Note: From the 19th through to the mid-20th century, educational institutions — from elementary schools to colleges — sought to not only develop students’ academic abilities, but to cultivate, as one textbook from 1849 put it, their “virtuous and noble sentiments.”
In 1916, the Character Education Institution, a kind of think-tank for research on moral education in schools, held a contest for the best morality code for children — a code which explained the fundamental basics of living a moral life. The winning entry was penned by William J. Hutchins, a college president. It was then checked against lists of 650 potential moral acts, 92 “desirable human characteristics,” other contest entries, and literature on moral education, and subsequently revised and expanded accordingly. “The Children’s Morality Code for Elementary Schools” was published in 1926 and students were encouraged to uphold its tenets by forming classroom clubs dedicated to its support. We have republished it below.
THE ELEMENTARY MORALITY OF CIVILIZATION
Boys and girls who are good Americans try to become strong and useful, worthy of their nation, that our country may become ever greater and better. Therefore, they obey the laws of right living which the best Americans have always obeyed.
I. THE LAW OF SELF-CONTROL
GOOD AMERICANS CONTROL THEMSELVES
Those who best control themselves can best serve their country.
1. I will control my tongue, and will not allow it to speak mean, vulgar, or profane words. I will think before I speak. I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
2. I will control my temper, and will not get angry when people or things displease me. Even when indignant against wrong and contradicting falsehood, I will keep my self-control.
3. I will control my thoughts, and will not allow a foolish wish to spoil a wise purpose.
4. I will control my actions. I will be careful and thrifty, and insist on doing right.
5. I will not ridicule nor defile the character of another; I will keep my self-respect, and help others to keep theirs.
II. THE LAW OF GOOD HEALTH
GOOD AMERICANS TRY TO GAIN AND KEEP GOOD HEALTH
The welfare of our country depends upon those who are physically fit for their daily work. Therefore:
1. I will try to take such food, sleep, and exercise as will keep me always in good health.
2. I will keep my clothes, my body, and my mind clean.
3. I will avoid those habits which would harm me, and will make and never break those habits which will help me.
4. I will protect the health of others, and guard their safety as well as my own.
5. I will grow strong and skillful.
III. THE LAW OF KINDNESS
GOOD AMERICANS ARE KIND
In America those who are different must live in the same communities. We are of many different sorts, but we are one great people. Every unkindness hurts the common life; every kindness helps. Therefore:
1. I will be kind in all my thoughts. I will bear no spites or grudges. I will never despise anybody.
2. I will be kind in all my speech. I will never gossip nor will I speak unkindly of any one. Words may wound or heal.
3. I will be kind in my acts. I will not selfishly insist on having my own way. I will be polite: rude people are not good Americans. I will not make unnecessary trouble for those who work for me, nor forget to be grateful. I will be careful of other people’s things. I will do my best to prevent cruelty, and will give help to those who are in need.
IV. THE LAW OF SPORTSMANSHIP
GOOD AMERICANS PLAY FAIR
Strong play increases and trains one’s strength and courage. Sportsmanship helps one to be a gentleman, a lady. Therefore:
1. I will not cheat; I will keep the rules, but I will play the game hard, for the fun of the game, to win by strength and skill. If I should not play fair, the loser would lose the fun of the game, the winner would lose his self-respect, and the game itself would become a mean and often cruel business.
2. I will treat my opponents with courtesy, and trust them if they deserve it. I will be friendly.
3. If I play in a group game, I will play, not for my own glory, but for the success of my team.
4. I will be a good loser or a generous winner.
5. And in my work as well as in my play, I will be sportsmanlike—generous, fair, honorable.
V. THE LAW OF SELF-RELIANCE
GOOD AMERICANS ARE SELF-RELIANT
Self-conceit is silly, but self-reliance is necessary to boys and girls who would be strong and useful.
1. I will gladly listen to the advice of older and wiser people; I will reverence the wishes of those who love and care for me, and who know life and me better than I. I will develop independence and wisdom to choose for myself, act for myself, according to what seems right and fair and wise.
