(a) The mind is growing in its power to associate facts. The association of events around a person or a place is easily made now, and toward the end of the period sequences of time and cause and effect are grasped.(b) The Holy Spirit can bring to the remembrance only that which has been in the mind. Therefore the teacher who stores the memory at this time with Scripture passages makes it possible for God to speak to the heart in later years.
(a) The mind is growing in its power to associate facts. The association of events around a person or a place is easily made now, and toward the end of the period sequences of time and cause and effect are grasped.
(b) The Holy Spirit can bring to the remembrance only that which has been in the mind. Therefore the teacher who stores the memory at this time with Scripture passages makes it possible for God to speak to the heart in later years.
(5)The opportunity to lead to open confession of Jesus Christ.This is not to force, it is not to play upon the child's emotions, and lead him to do that which has no foundation in a consciousness of his own relation to Christ, but something is radically wrong in the home and something lacking in the teacher's work, if the boys and girls do not really love the Lord Jesus in this period. They do not understand it all, but the essentials of a Christian life they may have,—love, faith, penitence for wrongdoing, and the desire to serve Christ. Their experience cannot be that of an adult, for they have not his insight. But just as surely as the love and caress of the child is precious and acceptable to a mother even before there can be any comprehension on his part of the sacrificial character of mother-love, so is child-love precious and accepted with the Master even before the child grasps the great spiritual contents.
20. Needs of the Junior Age.
(1)The presentation of Christianity as something to do rather than to be.The boys and girls do not live in inner experiences in these years, but in outward, energetic action; therefore, what they may do for Jesus Christ and others needs emphasis. This presentation also includes a Christ who appeals to boyhood and girlhood, the wonder-worker of Mark, the God-Man of Matthew and Luke, and the victorious King of Revelation.
(2)Opportunities for service.These must be carefully devised by the teacher, with the twofold purpose of giving immediate expression to the desire to do something and leading to the formation of habits of Christian activity.
(3)Christian heroes.The teacher ought to be a Christian hero himself. Out of missionary literature, out of the lives of great men who have lived, out of Bible characters, heroes must be multiplied. The Sunday-school lessons ought to be hero studies, not sermons. Heroic literature ought to be put into the hands of the children—either directly or through indirect suggestion in some curiosity-arousing reference to the story. This means the most effective type of instruction during all the week as well as Sunday.
(4)A lesson requiring work on the part of the pupil.Telling a Junior class primary stories will deplete it in numbers and weaken it in strength. Assigned work to be prepared at home, questions, note-books, map-making, anything to stimulate and utilize the activity of mind and body through interest, not compulsion, is the great necessity of the lesson hour.
21. Difficulties of the Junior Age.—Three difficulties may be encountered.
(1)A misdirected energy.Energy means finest growth and development if it is under direction and control, but devastation otherwise. The key to the situation is in the teacher's personality, plus a plan for the hour's work, appealing to interest and calling for constant activity, either mental or physical, on the part of the pupil.
(2)Evil associates.The teacher cannot guard the child through the seven days of a week; often the home does not, and in this new social interest there is a danger from evil associates. Better pastoral work by the teacher, a closer co-operation with the home, and substitutive—not prohibitive—measures avail much in meeting this difficulty.
(3)The enticement of bad literature.This period and the next are the time of greatest hunger for reading and there is a real danger from the temptations of pernicious books. Satan has emissaries on the school-grounds and in the candy store, and boys and girls are his shining marks. The substitutive measures here again are the only wise and effective ones.
22. Results to be Expected in the Junior Age.—The results of work in this period ought to appear in an increase in Bible knowledge, the strengthening of right habits and manly idealsof life, and back of it all the warm love of boyhood and girlhood for the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. How may spiritual ends best be gained?
2. How may the pupil's efforts in right doing be aroused?
3. What is needed in this period in addition to impressions?
4. What essentials of the Christian life may the pupils readily have at this period?
5. What aspect of Christianity appeals most to pupils of this age?
6. What method of teaching should be substituted for story telling?
7. What three difficulties may be encountered in the Junior Age?
8. What results may be expected?
23. General Character of the Period of Adolescence.—The Intermediate age ushers in a time known as adolescence, including the years approximately from twelve to twenty-four, during which life passes from childhood to maturity. The period is marked by the development of new physical powers, new emotions, new ideals and conceptions of life, and a new spiritual consciousness. The change from the old life to the new, from the narrow to the broad, from interests selfish and small to interests as far-reaching as the world and eternity, is often accompanied by more or less upheaval in the soul and this period of re-adjustment may be a time of "storm and stress."
Two facts out of the many suggest the critical nature of adolescence:
(1) During these years the pupil is most susceptible to the power of influence. It does not touch his life simply as an impression, but as an impelling, determining force inciting him to action.
(2) Life rarely changes in its tendencies and character after full maturity has come. There is a physical reason for this in the hardening of the brain which fixes the pathways of habit and renders new lines of thought and action difficult. Therefore, in all probability as life emerges from adolescence will it enter eternity.
24. General Characteristics of the Intermediate Age.—Many of the characteristics of the Junior age are still evident, though modified by fuller development. Physical energy has increased and the mind has greater power, especially in its ability to reason. No disillusioning has come to destroy the old hero-worship, but with even more intensity each life clings to that one who embodies its aspirations. The hunger for general reading reaches its climax in this period, to be succeeded by specialized interest in lines determined by the taste of the individual.
Lacking still the self-control of manhood, breaking from theold life and dimly apprehending as yet the meaning of the new, under the domination of impulse and influence as well as of dawning conviction, the Intermediate age offers particularly trying problems with its great opportunities.
25. Special Characteristics of the Intermediate Age.
(1)The functioning of new physical powers.This is one of the most significant changes in the Intermediate period, because of its physical effects and its reflex influence upon the mental and emotional life. Severe temptations often have to be met, questioning and unwise introspection, and the teacher ought to be a confidential friend as well as instructor.
