School: Children's Second Home There are two main environments in which a correct conscience is molded. The primary environment is the home, where the family begins the shaping of a child's conscience and their ability to choose right from wrong; and, the second environment, which is just as crucial as the first, is school. From the age of five until the age of eighteen, school is a central part of a child's life. These years are the most impressionable and the most easily influenced. The educational system and the teachers within it become important agents in aiding children in the development of morally and socially sensitive consciences, which then facilitates them in becoming upright adults who are able to successfully function in society and interact with others. Various institutional programs and in-class frameworks build upon the foundation of values taught and reinforced in the home.Within the early years of education, teachers help children form a correct conscience by relying on their own in-class framework and approach to issues. For example, every day in a kindergarten class, students take a nap for an hour, and after their nap they receive a snack. However, one day, one of the kindergartners decides that he does not want to take a nap, but instead wants the snack. While all the other children are sleeping, he gets up and eats all of the snacks, so that none are left for anybody else. The teacher builds upon this incident by taking away his snack privileges and by showing him how stealing from others hurt not only his classmates, but himself as well. By stressing that stealing is bad and that following rules is good, the teacher is helping to establish a foundation for deciding right from wrong.Teachers have a large responsibility especially when children are younger and more impressionable. They often look towards the teacher as a role model and authority figure, and because of this they often assume the actions of the t...
