Moral Education Volume 27 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 edition. Excerpt: ... Moral Education GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. One of the principles of education may be expressed as being the fact that the mind has its natural growth or development when the knowledge that it contains is the product of its own action upon the facts presented to it, or is founded upon such action upon the part of others, just as natural physical growth is the product of the action of the inner forces upon physical food. Experience or observation being the general foundation of knowledge, the foundation of moral knowledge would be, therefore, no statements or precepts, but the observation or experience of conduct, developing what is right and what is wrong. Through parents' or instructors' guiding a child's observation by means of questioning, the moral precept should thus come from the child himself. The golden rule, for example, would not be given to a child as a tradition, but, through the directing of his observation and reasoning, be made a part of his own thinking--one of his own conclusions. A child has naturally, from contact with parents and companions, a small stock of ideas based upon his own observation, and that is actually his own, although it may be distorted by selfinterest. As with education in general, he should not be hindered by being told what under ordinary circumstances he should be able to perceive for himself. Just as lack of exercise and proper food will dwarf his bodily growth, so lack of observation and reasoning, with lack of material for mental and moral growth, must tend to dwarf the growth of his mind and character. Definite moral education, by bringing the moral element in conduct to attention, should tend to cause more habitual consideration for it. As learning proceeds from the concrete to the abstract, from the known...