(2)A condition of instability and easy excitation.The nervous system is abnormally sensitive and quickly disturbed. The mind is keyed to vigorous, intense, and often unbalanced thought, but it is in the feelings that the lack of poise is most manifest. Whether the teacher can assign causes or not, he is conscious that the emotions are a veritable tinder-box, easily kindled into a great fire by a very little matter. Superlatives, slang, and the highest pitches of enthusiasm are common experience, and because action and reaction are equal and opposite, periods of depression corresponding to those of exhilaration are almost inevitable.
(3)A new personal consciousness.There are several marked evidences of its existence.
(a) Care for appearance. In the beginning of this period, what others think is a matter of supreme indifference, but it is not long before a desire to appear well manifests itself. Solicitude as to one's personal looks is supplemented by anxiety over the condition of the home, the standing of the family, the social position and dress of the companions. Naturally, judgment of others is based on outward appearance rather than on real worth of character.(b) Desire for appreciation. An intense longing is experienced to have talents, accomplishments, wits, efforts—everything which pertains to self valued at par or above. For this cause there is frequent public parade of wares, as in the case of the smart youth or the girl who draws attention to herself by loud talking and laughter. The same longing works self-consciousness, embarrassment, and awkwardness in others who feel themselves deficient, neither class as yet apprehending the truth that character, not external show, wins the truest meed of praise from the world.(c) A sense of approaching manhood and womanhood. This makes the life sensitive beyond expression to reproof or criticism, particularly in public. It also explains the restlessness and desire to enter at once upon the life-work.
(a) Care for appearance. In the beginning of this period, what others think is a matter of supreme indifference, but it is not long before a desire to appear well manifests itself. Solicitude as to one's personal looks is supplemented by anxiety over the condition of the home, the standing of the family, the social position and dress of the companions. Naturally, judgment of others is based on outward appearance rather than on real worth of character.
(b) Desire for appreciation. An intense longing is experienced to have talents, accomplishments, wits, efforts—everything which pertains to self valued at par or above. For this cause there is frequent public parade of wares, as in the case of the smart youth or the girl who draws attention to herself by loud talking and laughter. The same longing works self-consciousness, embarrassment, and awkwardness in others who feel themselves deficient, neither class as yet apprehending the truth that character, not external show, wins the truest meed of praise from the world.
(c) A sense of approaching manhood and womanhood. This makes the life sensitive beyond expression to reproof or criticism, particularly in public. It also explains the restlessness and desire to enter at once upon the life-work.
(4)Increasing Social Appetite.The boy who said in answer to a remonstrance over his presence in the billiard hall and bowling alley, "A fellow has got to have fun somewhere," voiced the sentiment of all his confrères in the Intermediate period. The desire for good times is paramount, and its right indisputable in the conception of the young people. The delight in healthy outdoor sports continues with the athletically inclined, and ought to be fostered as a safety valve for surplus energy, a diverter of self-centered thought, and a tonic for excitable nerves. In the latter part of this period, however, the love of fun gives place to a love of functions, either the helpful sort of social commingling or the danger-filled type, marked by late hours, excitement, and overwrought imagination. This transition comes from a growing mutual attraction between the sexes which has succeeded the repulsion evident in the early part of the period.
(5)The Development of the Altruistic Feelings.Though these feelings are not unknown to childhood, their vigorous development does not begin until the Intermediate period. The pupil now experiences an impulse from within to sacrifice for others and make his life a source of blessing. The new sense of God and his claims intensifies and vitalizes the desires. Unselfishness appears, interest in the welfare of others as well as self, and willingness to do for them even at personal cost. These are the feelings that make it possible to say "Brother," and to love the neighbor as one's self. They can come only as the meaning of life is better understood. They can remain only as they are given constant expression in action.
(6)A Spiritual Awakening.Even though the pupil may be a genuine Christian, there comes to him at this time a larger consciousness of God and the soul's relation to him, and with it a call to full surrender. Whereas the childhood relation to Godwas based on feeling, there is now the element of will-power which must ratify by deliberate choice that which love has prompted. If the pupil is not a Christian, this awakening comes as God's call to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and crown him Lord of the life as well. If the call is not heeded now, its tones grow less and less distinct, until, in the strident cries of the world, they may be silenced forever.
1. What is meant by adolescence?
2. What is the general character of the period?
3. What two facts indicate the critical nature of this period?
4. What six special characteristics mark this period?
5. What two signs of personal consciousness?
6. What desire is paramount at this time?
7. What is meant by altruistic feelings? Describe their development.
8. What new element now enters in to affect the relation to God?
26. Opportunities of the Intermediate Age.—There is a significant difference in the purpose of the opportunities presented during childhood and during adolescence. If they were to be summed up in key-words, that for childhood would be absorption; for adolescence, adjustment.
The opportunities of childhood converge toward supplying the soul with material needful for growth—influences, impressions, and a mass of facts more or less unconnected in the beginning. But this is only the first step in character building. These materials must be arranged, facts must be related to one another, and the life must be related to other lives in real interest, sympathy, and service. This process of relating fact to fact, life to life, and each soul anew to God is the paramount task of adolescence, even though absorption continues with almost unabated strength.
Analyzing the opportunities which are presented to the Intermediate teacher in this new adjustment of life, three stand out prominently:
(1)The opportunity to foster high ideals.Whether it be consciously defined or not, every one has that toward which ambitions and effort go forth, and this ideal determines what character shall be. No one can give an ideal to another, as a book is handed over, for it is a personal thing, to be fashioned by each soul for itself out of that which it has absorbed through the years.
It is in the transition from childhood to maturity that every life decides what (for it) seems most worth while, and to this ideal makes surrender of thought, desire, and effort. Is not God's gracious purpose evident, in that this is the time when life is most easily influenced?
