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."
It should be noted that our Leader did value the study of "academics of the right sort," because these promoted "the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal." As an example of this, consider what has resulted from a study of physics and chemistry, in so far as matter, so called, is concerned. This study has brought many to the point where they now regard matter as something entirely different from what they formerly believed it to be —as something fundamentally electrical in its nature. Indeed, there are those among natural scientists who even go farther than believing matter to be a form of electrical energy— they are inclined to regard it as entirely a mental phenomenon. And this, from the study of the natural sciences, physics and chemistry!
Then one might mention the value in education of the study of pure mathematics. Hardly anything can equal it in training youth to reason accurately. And in doing so, it also makes for truthfulness and honesty of thought. How valuable is the power to reason accurately to the student who takes up the study of Christian Science! If he accepts the fundamental premises on which the reasoning of Christian Science is based, he will not fail to acquiesce in all the deductions drawn therefrom. Moreover, when he comes to practice Christian Science, his ability to think clearly will be a great aid to him in the work.
Mrs. Eddy regarded academical training as of value because it served to "promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal." But she says further (ibid., p.62), "The entire education of children should be such as to form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law, with which the child can meet and master the belief in so-called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease." This should ever be before the thought of the educator, for nothing can take the place of sound morals and spiritual understanding. One might be highly proficient in the natural sciences, a scholarly linguist, an expert mathematician, and have had much physical training; but if he were profligate, of what value to him would these accomplishments be?
The children of Christian Scientists are privileged to attend the Christian Science Sunday School. Here the aim very definitely is to train the children in "habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law." Mrs. Eddy has devoted an article in the Church Manual (Article XX) to the Sunday school. And it is of interest to observe that pupils are welcomed to the Sunday school classes from an early age "up to the age of twenty years." By the time they leave the Sunday school they should be well grounded in moral and spiritual law, and have a knowledge of divine Principle such as will enable them to meet understandingly and successfully the various problems which they may afterwards encounter in human experience.
Although Christian Scientists are willing to make use of the best in the educational systems of to-day, they are not unaware of what the nature of the education of the future will be—that it will be such as shall, better than ever, promote the moral and spiritual growth of the pupils. Mrs. Eddy speaks perfectly plainly of this education on page 61 of "Miscellaneous Writings" when she says, "The education of the future will be instruction, in spiritual Science, against the material symbolic counterfeit sciences." And note the reason for this as given in the words which follow: "All the knowledge and vain strivings of mortal mind, that lead to death,—even when aping the wisdom and magnitude of immortal Mind,— will be swallowed up by the reality and omnipotence of Truth over error, and of Life over death."
The Christian Scientist should have an understanding of the ideal educational system, which should be such as will enable the pupils to distinguish between the real and the unreal, between Spirit and matter, and to understand and demonstrate their own true spiritual selfhood. It should train them in obedience to moral and spiritual law, and thus aid them in overcoming materiality and all its attendant discord; for in this way alone will ultimate victory over all evil be achieved by the human race, a goal which should ever be before the thought of the Christian Scientist.
