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THE LIBRARY

The Ontario Institute

for Studies in Education

Toronto, Canada

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EDUCATIONAL
REVIEW;

PUBLISHED MONTHLY

Except July and August

VOLUME XX

JUNE— DECEMBER
1900

RAHWAY, N. J., AND NEW YORK

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY

Paris : F. Alcan Berlin : Mayer & MOller

London : J. M. Dent & Co.

Chicago : A. W. Mumford, 203 Michigan Avenue

1900

EDITOR
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER

2^ C €> S <g

THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS,
RAHWAY, N. J.

/37 0

INDEX

The nam :s of contributors are printed in small capitals ; subjects treated, »n ordinary type ; titles-
of books reviewed, in Italics.

Agricultural education, Newer ideas

in, 377

Alcohol physiology and school super-
intendence, I

American education at the Paris ex-
position, 424, 499

American history in England and
America, 184

Annual upheaval, The, 209

Atwater W. O.— Alcohol physi-
ology and school superintendence,
I

Bailey, L. H. — Newer ideas in
agricultural education, 377

Bergen, Joseph Y. — Abbott's (A.
E.) The hygiene of transmissible
diseases, 194

Better city school administration, 61

Big red schoolhouse. The, 259

BoYNTON, F. D. — A six-year high-
school course, 515

Brown, Elmer, E. — German higher
schools, 405

BucHNER, Edward F. — Welton's
(J.) The logical bases of education,
191

BuTLER, Nicholas Murray.— The
Quincy movement, 80

California State text-book system, The,

44
Canfield, James H. — Wanted — a

teacher, 433
Captivi of Plautiis, The, 421
Chamberlain, A. F. — Recent Ital-
ian educational literature, 278
Chandler's (Frank Wadleigh) Ro-

mances of roguery, 309
Charleston meeting, The, 205
Chapin, a. C. — Examinations, 519
Chrisman, Oscar. — Shinn's (Milli-
cent Washburn) Notes on the de-
velopment of a child, 192
City school administration. Better, 61
Clapp, Roger.— The Cuban teach-
ers at Harvard, 2^0

Cleveland case. The, 212

Clews, Elsie W.— Field work in
teaching sociology, 159

College entrance examination board
for the Middle States and Mary-
land, 102, 535

College entrance requirements in
English, The report on, 289

College president. Limitations of the
power of the, 444

Conference of Catholic colleges, 95

Course, A six-year high-school, 515

Cuban teachers at Harvard, The, 230^
322

Davidson, Thomas, 511

Davidson, Thomas. — Education as
world-building, 325 ; History of
education, 522

Declaration of principles, National
Educational Association, 206

DeGarmo, Charles. — Tarr's-
(Ralph S.) and McMurry's (Frank
M.) The Tarr-McMurry Geog-
raphies, 313

Degree, A proposed new honorary^
423, 532

Democracy and education in England^
271

DeWeese, Truman A.— Better city
school administration, 61

Dewey's (John) The school and
society, 303

Discussions, 85, 184, 289, 414, 515

Dodge, Richard E. — Ward's
(Robert DeC.) Practical exer-
cises in elementary meteorology ^

315
Draper, Andrew S.— The ethics of

getting teachers and of getting

positions, 30
Dyke, Charles Bartlett. —

Schroeder's (Dr. Heinrich) Der

hoehere Lehr erst and in Preussen^

seine Arbeit u?id sein Lohn, 90 ;

fustitia regnorum fundameniumt,

Index.

Economics in secondary education,

152
Editorial, 95, 205, 319, 423, 532
Education as world-building, 325
Education at the Paris exposition.

International jury of elementary,

499

Education in England, Democracy
and, 271

Educatio7i in India, 190

Elementary education at the Paris ex-
position, International jury of, 499

Ely, Richard T. — Economics in
education, 152

England and America, American
history in, 184

Epoch-making school legislation for
New York city, 99

Ethics of getting teachers and of get-
ting positions, The, 30

Ethnic view of higher education, An,
346

Examinations, 519

Failures in the first year of the high
school, 463

Faulkner, Richard D. — The Cali-
fornia State text-book system, 44

Field, W. G. — Democracy and edu-
cation in England, 271

Field work in teaching sociology, 1 59

France, Training teachers in, 383

German higher schools, 405

Germany, Kindergarten and the state
in, 323

Getting positions. The ethics of get-
ting teachers and of, 30

Government of women students in
colleges and universities, 475

Grammar, Modern teaching of, 294

Green, James M.--The report on
normal schools, 72

Greenwood, James M.— School
reminiscences, 450

Groat, George G. — American his-
tory in America and England, 184

Harris, William T.— Relation of
women to the trades and profes-
sions, 217

Hastings' (C. S.) and Beach's (F. E.)
Text-book of getieral physics, $27

Herbart and Froebel, A synthesis of,
109

Higher education. An ethnic view of,
346

High-school course, A six-year, 575

High school. Failures in the first year

of the, 463
Honorary degree, A proposed new,

423. 532
Howe, Elizabeth M. — The big red

schoolhouse, 259
Howerth, I. W. — An ethnic view of

higher education, 346
HuLiNG, Ray Greene. — Failures in

the first year of the high school, 463
Hull, Lawrence C. — Private

schools for boys, 365
Hygiene of transmissible diseases.

The, 194

In San Francisco, 320, 536
International geography. The, 419
International jury of elementary edu-
cation at the Paris exposition, 499
Italian educational literature. Recent,
278

Jackman, Wilbur S.— Professor

Miinsterberg on school reform, 85
Jones, Richard. — Chandler's

(Frank Wadleigh) Romances of

roguery, 309
Jones, Richard.— Underbill's (John

Garrett) Spanish literature in the

England of the Tudor s, 310
Jury of elementary education at the

Paris exposition, The international,

499

Kellogg, George D. — Barber's
(Grove Ettinger) The Captivi of
Plautus, 421

Kindergarten and the state in Ger-
many, 323

Lang, S. E. — Modern teaching of
grammar, 294

Lee, Joseph.— Miinsterberg on the
new education, 123

Limitations of the power of the col-
lege president, 444

Locke, George H. — Chamberlain's
(William I.) Educatioji iri India,
190

Logical bases of education. The, 191

London school-board elections, 423

Milwaukee school system. The, 141
Modern teaching of grammar, 294
Modern wandering scholar, A, 571
Monroe. Paul. — Davidson's

(Thomas) History of education, 522;

Monroe's (W.S.) Cometiius and the

Index.

beginnings of educational reform,

525
MowRV, DuANE, — The Milwaukee

school system, 141
Miinsterberg on the new education,

123

New education, Miinsterberg on the,

123
New honorary degree, A proposed,

423. 532

Newer ideas in agricultural educa-
tion, 377

New York city. Epoch-making school
legislation for, 99

Normal schools. The report on, 72

Notes and news, 106, 212, 324, 427,

537
Notes on the developmejit of a child,

192
Notes on new books, 91, 195, 422,

529

Paris exposition, American education
at the, 424 ; International jury of
elementary education at the, 499

Power of the college president, Limi-
tations of the, 444

President, Limitations of the power
of the college, 444

Principals' reports on teachers, 252

Private schools for boys, 365

Private secondary school for girls.
The, 357

Professor Miinsterberg on school re-
form, 85

Proposed new honorary degree, 423,
532

Pund's (Dr. Otto) Algebra, 318

•Quincy movement. The, 80

Recent Italian educational literature,

278
Redway, Jacques W.— Mill's

(Hugh Robert) The international

geography, 419
Reform of secondary education in

Germany, 170
Reforms at the Scottish universities,

532
Relation of woman to the trades and

professions, 217
Reminiscences, School, 450
Report on college entrance require-
ments in English, 289
Report on normal schools. The, 72
Reports on teachers, Principals', 252

Reviews, 90, 190, 303, 419, 522
Rural school children at public ex-
pense. Transportation of, 241

Salmon, Lucy M.— Training teach-
ers in F' ranee, 383

Saunders, Louise S. B. — Govern-
ment of women students in colleges
and universities, 475 ; The private
secondary school for girls, 357

School board elections, London, 423

School legislation for New York city.
Epoch-making, 99

School reform. Professor Miinster-
berg on, 85

School reminiscences, 450

School superintendence. Alcohol
physiology and, i

Schroeder (Dr. Heinrich) Der hoehere
Lehrer stand in Preusse?t, seine
Arbeit und sein Lohn, 90 ; Justitia
regnorum fu7idamentum, 90

Scott, F. N. — The report on college
entrance requirements in English,
289

Scottish universities. Reforms at the,
532

Secondary education. Economics in,
152

Secondary education in Germany,
Reform of, 170

Secondary school for girls. The pri-
vate, 357

Seelye, L. Clark. — Limitations of
the power of the college president,

444

Shaw's (Edward R.), National ques-
tion book, 306

Shipman. Carolyn. — Teaching as
a profession : a protest, 414

Six-year high-school course. A, 515

Smith, Anna Tolman.— The inter-
national jury of elementary educa-
tion at the Paris exposition, 499

Smith, David Eugene.— Dr. Pund's
(Dr. Otto) Algebra, 318

Sociology, Field work in teaching,

Soldan, F. Louis.— Principals re-
ports on teachers, 252

Sutton, W. S.— Dewey's (John) The
school and society, 303

Synthesis of Herbart and Froebel, A,
109

Tarr's (Ralph S.) and McMurry's
(Frank M.) The Tarr-McMurry
Geographies, 313

Index.

Teacher, A, Wanted, 433

Teachers, Principals' reports on, 252

Teaching as a profession : a protest,
414

Text-book system, The California
State, 44

Trades and professions, Relation of
woman to, 217

Training teachers in France, 383

Transportation of rural school chil-
dren at public expense, 241

Underbill's (John Garrett) Spanish
literature in the England of the
Tudors, 309

Universities, Reforms at the Scottish,

532
Upham, a. a. — Transportation of

rural school children at public ex-
pense, 241

Van Liew, Charles C— Shaw's
(Edward R.) National question
book, 306

ViERECK, LUDWIG. — Reform of sec-
ondary education in Germany, 170

Wanted — A teacher, 433
Ward's (Robert DeC.) Practical ex-
ercises in eletnentary meteorology,

315
Washington situation, The, 319
Welton, James.— a synthesis of

Herbart and Froebel, 109
Women students in colleges and

universities, Government of, 475

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

JUNE, igoo
^6 A 3^.

ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTEND-
ENCE ^

In discussing the topic assigned to me on this program, I
understand it to be your wish that I consider especiaUy what
should be taught in our schools about alcohol in its physiologi-
cal relations. Allow me a word at the outset regarding the
more general scope of instruction in physiology. In planning
a course of study in this, as in any other subject, careful consid-
eration must be given to the several parts, in order that the
whole may be well considered and well balanced.

One thing I wish to urge is that we should tell our scholars
more about the economy of food and nutrition, and since phys-
iology already takes all the space there is for it in the curricu-
lum, I would suggest that some things now found in a good
many of the text-books be omitted, to make room for what
might be taught about the demands of our bodies for nourish-
ment, and how to supply them to the best advantage of health
and purse. This would make a more substantial foundation
for the special instruction about alcohol in itself. To make
room for this m the already crowded curriculum I would sug-
gest that some minor and more technical parts now taught
might be omitted.

In illustration of what might be taught about the laws of
nutrition, let me call your attention to the leaflets which are

^ An Address delivered before the Department of Sui)erintendence of the
National Educational Association at Chicago, 111., February 28, 1900.

2 Educational Review [June

furnished by the United States Department of Agriculture.
They will give you a hint of the purpose, plans, and some
of the actual results of a series of investigations v^hich
are being carried on in different parts of the United States
under the authority of Congress, for the purpose of learn-
ing more about the economy of food. Let me also call your
attention to these specimens, which are duplicates of those
in the food collection of the United States National Museum.
They illustrate the chemical composition of the human body
and of the foods which nourish it. From the leaflets you may
infer that already a large amount of information has been ob-
tained regarding the chemical composition, digestibility, and
nutritive values of our food materials, the ways in which they
nourish the body, the dietary habits of people of different
classes and regions, the more common errors in our food econ-
omy, and the ways in which w^e may select, prepare, and use
our foods so as to make our diet less costly, more palatable, and
more healthful. The Museum specimens suggest one of the
ways in w^hich some of these facts may be explained and thus
made most useful. The leaflets and specimens indicate some
of the many ways in which our government, in response to a
public demand, a demand which comes especially from teach-
ers, economists, and philanthropists, is gathering and dissemi-
nating knowledge of those things which require the most exact
research for their discovery and which, clearly discerned and
rightly taught, take hold on life, form the most useful part of
education, and can become sources of the truest inspiration.

When we consider that '' half the struggle for life is a
struggle for food," " half, or more than half, the earnings of
the wage-earner is spent for the nourishment of himself and
family," that not only a man's power to work l?ut also his
health are largely affected by his food, that some of 'our most
skilled hygienists are telling us that a large part of the disease
which embitters life and hastens death is due to avoidable
errors in diet, that more harm comes to the health of the com-
munity from erroneous habits of eating than from the habitual
use of alcoholic drink, that economists, philanthropists, and
divines are urging more and more earnestly the need of atten-

ipooj Alcohol physiology and superintendence 3

tion to such subjects, are we not justified in asking if a little
more room cannot be found for it in the school curriculum ?

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF ALCOHOL

I now come to the main division of my subject, — the phys-
iological action of alcohol, and what is and should be taught
regarding it.

The laws of nearly all our States, I believe, require that the
curriculums of public schools shall include physiology, with
special reference to the action of alcoholic beverages. Such
legislation would be impossible without a public sentiment back
of it. Whether or not this legislation has assumed the most
rational form, or whether the people at large understand ex-
actly its purpose and to what degree the hopes of its promoters
are being fulfilled, it is not my desire to discuss. The facts I
desire to urge are two : First, it is the law, and as such, our
duty as teachers is to obey it as long as it stays on the statute
books; second, there is a wide difference between the teaching
of this subject in many schools and in many text-books on the
one hand, and the teaching in the colleges, universities, and
medical schools, and by the leading physiologists of the world,
on the other. It is this most unfortunate disparity which I
ask you especially to consider. If the one body of doctrine is
right, the other is to a greater or less extent incorrect — as I
personally believe it is, — and you, as teachers, as school super-
intendents, as the leaders in our education, are interested to
know it. Here, as I understand it, is the reason for the title
which your secretary has given to my subject, '' Alcohol
physiology and superintendence."

If the alcohoi physiology now being taught in our public
schools as a branch of science is scientifically correct, then it
cannot be educationally or ethically wrong, and there is little
reason for my discussing the subject to-day. But if it does
not tally with the most reliable conclusions from scientific ob-
servation and experiment, if what is taught as truth is half
truth or partial untruth, if doubtful theories are set forth as
settled facts, if a rule of conduct is based upon an unsound
theory, if the attempt is made to improve the morals of the

4 Educational Review [June

men of the future by a wrong teaching of the boys of to-day,
that educational policy is educationally and ethically wrong,
and ought to be altered.

OPINIONS OF LEADING AUTHORITIES

The physiological action of alcohol is very complex, and
the views of physiologists generally regarding the different
details are naturally divergent. Let us take, for instance, the
much-discussed question as to whether alcohol is food or
poison.

First of all, we must have a clear understanding of what we
are talking about. A given substance taken into the body may
act in a variety of ways. Meat, beefsteak for instance, which
is universally called a food, supplies the body with material to
build up its tissues, repair its wastes, and furnish it with energy
in the form of heat to keep it warm and muscular power for
work. It also has an action upon the nervous system, which
is not yet fully explained, but may perhaps be called stimulative.
Taken in excess, it may be injurious; its action is then patho-
logical. Being thus injurious it might under these circum-
stances be called poisonous. Arsenic is sometimes taken as a
medicine, and as such is believed to be useful, tho we do not
know exactly how or why it is so. But arsenic has no value
whatever as nutriment, and therefore cannot be called in any
sense a food. In more than minute doses it is deleterious or
fatal. It is a true poison. There are certain vegetable products
which, fed to animals, supply nourishment, but at the same time
are injurious, so that they cannot be used for food. Chemists
have analyzed some such substances and found ingredients
which are nutritious and others which are injurious. That is
to say, some substances are clearly foods, some are clearly
poisons, some act in both ways. How% then, shall we class al-
cohol? What I shall attempt to show you is that the results
of the most valuable scientific research and the opinions
of the leading physiologists of the world unite in saying that
it may be either food or poison, or both, according to circum-
stances.

Alcohol is not like the meat or the seed, a complex material

iQoo] Alcohol physiology and super iiitendence 5

made up of different ingredients. It is a simple chemical sub-
stance. Nevertheless it has very different actions. A chemist
can analyze the seed and separate the parts which are nutritious
from those which are poisonous. But he cannot do this with
alcohol. When the physiologist experiments upon its action
he has to take it as a whole. This complicates the experiment-
ing and makes the interpretation of the results difficult.

When we come to consider the dietetic use of alcohol, how-
ever, we must take into account not only its direct value for
nutriment, but also its indirect action, as for instance, its effect
upon digestion. So likewise when we consider its pathological
effect, we must take into acount its indirect action upon the
nervous system. Indeed, if we are going to study the subject
at all thoroly we must recognize many subdivisions. Since we
cannot go into the details here, let me briefly summarize what
appear to me to be the views of leading physiologists of the
world.

What do the authorities say in answer to the question, Is
alcohol food? Of course the answer depends first of all upon
the definition of food. But people may properly differ as to
the definition, and it is not worth while to quibble about what
may be left to the dictionaries. Let us then go back of this
and ask, What do the specialists say as to its nutritive effect?

If we study the views held by the physiologists and pharma-
cologists in this country and in Europe, who are regarded by
their fellow specialists as best qualified to speak with authority,
we may perhaps divide them into three groups. At one ex-
treme would be a^ small group who take ground, more or less
strongly, against any dietetic use or value of alcohol, but even
this group would generally admit, I think, the absence of proof
that alcohol does not supply the body with nutriment. There is
a second group who are inclined to favor the moderate dietetic
use of alcohol, tending to class it with non-proteid food mate-
rials, like sugar, starch and fat, but still maintaining that its
classification as a food is not clearly established. And where
they are inclined to question its value for directly supplying the
body with nourishment, they maintain that it may be valuable
as an aid to digestion and otherwise, and find in this another

6 Educational Review [June

reason for using it as a part of the diet. A third group,
whether they advocate or oppose its use, regard the evidence as
sufficient to pronounce alcohol, in moderate quantities, a food,
in the sense that it may serve for nutriment, and many urge
that there are circumstances in which its nutritive value is very
important. Whether alcohol is or is not a poison, is likewise
a question of definition. Here again wise men may disagree;
but back of this lies the important question. Is it injurious?
That alcohol may be injurious, that in large enough doses it is
unquestionably a poison, and that in smaller quantities, taken
habitually, it may be extremely harmful, there is no shadow of
doubt. On this point there is no disagreement of authorities.
But whether, or under what circumstances, it is injurious when
taken in moderate quantities is a very different matter, and here
opinions disagree.

The opinion of Professor Fick, that alcohol in small amounts
should be called poison, has been often quoted, and is, I believe,
made the principal basis of the statement in many of our school
text-books that alcohol is called a poison by the highest scien-
tific authorities. But Professor Fick defines poison in a way
whicH, be it right or wrong, gives to the word a meaning quite
different from that in which it is popularly used. He is one of
the group of physiologists who practically deny any food value
to alcohol. So far as I am aware, however, their number is
small.

I have looked into many of the standard treatises upon the
subject and have conversed with many eminent physiologists,
pharmacologists, and chemists about it. In so doing, I have
constantly seen and heard alcohol referred to in small quantities
as food and in very large quantities as poison. But I have
rarely seen or heard alcohol in small quantities called a poison,
in the ordinary sense of the word, by any specialist who is gen-
erally regarded as an authority. Indeed, as I write this, I do
not recall a single instance, but I should not feel warranted in
saying that there are no such instances, because they are things
which one might forget, and, furthermore, there may be many
which I have not happened to see. I have no doubt that if
I had been looking especially for evidence on this side of the

1900J Alcohol physiology and superinte7idence 7

question, I might have found a good deal more than what I
have just said impHes.

If, then, we leave out of account the question of scientific
definitions of the terms food and poison, and take the words in
the meanings in which they are commonly used, I think we may
properly say that alcohol is both food and poison. Only, if we
speak of it as food we must be careful to bear in mind that it
is not and cannot be a food in the same sense in which bread
and meat are foods. Food performs two great functions. One
is to build body tissue and keep it in repair; the other is to yield
energy in the form of heat to keep the body warm and muscu-
lar, or other form of energy for its work.

To bring this out more clearly, let me remind you that our
foods contain different classes of nutritive materials or
nutrients. One of these classes includes the nitrogenous sub-
stances, protein compounds, or proteids, as chemists call them.
The myosin which is the basis of lean meat, the albumen or
white of ^^^, the casein which makes the curd of milk, the
gluten of wheat, are familiar examples of proteid compounds.
They are transformed into blood, muscle, bone, and brain.
They are the true tissue-formers of the body, the materials
which serve for building the bodily machine and keeping it in
repair. They also serve the body for fuel, but their use in this
respect is limited. The fats, like fat of meat, the butter fat of
milk, and the oil of cotton or of olive, make a second, and the
carbohydrates, which- include the starches and the sugars, a
third class of nutrients of food. The fats and carbohydrates
lack the chemical element nitrogen, which is characteristic of
the protein compounds, but they contain large proportions of
carbon and are sometimes called the carbonaceous nutrients.
By their oxidation, i. e., burning, in the body they yield its prin-
cipal supply of energy.

