Co-operation Between the Home and the School

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It is in the home school that our boys and girls are to be prepared to attend the church school. Parents should constantly keep this in mind, and as teachers in the home should consecrate every power of the being to God, that they may fulfill their high and holy mission. Diligent, faithful instruction in the home is the best preparation that children can receive for school life. Wise parents will help their children to understand that in the school life, as in the home, they are to strive to please God, to be an honor to Him.

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To shield their children from contaminating influences, parents should instruct them in the principles of purity. Those children who in the home form habits of obedience and self-control will have little difficulty in their school life, and will escape many of the temptations that beset the youth. Parents should train their children to be true to God under all circumstances and in all places. They should surround them with influences that tend to strengthen character. With such a training, children, when sent away to school, will not be a cause of disturbance or anxiety. They will be a support to their teachers and an example and encouragement to their fellow pupils.

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What the Teacher Should Be In the choice of a teacher for the children, great care should be shown. Church-school teachers should be men and women who have a humble estimate of themselves, who are not filled with vain conceit. They should be faithful workers, filled with the true missionary spirit, workers who have learned to put their trust in God and to labor in His name. They should possess the attributes of Christ’s character—patience, kindness, mercy, and love; and into the daily experience they should bring the Saviour’s righteousness and peace. Then, working with fragrant influence, they will give evidence of what grace can do through human agents who make God their trust.

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Let every church school established be conducted with such order that Christ can honor the schoolroom with His presence. The Master will accept no cheap, shoddy service. Let teachers be learners, putting the whole mind to the task of learning how to do efficient service. They should ever carry a burden for souls—not that they themselves can save souls, but as God’s helping hand they have the privilege of winning their pupils to Christ.

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Teachers, let there be no folly in your conversation. In the schools you undertake to conduct, set a proper example before the children by each morning presenting them to God in prayer. Then look to Him for strength every hour and believe that He is helping you. As you do this you will gain the affection of the children. It is not such hard work to manage children, thank God. We have a Helper, one infinitely stronger than we are. Oh, I am so thankful that we do not have to depend upon ourselves, but upon strength from above! 152

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If your life is hid with Christ in God, a divine Helper will stand beside you, and you will be one with the Saviour and one with those you are teaching. Never exalt self; exalt Christ, glorify Him, honor Him before the world. Say, I stand under the bloodstained banner of Prince Immanuel. I am wholly on the Lord’s side. Show sympathy and tenderness in dealing with your pupils. Reveal the love of God. Let the words you speak be kind and encouraging. Then as you work for your students, what a transformation will be wrought in the characters of those who have not been properly trained in the home! The Lord can make even youthful teachers channels for the revealing of His grace, if they will consecrate themselves to Him.

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Requiring Obedience The teacher should bring true self-respect into all that he does. He should not allow himself to be quick-tempered. He should not punish harshly children that are in need of reform. Let him understand that self must be kept in subjection. He should never forget that over him is a divine Teacher, whose pupil he is, and under whose control he is ever to be. As the teacher humbles the heart before God, it will be softened and subdued by the thought of his own shortcomings. He will realize something of the meaning of the words, «You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight.» Colossians 1:21, 22.

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Sometimes there is in the school a disorderly element that makes the work very hard. Children who have not received a right education make much trouble, and by their perversity make the heart of the teacher sad. But let him not become discouraged. Test and trial bring experience. If the children are disobedient and unruly, there is all the more need of strenuous effort. The fact that there are children with such characters is one of the reasons why church schools should be established. The children whom parents have neglected to educate and discipline must be saved if possible.

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In the school as well as in the home there should be wise discipline. The teacher must make rules to guide the conduct of his pupils. These rules should be few and well considered, and once made they should be enforced. Every principle involved in them should be so placed before the student that he will be convinced of its justice. Thus he will feel a responsibility to see that the rules which he himself has helped to frame are obeyed.

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Parents to Strengthen the Teacher’s Hands The teacher should not be left to carry the burden of his work alone. He needs the sympathy, the kindness, the co-operation, and the love of every church member. The parents should encourage the teacher by showing that they appreciate his efforts. Never should they say or do anything that will encourage insubordination in their children. But I know that many parents do not co-operate with the teacher. They do not foster in the home the good influence exerted in the school. Instead of carrying out in the home the principles of obedience taught in the school, they allow their children to do as they please, to go hither and thither without restraint. And if the teacher exercises authority in requiring obedience, the children carry to their parents an exaggerated, distorted account of the way in which they have been dealt with. The teacher may have done only that which it was his painful duty to do; but the parents sympathize with their children, even though they are in the wrong. And often those parents who themselves rule in anger are the most unreasonable when their children are restrained and disciplined in school.

