Practical school discipline

by Ray Coppock Beery

Curiosity

In passing, it might be well to mention the not uncommon fault of meddling. The teacher’s province is the school and all its attendant activities. It will not make him more efficient to know the common affairs of every family of his school. He will be no better off if he knows all the happenings of the neighborhood, the village or city-block. Many times it is necessary for the teacher to repress a pupil who is prone to be a news monger. Frequently, teachers plunge themselves into serious difficulties by meddling in affairs that do not concern their school. Such difficulties are unfortunate and always weaken the teacher’s ability to govern his school.

Questionable Acts

It has been assumed that all those actions from which evil only may result, are contrary to the standards of the moral code. Consequently, some deeds which the teacher commonly does not consider as questionable activities will be discussed. No lengthy treatment will be given them since common sense—the safe standard for the teacher—will help decide the correctness of the ideas set forth. No teacher can afford, in school or out, to make unkind remarks about the poor, the aged, the weak-minded, the crippled, the peculiar, the poorly dressed, the tramp, the gypsy, the prisoner, or that unfortunate whose appetite is beyond his control and causes him to become drunken. The teacher is an agent who is expected to help, to lift to higher planes of life. Frequently, thoughtless teachers have joined pupils in jeering at a beggar and thereby created a habit in some child of making sport of the unfortunate. The author calls to mind the elevating influence of a little woman who, when the boys pelted a hungry tramp with snow-balls, took him into the warm room and shared with him her luncheon and sent him on his way happier in heart because he had met a kind-hearted woman. Who knows but that this act of kindness may have helped to turn the tramp from his vagrant life to a life of usefulness? A teacher cannot lower his standards of life by helping the aged, the poor, the weak, the fallen. A good deed is never lost.

Neatness and Cleanliness

What is the influence of the teacher—man or woman—whose clothing is untidy, hair and scalp unclean, finger nails untrimmed and filled with dirt? There need be no discussion; the prudent teacher knows the answer. The teacher who is attempting to follow a standard of morals will not allow his body to be unclean and unkempt. His attire, though it may not be in the latest style, will be neat and clean; his teeth will be clean, his finger nails well kept, and his shoes clean and polished and every detail will evidence his careful attention. Such a teacher will take active daily exercise, will not forget a daily walk, that will lead out to some haunt of Nature where a new lesson is in store for the observing teacher. Nature has a lesson for him every day of the year.

It is safe to assume that the teacher who guards carefully his actions in the school, out of school, in his every day life, and above all when hundreds of miles away from home, is a safe teacher. He need not give stated lectures on morals. His life and deeds will be monitors to the youth under his tutelage. Moral education is not knowledge, it is life. Therefore, a teacher cannot educate pupils by stated and set lessons in morals, if he has none himself, but on the other hand, his life can be a standard of morals in itself and thus furnish a living model for action to those about him. A teacher has no right to teach good conduct and morals, or any attributes of a moral nature, if he is guilty of repeated immoral acts, open or hidden. It must be remembered that morality is not inherent, but developed. From this it can be clearly deduced that this moral development receives direction from the moral life of the teacher.

The young teacher, who on his first day enters the school-room and is face to face, for the first time with the responsibility of his profession, casts about for a model teacher. He will find many successful teachers whose lives are above reproach, even some of his own colleagues may be those who will influence him for great good. He may be compelled to look back to a teacher who has been a vital factor in his development. However, he is young, and is surrounded by a world of temptation, and his searching mind need not go far until it can single out a teacher whose life is very questionable, but who is popular, receives a good salary, and possibly secures the best school positions. These are poor standards by which to measure real life and success, but the young teacher wants popularity, money, and a good position. Real success is stable and lasting. The teacher with a questionable reputation, will doubtless before the end of his career find his proper level. To measure a man by his apparent success is not always safe. It is his character that counts in the end. Time may be necessary in which to estimate moral worth correctly, but the effort to truly weigh a person’s character is well spent.

The Teacher’s Religion

The inquiring teacher by this time may have asked, “What about a teacher’s religion?” A teacher should know his Bible, be a regular communicant of some church, and a Sunday School worker. Fanaticism must be avoided. But the sane and mellowing influence of religion has a great effect upon character. No teacher should make it a practice to inject his religious ideas into his school work. His every day life should indicate his obedience to the Master Teacher. He must not attack any religious denomination as that is not his province. Some child may be offended or over influenced by his views. The tenets of every child’s church are sacred to him and the teacher should not attack them. Often it is argued that a teacher should not teach a Sunday School class. If the teacher does not find it too great an addition to his already heavy work, there can be no good reason why he may not teach in the Sunday School.