Education
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 28: Relation of Dress to Education
No education can be complete that does not teach right
principles in regard to dress. Without such teaching, the work of education is
too often retarded and perverted. Love of dress, and devotion to fashion, are
among the teacher's most formidable rivals and most effective hindrances. {Ed 246.1}
Fashion is a mistress that rules with an iron hand. In very
many homes the strength and time and attention of parents and children are
absorbed in meeting her demands. The rich are ambitious to outdo one another in
conforming to her ever-varying styles; the middle and poorer classes strive to
approach the standard set by those supposed to be above them. Where means or
strength is limited, and the ambition for gentility is great, the burden
becomes almost insupportable. {Ed 246.2}
With many it matters not how becoming, or even beautiful, a
garment may be, let the fashion change, and it must be remade or cast aside.
The members of the household are doomed to ceaseless toil. There is no time for
training the children, no time for prayer or Bible study, no time for helping
the little ones to become acquainted with God through His works. [247]
{Ed 246.3}
There is no time and no money for charity. And often the
home table is stinted. The food is ill selected and hastily prepared, and the
demands of nature are but partially supplied. The result is wrong habits of
diet, which create disease or lead to intemperance. {Ed 247.1}
The love of display produces extravagance, and in many young
people kills the aspiration for a nobler life. Instead of seeking an education,
they early engage in some occupation to earn money for indulging the passion
for dress. And through this passion many a young girl is beguiled to ruin. {Ed 247.2}
In many a home the family resources are overtaxed. The
father, unable to supply the demands of the mother and the children, is tempted
to dishonesty, and again dishonor and ruin are the result. {Ed 247.3}
Even the day and the services of worship are not exempt from
fashion's domination. Rather they afford opportunity for the greater display of
her power. The church is made a parade ground, and the fashions are studied
more than the sermon. The poor, unable to meet the demands of custom, stay away
from church altogether. The day of rest is spent in idleness, and by the youth
often in associations that are demoralizing. {Ed 247.4}
At school, the girls are by unsuitable and uncomfortable
clothing unfitted either for study or for recreation. Their minds are
preoccupied, and the teacher has a difficult task to awaken their interest. {Ed 247.5}
For breaking the spell of fashion, the teacher can often
find no means more effective than contact with nature. Let pupils taste the
delights to be found by river or lake or sea; let them climb the hills, gaze on
the sunset glory, explore the treasures of wood and field; let them learn the
pleasure of cultivating plants and flowers; and the importance [248]
of an additional ribbon or ruffle will sink into insignificance. {Ed 247.6}
Lead the youth to see that in dress, as in diet, plain
living is indispensable to high thinking. Lead them to see how much there is to
learn and to do; how precious are the days of youth as a preparation for the
lifework. Help them to see what treasures there are in the word of God, in the
book of nature, and in the records of noble lives. {Ed 248.1}
Let their minds be directed to the suffering which they
might relieve. Help them to see that by every dollar squandered in display, the
spender is deprived of means for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and
comforting the sorrowful. {Ed
248.2}
They cannot afford to miss life's glorious opportunities, to
dwarf their minds, to ruin their health, and to wreck their happiness, for the
sake of obedience to mandates that have no foundation in reason, in comfort, or
in comeliness. {Ed 248.3}
At the same time the young should be taught to recognize the
lesson of nature, "He hath made everything beautiful in its time."
Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V. In dress, as in all things else, it is our privilege to
honor our Creator. He desires our clothing to be not only neat and healthful,
but appropriate and becoming. {Ed 248.4}
A person's character is judged by his style of dress. A
refined taste, a cultivated mind, will be revealed in the choice of simple and
appropriate attire. Chaste simplicity in dress, when united with modesty of
demeanor, will go far toward surrounding a young woman with that atmosphere of
sacred reserve which will be to her a shield from a thousand perils. {Ed 248.5}
Let girls be taught that the art of dressing well includes [249]
the ability to make their own clothing. This is an ambition that every girl
should cherish. It will be a means of usefulness and independence that she
cannot afford to miss. {Ed
248.6}
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It is right to love beauty and to desire it; but God desires
us to love and to seek first the highest beauty—that which is
imperishable. The choicest productions of human skill possess no beauty that
can bear comparison with that beauty of character which in His sight is of
"great price." {Ed
249.1}
Let the youth and the little children be taught to choose
for themselves that royal robe woven in heaven's loom—the "fine
linen, clean and white" (Revelation 19:8), which all the holy ones of
earth will wear. This robe, Christ's own spotless character, is freely offered
to every human being. But all who receive it will receive and wear it here. {Ed 249.2}
Let the children be taught that as they open their minds to
pure, loving thoughts and do loving and helpful deeds, they are clothing
themselves with His beautiful garment of character. This apparel will make them
beautiful and beloved here, and will hereafter be their title of admission to
the palace of the King. His promise is: {Ed 249.3}
"They shall walk with Me in white: for they are
worthy." Revelation 3:4. {Ed 249.4}
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"The Sabbath"
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