The pupil, the teacher and the school

Part I THE PUPIL, THE TEACHER AND THE SCHOOL

By

Wade Crawford Barclay

PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH

FIRST STANDARD MANUAL OF TEACHER TRAINING

Copyright, 19 14, by

WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY

THE PUPIL, THE TEACHER, AND THE SCHOOL

Copyright, 191 5, by WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY

THE PUPIL Copyright, 19 18, by WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY * '

CONTENTS Part I

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Primacy of the Pupil 9

II. The Pupils We Teach 18

III. The Sunday School and Its Pupils 24

IV. Growth 34

V. Activity 42

VI. Early Childhood 49

VII. Middle Childhood 61

VIII. Later Childhood 72

IX. Early Youth 83

X. Middle Youth 100

XI. Later Youth 114

XII. Adult Life 124

TO THE TEACHER

The teacher is advised to make a careful study of the plan of the text before beginning his work with the class. Attention is called to the following features :

The Lesson Siatement. This is to form the basis of the discussion in the class session. Every member of the class should be required to have a copy of the textbook and to make diligent study of the entire Lesson Statement. The recitation upon it should be participated in by all. The teacher should encourage free discussion, which may be guided by questions. Neither the teacher nor any member of the class should monopolize the time. The recitation should not be considered complete until the teacher has assured himself that every point in the Lesson Statement is clearly grasped by all.

The Constructive Task. This should involve original observation and thought on the part of every member of the class. Assignments should be made a week in advance. Reports should be read and graded by the teacher. If possible the reports should be handed to the teacher a day or two in advance of the class session. Frequently the teacher will find points of contact for beginning the discussion of the lesson in these written reports. Some two or three of the best reports of the previous week may be read in the class session. The Constructive Task is one of the most important features of the course and it is well for the teacher to emphasize the importance of thoughtful preparation of each assignment.

Memory Assignment. The memorizing suggested under each lesson should be done outside of the class session, as a part of the lesson preparation. The teacher may occasionally drill the class on the memory assignment, but under no circumstances should much time be thus used. In the memory drills and reviews a blackboard will be found to be of much assistance.

References for Supplementary Reading. It will be noted that these are under two heads. Some lessons have references to The Worker and His Work Series. This series consists of eight volumes, uniform in size and style of binding. It will be to the advantage of every class to purchase a set of these books for its own use. In addition to the references cited, each member of the class should

6 TO THE TEACHER

read through some one of the books of this series pertaining to a particular department of the Sunday school. For example, those who are teaching or who will elect to teach Beginners should read The Beginners' Worker and Work ; teachers of Juniors, The Junior Worker and Work, and so forth. Under the second head, In the Library, reference is made to a limited number of the most important books in the general field under discussion. Many of the titles named should be in the Worker's Library of the Sunday School, or in the Public Library. If they are not thus available, the united request of the class made to the Sunday School Board, or to the Public Library Board, might result in their purchase. If they cannot thus be made available, some members of the class may each be willing to invest in one or more of them.

Teachers of this course are invited to confer freely with the author concerning its use. He may be addressed in care of The Methodist Book Concern, Cincinnati, Ohio. Suggestions and criticisms from teachers are invited and will be gratefully received.

CHAPTER I THE PRIMACY OF THE PUPIL i. THE CHIEF FACTORS IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK

Have you ever thought about what it takes to make a Sunday school? We are doubtless all familiar with the remark of President Garfield that Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other would be a college. Would a similar definition answer for a Sunday school? Imagine a boy seated on one end of a be»ch and John H. Vincent on the other. What more would be necessary to constitute a Sunday school? An open-hearted pupil and a good teacher brought together anywhere at any time provide the chief requirements of what we have in mind when we speak of a Sunday school.

Besides these two factors of first importance there are others that also are important. Since there are many more pupils than there are good teachers, and since systematic plans are needed for bringing pupils and teachers together regularly in an advantageous place, as well as for other reasons, an organization is needed. Often when we use the term Sunday school we have in mind simply this necessary organization. Then, of course, the teacher is not merely to talk with his pupils upon any subject that may chance to occur to his mind. Lessons, intelligently selected, suited to the pupils' needs, are required. In making the lessons effective in the lives of the pupils there are principles and methods which should be understood and used.

