# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1900_S11
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1900. 11

the words of the Law to impress upon their children without ceasing, and likewise to tell them again and again of the great deeds of God, Deut. 6:7, 20-25; and that this was in fact carried out in the people of Israel we see from Deut. 32:7 and Ps. 78:1 ff. The Proverbs and Ecclesiastes of Solomon are writings for the young, which seem to have been intended for use in home education. Also the fact that Paul reminds Timothy, 2 Tim. 3:15, that from childhood he has known the Holy Scriptures is a testimony to the home instruction customary at that time. 2 Tim. 1:5.

What was possible then, however, can no longer in general be carried out in the same way today under the entirely changed conditions. The demands that daily working life makes on parents alone make it impossible in most cases. In addition, in spite of the tremendous progress of general education, most parents lack the necessary skill to do full justice to their task toward their children. One might object: Whom God gives an office, to him he also gives the understanding. But one may not stretch such a saying, true in itself, beyond its limits. In many cases the understanding that God gives Christian parents in this matter will tell them that they cannot carry out the instruction of their children alone, but need help in it. Besides, discipline (paidagogia) is not a single beginning but something constant, unceasing, and must extend over many years.

Here the crying need of the family for help in education shows itself. The way out of a private tutor would suggest itself, one who would have the ability to bring up the children in the home in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. That would certainly accord with the purpose, but for many reasons is impracticable in most cases. So the need of the home drives toward this, that the education of the children become a common concern of the congregation.

On the crying need which the founding of schools requires, Luther speaks in the writing to the councilmen cited above as follows: "That it is not done by the parents has many causes. First, some are not so pious and honest that they would do it even if they could; but, like ostriches, they harden themselves against their young and let it go at that, having cast off their eggs and begotten children; more than that they do not do. Now these children are nevertheless to live among us and with us in a common city. How can reason, and especially Christian love, tolerate that they grow up undisciplined and are poison and filth to the other children, so that finally a whole city is ruined, as happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and Gaba [Gibeah] and several other cities. Second, the greatest part of the parents are, alas, unfit for it and