Teaching school means infinitely more than the mere giving of lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. It means the moulding of human lives and characters. The amount of good which a single enlightened teacher may do for humanity can hardly be over-estimated. Children of all grades look upon their teachers in a certain sense as heroes whom they admire and emulate. Great, therefore, is the teacher’s responsibility.

Not only is the teacher a great moral force in the school and community but certain of his traits and habits are so very closely related to discipline that the first part of the book is devoted exclusively to “The Teacher.”

The teacher should have a very definite code of morals—a code of morals that is in no sense vague or indefinite or weak. He should not be undecided even about small details relating to the moral code. Children admire strong characters. They are quick to detect weakness.

This Course presents a code of morals for the teacher which is very concrete. The teacher will consider it most sensible because every idea is grounded on sound and logical reasons. This part of the Course, in presenting reasons along with the detailed and definite code of morals should help every teacher who reads it. Even though you are now leading a strong, influential life, reading this part of the Course will strengthen your convictions and in that way help you to be yet stronger.

It can not be denied that every factor in the child’s surroundings has some influence upon him. It would be difficult to introduce principles of order and system into a child’s school work, if that child were surrounded by disorder in the school-room equipment. We all know that the appetizing effect of a luncheon is heightened by cleanliness, the taste with which the luncheon and the dishes are arranged, even the mode of serving the food and the general appearance of the room. Comparatively few teachers realize the relation of the school surroundings to discipline. The second part of the book is devoted to “The School.” This part of the Course discusses various factors in the surroundings which the teacher may control, and suggests many things about the room equipment which will greatly aid him in securing good work and order.

Every teacher, in dealing with pupils, should have well fixed in his mind the true province and end in discipline. The third division of this book is devoted to “The Province and End in Discipline,” which is an extremely important discussion. No idea is less understood than is discipline. In its restricted meaning and application, it means far too little. Discipline permeates most thoroughly every activity of humankind. Every avenue of progress owes its measure of success to the measure of discipline found therein. Could discipline come into its own province and manifest its fullest force, there evidently would be no need of penal institutions, courts of justice and other reformatory measures. Far too many teachers believe their work in the school-room well done and designate themselves as good disciplinarians if they have managed to get through the school year without any more serious difficulty than having to administer a whipping or two, or perhaps, suspend a pupil for a week or ten days. To call this discipline is indeed deplorable.

Some teachers on being asked, “What is the end to be sought in discipline?” have answered, “Good order.” Others have answered, “Quietness such that lessons may be studied.” But these are mere conditions of successful school work and are not at all ends to be attained in discipline. The teacher who thinks of these conditions as being the ends in discipline is not only liable to use improper means, but will be satisfied with a mere semblance of success. The true end of discipline is none other than the acquirement of self-control. This includes six very definite things which are explained in Part Three.

It is the failure to understand the nature of children, which causes so much friction and trouble with them. By “nature,” we do not mean merely the child’s disposition, as this view is far too narrow. Let us clearly explain, in the next few paragraphs, the distinction between individual disposition and fundamental nature.

It is true, popular lecturers often bore us by speeches in which they emphasize over and over the necessity of knowing the disposition of our individual child. Of course, it is helpful to know the individual disposition; but the mistaken emphasis placed upon this detail as compared with really knowing the general and fundamental nature of children is indeed astounding.

A case was reported to us not long ago of a child-lecturer who chanced to be confronted with a practical situation. Little “George,” his son, was near a newspaper in the drawing-room. The gentleman asked George to bring the newspaper to him. George refused. The command was repeated. “George, bring me the newspaper.” George refused. He again gave more commands, in a louder tone of voice while George laughed at him. The lecturer then started over to him and George ran behind a table. The man soon managed to seize the boy’s hand and escorted him over to the newspaper, whereupon he again commanded him to pick up the paper. George refused. The gentleman took the boy’s hands and tried to force them to grasp the newspaper but George’s fingers were lax. At this moment, George received a keen slap on the side of the face. He was then told to pick up the paper and he did so. Why? Merely through fear? (The fallacy of this method will be discussed later on.)