While our future study will reveal other factors of importance in the work of the Sunday school, these which have been named are entitled to be regarded as the chief factors. We may restate them in brief, summary form as follows: The five chief factors in the work of the Sunday school are: (i) the pupils, for whom the school exists; (2) the teachers, zt'ho come into the most direct and vital relationship with the pupils; (3) the materials, largely in the form of lessons, used by the teachers in their work for the pupils; (4) the principles and methods employed by the teachers in making io THE PUPIL

their teaching effective in the lives of their pupils; (5) the organization, or institution, by which pupils and teachers are brought together and under the auspices of which the work is carried on.

2. THE FIRST OF THESE FACTORS

The head master of a famous school was once asked, "What do you teach in your school?" "We teach boys," was his immediate reply. In the thought of that teacher the pupil evidently came first. It should be so in every good Sunday school. Of all the factors entering into the making of a school the pupil is first. All else is for the sake of the pupil. For him the teacher spends and is spent. For him lessons are chosen and studied and taught. For him principles and methods are conceived and put into practice. For him the Sunday school exists..

We may call this principle the primacy of the pupil. It has been stated in these words : "The needs of the pupil are the lazv of the school." It is the first principle and the last in efficient Sunday-school work. If we are to be good teachers, we must ponder this principle until it so takes hold of us that it will dominate all our thinking and all our practice.

As teachers we have to do with life, its nurture and direction. As Sunday-school teachers our interest centers in the religious life of our pupils. Our effort is directed toward its nurture and development. This is our supreme interest. If we are misled into placing anything else first, we are caused to occupy ourselves with what is secondary and subordinate. This is our vital concern. If we turn aside from it to anything else, it is to that which in comparison is external and mechanical.

Is it clear why the interests and needs of the pupil must be placed first in our thinking and determine all our practice in Sunday-school work? It is because he is a living, free, self-acting being. His mind is not a blank tablet upon which we may write what we choose. His heart is not an empty receptacle into which we may thrust our treasures at will. We have no means at our command by which we may impose upon the child's being or insert into it the things we choose because they seem of value to us. His nature, and not our will, determines what he will receive, appropriate, and feed upon.

A yearling calf will eat clover hay and thrive upon it, but a tenyear-old boy would starve seated before a table heaped high with the finest clover ever grown. A workingman will relish a New-England boiled dinner of corned beef and cabbage, but a baby fed upon

THE PRIMACY OF THE PUPIL n

it would be in danger of spasms. The principle is quite as applicable in the realm of the moral and religious nature as in that of the physical. If we are to aid the pupil in his moral and religious development, we must make the needs of his nature the law of our action. We must place him first in our thought and, seeking to discover what his needs require, bring to him what his spiritual life can seize upon, take within itself, assimilate, and grow upon.

3. IMPLICATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLE

If we are now agreed concerning the fundamental importance of the principle of the primacy of the pupil, it will be well to consider some of its implications. In the light of this principle, how are we to think of the Sunday school and its work?

1. The Purpose of the Sunday School. — The first question to be asked concerning the Sunday school is, What is it for? What is the purpose of the Sunday school? This is a simple question, easily answered. How would you answer it?

Although the question is simple, a variety of answers are almost certain to be given in any class. The fact is that a great deal of confusion of thought exists upon this not only among teachers, but also among pastors and Sunday-school superintendents. Even writers upon the Sunday school disagree, and many radically different statements may be found in books on Sunday-school work. There are certain statements of the purpose of the Sunday school that have been made so often in conventions and elsewhere that they have become widely familiar. One that is likely to be given whenever the question is asked in a training class is this : The purpose of the Sunday school is to teach the Bible. Another popular statement to the same effect is : The Sunday school is the world's greatest institution for popularizing the world's greatest book. Another and somewhat different statement is : The Sunday school is the Bible-teaching service of the church.

These statements read well, and at first thought no objection may be made to them. In each case the purpose stated is entirely praiseworthy. But in the light of our governing principle we cannot accept any of these as sufficient statements of the purpose of the Sunday school. The objection to them is that they do not give first place to the pupil. They are centered in something else than the pupil. We will teach the Bible in the Sunday school, but we will do so because lessons from the Bible surpass all others in aiding the growth of the spiritual lives of our pupils. In the lives of millions of people the Bible has demonstrated its power to inspire and sustain spiritual ideals. Our primary and controlling interest is the raising up of a generation of God-inspired men and women. Since the Bible will help in this more than anything else, we use it. That is to say, teaching the Bible in the Sunday school is a means, not an end. Likewise, building the church through the school is a means, not an end. Thus, it becomes clear that any sufficient statement of the purpose of the Sunday school must be in terms of the life of the pupil. None other can be accepted as satisfactory or sufficient.

