COURSES OF STUDY.
The principal work of the school is done along the lines of the International Lessons, which are used in all the departments, although the method of teaching them varies in the different grades.
In addition to the International Lessons Supplemental Lessons are taught in the Primary and Intermediate Departments. In the Primary Department these include the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Twenty-third Psalm, the Beatitudes, and the Apostles' Creed.
The following schedule will show at a glancewhat are the specific studies of each grade in the Intermediate Department:
Age.Grade.International Lesson.Supplemental Lesson.[B]9ILearn and recite the memory verses.First half of Catechism No. 1.10IISame as Grade I.Last half of Catechism No. I.11IIILearn memory verses and one thought.Life of Jesus.12IVStudy persons (if any) and one thought.Studies about the Bible.13VStudy places (if any) and two thoughts.Bible Geography.14VIStudy manners and customs and two thoughts.Bible History.15VIITeachings of the lesson having special reference to manhood and womanhood.History of Christian Church.16VIIISame as Grade VII.History of M. E. Church.17IXTeachings of lesson bearing directly upon practical Church.Doctrine and rules of the M. E.18XSame as Grade IX.Government of M. E. Church.
Learn and recite the memory verses.
First half of Catechism No. 1.
Same as Grade I.
Last half of Catechism No. I.
Learn memory verses and one thought.
Life of Jesus.
Study persons (if any) and one thought.
Studies about the Bible.
Study places (if any) and two thoughts.
Bible Geography.
Study manners and customs and two thoughts.
Bible History.
Teachings of the lesson having special reference to manhood and womanhood.
History of Christian Church.
Same as Grade VII.
History of M. E. Church.
Teachings of lesson bearing directly upon practical Church.
Doctrine and rules of the M. E.
Same as Grade IX.
Government of M. E. Church.
Some explanation of the above is needed:
1. The study of the International Lessons. In all the grades the first things to be learned in each lesson are the title, the Golden Text, and the lesson story, and after these are learned the teachers take up the specific grade instructionas above. The lesson thought, which appears first in Grade III, is carried through all the remaining grades as the central thought for the session. These thoughts are selected by the superintendent, and by him indicated to the teachers at the beginning of each quarter. To illustrate: Take the lesson for September 11, 1892, the title of which was Philip and the Ethiopian. After learning the title, Golden Text, and lesson story the different grades will study as follows:
Grades I and II. Learn the memory verses: 35-38.
Grade III. Learn the memory verses and study thought: "Philip preached Jesus."
Grade IV. Study about the persons: Philip, Candace, the eunuch, and Esaias, and also the same thought as in Grade III.
Grade V. Study about the places: Jerusalem, Gaza, Ethiopia, Azotus, and Cesarea, and the two thoughts: "Philip preached Jesus," and "Prompt response to call of duty."
Grade VI. Study customs: going to Jerusalem to worship, ceremony of baptism, riding in chariot, and the same two thoughts as in Grade V.
Grades VII and VIII. Thoughts—"Philip preached Jesus.""Prompt response to call of duty.""Habit of reading.""Understand as you read.""Act up to your knowledge."
Grades IX and X. Thoughts—"Philip preached Jesus. I can do the same.""Prompt response to call of duty. How these calls come.""Fulfillment of prophecy.""Immediate conversion and baptism.""The new-found joy."
2. The Supplemental Lessons. The aim of these lessons is to furnish systematic instruction upon the subjects indicated, which are matters that every well-informed person ought to know, but which cannot be taught from the International Lessons. Each year contains thirty-six lessons which can easily be memorized and recited in the twenty minutes usually allowed for this study. The titles readily suggest the nature of the lessons.
A weekly teachers' meeting is held under the direction of the superintendent for the purposeof assisting the teachers in the right understanding of the things required to be taught on the succeeding Sunday, and instructing them in methods of teaching that particular lesson. It is a sort of teachers' meeting and normal class combined.
