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Page 27
Life never stands still; especially does the life of the child never
stand still. It is always advancing, changing, reconstructing. Starting
with an unripe brain, and with no fund of knowledge or expression, the
child in the first few years of his life makes astonishing progress. By
the time he is three years old he has learned to understand and speak a
difficult language. He knows the names and uses of hundreds of objects
about him. He has acquaintance with a considerable number of people, and
has learned to adapt himself to their ways. He has gained much
information about every phase of his environment which directly touches
his life--his mastery of knowledge has grown apace, without rest or
pause.
Nor does the development of what we have called _attitudes_ lag behind.
Parallel with growth in the child's knowledge, his interests are taking
root; his ideals are shaping; his standards are developing; his
enthusiasms are kindling; his loyalties are being grounded. These
changes go on whether we will or not--just because life and growth can
not be stopped. The great question that confronts teacher and parent is
whether through guidance, that is through education, we shall be able to
say _what_ attitudes shall arise and _what_ motives shall come to rule,
rather than to leave this all-important matter to chance or to influence
hostile to the child's welfare.
The teacher of religion, like all other teachers, must meet two
distinct though related problems in the cultivating of attitudes. These
are:
1. _The creation of an immediate or direct set of attitudes toward
the school and its work._ This is needed to motivate effort and
insure right impressions.
2. _The development of a far-reaching set of attitudes that will
carry out from the classroom into the present and future life of
the pupil._ This is needed as a guide and stimulus to spiritual
growth, and as a foundation for character.
ATTITUDES TOWARD THE SCHOOL AND ITS WORK
The older view of education sought to drive the child to effort and
secure results through pain and compulsion. It was believed that the
pathway to learning must of necessity be dreary and strewn with
hardships, if, indeed, not freely watered with the tears of childhood.
Now we know better. A knowledge of child psychology and a more
sympathetic insight into child nature have shown us that instead of
external compulsion we must get hold of the inner springs of action. No
mind can exert its full power unless the driving force comes from
_within_. The capacities implanted in the child at his birth do not
reach full fruition except when freely and gladly used because their use
is a pleasure and satisfaction. If worthy results are to be secured, the
_whole self_ must be called into action under the stimulus of
willingness, desire, and complete assent of the inner self to the tasks
imposed. There must be no lagging, nor holding back, nor partial use of
powers.
Religious education is, therefore, not simply a question of getting our
children into the church schools. That is easy. Parents who themselves
do not attend feel that they have more fully done their duty by their
children if they send them to the Sunday school. After securing the
attendance of the children the great question still remains--that of the
_response_, their attitude toward the activities of the school, the
completeness with which they give themselves to its work.
A friend who is a State inspector of public schools tells me that the
first thing he looks for when he visits a school is the _school spirit_,
the attitude of the pupils toward their teachers and the work of the
school. If this is good, there is a foundation upon which to build
fruitful work; if the spirit is bad, there is no possibility that the
work of the school can be up to standard. For it is out of the
schoolroom spirit, the classroom attitudes, that the effort necessary to
growth and achievement must come.
The spirit of the classroom.--_Do the children enjoy the lesson hour?_
The first of the motivating conditions to seek for our classroom is a
prevailing attitude of happiness, good cheer, enjoyment. These are the
natural attributes and attitudes of childhood. Unhappiness is an
abnormal state for the child. The child's nature unfolds and his mind
expands normally only when in an atmosphere of sympathy, kindness, and
good feeling. Our pupils must enjoy what they are doing, if they are to
give themselves whole-heartedly to it. If loyalty to the school and the
church is to result, they must not feel that the Sunday school hour is a
drag and a bore. If such is the case, they cannot be expected to carry
away lasting impressions for good. They must not look upon attendance as
an imposition, nor wait with eager impatience for the closing gong.
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