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THE FAMILY AND THE SCHOOL.

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Authority is not necessary to every teaching relation. 'A willing pupil coming up to a master to be taught, is not entering into a relationship of authority; it is a mere voluntary compact, terminable at the pleasure of each. There is no more authority over the assemblies of grown men to hear lectures, than over the worshippers at church, or the frequenters of the play. There is nothing but the observance of mutual toleration and forbearance so far as is requisite to the common good; if this were grossly violated, there would be an exercise of power either by the collective mass themselves, or by summoning the constable to their aid. No authority is lodged in the lecturer, the preacher, or the performer, to repress disturbances.

Authority first appears in the family, and is thence transferred with modifications to the school. It is between these two institutions that the comparison is most suggestive. The parent's authority is associated with sustenance, and has an almost unlimited range. It is tempered by affection, but this depends upon mutuality of pleasure-giving, and supposes a limited number. The teacher's authority has nothing to do with sustenance, it is a duty undertaken for payment; it is subsidiary to the single object of teaching a definite amount of knowledge. It wants the requisites of affection; the numbers are too great, and the mutual concern too restricted: yet affection is not wholly excluded; in certain well-marked cases, it may play a part.

On the other hand, the family and the school have some important agreements. They both deal with immature minds, for whom certain kinds of motives are

unsuitable. Neither can employ motives that are applicable only to grown men and women; they cannot appeal to consequences in the distant and unknown future. Children do not realize a remote effect, and they fail even to conceive many things that will one day have great power over their conduct. To talk to them about riches, honours, and a good conscience is in vain, A half-holiday is more to them than the prospect of becoming head of a business.

The position of immaturity is attended with another peculiarity, namely, that the reasons of a rule cannot always be made apparent. Sometimes they can, if not to the younger, at least to the older children. This is a highly prized aid to obedience in every department of government.

There are many important points of agreement in the exercise of authority in every sphere--the family, the school, the relation of master and servant, of ruler and subject, whether in the state at large or in subordinate societies. For example:

(1) Restraints should be as few as the situation admits of.

(2) Duties and Offences should be definitely expressed, so as to be clearly understood. This may not. always be possible to the full extent; but should be always aimed at.

(3) Offences should be graduated according to their degree of heinousness. This too needs clearness of discrimination and definite language.

(4) The application of Punishment is regulated according to certain principles, first clearly pointed out by Bentham.

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(5) Voluntary dispositions are to be trusted as far as they can go.

(6) By organization and arrangement, the occasions of disorder are avoided. Quarrels are obviated by not permitting crowds, jostling, and collisions. Dishonesty is checked by want of opportunity; remissness, by the watchful eye and by definite tests of performance.

(7) The awe and influence of authority is maintained by a certain formality and state. Forms and ritual are adapted to all the operations of law: persons in authority are clothed with dignity and inviolability. The greater the necessity of enforcing obedience, the more stern and imposing is the ritual of authority. The Romans, the greatest law-giving people, were the most stately in their official rites. A slight tinge of formality should accompany even the lowest forms of authority.

(8) It is understood that authority, with all its appurtenances, exists for the benefit of the governed, and not as a perquisite of the governor.

(9) The operation of mere vindictiveness should be curtailed to the uttermost.

(10) So far as circumstances allow, everyone in authority should assume a benign character, seeking the benefit of those under him, using instruction and moral suasion so as to stave off the necessity of force. The effect of this attitude is at its utmost when its limits are clearly discerned and never passed.

(11) The reasons for repression and discipline should, as far as possible, be made intelligible to those concerned; and should be referable solely to the general good. This involves, as a part of national education, a

knowledge of the structure of society, as being a regulated reciprocity among all its members, for the good of each and of all.1

Whoever occupies a position of authority ought to be familiar with the general principles and conditions of Punishment, as they may be found set forth in the Penal Code of Bentham. The broad, exhaustive view there given will co-operate beneficially with each one's actual experience. I make no apology for presenting a short summary of his principles.

