Children’s Morality Code of 1916

Summary

Summary of "Children’s Morality Code of 1916" Episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class

Stuff You Missed in History Class, hosted by Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson, delves into the intriguing and unsettling history of early 20th-century efforts to codify children's morality in the United States. This episode, titled “Children’s Morality Code of 1916”, explores the origins, implementation, and eventual decline of a nationwide contest aimed at defining the moral framework for American youth.

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1. Introduction to the Morality Code Contest

The episode begins with Holly Fry referencing a previous discussion about Gertrude Chandler Warner’s book, Good First Lessons for the Little Ones. This leads to an exploration of a 1916 initiative by the National Institution for Moral Instruction in Washington D.C., which sought to establish a standardized morality code for children.

Holly Fry [02:14]:
"It was a truly intriguing, quite creepy and disturbing story that ties to evolving views on childhood, child labor laws, unrealistic patriotism, and a contest to see who could come up with the best morality code for kids."

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2. The 1916 National Institution for Moral Instruction Contest

On February 22, 1916, the National Institution for Moral Instruction announced a contest offering $5,000 for the best set of moral guidelines suitable for teachers and parents to train children. Each state was invited to submit at least one entry, with a maximum of six entries per state.

Milton Fairchild [03:04]:
"On February 22, 1916, the National Institution for Moral Instruction in Washington D.C. announced a contest ... the entries would all be bound together in textbook format so that the public would have access to them in their entirety, but only one of them would be declared the winner." [03:04]

The contest emphasized principles such as wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance, explicitly excluding theological dogmas to ensure a secular approach to morality education.

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3. Milton Fairchild and His Approach to Moral Education

Milton Fairchild, the head of the National Institution for Moral Instruction, played a pivotal role in this initiative. Fairchild, originally Edwin Fairchild, was a former Unitarian minister who transitioned to educational reform to promote secular moral education.

Holly Fry [16:00]:
"Milton Fairchild, whose first name was Edwin, sort of formed a bridge between the two ideologies we just discussed ... he sought a secular approach to it rather than one that was rooted in Christianity." [16:00]

Fairchild aimed to create a balanced approach between institutionalized morality education and fostering children's ability to navigate moral dilemmas independently.

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4. Societal Context of Early 20th Century America

The early 1900s in America were marked by significant societal changes, including the Keating-Owen Act of 1916, which regulated child labor, and a surge in immigration that necessitated the assimilation of immigrant children into American culture. These factors contributed to a growing emphasis on childhood as a distinct and precious phase of life, fueling initiatives to define and instill American values in the younger generation.

Holly Fry [08:31]:
"There were concerns about how the children of those immigrants were going to assimilate into the culture of the United States ... reformers saw an opportunity to teach immigrant children how to be proper US Citizens." [09:53]

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5. The Hutchins Code: Structure and Critique

The contest culminated in the selection of William J. Hutchins of Ohio as the winner. Hutchins, then president of Berea College in Kentucky, proposed the Hutchins Code, which outlined 10 laws of right living aimed at fostering good American citizenship.

Milton Fairchild [21:07]:
"Hutchins code laid out 10 laws of right living, which are ... The law of self control ... The good American controls himself." [21:07]

While the Hutchins Code aimed to provide clear guidelines for children, it faced criticism for being ableist and overly simplistic. For example:

Holly Fry [22:08]:
"The beginning of this list is ableist ... there’s tons of ableist stuff." [22:08]

The code emphasized traits like self-control, reliability, and teamwork, but its rigid structure failed to account for the nuanced and diverse nature of individual moral development.

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6. The Second Contest and Fairchild’s Controversial Views

Undeterred by criticisms, Fairchild launched a second contest in 1917, this time offering $20,000 for the best method of character education. This phase revealed disturbing aspects of Fairchild’s ideology, including elements of eugenics and authoritarian control over children deemed unfit.

Milton Fairchild [25:23]:
"Children who cannot be educated into sound character will be taken charge of at maturity by the state and kept under control, prevented from breeding and crime during their natural life." [25:23]

Fairchild advocated for extensive state intervention, including the establishment of state-run containment facilities for children who failed to adhere to the moral guidelines, reflecting a deeply flawed and oppressive approach to child rearing.