Bread, meat, milk, and the like contain both the nitrogenous
and the carbonaceous materials. Meat lacks the carbo-
hydrates; to make a well-rounded diet we use bread, potatoes,
and other vegetable materials with the meat. Bread and milk
may be called complete foods, as they contain all three of these
classes and with them the other ingredients necessary for nu-

8 Educational Review [June

trition. Such complete foods not only build the bodily ma-
chine and keep it in repair but also supply it with fuel.

While proteids serve for building tissue and have a limited
value for fuel, we could not well live on proteids alone. They
are not complete foods. Fat, starch, and sugars are not com-
plete foods. They cannot build tissue, nevertheless they make
the larger part of our food for the reason that our bodies need
more material for fuel than they do for building and repair.

Alcohol cannot build tissue, it has no nitrogen. It cannot
be stored in the body for future use as is the case with fats,
nor can it be transformed into fat and thus stored in the body
as is the case with the sugars and starches. But it is oxidized
in the body and does yield energy. In this respect it is analo-
gous to the fats, sugars, and starches. Just how it compares
in fuel value with the fats, sugars, and starches, or just how
these latter compare with one another in fuel value, are ques-
tions as yet unanswered.

Alcohol is, then, at best a partial food. To call it food, in
the popular sense of the word, and without qualification, may
produce a wrong impression. Furthermore its action upon the
nerves, and otherwise in the body, is such that only very small
quantities can be taken without serious derangement. When
taken habitually in excess, it is not only injurious to health but
ruinous to character. And while its nutritive action may be
very important in some cases, especially with aged people or in
certain forms of disease, people generally do not take it for the
sake of its nutritive value at all.

Taking the word poison in the sense in which it is commonly
imderstood, — namely, as applying to substances which are
deadly in their effect, — alcohol in small quantities cannot in my
judgment properly be called a poison. It may be injurious in
one case and not in another. Just where to draw the line be-
tween the quantity which may serve only as food and that which
acts as poison is impossible. The amount that can be taken
without injurious effect differs with different people. And even
the there are conditions in which it is not injurious and is
even useful, yet there is danger that it may lead to excess, a
danger which, as teachers of youth, we must not, we dare not,

ipoo] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 9

forget. This fact, coupled with the demoralization that comes
with its habitual and excessive use, constitutes, in my judg-
ment, the chief argument against its use.

But I have started to give you the opinions of leading
physiologists, and have indiscreetly gone out of the way to give
you my own, and that, too, when I am only a physiological
chemist. Let us go back to the authorities.

At the meeting of the International Physiological Congress,
held in Cambridge, England, in September, 1898, an effort was
made to obtain an expression of opinion which might be taken
as a consensus of leading physiologists regarding this especial
subject. The occasion had brought together some of the best
known authorities from the different countries of Europe,
America, and even Africa and Asia. The Congress did not
include a great many men, but it did include a number of great
men. The following statement was drawn up by Professor
Michael Foster of the University of Cambridge, who was the
President of the Congress, was printed, and offered for
signature.

" The physiological effects of alcohol, taken in a diluted
form, in small doses, as indicated by the popular phrase
' moderate use of alcohol,' in spite of the continued study of
past years, have not as yef been clearly and completely made
out. Very much remains to be done, but thus far the results
of careful experiments show that alcohol, so taken, is oxidized
within the body and so supplies energy like common articles of
food, and that it is physiologically incorrect to designate it as
a poison, that is, a substance which can only do harm and never
good to the body. Briefly, none of the exact results hitherto
gained can be appealed to as contradicting, from a purely
physiological point of view, the conclusion which some per-
sons have drawn from their daily common experience that
alcohol so used may be beneficial to their health."

I was present at the meeting and conversed with a number
of the gentlemen present regarding the statement. Only a
very few, so far as I heard, had any hesitation with regard to

lo Educational Review [June

it. I learned of two or three who were unwilHng to sign it
without slight changes in the phraseology. I was told of one
who said he believed it, but did not like to sign it because it
might be employed by liquor sellers as an encouragement to
their trade. There may have been a considerable number who
disagreed with the statement in one way or another, but if the
number had been at all large I think I should have known it.
Certain it is that a very considerable number of the most cele-
brated men present expressed their decided approval in personal
conversation. I have here a list of sixty-two men who ex-
pressed their approval by their signatures. Nearly all are well-
known investigators. Among them are professors, teachers,
and heads of laboratories of a large number of the most noted
universities and medical schools of the world. The list in-
cludes many of the most celebrated physiologists of our time.
The following, also by Professor Foster, is interesting not
only as a concise summary of what is definitely known about
the physiological action of alcohol, but also as showing how
much space should, in the judgment of one of the most rep-
utable of modern physiologists, be devoted to the subject in
an elementary text-book. It fills two of the 247 pages of the
Elementary physiology of Foster and Shore.

" Alcoholic beverages. — Ordinary alcohol is an organic com-
pound of the composition C^H^O. It occurs in the following
proportions in the following beverages :

Beer . . . . about 5 per cent.

Light wines (claret, hock) about 10 to 15 per cent.
Strong wines (sherry, port) about 20 per cent.

Spirits .... about 30 to 70 per cent.

When alcohol is taken into the body most of it is oxidized
and gives rise to energy. The amount of energy thus sup-
plied, compared with that of the other parts of the food, is in-
significant, and the effect of alcohol depends not on the energy
which it supplies, but on the influence it exerts on the changes,
going on in the several tissues. The value of the various
articles of diet does not depend by any means solely on their

1900] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 11

ability to supply energy; we have seen, for instance, that salts
which supply no energy are nevertheless of use in directing the
changes going on in the body. In a somewhat similar way
alcohol and other substances may influence and direct these
changes. Whether that influence is beneficial or not will de-
pend upon many circumstances, and certainly upon the quan-
tity taken. We have many illustrations that a substance taken
into the body in a certain quantity will produce one effect, and
in another quantity it may be quite an opposite effect. There
is no doubt that a certain quantity of alcohol is injurious and
interferes with all the functions, and ultimately brings about
various diseases, but it does not follow from this that in a
smaller quantity it may not be harmless or even beneficial.

'' Alcohol produces its most marked effects on the vascular
and nervous systems. It leads to a dilatation of the small
blood-vessels of the skin, and so to a larger flow of blood to the
surface of the body; this, while it produces a sensation of
warmth, leads to an increased loss of heat by radiation and
perspiration. If the amount of alcohol taken is excessive, the
loss of heat will lead to a definite fall of temperature. Alcohol
is then of no service as a preventative against cold.

'* Alcohol makes the heart beat more quickly and makes it
do more work in a given time. In some cases this may be
beneficial, but generally it is a wasteful and useless expenditure
of energy. Alcohol diminishes the power of doing prolonged
muscular work, and large quantities lead to a great diminu-
tion in the force of muscular contractions.

'' The effect of alcohol on digestion is very complex. When
taken with food it leads to a diminution in the rate and com-
pleteness of digestion, if it is present in any but very small
quantities. If some proteid (white of ^g^ or fibrin) is put in a
flask with some gastric juice, it is found that if a very little
alcohol (i part to 500 of the mixture) be added, the digestion
will go on a trifle more rapidly, but if the alcohol added much
exceeds this amount, a well-marked retardation is produced. It
does not follow that such a small amount of alcohol is useful in
ordinary digestion, because When it is taken into the stomach
we have to consider the influence it has on the secretion of gas-

1 2 Educational Review [June

trie juice, on the movements of the stomach, and on absorp-
tion. A small quantity of alcohol appears, however, to en-
courage the secretion of gastric juice, but large quantities act
injuriously on all the processes of digestion.

" A small amount of alcohol may promote the action of the
central nervous system, and often appears to quicken the
rapidity of thought and to excite the imagination, but more
usually, and always when taken in any but small quantities, it
diminishes the power of connected thought and judgment. It
also diminishes the power of receiving sensory impressions,
and at the same time blunts all the special senses. Since it re-
duces the sensibility to cold and fatigue and allays mental pain
and worry, it is often resorted to, and then with great danger.

'' The limit up to which any beneficial effects are produced
by alcohol is soon reached, and beyond that it only does harm.
This limit is not the same for all individuals; a quantity good
for one may be injurious for another, and a large number of
people find that strictly moderate quantities of alcoholic bever-
ages do them no harm, while others find that similar amounts
impede them in their daily work.

'' The effect of alcoholic beverages does not depend solely
on the ordinary alcohol in them, for other substances which
they contain often have powerful actions in the body. The
habitual use of such beverages to excess greatly shortens life
by inducing diseases of many organs. In some cases of disease
alcohol may be of great service, but in health it cannot be con-
sidered a necessity, and is far more potent for evil than for
good."

From the evidence at hand regarding the use of alcohol, the
following, by Dr. E. A. Parkes, the eminent English hygienist,
seems to me a fair and judicious statement of the facts, al-
though I should be inclined to lay a little more stress upon the
principle that, in health at any rate, it is superfluous or worse,
and to insist more strongly upon the importance, in this coun-
try especially, of general abstinence from its use.

" The facts now stated make it difficult to avoid the conclu-

I goo] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 13

sion that the dietetic value of alcohol has been much overrated.
It does not appear to me possible at present to condemn alcohol
altogether as an article of diet in health; or to prove that it is
invariably hurtful, as some have attempted to do. It produces
effects which are often useful in disease and sometimes desira-
ble in health; but in health it is certainly not a necessity, and
many persons are much better without it. As now used by
mankind, it is infinitely more powerful for evil than for good;
and though it can hardly be imagined that its dietetic use will
cease in our time, yet a clearer view of its effects must surely
lead to a lessening of the excessive use which now prevails."

Reference has lately been made in the public prints to some
experiments at Wesleyan University which have had for their
object the study of the nutritive action of alcohol. One does
not like to say a great deal about his own work, and I should
rather stop w4th the references to what other investigators have
done and said; but in view of the misstatements and misunder-
standings which have received currency regarding these in-
quiries and the conclusions we have derived from them, it is
perhaps fitting that I should refer to them now, as I have been
especially requested to do.

The experiments in question have been undertaken in behalf
of the Committee of Fifty for the Investigation of the Liquor
Problem. They are, however, carried out in connection with
researches upon nutrition which are made under the auspices
of the United States Department of Agriculture and constitute
part of the larger inquiry into the economy of food, of which
I have already spoken.

The experiments are made by the use of the respiration
calorimeter, by means of which it is possible to measure the in-
come and outgo of the body of a man, as expressed in terms of
both matter and energy. The apparatus includes a chamber
about seven feet long, four feet wide, and six and a half feet
high, in which the man stays for a number of days and nights.
It is furnished with folding bed, table, and chair. For some of
the experiments, those in which muscular work is to be done,
there is provided a stationary bicycle, on which the man may

14 Educational Review [June

ride the equivalent of a desired number of miles per day. Ar-
rangements are provided for ventilation by a current of care-
fully purified air. The temperature is kept constantly at a de-
gree which is agreeable to the occupant. In this chamber he
reads, writes, eats, drinks, and sleeps. So far from being un-
comfortable, each of the four gentlemen who have been sub-
jects of the experiments thus far has found himself very little
discommoded m any way save for the monotony of confine-
ment in so small a space. The period of each experiment gen-
erally varies from four to nine days, tho in one case it reached
twelve days. Even after this experience not one of the
gentlemen has been in the least unwilling to repeat the trial.
So far from finding difficulty in securing subjects, we have
numerous volunteers and are able to select men of special fit-
ness for the purpose as regards both bodily characteristics and,
where desired, scientific training.

The general plan of the experiments consists in giving the
man a*diet adapted to the purposes of the experiment, and
measuring, weighing, and analyzing, not only the food and
drink, but also the products, solid, liquid, and gaseous, given
off from the body. This involves, with the rest, the measure-
ment of the air the man breathes and its analysis both before
it enters and after it leaves the chamber, in order to determine
the products of respiration. Not only the chemical elements
and compounds, but also the energy of the income and outgo,
are measured. The body receives energy in the food, in which
it is latent, or so-called potential, energy. A small part of the
energy leaves the body in the unoxidized excretions, in which
it is still latent, but the larger quantity is given off in the heat
emitted from the body and in the external muscular work per-
formed. Especial arrangements are provided for measuring
this energy, and since that given off from the body is mostly in
the form of heat, the apparatus is practically a calorimeter. It
is because the apparatus enables us to determine both the respi-
ration products and the heat that we call it a respiration calo-
rimeter.

One of the most interesting results of the experiments of this
kind conducted at Wesleyan University is the close agreement

1900] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 15

of the income and outgo of energy. They thus indicate, what
in fact has been generally believed, though the belief has lacked
definite experimental proof, that the human body, like any
other machine, a steam engine or an electrical dynamo for in-
stance, obeys the law of the conservation of energy.

By giving men under experiment different kinds and
amounts of food and varying their activity from actual rest to
light or severe muscular or mental work, it is possible to learn
how the body uses its food, what materials are needed for its
support, and how different food materials compare in nutri-
tive value.

The special object of the experiments with alcohol was to
study its nutritive effect as compared with that of the fuel in-
gredients, fat, sugar, and starch, carbonaceous compounds, let
us call them, of ordinary food. In most of the experiments
pure (ethyl) alcohol was used, tho in some the alcohol was
given in the form of whisky or brandy. It was administered
with water or coffee and taken with an ordinary diet of meat,
bread, butter, milk, sugar, and the like. The amount of
alcohol per day has been equal to about two and one-half
ounces of absolute alcohol — about as much as would be con-
tained in three average glasses of whisky, or in a bottle of
claret or Rhine wine. This is generally divided in six doses,
three with meals and three between meals, the object being to
avoid any marked influence of the alcohol upon the nerves and
thus to test its action as food under normal bodily conditions.
Comparative tests were made by use of rations with and with-
out alcohol. The ration without alcohol consisted in each
case of ordinary food materials supplying the nutritive in-
gredients in amounts more or less nearly sufficient to meet the
wants of the body. In the corresponding ration with alcohol,
part of the sugar, starch, and fat of the food, the carbonaceous
ingredients which supply the body with fuel for warmth and
work, was taken' out, enough to be equivalent in potential
energy to the two and one-half ounces of alcohol, and the latter
was used in their place. In the experiments in which the man
did not work this alcohol made about one-fifth of the total
fuel material in the diet. In the experiments with hard mus-

1 6 Educational Review [June

cular work, in which more food was used, the alcohol furnished
about one-seventh of the fuel supply. Ten experiments in
which alcohol was used are now completed and ready for publi-
cation. These are compared with a somewhat larger number
of experiments similar in the main, except that they were with-
out alcohol. The results may be briefly stated as follows :

First, extremely little of the alcohol was given off from the
body unconsumed; indeed, it was oxidized, i. e., burned, as
completely as bread, meat, or any other food. Second, in the
oxidation, all of the potential energy of the alcohol was trans-
formed into heat or muscular power. In other words, the
body transformed the energy of the alcohol as it did that of
sugar, starch, and other ordinary food materials. Third, tak-
ing the experiments together, the body held its own just as
well with the rations consisting partly of alcohol as it did with
the others. This was the case whether the men were at rest
or at work, and whether the rations were or were not adequate
to the needs of their bodies for nourishment. In other words,
so far as the figures for income and outgo of chemical ele-
ments and compounds in these experiments show, the alcohol
protected the nitrogen and carbon, the proteids and fats of the
body, from consumption as effectively as the carbonaceous
nutrients which it replaced. There were indeed variations in
the figures from day to day and from experiment to experiment,
as must be expected in this kind of physiological inquiry. In
some cases, judging by the figures as they stand, the alcohol
appeared to 'be less, and in others it appeared to be more, effi-
cient than the sugar, starch, and fat in protecting either the
nitrogen or the carbon of the body from consumption. In
certain instances there were large losses, in others there were
gains of either nitrogen or carbon or both. But these gains
were in general about as large and frequent with the rations
without alcohol as with the corresponding rations with alcohol.
Taking the experiments altogether we should not, in my judg-
ment, be warranted in saying that the results establish any dif-
ference between the two kinds of rations in this respect.

I am very far, however, from regarding the results of these
experiments as final. Take, for instance the question of the

1900] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 17

relative fuel values of the carbonaceous nutrients, fat, sugar,
and starch on the one hand, and alcohol on the other. These
experiments, which are more detailed than any others of the
sort of which I have been able to find descriptions, imply, as
far as they go, that corresponding or, to use a chemical term,
isodynamic amounts have equal values as fuel. To put it in
another way, one ounce of alcohol, when burned with oxygen
in an apparatus for the purpose, such as we use in the chemical
laboratory, will yield about the same amount of heat as, say,
three-fourths of an ounce of fat or an ounce and three-quarters
of either sugar or starch. But whether the body gets the same
benefit from the ounce of alcohol as from the three-quarters of
an ounce of fat or the ounce and three-quarters of starch or
sugar, is another matter. The body uses the sugar, starch,
and fat for a variety of purposes. It may be that the isody-
namic amounts of these carbonaceous nutrients - have equal
values for some of these purposes and unequal values for
others, the value depending upon the kind of service. So like-
wise it may be that the value of alcohol as fuel depends upon
the kind of work it is to do. For aught we know to-day there
may be forms of service as fuel which it cannot render or can
render only under special conditions. Exact answers to these
questions will require a large amount of patient and costly re-
search.

As may be seen, these experiments had to do simply with
the nutritive action of alcohol. They have very little bearing
upon its indirect action, nor do they indicate what are its
effects when taken habitually for months or years.

In certain deliberative bodies, in Congress for instance, per-
sonal explanations are sometimes in order. I hope it may not
seem unfitting if I venture to say here that some of the state-
ments which purport to have gone out from Middletown re-
garding these experiments are entirely wrong. Thus it has
been said that we are studying the effects of alcohol as brain
food, and for that purpose have been feeding men upon a diet
consisting chiefly of alcohol. These reports are entirely with-
out foundation. No such experiments have ever been made or
even planned in our laboratory or under my direction. For

1 8 Educational Review [June

that matter, I cannot see how any physiological chemist could
think of alcohol as a material especially fitted to supply nourish-
ment for brain work. I can see how it might sometimes stimu-
late the action of the brain in certain ways. Indeed, workers
in that field, I believe, have tried to explain its action in this
as in the opposite direction, but that is a subject for the physio-
logical psychologist, and not the chemist, to investigate and
pronounce upon.

An account of these experiments was given at the Inter-
national Physiological Congress in the summer of 1898 re-
ferred to, and also at the meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science in Boston the same year.
Last June a similar account was given at the meeting of a
scientific club in Middletown, Conn., where the experiments
were made. Some daysjn advance of the meeting news-
papers in different parts of the country contained announce-
ments purporting to represent what I was going to say.
Neither my associates nor myself authorized them or have any
knowledge as to how they originated. They contained state-
ments to the effect that the experiments showed that alcohol
is a useful food, and that two ounces per day made a desirable
part of the diet. Some of these totally unauthorized and un-
warranted statements, I regret to say, have been utilized by
venders of alcoholic beverages as recommendations of their
products.

How far the views of leading physiologists and the results
of scientific research, as I have thus tried to epitomize them, dif-
fer from the teaching of the so-called '' authorized " text-books
used in our schools, you, who are so familiar with the books
and schools, are well able to judge. I will, however, later give
you some illustrations of the teaching to which I object.

Meanwhile, permit me to state some of the things which, as
it seems to me, ought and ought not to be taught in the public
schools. In so doing, I do not attempt to cover the whole
ground or enter into the physiological details, but simply indi-
cate what, in my personal view, should be said or not said about
one of the more important phases of the subject.

I poo] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 19

WHAT WE SHOULD NOT TEACH ABOUT ALCOHOL

1. We should not teach that it is a food in the sense in
which that word is ordinarily used. If we are going to discuss
its physiological action at all, we cannot well ignore its nutri-
tive value, but we should at the same time emphasize its lim-
itations. When we speak of it as food or nutriment we should
explain to what extent and in what ways it can and cannot
nourish the body. So, likewise, if we speak of its effect upon
digestion, we should not say simply that it is an aid, or that it
is a hindrance, but that it may be one or the other, or both, ac-
cording to circumstances.

2. We should not teach that it is a poison in the sense in
which that word is ordinarily used. We may say, and with
truth, that alcohol in large quantities is poisonous, that in large
enough doses it is fatal, and that smaller quantities taken day
after day will ruin body and mind. But it is wrong to teach
our boys that alcohol in small quantities, or in dilute forms, in
which it occurs in such beverages as wine and beer, is a poison
in the ordinary sense of the word. In all that we say on this
point, we must bear in mind that the intelligent boy knows well,
and as a man he will know better, that people have always been
accustomed to moderate drinking, as it is commonly called,
and yet live in excellent health to good old age. If we tell him
that alcohol in small quantities is poisonous in the sense in
which he understands the word, he will see that we are exag-
gerating, that we are teaching for effect, and he will instinc-
tively rebel against the teaching.

We may say, and say truthfully, that the moderate use of
alcohol is fraught with danger. But the cases where the
occasional glass leads to marked excess are the exceptions. If
we present them to the thoughtful boy as the rule or the com-
mon result, he will detect the fallacy and distrust the whole
doctrine.

