Counsels on Health - Ellen G. White

Very many young men who have been religiously
instructed at home, and who go out to the schools
comparatively innocent and virtuous, become
corrupt by associating with vicious companions.
They lose self-respect and sacrifice noble
principles. Then they are prepared to pursue the
downward path; for they have so abused their
consciences that sin does not appear so exceeding
sinful. These evils, which exist in the schools that
are conducted according to the present plan, might
be remedied in a great degree if study and labor
could be combined. The same evils exist in the
higher schools, only in a greater degree for many
of the youth have educated themselves in vice, and
their consciences are seared.
Many parents overrate the stability and good
qualities of their children. They do not seem to
consider that they will be exposed to the deceptive
influences of vicious youth. Parents have their
fears as they send them some distance away to
school, but flatter themselves that as they have had
good examples and religious instruction, they will
be true to principle in their high-school life. Many
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