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Some Misunderstood Theories
In an i{ssue of the Cosmopolitan
Magazine some time ago, attention
was directed to the views of pro
fessors of neariy all of the leading in
stitutions of learning in the dountry,
The title of the article in question,
“Blasting at the Rock of Ages,” seems
to imply that these views are revolu
tionary and endanger the moral peace
and welfare of the people and possibly
foretell the destruction of our pres
ent socfal order.
Whether there is real danger or
not, the author has succeeded in im
pressing people in widely separated
sections of the country with the
enormity of the iniquity of theze pro
fessors, who, secure within the aca
demic walls, teach these doctrines so
diverse and damning.
For example, the editor of the Cos
mopolitan expresses himself as fol
lows: '
“Out of the curricula of American.
colleges a dynamic movement is up
heaving ancient foundations and
opening a way for revolutionary
thought and life.”
A well-known New TYork mews
paper editor also voices a vigorous
“protest against the license which is
evidently running riot in our Ameri
can universities.”
I recently heard also a sermon by
one of the most distinguished min
isters in the South in one of the lead
ing churches of Atlanta, in which he
gave expression to the greatest ap
prehension concerning the evil effects
of the teaching of the professors as
reported by the magazine writer. .
These expressions are doubtless
representative of a great deal that is
being sal!d and written on the sub-
Ject throughout the country.
Harm in False Inferences.
Without in any wise committing
myself to any of the views represent
ed by the individual professors who
have been quoted, and without as
suming in any way a prerogative to
defend or represent them either indi
vidually or collectively, I desire to
point out the fact that the greatest
harm will come not as a direct result
of the teaching which is emanating
from our institutions of learning, but
the harm will come from the false in
ferences which are being drawn from
this teaching by such ministers and
editors as I have quoted, who, after
all, are the popular teachers.
These editors and ministers tell
their readers and hearers that it is
now being taught in all our great in
stitutions of learning that the princi
ples of right and wrong are not abso
lute and eternal, but are subject to
convention and custom and change
from age to age. Although they may
then proceed to thunder with great
vigor against such heresy, it is more
than likely that the so-called heresy
will be accepted as truth hecause it
has behind it the indorsement of all
the great universities, according to
the admission of those who are at
tacking it.
So far there seems to be no great
harm done. But these popular teach
ers go further. They assert that this
ethical principle being taught by the
university professors means that
right has no binding moral force and
that wrong is nothing which needs
to be feared. To quote arain from
the same editor, this teaching ‘‘leaves
morals afloat upon inclination, and co
unsettles standards of virtue that
every youth may swing unsmitten of
conscience from the classroom to the
scarlet woman in the street.”
And here comes the harm. Many of
the uneducated readers and hearers
of these popular teachers, {. e, the
minister and the editor, accept the
teaching of the university professor,
because of the hizh standing of the
latter. But the only interpretztion of
the teaching to which they have‘ac
cess is that of the minister or editor.
When It is then considered that this
interpretation acccrds with a natural
inclination to disregard the moral
law, it will be seen how great the
danger really is.
Youth Is Susceptlble,
As an ethical principle the doc
trine that there is no absolute evil
{s not necessarily dangerous. But If
the youth is led to accept this prin
ciple on the authority of the most
learned men in the land, and then
accept the false interpretation of the
most pious, then does it indeed be
come true as the before mentioned
editor asserts that ‘“morals are left
afloat upon inclination.”
A careful analysis of charges made‘
against the college professors will re
voal the fact that the basic principle |
out of which all of their so-called
heresy grows is that referred to
above; viz., the relativity of evil. 1t
is a renewal of the world-old con
flict between those who contend for |
dogmatic authority on the one hand
and those who offer some form of
evolution as an explanation both of
the material and m@ral universe. ‘
Undoubtedly the doctrine under
- digcussion, which appears in various |
forms in the history of philosophy,
has been the occasion of much loose
ness in morals. It is quite possible,
as distinguished ministers frequently
point out, that the decay in morals
and consequent decay in clvmzatlnn‘
of the ancient Greeks and Romans
was due to their loss of faith in their
gods on the one hand the belief that‘
right and wrong were matters of so- |
cial agreement on the other. |
The same may be satd of the moral
condition of English and French so- |
clety following the brilliant careers
of Hume and Locke and of Rousseau
and Voltaire, who undermined an
cient foundations without providing
any new and solid ground to stand
upon. :
The looseness in morals which
characterized these critical periods in
human history was due then to the
same kind cf spirit which prompts
the schoolboy, when the teacher
leaves the room, to throw spitballs
and indulge in various other forms
of disorder. The authority of the
teacher is for the moment suspended
—no dire and immediate punishment
threatens to follow a departure from
the established rules of conduct in
the schoolroom, and the boy has not
reached the age when he is capable
of self government.