We may be right in saying that alcohol often does harm to
health when people do not realize it, that it prepares the sys-
tem for inroads of disease, that there is a gradation of injury
from forms scarcely perceptible to the utter ruin of body and

20 Ediccational Review [June

soul. But to present the " horrible examples " as a common
result of drinking is illogical in itself, contrary to right tem-
perance doctrine, and hence injurious to the children whom we
teach. For that matter, I believe that the picturing of the
frightful results of vice to young and innocent children is more
harmful than useful.

3. We ought not to teach that alcohol in small quantities is
harmless. Still more should we avoid saying that it is com-
monly beneficial. Some of us as individuals may believe that
its use in small quantities is generally desirable, but there is
nothing in either the facts of common experience or in the re-
sults of scientific inquiry to justify the inference as a general
principle.

Doubtless many people, especially those in advanced age, or
suffering under certain forms of disease, are benefited by al-
coholic beverages in moderate amounts. Here it may have a
decided medicinal value, and my own belief coincides with that
of a great body of physiologists in ascribing to it under some
such circumstances an extremely important food value, altho
the exact ways in which it is useful are not yet demonstrated.
But I can see no justification for the claim that moderate drink-
ing is generally useful, and there is no denying the terrible fact
that it is often harmful, not only in itself, but because of the
excess to which it so often leads.

4. We ought not to teach that alcohol in small quantities is
always or necessarily harmful. Some of us as individuals may
believe this. Honestly believing that theory, we may be justi-
fied in arguing for it. But we are not justified in teaching
it dogmatically, and in my judgment it is positively wrong to
make such a dogma a part of the instruction which is presented
to our youth as authoritative, be it in the school, the Sunday
school, or the pulpit. It is wrong for two reasons : First, be-
cause it presents an unproven theory as an attested fact; and
second, because it leads the trusting child to believe what the
thoughtful, and at times skeptical, boy or girl, and the intelli-
gent man or woman, may afterward learn to be wrong.

5. Still worse is it to take the theory that the use of alcohol
in small quantities is always or necessarily injurious, and set it

ipoo] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 21

up as demonstrated by scientific observation and experiment.
This is positive untruth. If we tell it to children, they will
believe it until they learn better. They may possibly remain in
ignorance of the error until they are grown, or, indeed, all their
lives. But sooner or later many of them will find that they
were deceived; it may be in the high school, it may be in the
college or medical school; it may be from general reading or
conversation; but when the deception is found out, a reaction
comes. The good we tried to do is undone. The certain in-
jury is far greater than the hoped-for good.

6. To take the theory that alcohol is in no sense a food but
always a poison, that it is never useful but always harmful, and
allege that this is supported by the great bulk of scientific au-
thority, is gross misrepresentation. We may look over the
literature of the subject and cull out statements which can be
used to support it. We may even find writers of more or less
repute who attempt to defend it in the light of scientific experi-
ment. In this way we may accumulate statements which the
unsuspecting reader may be led to regard as proving that the
scientific authority is on this side of the discussion. We may
unconsciously go farther and persuade ourselves that there is
scientific ground for adopting such theories; so often and so
truly is " the wish the father to the thought." In our great
anxiety to find every means to work against the evil wrought
by alcohol, we may gradually come to feel ourselves justified in
presenting all the arguments we can against it and in ignoring
all we can on the other side. But this does not turn theory into
fact or falsehood into truth.

The following quotations are from so-called '' approved "
text-books of physiology commonly used in our schools :

" Nature apparently makes no effort to appropriate it (alco-
hol). It courses everywhere thru the circulation, and into
the great organs, with all its properties unmodified. Alcohol,
then, is not, like bread or beef, taken hold of, broken up by the
mysterious process of digestion, and used by the body. ' It can
not therefore be regarded as an aliment.' " '

" Alcohol is universally ranked among the poisons by phys-

' Steele's Hygienic physiology, pp. 178-9.

2 2 Educational Review [June

iologists, chemists, physicians, toxicologists, and all who have
experimented, studied, and written upon the subject, and who,
therefore, best understand it." ^

'' Alcohol is not a food or drink. Medical writers, without
exception, class alcohol as a poison." ^

'' It must be remembered that in whatever quantity, or
wherever alcohol is found, its nature is the same. It is not
only a poison but a narcotic poison." ^

These statements are misrepresentations. They belong to a
kind of doctrine which pervades many of the *' approved " text-
books and much of the common temperance instruction. They
are none the less false or wrong, either scientifically or mor-
ally, because the object is to educate our youth away from
evil; the misstatements are none the less reprehensible because
they occur in school books which have the official indorsement
of a great temperance organization, whose membership in-
cludes thousands and other thousands of the noblest, the most
conscientious, the worthiest of the women of the world. Nor
does it help the matter that such statements are repeated and
such theories are promulgated with the sanction, and are en-
forced by the authority of the church, in the teachings of the
Sunday school, and from the sacred desk.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not imputing wrong mo-
tives, I bring no railing accusation, I charge no one with in-
tended wrong. I only ask that the men and women who do
these things — many of them are my acquaintances, some are
my warm personal friends, their standing in the community is
so high that no arrow of aspersion can reach them, their char-
acters are so pure that no stain can tarnish them, their names
are in my memory and their faces in my vision, as I write
this — I ask, that they consider the facts as I am sure they have
not considered them, that they look into the evidence as I am
sure they have not looked into it, and that they remember in
their attitude towards these questions the principle I have read
in their own writings and heard from their own lips — the
foundation of morality is the truth.

3 Quoted from Youmans in BlaisdelVs No, 2, p. 232.
''Eclectic, No. 3, p. 37. 5 Authorhed Series, No. 3, p. 58.

1900] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 23

WHAT WE SHOULD TEACH ABOUT ALCOHOL

1. It is, under some circumstances, a valuable nutriment in
the sense that it can yield energy to the body, but not in the
sense that it can build tissue. It is, under other circumstances,
a poison, in the sense that it is injurious to health. When taken
in large enough quantities and for long enough time it is de-
structive to life. It is sometimes very useful and sometimes
very harmful, but the harm that comes from drinking, in many
communities, vastly exceeds the good.

While we cannot deny to alcohol a nutritive value, that value
is very limited. In yielding energy to the body it resembles
sugar, starch, and fat, tho just how and to what extent it
resembles them experimental inquiry has not yet told us. It
differs from them in that it does not require digestion, and is
hence believed to be more easily and immediately available to
the body. It is not stored in the body for future use, like the
nutrients of ordinary food materials. The quantity that may
be advantageously used is small. If large amounts are taken,
its influence upon the nerves and brain are such as to counter-
act its nutritive effect, and it becomes injurious in various ways.
And, finally, there are many people who begin by moderate use
and are led to disastrous excess.

Alcohol may be useful to one man and harmful to another.
One may take considerable without apparent harm, while an-
other may be injured by very little. One may use it habitually
without injury, while another may not. In sickness it may be
a priceless boon. But it may likewise be the cause of physical,
mental, and moral ruin.

2. The boy or the man, as long as he is in good health and
does not need alcohol for medicine, is in general better off
without it.

3. While some can drink a little without danger of drinking
to great excess, others cannot. The safest way is to keep out
of danger.

4. There are business considerations also, as well as those of
health, that strongly favor temperance. The boy who wants to
make his way on a railroad or in a large business establishment

24 Educational Review [June

has a better chance to get employment and to work up into a
profitable position if he is an abstainer than if he is a drinker.
Already many such establishments refuse to employ men who
drink, and there is reason to expect that more will do so.

5. Temperance is always advisable. This we may emphasize
most strongly. But whether or not we shall teach the neces-
sity, or even the advisability, of abstinence is another matter.
About this the best men differ. Two who disagree may be
equally honest. Each has the right to express his own convic-
tions and may often feel it his duty to do so. But it is neither
just nor wise to teach our youth that the doctrine of total ab-
stinence rests upon undisputed principles of either physiology
or morals. It seems to me that the question whether a ma.n
should be a total abstainer depends on two considerations. The
first is one of policy. Will drinking injure him? If so, he
had better abstain; if not, he may drink. But he must be sure
of his ground before he begins, and he had better wait until he
reaches maturity and understands himself and the subject well
before he takes the risk. The other consideration is an ethical
one. Remembering that he does not live for himself alone,
what will be the effect of his example and what is his duty?
The rule of conduct in this respect is a matter for him to decide.
You and I may have the right to advise him, but the decision is
between himself and his own conscience.

6. An ambitious and right-minded boy wants to be an in-
fluential and useful man. I think he should be taught that it
would be better for the community at large if there were less
drinking; that the community are influenced by the examples
of strong and good men; and that his own personal influence
will be better if it is on the side of temperance.

7. Great as is the danger of alcohol to purse and health, the
moral injury is incomparably worse. Its most terrible effect
is its demoralization of character. However much good men
may do in helping others to save their money and promote their
health, a still greater service to their fellow-men is that which
helps them to a higher plane of moral living. And here is the
strongest argument of all in favor of that self-abnegation which
leads us to do those things, and those things only, which will

1900] Alcohol physiology and superintendence 25

best enable us to render that service to our day and generation.
In that way we do our noblest duty to our fellow-men and to
our God. All this we may, and I believe we should, teach in
the schools.

ERRORS IN THE CURRENT TEMPERANCE TEACHING. ETHICAL.
CONSIDERATIONS

The misstatements in the text-books of the type referred to
above are of various kinds. Sometimes the error consists in
stating doubtful theories as attested facts; in other cases the
principles laid down are partly true and partly false; in still
others the statements are squarely opposed to the results of all
of the latest and most accurate scientific research. The state-
ments are enforced by quotations, of which some are by real
authorities, but are too often put in such ways as to misrepre-
sent their actual teachings, w^hile others are from men who
do not stand for the best research and the highest scholarship,,
but are quoted as the most reliable authorities.

I do not mean that the approved text-books are all wrong.
A great deal of what they say is entirely true. In the parts,
not bearing upon the action of alcohol there is often little to
criticise and much to commend. The trouble is this admixture
of error.

In one respect they are all alike. The impression which they
give the pupil is that science teaches that alcohol, even in mod-
erate quantities, is always harmful and never useful. This is-
untrue.

The object is to oppose an enormous evil, to teach our youth
to resist that evil. The purpose is most worthy; the trouble is.
in the method. The evil being clearly defined, a doctrine is
formed to meet it, and evidence is sought to sustain the doc-
trine. Whatever can be found in its favor is exaggerated.
Whatever opposes it is ignored or denied. It gradually ceases
to be the propagandism of the few and becomes the creed of
the many. It is the old story of human dogma, repeated over
and over again in politics, in theology, and in morals. And
here, as in many other cases, the worthiness of the cause and the
earnestness of the advocates are such as often to " deceive the

2 6 Educational Review [June

very elect." Indeed, the very best people often become the most
sincere and devoted advocates of the doctrine. In this case the
scientific expert is not deceived. But the statements are put
in such persuasive ways and sustained by such seeming force
of scientific authority that the unsuspecting pupil, and indeed
the teacher who implicitly trusts the text-books, is led to be-
lieve that they represent the real teaching of the best physiolog-
ical science.

I was once talking about this subject with a teacher, and re-
minded her of Lincoln's saying : '' You can fool all the people
some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you
can't' fool all the people all the time." She replied: "But
can't we fool the boys until their characters are formed?"
Now I think that lady was perfectly sincere; I am equally sure
that she was wrong. You cannot build character on falsehood.

A well-known philanthropist in New York City tells this
story: '' I happened to be in a school down on the East Side
when a class of boys from tenement families were reciting in
physiology. The teacher asked, ' What is beer ? ' The an-
swer came in chorus, ' Beer is poison.' Now those little chaps
knew that was a lie. Their fathers and mothers drank beer
every day." Such children were not fooled by any such
teaching.

But even if they are deceived for a time, it will not last, nor
can you get around the difficulty by falling back on definitions.
Tell a boy a thing is poison and he will suppose that you mean
by poison what he means by it, and what people generally mean
by it. He has not access to the particular dictionary or scien-
tific treatise which has a definition that may be stretched to fit
your meaning. You may persuade him for a time that it is a
poison in the popular sense of the word, but when he grows up
he will learn that he was mistaught; indeed, he may do so be-
fore he is grown up. Scholars in the higher classes share the
present tendency to skepticism; when they find that they were
deceived they do not mince matters; they reason with them-
selves, " That teacher and that text-book lied. If they would
lie in one case, they would lie in another, and I am not going to
believe anything they told me." Even if he does not go so far

i9oo] Alcohol physiology and supe7'intendence 27

as this; even if his faith is not lost, but is only shaken, the harm
is done; the effect is to undo much of the good that the teach-
ing is intended to do. Furthermore, and what is still worse,
the result must be to impress upon the pupil, and by the most
effective agency, that of example, the example of the school,
the Sunday school, and even the pulpit, the idea that deception
is allowable in a good cause, that the end justifies the means.
This is undermining the very foundations of morality.

One of the most honored members of your Association re-
marked to me yesterday in speaking of this subject : " Teach
the boy of ten that a lie is the truth and at twenty he is in dan-
ger of believing the truth is a lie! "

This evil, so intrenched behind the earnest aspirations of our
community, and so fortified by legislation, is the one against
which I protest and which I urge you, as leaders in education,
to unite in your endeavors to oppose.

Perhaps I ought to speak more considerately of things so
dear to thousands of the best, the most earnest, the most de-
voted people, those to whom temperance means so much, who
would shrink with horror from intentional deceit, and in the
fiber of whose noblest thought this doctrine is so interwoven.

We meet here a very peculiar difficulty. The object of this
teaching is a noble one. When we criticise the method we are
in danger of seeming to oppose the purpose, and yet the im-
provement in method is necessary for the attainment of that
purpose. It seems to me that one of the great obstacles in the
way of the true temperance reform is found in this very ex-
aggeration which makes so large a part of the means used to
promote that reform. It is building on the sand. The place
to build is on the rock of attested truth.

You see, then, that I am not trying to set up a dogma in
opposition to " scientific temperance instruction." I earnestly
approve of the purpose, but object to part of the method. I
protest against the dogmatic teaching of scientific theories
which still lack demonstrative proof. More than that, I pro-
test against the teaching of what science shows to be positively
erroneous. And I also ask that the teaching of science in our
schools shall keep pace with the progress of research.

28 Educational Review [June

But what are we to do about it? I hesitate to make positive
suggestions to those who have much more experience than I,
and on whom rests so much of grave responsibiHty for decid-
ing what instruction our youth shall receive. I venture, how-
ever, these considerations :

The success of such instruction depends very largely upon its
spirit. If it is based upon the real desire for truth, if dis-
puted principles are referred to as questions rather than demon-
strated facts, if no more is claimed than is proven, and if under
these restrictions the evils of alcohol are clearly set forth, and
especially if the teacher speaks with the power of accurate
knowledge and profound conviction, the instruction cannot fail
to be incalculably useful.

Still more effective will it be, in my judgment, if less stress
is laid upon the material, i. e., the physiological and economic
side of the question, and more upon its moral aspects. Our
people are keenly alive to ethical ideas. And youth is a time
when thought is fresh, the aspiration is for the ideal, and mind
and heart are open to the truest ethical impulses.

Let me emphasize most strongly the moral aspect of this
question. Temperance reform is moral reform. I cannot see
how a thoughtful man, earnestly desirous of rendering his best
service to the community, can fail to be interested in that re-
form.

The harm which alcohol does to health, the economic injury
it brings to the individual and to the community, are terrible
enough, but it seems to me that the supreme evil which comes
from its misuse is its effect upon character, its powers of de-
moralization, the moral ruin which it brings. No exaggera-
tion is needed to paint this picture in the most terrible colors.

As one who has been interested in temperance reform from
childhood, I have come to believe that we have been depending
too much upon the economic and physiological argument.
Statistics of the nation's liquor bill do not appeal very strongly
to the ordinary man, still less does the average boy care for
them. The men who know most about the physiological
effects of alcohol are specialists in physiology and hygiene. I
know scores of these men. Total abstainers among them are

1900 J A IcoJiol physiology and superintendence 29

exceptions — I was about to say, rare exceptions. If they are
not persuaded by the facts they know so well in theory and in
practice, what can we expect from teaching the average boy or
girl a little of the theory ?

The supreme object of education is the formation of char-
acter. Character is shaped by education, but its basis is
morality. Again I say, temperance reform is moral reform.
The mind and heart of youth are most strongly influenced by
moral thoughts, by ethical ideals. There you can keep within
the truth and there make the strongest appeals.

One essential for the success of true temperance reform is
that what is taught as science shall be placed upon the basis of
demonstrated fact. This means a change of base on the part
of a great body of our most earnest temperance reformers ; but
that change is necessary.

We wish to help the drunkard to reform; but is it necessary
to tell him that no man can touch alcohol without danger ? To
build up the public sentiment upon which reform of the future
must depend, we wish our children to understand about alcohol
and its terrible effects; but when we teach them in the name of
science, shall we not teach them the simple facts which science
attests and which they can hereafter believe, rather than exag-
gerated theories, whose errors, when they learn them, will tend
to undo the good we strive to do ? In short, is not temperance
advisable even in the teaching of temperance doctrine ?

In the great effort to make men better, there is one thing
that we must always seek, one thing we need never fear — the
truth.

W. O. Atvvater
Wesleyan University,

MiDDLETOWN, CONN.

THE ETHICS OF GETTING TEACHERS AND OF
GETTING POSITIONS

The educational work of America is advancing steadily and
strongly. This is true of all grades of educational work, but
especially true of the higher work. There is an elementary
school at everyone's door, and a secondary school in every con-
siderable town. The constituency of these schools is fixed and
practically limited to children and youth who cannot be sent
away from home. There are colleges and universities but a
few hours from home. But the constituencies of the colleges
and universities are not so stable. Students must ordinarily
go away from home to college, and then new questions are in-
volved. The children of more families than formerly, and
particularly in the Western vStates where there are strong and
free State universities, even the children of the multitude, are
thinking of going to college; and their parents are not only
ambitious to have them go, but are looking intelligently for the
colleges where the atmosphere is the most wholesome and
where the best teaching is done. Even the number of students
in graduate or purely university work has advanced from two
or three hundred to six or seven thousand in twenty-five years ;
ideals have advanced no less majestically than numbers, and
these earnest men and women are discriminatingly seeking the
centers of learning where the greatest scholars are at w^ork.

Recent events seem to show that there is, on the part of the
better colleges, a keener realization of the fact that there is
more usefulness and more honor in being a good college than
in pretending to be an indifferent university : that sound policy
lies in honest representations and solid work and that support
must depend upon having the best teachers tho the num-
ber be small, rather than upon indifferent teachers and many of
them. There is not a university in the country with any pre-
tense to prominence, which, in addition to this, has not come

Getting teachers and getting positions 3 1

to feel that its future is not wholly in the hands of old students
and friends, that its field is not limited by geographical and
political lines, and which does not see that scholars of the pres-
ent day are not much given to fetich worship, but can engage
in devotions at any shrine where the high priest can meet the
wants of their souls ; which does not understand that its life de-
pends upon continually extending and intensifying its search
for new truth and re-enforcing its instruction with new teachers
who are equal or superior to any others in the country, or in-
deed in the world.

But first-class teachers for the advanced schools are scarce.
And the power to teach is not the only test. All the work of
the colleges and universities is departmentalized and the
strength of a department depends upon organizing and admin-
istrative power as well as upon teaching power. The teacher
who is wanted must be a specialist, but a specialist who is sane,
balanced in character, a worker and producer as well as a
theorizer, one who can get on with people, who can become an
authority upon his subject and who knows where all the other
authorities upon his subject may be found, who can plan, and
organize, and lead, and in one way or another get the best there
is for his department and accomplish its upbuilding. Such
men are certainly exceptional, but there are such, and a univer-
sity must find them or fall behind the others which do.

Universities never gather force, or they soon become nerve-
less, if conducted as mutual admiration societies, as some
would have them. On the other hand, institutions cannot be-
come or remain universities and be operated as commercial
enterprises, as others are apparently in danger of thinking.
When a university has a teacher's position vacant, and par-
ticularly one at the head of a department, it must search the
country for the strongest scholar, the best teacher, the truest
man, and the most capable all-round leader who is available.
Indeed, it must anticipate vacancies and know where the men
and women adapted to positions are before vacancies occur.
Sometimes the university must force a vacancy, in order to save
a position from discredit or increase its power. But what it
does in all this had better be characterized by consideration and

32 Educational Review [June

justice, and done with the knowledge that the highest attri-
butes of scholarship, of teachership, and of leadership are not
to be bought and sold merely for gold; and that temples of
learning are not places where men who are only money-
changers may profane traditions, blast reputations, and break
hearts for the mere sake of increasing the tuition fees and ad-
vancing the rank of the institution.

In some measure the same is true of the lower schools.
While the primary and secondary schools are obliged to stand
more ill usage than the colleges and universities, because the
people are often powerless to remedy wrongs and must send
their children to the schools of the vicinage, and while the
lower schools can probably withstand more mistreatment
than the advanced schools because the taxing power is behind
them, yet the people of this country are slowly but surely com-
ing to see, and as surely gaining the courage to insist, that
schools shall be organized and operated upon educational prin-
ciples and taught by men and women who have the spirit and
the professional training of the true teacher, in order to justify
the theories upon which they are maintained and warrant the
expenditure of the amount of money which they cost. People
are coming to realize that no school can be good, can do what
it ought for their children or for the common good, can pre-
pare for the rivalries of life, satisfy civic pride, or connect with
the schools to which it is tributary, unless it is constantly on
the outlook for the best teachers ; and that the great systems of
schools in the cities must measurably fail and be discredited
unless the management is honest, intelligent, alert, and per-
sistent in purging and re-enforcing and toning up the teaching
service. Nothing in our national life is more gratifying or
encouraging than the steadily increasing demand for the best
teaching. Perhaps the discouragements enlarge and multiply
in places, but discriminating judgment upon the work of the
schools, with an unqualified insistence upon more scientific
methods, is plainly outrunning the difiiculties in the common
sentiments of the country.

