--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Harris, Marion L. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 11 published: 1921-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Marion L. Harris, "Why a Church School?," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 11 (September 1921): 1027.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera24011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera24011unse start_page: 1027 end_page: 1027 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera24011unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Why a Church School? Why a Church School? By Marion L. Harris, A. B., Instructor in Science Latter-day Saints University Professor R. A. Millikan, of the University of Chicago, who was head of the National Research Council, during the war, in an address delivered in connection with the presentation of a gram of radium to Madame Currie, in which he spoke of two propositions, said: "I am not going to say that belief in the possibilities of scientific progress is the most important. The most important thing in the world is a belief in the reality of moral and spiritual values." If the "most important thing in the world is a belief in the reality of moral and spiritual values," then proper education should include training to acquire that belief. Not only a be- lief in the reality of spiritual values, but more emphasis should be attached to it, since it is the most important. It is the purpose of schools to educate people, or prepare them for life. Preparation for life should mean equiping a person so that he can render the greatest possible service to hu- manity. No greater service can be given than giving the most important thing in the world. Now the question naturally arises as to where one can receive this kind of an education. The public schools have the duty of training the masses in the ordinary branches of education — that of training its stu- dents for some sort of gainful occupation. They can employ good teachers and have the best equipment, but there is not that which inspires the soul of man, in securing an education of this type. On the other hand we have the Church schools that give training for the vocations and the ordinary branches of educa- tion and also give the most essential things in life. It is the burden of the Church to redeem man, and redemption cannot be brought about in ignorance. In the Church schools spiritual values can be given proper emphasis. Our Church schools are moved by something more than the idea of material gains. Edu- cation of the highest type is primarily a means of establishing proper ideals, and formation of character. This is a fundamental idea behind the Church school education. If the Church is to fulfil its destiny in teaching the world the principles of the gospel, it must first teach and tram its members for that purpose. In order to show the world that we have something worth while, it is necessary for us through study to get a clear idea of what we really have to offer. Our