The educational record of the province of Quebec, 1 août 1881, Août

[" ji Pre tte anne cc cnet THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.No.8.AUGUST, 1881.Vou I IMPOSITION S.Having recently stated my views on \u201c Corporal punishment\u201d in the pages of the EpucarroNar Recorp, I am led by a natural process to think of another form of punishment known alike to schoolmasters and schoolboys by the name of Impositions or Impos.The title at first sight seems singular, and not very appropriate.Its origin is unknown to me.Perhaps some Master thought that by assigning such tasks he was in the strict sense imposing a burden on the boy.Perchance some boy may have conceived that on his side an opportunity was offered him of imposing on, or cheating, a Master by failing to perform correctly _or entirely the work thus set.Next to corporal punishment, the Imposition, as generally understood, is the easiest, the least troublesome form of discipline to a Master.This fact is no doubt an incentive to its use.A Master may be disposed to employ the birch, or cane, or taws, because they demand but little time.They cause next to no care or trouble, and yet their application may be serious enough to create fear, and thereby to preclude a repetition of the offence of which they were the penalty.Herein lies one of the dangers incidental to corporal punishment.Teachers are mortal.They should never look on the infliction of discipline as a gratification of outraged patience or exasperated feelings, They should regard it as a means of curing a fault and preserving a strict and high tone of industry and school morals.Hence they should be 22 324 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.prepared to give pains and attention to the investigation of the fault, and its subsequent correction.But it is also an easy matter to set à certain number of lines to be written out, and a master may often omit to read them from beginning to end, and may content himself with counting them.The boy on the other hand may execute them with the help of a pen that in my schooldays was called a \u201ccoach.\u201d With this a\u2019boy could write two or three lines at once, by means of several pens fastened to one handle, which was held so that the writing was perpendicular.I well remember a schoolfellow who was frequently in this sense imposed upon, who was forever kept in by having to write lines, and who used to soothe his lacerated feelings by Latinizing the name of the Master who had set the punishment, and introducing\u2019 the said name, thus disguised and coupled with opprobrious epithets, into thé middle of some lines of Virgil or Ovid.It is well perhaps to say that the whole of these remarks were written before the publication of an interesting paper from the pen of a lady teacher, which appeared in the number for June.With many of her observations I fully concur.An inferior and lazy instructor, male or female, who does not appreciate the great importance of the work of instruction, will be morally certain to have some careless, idle and uninterested pupils.But, given the best and most conscientious teacher on the face of this earth, who really educates in the true sense of the word, who exercises a sort of magnetic influence on his or her class, there will yet ever remain a few indolent children, whom noble ambition and a principle of duty will not rouse to exertion, and who .require from time to time to learn the unpleasant consequences of idleness and inattention, and (taking the lowest ground) the wisdom\u2019 and policy of prompt and active industry.Some parts of the lady teacher\u2019s paper will without doubt do good, especially to young and unexperienced teachers.But she appears to have in view what we hope is not a common entity, viz., a teacher grossly ignorant of the capacity of the youthful mind, who expects impossibilities, and who, believing brains to be machines, neglects the obvious forethought and consideration which every instructor should possess and exercise.Let us note some of the objections to Impositions.First, to be effectual they must be rather lengthy.In that case they are, likely to keep boys in an unreasonably long time, and thereby en- IMPOSITIONS, 325 feeble their energies, depress their spirits, and really affect their -powers of work.Secondly, they are well-nigh absolute ruin to the handwriting.At the very time when boys should learn to write with care and neatness, they fall into a slovenly style of penmanship; they do not form their letters properly and they adopt a method which they probably never get rid of, and which is very unbecoming in educated people.This is mainly\u2018due to Impositions.These are generally lengthy, as I have said, and a boy is tempted to write them as fast as he can.Now 1 do not say that Impositions should be entirely swept away.They are, I suppose, a necessary evil.But I would suggest that the system should be modified, so that some of the evils attending them might be avoided.T would advise that, instead of setting so many lines fo be written as punishment for unpunctuality, disorder, ignorance of work, some one of the following plans should be adopted.All can be in use in a school.1st.The lesson might be said over again in play time to the Master, if the boy has failed in School hours.If the subject be mathematics, the Master himself should supervise, and see that the task is done.If it be construing, or grammar, or history etc, the Master had best question the boy as if in school hours, giving of course no marks, however well the lesson may be said.2nd.An excellent plan is to require a certain amount of poetry to be.committed to memory.Many boys, otherwise possessed of intelligence and ability, have great difficulty in learning any lesson memoriter and they would be benefited by such a task.Or 3rd, a boy may be ordered to write out a portion of the lesson, or a piece of dictation as neatly and correctly as possible, the Master being especially strict in refusing to accept the Imposition if carelessly written or incorrectly spelt.This again would benefit the handwriting.It is not a bad thing for the Master to suffer as well as the boy.This wouid check the tendency to inflict hasty, unjust, ill-considered punishment.I have heard of a school whose Master, having set an Imposition, employs one of his senior boys to look over it, and see that it is done.'Thisisa most objectionable practice.It is done to gratify the Master's love of ease.It is pretty certain to incline him to unjust punishment, while at the same time it places the boy who is called upon to look over the Imposition in a totally false position.If one or all of the above methods be adopted from time to time, 326 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.instead of the ordinary Imposition, a boy\u2019s handwriting would not be so liable to injury, and the character of his education would not be so-ipjuriously affected by his idleness.I am of course merely speaking now of Impositions and punishments akin to them.There are of course other methods of correction beyond my present limits of consideration, and which a Master should use at\u201dhis own discretion.But surely a boy disposed to shirk his work would soon feel that there is wise policy in being industrious.He would find that he could not evade the stern necessity of his lessons.He discovers ere long that it is more prudent and satisfactory to do those lessons in school time and obtain marks for them, than to be kept in when others are breathing the fresh air, enjoying themselves withal in cricket, lacrosse, boating, football, as the case may be; while he has yet to do his lesson and receive no marks for it.Many a lethargic boy will deliberately neglect his work and resign himself to the certainty of having to perform the purely mechanical task of writing so many lines; but when he discovers that he must, under any circumstances, take pains and exercise his mind, he will very soon see the wisdom of prompt and earnest industry, if only in order to secure his due modicum of play.A Master should on every ground exercise careful consideration with regard to the Imposition he may set, for when set it must alwayg be done.No excuses should be accepted, and intentional omission, in fact even frequent forgetfulness, should be severely punished.It is possible that my remarks on corporal punishment may have sent an electric thrill of horror through the nerves of some Canadian Mothers, if any read this.periodical, and that I may | appear in the unexpected light of a truculent and hard-hearted .Person.But no one can really care for the young, and not de-, sire that their faults should be eradicated and that they should be trained up in habits of honest and methodical diligence.I do not profess to make any novel: suggestions, and only claim the authority which is the privilege of practical experience.I am confident that the plan of setting lines has evils connected with it which I should desire to be remedied, and I propose these other formas of punishment as substitutes, in cases where it may not be considered desirable to apply corporal penalty.Two other points, and I have finished this already too lengthy Li = 2 = =. = og T_T