p. 15 | Value of School Influences

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 2, 1915

Value of School Influences

OUR boy! Ah, how we treasured him, trusted him, loved him!

In our eyes he was well-nigh perfect, a model of good behavior, one who could do and dare almost anything.

Should we send our boy away to school? Would it pay? Could the school really do much to improve him? These were questions which to us, as parents, were unanswered.

But after long hesitation and a great deal of prayer, we decided to make the venture, and permit him to go. We trusted that he would at least be returned to us as good as when he bade us good-by.

The few weeks immediately following his arrival at the academy were to us days of anxiety, of varied hope and fear. And when his earlier letters came, our fears resolved themselves into positive doubts, and we were constrained to believe we had made a serious mistake in allowing him to leave us.

We shall long remember his first messages. They spoke of narrow and exacting regulations, of curtailed social privileges, of low-grade work under poor teachers, of annoyance and unhappiness. He evidently felt repressed, circumscribed, and —

Well, the truth was, if he had spoken only a trifle more strongly, we should certainly have encouraged his return.

Erelong, however, we noted a change. There was little of criticism, somewhat of commendation, and much of the spirit of contentment and real good will. And soon began to appear positive words of approbation. A new light had dawned. Larger views of the great questions of life were entertained, and a certain maturity of thought, of word, of act, was manifest. The letters began to assume a polish and refinement not previously known to us.

More than this, a freedom of expression regarding the kingdom of God and its work took the place of that reserve which so frequently marks the life and experience of the youth. Our boy freely opened up his heart, and told of his ambitions to enter the work of God. And, further, he began to counsel us to make changes in our lives.

Perhaps this last feature annoyed us a bit; nevertheless we admired and cherished what he said.

The year quickly passed, and our boy was again with us. But was he really our son? Such transformations had taken place that we were scarcely able to recognize him as the boy of a few months before. In fact, he was no longer a mere boy, requiring such care as nearly all boys do. He had developed into a young man.

We particularly noted a refinement of manner, which, coupled with a sincerity of purpose and gentleness of life, made him to us a source of refreshing and comfort. Somehow, he had become one whom we looked up to as to a superior. And yet our boy never assumed to be in the least above us.

Not only did he have about him a polish in general conduct and behavior, but also he evinced a stability of purpose and solidity of character belonging to one of more advanced years. There was no craving for the light and chaffy, but rather a reaching out after those things which make for high ideals and true accomplishments. He was, in truth, a Christian.

This was the product of one year in a Christian school. What was the chief factor in the remodeling of the one we loved? The answer is brief: The silent influence of Christian association. Daily contact with teachers and students of strict integrity and of true culture had, all unconsciously to him, caused him to adopt new principles, new methods, new plans for life. Old ideals — those which

we had placed before him in our imperfect home — were undermined by the ceaseless ebb and flow of the tide of Christian influence, and had fallen into decay. And forth from the wreck had sprung a new creation.

Not so much the books, not so much the study, not so much even the opening of the Word of God, as the patient working of beautiful influences radiating from the lives of Christian teachers and students, had brought our boy up and away from the cheap, the worldly, the low, to things of lasting value, of heavenly origin, of lofty height.

We have come to appreciate greatly the merits of our Christian schools. We hope the dear teachers will understand that many parents are praying for them, earnestly seeking God to make their lives even more wonderfully attractive, that thus our children and youth may be constrained to find the Lord Jesus and enter his service.

We pray for high standards of class work, for perfected curriculums, for wise management; but, most of all, we pray for refined, devoted Christian teachers. It is the language of consecration which brings our children to Christ.