Some Suggestions for Providing Facilities for Our Church Schools
By Carrie R. Moon
THE importance of the work of the elementary school can hardly be overestimated. It is impossible for a teacher to do the work as it should be done without facilities with which to work. When we visit a well-equipped public school and see how everything that is needed to illustrate the lessons is provided, it makes us feel that we must find some way to provide the necessary helps for our schoolrooms. In most cases our schools are conducted only at great personal sacrifice by members of the church. It is often almost impossible to raise money enough to pay the meager salary of the teacher and to provide fuel to warm the room. Then, although the patrons of the school may become deeply interested, it is often a difficult problem how to obtain the means to provide the necessary equipment for a good school. I shall mention only a few ways that have been successfully tried. One church whose members felt that they could not possibly support a school, was so fortunate as to have among its members a woman who believed the maxim, “Where there's a will, there's a way.” Although she was not a mother, she felt a deep interest in all the children of the church, and she had the energy and ingenuity needed in that place. Being the treasurer of the board, she had an opportunity to know just how much “push” is required to carry the financial end of the school. Monthly pledges were obtained as far as possible, then she invented other means of adding to the school funds. She organized a sewing society, which pieced quilts and made various articles for use in the home. She solicited clothing from well-to-do people of the city, and some pieces of furniture were also given. These were sold. About sixty dollars was cleared for the benefit of the school. Another church organized a sewing society, the children of the school turned their manual training into useful lines, both the children and the mothers making hand bags, iron-holders, pincushions, raffia work, etc. These articles were put on display, a price being attached to each, and once a month a sale was held. The sisters of the church contributed good hygienic food, and there was no trouble in selling everything for a good price to those who preferred to buy such articles rather than to make them. A school established in the city of Washington, D. C., in the early days of church school work, demonstrated what can be done by the students themselves. Two of the older girls in the school led out in the work of artistic sewing. They made sofa pillows, tidies, dresser scarfs, centerpieces, and many other articles for home decoration. They went from house to house, showing their work and taking orders. In this way they cleared $125 for the school, besides developing in themselves a spirit of independence and a feeling of personal responsibility for the success of the school. A rather unique plan was devised by a woman living in the country. She called in the boys of the school to help her, and together they started a soap industry. They made soft soap of a superior quality, and sold it to the neighbors, thus securing their permanent patronage. In one day they could make ten or twelve dollars' worth of soap. The boys felt very proud of their business, and took a great interest in thus providing money to carry on the school. It was their school, and they did not need disciplinary rules to keep them from doing anything that would hinder the work of the teacher. A woman living near a large factory, where many young women were forced to eat cold lunches, won their gratitude, and at the same time obtained the much-longed-for means to assist the church school, by providing hot, nourishing soup at the noon hour, for a small price, which they were glad to pay. We must not fail to mention the help which the children are so glad to give in selling magazines and papers. This is a good experience for them if their work is carefully directed by the teacher or by some older person; but great care should be exercised that the children do not receive harm by being sent out alone on the streets. Children will find many ways to help when a wise teacher has aroused their enthusiasm by making them see the needs of the school. Instead of calling for a large sum to be raised, it is better to divide it into small sums. For instance, if a teacher having forty pupils wishes to raise ten dollars for a set of maps, she can say, “If each one of the children will earn twenty-five cents, we can get a nice set of maps.” This sounds much easier to the children than to tell them that the maps will cost ten dollars. The teacher who loves her work will find many ways by which she can enlist the help of the parents and the children in making the schoolroom a place where the children will delight to stay, and where the work can be done in a way that will be pleasing to the Great Teacher, who loves the children, and has given to us such wonderful examples of the right methods of teaching.