2. I will not be afraid of being laughed at when I am right. I will not be afraid of doing right when the crowd does wrong.
3. When in danger, trouble, or pain, I will be brave. A coward does not make a good American.
VI. THE LAW OF DUTY
GOOD AMERICANS DO THEIR DUTY
The shirker and the willing idler live upon others, and burden fellow-citizens with work unfairly. They do not do their share, for their country’s good.
I will try to find out what my duty is, what I ought to do as a good American, and my duty I will do, whether it is easy or hard. What it is my duty to do I can do.
VII. THE LAW OF RELIABILITY
GOOD AMERICANS ARE RELIABLE
Our country grows great and good as her citizens are able more fully to trust each other. Therefore:
1. I will be honest in every act, and very careful with money. I will not cheat nor pretend, nor sneak.
2. I will not do wrong in the hope of not being found out. I can not hide the truth from myself. Nor will I injure the property of others.
3. I will not take without permission what does not belong to me. A thief is a menace to me and others.
4. I will do promptly what I have promised to do. If I have made a foolish promise, I will at once confess my mistake, and I will try to make good any harm which my mistake may have caused. I will speak and act that people will find it easier to trust each other.
VIII. THE LAW OF TRUTH
GOOD AMERICANS ARE TRUE
1. I will be slow to believe suspicions lest I do injustice; I will avoid hasty opinions lest I be mistaken as to facts.
2. I will stand by the truth regardless of my likes and dislikes, and scorn the temptation to lie for myself or friends: nor will I keep the truth from those who have a right to it.
3. I will hunt for proof, and be accurate as to what I see and hear; I will learn to think, that I may discover new truth.
IX. THE LAW OF GOOD WORKMANSHIP
GOOD AMERICANS TRY TO DO THE RIGHT THING IN THE RIGHT WAY
The welfare of our country depends upon those who have learned to do in the right way the work that makes civilization possible. Therefore:
1. I will get the best possible education, and learn all that I can as a preparation for the time when I am grown up and at my life work. I will invent and make things better if I can.
2. I will take real interest in work, and will not be satisfied to do slipshod, lazy, and merely passable work. I will form the habit of good work and keep alert; mistakes and blunders cause hardships, sometimes disaster, and spoil success.
3. I will make the right thing in the right way to give it value and beauty, even when no one else sees or praises me. But when I have done my best, I will not envy those who have done better, or have received larger reward. Envy spoils the work and the worker.
X. THE LAW OF TEAM-WORK
GOOD AMERICANS WORK IN FRIENDLY COOPERATION WITH FELLOW-WORKERS
One alone could not build a city or a great railroad. One alone would find it hard to build a bridge. That I may have bread, people have sowed and reaped, people have made plows and threshers, have built mills and mined coal, made stoves and kept stores. As we learn how to work together, the welfare of our country is advanced.
1. In whatever work I do with others, I will do my part and encourage others to do their part, promptly.
2. I will help to keep in order the things which we use in our work. When things are out of place, they are often in the way, and sometimes they are hard to find.
3. In all my work with others, I will be cheerful. Cheerlessness depresses all the workers and injures all the work.
4. When I have received money for my work, I will be neither a miser nor a spendthrift. I will save or spend as one of the friendly workers of America.
XI. THE LAW OF LOYALTY
GOOD AMERICANS ARE LOYAL
If our America is to become ever greater and better, her citizens must be loyal, devotedly faithful, in every relation of life; full of courage and regardful of their honor.
1. I will be loyal to my family. In loyalty I will gladly obey my parents or those who are in their place, and show them gratitude. I will do my best to help each member of my family to strength and usefulness.
2. I will be loyal to my school. In loyalty I will obey and help other pupils to obey those rules which further the good of all.
3. I will be loyal to my town, my state, my country. In loyalty I will respect and help others to respect their laws and their courts of justice.
