ah et iS * eaee peta ot oT? ’ 4 433% Sati wi ‘ hed ‘ 7 Sy “OD : OCT 4. 1924 KBE py eh eeasioat sewn’ ea Bare Serie: ‘ “ » ’ , oY ie , U ne ? Pi, 7 Sas hn EN a ae Ga He 4 he hl race T Ie a ee a : a4 eres mes A iy + , : * ; ( F * } : a , ti 4 ; ty s , > i 4 ' + + ni 7 oa ). af } : — ; i Wf -. i e Lad] Wh veka id BY THE SAME AUTHOR LEADERS OF YOUNG PEOPLE << iF he) f How to Improve : Be Your Sunday Schoo sp BY FRANK WADE SMITH A short course which makes use of the survey method and aims to help the present workers so to study their task that they can ‘improve their schools in certain respects immediately. ZW THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK "CINCINNATI Copyright, 1924, by FRANK WADE SMITH All rights reserved, including that of trarislation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS PAGE MM MITFEICOP TANG. WEA cis la Wl vce ee vad yea hots Bleed SNP AE Deh 7 Part 1. Purpose Part 2. Plan Part 3. Directions for Using this Book Part 4. The Library PROBLEM I. Tur Reuicious Epucatronan AIMs oF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. ......5).0.0 5606 23 PROBLEM II. Grapine, Promotion, AND ELIMINATION . ORE PILA . te rerio ay AS Pe RIAs ANAER 3.. Prosiem III. OrcanizaTion AND ADMINISTRATION..... 34 Proptem IY. Ture Cours or Stupy................ 39 PROBLEM V. PHyYsicaL EQUIPMENT................5. 45 ProsptemM VI. Opentine AND CLOSING SERVICES....... 53 Prostem VII. Recorps anp REports................ 59 Propiem VIII. Wrerex-Day AcTIvITIEs...... aslo Sita ak Wee ProsuEM IX. Trarninc TeacHers AND OFFICERS..... 68 PROBLEM X. SECURING THE COOPERATION OF THE FiomE AND CHURCH. 2.56 Ue has 73 INTRODUCTION PART I. PURPOSE How Can WE MAKE OvR SuNDAY ScHooL BETTER? In most churches the chief religious educational need is a better Sunday school. Week-day religious instruction is receiving a great deal of attention just now—and that is good. Many churches are ready to extend their educa- tional work to include week-day activities. But there remain great numbers of churches not ready for week- day work. These latter have scarcely made a beginning in the field of so-called modern religious education. Their ministers and Sunday-school workers recognize the in- adequacy of their educational programs. They are not satisfied with existing conditions, and genuinely desire to improve them. But how can that improvement be promoted? Where should the beginning be made, and how? “What we want first,’ said one worker, “is a good Sun- day school, one in which there is good organization and teaching. We are not ready for week-day work. Our immediate job is that of making our Sunday school better. Without throwing out our present workers and wrecking the whole institution, how can we go about making our Sunday school better?” And that is the query in many places. The purpose of this book is to help answer the question. 3 In general, this book rests upon three ideas: First, the place to begin to improve and enlarge the religious educational program of a church is the Sunday school. There we have a body of workers, a body of pupils, an organization, and a program of some sort—something with which to begin. Second, whatever is done with the present 7 8 INTRODUCTION officers and teachers in the way of teacher training or Workers’ Conferences should have immediate value: it should improve the Sunday school as it goes along. The Sunday school—your Sunday school—is the thing to be studied and made better. It is the project or problem upon which the present workers are working. It needs improvement now, and it can be improved at many points now. Whatever is done, therefore, should result in better- ing the Sunday school in specific ways as the effort pro- ceeds. Third—and this is no doubt obvious—the persons upon whom rests the chief responsibility for improving the Sunday school are the present teachers and officers. They are best acquainted with the school, its personnel, its methods, its history; they have, to a greater or less extent, the confidence of the congregation; they are in a position to initiate changes with a minimum of friction and opposition. Why not, therefore, begin with them? Why not let them lead, and give them every possible aid in their undertakings? Ci Ay More specifically, the book undertakes to do the fol- lowing: 1. To help the present Sunday-school workers discover wherein the existing organization and program and methods in their own school are weak and wherein they are strong. 2. To guide these workers into a broader and more accurate knowledge of what is regarded as best in re ligious educational theory and practice as far as the Sunday school is concerned. 3. To help them formulate and initiate plans for the immediate improvement of the Sunday school at particular’ points. 4, To provide publicity material with which to appeal for the cooperation of the congregation and the active support of the official body of the church. ) 5. To show the need of, and point out the way for, a more intensive as well as extensive study of the whole problem of religious education in church and community. INTRODUCTION 9 INTRODUCTION PART II. PLAN Tue plan of the book follows closely that of an educa- tional survey (see Bower’s A Survey of Religious Education in the Local Church, Chapters I-V). The Sunday school is the problem or project upon which the teachers and officers work. Certain definite phases of the school’s ac- tivities are taken up separately and thoroughly investigated in the light of the theory of a carefully selected number of books dealing with religious education. The actual situations of the Sunday school are brought alongside of the ideas of the books, and in line with what is revealed by the comparisons, plans are made and efforts started which aim to improve the school in definite ways. Briefiy . stated, the book aims to provide for the present workers a method of study and effort which seeks to discover (1) what is being done now, (2) what is the value of the present methods, (3) what should be done to improve the school, and (4) how the desired improvements can be initiated and promoted successfully. Some of the important interests of the average Sunday school have been organized under ten heads, called ‘‘Prob- lems” herein. Each of these Problems is treated in this way: There is a list of questions to be answered by observing the school to get the facts, and by reading books to get the theories. Under many of the questions will be notes pointing out their significance in terms of a good school, also references to specific chapters or para- graphs in the books of the workers’ library. As suggested in the next section of this Introduction, the workers use these questions as the basis for a twofold report—a report on what exists in school and book, and a report on what may ve attempted in the way of specific improvements. These reports provide subjects for discussion at the group meetings. 10 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION | PART III. DIRECTIONS FOR USING THIS BOOK As it is probable that this book will be used chiefly as a guide for group study, this chapter will be devoted to suggestions for its use in that particular way. In some places the suggestions are general in character. In others they are more specific. The contents of this chapter of course will be of greatest interest to those who will act as promoters or leaders of the plans proposed herein. However, all who engage in using the book should give careful attention to this chapter, in particular to the sections on Reports and Records, Conducting the Con- ferences, and The Follow-Up. It will be well for the group to spend an evening going over this chapter together. THE LEADER 1. His responsibility. The success of any effort like that proposed herein is largely “up to: the leader.” He - must be both teacher and executive. Stated briefly, his responsibility is as follows: (a) Arouse enthusiasm in every member of the group. (b) Take the initiative. (c) Help the various committees in the preparation of their reports. (d) See to it that the records of the conferences are kept accurately and in serviceable ways. (e) Provide suggestions for the utilization of the conclusions reached by the group, and of the data reported by the various investigating committees. (f) Keep in touch with such headquarters as will provide help in his work—the de- nominational boards and publishing houses, the Sunday- school association offices, and the editorial departments of the religious educational publications. That may seem to be a pretty heavy load for the leader to carry. And it is. But the type of work proposed in this book depends for its success upon having a working leader in charge. INTRODUCTION 11 For what is proposed is not merely a debating or discus- sion class, but an effort actually to make some changes in the way the Sunday school is conducted. There is a job to be done, not just talked about. And that demands as a leader one willing to carry a heavy load. 2. His preparation. (a) He should be thoroughly acquainted with the purpose and plan of this book. It is to be his chart, therefore he should know it thoroughly. Before he begins to conduct sessions of the group he should read the book entirely through. (bv) He should be thoroughly acquainted with what is generally regarded as desirable in religious education as far as the Sunday school is concerned. Cuninggim-North’s Organization and Administration of the Sunday School and Stout’s Organiza- tion and Administration of Religious Education will be valuable helps in this connection. (c) He should keep ahead of the sessions of the group by working with the committees preparing the various reports. If he is familiar with the reports before they are presented, he can lead the discussion thereon to better advantage. Further, he will be able to make some recommendations which aim at immediate action. But this whole matter of preparation will work out aright if the leader correctly interprets his opportunity. He is to lead, not lecture. He must be first of all a teacher, and the chief function of the teacher is to bring out, not pour in. He should thoroughly understand and prac- tice the principles of conducting a class, of asking ques- tions especially. The following references will be valuable in this connection: The Art of Questioning, (pamphlet), Fitch. Learning and Teaching, Sheridan-White, Chapter XXVII. How to Teach Religion, Betts. Chapters XI, XII. Story-Telling, Questioning, and Study, Horne. Part II. INITIATING THE PROJECT. Where and how and when shall we begin to use the plan 12 INTRODUCTION of this book? Of course the very first thing to be done is to decide that you really want to make your Sunday school better, that you are willing to exert yourself, in company with others, in finding out just what needs to be done and probably can be done in the way of improving your school. Like every other plan for making the Sun- day school better, this one will not work unless there is a genuine willingness to try to make it work. And some- body must lead in the matter. Usually that person is either the minister or the Sunday-school superintendent. But whoever he may be, he must clearly recognize that to get results there must be adequate efforts. Merely read- ing this book through, and meeting to discuss its proposi- tions, will not make your school better. The desired improvement will come only when those engaged in the — effort actually undertake to accomplish some definite work which aims at improving the situation. So before any start is made there must be a willingness on the part of at least one person to try to work out in practice what- ever of theory is discovered as worth approving. © Sometimes a series of pulpit discussions of what is regarded as a modern Sunday school will pave the way for a successful effort. The minister can point out to the whole congregation what are regarded today as the needs and aims in the field of religious education, and then show how the Sunday school is related to those needs and aims. If the church publishes a weekly bulletin, a section of that could be used each week in explaining to the people what is needed and desirable. Any denomi- national publishing house or religious educational board will provide abundant materials for use in these ways—in pulpit and bulletin. The object is to awaken a general in- terest in the subject of a better Sunday school and to pre- pare the congregation for whatever move is made to im- prove the school of the church. Aside from anything done to create popular appreciation of the need of improving the Sunday school, the way to INTRODUCTION 13 ° begin is to get together the workers, as many as possible, and go over the plan of the book carefully with them. Do not try, of course, to read the whole thing to them. Take one particular Problem and show how it can be used to advantage. Bring to the attention of the group how that particular Problem can be studied and acted upon according to the treatment of it in this book. That first meeting is the key to the whole situation. If it is handled so that there is evident a promise of value in using the course, all will be well. We get enthusiastic about what promises to be of use. Therefore too much time cannot be spent by whoever undertakes to start the effort in preparing for the first meeting or “set up” gathering. Obviously, there must be the usual setting of times and places for meetings, the election of such officers as may be needed, and other details settled. These need no direc- tions. ‘ While it is desirable that all present workers engage in the effort, we should not be deterred if some decline to do so. Two or three willing and enthusiastic workers can go ahead and accomplish a great deal, even if they get done nothing more than discover and make public in what particular ways the Sunday school should and can be improved. That blazes.a way for the future. As to when we should begin—well, whenever we can. Of course a good time to start such a work is in the fall of the year, at the time the school year begins. There are ten Problems in the book. Half of them could be worked upon before the Christmas holidays, and the other half after those holidays. That divides the effort into two terms of five sessions each. But let us always remember that while there are some times better than others for beginning any work, the time to begin is whenever we can. It will take at least ten sessions of the group to cover the Problems. Each group can and must decide when it will begin. The essential thing is to begin. 