The purpose of the Sunday school is identical with that of our Master, Christ, who said : "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." This purpose may be variously worded. We may say, for example, that the purpose of the Sunday school is to lead its pupils into Christlike living, establishing them in filial and reverent attitudes toward God and his world and in Christian relations of love and helpful service to all their fellow men. Another form of statement that I like is this : The one supreme purpose of the Sunday school is the development and training of boys and girls, men -and women, in Christian character and service.

When may a Sunday school be said to be successful? Sunday schools are judged by many and various standards. Often a Sunday school is judged to be successful because of its large membership, or because its sessions are entertaining, or because of its popularity in the community. Sometimes people do not look beyond the

building. We have actually heard it said : " Sunday school

has a fine building and a large attendance : it must be an excellent school." These are wholly inadequate tests to apply to a Sunday school. A school may be large, have entertaining sessions, be popular, and hold its sessions in a fine building, yet be wholly inefficient. There is only one supreme test of an efficient Sunday school, and that is the personal test. The measure of the success of any Sunday school is in terms of Christian character and service. If a Sunday school is fulfilling its purpose in the lives of its members, it is successful ; if it is not doing this, no matter how big it may be, how strong an organization it may have, how popular it may be in its community, or how complete an equipment it may possess, it is a failure.

2. The Selection of Teachers. — What qualifications are to be required in Sunday-school teachers? How may we test our own fitness to answer the call of our Master to follow him in the high and sacred ministry of teaching? Every sincere Christian to whom

THE PRIMACY OF THE PUPIL 13

this call comes will ask himself the question, How can I prove my fitness to become one of Christ's teachers, an undershepherd of the great Shepherd of the sheep?

It is accepted as a matter of course that to be one of Christ's teachers a person must be a sincere, devoted follower of Christ. It ought not to be necessary to dwell upon this ; it is so perfectly obvious. How could- one who does not follow Christ lead his pupils to be Christlike? Or, to use the Master's own striking figure, "Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?" Concerning this elemental qualification there is general agreement. It has not been sufficiently realized, however, that it is equally essential for the teacher to know child nature in order to teach effectively. We cannot lead our pupils into fullness of life unless we know the laws in accord with which the growth of the moral and religious life proceeds. We cannot teach effectively unless we know the laws of the mind's action. We cannot inspire and stimulate the growth of spiritual ideals in our pupils by bringing to them that to which they will respond unless we know the kind of reactions of which they are capable. There is only one way of gaining this knowledge. Acting upon this principle, we must place the pupil first in our thought and study pupil nature until we have come to understand it.

The "lack of interest," "irresponsiveness," "dullness," and "disorderliness," of which we so often hear complaints in our Sunday-school pupils, especially boys, as a rule simply reflects the inability of teachers to deal successfully with their pupils because of a lack of knowledge of pupil nature. In the best of our public schools when a pupil is restless and disinterested or when he is disobedient or disorderly, the teacher, instead of taking steps toward having him expelled as a disturber of the peace and order of the school, gives herself with renewed diligence to a study of this pupil, that she may come to understand him better and discover the explanation of her failure to deal successfully with him. Likewise, in our Sunday-school work we will do well if, when we observe that the boys or girls are disinterested and disorderly, instead of blaming "total depravity" or seeking some exterior explanation, we set ourselves to a more earnest study of the interests and needs of our pupils.

Comparatively few of our Sunday schools succeed in holding any large proportion of their pupils through the "teen" years. As it is, the Sunday school is accomplishing more than any other agency in leading children and young people to a confession of Christ and into church membership ; but it is far from being as successful as it should be. In the aggregate hundreds of thousands of boys and i 4 THE PUPIL

girls in their early "teens" are allowed to drift out of our Protestant Sunday schools every year. Many Sunday schools lose two thirds or even three fourths of their boys and almost as large a proportion of their girls during this crucial period of life. Just here is the greatest weakness in the work of our churches. The loss is alarming, and the most serious feature of it all is that it is just as unnecessary as it is appalling. "It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." The responsibility is upon those who are called to undertake this work. If in every church a training class might be formed, the members of which would set aside every hindering cause and devote themselves to thorough, prolonged, and painstaking study of pupil nature and, later, to the other subjects of which a training course consists, all this might be changed. Instead of the majority of our pupils being lost to a Christian life we would make it possible for the will of our heavenly Father to be realized in saving every one to discipleship and Christian service.

