# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1922_S18
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

18 Proceedings of the twenty-eighth convention

of Christ we are also in our school struggle. Only as long as we keep that in view will our struggle be an upright one; but as soon as other elements intrude, it is spoiled and lost.

That the education of our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is given with our calling as witnesses is obvious. Let us for the present limit our consideration to one point. When as witnesses of Jesus Christ we carry on the work of education, we shall never be influenced by the thought: How much must I do to fulfil my duty as a witness? For that question mostly has only the sense: With how little work and sacrifice can I manage to scrape through? This question shows that he who asks it feels the work as something imposed from outside. A witness of Christ works at the education of his children because his whole nature drives and compels him to it. He cannot leave it alone; he would otherwise have to act against his nature, do violence to his nature, kill it. A witness of Jesus Christ asks in the work of education only: What must I do? What do the circumstances require?

Here I should like to point to one thing which in the present time the circumstances imperatively demand.

The conditions under which we give our testimony for Jesus to our children in education have shifted enormously since the founding of the Synodical Conference. Formerly it was the case that for most of our children schooling ended with confirmation. After confirmation they entered upon some paying work. Indeed, many parents were eager to have their children confirmed as early as possible so that through their work they might share in earning the family's bread. Under the conditions of that time there was no occasion for a congregation to set up more than an elementary parish school for its children. The maintenance of such a school already made high demands on the congregation's strength. When in those days a boy received more than an elementary-school education, it happened because he wanted to become a pastor or teacher, and he naturally attended the higher institutions of the synod. And in many cases this was regarded by the people as a great sacrifice.

Today matters stand differently. That children must turn to earning their bread immediately after confirmation belongs surely to the exceptional cases. In many states the law prescribes attendance at a school until the completion of a certain year of age or until the completion of a certain course of study. With the general rise in the prosperity of our congregation members and with the stricter school legislation, it comes about of itself that many, perhaps most, of our confirmed children, after completing the eight grades of an elementary school, attend a high school for some years more, even if they are not preparing for one of the so-called learned professions.