This
discipline is essentially moral, and furnishes some basis, though
partial and unsatisfactory, for the proper discharge of the duties of
life. But it is to be remembered that the power of the school is but in
its beginning when the presence of a pupil is recognized. The constancy
and punctuality of attendance required by all judicious parents and
faithful teachers are important moral lessons, whose influence can never
be destroyed. The fixedness of purpose that is required, and is
essential in school, remains as though it were a part of the nature of
the child and the man. School-life strengthens habits of industry when
they exist, and creates them when they do not. It is, indeed, the only
means, of universal application, that is competent to train children in
habits of industry. Private schools can never furnish this training; for
large numbers of children, by the force of circumstances, are deprived
of the tuition of such schools. Business life cannot furnish this
training; for the habits of the child are usually moulded, if not
hardened, before he arrives at an age when he can be constantly employed
in any industrial vocation. The public school is no doubt justly
chargeable with neglects and omissions; but its power for good, measured
by the character of the education now furnished, is certainly very
great. It inculcates habits of regularity, punctuality, constancy, and
industry, in the pursuits of business; through literature and the
sciences in their elements, and, under some circumstances, by an
advanced course of study, it leads the pupil towards the fountain of
life and wisdom; and, by the moral and religious instruction daily
given, some preparation is made for the duties of life and the
temptations of the world.
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