EXAMINATIONS AND MARKS.
Written examinations upon the International Lessons are held at the end of each quarter, and one upon the Supplemental Lessons is held near the close of the year, upon each of which the scholars are marked. Each scholar is also marked at each session of the school upon a scale of five credits, as follows: one for attendance at the opening of the school, one for attention during school time, one for attendance at closing the school, one for attendance upon preaching service, and one for lesson study at home. These marks, taken in connection with the examination marks and the knowledge of the general work of the scholar during the year, determine his promotion at the end of the year. The scholar who completes the course satisfactorily is awarded the diploma of graduation and admitted to the Senior Department of the school.No special work other than that usually taken up in Bible classes has been attempted in any of the classes of the Senior Department.
SPIRITUAL WORK.
Although great stress is laid upon the work of instruction in the school, it must not be concluded that the spiritual work is overlooked. This is attended to in two ways: first, in the lesson thoughts in connection with the International Lessons, which are selected, as far as possible, to enable the teachers to illustrate and enforce spiritual truths; and, secondly, each teacher is expected to do all she can in the way of personal example and influence to bring the members of her class to Christ. Of course, if any special religious interest at any time in the church seems to call for it, the work of the school is suspended and all the energy is brought to bear upon the evangelistic part of the work.
RESULTS.
The actual working of this plan has demonstrated that many things which might seem to be objections have been only imaginary. Atthe start the scholars were classified according to their ages, with occasional modifications with reference to their places in the public schools, and the teachers were placed in the different grades with reference to their relative abilities, and they were asked to teach certain specific things, which of course they cheerfully did. The scholars, who are accustomed to this method in the public schools, at once caught the idea, and their parents became interested to see that their lessons were learned before coming to the school. The attendance of teachers became more regular, for each teacher, having his own specific work to do, very soon realized that if he were absent his work could not be fully done by a substitute, and the attendance of the scholars was much improved, for they could see actual advancement from Sunday to Sunday.
The attendance of scholars in the Intermediate Department averages fully twenty per cent more than in any other department. Of course, the adoption of any system of graded work means considerable work for a superintendent at the start, and this to a busy man is a serious matter; but after the system is fairly started itworks easier and with less friction to annoy than any other plan, and the cause is worthy of the effort required.
Two reasons why schools should be graded may be given: 1. Children will be interested in what they can understand, and if the instruction both as to form and substance is adapted to their growing intellectual abilities it will easily be received and taken care of, while, on the other hand, if it is not comprehended it excites no interest in the mind of the child, and he is glad to get out of the school as soon as he can.
2. The teachers do not go on with their classes from year to year indefinitely, and by this means it is possible to bring ten succeeding classes under the teaching of the ablest teacher you can get in a particular grade, instead of confining that able teacher to only one class for ten years. There can surely be no question as to which is the better course.
IT was early in the year of 1890 when it became a positive fact, to the superintendent who is now leading our Sunday school, that we had accomplished practically nothing as a school during the twenty years of our existence. In this school our superintendent was entered when but a lad of five years. He had shifted from class to class, not by reason of any promotion by the superintendent, teacher, or any other officer of the school, but as he advanced in age from five to eight, eight to ten, and ten to fifteen years he correspondingly grew in size, and of his own free will and accord he moved from class to class, with no other recommendation for promotion but age and size. At the age of fifteen he was made secretary, and in that official capacity he took account of the pennies collected, disbursing them as the board might order.
