the same time it caused them to lose
their sense of shame, which is a difficult thing to restore. I have
also observed that when one pupil is flogged, he gets comfort from
the fact that the others are treated in the same way, and that he
smiles with satisfaction upon hearing the wails of the others. As for
the person who does the flogging, while at first he may do it with
repugnance, he soon becomes hardened to it and even takes delight in
his gloomy task. The past filled me with horror, so I wanted to save
the present by modifying the old system. I endeavored to make study
a thing of love and joy, I wished to make the primer not a black book
bathed in the tears of childhood but a friend who was going to reveal
wonderful secrets, and of the schoolroom not a place of sorrows but a
scene of intellectual refreshment. So, little by little, I abolished
corporal punishment, taking the instruments of it entirely away from
the school and replacing them with emulation and personal pride. If
one was careless about his lesson, I charged it to lack of desire
and never to lack of capacity. I made them think that they were more
capable than they really were, which urged them on to study just as
any confidence leads to notable achievements. At first it seemed that
the change of method was impracticable; many ceased their studies,
but I persisted and observed that little by little their minds were
being elevated and that more children came, that they came with more
regularity, and that he who was praised in the presence of the others
studied with double diligence on the next day.

"It soon became known throughout the town that I did not whip
the children. The curate sent for me, and fearing another scene I
greeted him curtly in Tagalog. On this occasion he was very serious
with me. He said that I was exposing the children to destruction,
that I was wasting time, that I was not fulfilling my duties, that
the father who spared the rod was spoiling the child--according
to the Holy Ghost--that learning enters with blood, and so on. He
quoted to me sayings of barbarous times just as if it were enough
that a thing had been said by the ancients to make it indisputable;
according to which we ought to believe that there really existed
those monsters which in past ages were imaged and sculptured in the
palaces and temples. Finally, he charged me to be more careful and to
return to the old system, otherwise he would make unfavorable report
abou