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Discipline
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respect, and this is their right. They should not be led to feel that
they cannot go out or come in without being watched. Suspicion
demoralizes, producing the very evils it seeks to prevent. Instead of
watching continually, as if suspecting evil, teachers who are in touch
with their pupils will discern the workings of the restless mind and
will set to work influences that will counteract evil. Lead students
to feel that they are trusted, and most will seek to prove themselves
worthy of the trust.
On the same principle it is better to request than to command.
Those thus addressed have opportunity to prove themselves loyal to
right principles. Their obedience is the result of choice rather than
compulsion.
Establishing and Enforcing Rules
The rules governing the schoolroom should, so far as possible,
represent the voice of the school. Every principle involved in them
should be explained to students so that they may be convinced of its
justice. Thus they will feel a responsibility to see that the rules are
obeyed.
Rules should be few and well considered, and, when once made,
should be enforced. Whatever is found impossible to change, the
mind learns to recognize and adapt to, but the possibility of in-
dulgence induces desire, hope, and uncertainty. The results are
restlessness, irritability, and insubordination.
Make it plain that the government of God knows no compromise
with evil. Neither in the home nor in the school should disobedience
be tolerated. No parent or teacher who has at heart the well-being of
those under his or her care will compromise with the stubborn self-
will that defies authority or resorts to subterfuge or evasion in order
to escape obedience. It is not love but sentimentalism that treats
wrongdoing lightly, endeavors to secure conformity by coaxing or
bribes, and finally accepts some substitute in place of the thing
required.
“Fools mock at sin.”
Proverbs 14:9
. We should beware of treating
sin as a light thing. Terrible is its power over the wrongdoer. “The
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iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the
toils of their sin.”
Proverbs 5:2
, NRSV. The greatest wrong done to