Senior pop ii BY EUGENE C. FOSTER :i'nwBinBnwaunt'T!inni3iii>iuB3t!HiiaD:irpectal ^roblem^s; Each chapter of this book discusses a problem arising out of the leadership of Senior boys. But under the general head of this chapter a few questions which arise from time to time, may be discussed more briefly than under separate chapter designations. 1. Sex Instruction. The boy in this period is passing through the period of change called puberty, or has recently passed through it. The question of personal purity of life in his social contacts with girls may be- come a very real puzzle in the later years of this group. How shall this need of the Senior boy be met? Cer- tainly not by dodging the issue. Here a man teacher will be most valuable, a woman teacher most perplexed, as to what to do. The force of personal example is tremendous. The man whose own life is right will be a powerful example to the boy. A frank attitude toward sex matters, when- ever they come up, will be helpful. A fine relation of comradeship between man and boy will, perhaps, count more than anything else. The teacher who can, not more than once or twice, talk helpfully with the boy about these problems will be a mighty factor at this critical time. 2. Irresponsibility. "My boys will not take re- sponsibiUty. They agree to do something, and then 29 30 tlTfte Senior JHop utterly neglect it. They are never on time. I cannot rely on them." So runs the plaint of many a teacher, with all truthfulness, with reference to this particular group. Shall the teacher throw up his hands and say that it is useless to try to correct it? Not if he beheves in boys and in his message to boys. It will not solve the problem to say that these boys have all around them, in their elders, examples of this same unwillingness to meet responsibility. This makes the task with the boy harder, but it gives no excuse to let him go without help. There are certain aids to the solution of this problem. First, the teacher should be very cautious as to how he assigns responsibilities. They should be few, and very definite. The teacher should be considerate. If a boy is overloaded with school or home duties, he should gauge assignments carefully. If the biggest game of the season is three days off, it may be well to refrain from any assignment or appointment until that excitement is over. A request for something to be done or an appoint- ment to be met should be clearly and definitely stated. There should be no uncertainty as to what is wanted. If the boy accepts the assignment, he should know that his leader fully expects him to live up to it. ''Harry,'' said a teacher, ''our meeting next Wednesday will be at eight, but I suppose you will come strolling in at eight- thirty." This was a poor way to develop promptness. When a boy shows signs of lacking the sense of re- sponsibility he should be carefully guided into a better way. This will come through a friendly, personal touch. Sometimes he may need a shock. A class meeting is to B>omc Special ^roblem£f 31 be held, and all agree to be there. It may be well once in a while to have at the moment of beginning a genuine surprise of great interest. Say nothing in advance about it; let the absentee miss what the others receive= The leader must see through every assignment ac- cepted. To let the boy lapse and have no occasion for regret is bad for the boy. The leader should keep his own appointments scrup- ulously. To promise such and such a thing in connec- tion with next Sunday's lesson, or to be five minutes late at class or at an appointment without satisfactory explanation, is to pave the way for lack of a sense of responsibility on the part of boys. This is the careless school in which so many have been trained; our task, by precept and example, is to give them more con- structive leadership. These boys should be given responsibilities beyond their years rather than those which belong to the younger group. They are emerging into the altruistic areas of life; they should be offered man-size service tasks. 3. The Indifferent Home. We can frequently do more with a boy from a non-Christian home than with a lad from a home which is professedly Christian but indifferent to the boy's greatest needs. Both the boy and his teacher may be conscious of the lack in his home, but they cannot talk about it. All the teacher can do is to let the power of his own example speak as loudly as it will and to strive to inculcate higher ideals. If there is drinking in a home, or other unwholesome 32 tlTfje Senior Pop example, the teacher should be careful to distinguish between condemnation of sin and of the sinner. It is not right to impale a boy before his fellows and torture him by condemnation of all who drink, if his father is a drinking man. Though the teacher hates that sin with all his heart, there need be no imkind thought of the man who errs. The teacher has no right to lower the ideals placed before his boys because a boy's home is lacking in good example. But he can teach the great lessons of life in a way that will assure the boy that he still respects his parents because they are his parents. Many a boy who has been wisely led under these circumstances has later become the very saviour of his own home. There is always that posaibiHty. 