So the search for the best teachers in all grades of educa-
tional work is sharp in all parts of the country.

ipoo] Getting teachers and getting positions 33

On the other hand, teachers are not and should not be indif-
ferent to more dignified positions, to larger opportunities, and
to higher pay.

The quest for the best teachers and the desire for the best
places bring into the matter some third parties who for a con-
sideration are willing to give their services to help things along.
It also leads to some overreaching on the part of officers of in-
stitutions, to some indirection on the part of teachers, and per-
haps to not a little healthful annoyance and embarrassment all
around.

There is the teachers' agency. Its business may be and fre-
quently is perfectly legitimate, high-minded, and helpful to the
different interests concerned : it may and frequently does resort
to flattery, to influence, and to coercion to secure a place for
a client for what there is in it for him and for it. It keeps a list
of teachers with a statement of the leading points in the per-
sonal and professional career of each, with letters of com-
mendation from the previous teachers, pastors, friends, and
employers of each, and when a desirable vacancy, or the pos-
sibility of one, comes in sight it has, dependent upon its peculiar
methods, the material with which to aid an institution, a good
cause, and a good teacher, or the ammunition with which to
make a strategic assault for the plunder there is in it. Some
agencies frequently recommend to institutions before they ask
and sometimes recommend teachers who have not become their
clients at all. At times the most abhorrent methods are em-
ployed and bills are presented which are based upon no real
service at all. I make no sweeping allegation against these
agencies. There is a legitimate work for them. Educated,
keen, conservative, and honorable men are in charge of some
of them, but the business is peculiarly beset with temptations,
and a man wlio can pursue it a long time, deal justly by the
different interests he undertakes to serve, and keep his self-
respect, is entitled to free transportation for heaven and to be
assured that no annoying questions will be put to him at the
gate.

There are many so-called teachers who are everlastingly
maneuvering for larger pay. They play a game of petty poli-

34 Educational Review [June

tics and ordinarily lose at it. They have " calls " with very
slight foundations for th^m. They are the coquettes of the
profession and before long they bring up in the same place rela-
tively where the social flirt in time finds herself. I am far
from implying that a teacher may not desire better opportuni-
ties and larger pay. The true teacher cannot help it, because
of what these things may do for him. But it may be safely said
that the teacher is to demonstrate his worth by quiet and fruit-
ful work and is to permit himself to be sought for rather than
to be seeking a better place. A true woman seeking a wealthy
husband would be no less anomalous than a true teacher hunt-
ing for a better place.

The quantity and quality of recommendations given to can-
didates for places by people of some prominence in community
life or in educational work are amusing if not appalling. They
are given to the candidate to carry in his pocket or file with a
teachers' agency. They provide him with a *' character."
They are practically alike. The one from the local pastor or
school trustee is not very different from the one from a normal
principal or a college professor. They certify the common-
places which no one doubts, but pass by the real points one of
intelligence wants to know. The pastor and trustee do not
know the defects and the principals and professors are gener-
ous in the way of silence. So the credentials are strong on
generalities and weak on particularities. They make much of
the passive virtues and say little or nothing about the short-
comings or the faults. Perhaps they are generally harmless :
possibly, no one pays serious attention to them. Still it should
be remembered that they are deceiving unless in experienced
hands, and the likelihood of getting into inexperienced hands is
considerable. And they discredit the writers. It may be sur-
mised also that they really weaken the candidates by giving
them false estimates of themselves and leading them to depend
upon credentials rather than upon their work. If the rule
were generally adopted that letters of recommendation would
not be given to the candidates themselves, but that all inquiries
from other parties interested would be patiently and completely

i9oo] Getting teachers and getting positions 35

and flatly answered, it would likely be better for all the parties
concerned.

There is another interest that is now pushing itself force-
fully into the field, and that comes from the desire of the lead-
ing universities to place their graduates in schools, not only to
aid the graduates, but to extend the university influence and
gain wider support. This tendency is legitimate and com-
mendable if methods are within bounds; but the temptations
are very great and the flesh is sometimes weak. The value of
college or university agents in schools that are naturally, or
may be made, tributary gives an unwonted unction to the
fervor of the letters that are written by officials and professors
in behalf of fledgling graduates. Doubtless this thing reaches
its most uncomfortable proportions as between the eastern uni-
versities and the advanced institutions of the west. The
western school men are well informed as to educational condi-
tions in the east. Many of them formerly lived in or were
educated in the east. They travel eastward frequently, and
they read eastern educational literature constantly. But the
ignorance of eastern school men touching the conditions in and
the demands of the western schools is capable of great things
in the way of efforts to aid their intellectual children when in-
cited to deeds of daring by the hope that ample rewards will
come back to them after some days.

Because the western schools are hunting every corner of the
United States and offering good wages for the very best
teachers, it seems to be assumed in the east that any sprig with
a printed thesis and a degree from an institution upon the
Atlantic slope will suffice to fill any western place. Youngsters
who go out to try it too often find to their humiliation that
someone has overreached or blundered. Instead of making
conquests because the conditions are low and movements slow,
they find themselves in a glowing atmosphere, among a vigor-
ous and unconventional people whose ways and thoughts and
aspirations they have difficulty in comprehending. If we could
show the letters written to help graduates in one column,
and could parallel this with another showing the results, the
comparison would be salutary in more ways than one. Surely,

36 Educational Review [June

if all interested could mentally grasp all that is going on in
this line, there would be a heap of enlightenment and entertain-
ment, if not of inspiration, for a multitude of people.

There is nothing very surprising about all this. As the
nations are looking and some of them fighting for commerce,
so the universities are looking and some of them fighting for
students. There is no doubt that the higher learning will be
centralized in great institutions. Modern methods of instruc-
tion and the opportunities which the discriminating educa-
tional public demands make this inevitable. Some smaller in-
stitutions will survive on their merits; it will be because they
do not try to do everything, but undertake a few specific
lines of work and carry those as efficiently at least as the
leading universities can hope to do. The universities which
get the lead now will be likely to hold it. Large attendance,
as well as multiplicity and excellence of work, will give
them the lead. Agents on the ground from which students
go are serviceable and perhaps necessary to getting stu-
dents. There are no university agents so effective as gradu-
ates in other universities and in the colleges and high
schools. Universities understand this and their faculties
work industriously to place these agents. It is not too
much to say that one's standing in a university faculty is
helped in considerable measure by his success in placing his
graduates as teachers. There is nothing reprehensible about
this. On the contrary, it shows the foresight and energy and
alertness of the times. But under pressure and for lack of
systematic policy, because of presidential or professional rather
than institutional action in the premises, and particularly be-
cause there has been no inter-institutional discussion of the
principles which should control, there have been much confu-
sion, many misfits, and innumerable complaints.

Harvard University is entitled to the credit of having initi-
ated a genuine effort to systematize her work in this connec-
tion. Her great place in American education subjects her to
many calls for information concerning teachers wanted by
other institutions : she has the advantage of position gained by
a broad policy followed for a long time and followed vigor-

I poo] Getting teachers and getting positions 2>7

ously, and no one would ever suspect that the administration
of Harvard would not know, or would be slow in doing what
she knows, would be to her advantage. In answering these
calls and in pushing her children into places it must be said
that she has usually spoken with marked and commendable
caution. It is much to say, that in speaking of their own edu-
cational offspring the officers and teachers of a university are
able to come somewhere near the truth. It cannot be said of
all universities. Harvard ordinarily does this, and she has
recently gone farther and undertaken to doubly guard what
shall be said of her graduates by any of her people by putting
the whole matter in the hands of a committee of the faculty and
thus making the commendations of students official, repre-
sentative of the university, and so impersonal and conservative.
It would not be surprising, however, if a faculty committee
breaking out new roads should get upon some trails from which
it might better turn back. It seems to me that this committee,
with the best of purposes, has struck at least one such, because
it crosses lines where Harvard has no right to go for such
purpose except upon the proprietor's invitation. This com-
mittee ^' gets places for young men just going out from
the university and it also endeavors to serve graduates of some
years' standing who, being already in positions which answer
their purpose, are nevertheless competent for higher work at
higher pay." It is this second function, or the method
of discharging it, to which exception is taken. The method
has been to write the heads of institutions employing Harvard
men, without any special moving cause and without disclosing
any specific purpose, asking in a general way how her men are
doing, and then use the replies to help the men referred to to
higher places at higher pay. This, as it seems to me, is in the
nature of the traditional mother-in-law interference with the
affairs of a household which is not her own. If one who is
contemplating an alliance wishes it, it is very well for a good
mother to commend, even with a mother's partiality, a son who
is eligible thereto; but after the alliance is made it is not well
for the mother to follow the dear child into the new home and
suggest periodically that she can find a better or a bigger home

38 Educational Review [June

for him, and assuredly it is neither poHte nor ethical for her
to ask the child's partner in bliss to write the old lady a letter
telling how good a husband he is making and then use that
letter to find for him a handsomer or a richer spouse.

It does not seem to me that it is sufficient justification for
this proceeding to say that it is in the interests of education
that able men shall advance as rapidly as possible from lower
to higher places, and that it is the business of educational in-
stitutions, who are obliged to husband their resources, to be
generous.

Even if we were to concede both of these propositions, yet it
might be pertinently asked with whom is the right of initiative
in moving a teacher from a lower position to a higher. Is it
not with the people charged with the duty of filling the higher
position? They may properly solicit him, and if they do and
their position is really one of larger opportunities for him and
for education, and it becomes apparent that he is adapted to it,
then he might well be disposed to go, and the institution with
which he has been associated should take obstacles out of his
path and send him higher with hearty congratulations and good
will. But is he to be encouraged to flirt with opportunities?
Steadiness and contentment are as important to education as
moving a teacher from a lower to a higher position. A sense
of obligation to surrounding conditions, — a knowledge of and
a keen appreciation of the binding effect of legal obligations,
a matter-of-course purpose to fulfill moral obligations com-
pletely,— is no less essential to educational progress than the
advancement of teachers from one position to another. Cer-
tainly, educational institutions are to be generous, but with
whose effects besides their own ? Educational institutions are
to be just to the particular interests for which they stand as
well as generous to the general interests of education. And
who is to be the judge of the depth of the resources, or the
measure and direction of educational generosity, but the people
who are to give ?

Educational maternalism is as undesirable as governmental
paternalism. The time comes for college students to be put
out of the nest and told that unless they can dig their own

1900] Getting teachers and getting positions 39

worms they will be in danger of having to go to bed without
their suppers. It may be all right for their school mother to
tell them where the worms are and show them how to scratch
and even to dig out the first worm for them, but certainly after
all that they should be allowed to gain fiber and muscle by
doing things all by themselves, or take the consequences.
There will be stronger men and women, more contentment and
stability, broader work and greater satisfaction in the schools
if that is done.

But let us pass to the more difiicult task of laying down some
fundamental principles which may well govern institutions and
teachers and third parties in their dealings concerning teachers'
positions.

An agreement between a board or an institution and a
teacher is a legal contract. Both the institution and the teacher
are bound to its fulfillment in honor and in law. An institu-
tion which would dismiss a teacher in the midst of a term of
employment, unless for immorality, pronounced incompetency,
or manifest inability to perform his part of the agreement,
would act very reprehensibly and unlawfully. And a teacher
who would insist upon vacating a position in the midst of a
term of employment because of an opportunity to get another
position with better advantages or larger pay would act no less
reprehensibly or unlawfully.

Whether an agreement once entered into shall be abrogated
before fulfilled is to be left to the free discretion of the parties.
Practically the only time when this question is raised is when
a teacher may go to a larger place. It is strange how many
teachers who would think it a great outrage for a board to dis-
miss them in the middle of a term also think it a great wrong if
a board is unwilling to allow them to break their agreements
when they find it advantageous to do so. As a teacher's effi-
ciency is so much dependent upon his spirit and contentment,
institutions are accustomed to say that " if he has made up his
mind he wants to go he might as well be allowed to do so, and
we will supply the vacancy as best we can." It is tanta-
mount to saying that " the teacher is hardly expected to be
governed by the ordinary rules of law and business-dealing

40 Educational Review [June

which apply to other grown persons with capacity to contract,
so we will have to overlook the matter and let him go." It
may be true that boards of education and heads of institu-
tions should be interested in the advancement of all true
teachers, but it is not true that this is sufficient to overthrow all
agreements; and the true interests of the teaching profession
would be seriously injured if it were to be so. Never let us
allow teachers to be included with minors, and lunatics, and
feeble-minded folk, and other mental non-competents who are
excused from the performance of contracts. And let it be re-
membered that the recision of an agreement is not a matter of
right, that it is hardly a matter which one may ask, that it is
a matter which addresses itself to the free discretion and gen-
erous impulses of the employing power, and if it is not readily
granted let the agreement be fulfilled as cheerfully and as com-
pletely as if the occasion for thinking about its abrogation had
not arisen at all.

If the employment of a teacher is not by its terms to end at
a specific time, if by rule or usage it continues from term to
term, or year to year, and if either party desires to terminate it,
there is an honorable mutual obligation to advise the other at a
considerable time in advance of such termination, or as soon as
it is decided upon. It is well to remember that it is something
of an accomplishment to get out of an old position creditably,
and so that the old place always has a welcome for you, when
going to a new one. It is an accomplishment which many do
not possess, and it is one which is very suggestive of character.

The first desire of a true teacher must be to advance his
work and enhance his usefulness. He cannot be indifferent
to enlarged opportunities with improved facilities. Nor can
he be indifferent to greater compensation, for that of itself
means enlarged opportunities. But the certain way to advance
is to prove one's worth in the place where he is. Then he will
be known in the region round about and perhaps in the whole
land if he is strongly successful. He cannot be strongly suc-
cessful unless he is contented, and enthusiastic, and studious,
and steady. He must grow, and he must be sure and reliable
enough to be counted upon. He must assirnilate with the con-

ipoo] Getting teachers and getting positions 41

ditions in which he works. One who has his ear to the ground
all the while, in the hope of hearing a '' call," is a nuisance and
no teacher at all. One who makes use of a call, or an inference,
or a wink, or something less substantial to increase his present
salary, comes little short of being a fraud. Contentment, en-
thusiasm, loyalty, efficiency, these are the chief elements of a
teacher's capital. They soon insure recognition and they
readily and inevitably command an educatignal market. Then
a better place — one of greater opportunities and larger pay —
will open, and when it does it may well be occupied.

A teacher who has been able to show that he has the quali-
ties which command a market has small occasion to call upon
others for letters of commendation. Beginners may have
those qualities without yet having had the opportunities to
make them manifest; and beginners may well be helped to
secure their opportunities. But it is safe to say that the cus-
tom of writing meaningless letters which reveal but part of
the truth, to say nothing of such as propagate untruth, is to
be condemned. If people from whom letters are desired would
follow the practice of telling candidates that they would cheer-
fully answer inquiries from third parties, and would make such
answers frank and truthful, they would give substantial aid
to officials looking for teachers; and they would really be more
serviceable, in the long run, to candidates looking for places.

Officers whose duties require them to secure teachers for
prominent or responsible positions are bound to know where
such teachers are, and they are entitled to go where they may
get them. The very life of a university is dependent upon the
constant re-enforcement of the faculty. It is not easy to get
rid of unsatisfactory teachers, but when a vacancy occurs the
opportunity to give things a lift has arrived and it is an oppor-
tunity which must be made the most of. At the University of
Illinois we opened, years ago, two filing cabinets in which we
place, almost daily, comprehensive statements showing the an-
cestral and educational pedigrees of such promising and pos-
sibly available teachers as come to our attention. When occa-
sion arises we have much desirable information at hand and
many good teachers are certain to have consideration. Know-

42 Educational Review [June

ing where one is whom we may want we have the undoubted
right to go where he is and get him if we can : and of course
this involves the right of others coming into our inclosure to
secure teachers if they can.

The doctrine that the interests of education will be promoted
by the best teachers getting into places of largest opportunity
will hardly be challenged anywhere. And the places of
largest opportunity have the right to seek the largest men and
women. It is the business of any place to seek the best ma-
terial within its reach. There need be no apology for doing it
and there is no occasion for sneaking about it. It may well be
done with directness and with the knowledge of the head or
other officers of the institution whose interests and serenity
may be affected thereby. Every facility for obtaining infor-
mation must be afforded. Then the invaders must decide
whether they really want to lay suit or not, and if they conclude
that they do they must determine what they can do to make
their suit successful, and then the suitee must weigh the im-
portant matter deliberately and after having done so let his
wife decide whether he shall go or stay. In either event, the
decision will probably be right. The wife is all right any way,
but we draw the line on the unasked intervention of the
mother-in-law, and the stepmother, and the grandmother, and
the schoolmother, and all the other nice old ladies who have
had their day in deciding things for their children, and whose
splendid function it now is to be gracious and benignant and
pass their blessing upon whatever transpires.

There is undoubtedly a perfectly legitimate field of opera-
tions for teachers' agencies in aiding officers who are in quest
of teachers and in aiding teachers who are in search of places;
-but, as already suggested, the business is peculiarly liable to in-
vite bad methods and lay itself open to criticism. Perhaps the
agencies sometimes get censure that does not belong to them.
If an officer allows the belief to grow that his favor can be
gained only thru a certain agency, that is his fault more
than the fault of the agency. If an institution does not suffi-
ciently discount the roseate statements of an agency as to the
qualities of a candidate the institution is as much too slow as

1900] GeUi7ig teachers and getting positions 43

the agency is too fast. In the absence of intentional fraud such
matters afford Httle real ground for complaint: they are in-
cident to all business and in time regulate themselves. But
the temptation to deliberate fraud is great. If an agency
assumes to represent one of the parties without being author-
ized, if it intentionally misstates facts, if it makes a claim for
pay without rendering any service, if it pretends to an influence
which it does not possess, if it flatters and cajoles and coerces
and resorts to circuitous and dishonest methods to accomplish
its ends, it is guilty of fraud. Of course such an agency should
be shunned. If institutions and teachers would recognize no
agencies, and tell the fledglings to have nothing to do with
agencies, which are not in the hands of educated men who
know the needs of a position and can discern the qualities and
particularly the adaptiveness of a candidate, and who have
honesty enough to tell the truth, there would not be so many
illegitimate concerns to condemn. In a word, when agencies
try to serve true teachers and intelligently and genuinely under-
take to meet the needs of the schools in the best ways, they are
to be encouraged, for they may be of real assistance to both
interests. Perhaps if we remembered that the agency is but
the agent of the institution, or of the board, or of the teacher,
and that the agent has no right to do what the principal in
either case would not or should not do, we shall surround the
agency with the ethical principles which ought to be observed.
But while speaking of all these things it is well to remember
that the place in which a teacher has gained a good reputation
is more than likely to be the best place for him. Real teachers
make positions by the work which they do. Few who make a
position and gain reputation improve the one or enhance the
other by transfer to a new place. Teaching power, accom-
panied by • steadiness and contentment, is certain to bring a
teacher most precious remuneration which cannot be measured
in gold.

Andrew S. Draper

University of Illinois,
Champaign, III.

Ill

THE CALIFORNIA STATE TEXT-BOOK SYSTEM

The twenty-first session of the legislature of California met
on December 6, 1875. On the third day of the session a bill
entitled " An Act to prevent unnecessary changes in text-books
in use in the public schools " was introduced in the senate. Its
passage was expedited in both houses. Being promptly
signed by the Governor it became a law just one week after its
introduction in the senate.

The events that led to the passage of this law with so much
expedition were the culmination of a long series of text-book
scandals in the State. On June 22, 1874, the four years for
which McGuffey's readers were adopted having expired, the
State board of education advertised for proposals for new
readers and some other text-books. On January 5, 1875, the
proposals were opened and the contract for supplying readers
for the ensuing four years was awarded to a San Francisco
firm. The contract, however, was set aside by the Supreme
Court on a defect in the records of the board. On June i the
board readvertised for proposals and on the third day of De-
cember met to consider those submitted, when they were en-
joined from doing so, and before the injunction could be raised
the bill introduced in the senate had become a law.

The effect of this law was to continue in use in all the public
schools of the State until otherwise provided by statute the
text-books then in use, " any provision in the existing law, or
any act of the State board of education done, or to be done, to
the contrary notwithstanding."

No text-book legislation being enacted by the succeeding
legislature, this law was in effect when the second constitu-
tional convention convened September 28, 1878. The Con-
stitution framed by this convention was ratified by a vote of
the people May 7, 1879, and in most respects went into effect

The California State text-book system 45

January i, 1880. The section providing for the adoption of
text-books was as follows :

" The local boards of education, and the boards of super-
visors, and county superintendents of the several counties
which may not have county boards of education, shall adopt
a series of text-books for the use of the common schools within
their respective jurisdiction; the text-books so adopted shall
continue in use not less than four years."

As the boards of supervisors were composed exclusively of
business men, county boards of education — consisting of the
county superintendent and four members, the members being
appointed by the boards of supervisors — were organized by
authority of the legislature in every county in the State, except
the city and county of San Francisco, which was already pro-
vided with a local board by its charter. Incorporated cities
were also provided with local boards by their charters.

