The Importance of Good Order by Flora H. Williams

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 10, 1907

The Importance of Good Order

By Flora H. Williams

WHILE the subject of keeping order is one that is well worn, there is, perhaps, no other so necessary for us as teachers to study. The method of teaching individual subjects is of itself a matter of small moment as compared with this more important subject. And while this little article claims no originality of thought, these ideas have been helpful to at least one person, and they are presented here with the hope that they may be helpful to others.

We say order is an important factor in the school, but why so? Perhaps one who has never thought seriously on the question may say, “Because we can not impart knowledge to children in a disorderly school. The mind of the child in a school where the discipline is lax is filled with material which will hinder the retention of that with which the teacher seeks to fill it.” This is all very true, but there is a stronger reason why a teacher should see to it that he has order.

James L. Hughes defines order as “the condition resulting from an exact performance of duty in the right way and at the right time,” and we believe this to be the true thought. That school in which every boy and girl is working with a will, following leadership, co-operatively working to a given end, is an orderly school. Without co-operation real order is an impossibility. There must be an aim, and that aim must be that to which both teacher and pupils are working.

There are direct and indirect results which grow out of keeping good order, and the teacher must not forget to take into consideration the indirect or more far-reaching results.

In an orderly school as well as in a well-ordered home, there is a place for everything, and everything is kept in its place. In an orderly school there is obedience to the regulations of the school. Rules should not be numerous, and should be made carefully and prayerfully; but when made, should be obeyed. Every time a child obeys, his respect for law is increased, and every time he disobeys, his respect for law is lessened. Every conscious act of obedience strengthens the child’s will to obey, and every time he knowingly disobeys, the power of evil is strengthened within him, and his will is weakened. His will is to lead him to duty, and must not be weakened.

The child forms the habit of obedience by the constant repetition of his acts. By acts repeated habits are formed; habits make character, and character decides destiny. In the home and in the school, habits are formed that make the character of the man or the woman. Is the boy an obedient son? Is he a pupil who habitually obeys the rules of the school? Then he will be a law-abiding citizen. And if we would have him obey God, whom he has not seen, he must first learn to obey father, mother, teacher, whom he does see. “The conscious violation of any rule means a conscious deviation from right and truth.”

The immediate consequences of slight disobedience and disorder may be of comparatively small moment, but the indirect results are incalculable; only God, who sees the end from the beginning, knows the real results in the character of the child.

And this is not a subject for the consideration of teachers only, but it is even more important for parents. What kind of characters are we building in our children? The question is often asked, “Why are so many of our young people floating with the tide—drifting toward the world?” Is it usually because they do not know what is right? Or is it because they do not want to do right? Is it not more often because they lack the will power to execute their right motives? The world is full of people whose wills for the right are too weak to carry into effect their desires for the right.

The all-wise Father did not make a mistake when he said, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” He did not say, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and though he may depart from it for a time, when he is old he will return to it.” This seems to be the reading many are inclined to give this text because they can not see that they could possibly have failed to train the “child in the way he should go.”

Are we teachers and parents, by the training we are giving, strengthening or weakening the moral and spiritual force of our children?

FLORA. H. WILLIAMS.