Some Reflections On Moral and Social Training in the Secondary School

According to the 1961 Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Education, published under the title The Health of the School Child, 10.7 per cent of the men and 35.2 per cent of the women who married in 1958 were aged under 21. This compares with 3.4 per cent and 16.4 per cent in 1938. Of the 679,826 men and women who married in 1958, 10,258 women and 1,136 men were 17 years old when they married, and of 55,787 babies born within nine months of marriage, 21,350 of their mothers were under 20 and 4,649 under 17 when their babies were born. It is also worth mentioning that of 22,654 divorces in 1958, 6,096 wives had been under 20 when they married, and 10,971 had been between 20 and 25 years when they married.

H. Banister and M. Revden in their article in the British Journal of Psychology, May 1945, Vol. 35, No. 3, have shown that problem children tend to have fewer interests and attainments than the normal. "They seemed usually to be at a loose end, not knowing what to do with their spare time: they 'play about' or 'there's nothing to do', they 'don't like going to Scouts', they 'are bored' ... whereas other children seem to be always occupied with other activities, hobbies and games which absorb their energies fully and happily."

Another argument in support of this view is that advanced by H. Jones in his book Reluctant Rebels. "Paradoxical though it may seem, however, it may sometimes be because his standards are too exacting that a child becomes maladjusted or breaks down into delinquency. If he demands too much of himself in this way, failure is inevitable, in intent if not in fact. Many forms of abnormal behaviour have been traced to the influence of excessive guilt, often unrecognized or completely unconscious."

Outline of Social Psychology.

In his article in the British Journal of Educational Psychology , June 1957, J. Hemming makes the point that "children estranged from their parents, and, frequently, living away from close contact with other relations, may depend entirely upon their teachers for adult friendliness, help and guidance."

The Handbook of Suggestions for Teachers published by the Board of Education in 1937 made a point that might well have been taken as the subtitle of this essay: "In the modern world, education must take account of leisure no less than work."

In his article in the Sunday Telegraph, February 5th, 1961, John Warrack reviews the work of two music teachers, both composers, who have aroused in their pupils considerable enthusiasm for creative work in music. Under the guidance of Peter Maxwell Davies the children of Cirencester Grammar School "are encouraged to begin improvising their own music as soon as they can hold an instrument the right way up. After learning little more than three basic chords, they are equipped to take part in Mr. Davies's fascinating organized improvisations. These are part of the day-to-day classroom work ... the children have no difficulty in making music that is as modern as the moment in which they think of it. It is no surprise to learn that they like contemporary music better than do their parents." In Cranborne Chase, a girls' public school, "Harrison Birtwistle has also found a quick response to very 'advanced' music... He, too, has included improvisation in his works for his wind class. These made their effect successfully at a concert I heard." It is with the invaluable aid of adventurous spirits like these that the kind of psychological and social changes I am envisaging can be brought about

Montaigne: On Imagination .

"Philosophy in the Schools: An Aid to Moral Training" in Case Conference, September 1960, Vol. 7, No. 4.

Although the teacher would be better advised to devise his own examples rather than make use of textbooks, there are some books which he, and indeed members of the class, may usefully consult. Among the best are: R.H. Thouless : Straight and Crooked Thinking. R.W. Jepson : Clear Thinking. G. St. Aubyn : The Art of Argument . M.H. Carre : Does It Follow? R.W. Young : Lines of Thought .

A "one country" or even a "many countries" approach to the study of the world is not what is being advocated here, since specialization on physical and social life in a given geographical area does not necessarily provide a framework which might enable the child to organize his thinking about events elsewhere. Professor C. A. W. Manning, in an unpublished typescript, "Teaching for Survival", makes the plea, with which this writer is in full sympathy, for the type of education that starts with the notion of the single world and shows that "while in many respects still stubbornly multiple, in important respects it already is one. One socially anyhow." For other arguments concerning the need to make schoolchildren more aware of the world about them and for possible suggestions showing how this might be achieved, see the article by A. de Rusett , "The World, the Teacher and the School", in International Relations, April 1960, Vol. 11, No. 1.

C.A.W. Manning , "Teaching for Survival".

R.H. Crossman , "Psychological Warfare", the Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, 1952, 97, 319-332.

"It seems likely that the helpful adult is one who can, through discussion, enable young people to think out and feel for themselves the possible consequences of diverse lines of action and to clarify their judgments on these consequences." J.F. Morris , "The Development of Adolescent Value-Judgments" in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, February 1958 .