(2)Opportunity to develop self-reliance.A life cannot count for God and for others unless it can make decisions and meet tests by itself. The power to do this comes only through effort to do it. During the Intermediate age, the young people may be more and more thrown upon their own resources, permitted to decidematters for themselves, learning wiser judgment through mistakes as well as successes. One of the most serious errors on the part of the teacher lies at this very point, dictating instead of suggesting, choosing for the pupil instead of allowing him to choose, thinking for him instead of stimulating every power of his soul to rise to a personal solution of the problem in hand. If strength and independence of character do not come in these years of adjustment, the probabilities are that life will always be weak and vacillating.
(3)The opportunity to strengthen the altruistic feeling or "love for the other."—In the broadening and deepening experience of adolescence such conceptions as love, suffering, sacrifice, and surrender reveal a new meaning and strange force of attraction. No opportunity comparable to the one presented in this awakening ever returns, as the soul, with life before it, stands at the divergence of the paths, one leading toward God and service, the other away from him into self, and deliberate, decisive choice to be made.
If through the influence of the Holy Spirit the pathway of service be chosen, two laws of God tend to make it permanent; (a) The law of growth and development. If the feelings have proper nourishment,i. e., something to arouse them, and are given expression in action, they will just as surely grow strong as a well-nourished, vigorous body, and obviously, the stronger the feelings of loving interest, the more assured is the life of service. (b) The law of habit. A feeling will become habitual if continually indulged and expressed, and it is during adolescence that habits are permanently fixed.
27. Needs of the Intermediate Age.—The needs of this period are of two sorts—important and imperative. It is exceedingly important that the pupil be treated with consideration, respect, and appreciation, that he be given good literature, that he be guarded and guided in his social life. It is imperative, however, that he be established in the right relation to God and to his neighbor at this time of new consciousness of these relationships. Four things will definitely further this supreme end:
(1)The teacher with the vision of what may be done.If he is not disobedient to the vision, it will lead him to close fellowshipwith God and the pupil, for two things are evident,—he cannot lead the pupil unless he is in sympathetic touch with him, nor can he lead him to any higher place than he himself occupies. If he be in vital relation with God and live with the pupil in his ambitions, discouragements, successes, temptations, the most dynamic external force that can operate in this period will be his to wield, namely, a spiritual personal influence.
(2)Definite decisions.The danger-point in this crisis lies in permitting these newly awakened feelings to be dissipated without decision and action. If this occurs they weaken, the impulse to take the right stand lessens, and irresolution finally becomes the tacit choice of the self-seeking life.
(3)Definite responsibilities.A life of service is made up of definite servings. The beauty and duty of loving sacrifice appeal to the emotions, but a concrete thing to be done calls the will into action. To every pupil should be given definite tasks both in the class itself and in the church, in order to arouse effort and make the thought of service habitual.
(4)Definite objects of benevolence.The teachers of the Intermediate age can almost determine when the world shall be given to Jesus Christ. At no time can a permanent interest in missionary enterprises and philanthropies at home be so easily launched as now if the subjects considered be concrete, enthusiastically presented on a basis of facts, and followed by definite response in gift, prayer, or service.
28. Difficulties in the Intermediate Age.
(1) Lack of mental balance and consequent instability of conduct.
(2) The fascination of the social world and the growing interest of each sex in the other.
(3) The half-way position between childhood and maturity which retains the immaturity of childhood, but feels the selfhood of the man.
(4) The attraction of the external rather than of intrinsic worth. In this is the key to many of the problems. What appears to advantage allures, even if it be not the best. This gives superficial standards of measuring people and things and easily opens the way to harmful influences at the critical timewhen ideals and life purposes are forming. The teacher himself is the most important factor in the solution of these problems, not by any attempt to force, but by a patient, suggestive, and inspiring touch upon the pupil's life.
29. Results to be Expected.—The pupil ought to leave this period in the right attitude toward God and toward his neighbor. To render this attitude strong and unchangeable is the work of the next period.
1. What is a keyword for the opportunities of the Intermediate Age? Explain its application.
2. Name three important opportunities of this age.
3. What serious error may the teacher commit in this period in impairing the pupil's self-reliance?
4. Name four needs of the Intermediate age.
5. What is the danger-point in bringing a pupil to definite decisions?
6. What great responsibility as to benevolences rests upon the teacher?
7. Name four difficulties of the Intermediate Age.
8. What results may be expected?
30. General Characteristics of the Senior Age.—The Senior age includes the two periods technically known as middle adolescence, from about sixteen to eighteen, and later adolescence, from eighteen to full maturity, about twenty-four. Of these, the earlier period is the climax of the "tempest-tossed" years. The later period witnesses the final adjustment of the pupil to life and its problems. These years are marked by uncertainty because the pupil does not understand himself, by emotional upheaval connected with the development of the deeper feelings of the soul, and by a struggle between the old ideal of selfishness and the new ideal of service.
31. Special Characteristics of the Senior Age.
(1)Continued development of the higher feelings.The power of the soul to feel for others, appearing in the Intermediate age, has grown stronger if properly nurtured. In addition there comes a new love for the beauties of Nature and a reverence for her laws, a love of the arts and the great causes that men espouse. There is the thrill of awakening love between man and woman. Highest of all, the soul is now able to give response to the right simply because it is the right. Duty has real meaning and conviction becomes a motive power.
As the large vision of what life may be dawns upon the soul, unbounded enthusiasm and courage possess it. There are no heights too dizzy to be reached, no obstacles too difficult to overcome. But enthusiasm often alternates with depression and self-distrust, leading to indifference, apathy, or recklessness. This is the explanation of the vacillating conduct almost universal during the early part of this period.
A critical spirit toward others is common, as merciless scrutiny reveals how far the majority come from the high standards of life so newly appreciated. The frank openness of childhood has been succeeded by a tendency to shut the deeper thoughts and feelings away from others, and while there is an unspeakablelonging to share problems and perplexities, the veil is not easily drawn aside.
