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A review of educational systems in ancient India and traditional Native America reveals that these cultures went beyond superficial, conventional, or rule-based morality and trained thoughtful, principled wisdom. Common characteristics that may have contributed to training character and creating moral citizens include: a strong sense of community; a communal choice to genuinely value morality; a sense of direct, lifelong accountability to one's teacher, family, and society; the maintenance of high standards in education, character, and citizenship; consistency between moral teaching and behavior by teachers, parents, and community; and the consideration of morality as a universal element of instruction, integral to every domain of the curriculum and life. Since the modern Western world is failing to train moral citizens, perhaps we could incorporate one or more of the characteristics of ancient systems. Some possible routes include mobilizing parents to demand character training in schools; training teachers to teach and model morality; selecting teachers based in part on their moral understanding; educating parents to consistently enforce and support good character; incorporating morality as a universal element in the curriculum; and supporting good character in teachers with respect, higher status, more money, or better students. (Contains 13 references.) (TD)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert