goal for
effort.

Chesterton tells us that the most important thing about any man is the
_kind of philosophy he keeps_--that is to say, his _attitudes_. For it
is out of one's attitudes that his philosophy of life develops, and that
he settles upon the great aims to which he devotes himself. It is in
one's attitudes that we find the springs of action and the incentives to
endeavor. It is in attitudes that we find the forces that direct conduct
and lead to character.

To train the intellect and store the mind with knowledge without
developing a fund of right attitudes to shape the course of action is
therefore even fraught with danger. The men in positions of political
power who often misgovern cities or use public office as a means to
private gain do not act from lack of knowledge or in ignorance of civic
duty; their failure is one of ideals and loyalties; their attitude
toward social trust and service to their fellow men is wrong. The men
who use their power of wealth to oppress the poor and helpless, or
unfairly exploit the labor of others to their own selfish advantage do
not sin from lack of knowledge; their weakness lies in false standards
and unsocial attitudes. Men and women everywhere who depart from paths
of honor and rectitude fall more often from the lack of high ideals than
because they do not know the better way.

The goal and the motive power in all such cases comes from a false
philosophy of life; it is grounded in wrong attitudes. The education of
those who thus misconceive life has failed of one of its chief aims--_to
develop right attitudes_. Hence character is wanting.

The conduct, or application, aim.--The third and ultimate aim of
education has been implied in the first two; it is _conduct, right
living_. This is the final and sure test of the value of what we
teach--how does it find _expression in action_? Do our pupils think
differently, speak differently, act differently here and now because of
what we teach them? Are they stronger when they meet temptation from day
to day? Are they more sure to rise to the occasion when they confront
duty or opportunity? Are their lives more pure and free from sin? Do the
lessons we teach find expression in the home, in the school, and on the
playground? Is there a real outcome _in terms of daily living_?

These are all fair questions, for knowledge is without meaning except as
it becomes a guide to action. High ideals and beautiful enthusiasms
attain th