4. Disrespect. This may be toward parents, oi- teachers, or others in authority, or to the Church and even to God. It is frequently found in this period. It need not be serious; or it may become so. Frequently such outward disrespect is a cloak to hide real feelings. Perhaps this is true more often than is realized. Such disrespect, while not passed by with approval, need not be taken very seriously. Fre- quently, again, such outward disrespect is shown in order to shock the teacher or parent; in this case utter disregard of it is a fine corrective. Why shock anyone who refuses to be shocked? The fun is all gone from the game. The least said about disrespect before others the better. The quiet talk will do more to correct this ^ome fecial problems: 33 tendency than anything else. But the quiet talk is possible between man and boy only when there has been established a bond of sympathy. There must be a quiet word at the right time, and ever-deepening bonds of friendship. 5. Lack of Interest. This problem is as old as time. The boy who sits before me in class is interested in his to-day; I am interested in his to-morrow. It will take all the skill I have to give him my point of view, all the patience I have to put up so long with his point of view. He is interested, now and here, in the things which appeal to his present life. I present to him some Bible teaching, a story from the long ago, where men, unreal to him, walk back and forth over the stage of action. I may try to inculcate an abstract principle; he thinks only in terms of the concrete. When the problem has been stated in this way it must be evident that the solution hes in the teacher's hands. The boy will be interested (a) in that in which I am interested, if he thinks a good deal of me; (b) in that which I make real to him and connect up with his daily life; (c) in that which reflects his own experience, and which he is thus able to identify with his own Ufe problem; (d) in things which have in them action, for he is a creature of action. If the boy lacks interest, it is the teacher's fault, not his. This, therefore, is a matter capable of correction. 6. The Know-It-All Stage. This ailment, often pain- less to the patient but extraordinarily trying to those about him, is well-nigh universal in the Senior age, and 3 34 tlTJje Senior Pop later. It is the cause of much misunderstanding and heartache. There is no cure for it but time. The con- dition feeds on opposition; hence, the less the opposition the quicker the cure. This does not mean that every extravagant statement made by a boy at this age must be accepted in silence; but many statements are about nonessentials, and these may be passed by quietly in order to avoid argument. An erroneous statement, where facts are easily obtainable to disprove it, may be made the occasion for a quiet admonition, without wit- nesses, to be careful of statement in the future. A teacher may not distinctly remember it, but he also has passed through this stage at one time. Surely the realization of this fact should lead him to be very patient and sympathetic with the boys who must needs go that way while he looks on and sees how foolishly they carry their autoknowledge. '' Is he a replica of me in my own boyhood? And was somebody supremely patient with me?" These are suggestive questions for the teacher to ask of himself. TEST QUESTIONS 1. What is the best way in which to help a boy in this period in matters of sex instruction? 2. Suggest three ways in which boys may be helped to assinne responsibility? 3. In what way does the teacher indirectly teach the importance of responsibility? 4. How may I teach boys higher ideals than those which exist in the home, without doing harm to proper home influence? 5. What is the best cure for persistent disrespect? ^ome Special ^roblems^ 35 6. Why is disrespect more common in this period than either ear her or later? 7. Take three boys you know who are passing through the lack-of-interest stage and tell in each case what is the cause. 8. Suggest two ways in which to meet the boy in the know-it-all period. For further reading: "Problems of the Intermediate and Senior Teachers," by Eugene C. Foster. (West- minster Press. $.40 net.) vn JSo|> anb (girl 3^eIations(f)ips( How many teachers hold up their hands in despair when this subject is broached: Here for some is a prob- lem seemingly beyond solution. It is a problem, to be sure. But there are many elements in it which are far from being impossible of solution. In the first place it is well to recognize the fact that the attraction between boys and girls in this age group is normal. It does not come with equal intensity in all cases, nor at a uniform age. One boy or girl may pass almost through the period without much manifesta- tion of this attraction, while another boy or girl may de- velop it at a very early time. It is a normal develop- ment, however, and the young folks who do not show