The Sunday school under scientific management

Contents

PAGE

Introduction Rev. Wm. E. Gardner vii

Preface ix

Preface

The material contained in these pages was dictated by the author, typewritten, and then delivered as a course of six lectures: first, to a class at the Cambridge School for Church Workers in July, 1912; then, in amplified form, to a class at the Massachusetts Diocesan Training School for Sunday School Teachers.

The author does not deal here with theories, but with actual facts, as they have been worked out in experience. If there is any value in what he has written, it lies in what the facts as stated reveal.

St. Stephens Rectory, E. J. D.

CHAPTER I Purpose L INTRODUCTORY

In order to discuss intelligently and to the point the scientific management of the Sunday School, it is necessary to set clearly before our minds what the purpose of the Sunday School is, since there is room for a wide divergence of opinion on this subject. The first chapter, therefore, will have to do with the task of setting forth at some length what the purpose of the Sunday School is.

It is not unfair to say that there are two kinds of

Sunday Schools which have place in the educational

activity of parochial life. And

Su^da" Schools a11 the Sunda y Schools of the Church may be grouped into

these two classes, for all Sunday Schools aim to do either one or the other of the tasks attributed respectively to the two kinds, which are: first, The School of Influence; second, The School of Information.

II. THE SCHOOL OF INFLUENCE

The idea underlying this school is, as the name suggests, to influence the pupils by bringing to bear upon them the personal influ- The Good Teacher ence of a teacher in whose and the Good Pupil hands is the Bible, and in whose

heart is the love of God. It has been said, over and over again, that these two requirements are the all-essential for good work. The method pre-supposes a situation with the good teacher on one side, and the receptive pupil on the other. The relative positions of these two suggest a large, lighted torch in the hands of a bearer, with other, smaller torches grouped about the larger one, to catch its flame and light.

The foundation of such a school is built on personal regard, and such relations as may be created to

_. _ _, A . bring teacher and pupils to-

gether. These are of two

classes: relations outside of the school, and relations inside of the school. Outside of the school the teacher aims at acquaintance with the pupil in a natural way, and seeks opportunity to cultivate companionship by such means as sports, parties, picnics, walks, and so on. In other words, the teacher assumes that the influence must touch, not only the life of the child in the Sunday School, but the life of the child outside, in order that the influence in the Sunday School may be the more telling.

Inside of the school, the teacher, apart from the power of her personality, exercises ingenuity to command attention, and appeals to the sense of chivalry

THE SCHOOL OF INFLUENCE 3

or admiration in boys or girls, to open the way for her power to enter in and find lodgment in the pupil's mind. The all-important factor is, naturally, the love for boys and girls that such a teacher may possess, along with a transparent sincerity and earnestness in communicating to them, through her own personality, a love for God.

Admirable as this sort of work is, it, nevertheless, swings clear of all vital connection with the school,

as such. The teacher is en- No Connection ... .

with the School S a § ed m a misslonar y emprise, her field is her own class,

and she is the sole missionary. She is a law unto herself, and the aim is the particular interest which animates her work. She has no conception of the principle of unity. Her method of instruction is of her own devising, and quite independent of any order observed in the school as a whole. She remains with her class year after year, taking the members as young boys or girls, and staying with them until they are too big, as they suppose, to continue longer in Sunday School. Not being committed to an orderly course of study, she takes up what she chooses, and what in her judgment seems best. The probability is that she will cover a very wide field in the course of her teaching. Some of it may be done well — some of it may be done very badly.

We have in such an arrangement a striking example of waste; for the graded public school system has elaborated, for all educa-

rmcip es o tional purposes, a scheme that

Education r r

Disregarded cannot be set at naught without

loss. In this scheme we find organization and unity. We find rank. We find progression. We find development in material used for subject matter, and we find adaptation of matter to the pupil. The public school hangs together. It is a unit. The school of influence has no unity. It ignores completely the principle of solidarity. The school has no plans that relate themselves to other plans. Its instruction is unrelated to other classes. Taken as a whole, the classes form a conglomerate mass, each one no doubt doing service of more or less value, but all lacking the strength that unity and regard for common educational principles would bestow.

III. THE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION

Obviously, the idea underlying the plan of such a school is to impart information in a systematic, orderly, and progressive manner.

