VOL. L. CHARLOTTE, N. C, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS ' ' - ' (Paper read at the Presbyterian Workers' Conference held at Haines Institute, Augusta, Ga., January 31st to February 3rd.) By Mrs. Belle Melton Sanders. Hie progress of Elementary Schools in the last few years has been highly encouraging. Hie real problems in a larger bearing have been considered and through our elementary schools the pupils are helped to bring their richest natural con tribution and to live their own abundant lives. Each child possesses distinct faculties and capacities. There is no type or pattern to which all children of a given age con form. Faculties do not grow in to being full-fledged but grow imperceptibly. Therein lies the opportunity for the development of pupils into channels of living. The pupil < with wide awake senses and muscles, keen mental faculties and a tendency toward interest in future life needs his mind brought to things which will prove most helpful in later life. This begins in the elemen tary school. How many boys and girls of our own race lead a practically hum-drum life be cause they have had no other ideals brought to them. One of our own girls, not more than 14 years of age, when asked why she stopped school, said, “I gone far as we school went and aint nobody axed me to go fudder and I tink say I been too old to gone to school ‘now. But atta dem odder girls go school and say dey lak em flfle, I comin Monda.” The dingy fchool room with more children then it can hold m15«wh of notnmg better. now she has seen that life ddes hold more and that some one is interested enough to ask her to attend school. Everyone who is not living aimlessly and blindly must have some pattern by which to square his life. We must rememoer, nowever, that every child will not choose fnay r$pder good SCPVice in thgir own range which to us may seem very narrow, but is decidedly better than no service at all. It is, therefore, necessary that our elementary schools be well graded; that we enforce the strictest observance of all laws of deportment, punctuality and regular attendance. All thesis we expect to measure ur to jhe standards «f county and mte. mentafy school subject IS used, but the elementary school has more advantage than any other school to cultivate the mind and inch training should constitute Hie highest aim. - Skillful teaching will not only find in the elementary subjects means of training and directing thoughts, but will so employ the pupils’ minds in their study as to make them living matter, SEWS $$ *ift jaifcer than dpafl, uninteresting Wgrds %r just a wmted II i§ m wwm w ^ ww And expect oilr students to re ceive all that an ' elementary school has to offer. The progress erf any School does Wot come by aeddent, but ty creative plan ning; No pupil receives ftffly theberfefitspf^hool t^atfentfen aflfl ^ ual process of giving attention. We cannot expect the best re sults from teaching when a class gives half attention; for then we must have half work. One of the greatest hindrances in our elementary schools is the lack of attention on the part of the pupils. In some pupils this may be caused by ill health or mental deficiency. But so many of our boys and girls are given to day-dreaming. Do you know any pupils in our school who spend hour after hour day dreaming? Have you noticed the difference in the habit of atten tion from different people? We are engaged in work on a field where almost everybody, old and young, has no attention, no interest for anything. An nouncements are made to a con gregation. Every eye, ear and mouth opens apparently to hear, but nobody understands. We studied the situation and for a while thought this was true be cause our expressions are dif ferent. But after teaching the children we find that the habit of non-attention has captured the minds of almost everyone. Left to themselves, then, the pupils follow along the line of least resistance. •? Then comes tne opportunity to tne teacner of the elementary school to cul tivate attention and interest. The things that present them selves to the mind are the things which occupy it. The at tention and character of thought of interest. It is thislPact which makes it vitally necessary for us to present to our pupils thoughts that are broad and pure. But however broad and pure may be our motives we must first be interested ourselves. We must be systematically heroic in problems of every day life and experience. We must not shrink from tasks because they are dif ficult. T^ere h<? les§Qn§ text-books which aye n$t in tensely intefe§t|ng, but we must resolve to do our best from a sense of