ill!',!! f I'll i > mm n ! (Ill ! ii« lit !i||ip iHiin *!«!!': lass _^?!^i^l!^ BooIc„ i^lO eOFlTUGHT DEPOSm EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH SERIES A Collection of Books for Parents and Teachers by Recognized Authorities on the Development and Training of Children under the General Editorship of M, Vo G'Shea^ of the University of Wisconsin Self-Reliance . Being Well-Born Natural Education . Honesty Backward Children . The Wayward Child The Use of Money . The High-School Age Dorothy Canfield Fisher Michael F. Guyer Winifred Sackville Stoner William Healy Arthur Holmes Mrs. Frederic Schoff . E. A. Kirkpatrick . Irving King Edgar James Swift Learning by Doing . The Child and His Spelling William A. Cook and M. V. O'Shea Types of Schools for Boys Alfred E. Stearns, L. R. Gignilliat, Milo H. Stuart, Eric Parson and J. J. Findlay Price^ Eachy $1.2^ net. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Moral Training in the School and Home By FRANK CHAPMAN SHARP, Ph. D. Professor of Philosophy, The University of Wisconsin £QJ INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright 1917 The Bobbs-Merrill Company A O H 6 PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. JUL -9 mi ©C1.A470196 PREFACE The subject-matter of the following study is one department of the great problem how to develop in children and young people their latent capacities for good. Of the many agencies that may contribute to this end we shall confine our attention entirely to one, moral education. In the main our subject is moral education in the school. And we shall have before our mind's eye primarily one type of educa- tional institution, the American public school. Limitations of space compel a still narrower defi- nition of our subject. The moral life is a very com- plex affair, and its existence and welfare are inex- tricably intertwined with all the other elements of life. The physical life is no exception. The school physician and the school nurse accordingly are, among other things, moral reformers, and in some instances the rest of us can accomplish little or noth- ing until they have done their work. Furthermore, the moral life has many allies, as it has many enemies. Take, as an illustration of the former, pride in physical perfection. "It may be fairly claimed for reformatory and industrial schools," writes Mr. Legge, Director of the Schools of Liverpool, "that they have proved two things: PREFACE first, that the earliest glimmer of reformation in the inmate of a reformatory school is detected When he is found to have developed a feeling of self-re- spect; secondly, that this feeling of self-respect is easiest aroused by inducing a boy to take a pride in his physical development." This principle is being used in the Philadelphia public schools for all their boys, in what seems to me an admirable and yet very simple fashion; and it is being used not merely to awaken latent self-respect but also to help arm the pupils against the temptations of vice and idleness. An account of even the more important of these various auxiliary agencies would require an encyclo- pedia. Interesting and important as they are, they are omitted in this study because the only protection against scattering lies in confining ourselves to the center of the problem, how directly to develop and strengthen loyalty to moral ideals as such. The teacher and the parent are dealing with a con- stantly changing organism. For this reason the writer of a book on moral education might perhaps be expected to present an account of the principles of moral development. Here again I have had to face the problem of the boy in the fable who put his hand in the jar of nuts and seized so many that he could not pull his hand out. It has seemed to me that the most pressing need at the present time lay PREFACE in the discussion of another set of problems. I have accordingly confined myself to a survey of the con- crete aims of moral education and the agencies and instruments by which they may be attained. The chief means at the disposal of the school for the development of character are the influence of personality on personality, exercised in the ordinary routine of its e very-day life, moral training through work and play, and moral instruction, or the influ- encing of character through ideas. These distinc- tions are far from being absolute, but they are con- venient for practise. To each of these subjects is devoted a section of the book. The application to the home of the principles worked out at length for the school forms the last division of our study. The most general statement of the principles upon which all forms of moral education must rest, wherever they may be conducted, will be found in Chap- ter XII. Of the methods described,, all have been actually tried in the fires of experience. For the more elab- orate methods of moral training I have been com- pelled to rely upon a study of the work of other teachers. But the discussion of moral instruction rests upon a year's experience of my own in the city high school of Madison, and four years of work in the high school of the University of Wisconsin. PREFACE This book has grown out of lectures on moral education delivered in the University of Wisconsin from 1899 to 1902, and from 1911 to the present time. My students in these courses, particularly the members of my summer session classes, have given me valuable suggestions along many lines. For this help I wish to express my sincere appreciation. F. C. S. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Place of Moral Education in the School 1 The school as an instrument o£ moral educa- tion — Limitations of the moral influence of the church — Limitations of the moral influence of the home — The school not a makeshift for church and home — Moral education as a source of class-room efficiency — What some great educators have accomplished. PART I The Influence of Personality JI The Personality of the Teacher .... 9 The importance of the personality of the teacher — The limitations of its effectiveness — (1) The good tends to pass unnoticed — (2) The schoolroom offers a limited field for the display of character — (3) Men teachers do not represent their pupils* ideal of success — (4) Women's influence upon boys has definite boundaries — (5) Admiration does not neces- sarily produce principles — The necessity of creating special channels of influence — ^The qualifications of a good teacher — How the de- mand may be supplied — Moral education will give the teacher a new status in the commu- nity. Ill The Teacher as a Friend 24 The conditions of effective personal relation- ships — How friendship arises between teach- COt^TE'NTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGB ers and pupils — The limitations of this method of moral education. IV The Tone of the School 33 Capturing the leaders — Excluding the bad from leadership — Segregation or expulsion of the hopelessly bad. PART II Moral Training V The Discipline of the School i . . . . 40 Moral training defined — The distinction be- tween conformity and loyalty to the moral ideal — External discipline can not create char- acter — The insufficiency of the school virtues — The insufficiency of habits of outer con- formity — These facts do not prove that dis- cipline is morally valueless — The place of punishment in the development of character — The moral value of drudgery — The place of drudgery and of enthusiasm in school work — The habit of hard work. VI Pupil Government . . . • 56 The meaning of pupil government — Condi- tions of success — The results of the system — Its dangers — Pupil government vs. self-gov- ernment — The honor system — Dealing with serious offenses under the system of self- government. yil Mutual Aid in Class Work 74 Moral training in the old-fashioned home — Methods of developing the desire for active service — Mutual aid in class work : the under- CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE lying principle — Its employment in handwork — Its employment in the traditional studies — Its value as intellectual discipHne — Its effects upon character — The conditions upon which these effects depend — Unsupervised mutual aid: the danger of pauperizing — The funda- mental limitation of the entire method. VIII The Service of the School 89 The opportunities offered by handwork — Service through the work of the traditional curriculum — Care for the moral welfare of fellow pupils — The Francis W. Parker School : handwork — The museum — Written class work — Dramatic and musical work — "Investigation Lane" — The morning exercises ■ — The value of these methods. IX Moral Training through the Extra-Cur- RicuLAR Activities of the School . . . . 106 The old-fashioned methods of social training — These methods may be employed in im- proved form by the school — The initial idea came from Arnold of Rugby — Application to American conditions in the University of Chi- cago High School — Athletics — Other activi- ties — The class as a social unit — Student pub- lications — The Students' Council — The honor societies — The Assembly — School parties — The solution of the fraternity problem — The conditions of success. X Direct Training in Citizenship 124 Work for the poor — Schoolboys as policemen and municipal workers — The work of the Two Rivers (Wisconsin) High School — The CONTENTS— CoH^ww^(f CHAPTER PAGE first step — The establishment of public bath- houses — The creation of a city park — Other forms of civic improvement — The construct- ive character of this work — The high-school organizations responsible for the work — The results, material and moral. XI The Nature and Conditions of Effective Moral Training 139 Moral loyalty not the product of fear or ap- probativeness — Methods of moral training: (1) Leading the horse to water — (2) Devel- oping interest through contact — (3) Curing thoughtlessness — (4) Destroying enemies and strengthening alHes — Importance of distin- guishing between these methods — Many ef- fects attributed to training really due to con- tact with character — The relative effectiveness of the different agencies for moral training — The necessity of moral instruction. PART III Moral Instruction XII Aims of Moral Instruction ...... 155 The principal aims of moral training and in- struction — The need for more Knowledge of what is right — How to strengthen the desire to do right — Training and instruction In ac- quiring self-control — The second of these ends Is the most important — The nature of the moral life — The desire to serve can be strengthened through (1) the discovery of the effects of our conduct — (2) The development of the power to realize these effects — (3) The CONTEl^TS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE 'development of a spirit of hopefulness — (4) Increased respect or admiration for our fel- low men — (5) The recognition of the claims of gratitude — The existence in every normal hu- man being of the desire to serve — Awakening the desire for excellence of character — The portrayal of evil in moral instruction — The claims of egoism — The possibility of a conflict between egoism and altruism — Summary—! The discovery of identities and differences — • Morality not something alien from human nature — Moral ideals subject to growth — The function of moral instruction. XIII Training in Moral Thoughtfulness . . . 193 Instruction in the sense of pouring in infor- mation relatively worthless — Application to morals — The limitations of authority in mor- als — The limitations of abstract knowledge — The work of moral instruction should consist in training in moral thoughtfulness — The na- ture and value of moral thoughtfulness — ^The field of moral instruction. XIV Moral Instruction through the Existing Curriculum 201 Training in moral thoughtfulness through history — (1) The direct influence of character upon character — (2) Training in tracing the effects of conduct — (3) Developing the power to realize the absent — (4) The cultivation of national patriotism — (5) The cultivation of racial patriotism — The influence of history upon character depends on good teaching — The selection of material for class work— CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE Literature as a picture of the real world — Lit- erature compared with history as a means of training in moral thoughtfulness — Some ad- vantages of literature over history: (1) It may exhibit the laws of life with greater clearness — (2) It can reveal the potentialities of human nature — (3) It deals with the con- crete — The qualifications of a good teacher of literature — The place of history and literature in a system of moral instruction — Civics: its principal aims — Its results — The literature of civic instruction. XV Moral Iststruction through Biography . . 236 Some advantages of history over literature as a means of moral instruction — Biography combines most of the advantages of history and Hterature — Some specific aims of the study of biography — The statement of pur- poses to be made to the class — Methods of conducting the course — The immediate aim — The place of the course in the curriculum — A course in American biography — A course in contemporary social progress — Results to be expected from this course — The relation of these courses to other forms of moral educa- tion. XVI The Systematic Study of the Conduct of Life: Its Aims 257 The insufficiency of the incidental method of moral instruction — The fundamental aims of a systematic course in the conduct of life — The knowledge of what is right: (a) Analysis of the situation — (b) The determination of the standard to be applied to the situation — CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE The appeal to authority in determining the standard — Summary — The knowledge re- quired for the attainment of self-control — Application to the elementary school — Impos- sibility of separating the three aims — The de- velopment of the desire to do right is the most important of these aims — Moral instruc- tion and ethics — The French system of moral instruction and that here described, con- trasted. XVII A Program for the Systematic Study of the Conduct of Life 279 The classification of duties — A course for the elementary school — The problem of sexual instruction in the elementary school — The high-school course in moral Instruction — The system of classification used in the following outline — (I) The service of self — (II) The home — (III) Our friends (chums) — (IV) School life — (V) The remaining duties of special relationships — (VI) Duties to all men as such — Illustrations from veracity — (VII) Vocational ethics — (VIII) The nature of a successful life — An illustration from friend- ship. XVIII The Systematic Study of the Conduct of Life: Methods and Results 318 Methods in the high school — Methods in the elementary school — Place in the curriculum — How to find room in the overcrowded cur- riculum — The problem of legal requirement — The pupils* interest in the work — Its effects — Moral instruction and moral training. CONTENTS— Cow^mM^ci PART IV The Home chapter page XIX Moral Education in the Home 342 The fundamental aims and methods of moral education the same in the home and the school — The value of general principles as a guide to practise — Example — Companionship — Discipline — Punishment — Moral instruction — Danger of our children's home being infe- rior to our childhood home. A Program of Moral Instruction for the Ele- mentary School . . 361 Exercises 401 Bibliography 427 Index , . . . . 445 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Education For Character CHAPTER I THE PLACE OF MORAL EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL The value to the community of a system of train- ing in marksmanship will depend not merely upon the amount of skill which it succeeds in developing, but also upon the direction in which the rifle will be aimed after the skill has been acquired. Precisely the same thing is true of an educational system. We teachers are attempting to impart knowledge and to sharpen wits. But the value of our work depends upon the ends for which these acquisitions are em- ployed. In an address delivered shortly before his death Professor James said : "In my time there has been in Eastern Massachusetts no enterprise of pub- lic or private rascality that has not been organized or led by a Harvard man." Professor James was speaking as a Harvard graduate. But if for "East- ern Massachusetts" you read cities of the United States, and for "Harvard man," college man^ you obtain a statement which, as a college graduate, I 1 2 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER am prepared to admit is near enough the truth to be an extremely disquieting fact. When one considers that the community, either through taxes or dona- tions, is all the while paying the expenses for thus drilling its enemies, the transaction seems, in one aspect, almost grotesque. The conclusion to be drawn from the facts would seem to be that the training of the intellect should be balanced by the training of the will, so that the result will be a well- rounded personality, and not a perversion, repellent in itself and a menace to the community. The School as an Instrument of Moral Edu- cation. — A great many agencies must contribute if the moral situation which we face to-day is ever to be radically and permanently improved. Of these, none has greater potentiality for good — all things considered — and none is more amenable to public sentiment than our public schools. Moral education, in fact, lies in the way of the school as certainly as it does in the way of the home and the church. For the end of education can not be stated in any less inclusive terms than as training for com- plete living. This is one justification for the intro- duction of physical education into the schools. It applies equally to the training of character. The moral end was indeed regarded as the fundamental one by Horace Mann when he toiled to create our present public-school system. And this view was shared by the great majority of the teachers, and EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 3 served to guide the actual conduct of their work — according to their lights — until about a generation ago. The one-sided insistence upon intellectual re- sults is — broadly speaking — a phenomenon of com- paratively recent years. Such a point of view can never have been universal, and even its partial ac- ceptance can be only temporary. For the effects of grafting upon the wolf the qualities of the fox and letting it go at that are too serious long to escape observation. Hence the wide-spread interest to-day in the problem of moral education in the schools. It is indeed maintained by some that the proper place for moral education is the church and the home. The proper place for moral education is wherever it can be given. For the' task is at once enormously difficult, and one which is vital to hu- man society. For our civilization can be preserved, to say nothing of being rendered worth preserving, only in so far as every agency uses all its powers to this end. And if the home (and to a considerable extent this statement holds for the church) ever does its full part it will be because for a generation the school has impressed upon its pupils the value of character by the training and instruction which it has given them, and shown them how — for it is no easy matter — ^to train and instruct the children who, when they themselves become parents, will be entrusted to their care. Here, if anywhere, apply the words of von Humboldt: "What you wish to 4 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER see appear In the life of a nation must be first intro- duced into the schools." Limitations of the Moral Influence of the Church. — Furthermore, while home and church have many advantages over the school as the seat of moral education, the school in its turn has and al- v^ays will have certain great advantages peculiar to itself. The limitations of the influence of the church are easily discovered. It fails entirely to reach a considerable proportion of the population; it se- cures a large am.ount of time and attention from only a very small part of the community. Those who carry its message to the children, whether in church service or Sunday-school, are too often with- out pedagogical experience, or skill, or knowledge of and sympathy with the child's point of view. The great Roman Catholic communion has virtually ad- mitted the truth of this contention by its practise of establishing a very expenwive system of parochial schools to supplement the influences of the church. Limitations of the Moral Influence of the Home. — The home, too, has its own limitations as compared with the school. A higher average of intelligence and character undoubtedly obtains among school-teachers than among the adult pop- ulation as a whole; and it must never be forgot- ten that intelligence is an indispensable factor in de- veloping character. Teachers are as a class more interested in and also more familiar with the meth- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 5 ods of producing results upon immature human personalities than are parents. What is even more important, you can often do with a group of chil- dren what you can not do with the individual alone. At the theater we laugh or weep, as one of a crowd, as we should never do while witnessing a private performance. Poetry means more to us when we read it in the company of others than when we read it alone. Similarly, what is said, and not merely what is said but what is done in the presence of a class, has a distinctly greater effect than when it is said or done in the comparative solitude of the home. Another fact must be taken Into consideration. There are men high in the business and political life of the United States whose home life is beautiful, but who are so crooked or so unfeeling in their rela- tions with all outside its boundaries that they are a curse to their country and their age. Like many savages, they recognize moral relations only within the limits of the tribe, and their tribe is their family. This tendency to limit the area of one's obligations is deep-seated in human nature; few entirely escape it. As a consequence it is possible for children to grow up in model relations to parents, brothers, and sisters, and yet lack most of the essentials of char- acter. The child in the school is trained, or may be trained, to take its proper place in a larger world, a world consisting mainly of mere acquaintances, a 6 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER world consisting also of his equals in age, and power, and experience. Good parents will, of course, educate their children for the larger life. But the school child is actually leading the larger life. In developing an interest in those who share this life with him he leaps the bounds of family morality, and takes the great step of coming to love his neighbor, even if he has not thereby attained the insight that his neighbor is any fellow-being that needs his help, whatever his race or creed. The School Not a Mere Makeshift for Church and Home. — The school, then, is something more than a mere makeshift to take the place of a church to whose voice many are invincibly deaf, and a home derelict in its duty. It is an institution extremely well adapted at many points for the culti- vation of character and capable of indefinite im- provement in this as in the other departments of its work. Its duty in this matter to the state and equally to the individuals placed in its care is thus beyond dispute. Moral Education as a Source of Class-Room Efficiency. — There is, however, another reason why the school must devote itself to this work — for the sake, namely, of its own efficiency. We have built gymnasiums in our school buildings, and made games and sports an integral part of the school life, not merely for the sake of our pupils' future physi- cal well-being, but also because we recognize that EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 7, the best school work can be done only where the brain is supplied with pure, well-aerated blood. The clogged brain means the dull mind. Similarly with morals. An utterly unreasonable and unnecessary proportion of our efforts as teachers goes to waste because pupils are unconscientious in their work, and that in a dozen directions. As an agency for making school work effective, moral education is demonstrably worth many fold the requisite amount of time and energy. What Some Great Educators Have Accom- plished. — What the school can accomplish in the way of character building may be seen from the results obtained by Arnold at Rugby. Arnold, to be sure, was a genius, and he had his pupils under his influence for every hour of the waking day. But where genius leads we less gifted mortals may fol- low in its footsteps, as has been proved by the Eng- lish preparatory schools. And while the boarding- school has its own peculiar advantages it is, on the other hand, handicapped by corresponding disad- vantages, while many of the sources of influence which it uses are equally open to schools of all forms. The most significant contribution made to the theory of moral education by such men as Ar- nold is, indeed, not the particular devices which they introduced, or the institutions which they created or reshaped. It is rather the demonstration of the fact that every human being is born — not, indeed, 8 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER with an illimitable number of possibilities which the environment may evoke without let or hindrance — but rather with a very considerable number of po- tentialities for both good and evil, and that it is in the power of the teacher to cause the former to grow and bear fruit — the latter to atrophy and dis- appear. One of the most beautiful illustrations of what moral education can accomplish, and at the same time what limitations are set to it by the nature of the material with which it works, is afforded by the experience of the great French preacher Fene- lon, as tutor of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV. Their relationship and its results in the formation of character should be studied by every one who is interested in moral education. Part I: The Influence of Personality CHAPTER II THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER The Importance of the Personality of the Teacher. — The most important single force at the disposal of the school for the upbuilding of char- acter is undoubtedly the character of the teacher. Conduct is subject to the influence of contagion as to nothing else in the world. While this influence can radiate from the portrayals of biography — Henry IV of France called Plutarch his conscience — it reaches its highest potency when life comes into direct contact with life. It is always true that "nobleness enkindles nobleness," or tends to do so. But it molds our conduct most effectively when it enters into the circle of our own daily life. For then we can see its good works with our own eyes, appreciate their value because their advantages ac- crue in part to ourselves or to those with whom we are personally acquainted, and realize their cost to the giver because he is for us a concrete, living per- sonality, in whose place we can put ourselves in imagination, and to whom we can feel a personal gratitude. The consequent effects upon character are not due 9 10 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER primarily to any blind impulse to imitate modes of outer action as such. For the undiscriminating tendency to imitate those parts of an action which are visible to the eye has little significance for edu- cation beyond infancy, or indeed, for any other de- partment of practical life.* The only form of imi- tation in which the educator has any great interest is selective; it depends upon the pre-existing likings and admirations of him who imitates, and works through its tendency to strengthen these, or to point the road to their goal. The power of imitation as an educating force depends chiefly on the fact that what we admire in another we desire to possess for ourselves, and to the fact that where the mind has been rendered alert and receptive by admiration and affection it tends to enter more easily into the feelings and ideals of the one admired, and having there caught a glimpse of their value, to carry them back to itself, with the consequent enrichment of its own nature. While character is the direct source of these ef- fects in the field of morals, it can exert the highest and most complete influence upon others only when it is an element in a large, impressive personality. * Much nonsense has been written about imitation, some of it by those who should know better. The most serious blun- ders in the literature of the subject are due to an uncritical use of the same name for half a dozen psychologically differ- ent processes. In this situation it is a pleasure to be able^ to refer the reader to Professor McDougall's discriminating treatment of the subject in his Social Psychology, chapter iv. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 11 Keenness of observation, sanity and clarity of judg- ment, breadth of view, tact, refinement of taste, richness of nature, dignity of carriage both in body and mind, yes, and a healthy sense of humor — these arouse their quota of admiration, too, and increase tremendously the influence of the teacher's charac- ter. If, in addition, he possesses the secret by which, without any pandering to popularity or other sacrifice of the essentials of dignity, he can obtain admission to the "tribal pale" as a leader among equals in the free activities of his pupils, there are few positions in the world which can compare with his in power for good. The teacher will realize more completely the re- sponsibility of his position if he recognizes the fact that character acts upon character not merely through its power to awaken admiration, but also as a demonstration of the reality of the higher ranges of human nature. "Go with mean people and you think life mean," writes Emerson. And when you think meanly of humanity your enthusi- asm for making life better tends to be lamed, and your desire to exert yourself for the benefit of your fellow men tends to be hamstringed. If in this sit- uation the pupil sees before him moral excellence as an undeniable reality, the experience may be to him a revelation of a new world. With a well- grounded faith in its existence, admiration may then lead him to enter. 12 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The Limitations of Its Effectiveness. — We may agree, then, that the personahty of the teacher may be the most important single force in the work of moral education. In view, however, of the com- placent attitude of many school authorities, who, having obtained teachers of high character, think they have done all that is necessary for the moral w^elfare of their pupils, emphasis must be placed on the fact that serious limitations are set to the influ- ence of the teacher, even of the teacher possessing the best type of character. In consequence of this fact we are not justified in depending for results upon this agency alone. The extent and importance of these limitations will appear if we inquire to what causes they are due. Among the most important are the following. (1) The Good Tends to Pass Unnoticed. — The first applies everywhere, alike in and out of school. It is a well-nigh universal tendency to notice only the bad in human conduct, and ignore, or take for granted, the good. To be sure, when the latter is exceptional in degree or dramatic in circumstance, as unexpected and exceptional control of temper in a very difficult situation, public acknowledgment of a fault or mistake, an instance of special kindness for one who has been making life miserable for the teacher, then recognition is instant and hearty. But the teacher may be a miracle of sincerity, honesty, or justice, and no one think anything about it, be- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 13 cause the opportunit}^ for insincerity and trickiness is not noticed and the strength of the temptation is not reaHzed. It is possible for a pupil (I speak from my recollection as a pupil) to be for many months with a teacher of exceptional devotion, and yet, until years of reflection have come, to be conscious of no element of the character except a few petty flaws. Great virtues were eclipsed by small defects, as a penny held before the eyes will hide the sun. The matter is made worse by the fact that the imma- ture minds of the pupils — like the immature minds of most adults — are unable to distinguish between faults that are fundamental and those which lie on the surface. (2) The Schoolroom Offers a Limited Field for the Display of Character.— Excellence of character is often concealed by the commonplaceness of the forms in which and the narrowness of the stage on which it is exhibited in the e very-day life of the school. The routine of the school is such, and on the whole necessarily such, that many traits of character which the teacher may possess have no opportunity to express themselves. Teacher and pupil are living, for the most part, in a single rela- tionship, their characters touching at the edges, so to speak, rather than at their broad surfaces. The school activities follow approximately the same lines day after day, and do not offer a wide range of sit- uations to be met. Many of the qualities needed in 14 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER business, civic, and even domestic life, find no place for their exercise in the schoolroom. The teacher may possess them, but the pupil has no way of dis- covering the fact. They are accordingly practically non-existent, as far as their direct influence upon him is concerned. While the "schools of to-mor- row," if to-morrow ever comes, may afford the teacher's character more scope for activity, yet at bottom the situation in this matter will always re- main a good deal the same. I do not, in my own thinking, lay great stress upon education for the heroic virtues or the heroic forms of the ordinary virtues. Nevertheless it may be pointed out as an illustration of the limitations of the range of the teacher's influence, that opportunity to practise great self-sacrifice, or to show moral heroism in any of its forms, is extremely rare in the school world. On the other hand the more intimate personal relation- ships in which, in one way or another, the character might exhibit itself more freely, are made almost impossible by a variety of circumstances. Among the most important of these are the size of classes and the excessive amount of work already required of the teacher — a considerable portion of it being cler- ical drudgery of secondary importance, which makes it imperative that hours outside of those which the school board demands should be spent in rest and recreation. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 15 (3) Men Teachers Do Not Represent Their Pupils' Ideal of Success. — In many communities the teacher — at least the male teacher — does not rep- resent the pupils' ideal of success. He lacks the one thing needful in their eyes — wealth. Unaccus- tomed as most Americans are to look upon business from any other point of view than its power to pro- duce a big income, ignorant of the fact that the essential thing in choosing a vocation, even from the point of view of personal enjoyment, is that it shall represent an activity appealing to one's pov/ers and interests, they can not see how any normal human being can deliberately adopt a career that cuts off the opportunity for obtaining wealth. Two possi- bilities only are conceivable to them. Either the teacher is a somewhat uncanny creature, too differ- ent from themselves to be intelligible or interesting, or else he has not brains enough to succeed in a man's (i. e., money-making) career, and knows it. This limitation, of course, tells less heavily against women. (4) Women's Influence upon Boys Has Defi- nite Boundaries.— -Another limitation of the influ- ence of the teacher is that teachers are almost en- tirely women. Now there is much that a woman can do for a boy just as effectively as a man. In fact a high-school system containing approximately an equal number of men and women is perhaps the 16 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ideal for both girls and boys, while the grades can easily carry a very large majority of women. But however high the character, keen and sympathetic the intelligence, quick and sure the tact, there are certain fields where it is — I will not say impossible, for few things are impossible, but at all events very difficult and very rare for a woman to impress her ideals upon boys over thirteen years of age. These are especially the problems of vice — by which I mean something more than licentiousness — the problems of business life, what constitutes success in life (which is, as we shall see, first and foremost a moral problem), and the field of civic relation- ships. In the last, conditions may change, but in the others I believe they can never change. Ideals of success, in particular — I can not but believe — the boy will continue to take predominantly from men. As he is to be a man, not a woman, he can never feel sure that a woman's judgments in such matters will hold for him. In fact, even if convinced that a woman's judgment was better, he would, in most cases, rather fail with other men than succeed with women. In a word, it is a man that he wants to be, not a sexless adult. The way in which boys — and I am thinking of boys with strong literary and artistic tastes — will cling to their one man teacher in a high school, and if he is any good at all, almost deify him, is striking and touching evidence of the hunger of the boy for guidance in the path of life by a man. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 17 That some of this mascuHne influence is desired almost equally by the girls, and would be almost equally valuable to them, I myself have not the slightest doubt. (5) Admiration Does Not Necessarily Produce Principles.— The last limitation which I shall mention is the most fundamental of all. A high- school girl attending a teachers' certificate examina- tion saw a teacher, for whom she had a great admira- tion, examining some work she had just done on a piece of scratch paper. She interpreted the act as cheating, on the assumption that the teacher was copying from previously prepared notes. There- upon she said to herself: 'Tf Miss cheats, it is all right for me to cheat, too," and acted accord- ingly. The fundamental trouble with this young woman evidently was that she had no principles of her own. Moral education has not reached its goal till there have been adopted principles which enable their possessor to stand on his own feet, re- gardless of what others may do. The Necessity of Creating Special Channels of Influence. — Notwithstanding the existence of these important limitations the thesis of this chapter stands fast. Character, not indeed in its mediocre but in its higher incorporations, and when exhibited under the more favorable conditions, possesses greater potentialities for good than any other single educative force, and is moreover the fundamental 18 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER condition of success in any scheme of moral educa- tion. But just because of these Hmitations, if for no other reason, the mere existence in the class room of a teacher possessed of character and personality is not sufficient. There must, in addition, be supplied special channels through which the ideals of the teacher may pass over into the life of the pupil. The systems of moral training and instruction described in this book offer precisely such channels. The Qualifications of a Good Teacher. — -After all necessary allowances have been made, however, the direct influence of the teacher must be regarded, at least under favorable circumstances, as the most important single factor that can be provided for the upbuilding of character in the school. If so, the first care of the educational authorities must be to secure such influence and to supply the conditions which will permit and encourage its freest exercise. The teachers selected must be men and women of pos- itive personalities. This means, on the moral side, that they are not merely respectable in their conduct, but are also inspired by an ardent love of righteous- ness, and a controlling desire to see it prevail in the world. They must possess the ability to get the pupil's point of view, for he is not likely to be at- tracted toward those whose interests and outlook he feels to be utterly alien to his own ; at the same time their eye must be able to penetrate to regions beyond the range of his contracted vision. They should EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 19 have a genuine love for their profession, not merely because of its value to the world, but also as an art whose successful exercise appeals to them for its own sake. They should possess some vision of the place of the school in modern life, as the instrument by which the acquisitions of the past which consti- tute its contributions to civilization are transmitted to the oncoming generation, and the instrument by which, at the same time, the young are prepared for the largest and richest life of which they are capa- ble. They should have built up in their minds a picture of the kind of men and women the world of to-day needs, the world of to-morrow will need. Most of all they should be impelled by genuine hun- ger to shape their pupils' minds and characters into the forms of their own ideals and a faith in the pos- sibility of at least partial attainment. Finally, if the personality here described is to leave its full impress upon the children of the schools, it must be sup- ported by abounding physical vigor. A certain city habitually and ruthlessly overworks its teachers. What is the result? This grasping community, in- tent upon getting something for nothing, as a matter of fact overreaches itself. For the children sent to its schools are gaining from their over- fatigued and listless teachers neither knowledge (in any ap- preciable amount), nor training in intellect or char- acter, nor anything, in fact, but an ineradicable con- viction that "much study is a weariness of the flesh." 20 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER How the Demand May Be Supplied.— The ideal here presented is a high one, and since excel- lence of every kind is rare, it may be asked where such teachers are to be found in sufficient numbers to be a significant factor in the moral progress of the nation. For it is not merely devotion that is in question, but also insight into life. The answer must be supplied in part by our normal schools and universities. We need a partial change of empha- sis, and, to a certain extent, of subject-matter, in our courses for the training of teachers. What these institutions leave undone, the principal himself must do for his teachers. Experience will demonstrate, in particular, that every carefully conceived plan alike of moral training and moral mstruction deep- ens the moral insight and enriches the character of those who conduct it. The power to improve conditions in this matter lies, however, chiefly in the hands of the school boards and the communities which they represent. They must so shape conditions as to attract into the profession of teaching the desired kind of men and women in larger numbers than are to be found to- day, and to keep them permanently. To this end, they must pay adequate salaries, assure permanence of tenure during good behavior, and maintain a sys- tem of promotion on the sole basis of merit. As every university teacher knows, many men who would do the best kind of work in the field of morals EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 21 as in other departments of education, are deterred by the existing material conditions from entering the teaching profession. They are not looking for the great financial prizes, but they do demand a living wage. Furthermore, if positive and systematic ef- forts to develop character are to be expected from any large proportion of our teachers, the same amount of financial and other recognition must be accorded to success in this form of work as to equal success in any other. In addition, the size of classes must be reduced, the demand for an excessive amount of work, in particular of clerical drudgery, must absolutely cease. Finally, the lead- ers of public opinion must set their faces like flint against any movements in the community, the prac- tical effects of which will be to render impossible an approximate equilibrium in numbers of men and women on the staffs of our high schools, recognizing in such movements a menace to the highest moral welfare of those who will be the leaders of thought and action in the next generation. Equally important with these more or less ex- ternal conditions, the life of the school, both within and without the class room, must be so organized that the largest possibilities for influence will be open to the teacher. He himself, after having once been judged com- petent for the position, should be allowed great free- dom to work out his own policies. Ignorant school 22 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER boards and fussy superintendents can easily spoil a good man's work, or drive him out of the field, and indeed out of the profession. Even if he is will- ing, or is compelled to stay, interference on the part of others will hamper him, for he can do his best only by methods which he approves. He should therefore be held responsible solely for results. The estab- lishment of such conditions will react upon the qual- ity of the teaching body, both in intelligence and in character. For with adequate opportunities to work for results, men and women of force, with positive personalities and strong desires to make the world better, will be attracted to the profession of teaching in larger numbers than at present; and many of this kind who have hitherto gone into the ministry will see in teaching a still greater opportunity for service. In this way, and perhaps chiefly in this way, will be solved the problem of getting more men, or rather more strong men, into the schools. Already the work of the high-school athletic director is attract- ing men of this type. Proper organization will make room, not merely for one such person, but for many. Moral Education Will Give the Teacher a New Status in the Community.-— When these changes take place the teacher will discover that he has a new status in the community. The average man to-day looks upon education as consisting solely in the im- parting of knowledge, and thinks this a job which any one can handle. It is indeed too true that almost EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 2Z any one can teach about as well as most of us were taught a generation ago. Already, however, many business men are feeling acutely the need of higher standards of character in the graduates of our schools, and they realize the difficulties of getting results in the field of morals. He who can get re- sults will therefore command their respect. The profession whose function it is to get them becomes one of dignity. When this stage has been reached, the public will be more willing than it is at present to supply the material conditions necessary to attract good men — higher salaries, security of tenure, ad- vancement on the basis of desert, opportunities for working out their own ideas, and the rest. Accord- ingly, it lies in the interest of the teachers themselves that the moral function of the school should obtain the widest recognition. CHAPTER III THE TEACHER AS A FRIEND The preceding chapter called attention to the in- fluences that flow from the character of a good man, perhaps all unconsciously as far as he himself is concerned. We now turn to the methods which principal and teacher themselves may adopt in their conscious endeavor to develop the character of their pupils. The Conditions of Effective Personal Rela- tionships. — Certain methods there are which have been employed ever since schools have existed. Advice, counsel, encouragement, exhortation, and praise and blame are instruments whose value, when dispensed in private, requires no recommendation. What is rather needed is some clear conception of the conditions upon which their effectiveness de- pends, and of the limitations to which they are sub- ject. I begin with the former. Unsought advice, unless the person feels him- self already much inclined to the course suggested, is usually unwelcome, and where unwelcome, prac- tically always unprofitable. The possible exceptions 24 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 25 are: 1. Where the adviser shows by his manner of deaHng with the subject that he perfectly compre- hends your point of view, even if he can not accept it as final; 2, where he has already shown not so much by his words as by his deeds that he has your interests deeply at heart. Exhortation consists in saying, I want you to do so and so. Under most conditions this information does not interest its re- cipient in the slightest degree unless the exhorter is an object of at once respect, admiration, and — in the majority of cases — gratitude or affection. Roughly speaking the same statement holds true with regard to the effects of expressions of praise or blame on the part of one who, like the teacher, is separated by differences in age and other barriers from those upon whom he passes judgment. The application is obvious. In the first place, these instrumentalities will be forever ineffective in the hands of teachers who are unsympathetic and indifferent, who are chronically harsh, ill-tempered, or faultfinding; who arouse hatred or contempt by the use of that most brutal form of punishment, sar- casm; who through carelessness, prejudice or favor- itism exhibit injustice in the treatment of their pu- pils ; who are too cowardly to admit ignorance as to facts or mistakes in judgment, who are too suspi- cious or timid to know when to place confidence in the honor of their pupils. In the second place, their positive value will depend largely upon the intimacy 26 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER of personal relationship obtaining between teacher and pupil. You must have passed at least the stage of mere frigid, formal acquaintanceship which characterizes the relations of teacher and taught in many schools if you are to be able to point out to your pupil freely and effectively the vanity, the disregard of others' feelings, the jealousy, the sul- lenness, or whatever it may be that disfigures his character; if you are to encourage him where he is too distrustful of his present aptitudes or past prog- ress, and dampen his enthusiasm where the facts call for none ; if you are to put in a ''well-done" just when and where it is called for. How Friendship Arises between Teachers and Pupils. — Now these relationships of cordiality and sympathy can not be made to order like a suit of clothes. In some instances they are the product of a crisis. The pupil does something outrageously bad or commits some serious error of judgment which demands the attention of the teacher, or comes to him for advice on matters which perhaps have nothing to do with morals, simply because he feels sure of sympathetic interest and wise guidance. In any of these cases, given the teacher who knows how to take advantage of the situation, a half-hour's talk may create a friendship. ^ Under ordinary circumstances, however, the for- mation of personal relationships between two people so different as teacher and pupil — like, indeed, most EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 27 other personal relationships — is a matter of time. It means much personal contact of a non-professional sort, or if professional, more like that which often obtains between business associates. This is one of the arguments in favor of multiplication of types of class work other than the recitation method, such types as obtain in a manual-training class or in many laboratories, where individual help is constantly be- ing demanded and received. It is an argument for the further extension of one of the best forms of such intercourse for the purposes here under consid- eration, namely, the class excursion. It supplies an additional reason in favor of pupil government or of such other relations in matters of discipline as are described in the following chapter. The end will be furthered also by the introduction into the larger high schools, at least, of special advisers to whom the pupil must report and whom he must con- sult concerning his work at stated times, but to whom he may go at any time to discuss any subject of serious concern to himself. Here belongs again the cutting of the size of classes — as soon as the number passes thirty, the basis of personal rela- tionship is being impaired. Another method of great value will be dealt with at length in Chapter IX. Its essence is the common participation of pu- pils and teachers in play or modes of activity, at least, which form no part of the required work. This participation, it must be noted, is quite possible 28 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER in the smaller schools without any of the apparatus there described. The results will, in many instances, be com- pletely satisfactory only if the teacher can know something of the out-of -school life, particularly the home life, of the pupil. He will thereby not merely bring the pupil into closer relationship with himself, what is equally important he will learn something of the conditions under which the character of his pupil is being molded in five out of every six of his waking hours. Character is at bottom a good deal of a unit, notwithstanding the existence of extraordi- nary inconsistencies in its expression. The diagnosis of moral ills must ordinarily, therefore, depend for its success upon a wide survey of the influences to which the will is subject; and the prescription for them must sometimes include dealing with condi- tions which lie beyond the school walls. It is only when the teacher really cares for his pupils as human beings and they know it — assuming always that his interest does not lead him to be unduly curious about what does not concern him, or fussy, or sentimental — and when he has, in consequence, established per- sonal relationships with them that his character, however excellent intrinsically, can have its maxi- mum of influence. The child is a great hero-wor- shiper. But the younger child especially must under ordinarv circumstances be touched with the warmth EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 29 of human sympathy and affection before he re- sponds to or is impressed by the claims of excellence. The Limitations of This Method of Moral Ed- ucation. — Some people think this personal work with and for his pupils (perhaps in addition to the maintenance of school discipline) is about all that the teacher need do or can do for their moral develop- ment. In certain circumstances it is undoubtedly the most important service he can perform for them. But there are great limitations to its effectiveness which ought to be clearly faced. In the first place, carried on upon a large scale so as to exert any deep and lasting effect upon an appreciable proportion of the pupils it is the most time-consuming, the most energy-consuming, and in many respects the most difficult of any of the methods which we shall have occasion to examine. To some teachers — and these will include some of the best in all other respects — it will always present a closed door, because al- though they may have a genuine and deep interest in the welfare of their pupils, the latter will never believe it. The reason may be that the teacher is too gushing for their tastes, or else too shy or too cold in manner to gain their friendship ; while others again, though most well-meaning, are lacking in the necessary tact. There is another limitation set to the efficacy of advice, exhortation, and blame as instruments for 30 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER developing character in the school. In four cases out of five its beneficiaries will be the bad, and more than that, those who show their badness, in one way or another in school. The start, at all events, must ordinarily be made with wrong-doings, great or small, which the teacher has observed, or the effects of which he has observed in the class room or on the playground. Now, as we have insisted in the pre- ceding chapter, the life of the school, even of the "school of to-morrow" does not include, by a great deal, all the typical situations that occur in the world outside. Furthermore, many pupils who are thor- oughly selfish, or corrupt, or untrustworthy, or un- stable, may be docile and otherwise well-behaved in school. As far as their teacher's personal efforts are concerned they leave school with the character with which they entered. Even suppose the really bad were certain to show their true nature sooner or later in the school, what shall we say of the relatively good? They, too, get no special attention. But a moment's thought will show two things : First, since the division into two mutually exclusive classes, bad and good, is artifi- cial, the latter can not possibly be supposed to be beyond improvement. Not merely so, the world as imperatively needs that the good be made better as that the bad should be raised to mediocrity. If we do not in the future have more readiness to assume tbo duties of citizenship than we have at present, our EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 31 republican form of government will go to pieces in reality even if not in appearance. Matters are bad enough as they are, and government is growing, and necessarily growing, more complex every year ; con- sequently the demand is becoming continually more urgent. If we have no higher standards of regard for the rights of employees among the employing classes than we have had hitherto we shall have in one form or another civil war. If we have no higher standards of business honor, industrial society will break down. The good, I repeat, must be made bet- ter, and much better, for the world needs and must have a larger number of the best. In the second place, a given amount of effort will produce far greater returns when applied to those in the upper half of the moral scale than those in the lower half, for precisely the same reason that a better harvest can be obtained with a given expenditure of effort from a high-grade than from a low-grade soil. We thus return to the leading conclusion of the last chapter. The possession of character on the part of the teacher is a most important, if you will, the most important, factor in the moral progress of the race in so far as the schools contribute to such progress. Active effort on the part of these teachers to go forth and help their pupils by exhortation, advice, encouragement, praise (and if necessary blame), by assisting them to attain self-knowledge through showing them their weak points and when 32 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER advisable their strong ones — all this is of great im- portance also. But the nurture of character is one of the most difficult crafts in the world. And these measures are, and must always remain, only a part of any thoroughgoing campaign in the schools in behalf of moral progress. CHAPTER IV THE TONE OF THE SCHOOL A BOOK on moral education must deal from first to last with the problem of improving the tone of the school. This subject, therefore, would not seem to require special treatment. This conclusion fails to hold only because of the limitations placed upon our influence by the nature of things. The best we do can never be wholly successful. Accordingly, the question arises : How shall we proceed so that such success as we obtain shall inure not merely to the benefit of individuals but also through them to the school as a whole ? ^ One limitation is with us always, that upon our time, energy and strength. Most principals can not come into personal contact or otherwise do effective work of a personal nature with any large proportion of their pupils. This is also true of many teachers, particularly in the high schools. In such cases our influence can reach the many only as it reaches the few. The wise policy, then, is to get a hold upon the leaders. This is precisely what Arnold did at Rugby. He devoted his time and attention to the boys of the highest "form" ; and he gave them a po- 33 34 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER sition in the school which greatly increased their prestige, and thus their hold upon their younger schoolmates. There were other things which he did to raise the moral standards of the Rugby boys, but this was undoubtedly the most important. The prob- lem of an American public-school teacher or prin- cipal is not quite the same as his, and methods will therefore differ; but the principle upon which he acted is of universal validity. Capturing the Leaders. — There are various methods of accomplishing this result. An effective- one is to form a school council, elected by the pupils, whether for advice or for the exercise of certain functions of government is of no importance from the point of view of the present problem. Only it must be a position of dignity and real influence so as to attract the ablest and most influential boys and girls of the school. These pupils the principal and certain of the teachers may come to know inti- mately. These pupils they may seek to mold. From them can be discovered the exact state of the school in matters of morals, provided the names of indi- viduals are not demanded. They can be organized to leaven public opinion and fight in whatever man- ner may be practicable the evils of the school world. One of the defects of our schools, and in- deed, to a large extent, of society as a whole, is that the bad do all the missionary work. Here is an in- strumentality which when inspired and guided by EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 35 the right man can go out and do battle for good standards. With leadership of that kind the great majority of our pupils will rally to their support. The most effective form of this device with which I am acquainted seems to me to be that employed' in the Central Eligh School at Grand Rapids, Michi- gan. Here a large proportion of the pupils belong to some school association of one kind or another. The two leading officers of the boys' organiza- tions, together with a few other boys chosen to represent those who do not care to participate in these activities, constitute a Leadership Club which meets with the principal at his home one evening every two weeks through the school year. The girls occupying similar positions meet in the same way at the home of the vice-principal, who is a woman. They discuss the problems that arise within their own organizations and in the life of the school as a whole, together with the principles of leader- ship. They have also made investigations of such matters as cheating, gambling, and smoking. One year Professor Jenks' excellent little book, Life Questions of High School Boys, was used as a basis of discussion in the boys' club. Such organizations will accomplish distinctly more for the tone of the school, I believe, than a council elected by the pupils at large. It will be likely to consist of abler and more representative boys and girls; in other words, the real leaders. They will 36 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER have a more definite because more narrowly defined sense of responsibility; while all danger of their forgetting their responsibility to the school as a whole is removed if, as at Grand Rapids, they are ex-officio members of the general school council. It is certain that the leaven works best when communi- cated from individuals to groups. It is equally cer- tain that it will in the end quicken the entire body when the groups do not represent shoddy aristoc- racy, like high-school fraternities, but are open to all who care to avail themselves of the privilege, and when their membership includes a very considerable proportion of the school. It is true the Leadership Clubs are the keystone of a somewhat elaborate sys- tem. But as will be shown in Chapter IX, such a system has its own justification, quite apart from this particular form of usefulness. Excluding the Bad from Leadership. — ^The first move, then, is to capture the leaders. The second is to exclude from the positions which usu- ally carry leadership those who are, from the char- acter of their influence, least fitted for such emi- nence. Here certain universities as well as certain schools have shown the way. At the University of Wisconsin, for example, no one is allowed to repre- sent the institution in any manner, in athletics, inter- collegiate debating, as member of the glee club, etc., who has not been in residence at least a year, who has not obtained in the preceding semester an aver- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 37 age class standing of seventy-seven, seventy being the passing mark, and who has any unsatisfied fail- ure, condition, incomplete or disciplinary penalty on his record. The effects of this legislation have been marked. There was a time when the influence ex- erted by certain members of our football team was in every respect deplorable. Under the present ar- rangement the worst of such men would not even attempt to enter the institution, and if they did enter, could never "make" the teams. As mere private in- dividuals, of course, the poisons they exude can de- moralize, in the main, only those individuals who choose to become their personal associates. In the University of Chicago High School this principle is carried one step farther. At the close of each session emblems are publicly awarded to members of the athletic team who have been repre- senting the school, by vote of the faculty committee on athletics upon the recommendation of the mem- ber of the department of athletics in charge of the team, and of the captain. These emblems, however, are granted not merely for athletic prowess, but also for faithfulness in training and loyalty to the team and school. The recipient must also have met the scholastic standards required of the members of all teams. It will be seen, accordingly, that the object of hero-worship in that institution is likely to be a pretty satisfactory sort of boy. As a step in the same direction the colleges connected with the "Big 38 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Nine" in the western athletic world are offering a medal for the athlete in each institution who most completely represents what may be called roughly the Cecil Rhodes ideal of personality. Segregation or Expulsion of the Hopelessly Bad.- — When, notwithstanding these measures, boys of a considerable influence for evil are found to be injuring in any serious degree the tone of the school, and it has been shown that they can not be reached by influences for good, then they should be forcibly removed from contact with their school- mates. In the high school this would mean expul- sion. In the elementary school, through which, in self-defense, society must send, or ought to send, every child, it would involve the segregation of the boy in a special school, or, if the city is too small, an ungraded class for incorrigible truants and delin- quents, in charge of teachers trained to deal with this kind of pupil.* The public school, supported by taxpayers, is not a charitable institution. It is mor- ally bound to return an equivalent to the citizens in the way of boys and girls able and willing to serve the community. Any one who by his conduct mili- tates against or endangers this end has forfeited all right to its privileges, even if his father does bear one ten-thousandth part, or, for that matter, one- hundredth part, of the expense of maintenance. The * See Julia Richman, The Incorrigible Child, in Proceedings of the National Education Association, igo6, pp. 158-173. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 39 rights of the majority are here paramount, and it is the duty of the principal to protect them. In jus- tice, therefore, to the better pupils who may show for life the evil effects of contamination, and in its own interest, society must bear the financial burden involved in segregation in the elementaiy-school age. While in the high-school period, if it can be shown that dismissal followed only upon the exhaustion of all methods for the reclamation of the boy, the courts will protect the principal in the exercise of his duty. Part II: Moral Training CHAPTER V THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SCHOOL Apart from the agencies thus far considered, moral education has at its disposal two great instru- mentalities, moral training and moral instruction. We shall begin with an examination of the former in its more important varieties. Moral Training Defined.-— Moral training may be defined as the education or nurture of character by means of action. Action, to be sure, is a slippery term, but tliis definition will serve our purpose. The Distinction between Loyalty and Con- formity to the Moral Ideal. — Moral training is often described as the creation of a system of habits. But this can not be accepted without careful discrim- ination as an account of moral training. The cashier of a bank, let us say, is of an honesty so deeply en- grained that it has become a habit. But this habit had its source in a motive or group of motives, and is kept alive — as a tree is kept alive by its roots — not solely but none the less in part, by the motive. Sup- pose this to be a preference for living on a modest salary in Madison, Wisconsin, to living in wealth as a fugitive from justice in St. John, New Brunswick. 40 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 41 No doubt all the depositors in the bank rejoice in the existence of this preference, and, if necessary, would gladly cooperate in strengthening it. But has such honesty a moral value? The question an- swers itself. The man's honesty is mere outer con- formity to the demands of morality, not inner devo- tion or loyalty to the moral ideal. Morality, then, consists in the fact that a man's outer actions have their source in a certain spirit, a spirit which for the present it will be sufficient to designate as the spirit of loyalty to the moral ideal. The physician who orders an operation merely be- cause he happens to need the money is a rascal, even if it should turn out, on opening up the patient, that the operation was actually needed in order to save his life. Not that the bare existence of a righteous motive is enough. It must possess sufficient strength to pass over into action, except in the face of ob- stacles which no wit of the individual can overcome — otherwise the man is a mere sentimentalist. But the spirit or motive must be the source of the action, if the latter is to deserve the name of moral. The distinction here made is constantly over- looked in the literature of moral education. But it is of tremendous practical importance. For while you will not ordinarily find the spirit without the corresponding action, since faith without works is dead, you very frequently find the latter without the former. The outer action is indeed valuable; 42 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER that goes without saying. But the desirabihty of its being inspired by the fitting motive is evident from this fact (among others) that it is the only sufficient guarantee of its performance in the dark. When you are talking about creating moral hab- its, therefore, it is well to know what you are talk- ing about. Do you mean outer conformity, or inner loyalty? Now if any one wishes to write on the best methods of producing the former, let him by all means do so. This book, however, has a different problem, namely, education in morality. I shall therefore confine myself to those aspects of habit which concern the creation, preservation, and growth of loyalty to the moral ideal. External Discipline Can Not Create Character. — Many teachers apparently suppose that the school as it now exists contains and uses a practically sufficient system of moral training in the main- tenance of the routine of school work. We are de- manding from our pupils, they say, the exercise of regularity, punctuality, neatness, accuracy, industry, obedience, and other similar virtues, and demanding them every day in the school week for years, until ultimately they become habits. What more could any one want ? Now I at least shall not deny that all this is good as far as it goes. Indeed it is so com- pletely indispensable, in my opinion, that I do not believe the school can carry on successfully the work of character building unless such an amount of these EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 43 characteristics as is needed to obtain intellectual re- sults is demanded and obtained. Nevertheless, I believe that the maintenance of school discipline, however important it may be as a means to the end of getting the work of the day accomplished, is a matter of only secondary importance in the develop- ment of character. The Insufficiency of the School Virtues.— -The grounds on which this statement is based are the following : In the first place it is obvious that most of the school virtues, as we may call them, are not in themselves, in the strictest sense of the term, vir- tues at all. They are rather modes of action which will be either bad or good according to the ends for which they are employed. Whether obedience is a desirable trait depends on whom we obey, and under what conditions we obey him. The obedience of the angels to Satan in Paradise Lost is not com- monly set up as a model for imitation by aspiring youth. Similarly, industry and perseverance in kill- ing off rivals by whatever means come to hand are no more virtues in a business man than are industry and perseverance in a burglar. More important than the preceding consideration, however, is the fact that even when these qualities are exhibited in the most exemplary pursuits, at best they represent merely the beginnings of character. We want, in addition, that healthy mindedness which either crushes the temptations of vice or 44 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER raises one above them. There are high schools where the discipHne — in a broad and in the best sense of the term — is excellent, and yet where vice is ram- pant. In the second place, the world's fundamental need is integrity, or trustworthiness, in its many forms. This is the foundation of a healthy business and political life, and is one of the foundation stones of all the deeper and more satisfying personal rela- tionships, as those in the family and between friends. Again we need the spirit of active service, directed to the interests of others, whether indi- viduals or society as a whole, or any of its larger or smaller groups, the spirit which is not content with saying: "You can not point to any one I have in- jured," but goes beyond this and asks : "What can I do to benefit my neighbor, my country, or the world?" Finally — to pass over much of the greatest importance — we want, as soon as it can be obtained, thought fulness about the problems of life, with its resultant judgment of values. We want this both for the sake of the pupil himself, who, if he is like most persons, will be constantly deluded through life into pursuing glittering appearances which have either no permanent value or no value at all, and we want it for the sake of those with whom he will come in contact, since in the pursuit of his will-o'- the-wisps he may be tempted to trample upon the most sacred rights of his fellow men. Obviously, then, submissiveness to the demands of school rou- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 45 tine is only a start in the carrying out of an ade- quate problem of moral training. The Insufficiency of Habits of Outer Conform- ity. — There exists still another limitation which demands more careful consideration. The school, as we have seen, prides itself upon having created a set of moral habits. But habit merely means doing what you have done before. What starts the habit? If fear of punishment, or the desire for the appro- bation of the teacher or parent, or some other motive equally external to character, the results are of no great value. There are two reasons for this state- ment. In the first place we are trying to develop character, yet all we are actually doing is to start a habit of reacting to the fear of penalty or to the shrinking from disapproval, motives which, as I have already pointed out, are valuable enough in their place, but do not represent character. Accord- ingly, even when we are successful, the result is merely fear or approbativeness mechanized, exhib- iting itself in actions which are in outer conform- ity to the requirements of morality. It is doubtful, however, whether even this imper- fect result is attained permanently. For when the pressure exerted by school or home is removed the chances are that the resulting modes of action will disappear, at least in the face of temptation. What has been created is the habit of reacting to a certain stimulus. Accordingly, when the stimulus ceases 46 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER to work the corresponding reaction tends to cease also — not infrequently with a riot of rejoicing at the newly acquired freedom. The members of the athletic teams of our high schools are not allowed to smoke during the train- ing season. Do they or do they not return to their smoking after they have ^'broken training"? Our high-school principals have but one answer. Habits of promptness, neatness, order, etc., are fairly well enforced in our American schools. Do business men who employ the boys fresh from the schools find these qualities engrained in them ? So far from it that there are constant complaints at their absence. I have had occasion to observe the effects of the training given by military schools, after their pupils have become students at the university. In the ma- jority of cases — not all — a year is sufficient to re- move all traces of the training so carefully enforced in such matters as order and neatness. Suppose the graduate of such a school has been taught in this external fashion, both at school and at home, to tell the truth. He enters the employ- ment of a man who orders him to lie to his custom- ers. The penalty for refusal is dismissal. If the po- sition is a promising one, how long will the op- position of a merely mechanically acquired habit like this last? Evidently when a young man leaves school he must go forth equipped not merely with habits, but also with so profound a sense of the EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 47 importance of the modes of conduct which they rep- resent that he will value them more highly than what he may lose by his loyalty to them. The formation of habits, then, in the fashion rec- ommended by Locke in his Thoughts on Education, and all too faithfully followed by many teachers and parents to this day — the formation of habits in this fashion is but one step in the solution of a great problem. It creates at best a machine which when well started would doubtless run on forever if it were not for the existence of friction. But morality involves conflict with opposing forces, and in this we must depend not upon inertia but life. What is required, therefore, even in the interest of a perma- nent outward conformity, is a spirit of positive and ardent devotion to moral ideals. "No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic," writes the author of Ecce Homo. Not that it will ever be possible to dispense with the training, whether self-imposed or imposed by the parent or teacher, that issues in habit. The ideal must make a channel by which it habitually passes over into action, or the outcome will be a weak, nerveless sentimentalist, a nuisance — or worse — to others, and a curse to himself. But if the habit is to stand the test of time the channel must be made by the ideal. From every point of view, then, the pur- pose of moral education can be nothing less than fos- tering the growth of moral ideals, and supplying fa- vorable conditions for the creation and preservation 48 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER of the habit of obeying them. To the accomphshment of this end the discipHne of the ordinary school — however valuable it may be in other respects — con- tributes directly, at the most favorable account, only a comparatively small amount. These Facts Do Not Prove that Discipline Is Morally Valueless. — The creation of a system of habits by the use of fear or approbativeness, or even affection, has no direct tendency, I have insisted, to develop moral loyalty. But from this it does not follow that these agencies have no place whatever in a system of moral training. The facts are com- plex and, I think, not com.monly understood. I shall try to deal with them as a whole later.* I can not leave the subject of discipline, however, without some reference to certain other aspects of the prob- lem. The Place of Punishment in the Development of Character. — In the school, as in any other community, there must be either anarchy or govern- ment. The force, which is the essence of govern- ment, may have to show itself only infrequently if the spirit is good and the teaching staff tactful ; but it must be there, and every one must know it is there. Force exhibits itself in punishment. Is punishment a mere brutal fact, or has it a moral value for the person punished ? By this I mean not does it make * See chapter xi. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 49 him more wary, but does it tend to produce a dif- ferent spirit? Properly administered it has a tend- ency to do the latter as well as the former. But how can pain or loss awaken or strengthen the higher motives? By awakening in the pupil a living sense of the seriousness of the act he has committed. He has trampled upon another person's rights. He has done it without feeling what this loss or suffering means to the victim — otherwise he could no more do it than he could deliberately cut off his own arm with a knife. But when he feels the reaction on the part of him who suffers or of those who act in his behalf, he begins to realize what his deed meant to the sufferer; the evil of the thing comes home to him, and this experience may create genuine repent- ance. If this result is to be obtained the punishment must not merely be just, it must also be recognized, sooner or later, as just by the culprit himself. Other- wise the outcome is nothing but fear or defiance. This recognition may be produced in several differ- ent ways ; by a preexisting, implicit confidence in the justice and reasonableness of the teacher; by the knowledge that the best sentiment of the class up- holds the punishment;* or, most effectively of all, by the wrong-doer's own direct insight. The nearer * For some very striking illustrations see George, The Junior Republic, p. 42ff ; Reeder, How Two Hundred Children Live and Learn, pp. 166-169, 50 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the punishment is to being the necessary consequence of the wrong turned back upon the offender so that he must bear the loss which he caused, the more hkely is he to feel it to be just. The Moral Value of Drudgery. — We turn to another aspect of the subject of school discipline. Moral conduct is commonly — some authorities would say always — a matter of choice. This means that there are present in the mind conflicting im- pulses, urging in different directions. Victory for the good cause may be secured, therefore, not merely by strengthening the spirit of devotion to moral ideals, but also by weakening its opponents. One of the most deadly of these opponents is the disinclination for drudgery. A discussion of the discipline of the school would be incomplete with- out a consideration of what it can accomplish to- ward lessening the horror of the normal youth for this unpleasant, but unfortunately inescapable ele- ment of life. By drudgery I mean tasks which have for him who performs them no intrinsic interest whatever. Drudgery is not identical with hard work. A boy, as every one knows, may work harder to build an ice-boat than in running errands for his mother, but the one is fun and the other a bore. An age of self-indulgence like our own cares to hear little about so forbidding a subject as drudgery. But drudgery, as things are now, forms a very con- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 51 siderable proportion of the adult life of the great majority of human beings, a large part of the voca- tional life of many, andsomepartof the life of prac- tically every serious worker who does not shove his dirty work over upon some one else. It is found not merely on the farm where the cows must be milked twice every day, in the kitchen where dishes must be washed twenty-one times a week, and in the factory v/here the same motion may have to be performed fifty thousand times a year. The pro- fessional man, — yes, the scientific investigator, the painter, and the composer, who is anything more than a mere dilettante, meets it again and again. There have been great physicians who as students have hated anatomy, or certain parts of it, with a deadly hatred, but who have nevertheless not per- mitted this circumstance to prevent them from mas- tering it. This is the only road to genuine achieve- ment. ''Es kleht Blut an der Arbeit,'' said Johannes Mueller of his physiological investigations. George Eliot, Wordsworth, Carlyle and many other of the greatest writers often drove themselves to literary composition with feelings not much different from those with which many a factory worker responds to the sound of the whistle. We may, I believe, look forward with confidence to the age foretold by Rus- xin when the worst forms of drudgery will be ban- ished from large sections of human life upon which they now rest as a pall. But that can not be in the 52 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER lifetime of the generation which we are training. And it can no more be obliterated entirely while this world remains what it is than can death itself. These facts we must face without flinching, or like other ignored facts they will revenge themselves upon us and upon those who are entrusted to our care. We must therefore prepare our sons and daughters and our pupils not merely to work with enthusiasm at tasks they enjoy, but also to work conscientiously at tasks they dislike. This it lies well within our power to do, through the instru- mentality of the discipline imposed by the duties of the day, whether in school or at home. For it is pos- sible to lower, through habituation, the resistance of the natural man to doing the disagreeable, just as it is possible to develop an indifference to unpalatable food, hard beds, exposure to cold, and much else of the same sort. The result is that the task gets done, not as the shirk would do it but as a man would do it, and that it is done with a minimum of friction and thus of boredom. A maxim popular among teachers at the present time is that school is not a preparation for life but life itself. School occupations from which all drudgery has been care- fully elin^inated are neither life nor a preparation for life. A friend once told me that he got more out o'i: chemistry than he got out of any other study in his college course. He hated it cordially, but he was EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 53 compelled to take it, and he made up his mind he was going to get through it with a good mark. When he had accomplished this purpose he found himself the possessor of an inner strength which he felt was worth far more to him than all the knowledge gained from those courses in which he was directly interested. The Place of Drudgery and of Enthusiasm in School Work. — All this does not mean that we should return to the educational methods of a gen- eration ago. For enthusiasm and spontaneity and the knowledge from experience that there may be joy in hard work are almost as important as moral backbone. Education, like the rest of life, is a com- promise. What we must insist upon is not that the major part of the school day shall be filled with drudgery, but that there shall be standards of class work and a program of required studies of such a nature that every pupil every year will have to do a certain kind and amount of work whether he hap- pens to like it or not. If this plan is carried out, the chances are that every one will be given an op- portunity to ''keep the faculty of effort alive by a lit- tle exercise every day" ; nor will this exercise be less valuable because it is not gratuitous, as Professor James recommends in his famous chapter on habit. The desirable thing is not that the exercise of effort be gratuitous, but that it be self-imposed. As in the family we of to-day should demand from our 54 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER children not mere obedience but reasoned obedience — an obedience which recognizes the reason for obeying or feels a confidence in its existence- — so in the school work we should reveal to our pupils the necessity of possessing the ability to stand up under drudgery. It is the habit of voluntary acceptance of necessary drudgery for the sake of valuable ends, it is this which we must seek, above all, to build up in their characters. We can do this most effectively when they cooperate. And they will cooperate most readily if they see not merely the value of the par- ticular end to be gained at the time, but also the value of the power to say Yes to one's self when the whole soul calls out No. However, if they do not choose to cooperate, then the task must be imposed from without, for the sake of the consequent hard- ening of moral fiber. Once imposed, however, every effort should be made to bring home to the child the rationality of the imposition. The Habit of Hard Work. — The discussion of this subject would not be complete unless something was added about the habit of hard work as such, without regard to the feelings with which the work is done. As compared with the schools of a gen- eration ago, modern schools, particularly, I suspect, our modern high schools, have largely ceased to de- mand from their pupils genuine, prolonged effort in the conquest of difficulties, except, perhaps, the difficulties involved in mechanical memorizing. In EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 55 the past the core of the high-school course consisted in the study of mathematics, Latin and Greek. And these, whatever their value or lack of value in other respects, required for successful prosecution (dis- honesty apart) a constant succession of genuine struggles with serious difficulties. The result was, where proper standards were set, the develop- ment of a type of moral muscle — of the qual- ities of initiative, persistence and courage which our present school curriculum does little to cultivate. If the old course of study is to disappear forever it is absolutely essential that the modern foreign languages, history, and the sciences modify their present-day standards and methods radically. For as things are now we are threatened with a genera- tion of men and women who — as far as their school life influences their character — will fall in a limp heap in the face of the first intellectual difficulty they meet. And if this is their attitude toward intellec- tual difficulties, it is likely to become their attitude toward the difficulties and temptations of "real life." CHAPTER VI PUPIL GOVERNMENT The fundamental defect in the attempt to develop the essential elements of character through school discipline lies, as we have seen, in the externality of its appeal. 'Following a system in force at Win- chester ever since its foundation in 1393, and adopted generally into the English endowed prepar- atory schools through the success attained in its use by Arnold of Rugby, many American teach- ers have been attempting in recent years to remove this defect by the introduction of pupil government. We shall find it profitable to examine the nature and workings of this widely-used agency. In so doing we shall have in mind, it must be remembered, pri- marily the American public school. The Meaning of Pupil Government. — Pupil government in the school does not mean that the authorities turn the conduct of the school over to the pupils, without any reservation whatever. Such a thing would be impossible. It is self-evident that those who possess the power to grant a charter have the power to annul it, and that the knowledge of this fact serves as an effective check upon abuses. Fur- 56 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 57 thermore, the principal always keeps an absolute veto in his own hands, even though he may be very slow to use it, indeed may never have occasion to use it. Pupil government consists, in reality, in the cooperation of the pupils with the principal and teachers, for the more complete attainment of those ends for which the school exists. The form adopted may be simple or complex. In some schools a more or less elaborate imitation of the government of a city or a state is established. There are the usual three departments, legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative department may consist of two representatives elected from each of the participating classes ; the executive, of a mayor, together with the heads of certain depart- ments and their assistants, as the police department, the health department, and the department of tru- ancy; the judicial, composed of the judges, the offi- cers of the court, the prosecuting attorney, with per- haps an attorney for the defense. The principal may retain the right to reject, for cause, any offi- cial, whether elected or appointed. He ordinarily constitutes himself a court of appeal in criminal cases. The police department deals with the conduct of the class in the halls, playground, not infre- quently the streets in the immediate vicinity of the school building, the assembly room, and sometimes the class rooms. The health department is charged with the responsibility, among other things, for the 58 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER cleanliness of the pupils. The truancy department often performs all the functions elsewhere allotted to a truant officer. Many principals prefer a system with less machinery. The ^simplest possible plan consists of two "tribunes" for each class included in the scheme, a boy and a girl elected at stated inter- vals by their classmates. The legislative power — if this is a part of the grant — is represented by an elective council whose membership may or may not consist of the tribunes. Conditions of Success. — The first condition of success is of course the personality of the principal. Before attempting to put the scheme into operation a principal ought to assure himself that he has some of the more fundamental qualifications. These will be found to include not merely tact, firmness, pa- tience and sincerity, but notably also a willingness to see things go at times less well than they other- wise might. You can not get something for noth- ing; and you must in this as in every other form of democracy pay for the general diffusion of a sense of personal responsibility with a certain amount of confusion, want of efficiency, and some- times even of injustice. The teacher who can not stand this must make up his mind he was not in- tended for work of this particular kind. In the sec- ond place he must assure himself of the existence of proper conditions in the school. Among the most important is the existence of a good spirit among EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 59 the majority of the pupils; that is, a fair amount of character, of seriousness of purpose, and an attitude of confidence in and friendHness for the teachers and principal. Pupil government is not a scheme for making something out of nothing. In the third place, it should be introduced with the simplest pos- sible machinery, however complex it is allowed to grow in the end ; and the machinery should never be allowed to become more complicated than the needs of the situation demand. Machinery for machinery's sake or even merely for instruction in civil govern- ment seems to me much worse than useless. In the fourth place, in the elementary school it should, I believe, be first tried with the seventh and eighth grades only. I can not believe it should ever be in- troduced into the lower half of an elementary school. Fifth, the principal should never for a moment allow the pupils to entertain the idea that the ultimate power is in their hands. In fact, he should at stated times point out the exact nature and limi- tations of the powers of each party. I myself was a participant in a somewhat well-known scheme in which the head of the institution let us put our hands behind his on the reins and told us we were driving. The fraud was of course soon discovered and had no tendency whatever to improve our mor- als. A system of moral training founded upon a lie may perhaps look like good advertising, but it is cer- tainly poor business. In the last place, after getting 60 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the machinery at work, the principal must watch it constantly, never supposing for a moment that it will run itself. It is certain that the number of failures has been much greater than the number of successes, if we judge failure by the abandonment of the plan after trial. But it may fairly be urged that one success is more significant than many failures because it shows what can be done by going at the matter in the right way. And after all, the right way does not seem to be so remote as to be unattainable under fairly nor- mal conditions. The Results of the System. — Where it has been properly conducted it may fairly claim to have produced some or all of the following results, in greater or less degree. It has trained the pupil to see and realize the meaning and value of law — the value to the school community of which he is a part, and to himself as a member of this community. At the same time it trains him in the habit of acting in accordance with such insight; indeed the insight grows, in part, through his own actions. Ordinarily the pupil tends to look upon the laws of the school as a more or less arbitrary imposition from without, an interference with his liberty which he can only be interested in evading. Or if he does not think them exactly arbitrary, they are at all events imposed in the interest of his teachers or the school authorities. He may come to see, however, that all school laws EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 61 are established chiefly or solely in his own interest and that of his fellow pupils, for the attainment of those ends for the sake of which the school exists. He thus discovers that there is no liberty — the power to do and accomplish what one wills — except through law. This insight gained, he is on the side of law. Thereupon he may practise punctuality, order, and the other school virtues without being forced to it by any kind of external authority whatever. H so, the greatest of results has been attained. The indi- vidual consciously adjusts his conduct to the needs of the social whole for the sake of the highest ends; and government from without has become self-gov- ernment, n on the other hand he chooses rather to rebel, he will find that the punishment which he thereby brings upon himself is imposed not by a for- eign power to whose standards he is indifferent, but by his peers, and represents their sense of his deserts. This may not produce repentance, but as we have seen, it is more likely to do so than any amount of pain or deprivation inflicted by sheer force from above. These gains, however, are not the only ones. Since pupil government makes or tends to make each young citizen realize the value of obedience to law, and places upon each one the obligation to do his part in the enforcement of law, it will in the more favorable instances contribute to the development of the spirit which we need in the United States more 62 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER perhaps than anywhere else in the world, the will to defend law against its enemies, particularly its re- spectable enemies who are in good and regular standing in their community. He comes to recog- nize, for example, that the school property is his property, and that its injury therefore is not a joke or a piece of harmless mischief to be concealed at all hazards from the spying eye of the principal; that it must consequently be protected not merely against his own mischievousness or thoughtlessness or de- fiance of authority, but against the attacks of others also. Many children undoubtedly dislike this feature of the scheme. In particular they are afraid of the en- mities it may produce. This is precisely the reason they need it. For our best chance — apparently — of developing the proper spirit in these matters is to be- gin with the children. The law-abiding must ac- quire the habit of standing by one another under the menace of lawlessness. When they succeed ih do- ing so they will discover that in most cases the en- mity of the lawless is to a large extent mere sound and fury, which disappears upon subjection to pen- alty. Indeed they will find that many youthful law- breakers cherish no grudge whatever against the officials who in the discharge of duty bring upon them penalties which they know to be deserved. This does not mean the encouragement of tattling, as the children themselves very well know. Tattling EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 63 assumes a band of pupils in more or less open enmity with the teachers. In such cases the child's native response is loyalty to the tribe. This attitude should not be broken down. For while it is not the high- est thing in the world, it may be the highest to which as a child he is able to attain. To shatter this stand- ard when at the time he is capable of nothing better is a very serious mistake. A writer in the Outlook set the entire country debating this question several years ago.* Bad, a fourteen-year-old boy, has delib- erately broken a school window by throwing a stone at it. His classmate Good is perfectly acquainted with all the facts. Ought, then, the latter to disclose the name of the culprit on the demand of the teacher? The answer is certainly, under the condi- tions virtually assumed. No. But these conditions should not have been allowed to exist. In some fash- ion, whether through pupil government or otherwise (and pupil government, by itself, may not be able to produce it) there should have been created in the school a spirit which in nineteen cases out of twenty would have led the boy, on demand, to confess and pay for the injury done. In the twentieth case it could have been allowed to pass until the offense was repeated, when in any school under any proper sys- tem, upon the suggestion of the principal, if necessary. * Harlan E. Hall, The Outlook, vol. 104, p. 563 (July 12, 1913). 64 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the leaders among the pupils would take the matter into their own hands and deal with it effectively. Pupil government may bring with it other ad- vantages. It is a principle to which we shall have to refer again and again that activity in behalf of a cause even when the initial motive is far from the highest, tends to produce a direct interest in the per- son or group that the cause is attempting to serve. Thus the boys who, in whatever way, are engaged in defending school property against vandalism, are themselves growing in loyalty to their school, and, if the proper transition is made, to their city. The leaders are acquiring the qualities which belong to leadership. The followers, in many cases, are grow- ing in those virtues (they are many and very impor- tant) which make the loyal and discriminating fol- lower. Finally the system brings teacher and taught into relations of mutual understanding and sym- pathy, and leads to a spirit of cordial cooperation which is in itself for the teacher or principal a suffi- cient reward for all his expenditures in the way of labor and watchfulness and perhaps anxiety. Its Dangers. — Like everything else in the world, pupil government has the defects of its qual- ities. A serious one is not infrequently noticed, namely, ward politics. Another is the "swell head" which in other places besides the school afflicts those dressed in a little brief authority. With re- gard to these evils it can only be said that the rem- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 65 edy lies in the personality of the principal or the teacher. If he can impress the officials with a sense of the service to be performed, and imbue them with something of the spirit of the servant of their fellows, the more serious excrescences of the system will not appear. Pupil Government vs. Self-Government. — Every school, it seems to me, should have a pupil council, which, whether in a merely advisory ca- pacity or otherwise, shall deal with problems of leg- islation. But the work of the police and the court presupposes evil done, and a system which is at all elaborate presupposes a good deal of it. What is to be done, then, in a school where the spirit is so good that serious and even minor infractions of rules are so rare that corrective machinery would grow rusty with disuse? There are such schools, as I know from my own observation, for I have taught in them. They are schools, usually at least, in which good standards of scholarship are enforced, and such sporadic infractions of school rules or the moral law as occur are dealt with firmly. For the child is loyal only where he respects; and he feels no respect for those whom he suspects of toadying or any other form of weakness. Tact, sympathy, and interest on the part of the teachers have caused a feeling of good fellowship to pervade the school. Under such circumstances verbal explanation is all that is needed to make the pupil see the relation be- 66 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tween school law and the purposes of the school; and he is easily led to the discovery that the teacher and principal obey law as loyally as does any one else. The craving of the pupils to be doing some- thing that directly interests them, and for physical activity — the source of most of the petty mischief in the class room — is satisfied by methods of teach- ing which require a sufficient exercise of muscles, sense organs, and the powers of thinking. The class work contains much that is immediately interesting. The relation of the remainder to the permanent in- terests of the pupil is made perfectly clear through- out. Realizing thus the value of the work to himself and his fellows the pupil has ordinarily no serious desire to disturb its progress. What shall be done in such a situation? I confess that in schools of this kind any scheme, certainly any elaborate scheme of pupil government, would ap- peal to me as an impertinence, or at all events an ex- crescence. Not merely would there not be enough cases of discipline to be worth spending time on, what is far more important, the essential (though not the sole) purpose for which these systems are established has already been largely accomplished — to prepare the future citizen to govern himself. Un- doubtedly some good things are lost in this other- wise happy condition of affairs. But shall we cause our pupils to sin that grace may abound ? EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 67 The Honor System. — It is by the use of the same principles that I should decide the problem of the adoption of the honor system in examinations and other class-room work. It is certain that cheat- ing must not be tolerated in a school, not merely on disciplinary but also on moral grounds. The sight of virtue suffering and vice triumphant is likely to be too much for the morals of some of the pupils. It is true such young people do not yet have the root of the matter in them. Nevertheless they are not necessarily a bad sort, and at the worst they are well worth saving. Later in life when their moral muscle has grown stronger they may be able to stand up under temptation without the expectation of being paid for it. In the meantime they are young, and heavy burdens must not be placed on shoulders that have not yet attained their full growth. Cheating, then, must be stopped, at whatever ex- penditure of effort, in the moral interest of our pu- pils. From what was said in the preceding chapter it follows that the poorest way to stop it is by the use of fear. Another solution — now quite popular among progressive teachers — is equally ineffective for developing character. It is so to conduct the work of the class that the temptation to cheat is re- duced to a minimum, and so to shape the questions in examinations that any amount of previously pre- pared "cribs" can do no good. This may be (in my 68 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER opinion, is) an excellent solution from both a peda- gogical and a disciplinary point of view. But again it leaves untouched the issues of character. You do not make people good by carefully shielding them from temptation. What we want to produce is not mere outer conformity but a moral revulsion against dishonesty. Some teachers and principals know how to get this directly through their own personal influence. A lady living near a grammar school in a certain city looked out one evening just at dusk to discover that all the flowers in her garden had been stolen, and to see two boys disappearing over the back fence with their booty. She was unable. to identify the boys positively, but she "believed" they were mem- bers of the neighboring school, and so informed the principal. The next morning at assembly the princi- pal told the story substantially as I have told it, and added that if these boys were present she wished to see them in her oflice immediately after the exercise. When she went to her oflice the boys were there, al- ready penitent and prepared to make full confession. A principal or teacher of this kind can get honesty in class work from the overwhelming majority of his pupils without any machinery whatever. And the honest ones will not infrequently look after the dishonest. In a high school presided over by a man who possessed in a marked degree the art of im- pressing his own ideals upon his pupils (a school EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 69 which had no formal honor system) the members of the senior class once united in informing the prin- cipal by means of a signed letter that three of their classmates had cribbed in an examination held the day before, and gave the names of the culprits. Such schools doubtless need no honor system. I can not but believe, however, that they are relatively few in number. Schools at the other end of the scale also should never attempt to introduce this system — but for a very different reason. There is, however, still another kind ; I am sure it is the most numerous of the three. In this there is a public opinion waiting only to be aroused, a public opinion which can be aroused most effectively by a system which brings the claims of honesty home to the conscience in visible form. Into such schools, at least from the eighth grade up, the honor system, in one form or another, may well be introduced. It will not merely prove effective in solving the prob- lem of external honesty, it will bring home to the pupils the significance, and therewith the claims, of the obligation to honesty. If it forms part of a general plan of pupil govern- ment the punishment of those who cheat will be taken care of by the pupils themselves as a part of the machinery of school government. If it does not, one of two alternatives may be adopted. Either the pupils will agree to deal with such dishonesty as occurs, or provided the amount of cheating can be 70 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER kept down to a very small fraction of the class, and provided also that the dishonest pupil becomes an object of general disapprobation, the teacher may ignore it. Under the second alternative the situation must be watched with the greatest care. This is not difficult and can be done in several different ways. For example, a high-school teacher who has only seniors in his classes brings them together once at the close of the year, after the final examinations have been held and the marks handed in. They spend the hour in writing unsigned answers to a . number of quCvStions about the course. Among other things they inform him about the success of the honor system as it has been used not merely in examinations but in laboratory and other work, and about the advisability of employing it with the next ' year's class. The favorable reports he has uniformly received he checks up by conversations with gradu- ates as he meets them from time to time. I believe, then, that the honor system in the prep- aration of school work, particularly in examinations, can and should be applied in most schools. I believe, furthermore, that the right-minded majority will under favorable circumstances welcome it. I have known it to be adopted spontaneously by a high- school class as the result of a discussion of dishon- esty in a course in moral instruction, and that when the application to school work had not been even indirectly referred to. I must add, however, that if EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 71 the system is formally adopted by class or school the grounds upon which the obligation to this particular variety of honesty rests should be stated by the teacher or principal in rather more definite terms than the somewhat vague plea of regard for one's honor. For a hint on this subject see Chapter XVII, page 294. Whatever may be the precise methods employed, results in the way of character formation, and in- deed in the matter of external obedience to the de- mands of honesty also, will depend primarily upon the attitude of the principal or teacher toward his school or class. Nowhere do the maxims apply more completely : *'Call a man a dog and hang him," and "Nobleness enkindles nobleness." The teacher that is continually exhibiting suspicion of fraud, who is always trying to *^get" his pupils, who asks "catch questions" in examinations, who tries to be a driver rather than a leader, and above all, who fails to stand before his pupils the embodiment of all that is fair and square, such a teacher is certain to arouse antagonisms which have not one but many evil con- sequences. Of these not the least serious is the call- ing out of the spirit which justifies in its own eyes evasion, trickery, and fraud of every sort on the ground that it is simply "getting even." One who knows educational practise in the United States bet- ter perhaps than any one else in the country informs me that this is the attitude aroused, to a greater or 72 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER less degree, by an all too large minority of our American teachers. Dealing with Serious Offenses under the Sys- tem of Self-Government. — In schools which rely for discipline entirely upon the moral leadership of the principal, such sporadic offenses of a serious na- ture as may occur will be dealt with as they arise through the instrumentality of the right-minded pupils. A very handsome elementary school building was opened two or three years ago in a certain city. Before it had been occupied a month some pupil had very badly defaced a conspicuous portion of the ex- terior. The principal, who, by the way, was the same woman to whom the flower thieves confessed their sins, thereupon put the question to the school children at assembly whether they would consider themselves justified in "telling on" the perpetrator. She gave them a day to think about the matter, re- questing them only not to talk with one another about the matter (to avoid the "mob spirit"). On the fol- lowing morning she called for volunteers to come to the platform and state their conclusions. Every one was in favor of informing. The information was never asked for, but, needless to say, the offense was never repeated. In a high school conducted on the same principles a series of thefts took place in a locker room. There was no permanent school council, but the principal appointed a committee of prominent boys to take the matter in hand. Within a compar- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 73 atively short time they brought the thieves before him for sentence, themselves possessed, I am sure, with a new sense of the significance of honesty. These instances, of course, may fairly be said to be incipient forms of pupil government. They doubtless are. They are about as far as pupil gov- ernment can profitably be carried, I believe, in a school that is really permeated through and through with the right spirit. CHAPTER VII MUTUAL AID IN CLASS WORK The moral ideal is not satisfied merely with vic- tory over the temptation to injure others. It de- mands also positive service. Moral Training in the Old-Fashioned Home. — The oldest seat of training in regard for the com- mon good and in mutual service is the home. In the old-fashioned home, in particular, there was much work to be done, and the children were expected to perform their share. There were not merely the household chores. The support of the family in the shop, at the work bench or loom, or in the field, was a common enterprise, where father and sons, and often mother and daughters also, lived and labored side by side. AVhere the parents were wise and just, tactful and yet firm, cheerful and even-tempered, active and unselfish, the children's part, like the par- ents', was performed conscientiously, without fric- tion, and often gladly. In certain respects (not in all) such a life has power to develop character which is equaled by no other institution of society. But may not the school catch something of its spirit, and perform some of its functions, thus doing a work 74 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 75 of the same kind? Indeed, may it not, as suggested in Chapter I, be the instrument best adapted for carrying this spirit over into a field far more ex- tensive than the home, the field of the world, to which, in the end, all morality worthy of the name must be applied? The following chapters aim to supply some sort of an answer to these questions. Methods of Developing the Desire for Active Service. — The most important of the methods that may be employed in the school for developing a spirit of active service may be classified roughly as training through mutual aid in class work, through the service of the school, through participation in the extra-curricular activities connected more or less closely with school life, and through the service of the community. This chapter deals with the first of these methods.* Mutual Aid in Class Work: the Underlying Principle. — ^The principle at its foundation is a simple and obvious one. The pupil is directed or given the opportunity to help his fellow pupil with his tasks, or unites with his classmates in contrib- uting to a common fund of information or to the solution of a common problem. Since we tend to become interested in those we help, the result may be not merely a habit external to character, but the development of the desire for service itself. * I do not mean to deny that pupil government can train to positive service. Its primary object, however, is repressive. 76 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Its Employment in Hand Work. — Mutual aid as between individuals, and group or class coopera- tion are believed by some teachers to have most scope in hand work. This is one of the most im- portant considerations, for many minds, in favor not merely of introducing manual training and do- mestic science into the schools, but also for the teaching of as many subjects as possible through the work of the hands, as arithmetic, geography, history and nature study. But mutual aid and group work can be employed in class exercises to which hand work, in the ordinary sense of that term, is an entire stranger; and, as it seems to me, with equally good results. Its Employment in the Traditional Studies. — The ninth-grade class in botany, for instance, has been studying in ordinary class-room fashion the meth- ods of reproduction in plants, using the nasturtium as a basis. After the fundamental principles have been discovered in this way, class and teacher go out into a field where grow a great variety of weeds, with a view to learning how these principles exhibit themselves in concrete cases. The first thing they come upon is the chicory plant. It happens that the teacher knows little more about the flower of this plant than do the members of the class. Further- more its structure happens to be somewhat complex and unusual. Consequently all get to work together on the problem. Three of the boys who have some EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 77 ability but are lacking in self-reliance and the spirit of leadership are appointed to help three other boys who have not grasped enough of the principles to have any idea as to what to look for. It happens as a matter of fact in each case that these boys, with the classmates who had been directed to help them, work out the solution; indeed, one or two of them succeed in working it out before the teacher does. After the reproductive organs of the chicory plant are under- stood by all, the class then examine the dandelion, and so on until the excursion is over. Thus teacher and pupil form one group working together for a common end. Pupil teachers and pupil critics can be used under certain conditions to develop the spirit of mutual helpfulness. Doubtless each teacher has his own methods when it comes to details. I shall describe what I have seen in operation in the high school of the University of Wisconsin. The class is again a class in botany. The subject has been presented by the text-book and demonstration method ; the bet- ter pupils understand it perfectly, but a third of the class, as usual, lags behind. Since the teacher's ex- planations have, in these cases, not produced the de- sired results, she yields the floor to one of the pupils, who not infrequently — with her exposition as a background — succeeds in bringing light to the dark- ened mind. Or half a dozen or more of the most capable children will be told off to explain the diffi- 78 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER culties to individual pupils. Sometimes the failure to understand appears through the written reports. The pupils mark one another's reports, refer them to the teacher for final correction, then point out the mistakes and explain the difficulties to those who are in need of such help. Or again the class is given a problem to work. Let us say that they already have the data. The thing to be done now is to apply these data to the case in hand. The solution will be the result of a cooperative effort. In English and other subjects, again, class criticism, as of theme work, or indeed of ordinary recitation work, may be made a valuable part of the recitation period, if the teacher knows how to guide without pulling strings. In many subjects the pupils may cooperate most profitably in supplementing the materials supplied by the text-book. A great deal of valuable material is omitted from the ordinary text-book solely be- cause the writer was not willing to borrow from his predecessors. His book must have an individuality of its own, he thinks, or the critics will condemn it. And individuality seems to him incompatible with absorption of the best ideas of others. So particu- larly in history. Certain pupils should be encour- aged to compare systematically their own text-book with other books in order to give their classmates the benefit of the omitted materials, and to call their attention to disputed points, which may serve as a basis for further investigations. Others again should EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 79 examine such original sources as are suitable and ac- cessible, and bring material into class which will render concrete what in the text-book was a mere abstraction, will explain what has been left vague or unintelligible, will exhibit the underlying forces in social or political movements which were merely described, and will make the great personalities of history living beings of flesh and blood. This sup- plementary matter will consist not merely of articles or selections from books to be read or summarized, but also of maps, diagrams and pictures; if slides could be made and a lantern used, so much the bet- ter. The more the pupils have to do for themselves the greater will be the intellectual profit. The more completely the work is voluntary and without extra credit the more significant will be the effects upon character. There would be some advantages in form- ing a club within the class whose members agree to undertake some of the varieties of the work here suggested. There need be nothing invidious in the distinction thus created, for it could always be as- sumed that the time of the non-members was fully occupied by other matters equally important. Cooperation is especially needed in the study of civics. Much of what there is to be learned in this subject can not be obtained with profit from text- books. The workings of political institutions must be examined by the laboratory method. On the other hand, no one pupil can take the time to make a first- 80 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER hand investigation of them all, even of those within the limits of his own town. Accordingly the work must be divided among the members of the class and the results presented in the form of reports. If the desire is awakened to give one's fellow pupils the very best and most complete information, pre- sented in the clearest and most compact way, moral training of a valuable sort is being conducted. The moral results can be obtained in their completeness, however, only if there are no marks. This may seem to place the scheme outside the range of the practicable. But it has never been proved, though it is usually assumed, that marks are a necessary or desirable element of school life. In many cases it is profitable to put the class exer- cise for the entire period in charge of a pupil teacher elected for that period by the class, the regular teacher, of course, reserving to himself the veto power, and standing behind the pupil teacher, not in such a way as to rob him of all responsibility, but in such a way as to keep things from going too far in the wrong direction. This tends to have effects upon character which are of the same general nature as the preceding devices. What, then, are these effects ? Its Value as Intellectual Discipline. — Before attempting to answer this question it must be pre- mised that most of the methods described in the pre- ceding paragraphs were adopted by the teachers EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 81 whose work I have studied primarily with a view to developing intellectual power, the power to ob- serve, to reason, to put the results of one's thinking into words, to understand the mind of another. They are an attempt to apply the principle which all of us know from our own experience but which few of us ever think of using, the principle, namely, that the most effective way to learn is to teach. And they are in this respect of particular value to that most neglected portion of the class, the best students. These see and get perfectly in ten minutes what their classmates get but vaguely and incompletely in forty. If the former are to obtain the genuine mental dis- cipline to which they are entitled they must be set for the rest of the period tasks which on the one hand will not get them out of step with the remain- der of the class — our present pseudo-democratic educational ideals would never hear to such an an- archical suggestion — and on the other will require the exercise of all their faculties and their best ener- gies. From this point of view these devices, in the hands of a skilful teacher, seem to me a dis- tinct success. Since intellectual and moral excel- lences are more nearly related than most people sup- pose, they represent also an indirect contribution of importance to the cause of moral education. But the problem of this book is that of direct effects. And precisely at this point we confront claims of alleged far-reaching and fundamental changes in character 82 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER as a result of the use of these methods. We return then to our original question: What are the direct effects upon character? Its Effects upon Character. — ^This depends in part upon the personality of the teacher. The meth- ods in question may lead, on the one hand, to cheap intellectual snobbishness, or in plain English, con- ceit, mingled with vanity, a nauseous decoction ; and on the other hand to humiliation, discouragement and envy. In the hands of the right kind of teacher, and otherwise under the most favorable conditions, they undoubtedly tend to make the class like one great family, where mutual service actually pre- vails as it is supposed to prevail between brothers and sisters. Each contributes his part, great or small, to the common store; the strong give indi- vidual help to the weak. The latter learn that there can be such a thing as cheerful and disinterested service. The former through helping others gain at once in intellectual and moral stature. The Conditions upon Which These Effects Depend. — ^These results, however, follow only^ under certain conditions. The giver must believe that he is really helping, and the permanent condi- tion of this belief is that the recipient feels he is be- ing really benefited, and benefited as he would not have been but for this particular act of assistance. Is the regular teacher not paid by the city to help him? Why, then, should a member of the class be EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 83 drafted off to do the teacher's work? The only ad- missible answer is that the pupil teacher is at least approximately as good as the paid teacher, at any rate as far as this special service is concerned, and that he can thereby obtain personal assistance which the paid teacher would not have time to give him. The difficulty in meeting the first condition is ob- vious. How can it be supposed that even the abler members of the class can ordinarily equal in effect- iveness the professional teacher? And where the class work out the solution of the problem in com- mon they know that the teacher either has the in- formation at the start or would have obtained it had he thought it necessary. The process is apt to ap- pear to them, therefore, not as one in which they are helping one another to learn what otherwise they would never know, but rather as what it really is, namely a piece of intellectual or moral gymnastics. Another difficulty is that the direction and amount of help given are determined in the main by the teacher. The pupil therefore acts in a sense under compulsion. I say "in a sense" because a hearty re- sponse and the throwing of one's energies into the task can never be the product of force. But in so far as the work is done under command it is not directly at least an exercise in virtuous action, since it is of the essence of virtue that it shall represent a real choice. To be sure a certain election is always virtually open. "You may help Tommy Stevens with 84 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER his arithmetic, or you may work some additional problems for yourself." The innocent may perhaps think that in choosing to help Tommy the boy is giv- ing a beautiful exhibition of the spirit of service. But those who have been much in schoolrooms will think another interpretation the more probable. Unsupervised Mutual Aid : the Danger of Pau- perizing. — It will doubtless be urged by some students of education that this difficulty can be met by a system of mutual aid in which any pupil can appeal for help to any other pupil at any time that he wants to. But this seems to me decidedly a leap from the frying pan into the fire. It is indeed true that a most effective means of moral education would be to place a child in a so- ciety in which, while self-help was demanded of him up to the limit of his capacities, his fellow pupils could be depended upon to come to his assistance when it was needed, especially at genuine cost to themselves. Of only slightly less value — though by no means identical in nature with the preceding — would be the formation of the habit of turning to co- operation as a means of solving life's problems, and of taking one's part as a unit in a cooperative organ- ism. But there is a very serious limitation to the use of this method, the danger, namely, of giving help at such times and in such a manner as to pauperize the receiver and undermine his self-reliance. Therefore the school must, in both the intellectual and moral EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 85 interests of the pupils, set somewhat narrow limits to mutual aid in the class room. The fact of the matter is that pupils can not do a very great deal to help one another in the develop- ment of their powers or even the acquisition of knowledge. For example, cooperative class work often takes the form of presenting reports. And the accounts of such class-room work which appear in the educational journals make very interesting and even somewhat impressive reading. The preparation of the report may be of very great value to the pupil himself. The presentation of the report, however, is ordinarily of little value to the rest of the class. I speak from experience, having at one time used the report method quite extensively in conduct- ing my own classes. The subjects were often the most concrete portions of descriptive ethics. Yet the results, except to the writer, were, according to the testimony of my pupils and my own observation, so unsatisfactory that I have abandoned it. That the method is any better adapted to the less mature minds of school children I can not believe. But just in so far as it is intellectually unsatisfactory its moral value disappears. Moral enthusiasm comes from the belief that one is serving the class. As soon as this belief melts away, the enthusiasm dis- appears. Even if the class does not discover the facts, the teacher who has discovered them will not care to attempt to develop morality by means of a 86 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER fraud. There seems then to be a stem law set in the way of such deHghtful methods of gaining knowledge; ''Erwirb' es nm es zii hesitzen" Earn it in order to make it your own. What holds of the acquisition of information ap- plies largely also to the training of the intellectual powers. A suggestion from another often carries the pupil over the place where he was "stuck," and puts him in a position where he can conquer the next difficulty himself. One's powers of thought are often stimulated by contact with others who are wrestling with the same problem. This is the credit side of the transaction. But the fact remains that just where the other helped is just where the per- son himself stopped, and therefore, as far as that particular step is concerned, is where his education ceased. For education comes from surmounting obstacles, not from having them smoothed out of the way by some one else. Collective thinking, too, while it has its advantages, has also its serious draw- backs. For example, the pupils are much given to throwing out crude suggestions without criticism, on the principle that if there is anything the matter with them "probably" the fact will be discovered by some one else. Thus superficiality, the curse of the American mind, is in danger of being directly en- couraged. The statements made about receiving aid from others of course hold also of assistance ob- tained from the teacher. But there is an important EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 87 difference. The teacher is supposed to know when to intervene, when, in other words, the difficulty is really beyond the power of the pupil to overcome, and how to intervene so that the pupil will get him- self out of his difficulties. Our first criticism of this method is that mutual aid must either be directed by the teacher or not. If the former, that part of the moral value (which is not the whole thing) which comes from the sponta- neity of the act disappears. If the matter is left to the pupils themselves, I mean of course to any great extent, consequences are almost certain to appear which seem to me far too serious to be tolerated, the development within the class, namely, of a set of intellectual paupers. The Fundamental Limitation of the Entire Method. — But even if the danger of parasitism could be eliminated or reduced to a minimum, there would remain a further limitation to the usefulness of this device as a means of moral education. It has its source in the nature of the motives which it calls into action. We have seen that there is con- stant danger of feeding conceit and vanity. The best teachers will know how to meet this danger; others will doubtless do a good deal of harm. But even if this very real danger is avoided the fact re- mains that the aid given in class room or workshop usually costs the giver little or nothing. While therefore it may cultivate a spirit of courtesy in 88 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER small things, it has no great tendency to develop anything stronger or more important. It is indeed true, as we have had more than one occasion to point out, that people are apt to become interested in those they help. But the amount of such interest tends to be a function of the cost of the service. I say tends, for there are exceptions and somewhat important exceptions. These make it possible to develop some- thing more vigorous than ordinary courtesy through mutual aid in the class room, make it, indeed, a sig- nificant factor in moral education. It should, there- fore, find a place in the life of the school, and should be used where it is not markedly less effective, in- tellectually, than other methods. But I believe, on the other hand, that the value attached to this method in some quarters is greatly exaggerated, and that those who rely upon it as an instrument of char- acter development either entirely or chiefly will in the end be disappointed. CHAPTER VIII THE SERVICE OF THE SCHOOL The limitations set to the usefulness of mutual aid in class work disappear to a large extent when the service is directed, as it can be, to other ends. There are schools in which class-room aid is allowed to play but a small role or is even excluded entirely as a part of the day's program, which are neverthe- less completely dominated by the spirit of the fam- ily. The service of schoolmates and of school merely takes, in them, a different direction. The Opportunities Offered by Hand Work. — Manual training and domestic science offer pecul- iarly rich opportunities for usefulness. The class in domestic science may supply the pupils who re- main at noon with nutritious, wholesome, well- cooked and inexpensive lunches. This is a service of much value, the execution of which involves gen- uine responsibility and hard work. In the manual- training shops it is not uncommon for the pupils to make furniture and other things needed in the schoolhouse or on the playground. For example, in a Wisconsin village, two or three years ago ; 89 90 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER "The boys made dinner-pail shelves, mail boxes, screens, a medicine cabinet and a bulletin board. This year, the need for a playground outfit being felt, the boys volunteered to make a start toward one if the school board would furnish the material. An allowance of ten dollars was granted, for which planks, iron plates, etc., were secured. From this material three sixth-grade boys twelve years of age, assisted by an eighth-grade boy fourteen years of age, developed in less than three weeks (working approximately four hours each week) a see-saw ac- commodating eight to sixteen children and a whirl- swing for forty-six children. Besides this the boys made from material contributed a vaulting place and a place for bounding boards for basketball. "The general results of the work accomplished are somewhat surprising. One boy who was passed on condition and who was lethargic, now ranks first in a class of eleven. In every case the best workers in manual training are more interested in general work. There is a development in loyalty and inter- est toward each other and a marked interest and re- sponsibility shown by older pupils."* The results would have been still better, I believe, if the boys had themselves in some way earned the necessary money, whether by individual work or by giving a school entertainment. In a Boston suburb the high-school boys laid out a quite elaborate athletic field the ground for which was donated by a public-spirited citizen. It was sit- * Educational News Bulletin, issued by the Wisconsin State Department of Public Instruction. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 91 uated at a considerable distance from the school, so that a club house seemed desirable. The same philanthropist supplied the funds for an architect and for the materials, and the boys built and, aided by the girls, furnished the house by the labor of their own hands.* In a very different environment and under widely different conditions a still finer piece of work, as far as its effects upon the character of the participants are concerned, was done among the colored people in one of the poorest districts of Indianapolis. The board of education had acquired a tenement house next door to an elementary school building in order to clear out its tenants, and as it was a dilapidated affair, was proposing to wreck it. On the suggestion of the principal of the school rt was saved and was transformed by the boys under the direction of the manual- training teacher into a club house, with gymnasium, shower baths and club rooms. The work which they themselves could not do, such as the plastering and plumbing, was done on their solicitation by the plasterers and plumbers living in their vicinity. The money needed was con- tributed by the neighbors also. Thus it stands to- day a neighborhood institution, uniting pupils and neighbors in the bonds of a common interest. f Activities of this kind have gone on upon a colossal * Proceedings of the National Education Association for 1912, p. 185. t Dewey, Schools of To-morrow, ch. viii. 92 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER scale at Tuskegee, where, as every one knows, the students have built with their own hands all but three or four of its hundred or more buildings. This hard toil, continued for months, lasting several hours a day, carried on for a common cause, can not but have strengthened in the more generous minds the enthusiasm for the service of their race. Unfortunately for the cause of moral progress, however, this opportunity for developing character is the outcome of an exceptional need coupled with exceptional poverty. Service through the Work of the Traditional Curriculum. — The traditional subjects of the cur- riculum, properly managed, offer abundant opportu- nities for the children to contribute to one another's pleasure and profit. Thus in the grades reading can be taught most effectively — effectively from every point of view — by allowing the pupils to read or tell stories to their classmates, stories, of course, with which the latter are not familiar or which, at any rate, they really want to hear. The necessary mate- rial can be obtained either from home or from the town library or preferably the school library. In the elementary school of the University of Missouri reading is learned in precisely this way. The school has a children's library. The first-grade pupils read from twelve to thirty books during the year. Sec- ond-grade pupils read from twenty-five to fifty books. Magazines and newspapers may be used as EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 93 sources as well as books in so far as material can be found which the pupil is interested in giving and which he finds his fellow pupils are interested in re- ceiving. While the stories are being told expression is being cultivated, and the English, including not merely pronunciation and grammar, but also mode of narration, is being corrected. The best narra- tives may sometimes be made the basis of written exercises, kept in the class collection of stories, or perhaps sent to another grade that the enjoyment may be shared. Some contributions may tell the children how to do things which they desire to do. Thus a seventh-grade boy in one school brought to class a description of how to build a bird house. This led to a general building of bird houses and a consequent growth of interest in birds, which in turn had somewhat important effects upon certain pupils. Such reading or telling of stories will inevitably be followed by a second step, if the teacher is wise enough to give the opportunity: the writing of stories or poems for the delectation of the class, and the dramatization of stories read and the pres- entation of the plays before the class. To the prep- aration of these plays the pupils will often give much time of their own out of school hours, and will sometimes exhibit the greatest industry and patience to make the presentation a success. Writing exercises can at times, at least, be made a form of social service as truly as reading. The writ- 94 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ing of a story or a play is the best possible training in the forming of letters and in spelling. Equally so is the writing of a letter in class which describes an actual excursion or an actual event in the school day, addressed to some friend who is not present, or to the members of another class. ' Care for the Moral Welfare of Fellow Pupils. — In certain schools somic specific element of the welfare of the pupils has been voluntarily made the object of care by a group of the more mature and thoughtful boys or girls. Protection of the younger boys on the part of the older from profane and in- decent language is one illustration. Protection of the younger boys from cruelty and oppression on the playground or on the streets near the school- house is another. In a number of high schools the older boys have been dealing with the problem of smoking among their schoolmates. In some cases pledges have been distributed. Where this has been done most wisely the pledge has held only for the current school year, and as large a part of the pledg- ing as possible has been put into the hands of former smokers. Often, on a suggestion from the principal, a boy of character will gladly exert himself to save a weaker schoolmate. Thus a high-school boy was caught stealing clothing from the locker room of a Young Men's Christian Association building. This was by no means his first offense. The secretary of EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 95 the association brought the culprit to the principal and asked for advice. On the principal's urgent solicitation the case was dropped except for refusal of permission to enter the building again for a speci- fied time. Then the principal went to one of the leaders of the school, a very fine fellow, and said to him : "This boy just hangs upon your every motion, and you can lead him in any direction, whether for good or evil. You therefore have a real responsibil- ity for what becomes of him. Now make a serious effort to exert upon him a positive influence for good and save him from his worse self." The ap- peal was responded to. The thieving boy was saved by his schoolmate and is now a respected and pros- perous business man. The Francis W. Parker School: Hand Work. ■ — An interesting example of a school which has sought to inspire every activity of the child by social motives, to create "an atmosphere in which ideals of usefulness are taken for granted," is the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. This is a private day school, founded to honor the memory and perpetu- ate the ideals of Chicago's great educator. It con- sists of twelve grades, with classes averaging from twenty to twenty-five pupils in number. The work in domestic science and manual training naturally plays a very important, though by no means leading, part in the carrying out of this plan. The cooking classes, for example, supply refreshments for the 96 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER mothers' meetings which are held from time to time, cook the luncheon for the "garden party" in the spring when the men of the faculty and the boys of the high school prepare the school garden for the spring planting, and help to celebrate the birthdays of the members of the group. It is the custom for the eighth grade to give something of permanent value to the school. This is always the product of some of the shops. One year, under the direction of the manual-training department, they built a very attractive cottage for the playground, putting into the task a large amount of time and thought and honest labor. Last year they built a pavilion for the kindergarten. The seventh-grade hand work for both boys and girls is printing. In the printing room are prepared the numerous products of the printer's art required by the life of the school. A school in which life surges through every artery, in class room, labora- tory, shop, assembly room, playground, indeed wherever its pupils are gathered together and for whatever purpose, has an insatiable appetite for printed matter. The young printers are thus im- portant public functionaries, charged with large responsibilities. Their services to the community cul- minate in giving to the world the two school publi- cations, the Parker Weekly, a newspaper, and the Recorder J a literary quarterly. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 97 The Museum. — A somewhat unique feature of this institution- is the museum. It is largely a collec- tion of donations, materials* obtained by the pupils themselves, whether on school excursions or on some vacation trip. Each article thus speaks of the giver and the spirit which prompted the gift, and is ac- cordingly more than a mere material object, the ab- stract representative of some general type. '*A striated boulder collected on an eighth-grade ex- cursion bears a vastly greater significance than one shipped in from a moraine in Iowa. And a vireo's nest collected by Lizette during her summer vacation means far more to her fellow pupils than the more beautiful nest of a weaver-bird from Africa."* A considerable part of its contents is a product of class work, as a series of bottled samples showing the different stages in the manufac- ture of flour. Special exhibitions each week of a certain portion of its contents chosen as far as pos- sible to show the characteristic features of the sea- son, as birds, insects and plants, and placed in a conspicuous position in the lower hall, serve to keep the museum in the focus of the pupils' attention and interpret for them certain aspects, at least, of the life of nature going on about them at the time. When nature is sleeping the exhibit may represent the work in science of a particular class and thus ♦ Francis W. Parker School Year Book, vol. 4, p. 76. 98 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER serve to bring it within the range of the interests of the school as a whole. Written Class Work.— In the class room a thoroughgoing attempt is being made to impart knowledge and train faculty through activities which result in products of actual value to others. While there are limits beyond which this procedure can not go, the teachers of this school have discov- ered that the resolute attempt to introduce social motivation even into the formal studies of the ele- mentary school curriculum discloses possibilities of which most of us have never dreamed; and that the employment of such motives not merely serves to broaden and enrich character, but contributes most effectively to the attainment of the intellectual end itself through increased interest. A fruitful field for the application of this principle is writing. "The difference is world-wide between written English developed on the basis of a demand for thought communication (a real demand in the child's mind) and composition for the sake of train- ing the children to avoid mistakes in form. The teachers believe that discrimination in the choice of words, as to their exact meanings and beauty of sound, can be developed through written English which is a natural outcome of self -motivated work of many kinds. A complete list of school work re- quiring expression in this mode would be a large one. The Recorder and the Parker Weekly are always with us needing stories, poetry, reports, EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 99 editorials, jokes. Writing plays necessitates vivid imagery under the special demands of dramatic co- herence. Writing lesson-material* fables, and texts for songs for a younger grade, or for a future class of the same grade^ enlists very good thinking. Mak- ing geography, science, history, civics and domestic art books gives a dignified reason for good writing. Speeches and poems for May Day pageants. Thanksgiving exercises, prologues of plays, require the best possible" effort. Reports of addresses heard, or of discussions of important grade affairs, or of Morning Exercises, serve useful purposes, especially as subjects of letters to absent pupils. Many letters are exchanged between older children and the pri- mary grades, and between teachers and pupils dur- ing vacation, or for some special reason during school time. Nonsense poems, songs, and speeches for parties and 'larks' tax the ingenuity to make a perfectly free kind of fun go with good feeling and good taste."* Dramatic and Musical Work. — Cooperation and mutual aid can of course be carried a long way in the dramatic and musical work which plays a large role in the life of the school. Many of the plays which are acted are written for the school by indi- vidual pupils or' by a class as a whole., Some of the words and music sung are also contributions of the pupils, who often rise to the demands of the occa- sion in a surprisingly creditable manner. The point of view insisted upon in preparation for all dramatic * Francis W. Parker School Year Book, vol. 3, p. 23. 100 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER and musical presentations is the social one : devotion and subordination on the part of the .individual that the audience may enjoy the best possible sort of an entertainment. "The motive constantly held before the various classes in the regular lessons is a social one. The steady concentration of the children through weeks of practise upon details of chorus singing, during the times when other interests press hard upon them, shows a deeper, more effectual motive than that of vanity in the success of a school exhibition. (It may be remarked here that applause for the chil- dren's singing, excepting at school ^recitals,' is never permitted. ) Motives other than the social one no doubt enter in, but shallow motives do not pro- duce the unmistakable quality of genuine expressive- ness. The ideas suggested to the classes are such as these : "The chorus needs high, clear tones ; the sopranos must work on that point. It needs good chest-tones ; the seventh- and eighth-grade boys must provide a pleasing alto part that can be relied upon. The tenors, weak as they are, must rise to the needs of the chorus, as far as possible. The basses must work for a quality and an expressiveness which will fit them for singing with the flexible sopranos. The fifth- and sixth-grade boys must learn to use their voices better, so that they shall not spoil the soprano quality. The chorus needs every one's very best, and even the little children learn to make an almost EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 101 perfect attack in helping to sing a few simple songs and hymns in morning exercises."* "Investigation Lane." — An attractive feature of the elementary-school life is represented by "In- vestigation Lane." This is a part of the playground, fenced off from the rest and exhibiting to the outer and unaided eye of an adult the appearance of a conglomerate of holes and sheds. The holes are, however, in the real world in which the fourth- grade child dwells, caves, and the sheds are castles, forts or mansions. These were all built by groups of children organized in such fashion as seemed good to themselves, living together under rules of their own fashioning, learning the art of leading and following, the meaning of responsibility to the whole of which each forms a part, in some cases the value of money and how to earn it, discovering by experience the satisfaction of working in coopera- tion for a common end, the necessity of persever- ance, and the joys of success after effort. A super- visor of great tact gives suggestions upon request, or when they are absolutely necessary, on his own initiative, or takes hold of a job himself at critical periods. Most of all he gives himself to the chil- dren. Thus half at play, half at work, they have learned to know what it means to do a good job and to do it for pthers as well as self. At least * Francis W. Parker School Year Book, vol. 1 (1912), p. 79. 102 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER one group of quarrelsome and lazy boys has made some progress toward the goal of industry and has taken long strides in the direction of harmony and mutual good will. The Morning Exercises. — The work of coop- eration and mutual helpfulness culminates in the morning exercises. To them are brought a large part of the products of the social la- bors of the pupils. The exercises are held every day in the school year, for the forty-five min- utes just preceding the noon recess. They are essentially the work of the pupils, their own con- tribution to the pleasure and profit of their school- mates. The material is usually taken from their class work or related fields of activity. No one is required to take part. But the desire to participate is so wide-spread that the days are filled two months in advance, and the question of what to do in case of want of volunteers has never had to be faced. The performers are usually a group, sometimes children from different grades, more frequently the mem- bers of one class. The variety of subjects pre- sented is surprisingly great. There are, of course, the celebrations by the entire school of certain fes- tivals, as Thanksgiving and other patriotic holidays. Art, music, literature and the drama offer probably the principal contributions, the last named consist- ing for the most part of legends, stories, poems or novels, dramatized by one of the classes. There EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 103 are also "entertainments" of various kinds, descrip- tions of travels, especially of travels during summer vacations, presentations of current events and ex- ercises representing the school work of some par- ticular class, as in history, physics or chemistry.* The Value of These Methods. — In appraising the value of such methods we must be as careful as are the authorities of the Parker School them- selves, not to expect from any given one results which it is incapable of yielding. There is a tend- ency, for example, for required work to be done in the spirit of required work — I do not mean un- willingly, but as a matter of course because it must be done — and this whether it be printing or Latin. It is very difficult to interest the high-school pupils, especially the boys, in the exhibitions given in the morning exercises by the children of the fourth to the seventh grades, inclusive. Dramatic and similar exhibitions appeal directly to a set of motives which may for convenience be called the dramatic impulse, and these it is primarily that are strengthened through exercise by the presentation of plays. When a fond mother talks to you for half an hour about the virtues and other excellences of her son, she is not developing altruism, nor will any number of repetitions of the tale cause her to grow in un-^ selfishness. *For a classified list of subjects see the Year Book, vol. 2, pp. 189-197. 104 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER On the other hand, there is the tendency which has been referred to above and will be referred to again, the tendency in virtue of which we become directly interested in those we serve. This does differentiate to a certain degree printing from Latin, while it makes of dramatic and musical ex- hibitions a possible field for the cultivation of the social spirit. However, if we expect a great deal from agencies such as these, we shall ordinarily be disappointed, because, roughly speaking, our devotion to others grows in proportion to the amount of sacrifice of inclination which we make for their benefit. In a certain elementary school the tactful teacher of manual training induced his eighth-grade boys (after some balking on their part) to perform the wearying, monotonous task of sandpapering a cabinet which they had just been making, and to do it cheerfully. He urged that they would thereby save the cost of having it done by a carpenter from outside, who would have to be paid from the departmental appropriation, and the money thus saved could be put into much-needed tools for their successors — their "younger brothers," as he phrased it. There can be no question whatever that this sacrifice of inclination on their part built moral muscle and social spirit. I do not affirm that noth- ing short of this will. But in the discussion of school programs of mutual aid it is often forgotten that the harvest in the way of strength an4 un^elf- p EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 105 ishness necessarily bears an intimate relationship to the kind of seed that is put into the ground. The great value of life in an atmosphere like that of the Parker School will be found to consist in the fact that the pupil has before him constantly a living model of a well-ordered community. It is a community whose members cooperate freely and gladly without any calculation of the exact balance between give and take. This model is not merely a picture which he looks upon from without, it is rather a life which embraces his own, whose nature he feels because he is a part of it and it is in a very real sense a part of him. A craving for harmony of purpose, a desire to live in unity with one's fel- lows, to breathe an atmosphere of mutual confidence and good will, are the normal outcome of such an experience. In the more favorable instances this will mean an impression which continues and deter- mines ideals and conduct throughout life. CHAPTER IX MORAL TRAINING THROUGH THE EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES OF THE SCHOOL The Old-Fashioned Methods of Social Train- ing. — A generation ago boys and girls found all the social life they wanted in their own homes and in the immediate neighborhood. Companions there were in plenty, within the family first, and then in the neighboring families. As to playgrounds, ex- cept in a few cities some one of the group was pretty sure to have a good-sized yard; and there were almost always empty lots in the vicinity or at not too great a distance on the edge of town. At the worst there were always automobileless streets. To-day, for at least one-third of our population, all that has changed. The one child or two children in a family system has taken children's companion- ship out of the home, and made the neighborhood, if not a desert, a semi-arid waste. The only place for play is the dining-room of a flat, or the doorway of a flat building. Even where external conditions are not so bad, a change has come over the spirit of the children. 