6 9 8 



TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTELY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



MORAL TEACHING IN THE PUBLIC 

 SCHOOLS. 



THE reason most frequently given 

 for the introduction of more or 

 less of theological doctrine into public 

 school-teaching is that, without this, 

 there can be no effective teaching of 

 morality. The Roman Catholic Church 

 has always urged this point very strong- 

 ly ; and other communions, if less defi- 

 nite in their claims, have in general 

 shown a disposition to give the teach- 

 ing of morals in the public schools a dis- 

 tinctly theological basis. The question 

 should, therefore, be fairly met, wheth- 

 er morals can be taught apart from the- 

 ology. If they can not, then there is 

 only one thing for state-directed schools 

 to do, and that is, to leave the whole 

 subject alone ; seeing that the teaching 

 of a privileged and undemonstrable the- 

 ology in such establishments is some- 

 thing the people as a whole will never 

 consent to something, indeed, entirely 

 inconsistent with the most elementary 

 notions of intellectual freedom. 



By morals we understand the sci- 

 ence or art of human conduct the sci- 

 ence, when studied theoretically; the 

 art, when practically applied. We be- 

 lieve that the end of conduct is the pro- 

 motion of happiness in the widest sense. 

 Happiness is the end that every indi- 

 vidual instinctively seeks ; and happi- 

 ness is the only end that the philoso- 

 pher can discover, toward which con- 

 duct in general can be directed. Hap- 

 piness, again, if a definition of it must 

 be had, can only be understood as full- 

 ness and harmony of life ; and the 

 things, therefore, that tend to render 

 life full and harmonious are the things 

 that tend to happiness, and the things 

 consequently that morality, as a sci- 

 ence, should teach. But life is essen- 

 tially a thing of relations, and of ever- 



multiplying relations as it grows in 

 complexity. No human being can be 

 understood apart from his relations to 

 the social organism to which he be- 

 longs. As well, to use Mr. Spencer's 

 illustration, try to understand a human 

 arm severed from the body and with- 

 out reference to, or knowledge of, the 

 body as a whole. The harmony of in- 

 dividual life is consequently, in the 

 main, a matter of adjustment to its so- 

 cial environment. Only through so- 

 ciety does the individual gain a true 

 knowledge of, or empire over, himself. 

 Only through society does he discover 

 his true destination in the performance 

 of social (including domestic) duties and 

 the enjoyment of social privileges. 

 Only through society are his thoughts 

 so far widened as to enable him to take 

 a rational view of the universe, unob- 

 scured by personal illusions and undis- 

 turbed by superstition. The action of 

 mind upon mind and the shock of opin- 

 ion upon opinion are the guarantees at 

 once of our intellectual liberty and of 

 ! our mental sanity. 



Now, we wholly fail to see why 

 morality as the science of human du- 

 ties, themselves considered as the foun- 

 dation, the essential condition (demon- 

 strably so) of human happiness, could 

 not be taught very efficiently and satis- 

 factorily in our public schools, without 

 any reference to supramundane facts or 

 theories. What we all have to do is 

 to adapt ourselves to the conditions of 

 life here ; and some respectable theo- 

 logians are to be found who hold that, 

 if we succeed in doing that, we shall 

 occupy a very good position for enter- 

 ing on any future life that may await us. 

 Be that as it may, the business of adapt- 

 ing ourselves to our earthly environ- 

 ment is one that depends on a knowl- 

 edge of mundane truths. Let our school- 



