NEW SERIES, VOL. XI., Nos. 8 & 9.

TERMS.-One Dollar a year, payable in advance. All remittances, letters and communications to be addressed to CHARLES NORTHEND, NEW BRITAIN, Conn.

POSTAGE. Twelve cents a year, if paid in advance at the office where taken.

School Furniture Works,

ESTABLISHED 1838.

The Pioneer and most Extensive Establishment in the U. States.

An Illustrated Catalogue and information forwarded, on application, by mail or

otherwise.

N. B. EVERY ARTICLE OF SCHOOL FURNITURE FROM THIS ESTABLISH

MENT WILL BE WARRANTED.

ALL COMMUNICATIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO

JOSEPH L. ROSS,

Office, CHARDON, opp. HAWKINS STREET,

(NEAR THE REVERE HOUSE,) BOSTON, MASS.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860 by Josera L. Ross, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

THE

Connecticut Common School Journal,

AND

ANNALS OF EDUCATION.

VOL. XI. NEW BRITAIN, AUG. & SEPT., 1864. Nos. 8 & 9.

MORAL EDUCATION.*

2d. To what extent can moral education be conducted in common schools? In all literary or scientific institutions, under the control of corporate bodies or of private individuals, the controlling authority can direct, enlarge, or limit such education, subject to the laws of the land. But in state institutions formed by state laws, for the public benefit, and intended to receive all classes for instruction, the guidance of the institutions and the official acts of those in charge of them, must conform to the genius of the laws and the will of the state.

Any system of public education must therefore be planned and directed with reference to the fundamental principles of the government. Without stopping to consider the policies of different states, we may remark that in this country, the policy of the state is christian, but entirely unsectarian.

The Declaration of Independence recognizes one God, a

*Extract from Prof. Camp's Annual Address to the graduating class, 1864. VOL. XI.

15

creator who has endowed his creatures with inalienable rights, who exerts a providential and directing care over nations and individuals, and to whom all are to look for protection. The government of the United States by the appointment of chaplains in the army and navy, by the daily acknowledgement of its dependence on God, in the prayer by which the daily sessions of congress are opened, has recognized the same great fact.

The constitution of Connecticut in its preamble acknowledges "the good providence of God," and provides for “the exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship.” It declares it to be "the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe," but provides that "all may render that worship in the mode most consistent with the dictates of their consciences." The government of the state by the oath administered to all its officers, by the daily prayer offered in each branch of the General Assembly, and by various laws on the statute book, recognizes the propriety and obligation of morality and religion. So far then as moral education can be conducted without infringing upon religious belief or contravening religious creeds, it may properly have a place in our public school system. And here I think, we shall find that all necessary truths may be tanght, all essential principles be enjoined. For no religious creed is opposed to the inculcation of truth, of justice, of purity of thought and character, of benevolence, and of reverence for God and holy things.

But how are these virtues to be secured? Two things are to be sought; the inculcation of right principle, and the formation of right habits.

Little need be said in any school, of the obligation to do right, for this feeling has been written by the finger of God upon every human soul and is one of the intuitive principles of our nature, and always active in some degree in childhood. Assuming this, then, as felt by every one, the intellectual faculties must be educated to determine what is right and every child is to be trained to right habits of action.

The teacher must be deeply inbued with the importance

of moral culture. He must see that education is incomplete without it, and must have faith in such culture and in the promised aid of his Heavenly Father. I am aware that the views of society do not encourage such a feeling; that christian communities and even professed christian parents clearly indicate that they estimate higher, the solution of a mathematical problem, the answering of a philosophical question, and the attainment of a high intellectual position, than they do the formation of right moral character. Though this is the case, if moral culture is to be secured, the teacher must have his own soul awakened to the power of active moral principles and his whole life must be an exemplification of the truth he would teach. The successful educator often impresses himself more upon his pupils by the vigor, and the enthusiasm of his own soul, by his own faith in truth and right and God, than by any direct teachings or lessons from books. This is especially the case in moral culture. Let the teacher, then, be filled with a love for truth, let him see in it the highest beauty, the most enduring substance, and seek it as his best treasure; let him be just in all his actions and reverent even in all his thoughts, and his pupils will catch his spirit; and especially, if his own soul has been baptized into these influences, not by form or outward profession alone, but by the power of divine truth and love, he will teach by his daily example. The natural outgoings of his own mind will be after truth, his language will bear its stamp, the moral atmosphere about him will be warmed by its influence, and be made to glow by its power. With a clear conviction of its authority, and right views of the work, he will endeavor to impress upon every class similar views. He will teach his pupils that it is better to be true and right, than to be great; that truth in word, in action and in life, is necessary to all real greatness.

In the treatment of all subjects, with all classes, the object should be to discover and apply the truth, and to develop properly the intellectual and moral faculties. In ail exercises, recitations and examinations, truthfulness should be inculcated. Statements of fact should be exact. Narrations