Our future superintendent was then promoted to be the teacher of Bible Class No. 3. It was not Class "Three" because its members knew more or less than Class 1 and 2, but because its members were a class of misses, while Classes 1 and 2 were masters and young men. In fact, Class 3 was as much entitled to be Class 1 as Class 1 was to be Class 1. He was then promoted to his present position. His career is related in order that it may be shown that the conclusion which he had reached was founded upon personal experience and observation, which he took no account of then, but which served to demonstrate more forcibly to him that the Sunday school was accomplishing nothing save the one fact that it met on Sunday mornings ostensibly for religious instruction. It must be said, however, in justice to other superintendents, that, whatever inclination he had to seek and ascertain the defects and best needs of the school, he was led slightly in that direction by those who had shown that something was needed, and who knew that a change must take place if our Sunday school would maintain her standing as a large and growing one in thecommunity. We numbered four hundred, in round figures, and while during the boyhood of our superintendent the corps of teachers were not efficient, by reason of the lack of advantages necessary to proper qualification, yet when he came into office he found himself surrounded by a corps of teachers nearly all of whom were prepared by intellectual and divine strength to teach anything that could possibly be put into a Sunday school course with propriety.
No longer were there "blind leaders of the blind" in the school, but intelligent leaders in mind and heart. It was a proposition that needed no demonstration to our superintendent that he now had the opportunity to present the one thing needful in the school, namely, method and system in instruction and the adaptiveness of work to the susceptibility of the pupil, which is the essence of the grade idea. As soon, then, as this idea was clear, our superintendent at once began inquiry and to hunt literature bearing on this subject.
"The Modern Sunday School," by Bishop J. H. Vincent, was the first book consulted, and the first sentence of Chapter XII, on Gradation,gave the idea which settled the conviction. The sentence reads: "The Sunday school is a school." Nothing is truer than this one sentence, and the sooner our superintendents and teachers get this one idea ineradicably fixed in their minds the better it will be for our Sunday school interests. Most assuredly the "Sunday school is a school" to teach the things of God, to instill his truths and impress his good deeds and loving favors to the children of men upon the mind and hearts of those who must grow up in the admonition of the Lord, if they would make valiant soldiers and good citizens. It was evident that our Sunday school was a school, though poor in order, poor in work, and poor in everything but singing and the giving of picnics. Dr. Vincent's book was further consulted, with others, and our superintendent reserved several months to mature his plans and present them.
In the meantime several articles in the "Sunday School Journal" of May and September, 1890, greatly helped him. A plan of action was finally decided upon; first a new registration, giving name, age, educational fitness, and someminor matters, was gotten of each pupil as accurately as possible. In the meantime our plan had by this time been told the school, and the taking of a new registration, preparatory to the gradation, created a genuine revival of interest in the work. And, too, when the fact was known that the school was undergoing a change which would give larger and better opportunities to the children, fathers and mothers who could not themselves read, but who knew what it was to have John and Mary to go from Catechism to Catechism, from class to class, every time higher and higher, gave vent to their feelings in many "Amens" and "God-bless-yous." To these expressions of approval and the prayers of this class the success of our system may be greatly attributed.
The registration having been taken, our superintendent was intrusted with the gradation of the school. On the one hand the burden was light; on the other heavy. The labor was light, for no amount of it could seem a burden, so great was the interest in the four hundred souls who were now for once to be put into the shape of an ideal Sunday school.
On the other hand, it was for once a burden to do duty as he saw it, because there were large boys and girls who had been hitherto neglected in this ghost of a school, and now had to suffer the worry of doing a thing over when it might have been done well at first. But our superintendent had no time now to indulge in sentimentality; the work was to be done, it was given him to do, and he knew it was for the best good of the school; hence he went at the work in the fear of the Lord. During three weeks of incessant prayer and labor the work was done, submitted to and approved by our board. What a change to be made during the next Sunday! John, who could not read, used to be in Bible Class No. 1; now he is to study the Catechism.
During the next Sunday the grading was done, classes rearranged, teachers replaced to suit the departments; and after all was done we looked calmly upon the scene, and never in all the history of our Sunday school did it look so well, and never have we seen children with such bright and happy faces as were in that school on that morning. It will never be forgotten even by the smallest pupil. As I have said, they were alwaysgood singers, but with new life in them they sang the praises of God on that morning until it seemed we were all tasting of the riches of God as never before. The three departments arranged were Primary, Intermediate, and Normal, with provision for a Normal Training Class. It may be said here that we have seen the necessity very clearly for the introduction of a Junior Department or Course on account of the length of our now existing departments. This will be done on "Promotion Sunday" after our January examination.
