New-York tribune., 1907-11-03
AS TO SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
4n Investigation Begun to Learn If
Attendance Is Decreasing.

Is tie attendance at Sunday schools decreasing?
It generally taken for granted that this is the
case. but nothing very definite is known on the
subject. and systematic investigation Of II has
been begun by number of womens organizations
connected with various churches. The better class
children are said to be falling in the greatest
numbers and in the sums the little folk ac-
cused of going TO Sunday school for the loaves
and fishes.
The subject is one on which doctors seem to
disagree. but the figures presented to the last
International Sunday School Convention, held IN
1905 in Toronto. do not indicate decline. At that
date the figures for tho United Estates showed an
increase in attendance OF about eight thousand.
Taking tho country whole there is no de-
cline" said the Rev Dr. A. r. SChaufiicr. presi-
dent of the New York city Sunday School Asso-
citation. In New York, of course, the conditions
make the Sunday school problem a particularly
difficult The dwindling of any individual
school may he due to causes that have nothing 10
do with lack OF interest a dourishiug school in
I'd street for instance had its attendance
h1'f In r G ns M nd %i ag Goo bs
only eighty or ninety pupils but The congregation
manifcstly Impossible To get tn, children of such
widely scattered families together in very great
there is decline in sunday school attendance
among better class children tn New YORK. this
borne in mind that the weil-to-do don't have many
get tho children to- come To Sunday school ana
Il Is not necessary TO attribute their coming 10
that they should ike 10 come where there is
bright music and some ono takes an interest in
them. Ana their parents like 10 have Them taken
Or. schauier does not think that modern meth
DDS IN Sunday school teaching have done much
To increase Sunday school attendance.
"rhc work that is done now is better DONE he
said but after all the drawing power OF the sun
always been the same There has been a noticeable
Increase however, In tn" attendance in tho senior
class. in Philadelphia. for instance. never in It's
worst days has an attendance less than i've hun
U
sick committee, its welcome committee. its heads
The Rev Dr. Richard Morse Hodge. lecturer IN
biblical literature and sunday school pedagogy ar
school attendance with great chcorfuness
is a good thing because IL viii cause tho churches
to wake up TO The fact that better methods Of teach
] ai,ie ana rb I9 p' ad @ Pio T ot ica
larry you can't judge the influence OF the Church by
York for smaller results Than anybody else I'm the
country, probably. and Il many OF them not do
churches and SUNDAY schools would be much smaller
than they are. The Church I'm New York has to
tend with great distances and shifting population
innumerabe secular interests, and the stress and
itclV ~ mrciE 3[ = man 10 LOAF on sunday If he
At the same Tine Dr Hodge thinks that chill
dren will go TO Sunday school if they got what
IF we lost all the children" he said I'VE youId
got them back II We put up sunday school which
place at all in human society is that peopl, Eav" =
religious nature that responds when deycoped \
child has religious nature and would rather
have II cultivated than not. II Will 20 Suuda,.
school If you deliver the goods
The trouble with mos, of our Sunday school
teaching Is that il isn't Intellectual IT is better
than il used TO be. but all teaching better than
II used to be. and children accustomed to IN.
public schools perceive very clearly deficiencies
of the Sunday school. In the day school a child
IS not expected to believe anything until hc secs in
In the, Sunday school IL is TOO much the habit to
rest the case on the statement of the teacher ana
the Bible"
DR. Hodge had interesting proof of tho ,c,,.
children to Sunday school when they got
what they want, in the First Union PrcsbvterIan
Church, where he supervised the SUNDAY 4rhooi
have the study hour doubled and II was folInd
that those easiest to interest between twelve,
and fifteen years old, just the age at which the,
usually drop out fastest The winter before las
1876 children dropped out. These cases were all in
VestiEated, and it was found that in 1873 cases
they had either moved away died
Dr. Hodge does not think that paid teachers
necessary.
with plenty of willing teachers ready to work
for nothing" he said. why should force pav on
them? These volunteers could easily bc trained
10 do excellent work. and when the children now
in Sunday school grow up they will know how to
teach. If there is a thoroughly trained and paid
worker supervise the school II is all that nee
essaTy. would suggest that every church should
have two ministers-one a preacher. and the other
a specialist in religious education. We can't add
anything to the burdens of the present minister's
The model Sunday school at Teachers College
has paid teachers, and the pupils pay tuition fee
imitation Of churches 1t is rather experimental
and practical school, where teachers he trained
and problems worked out untrammClled by the ira
dtions of any Church.