Growth of Sunday Schools and Religious Training

Need of Manual Training in Schools — Incidental Reference to Athletics — New Methods of Teaching in Sunday Schools

It was with more than ordinary interest and pleasure, my brethren and sisters, that I listened to the remarks of President Smith yesterday morning, perhaps for the reason that I felt for some time the great necessity of instructions being given on many of the points on which he touched. One thing particularly impressed me, and that was the necessity of more encouragement being given to the teaching of manual training in our schools. I well remember when President Brigham Young established our Church schools, how strong was his wish that these things should be encouraged and this department taught in the institutions of which he then laid the foundation; and I have always regretted that more attention has not been given to this department in these schools. We all know what a very practical man President Young was; how essential he felt it was that we as a people should be self-sustaining. In his day our territory was full of the best of mechanics, who had gathered from various portions of the earth. It was well known that in no part of the United States were there better handicraftsmen and artisans than in Utah. The work done in those times still stands as a monument of how well they could accomplish their purposes. But today, unfortunately, it is not altogether so. Our rising generation, born in the midst of these valleys, apparently does not turn naturally in this direction. Although we have increased in numbers, we have not developed in these conditions; in fact, we are not so well off as we were a quarter of a century ago or more. One remedy for this evil is that those who direct the feelings and thoughts of this people should impress upon the youth the necessity of learning trades, by which the community can be built up, and not so many turn in the direction of what are called the learned professions. We cannot have a prosperous community if it is overweighted and top-heavy with so many inclined in one direction, and the arts and industries which lie at the foundation of all progressive and successful communities are neglected or trifled with. Therefore, feeling the necessity of our people being impressed with these truths, I was exceedingly pleased to hear our President talk as he did yesterday morning. I will acknowledge that I have felt that some of our institutions of learning paid more attention to athletics — to basketball and such games — and thought more of the credit they received by overcoming their competitors in that line, than they did of training the young men placed in their care in those things that will make them most useful. Of course, we are told that athletics are necessary. I admit that. But the argument appears to me to be essentially weak when applied to ball games and games of a like description, when we recollect that those engaged in them are the strongest, the healthiest and the best developed students in the institution, and that those who are not so well developed, and who need the training to strengthen them, if any do, are the ones that stand around, applaud, clap their hands and yell themselves hoarse when their representatives play a good game, or secure a victory. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that in developing the muscles and the vitality of our people a little change from athletics to manual training will be a great advantage to this community. ¶

As a number of the presidents of stakes have reported their stakes, I wish to say a few words with regard to our Sunday schools, as I am one of the assistants to President Joseph F. Smith in the general superintendency. I wish to report that as a general thing the schools are progressing satisfactorily. During the past year we have made a marked change in our methods and in the conduct of our schools by introducing a uniform plan of study in all the schools, so that any pupil going from one school to another can continue in the new school the same series of lessons that he studied in the school which he has just left. There has been a complaint that in our Sunday schools some of the children have received a one-sided education, having studied but from one or two of our sacred books during the whole time they have been in school. Some have been confined to the Bible, others to the Book of Mormon, others to Church history, others to the Articles of Faith. This has not been intentional, but it has been for the want of a detailed, progressive outline of study. This the General Board has endeavored to obviate by the "Outlines" which have lately been published. At this time any child who continues in the Sunday school through the entire course will have had every phase of religious history and doctrine desirable to be learned presented to him by the time he has passed through the various departments. He will commence with the kindergarten, where he will be taught in the story form; then up through the primary, the intermediates and the theological, until he will become acquainted with the history of the Church, with the doctrines of the Gospel, with the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and their contents. While no book, sacred though it be, is made the especial object of study, that which is taught in all the departments is intended to increase the faith of the child in the Gospel of the Son of God and in love for Him. When the pupil has passed through all the departments he will go out with a well-rounded understanding of the dealings of the Lord with His people in this and in past dispensations. This has been our object in preparing the "Outlines;" and though occasionally we hear a word of fault found that we are adhering too closely to the mere historical record, yet I wish to say, as one of the representatives of the Sunday schools, that that is not our intention. Our intention is, first, and before all other things, to implant in the hearts of the children a love for God and for His holy cause, a reverence for all sacred things, and to develop within them a testimony of the truth of the great work of the latter days. I would exhort the teachers in this great cause to remember that all other considerations are secondary. While we give the historical portion a prominent place, yet that is simply intended to lead the mind and feelings of the child in the direction of the great truths that God has revealed, and we desire to make all teaching subservient to this end and intent. ¶

I cannot this morning give you any figures with regard to the increase of our schools, or of our attendance, because we have lacked some of the statistical reports. And this teaches us a lesson of how dependent the whole people are upon individual effort. If the lack of one report causes the whole report of the Church or of the schools to be incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable, it shows how necessary it is that those who have the clerical work of the Church to do, whether in the wards and stakes or in the auxiliary organizations, should be correct and prompt; for statistics of any kind, if not exact and truthful, are worse than worthless, because they are misleading, and they give wrong ideas regarding existing conditions and what is being done. But I find — as I have much to do with these things in my daily duties — that the reports which are sent in, both by the school officers and the stake officers, often come in a most undesirable condition. We receive reports occasionally that are unsigned, undated, and unnamed, and we have to guess whence they come from the little information that is recorded. Think of a report without any signature, without any date, without any name, and you can see how difficult it is to make up general reports. Then they are occasionally sent in just a day or two before the general report is required, when they ought to be in at least a month before, and two months would be better, so that they could be properly tabulated, examined, and the results understood. ¶

Altogether, as far as the Sunday schools are concerned, we feel that we have great cause for encouragement, and with succeeding years they are doing more and more good in the establishment of righteousness and in the confirming of the faith of God's people. ¶

God bless you. Amen. ¶