THE FOURFOLD FOUNDATION[1]
[1] The point of view and in some degree the outlines of this
and several following chapters have been adapted from the author's text
"Class-Room Method and Management," by permission of the publishers,
_The Bobbs-Merrill Co._, Indianapolis.
All good teaching rests on a fourfold foundation of principles. These
principles are the same from the kindergarten to the university, and
they apply equally to the teaching of religion in the church school or
subjects in the day school. Every teacher must answer four questions
growing out of these principles, or, failing to answer them, classify
himself with the unworthy and incompetent. These are the four supreme
questions:
1. What definite _aims_ have I set as the goal of my teaching? What
_outcomes_ do I seek?
2. What _material_, or _subject matter_, will best accomplish these
aims? What shall I stress and what shall I omit?
3. How can this material best be _organized_, or arranged, to adapt
it to the child in his learning? How shall I plan my material?
4. What shall be my plan or _method of presentation_ of this
material to make it achieve its purpose? What of my technique of
instruction?
THE AIM IN TEACHING RELIGION
First of all, the teacher of religion must _have_ an aim; he must know
what ends he seeks to accomplish. Some statistically minded person has
computed that, with all the marvelous accuracy of aiming modern guns,
more than one thousand shots are fired for every man hit in battle. One
cannot but wonder how many shots would be required to hit a man if the
guns were not aimed at anything!
Is the analogy too strong? Is the teacher more likely than the gunner to
reach his objective without consciously aiming at it? And can the
teacher set up for attainment as definite aims as are offered the
gunner? Do we _know_ just what ends we seek in the religious training of
our children?
Life itself sets the aim.--This much at least is certain. We know
_where to look for_ the aims that must guide us. We shall not try to
formulate an aim for our teaching out of our own thought or reasoning
upon the subject. We shall rather look out upon life, the life the
child is now living and the later life he is to live, and ask: "_What
are the demands that life makes on the individual?_ What is the
equipment this child will need as he meets the problems and tests
of experience in the daily round of living? What qualities and
powers will he require that he may the most fully realize his own
potentialities and at the same time most fruitfully serve his
generation? What abilities must he have trained in order that he may
the most completely express God's plan for his life?" When we can answer
such questions as these we shall have defined the aim of religious
education and of our teaching.
The knowledge aim.--First of all, life demands _knowledge_. There are
things that we must know if we are to avoid dangers and pitfalls.
Knowledge shows the way, while ignorance shrouds the path in darkness.
To be without knowledge is to be as a ship without a rudder, left to
drift on the rocks and shoals. The religious life is intelligent; it
must grasp, understand, and know how to use many great truths. To supply
our children with _religious knowledge_ is, therefore, one of the chief
aims of our teaching.
Yet not all knowledge is of equal worth. Even religious knowledge is of
all degrees of fruitfulness. Some knowledge, once acquired, fails to
function. It has no point of contact with our lives. It does not deal
with matters we are meeting in the day's round of experience. It
therefore lies in the mind unused, or, because it is not used, it
quickly passes from the memory and is gone. Such knowledge as this is of
no real value. It is not worth the time and effort put upon its mastery;
and it crowds out other and more fruitful knowledge that might take its
place.
To be a true end of education, knowledge must be of such nature that it
_can be put at work_. It must relate to actual needs and problems. It
must have immediate and vital points of contact with the child's common
experiences. The child must be able to see the relation of the truths he
learns to his own interests and activities. He must feel their value and
see their use in his work and in his play. This is as true of religious
knowledge as of knowledge of other kinds. The religious knowledge the
child needs, therefore, is a knowledge that _can at once be incorporated
in his life_. To supply the child with knowledge of this vital, fruitful
sort becomes, then, one great aim in the teaching of religion.
But knowledge alone is not enough. Indeed, knowledge is but the
beginning of religious education, whereas we have been in danger of
considering it the end. Many there are who _know_ the ways of life but
do not follow them. Many _know_ the paths of duty, but choose an easier
way. Many _know_ the road to service and achievement, but do not enter
thereon. If _to do_ were as easy as to know what to do, then all of us
would mount to greater heights.
The attitudes aim.--Life demands _goals_ set ahead for achievement. It
must have clearly defined the "worth whiles" which lead to endeavor.
