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.
[CHAPTER XVIII]
SELECTED ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
Programs and Marks
The regular and orderly movement of a social group depends on the adoption of a program. The daily program of a school is an indispensable formal device for maintaining that type of solidarity which was discussed in the last chapter. A second formal device of school control is the marking system, under which the pupil’s status is determined and in accordance with which all his relations of an official type are regulated. The marking system may be treated as a conventional plan for distributing social rewards and punishments. Together, the daily program and the marking system are so much more significant than any other devices of social organization that they may properly be selected for special treatment.