A fit
introduction of children to this class of literature should be in the
hands of teachers, and all the later reading of pupils will feel the
salutary effect.
If this is the proper origin and culture of moral ideas, we desire to
know how to utilize it in the common school course. It can only be
done by an extensive use of historical and literary materials in all
grades with the _conscious purpose_ of shaping moral ideas and
character. That the school has such influence at its disposal can not
be reasonably denied by any one who believes that the family or the
church can affect the moral character of their children. It may be
objected that the school thus takes up the proper work of the home,
when it ought to be occupied with other things. Would that the homes
were all good! But even if they were the teacher could not fold his
arms over a responsibility removed. As soon as a boy enters school, if
not sooner, he begins, in some sense, to outgrow the home. New
influences and interests find a lodgment in his affections.
Companions, the wider range of his acquaintances, studies, and
ambitions, share now with the home. John Locke objected radically to
English public schools on this account.
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