SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 368, 24 June 1884, Page 6

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.

. .----. ■ ■ «. . _'. j „i ; j ■Most of our readers have heard of the alleged ill-treatment of a boy natned.'Ross -st Dunback school, in the- Otago district ; but until last week: it was impps,ib,le. ( owing to conflicting statements 'to arrive at the facts of the easel; It Ayasiithen announced, jtbjat two im pp,ctor,s i- of ;the Bo.ird, . Messrs jPetrie and Goyen, had conducted an .enquiry." into: the following charges m'adta ; by Mif 'AC'ByilpO of Shag Valley Station, against Mr 'A: }W-Jjr« burton, the teacher at Dunback ,:-t*jL Thaf ';he boy, (Thomas Ross, aged- io years) "was 1 " put on another boy's back, with his jacket"I >ff, and flogged furiously till he fell to the >x loor. 2. That 'he was then put on, a demand, . r( igain flogged, the result being that next. dar< he was disabled from attending school,'/ XV? That on (Mr Bell's) interviewing the m* ! »te4" (Mr Warburton) he admitted that hen(tii&w master) now knew that the .lad;Thonwsrff Boss was perfectly innocent of what \he had , t punished him for, and that from his '(the . ma?ter's)own story he never hid the sligHtest; i?r real reason to believe the boy was at' fault at>d all. Our enquiry, say the Inspectors.eMbles; H us to give the following account ,pf what,/ took place :— Early in May last Mr^WarborV ton noticed some filthy language written 1 ' 6n' : ' the exterior of the school building. Oil' the*ii 13th of that month he asked if any bo#f j could tell him who had written it. Thomas;, Ross then stated that he had overhead James' " Drummond tell James R63S- that' he ' (Jaime'? 7 Druinmond) had done it. (N6itlier r tfanit«Lr Ross nor James Drummond. is attending? j school.) Mr Warburton then- wrojelto, Mr ( . James Drummond,. sen., asking .him to kefip " his son irpm doing such things. "On the 1 eyen-' ing of the ltfth James Drummond, jun;,fcam$ l to see Mr 1 Warburton, and declared.; that;h4£ was innocent of the charge nptade, agains,j;,, him.- , . It was th«n arranged that , Mr 'James . Drummond and his son should attend Behoof r nest morning to have the charge lootfed'mtoV* On the morning of the 14th .the boy*'! were called into school, and Thomas.; Ross ■. w^ asked to make. good his charge against James Drummond. This he failed to d,o, ' !and'. Bp '. admitted that he had only overheaiki 'She* 11 school." 'On the charge breaking down/Mr Warburton suggested that Thomas,; Boss, should beg young Drummond's pardon, . and> he did so, bending down on one knee -and giving his hand to James Drummorid. iJ In* this attitude he professed his sorrow for iharV) ing told a lie about Drummond, arid. the lajb-, ter formally expressed forgiveness., . l&r Drummond and his son then left," -After their departure Mr Warburfcori, .'thinking- 'that Thomas Ross rhight have been intimidated by? the presence of the Drummonds, again ask'ed[ him if he would confirm his statement of, the previous- d,ay, but he would not do .so; Th'os. Soss' eividence as to what happened at ? tti& public interview with the Drummonds was hot at all satisfactory. He admitted >iha;?iflg begged Drummond's pardon, but stated .he did not know why .he had doae ,soj ja'n'd stoutly, maintained' the charge lie : 'at ! 'ar«t made. ' We are, however, 'satisfied from the evidence of the Drummonds and-of .MrjWarjbiirton that the narrative, giyen . aboye „rer c.oantß: ,thei,faqts. i Mr Warburton, 'haying satisfied, himself that Thomas fioss'had fatfelj accused! J amey ' 'Druinmotid, j un., neit pfd • ceeded to punish him.. ; He called jDavja 'Plyrin (one.of the elder pupjls) jto; ; the|Joor and placed . Ross, , with his ■ jacket oft, on his shoulders, Flynii ' holding 'BW I>yHße wrists.' While' Boss was in position he received about' six strokes Vf th<* gtrjip, •when in struggling he slid' «. ft" „ Flv^unlis back and was released from hi* r " Mr Warburton then ordered him io '.b&'trid^'^Jle of -the desks. He; ref ilsed> and wWpu't 'on by 'the master. H» got 'several lashes vrith/ztfte leather strap before he could be inducecl^o hop along the desk, and one at .each., hop. When he had gone over half the desks in'tMg way he got off it. He was then made'lft'fee'gjm, and' to 1 hop over nearly the entire llengiktwt the desk, having received, as we.gflfl^ fgopi the very conflicting evidence,, from ,sOto 30 lashes in all. He was then allowed } to"'retSre to his place. . 