106 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 107 The old games and the old scrapes are gone; no one over twelve years old seems to care for any form of play except dancing, pool, and the kinds of athletics that flourish at the universities. This means a great loss. It is true we used to ring other people's door-bells, and snowball teamsters and make ourselves general nuisances. We used to endanger our lives by stone fights with the boys of another section of town or by games of dare, and do much else that savored of the barbarian rather than of the mature and demure young gentleman of to-day. But we learned much that was invaluable and did much good teaching. A club to which I belonged, for example, taught one of its members to control his temper, or at least the expression of it. We did not do it out of altruism; we needed him because he was a good baseball player. Besides, we liked him when he wasn't "mad." Our course in moral train- ing lasted about a year, and from our point of view was a distinguished success. But even when we« were not giving one another moral lessons we were having many experiences which were of great value as supplying material for growth in character. The facts are, in the main, well understood, and I do not mean to waste space enumerating them. I want to call attention only to one which is sometimes overlooked. Direct re- gard for another's interest is tremendously strength- ened by our ability to put ourselves in his place; 108 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER in other words, by sympathy. But sympathy de- pends partly at least upon our own experiences. At least the vivid recollection of how we felt under similar circumstances is a great stimulus. It is hard for most of us to sympathize with the blind or deaf or aged, or with the soldiers in the trenches or in the hospital. Increase of experience, espe- cially of experience in social relationships, helps us to realize, therefore, how others feel or would feel in situations where they have been helped or w^ronged by their fellows, opens our eyes in general to a realizing sense of what is going on in the con- sciousness of others. Breadth of experience, then, is the very breath of life to the spirit which leads us to obey the Golden Rule. Furthermore, as is obvious, membership in a gang, even if the gang de- votes more time than it should to stoning workmen in a conveniently situated quarry, at least breaks down the barriers that separate consciousness from consciousness, and makes the boy acquainted at first hand with how it feels to be able absolutely to de- pend upon the loyalty of others and how it feels to know that they can depend equally upon him. These Methods May Be Employed in Im- proved Form by the School. — The loss of these educational advantages must be made up to our chil- dren, and as usual the burden falls upon the school. It can not be otherwise, because the problem must be solved, and there is no other institution that can EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 109 so effectively solve It for all the children. We must do it in self-defense ; else there will be athletic games played under conditions that are demoralizing rather than helpful, and time worse than wasted in hanging around billiard halls ; and in the high schools there will be fraternities. If the schools attack this problem with intelli- gence and determination they can create a system which will have most (not all, there is no gain with- out loss) of the advantages of the old-time associa- tions, and in addition some material ones of its own. For the adoption of the extra-curricular activities of the pupil by the school makes possible the em- ployment of a force for good which we lacked in our youthful gambols, the presence of an older per- son sharing the activities. With this enter into the life of the pupils those great sources of influence which we discussed in Chapters II and III. So that guidance of extra-curricular school activities is something more than a prophylactic against mis- chief, against its more demoralizing alternative, the listless dawdling away of leisure hours, against vice, against the evil communications that corrupt good manners. It is something more than this, it is one of the most valuable instruments of positive moral influence which are at our disposal. The Initial Idea Came from Arnold of Rugby. — The initial idea came to us from England, where it had its source in the mind of Arnold of Rugby, 110 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER In its essential features, it is found to-day in every one of the great English "public schools," that is, the endowed boarding-schools for boys, preparatory to the universities, and is now being introduced also into many of their day schools. Some of the fea- tures are not adapted to American traditions or even American life, but the fundamental principle is of world-wide validity. It is the organization of the extra-curricular activities of the pupils upon a basis of law, with guidance from members of the staff. ■ In the great majority of American high schools its application has proceeded as far as athletics. The old days are about gone when some former member of the team, who, might have no more mor- als than a professional gambler, and who, whether well-meaning or otherwise, was too often dominated in his policies by the town "sports," was allowed to serve as coach and determine the standards of a train of immature admirers. Gone largely, also, are the days when the principal, or at all events the honorable principal, can be so careless of moral is- sues as to pick his coach merely on the basis of his ability to turn out winning teams. It is univer- sally recognized now that the coach has ordinarily more power for good and evil than any other mem- ber of the staff, sometimes than all the other mem- bers of the staff put together, and that preeminent among his qualities belong the ability and desire to EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 111 serve as a moral leader of boys. In consequence of these changes, present-day high-school athletics are proving — speaking broadly — to be a fruitful field for the cultivation of a large number of the funda- mental virtues. To-day's problem consists in ap- plying the same principle to the other extra-curricu- lar activities connected with school life. Not that these are the seat of abuses, but that they offer an opportunity for molding character, similar in kind though doubtless in some respects inferior in degree to that afforded by athletics. The desire of the young people to do things and their desire to do things together must be used to develop ideals and habits of doing them properly. Application to American Conditions in the University of Chicago High School. — Some high schools can show a very thoroughgoing organization of these activities. No description of the workings of the resultant system could be better than that written by Mr. F. W. Johnson for the School Re- view of December, 1909. As an account of the extra-curricular life of the University of Chicago High School, of which he is principal, it represents the results of his own observations and experiments. With his permission I have reprinted so much of his article as directly concerns our present subject.* * I have omitted his account of the two club houses, one for boys and one for girls, as something entirely too elab- orate and expensive for the overwhelming majority of schools. 112 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER "The University High School, Chicago, is a day school of six hundred pupils, of whom about two- thirds are boys. The school aims to provide for all the proper social activities of its pupils. These activ- ities are in charge of four committees of the faculty as follows : Committee on Athletics and Games, Committee on Literary Clubs, Committee on Sci- ence and Art Clubs, Committee on Student Publica- tions. The following rules have been adopted, gov- erning all clubs in the school : ( 1 ) All clubs have faculty advisers. (2) No club holds its meetings in the evening. (3) New clubs to be formed must obtain the approval of the appropriate faculty com- mittee. (4) All clubs in arranging for the time of meeting must consult the appropriate faculty com- mittee. (5) The days of meeting of the different clubs are : Monday, Music Clubs ; Tuesday, Science and Literary Clubs; Wednesday, Arts and Crafts Clubs; Thursday, Debating Clubs; Friday, Parties. It is apparent that these activities are under careful supervision. This, of course, does not mean that the teachers exert a repressive influence that robs the social life of the pupils of its natural spontane- ity. They are rather helpful advisers, sharing with the pupils in their enjoyment of their social life. The requirement that all meetings of clubs shall be in the daytime removes many difficulties that are found where pupils gather in the evening. All meet- ings are held on the school premises, the usual hour being three o^clock, the hour when the session of the day ends. The schedule providing for meetings of certain groups of clubs on certain days makes it possible for a pupil to belong to clubs of various EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 113 sorts, and thus extend his social activities more widely than he otherwise might." Athletics. — "Athletics naturally interest the greatest number of both boys and girls. For the boys, athletics include football, baseball, track, bas- ket-ball, swimming, golf, tennis and gymnastics; for the girls there are basket-ball, baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, swimming, track and gymnastics. These sports are in charge of the Department of Physical Instruction, which consists of two men and two women who devote all their time to the physical training of the pupils with such assistants as are nec- essary to secure careful supervision of all games. There are contests throughout the entire year in these various sports, out of doors when the weather is suitable and indoors at other times. Most of the contests are between different teams of the school. For these teams the classes form the basis of division, though the number of teams from a given class is not confined to one in each sport. For example, in the autumn, in football, each class has its first and second teams. Definite schedules are played by the boys' class teams in football, base- ball, track (both indoor and outdoor), basket-ball and tennis, and by the girls' teams in basket-ball, swimming and tennis. With competition running high for places on these different teams and with daily practise or games, it will be seen that every afternoon throughout the entire year finds a large number both of the boys and of the girls engaged in competitive games of some sort. During the autumn of last year there were eight football teams practising and playing regularly. It is possible' in 114 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER this way to rob of all weight the objection that athletics actually furnish physical training only to a few pupils and those the ones who least need it. While the school does not yet secure, as do the Eng- lish public schools, that each pupil who is physically able shall compete regularly in some form of athletic sport, yet a large part, both boys and girls, actually do engage in such sport with regularity under care- ful supervision. **While in most schools interschool games with the preparation of the teams for these contests com- prise all the athletic training and are participated in by a very small number of pupils, in the University High School the interschool games comprise but a small part of those actually played. For example, last autumn, while there were more than one hun- dred boys who played in football games, there were only four games played with teams from other schools. In some other forms of sport the number of interschool games was larger than in football, but in all the sports the number of games played be- tween teams within the school was much in excess of those played with teams from other schools. *Tt has been urged that distinct advantage would be gained if all interschool athletic games could be given up and all contests be confined to teams within the school. The high schools of one city have tried this plan, and reports indicate that the results have been most satisfactory. This is doubtless an effect- ive method of getting rid of the serious difficulties that have attended interschool games in the past. But these difficulties are not without possibility of remedy, and giving up interschool contests is a dis- tinct loss to a school. Dr. Gulick has shown that EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 115 while the physical results of iiiterschool athletics are inconsiderable, the chief end sought in these con- tests is not physical, but social and moral training in which the whole school shares. By being loyal to his school, whether a member of a team or not, a boy is developing *the qualities of loyalty, of social morality and of social conscience. These are the es- sential elements out of which social loyalty and mor- ality may be developed.' With clear vision and firm insistence upon high standards of sportsmanlike conduct on the part of athletic teams, school officers may lay the foundation of traditions for clean and gentlemanly sport which every member of the school, as well as the members of the team, will take pride in maintaining. '*Not many years ago the annual football game be- tween two schools was attended with a general fight between the supporters of the opposing teams in which it was necessary for the police to take a hand, followed in the darkness of night by defacement of the walls of the school buildings by the painting of opprobrious epithets. Last autumn on the evening before the game between these same schools, the members of one team were entertained at dinner by the members of the other, and while the game was attended by intense enthusiasm on the part of the supporters from each school, there were none of the unfortunate occurrences of the former year, and the two schools actually cheered for each other more than once during the game. There is no doubt that i^ere was a distinct gain in social morality on the part of some two thousand young people which was worth much effort to secure and which could not have been gained except through the agency of care- 116 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER fully conducted interschool athletics. In ordec to establish the relation of host and guest between the opposing teams, in the contract for two games in successive years with the only team outside Chicago with which our team will play, there is a specific agreement that the home team shall entertain their visitors socially at dinner on the evening before the game. "At the close of the season for each sport, school emblems are awarded to members of the teams which have represented the school, and to the class teams the privilege of wearing the class numeral is given. These are voted by the faculty committee on athletics on the recommendation of the member of the Department of Physical Training in charge of the team and the captain of the team. In award- ing these emblems, faithfulness in training and in practise and loyalty to the team and school are fundamental requirements which are considered in addition to ability and performance in the games. It has happened that an athlete of exceptional abil- ity has failed to receive an emblem because he did not meet the high standard set outside that for mere ability in the sport. When it is also considered that the privilege of representing the school in any form depends upon the satisfactory performance of scho- lastic work, it will be understood that the school emblem is perhaps the most coveted possession one may secure. At the last assembly of each quarter the successes of the teams are recounted by their fellows, and the members are called upon the plat- form, where, amid great enthusiasm, they receive their emblems. But opportunity is never lost at these times to point out the real meaning of the occa- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 117 sion and to restate and strengthen the traditions for manly sport that are becoming every year more ef- fective in the school." Other Activities. — "While athletics probably engage a larger amount of time and interest than all other forms of social life combined, provision is made for a great variety of social activity of other sorts. Debating is carried on in class clubs which meet at regular intervals and in the Clay Club, an organization which dates from the first year of the school. Debates are held each year with other schools, for which the debaters are selected by com- petition open to the entire school. After the con- tests the sting of defeat as well as the elation of victory is tempered by bringing the representatives of the two schools together socially on the basis of guest and host. The Engineering Club holds regu- lar meetings throughout the year, at which reports are made and papers read both by members of the club and by others. The Camera and Sketch clubs interest many, and make creditable exhibits of their work at the end of the year which attract the atten- tion not only of members of the school, but of many visitors. The Dramatic Club supplements regular work given to an elective class in connection with the English Department. Perhaps the most credit- able public performance connected with all the social work of the school has been the annual dramatic entertainment, which attracts a large and apprecia- tive audience. Two short plays, of high literary and artistic merit, are presented, the object being to pro- vide opportunity for as large a number as possible to share the benefits resulting from this training. Competent judges select the participants in trials 118 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER open to all pupils of the school. There are various musical clubs, both vocal and instrumental, which meet regularly and furnish music for the school as- semblies and various public occasions. Modern language clubs make agreeable social adjuncts to the class-room work in these departments." The Class as a Social Unit. — "Reference has been made to the classes as forming natural group divisions in athletics. These are also used for de- bating, music, class parties, etc. Class meetings give excellent opportunities for gaining knowledge and practise in parliamentary usage. Class elections are always held by ballot in the school office. Nom- inations are made by a committee elected by the class, and additional nominations may be made by petition signed by ten members of the class. In practise this method of nomination is always em- ployed.'' Student Publications.-— "There are three stu- dent publications — a daily newspaper, a monthly de- voted to literary work, and an annual of the usual sort. Each of these is under the careful supervision of a teacher. The daily is a four-page sheet which covers in a thorough manner the daily happenings of the school and also serves as a bulletin for an- nouncements to pupils and faculty. A separate group of editors has charge of each day's issue dur- ing the week, thus distributing the work so that it is not excessive. The material used in the monthly is selected from the regular theme work of the class." The Students' Council. — "The Students' Coun- cil is an organization consisting of fifteen members, comprising the presidents of each of the four classes and four members of the senior class, three members EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 119 of the junior class, and two members each from the sophomore and freshman classes. It is thus a repre- sentative group of the entire school. Regular meet- ings are' held at which matters of general interest to the school are discussed. Recommendations from the students to the faculty are made through the medium of the council. Measures under considera- tion by the faculty are sometimes referred to the council and their opinion sought. Aside from these deliberative functions, the council nominates the candidates for managers of the various athletic teams before their election by the faculty committee on athletics and games." The Honor Societies.~''A group of 'honor so- cieties' presents what is, perhaps, a unique feature in the high school. One of these, open both to boys and girls, is based on scholarship. Its object, as stated, is to maintain the standard of scholarship and to promote good fellowship among the members of the school. Election to this is confined to mem- bers of the senior class who have been members of the school not less than two years, who have main- tained a certain high record of scholarship, and who are of good moral character. All who have satis- fied these conditions are elected to membership on approval of the deans. Membership in this society is a highly coveted honor. Two other societies, one each for boys and girls, are composed of members of the senior class selected because of distinguished service in promoting the social, as contrasted with the scholastic, life of the school. The membership of the boys' society is limited to fifteen, and of the girls' society to ten. For purpose of election to these societies, the more important of the offices in 120 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER connection with the various social organizations are divided into two classes, major and minor. Those holding major offices become ex officio members. Of those holding minor offices, enough are selected by the senior class to fill the membership of the boys' society to fifteen, and of the girls' to ten. In these elections, which are held by ballot in the school of- fices, boys vote for boys, and girls for girls. All can- didates for these societies, both ex officio and by election, must be approved by vote of the faculty. That it may not appear that too great a premium is placed on the holding of office, it should be stated that no one of these offices, either major or minor, can be held by one who has failed in any study dur- ing the previous quarter or whose work in any study is unsatisfactory at the time of election. That mem- bership in these societies is the most highly coveted honor in the school will be easily appreciated. It is interesting to note that there are several instances each year in which the same pupil is a member of the honor society based on scholarship and of that based on social prominence." The Assembly. — ''The general school assem- bly plays an important part in the social life of the school. This occurs on Monday morning and occu- pies a full hour. It is introduced by a brief formal religious service. The remainder of the hour is used in various ways to serve the interests of the school. All announcements regarding the different clubs and other student organizations are made by the student officers, who always speak from the plat- form. A sense of responsibility is thus encouraged in the officers, and, besides, there is no small value in this practise in extemporaneous speaking before EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 121 a large and critical audience. School activities not easily under observation are made the subjects of special programs. An example of this sort is the school daily, to which an entire program was given, embodying a description by several members of the staff of the process of bringing out a single issue. The awarding of emblems to the athletic teams at the close of each quarter has already been described. Frequent musical programs are furnished by mem- bers of the faculty and pupils. There are lectures and addresses on appropriate subjects from time to time, and of course there are certain vital topics which need to be presented by the officers of the school. In general it is the purpose to make the as- sembly an occasion in which the whole school gath- ers to consider together, in as informal a manner as possible, the things which are vitally interesting to the school." . . . School Parties.— "Up to this point no direct reference has been made to that side of the social life growing out of the association of boys and girls in the same school. Of course, these relations have been implied in connection with the class organiza- tions and the various dramatic, musical, literary and art clubs, in which the boys and girls mingle freely. It is, however, in connection with the parties that the boys and girls come together for the sole pur- pose of enjoying one another's society. On each Friday afternoon during the autumn and winter quarters, there is a dancing party in the gymnasium from three to four-thirty. This is in charge of the teacher who gives the regular class instruction in gymnastic dancing; there are also other teachers present and always a considerable number of par- 122 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ents. The party is open to all members of the school, but to no one else. No one is allowed to enter after the party opens nor leave until its close, and all who are present participate. The dancing takes the form of a cotillion, in which the figures are so devised as to secure a frequent and general mixing of the participants. The party closes for- mally, the parents and teachers standing in line to receive the good nights of the pupils as they pass out. These parties are largely attended, are evidently greatly enjoyed, and are marked by naturalness in the relations of the boys and girls toward each other. The period since these parties have been held has witnessed a constant diminution in the silliness which is supposed to accompany the relations of boys and girls at this age, and a corresponding in- crease in natural and unaffected conduct in the pres- ence of each other. At the end of the autumn and winter quarters, two of these parties are made spe- cial occasions, one for the two lower and the other for the two upper classes. At these the Parents' As- sociation provides favors, refreshments and special music. Again, toward the close of the year, another party is given to the whole school under the same auspices, which is the only school party for the year held in the evening." The Solution of the Fraternity Problem.— One of the incidental advantages of a system such as is here described is that it solves to the satisfaction of all concerned the vexatious problem of fraternities. This is the testimony not merely of Mr. Johnson, EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 123 but as far as I am aware, of all those principals who have adopted substantially these same methods. The Conditions of Success.— It will be seen that the leaven which leavens the lump in such a school as the University High School is the influ- ence of the teacher. The mere exercise on the part of the pupils of the impulse to get together and do things may result in more harm than good, as is shown by the history of many boys' gangs and high- school fraternities. But the guidance of activity by the teacher, indeed his mere presence in the midst of the activities as one ready to help in the attain- ment of ends wherever possible — this provides a channel through which the influences that may flow from his personality will reach the pupil. If he pos- sesses tact, strength, and high standards, the more impressionable members of his group will in time absorb his views on specific moral problems and something of his attitude toward life, and in many instances will adopt his standards of judgment and action. If this is supplemented by a system in which the leaders come into regular contact with the prin- cipal or vice-principal, as in the Central High School of Grand Rapids, Michigan (described in Chap- ter IV), still more notable effects upon character will unquestionably be obtained. CHAPTER X DIRECT TRAINING IN CITIZENSHIP The last type of moral training- which we shall study is that pf preparing for citizenship or for the service of the community as a whole through work for its benefit. During recent years this has taken a considerable number of forms. Work for the Poor. — The most common of these is work for the poor. This may at first sight appear easy, but as a matter of fact it is an exceed- ingly difficult thing to manage properly. More harm than good will be done if the girls learn to play My Lady Bountiful or get to regard it as great sport to go "slumming." On the other hand, more than one girl who has always lived in comfort or luxury has been awakened to a new view of life when she has gone as the companion of a school nurse or a tactful and strong Charity Organization Society visitor into the homes of the self-respecting poor. Under ordi- nary circumstances local charitable work should be undertaken by a club or a class only through an ar- rangement between the local charitable organiza- tions and the principal or the teacher. Where the 124 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 125 gifts consist of money the pupils should be urged to earn it themselves. Under such limitations a certain amount of this work may be attempted with benefit alike to the poor and the children. What appears to be an attractive form of service is that undertaken by the Social Workers' Club of the William Penn High School for Girls in Philadel- phia. "Little groups of girls go each week with the teacher to certain hospitals, homes for the aged, or- phanages and settlement houses to do what they can. Several of the girls have little sewing classes among the children, classes in basket work, etc. They teach the children to play games, they write letters for the old folks or sing for them.''* On the whole, the kind of benefaction best adapted to school children, especially in the grades, is the distribution of food and clothing at Thanks- giving, and of presents of whatever sort, especially toys, at Christmas. The boy who brings nothing more than a potato to the Thanksgiving collection may be precisely the one who brings the giver with his gift. The best account of how to conduct this form of work with which I am acquainted is that to be found in the Parker School Year Book, Vol. I, pp. 15-32. The appeal to the children of the Parker School at Christmas to bring not merely broken toys (to be mended in the manual-training shops), but also some one toy which is really valued, is a rec- * The Independent, vol. 82, p. 283 (1915). 126 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ognition of the principle upon which I have more than once insisted, that the spirit of service tends to grow in proportion to the extent to which it is exer- cised through sacrifice made in behalf of those who are served. Schoolboys as Policemen and Municipal Workers. — In a number of cities the experi- ment has been tried of giving certain schoolboys, as members of civics clubs in the high schools, a limited police authority. They may be assigned, for ex- ample, to warning the careless against scattering waste and rubbish, under penalty of arrest by the park policeman. They may cooperate in maintain- ing order and, indeed, in assisting in other ways in the public playgrounds.* Again, boys and girls in both elementary and high schools have taken lead- ing parts in cleaning up their city. For example, the city may be divided into districts. Each child makes a survey of one district and reports condi- tions to the appropriate authority and to the prop- erty owner. The owners are then requested by the children or required by the authorities — as the case may be — to clean up their premises, the children supervising or perhaps assisting in the work. In some towns the work of clearing out mosquitoes has been put into the hands of the older schoolboys. * Cf. Commissioner Woods' plan for utilizing the boys of New York City to help the police, as described, for example, in the Outlook, July 12, 1916. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 127 The Work of the Two Rivers (Wisconsin) High School. — But activities of these kinds, however useful, are surface matters in comparison with what is being attempted in a few schools. I can best show what practically untapped possibilities of training for citizenship exist in this field by de- scribing the work which has been carried on for a number of years in a Wisconsin town, under the leadership of the superintendent of schools and prin- cipal of the high school, Mr. W. J. Hamilton. Much has undoubtedly been accomplished in Two Rivers that could not be exactly duplicated in different sur- roundings. Yet the essential principles of the method and the extent of the possibilities open to it appear in the following narrative in complete inde- pendence, I believe, of the accidental conditions under which they were worked out. Two Rivers, it should be premised, is a manu- facturing city situated on the west shore of Lake Michigan. It has a population of about six thousand, almost all of which is composed of people of foreign extraction. The high-school building which supplies the necessary chairs, tables and roof for almost all the social work done by both children and adults is fortunately very well adapted to serve this purpose. It is situated in the geographical center of the town, on the street-car line, has several rooms suitable for use as club rooms, and contains an auditorium capa- ble of seating twelve hundred persons. 128 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The First Step. — Soon after Mr. Hamilton went to Two Rivers, some ten years ago, he intro- duced into the high school a course in contemporary social movements similar to that described in Chap- ter XV. The class worked with interest on the problems for a number of months, and then certain of its members raised the question: Isn't there something that we could do, too ? There was in fact something which lay very near at hand. For the town owned a cemetery which was a disgrace to the community. It was a semi-public institution gov- erned by a board appointed by the council, and its care was a charge upon the taxpayers. Here was the opportunity. The young men who availed them- selves of it were the members of a moribund debat- ing society which had long been discussing with languid interest subjects which were or seemed to be far removed from their own life. To the ques- tion: *'What can we do for Two Rivers?" the boys answered — naturally upon the suggestion of the principal: "We can reform the cemetery." The movement which followed was piloted with great skill. The members of the club debated the revolu- tionary proposal in all its aspects. The pupils in the seventh and eighth grades and in the high-school English classes wrote essays on the subject, always after having discussed it, by direction of the teacher, at home with their parents. The best essays were published in the Ipcal newspaper, The editor, de* EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 129 lighted to have a brand-new subject for his editorial page, did valiant work himself. Then at the proper moment the society engaged a cemetery expert to come to the city and give a lecture in the high-school auditorium. The boys raised the money to defray his expenses by asking contributions from the busi- ness men. They solved the next and probably most difficult problem, that of getting out an audience for this somewhat forbidding theme, by the very simple expedient of printing tickets of admission and dis- tributing them (gratis, of course) through the shops and factories of the town. As a result of this plan the inhabitants were there in force. Among the number were the members of the city council and of the cemetery board. The expert who had spent two days looking over the situation showed the people what could be done with their cemetery, and by means of lantern slides what had been accomplished in other cities. Public opinion was now thoroughly aroused. When that is said the rest of the details are unimportant for our purpose. One result was the very attractive cemetery which the city possesses to-day. Another and far more valuable one was a body of young men seeking for more worlds to conquer, and the metamorphosis of a flaccid debat- ing society into a Young Men's Civic Club which in time was to enroll practically every male pupil of the school. 130 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The Establishment of Public Bath-Houses. — For the next move the city owes a debt of gratitude to its council. Two Rivers possesses two bands of water locally known as rivers. In these the boys of the town had been wont to swim from a time to which man's memory runneth not to the contrary. One evening the council voted to prohibit all swim- ming within the city limits. Thus did opportunity number two knock upon the door of the Two Rivers High School. Its call was not unheeded. When the boys protested to the superintendent against this interference with their ancient and well established liberties, he disclosed the fact — which had appar- ently been forgotten by every one else — that the city owned a tract of ten or twelve acres on the lake shore, a tract including a beautiful stretch of sandy beach. What more simple than to suggest the build- ing of bath-houses on this shore, and to set the boys to work again on the project? There was no diffi- culty about the boys — but would the citizens pay for bath-houses? This was long a serious problem. More debates were held. More essays were written in English classes, much stirring up of the public mind by various means was engaged in, until finally the day, or rather the evening, arrived. At a mass meeting called in the auditoriimi of the high school stirring speeches were made in favor of the pro- posal, and then and there a sufficient number of EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 131 council members pledged themselves to vote for the measure to insure its passage. The Creation of a City Park. — This was not the end, however, of plans for the utilization of the bathing beach. Two or three years later, after other improvements had been carried through, the sugges- tion arose : Why not beautify the lake front by mak- ing a park of it ? This proposal was not so simple as it might seem. In the first place, could grass and trees be made to grow in a spot so barren and wind- swept? Secondly — a far more serious considera- tion — who would ever go to look at the trees, the grass and the lake? Again there was agitation of tongues in the debating society and of pens in the English classes, activities of all sorts set in motion by the Young Men's Civic Club, and finally at the right time another mass meeting. To-day Two Rivers has a beautiful little park on the shores of the great lake, extending back to the railroad station and forming an entrance to the town at once attrac- tive and dignified. To the surprise of the citizens themselves, so many of the inhabitants have gone to sit on the park benches that now another section of this little city is demanding a park of its own. Other Forms of Civic Improvement. — These three incidents contain the essence of the entire movement for civic betterment in Two Rivers, a movement which is gathering more and more mo- 132 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER mentum with each passing year. One of its earliest forms was the beautifying of the homes by painting the houses and planting trees, shrubs and flowers. The impetus was given by a series of annual clean- up days. The improvement of lawns and gardens was secured by distributing seeds among the school children for home gardens, and by holding a garden exhibit each autumn at which prizes are given for the best displays of flowers and the best results in improving the home grounds. Interest in clean and neat-looking houses is aroused by the study (in con- nection with clean-up day) of color schemes in the drawing classes from the fifth through the eighth grade. The children were given color cards, paint- ing specifications, and other information to take home, the material being supplied by the National White Lead Company of Chicago. This new attractiveness of houses and yards naturally led before long to an agitation on the part of the Civic League, the newspapers, and public- spirited citizens for the improvement of the streets. Here is a city whose site only a comparatively few years ago was a waste of sand. To-day practically every one of its streets is well paved, is supplied with a cement gutter and curb, and is beautified by a boulevard planted at regular intervals with elms or certain other trees specified by the council under expert advice. Other results in the way of community betterment EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 133 having their source among the high-school pupils are the anti-tuberculosis movement, the employment of a municipal nurse, city garbage collection under the charge of the health department, and municipal milk inspection, all tests being made in the high-school chemical laboratory. At present the Civic League is carrying on a campaign for the establishment of municipal playgrounds, with immediate success as- sured. Another recent achievement is the establishment and maintenance of "Community Night." One evening a week through the winter, from 7:15 to 9:15 o'clock, the high-school auditorium is open to the citizens. The first hour is spent in chorus singing under the direction of the supervisor of music in the city schools. The second half of the evening is occupied by entertainments of many kinds, for which the Civic League makes itself re- sponsible. There are illustrated lectures, debates, plays and moving-picture shows, many of the reels being supplied by the Extension Division of the University. Of course there is neither admission fee nor collection. The attendance averages about one hundred and fifty. The results here described were of course not ob- tained upon the first attempt. As a matter of fact, success often came only after a year or more of pretty continuous agitation. The town has been fortunate in having city officials who were always 134 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER open to suggestions which they were sure repre- sented the sense of the community. It has also been fortunate in possessing a body of progressive and able business men who take an active interest in civic affairs. Without these favoring conditions a rough road would undoubtedly have been far rougher. The Constructive Character of This Work. — It will be observed that at every step this work was primarily constructive rather than critical. The pu- pils were not sent out to gather photographic evi- dence of the incompetence or laziness of officials, to lodge formal complaints against them, to distribute petitions intended to goad them into a performance of their duties. Such criticism as was implicitly involved in the activities undertaken was directed to the community as a whole. The cooperation of the city government was sought ; when obtained, the momentum acquired by the movement necessarily led to progress in many uncontemplated lines, in- cluding increased interest and faithfulness to duty and enlarged vision on the part of city officials. Thus the danger of developing in the young people bumptiousness, the spirit of faultfinding and suspi- cion was avoided, while the city officials and citizens were won over to the ideals of the youthful reform- ers by the inherent attractiveness of their plans rather than by threats and blows. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 135 The High-School Organizations Responsible for the Work. — The Young Men's Civic Club, the chief factor in bringing about the remarkable results just described, now contains about a hundred boys, comprising practically all the male enrollment of the high school. It continues its debating activi- ties as of old, but Hmits the subjects of discussion to civic problems — of course in the broad sense of the term. It has made some not inconsiderable con- tributions to charity. For example, it has raised money for the support of the work of the Central Howard Association of Chicago, as well as for the establishment in Wisconsin of a farm and trade school for delinquent boys. But the great part of its enthusiasm and energy has gone into its work for Two Rivers. The girls of the high school, like the boys, have their "literary society," which bears the name Athena, symbol of ancient ideals. ' Here, too, there are meetings with set debates and, in addition, other forms of literary exercises. The members have co- operated in several civic enterprises, the most recent being child welfare week, organized by the women's associations of the city. In the main, however, the field to which this society has directed its efforts has been charity. Acting partly in cooperation with the Ladies' Charitable Association (the charity organ- ization society of the city), they have provided flow- 136 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ers for the sick, clothing for the children of the poor, layettes, etc. They, too, have on occasion turned their attention to good causes outside of their local community, as in raising money to aid in the establishment of a home for blind babies in New York City. But as with the boys, the chief beneficiary has been their own city. The women of Two Rivers have a considerable number of organizations, each working most effect- ively in its own way to make the city a better and pleasanter place to live in. Lately they have formed themselves into a Federation of Women's Clubs with its own central officers. Athena is of course one of the affiliates. The way is thus made easy for a young woman graduating from the high school to continue her civic work in the direction determined by her tastes and abilities. By this very simple fol- low-up system the spirit aroused in high-school years is conserved and guided into definite and per- manent channels of usefulness. Unfortunately there exist at present no similar means of holding, devel- oping and directing the civic loyalty of the young men. The Results, Material and Moral. — The tangi- ble results of all this work are that Two Rivers is to-day an attractive city in appearance, whereas formerly it must have been a decidedly forbidding one; that it has one of the most beautiful little parks in the United States; that all its citizens are effect- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 137 ively protected against typhoid fever ; that the poor and the sick are cared for as never before, and the more ignorant among the factory workers are taught or shown some of the fundamentals of civil- ized living ; that the town has musical and other cul- tural interests and opportunities such as it had never before known. These and much else are the tangible results. But what shall be said of the intangible? For some seven or eight 3^ears the pupils of the schools, especially of the high school, have been de- voting a not inconsiderable part of their leisure to the betterment of their city, to the relief of distress, to the support, whether financial or otherwise, of good movements either in the city, the state or the nation. They have grown up in an atmosphere cre- ated by the fact that everybody of their own age and those just older than they were doing the same thing. That high-school boys and girls could ever live in any other way has probably never occurred to them. In many cases on graduation they have transferred their membership to adult associations engaged in the same kind of activities as those of their high-school society, or at least activities in- spired by the same spirit. This makes not merely for municipal and national patriotism. It makes, or at least tends to make, for trustworthiness and good will as between man and man, and indeed all the feelings which knit men together and give them a sense of solidarity. If this work is continued its 138 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER cumulative influence upon the life, especially die moral life, of that little city will in the end be tre- mendous. Of all the agencies for moral training thus far described this seems to me by far the most effective. CHAPTER XI THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF EFFECTIVE MORAL TRAINING The preceding review of some of the chief types of moral training will have shown that all possess a value which makes each an indispensable element in any system of moral education that can claim to be complete. Extravagant hopes, however, appear to be entertained in certain quarters with regard to what some of these forms of training can accom- plish, and results are at times ascribed to them which are in fact due to other agencies. I have accord- ingly thought it advisable to examine in a little more detail than has yet been possible the exact nature of moral training with a view to a more definite deter- mination of the nature, the amount and the condi- tions of its effectiveness. Moral Loyalty Not the Product o£ Fear or Ap- probativeness. — According to a common concep- tion, moral training consists in putting a boy through* a set of activities, using fear or approba- tiveness, or motives of that sort, in the hope that these activities will become habitual and that he will thereupon perform them of himself. The analogy 139 140 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER in the mind of most persons, I suppose, is training to such semi-automatic performances as the proper handhng of knife and fork, erect carriage, or per- haps swimming. But as I have already insisted, our aim in moral education is to produce, not a series of outer actions, but the habit of giving control to cer- tain motives which we may call loyalty to the right. You can not create or strengthen such loyalty by habituating a boy to act from some other motive, any more than you can get him into the habit of wip- ing his feet when he comes into the house by train- ing him to put his food into his mouth with his fork. Your appeal to fear can at most (if it has any per- manent effect) tend to make him timid under the threat of penalty; the appeal to approbativeness, hungry for praise. Loyalty to right is indeed, like everything else, subject to the law of exercise : That which is unexpressed dies; that which is ex- pressed grows and becomes strong. But the very essence of the process lies in something which the boy must himself do and which you can not do for him — ^the choice which he makes of the right alternative in preference to the wrong. Since you can never compel him to do this, as you can, in a way, compel him to throw his shoulders back, the training of the will to do right by anybody but the person himself may be said to be, in a certain sense, an impossibility. There is, at bottom, no form of moral discipHne but self -discipline. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 141 Methods of Moral Training: (1) Leading the Horse to Water. — Does moral training, then, ac- complish nothing? This is not my conclusion. For one thing, much of what is commonly called moral training is in reality the use of another agency. Of this I shall speak later. But apart from this fact moral training, in the proper sense of the term, may produce results in four quite different ways. In the first place, we may lead the horse to water even if we can not make him drink. In other words, we can put opportunities in a boy's way. What some of these opportunities are was shown in Chap- ters V to X. In so far as he accepts them from the right motive, his character will be strengthened. On the other hand, in so far as he refuses to do so he will be the worse for the experience. In so far as he performs the outer act from motives less than the best his moral growth is not being furthered di- rectly. The indirect effects may be good or bad ac- cording to circumstances. In general the statement is true with regard to this kind of moral training which St. Paul made of the preaching of the gospel, it is a savor of life unto life or death unto death. (2) Developing Interest through Contact. — In the second place you can get a boy working for a city, or for some person in it, through the appeal to his approbativeness, or the desire to do what everybody else is doing, or what not. Then with the lapse of time, the results produced, if they are beforq 142 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER his eyes in their concreteness, may awaken a direct interest which will lead him to seek them for their own sake. Many years ago a young man entered settlement work with the intention of making it a mere passing incident in his life, and with the pur- pose of getting "experience," as he called it, to serve as the basis of a literary career. But the cramped circumstances and -sad and dreary content of the lives of the very poor appealed more and more strongly to him with ever-deepening acquaintance. With each successive year he found it increasingly difficult to turn away, until finally he deliberately dedicated himself to their cause. He is to-day one of the most devoted and successful workers for the poor in the United States. Why, asks Aristotle, do parents commonly love their children more than the children love their parents ? His answer is, because the parents are constantly working for their chil- dren. This is nature's reward for service, the en- richment of our lives by a new interest, and the in- terest is often the consequence rather than the cause of the work. (3) Curing Thoughtlessness. — In the third place much failure to meet the duties of one's station in life is due to thoughtlessness. As an illustration from school life, take what is constantly happening in a manual-training workshop. Here, at least at the beginning, the pupils are continually failing to return to their proper places -the tools which belong EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 143 to the class. They clamp two parts of a project to- gether, put it into their locker, and go away and leave it; whereupon, naturally, the next morning the clamps are missing from their place in the shop. Or they dull or nick one of the tools, with a result that there is a ridge on the board which their neigh- bor is planing where there should be a smooth sur- face. Or in staining a table they splash the color- ing material all over a book-case which some one else has just completed, necessitating hours of weary sandpapering. These things may be the result either of unwillingness to take trouble, that is, of self- ishness, or of the fact that they "didn't think." If the latter is the chief culprit, continual directions on the part of the teacher, together with the reasons therefor, may finally produce an association between taking things from their place and putting them back; and this association may be strengthened by unpleasant experiences of neglect to obey the rule on the part of other members of the class. It is also probable (though by no means certain, since we really know little about the subject) that the thought fulness created in this field may be trans- ferred to other departments of life. It must be noted in this connection, however, that while thought fulness is partly a mechanical process, the product of mere repetition, it is like every other associative train largely under the domination of interest. Some persons, for example, are always 144 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER forgetting their engagements, and they lay this misr fortune to their "poor memory." But such persons would not be likely to forget to attend the reading of a will when there was a good chance of their receiving a large share of a fortune. Poor memory is often nothing but lack of interest. Hence training of the kind here described will produce even so ele- mentary a thing as thought fulness for others — at least in any appreciable amount — only where there already exists genuine desire to save others from annoyances or disappointments, or loss or suffering. (4) Destroying Enemies and Strengthening Allies. — Building up habits of action in other persons may modify their character in still a fourth way. In the conflict within the soul, just as in war, victory turns on the relative strength of two factors, the attack and the defense. On the one side, in all genuinely moral action, is loyalty to the right. On the other are such things as laziness, the cravings which impel toward vice, dread of pain, fear of loss, the attractive power of pleasure, and much else. Now what you can do for a boy through the estab- lishment of a regime or mode of living for him is to increase or lessen the strength of the forces op- posed to loyalty. You can kill laziness, and, given time and certain native predispositions, replace it with a liking for work for its own sake ; you can in- crease or diminish the attractions of vice, the force of anger, the shrinking from pain, the fascination EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 145 of pleasure of whatever kind. Accordingly some- thing may be gained by demanding hard work, by subjecting a child to the hardening process, by pre- venting the expression of anger through whatever means. Similarly, certain environments with their temptations to laziness, vice, etc., develop and strengthen the susceptibility to the seductions of life so that only the strongest loyalty can prevail over them. The ordinary person, young or old, is not like a Dickens character, a marionette pulled by one string. In his best actions there usually enter other ele- ments besides loyalty to the right, impelling in the same direction. They are its allies, and may per- form the important functions of holding off the enemy while it gathers strength, and of saving it from destruction in the face of what, without them, would be overwhelming odds. In so far as we ini- tiate a regime or establish modes of activity which are favorable to the growth of these feelings and interests, we are accordingly at the same time fur- thering the development of the moral spirit. As one of many possible illustrations, take an im- portant by-product of manual training. If one is to succeed in the hard struggle of overcoming a deep-seated propensity, he must have a certain amount of self-confidence. One must have experi- enced the glow of success in some field to have the courage to fight out the battle where the opposition 146 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER is long-continued and powerful. The old-fashioned school tended to depress the spirits of many of its pupils — those, namely, who could not succeed in the one narrow line of endeavor then open to them. But hand work may operate to give confidence, spirit, and a first-hand acquaintanceship with the joys of success to those who can do good work only in the field of manual dexterity. In fact, this, in my opin- ion, is likely to be its most important contribution to moral education. Importance of Distinguishing between These Methods.: — Moral training, then, is a name for a large number of processes resting upon very dif- ferent psychological foundations. They may look alike to the superficial observer, as a college frater- nity and a high-school fraternity, or an adult's mind and a child's mind may look much alike to one who is not a teacher. If the exercise of intelligence is more likely to produce results than is "muddling through," it will be worth our while to get these dis- tinctions clearly before our minds. For guidance of action by intelligence means understanding the nature of the tools with which you work, in order that you may know how and when to employ each and precisely what you may expect of it. Many Effects Attributed to Training Really Due to Contact with Character. — That the four sets of results enumerated above are of the highest importance and well worth all the time and effort EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER U7, they can ever cost, goes without saying. That such results will fall far short of the claims made in their behalf by many of the enthusiasts for moral train- ing, is equally certain. Indeed they fall short of what seem to be the effects which observation shows to ensue upon their employment. The explanation of this situation is a simple one. It turns on the fact that what are ordinarily regarded as the fruits of moral training are in reality, to a large extent, the product of another and quite different agency, namely, the direct influence of one living personality upon another. When you are engaged in training even to outer modes of action and by means of the most external motives, as when you punish a child for coming into the house without wiping his feet, you are placing before him standards of con- duct which he indeed will have either to accept or reject for himself, but which will be powerfully recommended to him, provided he loves you or at least respects you, by your manifest approbation, and I may add, by your own obedience to them. Furthermore, when you seek to train through the establishment among your pupils of such systems of service as are described in the preceding chapter, you, the teacher, must be in constant contact with your pupils, and your life must touch theirs at a con- siderable number of points. This personal contact with an earnest worker in the world's service is per- haps the most effective single element in these activ- 148 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ities. If so, the greatest factor in the modes of moral education we have been studying is the per- sonaHty of the teacher, and their most significant achievement, the creation and maintenance of chan- nels through which the influences normally flowing from personality may pass unimpeded to the young soul ready to receive them. If any one wishes to class this agency as a form of moral training, there is no law on the statute books to prevent him from doing so. The Relative Effectiveness of the Different Agencies for Moral Training. — The examination just concluded should be of some help in determin- ing the relative value of the different forms of training described in the preceding chapters. If it be asked which is the most effective, the partial an- swer is : That which the teacher or principal, be- cause of his interests, tastes, or special aptitudes, can administer best. But if the question be asked in abstraction from this consideration, I reply that beginning with the discipline of the school I have arranged them in what I regard as, very roughly, the order of ascending value. The traditional dis- cipline of the school may stiffen the moral backbone and harden the moral muscle, particularly where the pupil himself is led to see and realize the awful penalties laid by nature upon flabbiness of will, the beneficence and splendor of moral power. Pupil government seems to me in itself considered a dis- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 149 tinctly valuable device. But it can find a place, as far as I can see, only in a school in which the staff have not succeeded by other means in inspiring the pupils with the ideal of Individual self-government. Mutual aid in the class room In all its forms seems to me calculated to cultivate habits of thought fulness concerning the interests of others; beyond this it appears to be capable at most of developing a will- ingness to do inexpensive favors for one's compan- ions. The service of the school excels mutual aid in class work as an instrumentality of moral train- ing chiefly in that it is practically free from the limitations and dangers of the latter. But it should not be forgotten that both alike hold up before the pupil an ideal of life in a harmonious community governed by the spirit of cooperation. This ideal may so lay hold of the affections of some of the pupils that they will later seek to realize it also un- der conditions which present greater resistance to its rule. The organization of extra-curricular ac- ' tivlties as described in Chapter IX seems to me al- , most indispensable In the high school under most contemporary conditions, if for no other reason than its power to thrust out a group of serious and threatening evils. It employs, more than all the other methods, the personality of the teacher. Hence its efficacy depends largely upon the tact, judgment and character of those who occupy the position of ad- visers. The methods of Chapter X seem to me, as 150 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER I have already said, intrinsically the most effective. The reasons are, first, that the activities in question represent work rather than play and accordingly offer more abundant and varied opportunities of making serious sacrifices of personal inclination in behalf of a chosen course than do their rivals. Fur- thermore, the results achieved, at least in such towns as Two Rivers, are more important than those flowing from any of the other modes of activity, and are recognized as more important, I believe, by the pupils themselves. Finally the momentum acquired can be transferred without loss to the civic and per- haps other activities of adult life. One more word remains to be said to the prin- cipal who is considering which of these various plans he shall adopt and introduce. We were taught in our arithmetic classes that one and one are al- ways two. No theory could be more repugnant to experience. In the field of moral training — as in many other regions of space — one and one are ap- proximately four, as far as effects are concerned, while one and one and one are at least ten. In other words, any one method is good, but two combined will give results far exceeding in significance the sum of each taken alone. The fight for character is a hard one. We should start with whatever weapon lies nearest our hands, but we should add to our equipment as opportunity permits, in the con- fidence bom of the experience of all the great teach- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 151 ers that victory is a matter of energy and prepared- ness. The Necessity of Moral Instruction. — In our study of the instrumentahties for awakening and strengthening the moral spirit we have given first place in order of importance to the personal influ- ence of the high-minded teacher. But we have rec- ognized that it is subject to a number of serious lim- itations. Moral training in its turn, as we have seen, also has definite limitations of its own. I believe, therefore, that these agencies must be supplemented by another if results are to be obtained commensu- rate with the needs of the times. This I shall call moral instruction, inadequate as is the term instruc- tion to express what I have in mind. It will supply the subject-matter of the following chapters. My conclusions concerning the insufficiency of personal influence and moral training are confirmed by the attitude of representative Englishmen toward the moral situation in the English schools, especially the great endowed academies preparatory to the universities, which are called public schools. Since the time of Arnold a system has been in existence whereby the teachers come into somewhat intimate personal contact with the pupils. Pupil government has been introduced, and the .extra-curricular activi- ties have been organized in such a way as to supply certain forms of moral training. In other words, murh; though not all, of the program here presented 152 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER has been actually in force there for more than half a century, administered by teachers who represent as a whole a high average of intelligence and character, and who possess the best education that England can give. Great results have been obtained. Indeed, great results were necessary, for the English "pub- lic schools" of the first half of the nineteenth cen- tury were, according to the descriptions of those who knew them at first hand, hotbeds of vice and of many other equally serious forms of moral evil. "There are differences of opinion," writes Mr. Bompas Smith,* "as to some of the details of the system, but it is inconceivable that it should ever be abandoned. It has revolutionized the atmosphere of the schools in which it has been adopted. At the beginning of the nineteenth century complaint was often made that the public schools neglected the moral side of education, whereas at present they are generally regarded as especially successful in this department of their work." Notwithstanding this testimony, a large number of British observers (including Mr. Smith), men who have themselves studied at these schools, agree in regarding the existing situation as very far from satisfactory. After leaving school the boys are apt to show a lack of moral self-reliance. Many of them have not developed the power or even the de- * Sadler, Moral Instruction and Training in the Schools^ vol. 1, ch. xii. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 153 sire to walk alone ; and this means in too many cases not merely lack of moral initiative, but also lack of moral purpose. In the second place* all too often, with the removal to another environment, whether in the vacation or after graduation, even the vir- tues which seemed to have become automatic sud- denly break down. "I know many a boy who will take a bad 'hack' on the shins (is there any pain more thrilling?) in a foot-ball match as though for him pain did not exist, and yet who would not hesi- tate to make his whole family uncomfortable in the holidays if he has a headache."'^ It is a more seri- ous example of the same principle that (as is on every hand asserted) when- the graduate faces new sets of responsibilities, as the duties of his vocation or those of citizenship, his school life appears to have contributed little toward the creation of the spirit with which these obligations should be met. In the language of the theory of education there has been little or no transfer of training. In con- sequence of a rather wide-spread recognition of these deficiencies English public-school teachers are in considerable numbers changing their attitude to- ward moral instruction, and while insisting as they should that the present system of training be main- tained, are also ready to admit that it should be sup- plemented by some form of moral instruction. Amer- ican schools which rely solely upon moral training * Ennis Richmond, Through Boyhood to Manhood, p. 21. 154 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER will, I believe, ere long find themselves traveling the same road. In the very nature of the case, as will I hope be made to appear, moral training can reach the maximum of effectiveness only as the habits it seeks to produce are guided by intelligence and ren- dered virile by an affection which is based upon in- sight. To clarify conduct by intelligence is precisely the function of moral instruction. Note. On the methods of moral training employed in the English public schools see H. Bompas Smith in Sadler, Moral Instruction and Training in Schools, vol. 1, ch. xii ; J. J. Find- lay in School Review, vol. 15, pp. 744-753; vol. 16, pp. 601- 608. On the amount of success attained by these public schools in training character see the opinions of the follow- ing eminent British authorities : H. Bompas Smith in Sadler, as above ; M. E. Sadler, in his Report of the First Interna- tional Moral Education Congress, published in International Journal of Ethics, vol. 19, pp. 164-8 (1909) ; A. J. Pressland, English Public Schools as a Training Ground of Citizenship, Educational Review, vol. 40, p. 499 (1910) ; Ennis Richmond, in Through Boyhood to Manhood (1900), pp. 13 to 28; H. Lionel Rogers in Norwood and Hope, The Higher Education of Boys in England (1909), p. 528. Part III: Moral Instruction CHAPTER XII AIMS OF MORAL INSTRUCTION Moral training, as we saw in an earlier chapter, is definable as the education or nurture of character through activity. Moral instruction, in its turn, is definable as the nurture of character through the agency of ideas. The definition makes the distinc- tion between training .and instruction somewhat more absolute than it actually is. For the only form of activity that has any moral value whatever is voluntary action. Instinctive action (in the narrow and proper sense of that scandalously misused term), i. e., action not determined by thought, as winking when some one pokes his finger at your eye, starting at a sound, and sneezing, has no moral significance whatever. But voluntary action is ac- tion- guided by the idea of some end to be attained, whether it be of an end so simple as cooling the room or so complex as the decision to go to college* In moral training, then, ideas play a leading role as truly as in moral instruction. Wherein, then, lies the difference? The difference is not an ab- solute one, but is rather a matter of emphasis. In moral instruction the chief purpose is to supply sat- 155 156 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER isfactory ideas which may serve to produce action; in moral training the chief purpose is to see to it that the ideas actually produce the corresponding actions. The two modes of moral education are therefore merely two different parts of what in es- sence is a single process. The statements of Chapter XIII will still further obliterate the distinction be- tween them. We have been able to proceed thus far without a systematic view of the ends of moral education. We can not deal effectively with moral instruction, however, as long as we have no better foundation upon which to build than the ordinary vague ideas as to what we mean to accomplish. We proceed therefore to a survey of the leading aims of moral education. The Principal Aims of Moral Training and In- struction. — The most general aims of moral in- struction and of moral training are at bottom iden- tical. They are found in the consideration of what constitutes a good man or what conditions must be fulfilled by a good action. The factors which enter into right conduct are three in number. Right do- ing involves, in the first place, knowledge of what is the right course of action to pursue under the given circumstances. If the person is to be de- pended upon to do right continuously he must pos- sess the power to discover, and not merely this, also the habit of attempting to discover what he EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 157 ought or ought not to do in the various situations in which he may find himself. Right doing involves, in the second place, the desire to do right — what is commonly called the love of the right. Finally it involves the existence of an open road between de- sire and action. Desire represents a tendency to action, but does not insure action. We see this ex- emplified in the sentimentalist. He is not a hypo- crite, as he is often falsely regarded. He is one who really feels strongly the dignity and glory of the moral life, and the needs of his fellow men. The trouble with him is he does not act in accord- ance with his feelings. He may be restrained by laziness, cowardice, selfishness or other forces. Whatever they are they paralyze the love of the right without destroying it. The "open road" re- ferred to above means, then, the absence of oppos- ing forces, and where needed, the presence of fa- voring conditions. Of the latter the most important, though by no means the only one, is the existence of the corresponding habit. These three factors represent the fundamental aims of all moral educa- tion. We must seek to develop the power and the habit of moral discrimination, to strengthen the love of the right, and to maintain and enlarge the open road between feeling and action. The Need for More Knowledge of What Is Right. — The knowledge of what we ought to do under given circumstances is, as we have just seen. 158 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the first item in a program of moral education. Such knowledge has indeed been declared by some writers to be useless because it does not "guarantee" right conduct. One might as well say that attention to the water supply is a waste of time because it does not guarantee immunity from typhoid fever. The blind are not good marksmen. Accordingly the equipment of the young with some knowledge of their duties, that is to say, of the ends at which they ought to aim in every-day living, must be an important part of preparation for life. All pupils will of course know without help from their teach- ers that murder and theft as such are wrong. But there are many forms of murder and theft which are by no means invariably recognized when seen. When a manufacturer refuses to guard dangerous machin- ery, or a railroad refuses to equip its cars with automatic couplers until compelled to do so by law, on the ground that it is cheaper to pay damages for life and limb than to install protective devices ; when a manufacturer puts certain adulterants into foods or drugs; when a mine or building inspector neg- lects to enforce the laws enacted for the safety of those he is sworn to protect — each of these parties is in essence guilty of murder. When a private cit- izen dodges his share of the burden of taxation, when a newspaper owner accepts advertisements known by him to be fraudulent, he is acting the thief. Yet these things apparently are not infre- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 159 quently done with a clear conscience. How far moral blindness may extend in the most obvious matters is sufficiently illustrated by the following incident. A friend of mine once rode for a couple of hours in a train with the representative of a certain firm who regaled him with stories of how he obtained business. The means principally used were the brib- ery both of public officials and of private persons who were able to influence public opinion; and the gamut of his devices included almost every conceiv- able kind of trickery. When they separated this apparently conscienceless individual said to my friend : "Oh ! is a splendid firm to work for; they have always treated me white, and they have never asked me to do anything wrong." This man, evidently, had his own standards, after all. He was simply a moral illiterate. Many of these men can be awakened to better things, for just such an awak- ening has been taking place on a large scale among American business men during the past ten or fif- teen years. Sometimes the source of trouble is not moral ob- tuseness at all, but thoughtlessness. From the life of the family to that of the state a large number of sins, both of omission and commission, are at- tributable to this cause. In a lively book entitled 'Astir, Mr. J. A. Thayer, at one time owner of Everybody's Ma-gazine, tells how he moved Collier's 160 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Weekly to drive fraudulent advertisements from its columns. As advertising manager, first of the La- dies' Home Journal, and then of the Delineator, he himself had served as a pioneer in this movement. During his connection with the Delineator he wrote, under the name of a friend, the following letter to Mr. Collier : "I see Collier's every week, and I find in it patent medicine and other advertisements which the Ladies' Home Journal and the Delineator do not insert. Why do you accept such advertising? I am sure you do not need the money." In a very short time he received the following reply from Mr. Robert Collier himself. "Upon receipt of your letter I called our advertising staff together and we have decided, as soon as certain contracts are completed, to discontinue the insertion of such advertising."* Needless to say the promise was kept. Not merely this, the suggestion thus dropped led to one of the most vigorous and thorough campaigns against the patent medicine evil ever undertaken in this country. The last thing any one would call Mr. Collier is a moral illiterate. He was simply a very busy man who followed a business custom of his day with- out any thought about the moral issues involved. Not infrequently even the most intelligent, high- minded and thoughtful find themselves perplexed by the novelty or complexity of the moral problems which face them, whether in their own individual * J. A. Thayer, Astir, A Publisher's Life Story, p. 205. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 161 life or in their capacity as citizens. Here, for ex- ample, are a number of brick makers in a certain territory who are facing bankruptcy because it seems impossible to eliminate "cut-throat competition." Are they justified in forming an association to main- tain prices and destroy competition? If this seems easy to an arm-chair moralist let him reflect upon the fact that able and conscientious men are at odds about the permissibility of cut-throat competition itself (i. e., selling below cost in order to drive out a rival), and those forms of grappling your cus- tomer to your soul with hoops of steel that are known as factors' agreements.* In the field of national life we find thoughtful and patriotic men diflfering radically in their attitude toward such problems as the regulation of the hours of labor and wages by law, compensation for industrial ac- cidents, woman's suffrage, and the independence of the Philippines, and differing not merely with refer- ence to questions of means and machinery, but also with regard to the fundamental moral principles in- volved. Differences of ethical opinion just as well grounded, and — for them — just as vital, appear far from infrequently in the individual and community lives of schoolboys and schoolgirls. In view of all these facts, one fundamental aim of moral instruc- * Contrast G. H. Montague in Atlantic Monthly, vol. 95, p. 414 (1905), with W. S. Stevens in the Political Science Quar- terly for June and September, 1914. 162 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tion must be to reduce the amount of moral illit- eracy, moral thoughtlessness and justifiable moral perplexity. How to Strengthen the Desire to Do Right. — Mere knowledge, however, is not sufficient for the production of right action. Knowledge of the right is in itself nothing unless beneath it there lies the desire to do right, or as it is commonly called, the love of the right. This can be developed in pre- cisely the same way as the love of literature or art. The teacher of English awakens or strengthens the love for Shakespeare, for example, not by praise. Praise of literature, whether in the abstract or con- crete (I speak from experience as a victim), is at first (under the most favorable circumstances) merely amusing, then boring, finally disgusting. Exhortation to love it is useless if you already love, and leaves you cold if you do not. The love of literature is created by criticism in the proper sense of that term, that is, by guiding the student in a critical examination which will bring into view the excellences of style, of character drawing, or what- ever they may be, which would otherwise have es- caped the attention of the untrained and perhaps hasty reader. Appreciation follows normally upon seeing, and can be developed only by training to see. It is not otherwise in the field of morals. Most of us go through life, except at rare intervals, some- what like somnambulists. We are only half awake EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 163 to what we are really doing. If we but saw, or at all events realized, what issues hung upon our con- duct, how would the spirit which leaps forth at a shipwreck, a fire, or in a battle or similar dramatic event, take possession of the will in the ordinary affairs of life ! In the great crises, where the stakes are life and death, the scales seem to fall from our eyes, we see things for the moment as they are, and meet at whatever cost the demands of the sit- uation. **Spirits are not finely touched but to fine issues." To lead our pupils to love the right is to train them to see in the often commonplace duties of the commonplace day the illimitable issues by which they are ennobled. Training and Instruction in Acquiring Self- Control.