Along with the knowledge that guides our steps must be the impulses that
drive to right action. Besides knowing what to do there must be inner
compelling forces that _get things done_. The chief source of our goals
and of the driving power within us is what, for want of a better term,
we may call our _attitudes_.
Prominent among our attitudes are the _interests, enthusiasms,
affections, ambitions, ideals, appreciations, loyalties, standards, and
attachments_ which predominate. These all have their roots set deep in
our emotions; they are the measure of life's values. They are the "worth
whiles" which give life its quality, and which define the goal for
effort.
Chesterton tells us that the most important thing about any man is the
_kind of philosophy he keeps_--that is to say, his _attitudes_. For it
is out of one's attitudes that his philosophy of life develops, and that
he settles upon the great aims to which he devotes himself. It is in
one's attitudes that we find the springs of action and the incentives to
endeavor. It is in attitudes that we find the forces that direct conduct
and lead to character.
To train the intellect and store the mind with knowledge without
developing a fund of right attitudes to shape the course of action is
therefore even fraught with danger. The men in positions of political
power who often misgovern cities or use public office as a means to
private gain do not act from lack of knowledge or in ignorance of civic
duty; their failure is one of ideals and loyalties; their attitude
toward social trust and service to their fellow men is wrong. The men
who use their power of wealth to oppress the poor and helpless, or
unfairly exploit the labor of others to their own selfish advantage do
not sin from lack of knowledge; their weakness lies in false standards
and unsocial attitudes. Men and women everywhere who depart from paths
of honor and rectitude fall more often from the lack of high ideals than
because they do not know the better way.
The goal and the motive power in all such cases comes from a false
philosophy of life; it is grounded in wrong attitudes. The education of
those who thus misconceive life has failed of one of its chief aims--_to
develop right attitudes_. Hence character is wanting.
The conduct, or application, aim.--The third and ultimate aim of
education has been implied in the first two; it is _conduct, right
living_. This is the final and sure test of the value of what we
teach--how does it find _expression in action_? Do our pupils think
differently, speak differently, act differently here and now because of
what we teach them? Are they stronger when they meet temptation from day
to day? Are they more sure to rise to the occasion when they confront
duty or opportunity? Are their lives more pure and free from sin? Do the
lessons we teach find expression in the home, in the school, and on the
playground? Is there a real outcome _in terms of daily living_?
These are all fair questions, for knowledge is without meaning except as
it becomes a guide to action. High ideals and beautiful enthusiasms
attain their end only when they have eventuated in worthy deeds. What
we _do_ because of our training is the final test of its value. Conduct,
performance, achievement are the ultimate measures of what our education
has been worth to us. By this test we must measure the effects of our
teaching.
Summary of the threefold aim.--The _aim_ in teaching the child
religion is therefore definite, even if it is difficult to attain. This
aim may be stated in three great requirements which life itself puts
upon the child and every individual:
1. _Fruitful knowledge_; knowledge of religious truths that can be
set at work in the daily life of the child now and in the years
that lie ahead.
2. _Right attitudes_; the religious warmth, responsiveness,
interests, ideals, loyalties, and enthusiasms which lead to action
and to a true sense of what is most worth while.
3. _Skill in living_; the power and will to use the religious
knowledge and enthusiasms supplied by education in shaping the acts
and conduct of the daily life.
True, we may state our aim in religious teaching in more general terms
than these, but the meaning will be the same. We may say that we would
lead the child to a knowledge of God as Friend and Father; that we seek
to bring him into a full, rich experience of spiritual union with the
divine; that we desire to ground his life in personal purity and free it
from sin; that we would spur him to a life crowned with deeds of
self-sacrifice and Christlike service; that we would make out of him a
true Christian. This is well and is a high ideal, but in the end it sums
up the results of the religious _knowledge, attitudes_, and _acts_ we
have already set forth as our aim. These are the parts of which the
other is the whole; they are the immediate and specific ends which lead
to the more distant and general. Let us, therefore, conceive our aim in
_both_ ways--the ideal Christian life as the final goal toward which we
are leading, and the knowledge, attitudes, and acts that make up
to-day's life as so many steps taken toward the goal.
