Lake Union Conference Summer School
By M. Bessie DeGraw
THE seventh annual assembly of Christian teachers opened at Emmanuel Missionary College, June 22. Such an occasion always recalls the history of the movement. Summer schools are inseparably connected with the church-school movement; and in this the Lake Union Conference has had a leading part. Well do I remember when the first summer school for teachers was held. Six young people came together in Battle Creek, and the classes for teachers were combined with those for medical missionary students. There were over five hundred in the Medical Missionary Summer School, and only six teachers. But God does not despise small beginnings. His blessing has constantly attended the effort to train teachers for our children. And to-day there are nearly, if not fully, six hundred Christian teachers in the United States. This is the hundredfold which the Saviour promises. Have we not a right to expect this number to multiply until it can be said, All our children are taught of the Lord? Of the seven summer schools of Lake Union Conference, four have been conducted by Emmanuel Missionary College, three on the assembly grounds prepared and reserved especially for this purpose. Often have I heard students say that the surroundings here are most ideal. It is a place where students come close to nature, and the atmosphere is inspiring. There have been in attendance this year one hundred and twenty-five students. Most of these have lived in cottages in the grove. Morning by morning they gather for worship in Memorial Hall, and the songs they sing can be heard to the utmost limits of the farm. Class work has been regular and strong. There have been classes in Bible, physiology, simple treatments, history of education, psychology and methods, primary methods, grammar, advanced English, history, wood and cardboard sloyd, sewing and dressmaking, cooking and baking, agriculture and horticulture, vocal and instrumental music, printing, and considerable tutor work in the common branches. The course of study is arranged each year so that teachers who are deficient in the common branches can strengthen themselves in these, and there is also an opportunity to take advanced work. The purpose is always to make the work most practical and efficient in the training of teachers. And there is a power in the gospel as it is given to these teachers; for often they say, especially after their first attendance at a summer school, “The things I have received here have revolutionized my whole manner of thinking.” There is power in Christian education to convert hearts, and this is what is done at the summer school. We have been pleased to have with us during most of the summer term Sister Lottie Farrell, Wisconsin’s superintendent, and for the entire term Sister Laura Foster, the superintendent of Northern Illinois Conference. Both of these superintendents have acted as instructors, and we look forward to the time when each superintendent in the union conference will be free to do the same. One duty of a superintendent is to train his teachers. At the meeting of the Lake Union Conference in May, action was taken creating a board of examiners. This board is composed of the educational superintendents of the various conferences in Lake Union Conference, the principals of the intermediate schools, the principal of Mt. Vernon Academy, the president of Emmanuel Missionary College, and the educational secretary of Lake Union Conference. This board of examiners has prepared question lists; and a uniform examination of church-school teachers will be held throughout the union conference. Provision is made for teachers attending the summer school to take the examination here, and for teachers not attending to take the examination at the close of a conference institute, held in most cases in connection with the annual camp-meeting. Persons who are teaching for the first time are granted permits. Conferences also grant licenses and credentials, and the Lake Union Conference grants credentials. The credentials require grades in several higher subjects than licenses, and the Lake Union Conference credentials demand a higher standing than conference credentials. The things mentioned indicate growth in the whole movement. There have been held this year a number of summer schools, in place of only one in former years. Each union conference is coming to realize the importance of training teachers, and this in itself is most encouraging. The tuition for Christian teachers has been practically free. Lake Union Conference has helped bear the expense, and the various conferences share in this. It is money well invested. They are training hundreds to train thousands. As the farmer may look for a harvest proportionate to the seed sown, so may we. There is every reason for hope and courage. We have not reached the summit of the mountain, but we are climbing. What has been done prepares us for what is still to come. We should not be satisfied until we can say to the children of the world, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, Come ye, . . . and he that hath no money; come ye.” Christian education is the gospel for the children, and the commission is, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”