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7. The Character Education Inquiry and Its Outcome

In response to the growing controversy and practical challenges of implementing the morality code, academics Hugh Hartshorn and Dr. Mark A. May initiated the Character Education Inquiry (1924-1930). Supervised by psychologist Edward Thorndike, this research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the morality codes in schools.

Holly Fry [38:07]:
"The Character Education Inquiry had a massive impact on both public and academic perception of the morality code and its teaching, and most schools abandoned it by the 1930s." [38:07]

The inquiry's findings were critical, suggesting that merely teaching general ideas about morality without practical application was ineffective and potentially harmful. The conclusion highlighted that:

Holly Fry [38:55]:
"... the mere urging of honest behavior by teachers or the discussion of standards and ideals of honesty ... has no necessary relation to the control of conduct." [38:55]

This research significantly undermined the credibility of the morality code initiative, leading to its decline and abandonment in educational institutions by the early 1930s.

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8. Conclusion: The End of the Morality Code Movement

Despite Fairchild’s persistent efforts to promote character education, the Character Education Inquiry exposed fundamental flaws in the approach, leading to widespread rejection of the morality code in schools. Fairchild continued his advocacy but faced declining health, passing away in December 1939.

Holly Fry [40:42]:
"Fairchild kept trying to find ways to implement morality and character education in schools, but he was also declining in health, and after an extensive illness that began in 1932, he died in December of 1939." [40:42]

The episode concludes by acknowledging ongoing discussions about moral education, emphasizing that while this particular movement ended, the quest to effectively teach morality to children persists.

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Notable Quotes

• Holly Fry [02:14]:
  "It was a truly intriguing, quite creepy and disturbing story that ties to evolving views on childhood, child labor laws, unrealistic patriotism, and a contest to see who could come up with the best morality code for kids."

• Milton Fairchild [03:04]:
  "On February 22, 1916, the National Institution for Moral Instruction in Washington D.C. announced a contest ... the entries would all be bound together in textbook format so that the public would have access to them in their entirety, but only one of them would be declared the winner."

• Holly Fry [22:08]:
  "The beginning of this list is ableist ... there’s tons of ableist stuff."

• Milton Fairchild [25:23]:
  "Children who cannot be educated into sound character will be taken charge of at maturity by the state and kept under control, prevented from breeding and crime during their natural life."

• Holly Fry [38:55]:
  "... the mere urging of honest behavior by teachers or the discussion of standards and ideals of honesty ... has no necessary relation to the control of conduct."

---

Final Thoughts

The “Children’s Morality Code of 1916” episode offers a compelling glimpse into early 20th-century America's attempts to systematically shape the moral landscape of its youth. Through the lens of Milton Fairchild’s controversial initiatives, the podcast highlights the complexities and ethical dilemmas inherent in institutionalizing morality education. The episode serves as a cautionary tale about the intersection of education, societal values, and the lengths to which reformers may go to achieve their vision of a morally upright society.

Transcript

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[Milton Fairchild]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

In our recent episode on Gertrude Chandler Warner, we mentioned a book she wrote called Good First Lessons for the Little Ones, which was based on an existing set of guidelines about morality that Werner felt was too advanced for little kids. And then that sent me down a rabbit hole regarding just what that existing set of guidelines was. It was a truly intriguing, quite creepy and disturbing story that ties to evolving views on childhood Child labor laws, unrealistic patriotism, and a contest to see who could come up with the best morality code for kids.

[Milton Fairchild]

Yeah, this whole thing creeps me out real bad.

[Holly Fry]

It's a doozy. And I knew nothing about it prior to that mention of in her biography. And then I was like, what?

[Milton Fairchild]

Well, in this first sentence that I'm gonna have to read, I immediately stopped what I was doing because I was like, what is this? On February 22, 1916, the National Institution for Moral Instruction in Washington D.C. announced a contest. Thanks to the donation of an anonymous businessman, the institution was offering $5,000 for, quote, the best code of morals suitable for use by teachers and parents in the training of children. So the rules of this competition were as follows. Each state in the union was to submit at least one entry. Some could submit two. With a maximum total of six seventy entries. Each state superintendent of education was to select the person from their state who would write the submission. In the case of New York, there were five contributors. Upon submission, the entries would all be bound together in textbook format so that the public would have access to them in their entirety, but only one of them would be declared the winner, as determined by a panel of judges.