Such a school is alert to catch the suggestion

that comes from modern methods, and modern

means. It has before it all the Educational Method , . ,, . -, , „ . .

,_ . . . time the ideal 01 giving m-

Emphasized fe &

formation, not only to the class, but to the school as a whole, the classes being regarded as units related one to the other, and the

THE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION 5

courses being so adjusted as to make the instruction of the lower grades preparatory for the fuller knowledge of the higher grades. The School of Information looks with admiration upon the public school, and, wherever possible, makes such adaptation from the public school as will facilitate the work of instruction, and direct the work of instruction, and make effective the work of instruction. Even such a matter as the arrangement of the year into terms and vacations is regarded with favor, and in many cases serves as a standard for the arrangement of the year's activity.

Influence, as a creative force in the lives of pupils, is not set at naught. It is used, but only as one of many factors contributing to the development of the pupiPs mind and spirit. The School of Information includes influence, even builds upon it with the result that the character of the structure becomes more enduring, and more capable of standing the storms that have to be met in later life by each individual alone.

IV. THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL IS TO TRAIN

Impression, if it be right, is good so far as it goes, but impression must be deepened and fixed if it is to remain, and if it is to contribute to strength and development. Influence may give the initial impulse to impression; training in knowledge rounds it out, and establishes it as a working force. So it is clear that our aim must be to impart knowledge, to verify and make serviceable all that impression, through influence, has to bestow: knowledge of the Bible, first of all, as the great Source Book of life's values; knowledge of the Church, as the institution by which the forces of good become organized and operative under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Sacraments, and the Ministry; knowledge of worship, as the explanation of man's endeavor to come into close and orderly communion with the Source of all good ; knowledge of the history of the Church, as the record of the way that God has used the Sacraments and the Ministry to bestow strength upon His people, and give them guidance; knowledge of Missions, as the story of great men committed to great tasks in the service of Christ. These subjects simplified, amplified, arranged, graded, adjusted one to the other in some sort of logical order, constitute the educational material with which the School of Information has to do — the conviction being always that information of this sort carries with it a certain inherent power to seize, to shape, and to direct the forces that make for the up-building of character. If influence has within it a power to train, information, joined with influence, has a greater power to train the life of the growing boy or girl.

V. THE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION IMPLIES A PLAN

Such a plan cannot very well come as the result of mere deliberation, even though analysis and syn-

NECESSITY OF UNDERLYING PLAN 7

thesis be rigidly applied for the purpose of building up an educational system that will work. Manifestly, one has to start with a plan which will be, as a matter of necessity, experimental, and possibly elementary; but, as time goes on and the light of experience falls upon the method adopted, it is seen how the plan can be improved, enlarged, and made adaptable to changing situations or particular needs. Beginning with a simple organization, with the idea of imparting information underlying it and abiding with it, it is possible

WorkecTout b ^ care and attention > and b Y

the use of knowledge gained

through experience, to shape a school into a very effective, organized, working educational unit. And that, I take it, should be the underlying purpose in the minds of all who are attempting seriously to plan for the religious training of the young. It is impossible to get the plan ready-made. It is impossible to find any royal road that leads to it. It must be worked out, so that all the elements peculiar to the situation in which one works may be recognized and given due consideration. Year after year changes will of necessity be made, because the advance of any growing institution lays new requirements upon that institution. And one's plan, therefore, for the school that aims to give information, will make room for an unceasing process of adaptation of means to ends.

VI. THE PLAN MUST RECOGNIZE THE PRINCIPLE OF PROGRESSION

This is only saying that an organization that has life progresses. Standards and methods and means of one decade will be very greatly improved upon by the standards and ways and means of another decade, provided always that the supervising head keeps in touch with the spirit of the time, and, more particularly, with the spirit of educational movements as expressed in religious work.

This principle of progression may be spoken of

as the dynamic of Sunday School education ; for it is

the force which brings to the

. ~ C . yn * m . ,c . service of a great cause the last of Sunday School

Education anc ^ mos t telling word spoken

on the subject of how the interests of that great cause can best be served. In the school, progression expresses itself by the ordinary grade formation of the school, and by the promotion of pupils from one grade to the next, as the years close. Herein lies the visible recognition of that inner principle which animates and directs the institution as a whole. And while, from one point of view, this principle of progress may be little more than indicated by the scheme of promotion, it is, nevertheless, there, and is more fully testified to by growth in knowledge which the pupil makes as he is moved forward from grade to grade.

