{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_11345/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_11345","id":"gutenberg_11345","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11345","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Teaching & Education","Education","Theosophy"],"text":"EDUCATION AS SERVICE\n\n\n\nBY\n\nJ. KRISHNAMURTI\n\n(ALCYONE)\n\n\n\nTHE RAJPUT PRESS\n\nCHICAGO\n\n1912\n\n\n\n\nEDUCATION AS SERVICE\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nIn long past lives the author of this little book had much to do with\neducational work, and he seems to have brought over with him an intense\ninterest in education. During his short visits to Benares, he paid an\nalert attention to many of the details of the work carried on in the\nCentral Hindu College, observing and asking questions, noting the good\nfeeling between teachers and students, so different from his own school\nexperiences in Southern India. He appears to have been brooding over\nthe question, and has, in this booklet, held up the educational ideals\nwhich appear to him to be necessary for the improvement of the present\nsystem.\n\nThe position of the teacher must be raised to that which it used to\noccupy in India, so that to sit in the teacher's chair will be a badge\nof social honour. His work must be seen as belonging to the great\nTeaching Department in the Government of our world, and his relation\nwith his pupils must be a copy of the relation between a Master and His\ndisciples. Love, protective and elevating on the one side, must be met\nwith love, confiding and trustful on the other. This is, in truth, the\nold Hindu ideal, exaggerated as it may seem to be to-day and if it be\npossible, in any country to rebuild this ideal, it should be by an\nIndian for Indians. Hence there is, at the back of the author's mind, a\ndream of a future College and School, wherein this ideal may be\nmaterialised--a Theosophical College and School, because the ancient\nIndian ideals now draw their life from Theosophy which alone can shape\nthe new vessels for the ancient elixir of life Punishment must\ndisappear--not only the old brutality of the cane, but all the forms of\ncoercion that make hypocrites instead of honourable and manly youths.\nThe teacher must embody the ideal, and the boy be drawn, by admiration\nand love, to copy it. Those who know how swiftly the unspoiled child\nresponds to a noble ideal will realise how potent may be the influence\nof a teacher, who stimulates by a high example and rules by the sceptre\nof love instead of by the rod of fear. Besides, the One Life is in\nteacher and taught, as Alcyone reminds us, and to that Life, which is\nDivine, all things are possible.\n\nEducation must be shaped to meet the individual needs of the child, and\nnot by a Government Procrustes' bed, to fit which some are dragged\nwell-nigh asunder and others are chopped down. The capacities of the\nchild, the line they fit him to pursue, these must guide his education.\nIn all, the child's interest must be paramount; the true teacher exists\nto serve.\n\nThe school must be a centre of good and joyous influences, radiating\nfrom it to the neighbourhood. Studies and games must all be turned to\nthe building of character, to the making of the good citizen, the lover\nof his country.\n\nThus dreams the boy, who is to become a teacher, of the possibilities\nthe future may unfold. May he realise, in the strength of a noble\nManhood, the pure visions of his youth, and embody a Power which shall\nmake earth's deserts rejoice and blossom as the rose.\n\nANNIE BESANT.\n\n\n\n\nTO THE SUPREME TEACHER\n\nAND TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nMany of the suggestions made in this little book come from my own\nmemories of early school life; and my own experience since of the\nmethods used in Occult training has shown me how much happier boys'\nlives might be made than they usually are. I have myself experienced\nboth the right way of teaching and the wrong way, and therefore I want\nto help others towards the right way. I write upon the subject because\nit is one which is very near to the heart of my Master, and much of what\nI say is but an imperfect echo of what I have heard from Him. Then\nagain, during the last two years, I have seen much of the work done in\nthe Central Hindu College at Benares by Mr. G.S. Arundale and his\ndevoted band of helpers. I have seen teachers glad to spend their time\nand energies in continual service of those whom they regard as their\nyounger brothers. I have also watched the boys, in their turn, showing a\nreverence and an affectionate gratitude to their teachers that I had\nnever thought possible.\n\nThough many people may think the ideals put forward are entirely beyond\nthe average teacher, and cannot be put into practice in ordinary\nschools, I can thus point at least to one institution in which I have\nseen many of the suggestions made in this book actually carried out. It\nmay be that some of them _are_, at present, beyond most schools; but\nthey will be recognised and practised as soon as teachers realise them\nas desirable, and have a proper understanding of the importance of their\noffice.\n\nMost of the recommendations apply, I think, to all countries, and to all\nreligions, and are intended to sound the note of our common\nbrotherhood, irrespective of religion or caste, race or colour. If the\nunity of life and the oneness of its purpose could be clearly taught to\nthe young in schools, how much brighter would be our hopes for the\nfuture! The mutual distrust of races and nations would disappear, if the\nchildren were trained in mutual love and sympathy as members of one\ngreat family of children all over the world, instead of being taught to\nglory only in their own traditions and to despise those of others. True\npatriotism is a beautiful quality in children, for it means\nunselfishness of purpose and enthusiasm for great ideals; but that is\nfalse patriotism which shows itself in contempt for other nations. There\nare, I am told, many organisations within the various nations of the\nworld, intended to inspire the children with a love for their country\nand a desire to serve her, and that is surely good; but I wonder when\nthere will be an international organisation to give the children of all\nnations common ideals also, and a knowledge of the real foundation of\nright action, the Brotherhood of Man.\n\nI desire to thank my dear mother, Mrs. Annie Besant, for the help she\nhas given me while I have been writing this little book, and also my\ndear friend, Mr. G.S. Arundale--with whom I have often talked on the\nsubject--for many useful suggestions.\n\nJ. KRISHNAMURTI.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nTHE TEACHER\n\nI. LOVE\n\nII. DISCRIMINATION\n\nIII. DESIRELESSNESS\n\nIV. GOOD CONDUCT\n\n  1. Self-control as to the mind\n\n  2. Self-control in action\n\n  3. Tolerance\n\n  4. Cheerfulness\n\n  5. One-pointedness\n\n  6. Confidence\n\n\n\n\nTHE TEACHER\n\nIn _At the Feet of the Master_ I have written down the instructions\ngiven to me by my Master in preparing me to learn how best to be useful\nto those around me. All who have read the book will know how inspiring\nthe Master's words are, and how they make each person who reads them\nlong to train himself for the service of others. I know myself how much\nI have been helped by the loving care of those to whom I look for\nguidance, and I am eager to pass on to others the help I have obtained\nfrom them.\n\nIt seems to me that the Master's instructions can be universally\napplied. They are useful not only to those who are definitely trying to\ntread the path which leads to Initiation, but also to all who, while\nstill doing the ordinary work of the world, are anxious to do their duty\nearnestly and unselfishly. One of the noblest forms of work is that of\nthe teacher; let us see what light is thrown upon it by the words of the\nMaster.\n\nI will take the four Qualifications which have been given in _At the\nFeet of the Master_, and will try to show how they can be applied to the\nlife of the teacher and of the students, and to the relations which\nshould exist between them.\n\nThe most important Qualification in education is Love, and I will take\nthat first.\n\nIt is sad that in modern days the office of a teacher has not been\nregarded as on a level with other learned professions. Any one has been\nthought good enough to be a teacher, and as a result little honour has\nbeen paid to him. Naturally, therefore, the cleverest boys are not\ndrawn towards that profession. But really the office of the teacher is\nthe most sacred and the most important to the nation, because it builds\nthe characters of the boys and girls who will be its future citizens. In\nolden days this office was thought so holy that only priests were\nteachers and the school was a part of the temple. In India the trust in\nthe teacher was so great that the parents gave over their sons\ncompletely to him for many years, and teacher and students lived\ntogether as a family. Because this happy relation should be brought\nback again, I put Love first among the Qualifications which a teacher\nought to have. If India is to become again the great nation which we all\nhope to see, this old happy relation must be re-established.\n\n\n\n\nI. LOVE\n\n\nMy Master taught me that Love will enable a man to acquire all other\nqualities and that \"all the rest without it would never be sufficient.