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Page 10
Slattery, Living Teachers.
Horne, The Teacher as Artist.
CHAPTER II
THE GREAT OBJECTIVE
All teaching has two objectives--the _subject_ taught and the _person_
taught. When we teach John grammar (or the Bible) we teach grammar (or
the Bible), of course; but we also teach _John_. And the greater of
these two objectives is John. It is easy enough to attain the lesser of
the objectives. Anyone of fair intelligence can master a given amount of
subject matter and present it to a class; but it is a far more difficult
thing to understand the child--to master the inner secrets of the mind,
the heart, and the springs of action of the learner.
Who can measure the potentialities that lie hidden in the soul of a
child! Just as the acorn contains the whole of the great oak tree
enfolded in its heart, so the child-life has hidden in it all the powers
of heart and mind which later reach full fruition. Nothing is _created_
through the process of growth and development. Education is but a
process of unfolding and bringing into action the powers and capacities
with which the life at the beginning was endowed by its Creator.
THE CHILD AS THE GREAT OBJECTIVE
The child comes into the world--indeed, comes into the school--with much
potential and very little actual capital. Nature has through heredity
endowed him with infinite possibilities. But these are but promises;
they are still in embryonic form. The powers of mind and soul at first
lie dormant, waiting for the awakening that comes through the touch of
the world about and for the enlightenment that comes through
instruction.
Given just the right touch at the opportune moment, and these potential
powers spring into dynamic abilities, a blessing to their possessor and
to the world they serve. Left without the right training, or allowed to
turn in wrong directions, and these infinite capacities for good may
become instruments for evil, a curse to the one who owns them and a
blight to those against whom they are directed.
Children the bearers of spiritual culture.--The greatest business of
any generation or people is, therefore, the education of its children.
Before this all other enterprises and obligations must give way, no
matter what their importance. It is at this point that civilization
succeeds or fails. Suppose that for a single generation our children
should, through some inconceivable stroke of fate, refuse to open their
minds to instruction--suppose they should refuse to learn our science,
our religion, our literature, and all the rest of the culture which the
human race has bought at so high a price of sacrifice and suffering.
Suppose they should turn deaf ears to the appeal of art, and reject the
claims of morality, and refuse the lessons of Christianity and the
Bible. Where then would all our boasted progress be? Where would our
religion be? Where would modern civilization be? All would revert to
primitive barbarism, through the failure of this one generation, and the
race would be obliged to start anew the long climb toward the mountain
top of spiritual freedom.
Each generation must therefore create anew in its own life and
experience the spiritual culture of the race. Each child that comes to
us for instruction, weak, ignorant, and helpless though he be, is
charged with his part in the great program God has marked out for man to
achieve. Each of these little ones is the bearer of an immortal soul,
whose destiny it is to take its quality and form from the life it lives
among its fellows. And ours is the dread and fascinating responsibility
for a time to be the mentor and guide of this celestial being. Ours it
is to deal with the infinite possibilities of child-life, and to have a
hand in forming the character that this immortal soul will take. Ours it
is to have the thrilling experience of experimenting in the making of a
destiny!
Childhood's capacity for growth.--Nor must we ever think that because
the child is young, his brain unripe, and his experience and wisdom
lacking, our responsibility is the less. For the child's earliest
impressions are the most lasting, and the earliest influences that act
upon his life are the most powerful in determining its outcome. Remember
that the babe, starting at birth with nothing, has in a few years
learned speech, become acquainted with much of his immediate world,
formed many habits which will follow him through life, and established
the beginnings of permanent character and disposition. Remember the
indelible impression of the bedside prayers of your mother, of the
earliest words of counsel of your father, of the influence of a loved
teacher, and then know that other children are to-day receiving their
impressions from us, their parents and teachers.
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