 cally free from risk of error in communication. 
 Without the slightest interruption to school 
 work, the eye conveys more encouragement,
 
 30 ON TEACHING. 
 
 warning, and rebuke than there could be time 
 to utter. To leave all this uncommunicated 
 would be an unspeakable loss of influence. 
 Through the eye an unexpressed, but clearly 
 recognised, understanding is gradually estab- 
 lished between master and pupil, which greatly 
 aids school management. Connected with this 
 form of control there is all the advantage of 
 comparative secrecy in the midst of public pro- 
 cedure. It serves all the ends of a cipher in 
 telegraphic communication ; and in school life 
 private influence upon a single mind is of vast 
 consequence. The teacher is constantly occu- 
 pied in public exercises, yet more than most 
 men he needs opportunity for communicating 
 hints of purely personal application, which 
 are best conveyed when they reach the person 
 concerned without knowledge of those around. 
 This holds specially of those timely warnings 
 which are to check the beginning of wrong- 
 doing. To utter every warning to a child in 
 the hearing of all his companions would be to 
 blunt the edge of the warning itself. In many 
 cases the calling of general attention to what 
 is being done would throw the mind of the 
 offender into an attitude of defence, altogether 
 unfavourable. A warning conveyed by a look 
 gives the pupil all the advantage of profiting 
 by it without injury to self-respect. Encourage- 
 ment thus conveyed gives a great additional 
 impulse, carrying a consciousness of a certain 
 advance in the good opinion of the teacher, 
 without the fact giving rise to pride, as it 
 might otherwise do. On these grounds, it can
 
 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 31 
 
 be maintained that the eye is the vehicle 
 of the quickest, widest, kindest, and most 
 stimulating influence which a teacher can em- 
 ploy. If children while within school only be 
 conscious that the eye of the teacher runs every- 
 where, they become insensibly convinced of his 
 power, and yield to it without a thought of 
 opposition. 
 
 Next in order of influence is the teacher's 
 Voice. For mere purposes of discipline it cannot 
 be so frequently in use as the eye. It must be 
 more commonly appropriated to the work of 
 general instruction. When used to promote 
 discipline, the voice should convey the same 
 lesson to all the scholars. In this way the 
 teacher's voice should be a training power for 
 the whole school. But words to be wisely used 
 in this way must be sparingly used. There is not 
 a greater mistake in this relation than to sup- 
 pose that abundance of speaking is the measure 
 of its power. Needless speaking is an offence 
 against good government, as in the scholar it 
 would be a breach of discipline. In every 
 case it should be generally felt that there was 
 real occasion for speaking. Besides, it must 
 be remembered that even appropriate counsel 
 may be overdone by frequency of repetition. 
 Warnings lose their force if they are inces- 
 santly reiterated, and this unfortunate result is 
 more rapid if they are invariably shouted at 
 the pitch of the voice. As has been well said, 
 " Nothing more impairs authority than a too 
 frequent or indiscreet use of it. If thunder 
 itself were to be continual, it would excite no
 
 32 ON TEACHING. 
 
 more terror than the noise of a mill." In- 
 cessant fault-finding involves a rapid evapora- 
 tion of moral influence. None of us likes to 
 be continually lectured, and children as natur- 
 ally and reasonably dislike it as their seniors 
 do. A very little observation will suffice to 
 convince any teacher that similar warnings 
 closely repeated become a positive disturbance 
 to the whole school. 
 
 Last in the order of consideration last, and 
 least to be resorted to in practice is Punish- 
 ment of offences. I do not exclude punish- 
 ment from consideration, nor do I see how it 
 is to be excluded from practice while the 
 teacher fulfils the functions of his office. All 
 government must be supported by the sanction 
 of punishment for wilful violation of its autho- 
 rity. While, however, this is to be admitted, 
 it is to be hoped that the schools of our country 
 are for ever freed from the reproach of an irra- 
 tional and cruel resort to corporal punishment 
 for the most trivial offences. I do not deny 
 that the old regime could point in self-vindica- 
 tion to good results secured by its rough appli- 
 ances. I do not deny that there are many I 
 myself among the number who look back on 
 the share of suffering experienced under well- 
 directed use of " the tawse " with acknowledg- 
 ment of its value. But the records which can 
 be given of scholastic punishment in years not 
 far past are undoubtedly anything but honour- 
 able to our educational skill and study of 
 human nature. When the instruments for chas- 
 tising the scholars were in constant use, their
 
 SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE. 33 
 
 very commonness made them insufficient, and 
 tempted the teacher to a baneful inventiveness 
 of new and more humiliating forms of punish- 
 ment. So it was that forms of punishment 
 utterly disgraceful came to be resorted to. I 
 can tell of a hapless boy who had the misfor- 
 tune to be seized on the occasion of a general 
 outbreak, who was ordered (on a summer day) 
 to thrust his head up the chimney, and stand 
 in the grate. To add to the ignominy, his 
 companions, who had been participators in the 
 offence, many of them ringleaders in it, were 
 invited by the teacher to laugh at the victim 
 stuck up " in durance vile," and to meet with 
 a derisive shout his reappearance among them 
 with blackened face. One cannot think of the 
 infliction of such penalties, or of the moral con- 
 sequences of their endurance, without a shudder. 
 So must one condemn all violent castigation. 
 No teacher can vindicate a blow with the fist 
 or the edge of his book. If by any chance he 
 be tempted to lift his foot, his feelings of con- 
 cern should be such as effectually to guard 
 against the recurrence of such an action. 
 Kicking does not belong to the accomplish- 
 ments in school practice. However good the 
 teaching was under the flogging regime, and 
 every one who knows anything of the history 
 of our country knows it was careful and 
 thorough, the infliction of punishment was 
 often strangely separated from reflection and 
 justice. Even though such cases as that 
 described were only of occasional occurrence, 
 it is beyond doubt that the continual resort to 
 c
 
 34 ON TEACHING. 
 
 " the tawse" led many teachers to chastise their 
 pupils more as the expression of their own 
 irritation with the condition of things under 
 their government than as a reasonable penalty 
 for the offence of the sufferer. The frequency 
 of chastisement became a temptation to the 
 teacher. As little can it be doubted that it 
 tended to harden, not to elevate, the scholars. 
 I can recall in the experience of my own school 
 life the miserable days spent under a teacher 
 seemed at times to lose all control of him- 
 self as he struck out wildly on all sides. The 
 result soon appeared in signs of general in- 
 subordination, as in another case to which I 
 have already referred. The consequence of 
 this state of things was a chronic suspicion in 
 the mind of the teacher that evil designs were 
 being harboured. This suspicion gained such 
 power over him that I have known him stand 
 behind the door, " tawse " in hand, to get a 
 speedy and favourable opportunity for venting 
 his rage upon some one suspected of plotting 
 mischief. The ruse could not be successfully 
 repeated. The scholars became suspicious in 
 turn. A precautionary peep through the chink 
 of the door preceded entrance to the room. 
 When a dark form was detected obscuring the 
 light, the door was pushed well back, and a 
 sudden leap was made into the room, which 
 baffled the master, was the source of great 
 delight to those already in their places, and 
 gave the victim a fair chance for facing round 
 and eluding the strap as it flew wildly about. 
 Things soon came to a height there. A council
 
 SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE. 35 
 
 of war was held, plotting treason against the 
 reigning authority. It was decided that " the 
 tawse" instrument of offence to us all 
 should be disposed of. On a fitting oppor- 
 tunity the strap was seized and concealed. At 
 the end of the day it was triumphantly carried 
 out of the school. How to dispose of it was a 
 temporary difficulty. An empty cab passing 
 along the street afforded a suitable receptacle. 
 Cabby, unconscious of the part he was playing, 
 peaceably carried it away. When he overhauled 
 his carriage on " the stand " that afternoon, it 
 was an unusual piece of property which was 
 added to the articles " found " one not likely 
 to be inquired after that evening. The loss of 
 " the tawse " was matter of bewilderment for 
 some days, and when at length a new strap 
 appeared in untarnished drab, without a single 
 crack, it was kept under lock and key, where, 
 to the great relief of master and pupils, it was 
 less handy for offensive purposes than was the 
 old strap, as it lay conspicuous on the desk. 
 
 Such a description may suffice to indicate 
 the grounds on which it is to be deeply 
 regretted that corporal punishment was so 
 frequent and so severe in the past. I grant, 
 however, that power of punishment must be- 
 long to the teacher. There is a theory adverse 
 to all corporal punishment, which is popular in 
 our day, and advocated by those whose experi- 
 ence and judgment entitle their opinion to 
 great weight. I must however confess myself 
 unable to acquiesce in that theory. Its advo- 
 cates have the advantage of decided support
 
 36 ON TEACHING. 
 
 from the States in the American Union, which 
 have reached the highest position in educa- 
 tional arrangements. Thus the Department of 
 Public Instruction for the City of New York 
 instructs its teachers that they " should never 
 resort to violent means, as pushing, pulling, or 
 shaking the children, in order to obtain their 
 attention." The reason given is this : " All 
 such practices constitute a kind of corporal 
 punishment, and are not only wrong in them- 
 selves, but specially prohibited by the Board." l 
 The Directory for the City of Baltimore, Mary- 
 land, is not so decidedly adverse to corporal 
 punishment, though it indicates the same aver- 
 sion to it which appears in the New York 
 Manual There is but one sentence under the 
 head of Discipline, and it is this : " The schools 
 shall be governed, as far as possible, without 
 corporal punishment ; and when such punish- 
 ment shall be necessary, it shall in no case be 
 inflicted by an Assistant, except when in 
 charge of the school in the absence of the 
 Principal." Turning from America to Prussia, 
 we find the same spirit pervading that part 
 of German legislation bearing on this subject. 
 In the General Law of 1819 on the organiza- 
 tion of Public Instruction in Prussia, 2 which 
 was minutely analysed by M. Victor Cousin in 
 
 1 A Manual of Discipline and Instruction for the Use of 
 the Teachers of the Primary and Grammar Schools. New 
 York, 1873. This is a Manual of great value in many 
 ways. 
 
 * Entwurf eines allgemeinen Gesetzes uber die Verfassung 
 des Schulwesens im preussischen Staate.
 
 SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE. 37 
 
 his Report to the French Government (1831) 
 on the state of Public Instruction in Prussia, 
 there is a distinct deliverance on punishments. 
 It is in these words : " No kind of punishment 
 which has a tendency to weaken the sentiment 
 of honour, shall, on any pretence, be inflicted : 
 corporal punishments, in case they be necessary, 
 shall be devoid of cruelty, and on no account 
 injurious either to modesty or to health." 1 
 These extracts may suffice to show the re- 
 solute and long-standing aversion to frequent 
 corporal punishment which is shared by all 
 who have pondered the educational perplexi- 
 ties surrounding this subject. And they may 
 be taken by young teachers who are conscious 
 of considerable anxiety as to maintaining their 
 authority over children, as evidence that 
 mature reflection and long experience combine 
 to prove that school discipline is dependent 
 not so much on the physical force at the 
 command of the teacher, as upon the intel- 
 lectual and moral forces at work within the 
 school. That there are offences which are 
 best dealt with by chastisement I still think ; 
 but such punishment, if at times needful, 
 should be a last resort in extreme cases. As 
 pupils advance in years, and gain in self- 
 control, such punishment should be discon- 
 tinued. Settled convictions on this subject 
 seem to me essential for the teacher. There 
 is no department of action within the school 
 where there is more need to shut off the 
 
 1 Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia, by 
 M. Victor Cousin. Translated by Sarah Austin, 1884. 
 
 404515
 
 38 ON TEACHING. 
 
 chance of acting upon momentary impulse. A 
 sound practical test of general results may be 
 put in the following form : School-government 
 is most efficient where punishment is least 
 frequent. Laxity of discipline may indeed 
 square with this test for a short time, but not 
 for many weeks, for there is nothing more 
 cruel than the frequent punishment which is 
 the inevitable result of unreasonable laxity ; 
 hence the children themselves grow sick of 
 good-natured pithlessness, which lands every- 
 body in misery, and invariably prefer a de- 
 cided uniform government, for the really strong 
 government does not rest mainly on a power 
 to punish. To a conscientious teacher, that 
 is, a teacher seeking nothing but efficiency in 
 school-work, the use of punishment must ever 
 be an occasion of personal pain. 
 
 The question as to fit modes of punishment 
 is a much more difficult one than many parents 
 seem to realize. It is easier for parents to 
 criticise the management of their children in 
 school than to lay down practical regulations. 
 I am not able to see that punishments which 
 have in many cases taken the place of corporal 
 punishment are really improvements. If I 
 had my boyhood days back again, I should 
 rather have my fingers tingle under the strap 
 than be subjected to the milder penalties of 
 the present day. From an educationist's point 
 of view, I question their wisdom. Take, for 
 example, the infliction of pcenas, whether for 
 ill-prepared lessons or for breaches of discip- 
 line. After having myself tried this form of
 
 SCHOOlrDISCIPLINE. 39 
 
 penalty, and watched the effects, I felt con- 
 strained to abandon it. Punishment in any 
 form must be irksome, but to require a con- 
 siderable part of the day's lesson to be written 
 out by a little offender, is a form of penalty 
 attended by many disadvantages. At first 
 sight it may appear that this plan really har- 
 monizes with educational ends, as it may be 
 supposed the writing of the lesson will impress 
 it better upon the memory. If this be put to 
 the test by the teacher, I think he will find 
 that the result is not as expected. Besides, 
 tho writing of the pcena is thrown upon the 
 time set apart for preparation of the lessons for 
 the following day. This must be plain, ex- 
 cept to those who would assign a " nine-hours" 
 working-day to children as well as to grown 
 men. If it be said that the intention of the 
 penalty is to shorten the time for play, and 
 lengthen the time for work, I reply, this settles 
 the badness of the method. There is no 
 worse plan for bringing a child into the 
 physical and mental condition for learning 
 than that of cutting in upon the play hours. 
 An unexpected break in the work may quicken 
 the mind, but an addition to the regulation 
 time is unfavourable to mental action. Take 
 the pcena, then, as an additional demand upon 
 the time set apart for lesson-learning, and 
 what is the result? This additional task 
 hangs like a weight on the spirits of the 
 learner, and the process of learning is retarded 
 accordingly. If all the lessons for the follow- 
 ing day are badly prepared, the pana affords
 
 40 ON TEACHING. 
 
 the explanation ; by its weight lesson-learning 
 was reduced to drudgery. The sense of this 
 spreads into the next day, and works further 
 mischief. If, in view of the impossibility of 
 managing well all that must be got through, 
 the pupil write out as hurriedly and carelessly 
 as he can, the educational benefit is lost, 
 and educational injury is being done. Many 
 of the same objections apply to the plan of 
 keeping a child in the school after the others 
 have got free. Greatly better in its effect 
 upon the scholar (and greatly better for the 
 teacher) than half-an-hour of solitary confine- 
 ment, would be five minutes spent in kindly 
 private remonstrance in cases of serious offence. 
 I have seen the most beneficial results from this 
 form of dealing in the most perplexing cases. 
 