(2)The rapid development of the reasoning power of the mind.This crowning expression of the intellectual power of the mind has not been wanting before, but it comes to full flower in this period. In the first delight of being able to see inner relationships, to argue, to relate cause and effect, reason is given the place of honor and everything must pass in review before it. This very often precipitates a conflict between reason and faith through failure to see that a thing is not necessarily opposed to reason even if it cannot be understood by reason; and a period of doubt in religious matters may ensue.
(3)Maturing of the will power.This makes possible self-control, gives power to act independent of the impulse and influence which always determines a child's actions, power to hold steadily to a certain course even against strong opposition. This is the kingly possession of the soul with which Almighty God has chosen to leave freedom. But the soul tends to act as it has formed the habit of acting through the years under the direction of others. In the light of this fact, the importance of the earlier work of the teacher is emphasized.
32. Opportunities of the Senior Age.—The opportunities discussed in the Intermediate age still obtain in this period, but to them may be added three peculiarly favorable at this time.
(1)The opportunity to give help in choice of life vocation.The choice of that place where each shall invest his life is one of the most serious and complex problems that the pupil has to meet. Loving and sympathetic counsel often stimulates a young man or woman to aspire in the choice instead of settling down into easy mediocrity. The call of the ministry, the mission field, settlement work, every vocation involving the setting aside of selfish ambitions, is most loudly heard at this time, and often a word is sufficient to turn the decision in that direction.
(2)To strengthen foundations of faith.The questioning of this period makes it possible to ground belief in the verities of the Christian religion. Faith need not be blind. God gives a reasonable basis for all he asks us to accept. The careful study of facts which are the starting-point of faith will help the doubtingsoul to trust beyond the point of sight, and enable him to give a reason for the hope that is in him.
(3)To establish broad interests.If the pupil is narrow and circumscribed in his thought at this time, the fault lies in large measure at the teacher's door, for every impulse is to stretch in interest to the farthest limit in every direction. There will never again be such an opportunity to establish the world-wide interests begun in the Intermediate age, for life settles in a groove in adulthood and new interests do not readily appeal.
33. Needs of the Senior Age.
(1)The influence of lives that will bear the test.In this doubting, critical period of life, the daily life of others is the unanswerable argument for or against the power of the gospel. If for no other reason than to establish the faith of her young people, the church ought to walk in white.
(2)Sympathy and confidence toward the pupil.Some one has said that the word "hunger" will express the period of adolescence, and for nothing is the pupil so hungry as to be understood, appreciated, and trusted. The teacher is privileged to live into the life of the pupil at every point, and be the sympathetic friend who shall help him to work out his high calling in Christ Jesus.
34. Difficulties of the Senior Age.—The very things that constitute the strength of this period present many of its difficulties. The greater mental power coming with increased reason and will is apt to give rise to self-sufficiency and the doubt already mentioned. Opinions are readily and dogmatically launched, and to reverse them wounds pride. Advice may be secretly welcomed and outwardly scorned. This is the period when there is danger that wisdom may perish if the youth meet an untimely end. But far more dangerous is the tendency toward the sowing of wild oats which is so often evident. A certain recklessness easily grows out of the disturbed emotional nature and excesses lie not far beyond. For all of these difficulties, faith and prayer, an attitude of helpfulness at every point, and the love that never fails, afford the only solution.
35. Results to be Expected.—As the pupil emerges from the period of development into maturity, he ought to be "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," with interest and love as broadas that of his Master, and "thoroughly furnished unto every good work."
1. What are the general characteristics of the Senior Age? The years included?
2. Name three special characteristics.
3. How would you explain vacillating conduct during the early part of this period?
4. Name three opportunities of the Senior Age.
5. How may doubters be helped in this period?
6. What are two special needs of this period?
7. The chief difficulties?
8. What the results to be expected?
The limited space of a single chapter permits only a suggestive discussion of this important period, so often neglected in the study of the pupil.
36. General Survey.—(1)Keyword, "Service."As childhood's task is absorption, and the task of youth adjustment, so the task of maturity is service. That which has been taken in must be given out again, enriched and enlarged by its stay in the soul. This is "the last of life for which the first was made," and to fail here means to miss the meaning of living.
All the factors necessary for service are now ready. Experience and study have supplied something to give, mental discipline and unimpaired physical strength supply the power for service, the broad outlook reveals the need and place of service, and the soul's awakening toward God and the neighbor have supplied the motives for service.
(2)Physical and mental power at the height.Waste and repair in bodily tissues are balanced during the prime of life. If development has been normal, the will is resolute, and judgment and reason are dominating and wise, for experience has given large data from which to draw conclusions. While the "Golden Age of Memory" is far in the past, the power of retaining new knowledge through the old is strong. To enter upon unfamiliar lines of thought, however, at this time and achieve any mastery is a mark of genius at least for hard work. The soul has capacity now for the highest feelings that can stir the heart of man, yet the character of those it really experiences is determined by what life has been feeding upon. The love, joy, and peace which give glory to maturity and old age grow alone out of thought upon true and pure and lovely things and those of good report.
(3)Development specialized, not general.Out of the many calls and lines of interest, each life has made choice of one or more, according to taste and circumstances. Along these lines growth and development proceed. It is not that life could not continuethe many-sided expansion of adolescence, but growth demands nourishment, development demands activity. The need for the expert, the multiplicity of cares and the force of habit make it difficult to "keep up" along many avenues.
(4)Time of achievement.Achievement may or may not be that service which manhood owes. The purpose in the task determines that. To souls especially endowed and favorably environed come the riches of intellectual research, of creation in the arts, of successes in the business world. To the many, achievement means only struggle here, but waiting treasures laid up with God.
