ools? Why should we not ignore tradition, prejudice,
and personal preference, where these are in the way, and _let the needs
of the child decide_? Why should thousands of church schools to-day be
using the Uniform Lessons?

Some use them because they are cheaper; others because they always have
used them and do not like the trouble and disarrangement of a change;
others because of the doubtful theory of the inspiration that comes from
having all the members of the family studying the same lesson at the
same time (we do not expect all the family to read or study the same
material in other lines); and perhaps others because they have not been
accustomed to thinking of religious education following the same
principles and laws as other education. But whatever the explanation of
the use of the Uniform Lessons in our church schools in the past, let
us now see to it that they give way to better material. Let us not be
satisfied, even, when the ungraded uniform lessons are "improved"; they
should not be improved, but discarded.

Graded lessons.--A large and increasing number of our best church
schools are now using some form of graded lesson material based on the
topics supplied by the International Lesson Committee. Each great
denomination has its own lesson writers, who take these topics and
elaborate them into the graded lessons such as we know in the Berean
Series, the Keystone Series, the Pilgrim Series, the Westminster Series,
etc. All such lesson material, which seeks to adapt the material to the
needs of the child as he progresses year by year from infancy to
adulthood, is infinitely superior to any form of ungraded material. It
is easier and more interesting for the child to learn, less difficult
for the teacher to present; and its value in guiding spiritual
development immeasurably greater.

Some form of closely _graded lessons_ is the only kind of material which
should be used in our church schools; the children have the same need
and the same right to material graded and prepared to meet their
understanding in religion as in language or in science. But when we
employ graded lessons we must make sure that _the child, and not the
subject matter; is the basis of the grading_. We must make certain that
the writer of the lessons knows the mental grasp, the type of interests,
the characteristic attitudes, and the social activities of the child at
the different stages, and then arranges the material to meet these
needs