But they are none the less
deeply conscious that this is not the highest aim of education. We
scarcely need to be told that a person may be fully equipped with the
best that this style of education can give, and still remain a
criminal. A good and wise parent will inevitably seek for a better
result in his child than mere knowledge, intellectual ability, and
power. All good schoolmasters know that behind school studies and
cares is the still greater task of developing manly and womanly
character. Perhaps, however, this is too high and sacred a thing to
formulate. Perhaps in the attempt to reduce it to a scientific form we
should lose its spirit. Admitting that strong moral character is the
noblest result of right training, is it not still incidental to the
regular school work? Perhaps it lies in the teacher and in his manner
of teaching subjects, and not in the subject-matter itself nor in any
course of study.
This is exactly the point at which we wish to apply the lever and to
lift into prominence the _moral character-building aim_ as the central
one in education. This aim should be like a loadstone, attracting and
subordinating all other purposes to itself.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25