A course of study was carefully arranged to cover the three departments, consisting of seven years: Primary Course (provided child entered at the age of three), ages from three to ten years; five years' Intermediate Course, ages from ten to fifteen years; five years in the Senior Course, ages from fifteen to twenty years. These departments, and the years in each, will be slightly modified by the introduction of the Junior Course.
The course embraces in our Primary Department the International Lessons in the form of the "Picture Lesson Paper." The Lesson Paperis, however, not taken up until the pupil has been in this department for four years, presuming that he enters at three years of age. The lessons during the first four years are orally taught, and consist of selected verses of the Bible, Lord's Prayer, Beatitudes, and selected portions of Catechism No. 1. Since the day school system only admits pupils at six and seven years, it is presumed that they are not prepared to be classified in any way as students of the International System on account of their inability to read.
Thus all of the pupils from three to six years are put into one class and taught orally, as explained above. There are sometimes exceptions to this general rule in the case of children who may have had early training around the fireside.
The pupils in the Primary Department, having received the Lesson Paper at seven or eight years, have only from two to three years to remain there before the proper age is reached, all other things being equal, for their transfer to the next department. During the last two or three years of the Primary Course the pupils have for supplementallessons selected Psalms and verses, Catechism No. 1 to Question 25, inclusive. It has been demonstrated to our board in our promotions that this Primary Course is well conceived and serves admirably well the purpose intended, which is to lay a foundation upon which a structure might be reared without fear of tottering.
In our Intermediate Course the International study begins the first year with the "Beginner's Leaf" and is used during three years of the five years' course. In the remaining two years the "Berean Lesson Leaf" is used. In the use of the Beginner's and Berean Leaves the course of teaching is laid down by the Examining Board, and the teacher directs her talk and instruction in that direction. This is to avoid what may be termed "splatterdash" teaching—the teaching of everything with special reference to no one particular thing, the teaching of what is understood and not understood. The supplemental lessons for the Intermediate Course include the Ten Commandments, Catechisms Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and the Old Testament read and thoroughly considered from Genesis to Numbers, inclusive. In this department special effort is made to impressthe Baptismal Covenant, the Ten Doctrines of Grace, Ten Points of Church Economy, etc.
The pupil is now fifteen years of age, and, all things being equal, he is ready for the Senior Course.
In this department the "Senior Lesson Quarterly" is used. The supplemental work consists of a completion of the Old and New Testaments thoroughly read and considered during the five years. In addition to this, McGee's "Outlines of the Methodist Episcopal Church" is studied the first year; "The Teacher Before His Class," by James L. Hughes, in the second year; "Normal Outlines for Primary Teachers" in the third year; "History of the Sunday School," by Chandler, in the fourth year; Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and "Christian Baptism," by Bishop S. M. Merrill, in the fifth year.
Our pupils are then entered in the Normal Training Class, where they read such books as "Open Letters to Primary Teachers," by Mrs. W. F. Crafts; "Hand Book for Teachers," by Dr. Joseph Alden. They also consider more fully the doctrines of our Methodism and the historyof "that great religious movement," as one has termed it. The pupils of this class subject themselves to much training for Sunday school teachers. They are permitted and are expected to meet the teachers in their weekly meetings in order that they may go over the lessons with the teachers and be prepared in case of an emergency. Our examinations are held semiannually. In the supplemental work the examinations are conducted in written form. As to the International studies, the recommendation of a pupil by a teacher is sufficient to determine his work and his ability to pass to a higher grade. The teachers conduct their own examination and make tabulated results, the whole of which is submitted to our Examining Board, consisting of eight members, who carefully pass upon it and order the promotion. The promotion is then made by the superintendent according to the tabulated results.
