conservatism of the past, and who advocate a change of methods in the
elementary schools. Such are the thoughts presented by the superintendent
of public instruction in the State of Michigan, in a manual issued in
May, 1900. There is sound sense in the following paragraphs, which will
appeal to all who consider the needs of a child’s mind. He says:—
“It is the duty of the schools to produce parallel growths of all the
faculties, leaving the pupil free to swing out into the realm of choice
with no distorted tastes or shortened powers. The training of the hand
ministers to this parallel development.
“We remember when the sciences were taught wholly from the text. Later,
the principles of Pestalozzi entered the class room, and we stood
open-eyed and open-minded, as the truths of science were demonstrated
with the proper apparatus in the hands of the teacher. But to-day
Froebel’s idea has taken possession, and the pupil performs the
experiment. It is his hand that creates the conditions; it is his eye
that watches the changes, his hand that notes them. Science teaching
has thus adopted the manual training idea; and such are the results
that Latin, Greek, and mathematics are no longer considered as the only
intellective subjects for college training.
“What the manual training idea has done for science teaching, it will
do for mathematics and other kindred subjects. The dissatisfaction
among professional and business men regarding the teaching of practical
things in our schools is wide-spread. This is especially true regarding
arithmetic, penmanship, spelling, and language. Anyone who doubts this
needs but to enter the business places of his own city and make inquiry.
There is a well-grounded feeling that in the mastery of arithmetic is
a discipline closely allied to that needed in the activities of life;
and when a father discovers that his child of sixteen or seventeen
years has no idea of practical business questions and little skill in
analytical processes, he justly charges the school with inefficiency.
The difficulty, however, is that the pupil has had no opportunity to
sense arithmetic. To him measurements and values are indefinite ideas.
He commits facts to memory, and blindly tries to work out problems. If
his memory and imagination are good, he stands well, and receives a
high mark. But still the work is vague; it does not touch his life or
experience; it has no meaning. Put that pupil into a manual-training
school,—the boy in the shop, the girl in the kitchen [practical
experience has demonstrated that the girl has a place in the shop
also],—and at once mathematical facts become distinct ideas.
“Step into the shop of a manual-training school [or step into the
well-ordered kitchen], and observe the boy with a project before him.
What are the steps through which his mind must bring him to the final
perfection of the work.
“First, he must give the project careful study.
“Second, he must design it and make a drawing of it. This at once puts
mathematics into his hand as well as his head. He must use square,
compass, try-square, and pencil. Exact measurements must be made,
divisions and subdivisions calculated, lines carefully drawn.
“Third, he must select material of proper dimensions and fiber, and then
must reflect how to apply it to the draught made so that there is no
waste.
“Fourth, he must plane and saw to the line, correct and fit; in short,
must create the project that has had existence in his mind and upon paper
only. Then it is that his arithmetic begins to throb with life, his
judgment to command, and his ethical sense to unfold.”
This is the testimony of teachers who have made a practical application
of arithmetic and geometry in the carpenter shop. Children twelve and
fourteen years of age solve problems in proportion, in square root,
in measurements, and in denominate numbers, which baffle the skill of
the ordinary high-school graduate. This, too, is a part of Christian
education. Doubtless Christ himself gained most of his mathematical
knowledge at the carpenter’s bench.
“The most practical education,” says Hiram Corson “(but this,
so-considered, pre-eminently practical age does not seem to know it), is
the education of the spiritual man; for it is this, and not the education
of the intellectual man, which is, must be (or Christianity has made
a great mistake), the basis of individual character, and to individual
character ... humanity owes its sustainment.” The proper combination,
then, of religious training and practical hand work in teaching
mathematics or language will develop stability of character, and this is
the end and aim of Christian education.
[Sidenote: Carpentry not the only practical educator]
There are, however, in this twentieth century, various other ways of
rendering education practical; and since these ways are a factor in the
Christian training of youth, they should receive attention. God made no
mistake when he gave to Adam the work of tilling the soil. Since the days
of Eden, those men who have shunned the cities, and chosen instead to
dwell in rural districts, have, as a rule, come closest to the heart of
the Creator. The true way to study the sciences is to come in touch with
Nature.
[Sidenote: Christ chose the country]
For this, also, we have the example of Christ. “In training His
disciples, Jesus chose to withdraw from the confusion of the city, to
the quiet of the fields and hills, as more in harmony with the lessons
of self-abnegation He desired to teach them. And during His ministry
He loved to gather the people about Him under the blue heavens, on some
grassy hillside, or on the beach beside the lake. Here, surrounded by the
works of His own creation, He could turn the thoughts of His hearers from
the artificial to the natural. In the growth and development of nature
were revealed the principles of His kingdom. As men should lift up their
eyes to the hills of God, and behold the wonderful works of His hands,
they could learn the precious lessons of divine truth. Christ’s teaching
would be repeated to them in the things of nature.... The things of
nature take up the parables of our Lord, and repeat His counsels.”