- — The man who does his duty is not merely one who knows what is right and desires to do it ; he is one in whom desire or love has passed over into action. This is something which, as was pointed out above, does not necessarily happen. The most effective means of breaking down the barrier between desire and action is of course through ac- tion itself. But this information is no solution of the problem for us in our capacity as teachers. For the problem of moral education is : How can I, the teacher, help another human being, my pupil, to pass from one state to the other? What we can do by providing opportunities in the way of training has already been described at length. What must now 164 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER be noted is that moral instruction also can contribute to the solution of the problem by supplying what we may call a theory of self-control. In the con- flict with temptation we are aided by our knowledge of how to handle ourselves just as truly as we are in any other exigency of life. We learn to box chiefly by boxing. But not entirely. We need a teacher also to show us how to strike and guard most effectively. Even for war there is a West Point. The Second of These Ends Is the Most Im- portant. — Moral instruction, then, has before it a threefold end. The first is knowledge of what is right and wrong under the various conditions which life may present. The second is desire to do right, due to an insight into the reasons for do- ing right. The last is knowledge of how to handle our character so that as life proceeds what is best in us may grow stronger and what is worst, ever weaker. Of these three ends the second is the most im- portant. It is also by far the most comprehensive, inasmuch as the insight which its accomplishment presupposes is the chief factor in attaining the other two. Furthermore, as will appear in its place, it is the only aim common to all kinds of moral in- struction. We shall therefore proceed to examine it in detail. As a necessary preliminary we shall EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 165 first attempt to discover what the nature of the moral Hfe is. The Nature of the Moral Life. — Morality, as we have already seen, consists in the control of our actions by a certain spirit. It is a matter of motive or aim rather than of external action. This does not mean, as was shown in Chapter V, and indeed, in the paragraphs immediately above, that it con- sists in the mere presence of a *' feeling within the breast." On the contrary, it may involve a mini- mum of feeling. Some of the most arduous resolves are put through when there is behind them prac- tically no felt emotion whatever. The act is done "in cold blood." Again it does not mean that the morality of an action has nothing to do with re- sults. On the contrary, the very essence of morality is responsibility for results which one has knowingly produced by his actions. Against any such anarchi- cal notions as these we may set the definition of morality as "a determined effort to bring about a good result." The laws of morality are at once the laws of social welfare and of perfection of individual char- acter. Murder, theft, breach of contract, lying, dis- obedience to law, injustice, and the rest — these rep- resent injuries done to individuals and ordinarily also to the community as a whole. Carelessness, laziness, want of pity, want of public spirit, these 166 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER and their like mean failure to produce good results in the lives of others, to make them happier and better. Morality, in this aspect, is service. Such service on the other hand means a character in which strength of will, unity and harmony of purpose, un- sullied purity, and deep and tender sympathies have united to form the noblest work of art which it lies in the power of man to create. Marcus Aurelius bids us "stand firm like a rock, against which though the waves batter, yet it remains unmoved, and they fall to rest at last." The Roman Emperor, like our own Lincoln, is a finer spectacle than the sea-girt cliff of which he thinks, as we behold him unmoved though not untouched amid the storms of adversity which one after another swept over his empire and which sank to rest, for him, only with his death. Marcus Aurelius played a great role on the world's stage. But in the commonplace every-day world about us live men and women of whom we might write as one has written of the mother of a class- mate : "When I think of her, it gives me a sense of awe like the feeling we have when looking at the stars or into the mysteries of life through the micro- scope." This aspect of character is sometimes over- looked in the case of those whom we personally know. We see such a life very much as the insect sees the statue upon which it crawls. But whenever we step back and view it as a whole we become sen- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 167 sible that character is valuable not merely for what it does but also for what it is. These two aspects of character must not be thought of as two independent things. On the con- trary they are as intimately related as the inside and the outside of a bowl. For nobility of character is attained only through unselfish service, while un- selfish service in its turn has its source in traits of character which evoke direct admiration, as strength and sensitiveness, depth and richness, purity and harmony of nature. While they thus form an or- ganic unity nevertheless each aspect appeals to its own set of motives. The one leads us to say: "Ich dien" ; the other : "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul. As the swift seasons roll!" In some happy persons these two groups are fused to form an indistinguishable whole. There are others, however, in whom the one or the other ideal strongly predominates. Thus you may hear one man say, and not untruthfully : 'T have no great in- terest in the welfare of other people; what I want is to keep myself clean." His neighbor, on the other hand, may be so completely absorbed in the service of his fellow men that he forgets all about the come- liness of his own character. Indeed, appeals to that consideration may strike him as so secondary in im- portance as to produce in him a certain impatience. 168 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Evidently, then, each aspect of the moral life is so far distinct from the other that the corresponding motives must be developed each by its own special set of agencies. The Desire to Serve Can Be Strengthened through (1) the Discovery of the Effects of Our Conduct. — The desire to serve can be aroused, strengthened and steadied primarily by leading the pupils to see what differences it makes in the lives of other human beings whether he does right or wrong. We accomplish this by teaching him to use the category of cause and effect. This means, train- ing him in the habit of asking and the power to an- swer the question : What would be, in the immedi- ate and in the more remote future, the direct and the indirect effects of acting in this way or in that, upon the happiness and character of other persons? Such knowledge does not come of itself. In the main we see only what' we are looking for. Ask your friends whether the numerals on the dials of their watches are Arabic or Roman. In two cases out of three they will be unable to tell you. They have never thought to ask themselves this question. Thus it comes about that most of us have to be trained to observe, and this training consists largely (though not exclusively) in learning what questions to ask. What is here proposed, then, is to set before our pu- pils various concrete situations in life, and train th^m to ask, and answer, such questipns concerning EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 169 them as will open their eyes to the results of meeting the situations in the right and the wrong way. Abundant illustrations of what is meant will be sup- plied in the following chapters. (2) The Development of the Power to Realize These Effects. — This procedure, however, may lead to nothing better than an abstract awareness that may not possess sufficient force to move the will. Everybody in the United States knows there is an immense mass of suffering in Europe to-day. Those who are impelled to do what little they can to alleviate some part of it are, in the majority of in- stances, those who have read or heard enough about the human side of the conflict — what it means to the individuals engaged in it and to its victims outside of the army — to have the phrase * 'horrors of war" amount to at least a little more for them than a mere combination of sounds. They obey the Golden Rule, in part at least, because they can in imagina- tion put themselves in the place of others. This is the partial explanation also of our interest In our children, including, be it observed, our adopted chil- dren. Compared with our interest in other people's children how deep and gripping it is! We live with them in their troubles with their arithme- tic, their ambitions in the matter of baseball, their dislike for clean clothes, their throbbing emotions on circus day. All these things in them are not ab- stractions to us, but rather concrete, living realities, 170 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER continuously or at all events repeatedly before our mental eye. And so we care. It is not otherwise with regard tCK what we call our own interests. If my desire for a new rug is stronger than my desire to relieve the sufferings of the war victims in Eu- rope, a partial explanation at any rate is to be found in the fact that I can see just where the rug would He, what bare space it would cover, how it would liven up and furnish this particular room, and can distinctly picture with what feelings I and the other adult members of my family will hereafter look at the room — whereas the sufferings of the people in Europe may be a phrase that does not call up a sin- gle definite idea.''" Knowledge, then, has — roughly speaking — power to produce action in proportion as it represents its object with a vividness akin to reality. Accordingly the most effective device conceivable to make us realize what we are doing would be to compel us to see the effects of our good and evil deeds with our own eyes. "If we all ate at the same table," says Robert Louis Stevenson, "no one would be allowed to starve." The most serious feature of modern business life is, as has been pointed out by Pro- fessor Ross, that the oppressor and the murderer do not know or see their victims. The next best means is to picture the situation in the light of the recollec- tion of our own past experience. The boy guilty of * Cf. James, Principles of Psychology, vol. 1, pp. 317-327. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 171 petty thieving whose carefully watched watermelon, growing in the school garden, was stolen the night before he was to have picked it, learned by that ex- perience what loss by theft means, and as a result ceased from that moment his depredations. Hence breadth and variety of experience, if preserved by a retentive memory, are among the most potent in- strumentalities of moral instruction. Where neither of these agencies is available we must depend upon the power and the habit of imaging faithfully, com- pletely and vividly, the effects in other lives of one's actions and one's refusals to act. This pow6r, of course, can be developed only by exercise, and can be developed to the best advantage only by exercise under skilful guidance. Again the following chap- ters will supply the necessary illustrations. (3) The Development o£ a Spirit of Hopeful- ness. — If we are to serve others at the cost of personal sacrifice, we must believe that our actions are of some real value to them; we must believe, in other words, in the possibility of success in service. In many cases the outcome of the proposed action in behalf of another is perfectly obvious. In many others the outcome is a matter of guessing, and which way we guess will depend largely upon our entire attitude toward Jife. It thus becomes of great importance to create in our pupils what may be called the melioristic creed. This means the belief that the race has to a large extent its fate in its own 172 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER hands, and life can therefore be made better worth while than it otherwise would be or rendered more bitter than death by human actions. The conception of human progress, some definite notions of the causes which have produced it in the past and may be trusted to produce it in the future, are thus a very important equipment for the moral life. Without such ideas there may be conscientiousness, but there is likely to be little enthusiasm ; and, as we have in- sisted once before, "No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic." To summarize what has been said on this subject thus far : Morality is an attempt to bring into ex- istence values, in other words, experiences that are worth having; the fundamental condition of the de- sire to do right, accordingly, is a realizing sense of the values at stake, accompanied by the belief that they can be attained, whether in whole or in part, by our efforts. (4) Increased Respect or Admiration for Our Fellow Men. — For the average man or woman it is usually not sufficient to know and realize the value of the services which he can perform for his fellows. He must hold the prospective recipient worthy of the service. The majority of people will under ordinary circumstances make sacrifices for no one except moral Phi Beta Kappas. Altruism, in other words, appears in their conduct only when it has been awakened by admiration. The question EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 173 whether John Howard was justified in devoting his Hfe to prison reform at the cost of the welfare of his son was answered in the negative by a young woman with this significant reservation: "If the prisoners had been good men it would have been different." Indeed, many persons carry this principle still far- ther. They consider themselves quite justified in turning their backs upon every demand of morality where those whom they dislike are concerned. Most young children, for example, think it right to lie to the teacher if she is "sassy" or otherwise objection- able. A twelve-year-old boy succinctly stated the principle in this form : "It's mean to hit a dog, but Fd hit a cat every time." This feature of human na- ture is far from being confined to childhood. It is true that those In whom the enthusiasm of humanity is strong will not pause to investigate the moral status of those whom they believe they can benefit. We are not told that Howard, for instance, was under any illusion as to the actual character of the men and women for whom he lived and died. Nev- ertheless that belief in the dignity and nobility of the human race which is essential to the existence of a broad altruism in some persons is favorable to its healthy growth in all, and should, therefore, be care- fully fostered. With this end in view we may study the live^ of the moral leaders of the race. The young man who knows something of the vain efforts made to bribe 174 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Franklin, Washington, and the other American patriots in the early years of the American Revo- lution is safe from the doctrine that every man has his price. He who is familiar with the career of W. H. Baldwin, Jr., will not be tempted to believe that all high endeavor belongs to a remote past.* And the qualities which inspire reverence in the lead- ers he must be taught to discover in the apparently commonplace men and women about him. He must know of the teacher, for instance, who denied himself everything beyond the barest necessities of life that a younger brother might be educated; of the forewoman in a burning building who lost her life in saving the girls under her charge. Nor can we stop here. He must become acquainted with those paradoxes of the moral life, which if they are the despair are also the hope of the reformer; such cases as that of the manufacturer who at the very time that he is grinding down the helpless women in his employment is giving up amusements, the society of friends, personal pleasures and comforts, and the very wealth gained by his oppression in his devotion to an invalid wife. Finally we should ex- hibit the power of the material and social environ- ment to destroy or to stunt the growth of the germs of high aspiration and noble endeavor, so that he may see, if not in all, yet in the vast majority of his * See An American Cithen; the Life of W. H. Baldwin, Jr., by John Graham Brooks. Houghton Mifflin, 1910. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 175 fellow beings the undeveloped potentialities of the courage, strength and devotion that bear their per- fect fruit in the life of the hero and the saint. For examples of such tragedies he will not have to go to the works of George Eliot. All about us are Silas Marners, as hard, as bitter as he was before the storm and the winter's cold laid the little child at his door. It is not so much what man is as what he has it in him to become that will be, for most of our pupils, the source of moral inspiration. (5) The Recognition of the Claims o£ Grati- tude. — Closely akin to the influence of admira- tion upon altruism is that of gratitude. Moral in- struction may open the ears of our pupils to its claims by enabling them to hear its call when they might otherwise be deaf to it. "The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones." This is not the worst of the matter. The good done to us by others is often buried in forget fulness the day after the benefit, while an injury may rankle in our memory for years. Thus it comes about that a single wrong done us by a friend or acquaintance may blind us to a hundred past services. Moral in- struction can and should train us to see life steadily and see it whole in this as in all other aspects. Certain of the greatest services of which we are 176 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the beneficiaries we habitually ignore, indeed are often ignorant of. I mean those services, sometimes purchased by the extreme of sacrifice, which have created some part of our material civilization and the greater proportion of the social institutions and cultural values under which we live. Public spirit, and national and race patriotism will be awakened by showing what has been done in the past, what is be- ing done to-day, always by honest and faithful labor, often with no thought and sometimes no possibility of requital, to create the best elements in the life of America and the life of the world. Thus when a man has been educated at the cost of great sacrifices on the part of his father, he will feel doubly bound to make similar sacrifices in turn, if necessary, in order to educate his own children. Looked at from this point of view, social service becomes a matter of justice, in other words a point of honor for one who is unwilling to live as a mere sponge. The Existence in Every Normal Human Being of the Desire to Serve. — The belief that results will follow such studies of life as have just been suggested rests upon the conviction that the social spirit is present in greater or less fulness in every normal human being. For we can do nothing to develop ideals unless their germs, or at least their potentialities, are present at the outset. The teacher can no more make something out of nothing than can the farmer. As has already been said, the work EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 177 of such men as William George in the United States, of Arnold and Barnardo in England, shows how much of good may lie hidden in the most unprom- ising material. A generation ago criminal psychol- ogy made much of the conception of the "moral imbecile." He was defined as a being who displayed not even the most elementary capacity for moral feeling, so that he could commit the most horrible crimes imaginable without scruple and look back upon them without remorse. The conception still remains. But recent investigators seem to have shown that the "moral imbecile" is in every case also distinctly subnormal intellectually. If this view is correct a perfectly definite signification can be at- tached to the word normal as used above. It means one capable intellectually of carrying on the work of the school. It includes every one, therefore, who has any business to be in your class. A view indeed exists according to which children of elementary-school age, or at least of the earlier grades, are still in the stage of moral imbecility. This means among other things that they are through and through egoistic, and egoistic in a very crass and short-sighted way. Children undoubtedly differ as truly as do men and women. But the state- ment that the normal child of six to twelve years of age is nothing but a mass of crass, short-range ego- ism is through and through false. Observe the chil- dren themselves at first hand, having freed your 178 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER mind from all "culture epoch" hypotheses and simi- lar products of speculation. Or examine the various studies of children's moral ideas made by Earl Barnes and his collaborators. You will discover there not a developed (of course) but a developing moral life. In the lower grades you will find a being who is interested chiefly in the here and the now, that which he can see, that which he can realize because its exact duplicate has taken place recently in his experience and has been remembered. He is not greatly interested in famines in China or the progress of democracy. He is not even much inter- ested in his own remote future. Offer him his choice between a ticket for the circus to-morrow and a beautiful gold watch when he is twenty-one and any- body can predict the outcome. But this same boy may be very willing to submit to real deprivations for the benefit of his mother, or to share his candy with his little sister. A kindly spirit toward (cer- tain) animals can be cultivated in him without diffi- culty even before school age. The beginnings of pity, gratitude, loyalty, the desire to be trusted and to be trustworthy, and a sense of fairness are de- monstrable by the fifth year. By this time have appeared also the faint beginnings of the power to deny himself the indulgence of to-day for the sake of the greater good of to-morrow (not next week). These capacities display themselves, indeed, sporad- ically rather than continuously. They are for a long EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 179 time weak, precisely as his intellect, and for that matter his muscles, are weak. But by the time school age is reached standards, however inadequate and narrow in range, and voluntary obedience to stand- ards, are an absolutely unmistakable feature of the great majority of these young lives. The contrary view is the product not of unbiased observation but of a piece of psychological specula- tion known as the culture epoch theory. I do not mean to discuss this now all but universally aban- doned generalization. It is regarded by practically all authorities as a flimsy structure, built hastily and carelessly upon the foundation of a small number of undeniable biological facts and some very shaky ethnography. Whatever truths it may ultimately prove to contain, this is certain to-day. It suffers from so many and so important exceptions that it is a worse than useless guide to observation. The facts of child development must be learned from the direct observation of children and from it alone. I am perfectly willing to leave my contention to the arbitrament of that court. Awakening the Desire for Excellence of Char- acter. — The moral life has, as we have seen, an- other aspect besides service. It involves excellence of personal character. To strengthen the love for right action, then, is, in the second place, to bring home to the mind its direct attractiveness, those characteristics in virtue of which it arouses admira- 180 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tion. Many of these characteristics are universal in their appeal, awakening a response in the young when recognized, as certainly as among the old. Foremost among them comes strength or power. When it is seen for what it really is, moral power arouses admiration as directly and unreservedly as do physical and intellectual power. The first form, ordinarily, which makes a definite appeal to a child is physical courage, then perhaps the strength in- volved in faithfulness to a leader under trying cirr cumstances, after that the strength that is not in- frequently demanded by loyalty to a cause (as the honor of one's school), then control over temper or kindred passions, patience, perseverance, still later the control of the appetites, finally moral courage and the higher forms of self-control. As one part of the picture unrolls after the other the fact will gradually dawn upon him that the genuinely good boy is not a spiritless, craven, imimaginative and dull creature as a widely-held tradition conceives him, but a being with plenty of red blood, with strong impulses, desires, and even passions, but one possessed of sufficient will power to keep each in its proper place so that the boy himself, not they, deter- mines his conduct. When he has discovered this fact he will know something which has been for- ever hidden from thousands of the followers of the drug-crazed Nietzsche. But there are other aspects of character that are EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 181 also capable of appealing to the admirations of a boy. If not confused by suggestions of what he re- gards as sentimentality he admires directly and for its own sake the spirit which prompts to service, especially certain forms of it in their concrete mani- festations, more particularly loyalty to leader or comrades (apart from the strength of will that it may under certain circumstances require). He ad- mires always the spirit of fair play; under some cir- cumstances, generosity, mercy and the like. The function of the teacher is to present these things with such fidelity to truth and with such con- creteness that they will be seen in their native at- tractiveness, so that emulation may follow upon admiration, and the striving for the attainment of the highest goods of character may become an inte- gral part of daily life. The Portrayal of Evil in Moral Instruction. — "We live by admiration, hope, and love," writes Wordsworth. These it is that give life — for us adults at least — most of its value. These it is that give to the will much of its vigor — but by no means all. Hatred of evil and the fear of its ravages may also be a tremendously powerful spring of action. In the battle for moral progress we can not afford to throw away any form of motive power. Evil is a fact. You can not describe life fairly without it. Indeed, you can not develop a full appreciation of the good except as it is made to appear in contrast 182 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER with the bad. For these reasons the teacher will not, as a rule, try to push entirely to one side or turn the attention entirely away from the ugly side of the ways of man. The lower school grades may well form an exception to this statement. And the reve- lation of the repulsiveness of disloyalty, baseness, vice, cowardice, falseness and cruelty should be made gradually. But it should be made, the teacher always keeping somewhat close to the actual experiences of the developing child. As the pupil's mind grows more mature, a realizing sense of the danger of con- tamination from these ugly things, and the purpose to allow them to form no part of his character — what is commonly called the motive of self-respect — must be cultivated, by the side of the desire for strength and harmony and charm of character. The Claims of Egoism. — There have been writers on ethics who have held that morality con- sists in the service of others only. We have just seen that this attempt to separate the interests of self and others breaks down, that one can not serve others without growing in strength, purity, and beauty of character. If this is a necessary aspect of the life of service, the desire to possess a better character rather than a worse can not be regarded as some- thing foreign to morality. But the world of every- day men and women has always held, and the ethical authorities agree with them to-day, that a man has a duty to himself, as well as to his neighbor; and EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 183 that his duty is not merely a duty to seek the good things of character but also to satisfy his other per- sonal desires. It is true that we do not ordinarily in e very-day speech use the term, duty to self. Nev- ertheless all of us believe that a person is justified at certain points in taking care of his own interests, and that in so doing his character does not suffer precisely because they have a just claim upon him. 'T must not break my back to heal his finger," says one of Shakespeare's characters. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, is the expression given to this truth by the founder of Christianity. Morality represents the ideal of the impartial spectator, is the way some moralists have stated it. To a genuinely impartial view my interests can not appear valueless, any more than they can appear to outweigh those of the remainder of the human race. In the moral ideal, then, each individual finds his place as being neither the center of the system nor a mere zero. The moral point of view is the Copemican point of view. It follows from the preceding that the aim of moral education in no way includes the destruction of a regard for our own happiness, and that the at- tempt to do so is as vicious as the old-fashioned pre- scription to break the will. You must, of course, keep egoism in its place. But what the world needs in most cases is not less egoism but more. The trouble with the majority of people is not that they 184 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER are too egoistic but that they are "hogs/* That is to say they are so short-sighted that they can not see beyond the interests of to-day. I think it will be found that most of the men capable of acting with reference to the remote future for themselves are precisely the persons who most consistently regard also the legitimate interests of others. The Possibility of a Conflict between Egoism and Altruism.— -The moral ideal, in demanding a due regard for the interests of self and the inter- ests of others recognizes the possibility of a conflict between the two. It is equally true, however, that to a gaze which can penetrate beneath the surface of life the number of such conflicts is far less than is imagined by superficial public opinion. As a matter of fact, the interests of each individual are inex- tricably intertwined with those of others, in the last resort with those of the community and indeed of the race. He can not seriously injure himself with- out injuring others, ordinarily many others. A typ- ical illustration is offered by the effects of habitual drunkenness. Similarly others can not suffer in body, mind or character, in outward circumstances or inner conditions, without his suffering also in the final outcome. In serving himself he ordinarily serves others ; in serving others he serves himself. In making this insight an integral part of the work in moral instruction we do not mean that you EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 185 can make an unselfish person out of a complete ego- ist by showing him that it is profitable for him to consult the interests of others. What is meant is rather this: If the egoistic desires look upon the altruistic as their enemies they will attempt to crush them. It is precisely the most reflective persons — ' and we are trying to make our pupils reflective by every course we give in school — that will be most subject to this temptation. If on the other hand they look upon them not as necessary enemies but as being rather under ordinary circumstances allies, such attacks will lose all motive. Summary. — The preceding statements may be summarized as follows. Awakening and strength- ening the love of the right means the following things: (1) Training our pupils to think of human life, more particularly their own life, in terms of cause and effect; more specifically, training them to discover in the case of any act under consideration what will be its direct and indirect effects, present and remote, upon tht happiness and character of others and upon the happiness and character of self ; and (2) interesting them in these effects not merely through an abstract knowledge of their existence, but also through the development of the power to realize what they actually mean, through the instil- ling of confidence in the possibility of success, and through the creation of an insight into the facts 186 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER which arouse emotions of admiration and of grat- itude. The Discovery of Identities and Differences. — The mind gains knowledge, both in the material world and in the mental world, not merely by direct observation but also by passing from the already known to the unknown through the discovery of identities. We can not omit to employ this relation- ship in our voyages of discovery in the moral world. Thus a deed which spontaneously awakens no emo- tional response may be shown to involve the posses- sion of a trait of character which we admire. No boy, for example, was ever insensible to the courage of Froissart's or Malory's heroes. It is not impossi- ble to lead him to see that this does not differ in kind from the moral courage that makes a boy tell the truth even if he is to be punished as a result, or that enables him to take the unpopular side among his companions. In some prosaic service that may spare his mother weariness, or in the protection and care of his little sister, or of the younger boys on the playground, he may be made to recognize the chiv- alry of a knight of the Round Table. Similarly actions in themselves low and base which nevertheless pass unchallenged may be ex- hibited as identical in nature with what is certain to arouse disapprobation. A newspaper proprietor, an editor of the last generation, used the influence of his paper — as long as it retained any influence — EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 187 solely for the benefit of his private likings and hatreds, and where these did not enter, of his pock- etbook. In the pursuit of these aims he hesitated not an instant to champion corruption in public life, to prevent the punishment of influential criminals, to do his part to undermine the system created to protect the public health, the public-school system, and whatever else in that city made for the physical or mental or moral well-being of its citizens. This he did without subjecting himself to any particularly serious criticism on the part of any large number in the community. According to the ethics of the day, this was just "business." One afternoon this man happened to be sitting on the deck of a steamer, by the side of a woman acquaintance whom he had chanced to meet, when suddenly there was raised the cry: Fire! In the confusion which followed our editor succeeded in seizing a life preserver. He was fastening it about his body when the lady, who had been overpowered in the crush and had not been able to get a life preserver for herself, called loudly to her companion for help. "Every one for him- self,'* he cried, and leaped overboard, leaving the lady to her fate. This incident aroused the people of the country from one end to the other. It de- stroyed forever, I suppose, what influence he had in the city of his residence. Yet what was this more than a dramatic illustration of the principle upon which he had been running his newspaper for years 188 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER without ever arousing wide-spread or vigorous cen- sure ? To make our pupils realize the repulsiveness of an evil deed or an evil course, accordingly, it is often sufficient to show that it is identical in nature with a perfectly obvious case of cowardice or other form of weakness of will, or lack of chivalry, or sponging, or some other form of base selfishness, treachery, disloyalty or unfairness, against which their whole nature will rise in revolt. As we must train in the making of true identifi- cations so must we train in the detection of false ones. Most children and perhaps most adults have to be taught to see the difference between the vice of the spendthrift and genuine generosity, between rashness and true courage, between perseverance and obstinacy, between self-confidence based on an experimental knowledge of one's inner resources and self-conceit. Morality Not Something Alien from Human Nature. — The teacher has before him, on the one hand, the pupil with his admirations and his de- sires; on the other, the moral law with its demands. If he is to do his work well he must understand that these are not two things, but one. The moral law represents what the good man wants to do. It is the incorporation of the ideals of a man when he is most himself. A man is most himself when he is free from appetites and passions which, when they are gone, he hates, and from which he would at all EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 189 times gladly be free ; when he sees most clearly and comprehensively his relations to his fellow men; when he realizes most vividly and completely the is- sues that depend upon his conduct. Morality, then, is not something alien from our will, a burden im- posed upon us from without. On the contrary, it is the expression of our deepest and most permanent desires. This statement holds in principle for the school child as it does for the adult. Right doing is that which appeals to his most deeply rooted ad- mirations, which realizes his ambition to be strong of will, his longing to think well of himself, which satisfies his love of fair play, his craving to be loyal, in general all the unselfish impulses of his nature, and at bottom and in the long run his desire for his own true, enduring good. Moral education thus starts just as does intellec- tual education, from the equipment which the pupil brings with him to the school. This equipment is a great body of desires, an inchoate, incompletely de- veloped mass, for the most part unformulated, only half realized, in some cases amounting to little more than bare potentialities. The teacher's function is to raise these to a clear consciousness of their end, to strengthen and steady them and thus help them to obtain full control of the will, to aid the pupil in discovering the means by which they may be most completely realized, and in so doing to reveal to him the fact that it is precisely the demands of the 190 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER moral law that are calculated to satisfy the most permanent and fundamental elements in his nature. Moral Ideals Subject to Growth. — If moral education can accomplish nothing except on the basis of the child's ideals at the time, it must never forget that these are not something fixed. On the contrary, they are continuously — though for the most part slowly — changing, and that riot merely in childhood and youth, but also — though of course at a far less rapid rate — ^throughout the entire life. The order of these changes is by no means an arbitrary one. It depends in part upon what we do, the deed react- ing upon the ideal. It turns, also, upon the influences to which we are subject in human society and much else of the same sort. But the order of development is also determined by forces lying within the or- ganism which are to a considerable extent — in the same sense in which it is true of an acorn — inde- pendent of the environment. There is, then, a normal order of the development of moral ideals, however imperfectly we may at present be acquainted with that order, and however many exceptions there may turn out to be, in indi- vidual cases, to the laws which we shall some day succeed in formulating. We meet the same phenom- enon, of course, in educating the intellect. And pre- cisely as in intellectual education our starting point must always be the present knowledge and the pres- ent intellectual powers possessed by the pupil, and EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 191 the limits of what we can accomplish at any given time are set by the highest stretch of his powers at that time, so in moral education we must start from the ideals he possesses at the time and can not proceed farther than they will carry him. For ex- ample, the majority of young children, when wronged, often when merely injured, are revenge- ful. This does not merely mean they want to hurt the aggressor, but also that there is nothing within them to make them feel this is wrong. A larger number than is commonly supposed carry this atti- tude with them throughout life.* But there comes a time, for most young people at least, when altruistic ideals are able to raise their head against the demand for vengeance, and at least to moderate and set narrow limits to its exercise. When this time comes the teacher and parent may discuss with profit the duty of loving one's enemies. Before this it is ad- visable to avoid the subject entirely, except in some indirect manner after the fashion of a flank attack. The same considerations must guide us in treating the subjects of veracity, school fights, honesty and all the complex code connected with property rights, national and race patriotism, and indeed every de- partment of the field of morals. Every lever must have a fulcrum. In the field of human motives the * F. C. Sharp and M. C. Otto, A Study of the Popular Atti- tude toward Retributive Punishment, International Journal of Ethics, vol. 20, p. 341. 192 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER attempt to operate without one is not merely useless, it is positively harmful. The Function of Moral Instruction. — This does not conclude what I have to say about the gen- eral aims of moral instruction, but the remainder is left till it will be needed, in Chapter XVI. What has been said, however, shows its essential features. Its work, we see, is not to praise. This soon grows monotonous and later positively irritating. It is not to advise. Advice unsought is under most circum- stances unwelcome and therefore profitless. It is not to exhort. To exhort is to say, *T want you to do so and so." But that information is ordinarily of little interest to any one else. Its mission is a far higher one, that of a revealer of truth — the truth about the moral life. CHAPTER XIII TRAINING IN MORAL THOUGHTFULNESS Instruction in the Sense of Pouring in Infor- mation Relatively Worthless. — The word instruc- tion suggests the idea of pouring information into the ear as water is poured into a bowl. But if the processes which the poverty of our language com- pels us to include under this term are to produce val- uable and permanent results in the life of the child they must involve something more than the mere giving and receiving of so many teaspoonfuls or gal- lons of knowledge. The first defect of such a method is that it does not accomplish satisfactorily even the narrow aims which it sets before itself. Material introduced into the system in this manner is in great part not assimilated, and even where it is, is not apt to be long retained by the memory. But this is only the first count in the indictment. Suppose these ends attained as completely as you will, it still re- mains true that your pupil has gained neither the power to use his faculties nor the habit of using them. Knowledge may be golden (perhaps) ; but if you have the power to secure knowledge for your- self you have the goose that lays the golden Qgg. For suppose your pupil, crammed to the brim with mere 193 194 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER information, finds himself in a situation which your instructions have not covered, what is he going to do? You will make the melancholy discovery that he is ordinarily quite unable to make even the sim- plest application of the principles which you have inculcated with so much care. So after all your ef- forts he goes astray. Application to Morals. — ^These strictures on the pouring-in method apply to every part of the field of knowledge from history to astronomy. But in the field of morals there are additional very seri- ous objections to its use. I shall mention the two that seem most important. The Limitations of Authority in Morals. — No distinction is more frequently overlooked than that between what we believe and what we believe we believe, and, in matters moral, few distinctions are * more important. Ask a hundred persons who re- gard the Sermon on the Mount as an infallible, God- given revelation, whether they consider revenge wrong, and the great majority will answer, yes. Put a series of concrete cases to them, the overwhelming majority will sooner or later justify punishment in revenge. Face them with the specific prohibitions of Matthew V, and at least half will stand by their guns.* Indeed, so weak is mere authority where it *A portion of the data on which the above statements are based will be found in the author's monograph, The Influence of Custom on the Moral Judgment (published by the Univer- sity of Wisconsin), chapters ii and iv; the rest are taken EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 195 comes into conflict with convictions having their source in deeply-rooted emotions, that although for sixteen centuries the Gospels have been the official guide of morals in Christendom, during the greater part of this time the belief has been not merely cher- ished in the bottom of the heart, but openly formu- lated and all but universally avowed, that revenge under certain circumstances is not merely a right, but the most sacred of duties. What holds for a book regarded as infallible will certainly hold for the teacher who can urge no claim to infallibility. Dr. Elliott, who has been conducting courses in moral instruction in the New York Ethical Culture School for many years, informs the author that nothing which he can say avails to convince his twelve- to fourteen-year-old pupils that revenge is wrong. The truth is that moral instruction does not have a mass of putty to deal with, as many people vainly imagine.* Ideal, however incoherent and imper- fectly formulated, faces ideal from the day the teacher is confronted with his pvipil in the school. Where there is conflict you can produce conviction — from a still unpublished study on the attitude toward revenge as exhibited by students in the Short Course in Agriculture in this university. Compare Dewey, The Chaos in Moral Training, Popular Science Monthly, August, 1894. * Our entire theory of the influence of authority upon moral ideals needs a thorough overhauling. It is in about the same stage to-day that the theories (or rather guesses based upon meditations in the library) concerning the mental proc- esses of animals were fifty years ago. 196 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER which is something very different from silence — in the main only by showing that the action you de- sire him to approve is demanded by some ideal of his own. The principle is essentially that which is a commonplace in intellectual education, namely that all description and explanation must start from knowledge which the child already possesses, and that information imparted on any other basis gives nothing but "parrot knowledge." Now it is conceivable that you might produce conviction in the matter of right and wrong by a demonstration which you yourself conducted, as teacher, for the benefit of your class, as some teach- ers demonstrate for their classes the propositions in geometry. But apart from the more obvious differ- ences between mathematics and morals, in the latter field self-interest and powerful passions tend to de- flect the attention and paralyze thought along one line, and produce hypertrophy of attention and thought along the opposite line, so that even where there is verbal assent, there may not be even the beginnings of genuine conviction. And where there is momentary conviction — we have all observed ex- amples of this — it may be wiped from the memory, like the pencil marks upon the slate, within an hour's time. The pouring-in method, then, can ordinarily do no more than make the pupil believe he believes, and this is not the kind of conviction with which one can struggle successfully against temptation. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 197 The only way to develop principles which are certain to stand the test is to have the pupil, under the guidance of the teacher, arrive at a recognition of their truth by his own efforts. The Limitations of Abstract Knowledge. — Suppose, however, conviction to have been produced — and preserved. There is still a gap before action is reached. Ordinarily, especially in the young, some amount of realization is requisite in order to bring about action, if forces of any strength are marshaled in opposition. But information poured into the mind from without is ordinarily not the most effective instrument for the production of a realizing sense of the demands of a situation met in actual experience. Consequently there often re- mains a great gulf between moral instruction and moral practise, the existence of which the enemies of the former have not been slow to observe and pro- claim. The Work of "Moral Instruction" Should Consist in Training in Moral Thoughtfulness. — If the criticisms of the preceding paragraph are valid, the pouring-in method, as a means of pre- paring the young for life, must be largely or totally abandoned. Our central aim, it must be remem- bered, is to send out from the schools young people who are able to see and realize the true nature of the right and wrong courses of action respectively, to see and realize in a given situation what difference 198 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER it makes whether they do right or wrong. But in the last analysis one learns really to see — as distin- guished from thinking that he sees — by seeing, as he learns to swim by swimming. Not lectures from the teacher, or words of wisdom from the text-book, or "memory gems" are the chief need, then, but rather such a course of procedure as will arouse the activity of the pupil's own mind. Our aim, accord- ingly, must not be to give information, but rather to develop power — the power of observing and reflect- ing upon the moral issues involved in conduct. And since power which one does not use does its pos- sessor and the world no good, we want to develop the habit of using this power. If we designate the possession of the power and the corresponding habit as moral thought fulness, we may say that the great end of moral "instruction" is a certain kind of train- ing, training in moral thought fulness. The Nature and Value of Moral Thoughtful- ness. — The term "moral thoughtfulness" is bor- rowed from Thomas Arnold, and was a favorite with him. In one of his letters he wrote: "When I look around upon boys or men, there seems to me some one point or quality which distinguishes really noble persons from ordinary ones ; it is not religious feeling, it is not honesty or kindness; but it seems to me to be moral thoughtfulness."* Moral thoughtfulness is at once a power and a * Stanley's Life of Thomas Arnold, vol. 2, p. 13, fifth edition. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 199 habit, the power and the habit, namely, of reflect- ing upon the moral issues involved in conduct. He who possesses it is likely, in the end, to come into the possession of most of the information which the pouring-in process aims to bestow; what he has learned will not be forgotten ; he will be able to find his way amid circumstaiices concerning which his instructor has supplied him with no information, and to discover the moral issues at stake in situa- tions concerning which his instructor has said noth- ing. The convictions obtained by the use of his own faculties will be his own property, and the dis- tinction between what he believes and what he be- lieves he believes will disappear. Furthermore, what he has gained will be seen by him in its con- creteness. This means that its content is realized and its significance apprehended. It therefore tends, through its hold upon the imagination, to kindle strongly the feelings, and accordingly has a much increased chance of passing over into action. When temptation assails him he possesses a resource which no mere reliance upon habit or public opinion can afford, the strength of reasoned conviction. He does not fight for what he only vaguely feels, but for clearly recognized and definitely appraised values. The deliberate aim of seeking the best becomes in- corporated into his program of life, with the result, as in the case of every clearly conceived and per- sistently pursued aim, that the interests involved 200 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER grow more and more precious to him with the pas- sage of time. Thus three things are accompHshed. The significance of his every-day actions, their rela- tions to his moral ideals, are uncovered; the kinds of action demanded by his ideals are discovered; and the ideals themselves, in becoming defined and formulated and made the object of his solicitude, are broadened in range and strengthened in their hold upon his affections. The Field of Moral Instruction.—The field of moral instruction is as broad as the entire course of study, and includes in addition some things that form no part of the program of most of our Ameri- can schools. Literature, history, civics and, to a less degree, the natural sciences, may contribute their part if they will. In addition it may and should include the systematic study of the conduct of life, whether in the concrete, through biography and sim- ilar subjects, or in a more generalized form, through the examination of the laws of right living. We shall take up these subjects in turn, beginning with those which form a part of the ordinary curriculum. CHAPTER XIV MORAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH THE EXISTING CURRICULUM Moral thought fulness, as I have asserted, can be developed in our pupils only by training them to study human life. Of the subjects of the school curriculum the most valuable for this purpose are those which deal directly with life itself. These are history, literature and civics. Other parts of the curriculum may be so shaped as to contribute to this end also : geography, as a study of the material en- vironment of man; biology, as a study of the laws to which man must conform as an animal ; physics and chemistry, as a study of the fundamental laws of the environment and animal body alike. All of these, together with mathematics, may be studied on the side of their history through the biographies of the great leaders — a study for which there is mp.ch to be said from many points of view. In so doing there may be obtained certain of the results which are produced by the study of other departments of his- tory. In the discussion of this matter I have space only for a survey of the three leading subjects, his- 201 202 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tory, literature and civics. The problem of the chap- ter may be formulated as follows: What can the teachers of history, literature and civics do to train their pupils in moral thought fulness? Training in Moral Thoughtfulness through History. — In order to make a distinction be- tween history and biography (which latter will be considered elsewhere) I shall treat history as deal- ing with the life of communities rather than of in- dividuals, though this distinction is somewhat arti- ficial and can by no means be carried through rigorously. This does not mean that history in this sense can neglect individuals; but it deals with them, so to speak, not in their own right, but chiefly as leaders or as representatives of movements or types of life. To forestall a possible objection I will add that I believe the course which goes under the name of history in the elementary school should consist largely of biographical material. (1) The Direct Influence of Character upon Character.— History, however, even in the just- defined sense of the term, will never be able to dis- pense with accounts of great men and great deeds. Hence its most obvious asset as an instrument for training character. Personalities that habitually ex- hibit strength and devotion of character, and heroic incidents, together with more commonplace in- stances of devotion to duty, arouse admiration and strengthen and often clarify the love of excellence, EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 203 and in so doing awaken or strengthen the desire to act in like manner. The results of the attempts of the British government to bribe the leaders of the American Revolution shame our cold and weak- kneed patriotism, and at the same time awaken in the more generous natures the desire to possess equal strength and equal capacity for devotion. They do more than this. As events in history they not merely present attractive pictures; they prove the existence of incorruptibility as a fact, and in so doing reveal the higher possibilities of human nature. The belief that such characters have actu- ally existed arouses emulation, as nothing regarded merely as a creation of the imagination ever could. Accounts of such steadfastness in the face of temp- tation also tend to make us less cynical in our judg- ments of the leaders of the political, business, social and scientific world. In liberating us thus from the mean and enviou.s im_pulse to drag others down to our own moral level, as many of the contemporaries of Washington and Lincoln tried to drag them down, they make us more ready to trust and follow. They tend also to make us more willing to serve. To most of us our own services seem so precious that, as has been said above, we are ordinarily willing to make real sacrifices only for the benefit of moral Phi Beta Kappas. History indeed teaches us that the web of human life is of a "mingled yarn, good and ill together." But history should also teach us 204 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER that much which seems bad appears to be such only because we do not get the point of view of its own age, or see the special circumstances of the case. And where this explanation will not hold, where, when all has been said, bad remains bad, as it often does, the truth stands fast, nevertheless, that there are good men in the world as well as bad. The discovery of this fact deals a blow to the most dan- gerous form of moral skepticism, skepticism as to the existence of virtue in the world. "Go with mean people and you think life mean,'' writes Emerson. "Then read Plutarch, and the world is a proud place, peopled with men of positive quality, with heroes and demigods standing around us, who will not let us sleep." It is perhaps especially important at the present time to point out that heroic incidents are to be found strewn broadcast through the annals of peace as well as of war. Indeed, because of the absence of artificial excitement, as music or uniforms, and the frequent absence of the touch and sight of our fellow beings fighting in the same ranks, the heroes of peace must often be rated higher than those of war. The laying of the Atlantic cable called for heroism of the highest type. The honest politician in a legislature packed with crooks and cowards, the business man who, like W. H. Baldwin, Jr., will get business honestly or not at all, these have done the hardest things, these are to be ranked among the EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 205 great benefactors and heroic figures of the race; these are the people who, if history is a record of the growth and decay of civihzation, ought to have a leading place in its annals. It is sometimes objected that since the cowardly, the base and the actively unprincipled play at least as large a role in the life of the race as do the strong and high-minded, the study of history is just as lia- ble to lead to the imitation of the bad as of the good. This objection overlooks an important fact, to which I have already called attention (Chapter II, page 10). Nobility of character tends to arouse the mind to imitation, not chiefly through some blind impulse, but because and in so far as it first arouses admiration. Whereas the character and conduct of the selfish and unprincipled, if presented together with the totality of their evil eiTects and from a strictly impartial point of view, must, from the very nature of w^rong-doing, arouse abhorrence. It is, for instance, only in an abstract, one-sided or partial view that adventurers like Aaron Burr or Napoleon Bonaparte arouse admiration. They did indeed possess certain fine traits of intellect and character, and for these they are admired justly. But when Napoleon is recognized as an all-devour- ing egoist, willing to use the blind devotion of such followers as the hero of Browning's Incident of the French Camp for his own narrow selfish in- terests, willing to plunge all Europe into the Hell 206 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER of war and drain his own country of its life's blood in order that he might amuse himself by giving or- ders to kings and pose as the arbiter of the affairs of Europe, when this picture of the man reveals it- self to us in its completeness, contempt and disgust annihilate admiration for exceptional courage, per- sistence, patience and self-control. We discover we have been paying our homage not to a real hero but to a tawdry imitation, and thrust him from the ped- estal on which we had placed him. (2) Training in Tracing the Effects of Con- duct. — -History may train in the power and the habit of applying to one's actions the conception of cause and effect. This, as has already been pointed out, is a very important part, perhaps the most im- portant single part, of the ability to see the nature and significance of the moral life. History probably supplies the best material for training us to use this category in the world of human life. A generation ago we were looking to the natural sciences for this result. But, as almost every one now admits, the natural sciences have greatly disappointed us. This is doubtless due partly to poor teaching. The text- book or the lecture simply pours in information in the old way; the laboratory manual tells us what to look for ; the laboratory work itself is an exercise in manipulation rather than in original observation and thought. Quite apart from this, however, it is doubtful whether the natural sciences, even when EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 207 well taught, can do all that their ardent advocates, such as Huxley, used to claim, in the transforming of mental habits. We have the old difficulty about the transference of training from one field to an- other. In history this transfer is not violent. Its subject-matter is human life, although of course hu- man life in the mass. Under the guidance of an historian such as Lecky it is always asking what were the causes of the historical phenomenon un- der consideration and what were its effects. After a considerable amount of such training we may fairly expect that a power and a habit of looking at things from this point of view will be developed which can and will be applied to the affairs of the individual's own life. As the power of our pupils to trace effects be- comes developed by practise they will not merely become more adept in following the consequences of particular acts to their farthest limits; they will also discover, or may be led to discover, cer- tain general principles and laws running through the whole of human life, determining alike the fate of nations and of individuals. They will learn, for instance, the meaning and the truth of that which they have often heard with skepticism or indiffer- ence : ''Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." This principle can be clearly seen at work in the wars between the states of ancient Greece, as in the wars of Napoleon; in fact, in the great 208 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER majority, perhaps in the end, all of the wars of ag- gression.* It can be seen again in the institution of slavery as it existed in our own country, an institu- tion which was as much a curse to the white man who fondly supposed himself to be profiting by it, as it was to the negro. It can be seen, once more, in the rise and fall of nations. Again they may learn, if they scrutinize the record carefully, that we are in a world where, broadly speaking, nothing that is really worth having can be had for nothing. Once more they may be brought to see that human society is an organic unity ; that we are all members one of another, each being dependent for his vigor and happiness as truly upon every other member of his community as are the organs of our body upon one another. This discovery of the organic nature of society can not but broaden the pupil's point of * C. Delisle Burns, Political Ideals, quoted in the Chicago Tribune. "Finally and fatally, Athens would not allow to other groups over which she had power, the liberty she had found admirable for herself. She was accused, not unjustly, by her allies and her enemies, of being a tyrant city. And in the fifth book of Thucydides there is written the eternal con- demnation of a city which can refuse autonomy to her de- pendents when she has prided herself on attaining it for her- self. The fall of Athens, in 404 B, C, was directly due, not to the liberty she had attained, but to the attempts she made to limit her ideal to herself. There may be no moral in his- tory; yet one more than half agrees with the Thucydidean conception of a Nemesis overtaking all who refuse to others what they believe most necessary for themselves. Athens won independence and used it; and then built upon her achieve- ment an insolent claim to empire and a vulgar ambition for wealth." EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 209 view. He will tend to look upon himself not as an isolated unit but as one whose interests can be bounded, in the last resort, only by the limits of the life of the race. Not merely is his general view of life broadened by this insight, the fact forces itself upon him that the supposed conflict between egoism and altruism is, at many points at least, one of the great delusions of life; in consequence he sees that in serving the world he is normally serving his own largest and permanent personal interests. The objection will be urged against the procedure recommended in the last paragraphs that it consti- tutes "moralizing," and that moralizing does not promote morality, and even if it did is in no sense a function of history teaching. I answer that mor- alizing, as the term is ordinarily understood, in- cludes advice and exhortation, which have no more business to intrude into moral instruction than into history teaching; and that it frequently includes either platitudes which do not interest or instruct anybody, young or old, and falsehoods about life, told for their supposed edifying effect, which have no place in any part of the school's work. Moral- izing of this kind I certainly do not recommend. I insist, furthermore, that on the intellectual side, the teacher of every subject is bound to use the con- tent of the course as material for developing mental power, and that the power to generalize is one of the most important elements of mind. 210 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER I submit that it is part of the record that Ameri- can slavery was a failure even from the economic point of view; that the fundamental reason why it did not produce the results which a near-sighted generation imagined it saw was that it did not give the negro a "square deal"; that the teacher who does not bring out these facts and the reasons for them is failing in the most elementary way to give his pupils an understanding of one of the leading features of American history. I add that a teacher who wants his pupils really to see why slavery was a failure could do nothing better than to put into their hands what may seem to have no relevancy to the historical problem, but is nevertheless in a manner its key, certain of Miss Tarbell's articles in the American Magazine entitled The Golden Rule in Business, more particularly those in the issues of February and March, 1915. These have recently been republished as Chapters VIII and IX of her New Ideals in Business, by the Macmillan Company. I submit once more that it is part of the record that the fall of Athens and the fall of Napoleon were due primarily to want of integrity, justice and humanity, and that you can not teach the facts and dodge this fact. The worshipers of Napoleon ap- pear never to see that unless the rest of Europe had been a mass of degeneracy Napoleon was bound to be brought down, if not at Waterloo, then later. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 211 But you can not understand the history of Europe from 1789 to 1815 without knowing this. Hence again you may not pass it over in silence in the history class room. Waiving, however, the application to success in conquest of the principle that righteousness exalteth a nation, let us inquire what are the effects of bad faith, oppression and cruelty in the relations of state to state upon the characters of the individual citi- zens. Is it possible for the rulers of a country to practise these things without putting a premium upon chicanery, fraud, the many forms of violence which the law can not prevent, and inhumanity with its hundred arms? Will these not grow and flour- ish in such a community? And can such a society ever be either happy or noble? The complications of the workings of social forces are, indeed; such that sometimes there may be barbarism in relation to those who live outside the national boundary lines, and justice and mutual aid toward those who are within. But this is less and less true as we as- cend the scale of intelligence. If a man who is not stupid by nature ever stops to reflect he is apt in the end to apply one principle to all his actions, whether it be a bad or a good one. It is precisely those who are members of civilized nations, there- fore, that must suffer most in their private lives from every international crime, and indeed every form of political crime of which their rulers have 212 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER been guilty and in which the people acquiesce. But if it is the history teacher's duty to present not merely the records of a nation's political institutions but also of its life as a whole, why should he omit facts that cut so deeply into life as these? (3) Developing the Power to Realize the Ab- sent. — If taught with the concreteness which is possible and desirable — by confining one's task to the study of typical institutions and movements and general conditions of living, instead of trying to say a little about everything that ever happened — history may develop that form of the imagination by which we put ourselves in the place of others. This power, as has been pointed out, is a very im- portant factor in morality. Much wrong-doing is the child of sodden stupidity, or in other words, blindness to what is going on in the lives of others. Imagination is the eye by which we can see the ab- sent. The history teacher should train it by com- pelling his pupils to concrete the abstract, to take the general statements of the text or reference book and make them mean something in terms of the human lives to which they refer. If, for example, his class is- studying the Ancient Regime he should see that they do not leave the subject until they have formed a detailed and vivid picture, on the one hand of the gilded Hfe of the court with its emptiness and cynicism immediately beneath the surface, on the other, of what it meant for the great body of EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 213 half -starved French peasants who bore the burden of its glory upon their bent backs. (4) The Cultivation of National Patriotism. — ■ History may cultivate a true local and national patriotism, (a) It may strengthen our love for our city or country in that it shows how the life of both the smaller and greater community is built upon struggle and sacrifice, and that, in the latter case, not merely of a few leaders, but also of thou- sands of otherwise more or less commonplace men and women. It will strengthen our love in that it will show that the community life in which we share is not something finished and perfected; that we are rather members of a living, growing organism, whose nature both in the present and in the future depends, for better or worse, upon us equally with others. Again it will strengthen our love by mak- ing us appreciate the good things by which we are surrounded and which are the gifts of our country poured with generous hands into our laps. We never think of the air we breathe until we have been confined in a close room. We never think of the value of health until we have been stricken by dis- ease. So it is not merely with the material com- forts and conveniences of life, but also with the institutions and principles upon which all that is most precious in our lives is built. It will accord- ingly help us to appreciate paved and lighted streets, fire and police protection, and the like, if we follow 214 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Franklin in his attempt to procure these things for colonial Philadelphia. It will help us to appreciate the greater gifts, freedom of speech, equality be- fore the law, representative government, national independence, the separation of church and state, the public-school system, to contemplate the lives of our ancestors when these things v/ere not, and the terrible struggles by which they were acquired. Upon this background of the achievements of the past the study of history should move us and help us to draw up something of a program of the next things to be done and inspire us with confidence that the efforts which have- brought success in the past will bring success- in the future, (b) The pa- triotism cultivated by such a study of history will be a true, as distinguished from a prejudiced and one-sided patriotism, in so far as it is built on a foundation sufficiently broad to reveal the excel- lences of other communities and other nations be- sides our own. (5) The Cultivation o£ Racial Patriotism. — History may awaken the "enthusiasm of humanity," or love for our greater fatherland, in precisely the same way as it may cultivate love of country. It may disclose to us how large a share of what is most valuable in our own lives is due to the con- scientious labor and self-sacrificing struggles of pre- ceding generations. It may give us a picture of the life of the race as that of which the recorded past EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 215 is only the mere beginning, as a series of tasks of which to-day's is one, to be succeeded in its turn by that of the next generation. It may awaken us to an appreciation of the blessings of civilization. It may give us not merely the conception of a con- stantly changing race life, but far better than this, of a life which in the large embodies our ideal of progress and justifies our faith in its continuance. Progress has been, on the whole, a fairly con- stant element in the life of the peoples of a large part of Europe and Asia since the dawn of history in Egypt and Babylonia. But the consciousness of progress is distinctly modern, dating (roughly) from the seventeenth century. For uncounted ages the outlook upon life was expressed by the mourn- ful words: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and there is no new thing under the sun." Notwithstanding the progress made in the material sciences and their application to life during the past fifty years, a movement which every one can see, the idea of progress has not yet taken real possession of most men's minds. Few people realize how progress will gradually leaven the whole of human life by modifying profoundly, not merely the material environment, as it has already done, but also the structure of society and of human na- ture itself. Few people understand its method, which consists in one generation climbing upon the shoulders of the preceding, whereby it becomes able 216 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER to see farther than could its predecessors. Few know or think about the perils to which it is subjected, or have asked themselves what are its most dangerous enemies and how they are to be met. Yet definite ideas about these subjects are essential as the back- ground for the actions of educated men and women, and are capable, as are few other beliefs, of steady- ing and strengthening the will by inspiring it with an assured hope and a calm joy. History, then, must introduce its pupils to the conception of human progress, making that conception vivid and real to them, showing them that it has been a fact, indeed the most important single fact in the life of the race, showing them in what ways it proceeds, what are its causes, and in how far we are justified in be- lieving it will continue in the future as it has con- tinued in the past. To supply these conceptions his- tory must be taught as the history of civilization, and the problem of the relation of any people and any age to the progress of civilization should be the central theme (which does not mean the most frequently discussed theme) of the course. The Influence of History upon Character De- pends on Good Teaching. — ^The study of history, as will now be seen, does not exercise its influence upon character through the teacher's attaching mor- als to incidents as a naughty boy attaches a tin can to a dog's tail. The development of character must grow naturally and directly out of the story of the EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 217 life of the race. It will be fostered most effectively by good teaching. This means, in the first place, vivid presentation. The past, if it is to mean any- thing whatever to our pupils, must be recreated in their imaginations. "You shall make me feel what periods you have lived," is the test that Emerson would apply. In order to attain this end we must refrain from attempting to cover a large field. If we omit half the material presented in the ordinary text-book and make the other half correspondingly concrete our pupils will carry away from the course at once some definite ideas of history and some real knowledge of life. Good teaching means, in the second place, teaching permeated with the scientific spirit, the spirit that seeks everywhere for causes and for effects, that compares, and, where it is per- missible, generalizes, that is to say, states causal relations in as broad terms as the facts warrant. Finally, since to see is to ask questions, and to ask questions is already to possess a clue, good teaching implies a teacher who knows enough of the moral is- sues of life, individual and national, to see them when they are before his eyes, and who has the ability and interest to train his pupils to discover them also. The Selection of Material for Class Work. — In selecting our material for presentation we should, it seems to me, be guided by two principles. They do not necessarily lead to precisely the same results, ^nd a compromise between them will accordingly 218 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER often be necessary. The first is that we should pre- sent primarily those elements in the life of a people which are of ftmdamental importance in the life of the race. This means we should present first the forms in which were embodied the fundamental characteristics of the life of man, and the institu- tions and conditions which satisfied the basic human needs and interests; second, the emergence and growth of the factors which constitute the higher life, as art, literature and science, and the general appreciation of art, literature, nature and science; and third, those factors which have contributed to or hindered progress. The second is that we should exhibit habitually the movements and life of the past in the light of what our pupils can see going on about them in the American present. As exam- ples will serve the land conditions in ancient Baby- lonia and modern Mexico; the forms of a republic with none of the substance in imperial Rome, a con- dition for which we were headed in the United States at the beginning of this century. Finally, in view of the misunderstandings of what is involved in the best form of teaching history for the purposes of character building, it may not be superfluous to add that the best teaching from every point of view involves the strictest adherence to truth. But it must always be remembered that truth involves balance. The undoubtedly accui*ate de- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 219 scription of Carlyle's quarrels with his wifei pre- sented by his biographer creates not a true impres- sion of his married life as a whole, but a false one, as pink cheeks render a statue not more life-like, but less so. The history teacher without a sense for per- spective is lost. Literature as a Picture of the Real World. — In examining the contributions which the study of literature can make to the work of moral instruc- tion, it is necessary at the outset to recognize clearly that the favorite forms of literature, the novel, the drama and the narrative poem, are essentially imi- tative arts, as much so as are painting and sculpture. Their chief subject-matter is the life of man, the manifold relations of human beings to one another. To be interesting they must be believed by the reader to represent real persons acting in keeping with the characters with which they have been endowed. They must furthermore be believed to represent truthfully the laws of life, that is, the consequences of actions, near and remote, precisely as they would occur under the described conditions in the real world. *T remember," writes Emerson in his Essay on Books, "when some peering eyes of boys discov- ered that the oranges hanging on the boughs of an orange tree in a gay piazza were tied to the twigs by thread. I fear 'tis so with the novelist's pros- 220 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER perities." Art of this kind is bad art, and the only readers such tales interest are those who do not discover the trick. Literature, to be sure, like painting and sculpture, has its conventions ; but these in each case have their source for the most part in the limitations placed upon the artist by the nature of his materials. Apart from this, where literature appears to separate it- self from life, it is only surrendering microscopic accuracy in order to gain a more complete verisimili- tude in the large effects. Take, for example, the use of poetry in the drama. In the first place, un- der the stress of great emotions the language of the most commonplace men assumes an elevation of tone essentially poetic in nature. But far more important than this is the fact that beauty of lan- guage stirs in the reader or spectator an otherwise almost unattainable response to the emotions ex- pressed or portrayed, and in so doing creates in him a realizing sense of the meaning of the experience presented. If you would appreciate the extent to which this statement holds- read a selection from Shakespeare. Then require your pupils to state ex- actly the same ideas in prose. The latter exercise, if conscientiously performed, will give you all the "facts." But the original places you inside the per- son, as it were, and you find yourself looking out upon his world with his eyes and responding to it with his feelings. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 221 These statements hold for what is called idealistic literature as completely as for realistic. Realistic literature is sometimes defined as that which repre- sents life as it is, idealistic as that which represents life as we should like to have it. But, as we have just seen, no one is interested in oranges tied to the branches of trees. In great literature as in life the tree may be known by its fruits. Accordingly idealistic literature that is really good art takes us into a better world, not by running away from the la>vs of this world, but rather by the principle upon which the characters and facts are selected out of the material which the world affords. It chooses to portray habitually the more interesting, and, in large part (though never exclusively), the more ad- mirable types of men or actions; while realism, in the narrower sense of the term, selects its subject- matter from the more commonplace or even the most insignificant or even disgusting. Shakespeare, the great idealist, is at the same time the greatest realist. On the one hand, his leading characters, even the immoral ones, are striking personalities; they are placed in situations which are significant — the crises of human life. .On the other hand, their words, their actions, their failure to act, follow strictly, in every instance, from their inner nature when taken in relation to the circumstances in which they are placed ; the workings of their minds follow laws which the psychology of to-day is, in many 222 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER cases, just beginning to formulate. Even the fair- ies, the witches and the ghosts in Shakespeare — and in all good literature — are real beings, conform- ing to the laws of life so completely that for us who know them they are more substantial than most of the shadows that flit past us in the phantasma- goria called real life. Literature Compared with History as a Means of Training in Moral Thoughtfulness.— The ef- fects of literature upon character turn upon this relation of literature to life. If it presents essen- tially accurate pictures of life, it is necessarily, whether by intention or not, a revelation of the real nature of right and wrong in conduct, of good and bad in character. Its function as an instrument of moral instruction is thus identical in essence with that of history. In fact, it can perform the first three oflices of history, as enumerated above, broadly speaking, as well as history itself. On the other hand, it can do certain things which history either can not do at all or else does less effectively. Some Advantages of Literature over History : (1) It May Exhibit the Lav^s of Life with Greater Clearness.