Co-operation
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Co-operation should be the spirit of the schoolroom, the law of
its life. The teacher who gains the co-operation of his pupils secures
an invaluable aid in maintaining order. In service in the schoolroom
many a boy whose restlessness leads to disorder and insubordination
would find an outlet for his superfluous energy. Let the older assist
the younger, the strong the weak; and, so far as possible, let each be
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called upon to do something in which he excels. This will encourage
self-respect and a desire to be useful.
It would be helpful for the youth, and for parents and teachers as
well, to study the lesson of co-operation as taught in the Scriptures.
Among its many illustrations notice the building of the tabernacle,—
that object lesson of character building,—in which the whole people
united, “everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his
spirit made willing.”
Exodus 35:21
. Read how the wall of Jerusalem
was rebuilt by the returned captives, in the midst of poverty, difficulty,
and danger, the great task successfully accomplished because “the
people had a mind to work.”
Nehemiah 4:6
. Consider the part acted by
the disciples in the Saviour’s miracle for the feeding of the multitude.
The food multiplied in the hands of Christ, but the disciples received
the loaves and gave to the waiting throng.
“We are members one of another.” As everyone therefore “hath
received a (R.V.) gift, even so minister the same one to another, as
good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Ephesians 4:25
;
1 Peter
4:10
.
Well might the words written of the idol builders of old be, with
worthier aim, adopted as a motto by character builders of today:
“They helped everyone his neighbor; and everyone said to his
brother, Be of good courage.”
Isaiah 41:6
.
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