Editorial February 16, 1935 Issue

Education

Duncan Sinclair

There is great need today that parents should give watchful heed to the education of their children. While it is correct to say that many parents recognize that education, considered in its widest sense, goes on continually from a child's earliest days, determining its intellectual, moral, and spiritual status, as well as its physical, there are others who apparently are oblivious of the fact. The point is that since education molds the individual, the nature of the education should be carefully considered and regulated.

Viewed from the academic standpoint, education is a process whereby knowledge is acquired in a subject or subjects and the reasoning power or logical faculty of the student developed. Usually the subject studied is one which is considered valuable in itself, as, for example, a language, either an ancient or a modern one, or a science such as mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, or physics. The study of any such subject will train the child or youth in the collecting and arranging of facts, and empower him to be accurate in the drawing of conclusions therefrom.

But although such studies develop the intellect, they are not specially intended to cultivate either the moral or the spiritual side of a child's nature. Yet, it must be admitted that if a subject is studied with an eye to accuracy, there cannot fail to be a certain moral affect in that the child is bound to gain in respect for facts. And this is important, since without character, morally and spiritually developed, youth is poorly equipped for the battle of life. Hence the need for education specially along moral and spiritual lines. Mrs Eddy was very emphatic on this as the following from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 62) shows. She writes, "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."

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