Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 228, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1916 — “KNIT TO FIT” WAS A FINE ADDRESS [ARTICLE]

“KNIT TO FIT” WAS A FINE ADDRESS

Address By Geo. N. Bunlie Before Jasper County Sunday School Association. A practical discussion of the needs of the pupils of all ages in the Sunday school was given Thursday afternoon at the first session of the annual Sunday school convention by State Superintendent Geo. Burnie, of Indianapolis. Using as the title of his talk the catchy phrase “Knit to Fit,” he pro- ■ -ceded to state the needs of the individual fj - oni childhood to maturity, and to emphasize the importance of the teachers knowing the predominating characteristic of each stage of child growth and fitting the teaching methods ‘to particular need of each stage. As an introduction and illustration, the speaker noted the fact that in early life as he observed his mothei knitting he noticed that she not only knit to construct an article, but when she called him and tried the article on, that he was made aware of the fact that it was made especially to fit him. The people of the state spend annually thirty millions of dollars to fit their bodily needs. They spend much in addition to fit their intellectual needs and it is only logical to .conclude that we should make a greater effort to fit our spiritual needs, which Is the great task for the Ctiurch. The teacher who fails to study the needs of his class ignores God’s plans, for he has created human beings in such a way that only by_ fitting our teaching methods to their needs at each stage of their, development can tjiey become what he intended. The teachers of. classes of beginners were told that at this period the child is passionately fond of stories and that the story told is much more effective than the story read and on this account the graded' lessons are far superior to the uniform lessons as they are made up entirely of appropriate stories shownig the love and care of God for his own creations. The primary teacher was informed that her pupils in addition to possess-, ing the characteristics above noted, loved to dramatizje—what he knows. Play in all infant life serves to prepare the individual to live. No two animals engage in the same kind of play, but each plays in a way that will best fit it to fill its future place in the world. —Children are no exception ami when they hear a story they love to play the various characters in it. When they are told the story of the good shepherd who went far to find the one sheep that had strayed from the fold, they will be greatly impressed if they are allowed to play . hat they are sheep in a fold and the one who strays away is rescued by the teacher impersonating the Good Shepherd. The teachers of both these grades must cultivate the art of story telling. The mother, too, has an opportunity to implant lasting impressions on the plastic mind of her little ones by using the bedtime hour for story telling. Two books that were recommended for this purpose were “How to Tell Stories,” by Miss Bryant, and cries and Story Telling,” by E. P. St. John. . The junior age is the period when the child is a hero worshiper and biography appeals to him. It is therefore the age when the great characters of the Bible make their strongest appeal. The intermediate student is forming opinions that will stay with him through life and this is the great decisive time. Eighty per cent of.those who belong to the church have joined at this period of their life. The teacher of this and the senior classes have a great opportunity to help the pupils of these ages to make ngnt decisions. » Teachers of adult calsses suffer tor the neglect of their predecessors. Their classed often have not formed habits of study, and often refuse to use their “thinkers.” The method employed must depend on the type of teacher. Every Sabbath school teacher m the county should have heard this splendid exposition of the most urgent need of the.present day Sunday ' school, namely, the need of better qualified teachers. While there are many well trained teachers m the Sunday schools of the county, there are many others who have had no special training for this very important work and who are making no effort to acquire such a training on this account much of the work is me - fective and frequently harmful. Let us see to it then that the work we do “fits.” '