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the glee club, etc., that equally require federation for their best results.

Let us inquire what has already been done in the direction of the federation of church work among the class of boys that attend Sunday schools. I believe the most important work that has been done in this direction can be divided into the following classes, -i. e.:

I. Denominational federation, including the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip.

2. The various Junior Christian Endeavor Societies of the different evangelical churches.

3. The various Junior Epworth Leagues of the Methodist Episcopal and other churches.

4.

The Knights of St. Arthur of the different evangelical churches. 5. The companies of the Boys' Brigades of the different evangelical churches.

6. The Total Abstinence Beneficial Associations of the Roman Catholic churches.

7. The Boys' Department of the Young Men's Christian Association. I do not think that any marked federation has been as yet accomplished in this work, and I believe that such federation would be a great improvement.

8. The Boys' Brotherhood of Philadelphia, that is now in operation in some form or other in different parts of this country.

I believe, however, that the work of all these organizations would be greatly improved if it were brought into closer contact with the church, so as to permit, in the carrying on of the work, its direction by some representative of the different churches represented in the membership.

THE BROOKLYN CHURCH ATHLETIC LEAGUE

GEORGE J. FISHER, M. D.

PHYSICAL DIRECTOR CENTRAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION,

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

The great question in the Sunday school seems to be, "How can we keep these boys interested?" In order to be effective in boys' work, the Sunday school must reach him during the week. If it can have something to do with his games, in which he is tremendously enthusiastic, it will put the church in a right relation with the boy, and he will become interested in church work.

The Sunday school should not be, as some one has said, "a society for sitting still," for boys were not made to sit still. They have their energy to expend, and are bound to use it either for good or evil.

Boys' clubs and societies have been formed by the churches to guide this energy in the right direction, and while some of these have been successful, others have fallen short of what they felt they should have accomplished. Why? Because the men behind the movement, as a rule, have not had the experience. It was from no fault of theirs, for they had not had the opportunity to derive the necessary knowledge.

The churches in Brooklyn that had felt the need of assistance appealed to the Young Men's Christian Association, from time to time, to furnish trained men to take charge of gymnastic and calisthenic classes.

This demand grew so great, that it was thought wise to form an organization that would bind all of the Sunday schools together for their mutual benefit. The superintendents were called in conference to map out a plan whereby their needs could best be met, and the outcome of this conference was the organization of the Sunday School Athletic League of Brooklyn.

To quote from the constitution: "The object of the league shall be: 1. To work for the betterment and the enlargement of the Sunday schools in Brooklyn, by developing character through athletic contests, and by making Sunday school attendance a condition of membership. 2. To maintain a high standard of honesty, courtesy, and manliness in athletic sports. 3. To establish scientific physical training in the Sunday schools. 4. To secure and maintain a genuine amateur basis in Sunday school sport. 5. To institute, regulate, and govern inter-Sunday school gymnastic and athletic meets.

The league had for its organizer Dr. George J. Fisher, physical director of the Central Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association of Brooklyn, a man peculiarly adapted, through his experience with boys and gymnasium work, to pilot such an organization. It has been through his knowledge and untiring work that the organization has been brought to the position that it now holds, and all credit is due to his enthusiasm.

The first step was the formation of various sections, representing the different phases of athletic sports and superintended by specialists. For illustration, the league has sections on calisthenics and gymnastics, bowling, basket-ball, baseball, aquatics, track and field sports. Each of these is under the charge of a committee composed of men who are experts on the subject.

The gymnastic committee has formulated a set of calisthenic and dumb-bell drill exercises for use of the Sunday schools, so that all will be working on identical lines. This same committee has provided a set of standard tests for each group of boys between certain ages, as follows:

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Every boy passing these tests, that are made at a stated time, receives a bronze button with the insignia of the league embossed upon it.

Before being allowed to compete in any meet, the scholar must first file a statement with the secretary that he is an amateur. His registration blank must be indorsed by the pastor and superintendent of the Sunday School affirming regular membership and attendance at school for four consecutive Sundays before registration is applied for. A certificate from a physician is also required, stating that the applicant is physically able to engage in competition. If a scholar desires to

change schools, he cannot represent the school he has last entered, without first obtaining a written release from his former superintendent.