[Holly Fry]

A write up about this contest in the Washington, D.C. times Herald quoted an announcement by the institution regarding the compilation of these code proposals. Quote, consultations by code writers have been had with all sorts of people, but especially with parents who have succeeded in bringing their children up well. So it's unclear what the criteria were for parents to be deemed successful in that regard, but the rules of the contest noted that the code should be written with wisdom, justice, courage and temperance in mind, and that no theological dogmas should be included.

[Milton Fairchild]

This issue of Children and Morality was a hot topic in 1916. On May 21, the Richmond Times Dispatch of Richmond, Virginia ran a full page article titled what a Child should do in a Moral Emergency. It opens by posing a series of questions to parents. If a ruffian tries to pick a row with your little boy Johnny, shouting, you bumped into me. I am going to smash you in the nose. What is the correct thing for little Johnny to do under such circumstances? If a neighborhood bully grabs your little Tommy's bag of marbles, what should little Tommy say about it? If some strange boy, girl or grown up person attempts cajoleries with your daughter Mary, what is Mary to do? Do and say under the many different circumstances which may arise?

[Holly Fry]

Just saying. I am 100 adding cajoleries to my personal lexicon. And once the parent is introduced by the paper to this conundrum. The article continues, quote, have you carefully instructed Johnny and Tommy and Mary on what to do under these various unexpected situations and emergencies which are confronting boys and girls? How can children be expected to face intelligently and act advisedly in these little daily tragedies of life unless instructed? Here is a field of practical instruction which has been overlooked. So this article continues by mentioning the Japanese schools in Hawaii use a picture series that shows similar scenarios that those pictures are hung all over the schools and they change out periodically so students can study them as they go about their daily school life. And schools in the US the write up points out, have no program in place for character education. The paper puts the responsibility for the rise in various delinquent acts in the country squarely on that gap.

[Milton Fairchild]

The article also introduced the work of Milton Fairchild, who took photographs of kids around the Washington D.C. area where he lived. He claimed never to pose children or to use actors. He just surreptitiously took kids photos when they were engaged in activities like fighting, stealing, bullying, etc. He used a specially designed camera that was in his briefcase to avoid detection by the children. He also photographed the resolution of these kinds of incidents with the intent to use the ones that showed the kids doing the right thing as examples of correct behavior. Obviously today this would run afoul of some privacy rights, even though taking pictures of strangers to put them on the Internet has become a thing that people do. Don't do that though.

[Holly Fry]

Don't and super don't do it with children.

[Milton Fairchild]

No. The virtue of this form of moral education, according to the paper, is that unlike lecturing, which kids tend to be dismissive of, photographs are endlessly engaging to children, noting that, quote, pictures that touch on real life, the life of the child, make the problems vital and concrete, and the lessons they convey impress children's minds with proportionate strength. Several of Fairchild's photos are in the write up and at the end of the article it is revealed that Fairchild is the head of the National Institution for Moral Instruction.

[Holly Fry]

We're going to come back to him. But there is also a need to look at what was going in the US in the 1910s that forms the backdrop for this push to teach kids everywhere how to be good and moral citizens. There were of course, several contributing factors. One was all of the stuff that was happening in the lead up and eventual passage of the Keating Owen act of 1916. That act banned goods that came from any factory, shop or cannery that employed children under the age of 14. Minds in the act were named and had the same blockage of sales if they employed children that were younger than 16. Any other businesses were barred from employing children under the age of 16 working at night or for shifts longer than eight hours. This labor law, the first attempt at regulating child labor, was a long time coming. And as this issue was being discussed and debated in legislation in the early 20th century, it also was part of a bigger move of leading people to reconsider the place of children in US Society. The idea of childhood as a time that's special and precious had started to gain more of a foothold. So there was this idealization of children that no doubt fueled some of these pushes to create ideal children.

[Milton Fairchild]

The early years of the 20th century also saw a huge surge of immigration into the United States states, and there were concerns about how the children of those immigrants were going to assimilate into the culture of the United States. Many of these people settled in cities, which led to jumps in population to keep up. New infrastructure and more schools were created. And in those schools, reformers saw an opportunity to teach immigrant children how to be proper US Citizens.