The adoption of text-books by these local boards was at-
tended with frequent scandals; while it was found that the
great variety of text-books adopted by them imposed large ex-
pense upon families removing from one jurisdiction in the
State to another.

Such in brief had been the experience of the State with
school text-books under a uniform system of adoption by the
State board of education and under the system of adoption by
the local boards when the Republican State convention met in
Sacramento on August 30, 1882. There was no premonition
that the convention would adopt any unusual educational plank.
There was nothing in the Democratic platform to outbid.
Tho the committee on platform and resolutions did not report
any resolution in relation to the public schools, the convention
on the second day adopted without deliberation and practically
without debate the following resolution :

" The Republican party demands that the public schools shall
receive a generous support as the pillar of free government;
that education from the primary school to the State university
shall be free, and within the reach of the children of every
citizen ; that in furtherance of this principle, we recommend to
the legislature the establishment of some system by which the

46 Educational Review ^ [j

une

State shall print and provide the reading and other text-books
used in the public schools, supplying the same to pupils at
actual cost."

A great political party thus stood pledged to inaugurate the
publication by the State of a series of school text-books.
However, the party was defeated and in the usual order of
things the resolution would have been forgotten with other
ante-election promises, but that the State printer and the poli-
ticians saw that the publication of a series of school text-books
by the State would increase the patronage of the State printing
office; besides the legislature chosen contained some members
who thought they saw an opportunity to " cinch " the pub-
lishers who had so long '' cinched " the people of the State.

A bill providing for the compilation and publication of a
series of school text-books by the State was introduced into
the senate very early in the session. An amendment to the
Constitution with the same end in view was next introduced
with several additional bills. Finally the senate adopted a
resolution directing the State printer to report upon the " cost
of compiling and publishing free text-books by the State, and
to ascertain in connection the cost to pupils of the common
schools of readers, histories, arithmetics, and spelling books."
The report submitted, in compliance with this resolution, by
State printer James T. Ayres, tho fallacious, was far-reaching
in its influence.

The State printer said that he had '' instituted as thoro and
searching an inquiry as could be made in the short time " that
had '' elapsed since the passage of the resolution." That he
had confined his inquiry *' to the cost of printing and binding
the books named " and that in regard to the cost of printing
that he had made " a careful and elaborate investigation.
That the principal item of expense in connection with the pub-
lication of school books by the State would be the binding.
That tho the estimates furnished by bookbinders were based
upon a great deal of work to be done by hand, which was done
in the East by machinery, still the comparative cost of the
books showed that the State could furnish them to pupils at a
lower figure than they were being furnished."

ipoo] The California State text-book system 47

The estimates of cost furnished were stated to be based upon
Swinton's Word primer; McGuffey's readers, first, third,
and fifth; Robinson's Complete arithmetic; Reed and Kel-
logg's Grammar and composition; and Barnes' Brief history
of the United States. In making these selections he stated
that he had been " guided by hints of gentlemen " who had
made the subject of text-books a special study for several
years, and that they had advised the selection '' of three of
the McGuffey readers as models to figure upon, claiming that
a good compiler could embrace in the three books " the
size of those selected " all the matter that would be necessary
for a complete reader course."

The State printer then submitted an estimate of the cost of
the composition, electrotyping, binding, paper, and press work
required for each of the books, as well as an estimate of the
cost of the woodcuts for the readers, and engravings and insert
maps for the history.

A resume of the estimates of the State printer, compared
with the retail price of the books used by him as models, is here-
with presented.

Estimates of State Printer Compared with Retail
Price of Models.

Name of Book.

Cost per Copy to the
State.

Retail
Price of
Models.

Difference
IN Favor
OF State.

Speller

8.126 cents, or $0.08^
9.286 " " o.09y
17.920 " " 0.18
24.244 " " 0.24^
28.891 " " 0.28I
20.167 " " 0.20^
29.658 " " 0.29I

$0.18
0.20
0.50
0.85
1. 00
1.05
1.25

$o.o9|
o.iof
0.32
o.6of
o.7ii
0.84!

o.95i

First Reader

Second Reader

Third Reader

Arithmetic

Grammar

History

138.292 cents, or $1.38^

$5.03

$3.64f

The State printer was not directed to report upon the cost
of compiling and publishing a geography, and, while he made
no estimate for the publication of one, he expressed the opinion
that a text-book similar to Monteith's Comprehensive
geography, the retail price of which was $1.50, could be pub-

48 Educational Review [June

lished for thirty-five cents, this cost being proportionate with
that of the larger books in the above enumeration.

In conclusion he stated that in arriving at the cost to the
State of publishing school text-books he had made " no allow-
ance for waste of capital in the wear and tear of material and
machinery for the printing of the books, nor for the original
capital devoted to the purchase of such material and ma-
chinery," nor "the cost of distribution"; but that ''all these
expenses would be more than covered by adding twenty-five
per cent, to the actual cost of the books as given in the table,"
bringing the cost of the series to $1.72^4? but still leaving a
difference of $3.30^4 in favor of the State.

Finally the State printer expressed the opinion, based upon
investigation, that the binding by the use of improved ma-
chinery could be done ten per cent, cheaper than the estimates
included in the cost, and if the State should undertake the
work of school-book publication and determine to do the bind-
ing itself, that a complete outfit for a '' Mammoth Edition
Bindery " could be procured at a cost of about $10,000.

The State printing office was reported as being nearly capa-
ble of doing the work of the '' setting up and the printing of
the school books." The additional type required being a mere
trifle such only as would be necessary to " sort up " the cases
'' to meet the exigencies of special matter in the arithmetic,"
while " the only additional machinery required would be two
more stop cylinder presses, or one of the latest improved Hoe
perfection presses."

Of course, all of the measures before the legislature at this
time in reference to the compilation and publication by the
State of a series of school text-books were unconstitutional,
with the exception of the proposed amendment to the Consti-
tution. This amendment, with some minor changes, was
passed shortly after the presentation of the report by the State
printer.

It was approved by the Governor and was the next year sub-
mitted to the people and ratified by them. It was as follows :

" The Governor, superintendent of public instruction, and

ipoo] The California State text-book system 49

the principals of the State normal schools shall constitute the
State board of education and shall compile, or cause to be com-
piled, and adopt, a uniform series of text-books for use in the
common schools thruout the State. The State board may
cause such text-books, when adopted, to be printed and pub-
lished by the superintendent of State printing, at the State
printing office, and when so printed and published to be dis-
tributed and sold at the cost price of printing, publishing, and
distributing the same. The text-books so adopted shall con-
tinue in use not less than four years, and said State board shall
perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. The
legislature shall provide for a board of education in each county
in the State. The county superintendents and the county
boards of education shall have control of examination of
teachers and the granting of teachers' certificates within their
respective jurisdiction."

The first Act passed by the legislature under the amendment
was approved February 26, 1885. The provisions of the Act
relating to the State board of education and the superintendent
of State printing, omitting formal directions, were as follows :

" Section i. The State board of education shall compile, or
cause to be compiled, for use in the common schools of the
State, a series of school text-books of the following descrip-
tion, viz. : Three readers, one speller, one arithmetic, one gram-
mar, one history of the United States, and one geography.

" Section 2. The State board of education shall employ well-
qualified persons to compile the books mentioned in section one
of this Act, and shall fix the remuneration for services thus ren-
dered : provided that if competent authors shall compile any one
or more of the works of the first order of excellence, and shall
offer the same as a free gift to the people of the State, it shall
be the duty of the State board of education to accept such gift.

*' Section 3. The printing of all the text-books provided for
in section one of this Act, and the mechanical work connected
therewith, shall be done by and under the supervision of the
superintendent of State printing at the State printing office."

The Act appropriated twenty thousand dollars for the com-

CO Educational Review [June

pilation of the books directed to be compiled, and one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to purchase the necessary machinery
and materials for the manufacture of the books as well as to
pay the salaries or wages of those engaged in the manufacture,
and finally directed that the books when published should be
sold at cost.

It will be seen that the text-books described in the Act were
to be compiled by the State board of education or under their
direction, the language being, following that of the amendment
to the Constitution, " shall compile or cause to be compiled ";
but the legislature evidently did not expect the State board
to compile the books, for, in section two of the Act, it is directed
to employ " well-qualified persons " to do the work.

The legislature did not attempt to set a standard of merit
which should be attained by the books, but it is presumed that
the best was desired, for it only gave the board authority to ac-
cept as a free gift from competent authors compilations '* of the
first order of excellence."

It is fair to presume that it was the expectation of the people
of the State when they adopted the amendment to the Consti-
tution, and the intention of the legislature that enacted the law
under it, that the State should publish a uniform series of text-
books of the '' first order of excellence " for use in the common
schools of the State and at a price that should be less at all
times than the prevailing prices of private publishers.

The educational excellence of the series depended upon the
State board of education, for it had the authority to compile the
books or employ " well-qualified persons " to do so; while the
mechanical excellence and the cost, except the cost of compila-
tion, depended upon the superintendent of State printing.

The members of the State board of education at this time
were General George Stoneman, Governor; William T.
Welcker, State superintendent of public instruction; Charles
H. Allen, principal State normal school, San Jose; and Ira
More, principal State normal school, Los Angeles. The
principals of the State normal schools had held their positions
some years and were well known to the teachers and citizens of
the State, while the State superintendent had been for years,

1900] The California State text-book system 5 1

tho not immediately preceding his election, a professor in the
University of California. The Governor and State superin-
tendent were elected by the people, while the principals of the
State normal schools were elected by a board of trustees ap-
pointed by the Governor, of which he and the State superin-
tendent were ex-officio members.

The superintendent of State printing, or State printer, as
this official is commonly called, was James T. Ayres, an ap-
pointee of the Governor.

It would seem that in the beginning the State board of edu-
cation did not contemplate compiling the books themselves, for
at their meeting on the 24th of March they resolved
to receive, until June i, proposals for furnishing the manu-
scripts or printed texts of the books directed to be compiled.
In compliance with the law it was further resolved on the fol-
lowing day to accept as a " free gift " compilations " of the
first order of excellence." At the next meeting of the board
Mr. W. H. V. Raymond, who had just edited a new series of
readers for a San Francisco firm, was elected editor-in-chief.
The editor-in-chief began work on the first day of June and de-
voted nearly four months to editing the specimen subdivisions
of manuscript submitted to the board by intending authors.
On the examination of these texts by the board none of them
was in their opinion worthy of acceptance except a series of
three readers tendered as a free gift by Mr. H. C. Kinne of
San Francisco. The vote accepting them was not unanimous.
Principal Allen not only voted against their acceptance, but
placed the following statement on the records of the board:

" In my opinion the adoption of the Kinne readers as sub-
mitted to us for use in the public schools of this State is a long
step to the rear, and I have done what I could by voice and
vote to prevent the adoption of a series of readers which I be-
lieve are so imperfect and so poorly adapted to the wants of the
schools of the State."

" In view of their want of success with authors from the
community at large, the State board of education," said State

5 2 Educational Review [June

Superintendent Welcker, ''became convinced that it was
necessary to undertake the work themselves." It is not to be
understood that t:he board collectively or individually intended
compiling any of the proposed text-books. Undertaking " the
work themselves " consisted in supervising the compilations of
persons whom they employed. Superintendent Welcker was
directed by the board to supervise the preparation of the
readers and speller, Principal Allen the grammar, and Prin-
cipal More the arithmetic.

The series of three readers accepted as a " free gift " cost for
editorial supervision, including the cost of illustrations for the
first and second, $4468.75. The first and third were published
in September, 1886, while the second was completed in De-
cember of the same year. The books did not prove to be works
" of the first order of excellence," which was the standard set
by the legislature for any that should be accepted as a free gift.
" Nearly all agree," said State Superintendent Hoitt in 1890,
" that the readers are poorly graded, that they should be re-
vised, and at least one if not two or more books should be added
to the series."

An innovation was made in the plan of the speller. It was
designed to displace the ordinary spelling book as well as any
book on word analysis. Mr. W. L. Willis was hired at
$100 per month to compile it. He w^as engaged in the com-
pilation between nine and ten months. It was published in
September, 1886. "This, also [the speller], in my opinion,"
said State Superintendent Anderson in 1892, " needs revision.
Indeed, I am of the opinion that both the readers and the speller
are so defective in what is needed by the schools as to require
entirely new publications instead of revision."

Such was the condition of State publication upon the
assembling of the legislature on January 3, 1887. By an Act
approved on the 15th of March following, the legislature
directed the State board of education to " compile or cause to
be compiled " an elementary arithmetic, an elementary gram-
mar or language lessons, an elementary geography, and a
physiology and hygiene. These books were in addition to
those directed to be compiled by the previous legislature. The

1900] The California State text-book system 53

sum of $15,000 was appropriated for the purpose of their
compilation, and $165,000 for the pubHcation of the first
50,000 copies of each. The Act created also what is known as
the '' State school-book fund," that is, a fund into which all
moneys received from the sale of the State series of school
text-books is kept and which it was supposed would provide
sufficient sums to publish all editions of the State series over
and above the first 50,000 copies of each. " The State board
of education shall employ well-qualified persons to compile the
books " was again the direction of the law.

In compliance with this law the supervision of the compila-
tion of the elementary arithmetic and physiology was assigned
by the State board of education to Principal More, the elemen-
tary grammar to Principal Allen, and the elementary geog-
raphy to State Superintendent Ira G. Hoitt. The supervision
of the compilation of the United States history, authorized by
the legislature of 1885, was also assigned to the State superin-
tendent.

No one was employed to supervise the compilation of these
books, nor any others previously or subsequently directed to be
compiled or revised, who was not a resident of the State. In
fact, in so far as is known, no attempt w^as made on the part of
the State board of education nor any of its members to employ
anyone outside of the State to compile or revise any of the
books. While this limitation of authorship was bad, it was
made worse by the lack of competition. It would seem that
friendship was a greater factor in the employment of compilers
than fitness. None of the compilers possessed any experience
or training in the preparation of school text-books, except
Editor-in-chief Raymond and Mrs. Mary W. George. Some
were successful and experienced teachers of sound scholarship;
but as a whole they did not possess the training or scholarship
that fitted them to produce a series of text-books for use in the
public schools of the State that publishers would publish or
people buy unless compelled to do so by law. An examination
of the publications compiled by them justifies this conclu-
sion.

The State series of arithmetics do not form a closely related

54 Educational Review [June

series. '' Few, if any, of the modern ideas of mathematical
teaching " are incorporated in them. It is difficult to obtain
satisfactory results from their use. In fact, Professor Elwood
P. Cubberley of Leland Stanford, Jr., University declared,
when city superintendent of San Diego, that there could be " no
good arithmetic teaching " if the work in arithmetic was con-
fined to the series.

" The grammar," said State Superintendent Anderson in
1892, ''meets with more serious complaint than any other books
published by the State, except the readers and the history, and
the interests of our schools imperatively demands its revision."
If the arithmetics did not form a well-graded and clearly uni-
fied series, the English grammar and the elementary grammar,
or, as it is termed, Lessons in language, were in this respect
even more defective, there being no similarity between the two
books.

" Much complaint," said State Superintendent Anderson
nearly eight years ago, " is heard relative to the character of
the history of the United States. It is not at all suited to the
pupils in the classes where it is required to be used. The ar-
rangement of the matter is not regarded as good, and the style
of treating the various topics is abtruse to such a degree as to
render it very difficult to be comprehended by the pupils. In
my opinion it should be thoroly revised and brought down to
the present time." It has not yet been revised. It is now
practically fifteen years behind the times.

The text of the elementary geography was prepared in the
main by Editor-in-chief Raymond. It is one of the best books
in the State series, but it needs revision, as it is now ten years
old. Its maps are poor. In this connection it should be said
that whatever defects may exist in the several publications of
the State series they cannot be attributed to the editor-in-
chief.

The physiology is so thoroly beyond the comprehension of
grammar grade pupils that but little use is made of it. *' It is
faulty in method, misleading in statement, and poor in literary
style." It is incapable of revision.

On the recommendation of Superintendent Hoitt the legis-

1900] The California State text-book system 55

lature of 1889 authorized the compilation of a text-book on
civil government. The supervision of the compilation was
assigned to Principal C. W. Childs, who had succeeded Charles
H. Allen as principal of the San Jose State normal school.
Principal Childs employed Professor William Carey Jones,
then and now professor of jurisprudence in the University of
California, to compile the book. It is one of the best books of
the series; but is not well adapted for use in the elementary
schools. It should be revised.

When the legislature of 1893 convened, all of the books pre-
viously directed to be compiled had been published and were in
use in the schools of the State, with the exception of the ad-
vanced geography, the compilation of which had not been com-
pleted, tho authorized by the original Act of 1885. Tho the
first publications of the State series had been in general use, at
this time, only five and one-half years, the legislature by an Act
approved March 9, 1893, authorized and directed the State
board of education to revise the three readers, the English
grammar, the history, and the advanced arithmetic, and to
compile a primary history of the United States. Twenty-five
thousand dollars was appropriated from the " State school-
book fund " for the revision and compilation.

In compliance with this law the State board of education
employed in addition to the editor-in-chief already employed,
two assistant editors, Mrs. Mary W. George and Miss Anna C.
Murphy, to revise the books named in the Act.

Before it could be determined whether the editor-in-chief
and assistant editors could compile better books than had been
compiled under the contract system, the board on April 11,
1894, set aside $4000 for the revision of the history of the
United States and the compilation of a primary history, and
further requested Mr. C. H. Keyes, at that time principal of
the Throop Polytechnic Institute at Pasadena " to prepare and
present to the board at its next meeting a scheme " for the
proposed revision and compilation, the request being made
** with a view to his employment upon the work," and finally it
was resolved to allow him '' the sum of $500 on the acceptance
of his scheme, and thereafter such sums at each meeting of the

^6 Educational Review [June

board as may be determined at the time, in accordance with the
progress of the work, until the sum of $4000 shall have been
paid."

In compliance with the first resolution of the board, Prin-
cipal Keyes submitted a '' scheme " for the proposed revision
and compilation, and upon its acceptance received in accordance
with the terms of the second resolution $500 on account. The
manuscript of the primary history was received by the board
early in 1896, but it was not accepted until the following year,
being returned to the author for revision upon the report of
Mr. A. B. Coffee, who was appointed to examine it. When the
manuscript of the revised history was submitted in 1898 it was
referred to Dr. K. C. Babcock of the University of California,
and Mrs. R. V. Winterburn of Stockton. In the opinion of
these experts it was not worthy of acceptance. Thereupon it
was returned with their criticisms to the author. A new
manuscript has recently been submitted by the author. It has
not yet been accepted.

Principal Keyes has received $3000 in addition to the $500
paid him on the acceptance of his " scheme " of revision and
compilation. The experts have been paid $300. That is,
$3800 has been paid for the manuscript of a primary history
which, tho accepted, has not been published and for the manu-
script of the revised history which, tho submitted, has not been
accepted.

Before any revisions made by the board of editors were pub-
lished, the advanced geography, which has been assigned for
compilation in June, 1892, was issued, being published in Sep-
tember, 1893. Its compilation had been supervised by Prin-
cipal Childs and State Superintendent Hoitt. It is an abtruse
book, contains poor maps, and needs revision.

Only the readers and English grammar were revised by the
board of editors, if entirely new books can be said to be revi-
sions. The readers were issued in a series of four books.
The revised first and second readers were published in August,
1894, while the revised third and fourth readers were published
in June of the following year. The revised English grammar
was published in June, 1896. All of these books are very

1900] The California state text-book system 57

good and would with slight revision give fair satisfaction for
some years to come.

Upon the compilation of the revision of the grammar, the
State board of education declared the offices of editor-in-chief
and assistant editors vacant, thus bringing the work of revi-
sion, tho unfinished, to a close.

The only expenditures for revision or compilation made since
the dismissal of the board of editors have been the payments
made in accordance with terms of the contract for the revision
of the history and the compilation of a primary history, except
the sums paid experts to pass upon the manuscripts of these
books.

It is seen that the State has provided texts upon eight sub-
jects taught in its elementary schools, and published, including
revisions, eighteen books. Tho none of them are of '' the first
order of excellence," some possessed sufficient merit at the time
of their publication to give fair satisfaction, though others
were so inferior that their introduction was a step backward.
It is now seven years since the legislature directed the revision
of the history and advanced arithmetic and the compilation
and publication of a primary history of the United States.
While the primary history has been compiled it has not been
published. The manuscript for the revised history of the
United States has not been accepted. No revision of the ad-
vanced arithmetic has been made nor can be made without
legislative action, as but a trifling balance of the appropriation
of 1893 remains unexpended. In a word, the books that were
originally inferior are now obsolete and those that gave fair
satisfaction in the beginning need revision.

But this is not all. Tho the system has decreased the ex-
pense of families changing their residences and been a factor in
causing publishers to reduce their prices, its failure to produce
cheap books is as marked as its failure to produce a series '' of
the first order of excellence." In this the people are disap-
pointed, for they were led to believe that the cost of school text-
books under the system of State publication would be less than
the cost under local or State adoption. Their disappointment
in this particular, however, need scarcely be considered, for

58 Educational Review [June

they are able to pay the estabHshed prices ; while the State can
duplicate the thousands it has appropriated for compilation, the
hundreds of thousands it has invested in the plant, when it shall
have worn out, and pour other thousands into the " State
school-book fund," where so many thousands have already
disappeared; but the continued use by the children of the State
of the present series of text-books should be a matter of the
profoundest consideration.

