Remember Mark Twain’s gem about Tom Sawyer and the Sunday School superintendent? Tom traded fishhooks and licorice for a fistful of blue, yellow, and red tickets, which together alleged Tom’s mastery of two thousand Bible verses. The superintendent, startled but on the spot in front of visiting celebrity, awarded Tom a new Bible and no small glory in recognition of his “achievement.” Unfortunately, Tom proceeded to demonstrate the quality of his work by naming the first two disciples as “David and Goliath!”
Twain loved to lampoon pompous windbags, and God knows that Sunday Schools have harbored more than a few. I’d like to take a moment, however, to praise the good ones, and I have specific reasons that have nothing to do with theology.
Research shows that a good Sunday School teacher is an exceptionally valuable commodity. He or she can do at least two very constructive things for children. It turns out that one hour or more of religious study per week correlates positively with academic and emotional success in children. Right there, a good Sunday School teacher is worth a lot, regardless of your denominational leanings. If you count yourself among their ranks, I hope your chest is beginning to swell with a permissible degree of pride.
Research also shows that a good Sunday School teacher does at least one other good thing for kids, though this one isn’t limited to teachers: they can use their time to care. When children can name at least three adults other than their parents who genuinely care for them, they tend to succeed much more readily in school and in life than kids who lack such adults in their lives. Those adults can be neighbors, aunts, uncles, Scout leaders, or any adult who has the child’s best interests at heart.
How do I know this? The Search Institute in Minneapolis has spent years pulling together a great deal of research that shows how children succeed. They’ve come up with forty developmental ‘assets’ that all children need in order to thrive. Half are things that the community must provide, meaning the family, the school, the church, or the neighborhood. The other half are values and habits that children must develop for themselves, such as achievement motivation, integrity, cultural competence, and a sense of purpose. You can download a summary of the Forty Assets at your United Way of Central Louisiana website, www.uwcl.org.
As with most research, some of the findings are entirely predictable. What’s the number one most important asset a child can have? It’s a loving family, of course. That correlates more with child success than any other single asset.
The great tragedy of our children’s lives, however, is the research revealing that most children in the U.S. get fewer than half the assets they need to succeed. Children who fail in life affect all of us. A child who fails to grow up successfully becomes the surly store clerk, the incompetent mechanic, or the destructive supervisor. You and I need every child in central Louisiana to succeed, whether or not we have children of our own.
Children need dependable grownups who are there for them consistently. It matters how much time we spend with them. It matters whether children see us smiling or shouting, reading or scolding. It doesn’t matter nearly so much what you know or whether you have all the answers to childhood questions.
A caring Sunday School teacher matters. Regular schoolteachers, shopkeepers and neighbors ~ how we relate to each other’s children matters.
Whatever your profession, however you spend your time off, do yourself and the rest of us a favor. Find a child and spend a few years convincing that child that you care. Be honest. Be kind. But be there.
Just watch out for the yellow tickets.
Britt's Blog 