A clear function becomes evident for this social group called the family.  It is that of dealing with young lives, in groups bound by ties of blood and similarity, for purposes of the development of personal character.  The family has an essentially educational function.  Bearing in mind that “educational” means the orderly development of the powers of the life, we can think of our families as existing for this purpose and to be tested by their ability to do this work, especially by their ability to develop persons, young lives, that have the power, the vision, the acquired habits and experience to live as more than animals.  The family is an educational institution dealing with child-life for its full growth and its self-realization, especially on character levels.  The educational function suggests the features of family life which we do well to seek to preserve.  Many incidental forms may pass, but the essential human relations and experiences that go to develop life and character must be maintained at any cost.

     I. References for Study

     C.F. and C.B.  Thwing, The Family, chap. vii.  Lothrop, Lee &
     Shepard, $1.60.

     W.F.  Lofthouse, Ethics and the Family, chaps. iv, v.  Hodder &
     Stoughton, $2.50.

     II.  Further Reading

     “The Improvement of Religious Education,” Proceedings of the
     Religious Education Association, I, 119-23. $0.50.

     Religious Education, April, 1911, VI, 1-48.

     S.P.  Breckinridge and E. Abbott, The Delinquent Child and the
     Home.  Russell Sage Foundation, $2.00.

     III.  Topics for Discussion

     1.  What is the chief end of all forms of social organization?

     2.  What is in the last analysis the aim of every parent?

     3.  What advantage has the family over the school and larger groups
     for educational purposes?

     4.  In what sense is the family an ideal democracy?

     5.  Show how the family sets spiritual values first.

     6.  What in your judgment are the first evidences of character
     development?  In what way do these come to the surface in the
     family?  What is the factor of love in the development of character?

7.  Is that an ideal family in which none of the members bear pain or are called upon for self-denial?  Can you see any especial advantage to character in the very difficulties and apparent disadvantages in the life of the family?

FOOTNOTES: 

[5] See “Democracy in the Home,” American Journal of Sociology, January, 1912.

[6] Francis G. Peabody, The Approach to the Social Question, p. 94.

CHAPTER IV

THE RELIGIOUS PLACE OF THE FAMILY