The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-02-25
How far Should the Teacher be RESPONSE
bic for the Moral Training of the Child

Bile for the Moral Training Of the Child =!
That the training which child receives
in the school-room should include the NOR
al, as we'll as the physical and intellectual
side of his nature, is q proposition so COM
monty accepted and acted upon by teachers,
and insisted on by patrons in Il great many
instances, rs to admit of very little discuss
ion in the negative However We may and
do differ in methods of work and in ideas
of government, we are all agreed, l think,
that education in the trueSt SerSe, education
as all the great teachers of the world have
conceived it, is the development of charac
ter. As teachers, we must work, therefore,
toward a training which shall embrace all
sides of the pupils Snature-which shall take
in his whole being. \ training which not
only aims to develop the mind in al: its
powers; the body not alone, but the soul-ln
the restraining and reducing Of evil habits,
Dropensities and passions, so that all decls-
ions and impulses are brought into con-
formity with principles of truth, goodness,
sincerity, and right; in the development of
a conscience which shall be void of offence
toward God and our fellow-man. The
schools are bound, in self-defence, to give
some moral training. a school cannot be
treated as machine Education is dealing
with life; and life will not stand still
I have long thought, and do still, that in
no department of school work should the
teacher be held to stricter account than in
this We have been accustomed to hearing
it said that the teachers Office is one of great
responsibility; and we have become so ac-
customed to it, until fear it has lost its sig
nifcance in q great measure. You will per-
NIT me to repeat it, by using another de-
Scriptive term. The teachers position is
one of tremendous responsibility, in view of
the INN sity and far-reachingness Qf the
word will be permitted) of the issues and
consequences involved. You and I have
been weig lted Gown by sense of this re-
sponsibility whenever we have stopped to
consider it; but it is upon US; We canno. es-
cape it, and it must be lived up to as best
we are able Remember, that in this as in
all else: opportunity is the measure of -e-
spcnsibi!ity.
The teachers responsibility for the moral
training Of his pupils begins with his ercnl-
pie and here the opportunity for doing good
is very s eat. That the teacher should be a
moral man admits of no argument. That
many are not Is fact as common as 1t IS to
be deplored. We cannot teach other others
to be that which we are not ourselves. We
teach much by precept; more by example If
the teachers life is not what it should be
any endeavor on his part to develop true
moral instinct in his pupils will be worse
than farcical. As water docs not rise above
it level, so children will not rise above the
example of the teacher. Sermons and per-
functory lectures are of little use in the
school-room. If the teacher has no other
method of reaching the feelings and the
conscience his work will be wasted. The
teacher should be man well versed in hu-
man nature; he should understand the varl-
Gus ways Of reaching the hearts and con-
sciences of his pupils. His example should
be pure, and his ideas Of right and justice
should be correct ones; and they should
never be outraged. Children, young and
old, are initiative beings, and they are prone
to initiate those whom they consider superb
or to themselves. The superiority Of the
teacher is taken for grarted-his ways Of
doing, his habits, be they good or bad, are
taken up and become part Of the child's
character. In this matter there is no neU-
trail grornd Our example is either good or
bad. We cannot-we simply can1,ot, avoid
the responsibility. We are teaching every
moment by our example, whether We will or
not. And that teacher who strives to be an
ideal example 10 his pupils will be a sue
cess, and 'his works will follow him
The teacher is also responsible for the
development of the ,ca. We hear good
deal said, among people who should know
better about the ''crushing of the will, but
there is no faculty of q child which demands
and should receive more cultivation than
this. If teachers would only keep in view
the aim to produce self-governing being
not being to be governed by others, the
products of our schools would make better
men and women. The will is the minds
propelling power; therefore a correctly train
ed will means a mind in which there will be
no hesitancy in choice between good and
evil Of course the child must know the
distinction between right and wrong, and
this will involve training in another direc-
ton, which I shall take up in the next
place. Were children to be slaves when
they grow up it might be we'll to accustom
them 70 a system of training which would
crush out every instinct of freedom, but as
they are to be free men and women-pre-
eminently so in this land Of ours-as they
are to have no one to control their daily
conduct, we cannot too much accustom them
to self-control in all matters which come mp
in the school-room. The independent Amer
lean boy is the father Of the independent
American man; and you cannot have the
last without the first. In no department of
school work will our time and LABOR be bet
ter spent than in this. The effects Of such
training cannot be over-estimated. They
are immediate and far-reaching. The will
is bound to be developed in some way, and
it is of the utmost Importance to the child,
and it is the bounden duty of the teacher,
that the development should be correct
one, that the greatest consequent good may
result therefrom. The teacher is response
BILE in the next place, for The training OF the
conscience. Whether this faculty is correct
guide or not, depends altogether upon its
training. The example of the teacher may
be all that it should, the will of the child
may be trained, but unless the development
of conscience-of the ability to distinguish
between good and evil-goes hand in hand,
little good will be accomplished. One rule
should be sufficient for the eschool-room-and
only one: WE MUST ALL DO RIGHT. The Striv-
ing on the part Of both teacher and pupils
to live up to this cannot fail to make both
better, purer and nobler. 4 child's con-
ception Of right and wrong are usually very
crude, and it will take time to develop the
proper ideas; but it will be time well spent
Nothing worth attaining ever comes other
wise, as we we'll know, than by patient and
continued effort
Lastly, the teacher should be responsible,
in degree, for the religious training of the
child. say, 'in degree for think that
this may be left. in a large measure, with
the parents. However, it seems to me that
some religious training is absolutely neces-
sary, as religious and moral training are al |
most Synonymous terms. Then, too, we
live in Christian land and to the existence
of our free institutions much is due to
Christianity. Being indebted to the Chris
tian religion for what we are, aud so much |
dependent on its truths for what we hope to