its signs by sixteen or seventeen are rather unusual. With such a normal development, then, the teacher must faithfully deal. The relationships between girls and boys should be open and frank. A great deal of the unwholesome will be avoided if the social contacts are out in the open, rather than concealed. Anything that tends toward driving these relationships to concealment must be challenged. Scolding by parents or others because a boy is interested in girls, or a girl in boys, frequently relegates these interests to the basis of the clandestine. Sarcastic remarks or teasing will usually prove to be 36 J5op anb (3ivl I^elationsfjip^ 37 equally mischievous. That which needs secrecy is almost sure to be unwholesome; that which will eagerly welcome the light of day, the open eye of observation, will probably prove to be right. Here is an immediate lesson for the Bible-school teacher. Are your boys manifestly interested in girls? Hail it with sincere delight. Let the boys know that you, too, are truly interested. Welcome the confidences which may come to you. All this is a healthy sign. The same suggestion applies to a teacher of a class of girls. Are there not dangers here, then? Yes, many. It is because there are dangers that the pupils need the teacher's counseling presence. But counsel will not continue to be a privilege if the teacher is faultfinding and evidently suspicious. The very air of frankness all around is the first essential to the solution of these problems. There are those who view with open suspicion every evidence that the boys and girls are getting interested in each other at this time. "Too young," they say. It may be unfair and irrelevant to press an inquiry as to the age at which these same critics manifested like tendencies; and many of them appear to have survived without serious loss. The real fact is, however, that these interests are normal, and we should hesitate to charge nature with mistakes. The most helpful element in the situation is present when we can retain these boy and girl relationships on an impersonal basis. When the boys seek the com- panionship of the girls in groups the tendency is almost 38 tKfje Senior Jiop always right and safe. The greatest harm is likely to result from too early "pairing off." In this matter adults are much to blame. Social affairs are set up where the very plan involves this pairing-off process. Many times these young people would be wholly con- tent to get their social life in the group atmosphere, did not adult planning suggest another course. It is a bit disheartening when the sixteen-year-old boy makes a "date" with the fifteen-year-old girl, neither parent being consulted, and calls for her in his father's machine or a hired taxicab and takes her to the theater or a dance. Is this a fancy picture? Not at all. It is from real life, and is not taken from any extreme social circle but rather from the ordinary walks of life. Such social customs are entirely out of place at fifteen or sixteen. The social customs of young men and young women should not be aped by boys and girls. Then, too, there are fictitious elements in it all. Values are badly rated; unimportant things are made to appear important. This is not good for the lives of our j^oung people. Beyond this is the element of unwise expendi- ture. In many cases these social affairs are quite be- yond the legitimate means of the young people con- cerned. These are but a few of the considerations which should cause anxiety. Parents, and not infrequently high-school authorities, are to blame. People who know better are to blame, for they allow their sons and daughters to set the exr ample for those who do not know better. The Bible- school teacher must often face this problem in the full J3oj> anb (f^irl l^elationsifjipsf 39 knowledge that other adults, close to these young peo- ple, are really responsible. It is a difficult situation. The best solution is apt to come when the teacher is wise and painstaking enough to show, little by little, that general social gatherings, with real comradeship among all present, furnish more genuine fun, after all, than the exclusive two-by-two arrangement . This is not asking for the impossible. Certainly this particular boy has a right to find a prime attraction in that particular girl. It is nature's way again. But opposition to this mutual attraction is usually the best way to increase it. Reasonable persuasion, with good sense in it all, may win a point for the adult view; un- reasonable opposition is hkely to result in a way op- posite to that intended. A mother repeatedly took a girl's photograph off her son's bureau, and placed it elsewhere, out of sight. The photograph always promptly found its way back to the bureau. No words passed; but the son and the girl are married now, and it was a pretty good match, after all. The mother was wrong, and did wrong. If a mutual attraction between two is inevitable, happy is that teacher who holds his or her place of coun- sel through it all. If these young people continue to share their joys and sorrows with parents or teachers there need be