Parent and Child Vol. III., Child Study and Training - Mosiah Hall
We have in our own church a working system that ministers to the daily
moral and spiritual needs of humanity--a constructive Christianity that
comes close to our lives. Our church is our opportunity to develop our own
spiritual powers and to cultivate those of our children. The church needs
our help to carry forward its ministry to mankind; but we need even more
the help of the church to enspirit and to comfort our lives and to give to
us and to our children the guidance and the training that will keep us all
in the paths of safety and peace:
LESSON XX
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What have you observed in children to prove that religious emotions are
instinctive?
2. In what ways can the home best foster the natural religious instincts of
childhood?
3. What religious habits should the home cultivate?
4. What can the church best develop in children?
5. Why should the parents support loyally the Sunday Schools and other
organizations of the church?
6. What is the supreme opportunity of the church during the adolescent age?
7. What means have you used successfully to develop the religious instincts
of your own children?
8. What opportunities for spiritual self-expression and service does our
own church offer?
9. In what ways are we richly rewarded by our free-will service in behalf
of our church?
"The Child and His Religion," by Dawson, will be a helpful book to study in
connection with this lesson.
TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL
_Certain Phases of Training and Education Can Be Accomplished Better by the
School Than by Any Other Agency. A National System of Industrial and
Vocational Education Should Be Established_
The school is a social institution whose functions are becoming daily more
widely understood and more clearly defined. In the history of civilization,
the school, as we know it, is a very recent institution. Nation after
nation has arisen, reached its zenith, declined, and passed away without
dreaming of such a thing as universal education. With the growth of
democracy, particularly during the Reformation, the ideal of education as
the birthright of every child became well defined and during the years that
have intervened, this ideal has become a living reality.
At first the universal education was advocated for the sake of the church.
Martin Luther believed that every child should have schooling so that he
might be able to read the Bible and study the catechism. For some time the
church had charge of and controlled education, but gradually, as democracy
developed, the influence of the state began to overshadow that of the
church, and education came to be recognized more and more as a function of
the state, and its control was gradually taken over by the latter
institution.
The chief function of education, therefore, may be seen clearly from the
foregoing. In a democracy it is necessary for every child to be educated
because the existence of free institutions is based upon the intelligence
of the masses. Jefferson once remarked: "If anyone believes that free
government and an ignorant people can exist at one and the same time, he
believes that which never was or never can be." Universal education is,
therefore, a social necessity; its chief purpose is to train and instruct
the child in the duties and ideals of citizenship. He must be instructed in
the history of his country and learn what the ideals are for which his
country stands; he must learn the real meaning of the words: equality,
justice and freedom; he must be taught that obedience to law is the highest
form of freedom, and that license is destructive both of self and country.
Furthermore, he must learn that in a free country every individual must be
taught to be self-dependent, that no one owes him a living, that he ought
to produce a little more than he consumes for the sake of the unfortunate.
The school, therefore, may teach better than any other agency the habits
and ideals of duty, social service, justice and patriotism. It also teaches
frequently better than does the home, the habits of obedience,
punctuality, regularity and industry.
A secondary purpose of the school is to assist the home to develop in the
child the physical, mental, moral and social habits and ideals to which we
have referred in previous lessons. To the shame of the home, it must be
said that the school is accomplishing its particular function far better
than is the home. The school rarely fails to exact obedience, regularity,
punctuality, and industry from the pupil; the home, on the other hand,
frequently fails to train children in these habits because of the softness
and vacillation of the parents. The school trains to proper habits of
hygiene and sanitation, and is often under the necessity of acquainting
parents with physical defects in their children which too often they have
overlooked.
Moreover, the school, as a larger social unit than the home, has some
distinct advantages over the latter: It can teach the obstinate,
quarrelsome child better than can the home the necessity of adjusting his
conduct to the requirements of the social group with which he associates.
In school, frequently for the first time, a child learns what is meant by
the ideals of duty and justice; furthermore, he is usually trained to
habits of industry, perseverance and self-control which the home too often
is not well prepared to teach.
The home, however, is far more important than is the school; the latter
might be abolished and some other form of education adopted by society
without calamitous results; but if the home were suddenly abolished, it is
probable that civilization itself would be shaken to its center, if not
destroyed. The home, therefore, ought to be better prepared and equipped to
fulfill its function than is the school; but not one parent in a thousand
is specially prepared for the duties of parenthood. The teacher, on the
other hand, is required to spend years in preparation for his work. He is
expected, moreover, to set a worthy example for children to follow. "As the
teacher so the school," is a maxim that has stood the test.