duty, keeping constant ly before us the fact thet mw of our bpys and gifls wiU get ftll of life’s training, so far as school is concerned, in an elementary school. So many parents are not will ing to sacrifice that their chil dren may receive a high school or college training afld CVen more haye not hafl fhe means at any rate. This does not include the vast number pf boys ¥$ girls who haye ha$ encour agement, whom UO Cue has tak en the flrst step to interest in going further jnt© the prepaya tion tor uira great wer*. more than all, many parents of our boys and girls will actually have to be begged to allow their children to receive even an ele mentary school training, One mother said: “Deys no use to send dese gal chillun to school. Deys got fuh work. It most time for dem to huifl; ftuibafl an git tqarj^. p'$sk boy chillun aint much better.' Dey top pad fuh run ropn’. ¥a§§um, $ey pan read, mpm, spy 0 4em book. pat's npff. Don't n^d too much book teamin' to wuk wid hoe.” This mother expressed her own and the sentiments of many others who are just too timid to put their thoughts into words. Somewhere taera fywf tW1 the Cfefmnn p$ a desire m the hearts of a people ip get up opt of their narrow sphere and lparn more of life. may spend only a few years in school them selves, but how very unselfish \t seems wbpn a plotter paya;; «I did not ^aye the opportunity of going to school, but I want my children to go. They /must know more than I know and I will sacrifice everything I can that they may remain : in school.” She had not even an elemen tary training, but What she had learned was taught in such a why as to keep alive the interest and desires implanted in her breast and she was willing to carry lit out in\her children. No doujbt she put many hours infto thoughts of the glories further up where she was never able Ito climb. To my mind there is a vast difference between one who ito a mere book-worm and one who thinks. There is little place in the ^world for one who looks, listens, reads and is so fully oc cupied in absorbing the imme diate present that he has no time to see the wider significance Of the things with which he deals. One who is so taken up with re ceiving that he never feels the necessity of sharing with the world that which has enlighit ened his life. The teacher must put himself into the place of the pupils %hd think and feel as they think and feel. To be able to put one’s self into any one of these thou sand possible positions is to have that invaluable human sympa thy without which no real ser vice is rendered. There must also be self-sacri fice. We must be willing to serve without pay. Schiller says, “Ingratitude to the world’s pay,” and that is very true in the kind of service a teacher must give. The emphasis must be upon service. If something needs to may ibe better. However honest and self-sac rificing a teacher may be, if he does not thoroughly believe in humanity and in himself, if he has no enthusiasm, then he should have no part in directing children. The school room is no place for the man or won\an who is forever gh^ntmg tafe§ ©f woe; who never willing to co operate cheerfully. But we do need men and women who are looking up. not dowp; who haY® a sense of hum©? a0d 0^0 §mile at dificulties.. It i§ thi duty of every elemen tary teacher to make school life so happy that any child would want to attend. I remember dis tinctly the dread and fear of my early school days. How thf^K ful I was wfcgn $yiday evening came, ahS ^iow sorry to see an other Monday morning dawn. It seems to me we w$^ fought nothing, hut iy^ippe^ fpr every thing we did npt kpow. We couldn’t learn. It topk §1) pf our time t§ dodge tfce switch. I was fortunate jnthat my payouts compelled pie to go fo sehooi, but, looking feaek at the boys and girls who started out in that class, many stopped by the way. The work of a teacher should be a happy, holy task. Nothing can be accomplished by dwelling moodily on obstructing }daas. What we ne^d is to get away from the thougjit \hgt capped the obstruction gn^ appyegch the mattey fo a different dic tion. The stufebum ebiidduea not pee# &e WM£B§a. But ™ have hi§ will strengthened that he may control himself. A teach er can be firm yet quite patient yet not indulging and surely sympathetic. Expect each child to dtft his best, keeping before him the possibilities of' what he can be rather than what he is not. Watch them closed |n their work apd p|ay. Under stand ejach need and capacity and help them center thefy in terest around the right things. Then we may be able to visual ize each character now and what they hope to be. We must knew the