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THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REVEREND Harry M. NorTH 
 
 GRADUATE OF THE CLASS OF 1899 
 TRUSTEE 1919-1932 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 
GRADING 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 THE OUTCOME OF 
 ORGANIZATION 
 
 By J. W. AXTELL 
 AUTHOR OF 
 The Organized Sunday School 
 The Teaching Problem 
 The Superintendent’s Handbook 
 The Teacher’s Handbook 
 
 cates, 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 The Cumberland Press 
 1904 
 
qiz\3> 
 Hem vith Sch. R. 
 oe 263.44 
 AATVLAG 
 
 FOREWORD. 
 
 A crisis is on in religious education. Forces are 
 at work which point to material changes in its char- 
 acter within the limits of our time. That these for- 
 ces may not all be well directed is immaterial. What 
 really does signify is that there is an unrest, born of 
 the realization that religious education as we find it 
 largely fails to educate. This unrest is especially 
 marked in the Sunday school field, and finds its ex- 
 pression in a general even if not clearly defined reach- 
 ing after better things. 
 
 No sane investigator can doubt that there are bet- 
 ter things for the Sunday school. These are natu- 
 rally looked for, too, through the introduction of 
 graded work in that institution. Asa result numer- 
 ous courses of study are being issued, many of which 
 have much in them to commend. However, there 
 is a dearth of comprehensive, practical suggestion as 
 to the underlying principles of grading, and as to 
 how the work may best be done. There is a mistak- 
 en impression, too, that grading is feasible only un- 
 der unusual circumstances This book is designed 
 to help in the premises. THE AUTHOR 
 
 Nashville, Tenn., August, 1904. 
 
 200359 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 EPUMSIIURIIOTIUE bs oidle's niaid.i:e « «is o'uw kV aie Wiles ovale svi a ae 
 
 Two Similar Alarms—Why They Hesitate—A Very 
 Superficial View—Lack o viebindy sy ic Aim—Too Much a 
 the Incidental—Discharges for Cause—How it U: 
 to Sees at Hand—A Failure to Understand— 
 Grading to the Rescue—Grading Defined. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 earmGs 28. We Finn THEM: 02.600 csecdcnsccecccs 
 Grading Already Begun—One-sided Grading—A Dem- 
 onstration i Needed—A Lack to sy plied— 
 
 Where the School is Compromised—Two Venerable 
 Prejudices—A Victory over Prejudice—What Must 
 
 Follow. 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tue Feasrpiniry or HigHER WoRK..............+++ 
 
 No Place for Guess-work—Public School Advantages— 
 Giants and Their Disposal—‘‘Pros’’ and "Cons — — 
 The Keynote of Success—When a Thing is ‘*'D: 
 About Attractiveness—Graded Work a Stimulus— 
 The Best Kind of Study—Here is the Proof—An Earn- 
 est Wish—The Best of All Incentives. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 READ ATA TSMIOUTATES . cc cic cuss has vnasaunneievisienes 
 Bible Study—Books about the Bible—Some Perplexing 
 Problems—A Solution Expected—When to — 
 How to Begin—About the Future—The International 
 System—Severing Old Ties—A Mistaken Teacher— 
 A Panacea for Separation—Lesson Association with 
 lee Perecnal Friendship. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PeMM MME, LIME REATIO. wy ou a & cfc'ev o 0.0 cisivjev wielels esis ecic's 
 A General Consultation—Have a Clear pkg ia 
 a of Authority—Simplicity in Plans— 
 east Together—A Campaign of Education—In the 
 
 Not to Be Retrograded. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OLS AND, NSW, PRINCIPENS,. 2. cccecacseccéccrcvves 
 
 Measuring the Sunday School Life—Condition of Promo- 
 tion—Emphasizing the Elementary—Wholesome and 
 ental—The Necessity of Adaptation—Making 
 
 the Plan Your Own—Helpful Suggestion Only. 
 
 200959 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 25 
 
 31 
 
 36 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. — 
 
 TEACHERS AND GRADING..........-- eect e rece eereeee 
 
 Reorganizing Thoroughly, Provided—This Teacher for 
 this Class, if—Each in the Proper Place—The Sw 
 School not Exempted—The Teacher to Do One 
 Advantages of Sta: in One Place—The Call oe 
 perts—How the he Gains—Above All, ss 
 Grade the ee SE Preliminary Grading— 
 Increasing the Teaching Force. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CoNSIDERATIONS IN GRADING PUPIIS...........+-+-: 
 
 Children and ee pecific Lessons at Specific a 
 —The Stimulus of the Definite—A Point Against the 
 Sunday School—About the Dull Boy—Stimulating 
 Attendance—Not New, after All—A Natural Way 
 out of a Difficulty—A Possible Choice of Evils. 
 
 LOCATING PUPIES. << .5)00:c «0</on sop oan Sala ae 
 
 Better Larger Classes than Poor Teaches 
 Dae Beoll tho Ray A Teee Hearing eae 
 yy School the Key—. quiring ess ani 
 Tact—Care as to Social Lines. 
 
 A Variety of Irre; ts—Perfect G: = the bh! 
 Room—How About se ae —Ki 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ForMING AND STARTING.........000eceecceccceecees 
 
 The Real Standard—A Confusion of Standards—The Age 
 Standard a Drawback—The Four wtceg ese 
 viding the School into Grades—Listing the Several 
 
 Grades—A Workable Scheme—Admitting to the Bible 
 Classes—The Place of Beginning—Getting the Depart- 
 ments into Line—An Opportunity for Incentive. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Tue WoRK OF THE DIvISIONS........-eeeeccceeeres 
 General Prim Department Suggestions—Plans of 
 Work Suitable for the Primary—‘‘Child” Obsolete, 
 Enter ‘‘ Boy” and ‘‘Girl”—The Great Period of Learn- 
 ing—Junior Days Are Anchoring Days—The Broader 
 
 Intermediate ork—The Seniors—No Graduation 
 
 ‘*From.” 
 
 40 
 
 51 
 
 57 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. Page 
 
 From GrapE To GRADE..........-. paint deta ¢ Di hinoe a 
 The Need of Symmetry—Many Pupils of Many Kinds— 
 
 Regular and ie Courses—Minimum Ages in Pro- 
 motion—The Teacher’s Great Opportunity. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 MAWNER. OF PROMOTION.....00cccscccccsesecscceses 
 
 A Day in the Calendar—Promotion Day a Special Occa- 
 sion—Promotion Always for Cause—Using a Scale of 
 Points—The Evidences of Promotion—Kinds of Cer- 
 tificates and Diplomas—Guarding Against a Bad Prac- 
 tice—A Graded Course Register 
 
 pany ema Courses of Study—Do not Attempt too Much 
 daptation to Ages and Grades—No Place for Dog- 
 matism—Supplemental Work pea 6 ay Esta 
 
 lished Periodical Literature—Using igious Books. 
 
 The Best Place in the School—Holding School Gradu- 
 ee poeesesions About Membership—The Normal 
 Class Teacher—The Hour of Meet ‘Wanted, More 
 and Better Teachers—This Class in Teacher Training 
 —Elective Work—The Reserve Corps. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 EQUIPMENT FOR GRADING..........ccccescccseccces 
 
 We Must Have Good Tools—The Meaning of Equipment 
 —A Matter of Relative Importance—Good Equipment 
 Is Good Faith—Equipment Easily Ponible—Adapite 
 tion of Equipment—The Use of the Blackboard. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Ustnec THE TEACHERS’ MEETING...........-0000000% 
 
 Two Helpful Meetings—The Many-sided Resource—A 
 Meeting for All Teachers—Attend, or Step Out—How 
 this Mosting Vindicates Itself—Special Good Secured 
 —The Sunday School Method orkshop—A Con- 
 venient Tribunal—Combined rience and Judg- 
 ment—The Class of All Classes—The Place for Settling 
 
 Differences, 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 GrapInc MEMORANDA...... Sdaielevicipelelesewnw's ow oie a 
 Beware of *‘Exceptions’’—Correct Time Adjustments— 
 A Hint for the Superintendent—Using the Library— 
 
 The Purchase of Supplies—The Lecture Idea—The 
 General Bible Class. 
 
 71 
 
 75 
 
 79 
 
 84 
 
 88 
 
 93 
 
CHAPTER XX. , Page 
 
 We.L Worts WHILE..... © o\aelele aaloma o's‘elsaleteate Mtntehae atten 
 Is It Worth While?—Losing Ground—A Characteristic 
 Wi ess—Only One Chance Bad Rule, a Good 
 Exception--—Connecting Links. 
 
Grading the Sunday School. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 A number of ladies are serenely discussing some 
 subject of mutual interest They are having a most 
 enjoyable time, and are all unconscious of impending 
 danger. Without warning some one shouts, “A 
 mouse!” and there is an instant transfer of feet to 
 chairs and tables. Only a few in the company re- 
 tain their places and calmly look around for the ter- 
 rified invader. 
 
 The working corps of the average Sunday school 
 is equally prompt to run to cover when some one 
 says, “Let us grade!” The thing that is meant by 
 grading may be called by any of its synonyms, and 
 when so called it is contemplated with perfect equa- 
 nimity. The somewhat indefinite terms relating to 
 higher work do not disturb our somnolence; but it 
 is when forward movement is so unequivocal as to be 
 called ‘‘grading” that we beg, Macbeth-like, that it 
 “take any shape but that.” 
 
 It is therefore natural that those who discuss Sun- 
 day school interests should hesitate to approach this 
 phase of the development of our great work. This 
 hesitation is increased by the realization that grad- 
 ing is just now in process of evolution, that its prin- 
 ciples are only now being worked out, and that there 
 
 Two 
 Similar 
 Alarms. 
 
 Why 
 They 
 Hesitate. 
 
A Very 
 Superficial 
 View. 
 
 Lack of 
 Specific 
 Aim. 
 
 10 GRADING THE 
 
 is comparatively little of practical demonstration of 
 its results to which one can point. The writer has 
 long been a student of grading, but has felt that the 
 proportion of the untried to the tried concerning it 
 was so great as to cast doubt upon the propriety of 
 the preparation of a text-book on the subject. It is 
 only after receiving repeated requests, extending 
 through a term of years, that the work is under- 
 taken. 
 
 The general view of the Sunday school and its mis- 
 sion held by even the majority of Sunday school 
 workers is somewhat superficial. The representa- 
 tive school is holding a reasonable number of people 
 together, is fairly orderly, is quite respectable, and 
 furnishes a field in which those members of the 
 church who feel that they ought to be “doing some- 
 thing” can do it without special effort or inconven- 
 jence. As far as it goes this seems to be all right; but 
 there is little disposition to go farther. Those offi- 
 cially responsible for and most familiar with the 
 work are satisfied. Even these too rarely go be- 
 neath the surface. Why should those who know 
 less about it, and are less interested, do so? This 
 growing self-complacency is the bane of the present- 
 day Sunday school. 
 
 Did it ever occur to the reader that there is a prev- 
 alent lack of definite aim in the Sunday school? Of 
 course there is a general idea that the institution is 
 to ‘do good” in the community. But what good? 
 Is any one specific good thing laid down January 1 
 which is to be accomplished, or known, or corrected, 
 by the school, or by individuals in the school, before 
 December 31? Is there anything more than a vague 
 “hope” that substantial results may be realized? 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. II 
 
 Can the average worker in the average school place 
 his finger on things !earned in a given time because it 
 was specifically planned that these particular things 
 should be learned in that time? Have there been 
 any confessions of Christ, any additions to the mem- 
 bership of the church, any missionary movements in 
 the community, any of God’s poor helped—all be- 
 cause the organization worked by chart and compass 
 to these specific ends? Be honest, now—have not 
 such meagre results as have been secured in the av- 
 erage school been almost wholly incidental? Is it 
 not true that the one thing known to have been ac- 
 complished has been the keeping of a given number 
 of restless people away from the possibility of doing 
 something worse for an hour on Sunday? 
 
 Of course other good is accomplished—but how 
 intangible it is! The intangible is often real, but 
 perhaps oftener it is unreal. Those looking on the 
 Sunday school from the outside are impressed by the 
 apparent lack of reality in its achievements. This 
 lack is the natural result of indefiniteness in its plans 
 and slipshod methods in their execution. 
 
 Any one who reads these pages would promptly 
 discharge a salesman, or bookkeeper, or laborer, or 
 cook, or seamstress, or school teacher, who would for 
 a single week show the aimlessness characterizing the 
 majority of our Sunday school workers in the dis- 
 charge of duties left in their hands through a long 
 term of years. Plain words, of course. But who 
 will dispute their truth? 
 
 As unpleasant as is the task, let us work out some 
 more of the details of the picture. The conditions 
 discussed are bringing the Sunday school face to face 
 with a very grave danger. At a time when every 
 
 Too 
 
 Much 
 
 of the 
 Incidental. 
 
 Discharges 
 for 
 Cause. 
 
How it 
 Used 
 to Be. 
 
 Danger 
 at Hand. 
 
 A Failure 
 to 
 
 Under- 
 stand. 
 
 12 GRADING THE 
 
 other educational institution is doing better and 
 more painstaking work, the Sunday school in general 
 is becoming more and more lax in its organization, 
 and less and less exacting in its requirements. In- 
 deed the most of our schools practically have no “re- 
 quirements.” To illustrate, the oldtime Sunday 
 school was perhaps less “‘popular,” but it did require 
 some things. It called for at least the memorizing 
 of scripture and made the catechism a regular part 
 of the curriculum, instead of having it used at will, 
 as is the case with modern schools in general 
 
 The contrast with other educational institutions 
 is very significant. These are gaining in character 
 and standing. Their work is more and more thor- 
 ough, more and more definite, more and more full of 
 meaning. The Sunday school is entirely out of line 
 with the times in these particulars, and is consequent- 
 ly coming to signify less and less to those who meas- 
 ure institutions by the character of their work. The 
 situation must be recognized and understood. The 
 Sunday school is face to face with a crisis. It is in 
 danger of losing its prestige and usefulness. What 
 are we going to do about it? 
 
 The Sunday school is an evolution and is undergo- 
 ing a process of evolution. Begun for one purpose, 
 it has in the providence of God been diverted to an- 
 other. In its present relation to the social structure 
 its possibilities have not been understood. There is 
 a general misapprehension as to its necessary scope 
 if it is to be the religious educator of the youth of the 
 Christian church. It is what it is largely because of 
 this misapprehension. It has been believed that the 
 voluntary character of its make-up precluded the 
 possibility of its elevation to the position of a me- 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. ; 13 
 
 thodical educational institution. Its constantly and 
 rapidly shifting membership has been accepted as 
 evidence that it was incapable of a more thorough 
 and substantial class of work: instead of its fluctuat- 
 ing personnel being justly explained on the ground 
 of its very lax requirements. To correct the atti- 
 tude of Sunday school workers in general toward 
 their loved institution it is only necessary to remove 
 this misapprehension as to its legitimate scope and 
 certain possibilities. 
 
 Right here is where grading comes in. It means 
 educational saneness. It means the accomplish- 
 ment of results. It means a much more substantial 
 following. If it should mean a temporary elimina- 
 tion of a part of the present unassimilable clientele of 
 the Sunday school, that is only an incident of all 
 progress, religious or otherwise. It means the erad- 
 ication of incorrect conceptions as to what consti- 
 tutes real work for the Master. It means adapta- 
 tion of methods of work to the developments of the 
 Twentieth Century. 
 
 It also means discouragement, and the meeting of 
 difficulties, and sometimes the apparent blocking of 
 the way. All this must be expected. Our duty in 
 the premises is to consider whether we be able with 
 ten thousand men to meet the twenty thousand com- 
 ing against us. Who can question the result, if we 
 ask and work aright? 
 
 What is graded work in the Sunday school? When 
 (1) pupils are arranged in classes and departments 
 with reference to attainment as the principal consid- 
 eration, qualified by time of life, ability to learn, etc.; 
 when (2) teachers are chosen and located strictly 
 with respect to their fitness to instruct in these vari- 
 
 Grading 
 to the 
 Rescue. 
 
 Grading 
 Defined. 
 
14 GRADING THE 
 
 ous divisions; and when (3) the matter taught and 
 the manner of teaching are arranged with the same 
 considerations in view;—when all of these condi- 
 tions are in force, the Sunday school is working un- 
 der the graded system. 
 
 In treating this subject I am especially anxious to 
 be lucid and simple, adapting the discussions and 
 recommendations to the needs of the lay worker and 
 to the representative Sunday school. I will there- 
 fore avoid the technical and the ultra pedagogic. 5 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. (5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THINGS AS WE FIND THEM 
 
 Primarily a Sunday school carries with it the idea 
 of some approach to grades in classes and grades in 
 teaching. A Sunday school cannot be organized 
 on any other hypothesis than that people of differ- 
 ent degrees of mental development are to be assem- 
 bled for instruction, and that the instruction is to be 
 to some extent adapted to these degrees. Every 
 school is therefore in a sense a graded school. It is 
 simply a question of how thoroughly the grading 
 shall be done. Shall it be left as we generally find 
 it—crude and unsatisfactory—or shall it be carried 
 out into a classification approximating in complete- 
 ness to that which is peculiar to every other institu- 
 tion of an educational character? In Sunday schools 
 as we find them class work is begun at a common 
 place. From that point right on there is wide varia- 
 tion in the thoroughness with which it is done; and 
 a leading factor in this thoroughness is the matter 
 and manner of grading. 
 