Not only is the principle of progress a determin-

THE PRINCIPLE OF PROGRESS 9

ing factor in the life of a school as a whole; it is, also, a determining factor in the life of the pupil. Put before a boy or girl the chance of moving on because the right to move on has been earned, and because the earning of that right means the enlarging of one's knowledge, and there is an incentive to regularity of attendance, since every recitation counts in the final result. There is an incentive, also, to work, because the work done receives the reward of a certain value assigned to it, which establishes the pupil's right to progress in the school. Manifestly, the pupil does not think it out in this way, but, nevertheless, that is what is happening all the time, with the result that, when the principle of progress is operative, a school shakes down into a most substantial and wholesome sense of its importance and dignity.

VII. THE PURPOSE IS TO HAVE A REAL SCHOOL

And this real school will make use of every agent within reach that will minister to the building up of knowledge, that will, in turn, serve as a power, that will make for disciplined character.

There are four notes that must be struck, if our

School of Information is to have the right ring.

Teachers are not primarily in

Teachers Trained ,, . -. £ ., £

. _ . the school lor the purpose 01

influencing a small group of

boys and girls by personal power, and by sweetness of Christian character, and by the appealing power of moral lessons that may be drawn. The teacher is in the school to teach, by every means at her command. If her personality is charming, well and good. If her fund of knowledge is extensive, so much the better. If her ability to enforce discipline is unusual, better yet. If she can reach the boys and girls of the class, outside as well as in, still better; but ahead of all, and back of all, she must be a trained teacher — that is the first requirement. She ought to know, from a psychological point of view, the mind with which she deals, and she ought to know, from a pedagogical point of view, the method by which the knowledge she has can be best imparted to the particular kind of mind with which she has to deal. We are talking about the School of Information as the school we propose to build up, and in this School of Information we must have the teacher who is wise and informed.

Just as the public schools found it necessary, in

order to get the best results in the task of imparting

knowledge, to have school

. . ° A °.° J . -^ 00rr L. houses and rooms especially ar- Adapted to Teaching L J

ranged, so it becomes necessary

for the Sunday Schools, if they would derive the best

results from their work, to have rooms, or, better

still, buildings, that are adapted for the particular

purpose they are to serve. The day is past when a

group of boys or girls can meet together in one single

PUPILS COME TO LEARN 11

room, ungraded and ungoverned, for instruction that

can be given with anything like satisfaction on the

part of the teacher, or with benefit on the part of the

pupil. The note for a better school room strikes the

second note in the need of a real school.

With a teacher to teach, and with a place in which

to teach, it only remains to bring together the pupils

^ ., L %A , , to be taught, and, by every Pupils at Work , -, ,

means at our command, to

instill into the minds of boys and girls the idea that they come to learn. Such wise and repressive measures must be brought to bear upon their spirit of fun and disorder as will quell, in course of time, every impulse that is hostile to the fundamental purpose which the school is endeavoring to fulfil. Over and over again it must be said, "You are here to learn, and it is our purpose by every means at our command to see that you learn." And this purpose, adopted on the part of the pupil, strikes the third note in the need of a real school.

Finally, our purpose will be fulfilled if we are able to present a course of study so constructed, and so

adapted, as to interest and hold Course of Study

the pupils who are to follow it.

This means subjects treated with reference to the age of the pupils. It means matter attractively printed and presented, and well illustrated. It means care and study in selecting material to be used. And when this care is exerted, with the result that the courses for the various years come with some power to appeal, we are able to strike a fourth note in the need of a real school.

VIII. THE REAL SCHOOL THE SUBJECT OF TREATMENT

It will be seen, from what has now been said, that it is not our purpose to deal with the School of Influence merely, but to deal with the School of Information, making use of influence wherever possible, yet not depending upon it for results. We are after knowledge, and we are to have in mind, in what follows, the employment of such means and methods as will further the efficiency of the real school. Such a school stands out squarely and firmly for the imparting of information, which itself is endowed with power to help and train the inner life of the pupil, and to result in a disciplined character, made operative in the life of Christian men and women.

CHAPTER II Preparation

I. A THREEFOLD REQUIREMENT

Every Sunday School, that takes itself seriously, finds resting upon it a three-fold requirement. It must have a place to meet, and this leads to the subject of preparing a place in which the sessions are to be held.

