The city institute for religious teachers

Front matter

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Foreword

The City Institute for Religious Teachers has come in response to a demand for scientificallytrained teachers of religion in church schools. It is but one of the results of that larger movement which has for a decade been seeking ^^ to inspire the educational forces of our country with the religious ideal; to inspire the religious forces of our country with the educational ideal; and to keep before the public mind the ideal of Religious Education, and the sense of its need and value."

Historically the modern city institute has not developed from the earlier experiments in the field of teacher-training. It is a direct contribution of the college to the cause of religious education, and this is but an earnest of what may be expected from this source when all the church colleges of the country have established well-equipped departments of religious education.

Following a joint conference of the International Sunday School Association and the representatives of the evangelical denominations, in 1908, at which time the First Standard and Advanced Standard courses were formulated, the country was flooded with hastily prepared fifty-lesson drillbooks and outline manuals, while teacher-training classes.

X Foreword

varying in size from a single pupil to several hundred, were organized in all parts of the country by promotion agents of denominational publishing houses. In many cities throughout the country union classes were formed to study the First Standard course and, later, groups of classes were conducted in a few cities for the purpose of teaching the various subjects required for an advanced teacher-training certificate. This federation of advanced teacher-training classes often took the title, *Xity Training School,'' or ^^ Teacher Training Institute," but prior to 191 1 no city institute was organized with ideals higher than the First Standard and Advanced Standard courses.

As might have been expected, this teacher-training movement fell of its own weight. It was founded upon a false theory of professional training; its textbooks were inadequate and unpedagogical, and its leaders in many instances were untrained enthusiasts, having much zeal but little or no professional knowledge. The collapse of this teacher-training program called out such caustic criticism and such searching analysis of the courses and textbooks from specialists in the field of religious education that it is now quite generally conceded that new texts must be written and new and higher standards erected. The constructive programs proposed by college men who are specializing in this field have been put to practical test.

Foreword xi

and there is every reason to believe that the teacher-training courses soon to be adopted will be supported by sound educational theory.

The first city institute organized upon modem lines with high educational ideals was established in Des Moines, Iowa, in the fall of 191 1. It cut entirely loose from the old standards, repudiated the so-called standard texts, and ignored all seals, badges, and certificates. From the beginning it sought to do a high grade of university extension work. It has completed three years of successful school work. Forty-one church schools have been represented in its student body. Thirteen religious denominations have co-operated in this enterprise. The average attendance for each session for the entire three years has been above one hundred and fifty. The first class to complete the three years' course numbered twenty-three of the most representative citizens of the community.

This volume is the outgrowth of the author's three years of experience as director of the Des Moines City Institute. During these three years he has had correspondence with over six hundred cities in the United States and Canada regarding the details of the Des Moines plan. Over fifty cities have successfully launched city institutes based largely upon the Des Moines experiment. This widespread interest in a higher type of training for the religious teachers of our xii Foreword

American cities has led the author to prepare the following chapters. If he refers constantly to the Des Moines City Institute and presents the particular methods that have there been employed, it is in no spirit of egotism, but only as one may properly ofifer to his fellow-workers the results of an experiment which has had a measure of success. The author has made use throughout his discussion of the suggestions and criticisms that have come from many sources and from many other educational experiments.

The volume is sent out with the hope that it will be helpful to those earnest men and women who are interested in the estabUshing of high-grade city institutes for religious teachers.

The Author

Des Moines, Iowa October 23, 19 14

Part I. Organization Chaptsa Page

I. Factors in an Efficient Church School . . 3 § I. The Minister, p. 4; § 2. The Superintendent, p. 7; § 3. The Teachers, p. 8; § 4. The Church Membership, p. 12.

II. A City System of Religious Education . . 14 § I. A City Superintendent of Religious Education, p. 16; § 2. A Model Church School, p. 17; § 3. A Common Standard, p. 20; § 4. A City Institute for Religious Teachers, p. 27; § 5. A City Board of Religious Education, p. 27; § 6. The Evolution of the System, p. 28.

III. Organization of a City Institute .... 29 § I. The Nature of the Institute, p. 29; § 2. Details of Organization, p. 31; §3. Relation to Other Bodies, p. 37.

IV. The Institute Faculty 42

§ I. The Director, p. 42; § 2. The Selection of the Faculty, p. 44; § 3. The Supervision of the Faculty, p. 49; § 4- Popularizing the Faculty, ' p. 51.

