here should generally be a change of
teachers. At the period of change from Primary to Intermediate, from
Intermediate to Junior, from Junior to Senior, the pupil should come
under the care of a new teacher. If teachers are advanced with their
scholars the entire system of gradation will be broken up, and the
school will be graded in name only.

A fourth essential element is that of stated and simultaneous transfers.
The pupils should not be changed from class to class or from grade to
grade whenever the superintendent thinks a change should be made. All
the promotions should be made at once throughout the school. A
"promotion Sunday" should be observed, and provided for long in advance.
For three months preparations should be made, the superintendent and
teachers should consult, a committee should consider every case, and the
changes should be made deliberately and systematically. On one Sunday in
the year pupils should be promoted from department to department, and
classes should be advanced from grade to grade in the several
departments. The basis of promotion should be age, knowledge, and
general maturity of character, and the authorities of the school should
decide just how much weight should be given to each requirement.

The above are all the elements that we consider essential; but there are
also two adjuncts of Importance in the graded school.

One is that of a graded supplemental lesson for each department. Some
regard this as an essential, and consider no Sunday school properly a
graded school without it. We regard it as important, but do not look
upon it as one of the necessary features. There is need of a
supplemental lesson; it will greatly aid in making the Sunday school
efficient, and it should be adapted to the various grades. But the
supplemental lesson, valuable as it is, we do not regard as one of the
essential features of the graded system.

Another is that of the annual examination. There are a few Sunday
schools which require the pupil to pass an examination as the condition
of promotion. This follows the analogy of the public school; but in our
judgment it is not an essential part of the graded system. The
examination in the Sunday school must of necessity be a very easy one,
since it is upon lessons studied but little at home and given for a few
minutes only once a week. It is apt to be a mere form, and sometimes is
only a pretense. While we recommend examinations we believe that they
should