 There is room for considerable diversity of 
 opinion as to the best forms of punishment. 
 Granting, however, that punishment of some 
 kind may at times be needful, the success of 
 its use depends largely on the spirit in which 
 it is inflicted. If it is to impress the offender 
 aright, and at the same time exert a whole- 
 some influence upon the other scholars, it must 
 be plain that it has been inflicted solely be- 
 cause of the serious nature of the offence com- 
 mitted. The fault must be obviously a source 
 of grief to the teacher, and the infliction of 
 the punishment a painful necessity. 1 
 
 1 The whole question of punishment is ably discussed in 
 Education and School, by the Rev. E. Thring, M.A., Head 
 Master of Uppingham School. Macmillan and Co., 1864. 
 Seep. 221.
 
 SCHOOLDISCIPLINE. 41 
 
 What I venture to plead is, that punishment 
 should not be a common element in school 
 government. It should be a last and painful 
 resort, when an offence of unusual gravity has 
 been committed. It must stand out as the 
 public testimony that neither falsehood, nor 
 dishonesty, nor cruelty, nor any form of im- 
 morality, can be allowed to break in upon the 
 order which has been established for the good 
 of all, and which must be maintained at all 
 hazards. 
 
 The inquiry may here be pressed, How is 
 punishment to be restricted to cases so special 
 as those now indicated? Some suggestions 
 may be offered by way of reply. More trivial 
 offences should be seen without being publicly 
 noticed. When a pupil is obviously striving 
 to do well, it may often be judicious even to 
 avoid showing him that his fault has been 
 recognised. At other times and these the 
 most frequent it may be well to let the child 
 see by a look that the fault has been observed, 
 though not publicly condemned. This course 
 of procedure is often of great value. A look 
 may be found to carry rebuke enough. Ex- 
 cess of punishing is most readily avoided by 
 a full use of the minor or most silent methods 
 of expressing displeasure. 
 
 Further, it must be remembered that chil- 
 dren often incur displeasure by being allowed 
 to step across the boundaries of reserve and 
 self-restraint. All the surroundings encourage 
 them to take the step, and then by necessity, 
 though unjustly nevertheless, the teacher is
 
 42 ON TEACHING. 
 
 forced to drive them back to the ground be- 
 yond which they should not have been allowed 
 to trespass. Kindle enthusiasm, and keep it 
 alive. Under these conditions the pupils do 
 not so easily yield to temptation. Use care- 
 fully the natural desire of the scholars to stand 
 well in the opinion of their master. With this 
 view, make them feel as often as possible the 
 encouraging influence of a favourable judgment 
 of their efforts. Encouragement in well-doing 
 is one of the most powerful checks on evil- 
 doing. Experiencing the pleasure of approval, 
 they will strive more earnestly to excel, and 
 will shun public reproach, as they would bitter 
 disappointment or a heavy loss. 
 
 One thing deserving of careful consideration 
 is the importance of bringing the habit of 
 obedience very early into play. If children are 
 accustomed from their very earliest school ex- 
 perience to move together in accordance with 
 fixed signals, the work of discipline is greatly 
 simplified. Simultaneous movements: as in 
 rising, taking seats again, or marching always 
 contribute to the result in a way very pleasing 
 to those who are being so trained. An admir- 
 able example of this kind of training is seen 
 in the marching of the pupils in some of the 
 American schools as they enter the hall for 
 opening exercises. The folding desks adopted 
 by the London School Board have been well 
 utilized to serve the ends of training. Each 
 desk accommodates two. The desks are set 
 in rows, with a passage running down between 
 the ends of the desks, and not behind, as com-
 
 SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE. 43 
 
 monly. The front part of the desk, on which 
 the arm rests when writing, folds back to 
 facilitate egress. The boy going from the 
 right of one desk meets the boy coming from 
 the left of another desk. To avoid confusion, 
 each boy who moves by the right takes front 
 rank ; each one moving by the left takes rear 
 rank. This understood, movements are sig- 
 nalled by the figures 1, 2, 3. When the 
 teacher says 1, that is "Fold desks;" 2, 
 " Stand ; " 3, " Move into the passage." The 
 movements are executed as promptly as the 
 figures are named. Any such form of drill is 
 an aid to discipline, training the scholars to 
 instantaneous obedience. Children take de- 
 light in the rapid execution of such movements. 
 Musical accompaniment for guiding a march 
 increases the pleasure obtained from the exer- 
 cise. When changing classes gathering or 
 dismissing the pupils time is not mis-spent, 
 which is given up to secure a steady march in 
 or out. This aid to discipline is largely adopted 
 in Germany and in America. The most success- 
 ful example of an entrance march I have yet 
 witnessed was executed by the boys of the 
 juvenile division in Thirteenth Street School, 
 New York. A few minutes before nine o'clock 
 the Rector was seated alone on the platform of 
 the large hall, situated on the third or upper 
 floor of the building. I joined him as he sat 
 there. Exactly at nine, a boy stepped in and 
 touched a series of bell-pulls ranged along the 
 wall behind the platform. A teacher then sat 
 down before the piano in front of the platform,
 
 44 ON TEACHING. 
 
 and struck up a march. Five entrance doors 
 provided for different lines of approach. By 
 each of these a line of boys began to enter 
 single file, the boys being so closely together 
 as to touch one another, or nearly so. With 
 military precision, and a specially firm beat of 
 the left foot, the march proceeded until the 
 lines were interlacing, and some were defiling 
 by the front of the benches. In little more 
 than four minutes, one thousand boys had 
 taken their places, and the hall was crowded. 
 At the request of the Rector, I read a portion 
 of Scripture; thereafter the boys repeated 
 aloud the Lord's Prayer ; two public recita- 
 tions were given, the one an original essay, 
 the other a poetical passage. The counter- 
 march began to a different tune, and in a short 
 time the hall was left with three small classes 
 stationed in different parts of the wide area. 
 
 An example of a similar kind, but consider- 
 ably more varied, and therefore more extended 
 in its effect, I witnessed in one of the large 
 school-rooms of Berlin. A single class was put 
 through a round of exercise, which varied from 
 slow march to smart running. First, the chil- 
 dren were started in slow time, and put through 
 a series of evolutions ; then the pace was ad- 
 vanced to quick step ; and at length the speed 
 was brought to the " double," the children 
 moving in single line, not upon a straight 
 course, but curving in a graceful wave-like 
 movement. When the running pace had been 
 started, time was suddenly changed from the 
 most rapid to half or quarter, and responded
 
 SCHOOLDISCIPLINE. 45 
 
 to instantly all along the line. The direction, 
 as well as the time of their movements, was 
 constantly varied, thereby greatly increasing 
 the demand upon the attention and agility of 
 the pupils. It was a class of girls which I 
 saw put through this exercise, and they enjoyed 
 it exceedingly. The natural fondness for active 
 exercise was not only gratified, but the exercise 
 served the double purpose of relaxation and 
 training. By such exercises habitual and hearty 
 obedience is greatly promoted. 
 
 Very particularly must it be kept in view 
 by the teacher that quietness in governing is 
 most naturally allied with good discipline. A 
 loud voice, reiterating commands in an authori- 
 tative tone, is often considered favourable to 
 submission among the scholars. It is not really 
 so. A quiet way of issuing orders is favourable 
 to quietness of disposition among the scholars. 
 It conveys a double impression that obedience 
 is expected, and that there is a large reserve 
 force at command, if the teacher should have 
 occasion to put it to use. The demand for 
 silence, shouted out at the pitch of the voice, 
 preceded by a sharp crack of the cane upon the 
 desk, is out of harmony with the thing desired. 
 A sudden shout may check the noise for half a 
 minute, as a gust of wind sweeps the falling 
 water off the direct line of descent ; but when 
 the gust is over the water falls as before. 
 Quietness in ruling is the sure sign of conscious 
 and acknowledged power. This suggestion may 
 be taken from experience in all departments. 
 Look, for example, at the command of a huge
 
 46 ON TEACHING. 
 
 Atlantic steamer, with over a thousand persons 
 on board. The captain on the bridge amid- 
 ships hardly utters a word except in conversa- 
 tional tone to a subordinate officer, who sends 
 on the message from one to another. Far re- 
 moved from the steersmen, the commander 
 simply points the finger of the dial-plate upon 
 the course, a corresponding change takes place 
 upon the dial within sight of the steersmen, 
 and the order is executed without the crowds 
 on deck knowing that an order has been given. 
 Only on an occasional emergency is an order 
 so conveyed as to be overheard on deck. This 
 is the model type of true government. The 
 school-room may well illustrate this secret of 
 power. Teachers will find it in every way an 
 advantage to spare their voice, making the fact 
 of control much more frequently felt than the 
 sound of orders is heard.
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 INSTRUCTION. 
 
 I DO not here touch the question concerning 
 the relative value of the several subjects 
 of study. My purpose does not lead me to 
 treat of a subject which has given occasion for 
 quite enough controversy. I wish rather to 
 direct thought on the best modes of giving 
 instruction in any subject. I am here con- **./* 
 cerned only with the essential conditions of -** 1 
 successful teaching. 
 
 Whatever the age and attainment of the 
 pupils under charge, the first requisite for /?& /v 
 communicating instruction is to gain and keep 
 thflir attention. Teaching, to be successful, 
 must therefore be adapted to win attention. 
 At the earlier stages of school life this is the 
 one pressing requirement. Somehow, atten- 
 tion must be made possible even to the most 
 restless little ones, to whom the first restraints 
 of school life are irksome. Accustomed to 
 have every new object attract their interest 
 just as long as they recognised anything 
 
 47
 
 48 ON TEACHING. 
 
 attractive in it permitted to change from 
 one engagement to another as caprice dictated 
 they must be made familiar with restriction. 
 They must begin to be regulated by the will 
 of another. Taking this as self-evident, we 
 are prone to say that they must do so, whether 
 they will or not. This is one of our superficial 
 current phrases which cover over many points 
 needing careful consideration. Attention is 
 not to be secured by mere exercise of autho- 
 rity. Authority has a great deal to do through 
 the whole course of school life, but we cannot 
 " command " attention, as we say, by merely 
 demanding that it be given. A radical mis- 
 take is made if a teacher lean on his authority 
 in the school as the guarantee for attention by 
 the scholars. He must consider the require- 
 ments of the undisciplined mind, and adapt 
 himself to them. Children attend to what 
 interests them. This must determine the kind 
 of assistance to be given them in acquiring 
 habits of attention. To help them in this is 
 an obvious part of a teacher's work. It de- 
 volves upon him to put his instructions in 
 such a way as to awaken interest in the sub- 
 ject taught. This duty, indeed, falls on every 
 one who attempts to instruct others. The 
 literary man, the special pleader, the lecturer, 
 the orator, must all of them bestow much 
 thought on the laws which determine the 
 mind's interest in any subject set before it. 
 The master of a school in this respect shares a 
 task which is common to all who essay to 
 teach others. In this appears the true place
 
 INSTEUCTION. 49 
 
 and power of the profession. Still more im- 
 portant does the work of the schoolmaster 
 appear when it is considered that he lays the 
 foundation for all later and more advanced 
 teaching. He initiates into the process of 
 learning, which is to be continued in all after- 
 life. The educator of youth does not merely 
 communicate so much instruction from year to 
 year ; he develops the receptive and acquisitive 
 tendencies of mind, which are afterwards to 
 play their part in the intellectual activity of 
 the nation. He trains the intelligence of those 
 who are afterwards to be the teachers of others, 
 as well as of those who are only to be interested 
 inquirers after truth. 
 
 In his efforts to maintain attention, the 
 teacher is aided by the natural curiosity of 
 his pupils, though it is equally true that he is 
 tried by their natural restlessness. Curiosity 
 is to be utilized as the corrective of restless- 
 ness. To awaken expectation to keep it 
 alive, and even to add to its strength by that 
 which it feeds upon is to succeed in teaching. 
 Here arise several considerations deserving 
 notice from the schoolmaster. Children are 
 most susceptible of what comes through the 
 senses. It is therefore a great point gained 
 when the eyes as well as the ears of the pupils 
 can be kept in exercise during the lesson. To 
 reach the mind by double avenues at the same 
 moment is to increase the chance of success. 
 The value of sight as an agency of instruction 
 is generally recognised. However true it may 
 be in any case that hearing may suffice to con- 
 D
 
 50 ON TEACHING. 
 
 vey the whole truth, there is in every one a 
 natural disposition to resort, nevertheless, to 
 sight as a favourite auxiliary. Every one is 
 conscious of the desire to see a speaker while 
 listening to his statements. Every experienced 
 speaker is aware that he sacrifices much of his 
 power if he does not speak to the eye as well 
 as to the ear. We all know how strong is the 
 desire to watch the performances of the several 
 members of an orchestra while we listen to the 
 piece which they are rendering. In all pro- 
 bability we should more accurately realize the 
 composer's design if we completely closed our 
 eyes and simply listened, but the fascination 
 of sight is too strong for most of us to make 
 it easy to content ourselves with the feast of 
 sound. This keenness of interest in what is 
 seen is experienced by boys and girls perhaps 
 even more intensely than it is by their seniors. 
 Hence the value of the black-board in all de- 
 partments of teaching, up to the very highest; 
 hence also the value of object-lessons for 
 beginners ; hence the greater interest com- 
 monly felt in observational and experimental 
 science than in abstract thought. Every school- 
 master needs to give great weight to this con- 
 sideration. Children universally desire to see 
 their teacher while he guides the class-work. 
 This desire continues powerful as long as the 
 teacher continues to interest the children by 
 what he says. As long as he succeeds in this 
 respect, the eyes are bright, and fixed on the 
 common centre of attraction. So soon as his 
 teaching becomes slow, monotonous, and want-
 
 INSTRUCTION. 51 
 
 ing in intellectual energy, the eyes lose their 
 lustre, and begin to wander off from the 
 common centre. Thus it becomes obvious 
 that the teacher must himself be thoroughly 
 interested in order to interest his scholars. If 
 school-work is only a monotonous routine to 
 him, it cannot be anything better to them. 
 We cannot so reverse the natural relation of 
 things as to make the pupils responsible for 
 the intellectual life of the school. Children 
 may, indeed, at times find or create interest 
 for themselves, but that is as likely to be 
 away from the subject of instruction as in it. 
 The lesson may in some cases carry sufficient 
 interest in itself. More commonly the opposite 
 will be the case, and then it depends upon 
 what the teacher makes the lesson appear, 
 whether the scholars are attentive or listless. 
 
