The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-03-11
THE ETHICS OF EDUCATION
Prof. ParsOns's Lecture AS To Influence
of Schools in Developing Virtues.
Unity of Men and the Common FatherhOOd of
Divine Being Govern the Relations Of
Mankind and Inspire Justice.

1.-THE Ethical Element in Education" was
the subject at Plymouth Church, yesterday,
of each of the two lectures. one given in
the morning and the other in the evening,
by w. w. Parsons, president of the State
Normal School at Terre Haute. In his
evening address the lecturer held that 1t is
one of the greatest excellences of the Amer
lean common school system that at its
threshold all distinctions of rank and
class cease. The thought of the essential
unity of men and the common fatherhood
of the Divine Being is the basis OF that
large class of virtues arising from our rela-
tiOns to our fellow-men. Each sees himself
in every other Politeness and justice are
the two fundamental virtues arising from
our relations to our fellows. Politeness
sees in it's object an ideal being, and makes
no distinction between the prince and the
pauper, the humblest man and the throned
monarch. The many ways in which
the school CAM lead the child to
abandon his natural rudeness and adopt
the forms of polite society do not require
to be mentioned. The politeness here re-
ferre6 to is that consideration and regard
for the rights, and feelings, and privileges
of others. which spring from a robust,
healthy acknowledgment of the dignity
and essential worth of Dhaman nature.
Justice does not idealize its object. 1t sees
it as it is 1t returns to a man what his
own deed is worth. Unlike pOliteness,
Justice contemplates the reality and acts in
perfect accord Herewith. As a principle
of conduct it manifests itself in two typi-
cal forms, truthtulneSs OF uttcrance anu
frv1t IN Iln nf
AS a principle of behavior, the lecturer
continued, justice Is the perception. senti-
ment, conviction, intuition of the substah
tial and valid nature of what is real in the
world. 1t is the denial of the phenomenal
and transient as such, and lie
assertion that these are mere fleet
ing phases of g permanent reality.
Truthfulness is fundamental virtne,lhot
primarily because 1t is conducive to human
happiness. though it doubtless is So. bnt
because it is an acceptance of the world of
reality. Deception and lying are wrong
Fundamentally, because they deny the
world of reality and affirm that what is Is
not, and what is not is This is why "a lie
subverts the world of reality; it destroys
the conditions of rational existence. TO
the untrue man." says Hawthorne. the
whole universe is false; it is impalpable; 10
is fact. To the untrue man the world
loses its stability and its ethical character.
Envy, hatred, Islander, libel and the like,
all have their root In perverted view or
the world. This virtue of truthfulneSs, tine
settled disposition and desire to see. know,
think and represent the reality rs IL Is may
be greatly stimulated and fOstered III the
school. The study OF any subject-hlstory,
geography. ithmetic-that does not re-
suit in q more thorough devotion of the
person to the truth-a more sincere
regard and respect for the worlds estab-
lished order, has failed to secure one of its
most important educative results. And
likewise. an association in the school-rOOm
that has not in any degree promoted these
objects, has failed of one OF lts chief ends.
The other form of Justice. Professor Par
sons said. truth acting, or honesty, Includes
that large class of virtues and habits that
relate to the life and property rights of
others Both indirectly In connection with
its various subjects of study. and by sys-
tematic andregular instruction, the secular
school may educate the child III this class OF
duties to his fellows. Before passing TO q
brief discussion of the religious virtues in
which the school may instruct the child, he
maintained that the ascent In thoughs t1ius
far made. should be noted. Nature hands
the childs over TO the family natural
being only. with mental or spiritual posi-
bilities. His true nature Is in him only i'm
plicltly. AS natural being he Is dominated
by caprice, arbitrariness, seliishness, will
fulness. The problem OF education, and the
life problem. is to develop III him as theO-
retical insight and as concrete habit the
highest nationality of which he is capa-
Bile. that is, to make him truly ethical. 10
defer all ethical training till its full signif-
icance can be known and appreciated by
him would be as fatal to his ethical devel-
Opment as to his MYSTICAL being would be
the Withholding of food till he cOmpre-
hended tue chemistry OF digestion. The
forms of civilization must be adopted he
must become at home in them long before
these can be the genuine expression of that
refinement of thought and sentiment which
they are fitted to express They are formal,
| therefore mechanical; he uses them aS forms
without spiritual meaning and content.
His use of these is later to be animated by
reasonable insight and principle, but as yet
| they are forms imposed from without. But
| the moment the moral realm is entered
| forms as such are lost sight OF, and the sch
| timent, conviction, heart, of the individual
| is appealed to. Principle now engages the
| attention Of both instructor and pupil, par
| ent and child. Moral instruction, strictly
| so-called. is q training OF intellect, heart,
will. The free, self-aetivlty OF the
| ure. This distinction between the formal
| or mechanical virtues and the more strict
| ly moral virtues is fundamental one in
morals and has place in every thorough
| treatise on the subject. DIT
The religious virtues are primary virtues,
| the Professor continued. Here the idea of
| duty in it's refinement almost disappears,
| and we have the free and absolute sltrren-
DER OF the sell 10 something nlSner UIfan q
principles conscious, benevolent, Inerci-
| full being-an absolute personality; and
| speaking of religious education no refer
| ence Is had to that conception of religion
| which identifies it with dOgmatic theol6gy
| or sectarianism Religion, the first prin9i-
| pie Of the world, God. is an object of faith.
| This does not mean that it is not KNOWN,
| but that it is not known by demonstration.
| The idea God is not o generalization from
| the experiences of the individual III the
| sensuous world; il cannot be the result of
induction. Religion then begins in faith,
| the immediate and intuitive apprehension
| of the worlds true first principle. God, the
| absolute essence of the world. Faith fur
nishes that view of the W orld held by Chris
| tan theism. Faith sees the world as an en-
bodiment of the divine thought and reason.
| Faith says the world is a world of tn ought
| and reason; it is Gods world. If reason is
the first principle of the world, faith is the
ultimate ground of all ethical conduct.
Mechanical or formal duties have their
meaning in morality, but morality has its
| explanation in faith. Thisis the root of all
| virtue; out of this flower all the graces and
| virtues of human life. Education is to lift
| the individual out of his natural selfish
ness; first, to the plane of formal obedience
to law externally imposed; second, to the
| plane on which he obeys his internal per-
| ceptiOn and sentiment; but finally to that
freedom of activity resulting from the per-
| ception that his own reason is Identical in
nature with the substance of the world.
This is the true union with God.
AS a guarantee of principled behavior in
| life, the lecturer said, the school may in