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utrainuij} fur Sift a Duty (Snii j*
BY S. P. POWELL.
Various reasons are given why people should be trained for life ind for service. Ordinarily, the thought that is uppermost in the minds of most people is that a person should be trained for life in such a way as to enable him to make a living for himself and those dependent upon him. There is, perhaps, added to this though of soc.'al clliciency, which would lit a man to intelligently perform his duties in the social renlm of life. It is true that a man should train and inform himself on the industrial and economic problems of the age in which he lives. It is necessary that ve do this in order for each of U3 to exact from the world the financial benefits due us as individuals. It is also true that a person should give himself that training that prepares him to contribute his share to *ociety and a government. But these are not the highest reasons why a man should be trained for life.
Many people doubtless wrongly construe the words of the Great Teacher and Master when he said, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." The meaning is broad and far-reaching. No doubt the Master had in mind the physical comfort and social welfare of the human race when he uttered these words of advice for the guidance of parents. But that is
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not all. Christ without doubt meant that man should be trained to perform a life-long service to God. A service from which he is not to depart in the mature and declining years of his life.
God has honored man above all other subjects of His creation. He conferred an inherent dignity and worth upon man when he created him in His own image. Since God has so honored man in.. his creation, it goes without saying that he expects man to serve Him as no other creature is expected to do. So if man does not fit himself for the highest service he is capable of rendering, he is to some' extent guilty of ingratitude towards the God to whom he owes existence. This being true, the school should ever seek to impress the child with the idea that training for life is a duty to God.
Let us consider some of the great problems confronting the citizens of tomorrow, and’thereby get a broader conception of the duties he will be called upon to perform. Less than a year ago the young manhood and womanhood of America was being called upon to perform, heroic service at the battle front. Only yesterday, it seems, we were witnessing bloodshed, destruction of life a« the world has never seen before. Almost daily we were receiving news of the destruction of life and property. At last, however, the clouds of war have rolled away. A new day has dawned, and it is hoped the world’s work will proceed in a peaceful and constructive fashion. The new day has brought new duties and responsibilities. Every man and woman who is prepared will have art opportunity for several years to see service in the work of rehabilitation and adjustment. More than ever before, the opportunity comes to man to reconstruct governments and establish principles of Christianity in accordance with the teachings of Christ. We owe it to Ciod to train ourselves for this great work. Our schools and teachers must be the factors, and channels through which these opportunities for training are afforded to man.
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