ideals, possibilities and ppr :hool and its meth pd'|s plan of making pien oat of boys and or, I We have some fht of play as a mere 5 children when they | to do or as a neces f-be tolerated. There a virtue that; is not ' reared to sturdy nrough suitable and i Self-control, self-l nlity to lead and will, follow are necessary ned nowhere else so so surely as in play, ho does not learn to ptance in his life. It kt in many communi arents must ibe con the idea that play is to the child's present ‘and future life, lies of manual train line economics should oportant place in oar ' school curriculum, is now conscious of thesft young men ana are trained to do Education for the rays been important development of civ Much of the work in hi on the element* . ir-‘. Thedemandsof the future are constantly rising. It is, there fore, important that we as teach ers adopt" some plan of self-edu cation i and keep it up. There must be' some preparation of methol* M %ork, if we would and live up to the may be ours, ty difficulties in tools among our ..." al» most distressing in the rural districts in the matter of regu lar attendances Because of pressing work on the farms and the lack of proper clothing many children attend not more than half of the time school is in session. Then many are foreed to stop school when they reach the 4th or 5th grade while hun dreds of them finish no grade at all. It is true that in spite of all that has been done the edu cation of the 'Negro is only well underway* But ta the building of and maintaining Christian ideas the church elementary school has made an imperishable name for itself in the hearts of our people. More than half a century ago when four million Negroes fa^ed the world with no opportunities for an education, the Church came forward and took unto itself tbe task which it might have avoided—educat in the Negro. Into these Reboots have gone, as do t^dgy, the un couth, untutored, neglected youtns or our county* Sometimes the school houses have been crowded or equipment poor end very often teachers have been less effective than they ought to have been; some times urgent, necessary work has not been done. These $nly serve to make t^igh*’®1' the glo ries ofth® things achieved. Chit of these schools have grown the boarding school* nor, mal and professional schools. Through mx churoh elementary schools hoys and girls have been inspired to go forward and up ward. There is a steady stream of trained men and women, go ing back to the places from whence they came or to sojpc field of service, parrying the things tiwy have gained with that spirit of love for humanity which was first routed in the church elementary school. Five years ago, after accqpfe ing work on a field that is al most primitive, we found no one who had all of an elementary school’s training; not one boy 01 girl who had been persuaded tc attend school for any purpose The county schools were packet to the utmost capacity with tw« sessions per day. Two years later our church school was op ened by the Board of National Missions. Of the 457 pupils en rolled the first term I venture to say that only one-third had ever seen the city of Charleston, six mites away, and not one had been beyond that city. We are trying to use our op portunities to guide and impress, and though it seems to be such a little among so many^we are happy to say that we bpve three pupils at Haines Institute ahd one girt at Scotia Seminary. These young, people have left home , to continue their studies not With the. best wishes from friends ami relatives.. Sheers, and jeers have followed them all the why. Not even the parents of two were willing. But they have a vision Of higher life, and, I believe, lives of service. One of our girls, on returning to Haines after the holidays^ wrote, “I cannot forget what you said to me. When you kneel in prayer please remember me. 1 hope that before I leave Haines I will be a Christian^ I am trying 8ft tf know to get my heart right with God. I want io fee one of His children. Pray for me.” We must realize clearly that school not only trains for life, but is life itself. If Christian principles are inoculated into pupils during early life there is more hope of their taking deep root in the future and for the service that is to !be ren dered. The world moves forward on the feet of its young people, and the Chui*th elementary school has a place hr its curriculum whereby the child is helped to grow, to develop, to experience, to live. - .. -The elementary church school offers a program which means the training of our boys and girls into lives of Christian character crowned with abun dant life, bringing