Methods in Primary Schools by Ida Mae Phillips

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

Methods in Primary Schools

By Ida Mae Phillips

What Can Be Done in Grades Three and Four to Make Ministers

“TRAIN up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

“As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined.”

The children are still twigs of humanity when they enter the third and fourth grades, and if we would have them grow up into ministers of the gospel, it is our work so to incline them.

If I am a true educator, I will first seek the souls of those who are lost in sin. I will live close to the Great Teacher, so he can reveal himself to them through me.

I must appreciate the exalted position to which they are called. The aim must be set high. By the eye of faith I must look beyond the lapse of years and see them occupying the position to which they are called; then, coming back to the realities of the present, I must bend my every energy to the accomplishment of the end desired.

A true minister must have a courteous, Christian character. I must teach the boys and girls to be careful of the “little things,” to be polite and cheerful in the schoolroom, on the playground and on the street. They must learn to step quietly and hold themselves erect.

In the morning exercise they should be taught to pray for power to keep them from sin that day; to pray for their classmates who may be sick or in trouble; for those who know not their Saviour; and also for the missionaries

and ministers laboring out in the field. They are old enough in these grades to use the Bible in the Bible class, and thus become acquainted with the books of the Bible, and learn to find them readily. They must be taught to read distinctly, for they are to be God’s ministers.

Our missionary meeting must be the most interesting hour of the week, when we will read of our mission fields, wrap and send off papers to those who know not the truth, and plan to earn money to help forward the work of God wherever it is most needed.

Constantly, yet with tact and varied methods, I must keep before them the work which they must do before Jesus comes, as well as the nearness of his coming.

In this way I think third- and fourth-grade work can be made two strong steps toward the development of ministers.

IDA MAE PHILLIPS.