It must have work to do, and this introduces the subject of assembling the working forces.

It must have a scheme to follow, and this introduces the subject of outlining schedules.

II. PREPARING A PLACE

The day is rapidly passing by that tolerates, for Sunday School purposes, a room or building that is of no use for anything else. Schools are rapidly tending in the direction of claiming for their purposes the best that can be had, and away from the time-honored custom of taking passively, and without protest, whatever happens to be available. If the work which the Sunday School is attempting to do is worth anything educationally and morally, it ought to receive as accessory to the accomplishment of its task, housing conditions such as are suited to the work of

imparting instruction to a large number of more or

less restless boys and girls.

It goes without saying, however, that for some

time to come parishes will be forced to use what is

available in the basement of the Using What n , •. , . -.. . . ,,

Yo Have Church, in rooms adjoining the

Church, or in the Parish House.

The custom has so long obtained of submitting meekly to the tyranny of conditions as they are, that considerable time must elapse before any movement can get under way that will make for the improvement of conditions in the housing of the school. Still, even though we are forced to make this concession, it is well to have in mind the ideal that is before us, and assert it as often as we can, in order that the impulse toward better things may gather strength as it moves on down the line of Sunday School progress.

However, even though we are obliged largely to put up with conditions as they are, it is, nevertheless,

„ , . ■ A . possible to introduce even now

Making Adaptations f. ,. .__ .

changes that will make for convenience and efficiency. Possibly the large basement or hall connected with the Church or Parish House may be so arranged that parts of either one, or both, can be used for different departments of the school, and surely we do not need to have a new building in order to find room for fixtures that are quite essential to good work. The Primary Department

CLASS ROOMS 15

needs a piano, likewise the Kindergarten. Tables are necessary for all classes, also chairs and blackboards. These can be added without any very extensive alterations in the room or rooms that are already at the disposal of the school, and thus the efficiency of the school building will be materially increased.

If it is possible to make further divisions in the room at the disposal of the Sunday School, these can

be accomplished by the use of Method of r , . f. ,. -.

Making Adaptations screens > made for the Particular

purpose that they are to serve.

They need not be expensive, for they are simple in construction, and the material needed can be bought at a comparatively low price. It is not necessary to give details on this point, because screens used to divide a room into compartments would vary in accordance with the space possibilities. But perhaps the most satisfactory method of partitioning a large room, in such a manner as to yield practically a large number of class rooms, is by the use of curtains strung on wires. These curtains may be so placed that the plan, when complete, is not unlike that of a sleeping car in arrangement. Longitudinal and transverse wires are firmly and tightly strung, by men whose business it is to do such work (telephone and telegraph men), and from the wires curtains are hung in such a manner as to allow of their being drawn backward and forward, or even to allow of their being removed altogether, if it is necessary to clear the room to make the entire space available temporarily for some other purpose. This arrangement does not interfere with ventilation, and it does not interfere with lighting, especially if the compartments are so arranged as to include, in each one, part at least of a window, and part, also, of a chandelier, either electric or gas, for dark days.

Another method, more expensive, and in some ways more satisfactory, is that of using sliding partitions that work, not up and down, but sidewise. The great objection to this plan is that these partitions are likely to get out of order easily; and they are, furthermore, very noisy in operation. But every Sunday School room can be greatly improved upon by the exercise of a little ingenuity, and by some little outlay, perhaps $100 more or less, so that as a result the educational work of the school will be greatly furthered.

But the ideal is a Sunday School built to order —

a combination Parish House and Sunday School

building: a Parish House so Building de novo °

built that it can serve the purpose of the various organizations in the parish on weekdays, and on Sundays the various departments and classes of the school.