[Holly Fry]

We will return to the morality code competition in just a moment, but first we are going to pause for a sponsor break.

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[Milton Fairchild]

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[Milton Fairchild]

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[Holly Fry]

So even though all of the states participated in this morality code competition, not everyone was on board with Fairchild's idea of a structured morality education. As the competition got underway, there were immediate detractors. A lot of them just held up the Ten Commandments as a perfectly good moral code, with complaints that there was no need for any additional effort to create something new. Milton Fairchild addressed this issue in interviews, noting that the Ten Commandments are written for adults, and he also notes that the first five are about religious duties and not moral problems, but that the moral problems the commandments present in the second half aren't really suitable for kids. He noted, quote, honor thy father and mother is appropriate for children. Likewise, thou shalt not kill. If there is a question of using a knife In a fight, a thing happily rare among boys. Thou shalt not steal is a much needed commandment to the child world. But to children, what significance has Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Most children never think of doing such a thing. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Why should a child covet a wife? A neighbor's wife would be some other child's mother.

[Milton Fairchild]

This brings us to the issue of morality more philosophically, as it was playing out in the education space When Fairchild launched this morality code contest in the early 20th century, noted educator John Dewey wrote, quote, the moral has been conceived in too goody goody a way. Ultimate moral motives and forces are nothing more or less than social intelligence. He thought it was better for kids to work through their own solutions to moral problems and to be rewarded if they came to a course of action that resulted in a positive outcome. Dewey argued that this would result in adults with a strong ability to navigate scenarios where there were moral issues in play. The logic was that if you just told children how to behave in certain situations, they would never develop the skills to manage the many unpredictable events they were likely to encounter in their lives. But for a more conservative branch of the progressive education movement, it made more sense to develop morality codes so that kids would have a map showing a list of rules, essentially, that people were expected to abide by. Seemed like a much more efficient way to teach children how to behave. In this group's opinion.

[Holly Fry]

A lot of people probably already knew who Milton Fairchild was before that newspaper mention that we talked about a moment ago. He had been working in education and specifically focused on programs for raising moral children for quite some time. Milton Fairchild, whose first name was Edwin, sort of formed a bridge between the two ideologies we just discussed For a little background on him. He was born in Michigan in 1865. He attended Oberlin College, and in 1893, he graduated from Andover Theological Seminary. He became a Unitarian minister after he graduated. And one of the causes that he really worked on was trying to get churches to establish moral lessons for kids that were outside of the usual approach of parables and biblical stories and offered real world information. He actually left the church by the end of the 19th century because he couldn't really get that going. And instead, he worked on achieving that same goal through the school system. And it is at that point that he dropped the Edwin from his name and started just going by Milton. Some people that noted his work kind of described this as him rebranding himself from a minister to an educational expert. The year that he Left the Church, 1898, he founded the Educational Church Board, the first of several organizations that were intended to support his goals of moral education. He formed the Moral education board in 1906 and then in 1911, the National Institution for Moral Instruction. That organization would also rebrand as the Character education institution in 1918. After this push for a morality code for kids and reflective of the next stage of the larger effort, which we will talk about in a bit, the.

[Milton Fairchild]

Facet of Fairchild's approach that made him really the sole holder of the middle ground between educational theorists who wanted institutionalized morality education and those who wanted to let kids work through ideas without imposing a structure of morality on them, is that while Fairchild was a minister by training and did favor institutional lessons, he sought a secular approach to it rather than one that was rooted in Christianity. He recognized that not all families were Christian, but that didn't mean they weren't moral or that they weren't valuable members of society. As noted by Allison L. Jackson in her 2018 dissertation on Fairchild's work, he's frequently grouped with the conservative progressives in the movement, but that loses some of the nuance of his efforts, which changed and evolved. Some of that evolution was horrific, as we will see in a bit.

[Holly Fry]

Throughout the morality code competition, various newspapers reported on the work that their state's chosen writer was doing. For example, the Daily Utah Chronicle wrote in April of 1917 that the winners would be announced in October and that Utah's entrant was in the running to win it, stating, dean Milton Banion, who represented Utah in the competition, is enthusiastic about such work being done in schools. He is also desirous of arousing general public interest in universal character education. Earlier in the competition, Banion had given a quote to the same paper stating that he would, quote, be grateful for advice and suggestions as to what moral principles should be taught to children from 9 to 14 years of age and to youths from 14 to 18 years, also for suggestions as to the form of the codes.

