Impersonal Discipline
The final comment which may be made in this connection is that the teacher must recognize that school discipline is a professional and educational problem, not a matter of purely personal relations between pupil and teacher. The teacher is dealing with a problem of group organization; he cannot allow the fractious pupil to pull him down to the level of a personal controversy. It is difficult at times to keep from the strong emotional reactions which blind the teacher to this objective view of school order, but the efficient teacher will see to it that the group idea and the needs of the social whole guide every act of discipline and reward.
EXERCISES AND READINGS
Distinguish between pupils of different ages with reference to the form of discipline appropriate. Does the first-grade child have any sense of responsibility? How far can a class in a high school be trusted to take care of its own order?
A commission in New York City, after studying the cases of disobedient pupils, recommended a return to corporal punishment. What can be said in favor of such a move? What are the evils of corporal punishment?
Society as a whole has taken an entirely new attitude in modern times toward the matter of punishment. The prison policy of modern nations is different from the older policy. What can be said with regard to prison education? What is the relation of crime to physical conditions?
With regard to the matter of rewards and prizes, what can be said for and against exemption from examinations as a reward for good work? Should medals be given for high scholarship? What is the attitude of society at large outside of the school in regard to rewards? For example, what does society do for the painter, the author, the successful plumber and carpenter? Is the example of society at large capable of direct translation into school practice?
Bagley, W. C. School Discipline. The Macmillan Company.
Morehouse, F. M. The Discipline of the School. D. C. Heath and Company.
Perry, A. C. Discipline as a School Problem. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Spencer, Herbert. Education. Chapter III on Moral Education. D. Appleton and Company.