\"\nTherefore no person ought to be a teacher--ought to be allowed to be a\nteacher--unless he has shown in his daily life that Love is the\nstrongest quality of his nature. It may be asked: How are we to find out\nwhether a person possesses Love to a sufficient degree to make him\nworthy to be a teacher? Just as a boy shows his natural capacities at an\nearly age for one profession or another, so a particularly strong\nlove-nature would mark a boy out as specially fitted to be an\ninstructor. Such boys should be definitely trained for the office of the\nteacher just as boys are trained for other professions.\n\nBoys who are preparing for all careers live a common life in the same\nschool, and they can only become useful to the nation as men, if their\nschool life is happy. A young child is naturally happy, and if that\nhappiness is allowed to go on and grow in the school, and at home, then\nhe will become a man who will make others happy. A teacher full of love\nand sympathy will attract the boys and make their school life a pleasant\none. My Master once said that \"children are very eager to learn and if a\nteacher cannot interest them and make them love their lessons, he is not\nfit to be a teacher and should choose another profession.\" He has said\nalso: \"Those who are mine love to teach and to serve. They long for an\nopportunity of service as a hungry man longs for food, and they are\nalways watching for it. Their hearts are so full of the divine Love that\nit must be always overflowing in love for those around them. Only such\nare fit to be teachers--those to whom teaching is not only a holy and\nimperative duty, but also the greatest of pleasures.\"\n\nA sympathetic teacher draws out all the good qualities in his pupils,\nand his gentleness prevents them from being afraid of him. Each boy then\nshows himself just as he is, and the teacher is able to see the line\nbest suited to him and to help him to follow it. To such a teacher a boy\nwill come with all his difficulties, knowing that he will be met with\nsympathy and kindness, and, instead of hiding his weaknesses, he will\nbe glad to tell everything to one of whose loving help he is sure. The\ngood teacher remembers his own youth, and so can feel with the boy who\ncomes to him. My Master said: \"He who has forgotten his childhood and\nlost sympathy with the children is not a man who can teach them or help\nthem.\"\n\nThis love of the teacher for his pupil, protecting and helping him, will\nbring out love from the pupil in turn, and as he looks up to his teacher\nthis love will take the form of reverence. Reverence, beginning in this\nway with the boy, will grow as he grows older, and will become the habit\nof seeing and reverencing greatness, and so perhaps in time may lead him\nto the Feet of the Master. The love of the boy to the teacher will make\nhim docile and easy to guide, and so the question of punishment will\nnever arise. Thus one great cause of fear which at present poisons all\nthe relations between the teacher and his pupil will vanish. Those of us\nwho have the happiness of being pupils of the true Masters know what\nthis relation ought to be. We know the wonderful patience, gentleness\nand sympathy with which They always meet us, even when we may have made\nmistakes or have been weak.\n\nYet there is much more difference between Them and us than between the\nordinary teacher and his pupil. When the teacher has learned to look\nupon his office as dedicating him to the service of the nation, as the\nMaster has dedicated Himself to the service of humanity, then he will\nbecome part of the great Teaching Department of the world, to which\nbelongs my own beloved Master--the Department of which the supreme\nTeacher of Gods and men is the august Head.\n\nIt may be said that many boys could not be managed in this way. The\nanswer is that such boys have been already spoiled by bad treatment.\nEven so, they must be slowly improved by greater patience and constant\nlove. This plan has already proved successful when tried.\n\nLiving in this atmosphere of love during school hours, the boy will\nbecome a better son and a better brother at home, and will bring home\nwith him a feeling of life and vigour, instead of coming home, as he\ngenerally does now, depressed and tired. When he, in turn, becomes the\nhead of a household, he will fill it with the love in which he has been\nbrought up, and so the happiness will go on spreading and increasing,\ngeneration after generation. Such a boy when he becomes a father, will\nnot look on his son, as so many do now, from a purely selfish point of\nview, as though he were merely a piece of property--as though the son\nexisted for the sake of the father. Some parents seem to regard their\nchildren only as a means of increasing the prosperity and reputation of\nthe family by the professions which they may adopt or the marriages that\nthey may make, without considering in the least the wishes of the\nchildren themselves. The wise father will consult his boy as a friend,\nwill take pains to find out what his wishes are, and will help him with\nhis greater experience to carry out those wishes wisely, remembering\nalways that his son is an ego who has come to the father to give him the\nopportunity of making good karma by aiding the son in his progress. He\nwill never forget that though his son's body may be young, the soul\nwithin is as old as his own, and must therefore be treated with respect\nas well as affection.\n\nLove both at home and in the school will naturally show itself in\ncontinual small acts of service, and these will form a habit out of\nwhich will grow the larger and more heroic acts of service which makes\nthe greatness of a nation.\n\nThe Master speaks much on cruelty as a sin against love, and\ndistinguishes between intentional and unintentional cruelty. He says:\n\"Intentional cruelty is purposely to give pain to another living being;\nand that is the greatest of all sins--the work of a devil rather than a\nman.\" The use of the cane must be classed under this, for He says of\nintentional cruelty: \"Many schoolmasters do it habitually.\" We must also\ninclude all words and acts _intended_ to wound the feelings of the boy\nand to hurt his self-respect. In some countries corporal punishment is\nforbidden, but in most it is still the custom. But my Master said:\n\"These people try to excuse their brutality by saying that it is the\ncustom; but a crime does not cease to be a crime because many commit\nit. Karma takes no account of custom; and the karma of cruelty is the\nmost terrible of all. In India at least there can be no excuse for such\ncustoms, for the duty of harmlessness is well known to all.\"\n\nThe whole idea of what is called \"punishment\" is not only wrong but\nfoolish. A teacher who tries to frighten his boys into doing what he\nwishes does not see that they only obey him while he is there, and that\nas soon as they are out of his sight they will pay no attention to his\nrules, or even take a pleasure in breaking them because they dislike\nhim. But if he draws them to do what he wants because they love him and\nwish to please him, they will keep his rules even in his absence, and so\nmake his work much easier. Instead of developing fear and dislike in the\ncharacters of the boys, the wise teacher will gain his ends by calling\nforth from them love and devotion; and so will strengthen all that is\ngood in them, and help them on the road of evolution.\n\nAgain, the idea of expulsion, of getting rid of a troublesome boy\ninstead of trying to improve him, is wrong. Even when, for the sake of\nhis companions, a boy has to be separated from them, the good of the boy\nhimself must not be forgotten. In fact, all through, school discipline\nshould be based on the good of the boys and not on the idea of saving\ntrouble to the teacher. The loving teacher does not mind the trouble.\n\nUnintentional cruelty often comes from mere thoughtlessness, and the\nteacher should be very careful not to be cruel in words or actions from\nwant of thought. Teachers often cause pain by hasty words uttered at a\ntime when they have been disturbed by some outside annoyance, or are\ntrying to attend to some important duty. The teacher may forget the\nincident or pass it over as trivial, but in many such cases a sensitive\nboy has been wounded, and he broods over the words and ends by imagining\nall sorts of foolish exaggerations. In this way many misunderstandings\narise between teachers and boys, and though the boys must learn to be\npatient and generous, and to realise that the teacher is anxious to help\nall as much as he can, the teacher in his turn must always be on the\nalert to watch his words, and to allow nothing but gentleness to shine\nout from his speech and actions, however busy he may be.\n\nIf the teacher is always gentle to the boys, who are younger and weaker\nthan himself, it will be easy for him to teach them the important lesson\nof kindness to little children, animals, birds and other living\ncreatures. The older boys, who themselves are gentle and tactful, should\nbe encouraged to observe the condition of the animals they see in the\nstreets, and if they see any act of cruelty, to beg the doer of it very\npolitely and gently, to treat the animal more kindly. The boys should\nbe taught that nothing which involves the hunting and killing of animals\nshould be called sport. That word ought to be kept for manly games and\nexercises, and not used for the wounding and killing of animals. My\nMaster says: \"The fate of the cruel must fall also upon all who go out\nintentionally to kill God's creatures and call it sport.\"\n\nI do not think that teachers realise the harm and the suffering caused\nby gossip, which the Master calls a sin against love. Teachers should be\nvery careful not to make difficulties for their boys by gossiping about\nthem. No boy should ever be allowed to have a bad name in the school,\nand it should be the rule that no one may speak ill of any other member\nof the school whether teacher or boy.