Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1894-06-16
AN IDEAL IN MODERN EDUCATION
BY David William Mofatt, Delivered at the Iweny-t"h an
nuaI commencement Of the University o. Uiah Wed
nesday Juno I5. in the Salt Lake Theater

without injury 10 The human race, or
without laying stumbling stone 100 tbc
path ut pro9rcssY II the term religious
/ instruction" does not sound appropriate
for "a school room, make substitution
and call % moral training and let that
training be incidental and Indirect, hut
no less certain. Too often the moral
nature IS ief entirely co. the various
religious organizations, who too often
spend their energies teaching their own
peculiar beliefs rather than The broad
religion OF charity Besides, ibis in.ifug
ton b usually given bot weekly, and is
often too abstract for The Childs com
prchcnsou The professional teacher
laboung under the iutefdICi that The
childs religious ideas are TO Doe lgit
strictly alone, has 90 coudne herself 70
. correcting breaches OF dccorum, while
the finer and higher germs are allowed
to wthor and die
lu society is the union OF politics and
religion. Toe the treatment 90 social
problems there is KIND Of proCrastinl-
ton. The social disease Is well dgygl.
opHd before ihc remedy Is applied.
Little i done To- prevent the disease Boo
30 iuripigncy Criminals are not pun-
.hed for vengeance sake. we are TOO
Hr advanced for that. not ilr the CO..
formation OF the criminal. q confirmed
au.bIc8kcr is incou.i1lc; but lof the
protection of society. We wait, how.
ever. until the crime has been com.
mucd. until the man has become q
criminal. then tine remedy is applied.
What s done 10 prevent Che mans
development into % criminal Here our
systems are nc fault Criminals grow
They are not born, they are made The
laws of mind are ass exact aud uusWcrv'
ing as those of gnvitauln, An overt
act Is but one link in the criminal chain;
It rs the result OF final psychiCal in-
pulse, whose origin was perhaps in
childhood.
Seven thousand murders were com.
miltcd Ia the United States last year.
Lesser crimes are numbellcss, and vice
immeasurablc In the mad rush for
selfish ends, for wealth and power, men
do not consider the immortality the"
suggcst--thc seeds they are sowing 20
beat bitter lr.it in the next generation.
Nothing happens without cause. How
much Is being done 90 remove the cause
of these social ds1rdcrs2 Criminal
/ dclucauons are read with interest. but
I how many ask, Did contribute boy
thought or word TO the commission Of
that act2 a potent factor Of dcmoali.
I cation Is found in the morbid reading
matter upon which the community cone
/ sauuy feeds. Publishers arc not cu'
/ tIfcY 20 bc blamed. Il is case of supp y
and demand Yet there BIS 40 Increasing
scusatloullism IN the daily press, there
are illustrated wcckligs whose rcprcsen-
auons approach too near the border
line OF indgCeucy. there Is cheap blood
and thunder fiction in unlimited qulu.
titles, aIl being duvuurcd hy youthful
and immature minds The world Is fall
OF suggestion OF every kind and quality
10 % vendor palms on unsuund fruit or
dgcaying vegetables. he is arrested and
punished, but youthful mind, "a pure
consciousness. may Doe poisoned, and no
personal alarm Us felt These abnormal
conditions are not the result OF inlen.
ton. hut of q lack Of knowledge of
psychological laws and the power Of
suggestion
This immoral increase Is only relative.
Correct lines OF thought are growing
rapidly, but the question Is TO make the
good prcponderaic and crush out the
bad. Utah has taken two steps IN the
right direCton-.ree public schools and
compulsory education. II Is Tar better
TO prevent wrong than TO punish H.
Every individual should lend DIS vital
force. and become au architect Of char.
actcr, aud jails and prisons wall eventu.
ally De as useless Js bOw'and'arow
Iu modern warfare.
A nation Us only d number OF indiyi.
dual, bound by common ties, and what
[ ever the individuals lte, SO will the
nation be. Every persons power aud
tendencies must be considered, clearly
90. depends upon the individual and his
education, No one has better defined
education than Herbert Spencer lie
Says 10 teaches COS how TO live "Nut
how tu live in the material sense only
but Boo ths widest sense. The general
problem which Comprgheudg every spc.
cial problem is--thc right ruling OF con.
duet BOO 900 directions under all CirCum.
stances lu what way iu treat the body,
in what mind. 10 what way 20 manage
Our affairs in what way To- bring up q
family. lu what way 10 behave as eli.
zen; in what way to usc al. those sources
/ of happiness which nature supplies
how 10 use our faculties 90 the greatest
advantage OF ourselves and 0,1cfs-how
To- live completely And this being the
great thing nccdul Tor ul TO learn, is by
consequence, the great thing education
has 20 teach, 10 prepare us for com.
p'rte living is thc Junction education
/ has TO discharge, and the only rational
mode OF Judging u' any educational
course Is, DO Judge in what degree 10
discharges such Junction
one great misNse hla been, and i5
not yg, entirely corrected, 90 make the
. requirement u. knowledge 900 end. not
7 ID mean. How MANY have .lIH uI .anI