Prepared by John L. Alexander, Superintendent Secondary Division International Sunday School Association.
The class session on Sunday should be in charge of the president of the class. The opening services may consist of a short prayer by the teacher or pupil volunteering; reading of brief minutes, covering the mid-week activities and emphasizing the important points brought out by the teacher in the lesson of the previous Sunday; collection and other business. The president then turns the class over to the teacher for the teaching of the lesson. The closing services of the class should by all means be observed.
Committees.—Short-term committees are the more effective, covering the activities when planned. The short-term committee plan, however, need not be suggested to the class until it discovers that the long-term or standing committee has failed. They will doubtless be the first to suggest the new plan.
Class Grouping and Size
It should be sane and natural and not too large. This should be specially borne in mind in working with boys; a "gang" usually consists of from seven to fourteen. The girls' class is different, and the size of the group does not materially matter. The class, however, should not be so unwieldy as to make it impossible for the teacher to give personal attention to each individual.
It is impossible to get the best results when pupils of twelve and eighteen are members of the same class, for they are living in two different worlds of thought. A teacher cannot hope to hold together a group in which there is such disparity of age. A working basis is (13-14), (15-17), (18-20). This is but a foundation on which to work. The correct grouping should be on a physiological basis instead of chronological. A pupil ofttimes will not fit into a group of his or her own age; physiologically, they may be a year or two in advance of the rest of the class, and are mingling through the week with an older group. Adjustments in such cases should be made so that the pupil is permitted to find his or her natural grouping. Like water, they will find their level.
Under no ordinary circumstances should classes be mixed (boys and girls together).
Class Names and Mottoes
Names.—A class name will help to create a strong and healthy class spirit, and is valuable as a means of advertising the class and its work.
Some prefer to take class numbers or letters, thus recognizing their relationship to the Sunday school; others select names from the Bible to indicate their relation to Bible study; others choose names that indicate some kind of Christian service, thus committing the class to Christian work; while others take names of heroes or use Greek letters.
Mottoes.—A motto is perhaps more important than a name. It will help to place and keep before the class a definite purpose. If often repeated it will aid in producing in the class the spirit expressed in the motto. The following well-known mottoes may be suggestive: We're in the King's Business—We Do Things—The World for Christ—We Mean Business—The Other Fellow—Every Man Up—Quit You Like Men.
International Teen Age Certificate of Recognition
The International Sunday School Association, through its Secondary Division, issues a certificate, or charter of recognition.
This certificate represents a minimum standard of organization for classes, which is considered practical for scholars of these ages. It gives the class the recognition of the International, State or Provincial Associations; and to the schools whose denominations add their seal and signature, or provide a joint certificate, denominational recognition as well. The certificate of the Secondary Division is beautifully lithographed, and is suitable for framing for the class room. For classes of the Intermediate age (13-16 years) an Intermediate seal is affixed, and a Senior (17-20 years) or Adult seal may be added upon the advance of the class to these departments. It can be secured by filling out the application blank at the end of this leaflet, and by sending the same, together with twenty-five cents to cover the cost, to your State or Provincial Association, or Denominational headquarters. Seals may be secured from the same sources.
This certificate and registration links the class to the Sunday school teen age brotherhood throughout the world.
The royal blue and white button (white center with blue rim) has been adopted for both the Intermediate (13-16 years) and Senior (17-20 years) Departments, the blue indicating loyalty and the white purity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE ORGANIZED CLASS
International Leaflets on Secondary Adult Classes (Free).
Pearce.—The Adult Bible Class (.25).
The study of the Bible that contributes to the boy's education is now generally accepted to be that which is adjusted to the known characteristics of boys. At one time, not so very far distant, all Scripture was supposed to be good for a boy's moral and spiritual character-building. One part of the Bible was held to be as good as any other, the important thing necessary being to get the Bible into the life of the boy, somehow. It did not matter much whether the boy understood all he read and was told, or not. It would prepare him for some future crisis and enable him some time to better meet a possible temptation. It was to be a sort of preventive application, very much as vaccination now is administered to ward off dreaded disease. And, to tell the exact truth, it often did, and the treatment proved more efficacious than some of the present-day Bible study methods, where mere knowledge is attempted. The mistake was the misunderstanding (for misunderstanding it was, and not a desire to merely plague the boy) of the fact that boys were developing creatures, spiritually as well as physically, and that Bible study could be made pleasant as well as profitable. It was a mistake due to a purely mature point of view and a failure to know that the boy mind needed different treatment from that of the adult. Lately we have discovered, thanks to general education, that a boy's Bible study can be adapted to a specific purpose, and to a present, clear, distinct and practical need of boy life.
A recent writer has said, "We have come to a fairly definite understanding that we must take the boy as he is; we must inquire into his needs; we must consider the conditions of his religious development. We must ask, then, of the Bible, how far it can be effective to meet these needs and this development. The fixed factor is the boy, not the Book. At the same time, we are not obliged to begin always as if the Bible were a new thing in the world, and its claim to value as religious material were to be considered afresh. We know that the Bible has proved itself good. We know that it has been effective in the life of boys. The question, then, really before us is, What parts of the Bible are really desirable for the boy, and how are they to be presented so as to be most useful?"
This, in other words, is Graded Bible Study, and, possibly, were we to give a Bible to the boy and induce him to read it, the parts which he would read would help us a lot in determining the material that would challenge his interest. The parts he skipped over would also fix our problem for us.
The writer had a unique experience in his boyhood. His folks were members and officers of a church where long doctrinal sermons were the rule. These had little interest for the growing boy, but parental persuasion kept him in the pew for hours at a stretch. The boy, under these circumstances, had to do something in self-preservation, so he spent the long hours in reading the Bible. The stories of the Patriarchs, the Judges, the Kings, and the Acts were his peculiar delight. The sermon period ceased to be tiresome and often was not long enough. He never read Leviticus, or the Prophets, or the Gospels, or the Epistles, however. They had no meaning for him. As well as he can now remember, between his ninth and twelfth years, his favorite Scripture was the Patriarchs and Judges. Between his twelfth and sixteenth years he was passionately fond of the Kings and the Acts. After that he began to feel interested in the Gospels, He was pretty well grown up before he cared either for the Prophets or the Epistles; they were too abstract for him.
The writer's experience corresponds fairly well with the growing modern usage in Bible study with boys. The philosophy underlying Graded Bible Study is merely to meet the present spiritual needs, as indexed by the characteristics of the period of his development.
At present there are many schemes of Graded Bible Study for boys on the market. Some of it has been prepared to meet a theory of religious education. The University of Chicago Series of textbooks and the Bible Study Union (Blakeslee) Lessons are examples of this trend. Both of them are exceptionally good. Other courses have sprung up, being written and used among boys here and there, and later worked together into a Bible study scheme. The Boys' Bible Study Courses of the Young Men's Christian Association are recognized as such. Then there is the present system of Graded Bible Study of the International Sunday School Association. Fifteen complete years of Graded Bible Study, from the fourth to the eighteenth year, may now be used in the Sunday school. Great care has been exercised in the selection of the material with the aim of fixing definite ideals of Christian life and service. These courses are divided as follows:
| Possible Present Use of the Graded Lessons | ||
| Departments | Years | Courses of Study |
| Beginners | Four Five | A Unit of two years. |
| Primary | Six Seven Eight | A Unit of three years. |
| Junior | Nine Ten | Lower--A Unit of two years. |
| Eleven Twelve | Upper--A Unit of two years. | |
| Intermediate | Thirteen Fourteen | Lower--A Unit of two years. |
| Fifteen Sixteen | Upper--A Unit of two years. | |
| Senior | Seventeen | A Unit of one year. |
| Eighteen Nineteen | A Unit of two years. | |
| Twenty | ||
Prepared by Professor Ira M. Price, Secretary International Sunday School Association Lesson Committee.
These International Lessons are undoubtedly the best on the market at the present time, although they are very far from being perfect. Gradual changes, coming from experience in the local Sunday school, will modify them considerably in the next few years, and they may actually prove to be forerunners for an almost entirely new series of courses and lessons. They have been generously received by the eager workers in the local Sunday school, as an advance on the Uniform Lessons, and where they are now being tried satisfaction, for the most part, is being evinced. A great deal of dissatisfaction has been found with the treatment of these Graded Lessons in some quarters, the Lesson Helps being too mature for teen age boys. However, in appraising the value of these Graded Lessons, two things should be kept in mind, viz.: the selection of the Lesson Material, and the Lesson Help Treatment of the selected material. Opposition to the lessons should never be taken because of the Lesson Helps. These can be remedied by the denominational publishing houses, if their attention is called to the weakness or mistake of treatment, and the teen age teacher can give great assistance to the denominational editors by counseling with them.
Here and there the suggestion has sprung up for a Graded Uniform Lesson. That is precisely what the treatment of the Uniform Lesson was for a number of years, and is yet. It is not adaptation of treatment that is needed, but adaptation of material that is demanded—courses of study that fit the religious, spiritual need of the various stages of development. This much is positively settled.
There is, however, some good reason and very strong ground for uniform cycles, based on seasonable development rather than on chronological years and intellectual rating. In some places the present Elementary International Graded Lessons are being used just this way, although they do not yield themselves readily to this usage. Cycles of four courses for the three main divisions of boyhood, nine to twelve years, thirteen to sixteen years, and seventeen to twenty years, four courses to each period, based on the general, seasonable development of each period, have much in their favor. Thus we might have four courses built on Individual Heroism, four on Altruistic Heroism, and four on the Social Adaptation which marks the reflective period between seventeen and twenty. Boys do not mature by years. Growth and development is a jump from plateau to plateau.
This would fit in also with the general objective of the Sunday school, and is not the mere impartation of information, but the letting loose of moral and religious values in life. The latter is produced more by contact of personality with personality than by intellectual processes. Should such a plan ever be adopted the courses of study must be pedagogically arranged and in keeping with the best findings of psychological usage.
At any rate, whatever be the course of study, the teen age boy needs to have his life and activity center about the dynamics of the Bible. "The Art of Living Well" can only be learned out of the textbook of the experience of the ages. The ordinary tasks and interests of boys, as well as daily conduct, can be made great channels for life's best achievement only in proportion to the dynamic throb of the Word that has inspired men to heroism amid the commonplace and the uncommon, to self-sacrifice and peace.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BIBLE STUDY
Alexander.—Sunday School and the Teens ($1.00).
Horne.—Leadership of Bible Study Groups (.50).
Starbuck.—Should the Impartation of Knowledge Be a Function of the Sunday School? (.65).
Use of the Bible Among Schoolboys (.60).
Winchester.—The International Graded Sunday School Lessons (American Youth, April, 1912) (.20).
The Sunday school has at last begun to realize that a boy demands more than spiritual activity to round out his life into symmetrical development. It also comprehends that religion is more than a set of beliefs—that religion is a life at work among its fellows. "For to me to live is Christ"—to live, play, love, and work. Because of these two reasons, the Sunday school assumes its obligation to direct and foster the through-the-week life of its boys, as well as the Bible period of the Sunday session of the school.
Contact.—Of course, for a long time the leaders and teachers of Boys' Organized Bible Classes have felt the need of a through-the-week contact with the members of the class. The school period of one hour or an hour and a half has been found by most teachers to be too meager for a healthy class life. Then, too, most teachers are realizing that really to touch the life of the boy more contact than the teaching of the Bible lesson is necessary. Some teachers are taking an interest in the school or working conditions of the teen boy. Quite a few teachers are now deeply interested in the leisure time of their pupils, and have begun to direct the physical, social and mental activities of the teen years, as well as the spiritual. They have realized that the teen age is not made up of disjointed and disconnected activities, but is in a continual process of development, and that its growth is normally symmetrical and its activities intertwined.
The Organized Class.—The great majority of Sunday school teachers have no desire to try any auxiliary organization in combination with their classes. They are somewhat dubious of the machinery, ritual, etc., which are concomitants of these schemes. Again and again they have voiced a demand, not for new organizations, but for activities to deepen interest in the organization that the teacher understands—the Bible Class.
The Organized Boys' Bible Classes operate in the Secondary Division or teen years of the Sunday school, from 13 to 20, and include both the younger and older boys. The earlier and later adolescent periods are separate and distinct groups. Plans and activities that have proven successful with one group will prove to be ineffectual with the other. All things should be planned to meet the development of the group. In the following list of activities the group interests have not been separated as they intermingle with each other. If the class be allowed to choose and voice its sentiment, the right activity will always be selected. Besides, if the members make their own choice, there can be little complaint at results, and they will work harder for the success of their own plans. All this develops character, which is one of the real reasons for these through-the-week activities.
Activities for Teen Boys' Organized Bible Classes
Physical
ATHLETICS
Free Hand and Calisthenic Drills Fire, Ambulance, Life-saving Drills Single Stick and Foil, Boxing Swimming Water Polo Water Sports Jumping and Running Shot Put Discus Throwing Baseball, Indoor and Outdoor Basket-ball Football Volleyball La Crosse, Bowling Tennis
GAMES
Observation, Agility, Strength, Fun—Indoor and Outdoor Quoits
SIGNALING
Semaphore Wig Wag Heliograph Wireless
WOODCRAFT
Tracking and Trailing Bird, Plant, Tree, Grass and Flower Lore Star, Wind and Water Knowledge Stalking with Camera Wild Life
CAMPING
Tent and Tepee Making Moccasin Making Huts, Lean-to, Shacks Grass Mat Weaving Map Making Knot Tying Fire Lighting Boat Management Boat and Canoe Building Canoeing Fishing Camp Cooking Week-end Camps Indian Camps Over-night Camps Hikes, Tramps, Walks, Gypsy and Hobo Hill Climbing
HYGIENE
Care of body, eyes, nails, teeth, etc. Laws of recreation, Hiking, etc. Kite Making and Flying Gliding and Aeroplaning Circus Stunts Sport Carnival Corn, Apple, Clam Roasts, etc. Moonlight Trips, Rides, etc. Cycling Skating Hockey Skiing
Social
Home Socials: Stag Ladles' Nights Parents' Nights
Entertainments: Playets Minstrel Show Lincoln Night Washington Night Stunts and Skits Mock Trial Declamation or Oratorical Contest Glee Concert
Game Tournaments: Checkers Caroms Chess Ping-Pong Bowling
Hayseed Carnival Parlor Magic Athletic Stunts Independence Day Political Campaign Town Meeting Sex Instruction Practical Citizenship
Exhibition: Pet Show Mandolin and Guitar Fests Fireside and Joke Nights Spelling Bee History Bee Geography Quiz Hallowe'en Night Pop-corn Festival Masked Partners Library Party Supper or Banquet Father and Son Spread Class Guest of Class Calendar Exhibit Coin Exhibit Stamp Exhibit Arts and Crafts Photographs Wild Flower Tree and Plant Sea Shell Post-cards
Social Sing: Popular Songs Old Familiar Songs School Songs Patriotic Hymns Church Music
Mental
Practical Talks: Elementary Mechanics Applied Electricity Wireless Chemical Analysis Natural Science Mineralogy Nature Study First Aid Thrift and Property Use of Library
Life-work Talks: Ministry Law Medicine Teaching Business
The Trades: Blacksmith Carpenter Plumbing Printing Painting Bricklaying Masonry Farming Seamanship Architecture Art Chemistry Forestry
Engineering: Mechanical Electrical Surveying
Citizenship: The Township or Municipality—Town Meetings Select and Common Councils Commission Government
The State—The Legislature The Courts The Governor's Staff
Literary Stunts: Declaiming Extemporaneous Speech Editing Paper
Educational Trips: Community Visitation—Shops and Factories Fire Houses City or Community History Public Buildings Public Utilities, etc.
Neighborhood Visitation—Famous Places Great Industries Coal Mines, etc.
Arts and Crafts: Drawing Bent Iron Work Clay Modeling Basket Making Hammock Weaving, etc. Stamp Collecting Coin Collecting Sketch Collecting Kodaking and Photographing Debating Reading Night and Courses Discussions Congress and Senate Poster Making Travel and Science Talks Stereopticon Moving Pictures
Literary Stunts—Essay Writing and Reading
The Nation—Congress Army and Navy Civil Service Diplomatic and Consular Service
Duties of Citizen—Elections Jury Service Maintenance of Law
Current Topics
Spiritual
Graded Bible Study
Daily Readings
Systematic Instruction: Church Membership Benevolences Missionary Operations
Supplemental Talks: General Church History Denominational History Local Church History
Church Organization: Denominational Local Church Sunday School Auxiliary Societies
Teacher Training Class
Cooperation in Church Activity Personal Evangelism Directed Reading
NOTE: Of course all the activities enumerated in this leaflet are Spiritual. This list merely emphasizes a few activities usually designated spiritual.
Service Activities
Christ challenged men to self-sacrifice. He said: "He that would be greatest among you let him be the servant of all." In this way adolescent boys must be challenged to lives of unselfish, altruistic, Christ-like service. There is no other test for the teacher. It is his business to get teen age boys to serve. This the boy does, first by the desire to help another, then by right living, doing right for the sake of right; then by religious belief, which forms a cable to bind him back in simple faith on God, until he comes face to face with the Master of men, living right, doing right, thinking right, loving right, serving right, with all his life, because of his love for Christ.
Physical Service—
Organize and manage Boys' Baseball Nine.
Organize and manage Boys' Football Eleven.
Organize and manage Boys' Basket-ball Five.
Organize and manage Boys' Track Team.
Organize and manage Boys' Tennis Tournaments.
Coach younger boys in baseball.
Coach younger boys in basket-ball.
Coach younger boys in football.
Coach younger boys in track athletics.
Coach younger boys in tennis.
Train younger boys in free-hand gymnastics.
Train younger boys in life-saving drills.
Assist in the running of inter-class athletics.
Assist in the running of inter-school athletics.
Lead gymnastic groups for the local school.
Teach boys to swim.
Assist in the running of aquatic meets.
Leaders to encourage boys to get into athletics.
Leaders to encourage boys in outdoor life.
Leaders to encourage boys in camps and hikes.
Leaders to encourage boys in woodcraft and scouting.
Lead a gymnastic class in Social Settlement.
Manage and coach athletics in Social Settlements.
Assist as Play Leader in public playground.
Organize, manage, and umpire Boys' Twilight Ball League.
Assist in sport carnival, circus, exhibits, etc.
Make a specialty of some form of camp life and teach it to boys.
Social Service—
Become responsible for some boy.
Plan a social time.
Assist in planning an entertainment.
Manage and coach musical activity.
Teach games to backward boy.
Assist in exhibit.
Manage celebration.
Promote class and school picnics.
Secure home for boy from country.
Take boys home for meal and social time.
Promote musical and dramatic entertainments in settlements and orphanages.
Visit sick boys in hospital.
Arrange outings for needy mothers, and children, crippled and unfortunate boys.
Automobile party for above.
Play Santa Claus to poor families.
Lead in keeping school and shop morally clean.
Stand for clean thoughts, clean speech, clean sport.
Seek leadership in public school clubs.
Get interested in the boy life of the community.
Help boys to find employment.
Help enforce minor laws.
Take an interest in the delinquent boy.
Mental Service.—
Secure speakers for practical talks.
Secure speakers for life-work talks.
Lead in some mental activity.
Promote an educational trip.
Teach elementary arts and crafts.
Conduct discussion of practical citizenship.
Lead discussion of current topics.
Lead younger boys as suggested under class activities—Mental.
Teach English to foreign-speaking boys.
Help wage-earning boys in elementary subjects, arithmetic, geography, etc.
Encourage grade boys to stay at school by coaching them in studies.
Organize civic nights.
Organize debates.
Organize camera trips and photo study.
Organize Around-the-Fire and story nights.
Lend books and guide the reading of boys.
Edit class or school paper.
Be foreman in printing room of above paper.
Lead observation trips.
Spiritual Service.—
Lead a Boys' Bible Class.
Take part in Boys' Conferences.
Lead Boys' Meetings.
Teach in extension Sunday school.
Serve on Sunday school Committees.
Serve on Church Committees.
Take an interest in every church organization.
Promote systematic giving among boys.
Lead a Mission Biography group.
Lead an inner circle for prayer and Bible study.
Promote a census of non-church boys.
Visit homes to invite fellows to church services.
Join a training class.
Lead campaign to increase Sunday school membership.
Promote inter-class relationships.
Lead prayer groups or circles.
Help in Home Department.
Serve on Reception Committee at Church or Sunday school.
Visit teen age Shut-ins.
Visit prisoners in jails.
Do chores for sick folks.
Help the aged to and from church services.
Support a bed in a hospital.
The Organized Class, its officers, teacher and committees ought to find enough to do in the above long list. The service activities have been listed without any idea of order or grading. They are also for individuals and the class as a whole. They are merely suggestive. The class and the teacher should do things as a real part of the class life.
ORGANIZED CLASS ACTIVITIES
BOYS' BIBLE CLASSES
JOHN L. ALEXANDER,
Secondary Division Superintendent, International Sunday School Association.