viding week-day religious instruction either by means of some form
of co-operation with the public schools like the Gary plan, or by
vacation Bible schools, or other voluntary supplements of the pres-
ent educational facilities. Some reformers would go farther still
and substitute for the present Sunday school a church school which
combines week-day with Sunday instruction as parts of a compre-
hensive plan, including all that is now being done in the church
which has educational significance. ¹ Plans are under way for a
unified system of religious education in the local community,
through the co-operation of the local churches with voluntary
bodies such as the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian
Associations. Special attention is given to the facilities for ad-
vanced religious instruction provided by our colleges and theo-
logical seminaries, as well as to the need of an adequate specialized
training for lay workers, both men and women. The perplexing
problems presented to the teacher of religion by the period of
adolescence are receiving intensive study.

This many-sided activity is the natural result of our new realiza-
tion of the power of education as a social force. The example of
Germany has shown us what can happen to a whole nation because
of what is taught in its schools. Americans are apt to believe that
education has some uplifting and purifying power apart from its
content, and that if we establish enough schools the results will
necessarily be good. We are learning our mistake. Knowledge is
simply another name for opportunity. It is so much added power,
good if rightly used, but in the hands of selfish and designing men
an added danger. Educate a rascal and you make him more of a
menace than when he was ignorant. We must not only teach; we
must teach what is true in order to inspire to what is right.

This insight conditions the newer ideals in education. We have
learned that we must not only impart information; we must also
train character. So the older catechetical method is being super-
seded by the newer experimental method. The modern teacher
respects the potentialities of his pupil. He is always looking for
the larger and more mature self which is presently to emerge. He
believes that this self may be trusted to form its own judgments

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