The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-06-12
Moral Education A gain.

Moral Education Again.
1t is strange that those directly engaged
in educational work, and hence i'm a posi-
ton to observe the relation of cause and ef-
feet with those being instructed around
them. could come to such conclusion con-
corning the affinity of mental refinement
and moral power as we find in the Report
of the board of education of POughkeepsie.
Below we quote paragraph, the brackets
being ours:
Education in the sense in which that word ia
used IN connection with the public school system
that's comforting upon those who will in time be-
come citizens, sufficient amount of knowledge to
enable them to discharge intellgently the respon.
sibilities appertaining to acknowledgements Int
be incomplete if the moral training of the child is
neglected. knowledge. though aid, is not sui.
ficient in itself to equip for these duties
lThe finest mental powers may CO. exist with low
morality person can be clever and unscrupu-
1ous; and, indeed. there has to be associated
in the public mind dangerously close relation
between the two. Now, it is not mere cleyerness
that makes good citizen, uprghtness and hon.
esty are much more important. and it seems to me
that these and kindred qualities ought to be as
carefully taught in the schools as that learning
which is acquired from books.
In the first sentence of the above the
writer implies that moral training has no
natural connection with intellectual train
ing. He entirely associates them from the
relation OF effect and cause, and advises
that moral training, as such, be entered
upon.
We wish to ask how he would 20 about
1T? Moral training is the highest step, and
1t must be approached and supported by
previous ones underneath it, AS sound
mind resides in sound body, so moral de-
velopment springs from mental growth. A
savage can be taught certain truths, but he
will not realize their significance nor ap-
preciate their worth until he has the educa-
ton to understand their part in the plan of
the universe.
EXACTLY" our friend of the Report will
say; educate. and then give moral in
structiOn." But we will 60 one step back
OF that and say. Educate, and then moral
development will follow" For what is our
present civilization but the result of educa-
ton instilled from the earliest times till
now? The study of history, the knowledge
OF books, the observation of men and af-
fairs, is not simply cultivation of the
mind, it is cultivation of the morals as
well. The student, the careful observer,
has fineness of mind that places him upon
higher moral plane than one who has
lacked opportunities for intellectual de-
velopment. We do not say that there are
not exceptions to this rule; but they are ex-
ceptiOns. knowledge is not only an aid in
equipping one morally for the responsible
ties of life, but it is, as we'll. the instigatOr.
1t cannot be that of fneness of mind, that
culture of thought, coming from continued
training of the intellect has no moral power,
exerts no moral influence.
Compare the refining influence of the ed
ucated person with that of the ignorant one,
and then dare to say that there is no moral
power in an education. no moral develop
ment resulting from it.
While it is impossible to prove univer-
sal negative and hence it would be futile to
attempt the proposition, fine mental power
cannot co-eXist with low morality, we can
state with much confidence that coarse
mental fiber generally includes low moral
ity. History will bring forward many ex-
amples where the morality of men of brill
fancy in state affairs, of men of power in
literary circles, has been questioned. We
cannot deny this.
But why is it that while few such men
can be picked out, there is in humanity the
great mass of ignorant ones oppressed by
low morality. Are not those men selected,
are not their cases heralded abroad because
of their incOngruity, because they form all
exception to the general rule? When those
eminent in position 60 wrong, every one
hears of it, but no one stops to think of the
fall of the ignorant, chiefly because they
have not far to fall. Humanity, in its con-
duct toward men. acknowledges the truth
OF our proposition.
The writer of the above quotation, Mr..
Edward Burgess, includes, as evidences of
fine mental power. exhibitions of cleverness
and unscrupulOusness. There is no mistake
more common than that of assOciating low
cunning with mental power. For many
people, there is a morbid fascination in the
doings of criminal. Because he chooses
life opposed to society. he seems endowed
with special gifts. Little knowledge is re-
quired to do wrong. Because some criminal
is unusually successful. he is said to be liv-
ing by his wits. and. because of the fasci-
nation mentioned above. the finest strain of