[Milton Fairchild]

On February 22, 1917, the competition closed with 52 entries, and at that point the entries were sent to the panel of judges. Those judges were George Trumbull Ladd of Yale University, who was the chair of the judges panel, Supreme Court Justice Malam Pitney, and Eva Perry Moore, president of the National Council of Women. It was announced that once the winning entry was chosen, all of the other entrants would be given a chance to revise their own prior to the publication of the collected works. In a Textbook. That book was published in two volumes with different purposes. The first was for childhood, and the second was for elementary and high schools.

[Holly Fry]

The winning entry came from William J. Hutchins of Ohio, who was president of Berea College in Kentucky at the time. And his code opens with the paragraph quote. Boys and girls who are good Americans try to become strong and useful that our country may become ever greater and better. Therefore they obey the laws of right living, which the best Americans have always obeyed. So right out of the gate this flag says, a little misguided in the claim that best Americans have always obeyed the law. We've had plenty of examples otherwise. On this show we threw that tea into the harbor.

[Milton Fairchild]

Hutchins code laid out 10 laws of right living, which are 1. The law of Health. The good American tries to gain and keep perfect health. To the law of self control. The good American controls himself. 3. The law of self reliance. The good American is self reliant.

[Holly Fry]

4.

[Milton Fairchild]

The law of reliability. The good American is reliable. 5. The law of clean play. The good American plays fair. 6. The law of duty. The good American does his duty. 7. The law of Good workmanship. The good American tries to do the right thing in the right way. 8. The law of teamwork. The good American works in friendly cooperation with his fellow workers. 9. The law of kindness. The good American is kind. 10. The law of loyalty. The good American is loyal. The beginning of this list is ableist.

[Holly Fry]

Oh, yeah, there's tons of ableist stuff. We'll talk about a little bit more. Under each of these headers is a brief explainer and then a set of pledges for students. We're only going to read the first one, the Law of Self Control. To give you a sense of the style of the document, quote, those who best control themselves can best serve their country. I will control my tongue and will not allow it to speak mean, vulgar or profane words. I will control my temper and will not get angry when people or things displease me. I will control my thoughts and will not allow a foolish wish to spoil a wise purpose.

[Milton Fairchild]

The Hutchins Code was not the end of the effort. Once the National Institution for Moral Instruction had basic morals covered, the organization planned another contest right after it. As reported in the Atlanta Constitution on September 30, 1917, quote, the National Institution for Moral Instruction at Washington, D.C. has offered for 1918 to 1919 an award of $20,000 for the best method of character education in public schools in the U.S. the circular sent out from this institution states that it is A matter of vital concern to those who think in terms of the national interest and of the welfare of the several states, that ways and means be developed by which the children and youth of the nation can be given a thorough character education. The character of the masses, of the people, in all its expressions, controls the happiness, prosperity, and development of the nation. After the war, there will be a period of recuperation and readjustment, after which will be a more serious test of democracy than the war. The children of these war times will be the mass of our citizens and our leaders of national life in this period of readjustment. So it's a little unclear, but the point of this second contest was for someone to come up with a way to systematize the adoption and teaching of this code. According to the Washington Post's write up of the second phase, quote, the proposal of the institution is that the public school system place character education on a par with intellectual, vocational and physical education, because character is the foundation of a successful life, and character among the masses of the people, both rich and poor, is essential to the happiness and development of the republic.

[Holly Fry]

This all gets so creepy to me, this contest. This second one worked a little bit differently than the first. In this instance, nine educators from each state, for a total of 432, because Alaska and Hawaii were not states yet. So if you're like that, math doesn't. Math, it does. And those nine educators would study for a year and work out the best way to implement this new morality code. The $20,000 prize money would be distributed among the nine people from the winning state, with the chairman of the group receiving $4,000 and all others receiving $2,000. It took until 1922 to announce a winner.

