School Punishment.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6896, 7 February 1894, Page 3

School Punishment.

. ♦ Tub Otago Daily Times, m an article on the question of school punishment, after alluding to such historic wielders of the birch as Keate of Eton, and Boyer of Christ's Hospital, of whom Coleridge remarked " that it was well for the cherub boys who conducted him to Heaven that they had nothing but heads and wings, or he would infallibly have birched them on the way," says : — " But those days are gone by : flogging masters, as such, are rarely heard of, and corporal punishment has become civilised. Probably there is something morbid m the demand for its total abolition. The plain truth is that nothing more reasonable and effective has been found to take its place, and doubtless under proper restrictions the rod has yet a future of its own. Detention, impositions, and other punitive methods, may be useful m their way,- but there is a forced simplicity about the time-honoured plau which educational reformers find it hard to better. Moreover, there is a false senlimentalism about some people's notions concerning ths management of children— a phenomenon which, should it spread, would augur ill for the future hardiness of the race. The Battle of Waterloo, said the Great Duke, was won m the fields of Eton, but perhaps Keate's ferule had something to do with it, after all. Anyhow, bo long as the rod is wielded with circumspection and moderation, we have no Bympathy with the ultra-humanitarian propagandism. That influential instrument is no longer pictured upon the school seal, but it may have its proper place — behind the headmaster's desk. We must not forget, however, that some of the New Zealand controversies upon this subject relate to the punishment of girls, and upon this point we would not touch with levity. While not prepared to urge that young girls should be entirely exempt from corporal punishment, we must say that the moderation and circumspection just mentioned are m their case more than ever imperative. Moreover, there should be an age limit— say, when they reach their teens. A mischievous little girl may be all the better for a few sharp strokes on the palm of the hand, but it must be borne m mind that the comparative shamelessness which, as we have said, usually characterises the genus boy, has no part or lot m the boy's sister. It is easy to understand how a girl, without being m any way morbid, might bitterly feel the disgrace of a punishment which to her brother would mean only a transient physical inconvenience. We do not think that girls over 13 years should be corporeally punished : the teacher must endeavor to influeuce them chiefly by drawing upon bis stock of moral suasion."