Education
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4.Discipline, reward and the place of the rod
4a.The rod, fear and compulsion in schooling
See also: Punishment 6a
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 12Schooling as misery: forced study, beatings, and learning aimed at worldly prosperity and praise of men.read · scan
- p. 13Boys are punished for play though elders' idleness is called business; parents want children beaten into studies that lead to giving shows.read · scan
- p. 14–15He hated study and needed compulsion; masters urged learning for wealth and glory, and he preferred Latin to Greek.read · scan
- p. 18–19Schoolboy declamation exercises, spoken as Juno under praise, shame and fear of stripes, wasted his wit on empty fictions.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 142Those who punish rather than provide are likened to bad schoolmasters readier to beat than to teach.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 55Schools full of whipping and rods are wicked; learning should be sweetened with recreation, flowers and pictures of joy.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 36–37Harsh correction defeats the tutor's aim of creating a liking for learning.read · scan
- p. 37Neither beating nor rewards of pleasant things suit forming wise, virtuous men; children must learn to cross appetite for reason and duty.read · scan
- p. 67–68Locke doubts that learning requires the rod, noting children learn dancing, French and arithmetic without whipping; grammar-school methods are suspect.read · scan
- p. 93Chastisement should prepare children to obey their own reason later; obstinate crying defeats the correction.read · scan
- p. 114Children are trained against lying by detestation, rebuke and finally blows, for premeditated lies show obstinacy.read · scan
- p. 127Tutors should form manners and good habits; learning is secondary, and driving boys through classes with the whip is condemned.read · scan
- p. 132–133Schools rely on fear of the rod rather than pleasure; suitable children's books are neglected, and the Bible is a poor reading text for children.read · scan
- p. 141Rebukes and blows to secure attention backfire; fear disorders the child's mind and prevents learning.read · scan
4b.Esteem, shame, affection and reason as means of correction
See also: Honor 12a · Punishment 6b · Will 8b · Family 8a
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 50–51Tutor should win the pupil to virtue by love and affection rather than awe and compulsion.read · scan
- p. 54Pupil should not be overworked by a harsh schoolmaster or overstudy; all places and hours are study, with philosophy as principal lesson.read · scan
- p. 64Montaigne recalls his father's gentle upbringing, without compulsion or rigor, and how his own dullness frustrated it.read · scan
- p. 64–69A discreet master indulged his taste for Virgil, Terence and Plautus, avoiding severity that breeds hatred of books.read · scan
- p. 70Learning must be won by allurement of affection and appetite, not rods; knowledge must be married to the mind.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 376–377She provides Edward learning and a tutor, supervising him with moderate awe and sweetness.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 60–61Admiration spoils children from infancy; Port-Royal children, without envy and glory stimulus, fall into carelessness.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 34–35Early established reverence lets children be governed by esteem rather than beating as they grow in understanding.read · scan
- p. 35–36The great art is keeping a child's spirit free and active while restraining him; too strict a hand ruins vigour.read · scan
- p. 38Children should be governed as rational creatures, without rod or bribes, by esteem and acceptance from parents.read · scan
- p. 39Locke calls a love of credit and fear of shame the great secret of education, more effective than threats or blows.read · scan
- p. 40Children taught that esteem brings good things and disgrace brings neglect will love virtue's ways.read · scan
- p. 40–41Children learn modesty and shame by parental discountenance and delayed reconciliation, not blows.read · scan
- p. 42Parents should rebuke privately and commend publicly so children value their credit.read · scan
- p. 60Children respond to reason and grave, kind reproof rather than noise; awe implanted early avoids disorder.read · scan
- p. 60–61Discipline of children aims at forming the mind and settling parental authority, then maintaining it by gravity mixed with kindness.read · scan
- p. 63Children's age-appropriate childishness should be tolerated; aim to keep their wills right and guard against vicious habits.read · scan
- p. 63–64Gentle persuasion by reasons within a child's understanding works better than command alone or long philosophical discourse.read · scan
- p. 65–66Early vigilance against vicious inclinations with gentle correction makes harsh discipline seldom necessary.read · scan
- p. 66–67Indulged faults grow like weeds needing harsh remedy; the best cure is to show wonder at first vicious actions and shame the child.read · scan
- p. 87Method banishing the rod relies on awe, reverence and consulting reason before inclination.read · scan
- p. 114–115Cure excuses with shame rather than roughness, make candor habitual, and preserve the child's reputation with his parent.read · scan
- p. 141–142The teacher's skill is winning attention, showing usefulness, and correcting with gentleness; harshness breeds perverseness.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 233–234The priest gains the youth's confidence by disinterested kindness, no censure, and listening, leading him to confess.read · scan
4c.The necessity of strictness and discipline
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 109Such military discipline is learnt only by a wholesome course of training.read · scan
Martin Luther, Concerning Christian LibertyVol. 36
- p. 375Youth needs restraint by ceremonies; ministers must prudently teach the people faith along with works.read · scan
- p. 376Fervid youth must be restrained by ceremonial barriers to avoid vice and be instructed in faith's righteousness.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 10–11Father teaches the young boy flute and singing, which the boy dislikes and does only to obey.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 32–33Early strictness gently relaxed with age makes children tractable and loving toward their parents.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 299Difficulty is a severe instructor set by a parental Guardian, strengthening skill and understanding.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 173As teacher of convent pupils, Gertrude vents her rancour on them, alternately harsh and indulgent.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 281–282Sons are kept in order by threat of the sack, compared to the rod for the prince.read · scan
- p. 311–312The young storks must learn to fly well for the autumn exercises or be killed by the general.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 34–37Mill weighs father's severity; rigid discipline is indispensable, and making all learning easy sacrifices education's object.read · scan
- p. 37–38Fear cannot be dispensed with in education but must not predominate and preclude the child's love and confidence.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 192His mother's system of schooling and discipline made respectable men of his brothers but failed with his obstinacy.read · scan
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