(5)Time of soul hunger.The teacher of men and women always faces hungry hearts. If the soul has not found satisfaction in God, the pangs of starvation are inevitably there. If the soul does know God, there is unspeakable longing for a clearer revelation and a deeper consciousness that in the midst of life's weakness and aspiring
"God's goodness flows around our incompleteness,Round our restlessness His rest."
"God's goodness flows around our incompleteness,Round our restlessness His rest."
37. Opportunities Presented in Maturity.—But three great opportunities out of the many can be suggested:
(1)The opportunity to be somebody's ideal.Every successful life is the pattern for some eager, ambitious boy or girl. Did not Paul's exhortation to Timothy look toward this as well, when he besought him to "be an ensample in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity"?
(2)The opportunity to count for the kingdom.There are two lines of Christian work which call loudly to-day to men and women—personal evangelism and the missionary enterprise. These are the doors most imperative for the soul in possession of power, experience, and resources to enter. Beyond these doors lies the solution of every one of the world's problems.
(3)The opportunity to grasp the doctrines of Christianity.The relation of truth to truth cannot come until the mind can deal with the abstract. The little child grasps some of the facts of Christianity, but the adult mind has the power to deal with infinite reaches of truth, interdependent and self-illuminating. This is the "solid food for full-grown men."
38. Needs of Maturity.—(1)Adequate spiritual nourishment.
The time of disillusionment has come, much of the optimism and buoyancy of youth have gone. Life is found to be a struggle even with its victories, and responsibilities and sorrows weigh. The teaching must present a Saviour and a salvation sufficient for great heart needs. It is for the deep things of God that life's experiences have made mature souls hungry, and there is pathos in the superficial dole meted out by so many teachers—superficial because they themselves have never lived "down deep."
(2)The broad outlook.To busy men and burdened women, the class ought to be a place of vision. Absorbed in one's tiny corner through six toiling days, the seventh should give opportunity to lift up the eyes and look on fields glorious in their incoming harvest. There is refreshment and inspiration and incentive now in the news from China and Japan and the islands of the sea. The teacher must bring the world-view to the class if he believes that world service is God's thought for manhood.
(3)Emphasis on personal responsibility.This is the pivotal point upon which a life of service turns, and it ought to be the focal point of teaching. Long enough has stress been laid on the conditions in the world and what ought to be done. The need now is for a prophet to say, "Thou art the man!"
39. Difficulties.
(1)Pre-occupied soil."The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it becomes unfruitful."
(2)Fixedness of habit.Life's attitude is settled in thought, feeling, and will, and a change is possible only through the Spirit who can make all things new.
(3)The sin of idolatry.Every life that has not put God first now worships at the shrine of a self-elevated idol, the tangible expression of its ideal. To dethrone it from love and substitute Jesus Christ shakes to the foundations.
(4)Weakness of spiritual aspirations.It is a law of the feelings that repression instead of expression weakens a feeling and tends to its destruction. If the life has refused to act upon its impulses toward God through the years, the task of making the feeling strong enough to lead into action now is one beyond the power of the teacher. It must be done by God, who "is able to raise up even from the dead."
40. Results to be Expected.—As life nears its meridian and the west grows clearer, it ought to be with unveiled face and character changing into His likeness in beauty, love, and self-surrendered service.
1. What is the keyword of maturity?
2. Name four characteristics.
3. For what has the soul special capacity at this time?
4. What special opportunities are presented by maturity?
5. What are three needs of maturity?
6. What must definitely mark the teaching?
7. What three difficulties appear?
8. What results are to be expected?
1. What essentials of the Christian life may a Junior readily have?
2. How may we stimulate a Junior's efforts in right-doing?
3. What results may we look for in this age?
4. Explain the period of adolescence.
5. What are the signs of personal consciousness at this time?
6. What affects the adolescent's relation to God?
7. What important opportunities has the Intermediate age?
8. What must be guarded against in urging decision at this time?
9. What years are included in the Senior age?
10. Why are doubts to be expected in this age?
11. What results should be aimed at with Seniors?
12. What is meant by "maturity"?
13. What is the goal for this age?Note.—A helpful treatment of the whole subject of child nature is found in Mrs. Lamoreaux's book "The Unfolding Life."
Leaders of classes, and individuals pursuing these studies apart from classes, are urged to read the chapter entitled "Teaching Hints," on page259, before beginning this section
Leaders of classes, and individuals pursuing these studies apart from classes, are urged to read the chapter entitled "Teaching Hints," on page259, before beginning this section
1. The Value of Character.—We teach more by what we are than by what we know. Emerson once said, "What you are thunders so loud I cannot hear what you say." Everywhere the character of the teacher is counted a vital part of his equipment. Even in secular schools the teacher is required to possess a good moral character. How much more should we demand high moral and spiritual standards of the teacher in the Sunday-school! But mere goodness is not enough. We must demand, in addition to personal worth, certain other salient qualities in the person who stands before childhood as a teacher of God's truth.
2. Training Always Needed.—There is a common notion that teachers like poets are born, not made. This is fallacious for two reasons: (a) we do not know till we try whether or not we can teach; (b) we do know now that the greater number of teachers are made by training and not by inherited qualities. Then, too, we are told that born teachers need no training, that they can teach without preparation. This notion is false, because the best native power may be made better by proper training. We call a doctor who has had no training in medicine a "quack," and it is not too much to say the same of untrained teachers. Hence all of us will be the better fitted for our work in the Sunday-school if we have in addition to our native powers such added power as prayer and training assuredly give.
3. A Living Example.—The teacher should be not only a professing Christian, but a living example of the kind of life we want every child to live. It is unfortunate to place the destiny of a human soul in the care and under the directing thought of a teacher who neither believes nor lives a consistent Christian life. The teacher should bekindly considerateof his pupils[.] No amount of fine teaching power can compensate for the lack of such kindly concern for the welfare of his pupils as will best lead them to crave in their own lives the same courteous and considerate qualities. He should also be perfectlysincereandfrank. There can be no such thing as "playing a part" in the presence of children. They discern with an intuition that is as certain as logic the sincerity or insincerity of the teacher. It is a mistake to flatter, to scold, to threaten or to cajole pupils. These are the marks of poor teaching. A perfectly frank teacher will never cheapen his sacred opportunity by any trick or device that has the ring of insincerity.
