The writer had a unique experience in his boyhood.  His folks were members and officers of a church where long doctrinal sermons were the rule.  These had little interest for the growing boy, but parental persuasion kept him in the pew for hours at a stretch.  The boy, under these circumstances, had to do something in self-preservation, so he spent the long hours in reading the Bible.  The stories of the Patriarchs, the Judges, the Kings, and the Acts were his peculiar delight.  The sermon period ceased to be tiresome and often was not long enough.  He never read Leviticus, or the Prophets, or the Gospels, or the Epistles, however.  They had no meaning for him.  As well as he can now remember, between his ninth and twelfth years, his favorite Scripture was the Patriarchs and Judges.  Between his twelfth and sixteenth years he was passionately fond of the Kings and the Acts.  After that he began to feel interested in the Gospels.  He was pretty well grown up before he cared either for the Prophets or the Epistles; they were too abstract for him.

The writer’s experience corresponds fairly well with the growing modern usage in Bible study with boys.  The philosophy underlying Graded Bible Study is merely to meet the present spiritual needs, as indexed by the characteristics of the period of his development.

At present there are many schemes of Graded Bible Study for boys on the market.  Some of it has been prepared to meet a theory of religious education.  The University of Chicago Series of textbooks and the Bible Study Union (Blakeslee) Lessons are examples of this trend.  Both of them are exceptionally good.  Other courses have sprung up, being written and used among boys here and there, and later worked together into a Bible study scheme.  The Boys’ Bible Study Courses of the Young Men’s Christian Association are recognized as such.  Then there is the present system of Graded Bible Study of the International Sunday School Association.  Fifteen complete years of Graded Bible Study, from the fourth to the eighteenth year, may now be used in the Sunday school.  Great care has been exercised in the selection of the material with the aim of fixing definite ideals of Christian life and service.  These courses are divided as follows: 

=Possible Present Use of the Graded Lessons=

=Departments Years Courses of Study=

Beginners         | Four     |
| Five     |     A Unit of two years.

| Six      |
Primary           | Seven    |     A Unit of three years.
| Eight    |

| Nine     |     Lower--A Unit of two
| Ten      |            years. 
Junior            |
| Eleven   |     Upper--A Unit of two
| Twelve   |            years.

| Thirteen |     Lower--A Unit of two
| Fourteen |            years. 
Intermediate      |
| Fifteen  |     Upper--A Unit of two
| Sixteen  |            years.

| Seventeen      A Unit of one year.
|
Senior            | Eighteen |     A Unit of two years.
| Nineteen |
|
| Twenty

Lesson Committee Leaflet No. 2,
International Sunday School Association.