 One thing, however, must never be forgotten. 
 There are limits to the possible continuance of 
 interest in any one subject. Neither teacher 
 nor scholar is to blame if interest by and by 
 begin to flag. What is greatly wanted for 
 successful instruction is change of subject as 
 often as the necessities of the pupils seem to 
 require. A timely break in the order of 
 lessons may be of great consequence for con- 
 tinued mental activity. I venture to think that 
 Time-Tables, however important in themselves, 
 should never be so rigidly adhered to as to 
 prevent variation. Many disadvantages would 
 be experienced if there were needless deviation 
 from the fixed order of study. But a lesson 
 may be specially difficult, and that must imply
 
 52 ON TEACHING. 
 
 that it is more irksome for the scholars. In 
 such a case it is a practical mistake to insist 
 that the children must be kept on the strain 
 quite as long as when the work is compara- 
 tively simple. "The Code" can hardly be 
 expected to do anything less than attach 
 supreme importance to the " Time-Table." 
 But to measure school- work for all days of the 
 year by the yard-measure, or by the clock, is 
 to deny to intelligence its fit place in the 
 school-room. It is of far more consequence for 
 ultimate results that the teacher should observe 
 and judge for himself as to the wisest distri- 
 bution of the several parts of work for a day, 
 than that all our schools come under regulation- 
 drill, which would turn any slight deviation 
 from the Time-Table into a serious offence. 
 By all means let us be saved from blind " rule 
 of thumb." It is to be hoped that our na- 
 tional schools will not become circumscribed 
 by rule in such a manner as to deter our 
 teachers from exercising their own sagacity as 
 to minor deviations which a regard to efficient 
 teaching may suggest. 
 
 Considerable diversity of arrangement should 
 appear in the adaptation of lessons to the 
 capacity of children, in accordance with their 
 age and advancement. Powers of observation 
 are those first in exercise, and these chiefly 
 must be called into play in the case of be- 
 ginners. Those who devote themselves to 
 infant-school teaching need a speciality of 
 teaching gift. Vivacity of manner, aptness of 
 descriptive power, play of imagination, facility
 
 INSTRUCTION. 53 
 
 in passing lightly and rapidly from one theme 
 to others somewhat analogous, with strong 
 delight in the simple unrestrained ways of 
 little children, are the qualifications which 
 specially point out the teacher suited in a 
 marked degree for training those who are only 
 in the earliest stages of school life. Pictorial 
 illustrations and object-lessons must supply 
 attraction to the youngest scholars. The 
 earliest demands upon memory should for 
 the most part involve little more than involun- 
 tary recollection. It is enough at such a time 
 if facts are recalled because the picture illus- 
 trating them is attractive, or the story con- 
 nected with them interesting, or the tune 
 pleasing to which the verses of a hymn or song 
 are sung. 
 
 There are some who object to have lessons 
 made easy in this way. They dislike adventi- 
 tious attractions. They regard this deliberate 
 selection of the easiest and most attractive 
 methods of instruction for beginners as a 
 method wanting in the sternness of the olden 
 times. I quite sympathize in the aversion to 
 having all things made easy and agreeable, as 
 if children were to be screened from difficulty 
 and hardship. But the realities of school life 
 are such that there is little need for fearing 
 that children grow up strangers to labour and 
 trial. There is certainly reason enough for 
 attempting to lessen the difficulties and smooth 
 the path of progress. The testimony of Dr. 
 Carpenter on such a subject will be readily 
 accepted as deserving of attention. He says :
 
 54 OJV TEACHING. 
 
 " Those ' strong-minded ' teachers who object to 
 these modes of ' making things pleasant,' as an 
 unworthy and undesirable ' weakness,' are ignor- 
 ant that in this stage of the child-mind, the 
 Will that is, the power of self-control is 
 weak ; and that the primary object of Educa- 
 tion is to encourage and strengthen, not to 
 repress, that power. Great mistakes are often 
 made by Parents and Teachers, who, being 
 ignorant of this fundamental fact of child- 
 nature, treat as wilfulness what is in reality just 
 the contrary of Will-fullness ; being the direct 
 result of the want of Volitional control over the 
 automatic activity of the Brain. To punish a 
 child for the want of obedience which it has 
 not the power to render, is to inflict an injury 
 which may almost be said to be irreparable." l 
 Passing from involuntary observation and 
 recollection, children must make a beginning 
 with voluntary concentration of attention. 
 This brings us to the regular tasks, appropri- 
 ately so named. The effort of preparation 
 always constitutes a task, and in the early 
 periods of school life a peculiarly wearisome 
 one. Scholars must early begin the work of 
 self-directed effort, success in which must 
 regulate their progress, and determine their 
 influence through subsequent life. The greatest 
 importance attaches to the judgment which a 
 teacher forms of the best methods for helping 
 scholars to make the needful effort. This is 
 the turning-point where it is decided what is 
 
 1 Principles of Mental Physiology, by Dr. W. B. Car- 
 penter, p. 134. H. S. King & Co., London.
 
 INSTRUCTION. 55 
 
 to be the type of a teacher's success. That it 
 is part of the teacher's work to render help in 
 this matter will not, I think, be doubted. In 
 order to make the help genuine, however, the 
 aim must be to encourage the scholars to work 
 for themselves. A teacher succeeds in this in 
 proportion as he awakens an enthusiasm for 
 acquisition, and guides and satisfies it when 
 awakened. The object must be to stimulate 
 inquiry, and then to render help in such a way 
 as to encourage it, not to forestall the experi- 
 ence of delight the mind has in discovering for 
 itself what can be known. There must be 
 among the scholars not only a thirst for know- 
 ledge, but a sense of power in the self-direction 
 of their faculties. This involves a distinct use 
 of voluntary observation and reasoning, not 
 mere exercise of memory. No doubt all chil- 
 dren must commit to memory a good many 
 things they do not rightly understand. 
 Such storing of the memory belongs less or 
 more to all study. There is force here in what 
 has been said by Mr. Thring : " It must be 
 borne in mind that with the young memory 
 is strong, and logical perception weak. All 
 teaching should start on this undoubted fact. 
 It sounds very fascinating to talk about under- 
 standing everything, learning everything thoroughly, 
 and all those broad phrases which plump down 
 on a difficulty and hide it. Put in practice, 
 they are about on a par with exhorting a boy 
 to mind he does not go into the water till he 
 can swim." 1 To begin on the supposition that 
 1 Education and School, p. 196.
 
 56 ON TEACHING. 
 
 everything is to be explained, would indeed be 
 a serious aggravation of a teacher's difficulties. 
 Still it is true, as Professor Hart, of Princeton, 
 New Jersey, U.S., has well said : " This is the 
 true mental order : Knowledge first, and then 
 Memory. Get knowledge, then keep it." 1 The 
 teacher must early begin the work of explain- 
 ing. His success as a teacher will depend 
 largely on how he does this. Merely to keep 
 on repeating formal explanations is not enough. 
 What is to be sought is skill in suggesting 
 points of thought, in questioning so as to lead 
 the understanding on the way, and in placing 
 the subject of study in a variety of lights and 
 relations which may interest different minds. 
 All these will be gained by breaking up the 
 lesson with clearness into its component parts, 
 touching upon the relations of the parts, and 
 suggesting associations chiefly of the nature of 
 similarity, which may at once help memory and 
 stimulate thought. 
 
 From this sketch of what is to be aimed 
 at, will appear what I understand to be the 
 teacher's true function. It is to teach, and not 
 merely to hear lessons recited, and be a censor of 
 failures and a marker of results. Above every- 
 thing else, he is to teach. Whatever else he 
 does is to be subsidiary to this, and to con- 
 tribute to its efficiency. In their own place, 
 hearing and censuring and marking may all 
 contribute to his end; but a teacher comes 
 down from his true elevation, and lowers the 
 
 1 In the School-room : Chapters in the Philosophy of Edu- 
 cation. Philadelphia : Eldredge and Brother.
 
 INSTRUCTION. 57 
 
 ideal of his professional work, if he content 
 himself with these alone. He becomes a 
 drudge, and the work of the school will be 
 drudgery to the scholars. He becomes a task- 
 master, and the scholars will soon cease to 
 regard him in any other light. But the man 
 who wishes to teach, and not merely to hear 
 lessons, must put himself in living sympathy 
 with the learners, must detect their difficulties, 
 and by his own superior knowledge supply the 
 helps which contribute to the activity and 
 interest of the mind. The real Teacher is not 
 only something higher than a task-master, but 
 something greatly higher than an Examiner. 
 The true teacher may feel the examiner's work 
 quite irksome. Leave him the luxury of teach- 
 ing, and he may be quite willing to hand over 
 to others the work of examination or inspec- 
 tion. Such a teacher will be ready enough to 
 be judged by results ; nevertheless, he has the 
 satisfaction of knowing that he has produced 
 results which the machinery of examination 
 cannot gauge. The radical distinction between 
 teaching and examining touches very closely 
 on all that concerns success in professional 
 work. If a teacher allow himself in thought 
 and in fact to take the attitude of simply 
 judging of the extent of preparation made by 
 the scholars on the previous evening, he deli- 
 berately sacrifices all that is grandest in a 
 teacher's life. 
 
 How, then, can the teacher be more than a 
 simple hearer of lessons? How can he help 
 the scholars in the work of learning ? Before
 
 58 ON TEACHING. 
 
 attempting an answer, there are some pre- 
 cautionary considerations which need to be 
 present to the teacher's mind. 
 
 The children are not to be over-tasked. 
 Quantity is not the test of success. Undue 
 amount may peril the whole results. It is 
 in every sense better to err on the side of too 
 short lessons than on the side of great length. 
 There is in our day a vicious appetite for 
 quantity, which leads to pernicious results. 
 If a child must face an array of lessons which 
 threatens to turn the whole evening, as well as 
 the day, into a period of work, there is a dis- 
 heartening sense of oppression which is very 
 unfavourable to progress. Some children have, 
 indeed, an avidity for learning, which gives 
 them no sense of oppression in such circum- 
 stances; but it would be greatly better for 
 themselves and for their parents, and for the 
 nation too, if there could be awakened in them, 
 and regularly gratified, some avidity for play. 
 As a general rule, it may be taken as beyond 
 dispute that, for educational results, it is unde- 
 sirable that the whole evening be set apart 
 to lesson-learning. Responsibility for home 
 arrangements devolves on the parents or guar- 
 dians of the children ; but the responsibility of 
 adjusting the task to the recognised capacity 
 and advancement of the scholars rests on their 
 teacher. Many of the perplexities and trials 
 which fall upon both teachers and scholars are 
 the result of want of due consideration as to 
 the amount of work assigned. If in the hurry 
 of closing up for the day, a teacher, without
 
 INSTRUCTION. 59 
 
 much consideration, specify work more extended 
 than ordinary, the result will be a night of 
 gloom for the scholars, and thereafter a day of 
 perplexity for himself. In such circumstances, 
 the vexations of teaching are self-made troubles. 
 
 It must further be remembered that if pupils 
 become addicted to partial preparation, and 
 grow familiar with wriggling through the day's 
 work in haphazard fashion, they are so far 
 demoralized. Their standard of school require- 
 ment is lowered. Preparation is less a matter 
 of concern to them than it should be. Such a 
 result is to be guarded against as earnestly as 
 a break-down in discipline. On the same 
 grounds, it is to be desired that parents should 
 cease from regarding a school as really efficient 
 simply because a great quantity of work is 
 pressed through. The test of efficiency is not 
 found in the amount of work done, but in the 
 thoroughness with which the work attempted 
 has been performed. 
 
 For Teachers in our Primary Schools it is 
 specially important to consider the amount of 
 home-preparation which may reasonably be 
 expected. It seems to me altogether unlikely 
 that satisfactory advance can be made in the 
 work of education through means of these 
 schools, unless school-work be largely planned 
 upon the admission that only slight home- 
 preparation can be expected. A large propor- 
 tion of the children are so situated at home 
 that preparation of lessons must be very slight, 
 and often completely neglected. It seems un- 
 wise to shun this admission; we must suit
 
 60 ON TEACHING. 
 
 ourselves to the existing state of matters. 
 Teaching must proceed largely on the assump- 
 tion that the scholars are practically commenc- 
 ing the learning of the lesson when their 
 teacher begins class-work. I do not incline 
 so to view a teacher's work as to regard this 
 position of affairs as occasion for special con- 
 dolence. On the contrary, I favour the 
 opinion, that in all cases it would be well if 
 the classes in which primary instruction is 
 communicated were conducted on the avowal 
 that comparatively little is expected in the 
 form of home-preparation. Even if lesson- 
 learning were entirely restricted to school 
 hours for the first two or three years of school 
 life, I think we should gain and not lose in 
 educational results. In the interests of health 
 and physical development it is to be desired 
 that the brain should not be subjected to con- 
 tinuous work for more than a few hours of 
 each day. As far as possible, we should guard 
 against the excitement of class- work flowing in 
 upon the homes of the children, and even upon 
 their sleeping hours. At present we have too 
 much experience of uneasy restlessness of brain 
 among young children. In the interests of 
 the teachers of our primary schools, burdened 
 as they are with the extra strain of maintain- 
 ing the attention of large numbers of very 
 young children, I would wish to see a saving 
 of strength in teaching. Escape from the 
 irritation experienced on account of the dis- 
 covery of inadequate preparation would be a 
 considerable help in this respect. There would
 
 INSTRUCTION. 61 
 
 be less fretting for a teacher (and it is fretting 
 which most quickly exhausts the strength), by 
 deliberately undertaking the work of teaching 
 the lesson from the foundation. There would 
 also be a higher training in the real work of 
 teaching. Mere lesson-hearing is a compara- 
 tively slight and commonplace exercise ; but to 
 lead the young mind into the knowledge to be 
 understood and remembered is an exercise in 
 every way worthy of large knowledge and 
 much skill. 
 