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There are church members who have been quick to catch up unkind suppositions and to speak disparagingly of the teacher before other church members and even in the presence of the children. Some have talked freely and bitterly concerning a teacher without clearly understanding the difficulty of which they were speaking. This should not be. The one who thinks that a teacher has done wrong should follow the directions given in the word: «If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.» Matthew 18:15. Until this has been done, no one is justified in telling others of a brother’s mistakes.

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Parents, when the church-school teacher tries so to train and discipline your children that they may gain eternal life, do not in their presence criticize his actions, even though you may think him too severe. If you desire them to give their hearts to the Saviour, co-operate with the teacher’s efforts for their salvation. How much better it is for children, instead of hearing criticism, to hear from the lips of their mother words of commendation regarding the work of the teacher. Such words make lasting impressions and influence the children to respect the teacher.

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We are not to concern ourselves so much about the course that others are following, as about the course that we ourselves are following. If the children attending a church school do not improve in manners, the parents should not unduly blame the teacher. Rather they should closely examine themselves to see if they are such teachers as God can approve. In many cases children are greatly neglected in the home and are more disorderly there than they are in the school. If children who for years have been left to follow their own inclinations and desires are not led by the efforts of the teacher to live Christlike lives, shall the parents, because of this, set in circulation unkind criticisms concerning the teacher?

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God’s method of government is an example of how children are to be trained. There is no oppression in the Lord’s service, and there is to be no oppression in the home or in the school. Yet neither parents nor teachers should allow disregard of their word to pass unnoticed. Should they neglect to correct the children for doing wrong, God will hold them accountable for their neglect. But let them be sparing of censure. Let kindness be the law of the home and of the school. Let the children be taught to keep the law of the Lord, and let a firm, loving influence restrain them from evil.

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Parents should remember that much more will be accomplished by the work of the church school if they themselves realize the advantage that their children will obtain in such a school, and unite wholeheartedly with the teacher. By prayer, by patience, by forbearance, parents can undo much of the wrong caused by impatience and unwise indulgence. Let parents and teacher take hold of the work together, the parents remembering that they themselves will be helped by the presence in the community of an earnest, God-fearing teacher.

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Parents, make every effort in your power to place your children in the most favorable situation for forming the character that God wants them to form. Use every spiritual sinew and muscle in the effort to save your little flock. The powers of hell will unite for its destruction, but God will lift up for you a standard against the enemy. Pray much more than you do. Lovingly, tenderly, teach your children to come to God as their heavenly Father. By your example teach them self-control and helpfulness. Tell them that Christ lived not to please Himself.

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Gather up the rays of divine light that are shining upon your pathway. Walk in the light as Christ is in the light. As you take hold of the work of helping your children to serve God, the most provoking trials will come; but do not lose your hold; cling to Jesus. He says, «Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.» Isaiah 27:5. Difficulties will arise; you will meet with obstacles; but look constantly to Jesus. When an emergency arises, ask, Lord, what shall I do now? If you refuse to fret or scold, the Lord will show you the way. He will help you to use the talent of speech in so Christlike a way that peace and love will reign in the home. By following a consistent course of action, you may be evangelists in the home, ministers of grace to your children.

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A Sympathetic Understanding The school work in a place where a church school has been established should never be given up unless God plainly directs that this should be done. Adverse influences may seem to conspire against the school, but with God’s help the teacher can do a grand, saving work in changing the order of things. If he labors patiently, earnestly, perseveringly, in Christ’s lines, the reformatory work done in the school may extend to the homes of the children, bringing into them a purer, more heavenly atmosphere. This is indeed missionary work of the highest order.

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If parents faithfully act their part, the work of the teacher will be greatly lightened. His hope and courage will be increased. Parents whose hearts are filled with the love of Christ will refrain from finding fault and will do all in their power to encourage and help the one whom they have chosen as teacher for their children. They will be willing to believe that he is just as conscientious in his work as they are in theirs.

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The teachers in the home and the teachers in the school should have a sympathetic understanding of one another’s work. They should labor together harmoniously, imbued with the same missionary spirit, striving together to benefit the children physically, mentally, and spiritually, and to develop characters that will stand the test of temptation.