 Although all Sunday schools may be said to be af- 
 ter a manner graded, the grading is ordinarily con- 
 fined to one side of the work. There is a kind of as- 
 sorting of pupils into groups, with some reference to 
 age and attainment—more particularly as to age; 
 but the work usually goes no farther. This is ac- 
 cepted as the limit of grading. Such a thing as as- 
 sorting teachers also, with a view to adapting the 
 instructors to the instructed, is in most schools prac- 
 
 df 
 
A Lack 
 to be 
 Supplied. 
 
 16 GRADING THE 
 
 tically unknown. Among Sunday school managers 
 of intelligence it is conceded that the closest grading 
 of children compatible with local conditions is desir- 
 able; but to suggest even to these, except in occa- 
 sional schools, that it is no less important to meas- 
 ure the capacity of people to teach, and to place re- 
 strictions on the grades which they shall teach, is to 
 invite dissent of the most pronounced character. 
 
 The day is now past when it was necessary to dem- 
 onstrate that education of any kind is more easily, 
 more certainly and more satisfactorily acquired by 
 regular and gradual steps in instruction than in any 
 other way. The great school systems of the civil- 
 ized world are all organized with this idea distinctly 
 in view. The principle is recognized everywhere and 
 under all conditions. The Sunday school alone is 
 excepted. Is this exception necessary, or does it 
 grow out of a misapprehension of the proprieties and 
 possibilities in the case of the Sunday school? 
 
 Those who have given the subject of grading the 
 most comprehensive study are convinced that this 
 manifest difference should not exist at least in its 
 present degree. The best workers feel that there is 
 a lack in Sunday school methods and results which 
 should in some way be supplied. There is some dif- 
 ference of opinion as to the way in which this lack is 
 to be made good, and as to the degree of improve- 
 ment which is practicable; but this not very serious 
 difference is more because of the limited amount of 
 demonstration in sight than because of anything 
 else. 
 
 It is not out of place to say that the situation in 
 which we find the Sunday school does much to im- 
 pair its standing in the community. Its work is so 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 17 
 
 often devoid of system and so barren of outcome 
 that it fails to command the respect to which it is 
 really entitled. The children whose work in the 
 day school is so methodical, and accompanied by so 
 much of development, are apt to look with some- 
 thing akin to contempt upon class work in which 
 but little of specific information is sought to be im- 
 parted, in which pupils of all degrees of attainment 
 are placed side by side, and in which the instruct- 
 or’s personal character is his only recommendation. 
 Besides, adults regard slightingly the loose forma- 
 tion of classes and the work of ill-assorted instruct- 
 ors, and where so little is to be learned these adults 
 wear lightly the harness of Sunday school member- 
 ship. 
 
 Grading a Sunday school as it should be graded 
 cannot be thoroughly accomplished until two long 
 established prejudices are removed. One of these is 
 that it will not do to place pupils by the grade of at- 
 tainment, lest many be driven from the school; and 
 the other is that a teacher and a class having once 
 been started together should in rare instances if ever 
 be separated. The first of these difficulties is the 
 more troublesome of the two in a general way, but 
 the second is the more deep-seated and the more like- 
 ly to defeat progressive attempts. Neither will yield 
 quickly or easily to treatment, and either will per- 
 haps require years for its correction; but both are 
 absolutely incompatible with the best Sunday school 
 work, and both must in time give way to improved 
 conditions. 
 
 The entire history of the Sunday school is a history 
 of prejudices overcome and obstacles within itself 
 removed. The Sunday school itself, originating as 
 
 Where th 
 School is 
 Compro- 
 mised. 
 
 Two 
 Venerable 
 Prejudices. 
 
A Victory 
 over 
 Prejudice. 
 
 What 
 Must 
 Follow. 
 
 18 GRADING THE 
 
 it did outside of strict church lines, was long regard- 
 ed with disfavor by the church. Indeed, one of the 
 largest churches near the home of the writer carried 
 an announcement for years on its front to the effect 
 that it had no Sunday school, using this as a drawing 
 card. ‘This condition has gradually given way, until 
 by its merits the Sunday school has come to be ac- 
 cepted and employed as the advance agent of per- 
 manent evangelical work the world over 
 
 In spite of the prejudices in the way, the graded 
 system of instruction must come just as surely as the 
 Sunday school has come, and, like the school, to stay. 
 The school which is first to recognize this necessary 
 condition in any community, and which will first 
 conform its plans to the new requirements, will be- 
 come the foremost school as well; and those schools 
 which are slowest to accept the progressive idea will 
 in a few years find themselves working to great dis- 
 advantage, and seriously handicapped for useful- 
 ness. 
 
 The two prejudices alluded to will be considered in 
 another connection. The danger of meddling with 
 either is greatly magnified, though, in the imagina- 
 tion of those good people who in all of their church 
 work are unduly afraid of giving personal offence. 
 Giving offence is always to be avoided, and usually 
 may be where thoughtful care is taken to do every- 
 thing impartially, judiciously, and for reasons which 
 are clearly explained. However, the risk of displeas- 
 ure must sometimes be incurred in the discharge of 
 of duty. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL, 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE FEASIBILITY OF HIGHER WORK. 
 
 There is already too much of guess-work and un- 
 certainty connected with the Sunday school, and it 
 would be most unfortunate if anything were intro- 
 duced which would tend to aggravate these condi- 
 tions. It is therefore important that we stop on the 
 threshold of our subject and determine whether the 
 comparatively thorough grading of the Sunday 
 school can be successfully accomplished. We must 
 not only know whether it is at all feasible, but also 
 whether it can be done without unreasonable hazard 
 and effort. 
 
 Let it be admitted that the public school has a 
 great advantage over the Sunday school in this par- 
 ticular. In the enforcement of its purposes the for- 
 mer has back of it the law of the land, the determina- 
 tion of the parent that the child shall be educated, 
 and the worldly incentive appealing to the child to 
 come up higher, There is no law especially affecting 
 religious education. Few parents care to use their 
 authority to secure the attendance of their children 
 at Sunday school, much less to affect the kind of 
 work they do there. Most parents are utterly indif- 
 ferent about the matter. Nor is there anything in 
 it all to appeal to the ambition of the child. Besides 
 there is a vast difference between something that is 
 made a business for eight or nine months in the year, 
 and something which commands an hour, almost in- 
 cidentally, from forty to fifty-two times in the year. 
 
 No Place 
 for 
 Guess- 
 work. 
 
 Public 
 School 
 Advan- 
 tages. 
 
Giants 
 and their 
 Disposal. 
 
 ‘ ‘Pros”’ 
 and 
 **Cons. ” 
 
 20 GRADING THE 
 
 The great differences in the influences affecting the 
 two institutions must not be minimized in our caleu- 
 lations. : 
 
 While careful about minimizing in one direction, 
 let us be equally careful about maximizing in anoth- 
 er When we become men we put away many child- 
 ish things, but we are prone to not put away our 
 childish notions about giants in the way of things 
 which we are not especially anxious to undertake. I 
 say things we are not anxious to undertake—for the 
 reason that giants have little or no place as expected 
 impediments when our hearts are in the thing that 
 lies ahead In the one case we create hobgoblins 
 with indefatigable industry, and clothe them with 
 astonishing powers. Inthe other case Blunderbores 
 vanish like magic before the heat of our enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 What we need, then, is a calm, dispassionate 
 weighing of the “pros” and ‘“‘cons.’’ Nor can I re- 
 frain from saying in this connection that if we are 
 satisfied the thing in contemplation is for the glory 
 of God and tke welfare of his kingdom, we are bound, 
 as loyal children of the King, to give the “pros” the 
 greater consideration. The weighing of the ‘‘cons”’ 
 should be more for the purpose of circumventing 
 them than for allowing them to deter us from a pur- 
 pose born of a desire to serve our Master in a better 
 way. It should be remembered, for our encourage- 
 ment, that much more difficult things—things seem- 
 ingly altogether out of keeping with the times in 
 which they were undertaken—have repeatedly been 
 accomplished in the King’s name. 
 
 The keynote of success in grading the Sunday 
 schoo] lies in creating interest. Let this be our plat- 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 21 
 
 form. Effort must be centered on making the work 
 attractive. This principle must run through it all. 
 Making work attractive does not mean the introduc- 
 tion of sensational features. It does not mean the 
 engrafting of the frivolous or the merely superficial. 
 It does not mean the loss of an iota of the dignity of 
 church work or religious instruction. No, no, no! 
 On the other hand, it means just the opposite of all 
 this. It means the vitalizing of things which to a 
 large proportion of our young people have always 
 seemed to be dead; making possible that which has 
 too often seemed impossible: making knowledge as- 
 
 similable and appetizing which has too often been 
 administered as a medicine; the establishing of 
 
 bonds of closer syrapathy.in work which has been 
 marked by too lit In short, as far 
 
 as the Sunda is concerned, it means practical 
 revolution, 
 
 But can dry things be made attractive? Few 
 things are intrinsically ‘“dry.’’ The unattractive 
 quality of dryness is usually imparted to a subject by 
 environment, by the manner of its treatment, by its 
 apathetic presentation. Can the Sunday school be 
 made attractive? With all its weaknesses, it is often 
 so now. Bend the united energies of a half score of 
 people to accomplishing this end, and note the re- 
 sult. Sympathetic earnestness is attractive. Sys- 
 tematic work can be made very attractive. Achieve- 
 ment is essentially attractive. Young people will 
 be found especially susceptible respecting all of these 
 things. 
 
 A thoroughly progressive, well-managed Sunday 
 school is naturally attractive in its details, and is 
 doubly so in its aggregate character. Easily, unre- 
 
 The 
 Keynote 
 of 
 Success. 
 
 When a 
 Thing 
 is “Dry.” 
 
About 
 Attract- 
 iveness. 
 
 Graded 
 Work a 
 Stimulus. 
 
 The 
 Best 
 Kind of 
 Study. 
 
 22 GRADING THE 
 
 strainedly and smoothly systematic in its main fea- 
 tures, symmetrically arranged, quickly responsive, 
 sympathetically coéperative—of course it will at- 
 tract. Will these things appeal to young people? 
 Join heartily in creating such a picture for them, and 
 note the result! Takea bright boy into a great busi- 
 ness house some day, and show him how thoroughly 
 systematic everything is; how one thing dovetails 
 into another for a purpose; how one mind directs it 
 all, and how the activity of scores of brains is com- 
 bined in the finished product. Then note how your 
 boy’s eyes shine with admiration. That admiration 
 awaits the Sunday school which masses in itself ad- 
 mirable characteristics. 
 
 Without discussing the point in detail just here, 
 let me say that graded work furnishes a stimulus now 
 rarely known in the Sunday school. In no place is 
 special incentive more needed than just here. It is 
 largely furnished by improved environment, the re- 
 alization that something positive is being done, that 
 some well defined end is to be reached. A healthy 
 stimulus is never dangerous. The graded school 
 provides this healthy stimulus in a natural way. 
 
 Voluntary study is the best of study, just as vol- 
 
 untary service is the best of service. Born of the 
 will of the student, made. matter of personal choice, 
 it possesses a meaning of itsown. Study of Sunday 
 school lessons is largely voluntary, and in the graded 
 Sunday school is almost wholly voluntary. The 
 good student of the lessons becomes the especially 
 loyal member of the school; and by as much as he 
 can be led to improve his lesson, by at least that 
 much is his loyalty to the school intensified. Every- 
 thing that elevates the standard of the Sunday 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 23 
 
 school thus adds not only to its dignity and useful- 
 ness, but to its organic strength. 
 
 That graded work in the Sunday school is feasible, 
 and in every way promotive of its highest interests, 
 is a matter of demonstration. Here and there in 
 our schools is a teacher who for years has been work- 
 ing along lines somewhat similar to those proposed. 
 These teachers not only carry along the regular les- 
 sons in a comparatively thorough way, but many of 
 them arrange extra work beside. What is the re- 
 sult? I call upon you, reader, to witness that the 
 c Ses Sie vet oe the et neniler i ther at- 
 tendance, the most orderly in their conduct, the 
 most enthusiastic in their attitude toward school in- 
 terests of every kind, Ialso ask you to witness that 
 the irregular, disloyal, disorderly, unreliable classes 
 are in the hands of teachers who have no standard, 
 who establish no requirements, and who come far- 
 thest of all short of working in a systematic way. 
 
 The superintendent looks out over the school, and 
 wishes in his heart that he had more classes managed 
 in just this way. He knows that his burdens would 
 be lightened, his school strengthened, and all of 
 his difficult problems solved, could he multiply 
 this type of class all over the room. And do you 
 know, reader, that this is equivalent to wishing that 
 his school were conducted on at least an approxima- 
 tion to the graded system? 
 
 The Sunday school is too often attended because 
 of habit, and a sense of duty, rather than for other 
 and better reasons. Habit is not to be despised as a 
 character builder, and a sense of duty has prevented 
 many a spiritless church undertaking from being an 
 utter failure; but it is possible to have the rooms 
 
 An 
 Earnest 
 Wish. 
 
24 GRADING THE 
 
 well filled from a better motive than either. The 
 Sunday school properly graded and well conducted, 
 where a high order of work is accomplished, and 
 where the standard is always kept well aloft, is a 
 place to which people soon learn to lovetocome. No 
 attendance is so large, so regular, so enthusiastic, so 
 enjoyable, and so fruitful of good, as that which is 
 made up of people who want to attend; and no Sun- 
 day school has touched the keynote of great success 
 until it learns that it must not only have the respect 
 of the neighborhood but must have a place in its af- 
 fections as well. These it should have, and officers 
 and teachers should not rest until it is in full and un- 
 disputed possession of this point of vantage in ener- 
 ergizing and popularizing the school. 
 
 I do not need to point the moral indicated by the 
 paragraphs ofthischapter. It is altogether obvious. 
 Grading is not only feasible—it is almost imperative. 
 It is not a question of what is needed, or what the 
 next step in Sunday school progress should be. The 
 real question is, Do we want better things badly 
 enough to pay the reasonable price at which they can _ 
 be secured? 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BASAL DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 In discussing the feasibility of grading we are met 
 at the outset by the lack of a universally accepted 
 text-book as a foundation for our work. In order to 
 facilitate Bible study for people of all ages and all 
 degrees of attainment, modern lesson helps have 
 been planned. With all their faults, and in spite of 
 their dilution of the truth, they have served a useful 
 purpose, and could illy be spared except a new dis- 
 pensation should provide us something better. 
 
 The Bible as a whole, a collection of inspired books 
 by a number of authors, is not arranged in itself for 
 graded study, or for systematic study of any kind. 
 It is given to man as a treasure house, in which by 
 searching he may find gems of priceless value. But 
 as to the manner in which the quest is to be conduct- 
 ed in detail never a word is furnished. The warrant 
 for the search is given in John 5:39; and right there 
 the problem is left for man himself to solve, aided by 
 the light for which he is directed to ask. 
 
 For hundreds of years men have been writing on 
 how to study the Bible. Many of their books are of 
 rare excellence, yet they have been written from so 
 many standpoints as to be impossible of general 
 adoption. They are written for students, too, and 
 those only of mature years, while grading contem- 
 plates class work by everybody from toddling child 
 to aged grandsire. It is not by voluminous books 
 that the equipment for efficient graded work is to 
 be secured, We must look farther. 
 
 Bible 
 Study. 
 
 Books 
 about 
 the 
 
 Bible. 
 
Some 
 Perplex- 
 ing 
 Problems. 
 
 A 
 Solution 
 Expected. 
 
 When to 
 Begin. 
 
 26 GRADING THE 
 
 A special difficulty in preparing for well consid- 
 ered graded study lies in finding the place in the Bi- 
 ble for the beginning, for each progressive step in 
 proper succession, and for the natural finish for such 
 a course. With each of these agreed upon, such 
 questions as the following naturally arise: Should 
 the student go over the course only once? How long 
 a period should the course cover? Should all parts 
 of the Bible be included, and if not who shall say 
 what shall be omitted? In carrying out the purpos- 
 es of Bible study is it not necessary to recur frequent- 
 ly to those parts more vitally related to the Christian 
 life? Must all new pupils of whatever age begin at 
 the same time, at the same place? 
 
 These puzzling questions might be continued in- 
 definitely. The few cited illustrate, however, the 
 perplexing nature of the problem. That a satisfac- 
 tory solution will be reached I have no manner of 
 doubt. It must come, though, asa result of years of 
 prayerful experiment, and must be worked out, as 
 the International system has been worked out, to the 
 satisfaction of Christendom. It may come as an 
 adaptation of the International lessons to new con- 
 ditions—conditions which are crowding on apace. 
 Who knows? It is not the province of this book, or 
 the purpose of the writer, to attempt the solution, 
 This will come naturally in the fullness of time. 
 
 But this higher order of work in the Sunday school 
 cannot await the coming of the new order of things. 
 Indeed the coming of these better things is contin- 
 gent upon such beginning as we are able to make. 
 Because we cannot have the ideal at once, must we 
 never start towardit? Thereis but one thing to do, 
 and that is to begin—and begin now. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 27 
 
 But how? By availing ourselves of just what we 
 have, and to the best advantage. The great major- 
 ity of our schools are using the International lessons. 
 Let these schools continue, for the present at least, 
 with these lessons, other schools adhering to their 
 own present systems. These systems, or any sys- 
 tems worthy of the name, furnish bases upon which 
 glorious superstructures can be reared—if we will do 
 the kind of work necessary to secure such results. 
 We have never half appreciated the advantages af- 
 forded by lesson plans of universal acceptance, and 
 the Sunday school world is now living at a poor dy- 
 ing rate because of this lack of appreciation. 
 