 To the main question : How is the teacher 
 to lend help to the pupils in the learning of 
 their lessons 1 The most important part of 
 the reply is, that all hearing of lessons should 
 be designedly managed in such a way as to 
 contribute towards a better learning of these 
 lessons. The best prepared child has still 
 much to learn from the lesson ; many of the 
 children are likely to have the greater part to 
 learn ; but still more importance attaches to 
 the consideration that the work of learning 
 will proceed with increasing alacrity in pro- 
 portion as the intelligence of the children is 
 called into exercise. All efficient teaching 
 must, indeed, afford a model of the best methods 
 of learning. What all pupils require in a 
 teacher is the suggestiveness which brings the 
 understanding to the aid of the memory. He 
 must contribute for their help the appliances 
 which superior intelligence and experience in 
 the work of instruction suggest for facilitating 
 acquirement. 
 
 First in importance for this end is the use
 
 62 02V TEACHING. 
 
 of ANALYSIS. If learners are shown the true 
 methods for reducing difficult combinations to 
 their elements, many difficulties are taken out 
 of the way. Mastery of the remaining diffi- 
 culties will then prove a help for subsequent 
 effort. This work of analysis is greatly sim- 
 plified in later stages, if progress in elemen- 
 tary instruction has been by advancement on 
 a careful system from the simplest elements of 
 language to the more complex combinations. 
 Intelligence is the avenue to memory. A pas- 
 sage may be accurately and rapidly read or 
 recited, and yet not in any proper sense learned. 
 The contribution to the real education of the 
 child is comparatively small, unless the under- 
 standing is called into exercise. In education 
 what maybe described as a "local" or "verbal" 
 memory is of slight influence in comparison 
 with an intelligent or rationalizing memory. 
 Association by reference to locality or verbal 
 sequence is a temporary coherence, which 
 generally breaks up when the occasion for it 
 is gone. But if facts are contemplated, and 
 truths are understood, memory keeps what it 
 receives, and intelligence begins to utilize what 
 it has gathered. It is therefore of the utmost 
 importance that analysis become a familiar 
 instrument in all educational work. The 
 ordinary round of school duty gives constant 
 opportunity for its use. In spelling, for 
 example, to break up a word into its component 
 parts is to bring the understanding into play, 
 affording memory the aid it requires for ac- 
 curately retaining and recalling that word.
 
 INSTRUCTION. 63 
 
 This is the only really efficient protection 
 against bad spelling. So it is, most plainly, 
 with reading. Accurate reading of a passage 
 which is not fully understood is simply im- 
 possible. Daily familiarity with the analysis 
 of a few of the longest sentences in the lesson 
 is the simplest and surest method for attaining 
 just appreciation of punctuation, intonation, 
 and emphasis. Again, acquiring the grammar 
 of any language is certain to be drudgery if 
 assigned merely to " word-memory," with the 
 help of as much patience as a child can com- 
 mand. The same task will have sources of 
 pleasure connected with it if memory has 
 called to its service even an occasional play of 
 intelligence. The teaching of grammar is 
 indeed a fair test of teaching power. Its re- 
 quirements fully illustrate the value of analysis. 
 Of all the forms of misery connected with 
 school life, there is nothing more vexatious 
 than the sight of a child entangled in the intri- 
 cacies of grammar, with nothing but the dis- 
 agreeable remembrance of tiresome tasks, and 
 nothing in store but increased bewilderment, 
 in absence of intelligent appreciation of what 
 had gone before. In view of the fact that in 
 multitudes of cases parents can render no help 
 to their children in such studies, there is 
 urgent need for constant use of analysis, how- 
 ever slow the progress may be. Sure under- 
 standing, however slow it be, is progress ; 
 rapidity with uncertainty is progress of the 
 delusive sort, the semblance without the reality. 
 There is no great wisdom in a rapid dash into
 
 64 O.V TEACHING. 
 
 a tangled, thorny thicket, two miles deep. A 
 few minutes spent in seeking a pathway may 
 save hours of laborious and useless struggle. 
 To make grammar something else than a 
 bewildering thicket is the teacher's part. It 
 is, indeed, more than the most careful teacher 
 can hope for, that none of his scholars shall 
 have a task of bewilderment. But the aim of 
 the teacher must be to secure that the great 
 majority in each class advance clearly together 
 in the understanding of what is being taught. 
 It certainly is not enough that the sharpest 
 children make head-way, while the majority 
 get into confusion. Such a result is failure, 
 however well the upper marks appear when the 
 test comes. 
 
 The use of the eye to aid the understand- 
 ing is of great importance in all analysis. 
 For this reason the black-board presents an 
 invaluable auxiliary. Its use may seem to 
 consume time ; in reality it greatly saves time. 
 What is made visible will be understood much 
 more rapidly than what is merely explained in 
 words. A word of several syllables written 
 out on the board in separate parts will much 
 more easily be made familiar than if it be only 
 looked at as printed in the ordinary lesson. 
 Familiarity with the analysis of words will soon 
 be gained in this way, rendering continued 
 use of the board unnecessary, and setting it free 
 for use at some other point of difficulty. There 
 is no need to continue illustrations when writing 
 mainly for those who are professional teachers. 
 The value of the black-board is not likely to be
 
 INSTRUCTION. 65 
 
 overlooked. The more a teacher can avail him- 
 self of all the avenues to the mind, the more 
 efficient his teaching must become. 
 
 Next to analysis as an instrument of instruc- 
 tion comes skilful COMBINATION. When pupils 
 are encouraged to make for themselves fresh 
 combinations of things already known, addi- 
 tional progress is certain. Variety of exercise 
 in this way is as attractive to children as many of 
 their games. If, when such exercises are given, 
 the rivalry involved in taking places were discon- 
 tinued, and all extraneous excitement avoided, 
 the play of intelligence would bring an ample 
 reward. I plead for discontinuance of rivalry 
 in such exercises, because, while it stimulates 
 some, in other cases it hinders and even stops 
 the action of intelligence. If any teacher 
 doubt this, he may subject a class to experi- 
 ment by watching the faces of the pupils, and 
 next asking from the child who has been cor- 
 rected an explanation of the reason for the 
 correction. Hurry in such things is an injury, 
 and so is all commingling of antagonistic 
 motives. All fear .hinders intellectual action, 
 and the fear of wounded ambition offers no 
 exception to the rule. The fear of being pun- 
 ished is more seriously detrimental than any 
 form of fear which can be stirred. It is essen- 
 tially antagonistic to the action of intelligence. 
 Let mind have free play. There is hardly a 
 better exercise for a class than that of allow- 
 ing a scholar to write out on the black-board 
 the tense of a verb, or any other portion of 
 grammar ; requiring the others to offer correc- 

 
 66 ON TEACHING. 
 
 tions of what has been written ; interlin- 
 ing the corrections as suggested; and then 
 inquiring into their warrant. Hitter, the cele- 
 brated geographer of Germany, pointed to the 
 value of skilful combination in the suggestion 
 he made as to teaching geography. He pro- 
 posed the combination of history and geogra- 
 phy. He recommended that an outline map 
 should be drawn, the mountains traced, and 
 the courses of the rivers ; and that localities 
 should be marked in connexion with events of 
 historic importance, or with information con- 
 cerning the products of the soil or of manu- 
 facture. The suggestion is a valuable example 
 of the type of combinations which must greatly 
 facilitate education and deepen its interest. 
 The learning of geography is of comparatively 
 little value if it be nothing more than lists of 
 names in moderate doses, with the understand- 
 ing that they belong to England or to France. 
 But if a teacher roughly sketch an outline map 
 upon the board, and bid one after another of the 
 pupils fill in a part of it, and then unroll the 
 printed map, the impression upon all will be 
 greatly deepened. History would undoubtedly 
 gain greatly in interest if outstanding events 
 were associated with map-drawing. The Ger- 
 mans have advanced beyond most nations in 
 teaching geography. Government instructions 
 may lie behind this, and perhaps even military 
 reasons may lie at the back of these instruc- 
 tions, but there can be little doubt of the fact. 
 During the Franco-Prussian war it was said the 
 German soldiers knew the geography of France
 
 INSTRUCTION. 67 
 
 better than the French themselves. Special 
 education for the army is, however, provided 
 in Germany to an extent as yet unknown in 
 any other country. The German soldier is not 
 left merely to become familiar with drill ; he 
 has regular school training, as well as military 
 exercise. But the school children are unusually 
 well instructed in geography, with minute 
 topographical information. When resident in 
 Berlin, I had the opportunity of putting a 
 variety of questions to a smart boy of thirteen 
 years of age a favourable example of the 
 school, I should think and found that he had 
 a degree of topographical knowledge rarely 
 possessed by those who have not travelled in a 
 country. The boy could describe the whole 
 aspect of the country around Edinburgh as not 
 one-third of the boys of Edinburgh could have 
 done. It may be, however, that the influence 
 of Bitter in Berlin had something to do with 
 proficiency of geographical instruction in that 
 city. I have referred more particularly to 
 grammar and geography here, for they afford 
 the most obvious illustrations of the value of 
 suggested combinations. The general principle 
 to be applied in all departments of instruction 
 is this Education is invariably promoted by 
 the gathering of suitable associations around 
 the subject of study. 
 
 As auxiliary to these methods of instruction 
 I venture to place A FREE AND FRIENDLY 
 
 MANNER OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN TEACHER 
 
 AND SCHOLARS. This greatly stimulates the 
 interest and enthusiasm of the pupils. There
 
 68 ON TEACHING. 
 
 is, indeed, a familiarity which is destructive of 
 discipline, and quite unfavourable to applica- 
 tion on the part of the scholar. This is so 
 clearly recognised in the profession, that there 
 is hardly need for precaution against misunder- 
 standing. The communication here referred 
 to is that which has purely educational ends in 
 view. What I point to is far removed from 
 everything which would favour undue famili- 
 arity. It even presupposes the impossibility of 
 it. Anything which interferes with the simple 
 relation of teacher and taught is a hindrance. 
 What is to be commended is freedom of com- 
 munication exclusively for purposes of instruc- 
 tion, and connected with the matter in hand, 
 as the sole attraction for the time. It is a 
 freedom which, instead of being unfavourable 
 to discipline, must tend to establish it. What 
 is mainly to be desired is free communication 
 of difficulties from the scholar to the teacher, 
 as there should be full instruction from the 
 teacher to the scholar. There is an exercise 
 of authority by a teacher which utterly ignores 
 and frowns upon any tendency to direct in- 
 quiries to him. He will question in order to 
 ascertain what the scholars have learned ; but 
 they must not question him, in order to 
 learn what they have failed to understand. 
 Everything is made to depend upon the 
 thoroughness of the teaching at every stage ; 
 and this again depends upon the teacher's own 
 reflection, without any sure discovery of his 
 pupils' need. To every teacher such a method 
 is inadequate, because insecure. The most
 
 INSTRUCTION. 69 
 
 experienced teacher will allow that he needs to 
 be helped to the discovery of his pupils' 
 difficulties. But if a teacher cultivate a dis- 
 tant reserve he cannot have the help which 
 only the scholars can give. The instruction 
 must roll on. If the scholars catch all they 
 need, so far well ; if they fail to understand all 
 that is expressed, there is no help for it. If 
 such a system be preferred under the appre- 
 hension that anything else would weaken 
 discipline, there is either a consciousness of 
 weakness in the teacher, or else a want of 
 thorough reflection on the necessary conditions 
 of school discipline. If a scholar may not 
 freely inquire during some suitable opportunity 
 afforded for the purpose, but must depend 
 entirely upon catching the full meaning of all 
 that has been said, the relation between teacher 
 and scholar is constrained and unhealthy. 
 There is quite enough disadvantage connected 
 with the incessant change of places, making it 
 a pupil's interest to conceal his ignorance, 
 without anything else being allowed to increase 
 that disadvantage. I do not undervalue com- 
 petition among the children in the same class, 
 nor do I think we can wisely dispense with 
 the stimulating power it involves ; but it is an 
 obvious misfortune that, where all goes by 
 expressed knowledge, a premium is put on 
 concealment of ignorance, which is apt to 
 establish concealment as a settled article in 
 the policy of school life. In view of this 
 danger, I am increasingly impressed with 
 the need for opportunities for free com-
 
 70 ON TEACHING. 
 
 munication at times when the confession of 
 ignorance may be specially encouraged. The 
 spirit of inquiry, so valuable in all depart- 
 ments of education, could be greatly stimulated 
 in this way. In the school, as everywhere else, 
 we want to escape routine. 1 Neither teacher 
 nor scholar should feel that the procedure each 
 day is simply a repetition of the procedure of 
 the preceding day. A sense of monotony is to 
 be dreaded as one should the nightmare. If 
 scholars are shy to speak out, as under our 
 system they are apt to be, deliberate attempts 
 should be made to draw them out, and ascer- 
 tain what they still need to learn. It is quite 
 essential to success that it should be somehow 
 ascertained how much the children have got 
 only by rote without understanding, how much 
 they have misunderstood, and what they have 
 never thought about which should have engaged 
 their attention. There is nothing which more 
 impresses one in visiting the public schools of 
 the United States of America than the unre- 
 strained freedom with which the pupil makes 
 an appeal to the teacher, in the assurance of 
 that appeal being encouraged and met as far 
 as possible in the circumstances. This feature 
 struck me as a general characteristic in all the 
 
 1 Dr. Noah Porter, President of Yale College, Con- 
 necticut, U.S., in a series of articles in The College Courant 
 of Yale, writes upon "special defects in the operation ot 
 modern schools." He signalizes these two : " The spirit of 
 formalism and routine which has grown up in our modern 
 schools," and " the tendency to stimulate to excess the 
 spontaneous or verbal memory." We may take warning 
 from American experience.
 
