Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

July, 1924 PICTURED LIFE FOR HOME, SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY 199 The Growth of Vacation Bible Schools By Amy Stodola THE Christian Inter-Denominational Bible School movement has grown to tremendous proportions since its inception. It is inaugurating its 1924 season with fresh enthusiasm. The institution had a double foundation, starting twenty years ago under the guidance of Robert G. Boville, who worked in New York City, and R. H. Vaughn, who organized his school in Truax Prairie, Wisconsin. The two men proceeded with similar endeavcr, though working details varied. The problems of the Sunday School, of the idle church, and of the practical use of the vacation period were pooled, and the solution was sought in the Vacation Bible School. This solution proved so . successful that the organization has increased in numbers each year, and has become a valuable constructive influence in community life. The schools gradually grew until statistics of the year 1921 show an attendance of 275,000 children. The Inter Denominational Council which supports the schools in Cook County maintained as many as 250 of these schools in the city of Chicago alone, last year. "That the work is of great significance in the field of the Sunday School is very evident," says Reverend S. A. McCollam, General Secretary of the Chicago Sunday School Association. "Besides the splendid inter-denominational cooperation in the running of the schools, the ranks of the Sunday Schools themselves are swelled by the addition of children who join the summer Bible activities. Manyare reached in this way who are never reached by the Sunday School. "Then, too, it keeps the children off the streets. And in the interest of society, it steadily feeds the flame of patriotism, because every single day, as a part of the regular routine, the child salutes the flag and pronounces the pledge to his country." The InterDenominational Council employs and trains teachers, placing one paid director over every organized school. It buys material and distributes it from the common store-house. A typical Vacation Bible School Day is as follows : School opens at nine o'clock. Fifteen minutes of worship. The kindergarten retires to carry on its highly specialized work. Talks are given, or stories related on the subjects of health and patriotism, and Bible memory work is recited. A musical period which employs songs and calesthenics. Dramatizations of Bible stories, pageants, or stereopticon slides. Manual work and play. Basket work, sewing, modeling, hammock making, and all varieties of Bible handiwork. Work for children's hospitals, Red Cross, etc. Closing exercises follow, with the salute to the flag. The recessional march. Afternoons are frequently spent in organized games, picnics, or a conference of workers. "The Vacation Bible School supports a high standard of helpfulness to others," said Reverend McCollam. "In a community where I was pastor, out of the 150 children in our school we had fourteen different nationalities. The cosmopolitan grip which these schools have on the community cannot be overestimated." For Better Schools WE IN the United States count our schools the best in the world. Yet there is room for improvement as long as there are illiterates or poorly educated folks among our citizenry. Experience has shown us that widespread good results in educational improvement are obtained only through organized effort under experienced and careful management. During the last few months there has been perfected an organization of this character for the specific purposes of arousing the interest of citizens generally in the educational preparation of the child for his life work, and of devising and putting into operation practical improvements. The Better Schools League claims three fundamental principles : First: It is the fundamental right of every American child to have an equal opportunity for maximum self development through education. Second: It is the individual responsibility of the citizen of today to the citizen of tomorrow to maintain education so that as the child develops into manhood he becomes a public asset, and not a public liability. Third: It is necessary to make practical the altruistic ideals embodied in the statements preceding, thereby creating in the minds of our citizenship a greater appreciation of the layman's responsibility toward education. The headquarters of the League are in the Monadnock Building in Chicago. Dr. J. W. McClinton, a trained business man and experienced school executive, is the managing director. Jimmie was watching a man with muscles sticking out all over his body demonstrating a new kind of exercising device in a store window. "O-o-o, lookut, mother !" he gasped. "He's got mumps all over him." The Only Thing Possible Book Agent : "Now here is a wonderful book' entitled, 'How I Farmed for Profit.' " Farmer Bitters : "I ain't got no time to read no fiction whatever."