— Literature may exhibit the structure and the laws of life even more clearly and completely than history. One reason is that it is free to confine itself to the presentation of tenden- cies, whereas in the portrayals of history the ten- dency may be submerged or concealed by a chance EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 223 combination of circumstances. In U Assommoir Zola pictures the usual results of drunkenness and not merely the usual ones, those which follow neces- sarily under ordinary conditions. But it is a fact that a London physician of the eighteenth century once made five hundred dollars by being drunk. The story is told in Hill's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson, Vol. II, page 314, note 5, as follows: *'Dr. Fordyce, who sometimes drank a good deal, was summoned to a lady patient when he was con- scious that he had had too much wine. Feeling her pulse, and finding himself unable to count its beats, he muttered, 'Drunk, by G — .' Next morning a letter from her was put into his hands. 'She too well knew,' she wrote, 'that he had discovered the unfortunate condition in which she had been, and she entreated him to keep the matter secret, in con- sideration of the enclosed' (a hundred-pound bank- note)." As "fortune brings in some boats that are not steered," so some foolish parents and teachers have put into execution absurd systems of education and the product has been excellent. But in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel Meredith presents a typical il- lustration of the results which may be expected from obstinate attachment on the part of a pedant to a Procrustean pedagogical program. Thus literature, when written by a man of wide experience and penetration, may succeed more completely than his- 224 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tory in taking us beneath the surface and revealing to us the forces which really mold human life. The power of literature to represent the funda- mental realities of human existence more completely and accurately than does history turns partly, as we have just seen, upon the fact that it can keep chance at arm's length in so far as is necessary to show the fundamental causal relations which are in oper- ation. It is due equally to the fact that literature can represent and reveal the inner side of life, espe- cially the world of feelings and desires, i. e., the world of values, far more effectively and completely than history can. History, at any rate as ordinarily written, deals in the main only with externals-, with what people have said and done. History can tell us that the French court of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was fabulously rich and had at its disposal all the culture of the day. But it can not, or at least commonly does not, tell us what were the feelings of those who lived within this circle. Were they really happy? Did they find hfe full of interesting and significant tasks? Did they find materials upon which to build "admiration, hope and love"? If not, did life seem empty or distaste- ful to them? Perhaps history could answer more of such questions than it actually does. But most of the histo^^ical works that are likely to be placed in the hands of our pupils care for none of these things. Probably in the majority of cases the requi- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 225 site material does not exist. Madame de Maintenon has left us in a letter to her niece an impressive de- scription of the weariness and ennui that darkened the days of the parasites who thronged the court of the ''Grand Monarch." But for the supreme pic- ture of black pessimism yoked with the possession of power, wealth, the assurance of fame, and all the bits of colored glass for which the average man will barter his soul, we must go, not* to the pages of the historian, but to the last act of Macbeth. (2) It Can Reveal the Potentialities of Human Nature. — History, as a rule, must, or as a matter of fact, does, confine itself to what actually was at a given time and place; but literature can deal also with what is possible. It does this by showing the existence of latent capacities in human nature and the conditions under which they are repressed or liberated. In James Lane Allen's King Solomon of Kentucky, in the story of Number 23 in the Tale of Two Cities, in Silas Marner we see how the ap- parently worthless or narrow and forbidding char- acter may possess potentialities of devotion or hero- ism which have been paralyzed or which have never before found their adequate stimulus. Such revela- tions arouse or strengthen confidence in human na- ture, help us to realize that it is often not what it seems to be on the surface, that the attempt to make it better may be successful. When we come to think about the race in terms of its highest possibilities. 226 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER our desire to serve our fellows will be strengthened. On the other hand, the study of such characters as Fred Vincy or Tito Melema shows us the way downward, either to moral mediocrity or to crime ; and in showing us the possibility and the cause will help to put us on our guard. (3) It Deals with the Concrete. — Literature deals with the concrete in a much greater degree than history can. The concrete is far more impress- ive to most minds than are the abstractions of the historian. The bravery and devotion of the three hundred at Thermopylae arouse less enthusiastic admiration than the bravery and devotion of Num- ber 22) in the Tale of Two Cities. The story of the failure of Macbeth burns into our soul the truth that the wages of sin is death more effectively than the annals of the fall of Athens. Furthermore, since literature deals with the concrete it exercises the imagination more continuously and trains it more thoroughly. This is because there is constant necessity, in order to read understandingly, to enter with insight into the hopes and fears, the successes and failures, the joys and sorrows of other lives than our own, and, in the longer narrations, to do this in a consecutive way. In this manner may be developed the power and the habit of putting one's self into the place of others, which, as we have seen, lies at the very foundation of the moral life. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 227 The Qualifications of a Good Teacher of Lit- erature. — As in history, the condition of obtain- ing the best fruits is good teaching. But good teaching means something more than the possession of a certain technique and of a store of information about hterature such as the cramming schools for the Ph. D., or indeed, the majority of college or university undergraduate classes demand — and ob- tain. The essential fact about literature is that it holds the mirror up to nature. Accordingly the fundamental aim in the teaching of literature should be to help the pupil build up in his own mind in clear, vivid and, as far as may be, complete form, pictures of life as the author himself saw them. Secondly it should help the pupil to determine how far they actually represent life. These aims call for a different set of questions and a different di- rection of attention from that which will be found in the average literature class, whether in high school or college. Our pupils ask for bread — they are hungry for knowledge about life, and they need, and know they need, such knowledge. But we give them in its place philology, or an account of some one's influence on the author. What is this but a stone? It goes without saying that if we are to understand the writer we must understand his vo- cabulary. We must know something, also, about his life and the circumstances which made him 228 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER what he was. But in high school and college such knowledge is merely a means to an end, and should be shown its place when it tries to play the lead- ing role. The study of literature will give moral power, and to most persons intellectual power, only in so far as it opens windows that look out upon Hfe. This aim calls also, as the reader will not have failed to observe, for a different kind of teacher from the ideal of the Doctor of Philosophy factory. It requires for its realization a teacher who is not a mere bookworm, who is not bowed down by the weight of a mass of philological, grammatical and historical erudition. It demands rather one who, whatever else he knows or is ignorant of, knows life, and that not primarily by hearsay from the printed page, but through actual experience and sympathetic contact with human beings. And this knowledge of life must include — as it will for any well-balanced person of wide observation and keen power of analysis — a knowledge of its moral issues, since the blind can not teach other people to see. The Place of History and Literature in a Sys- tem of Moral Instruction. — The careful reader will have observed that the study of history and literature exercises its influence upon character al- most entirely through the light it throws upon the second of the three great problems of moral instruc- tion Chapter XII, page 15.7). Neither history nor EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 229 literature is well adapted for serving as the basis of the direct study of what is right or wrong. The teacher of either subject would make a mistake in devoting any time to discussing such a question as whether the assassination of Julius Csesar was jus- tifiable. In the first place it is senseless to clutter up the few short hours at our disposal with the discussion of a subject so remote from ordinary life as that of political murder. In the second place this is neither an historical nor a literary problem, and history and literature, I have insisted, exercise their moral influence in their capacity as history or literature. It is the part of these disciplines, for example, to make us understand the character of Julius Caesar as a whole, and the characters and motives of the men who killed him, together with the effects of this assassination in their varied rami- fications. The insight into these things unquestion- ably supplies invaluable data for the solution of the problem whether the assassins did right. But the question whether under any circumstances political assassination can be justified, and if so, whether this was one of the permissible occasions, belongs, if anywhere, in the study of applied ethics. Again, the two subjects under consideration will do little to aid us in the struggle for self-control. They may indeed inspire us through examples, and this is very important. A writer like George Eliot, who deals habitually with the growth and decay of 230 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER character, may supply some valuable suggestions in the technique of self -conquest, but these will appear incidentally. On the whole, then, the assertion is justified that the chief function of history and lit- erature in the development of character is to reveal to the student the nature of right and wrong as such. And this, as we have seen, is the most impor- tant function of any form of moral instruction. Civics: Its Principal Aims.— Civics, dealing as it does with only a single area of moral activity, is less universal in its appeal than history or litera- ture. But, as if in comxpensation, it is, when prop- erly taught, the most effective of all studies for awakening the love of righteousness in its own do- main, and for guiding the intelligence in the attain- ment of its ideals. The question of questions in civics, taught as the best authorities on the subject are now unanimous in recommending, is: What good does government, whether local or national, do the child, his family and his fellows in the com- munity? Hence, what difference does it make whether he lives under good government or bad? The answer must be stated not merely in terms of his future (though this may not be neglected), but primarily in terms of his present needs and inter- ests as a child. As Mr. A. W. Dunn has pointed out, children "have the same civic interests that motive all community action and that are the foun- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 231 dation of all community arrangements and institu- tions, including government. Every child has an interest of some kind in his physical v^^ell-being, in his personal safety and that of his home and family possessions, in his father's occupation or business (perhaps even in small business enterprises of his own), in the appearance of his neighborhood and in social activities (at least in play). These are the very things for which government exists." In so far as civics deals with the child's future we must never get beyond issues the importance of which he can at least in part appreciate. For these reasons the local unit will be given the most extended treat- ment. The first and chief aim of civic instruction should be to create a realizing sense of the nature and value of the ends for the attainment of which govern- ment exists. The second is to give an acquaintance with the agencies through which these ends are brought into existence. Such knowledge, among other things, increases the sense of value through the concreteness which it lends to the idea of the end. Most of even the best text-books stop at this point. But w^hen they do so they omit a subject of very great importance, if the purpose of the work is to train for good citizenship. A third division, then, is necessary. It seeks to answer the question : What can I do to maintain, and if possible to im- prove, these institutions, and what must I refrain 232 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER from doing if I am not to injure them? There is no age from the first grade, or even the kinder- garten, where some kind of work for the city is not possible. The child should be trained to see his opportunities, or responsibilities, if you prefer so to call them. And he should be so guided that he will act in accordance with his vision. He must be prepared for the more fundamental future duties as well as the present ones, since the alternative is probably now or never. From this point of view our program must contain such topics as taxation, what it means to be an intelligent and conscientious voter, and what duties we owe to our city officials. By the last are meant such things as recognition of good work and active and intelligent support in their conflict with ignorance, indifference, corrup- tion and selfishness. The life of society can be brought before the pupil not merely through text-books but also through his own investigations. He may, with suitable guid- ance, examine for himself the work of the health, police, fire and street departments; he may learn through his own eyes what the parks, the schools, the city hospitals, etc., are doing for the benefit of himself and his fellow citizens. He may attend the meetings of the board of aldermen and be shown by the mayor with what duties his days are filled. He can not indeed do all this work himself. But he can make his investigations in 3ome one field, EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 233 and obtain his information about the others from the reports of his classmates, to each of whom, as to himself, will have been assigned a special topic. The sense of reality derived from his own excur- sions will extend to the descriptions supplied by his fellow workers. The community is a true labora- tory in civics and should be used as such by the schools. Its Results.— The result of this procedure should be a sense of the value of each of the in- stitutions of civil society and a sense of the value of the cooperative spirit upon which they rest. The pupil will realize himself to be a member of an or- ganic unity, a great whole in whose fate, for better or worse, his own is inextricably intertwined, whose life is immeasurably greater and more enduring than his own, whose present form is due to the struggles and sacrifices of thousands, which is ad- vancing, though no doubt all too fitfully, through the centuries in self-consciousness, in completeness of adaptation of means to ends, in the amount and dignity of the satisfactions which it affords. What is realized and valued will be loved; and if loved will be served, where there is insight into the op- portunities and requirements of the situation. Civ- ics can attain a concreteness in its picture of what has actually been accomplished and what still lies unaccomplished within the range of our powers, which has been denied to the study of any other 234 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER department of the moral life. It may therefore serve as a model to which these other departments should strive to approximate.* Local and national patriotism may be still further developed, steadied and guided, in the high school and perhaps in the eighth grade, by the study of v^hat our contemporaries in America have done dur- ing the past generation to make our community life healthier, sounder and happier. Here yoi; have the union of a cause, whose beneficent effects can in many cases be easily realized, and a man or men, a leader for whom the adolescent boy is always blindly or consciously seeking. The incorporation of this feature into a course in civics will give it variety and life, and introduce new and powerful motives of his own. It is described in Chapter XV. The Literature of Civic Instruction. — It will not be necessary for me to attempt to prescribe how a course thus conceived should be conducted, be- cause at length we have both text-books adapted to this end, and easily accessible description of aims, methods and materials. As far as the first two main divisions of a complete course in civics are con- cerned, the best manuals conform generally to the type of Mr. A. W. Dunn's The Community and the *"I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you have become filled with the love of her. And when you are impressed with the spectacle of her glory reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it." Pericles, in the Funeral Oration. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 235 Citizen — the more closely, I think, the better. Sug- gestions for the treatment of the third part — what can the pupil do and what must he refrain from do- ing for the sake of his city — will be found in Bulle- tin 23, and the book by Miss Hill, referred to imme- diately below. For accounts of methods the teacher may consult the Bulletin of the United States Bu- reau of Education, Number 2 2 (1915), entitled The Teaching of Community Civics, by Messrs. Bar- nard, Carrier, Dunn and Kingsley; Bulletin Num- ber J/ (1915), Civic Education in Elementary Schools as Illustrated in Indianapolis, by Mr. Dunn; and the Teaching of Civics, by Mabel Hill (Riverside Education Monograph, Houghton Mif- flin). The first and last of these publications con- tain a carefully selected and not too lengthy bibliography on aims and methods, and valuable directions with regard to the location of materials. The following references may also prove service- able : J. L. Barnard, The Teaching of Civics in Ele- mentary and Secondary Schools, National Educa- tion Association, 1913, pp. 84-90; C. W. Will- iams, Patriotism as an Instrument for Moral In- struction, Religious Education, Vol. 2, pp. 58-63. CHAPTER XV MORAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH BIOGRAPHY Some Advantages o£ History over Literature as a Means of Moral Instruction. — While, as we saw in the last chapter, literature has many advan- tages over history as a source of material for the study of life, on the other hand history, in its turn, may make its own unique contributions to the sub- ject. (1) Its pictures of life more easily impress them- selves as true upon the minds of certain pupils, especially of the matter-of-fact type, than do those of literature. Of the latter, some boys and girls will forever be suspicious. (2) History deals with more phases of life than does literature. Literature concerns itself almost wholly with leisure, to the exclusion of those busi- ness or professional activities which occupy the greater part of almost every adult's waking hours. The exceptions to this statement are confined al- most exclusively to the life of adventure. In the main it ignores civic interests almost as completely as it does the business and professional life. (3) History takes us up to the summit of the . 236 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 237 mountain whence we can see our own life as a part of the hfe of the race. It famiHarizes us with this, one of the most impressive of conceptions, and may make it enter into our very Hfe blood and thus serve as a force to shape alike our thoughts, our feelings and our actions. (4) The important conception of human progress is ignored by literature, and for the most part must be ignored by it, since it is of the very essence of literature that it portrays the individual life. It is noteworthy that very many literary men as well as professional students of literature have taken a pes- simistic attitude toward life, because for them "the thing which hath been it is that which shall be." On the other hand the attitude of modern historians and men of science is distinctly optimistic. The contrast in this respect between James Russell Lowell and Asa Gray in their later years is quite typical. (5) The feelings of gratitude and "piety" (in the sense of the Latin pietas, as affectionate and rever- ential gratitude toward a benefactor), and the re- sultant desire to do something to make the world better can be aroused toward historical characters as they never can be toward the characters of fiction. These feelings, going out to the known and even the unnamed heroes of our country and of the race, make a powerful appeal to national and race patriot- ism in generous natures. (6) Whatever may be the abstract possibilities, 238 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the fact is that training in the use of the conception of cause and effect in interpreting human Hfe may be obtained in considerable abundance in the history work, while there will be on the whole less oppor- tunity for it in the study of literature. Biography Combines Most of the Advantages of History and Literature. — The conclusions to be drawn from these facts are, first the obvious one, that history must be allowed to supplement litera- ture, as literature must supplement history. A sec- ond conclusion, equally important, is that a synthesis of most that is best in literature and history may be found in the field of biography. If so, the study of biography should form a part of the curriculum of every school, elementary or advanced, that would train its pupils to understand life. Biography appeals at once and to all classes of pupils as true, and thus produces in many minds not merely conviction but also a degree of realization which, for them, literature can not supply. It pre- sents the business or professional life as literature does not, and as even history does and probably can only to a slight degree. It is a part of the story of the progress of the race. It usually has as its background the history of the day and thus pro- duces some of that mass effect which gives impress- iveness to the march of great events. As against literature it often lacks inwardness — the power of revealing to the reader the inner life of the man, the EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 239 part that for him really counted. But this is by no means true of all biographies. As compared with history and literature biography has of course cer- tain limitations of its own and should, therefore, never be allowed to replace them. On the other hand, given as an introduction to the systematic study of life it will enjoy an advantage possessed by neither, that of being in the hands of a teacher who is teaching the subject primarily for the sake of the insight into life that may be obtained from it, in- stead of being consigned to the tender mercies of one who has a fixed number of periods or of authors to cover before the close of the semester, and who, even when not hurried, may look upon the moral in- fluences of the subject as being at most a mere by- product. The difficulty of getting the moral values emphasized under such circumstances Is well shown by the parallel case of English training through the study of Latin. The teachers of Latin could train their pupils in English, no doubt, but In the main, notwithstanding the great pressure often exerted to that end, they do not do so. Even In the elementary school where one teacher has charge of all subjects, moral thought fulness Is more likely to be developed in a course which aims definitely and primarily to develop It than in one where this aim is obscured by a cloud of other Issues. Some Specific Aims of the Study of Biography. ' — The broad aims of biographical study have al- 240 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ready been stated at sufficient length in the discus- sion of related topics. But a few specific aims should be noted for which biography supplies better mate- rial than either history or literature. Foremost among these are the laws of individual success and failure, including success and failure in the more conventional and superficial senses of these terms. Because "outer" success does not represent the deep- est or most important thing in life it is not for that reason to be despised. The study of "successful" careers may be subsumed under moral thoughtful- ness through the perfectly legitimate conception of a duty to self. A course in biography can do still other things for the education of the moral judgment and the character of the pupils. It can call attention to what appears to be an indubitable fact, namely, that mor- ality is a normal accompaniment— not, indeed, of fox-like cunning, but of most forms of intellectual strength.* It, more effectively than any other school study, can lead the pupil to see and realize that right doing involves not weakness of will but on the con- trary, strength. And that as in Lincoln, heroic strength is compatible not only with a broad spirit of altruism but also with exquisitely sensitive sym- pathies, warm affections, and a charity and a power of forgiveness that may make their possessor loved and revered even by his enemies in the bitterness of * See F. A. Woods, Popular Science Monthly, vol. 6Z, p. 516. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 241 defeat. It may train our pupils also to discover how difficult it is to read the motives of our fellow men and thus pass judgment upon them; to respect conceptions of duty which are different from their own (for example, for us of the North, those of General Robert E. Lee), and to take the proper attitude toward the faults of good men. How to deal with the last of these problems may be learned from a citizen of the second Christian century. In dealing with a discreditable episode in the life of the Roman general Fabius, Plutarch writes : "Here, we must confess, ambition seems to have overcome him. To make it appear to the world that he had taken Tarentum by force and his own prowess, and not by treachery, he commanded his men to kill the Brutians (one of whom had be- trayed the city) before all others. . . . Such proceedings were very different from those of Mar- cellus on a like occasion, which, indeed, very much set off in the eyes of the world the clemency and humanity of the latter, as appears in the account of his life." Nothing is here extenuated any more than it is set down in malice. But the fact is emphasized that where the hero failed others have succeeded. On the other hand, one may proceed along a dif- ferent line. The whole of the character may be em- phasized as against any single flaw. No attempt should be made to hide the flaw, if anything, it is better to adopt the opposite policy. I have known 242 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER of a boy who was seriously injured by the fact that in school Franklin was held up to him as a model of perfection. On the other hand, there should be no exaggeration or magnifying of small offenses, as is the tendency with books bearing the title, *'The Real So-and-So." They should be treated rather as sorrowful facts in a world to which perfection has been denied. But they should at the same time be placed in their proper perspective, and not for one moment allowed to obscure the rest of a char- acter which, as in the case of Franklin, may be adorned with a thousand excellences, some of them of the rarest nature.* The Statement of Purposes to Be Made to the Class. — The statement of purposes with which the teacher opens the course will correspond exactly to those which he himself has in view in conducting it. We shall tell our pupils that we want to teach them how to study human nature ; and that, in addi- tion, we want to help them to understand life, its duties, its privileges, its dangers, and its wealth of good things for the mind prepared to receive them. Many men — shall we say most men? — make more or less of a failure of life. They themselves suffer, they make others suffer; they degrade themselves, they degrade those about them. We, as teachers, want to help the members of this generation to do a *See Gulick, Mind and Work, ch. ii; reprinted from the World's Work for July, 1908. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 243 little better than many of the members of our own have done. This does not mean that we consider ourselves complete masters of the art of life, any more than the fact that we teach history or science means that we know everything that is to be known about these disciplines. We merely claim, in virtue of being a little older than our pupils, to have learned enough about life — too often through sad experiences — to be able to set them thinking, and perha.ps to help them find an answer to some of their questions. We assume, then, that they want to learn to distinguish right from wrong, to gain the power to watch intelligently both right and wrong conduct in operation, and to be convinced of the existence of unselfish devotion in the world that actually sur- rounds them. Methods of Conducting the Course.— Many courses in biography try to deal with the lives of a large number of persons. A character will be as- signed for study to each member of the class. At any given recitation tv/o or three members read papers upon the persons assigned to them. These papers are then thrown open for discussion by the class. Obviously the discussion can not carry ac- quaintanceship with the character farther because the other pupils have no data. The paper itself is almost certain to deal with the externals of the man's life — not merely because of the inexperience of the writer, but because they must be told as the 244 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER prerequisite to anything more fundamental, and then they crowd out everything else. The result is the character remains an abstraction without power to enkindle life. Furthermore, a procession of heroic figures passing before the pupils, two or three per day, once or twice a week, through a semester or a year, is likely to produce the effect of an overdose of candy. Far better results can be obtained from a more intimate acquaintance with two or three characters. The irreducible minimum for the study of any one life is sixteen to twenty recitation pe- riods. Two methods may be suggested of conducting such a recitation as we have here in mind. In both, one or two chapters are assigned as subject-matter. In one method of procedure the discussion of each chapter will be introduced by the reading of a writ- ten outline prepared by a member of the class. His classmates will have read the chapter and may be questioned if it is deemed advisable about its leading contents. The other method is to require each pu- pil to write in advance a list of from eight to twelve questions (the upper limit should be set pretty def- initely by the teacher for each class exercise), cor- rect answers to which would cover all the important points in the chapter. This is excellent training in perspective, an utterly neglected but most important part of education. In class, the pupils read their questions, these are criticized and put into such form EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 245 as to constitute, in their totality, a good list, and each question, in its final shape, is written on the blackboard. The answer is then called for. Experi- ence shows that a pupil who has formulated a good question has learned the answer without much or any additional study. The advantage of the first method is that it leaves more time for the discussion (for vv^hich see below). The pa- per can be corrected by the teacher before it is brought into class, and thus recitation time saved. This can not be done v/ith the ques- tions. The advantage of the second method is that the class as a whole obtains, perforce, an excellent knowledge of the contents of the chapter. On the whole this advantage outweighs the other consid- eration. It is therefore recommended as the method to be employed. Perhaps it may not be superfluous to illustrate this method by presenting a list of questions showing the kind that are required, and that, after possibly two or three months of exercise on the part of the pupils, can be obtained. They are based upon that portion of Franklin's Autobiography describing his first visit to London. The reader will observe that the answers to some must be put together from several different passages. 1. What were Franklin's relations with Ralph? 2. Give an account of Franklin's daily work. 3. What is said about his physical strength and 246 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER skill, and what advantages did he gain from them ? 4. What were his relations with his fellow em- ployees, including his influence upon them ? 5. What did he do with his wages? 6. What friends did he acquire in London, and how? 7. What are we told about his reading habits while in London? 8. What did he get out of his eighteen months' stay in London ? Whatever the method employed, time miust be set aside for discussion by the class. In addition the teacher will explain those matters which the pupils lack the data to understand or to see the bearing of; will make them realize, by the presentation of supplementary material, whatever the book may have left abstract or remote; will see that they form, by means of proper reviews, a definite and coherent picture of the life and character as a whole ; and will train their practical sagacity and moral insight by setting their minds to work upon the data concern- ing the conduct of life which the book supplies. Thus in studying the life of Lincoln the class should understand some of the reasons other than the most obvious one why Lincoln hated slavery as he did ; why, for instance, he was convinced that the Union could not endure half slave, half free. Other- wise they will not understand the extraordinary EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 247 transformation he underwent after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Franklin's Autobiography, on the other hand, calls for no examination of the origin of the French and Indian War because he had nothing to do either with starting it or bringing it to an end. His relations to the war are accordingly per- fectly intelligible v/ithout this information. Again, the class should be made to realize what it meant, socially and otherwise, for Franklin to take the pop- ular side in the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly. A systematic view of a man's activities can be obtained from time to time by requiring the pupils to write papers on such subjects as the following: Give an account of Franklin's activities as a legisla- tor (in the colonial period), showing his devotion to the cause of the people. What did he do for the city of Philadelphia? Explain his business success. For an illustration of the fourth item (above) let us turn to the record of a member of our own gen- eration. In Up from Slavery, Mr. Booker T. Wash- ington wrote (p. 203) : ^'I no longer cherish ill feel- ing for those who advocate measures that tend to oppress the black man." In order to understand the man who can make such a statement, if for no other reason, the class should consider such ques- tions as the following : Why did he drive out the ill feeling, which under similar circumstances would have dominated the entire life of most of us? How did he drive it out ? 248 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The Immediate Aim. — The immediate aim which the teacher must set before himself in this work is to cause to grow in each pupil's mind a vivid and accurate picture of the man himself, seen in the surroundings and conditions in which he lived. This picture must be a picture of the real man — I mean, the inner man, a picture of how and what he thought and believed and dreamed, hoped and feared, loved and hated, felt and purposed. His outer acts, what men saw, are of value chiefly as they are made to throw light upon this inner life. This life, when fully apprehended and realized, is the thing that will create wisdom and awaken moral enthusiasms. The teacher must be careful not to ruin the effect by cheap moralizing and exhorting. The aim here set forth has been achieved in a bril- liant way by Gamaliel Bradford, Jr., in his studies of the life of General Robert E. Lee, and in his Con- federate and Union Portraits, which, as may be re- membered, first appeared in the pages of the Atlan- tic Monthly, These may well serve as a model. The Place of the Course in the Curriculum. — There will be no difficulty in finding a place for a course of this kind in the elementary school. For instance, it would probably form the most effective part of the work in history. In the high school, also, several possibilities are open. In the Uni- versity of Wisconsin High School, for exam- ple, as in a number of other high schools, the EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 249 study of biography forms a part of the freshman course in EngHsh. It supplies this course with ma- terial of the best kind with which to work. On the other side, there is the great advantage that this arrangement permits the introduction of work in morals into the school without "overburdening the already overburdened curriculum." In the University of Wisconsin High 'School the work in biography has replaced the study of a book of selections in English literature. In other words, it counts as "literature." The remaining three days of the week are occupied as follows : Two for the study of grammar and form work; the third for ex- pression work, using the material supplied by the biographies. Thus the teacher will read a paragraph and send the class to the board to write the gist of it. Excellent sets of papers have been obtained on such subjects as: What characteristics Lincoln showed in his face; Life on the Southern plantation (data from Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery) ; Franklin's or Lincoln's education of himself; What Franklin did for Philadelphia; Why Lincoln's friends believed he would make a good president; Life on the frontier in the early part of the nine- teenth century. A Course in American Biography. — For Amer- ican children the biographies of Americans should be used, because the American boy or girl can under- stand better and enter more completely into the life 250 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER of those who have lived in his own country and have dealt with an environment, material and human, in many respects, at least, like his own. If the lead- ers of our past national life are selected for study, biography and history can be made to supplement each other most effectively in the eighth grade, or to prepare for history if biography is given in the seventh grade. As a freshman high-school study, it serves, to a certain extent, as a (much needed) re- view. For the reasons first mentioned our contem- poraries are to be preferred to the dead, in so far as it is possible to find the necessary material. Again, a course which keeps within the national boundary lines possesses a certain unity which is favorable to apprehension and the growth of interest. It also tends to develop the spirit of patriotism and to show us how our patriotism, municipal, state and national, may exhibit itself in action. An excellent course of seventy- two recitation pe- riods for the first year of the high school could be constructed as follows: (1) Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography. A school edition must be used. That published by Ginn and Company is perhaps the best. The teacher will use, for supplementary mate- rial and for pictures which will be of value to the class, The Many-Sided Franklin, by Paul Leicester Ford. (2) Abraham Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln, the Boy and the Man, by James Morgan (Macmil- lan). This is one of the most beautiful of biogra- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 251 phies. The teacher will use, in addition, the Life by Ida Tarbell (Doubleday, Page and Company). If possible, obtain the four-volume edition for the sake of the pictures* From 1858 use also, if acces- sible, the pictures in Harper's Weekly. (3) Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (Doubleday, Page and Company). As an alternative to (3) I recom- mend The Life of Alice Freeman Palmer, by her husband, George H. Palmer, or Miss Jane Addams' Twenty Years in Hull House (Macmillan). For many reasons I should like to have Lincoln followed by Robert E. Lee, but I can not yet assure myself that a biography of this noble and heroic gentleman which is at once satisfactory in itself and adapted for school use has yet been written. A Course in Contemporary Social Progress. — It may be found desirable that the course in biog- raphy of the freshman year should be followed by a study of contemporary social progress in the soph- omore year. Like the earlier work, it may be incor- porated into the English course, supplying, in this case, the material for the required themes. The primary aim of such a course will be to bring before the pupils some of the more important con- temporary movements to make the world a better place to live in and man a better person to live with. As a part of a course in moral education, however, it will exclude those very important advances which from the outset have promised their promoters an 252 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER adequate return in money or power, and will confine itself to those which, even though actually followed by such rewards, would never have been undertaken unless public spirit or race patriotism had formed an important element in the sum total of the motives to which they owed their inception. The attention of the pupils should be directed to two matters : The object aimed at, together with the means employed, the difficulties overcome, and the like; and the man or men who dared, and planned and struggled. The latter feature gives it some of the advantages in the way of appeal to natural inter- ests which are enjoyed by a course in biography. In order to combine these two phases of the subject into a single field of view, movements which can be at least partially identified with one man are chosen for study. The fact that there were co-workers or independent laborers in the same field must not be ignored, and the lives of some of these may be studied also. But for the sake of awakening and holding the interest of the young student at the time, and leaving him in possession of clean-cut pictures at the conclusion of the course, the personality of the leader must be displayed and his relation to the general movement emphasized. The work of the year may best begin with a study of what is being done by the community in which the school exists. From the home town we may pass to the state, thence to the nation, which in the course EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 253 here planned will supply the great bulk of the mate- rial. The following are a few of the many topics that can be studied in such a course, together with the names of those persons closely identified with each. The movement for the conservation of our natural resources, Mr. Pinchot ; the progress of our colonies, especially the Philippines, Ex-President Taft; the systematic crusade for the betterment of the public health. Professor Irving Fisher; the fight against communicable diseases. Dr. Walter Reed ; the strug- gle for pure- food laws. Dr. Wiley; the housing of the poor, Mr. Lawrence Veiller, or Mr. Robert De- Forrest; settlement work. Miss Jane Addams; the fight against child labor, Mrs. Florence Kelley; the uplifting of the negro, Mr. Booker T. Washington; the reformation of juvenile delinquents, Judge Lindsey, and, in another direction, Mr. George, the founder of the George Junior Republic ; agricultural education, Dr. Knapp; the beautification of our cities, Mr. M. F. Robinson; improved municipal government, Ex-Mayor Whitlock, 'of Toledo. The materials for this work can be obtained from the weekly and monthly journals. The following will be found almost indispensable : The World's Work or The Review of Reviews; The Outlook or the Independent ; The Literary Digest or Current Opinion; The American City; and, most important of all. The Survey (formerly Charities). Files of 254 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER either the first or the second, the third or fourth, the fifth or sixth, and the last two v\^ill be needed, run- ning back, where obtainable, to 1897 — the opening of a new era in our national life in more respects than one. The pupil should, of course, be sent di- rectly to these sources, and any others that may be accessible, for his information. One or two mem- bers of the class will introduce the topic of the day with a paper; the remainder of the period will be devoted to its discussion. Results to Be Expected from This Course. — Four specific results may fairly be expected from this course. The first is a realization on the part of the pupil that society is an organism, so that nothing human can be foreign to him because nothing can happen which, sooner or later, will not affect his interests, and affect them, oftentimes, profoundly. It should in the end become self-evident to him, for example, that a triumph of good government or a defeat in New Hampshire or New Jersey, in New Orleans or in San Francisco, is, in the end, of almost as much importance to him as the same thing in his native state or city. For our country is in fact one. Through our national government each state is ruled almost completely by the representatives chosen by other states and while individual and civic corruption and probity are as contagious as tuber- culosis, yet we are now learning that they can be successfully fought by united effort. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 255 In the second place, the pupil will discover that much that is best in his own life is the gift of those who have been willing to struggle, sometimes in ob- scurity, often misunderstood, always, or at least usually, waging a desperate battle against the iner- tia, prejudice or selfishness of powerful elements in society. With the awareness of this fact the more generous natures will feel a strong sense of grati- tude to these known and unknown benefactors, a determination to place no hindrance in their way, an impulse to conduct their future business or pro- fession in the same spirit in which these men did their work, and, in many cases, a desire to join their ranks as active workers for society. In the third place, he may be brought to a realiza- tion of the magnitude of the issues at stake in the struggle for good government and good social and economic conditions in the United States. And through the study of such books as John Fiske's American Political Ideas and Josiah Strong's The New Era, his eyes may be opened to the fact that the drama being acted under our eyes to-day is of vital concern to the future history alike of America and of the entire race. Thus may spirits be finely touched to the fine issues which in reality are in- volved in the struggle for a better community life in the United States. Finally, a concrete study such as this will make the pupil realize more effectively than can anything 256 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER else that there is such a thing as progress, and that, despite the existence of discouraging back eddies and long reaches of apparently stagnant water, the world is slowly growing better. Thus hope will strengthen will. The Relation of These Courses to Other Forms of Moral Education. — At the close of these two courses, the courses namely in biography and contemporary progress, the two aspects of the moral life — the two sides of the shield — excellence or perfection of individual character and the serv- ice of our fellow men will have been brought before our pupils in a form calculated to arouse the spirit of loyal devotion to moral ends. In themselves they may be expected to guide and inspire to higher levels of conduct. In addition they will serve as a valuable foundation for the already described methods of moral training, and as an enlightening introduction to the systematic study of the moral life, the subject to which we next turn our attention. CHAPTER XVI THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE CONDUCT OF LIFE I ITS AIMS History, literature and biography, however valu- able they may be as contributions to the knowledge of the moral life, do not afford an adequate basis for the attainment of the ends of moral instruction. The principal reasons for this statement are that, in the first place, they do not provide proper or sufificient material for the training of the power to distinguish between right and wrong, and for the study of how to deal with temptations; in the second place they do not cover, even in barest outline, the field of the second of the great problems of moral instruction. They not merely do not, they can not, for the mate- rial requisite for this purpose does not exist. The addition of civj^s to the list does not really meet the situation because it deals with a somewhat highly specialized set of duties, and duties of such a nature that the most numerous and the most important rep- resent obligations not in the present but in the future life of the child, with the inevitable unreality which that situation carries with it. 257 258 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER This is but saying that they can give nothing bet- ter than a sketchy, partial and incomplete view of the moral world. Now this world is a unity, as we have tried to show in Chapter XII ; it is a unity as truly as is the world with which the physical sciences deal. It has underlying laws which form an organic whole and whose significance can be fully under- stood only when they are seen in relation to each other ; it has certain leading phenomena which illus- trate and give meaning to these laws better than do other phenomena which are likely to be picked out by the casual observation of one who approaches the field for some other purpose than that of dis- covering its essential features. The conclusion is that the moral life demands a study which shall be systematic and (within the limits set it by the claims of other subjects) comprehensive. The school cur- riculum should find a place, therefore, for the sys- tematic study of the conduct of life. The Insufficiency of the Incidental Method of Moral Instruction.— The statements just made apply equally well as against the claims of the so- called incidental method of moral instruction — the occasional discussion of moral issues as they happen to be raised by the incidents of school life. Such discussion is of course proper enough in its place. For a lecture to a class on the wickedness of kicking a football into a neighbor's garden or of swiping EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 259 sweaters from- the lockers, or an admonition ad- dressed to an individual pupil on the subject of con- ceit or vanity may produce an impression under favorable conditions which is both salutary and permanent. And a clever teacher, like Mr. McCor- mack, of the LaSalle Township High School, will seize an untoward incident and compel it to yield its last ounce of enlightenment and power to move the will.* But who does not see that to depend upon such things for giving a real insight into the moral life is gambling with chance? And that even where the material is most abundant through weakness, stupidity, or want of sympathetic understanding of youthful human nature on the part of the teachers, or total depravity on the part of the pupils, even here the result is a purely haphazard, piecemeal acquaintanceship, more likely than not to be essen- tially superficial ? A generation ago in many schools English was taught (apart from the elements of grammar) al- most exclusively by the "incidental method." Ob- serve, in the first place, that the complete absence of systematic work in this field was never tolerated, for Gould Browne's grammar was already with us. In the second place, the incidental method, although never relied upon exclusively, was found to be so unsatisfactory that no one would ever suggest re- * Utilising Moral Crises for Ethical Instruction, Religious Education, vol. 9, pp. 36-41. 260 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER turning to it. Training in the use of the mother tongue rests upon the apprehension of principles which are not Hkely to be picked up in an algebra or Latin class. If this statement is not self-evident for English, change the illustration to geography or his- tory. What is true of these subjects is equally true of the study of the conduct of life. The moral ideal must be molded into its proper form, and will derive no inconsiderable share of its moving force through a general view of the place of morality in life, and the relation of the different parts of the moral ideal to one another. This requires a systematic survey of the world of conduct. It is sometimes urged that systematic moral in- struction will actually lessen the amount of atten- tion given to moral problems. The same objection might be urged against instruction in English. As a matter of fact, the elevation of English to the dignity of a special subject of instruction is leading, par- ticularly in those schools where a forceful prin- cipal is really interested in English, to increased at- tention to the subject on the part of all teachers. They now see that a knowledge of English and facil- ity in its use are among the ends at which all educa- tion must consciously aim. As they discover that the English teacher can not accomplish his work without their aid, they are moved to help, as they never could have been, at all events, as they were not, under the old regime. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 261 The Fundamental Aims of a Systematic Course in the Conduct of Life. — The man who does right, as we have already seen, must in the first place know what it is right to do in the conditions in which he finds himself; furthermore, h^ must love the right ; and finally he must know how to deal with temptation, i. e., either how to avoid it or to con- quer it. Accordingly both subject-matter and method of a systematic course in the conduct of life will be shaped with a view to the accomplishment of three results : ( 1 ) developing in the pupil the power and habit of discovering what conduct is right under the given conditions; (2) training him to discover the significance or value of right conduct in order — just as in the appreciation of literature, music or art — to develop love through genuine acquaintance, through seeing what is there to be seen; (3) training him in the art of strengthening his will in the inter- vals between temptation, and in the art of making the most effective use of every resource at his dis- posal in the actual conflict with temptation. Each of these three statements is an abstract formula, covering a number of subsidiary ends. The second was discussed at sufficient length in Chapter XII (see page 162.) There remain to us the first and the third, to which we now turn our attention. We begin with the first. The Knowledge of What Is Right: (a) Anal- ysis of the Situation. — Morality, as we have said, 262 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ^ 1 involves a determined effort to produce a good re- sult. If, then,^ we are to accomplish what we wish our first problem with regard to a proposed action must be : What will be its effects, direct and indirect, both in the future and in the present, upon self and others? A thorough study of indirect effects will ber a greater revelation to the pupils than those persons who have not given attention to- this matter might suppose. For a number of years I have been making careful studies of the moral judgments of some of the students of the University of Wiscon- sin. In such matters as lying and breaking prom- ises I find the majority fairly familiar with some of the most obvious of the more remote effects. To many effects that are of great importance, which can be observed by any one who will look for them, they seem, however, to be entirely blind. Exercises which require the systematic tracing of the effects of certain often-recurring forms of action must ac- cordingly form an important part of a course which would train in moral thought fulness. Where signifi- cant effects remain 'undiscovered the teacher can often uncover them by asking: What would happen if everybody should act in that way ? It will be worth while sometimes to set the pupils looking in their daily experience for the ill effects of want of punc- tuality, obedience, unkindness, thoughtlessness, un- veracity, etc., and the good effects of their opposites, and reporting their findings to the class. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 263 In many cases we have before us when about to act two — or sometimes more — well-defined alterna- tives which anybody could see. When we are asked a question, for example, we may lie, or tell the truth, or perhaps evade or shuffle. But in many other cases there lies before us a situation containing all sorts of possibilities for service of which we are simply not aware, or at best only half aware. This is true of many things which the child could do for his parents, or his brothers and sisters, his play- mates at recess, the school, his native city, etc. In such cases the first question must be: What can I do for my parents ? Or, more specifically, what can I do to help lighten the financial load or the burden of work or perhaps of worry which they carry? What can I do, apart from this, to show my gratitude and affection? Obviously we are still in the field of cause and effect ; we are looking for causes, namely, which if set in motion will produce certain results. Effects are always relative, on the one hand, to the agent's powders; on the other, to the nature of the situation in which action takes place. A rubber ball thrown at a wall leads to one effect; a lump of lead, to another. If the ball is thrown against a stone wall, we get one result; if it is thrown at a sand heap or into the water, a very different one. Similarly, the effects of human actions often turn upon one's powers really to serve in the instance under consideration ; and the total effects can be de- 264 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER termined only by inquiring also what must be left undone if something else is done. The discussion of this subject may open to the pupil the entire field of self-knowledge. Again the effects will have value only in so far as they serve the needs or interests — actual or potential — of some human being or group of human beings. Hence the problem requiring con- sideration may be : What are the needs and inter- ests — the real needs and interests — of the parties who make up the given social situation? This of course is the problem of opportunity. The fact must not be overlooked that certain con- ditions are so nearly universal that for most pur- poses they may be treated as such ; as, for example, the conditions that demand respect for the life and property of others. On the other hand, we can not ignore the complementary fact that even such condi- tions as these may not be completely universal, since whatever we do ought to be determined by the demands of the highest interests concerned. Thus most persons will approve Jean Val jean's theft of the loaf of bread when it was needed to save the family of his sister from starvation. But it is inad- visable to dwell upon these exceptional situations with high-school children, to say nothing of the chil- dren in the grades. One reason is that there are many things of far greater practical value to which we can devote the few scraps of time at our disposal. A far more important reason is that it tends to breed EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 265 a wrong attitude toward moral rules. Some argu- ment can be found in favor of anything; and dis- cussion, certainly frequent or lengthy discussions, of the permissibiHty of breaking general rules such as Thou shalt not steal, tend to give the pupil the idea that nothing in the moral world is fixed or cer- tain. (b) The Determination of the Standard to Be Applied to the Situation.— The problem of what we ought to do is not solved, however, by a mere analysis of the situation, with its estimate of needs and abilities, and its calculations of effects. These tell us what is. The ultimately important question is : The conditions being such, what ought I to do ? We must have, in other words, not merely informa- tion, but standards. Where is the teacher to obtain these? There is but one possible answer. The teacher must use his own code, having taken care to make it as clear, consistent and complete as he is capable of doing. To some readers this advice may seem like an invitation to anarchy. I do not believe it is. The code of the thoughtful American teacher who is upright and sympathetic in his own life will be a fair representative of the best public opinion of our day. This does not mean necessarily that it will be perfect, but rather that it will be adequate for the task assie^ned it. The teacher's function in /■ the class room is not to transcend our best contempo- rary code of morals (eyen supposing that it needs 266 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER transcending at any point). It is rather to clarify it and render it more definite where through want of reflection it remains vague, to apply its principles to near-lying fields which have not yet recognized its authority, to render it more consistent, and to re- move the absurdities which arise from the fact that we are constandy approving a course of action when it inures to our benefit and condemning it when it threatens us with harm. As he thus works over his o\vn code with a view to preparing himself to meet his class he will recognize more and more completely the truth of the statement that love, in the sense of the spirit of service, is the fulfilling of the law; and that the test of a good act, therefore, is: Does it really serve, in the long run, the highest interests of those whom it affects ? Thus would I answer the question where the teacher is to get his own standards. But this can never be his starting point in the class room. It indicates rather his goal. The starting point must be determined by the principle of apperception as emphasized in geography, or, for that matter, in any other subject of instruction. In other words the start must be made from the standards which the pupils bring with them to school. These standards must be those they actually accept (which, of course, does not mean practise), and not those they merely believe they accept. The test is: How will they judge a concrete case? EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 2(y7 The method by which you lead them from their own inadequate and often immoral point of view to that which is higher and more valid may be somewhat as follows. If you get their honest opinion concern- ing, for example, some common form of business trickery, you will find a good many who think lightly of it, or actually admire it as "smart." Now run down a list of transactions growing constantly more shady in character and you will ultimately reach some instance of theft or other kind of fraud or of violence which every one will refuse to "stand for." Then you may show that the conduct which they have been regarding as innocent or admirable differs in no essential respect from the evil they un- hesitatingly condemn. Hence it is open to the same reprobation.* Sometimes the result can be reached in a simpler manner. The principal of an elementary school once talked at great length to two boys of ten and twelve who had been engaged in a very serious piece of mischief. She produced no effect upon them what- ever until finally she asked : How would you like to have your mother treated that way ? Thereupon they immediately surrendered. She used, as is ob- vious, the principle of the Golden Rule. This is so rational, so self -evidently fair, that it can be em- ployed to untie many ethical knots. But care should be taken to use it only when it really appeals to the conscience and is not a mere form of words. * Cf. above, p. 186. 268 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The moral judgment is most trustworthy when it passes upon situations in which the issues are Hfe and death. One of the several causes of this fact is very instructive. Ordinarily, when we are asked whether an action is right — for example, is it right to tempt another person to do wrong? — we place ourselves quite spontaneously in the position of the imagined agent, whereupon at once the insidious thought of what we should gain by the operation comes to blind our judgment. But we can not imagine ourselves acting as a murderer; so our view of his i deed stands a better chance of being impartial. This | principle we shall often find it convenient to use. f Thus where one man hires a band of thugs to kill another man, all the pupils will see without difficulty that he can not escape responsibility for the murder. From this vantage ground it is easy to show that a man who bribes or otherwise induces one person to wrong a third party by breaking a contract can not for a moment be regarded as guiltless. And the consideration that the thugs who acted as agents were, in their turn, equally guilty with their prin- cipal may be applied to throw light upon the prob- lem of publishing fraudulent advertisements. The Appeal to Authority in Determining the Standard. — It appears from the preceding that we are to educate our pupils to the acceptance of proper standards primarily by training them to see the implications of the^'r own deepest ideals of EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 269 human relationships. What we must not do, on the other hand, is to appeal to public opinion to settle questions of right and wrong, at least in any other way than as confirming conclu- sions otherwise reached. The reasons for this assertion should now be clear. In the first place, we are trying to train our pupils to think, and the ap- peal to authority represents the cessation of thought. In the second place, as has been asserted above, in matters of right and wrong, authority, in so far as it has any effect — and I do not question the fact that it has a large effect — determines, in the main, what we believe we believe rather than what we actually believe. And it is the latter rather than the former which counts when we face a concrete temptation. Right, we have said, represents what the good man wants to do. You can move another to do right (I am not speaking of outer conformity but of inner acceptance) only as you can make him see that the action in question is what he really wants human beings as such to do. In the face of serious tempta- tion to the contrary he will ordinarily not act unless he can see this with his own eyes. These considerations will serve to prevent the teacher from appealing to the authority of his own ipse dixit. This principle is fundamental in deal- ing with young people of high-school age, especially in the upper classes, whatever may be the subject that is being taught. For this period of life brings 270 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER with it a strong demand for liberty, and this means among other things hberation from the burden of authority, and the opportunity to think things out for themselves. Even in dealing with little children, however, this policy should also be followed. This statement does not mean that they should be led or forced into a course of reasoning on casuistry prob- lems. It means rather that all but the simplest ques- tions concerning what ought and ought not to be done should be excluded from classes made up of young children. Where you can not bring your pupils' moral ideals up to a satisfactory level, you should either carry them along as far as you can without attempting to bully them into accepting your opinions, or else omit the subject entirely from your program. Examples of what is meant are revenge and informing against wrong-doers. Summary.— We may summarize the preceding statements, though in a new order, as follows. The most important aims in this department of the field of moral instruction are as follows. (1) Training the pupils to discover what their own deepest ideals really are, through the use of concrete illus- trative material. (2) Training in the habit of look- ing at actions impartially, that is, independently of their chance relations to the private interests of the person judging. (3) Training them to discover the implications of these ideals, particularly in the case of bad actions which pass more or less generally EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 271 unchallenged, and of desirable actions which are not under ordinary circumstances demanded by the av- erage conscience. (4) Training the power to trace the effects of actions, direct and indirect, immediate and remote, upon self and others. It will be remem- bered that effects are always dependent upon the powers of the agent, and get their value through their relation to the needs and interests of the recip- ient or recipients. (5) Training the constructive imagination to think out forms of service. The Knov^Iedge Required for the Attainment of Self~Control.~ We turn to the third aim of moral instruction. It consists, essentially, as has al- ready been said, in aiding the young to work out a theory of self-control. This means teaching them how to prepare for temptation and how to handle themselves when they stand face to face with it. With this purpose in viev^r we shall help them discover how to deal with the various kinds of temptation that beset them, there being as many varieties of defense as there are of attack. They must be led to realize in detail how many and what temptations to wrong-doing have their source in failure to see the situation before them as it really is, and to understand the necessity of cultivating the power to see straight as a means of protection in time of stress. They must be taught how to recog- nize temptations for what they are when they appear under insidious forms, how to keep them from en- 212 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tering the mind, how and under what circumstances to avoid them, how to drive them and keep them from the field of attention, how most effectively to neutralize their appeal when they can not be dis- lodged from the mind, how to strengthen weak reso- lutions in the intervals of attack, how to keep the interest or desire to which they appeal from grow- ing too strong to be controlled. Above all must we train them to prepare for themselves allies in the form of collateral interests which will cooperate when temptation presses in sweeping the enemy from the field. Application to the Elementary School. — In writing the above I have had in mind primarily the needs of the upper classes of a high school. However, the spirit which animates the moral life is essentially the same for all periods of life. Ac- cordingly, the specific aims of a course for ele- mentary-school children will differ from that in- tended for the high-school pupils chiefly in the matter of emphasis. The obvious principle that moral in- struction should deal chiefly with the present duties and opportunities of the children rather than with those which will come to them in later years must of course be applied even more rigidly in the ele- mentary school than in the high school. The only important exception will be supplied by the eighth grade, where problems of civic morality and pos- sibly some few other forward-looking matters may EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 273 and indeed must be discussed. Generalizations must be avoided largely or wholly. The mind of the child under fourteen is really at home only in the concrete. In considering what is right, the emphasis must be placed on forms of service which the child might not think of unless moved to reflect. The things he must not do should by no means be ig- nored. But here again even more imperatively than in the high school it is necessary that difficult prob- lems, the solution of which involves a nice balancing of opposing considerations, should be rigidly ex- cluded from the class exercise. Moral instruction does not exist anywhere in the school in order to start children struggling w^ith the perplexities of the conflict of duties. It may as a matter of fact help them to solve such problems when these enter their lives. Nevertheless, even in the upper classes of the high school this department of the subject should be treated, if at all, more or less incidentally. As for the grades, unless the problem comes right out of the experience of some member of the class, this phase of the moral life should be buried in silence. Impossibility of Separating the Three Aims. — It will appear from the preceding treatment that what we have designated as the three great problems of moral instruction can not be kept separate. We can not ask what is right in a given case without in- quiring about effects. We can not control the tem- per without finding that one must discover first pre- 274 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER cisely what the situation is in its completeness, and secondly what will be the effects upon self and others of indulging in angry feelings or revengeful actions. Indeed, we can not advance a single step in any direction in the study of the moral life with- out using the idea of cause and effect. Nevertheless our three sets of problems remain, in themselves, distinct, however much we may use the same instru- ment in solving them. They represent, at the very least, different points of view from which the same object can be surveyed. And if we fail to use any one of them, the picture which we carry away will be by so much the poorer. The Development of the Desire to Do Right Is the Most Important of These Aims.— The question, "What is right?" is about the only one that finds a place in most programs of moral instruction. Our belief, on the contrary, is that in so far as it can be distinguished from the others, it should be treated as of secondary importance. This in no way means that it is to be ignored. Least of all can this be per- mitted when the pupils' views are seriously errone- ous or inadequate. It means that in a course that can not possibly be exhaustive, and which, if it were, would be exhausting, the emphasis must be thrown elsewhere. Mistaken judgments of right and wrong, equally with thoughtlessness with regard to one's responsibilities, are, indeed, the source of an appall- ing amount of the world's loss and suffering. But EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 275 what is most needed to set poor human nature right is motive power. The creation of that kind of in- sight into the nature of right and wrong which kin- dles love of the right and hatred of the wrong, this must be the teacher's first concern. In comparison with this task, others sink into relative insignifi- cance. Furthermore, such is the interrelation of the three problems that, as we have seen, light thrown upon the second represents the most impor- tant single contribution that can be made to the successful solution of the other two. Accordingly the question, "What difference will it make whether this or the other alternative is chosen in a given situ- ation?" should be made the central problem of sys- tematic moral instruction. Moral Instruction and Ethics. — It will be ob- served that in all this little or nothing has been said about what are commonly accounted the problems of the theory of ethics. Ethics does indeed ask what actions are right and wrong. This department of the subject may properly be called applied ethics, and our course in systematic moral instruction will accordingly contain some applied ethics. On the other hand, the problems of theoretical ethics are such as these : What makes an action right ? What is the meaning of the word right? What is the source of our knowledge of right? What are the laws of moral development? What are the condi- tions of moral responsibility? With these things 276 EDUCATION FOR CHARACtER the high-school course in the conduct of life as we conceive it has nothing whatever to do. Such prob- lems are not merely unsuited to the interests and abilities of high-school pupils, the discussion of them is of no great immediate utility as far as the build- ing of character is concerned. It may be well for the teacher to have definite ideas on these subjects provided he does not parade them before his pupils. He may often find theni useful in the class room. But such knowledge is not indispensable to the teacher, while for the average high-school pupil it is so much intellectual lumber or worse. A total misunderstanding with regard to this point vitiates completely the majority of the attacks upon moral instruction in the schools. The French System of Moral Instruction and That Here Described, Contrasted. — Moral in- struction was made an integral and compulsory part of the curriculum of the elementary schools in France in the year 1882, and was later introduced by law into certain classes of the schools preparatory to the universities. Wide-spread compliance not merely with the letter but also with the spirit of the law dates from about 1900. Because of relative priority in the field France is commonly regarded as the classical land of moral instruction, and who- ever uses the term runs the risk of being supposed to be talking about the French system. The typical EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 277 French method consists, broadly speaking, in (1) an assertion, (2) upon the authority of the teacher, that (3) a certain class of actions (loving one's par- ents, lying), ordinarily conceived quite abstractly, (4) is right or wrong. This statement may be fol- lowed by (5) praise of the good or condemnation of the bad, with the exhortation to perform or abstain. It should be obvious even to the most careless reader that the procedure recommended in this book differs from the above method radically at every point. According to it (1) the primary aim of moral instruction (so-called) should be not to give information but to train the power and the habit of using the power of discovering for one's self the facts of the moral life; (2) authority from the very first years should play an insignificant and always a secondary role, especially the authority of the teacher, the appeal being to the pupil's real ideals; (3) the discussion of moral problems should without exception be conducted in the light of con- crete incidents, and especially with the children of the elementary school should largely avoid broad generalizations; (4) casuistry questions — questions as to what is right or wrong — should form the smaller part of a course in moral instruction ; in par- ticular the permissibility of breaking general rules should be left to one side as far as possible; the im- portant problem is, what difference does it make 278 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER whether I do what is right or wrong? (5) exhorta- tion and praise form no part whatever of a course in moral instruction, and should seldom or never be used in conducting it. CHAPTER XVII A PROGRAM FOR THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE CONDUCT OF LIFE A SYSTEMATIC coursc in the conduct of life will consist in an ordered survey of life's duties; or rather of those duties which fall to childhood and youth, together with such others, in the eighth and twelfth grades, as, because of their importance and their power to arouse interest, may be added with advantage. Naturally the content of the course will depend to a very large extent upon the age of the child for whom it is intended. It is accordingly necessary to set very different programs for the ele- mentary school and the high school. The Classification of Duties. — It is impossible to deal successfully with either program with- out saying a few words about the method to be used in classifying duties. This is, to be sure, pri- marily a topic for discussion with the makers of text-books and syllabi rather than with the teachers themselves. Inasmuch, however, as the mistakes in classification which are found in some of the text-books are likely to confuse the teachers who 279 280 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER use them and in the end their pupils also, a few words on this subject, by way of introduction to the problems of the chapter, seem unavoidable. Duties are always duties to some one (including one's self). Duties, therefore, must be classified with reference to the persons or groups to whom they are due, and the circumstances under which they are due. From this it follows at once that qual- ities like courage and perseverance are not, as such, virtues, and should not appear in a classification of the duties of life by the side of veracity, kindness, duties to one's parents, and loyalty to one's country. A moment's thought will show the truth of this statement. The rightness or wrongness of an act turns on the end in view, as has been shown above. A military adventurer, therefore, or for that matter a bandit or a common thief, may show much cour- age in a thoroughly bad enterprise ; a man like Webb may show extraordinary courage in a perfectly use- less attempt to swim the Niagara rapids. This does not make their conduct morally praiseworthy. The only courage entitled to that characterization is that which shows itself in the pursuit of some worthy end. It is the end, or in other words the effects we seek to produce upon human welfare that determine the status of our action as right or wrong. A dis- cussion of courage which should set forth these facts to immature minds might be of value. Other- wise it and the allied qualities have no place in a EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER . 281 scheme of duties. The field of right action must be classified according to the forms of service due upon different occasions to different classes of persons. A Course for the Elementary School.