As an encouragement to pupils we have found it wise to issue certificates to everyone as they complete the course of study of each department, and finally, when the Senior Course is completed, to issue a diploma. The assemblyidea also obtains in our school as a part of our system. This has been found indispensable as an incentive to devotion, because it makes our higher Intermediate and Senior classes feel their importance in a measure when they are called together every fortnight to hear some talk or paper upon some religious topic, apart from the Primary and lower Intermediate classes. In order that the teachers might be more thoroughly interested in the success of the system, and thus influence their children, our superintendent has very wisely introduced the social feature into our work, and very often in our consideration of Sunday school matters we find ourselves in the midst of a pleasant and agreeable reception. This has worked well, for we are all creatures of humanity with the same innate social tendencies. The day of days, yes, the red-letter day, is "Promotion Sunday." These Sundays will never be forgotten. The enthusiasm is equal to that of Children's Day in every respect. Boys and girls with eager hearts pass from class to class. As a means necessary to the success of our system our superintendent very carefully presented the necessity of a largerlibrary than we had. The plans for raising the money were arranged, and, to use the popular expression, "they worked like a charm." Hundreds of dollars were raised, with which we now have over one thousand volumes and a neatly built library case of twenty feet in length. It would be a pleasure to tell how that money was raised.
As to the results accomplished in our school by the system, suffice it to say they are manifold. Order, system, interest, care, study, regular and punctual attendance by officers and teachers, have been some of the results. In conclusion, let us pray that our superintendents and boards will see the necessity for this system in their schools, and that before long the schools of our Methodism may be one of continuous gradation.
TWO years have passed since our Sunday school was graded, and the results of the system are now so apparent that we can safely recommend our plan, for it has met and endured the test of time. Our Sunday school, before the grading was accomplished, embraced about four hundred scholars of all ages, with an average attendance of two hundred and seventy-five. Its officers and teachers were fifty in number. It was by no means an ideal school, though above the average in the efficiency of its work and the interest of its exercises. Its building, however, is a model of convenience and adaptation to the work of the Sunday school, having around the main hall eighteen class rooms, all capable of being either secluded or opened together at a moment's notice.
We found in out Sunday school certain evils and defects, all of which may be seen elsewhere. Some of these were: 1. "Skeleton classes" in the Senior Department, consisting of four or five scholars, being the remains of what had once been large classes of boys and girls. 2. A constant tendency among the young people to fall away from the school after reaching the age of sixteen or eighteen years. 3. Great discrepancies of numbers in the classes; large and small classes side by side in the same grade. 4. In almost any given class a lack of unity in the age and the intellectual acquirements of its members. 5. Great difficulty in obtaining suitable teachers for new classes, or to take the places of teachers leaving the school.
After many conversations a conclusion was reached that most of these evils might be removed, and others of them might be lessened, if the school were reorganized according to a good system, and then maintained as a thoroughly graded school. A committee was chosen to prepare a plan. Correspondence was held with graded schools, all printed informationwas carefully studied, a plan was prepared, printed, submitted to the Sunday School Board, discussed, modified, and finally adopted unanimously. The following are the principal features of the plan, for which we make no claim of originality, as each of its elements was already in successful operation in one or more graded Sunday schools:
1. That the school should be arranged in four general departments: The Senior, for all over sixteen years old; the Junior, from ten to sixteen years; the Intermediate, from eight to ten; and the Primary, for the children younger than eight years. These divisions are not arbitrary, but represent the average standard of age, to which exceptions might be made in special cases.
2. In each department the number of classes to be fixed and invariable, except that in the Junior Department there might be some necessary elasticity in the number of classes, owing to the varying number of scholars promoted into the department in different years.