 We need not bother our heads in the beginning 
 with anything greater than the doing well of that 
 which we have heretofore been doing all too poorly. 
 We can grade our Sunday schools sufficiently on the 
 present lesson basis to infinitely elevate our stand- 
 ards—and when that is accomplished we will be in 
 position to talk about and intelligently undertake 
 the greater things. Workable plans, suitable litera- 
 ture and all needed facilities will come when the Sun- 
 day school world shall indicate that it is ready for 
 them. My plea is for the needy teachers and pupils 
 of our own day and hour. 
 
 But, says some one, the International lesson 
 system is antagonistic to the grading idea. You 
 have heard this statement made again and again; 
 but what is really true is that this system (1) does 
 not contemplate a graduated, progressive course of 
 study extending over a term of years, and (2) it does 
 not select its lessons with reference to any age of pu- 
 pils. These are difficulties much more easily sur- 
 mountable than those connected with any proposed 
 
 How 
 to 
 
 Begin. 
 
 About 
 the 
 Future. 
 
 The 
 Interna- 
 tional 
 System. 
 
Severing 
 Old 
 Ties. 
 
 A > 
 Mistaken 
 Teacher. 
 
 28 GRADING THE 
 
 untried system, and are really less serious than they 
 at first appear. Assigning to these difficulties, 
 though, and any others which present themselves, 
 their full value, is there anything else to which we 
 can now turn with equal confidence? 
 
 It is the King’s business, and it requireth haste. 
 The prestige of the Sunday school is in danger. Its 
 usefulness is impaired. Its magnificent constituen- 
 cy is slighted. Something must bedone. Allagree 
 that this something must energize the institution and 
 attract its wavering adherents. Is there anything 
 else to which we can resort that is so feasible and so 
 reasonable as that which has just been proposed? 
 
 In a change from old to new methods some other 
 drawbacks must be noted, which, however, mainly 
 disappear on investigation. One of these is the sev- 
 ering of old ties. A class and teacher often grow to 
 be almost a part of each other, and each is disposed 
 to shrink from the idea of separation. This does not 
 prove, though, that such separation is not frequently 
 advisable. Indeed it is often the case that in in- 
 stances of this kind but little progress is made, the 
 teacher being easy, genial and not at all exacting, 
 and the pupils while recognizing these amiable qual- 
 ities adding but little from year to year to their 
 store of biblical knowledge. There are cases, perhaps, 
 in which the severing of this relationship is a mat- 
 ter for serious consideration, but they are not usual. 
 
 There is frequent misapprehension in this connec- 
 tion on the part of the teacher. The teacher long 
 with certain pupils sometimes becomes possessed of 
 the idea that the pupils’ allegiance to the school is 
 because of this relationship. Ina great majority of 
 cases this is a clear misconception. On the other 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 29 
 
 hand, the pupil’s loyalty is sometimes in spite of the 
 supposed strong tie. I have known teachers to hold 
 this opinion concerning pupils who were absolutely 
 anxious for a change of teachers. The losses to 
 school membership from changes of teachers on a 
 fixed plan of grading are certain tobe slight. Indeed 
 it is within reason to say that the regaining of pupils 
 lost through the failure to change these same teach- 
 ers will probably compensate for all losses. 
 
 The pain of such separation is mainly felt by the 
 teacher, with whom it may long linger. With the 
 young pupil it is usually a transient emotion, fully 
 dispelled by the contemplation of something new to 
 come. A teacher of experience says that ‘The pu- 
 pil is willing to give up any teacher for the sake of 
 recognition and promotion.” This is a panacea of 
 almost unfailing efficacy. None of us like to think 
 that we can so soon drop out of lives to which we 
 have borne a responsible relation, but that such is 
 the law of nature is proved by the equanimity with 
 which as the years pass we view the losses we once 
 regarded as unbearable. The teacher’s compensa- 
 tion lies in retaining the tender respect of those once 
 held in close association, and forming connections 
 of the same kind with new lives and characters. 
 
 Even the most thorough grading of the Sunday 
 school, though, does not involve sudden and fre- 
 quent separation of teachersand classes. There is no 
 reason why the twoshould not remain together, if de- 
 sirable, through an entire department, and this usual- 
 ly covers a period of years. So that at most these 
 trying experiences cannot be of frequent occurrence. 
 
 A more important disadvantage to the teacher re- 
 tained in a single juvenile grade is the lack of contact 
 
 A 
 
 Panacea 
 for 
 Separation. 
 
Lesson 
 Association 
 with 
 Children. 
 
 Personal 
 Friend- 
 ships. 
 
 30 GRADING THE 
 
 with more mature minds in the discussion of the les- 
 son. Almost as much is lost, though, by the teach- 
 er who takes the class from the beginning to the fin- 
 ish in the ordinary school, so much time being con- 
 sumed in passing through childhood grades. Be- 
 sides the lesson studied is usually the same, and the 
 views and questions of bright children are not with- 
 out value even to the teacher who longs for lesson in- 
 tercourse with older people. No teacher is shut off 
 from such intercourse, either, for all have the privi- 
 leges of the Teachers’ Meeting. Thorough grading 
 does not necessarily contemplate different lessons, 
 but presentations of the same lesson in ways adapted 
 to the several grades. Were this a serious drawback, 
 however, it could only be set down as another of the 
 sacrifices which every devoted teacher is ready to 
 make for the Sunday school. 
 
 A more serious trouble is the matter of personal 
 friendships between pupils. These close friend- 
 ships are advantageous while the “cronies” are work- 
 ing side by side in a grade to which both naturally 
 belong, and when well matched inage. When driv- 
 en apart by legitimate classification, or disparity in 
 years, the result is sometimes unfortunate. Teach- 
 ers frequently aggravate troubles of this kind by un- 
 duly magnifying them. The separation should be 
 good naturedly assumed to be a matter of course. 
 The teacher is watched very closely for a “cue” in 
 matters of this kind. If one of the “cronies” to be 
 separated is noticeably the stronger of the two, a ju- 
 dicious private appeal to his stronger will sometimes 
 removes the difficulty. It is unwise, though, to seek 
 the help of a pupil in any such case unless clearly in- 
 dicated by circumstances. 
 
SunpDay SCHOOL, 31 
 
 ’ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GENERAL ESSENTIALS. 
 
 What are some of the preliminary essentials in un- 
 dertaking to change from the old way of doing things 
 to the plan of working which within a few years will 
 be adopted by the most progressive Sunday schools 
 everywhere? Here are some practical suggestions: 
 
 As a beginning, let the superintendent, officers and 
 teachers, together with the pastor and such active 
 workers as will come into consultation, meet and 
 discuss the entire subject thoroughly. The superin- 
 tendent and pastor at least should have consulted 
 about it previously, deciding upon its desirability, 
 and gathering all possible data concerning it. Let 
 these data be submitted to this general council. Talk 
 it over dispassionately and earnestly, and look at it 
 from every side, If all agree to take the advanced 
 step let the very best possible committee be appoint- 
 ed at once to consider and report upon details. Ifa 
 practically unanimous decision cannot be reached at 
 this meeting, quietly talk the matter over with those 
 who hesitate, and when they come to see the advan- 
 tages of the proposed change, as they in the end will, 
 call another meeting and take the step already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 It is necessary that there be perfect unanimity at 
 thestart. Itisacase which will not admit of divid- 
 edcounsels. Do not begin with a contingent or ten- 
 tative determination to grade the school. Let there 
 be no peradventure about the movement. It is only 
 
Have a 
 Clear 
 Under- 
 standing. 
 
 Recogni« 
 tion of 
 Authority. 
 
 32 GRADING THE 
 
 when thoroughly committed to it that the school can 
 count on success. The eyes of young people are very 
 quick to see the weakness of a position assumed with 
 hesitation and in a half-hearted way:—and when 
 such weakness is discovered, the difficulties of the 
 undertaking are greatly multiplied. 
 
 It is no less essential to have a perfect understand- 
 ing of the work ahead. Every certain or probable 
 obstacle which can be thought of should be brought 
 up for consideration, and carefully weighed, so as to 
 avoid disconcerting surprises later. Minimize noth- 
 ing. Look even the most discouraging conditions 
 squarely in the face, and prepare for meeting them— 
 not for avoiding or concealing them. Let every of- 
 ficer, teacher and unofficial worker thoroughly un- 
 derstand what is to be done, and be brought into 
 close touch with every other officer, teacher and 
 worker. In no other way can any Sunday school 
 work of importance be carried to a successful con- 
 clusion, Right here let the unsympathetic, the 
 doubting, the obstructing step aside from the official 
 ranks. 
 
 That prompt recognition of and perfect subordi- 
 nation to properly constituted authority, which is so 
 necessary in all Sunday school work, is doubly nec- 
 essary in establishing the graded school. Let it be 
 understood that the movement has the deliberate 
 judgment and hearty approval of the officers of the 
 church behind it, and that the Sunday school man- 
 agement is fully commissioned to carry out this ex- 
 pressed willofthechurch. Then let the plans of the 
 superintendent, or of the committee in charge, be 
 followed implicitly and without question (these plans 
 having been approved by the council). There may 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 33 
 
 be wisdom in a multitude of counsellors in the adop- 
 tion of a general policy, but the voice of the multi- 
 tude in the arrangement of details is unavoidable 
 confusion, It is in the council of war that the wis- 
 dom of details may be discussed—never on the field 
 of battle. To expect the executive officer of the 
 school to consult his helpers at any point, except in 
 council or in an emergency, farther than in his judg- 
 ment he may think best, is to introduce an element 
 of uncertainty which is demoralizing. 
 
 Another essential is simplicity in plans. While 
 perfect system is indispensable, tedious elaboration 
 isa danger to be avoided. Of two plans for the Sun- 
 day school which seem to be equally meritorious in 
 their essentials it is always the part of wisdom to 
 choose the simpler. Many a well considered cam- 
 paign of progress in this work has failed because of 
 unnecessary multiplication of details. That Sunday 
 school in which grading is in most danger of signal 
 failure, other conditions being satisfactory, is the 
 school which undertakes too much, and which in the 
 undertaking is too lavish in the use of redtape. We 
 want not too much plan, but “just a plenty.”’ 
 
 It is also necessary in the contemplated revolution 
 in the Sunday school that the plans, having been 
 adapted to all parts of the school, shall be introduced 
 in all departments at the same time. To begin oth- 
 erwise is to invite confusion and lose the greatest op- 
 portunity in the history of the institution. Every 
 superintendent wishes from time to time for an occa- 
 sion which will permit him to ‘‘begin new,” and fur- 
 nish indisputable ground for making needed changes 
 The beginning of grading furnishes just this occasion, 
 and to make it effective the changes which it brings 
 
 3— 
 
 Simplic- 
 ity in 
 Plans 
 
 Begin- 
 ning 
 Together. 
 
Education. 
 
 In the 
 Classes. 
 
 34 GRADING THE 
 
 must be school-wide in their application at the same 
 time. Toillustrate, although much less can be done 
 in grading in the adult division of the school than 
 among the children, yet that little must be done at 
 the one time when the greatest impulse can be given 
 to the entire movement. Having thus begun to- 
 gether, let all departments keep together in the same 
 relative positions right along. Just how this gener- 
 al school symmetry is promotive of general success 
 must be seen to be fully realized. 
 
 The need of a campaign of education must not be 
 overlooked. Many a heart never receives the truth 
 simply because the truth has never been personally, 
 patiently and lovingly presented. Even one individ- 
 ual who has carefully studied the subject of grading 
 may revolutionize an entire community by persist- 
 ent personal effort. The working force of a Sunday 
 school should be able to do the same thing more eas- 
 ily and more certainly. The matter must be “talk- 
 ed up,” pastor and people working side by side in the 
 good cause. This campaign should open just far 
 enough ahead of the introduction of the change in 
 the school to have the change come as nearly as pos- 
 sible at atime when interest in the subject is at a 
 climax—say a month or so in advance. The tactical 
 advantage of this attention to dates will be appar- 
 ent. 
 
 Let the teachers talk it over in the classes—not 
 doubtingly or hesitatingly, but confidently and re- 
 assuringly. There will be some objection, which 
 should be treated lightly. This objéction will dis- 
 appear in good time if the subject is well and earnest- 
 ly presented. Approving sentiment will have to be 
 created, and if the teachers approach the work in the 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 35 
 
 proper spirit and with unanimity the result will be 
 accomplished. It is the experience everywhere that 
 opposition has only to understand in order to disap- 
 pear. : 
 
 Let it also be explained to the pupils that in the 
 preliminary grading the positions which they already 
 hold will not be unfavorably affected—that is to say, 
 the question affecting the pupil will be, Shall he re- 
 main where he is, or go higher? that in no case will it 
 consign him to a lower grade. 
 
 As simple as they are, these suggestions cannot be 
 safely ignored. These steps having been taken, the 
 school is ready for the very best work in its history. 
 Once fairly under way, the system provides for its 
 own contingencies and perpetuation, and may be 
 safely left in the hands of people who have shown 
 any aptitude whatever for work in the Sunday 
 school, 
 
 Not to 
 be 
 Retro- 
 graded. 
 
Measuring 
 the 
 Sunday 
 School 
 Life. 
 
 36 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OLD AND NEW PRINCIPLES. 
 
 When grading has been determined upon, and the 
 preliminary steps have been taken, we are ready for 
 the consideration of the principles which must gov- 
 ern in carrying on the work, and which must distin- 
 guish this work from that to which we have been ac- 
 customed. Some of these principles are old, some of 
 them are new—all of them must have a part in goy- 
 erning. They are basal and essential. 
 
 1. The Sunday school life of every child connected 
 with the institution must be measured in advance in 
 its entirety, this life being subdivided into distinct 
 periods, each period possessing features peculiar to 
 no other period, and providing work differing to a 
 greater or less degree from that of any other period; 
 all progressively arranged for reaching a positive 
 end. The same principle is to be applied with some 
 modifications to the youth of the school, and tenta- 
 tively to the adult divisions. For the present at 
 least this comprehensive plan of work must be so ar- 
 ranged as to conflict in no way with established les- 
 son systems. It must mean both the better devel- 
 opment and adaptation of these and the introduction 
 of other lesson features calculated to round out, sim- 
 plify and systematize religious instruction. This 
 means the blending of established systems with pro- 
 gressive courses of study. These courses of study 
 will be discussed in another chapter. 
 
SunDAY SCHOOL. 37 
 
 2. The passing of pupils from one of these periods 
 to another must be because of the recognition of ab- 
 solute attainment of some kind. Certain things stip- 
 ulated to be taught in a given period must be learned 
 in that period before the way is clear for entry into 
 the next. While this condition is to be interpreted 
 in a common sense way, it cannot be waived. It is 
 of course understood that the requirements here 
 must be modified as compared with those of schools 
 of other kinds; yet this modification must in no way 
 
 prejudice the standard of work or the respect in 
 
 which it is held. 
 
 3. Instruction must be more broadly elementary. 
 There is a prevalent impression that the simple in- 
 cidental facts of Bible instruction which lie on the 
 surface are to be taught tosmall children only. The 
 result is that a list of questions identically the same 
 asked of a Junior class and of a Bible class will elicit 
 twice as many correct answers in the former case as 
 in the latter. I taught a Bible class recently in 
 which a teacher was incidentally located for the day. 
 I asked her to name the father of Solomon, and al- 
 though I referred to him as the shepherd boy who 
 became king, and pointed to him in other unmistak- 
 able ways, she was utterly unable to answer the ques- 
 tion. It is taken for granted in Sunday school in- 
 struction that otherwise intelligent people—even 
 church members—know a great deal of which they 
 are really profoundly ignorant, and (let me tell the 
 whole truth) shamelessly ignorant. 
 
 Any effort at elevating the standard of Sunday 
 school instruction which does not include a liberal] 
 measure of elementary work all along the line is not 
 worth considering. It is on the knowledge of these 
 
 Condition 
 of 
 Promotion. 
 
 Empha- 
 sizing the 
 Elemen- 
 tary. 
 
Wholesome 
 and 
 
 Funda- 
 mental. 
 
 The Neces= 
 sity of 
 Adaptation. 
 
 38 GRADING THE 
 
 things so easily known that progress from grade to 4 
 grade should be mainly recognized, and it is only 
 when religious education contains a substratum of 
 this kind of palpable fact that it becomes of appre- 
 ciable value. Teaching may be made thus whole- 
 some and fundamental without in the least incurring 
 the danger of degenerating into the childish. Ofthe 
 church-going masses of our day it may be truthfully 
 said that “‘a little child does lead them” in a knowl- 
 edge of holy things. Grading the Sunday school 
 must help to take away this reproach. 
 