\n\nMy Master points out that by talking about a person's faults, we not\nonly strengthen those faults in him, but also fill our own minds with\nevil thoughts. There is only one way of really getting rid of our lower\nnature, and that is by strengthening the higher. And while it is the\nduty of the teacher to understand the weaknesses of those placed in his\ncharge he must realise that he will destroy the lower nature only by\nsurrounding the boy with his love, thus stimulating the higher and\nnobler qualities till there is no place left for the weaknesses. The\nmore the teacher gossips about the faults of the boys, the more harm he\ndoes, and, except during a consultation with his fellow teachers as to\nthe best methods of helping individual boys out of their weaknesses, he\nshould never talk about a boy's defects.\n\nThe boys must also be taught the cruelty of gossip among themselves. I\nknow many a boy whose life at school has been made miserable because\nhis companions have been thoughtless and unkind, and the teacher either\nhas not noticed his unhappiness, or has not understood how to explain to\nthe boys the nature of the harm they were doing. Boys frequently take\nhold of some peculiarity in speech or in dress, or of some mistake which\nhas been made, and, not realising the pain they cause, carelessly\ntorture their unfortunate schoolfellow with unkind allusions. In this\ncase the mischief is due chiefly to ignorance, and if the teacher has\ninfluence over the boys, and gently explains to them what pain they are\ngiving they will quickly stop.\n\nThey must be taught, too, that nothing which causes suffering or\nannoyance to another can ever be the right thing to do, nor can it ever\nbe amusing to any right-minded boy. Some children seem to find pleasure\nin teasing or annoying others, but that is only because they are\nignorant. When they understand, they will never again be so unbrotherly.\n\nIn every class-room these words of my Master should be put up in a\nprominent place: \"Never speak ill of any one; refuse to listen when\nanyone else speaks ill of another, but gently say: 'Perhaps this is not\ntrue, and even if it is, it is kinder not to speak of it.'\"\n\nThere are crimes against love which are not recognised as crimes, and\nwhich are unfortunately very common. A teacher must use discretion in\ndealing with these, but should teach a doctrine of love so far as he is\npermitted, and may at least set a good example himself. Three of these\nare put by my Master under the head of cruelties caused by superstition.\n\n1. Animal sacrifice. Among civilised nations this is now found only in\nIndia, and is tending to disappear even there. Parents and teachers\nshould tell their boys that no custom which is cruel is really part of\nany true religion. For we have seen that religion teaches unity, and\ntherefore kindness and gentleness to everything that feels. God cannot\ntherefore be served by cruelty and the killing of helpless creatures. If\nIndian boys learn this lesson of love in school they will, when they\nbecome men, put an end entirely to this cruel superstition.\n\n2. Much more widely spread is what my Master calls \"the still more\ncruel superstition that man needs flesh for food.\" This is a matter that\nconcerns the parent more than the teacher, but at least the teacher may\ngradually lead his boys to see the cruelty involved in killing animals\nfor food. Then, even if the boy is obliged to eat meat at home, he will\ngive it up when he is a man, and will give his own children a better\nopportunity than he himself had. If parents at home and teachers at\nschool would train young children in the duty of loving and protecting\nall living creatures, the world would be much happier than it is at\npresent.\n\n3. \"The treatment which superstition has meted out to the depressed\nclasses in our beloved India,\" says the Master, is a proof that \"this\nevil quality can breed heartless cruelty even among those who know the\nduty of Brotherhood.\" To get rid of this form of cruelty every boy must\nbe taught the great lesson of love, and much can be done for this in\nschool as well as at home. The boy at school has many special\nopportunities of learning this lesson, and the teacher should point out\nthe duty of showing courtesy and kindness to all who are in inferior\npositions, as well as to the poor whom he may meet outside. All who know\nthe truth of reincarnation should realise that they are members of one\ngreat family, in which some are younger brethren and some elder. Boys\nmust be taught to show gentleness and consideration to servants, and to\nall who are below them in social position; caste was not intended to\npromote pride and rudeness, and Manu teaches that servants should be\ntreated as the children of the family.\n\nA great part of the teacher's work lies in the playground, and the\nteacher who does not play with his boys will never quite win their\nhearts. Indian boys as a rule do not play enough, and time should be\ngiven for games during the school day. Even the teachers who have not\nlearned to play in their youth should come to the playground and show\ninterest in the games, thus sharing in this part of the boy's education.\n\nIn schools where there are boarding-houses the love of the teacher is\nespecially necessary, for in them the boarding-house must take the\nplace of the home, and a family feeling must be created there. Bright\nand affectionate teachers will be looked on as elder brothers, and\ndifficulties which escape rules will be got rid of by love.\n\nIn fact, all the many activities of school life should be made into\nchannels through which affection can run between teacher and pupil, and\nthe more channels there are the better it will be for both. As the boy\ngrows older these channels will naturally become more numerous, and the\nlove of the school will become the friendship of manhood. Thus love\nwill have her perfect work.\n\nLove on the physical plane has many forms. We have the love of husband\nand wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, the affection\nbetween relatives and friends. But all these are blended and enriched in\nthe love of the Master to His disciple. The Master gives to His pupil\nthe gentleness and protection of a mother, the strength of a father, the\nunderstanding of a brother or a sister, the encouragement of a relative\nor a friend, and He is one with His pupil and His pupil is a part of\nHim. Besides this, the Master knows His pupil's past, and His pupil's\nfuture, and guides him through the present from the past into the\nfuture. The pupil knows but little beyond the present, and he does not\nunderstand that great love which draws its inspiration from the memory\nof the past and shapes itself to mould the powers of the future. He may\neven sometimes doubt the wisdom of the love which guides itself\naccording to a pattern which his eyes cannot see.\n\nThat which I have said above may seem a very high ideal for the\nrelation between a teacher and pupil down here. Yet the difference\nbetween them is less than the difference between a Master and His\ndisciple. The lower relation should be a faint reflection of the higher,\nand at least the teacher may set the higher before himself as an ideal.\nSuch an ideal will lift all his work into a higher world, and all school\nlife will be made happier and better because the teacher has set it\nbefore him.\n\n\n\n\nII. DISCRIMINATION\n\n\nThe next very necessary qualification for the teacher is Discrimination.\nMy Master said that the most important knowledge was \"the knowledge of\nGod's plan for men, for God has a plan, and that plan is evolution.\"\nEach boy has his own place in evolution, and the teacher must try to see\nwhat that place is, and how he can best help the boy in that place. This\nis what the Hindus call Dharma, and it is the teacher's duty to find out\nthe boy's dharma and to help him to fulfil it. In other words, the\nteaching given to the boy should be that which is suitable for him, and\nthe teacher must use discrimination in choosing the teaching, and in his\nway of giving it. Under these conditions, the boy's progress would be\nfollowing out the tendencies made in past lives, and would really be\nremembering the things he knew before. \"The method of evolution,\" as a\ngreat Master said, \"is a constant dipping down into matter under the law\nof readjustment,\" _i.e._ by reincarnation and karma. Unless the teacher\nknows these truths, he cannot work with evolution as he should do, and\nmuch of his time and of his pupil's time will be wasted. It is this\nignorance which causes such small results to be seen, after many years\nat school, and which leaves the boy himself so ignorant of the great\ntruths which he needs to guide his conduct in life.\n\nDiscrimination is wanted in the choice of subjects and in the way in\nwhich they are taught. First in importance come religion and morals, and\nthese must not only be taught as subjects but must be made both the\nfoundation and the atmosphere of school life, for these are equally\nwanted by every boy, no matter what he is to do later in life. Religion\nteaches us that we are all part of One Self, and that we ought therefore\nhelp one another. My Master said that people \"try to invent ways for\nthemselves which they think will be pleasant for themselves, not\nunderstanding that all are one, and that therefore only what the One\nwills can ever be really pleasant for anyone.\" And He also said: \"You\ncan help your brother through that which you have in common with him,\nand that is the Divine life.\" To teach this is to teach religion, and\nto live it is to lead the religious life.