All topics should be treated from the dominant viewpoint of the family as a religious institution for the development of the lives of religious persons.  The courses should be so arranged as to be given to young people of about twenty years of age, or of twenty to twenty-five.  They should be among the electives offered in the church school.

The second type of class would be for those who are already parents and who desire help on their special problems.  Many schools now conduct such classes, meeting either on Sunday or during the week.[51] Work on “Parents’ Problems,” “Family Religious Education,” and similar topics is also being given in the city institutes for religious workers.  No church can be satisfied with its service to the community unless it provides opportunity for parents to study their work of character development through the family and to secure greater efficiency therein.  Such classes need only three conditions:  a clear understanding of the purpose of meeting the actual problems of religious training in the family, a leader or instructor who is really qualified to lead and to instruct in this subject, and an invitation to parents to avail themselves of this opportunity.

The value of such a class would be greatly enhanced if it should be held in close co-ordination with similar classes or clubs conducted by the public schools.[52] Here all the parents of the community meet in the school building, not to discuss how the teachers may satisfy parental criticism, but to learn what the school has to teach on modern educational methods applied to the life of the child, especially in the family, and mutually to find ways of co-operation between the home and the school for the betterment of the child.

     I. References for Study

     Articles in Religious Education, April, 1911, VI, 1-77.

     Helen C. Putnam in Religious Education, June, 1911, VI, 159-66.

     George W. Dawson in Religious Education, June, 1911, VI, 167-74.

     Cabot, Volunteer Help in the Schools, chap. vii.  Houghton Mifflin
     Co., $0.60.

     II.  Further Reading

     Forsyth, Marriage, Its Ethics and Religion.  Hodder & Stoughton,
     $1.25.

     Lovejoy, Self-Training for Motherhood.  American Unitarian
     Association, $1.00.

     Pomeroy, Ethics of Marriage.  Funk & Wagnalls, $1.50.

     III.  Topics for Discussion

     1.  In how far are home problems due to the ignorance of parents?

     2.  What do you regard as the essentials in the training of parents?

     3.  Where can the necessary subjects best be taught?

     4.  What are the difficulties in the way of teaching these subjects
     to young people?

     5.  In how far can we direct the reading of young people toward sane
     and helpful knowledge of family life and duties?