There is the constant cry, I know, which is going up that the pupils' minds are being overloaded and overtaxed with what is already being taught in our schools, much of it, it is urged, of doubtful value and service; and we all remember the controversy which was recently waged in New York city, echoes of which are not inaudible in this city, against "the frills and fads of education." Now I am as hearty a believer as anyone in instruction for purely cultural as well as for practical purposes, but I believe that, if there is any danger of putting too much of a burden upon the minds of our boys and girls at school, there are other branches of instruction that could far more wisely and advantageously be dispensed with in our schools, than instruction in morals. If our teachers of the classics and higher mathematics will forgive me, these studies, to my mind, could very safely be set aside, to give place to the much more essential study of right relations between human being and human being.

Then there is that conservative sense which is so disposed to protest over this as over every other proposed innovation: "We have gotten along very well all these years," says this conservative sense, "without ethical teaching in our schools. We developed fairly good citizens, tho such teaching was not a part of their school instruction. What is the need then of introducing it now?" "True," let me venture to say in reply, "we did get along quite well in the past, and there is no ground for apprehending that we shall not get along just as well in the future; but is this any reason why we should not desire, and make the endeavor to get along even better, to develop an even finer type of citizenship now than in the past?" Further, let it be observed, that life in the present, under modern conditions, is steadily, daily, becoming more stressful, more complex; that the difficulties, the temptations which face men are greater, and require clearer discernment of moral distinctions, and a heavier draft upon their powers of self command and self control, now than in earlier times. Shall we not then prepare cur youth in our schools, where they come day after day for instruction, so that they can with a proper sense of duty and an adequate equipment for their faithful discharge, meet these heavier exactions of our modern life?

And then there is that further and most powerful objection, the objection against the possible sectarianization of our schools. "Ethics, morals should by all means be taught to our boys and girls, but the proper place for such teaching," the voice of objection as I catch it here urges, "is in our Sabbath, our Religious schools, or our homes, but never in our public schools." Now, let me say, that I yield to no one, and no one can be more zealous than I for the preservation, free from the least taint of sectarianism, of the strictly secular character of our pub

lic schools. The public schools belong not to any one part of our people, however, strong or influential numerically or otherwise they may be, but to the whole people; and I should fight till the last particle of my breath and strength were spent any attempt to intrude into our public system of education any item of instruction that could give offense in the least way to the scruples in the matter of religious belief, or for that matter non-religious unbelief, of even the slightest minori'y of those who contribute by their taxes to the support of our schools. As far as our school policies are concerned, where any item of sectarian belief may be involved, it is my conviction, that the minority, whoever and whatever they may be, have rights, which are just as sacred, just as much to be considered and respected as those of any majority. I cannot say then too strongly or too emphatically, that I stand unalterably and unqualifiedly opposed to all denominationalism; that I want no one's religion, neither mine, nor anyone else's under whatever guise, taught in our public schools.

But saying this as decidedly as I do, I can say equally as decidedly at the same time, that I cannot see where this principle of non-sectarianism, non-ecclesiasticism, need to be in the least imperiled by the introduction of ethical teaching in our schools. Morals can be taught entirely independent of religion, or anyone's religious bias. Whatever be our theory of the ultimate sanctions of ethical precepts; whether we believe that they are divinely derived and ordained or not; whether we hold with the empiricists or the intuitionalists, the evolutionists, the utilitarians, or the transcendentalists in their varied opinions as to what imposes authority in moral action;-all this is aside from the question at issue here. To whomsoever, or to whatsoever, for their final determination, we may trace back the distinctions between right and wrong, the fact nevertheless remains that there is a large fund of ethical judgments which we all hold in common, a whole host of things, upon which we have all come to agree, as the right, the true, the good, the benevolent things for us to do in certain circumstances and relationships, would we call ourselves moral beings. And these things I hold, teachers in our public schools can teach, wholly apart from any belief and any theory they may have as to whence mankind has come into the knowledge of them, and whence it has derived the authority for doing them. And I, for one, have every faith and confidence in the broadmindedness and tolerance of spirit of the teachers in our public schools, that, respecting all possible differences of opinion and belief represented in the pupils who sit before them, they would teach morals in just this way;—carefully putting from them all sectarian prepossessions, and scrupulously avoiding coloring their teachings by any bias they may have, toward or against any particular mode of belief. And for such 7—T. A.

teachings, I further hold, that it is entirely feasible and practical to compile the appropriate and satisfactory text books. There is a whole rich treasure-house of ethical aphorisms and parables contained in the literature of all ages and all peoples, Pagan, Moslem, Buddhist, Confucian, Jewish, Christian and infidel. It is entirely possible, entrusting this task to a commission of competent authorities, in whom complete confidence can be reposed, to collate the ethical teachings on which the universal enlightened moral sense of mankind is a unit, and incorporate these in a work, wholly irrespective of the source whence derived, attaching no name to them,-nothing to indicate to a possible sectarian prepossession one way or the other, whether they are the teachings of a Confucius, or a Buddha, a Plato or a Seneca, a Marcus Aurelius or or an Epictetus, a moses or a Jesus, a Hillel or a Thomas a Kempis, a Robert Ingersoll, a Felix Adler, a Phillip Brooks or a Henry Ward Beecher; the only test to be applied being the ideality of the thought, and the nobility of the literary expression.

