Summary
1. It is important that any discussions of the requisites of the teacher should be followed by a discussion of the proper care of the school-room and premises.
2. The condition of the school-room and the premises will have an influence upon the teacher as well as upon the work done by the pupils.
3. A good teacher, filling every requisite, will see that the condition of the school-room and premises has proper attention.
4. A good teacher’s work will be made better by good surroundings, and far more difficult by bad surroundings.
5. A poor teacher’s work will be improved by good surroundings, and poor surroundings will make good work practically impossible.
6. The condition of the school-room and premises will have an influence on the condition of the homes of the pupils.
7. Every school-room should have good mottoes and pictures on the walls. Some potted plants should be in the room. Never put advertising pictures and calendars on the walls.
8. Waste paper, ash heaps and other rubbish should not adorn the school premises. The latter should be kept clean and orderly.
9. Proper seating of pupils is necessary.
10. Light should be from the left and back, never from the front. Direct sunlight should never fall on pupils’ desks or books.
11. The walls of the school-room should not be tinted or papered with bright colors. Soft green, gray and tan are suitable colors.
12. School-room ventilation is very important.
13. The basement of a school should be as sanitary as any part of the building.
14. The teacher or supervisor should exercise wise control over the janitor.
PART THREE
Discipline: Its Province and End
What is discipline? It is the habit of obedience. It is submissiveness to order and control. It is subjection to rule. It is a training to act in accordance with established rules. Discipline obviously must be control. Definition after definition may be sought, all ultimately designating discipline as control. Though it is known that discipline is control or submissiveness to order and system, still there remains much to be said to clear up the idea of discipline. In examining the province of discipline, many questions arise. Does discipline guarantee that a teacher is able to punish all offenses with the correct punishment, and by so doing insure against the recurrence of offense; or does it mean any given code of rules that will prevent misdemeanors; or does it mean the assigning of punishment for offenses so as to display vengeance against the wrong doer, suppressing him for the time being, but instigating him to further wrong when the opportunity offers itself? It means far more than can be fully explained in any brief answer.