 INSTRUCTION. 71 
 
 schools I visited, from the primary to the 
 normal schools. The pupils regard this as a 
 natural feature of school life. I remember on 
 one occasion entering the class-room of a teacher 
 of physiology in one of the normal schools 
 when he had just finished the lecture for the 
 day. He was saying to the members of his 
 class, "I shall examine on this lecture to- 
 morrow ; just let me see if your notes are 
 accurate." One pupil at once asked what had 
 been said as to the average weight of the 
 human skull. The answer was immediately 
 given. Another question followed, and another, 
 until all were satisfied, after which the few 
 closing minutes of the hour were spent in sup- 
 plementing the lecture with such remarks as 
 the questions seemed to suggest. This is only 
 an example of what is common in American 
 schools. I must express my admiration of this 
 characteristic. I am averse to " cut and dry 
 theories " as to the best possible ways of 
 teaching. I would have each teacher observe 
 and reflect for himself; but by all means save 
 us from routine. A teacher needs knowledge 
 of human nature, and he needs freedom of 
 action to avail himself, without reserve, of all 
 the varied resources fitted to awaken attention 
 and stimulate mental activity.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 
 
 IN the previous chapter attention has been 
 directed exclusively to the development 
 of the intellectual powers. I proceed now to 
 speak of the regulation of the emotional nature, 
 the government of all the springs of action. 
 This brings into view the teacher's part in 
 aiding his pupils to use intelligence for the 
 guidance of their conduct. I have already 
 indicated the grounds on which I conceive 
 that this department of oversight and training 
 belongs to the teacher. He is an instructor 
 in the widest sense. To him is intrusted the 
 development of the whole nature, in so far as 
 that is found to be needful for school discip- 
 line, and possible through means of it. The 
 two departments, instruction and training, are 
 indeed quite distinct, and admit of separate 
 treatment. But both ends must be sought in 
 the midst of the same school exercises. From 
 the one point of view, the teacher seeks to 
 make his scholars observant, reflective, well- 
 
 72
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 73 
 
 informed, and prompt in the use of their 
 faculties. From the other he seeks to make 
 them upright, generous, and brave. The re- 
 lative importance of these two ends will be at 
 once recognised. As meanness of disposition 
 is worse than slowness of intellect ; as selfish- 
 ness is worse than defective memory ; as 
 cowardice is worse than ignorance, special 
 importance is to be attached to the depart- 
 ment of moral training. The teacher cannot, 
 indeed, raise such training to the position of 
 primary importance, since all the school ar- 
 rangements are made expressly for instruction 
 in the ordinary branches of knowledge. But 
 there is no need for this, since moral train- 
 ing is gained not so much by formal incul- 
 cation of duty as by practice in well-doing 
 throughout the common engagements of life. If, 
 however, moral training do not expressly engage 
 the attention of the scholars as a subject of 
 study, it is to be continually the subject of 
 consideration with the teacher. It makes no 
 difference whether it be grammar, or geography, 
 or history which is being taught, the forma- 
 tion of character goes on with equal facility. 
 So generally is this recognised in the pro- 
 fession, that Mr. Currie has set this down as 
 his first statement in his valuable work on 
 Education : " Education comprises all the 
 influences which go to form the character." 1 
 
 On the other hand, it is not to be forgotten 
 that it is much easier to instruct than to train. 
 The conditions under which these two pro- 
 1 Principle and Practice of Common School Education.
 
 74 02V TEACHING. 
 
 ceed differ greatly. If a man be himself in- 
 structed, and if he only explain things with a 
 fair amount of interest, he is sure of success in 
 communicating information; but character is 
 not formed thus. You may state and enforce 
 moral law with the greatest clearness, without 
 securing conformity to it. What is wanted is 
 not explaining so much as warning and 
 encouraging. Thus it happens that, while we 
 may instruct in the mass, in the work of 
 training we need much more carefully to dis- 
 tinguish individuals. 
 
 For success in training, the first requisite 
 is intelligent sympathy with the children in the 
 difficulties they experience while attempting to 
 control their conduct. Before a true and in- 
 fluential sympathy is possible, the teacher 
 must observe peculiarities of disposition. It 
 will thus appear how essential it is to dis- 
 criminate carefully, in order to make a satis- 
 factory beginning. At the same time the 
 general truth must be recognised and applied 
 for the guidance of our procedure, that a child's 
 ruling dispositions are as truly inherited as his 
 intellectual powers or his bodily constitution. 
 This will not be disputed, and therefore I do not 
 insist upon it ; but the consideration must 
 have a directly practical bearing upon school 
 government. If it be not uniformly recognised 
 and acted upon, justice cannot be done to the 
 children, nor can sagacity have proper exercise 
 in dealing with them. One child is naturally 
 irritable, another is naturally amiable. The 
 one is not to be blamed, nor is the other to be
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER 75 
 
 praised, for what he has inherited. If under 
 sudden provocation the one shows a sensitiveness 
 which the other does not discover, no marvel. 
 The result is exactly that to be expected from 
 the different natures of the two. What is of 
 chief interest to the educationist is, that the 
 irritable child can gain the mastery over the 
 ruling tendency of his nature, and can be helped 
 in striving for the victory. But it is unjust to 
 punish a child because he has inherited an 
 irritable disposition. In many cases it is no 
 less so to punish him because that disposition 
 has suddenly started into activity under pro- 
 vocation. One child is naturally timid, another 
 naturally rash. It is unreasonable to blame 
 the children, or to do anything but consider 
 what are the special difficulties of each, and 
 how best each can be helped in overcoming 
 these. The one has inherited a highly sensi- 
 tive nervous constitution, which is readily 
 excited by the slightest changes, and which 
 throws in upon the mind the agitation originat- 
 ing in the organism. To punish such a child 
 for his timidity, or mock him on account of it, 
 is a grievous practical blunder, which indicates 
 want of knowledge and reflection as to the 
 necessary conditions of moral training. If 
 a teacher is not to run the risk of inflicting 
 life-long injury upon one intrusted to his care, 
 he must have some clearly defined plan in 
 harmony with the known laws of mind, suitable 
 for allaying fear and promoting courage. 
 Another child is naturally impulsive. The 
 former thinks and shrinks. This child does
 
 76 ON TEACHING. 
 
 not shrink, because he does not take time to 
 think ; he is unconscious of the restraints 
 arising from a nervously sensitive organism. 
 He is not readily checked by rising fears; 
 his misfortune is that he has not enough of 
 fear. He is like the youth in the fairy tale, 
 who had never learned to " shiver and shake," 
 consequently, he has an unenviable facility in 
 knocking his head against posts, which could 
 easily be shunned. We must take this child as 
 he is, and, understanding his difficulty, deal with 
 him in such a manner as to promote thoughtful- 
 ness and caution, by all means avoiding anything 
 which would tempt him to extremes. 
 
 To draw the distinction between nature and 
 character is essential for an educationist. 
 Every child has in his nature certain disposi- 
 tions to be vanquished. These cannot go to 
 form any part in a good character. I do not 
 here go into ethical distinctions, which are not 
 required for my present purpose. The fact to 
 which I am pointing is clearly recognised, and 
 must have attention. It goes far to explain 
 the difficulty of the teacher's task, and to 
 account for the perplexity often experienced in 
 deciding upon the wisest mode of treatment. 
 It is much more difficult to carry through a 
 wise repression than to promote healthy de- 
 velopment of a natural power. The process is 
 a delicate one, requiring careful discrimation 
 as to circumstances. It is here that the largest 
 demand falls upon the sagacity of parents and 
 teachers. To draft a code of rules sufficient 
 to regulate procedure in all cases is simply 
 impossible.
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 77 
 
 Something is done, however, towards regula- 
 tion of our procedure in this perplexing depart- 
 ment if we mark with exactness THE LIMITS OF 
 A TEACHER'S POWER IN TRAINING. He cannot 
 form the character, but can only aid the pupil 
 in efforts to form his own character. This 
 consideration is of vital importance in the 
 determination of method. Character implies 
 established habits of self-government. Its 
 formation is thus essentially a personal matter. 
 Whatever be its type, it is the result of habits 
 voluntarily cherished. So long as the pre- 
 dominant natural dispositions sway the conduct 
 unchecked, moral character is unformed. The 
 beginning of its formation can be traced from 
 the time that there are signs of voluntary 
 restriction and regulation of these dispositions. 
 Whenever a degree of self-control appears, it 
 indicates the sway of intelligence. Character, 
 whether good or bad, is in no case the result 
 of involuntary tendency. Its formation in a 
 good and healthy type is a most delicate pro- 
 cess, needing to be continued through many 
 years. Nothing is more likely to injure, by 
 retarding, or it may even be perverting, the 
 process, than efforts after coercion. Will-power 
 must regulate the course of conduct, and the 
 only safe stimulants of the action of will are 
 intelligence within, and the encouragement of 
 intelligent sympathy from superiors who have 
 already won respect. 
 
 On the other hand, it must be remembered 
 that children are greatly hindered or aided in 
 the formation of a good character by the influ-
 
 78 ON TEACHING. 
 
 ence of those around them. If their seniors 
 make light of moral distinctions, they will do 
 so too. If their companions are selfish, and 
 unchecked in that tendency, they too will 
 begin to give way to the same hideous dis- 
 position. There is in human nature enough 
 of the desire for self-gratification, and a suffi- 
 cient sense of the irksomeness of self-restraint, 
 to favour ready yielding to the easier way of 
 life. But self-denial is the necessary condition 
 of self-government. The effort it involves, 
 and the pain connected with that effort, try us 
 most at the commencement. But both the 
 effort and the pain will be considerably lessened 
 if seniors give encouragement and companions 
 share the difficulties. In this way, all the 
 order and discipline of the school should sup- 
 port the virtues and promote their growth. 1 
 
 This, however, is still but a part of what a 
 teacher can do towards the formation of a 
 sound moral character in the pupils. The 
 discipline maintained in school provides favour- 
 able circumstances in the midst of which good 
 intentions can be carried out. But favourable 
 circumstances do not in themselves afford all 
 that is requisite. Dismiss the best disciplined 
 class, and observe the moral characteristics of 
 the children when they are free to act accord- 
 ing to inclination. It will be found that there 
 is considerable diversity among them, and that 
 some very readily inflict wrong upon their 
 companions. Discipline is the product of 
 
 1 Dr. Donaldson has well said that the teacher's function 
 is "to make good citizens." Lects. on Education, p. 30. 
 So also, Mr. Laurie, in Primary Education, p. 5.
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 79 
 
 authority. Character does not grow by mere 
 force of authority. There is even peril to 
 character in the constant strain of authority, 
 which demands unquestioning submission on 
 pain of punishment. Obedience in such a 
 case is often reluctantly rendered, and reluc- 
 tant submission is apt to be unfavourable to 
 character. A rooted aversion to restraint is 
 then cherished, which carries in it serious fore- 
 bodings of evil. A child must be taught to 
 walk alone, else a reckless career may follow 
 escape from the hated restraint. The most 
 perfect form of drill cannot establish moral 
 character ; the best educational machinery is 
 unequal to the task. Circumstances, even the 
 most favourable, cannot produce the character 
 which must itself be superior to circumstances. 
 Character must grow from within, in accord- 
 ance with the invariable laws of mind. 
 
 To render aid in the formation of character, 
 a teacher must INDIVIDUALIZE. One hundred 
 children may be instructed in the same branch 
 of knowledge at once, but development of 
 character cannot proceed in this way. The 
 prevailing dispositions and tendencies of each 
 scholar must be ascertained. Ignorant of these, 
 a teacher can do little which will render really 
 effective help. A physician might as well 
 write prescriptions at random, and distribute 
 them in order, as he made the round of his 
 patients. Knowledge of each pupil is the 
 essential requisite for real training. It may 
 be objected that professional duty leaves a 
 teacher no leisure for this; but one who has
 
 80 ON TEACHING. 
 
 made it a practice to observe character, as 
 every teacher must have done in order to be 
 successful, needs no special time for the neces- 
 sary observation. He cannot help observing. 
 He only requires the routine and bustle of 
 school life to afford the opportunities he needs. 
 A private talk with each pupil, when con- 
 strained, and quite on his guard, will be of 
 little worth for purposes of observation. You 
 must see children excited by rivalry tried 
 by the irritating conduct of fellow-scholars 
 subjected to unexpected disappointment 
 and roused by the exercise of the playground 
 in order to ascertain what are the character- 
 istics of each one, and what a teacher should 
 most strive to do for each. In such scenes 
 observation is inevitable, and a child is never 
 allowed to feel as if he were watched. Every- 
 thing is " above-board," and conies under obser- 
 vation in natural course. The teacher soon 
 knows who are irritable and who are of a 
 stubborn disposition; who are rash and who 
 shrinking; who are inclined to conceal their 
 purposes, and practise cunning; and who are 
 prone to be domineering. Seeing these things, 
 a teacher sees his work. He recognises that 
 a common discipline, touching all alike, is not 
 equal to the demand. Help appropriate in 
 form, and well timed, he must endeavour to 
 give. Scarcely noticed by the school gene- 
 rally, hardly remarked upon by the child 
 more immediately concerned, a look of en- 
 couragement or rebuke will make a child con- 
 scious of success or failure. A mere glance of
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 81 
 
 the eye may not reckon for much in the log- 
 book of the school, but it has left its impress 
 on the sensitive surface of a young heart. A 
 word of rebuke dropped softly at the fitting 
 moment into that ear alone for which it is 
 meant may be enough to start a resolution of 
 improvement upon which a teacher may con- 
 tinue to operate from day to day. Such a 
 word may live long in the memory. I remem- 
 ber now, as if it had been yesterday, the look 
 and word of a venerated preceptor, 1 who had 
 detected a case of oppression of a fellow- 
 scholar, "There was one boy in the group I 
 did not expect to see consenting to such con- 
 duct." The look and word were for me, and 
 how the lesson went home may be judged by 
 the vividness of the present recollection. 
 
 Formation of character is begun in each case 
 only when the pupil is induced to begin the 
 work of self-control A child must see that 
 this is his own business, and a work for all 
 times. He must be awakened to the sense of 
 that power which is power over self. He must 
 have aroused to activity those motive forces 
 which impel the mind to the work of self-con- 
 trol as one of living interest. He must taste 
 the joy as well as feel the difficulty of self- 
 government. Only thus can the building up 
 of character proceed. For a teacher, then, 
 there is no other way possible than that of 
 helping the scholar to help himself in what 
 must be his own work. If we fail to induce the 
 pupil to take to this in earnest, we fail in the 
 
 1 Dr. Boyd, of the Edinburgh High School. 
 
 f
 
 82 ON TEACHING. 
 
 first condition of success. From the very 
 centre of the being must come the determina- 
 tion of the forces which are to be allowed to 
 sway the conduct. Who can overcome selfish- 
 ness but the person who feels it ] How can 
 generosity be planted in the mind except by 
 personal admiration of it, and personal exercise? 
 The best that can be done from without is to 
 show what should be done, and to give en- 
 couragement towards the doing of it ; but the 
 doing must proceed from within. Let us not 
 spoil the whole by attempting too much ; 
 there is enough to engage observation, exercise 
 patience, and occupy the thought of the 
 teacher in what is really within his power. 
 The hardest part is that which the child 
 himself must do. The sooner his attention 
 is directed upon it, and he begins the struggle 
 with evil dispositions, so much the easier the 
 task will be, and the more certain will be the 
 result. 
 
