The conclusion.-Prizes.-Honest investigation.

those who are indifferent, their undesirable qualities being thus strengthened, the opinion is entertained that those teachers are the most wise, who bend their ingenuity to find some other means to awaken the minds of the children under their charge.

From what has been said, then, Emulation is to be recognised or repudiated among the incentives of the schoolroom, according to the signification we assign to the term.

SECTION II.-PRIZES.

It has for a long time been the custom of teachers to offer some prize as an incentive to exertion in school; a prize of some pecuniary value, a book, or a medal. In some places beneficent individuals have bestowed by legacy the means to purchase annually the prizes thus to be used. Every young teacher is called upon, therefore, to inquire whether such an incentive is a proper one to be employed in the schoolroom. If there is any good to be expected from such an incentive, will it counterbalance the evils that spring from the practice? Will the good of the whole school be promoted by such a measure,—and will this be a permanent or a temporary good? These are questions which press for an honest answer; and the faithful teacher should not shrink from a careful investigation of the whole matter; and if he finds good reason to differ from time-honored authority, he should abide by the truth rather than by prescriptive usage.

In my own case, I may be allowed to say, my mind

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Experience. Its result.-Reasons assigned.

was early turned to this point; though, I confess, with a strong bias in favor of the use of prizes. Pretty thoroughly for a series of years did I test their efficacy but with a growing conviction, that the prize was no the proper instrumentality to create a healthy interest. in the school. This conviction acquired additional strength by three or four years' trial of other incentives; and it was fully confirmed afterwards by a trial made for the purpose of testing again the efficacy of a prize, at an age when I could more carefully watch the workings of the human mind, and better appreciate the benefits or evils resulting from such a measure. now free to say that I am satisfied that prizes offered to a school in such a way that all may compete for them, and only two or three obtain them, will always be productive of evil consequences, far overbalancing any temporary or partial good that may arise from them, and therefore they ought not to be used as incitements in our schools.*

I am

Having expressed an opinion so decidedly upon a measure which claims among its friends and advocates some of the best minds in the country, I shall be expected to assign some reasons for the faith I entertain. From this I shall not shrink. I proceed therefore to express such objections to the use of prizes, as

*It may be well to remind the reader that I have used the term Prizes here in contradistinction from a system of Rewards, by which the teacher proposes to give some token of his regard to every one who does well,-and the more brilliant success of a few does not necessarily preclude others from participating in the favor according to their merit. Of such a system of Rewards I shall have something to say presently.

Prize becomes the leading motive.-Engenders rivalry.

have been suggested to my mind by my own experience, and confirmed by the experience and observation of others in whom I have great confidence.

I. The offer of a prize gives undue prominence to a comparatively unworthy object. It practically teaches the child to undervalue the higher reward of a good conscience, and a love of learning for its own sake. The dazzling medal is placed in the foreground of his field of vision; and it is very likely to eclipse those less showy but more abiding rewards found in a sense of duty and a desire to be qualified for usefulness. In studying his lesson he thinks of the prize. He studies that he may merely recite well; for it is a good recitation that wins the prize. He thinks not of duty, or of future usefulness; the prize outshines all other objects.

II. The pursuit of a prize engenders a spirit of rivalry among the pupils. Rivalry in pursuit of an object which only one can attain, and which all others must lose, must end in exultation on the part of the winner, and disappointment and envy on the part of the losers. It may be said, this ought not to be so; but seldom can it be said, that it is not so. Such is human nature, and such it ever will be. Unpleasant feelings— sometimes concealed, to be sure-but generally expressed in unequivocal terms—grow out of the award of almost every school prize, and sometimes continue to exert their baleful influence through life. Now as long as human nature brings forth unlovely traits almost spontaneously, such direct efforts to cultivate them

The few only are stimulated.-Exceptions.-In spite of the system.

surely are not called for. It is the part of wisdom, then, to omit such culture and avoid such results, espeially when safer means are so accessible.

III. The hope of gaining the prize stimulates only the few, while the many become indifferent. This is admitted to be true even by the advocates of the prize system. Let a prize be offered in any class as a reward for the best scholarship, and in a very few days it becomes perfectly obvious to all who the two or three are that will be likely to outstrip all the others. These two or three will be stimulated to exertion; but the strife is left entirely to them. All others, despairing of success, resolve at once to "let their moderation be known to all men ;" and since the prize has been made so prominent an object, they cannot be expected now to look at any thing above and beyond it. Feeling that they are not likely to participate in the honors of the class, they have but little disposition to share in its toils.

This to be sure is not always so. There are some, who, ceasing to strive for the prize, toil for the more substantial blessing-a good education, and in the end come out the best scholars. This is the way

indeed most of our strong men are made; for it has long been remarked that the prize scholars in our schools, and even in our colleges, do not usually become the most distinguished men. On the other hand, many of them are never heard of after receiving their honors. But, though some of the slower scholars do thus hit upon the true path to eminence, it is not to be

Why prize scholars finally fail.-The teacher should reach all.

set to the credit of the system; they rise in spite of the system rather than by virtue of it; while the ulti mate failure of the prize scholars is usually directly attributable to the defect of the system; for having been unduly stimulated to study solely with reference to recitation, and not with regard to future usefulness, their memories have been developed out of all proportion to the other faculties of their minds; and, though they may have been very good reciters, they have no power to become independent thinkers. Under different training they might have become strong men.

But to look no further than the school, the remark holds true in general, that prizes stimulate the few, and the many become indifferent not only to prizes, but to other and better motives. That system of incentives only can be approved, which reaches and influences successfully all the mind subjected to its operation.

Nor is this an unimportant consideration. It is not sufficient praise for a teacher that he has a few good scholars in his school. Almost any teacher can call out the talent of the active scholars and make them brilliant reciters. The highest merit, however, lies in reaching all the pupils, the dull as well as the active, and in making the most of them, or rather in leading them to make the most of themselves. should be remembered of every child, that the present is his only opportunity of being a child, and of receiving the training appropriate to childhood; and that teacher who rests satisfied with a system that does not reach the many, while he amuses himself and his visit

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