SELECTING THE SUBJECT MATTER
After the aim the subject matter. When we would build some structure we
first get plan and purpose in mind; then we select the material that
shall go into it. It is so with education. Once we have set before us
the aim we would reach, our next question is, What shall be the means of
its attainment? When we have fixed upon the fruitful knowledge, the
right attitudes, and the lines of conduct and action which must result
from our teaching, we must then ask, What _means_ shall we select to
achieve these ends? What _material or subject matter_ shall we teach in
the church school?
The subject matter he presents is the instrumentality by which the
teacher must accomplish his aims for his class. Through this material he
must awaken thought, store the mind with vital truths, arouse new
interests, create ideals and lead the life to God. As the artist works
with brush and paint, with tool and clay, so the teacher must work with
truths and lesson materials.
Guiding principles.--Two great principles must guide in the selection
of subject matter for religious instruction:
1. _The material must be suited to the aims we seek._
2. _The material must be adapted to the child._
The tools and instruments the workman uses must be adapted to the
purpose sought. Ask the expert craftsman what kind of plane or chisel
you should buy for a piece of work you have in mind, and he will ask you
just what ends you seek, what uses you would put them to. Ask the
architect what materials you should have for the structure you would
build, and he will tell you that depends on the plan and purpose of your
building.
The material must fit the aim.--What materials of religious truth
should the teacher bring to his class? The answer is that truths and
lessons must be suited to the aim we seek. Would we lead our children to
understand the Fatherhood of God and to love him for his tender care?
Then the lessons must contain this thought, and not be built on
irrelevant material. Would we lead youth to catch the thrill and
inspiration of noble lives, to pattern conduct after worthy deeds? Then
our lesson material must deal with the high and fine in character and
action, and not with trivial things of lesser value.
So also, if we would capture the interest of childhood for the church
school and bind its loyalty to the church, the subject matter we offer
and the lessons we teach in the house of God must contain the glow and
throb of life, and not be dry and barren. If we would awaken religious
feeling and link the emotions to God, we must not teach empty lessons,
meaningless dates, and musty facts that fail to reach the heart because
they have no inner meaning.
Small use to set high aims and then miss them for want of material
suited for their attainment. Small use to catalogue the fine qualities
of heart and mind we would train in our children and then fail of our
aim because we choose wrong tools with which to work. Not all facts
found in the Bible are of equal worth to children, nor are all religious
truths of equal value. Nothing should be taught _just because it is
true_, nor even because it is found in the Bible. The final question is
whether this lesson material is the best we can choose for the child
himself; whether it will give him the knowledge he can use, train the
attitudes he requires, and lead to the acts and conduct that should rule
his life.
The material must fit the child.--The subject matter we teach _must
also be fitted to the child_. It must be within his grasp and
understanding. We do not feed strong meat to babes. What may be the
grown person's meat may be to the child poison. It does no good to load
the mind with facts it cannot comprehend. There is no virtue in truths,
however significant and profound, if they are beyond the reach of the
child's experience. Matter which is not assimilated to the understanding
is soon forgotten; or if retained, but weighs upon the intellect and
dulls its edge for further learning.
There can be little doubt that we have quite constantly in most of our
Sunday schools forced upon the child no small amount of matter that is
beyond his mental grasp, and so far outside his daily experience that it
conveys little or no meaning. We have over-intellectualized the child's
religion. Jesus was "to the Greeks foolishness" because they had no
basis of experience upon which to understand his pure and unselfish
life. May not many of the facts, figures, dates, and events from an
ancient religion which we give young children likewise be to them but
foolishness! May not the lessons upon some of the deepest, finest and
most precious concepts in our religion, such as faith, atonement,
regeneration, repentance, the Trinity, be lost or worse than lost upon
our children because we force them upon unripe minds and hearts at an
age when they are not ready for them?
Let us then, _not forget the child_ when we teach religion! Let us not
assume that truths and lessons are an end in themselves. Let us
constantly ask, as we prepare our lessons, Will this material work as a
true leaven in the life? Will it take root and blossom into character,
fine thought, and worthy conduct? While our children dumbly ask for
living bread let us not give them dead stones and dry husks, which
cannot feed their souls! Let us adapt our subject matter to the child.
The use of stress and neglect.--That the lesson material printed in
the Sunday school booklets is not always well adapted to the children
every teacher knows. But there it is, and what can we do but teach it,
though it may sometimes miss the mark?
