to-dateness in civic knowledge and insight is expressed by Pericles in this same oration. "An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household: and even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics. We always regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as a harmless, but as a useless character; and if few of us are originators, we are all sound judges of a policy. The great impediment to action is, in our opinion, not discussion, but the want of that knowledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action."

The Athenians had strong social enthusiasms which were powerful factors in the moral education of the youth. This statement applies also to the education of the Roman youth in the time of the Republic, with the qualification that the Roman boy had fewer careers open to him and fewer opportunities for freedom of expression. Other examples of effective social enthusiasms utilized in moral instruction may be found in the education of chivalry in Europe and of Bushido in Japan. Every age and every nation has had its enthusiasms. Not all of these have been equally effective as forces for moral in

struction.

The aim of the education of the Greeks was simple and definite and tended to produce a type of character. The complexity of modern life has made singleness of aim and the production of a type impossible. But this does not prevent a modern nation from making an effective use of its own forces for educational progress. The twentieth century, like the nineteenth, promises to be a period of increasing nationalization. The problems of nations will be internal-the problems of making peace with themselves rather than with each other. The fanatical national consciousness which holds in contempt everything foreign is being superseded by a more internal reflective consciousness directed toward domestic problems. The feeling that we need a national house-cleaning is rapidly gaining ground. That we may learn many useful matters concerning education, industry, and even municipal government from other nations without wrecking the Republic is being confidently admitted.

In this connection Paulsen, speaking for the German people, says: "The ideas of Fichte and Hegel foreshadowed what is now being realized. They saw in the state not merely an organization destined to secure national power or safety, but an institution intended to realize the moral idea."5

If the state is to realize the moral idea, it is plain that we must have a deeper and more extensive knowledge of present social affairs. The people generally must have a better grasp of the significance of their social activities. The problem is a difficult one, first, because of the complexity of modern society, and second, because of the unorganized condition of social activities. But the kind of education needed means precisely the mastery and simplification of the modern social complexity and the organization and control of social activities for ethical ends, and we have no right to shrink from the task because it is difficult. This kind of education can never be secured as a by-product from the study of many courses rich in many things except the institutions and forces of modern society. For a people whose golden age is yet to come, whose ideals are projected into the future, a system which omits or merely apologizes for present social conditions loses one great opportunity for moral instruction.

Moral insights are developed through present needs and motives. Instruction which does not arouse motives of social utility cannot have any direct effect upon conduct needed by society. Studies may result in forming habits of industry, quick and accurate thinking, acuteness of perception, vividness of imagination and memory, and yet leave motives of ethical conduct untouched. All of these disciplinary values become exceedingly important, however, in giving efficiency to ethical conduct, or, in other words, in realizing right motives in action. On the other hand, these disciplines may become equally effective in realizing wrong motives. To preform the child by establishing habits and attitudes, of course, is absolutely essential in the moral growth of the child, but present adjustments cannot be made on this basis alone. "Ultimate moral motives and

Paulsen, German Education, Past and Present, 178,

forces are nothing more or less than social intelligence-the power of observing and comprehending social situations-and social power-trained capacities of control-at work in the service of social interests and aims." Nothing less than the possession of the knowledge and spirit of society as it now exists can give birth to effective motives-motives which in turn will give direction to habits and attitudes.

Negatively considered, all subjects viewed and studied as ends rather than as means are moral agencies. When my attention is occupied with the beauties of literature, with the theories of mathematics, with the engrossing interests of history, with the generalizations of science and philosophy, it cannot be directed at the same time to the satisfaction of my lower impulses and instincts. Truly the sum total of a man's interests makes up his life. But one is only negatively virtuous who thus escapes from evil. It is only when the mind reflects upon subjects as means to an ulterior value that positive moral progress may be made. Whether progress or retrogression is actually accomplished depends upon the nature and the utility of that value. What we need is a race of educated men and women who can appreciate present values as well as the values of the past. We shall always need the values of the past to furnish a perspective for present values, but to ignore present values or to expect them to be realized incidentally, without studying the content inseparably connected with them, is to exist in the present and live in the past. The child appreciates certain values which seem to him to satisfy his individual needs. Moral instruction consists in elevating the child from his own. plane of needs and values to the plane of society's needs and values.

