p. 10 | A Neglected Class by M. Bessie De Graw

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 27, 1903

A Neglected Class

By M. Bessie De Graw

M. Bessie De Graw

Our sanitariums have done a vast amount of work for the sick, and while bringing relief to those who have been suffering physically, they have at the same time presented the truth of God to hundreds of people. Our city missionaries have gone everywhere searching out the needy in centers of civilization. The Sentinel and scores of books and pamphlets have been published in order to bring the truth to men in positions of trust.

But what has been done for teachers as a class? If one of this class of workers happens to fail in health and comes in contact with the sanitarium, the truth may find him. Or accidentally an individual teacher may come within the influence of a Bible worker or a minister. But what about the many teachers scattered throughout the country? They are recognized everywhere as a powerful factor in society. They come in touch with every home. They help mold the character of every child in the nation. What have we done to bring the truth to them?

There is no class of workers more willing to grasp truth. The very nature of their work makes them susceptible. Like Moses in the wilderness, or David on the hills of Judea, they are trained to tenderness, and love, and patience by dealing with the lambs of the flock. Many of them are most conscientious. As a class, it is through them that God has wrought great reformations. Wycliffe was a teacher. Luther, Melanchthon, Erasmus, Milton, Froebel, Pestalozzi, and a host of others have, by God's help, presented truths which have affected whole nations. Indeed, to-day God is using the teachers of the United States to carry light and power into less favored lands. Cuba yields to the influence of American teachers. The Philippines are Americanized, not so much by our soldiers or legislators, as by our teachers. But in the spread of the third angel's message the teachers of the land have been neglected. Should it longer be so?

The time is near, it is even now here, when the world should come to the church for instruction. Parents representing every class of society will come, bringing their children in their arms, and begging for them an entrance to schools where something will be done for the soul. Parents see their children drifting. No price will be deemed too great to save them. Through our schools we may be the means of saving hundreds.

But when this time comes, where shall we find teachers for Christian schools? The number of young people now in our churches who are qualified to become teachers is comparatively small. All of these are needed to meet the present demand. As the demand increases, teachers must be sought from other sources. It is natural to expect that when a secular teacher accepts the third angel's message, he will wish to remain a teacher. Teaching is a gift, and the man or woman who has that gift will not bury the talent when he accepts the last message. From the great army of public-school teachers we must draw recruits. Is it wise to wait until the battle is on before organizing our forces?

God prepares men's hearts, in advance, for what is coming. When the demand for teachers is about to be made, the Spirit will work upon hearts, even though those hearts are unconscious of the true meaning of the emotions which they experience.

It is a fact that there never was a time when educators of the world were more zealous than now in their search for truth and for better methods of teaching, nor when they sensed more keenly the inability of the present system to give the all-round education which it takes to make a Christian. I know whereof I speak, and am warranted in saying this. Is not this in itself a sign that God's people should arise with the truth?

Who can better work for teachers than other teachers? Our Sabbath-school teachers and our church-school teachers should hold a tender regard for every person who, like themselves, is working for the young. Our Sabbath schools have done but little aggressive work. Recently, it is true, some have extended their borders beyond the class work on the Sabbath, and are conducting branch Sabbath schools.

The organizing of the Home Department is another movement in the same direction. All this is good, but there is another field for activity. To the teachers of the country we must go. To this every Christian teacher will agree.

How shall we approach the public-school teachers? What shall we tell them? This is the plan: The Advocate of Christian Education, our educational journal, may be made the means of communicating truths which will appeal directly to the heart of the secular teacher. The March issue will be prepared with that object in view. It will be filled with articles dealing with subjects in which public-school teachers are already interested. God has given his people light in advance of that known by the world. Teachers of the world should have the privilege of studying this light.

To teachers and Sabbath-school workers, and to all who are interested in children, a most earnest appeal is made to co-operate in the effort to place a copy of the March Advocate in the hands of every public-school teacher in the country.

Can it be done?—It certainly can if each Sabbath school will supply the secular teachers in its neighborhood. If the superintendent of education in each conference will divide the State among the schools, the burden carried by each will be light.

It has been said that all the streets in London may be swept in ten minutes, but in order to do this every man must sweep the walk before his own door. To-day we can reach every public-school teacher in the United States if we are united in the effort. Shall we do it?

How many teachers are there in the vicinity of your Sabbath school? How many teachers are there in your State? What will you do in order to reach them? Clubs for the March Advocate should be ordered by the tenth of February. Write your educational superintendent a stirring letter. Write to the Advocate for further particulars if necessary. In small clubs the journals cost 4 cents apiece. In clubs of fifty or more, they cost at the rate of $2 per hundred. Let the wave sweep over the country.