3.2.3 Influence for Good on The Moral Life

A third value of teaching lies in the fact that the position of teacher exercises a restraining influence for good on the moral life of the teacher.

He is sustained by a consciousness that his conduct is his only evidence to his pupils that his practice is consistent with his theory.

His class follows him in emulation or in criticism in all that he does. “Come, follow me,” lifts the real teacher over the pitfalls of temptation. He cannot do forbidden work on the Sabbath, he cannot indulge in the use of tobacco, he cannot stoop to folly—his class stands between him and all these things.

A teacher recently gave expression to the value of this restraining force when she said, “I urge my girls so vigorously not to go to the movies on Sunday that I find my conscience in rebellion if anyone asks me to go.”

Many a man in attempting to convert another to the righteousness of a particular issue has found himself to be his own best convert.

He comes to appreciate the fact that the trail he establishes is the path followed by those whom he influences. He hears the voice of the child as recorded in the little poem:

I Stepped in Your Steps All the Way

“A father and his tiny son
Crossed a rough street one stormy day,
‘See papa!’ cried the little one,
‘I stepped in your steps all the way!’

“Ah, random, childish hands, that deal
Quick thrusts no coat of proof could stay!
It touched him with the touch of steel—
‘I stepped in your steps all the way!’

“If this man shirks his manhood’s due
And heeds what lying voices say,
It is not one who falls, but two,
‘I stepped in your steps all the way!’

“But they who thrust off greed and fear,
Who love and watch, who toil and pray,
How their hearts carol when they say,
‘I stepped in your steps all the way!’”

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