NOTES ON EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 320, 6 October 1908, Page 8

NOTES ON EDUCATION.

« (By Socrates.) CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS. Whether corporal punishment, as a medium for maintaining school discipline, i/ justifiable or not, is a matter upon which educationists are inclined to differ. Among thoso who agree as to its necessity, thore is, further, a difference of ojrinion as to tho limit to which such punishment should be carried. A school is a social community in miniature. Its primary function is the education of the young. By "education" is not meant merely tho inculcation of tho principles of knowledge, with the assimilation of the necessary facts of such principles, but also tho adjustment, of tho mental perspective to the proper appreciation of tho difference between right from wrong, tho stiffening of tho moral fibre, and a proper respect for law and order. Before anything can bo taught, however, there must be, first nnd always, law and order; henco, it becomes necossary to institute; in overy. school, a system of disciplino which shall bo' tho means of maintaining order. It is necessary, for tho good conduct of a school, that thero shall bo rules of disciplino, and that these rules shall bo obeyed. If they be flouted, then there must bo a means of dealing with those who flout them, and it is upon the nature of these means that people —present-day people — aro unable to agree. In the " good old times," that pearl of wisdom " Spare tho rod and spoil the child" was honoured in the observance, and the boy who could not " take a licking " was despised of his fellows. The craven 1 who went home and told his father that his teachcr had thrashed him received another for his pains. But those were stern times, when the Empire was growing out of its swaddling clothes. Kicks were then more frequent than ha'pence. Time has changed all that, and in some countries of the world it is even possible to educate a boy without the rod —at least, so it .is said. After all, whore the punishment fits the crime, is equitably dispensed' and meted out, not in a spirit of resentment, but with judicial impartiality, there can be no cavil on tho part of sensible men. In schools where corporal punishment is made a medium of maintaining order, its dispensation should be in experienced hands. Corporal punishment is a potent weapon, but its use in inexperienced hands is a very real menace to the discipline of a school. It should never be given in excess, for then the recipient is provoked to resentment, and tho corrective loses its effect. In New Zealand schools the head teacher, .generally speaking, has special authority to administer corporal punishment, and also,to delegate similar powers to responsible assistants. Some people, notably Mr. V.. ; 6. Day, Stipendiary Magistrate, of Christchurch, aro of opinion that such authority should not be so delegated. Mr. Day enlightened the public as to his views, upon the question on Friday, September 25, when he tried a case in which defendant, an assistant-master, was charged with assaulting plaintiff's son by striking him on the body with a strap. In essentials, the case presented nothing of a noteworthy kind to distinguish it, nevertheless it was a somewhat remarkable case—remarkable by reason of remarkable utterances of the presiding magistrate, Mr. V. G. Day. The details of tho caso will be found in the ."Ashburton Guardian" of September 26. Briefly, they were as follow:—Mr. Chapman an assistant master, had, after consultation with his superior, Mr. M'Leod, punished the boy for telling a lie, administering twelve cuts with a strap. Ten were administered on tho hands, and, tho boy refusing further punishment, tho remaining two on the legs. The boy had a bad record —he had been strapped for stealing a pencil; beaten by tho headmaster for swearing; was the recipient of a little attention from the police, for stone throwing, and for staying away from home. Tho headmaster himself bad suggested, in the caso . under review, a good thrashing. The strap used was a light one, lighter than that prescribed by tho Education Board; a medical man testified that the boy's skin was of such a nature that it would mark easily, and tho only bruise discernible was about the size of a shilling. The boy was in no way injured, and tho mark was superficial. During tne hearing of tho evidence, his Worship took occasion, at frequent intervals, to express opinions which had nothing to do with tho evidence, nor tho conduct of the case, but merely represented his own ' personal views upon tho abstract question of corporal punishment in schools. Collected together, his utterances (as reported in tho "Guardian"), read as follow: — "The headmaster, only, had a right to administer corporal punishment, ,'lhis, however, was a point which had not been properly " settled. ... In England, this power was limited to tho headmaster, and if the administration of corporal punishment in the larger schools of London could be confined to principals, surely such a regulation could operate successfully here. ... Ho ■ commented very strongly upon the too general use of tho strap in State schools. He spoko, he said, from his own experience, for ho had more children than tho average father. If a child blotted a book or did not know his spelling, the' rule was to strap him. There whs no educational power in a strap." Now, be it remembered, Mr. Day was appointed to his position to interpret and administer the law. not to make laws. If an Education Board be vested with powors for the proper conduct of its schools, and in pursuance thereof makes regulations which invest headmasters, and (with their cognizance) assistants of schools with certain authority with respect to tho administration .of corporal punishment, then it is not. for Mr. Day, nor any other magistrate, to say that these assistants may not administer such punishment, or that they should not do so. His function as a magistrate is confined to an endeavour to determine whether these regulations have been carried out, and apply his judicial sense of proportion to the elucidation of the problem as to whether tho regulations have been strained to excess. With the latter part of tho abovo quotation, the writer is inclined to agree, but the point involved in the statement referred to was not at issue, in the case before Mr. Day. The boy was punished for lying—a different thing altogether. ■' What follows, however, is more curious. In delivering judgment, Mr. Day is reported to have said:— "The Justices of the Peace Act laid down a standard in tho caso of corporal punishment for children. Tho Act allowed a magistrate to order six strokes with a birch rod for children under twelve years, and twelve strokes for children over twelve years; and ho was satisfied that no schoolmaster or parent should go beyond tho Act. He was no magistrate would order the boy to receive more than six strokes, and he was of tho opinion that punishment in excess of what should have been given had been administered. Thore was no doubt that the hoy deserved punishment, but if it should, havo been severe the boys father could have been asked to deal with him, and no doubt he would have done so. He thought, however, that tho defendant had erred in judgment only, and/ though he would convict, ho would not impose any fine, but would order tho defendant to pay costs (£1 195.). Mr. Buchanan, counsel for the defendant, asked that the fine imposed should be ma(lo sufficient to allow of an appeal to a higher Court, but this the Magistrate refused to do, saying that ho invariably refused such an application and believed that he was in a better position to give an opinion on the caso before him- than a judge of the Supremo Court could possibly be, for ho had seen tho boy's bruises. Ho was surprised that Mr. Buchanan should impugn his opinion on tho matter." What an absurd comparison! A birching, by order of the Magistrato, is usually administered by a policeman, and on tho baro back. Most assuredly no schoolmaster would go beyond that. Mr. Day's answer to counsel for defendant on the question of appeal does not need comment. A Supremo Court judge might not, however, entirely agroe with him.