little fear for the outcome. The teacher should everlastingly inculcate in the boys respect for the girls, and in the girls respect for the boys. He should teach chivalry, as knightly as can be and Christian with it all. That these boys and girls 40 tlTfjt Senior JHop shall be Christian ladies and gentlemen is the teacher's greatest hope. There are many courtesies, now all but obsolete, which the Bible-school teacher should seek to have adopted by the young people. It is not a trifling gal- lantry that a boy shall automatically arise when a girl or a woman enters the room where he is sitting, or proffer his seat in a car to a woman who enters. It has in it the merit of basic respect which will make it harder for him to offer any woman discourtesy or dishonor. A girl who is careful about her bearing in the presence of a boy, or who shows the fine womanly graces which save her from familiarity, is on the way to a womanhood which all men can respect. The teacher, then, should encourage social contacts between boys and girls, guiding them to association in groups rather than by pairs. He should study with care his own attitude as a man toward women. He should expect these young people to learn more from what he does than from what he says. He should be instantly alert to respond to confidences brought to him by his young people — never scolding, never making fun to the point of unpleasantness, never showing suspicion. He should aim frankly to counsel, and pray that his counsel may be of the kind that will prove welcome. He should invent social activities that will emphasize the best there is in this realm. He should tempt from the cheaper with better things. He should seek to cul- tivate taste, to mold desires, rather than to inforce Jiop anb (^itl l^elationsffjipsf 41 prohibitory laws. He should seek to inculcate principles rather than to lay down rules. Above all, he should recognize the social Ufe of his pupils, and especially the mutual attraction of sex, as not only God-given, but as offering, in many ways, his best possible opportunity to drive home his best teaching in other realms of thought. He should seek to win these young people through sympathetic under- standing of their problems, instead of driving them away by inexorable prohibitions. TEST QUESTIONS 1. Why is attraction between boys and girls of this age accepted as normal? 2. Why is open relationship between boy and girl preferable to secret relationships? 3. Does the element of concealment, even in wholly acceptable relationships, add to zest and interest? How may we meet this? 4. How can pairing off at this age be substituted by general social contacts in which more than two are involved? 5. What is the best relationship of a teacher to a sit- uation where mutual attraction develops in a marked degree? 6. How may seemingly trifling courtesies have an in- fluence in estabUshing right attitudes toward girls? 7. How may a teacher deal successfully with con- fidences? 8. What is the difference between inculcating princi- ples and laying down rules of conduct? For further reading: ''Girl and Her Rehgion," by Margaret Slattery. (The Pilgrim Press. $1.00 net.) "The American Girl and Her Community,'' by Mar- garet Slattery. (The Pilgrim Press. $1.25 net.) vni Wbt mtt moxk Cfjallenge For a long time it has been the custom of many who are seeking to secure young men to enter certain forms of life work to look for these young men among those who are about to be graduated from college. A Uttle reflection must have shown long ago that many a de- cision as to life work is made a great while before col- lege graduation; frequently it is made before entering college, and the college course is selected in the light of this decision. Is it not possible that many a final de- cision is reached in the high-school days? If so, the Senior boys in our classes may be right at the point of this decision, for the age average is that of the upper high-school grades. Great care is needed in dealing with this situation. There are many who believe that the choice of a voca- tion should not be finally made at so early a period. That many do make such final choices at this period remains true. There is good reason for caution lest too much stress be laid upon this major decision at a time when the boy is not ready, and should not be called on, to make it. All this seems contradictory. In the first place, certain broad decisions may safely be made much earlier in Ufe than certain other decisions leading to specific choice. A boy may decide to enter the mercantile world rather than the professions, basing 42 tlTfje mtz movk Cljallenge 43 his choice on known tastes and talents. Such a decision may be encouraged earlier than the decision, let us say, as to which profession or which branch of mercan- tile work to enter. Shall these boys be challenged to enter whole-time Christian callings — the ministry, at home or abroad, the medical missionary field, the Young Men's Chris- tian Association secretaryship? This is a sharp problem with many. It would be comparatively easy to sweep a number of boys, by special