Lanterna Rally

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Published: 2015-07-12

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13: 9781331278610

Excerpt from A Children's Code of Morals: For the Girls and Boys There are three ways in which instruction in morals may be presented: as ideas, as habits, and as purposes. A teacher may talk, and the children may learn, about what is and is not moral behavior precisely as they may hear and learn about the length of the Mississippi River. Usually such instruction has little effect upon behavior. Abstract ideas have no motive power and it is quite possible for a child to be able to recite glibly about honesty without the knowledge affecting his daily living in the slightest. On the contrary, it often happens that moral instruction operates to make the children immune to the real moral influences when they arise. It is for this reason that morals as a course of study is not found in the curriculum. No teacher should "teach" morals explicitly as subject matter nor use this code as something to be "learned" by the children. The second method of presenting moral instruction to children is by means of habit formation. The child who is required by a courteous teacher to behave always in a courteous manner is sure to acquire the habit of courtesy in school. Unfortunately, however, a mere habit is likely to be narrow and specific. There is nothing to prevent the child who under compulsion acquires the habit of behaving courteously in the classroom from having also the habit of behaving very discourteously upon the playground or in his home. Moreover, the habits which can be built up in classroom situations are few in number. Nevertheless insistance upon correct behavior during schools hours and the gradual formation of habits of correct behavior modeled on the consistent example of a teacher have always been and will continue to be, great influences for good. The most effective form of moral instruction is that which results in the formation of a purpose to adopt a given habit as a consistent policy of behavior on all occasions and in all situations. Once such a purpose is formed, the child himself looks for new situations to which the policy will apply and day by day as his habits widen and strengthen, they contribute to the building up of character and personality, the ultimate end or goal of all true education. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.