The great problem is to point the boys and girls to the tangible and at the same time to the good in the present. The desire for a career is fundamental in the life of every boy. This career and the life surrounding this career should be idealized before it is actualized. What can be done to realize this end? The lack of social knowledge and insight is not

'Dewey, Moral Principles of Education, 43.

limited to the uneducated, but exists among the educated as well. Many of the graduates of high schools and even colleges are apparently as helpless in this field as men whose education has been limited to the elementary school. Judge Lindsey has shown us how subtle and insinuating are the ways of the "beast." Good men apparently may innocently follow the beast almost to his den without becoming aware of the danger of their course. We see evidences on every hand of the need of social control. The political bosses and their henchmen rob the people for a number of years and then a new set of officials rides into power upon a strong tide of social feeling. Many of the officials of the new régime naturally prove inefficient; political feeling dies down; a state of general apathy ensues; and it is easy for the old professional guard to find their way into camp again. Municipal leagues and good government clubs are organized; some good work is done and then too late it is discovered that their Moses is losing them in the wilderness. The political shyster for a time keeps the company of good people, makes himself prominent in organizations of social service. He is found at church occupying a front pew, and sometimes he becomes the superintendent of a Sunday school. He is a veritable Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Occasionally the church succeeds in proving the identity of Dr. Jekyl and his name is erased from its membership roll. We can never effectually discover such men as this until we are trained to distinguish. the real values of men from their fictitious values represented by their oral professions and social affiliations. Men of strong intellect and great moral worth possessing a rare insight in their specializations and a high degree of control in their vocations are often exceedingly childish in their civic and political judgments. We need a race of professional politicians, not a race of professional office-seekers. We can never hope to solve the great problems of the day successfully without systematically studying modern life.

The political developments of the last century have shown a constantly increasing effectiveness of public opinion in directing the affairs of our nation. Politicians good and bad

have been quick in "putting their ears to the ground," for the man who does not readily read the signs of the times can neither successfully serve nor rob his country. Sinners swim in the current of public opinion as well as the righteous servants of the people. They often swim more successfully in the eddies caused by conflicting currents. "The divisions and cross purposes of decent people give the sinner his chance to get away." Social progress in a democracy depends upon the efficacy of public opinion as well as the individual virtues of its citizens. Why should not the education of the schools seek to make a point of contact with public opinion? Professor Ross correctly diagnoses the case when he says: "Public opinion has become so mighty a regulator of conduct, not because it has grown wiser, but because of the greater ease of ascertaining, focusing, and directing it. There is nothing to indicate a gain in intelligence at all answering to its enlargement of authority." The politician ascertains public opinion and strives to focus and direct it. The educator's problem is to attempt to make intelligence measure up to the enlargement of the authority of public opinion—not intelligence in general, but the intelligence which constitues the grounds for present-day civic and social judgments. "Today as in Hosea's time the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." If the civic insight of the people could equal their civic intentions, the most vexing social evils would be eliminated in a generation. So much of moral effort and moral capacity go to waste because men do not clearly see the opportunities for social service. "The evils of the present industrial and political situation, on the ethical side, are not due so much to actual perverseness on the part of the individuals concerned nor to mere ignorance of what constitutes the ordinary virtues (such as honesty, industry, purity, etc.), as to inability to appreciate the social environment in which we live. It is tremendously complex and confused. Only a mind trained to grasp social situations, and to reduce them to their simpler and typical elements, can get sufficient hold on the realities of this life to see what sort of action, critical and constructive, it really de'Ibid., 15.

"Ross, Sin and Society, 87.

8 Ibid., 25.