^ — My views with regard to the program for the elementary school were set forth in a Syllabus of Moral and Civic Iitstruction published by the University of Wisconsin in 1914. This was written in collabora- tion with Mr. F. J. Gould. Mr. Gould, as many readers will know, was for many years demon- strator for the British Moral Education League. As such, he devoted, as he is still devoting, all his time and his rare abilities to the different phases of the moral instruction of elementary-school children in Great Britain. He is likewise well acquainted with our own school children, their aptitudes and their needs. For he has made two visits to this country, the second of which extended through the entire school year of 1913-1914, when he gave dem- onstrations of his methods in a large number of American cities. Inasmuch as our pamphlet is now out of print, I have placed the program it offered in the Appendix of this book. Light upon some of the topics will be obtained, I think, from the dis- cussion of the high-school course of study which follows in this chapter. "The program for the elementary school is con- structed on the principle of continuity, certain lead- ing themes — namely, self-government, kindness, 282 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER trustworthiness, fairness (justice) and social out- look being repeated from year to year. As the grades advance, the topics are treated on broader lines, and with increasingly complex illustrations, adapted to the rising intelligence of the pupils. What is included or excluded in a given grade is determined partly by what seem to be the dominant interests of the child at that period of his life, to- gether with his special needs and temptations, and partly by mere considerations of the amount of time at the disposal of the course. The necessary limita- tions of time explain what may appear pure caprice in the selection and disposal of certain topics. "Occasional overlapping may be noticed ; allusions to self-control, for instance, occur under more than one heading. But this is far from being a disad- vantage; and it reminds the teacher how intercon- nected are the virtues, and how the moral life is fundamentally one. The teacher is particularly re- quested to note that the first grade should link up with the work of the kindergarten; and each subse- quent grade should include the points dealt with in preceding grades. Any topic of Grade I, II, or III, for example, may be taken up and reinforced by the teacher of Grade IV. "Teachers who believe that talks on conduct should not form a part of the work of the earliest years of the child's school life may use the program for the corresponding grades to indicate aims for which they are to strive, even if they disapprove of using it as a source of material for lessons. "The table of thirty-six lessons allotted to each year must not be too rigidly interpreted. Topics EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 283 may be added or omitted as the judgment of the teacher dictates; topics may perhaps be combined; and a topic treated here as one item may obviously be dealt with at length in other parts of the school curriculum. Furthermore, the partial or total omis- sion of the entire subject of moral instruction from one grade need not prevent its inclusion in the pro- gram of a subsequent grade. In other words, no at- tempt is here made to present a closed, inflexible system."* If a different principle of distribution and a dif- ferent order of topics is preferred from that which is here presented, the reader may consult the excel- lent text-book by Mrs. Ella Lyman Cabot entitled Ethics for Children (Houghton Mifflin), and the more recent book by Mrs. Cabot, Miss Fannie Fern Andrews, and others, entitled A Course in Citizen- ship. A program very different from either of these will be found in a Syllabus of Lessons in Moral In- struction for Elementary and Secondary Schools, published by the American Ethical Union, 1415 Lo- cust Street, Philadelphia. It presents in outline the course of study used in the Ethical Culture School of New York City, the pioneer in the present-day movement, not merely in this country, but, as far as I am aware, in the world. As all these publications are easily accessible I need devote no more space to this subject. * From the Introduction to the Syllabus. 284 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The Problem of Sexual Instruction in the Ele- mentary School. — The program of the present book contains no direct references to sexual morality as such. This is not because I think it either unim- portant or unfitted for introduction into the ele- mentary school. On the contrary, I beHeve that every child on the verge of adolescence has a right to reliable information about certain phases of the sexual life, and about his relations to the opposite sex; and I beHeve society has the right to insist, in its own interests, that such information shall be im- parted. I believe, furthermore, that the parents of this generation can not be depended upon to supply the information on a scale worth considering. It is with this as with most other departments of moral instruction, and perhaps training. The parents will take hold of the matter only after they have been in- terested in it and taught how to deal with it, as pupils in the schools. I believe, finally, that the pres- ent situation is so bad that at whatever risks some- thing must be attempted. On the other hand, it is equally clear that the problem of sexual instruction, especially in the ele- mentary school, is one of exceptional difficulty. It requires teachers with at least a certain amount of special knowledge and also of special aptitudes and gifts. What is of equal importance, there exists no general method of dealing with this subject in the elementary school which has been adequately tested EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 285 by experience. Under these circumstances, I do not feel warranted in making any other recommenda- tions than the following. Superintendents, principals and teachers who are really interested in the welfare of elementary-school children should give this subject their most care- ful attention. There is now a small amount of lit- erature which supplies a genuine introduction to the subject (for some of the more valuable titles, see Bibliography, page 436). Preeminent stands Maurice A. Bigelow's Sex Education (Macmillan, 1916), which should be studied with great care. When the teacher or principal has prepared himself for the work the method of procedure will depend upon whether there already has been established in the school a systematic course in moral instruction. If not, the most conservative method of procedure would be that recommended by Professor Bigelow on pages 23-24 of his book. If, however, there exists such a course, then the subject could easily and naturally find a place as a part of this more inclusive whole. It goes without saying that the sexes would be segregated, that each sex would be talked to — in most cases, at least — by one of the same sex, and that those of the same stage of development would be grouped together regardless of whether they happened to be in the same grade or not. In addition I think the talks on the subject should be given only 286 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER to those on the edge of adolescence, and that the groups should ordinarily be small. Opportunity should be offered for private conference. Where the school has no male teacher, then the principal of another school or the school doctor may be called in to talk to the boys, usually not an ordinary physi- cian. In small towns the superintendent will do the work himself. The number of talks should not ex- ceed four or five. Their introduction into the course should not be "announced" to the public through the press or in any other way. There is no need of asking the board of education for permission to give them. The board will usually be glad to have them given, but will sometimes be embarrassed at being asked for the permission. Where parents object, their children can of course be excused; but experi- ence shows that the number of such parents is al- most negligible. It must be understood that these talks deal with something more than what is com- monly called sex hygiene. For it is equally im- portant that the necessity and the method of self- control, especially in the form of controlling the thoughts, the beauty of a chivalrous attitude toward girls and women, and the supreme value of the fam- ily should be revealed to the young mind. The only way to solve the very difficult problems of sexual instruction in the elementary schools is for an association or other group of teachers to devote EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 287 a long period of years to an experimental investiga- tion of the subject. Cooperation of large numbers, continuity of effort and conservation of results would doubtless best be obtained by forming some sort of organic relation with the American Social Hygiene Association (105 West Fortieth Street, New York City). Several different plans, each as carefully considered as possible, should be delib- erately tried in different communities through a con- siderable number of years. The results may be de- termined in several ways. The most reliable single one, in my judgment, would be the reasoned opin- ions of the pupils themselves, taken some ten or fif- teen years after leaving school. The High-School Course in Moral Instruction. * — If a high school offers a four-year course in moral instruction it should be divided, I believe, about as follows : For the first year the most interesting and effective work that can be done is undoubtedly in the field of biography. In the second year this could be followed with great advantage by a course in contemporary social movements, in which biog- raphy, civics, and to a certain extent a very concrete form of sociology, are united. These courses are described in Chapter XV. They would best form part of the work in English. The course in the systematic study of the conduct of life which is here presented is planned for the 288 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER third and fourth years of the high school, and will require two recitations per week through two years to complete. For reasons already stated, it does not include the field of civic duties in the narrower sense of the term. The System of Classification Used in the Fol- lowing Outline. — No system of classification of duties can be made which from the purely logical point of view is entirely satisfactory, but the one here given, which follows very roughly the order in which interests appear in the developing mind, will work in the class room sufBciently well. The order in which the subjects for study are arranged and the place of the universal duties, as veracity, in the plan are determined largely by pedagogical rather than logical considerations. It will be obvious, I suppose, that under each relationship, as the home, we take up only those duties, or those aspects of a duty, which follow from the special nature of the relationship itself. Thus veracity is a duty which the child owes his parents. But the duty is not only not limited to the home, it does not take any special characteristic form when exercised in relation to the members of the family. Hence it does not appear in the discussion of home duties. (I) The Service of Self. — The pursuit of the more permanent as distinguished from the passing good of the self. (1) Self-control is the first condi- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 289 tion of ability to serve one's true interests. It may be to a greater or a less degree inborn; it is, however, usually to a large extent acquired through self -con- quest. Other things being equal, the higher the being is in the scale of intelligence, the greater the amount of self-conquest necessary. This is because of the number of conflicting interests, each competing for the opportunity to determine action. Therefore con- flict is the price of our superiority over the ani- mal and the savage. Since self-control is so largely the result of conflict, the first law of morality is: Be strong. (2) The goal of self-conquest is habit. Discussion of the laws of habit. (3) How to gain self-control illustrated by the conflict with anger and resentment ; also with sulkiness. (4) Self-knowl- edge is the second fundamental condition of the at- tainment of the more enduring goods of life. It in- cludes knowledge of our intellectual abilities, our real interests, and of our volitional powers. The at- tainment of such knowledge thus becomes one of the most imperative of duties. A. The determination of what our deepest interests are involves: (a) The discovery of what will give us real and permanent satisfaction, or what elements of life are most valu- able or best worth while. Its treatment involves a preliminary study of the subject of success, which appears in the latter part of the program of the fourth year, below, (b) The development of la- 290 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tent interests. How to discover whether we have la- tent interests in one or another form of work, in leadership in some department of school life, in reading, collecting, music, etc. B. Acquisition of a knowledge of our own powers of intellect and will. The problems of conceit, self-confidence and self- reliance. Why conceit may be a deadly vice. The conquest of prejudice in favor of self; also the prejudice of self-depreciation. (5) Some of the fun- damental aims of the service of self. The attain- ment of happiness involves the existence of tastes or interests, and having in our possession the means of satisfying th^m. In our struggle for the second, we are constantly overlooking the importance of the first. This might do no particular harm were it not for the fact that many of the most satisfying inter- ests have to be developed in many persons by more or less systematic cultivation ; and interests often die through neglect in our struggle for money or other means of satisfying them. The fundamentally im- portant aims in the service of self are : (a) Physical vigor, (b) Intellectual power, (c) Breadth and strength (richness) of permanent and healthy in- terests. Interest in work and affection for friends are illustrations. (The anticipation of topics treated later in detail is deliberate.) (d) A character which makes it possible for us to respect ourselves. It may fairly include pride and joy in the possession of strength of character. (6) The boundaries of EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 291 the service of self. It appears from the above that the boundaries of one's interest must pass beyond self if one is to have the richest life himself. It remains to show that the means of satisfaction are so frequently in the hands of others or of the com- munity as a whole that one's own good is as often obtained through the service of others as of self. Society is an organism. One illustration among many is the relation of business success to the con- fidence which others have in us, a confidence based on our integrity. The correlation between the in- terests of self and the interests of others is not per- fect. Otherwise there would be need of nothing more than long-sighted selfishness. (II) The Home.-— (1) The significance of in- fancy and childhood, and thus of the home. Orphans are now placed, if possible, in homes instead of in asy- lums. The home is an organism from which we can never entirely separate ourselves. (On the nature of the family see Helen Bosanquet's The Family.) (2) What constitutes an ideal family life. Its value to each of its members. What can I do to make it more nearly satisfactory not merely for myself but for the other members of the family also? (This question is put as a preparation for the discussion which follows.) (3) The opportunities for help- fulness and kindness in the home. Courtesy and politeness between members of the same family. Cheerfulness. Good temper. Tact and insight in 292 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the home, their value and how to acquire them. Why we are so often thoughtless or indifferent about these matters in relation to the members of our family. (4) Respect for parents. The problem of our attitude toward parents of inferior education. Stories by Mary Wilkins Freeman; Irving Bachel- ler's Keeping Up with Lizde; Oppenheim's Dr. Rast, and Groping Children (the latter in the Amer- ican Magazine for January, 1909) ; Carlyle's por- traits of his father and mother in his Reminiscences. A study of the cares and responsibilities of our par- ents. Our attitude toward the failings of our par- ents. How far parental irritability may be due to burdens which they carry or anxieties they feel on our account. (5) Affection. In what respect it lies within our power, and is thus a duty as well as the richest of privileges. Within limits it is pos- sible to determine whom we shall love and hate by guiding the attention and memory. We tend to for- get the good and remember the evil. The effects of this failing upon the other members of the family. How we can get rid of such one-sidedness, (One way is to attack our own self-conceit. We think ourselves perfect and so blame everything disagree- able that happens upon some one else.) What are the causes which may lead to mutual dislike among the members of a family? How far are they remov- able? Misunderstandings and faultfinding. Family quarrels ; how they arise and how their number can EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 293 be reduced. How far misunderstandings, fault- finding, and other sources of quarrels may be due to our own selfishness. (6) Our duties to our parents. Obedience, its rationale and its proper limitations. Success as a duty to one's parents. Our economic duty to our parents. Ways of cooperating with our parents; sharing burdens; the family budget. (7) What brothers and sisters can do for each other, illustrated by Charles and Mary Lamb, the brothers Grimm, "Dan" and "Zeke" Webster. (8) The foundation of a satisfactory family life is un- selfishness in all its forms. (9) The servant in the house: her work; her life; the difBculties of her position. Our duties to the servant. (Ill) Our Friends (Chums).— (1) The funda- mental features of friendship (as distinguished from acquaintanceship) are: (a) our feeling of sat- isfaction at being in the company of one with the same tastes and interests as ourselves; and (b) hav- ing some one who is interested in our welfare. (2) The characteristic features of a true friend. In- terest in all that concerns his friend, including pleasure in talking about it with him. Pride and joy in his achievements. Envy beclouds friendship; therefore one tends to kill the other. Charity in judgment. Loyalty. Preserving confidences, in- cluding those we were not specifically requested to keep silent about. Material aid which we can give our friends. Offering it before it is asked. Thought- 294 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER fulness. Friendship involves reciprocity ; "To have a friend you must be a friend" (Emerson). (3) How to preserve and strengthen friendships. The element of time in the formation and strengthening of friendship. (4) What to do when our friend wrongs us. When he otherwise disappoints us. When he ceases to be congenial. (5) What kind of boys to choose as friends. (6) The value of friendship. (Brief treatment of a later topic.) (IV) School Life.— (1) The value of the school to the pupil. Include in this not merely the value of the class-room work but also the opportuni- ties for social relationships with others which it af- fords. School life and school duties as a training ground for later life and its duties. (2) The ration- ale of the school and class-room laws of punctuality, neatness, silence, industry and courtesy, and their value to the pupil himself. (3) The care of school property. Ways of cooperating with the school au- thorities, from the janitor up. (4) Cribbing, the use of translations, copying themes and laboratory re- ports. Prompting and otherwise helping our school- mates in dishonesty. The diploma obtains its value from the fact that the majority of the pupils, reck- oning over a period of years, actually do the work which the diploma declares they have done. He who is dishonest in school work consents to profit by the ef- forts of his fellows while at the same time refusing to do his part toward maintaining the values they EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 295 have helped to create. He thus places himself in the position of one who declines to "pull his own weight." In other words, he is playing the part of the sponge. (5) The problem of rivalry in school work. Prizes. The love of excelling vs, the love of excellence. In the former a person has his eyes on the other fellow and is trying to pass him. In the latter he has before himself a standard or ideal of excellence which he is trying to reach regardless of what any one else is doing. (6) Athletics : their place in school life. What they can do to develop the manly traits of character and under what condi- tions. Professionalism in athletics. Fair play. Is there any relationship between these last topics and those under (4) ? Write a set of rules for a good sportsman. (7) The management of organ- izations (the class organizations, committees, clubs). For example, may the treasurer borrow for his own use the money of the club or class in his possession and not immediately needed by the club? The rationale of parliamentary law. The nature of businesslike procedure. Th^ rights of the minority. Responsibility for the performance of services once undertaken. The opportunities for service. Graft- ing. How small graft may lead to big. (8) Duties to schoolmates qua schoolmates : that is, forms of social service. The younger boy (including the problem of hazing). The friendless boy. The shy boy. (9) The vicious boy in the school: what to 296 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER do with him; the attempt to reform him; ostracism; tale-bearing {cf. J. G. Holland's Arthur Bonnicas- tie) ; the ill-tempered boy. (10) Mutual help as the ideal of the school, and how it may be realized. How the poor school work of a few pupils holds back the entire class and in addition makes the best methods of teaching difficult to carry out. (The tactful teacher will know how to handle this two- edged sword). Aiding our schoolmates in work in which they are weak (dishonesty apart) ; the dan- ger of pauperizing and the necessity and limits of self-reliance. Mutual help outside of the class-room work. How far the ideals of the family can be realized in the school. (11) School spirit. Its value, and how to foster and preserve it. Loyalty to the school: in what does it consist and in what does it not consist. In what ways a boy may show his loyalty to the school. Our attitude toward dis- loyal pupils. Responsibility for our example; the direction in which we should throw our influence. (12) Loyalty on the part of the graduates, and how it may exhibit itself. (13) To whom we owe it as a duty to make the most of ourselves through our school work.* (V) The Remaining Duties of Special Rela- * I am under great obligation for material in sections il and iv to Dr. Henry Neumann, who was my collaborator in the first draft of this outline which appeared in the School Re- view, vol. 20, pp. 228-245. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 297 tionships. — (1) Our benefactors, individual and social. Ingratitude to the benefactors of the state or of humanity, suspicion of their motives on frivolous grounds. The experience of Washington (we here turn to the past to avoid controversy). (2) Evil- doers ; those who have wronged us, or other persons, or the community as a whole — how they should be regarded and treated. How to control the temper and how to drive resentment from our minds. Why we should make every effort to do so (review ques- tion, see I above). Forgiveness and revenge.* (3) Our rivals. Fair play. Jealousy and envy. How and why to uproot them. (4) The weak, the crippled, the blind, and similar unfortunates. (5) Respect for the aged; what is its basis. (6) The poor. How to help the poor. (7) The relation be- tween the sexes. The freedom of American social life as compared with the restrictions of Continental life, e. g. that of France (See e. g. Hamerton, Round My House, Chapter XV). Its value not merely for the pleasure and educational influences which flow from it, but above all as making possible the selection of husband or wife on a basis of * On this subject our pupils will talk cant — perhaps without being aware of it — unless we exercise great care. The belief in the justification of revenge is apparently far more wide- spread than seems to be commonly supposed. See an article on this subject in the International Journal of Ethics for April, 1910. The problem is a difficult one to deal with. Per- haps the best way is to show how men have been softened and sometimes morally saved because expected vengeance was not exacted. For examples see Smiles' Self-Help, p. 430. 298 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER real knowledge of each other's qualities and in- terests. The conditions upon which this freedom can be maintained. The value of the family (par- tial review of II above). The conditions under which its existence can be maintained. The unfair- ness of enjoying its benefits without doing one's share to maintain it. The sacredness and mystery of life. The responsibilities which the parents have for the child, responsibilities the abuse or neglect of which carries with it consequences as serious as the crime of murder. The responsibility of parenthood in the light of eugenics. In addition to these topics the boys should certainly take up the question, how to control the sexual feelings and why. This could be dealt with along with the ques- tion: How can a person gain control of the ap- petite for alcohol, it being understood throughout the discussion that the appetite for alcohol is taken as the type of a number of more or less continuously recurrent feelings. In the course of this discussion the facts with regard to venereal diseases should un- questionably be presented. In addition I should not hesitate for a moment to present the essential facts about the life — and death — of the prostitute in order that the boys may clearly apprehend what sort of an institution it is which the libertine helps to keep in existence. The subject may be closed by a discussion of how and why to control the direc- tion of one's thoughts. The teacher will accomplish EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 299 only half his task unless he gives boys who need it the opportunity to consult him privately. The nec- essary segregation for the discussion of these latter problems can perhaps be most easily obtained by de- ferring the discussion of them to the beginning of the second 3^ear of the course, when the class would perhaps better be divided anyway for the study of vocational ethics. Indispensable to the preparation for the discussion of all the problems of sexual morality will be found Professor Maurice A. Bige- low's Sex Education (the Macmillan Company, 1916). (8) The problems involved in the treat- ment of animals. (VI) Duties to All Men as Such.— (1) "La pe- tite morale." Courtesy, politeness, and all other forms of kindness and expressions of respect in so- cial intercourse. Our attitude toward the unattractive and uninteresting; bores. (2) Veracity. (3) Faith- fulness to promises and contracts. (4) Regard for the reputation of others, both in the eyes of the com- munity and in our own; the difficulties in judging the motives of others; the bias produced by our own worse feelings; the duty, especially incumbent upon the educated, to suspend judgment in the ab- sence of conclusive evidence. How far it is possible and desirable to carry out the injunction, "Judge not." (5) Respect for property rights. The prob- lems as they present themselves in the high-school pupil's life. The indirect effects of theft, for exam- 300 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER pie the theft of books from the open shelves of a li- brary. A comparison of the American and English schoolboy in the matter of respect for property rights. (6) Respect for life. The spirit which leads to murder as exhibited about us in every-day life and as it may be found in ourselves (this is intended, in part, as a preparation for the discussion of the sub- ject in business ethics). How far each one of us is responsible for premature deaths in the community through preventable diseases. (7) Duties of pos- itive service. They may be precisely as binding as the duty to refrain from inflicting actual injury upon others. William of Orange (later king of England) watched a mob kill the DeWitt brothers, when a few words from him might have saved them. He refrained from acting because they stood in the way of his ambition. (See the opening chapter of Dumas' Black Tulip.) Compare his culpability with that of Macbeth. The conditions under which positive service is a duty. Its various forms. The best help is that which helps others to help them- selves. "Am I my brother's keeper ?" "Who is my neighbor?" (8) International morality, with spe- cial reference to international peace. (9) World citizenship. Work for the progress of the race. Such progress is a fact. Its continuance depends on human effort to-day. If time permits it will be found very profitable to discuss the existence of human progress and the methods by which progress EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 301 has taken place. See Tylor's Anthropology or Starr's First Steps in Human Progress. (10) The unity of the virtues. All virtue is service and at the same time means strength and attractiveness of in- dividual character. (11) What can we do to intro- duce more of the spirit of the family into the com- munity in which we live ? Why would such a result be desirable? What are the difficulties in the way? Why does it appear in time of war? (12) What can I do to prepare myself to live in right relation- ship with my fellow men? (a) Discovering what my own ideals really are. The attainment of im- partiality. The distinction between what we believe and what we believe we believe, and how to discover what the former really is. The influence of preju- dice and tradition. What attitude to take toward public opinion. (Consult Mrs. Cabot, Everyday Ethics, Chs. VI and VII.) (b) Learning to trace effects, (c) Learning to realize. Developing the imagination, including the ability to see things in the concrete. The relation of altruism to intellec- tual ability; see Wood's Study, referred to, Ch. XV, p. 240. (d) Cultivating habits of thought- fulness about the needs and interests of others. How far we are responsible for the effects of thought- lessness (in so far as it shows indifference on our part. What we care deeply about we are not very likely to forget). See Dewey and Tufts' Ethics, pp. 463 to 465. (e) Learning to see our fellow 302 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER men as they really are. This is partly learning how to judge them (as above). It is also learning to see their potentialities as well as their actualities, and understanding why the latter often remain un- developed. This might have happened to any of us also. Preserving the proper balance in the estimiate of good and bad traits, (f) Recognition of the claims of personal and impersonal gratitude. Why we so constantly fail to do so. (g) Choosing good companions, (h) Learning how to manage the at- tention so as to keep the mind away from tempta- tion, (i) Becoming strong through exercise, (j) The relation of character to physical health. Illustrations from Veracity. — The following il- lustrations, taken from the field of veracity, may serve to suggest the kind of questions that may be formulated in dealing with the preceding problems. (1) (a) Is it possible to lie by other means than the use of words, for instance by actions? (b) Can a person lie by keeping silent? (c) By making no statement not in itself literally true, and yet omitting certain of the facts in the case?, (d) Did the boy lie who came in at three o'clock in the morning, and told his father the next day that he had come in at a quarter of twelve (three being a quarter of twelve)? (e) What, then, is a He? (2) May a statement made on insufficient evidence be a lie? (3) If a lie is detected it tends to destroy our confi- dence in the liar. Does it have any tendency to de- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 303 stroy our confidence in other persons also? (4) In what three ways does a detected He tend to lead other people to lie to the liar ? ( 5 ) How far do these tendencies operate to tempt people to lie to others besides the liar ? (6) If the lie has passed undetected does the liar suffer no loss in the amount of confi- dence which others have in him? (7) Why is it "easy to tell one lie, but difficult to tell only one" ? (8) What are the effects of lying upon the other elements of character? (9) Does the habit of lying tend to make us unreliable in our statements even when we intend to speak the truth? (10) What are the effects of lying upon our confidence in others? (11) What are the effects of exaggerated statements, known by all parties to be exaggerated (for instance, a person overwhelms you with ex- pressions of his gratitude at some trivial favor) ? (12) Does even a justifiable lie — assuming there is such a thing — have any of the bad consequences already discovered? (13) Is a lie ever justifiable? (14) Should we phrase the last question, "May I ever lie?" or should we rather inquire: "Is it ever necessary for me to lie?" and what is the difference between these two formulations? (15) May it be our duty to avoid the appearance of deceit, even when we are not being guilty of any deception? Make some suggestions as to ways in which this can be done. (16) By what devices do people often try to conceal from themselves the fact that they are ly- 304 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ing? (17) Why are they often genuinely angry when other persons tax them with lying? (18) Why is it considered a deadly insult deliberately to call a man a Har? (19) What are the most com- mon temptations to lie? (20) How can one avoid or conquer these temptations? (21) How can one strengthen his determination to be habitually truth- ful ? Give reasons for all answers and supply illus- trations wherever possible. It may perhaps not be amiss to add, in very sum- mary form, the answers which I think should be given to a few of the above questions. The nature of a lie (questions 1 and 2). A lie is an attempt to create in another person a belief which we ourselves do not hold. Cases (a) -(d), under ( 1 ) differ solely as to the means used in making the attempt. It follows from the preceding that if I give out as certain what I regard as only probable, and as probable what I regard as only possible, I am lying. The effects of a lie (questions 3-12). Answers to (4) and (5): Through the spirit of retaHation, through example, through the alleged necessity of lying in self-defense. The last is perhaps seen most clearly in the business world. When the spirit of re- taliation can not wreak vengeance on the evil-doer it tends to turn upon entirely innocent parties. Thus if a man has a counterfeit coin passed on him by a street-car conductor, he is likely to want to get back EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 305 at conductors in general, especially if he can't iden- tify and find the conductor who cheated him. (6) He loses an opportunity to increase the amount of confidence which others have in him. When a man tells the truth in the face of a manifest temptation to lie, others recognize in him a man who is truthful on principle, and the strength of their confidence in him will be increased by just that amount. There are some persons in whom we believe as in the rock of Gibraltar. This is because we have seen them, per- haps more than once, telling the truth in a tight place. (9) "He who is always anxious to tell the truth is always anxious to have the truth to tell." (10) "You can not believe in honor until you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world." (Bernard Shaw.) Is a lie ever justifiable (questions 12 and 13) ? Problems involving a conflict of duties can only be solved by a comparison of the values in- volved. Life is more valuable in most cases than true beliefs. Hence in such instances, when to tell the truth would mean to cause loss of life there can be no doubt that the claims of life are to be regarded as higher than those of truth. The same principle applies in the following case suggested by President Hyde. Suppose a gossiping busybody or a mali- cious mischief-maker attempts to drag from you a secret entrusted to your care concerning a sin long 306 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER since repented of, a secret which, if revealed, would bring ruin into an honorable life and cause terrible suffering to an innocent family. In this case again your obligation to protect your friend is higher than that to speak the truth. It must, however, be re- membered that in most cases some of the most seri- ous of the ill effects of a lie follow regardless of whether it can be justified, in the last resort, or not. For example, the physician who, with the best inten- tions in the world, makes a practise of assuring his patients it is well with them when in reality it is not is likely in the end to lose their confidence. Con- sequently the question is not May I lie? but Must I lie? — as a man would ask himself. Must (not may) I undermine my health in order to keep my business from going to pieces ? The conflict with the temptation to lie (questions 19-21). For some aspects of this problem see Mrs. Ella Lyman Cabot's Everyday Ethics, Ch. XX. (VII) Vocational Ethics. — There are three fundamental relationships in the industrial world: (a) Server and served (customer) ; (b) employer and employee; (c) competitor and competitor. It will be convenient to begin with the last. ( 1 ) Is competi- tion war? (In war the end in view is destruction. Competition is constructive; it is a competition for the opportunity to serve. The injury done to the unsuccessful competitor is (in fair competition) an incident to efficient service. As the community is EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 307 entitled to the best service that can be given it, the defeated rival has not been wronged.) (2) The place of competition in the industrial world. It is permitted by public opinion and law because (for reasons which the pupil should state) it is believed to be the most effective method of serving society. (3) If this view is correct an unselfish man may enter into the competitive struggle with a good con- science, provided he acts squarely on the principle : Let the best man win. (4) From the preceding follow the fundamental laws of fair competition. They exclude the use of force, fraud and breach of contract. (5) Forms of theft and murder that do not arouse sufficient moral indignation because their effects are remote and impossible definitely to lo- cate. See Ross, Sin and Society. (6) The moral- ity of "cut-throat" competition, i. e., of selling below cost to drive out a rival. This is unfair com- petition, because it aims to injure another without any compensating good to the community. The lowered price is only temporary, and the final out- come is the loss of an efficient servant; for if he had not been efficient he would have been eliminated by the process of fair competition. (7) The duty of raising the moral standards of our business or profession. Ways in which this can be done. See, as suggestive illustrations, the American Law School Review, Volume III, page 484 and elsewhere; the World's Work for August, 1913, page 384. (8) 308 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER Duty to one's customers. "It is a part of the old creed that a man has a right to sell his goods to whom he pleases, at the prices he pleases, on the terms he pleases."* It is obvious that there are certain elements of truth in this position. There are also fundamental errors. What the latter are should appear from our preceding work, especially VI: (7). Service is in essence an obligation. The standard of Confucius in this matter and the stand- ard of Christ. The former thinks the following rule sufficient : Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you. The "Golden Rule" of the latter demands positive service, where needed, equally with the refraining from injury. The lat- ter standard is slowly obtaining actual acceptance. The evolution of thought has reached this point in the case of the office of the king. It has gone some way in this direction in thb case of the professions of law and medicine. Certain trades are struggling to become professions and develop a code of pro- fessional ethics, as that of publishing newspapers. In this connection selected sections from the Canon of Professional Ethics of the American Bar Asso- ciation may be examined. Copies may be had on application to Mr. John Hinkley, Sec. A. B. A., 215 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Md. The exclusion of the principle of service from commerce, manufac- * A. J. Eddy, in World's Work, vol. 24, p. 211 (1912). EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 309 turing, transportation and farming is either purely arbitrary or else an admission that only those who are highly educated can rise to high moral standards. The latter alternative is inadmissible. As a matter of fact, this principle has been applied to business by English and American law for generations, through the doctrine of a "business affected with a public interest." On this see Wyman, The Control of the Market, Ch. VIII. It must be noted that law intervenes only where absolutely necessary. From the moral point of view there is no essential differ- ence between the principles upon which an electric lighting company should be conducted and a grocery store. (9) From the principle of service follow the laws of honesty, and, in general, of right rela- tions with one's customers. (10) Duties involved in purchasing. Here enter, for the woman at the head of the household, the problems raised by such organizations as the Consumers' League. In reality the business man ought to recognize that he is fre- quently in the same situation in making his pur- chases. (11) Duties of employees to employers. See H. N. Higinbotham, The Making of a Mer- chant (Chicago, Forbes and Company, 1906) ; G. H. Lorimer, Letters of a Self-Made Merchant to His Son (Boston, 1902) ; William Mathews, Getting on in the World (Chicago, 1874). (12) Duties of em- ployers to employees. See the remarkable series of articles by Miss Ida Tarbell in the American Maga- 310 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER sine, beginning in October, 1914. These have re- cently been republished in book form under the title New Ideals in Business, (the Macmillan Company, 1916). (13) Duties of the business man, qua busi- ness man toward the state. Here enters the subject of bribe-giving for the sake of business favors, and to prevent "sand-bagging." Bribe-giving is treason. (14) The relation between business integrity and business success. Dishonesty not necessary for self^ defense. The confidence of others an asset of fun- damental importance. See The World's Work, Vol. 1, p. 534; Vol. 10, p. 6437; Vol. 15, p. 9951; The World Today, Vol. 15, p. 852; John Graham Brooks' An American Citizen; The Life of W. H. Baldwin, Jr. (Houghton Mifflin, 1910). (15) Direct interest in others as a business asset. The habits of the hog not necessary for self-defense. See W. P. Warren's Thoughts on Business, First Series, passim (Chicago, Forbes & Company, 1907) ; The Outlook, Vol. 79, p. 165 ; Vol. 97, pp. 327, 367, 595 ; Vol. 99, p. 776; The World's Work, Vol. 6, p. 3520, and Vol. 22, p. 14465 ; Mathews' Getting on in the World, Ch. XI, and pp. 319-322; Lecky's Map of Life, Ch. JCV ; Emerson's Conduct of Life, essay on Behavior. (16) The moral basis of the institution of private property. On the ethics of competition, see : A. T. Hadley, Standards of Public Morality, Chs. II and III ; Les- lie Stephen, Sociad Rights and Duties, Vol. I, p. 133, EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 311 The Morality of Competition; Page Lectures at Yale University, Morals in Modern Business: lec- ture on Competition, by Henry Holt (the same in 'Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 102, p. 516) ; C. H. Cooley, Personal Competition, Its Place in the Social Order and Its Effects Upon Individuals, American Eco- nomic Association, Economic Studies, Vol. IV; Gladney, The Cyclops of Trade, Outlook, Vol. 101, pp. 257-262. (VIII) The Nature o£ a Successful Life. — Courses in morals have hitherto dealt solely with du- ties. We shall find it desirable, however, to add to the preceding work a survey of life from the point of view of its values. By this is emphatically not meant a presentation of the conflicting claims of Hedonism and Perfectionism, or of any other eth- ical "ism" whatever. What is proposed is rather an examination of the different good things in life, with a view to training the pupil to form some esti- mate of their relative value and to discovering the conditions upon which their attainment and reten- tion depend. Our list of subjects will include the pleasures of sense and amusements, "comfort" as an end in itself, success in the conventional sense of getting ahead of other people, social position, the glow and high spirits that are the product of perfect health, the beautiful in nature and art, the world of knowledge, work, friendship and love, the enthusi- asm for moral ideals, and, where practicable, the re- 312 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ligious life. We may conclude with a study of the relation of wealth to the attainment of these differ- ent ends. The study of this subject should be introduced into our course, first because of the direct contribu- tion it may make to the welfare of our pupils ; they are all too likely, through carelessness or prejudice due to a hasty judgment, or the influence of a super- ficial view of life in the community about them, or a dislike for effort, or ignorance of their own latent capacities, to ignore some goods of fundamental im- portance and to underestimate the value of some and overestimate that of others. The study of this subject is necessary in the second place because their conceptions of values will, through imitation and similar forces, help to determine the ideals of others, and, later in life, as heads of families and as citizens of the state, will guide, in large measure, their policy in such matters as education, and, to a certain extent, social legislation. In the third place, the possession of the various goods has — as will ap- pear from a moment's reflection — a far-reaching series of effects upon character. Sometimes the ef- fects are indirect, but they are none the less impor- tant. Thus a common interest in the world of beauty or knowledge is a very effective bond of union between husband and wife, and thereby, of course, strengthens the marriage tie. Furthermore, satisfaction in life, as such, apart from its special EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 313 sources, has normally a most beneficent effect upon character, as tending to develop a kindly feeling to- ward one's fellow men; whereas dissatisfaction and disappointment tend to produce feelings of self- pity, envy and hatred. In the fourth place, the pur- suit of the most seductive, and at the same time the least satisfying goods, the pleasure of the senses, comfort, social position, and "success," together with their necessary condition in most circum- stances, wealth, is the source of the greater part of the wrong-doing in the world. Or to turn the same statement to the opposite side, the most valuable goods of life are, broadly speaking, non-competi- tive. Finally, the study proposed will disclose the fact that possession of some of the most precious of these goods is open to man only in proportion as he is pure in heart and unselfish in deed. This is notably true of friendship and love, as was long ago pointed out by Aristotle. The outcome of the course should be the possession of at least the rudiments of that wisdom without whicli mere knowledge and intellectual acuteness are a curse at once to their possessor and the world; or if we can not expect so much as this, at least something of the power to attain wisdom, and the habit of seeking it. What seems to have proved a satisfactory way of presenting this subject is the following: As the basis of work is taken an essay by some careful student of human life. This is mimeographed or 314 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER printed and placed in the hands of the pupils, to- gether with a series of questions on the text. These questions are not intended to test the amount of memorizing which the pupil has done. They are in- tended first to elicit the meaning of the writer; sec- ond, to modify or correct his statements, wherever necessary; and finally to supplement them. The es- say, in other words, is intended merely to start the pupil thinking. An Illustration from Friendship. — As an illus- tration of methods and subject-matter in this de- partment of the work, a treatment of friendship is herewith presented. It is based upon selections from Books VIII and IX of Aristotle's Nicomach- ean Ethics. In this case a few explanatory notes upon the text will have to be added for the benefit of the student, dealing chiefly with the author's use of terms. (1) Can you think of other reasons for valuing friendship than those here given? If you can, ob- serve whether in the text which follows they have been anticipated in principle or not. (2) It is easy enough to see why we should congratulate a man who has many friends, but why should we praise him? (3) What are the two grounds on which, in Ch. I (Book VIII), Aristotle declares friendship to be valuable? Cf. Bacon's discussion of this subject in his Essay on Friendship (No. 27). (4) State the definition of friendship given in Ch. II. (5) II- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 315 lustrate Aristotle's distinction (in Ch. Ill) between caring for a person because of his usefulness to you, because of the pleasure he may give you, and because you admire him. Does this throw any light upon the distinction between the acquaintance and the friend in the proper sense of the word friend? (6) Is this statement of the grounds for friendship complete, i, e., if the ground upon which the third kind of friendship is based is admiration, can we not admire a person for other qualities besides his character? (7) Is it true that only those who pos- sess a moral quality can admire it in others, e. g., that only the brave admire courage? (8) Can you add anything to what Aristotle says about the importance of the moral element in friendship? (9) Is it true that admiration can by itself create friendship and keep it alive? Does Aristotle say it can? (10) Is it true that the good man is also useful to his friends and a pleasant companion? (11) Show that both parties to a genuine and per- manent friendship must be good men. (12) If Aristotle's general account of the basis of friendship is true, and the best friendships are possible only among the most highly developed persons, can a business man who slaves night and day in order to become rich, or, on the other hand, a mere idler, have good friends and be a good friend? (13) Cicero, in his Treatise on Friendship, Ch. VI, as- serts the existence of another condition of friend- 316 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER ship, not yet explicitly mentioned. Friendship, he says, consists in "a perfect conformity of opinion in all religious and civic (social and political) subjects united with the highest degree of mutual esteem and affection." Is this conformity of opinion absolutely essential to friendship? (14) Aristotle asserts that the third kind of friendship (that based on good- ness) is necessarily permanent. Is this true? (a) Can it survive radical changes of opinion on the part of either friend? (b) the growth of one mind be- yond the powers of the other? (c) the desire for novelty, for new minds to explore? (15) (Ch. V.) Show that when evil reports circulate about a man of tried character, it will be those among his friends who are the best men who will be the last to believe them. (16) Can friendship survive the long-con- tinued separation of the friends? To answer this question get clearly before the mind the distinction between the friend and the well-wisher. (17) Is it true that in the friendships between the good "com- plaints and bickerings" are excluded? (Ch. XV). (18) If it takes time to create friendship, what is to be said of the advantages of friendships formed in youth? What are in general the advantages of such friendships? What are the disadvantages? (19) Can we apply these principles to true friendships between members of the same family? (20) Why is it that family affection or friendship is not more EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 317 common? (21) Give a list of the minor causes in the way of mistakes in daily intercourse and of de- fects of character not yet enumerated which tend to destroy friendship and affection. CHAPTER XVIII THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE CONDUCT OF LIFE I METHODS AND RESULTS Methods in the High School. — The power and the habit of reflecting upon the moral issues of Hfe can be developed only by exercise. The nature of the exercise, however, will of course vary with the maturity of the children. In the high school the procedure employed will be systematic class discus- sion, a discussion led, but never dominated, by the teacher. These discussions must be preceded by careful preparation on the part of the pupil. Power can not be effectively developed by a series of mere pleasant talks. Apart from this consideration, to foster the habit of passing snapshot opinions upon moral matters would be, for those who are old enough to be capable of thinking, worse than to at- tempt to do nothing at all. The subject-matter will be supplied by a series of questions, which will be mimeographed or printed and distributed to the pupils in advance. Illustrations of what is meant were supplied in the preceding chapter. The pupils should be urged not merely to ;*eflect upon the prob- 318 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 31? lems seriously by themselves, but to talk them over with their classmates and parents. There are cases where this has led to the first serious discussion about life between the boy and the father. In order to stimulate still further the activity of thought, the teacher will find it advisable to require the pupils to bring their answers to class in written form. The answers should be accompanied by a statement of the reasons upon which they are based. It should go without saying that all answers, however ab- surd or "shocking," should be received with uniform courtesy by the teacher and should be treated as sin- cere efforts to find the truth. A single sarcastic "fling" may close the mouths of most of the class for the remainder of the year. A single exhibition of "shocked feelings" may result iti a hundredfold harvest of cant. The last fourth or fifth of the period should be devoted, ordinarily, to the preparation of a written summary of the class discussion, the pupils writing their reports in loose-leaf note-books. It may be pos- sible to have this part of the work done at home. Wherever they are written the reports should be cor- rected by the teacher. The value of the intellectual training thus obtained, quite apart from the other advantages of this practise, is too obvious to need demonstration. Methods in the Elementary School. — In the elementary school two quite different methods are at 320 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER our disposal. The first is a modification of that just described. It consists in class discussion of a se- lected topic. There will of course be no written preparation, nor will there be a series of set ques- tions. Since the period for systematic thinking has not arrived it can not be demanded, and its absence will do no harm. Bad habits, mental and otherwise, appear when a power, is misapplied, and, therefore, do not appear when it is non-existent. An informal discussion of some aspect of the moral life, then — it is this to which the moral instruction hour will be devoted. If in the upper grades some little previous reflection is desired, the topic can be announced two or three days in advance. In some cases the children may also be encouraged to talk the problems over ■with their parents, though before doing this one should perhaps know something of the parents. The second method is that of story-telling. In this the moral life is brought before the child's men- tal eyes by means of a narrative. In this concrete form moral principles can be easily understood by a young child. The issues of conduct and the nature of the traits of character which produce it can be both seen and realized. The specific aims are in the main to reveal the nature of moral excellence, to arouse admiration for the good, and to awaken the mind to the consequences of right action for self and others. Jhe great master of this method is Mr. F. J. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 321 Gould, to whom reference was made in the preced- ing chapter. In the introduction to the Gould- Sharp Syllabus for the elementary school he has laid down the following principles for the guidance of the teacher. 1. Lessons must not be mere strings of stories. Each lesson should have a definite aim, toward which all the illustrations lead. That is to say, a les- son must be a construction. 2. True incidents are far preferable to fiction. However, time-honored legends should not be ex- cluded, since their continued appeal to the popular mind through the centuries shows that they embody fundamental truths about life. 3. Examples of good conduct have a finer influ- ence than condemnation of bad. Therefore, seek to make temperance, mercy, trustworthiness, ad- mirable rather than take up much time in talking against intemperance, cruelty and falsehood. 4. The illustrations may be chosen from any period of human history, and any country, and any race. Noble lives and deeds connected with the vil- lage, city or district in which the school is situated should be specially recalled and appreciated. 5. As a rule, the lessons should be applicable to both boys and girls, and care should be exercised to include examples of feminine life and ideals. 6. A topic should not be used in order to point blame at a particular child, or the class in general. 322 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 7. Stones should be told dramatically, yet con- cisely, avoiding details which would cause the cen- tral thought to be obscured. 8. The blackboard should be freely used, though elaborate and exact drawings are neither necessary nor helpful. 9. The terms of the moral vocabulary should be employed either very sparingly or not at all. Thus the words "character" and "service" are not to be perpetually obtruded, just as the phrase "moral les- sons" may seldom be repeated. One may give many lessons on civic duty and scarcely ever use the word "patriotism," and yet the temper of consecration to one's duty and country may permeate the teaching and inspire the pupils. 10. Moral suggestions from stories should be briefly noted on the blackboard during the course of the story-telling; and moralising and exhorting at the close should be strictly refrained from. 11. It is not desirable in the elementary school to make this subject a source for written composi- tions, though the Individual stories may be so em- ployed. Nor Is the theme of personal and social conduct suited to the test of formal examination. The story-telling method is not recommended merely or primarily because it Is an interesting way of bringing home moral truths to the child's mind. "If, as has been suggested above, the incidents se- lected are true, i. e., taken from history and biog- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 323 raphy, or if the legends told are such as embody truths approved by national and racial conditions, the stories narrated from year to year will provide, if adapted to the child's capacity, a moral revelation of life itself, i. e., a representation of the moral ideal as embodied in the actual world of conduct. The teacher, therefore, will continually say, 'Such and such things have been done,' rather than say, *Such and such things ought to be done.' This reference to reality and social conviction helps one to dispense with moralizing and excludes a great deal of un- profitable argument arising out of cases drawn from supposition, or from works of fiction. And again, when difficult themes, e. g., forgiveness, are treated, the examples may be laid before the children as having undoubtedly occurred, and their moral in- fluence may be left to work upon the young affection and reason, without adding injunctions to practise the virtue illustrated in the stories." Each of these methods has advantages of its own. The former makes use of the materials supplied di- rectly by the child's own experience and observation. It arouses and exercises his ability to think about life, with all this statement implies. On the other hand, the story, if told as Mr. Gould tells it, contin- uously enlists the cooperation of the children's minds. Its content may always serve as material for as much discussion as is desired. And while it is not an expression of the direct observation of the 324 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER child it has precisely the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this fact. Books, it has been said, are windows opening out into the world. They show us those parts of life which are beyond our experience, and thereby broaden our outlook and correct our provincialisms. The story performs exactly the same function. If properly selected and told it will contain nothing which has no analogy whatever in the child's experience; otherwise it will be unintelligible and in consequence uninter- esting. The good story describes the unknown in terms of the known, it carries the young listeners beyond the hitherto seen as does a book of travel. A properly chosen series of stories will in the end do what haphazard experience is not at all likely to do — bring before the child all the significant features of the moral life that his mind is capable of grasp- ing. In so doing it will exhibit traits of character which he may have had no opportunity to see, or having seen, has never noticed, and thus arouse in him, after the fashion possible for a child's mind, the desire to be a member of the world's great order of chivalry. With these facts in view, my conclu- sion is that the wise teacher will use both methods,* Place in the Curriculum. — In most schools where systematic courses in morals are actually be- *For Mr. Gould's account of his own methods and the principles underlying them, consult his Moral Instruction, Its Theory and Practice, New York (1913), Longmans, Green & Co. The book contains stenographic notes of ten lessons. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 325 ing given, the class exercise takes place once a week. This is perhaps a sufficient allotment of time for the grades. It might serve to meet the fundamental necessities in the high school also if continued throughout the entire course. But if the time avail- able for moral instruction in the first two years is to be devoted to studies in biography and social prog- ress (as I think it should be) more than a period a week will be needed to obtain satisfactory results from the systematic work. If the method of lectur- ing or memorizing from books is strictly refrained from, and the pupils are compelled to work out their conclusions for themselves, two recitation periods per week through two years — preferably, I think, the junior and senior years — represent the minimum amount of time that should be devoted to the sub- ject. The arrangement whereby the work extends over two years is better than assigning to it five days in a week for a year, because some parts of the course are more appropriate to the junior year ; for example, that dealing directly with school life ; while other parts are difficult to give satisfactorily in any other than the senior year, such as those dealing largely with the future, as the study of business eth- ics and of success. Practically all the work in the grades is and ought to be required. That being the case, there is no rea- son, indeed no possibility, of placing moral instruc- tion upon any other footing than that of the rest of 326 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the class work. With regard to the high school, although well aware that it introduces some admin- istrative difficulties, I have always had a preference for making moral instruction an elective course. In this of all subjects, I want no one in the room who does not want to be there. I feel more strongly that all marks should be abolished except Passed and Not Passed. This policy, like everything else, has its disadvantages. But it has the immeasurable ad- vantage of relieving the pupils from all temptation to say or write what they think v^ill please the teacher; and their attention has a chance to concen- trate itself upon the problem in hand, rather than upon the impression they are making upon him. How to Find Room in the Overcrovirded Cur- riculum. — "How are you going to find room for such a course in the already overcrowded curricu- lum?" There are several answers to this frequently repeated inquiry. The first one is that there is al- ways time for those things which we consider of first importance. If we think that intellectual devel- opment and knowledge are the only things of value we shall assuredly find no time whatever for the cultivation of character. If we think the latter is of equal value with the former (to put the matter con- servatively), we shall find no difficulty in setting aside a recitation period a week for it in the ele- mentary school, taking it from time allotted to read- ing and composition. With the same proviso we EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 327 shall find it possible to set aside ten per cent, of the time in the junior and senior years of the high school for the purpose ; the more so since there is no abso- lute antithesis between intellectual and moral train- ing, the latter, when properly conducted, contribut- ing as effectively to the training of the intellect as does history or mathematics. This statement may perhaps appear to some read- ers as true rather than helpful. To be more defi- nite, then, the two periods per week required for the course in moral instruction in the Wisconsin High School in the junior and senior years during the years 1911-1915 were taken from the Enghsh course. This reduction of the English work to three hours per week was considered desirable by the school authorities on grounds which were en- tirely independent of the claims of moral instruc- tion. They believed that the study of English five days in the week for four years palls on the ma- jority of the pupils, and that actually better results in English would be obtained by a cut to three reci- tations per week for the last half of the course. Furthermore, they recognized that the time devoted to the course in "applied ethics," as it was called, was by no means lost to English. Much writing- is required that can be examined by the English teacher, just as can any other form of composi- tion. Furthermore, they realized that the systematic study of life may contribute greatly to the creation 328 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER of those intellectual abilities and to the formation of those intellectual habits which make real interpre- tation of literature, and with it intellectual appre- ciation, possible. Professor Woodberry in The Appreciation of Lit- erature. Chapter I, writes as follows : "Openness to experience, or sensibility, is the prime quality of a good reader. . . . The appreciation of literature is thus by no means a simple matter; it is not the ability to read, nor even a canon of criticism and rules of admiration and censure that is required; but a live soul, full of curiosity and interest in life, sensitive to impressions, acute and subtle in recep- tion, prompt to complete the suggestion, and always ready with the light of its own life to serve as a lamp unto its feet." Add to the above the fact that for the most part we see only what we are looking for and it becomes obvious that a systematic course in the laws of life is the best possible train- ing for literary appreciation and may be of no mean assistance in understanding the really important movements in history. The Problem of Legal Requirement. — Closely related with the preceding is the question whether the school authorities should be compelled to find a place for it by law, and whether in the absence of law the teacher unwilling to undertake the task should be compelled to do so by the principal or EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 329 superintendent. This problem is not a simple one, for there is a good deal to be said on both sides. On the one hand it seems self-evident that no teacher should be entrusted with this work or should take it on his own responsibility unless he possesses certain qualifications for the task. A person's ideals for others seldom rise much higher than his ideals for himself. Hence the teacher who is tricky, base, or selfish will only demoralize his pupils. He in whose eyes happiness is identical with the possession of wealth will only make of them shallow-brained Philistines. Of almost equal importance is the ab- sence of a cynical or pessimistic spirit. Moral in- struction exists to point out unnoticed or unrealized values, the things in life that are worth while, and that call upon us for precisely this reason to re- nounce for their sake passing v/hims and inclina- tions, and sometimes important interests of our own. He who is to guide the young to the discovery of these truths must accordingly himself be an "af- firmer of life." This does not mean he must think it perfect. H it were, why struggle to make things better? His creed must rather be, in George Eliot's term, meliorism, the belief that life can be made worth while by manfully struggling with its inade- quacies and evils. Finally results of any significance will be obtained only by the teacher who succeeds in proving by his conduct as well as by his attitude 330 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER and manner that he has a genuine interest in the welfare of his pupils. Many young people, par- ticularly those of high-school age, tend to look upon the demands of the moral ideal as arbitrary com- mands imposed upon them from without, a burden upon the will which he who has his wits about him will evade or shake off. In their new-found free- dom they decline to be "worked" by any of our fine phrases. This view, of course, is totally false. In reality, as we have seen, the demands of morality are the voice of our deepest and most permanent admirations and desires. What we teachers are try- ing to do is to reveal to our young charges their own needs and desires and show them how these may be realized. But the freedom-intoxicated members of our classes will turn their backs upon us and refuse to look where we point except as they are first con- vinced that we really have their interests at heart. The existence of this interest on our part and their confidence in its existence is thus a necessary condi- tion of success. From this point of view, then, moral instruction should be conducted only by cer- tain teachers possessed of special qualifications for the work. The advantages of a system of compulsion bear- ing equally upon all teachers, on the other hand, are by no means inconsiderable, while the evils are less than they appear at first sight. Many teachers hesi- tate to undertake the work, many superintendents to EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 331 introduce it, either from diffidence of their own pow- ers, indifference to the issues involved, or skepticism as to results. All three may disappear after some lit- tle experience. We have seen that when men enter settlement work or other forms of philanthropy with no higher motives than curiosity, desire for a new sensation, or a mere want of something better to do, it often happens that imperceptibly the work gets a hold upon their interests, transforming their own character and making them devoted to the cause for its own sake. The same thing has hap- pened more than once in the field of moral instruc- tion. The teacher through his teaching comes to a new view of the moral world, discovers islands and continents hitherto to him unknown. Hence his attitude toward that world and his pupils may be- come revolutionized, and the needed qualifications gradually appear, to the enrichment of his own life and that of others. Diffidence, in its turn, will dis- appear with experience. The work is not so difficult to do as it appears to be when you stand on the dock before jumping in. After the course is well started the pupils themselves take a great part of the burden from the instructor's shoulders. Give them something to talk about which is worth while and within the range of their experience, and the difficulty is in getting them to stop. Skepticism, as will be shown later, seems to be characteris- tic of those who have never made a practical trial. 332 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER The good effects of a policy of compulsion exerted by the state, with a slowly but constantly increasing rigor, seem to be shown in France. The situation there was for years deplorable. No one knew what to do, text-books were over the heads of the pu- pils, few teachers or administrative officers were greatly interested, or had much faith in the move- ment. But the difficulties of the situation had to be met, and there is evidence they are being met with more intelligence and interest and, in places, enthu- siasm than ever before. While all this is true the evil effects of putting the moral nurture of children in the hands of ineffi- cient and indifferent teachers, with shallow, narrow or perverted views of life, are so great that person- ally I can not reconcile myself to the policy of requir- ing this work by law or of demanding it indiscrimi- nately of all teachers by the fiat of the superintendent. In one city with which I am acquainted the superin- tendent selects certain teachers in the elementary schools and also in the high school to conduct the courses in morals, according to their ability and their interest in the subject. This system works ex- tremely well. An additional reason why compulsion would work less satisfactorily in this country than in France is the absence here of a permanent body of teachers. Just as the ineffective teacher begins to mellow she marries or he goes into the real estate business. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 333 The Pupils' Interest in the Work. — Children and young people from perhaps the very beginning of school age are tremendously interested in life, if the life described and discussed is sufficiently near their own experience to have a real meaning for them. With this proviso, they are just as much interested in the moral aspects of life as in any other. They may not care to listen merely to the praise of its excellence, they may not care to be advised or exhorted, still less will they desire to be made the target for blame. But as we have seen, these things no more belong to moral instruction than to the study of literature. Most children in the elementary schools care far more about the moral aspect of experience, provided always it is presented to them in the concrete, than for almost any other part of the curriculum. Do they not with great frequency vigorously discuss moral questions : — -Did so and so play fair ? Did he do his fair share of the work? Did his mother have any right to forbid him to do this? Or his father have any right to punish him for that ? The active child, animated with a good spirit, is often glad to discover new opportunities for service, and likes to be set to questioning experience. He greets with enthusiasm heroic deeds, and lives more joy- ously in the atmosphere which they create and feels more at home in it than in any other save that of the playground. 334 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER In the high-school period the horizon broadens and at the same time, for many children, the inter- est deepens. Striking evidence of this fact is of- fered by the success of the movement inaugurated by the high-school section of the Young Men's Christian Association, whereby high-school boys are brought together an evening a week to discuss, under the leadership of some older person, ordi- narily a teacher or school principal, the problems of living. On the basis of his wide experience as the national leader of this work Mr. D. R. Porter writes as follows: "There is no question that in many high schools the moral standards are lower than in the community at large, nevertheless there is a sign of promise as bright as the present is dark. And that is the remarkable responsiveness of the boys themselves when the opportunity is given them to rally for higher things. In most cases evils exist because boys are ignorant and not because they are vicious. In the schools where the crusade for truth and purity has been started among the boys them- selves, there is no difficulty in winning support. . . . It is being found that as an actual fact larger numbers of thinking high-school boys can be enrolled for the group study of life questions and the practical phases of the Bible than can be enrolled in voluntary gymnasium classes."* This testimony may be supplemented by a few * Religious Education, vol. 4, p. 197. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 335 of the many concrete illustrations of interest in the work, on the part of high-school pupils, which have come under my observation. In one city at the middle of the year it was necessary to change the hour for a girls' elective gymnastic class so that it conflicted with the moral instruction. Of the seven girls affected by the change five chose to continue the moral instruction. In another place, a city far enough north to have many dark, cold and snowy morniligs during the winter, the only time that could be found for the work one year was the hour be- fore the opening of school. The course was elective and without credit. Nevertheless, of the two upper classes to whom it was open all the seniors and al- most all the juniors, a total of about fifty, took the course and attended with the utmost regularity once a week throughout the year. In still another school a bright but very lazy boy, one not interested at all in most of his studies, was kept in the school till his graduation solely by his desire to take the work in moral instruction. Its Effects. — In much of our school work it is impossible to demonstrate results. All we can do is to determine as carefully as possible whether cer- tain instrumentalities are calculated to produce cer- tain effects, and leave the outcome to faith. How- ever, such a procedure is unsatisfactory, and we are not shut up to it in the field of morals. There is a great deal of loose talk about the in- 336 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER effectiveness of "mere words" to awaken the latent forces of character. No one can accuse the author of overpartiaHty to exhortation. Nevertheless he is prepared to assert that even exhortation, if so conducted as to open the eyes to the significance of moral issues, may have a real influence on character. As evidence of the truth of this statement the fol- lowing testimony of John Tyndall may be of in- terest : "The reading of the works of two men, neither of them imbued with the spirit of modern science, neither of them, indeed, friendly to that spirit, has placed me here to-day. These men are the English Carlyle and the American Emerson. I must ever remember with gratitude that through three long, cold German winters Carlyle placed me in my tub, even when ice was on its surface, at five o'clock every morning, not slavishly, but cheerfully, meet- ing each day's studies with a resolute will, deter- mined, whether victor or vanquished, not to shrink from difficulty. I never should have gone through analytical geometry and the calculus had it not been for those men. I never should have been a physical investigator, and hence without them I should not have been here to-day. They told me what I ought to do in a way that caused me to do it, and all my consequent intellectual action is to be traced to this purely moral source. To Carlyle and Emerson I ought to add Fichte, the greatest representative of pure idealism. These three unscientific men made me a practical scientific worker. They called out EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 337 *Act!' I barkened to the summons, taking the Hb- erty, however, of determining for myself the direc- tion which effort was to take."* If the reading of the sermons of the great preach- ers can produce such effects as are here described in a soil fitted for the reception of their influence, the study of the beauty and glory of the moral life, though conducted by teachers of less compelling eloquence, may be expected to have some effects. It is the unanimous testimony of those who have tried it — as far as I am aware — that such is the case. Some references to printed statements are the following : Sophie Bryant, The Teaching of Moral- ity, pp. vi, vii (girls' schools in England) ; Sadler, Moral Instruction and Training in the Schools, Vol. I, pp. 19, 230, 290, 309, 312 (English experiences) ; Arlo Bates, Talks on Teaching Literature, p. 22 ; F. W. Johnson, Problems of Boyhood, p. xvii. I will quote the statement of Mr. Johnson. As will be remembered, he is headmaster of the University of Chicago High School. Since 1911 he has been leader of a Discussion Club which meets one eve- ning a week under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association. Its members are boys from his own school. Concerning this club he wrote, after three years' experience : * From an address to the students of University College, London. 