MORAL TRAINING.
One of the grand aims of the infant system was intended to improve
the system of moral training. The great deficiency in our systems of
education, with respect to moral training, is truly lamentable, from
the highest down to the lowest schools in the land. There is room for
immense improvement in this matter, it is hardly possible to visit a
school and witness proper efforts made on this important subject; and
never will education produce the glorious effects anticipated from
it, until this subject is legislated for and well understood by the
public; and I pray to God that he will enable me to use arguments in
this chapter to prove effective in the minds of my readers, so as to
induce them to co-operate with me to produce another state of things.
In these days there is much said about education; it has at last
arrested the attention of parliament; and through them, the
government, and, as it should be, through the government, the
sovereign. Thus is truly encouraging and will act as a stimulus to
practical men to develop a system workable in all its parts, and thus
carry out the views and benevolent intentions of the legislature.
Infant education, however, must be the basis, this is beginning at
the right end; if errors are committed here the superstructure is
of little avail. The foundation of moral training must be laid in
infancy, it cannot be begun too soon, and is almost always commenced
too late. Mere infants can understand the doing as they would be done
by; no child likes to be deprived of its play-things, his little toys,
or any thing which he considers his property; he will always punish
the aggressor if he can, and if he cannot he will cry, or put himself
in a passion, or seek aid from his parents, or any other source
where he thinks he may get justice done to him. Little children have
beautiful ideas on this subject, and would have, if properly trained,
correct notions as to the rights of property; to teach them to respect
the property of others, and even to respect themselves, is far
preferable to cramming their memories with good rules in theory; this
was the old plan; we have proof that it has not worked well. The new
plan must operate upon the will, it must influence the heart of the
child; this is the Scripture plan, which continually refers to the
heart, and not so much to the head. Every opportunity must be allowed
the child to develop its character; to do this it must be associated
with its fellows; if the child is a solitary being, his faculties
cannot be drawn out, it is in society only they can be beneficially
acted upon, and it is in the company of its fellows, that it will
shew its true character and disposition; hence the necessity of moral
training. There should be temptations placed within reach of the
children, such as fruits, flowers, and shrubs. The child taught to
respect these will set due bounds to his desire, gardens will cease
to
be robbed, hedges will not be broken down, turnips and potatoes will
not be stolen to the extent which is but too prevalent in the present
day. And I am perfectly convinced that every pound the country spends
in promoting a rightly directed education, will be saved in the
punishment of crime, which in a political point of view, is quite
sufficient to induce the country to call for a properly directed
system of national education, which must ultimately be based on the
oracles of eternal truth. If these ends could be obtained by theory,
we have plenty of that in these days. All the writers on education
tell us that such and such things should be done, but most of them
that I have read, forget to tell us how to do it. They complain of
the schools already in existence, they complain of the teachers, they
complain of the apathy upon the subject; all of which is very easy.
And I regret to say there is but too much cause for all these
complaints; but this will not remedy the evil, we must have new plans
for moral training; teachers must have greater encouragements held out
to them; they must take their proper rank in society, which I contend
is next to the clergy; and, until these things take place, we may go
on complaining, as talented men will sooner devote themselves to any
profession rather than to the art of teaching.
We will now endeavour to show how these things are to be remedied,
so far as moral training is applicable to infants from twelve months
old
to six or seven years. In another part of this work, we have shewn
what may and ought to be done in the play-ground; in this chapter
we will endeavour to shew what may be done to this end in the
school-room. In the pages on gallery teaching we have given specimens
of lessons on natural objects and scriptural subjects. Moral training
may receive considerable aid from gallery teaching also; the children
must not only be continually told what they ought to do, but as often
what they ought not to do; they must be told that they are not to
fight, and the reasons must be given; they must be told that they are
not to throw stones, and also told the consequences; they must be told
not to strike each other with sticks; they must be told not to play
in
the dirt; they must be trained in cleanly and delicate habits; they
must not only be told all these things; but they must be watched in
their private hours, they must be encouraged to assist and love each
other, and it must be proved to them that this is the way to advance
their own individual happiness. It is self-love that is the cause of
half our miseries. Children cannot be told this too soon; it must be
explained and proved to them that evil, sooner or latter, brings its
own punishment, and that goodness as assuredly brings its own reward.
Opportunities will be continually developing themselves for giving moral
training to the children, the judicious teacher will seize these as
they occur, and always make the best of them for the good of
the children. A school is a family upon a large scale; nay, 'tis a
commonwealth, and no day will pass without facts shewing themselves,
to enable the teacher to give sound moral instruction. It is true we
want a better race of teachers, but we must have a better sort of
schools first; for it is only from these that a better race of
teachers can be supplied. The well trained infants of this generation,
will make the efficient teachers of the next.