The publication of a uniform series of text-books for use in
the common schools is the fixed and settled policy of the State.
The section of the Constitution which provides for State pub-
lication is as supreme as the section which says, " The State of
California is an inseparable part of the American union and the
Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the
land." The people, however, should know the truth in regard
to the State text-books. They should have everything apper-
taining to State publication placed before them in an authorita-
tive manner by the State board of education.

The board should state distinctly their opinion of the various
books of the series. They should indicate those that do not
need immediate revision, those that should be revised, but
which are not so poor as to be incapable of use pending revi-
sion, and finally those so thoroly obsolete that their use should
be abridged by the adoption of such courses of study as would,
with sound methods of instruction, overcome their narrowing
influences until they could be displaced by entirely new books.

If it should appear to the board after an exhaustive inquiry
into the cost of compilation and publication and a critical ex-
amination of the books of the State series now in use, that
State publication has so far failed that it should be discon-
tinued, they should not hesitate to say so, and recommend its
abolition to the legislature, giving reasons therefor. On the
other hand, if they should conclude that it is practicable, they
should not only say so, but present a definite and comprehensive
plan for its future continuance, indicating in detail the best
method of obtaining acceptable manuscripts with an estimate
of their cost, the best method of keeping the books revised — in
fine, such a report for or against State publication as would be

1900] The California State text-book system 59

followed by the legislature and accepted by the people of the
State as final.

It is not too much to expect that the legislature would follow
and the people of the United States accept the conclusions of
the present State board of education, for it commands not only
the respect of the teachers and those interested directly in edu-
cational affairs, but the citizens of the State in general. Its
members are Henry T. Gage, Governor; Thomas J. Kirk, State
superintendent of public instruction; Benjamin Ide Wheeler,
president of the University of California; Elmer E. Brown,
professor of pedagogy in the University of California and
presidents James McNaughton, E. T. Pierce, C. C. Van Liew,
Samuel T. Black, and Frederic Burk, of the San Jose, Los
Angeles, Chico, San Diego, and San Francisco State normal
schools.

The publication by the State of the essential books used in
the elementary schools has unquestionably minimized scandals
in connection with the adoption of text-books by local boards of
education; but the State printing ofliice has become since the
inauguration of State publication a great political machine
which, thru the " California State School Book League " of
Sacramento, undertakes to dominate the politics of the State.

Instead of a small appropriation for the purchase of a
" Mammoth Edition Bindery " at a cost of $10,000, " two or
more stop cylinder presses or one of the latest improved Hoe
perfection presses," and enough type to " sort up " the cases
" to meet the exigencies of special matter in the arithmetic,"
the legislature has appropriated for machinery and printing,
including $10,000 for a warehouse and $11,000 for enlarging
the State printing office, since the beginning of State publica-
tion to the first day of January of the present year, $466,000.
The appropriations for compilations have been exclusive of the
$25,000 appropriated from the " School book fund," during
the same time, $40,000. The receipts from the sale of text-
books have been to the same date $1,043,123.83. It will be
seen that the total of the appropriations and receipts from sales
is $1,549,123.83. Of this vast sum the State printer has ex-
pended for machinery, supplies, and labor in the publication of

6o Educational Review

the series during the same period $1,375,251.80. In other
words, $173,872.03 in the '' School book fund," or, repre-
sented by stock and books on hand, a worn-out printing plant,
and a series of text-books either obsolete or needing revision,
is all that the State has to show for its investment of over a
million and a half dollars, for none of the investment has been
returned to the people in the shape of a reduction in prices on
the books, as their cost has been at all times substantially the
same as similar books published by private enterprise. The
people have thus paid for the books twice, once by taxation
and once by purchase.

Richard D. Faulkner

Franklin Grammar School,
San Francisco, Cal.

IV
BETTER CITY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

The controversy between the board of education of Chicago
and the superintendent of schools of that city over the ques-
tion of authority in the direction of the educational department
of the school system has occasioned wide discussion among
educators. It has also attracted public attention to the defects
and incongruities of modern systems of school administration.
While these imperfections have been recognized by educators
for many years, the relations of schoolmen to school boards
have tended to discourage fearless discussion on their part of
the manifest flaws and abuses of the system. A few have vig-
orously assailed the methods that have been engrafted upon
school administration in the larger cities by the politicians, but
not many have had the courage openly to identify themselves
with movements for stripping the politicians of all power in
controlling the selection of teachers or in shaping courses of
instruction.

What is the system of administration most perfectly adapted
to centralize authority, to remove friction, and to realize the
highest educational ideals ? This is the all-important question
of the hour. With educators handicapped by obligations to
politicians and harassed by school boards that insist upon using
the school system for promoting partisan interests, how are
they to attain results that are commensurate with the cost of
maintenance? Clearly there is something radically wrong in
the systems of school management now in operation in many of
the larger cities of this country. The lack of uniformity is
not their most glaring defect, altho it is obvious that if all
municipalities should adopt a uniform method of selecting
school boards and superintendents, and should be governed by
the same general rules with reference to a division of authority
and responsibility, it would simplify the problem of school man-
agement and would greatly increase the general effectiveness of

62 Educational Review [June

the common school system. It would decrease the possibilities
of friction, and minimize the influence of the ward politician,
which is now the bane of public school management.

The perfect system of school administration has not yet been
devised. The public schools belong to the people and the
people belong to the politicians; therefore the complete divorce-
ment of the schools from politics would seem to be well-nigh
impossible in this country. The problem that confronts the
schoolman then is, how to get the control of the purely educa-
tional department of school management as far away from the
politician as possible. Obviously this can be done only by a
centralization of authority in the superintendent of schools.
He must be vested with full power to control the selection of
teachers, text-books, and apparatus, his appointments to be sub-
ject to confirmation by a vote of the board. If he cannot be
the directing force behind the educational machinery of the
schools he certainly cannot be held responsible for results.
The presumption is that he has been employed by the board as
an educational expert, because of his fitness and experience, to
manage and direct the public schools, to pass upon the qualifica-
tion of teachers, to arrange courses of study, to devise methods
of examination, and to report on new text-books that may from
time to time be brought to the attention of the school board.
The financial, architectural, and business interests of the schools
would seem to be of sufficient importance to engage the entire
attention of the board.

But how many directors or trustees should constitute a
school board and how should they be chosen ? -. The fact that
the methods and membership differ radically in the different
cities shows the existence of a wide diversity of opinion on this
question. The long struggle of Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews with
the twenty-one members of the Chicago board of education
for a recognition of his right to control the selection of the
teaching corps is well known to most educators over the coun-
try. Dr. Andrews was brought from the head of Brown Uni-
versity to reorganize the public school system of Chicago,
which had suffered such impairment at the hands of the poli-
ticians as to render it shamefully ineffective and inadequate.

igoo] Better city school administration 63

Dr. Andrews found the pernicious " committee system " of se-
lecting teachers strongly intrenched behind the favor of the
politicians who had been able to get in touch with the district
committees in a way that made it possible to get favorites on
the pay-roll, thus promoting the interests of party and of indi-
vidual ambition. A commission appointed by the mayor to de-
vise a plan for reorganizing the school system presented a
lengthy report to the legislature, recommending, among other
things, a reduction of the school board to nine members and
the vesting of larger powers in the superintendent. The Re-
publican legislature declined to accede to the recommendations
of a school commission appointed by a Democratic mayor, and
hence the report failed of adoption. Dr. Andrews, however,
finally won recognition of his right to control the appointment
of teachers, but this was subsequently denied him in a contro-
versy over the appointment of principals of night schools,
and in the employment of teachers who failed to pass the re-
quired examinations. This last act of the board was followed
by the resignation of Dr. Andrews to accept the chancellorship
of the University of Nebraska. In Chicago the members
of the school board are appointed by the mayor, and it is
gratifying to note that recent appointments by the present
mayor have been made regardless of politics, and have been of
such a high character that the people would be strongly disin-
clined to change to the elective system. In fact there is little
doubt that the personnel of the board represents more efficiency
and respectability than could be secured through election of the
members by a popular vote, altho it is plainly obvious that the
obligation of the board to the appointing power, which cannot
be ignored, is full of dangerous possibilities, and might easily
become a menace to the welfare of the schools.

One of the best illustrations of the benefits that accrue to
the schools thru a small board, with no standing committees, is
furnished by the city of Toledo, Ohio. The Toledo board con-
sists of five members, chosen by the electors at large, without
regard to wards or nationality. The board meets every two
weeks, and disposes of all business coming before it with rea-
sonable dispatch, without orations or extended debates. They

64 Educational Review [June

discuss and determine school matters sitting around a table.
The board has never had any standing committees, and prac-
tically no rules for its government have ever been adopted, there
being no necessity for establishing rules of procedure. The
business manager and the superintendent are always present
at the meetings, and their recommendations are acted upon
without friction or useless discussion. As no member was
elected on a party ticket, each member regards himself as en-
tirely free from any special obligation to any ward or party,
and acts for the entire body of voters for the best interests of
the schools. The superintendent has sole authority to choose
or remove teachers, and hence is held responsible for results.
In like manner the board holds the business manager responsi-
ble for the proper management of all the business affairs per-
taining to the maintenance of the schools. With a superin-
tendent of experience, good judgment, tact, and executive abil-
ity, it is easy to see that the Toledo system assures the greatest
measure of harmonious efficiency and progress.

Notwithstanding the impression which obtains in three or
four of the largest cities of the Union, that the most capable
school boards are obtained thru appointment by the mayor,
either direct or indirect, there is a strong body of opinion which
favors the election of members of a board by popular vote.
While these contests quite often develop bitter factional strife,
in which a superintendent or a particular teacher may be the
issue, which cannot fail to have a demoralizing effect upon the
schools, they at the same time tend to stimulate popular inter-
est in the schools, and are generally productive of more satisfac-
tory results, and the schools enjoy greater immunity from po-
litical interference than under the appointive system, where a
mayor of small caliber, elected because he " carried the foreign
vote in his pocket," may set the schools back a quarter of a
centur3^

That the electorate can be depended upon to provide the most
efficient school boards is evidenced by the progress made in
school administration in cities which have abandoned the ap-
pointive system for the elective. That the people are also in-
clined to regard this as the ideal system is shown by the fact

I poo] Better city school administration 65

that out of a list of forty leading American cities, only eight re-
tain the appointive system, and in only three of those — St.
Paul, Brooklyn, and Jersey City — are the members of the board
appointed direct by the mayor. It is a noteworthy fact that
while St. Paul clings to the appointive system, Minneapolis,
the newer city, keeps her schools in close touch with the people
by choosing the seven members of her school board at a general
election. In Philadelphia the members of the central school
board are appointed by the judges of the courts, which is about
the only commendable feature of the Philadelphia system. In
Milwaukee the twenty-one members of the board of educa-
tion are appointed by a commission of four citizens, who are
appointed for that purpose by the mayor. The efforts of Pitts-
burg to get her -schools out of the direct control of the politi-
cians has resulted in a cumbrous and complicated system. Her
educational affairs are in charge of one central board of thirty-
nine members, and thirty-six sub-district boards, each having
six members. The members of the central board are chosen by
the sub-district 'boards, which are elected by the people. The
teachers in the high school are selected by the central board,
while all teachers in primary and grammar grades are appointed
by the sub-boards. In a general way the public schools may be
said to be under the full control of the electorate in St. Louis,
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Boston, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleve-
land, Toledo, San Francisco, Baltimore, Louisville, Columbus,
Kansas City, Omaha, Rochester, Denver, Syracuse, Lowell,
Dayton (Ohio), Providence, and Grand Rapids, and in nearly
all the smaller cities of the Union. In many of those cities the
members of the boards are elected without reference to wards or
school districts.

Another gratifying feature of modern educational progress
is the drift toward small school boards, with greater centrali-
zation of authority and responsibility for educational results in
the superintendent of schools, which offers the greatest possi-
bilities for harmonious and successful administration. In pro-
pounding inquiries upon this subject to superintendents of
schools in forty of the larger American cities, I found only
one who expressed a preference for large boards — the superin-

66 Educational Review [June

tendent in Brooklyn — who gave as his reason for favoring
large boards : '' It is harder to swing them wrong." The city
of Brooklyn is burdened with a school board of forty-five mem-
bers, appointed by the mayor, the largest, I believe, in the
United States. Next on the list comes Philadelphia, with forty
members; Pittsburg has thirty-nine in her central board. Prov-
idence thirty-three, Cincinnati thirty-one. Grand Rapids twen-
ty-five, Boston twenty-four, Chicago and Milwaukee twenty-
one each. New York nineteen; Detroit seventeen, St. Louis
tw^elve, Baltimore nine, Cleveland eight, St. Paul and Minneap-
olis seven each, Indianapolis five, San Francisco four. The city
of Buffalo might be cited as proof that a school board is not
necessary to a successful administration of a public school sys-
tem. In that city the superintendent of schools, who is elected
by a vote of the people, has no school board to dictate policies
or to challenge his authority in any department of school man-
agement. The Buffalo system is a notable instance of one-man
power and centralized responsibility, under the direct control
of the electorate, but, as experience has shown in the past, it is
full of danger.

The city of Boston, whose public schools have a national
reputation for progressive methods and high standards of
educational excellence, furnishes a noteworthy illustration of
what may be accomplished under a large board, chosen by the
electorate, with adequate powers lodged in the superintendent.
The Boston board has twenty-four members, eight of whom
are elected each year by popular vote for a term of three years.
To the superintendent is accorded the unchallenged right to
pass upon the qualifications of teachers, although his appoint-
ments are subject to approval by the board. That the Boston
system works smoothly and harmoniously with immunity from
political interference, and accomplishes satisfactory results, is
indicated by the fact that the present superintendent of schools
has been in that position since 1880.

The most marked advance in the direction of a simplification
of administration, with greater unity of action and more defi-
nite responsibility, is furnished by recent changes in the school
systems of New York, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and San Fran-

1900] Better city school administration 67

Cisco. The city of Philadelphia took a long stride in the direc-
tion of lifting its public-school system out of politics when it
vested the appointment of the members of its central board of
public education in the judges of the court of common pleas.
But Philadelphia has another board, consisting of twelve school
directors for each ward in the city, elected by the people, known
as a local board. This dual system of administration inevitably
leads to friction and legal contention, which has developed a
general feeling of dissatisfaction in respect to it, accompanied
by the belief that a better organization would secure better re-
sults in the public schools. Unsuccessful efforts have been
made at two sessions of the legislature to change the Philadel-
phia system. In Cleveland we find the greatest centralization
of legislative and administrative authority in school affairs yet
attained in this country. All legislative authority is concen-
trated in a school council of seven members, elected
at large, while executive authority is vested in a
school director, elected by a popular vote of the city.
The director has general charge of all the business pertaining
to the administration of the school affairs of the city, appoint-
ing the superintendent of schools, and of buildings, the archi-
tects, and janitors, and other employees. The superintendent of
instruction is appointed by the school director, subject to the ap-
proval and confirmation of the school council, for an unlimited
term of years, subject to removal by the director for cause.
The superintendent has sole power to appoint and discharge all
assistants and teachers authorized by the council to be em-
ployed. As an exemplification of the one-man-power idea in
the management of schools the Cleveland system leaves noth-
ing to be desired. The objection urged against the Cleveland
system is that it does not embody the spirit of republican insti-
tutions in that it tends to take the schools out of touch with the
people.

The New York system is an improvement upon the Phila-
delphia and Cleveland systems. It has a central board of edu-
cation of 19 members who are elected by borough school
boards, members of which are appointed by the mayor. The
board appoints the superintendent and his assistants, who have

68 Educational Review [June

the care and oversight of all the educational affairs of the
schools, subject to the rules of the board. An excellent feature
of the New York system is the plan of visitorial inspection, by
which inspectors make quarterly reports to the board of educa-
tion on the condition of the schools and the children.

Under the provisions of the new charter of the city of Balti-
more, which went into effect March i, 1900, the school board
will consist of 9 members, instead of 22 as at present, one of
whom is designated by the mayor as president. The mem-
bers of the board are to be appointed by the mayor from the
city at large, subject to confirmation by a majority vote of all
the members of the second branch of the city council. It is to
be composed of representatives of both political parties with-
out reference to sectarian affiliations. Under the new charter
each school is to have a visitor, appointed by the mayor, living
within half a mile of the school " in order to secure the con-
tinuance of local interest in and the oversight of the public
schools." One or more of these visitors are assigned to every
school, so that the parents and tax-payers may have easy access
to an official of the public schools. They are to visit the
schools to which they are assigned and report upon their condi-
tion at least once every three months, and oftener if they deem
it necessary. In case of an emergency requiring attention they
are required to immediately notify the superintendent of pub-
lic instruction. Teachers are to be selected by means of com-
petitive examinations, the newly appointed ones being required
to serve a probation of twelve months before they can be per-
manently appointed. They may be dismissed, however, before
the expiration of the probationary period, if there is no indi-
cation that their work will be satisfactory to the superintendent.
In the promotion of teachers the merit system will prevail, and
where it is necessary to select a new teacher the name is selected
from the eligible list by the superintendent, and proposed by him
to the board. The board has no business manager, the duties
that would naturally be assigned to such an officer being per-
formed by the city comptroller, city register, and inspector of
buildings.

In its desire to change from the elective to the appointive

1900] Better city school administration 69

system of electing a school board, the city of San Francisco
stands almost alone. In other respects, however, the changes
that will be effected by the operation of the new city charter
are in the line of educational progress. Under the operations
of this charter the board was reduced on January i, 1900, from
12 members to 4, appointed by the mayor from the city at
large. The superintendent is given full authority to judge of
the qualifications of teachers, who are elected by the board upon
his recommendation, first to the " substitute list," afterward
to permanent positions.

The most noteworthy advance in the direction of a simpli-
fied system of school administration has been made, in my
opinion, by the city of Indianapolis, under the new school law
enacted by the general assembly of Indiana in 1899. Under
this law, which applies only to cities of a hundred thousand
inhabitants or more, and hence only to Indianapolis, and which
went into effect on the ist of January, 1900, the government
of the public schools of that city is vested in a board of school
commissioners consisting of 5 members. These commis-
sioners are ineligible to any elective or appointive office under
the board or under the government of the city while holding
membership in the board. The method devised for electing
this board promises, in my judgment, a practical solution of the
problem of how to keep the schools in close touch with the
people who support them without exposing them to the machi-
nations of politicians or to the dangers of a careless or indiffer-
ent electorate. The members of this board are elected at a
regular city election for a term of four years, from the city at
large without reference to districts. Each candidate for elec-
tion to the board is proposed in writing to a board of can-
vassers, consisting of the mayor, the treasurer, and the comp-
troller of the city, by not less than two hundred householders
of the city. The names proposed must be presented not later
than thirty days before election, and the board of canvassers is
required to publish them for five days in at least two of the
daily papers of the city. These names are printed on special
ballots to be voted at a regular city election and deposited in a
separate box provided for that purpose. Each elector is

70 Educational Review [June

allowed to vote for five candidates, and the five who receive the
highest number of votes are declared elected. The board is
authorized to elect a secretary, who receives not to exceed $1500
per year, while the treasurer of the city acts as treasurer of the
board without additional compensation. Immediately after its
first organization the board is authorized to appoint a business
director, who serves for a term of one year, but is removable by
a vote of four-fifths of the entire board at any time. If he is
re-elected after having served one year his re-election is for a
term of four years. He is the executive officer of the board,
and it is his duty to execute in the name of the school city, for
the board of commissioners, its contracts and obligations. He
also has the care and custody of all property of the school city,
except moneys, and oversees the construction of buildings and
repairs. He is required to give his entire time to this work, for
which he receives a salary not exceeding $3000. In April of
each year the board elects a superintendent of schools, who
serves a term of one year from June 30, but if he is re-elected
after the first year each re-election is for a term of four years.
The superintendent has the sole power to appoint and dis-
charge all assistants, principals, supervisors, and teachers au-
thorized by the school board to be employed. He is also em-
powered to select all text-books, maps, charts, and apparatus to
be used in the schools, except for the high, manual training,
and normal schools. For these latter schools the text-books
and apparatus are selected by committees consisting in each
instance of the superintendent, the principal of the school, and
the head of the department concerned.

In this general outline of the Indianapolis system many im-
portant details are omitted, but I have given enough to disclose
the basic plan of the admirable structure which, it seems to
me, embodies in a workable form the best ideas evolved from
a century of experimentation in public school administra-
tion. The school board is large enough to administer the
affairs of the schools efficiently and harmoniously. While the
control of the schools is given to the electorate, where it belongs
under our theory of government, it is at the same time
safeguarded from the dangers of popular indifference and from

1900] Better city school administration 71

the scheming poHtician by the provision which requires that a
candidate shall be presented by at least two hundred house-
holders. There is also a wise division of educational, execu-
tive, and administrative authority, and yet there is such har-
monious synthesis of purpose that great unity of action is
secured. The centralization of responsibility in the superin-
tendent is adequate to secure the best results, while the purely
business affairs of the board are committed to expert hands.
All possibility of friction, vexatious delays, and acrimonious
contention seems to have been provided against.

The pendulum of discussion relative to the organization of
school systems has vibrated between an extreme centralization
of authority in a single person, as in Cleveland, on the one
hand, and a wide distribution of responsibility among the
members of a large and unwieldy board of education, as in
Philadelphia, on the other hand. When the pendulum stops
swinging, if it ever does, I believe it will stop somewhere near
the Indianapolis system as the plan of school organization best
calculated to secure the fullest measure of educational ade-
quacy, the most economical and responsible management of
school business and finance, with the greatest conformity to
our democratic theory of government that is compatible with
the maintenance of high pedagogical standards.