There is one remedy the wise and skillful teacher always has at his
command. By the use of _stress_ and _neglect_ the matter of the lesson
may be made to take quite different forms. The points that are too
difficult may be omitted or but little emphasized. The matter that best
fits the child may be stressed and its application made. Illustrations,
stories, and lessons from outside sources may be introduced to suit the
aim. Great truths may be restated in terms within childhood's
comprehension. The true teacher, like the craftsman, will select now
this tool, now that to meet his purpose. Regardless of what the printed
lesson offers, he will reject or use, supplement or replace with new
material as the needs of his class may demand. The true teacher will be
the master, and not the servant, of the subject matter he uses.
HOW SHALL WE ORGANIZE AND PLAN THE LESSONS?
When the _content_ of the subject matter has been decided upon then
comes its _organization_. How shall we arrange and plan the material we
teach so as to give the children the easiest and most natural mode of
approach to its learning?
The great law here is that _the arrangement of subject matter must be
psychological_. This only means that we must always ask ourselves how
will the child most easily and naturally enter upon the learning of this
material? How can I organize it for the recitation so that it will most
strongly appeal to his interest? How can I arrange it so that it will be
most easily grasped and understood? How can I plan the lesson so that
its relation to immediate life and conduct will be most clear and its
application most surely made?
The psychological mode of approach.--I recently happened into a junior
Sunday school class where the lesson was on faith. The teacher evidently
did not know how to plan for a psychological mode of approach to this
difficult concept. He began by defining faith in Paul's phrase as "the
substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen." He then
went to the dictionary definition, which shows the relation of faith to
belief. He discussed the relation of faith to works, as presented in the
writings of James. But all to no avail. The class was uninterested and
inattentive. The lesson did not take hold. The time was wasted and the
opportunity lost. I excused myself and went to another classroom.
Here they had the same topic. But the teacher had sought for and found a
starting point from which to explain the meaning of faith in terms that
the children could understand. The teacher's eye rested for a moment on
John; then: "John, when does your next birthday come?"
"The sixteenth of next month," replied John promptly.
"Going to get any presents, do you think?" asked the teacher.
"Yes, sir," answered John with conviction.
"What makes you think so?" inquired the teacher. "Not everybody does
receive birthday presents, you know."
"But I am sure I will," persisted John. "You see, I know my father and
mother. They have never yet let one of my birthdays pass without
remembering me, and I am sure they are not going to begin to forget me
now. They think too much of me."
"You seem to have a good deal of _faith_ in your father and mother,"
remarked the teacher.
"Well I guess I _have!_" was John's enthusiastic response.
And right at this point the way was wide open to show John and the class
the meaning of faith in a heavenly Father. The wise teacher had found a
_point of contact_ in John's faith in the love and care of his parents,
and it was but a step from this to the broader and deeper faith in God.
It is a law of human nature that we are all interested first of all in
what affects our own lives. Our attention turns most easily to what
relates to or grows out of our own experience. The _immediate and the
concrete_ are the natural and most effective starting points for our
thought. The distant and remote exert little appeal to our interest; it
is the near that counts. Especially do these rules hold for children.
Making sure of a point of contact.--All these facts point the way for
the teacher in the planning and organization of material for his class.
The point of departure must always be sought in some _immediate interest
or activity in the life of the child_, and not in some abstract truth or
far-away lesson, however precious these may be to the adult Christian.
And no lesson is ready for presentation until the way into the child's
interest and comprehension has been found. Many a lesson that might have
been full of rich spiritual meaning for the child has been lost to our
pupils because it was presented out of season, or because the vital
connection between the truth and the child's experience was not
discovered by the teacher.
This principle suggests that in the main children should not be taught
religious truths in terms which they cannot grasp, nor in such a way
that the application to their own lives is not clear. For example, the
vital truths contained in the church catechisms are not for children;
the statement of them is too abstract and difficult, and the meaning too
remote from the child's experience. Many of the same truths can be
presented to children in the form of stories or illustrations; other of
the truths may rest until the child becomes older before claiming his
attention. Bible verses and sentiments completely outside the child's
comprehension are not good material for memorizing. Lessons upon the
more difficult concepts and deeper problems of religion belong to the
adult age, and should not be forced upon children.