[Milton Fairchild]

The statements Fairchild gave during this second phase jump out as being a lot less everyone, love your neighbor and be good, and a lot heavier on consequences, and with a little eugenics thrown in. In October of 1919, he gave several statements during a state educational conference held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that were reported in multiple newspapers. He gave a talk at the conference titled how to Introduce Moral Instruction into the Curriculum of Schools. And he made some troubling remarks in the process. He started by noting that he had charted 93 virtues that make up the perfect human being. These included things like being artistic and neat, quote, cooperative and not individualistic, adaptable, attentive, not careless, decisive, quick, thrifty, cautious, etc. These seem relatively benign, but then some of them get downright awful. Quote, developed body not poorly nourished, strength without disabilities, muscular control not Bungling grace of figure and carriage not frumpy, vital, not sluggish, appetites normal, not inactive, endurance not quickly tired, and resistance to disease not susceptible.

[Holly Fry]

Just tripling down on the ableist part of it at that point, for real. And then he said, quote, a great training will be developed for the production of experts in character education who will function through the public schools. Each child will be registered at birth and its character and age looked after to the age of citizenship. Already real dicey, but it's about to get so much worse. First, he seems to have loosened his feelings about church involvement, noting that they needed to participate. Quote, the churches will be asked to assist in this character education and to furnish the religious sanctions for conduct. But the state will supply, under the plan being formulated, the state sanctions and will furnish through the schools the ways and means and the wisdom for the successful character education of each child within the possibilities.

[Milton Fairchild]

It's his plans for the kids that don't quite make the grade that are really problematic. Quote, Children who cannot be educated into sound character will be taken charge of at maturity by the state and kept under control, prevented from breeding and crime during their natural life. The parents will be chief factor in this successful character education and they will be under the guidance of trained experts in home character education, working from the schools. So it seems like if this scenario were to play out as Fairchild envisioned in this talk, there would need to be state run containment facilities for the kids who were deemed unfit to be good citizens and they would be incarcerated for the rest of their lives, kept from breeding, an important part of the eugenics movement.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, it is so horrifying. Like this is one of those things where in his earlier stuff I'm like, this is creepy, but I get where he got here. Like he's missing some vital things, but I see why he thinks this is a good path, even if it's a mess. But once I read this article, I was like, jeum excuse. There's no way, there's no way he could possibly think this was okay. Uh, but he did. In 1922, the winner of the $20,000 prize was announced and we will talk about which state won it, how the 1916 morality code was revised, and thankfully, ongoing resistance to all of these initiatives. After we hear from the sponsors that keep Stuff youf Missed In History class going.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's Stock up savings time now through March 25th. Spring in for storewide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible cleaning items from Charmin, Tide and Downey, and dinner essentials from Stouffer's, Digiorno, Arby's and Violife, plus many more. Then clip the offer in our app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Jorge Cham]

Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you?

[Holly Fry]

Why is my cat not here and.

[Milton Fairchild]

I go in and she's eating my lunch?

[Jorge Cham]

Or if hypnotism is real, you will use the suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole?

[Holly Fry]

Black holes could be a consequence of.

[Milton Fairchild]

The way that we understand the universe.

[Jorge Cham]

Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast Science Stuff. Join me Jorge Cham as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains and our bodies. Questions can you survive being cryogenically frozen?

[Holly Fry]

This is experimental.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This may never work for you.

[Jorge Cham]

What's a quantum computer?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It's not just a faster computer, it performs in a fundamentally different way.

[Jorge Cham]

Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming?

[Holly Fry]

It's not really a safety issue, it's.

[Jorge Cham]

More of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Fry]

There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo Clay. It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation. It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats, so things that get buried there tend to stay buried until they're not In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery.

[Milton Fairchild]

7,000 bodies out there or more, all.

[Holly Fry]

Former patients of the old state asylum, and nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery. But in this corner of the south, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information.

[Holly Fry]

When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think.

[Milton Fairchild]

The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that.

[Holly Fry]

I'm Larison Campbell.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Listen to under yazukle on the iHeartRadio.

[Holly Fry]

App, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. In 1922, Iowa's plan for implementing Hutchins Morality Code into schools won the prize. The Iowa approach addressed one of the big criticisms that had been leveled since that first contest was announced, which was that tacking on a section of education about morals was not really going to be effective. So the Iowa plan was built on integrating the morality code into all of the other parts of the educational curriculum. Their proposed plan opened with quote, the right organization of the school can alone go far towards solving the character training problems. To feel the collective judgment of one's peers is the heart of moral impulse. With the announcement of Iowa's win also came the news that the National Institute for Moral Instruction had reincorporated as the Character Education Institute institution to more accurately reflect its goals.

