The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius/The Great Didactic/Chapter 26
CHAPTER XXVI
OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE
1. There is a proverb in Bohemia, “A school without discipline is like a mill without water,” and this is very true. For, if you withdraw the water from a mill, it stops, and, in the same way, if you deprive a school of discipline, you take away from it its motive power. A field also, if it be never ploughed, produces nothing but weeds; and trees, if not continually pruned, revert to their wild state and bear no fruit. It must not be thought, however, that we wish our schools to resound with shrieks and with blows. What we demand is vigilance and attention on the part of the master and of the pupils. For discipline is nothing but an unfailing method by which we may make our scholars, scholars in reality.
2. As regards discipline, therefore, it is advisable that the educator of youth know its object, its subject-matter, and the various forms which it may assume, since he will then know why, when, and how, systematised severity is to be used.
3. We may start with the incontestable proposition that punishment should be employed towards those who err. But it is not because they have erred that they should be punished (for what has been done cannot be undone), but in order that they may not err again in the future. Discipline should therefore be free from personal elements, such as anger or dislike, and should be exercised with such frankness and sincerity of purpose, that even the pupils may feel that the action taken is for their good, and that those set over them are but exercising paternal authority. They will thus regard it in the same light as a bitter draught prescribed for them by the doctor.
4. Now no discipline of a severe kind should be exercised in connection with studies or literary exercises, but only where questions of morality are at stake. For, as we have already shown, studies, if they are properly organised, form in themselves a sufficient attraction, and entice all with the exception of monstrosities) by their inherent pleasantness. If this be not the case, the fault lies, not with the pupil, but with the master, and, if our skill is unable to make an impression on the understanding, our blows will have no effect. Indeed, by any application of force we are far more likely to produce a distaste for letters than a love for them. Whenever, therefore, we see that a mind is diseased and dislikes study, we should try to remove its indisposition by gentle remedies, but should on no account employ violent ones. The very sun in the heavens gives us a lesson on this point. In early spring, when plants are young and tender, he does not scorch them, but warms and invigorates them by slow degrees, not putting forth his full heat until they are full-grown and bring forth fruit and seeds. The gardener proceeds on the same principle, and does not apply the pruning-knife to plants that are immature. In the same way a musician does not strike his lyre a blow with his fist or with a stick, nor does he throw it against the wall, because it produces a discordant sound; but, setting to work on scientific principles, he tunes it and gets it into order. Just such a skilful and sympathetic treatment is necessary to instil a love of learning into the minds of our pupils, and any other procedure will only convert their idleness into antipathy and their lack of interest into downright stupidity.
5. If, however, some stimulus be found necessary, better means than blows can be found. Sometimes a few severe words or a reprimand before the whole class is very efficacious, while sometimes a little praise bestowed on the others has great effect. “See how well so-and-so attends! See how quickly he sees each point! While you sit there like a stone!” It is often of use to laugh at the backward ones. “You silly fellow, can’t you understand such a simple matter?” Weekly, or at any rate monthly, contests for the first place in class may also be introduced, as we I have shown elsewhere. Great care, however, should be taken that these experiments do not degenerate into a mere amusement, and thus lose their force; since, if they are to act as a stimulus to industry, they must be backed on the part of the pupil by a love of praise and a dislike of blame or of losing his place in class. It is therefore absolutely essential that the master be always in the room, that he throw a good deal of energy into his work, and that he scold the idlers and praise the hard-working boys before the whole class.
6. Only in the case of moral delinquencies may a severer discipline be used: (1) as, for instance, in the case of impiety of any kind, such as blasphemy, obscenity, or any other open offence against God’s law. (2) In the case of stubbornness and premeditated misbehaviour, such as disobeying the master’s orders, or the conscious neglect of duty. (3) In the case of pride and disdain, or even of envy and idleness; as, for example, if a boy refuse to give a schoolfellow assistance when asked to do so.
