Education; Educational psychology; Moral education
As to punishments, we have many times come in contact with children
who disturbed the others without paying attention to our corrections.
Such children were at once examined by the physician. When the case
proved to be that of a normal child, we placed one of the little
tables in a corner of the room, and in this way isolated the child;
having him sit in a comfortable little armchair, so placed that he
might see his companions at work, and giving him those games and
toys to which he was most attracted. This isolation almost always
succeeded in calming the child; from his position he could see the
entire assembly of his companions, and the way in which they carried
on their work was an _object lesson_ much more efficacious than any
words of the teacher could possibly have been. Little by little,
he would come to see the advantages of being one of the company
working so busily before his eyes, and he would really wish to go
back and do as the others did. We have in this way led back again to
discipline all the children who at first seemed to rebel against it.
The isolated child was always made the object of special care, almost
as if he were ill. I myself, when I entered the room, went first of
all directly to him, as if he were a very little child. Then I turned
my attention to the others, interesting myself in their work, asking
questions about it as if they had been little men. I do not know what
happened in the soul of these children whom we found it necessary to
discipline, but certainly the conversion was always very complete and
lasting. They showed great pride in learning how to work and how to
conduct themselves, and always showed a very tender affection for the
teacher and for me.[14]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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