 4. The element of adaptation must figure more 
 largely in the work of instruction. There isa lack of 
 flexibility in modes of teaching. Class methods 
 need to be adopted more with a few individuals in 
 view than with reference to a hard-and-fast precon- 
 ceived plan of action. The representative teacher 
 needs to be more of an individual, original force in 
 the class than a too close imitator of even the best of 
 teaching models. Let the pupil find a personality 
 keenly interested in his individual achievement, and 
 ready to adapt method to that achievement. The 
 student in danger of college failure avails himself 
 of a personal tutor. Let the teacher stand ready 
 to bear the relation of tutor to the halting pupil. O, 
 how such a relationship helps both teacher and pu- 
 pil! The two are working together for an end, and 
 when the teacher is ready to so work the probabili- 
 ties of disappointment in the outcome are greatly 
 lessened 
 
 5. At the risk of introducing a point which may 
 be considered irrelevant just here, let me add what I 
 believe to be a principle of as great importance as 
 any of those named. It is unwise to adopt anybody’s 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 39 
 
 plan of grading in exact detail as presented. Every 
 bit of available information or suggestion on the sub- 
 ject should be secured and digested, and such parts 
 chosen as will exactly suit your special case. Out of 
 it alla plan of your own may be evolved. It may be 
 almost like the plan of some other school, but if not 
 exactly adapted to yours make such changes as will 
 insure the adaptation to be as nearly perfect as pos- 
 sible. You will think more of this amended plan 
 than of any other, will feel more interest in its suc- 
 cess, and its local adaptation will greatly assist in ty- 
 ing the community fast to it. 
 
 The writers of books and the editors and contrib- 
 utors of Sunday school periodicals are doing a great 
 workin ourcountry. Writing from countless stand- 
 points, and guided by ever-varying experiences, they 
 are furnishing a wealth of suggestion which is inval- 
 uable. But it is only suggestion after all. What 
 they say is not designed to supplant that original 
 planning which is a strong point in the success of ev- 
 ery Sunday school which is sufficiently well known 
 to be cited as a model. Let these people help you, 
 but do not let the work of anybody else take the 
 place of that indefinable something which makes an 
 enterprise your own. 
 
 Making 
 the 
 Plan 
 Your 
 Own. 
 
 Helpful 
 Suggestion 
 Only. 
 
40 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 TEACHERS AND GRADING. 
 
 In discussing teachers and grading let us, first of 
 all, recognize that teaching is the center around 
 which the Sunday school revolves—the means by 
 which its great work is to be accomplished. We or- 
 
 Rectcin: ganize the Sunday school for no other reason than 
 
 ing that people may be taught. We reorganize it every 
 
 Thoroughly year, closely inspecting the make-up of its officers, 
 
 —Provided. making such changes as are deemed best, revising 
 the plans, and fearlessly doing very many things 
 which the welfare of the school may seem to demand 
 —up to a certain point. This fearlessness reaches 
 its limit, though, when we come to the organization 
 of the teachers. Here the principle that all changes 
 which the true interests of the school call for should 
 be made without hesitation is expected to be tem- 
 pered with the qualification that this shall be so done 
 as not to interfere with ideas which teachers them- 
 selves may have as to whom they should teach. It 
 is right here that a time-honored prejudice is met 
 with, and, strongly as it is intrenched, the introduc- 
 tion of a thorough system of grading is certain to re- 
 sult in its ultimate overthrow. As things now are, 
 its teaching is both the pride and the shame of the 
 Sunday school. The element of shame must be 
 eliminated from the situation. 
 
 If, then, teaching is the most important part of 
 the school work, it is all the more necessary that it be 
 
SunDay SCHOOL. 41 
 
 subjected to as absolute regulation as anything else 
 connected with the school; that the tenure of office 
 of the teacher be, as is that of the superintendent, a 
 matter of expediency; and that the judgment of an 
 appointed teacher shall not be the sole criterion, as is 
 too often the case, as to the choice of classes to be 
 taught. A given teacher and a given class should be 
 combined only on the satisfying of certain conditions. 
 The teacher must be as much the creature of the or- 
 ganization, subject to assignment or rejection, as is 
 the superintendent or any other officer. This prin- 
 ciple must be recognized absolutely and without 
 qualification in every Sunday school which is pre- 
 paring to do the best work. 
 
 Every individual responsibly connected with the 
 Sunday school can work better and accomplish more 
 in some positions than in other positions. This is 
 emphatically true of the teacher. Every teacher is 
 better adapted to classes of a certain age or grade 
 than to classes of any other age or grade. Just as 
 the matter and manner of teaching must if success- 
 ful vary with the age and attainment of those who 
 are taught{ so one who has proven efficient in teach- 
 ing classes of a certain degree of advancement should 
 be retained for such classes. No principle in educa- 
 tion is better established than this, and so thorough- 
 ly is it recognized that it governs without question in 
 educational work of all kinds outside of the Sunday 
 school. If in a graded school of any other kind the 
 teachers should begin with the Primary room, and 
 move with the same pupils from room to room until 
 graduation, that school would at once deteriorate in 
 the quality of its work and be passed by for other 
 schools conducted on modern principles. 
 
 This 
 Teacher 
 for this 
 Class, if— 
 
 in the 
 
The 
 Sunday 
 School 
 
 not 
 Exempted. 
 
 The 
 Teacher 
 to do 
 One 
 Thing. 
 
 Advantages 
 of Staying 
 in One 
 Place. 
 
 42 GRADING THE 
 
 What is there in the Sunday school that exempts 
 it from this law of the schools evolved from the ex- 
 perience of centuries? Why should the work of the 
 Sunday school teacher instead be aimed at a few in- 
 dividuals through perhaps a long term of years in 
 the class—individuals who are thus handicapped 
 from learning anything else except what that partic- 
 ular teacher may know, and whose views of religious 
 life are thus shaped from a single and possibly a nar- 
 row standpoint? 
 
 The Sunday school teacher should, as a fundamen- 
 tal consideration, be a Primary teacher, or a Junior 
 teacher, or an Intermediate teacher, or a Senior 
 teacher—rarely if ever being these in a regular suc- 
 cession which is governed by the progress of certain 
 pupils through these various grades. The teacher 
 should belong to the department through which the 
 pupil passes, instead of passing from one department 
 to the next with the pupil. There may be an occa- 
 sional teacher who can work in different departments 
 equally well—but such teachers are rare. Even 
 such a teacher will do better in one field. 
 
 Many manifest advantages to the teacher arise 
 out of confining class work to a single department. 
 One of these is the variety afforded as the classes 
 change from grade to grade in passing. Coming in 
 contact with new children from time to time is rest- 
 ful. It also gives an opportunity for the study of 
 new lives and characters, which is most helpful. The 
 fact of accepting pupils from a teacher in another 
 grade is an incentive to so teach that a comparison 
 of the two teachers in the mind of the pupil may not 
 be to the disparagement of the change. There isa 
 corresponding stimulus in preparing the class for 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 43 
 
 graduation to a higher grade. These changes un- 
 doubtedly furnish a great and much needed stimu- 
 lus to better teaching work. Having a regular 
 course of study by which to guide one’s work isan ad- 
 vantage which a teacher who is looking for means by 
 which to reach greater efficiency will not be slow to 
 appreciate. The greatest good of all, though, comes 
 from constant familiarity and practice in training 
 minds of a certain age, which practice produces 
 everywhere the most efficient type of teacher the 
 world has ever known. 
 
 In the professions, in the industries—everywhere 
 —the world is looking for people who have done cer- 
 tain things over and over again, until they practical- 
 ly know all about the doing of these certain things 
 that can beknown. These people are called experts. 
 The Sunday school which allows its teachers to be 
 constantly changing from one division to another 
 
 -rarely produces an expert. Its teachers are largely 
 tyros. We have too many tyros, and need experts. 
 The plan outlined produces them. 
 
 The class is equally the gainer by this system. The 
 little folks are fond of change, to begin with, and al- 
 ways look forward to it with pleasant anticipation. 
 Then there is an advantage in finding a trained in- 
 structor with new methods at every step. There is 
 something new to think about. There is less of mo- 
 notony and less of probability of the pupil tiring of 
 the class and of the school. In the slow develop- 
 ment of a class which is for several years in the hands 
 of a single teacher there is danger of the teacher for- 
 getting that food suitable for children is not suitable 
 for young men and young women—that the day 
 when the Jittle Bible story is all-sufficient is past, and 
 
 Tke 
 Cail for 
 Experts. 
 
 How the 
 Cless 
 Gains. 
 
Above all, 
 Thoroughly 
 Grade the 
 Teachers. 
 
 About 
 Prelimi- 
 nary 
 Grading. 
 
 44 GRADING THE 
 
 that rapidly maturing minds are waiting to be fed 
 and trained. Many a good class has died because as 
 adults its members were insufficiently fed, through a 
 misapprehension of changed conditions. In the 
 graded school this danger is obviated. 
 
 These observations point to a necessity of the 
 grading of the available teaching force which 
 should be even more thorough than the grading of 
 the pupils. There is this difference, however: The 
 assignment of a number of accepted teachers is not 
 so much on the ground of their relative knowledge as 
 compared with each other as because of personal 
 characteristics which adapt them more particularly 
 as instructors to the several grades of the school. 
 Who shall say, after inspecting the Primary room, 
 the Junior and Intermediate classes, and the depart- 
 ment of adults, that more talent is needed in one 
 place than in another? Relative natural talent and 
 mental furnishing are only two out of a number of 
 considerations which the superintendent or commit- 
 tee of assignment must have in mind. 
 
 It is the preliminary grading of teachers that af- 
 fords the most puzzling feature of their assignment 
 to duty. Once in place, there is little further diffi- 
 culty. However, careful consultation with them 
 individually, a review of their experience, a recalling 
 of the peculiar aptnesses which they have shown in 
 different situations, will usually combine to furnish a 
 satisfactory solution of this problem which comes up 
 so early in preparing for the introduction of the new 
 system. By no means the least of the advantages 
 necessarily attending the inauguration of grading is 
 the way in which it brings home to teachers the meas- 
 ure of their practical incapacity and stimulates to 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 45 
 
 higher effort. A very good committee should give 
 the grading of the teachers their special care 
 The natural tendency of careful grading will be 
 found to be the numerical increase of the force of Increasing 
 
 teachers required. This may not work out in every ‘¢ 
 . . Teaching 
 school, and yet schools in which more teachers are Force 
 
 not called for because of this are exceptional. This 
 points to the subject of teacher training, which is an 
 indispensable adjunct of graded work—a subject 
 treated in the chapter on the Normal class, in anoth- 
 er part of this book. * 
 
 No Sunday school can safely undertake careful 
 grading which does not sustain a Teachers’ Meeting. 
 This meeting is of inestimable value in any Sunday 
 school, but is indispensable if grading is contem- 
 plated. The use of the Teachers’ Meeting will be 
 discussed in a separate chapter. 
 
Children 
 and 
 Grading. 
 
 Specific 
 Lessons at 
 Specific 
 Times. 
 
 16 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS IN GRADING PUPILS. 
 
 The feasibility of grading teachers has already 
 been discussed. Let us see how the system affects 
 the pupils. 
 
 Children are accustomed to close grading in every- 
 thing else of an educational character with which 
 they are connectcd. This is not with them the in- 
 troduction of a new principle, for it is something 
 with which they are thoroughly familiar in the day 
 school, and which they naturally expect as an ele- 
 ment in education. It is the older people, in whose 
 school days modern ideas of grading were not devel- 
 oped, who in particular fail to see and fall in with 
 the idea. 
 
 Recognizing the correctness of the principle of 
 grading in everything else in which they are taught, 
 the children get the idea that the Sunday school, 
 because of this difference, is an affair in which it 
 signifies but little whether they learn or not. Ac- 
 customed as they are to having specific lessons to 
 learn at specific times, an institution in which there 
 is nothing of this kind comes to be regarded as of 
 slight importance, until as they approach manhood 
 and womanhood their respect for it has grown less 
 and less, and a time arrives when they are retained 
 in their classes with difficulty, if they do not alto- 
 gether turn their backs on the school. In looking 
 for reasons why it is so difficult to hold the older 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 47 
 
 young people in the Sunday school it seems sin- 
 gular that the insufficiency and the inefficiency of the 
 teaching are rarely cited as having any appreciable 
 bearing on the case. 
 
 The children need the stimulus of definite things 
 to learn, and the definite evidence of such things 
 having been learned. Rewards such as may be 
 useful in affecting regularity of attendance, etc., 
 cannot be introduced with propriety or with good 
 results in connection with attainment. The grad- 
 ing of the school and the establishing of courses of 
 study, however, furnishes occasions for the issuing 
 of certificates or diplomas, or the visible passing 
 from grade to grade, all of which is in exact accord- 
 ance with the traditions of school life, appeals to 
 the pupil as practicable and sensible, and satisfies 
 the requirement that there shall be both an end and 
 a positive way by which the end may be reached. 
 
 The bright pupil in the day school, accustomed 
 to finding the exercise of his talents as a student 
 result in his being classed with pupils beyond his 
 age, sits listless in the Sunday school because of 
 the lack of similar recognition, and soon discovers 
 that no matter what he may do an older boy who 
 knows much less stands away above him in classi- 
 fication. As a result he becomes discontented, 
 stops short off in the development of a man who 
 might some day become a power in the Sunday 
 school and church, and later as a talented young 
 professional man considers the Sunday school a 
 place for only lazy or dull people. Where are the 
 most of the young professional men of the country, 
 of religious families, as regards Sunday school and 
 church activities? 
 
 The 
 Stimulus 
 of the 
 Definite. 
 
 A Point 
 Against the 
 Sunday 
 School, 
 
About the 
 Dull Boy. 
 
 Stimulating 
 Attend- 
 ance. 
 
 48 . GRADING THE 
 
 In the ungraded school the dull boy finds no 
 stimulus to exertion. If he can barely make out 
 to read, the development of his physical person and 
 the increase of his years will transfer him step by 
 step to the higher divisions without further effort. 
 Study is distasteful, and as it serves no purpose 
 as far as his recognized standing among his fellows 
 is concerned, he bothers himself but little about it. 
 In the day school this same boy, who has in him 
 all the stuff of which the very best and most useful 
 men may be made, must work if he would hold 
 his visible grade, and this necessity keeps him within 
 the reach of his fellows. Place the same necessity 
 before him in the Sunday school, and the same 
 result will follow. He will stay with his class. 
 Do not both the classes of boys mentioned know 
 away down in their hearts that the Sunday school 
 as we find it now is not honest with itself or with 
 its pupils as regards the position of the latter in 
 the classes? And, knowing this, does not the 
 school suffer in their esteem? ze 
 
 Another beneficial effect of the stimulus of defi- 
 nite work is manifested in the attendance. Chil- 
 dren who are associated in day school in certain 
 classes and studies form a fellowship which may 
 without difficulty be transferred to the carefully 
 graded Sunday school. A careless girl or boy 
 here and there is swept into the column of develop- 
 ing young people who without this graduation with 
 their fellows from grade to grade would be missed 
 from the Sunday school altogether. It is the tes- 
 timony of graded school workers that this is the- 
 usual result. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 49 
 
 But, says an objector, this will drive out of the 
 Sunday school many an illiterate, naturally slow, 
 incapable child, who cannot possibly keep within 
 the classification of children of the same age. Will 
 this be a new development, or can it be set down 
 as a consequence of careful grading? In the hit- 
 or-miss classification of schools as we find them 
 has there not always been in the infant class the 
 child a head taller than the others? Does not the 
 Intermediate department invariably contain a 
 boy here and there who can with ease carry off 
 one of his fellows under each arm? Is the physi- 
 cal giant a rarity among the advanced pupils? We 
 have always had these odd pupils, and what have 
 we done with them? 
 
 We want to do with them under the advanced 
 system just what we have done with them before, 
 
 only neglecting them less and looking after them 
 
 with more painstaking, loving care. The teacher 
 has always had to favor as far as practicable pupils 
 of this character. Other pupils recognize this 
 necessity to an extent, and will usually look with 
 complacency on the special efforts of the teacher 
 to keep such pupils in line. Thoughtless boys 
 and girls are sometimes inclined to make it unpleas- 
 ant for the plodders, but this is no new develop- 
 ment. If the tactful teacher will visit such pupils 
 privately, and help them in the preparation of 
 their mare difficult lessons, the result will be marked, 
 and this, together with passing them upward on 
 the bare satisfaction of the stipulated conditions, 
 which most pupils will achieve by a good margin, 
 will do much to obviate the difficulties of the case 
 No pupil is likely to more appreciate a certificate 
 
 Not 
 New, 
 After 
 All. 
 
 A 
 
 Natural 
 Way 
 
 out of a 
 Difficulty. 
 
A Possible 
 Choice of 
 Evils. 
 
 50 GRADING THE 
 
 of advancement than this one, provided his personal 
 interest can be aroused; and this end is worth all 
 the extra effort which the teacher can put forth. 
 
 In this point, nevertheless, the objector has 
 brought forward the greatest difficulty connected 
 with the grading system. It isa difficulty, in spite 
 of all efforts to remove it. However, it is not much 
 greater than under the old plan, and it is even 
 better to continue to lose an occasional pupil as 
 before, as much to be regretted as such a result may 
 be, than to reject a plan which is certain to bring 
 to the Sunday school, as no other plan has ever 
 done, the greatest good to the greatest number.. 
 
 It is not generally proposed to introduce the 
 grading system in detail in the Bible class division 
 of the Sunday school. It is here, if anywhere, 
 that the scheme is likely to prove impracticable in 
 many of its phases. When people have gone past 
 their school days, and cease to be in touch with 
 regulations requiring study, their attention to any- 
 thing educational is more of an incidental character. 
 Therefore the grading of the school must be greatly 
 modified when this class of attendants is reached. 
 A few years under the graded system, though, 
 develops a kind of Bible classes the Sunday school 
 has not before known, 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 51 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 LOCATING PUPILS. 
 