Truman A. DeWeese

" The Times-Herald,"
Chicago, III.

THE REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS '

The National Educational Association, thru its normal
school department, has added another unit to its several recent
great contributions to the educational literature of the United
States.

There is no branch of educational work that in late years has
received more attention or met with more hearty support from
the people than that which has to do with the training of
teachers. This is but natural, as well as logical. After our
vast annual contribution for education had gone on for some
years, it became apparent that there was an immense waste in
its expenditure. When critics began to turn the search-light
upon the schools they found that in many instances subjects
were being taught that were of little relative practical value;
that from subjects that were valuable, oftentimes the matter
chosen was the least important ; and that in many instances the
manner of teaching the subjects was such as to waste the ener-
gies of both the teacher and pupil. It was safe to say that at
least half the money expended directly, as well as at least half
the time of pupils drawn away from wage earning, was lost.

It was a logical as well as a sound economic conclusion
that if this immense waste was to be avoided, teachers must be
trained for their work. There must be a proper definition of
education; hence, a study of mind. There must be a proper
understanding of educational values; hence, a knowledge of
environment, and the probable experience to which the youth
would go forth. The result of these conclusions was the estab-
lishment of the normal school. It is but sixty years since the
first normal school in this country was established at Lexing-
ton with three pupils, but the value of this class of work ap-

^ Report of the Committee on Normal Schools, July, i8gg. Published by the
National Educational Association, 1899. 59 p. 15 cents.

The report on normal schools 73

pealed to the people to such an extent that, in the year 1898,
according to this Report, there were in thirty-eight States
126 public normal schools, for which the annual appro-
priations from public funds were no less than $3,038,956.
When it is remembered that in many normal schools the public
funds are supplemented by tuition fees, and also that the
schools referred to are exclusive of the city training schools,
private normal schools, and chairs of education in colleges and
universities, the estimate in which the work of training teachers
is held will be the better appreciated.

The normal schools may truly be said to have sprung from
local conditions. These conditions have varied in range from
the thinly settled frontier State, young and crude in all its in-
stitutions, to the old and thickly populated Eastern State, with
its full-developed system of high schools and colleges, hence,
courses of study widely varying in content, intent, and length.
But the common intellectual purpose of our country, as well
as the common trend of educational thought, made it very de-
sirable that there should be an inquiry into the specific condi-
tions affecting the different schools, and the establishment, if
possible, of an ideal standard. It was this task which the nor-
mal department of the National Educational Association un-
dertook in 1895.

The personnel of the committee appointed made it certain
that the investigation would be careful and painstaking, and
that the conclusions would be carefully weighed. The present
Report is the outcome.

For purposes of review the Report may be considered under
two phases; the one, the committee's own definitions and opin-
ions; the other, the result of their investigations.

The first phase includes the definition of the function of the
normal school with relation to its purpose, its faculty, its stu-
dents, the child, society, the home, and the curriculum; the inner
life of the normal school; normal school administration; and
training schools. The second phase includes the treatment of
the geographical and historical variations that exist in the nor-
mal schools; and the control and maintenance of such schools.

The reader will naturally consider these two phases of the

74 Educational Review [June

Report in the order named. The review of the first classifica-
tion reveals much that is sound and that will readily be ac-
cepted— for instance, the apparent views of the committee on
those features of the normal school which are fundamental.
But the critic will find it difficult to accept many of the defini-
tions, and will note a lack of clearness in arrangement. I can-
not undertake to touch upon all of the points in the Report, but
will confine myself to a few of the essentials.

" The function of the normal school is to prepare teachers
for the elementary schools." Under this caption the Report
defines the character of the work of the normal school. It is
unfortunate that the meaning of the term elementary schools
is not given, as the range of work for which the normal school
is to prepare teachers is a most interesting point of inquiry.
The term elementary is sometimes used to signify the schools
below the grade of colleges, and sometimes, and more accu-
rately, in distinction from secondary schools. If the Report
uses the word in its former sense, its notion of the mission of
the normal school is sound.

There are those who would not have the normal schools
prepare teachers for the secondary schools. These persons
can scarcely be said to be consistent. If there is sound argu-
ment for the normal school, it rests upon the premise that if the
State is to expend large sums of money for public education,
it must provide for the most intelligent and economical appli-
cation of that money. The public funds are used for the sup-
port of the secondary, as well as the elementary, schools; hence
the necessity of training teachers for those schools. A college
education is of advantage to the secondary teacher, but this
does not relieve the normal school from giving the professional
view and analysis of the secondary school subjects. There
is a tendency on the part of some normal schools to extend
their courses for high school graduates so far that they prac-
tically usurp the field of the chair of education in the univer-
sity; but such a policy is questionable, both because of the ex-
pense and because of its necessary exclusion of the many by
reason of the length of time involved.

There is no more self-evident fact than that the normal

1900] The report on normal schools 75

school has estabHshed its great service to the country by treat-
ing from a strictly educational standpoint the public school
branches, together with teaching the science of mind and school
management to an extent consistent with instructing the
schools pursuing these branches.

'' The function of the normal school in its relation to its
faculty."

Under this heading the Report correctly holds that the
faculty is the soul of the institution, that it should be composed
of superior men and women, and that their education should
extend beyond that of the grades in which they teach.

The Report then gives certain definitions, the relevancy of
which will be questioned, and which, even if relevant, are
neither clear nor concise. For instance, '' Character has two
fundamental elements, force and power. A strong man in life —
a man of strong character — is one who has both force and
power. Force is evolved in putting forth his determinations.
Power is the soul in his actions; power is mind and heart." Is
force evolved or manifested in putting forth determinations?
Are actions and determinations synonomous terms? What is
meant by soul, mind, and heart in these connections ?

Again, " Teaching may be defined as causing an individual
to think and act physically, mentally, and spiritually." What
is meant by think physically, think mentally, and think spirit-
ually? What is the distinction between mind and spirit?
Would not stepping on a chestnut burr with the bare foot cause
an individual to think and act? Contrast this definition of
teaching for clearness with the following : " Teaching is the in-
fluence which one individual exerts on another in order to de-
velop him in some conscious and methodical way with a defi-
nite result in view."

Again, " Scholarship is the reserve power of every great
teacher." For the word power, here, substitute the definitions
of power given above, and it will read : Scholarship is the re-
serve soul in his actions, or, reserve mind and heart of every
great teacher.

" A professional spirit and professional ethics should char-
acterize every member of the faculty." What is the distinc-

76 Educational Review [June

tion between professional spirit and professional ethics?
Really, what does the committee mean by these terms ? These
and other similar expressions are particularly unfortunate in
a report on a subject the basis of which is the science of mind.

Those who would enter the normal school should be mature,
have good health and soundness of body, natural fitness to
teach, high purposes, native ability, and at least a secondary
education. The Report is wise in setting these requirements.
Many have claimed admission to the normal schools under the
formal specifications of the law respecting age and ability to
pass academic examinations. The duty of the faculty to dis-
criminate on grounds of personal fitness has not been suffi-
ciently recognized, nor has the reflected influence of the study
of the higher branches in the high school course in strengthen-
ing the mind in the more elementary subjects been fully appre-
ciated.

The statements of the Report, under the functions of the
normal school in its relations to the child, to society and the
home, while true, are scarcely relevant, being removed from
their natural place under subjects in the curriculum.

The ideal normal course recommended requires two years for
the high school graduate. This course is wisely selected and
classified. If it admits question on any point, it is that of re-
ligion. Ethics will be accepted at once, but after including
ethics, many will understand religion to refer to doctrines. If
such is to be the understanding, the subject can scarcely be
considered wisely included.

The Report places a just estimate on the value of the train-
ing school. " It is a place for illustrating, testing, and in part
originating theory of education; the work can and must be so
conducted that the child shall receive as good or better train-
ing than he would otherwise be likely to receive."

There has been a too general notion that the training school
was a sort of clinic where it was legitimate to sacrifice the
interests of the pupil to the normal practice teacher, and some
normal schools have gone so far as to advertise that they placed
their students in sole charge of classes in the training school
for a number of months. One cannot help wondering what,

I poo] The report on normal schools "jy

under such circumstances, must be the fate of a child in the
training school, who, term after term, must be the subject of
tyros. The true conception of a normal school is that it is a
place where experience can be gotten without sacrificing the
child, and the child in the training school is just as valuable an
immortal being as the child anywhere else. Every class in a
training school should be under a competent, regular teacher,
who should be responsible for keeping the class up to standard,
and should supplement the work of the practice teacher in all
that is necessary to this end.

*' The training school should be under the control of the
normal school," that its work may harmonize with the teaching
of the normal.

" The size of the training school should be one of the most
important factors in limiting the size of a normal school."

" Some observation work should precede actual instruction
on the part of every student teacher." It must be recognized
that after all a large part of the work in preparing a person to
teach consists in establishing a clear ideal of a good school, and
observation aids greatly in accomplishing this result.

Plans for teaching must be presented by the student teachers.
The Report emphasizes this point. There is no exercise equal
to this in making the practice teacher conscious of the essen-
tials in a good lesson.

" Actual teaching is capable of ranking as the most valuable
course for the student, for it furnishes at the same time both
theory and practice."

The whole chapter on training schools is most able and sug-
gestive, and will bear the closest study.

The chapter on " The inner life of a normal school " is sug-
gestive and wisely emphasizes that particular value which
comes from what may be termed institutional life. Herein
lies an educational value that is too often underestimated. It
is in this institutional life that the normal school has its great
advantage over a city training school. Institutions have their
individuality just as persons. There is something that is dis-
tinctly Harvard, distinctly Yale, Princeton, or Columbia, which
one who has lived in one of these institutions for a number of

78 Educational Review [June

years feels that he has received, which he did not get from
books, something that he would not have received to the same
degree had he been a private student. This something is the
institutional spirit. It may be analyzed into elements, and
upon the nature of these elements depends its virtue in char-
acter building.

Under the head of administration the Report offers much
that is suggestive. While some of the suggestions, such as
" The faculty meetings should concern themselves with the
fundamental problems of normal schools and the best methods
of conducting work in hand," rather than in " Transacting the
regular business of the school in committee of the whole " are
sound, others of the suggestions, as, for instance, " The
faculty should be divided into committees " will impress the
reader as too specific, tending to destroy faculty individuality.
Under the second part of the classification the Report re-
views the normal schools of the country geographically, and
shows that in each section of the country they bear the impress
of local conditions. This fact, instead of being a mere pro-
vincialism, is a compliment to the normal school authorities,
who are therein shown to have adapted their work to their con-
ditions. The review of these conditions and the adaptations
that have been made show a common current of opinion and
trend of development that may encourage the committee in the
hope that its own ideal course of study will soon be the com-
mon standard.

The Report shoAvs that in general the normal schools are
under the control of boards of trustees appointed by the Gov-
ernor and confirmed by the Senate, that where there is more
than one normal school in a State, it is usual to have a local
board of trustees for each school. There is disclosed in this
latter fact a tendency to friction growing out of the crossing
of interests. The experience of the country demonstrates
clearly that where there are several normal schools in a State
they should all be under one general board of trustees. Es-
pecially is this wise when the interests of the schools require
legislation, as they always do. It is also wise in the establish-
ment of the courses of study, and in offering attractions to stu-

igoo] The report on normal schools 79

dents. While State institutions may justly rival each other in
their efforts to do good work, they should never compete with
each other in efforts to secure patronage.

The financial statistics showing the number of normal
schools, the cost of new buildings, improvements, and mainte-
nance for a term of years in thirty-eight States, are very inter-
esting, and serve forcibly to impress the reader with the hold
these institutions have upon the country. Massachusetts and
New York appear to be taking the lead in their expenditures.
The chapter in the Appendix on the general view of the work
of the normal schools, by Dr. Albert G. Boyden, is clear,
thoughtful, and practical, and merits a close study.

The Report as a whole is suggestive, not only in the opinions
it advances, but in the facts it discloses. The reader will feel
grateful for what the committee has done, and will wish it had
gone farther in some particulars, as, for instance, in elaborat-
ing the office of the normal school in the commercial and indus-
trial branches and in the foreign languages. The normal
school department of the National Educational Association,
however, is living and active, and may be expected to give due
consideration to these phases of the problem in the near future.

James M. Green

State Normal School,

Trenton N. J. /

VI
THE QUINCY MOVEMENT^

This is sacred educational ground. Around the shores of
Massachusetts Bay the people's school has had its prophets and
its martyrs. The nation's schoolmasters look back with affec-
tion to this rockbound New England coast as the motherland
of what they hold most dear. Here the makers of a common-
wealth laid the foundations, steady and strong, on which a
world has built. Here Horace Mann plead and exhorted that
education might be real and that the public support of it might
be both intelligent and determined. Here Eliot has finished
an imperishable monument more lasting than brass, which
neither a countless succession of years nor the flight of ages
can destroy. Here Parker first gained fame thru service of
childhood.

There is a letter of the younger Pliny to his friend Paulinus
in which he insists that men should consider either the immor-
tality of fame and work for it, or the shortness of life and en-
joy it. The Roman righteously preferred the former alterna-
tive. The modern sage finds the two not incompatible. He
has banished asceticism as an incentive to virtue and enthroned
a generous humanity in its stead. It is this humanity, broad,
sympathetic, affectionate, which has given its fine emotional
quality to Colonel Parker's work for children. One follows it
not with the attention which is intellectual merely, but with the
interest which is life. It bursts the bonds of convention and
defies the trammels of tradition. It is real and vital. False
ideals have often, in the course of history, made education an
inhuman process. So it was in many schools of the Middle
Ages, so it was under Sturm's dreadful curriculum at Strass-
burg, so it was a century ago when Pestalozzi was bending

^ An addressed delivered at the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the
beginning of the work of Colonel Parker as superintendent of schools, at Quincy,
Mass., April 20, 1900.

The Quincy movement 8i

every energy of his great soul to reach the hidden springs of
child nature. It is a tendency of teaching to harden into
routine. The routine in turn becomes mechanical, and intel-
lectual and moral anaemia follows of necessity. From this
there is but one possible escape, the tonic and stimulating in-
fluence of new knowledge. The university teacher seeks this
knowledge in his library or his laboratory, the elementary
teacher must find it in the child. Colonel Parker's work is
human; its constant inspiration is the knowledge which the
child reveals.

This human quality, together with a passionate faith in
democracy, which is based as much on intuition as on convic-
tion, is the surest clew to an interpretation of Colonel Parker's
life and influence. He has not only seen but felt that educa-
tion cannot be permanently bolstered up by artificial supports.
No patent methods or devices will suffice; not even the power-
ful force of legislation will make the educational stream run
uphill forever. It must spring fresh and pure from the hearts
and minds of the people if it is to be unfailing, steady, fertiliz-
ing. So Colonel Parker has labored in season and out of sea-
son to reach the people themselves, the parents whose most
precious possessions are yielded up to the school and the school-
master for weal or for woe. He has tried to bring them to a
realization of what education means in a democracy, of their
responsibility for the character and standards of the schools,
of their selfish as well as their public interest in the results. In
the same spirit he has appealed to the teacher to open his eyes
to the dignity, the influence, and the importance of his work.
He has called upon the teacher to leave off being a merchant
dealing in information, and to prepare himself to become a
builder of human souls. These things he has done in the name
not of any theory or school or sect, but of childhood.

Appeals such as these, if insisted upon and responded to, are,
in any stage of the world's history, revolutionary in their re-
sults. All practical affairs have their ruts, with a strong pre-
disposition in favor of continuing to follow them. Are not
these ruts the results of experience, and is not experience the
great teacher? It depends, as the French say. There is ex-

82 Educational Review [June

perience intelligent and experience unintelligent, experience
reflective and experience unreflecting, experience open-eyed and
experience blind. The former is a teacher, the latter a slave-
driver. An unexamined life is not worth living, as Socrates
insisted. So an experience unquestioned and untried in the
light of eternal principles is not a human experience at all. It
is the experience of the mountain top on which sun burns and
storms beat, the experience of the cliff over which Niagara
pours, the experience of the tides as they rise and fall in obedi-
ence to a law of which they know nothing, not even its exist-
ence. Human experience of the genuine sort is quite different
from this. It is inquiring, progressive, illumined by a knowl-
edge of principles. It faces the present and the future, and it
uses the past without adoring it. In this wise Colonel Parker
began his work at Dayton. He questioned his experience, but
it was dumb. He did not speak its language. He did not
know enough. The years of study which followed pointed the
way to the answering of his questions. Education began to
loom large in his field of consciousness; history hinted at its
deeper lessons; philosophy suggested principles of action.
The town of Quincy, and thru it the United States, reaped the
benefit of the revelation.

It was an object lesson of striking significance to see this
veteran soldier, with a German university career behind him,
putting forth all his newly roused energies in behalf of the
boys and girls of the elementary school. The change in them
was startling. '' Going to school ceased to be a homesick
tribulation," wrote Mr. Adams. " The children actually went
to school without being dragged there. The simple fact was,
that they were happier and more amused and better contented
at school than at home." What had happened? Only the
obvious, it seems, as we look back at it now. Mr. Adams has
described it graphically and concisely : " Education was to
recur to first principles. Not much was to be attempted; but
whatever was attempted was to be thoroly done, and to be
tested by its practical results, and not by its theoretical impor-
tance. Above all, the simple comprehensible processes of
nature were to be observed. Children were to learn to read and

1900] The Qidncy movement 83

write and cipher as they learned to swim, or to skate, or to play
ball. The rule by which the thing was done was nothing; the
fact that it was done well was everything." How sensible,
yet how novel; how wise, yet how revolutionary! From the
vantage ground of to-day it is easy to see that Colonel Parker
was merely putting in practice here at Quincy a few funda-
mental principles of education and of psychology. He was not
devising methods or concocting ingenious devices. Methods
and devices are small things and change with every individual
who uses them. A principle is eternal and the parent of a
hundred methods; but a cast-iron method is a principle's worst
enemy. The teacher whose method is finished and complete
has lost touch with human nature. Colonel Parker's principles
have saved him from apotheosizing methods. It would show a
truer appreciation of what happened here if we spoke oftener
of Quincy principles and less often of Quincy methods.

Among cultivated persons there is a more or less widespread
opinion that teaching power is declining. Our national jour-
nal of despair recently wrote this sentence in an important
article on the decline of teaching : '' No one, we suppose, will
question that the number of great teachers is decidedly less
than it once was, and that the depleted ranks are not being ade-
quately filled up." ^ Without stopping to quibble about what
is meant by a great teacher, I not only question the assertion,
but deny it absolutely. There are more great teachers to-day
than there ever were, and they are more widely distributed and
exercising greater influence. It is true that the colleges and
universities have not their fair share of them, owing to the
passing influence of the lecture system imported from Ger-
many, but even in those institutions there is more good teach-
ing than there was a generation ago. The laudator temporis
acti has in mind some one person whose loss he deeply feels,
and generalizes from him alone. But north, east, south, and
west teaching is constantly improving. It is based on more
thoro scholarship, on stronger professional pride, or better
special preparation. Where a quarter of a century ago there
was one teacher who thought about teaching as such, and

^ Tkf Nation, March 8, 1900, p. 180.

84 Educational Review

studied teaching, there are two score to-day. The Quincy
movement was typical. Similar awakenings have come to
hundreds of American communities, and he who runs may
read the results. When the history for the spread of the new
ediicational spirit comes to be written. Colonel Parker's con-
tribution to it will be honorably remembered.

It was a wise saying of Emerson's that '' it is essential to a
true theory of nature and of man, that it should contain some-
what progressive." Colonel Parker's principles and insights
have not stood still. They have ripened with the years and
they have grown fuller and richer with use. A vast city has
recognized them at work among its teeming thousands; villages
and towns in near and distant States have caught them up and
applied them with delight. They are not final; that would be
their death. They are only an honest, courageous man's
badge of service to his fellows and to his fellows' children.
May he long be spared to wear it !

Nicholas Murray Butler

Columbia University

VII
DISCUSSION

PROFESSOR MUNSTERBERG ON SCHOOL REFORM

The teachers and friends of education in this country have
been placed under a debt of gratitude to Professor Miinster-
berg, who, in the Atlantic monthly for May, thru an interest-
ing autobiographic sketch, has permitted them to view the
inner spirit and working of an educational system which, for
its purpose, is beyond question more effective than anything of
the kind now to be found in America.

It is not often that we have had so fair an opportunity of
studying a foreign educational system thru a close examina-
tion of one of its direct and concrete products, and if he will but
do Professor Miinsterberg the justice to read carefully his
article, the more or less confused American teacher will find his
mind considerably clarified as to what should be the ideals of
education in a democracy.

The first thing to smite the consciousness of the reader of
Professor Munsterberg's paper is that the educational system
which he decribes has given to the world in general and to
America in particular a fine example of complacent self-sufii-
ciency. No one who is forced to confess American nativity
will urge that he can look back upon his early school days with
more profound satisfaction. It is interesting to observe, how-
ever, that in recounting the happy experiences of his boyhood,
Professor Miinsterberg dwells most affectionately upon those
which occurred out of school, upon those inclinations of which
" the school never took the smallest account." But that, per-
haps, is precisely why they were so enjoyable — actual freedom,
even in stolen sips, is always delightful — and it remains to be
shown that the later development of independent vigor is not
due as much to such experiences as to those of
the Gradgrind school. We have been told before that Latin
and Greek are all-efficient in the development of great men.

