Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-06-30
MORAL, RELIGIOUS
/ TRAINING IS URGED
Iowa State Educator Tells
Teachers Character Edu-
cation Is School Need.
CRITICS ARE CRITICIZED
Upright Business Principles Must
Be Inculeated in Young,
New Yorker Says.

air meeting of the National Educa-
ton Association convention in the
Central High School stadium last
night. They included Tillie S. Gecks,
director of the primary department
of the Harris Teachers College of
st. Louis: Leon W. Goodrich, eXecu-
tive director of the Hebrew Shelter
ing Guardian Society of Pleasant
Vile, \. Y; Margaret Knox, principal
of public school, No. Is, Borough of
Manhattan, New York City: William
Byron Forbush Of the University So
ciety of New York City. and Edwin w.
Starbuck, professor of philosophy, Of
Iowa State University.
The address of Miss Gecks was
somewhat in contrast to that of Mr..
Goodrich. Miss Gecks emphasized the
need for religious training in the
schools. saying the present program
has brought them to be considered
Goddess things" while Mr.. Goodrich
Contended that the characterization
of Goddess things was but one of
the many criticisms of the schools
which should not be needed.
He urged teaching in the schools
Il broad basic religious belief. which
he said would combine the best prin-
liefS.
school Needs Cited.
Speaking on the Fundamentals of
Character Training" DIR. Starbuck
declared there are at least seven
steps necessary in order TO trans
form the public school into char
acter developing institution. He out
lined them as follows:
L. We must see that mechanism,
Journalism and institutionalism,
70 4, lsrys.H
portions in our school system, are
used only in the service of the pupil
and of society. The school should be
a house Of efficient service, not Il
Workshop shaping the tools of cul-
ture. 1t should be a temple of wis
dom, not a museum of curious knowl-
edge. It's function as an institution
IS higher socialism, not better or
Eanization.
80. We must set the child ever
afresh in the midst of our educa-
tional devices. The school should be,
as Froebel believed, like a garden,
something that grows as the fruit
age of purposeful conduct. 1t can
not be produced by machine meth
DDS
IS. For the most part. do not teach
morals Approach thoughtfully every
situation that arises naturally in the
conduct of The school. There is hard
~ any limit TO the acumen and re-
summon when they are faced with d
real situation. There is hardly any
thinking they viii do when forced up
against an artificial situation. Plant
the good life IN the muscles and mo-
tives of children rather than in their
thoughts about conduct. We must
cease rubbing the virtues into the
mental skin of children unless we
would lead in the direction of moral
awkwardness. paralysis, insincerity
and introversion.
Bespeaks Character Education.
81 Teachers must have shining
sun-clear in the midst of all they do.
cation. which are right attitudes to-
ward the family. civic relations, the
facts and truths of science and all
those permanently significant situa-
tons that make up the moral life of
human beings. We must substitute
objectives and situations for the
usually threadbare and irksome vir-
tues.
-. Use the entire school program
for character development. Desist
for the most part from setting aside
periods for moral instruction. See
that all studies and activities have
that they have Il natural drive toward
character detectives. The good per-
son is not good IN general. He is one
who meets every vital situation
a'fI uiiS, tiiou5 uiis tIpl uliS
and ideally.
90. We must widen the range of what
We mean by morality. Ii must include
within itself the pusing, inner life of
home, church, state and the industrial
order. The spirit of reverence. for ex-
ample, which religion has hitherto con-
served must be the natural fruitage also
of the school He is not yet truly
moral being whose heart does not re-
spond to the meanings that lie within
and beyond the stubborn facts, hard
duties and imposing truths with which
lie is hedged about.
-. Before we get very far with i'm
proving our house of wisdom we shall
have to deepen our knowledge of child
nature and of the laws of its develop
ment and gain profounder insight into
what we mean by character. This will
come in part, from teachers in service
but more by the skilled technicians who
are discovering by scientific methods
what the moral impulses are, how they
arise and how, if at all, they can be
cultivated There are now in America
not fewer than 200 of these experts who
are leading us into a new world of in
sight and possibility concerning this
hitherto indefinable thing called char
acter.
I'VE are now gaining conscious control
of human development. The future of
humanity. the destiny of nations, the
direction Of human progress are in the
hands not so much of makers of law or
captains vi itiduSlII VI ttt lSdtiltlo
who are shaping the ctizenry of the
world
Scores Destructive Critics.
.'The most dangerous enemies with
in our gates are those destructive
critics who are constantly us ing their
vociferous battering rams >agatnst
the very foundation of our republic
the American public school," Mr..
Goodrich said.
"The first and last line of nefense
of American democracy against foes
both without and within will always
/ be the public schoolhouse. guarded
and protected by our grand army of
self sacrificing. devoted and spiritual
minded body of teachers. The public
schools have always been severely at
tackled by selfish and vested inter-
Educators must have definite
spiritual purpose and spiritual out
look on their work. Teachers have a
splendid opportunity of creating spir-
itual values through the present pub
lie school courses of study. They can
emphasize the value of truth, of good
ness, of beauty, of harmony, Of rever-
ence; and these spiritual lessons
should be taught whenever possible.
SpiriSual leadership on the part of the
SUPERINTENDENT will develop similar
qualities in all the members of their
'The public schools cannot teach
different UNCONVENTIONAL rituals or
creeds to it's children. They should
never emphasize differences Of race,
color or religion, but the public
schools must teach the essential of
a socialized religion which empha-
sizes the brotherhood of God. This
may well be supplemented by the
denominational religion taught by the
parents of the children in their
own homes or in their respective
churches
whatever is best in our American