"Teachers are needed who are quick to discern and improve every opportunity for doing good; those who with enthusiasm combine true dignity, who are able to control, and “apt to teach,” who can inspire thought, arouse energy, and impart courage and life. Ed 279.1"
"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,"
The EGW passage directly quotes "apt to teach" from 2 Timothy 2:24, making it an explicit allusion.
The children and youth under the teacher's care differ widely in disposition, habits, and training. Some have no definite purpose or fixed principles. They need to be awakened to their responsibilities and possibilities. Few children have been rightly trained at home. Some have been household pets. Their whole training has been superficial. Allowed to follow inclination and to shun responsibility and burden bearing, they lack stability, perseverance, and self-denial. These often regard all discipline as an unnecessary restraint. Others have been censured and discouraged. Arbitrary restraint and harshness have developed in them obstinacy and defiance. If these deformed characters are reshaped, the work must, in most cases, be done by the teacher. In order to accomplish it successfully, he must have the sympathy and insight that will enable him to trace to their cause the faults and errors manifest in his pupils. He must have also the tact and skill, the patience and firmness, that will …
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
The EGW passage discusses the diverse needs and backgrounds of children and the importance of proper training, which aligns with the general theme of Proverbs 22:6 about training a child in the right way. While EGW goes into more detail about the types of challenges teachers face, the underlying principle of shaping a child's character is shared.