 SELF-CONTROL BEGINS WITH REFLECTIVE- 
 NESS. It has its sure commencement in 
 thought as to right and wrong in human con- 
 duct. But this thought, to be of any real 
 value in character-building, must be concerned 
 more with the inward dispositions than with 
 the outward forms of conduct. It is in the 
 suggesting and encouraging of such thought 
 that a teacher can give to a pupil the full 
 benefit of his superior intelligence, and greater 
 calmness of observation. But some considera- 
 tion needs to be given to the lines of thought 
 which it is of real consequence to suggest. A
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 83 
 
 child needs no lecturing in proof of the position 
 that falsehood is wrong, unless his thinking on 
 the subject has been already perverted by 
 pernicious home-training. There is nothing 
 a child more resents than being deliberately 
 deceived. In like manner it is not needful, 
 under ordinary conditions, to convince a child 
 that stealing is wrong; with a child trained 
 from the earliest days to steal it is otherwise. 
 Every child is, however, quick enough at 
 crying out against the theft of his own property. 
 No one, however unfortunately placed in 
 respect of parental influence, is ignorant of the 
 fact that kindness is right. He has recognised 
 that, a long while before he came to school. 
 What a child needs is, not so much help to 
 know what the right is, as help to do it, 
 especially when circumstances tempt to the 
 opposite. 1 A child needs help to turn his 
 attention on the rising disposition, which, if 
 allowed to gain strength, will tempt to evil- 
 doing. A child is prone to allow attention to 
 be absorbed with what is external, and scarcely 
 turns attention on the feeling which is swelling 
 in the breast. He needs frequent help in be- 
 ginning reflective exercise. Reflectiveness in 
 the proper sense comes as one of the later 
 attainments, and needs not a little effort for its 
 cultivation. A teacher's help in this matter is 
 
 1 1 fully agree with much that Mr. Jolly, H. M. Inspector 
 of Schools, has said in his admirable Report for 1872, as to 
 providing for moral education, only I think formal instruc- 
 tion on this subject is best given in connexion with some 
 occasion for its application.
 
 84 ON TEACHING. 
 
 invaluable ; it is at hand when most needed. 
 It comes just when the strain begins. The 
 teacher knows that if the attention be decidedly 
 turned on the rising disposition, the first 
 requisite is gained for the building up of moral 
 character. He must, therefore, aim at a dis- 
 criminating, prompt, and sympathetic help, such 
 as may be conveyed in a look, a word, or 
 some understood signal. At such a time it is 
 that something can be done to turn a child 
 upon the work of self-mastery. The help to 
 which I here point is the most delicate and 
 vital part of the work requisite for the true 
 development of a human being. Skill in such 
 work is an enviable attainment. 
 
 If in these few sentences an accurate repre- 
 sentation has been given of the conditions 
 under which character is formed, it is clear 
 that a teacher's power for good depends upon 
 the degree in which he secures the respect and 
 affection of his pupils. Without these a teacher 
 is powerless in this matter. The respect of 
 the children will be secured by the evidence 
 of self-control and moral worth in himself. A 
 quiet, dignified deportment, which constantly 
 conveys the impression of a large reserve 
 power, commands the confidence of all the 
 pupils. A burdened, care-worn look, restless- 
 ness of disposition, irritability of temper, with 
 an irritating style of government, are all apt to 
 convey to the children the impression of weak- 
 ness, which may be slighted. For commanding 
 affection, there is nothing more potent than a 
 genuine sympathy, and if this take such forms
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 85 
 
 as indicate distinct recognition of personal diffi- 
 culties, affection for a teacher may grow to en- 
 thusiasm. There is immense importance in this. 
 Unawakened affection is a treasure of influence 
 undiscovered. When school-work is reduced 
 to routine daily begun, continued, and ended 
 in a cold mechanical way it becomes a soul- 
 less thing, potent in drill, but pithless in 
 morals, and fruitless in respect of all the 
 highest results of tuition. Tested by the 
 " Code," it may command a most favourable 
 report. As the record stands on the " log- 
 book," it may wear the appearance of order 
 and efficiency; but tested as to moral train- 
 ing, even by a moderate standard, its general 
 result must be unsatisfactory. A glance at the 
 army will illustrate my meaning. The drill- 
 sergeant can produce in a given time certain 
 patent and valuable results ; but under his drill 
 moral results are rare, and hardly contemplated. 
 A perfect drill and a low morality are quite 
 compatible. And so it may be in the school, 
 if there do not stand before the mind of the 
 teacher a lofty ideal of training, to fall beneath 
 which would be humiliating failure. Even a 
 teacher who keeps well up to time is ready 
 for every ringing of the bell and goes through 
 his work with exactness of method, will never 
 rise to high power if he come to his task with 
 lack of interest in it, and with no strong out- 
 flow of sympathy towards the scholars, and if he 
 break off from it as one weary with chiselling 
 all day at a hard stone. If there is no interest 
 for the teacher beyond exact spelling, good
 
 86 ON TEACHING. 
 
 reading, accurate reciting, prompt reckoning of 
 accounts, and well-rounded turns on a copy- 
 book, his ideal is that of the drill-sergeant, not 
 that of a discriminating, experienced instructor, 
 capable of unfolding all the best qualities of 
 mind. If a teacher has no sympathy with the 
 shifting interests, the flowing mirthfulness, the 
 strong, though idle, fears, the passing anxieties, 
 the perplexing puzzles, and the sore disappoint- 
 ments of childhood if to him these are all 
 alike childish, and beneath consideration he 
 is out of sympathy with the real life-work of 
 the teacher of youth. Better that such an one 
 betake himself to what he regards as more 
 manly work, and leave to others the delicate 
 and difficult task of bringing a cultured man- 
 hood and a refined womanhood out of feeble, 
 undeveloped childhood. If a loud voice, a 
 stamping foot, a strong cane, a heavy strap, 
 books, maps, pens, and paper, exhaust his 
 materials for educating, he can never reach a 
 high place in the profession. Its leading men 
 work on a higher level, with finer tools. We 
 have heard of "half-timers" among the scholars. 
 Such a teacher would be in another and worse 
 sense a " half-timer " even under a full " time- 
 table." If, besides formal appliances, a teacher 
 has a living interest in the whole experience of 
 his pupils, he can lend his aid to them in the 
 work of self-government as well as in that of 
 acquiring knowledge. If there be for him a 
 fascination in the work of guiding the slowly 
 opening mind if there be a pleasure in lighten- 
 ing childhood's burden if it be something akin
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 87 
 
 to the return of the joyousness of his own boy- 
 hood to look on the unchecked mirth of his 
 pupils he can help them, sway them, check 
 them, and stir in their hearts the higher motive 
 forces of human life, as he'could not otherwise 
 do. A clear stream of warm sympathy must 
 flow from the teacher to the scholars if real 
 progress is to be made in the formation of 
 character during the early years of school life. 
 Thus only can difficulties be surmounted, suffi- 
 cient motive awakened, and an attractive glow 
 of golden sunshine sent over the pathway of 
 arduous duty. 
 
 In aiding the formation of character in the 
 young, the first aspect of the teacher's work is 
 that of REPRESSION. This is a more difficult 
 and trying work than the encouragement of 
 good. But evil tendencies must be checked, 
 in order that the nobler dispositions may have 
 room to grow. If the check is to be wisely 
 and successfully put on, much more is wanted 
 than that the check itself be a strong and 
 severe one. Fortunately, the most powerful 
 form of restraint is a form of encouragement 
 to the person restrained. Taking for granted 
 that evil inclinations must be mastered, and 
 demanding this of the children themselves, the 
 teacher gains the strongest position when he is 
 neither the lawgiver nor the imperious autho- 
 rity requiring its fulfilment, but is the friendly 
 counsellor, suggesting the best means of gaining 
 the victory. A suitable hint dropped in the 
 ear, showing that the difficulty has been seen 
 and measured, and that the teacher will be a
 
 88 ON TEACHING. 
 
 sharer in the joy of success, will stir new 
 resolution, and change some part of a naturally 
 irksome task to attractiveness. There is great 
 need that we keep in view the painfulness of 
 the experience involved in conflict with power- 
 ful tendencies in the nature. To appreciate 
 the difficulty of the task any child has on hand 
 carries one a great way towards proving a real 
 helper. But the painfulness of the work must 
 in nowise give exemption from it. Such pain- 
 fulness is part of the necessary experience of true 
 development. To favour a child escaping from 
 the determination and suffering connected with 
 self-denial is no kindness, but the worst form 
 of cruelty. There is but one way for mankind 
 securing a clear escape from this painfulness, that 
 is, to face the effort which occasions the pain, 
 until by facility of effort the pain itself gradually 
 diminishes, until the pleasure of pure and lofty 
 motive is felt greatly to outweigh the uneasi- 
 ness. Neither parent nor teacher can wisely 
 screen children from the bitter ordeal which 
 self-denial entails. " A spoilt child " has been 
 spoiled by encouragement in self-indulgence, 
 which at each turn has been allowed under 
 name of " kindness," and which has prevented 
 reflection where it might have arisen, and a 
 struggle for self-mastery which might have 
 been attempted. It is a weak and altogether 
 pernicious type of sympathy which inclines a 
 teacher or guardian to save a child from the 
 pain of conflict with his own evil tendencies. 
 This is " blind sympathy," one of the worst 
 illustrations out of a considerable variety which
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 89 
 
 give force to the adage that " love is blind." 
 Wisdom is the true guide of love, for there is 
 no more glaring practical mistake than the 
 notion that the law of love is all we need to 
 make our life noble. The love which shelters 
 from the pain of self-denial is soon blind even 
 to the faults which spring from the want of re- 
 straining power. There is therefore great need 
 to guard against love degenerating to softness. 
 Even tender years must not be allowed to 
 plead for self-indulgence. In kindness, the 
 teacher must remember that the sooner the 
 work of self-restraint begins the easier it 
 proves. But when this work is bravely faced, 
 let us give all the sympathetic aid in our 
 power, always remembering that the work 
 itself must be the child's own. Real sympathy 
 helps the youth in his battle with evil within. 
 And a heavy demand there ever must be for such 
 sympathy, while selfishness must be crushed, 
 anger must be restrained, and wrongs must 
 be endured without retaliation. The task may 
 be harder for some than for others, but in 
 every case it must be carried through. A 
 clear recognition of all that this requires is of 
 greatest value to a teacher. Happy are -the 
 children placed under the care of teachers who 
 see the moral requirements of their case, and 
 take pleasure in individualizing. The victory 
 is half won if a child has a strong helper in 
 his instructor. However young the child be, 
 he feels and appreciates the help ; for here it 
 is worth observing that children clearly dis- 
 criminate between the different forms and
 
 90 ON TEACHING. 
 
 effects of what their seniors often classify 
 under the single name " kindness." They 
 have a sensitiveness of nature, rather emotional 
 than intellectual, which distinguishes between 
 the affection which tends to feebleness, and 
 the affection which both makes sacrifices and 
 demands that they be made. Children have 
 one kind of affection for the good-natured, 
 easy-going master, whom they would describe 
 as a "jolly fellow," who winks at a great deal 
 that should be checked, and yields almost 
 anything that is clamoured for. They have a 
 different and deeper regard for the guide who 
 looks both before and behind, and will neither 
 himself yield, nor allow those for whom he is 
 responsible to yield anything that concerns 
 right conduct. It is a perilous mistake if we 
 dissociate love from law, and yield to a tender- 
 ness which lowers the standard of personal 
 goodness, and lessens the task of self-govern- 
 ment. There is only one thing worse, that is, 
 the discovery of a softness of nature which 
 encourages children to resort to fawning and 
 cajolery, in the hope of gaining what has been 
 formerly denied them. Such weakness of 
 government is positively demoralizing. It 
 both trains and rewards cunning, a vice which 
 is the ruin of all moral character. Instead of 
 laying the foundations of a good character, the 
 superior, whether parent or teacher, is under- 
 mining the foundation on which alone he can 
 build with success. Transparent honesty is 
 essential for sound building, and if a child is to 
 be guided and encouraged as he ought, he must
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 91 
 
 be led very early in life to yield conformity 
 to moral laws, which are as unchangeable and 
 unvariable as physical laws. 
 
 The repression of wrong-doing introduces us 
 to some of the most perplexing educational 
 problems. Upon these I am not disposed to 
 theorize down to minute details. In no other 
 way is it possible to govern, and at the same 
 time help by governing, than by the exercise 
 of practical sagacity, which grasps the whole 
 aspects of each case, and decides upon it by 
 reference to moral law, and a full understand- 
 ing of the nature of the child concerned. 
 There are moral offences which must call down 
 upon them condemnation to be felt by the 
 whole school. I do not return here to the 
 question of suitable punishments. But it must 
 be clear that falsehood, cruelty, and dishonesty 
 cannot go unpunished. The necessities of 
 discipline, even if no higher ground were taken, 
 demand that they be effectually checked. The 
 sense of the wrongness of such conduct must 
 be borne in upon the mind. It is not enough 
 that the scholars account them as hazardous, 
 because certain to entail punishment if detected. 
 The shrinking from physical pain is so great, 
 that the risk of having to endure it is apt to 
 be the first consideration with a child. This 
 is one of the peculiar disadvantages of corporal 
 punishment. The risk of this is so great that 
 it becomes matter of special importance that 
 the moral aspect of the offence be impressed 
 upon the mind of the offender. Mere punish- 
 ment may be quickly administered, but the
 
 92 ON TEACHING. 
 
 child may be nothing the better ; lie may even 
 be the worse. What is needed is to make 
 him reflect until he sees for himself the wrong- 
 ness of the act. He must perceive that it is 
 impossible to approve the act, that he would 
 have resented it exceedingly had it been done 
 to himself, that the utmost disaster would 
 be the result of its frequent commission. The 
 time taken up in this way is well spent. Thus 
 the teacher is doing his part to lay solidly the 
 great stones for a sure foundation. 
 
 Keeping in view the exceeding sensitiveness 
 to impression discovered by the mind, it is well 
 to economize influence by doing the utmost 
 possible with the least instrumentality. It is 
 a mistake to suppose that we are most effective 
 when most severe. There is a fineness of 
 sensibility over the spirit which vanishes at the 
 first threatening of severity. Rough handling 
 will in an instant spoil the surface on which 
 you wish to impress an accurate transcript of 
 moral law. An economy of material is com- 
 patible with the best results. "James!" or 
 " Jessie ! " uttered in a tone of surprise, will in 
 many cases make a deep and lasting impression 
 upon the mind of one seen transgressing. And 
 in general the teacher has gained a great deal 
 if in a few clear, calm statements, he set forth 
 the essential evil of an act such as falsehood, 
 and find the pupils overawed by a conscious- 
 ness of the impossibility of anything but con- 
 demnation being applied to such a deed. A 
 few weighty words, slowly and quietly uttered 
 in the midst of general stillness, are in their
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 93 
 
 practical effect worth far more than hours of 
 the loudest storming. 
 