Our guiding principle, therefore, is to _keep close to the mind, heart,
and daily life of childhood._ Then _adapt the subject matter we teach to
the mind, interests, and needs of those we teach._ Definitions, rules,
abstract statements, general truths have little or no value with
children. It is the story, the concrete incident, the direct
application growing out of their own experiences that takes hold.
PRESENTING THE LESSON--INSTRUCTION
After the aim has been clearly conceived, and after the lesson material
has been wisely chosen and properly organized, there still remains the
most important part--that of "getting the lesson across" to the class.
Many a valuable lesson, full of helpfulness, has been lost to the pupils
because the teacher lacked the power to bring his class to the right
pitch for receiving and retaining impressions. Many a class period has
been wasted because the teacher failed to present the material of the
lesson so that it gripped interest and compelled attention.
Response a test of instruction.--The _first_ test of good instruction
is the _response of the class_. Are the children alert? Are they keen
for discussion, or for listening to stories told or applications made?
Do they think? Do they enjoy the lesson hour, and give themselves
happily and whole-heartedly to it? Is their conduct good, and their
attitude serious, reverent, and attentive? Are they all "in the game,"
or are there laggards, inattentive ones, and mischief-makers?
These questions are all crucial. For the first law of all learning is
_self-activity_. There is no possibility of teaching a child who is not
mentally awake. Only the active mind grasps, assimilates, remembers,
applies. The birth of new ideas, the reaching of convictions, the
arriving at decisions all come in moments of mental stress and tension.
Lethargy of thought and feeling is fatal to all classroom achievement.
Therefore, no matter how keenly alert the teacher's mind may be, no
matter how skillful his analysis of an important truth may be if his
class sit with flagging interest and lax attention.
Results a test of instruction.--The _second_ test of good instruction
is our skill in handling the material of the lesson, and _shaping the
trend of thought and discussion_. Are the children interested in the
right things? Are the central truths of the lesson being brought out and
applied? Is the discussion centered on topics set for our consideration,
or does it degenerate into aimless talk on matters of personal or local
interest which have no relation to the lesson? In short, does the
recitation period yield the _fruitful knowledge_ we had set as a goal
for this lesson? Does it stimulate the _attitudes_ and motives we had
meant to reach? Does it lead to the _applications_ in life and conduct
which were intended? _Does it get results?_
The four points of this lesson are of supreme importance in teaching
religion. The _aim_ must be clear, definite, and possible of attainment.
The _subject matter_ of instruction must be wisely selected as an
instrument for reaching the aim set forth. The _organization_ of this
material must adapt it to the mind and needs of the child. The
_presentation_ of the lesson material in the recitation must be such
that its full effect is brought to bear upon the mind and heart of those
we teach.
Each of these four points will be further elaborated in the chapters
which follow. In fact, the remainder of the text is chiefly a working
out and applying of these fundamental principles to the teaching of
religion.
1. To what extent would you say you have been directing your
teaching toward a definite aim? Just how does the problem of this
chapter relate itself to the preceding chapter on the "Great
Objective"?
2. Do you think the majority of those who have come up through the
church school possess as full and definite a knowledge of the Bible
and the fundamentals of religion as we have a right to expect? If
not, where is the trouble and what the remedy?
3. Have you been consciously emphasizing the creation of right
attitudes as one of the chief outcomes of your teaching? Do you
judge that you are as successful in the developing of religious
attitudes as in imparting information? If not, can you find a
remedy?
4. To what extent do you think your instruction is actually
carrying over into the immediate life and conduct of your class in
their home, school, etc.? If not to so great an extent as you could
wish, are you willing to make this one of the great aims of your
teaching from this time on, seeking earnestly throughout this text
and in other ways to learn how this may be done?
5. Do you on the whole feel that the subject matter you are
teaching your pupils is adapted to the aims you seek to reach in
their lives? If not, how can you supplement and change to make it
more effective? Have you a broad enough knowledge of such material
yourself so that you can select material from other sources for
them?
6. To what extent do you definitely plan each lesson for the
particular children you teach so as to make it most accessible to
their interest and grasp? Do you plan each lesson to secure a
psychological mode of approach? How do you know when you have a
psychological approach?
FOR FURTHER READING
Betts, Class-Room Method and Management, Part I.
Coe, A Social Theory of Religious Education, Part II.
DuBois, The Point of Contact in Teaching.