McGuffey Maxims: How Character Was Central in the Past's Curriculum

 Intellectual Takeout

"May we all have the wisdom and discernment to determine whether the schoolbooks used by our children today are training them to grow in courage and character … or grovel and creep for the rest of their days."

"I was online the other day when I stumbled upon a little maxim from “The New England Primer,” the first textbook used by thousands of children in the early days of the American colonies. The lines ran as follows:

Have communion with few,

Be intimate with one,

Deal justly with all,

Speak evil of none.

"That’s some great wisdom for life, and considering that its concise and versified nature was instilled in young children whose minds are sponges at that stage, it’s likely they remembered the advice long into adulthood.

"I began wondering what other life wisdom was imparted to America’s children through their textbooks in the early years of our nation, so I dug up the first three volumes of McGuffey readers, some of the most well-known reading textbooks used in America’s one-room schools. Looking solely at the few “script” sections scattered throughout the readers – which were likely portions of text the students were supposed to copy out in order to practice their handwriting – I found the following pieces.

From the First Reader:

When the stars at set of sun

Watch you from on high,

When the morning has begun,

Think the Lord is nigh.

All you do and all you say,

He can see and hear:

When you work and when you play,

Think the Lord is near.

All your joys and griefs He knows,

Counts each falling tear,

When to Him you tell your woes,

Know the Lord will hear.

"What kind of lessons does this simple verse drill into the hearts and minds of the children who read it? First, it establishes the fact that God is a real being, showing personal care toward those He has created. It demonstrates that He is ever present, rather than aloof, seeing all that His creatures do and say and think and experience. And finally, it recognizes the value of human life and the special role each of us plays on earth." . . . More.

Annie Holmquist served as the editor of Intellectual Takeout from 2018 to 2022. When not writing or editing, she enjoys reading, gardening, and time with family and friends.