The school was never before so practical in its instruction as it is
to-day. In most of the junior and senior high schools, industrial work and
agriculture are taught. In the best schools girls are learning to sew,
mend, darn and cook. Many of them make their own dresses and trim their own
hats. In a few schools, uniform dress and shoes are adopted by the girl
students for the sake of economy and to prevent the silly mode of dressing
and the style of some girls. Much more could be done in this direction if
all mothers were sensible, but now and again word comes to the teacher: "I
can dress my girl well and I don't care to have her wear your cheap
uniform and your low-priced, low-heeled shoes." And again: "It's none of
your business how my girl dresses." Now, it must be conceded that the
parent has this right to object, but we surely question the wisdom of her
so doing. Many young girls on graduating from the eighth grade make their
own graduation dresses and confine the cost of the entire costume,
including shoes, to $5.00. Women graduating from the senior school often
make their dresses and confine the cost to within $10.00.
Most young men are taught manual art of some kind and agriculture. It is
seldom that any father objects to his son taking carpenter work, but once
in a while a farmer smiles at the thought of a "professor" teaching
farming. The results, however, of the good work in teaching better farming
is already seen throughout our country, and the time is not far distant
when "scientific agriculture" will return many fold the price of its
investment. The agricultural department at Washington reports that the
Burbank potato is adding $17,000,000 yearly to the wealth of the U.S.
The people, too, are well satisfied with this new type of school. They are
beginning to see that education is a very practical and vital matter and
is not merely for ornament. It is a rare thing now to hear the once common
remark that education is too expensive.
Statistics show that the average wages paid to unskilled laborers in the U.
S. is about $500 per annum; careful reports indicate that the average
yearly earnings of high school graduates is $1000. In a lifetime of 40
years the high school man will earn $20,000 more than the unlearned
laborer.
From a financial standpoint it is very evident that education pays, yet
five and one-half years is the average length of time the children of the
U.S. attend school. The nation ought to enrich itself through putting more
money into education.
The natural resources of the country are largely taken up and the free land
is practically all occupied. What then is to be the future of the great
mass of laborers unless a thorough-going system of industrial and
vocational training is made possible? The Industrial Commission appointed
recently by Congress found that three-fourths of the male laborers in the
U.S. earn less than $600 per annum, yet the U.S. Government has found "that
the point of adequate subsistence is not reached until the family income is
about $800 a year. Less than half the wage-earners' families in the U.S.
have an annual income of that size."
Now the rich can take care of themselves and the very poor and unfortunate
cannot be permanently helped, but this great middle class, upon whom the
nation must depend in every crisis, can and must be assisted to the extent,
at least, that conditions be made possible through which they may raise
their efficiency and so increase their earning capacity to a point
commensurate with their needs. A thorough-going, national system of
industrial and vocational "preparedness" would solve this problem.
The marvelous efficiency of Germany is due in large part to the fact that
her great middle classes have been made efficient through a national system
of trade schools.
The prosperity and perpetuity of a nation rests largely upon its ability to
provide an adequate number of highly trained experts to be leaders,
inventors and executives. In a democracy, these skilled leaders are
especially important. Among the problems to be solved are questions of
government, education, finance, economics, business, industry, health,
manufacturing, engineering and mining. Any nation that lacks guidance in
these particulars is indeed weak and pitiful. The universities, colleges,
and higher technical schools supply nine-tenths of these experts, yet in
the U.S. to-day there are only 250,000 students enrolled in all the
colleges and universities of the country; this is about one to 500 of the
population, a number entirely inadequate to perform the tremendous service
that will be expected of this nation in the near future.
LESSON XXI
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. State the nature of the school.
2. How did the ideal of universal education arise?
3. State the chief function of the school.
4. Name the habits and ideals peculiar to the school.
5. What is the secondary purpose of the school?
6. Contrast the efficiency of the home and the school.
7. What high compliment may be paid to teachers?
8. Is the comparison made between the home and the school overdrawn?
9. Compare the practical school of to-day with the school of the past.
10. Do you favor uniform dress for high school girls?
11. What is your opinion of modern style which so many mothers foster?
12. Have you any boys taking industrial work in school?
13. Prove that high school education pays.
14. What is the duty of a nation towards its great middle class?
15. Do you believe in a national system of industrial and vocational
schools?
16. Why are experts needed particularly in a democracy?
THE DUTY OF THE STATE
_The Social and Civic Institutions of the State (Society) Exert a Powerful
Influence over the Lives of Children. The Citizen Must See to It that this
Great Educative Influence of His Community Is Uplifting in Nature_
The vital relationship existing between parent and child is easy to
understand, but the close interdependence of the individual and the state
is much more difficult to comprehend. Yet in a very real sense the
individual and the state are reciprocally related. But just as the body is
more than an aggregate of all of its cells, so is society (the state)
something more than the sum total of its individual units. That a group of
people, or even one individual, may exert an influence over the thoughts
and actions of others is a reality of profound significance; that there is
a social conscience as well as an individual conscience is a fact that
cannot be refuted, and the part played by custom and tradition in shaping
the history of the world can hardly be estimated.
