I have this old book and as some of you already know from my previous post, I really love old books. This little gem is called, The Moral Instructor AND Guide to Virtue and Happiness IN FIVE PARTS by Jesse Torrey. This small, brownish book was originally printed in 1819 but I lucked onto the 1940 reprint. What a treasure - especially in light of the fact that cheating and taking advantage at all times is the rule and no longer the exception.
Case in point. Mississippi recognized a problem with soaring student testing and digital technology. High school students taking the state’s end-of-year exams were using cell phones to text one another the answers. With more than 100,000 students tested, proctors could not watch everyone — not when many teenagers can text with their phones in their pockets. So the state called in a company that turns technology against the cheats: it analyzes answer sheets by computer and flags those with so many of the same questions wrong or right that the chances of random agreement are astronomically small. Copying is the almost certain explanation. Cheating has declined by about 70 percent.
I have a lot of questions. Why do we even have to take it that far? When will the pendulum swing back? It will swing back, right? Until that time, I will keep reminding myself that there is, and was, value in morality and virtue.
A few chapter headings that I personally appreciate from The Moral Instructor are:
NECESSITY AND ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE
INTEMPERANCE, DESTRUCTIVE AS A PERPETUAL WAR
LABOR AND EXERCISE INDISPENSIBLE FOR HEALTH
And my favorite:
OF THE DUTY OF PARENTS. – EDUCATION
For your reading pleasure; here’s a small excerpt:
Some such preparation is necessary for children of all conditions, because without it, they must be miserable, and probably will be vicious, when they grown up, either from want of the means of subsistence, or from want of rational and inoffensive occupation.
So, that to send an uneducated child into the world is injurious to the rest of mankind; it is little better than to turn out a mad dog, or wild beast into the streets.
…this principle condemns the neglect of parents… who suffer them to waste their youth in idleness and vagrancy - for the consequence of having thus tasted the sweets of natural liberty, at an age when their passion and relish for it are at its highest, is, that they become incapable for the remainder of their lives…
The health and virtue of a child’s future life are considerations so superior to all others, that whatever is likely to have the smallest influence on these, deserves the parents first attention.
So, I ask again: Why cheat? Have we really so little disregard for ourselves that we will do anything to get ahead? I pining my hopes on those young students who will not cheat, take advantage, or sell their integrity to the highest bidder. I know you are out there. I’d love to hear your story of honesty and goodness in spite of everyone else choosing the lesser path.