The point of the above illustration is this: That man would treat all of ten thousand other children in precisely the same way as he did George if they refused to obey him. And yet this same lecturer is continually going before mothers’ clubs and admonishing them thus: “Mothers, mothers—know your individual child.” If his doctrine is so important, why does he not practice what he preaches? A man or woman, parent or teacher, who can not get a child to obey, without slapping him or threatening him, has something fundamental to learn about child training. This man not only failed to be influenced by the boy’s individual disposition but he showed by his method that he did not understand the fundamental nature of children.

To explain further the distinction between individual disposition and fundamental nature, you have in your room five pupils: Ralph, Charley, Miriam, Fay and Helen. Let us assume that these pupils are as different in disposition as it is possible for them to be. Ralph is pessimistic, secretive and has a bad temper. Charley is optimistic, frank and very amiable. Miriam and Fay have certain other opposite characteristics and Helen is in a class by herself—overbearing, spiteful, high tempered and hard to approach.

Now what shall we do? Must we use a fundamentally different method on each of these pupils in order to reach the same result? By no means. While these five pupils have characteristics which are distinctly their own and different from each other, yet they have precisely the same instincts underlying their actions. They have the same individual instincts, the same adaptive instincts, the same social instincts, the same regulative instincts and the same parental instincts. If we appeal to the same instinct in one child that we appeal to in another we will get a similar result. The expression will not be exactly the same, of course. One child may react more quickly than another or with more enthusiasm but nevertheless the response will be similar. For example, if I do something which Ralph sees is going to push forward his own interests: if I praise Ralph for something which he has done, he will react in the same direction as will Charley, Miriam, Fay and Helen when I appeal to the same instinct in them, such as their instinctive desire for approval.

Instead of only five pupils, we might take a hundred or a thousand pupils, each one having a disposition slightly different from all the others. Their natures are all based upon certain fundamental instincts common to the race. Therefore, it is this fundamental nature of the pupil which we must know. The disposition of the particular pupils is a matter of detail as compared with the deep-seated and essential nature and will not trouble us much after we have learned the fundamental principles of child supervision, because all children have the same natural instincts and, in applying principles, we appeal to these instincts. Part Four of this book is devoted exclusively to the naming and explaining of these great fundamental principles.

A teacher who thoroughly understands each of these principles is in possession of information that is really invaluable in discipline. It would be well for each teacher to read over these important principles several times during the school year. The reading can not fail to aid in getting better discipline.

The best possible way to acquire skill in discipline is to study a great variety of typical examples. In fact, the author has planned other volumes devoted exclusively to concrete cases of discipline.

By a concrete case is meant an interruption or annoyance caused by one or more pupils at a given time, which must be dealt with by the teacher in one way or another.

Very often a teacher, after observing the results of a certain method, will look back and say, “If I had that to do over again, I would treat the case differently.” Perhaps he has asked a child a question which, on account of the embarrassing circumstances, caused him to tell a falsehood; perhaps he has tried to force obedience instead of attaining the end in a better way. These and dozens of other cases might be suggested which often confront a teacher and unless he has correct ideas about disposing of them when they arise, he will have no small amount of trouble before the year is over. That teacher is almost sure to fail who waits for the occasion to select a method instead of preparing beforehand for different emergencies.

The proper decision in cases of discipline is so extremely important that the cases which may arise in each grade should be treated separately. For example, all the problems which may present themselves to the first grade teacher may be recorded under the head “First Grade” and the remedy given for each case. The same is true of the second grade and so on through the High School. Special and very definite instructions should be framed for the proper discipline of pupils of various ages in the same room of the country school.

The methods must be safe methods. Some times an unenlightened teacher will use a method which not only fails to get good results but which actually aggravates the trouble. The very nature of the methods given in this Course is such that a teacher may be sure the best possible plan is being employed, viewed from the standpoint of positive good results that will surely follow.

The teacher will find it a great source of pleasure to have the subject of discipline so well in mind and so thoroughly analyzed and thought out that when a case arises, he can not only apply a method which he thinks is right but one which he knows is right.

Oftentimes, a teacher is confronted with such a difficult situation that no matter what method is applied, good results will not be seen immediately. In such cases it is extremely assuring for a teacher to know that the particular method which he has applied is the best possible method that could be used in that situation.

