FOR USE IN THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, THE HOME SECOND SERIES LESSONS IN THE STUDY OF HABITS BY WALTER L. SHELDON CHICAGO, ILL. 179 ILLINOIS ST. PREFACE. There is a growing conviction among thoughtful people that ethics should constitute an integral part of the education of the young. A demand for text books on this subject is sure to arise, both for the use of the school and the home. With this thought in view, the author has been at work for several years on a graded scheme of ethical instruction for young people, covering the period from early childhood to adult life. Much of this material is now in manuscript form, and he is venturing in this volume to present one of the series of Lessons more especially adapted for the age from nine to twelve years. The thread of subject has to do with Habits of Life. The next series would deal with "Duties in the Home and the Family," to be followed by a treatise on "Citizenship and the Duties of a Citizen." Then would come a further text book on the most practical subject of "Justice." These would constitute a grammar school course. The later volumes to appear would take up in separate treatises the subjects of "Duties Pertaining to One's Self," and "Man in Society." The greater part of all this material has already been tried in a special school in charge of the author and proved to be successful. After testing the work in this way, he has been putting it through a thorough revision, incorporating by this means the experience which has been gained in the class work where the Lessons have been used. The most serious problem in connection with the whole subject has been to arrange the line of work so that it should in no way interfere with the special religious standpoint of the schools or families where the Lessons are introduced. The author has sought with painstaking care to be neutral in this direction, developing the points in such a way that the teacher or parent might add on at any place the religious attitude desired, without making any confusion in the text. He believes, therefore, that such treatises could be employed in the home or the school room-in the grammar schools on the one hand, where any definite form of religious instruction would perhaps be excluded; and on the other hand, equally well in denominational Sunday-schools where doctrinal standpoints could be merged into the text at the judgment or discretion of the teacher. The main effort has been to sift out the great essentials of ethical conduct established by the long experience of ages of human history, and to impart them in conversational form to the young and growing mind before it has come into active contact with the world at large. It will be seen that each lesson as it is worked out usually contains a variety of material to be introduced. by the teacher or parent according to circumstances. The body of each lesson will be found to consist of an imaginary Dialogue carried on between the child and the adult, and is intended either as a skeleton of method for the teacher, or as paragraphs to be read and studied by the pupil if preferred. At the outset there is a series of "Special Suggestions" to the parent or teacher which of course should be read with a great deal of care. In this special volume the material is of a miscellaneous character, with each Lesson standing by itself. But in the ensuing series, which may appear later on, the method becomes much more systematic, after the young people have become infused with the spirit which pervades this whole course of instruction. It is to be assumed that in such an important field where as yet so little has really been done, no two persons would quite agree on points of detail. Before many years have passed, a whole literature pertaining to this subject will have developed. The most that the author can hope, therefore, is to have helped in paving the way for better work to be done by others in coming years. WALTER L. SHELDON. 4065 Delmar Ave., St. Louis, Mo. |