We have supplied officers for the local athletic meets, have organized basket-ball and bowling tournaments and have furnished twelve men to various Sunday schools as teachers of gymnastics and managers of boys' clubs. Some of these are paid, some have no remuneration. It has been found that a large number who had already drifted from the Sunday school have now returned to resume their membership, so that they may be entitled to the privilege of the athletic league. The form of registration has enabled the league to carry on all the athletic work on a clean sport basis.

DISCUSSION

MR. E. STAGG WHITIN

SPEYER SCHOOL SETTLEMENT, NEW YORK CITY

Let me outline, in a word, the evolution of the tendency which has brought about our boy problem. Here in the birth place of freedom and the schools, I need not emphasize the early growth of either, save to note that both went hand in hand until the great industrial development. By leaps and bounds our nation has strode into the industrial arena, our education has followed fast, yet not hand in hand, as it should have done. To-day, educators, as well as social workers, admit that there is a lack of harmony. In the old Puritan days, the education, which, in the old country, had been given to but a few, was given the many, and it served well our democratic purpose. But under the complex condition of to-day, this type of education, developed even as much as it has been, has proved inadequate. For some years now, we have been blind to this truth, and have sought to correct the evils resulting from this lack of harmony, instead of correcting our education. We have sought to establish, not for the criminal, but for the normal healthy American boy, corrective organizations to correct what education should have prevented. By degrees, these corrective forces - Boys' Clubs, Settlements, Young Men's Christian Associations, etc., which have sought to supplement the home, the school, and the church, have gradually been changing, and in all of them, whatever their policy may be, the final justification of their existence is that they are educational. Along with this change of our corrective work to more preventive and educational lines has come the newer social philosophy into the school itself, and this is gradually tending, by slow degrees, to modify the spirit and the work of the school to meet the needs that we workers with boys are pointing out.

So it is that what this new education, is bringing about in the schools is of vital interest to those of us who are engaged in these kindred fields. The newer aim of education, that of adopting the child to his social environment, together with that theory of interest which the boy worker has used, and which the pedagogue now is just working out - these two principles have tended to make a radical change in education. The need to-day is the application of these theories to the practice in our schools. A good many attempts have been made, and the crude results can be seen. These theories were behind John Dewey in his work at Chicago, and are the justification for the school extension as we see it in our great cities to-day. But as yet it is only by the quiet movement, guided by investigation, which is being carried on by the universities and normal schools, that the gradual school expansion is coming about. At Speyer School we are in the throes of it. We are commencing, with the child as a unit, to study through psychology the needs of his inner nature, and through sociological methods we are obtaining a correct appreciation of his social environments and needs. This study tends to point out a need for a more social organization of the class, limited, maybe, to the definite neighborhood, under a teacher, who is a neighborhood visitor, and with an atmosphere of freedom and spontaneity in the method of recitation which develops the power to reason and to do. An entirely new idea of what study should be is coming into our school classes. With the emphasis on this social value of study comes the need of not only many eliminations in the elementary school curriculum, but also some additions and many changes. The study of the environment and neighborhood conditions of the respective schools will lead to more definite functioning of this work. Even the equipment of the schoolroom is brought into question, and the old desks which the university, the trade school, and the normal school have long since discarded are destined to take their leave. Not only are our schoolrooms warmed by pictures and flower-boxes, but an air of cheer and brightness is given them by the covering of blackboards and the use of a few draperies.

Education in its restricted sense has for some time grappled with the problem of the boy under fourteen years of age out of school hours. It naturally will control his work in school, and in the afternoon club of which he is a member. The thoughtful teacher, in the newer type of school, can solve the problem of the boy of this age equally well with ourselves. But in dealing with the boy beyond the fourteenth year, if we omit the very few and abnormally bright boys who go to high school, the pedagogue has little experience. What is to be done for

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