RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 6

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Eouwaiiu.] DISCIPLINE. Much of the burden of teaching would be eliminated if someone would lind a way of solving the problem ol discipline. Not that teaching will ever be easy. Like any other piece of worthwhile work, the teaching of a class ol wide-awake boys or girls will always require the expenditure of energy. But when there is no difficulty in maintaining discipline and the teacher is free to devote himself wholly to the more vital educational tasks, teaching, though it involves work, is both interesting and satisfying. In discussing the problem of discipline, one cannot ignore the fact that our ideals of good classroom behaviour have changed greatly in the last decade. A good junior class used to be a quiet, lairly responsive class. Now, with the emphasis on pupil activity and 'on the guidance of the actual living of children, our ideas of discipline have gradually’ changed. We do not expect groups of children who are busily engaged at work, to be quiet any longer, since the normal purposeful living of the child literally teems with energy. As one w’orker has so wisely put it, “ People who teach children must get used to a certain amount of noise.” This does not mean for a moment that the teacher should tolerate fooling and disorderly boisterousness. Purposeful activity does not mean license. The teacher or to-day has constantly to check herself at this point; in order that she may not let license take the place of freedom on the one hand, and on the other hand, may avoid the danger of repressing the natural purposes and plans of children by demanding too great an orderliness. In these days of changing discipline the ability to judge when noise is purposeful and when it is not demands a nice noise on the part of the teacher.

Is this, then, all that one can say of the problem of discipline, or is there an intangible something in the relationship between teacher and pupil which accounts for the fact that some teachers almost without effort command the respect of their pupils and others do not? Undoubtedly some personalities do seem to dominate with ease, while to others the task of controlling a situation such as one faces in the classroom is something to be consciously and pninstaldngly striven for. As we study those who have been the most successful we notice, however, that certain traits of character are present almost invariably. Practically always the successful is one wjio loves children, and, consciously or unconsciously, is always studying them and trying to understand them better. Of one such an observing mother said: “ I was glad to leave Peggy with her, for I saw at once that she was the sort of person who respected personality, whether of a child or of an adult ” , Moreover, teachers of orderly classrooms are usually fearless. They are not afraid of their job nor of their pupils, nor of themselves. A teacher who is constantly in dread that his pupils will begin to make trouble usually finds that his expectations come true. Tho pupils soon sense his lack of confidence in himself, and trouble begins. . . ~ Capability is another mark of the successful teacher. This, again, is not a trait of character which one comes upon by chance. The best teachers, of course, are those of good mental endowment, but one may be quite brilliant and yet fail because he has not taken the pains to-be a master of his subject and thoroughly conversant with the technique of his craft. More and more the day schools are providing thoroughly trained teachers for the boys and girls. The Sunday school teacher who docs not compare well in the eyes of the children with the day school teacher cannot hope to command the respect of Ips pupils. , ~ , This does not mean, however, that the teacher must pose as infallible. No 0-reater mistake than this could be made. One cannot hope to associate, constantly with a group of alert boys and girls without making some blunders and discovering some- gaps in information. Frankness, therefore, may be listed as another quality of_ a Good teacher —frankness which admits mistakes freely and confesses lack of knowledge upon occasion. The teacher who said, “ If you don’t know the answer to a pupil’s question, bluff it; it is no harder to admit the bluff than it is to confess ignorance,” was wrong. Respect is not produced by such a method. . . As a final ingredient of that intangible quality, the ability to command respect, we might list dependa-

bility. A teacher' who' is always at class, always on, time, f always .ready to answer "a question, can always be depended on ’to' kept ‘a cotifidence, is always respected',' will soon', have a class- that is .always ready to respond' to suggestions and make ,its best effort. Now, it is not the purpose of this article to suggest that no discard the word “ discipline ” and put a number of others in its place. Far from it. “ Discipline ” is a useful word. It is something like the little .1 thermometer that is found on th.e radiator cap of most cars; it helps us determine how things are going. The first hint of poor discipline indicates > trouble, and an indicator which warns of danger before conditions necome too difficult to admit oif correction is a good friend. But when you ask yourself, “ Am I a good disciplinarian?” do not be satisfied to answer, “ Yessor “ No.” If you feel that the morale of your class is good try to discover what elements in your relationships with your pupils are contributing to that condition that your good works may abound. If you notice signs of danger look _ for the cause in your _ own attitude towards your pupils and toward your task, as well as in your methods of work, the material you are using, and the physical conditions of your room. Never give up until you have corrected whnt is at the root of the difficulty a ipl. the mercury of your indicator is back again at the little mark that means “ safe.”— Alma Sheridan. PICTURES OR PORTRAITS. Do not hang portraits in-your Sunday school. It is the wrong place for them. They handicap the work for which the school was built., To perpetuate the services of a good worker by making the task of his successors more difficult is a poor tribute. Pictures and portraits hanging on the walls of a room in, which children worship exert a constant influence. Silently, but continuously, they contribute to the impression which the environment makes upon the mind, and especially upon the mood, of the scholars. They help to determine that powerful factor called atmosphere. The right sort of picture can help greatly. The wrong sort hinders. Portraits, of former workers are a hindrance because in a very short time they cease, to have any meaning for the Children. If you could make heroes of them it would bo different, but in the vast majority of cases no vivid story of their doings can be told. A portrait of a Livingstone or a Florence Nightingale is a different matter. If a great story hangs around the portrait, a story that will thrill the boys and girls you invite to worship in its presence, tell it and make the portrait live. Then it will help. But don’t line your school with meaningless faces. Line it with living subjects; whether men or mountains, pictures that inspire young souls. Replace the portraits with really beautiful pictures like ‘ The Angelus.’ ‘ Go, Ye,’ and <The Vigil,’ and others that are full of worship and inspiration.