'He remained at'scKirol alMhat day, and^played about much as iuauali dferfng the midday inter val , He o van ma^e, ligh&^f the punishment to som« o£, nis •playfellows, and said it had not hurt him. Next' morning a fellow pupil, calling for him on hi« vris\o school, found him in bed, and he sfcatte'in his evidence that marks could then beeaaijyjg^^n on Ro3s' body. Ross got up that morning at 11 o'clock, and in the afternoon went a message to his uncle's, a distance of a mile 'l&d a-quarter. While there he did not speak: i£>f his punishment, and was not observed byikis uncle to be in any way stiff. On Friday, he was at the school, and on his r way home vzaa active enough to have a scuffle with 'a felldw pupil. On the 18th (Sunday) : he was by his' father, and was tken, according to the latter's evidence, "black and. .blue." 1 Traces of the marks were stsill visible on , tie . 29th, when Mr Warburton was pros&jiiwd for assault at Pal merston. Mr A. (Bell ! J#ho> gaw the lad on the 20th, says he itfas then "black and blue." From the fqregobag narrative it will be seen that Mr Warburton had good grounds for believing that tW't&y Thomas Ross had told him a lie ; and wo'sre of opinion that he \ras justified in punishing himjj for that offence. In inflicting/ the punishment Mr Warburton. was nbi carried away by passion, but administered ' it'iii. 1 a cool and deliberate m»nner ; and he thought, and still thinks, it neither unsuitable nor too severe. Though we. judge,- that Mr ,Warbnrton was justified in inflicting corporal punishment for an offence of so serious a natifrev we think that the mode of punishment; adopted is essentiaUybarbarous and degrading, and that its .severity, as shpwa-bjjyjfche estimated number of strokes th.^.inarks left on the boy's person^ 'was' 'wholly ' hnwarranted by. the offence. ' In' our View' ; no offence against school discipline or [morality would justify a rtoaohar in ; administering » punishment of so cruel and headless a nature; and . we regret, tp haye to : add : that 1 '.:tke teacher's defence of his 'conduct appear* to us to make his action the more reprehensible^ At the fametime we feel bound -to ;say.that Mr Warburton's intentions were excellent, though his judgment was sadly at faulty ' "We should certainly have 'taken a more" lenient view of his offence' bad •.' he : Shown any sense of the unsuitability aad iUn^ue severity of P his t chastiseniie^*. of . ,th?i boy. The first,^nd ,second pf i^r Beliy charges ar'el we think, substantially borne out 't/y- the evidence taken' hy us, though almost nbthaa^ was elicited to justify the < eipressionn that the lad "was flogged furiously," thaf; he. "fell to the floor," _ and- that he "Vis disabled from attending school. 11 ' Nj> doubt* the lad felt stiff and sore f«r seveM days after the punishment, but we.! do, npt^hink^tuat the language above cited fairly describe^ the facts. With respect to the third of Mr Bell's charges, we are of opinion that he ' Must Glares misunderstood what Mr Warburtori'admitted^ The latter distinctly 1 denies ever hayingf said he thoisght the lad innocent. Fiomitjbejad^s. own evidence given before us we thuik. that: Mr Warburton had good grouneSar .fir-con^ eluding that the lad had told Wrn^iaJ 'lie^ one way or another. So far as we eaa learnj the kind, of punishment inflected, udoo .ypung Boss by Mr Warburton has been- resorted to in only one ottiex school iri Otagb. ' rii At the meeting of the Education Board at, which this report was considered,, it waa resolved, on the motion of Mr Begg, seconded by Mr Ramsay — " The Board haying 'considered the report of the inspectojis; of opinion that the punishment inflicted' -by Mr Warburton on the boy Ross wa& unduly sleveie and the manner of infliftfcuag it degrading ; that the secretary write to the Committee stating that it is. the Board's i ibtentibn to suspend Mr Warburton from his i; <&fiee as teacher at Danback School for: two. months, commencing from the Ist of July ; and that intimation of this be also given to Mr Warburton." . . • ' .. !