3. Promotions to be made annually, and all at the same time, on the last Sunday of March.Except in special emergencies no changes in classes to be made during the year, either by teachers or scholars. If a teacher accepts a class on "Promotion Day" it is generally to be considered an engagement for the entire year, unless a necessity arise.
4. While in the same department a teacher and his class to be advanced together; that is, from the first year of the Intermediate Grade to the second, from the first year of the Junior Grade to the second, etc. But the promotion from one department to another to be attended with a change of teachers, in order to keep the same number of classes in each department, especially the Senior Department, from year to year.
5. While special supplemental lessons may be provided for each department, the promotions to be made upon general fitness, age, and intelligence, and not upon the result of an examination. No examination upon the plan of the public schools is practicable in the Sunday school, where all the classes are studying the same lesson. All attempt at making an examination the prerequisite of promotion is aptto become a pretense in the actual working of the scheme.
6. It was also decided that the entire school should be reorganized on a certain day, in accordance with the above plan. A careful committee of seven members, including the pastor and superintendent, made a canvass of the school, ascertained the age of each scholar under seventeen, conferred with the teachers, and then prepared a new list of teachers and scholars for all classes in the school, making many changes, both in the teaching staff and the assignment of scholars.
Sunday, March 30, 1890, was a memorable day, being our first "Promotion Sunday." We approached it with some anxiety, for on that day our committee held in its hands the fate of every teacher and every scholar. Old ties were to be broken, new relations were to be entered upon. Ten teachers were to be returned to the ranks as Senior scholars, and the complexion of every class was to be changed. No one could tell what heart-burnings would be engendered and what disappointments would come. The superintendent made a statement of the new plan, andproceeded to read the new roll, beginning with Class No. 1 of the Senior Department. As the names were called the members left their former classes and took their new places in the class room. Eight classes were assigned to the Senior Grade, each having a separate room. These classes were a young men's class, three young ladies' classes, a class of elderly ladies, a lecture class of ladies and gentlemen, a class of reserve teachers, and a normal class to be trained for teachers in the course of the Chautauqua Normal Union.
In the Junior Department sixteen classes were formed. Those of the lowest rank, the first year, took the front row of seats; the second year the second row, etc. Those of the fifth year Junior were in two classes, one for boys and another for girls, each having a room. The teachers of these two classes remain constant, and change their scholars every year; but during the first four years of the grade the teachers advance with their scholars, changing their seats every year, but retaining their classes.
The Intermediate Department consists of two large classes, each in a separate room. Oneclass is of little children just promoted from the Primary Department; the other, of those who have been in the Intermediate Grade a year. The teacher remains with each class for two years, the term of this grade. We are inclined to favor a three-year term in this grade, with a class for each year, thus making the age at admission to the Senior Department seventeen instead of sixteen years.
Our Primary Department formerly consisted of nine or ten small classes under one Primary superintendent. In the reorganization we constituted it as one class, with a teacher and an assistant. This change released a number of teachers for service in the school, and was on the whole an improvement. Whether it would be desirable everywhere depends on circumstances. In many places it might be easier to find ten teachers, each of whom can teach ten scholars, than one who can teach one hundred.
When the roll of the school had been fully called every teacher and every scholar had been assigned, except one boy, who had joined the school that day, and was left standing in the middle of the room in a bewildered state ofmind over the revolution which was going on around him. A view of the newly arranged classes from the platform showed the school looking more orderly than ever before, and gave it the appearance of having twice as many adult scholars as formerly.
One item must not be forgotten. The superintendent announced that each department would hold a "reception" adapted to the age of its members. The Senior reception was appointed for Monday evening of the next week, and was to include upon its program music, addresses, readings, cake, and cream. All the young people were eager to be counted in, and hence willing to leave their old classes for the new ones. A fortnight later the Junior Department held its reception, with a stereopticon entertainment and the refreshments. Even if a boy can obtain a superabundance of cake at home he will be drawn by the prospect of another slice to the Sunday school sociable. Each department held its own reception, all were happy, and the young ladies and gentlemen were not made to feel that they were simply on the fringe of an institution adapted mainly to little children.