The teacher who has a desire to ennoble the character of his pupils will
seek a place where Nature in her silent language gives lessons which no
human tongue can utter. Parents who desire the best good of their sons
and daughters, will, when the light of Christian education dawns upon
their minds, hasten into the country, that the youthful minds over which
they are keeping guard may be influenced by the natural rather than by
the artificial.
[Sidenote: Value of the farm in education]
It is not surprising that the best educators who have opened their minds
to truth have taught that cultivation of the soil, with the training of
the eye and the hand in the shop, should accompany mental discipline.
Prof. James R. Buchanan, says: “Blessed is the _farmer’s boy_.... The
industrial feature, not limited to handicraft, but embracing all forms
of useful exertion, _is the essential basis of a true education_;
as it insures, if rightly conducted, a worthy character, a healthy
constitution, a solid intellect, and a capacity for practical success;
for it gives vigor to the entire brain, and a far better invigorating
mental discipline than can ever be obtained from text-books. The boy
who has constructed a wagon, or a bureau, or _raised a small crop_,
as instructed, has more independence of mind and originality than the
one who has only studied text-books. The boys of Lancaster, Ohio, who
gave half their time to useful industry, made better progress in school
studies than the common school pupils who had their whole time for
study, and at the same time presented a model of conduct in all respects
unequaled in any non-working school in this country.”[182]
Close adherence to the text-book is the papal method of teaching, and is
a necessary accompaniment of prescribed courses, while the humanistic
tendency is well developed. Christian schools, because of the truths
they advocate, are forced to depart from the established order in the
educational world, and their education is rendered practical by joining
_the farm and the school_.
This method of teaching is already followed in some places, showing
that that system so often designated Christian education is not a thing
of recent birth, neither is it the product of some man’s mind. Its
principles have been made known from time to time, and these principles
have been followed more or less carefully in all periods of the world’s
history.
[Sidenote: School Gardens of Modern Europe]
That the combining of soil-cultivation and study is a practical thing,
and not a mere theory, is attested by the words of United States
Consul-General John Karel, who reports as follows concerning “School
Gardens in Russia:” “In a good many countries of western Europe,
especially in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and partly
in Sweden, the public village schools have sections of land allotted
to them, which are either devoted to the use of the teachers, who take
the profits therefrom, or serve for the establishment of school gardens.
School gardens in western Europe bear, in a certain measure, a scientific
character. Children are made to carry out in them practically what they
learn theoretically.
[Sidenote: School gardens in Russia]
“In Russia ... it was well known that the land owners and peasants
were in great need of instruction in farming; consequently schools of
all kinds were established by the ministry of agriculture throughout
the country.... For the development of the gardening industry, schools
were founded first in Penza, in Bessarabia, ... and in 1869 a school
of gardening and viticulture was found at Nikitsk. The work of the
Nikitsk school was divided as follows: During the winter semester there
were three hours of lessons per day and four and one-half hours of
practical study in the garden, vineyard, and in the cellar. During the
summer semester the lessons in class lasted only one hour, or sometimes
two hours, but the practical studies occupied daily six or even eight
hours.”[183]
Teachers in these schools are enabled to support themselves at least
partially from the sale of fruits, berries, vegetables, honey, etc., but
this was not the chief inducement in starting school gardens. The writer
last quoted continues: “The desire to add something to the low salaries
of the village school teachers, and, on the other hand, to acquaint as
much as possible, not only children, but also grown-up people, with
gardening, sericulture, and apiculture, has caused an increase during the
last ten years, in the number of school gardens, apiaries, and silkworm
hatcheries. In 1892 there were about two thousand school gardens in
Russia. At the present time [1897] there are 7,521, with 532 apiaries,
and 372 silkworm hatcheries.”
Mr. Mescherski, who is chief of one of the departments of agriculture,
and one of the principal advocates of school gardens in Russia, has
stated the object of school gardens and their significance as follows:
“School gardens ... are of importance on the following grounds. (1)
Hygienic, as being a place for physical labor in the open air, so
necessary for the teacher and pupils.... (2) Scientific educational, as
acquainting children with the life of useful plants, developing their
minds by the study of nature, and promoting in the rising generation
a regard for labor and a more moral and æsthetic sentiment concerning
trees. (3) General economical ... and (4) personal economical,” which
refers to the support of the teacher.
[Sidenote: Christians should encourage rural life]
If the Russian government, on the liberation of its serfs and its
crown peasants, found it so greatly to its advantage to establish
school gardens, of what lasting benefit would they be to Christians!
