p. 17 | The Sabbath-School

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 12, 1882

The Sabbath-School.

Pouring-in Process.

This consists in lecturing to a class of children upon every subject which occurs to the teacher, it being his chief aim to bring before them as many facts in a limited time as possible. It is as if he should provide himself with a basket of sweetmeats, and every time he should come within reach of a child, should seize him, and compel him to swallow—regardless of the condition of his stomach—whatever trash he should happen first to force into his mouth. Children are indeed fond of sweetmeats, but they do not like to have them administered—and every physiologist knows there is such a thing as eating enough even of an agreeable thing to make one sick, and thus produce loathing forever after. Now many teachers are just such misguided caterers for the mind. They are ready to seize upon the victims of their kindness, force open their mental gullets, and pour in, without mercy and without discretion, whatever sweet thing they may have at hand, even though they surfeit and nauseate the poor sufferer. The mind, by this process, becomes a mere passive recipient, taking in without much resistance whatever is presented till it is full.

"A passive recipient!" said one to his friend, "what is a passive recipient?" "A passive recipient," replied his friend, "is a two-gallon jug. It holds just two gallons, and as it is made of potters' ware, it can never hold but just two gallons."

This is not an unfit illustration of what I mean by making the mind a passive recipient. Whenever the teacher does not first excite inquiry, first prepare the mind by waking it up to a desire to know, and if possible to find out by itself, but proceeds to think for the child, and to give him the results, before they are desired, or before they are sought for—he makes the mind of the child a two-gallon jug, into which he may pour just two gallons, but no more. And if after day he should continue to pour in, day after day he may expect that what he pours in will all run over. The mind, so far as retention is concerned, will act like the jug; that is, a part of what is poured in to-day, will be diluted by a part of that which is forced in to-morrow, and that again will be partially displaced and partially mingled with the next day's pouring, till at length there will be nothing characteristic left. But aside from retention, there is a great difference between the jug and the mind. The former is inert material, and may be as good a jug after such use as before. But the mind suffers by every unsuccessful effort to retain.

This process of lecturing children into imbecility is altogether too frequently practised; and it is to be hoped, that intelligent teachers will pause and inquire before they pursue it further.—Page.