14 INTRODUCTION ORGANIZING THE WORKERS. 1. From those willing to engage in the work appoint committees to be responsible for designated Problems and the reports thereon. Appoint a chairman for each com- mittee. The basis for the organization of these committees can be either (a) that of available leadership—those able to act as chairmen—or (b) especial interest and ability in particular subjects or Problems. Needless to say, a great deal depends upon getting as leaders for each com- mittee persons willing to do the work and having ability to do it well. 2. Assign to each committee hie Problem for which it will be responsible. Arrange a schedule of dates for the presentation of the reports. Have it understood that all reports will be expected on time. 3. Elect a secretary to keep a complete record of each conference or session of the group. A stenographer will be especially good for this office. As will be emphasized in the following section on “Reports and Records,” the secre- tary will have considerable responsibility. | 4, Some one especially capable, or willing to study to become capable, should be selected to act as publicity director. (For the duties of this worker see the section on “Rollow-Up.’’) 5. A social committee should be created to arrange for special meetings, refreshments, etc. Such a committee can be of great help to the publicity director in case mass- meetings are held for the purpose of presenting the find- ings of the group to the congregation. REPORTS AND RECORDS 1. Each committee should prepare a carefully written report for presentation to the group meeting for which it has been assigned. It can devise its own form of report. It should, of course, follow the questions listed under the Problem on which it reports. 2. Before preparing the report there should be the INTRODUCTION 15 fullest possible investigation and gathering of data. The more thorough the research the better will be the report. Remember that the main business of each committee is to discover the facts and then present those facts to the workers in a form that will excite thought and lead to sound and practical conclusions. The value of the whole effort depends greatly upon the quality of the reports. 3. A complete copy of the report of each committee should be filed with the secretary to be placed among the permanent records of the school. 4. The secretary should keep a full record of each meeting of the workers. That record should include a copy of the report considered, a digest of the discussion thereon arranged according to the questions or divisions of the report, and an exact record of all conclusions reached, including whatever is recommended in the way of action aiming to improve the school in particular ways. CONDUCTING THE CONFERENCES While the work of preparing the reports is important, too much attention cannot be given to making the con- ferences of the workers successful. Unless the conferences are well planned and conducted, the best of reports will be of no avail. Keep in mind that this whole effort is to bring about the improvement of your Sunday school at definite points, and that the aim of each conference is to reach intelligent decisions about what those improvements shall be and how they shall be made. The reports are means to an end, and that end is securing the informed cooperation of the workers in making your school better. Therefore, the conferences are highly important. In this connection it should be emphasized that to be successful each conference must be carefully planned. That means that before the workers gather some one must work out in detail just what is going to be done at the session. Obviously that task falls to the leader, at least 16 INTRODUCTION that person should see to it that the task is done and done well. A general plan, although better than none, is not the best. What is needed is a detailed plan, ene in which the proposed procedure is mapped out to the smallest possible item. The basis for such a plan is given in the following suggestions about conducting the conferences. Wach suggestion calls for a detailed plan ~ to carry it out. While considerable in the way of details is included under each suggestion, obviously not every- — thing can be included. No hard-and-fast plan, worked out minutely, can be given, chiefly because such plans vary because of leadership and local situations. Something must be left to the originality and initiative of the leader and the workers who use this book. . 1. Devotions. Ten or fifteen minutes can be given to devotion. One person or different persons can conduct this period. The Scripture lessons and topics can be arranged to form a series. The aim, of course, should be to provide something inspiring. This portion of the conference can be made especially valuable by aiming to . make it supply a spiritual background for the whole Sunday-school task. Books like Fosdick’s Meaning of Service, or Bosworth’s What It Means to Be a Christian, can be used in this connection. 2. Presentation of the Report. After the devotional 4 period the meeting should be put into the hands of the chairman of the committee making the report for that session. The chairman should be free to present the report in his own way—either read all of it himself, or have it read in sections by different members of the committee, or distribute copies of the report and then call attention to particular parts deemed especially important. The es- sential thing to keep in mind is to get the important items of the report clearly before the workers. If it is not possible to have copies of the report for each worker, the next best thing would be to use a blackboard, or chart, putting thereon the chief headings of the report. INTRODUCTION 17 3. Special Address. Immediately after the presentation of the report should come a brief address on the prin- ciples involved in that report. Of course the most able person available should make this address. It is not necessary that this person be a member of the conference. He may be found in another church in the community, or even in another community. If it is not possible to secure some one to make an address, then a member (or members) of the committee presenting the report should read from the reference books the important paragraphs bearing upon the principles of the report. These reading references will be found in connection with each Problem and its treatment. 4. Discussion of the Report. The leader should be in charge. Here is where his heaviest responsibility comes. The report is the subject to be discussed. Every item in it must be clear to every worker present. Further, as not all of the items are of equal value, it must be pointed out. which are most important. These most important items are the ones upon which most time should be spent. If, as should be the case, the leader has gone over the report carefully before the meeting, he will have planned how the time is to be divided with reference to the items of the report. Further, he will be able to save time by point- ing out rapidly the relation of some items to others, thereby grouping them so they can be discussed effectively together. 5. Reaching Conclusions. The aim of the discussion is to reach agreements about the significance of the report and what should be done about the matter. As each sec- _ tion of the report is considered it will be well to formulate tentatively a conclusion about it. Word that conclusion carefully, and have the secretary make a careful and accu- ‘rate record of it. After the whole report has been thus considered these tentative conclusions should be reviewed and put into final form and kept as a record of the tenta- tive conclusions. You may want to refer to them in the future. Remember, in this connection, you bave reached 18 INTRODUCTION the place where things should begin to happen, so far as your Sunday school is concerned. Here is where you make your plans for applying the report to the problems of your school. The report has given the workers informa- tion which brings out clearly particular problems, and throws upon those problems the light of the best theories available. With that much done, and done well, you have cleared the way to begin to make your plans for definite action. 6. Planning for Action. The conclusions spoken of in the preceding paragraph may take the form of recommenda- tions for action. In most cases it is probable that the workers are not meeting in an official capacity. There- fore, they will not have authority to initiate action. What they must do is to recommend to the body having such authority certain actions to be taken. The recommenda- tions may be of two Kinds: (1) recommendations involv- ing changes in the way in which the school is conducted; (2) recommendations dealing with giving publicity to what has been discovered and concluded. Often before action can be accomplished in the school the congregation must be educated. And often some of the workers may not be attending the conferences, in which case they must be edu- cated. Every conference, as we have said before, should point up in some plan for action. The aim of the whole effort is to start something that will improve your Sunday school, and improve it now. THE FoLtLow-UP One of the important results of this effort will be the collection and arrangement in orderly form of information vital to the religious educational work of your church. This information should be given wide publicity in the congregation. People, for the most part, do not know very much about the Sunday school. Only a few of them think of it as an educational agency. Many estimate the quality of the Sunday school on the basis of a large INTRODUCTION 19 attendance, big offerings, and numerous spectacular enter- tainments staged largely for the benefit of the grown-ups. Therefore they need to be informed about what constitutes a good Sunday school from the point of view of modern religious education. The data gathered by the use of the plan proposed herein can be made to serve admirably in educating the congregation on the subject of the Sunday school. 1. Each conference should be followed by some kind of an announcement about the important facts discovered and the conclusions reached. That can be done in one or all of the following ways: (a) printed in the church bulletin weekly; (b) printed in a leaflet issued once a month; (c) printed in the local newspaper; (d) read from the pulpit at the Sunday-morning service. Five minutes of each service during the ten weeks required to carry out this plan would be sufficient, or one whole Sunday service once a month for a few months would serve. If the prayer-meeting services are well attended by the influ- ential members of the congregation, then a few minutes each week at those services could be used to present the findings and conclusions of the Workers’ Conferences. Where parent meetings are held, the matter might be taken up there. A series of suppers or luncheons also could be used to present the findings to the people. But whatever plan is used, we should keep in mind always that our aim is to educate the congregation about their own Sunday school—what it is, what it should be, and what is needed to get it from what it is to what it should be. 2. It is probable that the workers will decide that some new plans should be tried out. If that is so, and an attempt is made to work the plans decided upon, whatever is done should be watched closely. The committee report- ing on the items involved should act in a supervisory capacity, and from time to time report back to the workers the progress made. It is not probable that everything attempted will succeed. But why? And wherein did it fail? 20 INTRODUCTION Can it be corrected and how? Our task is not merely to plan for new efforts, it is also to keep check on all efforts and activities, both old and new. When that is done the workers really become an “efficiency board.” 3. From time to time opportunity should be given for supplementary reports on subjects already considered. A committee may discover additional data which throw light on its former report. Those data should be presented to the workers and considered at the conferences. A record of the discussion thereon should be inserted with the orig- inal report. These additional items become, in reality, amendments to the original reports and discussions. 4, After the workers have completed the plan suggested herein, it would be well for them to hold a public exhibi- tion for the purpose of presenting to the church and com- munity the results of their effort. Charts and tables showing facts discovered could be used. Placards announc- ing important ideas, needs, etc., would also form a part of the exhibit. Some of the work done in the school could be presented too. In fact, whatever would lend itself to presentation could be used as material for this exhibit. This particular effort could cover a number of days, per- haps a whole week. During that week special speakers talking on particular phases of Sunday-school work might be secured. The aim would be to use this effort to clinch whatever publicity had been used before. INTRODUCTION PART IV. THE LIBRARY At the beginning of each Problem is a list of References. We have purposely selected as few books as possible for this use. Many schools cannot afford to buy a great number of books, and their communities do not afford a public INTRODUCTION 21 library service which meets the need. The Looks listed as References are not expensive. And they will serve quite well in using the schedules of this book; that is, they are sufficiently comprehensive. All of them are thoroughly sound in principle. They provide what is generally re- garded just now as the best theory in the field of religious education. At the end of most of the Problems are lists of ‘“Addi- tional References.” It is not necessary to refer to them, although for the most part they contain materials of great value. If your finances permit, get as many of them as possible—and use them too. Here is a list of the books we deem necessary for securing the best results in using this book: Organization and Administration of Religious Education. J. E. Stout. Organization and Administration of the Sunday School. _J. L. Cuninggim and Eric M. North. The Educational Task of the Local Church. W.C. Bower. A Social Theory of Religious Education. George A. Coe. The New Program of Religious Education. George H. Betis. How to Teach Religion. George H. Betts. Childhood and Character. Hugh Hartshorne. The Pupil and Teacher. Luther A. Weigle. PROBLEM I THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL REFERENCES Educational Task of the Local Church, Chapters I, II. Social Theory of Religious Education, Chapters V, VIII. Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, Chapters I, II, VI. New Program of Religious Education, Chapters I, II, III, TV; \V, . Organization and Administration of Religious Education, Chapters II, III, VII. How To Teach Religion, Chapter V. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Right at the outset let us be clear on this point: The Sunday school to be studied is the one with which we are most familiar—our own. Merely to study about “a”’ Sunday school will not accomplish the desired results. When we devote our attention chiefly to the particular school with which we are identified we tend to think to valuable con- clusions, and whatever is undertaken as a result of our study will have more practical value. Therefore, in this as in all of the other Problems considered, we are to deal with our Sunday school—the one we know most about and whose improvement we seek. Why do we place first the problem of aims? Probably no great amount of argument is necessary here. Before we can hit the mark, we must see the mark. That is, we must know its nature, its location, and what is involved in hitting it. Applying the idea, before we can improve our Sunday school we must know what particular items 23 24 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL of our work are to be improved. Always there is danger of our taking for granted that everybody concerned is conscious of what we are trying to do through the Sun- day school. There is a prevalent tendency to assume that our teachers and officers are fully aware of the goal toward which we work. The fact of the matter is that we lack warrant for such an assumption, All too fre- quently we find that our workers are unable to state clearly and concisely the goal of tha Sunday school. No wonder then they miss the mark. In order that our efforts hereafter shall be most effective, we will at the outset concern ourselves with the matter of aims. Deliberately we will try to determine the specific goals toward which we are now moving and those toward which we should move. A great deal has been written on this particular subject of aims. However, in the refer- ences selected we have the gist of the best literature on the subject. Some questions and references may at first reading seem remote from the subject of aims, but a care- ful reading and study of them will reveal their bearing and value. 1. List the organizations of your church doing religious educational work, either instructional or expressional, for (a) children under 12; (0) those from 12 to 17; (c) young people 18 to 25; and (d) adults. Later we will subdivide those divisions, but for the time being our purpose is served when we consider them in this way. You will have four lists of organizations. Put the names of the organizations on four charts, or one chart with four columns. If any one organization serves more than one division, indicate the fact in some way—under- score, star, or write it in red. If you are not clear as to what constitutes religious educational work, or desire help in determining what organizations come under this question, read the following reference; : ; RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL AIMS 25 New Program of Religious Education, Pages 33-41. 2. To what extent do these organizations overlap as to (a) membership, (0) program, and (c) calls for finan- cial support? 3. What efforts have been made to eliminate the over- lapping of organizations (a) by combining them into a single organization; (b) by limiting their fields so that no one function will be undertaken by more than one organization; (c) by bringing them under the control and direction of an educational council or committee having power to coordinate their programs? 4. To what extent do your Sunday-school teachers en- gage in the work of the other educational agencies of the church? Are they working with the same children always? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the existing situations in this respect? What can be done to improve matters? 5. Has your school defined its ultimate aims for the school as a whole? If so, state them specifically. If not, draw up a list of possible ultimate aims. In this con- nection the following references will be of value: Educational Task of Local Church, pages 21-29. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 39-49. Social Theory of Religious Education, pages 53-63. 6. Has your school defined its proximate or immediate aims? If so, state them specifically. If not, make a list of possible proximate aims. For help in this connection see Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 49-57. 7. For the purpose of greater accuracy and effective- ness let us now consider the school divided as follows: Kindergarten or Beginners (years 4-5); Primary (years 6-8, or Grades I-III); Junior (year 9-11, or Grades IV-VI); Intermediate or Junior High School (years 12-14, or Grades VII-IX); Senior (years 15-17, or Grades X-XII); Young 26 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL People (years 18-25); Adults. What should be the religious educational aims with each of these groups? The following references will help in answering that question: Childhood and Character, pages 43, 77-78, 113-114, and the chart on page 277. Pupil and Teacher, Chapters III-VII (pages 22-64). | International Graded Lessons, Teachers’ Manuals for each grade. These have been summarized in a prospectus which can be secured free from the publishers. 8. Upon which grades or ages is your school putting its chief emphasis? Upon which does it put the least emphasis? For instance, which grades or ages have the best rooms, the best equipment, the best Jesson materials, the best supervision, etc.? What bearing has this question and its answer upon the matter of the religious educa- tional aims of your school as a whole? 9. Does your program include expressional as well as instructional activities? List the former, and suggest what more might be undertaken. The following references will be of assistance in this connection: . How to Teach Religion, pages 101-107. | Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 66-78. 10. Does your Sunday school undertake the bed wel religious educational work of the church, or confine itself to the traditional Sunday-school activities? For help see the following: Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 139-156. li. Does your school haye a definite educational policy covering a series of years. If so, describe it and suggest its points of strength and weakness. How can it be im- proved? If you do not have such a policy, what steps can be taken to secure one? In this connection see Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 60-64. RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL AIMS 27 SUGGESTIONS The references given in connection with this Problem are extensive. Probably no one person or small committee can cover all of them. Therefore divide them among Ssev- eral individuals or committees. In the case of those not mentioned under any particular question, have some one report on their contents and possible bearing upon the subject of religious educational aims. These reports should be brief and to the point, of course. Those who make this special preparation should be called upon in the discussion for contributions from their references to whatever is being considered. The aim should be to bring to bear upon the questions as much light as possible from the references given herein. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Athearn, Walter S. The Church School, Chapter I. Cope, Henry F. Religious Education in the Church, Chap- ters III and IV. Dewey, John. Democracy and Education, especially Chapters VIII and IX. PROBLEM II GRADING, PROMOTION, AND ELIMINATION OF PUPILS REFERENCES Pupil and Teacher, Lesson XII. . Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, Chapter III. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 227-242. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Here we come to grips with one of the most perplexing and difficult of all Sunday-school problems. For years we — paid no attention to the matter of grading the pupils. We simply put them in classes or allowed them to congregate in classes without much thought about individual likes — and differences. But the introduction of the Graded Les- sons brought to our atiention the necessity of grouping the. pupils according to experience and ability and interests. — In recent years, therefore, most Sunday schools have given the matter of grading some thought. But it is usually quite difficult to actually grade a Sunday school and keep it graded. The problems involved will be brought out in the questions following. Promotion of pupils is still quite new, although many schools are beginning to practice it. It is a matter we should study carefully. Unless there is an excellent way to promote pupils from one grade to another it is difficult to keep the school properly graded. A good system of pro- motion will do a great deal to keep a school on a high level educationally. Consider the place promotion has in the public schools. Think of the way the public-school teachers work on matters that have to do essentialiy with 28 GRADING, PROMOTION, ELIMINATION 29 promotion of pupils—keeping records, examinations, etc. Public school supervisors pay considerable attention to the whole business of promotion, and they do so for a variety of reasons. It is just as important that we have regard for the matter in our Sunday-school work. But now we come to something many will say is entirely unnecessary—the elimination of pupils. They eliminate themselves usually, so why bother with the matter? Better eonsider how to prevent elimination, some think. But in this section we are not going to propose ways to oust pupils. Instead we will undertake to bring out how we can best take care of those who move away, “drop out,” withdraw, or attend irregularly. One of our great concerns is that of “holding the pupils.” Usually, however, we pay little attention to those who leave us—we groan in spirit about them and let them go! It is time we look at the matter squarely and set out to do something about it. When you deal with this problem be on a sharp lookout for data having good publicity value. One of the most difficult aspects of our problem is getting the parents to back up any system of grading. They were not graded, so they know little about it. We must inform them and lead them to understand the why and wherefore of it all. To do that we must have “ammunition’—and here is where you can get some of that. So study everything brought out for its value as publicity material. And remember that the chief aim here is to devise ways to improve your Sunday school in respect to the subjects considered. This schedule is to help you find out your present situation, what is desirable, what is possible, and how you can initiate efforts that will improve your school. 12. Why are the pupils of your school in the classes you now have? Go over your school carefully and try to discover just why your classes are composed as they are. How did some of the classes come to be at all? Who started them, and how was the membership determined? 30 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL 13. Who assigns your pupils to classes and departments? Do you have a “classification secretary” or someone whose especial duty is that of placing new pupils in-the proper classes? If not, who does that? What are the advantages of a classification secretary? What special qualifications should such a person have? 14. What is the basis for your present classification of the pupils—age, public-school grade, intellectual develop- ment, or “they just want to be where they are”? How did you come to have such standards? Do they make for the best possible grouping of the pupils? 15. Make a list of some of the standards considered most desirable? Consult the following: Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 230-232. 16. If you have tried to grade your school, wherein have you been successful and wherein have you failed? Give the reasons for your success or failure. Go over the ground carefully, getting the opinion of as many different people as possible. Consult those who were most enthusiastic abcut grading the school and worked for it. Also those who were lacking in enthusiasm or were opposed to it. 17. Draw up a plan for grading your school now. Go into details. Secure from your denominational Sunday- school agency its printed matter on the subject. Tell your denominational Sunday-school leaders your situation—size of your school, the kind of a building you have, the teach- ers that are available, etc. Then ask them for suggestions about a plan for grading your school. After you receive this help, proceed to group your pupils according to the standards suggested. When that is done you are ready to ask: “What’s the matter with the plan? Why can we not go ahead and work it?’ What are the difficulties and how can they be overcome? Hunt for every possible objec- tion, and then get an answer to it. 18. What are the chief arguments for grading your school? List them in the order of their importance. Are GRADING, PROMOTION, ELIMINATION 31 they worth publishing for the information of the parents of your pupils? If you think they are, devise a way to get them to those parents. Point out just how the parents can help the school make a success of any effort made to grade its pupils and work. 19. Do you promote your pupils from class to class, and from department to department? If so, what is the basis for such promotion? Do the pupils have to pass an examination, finish a course of study, or merely spend so much time in each class or division? Do you promote them regardless of how well or how poorly they have done the work? 20. What are the particular advantages of promoting the pupils? Get some of your public-school teachers to give their answers to that question. Also have some of your classes of pupils of high-school age answer it. What do the reading references give in this connection? ' 21. Do you give special recognition to those who do their work satisfactorily? That is, when a pupil finishes a course and has done good work in it, do you give him a certificate, a material reward, some public recognition, or something of the kind? What are the advantages of doing that? For help here read Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 30-32. 22. How often can you have promotions in your school? What determines their frequency? When js the best time for a yearly promotion—Children’s Day or Rally Day? Why? 23. Do you emphasize promotions, making them promi- nent in the work of the school? Would such emphasis help or hinder the work of your school? Why? What would probably be the effect upon the pupils’ interest and enthusiasm? 24. Do your teachers remain stationary, the pupils mov- ing on to another teacher, or do they go right along with the pupils when the latter are promoted to another grade 32 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL or course of study? Is your present method a deliberately adopted policy, or have you just drifted into it? 25. How does a pupil become a member of your school? If you have not adopted a definite method of enrollment, why not do so now? In what different ways might a pupil be enrolled? Devise a way for your school, giving reasons for each point. 26. How do you remove the name of a pupil from your records? How does a pupil cease being a member of your school? If you have no definite policy in this matter, draw up a plan covering the subject. 27. How do you follow up those dropped, achoveee or withdrawn from your school? What provision does your denomination make for following up pupils who remove to — other communities? Do you observe those provisions? If you have no policy in this matter draw up a plan cover- ing it. 28. Reviewing your answers to the foregoing questions, what definite recommendations can be made for making changes for the better in your methods of grading, pro- moting, and eliminating pupils? What is desirable? What can probably be accomplished? SUGGESTIONS There is an extensive literature on the. subject of grading, both principles and methods. In the “Additional References” you will find materials that will be of value. Meyer’s book, The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, is the classic on the subject. It is worthy of a place in your workers’ library, and can be used to advan- tage in preparing this particular report. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Meyer, Henry H. The Gruded Sunday School in Prin- ciple and Practice, Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII. Athearn, Walter S. The Organization and Administra GRADING, PROMOTION, ELIMINATION 33 tion of the Church School, Chapter on “Organization for Instruction, Worship, and Service.” Cope, Henry F. Efficiency in the Sunday School, Chap- ters VI and VII. Hurlbut, J. L. Organizing and Building up the Sunday School, Chapters III, IV, V. Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education. Articles on “Difficulties in Relation to Grading,’ by Emile Huntly, and “Graded Sunday School,’ by Milton S. Littie- field. PROBLEM III ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, Chapters III, IX. ‘Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 152-156; Chapter X. Educational Task of the Local Church, Chapters III, VI. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS The whole question of organization and administration of the Sunday school is so important that we shouid give to it our best thought. On the one hand, it is easy for us to become so infatuated with organization that we tend to build up a machine without reference to its function. On the other hand, our enthusiasm for our own particular efforts in the Sunday school may make us indifferent to the need of a carefully planned and coordinated organiza- tion. It sometimes happens that teachers are so much concerned about the work of their particular classes that they are either indifferent to or actually resent the intru- sion of anything like an organization. Obviously, there must be organization. The school is composed of several groups differing in ages, programs, methods, etc. The work of these groups must be both correlated and coordinated. The specific function of organization is to accomplish that task. In making a survey of the administration and organiza- tion of the Sunday school our chief problem is that of determining (1) the specific tasks or duties of each officer; (2) determining to what extent the offices overlap; (3) 34 ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 35 determining how we can eliminate the overlappings; (4) and determining the fewest number of officers needed to do the work. Frequently we hear the question, “How much organization should we have?’ The answer to that ques- tion is, “As much as is needed to realize our program, and not a bit more.’ Giving people offices as a compli- ment is a hazardous business. The idea that it is good policy to give everybody a job works out disastrously when we begin making jobs which call for officers with little if anything to do other than be privileged to attend meetings and have a voice and vote in the affairs thereof. In Sunday-school management the rule should be “As few officers as we can get along with.’ Every officer should ‘know his duties thoroughly. No officer should have to do things that are unrelated to each other—for instance, the person who is secretary should not be a teacher. Those two jobs are so different that when one person under- takes to perform both of them the conflict leads to failure. Those who use this survey schedule should be thorough- going in their efforts to discover just wherein there are duplications and omissions in the organization and admin- istration of their school. 29. Make a list of the officers of the school, entering opposite each name the particular duties of the office. 30. To what extent do the duties of these officers over- lap? | 31. Make a list of the teachers, grouping them accord- ing to the age of their pupils. If your school uses the Graded Lessons, or has been divided into departments, group the teachers as follows: Beginners, Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Young People, and Adults. For the approximate ages of those groups see Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, page 27. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, page 228. 36 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL Opposite the name of each teacher write the ages of the youngest and oldest pupils of his or her class. | 32. Does the governing body of your local church have a Committee on Sunday Schools? For instance, in the Methodist Church that governing body is the Quarterly Conference, which is usually organ- ized into an Official Board. This body has a Committee on Sunday Schools, the function of which is defined in the church’s Discipline. However, it frequently happens that these committees do not function at all. The question arises, Who is responsible for the committee’s failure? Is the committee invited to meet with the officers and teachers in conference about the work of the school? Does the school make any effort to utilize the committee? 33. Perhaps instead of a Committee on Sunday Schools your church has a Committee on Religious Education. If so, how is it appointed? To whom is it responsible? Does it select the course of study? Does it appoint and recall teachers and officers? Does it prepare an annual report? 34. If there is no educational committee, who is respon- sible for the administration of the school? How is that person or body selected? What are his or its duties in detail? 35. How often do you hold officers’ and teachers’ meet- ings? What do you do at those meetings? To what extent are the proceedings of those meetings made public to school and congregation? ; Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 205-208. 36. Do you have a director of religious education? What special training has he had for the position? Is he a paid or volunteer worker? What are his duties in detail? To whom is he responsible? Does he do most of the work himself or does he delegate and supervise it? To what extent is he free to initiate changes in the manage- ment of the school? Is he expected to confine his efforts ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 37 to the Sunday school or is he a director of all the educa- tional work of the church? 37. Is your school departmentized? List the depart- ments, giving the following information about each: Age of pupils? Number of males? Number of females? Num- ber of classes? Number of regular teachers? Supply teachers? How often these teachers meet with the depart- ment superintendent for conference? What is done at those conferences? What is the average attendance of the pupils? Of the regular teachers? If the equipment of the department is inadequate, what is needed? If the Graded Lessons are not used, why? 38. What does your pastor do in the administration of your school? Does he attend the school sessions? Does he teach a class? attend the officers’ and teachers’ meet- ings? What does he do in relation to teacher training? in relation to selection of teachers? 39. Who acts as supervisor of the teaching work? What regular help is given the teachers along the line of supervision? How is it given? See Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, page 104. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 198-210. 40. How long does a teacher remain with the same group of pupils? Do you have a fixed policy as to whether the teacher moves on with the pupils or remains stationary as the teacher of a certain grade? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Under what circumstances are we justified in making exceptions to either policy? 41. At what age and above are the classes organized? What are the advantages and disadvantages of organized classes as conducted in your school? What is being done to improve the work of the organized classes? 42. To what extent do the Sunday-school officers and teachers assume responsibility for week-day activities? 38 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL 43. What week-day activities are promoted? How are these related to the work of the Sunday school? 44. What efforts are made to coordinate the work of | the Sunday school, Junior League, Epworth League, and other educational work of the church? 45. What considerations obtain in the selection of offi- cers and teachers? What place do character and efiiciency have therein? 46. Is your school organized to get results or give per- sons offices? 47. In what particular respects can the organization and administration of your school be improved? How can the work of initiating the improvements be launched? What shall be undertaken first? second? third?—etc. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Athearn, W. S. The Church School. Athearn, W. S. Organization and Administration of the Chureh School. Cope, Henry EF. Efficiency in the Sunday Scheol, Chap- ters V, VI, XII. Cope, Henry F.. Religious Education in the Church, Chapters XX, XXI. Cope, Henry F. The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task, Chapters IV, V, VI, VII. Meyer, H. H. The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, Chapters XVII, XVIII. PROBLEM IV THE COURSE OF STUDY REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, Chapter IV. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 74-84; 146-152. Social Theory of Religious Education, Chapters IX, XIV. Educational Task of the Local Church, Chapter V. How to Teach Religion, Chapter VII. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS By this time you have probably come to think that. every one of these problems is “most important.” It will sound hackneyed, therefore, to read once more that the problem in hand demands our best thought and effort. However that may be, this particular problem is a big challenge. The course of study, or curriculum, is the foun- dation of our program. It provides what we propose to do with and for our pupils. It contains those portions of the Bible deemed necessary to promote spiritual develop- ment of the pupils. It contains other materials likewise deemed necessary for that development—historical, nature, and art materials. At present we think of the curriculum as including not only the subjects treated in lesson form, but also the whole round of activities called ‘‘expressional,” “recreational,” and “social service.” The curriculum has come to be the biggest problem we have, very largely because it is so inclusive. We advise whoever uses this schedule to read carefully as many of the references as possible. If you have access to other materials, read them also. At present a great deal of attention is being given to this subject because there is a prevalent dissatisfaction 39 40 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL with the available curricula. Professor Stout declares that the dissatisfaction rests on the following: “(1) The amount of material is not adequate. (2) Much of the subject matter being used is not well adapted to the needs, interests, and capacities of the children. (3) Its organiza- tion into units of instruction is not satisfactory. (4) The curricula themselves are loosely organized and do not secure proper gradation of work.” (See Organization and Administration of Religious Education, page 75.) This idea is widely accepted and many of those prominent in religious educational efforts are laboring to correct Sark existing faults. Perhaps no problem will demand more thought and read- ing than does this one. Therefore we suggest that an abundance of time be given to the preparation of the report based upon it. Two or three months is not too long a time. Of course, the fact is that -we will never be done with curricula improvement. Whoever undertakes to prepare the report on this: schedule should be given op- portunity to continue the study of the subject over a period of years. That committee should be known in your school as in charge of the course of study, and every- thing possible done to help them in their efforts. Obviously, this schedule is not exhaustive. The author’s effort has been to suggest the chief items to be considered at the beginning. Those using the schedule and reading the references will be able later to extend their investiga- tions. They will find shortly an abundance of questions not raised herein. They should provide a way to note these questions as they arise and preserve them for future attention. A good system for that is to put each question on a 3x5 card, then file the cards according to a set of general headings. 