3. The Choice of Lessons. — What shall we teach in Sunday school? What lessons shall be used? How shall we test the fitness and value of a given Sunday-school lesson? These are questions certain to occur to the thoughtful Sunday-school teacher.

For long centuries in the history of education and schools students were subordinate to studies. Teachers centered their attention upon facts and truths and considered only how they might lodge them in the minds of their pupils. Of this process it was written,

"We teach and teach Until, like drumming pedagogues, we lose The thought that zvhat we teach has higher ends Than being taught and learned."

But gradually a change has come. It may fairly be said that now education denies this central place to subjects. It centers its attention upon persons and asks, "What do the nature and needs of the pupils demand?" It conforms the course of study to the child instead of trying to conform the child to the course of study.

As in general education so has it been in religious education. Formerly interest and attention was centered upon the catechism and the Bible. Pastors and teachers were chiefly concerned with the problem of how to get religious knowledge into the mind of the pupil. To take a modern example: The interest of those responsible for planning the International Uniform Lessons until very recent years centered upon the lesson scheme — how best to arrange courses

THE PRIMACY OF THE PUPIL 15

in order to cover as much as possible of the Bible in a given cycle and at the same time give each part of the Bible due representation. In late years a change has been taking place. A constantly increasing number of religious leaders center attention upon the pupil, his interests and needs. They have taken for their motto, "The need of the pupil is the law of the school." Their understanding of the pupil's needs determines their choice of lessons. The interest of a pupil in a lesson and its effect upon his personal ideals and his social efficiency are their tests of its fitness and value. In other words, they act upon the principle of the primacy of the pupil. This is our position. We believe that personality is more than lesson material. We believe that God is more interested in our meeting the moral and religious needs of our boys and girls than he is in the orderly division of all the Bible into lessons.

Of all the world's literature the Bible is most perfectly fitted to inspire, to stimulate, and to lead life out into its finest and largest self-realization. No one can be ignorant of the Bible and live a rich, strong, Christian life. It did not come into existence all at once; it was a growth of centuries. It has in it a wide variety of lesson material. It is therefore entirely reasonable that we should allow, the developing nature of the pupil, rather than exterior considerations, to determine when each of the several parts of the Bible shall be brought to him in the form of lessons.

If the religious needs of the pupil demand lesson materials not contained in the Bible, our governing principle requires us to provide them.

4. Principles and Methods. — By what test may we determine the value of methods and plans proposed for use in Sunday-school teaching? Innumerable devices are suggested for use in the Sunday school. How may we determine their worth? In the light of the principle we have proposed no plans or methods are to be approved unless they prove to be effective in enabling the teacher to influence the life of the pupil. A given principle is to be accepted not because of its ancient origin, nor because of the reputation of an educator who urges its importance, but only because of its results in life. The question to be asked is, Does it work? As Professor Coe has well said: "In large part educational laws originate in the child and find their point of application in the teacher. In a true sense the child gives laws and the teacher obeys/'

Let us take an illustration from Sunday-school administration. A favorite plan in the past in both small and large schools has been for the entire school to meet together in a mass assembly. The wisdom of this plan is challenged. There is a growing belief that it is better for each department to meet separately. The statements most commonly heard in defense of a single assembly for the whole school are these: "I like to see my school all together; it makes so much better an appearance." "The school seems so much bigger when it meets all together." "Our church building as arranged at present will not permit the various departments to assemble separately, and we do not want to change our building." As reasons these statements are superficial and trivial. The real question to be asked is, Which plan enables the Sunday school to do its work for its pupils most effectively? If the answer to this question is clear, nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of ultimate realization of the better plan.

(Before reading the "Lesson Statement" write your own statement in answer to the first question. After studying the "Lesson Statement" write a second and revised statement.)

i. What does it take to make a Sunday school?