In view of the close relationship between the individual and society, it is
passing strange that while the individual is expected to possess a high
standard of character, society itself may indulge in all sorts of
questionable practices without so much as a challenge. Many a person winks
at the frivolity and immorality of society, while at the same time he
expects the most circumspect behavior on the part of his neighbor. The
existence of these two standards which ought to coincide but which in
reality are far apart is responsible for many failures in the training of
children.
As soon as the infant begins to observe and imitate the actions of members
of the household, its social training begins; play with the neighbor's
child extends the process, and the social group or "gang" with which the
child associated, impresses permanently its thought and action. Frequently,
too, the chum or companion chosen by the child has more real influence over
its life than has the combined instruction of parents and teacher. As
already shown, the school is a social institution and the same is largely
true of the Sunday School. The example of adults also makes a profound
impression upon the conduct of children. The home and the school may teach
convincingly the injurious effects of tobacco and alcohol, but so long as
society sanctions the sale of these poisons and respected adults indulge in
them, just so long will the efforts of home and school, be, to a large
extent, counteracted. The same is true with respect to any other virtue or
excellence, the home, school, and church may unite in emphasizing the most
wholesome discipline, but so long as society is a living, seething
contradiction of this teaching, the instruction will fall upon deaf ears
and be but as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal."
The fact is that our nation is yet too young to be fully conscious of its
opportunities and responsibilities. A democratic form of government from
its very nature must develop slowly towards its ideals. It must expect at
first to be much less certain and efficient in its action than is a highly
centralized government. This inability on the part of popular government to
attain its ideals is reflected also in its subordinate civic units; neither
state nor city governments have yet solved the problem of efficient and
economical administration, although it is a pleasure to note that some
cities are making real progress in this direction. In many communities,
however, the weakness of decentralized government is most apparent. This is
particularly true in many towns; here is seen too frequently a lack of
civic pride, inefficient officers and failure to enforce the law.
The humiliating fact obtains that frequently a few lawless individuals
often not more than from 3 to 5 per cent of the population, are permitted
to set the moral pace, while the 95 per cent, of law-abiding citizens are
either asleep to their duties or else fail to see that the remedy is in
their own hands. In many instances a few persons are allowed to undermine
the morals of the community. In one town of our state a single individual
was permitted for 25 years to corrupt the morals of many young men of the
community through illegal traffic in liquor.
Parents should realize that next to heredity the social factors in a
community are likely to be the chief influence at work moulding and shaping
the lives of their children, and in the long run they must not expect the
average child to be better than the community in which he lives.
But the remedy for inefficient, free government is not far to seek;
universal education will solve the problem provided it includes, as it
should, instruction and training in civic and social duties. There is no
need to argue the superiority of democratic government over that of all
other forms; the freedom which we possess is worth all the suffering and
bloodshed of all the patriots that have ever lived. But nothing will run
itself; perpetual motion is a myth, and even a small town to be well
governed, must receive conscious, expert attention.
Unquestionably, a free government is the most complex and difficult of all
forms of government to administer, but the problem can be solved, and the
secret of success will be found in the individual himself. He must become
educated to realize his full duties and responsibilities as a free citizen,
in other words, he must become socialized. He must get over the notion that
the school is the only educational agency and must understand that every
influence that modifies conduct is educative in nature. Especially must he
learn that the community itself is the chief civic and social educator of
children, and as such it should be consciously organized to perform well
this responsibility.
Already communities are awakening to the need of perfect sanitary and
hygienic conditions, and clean town contests are the order of the day; this
is one of the most hopeful signs of better times, but there ought to be a
moral and mental awakening and contests for civic righteousness should be
inaugurated. Any community that can say: "In this town no influence is
permitted that could in any way corrupt the morals or ideals of children,"
should receive the highest award in the gift of the people and its praises
should be commemorated in song and story.
In ancient Greece every citizen regarded himself as a parent or guardian of
every child, and if any youth was seen in public to violate any of the
customs or ideals of the nation, it was the duty of the citizen to
chastise the boy and to otherwise instruct him in the duties of
citizenship. At the same time the citizen was careful himself to set an
example worthy of emulation. The result was the most perfect and harmonious
education that the world has ever seen--at once the inspiration and the
despair of all succeeding civilizations. Why should we not adopt some of
the Grecian methods suited to our needs? In Greece no citizen would think
of doing in public, or permitting to be done, anything which was not
desirable for the child to do either in public or private. Why should any
man who walks upright, with his head pointing to the stars, be permitted to
profane the name of Deity, to stagger under the influence of liquor, to
puff at a cigar, to gamble, to run a disorderly resort or show, to enrich
himself through the manufacture and sale of poisons, or to do anything else
that corrupts the community and destroys her children? Surely in our feeble
attempts at free government, the right hand knows not what the left is
doing.