[Milton Fairchild]

In 1924, the code got a revision pass. This revision was covered in the Journal of Education that year and described the five point process that the character education institution used in updating the code. First, it studied all the submissions from the original contest and tabulated the ideas in them to see which were often repeated. Second, experts in the human sciences were consulted and asked for input on the Hutchins code. Third, and we'll quote this directly because it's a little odd quote, a list of the morality acts of well brought up children has been made, numbering about 650. The Hutchins code has been checked up on this list of morality acts to make sure that it emits no important phases of childhood morality. Fourth, recent literature regarding childhood morality was reviewed and then fifth a list that was started by the institution in 1915 to catalog all the virtues of human beings was looked at to ensure, quote, direction of the expression of each one of these virtues in childhood. Conduct must be contained within the Children's Morality Code.

[Holly Fry]

That list once again was made up by Millen Fairchild. The revision led to a new order for the 10 laws in the original morality code and some of them were changed. So the new version was one. The Law of self Control. The good American controls himself. Two, the Law of Good Health. The good American tries to gain and keep perfect health. Three, the Law of Kindness. The good American is kind. Four, the Law of Sportsmanship. The good American plays fair. That updates the the clean play law. Five, the Law of Self Reliance. The good American is self reliant. Six, the Law of Duty. The good American does his duty. Seven, the Law of Reliability. The good American is true. Eight, the Law of Truth. The good American tells the truth. Nine, the Law of Good Workmanship. The good American tries to do the right things in the right way. And 10, the law of Teamwork. The good American works in friendly cooperation with his fellow workers. So not a lot of change. It mostly reflects some, some differences in vocabulary.

[Milton Fairchild]

We mentioned in our Gertrude Chandler Warner episode that she wrote her book Good Americans First Lessons for the littlest ones in 1926 as an adaptation of the morality code for younger children. But even as she worked on it, there was a study underway to assess its real efficacy. And that study did not go well for Milton Fairchild and his support reporters. There had long been a debate about whether character was something that could be taught or if it was more of a habitual response to various stimuli, like scenarios.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, it's more like, can you actually tell a kid what to do or will he learn what to do when he actually encounters these things in real life? And which is really going to be valuable? Two academics, Hugh Hartshorn, professor of Religious Education at the University of Southern California, and Dr. Mark A. May, professor of Psychology at Syracuse University, working through the John D. Rockefeller funded Institute of Social and Religious Research, were able to start a series of investigations in 1924 into just how well a moral code for children actually worked. Their work was supervised by psychologist Edward Thorndike. The actual bulk of this research took place from 1925 to 1930, and it became known as the Character Education Inquiry. Its goal, to, quote, develop an understanding of character as a personal and social phenomenon. If you're wondering why this topic was enough to get huge amounts of funding, it's because a lot of money was being spent to establish and maintain that morality program in schools, and a lot of people thought the whole thing was both incorrect in ideology and incredibly wasteful.

[Milton Fairchild]

Starting in 1928, the Character Education Inquiry findings were published in three volumes by the Macmillan Company under the General title Studies in the Nature of Character. The first of these was Volume one, Studies in Deceit. The following year, Volume two, Studies in Service and Self Control, was released, and finally in 1930, volume three, studies in the Organization of Character, came out. They detailed their methods of testing and research, which involved a lot of work with students and teachers often asking students questions to gauge what the kids thought qualified as cheating on tests. There were many, many different tests conducted to get a large data set and offer a range of variables in moral situations.

[Holly Fry]

When it came to deception, part of their findings were summarized this way. Quote no one is honest or dishonest by nature. Where conflict arises between a child and his environment, deception is a natural mode of adjustment, having in itself no moral significance. If indirect ways of gaining his ends are successful, they will be continued unless definite training is undertaken through which direct and honest methods may also become successful. Apart from the actual practice of direct or honest methods of gaining ends, where a conflict of wills is actually involved, the mere urging of honest behavior by teachers or the discussion of standards and ideals of honesty, no matter how much such general ideas may be emotionalized, has no necessary relation to the control of conduct. The extent to which individuals may be affected, either for better or for worse, is not known, but there seems to be evidence that such effects as may result are not generally good and are sometimes unwholesome. This does not imply that the teaching of general ideas, standards, and ideals is not desirable and necessary, but only that the prevailing ways of inculcating ideas probably do little good and may do some harm.