 Outside of the Bible class division, which will 
 not be discussed in this connection, Sunday school 
 classes should not be large. This is especially true 
 in the carefully graded school. It is better that 
 the range be from six to ten members to the class, 
 if circumstances will allow such division. The 
 size of classes is to some extent necessarily contin- 
 gent upon the number of good teachers available, 
 as even large classes with good teachers are pref- 
 erable to better proportioned classes in poor hands. 
 The indifferent teacher is sometimes a necessary 
 evil, but should not be employed unless classes are 
 so large and unwieldy as to demand division. 
 
 It may always be taken for granted that a well 
 managed Sunday school will grow. It is therefore 
 better in organizing or reorganizing to have the 
 classes arranged below the size limit rather than 
 full, sometimes even in skeleton form—provided 
 the necessary teachers are at hand. The evident 
 abundance of room affords an incentive for class 
 missionary work, and the building up of the skel- 
 eton class. If the school is to be closely graded 
 the pupils should be so divided and subdivided as 
 to avoid a wide range of individual attainment in 
 a single class. The ability to carry such division 
 as far as desirable is contingent upon the size of 
 the school, it being sometimes necessary in a small 
 school to include in a single class pupils who would 
 
 Organizing 
 in 
 
 Skeleton 
 Form. 
 
An Oppor- 
 tunity for 
 Study. 
 
 The 
 Day 
 School 
 the 
 Key. 
 
 52 GRADING THE 
 
 not otherwise be graded together. In large schools 
 there are often more pupils of a single grade than 
 can well be taught in a single class. In such cases 
 there may be two or more classes of the same sex 
 and grade, it being remembered that outside of 
 the Primary room and Bible classes it is better that 
 the sexes be in separate classes. 
 
 Reorganization furnishes the opportunity for 
 studying the situation and arranging the classes 
 symmetrically. Pains should be taken to do this 
 very thoroughly all over the school at the time of 
 the adoption of graded work. This done, it remains 
 to exercise care in the assignment of new pupils 
 and in promotion from grade to grade. Laxness 
 at this point will result in almost irremediable con- 
 fusion, and invites failure for the entire undertaking. 
 
 As the new pupil enters the Sunday school, a 
 glance and a brief question or two usually suffice 
 for a decision by the assigning officer as to where 
 to place him and what “quarterly” to give him. 
 In the graded school the investigation must go 
 farther. A thorough preliminary examination is 
 not feasible, and an offhand assignment is not to 
 be thought of. Questions about special biblical 
 attainment are framed and asked with difficulty 
 under the circumstances, and envelop the whole 
 interview in embarrassment for the pupil. A per- 
 tinent and proper inquiry in the case will bring 
 out the standing of the newcomer in the day school, 
 and in the absence of further positive information 
 this may furnish the needed cue. Circumstances 
 may sometimes suggest the mention of age as a 
 chief factor, but it is preferable that the matter be 
 decided without reference to this if possible. If 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 53 
 
 there are two or three classes of the same grade it 
 is well to learn whether the applicant has friends 
 and associates in either, locating him accordingly. 
 
 The importance of care right here cannot be too 
 strongly emphasized. It should first be ascertained 
 whether the proposed membership in the Sunday 
 school is expected to be permanent. It should be 
 assumed without mentioning it that the whole 
 question of assignment is expected to be in the 
 hands of the officer, and it should be settled by 
 that individual without apparent hesitation, unless 
 the pupil himself should introduce his preferences. 
 If these nick with the proprieties of the case the 
 course is plain. If they clearly place the pupil 
 where he should not go, a little friendly reasoning 
 will frequently settle the matter satisfactorily. If 
 persistent in wishing to enter the wrong class the 
 adjustment may require some effort. It will be 
 recognized, though, that the voluntary applicant 
 for membership in the Sunday school is usually 
 easily dealt with in the matter of location. It is 
 those whom special friends bring who are located 
 with the greatest difficulty. All of the interviews 
 referred to, if conducted pleasantly and with tact, 
 are mutually enjoyable and satisfactory. 
 
 When not running counter to other considerations, 
 the social preferences of children may always be 
 recognized to advantage, although for obvious 
 reasons it is best not to consult with them about 
 these preferences. Care should be taken, always, 
 not to create social lines, and, above all, to quietly 
 obliterate them when accident or design has devel- 
 oped them. The class is a little democracy, over 
 which the shadow of caste should never be thrown. 
 
 A Task 
 Requir- 
 ing 
 Firmness 
 and 
 Tact. 
 
 Care as 
 to 
 Social 
 Lines. 
 
A Variety 
 of 
 Irregulars. 
 
 Perfect 
 Grading 
 in the 
 Primary 
 Room. 
 
 54 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IRREGULAR PUPILS. 
 
 Irregular pupils are of several kinds. There are 
 those who join the school after the introduction of 
 grading, and who are too advanced or too old for 
 the Primary room. Another contingent is made 
 up of those who are members right along, but who 
 are irregular in attendance and cannot be depended 
 upon for regular or consecutive work. Then there 
 are those who, through accident, sickness or ab- 
 sence from home, are seriously interfered with 
 in their work. A fourth variety “happen in” 
 from time to time, or wander from school to school 
 in migratory fashion, affording no school an op- 
 portunity of doing anything substantial for them. 
 What is to be done with all of these pupils? 
 
 At the inception of grading it is probable that 
 the only really perfectly graded part of the school 
 will be found in the Primary room. It is possible 
 here to start out with things just as they should 
 be. The little folks are easi'y divisible on lines 
 of attainment, and their promotion from grade to 
 grade comes about in an easy and natural way. 
 As the years go by, and these same children who 
 began at the beginning advance they will naturally 
 form a nucleus of well graded pupils in every 
 division of the school. Conditions somewhat simi- 
 lar, but less perfect, can be established at the start 
 in the Junior classes, something of class symmetry 
 being lost, however, as the school grades upward. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 55 
 
 There has been difficulty from the start in getting 
 pupils in the Junior and Intermediate departments 
 who are not graduates from the lower grades prop- 
 erly classified. Conditions here, under these cir- 
 cumstances, are seldom ideal. Teachers and officers 
 are compelled to be satisfied with approximations 
 to what they desire. It is too much to claim that 
 immediate results in these departments can be 
 more than relative. It is to these classes thus 
 situated, that the ‘‘ irregulars” are to be added, 
 in the hope that they may be assimilated. 
 
 Reference was made in the last chapter to the 
 entrance of the new pupil, and some considera- 
 tions mentioned in connection with his disposal by 
 the assigning officer. While not a disturbing el- 
 ement in the sense of being unwelcome, his coming 
 nevertheless is a very puzzling factor in class work, 
 the problem being different in the case of each new 
 pupil received. How shall the teacher treat the 
 newcomer in respect to the unsatisfied require- 
 ments of the particular grade through which the 
 elass is then passing—taking it for granted that the 
 novitiate has not been trained in any Sunday 
 school, much less in a graded one? 
 
 In the first place, the pupil thus received must 
 be placed in a class of an age corresponding more 
 or less nearly to his own. A difference of a year 
 or two may not signify, though the discrepancy 
 should be as slight as circumstances will allow. 
 While he and they are side by side in the day school, 
 the boys of his own age in the Sunday school know 
 a good deal more about the things taught in the 
 Sunday school than he does. He must make good 
 this deficiency if he is to remain with them and 
 
 How 
 about 
 the 
 New 
 Pupil? 
 
 Keeping 
 the 
 
 Pupil with 
 his 
 Fellows. 
 
A Good 
 Find for 
 the 
 Pupil. 
 
 A Very 
 Difficult 
 Case. 
 
 56 GRADING THE 
 
 pass with them into the next higher classification. 
 What shall the teacher do? 
 
 The case is a plain one. The teacher should 
 arrange at the earliest possible date for a visit to 
 or from the new pupil. Let the situation be fully 
 discussed, the requirements made just as light as 
 is consistent with satisfying the conditions, and 
 a program for making up the missing lessons 
 prepared. Let this program cover only such things 
 as are necessary to passing into the next grade. 
 This work will be easy—if the teacher will join the 
 pupil in its prosecution. A few interviews, which 
 should not be discussed before the class, will prob- 
 ably suffice. At the same time a good of at least 
 equal value has been accomplished: The pupil has 
 found the teacher a helper and friend, and that 
 right on the threshold of their acquaintance. Pupils 
 whose work has been interfered with by sickness 
 or absence from home may be helped into good 
 lesson standing in the same way. No prescribed 
 course of Sunday school study, of any other than 
 an elective character, should be so heavy or so ex- 
 acting that omissions cannot be made good. 
 
 The pupil who is irregular in attendance, and 
 cannot be induced to take up and prosecute steady 
 work, presents a trouble not so easily compassed, 
 These pupils, like sin, are always with us, though 
 persistent effort will keep their number small. 
 There is now and then a case of a wholly incorri- 
 gible character. Two kinds of treatment suggest 
 themselves: One is to allow these pupils to suffer 
 the penalty of their negligence by remaining in 
 their grade when their fellows are promoted; the 
 other, which cannot be recommended, is to form 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 57 
 
 separate mixed classes for them, from pupils of 
 their kind. To admit them to promotion along 
 with those who rise by merit is to take all the mean- 
 ing out of promotion, and entirely defeat the pur- 
 pose of grading. This is not to be thought of;— 
 better the unfortunate alternative of their leaving 
 the school, though this alternative course would 
 perhaps be adopted only in occasional cdses. 
 
 Little or nothing can be done for the migratory 
 pupil in the graded Sunday school, any more 
 than in the Sunday school of ordinary type. Effort 
 is to be made, of course, to bring him in line for 
 better things; but the special good in the premises 
 is the spiritual gymnastic for the worker, rather 
 than the hope of really reaching and helping the 
 
 vagrant. 
 
The 
 Real 
 Standard. 
 
 A Confu- 
 sion of 
 Standards. 
 
 58 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 FORMING AND STARTING. 
 
 Education of whatever kind has but one standard 
 —attainment. We cannot properly classify the 
 Sunday school on what the pupil is, who he is, his 
 relation to the church, or any other consideration 
 except what he knows. The Bible is our text-book, 
 and the pupil of less than adult years is supposedly 
 placed in a division of the school corresponding 
 to his knowledge of that book, as ascertained by 
 certain tests to which he is subjected. Age should 
 not be considered in this connection further than 
 as an indication of where, under ordinary conditions, 
 a pupil should be found. Within a certain depart- 
 ment, for convenience in arranging its classes, 
 divisions of those admitted to that department 
 may be made with some reference to age. That 
 is to say, let departmental lines be drawn strictly 
 on attainment, with some limitations specified 
 later, and let divisions within departments be reg- 
 ulated to some extent by convenience. 
 
 Other considerations should obtain to only a 
 limited extent in classifying the school. The one 
 cited is simple, easily understood, and will give 
 a more satisfactory and uniform organization 
 throughout than can be secured on any other basis. 
 To introduce other conditions as having more than 
 a relative value is to complicate, to invite confu- 
 sion, and endanger the success of the undertaking. 
 
Sunpay ScHOOL. 59 
 
 The greatest drawback to successful Sunday 
 school classification has been a comparatively 
 close adhering to age as the standard of measure- 
 ment. This for a long time seemed to be unavoid- 
 able, and no other apparently practicable standard 
 was available. This circumstance has complicated 
 the difficulties surrounding the establishing of a 
 correct basis for grading, and cannot be altogether 
 ignored. Some attention is necessarily paid to 
 age in this connection; but it should not in any 
 case have more than a subordinate position in any 
 plan formulated. Some suggestions as to how 
 age limits may be incorporated into a course of 
 study will appear in a later chapter. 
 
 As usually divided the modern Sunday school 
 has four departments—the Primary, the Junior, 
 the Intermediate, and the Senior, besides the Nor- 
 mal class. The four divisions named areas good 
 as any, perhaps, and although age limits should 
 hold only a secondary place, the ages in a practi- 
 cable system of classification would likely be about 
 as follows: Primary, up to about nine years; Junior, 
 nine to fourteen; Intermediate, fourteen to eighteen; 
 Senior, eighteen and above, That is to say, grad- 
 uation from one grade to another would naturally 
 be expected at about the age limits named—nine, 
 fourteen and eighteen—although the precocity 
 or slowness of pupils may strain the limits either 
 way. 
 
 The number of departments is made small, in 
 order to make it possible for schools of all sizes to 
 be included in general educational plans. Though 
 a school may be so small that a department may 
 mean only a class, this simplicity of division places 
 
 The Age 
 Standard 
 
 a 
 Drawback. 
 
 The 
 Four 
 Departe 
 ments. 
 
Dividing 
 the School 
 into 
 Grades. 
 
 60 GRADING THE 
 
 it side by side with the large school in working to 
 a common end. Further division is a matter of 
 detail, regulated by the size and needs of any par- 
 ticular school in question. In a school barely 
 large enough to cover the organization of the four 
 departments a grade would practically mean a term 
 of years equal to the length of time covered by the 
 department to which the grade belongs. Such 
 schools face the difficulty of being unable to furnish 
 within the departments enough classes to properly 
 represent the varying attainments of pupils who 
 need closer classification. This places the very 
 small school at a decided disadvantage. The only 
 available remedial measures are to make the classes 
 as small as the number of suitable teachers will 
 allow; for each teacher to cover a wider range of 
 work than under ordinary conditions; and for a 
 special campaign of effort to be inaugurated to 
 increase the size of the school. If composed of 
 the best of “stuff” (and that kind of “‘stuff” is often 
 found in the very small schools), the sponsors for 
 the school will usually be able to compass this ob- 
 stacle. Where a school is large enough to allow 
 even two classes to a. department the situation is 
 
 ‘greatly improved, and where there can be a class 
 
 for every year in the course the problem of classi- 
 fication is solved. 
 
 In the practical application of a scheme of grad- 
 ing the time in each of these departments should 
 be subdivided into periods of one year each, as a 
 matter of convenience in classifying the work. 
 As already stated, this application is feasible where 
 a school is large enough to furnish a number of 
 classes equal to the number of years in the course. 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 61 
 
 Nor does this require a very large school, a mem- 
 bership of from eighty to one hundred usually being 
 sufficient for the purpose. Here is a scheme which 
 will be found to work well: Let children up to the 
 age of four years be included in the Cradle Roll, and 
 call this Grade 1. The Beginners’ Course naturally 
 follows, covering two years, and including Grade 2 
 and Grade 3. Both of these divisions naturally 
 belong to the Primary department, which may 
 also include the three years following, bringing 
 the child up to the age of nine years, and completing 
 Grade 4, Grade 5 and Grade 6. Passing into the 
 Junior department, covering five years up to four- 
 teen, Grades 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are added. If four 
 years are assigned to the Intermediate department, 
 this provides for Grades 12, 13, 14 and 15. On 
 this plan the Normal class becomes Grade 16. 
 
 This scheme is suggested because it is simple and 
 workable. Any one of a dozen other schemes may 
 be adopted which will prove as good. It is not a 
 question of the plan of work so much as a plan of 
 work. Let divisions and subdivisions be made in 
 any feasible way so that they embrace the contem- 
 plated work in comprehensive form. Then let 
 the adopted scheme be adhered to in close detail 
 by every teacher and officer in every department 
 of the school. 
 
 The Bible class division will always contain many 
 people who have not graduated from the lower 
 divisions, but will be constantly receiving accessions 
 from that source. Adults should be admitted 
 from the outside without regard to attainment. 
 The graded school is intended for the training of 
 the rising generation. The Sunday school must 
 
 Several 
 
 A 
 Workable 
 Scheme, 
 
 Admitting 
 to the 
 Bible 
 Classes, 
 
The 
 
 Place 
 
 of 
 Beginning. 
 
 62 GRADING THE 
 
 care for the adults of the neighborhood in other 
 ways, discussed in other pages of this book. A 
 Sunday school conducted on the graded system 
 must also have a Normal class, which is discussed 
 in another chapter. 
 
 As stated in the preceding chapter, grading must 
 begin among the Primary pupils. The basis of 
 the whole system rests in their department. Perfect 
 alignment can be formed right here, and this can 
 be tentatively carried out in all the higher grades 
 of the school in after years, so far as it shall then 
 be composed of those who thus met with the 
 principle of grading on the threshold of their Sunday 
 school career. There need be no hesitation in laying 
 out positive work for the Primary period, proper 
 care being taken to insure simplicity, variety and 
 attractiveness. 
 
 In forming the other divisions of the school re- 
 quirements for admission to the several grades 
 should be so arranged in the beginning as to disturb 
 as slightly as possible the positions held by pupils 
 at the time grading is introduced. To this end 
 the initial requirements should be such as will not 
 cause pupils to be retrograded. That is to say, 
 the more stringent grading regulations to be en- 
 forced after the work is well under way should be 
 waived at the start. A pupil should not be shifted 
 at this point as to his position, if such shifting can 
 be avoided. In the beginning it seems to the pupil 
 that the school management is establishing the 
 conditions which regulate his initial standing; 
 while he can readily see that his future position 
 will be a matter of his own creation, in which he 
 can see the reasonableness of his being governed by 
 
SunpDAy SCHOOL. 63 
 
 the results of his own work. Such changes as closer 
 classification calls for should consist in promotions 
 of the better equipped pupils, rather than in the 
 retrograding of their less studious fellows. This 
 will be comparatively easy in large schools, where 
 comparisons of pupils are not sharply drawn by 
 circumstances, but will require much tact where 
 a paucity of pupils magnifies the difficulty of form- 
 ing new classes. 
 
