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I say now, that children are to be won to follow
liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and
on no account to be forced thereto by whipping or any
other contumelious punishments. I will not urge that such
usage seems to be more agreeable to slaves than to ingenuous children; and even slaves, when thus handled, are dulled
and discouraged from the performance of their tasks, partly
by reason of the smart of their stripes, and partly because
of the disgrace thereby inflicted. But praise and reproof
are more effectual upon free-born children than any such
disgraceful handling; the former to incite them to what is
good, and the latter to restrain them from that which is evil.
But we must use reprehensions and commendations alternately, and of various kinds according to the occasion; so
that when they grow petulant, they may be shamed by reprehension, and again, when they better deserve it, they may
be encouraged by commendations. Wherein we ought to
imitate nurses, who, when they have made their infants cry,
stop their mouths with the nipple to quiet them again. It
is also useful not to give them such large commendations as
to puff them up with pride; for this is the ready way to fill
them with a vain conceit of themselves, and to enfeeble
their minds.
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