The Boy and the Sunday School Part 10

JOHN L. ALEXANDER,

Secondary Division Superintendent, International Sunday School a.s.sociation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES

Adams.--Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys ($1.75).

Alexander.--Opportunity for Extension of Boys' Work to a Summer Camp Headquarters (_American Youth_, June, 1911), (.20).

--Using Nature's Equipment--G.o.d's Out-of-Doors (_American Youth_, August, 1911). Single copies out of print, but bound volume for 1911 may be obtained for $1.50.

Baker.--Indoor Games and Socials for Boys (.75).

Bond.--Scientific American Boy at School ($2.00).

Boys' Handbook. (Boy Scouts of America) (.30).

Brunner.--Tracks and Tracking (.70).

Burr.--Around the Fire (.75).

Camp.--Fis.h.i.+ng Kits and Equipment ($1.00).

Chesley.--Social Activities for Men and Boys ($1.00).

Clarke.--Astronomy from a Dipper (.60).

Corsan.--At Home in the Water (.75).

Cullens.--Reaching Boys in Small Groups Without Equipment. (_American Youth_, February, 1911.) (.20).

Dana.--How to Know the Wild Flowers ($2.00).

Ditmars.--The Reptile Book ($4.00).

Fowler.--Starting in Life ($1.50).

Gibson.--Camping for Boys ($1.00).

Hasluck.--Bent Iron Work (.50).

--Clay Modeling (.50).

--Photography (.50).

--Taxidermy (.50).

Job.--How to Study Birds ($1.50).

Kenealy.--Boat Sailing ($1.00).

Lynch.--American Red Cross First Aid ($1.00).

Parsons.--How to Know the Ferns ($1.50).

Pyle.--Story of King Arthur and His Knights ($2.00).

Reed.--Bird Guide. In 2 volumes. (Vol I, $1.00, Vol. II,.75).

Reed.--Flower Guide (.50).

Scout Master's Handbook (.60).

Seton.--Book of Woodcraft ($1.75).

----Forester's Manual ($1.00).

Seven Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Make ($1.00).

Warman.--Physical Training Simplified (.10).

White.--How to Make Baskets ($1.00).

XI

THE BOYS' DEPARTMENT IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL[6]

The Boys' Department in the Sunday school is the grouping together of organized cla.s.ses for the sake of unity and team work among the adolescent boys. Investigation proves that boys work together best when separated from men, women and girls. The Boys' Department contemplates a change from the usual organization in the Sunday school, in that the cla.s.ses of boys between twelve and twenty years of age shall meet as a separate department of the school and have their own closing and opening services, and the natural activities that would spring from a separate departmental life. The underlying idea of the Boys' Department is to make the boys feel that they are a real part of the Sunday school, with a real purpose and actual activities. Where it has been tried, not only has the attendance been increased, but the enrollment in the department has been doubled and trebled. The department also presents an opportunity of interesting boys in all forms of church life through the committee work which the department inaugurates. The criticism that the Boys' Department may become a junior church is not borne out by the experience of the men who have tried it. On the other hand, the testimony is that the Boys' Department has increased the attendance at the morning and evening services of the church, and has created a general interest and enthusiasm for the entire church life. The Boys'

Department is not urged on any basis of s.e.x segregation, although a good many educators are urging the segregation of the s.e.xes in public education. The underlying idea of the Department is to group the boys together for team work and cooperation, with a clear understanding of the gang principle which clamors for a club or organization that satisfies the social and fraternal need. In fact, it is the neglect of the latter by the Sunday school that has brought the countless boys'

organizations into existence, and the well-conducted Boys' Department, composed of well-organized, self-governing Bible cla.s.ses, will mean much to the general church life, as well as to the simplifying of the present complicated scheme of work with boys. Nearly all of these auxiliary boy organizations have had their birth in the Sunday school, through the attempt to meet the boy need, which the Sunday school hitherto has not seen its way clear to do.

When departmental organization, however, is mentioned, the genius of the individual leader and teacher must come into play. The form of organization that may be successful with one leader may be a failure with another. This chance does not lie or inhere in the organization, but in the leader; for the gifts, talents, equipment and adaptability of leaders vary just as much in Sunday school organization as in the so-called secular forms of activity. The best form of organization, then, as well as the most successful form for the local school, is the "kind that works."

_Three Proved Forms of Departmental Organization_

Successful organization is the result of experiment. None but the result of experiment has a right to be exploited. Sunday school teen age workers have tried, proved and found satisfactory to their own liking, by its results, the following three kinds of teen age organization for the local school:

_Intermediate and Senior Departments_

The first of these is known as the Intermediate and Senior Departmental organization. Its characteristic is the dividing of the teen age into two groups--Intermediate, 13 to 16 years, and Senior, 17 to 20 years. In some schools these departments meet separately for Sunday school work.

Wherever this is done there should be at least a superintendent and secretary for each. While the general principles of the work are the same, the problems and details of the cla.s.ses are sometimes different.