The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-08-31
MORAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS
State Superintendent Ramer Dis
cusses the New Issue 60 be
Installed IN Schools.

tendent Ramel, on invitation of
County Superintendent Quigley,
addl essed the teachers of the county
Institute at the city hall auditorium.
taking for his subject. "Ethical
framing in the Public Schools.
This is d new feature of moral train
ing which was adopted by the county
superintendent, who we've recently
in session in this city, and which
was presented by the committee APP
pointed at the meeting of the State
Educational Association held i'm
B1oOlings last winter. Superinten-
dent Ramer has been fostering this
idea for several years and he is very
earnest in bis efforts to have it made
a success in the schools of the state.
Taking the formulative period of the
child Mr.. Ramer stated that the
home, the church aud the school are
the places where the foundation is
laid for the moral training of the
boy and gitl. lie entered into a
comparison OF the home of Two
decades AGO and that OF today. In
the former he fouad the more
reverential spirit. the presence of
the father within the home circle at
night to give the boys the benefit of
bis influence, and he found a more
religious observance also. Today he
said that the father spent. seeming
ly. as little time as possible at home
In the evenings. being drawn down
town in the evening either by bust.
ness or the desire for amusement,
n he felt strongly that the father
was doing an injustice to bis boy.
Tor the reason that the son will
follow the fathers footsteps. In the
home of today. with all its comforts,
he found the reverential spirit
absent, the desire for home ties less
and a general breaking awav of the
things that keep a man within his.
home.
The comparison OF the church of
Two decades ago and of that today
were handled in much the same
manner. Mr.. Ramer said that two
decades ago lie found the men and
women attending the church in
about the same proportion, but to-
day the women made up the LARGEST
portion OF the congregation. This.
he thought, ought to be rectified, and
men made to feel the necessity OF
attending divine worship for the
influence that they will exert on
their boys. He did not believe the
Ichurch would grow in as great
strength. with only the women
behind it, and yet he paid a noble
tribute to the fidelity of woman in
this respect and would not decry
her worth in the least.
Concerning the schools OF TODAY
and those Of two decades 60. MI.
Ramer discovered the absence of the
male teacher today. and in the
ancient period he a regarded as
the only n capable of conducting a
school. But the man OF TO-DAY has
been set aside Through his own
neglect and the woman has taken his
place, so that a male teacher is
regarded as sort of a species oil
feminlnity and ought to wear skirts.
In fact, he declared, the situation
in the school teaching business has
just been TUNED around from the
ancient days. He believed that
more male teachers ought TO be in
tile schools, particularly in the sixth
grade and up, where the boy comes
III at a period when he needs the
touch of the masculine authority
aud discipline In the schools of
today Mr.. Kramer said he found an
alarming absence Of boys in the
higher grades. likewise i'm the
colleges.
One OF the most homogeneous situa-
tions he found was the fact that
congress an' state legislatures are
opened with a prayer, recognizing
the necessity OF an appeal to God:
also the silver money contains an a
dependence in religion, according to
the phrase, SIN God we trusts" the
stock pavilion dedicated in Mitchell
last winter was opened with prayer;
but 1T remains for the great public
school system to be without the
slightest form of religious service or
teaching. Mr.. Ramer felt that this
religious feature could be handled
IN the schools without trouble.
although doubtless there would be
objection by some, but be believed
with it being presented fairly and
squarely there would no.. be the fric-
tion anticipated on the part of it's
DIRECTORS.
In closing he referred to the con-
duct of boys and girls that he had
noticed while travelling over the