And when he is asked to consider from the point of view of ethics the question of marriage and its responsibilities, he is at first inclined to consider the whole subject as rather a matter for jest.  Has a man not the right to marry or remain single exactly as he pleases?  And is he not free to marry any one whom he can persuade to accept him?  To be sure, he should be a little careful about marrying quite out of his class, and he should not be hopelessly careless about money matters.  Thus, a decision, which may affect his whole life as much as any other that he can be called upon to make, which may practically make it or mar it, is treated as though it were not a matter of grave concern, but a private affair, entailing no serious consequences to any one and calling for no reflection.

I wish it could be said that the world outside of the college regarded these matters in another light.  But the student faithfully represents the opinions current in the community from which he comes.  And he represents, unhappily, the teachings of the stage and of the world of current fiction.  The influence of these is too often on the side of inconsiderate passion, which stirs our sympathy and which lends itself to dramatic effect.  With the writers of romance the ethical philosophers have an ancient quarrel.

It may be said:  But the world gets along very well as it is, and without brooding too much upon ethical problems.  To this we may answer:  Does the world get along so very well, after all?  Are there no evils that foresight and some firmness of character might have obviated?  And when we concern ourselves with the educated classes, at least, the weight of whose influence is enormous, is it too much to maintain that they should do some reading and thinking in the field of ethics? should strive to attain to clear vision and correct judgment on the whole subject of man’s duties?

Just at the present time, when psychological studies have so great a vogue, one scarcely feels compelled to make any sort of an apology for them.  It is assumed on all hands that it is desirable to study psychology, and courses of lectures are multiplied in all quarters.

Probably some of this interest has its root in the fallacy touched upon earlier in this chapter.  The science of psychology has revolutionized educational theory.  When those of us who have arrived at middle life look back and survey the tedious and toilsome path along which we were unwillingly driven in our schoolboy days, and then see how smooth and pleasant it has been made since, we are impelled to honor all who have contributed to this result.  Moreover, it seems very clear that teachers of all grades should have some acquaintance with the nature of the minds that they are laboring to develop, and that they should not be left to pick up their information for themselves—­a task sufficiently difficult to an unobservant person.

These considerations furnish a sufficient ground for extolling the science of psychology, and for insisting that studies in it should form some part of the education of a teacher.  But why should the rest of us care for such studies?