The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-03-23

New York, however II Is not con.
Quoted In connection with church
but with Union Theological Seminary.
in whose building at Broadway and
l2Oth street it meets at $3.50 every
Sunday morning, absolutely perfect
model Of q Sunday school," but those
in charge of it say that it is more
like an experiment station i'm religious
instruction than an absolutely perfect
model Of a Sunday-school They call
it the Union School of Religion and
would prefer to have other people do
the same, but model Sunday school,
is probably the name that will stick.
To the extent at least that the in
PRODUCTION of the latest methods of
Sunday school teaching can make this
one a model it certainly deserves the
name. 1t is very different from the
old fashioned kind In the first place
the entire staff is paid. Not very much,
to be sure, but everybody in supposed
asked to do it for nothing. There are
seventeen officers and teachers in the
scchool. Nine of them are professional
instructors in regular schools The
others are students and alumni Of
Union Theological Seminary.
The idea that anybody is fit to take
class in Sunday school has no place
here Neither has the theory that
teaching such a class consists in hear
ing the Golden Text, in propounding
the printed questions on the lesson
leaf and in perturbed pleas to indif,
ferent boys and girls to try and do
better next time.
When the children reach the semi
nary building they go up to a CORR
dor on the second floor where coat
racks are provided and where a ma
iron is in attendance. She helps the
little folks with their wraps and re-
mains there on duty until the last child
has put on his or her hat and coat and
goes home. The kindergarten class
goes from this corridor directly to its
own room The other children form
lin procession at 1925 and march
/ through the halls to the chapel, sing
ing 7 procession hymn as they enter.
There is twenty minute service
here, consisting simply of hymns,
prayer and Scripture reading. Then
the occasional is sung as the school
marches out and the classes dispense
to their own rooms. There is no re-
assembling at the end of the forty-five
minute period which follows, and
which is spent entirely in class work.
The opening service is purely religi-
Gus and is the only time when the
school meets together as a whole. This,
of course, is the method in ordinary
day schools.
The course of instruction is ar
ranged at present to cover thirteen
years or more, depending on the
length of time spent in the kinder
garten-although only one year is now
allowed for that as for each of the
succeeding grades. The child is sup
posed to enter school at the age OF
five After Kindergarten come the
eight grades corresponding to those il
the public schools. Then follow the
usual four high school years.
AT present there are classes in The
Kindergarten, in each of the eight
Sgrades and in the first year of the
high school. AS the upper classes are
fed from the lower ones, and the
school has not been in existence very
long, the last three years of higl
school are still missing; but each en-
suing year will supply one until thu
number is complete. The school wa
originally held at Teachers College
But when the theological seminar,
moved up to that neighborhood in 1911
the Sunday school was taken unde
the wing of its department of religion
instruction.
The number of pupils received i
limited. There are now eighty boy
and lightweight girls enrolled. Al
except the upper grades are full an
there is a waiting list of about forty
The children come from families Twin
in that locality which not happen t
be very well supplied with churches
Twelve denominations are represente
by the parents of the pupils, and sew
, raj by the teachers in the school. Tn
? course of instruction is entirely unset
j. tartan and permits considerable FREE
dom of Interpretation of the indiY
dual teachers, the chief requiremer
being that when they attempt any sue
= Interpretation they shall explain thf
they are giving merely their own pc
sonal opinions.
In the class rooms the chairs an
tables are graded in height and tn
rooms have blackboards as we'll a
when needed, wall maps, relief map
sand table and stereoscopic material