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Secular reading, with Dictation.

Definitions of the leading Parts of Speech.

Geography of England.

Linear Drawing; Vocal Music.

Fourth Class.

Read "Miracles and Discourses of our Blessed Saviour."

Catechism, as far as the Decalogue, with Scripture Proofs.

Arithmetic, four first rules and Reduction.

Grammar, simple definitions of Vowels and Consonants, Nouns, &c.

Easy definitions of Geography - Land, Water, &c., illustrated by an Outline Map.

Secular Reading, with Spelling.

Fifth Class.

Read "Parables."

Catechism, as far as the Creed.

Arithmetic-Addition, Subtraction.

Secular Reading, with Spelling from the Reading Lesson.

Sixth Class.

Broken Catechism.

Reading, with Spelling.

Arithmetic-Counting and Addition, Notation.

CHAPTER II.

ON SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.

UNDER the term discipline may be included all that has reference to the moral government of the school. Its object is to accustom the children to habits of order, obedience, and application, and to encourage in them that love for learning without which no system of education can be attended with much success.

On the personal character of the master, good discipline for the most part depends. The degree of respect in which he is held by his pupils, and the firmness and decision which he brings to bear upon their general management, will influence in no slight degree the character of the school. He must be master in every sense of the word. If he makes laws only to see them constantly broken, he will be likely to gain the contempt instead of the respect of those who are placed under his care.

"All the means of discipline," says a French writer, "may be reduced to two heads: those which are designed to maintain order, which include silence, obedience, cleanliness, a becoming carriage, politeness, and general good behaviour; and others whose aim is to accustom the pupils to application, which again supposes attention, eagerness to repair to school, and zeal in the performance of duty."

I. The points of discipline to which a master should pay strict attention, included under the first head, are such as the following:

1. To be very particular in securing Regular and Punctual Attendance.-The fault of bad attendance is, without doubt, to be attributed more frequently to the parent

than to the child. The teacher should therefore impress upon parents, as often as he can, their duty in this respect. The printed rules of the school, which are generally given out on the admission of children, should set forth in a prominent manner the consequences of irregular attendance. In the case of any child being absent without leave, it will be found necessary to send a ticket of suspension to the parent; and in the event of the notice being disregarded, nothing remains but to exclude the child from the advantages of the school. Painful though it must be to dismiss a child for the fault of its parent, such a step is absolutely necessary for the sake of general good discipline.

The following has been found a useful form of Suspension Ticket:

SUSPENSION TICKET.

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having been absent

without leave, and having thereby

broken the Rules of the School, you will take notice that

HE IS SUSPENDED FOR THE PRESENT;

and unless you attend at the School within one day, at a quarter before nine or two o'clock, and give a satisfactory reason for such absence, he will be finally dismissed.

To Mr. or Mrs.

2. The master should use every effort to obtain good order in his school-room by suppressing all unnecessary noise, especially talking, loud reading, &c., and by establishing such plans for the mechanical working of the school as are least liable to cause confusion in the room.

A system of drilling, similar to that practised among soldiers, will conduce very much to good order, and will likewise teach the children the duty of ready obedience to their teacher's commands. The exercises must

Bad

however be rapidly and promptly performed. drilling is worse than none, and will be likely to produce the very opposite of the desired result. When it is necessary to stop the school for drill or for any other purpose, a signal may be given either by sounding a small whistle, or by pronouncing the word "stop" in a sharp and decided tone of voice. Before a teacher commences any lesson in a class, he should drill the children into good order, observing, among other things, that they stand back to the form with their feet placed firmly and closely together on the floor; that they stand and sit at equal distances; that the same number of children occupy the side forms, &c. &c. When the lesson is being read the books should be held so as to rest on the palm of the left hand, the right hand being placed behind the back, and only used when a leaf requires to be turned. The orders for drilling are generally such as the following: "Stand," "Sit," "Hands up, ""Down," "Behind," "Shoulders," "Right hand up," "Left," &c., "Turn," "Front," "Collect pencils," "Slates," &c.

When there is a play-ground the children may with much advantage be drilled occasionally in easy military evolutions, as slow and quick marching in lines, wheeling, &c. &c.

3. The greatest reverence and attention should be observed during all the religious exercises of the school. It will be advisable to establish as a rule, that the children close their eyes and place their hands together while any prayers are being said. No class should engage in reading the Holy Scriptures without having first repeated some prayer, as, for instance, the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent, which is generally printed inside the covers of school Bibles.

4. The master should by every means in his power,

direct and indirect, encourage among his pupils a hatred of all those actions which openly offend morality, such as falsehood, equivocation, dishonesty, premeditated revenge, petty quarrels, &c., and should constantly and earnestly impress upon them the opposite duties.

5. The children should be taught to pay proper deference to those who are placed over them in the school, whether the clergy, the other school-managers, or their ordinary teachers. They should never be allowed to pass any of them, either in or out of school, without making some acknowledgment. They should also be taught to render due respect to the place in which they are instructed. Neither boisterous mirth in the schoolroom, nor running over desks and forms out of schoolhours, should be permitted. When any child wishes to address a remark to the teacher, or to ask a question, he should in the first instance show, by holding up his hand, that he desires leave to speak.

The following remarks by the Ven. Archdeacon Sinclair are worthy of an attentive perusal :

"Among the various modes of introducing discipline into a school, the most effectual is to promote a general feeling of reverence for every object connected with it. Cheerful and willing obedience should be inseparably associated with the place in the mind of every child. There are schools for the poor, in which, although the intellectual faculties are brought prominently into action, the moral feelings are lamentably neglected: you see the children enter the school-room, slovenly in their person and forward in their demeanour, without any tokens of respect for their superiors and instructors; books are neither preserved with care nor treated with regard; Holy Scripture itself is read with an air of exhibition rather than with solemnity; and even prayer is either not said at all, or not said with devotional earnestness,

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