The Mena weekly star., 1919-07-31


 dealing with the teaching of
 School Ethics" Teachers, par
 ents and all others interested in
 the education of children will find
 the series interesting and helpful
 in solving the school problem.
 To Teachers and Parents:
 Emerson said, "Nor knowest thou what argument thy life to thy neigh bor's creed has lent.' For years there has been a growing feeling of dissatis- faction with the results of the public school work. People realize, or thought they did, that there is something radi- cally wrong or the output would be more satisfactory.
 Able educators, wise statesmen, in- terested parents are trying to discover and rectify the defects in the system. The largest part of the young man. hood which made up the army now re- turning to our shores was but a few years ago pupils of some of the public schoolsl Who is there with aught but praise for this noble band of heroes, yet, who among us thought such quail ties were in these boys until put to the test. The greatest need of the school children of today is practical knowl- edge of piety, of righteousness, of right living. Moral training is of much more vital importance to the child than intellectual, physical or manual training, tho the world has not yet been aroused to this fact. Teach ing the child to love and reverence God, to honor and obey his parents, to be honest and kind in his dealings with his fellowmen, to be industrious and faithful in the performance of work, to be loyal and obedient to his country's laws, will give him more helpful equipment than will knowl- edge of the woody caterpillar, the chemistry of food, how to hammer brass, or how to dissect cats.
 This is no new theory. Henry Van Dyke says, Surely it would be good thing if in our schools it could be rec ognized that a child had far better grow up thinking the earth is fiat than to remain ignorant of God and moral law and fiiial duty" Roosevelt says when you take care of the children you are taking care of the nation of tomor- row.
 Phillips Brooks says, He who helps child helps humanity with distinct ness, with an immediateness, which nc other help given to human creatures in any other stage of their human life can possibly give again"
 Realizing the child's need of such help, and feeling that when he asks for bread we often give him stone. l am offering to teachers the following practical methods that have unfolded to me during my years of work in the public schools, hoping to aid in a small way in awakening parents and teach CTS in the moral training of the child.
 Tell it as it wuz," says James Whitcomb Riley. So I have endeav- ored to follow his homely advice and Tn simple, natural way to tell you just how l teach School Ethics" The llttle incidents recorded are facts, of ten the exact words of the child. and the real Christian names are used. necessity and not egotism is responsi- Die for the repeated use of the first personal pronoun. The methods have been successfully used with third fourth, fifth and sixth grade punils and as women usually teach these grades 1t seems appropriate to use the feminine gender when referring to the teacher However, it's use was nrop,nt ca by no desire to ignore male teach CTS to whom l gladly extend the hand oi pedagogic fellowship The stories. poems, quotations have been gathered rom many sources and may be new to most teachers. The selections given VIII show the young teacher how aas,, ana How desirable it is to have indi. Vidual work of this sort. Each teacher knows, or should know. the needs os her pupils better than anyone else and Tor that reason can select mora s,,it aDie material than anyone else. No two people can do work just al;ke when teachers individuality is de- stroyed her usefulness is gone: there lore, these methods are offered meral,, as helpful suggestions in behalf of tbs cultivation of the child's ethical nature, about which we talk so beant; tully and for which we do so little
 Each individual, both child and man must do his own work, must be mads '
 self-made" or go incomplete. There There are certain things DO one can do fo~ nm. The only way that we can real " help him is to show him how good ana now pleasant thing it is to IA right Then when his ambition auS S desire are aroused in the direction os of righteousness, by keeping the tbonobt ne1ore him We may awaken q worl~;r,. !. uesire m his mind to live a hetter r,,r s CT more Christ-like life. That is I,hat ras these little methods do. They lead b;m ,i- on ny free and joyous ways to kna1s 'a',, and choose the things that ara -,,.~ r.,..