4. Enthusiasm.—The teacher should be anenthusiast. I had the good fortune to hear Bishop Phillips Brooks speak to a great body of men in Boston. There was in his whole manner such sincerity and enthusiasm as to carry conviction to each one in his audience. He had a good thing. He believed in it with his whole heart. He was enthusiastic in its praise. He had tested it and found it good. He wanted others to share the same splendid good. His address left an impression that years cannot dim. His enthusiasm made him a great teacher. This does not mean that one should speak in a loud tone, in high-pitched voice, with vehement manner and gesture. These are marks of weakness, not of strength. But it does mean that one should be confident of the worth of his message and anxious to impress its worth upon others. Enthusiasm is born of sincere conviction in the correctness of the thing one aims to teach.
5. Directness.—Much of all that is best in teaching is the result of a mastery of the theme in such way as to make all the statements and questions of the teacherclear and direct. One must consider his language carefully. To the child in the class words may mean quite a different thing from what they mean to the teacher. One must have the pupils' point of view, and then make all his teaching so pointed, so specific, that the meaning must be clear.
6. Alert Insight.—The teacher must bealertandaggressive, discerning the favorable moment to say great truths; with his thoughts more upon his pupils than upon his text. Otherwise his power to govern is weakened and the interest of his pupils is lessened if not wholly lost. To accomplish the best things one must know in advance the scope and purpose of the lesson, and watch for the moment when, with interest at its height, he will best succeed in reaching the deepest fountains ofpurpose in the soul of the pupil. This quality of insight in the teacher's equipment will put the class upon a basis of work. The pupils will quickly realize that the teacher is imbued with a purpose; that he proceeds in a business-like way to accomplish a result which is seen to be of value. The very directness of the teacher is an asset of great significance. This always appeals to young persons. They like a lesson that is full of snap and action. They will not long abide a dull and dreary dragging over a subject—be it ever so fruitful in guidance.
7. Love.—The teacher must be a sincerelover of childhoodandof the Master. In the final chapter of the great Gospel by John, Jesus examines Peter and indicates the basis of great teaching power. It is well to study this narrative carefully. Picture Peter, at the dawn, weary and disheartened, coming from his fishless quest. The Master meets him and asks him but one question, but he asks that question three times, and each time he follows Peter's reply with the command "Feed." The lesson is plain—he that loves most feeds best, and the measure of one's power to teach the truth of God to his children is the measure of one's love for the Master Teacher. Where there is no love there can be no great teaching.
1. What should be counted a vital part of the teacher's equipment?
2. Is it true that teachers are "born," not "made"? Give two reasons for your answer.
3. Name two ways in which a teacher can be a living example.
4. What are some of the evidences of a teacher's enthusiasm?
5. Whose point of view must the teacher take?
6. What manner and method in teaching do pupils like?
7. What is the measure of one's power to teach the truth of God to His children?
8. He Must Have, before He Can Give.—We can give only what we possess. This law holds throughout. Peter understood this when he made the memorable reply to the beggar's request for alms: "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee." It follows that whatever we wish the pupil to know the teacher should also know, and he should know more than he can hope to teach.
9. He Should Know His Bible.—What do we wish the pupil to learn? Answering this will answer in part the question, What should the teacher know? Manifestly, then, the teacher should be familiar with the Bible. How very fragmentary and unsatisfactory our knowledge of the great Book is until we have studied it in a definite and systematic way—in the way we study our history or our geography. The teacher should at least know the salient features of the incomparable Text and should have well fixed in memory many of the great utterances that lie like flecks of gold upon its sunny pages.
10. Clear and Related Knowledge.—But the teacher should know in a more connected and also in a more detailed way the truths of the Book. The pupil's knowledge should beclear, by which one means that he should know a thing and not some other thing in its stead; and a teacher's knowledge should be not only clear butrelated, by which one means that he should know a thing in its relation to all other things with which it is vitally connected. This makes for system in knowledge, and gives the teacher the power to teach each fact with its due emphasis, no more and no less. Some writers on education call this kind of knowingapperception, by which they mean seeing a thing in its proper system and in its due relations. To say that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that he lived in Nazareth, that he was crucified on Calvary, and that he arose from the dead on the third day, as he said he would, is clear knowledge. To see Jesus as the fulfilment of prophecy, as the promised King, as theleader of his people, as a teacher with more than human insight, as the founder of a church, and as the pattern and perfection of all endeavor, isrelatedknowledge; it is seeing Jesus as part of a great system of purpose that swept into time by the will of God.
11.It is well also for the teacher to possessadequateknowledge; he should be able to separate a fact into its parts; that is, analyze it. This analytic power makes for vivid teaching but it is a power that the pupil in his early years cannot acquire. Only the mature mind is analytic, and the teacher who knows how to analyze a fact or a lesson knows the secret of proportion in teaching, the power to know what to make emphatic, what to make subordinate. It is a poor teacher who is unable to distinguish between a vital element and a non-vital element.
12. Related Subjects.—The teacher should also know such related subjects as will best enable him to make clear each point under treatment in the lesson. A teacher should have a working knowledge of biblical geography and of sacred antiquities. He should know how to use a concordance, how to work up cross-references, how to interpret peculiar idioms, and in general how to use the text of the Bible in the most effective manner. He should know the general principles of organization pursued in a modern Sunday-school, together with the outlines of the history of the church, and should have a general knowledge of the translations of the Bible into the English language.
