How Can the Lack Be Supplied? by Mrs. Bertha Shanks Chaney

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 23, 1915

How Can the Lack Be Supplied?

By Mrs. Bertha Shanks Chaney

MRS. BERTHA SHANKS CHANEY

It is by no means an infrequent experience for those who are urging forward the church school work, and planning for its support and equipment, to hear that the children who attend do not make the progress that they ought, that the expense for tuition is money spent “for that which satisfieth not.” Certainly no more serious complaint could be brought against any school than that of being inefficient.

But, did we but realize the real facts, it is by no means our church schools only that are criticized for failing in their purpose. Writers of prominence, men to whose voice the world listens, frequently call attention to the fact that the education which the vast army of children in the State schools are receiving, is failing to train the pupils for their life work. The schools are ineffective, they say. Some give one reason, some another, for the failure. It is, however, the complaint of inefficiency that is brought against the public school and the private. These things bring a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety to those of us who have sons and daughters whom we are educating for the Master’s work.

In looking for a solution of the problem of how this lack is to be made up, let us first ask what an education ought really to do. The following sentences have been chosen from an article by Dean Russell, as a reply to that question: “When you ask me what counts most in education, I have no hesitation in putting to the front good health. Most of the responsibility for good health rests upon the parents. More and more this care is being shifted to the schools by both careless and ignorant parents. . . . The next desideratum is proper manners and morals; in a word, suitable habits. . . . The next vital thing in the education of anybody, man or woman, is the ability to engage in useful occupation. . . . This leads me to my fourth point — the appreciation of what is best in life.”

Could you choose better foundations for an education — good health; good and to character, good sense, a rooted and grounded love of truth?

It lies within the power of parents to make up what the schools fail to do. The home is primarily the great educational center, and it is because so much of the responsibility that belongs there has been shifted onto the schools, that they have failed to do all the work laid upon them.

Too little interest is taken by parents in what their children are getting in the school. They troop off, up the street or along the country road, and house-mothers are glad to be rid of them,—glad to have them out of their way for a few hours of the day. There is always plenty to do at home, and it is far easier to get it done, with restless hands and feet and noisy voices absent.

But what the children are learning or failing to learn is quite outside the knowledge or care of the parents. Too often the schoolroom is a foreign land to the parents, and its language an unknown tongue. This is one very vital reason why the schools are inefficient. There is no cooperation between home and school.

There is no question that the child whose school work is followed up at home is the one who makes the best progress in his studies, other things being equal. There are a number of ways by which a mother can keep herself in touch with the daily work of the school. Children should read aloud every day at home. Perhaps there is no other one thing that the mother can do at home that will be so helpful to her boys and girls as to have them read over some of their lessons to her each day. In this there is wonderful opportunity for giving help. A good expression in speaking and reading may be attained. New words are met with, which need to be correctly pronounced and simply explained. But, above all, the reading to mother brings out very pleasant and helpful discussions of what has been read. This discussion of lessons and school work brings one of the rarest opportunities for a mother to keep acquainted with the fast-growing young minds.

Reading aloud is one way of helping at home. Further, where it is in any way possible, there should be some drill at home of the memorizing work, such as Bible texts, lists of names, a list of dates, the multiplication table, or the tables of mensuration.

This keeping in touch with the children may be and certainly is a help to the boy and girl, and indirectly an aid to the teacher; and the father or mother will find it a wonderful education, if time and pains are taken to do it. The mind of man is the greatest thing God ever created, and to be able to watch over and assist in its development through the stages of babyhood, childhood, and youth is a rare privilege.

In the first few months and years of baby days, the whole family, indeed the whole neighborhood, take an interest. Each new word or trick, every little bit of progress, is wonderful. But when the

little one goes to school, then the interest dies, and it is left for one teacher to watch over and urge on the advancement of all the children of the neighborhood. A prominent editor writes:—

“If you have a child in school, ponder well what it means to be there, and ask yourself how you can be of help. In proportion to the parents’ understanding and acceptance of their part in education will the schools be able to advance the children toward the life worth while.” San Fernando, Cal.