Essay No. 18
A Magistrate's View
of Slack Discipline
BY
J.Face Smith, J.P.
(Metropolitan Magistrate for London)
.
I HAVE been asked if I would write a short paper or leaflet on the Training of Our Children ; but, after reading several of those already printed, I felt myself coming to the conclusion that all had been said that could be said, and one could only wish that the leaflets already published could be in the hands of every father and mother throughout the land, and that they would read them again and again, and derive profit from them. But, on the other hand, I. could see that each writer had approached the question from a different point of view, and had something fresh to say ; and, as I did not find a leaflet from a magistrate among the number, I began to think perhaps my more than twenty years' experience in a Police Court might create a new impression, and the subject would be
"Set in all lights by many minds To close the interests of all."
In the London Police Courts children are often charged with serious crimes, or with less serious
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offences, such as wandering, begging, etc., and often the crimes or offences are brought about by want of discipline or by the neglect of parents; but a great deal more of insight into the conduct of parents with respect to their children can be gained in the investigation of "Education Cases" or "School Board Cases," as they used to be called, than in the investigation of the crimes of children.
Here, in the "School Board" cases, the whole question is one of home discipline. In curious and abnormal crimes it may be difficult to trace the source of the evil; but in non-attendance at school the fault, almost invariably, is the parents'. Of course the reason why the child does not go to school is very often that the child is neglected, that the parents are negligent or drunken, that sometimes the poor child cannot go to school because of the violent ill-treatment or the disgraceful neglect of the parents; but in a vast number of cases the child does not attend school because of the slackness and indulgence of the child by its parents. From a baby its mother has foolishly given the child all it cried for, and the father has treated it as a plaything. As it grew up, both father and mother gave it pennies to buy "goodies," which the parents of children in the upper classes would not think of doing. There is no check given—no moral responsibility inculcated. It is all chance and happy-go-lucky. Well, perhaps it is better than brutal ill-treatment and the open teaching of vice.
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In an essay which I wrote some years ago, I moralised upon a baby in a cradle : "As time goes on, the infant will soon have other surroundings, either of its own seeking or forced upon it; and it will be taught, not so much by the process of direct teaching, but by the pressure of numberless external influences, perhaps unnoticed by other persons. It will begin to form tastes, purposes, and habits, some of which, though apparently trivial at first, will grow into mastering passions. . . . If that child could ' feed on the roses and lie in the lilies of life ' all its days, it might remain beautiful for ever ; but it will have to deal with thorns and thistles mostly, and not with lilies and roses, and so it must grow up hardy and strong, and its beauty must be marred in the process of bringing up. And yet, for all that, we must educate the infant almost from its earliest breath. It must be taught obedience, love, fairness, honesty, truth. It must learn that every wish cannot be gratified and every bad temper have its way. This is where poor parents fail. Be they ever so poor, they contrive to indulge their babies, and treat them merely as pets to be spoilt. What wonder if, before their children reach the age of eight years, they take them before a magistrate as being ' beyond control,' or find that they have to flog instead of play with them ?"
An infant of six years of age was brought before me charged with " wandering." I sent for the mother, and she assured me he was beyond control. I asked,
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"How comes that about ? " She replied, "He keeps such bad company." "My good woman ! " I exclaimed, "yours is the only company he ought to keep," and I asked the N.S.P.C.C. officer to inquire into the case. A youth of about thirteen was brought up by his father, who had been summoned to produce him. I asked him, "Why don't you go to school ?" "Boo-hoo ! because I don't like it." "Well, but why don't you like it ?" "Boo-hoo ! because they wants me to learn poetry." Really, I think that youth had not been trained in the school of discipline.
I do not say that it is easy for a parent wisely and temperately to restrain his or her child; and I do not say that the child's life should be rendered quite miserable by incessant nagging and restraint ; but I do say that parents have obvious and plain duties to perform, and often from mere slackness they fail to perform them.
I should like to add one word as to the new institution of Children's Courts. Ever since I was appointed a magistrate I have been careful to avoid their being present in Court while cases unfit for publication are being tried; and I quite agree that, if feasible, separate Courts should be provided for children. But I am afraid lest the new Court and its surroundings, and its judgments and ways of dealing with children, may lead children and parents to think that it does not much matter what they do, and that the State will do all that is necessary.
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