EVERYDAY PROBLEMS IN TEACHING CHAPTER I PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT It is safe to say that the majority of teachers go into their schools every September worrying more The importance of about one particular problem good order than all others combined; and this is the problem of government in the class-room. Probably nine out of ten trustees and members of boards of education esteem good order more highly than anything else in teaching. In some communities the only school topic that is discussed is the order which the teacher keeps. He is regarded as a success just in the measure that he can make the children "mind", or "toe the mark". Perhaps this is as it should be, for "order is Heaven's first law"; and it must be the first rule of the school, as most people think. In a very real sense, good order is absolutely es sential to a healthy tone in a school, or anywhere else, for that matter. It requires that people, young and old, must so control themselves that all can perform effectively the tasks in hand. When a group of persons are out of order, they can not pull together; they interfere with one another, and both time and energy are wasted. Moreover, in the case of the young, bad habits may be formed which may later make it impossible for them to adapt themselves to the laws and rules of the society in which they must live. So it is not surprising that parents and school officers have placed good order above every other consideration in teaching. It shows they have appreciated, with greater or less clearness, the fundamental necessity in human society, whether in the school-room or outside. Memory carries the writer back to the district school in which he had his first experience in teachThe methods of ing. There was a painted line runan earlier day ning across the floor in the front of the room. This had been used by a whole generation of predecessors to secure good order in their recitations. Whenever a class was called, the pupils came forward, faced the school, and "toed" this line, with their feet turned out at an angle of 60°, face to the front, and hands held behind the back, except when one was needed to hold book. It was the custom then to insist on rigid motor restraint on the part of all children in every recitation. The teachers of the day gave more attention to government than to instruction proper. They used to have "disciplinary" periods, when all pupils were required to sit erect in their seats for fifteen minutes at a stretch, with arms folded, and every muscle tense. All communication during school hours was forbidden. Not even a friendly word now and then with one's seat-mate was permitted. Quiet and dress-parade behavior were constantly striven after. And yet there was a great deal of bad order in the schools, of which this one was typical. The pupils were fidgety in spite of the frequent chastisements; and they seemed often to be looking for a chance to start a rebellion. The teacher lived in continual fear of revolt in those schools; and not infrequently he was compelled to make a hasty and unconventional exit from the school-room, being aided thereto by the "big boys" in the school. At best there was a continual armed neutrality in the typical district school of New York State twenty-five years ago. But to-day there is a very different tone in the school referred to. A new school building has replaced the old one, and the painted line has disappeared. One does not hear much now in that community about the teacher's keeping order. The pupils |