In the formation of character, no other influences count so much as the influence of the home. The teacher's work should supplement that of the parents but is not to take its place. It should be the effort of parents and teachers to cooperate in all that concerns the well-being of the child.
The work of cooperation should begin with the father and mother in the home life. In the training of their children they have a joint responsibility, and it should be their constant endeavor to act together. They should yield themselves to God, seeking help from Him to sustain each other. Together they should teach their children to be true to God, true to principle, and thus true to themselves and to all with whom they are connected. With such training, children will not be a cause of disturbance or anxiety at school. They will be a support to their teachers, and an example and encouragement to other students.
Parents who give this training are not likely to be found criticizing the teacher. They feel that both the interest of their children and justice to the school demand that, so far as possible, they sustain and honor the one who shares their responsibility.
Many parents fail here. By their hasty, unfounded criticism the influence of the faithful, self-sacrificing teacher is often well-nigh destroyed. Many parents whose children have been spoiled by indulgence leave to the teacher the unpleasant task of repairing their neglect. Then by their own course they make his or her task almost hopeless. Their criticism and censure of the school management encourages insubordination in the children and confirms them in wrong habits.
If criticism or suggestion in regard to the teacher's work becomes necessary, it should be made in private. If this proves ineffective, the matter should be referred to those responsible for the management of the school. Nothing should be said or done to weaken the children's respect for the one on whom their well-being in so great degree depends.
The parents' intimate knowledge both of the character of the children and of their physical peculiarities or infirmities, if shared with the teacher, is valuable. It is to be regretted that many fail to realize this. Most parents show little interest in either the teacher's qualifications, or in cooperating with him or her.
Since parents rarely acquaint themselves with the teacher, it is important that the teacher seek the acquaintance of parents. Teachers should visit in the homes of their students and gain a knowledge of the influences and surroundings where they live. By coming personally in touch with their homes and lives, teachers may strengthen the ties that bind them to their pupils and may learn how to deal more successfully with their different dispositions and temperaments.
As teachers interest themselves in the home education, they impart a double benefit. Many parents, absorbed in work and care, lose sight of their opportunities to influence for good the lives of their children. Teachers can do much to arouse these parents to their possibilities and privileges. Other parents feel a heavy sense of their responsibility to see that their children become good and useful men and women. Often the teacher can assist these parents in bearing their burden, and, by counseling together, both teacher and parents will be encouraged and strengthened.
The Principle of Cooperation
The principle of cooperation is invaluable in the home training of the young. From their earliest years children should be led to feel that they are a part of the home firm. Even the little ones should be trained to share in the daily work and should be made to feel that their help is needed and appreciated. The older ones should be their parents' assistants, entering into their plans and sharing their responsibilities. Let fathers and mothers show their children that they value their help, desire their confidence, and enjoy their companionship, and the children will respond. Not only will the parents' burden be lightened and the children receive a practical training of inestimable worth, there will be a strengthening of the home ties and a deepening of the very foundations of character.
Cooperation should be the spirit of the schoolroom, the law of its life. Teachers who gain the cooperation of their pupils secure an invaluable aid in maintaining order. By helping in the schoolroom many students whose restlessness leads to disorder and insubordination would find an outlet for their superfluous energy. Let the older assist the younger, the strong the weak, and, so far as possible, let all be called upon to do something in which they excel. This will encourage self-respect and a desire to be useful.
It would be helpful for young people, and for parents and teachers as well, to study the lesson of cooperation as taught in the Scriptures. Among its many illustrations notice the building of the tabernacle--that object lesson of character building in which all the people united, "everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing." Exodus 35:21.
Read how the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt by the returned captives in the midst of poverty, difficulty, and danger, the great task accomplished successfully because "the people had a mind to work." Nehemiah 4:6. Consider the part acted by the disciples in the Savior's miracle of feeding the multitude. The food multiplied in the hands of Christ, but the disciples received the loaves and gave to the waiting throng.
"We are members of one another." As everyone therefore "has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Ephesians 4:25; 1 Peter 4:10.
The words written of the idol builders of old might well be adopted as a motto by character builders of today: "Everyone helped his neighbor; and said to his brother, Be of good courage!" Isaiah 41:6.