13. Thinking Principles.—In addition to the subject-matter, the teacher should know something of the laws of thought, and the best way to use knowledge as an agency informingthese laws of thought. All these laws are scheduled in any elementary treatise on psychology, and the best method of using knowledge to train the soul is set forth in any good treatise on pedagogy. Thus to a knowledge of the subject-matter the teacher must add a knowledge of psychology and of pedagogy. Scholarship alone is not the test of a good teacher.
14.If one reflects for a time upon his own methods of acquiring knowledge, he will begin to understand the operations of the human soul. When one reads that knowledge enters the soul only through the special senses, or that ideas may be recalled by memory, it is of the utmost importance that he should ask himself the question: What do these statements mean? An illustration will help to answer this question: I know that fire will burn my hand; the knowledge of this fact entered my consciousness through the sense of touch, and my memory recalls it.
15. Teaching Principles.—When the laws of soul growth are fairly well understood, it is time to investigate the principles of pedagogy, the laws that govern the teacher in the act of using knowledge to occasion activity in the soul of a learner. For the laws of teaching rest upon the laws of the soul. We cannot know how to proceed in the teaching process until we know how the soul acts under given conditions.
16.This act of teaching is a vastly significant one. It results in changing the viewpoint of the pupil's life. It should produce in his soul new knowledge, or power, or skill, or all of these combined. Consider well, teacher, what this means. How the child is taught determines in no small way how he will in the years to come regard his fellow-man, his country, his church, his own duty, and his loyalty to all that makes for progress in the life that is hid with Christ in God.
17.There are certain educational principles of great value to the teacher. Consider what it means to adapt knowledge to the capacity of the learner, or what it means to secure interest in the learner, or what it means to proceed from the simple to the complex in teaching, and you will begin to understand something of the power of right activities in the recitation.
1. What is the pre-requisite for giving?
2. What is the least the teacher must know about the Bible?
3. In what way should the teacher's knowledge of the Book be superior to the pupil's?
4. What doesapperceptionmean? Illustrate the word.
5. Give instances of the kind ofrelatedknowledge that the teacher should have.
6. By what means does knowledge enter the soul?
7. What should the act of teaching produce in the soul of the pupil?
18.The teacher must have apurpose, must see the end of the teaching process, and the way to that end. Then he should endeavor in the best way to reach that goal. The goal is toachieve in the pupil the highest type of religious conduct: not a religious feeling nor a religious thought system; but feeling and thought crystallized into character, the standard coin of the soul. All the efforts of the teacher must be directed to the attainment of this purpose. Otherwise the recitation will be aimless and the result failure.
19.The teacher must have aplanof procedure in advance of the recitation. This plan he should map out carefully, and then on his knees ask God if it is the best plan. To plan carefully and then to execute skilfully is the prime test of teaching. This plan must include a study of each pupil as well as a study of each lesson. It is at this point that so many teachers go wrong. They seem to think that a knowledge of the lesson is the only preparation required. They overlook the fact that it is vastly more importantto know the pupil than it is to know the lesson. Those that know the subject-matter only are scholars, not teachers. Those that add to their knowledge of the subject-matter a clear insight into the operations of their pupils' minds and also comprehend the fine art of fitting knowledge to the capacity of the learner, are the only real teachers.
20.The teacher must beready to change his planif it does not meet the conditions that arise in the class; but this is a critical procedure, and only the wise teacher may follow it with success. The teacher must not allow pupils to lead him into by-paths. Here tact and skill are of use in leading the class to the teacher's will and to the teacher's plan. The teacher's will must be supreme in it all. I have seen great opportunities lost absolutely because a weak teacher allowed the lesson to drift at the caprice of a pupil instead of following a well-conceived plan. A group of boys once told me that they did not need to preparethe Sunday-school lesson because they always asked the teacher some questions at the opening of the recitation, and the teacher took the entire time to discuss the questions. The pupils, the while, sat in their places smiling at the weakness of a teacher who lacked the discernment necessary to be master of the situation. The time given to the legitimate work of instruction is all too brief to be wasted in any such senseless ways.
21.The teacher must be alert andlead the recitation. This quality of leadership challenges interest and carries the pupil with a sweep of enthusiasm to the end. To lead most wisely is so to direct the current of thought as if it were not directed. The highest art in teaching is to conceal that art, to guide by suggestion and not by command.
22.The teacher will strive to secure a major part of thediscussion from the pupil. He will know when not to talk. It must not be forgotten that it is the thing the teacher causes the pupil to do, not the thing the teacher does in the presence of the pupil, that is most significant. Many a class is talked into mental stupor and spiritual indifference. A garrulous teacher is an abomination.
23.A wise teacher willwork for his pupils. His aim will be steadily to aid them out of class as well as in class. I know a teacher who meets his class occasionally for a social hour in an informal way. The boys of that class are enthusiastic believers in their teacher and in the power of practical Christian fellowship. Look into the Elder Brother movement, the value of an organized class, and kindred movements that give the teacher the power to direct conduct in the pupil. Here you will find the key to many successful avenues of usefulness to the pupil. The significance of all this lies in the general value of a teacher who by word and by deed makes easy the way of the pupil to the Master.
24.A good teacher will know whento commendand when not to commend. He will not open himself to the criticism that his praise is overdue; nor will he, on the other hand, constantly scold and complain and nag his pupils. He will insist upon order and industry and will labor assiduously to arouse enthusiasm in the class. He will constantly endeavor to see thingsfrom the pupils' point of view and sympathize with the pupils' plan of thought. He will not forget that he was once a child, and he will steadily pray for that wise charity that knows the difference between childish caprice and youthful viciousness. He will not seriously regard the former; he will not fail to check and rebuke the latter.
