them in force.
We never punish by the imposition of tasks, our aim being to inculcate
the love of study, and encourage the child to regard his work as a
favour and a privilege. On the contrary we now punish the student rather
by taking away the old than by imposing new school work; and this is so
effected that the boy, though at first delighted, soon thirsts to resume
his studies.
In many cases the pupil is not allowed even to know that he is
punished,--_i.e._, why the discipline is changed,--lest he should become
attached to a fault for which he has suffered and, as it were, paid
dearly; lest, too, the excitement of eluding detection should make it
pleasurable to transgress when the immediate pressure is removed, and he
should thus become schooled in untruthfulness and deceit.
The character-divers generally effect the child's correction by
gentleness, and eventually bringing him to loathe the bad and love the
good. Time, labour, and attention are bestowed unsparingly, and, however
small the germ, the evil tendency is never left until, when this is
possible, it is completely eradicated. In certain cases, where the
footprint of nature is too firmly impressed, the efforts are continued
until other and opposing qualities have been developed, and the moral
patient has acquired such control over himself as to be able, in moments
of temptation and impulse, to dominate the disturbing propensity.
Even after the fault seems to have been eradicated, the patient is for
some time subjected to various tests and temptations before he is
pronounced cured. We do not trust to superficial appearances.
Similar precautions were taken in the cure of adult offenders against
the laws, but as soon as my plans had time to operate, offences by
adults were of rare occurrence.
When a child gives evidence of remarkable genius, he is watched with
more than jealous care, with a view to his superior refinement, and
other qualities which we like to see in harmony. We do not like to see,
as it were, a garment made partly of rich brocade and partly of common
material.
The character-divers, too, are greatly assisted in their observations by
an establishment attached to each school called "The Amusement Gallery,"
in which after a certain time the bent of the child, his versatility,
capriciousness, constancy of purpose, and other qualities and defects
are shown in his selection and continued or interrupted pursuit of any
particular occupation
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