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True Education, a Missionary Training
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Every child and every youth should have a knowledge of himself.
He should understand the physical habitation that God has given
him, and the laws by which it is kept in health. All should be
thoroughly grounded in the common branches of education. And
they should have industrial training that will make them men and
women of practical ability, fitted for the duties of everyday life. To
this should be added training and practical experience in various
lines of missionary effort.
Learning by Imparting
Let the youth advance as fast and as far as they can in the acquisi-
tion of knowledge. Let their field of study be as broad as their powers
can compass. And, as they learn, let them impart their knowledge.
It is thus that their minds will acquire discipline and power. It is
the use they make of knowledge that determines the value of their
education. To spend a long time in study, with no effort to impart
what is gained, often proves a hindrance rather than a help to real
development. In both the home and the school it should be the stu-
dent’s effort to learn how to study and how to impart the knowledge
gained. Whatever his calling, he is to be both a learner and a teacher
as long as life shall last. Thus he may advance continually, making
God his trust, clinging to Him who is infinite in wisdom, who can
reveal the secrets hidden for ages, who can solve the most difficult
problems for minds that believe in Him.
God’s word places great stress upon the influence of association,
even upon men and women. How much greater is its power on the
developing mind and character of children and youth. The company
they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will decide
the question of their usefulness here and of their future, eternal
interest.
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It is a terrible fact, and one that should make the hearts of parents
tremble, that in so many schools and colleges to which the youth are
sent for mental culture and discipline, influences prevail which mis-
shape the character, divert the mind from life’s true aims, and debase
the morals. Through contact with the irreligious, the pleasure loving,
and the corrupt, many, many youth lose the simplicity and purity,
the faith in God, and the spirit of self-sacrifice that Christian fathers