[Milton Fairchild]

The Character Education Inquiry had a massive impact on both public and academic perception of the morality code and its teaching, and most schools abandoned it by the 1930s. Fairchild kept trying to find ways to implement morality and character education in schools, but he was also declining in health, and after an extensive illness that began in 1932, he died in December of 1939.

[Holly Fry]

I will say that there are ongoing discussions about how to teach morality to children. It's not like that suddenly ended at this point, but sure this particular effort did, which we will talk about on Friday, and how very creepy we both find the whole time. In the meantime, I have a really fun email from our listener Jen about one of my very favorite topics lately, that being hydroponics. Jen writes Holly and Tracy. Your podcast gets me through the workday most days as I work on my PhD. I must say this week's hydroponic episode had me giggling. As I sit at my desk, which is in a USDA Farm Service Agency building, she talks about where she works. I'm not going to say that just for safety, but mentions that they are currently developing an urban agricultural demonstration garden and I have been trying to find a way to add a hydroponic system to the garden. Thank you for the great history of hydroponics. I would like to believe that the Gardens of Babylon really were the first. She shares a picture that she took. I'm not going to say where just to preserve her privacy, but she writes, My 10 year old son and I traveled to that area and on our way home noticed that the snow squall happening between us and the greenhouse made the pink sky touch the ground. It's truly amazing to see how pink purple the grow lights make the skies around here. They are noticeable from the city, which is a good 40 miles away. My family does complain that they don't get a dark sky all the time even living in the country, but I think it's pretty and she says Here is a picture of my mom, the reason we were traveling to the area. It was to celebrate her ringing the bell after completing six months of chemo for pancreatic cancer. She is a rare breed of survivors and has a love of Snoop Dogg. The nurses made her this shirt and a pot brownie that was not grown hydroponically. I love this so much. Keep up the great work and thank you for being a little bright spot in my day as I assist landowners with conservation. Jen her mother's shirt is a Snoop Dogg shirt. Congratulations to your mother. She sounds amazing. I hope she has only great health going forward. She also includes a picture for Pet tax of her mom's lab who has been her constant companion through all of her treatment. Amazing. Jen. Thank you for sharing all of this. It made my day very, very delightful and it's a lovely way to end and a discussion of creepy things. If you would like to write to us, you can do [e-mail] you can also subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere else that you listen to podcasts.

[Milton Fairchild]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest. For Albertsons and Safeway, it's stock up savings time now through March 25th. Spring in for storewide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible snacks like Outshine Fruit Bars and Ritz Crackers or sweet treat favorites like Nestle Drumsticks, Nerds, Gummy Clusters and Lindor Chocolates, plus many more. Then clip the offer in our app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more restrictions apply. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Holly Fry]

Our iHeartRadio Music Awards are coming back Monday, March 17th on Fox starring Bad Bunny Glorilla, Kenny Chesney, Money Long Nelly, your host iheartradio ll Cool. Are you guys ready to have some fun tonight?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Plus iHeart Innovator Award recipient Lady Gaga.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Iheart Icon Award recipient Mariah Carey and.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I Heart Breakthrough Award recipient Gracie Abrams.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Watch live on Fox Monday, March 17.

[Holly Fry]

At 8, 7 Central hey, it's hey Martinez. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world changing events are happening.

[Ryan Seacrest]

That is where the Upverse podcast comes.

[Holly Fry]

In every single morning in under 15 minutes. We take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Can keep up without feeling stressed out.

[Holly Fry]

Listen up first from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In Mississippi, Yazoo clay keeps secrets.

[Milton Fairchild]

7,000 bodies out there or more.

[Holly Fry]

A forgotten asylum cemetery. It was my family's mystery. Shame, guilt, propriety. Something keeps it all buried deep until it's not.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I'm Larison Campbell and this is under Yazoo Clay.

[Holly Fry]

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.