HOW true are the maxims, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it;" and, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding"! They are to be found in the twenty-second and the fourth chapter of Proverbs. No wise person will dispute them, and every parent with the welfare of his children at heart desires to see them rendered practical.
The problem of education, as it presents itself to the Christian Scientist, is sometimes not an easy one. To begin with, the child is principally under the parental thought or that of selected persons, and thus, in his earlier years, he is molded after its pattern. Fortunate for him if the directing thought is refined and pure and spiritual. But soon the time arrives when he must be placed under another influence, generally that of a public or private school. And here, every parent has to choose as wisely as possible. It should be remembered that the aim is to make of the boy or girl a man or woman of culture, one who is able to reason accurately and to appreciate and love the beautiful and the true, and who has a high moral standard and an enlightened spiritual consciousness. The school that can ensure this result may be considered an ideal one.
At present in high grade schools and colleges a range of study is usually provided which makes certain a relatively wide culture and a sound training in the power to reason accurately. Suitable subjects of study are chosen with this in view, among them being languages, mathematics and the natural sciences, art and music. And it is interesting in this regard to remember what Mrs. Eddy has written on page 195 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Academics of the right sort are requisite. Observation, invention, study, and original thought are expansive and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal."