\n\nAt present the value of the set moral teaching is largely made useless\nby the arrangements of the school. The school day should always open\nwith something of the nature of a religious service, striking the note\nof a common purpose and a common life, so that the boys, who are all\ncoming from different homes and different ways of living may be tuned to\nunity in the school. It is a good plan to begin with a little music or\nsinging so that the boys, who often come rushing in from hastily taken\nfood, may quiet down and begin the school day in an orderly way. After\nthis should come a prayer and a very short but beautiful address,\nplacing an ideal before the boys.\n\nBut if these ideals are to be useful, they must be practised all through\nthe school day, so that the spirit of the religious period may run\nthrough the lessons and the games. For example, the duty of the strong\nto help the weak is taught in the religious hour, and yet for the rest\nof the day the strong are set to outstrip the weak, and are given\nvaluable prizes for their success in doing so. These prizes make many\nboys jealous and discourage others, they stimulate the spirit of\nstruggle. The Central Hindu College Brotherhood has for its motto: \"The\nideal reward is an increased power to love and to serve.\" If the prizes\nfor good work and conduct and for helping others were positions of\ngreater trust and power of helping, this motto would be carried out. In\nfact, in school honour should be given to character and helpfulness\nrather than to strength of mind and body; strength ought to be trained\nand developed, but not rewarded for merely outstripping the weak. Such\na school life will send out into the world men who will think more of\nfilling places of usefulness to the nation than of merely gaining money\nand power for themselves.\n\nAn important part of moral teaching lies in the training of the boy in\npatriotism--love of country. The above plan of teaching the boy to be of\nservice in the little family of the school, will naturally widen out\ninto service in the large family of the nation. This will also influence\nthe boy in his choice of a profession, for he will think of the nation\nas his family, and will try to fill a useful place in the national life.\nBut great care must be taken in teaching patriotism not to let the boys\nslip into hatred of other nations, as so often happens. This is\nespecially important in India, where both Indian and English teachers\nshould try to make good feeling between the two races living side by\nside, so that they may join in common work for the one Empire.\n\nDiscrimination may also be shown in the arrangement of lessons, the most\ndifficult subjects being taken early in the day, as far as possible.\nFor even with the best and most carefully arranged teaching a boy will\nbe more tired at the end of the school day than at the beginning.\n\nDiscrimination is also wanted in the method of teaching, and in the\namount of time given to mental and physical education. The care of the\nbody and its development are of the first importance, for without a\nhealthy body all teaching is wasted. It should be remembered that the\nboy can go on, learning all his life, if he is wise enough to wish to do\nso; but it is only during the years of growth that he can build up a\nhealthy physical body in which to spend that life. Therefore during\nthose early years the healthy development of that physical body must be\nabsolutely the first consideration, and anything that cannot be learned\ncompatibly with that must for the time remain unlearned. The strain on\nthe boy's mind--and particularly on those of very young boys--is far too\ngreat and lasts far too long; the lesson period should be broken up, and\nthe teacher should be very careful to watch the boys and to see that\nthey do not become tired. His wish to prevent this strain will make him\nthink out new ways of teaching, which will make the lessons very\ninteresting; for a boy who is interested does not easily become tired. I\nmyself remember how tired we used to be when we reached home, far too\ntired to do anything but lie about. But the Indian boy is not allowed to\nrest even when he comes home, for he has then to begin home lessons,\noften with a tutor, when he ought to be at rest or play. These home\nlessons begin again in the morning, before he goes to school, and the\nresult is that he looks on his lessons as a hardship instead of a\npleasure. Much of this homework is done by a very bad light and the\nboy's eyes suffer much. All home lessons should be abolished; home work\nburns the candle at both ends, and makes the boy's life a slavery.\nSchool hours are quite long enough, and an intelligent teacher can\nimpart in them quite as much as any boy ought to learn in one day. What\ncannot be taught within those hours should be postponed until the next\nday.\n\nWe see the result of all this overstrain in the prevalence of\neye-diseases in India. Western countries set us a good example in the\nphysical training of their boys, who leave school strong and healthy. I\nhave heard in England that in the poorer schools the children are often\ninspected by a doctor so that any eye-disease or other defect is found\nout at once before it becomes serious. I wonder how many boys in India\nare called stupid merely because they are suffering from some eye or ear\ntrouble.\n\nDiscrimination should also be shown in deciding the length of the waking\nand sleeping times. These vary, of course, with age and to some extent\nperhaps with temperament. No boy should have less than nine or ten hours\nof sleep; when growth ceases, eight hours would generally be enough. A\nboy grows most during his sleep, so that the time is not in the least\nwasted.\n\nFew people realise how much a boy is affected by his surroundings, by\nthe things on which his eyes are continually resting. The emotions and\nthe mind are largely trained through the eye, and bare walls, or, still\nworse, ugly pictures are distinctly harmful. It is true that beautiful\nsurroundings sometimes cost a little more than ugly ones, but the money\nis well spent. In some things only trouble is needed in choosing, for an\nugly picture costs as much as a pretty one. Perfect cleanliness is also\nabsolutely necessary, and teachers should be constantly on the watch to\nsee that it is maintained. The Master said about the body: \"Keep it\nstrictly clean always; even from the minutest speck of dirt.\" Both\nteachers and students should be very clean and neat in their dress, thus\nhelping to preserve the general beauty of the school surroundings. In\nall these things careful discrimination is wanted.\n\nIf a boy is weak in a particular subject, or is not attracted by some\nsubject which he is obliged to learn, a discriminating teacher will\nsometimes help him by suggesting to him to teach it to one who knows\nless than he does. The wish to help the younger boy will make the elder\neager to learn more, and that which was a toil becomes a pleasure. A\nclever teacher will think of many such ways of helping his boys.\n\nIf discrimination has been shown, as suggested in a preceding\nparagraph, in choosing the best and most helpful boys for positions of\ntrust, it will be easy to teach the younger boys to look up to and wish\nto please them. The wish to please a loved and admired elder is one of\nthe strongest motives in a boy, and this should be used to encourage\ngood conduct, instead of using punishment to drive boys away from what\nis bad. If the teacher can succeed in attracting this love and\nadmiration to himself, he will remain a helper to his students long\nafter they have become men. I have been told that the boys who were\nunder Dr. Arnold at Rugby continued in after life to turn to him for\nadvice in their troubles and perplexities.\n\nWe may perhaps add that discrimination is a most important qualification\nfor those whose duty it is to choose the teachers. High character and\nthe love-nature of which we have already spoken are absolutely necessary\nif the above suggestions are to be carried out.\n\n\n\n\nIII. DESIRELESSNESS\n\n\nThe next qualification to be considered is Desirelessness.\n\nThere are many difficulties in the way of the teacher when he tries to\nacquire desirelessness, and it also requires special consideration from\nthe standpoint of the student.\n\nAs has been said in _At the Feet of the Master_: \"In the light of His\nholy Presence all desire dies, _but_ the desire to be like Him.\" It is\nalso said in the Bhagavad Gita that all desire dies \"when once the\nSupreme is seen.\" This is the ideal at which to aim, that the One Will\nshall take the place of changing desires. This Will is seen in our\ndharma, and in a true teacher, one whose dharma is teaching, his one\ndesire will be to teach, and to teach well. In fact, unless this desire\nis felt, teaching is not his dharma, for the presence of this desire is\ninseparable from real capacity to teach.\n\nWe have already said that little honour, unfortunately, is attached to\nthe post of a teacher, and that a man often takes the position because\nhe can get nothing else, instead of because he really wants to teach,\nand knows that he can teach. The result is that he thinks more about\nsalary than anything else, and is always looking about for the chance of\na higher salary. This becomes his chief desire. While the teacher is no\ndoubt partly to blame for this, it is the system which is mostly in\nfault, for the teacher needs enough to support himself and his family,\nand this is a right and natural wish on his part. It is the duty of the\nnation to see that he is not placed in a position in which he is obliged\nto be always desiring increase of salary, or must take private tuition\nin order to earn enough to live. Only when this has been done will the\nteacher feel contented and happy in the position he occupies, and feel\nthe dignity of his office as a teacher, whatever may be his position\namong other teachers--which is, I fear, now marked chiefly by the amount\nof his salary. Only the man who is really contented and happy can have\nhis mind free to teach well.