When we consider how much is at stake, it really seems
as if learned and wise professors could not employ
their learning and wisdom to better purpose than in
devising ways of enlightening the “young woman’s
class” upon any and every point which has a bearing
on the intellectual and moral training of children.
SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS.
It is not to be supposed that enlightenment on subjects
pertaining to the intellectual and moral training
of children can be given to a young woman in text-book
fashion, cut and dried, put up in packages, and labelled
ready for use. But it will be something gained
to set her thinking on these subjects, to make her
feel their importance, and to inform her in what books
and by what writers they have been considered.
All this, and more to the same purpose, could be done
by lectures and discussions, for which lectures and
discussions even humble common sense need be at no
loss to suggest topics. There are, for instance,
the different methods of governing, of reproving, of
punishing, and of securing obedience; the evils of
corporal punishment, of governing by ridicule, of
showing temper while punishing. Then there are
questions like these: How far should love of
approbation be encouraged? What prominence shall
be given to externals, as personal appearance, the
minutia of behavior, politeness of speech? How
may perfect politeness be combined with perfect sincerity?
Ways of inculcating integrity. How to teach self-reliance,
without fostering self-conceit. How to encourage
prudence and economy, and at the same time discourage
parsimony. How to combine firmness with kindness.
Implicit obedience a good basis to work on. How
to enter into a child’s life, and make it a
happy one. How not to become a slave to a child’s
whims. The different amounts of indulgence and
of assistance which different temperaments will bear.
How shall liberality be inculcated, and extravagance
denounced? On deceitfulness as taught by parents.
On lying as taught by parents. On the impossibility
of making one theory work in a whole family of children,
or always on a single child. Shall obedience be
implicit, and how early in the child’s life
shall it be exacted? On marriages. On the
true issues of life. When shall ambition and the
spirit of emulation be encouraged, and when repressed?
The possibility of too much fault-finding making a
child callous. If mere common sense discovers
so many subjects, what number may not learning and
wisdom discover when their attention shall be turned
in this direction?
