The Republican., 1921-04-28
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially for The Republi-
can By DIR. U. S. Wright.

OONDA MA L.
BIBLE TEACHINGS ABOUT EDU-
CATION.
Deut. 6:4-9; Prov. 3:12-18; Luke
2:40-52.
Wisdom is the practical thing; there
fore get wisdOm-PrOv. Il.
U. S. WRIGHT.
PURPOSE
Why we want a thing is as vital as the
thing itself. And one goal that the
United States has set for itself from
the beginning has been the creation of
an educated people. Founded by re-
ligious idealists, each lone settlement
was unsatisfied until the log church
was welded to the log school. Every
child shall have a chance to know and
shall be trained as deserves the citi-
zen of a republic, was the task set
from the beginning. There are few
finer things in the nations life than
the persistence of this ideal for which
we tax a staggering sum each year.
Quite apart from the dream of the
founders is the application of that
dream by the individual. Why do we
educate our boys? To what motive
do we appeal in the endeavor to keep
him through high school and college?
Roughly, it takes twenty boys to pro-
duce one high school student and four
high school boys to produce one col
lege man. Recently a great college
sent out a folder showing the benefits
to be derived from continuance in
school, estimating that the high school
boy was really receiving twenty dol
lars per day for his study in terms of
larger return in later years made pos
sible. by his present time investment.
Get an education, because it pays"
was the whole appeal. But to throne
such a motive is to commercialize the
life. knowledge is power is an
other point of appeal that is built
about the place one is to occupy in
life. One may gain position in any
field if he does not know, therefore
get knowledge. But once more there
is an utterly selfish note struck. To
crown such a motive is to create
Hun. For life's sake" directs the
way to other heights. And it is true
that each new subject studied opens
a window upon a widened world. To
know geology is to read creations
story in stones; to know astronomy is
to think Gods thoughts after Him"
The rough diamond holds a CLEAN in
its heart, but the polished gem radi-
ates it from every facet. Yet the cir
cumference is no bigger than the soul
and self is still the center of such ap-
peal. To eXalt such a motive is to
make parasite, beautiful, but still
unproductive. Why should one seek
an education? Because by having it
he may better serve his day and gen
GRAFTON. No high service is possible
without it, and to give the scepter
to such a motive is to follow the Christ
who came not to be ministered unto
but to minister and to give His life
q ransom for many. Wisdom and un-
derstanding in the text from Proverbs
may be taken in the sense Of educa-
ton so used, but the passage is an ell
evated valley and not Christ's peak.
PLAN
Israel believed fully in the educated
life The trained hand guided by the
reyeTent mind was the ideal for each
youth. So there was trade instruction
that made Paul a tent maker and our
Christ a carpenter. Into the growing
mind of the child was poured the rich
religious heritage Of the Hebrew. The
high priest Of the family was the first
Instructor and that father failed sadly
of carrying out the plan if any child
under tent or roof was not stepped
in the wonderful stories Of Jehovah's
peonle The Old law given as the fouu-
dation upon which they bUilded was to
be known before it was to be obeyed
and the home was the first school
house, as its head was the first in
structor. Education is caught before
it IS taught. Religion is contagion
more than instructions; atmosphere,
more than rule. How well the old He
brew home fulfilled its purpose may
be seen in the splendid history of the
race whose consummate flower is Je-
sus. But it was against a background
of Godliness lived in the intimacies
that make home that instruction was
to be given. The child was to be start
ed uDon the shoulders of its parents
in its reach toward life's heights
rather than upon its own feet. The
riches of the race were to be capital
lied for his enrichment so that he
could start with the accumulated
knowledge of all the past instead of
making his own beginning. In the
process of years there developed the
trained teacher to whose care was
committed the instruction once given
by the parent, but then as now, the
start must be made in the home. and
it is its glory that in spite of the
homeless rich and the homeless poor
there is the great mass of folk who
have started young America right
And it is within the reach of every
boy or girl today to secure the edu-
cation that he desires if he will only
give himeslf the task.
PROGRAM
Education is the leading out of the
hidden capacities into their full de-
velopment. For the Hebrew it meant
the making of good Jew as the end
of the process. A well developed pro-
gram carried the child through the
home, the synagogue, the temple, into
the very heart of conscious experience
of God. Discipline gave the mind
steadiness in its thinking, so that
thought moved like an army and not
like mob. Out of such a mental at
titude grew sense of power finding
its highest expression in Jesus who
spoke with authority and not as the
scribes. After that should be the
sense. of nroportion that distinguishes