The system thus inaugurated has been in operation two years. What have been its results?
There were at first some complaints by teachers, scholars, and parents. But only one teacher left the school; the classes settled down to work and soon became acquainted; a few changes, but only a very few, were made in the assignments of the scholars, as, for example, where a mistake had been made in the age of a pupil; and soon everybody was satisfied with the new arrangement. Among its manifest benefits we may note the following:
1. The Senior Department is maintained with large classes and growing numbers. There is a social feeling, an "esprit de corps," in a large class which is not found in a small one; hence the shrinkage is less. And whatever loss is met is more than supplied from the new blood infused each year on "Promotion Sunday."
2. The scholars in the Junior Department have an aim and a hope before them. They look forward to their promotion with earnest expectation, and are on this account the more loyal to the school.
3. Inasmuch as all changes are made at agiven time they are prepared for. For three months the superintendent is planning for "Promotion Sunday." If a teacher can be better fitted with a class, a change is made at that time; and where many changes are made at once the friction of each is reduced to a minimum. Classes are made more nearly uniform in their constituency, and the school is kept up to an evenness of organization which greatly increases its efficiency.
4. There has been a marked increase in the membership of the school. Notwithstanding the organization of a mission school by the church, taking away several workers and some scholars, the school has an attendance from seventy-five to one hundred larger than that of two years ago.
After a trial of two years we are sure that the establishment of a graded system and a faithful adherence to its plans have greatly benefited our Sunday school.
THE Sunday school is the door to the Church through which enters the great majority of its members. This fact alone would account for the increasing interest that the Church now manifests toward the school. As the institution which trains the young for the Church, and leads both young and old into the Church, the Sunday school is entitled to the Church's support and care.
The housing of the Sunday school is one of the most important subjects that can come before the Church as the guardian of the school. Too often the work of the school is impeded by unsuitable and inconvenient quarters. Just as the public school building now claims the attention of architects and sanitary engineers, the Sunday school hall is also attracting notice.
It is only twenty-two years since the firstbuilding thoroughly adapted for the uses of the Sunday school was erected at Akron, O. This building, the joint conception of the Hon. Lewis Miller, superintendent, and Mr. Jacob Snyder, architect, has furnished most of the ideas peculiar to Sunday school construction, and is therefore entitled to preeminence in the record. Others have improved upon the details of the Akron plan, but its fundamental principles have never been superseded, and can never be. Those principles are only two, and they seem almost incompatible with each other. They have been called "aloneness" and "togetherness;" that is, that each class in certain departments shall be isolated in a separate room, and yet that all the classes may be brought together into one room for general exercises without delay, without confusion, and without the change of seats by the classes.
First Floor Plan Vincent Chapel
Among the dozen or more Sunday school buildings on the Akron plan one of the most convenient and most complete, yet not one of the most expensive, is that connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Plainfield, N. J. As this was for twenty years the church homeof the Rev. Bishop John H. Vincent, the Sunday school bears the appropriate name of "Vincent Chapel." The plans were drawn by Mr. Oscar S. Teale, architect. Mr. Teale was at that time the efficient secretary of the school, and added to an architect's knowledge a worker's practical acquaintance with the needs of the Sunday school. The chapel, as may be seen by thediagrams, embraces a large room, with eighteen smaller class rooms around it, nine upon each floor. The partitions of the class rooms are so arranged as to offer no obstruction to the line of vision from any seat in the building to the superintendent's desk and the blackboard fastened to the wall back of it. Thus the superintendent can see and be seen by every pupil and teacher in the building. He can also be heard with perfect ease in every class room, as the acoustic properties of the building are excellent.
