Our Intermediate Schools
By Wm. Covert.
THE subject of intermediate schools has not occupied a large amount of space in our papers, and therefore I feel the more inclined to give it consideration. A special communication written May 17, 1903, says: “Intermediate schools are highly essential. There are many parents who do not know how to care properly for the church in their homes. Fathers and mothers become indifferent to their obligations to God, and unmindful of their duty to their children. Therefore we must establish schools that will be as the schools of the prophets.” As to when these schools should be established, it could be said in truth that the Lord wanted a number of them years ago. The time came for them when our early churches were organized, when we had youth among us to be educated and trained for missionary service. But as matters now stand, these schools should be inaugurated as soon as a conference or a few churches can be brought to see their need, and to provide the necessary funds and teachers. “The education given to the young molds the whole social fabric. Throughout the world society is in disorder, and a thorough transformation is needed.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI, page 150. Doubtless the education given to the youth of our denomination, or the lack of it, as the case may have been since its record began, has had more to do with its course and influence than anything else. “The past is contained in the book where all things are written. . . . We can not blot out the record. . . . As we make it our monitor, we may also make it our friend. . . . Let it teach us not to repeat the same error.”—Id., page 149. Where should these schools be located? Observation teaches that things are best which grow in the most natural way. The family school is first. Then comes the church school. And after that should appear the intermediate place of learning. But the site should be where the surroundings provide the essential features for such an institution. The ideal location is in the country where there is plenty of land for cultivation. “Let the students be out in the most healthful location that can be secured to do the very work that should have been done years ago. . . . There is room within earth’s vast boundaries for schools to be located where ground can be cleared, land cultivated, and where a proper education can be given. . . . No pains should be spared to select places for our schools where the moral atmosphere will be as healthful as possible, for the influences that prevail will leave a deep impress on young and forming characters. For this reason a retired locality is best. The great cities, the centers of business and learning, may seem to present some advantages, but these advantages are outweighed by other considerations.” After it is established, its best friends will never encroach upon its domains, but will regard the immediate vicinity as holy unto the Lord. “Let everything not essential to the work of the school be kept at a distance, that the sacredness of the place may not be disturbed through the proximity of families and buildings. Let the school stand alone. It will be better for private families, however devoted they may be in the service of the Lord, to be located at some distance from the school buildings.” The land selected for the school farm should possess natural productiveness, and have healthful and pleasant surroundings. It should be placed several miles from any temptations of city life. “If they could be educated in the country amid the beauty, peace, and purity of nature, it would seem to them the spot nearest heaven. In the retired places, where we are the farthest from the corrupting maxims, customs, and excitements of the world, and nearest to the heart of nature, Christ makes his presence real to us.”