355. Schoolmaster, Authority.—Although a schoolmaster has in general no right to punish a pupil for misconduct after the dismissal of the school for the day and the return of the pupil to his home, yet he may on the pupil's return to school punish him for any misbehavior, though committed out of school, which has a direct and immediate tendency to injure the school and to subvert the master's authority. The fact that the master acted in good faith will not excuse him from damages for the punishment of a scholar where the punishment is clearly excessive and unnecessary. However, where there is a reasonable doubt the master should have the benefit of it.[633]
356. Force, Assistance.—And where a scholar in school hours places himself in the desk of the instructor and refuses to leave it on the request of the master, the master may immediately use such force and call to his assistance such aid from another person as may be necessary to remove the scholar. The same rule would apply to any one who is not a scholar and intrudes upon the school.[634]
357. White, Unmarried.—Before the adoption of the fourteenth amendment it [pg 190] was necessary in most States that in addition to the child being under twenty-one years of age, he must be of white blood and unmarried.[635] In Ohio, negroes, Indians, and children of less than half white blood, were not entitled to the benefit of the school fund; and even where this would entirely exclude from school children not sufficient to form a district, still it was held that such children could not attend the white school.[636]
358. Facilities, the Constitution.—So long as abundant facilities are given for the education of all the children of a district, it is not a violation of the constitution of the United States to keep negro and white people separated. The same rule applies to courts.[637]
359. Residents, Public Schools.—Children in a German Protestant orphan asylum are not “children, wards, or apprentices of actual residents” in the district of the asylum, and therefore are not entitled to enter the public schools of the district.[638]
360. Board, Majority.—Two of the three members of a school board have no authority to act by themselves, and their individual agreement to dismiss a teacher is void. A school board can only act at a duly called meeting of the board, and then the majority vote duly taken decides.[639]
Chapter XXVII. Parent And Child
361. Custody, Maternal Relatives, Father.—A parent is entitled to the care and custody of his child if he is competent to transact his own business and not otherwise unsuitable. And the mere fact that the maternal relatives who have had the care of the child from its birth have become attached to it and desire to continue to care for it and are able to secure it better advantages than its parent, does not render the parent unsuitable to have its care and custody within the meaning of the statute. Also, the want of a sympathetic nature or cold reserve in a parent or the fact that he is away on business a great deal of the time, is not sufficient to render him unsuitable. But the right of the father may be lost or forfeited by his ill-conduct, gross ill-treatment, cruelty, or abandonment, or when his conduct and life are such as are injurious to the morals and interest of his child. When the father dies or forfeits his right for reasons already given, the mother, if alive, succeeds to all those rights, subject, however, [pg 193] to the same conditions as the father. And in the case of a child of tender years, the good of the child has to be regarded as the predominant consideration.[640]