The Child in the Midst: A Comparative Study of Child Welfare in Christian and Non-Christian LandsPlatt, Mary Schauffler
Religion
The Child in the Midst: A Comparative Study of Child Welfare in Christian and Non-Christian Lands
Platt, Mary Schauffler
Church work with children; Missions
In 1912 Lord Kitchener states that “There is probably nothing
more remarkable in the social history of Egypt during the last
dozen years than the growth of public opinion among all classes
of Egyptians in favor of the education of their daughters. The
girls’ schools belonging to the Ministry of Education are
crowded, and to meet the growing demand sites have been acquired
and fresh schools are to be constructed, one at Alexandria and
two in Cairo. Very many applications have, however, to be
refused.”[66]
[Sidenote: Mission schools in the lead.]
To these quotations Dr. Sailer adds the significant words,--“The
missionary schools for girls are yet in the lead in their moral
atmosphere. The government officials were prompt in acknowledging that
missionary teachers brought to their work a spirit which money could
not buy.”
[Sidenote: Now is the time to educate the future mothers.]
Scant justice can be done in these few pages to the whole vast subject
of the education of girls in the East, and the rapid changes that are
taking place in regard to it. A careful study of the subject will well
repay the thoughtful woman. As all roads lead to Rome, so all reading
and observation along this line will lead the candid student to one
conclusion:--_Now is the time to determine the character of the
mothers of the next generation of children in non-Christian lands._
What those little bright-eyed baby girls of Africa and India, Turkey
and Korea are to be and do, what their homes are to be like, what
start in life their children are to have, will be largely determined
by what we Christian women do or fail to do for them today. If it is
too late to do much for their mothers before these children have left
their homes, why not gather the children into kindergartens and
primary schools, why not teach the little ones _now_ while their minds
are plastic and impressionable? Why not do our share toward bringing
Christian civilization into darkened lands by educating in Christian
schools today the mothers of tomorrow?
[Sidenote: Teaching children to play.]
In the preceding chapter great emphasis was laid on the necessity for
teaching the children of many mission lands how to play, not only for
the benefit of their health and to bring joy and brightness into their
lives, but also in order to teach them what “fair play” and
co-operation mean. It is the missionary school, from kindergarten up
to university, that gives the golden opportunity for this teaching, as
is shown by the testimony of a missionary from Tientsin, China:--“We
believe that such games teach them to be honest in business dealings
later, to be truthful, unselfish, quick-witted, and self-controlled.
The change which I have seen in these little, un-taught, ill-cared-for
children after five years in the mission school is due in part, I
believe, to the lessons of ‘fair play’ learned in their games.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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