\n\nThe teacher should not desire to gain credit for himself by forcing a\nboy along his own line, but should consider the special talent of each\nboy, and the way in which _he_ can gain most success. Too often the\nteacher, thinking only of his own subject, forgets that the boy has to\nlearn many subjects. The one on which most stress should be laid is the\none most suited to the boy's capacity. Unless the teachers co-operate\nwith each other, the boy is too much pressed, for each teacher urges him\non in his own subject, and gives him home-lessons in this. There are\nmany teachers, but there is only one boy.\n\nAgain, the boy's welfare must be put by the teacher before his own\ndesire to obtain good results in an examination. Sometimes it is better\nfor a boy to remain for another year in a class and master a subject\nthoroughly rather than to go up for an examination which is really too\ndifficult for him. In such a case it is right to keep him back. But it\nis not right to keep him back merely for the sake of good results for\nthe teacher. On the other hand, a teacher has sometimes to resist the\nparents who try to force the boy beyond his strength, and think more of\nhis rising into a higher class than of his really knowing his subjects.\n\nUnless the teacher has desirelessness, his own desires may blind him to\nthe aspirations and capacities of the boys in his care, and he will be\nfrequently imposing his own wishes on them instead of helping them in\ntheir natural development. However much a teacher may be attracted\ntowards any profession or any particular set of ideas, he must so\ndevelop desirelessness that while he creates in his pupils an enthusiasm\nfor principles, he shall not cramp them within the limits of any\nparticular application of the principles, or allow their generous\nimpulses--unbalanced by experience--to grow into narrow fanaticism.\nThus, he should teach the principles of citizenship, but not party\npolitics. He should teach the value of all professions to a nation, if\nhonourably filled, and not the superiority of one profession over\nanother.\n\n\n\n\nIV. GOOD CONDUCT\n\n\nThere are six points which are summed up by the Master as Good Conduct.\nThese are:\n\n1. Self-control as to the mind.\n\n2. Self-control in action.\n\n3. Tolerance.\n\n4. Cheerfulness.\n\n5. One-pointedness.\n\n6. Confidence.\n\nWe will take each of these in turn.\n\n1. _Self-control as to the mind_ is a most important qualification for a\nteacher, for it is principally through the mind that he guides and\ninfluences his boys. In the first place it means, as my Master has\nsaid, \"control of temper, so that you may feel no anger or impatience.\"\nIt is obvious that much harm will be done to boys if their teacher is\noften angry and impatient. It is true that this anger and impatience are\noften caused by the outer conditions of the teacher's life, but this\ndoes not prevent their bad effect on the boys. Such feelings, due\ngenerally to very small causes, re-act upon the minds of the students,\nand if the teacher is generally impatient and very often angry, he is\nbuilding into the character of the boys germs of impatience and anger\nwhich may in after life destroy their own happiness, and embitter the\nlives of their relations and friends.\n\nWe have to remember also that the boys themselves often come to school\ndiscontented and worried on account of troubles at home, and so both\nteachers and boys bring with them angry and impatient thoughts, which\nspread through the school, and make the lessons difficult and unpleasant\nwhen they should be easy and full of delight. The short religious\nservice referred to in an early part of this little book should be\nattended by teachers as well as students, and should act as a kind of\ndoor to shut out such undesirable feelings. Then both teachers and\nstudents would devote their whole energies to the creation of a happy\nschool, to which all should look forward in the morning, and which all\nshould be sorry to leave at the end of the school day.\n\nThe lack of control of temper, it must be remembered, often leads to\ninjustice on the part of the teacher, and therefore to sullenness and\nwant of confidence on the boy, and no boy can make real progress, or be\nin any real sense happy, unless he has complete confidence in the\njustice of his elders. Much of the strain of modern school life is due\nto this lack of confidence, and much time has to be wasted in breaking\ndown barriers which would never have been set up if the teacher had been\npatient.\n\nAnger and impatience grow out of irritability. It is as necessary for\nthe boy to understand his teacher as for the teacher to understand the\nboy, and hasty temper is an almost insuperable obstacle in the way of\nsuch understanding. \"The teacher is angry to-day,\" \"The teacher is\nirritable to-day,\" \"The teacher is short-tempered to-day,\" are phrases\ntoo often on the lips of boys, and they produce a feeling of discomfort\nin the class-room that makes harmony and ease impossible. Boys learn to\nwatch their teachers, and to guard themselves against their moods, and\nso distrust replaces confidence. The value of the teacher depends upon\nhis power of inspiring confidence, and he loses this when he gives way\nto irritability. This is particularly important with young children,\nfor they are eager to learn and eager to love, and only those who have\nno business to be teachers would dare to meet such eagerness by anger.\nIt is of course true that younger boys are in many ways more difficult\nto teach than elder ones; for they have not yet learned how to make\nefforts, nor how to control and guide them when made. The teacher has\ntherefore to help them much more than the elder boys who have learned\nlargely to help themselves. The chief difficulty is to make the best use\nof the young energies by finding them continual and interesting\nemployment; if the young enthusiasms are checked harshly instead of\nbeing guided sympathetically they will soon die out, and the boy will\nbecome dull and discontented.\n\nI have read that youth is full of enthusiasm and ideals, and that these\ngradually disappear with age, until a man is left with few or none. But\nit seems to me that enthusiasm, if real, should not die out, and leave\ncynicism behind, but rather should become stronger and more purposeful\nwith age. The young children coming straight out of the heaven-world\nhave brought with them a feeling of unity, and this feeling should be\nstrengthened in them, so that it may last on through life. Anger and\nirritability belong only to the separated self, and they drive away the\nfeeling of unity.\n\nSelf-control also involves calmness, courage and steadiness. Whatever\ndifficulties the teacher may have either at home or at school, he must\nlearn to face them bravely and cheerfully, not only that he may avoid\nworry for himself, but also that he may set a good example to his boys,\nand so help them to become strong and brave. Difficulties are much\nincreased by worrying over them, and by imagining them before they\nhappen--doing what Mrs. Besant once called, \"crossing bridges before we\ncome to them.\" Unless the teacher is cheerful and courageous with his\nown difficulties, he will not be able to help the boys to meet _their_\ndifficulties bravely. Most obstacles grow small before a contented mind,\nand boys who bring this to their work will find their studies much\neasier than if they came to them discontented and worried. Courage and\nsteadiness lead to self-reliance, and one who is self-reliant can\nalways be depended on to do his duty, even under difficult\ncircumstances.\n\nSelf-control as to the mind also means concentration on each piece of\nwork as it has to be done. My Master says about the mind: \"You must not\nlet it wander. Whatever you are doing, fix your thought upon it, that it\nmay be perfectly done.\" Much time is lost in school because the boys do\nnot pay sufficient attention to their work; and unless the teacher is\nhimself paying full attention to it the minds of the boys are sure to\nwander. Prayer and meditation are intended to teach control of the\nmind, but these are practised only once or twice a day. Unless the mind\nis controlled all day long by paying attention to everything we do, as\nthe Master directs, we shall never gain real power over our minds, so\nthat they may be perfect instruments.\n\nOne of the most difficult parts of a teacher's duty is to turn quickly\nfrom one subject to another, as the boys come to him with their\ndifferent questions and troubles. His mind must be so fully under his\ncontrol that he can pay complete attention to the particular anxiety of\neach boy, taking up one after the other with the same care and interest,\nand without any impatience. If he does not pay this full attention he is\nsure to make mistakes in the advice which he gives, or to be unjust in\nhis decisions, and out of such mistakes very serious troubles may arise.