bility, was aware of the inadequacy of theory
by itself to make men good:

Some people think that men are made good by nature, others by
habit, others again by teaching.

Now it is clear that the gift of Nature is not in our own power,
but is bestowed through some divine power upon those who are
truly fortunate. It is probably true also that reason and teaching
are not universally efficacious; the soul of the pupil must first have
been cultivated by habit to a right spirit of pleasure and aversion,
like the earth that is to nourish the seed.[1]

[Footnote 1: Aristotle: Ethics, book X, chap. X, p. 344 (Weldon translation).

It is only when people find pleasure in the right actions,
that they can be depended upon to perform them. And it
is by their early and habitual performance that they will
become pleasant. In the formation of such socially and
individually useful habits, education is the incomparable
instrument. The conduct of individuals is, as we have
repeatedly seen, largely fixed by the customary recognition of
certain acts as approved, and others as disapproved. These
approvals and disapprovals are transmitted through education.
Education is used here to refer not simply to the formal
institutions of teaching, but to the complete social environment,
the approvals and disapprovals with which an individual
comes in contact. Formal education is, however, the
chief means by which society inculcates into younger members
those values, traditions, and customs which its controlling
elements regard as of the most pivotal importance.

Social customs which are transmitted in education, become
fixed in law. So that, as Aristotle points out in this same
connection, laws are symptomatic of the moral values which
the group regards as of the highest importance. Laws are
customs given all the sanction, support, and significance that
the group can put into them. Education transmits the values,
ideals, and traditions cherished by the group, but the
laws and customs already current largely control the scope
and methods of education. "Education proceeds ultimately
from the patterns furnished by institutions, customs, and
laws. Only in a just state will these be such as to give the
right education."[1]

[Footnote 1: Dewey: _Democracy and Education_, p. 103.]

The state of law and education which is exhibited by a
society, thus accurately mirrors the degree of moral progress
of the group. And what is, perhaps, more signific