48. Outline your present course of study as follows: Make a list of the classes, beginning with the youngest iThe Abingdon Press, publishers. THE COURSE OF STUDY 41 and going up to the oldest. After each class place the age of the youngest member, the oldest member, the average age. Also the name of the course of lessons now used and the general aim of that course. It will be more convenient to use a large piece of paper for this—make a chart 17x22 or 22x84. Bring out for use again the charts made as directed under Problem III. Place them so it will be easy to com- pare with them this new chart. With these charts before you, you are ready to proceed with the following ques- tions. The charts and references will provide you the information sought. 49. Is there a progressive unity throughout these courses? Do the lessons of one year grow out of those of the preceding and into those of the next? If a pupil “gzoes through” all of them, will he have covered a unified course in religious education, so far as lesson materials are concerned, or are each year’s lessons an independent course by itself? See Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, page 35. Educational Task of the Local Church, pages 58, 59. 50. Do the lessons of each year take account of the preceding experiences of the pupils? To what extent are they correlated to the pupil’s experiences in the home, pub- lic school, and community? See Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 81-84. Social Theory of Religious Education, pages 105-108. 51. Are the lessons suited to the age of the pupils? Go over the list by classes to get an answer to this question. Refer to the charts of Problem III. See also Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 77-79; 227-232. 52. Is the content of the lessons wholly biblical? Is there enough of natural, historical, and literary material in the lessons to create in the pupil’s mind the impression 42 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL of continuity between his religious attitudes and the rest of his experience? See Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 76-78. How to Teach Religion, pages 109-112; 118-128. Social Theory of Religious Hducation, pages ee 105; 113-116. 53. Do your lessons provide opportunity for the teachers to stress the social significance of the Christian ideal, or are they concerned mainly with individual salvation with- — out reference to social needs and obligations? See Social Theory of Religious Hducation, pages 98-101; 105-110. 54. Are the lessons arranged with reference to the spiritual crises of the pupils? A good discussion of these crises is ‘to be found in. Childhood and Character, pages 118-133. Some of the charts used therein are taken from Coe’s The Spiritual Life. 55. Does the course of study provide materials helpful in guiding the pupils in. making religious choices in the matter of their lifework? At what age are these materials introduced? At present we are merely beginning to study this niattee: Not much of great value about it is available. Paragraph 8, page 67, Hducational Task of the Local Church, has nine lines on the subject. Organization and Administra- tion of Religious Education has a few lines more than a page—see page 43f. 56. Do the lessons provide opportunity for expressional activities—handwork, social service, etc.? Are the activi- ties suited to the age and capacities of the pupils? See Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 66-78. 57. Do the lessons lead into week-day activities? Are they of such a character that the week-day work can be made continuous with the Sunday course of study? See THE COURSE OF STUDY 43 Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 81-84. Educational Task of the Local Church, pages 99, 100. 58. ‘Are all the lessons prescribed, or are some of them elective? If the latter, at what age are the pupils per- mitted to elect what they wish to study? How is the whole matter of electing courses handled? 59. What courses are recognized by the public schools as worthy of credit? A great deal is being done at present in the way of high-school credit for work done in the church schools. The methods differ in the various States. Consult your local superintendent of schools for information about your own State. See Education Task of the Local Church, pages 98, 99. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 115-122. 60. What has been your experience with the Graded Lessons? How do you account for that experience? Are the troublesome factors still in existence? What has been done to remove them? What stands in the way now to prevent the introduction or extension of the Graded Les- sons in your school? See Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 41-44, ' 61. What should be done immediately to improve the course of study? How can you proceed to initiate the needed improvements? Work out your plan in detail, fixing dates for the doing of certain things. Anticipate as far as possible all of the difficulties and point out how they may be overcome or prevented. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Dewey, John. The Child and the Curriculum. Dewey, John. Interest and Effort. Dewey, John. The School and Society. 44 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL Haslett, S. B. Pedagogical Bible School, Part Ii. Bower, W. C. The Reconstruction of the Curriculum, Religious Education, June, 1917. McMurry, Charles A. Teaching by Peon Branom, Wendel EH. The Project Method in Education. PROBLEM V PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 118-134. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 275, 276. _ GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Probably no part of our whole task is so perplexing as is that of physical equipment. This is so largely because of financial expenses. It always costs a great deal either _ to remodel old buildings or build new ones. The expense of providing furnishings is always heavy. Usually there is scarcely enough money with which to buy the necessities of the Sunday school, therefore any plan or idea that calls for an investment in buildings and additional furnishings awakens either active opposition or despair. However, one of the most important phases of our prob- lem is that of physical equipment. We realize this to-day as perhaps never before. It is manifest that if the public schools require the new buildings and equipment we are providing to-day, our religious educational efforts make similar demands. Even where little attention has been given to the subject of religious education the workers realize that physical equipment has a great deal to do with the success of their efforts. The number of rooms avail- able for use, their location, lighting, ventilation, decora- tions, and the suitability of their furnishings are matters the importance of which is obvious. In handling this particular schedule it is desirable that we be very practically minded. It is easy for us to draft 45 46 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL what would be the ideal. If we had sufficient money, no doubt we could go ahead and provide our churches with physical equipments that would be adequate. But not very many places are blest with sufficient money, therefore we will have to let alone the ideal and attend strictly to the practical and probable. Whoever uses this schedule should take into account with great care the exact financial resources of their church. Obviously, it will be a waste of time to make proposals that involve an expense beyond the reach of our people. Therefore let us keep our feet on the ground. The encouraging fact is that many churches _ can improve their physical equipment for educational uses without a great outlay of money. In many cases we are not making the best of use of what we already have. In | such instances the immediate task is to review carefully what we have and how we are using it, and then devise ways and means for putting to the Neca possible uses the existing facilities. Nearly all of the denominations provide suggestions about physical equipment through their Boards of Sunday Schools or general committees on religious education. Sunday-school workers should write to their denominational agencies for their literature on the subject. BUILDING 62. What rooms are available for educational work? Describe their location and size. List the activities pro- moted in each room. Insert in your record a drawing of the floor plan of your church. Make drawings of other churches in the community or near-by towns. Compare these and your own plant with the plans suggested as meeting modern requirements. 63. Are the schoolrooms separated from the auditorium by solid walls or movable partitions? : If your partitions are not sound-proof, how might you overcome the difficulties occasioned thereby? 64. What is the total floor space available for educa- PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT 47 tional work? How much does that allow per pupil? (The public schools allow 15 square feet per pupil.) 65. To what extent do you make the educational rooms do double duty—have different groups use them at different times? This suggests a two-session school—something practiced in some places. One section of the school meets in the morning and another section in the afternoon. Again, in most churches the Sunday-school rooms are used during the week for various purposes. How much and for what purposes do you use the various Sunday-school rooms of your church? 66. Describe the auditorium of your church as to size, cheerfulness, beauty, and worshipfulness. (If you have a Sunday-school auditorium, describe it also in respect to those items.) . Be careful to point out wherein these auditoriums help or hinder a worshipful attitude. How about the decorations —their color, orderliness, cleanliness, etc.? COE the various auditoriums in your community. 67. Does your school use the church auditorium? How and when? If your church auditorium is beautiful and induces a worshipful attitude, what are the objections to using it occasionally by the different departments for their opening services? What would be gained by so doing, using the organ and a choir? 68. If you have a gymnasium, describe its size, loca- tion, equipment, and uses. Do you use your gymnasium to “draw” people to your church and school, or to train them in Christian living? What are the differences? 69. Do you have a room that can be used for dramatics in religious education? Describe its size, location, and equipment. To what extent is it used for dramatics? For other activities? The use of dramatics in education is becoming preva- 48 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL lent. The literature on the subject is at present to be found chiefly in periodicals like The Church School. In connection with this question consider whether you have a room that could be equipped with a modest stage, and what would be involved in doing so. If you know of a church that has a stage, find out about its uses and value. Write The Church School for the latest informa- tion on the subject of dramatics. 70. Which departments have separate rooms? yee they arranged so that separate worship programs can be pro- moted? Can they be so arranged? Which classes have separate rooms? Why do some classes or departments have the rooms they do? Which classes or departments have the best located, lighted, and decorated rooms? How were your classes or departments assigned to the rooms they occupy? Do the adult classes have ‘first call” for the best rooms? Why? ae 71. Do you have a library room? Can such a room be provided? 72. Do you have a room that can be used as an office for the general superintendent and secretaries? - What particular advantages are there in having such an office? If you have a room that could be used for an office, what is necessary to equip it and begin using it? Count up the cost and prepare a list of the articles and labor needed. 73. Conclude your work on this section by preparing a detailed plan of how your present building can be (1) used to better advantage without structural alterations, and (2) how it can be remodeled so as to be of better service. If the latter is necessary, get some estimates on the probable cost. SANITATION AND SAFETY - 74. Do you have cloak-rooms or special provision for taking care of the pupils’ wraps during the school session? PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT 49 What do you do with the umbrellas on wet days? What are the advantages of having a room where they can be checked? 75. Are the rooms kept clean and sanitary? Point out both defects and excellencies. 76. How are they lighted? Is there sufficient light properly arranged? If your church uses electricity, can you improve the lighting of some of your rooms by the use of floor lamps made by your own pupils? 77. How are they heated and ventilated? (The tempera- ture should be 68 degrees. The public schools allow 200. cubic feet of air space per pupil, and 30 cubic feet of pure air per pupil each minute.) Do you thoroughly “air-out” your rooms immediately before the pupils come? Some janitors ventilate on Mon- day or whatever week day is used to clean the church. What are the advantages of an airing Sunday morning? 