Ethical Principle Different.
But the ethical principle which is
championed by the majority of the
philosophers of to-day is fundamen
tally different from that which has
appeared in the past, although In cer
tain aspects it may appear to be the
same.
The identity is only in the denial
of dogmatic authority; the funda
mental difference is in the recogni
tibn of a superior obligation and
force which the right acquires by rea
son of its evolution out of the expe
rience of the race. This is the dif
ference between the negative and the
positive statement of truth—between
“thou shalt not" and “thou shalt.”
For ages the protest against the
basing of right merely upon the dog
matic dicta of Deity has been recur
ring; it is only with the present age
that any other satisfactory basis has
worked itself out of the conscious
=ess of the race. In -ancient Greece
and in the England of Locke and
Hume, the denlal of dogmatic au
thority meant moral anarchy and
nothing more nor less. But the eth
ical philosophy of to-day, if falrly
considered, does not ‘“leave morals
afloat,” but on the contrary offers a
standard for moral guidance of the
most exacting character. For under
the regime of dogma even the most
heinous crimes have been committed
in the belief that by proper propitia
tion af outraged Deity, atonement
might be made and immunity from
further punishment secured. On the
other nand an ethical principle which
is the outgrowth of social conditions,
and which changes only to adapt it
self to changed conditions, has not
only the highest validity and strong
est force, but it may not be violated
without {incurring I{ts appropriate
penalty,
So long as our young men and wo
men are taught that ‘“providence”
means that God is walting upon their
footsteps as a devoted servant to
pick them up when they fall; and
that “salvation” means a decres of
immunity from the consequences of
Military Training for Boys : : @l Hutary Academs
“Character is the essential mean
ing, In the last analysis, of every at
tempt to define education.”
So sald Colonel Charles W. Larned,
recently superintendent of the United
States Military Academy at West
Point. This has beéen true from the
very earliest tlm?s; and, following
closely the distinguished commenta
tor in his further remarks on the gen
eral subject of military education, the
present . writer would attempt to
show, first, that character develop
ment must be effected in our modern
educational system through a superb
military training, the advantages of
which should be given every young
American in his preparatory school
days; and, second, that this depend
ence upon military tralning to mold
character was not only recognized by
the classic systems of the Greeks and
other ancients, but actually existed
as the predominating force in that
system.
To begin, then, with the first of
these propositions:
Military training inculcates the
principles of strict self-discipline
both in mind and body, together with
habits of rightful Subordination to
higher authorities, It requires the
greatest simplicity of life with the
regular and full development of the
body, resulting in the best health
possible to the individual, coupled
with the highest capacity for clear
aud Inltiative thinking.
Teaches Responsibility.
The young cadet, through learning
to obey, Is soon taught to command,
and finally reaches positions of con
siderable responsibility, surrounded
as they are by the highest traditions
of honor and fidelity to a trust. He
is taught to be courageous in the
strictest sense of the word, frequently
having to stand for himself and by
himself. Yet at the same time his
close association with his fellows in
living the soldier’s life, ne one be'ng
rermitted indulgences over another,
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ARARST’'S SUNDAY * AMERICAN, ATUANTA. GA. SUNDAY, 'JULY 19, 1914,
all manner of crimes, which is issued
by the Great Judge at certain spir
itual assizes which are held in the
spring of the year; just so long will
these young people continue to trifle
with their bodles as well as with
thelr souls.
On the other hand when the minls
ters of God, within whom burn the
holy fires of inspiration, allow ity
light to shine upon the pages of hu
man experience, which hawe been
written since the time of Christ, as
well as before, then shall they see
clearly the truth and be able to.ge
veal it to the masses of the people
who ought to lovk to them for guid
ance., Then will they be able to
teach our young people gmt their
bodies are indeed temple of the
Most High, fit dwelling places for
gpirits that are kin to the Divine;
that the hollest truth is that which
expresses the harmonious relation of
the individual with his entire envi
ronment., and that the highest duty
is the adaptation of one's conduct to
conform to the truth which is thus
revealed.
It is common among those who see
all uniformed alike, and each made
to know that promotion and military
honors come only and strictly
through merit—all these things ef
fect that admirable spirit of democ
racy found nowhere so pronounced as
in military schools.