Protestants, instead of crowding into the cities where the laboring man
is subject to the trades unions, trusts, and monopolies, should seek
for themselves a few acres of land, and should see that schools are
established for the education of their children where the mechanical
text-book grind is replaced by the study of God’s will as revealed in
His Word and works. Nature studies thus conducted, instead of developing
doubt, will strengthen the faith of the pupil, and the students from
such schools will be fitted for citizenship not only in the governments
of earth but in the Kingdom of God. This also is a part of the system of
instruction known as Christian education.
XVII
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION (Continued)
[Sidenote: Education defined by Pestalozzi]
The nineteenth century has not been lacking in minds which have grasped,
at least in part, the principles of Christian education. Thus writes
Pestalozzi: “Sound education stands before me symbolized by a tree
planted near fertilizing waters.... In the newborn child are hidden those
faculties which are to unfold during life. The individual and separate
organs of his being form themselves gradually into an harmonic whole, and
_build up humanity in the image of God_.”[184]
With this agrees Milton’s definition of education. “The end, then, of
learning,” he says, “is to repair the ruins of our first parents by
regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love Him,
to imitate Him, to be like Him, as we may the nearest by possessing
our souls of true virtue, _which being united to the heavenly grace
of faith_, makes up the highest perfection.” This is similar to the
definition given by the author of “Christian Education,” that “the true
object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul.”
Christian education, then, is a spiritual education. In this sense the
words of Pestalozzi, at the burial of his wife, are pathetic but weighty
with significance. Turning to the coffin, he said tenderly: “We were
shunned and despised by all; sickness and poverty bowed us down; and we
ate dry bread with tears. What was it in those days of severe trial gave
you and me strength to persevere and not lose hope?” Laying a copy of
God’s Word on her breast, he continued: “From this source you and I drew
courage and strength and peace.”[185]
Advocates of Christian education may to-day encounter the same sort of
rebuff from the world; but God’s Word stands as guide, expressing the
principles to be followed by the educator.
[Sidenote: The Bible as an educator]
Charles W. Dabney, Jr., president of the University of Tennessee,
in an address gave utterance to these words. “The Bible is the best
text-book of education, as of many other sciences. In it we read
where Paul tells Timothy, his ‘dearly beloved son in the faith,’ that
‘all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
works.’ Nowhere in literature or philosophy is there a better or clearer
expression of the true purpose of education than this. The object of
education is not pleasure, or comfort, or gain, though all these may and
should result from it. The one true purpose in education is to prepare
the man for ‘good works.’ It is a noble thing to develop a perfect
soul, to thoroughly furnish a body, mind, and heart.... Character
building, conscience forming, then, is the main object of education. The
teacher dare not neglect character, nor the college to provide for its
development. We must always and everywhere, in every course and scheme
of study, provide those methods and agencies which shall develop the
character of the pupil along with his other powers. How, then, shall we
develop character in our pupils? What are the methods and the agencies
for doing this? This is the crucial question of this age, as of every
age. To this question all the ages give but one answer, and that is
_Christianity_. The world has had many teachers of science, art, and
philosophy, but only one teacher of righteousness, and He was Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.”
The many teachers of science, art, and philosophy, have, by their systems
of education, led men away from the knowledge of God, the wisdom which is
eternal life. If the education of Christ is to be accepted, as suggested
by Professor Dabney, His word, the Bible, must be recognized as the
Book of books, the guide in all investigation, the interpreter of all
phenomena.
[Sidenote: Christian schools needed]
Much is said concerning the moral education which every child should
receive. Parents realize that the boy or girl who grows to maturity
with only a physical or intellectual education is either a pugilist
or a fit subject for the penitentiary, and hence they insist that the
spiritual nature should receive some attention. But where is this
spiritual education to be obtained? State schools have no right to give
such training; indeed, they can not do it. True, they have attempted it,
but it is a miserable failure. Protestants should no longer make the
demand. The time has come for them to see that they should establish
schools, whose object it is to develop character. These schools should
receive support independent of the state; they should be free to follow
methods entirely different from the formalism of the papal system; their
course of instruction should meet the individual needs of the pupils,
and be of a character which will develop Christians. To accomplish such
results, the Word of God must be taken from the dust, and placed in the
curriculum, not as a mere reference book of Jewish antiquities, but, as
it is in deed and in truth, the light whose rays encircle the world. “The
Holy Scriptures must be the Alpha and Omega of Christian schools,” wrote
Comenius. Christ must be the teacher.
The men thus far quoted have followed the light which shone upon their
pathway. To-day we may gather the scattered gems of truth left by them;
but, better far, we may go direct to the Word itself, and the Spirit of
truth will guide into the paths of Christian education. As taught by
Froebel, “The spiritual and physical development do not go on separately
in childhood, but the two are closely bound up with each other.”