\n\nOn this point my friend, Mr. G.S. Arundale, the well-known Principal of\nthe Central Hindu College, writes: \"At frequent intervals, of course,\nboys come with complaints, with petitions, and here I have to be very\ncareful to concentrate my attention on each boy and on his particular\nneed, for the request, or complaint, or trouble, is sometimes quite\ntrivial and foolish, and yet it may be a great source of worry to the\nboy unless it is attended to; and even if the boy cannot be satisfied he\ncan generally be sent away contented. One of the most difficult tasks\nfor a teacher is to have sufficient control over his attention to be\nable continually to turn it from one subject to another without losing\nintensity, and to bear cheerfully the strain this effort involves. We\noften speak of something taxing a person's patience, but we really mean\nthat it taxes a person's attention, for impatience is only the desire of\nthe mind to attend to something more interesting than that which for the\nmoment occupies it.\"\n\nBoys must be helped to concentrate their attention on what they are\ndoing, for their minds are always wandering away from the subject in\nhand. The world outside them is so full of attractive objects new and\ninteresting to them, that their attention runs away after each fresh\nthing that comes under their eyes. A child is constantly told to\nobserve, and he takes pleasure in doing so; when he begins to reason he\nmust for the time stop observing and concentrate his mind on the subject\nhe is studying. This change is at first very difficult for him, and the\nteacher must help him to take up the new attitude. Sometimes attention\nwanders because the boy is tired, and then the teacher should try to put\nthe subject in a new way. The boy does not generally cease to pay\nattention wilfully and deliberately, and the teacher must be patient\nwith the restlessness so natural to youth. Let him at least always be\nsure that the want of attention is not the result of his own fault, of\nhis own way of teaching.\n\nIf the attention of the teachers and the boys is trained in this way,\nthe whole school life will become fuller and brighter, and there will be\nno room for the many harmful thoughts which crowd into the uncontrolled\nmind. Even when rest is wanted by the mind, it need not be quite empty;\nin the words of the Master: \"Keep good thoughts always in the background\nof it, ready to come forward the moment it is free.\"\n\nThe Master goes on to explain how the mind may be used to help others,\nwhen it has been brought under control. \"Think each day of some one whom\nyou know to be in sorrow, or suffering, or in need of help, and pour out\nloving thoughts upon him.\" Teachers hardly understand the immense force\nthey may use along this line. They can influence their boys by their\nthoughts even more than by their words and actions, and by sending out a\nstream of kind and loving thoughts over the class, the minds of all the\nboys will be made quieter and happier. Even without speaking a word\nthey will improve the whole atmosphere.\n\nThis good influence of thought should spread out from the school over\nthe neighbourhood. As those who live among young people keep young\nthemselves, and keep the ideals and pure aspirations of youth longer\nthan those who live mainly among older people, so the presence of a\nschool should be a source of joy and inspiration to the surrounding\nneighbourhood or district. Happy and harmonious thought-forms should\nradiate from it, lighting up the duller atmosphere outside, pouring\nstreams of hope and strength into all within its sphere of influence.\nThe poor should be happier, the sick more comfortable, the aged more\nrespected, because of the school in their midst.\n\nIf the teacher often speaks on these subjects to his boys, and from time\nto time places some clear thought before them, which they all think\nabout together, much good may be done. For thought is a very real and\npowerful force, especially when many join together with some common\nthought in their minds. If any great disaster has happened, causing\nmisery to numbers of people, the teacher might take advantage of the\nreligious service to draw attention to the need, and ask the boys to\njoin with him in sending thoughts of love and courage to the sufferers.\n\nThe last point mentioned by the Master is pride: \"Hold back your mind\nfrom pride,\" He says, \"for pride comes only from ignorance.\" We must not\nconfuse pride with the happiness felt when a piece of work is well done;\npride grows out of the feeling of separateness: \"_I_ have done better\nthan others.\" Happiness in good work should grow out of the feeling of\nunity: \"I am glad to have done this to help us all.\" Pride separates a\nperson from others, and makes him think himself superior to those around\nhim; but the pleasure in some piece of work well done is helpful and\nstimulating, and encourages the doer to take up some more difficult\nwork. When we share with others any knowledge we have gained, we lose\nall feeling of pride, and the wish to help more, instead of the wish to\nexcel others, becomes the motive for study.\n\n2. _Self-control in action_. The Master points out that while \"there\nmust be no laziness, but constant activity in good work ... it must be\nyour _own_ duty that you do--not another man's, unless with his\npermission and by way of helping him.\" The teacher has, however, a\nspecial duty in this connection; for while he must offer to his boys\nevery opportunity for development along their own lines, and must be\ncareful not to check their growth or to force it in an unsuitable\ndirection, he is bound to guide them very carefully, to watch them very\nclosely, and, as Master has said, to tell them gently of their faults.\nThe teacher is in charge of his boys while they are in school, and must,\nwhile they are there, take the place of their parents.\n\nHis special lesson of self-control is to learn to adapt his own methods\nto the stage through which his boys are passing. While contenting\nhimself with watching and encouraging them when their activity is\nrunning along right lines, he must be ready to step in--with as little\ndisturbance as possible--to modify the activity if it becomes excessive,\nto stimulate it if it becomes dull, and to turn it into new channels if\nit has taken a wrong course. In any necessary interposition he should\ntry to make the boys feel that he is helping them to find the way they\nhave missed but really wished to go, rather than forcing them to go his\nway. Many boys have failed to develop the necessary strength of\ncharacter, because the teacher, by constant interference, has imposed on\nthem his own knowledge as to right action, instead of trying to awaken\ntheir judgment and intuition. The boys become accustomed to depend\nentirely on him, instead of learning gradually to walk alone.\n\nThe teacher must be very careful not to allow outside interests to take\nhim away from his duties in the school. Many teachers do not seem to\nrealise that the school should occupy as much time as they can possibly\ngive to it outside their home duties. They sometimes do the bare amount\nof work necessary, and then rush away to some other occupation which\nthey find more interesting. No teacher can be really successful in his\nprofession unless it is the thing he cares for most, unless he is eager\nto devote all the time he can to his boys, and feels that he is\nhappiest when he is working with them or for them.\n\nWe are always told that enthusiasm and devotion to their work mark the\nsuccessful business man, the successful official, the successful\nstatesman; they are equally necessary for the successful teacher. Anyone\nwho desires to rise high in the profession of teaching must bring to his\nwork, not only ability, but similar enthusiasm and devotion. Surely even\nmore enthusiasm and devotion should be brought to the moulding of many\nhundreds of young lives than to the gaining of money or power. Every\nmoment that the teacher is with his boys he can help them, for, as has\nalways been taught in India, being near a good man helps one's\nevolution. Away from the school he should be thinking of them and\nplanning for them, and this he cannot do if his whole mind, out of\nschool, is taken up with other interests. On this, again, I may quote\nMr. Arundale: \"When I get up in the morning my first thought is what has\nto be done during the day generally and as regards my own work in\nparticular. A rapid mental survey of the School and College enables me\nto see whether any student seems to stand out as needing particular\nhelp. I make a note of any such student in my note book, so that I may\ncall him during the day. Then before College hours, before I take up any\nextraneous work, I look through my own lectures to see that I am ready\nfor them. By this time students are continually dropping in with\nquestions, with their hopes and aspirations, with difficulties and with\ntroubles, some with slight ailments they want cured. I have a special\nlittle place in which to see those young men, so that the atmosphere\nmay be pure and harmonious, and upon each one I endeavour to concentrate\nmy whole attention, shutting everything else completely off, and I am\nnot satisfied unless each boy leaves me with a smile upon his face.\"\n\nUnless a teacher works in this spirit, he does not understand how sacred\nand solemn a trust is placed in his hands. No teacher is worthy of the\nname who does not realise that he serves God most truly and his country\nmost faithfully when he lives and works with his boys. His\nself-sacrificing life, lived amongst them, inspires them to perform\ntheir duties well, as they see him performing his, and thus they grow in\nreverence and patriotism. These boys are God's children entrusted to his\ncare; they are the hope of the nation placed in his hands. How shall he\nanswer to God and the nation, when the trust passes out of his hands, if\nhe has not consecrated his whole time and thought to discharge it\nfaithfully, but has allowed the boys to go out into the world with out\nlove to God, and without the wish and power to serve their country?