_organized_, or arranged, to adapt
it to the child in his learning? How shall I plan my material?

4. What shall be my plan or _method of presentation_ of this
material to make it achieve its purpose? What of my technique of
instruction?

THE AIM IN TEACHING RELIGION

First of all, the teacher of religion must _have_ an aim; he must know
what ends he seeks to accomplish. Some statistically minded person has
computed that, with all the marvelous accuracy of aiming modern guns,
more than one thousand shots are fired for every man hit in battle. One
cannot but wonder how many shots would be required to hit a man if the
guns were not aimed at anything!

Is the analogy too strong? Is the teacher more likely than the gunner to
reach his objective without consciously aiming at it? And can the
teacher set up for attainment as definite aims as are offered the
gunner? Do we _know_ just what ends we seek in the religious training of
our children?

Life itself sets the aim.--This much at least is certain. We know
_where to look for_ the aims that must guide us. We shall not try to
formulate an aim for our teaching out of our own thought or reasoning
upon the subject. We shall rather look out upon life, the life the
child is now living and the later life he is to live, and ask: "_What
are the demands that life makes on the individual?_ What is the
equipment this child will need as he meets the problems and tests
of experience in the daily round of living? What qualities and
powers will he require that he may the most fully realize his own
potentialities and at the same time most fruitfully serve his
generation? What abilities must he have trained in order that he may
the most completely express God's plan for his life?" When we can answer
such questions as these we shall have defined the aim of religious
education and of our teaching.

The knowledge aim.--First of all, life demands _knowledge_. There are
things that we must know if we are to avoid dangers and pitfalls.
Knowledge shows the way, while ignorance shrouds the path in darkness.
To be without knowledge is to be as a ship without a rudder, left to
drift on the rocks and shoals. The religious life is intelligent; it
must grasp, understand, and know how to use many great truths. To supply
our children with _religious knowledge_ is, therefore, one of the chief
aims of our teaching.

Yet not all knowledge is of equal worth. Even religious knowled