78. Are there adequate toilet accommodations? Are they well kept? Are they well placed? As a rule, church toilets are about the most unclean of all public toilets. It is a disgrace to have dirty toilets in a church. Be thoroughly honest and fearless in dealing with this matter. Why? 79. Are there sufficient exits properly placed and marked for emergency use? How many are always ready for use. Do you ever have fire drills? Why not secure the help of some experienced public school teacher in devising and practicing fire drills for your school? While very few churches burn when they are actually in use, knowing what to do in an emergency is desirable. - Further, we are under a responsibility to train our pupils in being careful, are we not? 80. If pupils have been sick to your knowledge, do you allow them to enter their classes or departments directly without inquiry as to their condition? ‘Some public schools now require a pupil who has been 50 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL sick to bring a doctor’s certificate before being readmitted. Some have resident or school doctors who examine the children. Why should we not be as careful in the Sunday school? What would be involved in working a plan of health-examinations in your school? EQUIPMENT 81. Describe the equipment of each room—maps, black- boards, tables, chairs, pictures, etc. Arrange your findings by rooms and departments. A good plan would be to divide the paper into two columns. In one place what you have, and opposite it what is — recommended as ideal or desirable. 82. Is the equipment suitable for the children using it? Are chairs and tables the right height? the blackboards well placed? the pictures suitable? , Here you will have to consult the references on the specific needs of the different aged groups. See the refer- ences under Problem III. Also for some general views see Childhood and Character, pages 203-228, which deals with “Work and Play” of children—the physiological rela- tions and the educational uses of work, play, and recreation. 83. What provision is made for storing supplies—lesson materials, handwork, etc.? Are there cabinets, drawers in tables, or closets? What would be involved in provid- ing such facilities? 84. Is there any attempt made to carry out a color scheme in the furnishings and decorations of the rooms? . Of what particular advantage is “harmony” in these matters? What are the educational advantages of pleasant and beautiful rooms and furnishings? To what extent do the public or private schools your pupils attend week- days strive to have beautiful rooms and surroundings? What obligations do their efforts place on you? 85. What is done with surplus materials? What do you do with the “extra” and unused lesson supplies, papers, etc.? Are they kept for future years, PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT 51 or given to other schools? Do you see that absent pupils receive their papers and lesson materials? In many schools there is a tremendous waste due to inaccurate ordering of supplies. How can that be prevented? 86. To what extent does the school provide Bibles? When are they provided? Are they left in the rooms? Does the use of torn and badly worn Bibles promote respect or reverence for the Book? Do you make it a custom to give the pupils Bibles for certain attainments, or when they have reached a certain place in their course? 87. To what extent is the school supplied with models, sand-tables, stereographs, stereopticon, moving picture machine, etc.? 88. To what extent does the school provide note-books, pencils, trays, modeling materials, etc.? Do your public schools provide all books and working materials free? 89. Have you a church-school library? How many vol- umes? How often are new books added, and how are they selected? If you have a local public library, or your State main- tains a circulating library, to what extent do you use them? Could you delegate to certain groups the task of caring for your library or providing funds for new books? Do you give the pupils a voice in the matter of the books to be added? Can that be done? How? 90. Have you a Workers’ Library? How many volumes? How often are new books added and how are they selected? This is a most important matter. There are scores of good books on the subject of religious education. Many of them are too expensive for each worker to own copies— that is especially true of books like Bible dictionaries, Bible geographies, and other reference books. The books used in this book as references form the beginnings of a good Workers’ Library. 91. To what extent does the public library meet the needs of pupils and workers? 92. What song books are used in each department? Are 52 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL. the songs used within the understanding of the pupils? Are they sound in their teachings? Are the tunes “jingles” or good music? Do the words make sense? Do the songs promote reverence or a spirit of hilarity? There are several excellent song books available now. Sample copies can be secured from the publishers for inspection. For an up-to-date list of these books write the editors of The Church School, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York. 93. What is done with the finished work done by the pupils—their handwork, maps, models, etc.? Is it ever put on exhibition? When and how? Many churches are making Children’s Day not only the occasion for the annual promotions, but also for an exhi- bition of the year’s work of the school. Charts telling of the plans, policy, and program of the departments, together with the handwork done by the pupils, are exhibited. At certain times the pupils may do some dramatizing of some of their work. A week or several days can be devoted to the effort, letting it culminate in the service on Children’s Day. The parents can also be acquainted through charts and posters with the program of the school and the unmet needs. 94. Have you a Committee on Equipment whose espe- cial duty is to make a study of the subject and recommend what is needed? Or do you leave that to the department heads? 95. What are the specific needs of your school along the lines indicated by this report? | 96. Which of those needs should your school undertake to meet immediately? 97. What steps can be taken to meet those needs immediately? PROBLEM VI OPENING AND CLOSING SERVICES REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, Chapters V, VIII. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS In recent years a change has taken place in our think- ing about the way we begin and close the Sunday-school session. This change is of a fourfold nature and can be stated thus: First, what we formerly called “opening and closing exercises’ we now term ‘opening and closing services.” Second, we now think of these services as something with a purpose that has to do with training more than with entertaining. Too frequently we have acted as though the opening and closing services were chiefly to amuse people. We insisted on using song books that contain songs “full o’ pep,” and devised programs that were “snappy.” We felt that there “had to be something doing” every minute during the opening service—plenty of “cheer” and “good-feeling’” and ‘“at-homeness.” Many Sunday schools gained wide recognition through their opening serv- ices. But the chief value of what was done was that it “put them on the map.” Now, we are thinking of the opening and closing services as having to do essentially with training the pupils in definite ways. They are educa- tional means and not ends in themselves. Third, we now think of these services as having to do with definite attitudes which are favorable to instruction and right living. Professor Hugh Hartshorne presents in his book, Worship in the Sunday School, the following 53 54 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL as desirable attitudes to be cultivated through the opening services: loyalty, generosity, courage, reverence, good will. These are made the central themes of series of services, the prayers, scripture, hymns, and stories or addresses stressing them, one at a time, of course. Teachers have long recognized that some opening services helped get the pupils in a better state of mind for the lesson than did others. We take that into account now. ‘We have come to believe that those opening minutes should help get the pupils into an attitude that would make teach- ing easier and more effective. Fourth, in line with the preceding, we now consider } it best to grade the opening services; that is, that it is best to divide the pupils into departments for their open- ing and closing services Just as we do for the study of the lesson. The songs, prayers, Scripture passages, and stories or addresses should meet the needs and capacities of the pupils. Instead, therefore, of having one general opening service devised chiefly for the adults we will have as many separate opening services as there are departments. This carries out the idea that these services are educa- tional means. We suggest that those four prevalent ideas be kept clearly in mind as this schedule is being used. They provide tests for the practical value of our answers to the follow- ing questions. Also, they will help us prove the value of any conclusions reached and recommendations made. 98. At what hour is the session of the Sunday school? How long is the session? In this connection consider the relative merits of the following hours: before the morning service; after that — service; an afternoon hour. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? 99. How much time is given to opening werviinda study of the lesson? announcements? closing services? How does your division of time compare with the ideas OPENING AND CLOSING SERVICES 55 in Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 96, 97? 100. Does the entire school meet together for the open- ing and closing services? What departments have their own opening and closing services? 101. What is the aim of the opening service? The clos- ing service? Do the officers and teachers and pupils know what those aims are? Perhaps these ‘aims’ have never been definitely agreed upon. Perhaps one person has conducted the opening and closing services without suggestions or directions from others. If so, where rests the responsibility? 102. Do the sessions begin and end on time? Are the teachers and officers present on time? How about the pupils? What is done to promote punctuality? Can you cite specific instances when tardiness of a teacher resulted in harm? How about “order” during the opening service when the teachers are tardy? 103. Are the pupils attentive and reverent during the opening and closing services? What part do they take in those services? Be careful here not to confound good behavior and attention, for children may be quiet and not attentive. Their public-school training may account for their ‘“keep- ing still.” 104. Who leads these services? Does he make regular preparation for his work? Are the hymns, etc., selected before the hour for beginning arrives? Is the form of the opening service varied from time to time, or does it remain the same Sunday after Sunday? 105. Does the leader by his nervousness and “antics” promote disorder and restlessness in the pupils? Many Sunday schools have disorderly opening and clos- ing services chiefly because the leader is of the excitable and nervous kind. Why do we always have the superin- tendents lead these services without regard to their fitness for the task? 56 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL 106. What factors of the opening service promote reverence? irreverence? Does the janitor prowl about adjusting radiators, aigtes! windows? Does your minister roam around greeting folk? Does the leader tell “funny stories” or try to “make people cheerful”? On several Sundays keep pad and pencil handy during the opening service and note whatever tends to disturb the service. 107. Are the prayers adapted to the maioniee of the pupils? Who does the praying? To what extent do the pupils participate in the prayers? Do you wse a prayer book? What prayers do the pupils know? - Is it too much to desire that the prayers “have sense” and bear directly upon some theme? What are the objec- tions to learning and using prayers other than the Lord’s Prayer? Have you encouraged the pupils to write prayers? Could that be done, then a collection of the prayers be used by the school? See Organization and Administration of the Sundae School, page 60. 108. What use of the Scriptures is made in the open- ing and closing services? How are the passages selected? Who reads them? Is the meaning of the passages made clear? What is the effect of the use of the Scrip- tures? Which version of the Bible is used, King James’ or American Revised? Do you ever vary by using Weymouth’s, Goodspeed’s or Moffatt’s translation of the New Testa- ment? See Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, page 59. 109. How are the songs selected? Is the meaning of the songs made clear? Are the pupils trained in singing? Are they taught the great hymns of Christendom? Do you have a choir? an orchestra? What devotional and educa- tional effect is aimed at in the instrumental music, and is it attained? See OPENING AND CLOSING SERVICES 57 Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 58, 59. 110. Is the lesson reviewed from the desk? Is that needed? Who does it? Is preparation made for the review? What is the attitude of the pupils toward the review? What is the relation of the review to the class work? How long is the review? Could something more profitable be substituted for this review? What? 111. What is the attitude of the pupils toward the reports and notices? Do you use a blackboard or chart or some means of putting the reports before the eyes of the school? Children find it hard to follow figures read to them. Can we use charts that show by lines of differing lengths, the standing of the school in matters of enrollment, attend- ance, punctuality, etc.? 112. Is there an address during the opening service? If so, what is its character? Who makes it? Does it ever take the form ofa story? What is the attitude of the pupils toward the address? The story? See Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, page 60. 118. Is the business of the school, taking of records, distribution of books and supplies, etc., so arranged as not to interfere with the worship period? Devise a way that will not interfere. 