 Graded work affords a rare opportunity of placing 
 special incentive before, the pupil. Courses of 
 study and methods of work may be so arranged that 
 there is always something in evidence which beckons 
 the pupil to come up higher. The work of each 
 grade may be so enriched that all will feel that there 
 is something better ahead. This idea may be espe- 
 cially promoted in lines of elective work, as well 
 as in the regular curriculum, and is a matter of the 
 greatest importance. The ability to afford legiti- 
 mate variety in lines germane to the studies in 
 hand is largely a matter of conditions and environ- 
 ment, and this is another argument for giving to 
 the work in hand a special local adaptation, 
 
 An Oppor- 
 tunity 
 
 for 
 Incentive, 
 
General 
 Primary 
 Depart- 
 ment 
 Suggese- 
 tions, 
 
 64 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE WORK OF THE DIVISIONS. 
 
 What shall be the metes and bounds by which the 
 departments of the graded Sunday school are to be 
 limited? Herewith is submitted only a brief gener- 
 alization, leaving matters of further detail to be ar- 
 ranged by each school, in connection with the course 
 of study to be adopted. 
 
 1. The Primary department should by all means 
 be in a room by itself, or at least in a space screened 
 off from the remainder of the school, the latter plan 
 of separation being practicable almost anywhere. 
 This department naturally begins with the Cradle 
 Roll pupils, which should include the little folks un- 
 able toread. When able to read the Primary pupils 
 should be classified for a slightly different line of 
 work, in which, while not making it so prominent as 
 to be burdensome, practice in reading should receive 
 special attention. Ifthe building is so arranged that 
 the whole Primary department can be thrown to- 
 gether at will, and without interfering with the main 
 school, the work of the teachers will be greatly facil- 
 itated. This will especially aid in the singing, which 
 should be a prominent exercise, and which, along 
 with permitting the little ones in some way to slight- 
 ly change positions from time ta time, will prove 
 very restful. 
 
 Object lessons in great variety should be present- 
 ed tothe classes throughout this department, and 
 muen should be made of everything which may ap- 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 65 
 
 peal to the eye. While here the children may be 
 familiarized with the Bible stories and biographies 
 which must at some time be woven into the life of 
 every one who is to become a lover of the Word. 
 Give wide range to the imagination, and remember 
 that the mind of the child may be filled with high 
 ideals whose influence will elevate to the end of the 
 longest life. Easy memorizing is also in place, such 
 as golden texts, brief and simple scripture quotations 
 and such exercises as may be provided in the course 
 of study. General memorizing should not be urged 
 so strongly at this step, though, as a little later, re- 
 membering that the mind of the child of very tender 
 years is a better storehouse for people, places and in- 
 cidents than for principles and doctrines. When 
 graduated from this department evidence of sub- 
 stantial work done will be as abundant as at any oth- 
 er point in the upward progress of the pupil. 
 
 2. The Junior department opens a much wider 
 field. At a corresponding point in the day school 
 the pupil has taken on such new studies as mark an 
 important era in his life. In the Sunday school 
 there should be sufficient change to show the pupil at 
 once that not only is that which is already learned 
 clearly recognized, but that new and more important 
 things are required of him. The pupil may now be 
 expected to sit attentive and orderly throughout a 
 well-conducted lesson of thirty or thirty-five min- 
 utes, and is susceptible, in connection with conduct, 
 to suggestions appealing to embryo manhood and 
 womanhood. The ‘child’ has given place to the 
 “boy” and the “girl,” which the individuals chiefly 
 concerned like to have remembered when they are 
 spoken of or addressed, At this stage an extremely 
 
 = 
 
 Suitable 
 for the 
 Primary. 
 
 “Child” 
 Obsolete 
 —Enter 
 “Boy” and 
 “Girl,” 
 
The 
 Great 
 Period 
 for 
 Learning. 
 
 Junior 
 Days 
 
 Are 
 Anchoring” 
 Days. 
 
 66 GRADING THE 
 
 juvenile style of teaching or an ultra petting manner 
 of treatment is resented. We now have little men 
 and women to deal with, and must keep that fact. 
 ever in mind. 
 
 The Junior period covers a part of the young life 
 in which more is learned than in any other time, and 
 should be marked by a change in the manner and the 
 range of teaching keeping pace with the new condi- 
 tions. Object lessons are still in place, but they 
 have ceased to be extremely puerile, and are such as 
 appeal more strongly to the adult. The pupil has 
 reached a point where opinion has begun to assert 
 itself, where he can to quite an extent give reasons 
 for things, and where he can cite and comment on 
 the strong and weak points of the characters appear- 
 ing in the lessons. His capacity for easily memoriz- 
 ing at this age is marvellous, and while this should 
 not be overtaxed his mind can be stored with the 
 treasures of scripture as at no other period of his life. 
 Illustration strikes him quickly and forcibly, and his 
 imagination, which is truer though no less vivid than 
 in his Primary days, completes and appropriates the 
 picture partially drawn. 
 
 The graded system of Sunday school instruction 
 appeals to the Junior pupil as it appeals to no one 
 else. It is to him a profound stimulus, a developer 
 of unlimited reach. It is exactly in line with his 
 outside duties, and may with tact be incorporated 
 into his ambitions. Under its influence he is antici- 
 pative in his recitations to a degree never manifested 
 by him in Bible study under other conditions. In 
 short, its influence on young people at this stage in 
 their Sunday school lives furnishes the only needed 
 apology for its existence. Carefully and tactfully 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. ; 67 
 
 interest the Junior pupil in the specific work which 
 this system places before him, fall in with his aspira- 
 tions to be recognized as something more than a lit- 
 tle child, and much will have been done toward an- 
 choring him for a higher life. Indeed Junior days 
 are anchoring days, and the ranks of church mem- 
 bership should be constantly swelling with earnest 
 recruits from among these boys and girls. 
 
 3. The Intermediate department marks the com- 
 pletion of the regular school course up to the work of 
 the adults. When made up of graduates from the 
 the ranks of the Juniors its members may be said to 
 possess at the beginning a much more general knowl- 
 edge of Bible facts and circumstances than the aver- 
 age member of the Bible classes under the old condi- 
 tions. Intermediate work is intended to enlarge 
 on this knowledge of facts, to form as thorough an 
 acquaintance as may be with surroundings and con- 
 ditions, to study the relations of cause and effect in 
 life and duty, and to glean more fully from biogra- 
 phy and incident the personal lessons they are in- 
 tended to convey; while the horizon of study is 
 widened, comparisons and analyses of individuals 
 and motives are instituted, truths are grouped and 
 general deductions made, and habits of reflection 
 formed and strengthened. The Sunday school is not 
 a place for the inculcation of hair-splitting dogma, 
 but the simple doctrines of Christianity may be ex- 
 plained and dwelt upon. A kind of review of that 
 which has been learned in the Junior department 
 should be incorporated, but in such a way as to bring 
 out more forcibly the features just enumerated. 
 
 4. This last department is an approach to ma- 
 ture manhood and womanhood in the investigation 
 
 The 
 Broader 
 Interme< 
 diate 
 Work. 
 
The 
 Seniors. 
 
 No 
 Gradua- 
 tion 
 ‘*From.” 
 
 68 GRADING THE 
 
 of truth, and graduation from this should furnish 
 the school with a stalwart corps of Bible stu- 
 dents invaluable in the sustaining of its higher lines 
 of work. A diploma from this department should 
 admit to the Normal class, and every such 
 graduate should become a fixture in the ranks of this 
 class or of the Bible classes, if not called in some 
 way to serve the school. 
 
 Right here let it be said that there should be no 
 such thing as graduation from the Sunday school. 
 All graduation should be from one part of it into an- 
 other; and when its limited specified course of study 
 shall have been completed the Normal class or the 
 Bible class is the natural place for post-graduate 
 work. ‘The days of the years of our Bible student 
 pilgrimage are the days of the years of our natural 
 lives. Any other limitation is unwarranted. The 
 field of usefulness in these adult classes is unlimited. 
 It is not only that which we learn and that in which 
 we spiritually grow that compensates for our con- 
 tinued pupilage, but that which by personal class 
 contact we may impart to others, and that which by 
 personal example we may induce them to undertake. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 69 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FROM GRADE TO GRADE. 
 
 The successful Sunday school must be symmetri- 
 cal. It is only in its best form when there are no 
 marked incongruities in the make-up of its classes, 
 viewed from any practical standpoint. It is some- 
 times necessary for the youth in his later “teens’’ to 
 sit in class beside the patriarch of three-score-and- 
 ten—but it is not nature’s way. People of all ages 
 in the school will do their best work when associated 
 with those of approximately their own age. It is 
 much better to have illy assorted classes than not to 
 make the Sunday school comprehensive in its reach, 
 and yet where natural and easy conditions can be 
 established the facilities for good work are multi- 
 plied. 
 
 One of the perplexities connected with the grading 
 of the Sunday school is met with just here. Pupils 
 vary so widely in faithfulness, industry and attain- 
 ment that it seems almost impossible to assemble 
 them in groups which will not contravene all ideas of 
 propriety in the premises. Here, for example, is a 
 girl of twelve who grades away above representative 
 girls of sixteen—a kind of precocity which crops out 
 here and there all over the school, to the embarrass- 
 ment of teachers and superintendent. What is to be 
 done about it? 
 
 The remedy lies in having regular and special 
 courses, supplemented in special cases by elective 
 work, Let the regular course for any grade always 
 
 The 
 
 Need 
 
 of 
 Symmetry. 
 
 Many 
 Kinds. 
 
Minimum 
 Ages in 
 Promotion. 
 
 70 GRADING THE 
 
 be so plain and easy that the dullest pupil may be 
 able to compass it. Have special courses covering 
 the same period, of which bright pupils can avail 
 themselves, and be prepared to meet all needs from 
 the Primary room tothe Normalclass. Let the pu- 
 pils in passing from grade to grade receive certifi- 
 cates or diplomas suited to the courses which have 
 been taken, just as the same thing is done in other 
 educational institutions. In this way the pupil’s 
 term of twelve or fifteen years in the graded part of 
 the Sunday school will not be shortened, but his di- 
 ploma when he enters the Normal class will record 
 an altogether different achievement from that of his 
 less studious fellow. In this way different meas- 
 ures of work may be adjusted to a common plan. 
 There may very properly be a measure of flexibil- 
 ity as to the age limits at which pupils may pass from 
 grade to grade; yet this flexibility should have such 
 fixed limits as will preserve the class symmetry of the 
 school. Such variation should be allowed as will 
 furnish to the pupil a stimulus for better study, with- 
 out leaving discouragement for others in his wake. 
 Taking the natural age limits of the different de- 
 partments as before discussed, I would establish a 
 minimum age before reaching which a pupil could 
 not pass into a higher grade. If, for instance, the 
 usual time for entering the Junior department is at 
 the age of nine years, I would place the minimum at 
 eight. If the time of graduation from the Junior 
 is fourteen, the minimum for entering the Interme- 
 diate classes should be thirteen. If the approxi- 
 mate time for completing the Intermediate course is 
 at eighteen, seventeen should be the minimum for 
 going into the Senior class. Let those who sooner 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 71 
 
 complete the various steps be given extra elective 
 work, as suggested, which even then will allow them 
 to gain in time on the regular work. This will at the 
 same time prevent the personal make-up of the 
 school becoming distorted from the standpoint of 
 age. 
 
 Those who have had ‘anything to do with special 
 class work in the Sunday school will testify that it 
 has been their best and most satisfactory work. The 
 graded Sunday school affords opportunities for these 
 more attractive studies that have never been known, 
 and through these opportunities the teacher’s great 
 opportunity must come. The pupil needs above all 
 things to realize that the Sunday school is the open 
 door to rich treasures of knowledge, and to be cured 
 of the prevalent impression that it is capable of noth- 
 ing bright, original and fascinating. Elective work, 
 recognized by special diplomas, can be made to infin- 
 itely widen the Sunday school horizon. Special 
 talent should be employed in every school in arrang- 
 ing for such work. 
 
 The 
 Teacher’s 
 Great 
 Opportu- 
 nity. 
 
A Day 
 in the 
 Calendar. 
 
 Promotion 
 Day a 
 Special 
 Occasion. 
 
 72 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 MANNER OF PROMOTION 
 
 Systematic promotion is an essential feature of 
 any kind of educational work, and must of course be 
 incorporated in the plans of a graded system in the 
 Sunday school. As the grades are most easily ar- 
 ranged on a yearly basis, promotion periods should 
 be made annual as well. A time in the year should 
 be decided on, chosen with reference to the environ- 
 ment of the school, and the season when it is fullest 
 in the matter of attendance. This date should be as 
 firmly fixed as is Christmas or Children’s Day, and 
 should be as prominently recognized in the school 
 calendar. 
 
 Promotion Day, or Commencement Day, or what- 
 ever it may be called in a given school, should be 
 made a special occasion. Its program should be 
 special, without interfering with the regular lesson, 
 and as attractive as may be. The brief program, 
 like all Sunday school programs, should not be liter- 
 ary, and should contain nothing in the way of ad- 
 dresses except a few fitting words connected with 
 the awarding of certificates and diplomas, recogniz- 
 ing the work done, commending the participants, 
 and emphasizing the importance of the occasion. 
 The pastor and church officers should have just 
 enough to do with the occasion to give it an official 
 character. Flowers are nowhere more appropriate 
 and significant than on Sunday school occasions, and 
 if in season these may abound. The music should be 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 73 
 
 plentiful and well chosen. Above all, the fullest at- 
 tendance of the constituency of the church, and of 
 the community in general, should be secured. 
 
 The promotion of the individual pupil should be 
 contingent upon the satisfying of established condi- 
 tions. Promotion presupposes positive ground up- 
 on which it may rest, and derives its value from hav- 
 ing such a basis in fact. It is apparent that it must 
 rest upon a degree of knowledge of things which may 
 be known and are determinate, and not upon things 
 indefinite and inferential. The examinations—both 
 quarterly and annual—which precede the occasion 
 should therefore be simple, direct and easily under- 
 stood, and based upon questions naturally growing 
 out of the lessons learned. In short, they should cor- 
 respond in character somewhat with those of the day 
 school, except that they should in most cases be less 
 rigid. 
 
 A scale of points will perhaps be necessary for the 
 proper regulation of examinations a fixed minimum 
 of which will be regarded as sufficient to allow the 
 » pupil to pass. Seventy points out of a possible 100 
 is a reasonable basis. It is a good idea just here to 
 introduce attendance and faithfulness as elements in 
 the case. For instance, if a pupil should make an 
 absolutely perfect record in the year, missing no 
 Sundays and never being late, and showing certifi- 
 cates of attendance elsewhere when away from home, 
 let an additional credit of say twelve points be given. 
 If fifty good Sundays are recorded let the credit be 
 ten points. If no more than three-fourths of the 
 Sundays find the pupil in place, let a discount of five 
 points be made, and if the number be reduced to 
 one-half let ten points be taken off. A pupil being 
 
 Promotion 
 Always 
 for 
 
 Cause. 
 
 Points. 
 
The Evie 
 dences of 
 Promotiva. 
 
 Kinds of 
 Certificases 
 and 
 Diplomas. 
 
 74 GRADING THE 
 
 present only twenty-six full Sundays and making an 
 examination record of eighty points (an improbabili- 
 ty for one so often absent) would still have seventy 
 points left with which to make his grade. ~These de- 
 tails can be arranged to conform to local conditions 
 and the judgment of the management. 
 
 The evidences of promotion, awarded on these oc- 
 casions, should consist of certificates in passing from 
 grade to grade, and of diplomas when promotion car- 
 ries the pupil into a higher department, with a spe- 
 cial diploma at the completion of the course and en- 
 trance into the Normal class These documents 
 should be neat in form and style, should be attested 
 by the superintendent and the teacher of the pro- 
 moted pupils, and should bear the seal of the school. 
 The doing of everything in decency and in order, the 
 dignifying of duties too often considered trivial, the 
 imparting of character to things seemingly devoid of 
 character—these are strong points in graded work. 
 
 These certificates and diplomas must vary with 
 the kind of course the pupil is taking, and the quan- 
 tity of elective work done. The blank forms may be 
 so prepared as to express these differences, which 
 may also be emphasized by different colors in the 
 seals attached. This idea is not a new one, and is 
 already incorporated in the practice of some of our 
 state Sunday school associations in their teacher 
 training work. 
 
 The awarding of special class honors, or the public 
 recognition of pupils after a discriminating fashion, 
 is to be deprecated. ‘The differences in achievement 
 are shown by the certificates received, and the sim- 
 ple announcement of these, without personal com- 
 ment, should suffice. I am aware that some people 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 75 
 
 object to the diploma system, because of possible ri- 
 valries and heart-burnings; but investigation will 
 show that any trouble experienced has grown out of 
 injudicious competitive stimulation, and the pitting 
 of one pupil against another for something which 
 only one can get, The system here recommended 
 possesses none of these features, and the wholesome 
 stimulus afforded to each pupil is at the expense of 
 no other pupil in the entire school. The avoidance 
 of the senseless public invidious distinctions so often 
 made between pupils, and the avoidance of the per- 
 nicious habit of making the success of one the defeat 
 of another, will remove every obstacle of this char- 
 acter out of the way of Promotion Day and its whole- 
 some effect on the school and on the community. 
 