25.A wise teacher willaim at a few thingsand bend his energies to achieve them. He will not dissipate his power by undertaking to do too many things. He will fix upon some dominant purpose and cause it to run like a thread of gold throughout the recitation. I once heard a preacher begin his discourse with the Garden of Eden and end it with the New Jerusalem. He said so many things in an unrelated way that his effort was wholly wasted. It is a mark of weakness to engage in mental sauntering. The wise teacher will hold a thought before his pupils until, like a jewel, it flashes light from every facet. He will also use the best things done by some one pupil to stimulate like results in others. Above all, a consecrated teacher will not grow weary in well doing, for he should have an unflinching faith in God, in his pupil, and in the power of his teaching to produce Christian character.
1. What is the teacher's goal?
2. At what point in the teaching plan do many teachers go wrong?
3. Who must lead in the teaching process—teachers or pupils? Why?
4. What is the highest art in teaching?
5. Who should do most of the talking—pupils or teacher?
6. Why should a teacher work with pupils out of the class hour as well as in it?
7. What should be the teacher's attitude toward caprice or toward viciousness?
8. Should the teacher aim at a few things or many? Why?
26. The Pupil's Part.—The part the pupil takes in the act of learning is all-important. The success of the recitation is in a large degree conditioned by the attitude of the pupil. He must be organized and directed by the teacher for the process of instruction. What the pupil will do in the recitation is conditioned upon the skill and power of the teacher. When the pupil fails to do what he should do the fault usually lies with the teacher. The pupil does that which the teacher stimulates him to do.
27.The pupil should approach the recitationwillingly and gladly. The pupil who is in class against his will is a difficult pupil to teach, and it is doubtful whether or not any lasting good results from enforced attendance. Parents should not overlook this fact, and teachers will find here a hint of unusual significance. This willing, joyous approach to the lesson is conditioned upon at least four things: (a) the preparation of the lesson by the pupil in advance; (b) the absence of other appeals more enticing to the interest of the pupils; (c) the quality of teaching power and skill exercised by the teacher; (d) the spirit of good-will and of kindly concern that rules the school as a whole.
28. The Pupil's Preparation.—From the smaller pupils no formal preparation can be demanded in advance. But for all, the lesson should be read, either by the pupil or by some one in the home, prior to the time of the recitation. It is a good plan to indicate briefly the week preceding just what leading ideas and incidents the pupils should master before the recitation occurs. There are many indirect acts that the pupil may perform during the week that may fittingly be regarded as preparation for the lesson; such as visits to the sick, efforts to bring new members to the class, incidents of the week which made a marked impression for good, and kindred matters. These can all be touched upon by the teacher by judicious questioning, and in this way, at the opening of the recitation, lead each pupil to make some statement of a good done. This will promote themoral atmosphere so vital to successful interpretation of the lesson.
29. Divided Interests.—Many times the pupil comes reluctantly to the Sunday-school because his interests lie for that hour elsewhere. If the parents go on a pleasure trip, it is unfair to compel the child to forfeit the same opportunity. Wise parents will show the more excellent way by themselves accompanying their children to the Sunday-school. My own father never led his boys to the silent recesses of the mountain brooks to see God's wonder world until after we had returned from the Sunday-school. To enjoy the former we were unconsciously encouraged to attend the latter. The so-called "liberal" Sabbath is the foe of the Sunday-school, and all friends of the best things should oppose the lessening of the power that wins childhood for the Master through regular attendance upon his school.
30.When pupils dislike the teacher because he is weak or rude or petulant or unprepared to teach, it is difficult to keep these pupils in regular attendance. Each teacher should constantly ask himself, How may I personally add to the attractiveness of the Sunday-school? Careful inquiry and close supervision of the classes by the superintendent should compel good teaching or a prompt change of teachers. It is useless to expect pupils to love the Sunday-school well enough to endure a worthless teacher. How often pupils grow weary in attendance because the teacher has no power to woo the young spirit to the fountains of love and light! On the other hand, how gladly and how regularly children turn to the Sunday-school when a great-hearted and warm-spirited teacher is always there to welcome and to nourish them!
31.There is a marvelous attractive power in a well-organized school. When the spirit that rules in it and the organization that guides it are so wisely fostered as to create in the school an atmosphere of genuine stimulation the pupil will find it easy to come gladly, to say with the Psalmist, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of Jehovah."
32. Reverence.—In the recitation proper, the pupil should be helped to be reverent, well-behaved, and actively absorbed in the lesson. He should be shown the gains of complying promptly and cheerfully with the requests of his teacher; the King's business must be conducted with decency and dispatch. He should develop a quickening concern for the welfare of his classmates and foster a wholesome support to the class as an organization. It is not always the lesson taught but the spirit that rules during the lesson that wins the young spirit to adoration and service.
33. Regularity and Promptness.—The early acquisition of the habits of regularity and promptness in attendance are virtues of no mean moment in the life of the learner. Whatever may be legitimately done to promote these habits is worthily done. An essential part of the discipline of life lies in acquiring dependable habits. It is the systematic attendance upon the Sunday-school that at last leads the pupil to say again, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house of Jehovah." Some unique and valuable exercise at the opening of the recitation, occupying but a minute or two of time, will often prove of great value. I have headed this chapter, "What the pupil should do," because it is not what the pupil thinks, nor what he says, that is of greatest moment. It is his conduct in the class and his conduct during the week in home, in school, in play, that tests most directly the value of the teaching he receives. The focus of teacher concern is not what the pupil learns, but what the pupil does; not thought, but conduct; not theory, but practise; not ideas, but acts; not ability to answer questions, but ability to live a clean, sweet, quiet Christian life. All teaching that falls short of this goal is unworthy teaching. The supreme test of teaching, laid down by the Master, is that we should do the will of our Father that is in heaven.
1. Whose fault is it, generally, if the pupil fails to do what he ought in the class?
2. What four things help to the pupil's willing approach to the lesson?
3. In what ways may a pupil prepare for the lesson period?
4. How may the pupil be spared a division of interest?
5. What should be the pupil's attitude and bearing during the recitation?
6. What should be the real focus of the teacher's concern about the pupil?