\n\nBoys, as well as teachers, must learn self-control in action. They must\nnot so engage in other activities as to neglect their ordinary school\nduties. My Master says to those who wish to serve Him: \"You must do\nordinary work better than others, not worse.\" A boy's first duty in\nschool is to learn well, and nothing should lead him to neglect his\nregular school work. Outside this--as it is best that his activities\nshould be kept within the school--the wise teacher will provide within\nthe school organisation all the activities in which his boys can\nusefully take part. If there should be any national organisation to\nwhich he thinks it useful that they should belong, he will himself\norganise a branch of it within the school and he himself and the other\nteachers will take part in it. For example the Boy-Scout movement and\nthe Sons of India are both national organisations, but branches of them\nshould be formed in the separate schools. Teachers should train their\nboys to realise that just as the home is the centre of activity for the\nchild, so is the school the centre of activity for the youth. As the\nchild draws his life and energy from the home, so the youth should draw\nhis from the school. The most useful work should be done in connection\nwith the school so that it may form part of the general education of the\nboy, and be in harmony with the rest of his growth. There should be in\nthe school debating societies, in which the rules of debate are\ncarefully observed, so that the boys may learn self-control in argument;\ndramatic clubs in which they may learn control of expression; athletic\nclubs in which control of mind and action are both acquired; literary\nsocieties for boys specially interested in certain studies; societies\nfor helping the poorer students.\n\nIt is also very important to give the boys an opportunity of\nunderstanding the conditions under which their country is growing, so\nthat in the school they may practice patriotism apart from politics. It\nis very unfortunate that in India students are often taught by\nunscrupulous agitators that love of their country should be shown by\nhatred of other countries; the boys would never believe this, if their\nown school provided patriotic services for its boys, so as to give a\nproper outlet for the enthusiasm they rightly feel. They only seek an\noutlet away from the school because none is provided for them within it.\n\nGroups of students should be formed for various kinds of social service\naccording to the capacities of the boys, and the needs of their\nsurroundings: for the protection of animals, for rendering first aid to\nthe injured, for the education of the depressed classes, for service in\nconnection with national and religious festivals, and so on. Boys, for\nwhom such forms of service are provided in their schools, will not want\nto carry them on separately.\n\nBoys have a special opportunity of practising self-control in action\nwhen they play games. The boys come from the more formal discipline of\nthe class-room into conditions in which there is a sudden cessation of\nexternal authority; unless they have learned to replace this with\nself-control, we shall see in the play-ground brutality in the stronger\nfollowed by fear in the weaker. The playing fields have a special value\nin arousing the power of self-discipline, and if teachers are there who\nset the example of submitting to the authority of the captain, of\nshowing gentleness and honour, and playing for the side rather than for\nthemselves, they will much help the boys in gaining self-control.\n\nThe boys also will see the teacher in a new light; he is no longer\nimposing his authority upon them as a teacher, but he is ruling himself\nfrom within and subordinating his own action to the rules of the game,\nand to the interests of those who are playing with him. The boy who\nenters the field with no other idea than that of enjoying himself as\nmuch as he can, even at the expense of his fellow-students, will learn\nfrom his teacher's example that he is happiest when playing for others,\nnot for himself alone, and that he plays best when the object of the\ngame is the honour of the school and not his own advantage. He also\nlearns that the best player is the boy who practises his strokes\ncarefully, and uses science to direct strength. Desiring to be a good\nplayer himself, he begins to train his body to do as he wishes, thus\ngaining self-control in action; through this self-control he learns the\ngreat lesson, that self-control increases happiness and leads to\nsuccess.\n\nAnother thing learned in the play-ground is control of temper, for a boy\nwho loses his temper always plays badly. He learns not to be hasty and\nimpatient, and to control his speech even when he is losing, and not to\nshow vanity when he wins. Thus he is making a character, strong and\nwell-balanced, which will be very useful to him when he comes to be a\nman. All this is really learned better in the play-ground than in the\nclass-room.\n\n3. _Tolerance_. Most of my Master's directions under this head are\nintended mainly for disciples, but still their spirit may be applied to\nthose who are living the ordinary life. Tolerance is a virtue which is\nvery necessary in schools, especially when the scholars are of different\nfaiths. \"You must feel,\" says my Master, \"perfect tolerance for all, and\na hearty interest in the beliefs of those of another religion, just as\nmuch as in your own. For their religion is a path to the highest just\nas yours is. And to help all you must understand all.\" It is the duty of\nthe teacher to be the first in setting an example along these lines.\n\nMany teachers, however, make the mistake of thinking that the views and\nrules to which they are themselves accustomed are universal principles\nwhich everybody ought to accept. They are therefore anxious to destroy\nthe students' own convictions and customs, in order to replace them by\nothers which they think better. This is especially the case in countries\nlike India, where the boys are of many religions. Unless the teacher\nstudies sympathetically the religions of his pupils, and understands\nthat the faith of another is as dear to him as his own is to himself, he\nis likely to make his boys unbelievers in all religion. He should take\nspecial care to speak with reverence of the religions to which his boys\nbelong, strengthening each in the great principles of his own creed, and\nshowing the unity of all religions by apt illustrations taken from the\nvarious sacred books. Much can be done in this direction during the\nreligious service which precedes the ordinary work of the day, if this\nbe carried out on lines common to all; while each boy should be taught\nthe doctrines of his own religion, it would be well if he were reminded\nonce in the day of the unity of all religions, for, as the Master said,\nevery \"religion is a path to the highest.\"\n\nAn example would thus be set in the school of members of different\nreligions living happily side by side, and showing respect to each\nother's opinions. I feel that this is one of the special functions of\nthe school in the life of the nation. At home the boy is always with\nthose who hold the same opinions as himself, and he has no opportunity\nof coming into touch with other beliefs and other customs. At school he\nshould have the opportunity of meeting other ways of believing, and the\nteacher should lead him to understand these, and to see the unity\nunderneath them. The teacher must never make a boy discontented with his\nown faith by speaking contemptuously of it, or by distorting it through\nhis own ignorance. Such conduct on his part leads a boy to despise all\nreligion.\n\nThen again there are many different customs which belong to the\ndifferent parts of the country. People often exaggerate these and look\non them as essential parts of religion instead of only as marks of the\npart of the country in which they were born. Hence they look with\ncontempt or disapproval on those whose customs differ from their own,\nand they keep themselves proudly separate. I do not know how far this is\na difficulty in western countries, but in India I think that customs\nseparate us much more than physical distance or religious differences.\nEach part of the country has its own peculiarities as to dress, as to\nthe manner of taking food, as to the way of wearing the hair, school\nboys are apt at first to look down upon those of their schoolfellows\nwhose appearance or habits differ from their own. Teachers should help\nboys to get over these trivial differences and to think instead of the\none Motherland to which they all belong.\n\nWe have already said that patriotism should be taught without race\nhatred, and we may add that understanding and loving other nations is\npart of the great virtue of tolerance. Boys are obliged to learn the\nhistory of their own and of other nations; and history, as it is taught,\nis full of wars and conquests. The teacher should point out how much\nterrible suffering has been caused by these, and that though, in spite\nof them, evolution has made its way and has even utilised them, far more\ncan be gained by peace and good will than by hatred. If care is taken to\ntrain children to look on different ways of living with interest and\nsympathy instead of with distrust and dislike, they will grow up into\nmen who will show to all nations respect and tolerance.\n\n4. _Cheerfulness_. No teacher who really loves his students can be\nanything but cheerful during school hours. No brave man will allow\nhimself to be depressed, but depression is particularly harmful in a\nteacher, for he is daily in contact with many boys, and he spreads among\nthem the condition of his own mind. If the teacher is depressed the boys\ncannot long be cheerful and happy; and unless they are cheerful and\nhappy they cannot learn well. If teachers and boys associate\ncheerfulness with their school life, they will not only find the work\neasier than it would otherwise be, but they will turn to the school as\nto a place in which they can for the time live free from all cares and\ntroubles.