pleading, into decisions for such life work. Is it wise? The suggestion which appeals most strongly to many is that every boy who is trained under Christian direc- tion should hold an open mind about entering whole- time Christian work. To this end, discussions on life work should proceed with an even emphasis on all phases of work; too often the Christian ministry, for instance, is left out of the general discussion with the thought that this subject should be reserved for a favored one or two who are thought by some adult to be specially suited for this profession. The boy of fifteen to seventeen should have a fair deal — ^fair in the sense that he shall have equal chance to dedicate himself as a Christian business or pro- fessional man or as a Christian minister or other full- time Christian worker. The business and professional careers have been glorified without limit; let the boy see the glory in other careers as well. But it is not wise to teach that the Christian ministry is sacred and the business or professional life secular. 44 tE^fte Senior Pop The teacher should glorify the dedicated Ufe wherever found. The writer can never forget the storm of pro- test which rose in his soul when certain help needed in seeking an education was denied because, forsooth, he was not a theological student. It nearly cost him his religious balance. The man who could help would help a theological student; but a student of science? — it was not to be considered. When the young man re- covered from the blow he resolved that he, a mere chemist, would yield his devotion to the Christian cause to no one, even though he be a theologue. Whether a boy seeks to be a merchant or an engineer or a Christian minister, there can be no greater boon bestowed upon him than the realization that his work should first seek other rewards than money; that money is an incident, not an end. If the teacher can get a boy to lay his life course by the chart of service, letting money come as it will and to all good ends, it is an achievement; whether the boy will then choose to do one thing or the other becomes of secondary rather than of primary importance. "Not self but service" is the motto of a great organization. Is it a good motto for this Senior boy? There is a place in group discussion for the life work topic. Overdone, it becomes a bore. To let it enter naturally into any discussion at any point is better. To be prepared, when it does come up, to leave guiding principles with the boys should be the teacher's aim. Each boy will develop along individual lines. Each boy is apt to betray his tendencies in a way different trfie ILitt Motfe Cgallense 45 from others. One will know early what he is going to do, and will change two or three times in as many years. Another will know, and will stick to his decision. Still another will defer his decision, sometimes mitil very late. Forcing a decision is not usually, if ever, good. Opening the way for a natural decision is quite the best course. There are many indirect ways to help boys to reach their decisions. The average boy knows little beyond a certain groove of life. Agricultural, stock-raising, or dairy industries may be investigated; great factories or mercantile houses, when they are near, may be visited; tasks of professional men may be studied at close range; men at work in service tasks may be called upon to yield up the secrets of the urge that is upon them. Too long has the lure of success been held up to our boys, defined only in terms of money or power and their purchasing values. We do that boy violence to whom we fail to open up the horizon of the world where others loom larger than self. Biographies are helpful in this choice-making time. Benjamin Franklin has always been a great man to growing boys; I wonder how many have become printers because FrankHn was a printer? It is well to bring the lives of many men of many tastes and ac- complishments in review before these boys. The whole book world plays its part here. There are many vocational books, some of which the leader of the group should read before passing them on to his boys. All of the best of these are available in a pubUc library, but the adult leader of the group may find it valuable to have a few titles in his own possession. 46 tE^e Senior Pop But the force of the living personality which fills the near foreground will play a large part in many a decision. If the minister the boy knows best is virile and appealing, the way to the ministry may be very inviting. If the richest man in town is a merchant, and is at the same time an acceptable leader of men, the appeal there will be strong. Many a boy leans toward the law because some law-trained man is outstanding in the community. The Senior age is, indeed, a time of great decisions. To be bUnd to these that are being made while the pathways of teachers and pupils cross and recross is beyond excuse. TEST QUESTIONS 1. What broad decisions as to Ufe work may be made safely by a boy at this age? 2. To what extent may these boys be challenged to enter whole-time Christian callings? 