 In connection with all of this work a comprehen- 
 sive and substantial register should be kept. Ido 
 not know of any book especially designed for the 
 purpose, but it should be sufficiently large to cover 
 the work of a term of years. The progress of every 
 pupil should be recorded, and a blank book can be 
 ruled for the purpose with a pen and suitably colored 
 inks. This book should be kept in a secure place on 
 the Sunday school premises, and should always be 
 accessible for inspection. In most cases it had bet- 
 ter be kept by some one chosen for the purpose, and 
 not by the secretary of the school. In nearly every 
 school there is some one who will take special pride 
 and interest in such work. In asmall school a teach- 
 er or a pupil may doit. Ina large school a special 
 officer may be required. In any case such a register 
 will acquire a priceless value in a few years. 
 
 Guarding 
 Against a 
 Bad 
 Practice. 
 
 A Graded 
 Course 
 Register. 
 
Multiplied 
 Courses of 
 Study. 
 
 76 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 COURSES OF STUDY. 
 
 Thus far in the history of the movement for grad- 
 ing the Sunday school the discussions of the subject 
 have consisted largely in the presentation and anal- © 
 yses of courses of study. This is the natural mani- 
 festation of the interest felt in the all-absorbing ques- 
 tion, What shall we study? As a result suggestive 
 curricula are multiplying, with a possibility of pro- 
 ducing confusion in the minds of those seeking the 
 best. Some of those presented are quite simple and 
 practicable, while an occasional curriculum is so 
 heavy and complicated as to be forbidding. A num- 
 
 - ber of authors have given the public the benefit of 
 
 their studies in this line. A few of the religious de- 
 nominations have issued courses of study, while oth- 
 ers seem to have the matter under advisement. 
 
 There is much hesitation among Sunday school 
 workers of experience, in adopting or recommend- 
 ing, without amendment, any of the courses of 
 study so far submitted. On every hand are evi- 
 dences of a disposition to continue to feel the way. 
 The time for concerted action upon lines giving 
 promise of securing general satisfaction has evident- 
 ly not yet arrived. 
 
 Two or three times in these pages have appeared 
 words of caution against attempting toomuch. The 
 same point need not be enlarged upon in this con- 
 nection. A full enough course is needed to give the 
 pupil a reasonable measure of employment, without 
 either overtaxing him or trifling with his time. The 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 77 
 
 design is to help him to know. With this object be- 
 fore us it is understood that a little well learned is 
 worth much more than a great mass of knowledge 
 unassimilated. A great advantage of this simplic- 
 ity, too, is that it is an adaptation to the measure of 
 the dull pupil. It places this unfortunate individ- 
 ual, who is overlooked in so many educational plans, 
 squarely on his feet. At the same time, on this plat- 
 form the brightest young people can stand, with 
 special courses and elective work ready for any meas- 
 ure of undertaking. 
 
 Courses of study must be prepared with reference 
 to the peculiarities of the various ages and grades of 
 pupils. The ever-present question is, What may 
 best be learned at this point? Some things to be 
 learned from the Bible cannot be taught to children 
 at all. Other lessons are the children’s own, Some 
 things are to be pressed strongly in one grade, and 
 barely touched upon in another. Some other things 
 are equally attractive, equally important, and equally 
 adaptable to all ages, the difference lying in the 
 standpoints from which these things are taught, and 
 the phases of the subjects presented. Less differ- 
 ence in matter of instruction is sometimes required 
 than in the manner in which instruction is imparted. 
 Different things are deduced from the same lesson 
 for the benefit of different grades. 
 
 The order and manner in which Bible history, ge- 
 ography, biography, literature and doctrine should 
 be taught must be carefully considered; and when a 
 conclusion has been reached one cannot be certain 
 that some variation from the plan might not have 
 been better. There is so much that is relative, so 
 much that is indeterminate as to the wisdom of do- 
 
 Do not 
 Attempt 
 too Much 
 
 Adaptation 
 to Ages 
 and 
 Grades. 
 
No Place 
 
 Supple- 
 mentary 
 Work 
 Necessary. 
 
 78 GRADING THE 
 
 ing things in certain ways, that one cannot afford to 
 be dogmatic in the premises. When it has been de- 
 cided that one thing is better than some other thing 
 with which one is familiar in matters of this kind, it — 
 is with the realization that there may be something 
 else that is still better. One meaning of this is that 
 what is best for one to work out with the facilities at 
 hand would possibly be the better of amendment by 
 another who undertakes the same thing under other 
 conditions; which is another way of reiterating the 
 lesson of local adaptation. 
 
 Even a cursory effort at the preparing of a course 
 of study at once brings out the necessity of supple- 
 mentary work. If such systems as the Internation- 
 al are adhered to as proposed, regular lesson study 
 must of course be incorporated; but this alone is in- 
 sufficient for the purpose. This insufficiency is both 
 because of the difficulty found in adapting certain 
 lessons to the general plan, and the necessity of hav- 
 ing lines of study in which systematized information 
 may be taught in a progressive and climacteric 
 way. Supplementary work is the natural and al- 
 together sufficient resource, as shown in the many 
 ways in which its possibilities are brought out in the 
 proposed courses of study. In fact it is the real ba- 
 sis of graded instruction, its flexibility and adapta- 
 bility covering requirements of every kind. 
 
 Ordinary Sunday school teaching in our day has 
 resulted in the evolution of periodical ‘thelps” for 
 such phases of study as are contemplated by the 
 courses of lessons in use. The development of this 
 literature is one of the marvels of the day. Un- 
 known a half century ago, it has reached a point 
 where every religious denomination of consequence 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 79 
 
 has a more or less complete line of periodicals wholly 
 its own, used in its own Sunday schools, watching 
 carefully over the interpretations of scripture placed 
 before its young people, and doctrinally safeguard- 
 ing its creed. All of this is supplemented by a few 
 similar lines wholly undenominational in character. 
 The courses of study presented in these pages do not 
 contemplate any interference whatever with this es- 
 tablished condition. Nothing so good can be done 
 for regular lesson work as to make use of this same 
 literature. No change is proposed except that a bet- 
 ter use be made of it under these more stimulating 
 conditions. 
 
 For the supplemental work provided for these 
 same ‘‘helps’” will be useful. As the pupils move 
 from grade to grade other literature will be needed. 
 But little of this additional literature is of a periodi- 
 cal character, and much of it is issued by the denom- 
 inational publishing houses themselves. The prose- 
 cution of graded work to its legitimate ends will in- 
 duce a much wider introduction of religious books 
 than is ordinarily found in connection with Sunday 
 school study, the present limited use of which class 
 of books is to be deplored. 
 
 The whole tendency of the multiplying courses of 
 Sunday school study now being issued is to broaden 
 the horizon of investigation. It is a most whole- 
 some condition. 
 
 Using Es- 
 tablished 
 Periodical 
 Literature. 
 
 Using 
 Religious 
 Books. 
 
80 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE NORMAL CLASS. 
 
 As already specified elsewhere, membership in this 
 class is the highest position in the graded Sunday 
 school attainable by the pupil as a pupil. It is by 
 all odds the most desirable place within the scope of 
 the entire organization. The only drawback to 
 Normal class membership is that such membership 
 is always in danger of being short-lived, or at least 
 of being seriously interrupted, since the kind of peo- 
 ple of whom it is composed are likely to be called at 
 any time to special responsibility elsewhere in the 
 school. Many an officer or teacher who reads this 
 paragraph covets the enjoyment of such work and 
 relative rest as a Normal class affords—and who can 
 blame him? The physician who wants to keep 
 abreast of the times likes to suspend his practice and 
 attend medical lectures from time to time. Similar- 
 ly, many an official in the Sunday school would thus 
 be the better of ‘‘attending the lectures’’in the home 
 school once in a while, both as a rejuvenator and as 
 a developer. What a pity such an experience is not 
 more often feasible! If it ever becomes so it will be 
 through the development of graded work. 
 
 The natural membership of the Normal class is 
 made up of graduates from the next department. 
 Special pains should be taken to prevent these grad- 
 uates from slipping away from the school, of which 
 there is always more or less danger. Let them be 
 anchored in the higher class if possible. Of this class 
 the accumulating graduates essentially form the nu- 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 81 
 
 cleus. Here the new ones meet such of those com- 
 pleting the course in other years as are not drafted 
 for special school service; and they thus together 
 form an association which at this “‘commencement”’ 
 time is especially needed. If the graduates can be 
 held now through a reasonable period the work of 
 
 years will be ‘‘clinched’’ and strengthened, and their- 
 
 Sunday school character established, while every such 
 holding widens the horizon of the school’s usefulness. 
 If these people are lost now, the good accomplished 
 is dwarfed, and the school loses an increment to its 
 probable working assets to which it is clearly en- 
 titled. Do not allow them to get away now. 
 
 The Normal class is not to be made a holy of ho- 
 lies, and yet there must be conditions of membership. 
 Its doors must not be shut arbitrarily against those 
 who have not taken the school course of study. Bi- 
 ble students of adult years should always find a wel- 
 come, and some of the best members of the organiza- 
 tion may thus be secured. However, in schools suf- 
 ficiently large to sustain general Bible classes beside, 
 it is better to steer the representative careless adult 
 into one of these, unless a specific preference for the 
 Normal class is expressed. Things are expected of 
 this class which will often discourage one wholly un- 
 accustomed to study, while it is easy to suggest re- 
 moval from Bible class to Normal class to one who is 
 likely to profit by the change. 
 
 If there is a “‘best’”’ teacher in the school that teach- 
 er is needed by the Normal class. The choice of this 
 teacher is a matter of the gravest importance. The 
 ability to intelligently instruct is only one of many 
 essential qualifications. He should not only com- 
 mand respect for what he is and what he knows, but 
 
 Holding 
 School 
 Graduates, 
 
The 
 Normal 
 Class 
 Teacher. 
 
 Meeting. 
 
 82 GRADING THE 
 
 should be selected because of staying qualities in 
 looking after the details of the work, as well as in 
 providing adequate instruction. The pastor or the 
 superintendent is often called upon to take charge of 
 this class. In either case it is unfortunate, although 
 it Sometimes seems to be unavoidable. Either has 
 enough to do without the addition of this wearing 
 responsibility. One of the two is expected to con- 
 duct the Teachers’ Meeting, and one cannot well 
 handle both organizations without combining them 
 —which is another unfortunate necessity. The Nor- 
 mal class and the Teachers’ Meeting parallel each 
 other in some things; but the one is incidentally the 
 trainer of teachers for work, while the other deals di- 
 rectly with teachers af work—things not incongru- 
 ous, and yet not always workable together to good 
 advantage. I have no hesitation, though, in urging 
 that where they cannot be separately maintained 
 and satisfactorily taught by good teachers they 
 should be merged. 
 
 It is better that the Normal class meet at the same 
 hour as the school, for the reason that the multipli- 
 cation of classes and meetings at other hours is a 
 multiplication of the difficulties of Sunday school 
 work. Asa general principle I would have no regu- 
 lar outside hour for any Sunday school organization 
 unless such arrangement is unavoidable. The Teach- 
 ers’ Meeting comes in the category of the unavoid- 
 able. The outside hour is the greatest of all the dif- 
 ficulties connected with the maintenance of this 
 meeting. If the Normal class be combined with it, 
 the result is the decimation of class attendance, and 
 the consequent defeat of some of the chief purposes 
 of the organization. 
 
SuNDAY SCHOOL. 83 
 
 If a consensus of opinion were asked for as to the 
 greatest of all obstacles to Sunday school progress 
 the universal reply would be that it lies in the diffi- 
 culty of securing teachers. There have never been 
 enough of available teachers, even discarding rea- 
 sonable discrimination as to fitness. There has al- 
 ways been a woful lack of qualification. These 
 things have been and are true of Sunday school work 
 in its crudest forms. They are doubly true when 
 careful grading and systematic courses of study are 
 contemplated. There is a ringing call for many, 
 many more teachers, and immeasurably better 
 teachers. Even were special grading unthought of, 
 the demand for teacher training is imperative. 
 
 I have already spoken of teacher training as an 
 incidental work of the Normal class. While in a 
 sense this training is incidental, in a larger sense it is 
 fundamental. We must have teachers, and in order 
 to have them we must make them, and this class is 
 to be our factory.. Training in comprehensive in- 
 vestigation, in analytical study, in the wholesome 
 and attractive presentation of fact, in the selection 
 of the thing to be taught, in resourcefulness in the 
 use of incident and illustration, in the rounding up of 
 truth, in the adaptation of teaching to the taught— 
 all of this and much more belongs to the Normal 
 class. A model class in the hands of a model leader 
 should be a model-maker. Going from this class in- 
 to the Teachers’ Meeting, with its text-book study of 
 principle and method, its weekly wrestle with prob- 
 lems of local development, its hand-to-hand contact 
 with Sunday school life in all of its phases, the Nor- 
 mal class student is the most promising of all novi- 
 tiates in the ranks of teachers, 
 
 Wanted— 
 More 
 
 and 
 Better 
 Teachers. 
 
 This 
 Class 
 
 in 
 Teacher 
 
 Training. 
 
Elective 
 Work. 
 
 The 
 Reserve 
 Corps. 
 
 84 GRADING THE 
 
 The work of this class may be to quite an extent 
 elective. That is to say, teacher and pupils may to- 
 gether select special side studies germane to the pur- 
 poses of the organization. The field is practically 
 boundless, and affords such helpful variety as makes 
 it comparatively easy to maintain interest. Several 
 writers have contributed substantially to the possi- 
 ble curriculum of the Normal class. Without dis- 
 cussing their work in detail, I take pleasure in rec- 
 ommending its careful investigation, 
 
 In large Sunday schools it is possible to carry this 
 work into further detail by establishing what is 
 sometimes called a Reserve Corps. This is simply 
 the setting aside of a number of trained people to be 
 always ready for the call to serve as substitute teach- 
 ers. The lesson is usually taught to the Reserve 
 Corps a week in advance. The idea is admirable, in 
 cases where it is feasible. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 85 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EQUIPMENT FOR GRADING. 
 
 It is a law of production that the most incomplete 
 and unsatisfactory of all work is that which is done 
 without proper tools. The representative Sunday 
 school never needed good equipment so much as 
 now. It is even more in demand in the graded Sun- 
 day school. Fortunately for all concerned, equip- 
 ment of almost any desired kind is now available, 
 and at constantly decreasing relative cost. The 
 Sunday school which really desires such equipment 
 as its size and environment require can within a very 
 reasonable period rise to the occasion. 
 
 What is meant by adequate equipment is (1) plen- 
 ty of Bibles, plenty of song books, plenty of the peri- 
 odical literature used in connection with the work of 
 the school; (2) maps, charts, blackboards, etc., both 
 for class work and for general use; (3) especially 
 prepared supplementary literature, as needed, (4) 
 a Sunday school library. I would not class this last 
 as animportant part of up-to-date equipment un- 
 less it is much better made up and used to much 
 better advantage than in even the better class of 
 Sunday schools as we find them. If in the first 
 three specifications the school is well cared for, 
 there is less occasion for insisting upon the fourth. 
 
 Good equipment is much more important than el- 
 egant premises. As desirable as it is to have neat 
 and well appointed rooms, handsome furniture, an 
 attractive architectural exterior, etc., these things 
 
 We Must 
 Have 
 Good 
 Tools. 
 
 The 
 Meaning 
 
 of 
 Equipment. 
 
A Matter of 
 Relative 
 Import- 
 ance. 
 
 Good 
 Equipment 
 is Good 
 Faith. 
 
 Equipment 
 Easily 
 Possible. 
 
 86 GRADING THE 
 
 after allare secondary. Indeed they are often alto- 
 gether beyond reach, and many of the best schools 
 long for such luxuries in vain. The pupils know 
 that such things are not available, and blame nobody 
 for their absence. It is not so certain, though, that 
 the absence of these other things, more or less of 
 which are known to be obtainable if proper effort is 
 made to secure them, is not mentally charged up 
 against inefficient management. 
 
 Good equipment is a visible proof of purpose. The 
 tools to work with point unmistakably to work to be 
 done. Equipment is a most effective invitation to 
 neighborhood coéperation. Let it be understood 
 that the school will secure everything needed as rap- 
 idly as possible, even if accomplished slowly, and 
 much has been done to give it local character. Such 
 equipment as is possible is an expression of good 
 faith. It is being honest with the pupil. While the 
 pupil is asked to come in for instruction, here is prep- 
 aration to adequately furnish that instruction. Pu- 
 pils are asked to do good work, because the school has 
 done its part in promoting such work. It is simply a 
 fair and reasonable proposition. How seldom docs 
 Sunday school management thus fully do its part! 
 
 As already stated, equipment in our day is not a 
 matter of enormous expense. In most cases the nec- 
 essary outlay is a mere bagatelle as compared with 
 the ability of the constituency which is to furnish it. 
 That school is rarely situated in which this need can- 
 not in some easy way be supplied. The necessary 
 outlay for maps, blackboards, etc., is often much 
 overrated. Because an undertaking looks a little 
 difficult on the surface, responsibility is dodged, and 
 the school suffers accordingly. It is overlooked that 
 
SuNpDAy SCHOOL. 87 
 
 there is no occasion for buying everything at once; 
 that equipment will be better appreciated and will 
 be used to better advantage if added item at a time, 
 while this plan of purchase will solve the problem of 
 outlay. Equipping the Sunday school cannot be 
 classed among the very difficult problems involved 
 in its management. 
 
