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 information
was 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 apt to 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, and proceeded 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. One class 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 of mind 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 a given 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.