3. What is meant by a ''fair deal" for the boy in reference to whole-time Christian callings? 4. Tq what extent is one calling more "sacred" than another? 5. How may we inculcate desires for rewards other than money? 6. How may life-work discussion be overdone? 7. How may we use books to help boys at this point? 8. How do near-by personalities play a great part in the boy's decision? For further reading: ^The author's book ''Making Life Count," intended for boys and girls of this age, should also be read by the teacher. (Any denomina- tional pubUshing house. $.60 net.) Strainins for S>eri3ice The magic word to-day is "service." Its only com- petitor is ''efficiency." We may grow tired of them both; but of the things which they stand for we shall not soon grow weary. A new manager came to a privately owned gas com- pany which had at one time the reputation of being the most unsatisfactory business house in the city with which to do business. He put the employees to school. They had one lesson to learn — and learn it they did. They were taught to render the community a generous service. In but a little while the gas company became one of the places with which people took special deUght in doing business. There is a bank which pays no interest on deposits, but renders service to its patrons in imusual ways. Its stock sells at an almost unheard of figure above its par value. This bank capitalized the idea of service. In the commercial world service is, indeed, the watch- word of the hour. Shall the Church be content with a membership which has failed to realize what this word means? As one studies the Church to-day he is led to feel that a vast number of members are already within its fold who have never known the real meaning of the word ''service." They certainly do not serve. They expect to be served and they are keen to criticize if the 47 48 ^ht Senior JBov minister or other official does not pay so much attention to them as to some one else. Apparently — ^for one hesitates to impugn motives — they are in the Church to get, not to give. Shall we ever have a Church which has in it more people who are serving than who are being served? That is a real hope for the future. It is based simply on the fact that, increasingly, we are coming to understand our boys and girls of this Senior age and later, and as we understand them we are finding the way to their full salvation. The theory that you must pamper young people of this age, feed them, amuse them, appeal to their selfishness, is about as hard a theory to kill and bury as is ever met. It is persistent in its resurrective qualities. Of course, entertaining these young people is the easiest method of approach to their lives. It takes less brain and energy to serve them than it does to teach them to serve others. No doubt this fact ex- plains a condition not at all creditable. If the writer could be assigned the task of training those who were to constitute a given church membership twenty years from now he would ask nothing more than that they might be assigned to him in this Senior period. Here is the place where service for others begins to be- come a passion. If they have lost their love for such service a few years later it is largely because they found no outlet for their eager desires to serve in these years from sixteen up. How shall we train these young people for service? The answer cannot be given in terms of concrete sug- tlDraining for ^erbice 49 gestions set down in order. There are too many varia- ble elements in the situation : the personaHty of the boy or girl involved; the tastes and the accomplishments; the character and scope of the chm'ch work; the homes and the neighborhood, whether in city, village, or country. But the answer can be set down in principles; if these are right, the particular type of service which will fit each case may readily be discovered. 1. A right attitude toward the matter is the first necessity. It has become a fixed habit of many teachers to think of boys and girls only as those who must be entertained, who must be ministered to. It is most difficult to grasp the meaning of ^the dawning outreach to find a way to help — to give and to cease receiving. This fact is most difficult for adults to learn. Hence we keep right on, ever offering to those who fain would make offering to others. The first essential is a right attitude on our own part. 2. Diversity of personalities must be recognized. Frequently teachers fail to develop service ten- dencies because they try to turn a whole group into one groove. Tastes and inclinations differ; one is quick, another slow of thought and move- ment. Therefore tasks must be varied. There must be something for each to do, if all are to be at vv^ork. The individual must be thought of, as well as the group. 