forth fruits the Spirit, kindness, gentleness, joy, peace, truth, faith, hope, love, reverence for God and one another. CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PErrERSBURG, YA. A very appreciative audience assembled in Central Presbyte rian church, Rev. J. E. Tice, pas tor, March 11, though the weath. er was very dreary, to hear a real gospel message delivered by the Rev. Dr. Keeler, chairman of the Church Erection Board of the Presbyterian Church, XJ. S. A., whose headquarters are in New York Qity, Dr. Keeler is an able, fluent, forceful and enlightening speak er, and has a reputation of de livering a strong practical mes sage to all of his audiences. We were all thrilled at his utter ances. Dr. Keeler and wife motored from New York City here March 9 and held a conference with a committee of fourteen re presentatives of colored and white Presbyterians in the Tabb St. Praebyterian church (white), Dr, J, 1, Hemphill, pastor, where plans were formulated for the erection of a new church for the Central Presbyterian church on its site, on Halifax St. The work is scheduled tc begin in the month of May. There are ten persons in the church who have pledged tc raise $100.00 each, toward the building fund, to be reported or the 2§th of the present month j We are looking forward for f great time and great rejoicing Rev, Tice, our pastor, has done wonderful work since he canu to’us and everybody is strivinj and doing their best in holding him up, for he is an untirinj worker. ' A MEMBER, Learn to laugh; a good laugl i is better than medicine. ' /■'■•••• " . MICHIGAN AVENUE BRANCH Y. M. C. A. BUFFALO, N. Y. The Committee of Manage ment of tiie Michigan Avenue Branch “Y” wishes to announce the opening of the New Building Sunday afternoon April 16, at 3 o’clock; The Dedicatftto Ad dress is to be delivered by Dr. James E. Shepard, President of the North Carbliha State Col lege, Durham, N. C. Mr. C. H. Tobias, Senior Secretary of the Colored Department, National Council, New York City, will give a review of the ,*Y” work throughout th% country and also introduce the speaker. Among the guests of honor will be Mr. and Mrs. George B. Matthews, Buffalo;. Mr. Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, .State Secretary of the Y. M. C. A., Mr. Fred JSldred&e, of New York, Mrs. Charles MacL^an, New York, and Mrs. Sidney McDou gall, of Buffalo. Sunday at 7:30 IP. >M., at the Secretaries’ Supper Conference Thos. E. Taylor, of New York, will preside'and the address is to be delivered by Secretary R. B. DeFrantz. Among the Sec retaries who will be present are: George Arthur, Chicago; S. R. Morsell, Pittsburgh; A. L. Comither, Brooklyn; Campbell Johnson, Washington; Chas. E. Frye, Cleveland ; Thos. A. Boll ing, Rochester; H. S. Dunbar, Detroit; J. A. Greene, Dayton; R. W. Overton, Cincinnati; H. W. Porter, Philadelphia; C. H. Bullock, Montclair; and C. M. Cain, Atlantic City. X Program copwmes^ thronghr with program under auspices of the Ministers’ Council, Rev. J. Edward Nash, President, preside mg. Tuesday, 8 P. M.—Fraternal Night, Mr. Robert Buckner, pre siding. Wednesday, 8 P. M.—Citizens’ Night—Mr. H. H. Lewis, Sr., presiding. * Thursday, 8 P. M.—National Health Week Program, under the auspices of the local Medi cal Association, Dr. J. L. Waters, presiding. Friday, 8 P. M.—Ladies’ Night—under the auspices of Ladies’ Auxiliary, Mrs. Otis D. Jackson, President, presiding. Mrs. Addie W. Hunton, Brook lyn, N. Y., speaker. - Saturday, 8 P. M.—Y. M. C. A. Night—Interbranch Demon stration Program, Mr.; Charles Herrick, Physical Director, Cen tral Branch, presiding. Music by Genesee Street Branch Orches tra. Sunday, 4 P. M.—Vesper Ser vices—Mr. 5C. A. Sims, chair man, Religious Work Committee, presiding. Music by St. Phillip’s Church Choir; Speaker, Mr. Don D. Tullis, Secretary Buffalo Council of Churches. All meetings are open to the public. Notice should be taken of the following; Thursday, April 19, 2:30 to 5 o’clock, inspection of Building and Reception to High School Boys and Girls, the Hi Y Club, hosts. Friday,, April 20, 2:30 to 5 P. M.—-Inspection of Building and reception to women, Ladies’ Auxiliary, hostesses. Saturday, April 21, 9:30 ,to , 11:80 P. M. Inspection of Build ing and Reception to Boys and , Girls, 10 to 15 years of age. : far as possible carefree. Re ; sponsibility, * hare and work have no place during these early years, except as a conscious part of the educative process. What i ever deprives children of this joyous outlook is wrong. Wm. H. JACKSON, Executive Secretary. Normal Ihood should be as

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