7. For offences of the first kind are an insult to God’s majesty. Those of the second kind undermine the foundation of all virtue, namely, humility and obedience. While those of the third kind prevent any rapid progress in studies. An offence against God is a crime, and should be expiated by an extremely severe punishment. An offence against man is iniquitous, and such a tendency should be promptly and sternly corrected. But an offence against Priscian is a stain that may be wiped out by the sponge of blame. In a word, the object of discipline should be to stir us up to revere God, to assist our neighbours, and to perform the labours and duties of life with alacrity.
8. The sun in the heavens teaches us the best form of discipline, since to all things that grow it ministers (1) light and heat, continuously; (2) rain and wind, frequently; (3) lightning and thunder, but seldom; although these latter are not wholly without their use.
9. It is by imitating this that the master should try to keep his pupils up to their work.
(1) He should give them frequent examples of the conduct that they should try to imitate, and should point to himself as a living example. Unless he does this, all his work will be in vain.
(2) He may employ advice, exhortation, and sometimes blame, but should take great care to make his motive clear and to show unmistakably that his actions are based on paternal affection, and are destined to build up the characters of his pupils and not to crush them. Unless the pupil understands this and is fully persuaded of it, he will despise all discipline and will deliberately resist it.
(3) Finally, if some characters are unaffected by gentle methods, recourse must be had to more violent ones, and every means should be tried before any pupil is pronounced impossible to teach. Without doubt there are many to whom the proverb, “Beating is the only thing that improves a Phrygian,” applies with great force. And it is certain that, even if such measures do not produce any great effect on the boy who is punished, they act as a great stimulus to the others by inspiring them with fear. We should take great care, however, not to use these extreme measures too readily, or too zealously, as, if we do, we may exhaust all our resources before the extreme case of insubordination which they were intended to meet, arises.
10. In short, the object of discipline should be to confirm those who are being trained up for God and for the Church, in that disposition which God demands in His sons, the pupils in the school of Christ, so that they may rejoice with trembling (Psalm ii. 11), and looking to their own salvation may rejoice always in the Lord (Phil. ii. 4 and 10), that is to say, that they may love and reverence their masters, and not merely allow themselves to be led in the right direction, but actually tend towards it of their own accord.
This training of the character can only be accomplished in the above-mentioned ways: by good example, by gentle words, and by continually taking a sincere and undisguised interest in the pupil. Sudden bursts of anger should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and then with the intention that renewed good feeling shall be the result.
11. For (to give one more example) did any one ever see a goldsmith produce a work of art by the use of the hammer alone? Never. It is easier to cast such things than to beat them out, and, if any excrescence have to be removed, it is not by violent blows that the artificer gets rid of it, but by a series of gentle taps, or by means of a file or a pair of forceps; while he completes the operation by polishing and smoothing his work. And do we believe that irrational force will enable us to produce intelligent beings, images of the living God?
12. A fisherman, too, who catches fish in deep waters with a drag-net, not only fastens on pieces of lead to sink it, but also attaches corks to the other end of it, that it may rise to the surface of the water. In the same way whoever wishes to ensnare the young in the nets of virtue, must, on the one hand, humble and abase them by severity, and, on the other, exalt them by gentleness and affection. Happy are the masters who can combine these two extremes! Happy are the boys who find such masters!
13. Here we may quote the opinion which that great man, Eilhard Lubinus, doctor of theology, has expressed on the reform of schools in the preface to his edition of the New Testament in Greek, Latin, and German—
“The second point is this: the young should never be compelled to do anything, but their tasks should be of such a kind and should be set them in such a way that they will do them of their own accord, and take pleasure in them. I am therefore of opinion that rods and blows, those weapons of slavery, are quite unsuitable to freemen, and should never be used in schools, but should be reserved for boys of an abnormal and servile disposition. Such boys are easily recognised and must be removed from the school at once, on account both of the sluggishness of their disposition and of the depravity that is generally found in conjunction with it. Besides, any knowledge that they may acquire will be employed for wicked purposes, and will be like a sword in the hands of a madman. There are, however, other kinds of punishment suitable for boys who are free-born and of normal disposition, and these we may employ.”