V. The Institute Curriculum 54

§ I. Length of the Course, p. 54; § 2. Groups of Courses Offered, p. 55; § 3. Order of Election of Courses, p. 56; § 4. Requirements for Graduation, p. 57; § 5. Organization by Classes, p. 59; § 6. Affiliations, p. 59.

VI. The Weekly Program 69

§ I. The Two Plans, p. 69; § 2. General Lectures, p. 71; §3. The Recitation Period, p. 76; § 4. The Opening Session, p. 78.

xiii xiv Contents

VII. Institute Finance 82

§ I. Expenses, p. 82; § 2. Sources of Revenue, p. 84.

VIII. The Campaign for Students 89

§ I. The Period of Information and Agitation, p. 89; § 2. The Initial Enrolment, p. 89; § 3. The Follow-up Campaign, p. 99.

IX. Methods of Promoting the Institute . . 107 § I. The Institute Itself, p. 107; § 2. Messages to the Churches, p. 108; §3. Exhibits, p. no; §4. Promotion Literature and Reports, p. in; § 5. Visitors' Tickets and Special Lectures, p. 118; § 6. The Continuous Campaign, p. 119.

PART 11. COURSES OF INSTRUCTION

X. Biblical Courses 125

§ I. The Old Testament, p. 126; § 2. The Life of Christ, p. 129; § 3. The Apostolic Age, p. 130; § 4. Biblical Introduction, p. 131; § 5. The Holy Land and Its People, p. 131.

XL Departmental Courses 134

§ I. The Beginners or Kindergarten Department, p. 136; § 2. The Primary Department, p. 138; § 3. The Junior Department, p. 140; § 4. The Intermediate Department, p. 142; § 5. The Senior Department, p. 145; § 6. The Adult Department, p. 147.

XII. Professional and General Courses . . . 148 § I. Elementary Psychology and Pedagogy, p. 148; § 2. Supervision and Management, p. 150; § 3. Story-TeUing, p. 151.

PART I ORGANIZATION

Chapter I Factors In An Efficient Church School

An adequate discussion of the problems of the religious education of the children of a city must take into account those factors which are essential to the success of each school within the city system. The efficiency of the schools of a city cannot be increased merely by federating them into a system. Each individual school within the system must be raised to its highest efficiency.

Many city organizations in the past have failed because they simply federated the schools as they were and did nothing which was consciously directed toward the modffication of the schools themselves. The enthusiasm generated at the meeting of such '^unions'' soon fades away, leaving the schools still running along the old traditional channels.

There are at least four factors necessary to the success of a school within the local church, and those who would improve the rehgious teaching of a city must direct their attention to these funda-

I mental conditions of successful church schools. These four essential factors are: (i) a minister who is the pastor of his church school; (2) a superintendent with an educational ideal; (3) a body of growing teachers, and (4) a church membership fully in sympathy with the ideals of the modern church school. These factors are worthy of a more extended treatment than that which is possible in this brief introductory chapter.

§ I. THE MINISTER

The first requirement is a minister who is the pastor of his church school. When church-school leaders are listing their resources and their problems, they almost invariably place the ministers among their problems. Not that the minister is hostile to the school, but that he is often uninformed and not actively interested in the problems of religious growth. Too often his theological seminary has taught him to speak a dead language to a dying world, and he has no message for a living, developing, growing world. A commission reporting in 1905, after a careful investigation, disclosed the fact that 95 per cent of the courses given in the theological seminaries of this country had special reference to a ministry to adults and only 5 per cent of the courses had any bearing upon the needs of the children and young people who make up the larger part of the church membership.

The great waves of conversion, as shown by the studies of Starbuck and Coe, are experienced by young people of from twelve to fourteen and from sixteen to eighteen years of age. The great

Factors in an Efficient Church School 5

majority of conversions come before twenty years of age. It is estimated that the average age of the American preacher's morning congregation is thirty-five years. The absence of children from the worship services of the church and the fact that millions of children pass the critical and fateful years of adolescence without accepting Jesus Christ and go out to join the army of non-churchgoers are not alone the fault of teachers and parents. The minister is not without responsibility for these conditions.

The church has a right to ask that its preacher shall minister to the whole congregation, and that he shall have special care for the young and tender members of the flock. It is the business of the church to save sinners, and it is also the business of the church to save boys and girls from becoming sinners. The minister who neglects either of the two great tasks has not discharged his whole duty.