In the treatment of all cases, not only are the correct methods outlined in detail, but fundamental reasons should be given showing why the method suggested is the best in each case. In the treatment of all cases, applications are to be made of the fundamental principles.

There are not a few teachers, as well as parents, who continue to use physical force in attempting to govern. It is indeed appalling how blind some people are on matters of discipline.

They will get poor results repeatedly from applying a given method and yet they fail to see that their child’s bad behavior is due to their own faulty method. Why do not parents think about changing their own method which causes the child to misbehave instead of forever blaming the child? This is a question that is not easy to answer. Business men, after finding that a certain form of advertising does not pay, discontinue that form of advertising and yet they are not half so reasonable in their own homes.

For instance, it is a common occurrence for a parent to flog a child for telling a falsehood. The child continues to tell falsehoods one day after another and the parent continues to use the punishing method. Seldom, if ever, does the parent think of changing his method.

Often, when interviewing parents about a child, they will offer some reason for punishing which to them seems perfectly sound but they ignore the fact that fear of punishment is one of the chief causes of falsifying and that to punish for a known falsehood today makes the child more secretive tomorrow.

Many persons likewise, base obedience upon fear of punishment. Their children know that when they hear a command, they must obey at once or receive a whipping. Here is a logical proposition: If obedience is based upon fear instead of confidence; that is, if the child obeys only through fear, then when fear is gradually removed (at fourteen or fifteen when the child begins to feel the assurance of manhood) obedience naturally becomes weaker. Many parents wonder what is wrong when they lose control of their adolescent boys and girls; yet the reason is perfectly obvious. If obedience is based upon confidence, as it should be, the changes which accompany adolescence will not remove the only basis of obedience, as in the case of fear, but will make the parents’ grasp even more secure.

Many parents are thoughtful enough to have at least their own reason for using a certain method, while others, unfortunately, hardly think at all. They have one method which they attempt to use as a cure for all bad traits as well as for particular misdemeanors. A situation presents itself and because of some pre-conceived notion, the same old remedy is suggested and administered.

What is true of a great many parents in this regard is also true of a great many teachers. If parents and teachers were to try some practical tests in discipline, keep a record on paper of the treatment of certain offenses followed immediately by the obvious results of those methods, and then draw reasonable conclusions at the end of a week or a month, they would have something valuable to work upon.

Most educators advise the use of corporal punishment as a last resort, yet far too many teachers in carrying out this advice really use it not only as a last resort but as a first, last and only resort. Here is the situation—in fact, a very common situation for a teacher who does not have the confidence of his pupils. A boy is told to do or not to do a certain thing. He openly disobeys. The teacher feels that he must make an example of him and humiliate him at once before the school.

“Let us conclude, then, that the day of corporal punishment as an important agency in school discipline has passed never to return. And let us also conclude that its passing is not yet complete and can not be complete until social customs and prejudices have been thoroughly adjusted to the new order and until effective methods of dealing with acute disciplinary difficulties have been discovered, standardized and made effective by general recognition.”^[1]

In this brief Introductory Course, one can not go much into detail on any one point. In regard to punishment, however, this hint is in place. If anyone is interested enough to really find out for himself and settle in his own mind once for all, questions concerning correct discipline, let him personally interview a large number of boys. Let him get some of their views. Let him talk over the matter frankly with some other teacher’s pupils. He will thereby not only enlighten himself as to the best policy about punishing boys but the experience of talking in a confidential way with big-hearted boys (and they will all seem big-hearted if only he assumes that they are) will give him a new inspiration and a more optimistic view about his future discipline in the school-room. He will feel more capable of appealing to the child’s mind and heart and will see less necessity than ever before for having to force even the most stubborn child to do his bidding.

The author’s own view on punishment is this: the more a teacher knows about child nature and correct fundamental principles, the less he will need to use corporal punishment. The aim of this Course is to present the teacher with such concrete information, based upon a correct knowledge of child nature, that its application by the teacher will enable him to succeed in discipline without any corporal punishment whatsoever.

