632 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



Moral instruction consists in imparting knowledge about human 

 conduct, and in the study of mental processes antecedent to, con- 

 comitant with, and resulting from conduct, and must also include 

 consideration of the laws of health and the more important legal, 

 political, economic, and general cultural relationships existent in 

 a society, and the ways by which they are influenced by various 

 kinds of conduct. It is convenient to reserve the term moral in- 

 struction more particularly for that teaching which deals more 

 immediately with human conduct, though in theory and in prac- 

 tice it is impossible to isolate this instruction from the rest of 

 the school instruction. 



The emotional aspect of moral instruction is not infrequently 

 neglected, or is too little regarded. Moral instruction obeys the 

 laws of intellection, but it pays no less heed to congenital 

 emotional tendencies, 'he laws of emotional response, emotional 

 association, and, in general, to tlie development of those deep- 

 seated factors which give moral conscience its essential charac- 

 teristic and its peculiar power. 



Moral instruction is especially concerned with volition, for its 

 essential and final object is to develop the resolution to right con- 

 duct. It usually involves intellectual, and even aesthetic, interests; 

 but only in so far as it kindles moral interest, and causes actual 

 resolution, have we moral instruction in the strict sense. 



Moral instruction is not antithetical to moral training, but 

 involves the same factors, differing from it merely in degree. It 

 is essentially direct, as it strives to penetrate to the pupil's own 

 moral personality. It is necessarily to a considerable extent 

 secular, though many oppose this view, and urge that moral in- 

 struction must be based upon religious sanctions. The definition 

 of religious sanctions in a way acceptable to all parties and creeds 

 is almost impossible, and, when defined, their relation to secular 

 sanctions is difficult to decide. Secular moral instruction is in- 

 dispensable even in the strictest religious school, or where religious 

 sanctions are implied, or taken for granted, and are regarded as 

 giving the secular part complete vitality and force. If, for any 

 reason, it is not permissible to refer explicitly to religious sanc- 

 tions in a school, it is all the more desirable to extend and deepen 

 the secular moral instruction to the utmost, especially on its higher 

 and more spiritual sides. As the majority of teachers in so-called 

 secular schools are Christians, the bias, if bias there be, in secular 

 moral instruction will be more in favour of a fairly orthodox 

 theistic world view than of an atheistic one. Direct secular moral 

 instruction is inevitable in every school worthy of the name, and 

 should be made as completely effective as possible. 



Special or " set " moral lessons, while invaluable if well given, 

 may tend to encourage excessively minute analysis, morbid intro- 

 spectiveness, subtle sophistry, and other like evils if badly given. 



