Christian Education
265
of the school, which must be carried out or the school will become
demoralized.
If parents would place themselves in the position of the teachers
and see how difficult it must necessarily be to manage and discipline a
school of hundreds of students of every grade and class of minds, they
might upon reflection see things differently. They should consider that
[205]
some children have never been disciplined at home. Having always
been indulged and never trained to obedience, it would be greatly
for their advantage to be removed from their injudicious parents and
placed under as severe regulations and drilling as soldiers in an army.
Unless something shall be done for these children who have been so
sadly neglected by unfaithful parents, they will never be accepted of
Jesus; unless some power of control shall be brought to bear upon
them, they will be worthless in this life and will have no part in the
future life
Many fathers and mothers err in failing to second [agree with] the
efforts of the faithful teacher. Youth and children, with their imperfect
comprehension and undeveloped judgment, are not always able to
understand all the teacher’s plans and methods. Yet when they bring
home reports of what is said and done at school, these are discussed
by the parents in the family circle, and the course of the teacher is
criticized without restraint. Here the children learn lessons that are
not easily unlearned. Whenever they are subjected to unaccustomed
restraint, or required to apply themselves to hard study, they appeal to
their injudicious parents for sympathy and indulgence. Thus a spirit of
unrest and discontent is encouraged, the school as a whole suffers from
the demoralizing influence, and the teacher’s burden is rendered much
heavier. But the greatest loss is sustained by the victims of parental
mismanagement. Defects of character which a right training would
have corrected, are left to strengthen with years, to mar and perhaps
destroy the usefulness of their possessor
Teachers Under God
The Lord works with every consecrated teacher; and it is for the
teacher’s own interest for him to realize this. Instructors who are under
330
Testimonies for the Church 4:428, 429
331
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 64, 65