Let us then have this ethical teaching in our schools! We need it for the proper development and promotion of the best efficiency of the pupil. We need it for the turning out of the most useful type of men. We need it in particular in these days when moral distinctions are so frequently obscured, and men in the hot frenzied pursuit after success so often forget the debt and duty of the social trusts and the social stewardships they hold in keeping.

THE BESETMENTS OF THE SCHOOLMASTER.

Carroll G. Pearse, Milwaukee.

I might perhaps have used a stronger word and said "Some Temptations of the Schoolmaster," those things which come to every one who follows the profession and unless he is on his guard and resolutely resists them, are likely one or another or perhaps all of them to put their mark upon him.

The schoolmaster is not peculiar in having these besetments; they go with all employments and unless the workers in these employments are on their guard, these influences mark them for their own. Some of these besetments relate to the physical man and determine the carriage, the attitude in standing and sitting, the walk, or poise of the head; others have to do with the outlook on life, with the way one man meets his fellow man, the attitude which he assumes toward them, his habits of thought and methods of reasoning, and other characteristics which go to make up character.

The cowboy who lives upon horseback acquires a red-brown complexion and probably a fine pair of bow legs. The shoemaker who stoops over his last day after day will not be erect of figure; the sailor rolls in his gait; the farm laborer who plods over soft ground on so many days of the year acquires the gait which marks his kind. The minister must be on his guard in order that he may not acquire a professional aspect of benevolence and piety; the lawyer, lest his mind becomes habituated to an attitude of distrust and quibbling and suspicion which usually go with him into all undertakings and investigations, and so the schoolmaster by virtue of his surroundings and the position he occupies in the community, the manner in which he gets his employment, the people with whom he has habitually to deal, must be on his guard to keep a well-balanced character unmarred by the foibles which his employment has a tendency to develop.

The author of the Deserted Village, in describing the village school and its master said:

"Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee,

At all his jokes, for many a joke had he.
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned."

And the schoolmaster today has much of the temptation which caused the schoolmaster of Goldsmith's day to develop into the petty wit. It is so easy for a teacher to raise a laugh in his school by some time worn joke or by some bit of satire at the expense of an awkward pupil or some boy who has made a blunder in his lesson. The youngsters are so accustomed to hang upon the mood of the teacher and to laugh when they think he would like to have them laugh, to look sober if he may wish them to look sober, that it requires more self-restraint than the average schoolmaster has, to avoid falling more or less into this petty habit. It is so easy for the schoolmaster of wider responsibilities and more exalted position to bring a laugh from a complaisant company of teachers who tend to hang upon his humor and to laugh at his jokes even when the joke is at the expense of someone who is hurt by it. All of us who have stood at the schoolmaster's desk have felt these temptations, but I believe none of us has ever yielded to the impulse without thinking, if he thought honestly of the matter afterwards, that he had cheapened the standing of his profession by yielding.

The schoolmaster sits in the seat of authority. His word is law; the pupils are not permitted to talk back to him, and if he be a principal or superintendent, the teachers do not have that privilege when he gives his dictum upon school matters. They must receive his sentence. As pupils come before him, he is counsel, judge and jury. These conditions are not unlikely to beget in him an unjudicial temper, a tendency to decide hastily; and hasty decisions are certain to lead, on numerous occasions, to injustice. Often a boy comes to the teacher; he wishes to state his case, to present his defense. But the teacher thinks he knows all about it; the boy is not heard; sentence is passed; the criminal is executed. Sometimes the execution is deserved; quite as often a statement of the case from the boy's point of view would have secured a modification of sentence. Principals are less inclined to deal thus summarily with teachers, but frequently the temptation to deny a hearing to the parents of pupils is felt and yielded to. The principal thinks he knows the facts, he does not care to make any inquiry as to causes or reasons; the dignity of the school has been outraged, his own rules have been violated, and the edict promptly goes forth. Later inquiry not seldom develops the fact that this edict is based upon partial information; that extenuating circumstances exist; that the pupil had provocation, perhaps not enough to excuse him but enough to mitigate his offense. Word sent may not have reached the parent, or it may have been impossible or exceedingly inconvenient for the parent to comply with the instructions transmitted to him. A man who sits year by year in a position where he has the