2. Think of the Sunday school with which you are best acquainted :

a. What seems to be placed first in the plans and work of the school?

b. What do the boys and girls think of the Sunday school ?

c. Is the Sunday school a successful one? Why do you think it is or is not?

d. Has the Sunday school worked out a clear statement of its purpose and so published it that all know its aims? Would it not be a good plan to do so ?

III. MEMORY SELECTION

"Come to me, O ye children!

For I hear you at your play, And the questions that perplexed me Have vanished quite away.

"For what are all our contrivings And the wisdom of our books, When compared with your caresses And the gladness of your looks?

THE PRIMACY OF THE PUPIL 17

% "Ye are better than all the ballads

That ever were sung or said ; For ye are living poems, And all the rest are dead."

— Longfellow.

The purpose of the Sunday school — The one supreme purpose of the Sunday school is the development and training of boys and girls, men and women in Christian character and service.

I. In "The Worker and His Work" Series

1. The central position of the pupil: Intermediate Worker and Work,

2. The determination of Lesson Materials: Junior Worker and Work

pp. 88, 89.

II. In the Library

1. Education as development of life: Education in Religion and Morals,

Coe, Chap. VII.

2. The personal ideal in Sunday-school work: Efficiency in the Sunday

School, Cope, Chap. VIII.

Chapter II The Pupils We Teach

When the infant Moses, rescued from the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter, was delivered to the Hebrew woman whom Miriam had brought as a nurse, the Egyptian gave her this charge, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." A similar responsibility is laid upon the Sunday school. "Take these pupils," we say to the Sunday school officers and teachers, "and nurture and train them in Christian character and service."

i. THE CHURCH AND THE CHILD

i. Jesus and the Child. — First of all, it should be emphasized that in undertaking this service the Sunday school and the church are true to the implications of Christ's teaching.

There is no more beautiful picture in the Gospels than the scene wherein the mothers brought their little ones to the Saviour for his blessing. The words of the Master, in rebuke of those who objected, clearly define the relation of little children to Christ's Kingdom. "Suffer the little children to come unto me," he said, "and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10. 14). "Of such" is a possessive. It is as if he had said of children as of "the poor in spirit," "theirs is the kingdom." On another occasion, it will be remembered, the disciples disputed as to who should be greatest in the Kingdom. "And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18. 2, 3). That is, speaking to adults, he declared they must have the child spirit — be like children — or fail to enter the Kingdom. Once let the teaching of the Master be appreciated at its full value, and accepted with all its implications, and the church will realize that her greatest responsibility is for the nurture and training of childhood and youth.

2. The Former Attitude of the Church. — Unfortunately there has been much confusion of thought within the church concerning

THE PUPILS WE TEACH 19

the religious nature of the child. The early church was true to Christ's teaching concerning the child. Little children were received into church membership and were given the most careful and systematic training. Whole families of children grew up within the church. From infancy they thought of themselves as members of the flock of Christ. Their dearest desire was that they might be obedient and loyal followers of the divine Shepherd. Throughout all the Christian centuries there have always been those who have thus thought of child nature and who have brought up their children, in accordance with the apostolic precept, "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

In mediaeval times a large section of the church became imbued with the teaching of the corruption of human nature. Man's fallen estate was emphasized, the sinful tendencies of human nature were magnified and the tendencies to righteousness and goodness minimized. The doctrine of the total depravity of human nature became almost an obsession with many theologians and religious teachers. For the most part theologians had adult men and women in mind. Children had little place in their systems of doctrine. By implication what they declared to be true of adults was assumed also to be true of children.

These teachings were emphasized and developed by John Calvin, one of the later leaders of the Protestant Reformation. He declared positively and unequivocally that little children are lost, children not of God but of Satan, and that hell is filled with infants who have died in an unsaved state. This teaching became very widespread and even to the present day influences the thought and attitude of many members of the church. Other churches than those that owe their existence directly to the work of Calvin have been affected by his teaching. Most of the early Methodist leaders, including John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, were in theology followers of Arminius. The Arminian teaching is that little children are saved, being recipients "of the unconditional benefits of the atonement" of Christ. This has always been the theological position of the church. Despite this fact, the influence of Calvinism has been strong and has operated in the past to undermine and at some times almost to paralyze the work of the church in the religious nurture of children,