338 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER "It has been gratifying to observe, during the three years since the Discussion Club has been in exist- ence, a steady improvement in the moral tone of the school in such matters as involve honesty in the re- lations of pupils with each other and with their teachers, respect for property rights, good sports- manship, clean speech, which may be fairly traced in no small degree to the discussion of these topics. Tangible results may be seen in a written agreement entered into by a considerable number of boys not to tell 'smutty' stories nor willingly to listen to such stories from others, an agreement which the writer did not suggest and of which he had no knowledge until after it had been made." All the principals who have done this work or in whose schools it has been conducted tell, as far as I am aware, the same story. They have told me of its influence in breaking up grafting in school activities, in raising the tone of interscholastic ath- letics, in putting an end to cribbing, among other ways by inspiring the honest to take the matter into their own hands through the class organization, in producing a more serious attitude toward studies, in bringing about a better relationship between the boys and girls, and in cutting down the amount of smoking. An interesting feature of the situation thus described is that, in the cases reported to me, no direct reference has been made to any of the above matters except the first two. The results rep- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 339 resented the spontaneous application to their own Hves of insight gained in deahng with other subjects. I can not beHeve that the results here presented are exceptional. In the report of an extensive inves- tigation made a few years ago Mr. Clifford Barnes notes "the universally favorable attitude of those teachers who have had experience in this method of instruction." {Proceedings of National Educa- tion Association, ipop, p. 140). Such unanimity of opinion certainly points to the attainment of re- sults. With such facts before him, however, the teacher must not suppose that if results do not appear his work has been in vain. It constantly hap- pens that moral influences come out into the light of day and demonstrate their existence only after years of apparent quiescence. The most valuable re- sults from his work, as has already been pointed out, are not to be found in the spectacular reformation of the bad, but rather in a heightened sense of re- sponsibility and a new desire for positive service on the part of those who have the capacity for the highest attainments in the world of character. One effect of moral instruction must not be over- looked in this enumeration. It gives the teacher a remarkable insight into the character of his pupils. The principal of a high school testifies that this knowledge is of so much value to him in managing 340 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER the school that apart from every other considera- tion it compensates him many times over for the time and effort it costs him. Moral Instruction and Moral Training. — No moral progress is possible without action. Knowl- edge must awaken feeling, and this latter find for itself an habitual channel to action, or the result is one of those two monstrosities, the moral pedant, stuffed with knowledge which he never thinks of using, or the still more repellent and hopeless senti- mentalist. Does this mean that there can be no training in moral thought fulness without the intro- duction of some of the systems of training described in the earlier chapters of this book? By no means. For if the work of the class room is kept in close contact with the actual life of the pupil, there is plenty of opportunity for thought and desire to pass into act. The teacher must look for effects in such things as greater seriousness of purpose among his pupils, and higher standards of action in matters of courtesy, self-control, honesty in work, in the management of moneys, in competitive sports, in school politics. Through a parent-teacher associa- tion, or otherwise, he must assure himself that sim- ilar changes are taking place in the home. If not, he must modify his course till they do. From these statements, however, it does not fol- low that training in habits of action is of small im- portance. The very contrary is the case, especially EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 341 when it forms part of a course in which training in habits of reflection upon conduct forms an equally important factor. Two times one, as I have already insisted, are usually anywhere from four to forty. In accordance with this indisputable fact it is cer- tain that in the union of the two methods of train- ing in habits of action and training in habits of moral thought fulness is to be found the solution of the problem of moral education, the production of an influence making for character building of a po- tency adequate to the issues at stake. Part IV: The Home CHAPTER XIX MORAL EDUCATION IN THE HOME The Fundamental Aims and Methods o£ Moral Education the Same in the Home and the School. — Since the moral spirit is one, and the child in the home is the same being that he is in the school, the fundamental aims and (in essence) methods of moral education will be identical, whoever conducts it and under whatever conditions it may be carried on. All that needs to be done in this chapter, there- fore, is to point out the principles and make some suggestions with regard to their application by par- ents. The most fundamental principles of moral education, as I conceive them, are stated above in Chapters II, V, XI, XII, XIII and XVI. I shall not, of course, attempt to repeat, even in summary, the contents of these portions of the book. All I can do is to show what form they take when applied to the problems raised by the children in the home. The Value of General Principles as a Guide to Practise.— Aristotle defined virtue (or excel- lence, as we ought to translate the word he used) as a mean between two extremes. Bunyan put the 342 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 343 same thing more picturesquely when he represented Christian's way toward the Heavenly City as a nar- row path between a very deep ditch on the right hand and a very dangerous quag on the left. This picture enables us to represent quite accurately the relation of all principles, including educational prin- ciples, to life. They can tell us in what direction the Heavenly City lies. They can suggest reasons why, fleeing in all haste from the City of Destruc- tion, we should repair thither, at whatever cost. But beyond this their field of usefulness is an ex- tremely limited one. For the correct application of them to a concrete situation involves the ability to see a narrow and crooked path, sometimes, to be sure, at noonday, but often in the late twilight, not infrequently in the blackness of a starless night. In what follows, accordingly, I make no preten- sions to pointing out the path which the parent is to follow. I know how hopeless any such attempt would be, not merely from the general considera- tions just stated, but also from my own experience. I shall confine myself, therefore, to the statement of a few generalities. If they prove of no other value to the reader, at least it may fortify his soul to know that though he falters some one else believes them to be so. Example. — I should never have had the cour- age to write about so trite a subject as the influence of example if I had not witnessed the following inci- 344 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER dent with my own eyes. Two parents exceptionally intelligent and very well educated, with the highest standards in their own lives (generally speaking) and (again generally speaking) with the highest ideals, moral as well as cultural, for their children, had a daughter who was decidedly undersized. When she was about sixteen years old she took a railroad journey, and traveled under directions to pass herself off as under twelve so that she might get through on a half-fare ticket. The girl has good stuff in her, and will doubtless not be wrecked by the experience. But no one thing that the parents can ever do for her will neutralize the effects of that journey. In a town where children over six riding in the street-cars pay full fare a friend of mine once heard a woman tell the conductor that her child was six. "Why, no, mother," piped up the youngster, "don't you remember I was seven my last birthday?" This woman probably whipped the child on reaching home; then a month later whipped him again for lying or stealing. When a child sees his father treat his mother like a boor, how is he Hkely to treat his sisters ? When the conversation at the dinner table consists chiefly of malicious gossip, innuendoes, sarcastic flings at neighbors or relatives, a cynical interpretation of other people's motives, assumptions that what the parent speaking does must be right and that any one who denies it must be either a fool or a knave EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 345 — with what views of life and of himself is he likely to grow up? It is not merely the explicit words and outer actions to which children are sensitive. They are often acute observers and can see beneath the show of external respectability of word and de- meanor the worm-eaten character which lies below. If, then, we wish our children to be courteous, hon- orable, true, loyal and generous in spirit the funda- mental condition is to be these things ourselves. If we lack these qualities we must proceed to acquire them. As your child must see you respect the rights of others and respect yourself, so he must find you in your relations to him truth-loving, just, charitable and s)mipathetic. Such an extraordinary statement as "I'll cut your tongue out if you tell me a lie!" should perhaps not be regarded as deception. But threats less savage than these are constantly made that are never carried out. What does most harm, perhaps, because it rankles longest, is injustice in punishment. Professor Dewey once made a collec- tion of the youthful experiences of his students in this matter.* One boy was whipped for taking his father's tobacco and using it. No questions were asked and no explanations given. The boy thought his father whipped him because he wanted the to- bacco himself. A girl saved pennies which her * The Chaos in Moral Training, Popular Science Monthly, vol. 45, pp. 433-443. 346 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER father had given her to take to Sunday-school and bought a valentine with them which she gave him to surprise him. The father threw this into the iire first, and then punished her, taking it for granted that she knew she was doing wrong. Not even after that, however, did she feel it was wrong, but rather felt indignant and humiliated that her father had treated her gift in such a way. Professor Dewey rightly regards these incidents as illustra- tions of chaos in moral training. To the child pun- ishment is unjust unless he believes it to be deserved, either on the ground of his own understanding of what he has done, or through faith in the explicit assurances of his father, a faith based upon an un- broken experience of fair treatment. Few things that the parent can do will have a worse effect upon a child than inflicting undeserved punishment. The effect of such treatment upon one of Professor Dew- ey's students was that he longed to become old enough to retaliate. One way to avoid such trage- dies is not to permit one's self to punish in wrath. Justice to our children requires that we show our pleasure at their good conduct where it is the prod- uct of effort or other sacrifice as well as displeasure at the bad. A child, for example, strives for ages, that is to say, two days, to wipe his feet on enter- ing the house, to chew his food, not to shovel his food into his mouth with his knife, not to interrupt conversation, not to shout under the window when EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 347 his mother is taking a nap. In forming and carry- ing out these heroic resolves he perhaps schools his courage to the sticking point by the thought: "Won't mother be pleased !" And then — she shows no recognition whatever of his heroism, but only scolds him for spattering water over the bathroom floor ! Put yourself in his place, remembering that to the youthful eye small things (as we regard them) are great, and you will realize that he feels not merely disappointed and grieved, but also in- dignant. And you ought to know that one of the (doubtless many) threads which bind your child to you has been broken by your thoughtlessness. Companionship. — After example as an influ- ence comes companionships — or rather on a level with it. Certainly good example gets a large share of its power because it Is the example of one who is loved. And love — in the proper sense of that term — is in both child and adult largely dependent for sustenance upon companionship. Furthermore, many of the parent's acts of injustice which rankle for years in a child's mind are due to a misunder- standing of the child's nature or attitude which would never have arisen if they had been chums. The mother who is going to have a genuinely posi- tive effect upon the ideals and conduct of her chil- dren must be to a greater or less extent their com- panion. She must be acquainted to a considerable degree with their school work and the other condi- 348 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tions of their school Hfe. Equally must she have some part in their play. In every home — if it is to be anything more than a house — there will be a "children's hour." Under many circumstances the mother will not be particularly welcome as a play- mate, but the children's hour will always be looked forward to by them with joy; and on most eve- nings and all rainy days her participation in their games will be hailed with acclamation. Better yet, there are a great number of "fads" which child and mother can pursue in common. Learning to recog- nize birds and trees, making things out of cardboard or paper with scissors and paste, drawing, photog- raphy, etc. If any mother supposes such intimacy is incompatible with respect and due obedience she has never tried it. The precise opposite is the case. Discipline, in the ordinary sense of the word, is un- der such conditions reduced practically to zero. It remains to be said that such companionship is just as important between father and son (and doubtless daughter) as between mother and child. While there can not be so much of it, the child understands the reason perfectly and values what can be given him proportionately. The companion- ship of the father is all the more important because to-day most children go from the kindergarten through the high school guided on their way solely by women. As a result, as I have already had oc- casion to say, in the end they acquire an intense EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 349 craving for the society of a man; and for a boy, friendship with other boys does not meet this pre- cise need. The father who is his son's chum can therefore hold him in the hollow of his hand. No father may say he has no time for such matters. He has his evenings, his Sundays, his vacations, and in a very large number of cases nowadays, his Satur- day afternoons. H he chooses to spend his time at the club or on the golf links that is another matter. Let him not for that reason deceive himself as to the possibilities of the situation. Let him not say that when the day's work is done he must rest. After you once take the plunge, life with your chil- dren may be fun. In any event let not the father throw dust into his own eyes with the reflection that the mother's companionship is all that the children need. Some of the more important results of the rela- tionship here described may be briefly stated. (1) United with a sense of justice, a fair (not a mirac- ulous) amount of tact and some charity for the inevitable weaknesses of human nature, especially of developing human nature, companionship will ordinarily produce a frankness on the part of the child which may be his salvation in dangerous sit- uations, when he knows not whither to turn if it be not to his parents. Just when he most needs guidance, therefore, you may be in possession of the requisite data; just when the best conceivable op- 350 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER portunities for discussing the serious problems of life arise, you will be able to take advantage of them; jusf when he needs a friend, you can serve as a friend. (2) Love will spring up between you as it never will from any amount of mere heaping benefits upon him. At bottom the child wants you more than your gifts. If you do not give yourself you have withheld from him the one thing precious, and more or less clearly he feels it. The spirit of comradeship can grow and prosper — in children and adults alike — only through the pursuit of common ends. The child who feels himself loved and whose mother and father are his chums will go through much to do right for their sake. It is the testimony of teachers, for example, that discipline in the school is much easier where children chum with their parents. To the superior influence of the ex- ample of the loved exemplar I have already referred. (3) If you have several children your presence with them a part of the time will insure at least a mini- mum of proper treatment of one another on their part. This amount may quite easily be made to grow to a maximum if you handle the matter properly. There is no opportunity for moral training compara- ble to that of living (not too much of the time) fa- miliarly on a plane of felt equality with several chil- dren of your own. (4) Finally it makes the task of developing healthy tastes and interests in your chil- dren an easier one than it otherwise is likely to be. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 351 Certain things they will do, and before long enjoy doing, because you are with them in the doing. Some tastes, at least, you can in this way develop in them which will be the most effective of existing prophylactics against vice, ill temper, envy and jeal- ousy, and many other forms of moral evil. Much vice and many other forms of wickedness are at bottom due to poverty of resource. The animal impulses crawl into the empty mind. Discipline. — The subject of discipline occupies a great deal of the thought of most conscientious parents. If, however, the preceding conditions are met, it need play a very small role after the fifth year. The first statement to be made, and it can be made quite dogmatically, is that in the case of the very young child we must continuously demand and invariably get certain actions regardless of what the motives for obedience may be. This piece of work should be over by the end of the fifth year at the very latest. By that time obedience within the range of your eyes and ears should be uniform, a matter of course, and automatic; beyond those boundaries it should be at least habitual in most of the child's fields of action. The value of these results does not consist in the production of certain habits which, when established, will go on forever of themselves. I am not returning to the doctrine criticized in Chapter V. The reasons for demanding implicit pbe- 352 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER dience are two. The first is in order to obtain the congeries of effects enumerated in Chapter XL The second is to prevent clashes between you and your child. I can not believe real comradeship is possi- ble where the child is instantly at war with his parents the moment a request for service is made or a command issued. Where the parent is a chum the request will be reasonable, the command just • — ^that goes without saying. But the response must be something which is a matter of course, or there will be ill feeling at the time, and perhaps settled enmity in the end. As soon as possible — in part from the second year — we must show our children the reasons for our commands. This does not mean that we need or ought to argue the facts with them. What we have to do is to lead them to realize that we do not com- mand from the mere "will for power," or because we are in a temper, or for any other equally un- worthy consideration. What I mean is easily il- lustrated. I have forbidden my ten-year-old boy to go on the lake in a canoe, in response to the in- vitation of certain of his friends. In so doing I make it perfectly plain that the ground of that pro- hibition is the possibility of his drowning; and I set forth the dangers as clearly as I am able. But I do not argue with him the chances of death. The question of fact is mine to decide because, as I point out, age has brought me (presumably) superior ex- EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 353 perience and judgment. I do not set myself up as infallible. I merely assert that the chances in a given instance are greater that I will know than that he will. Let the boy grumble thereupon as much as he will because his father is "an old granny," he knows at any rate that his father is in that case not in spirit unjust. As the child passes from year to 3^ear, the sphere of liberty and personal responsibility will be en- larged gradually. I should suppose that every one with sense would know this. But in a conversation w^ith one of Germany's greatest educators he said that the most serious moral peril in the life of the youth of the well-to-do classes in that country lay in the abrupt, indeed instantaneous transition to the unrestrained liberty of the university from the life of the gymnasium, which is not unlike the regime of a young ladies' boarding-school in the number and character of its restrictions. Here again it seems as if in matters of moral education nothing could be so obvious that it may not escape the at- tention of intelligent people. From which fact I can only infer that the subject gets very little of their thought. Punishment. — ^The world-old problem of pun- ishment requires, I suppose, a few words. In Chap- ter V (page 48) I called attention to the fact that pain may produce moral compunction and thus a change in character. If so, no more serious injus- 354 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER tice could be done a child than to free his life from punishment. He runs the risk of never knowing what moral evil means to its victim, and this is one of the most important lessons in life. Furthermore, the right kind of a child and indeed adult often feels a real craving for punishment when he knows that he has done wrong, a craving which should be satisfied in the interest of his moral growth. Mr. Sully illus- trates this fact by the following story of a little girl nine years old. She *'had been naughty and was very sorry for her misbehavior. She was no- ticed coming to her lesson limping and said she felt very uncomfortable. When asked by her governess what was the matter with her she said: Tt was very naughty of me to disobey you, so I put my right shoe on my left foot and my left shoe on my right foot.' "* The craving to make atonement does not carry the ordinary child so far as this. But it may be there, and lead to a not unwilling accept- ance of pain or loss which leaves the character stronger and more sensitive. With regard to the form of punishment nothing can be said beyond the statement that the parent must use that variety of the species which careful observation shows to work best. This does not mean the form which, with a minimum amount of effort on his part, produces a maximum of outer con- formity on the part of the child. It means what is most conducive to moral growth. Children differ * Studies of Childhood (1914), p. 289. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 355 enormously in this respect. In one child, up to nine or ten years old, corporal punishment has the best of effects where there has been serious delinquency; with another, after fivQ it is a poison. I remem- ber two instances of vigorous corporal punishment in my own life when I was about eight. They were not given in wrath, but, as I knew, in genuine sorrow. I was aware of their rationale, though in one case (playing with a bonfire), in my superior wisdom, I did not accept my father's major premise. They did me no harm. On the contrary, they pro- duced continued outer conformity in the one case — playing with fire — and in the other produced an at least temporary realization of the value of con- fidence between father and son, and a recognition of the misfortune involved in the destruction of that relationship through a lie. If, however, in spite of the wisdom and good judgment of the parents, corporal punishment leaves the child nursing an en- during spirit of resentment, then some other means must be found of producing the desired change of heart. But I insist that some other means must be found. Moral Instruction. — To make a child realize the fact that he is punished because he has done wrong is to lead him to discover that wrong-doing is one thing and liability to punishment is in its na- ture a very different thing. It should become equally clear to him in the course of his relationship with 356 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER wise parents that wrong-doing and displeasing his parents do not mean the same thing, for to the good parent many forms of action are displeasing only because they are first wrong. I have dealt in Chap- ter XVI (compare also Chapter XII) with the prob- lem how to make a child realize that he has done wrong, when in his spontaneous view of his action it was entirely innocent, and I must not attempt to cover that ground again. For ordinary purposes it will be sufficient to treat the essence of morality as obedience to the Golden Rule. The meaning and reasonableness of this rule are evident to most per- sons, young or old. This then will serve as a foun- dation. If, thereupon, the parent, whether by inci- dental or systematic instruction, will help his child to obtain the kind and amount of insight into the issues of his conduct which is contemplated in Chapter XII, he will obtain results which will compensate him for his efforts many times over. In so doing certain forces will be set in motion which will act and react upon each other in a most beneficent fashion. Par- ent and child at the same time will grow into a more definite, well-considered, comprehensive ideal of life, an ideal of duty and an ideal of success. This will supply the child with guidance and strengthen his will directly ; it will influence him indirectly by mak- ing of the mother or father a wiser, more far-seeing exemplar and guide. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER 357 Danger of Our Children's Home Being Infe- rior to Our Childhood Home. — It is not neces- sary to tell the very modern mother or father who alone would think of reading a book about the moral education of children that training — apart from dis- cipline — in the ordinary significance of the term is equally as important as training in moral thought- fulness. The old-fashioned home, as we have seen, represented in many respects an ideal when looked at from this point of view. Here the parents and a number of children worked and sometimes played together, feeling themselves, in the more favorable instances, a unit. Few families, even under the most favorable circumstances, can feel themselves such to-day. The services performed were not done for cash payments, but rather as one's fair share of the family burden. Mutual forbearance and kind- ness — for which there may have been many occa- sions — tended to be secured through the presence of the parents as members of the group. The neces- sity of thrift was a constant schooling in self-con- trol. The enervations of luxury, as of nerve-rack- ing, sensational amusements, were largely unknown. Such amusements as were available were mainly active, not passive, and thus strengthened every fac- ulty of the mind, instead of undermining them. Life may have been far from perfect in those days. But the good life had a training-ground then which for the most part is now built over with labor-saving 358 EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER devices and moving-picture "palaces." We must do the best we can under the circumstances. We must see to it that there is more than one child in our family, if not otherwise then by adoption, and that these children are near the same age. We should make our home, if we possibly can, a center for the healthy life of a group of children. We should demand that the schools supply facilities for social activities where the homes can not. We should de- mand some work, if possible some regular work, from our children, even if, as inmates of a modern flat, we have to exercise some ingenuity in invent- ing it. Personal influence ; membership in a healthy- minded social group; moral training in its various forms; the training of the mind to moral thought- fulness — these are the instruments of character building at the disposal of the home as of the school. If we use them conscientiously and with due reflec- tion our children will rise up and call us blessed. THE END A Program of Moral Instruction for the Elementary School A PROGRAM OF MORAL INSTRUCTION GRADE I Introductory Lessons 1. How the school work of the year will help the child to do many things he would like to do ( in terms of present interests, not of benefits accruing in a remote future). 2. The walk to and from the schoolhouse. Rea- sons for not loitering. Helpfulness to others at opening and closing of school, and while going to and returning from school. » I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 3. In accepting discomforts and small accidents and impending discomforts; taking medicine. 4. Saying NO either by word or by silent action. This is moral courage, but the teacher need not use the term. Prudence . — 5 . * ' Safety - First Movement ' ' rules. Crossing streets and tracks; getting in and 361 362 MORAL INSTRUCTION out of vehicles; helping younger companions in such cases. Playing in the streets. Coasting. 6. Avoidance of noisome things in streets, yards, fields, v^oods; and simple health-hints in the same connection. Perseverance. — 7. In play and general recre- ation, indoors and out. This aspect of perseverance enlists the child's interest in preparation for the idea of perseverance in work and duty. Illustrations of perseverance may be added from the higher forms of animal life. 8. In forms of self-help, tying, buttoning, find- ing the way, telling the time, supplying simple needs. Self -Control.— 9. Under small pains; under treatment of doctor, or nurse. Reminder that adults are subject to similar restraints. Cleanliness. -— 10. Hands, face, ears, hair, teeth, body generally. Cleanliness is itself beauty. 11. Habits; nasal breathing, deep breathing, ex- ercise, carriage. Avoidance of unseemly habits. 12. In clothing, as regards cleanliness, neatness, repair. Cooperation with mother in such personal tidiness. The absurdity, on the other hand, of snob- bish and finicky habits. Order. — 13. Care of toys, books, tools and other property. 14. Punctuality and promptness. Doing to-day what ought to be done to-day. Obedience. — 15. To rules of indoor and out- MORAL INSTRUCTION 363 door games; household rules; school rules. The teacher shotild take great care to show that elders obey such rules, and that there is normally a good reason for them. 16. Not touching forbidden things; adults being subject to similar laws. But this prohibition does not hold when emergency arises, e, g., placing ob- jects out of baby's reach. II. KINDNESS The Family.' — 17. Work and love of parents. Love may be real though parents appear harsh, or cold, or indifferent. 18. How can I show my love for my parents? (A preparation for the more detailed treatment in Grade II.) Friends. — 19. Sharing pleasures. Lending toys occasionally. 20. Giving and receiving simple gifts at gift sea- sons, or otherwise; thanks; cherishing the thing given in good will. Cooperation. — 2\. Cooperation In play. Many of the best games are group games, and can be played enjoyably only as all cooperate in the spirit of fairness, unselfishness and good temper. 22. Cooperation in school work. How the pu- pils can help each other with their work, so that each shall get the most out of it. 364 MORAL INSTRUCTION 23. Cooperation in the care of the school prop- erty, as the property of the community, which in- ckides the child's parents, his brothers and sisters, his classmates, himself. The terms "commmiity" and "cooperation" need not be used. Manners. — 24. Greeting friends and acquaint- ances, and callers with whom the parents wish the child to be friendly. On the other hand, non-inter- ruption of conversation, music, etc. Some tradi- tional fairy tales and folklore help in portraying the charm of simple courtesy. 25. At meals. 26. Good manners have their source in kindness. Animals.— -27. Household pets, their habits and needs. Respect for neighbors' pets. 28. Natural history stories, especially of domes- tic animals. Point out that animals have similar feelings to our own. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 29. openness of look and demeanor; frank move- ments as opposed to furtive; readiness to show things broken or injured by self, including things which have been borrowed from others. These qual- ities should be emphasized before stressing the value of verbal truthfulness. 30. Honesty as regards ''mine" and "thine." Restoring things found. Returning things bor- rowed. MORAL INSTRUCTION 365 IV. FAIRNESS 31. In giving each companion a due share in amusements, privileges, luxuries. Taking turns in being leader. Contrast with the spirit of monopoly and cornering of toys, fruit, candy, etc. Even at this early stage of the course generosity may be linked with fairness. V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 32. Stories of child life in the United States. 33. The same topic continued. Due place should be given to stories of girls. 34. Stories of child life in foreign countries. 35. The same topic continued. 36. Helps to reading, including talks on picture books. The aim of such talk in this and the follow- ing grades should be to link up to the school and the public library, and to create interest by lively extracts and descriptions. GRADE II I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 1. In accepting discomforts, pain, and small accidents, and impending discomforts. (Same topic as in Grade I, with enlarged illustra- tion.) 366 MORAL INSTRUCTION 2. In facing insects, reptiles, dogs, cows. Dis- tinguish between harmful and harmless animals. 3. Saying NO, either by word or by silent action. This topic, repeated from Grade I, should receive enlarged illustration. Prudence. - — 4. Temperance in eating and drinking. This subject is here set in its proper place as part of general character building. But probably it will recur in other connections, e. g.j in reading health primers. 5. The general idea of prudence — noting ap- proach of bad weather ; sowing seeds in forethought. The life of the higher animals supplies some illus- trations. Perseverance. — 6. In reaching a given end, e. g.j in walking, climbing; with caution against overtaxing strength. 7. In spite of physical difficulties. Stories of pioneers who persevered and succeeded in spite of hardships and delays. Self-Control.— 8. Good humor under difficul- ties. Good humor a token of energy and self-con- fidence. (These terms need not be used.) 9. Waiting without peevish impatience. Avoid- ance of impatient noises. Cleanliness. — 10. Cooperation with others in sweeping, washing, cleaning, securing fresh air, i. e., simple forms of collective sanitation. MORAL INSTRUCTION 367 11. Simple talk on how diseases may be spread by carelessness. Order. — 12. Necessary for comfort and effi- ciency in kitchen, garden, railroad, store, etc. 13. In the class room. II. KINDNESS The Family.-— 14. How can I show my love for my parents ? Four answers: (a) By respectful and courteous manners. 15. (b) By household help (which can be ren- dered by both girls and boys). This is demanded by fairness as well as love. 16. (c) By cheerful and willing performance of my share of the daily household duties. 17. (d) By little helps to sick sisters or broth- ers; to younger or elder sisters or brothers; and to other members of the family. Friends. — -18. How to treat friends in one's yard or house, or when receiving or paying visits. Friendliness toward boys and girls who have re- cently entered the school or the neighborhood. Cooperation. — 19. Care and protection of school property. Topic continued from Grade I, with larger illustration. 20. Protection of public flowers, trees, grass, paths, fountains. Children may be little police. 368 MORAL INSTRUCTION Manners.— 21. At parties, entertainments, ex- cursions ; in crowds. 22. Good temper in playing, choosing, continu- ing and ending games, indoor and outdoor. 23. Questions, answers, modes of address. Animals.— 24. As "workers without hands." 25. As our aids. Birds which serve man. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 26. Truthful statements as to mistakes and mis- haps. 27. Avoidance of exaggeration generally. 28. Care in making and keeping promises. George Washington's maxim : "Undertake not what you can not perform, but be careful to keep your promise." IV. FAIRNESS 29. In acknowledging merits of schoolmates in work or play. Refraining from sneers or deprecia- tion. Laughing at others. 30. Spirit of "live and let live," as against envy and jealousy. Fair play in games. Allowing play- mates to have their way a fair share of the time. 31. Honesty in exchanging things with other children, especially if they are ignorant. MORAL INSTRUCTION 369 V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 32. Stories of child life in Colonial America, with special stress on the advantages and disadvan- tages as compared with the life of to-day. 33. The same topic, continued. 34. Stories of child life in foreign lands. 35. The same topic, continued. 26. Talk about books. GRADE III I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 1. Encountering risks in work and duty, i, e., risks known beforehand, e. g.j the fish- erman's life; the miner's. 2. In setting a good example. Prudence. ■— 3. Temperance in eating and drinking. 4. Wholesome, plain diet, as against luxuries. The candy habit. Eating at recess. 5. Going to bed early. The necessity of obtain- ing sufficient sleep. Perseverance. — 6. In self-appointed tasks, e. g., learning music, dramatic parts, reciting, draw- ing, skating and swimming. 370 MORAL INSTRUCTION 7. Perseverance is necessary for the attainment of almost everything that has value; "nothing for nothing" is the law of life. The satisfaction of overcoming obstacles; this is the chief source of pleasure in games. Self-Control.— 8. Under taunts and provoca- tions. Avoidance of rash retorts. 9. Quarrels and fights. Discussion of this topic between teacher and class. Cleanliness. — 10. Cleanliness in food and drink. Importance to health, public and private, of care as regards water, milk, diet. Discipline.—- 11. The school as a center of du- ties, punctuality, regularity, order, mutual respon- sibilities of pupils, and of pupils and teachers. General law governing board of education, super- intendent, teachers, children. Obligation, therefore, is a universal requirement, not a mere whim of teachers. II. KINDNESS The Family. — ^12. Why we ought to follow the judgment of our parents. This topic is not obedience as such, but trust in parents who know better than the child what is good for him. 13. Saving money and anxiety of parents by care of clothes, etc. Saving annoyance by punctual- ity at meals. 14. Helping to bear the household cares by little MORAL INSTRUCTION 371 earnings. The teacher should avoid the suggestion of any labor that can not be rendered without in- jury to the child.* 15. Home duties performed cheerfully, at the set time, without eye-service, without reminder from parents. Home duties before games, visits to amuse- ments, etc. This conflict of motives should not be overdrawn, as if duty were necessarily disagreeable. There may be a glow of triumph in duty done. Friends.— 16. Gratitude to friends. 17. What can I do for my schoolmates and other friends ? Cooperation.— 18. Both a duty and an advan- tage. Essential to part singing, musical drill, fire- drill, life-saving exercises, dramatic and other enter- tainments. Manners.— 19. In school; to visitors; to fel- low pupils; in refraining from laughter at mistakes. This thought fulness carries one beyond micre obedi- ence to school law. 20. Obliging and assisting; offering seats, help- ing to find lost articles, helping people who need help in finding their way, helping the embarrassed. 21. Courtesy in carrying messages, and perform- ing other commissions and services. Animals.— 22. Natural history of quadrupeds, stressing examples of mutual aid. Such talks are, * At any period of the school life, the teacher may privately talk to children who have to meet the problem of neglectful parents. Consult Foerster's Art of Living, pp. 149-152. Z12 MORAL INSTRUCTION of course, reinforced by nature-study lessons and reading. (Consult Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, a Fac- tor of Evolution, Ch, 11. The same in Nineteenth Century, 28 :699. Or see Darwin, Descent of Man, Ch. IV, under Sociability. ) 23. Care of pets generally. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 24. Modesty, contrasted with vanity. Boasting. 25. Accuracy and thoroughness as a basis of trustworthiness. 26. Continuance of tasks as a responsibility with- out further direction, i. e., duty carried on without eye-service. 27. Telling the truth even at a cost. 28. Money and its purpose. Correct handling, correct change; not taking advantage of the mis- takes of ignorance. 29. Rendering true account of money to parents, friends and others. The honest balance-sheet may be illustrated even in the simple affairs of school children. IV. FAIRNESS 30. Giving chances to cripples and other handi- capped children in play, amusements, excursions. Not taking advantage of the ignorance of fellow players. MORAL INSTRUCTION 373 31. Generosity of spirit, i. e., magnanimity as a higher form of fairness. (The term ''magnanimity" need not be used.) Disdain for paltriness and stin- giness, as distinct from a reasonable economy. V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 32. Public help for the unfortunate, e. g., or- phans, street waifs. Help given by voluntary or- ganizations. Individual help as a cooperating fac- tor. 33. Public help for the blind, deaf and dumb, crippled. Help given by voluntary organizations. Individual help as a cooperating factor. 34. What children can do for the charitable movements of their city, state, nation and the world; especially for children. 35. Stories of child life. 36. Talk about books. GRADE IV I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 1. In spite of foolish or constitu- tional fears. Self -encouragement. Children should learn that brave actions have often been done not- withstanding certain fears, and that it is this which makes the actions really brave, 374 MORAL INSTRUCTION 2. To protect the weak, and resist wrong, on playground, street and elsewhere. Prudence. — 3. Safety rules in connection with fire. Bonfires. 4. Safety rules: water, ice; poisons; hot water, boiling fruit kettles. 5. Other people suffer through our carelessness. Hence motive to prudence. Perseverance. — 6. In leisure pursuits, e. g., toy-making, model-making, etc. Stories of young mechanics and inventors, e. g., Sir Isaac Newton, Edison. 7. Simple conception of perseverance as a nec- essary factor in the world's work, e. g., in building United States railroads in spite of many difficulties. The message to Garcia. Self-Control. — 8. Steady speech, as con- trasted with loquacity. (Consult Foerster's Art of Living J pp. 17-23.) Order.— 9. In collection of stamps, scraps, picture post-cards, natural history specimens. Chil- dren might bring to the class specimens of their or- derly collections. 10. Simple talk, illustrated from nature study, showing how we learn about plants, etc., more eas- ily by arranging them in classes. Discipline. — 11. Illustrations of ship's disci- pline as a picturesque type of social discipline in general. MORAL INSTRUCTION 375 II. KINDNESS The Family. — 12. Duty to parents to do school work well. 13. How can I help make the household comfort- able, apart from doing recognized tasks? Exercise of forethought and invention in this direction. 14. What brothers and sisters can do for one another. 15. Respect for servants, whether the regular household servants or temporary servants, e. g., in cars, restaurants, stores, etc. Friends,-— 16. Thoughtfulness for the com- fort, tastes, etc., of friends. Sympathetic and help- ful interest in their troubles. (Consult Foerster's Art of Living, pp. 4-10; 176-9.) 17. Schoolmates whom one can help, e. g., the friendless, the shy, etc. (Consult Foerster's Art of Living, pp. 79, 80; 133; 176-9.) 18. Grateful commemoration of those who have worked to amuse children, e. g., Hans Andersen, Dickens, Miss Alcott. Consideration.-— 19. Toward sub-normal and other infirm persons, the blind, the deaf and dumb. Special tact must be exercised in treating of con- sideration toward stammerers, etc., if afflicted pu- pils are present. 20. Stories of persons who, in spite of natural affliction, have achieved success, e. g., Helen Keller. Z76 MORAL INSTRUCTION Such stories may encourage certain types of children and produce respect for the afflicted. Manners.— "21. Toward the aged. Cooperation. — 22. Children's cooperation in civic crusades (a cleaner and more attractive city; anti-fly crusade, if topic is treated near end of school year). Animals.— 23. Natural history of birds. Il- lustrations selected in order to emphasize mutual aid. (Consult Kropotkin, Mutvial Aid, A Factor of Evolution, Ch. I. The same in Nineteenth Century, 28:337.) III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 24. Contempt for evasion or concealment, whether in speech or demeanor. In this attitude is involved magnanimity also. 25. Duty done without oversight of elders ; topic continued from Grade III, with illustrations on a higher level. How different from the spirit that needs police, prison and punishment. 26. Disdain for cheating and underhand dealing in regard to money and property generally. Thus is formed the public opinion which may be more de- terrent than the law. 27. The sense of honor gradually connects with that of honesty, and this should be treated as highly important. MORAL INSTRUCTION 377 IV. FAIRNESS 28. Compensating others for our mistakes, and for injuries unintentional or otherwise. 29. The unfairness of accepting favors or kind- nesses from others and not returning them when we are able to. Sponging. V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 30. Public protection of the publi^ health. (Con- sult Dunn's The Community and the Citizen^ Ch. IX.) 31. Public protection of life and property. (Con- sult Dunn's The Community and the Citizen, Ch. X.) 32. The public schools. How they were estab- lished and why they are maintained. 33. Story-descriptions of public officers of vil- lage or city, e. g., the mayor. 34. Stories of benefactors of village or city in which the pupils reside. Z^. The same topic continued. Other service besides that of money donations should be remem- bered. Z6. Talk about books. 378 MORAL INSTRUCTION GRADE V I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — -1. Self-reliance; self-confidence. 2. The same subject continued. 3. Cheerfulness, good humor and hopefulness as aspects of courage. 4. Encouraging others, especially by example. This is not only kindness ; it proves the fine stuff one is made of. We can give out power. Prudence. — 5. Avoidance of heat, chills, damp, with reasons. Cooperation with parents in such care, thus saving them anxiety. 6. Avoidance of rashness and bravado. Perseverance. -— 7. In searching for facts wanted ; solving puzzles. Stories of great searchers in history, e. g., Columbus. Self-Respect. — 8. Self-respect, e. g., as motive to cleanliness and neatness; thus lifting the motive to order above mere obedience to rules of home or school. Self-Activity. — 9. Work a natural form of en- ergy. Compare the work and play of animals {I. e., they are both natural energies)." 10. The same topic continued. Joy in work, contrasted with dull idleness, and ill-health bred by laziness. 11. Necessary to the pleasant and useful arts, MORAL INSTRUCTION 379 e. g.j skating, swimming, dancing, sewing, and the handling of tools. 12. Habit as a help in school routine and study. (On habit, consult William James, Habit [Holt, N. Y. ; being a reprint of Ch. IV of the Principles of Psychology] ; the same, Talks to Teachers on Psy- chology , Ch. VIII ; MacCunn, The Making of Char- acter, Part I, Ch. VI ; Foerster, The Art of Living j pp. 48-51; 54-56; 59-67.) II. KINDNESS The Family. — 13. Family reunions, festivals, and birthdays. Friends.-— 14. Remembrance of the absent. Defense of friend's good name. George Washing- ton's motto : — "Speak not evil of the absent." Consideration. — 15. For younger children; for the less strong, clever, etc. Protecting them against tyranny, imposition, dishonesty, etc., on the part of others. Cooperation. — 16. The family as a cooperat- ing membership, interdependent and mutually help- ful. The idea of a society is here simply sketched. 17. The school, treated on the same lines. 18. Tale-bearing, considered in relation to the principle that pupils should cooperate for the school's good. As the subject presents difficulties, the better plan m^ay be to discuss it frankly, and let the children speak their minds. 380 MORAL INSTRUCTION Manners. — 19. In directing strangers; will- ingness to assist, providing always that the child sees the case is clear and genuine. 20. Similar courtesy to foreigners ; consideration for foreign fellow pupils. 21. Good manners and courtesy toward those who are different from ourselves. Among these will be included those who, because of disease or accident, are peculiar in appearance. Animals.-— 22. Information concerning the Humane Society, the Audubon Society and kindred organizations. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 23. Fulfilment of trust. Pleasure in satisfying such confidence. 24. Reasonable trust in others, as distinguished from imprudent credulity on the one hand and timid distrust on the other. 25. People do actually live largely by trust ; trust in parents, teachers, friends, merchants, captains, statesmen. The teacher should stress this point, while continuing to maintain a common-sense cau- tion against silly over-trust. 26. Honesty as to property left in public con- veyances, places, etc. Restoration to owners. Dis- cuss question of accepting rewards. MORAL INSTRUCTION 381 IV. FAIRNESS 27. Revenge and forgiveness. 28. Gratitude as an aspect of fairness. 29. Elementary ideas of fairness expanding into the idea of justice. Justice impartial. The symbol of justice with sword and scales. 30. Recognition of rights of others to seats, precedence, turns, shares, etc., as between brothers and sisters, playmates, friends, etc. The point of view now is not the good-natured sharing consid- ered in earlier grades, but a reasoned regard. 31. Nobility of justice when shown by the stronger toward the weaker. V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 32. Life stories of national servants of the state — presidents and other federal officers. The idea of social service should be kept uppermost, the object being to provide interesting personal elements on which, in later grades, to build up conceptions of civic administration. 33. Life stories of national benefactors, showing the good citizen in other aspects than that of voter or official. 34. The same topic continued. 35. The work of the Children's Aid Society, the Fresh Air Fund, etc. 36. Talk about books. 382 MORAL INSTRUCTION GRADE VI I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 1. Presence of mind amid danger or panic (always in relation to the child's capacity) ; and in the smaller emergencies of daily life. 2. Same subject continued. Idea of coolness; Illustrations should on no account be confined to boy life. The subject concerns girls also. 3. Physical courage excellent, but, as in the case of brave robbers, cruel conquerors, etc., it is seen to need a finer aim. Show how moral courage faces ridicule, difficulty, opposition, for a right object. The term "moral courage" is not necessarily em- ployed. 4. Value of knowledge to allay fear, e. g., knowledge of swimming allays fear of water. Su- perstition based on ignorance, as the former fear of comets and eclipses. Prudence. — 5. Thrift, involving present self- denial for future value and for greater service. 6. Temperance in play and amusement. Perseverance. — 7. Distinguish by examples between perseverance and stubbornness. Persever- ance is sensible; stubbornness foolish, and often ab- surd. The latter point may be stressed. Self-Activity. — 8. Useful activity, as distin- guished from fussiness and aimless energy. MORAL INSTRUCTION 383 9. True work is useful to self, and of service to others. Habit. — 10. As the basis of self-conquest. The joy of gaining little victories for the good habit, with corresponding weakening of the bad. 11. The same topic continued. II. KINDNESS The Family. — 12. Respect for family name. Desire to help family's progress. Nevertheless, avoid family boastfulness. 13. Respect for parents, whose imperfections are nevertheless obvious to their children. (Consult Foerster's remarks, already referred to; and bear in mind that the subject should be dealt with in story form, avoiding reference to local personali- ties.) Friends. — 14. The influence of good and bad companions. The responsibility of each for his in- fluence upon his companions. 15. Loyalty to friends, as illustrated in famous friendships. Manners. — 16. Between girls and boys, at home, school, in public places. 17. The "lady" and the "gentleman." Chivalry in the older sense (see Grade VII). Animals.— 18. Simple biological talk, linked with nature study. 384 MORAL INSTRUCTION 19. The same subject continued. 20. Notice of magazines and books relating to the hfe and the humane treatment of animals, e. g., Bird Lore. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 21. Care in observation and reporting; wilHng- ness to note and acknowledge one's mistake. 22. Apology and self -correction. The fact that this topic is placed under the head of Trustworthi- ness indicates its real nature. Apology may be the reverse of weakness. 2o. Honest wares; honesty in the supply of nat- ural products, goods, etc. Incidental reference to adulteration, false weights and measures. 24. The harm done in a school by the dishonesty of a few pupils, through consequent loss of confi- dence in all the pupils. Trace out the effects of this loss of confidence. On the other hand, the con- sequences of mutual confidence, and how it may be maintained. Apply to the larger community„ IV. JUSTICE (fairness) 25. The injustice of repeating or believing idle or mischievous tales without testing them. 26. To wrong-doers, unjust people, (Jisagreeable people. MORAL INSTRUCTION 385 27. The recognition of human worth, wherever found, as a demand of justice. Snobbishness is su- perficiaHty and injustice. V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 28. Simple sketch of the interdependence of workers in the same trade, or of different trades and occupations. 29. Interdependence of countries. 30. Descriptive sketches (avoiding statistical and administrative details) of institutions of help and amenity, e. g., fire-brigades; life-boats, light-houses; wireless telegraphy at sea; Red Cross ambulance; famine funds; use of troops and warships for res- cue and aid. Parks, playgrounds, etc. The teacher will select from this list, remembering that the ob- ject is to provide interesting material on which civic conceptions can be built later. 31. The same topic continued. 32. The same topic continued. 33. Simple sketch of the school system, kinder- garten, elementary school, high school and univer- sity. 34. The pupil's service as return for the benefit bestowe-d by the community. 35. Simple lesson on the government of the vil~ lage, city or district in which the pupils reside. 36. Talk about books. 386 MORAL INSTRUCTION GRADE VII I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 1. Industrial and social heroism, i. e,, courage shown in facing the risks of industry and life-saving. Besides satisfying admiration for courage, this theme prepares the way for the ideal of international peace. Such lessons appeal equally to girls and boys. 2. The same topic continued. 3. The same topic continued. Include the moral courage displayed by the refusal to engage in dis- honest business dealing. 4. Opportunities to show courage in the every- day life of the home and the school. For example, checking dishonesty or other bad practises among schoolmates or playmates. Independence in doing right regardless of the opinion of one's mates. Prudence. — 5. Habits of temperance fit one for the service of others as well as profiting the in- dividual. 6. The same topic continued. 7. Physical vigor an important factor in the con- quest of temptations to idleness, bad temper, cow- ardice, lack of fortitude, and selfishness. Physical weakness has a tendency to make these impulses stronger and, at the same time, the will less effective in struggling with them. MORAL INSTRUCTION 387 8. The same topic continued. On lack of sleep as a cause of irritability, consult Foerster's Art of Living^ pp. 23-27. Perseverance. — 9. Illustrated from the his- tory of the industrial arts. 10. Pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. Efficiency. — 11. Habit and efficiency. Stories showing how the worker and social servant is effi- cient by virtue of habit. 12. Talent; its consecration to service and duty. 13. Growth. Stories of girls and boys who un- folded into noble adulthood. 14. Looking forward. The good ambition that looks toward a vocation and is willing to train for it. 15. Duty of all members of the commonwealth to work and serve according to ability. II. KINDNESS The Family. — 16. Family life on the frontier, and in colonial days. (Consult Dunn's The Com- munity and the Citij^en^ Ch. V.) 17. Family life in other countries. 18. What the family does for its members; as persons, as workers, as members of society. Friends. — 19. The qualities which make a good and valuable friend. Manners.- — 20. Chivalry in general. Inclusion of other illustrations than those of courtesy be- tween the sexes ; e. g., chivalry toward a rival. 388 MORAL INSTRUCTION Kindness and Intellect. — 21. Show how clev- erness may be devoted to kind service. This point is worth emphasizing, for the finer sorts of kindness often imply talent and genius. (Consult Foerster, op. cit., passim). Animals. — 22. Kinship between man and ani- mals, physical and mental. 23. The same topic continued. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 24. Being and seeming. Genuineness contrasted with hypocrisy. 25. Honorable pride in doing more than a con- tract requires, sooner than allow work to appear inferior. 26. Intelligent service wanted; not mere blind loyalty; just as we admire clever kindness in Les- son 2L IV. JUSTICE 27. Fair play in sport and athletic contests. The rules of sportsmanship. 28. Justice in its social aspects. Justice causes contentment in family, school or state; injustice causes discontent. 29. Mercy, closely connected with justice; i. e., mercy toward offenders. (Not to be confused with mercy in the sense of general tenderness.) MORAL INSTRUCTION 389 30. Gratitude toward persons who have helped the common weal. Such servants have too often been neglected. V. SOCIAL OUTLOOK 31. Society, what it means. The interdependence of different classes. We here learn how each mem- ber of society contributes to its maintenance — men's service, women's service, children's service, the thinker's service, the day laborer's service, that of the capitalist (who risks his money), the manager (who directs the work), etc. 32. The same topic continued. Mutual aid, e. g., in times of calamity. Note how varieties of people may give varieties of aid. 33. The same topic continued. Common joys, festivals, sorrows, difficulties, affecting a whole vil- lage, city or nation, and perhaps humanity. These lessons sketch, in a concrete way, the or- ganic nature of society, i. e., society as a living ex- istence, bound together by general feelings, ideas, purposes. But such terms as "organic nature," etc., are used for the guidance of the teacher only, and will not be employed in lessons. 34. Obedience to law, illustrated by life stories and biographical incidents. 35. Obedience to law, illustrated from every-day life in the United States. 36. Talk about books. 390 MORAL INSTRUCTION GRADE VIII I. SELF-GOVERNMENT Courage. — 1. In self-sacrifice. In previous lessons we have taken care to praise homely and every-day courage, but the present stage is eminently one for exciting admiration for heroic types. 2. Civic self-sacrifice, i. e., self-sacrifice for the public good. This is the highest type of moral courage, and it often involves physical courage. Prudence.— -3. Care in the choice of a voca- tion. What to take into consideration in such a choice. The honorable ambition to succeed. Perseverance.— 4. In good causes "for con- science' sake." Mere courage often falls away. There is a further splendor in the courage to hold fast and put through one's purpose. The Self. — -5. The self as something to be un- folded. How may a boy or girl develop his or her power to think accurately, to feel richly and gen- erously, and to will vigorously? 6. Self-knowledge. What am I worth? What can I do? What hinders me? Self-knowledge en- ables us to hold the balance between undue diffidence with regard to our powers, and self-conceit. 7. The self, subject to influences; moved by in- terests; needing to think of consequences. MORAL INSTRUCTION 391 8. The self as an instrument of service. The idea of service does not imply servility, but rather strength of intellect and character. It may be ex- pressed, for instance, in vigorous encouragement and leadership of others. 9. Self-respect and self-forgetfulness are the foundation stones of character. The teacher will bear in mind that such topics are to be illustrated from biography, nor treated abstractly. II. KINDNESS The Family. — 10. What the family does for the community. (Consult Dunn's The Community and the Citizen^ Ch. V.) Friends. — 11. The qualities of a friend — un- selfishness, good temper, sincerity, readiness to over- look small faults. "The only way to have a friend is to be one." (Emerson.) Consideration. — 12. For the poor. Practical efforts in connection with the school. 13. Poverty as an evil which good citizens will cooperate to remedy. Education and talent and character are good because they give us power to serve in this effort. Manners. — 14. Courtesy in business and in- dustrial life. Employers and employed; traders and customers; the woman behind the counter; etc. 392 MORAL INSTRUCTION 15. To people of different political and religious views. Animals. — 16. The social feelings among the higher animals. III. TRUSTWORTHINESS 17. Devotion to truth, illustrated in the lives of scientific workers. 18. The honor which disdains bribes and secret commissions. 19. The honor which despises profiting at a neighbor's expense, by gambling and betting. The teacher should put the stress on this motive, and not merely condemn reliance on chance. 20. Honesty in business transactions in the life of the pupil, and in that of the man and woman. Our honesty makes people have confidence in us, and increases their confidence in each other. IV. JUSTICE 21. Just judgment of people who may at first sight appear indifferent, rude, foolish, etc., and may really have better motives. 22. Justice in judging others generally. 23. Industrial justice. Rendering a fair equiva- lent for the price or wages received. 24. Simple sketch of the progress of justice from MORAL INSTRUCTION 393 older ideas to modern. One or two comparisons will suffice, e. g., as regards capital punishment, treatment of debtors, etc. V. CIVICS The method in this section will not be confined to the use of the story, although descriptions based upon newspaper or magazine material should be em- ployed as far as possible. The list of topics is a series of abstract terms and statements which the teacher must in every case translate into the con- crete. . 25. Nature of a society. It is a body of people having common memories (history), joys, sorrows, hopes ; common home and familiar scenery and mon- uments; common manners and customs; a common desire for justice, law, defense and general v\^elfare. 26. Meaning of the state. It is a society bound together by the possession of a common govern- ment. What would happen if our government were abolished and not replaced by any other? 27. The essence of government is cooperation, with compulsion for those who refuse to do their share. Illustrate by showing how men once pro- tected themselves against theft on the Western frontier, and how they do it in a city, to-day; by showing how formerly people attempted to protect themselves individually against contagious disease, 394 MORAL INSTRUCTION and the modern method of city or state laws of quarantine, the inspection of foods, milk, etc. 28. The public will is expressed in law. The duty to obey the law is the duty of service, or of placing the good of the whole above that of the individual in case of conflict. On the other hand, note that the individual himself is a member of the whole, and his good is therefore contained in the welfare of the whole. 29. This last statement shown in detail by an account of the organic nature of society, or the in- terdependence of human interests. As illustrations among others, show how corrupt government in one state may affect harmfully the citizens of another state, and how important it is to the citizens e. g., of Wisconsin whether New York and California choose able and patriotic congressmen. 30. What the state (which, as always, is here used to include the city) does for the individual. In part a review of preceding topics under Social Out- look, upon a higher plane. What it might do every- where if it were conducted with more ability, hon- esty and patriotism; illustrated by the best things being done in certain American cities or common- wealths. 31. The same subject continued. 32. How the local community is governed. 33. How the United States is governed. 34. What qualities the state needs in its citizens. MORAL INSTRUCTION 395 and why? Physical vigor, ability, knowledge of public problems and affairs, courage, perseverance, honesty, the love of justice, and patriotism. Illus- trate by contemporary events in the United States. (In this topic all the preceding work of the course is focused upon the subject of the relation of the citizen to the state.) 35. Reasons for loving and desiring to serve our country (and city) apart from considerations de- rived from what it does for us and those in whom we are interested, as described in the answers of 30 and 31 above, (a) Gratitude to and emulation of past national and local benefactors 36. (b) Gratitude and emulation of contempo- rary benefactors. Here, as always in the case of gratitude, considerations of fairness enter also. Cf. the story of the Siberian travelers in Gould's Con- duct Stories, page 135. 37. (c) The greatness of the results. A realiza- tion of the leading part which the United States is taking and will take in shaping the history of the world normally awakens a strong sense of individ- ual responsibility. 38. (d) One's efforts will count. National progress is a fact, though much remains to be done. 39. The duties of citizenship; loyalty. This in- cludes obedience to law, including those laws which the citizen does not approve. It includes also help- 396 MORAL INSTRUCTION ing to enforce the law. Bribe giving and bribe tak- ing as treason. 40. Duties of citizenship. The payment of taxes. The purpose of taxation. Tax dodging as an unfair shifting of burdens upon other shoulders, which will always include those weaker than our own. 41. Duties of citizenship. An intelligent and active interest in public affairs. Attendance upon primaries and voting. The duty to hold office. The responsibility of the individual citizen for good gov- ernment. 42. The duties of the citizen to the society in which he lives. Every time we do a genuine piece of work or are otherwise honest in business or other relations of life, we do just so much to make our community better. Show how. 43. Duties of the citizen to the society in which he lives. The duty of joining with fellow citizens in the work of promoting education, the advance of knowledge and art, the upbuilding of character, and the spirit of human brotherhood in all spheres of Hfe. The teacher will observe that topics 39-41 deal with citizenship in the narrower sense of the rela- tion of the individual to government; 42 and 43 with citizenship in the sense of membership in soci- ety apart from government. 44. National defense. War. International arbi- tration and peace. MORAL INSTRUCTION 397. 45. The same subject continued. 46. Humanity, its meaning. Duties of the more civilized to the less civilized. 47. Humanity a brotherhood. 48. The progress of the race a fact. A source of hope and enthusiasm. (Abundant material and valuable points of view in Tylor's Anthropology, beginning with Chapter VII.) Exercises EXERCISES CHAPTER I THE PLACE OF MORAL EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL 1. Is society growing more or less dependent for its wel- fare upon the conduct of its members? State your reasons in detail, and give illustrations. 2. Is there any substitute that can do the work of character, or is it rather true that the fruits of character can be had only from character? For example, can political or educational machinery be devised with such skill that it will make prac- tically no difference in results whether the citizens or teachers are men and women of character or not ? Discuss. 3. To what extent are the temptations to wrong-doing growing (a) greater in number and strength, or (b) less, in American life to-day? 4. What forces which have made for the upbuilding of character in the past are tending to disappear in contempo- rary society? 5. To what extent and in what ways, if at all, do the train- ing of the intelligence and the imparting of knowledge, as commonly conducted in our schools, produce any effects in the improvement of character? 6. How far is it true in the actual practise (a) of your own school, (b) of the schools of your state, that the moral end is neglected? How account for such neglect as exists? 7. Over and above the brief statement in the text, compare the efficiency for moral education of the home (both the best homes and the average homes), the church and the school. 8. As against the view that it is the duty of the school to make the improvement of character an integral part of its work, it is objected that the proper aim of the school is to impart knowledge and train the intelligence, and that the serious attempt to educate character will only distract the at- tention of the teachers from their real work. What is there to be said in favor of and against this view? 9. In what ways may moral education be expected to im- prove the intellectual work of the pupils? 401 402 EXERCISES 10. Illustrate the latent capacities for good in human nature as shown by the changes in conduct and character produced in boys or girls by the influence of other persons (in looking for illustrations, do not confuse the mischievous boy with the bad boy) . CHAPTER II THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER 1. Give illustrations from your own observation of the power of contagion to arouse the best in human nature. 2. Give as definite a description as possible of the persons who have exercised this influence in any marked degree, point- ing out, in particular, its sources. 3. Give some account of the teacher or teachers that exer- cised any marked influence for good upon you or your class- mates; if there were such, those who exercised an influence for evil. 4. Describe, in detail, the way in which the teacher must treat the pupil if he is to exert upon him any influence for good. Consider the question, for instance, whether the teacher who uses sarcasm in the class room can expect to gain any influence over his pupils. Answer the same ques- tion for the teacher who is habitually suspicious of his pupils, who "bluffs," who is unwilling to acknowledge a mistake, who treats those of wealth or social standing in one way, and those without them in quite another way. Continue the list which is here just begun, till it covers all the most important cases. Give your reasons for your answers throughout; and appeal to your own experience or observation as far as pos-^ sible. 5. What positive qualities of character must teachers pos- sess — i e. what must tliey do and be, as distinguished from what they must not do and be— if they are to exert upon their pupils the largest influence for good ? 6. Examine the following statement : "Personal influence is often assumed to be greater the closer the intimacy. I be- lieve the opposite to be the case. FamiHarity, says the shrewd proverb, breeds contempt. . . . One who is to help us much must be above us." George H. Palmer, Moral Instruct tion in Schools, in The Teacher, page 67. 7. Mention other limitations of the teacher's influence be- sides those enumerated in the text. 8. Discuss in detail the extent and limitations of the influ- EXERCISES 403 ence of women teachers upon boys, distinguishing between the various periods of school life. 9. What can men teachers do for the girls in the seventh and eighth grades that women teachers can not do ? What for girls in the high school ? 10. Is there anything in the present conditions of home life that makes the presence of men teachers in the school more imperative than it was a generation ago ? 11. Consider in detail the kind of men and women that American society needs to-day. What traits of character ought we to take special pains to develop in our pupils, in view of these needs? CHAPTER III THE TEACHER AS A FRIEND 1. How far have (a) advice and (b) exhortation really influenced your conduct and character? Under what condi- tions have they done so? Under what conditions have they failed? 2. How far did the praise or blame of your teachers influ- ence you in your school-days? State the conditions under which it succeeded or failed. As far as possible answer this question for your schoolmates also. 3. Did encouragement on the part of your teacher ever help you to do right when it was hard to do so ? 4. Show in detail how the activities suggested In the fol- lowing quotation may affect the character of your pupils. How can you apply these principles to your own pupils ? What qualifications must the teacher possess for success in this kind of endeavor? "What the boy wants Is a standard, an aspiration, an aim for his energies, a high enthusiasm. It is a mistake in dealing with the young to separate too sharply the intellectual from the moral enthusiasm; they are closely connected and react on each other. If the teacher can help or encourage a boy to set a high aim for himself, to be no longer content with indifferent and half excited energy, to care deeply for some- thing requiring pains and persistence, and so to put his whole strength into the daily demands on his industry, then it is idle to say that the teacher's influence on that boy may not properly be called moral instruction." (Alfred Sidgwick, in Proceedings of the First International Moral Education Con- gress, p. 144.) 5. If you have ever had an opportunity to observe a well- 404 EXERCISES conducted adviser system in a high school, describe its work- ings and effects. 6. Should teachers encourage their pupils to come to them freely for advice on matters which do not concern their school work? (It may be said that the experts differ in their an- swers to this question.) 7. State your own observations with regard to the condi- tions upon which friendly relations between teacher and pupils depend. 8. There are many cases where it is comparatively easy to make good boys out of bad. For example, where a boy orig- inally good has been soured or otherwise ruined by unsym- pathetic or unjust or cruel parents. Make as long a list as possible of such cases. It will help you in diagnosing par- ticular situations. (Remember, as was insisted in Chapter I, that the mischievous boy must not be confused with the bad boy.) 9. As an illustration of the necessity of varying one's plan according to the nature of the pupils, consider how to deal respectively with the vain (attractive or successful), and the sullen (unattractive or unsuccessful) pupil. A good discus- sion of this subject, with which the teacher may compare his own conclusions, will be found in a paper by Mrs. Ella Flagg Young in University of Chicago Contributions to Education, No. 4, p. 16. 10. As an illustration of the necessity of knowing home con- ditions, consider the method of dealing with a boy who is con- stantly beaten at home by a drunken or natively brutal or suspicious father ; or the method of dealing with a boy who is constantly pampered by overindulgent parents. What dif- ference is there between the way you would proceed with either of these boys and the way you would deal with a re- calcitrant boy from a normal home? Think up other ex- amples of the principle here in question, illustrating them, if possible, from observation. 11. Discuss the following maxim: "Try to see reasons for the bad ; they are often good reasons." CHAPTER IV THE TONE OF THE SCHOOL 1. What elements in your town life affect the tone of the school? Where such influences are bad, how deal with the situation? Where good, how foster them? How get the bet- EXERCISES 405 ter influences of the community to bear more effectively upon the school? 2. How can principals and teachers make membership in the school council a position of dignity and influence? 3. Make some suggestions besides those in the text as to what the members of such a council can do toward elevating and purifying the tone of the school. Work out in some detail the suggestions of the text. 4. What kinds of pupils most influence public opinion in the elementary school? In the high school? Answer sepa- rately for boys and gii;ls. 5. How is this influence exerted? 6. What kind of pupils have most influence, whether for good or evil, upon individual members of the school? Are these pupils the same as those of question 4? 7. Every school contains boys and girls who have the intel- lectual and other qualifications for leadership, but who, for any one of a number of reasons, do not care to assume such a position. How develop in such pupils the willingness or the desire to lead, particularly in matters where moral issues are in any way concerned? 8. Is any danger to the pupil's scholarship involved in awakening in him an interest in school leadership? If so, is the principal or teacher justified in taking such a step? 9. Describe some other methods of molding public opinion in the school through the pupils besides the methods spe- cifically referred to in the text. For example, in what way can the publications be used to this end ? CHAPTER V THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SCHOOL 1. Give your own illustrations of the distinction between outer conformity and inner loyalty to the moral ideal? 2. Define sentimentality. How does it arise and grow in a person's character? Why is it a very dangerous element? 3. State some of the many other reasons besides the one mentioned in the text why inner loyalty is desirable as well as outer conformity. 4. What other qualities of character are there besides those enumerated on pages 43 and 44, which the routine of school discipline has no tendency to foster? 5. Illustrate from your own observation the principle that 406 EXERCISES "No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic." (Enthusiasm must, of course, be distinguished from gush.) 6. State the thesis and summarize in your own words the argument of pages 45 to 48. Criticize it in the sense of making a critical examination with a view to determining pre- cisely how much truth and error it contains. 7. Verify from your own observation the assertion that punishment may have effects upon character by producing real repentance for wrong-doing. 8. Is punishment likely to do positive harm where it is felt to be undeserved? Illustrate. 9. Show in what ways the teacher may get the sentiment of the class back of him when it is necessary to punish a pupil. 10. Give illustrations of the salutary effects of reproof or punishment under such circumstances. 11. Can you think of any cases of what you would regard as just punishment of a pupil which his fellow pupils could not be made to see was just? 12. How would you attempt by reasoning with a pupil to make him see that he had done wrong and deserved punish- ment for any one of a number of common school offenses? 13. Give illustrations showing in the concrete how punish- ment can be made the "consequence of a wrong turned back upon the offender." 14. Discuss the question of corporal punishment in the school. 15. Discuss the place of drudgery in adult life. 16. Professor James wrote in Collier's Weekly for Feb- ruary 8, 1913, as follows : "We have grown literally afraid to be poor. When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardships; when we put off marriage until our home can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank account, and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion. It is certain that the prevalent fear of pov- erty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers." The editor adds in the same issue : "The time has come for a movement wide-spread and sincere back to the iron of life where stern work was faced, where pain was endured, and where the whole af life in its rigor was accepted." Do you agree with these state- ments? If so, what effects, if any, should they have upon school life? 17. Do you agree with President Faunce's strictures upon our prevalHng methods of education, as expressed in a state- ment quoted by him, with approval, in an article in the Edu- EXERCISES 407 cattonal Review, Vol. 29, p. 372 ? "We sugar coat all our pills of learning. Is there not a wholesome tonic in the old-fash- ioned method of learning the disagreeable thing, of being sure that two and two do make four, and can by no possibility be twisted into anything else? The hard places of life must be faced sooner or later, and though one wants to shield children and young people as far as possible, yet it is no true educa- tion which does not give them a certain hardness of intellec- tual and m.oral fiber which will enable them to face their own difficulties and to accept even defeat always with a strong purpose of turning it into victory. Is there not such a thing as carrying the doctrine of working in the line of least re- sistance too far, both in intellectual and moral matters?" 18. Is there a moral factor in the inability complained of by Mr, Brooks Adams in the following quotation from the Atlantic Monthly, Vol. Ill, p. 433? Is what he asserts true? If so, does it represent a serious situation? Are the schools in any part responsible for it? If so, should they attempt to do anything to prevent such a situation from arising in the next generation? "A marked peculiarity of the present gen- eration of Americans is its impatience of prolonged demands on the attention, especially if the subject be tedious. . . . No one can imagine that such papers as Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote for the New York local newspapers could be printed in our daily press, or if they were, that any one would read them." And yet, as he goes on to show, the public ques- tions of to-day are essentially as important and as compli- cated as those of 1787. 