A plan, known as the "Akron" plan, marks the first decided step in the construction of buildings especially planned for Sunday School purposes. This sort of building provides for an auditorium, round and opening into which, a large number of class

SPECIAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 17

rooms are arranged, the seats in the auditorium proper being capable of such arrangement that groups of pupils with their teachers can easily be set apart. While this plan is an improvement, it does not go far enough. If any department of the school needs class rooms, manifestly all departments need class rooms. Some may be smaller than others, since in the primary department group-teaching in one large room is ample for a large number of pupils; but in the upper grades, all through the Junior and Senior, or — to use day-school terminology — all through the Grammar and High School Departments, there is manifest need for individual rooms. The larger they are, and the more pupils they accommodate, the easier it becomes to reduce the teaching staff to a smaller number of specially qualified and trained teachers, capable of handling a large number of pupils well. The smaller the rooms, the more necessary it becomes to increase the corps of teachers, and to accept on the staff, as teachers, persons who can handle only a small group of pupils. In the new building there ought to be an auditorium which can also be the Parish hall, where graduations and entertainments, which are the natural outgrowth of school activity, can be held. It is possible to use such a hall to very good advantage, also, for weekly recitations. The Primary Department could use a Parish hall very well on Sunday, while on weekdays it would naturally be used for various purposes incident to the work of the organized activity of the parish. No one has as yet, however, designed a model Sunday School building, though progress in this direction has been very marked within the last ten years, and illustrations of what has been done are brought together in the Eev. William Walter Smith's new book, "The Sunday School of To-day," page 33 et seq.

The housing problem is an important problem. It stands at the very threshold of the work of religious education, and must in the future receive more attention than in the past, if Sunday School work is to improve as it ought.

III. ASSEMBLING THE WORKING UNITS

Other things being equal, it is better for a school to develop its need for improved housing conditions, than for emphasis to be placed upon good housing conditions as prerequisites for a good school. Any institution that has within it the principle of unfolding life, will naturally modify its environment. The progressive school will naturally tend towards the creation of a good school building. But the school building, as such, is only one of the working units.

For the purpose of furthering the work of what

is, in these lectures, assumed, namely, the work of

the graded school, preparation Graded School ^^ deal ^ ded matter

Assumed °

and graded classes. The old

CHANGING FROM OLD METHODS TO NEW 19

order of an ungraded mass is rapidly yielding to a plan generally admitted to be the only adequate plan — that of instruction based upon a well-ordered curriculum.

In many cases the question arises as to how this

change can be brought about. Teachers and officers

are wedded to old methods.

-. . . .. .. Thev have followed them for a

Old to the New J

good many years; they were

good enough for them, they ought to be good enough

for their children. It comes about that the obstacle

of conservatism is to be overcome, if the change is

to be successfully launched.

The man who makes the change, be he Eector or

Superintendent, must be able to inspire his teachers

and officers with confidence.

Steps Necessary

He must be able to make them

feel that he knows exactly what he wants them to do,

and that his task cannot be accomplished without

the full and hearty cooperation of his co-laborers.

He will take pains to explain minutely the nature

of the proposed changes, and how they will minister

to the improvement and ultimate welfare of the

school. He will appeal to the workers' loyalty, and

show them that only by rising in a body to the new

vision can the new adjustment be made. And when

the time comes for data to be gathered, necessary for

the re-arrangement of pupils into departments and grades, he will have a blank form printed, providing spaces for information on the following subjects:

Full name of pupil.

Date of birth, — day, month, and year.

Grade in day school.

Eesidence.

Names of parents.

To all the teachers these blanks will be supplied, and they will be asked to fill in the information called for. Then he will announce to the entire school, that, beginning the following autumn, the school will start on a graded basis ; that the teachers and officers have gladly given their consent. He will express the hope that the pupils will be equally happy over this new arrangement, which will place in small classes boys and girls whose grades will be those in which the day school places them. Thus he will create enthusiasm for the new plan. But, even so, there will be some to object, and these must be dealt with, and appealed to individually, until they can see the wisdom of accepting with others the new order that is to be instituted.

Then, during the summer, the superintendent will be busy, arranging his teachers and his classes, and assigning teachers for the new work that is to be undertaken in the autumn.

This plan may be met with violent disapproval on the part of some of the old and faithful teachers.

TEACHEES AND OFFICERS 21

They can see in it no good, and, rather than submit to the tyranny of it, they will give up altogether and retire. It is necessary, therefore, to enlist recruits from among the younger members of the parish, and, if possible, to draw upon the corps of day school teachers that is to be found in almost every parish, for helpers to start with. Men are needed and women are needed, who, seeing an opportunity for service, and admitting frankly their responsibility, will take pains to prepare themselves for the work which they have by personal interview been called upon to undertake. The one thing that ought to be avoided, in recruiting new teachers, is the plan of making a general appeal from the pulpit or chancel.