Of course, there will always be exceptions. A certain pupil may be apparently abnormal and extremely hard to govern. But even with the proverbial exception, really surprising things can be accomplished by the application of wise methods.

The aim, stated above, is not unreasonable. The author has clear evidence of this. In his own town, the superintendent of schools went so far as to allow even the pupils to know that he would not punish them with physical pain. He explained why he would not and the result was wonderful, as he expected. Instead of the pupils taking advantage of such a policy, it appealed to them. They respected this superintendent. They realized that he was there to help them and they allowed him to do so.

Out of seventy pupils who attended the school at the opening of the term, sixty-seven were in regular attendance throughout the year and two of the three pupils who did drop out had very good outside reasons. This record is astonishing but the discipline in that High School is also remarkable. This superintendent has carried out with wonderful results the principles explained in this Course.

Some people tell us that teachers are born and not made, that tact is an innate quality. Of course, there is a certain amount of truth in this. It is needless to say that not all teachers can attain the same high degree of efficiency in controlling a school. But to say that a certain teacher can never succeed, because he does not have tact, is to express ignorance of the true nature of tact. Tact can not be entirely separated from knowledge. Tact and common sense increase in direct proportion to the advance of one’s knowledge.

One employs tact when he says and does the right thing at the right time and place. Tact implies skill in dealing with immediate circumstances. Therefore, the more experience one has in dealing with a given circumstance the more proficient he should become. The mind profits by experience. A wise teacher also profits by ideas. If someone relates a case of discipline to you in which tact was used, you can use the same idea in a similar circumstance and you will also be using tact.

For example, a certain teacher on entering a new school in the fall, learns that five or six of the larger boys have been talking on the street about whipping him out, in case he gets “cute.” If this teacher allows his pupils to find out in any way whatever that his mind is bothered about it; if he gets up before the school and attempts to make a speech calling attention to the gossip, he will thereby show very little tact and the offending pupils will most surely cause him more trouble.

On the other hand, suppose that, sometime when he is with the boys, without any evidence of anxiety, he incidentally remarks, “I see no need of trying to correct pupils by whipping them. People have nearly always treated me justly because I have dealt fairly with them.” This is using tact. The boys will not annoy this man; they will respect him.

So with hundreds of cases. Having each instance worked out in detail, the teacher may determine the minute application of good methods. In this way he can avoid harmful schemes and employ only tactful plans.

It is the ignorant teacher who is untactful; it is the wise and well-educated teacher who is tactful. By well-educated, here, is meant educated in proper discipline. A teacher may be a good scholar and yet be poorly trained in controlling a school.

The teacher who is well trained in matters of discipline does not look upon the many so-called puzzling circumstances as problems at all, because they so readily fit into his system of knowledge that he knows at once how to prevent prospective difficulties.

There will never be a day in which you will not use the ideas in this Course, consciously or unconsciously, in one way or another. The ideas presented are fundamental.

There is only one more thought the author wishes to leave with you in this Introductory Course before taking up the instructions in the regular Course. That is this: a child is influenced more by those teachers whom he likes and admires than by those whom he dislikes and who antagonize him. Therefore, it is hoped that each teacher will begin the reading of this Course with a strong conviction and a firm determination to gain from it a means of getting the child’s confidence, which will enable him to be a power for good in guiding young lives aright.

No teacher has attained the greatest joy in his profession until he has received from boys and girls letters of overflowing thanks for past helpfulness. And every teacher will realize this joy who conducts his school in a rational way and who learns methods by means of which he can place discipline upon the natural basis of confidence.

When you have learned the relation of your own conduct to discipline and the relation of your school to discipline; when you have come to realize the real province and true end of discipline; when you have completely learned the great fundamental and universal principles of discipline which work toward this ideal end and finally when you have learned to apply these principles to the dozens of concrete, typical cases with which you will always be confronted in the school-room, then you will be in possession of knowledge that will not only cause you to be sought for by school authorities, to teach in better schools at far better remuneration, but it will enable you to do infinitely more for boys and girls, thus making life itself better for yourself and others.

“What we need more than better brain inheritance is a better and more scientific set of rules for developing the brains that we have, and such rules of procedure should be made the common property of all who are in any way related to rearing and educating children.”^[2]