Sequence and Value of Subjects

1. The Bible First.—“While the Bible should hold the first place in the education of children and youth, the book of nature is next in importance.”—Special Testimonies on Education, 58.PH124 42.1

2. Nature Next.—“Next to the Bible, nature is to be our great lesson book.”—MS.PH124 42.2

3. Thorough Foundation Work.—“So long as the great purpose of education is kept in view, the youth should be encouraged to advance just as far as their capabilities will permit. But before taking up the higher branches of study, let them master the lower. This is too often neglected. Even among students in the higher schools and the colleges, there is great deficiency in knowledge of the common branches of education. Many students devote their time to higher mathematics, when they are incapable of keeping simple accounts. Many study elocution with a view to acquiring the graces of oratory, when they are unable to read in an intelligible and impressive manner. Many who have finished the study of rhetoric fail in the composition and spelling of an ordinary letter.”—Education, 234.PH124 42.3

Before attempting to study the higher branches of literary knowledge, be sure that you thoroughly understand the simple rules of English grammar, and have learned to read and write and spell correctly. Climb the lower rounds of the ladder before reaching for the higher rounds.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 219.PH124 42.4

4. Test for Advancement.—“A thorough knowledge of the essentials of education should be not only the condition of admission to a higher course, but the constant test for continuance and advancement.”—Education, 234.PH124 42.5

5. Emphasize the Essential and Useful.—“Many of the branches of study that consume the student's time are not essential to usefulness or happiness; but it is essential for every youth to have a thorough acquaintance with everyday duties. If need be, a young woman can dispense with a knowledge of French and algebra, or even of the piano; but it is indispensable that she learn to make good bread, to fashion neatly-fitting garments, and to perform efficiently the many duties that pertain to home-making.”—Education, 216.PH124 42.6

“In every branch of education there are objects to be gained more important than those secured by mere technical knowledge. Take language, for example. More important than the acquirement of foreign languages, living or dead, is the ability to write and speak one's mother tongue with ease and accuracy; but no training gained through a knowledge of grammatical rules can compare in importance with the study of language from a higher point of view....The chief requisite of language is that it be pure and kind and true,—’the outward expression of an inward grace,’”—Education, 234, 235.PH124 43.1

“A thorough training in the use of the English language is of far more value to a youth than a superficial study of foreign languages, to the neglect of his mother tongue.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 208.PH124 43.2

“When voice culture, reading, writing, and spelling take their rightful place in our schools, there will be seen a great change for the better. These subjects have been neglected because teachers have not recognized their value. But they are more important than Latin and Greek. I do not say that it is wrong to study Latin and Greek, but I do say that it is wrong to neglect the subjects that lie at the foundation of education in order to tax the mind with the study of these higher branches....PH124 43.3

“The common branches must be thoroughly mastered, and a knowledge of bookkeeping should be considered as important as a knowledge of grammar....PH124 43.4

“To spell correctly, to write a clear, fair hand, and to keep accounts, are necessary accomplishments. Bookkeeping has strangely dropped out of school work in many places, but this should be regarded as a subject of primary importance. A thorough preparation in these studies will fit students to stand in positions of trust.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 218.PH124 44.1

“Do not spend time in learning that which will be of little use to you in your after-life. Instead of reaching out for a knowledge of the classics, learn first to speak the English language correctly. Learn how to keep accounts. Gain a knowledge of those lines of study that will help you to be useful wherever you are.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 219.PH124 44.2

6. Dead Languages Secondary.—“A knowledge of Greek and Latin is not needed by many. The study of dead languages should be made secondary to a study of those subjects that teach the right use of all the powers of body and mind. It is folly for students to devote their time to the acquirement of dead languages, or of book knowledge in any line, to the neglect of a training for life's practical duties.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 382.PH124 44.3

7. Knowledge of Labor Above Book Study.—“If the youth can have but a one-sided education, which is of the greater consequence, a knowledge of the sciences, with all the disadvantages to health and life; or a knowledge of labor for practical life? We unhesitatingly answer, The latter. If one must be neglected, let it be the study of books.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 289.PH124 44.4

8. True Object of Education Practical.—“Most students fail to understand the true object of education, and hence fail to take such a course as to secure this object. They apply themselves to the study of mathematics or the languages, while they neglect a study far more essential to the happiness and success of life. Many who explore the depths of the earth with the geologist, or traverse the heavens with the astronomer, show not the slightest interest in the wonderful mechanism of their own bodies. Others can tell just how many bones there are in the human frame, and correctly describe every organ of the body, and yet they are as ignorant of the laws of health and the cure of disease as though life were controlled by blind fate, instead of by definite and unvarying law.—The Signs of the Times, June 29, 1882, art. “Importance of Physical Training.”PH124 44.5

“There are families without number whose happiness is wrecked by the inefficiency of the wife and mother. It is not so important that our daughters learn painting, fancywork, music, or even ‘cube root,’ or the figures of rhetoric, as that they learn how to cut, make, and mend their own clothing, or to prepare food in a wholesome and palatable manner....PH124 45.1

“Washing clothes upon the old-fashioned rubbing board, sweeping, dusting, and a variety of other duties in the kitchen and the garden, will be valuable exercise for young ladies. Such useful labor will supply the place of croquet, archery, dancing, and other amusements which benefit no one.PH124 45.2

“Many ladies, accounted well educated, having graduated with honors at some institution of learning, are shamefully ignorant of the practical duties of life.... It is the right of every daughter of Eve to have a thorough knowledge of household duties, to receive training in every department of domestic labor. Every young lady should be so educated that if called to fill the position of wife and mother, she may preside as a queen in her own domain. She should be fully competent to guide and instruct her children and to direct her servants, or if need be, to minister with her own hands to the wants of her household. It is her right to understand the mechanism of the human body and the principles of hygiene, the matters of diet and dress, labor and recreation, and countless others that intimately concern the well- being of her household. It is her right to obtain such a knowledge of the best methods of treating disease that she can care for her children in sickness, instead of leaving her precious treasures in the hands of stranger nurses and physicians.”—The Signs of the Times, June 29, 1882, art. “Importance of Physical Training.”PH124 45.3