THE ROD AND THE BOY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 129, 8 February 1909, Page 2

THE ROD AND THE BOY.

; Thirty years ago the New York j Eoard of Education abolished whipping : in school as an inhuman practice, brutalising both to the whipper and to i the whipped. Ever since that time ! the question of sparing the rod has | been actively discussed in all parts of ; the United States, and many attempts | have been made to restore the birch to its old place in the Xew York schools. A few weeks ago some prorod agitators presented to the Education Eoard a formidable volume con- ■ tabling arguments and opinions in I favour of the moderate use of the i birch as an aid to learning. The lead- | ers of the movement declare that exi perienced opinion on both sides of the | Atlantic is emphatically against the • mora! suasion doctrine and in favour ; of the rod "not necessarily for daily, regular application", but for such occasional and discriminating use as special circumstances demand. 5- The agitators quote a weighty opinion from Mr Mosley, the British Commis- ! sioner who reported on education in I America a few years ago. "The rod," | he said, "is a great reserve power. American children know full well that there is no rod for them, be they never so deserving. They tell you flatly, as I have been told by precocious youngsters of eight or nine, 'lt's illegal in America; no doubt it's ail right for English children.' " The New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, professing to summarise public opinion generally, thinks that the rod ought to carry the day. "'American children,'' he says, "are undoubtedly the sauciest and worst behaved in the world, a fact which American parents who have lived in England reluctantly admit. There is nothing which impresses American tourists to England so much as 'the nice, well behaved children,' and it is believed that the rod in reserve for the unruly on the British side of the Atlantic deserves some credit/' The views of Xew York teachers were lately taken at an informal noil, with the that 270 voted in favour of and 200 against the re-introduction of the cane. There is little likelihood of the Education Board going back on its position, however, because it has to consider the feelings of the public, and so far there is no indication that the. people in general are dissatisfied with the results of the method of moral suasion.