Again, the employment of a boy’s
whole time, where each hour of werk
or play is laid out every day, from the
first note of reveille to the last of
taps, puts resultfulness into one’s
work and eliminates the slouching
and ldleness which so unfortunately
characterize the average youth.
Inoculates Patriotism.
Finally, novghere else can the prin
ciples of patriotism be so deéfinitely
impressed on the mind of a young
boy as in a military school. From
the raising of his nation’s flag at
sunup to its’lowering again that even
ing during the most impressive cere
mony of the day, he is taught the full
meaning of that word; and as he
emartly touches his cap, with the
boom of the evening gun still echoing
and the strains of the national an
them ringing in his ears, he evidentes
a pride and love of country which
bear the stamp of true intelligence,
All of these I would submit as no
tent factors in character development,
which we have assumed to be synon
ymous with education. None of these
are possessed to any degree of effi
ciency by the non-military system of
training our youth, while I do not hes
itate to say that this latter method
offers no distinctive and effectual
feature not possessed in common
with the military school. Of those
features, essential alike to the mili
tary and non-military school, we are.
of course, not concerned in a mono
graph of this nature.
Education of Ancients.
We must now, however, take under
brief consideration the second phase
of our subject, endeavoring to deter
mine just how pre-eminent a position
military training did occupy in that
classical education of the Greek and
Roman youth, the true nature of
which has been grossly misconcelved
for many hundreds of years. Through
this misunderstanding many, many
people to-day think of the trairning to
which the youth of anclent times was
gubjected as one continuous grind
upon pure academic studies, musty
with age, and having little or no ef
fect upon the development of his
character, his morals or his resultant
usefulness to society.
Now nothing could be further from
the truth. We have only to reread
moral anarchy portending as a conso
quence of the denial of absolute evil
to point to the laws of nature as ex
amples of the eternal and absolute
character which they would claim for
the principles of ethics. The distin
guished minister to whom I have al
ready referred calledq upon us to go
with him to the furthermost part of
the earth, to some loftiest mountain
peak as yet unscaled by human kind,
and there obsérve when he loosed his
hold upon the knife which he held in
his hand that it would fall to the
ground, demonstrating thereby the
universality of the law of gravity.
It is doubtless true, as has been
pointed out by the writer in The Cos
mopolitan, that some college profes
sors, and certainly numerous theo
logians and other popular teachers,
have drawn hasty and false Infer
ences from the rebellion on the part of
ethics against the dogmas of theolo
gy. But a careful reading of the ar
ticle in question will reveal the fact
that the really radical and sensational
statements are, after all, merely para
phrases of what Mr. Bolce has heard
in the universities. The actually
the truth. Take the youth of Athens
as a type.
Until he became seven years of
age the boy's training was in the
hands of his parents, under the di
rection of the State, which required
that this part be almost exclusively
a physical development. From his
seventh to his sixteenth vear he was
in constant attendance upon both the
Palestrae, or school of gymnastics,
and the more strictly academic school
of history, poetry, oratory, science
and kindred subjects. At the age of
16 he entered his period of Ephebic
training, at what would correspond
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By Dr. Heywood J. Pearce,
President of Brenau College
quoted remarks are extremely tame as
compared with these paraphrases.
And so, in the moral universe, we
need not feel surprised nor alarmed
when standards of morality change.
Our greatest danger lies in the fact
that our religious teachers, in defend
ing old standards, may convince the
voung that the new standards have
no valldity, without at the same time
being able to hold them to the old,
thereby indeed justifying the appre
hension of some and leaving “morals
afloat upon inclination.”
Our greatest concern for the rising
generation should be to teach them
carefully to distinguish between the
true and the false, to feel deeply the
obligation which they owe to soclety
collectively and to the individual
members of society particularly, and
to realize that the highest duty to the
Creator is the proper discharge of the
obligations thereby reve&le%.
And so far as ethical ghll sophy is
concerned it will still await for a time
the coming of its Newton, who will
eventually give to its eternal and ab
solute law a definite and final state
ment.
with us to our modern military su
pervision. Here he remained for four
vears as a cadet, with the last two
yvears of this service entirely occu
pled with the study of military train
ing and particularly the use of arms.
No boy was allowed to discontinue
this course of training until its com
pletion and his satisfactorily qualify
ing in two public examinations-—one
in military duties and one in the
duties of citizenship.
Greeks Secured Results.
There are none who would gainsay
these anclent Greek academies in the
matter of accomplishing results.
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