 Beyond such general dealing comes the great 
 perplexity of school life. How shall we deal 
 with those who are wilful, stubborn, and de- 
 fiant 1 It is a question hard to answer. There 
 are some who object entirely to corporal pun- 
 ishment. As already indicated, I am not able 
 to agree with this view. Alternatives are hard 
 to find, though it is most desirable to avail our- 
 selves of all that seem to promise efficiency. 
 Expulsion from the school I regard as an ex- 
 treme measure, to be shunned up to the verge 
 of endurance. Unless in the case of unruly 
 pupils at an advanced age for school life (such 
 as are not unfrequently to be found in evening 
 schools), expulsion from the school can hardly 
 be looked at as an available course. It is 
 escape from a difficulty, not mastery of it. It 
 is a practical admission of failure, which, if 
 possible, should never be made in face of a 
 school. Instead of increasing the moral influ- 
 ence of a teacher, it detracts from it. Let 
 kindly treatment, as occasion offers, calm and 
 sympathetic remonstrance in private, assurances 
 of patience, and promises of help, be all ac- 
 cumulated around the offender. Let everything 
 be done which tenderest sympathy can sug- 
 gest rather than that the offender be banished 
 from the school, and turned over as a pest upon 
 the hands of some unsuspecting brother in the 
 profession. There is a very graphic account of 
 the conflict with a stubborn and wild youth 
 which deserves perusal, given in one of the
 
 94 ON TEACHING. 
 
 books of Dr. Eggleston, 1 descriptive of school 
 life in the midst of the rude settlers in the Far 
 West of America. Very touching is the story, 
 naturally recalled here, which is told by Dr. 
 Guthrie in his own pathetic style : " A soldier, 
 whose regiment lay in a garrison town in Eng- 
 land, was about to be brought before his com- 
 manding officer for some offence. He was an 
 old offender, and had been often punished. 
 ' Here he is again,' said the officer, on his name 
 being mentioned; 'everything flogging, dis- 
 grace, imprisonment has been tried with him.' 
 Whereupon the sergeant stepped forward, and 
 apologizing for the liberty he took, said, ' There 
 is one thing that has never been done with him, 
 sir.' ' What is that 1 ' was the answer. 'Well, 
 sir,' said the sergeant, ' he has never been for- 
 given.' ' Forgiven ! ' exclaimed the colonel, sur- 
 prised at the suggestion. He reflected for a 
 few minutes, ordered the culprit to be brought 
 in, and asked him what he had to say to the 
 charge ? * Nothing, sir,' was his reply ; ' only I 
 am sorry for what I have done.' Turning a 
 kind and pitiful look on the man, who expected 
 nothing else than that his punishment would 
 be increased with the repetition of his offence, 
 the colonel addressed him, saying, ' Well, we 
 have resolved to forgive you ! ' The soldier 
 was struck dumb with astonishment ; the tears 
 started in his eyes, and he wept like a child. 
 He was humbled to the dust ; he thanked his 
 officer and retired to be the old refractory, 
 incorrigible man ? No ; he was another man 
 1 The lloosier Schoolmaster. Routledge, London.
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 95 
 
 from that day forward. He who tells the 
 story had him for years under his eye, and a 
 better- conducted man never wore the Queen's 
 colours." l Such a case, even though it be re- 
 garded as one in a hundred, is worth ponder- 
 ing. At the same time it needs to be remarked 
 that it is the case of one hardened by punish- 
 ment, and is a case of pardon which could not 
 have been renewed if the experiment had 
 proved unsuccessful. But there is in tender- 
 ness of dealing a power so great that a teacher 
 may well venture at times upon an experi- 
 ment with the view of ascertaining how 
 wide a range of application may be allowed 
 to it. 
 
 In carrying forward the work of moral train- 
 ing, some attention needs to be given to the 
 moral RISKS CONNECTED WITH SCHOOL MANAGE- 
 MENT. There are such risks, against which it is 
 an important duty to have the scholars kept on 
 guard as far as possible. The rivalries of school 
 life carry with them temptations to jealousy. 
 The daily competition, the marking of places, 
 the reckonings which are to determine the 
 prizes, all excite the children in a way which 
 is apt to break in upon the work of self- 
 restraint. Eagerness for honour tempts either 
 to seize at an advantage or to cherish enmity 
 because such an advantage has been secured 
 by another. The stimulus of competition has 
 undoubtedly a high value ; but this fact must 
 not blind our eyes to the accompanying evils. 
 The influence of numbers is great, and the 
 1 Speaking to the Heart, p. 36.
 
 96 ON TEACHING. 
 
 rivalry of open competition quickens interest 
 in the round of school work. To dispense 
 with such stimulus seems hardly wise. And 
 yet it cannot be matter for surprise that many 
 teachers have been led seriously to question 
 whether there is a real educational gain from 
 these rivalries. It would be difficult to decide 
 the dispute by careful comparison of the evi- 
 dence for the opposing views. One considera- 
 tion seems to me conclusive. Competition is 
 an invariable attendant on human effort. There 
 is no sphere of life which altogether escapes its 
 influence. In the great majority of the spheres 
 in which life is spent the results of rivalry are 
 met at every turn. For this school training 
 should prepare, as for one of the certainties of 
 human life. To bear one's-self with calmness, 
 fairness, and generosity in the midst of the 
 rivalries of business is of the highest conse- 
 quence both for personal interests and for the 
 harmony of social life. It is, indeed, a great 
 service which is rendered to the community if 
 school training prepare for this. The teacher's 
 thoughts must often revert to the subject, 
 if the scholars are to be guarded against the 
 perils, and guided to the attainment of the 
 requisite power. Ambition, that "last in- 
 firmity of noble minds," may be turned to 
 ignoble ends, and may change strength to 
 weakness, nobleness to meanness. 
 
 Taking now a somewhat wider survey of the 
 requirements of our national life, a teacher's 
 attention would need to be turned to OUR 
 PREVAILING NATIONAL VICES, and the best
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 97 
 
 means for fortifying the young against them. 1 
 Early school life should do much to guard 
 against the rudeness and coarseness which turn 
 domestic life to bitterness, and prepare the way 
 for outbreaks of violence. A constant stream 
 of refining influence should flow through the 
 minds of the pupils. Everything favourable 
 in the reading-book, in history, or in the inci- 
 dents of the school-room, should be utilized 
 for this end. By all means at our command, 
 let us seek to refine and elevate. Our aim 
 must be to give a softened tinge to the 
 character, like the mellow bloom on the dark 
 rich clusters of the vine. Thus a higher life 
 is in some measure reached by a child, and he 
 wields a gentler influence, checking the asperi- 
 ties of life. In mixed schools, such as we have 
 in Scotland, there is ample opportunity for 
 training boys to cherish a respectful and 
 generous demeanour towards girls a lesson 
 of high value in itself, and far-reaching in its 
 effects. Encouragement in right practice is 
 real training. While harshness to a companion 
 
 1 Professor Hodgson (University of Edinburgh) presented 
 this in admirable form in his address at Norwich, as Presi- 
 dent of the Education Department of the Social Science 
 Association Congress 1873. He at the same time forcibly 
 indicated the present state of public opinion on this sub- 
 ject. He says, " Everywhere around us we find coarseness 
 of manner, cruelty both to animals and to our fellows, 
 petty dishonesty, disregard of truth, wastefulness, evasion 
 of duty, infidelity to engagements, not to speak of graver 
 forms of wrong-doing ; and WHO BELIEVES IN BIS HEART 
 
 THAT SCHOOL TRAINING COULD DO ANYTHING TO PREVENT 
 THEM ? " 
 
 G
 
 98 ON TEACHING. 
 
 is shown to be wrong in itself, the whole school 
 should be made to feel that it is additionally 
 offensive when a boy has been the aggressor 
 and a girl the sufferer. And this impression 
 needs to be conveyed in such a manner, that 
 while the boys are conscious of restraint laid 
 upon them, the girls may not be led to suppose 
 that a law less strict applies to them, or that 
 they are to be sheltered from the consequences 
 of their own actions. A skilful hand must 
 steady the balance. An outburst of rudeness 
 on the part of a girl should be felt additionally 
 odious, because of its utter incongruity with the 
 native gentleness and modesty of the sex. A 
 true teacher will do his utmost to deliver men 
 from coarseness, and to preserve for women 
 that gentleness which achieves higher results 
 than brute force. When teaching aims at such 
 ends as these, it takes to itself the guardianship 
 of a lofty ideal. The effects will not appear 
 when the inspection of the school takes place. 
 Under our system of " payment by results," 
 these effects will not have any record in the 
 return of " grant " from the Education Depart- 
 ment, and will not appear in the cash-book of 
 the School Board. But, what is of infinitely 
 more consequence to us all, they will, as living 
 results, spread throughout society in after 
 years, and tell upon succeeding generations. 
 
 If there be any one vice against which the 
 teachers of our country should seek to warn 
 the young, it is DRUNKENNESS. Our national 
 reproach because of this one vice is a bitter 
 one ; our national loss and suffering appalling
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 99 
 
 to a degree not realized by those who do not 
 ponder the statistics of the subject. Our 
 national weal depends largely on our casting 
 off this loathsome evil. Intelligence and de- 
 bauchery cannot go long together, either in 
 personal or in national history. Drunkenness 
 is a vice at which school training should level 
 its heaviest blows. There are at present fear- 
 ful odds against the teacher's hand here, more 
 particularly in the midst of the poverty-stricken 
 districts in our large cities, blighted by the 
 baneful influence of strong drink. But if the 
 teacher be observant as to opportunities, per- 
 sistent in his plan, hearty in his utterances, 
 and judicious in his avoidance of ridicule, he 
 can do much in fixing unseen convictions, and 
 may be aided, unconsciously to himself and to 
 the poor children, by the sad' experience* of 
 the misery and brutality which a drunken life 
 occasions. A steady moral influence quietly 
 returning, as opportunity offers, to impress upon 
 the mind the evils of drunkenness, and the 
 value of temperance as a root virtue, will help 
 largely towards the training of a race strong 
 in the self-control of a temperate life. The 
 waste of substance which drunkenness causes, 
 the weakness and weariness; of body, the 
 debasement of mind, the desolation of homes, 
 are such as to afford the teacher many links of 
 association making reference easy and natural. 
 There is enough in the thought of these things 
 to deliver childhood from the risk of making 
 mirth of the drunkard. There is enough to 
 favour one who desires to awaken loathing in
 
 100 ON TEACHING. 
 
 a young mind. But in all allusions to this 
 subject there is need for great delicacy of feel- 
 ing and tact. The teacher needs to remember 
 into how many homes in our land the horrid 
 vampire has entered, and how many young 
 hearts are smarting under the wounds it has 
 inflicted. The revelations which our School 
 Boards in the great cities have had to con- 
 template during the brief period of their 
 labours already passed, are painful beyond all 
 utterance. They have discovered to us the 
 enormity of the evil, and the urgent need that 
 the children rescued by the "compulsory 
 clause " be fortified against the fearful tempta- 
 tions to be met. Well may the teachers speak 
 often about drunkenness, but in all that is said, 
 we must deal tenderly with the sacred feelings 
 of childhood, and make our teaching strengthen 
 filial interest and devotion, where there is so 
 much to strike at the roots of both, to the 
 terrible aggravation of the evil. 
 
 The other and more pleasing aspect of the 
 teacher's work in aiming at the formation of 
 character is the ENCOURAGEMENT OF ALL GOOD 
 DISPOSITIONS. The nourishment of the good 
 is the surest way of repressing the evil. Thus, 
 the growth of generosity is the decay of mean- 
 ness ; so it is all round. The life of the 
 virtues is the death of the vices. Where there 
 is sensitiveness as to the feelings of others, 
 there is shrinking from rudeness. Generosity 
 quickens the sense of shame at the rise of 
 a selfish feeling. The love of truth will sum- 
 mon courage to its aid, rather than screen
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 101 
 
 itself from suffering behind the mean shelter 
 which a falsehood might afford. In this way 
 it is apparent that a teacher can do much to 
 prevent the outbreaks of evil by the judicious 
 and hearty encouragement he gives to all 
 examples of well-doing. 
 
 Here, then, our question is, How can the 
 teacher most effectively contribute towards the 
 development of the noble qualities of moral 
 character 1 The first and most constant form 
 of help is that afforded by the spirit in which 
 school discipline is maintained. If that illus- 
 trate throughout the play of good disposition, 
 the children are unconsciously won to admira- 
 tion and imitation of the same. It is not de- 
 spotic government which is favourable to the 
 growth of virtue, but the government of reason 
 and sympathy in other words, a government 
 founded on moral excellence. If the children 
 have any occasion to complain of injustice, 
 some injury is done to their moral training. 
 Let the atmosphere of justice and kindliness 
 pervade the school-room, and the scholars will 
 grow up in robustness of moral life. In speak- 
 ing, however, of this pervading influence, it is 
 not implied that a teacher may uniformly suc- 
 ceed in reaching his own ideal. This is not 
 the condition upon which sound moral train- 
 ing can be maintained. Personal perfection is 
 not by any means needful in order to success 
 in training others. But those who are under 
 a teacher's care must be satisfied that he has a 
 noble ideal which he sincerely admires, and 
 which he honestly strives to reach. Their
 
 102 ON TEACHING. 
 
 confidence in this must not be shaken by his 
 failures ; it must even be strengthened by 
 means of these. The suggestion may seem 
 incongruous, but if it be reflected upon it will 
 appear that we often judge even more confi- 
 dently of a person's character by the manner 
 in which he acts when conscious of having 
 done wrong, than we do in observing the more 
 ordinary examples of well-doing. This is 
 peculiarly true as to the judgment which 
 children form of their instructor. If he do a 
 wrong, and be found denying it, or be seen 
 resorting to shifts to conceal it, nothing is 
 more quickly made the subject of remark. 
 But if one who is constantly laying down the 
 law, and reflecting upon them for failures, do 
 himself acknowledge that he has fallen into 
 mistake, or has done what he openly regrets, 
 the children have great confidence in the 
 sincerity of his counsels, because they believe 
 in the reality of his own effort to do what he 
 requires others to do. If an unintentional 
 injustice has been done, let the error be freely, 
 and if needful publicly, acknowledged, and let 
 the error be rectified as far as possible. None 
 of us professes to be perfect; it would be 
 purest affectation to conduct a class on the 
 assumption that we are. It does not lower the 
 dignity of a teacher to own a fault on a fitting 
 occasion. But the acknowledgment must be a 
 proof of strong moral purpose, not a painful 
 admission of weakness and bewilderment. It 
 must give evidence of the power of self-com- 
 mand, not of the want of it.
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER 103 
 