After precisely defining the proper ends of Punishment, Bentham marks the cases unmeet for Punishment. First, where it is groundless: that is, where there never has been any real mischief (the other party consenting to what has been done), or where the mischief is overweighed by a benefit of greater value. Second, where it is inefficacious: including cases where the penal provision has not come before the offender's notice, where he is unaware of the consequences of his act, or where he is not a free agent. Third, cases where it is unprofitable: that is, when the evil of the punishment exceeds the evil of the offence. (The evils of Punishment, which have to be summed up and set against the good, are (1) coercion or restraint, (2) the uneasiness of apprehension, (3) the actual suffering, (4) the suffering caused to all those that are in sympathy with the person punished.) Fourth, cases where Punishment is needless: as when the end can be attained in some cheaper way, as by instruction and persuasion. In this class Bentham specially includes the offences that consist in disseminating pernicious principles in politics, morality, or religion. These should be met by instruction and argument, and not by the penalties of the law.

Under what he calls the expense or frugality of Punishment, Bentham urges the necessity of presenting to the mind an adequate notion of what a punishment really is. Hence the advantage of punishments that are easily learnt, and remembered, and that appear greater, and not less, than they really are.

Next, as to the main point, the measure of Punishment. First, it should be such as clearly to outweigh the profit of the offence: including not simply the immediate profit, but every advantage, real or apparent, that has weighed as an inducement to commit it. Second, the greater the mischief of the offence, the greater is the expense that it is worth while to be at, in the way of punishment. Third, when two offences come into competition, the punishment for the greater should be such as to make the less preferred; thus robbery with violence to the person, is always punished more severely than simple robbery. Fourth, the punishment to be so adjusted that for every part of the resulting mischief a motive may be provided to restrain from causing it. Fifth, the punishment should not be

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The points of comparison and of contrast between the school and the family have been noted. The more

greater than is needed for these ends. Sixth, there should be taken into account the circumstances affecting the sensibility of the offenders, as age, sex, wealth, position, so that the same punishment may not operate unequally. Seventh, the punishment needs to be increased in magnitude as it falls short of certainty. Eighth, it must be further increased in magnitude as it falls short in point of proximity. Penalties that are uncertain, and those that are remote, correspondingly fail to influence the mind. Ninth, when the act indicates a habit, the punishment must be increased so as to outweigh the profit of the other offences that the offender may commit with impunity: this is severe, but necessary, as in putting down the coiners of base money. Tenth, when a punishment well fitted in its quality cannot exist in less than a certain quantity, it may be of use to employ it, although a little beyond the measure of the offence: such are the punishments of exile, expulsion from a society, dismissal from office. Eleventh, this may be the case more particularly, when the punishment is a moral lesson. Twelfth, in adjusting the quantum, account is to taken of the circumstances that render all punishment unprofitable. Thirteenth, if in carrying out these provisions anything occurs tending to do more harm than the good arising from the punishment, that thing should be omitted.

In regard to the selection of punishments, Bentham lays down a number of tests, or conditions whereby they are fitted to comply with the foregoing requirements. First, is the quality of variability: a punishment should have degrees of intensity and duration: this applies to fines, corporal punishment, and imprisonment; also to censure, or ill-name. Second, equability, or equal application under all circumstances: this is not easy to secure; a fixed fine is an unequable punishment. Third, commensurability: that is, punishments should be so adapted to offences, that the offender may clearly conceive the inequality of the suffering attached to crimes of different degrees of heinousness: this property can be grafted on the variable punishments, as imprisonment. Fourth, characteristicalness : this is where something can be found in the punishment whose idea exactly fits the crime. Bentham dilates upon this topic, in order to discriminate it from the old crude method of an eye for an eye: cases in point occur abundantly both in the family and in the school. Fifth, exemplarity: this is connected with the impressiveness of a punishment; all the solemnities accompanying the execution increase this effect. Bentham, however, did not sufficiently consider the evils attending too great publicity, which have led to withdrawing punishments from the gaze

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