It is not unreasonable for the church school to ask its pastor to devote at least one day a week to the problems of religious education. He should read the most modern literature on the subject and be prepared to give definite and positive help to teachers, parents, and ofl&cers. He should be able to direct the home reading of the children of the community and supervise their plays and games. He should determine the attitude of his people toward the child life of the community. His opinions on the church school and the problems of rehgious and moral education in general should be based on adequate, authoritative information. A preacher who ministers only to the adult portion of the congregation and gives no skilful direction to the rehgious nurture of the children of the congregation fails to meet the demands of the modern church. There must be in every city some agency at work teaching the people that they have a right to expect this service of their ministers and teaching the ministers at the same time how to render the service demanded by an enhghtened community. In every city there will be found thoughtful, earnest, progressive pastors wilHng to join in any movement for better things. Their leadership and example are invaluable assets to the organization which undertakes to give the modern educational vision to all the clergy of a city. A hopeful sign of better conditions is the fact that theological seminaries are modifying their courses to meet the demands of the modern church, and ministers whose training did not include child psychology and the principles and methods of moral and rehgious education are in increasing numbers availing themselves of summer schools and institutes where special attention is given to these subjects. A new day is dawning in the realm of rehgious education, and when the new day has fully come every

Factors in an Efficient Church School 7

minister will be by training and by choice the pastor of the whole church,

§2. THE SUPERINTENDENT

The second need is a superintendent with an educational ideal. No school can be highly successful unless its superintendent is a man fully abreast of the times, and by education and temperament capable of directing a school in the details of a definite educational program. There are many churches in every city which need and can afford to have the services of a trained director of religious education. This officer would give his whole time to training the teachers and supervising the educational agencies of the church. Many churches already employ trained speciaKsts for this work. In fact, there has been organized a National Association of Directors of Religious Education.^ This ofi&cer is not an assistant pastor. He is the teacher, the educator, the professor, and his duties do not conflict with those of the preacher, the pastor, the clergyman. A number of such educational speciaHsts in a community constitute a strong nucleus for the faculty of a city training school for church-school teachers and officers.

In every city there will be many church schools depending entirely upon voluntary, untrained workers. Those voluntary workers are men and

^Religious Education y August, 191 3.

women of the noblest motives and the highest Christian character, and they often bring to their work a patriotic devotion that leads them to make sacrifices and endure untold hardships for the good of the cause they serve, but they are untrained. They do not have definite and clear-cut educational ideals, and they do not know how to administer the details of an educational program. They are called to a task for which they are unprepared. In this work as in all other work, untrained leadership is ineffective and dangerous leadership. There should therefore be in every city a school for training the superintendents of the church schools, and every church in the city should have in this school one or more persons preparing skilfully to direct the teaching service of the church.

§3. THE teachers

The third factor is a body of growing teachers. No school can do efficient work without efficient teachers. To teach rehgion effectively requires a knowledge of the subject-matter, a knowledge of the pupils, and a knowledge of the best methods of instruction. Teachers who assume the responsibility of the reUgious nurture of a group of boys and girls must prepare for the most arduous toil. Hard study, the expense and fatigue of conventions, and the hard grind and discipline of regular training classes are the price one must pay for the

Factors in an Efficient Church School 9

joy of seeing children grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.

It is a crime to invite the hungry to an empty table, A teacher must not be an empty vessel. The grace of God in his heart is not enough; the teacher of religion must also have the word of God in his head. It is time to abandon the idea that anybody can teach a class in the church school. It is time for us to insist that the religious nurture of our children be placed in the hands of the best educated, most talented members of the congregation.

The following is an extract from the rules and regulations of the board of education of a typical western city. It sets forth the minimum preparation required of those who are to teach the secular branches to the boys and girls of that city.

Section i. Regular Grade Teachers. — Teachers shall not be elected to the position of regular teacher unless they meet the following requirements for eligibility:

I. General Education: A graduate from a fully accredited four-year high school. Other things being equal, candidates with higher education will be favored.

II. Professional Training: A two years' course in a standard teachers' training school, or its full equivalent.

III. Experience: Not less than two years' actual teaching experience in a good graded school, under competent supervision, or three years' teaching in village or rural school.

IV. Certificates: A first-class county certificate, or a state certificate.

lo City Institute for Religious Teachers

V. No person shall be elected to a principalship who does not meet the present requirements for teachers.

Sec. 2. Cadet Teachers, — No candidate shall be considered eligible as a cadet or apprentice who does not meet the requirements as to general education, certificate, and either professional training or experience. No person shall be considered eligible whose scholarship is not good as shown by his record in high school and training school, and who does not possess good health, character, and personality.

