too constantly and too intensely present. The child naturally regards his school tasks as duties, and he recognises that he is under an obligation to discharge them. But too often the duties seem wholly disagreeable, and the obligation appears to be externally imposed by a grim authority. The consequence is that the notion of duty is apt to be defined in the child's mind as "that which is unpleasant" or "that which is to be avoided if at all possible." Such early associations of duty may do lifelong harm to the child by making it impossible for him to see that his duty may be at the same time his highest privilege and his truest pleasure. And moral progress depends on learning that lesson.
(4) It follows from what has just been said that the value-aspect of conduct is often inadequately developed in schools. Vast numbers of children pass through our schools without ever realising, without ever feeling, the sense of value in connection with their education. Their one desire is to be free of the drudgery of school at the earliest possible moment. Their education seems to have no value-for-life for them. It is the great problem of education (a) so to organise the curriculum as to afford the greatest value-for-life for the child, and (b) so to present it to the child that he will appreciate its value.
For further reading: J. S. Mackenzie: Manual, bk. i. ch. iii.; J. H. Muirhead: Elements, §§15-20; J. Dewey and J. H Tufts: Ethics, ch. i. and xiii.; Aristotle: Ethics, bk. i. and ii.