 Next in importance is the power of direct 
 encouragement. If the teacher gain the affec- 
 tions of his scholars, and give regular evidence 
 of his wish to stimulate them in well-doing, his 
 influence over them will be great. They have 
 a desire to stand well with their teacher, and 
 if this desire be utilized it becomes easy to 
 contribute daily towards the formation of a 
 good character. In order to preserve this in- 
 fluence, however, it is needful to remember 
 that praise as well as blame must be used 
 sparingly. The child must know and feel that 
 he has gained approval, but only at rare times 
 should he hear himself praised before others. 
 So delicate a process is that by which character 
 is developed, that there is danger from frequent 
 commendation, just as there is on the other 
 side from frequent fault-finding. The dangers 
 here are two that of encouraging pride while 
 encouraging well-doing, and that of tempting a 
 child to suppose that there is something pecu- 
 liarly meritorious in simply doing his duty. 
 The former is the more conspicuous, and 
 is certain to attract .attention if it arise, and 
 thereby suggest the need for counteractives. 
 But the latter is one not so easily observed, 
 and which goes much more quickly in the 
 direction of undermining the character. The 
 child must be made to recognise that if he has 
 done well, he has only done what is naturally 
 required of him, and what he must be required 
 to do a hundred times a day with as much ease 
 and fixedness of purpose as appear in his use of 
 speech. In view of the danger thus indicated,
 
 104 ON TEACHING. 
 
 it is desirable that a child more commonly feel 
 that he has gained approval rather than hear 
 the expression of it. It is with encourage- 
 ment, as with so much besides, it is most 
 easily conveyed through the eye, and by this 
 vehicle of communication there is least risk of 
 error or injurious effects. A look is, indeed, 
 fleeting, and cannot be long sustained; but 
 there is an advantage in this for the pur- 
 pose here contemplated. On the other hand, 
 however fleeting, a look of encouragement is 
 long remembered by a child. It is greatly 
 more appreciated, and much better remembered 
 than a geography lesson. In the case of those 
 who are apt to be crushed with the sense of 
 frequent failure, and are in danger of having 
 feeling embittered, some words of encourage- 
 ment will be greatly more influential than heavy 
 punishment. Only, the occasion for commenda- 
 tion must come naturally. It must first be felt 
 to have been deserved, else it blunts the finer 
 feelings and hurts the character. Genuineness 
 is essential everywhere. Merited commenda- 
 tion should however be readily given. " Hon- 
 our to whom honour is due." To a child who 
 finds it hard to do what is right, a single state- 
 ment made privately that his efforts in this 
 direction have been observed and appreciated, 
 will spread out its influence over whole days. 
 In all this we need to beware of allowing our- 
 selves to be hampered by the fear of promot- 
 ing the growth of pride. Observation and 
 sagacity are required as to times and ways of 
 expressing approval. We must guard ourselves
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 105 
 
 against favouring a proud disposition ; but we 
 must no less anxiously guard against the peril 
 of fostering a mock humility. Certain things 
 are to be blamed, let them be blamed undevi- 
 atingly : other things are to be praised, let us 
 give them their due no less freely. If only 
 mutual understanding be established between 
 teacher and pupil, a most powerful impulse in 
 the direction of moral improvement can be 
 communicated from day to day. In the learn- 
 ing of lessons, in conflict with evil passions, 
 and in all forms of well-doing, there is an im- 
 mense difference between one discouraged and 
 one who is warned and cheered by a friendly 
 counsellor. The task for the scholar is in any 
 case the same. But when encouraged he works 
 with more ardour and expectation of success. 
 He feels all about him the moral support of 
 one older and more experienced, who is person- 
 ally concerned in a result to be reached by slow 
 stages, and which is so important as to colour 
 the whole life. 
 
 The opening RELIGIOUS EXERCISES of each 
 day, if properly conducted, must greatly aid 
 the work of training. The ratepayers of the 
 country have declared unmistakeably for reli- 
 gious teaching as the true support of moral 
 training. Teachers who include moral training 
 in their ideal of professional duty will be thank- 
 ful for the decision. The " Conscience Clause " 
 frees a teacher from irksome apprehensions as 
 to interference with the religious convictions 
 of those who have intrusted him with the deli- 
 cate task of training their children. The
 
 106 ON TEACHING. 
 
 teacher is assured that in these opening religi- 
 ous exercises he is starting the work of the day 
 as the great bulk of the people wish him to do, 
 while complete protection has been provided 
 for exceptional cases. As a moral trainer, the 
 teacher is immensely aided by opportunity for 
 touching the deeper feelings of human nature. 
 To lift the whole set of duties into the light 
 of God's eye, and to associate childhood's efforts 
 with the wealth of divine sympathy and help, 
 is at once to raise life higher, and make effort 
 easier and more gladsome. To link the moral 
 sentiments with the religious feelings is to 
 bring the strong forces of the human mind into 
 play for support of arduous effort. I do not 
 touch the underlying problems of religious con- 
 viction with which every thinker must concern 
 himself. The teacher is as likely as any 
 more likely than most to feel the interest of 
 such problems. But, as a teacher, his work is 
 practical, not speculative. He seeks a full 
 culture for the children, within the limits 
 which their slender capacities prescribe. The 
 religious exercises with which the school is 
 opened favour him greatly in his plan. No- 
 thing can more contribute to thoughtful self- 
 control than simplicity of devotional service, 
 and familiarity with the touching scenes in the 
 life of our Saviour. But here, as everywhere, 
 reality is the test of efficiency. Formality in 
 devotion and carelessness in reading Scripture 
 destroy the value of the opening exercises, and 
 turn them into a source of danger. The prayers 
 and Scripture lessons do not carry their own
 
 FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 107 
 
 meaning to the pupils. The manner, tone, and 
 style of utterance adopted by the teacher con- 
 stitute the vehicle of thought and feeling to 
 the young mind. The familiar petitions of 
 " the Lord's Prayer," for example, must become 
 the living desires of the teacher, and find true 
 emotional utterance, if the prayer is to become 
 more than a decent form. Bible-reading by 
 the teachers should be an example of good 
 reading that is, reading which conveys the 
 apprehended thought to the listening ear. The 
 affecting scenes in the life and death of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ must have their pathos 
 actually expressed if they are to exercise any 
 moulding influence over the disposition and 
 conduct of the pupils.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 WHAT has been said as to the ends of 
 teaching, and the means to be employed 
 for attaining them, is enough to show that the 
 duties devolving on a teacher are of no slight 
 difficulty. But to a competent teacher the 
 work never can be uninteresting. Those who 
 wish an easy life would act wisely did they 
 turn in some other direction than the school- 
 room. Those who are willing to give thought, 
 and patience, and strenuous effort to the work 
 of life will find in the school-room a most 
 attractive sphere of usefulness. Much is said 
 of the routine of a teacher's life. It is a one- 
 sided view which leads to the remark. In so 
 far as the subjects to be taught are concerned, 
 it is routine, but in no other sense. There is, 
 indeed, endless variety in school life. The 
 unfolding of youthful minds, with the varying 
 phases of curiosity and carelessness, erroneous 
 apprehension, and quick recognition of what is 
 taught, presents an increasing source of attrac- 
 tion. The early attempts at self-government, 
 
 108
 
 CONCLUSION. 109 
 
 with their comical failures and more serious 
 outbreaks, their flow of feeling, now playful, 
 now serious, and again deepening into passion, 
 make a teacher's life one of the most lively. 
 If a dull feeling of sameness creep over our 
 minds, there is something wrong with ourselves 
 in our teaching. With the lofty end the teacher 
 has in view, and the variety of nature presented 
 in a considerable gathering of children, a 
 teacher's work should never seem tame. 
 
 The grand ends of teaching are embraced in 
 the two words Instruction and Training. Fail- 
 ing in these, or in either of them, the teacher 
 fails to attain the end he has set himself to 
 reach. A lower aim cannot be accepted with- 
 out falling beneath the true professional level. 
 No true teacher can make salary the end of 
 effort. No matter in what profession a man 
 may be, if pay is the one end for which he 
 works he is self-degraded. We come very near 
 the source of sound moral life in this matter. 
 The discussions of ancient philosophers as to 
 receiving payment for teaching show how much 
 the dignity and power of the teacher were con- 
 ceived to be dependent on superiority to the 
 mercenary spirit. If these philosophers dis- 
 cussed the question, not only with eagerness, 
 but even with undue keenness of feeling, this 
 shows how important it seemed in their eyes. 
 We can discuss the question now free from the 
 feeling occasioned by the conduct of professed 
 Sophists. We clearly see how honourable it is 
 that a man should live by his profession ; but 
 we as clearly perceive that it is unworthy of a
 
 110 ON TEACHING. 
 
 man to hold his profession exclusively for the 
 living it affords. It is, however, well for us, 
 and for all interests concerned, that pay is 
 needed by all workers in the several spheres 
 of human activity. This granted, it is clear 
 the teacher's salary should be such as to give 
 him a good position in society. If the general 
 standard of income for teachers be low in any 
 country, it indicates either want of spirit among 
 the people, or want of reflection as to the real 
 value of education. Our country is not with- 
 out blame in this respect, but fortunately a 
 remedy has been provided. The School Boards 
 of the country have shown their sense of the 
 value of liberal remuneration for efficient ser- 
 vice. High efficiency and high pay must go 
 together. This is a lesson which by force of 
 circumstances the School Boards are likely to 
 press on each other's attention. On the other 
 hand, it is of unspeakable importance that the 
 teacher keep his own mind fixed on some end 
 vastly higher than payment. There is a wide 
 difference between making a livelihood by one's 
 profession, and discharging professional duties 
 for the sake of the livelihood. Toil and 
 remuneration are naturally associated ; but 
 money is a poor reward for life-long effort in 
 any sphere. "A fair day's wage for a fair 
 day's work " is a just maxim to be put to use 
 by all. But the man who makes this maxim 
 the sole test of contract degrades himself, 
 whether he be employer or employed. On the 
 one side, much depends upon what is meant by 
 fair pay ; on the other, what is meant by fair
 
 CONCLUSION. Ill 
 
 work. The rule so often repeated as the em- 
 bodiment of justice, can afford, as we daily 
 see, shelter for a very low ideal of life. As to 
 " fair work," much more is involved in it than 
 a time-measure can indicate, or than muscle- 
 force, or even brain-force, can supply. Routine 
 work implies a worker who is a drudge, and 
 who cannot comply with the maxim in any 
 righteous sense. To have an ideal of our work, 
 and to come as near to it as possible, should be 
 the great aim with us all. I have touched the 
 question of pay only because under the arrange- 
 ments of our national system teachers seem to 
 be exposed to special temptations. "Pay- 
 ment by result " is only a special modification 
 of the maxim, " A fair day's wage for a fair 
 day's work." It is equitable, and in the 
 management of a general scheme, inevitable. 
 But it leaves the highest things unacknow- 
 ledged, and is apt to turn attention from them. 
 It can be easily squared with a vulgarized type 
 of school management. It can take the finer 
 and nobler qualities of influence entirely out of 
 school life. It is a sound principle within its 
 own field of application, but applied beyond its 
 own appropriate and narrow sphere it becomes 
 actually pernicious. None but the teacher can 
 defend the nation from the evil consequences 
 of its own system of pecuniary rewards. To 
 work to the " Code " is needful, to work to no 
 higher standard is voluntary degradation. The 
 most favourable report of an inspector speaks 
 only to the former, and may by its expression 
 of approval cover with respectability a most
 
 112 ON TEACHING. 
 
 serious deficiency. The teacher must aim at 
 satisfying the " Code," and doing a great deal 
 more. Children must be taught to read, write, 
 and count. This much the Education Depart- 
 ment must require, and the attainment in each 
 case can be exactly tested. But educated chil- 
 dren must contribute a great deal more to 
 national life than these attainments imply. 
 Results in this higher sphere the Department 
 has no means of testing. Development of 
 character cannot be codified and measured by 
 results. There are results of teaching which 
 are unspeakably important, yet which will not 
 bring a single shilling of addition to the school 
 grant. But parents will appreciate what the 
 inspector has to pass by unnamed. School 
 Boards will estimate at a high rate what the 
 Department cannot place in the schedule. 
 
 Work has its real reward in the end it seeks. 
 Work which cannot be reckoned for in money 
 payments has a better recompence. To make 
 good citizens, as Plato was wont to argue, is 
 better than to seek pleasure; or better still, 
 as Christianity teaches the lesson, to aid others 
 in attaining moral goodness in all its forms is 
 a task worthy of the highest endowments. 
 Here it is the teacher can render the greatest 
 service. No nation can keep in the front rank 
 except by education. For stability and influ- 
 ence the nation must look to parents and 
 teachers, who are moulding the character of 
 the rising generation. During the Franco- 
 German war, the oft-repeated remark was that 
 the schoolmaster had gained the German vie-
 
 CONCLUSION. 113 
 
 tones. The fact was clearly established. Ger- 
 many had the best intelligence of the country 
 in the ranks. Under our military system 
 nothing akin to this can happen ; but the roots 
 of national influence go immensely deeper than 
 the army, and stretch immensely wider. It is 
 the morality underlying the intelligence which 
 is the secret spring of vital energy in a people. 
 The war test we do not wish to see applied ; 
 but if British teachers can quietly and steadily 
 turn the forces of vice and crime, we shall have 
 reason to rejoice more than the Germans did 
 over the return of their victorious troops. Our 
 worst foes are within our own borders. Our 
 best friends are those within our own lines, 
 who promote intelligence, self-control, and devo- 
 tion to a noble life. Amongst these our teachers 
 stand conspicuous. But it is never to be over- 
 looked in our estimate of teaching that moral 
 fruits are the best. If a teacher, year by year, 
 present the great bulk of his scholars for exami- 
 nation, and succeed in passing over 90 per cent, 
 of them in all departments, he may well be con- 
 gratulated. But there is another aim higher 
 still. It is to have his scholars so habituated 
 to self-control, that they shall be prepared for 
 wise direction of their own conduct when all 
 the checks and helps of home and school are 
 completely withdrawn. In such a case the 
 after-life of the scholars will reflect honour on 
 his labours as discovering, though at a great 
 distance of time, the fruits of the discipline of 
 school life. This is the highest result of educa- 
 tional effort. It is the full reward of anxious
 
 114 ON TEACHING. 
 
 thought and toil In such a case the teacher 
 sees his own better life reproduced in those 
 who caught from him many of their early im- 
 pulses towards a life of moral elevation. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY T. AKD A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY. 
 AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESa
 
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