Sec. 3. High-School Teachers, — Teachers hereafter elected to high-school positions shall be graduates from standard colleges or universities, or the full equivalent, and have had special training in the subjects which they are to teach, and also successful experience as high-school teachers, unless promoted from our own grade schools for superior work; but only college or university graduates shall be so promoted. Only men and women of strong personality, able scholarship, and unquestioned ability as teachers should hold positions in the high schools.

It would be illuminating to place beside the foregoing eligibility requirements, which society makes to protect childhood from unskilful secular training, a Hst of the qualifications demanded by the churches of the same city in order that they might protect their children from unskilful religious training. Gk)od Christian character is not enough to quahfy one who is to teach arithmetic or geography or history, neither is it sufficient preparation for one who is to teach the Golden Rule, the geography of the Holy Land, or the history of the Jews. Children who are under college-trained teachers in the pubHc schools can have nothing but con-

Factors in an Efficient Church School ii

tempt for an ignoramus in the church school; and prizes, contests, and brass-band parades will not be enough to hold pupils in the classes of such teachers.

It is not too much to ask that the teachers in the church school shall do as effective work in their field as the public-school teachers do in that field; but when a city asks this it takes upon itself the responsibility for the training of its religious teachers. In addition to training classes in the local schools, there should be in every city a central, inter-denominational training school in which all the churches co-operate in maintaining thorough courses with high educational standards. This central institute or training school would be the center from which the professional spirit would spread to all the churches in the city. A teacher with the professional spirit will be a growing teacher. The following are among the marks of the growing teacher:

1. Intense interest in his present class.

2. Regular attendance upon teachers' meetings and workers' conferences.

3. Capacity to judge his own methods, and constant improvement in his methods of work.

4. Attendance upon educational conventions, institutes, and schools of methods.

5. A growing Ubrary. The church should require each teacher to own as a minimum equipment the following books: (a) an

American Revised self -pronouncing Bible;

(ft) a standard one-volume Bible dictionary;

(c) a one- volume commentary; (d) a biblical

geography; (e) a volume on child psychology;

(/) a volume on methods of teaching; (g) a

volume on the organization and management

of the church school; (h) a volume deaHng

with the department in which the teacher

works. To these there should be added at

least one volume each year on some phase

of the problem of reHgious education.

The city institute may be the center of this

reading interest, and a circulating Hbrary may be

directed by the Hbrarian of the institute. Every

city should provide the means of professional and

spiritual growth for its reHgious teachers if it would

build an effective system of church schools.

§4. THE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

The fourth requirement for efl&ciency is a church membership fully in sympathy with the ideals of the modern church school. Unless the church is instructed regarding the needs of the children it will not willingly furnish equipment, buildings, Kbrary, and trained leadership for the church school. The church school should be in reaHty the school of the church, and the church should be kept constantly in touch with the most advanced movements in

Factors in an Efficient Church School 13

the field of reKgious education. The child should be frequently ^^set in the midst'' of the congregation. Experts in psychology, religious pedagogy, and the organization and administration of religious education should frequently be given the regular preaching hour for the presentation of the vital problems of religious education; and groups of men and women should be organized for the purpose of giving special study to the specific problems of the children of the local church. It is a mistake for any group of teachers to try to force upon a congregation a program of education for which it is not prepared. The new methods cannot succeed without the sympathetic co-operation of the church itself. There must therefore be at all times a definite, well-organized method of educating the church at the same time that the teachers are being prepared, so that both may move forward without friction.

Those who would build a city system of reKgious education must provide some means of stimulating the membership of the churches of the city to an intelligent interest in the problems of the modern church school.

Chapter II A City System Of Religious Education

The moral and religious education of the children of a city demands the united efforts of all the religious agencies of the city. This co-operative activity should take the form of a well-organized city system of rehgious education.

Without interfering with the plans and policies of denominational boards, the central city organization would seek the following results:

1. To secure uniformity in records and reports.

2. To secure and distribute information regarding conditions in religious education in the city.

3. To unify and standardize all inter-school activities, such as athletics, contests, etc.

4. To provide common standards by which to measure results.

5. To provide teacher- training institutes and other means of increasing the efficiency of teachers and officers, and to furnish faciHties for specialization not possible in a local school.

6. To direct the work of rehgious education in shops, factories, commercial colleges, and other private schools and colleges.

7. To seek to unify the work of the public schools and the church schools.

8. To provide the means of stimulating and directing the work of weaker schools.

9. To cultivate good fellowship and the spirit of co-operation among the workers of the different schools.

10. To bring to the city educational leaders who can speak with authority on the various phases of rehgious and moral education.