19. Is there enough hard work (a) In our elementary schools, (b) In our high schools? If not, is this due to meth- ods, subject-matter, or standards? 20. What are the moral effects of allowing pupils to do shoddy work in school? 21. Illustrate from your experience or observation the ne- cessity of a pupil's discovering that hard work can be a source of satisfaction, not merely afterward, but at the time, through the joy that comes (as in a game) in struggling with and overcoming difficulties. 22. How can we introduce Into our courses In history, sci- ence and modern language that continuous struggle with genu- ine and serious difficulties which is characteristic of the study of Latin, Greek and mathematics at their best? 408 EXERCISES CHAPTER VI PUPIL GOVERNMENT 1. Is pupil government (a) practicable, (b) desirable in your school? 2. Discuss the qualifications necessary for a teacher in a school in which pupil government is in operation. Are they identical with those of the principal as enumerated on page 58? 3. What would be the wish of your pupils with regard to pupil government? Answer separately for boys and girls. 4. Why is machinery, for machinery's sake, worse than useless? 5. Consider the objection urged against pupil government that what we need in the United States is not more freedom, but more respect for law, as something over us to which we must submit our wills ; that accordingly the best civic training which the school can give the pupil is by means of a strict enforcement of school law by the principal. 6. Consider the following criticism of pupil government: "Selfhood can not come out of the so-called 'pupil govern- ment' This is still 'other hood,' in which the fear of the teacher is replaced by fear of the fellow student. I would rather have my child fear a teacher than a pupil. Such gov- ernment is only temporary, lacks the essential element of freedom, and does not attain to selfhood." (W. I. Crane, in The School Review, Vol. 9, p. 362.) 7. Suggest some steps in the direction of pupil government (as pupil supervision of the playground during recess).^ Is it desirable to introduce a few features of the system without introducing the system as a whole? 8. When the principal thinks it unwise to introduce a formal system of pupil government into the school, how can the teacher introduce the spirit of pupil government into his class room? 9. Give illustrations of how pupils, in the absence of a formal system of pupil government, may be employed to deal effectively with special cases of wrong-doing. 10. Give an account of the personality of a principal capable of obtaining results such as those described on page 68. 11. Discuss the advisability of introducing the honor sys- tem into the examinations and preparation for school work in your school or class. 12. Formulate a statement which you think would be ef- EXERCISES 409 fective in making your pupils realize the obligations of hon- esty in examinations and other test work (for a suggestion, see Chapter XVII, page 294). 13. If an honor system is established, some effective method must be devised for discovering whether it is working suc- cessfully. One such method is suggested on page 70. Sug- gest other methods. CHAPTER VII MUTUAL AID IN CLASS WORK 1. Show in detail the ways in which hand work, especially manual training and domestic science, can be used to develop a spirit of mutual aid and of respect for the rights of others. 2. On the basis of the suggestions in the text work out some methods of training in mutual aid through learning to read. 3. The same for learning to write. 4. The same for nature study. 5. Give additional suggestions for cooperative work in his- tory and civics. 6. Discuss the general problem of using pupil teachers and pupil critics. What are the elements of strength and weak- ness in such a method from both the intellectual and moral point of view? 7. Is it possible to eliminate the dangers of fostering conceit and vanity on the one side, and discouragement and envy on the other side, in conducting classes by a system of mutual aid? If so, how? 8. Is it possible to diminish the danger of pauperizing through the indiscriminate giving of aid, while yet retaining the essentials of the system? If so, how? 9. Is it possible to avoid making the system of mutual aid appear to the members of the class as a mere system of intel- lectual or moral gymnastics ? If so, how ? 10. Give an account of the results of the system, if you have ever had an opportunity to watch it operating, partially or completely, in the class room. 11. Consider the place of self-reliance in life. What teach- ing methods are most favorable to its development? Is the method of mutual aid likely to be favorable to its develop- ment? 12. In the moral interest of our pupils should rivalry in class work be encouraged, permitted, discouraged, or ex- cluded in our schools? By rivalry is here meant the use of 410 EXERCISES marks, honors, prizes, pitting one pupil against another, and similar incentives. The following are statements of opposing views on this subject: "In the name of the boy I protest against the tend- ency to discourage honest rivalry in the school. I doubt whether too much rivalry is necessary or desirable for girls. This question, however, is one for women and evolution to answer. With men life is a contest, and fortunately most boys love a contest. ... It is not the true masculine spirit which says, 'Never have honors in a school. Never pit two individuals or sides against each other. Never in- quire whether John can do better work than William, but only whether John's present record shows any improvement over his past' If a school for boys is to be conducted on this basis it will run out of harmony with the laws of life. . . . A keen German critic says : 'Their amiable good nature Is in a certain sense a great virtue of the Americans; in another sense their great failing. It is actually his good nature which permits him everywhere to overlook carelessness and crook- edness and so oppose with latent resistance all efforts to re- form.' " (Reuben Post Halleck in The School Review, Vol. 14, pp. 513-516. Cf. MacCunn, The Making of Character, Part II, Ch. IV, The School.) "I have been thirty-five years in the schoolroom as a pupil and teacher; have lived a good part of that time (with regret be it said) in the atmosphere of prizes and percentages; have watched their false spur and unnatural coloring of character; have looked upon noble am- bition perverted to things abnormal; have seen the physical, intellectual and moral wreckage that ensued ; and as the result of personal investigation and personal experience I do not hesitate to pronounce the whole system of incentives [he means prizes, marks and similar things] as abnormal, unprof- itable, false and immoral. Their entire tendency is to tem- porary result, to stifle interest, to the recognition of an un- natural means to an end, to the development of the selfish spirit, and to dishonest practise, as well as to over-pressure and over-nervous and physical strain." (Preston W. Search in Educational Review, Vol. II, p. 140. _ Cf . Mrs. Ella Flagg Young in University of Chicago Contributions to Education, No. 4, pp. 12-16.) 13. It has been asserted that our present methods of teach- ing stimulate in our pupils the desire to get rather than to give, (a) Is the stimulation of the desire to get necessarily an evil? — may there not be reasons why our pupils ought to desire to get both knowledge and intellectual power? Con- sider whether the activities of the gymnasium are not a EXERCISES 411 parallel case. Are we morally injuring boys when we employ for them a teacher who trains them to skill on the trapese and the Swedish horse? (b) Is the desire to get necessarily ex- clusive of the desire to give? Will one who has no desire to get be likely ever to give much of value to any one else? (c) Contrast with the formula quoted above the following statement of the moral problem of the teacher with reference to class-room work : The aim of the teacher should be to arouse and strengthen the desire to acquire knowledge and intellectual power; to supply the best means for the attain- ment by the pupil of such knowledge and power ; and to at- tempt to awaken and strengthen the desire to share one's in- tellectual and other acquisitions with others in so far as it is possible to do so without inflicting harm upon them. CHAPTER VIII THE SERVICE OF THE SCHOOL 1. What could the pupils in your school and class do for the benefit of the^school in the sense of Chapter VIII? 2. Specifically, what could your pupils do for the care or improvement of the school building or grounds? 3. What could your best pupils do for the character of their fellow pupils? Answer separately for boys and girls in all three questions. 4. Give additional suggestions as to the use of the social motive in teaching to read and write. 5. On the basis of your own experience or observation de- scribe the influence upon character of work for one's school. 6. Show how each of the activities of the Parker School tends to emphasize the altruistic element in each of the other forms of service, so that whereas any one of them by itself' might be conducted without marked benefit, all of them to- gether tend to produce an effect upon character far greater than the sum of the individual benefits. CHAPTER IX MORAL TRAINING THROUGH THE EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES OF THE SCHOOL 1. Give illustrations of your own, showing that breadth and variety of experience help us to put ourselves in the place of others, and thus tend to make us more considerate of their rights. 2. What are the advantages of membership in "gangs," or 412 EXERCISES in the informal associations of youth which, according to f ^ o text (page 109) can not be secured by the school organizations described in this chapter? 3. Would the system described in this chapter have helped you as a high-school pupil? If so, in what ways? 4. How do the high-school boys with whom you are ac- quainted spend their leisure time ? Do they spend it in ways which are advantageous to themselves, physically, intellectu- ally, or morally? In ways that are harmful? 5. What are the objections to solving the problem of extra- curricular activities in the high school by means of fra- ternities ? 6. Discuss the good and evil effects upon character of athletics. 7. Compare the value of intra-mural and Interscholastic athletics. Should the latter be suppressed? 8. What are the qualifications of a successful adviser of a high-school club? 9. Work out in detail, as far as possible, what the club ad- viser can do for the character of the members of his club. 10. Do high-school pupils object to the necessity of having advisers for their clubs? Do they welcome it? 11. Can you suggest other methods of bringing the boys and girls of the high school together in healthful forms of association besides the dancing party? 12. Should the teacher, in particular the adviser, make a systematic or otherwise serious attempt to get recruits for these organizations, or should no pressure of any sort to join be exerted upon the pupils by the teacher or principal? 13. What is the moral value of these organizations, apart from the opportunity they give for the teacher to exercise an influence for good upon their members? 14. Can any part of this system be introduced Into the ele- mentary school, and if possible would it be desirable to do so? CHAPTER X DIRECT TRAINING IN CITIZENSHIP 1. Consider the various aspects of the problem of entrust- ing charitable work to school children, more particularly to high-school pupils. What forms of such work can they do effectively? What forms should not be placed in their hands? 2. What needs has your city in the matter of charitable work which the pupils of your school could meet? 3. What could the pupils of your schools do for your city EXERCISES 413 in the way of "cleaning up," helping to maintain law and or- der, and similar forms of activity? Would it be desirable for them to undertake any of these activities? 4. If your city has a business men's club, commercial club, or other similar civic organization, what could the pupils of the schools do to aid it in its work? 5. What activities similar to those of the Two Rivers high school could be started and ought to be started by the high- school pupils of your own town? 6. What are the more serious difficulties which you would be called upon to face in starting work of this kind? What special advantages are there in your municipal situation? 7. Are there any objections to having this kind of work undertaken by high-school pupils? Are the objections serious? 8. Have you any criticism to make of the methods described in the American City, Vol. II, pp. 20-23, the essential features of which are covered by the following statements : "Our field work is of two kinds. At first the attempt is made to famil- iarize the student with what the city has already done. For this purpose walks are taken on Saturdays, and most of the boys go along. . . . We next try to ascertain what yet re- mains to do. In this connection defective administration of the city government is considered. To this end each student receives a suggestive program, such as this : An ill paved street. A bill board. Faults in garbage collection. Children in the street. Defacement of the mountains, and of the river front. A smoking stack. A dirty alley. A disreputable va- cant lot. Grade crossing blockade. Each boy then turns in a series of observations on these various topics to the section secretary, of which there are several. The secretaries then classify these observations, and prepare letters of protest to be forwarded to the proper authorities." 9. An educational journal gives an account of some work carried on by high-school boys somewhat similar in nature to that of Two Rivers, though far more limited in range. It concludes by saying: "Credit will be given to both boys and girls." The article bears the heading: "High School Instills Ideals of Service." Can a system that grants credit for work of this kind be said to "instill ideals of service" ? CHAPTER XI THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF EFFECTIVE MORAL TRAINING 1. With the subject-matter of this and the preceding chap- ters in mind, show in what sense and how it is possible to train a child into habits of truthfulness, kindness and forgiveness. 414 EXERCISES 2. Give illustrations of the metliod of moral training which I have called 'leading the horse to water" (page 141). 3. Give illustrations from your own observation or experi- ence of persons entering upon a course of action for one fno- tive and then becoming interested in it for its own sake and continuing for the latter reason. 4. ^ How can you kill laziness in some one else and replace it with the love of work? 5. Give illustrations from your own experience of develop- ing and strengthening in your pupils, allies of right-doing. 6. The author has repeatedly asserted that, broadly speak- ing, at least, those activities have the most power to develop character which involve some sacrifice of present inclination. This, for instance, is one ground on which the method of Chapter X is placed higher in the scale than that of Chapter VII. Does such a statement mean that only those actions have moral value that are disagreeable in the doing, or does it mean something very different? 7. In your own school, under the conditions now obtaining there, which of the methods of moral training described in Chapters V to X would be likely to be most effective? 8. The statement is made in this chapter that "there is at bottom no form of moral discipline but self-discipline." What light does this statement throw upon the fact that so much of what parents and teachers do in the way of moral training seems to remain without permanent effect? 9. Examine the methods of moral training described in Chapters V to X, and show which of the principles enumer- ated in the present chapter is illustrated in each. Where two or more principles are illustrated, report to that effect CHAPTER XII AIMS OF MORAL INSTRUCTION 1. Consider the people with whom you are acquainted. How often have you found them doing wrong without any clear recognition on- their part that their conduct was wrong? As you look back upon your own life do you find that this has been true of yourself also? 2. Show in some detail the amount and variety of loss, pain and sorrow caused by thoughtlessness ; the value to a family or a community of a member who is habitually thoughtful of the comfort, feelings and interests of others. 3. Consider how many situations you have been in your- EXERCISES 415 self or have been asked to advise others about, where with your best efforts you were unable to decide what was right to do or what wrong. 4. Are these experiences peculiar to adults or do they hold for the lives of children and young people also? 5. What, according to your observation, has been the ef- fects of enlightenment in any of the above cases? 6. Show in some detail how to awaken interest, apprecia- tion and admiration in any one of the following fields : litera- ture, music, painting, the beautiful in nature, some department of science. Take some specific illustration in each instance, preferably a case where you have opened the eyes of a pupil to some part of the world to whose values he had hitherto been insensible. 7. Explain the fact that many a man will risk his life to save the life of a stranger but would not take any serious trouble or make any serious sacrifice to do him a great service short of that. 8. Is the analogy between teaching a boy to box and teach- ing him to control his temper a sound one ? Work out a brief plan of instruction for the latter. 9. Find your own illustrations of the effects of vivid reali- zation upon our interest in the condition or situation of other people, and of our own future. Discover as many facts of human nature and human conduct which this principle will explain as possible. Is it true that we care nothing whatever about situations which we can not imagine vividly? Give as exact a statement of the facts of the case as possible. 10. In your observation is it the more optimistic or the less optimistic that are most ready to contribute to the good of the persons about them and to serve the community as a whole? 11. In your observation is it the more cynical or is it those who take a more favorable view of human nature who are more likely to be just, trustworthy, kind and public-spirited? 12. Point out some of the sacrifices made by others from which we profit but which we habitually ignore. Include in the survey the sacrifices of past generations. 13. How did the idea come into existence that the good boy is a namby-pamby boy? Show that for the good boy, in the proper sense of the term good, the facts are the precise opposite. By what means can this idea be uprooted from the community ? 14. Discuss the effects upon children of the discovery of evil and suffering in the world, having in mind primarily chil- dren of the age of your pupils. Consider in some detail how the revelation of these things should be made to them. 416 EXERCISES 15. (a) Can I seriously injure myself without injuring others? (b) Can I seriously injure others without injuring myself, not only in character but in other respects also? Work out the answer by studying a number of concrete in- stances. CHAPTER XIII TRAINING IN MORAL THOUGHTFULNESS 1. When you were punished by your parents as a young child did you ever feel that the punishment was unjust? If so, under what conditions? Inquire among your friends to discover what were their experiences in this respect. The purpose of the question is to discover whether as a child you necessarily thought an action was wrong merely because you were forbidden by your parents to do it. 2. Consider how far in your own experience your teachers and parents were able to change your ideas in regard to right and wrong concerning matters about which you already felt strongly. How far have you as a teacher been able to pro- duce changes of conviction in your pupils under similar cir- cumstances ? 3. Can you recall instances where you have persuaded a person that some long-held and deep-rooted conviction of his was false, and then found an hour later that he had returned completely to his original view ? CHAPTER XIV MORAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH THE EXISTING CURRICULUM ' 1. In what ways can the study of geography be made to contribute to moral education ? 2. "To see a simple phenomenon in nature and report it fully and correctly is not an easy matter, but the habit of try- ing to do so teaches what truthfulness is and leaves the im- pression of truth upon the whole Hfe and character." If this assertion means that the pursuit of truth tends to make one desirous of telling the truth show the error. 3. What should be the influence of the scientific spirit upon our habits of judging our neighbor? Upon looking at the problems of life not merely from the narrow point of view of EXERCISES 417 immediate effects, but also from the point of view of their place in a larger whole with effects reaching out indefinitely in every direction. What other influences should the scien- tific spirit have upon our conduct and our outlook upon life? 4. What is likely to be the influence of the study of science upon our conception of and confidence in human progress? 5. Discuss on the basis of your own experience and ob- servation the extent to which the personages of history influ- ence the character of those who study and read about them. (Reference is here made to the great men and women with whom we become acquainted through works on history in the more exact sense of that term, and not through biographies. The latter form of acquaintanceship is of course far more intimate.) 6. Examine the history text-books with which you are familiar to see how far they are written from the point of view of cause and effect. 7. Work out a sketch of some period of history from the point of view of cause and effect. The period 1783-1789 in United States history will serve very well for this purpose. 8. As an introduction to an understanding of the organic nature of society show the extent to which one man in harm- ing himself harms others also. Take as an illustration drunk- enness, and show how many different parties may be injured by the habitual drunkenness of one. Under "parties" may be included not merely individuals but communities. 9. Illustrate in detail how history may be taught so as to develop the imagination. ("You shall make me feel what periods you have lived.") ^ 10. Show by illustration how history may be used to awaken in the young an appreciation of the value of the political institutions under which they live. 11. Do our present text-books do anything to train the spirit of fairness by their presentations of (a) the British side of the controversy which led to the American Revolution, (b) the southern side of the events which led to the Civil War? ^ 12. How use American history to develop a sense of the responsibility which the United States has to the future of the world? , 13. Work out concretely the effects upon character that may be expected to flow from the properly conducted teach- ing of a selected period of history. 14. How far would the application of the principles laid down In this chapter modify the subject-matter and methods of teaching In our history courses? 418 EXERCISES 15. What if anything can be done in the teaching of history to aid the movement for international good will and interna- tional peace? 16. Show that literature can perform the first three offices of history (as enumerated in the earlier portions of Chapter XIV) as well as history itself. 17. Give additional illustrations of the fact that literature can represent the fundamental realities of existence in certain respects more completely and accurately than history can. 18. Show how the pupils in the elementary school may be led to apply the incidents described in their reading to the events of their own lives, thereby making the material read appear more vivid and real. As an example take Arthur's saying his prayers in Tom Brown at Rugby. 19. What follows from the doctrine of this chapter as to the kind of material that should be chosen for reading in English work? What standards or tests should we apply in selecting such material? 20. Make a list of the novels with which you are acquainted that give a real insight into life, and state what characteristics of human nature and what principles of human existence each one of them presents to view. 21. Which of the first two named aims of civic instruc- tion is more likely to arouse the interest of the members of the class? Why? 22. Which is more likely to have an influence upon their conduct now and later in life, as citizens ? 23. Which should determine the choice of text-book? To which should be given the greater amount of time and atten- tion? 24. What institutions, political and social, are there in your community with which the members of a civics class ought to be made acquainted? 25. How can civics be used so to train the pupils that they will admire the right kind of political leaders ? 26. How can a course in civics develop in its members a love of their country and of their city? 27. What political virtues ought the teacher of a civics course to attempt to develop in his pupils, and to what po- litical duties ought he to open their eyes? Let the answer be specific and not general. 28. Are "civic virtues" different in kind from other virtues and thus in a class by themselves, or are the civic virtues merely special forms of the ordinary virtues of every-day life? EXERCISES 419 CHAPTER XV MORAL INSTRUCTION THROUGH BIOGRAPHY 1. What evidence can you offer of the Influence of biog- raphy upon character? As far as possible show how the in- fluence was exerted. 2. Can the reading of biography obtain its best results un- less it is guided by a teacher who knows how to direct the child what to look for? 3. Examine the following statement and discuss its Impli- cations. "Why should the teacher rely upon his own unaided example more than the preacher ? No teacher can feel that he embodies in himself, except in an imperfect way, the strong moral ideals that have made the history of good men worth reading. No matter what resources he may have in his own character, the teacher needs to employ moral forces that lie outside of himself, ideals toward which he struggles and to- ward which he inspires and leads others. The very fact that he appreciates and admires a man like Longfellow or Peter Cooper will stir the children with like feelings. In this sense it is a mistake to center all attention upon the conduct of the teacher — it is better for the pupil and teacher to enter into the companionship of common aims and ideals. For them to study together and admire the conduct of Roger Williams is to bring them into closer sympathy, and what do teachers need more than to get into personal sympathy with their chil- dren?" (Charles McMurry, Elements of General Method, page 33.) 4. What is likely to be the effect of biography upon con- ceit and self-satisfaction? 5. Is there any serious danger that In the study of biog- raphy the pupil of not more than average attainments will grow discouraged with himself and discontented with his lot? How meet a difficulty of that kind? 6. What concrete effects might reasonably be expected to follow a study of the life of (a) Franklin, (b) Lincoln? If familiar with their lives, answer in detail. 7. Will personahties that appeal primarily to boys appeal to girls also? What about the opposite case? Give your rea- sons for your answer. 8. What characters in American history appeal most to (a) boys, (b) girls? Answer for each of the different periods of school life. 9. What are the disadvantages of confining our biograph- 420 EXERCISES ical studies in the school to Americans? Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? 10. There are certain advantages in a course dealing with a large number of characters. Name them. Do they compen- sate for the disadvantages enumerated in the text and others that could be mentioned? 11. Show the value for intellectual training of the method of study by the formulation of a limited number of questions on the text, as recommended on page 244. 12. Does it appear from the list of questions on Franklin's life in London that the questions which the class ask ought in every case or even usually to have some direct bearing upon the man's moral life or upon some moral issue? What answer to this question follows from the statement of the immediate aims of this biographical study, page 248? 13. Discuss the advisabihty and the method of celebrating in the school the birthdays of a considerable number of great men and women. How far would it be desirable to include the special benefactors of children such as Hans Christian Andersen and Louisa M. Alcott? CHAPTERS XVI AND XVII THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE CONDUCT OF LIFE! ITS AIMS A PROGRAM FOR THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE CONDUCT OF LIFE 1. Mention other objections besides those in the text against the sufficiency of the incidental method of moral in- struction. 2. Would it be possible to teach geography or United States history satisfactorily by the incidental method? Give your reasons for your answer. 3. How far, in your opinion, does the average person realize the extent and gravity of the evil effects of his actions when he does wrong? 4. To test the completeness of your own awareness of the effects of your actions, write a list of the effects of a lie and compare it with the hints supplied in Chapter XVII, pages 302 to 305. To make the question concrete : Suppose a teacher in attempting to advance himself makes statements known by him to be false about the character or qualifications of another teacher. Enumerate not merely the effects of such lies (if suc- cessful) upon their victim and the educational interests of the community, but their effects upon the confidence which peoj^e EXERCISES 421 have in one another, upon the number of lies told in the com- munity, and similar effects. 5. To show once more the value of reflection upon moral problems, answer as fully as possible the question, What can I do for the improvement of the character of my pupils, and compare it with the answer you would have given before you began to reflect systematically upon this subject. 6. In Moral Instruction and Training in Schools, page xxv, Professor Sadler writes as follows : "There is in our country an ideal of practical morality which for practical purposes can be taken as the basis for school teaching by thinkers of almost all schools of thought. On this point all our witnesses with few exceptions agree. That such a basis exists is shown by the fact that the admirable definition of the aims and scope of moral instruction and training contained in the English code for public elementary day schools has been approved by all sections of public opinion." Professor Sadler is here re- ferring to England. Could the same statement be made about the United States ? In the syllabus for the elementary school, published in the Appendix of this book, and in the syllabus for the high school in Chapter XVII, there is assumed more or less implicitly a code of morals. Would this code be gen- erally accepted in the United States? 7. Illustrate the aims of the first of the three departments of moral instruction as enumerated on page 261, by an ex- amination of the syllabus for the high school in Chapter XVII or the syllabus for the elementary school in the Appendix. 8. Examine the ideal of the New York Ethical Culture School as stated in the following, and work out just what it would mean when applied to class instruction. Compare it with the programs offered in this book: *Tn order to avoid the indeterminateness that ordinarily attaches to the word character, a specifically American democratic ideal is set up as the goal to be reached ; an ideal related to the circum- stances, the needs and the higher aspirations of the American people; an ideal of men and women profoundly interested in human progress, able and anxious to contribute, each ac- cording to his gifts, to that progress, and conscious of being called to the task of reforming, according to his opportunities, the faulty (and in some ways unjust and unlovely) world in which they will play their parts." (Percival Chubb in Sadler, Moral Instruction and Training in Schools, Vol. II, p. 246.) 9. Illustrate what is meant by a theory of self-control by answering in detail the question : How should one go about the task of gaining control over a bad temper ? 422 EXERCISES 10. Discuss the influence upon conduct of proverbs, maxims, and "memory gems." Under what conditions, if any, will they affect conduct? Under what conditions will they not? For interesting data see Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 5, pages 30-35, and M. V. O'Shea, Social Development and Education, pp. 497-499. 11. Bring together the statements of this and the preceding chapters which justify the five assertions with regard to the methods recommended by this book, on page 277. 12. We see mainly what we look for and to look for a thing is mainly to ask questions concerning it. To be able to ask questions is already to know a good deal about a subject, as will be obvious from the case of diagnosing a disease. Con- sequently most persons, perhaps all, have to be trained to see. With these facts in mind show how moral instruction is likely to increase the influence of the character of the high-minded teacher ov6r the pupil. 13. In view of the contents of the present chapters and Chapters XII and XIII explain the supreme importance at- tached by Arnold to moral thoughtfulness, CHAPTER XVIII THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE CONDUCT OP LIFE : METHODS AND RESULTS 1. Summarize from Chapters II, III, IX, XI and XVIII what is said about the character of the teacher as a factor in moral education. 2. Are the qualifications in the way of insight, tempera- ment and character necessary for successfully conducting a course in moral instruction essentially different from those required for the work of moral training? 3. What are the reasons why, if you told a boy you were going to give him a course in moral instruction, he would be likely to "shy" at it? 4. How must the subject be handled so that the pupil will see from the first that you are not going to try to "work** him? The author believes that an examination of the pro- gram of Chapter XVII will supply one of several possible answers to this question. Is this problem the same for the elementary- as for the high-school pupil ? 5. In a course in moral instruction what methods can we employ to make our pupils really think, and think hard and continuously about the problems of life? EXERCISES 423 6. Discuss the relative value, in the elementary, and also in the high-school course, of illustrations drawn from books, as biography or literature, from the newspapers of the day, and from the observations of the pupil. 7. Is there any serious danger of over-stimulating the con- science in a course in moral instruction? If the affirmative answer seems to be required would you say that this danger threatened equally all members of the class? How deal with it? 8. How are we to meet the danger of creating sentimental- ity rather than right direction and vigor of will? 9. To what extent are children interested in the moral aspects of life? Illustrate. 10. Collect evidence from those who have tried it concern- ing the efficacy of systematic moral instruction. Study the results obtained in the light of as detailed a knowledge of their methods as is attainable. 11. Show at greater length than is attempted in the text the value of moral instruction (a) as an equipment for the study of literature (whether in the elementary or high school) ; and (b) for the general training of the mental powers. Consider the following objections that have been urged against moral instruction : 12. It involves an actual or implicit criticism of the child's parents. In so far as this objection involves a real difficulty, how deal with it? 13. The only way to learn about life is to live. 14. It makes life appear too serious to a child. Childhood ought to be as care free as possible. On this point consult Ruskin, A Crown of Wild Olives, Section 125. 15. The mere fact that the teacher suggests one line of conduct for the boy will make him want to do the opposite. 16. "It must be taught as one department of the school- day. Therefore the pupil will look upon morality as only one department among others." 17. Classes in moral instruction "would have to be put down on the time-table at a certain hour each week. But the moment when one human being can influence another comes rarely, like an inspiration, and is dependent on the mood of both teacher and taught alike. And how can this mood be counted on to occur mechanically at a given moment each week?" 18. "You might get splendid discourses and essays on the beauty of truth from the habitually untruthful, and the value of unselfishness from the most selfish. Knowing is not being able to do." 424 EXERCISES 19. There are few teachers specially trained for the work. We must wait till the normal schools and the universities have supplied adequately trained teachers. 20. "Nor indeed is performance likely to be improved by ethical enlightenment if, as I maintain, the whole business of self-criticism in the child is unwholesome. By a course of ethical training a young person will, in my view, much more probably become demoralized than invigorated. What we ought to desire, if we would have a boy grow morally sturdy, is that introspection should not set in early and that he should not become accustomed to watch his conduct. And the reason is obvious. Much as we incline to laud our prerogative of consciousness and to assert that it is precisely what distin- guishes us from our poor relations, the brutes, we still must acknowledge that consciousness has certain grave defects .when exalted into the position of a guide. Large tracts of life lie altogether beyond its control, and the conduct which can be affected by it is apt — especially in the initial stages — to be rendered vague, slow, vacillating and distorted. Only instinctive action is swift, sure and firm. For this reason, we distrust the man who calculates his goodness. We find him vulgar and repellent. We are far from sure that he will keep that goodness long." (George H. Palmer, The Teacher, p. 38.) Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER I The Place of Moral Education in the School BAGLEY, W. C.—Do the High Schools Need Reconstruction for Social Ends? Religious Education, vol. 8, pp. 176-183. BROCKMAN, F. S.=-'A Study of the Moral and Religious Life of Preparatory Students, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 9, pp. 255-273. See especially pp. 266-271, dealing with the principal temptations of a boy in the high-school period. BRUCE, H. A— The Boy Who Goes Wrong. Century, vol. 87, pp. 542-546. COMER, CORNELIA A. F.—A Letter to the Rising Genera- tion. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 107, pp. 145-154. DEWEY, JOHN— T/i^ Chaos in Moral Training. Popular Science Monthly, vol. 45, pp. 433-443. HARD, ANNA — The Younger Generation. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 107, pp. 538-547. JOHNSON, F. W.—The High-School Boy's Morals. School Review, vol. 20, pp. 81-89. JOHNSON, F. W., DAVIS, JESSE, BROWN, H. E.— Arti- cles entitled The Moral Situation in High Schools (Mr. Johnson's article repeats and supplements that in School Review referred to above). Religious Education, vol. 10, pp. 515-539. KING, H. C. — The Future of Moral and Religious Education. Religious Education, vol. 4, pp. 293-304. LINDSEY, BEN— Childhood and Morality. National Educa- tion Association, 1909, pp. 146-157. MILLER, W. T.—What Is Wrong with Our Boys? Atlantic Monthly, vol. 107, pp. 789-793. PORTER, D. R.— Moral Conditions in the High Schools. Religious Education, vol. 4, pp. 197-202. RIIS, JACOB^What Ails Our Boys? Craftsman, vol. 21, pp. 3-10. 427 428 BIBLIOGRAPHY SISSON, E. O. — The Educational Emergency. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 106, pp. 54-63. TYLER, J. M. — The Boy and the Girl in the High School. Education, vol. 26, pp. 462-469. WETZEL, W. A.— The Old and the New System of Educa- tion: A Contrast. Education, vol. ZZy pp. 503-512. ■• — What My Boy Knows. American Magazine, April 1913, pp. 42-46. COMPAYRg, GA^RTEL-History of Pedagogy. English translation, Boston (1904), D. C Heath & Co. Chapter viii, Fenelon. DE BAUSSET, L. B.—The Life of Fenelon. Translated from the French by William Mudford, London (1810). For the education of the Duke of Burgundy see especially vol. 1, ch. iv, and vol. 2, chs. vi-ix. FINDLAY, J. J. — Arnold of Rugby, Cambridge University Press (1897). Reprints those chapters of Stanley's Life which deal with Rugby, extracts from certain of Arnold's sermons at Rugby, and other writings showing Arnold's educational ideals. LAKE, W. C. — Stanley's Life of Dr. Arnold. Quarterly Review (1844), vol. 74, pp. 467-508. STANLEY, A. P. — Life and Correspondence of Thomas Ar- nold. London (1845), 2 vols. See especially chs. ii and iii. CHAPTERS n AND HI The Personality of the Teacher— The Teacher AS A Friend BUTLER, NATHANIEL— T/i^ Teacher as a Constructive Moral Force. Religious Education, vol. 4, pp. 550-560. JONES, H. B. — The Personal Influence of the Teacher. Education, vol. ZZ, pp. 499-502. MAXWELL, W. U.—The Personal Power of the Teacher. National Education Association, igo8, pp. 116-128. McANDREW, WILLIAM— 7/^^ Plague of Personality. School Review, vol. 22, pp. 315-325. Deals primarily with the relations between superintendent or principal and his teachers, but applies also to the relations between principal or teacher and pupils. SCUDDER, M. T.—A Study of High-School Pupils. School Review, vol. 7, pp. 197-214. A method by which the high- school principal and teachers may gain information about pupils when they come from the elementary schools. BIBLIOGRAPHY 429 YOUNG, MRS. ELLA FLAGG— Ethics in the School. Uni- versity of Chicago Contributions to Education, No. IV. HYDE, WM. DeWITT— T/j^ Teacher's Philosophy in and out of School. Riverside Educational Monograph. The second part, under the title The Personality of the Teacher, was first pubHshed in the Atlantic Monthly, vol. 99, pp. 433-442, and was reprinted in the author's The Col- lege Man and the College Woman, pp. 247-274. O'SHEA, M. V. — Concerning High-School Teachers. School Review, vol. 10, pp. 778-795. PALMER, G. H.—The Ideal Teacher. The Teacher, pp. 3-30. CHAPTER VI Pupil Government BREWER, J. M. — Plans for Student Cooperation in School Government. (May, 1909) Educational Review, vol. Z7, pp. 519-525. An outline description of forms of pupil government in a number of schools. BURKE, JESSE D. — Democracy in American School Govern- ment, in Sadler's Moral Instruction and Training in the Schools, vol. 2, ch. xvi. Describes a school republic mod- eled closely in form after the government of the United States. CLAPP, H. L. — Self -Government in Public Schools. (Feb., 1909) Education, vol. 29, pp. 335-344. A vigorous attack upon the Los Angeles experiment described by Miss Smith, referred to below. CORNMAN, O. P. — National Education Association, 1908, pp. 289-293. CRANE, W. I.— The Development of Moral Selfhood. School Review, vol. 9, pp. 362-364. This and the preceding attack the system. CRONSON, BERNARD— Pupil Self -Government. New York (1907) Macmillan Co. A very clear and compre- hensive account by one of the pioneers in the movement. FRENCH, C. W.— (1898-1905) School Review, vol. 6, p. 35; vol. 8, p. 201 ; vol. 13, p. 33. An excellent account of the system in the high school, its aims, methods and results, based upon personal experience in using it. GEORGE, W. R. — The Junior Republic. Ch. iii. GILL, W. L.—A New Citizenship. Philadelphia (1913). American Patriotic League. This is the most compre- hensive work on the subject. Its author is the founder of the School Republic movement in the United States. 430 BIBLIOGRAPHY GILL, W. L. — National Education Association, igo8, pp. 285** 289. NEUMANN, HENRY — National Education Association, 1913, pp. 41-45. An excellent defense. OUTLOOK— (Aug., 1905) vol. 80, pp. 946-948; (Dec, 1908) vol 90, pp. 939-948; (April, 1909) vol. 91, pp. 777-77^. Chiefly descriptive of the School City. RAY, JOHN T. — Democratic Government of Our Schools (1899). Reprinted in part in King's Social Aspects of Education, pp. 291-298. Perhaps the best argument in behalf of the system. SCHOOL REVIEW— Editorial, vol. 22, pp. 56-57. SMITH, BERTHA N.— (Nov., 1908) Atlantic Monthly, vol. 102, pp. 675-678. A very favorable report of pupil gov- ernment in the Los Angeles Polytechnic High School. WELLING, RICHARD— ^om^ Facts about Pupil Self-Gov- ernment. Reprinted in King, op. cit., pp. 298-303. In the Bibliography in King, op. cit, pp. 307-309, note the books on boys' clubs and on community organizations of young people. Address of the School City Committee, 2 Wall Street, New York, from whom some additional papers can be ob- tained on application. CHAPTER VII Mutual Aid in Class Work BAGLEY,^ W. C— School Discipline. New York (1915). Macmillan. Chs. vi and vii. CLARK, LOTTA— ^ Good Way to Teach History. School Review, vol. 17, pp. 255-266. DEWEY, JOHN— Mora/ Principles in Education. Boston (1909). Houghton Mifflin Co. Ch. iii. DEWEY, JOHN— r/i^ School and Society. Revised edition (1915). University of Chicago Press. MARK, H. T. — British Board of Education Special Reports, vol. 10, pp. 54-62. Report of a British Commissioner upon the University of Chicago Elementary School when con- ducted by Professor Dewey. SCOTT, COLIN A.— Social Education. Boston (1908). Ginn & Co. See in particular chs. v, vi, and vii. WILLIAMS, DORA— The Teaching of Physiology; John- ston, The Modern High School. Ch. ix. BIBLIOGRAPHY 431 CHAPTER VIII The Service of the School DEWEY, JOUN—Schools of To-morrow. New York (1915). Dutton. Ch. viii (The School as a Social Settlement). PARKER, FRANCIS W., SCHOOL— F^ar Books. Vols. 1-4 (1912-1915). RIORDAN, RAYMOND—School Activities for Moral De- velopment, Religious Education, vol. 6, pp. 511-519. CHAPTER IX Moral Training through the Extra-Curricular Activities of the School ATLANTIC MONTHLY— Vol 113, pp. 145-160. Three arti- cles on athletics in their relation to the training of char- acter. DAVIS, JESSE B.— Social Activities in the High School. (June, 1913) Religious Education, vol. 8, pp. 219-224. An account of the system in operation at the Central High School, Grand Rapids, Mich. One aspect of the system is referred to in Chapter IV. DAVIS, JESSE B. — The Administration of the Social Activi- ties of High-School Students. Johnston — The Modern High School, ch. xvi. The two articles are substantially identical, but the second is a little more complete. HANNA, J. C. — High-School Fraternities and the Social Life of the School; Johnston, op. cit., ch. xx. Bibliography. JOHNSON, F. W.—The Social Organisation of the High School. (Dec, 1909) School Review, vol. 17, pp. 665-680. Reprinted in King's Social Aspects of Education, pp. 274- 287. Some additional details will be found in an article by the same author in Religious Education, vol. 8, pp. 204-208. An article by Mr. Johnson in Religious Education, vol. 6, pp. 493-502 is practically identical with that in the School Review except that it is not quite so complete. KELLER, PAUL G. W. — Open School Organisations, School Review, vol. 13, pp. 10-14. NAISMITH, JAUES—High-School Athletics. Johnston, op. cit, ch. xvii. Bibliography. NASON, A. N.—The Cony High-School Assembly. School Review, vol. 14, pp. 505-511. Pupil management of the finances of high-school organizations. 432 BIBLIOGRAPHY OWEN, W. B. — The Problem of the High-School Fraternity. School Review, vol. 14, pp. 492-504. STOWE, A. M. — Student Debating Activities. Johnston, op. cit., ch. xviii. Bibliography. CHAPTER XIV The Teaching of History ALLEN, J. W. — The Place of History in Education, pp. 46-55, 132-135, 170-179. DEWEY, JOHN — Moral Principles in Education, pp. 38-40. GRIGGS, E. H. — Moral Education, ch, xx, HINSDALE, B. A. — How to Study and Teach History. Ch. i, The Educational Value of History; ch. ix, Cause and Ef- fect in History. McMURRY, CUKRUES— Elements of General Method (1903), pp. 27-50 (discussion of the study of literature as well as history). SCHAEFFER, N. C. — National Education Association, 1907, pp. 58-62, What the Schools Can Do to Aid the Peace Movement. The Place of the Conception of Progress in the Study AND Teaching of History BLAIR, F. G. — Fourth Year Book of the National Herbart Society, pp. 44-56, The Social Function of History. HARRISON, FREDERIC— T/i^ Meaning of History. Ch. i, The Use of History. ROBINSON, J. K.—The New History, ch. viii ; cf . ch. i. ROBINSON, J. U.— Fifth Year Book of the National Herbart Society, pp. 42-68 (a more complete presentation of the same subject). The Teaching of Literature BATES, ARLO — Talks on Teaching Literature. A remark- able series of lectures on the teaching of literature in general. CABOT, ELLA LYUAN— Children's Reading as a Help in Training Character, Religious Education, vol. 11, pp. 207- 220. CHUBB, PERCIVAL— T/i^ Teaching of English, chaps, xiii and XX. GRIGGS, E. H. — Moral Education, ch. xxii. HUDSON, W. H. — Introduction to the Study of Literature-^ On literature as an imitative art. BIBLIOGRAPHY 433 CHAPTERS XVI TO XVIII Systematic Moral Instruction principles ABLER, FELIX— The Moral Instruction of Children. New York (1892). D. Appleton & Co. Contains also material for use in class, especially for elementary-school pupils. This is the great pioneer book on the subject. BRYANT, SOPHIE— The Teaching of Morality in the Family and in the School. New York (1897). Macmillan Co. Based on long experience in an English school for girls. DAVIS, JESSE — Vocational and Moral Guidance. Boston (1914). Ginn & Co. Describes a method of instruction primarily in vocational and civic morality, which is inti- mately related with the system of vocational guidance in operation in the Central High School of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Bibliographies. FOERSTER, F. W.—Jugendlehre. Third Edition. Berlin (1909). Reimer. For combined comprehensiveness and quality of treatment, perhaps the best book ever written on the subject. GOULD, F. J. — Moral Instruction, Its Theory and Practice. New York (1913). Longmans, Green & Co. Deals pri- marily with the work of the grades, though it states many important principles of universal applicability; contains stenographic reports of ten lessons. Indispensable for those using the story method; very valuable for all others. JACKSON, E. P.— Character Building. Boston (1891). Houghton Mifflin Co. Apart from a serious mistake in ch. iv, a useful and always an interesting book. ANDREWS, FANNIE FERN— The Peace Movement and the Public Schools. National Education Association, 1911, pp. 247-251. CABOT, ELLA L. — Moral Training in the Schools. Proceed- ings of the National Education Association for 1909, pp. 239-245. An Experiment in the Teaching of Ethics. Edu- 434 BIBLIOGRAPHY catlonal Review, vol. 34, pp. 433-447. Two Experiments in Social Training. Religious Education, vol. 8, pp. 191-200. COE, G. A. — Virtue and the Virtues. National Education As- sociation, igil, pp. 419-425. Reprinted in Religious Edu- cation, vol. 6, pp. 485-492. DAVIS, 'i^SS'E—Western Journal of Education, Nov., 1911, pp. 413-416; English Journal, Oct., 1912, pp. 457-465; Re- ligious Education, vol. 7, pp. 110-118 and 645-653 (these two should be read together). Articles describing the method of moral instruction employed in the Central High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan. DEWEY, ]OYm— Teaching Ethics in the High School. Edu- cational Review, vol. 6, pp. 313-321. FAUNCE, W. H. v.— -Moral Education in the Public Schools. Educational Review, vol. 25, pp. 325-340. GOULD, F. J. — An Ethical Teacher's American Tour. Inter- national Journal of Ethics, vol. 24, pp. 334-341. MACKENZIE, J. S.—The Problem of Moral Instruction. In- ternational Journal of Ethics, vol. 18, pp. 273-291. Moral Education: The Task of the Teacher. International Journal of Ethics, vol. 19, pp. 399-418. MEIKLEJOHN, ALEXANDER— Co//^^^ Education and the Moral Ideal. Education, vol. 28, pp. 553-567. Applies equally to the schools. NEUMANN, HENRY— S'om^ Misconceptions of Moral Edu- cation, International Journal of Ethics, vol. 22, pp. 335- 347. OLIPHANT, JAMES — Moral Instruction. International Journal of Ethics, vol. 16, pp. 401-418. PERRY, R. B.—The Teaching of Ideals. School Review, vol. 22, pp. 334-338. RUGH, C. E. — The Moral Instruction of th^ Child. National Education Association, iQii, pp. 497-503. TUFTS, J. H. — Is There a Place for Moral Instruction? School Review, vol. 16, pp. 475-477. Two Standpoi?its for Moral Instruction. School Review, vol. 16, pp. 551-553. The Teaching of Ideals. School Review, vol. 22, pp. 326- 2)ZZ. How Far Is Formal Systematic Instruction De- sirable in Moral Training in the Schools? Religious Edu-^ cation, vol. 3, pp. 121-125. The School and Modern Life. Religious Education, vol. 4, pp. 343-348. The Study of Public Morality in High Schools, Religious Education, vol. 7, pp. 631-636. BIBLIOGRAPHY 435 TexT'Books and Syllabi for the Elementary School ADLER, FELIX— The Moral Instruction of Children. D. Ap- pleton & Co. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION, Publications, Substation 84, New York City. AMERICAN ETHICAL UNION (1415 Locust St., Phila- delphia) — A Syllabus of Lessons in Moral Instruction for Elementary and Secondary Schools. The Course of Study in Use in the Ethical Culture School, New York City. AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION, Publications, 287 State St., Albany, N. Y. BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY, Pittsburgh, for stories and biographies. BRYANT, SARA C.—How to Tell Stories to Children. Houghton Mifflin Co. CABOT, ELLA laYULKH— Ethics for Children. Houghton Mifflin Co. CABOT, ELLA LYMAN, ANDREWS, FANNIE FERN AND OTHERS — A Course in Citizenship. Houghton Mifflin Co. CHESTERTON, ALICE M.—The Garden of Childhood. Nelson, Paternoster Row, London. The Pansy Patch. Nelson. The Magic Garden. Nelson. DEWEY, JULIA M. — Lessons on Manners. Hinds, Noble & Eldredge. DOLE, C. F.—The Young Citizen. D. C. Heath & Co. DUNN, ARTHUR W.—The Community and the Citizen. D. C. Heath & Co. FOERSTER, F. W.—The Art of Living. English Transla- tion, Dutton. This is a translation of a part of Jugend- lehre, referred to above. Unfortunately what seem to be the most important portions of the book do not, for the most part, appear in the translation. GOULD, F. J.— The Children's Book of Moral Lessons. Four series. American Ethical Union, 1415 Locust St., Phila- delphia. Stories for Moral Instruction (supplementary'' to the above series). American Ethical Union. Life and Manners. Macmillan Co. Conduct Stories. Macmillan Co. Stories for Young Hearts and Minds. Macmillan Co. 436 BIBLIOGRAPHY Youth*s Noble Path. A volume of moral instruction, mainly based on Eastern tradition, poetry, and history. Longmans, Green & Co. Victors of Peace. Harper & Bros. Heroes of Peace. Harper & Bros. Moral Instruction, Its Theory and Practice. Longmans, Green & Co. The Children's Plutarch — Preface by W. D. Howells. Harper & Bros. GULICK, LUTHER — Hygiene Series. Five volumes, Ginn & Co. McMURRY, CBAICLES—Special Methods in Primary Read- ing and Oral Work with Stories. Macmillan Co. PEACE SOCIETY'S PAMPHLETS, 31 Beacon St., Boston. SALISBURY AND BECKWITH— /wrf^^r to Short Stories. Chicago (1907). Row, Peterson & Co. SNEATH AND HODGES— Mora/ Training in the School and Home. Macmillan Co. THE GOLDEN RULE SERIES— GoW^w Ladder, for Grade III; Golden Path, IV; Golden Door, V; Golden Key, VI; Golden Word, VII; Golden Deed, VIII. Macmillan Co. TAYLOR, C. K. — Character Development, Philadelphia. John C. Winston Co. WHITE, JAMES T^.'R'RY— Character Lessons in American Biography. Character Development League, 70 Fifth Ave., New York City. Text-books and Syllabi for the High School ADLER, FELIX — The Moral Instruction of Children. New York (1892). D. Appleton & Co. (See above.) AMERICAN ETHICAL UNION— ^ Syllabus of Lessons in Moral Instruction for Elementary and Secondary Schools. CABOT, ELLA LYMAlSi— Everyday Ethics. New York (1906). Henry Holt & Co. DAVIS, JESSE — (as above, especially Western Journal of Education) . EVERETT, C. C— Ethics for Young People. Boston (1892). Ginn & Co. HYDE, W. DeWITT— Practical Ethics. New York (1892). Henry Holt & Co. JENKS, J. W. — Life Questions of High School Boys. New York Y. M. C. A. Press (1908). JOHNSON, F. W.— Problems of Boyhood. University of Chicago Press (1914). BIBLIOGRAPHY 437 Sex Instruction ' BALLIET, THOMAS lH.—Sex Morality and Sex^ Hygiene as the Aim of Sex Education. National Education Associa- tion, J915, pp. 148-153. Contains some practical sugges- tions for the schools. BIGELOW, MAURICE A.—Sex Education. New York (1916). Macmillan Co. The most complete and authori- tative work on the subject. Indispensable for those really interested in these problems. Contains bibliography. BIGELOW, MAURICE A.— Sex Instruction as a Phase of Social Education. Religious Education, vol. 8, pp. 11-22. FOERSTER, F. W.— Marriage and the Sex Problem. New York (1912). F. A. Stokes Co. By the author of Jugendlehre. FOSTER, WILLIAM T. (editor)— TA^ Social Emergency. Boston (1914).' Houghton Mifflin Co. A series of es- says by different authors, about half of which deal more or less directly with sex instruction in the schools. Ch. xii, by the editor, also to be found, verbatim, in School Review, vol. 22, pp. 256-261, contains a number of valuable practical suggestions. HENRY, ALICE— The Special Moral Training of Girls. In- ternational Journal of Ethics, vol. 14, p. 1. A plea for sex instruction for girls. MORROW, PRINCE A.— Prophylaxis of Social Diseases. American Journal of Sociology, vol. 13, pp. 20-30, PARKINSON, W. D. — Sex and Education. Educational Re- view, vol. 41, pp. 42-59. The aims, spirit, and ideals of sex instruction. PUTNAM, HELEN C— Education for Parenthood. Re- ligious Education, vol. 6, pp. 159-166. SEDGWICK, H. D. — A Gap in Education. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 87, pp. 68-72. Effective plea for sex instruction, espe- cially in the home. TAYLOR, C. K.— Moral Training of Private School Boys. Education, vol. 31, pp. 541-547. A study of the situation in a number of private schools for boys. WILE, IRA S.—Sex Education. New York (1912). Duffield. An excellent manual for the use of teachers. WILLSON, ROBERT ^.—The Social Evil in University Life. Philadelphia (1905). The Vir Publishing Co. Facts and suggestions for the teacher. 438 BIBLIOGRAPHY Essays, Chiefly Contemporary, on the Nature of Success in Life (The following list is intended to suggest material for the work outlined in section 8 of the high-school program. If I have not included in it the names of the great classical essay* ists on life, it is because I assume them to be known to the reader^ not because I suppose them unsuited to our pupils.) ELIOT, CHARLES W.—The Durable Satisfactions of Life. New York (1910). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. The Happy Life. New York (1896). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Great Riches. New York (1906). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. FIELD, W. T.—What Is Successf Boston (1910). Pilgrim Press. HAMERTON, PHILIP GILBERT— Hmwow Intercourse. Boston (1885). Roberts Bros. The Intellectual Life. Boston (1873). Little, Brown & Co. The Quest of Hap- piness. Boston (1897). Little, Brown & Co. HELPS, SIR ARTHUR— Ej^yay^ Written in the Intervals of Business. London (1889). Macmillan Co. HILTYy KARL-— Happiness. Translated from the German by F. G. Peabody. New York (1903). Macmillan Co. HYDE, WILLIAM DeWITT— The Cardinal Virtues. Nev: York (1902). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. The College Man and the College Woman. Boston (1906). Houghton Mifflin Co. The Quest of the Best. New York (1913). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. JAMES, WILLIAM— Habit. New York (1914). Henry Holt & Co. Reprinted from the Principles^ of Psychology. On Some of Life's Ideals. New York (1912). Henry Hol^ & Co. KING, H. C. — How to Make a Rational Fight for Character, in Personal and Ideal Elements in Education. New York (1904). Macmillan Co. LECKY, W. E. H.—The Map of Life. New York (1899). Longmans, Green & Co. MacCUNN, JOHN— The Making of Character. New York (1913). Macmillan Co. PAYOT, JULES— The Education of the Will. Translated from the thirtieth French edition by S. E. Jelliffe. New York (1909). Funk & Wagnalls Co. The majority of readers will find it profitable to omit Books I and 11. BIBLIOGRAPHY 439 ROOSEVELT, THEODORE^-T/i^ Strenuous Life. N^w York (1901). Century Co. STEVENSON, ROBERT LOVlS—Virginibus Puertsque. The Lantern Bearers. Lay Morals. WAGNER, CHARLES— Fow^/j. Translated from the French by E. Redwood, New York (1893). Dodd, Mead & Co. MORAL EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL WoRjcs AND Articles Dealing with More Than One Phase OF THE Subject COE, G. A. — Education in Religion and Morals. New York (1904). Revell&Co. DEWEY, JOHN — Moral Principles in Education, Boston (1909). Houghton Mifflin Co. GRIGGS, E. H. — Moral Education. Sixth Edition. New York (1913). Huebsch. HOLMES, ARTHUR— The Principles of Character Making. Philadelphia (1913). J. B. Lippincott Co. MacCUNN, JOUN— The Making of Character. New York (1913). Macmillan Co. MARK, H. J. — Moral Education in the American Schools. Board of Education (Great Britain) Special Reports, vol. X, pp. 17-254. London (1902). An extremely valuable description and appreciation by an Englishman of the work in moral education in American schools at the end of the last century. O'SHEA, M. V. — Social Development and Education. Part IL Boston (1909). Houghton Mifflin Co. Papers on Moral Education Communicated to the First Moral Education Congress (1908). London, David Nutt. Memoires sur I'education morale presentes au deuxieme con-- gres international d'education morale (1912). The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff. Papers Contributed by American Writers to the Second Inter- national Moral Education Congress. American Ethical Union, 1415 Locust St., Philadelphia. REEDER, R. R. — How Two Hundred Children Live and Learn. New York (1910). Charities Publication Com- mittee. RUGH, C. E., and others — Moral Training in the Public Schools. The California Prize Essays. Boston (1907). Ginn & Co. 440 BIBLIOGRAPHY SADLER, M. E. (editor) — Moral Instruction and Training in Schools. Two volumes. New York (1908). Longmans, Green & Co. Report of an International Inquiry, by a committee, into the actual situation, with discussion. Vol. I, the United Kingdom; Vol. II, Foreign and Colonial. Almost indispensable, SPILLER, GUSTAV — Moral Education in Eighteen Coun- tries. London (1909). Watts. ADLER, FELIX— TA^ Distinctive Aims of the Ethical Cul- ture School. Four addresses delivered before the teach- ers of these schools. To be obtained by application to the New York School, 2 West Sixty-fourth St. BARNES, C. W. — Moral Training through the Agency of the Public Schools. National Education Association, 1907, pp. 372>-2>7S ; ibid., 1909, pp. 129-140. COE, G. A. — Moral and Religious Education from the Psy- chological Point of View. Religious Education, vol. 3, pp. 165-179. Moral Education in the Sunday School (ap- plies also to the day school). Religious Education, vol. 8, pp. 313-319. HALL, G. STANLEY— Youth. New York (1906). D. Ap- pleton & Co. Ch. xii. Moral and Religious Training. HALLECK, R. F.—What Kind of Education Is Best Suited to Boys? School Review, vol. 14, pp. 512-521. McKENNY, CHARLES— 7A^ Elementary School and Edu- cation for Social Duty. Religious Education, vol. 4, pp. 353-357. PARKER, FRANCIS W.— Talks on Pedagogics. New York (1894). E. L. Kellogg & Co. Ch. xiv. REEDER, R. R. — Moral Training an Essential Factor in Ele- mentary School Work. National Education Association, 1908, pp. 562-567. Religious Education— Vols. l-U (A-pn\,1906rFeh., 1917). The files of this journal contain the most complete collection of articles dealing with the history of moral education in the United States in this century that is anywhere to be found. SADLER, MICHAEL — The International Congress of Moral Education. International Journal of Ethics, vol. 19, pp. 158-172. SEARCH, P. W. — The Ethics of the Public Schools. Educa- tional Review, vol. 11, pp. 134-145. SISSON, E. O. — The High School Cure of Souls. Educa- tional Review, vol. 35, p. 359. BIBLIOGRAPHY 441 STREET, J. R. — A Study in Moral Education. Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 5, pp. 5-40. SWIFT, E. J.— Youth and the Race. New York (1912). Charles Scribner's Sons. Ch. vi, Fallacies in Moral Training. TAYLOR, C. K. — Moral Education, the History of an Ex- periment. Education, vol. 35, pp. 220-230. An account of the work now being conducted in the Philadelphia elemen- tary schools. Bibliographies of Moral Education COPE, H. F.— Religious Education, vol. 5, pp. 718-732 (Feb., 1911). GRIGGS, E. U.— Moral Education. New York. Huebsch. Sixth Edition, 1913. In all editions the bibliography ex- tends only through 1903 ; about 400 titles ; annotated. Proceedings of National Education Association — Index to vols. 1857-1906; in volume for 1906, pp. 715-716. SADLER, MICHAEL — Moral Instruction and Training in Schools. Two volumes. New York (1908). Longmans, Green & Co. Brief lists at the end of each volume; oc- casional annotations. SPILLER, GUSTAV — Moral Education in Eighteen Coun- tries. London (1909). Watts. About 750 titles; anno- tated. CHAPTER XIX Moral Education in the Home ABBOTT, ERNEST H.— On the Training of Parents. Bos- ton (1908). Houghton Mifflin Co. Reprinted from the Outlook, vols. 87 and 88. ADLER, FELIX — The Punishment of Children. Ethical Ad- dresses, vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 65-100 (American Ethical Union, 1415 Locust St., Philadelphia.) ANONYMOUS— T/i^ Autobiography of a Child with Two Parents. Everybody's Magazine, vol. 16, pp. 116-120. BRUCE, H. ADDINGTON— r/i^ Home Training of Chil- dren. Outlook, vol. 103, pp. 724-729. CABOT, ELLA LYMAN— T/^^ Conquest of Children's Fciults. Religious Education, vol. 10, pp. 239-252. 442 BIBLIOGRAPHY FISHER, DOROTHY C ANFIELD— Mothers and Children. New York (1914). Henry Holt & Co. FISHER, DOROTHY CANFIELD— ^'W/.i^^/ianc^. Indian- apolis (1916). Bobbs-Merrill Co. FORBVSB.,W.B.— The Boy Problem. Boston (1907). Pil- grim Press. FORBUSH, W. B.—The Government of Young Children. American Institute of Child Life. HALL, G. STANLEY— Fow^/j. New York (1906). D. Apple- ton & Co. LEUPP, FRANCIS E.—The Crooked Stick. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 108, pp. 126-134. LEUPP, FRANCIS E. — Abusing the Instrument. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 112, pp. 227-229. McCRACKEN, ELIZABETH— ^w^nVow Children. Outlook, vol. 100, pp. 025-936. PAULSEN, FRIEDRICH— OM and New Notions about Education. Educational Review, vol. 35, p. 476. PEABODY, ENDICOTT— Tt-amm^r and Responsibility of Parents. School Review, vol. 16, pp. 281-295. ROGERS, ANNA A.— Why American Mothers Fail. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 101, pp. 289-297. Index INDEX Admiration: as a moral force, 9 ff., 179 ff. ; does not neces- sarily produce principles, 17; admiration for others in- creases spirit of service, 172; application to history teaching, 202 ff. Advice : its value and the conditions of its effectiveness, 24 ; limitations upon effectiveness, 29. Adviser system, 27. Allies of character, strengthening by moral training, 144. Altruism, see Service. Andrews, Fannie Fern, 283. Apperception, use of the principle in moral instruction, 189, 190, 195, 266. Aristotle, 342. Arnold, Thomas, 7, ZZ, 56, 109, 151, 198. Assembly: at the Parker School, 102; at the University of Chicago High School, 116, 120. Athletic director, influence of, 22, 110. See also Teacher. Athletics: high-school, 110; at the University of Chicago High School, 113 ff.; interscholastic, 114, 116; distribu- tion of emblems to athletes, 116; tone raised by moral instruction, 338. Authority: in morals, its limits, 194; inadmissible in moral instruction, 268. Baldwin, W. H., Jr., 174, 204. Barnes, C. W., 339. Bigelow, M. A., 285, 299. Biography : value of, 173, 202 ff., 238 ; use in science teaching, 201 ; specific aims of a course in, 239 ff., 248 ; how to introduce it to the class, 242 ; methods, 243 ff. ; place in the curriculum, 248 f . ; program of a course in, 249 ff.; course in social progress, 252 f . ; limitations, 257 f . Blame, see Praise. Botany, mutual aid in study of, 76-78. Bradford, Gamaliel, Jr., 248. Burns, C. D., 208 n. Cabot, Ella Lyman, 283. Carlyle, 51, 336. 445 446 INDEX Character of historical leaders as a force in moral education : 202 ff. ; in biography, 238 ff.. 251 ff. Character of teacher as a force in moral education, 9 ff., 17, 31, 71, 109, 123, 146 ff. ; limitations of influence, 12-17, 33. Character: perfection or excellence of, as one aspect of mor- ality, 166; relation to service, 167; means of awakening desire for, 179. Charitable work, 124-126, 135. Charity Organization Society, cooperation of pupils with, 124, 135. Chicago, High School of University of, 2>7, 111 ff. Church as a place for moral education : 2 ff. ; limitations, 4. Civic activities: 126; at Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 127 ff. ; value relative to other forms of moral training, 149. Civic Club of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 129, 135. Civics : ^ principal aims, 230 ; methods, 79, 232 ; results, 233 ; bibliography, 234; limitations, 257; a course for the eighth grade, 393 ff. Classes, importance of small, 21, 27. Class work, see Mutual Aid. Club house: built by school children, 90; at University of Chicago High School, 111 n. Clubs: school, at the University of Chicago High School, 112 ff. ; Leadership Clubs, 35. Collier, Robert, 160. Community Night, 133. Conduct of life, study of, see Moral Instruction (Systematic). Conformity in outer conduct: distinguished from moral loy- alty, 40 ff. ; produced by external discipline, 42, 139 ; its insufficiency, 45 ff. Cooperative study: 75-88; in civics, 232. Council, school, 34, 65, 118. Cruelty, protection of fellow pupils against, 94. Culture epoch hypothesis, 179. Debating contests, 117. Dewey, 345. Differences underlying apparent identities, discovery of, I88. Discipline : can not directly create character, 42, 45-48 ; how it does operate to strengthen character, 48-55 ; its place among the agencies for moral training, 148; in the home, 351 ff. Domestic science at the Parker School, 95. For other head- ings, see Manual Training. Dramatic work : training in service through, 93 ; at the Parker School, 99; at the University of Chicago High School, 117. INDEX 447 Drudgery, 50, 53. Dunn, A. W., 230, 234. Duties:- conflict of, should not be emphasized, 264, 270, 273; classification of, 279 ff. ; classification used for elemen- tary school program, 281 f. ; for high-school program, 288. Ecce Homo quoted, 47. Effects of conduct: training to discover, 168; through history, 206, 217, 237; through systematic moral instruction, 262 ff. ; problem of effects enters all departments of moral instruction, 273; effects upon pupils of moral instruc- tion, 335. Egoism : as a legitimate element In life, 182 ff. ; possibility of a conflict with altruism, 184, 208. See "Moral Imbecile." EHot, George, 51, 225, 229, 329. Emerson, 204, 217, 219, 294, 2>Z6. Enemies of character destroyed by moral training, 144. English, cooperative study of, 78, 93. English literature, see Literature, English public school : methods of moral training in, 7, 56, 110, 114; results obtained, 151-153; moral instruction in, 153. Ethical Culture School of New York, 283. Ethics, not identical with moral instruction, 275. Evil, advisability of portraying, 181. Example in the home, 343 ff. Exhortation : its influence on formation of character, 24, 25, 29, 336; not part of moral instruction, 192. Experience, moral value of, 49, 107, 170. Extra-curricular activities : their organization as a means of moral training, 27, 108-123; value in comparison with other forms of moral training, 149. Faults of good men, how to deal with, 241. Fenelon, 8. Fichte, ZZ6. Franklin's Autobiography, 242, 245, 247, 249. Fraternity problem in the high school, 122. French system of moral instruction : contrasted with that of the author, 276; workings of legal compulsion in, 332. Friendship between pupil and teacher, conditions of, 25-28. Gang: 107; replaced with high-school club, 109. Generalization : power of, developed through history, 207- 209; through Hterature, 222-224; in biography, 240; not for elementary school, 273. 448 INDEX Gould, F. J., 281, 320, 324 n. Grand Rapids (Michigan) Central High School, 35, 123. Gratitude, awakening to the claims of, 175, 213-215, 233, 237, 255. Growth of children's ideals ; 190 ; consequences for moral in- struction, 191. Habits of outer conformity insufficient, 45 ff . ; what habits moral education seeks to produce, 47. Hamilton, W. J., 127. Hand work, see Manual Training. History : changes in teaching necessary, 55 ; cooperative study of, 78 ; moral instruction through, 202 ff. ; compared with literature, 222 ff., 236 ff. ; good teaching of, 216; selection of subject-matter, 217; place in a system of moral instruction, 228 ff. ; limitations, 257. Home : as a place for moral education, 3 ; limitations, 4 ; moral training in old-fashioned, 174 ; in the present-day, 106, 357. Home life, necessity of knowing, 28. Honesty in school life, 338. Honor societies. University of Chicago High School, 119. Honor system, 67 ff. Hopefulness : importance of, 171 ; developing it through his- tory, 215. Httmboldt, 3, ^- Idelltitils^^ twining to discover, 186, 267, 268, 270. Imaginatii6h : value of, 169 ; how to develop, 170, 197 ; through history, 212, 217 ; through literature, 226. Imitation, 10, 205. Incidental method of moral instruction, its insufficiency, 258 ff. Indianapolis, 91. Instruction as the imparting of information, criticized, 193, 194. Interest : in school work, 53 ; developed through activities un- dertaken from other motives, 64, 88, 104, 126, 141 ; ap- plication to teachers of moral instruction, 331 ; interest and thoughtfulness, 143; pupils' interest in moral in- struction, 333, James, 1, 53. Jenks, 35. Johnson, 111, 337, INDEX 449 Language teaching, 55, Leadership Clubs, 35, 123, Leadership, training for, 34, 64, 118. Legal requirement of moral instruction, 328-332. Lincoln, 240, 246, 249. Literature : how to develop appreciation of, 162 ; as a means of moral instruction, 219-230; as representing the real world, 219 ff. ; compared with history as a means of moral instruction, 222 ff., 236 fif. ; qualifications for teaching, 227; place in moral instruction, 228; limita- tions of, 257 f. ; moral instruction trains in the appre- ciation of, 328. Locke, 47. Loyalty, moral, distinguished from outer conformity, 40-42, 139. Loyalty to leaders, 64. Mann, Horace, 2. Manual training: opportunity for personal contact with teacher, 27; for mutual aid, 16', for service of school, 89 ff., 104; at the Parker School, 96; some effects upon character, 142-145. Mathematics, 55, 201. McCormack, T. J., 259. McDougall, 10 n. Meredith, 223. Missouri, University of. Elementary School, 92. Moral education in the home, principles same as in school, 342. Moral education in school : importance, 1 ; place in the school, 2; source of class-room efficiency, 6; success of, 7; will raise status of teacher, 22; most needed for the good, 30; seeks to develop ideals and the habit of obeying them, 47 ; fundamental aims, 156, 261 ; chief agencies of, see Preface. Moral illiteracy, 159. "Moral imbecile," 177. Moral instruction in the home, 355. Moral instruction in the school: supplies channels for per- sonal influence, 17; necessity of, 151 If., 157-164; atti- tude of English public-school teachers, 153; defined, 155 ; relation to moral training, 155 ; aims, 156-164, 261 ; these can not be kept separate, 273; which is the most important, 164, 274; how to develop spirit of service, 168-176; the desire for perfection of character, 179 ff. ; methods, 189, 192, 197; scope. 200; starts from pupils' desires, see Apperception. 450 INDEX Moral instruction (systematic): necessity of, 257 f. ; objec- tions to, 260, 423 ; fundamental aims, 261 ; the knowl- edge of what is right, 261-271, 272; desire to do right, 162-163, 168-176, 179-181 ; the will to do right, 163, 271 ; not identical with ethics, 275 ; content, 279 ; program for elementary school, 281 ff., 361 ff. ; principles on which based, 281 ff. ; program for high school, 288 ff. ; meth- ods in high school, 318 f . ; in elementary school, 319 ff . ; place in the curriculum, 324, 326 f . ; elective or required, 326; as an interpreter of literature, 328; legal require- ment, 328-332; qualifications of teacher, 329; pupils' in- terest in, 333 ff. ; effects, 335 ff. ; supplemented with training, 340. Moral nature of the child, 177-179, 180 f., 189, 190 f. Moral thoughtfulness : training in as the function of moral instruction, 197; defined, 198 ff. Moral training in the home, 343-355. Moral training in the school: supplies channels of influence, 17; defined, 40; forms, 48, 56, 75; methods, 141-146; importance of distinguishing between them, 146; many effects attributed to, due to contagion of character, 146; relative effectiveness of the different methods, 148; in- sufficiency of, 151 ff. ; relation to moral instruction, 155, 340; fundamental aims, 156. Moral welfare, care for fellow pupils', 94. Morality: defined, 41, 165 ff., 266; not alien from human na- ture, 188 ; involves strength, 180, 240. See Right. Moralizing, 209. Morning exercises, see Assembly. Mueller, Johannes, 51. Municipal workers, pupils as, 126. Museum, school, 97. Music, 90-101. Mutual aid in class work : the underlying principle, 75 ; under direction, 76-84; unsupervised, 84-87; the fundamental limitation of the entire method, 87; value relative to other forms of moral training, 149. Neumann, H., 296 n. Obedience : in the home, 351 ; reasoned, 352 f . Objections to systematic moral instruction, 260. Opportunity for service, moral training through providing, 141. Organic nature of society, 208, 233, 254, 291. INDEX 451 Parental treatment of children: justice in punishment, 345; in appreciation, 346; companionship, 347-349; effects of companionship, 349-351; discipHne, 351 ff.; punishment, 353 ff. Parker School : moral training at, 95-105 : Christmas gifts at, 125. Parties at the University of Chicago High School, 121. Patriotism : national, 213 ; racial, 214 ; through civics, 233 f. Penn, William, High School (Philadelphia), 125. Pericles, 234 n* Personality: necessity for well-rounded, 10; example of its influence, 68. See Character. Physical education, reasons for in the schools, 2, 6. Plutarch, 9, 241. Policemen, high-school boys as, 126. Porter, D. R., 334. Potentialities latent in human nature, l74, 225. Praise, limitations of its influence, 25, 29, 31. Principles (moral), not necessarily produced by admira- tion, 17. Principles (educational), relation to practise, 342. Printing work at the Parker School, 96. Progress (social) : belief in, 215, 255; ignored by literature, 237; a feature of biography, 238; a course in contem- porary progress, 251 ff. ; results, 254 ff. Publications : of the Parker School, 97, 99 ; of the University of Chicago High School, 118. Punishment : effects upon character, 48 ff. ; under self-govern- ment, 72; in the home, 345, 353 ff. Pupil government : 56-65 ; relation to self-government, 65, 73 ; its value relative to other forms of moral training, 148. See Council. Pupil teacher, 77, 80, 81* Reading, moral training through, 92. Realization, power of, see Imagination. Required study, moral instruction as, 325 f. Revenge, belief in, 191, 194, 297 n. Right conduct: factors of, 156; motives of, 165-168. See Morality. Right: knowledge of what is right, a fundamental aim of moral instruction, 157 ff., 274; how to obtain it, 195; analysis of the situation, 261 ff.; determination of the standard, 265 ff. (cf. 186-188) ; summary pf what it in- volves, 270, 452 INDEX Right: love of (desire to do), how to strengthen through moral instruction, 162, 168-186; the most important end of moral education, 164, 274. See Character and Moral Training. Right: the will to do, not entirely identical with desire, 157; how to strengthen through moral instruction, li63, 271. See Character and Moral Training. Rivalry, 409. Ross, 170. Rules (general), breaking, see Duties, Conflict of. Ruskin, 51. School: as an instrument of moral education, 2, 6; advan- tages over home and church, 3 ff., 74 ; tone of, how im- proved through influence of teacher, 33 ff. ; through de- priving bad of prestige, 36 ff. ; through elimination of the bad, 38; school discipline can not directly create character, 42 ; school virtues are insufficient as an equip- ment for life, 43; drudgery and enthusiasm in school work, 50 ff. ; hard work in school, 54 ; pupil govern- ment in, 56 ff. ; self-government in, 65 ff. ; mutual aid in school work, 74 ff. ; service of school, 89 ff. ; value of these methods relative to other forms of moral train- ing, 149; school must take charge of life out of class room, 108; duties of school life, program for high school, 294 ff. School council, see Council. Science, 55, 201, 206. Scientific spirit in history teaching, 217. Self-control: help supplied through moral instruction, 163, 229, 271 ; discussion of in high-school program, 289 ; in elementary-school program (self-government), 361, etc. See Character and Moral Training. Self-government : in school vs. pupil government, 65, 69 ; how to deal with offenses under, 72. Service: desire for, methods of developing, 75, 168-176, 185, 206-216, 222-226, 230 ff.. 236 f., 238, 251 ff., 256; as an element in morality, 165 ; relation to perfection of char- acter, 167; present in all normal adults, 176, 188; in children, 177. Sex instruction : in the elementary school, 284 ff. ; In the high school, 297. Shakespeare, as a realist and Idealist, 221. Skepticism regarding the existence of virtue, 11, 204, 236, 238. Smoking, 94, 338. Standards of conduct, how to determine, 265-270. INDEX 453 Stevenson, 170. Story-telling : training in service through, 94 ; as a method of moral instruction, 320. Success: laws of taught through biography, 240; in systematic course for high school, 311 ff. Sully, 354. Sympathy : relation to experience, 107, 170 ; relation to imagi- nation, 169-171, 212. Tattling, 62, 72. Teacher : importance of the personality of, 9 ff., 25, 31 ; limi- tations upon influence of, 12 ff., 29 ff. ; qualifications of a good teacher, 18 ff. ; how to supply the demand, 20 ff. ; as a friend, 24 ff., 34-36, 71 ; example of personal influ- ence, 68; taking part in extra-curricular activities, 109 ff., 123; qualifications for moral instruction, 329. Thayer, J. A., 159. Thoughtfulness for others, training in, 142 ff., 149. Thoughtlessness, wrong-doing through, 159. Tuskegee, 92. Two Rivers (Wisconsin), 127 ff. Tyndall, 336. Washington, Booker T., 247, 249. Wisconsin, University of, 36. Women's Clubs in Two Rivers, 136. Woodberry, 328. Wordsworth, 51, 181. Work, value of habits of vigorous, 54. Writing: training the spirit of service through the teaching of, 93 ; as employed in the Parker School, 98. Young Men's Christian Association classes for high-school boys, 334.