16
March, 1923
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
than to recall those words of the first
great philosopher and prophet of the
elementary school, Comenius. His me
thod of solving the problem of correla
tion was very different from any of the
logical, psychological, or pedagogical
methods proposed by the Committee,
but, when interpreted broadly, very like
the principle of correlation in Plato and
Aristotle, Milton and Ascham, Arnold
and Horace Mann. All studies and me
thods and discipline were, he maintained,
to teach the child “to know and rule
himself, and to direct his steps toward
God.”2 Such is the only true correla
tion of studies, and only under such a
conception can character receive its due.
The more specialized and less widely-
known repoits will, in genera), manifest
the same emphasis; the discussion of
History in the Report of the Committee
of Eight may be cited as a striking
example, inasmuch as it deals with the
one subject in the whole curriculum
that is richest in ethical matter and most
fruitful in possible moral education.
Compare, if you will, the attitude of
Montaigne, of Milton, and of Dr. Arn
old, regarding the teaching and use of
History, with that embodied or implied
in this modern report.
The prevailing neglect of the moral
element is shown no less strikingly by
a comparison of modern text-books with
those of the past. I have in my pos
session one of the most widely-used
Readers of the early part of the nine
teenth century in America, Murray’s
English Reader. We might well tran
scribe the table of contents entire, for
almost every title shows the contrast
between this Reader of the days of our
grandfathers and the Readers of today.
Out of the eighty-four prose selections
in the first part of the volume, fifty-four
are distinctly and avowedly moral;
eighteen others are religious; of the re
maining twelve all, with scarcely an ex
ception, have a moral or religious mo
tive. The poetical selections have the
same strongly ethical character.
Now, let the reader take in hand a
typical modem Reader, or inspect the
list of classics prescribed for high
schools. The contrast with the old Mur
ray will be striking. The distinctly and
avowedly ethical and religious is con
spicuous by its absence. The great ma
jority of the selections are non-moral:
narratives to entertain or amuse, his
torical matter to inform and instruct,
essays to whet the wit and cultivate the
literary taste (would that they actually
did!), and a good admixture of the hu
morous, or even ludicrous.
Of course, Murray’s Reader of 1835 is
not a good text-book for our schools to
day. The complete absence of the humor
ous from its pages would alone suffice
to condemn it, and its whole tone is
painfully pietistic and goody-goody. But
it is imbued from beginning to end with
a profound and ever active desire to
train the moral natures of the pupils;
that purpose is always in the focus of
2 Se nosse et regere, et ad Deum dirigere.
attention and never takes a second place.
Truly, “we have changed all that,” but
with the error of the old letter, may we
not have cast away some of the excel
lence of the old spirit? In our dread of
the goody-goody, may we not have shut
the door on that all-surpassing end of
education, the Good?
Let us consider one more manifesta
tion of the lapse of attention to moral
education, found in another part of the
educational field, the college • and the
university.
Whither has the old-time college
chapel vanished? Within the memory of
many of us who are not yet old, it was
the custom in American colleges not ex
cepting state institutions, for students
and. faculty to meet regularly and fre
quently for a religious and moral exer
cise. The ears of the youth were at
least accustomed to the words of Holy
Writ and the voice of prayer and the
serious counsel and admonition of their
elders. We have heard not a few who
passed through college in those days de
clare that no part of the college train
ing was more 'beneficent in its influence
than the chapel.
How have the times changed in all
save a constantly diminishing and apolo-
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