5. What special care should the teacher exercise over her pupils in inclement weather?

6. Think out carefully the advantages of a code of signals for directing the movements of pupils during school hours.

7. Why should you form a definite plan for dismissing school on the first day of the term?

8. What consideration should be given defective pupils when arranging the seating of the school?

9. What do you understand by good order?

10. By what principles should the teacher be guided in making rules and regulations?

CHAPTER SIX

DISCIPLINE

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.-Solomon.

The end and aim of all education is the development of character. Col. Francis W. Parker.

1. Discipline Defined. Discipline Discipline is that wise adjustment of plans, rules and conditions that keeps the pupils working towards the desired goal willingly, happily, patiently and successfully, without consciousness of friction or undue fatigue.

The school whose pupils are interested and busy, doing their assigned work quietly, happily and at the right time, with no evidence of unpleasant restraint or unrest, and from no other apparent motive than that they love their work and their teacher-that school has reached the highest ideal of proper discipline. Such a school, you may be sure, has a teacher who cherishes high ideals of character-building, and by love, sympathy, tact and patience has brought her pupils into happy fellowship.

In such cases, teacher and pupils are working cheerfully and happily together, loving the work and honoring themselves and one another, the one purpose common to all being to do the best possible thing for the school and for themselves as units in the school. The motto, expressed or unexpressed, of such a school is, “Each for all, and all for the Right."

Perhaps the sorely-tried teacher, working under many disadvantages, may say that such a school in any grade is nearly, if not wholly, impossible. Perhaps most of you may say that in a primary school such results are always impossible.

At this moment we distinctly recall arriving at a small village whose only school building contained but four rooms. Reaching the schoolhouse, we entered the vestibule and

from that at once stepped to the door of the primary room, which stood hospitably open. To our surprise, we saw a room well filled with boys and girls from five to eight years of age, but no teacher. Looking up brightly as they heard our footsteps, they smilingly responded to our "Good Morning" and explained that their teacher was "upstairs, giving the music lesson."

"And you are able to take care of yourselves without a teacher?"

"Oh, yes; we do it every day," came the prompt reply. "Do you tell her of the bad things you do when she is out of the room?" queried the supervisor, teasingly.

"We don't do bad things," flashed a dark-eyed little girl from the larger group; "we'd be ashamed to. Our teacher trusts us."

A glance sufficed to show that this was the general sentiment of the room, and the visitor hastened to apologize for the unwarranted question and to commend the school for being so truly trustworthy.

Those children understood that their teacher would not leave them except when compelled by other duties, and considered it a matter of loving loyalty and pride to uphold the good name of their room during these unavoidable absences. This was demonstrated again and again during the several days of the inspector's visit.

A few things worthy of remembrance were noted in this case: (1) There was perfect sympathy and confidence between this teacher and her pupils. (2) To guard them against the many temptations that result from idleness, she always assigned definite work for each pupil to do during the half-hour of her absence. (3) She never failed to examine the work on her return. (4) She always thanked. the little ones for the good order they maintained during her absence-not always in formal expressions of thanks, but more often by a quick, smiling glance of appreciation or such cordially uttered remarks as "This is what I like to find," "This does me good," "This makes my heart feel

warm," "This makes me happy." (5) This teacher was only twenty years old, and the visit occurred before she had completed her first year of teaching. (6) She had been trained for teaching in a city training school for teachers; and, moreover, she possessed those great essentials to a primary teacher's success, "honest lovingness and patient firmness."

2. Ideals. In discipline, as in instruction, the teacher must have definite aims. She must set a standard of character which she wishes her pupils to attain, and then strive so to manage her school that most of her pupils, at least, will approach nearer to her ideal each day. No teacher can succeed in building character unless she possesses high. ideals of excellence which she expects her pupils to reach. She must not only form these ideals herself; she must also lead her pupils to do the same. Do not be afraid of the dream side of life.

"The dream side of life is the great side of life. The present and the future are full of new possibilities and of unknown quantities; we can be more successful discoverers and explorers in the child realm than we have ever been before."

"Think what you want your pupils to be ten, twenty years, hence, and labor to set up now the ideals to which, through years, their souls shall grow."

These quotations from leading educators show that the true aim of discipline extends far beyond securing an orderly school. That similar views are held by others may be seen from the following quotations. The first quotation is from an address by Ex-President Roosevelt, delivered at the founding of St. Patrick's Church, Washington, D. C., Nov. 20, 1904. He said:

I wish to-day to dwell upon this thought—that while in this country we need wise laws, honestly and fearlessly executed, and while we cannot afford to tolerate anything but the highest standard in the public service of the government, yet in the last analysis the future of our country must depend upon the quality of the individual home, of the individual man or woman in that home. The future of this country depends upon the way in which the average man and the average woman in it does his or her duty, and that largely

depends upon the way in which the average boy or girl is brought up...

I wish to see in the average American citizen the development of the two sets of qualities which we can roughly indicate as sweetness and strength—the qualities on the one hand which make the man able to hold his own, and those which on the other hand make him jealous for the rights of others just as much as for his own rights. We must have both sets of qualities.

In the first place the man must have the power to hold his own. I do not much care for the coward or the moral weakling. I want each of you boys-and the girls just as much-and each of you young men and young women, to have the qualities without which people may be amiable and pleasant while things go well, but without which they cannot succeed in times of stern trial.

I wish to see in the man, manliness; in the woman, womanliness. I wish to see courage, perseverance, the willingness to face work, to face danger, if it is necessary, the determination not to shrink back when temporarily beaten in life, but to come up again and wrest triumph from defeat.

I want to see you, men, strong men and brave men; and, in addition, I wish to see each man of you feel that his strength and his courage but make him the worse unless to that strength and courage are joined the qualities of tenderness towards those he loves who are dependent upon him, and of right dealing with all his neighbors.

The second quotation, which is no less valuable, is from a paper prepared by a prominent business man, who at the time was president of the board of education in his city. He said:

The thing is to teach correctly man's correct relation to man and to bring it home so effectually that the child will remember the lesson and practice it during life. The great trouble with mankind is selfishness. The limitations upon personal action should be taught the young. They should be taught that one's own personal rights end exactly where another's rights begin and be taught to observe that line with scrupulous care. I would teach the young that the most honorable man is the honest and industrious citizen who uses all his faculties for his own and society's good, without regard to the capacity in which he is employed.

I would teach them that the man to honor is the useful one, and that the one to shun is the dissolute, lazy one, no matter what his apparent condition in the world, no matter how much money he has or how engaging his personality.