114. In what respects can your opening services be im- proved? Your closing services? Draft in detail plans for your school. If it meets by departments prepare plans for each department. Make specific suggestions in line with your answers to the preced- ing questions. 115. How can you begin to make such improve- ments? What can be done first? How should that be fol- lowed up? Here outline how the proposed improvements can be initiated. Which can be undertaken first, second, ete. 58 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Cope, Henry F. Religious Education in the Church, Chapters V, VI. Hartshorne, Hugh. Worship in the Sunday School. Meyer and Kennedy. Training of the Devotional Life. PROBLEM VII RECORDS AND REPORTS REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 107-112. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS In too many churches we do not take the work of the Sunday-school secretary seriously enough. Frequently we select for that office young persons whom we wish to “hold” in the church. Without any special instruction they are inducted into office. Their chief business is to keep the books and do the work as it has been done for years. As a consequence what is done usually amounts to little more than keeping an accurate record of the collections and a more or less accurate record of the attendance. In some schools to this is added a more or less accurate enroll- ment, but for the most part this latter is not stressed. _ The secretary has a valuable contribution to make to the work of the school. His efforts provide us informa- tion valuable in determining the effectiveness of our work. While it is true that there is danger of overestimating the work of statistics, it is equally true that statistics are highly serviceable when they are accurate and rightly used. More and more we are coming to realize that the religious educational obligation of the local church extends to every child and young person of its constituency. Also, that that obligation of the communities’ churches collec- tively includes every child and youth of the community. But how many children and youth are there, and who are they? Again, that responsibility involves regular instruc- tion. Not merely how many attend the Sunday school with fair regularity but who in particular attends is a matter 59 60 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL we should Know about. Further, it is not enough for us to know what is being taught our children and youth now; we also should have a record of what has been taught them in the past. Keeping those and the other records of a similar nature is the work of the secretary. Several churches engaged at present in a modern re- ligious educational effort are giving a great deal of time and attention to the matter of records and reporis. Notable among these are the Congregational Church, Oberlin, Ohio, and the School of Religion in connection with Union Theo- logical Seminary, New York city. Mr. Ralph M. McEntire, Topeka, Kansas, has not only written a book on the sub- ject, but is, and has been for a number of years, working on the subject. Nearly all of our denominational publishing houses have special literature on the work of the Sunday- school secretary, and also are prepared to supply blank forms arranged in accordance with the literature approved by the denominational agencies. In using this schedule, you will be helped by having at hand copies of those blanks. For a sum sufficient to cover the cost, most churches are willing to provide sets of the blanks they use. The Officer, a monthly periodical published by The Methodist Book Concern and dealing especially with prac- tical methods of Sunday-school administration, publishes from time to time short articles and descriptions of secre- tarial systems. By writing to the editor of that publica- tion, 420 Plum Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, copies of numbers having articles on the work of the secretary can be secured. The Church School occasionally carries articles on the same subject. If you do not have access to files of that. magazine, write to its editors, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York city. . It is very desirable to have for a secretary someone able and willing to make the work of that office his or her especial task. Whoever is secretary certainly should have no other responsibilities in either Sunday school or church. The work of this office, even in the smallest of schools, RECORDS AND REPORTS 61 is large enough to demand a great deal of time and effort. What has been done to date in devising forms and systems is by no means final. There remain abundant oppor- tunities for improvement, and we should make it thoroughly clear to those acting as secretaries of our Sun- day schools that the field is not only large but wide open for improvements. 116. When a pupil enters the school what information is obtained for his individual record? Do you use an application blank? : “Most of the denominational publishing houses or Sunday- school agencies will provide you samples of their available blanks for use in this connection. 117. Is acard index kept? Are family data secured for the cards? By “family data” is meant information about the other members of the pupils’ family—the occupation of the father, church membership of the various members of the fam- ily, etc. 118. Is an individual record of the work of each pupil kept? What items are included therein? Is the record cumulative through the years? In most schools using a modern system of records this is known as the “Individual Record” card or blank. 119. If the pupil removes, does your record show what became of him? Whether or not he was introduced to another school? We lose many pupils from the church school every year through our failure to follow them up when they move from one community to another. How can you help stop the leak? 120. What items are reported to the secretary each week? Who makes the report to the secretary? How are they delivered to the secretary? 121. How much time is taken from the class period to make up the weekly report? Is that too much? 62 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL 122. Are the weekly reports summarized by montas, quarters, and years? 123. Are they presented in a comparative manner to show the growth of the school, the increase or decrease of the various items, and to make evident the educational im- plications thereof? 124. Are the reports read each week? What items are stressed? What is the educational value of these weekly reports? What do the pupils do while the reports are peing read? How have you tried to make the presentation of the reports interesting to the pupils? . 125. How does the superintendent or supervisory com- mittee. make use of the statistics of the secretary in testing the worth of educational policies, materials, or methods? 126. How often and to whom does each officer and teacher render a report of his work? What is done with these reports? 127. If you have an annual exhibit, ti use is made of the records and reports? Do you present the data by means of charts, graphs, etc.? 128. Does your school take the work of the secretary seriously? Is there an emphasis on accuracy in rendering reports and data for the records? 129. Are the reports of your Sunday school as published in your church’s Year Book accurate or just estimates or guesses? 130. Have you examined the official record books and supplies published by your denominational publishing house? Do you use them? If not, why not? 131. What should be done immediately to improve your system of records and reports? Secure samples of blanks and methods issued by your denominational agencies. Make some specific recommenda- tions, showing what is involved in the way of expense and effort to carry them out. RECORDS AND REPORTS 63 ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Cope, Henry F. The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task, Chapter XXIII. McEntire, Ralph M. The Sunday School Secretary. Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education, Articles on “System of Registration” and ‘Statistical Meth- ods for the Sunday School,” by Hugh Hartshorne; “Sunday School Secretary,’ by Lavinia Tallman. PROBLEM. VIII WEEK-DAY ACTIVITIES © REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 142-144. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 71-74; Chapter VI; page 140f. Educational Task of the Local Church, Chapter VIII. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Of all the problems considered herein this one will prob- ably be least satisfactory so far as results are concerned. Our experience in week-day work is very limited, conse- quently the opinions about it are numerous and diverse. At the present time it partakes of the nature of afad. It is so popular that many churches feel that unless they have something that can be called week-day work they are hopelessly outclassed. Therefore there is a great deal of straining and striving to promote something or other that will class as week-day work. The futility of many of these efforts is quite apparent when we subject them to an honest criticism. For the most part we find that instead of improving the quality of the religious educational pro- gram of the local church we simply multiply the evils. All too frequently the week-day work is no improvement at all on the Sunday-school work. The faults of the latter effort are duplicated in the week-day efforts. Practically the same thing is done during the week that is done on Sunday, and in the same way. When you come to deal with this Problem the chief task awaiting you is that of deciding which of two courses it is probably better to follow. On the one hand, we can 64 WEEK-DAY ACTIVITIES 65 devise a program of week-day activities independent of everything else existing at the present time. We can ignore whatever is being done in the Sunday school, clubs, societies, organizations, etc., now operating, and set up another organization with a program of its own. We can do this either as a local church operating independently or in cooperation with other churches in a so-called com- munity effort. On the other hand, instead of setting up another organization and program we will attempt extend- ing the work of the Sunday school. It is easy to discover just wherein our present Sunday-school efforts fall short because we do not have sufficient time for their promo- tion. Most of the things we attempt to do in the Sunday school have to be cut short, and many other things we ought to try to do cannot be started at all, just because we do not have enough time. Now we can begin with our best Sunday-school opportunity. We can discover its shortcomings, and how those shortcomings can be elimi- nated, if we can have the pupils for a greater period of time than we have at present. If we follow this course, it means that we come to grips first of all with our Sunday- school problem, putting forth every possible effort to im- prove its program. What is done through the week, then, will be efforts to carry out effectively the program of the Sunday _ school. As will readily be recognized, if we follow the second course, instead of having a Sunday school we have a church school with a Sunday session and week-day sessions. But we will have started to get such a church school by utilizing the existing and already functioning Sunday-school organi- zation. What is done through the week is under the same general organization as is the work of the Sunday session. In the following schedule we have suggested little more than a general survey of the existing literature and the work now being done. Your chief task, in the light of our experience, is that of becoming acquainted with what is written on the subject and the experiments being made. 66 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL We wish to caution you about being too hasty in reaching conclusions and formulating plans for week-day work. Our own opinion is that in most churches our Sunday schools provide us with abundant opportunity to use all available energy and ability. That the Sunday school can be greatly improved at many points is easily discoverable. Unless, therefore, we have an excess of talent and time, before launching a week-day work as such, we should give our closest attention and our best effort to making what we do at the Sunday session as good as possible. 132. What particular activities necessary or desirable. for a rounding out of your pupils’ religious education can- not be promoted at the Sunday school session? Have each teacher provide a list covering her class. Arrange these by departments. Group them under two heads: Instruction activities, or those centering chiefly in the use of books or printed materials; Training activities, or those of the expressional sort. ha . 3 133. Make a list of your present week-day activities— clubs, societies, organizations, etc., which meet and do their work or play on week days. After each place the upper and lower age limits of the members; the purpose of the organi- zation; and how it is related to your Sunday school. 134. If your church or community is engaged in a week- day work, describe it in detail under these heads: (1) The pupils: age, relation to your Sunday school, regularity of attendance at week-day sessions, and apparent interest in the work; (2) Course of study: textbooks or courses used, time spent on them, their relation to the courses used on Sunday; (3) Activities: recreation, social service, manual works and their relation to the Sunday-school work. 135. If you have not tried any week-day work, secure the report suggested in the preceding question about the work of some church or churches that have. Many churches have done something and their efforts have been reported. See Organization and Administration of Religious Hduca- WEEK-DAY ACTIVITIES 67 _ tion, pages 133-138, for references to a few community week- day schools. Get into personal touch with churches near you that have done something. Report their program. 136. Taking your answer to question 135, which of those activities can you probably carry on with your present building equipment? 