Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/254

237 In most schools there is some moral instruction. In many cases regular periods are set aside on the school time-table at which the teacher gives lessons on temperance, thrift, hygiene, and good manners. In other cases the headmaster has "talks" to gatherings of the children in his school. But in most schools instruction is given, not according to a pre-arranged scheme, but incidentally as occasion offers. While much controversy still rages as to the best methods of imparting moral instruction, there is practical unanimity that direct moral instruction in some.form should be given. This was established by the important and representative committee which was appointed in 1907 to conduct an international inquiry into the influence of education upon character and conduct. Their elaborate report, issued under the title Moral Instruction and Training in Schools, embodies the result of much patient investigation of the practice and theory of moral instruction throughout the world, and contains the recommendation that direct moral instruction should be given in all public elementary schools.

In the attempt to give moral instruction, two mistakes have to be avoided. (1) The moral lesson should not be made to seem the same as any other lesson. While the teacher should certainly follow some plan in giving his course of lessons, they will have most influence on the children if the teacher attaches them to some "text," e.g. some important or striking event in the school or neighbourhood or state. If this be done, the lessons are much more likely to strike home than if they simply issued from a cast-iron scheme. But while the lessons will be