11. To conduct central exhibits showing the work of the schools of the city.

12. To co-operate with denominational and inter-denominational agencies in all their efforts to promote the work of the schools of the city.

In this city system there will be at least five distinct features, which, properly correlated, will provide adequate training for the workers in the church schools and give the needed supervision and provide for the necessary unification of all the educational agencies of the city. The five elements are: (i) a city superintendent of rehgious education, (2) a model church school, (3) a common standard, (4) a city institute for the training of teachers and officers for the church schools, and (5) a city board of rehgious education. This chapter suggests the function and relative importance of these elements.

§ I. A ,CITY superintendent OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The success of any co-operative educational program requires an executive agent upon whom will fall the administrative duties of the system. This ofl&cer should have general charge of all the inter-church educational agencies of the city, direct the training school, supervise the model school, meet committees from the various churches for the purpose of assisting them in working out their local educational problems, and promote all agencies calculated to raise the character of religious and moral education in the city.

This officer should be a trained educator, who will take rank with the city superintendent of public schools and who will co-operate with that officer in giving the city a scientifically correlated system of public schools and church schools, each contributing its proper part toward the creation of intelHgent Christian citizenship. Coupled with this specialized educational training the city superintendent should have skill as an executive, tact, good judgment, and an exalted conception of the responsibiUties of his high office.

But a city system of religious education will not often be builded from the top down. At first this superintendence will be performed by the director and faculty of the city institute. These officers will finally insist that there be placed over them a salaried educator who can devote his whole time to the educational needs of the churches of the city. It will often happen that an unpaid director of the city institute will be asked to give his whole time to the churches of the city in the capacity of city superintendent. It will be very natural for a salaried director of a city institute to be promoted to the city superintendency, retaining the general direction of the institute.

Care must be taken that this oflSce be not filled by an officer who is only an executive, a booster, or promoter. The one indispensable qualification for the position is technical training in the theory and practice of moral and religious education. Standard colleges and seminaries are introducing departments for the training of such leaders, and cities should go to the colleges for the output from these departments.

§ 2. A MODEL CHURCH SCHOOL

Three elements enter into the training of a teacher, viz., knowledge, observation, and practice. The city institute can provide a means of increasing the knowledge of the teachers of the city, but the observation of good teaching and the actual practice in handling classes will require the establishing of a model church school to be conducted, probably on Sunday afternoons, by the faculty of the institute. Pending the estabhshing of the model school the students of the institute may be given their observation and practice teaching in the various schools of the city, such schools to be designated by the faculty of the institute. The best work in the city should always be pointed out to teachers in training, and young teachers should be given opportunity to act as assistants to the experienced teachers. There is a task, however, which cannot be performed by the apprenticeship system; teachers need to do something besides imitate good teachers. They need to observe methods of teaching under a controlled environmenk In a model school they can see how the theory and material of the classroom will work in actual practice. Here their minds can be fixed upon the principle of instruction which they are learning rather than on the manner of the teacher and the response of the school.

A model school should not be established until the faculty of the institute, the director, and the city superintendent of rehgious education are convinced that public sentiment, adequate finance, and a dependable group of competent helpers are available. The leaders must first estabhsh themselves with the teachers of the city; after this they may hope successfully to launch a model school. Such a school will always be assailed as *^ theoretical'' and '^ unpractical'' by the devotees of old methods, and sometimes by so-called Sunday-school ^'speciaKsts''

who have not had sufficient training to be able really to tell what is going on in the model school. Those who are in charge of the model school must expect such criticism and go straight ahead, paying no attention to the ^^wail of the unprepared," but resting secure in the behef that their finished product will vindicate them and eventually estabHsh their methods in the schools of the city. In this way, and in this way only, can new methods actually be tried out and teachers created who understand the fundamental principles which underhe the methods they use.

Only highly trained and experienced teachers should undertake the direction of a model school.

A model school must be absolutely under the control of the faculty. For this reason it is usually best to select a central location in which a mission school is needed and estabUsh a school which shall serve the double purpose of giving religious instruction to children not otherwise provided for and of affording opportunity to illustrate the methods of the institute faculty. A model school is an essential element in a city system of rehgious education, but it is the most difficult element to manage and it will usually be the last to be estabhshed, coming at the climax of the long process of evolution from disorganized and inefficient religious teaching to a highly organized and effective city system of church schools.

§3. a common standard In order that uniform work may be done and common ideals may be held before the schools of a city, it is necessary that a common standard of excellence be agreed upon and a system of inspection be provided.