\n\nThe teacher should train himself to turn away from all worrying and\ndepressing thoughts the moment he enters the school gate, for his\ncontribution to the school atmosphere, in which the boys must live and\ngrow, must be cheerfulness and energy. The best way to get rid of\ndepression is to occupy the mind with something bright and interesting,\nand this should not be difficult when he is going to his boys. Thoughts\ndie when no attention is paid to them so it is better to turn away from\ndepressing thoughts than to fight them. Cheerfulness literally increases\nlife, while depression diminishes it, and by getting rid of depression\nthe teacher increases his energy. It is often indeed very difficult for\nthe teacher, who has the cares of family life upon him, to keep free\nfrom anxiety, but still he must try not to bring it into the school.\n\nMr. Arundale tells me that he has made a habit of becoming cheerful the\nmoment he enters the College gates, however worried he may have been\nbeforehand, because, he writes: \"I want my contribution to the school\nday to be happiness and interest, and by a daily process of making\nmyself pretend to be cheerful when the College gates are entered, I have\nfinally succeeded in becoming so. If, as I pass through the grounds to\nmy office, I see any student looking dull and gloomy, I make a point of\ngoing up to him in order to exert my cheerfulness against his gloom, and\nthe gloom soon passes away. Then comes the religious service, and when I\ntake my seat upon the platform with the religious instructor, I try to\nask the Master's blessing on all the dear young faces I see before me,\nand I look slowly around upon each member of the audience, trying to\nsend out a continual stream of affection and sympathy.\"\n\nI have already said that boys watch their teachers' faces to see if they\nare in a good or a bad mood. If the teacher is always cheerful and\nloving, the boys will no longer watch him, for they will have learned to\ntrust him, and all anxiety and strain will disappear. If the teacher\ndisplays constant cheerfulness, he sends out among his boys streams of\nenergy and good will, new life pours into them, their attention is\nstimulated, and the sympathy of the teacher conquers the carelessness of\nthe boy.\n\nJust as a boy learns control of action on the play-ground, so he may\nlearn there this virtue of cheerfulness. To be cheerful in defeat makes\nthe character strong, and the boy who can be cheerful and good-tempered\nin the face of the team which has just defeated him is well on the way\nto true manliness.\n\n5. _One-pointedness_. One-pointedness, the concentration of attention\non each piece of work as it is being done, so that it may be done as\nwell as possible, largely depends upon interest. Unless the teacher is\ninterested in his work, and loves it beyond all other work, he will not\nbe able to be really one-pointed. He must be so absorbed in his school\nduties that his mind is continually occupied in planning for his boys,\nand looks upon everything in the light of its possible application to\nhis own particular work.\n\nOne-pointedness means enthusiasm, but enthusiasm is impossible without\nideals. So the teacher who desires to be one-pointed must be full of\nideals to which he is eager to lead his school. These ideals will\nsharpen his attention, and make him able to concentrate it even upon\nquite trivial details. He will have the ideal school in his mind, and\nwill always be trying to bring the real school nearer to it. To be\none-pointed, therefore, the teacher must not be contented with things as\nthey are, but must be continually on the alert to take advantage of\nevery opportunity of improvement.\n\nThe teacher's ideal will of course be modified as he learns more of his\nstudents' capacities and of the needs of the nation. In this way, as the\nyears pass, the teacher may find himself far from the early ideals that\nat first gave him one-pointedness. Ideals will still guide him, but they\nwill be more practical, and so his one-pointedness will be much keener\nand will produce larger results.\n\nThe Master quotes two sayings which seem to me to show very clearly the\nlines along which one-pointedness should work: \"Whatsoever thy hand\nfindeth to do, do it with thy might\"; and: \"Whatsoever ye do, do it\n_heartily_, as to the Lord and not unto men.\" It must be done \"as to the\nLord.\" The Master says: \"Every piece of work must be done\nreligiously--done with the feeling that it is a sacred offering to be\nlaid on the altar of the Lord. 'This do I, O Lord, in Thy name and for\nThee.' Thinking this, can I offer to Him anything but my very best? Can\nI let _any_ piece of my work be done carelessly or inattentively, when I\nknow that it is being done expressly for Him? Think how you would do\nyour work if you knew that the Lord Himself were coming directly to see\nit; and then realise that He _does_ see it, for all is taking place\nwithin His consciousness. So will you do your duty 'as unto the Lord and\nnot as unto men'.\"\n\nThe work must be done, too, according to the teacher's knowledge of the\nprinciples of evolution, and not merely out of regard to small and\nfleeting interests. The teacher must therefore gradually learn his own\nplace in evolution, so that he may become one-pointed as to himself;\nunless he practises one-pointedness with regard to his own ideal for\nhimself, he will not be able to bring it to bear on his surroundings.\nHe must try to be in miniature the ideal towards which he hopes to lead\nhis boys, and the application of the ideal to himself will enable him to\nsee in it details which otherwise would escape his notice, or which he\nmight neglect as unimportant.\n\nThe practical application, then, of one-pointedness lies in the\nendeavour to keep before the mind some dominant central ideal towards\nwhich the whole of the teachers' and boys' daily routine shall be\ndirected, so that the small life may be vitalised by the larger, and\nall may become conscious parts of one great whole. The ideal of service,\nfor instance, may be made so vivid that the whole of daily life shall be\nlived in the effort to serve.\n\n6. _Confidence_. First among the qualifications for the teacher has been\nplaced Love, and it is fitting that this little book should end with\nanother qualification of almost equal importance--Confidence. Unless the\nteacher has confidence in his power to attain his goal, he will not be\nable to inspire a similar confidence in his boys, and self-confidence is\nan indispensable attribute for success in all departments of human\nactivity. The Master has beautifully explained why we have the right to\nbe confident.\n\n\"You must trust yourself. You say you know yourself too well? If you\nfeel so, you do _not_ know yourself; you know only the weak outer husk,\nwhich has fallen often into the mire. But _you_--the real you--you are a\nspark of God's own fire, and God, Who is almighty, is in you, and\nbecause of that there is nothing that you cannot do if you will.\"\n\nThe teacher must feel that he has the power to teach his boys and to\ntrain them for their future work in the world. This power is born of his\nlove for them and his desire to help them, and is drawn from the one\nspiritual life of which all partake. It is because the teacher and his\nboys are one in essence, make one little flame in \"God's own fire,\" that\nthe teacher has the right to be confident that every effort to help,\ngrowing out of his own share in the one life, will reach and stimulate\nthat same life in the boys.\n\nHe will not always be able to see at once the effect he is producing.\nIndeed, the most important influence the teacher has shows itself in\nthe growing characters of the boys. No success in examinations, in\nreports, in inspections can satisfy the real teacher as to the effect of\nhis work. But when he feels that his own higher nature is strengthened\nand purified by his eagerness to serve his boys, when he has the joy of\nwatching the divine life in them shining out in answer to that in\nhimself, then his happiness is indeed great. Then he has the peace of\nknowing that he has awakened in his boys the knowledge of their own\ndivinity, which, sooner or later, will bring them to perfection.\n\nThe teacher is justified in feeling confident because the divine life\nis in him and his boys, and they turn to him for inspiration and\nstrength. Let him but send out to them all that is highest in himself,\nand he may be quite sure that there will not be one boy who will not to\nsome extent respond in his own higher Self, however little the response\nmay be seen by the teacher.\n\nThis constant interplay of the one life between teacher and students\nwill draw them ever nearer to each other. They learn in the school to\nlive together as elder and younger brothers of the one school family.\nBy living a life of brotherhood within the small area of the school,\nthey will be trained to live that life in the larger area of the nation.\nThen they will gradually learn that there is but one great brotherhood\nin all the world, one divine life in all. This life each separate member\nof the brotherhood is trying to express, consciously or unconsciously.\nThe teacher is indeed happy who knows his own divinity; that knowledge\nof the divinity in man is the highest lesson it will ever be his\nprivilege to teach.","title":"Education as Service","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":13908}