406
July 1928
T h e
K i s g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
This is the most dangerous theory in the religious edu cational world today. It appears in many forms and under many disguises. It is seen in the opposition which some church-school leaders make to any sort of definite instruc tion .for children and youth. Children must be urged to launch out for themselves, to make experiments in con duct so that they may find out what is true and good for them. The experiences of the race are of little value, for they may be misleading. What was true for our fore fathers may not be true for us. What was good for them may not be for our good at all. It will be seen how this theory strikes at the very roots of the Christian religion. It repudiates the authority of Jesus and the Christian ideals which have been tested through the centuries. It aims to overthrow all moral standards in the name of a false freedom. Jte m Christian Education by Correspondence I N the Christian Education department the correspon dence courses in Teacher Training are already meeting a great need. Unit one on Principles of Teaching has been out only a short time, but already fifty-two students are enrolled in the class. Some are nearly through and ready to begin Unit two—A Study of the Pupil—which is just:';off the press. These courses have been approved for credit in Standard Teacher Training work by the Council of Religious Education in Chicago and so auto matically carry credit with the thirty-nine operating evan gelical denominations. This material is proving helpful not only: for work in this country but for the mission field. One of our mis sionary graduates, who teaches, in a training school for native teachers, is: providing herself with this material to use in her school. Another missionary here on furlough, after taking some of the Christian Education work, was obliged to leave school to do deputation work for her Board, but wrote back as follows: “I am writing to the missionaries in China and suggesting that we should have more Christian Education in our coursesdn both the Men’s and Women’s Bible Training Schools and Seminaries. I shall also tell the Boards that I believe every, young man and woman preparing for the mission field should consider such a course essential to their preparation for mission ary work.” We Slipped In the May issue of T h e K ing ’ s B u siness in the paragraph entitled, “Facts regarding Enroll ment,” there occurred a mistake for which we sin- [ cerely apologize. The sentence that reads, “This represents the last year that the first dean was here and also represents the lowest registration since 1921, when we reached our highest mark,” should, read, “This represents the year the present dean was elected and also represents the lowest registration since 1921, when we reached the highest mark.” The first dean resigned on_ July 1st, 1924, and the lowest registration was fifteen Id months later, September, 1925. The enrollment L has since steadily increased.
Let Me Guide a Little Child!
“Dear Lord, I do not ask That thou should’st give me some high work of Thine, Some noble calling, or some wondrous task. Give me a little hand to hold in mine; Give me a little child to point the way Over the ¡strange, sweet path that leads to Thee; Give me a little voice to teach to pray ; Give me two shining eyes Thy face to see. The only crown I ask, dear Lord, to wear Is th is: That I may teach a little child. I do not ask that I may ever stand Among the wise, the worthy, or the great; I only ask that softly, hand in hand, A child and I may enter at the gate.”
That such choices have profound educational significance is. not to be denied. The error in the theory arises out of its sweeping negation, its denial that any other expe rience than that of making a choice has any educational significance. The church-school program suggested by the thor ough-going Situationist consists in bringing pupils into sit uations where they make choices under the guidance of the teacher. Instruction is ruled out unless it has a bearing on some problem which the pupil is facing consciously and earnestly trying to solve. The theory is founded on a biological psychology, a conception of the human individual as an animal organism seeking adjustment to a physical and social environment. It does not take into consideration the fact that all sorts of experiments may have educational value for the indi vidual. It looks on education as adjustment, but is apt to leave out of account the most fundamental fact in religious development, namely, the adjustment' of the thought and feelings of the individual to the ideals revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus. T h e P ragmatic T heory Pragmatism is a philosophy which identifies truth with usefulness and good with satisfactoriness. It denies the existence of objective, eternal, and absolute truth. It denies the existence of good that is objective, eternal, and absolute. These values exist only in relation to the indi vidual. Both truth and good are subjective, temporary, and relative.
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