Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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No. 8 Tiie Acorn VOL. II. MAY 1910, % literar Kl'AMJ- '09 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION • Wm. Smith, A. B. In the makeup of man we find three elements, body, mind, and spirit. For a man to realize his greatest possibilities he must develop all his powers in right proportions. Our school system recognizes the first two elements and so develops physical giants, intellectual prodigies, but spiritual pigmies. The place and influence of religion in the life of the individual is excluded and so the perfect balance is lost. Religion is universal. There are no records of any tribe, however rude, that has been found destitute of religion under some form or other. The child is instinctively religions as is first shown by his reverence for and dependence upon his parents, who are really gods to him. God implants the religious impulse in the child and gives to parents and teachers a share in bringing him to his divine destiny. In the period of adolescence there is a reaching out for something of greater satisfaction than what the eyes see or the hands feel. At this period there is a susceptibility to ideal longings which culminate in religion. The religious impulse, at all periods, is just as normal as any of the other instincts. The end of education. according to Prof. Peabody of Harvard, is not information. but inspiration; not facts, rules, tables’ but insight, initiative, grasp, growth, character. power. How can this he attained when the spiritual life is utterly neglected? There is an alarming tendency of youth toward vice, but then it is not surprising when the schools banish the real and only source of power to mold character so as to withstand temptations. Education should help the voting person to realize all of his possibilities. Some may say that it is sufficient to teach history, languages, science, to bring the desired end. Produce a race of Miltons. Shakespeares. and Edisons and all will be well. Rut. it must be remembered that a pure type of citizenship will not conic from learning alone. Some even would say that religious culture is a thin veneer clinging to the outside of our civilization rather than a pillar. But any fair-minded person will agree that religion is more than a fungus growing on the exterior. The religion of any civilization must form an essential part of the education which is to fit men and women into

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4 THE ACORN that civilization. The religion of Mohame-dan, Jew, Buddhist, and Christian must characterize the education of each. If our civilization can make any just claims or superiority over any other, it must be based on the fact that the underlying religious principles are higher than those of any other. Assuredly then this element should have a place in education. An educational system without this is like a boat without ballast. The atmosphere of religion produces a spirit of reverence which is necessary for a nation’s strength. It manifests itself in a reverence for law, authority, and above all for God. Because of some narrow sectarians all religious training has been banished from the public sbools. Since the state cannot give a religious atmosphere to education, then it devolves upon the church to make good this deficiency. Many parents are justified in the desire that their children be trained under the influence of the ethical and religious views they cherish. But it must not he forgotten that the time comes when the young person throws off all external guidance and chooses whether or not lie shall hold to the belief of his parents. Because of this some would at the outset set the youth adrift on the pathless sea and let him find his own way so as not 10 interfere with the sacredness of individual choice. But the daily uprising of song from the college chapels of Oxford and Cambridge has not meant any decrease of intellectual liberty. A religious atmosphere does not mean an inhibition of freedom to think. In our colleges the average freshman and sophomore is a vigorous, living contradiction of the pleasing hypothesis that he has reached the point where he is able to draw his own charts and steer his own bark. Educators are beginning to realize that he needs wholesome advice in the choice of his studies. It is then possible that lie may still he guided with profit in the choice of his recreations, ideals of conduct, and even in his dominant thoughts of the Infinite One. He needs not control, but guidance; not explicit instructions or spoken or written word, but that of environing personality. Many admirable young persons have been sent to the large schools with serious results. Many who are not fit for the free and irresponsible life would do well in some Christian institution. Pres. Jordan of Belaud Stanford has suggested that the first two years be dropped from the university course so as to keep students of that stage of development under conditions more suited to their immaturity. If this be the case with respect to the first two years of the college, then certainly the students in the more tender years of the high schooi or academy period need healthy moral surroundings. Without any doubt our public schools are doing great work, yet there is an incompleteness since nothing is done to develop the spiritual nature, and so lor this we must turn to the Christian institutions. The environment is such as to help the spiritual life. It makes for righteousness because the majority of the students are Christians. The Bible classes, the mission study classes, and high plane of social life help to make conditions such that the clean life is more easily lived than the unclean. The reaching and living of the Christian teachers is a great factor. The daily contact with such liigh-mlnded instructors does more than to see and hear in the pulpit, once a week, the man who wears a Prince Albert coat. It is true that the state institutions have many Christian men on their faculties, but no provision is made for the moral and religious training. The teachers in the larger schools do not have the opportunity in this line such as afforded by the smaller Christian schools. The public schools leave their stamp, and it is usually one of indifference to religion. Such a place is not good for those who are not firmly enough fixed so as to be able to resist temptations. But it is not only because of the religious