RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22398, 20 October 1934, Page 27

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

By Amplius.

"No Sunday school teacher is a real teacher on Sunday who is a teacher only on Sunday.”

I THE METHOD OF QUESTIONING, ! "Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise from outward things,” so says Paracelsus in Browning’s poem of that name. Yet, after all, truth is not wholly a matter of one’s private consciousness. The development of truth demands the questioning attitude, and that attitude is provoked by the “ outward things ” of which the poet speaks so disparagingly. It is the duty of the teacher so to marshal and present the external conditions which help to make up the total experience of the pupil that they shall be a challenge : to fruitful inquiry. To the Greek philosopher, Socrates, more than to anyone else, belongs the honour of discerning the merits of the method of teaching and of using it constantly as an agency of teaching. Sometimes it is called the Socratic method because of this fact. Sometimes it is called the “ heuristic ” method, I from a Greek word meaning " to find.” ! This latter name indicates the important fact that though the teacher suggests the i'lway, it is the pupil who makes the discovery. r Socrates, as revealed in the “ dia--1 logues” of his disciple, Plato, adopted j the practice of refusing to tell anything. j ; “ I do not know,” he would say when j information was sought of him, “ but proj bably it we search togther diligently we ■ shall be fortunate enough to find. At I least the search is worth while.” And the search to which this attitude committed both him and his pupils was often so involved and tedious that it is a wonder that they had the patience to continue to the end. But the example . even more than the method of Socrates : has conferred an inestimable blessing : upon the race. For it has taught men that learning is always a matter of coj. operation, and that the true teacher is i learner as well. Critics have insisted that this profes--1 eion of ignorance with which Socrates met the inquiries of hie pupils was largely an affectation. And they have pointed out that he used it often in an ironic fashion in dealing with persons whoso knowledge did not match their pretensions. If this latter were the case it undoubtedly served the useful purpose of inducing that humility of mind without which true learning is impossible, tor the Socratic method is a deadly wapon against the ignorance which seeks to mask itself in a cloak of mere words. We have learned from the Socratic method at least this, that it is an important function of questioning to reveal to the pupil the insufficiency of his own knowledge, and along with this must go a sense of need and a real desire to know. For while one function of questioning is to arouse the student from apathy and indifference, its chief use is undoubtedly to guide an activity that has already been aroused, and to satisfy a desire that already exists. The increasing recognition of this fact has led to changes in teaching procedure so important that the classroom of to-day Is a very different place from the classroom or even 25 years ago. The method of which we have, been speaking must be used skilfully if it is to be used effectively, and a few hints bom of many years’ experience and observation may not be amiss. 1. Questions should always be relevant, that is, they should be definitely related to the subject matter under consideration. Any questions at all may start a train of thought in the mind of the pupil, but this train of thought may not lead in the desired direction. This means, obviously, that the teacher should have a thorough grasp of the lesson in advance. Just as in a well-constructed building every detail contributes to the fulfilment ’of the general plan in the architect’s mind, so in the well-constructed lesson. The teacher must not only know the answer, but also the part which the answer is to take in that larger whole of which it is a part. 2. Questions should be consecutive. They should be closely related to each other, and it is desirable that the pupil should' see the relationship as well as -the-teacher;-■ ' 3. Questions should lead the pupil to see the hearing of the knowledge which he already possesses upon the problem presented to him,. Not infrequently the pupil does not understand what the teacher is driving at simply because he does not realise that he already has in his own experience a considerable portion of the answer, 4. Questions should arouse Interest as well as provoke thought. They may be put in such a way that the pupil dll feel in his heart that he does not care greatly what the answer is; it is no concern of his. Or they may be so worded that he will he impatient to get at the answer, so great a difference does the Wording of a question make. 5. Questions should be distributed over the class, not in any arbitrary fashion, or merely for the purpose of keeping order, but in such a way that each member will feel fj, personal interest in the answer. How often does one find that when one pupil is asked a question the other pupils act as if they felt the answer was of no concern to them? 6. The answers to questions should je treated courteously and considerately and with a hearty and genuine appreciation of any element of truth wlvch they may contain. A pupil may easily be hurt by the curt dismissal of his answer as if it were worthless. He naturally does not like to have his very best treated in so summary a fashion. Or he has been pleased and encouraged to further effort by the evidence of a genuine desire on the part of the teacher to make the utmost possible use of his little contribution. Few answers are wholly wrong, and, therefore, wholly useless. It is in the skilful use of the imperfect that the true artist reveals himself most.—By H. T. J. Coleman.

“MY CREED." I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be pure, for there are those who care; I would be strong, for there is much to suffer; I would be brave, for there is much to dare., I would be friend of all—the foe, the friendless; I would be giving, and forget the gift; I would be humble, for I know my weakness; I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift. As has been the case with a number of our well-known and favourite hymns, this hymn was written not as a hymn at all, but as a personal message from a young man to his mother, sent from Japan to New Britain, Connecticut, United States of America. Perhaps one reason why this hymn is so universal in its appeal to youth, and is such a favourite at all Bible class gatherings where “hymns are sung, is the fact that it is a living message from youth to youth, as the author was only 23 when he wrote it. Howard Arnold Walter was born in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1883, and was an outstanding student in school and college, abounding in humour, cordiality, and warm henrtedness, but lacking the one inestimable boon of good health. He graduated from Princeton in 1905, having “ romped ” through Princeton, clutchinn' class and scholastic honours right and left, graduating Cum Laude in 1905, and receiving the master’s degree in 1909. In Hartford he garnered every prize in sight, including the fellowship which he used for one year in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Marbourg.” His great ambition was to become a foreign missionary, but, owing to his ill-health the American Missionary Board rejected him. He still felt that his life work lay in lands across the sea, so at last he obtained the position of student secretary under the international Y.M.C.A., and worked for a vear at the Waseda University, Tokio. Japan. On Julv 1. 1906. while there, he wrote “My Creed," a line or two of which occurred to him from something which his mother had written, so sitting down at his desk, he completed the whole poem in some 15 minutes. He sent it home in a letter as a birthday message to his mother. Feeling that it was too rich to be kept to one family, she sent it to Harper’s Magazine. in which it was first published Returning to America, he was ordained to the ministry in the Asylum Avenue Congregational Church. Hartford, as- assistant minister. In 1912 he went to India, in tiie service of the Y.M.C.A. Before he left home, a heart spe-ialist told him that he would probably not live more than five years. His reply was: "That makes it all the more essential that I got back to work at once."

lie died there in 1918. during the influenza epidemic, only eight years after his ordination, and six years after the beginning of his missionary career. His last words were: “0 Christ, I am ready.” Whatever else he may have accomplished in this short life. H. A. Walter has left to the Christian world a rich legacy and challenge in this single hymn. “My Creed” is now to be found in all youth hymnals, such noble words greatly enriching any service of praise, especially if sumr to the tune composed by J. Y. Peek. This is one of the hymns appearing in the Bible Class Hymnary whi'h has found such ready acceptance among our classes. Its message to youth might be summed up in the one word “ Others.”