A BOGY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1927, Page 14

A BOGY.

PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS. JUSTICE AND CLEMENCY. 'HIT AND THINK" METHOD. HEADMASTER'S OPINION. Corporal punishment in schools is a bogy, a mare's nest. This is on the authority of Mr. Arthur Douglas, headmaster of Mount Edent School, who in February last succeeded Mr. Brown, the latter retiring. It was at the meeting of householders that Mr. Douglas, in an interesting address, dealt with corporal punishment in schools, or rather its abolition. "I am surprised at the number of letters I read in the newspapers about corporal punisbment in schools," said Mr. Douplaß. "I can assure parents that corporal punishment has practically gone from the schools—it is a bogy. It has gone with the spirit of the day. The world to-day is a better world than ever it was; it is getting better and better. Let me take you back a few years, and recall the severity of the punishments meted out at the Magistrate's and Supreme Courts, and compare those punishments with the treatment of offenders to-day. Hundreds of offenders are given probation when they appear at Court for their first offence, probation is allowed a second time, perhaps a third time, or sentence deferred. This is evidence of the spirit of justice and kindliness that has come over the world. I'll say this now—you parents are more considerate to your children than your parents were to you. Some may say you are 'soft,' but you cannot help it; you have been caught in the wave of justice and clemency which has 6wept New Zealand just as it has swept all other countries. You can call them Christian ideas if you like; I don't care what you call them, but we are a better people. Mother's Methods. "A few years ago .we laughed when mother brought little Willie along to school and said 'Willie will get along better if you coax and encourage him.' But mother was right, and it is mother's method the schools of the Dominion have adopted and are applying to-day. Children are the easiest in the world to manage, but you cannot do it by command. The age of command is going. Schools were built for children, the teachers are the agents of those children, and should do all possible for the children intellectually and in character building. Children Differ. "Every child's will differs," continued Mr. Douglas. "In some* schools children are made to sit up prim and proper at their desks. That does not suit every child. I could tell you many instances of wonderful results being accomplished in the cases of what were called 'dull' scholars. It wasn't the scholars' fault they were dull, or not so quick to grasp their lessons as others in the class. Do you think it was fair to any of the dull ones that, because they were not so smart as some of their classmates, they should be penalised? The 'hit and think' period has gone for ever. A dull scholar is encouraged by his teacher just as his mother would encourage him at home. It is mother's methods we are applying in the schools to-day, and we are getting results equal at least to the results when the method was, as I have told you, 'hit and think.' Teachers have to give way to the new generation. We have been caught up in the w»*e Of justice, kindliness, and clemency and, with others in the world, are better people.

" I am retiring at the end of next year, after 40 years of teaching. During that time I have been shifted about all over the 'shop'; in fact, I have had so many shifts that my wife has become an expert packer. Teachers are always a hard-up crowd, harder-up still if you are shifted about very often. But that is not what I wanted to say. What I do want to impress upon you is that the public concern about corporal punishment in the schools to-day is a bogy, and the teachers are getting good results, while the children are happier, and physically better than they were."

At the conclusion of his remarks Mr. Douglas was accorded a vote of thanks by acclamation, and a resolution of confidence in him was passed.