But the remedy, as I have said, is in the hands of the citizens. While it
is true that certain reforms to be most effective must be national rather
than local, such, for example, as prohibiting the manufacture and sale of
poisonous drugs, tobacco and alcohol, it is, nevertheless, evident that the
initiative must be taken by the individual. His first duty is to convert
himself and then his neighbors before any nation-wide reform can be
undertaken.
It is one of the chief glories of a democracy that any desired good may be
obtained through conversion and co-operation. But since in most communities
90 per cent, or more of the citizens are law-abiding and would not
consciously do anything to destroy the children of the commonwealth, it
ought to be a simple matter to restrain the few that are lawless and
unsocial. There can be no possible doubt that any community that is fully
alive to its needs and responsibilities can bring about just such civic and
social conditions as it may desire. To help accomplish these purposes, it
is necessary that efficient officers are elected who will enforce the laws
and that public sentiment be aroused in support of these officials; in some
communities sympathy for law-breakers is so easily awakened that justice
cannot be enforced and law and order are placed in contempt.
The citizen in a democracy should realize that his training and education
are never completed, that life itself is the great school-master and that
one of the chief pleasures of existence is continued study and
investigation. His occupation, no matter what it is, will offer him some
opportunity for study and improvement, and a portion of his leisure time
ought to be devoted to books and magazines. He may, also, if he desires,
take an extension course or correspondence work offered by a higher
institution of learning, some of which are making earnest efforts to take
the college to the people. Every citizen should at least be identified with
some civic, social, or industrial organization in his town, such as a
debating and literary club, an agricultural society, or a commercial club.
If each community would seek out and utilize the talent within its
precinct, it might develop an intellectual and civic consciousness that
would rival the spirit of ancient Greece.
An old-time prophet uttered the inspiring thought: "The Glory of God is
intelligence," and the great latter-day Prophet added the supplement: "No
man can be saved in ignorance." It is the duty of the individual,
therefore, to be an eternal seeker after knowledge and perfection. In this
blessed age when the sun of education shines so brilliantly, none need to
slumber under the clouds of ignorance. May the sun shine until under its
regenerating influence the home, school, church and state may each awaken
to the full measure of its power and so prepare the way for the coming of
that mightier Son of Righteousness, who promises to reign for a thousand
years over a redeemed world.
LESSON XXII
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Show the close relationship between the individual and the state.
2. Account for the two different standards of conduct.
3. Indicate how social influences modify the character of children.
4. How do examples of the use of tobacco and liquor affect children?
5. Compare example and precept.
6. Why must a democratic form of government develop its ideals slowly?
7. Why is community government frequently inefficient?
8. What per cent, of the population usually "sets the moral pace?"
9. What is the remedy for inefficient free government?
10. Why is the community the chief civic and social educator of children?
11. What should receive the highest award in the gift of a people?
12. How did Greece train her children?
13. What evil practices should be prohibited in a community?
14. What reforms should be national rather than local?
15. How may the few lawless individuals be restrained?
16. What is the duty of the citizen towards self-improvement and education?
PART II
SUPPLEMENTAL STUDIES
MAN'S PARTNERSHIP WITH NATURE[1]
_Dr. John M. Tyler_
_Nature will bear our burdens for us, if we will obey her laws and heed
her suggestions_.
[Footnote 1: These supplemental studies are based on lectures by Dr. John
M. Tyler, given before the Utah Educational Association, by whose
permission they are used. Parents will find Dr. Tyler's book on Growth in
Education of great interest. It is listed with other books at the close of
this volume.]
How has all the material progress of the nineteenth century come about? I
think we shall find that it was due to man's intelligently and carefully
and scrupulously going into partnership with Nature by obeying her laws.
Not so very many years ago messages were sent across this continent by
pony-riders; it was a slow process and a very expensive one. Now I step
into an office here and I say, "I wish to send a message to my wife way out
yonder in Massachusetts." The man touches a button and says, "Your message
is in Massachusetts, sir." It is a miracle. The lightning has run with my
message. Electricity not only carries our messages, it lights our houses;
it turns many a wheel of machinery; it serves us beneficiently just as long
as we obey the laws of electricity; but when we offend against these laws,
it thwarts us or very likely destroys us. "Obey, and I will do anything
for you in the world," says Nature, "disobey and you cannot move me one
single inch." Coal hurries our great locomotives and long trains of
merchandise and carries men and women across this continent without any
great amount of human labor. The engineer and the brakeman do not get
behind and push those great palace cars of ours; it is Nature which drives
the train as if it were sport. Man guides and directs the water pouring
down our hillsides, turning wheels of countless factories. A few ounces of
gasoline send the automobile down the street, polluting the air and
endangering our lives. The power of Nature is absolutely irresistible and
unlimited; and furthermore, she is always working towards some great and
good end.