3. Latent responsibihty must be developed. This can never be done by assigning a task and then reUeving the pupil of it before it is completed. A teacher may sigh over the ''utter lack of sense of responsibility" in her pupils, while she at the same time is a persistent offender in this very 4 50 Zl^t Senior ilio|» respect. The task given to a pupil may not be done so promptly or so well as if the teacher, with a larger experience, did it. But the pupil may be more important than the task. The greatest accompUshment may be the training of the pupil rather than the finishing of the task. Hence the first consideration is the pupil's best good. What course will serve him best? Surely, leaving him full responsibility for an assignment made; not relieving him of it. 4. This does not mean any lack of sympathetic in- terest and assistance. The role of taskmaster is not to be carried out by a Bible-school teacher. But to work with a pupil, in the joint accomplish- ment of something worth while, is a privilege; and it frequently results in the very best of suc- cess. 5. The preceding paragraphs seem to indicate an assigned task. But this is a mistaken notion of what is real service. For service, in its best sense, is not something I am set to do as a task, but rather something I discover may be done and which I gladly undertake as my contribution to the general good. Here, then, is the suggestion that teachers help pupils to carry out their own best intentions. 6. Of course, others will suggest avenues of useful- ness. But some adroitness will frequently allow the pupils to discover these avenues themselves and to offer their help. That is better; it is a true development in the right direction. Half the training consists in letting these boys and girls learn to see a need when it exists. It is the first step toward unselfishness. Self-centered inter- est never sees the need in another; it is too dis- tlTtaintng for ^etbtce 51 turbing to his own complacency. Happy is the boy or the girl in this Senior age who is sensitive to the needs all about his or her own life. 7. Everything must breathe the atmosphere of un- selfish service. Lessons, outings, socials, the gen- eral program, must all be geared up to unselfish expression. The teacher need not say much about service to others; but he must everlastingly teach it in a score of ways, and try, oh! so earnestly, to live it. 8. The best plan is to educate the group to the point where every plan for each pupil or for the class is matched by a plan for others. A social evening once a month? Most assuredly; but, as well, an evening once a month for the benefit of others whose lives have no glint of social privilege in them. A picnic once a year for the class? Cer- tainly; provided the class gives a picnic once a year for some group of children not so favorably circumstanced. The habit will become so firmly fixed that, sooner or later, they will not be con- tent with giving others an equal of what they themselves have received; they will want others to have more than they. 9. The opportunities for service offered must be man- and woman-size rather than childish. This is extremely important. These young folks are facing away from childhood toward the interests of the adult. The challenge which calls them to service must be from the direction of adult Ufe rather than from the direction of child life, which they have left behind. If young people who are eager for the larger thing, and quite capable of handling it, are given minor tasks to do, they are apt to be utterly disgusted. 52 tlTije Senior Pop 10. Service must be based on Christian ideals, insti- tuted and carried forward in prayer. This kind of service is not to be compared with a type of so-called social service which never rises above the ethical. Genuine social service is Christian. Christ is the great Example of the right kind of social service. It is the height of folly to beheve that these young people do not welcome the chal- lenge of the Christian appeal. They want the best there is, and will be content with none cheaper. With the right kind of help they T\ill rise to heights of unselfish, Christian service that may scarcely have been dreamed of. These boys and girls, then, are emerging into the service areas of their Hves. The next few years will de- termine, almost surely, whether they will develop into large-hearted service Christians, or whether they will gradually shrivel up and hide their lives in a shell of selfishness, as so many have done before them. As the teacher interprets Christian service, so will these boys and girls learn it. If he gives his service grudgingly, complainingly, he may not expect more from them. If his service is buoyant, eager, abounding, they will have the genuine opportunity to be at their best. May God help all teachers to serve as Christ served ! TEST QUESTIONS 1. What is meant, in your own thought, by the word "service"? 2. Why does the Senior boy respond to the idea of service? ' tlTraining for ^erbice 53 3. What is the best illustration of which you know of the satisfaction-earning value of service? 4. Name at least five principles which he at the base of the process of getting boys to serve eagerly, and illus- trate^ each with a concrete example. 