The Elements of General Method | Page 7

study
of morals, of conduct. It is in the personal hardships, struggles, and
mutual contact of men that motives and moral impulses are observed
and weighed. In such men as John Bunyan, William the Silent, and
John Quincy Adams, we are much interested to know what qualities of
mind and heart they possessed, and especially what human sympathies
and antipathies they felt. Livingstone embodied in his African life
certain Christian virtues which we love and honor the more because
they were so severely and successfully tested. Although the history of
men and of society has many uses, its best influence is in illustrating
and inculcating moral ideas. It is teaching morals by example. Even
living companions often exert less influence upon children than the
characters impressed upon their minds from reading. The deliberate
plan of teachers and parents might make this influence more salutary
and effective.

It will strike most teachers as a surprise to say that the chief use of
history study is to form moral notions in children. Their experience
with this branch of school work has been quite different. They have not
so regarded nor used history. It has been generally looked upon as a
body of useful information that intelligent persons must possess. Our
history texts also have been constructed for another purpose, namely, to
summarize and present important facts in as brief space as possible, not
to reveal personal actions and character as a formative moral influence
in the education of the young. Even as sources of valuable information,
Spencer shows that our histories have been extremely deficient; but for
moral purposes they are almost worthless.
Now, moral dispositions are a better fruitage and test of worth in men
than any intellectual acquirements. History is already a recognized
study of admitted value in the schools. It is a shame to strip it of that
content and of that influence which are its chief merit. To study the
conduct of persons as illustrating right actions is, in quality, the highest
form of instruction. Other very important things are also involved in a
right study of history. There are economic, political, and social
institutions evolved out of previous history; there are present intricate
problems to be approached and understood. But all these questions rest
to a large extent upon moral principles. But while these political, social,
and economic interests are beyond the present reach of children,
biography, individual life and action in their simple forms, are plain to
their understanding. They not only make moral conduct real and
impressive, but they gradually lead up to an appreciation of history in
its social and institutional forms.
Some of the best historical materials (from biography, tradition, and
fiction) should be absorbed by children in each grade as an essential
part of the substratum of moral ideas. This implies more than a
collection of historical stories in a supplementary reader for
intermediate grades. It means that history in the broad sense is to be an
important study in every grade, and that it shall become a center and
reservoir from which reading books and language lessons draw their
supplies. These biographies, stories, and historical episodes must be the
best which our history and classic literature can furnish, and whatever

is of like virtue in the life of other kindred peoples, of England,
Germany, Greece, etc.
If history in this sense can be made a strong auxiliary to moral
education in common schools, the whole body of earnest teachers will
be gratified. For there is no theme among them of such perennial
interest and depth of meaning as moral culture in schools. It is useless
to talk of confining our teachers to the intellectual exercises outlined in
text books. They are conscious of dealing with children of moral
susceptibility. In our meetings, discussions on the means of moral
influence are more frequent and earnest than on any other topic; and in
their daily work hundreds of our teachers are aiming at moral character
in children more than at anything else. As they free themselves from
mechanical requirements and begin to recognize their true function,
they discover the transcendent importance of moral education, that it
underlies and gives meaning to all the other work of the teacher.
But teachers heretofore have taken a narrow view of the moral
influences at their disposal. Their ever-recurring emphatic refrain has
been "the example of the teacher," and, to tell the truth, there is no
better means of instilling moral ideas than the presence and inspiration
of a high-toned teacher. We know, however, that teachers need moral
stimulus and encouragement as much as anybody. It will not do to
suppose that they have reached the pinnacle of moral excellence and
can stand as all-sufficient exemplars to children. The teacher himself
must have food as well as the children.