 The matter of adaptation, to which I have several 
 times referred, applies especially to equipment. The 
 small school, in a single room, where no object can 
 be at a great distance from the pupil’s eye, has no 
 space and no use for a multiplication of globes, maps 
 and blackboards. A few simple pieces, chosen to 
 suit the size of the room, the wall space available. 
 and the kind of work to be done, are all-sufficient, 
 In this kind of school such helps to lesson work must 
 be used in a general way, and the simpler and the 
 plainer they are the better. On the other hand, in 
 very large schools, any department of which is prac- 
 tically a school in itself, where rooms are built with 
 the exact uses to which they are to be devoted in 
 view, it is not only necessary that there be more or 
 less of duplication of equipment, but it may be espe- 
 cially adapted to the various departments in a way 
 not feasible under other conditions. These contin- 
 gent matters can be decided only on the ground, and 
 on the judgment of those who have the facts before 
 them. 
 
 Of what should equipment consist? I cannot en- 
 ter into detail on this subject. There should be no 
 occasion to emphasize the necessity of plenty of Bi- 
 bles and song books. Everything else is contingent. 
 I must, however, emphasize, without discussion, the 
 yalue of good maps, and their very liberal use in les- 
 
 Adapta- 
 tion of 
 Equipment. 
 
The Use 
 of the 
 Black- 
 board. 
 
 88 GRADING THE 
 
 son work. The blackboard, once mastered, is per- 
 haps ratable as first of all conveniences in import- 
 ance. Every teacher and every superintendent has 
 special use for the blackboard. There is a mistaken 
 notion that one should be an artist, and able to han- 
 dle colored chalk in bewildering combinations, in or- 
 der to use the blackboard to advantage. Without 
 disparaging skill in this line, for it is not to be de- 
 spised, the greatest value of the blackboard lies in 
 the outline lesson plan, the striking illustration, the 
 presentation of contrasts, comparisons and groups 
 of ideas, the massing of facts, analyses of things dif- 
 ficult to understand, and so on to the end of the long 
 list of things which will suggest themselves;—all fig- 
 ured out in the presence of the class or school, The 
 crudest exercise, in which attentive eyes are follow- 
 ing the chalk in the fingers of the teacher, is worth 
 many times the most artistic blackboard production 
 placed before the class in complete form. The su- 
 perintendent has no resource, I care not what he may 
 have at command, equal to the blackboard for eatch- 
 ing and holding attention. The teacher, above all 
 others, needs the blackboard, the use of which should 
 be taught in the Teachers’ Meeting. Its further dis- 
 cussion here, though, is not germane to the subject 
 in hand, 
 
 Gm» 
 
SunpDAY SCHOOL. 89 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 USING THE TEACHERS’ MEETING. 
 
 Perhaps no adjunct of the Sunday school has so 
 vindicated its usefulness, or grown so rapidly and so 
 substantially in importance in our time, as has the 
 Teachers’ Meeting. Its position in Sunday school 
 economy can hardly be unduly magnified. It is to 
 the Sunday school what the prayer meeting is to the 
 church. A well attended, deeply spiritual prayer 
 meeting essentially means a good church. The right 
 kind of a Teachers’ Meeting just as certainly means 
 a good Sunday school. 
 
 The Teachers’ Meeting is the Sunday school home 
 circle. It is the unifier. It is the developer. It is 
 the remover of obstacles, the lifter of burdens. It is 
 the never-failing source of inspiration. It is, more 
 than any other feature of the Sunday school, the 
 guarantor of success. The wonder of those who re- 
 ally know its value is how so many intelligent work- 
 ers manage to get along without it. 
 
 I want to be set down as a stickler for the fullest 
 use of the Teachers’ Meeting. In my own work I 
 have no hesitation in making loyal membership in 
 this meeting, and attendance at its sessions, positive 
 conditions of accepting the services of any teacher, 
 even in the ordinary Sunday school. I have in some 
 instances declined to appoint otherwise good teach- 
 ers who proposed to ignore this highest and most im- 
 portant of all the classes. A teacher who begins by 
 attending Teachers’ Meeting, and then drops out, is 
 
 Two 
 Helpful 
 Meetings. 
 
 A Meeting 
 for All 
 Teachers, 
 
Attend, 
 or Step 
 Out. 
 
 How 
 
 this 
 Meeting 
 Vindicates 
 Itself. 
 
 90 GRADING THE 
 
 left off the list at the end of the year. Experience 
 teaches me that the superintendent should go far- 
 ther: The teacher who, having ceased to attend this 
 meeting, on being remonstrated with expresses in- 
 difference about it, or the intention of taking no fur- 
 ther part in it, should be relieved at once. Hereaf- 
 ter, in any school of which I may have charge, hav- 
 ing clearly announced the purpose in advance, I will 
 promptly remove any teacher who from indifference, 
 from absorption in other things, or from personal 
 Pique, is recalcitrant on this point. 
 
 The magnifying of the Teachers’ Meeting, and the 
 erection and maintenance of a high standard in its 
 exercises and in its positive requirements, have been 
 of more value and assistance to me in Sunday school 
 management than any and all the other things I 
 have undertaken. I have had teachers go into the 
 Teachers’ Meeting listlessly and in hesitation;—but 
 if they have proven to be teachers of any value at all, 
 they in all cases have come out of a term of such 
 meetings much more efficient, and altogether ready 
 for duty. The skeptical as to the utility of the or- 
 ganization are invariably converted, and the “‘kick- 
 er’? becomes the earnest supporter of school author- 
 ity and plans. 
 
 Did space permit, and were it germane to the sub- 
 ject in hand, I would be glad to speak of my own 
 rich experiences in the past year in the Teachers’ 
 Meeting. Suffice it to say that these experiences 
 have been personally helpful beyond measure. The 
 visible development of absolute oneness among peo- 
 ple unaccustomed to anything beyond a perfunctory 
 semblance of unity; the conversion of timid specta- 
 tors into cheerful participants; the universal mag- 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. gI 
 
 nifying of the teacher’s office and responsibility; and, 
 above all, the creation and strengthening of ties of 
 love and sympathy ;—all of these must be personally 
 realized in order to be appreciated. However, I 
 must add in this connection, that when it is con- 
 ceived that the most important business of the meet- 
 ing is to discuss the Sunday school lesson, as import- 
 ant as that is, the highest possibilities of the organi- 
 zation are altogether misunderstood. 
 
 The Teachers’ Meeting is of course a paramount 
 consideration if the Sunday school is to be carefully 
 graded. Every reason for its installation in the or- 
 dinary school is greatly emphasized in the higher 
 work. It is unnecessary to either cite or discuss 
 these reasons. It will suffice to furnish an answer 
 in part to the question, How may the Teachers’ 
 Meeting be used to promote grading? 
 
 First of all, when a general council of all the adults 
 in any way responsible for the school shall have de- 
 cided to inaugurate the system of grading, let the 
 work be turned over entirely tothe Teachers’ Meet- 
 ing. Leave all details until this point is reached; 
 then let these be taken up and disposed of thorough- 
 ly and completely. Let this meeting be the work- 
 shop in which is worked out the how to do every- 
 thing called for in every department of the school. 
 Undertake nothing of a radical character until it 
 shall first have been so discussed and explained as to 
 be thoroughly understood by every one in any way 
 involved in its execution. 
 
 Bring all questions to this tribunal which are not 
 wholly within the prerogative of the management. 
 No plans can be formed which can completely fore- 
 stall the unforeseen contingencies which will arise. 
 
 Special 
 Good 
 Secured. 
 
 The 
 Sunday 
 School 
 Method 
 Workshop. 
 
A Con- 
 venient 
 Tribunal. 
 
 Combined 
 Experience 
 and 
 Judgment. 
 
 92 GRADING THE 
 
 When these contingencies do arise they cannot be 
 ignored, and usually their disposal cannot long be 
 postponed. This weekly council furnishes the best 
 of all ways out of such difficulties. Matters of cheer 
 and developments of a discouraging character are 
 alike suitable themes for the Teachers’ Meeting, and 
 their discussion should be a part of its program. 
 
 Grading will be prolific of problems calling for the 
 exercise of tact and wisdom. The combined experi- 
 ence and judgment of all concerned will be re- 
 quired at many a turn—and even then judgment 
 may sometimes be at fault. Plans of work and spe- 
 cial exercises will be the better of being tested. Tri- 
 al examinations will need to be conducted. Many 
 little things almost impossible of settlement on the 
 spur of the moment in the class hour will develop. 
 What adequate disposal and adjustment of all of 
 these is available in the absence of the Teachers’ 
 Meeting? 
 
 The weekly gathering of teachers is a place for spe- 
 cific instruction. The teachers themselves form a 
 class the teaching of which is more important than 
 the teaching of any of the classes over which the sev- 
 eral teachers preside. Grading presupposes a kind 
 of work calling for the best of teaching, and empha- 
 sizing the desirability of keeping abreast of the times 
 in manner and method. The Teachers’ Meeting re- 
 quires a leader capable of thus instructing the in- 
 structors and leading the leaders. Such an individ- 
 ual can usually be found, and when found will soon 
 come to be rated as indispensable. 
 
 Finally, let the Teachers’ Meeting be the place for - 
 effectually settling all differences. Those who make 
 the best teachers are rarely troubled with disagree- 
 
SunDAY SCHOOL. 93 
 
 ments of any kind. Indeed a corps of teachers may 
 be so chosen as to avoid special danger from this 
 source. The would-be teacher known to possess a 
 proneness for discord should be passed by in the or- 
 ganization of the school. Yet when all precautions 
 have been taken, honest differences of opinion may 
 sometimes arise, resulting in divided counsels. These 
 differences must be adjusted right here. In a long 
 experience I have never seen a case which could not 
 be soadjusted, and am sure that persistent incorri- 
 gibility should be followed by the retirement of the 
 recalcitrant. When the majority of the teachers 
 have decided on a policy or measure its adoption 
 should be made unanimous, and the school should in 
 no case be made aware of a disagreement. An irrec- 
 oncilable minority can better be spared than penmit- 
 ted to exploit its opposition. A well-conducted 
 Teachers’ Meeting is a safeguard almost absolute 
 against troubles of this character. 
 
 The 
 Place 
 for 
 Settling 
 Differ- 
 
Beware 
 of 
 *“Excep= 
 tions.” 
 
 Correct 
 Time 
 Adjust= 
 ments. 
 
 94 GRADING THE 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 GRADING MEMORANDA, 
 
 Beware of exceptions to any of the provisions laid. 
 down in your plan of grading. In the first place, in- 
 sist that teachers and officers do everything just as 
 planned and agreed upon in general council Hav- 
 ing guarded against the plan being too rigorous and 
 exacting, see that as adopted it be adhered to in all 
 details. “Exceptions” are dangerous, demoralizing. 
 If one teacher can ignore the Teachers’ Meeting—the 
 school’s home circle—no one can rightfully be held 
 toits requirements. If one pupil is allowed to leave 
 an easy condition of promotion unsatisfied, the door 
 to all kinds of irregularities is thrown wide open. 
 The only way is to stand by the specifications. 
 
 In graded work not only the regular lesson is to 
 receive attention, but more or less supplementary 
 work is to be introduced. This means a division of 
 the time usually allotted to the lesson. It is better 
 to have this division regular, though not necessarily 
 iron-clad. Too much flexibility invites irregularity, 
 with its train of evils. To illustrate, if the class pe- 
 riod is thirty-five minutes, and the lesson be given 
 twenty and the supplementary work fifteen, it is bet- 
 ter to keep up these proportions. This is only an- 
 other way of saying that time adjustments, like ey- 
 erything else, should be a part of the system. 
 
 In the school review period the superintendent can 
 sometimes increase interest by blackboard or other 
 brief and striking graphic illustration of something 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 95 
 
 connected with the immediate work of some special 
 grade, changing this exercise from grade to grade as 
 occasion may offer. This must of course be done ju- 
 diciously and not too frequently, always guarding 
 against the possibility of overdoing. By the way, 
 graphic work is the richest of all aids to which one 
 can have recourse in class instruction of whatever 
 kind, and every teacher should make this a matter of 
 study. 
 
 The Sunday school library is in danger of falling 
 into disuse, and in many places cuts but little figure 
 in the attractions of the school or in its work. A re- 
 sult of grading will be to sharpen the demand for 
 helpful books, which those desiring them often can- 
 not afford to purchase. Placing these books in the 
 library, and calling attention to them, will increase 
 the usefulness of that institution. 
 
 General supplies of some kinds not usually found 
 in the Sunday school are required by most of the 
 courses of study recommended for use. It is better 
 that these supplies be bought from the school treasu- 
 ry, rather than that the pupils be asked to secure 
 them. The expense is not great when taken care of 
 in this way, but even a light expense is sufficient to 
 deter the poorer children from entering the school, if 
 such expense is to be individually borne. Some 
 books may be needed occasionally which the pupil 
 should own, and which will be valued more highly if 
 paid for individually. The school will do well to buy 
 such books in bulk, and make a liberal division of the 
 cost with the pupil. 
 
 The plan of graded work adopted by any given 
 school should be written out succinctly and clearly, 
 with courses of study, regulations and all details, and 
 
 A Hint 
 for the 
 Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 Using 
 the 
 Library. 
 
 Supplies. 
 
The 
 Lecture 
 Idea, 
 
 The 
 General 
 Bible 
 Class. 
 
 96 GRADING THE 
 
 printed, copies being distributed amiong the mem- 
 bers, with a liberal supply in reserve. It is still bet- 
 ter to print the matter intended for each department 
 of the school separately. 
 
 A school is sometimes so fortunately situated that 
 a good illustrated lecture, or series of lectures, along: 
 the lines of work in its higher departments, can. be 
 arranged. A Normal class is often in position to 
 avail itself of this valuable kind of help. The result- 
 ant good consists not only in the instruction received 
 but in the advertising of the work—a consideration 
 by no means to be ignored. 
 
 The general Bible class has not been discussed in 
 these pages, that class not being reachable, in most 
 cases, by any system of grading. Such a class, how- 
 ever, is needed in even the smallest school, and in 
 schools of average size place is found for at least two 
 or three such classes. The Bible class affords a Sun- 
 day school home for adults who have not taken the 
 full school course, those who are not so situated as 
 to be able to study, and those (a large number) 
 who feel that they: cannot enter a class which works 
 to a standard of membership. It also provides for 
 the floating attendance of adults, of whom there are 
 more or less in every community. Such classes have 
 a very important mission, may do a great deal of 
 good, and should be thoroughly cared for in every 
 Sunday school. 
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL. 97 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 WELL WORTH WHILE. 
 
 Now that we have gone over the ground together 
 in discussing a higher type of work in the Sunday 
 school, the question naturally presents itself, Is it all 
 worth while? The Sunday school is already coming 
 into greater prominence, and is perhaps more widely 
 useful than ever before. Then why substitute the 
 strenuous for the passive, trying to do things with- 
 out which the religious world has flourished so long? 
 
 Is it worth while? 
 
 Is anything worth while? It has already been 
 shown that the Sunday school is losing out among its 
 own friends because, educationally, it is not ‘‘hold- 
 ing its own.’’ Whatever else may be said of it, there 
 is no disputing that everything else educational is 
 leaving it fartothe rear. ‘To occupy such a position 
 in our day is prophetic of a decline. The Sunday 
 school cannot stand still. 
 
 It is foolish to say that a thing is worth doing at 
 all if it is not worth doing well. That which is worth 
 doing cannot be done too well. A peculiarity of 
 Sunday school work is that it has always been char- 
 acterized by more carelessness and incompleteness 
 than anything else in which even its best friends are 
 in any way vitally interested. All are conscious of 
 this weakness, and all are conscious that in the end 
 the great encomium, ‘Well done,’’ cannot crown the 
 work as it is usually found. 
 
 Is it 
 Worth 
 While? 
 
 Losing 
 Ground, 
 
 A Char- 
 acteristic 
 Weakness. 
 
Only 
 One 
 Chance. 
 
 A Bad 
 Rule, a 
 Good 
 
 Exception. 
 
 Connect- 
 ing 
 Links. 
 
 98 GRADING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. 
 
 We pass over the educational period in our lives 
 but once. There is no such thing as coming this way 
 asecond time. Those who are not trained and saved 
 while under Sunday school influence now will never 
 have the same opportunity, under the same condi- 
 tions, again. Those who do poor work as educators 
 and leaders can never atone for it by doing better 
 work with the same people in a second opportunity. 
 
 The Christian church sustains the character in the 
 eyes of the world of being a do-nothing institution. 
 The measure of its accomplishment is all out of pro- 
 portion to its measure of opportunity. In its mem- 
 bership the rule is indifference and inefficiency—the 
 exception is faithfulness and efficiency. What it 
 achieves is largely in spite of, and rarely because of, 
 the bulk of its organic constituency. It needs above 
 all things to be made (1) to know, and (2) to do. 
 
 If the character of the church is to be changed, the 
 change will come largely through the Sunday school. 
 Through this it may be made practically a body of 
 trained workers. To nothing else and in no other 
 direction can the church look with a reasonable hope 
 of substantial assistance in its own reform. This re- 
 form must come through character building in the 
 Sunday school. Character building must come 
 through better work there. Better work there must 
 come through the erection of higher standards. The 
 higher standards mean education on lines of careful 
 grading and systematic instruction, Is it all worth 
 while? 
 
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