The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1911-04-13
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Moral Training in the Public School.


CONTINUED nom last week)
The teacher in his work as moral
trainer has to deal with every kind
Of moral nature. Some children are
too sensitive and need buffetting to
strengthen their moral fiber; others
are pathetic moral imbeciles. 1t
needs a confirmed and resourceful
idealist (who at the same time
would get pleasure from moderate
results) to make the opening
through which the schools can en-
ter upon the work of moral train
ing.
On the practical side there has
to be faced not only the immense
variety of moral nature TO be
trained and the question of what
lines of effort will produce the best
future moral results, but a some
what general attitude of moral re-
sistance in the schools. / refer 20
what in one of its phases shows IL
self as school boy honor.
1t will be a great gain in dealing
with this business when il is clear
" recognized that school boy hon
or is only a miniature OF what IS
found in the outside world. The
feeling that underlies this attitude
is the same as the one that Charles
Lamb expressed in his remark
about the smuggler. The pupils
recognize school authority as
something imposed upon them, IN
which they nave none of tbs sym
pathy of ownership. In all history
men have chung to each other
against such authority, as witness
today in Mexico; even the moboll-
cation of our army on her frontier
but arouses the people OF South
Mexico to immediate action; SYM
pathy invariably goes to the up
pressed. Defiance is no crime, but
tattling is. II is cooperative resist
anee.
| do believe the sentiment can be
uprooted, and it should never be
put to the test when it can be
avoided. The surest antidote for ii
is a spirit of close cooperation, the
growth of a sense OF ownership on
the part Of pupil and of the sense
OF seIf-respect that will make the
individual more willing to shoulder
his own deeds. II an unavoidable
contest comes, a better plan than
to eXtOrt evidence in q general way
is to adopt the governments treat
ment of mob that is not amena-
BILE to law-t to deal summarily with
all who are likely to be guilty and
let them take the burden Of eollee
tive responsibility. In most cases
as in one of college discipline
those unfairly dealt with will
promptly bring proof Of innocence
and the experience, instead of do
ing moral damage, will be a benefit
because ii gives them a chance to
remove suspicion. A wiser plan
may sometimes be to get the in
formation directly from the culpriI
by agreeing not to use il, and SO
establish relation of mutual con-
tldence, as the famous Judge Lind
say has so often done in his Juven-
lie court at Denver. A frank dis
cussion of the cause of misconduct
may make its future occurrence
impossible. In any case, the effect
of the direct moral instruction
given will depend largely on the
moral atmosphere created by the
practical working of the school
machinery.
Three points remain TO be brief
ly dealt with: the available mate
rails, the method Of using them,
and the bearing of the quality of
the teacher on moral instruction
History is recognized, by all who
are interested in the matter, as the
mother lode of ethical materials.
The study of war may nurse the
heroic virtues, but the chief value
Of history as a source lies in The
stldy of causes and consequences
and of biography. A wide basis for
the study of moral antecedents and
consequences could be laid by
studies OF such materials as the ex-
plorations of the fifteenth, which
show so clearly how each act be-
comes the basis for a later one
What would furnish a finer moral
study for older pupils than the
fact, emphasized by Lecky, that
during the period of their COM
blned influences upon Roman life.
stoicism furnished nearly every ef-
fort on behalf of liberty, while Epi-
eureanism was constantly identi-
fled with tyranny and corruption.
A whole set of interesting historic
ethical studies could be made ont
OF apparently dry materials. If our
children do not receive the moral
inheritance which the ages have
left for them, the responsibility for
their loss rests upon US.
1t is true that little childcen lack
The perspective power necessary
for landscape studies in history.
f'nna