The same general remark will apply to the other tables of weight and measure, to experimental philosophy, and to nearly every branch of study pursued in the common schools of our country. I have but one other general remark to make on this subject, and that is in relation to the
Influence of School-houses.—Cicero observes that the face of a man will be tinged by the sun, for whatever purpose he walks abroad; so, by daily associations, the minds of all persons are influenced, and their characters permanently affected, by scenes with which they are familiar; and especially is this true during the impressive periods of childhood and youth. Many persons seem to think that schoolmasters and school-mistresses do all the teaching in our schools. But it is not so. Fellow-students, neighbors, and citizens teach by precept and by example; and especially do school-houses teach. And oh! what lessons of degradation, pollution, and ruin they sometimes impart! as he can not fail to be convinced who remembers the testimony already introduced in relation to their condition.
I have seen the fond parent accompany his lovely child of four summers to the school the first day of its attendance. The child had seen pictures of school-houses in books. Pictures, if not always pretty, usually please children. It was so in this case. The child, anxious to go to school, talked of the school-house on the way. There arrived, the parent passed his innocent little one into the care of the teacher, with a few remarks, and was about to retire, when the child, clinging to him, said, pathetically and energetically, "Pa! pa!! I don't want to stay in this ugly old house; I am afraid it will fall down on me: I want to go home to our own pretty parlor." But the parent, breaking away from his child, leaves it in tears, with a sad heart. How cruel to do such violence to the tender feelings of innocent children! And how baneful the influence! The school, instead of being a comfortable, pleasant, and delightful place, as it should be, is to the child positively offensive, and the school-house a dreary prison. "Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." The child learns to hate school, to hate instruction, and all that is good. He soon becomes the practiced truant. In a few years he arrives at manhood; but, instead of being a blessing to his family and a useful member of society, he too frequently drags out a wretched life, in ignorance and penury, dividing it between the poor-house and jail, and terminating it, peradventure, upon the gallows.
It needs the pen of a ready writer duly to portray the influence of neglected school-houses. Parents seem to have forgotten that, while men sleep, the enemy comes and sows tares; that if good school-houses do not elevate, neglected ones will pollute their children. I have already alluded, in the language of others, to the representations of vulgarity and obscenity that meet the eye in every direction. But I am constrained to add, that, during the intermissions, and before school, "certain lewd fellows of the baser sort" sometimes lecture in the hearing of the school generally, boys and girls, large and small, illustrating their subject by these vulgar delineations.
But why are these things so? And how may they be remedied? Different persons will answer these questions variously. But when we bear in mind that, in architectural appearance, school-houses have very generally more resembled barns, sheds for cattle, or mechanic shops, than Temples of Science; that windows are broken; that benches are mutilated; that desks are cut up; that wood is unprovided; that out-buildings are neglected; that obscene images and vulgar delineations meet the eye within and without; that, in fine, their very appearance is so contemptible, that scholars feel themselves degraded in being obliged to occupy them; when we bear in mind all these things, and then consider that the impressive minds of children are necessarily and permanently affected by scenes with which they become familiar, we can not wonder that they yield themselves to such influences, and consent to increase their degradation by multiplying the abominations with which they are surrounded. And especially shall we cease to wonder at the existence of these things, when we consider that scholars are very often unfurnished with suitable employment; that the younger scholars are frequently urged on by the example and influence of the older ones; and that teachers are sometimes employed who are so far lost to shame as to countenance these disgusting and corrupting practices by engaging in them themselves!
A knowledge of the cause suggests the remedy. Let, then, the school-house be commodious and cleanly; inviting in its appearance, and elevating in its influence. Let every member of the school, at all times, be furnished with entertaining and profitable employment. Let the corrupting influence of bad example be at once and forever removed. And, finally, let the services of a well-qualified teacher, of good morals, correct example, and who is scrupulously watchful, be invariably secured.
But if the mean appearance of our school-houses is one reason why they are so defaced, it may be asked, why do not our churches, which are frequently among the most elegant specimens of architecture, escape the pollution? The reason is evident. The foul habit is contracted in the unseemly school-house, and it becomes so established that it is very difficult to suspend its exercise even in the Temple of God. Were our school-houses, in point of neatness and architecture, equal to our churches, the evil in question would soon become less prevalent, and, with judicious supervision, we might safely predict its early extinction.
I would not suggest that too much pains are taken to make our churches pleasant and comfortable, but I do protest that there is a great and unwise disproportion in the appearance of our churches and school-houses. It is frequently the case in villages and country neighborhoods, that the expense of the former is from fifty to eighty times the value of the latter. The appearance of our school-houses is an important consideration. If we would cultivate the beastly propensities of our youth, we have but to provide them places of instruction resembling the hovels which our cattle occupy, and the work is well begun. On the contrary, if we would take into the account the whole duration of our being, and the cultivation and right development of the nobler faculties of our nature, while the animal propensities are allowed to remain in a quiescent state, and adapt means to ends, our school-houses should be pleasant and tasteful. Every thing offensive should be separated from them, and no pains should be spared to give them an inviting aspect and an elevating influence.
It is easier to make children good than to reform wicked men. It is cheaper to construct commodious school-houses, with pleasant yards and suitable appurtenances, than to erect numerous jails and extensive prisons. George B. Emerson, in a lecture on moral education, speaks to the point. "In regard to the lower animal propensities," says he, "the only safe principle is, that nothing should be allowed which has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to excite them. In many places there prevails an alarming and criminal indifference upon this point. It is one toward which the attention of the teacher should be carefully directed. No sound should be suffered from the lips; no word, or figure, or mark should be allowed to reach the eyes, to deface the wall of the house or out-house, which could give offense to the most sensitive delicacy. This is the teacher's business. He must not be indifferent to it. He has no right to neglect it. He can not transfer it to another. He, and he only, is responsible.[71] It is impossible to be over-scrupulous in this matter. And the committee should see that the teacher does his duty; otherwise all his lessons in duty are of no avail, and the school, instead of being a source of purity, delicacy, and refinement, becomes a fountain of corruption, throwing out poisonous waters, and rendering the moral influence more pestiferous than that fabled fountain of old, over which no creature of heaven could fly and escape death."
In conclusion, on this subject, I would say, if there is one house in the district more pleasantly located, more comfortably constructed, better warmed, and more inviting in its general appearance, and more elevating in its influence than any other, that house should be the school-house.