Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-04-25
EDUCATIONAL MEETING

VI TuDllc SCHOOLS was held IN the
County Superintendent office, Wood
bury, Friday afternoon, April 10th.
The meeting was addressed by D.
i. Steefnan on the subject of Nor
al Instruction
A very interesting and profitable
discussion of the subject followed.
The officers elected for the ensuing
year were: H. c.. Dixon, President;
w. B. Davis, Vice-President; d. w.
Davis, Secretary and Treasurer.
County Superintendent Steelman's
address follows:
MORAL INSTRUCTION.
1t is not considered that any spec
ial argument is needed for syste-
matte moral instruction in the pub
lic schools when it is stated that one
of the very best things about moral
training is that it reacts upon the
teacher, for if it is true, that the best
way to learn a thing is to teach it,
the consistent teacher of morals will
ever be on the alert to mend his own
moral fences and endeavor to live up
to the moral standard set for others :.
No teacher can talk self-control to
others without finding hinsef in bet
ter control of his own temper; he
cannot preach courtesy and be rude;
he cannot preach unselfshness and
be selfish; and when the children
come under the influence of the teach
er who is convinced of the value of
moral teaching and who has caught
the enthusiasm that comes from i'm
parting moral truth, we usually find
MOI Oxxyfr, i,nfn al
self-respecting careful pupils, and
great must be the satisfaction and
happiness of one who knows he is in
creasing power within himself and
like power within the children in
trusted to his care.
In moral training, it is essential
to study the child's nature and to
know his limitations and possibilities
knowledge of this sort ought to
bring to the teacher infinite patience
and charity in his work. It is true
that children taken as class are
about the same, and if an average is
drawn, one finds about the same var
iation and temperament, ideals and
will-power, yet we recognize the fact
that no two pupils are exactly alike
in the matter of moral responsibility;
so, in moral education, the teacher
must be careful not to regard his
class or school as a whole; he must
ever think of the individual, and, in
his endeayOrs to strengthen and im-
prove the moral nature the person.
a1itF of each ehi1d should come direct
~ under the influence of the teacher
We cannot expect the same results
in every child or to reach every child
in the same way. In dealing with
physical ills, the physician makes a
diagnosis of each patient and inquiries
about the health of the parent. Is
it not even more necessary that the
teacher should diagnose the pupils
moral conditions and know what in
fiuences have made him in the past
and are making him in the present.
One of the strongest factors that en-
ters into a child's ideals is the train
ing that he has received in his out
of-school environment-his life at
home and on the street. Any scheme
of education is fatally short-sighted if
it proceeds on the supposition that
the school life is the whole educa-
tional force. So long as homes are
different, children will be different;
the moral training received in the
home affects the child's moral capa-
city Just as the intellectual training
affects his mental capacity, and it is
to expect the same
amount of moral responsiveness from
the child reared among vicious sur
roundings that you would expect
from the child in Christian home.
Other factors which should be care
fully considered in any scheme of
moral instruction are the sex and
physical conditions. We find that
more emphasis needs be laid on GER
tain moral questions with boys and
on certain others with girls, and
that not only is the body the basis
of intellectual development but of
moral development as we'll, and the
same degree of moral responsiveness
cannot be expected from a child with
a diseased, weak body as from the
strong, vigorous one. / am quite
sure that most of us have known
cases where the lack of moral re-
sponsibility was due to physical ills,
either inherited or caused by bad
habits such as excessive cigarette
smoking and the keeping of late
hours.
Systematic moral instruction is
given in nearly every public school
worthy the name, if it rs nothing
more than example. and yet / feel
that / would be safe in saying that
there are none of us who feel quite
satisfied with present conditions
along moral lines. We find in most
of our schools much emphasis is
placed upon punctuality, industry,
truthfulness and other school virtues
which / might mention. Moral in
struction is impaired through such
religious exercises as we find in the
opening exercises. The time used
for these exercises is usually ten or
fbfteen minutes and comprises the
presentation of moral and religious
questions through reading from the
Bible, brief talks growing out of the
life and concrete needs of the school,
the repeating of the Lords Prayer
and the singing of a song or hymn
and while these exercises are of very
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