" JARGON " IN THE ADULT SCHOOL.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THB 'SPECTATOR."'
SIR,—One of the professed aims of the Adult School is "to study the Bible frankly, freely, reverently, and without prejudice." I enclose a copy of the official Lesson Handbook for Sunday, April 16th, just to show you how this is attempted to be done. This Handbook is issued with the imprimatur of the Council of the National Adult School Union, Central Buildings, Westminster. The subject for April 16th is " Com- radeship in Service," and the portion of Scripture chosen to illustrate it is Nehemiah iv. No possible objection could be taken to the selection if the natural connexion between subject and text were indicated. But what can be said for a treatment of this chapter which ignores the circumstance that Nehemiah's " comradeship " was for the purpose of defence against a danger to the very existence of the community, and in which its essentially military character is passed over with a remark like this : "Note that in Nehemiah's day the military spirit quite undoubtedly helped in comradeship, and has done so in recent times, but we must extend the sante spirit to other national and civic needs" (p. 82) ? (The italicized words are printed in weighted type.) The obtrusively obvious lesson from this chapter, for any one who reads it "frankly and without prejudice," is the necessity for universal military service in time of crisis : "Therefore set I . . . behind the wall . . . the people. . . with their swords, their spears and their bows" (verse 13). "And I . . . said. . . fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses" (verse 14). It is hardly possible to imagine that the evasion in the Handbook of the martial implications in this chapter can have been other than deliberate. The "diluted" flavour that pervades this sample lesson runs through all the Adult School literature, including the weekly organ, One and All. Its sincerity can be judged from this specimen. The Quakers, as is well known, originated the Adult Schools, and they manage to keep a hold on the wires. The Society of Friends has been recruiting its numbers from this source, to make up for losses by defection and by death ; and it is therefore not to be wondered at that it should try to inspire the official literature. It is rather the fashion just now to refer to the Adult School as an educative influence, but here you have some evidence how very one-sided the education is. The Bible itself must be wrested from its obvious meaning to suit the tainted atmosphere of the schools. In many of the schools, however, the Handbook is disregarded, and in some made the subject of adverse criticism. That the Council has not all its own way is evidenced by the proportionately largo number of Adult Scholars who have enlisted in various capacities since the opening of the war But an insidious movement is now on foot to demilitarize our pool wounded soldiers as they return from the field.—I am, Sir, &c.,
ArnsErns.
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