In some way knowledge in all these four great departments of training should be obtained by the teacher, if possible, before he enters upon his task; but if he has missed earlier opportunities of preparation he must acquire this knowledge even while he is teaching. The outlines of such a course of study should be given in the training class for young people; and such a training class should be regarded as essential to every well-organized school.[11]
2. The Teacher's Task. All the preparation briefly outlined in these last paragraphs is only preparatory to the work which the teacher is to do in his vocation. The task set before the teacher is fourfold:
(1) As a Student. The studies named above are not completed when the teacher has passed out of the training class with a certificate of graduation. The public-school teacher who ceases to study after finishing the course of the normal school is foredoomed to failure. The training class or the training school has only outlined before the teacher the fields to be traversed, and shown him a few paths which he may follow. He who has undertaken to teach a group of scholars, whether in the Beginners Department, the Senior Department, or any grade between them, must continue his studies, in the Bible, in the specific course of graded lessons which he is teaching, and in general knowledge; for there is no department of thought or action which will not bring tribute to the teacher, to be turned into treasure for his class. The Sunday-school teacher must ever maintain an open mind, a quick eye, and a spirit eager for knowledge. His accumulation will prove a store upon which to draw for teaching; and even that unused will give its weight to truth imparted to his class.
(2 ) As a Friend. The teacher is more than a student dealing with books; he is a living soul in contact with living souls. If the most masterly lesson teaching in the realm of thought could be spoken into a phonograph, and then ground out before a class, it would fail to teach, for it would utterly lack the human element. Knowledge counts for much in teaching, but personality counts for far more. If a teacher is to be successful he must have a close relationship with his class. They must know him, he must know them, and there must be a common interest, nay, a common affection, between the two personalities of teacher and pupil. He must be a friend to each one of his scholars, schooling himself, if need be, to friendship; and each of his scholars must be made to realize that his teacher is his friend. This personal affection need not always be stated in words. The teacher who constantly assures his scholars that he loves them will not be believed as readily as the one who shows his love in his spirit and his acts, even though he may refrain from affectionate forms of speech.
(3) As a Teacher. Teaching requires more than the possession of an abundant store of information upon any subject. He is not a teacher who simply pours forth upon the ears of his pupils an undigested mass of facts, however valuable those facts may be. The true teacher after large preparation assorts his material, and selects such matter as is appropriate to his own class. This he arranges in a form to be readily received, thoroughly comprehended, and easily remembered. He comes before his class with the fixed purpose that every pupil shall carry away with him a knowledge of the lesson, and shall not forget it. He must awaken the pupil's attention; for talking to an inattentive group of people accomplishes no more than preaching to tombstones in a graveyard. He must obtain the coöperation of the pupil's interest, and induce him to think upon the subject. He must call forth from his pupil some expression of his thought in language, for one is never sure of his knowledge until he has shaped it into words; and that which the pupil has stated he is much surer to remember than that which he has merely heard. Teaching, then, involves (1) selection of material, (2) adaptation of material, (3) presentation of truth, (4) awakening thought, (5) calling forth expression, (6) fixing knowledge in the memory.
(4) As a Disciple. It is the teacher's task not only to impart to his scholars valuable information about the Bible, about God, about Christ, and about salvation; but, far more than imparting an intellectual knowledge, to bring the living word into relation with living souls, to inspire a fellowship of his pupils with God, to have Christ founded within them, to make salvation through Christ their joyous possession. Nor is his work as a working disciple accomplished when all his scholars have become Christians in possession and profession, and members of Christ's Church. By his example and his teachings he should lead them to efficient service for Christ in the church, in the community, and in the state. There is work for every member in the church, and work for everyone possessing the spirit of Christ in the community. Whatever may have been the type of a saint in the twelfth century, or in the sixteenth, or even in the early nineteenth century, in these stirring, strenuous years of the twentieth century the disciple of Christ is a man among men or a woman among women, active in the effort to make the world better, and to establish in his own village, or town, or ward of the city, the kingdom of heaven on earth. To inspire his scholars for such labors, and to lead them, is the supreme opportunity and work of the teacher.
XV
THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL