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Page 49
The remedy here is to use a larger proportion of story material, of
biography, of lessons from nature, and of such gems of literature as
carry a spiritual message suited to the child. The caution is to avoid
over-intellectualizing the child's religious instruction, and to make
sure that we do not outrun his rate of development in the material we
give him. The same principles should carry over into the intermediate,
or preadolescence, age. The hero-worship stage is then, at hand, and the
lesson material should be arranged to meet the natural demand of the
child for action and adventure.
In planning a graded series of lessons it is not less important to meet
the needs of the _seniors_, or adolescents, than of the younger pupils.
This has not always been accomplished. Here again, as in the earlier
years, the immediate interests and needs of the learner are to be the
key to the planning of material. A series of unrelated topics dealing
with a distant time and civilization, with little or no application to
the problems and interests that are now thronging upon the youth, will
make small appeal to him. The youth's growing consciousness of social
problems, his interest in a vocation, his increasing feeling of personal
responsibility as a member of the family, the community, the church and
the brotherhood of men are suggestions of the nature of the topics that
should now form the foundation of religious study and instruction.
It is possible that the forgetting of this simple fact in the planning
of material for adolescent pupils is one chief reason for the tragic
loss of interest in the Sunday school which so often occurs at the
adolescent stage.
Text books of religious material.--The _text book_ type of religious
material differs more in the organization and arrangement of material
than in the subject matter itself. The lessons are not based on a set
cycle of biblical material, though, of course, such material is freely
used. Usually one topic or theme is followed throughout the text, the
number of lessons or chapters provided being intended for one year's
work. The following titles of texts now in use suggest the nature of the
subject matter: "God's Wonder World," "Heroes of Israel," "Heroic
Lives," "The Story of Jesus," "The Making of a Nation," "Our Part in the
World," "The Story of a Book," "The Manhood of the Master," "Problems of
Boyhood," "Social Duties," "The Testing of a Nation's Ideals."
Beyond question, the material we teach our children in religion should
be organized and published as real _books_ and not as paper-covered or
unbound serial pamphlets. There is really no more reason why we should
divide religious material up into lessons to be dated, and issued month
by month, than why we should thus divide and issue material in
geography, history, reading, or any other school subject. Children who
are accustomed in day schools to well-made, well-bound books, with good
paper and clear, readable print, cannot be expected to respond favorably
to the ordinary lesson pamphlet. The child should be encouraged and
helped in the building of his own library of religious books, but this
can hardly be done as long as his church-school material comes to him in
temporary form, much of it less attractive on the mechanical side than
the average advertising leaflet which so freely finds its unread way to
the waste basket.
Many of the Sunday school leaflets carry at the top (or the bottom) of
the page an advertisement of the denominational lesson series--matter in
which the child is not concerned, which injures the appearance of the
page, and which lowers the dignity and value of the publication. And
some lesson pamphlets are even disfigured with commercial
advertisements, sometimes of articles of doubtful value, and always with
the effect of lowering the tone of the subject matter to which it is
attached. Religious material printed in worthy book form escapes these
indignities. That textbooks in religion will cost more than the present
cheap form of material is possible. But what matter! We are willing to
supply our children with the texts needed in their day-school work;
shall we not supply them with the books required for their training in
religion? If the texts prove too much of a financial burden for the
children or their parents, there is no reason why the church should not
follow the example of the public school district and itself own the
books, lending them for free use to the pupils.
Guiding principles.--The principles for the organization of the
church-school curriculum, are, then, clear. Its lessons should start
with matter adapted to the youngest child. It should present a
continuous series of steps providing material of broadening scope
adapted to each age or stage from childhood to full maturity. Its order
and arrangement should at all times be decided by the needs and
development of the learner, and should make constant point of contact
with his life and experience. It should be printed in attractive
textbook form, the paper, type, illustrations, and binding being equal
to the best standards prevailing in public-school texts. In short, we
should apply the same scientific and educational knowledge, and the
same business ability in preparing and issuing our religious material
that we devote to this phase of general education.
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