11. Name school situations which involve moral judgments and which offer opportunity for training in morality.
12. How would you hope to train children to form the habit of asking themselves whether a proposed line of action was right before acting?
13. How may the one who does wrong in school provide the opportunity for the best sort of training in morality?
14. Is there ever any defense for corporal punishment?
15. How important do you consider the influence of the teacher in developing morally sound boys and girls?
CHAPTER XV
CLASS MANAGEMENT
In any discussion of class management it is necessary to distinguish clearly between organization and control as a means and as an end. Much of the discussion of school and class management assumes that its sole purpose is found in economizing time and energy for teacher and pupils. Class management, from this point of view, is important as the means without which effective work cannot be done in the school. Such a view neglects to consider the opportunity afforded in managing a class for growth on the part of pupils in the power of self-control. Any school which plans to reproduce in its life the conditions commonly found in life outside of the school must allow children to accept responsibility for their own acts, and will, therefore, look upon management as an end.
The discussion has not been wholly one-sided. At times there has been considerable controversy concerning the kind of management which was most to be desired in the schoolroom. Those who have thought of management as a means only have been apt to overemphasize routine; while those who have thought only of the opportunity afforded for growth in self-control have neglected to realize the importance of habit in situations which are invariable. The adherents of the one type of control want everything done at the tap of the bell, in accordance with the rules which have been made by the teacher. Their opponents would do away with “mechanized routine,” and would expect children to exercise their judgment as each question arises. This difference in point of view is easily reconciled when we look at management now as a means and again as an end.