[Sidenote: Man’s threefold nature]
The human being has a threefold nature,—the physical, the mental, and
the spiritual; and Christian education so develops these that they
sustain the proper relation one to another. The spiritual nature was the
controlling power in the man made in God’s image. In the degeneration
of the race, he lost his spiritual insight, and passed first to the
intellectual plane, then to the physical. This is seen in the history
before the flood. Eden life was a spiritual existence; Adam’s life after
the fall was less spiritual, and gradually his descendants came to
live on the mental plane. There were master minds in the antediluvian
world. Men had no need of books, so strong was the memory and so keen
the insight. Through further disobedience, through an education which
strengthened reason rather than faith, men sank to the physical plane
instead of rising to the spiritual, until in due time the earth was
destroyed by water.
[Sidenote: Education since the time of Christ]
The same planes of existence are distinguishable in all ages since the
flood, but Christ alone rose to the purely spiritual level. Israel as a
nation might have so lived had true educational methods been followed.
Israel falling, the offer was made to the Christian church. Age by
age that body has refused to live a spiritual life, or, accepting
the proffered gift, has attempted to rise without complying with the
necessary conditions,—absolute faith in God’s Word and strict compliance
with his commands. The Reformation again turned men’s eyes toward a
spiritual education, and American Protestants had the best opportunity
ever offered man to return to the original design of the Creator. Failure
is again the verdict of the recording angel. Time hastens on, and the
last gospel message is going to the world; but before _a people can be
prepared for the setting up of Christ’s kingdom, they must be educated
according to the principles of Christian education_, for this is _the
foundation_ of all government as well as of all religion.
What is Christian education? Since its object is the training of a
human being for life eternal, and that existence is a spiritual life,
the spiritual must be the predominating feature of the education. When
the spiritual leads, the intellectual and physical take their proper
positions. The inner or spiritual man feeds only upon truth, absolute
truth; not theory nor speculation, but truth. “Thy word is truth.” _The
Word of God must then be the basis_ of all Christian education, the
science of salvation the central theme.
[Sidenote: The test]
Since God reveals his character in two ways, in his Word and in his
works, the Bible must be the first book in Christian education, and the
book of nature next. Many educators have seen the value of the book of
nature, and to-day nature-study forms a large part of the course of
instruction in all grades of schools. It may be asked, Is not this,
then, Christian education? We reply, Does it restore in men the image of
God? If so, it passes the test. But it can not be said to do this, and
therefore it falls short. Wherein, then, lies the difficulty in modern
nature-teaching, or the sciences in general? Read some of our modern
text-books in science. They readily reveal the answer.
[Sidenote: Astronomy as taught denies the Bible]
Young’s General Astronomy reads: “Section 908. Origin of the Nebular
Hypothesis.—Now this [the present condition] is evidently a good
arrangement for a planetary system, and therefore _some have inferred_
that the Deity made it so, _perfect from the first_. But to one who
considers the way in which other perfect works of nature usually come to
perfection—their processes of growth and development—_this explanation
seems improbable. It appears far more likely that the planetary system
grew than that it was built outright_.... In its main idea that the solar
system once existed as a nebulous mass, and has reached its present
state as the result of a series of purely physical processes, it seems
certain to prove correct, and _it forms the foundation of all the current
speculations upon the subject_.
“Section 909. La Place’s Theory.—(_a_) He supposed that at some past
time, which may be taken as a starting point of our system’s history, ...
the matter collected in the sun and planets was in the form of a nebula.
(_b_) This nebula was a cloud of intensely heated gas, perhaps hotter,
_as he supposed_, than the sun is now. (_c_) This nebula, _under the
action of its own gravitation_, assumed an approximately globular form,
with a rotation around its axis,” etc., etc.
The student must decide whether he will base his study of the heavens and
the earth—the study of astronomy, geography, and geology, as well as
zoology, and botany indirectly—on this hypothesis, which, we are told,
“forms the foundation of all current speculations upon the subject;”
or whether he will turn from these _reasonable explanations_ for the
existence of things, and take the plain Word of truth, which says, “By
the Word of the Lord were the heavens made;” “He spake and it was; he
commanded and it stood fast,” together with the explanation as given in
Genesis and elsewhere in the Scriptures.
Faith and finite reason face each other; the education of the world takes
reason; Christian education is based upon faith in God’s Word. Which will
develop character? _Why is it that modern science-study does not lead to
God?_—IN THE EVOLUTIONARY TEACHING OF THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS YOU HAVE ONE
ANSWER.
[Sidenote: Evolution as taught in zoology]