We will suppose the children to be seated in the gallery, the doors
of
the school closed, and every thing snug and quiet; the teacher must
be alone, and there must be nothing to distract the children's
attention. He must then bring out his store of facts which he has
noted down as they occurred; he makes his selection according to
circumstances, according to the state of his own mind; not forgetting
the state of mind that the children may be in, and especially the
state of the weather. The following little ditty may then be repeated,
the subject being On Cruelty to Animals.
I'll never hurt my little dog,
But stroke and pat his head;
I love to see him wag his tail,
I like to see him fed.
Poor little thing, how very good
And very useful too;
And do you know? that he will mind
What he is bid to do.
Then I will never hurt my dog,
Nor ever give him pain,
But I will always treat him kind,
And he will love again.
If the children do not appear so bright as the teacher should desire,
the before-mentioned ditty, after it has been repeated, may be sung.
But the tune must be such as would be likely to operate upon the moral
feelings; great caution and circumspection is necessary in selecting
proper times for children, and this must be guided by the subject
treated of. If the subject is exhilarating, a lively tune must be
selected; if the subject is serious, a corresponding tune must also
be
chosen; but if the subject is intended to operate upon the feelings,
what is usually called "a love tune" will be the most desirable.
The
tune having been sung, and the feelings operated upon as desired, the
teacher may entertain the little pupils with some one of the numerous
stories written about the dog. But before he does this, he must
exhaust so much of the subject as appears in the before-mentioned
ditty, by question and answer, similar to the other lessons mentioned
before, something like the following:--
Little children; you have just sung that you would never hurt a little
dog, can you tell me why not? Some of the children will be sure to say,
Please, sir, because he has got the sense of feeling.
Teacher. Right, a little dog has got the same sense of feeling as you
little children have, and when it is hurt, how does it shew that it
has got
the sense of feeling?
Children. Please, sir, it will cry out.
Teacher. Yes, it can only tell us it is hurt by doing so. A poor dog
cannot
speak, and so we should never hurt it. Has a little fly the sense of
feeling?
Children. Yes, sir.
Teacher. Right again, and so has every
creature that God gave life to, and we should never give any of them
unnecessary pain. In the song that we have just sung, you said you
would stroke and pat the little dog's head. What would you do this
for?
Children. Please, sir, the little dog likes it, and he is not
afraid of us when we do it, but loves us.
Teacher. So he does, and will always love those that are kind to him;
no one but a very bad boy would be unkind to a dog. You told me, little
children, that a poor little dog cries out when it is hurt. Now when
he is pleased, what does he do?
Children. Please, sir, he wags his tail, and his eyes look very bright.
Teacher. So he does, which is the same as if he said, How
happy I am to be with such good children who do not beat me as some
wicked boys and girls would, but love me and pat my head, and feed me;
for you, little children, you have said you liked to see your little
dog fed, and remember, any of you that have a little dog, or who may
have one when you get older and larger, that it is very cruel not to
see it fed every day; the poor dog cannot ask for its dinner as a
little child can, and that is the, very reason why we should always
remember to give it to him. Will you all remember this?
Children. Yes, sir, we will.
Teacher. You sung in your song that the dog was very useful, tell me
how?
Children, Please, sir, he will mind the house, and bark when any one
comes to steal anything.
Teacher. Yes, you see how sensible the little dog is, he knows what
a wicked thing it is to be a thief, and so he barks when he sees one.
How else is a little dog useful?
Children. Please, sir, they often lead poor blind people
about.
Teacher. So they do, and good faithful guides they are. When
they see any danger they will lead their master out of it, and they
will bring him safely through the crowded streets; and when they go
home the poor blind man divides his bit of bread with his good dog;
and dogs are useful in other ways, they catch hares and rabbits for
their masters, and do many other things. You said also that the dog
minded what he was bid to do, did you not?
Children. Yes, sir, and they will often go back a long way for any thing
they are bid, or stay all day minding their master's coat while he is
at work.
Teacher. Right, and little children when they will not do as they are
desired are not so good as a little dog, and should take example by
one. Do you remember what you said the dog would do if you treated him
kindly?
Children. Please, sir, that he would love us again.
Teacher. Right. When we love any thing, a dog, or a horse, or a little
lamb, it will love us again; for you know, little children, that love
makes love, and if you all love one another, and are kind to one another,
and
never beat or strike each other with any thing, then you will all be
very happy, no little children in the world will be more happy, or
have prettier smiling faces than you will have; for when we look kind
and pleasant we always look pretty, but when we look cross and angry,
then we look ugly and frightful. Remember then, never be cruel to a
dog, or any thing else, but think of this lesson, and the pretty song
we sung. Now, little children, shall I tell you a story, a real true
story about a very cruel boy?
If the children say, Yes, the following may be related.
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