137. To promote week-day activities what arrangements must be made with your public-school officials and teachers? 138. To promote week-day work what teachers would be necessary? To what extent can you supply them? What must be their training or ability? See Organization and Administration of Religious Education, pages 185-193. Does this apply to week-day teachers as well as to Sunday-school teachers? 189. From your reading on the subject what are the chief problems of week-day work in your church and community? 140. Draw up a tentative plan for week-day work which includes the following: (1) Correlation with your Sunday- school course of study; (2) Manual work; (3) Play; (4) Dramatization; (5) Social service; (6) Cooperation with public schools. Try to keep your plan within the limits of probability. Indicate its points of great difficulty. Show how it could be worked out gradually. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Cope, Henry F. The School in the Modern Church. McKibben, Frank M. The Community Training School. Cope, Henry F. The Week-Day Church School. PROBLEM IX TRAINING TEACHERS AND OFFICERS REFERENCES Organization and Administration of the Sunday School, pages 102-105. : Educational Task of the Local Church, Chapter IV. Organization and Administration of Religious Education, page 154, Chapters VIII, IX. New Program of Religious Education, pages 99, 100. How to Teach Religion, Chapter I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Perhaps this problem should have been considered first, because what we have been doing thus far is in reality a teacher-training work. We have been studying our par- ticular school for the purpose of discovering how we can — work more effectively in improving it. In this study undoubtedly we have discovered some things that have made us better workmen. As stated in the introductory chapters, the best kind of training effort is that which deals directly with immediate and practical problems. So far this is just what you have been doing. This schedule, therefore, will serve especially as a means to help you check up on the method used so far. Herein you will perhaps determine why you have done some things and how you might have done them better. We will treat together the officers and teachers. While it is true that the work of the officers is radically different from that of the teachers, they ought to be familiar with the essentials of the teachers’ work. The chief work in the Sunday school is that of the teacher. Everything else is secondary to that. The school exists for the one pur- 68 TRAINING THEACHERS AND OFFICERS 69 pose of teaching. That is why we call it a school. Organi- zation and administration problems find their goal in the teachers’ work. We have organization and administra- tion not for their own sake but for the sake of the teachers. The officers are to help provide conditions favorable and helpful to the teaching work of the school. The final test for any organization or administration idea or plan is whether or not it contributes to the teaching function of the school. It sometimes happens that we select a super- intendent because he is ‘good with children.” We make a mistake if we apply to the superintendent no other test than that. The biggest test to be applied is this: Is this person able to help the teachers of the school do their best possible work? The same test can be applied to every officer. We suggest that the opening chapters of this book be reread in connection with this schedule. What is said therein sets forth in more detail our views on teacher train- ing, especially when’ we are dealing with present officers and teachers. Further, we suggest that considerable attention be given to the questions dealing with the training of our young people for work in the church school. Frankly, to date we have not been highly successful in this field. While many young people have enrolled in teacher-training classes, a great many have fallen by the wayside and never become teachers. The ‘mortality rate’ in this group is exceedingly high. What has been your own experience in this connec- tion? How many of the young people of your church who have taken teacher-training work have either completed the course or become teachers in a Sunday school?’ Another matter to which we should attend is that of training for work in our Sunday school those mothers and fathers whose children have reached an age that makes it possible for them to give some time to church work. In nearly every church there are married people who, when young and unmarried, worked in the Sunday school. The 70 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL . first ten or fifteen years of their married life are occupied chiefly with the establishment of their homes. The com- ing of children and their care takes these parents out of active participation in the Sunday school. Later, how- ever, they have time to resume church work. Will we do the same kind of training with them that we did with young and unmarried persons? What would be the chief differences? Canvass this whole situation thoroughly. ~ Obviously, we have not exhausted the subject in the fol- lowing schedule. Whoever uses it will be able to add other questions, and make their reports cover more ground than is included herein. You should undertake to do that. 141. How many of your teachers are men? How many are women? Do you try to have men teachers for boys, and women teachers for girls? Why? 142. How many of your teachers have taken any special training for their work? List your teachers, and after each name state just what his or her training has been? 143. Have you ever had a training class for present. teachers? How many attended regularly? What was done at those training classes? What was the effect on the teachers? The school? 144. Do you have a class of young people in training for teachers? How many men? Women? When does the class meet? What course is it studying? Who teaches it? Is that teacher a graduate of a teacher-training course? Has he had training of any kind to teach? What does this class promise in the way of teachers for your school— how many will probably become teachers? 145. Are formal graduation services of the training classes held? When? What is done at them? What is the value of such graduation services? 146. Has any attempt been made to make the monthly meetings of the officers and teachers a training project? How could the programs of those meetings be arranged so that a minimum of time would be devoted to routine TRAINING TEACHERS AND OFFICERS 71 business, and the major part of the time given to a dis- cussion of topics bearing on teaching? How can the regular business be done by an executive committee? 147. Who supervises the teaching? How is it done? What is the value? What is the attitude of the teachers toward such supervision? 148. To what extent do the present teachers use the books of the Workers’ Library of religious educational books in the public library? What is done to encourage such use? How are new books brought to the attention of the teachers? 149. Are demonstrations in teaching ever given? Are the ablest teachers used to give these demonstrations? How are these demonstrations followed up? 150. Are the teachers given opportunity to visit and observe good teachers in other schools? Are such teachers - ever brought to your teachers’ meetings to give addresses and demonstrations? 151. If you have a Community Training Class how many of your present teachers attend? What courses do they take? In what particular ways have the Community Training Classes benefited your school? 152. At what age do the young people enter the train- ing classes? How are they selected? What appeal is made for them to enter such a class? 153. Are these young people called upon to do supply teaching? Who directs and controls their practice teaching? 154. What should be done by your school to insure a sufficient supply of teachers for the years to come? How can that be initiated? 155. What have you done in the way of officer train- ing? What are the advantages of having an assistant to every officer—a person who would understudy the work of that officer and become prepared to take the place later on? What are the advantages of having regular meetings of the officers by themselves? 156. If you have followed either wholly or in part the 72 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL plan of this book, in what particular ways has. your school been benefited? Now is a good time to check up on the work done thus far. Go over the work to date and point out wherein it has resulted in definite benefits or improve- ments; also, wherein it has failed and could have been done better. Is this plan worth trying again on a larger scale? ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Secure the printed matter issued by your denominational Sunday-schoo] headquarters. The Sunday school associa- tion of your city or State will also Sunny you with mate- rials of value. PROBLEM X SECURING THE COOPERATION OF THE HOME AND CHURCH REFERENCES Educational Task of the Local Church, page 91. Organization and Administration of the hate School, Chapter XII. New Program of Religious Education, pages 100-103. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Every Sunday-school teacher knows that her work suf- fers more from the lack of home cooperation than from anything else. The children have their ideals determined pretty largely in the home. Often it happens that the ideals for which a teacher has labored during a whole period have been shattered at the dinner table by a casual remark of the father or mother. Again, to what avail is our effort to secure the pupil’s allegiance to ideals that their parents neither accept nor practice? Not until we have the fullest possible cooperation between our parents and the Sunday school will we be able to do our best work in religious education. This particular schedule deals not only with securing the cooperation of the parents but also with securing the cooperation of the church as a whole. In every congre- gation there are numbers of influential people who do not have children in the Sunday school. Go through the list of your church officers and note the number who have no children in your school. Yet these officers are in position to help or hinder the work of the school. The same thing is true of those childless influential people of the church who are not officers. .Obviously, we must have 73 74 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL the support of the whole congregation, parents and non- parents alike, if the Sunday school is to do its best work. Too frequently we do not take into account the serious- ness of this situation. We consider that the Sunday school can be run without reference to the balance of the church. We set up a kind of “close corporation” which controls it. We do not go to the trouble of acquainting even the Official Board with the work of the school in detail. When this is so, it is hardly to be expected that we will secure either the amount or quality of needed cooperation from church and parents. For more reasons than that of getting money we ought to be energetic and thorough in acquaint- | ing all of the people in our church with whatever is involved in our educational program. This particular schedule aims to help develop ways and means to secure the cooperation of parents and church. Obviously, local conditions will determine to a very large extent the details of our procedure. In every instance the essential things to seek are information, ideas, and plans that will effectively acquaint our people with what we are trying to do with their children. 157. What is your school doing to acquaint the congre- gation with the aims and methods of modern religious educational work? the parents of your children? 158. Have you a Teacher-Parent Association? What would be the value of such an organization? To what extent can we imitate the Teacher-Parent Organization of the public schools? 159. Have you attempted to use your Home Diapiteeinen to acquaint the parents with work of your school? Do you consider that the parents who do not attend Sunday school are members of the Home Department? Devise a plan whereby the Home Department might become useful in securing home cooperation. . 160. What could be done in the way of exhibits? special bulletins or leaflets? the use of the regular weekly bulletins? COOPERATION OF HOME AND CHURCH 15 161. Are opportunities given for inspection of the work of the school at work—special days set aside for parental visitation? 162. How is attention called to books and articles bear- ing on religious education? Do you ever have quotations from them in your weekly bulletin? Have you ever given “reviews” of them to your local paper for publication? 163. What use is made of the public press in setting forth the aims and methods of your school? 164. Have you a bulletin board that can be used to announce items bearing on the work of your school? Do you use it? 165. Does your school unite with other schools in the community in holding massmeetings, institutes, or con- ventions, the main purpose of which is to arouse public interest in religious education? 166. In your publicity work do you place emphasis upon the educational features of your school or upon those features that are spectacular? 167. Wherein has the publicity work done in connection with this survey popularized religious education in your community? 168. Wherein could those publicity methods be im- proved? How can you even at this date make use of the data gathered and conclusions reached? 169. What have been the outstanding values of this survey? Wherein has your school profited from it? Be definite in your answers to that question. If you were to promote it again, wherein would you improve it? ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Cope, Henry F. Efficiency in the Sunday School, Chapter XXVIII. Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education. Articles on “Advertising the Sunday School,” by Isaac P. Burgess, and “Methods of Publicity,’ by Franklin McEl- fresh. ae ears hie Sue SE i Jot eT. * Date Due IK Speer Library | abet Siatee tes se ietiata! OSes: Princeton Theological Seminary- iw ahaa tate Sees ye ye N LO © ww —_ © — © NI oan © a a I = =e * re Ti adiest Aas? wee” Ratt