The main room is used by the Junior Department, in which the scholars are from eleven to sixteen years of age. The classes are seated according to grade, the "first year Juniors" on the front row of classes; the "second year Juniors" on the second row, etc., for four rows, the boys on the superintendent's right, the girls on his left. Each year, on "Promotion Sunday," the classes move one row farther from the desk, and the new classes formed from the Intermediate Department take the front row of seats.
The nine class rooms on the ground floor are used as follows: In the left-hand corner, just where the most of the scholars pass in enteringand leaving, is the secretary's room. Next is the "fifth year Junior," into which all the girls enter after four years in the Junior Grade, leaving their former teachers for a new one. In this class they stay either one or two years, according to age and acquirements, and from it are promoted to the Senior Department. The third room is that of the "Ladies' Bible Class;" the fourth, the "Reserve Class." Next comes the church parlor, seating a hundred people, and used by a large Senior Class. The next room is for the "first year Intermediate," that is, those just advanced from the Primary Department; the seventh, the "second year Intermediate;" the eighth, a "young men's Senior Class;" the ninth, and last, the boys' section of the "fifth year Junior," the largest class of boys in the Junior Department.
On the ground floor are four entrances, one at each corner. As the chapel stands at the rear of the church it was necessary to have the principal entrance on each side of the room facing the school. This is a slight drawback, as a rear entrance would be preferable, in order not to distract attention to the late comers.
The partitions between the class rooms are windows of ground glass of amber color. They are movable, so that classes can be united whenever desirable. Those between class rooms and the main room are double doors of ground glass, so hung that they may be swung aside easily, and arranged when open not to interfere with the line of vision. All the rooms are well lighted and well ventilated; and the main room, when all the rooms are closed, has abundant light and air from a clear story above, with movable windows.
To the gallery and its classes there are three entrances. The one from without the building leads exclusively to the Primary Class, which, by having its own exit, can adjourn earlier than the rest of the school. The two other stairs are interior and lead to the gallery corridor, on which all the class rooms of the upper floor open. These are separated from each other and from the main room by sliding doors of amber glass, so that they may be united or isolated at will, and in a moment. The seats in these classes rise in tiers so that those in the rear as well as in the front can see the platform and theblackboard. There are nine class rooms, of which the central one is for the Primary Department, and all the others are for the Senior classes. All the Senior classes are large, and are kept full by promotion every year from the Junior Grade.
Gallery Plan Vincent Chapel
The library room is at the main entrance, so that books may be delivered by the pupils while passing into the school, and might be given to them while passing out, though in fact they arebrought by the librarian to the classes. On the opposite side of the building, in the rear of the entrance, is a kitchen, which is used at entertainments and social gatherings. For these two or three of the class rooms are thrown together as a refreshment room adjoining the kitchen.
One advantage of such a chapel is its expandable character. When all the rooms are closed there is seating capacity for two hundred and fifty chairs in the main room, which generally suffices for the prayer meeting, while room after room may be opened as the congregation increases. This form of building is equally adapted for the Sunday school, the prayer meeting, and the social gatherings of the Church.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:[A]These books have been published in pamphlet form by the Methodist Book Concern as "Graded Lessons for the Sunday School."[B]These Supplemental Lessons have been published by Hunt & Eaton, New York, as "The Ten Minute Series."
[A]These books have been published in pamphlet form by the Methodist Book Concern as "Graded Lessons for the Sunday School."
[A]These books have been published in pamphlet form by the Methodist Book Concern as "Graded Lessons for the Sunday School."
[B]These Supplemental Lessons have been published by Hunt & Eaton, New York, as "The Ten Minute Series."
[B]These Supplemental Lessons have been published by Hunt & Eaton, New York, as "The Ten Minute Series."
Transcriber's Notes:Obvious punctuation errors repaired.Page 51, repeated word "The" removed from text (The scholars never seemed)
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 51, repeated word "The" removed from text (The scholars never seemed)