5. In what way does your own attitude toward service affect the attitude of these boys? For further reading: Apply to your denominational board for specially helpful pamphlets on this subject. X Should a Bible-school teacher ever take account of stock? Most assuredly. But how? First, by asking himself some direct questions: "Am I growing? Am I a better teacher to-day than I was a year ago? Have I learned more about these pupils in my class? Have I learned more about the age period in which they are living? Do I know more about my Bible?" The pupils have grown during the last year. Indeed, they may have grown much more than a year, for they gather experience and change viewpoints in this period very rapidly. Hence the teacher, too, must grow; for he must keep in the lead of these active minds. Second, by frankly setting down results. It is true that there are results which may not be seen; the teacher does not reap much that he sows. But by the same figure he has a right to expect to see some signs of growth in the field in which he has been privileged to do the planting. But what results? The Word of God, rightly taught, is truly ''living, and active, and sharper than any two- edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12. The writer has profound convictions on this point. He has seen the Word of God at work in the 54 J^otD ^fjall 3 Wtit Mv Maorfe? 55 hearts of men and women, of boys and girls. This Word does all that Paul says it does. Therefore, if the teach- ing of the Word fails to produce results, that is where the trouble hes. It is not with the Word; it must be with the teaching. Relentlessly the teacher must press this challenge home to himself. Does the Word of God, as he teaches it, change the lives of the pupils? This shall be the test of all teaching work. If it fails to meet this test, there are at least two courses open: the teacher may quit, acknowledging his failure, which is the cowardly way; or he may discover wherein he is at fault and do better, which is more courageous. But the test must be fair. A teacher should not ex- pect to find all the fruits of the Spirit present in a young life. He may find their beginnings. He should not expect too sudden transformations. Conversion in the form of a cataclysm may be found in a more mature life, with a previous history of neglect or avowed sin; conversion, in the form of finding oneself, in an im- mature life may be very gradual. There is no standard by which one may safely measure the gain per month or per year as a result of teaching contacts; there is a principle, however, which says that there should be appreciable gain. Headaches and heartaches will come from appljdng this test to a teacher's work. The stock-taking may make him feel at times that he is losing ground, rather than gaining it. Any one Sunday may yield good reason 56 tlTije Senior JBop for a resignation; but he must gauge his work by aver- ages, over a period of time. What changes may a teacher expect to see in the lives of Senior boys? Here are several : 1. Increased interest in the Bible. 2. Increased attendance upon Bible school and church. 3. Increasing reverence in attitude and expression. 4. Evidence of more helpful relationships at home. . 5. Elimination of dishonesty at school. 6. Improvement in the choice of companions. 7. Growing discrimination in the choice of amuse- ments. 8. Increased interest in discovering a life work. 9. Evidence of growth in the prayer life. 10. Marked growth in unselfishness. Is there yet another test of the teacher's work? Per- haps there is. It may be applied by asking himself these questions: "Do I come eagerly to my teaching task? Do I do this work gladly? Heavy as are its re- sponsibihties, do I turn to it as a genuine joy in my life?'* A failure to answer in the affirmative is not necessarily a sign of failure; but it is the writer's experience that whenever, in his own life, he has come to groan over this teaching privilege as a burdensome task, the re- sults have been very meager. There is a presumption that efficient teachers should leap to the work as a trained athlete, eager for the event, steps to the starting place with spring and resilience in every muscle and with a smile on his face. Perhaps the summing up of this whole test is to be ?i^obj ^fjall 3 Ztsit iHp Morfe? 57 found in a simple statement. If every real impression calls for expression in the life of the pupil, perhaps the same test should be applied to the teacher. To the extent that he is impressed with the major importance of the teacher's opportunity, -^dll he give eager, buoyant expression to this conviction in his contact with his pupils. TEST QUESTIONS 1. How do I know whether or not I am growing? 2. What results have you definitely seen from your own teaching work? 3. How may increased interest in the Bible be mani- fested by boys? 4. How is attendance at Bible school a gauge of results? Cannot we get some results without such attendance? 5. Why is a marked growth in imselfishness at the base of many other results? 6. How does my otnti attitude toward my teaching privilege act as a test of my work? For further reading: "The Rehgious Education of Adolescents," by Norman E. Richardson. (Abingdon Press, New York.) Princeton Theological Semmary^Speer Library 1 1012 01077 5106