85^

86 Educational Review [June

But it generally turns out, as it has in this instance, that the
said great men, owing to ignorance of rigorous scientific
method on the part of their teachers, were not carefully caged
when young. As in the case of Professor Miinsterberg,
usually they were thoughtlessly permitted for from four to six
hours per day to run and swim and row and ride horseback,
collect objects in nature, and to live with her about as they
pleased. To argue that the value of his butterfly chasing in
youth must now be measured by his position as an entomolo-
gist; or that his early love of plants and enthusiasm for an-
cient pottery must be estimated in terms of his present stand-
ing as a botanist or archaeologist; or, in general, that the
natural influences outside of school which constantly challenged
his attention and stimulated his investigations have not ma-
terially contributed to his present influential position as a psy-
chologist, simply because they were not rammed into him thru
a prescribed school course against an " inner resistance," is to
adopt a line of reasoning that must unlock in protest even the
stone jaws of the professor's psychological sphinx.

It has been demonstrated once. more how exceedingly diffi-
cult it is for a product of an educational system derived from
the monarchical ideal of society to understand the ideals of
education proposed by a democracy. There seems to be no
perception of the more than oceanic abyss that separates an
educational system in which the teacher leaves questions relat-
ing to instruction to the " principal and the government " from
a system in which the teacher is an organic part of the govern-
ment itself. This is not the place to argue as to the relative
merits of the two systems growing out of such different ideals;
it is sufficient to emphasize the point that thru the ages the
old world has tried the former, and at this time the new world
proposes to try the latter. In this country it has been resolved
to preserve for each person to the uttermost the privilege of the
initiative, on the theory that society not only has the right but
also the actual need of the best that each individual brings into
the world with him when he is born. The administration of
the old world system of education is not without its lessons for
us. The plan of prescribing in the schools continually only
such studies as meet with " inner resistance '' on the part of

ipoo] Discussion 87

the pupils has been so effectively executed that this selfsame
" inner resistance " has now become the chief menace to every
crowned head in Europe — nay, to the very idea of government
itself. It is true that the new world idea makes our country
very tiresome to people who are not accustomed to noise. It
frequently fills our teachers' meetings with such indescribable
babble that they would be the last resort of any who wish to
slumber, except possibly those whose lifelong habit it has been
to sleep that their king may think. For gatherings of irre-
proachable decorum and quiet commend me to. those
assemblages of teachers who, under the old world idea, passive
and docile, have come together to receive their orders from the
" principal and the government."

Another point that always seems to fall outside the compre-
hension of a genuine product of the old world school system is
the fundamental proposition of democracy that by granting
equal opportunities in and thru education to all the children of
all the people, society shall be able to organize itself into a self-
controlled, coherent, self-perpetuating body; and also the un-
avoidable corollary, that on the basis of the ability and disposi-
tion to make righteous use of such opportunities, all places in
the democracy shall be open to all the children of all the people.
This proposition rests upon the theory that only out of such
natural adjustments of people, made under increasing enlight-
enment, can mankind ever hope to enjoy a stable and well-
balanced, tho not fixed, but sensitive and self -compensating
social condition. It is scarcely necessary to remark that this is
precisely the reverse of the dominant theory that underlies the
monarchical system of education. Under such terms it is con-
ceivable that people may actually love their country and live
in quiet within its borders. Whatever other virtues the
monarchical system of education may possess, it fails to pro-
duce that feeling of contentment which keeps a people at home.
Appreciating the recognition that Harvard University gave to
the genius and education of Professor Miinsterberg, one can
readily understand why he should choose to cast his lot with
the American people. But every Atlantic liner that leaves his
native shores brings with it hundreds of his fellow-countrymen,
products of that school system to which he himself belongs,

88 Educational Review [June

tho very few of them are being allured westward by so great a
material influence as a professorship awaiting them at Har-
vard. In the vast majority of cases, from the professor to the
peasant, it is the feeling that on this side there is yet one more
chance to get justice; one more opportunity to come into pos-
session of rights, for ages denied, that drives them hither.

Considering the difliculties that beset the development of a
system of education consistent with democratic ideals, it should
be always remembered that no small part of the trouble lies in
dealing with those who have received their training under
monarchical ideals. These people belong to two classes; one
seeking to transplant in this country the essentials of the old
regime, and the other fighting this attempt to the death as the
embodiment of all the evils from which they have fled. In
spite of its inconvenience, not to say danger, one must have a
good deal of sympathy with the latter class, who show so much
restiveness and irritability at the mere suggestion of any au-
thority being exercised over them in the matter. The old
monarchies have utterly failed by education or other means to
inspire these people with trust in their fellow-men. We
Americans, therefore, must simply wait until they have had
time to take their bearings from the outlook afforded by the
new world ideals. The great majority of these people mean
well, but they are possessed with a deadly fear that has been
begotten by tyranny and nurtured in ignorance in their native
lands. We must be patient.

In the latter part of his paper Professor Miinsterberg makes
a point of real value when he says that the teachers in all grades
of our schools should know more. Tho the idea is not a new
one to the American teacher, and altho it has never been in dis-
pute in this country, its restatement and exploitation by every-
one as soon as he discovers the fact can do no possible harm.
In the present instance the cogency of the reasoning used to
establish this self-evident truth reveals a " mastery of method "
that makes one feel doubly secure in adopting the conclusions
reached. The American public deplores with Professor
Miinsterberg that but two per cent, of its teachers possess a
" degree." But even he fails to suggest any more rational or
rapid means of remedying the situation than those already in

I poo] Discussion 89

operation. Of course, we might close the schools and wait
until the ninety-eight per cent, could go to college and get their
degrees; but it would be a doubtful expedient. On the other
hand, if one will take a look at the proper statistics covering
the past twenty years, and compare the qualifications required
of teachers in all grades of schools two decades ago with those
of the present day, there will be found some reason to hope.
Again, if one will take the courses of study as outlined for the
best grammar schools, high schools, colleges, and universities
ten years ago and compare with the courses outlined in the
same institutions to-day, he will be impressed still further with
what the real increased efiiciency of the teachers actually means
for the schools. Of course, the movement is slow, but it
comes in the right way, and from the right source — as an evo-
lution and from the people. To assert, however, that our im-
provement in education is not forwarded as much by increased
efficiency in teaching skill as it is by a more expansive knowl-
edge is to ignore the plainest of facts.

The realization of the democratic ideal in and thru educa-
tion is no doubt in the distant future. But something worth
while has been done toward the accomplishment of an ideal
when it has been clearly stated, and the American people have
gone at least as far as that. The teachers of this country must
be prepared to do more than merely ransack the treasure houses
of accumulated knowledge. It is part of their work to or-
ganize the school so that it may not be inconsistent with our
ideals of what the social conditions of mankind should be. It
is not wholly the question of how much knowledge, for that
could be prescribed; but it is the question of how it shall be
used, that perplexes the teachers at present.

Whatever apparent rest there may be in the social state under
the operation of the old regime, it must not be taken to repre-
sent the repose of the natural balance that exists among parts
that have been arranged in obedience to the law of gravitation.
But under the enormous weight of military rule it more nearly
resembles the quiet tenseness of a bent spring whose " inner
resistance " for the moment is overcome.

Wilbur S. Jackman

Chicago Institute,
Chicago, III.

REVIEWS

Der hoehere Lehrerstand in Preussen, seine Arbeit und sein Lohn— Von

Dr. Heinrich ScHROEDER. Lipsius u. Tischer : Kiel u. Leipzig, 1899. 94 P-
I M. 60 pf.
Justitiaregnorum'fundamentum— Von Dr. Heinrich Schroeder. Lipsius u.
Tischer: Kiel u. Leipzig. 1899. 80 p. i M.

In Germany all roads to civil or military preferment radiate
from the higher schools. It follows that their teachers must
be State officials, trained, employed, and remunerated according
to a definite governmental program.

For a German official to point out an injustice on the part
of the State is necessarily a delicate task. Notwithstanding Dr.
Schroeder's attempt, by means of liberal quotations, to throw
around his pamphlet the aegis of Scriptural, ministerial, and
imperial sanction, he has been obliged to devote a second pam-
phlet to refuting the charge of most grossly and unreasonably
attacking the government.

The avowed policy of the German government is to regulate
official salaries by the time required for preparation, the honor
of the office, the opportunities for additional income and for
promotion, and the tax upon the incumbent. It is usually ac-
knowledged that, as Bismarck phrased it, Germany owes her
political, industrial, and commercial greatness to " the work-
ing of those invisible germs implanted in the souls of German
youth by the higher schools." But the teachers of those
schools, intrusted with the perpetuation of the national life, re-
ceive entirely incommensurate salaries. Under the government
schedule " a provincial school inspector, charged with the con-
duct of the higher education of a whole province, receives from
$1425 to $1875 annually, a captain of equerry from $1650
to $2175, besides an elegant home and luxurious appoint-
ments. Which calling demands the more intelligence, the
greater labor, the higher zeal for the interests of the State:
training horses or training those young men who are to take

Reviews 9 1

the leading places in society and State, who are to perpetuate
the German government? "

Dr. Schroeder considers for the most part only the. regular
teachers of the secondary schools — the Oberlehrer. To illus-
trate the injustice of the present salary schedules, he institutes
a comparison between the judges of the lowest courts of the
first instance and the Oberlehrer, whom successive ministries
since 1845 have promised a remuneration equal to that of the
judges, " as soon as the present financial stringency shall per-
mit."

Statistics prove that the training of the Oberlehrer consumes
more years than that of the jurist. It must include nine years
in the gymnasium, three years in the university, one year of
examinations, one year in a seminar for professional training,
one year of trial teaching, and one year of military service.
The average age of the candidates for appointment in the
higher schools of Prussia is actually twenty-nine years, two
and one-half months. But further preparation is required of
some forty per cent, before their diplomas are granted, so that
the average candidate is ready for office only in his thirty-first
year. On the other hand, the preparation of the average judge
of the lowest courts is completed at the age of twenty-eight
years and eleven months.

But enrollment on the official list as eligible rarely means an
immediate appointment. The candidate must now undergo
the trying Wartezeit, prolonged in Prussia in 1897 to the av-
erage age of thirty-seven. During these years of waiting he
may exist by teaching private pupils, by keeping a pension, or
by acting as assistant teacher, with the " Himgerlohn " of
$375. Any employment not sanctioned by the authorities costs
him his place on the list. Dr. Fredrich Paulsen is quoted as
summing up in these words the effects of the long-continued
nervous strain of years of hard study, searching examina-
tions, and deferred appointment : " These tasks have already
crippled both courage and power. The teachers enter upon
their official duties, not with the conquering zeal of youthful
enthusiasts, but rather with the resignation of the disillu-
sioned."

The opportunities for additional earnings are decidedly in

Educational Review

[June

favor of the jurists, who often, in a private capacity, add to
their official salary from one hundred to one thousand dollars.
For the teacher to seek outside employment is undignified and
demoralizing, and the recompense for such work as is done does
not average twelve dollars annually per individual teacher. As
to promotion, statistics show only nine per cent, of the teachers
and sixteen per cent, of the jurists occupying the highest po-
sitions in their class.

Vital statistics prove that the teacher's work taxes the phys-
ical powers to an extraordinary degree. The State allows few
teachers, and hence demands excessive labor of its employees.
The Oberlehrer must teach from twenty- two to twenty- four
hours per week, and in an emergency he may be called upon
for extra work. This often results in a steady imposition of
twenty-five or thirty hours of teaching per week. To this must
be added many hours of home work, such as the written tasks
and preparation of lessons. The result, as all physicians tes-
tify, is broken health and shortened lives. The following table
also bears witness to the tax upon the strength of the teacher:

In Prussian

Judges of

State Service

Lowest

Oberlehrer

FOR

Courts

Per Cent.

MORE THAN

Per Cent.

50 years

0.084

45 "

0.84

....

40 "

1.9

0.3

35 *'

6.2

1.4

30 "

13.8

4.9

27 "

17.9

9.1

24 "

21. 1

15.4

Again, on January i, 1897, of 2204 Oberlehrer only 26,
or 1. 18 per cent., were more than sixty-five years old,
while of 3754 judges of the lowest courts 223, or 5.94 per
cent., had exceeded this age. The average Oberlehrer leaves his
work at the age of fifty-two years, eight months, the average
judge at fifty-nine years, six months. The average Oberlehrer
dies four years earlier, and the overburdened teacher of mod-
ern languages fourteen years earlier than the average judge.
Considering his shorter life and his earlier superannuation, the

i9oo] Reviews 93

conclusion is reached that the average Oberlehrer sacrifices at
least eight years to that " financial stringency " which demands
excessive work. Altho his work must be, from its nature, more
exhausting than that of the jurist, his devotion should be rec-
ognized by fewer exactions and a larger salary. The sum total
received by the average Oberlehrer for his life work is only
$15,600. Appointed earlier and retiring later in life, the draw-
ing teacher receives $16,200, the preparatory school teacher
$16,488, the police-lieutenants $21,900, and the judge of the
lowest courts $22,173.

The Oberlehrer begins his work at the age of thirty-seven,
with a salary of $675, which is increased every three years by
$75, until his tenth year of service, thereafter by $150 every
three years, until he obtains the maximum salary of $1275 in
his eighteenth year of service. He is also furnished a dwelling,
or house rent, and may receive for special scholarship or skill
the additional sum of $225. Dr. Schroeder declares the con-
ditions upon which this Ftmktionslage is bestowed deny it to
the average teacher.

Compared with American high school salaries these are
very poor for the large cities, but very good for the rest of the
country. The German schedule debars from any secondary
school teacher, however distinguished, the high salaries paid in
cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati,
and Baltimore, where high school teachers receive not less than
$800, and reach their maximum of $2000 or $3000 after from
fifteen to thirty years of service. But, on the other hand, the
teachers in the small cities of Germany are paid much better
than in America. The great mass of incompetent, untrained,
and miserably supported teachers of our smaller high schools,
receiving from $300 to $600, are supplanted in Germany by the
scholarly Oberlehrer, as carefully trained and as full of profes-
sional spirit as his fellow-teachers in Berlin. While the aver-
age secondary school teacher in America receives less than in
Germany, his chances of promotion are much greater. He be-
gins his work at twenty or twenty-five years of age, and is
often receiving his maximum salary of $2000 or $3000 when
the Oberlehrer at the age of thirty-seven has just received an
appointment at the minimum salary of $675 and a dwelling.

94 Educational Review

Under such conditions the lot of the American teacher is to
be preferred.

Dr. Schroeder closes his presentation of the case with a sig-
nificant quotation, warning the State to beware, " lest thru con-
tinued denial of promised salaries the teachers of the secondary-
schools shall be driven into the arms of the social democracy."
The only hope of improvement, however, is an appeal to Csesar.
" The government acts upon tradition, and the Emperor alone
discerns the vital relations between the present and the fu-
ture."

Charles Bartlett Dyke

Hampton Institute,
Hampton, Va.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS

Mention of books in this place does not preclude extended critical notice hereafter

President Benjamin Ide Wheeler's scholarly and workman-
like study of Alexander the great now appears in the Heroes of
Nations Series (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. 520

p. $1.50). The increasing attention now being given to

forestry, and its great importance, will justify more extended
reference to Bruncken's North American forests and forestry,
an interesting and very readable book (New York: G. P. Put-
nam's Sons, 1900. 265 p. $2.00). Lanciani's Destruc-
tion of ancient Rome is an authoritative study of the history of
the monuments (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 208

p. $2.00). Professor J. Deniker has issued a most

useful little book called The races of man: an outline of
anthropology and ethnology, which gives a good survey in
brief compass of this difficult and complicated subject, with
photographic and other illustrations and a well-selected bibli-
ography (New York: Imported by Charles Scribner's Sons,

1900. 611 p. $1.50). Each new issue in the Twentieth

Century Text-Books is a delight. The editions of Ma-
caulay's Essays on Milton and on Addison, by Inspector
George B. Aiton of Minnesota, and the Sir Roger de
Coverley papers, by Professor Baker of Teachers Col-
lege, Columbia University, are no exceptions to the rule
(New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1899. 60 cents each).

IX
EDITORIAL

The second annual Conference of the Catholic
Ca?hoHc CoUeges Colleges of the United States was held in
Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, April
1 8 and 19. Right Rev. Mgr. Conaty, rector of the Catholic
University of America, presided. These Conferences owe
their origin to a very general desire for unification among
Catholic collegiate institutions, and aim to bring together repre-
sentatives of the different systems of collegiate instruction,
that in this way educational ideals, programs, and methods
may be carefully compared and studied, due consideration
given to the demands of the times, and, in general, that such
improvement may be suggested as shall tend to more effective
work and more permanent results.

In the Catholic college scheme different systems are repre-
sented by Jesuit, Benedictine, Franciscan, Augustinian, Holy
Cross, Lazarist, and other religious orders, as also by diocesan
colleges, all differing in methods and plan, but at one in insist-
ing that the classics are essential to broad, liberal education,
as well as to sound scholarship. This Conference, at the call
of the rector of the university, had its first annual meeting in
April of last year at Chicago, and resulted in the establishment
of a permanent organization, to be governed by a standing
committee, the duty of which was to prepare a schedule of
topics for the annual Conference, to be presided over by the
chairman of the committee. Great interest has been mani-
fested, and the increased attendance at the second Conference
clearly shows that the work already done has been appreciated.
There were fifty-five delegates present representing seventy-
two colleges. Among the delegates were three from Canadian
institutions.

The session opened Wednesday morning at ten o'clock in St.
James' school hall by a short address from Monsignor Conaty,

96 Educational Review [June

who explained briefly the aims and purposes of the Conference,
and then called for the reading of the papers which had been
prepared.

The paper on the first topic, " Uniformity of entrance con-
ditions to the Freshman class," was read by Rev. L. A. De-
lurey, O. S. A., president of St. Thomas' College, Villanova, Pa.
He insisted that uniformity is among the problems that must
be solved in the near future, if permanent results are to be ex-
pected from the Conferences, as strength and unity must come
from concerted action. The goal or end of all college courses
must be a liberal education, which will prepare a man to adopt
any of the professions with equal ability. It aims to fit one to
enter upon a university course. Uniformity will make the col-
lege stronger, and will force the preparatory schools to more
care in defining the work for its pupils. It will prevent
specialization among those who are too young to decide for
themselves. The neglect of important branches in preparatory
schools is due to the fact that there is no examination in them
demanded for entrance into college. The paper suggested
that the committee draw up a syllabus for examination which
each college president would pledge himself to follow as en-
. trance conditions from all candidates for Freshman class. A
lengthy discussion followed this paper, and it was felt that the
relations of the Catholic colleges to classical education were
such as to demand a special study on their part of a plan which
would be fitted to their work, and on the suggestion of the
chairman a committee was appointed to report to the next Con-
ference a plan of entrance conditions. Rev. L. A. Delurey,
O. S. A., of Villanova, Rev. James P. Fagan, S. J., of George-
town University, Rev. W. L. O'Hara, of Mount St. Mary's
College, Emmittsburg, Md., Rev. James Burns, C. S. C, of
Notre Dame University, and a Benedictine father were ap-
pointed as a committee.

The second paper of the Conference was one which was
looked forward to with great interest, because of the recent
criticism of Harvard University by representatives of Boston
College. It dealt with " The Relative merits of courses for
the baccalaureate in Catholic and non-Catholic colleges," and
was intended to discuss the issue raised by Harvard as to the

I poo] Editorial 97

inferiority of the courses in Boston College. Rev. Timothy
Brosnahan, S. J., of Woodstock College, formerly president of
Boston College, read the paper on this topic. It entered very
fully into a comparison of the catalogs presented by the colleges
in dispute. It stated that a full solution of the question com-
prised four heads : ( i ) a comparison between the contents of
the two courses; (2) an estimate of the time employed in their
completion, and of their respective standards of attainment;
(3) the relative value of the lecture system and the tutorial
system for the formation of college students; and (4) the
scope, or ideal end, to the approximate realizing of which two
courses are directed. Father Brosnahan' s paper confined
itself to the first head, and even under that head it was obliged
to omit the consideration of two studies which, from an educa-
tional view point, are of the highest moment, namely, religion
and philosophy. Comparisons were made from the catalogs
of the two institutions, and parallels showing the kind of work
demanded contributed to the understanding of the demands
made by these colleges of their degree candidates. On the
basis that the minimum required for graduation by a given col-
lege is an index to the value of the baccalaureate degree.
Father Brosnahan concluded that President Eliot's assertion
that the course in Boston College is of an inferior kind is at
variance with fact. At the conclusion of Father Brosnahan's
paper many questions were asked by different delegates con-
cerning points raised in the paper, and much time was given by
Father Brosnahan to answer the issues that were raised.

The next paper, on "" The Elective system of study," was
presented by Rev. James A. Burns, C. S. C, of Notre Dame
University. This paper was a strong plea for the elective sys-
tem, and it was acknowledged on -all sides that Father Burns
had made as strong a case as it was possible for election in edu-
cation. He entered into a history of the growth of the elec-
tive system, and the conditions that have caused it. He
showed the advantages and the disadvantages, and gave strong
arguments in favor of this system. He took as three leading
types the Harvard system, Princeton system, and group or
course system followed at Notre Dame. He discussed the
merits of each, and then proceeded to show that the election of

98 Educational Review [June

studies in the curriculums of colleges is desirable. He opposed
the more extreme views on the subject of elective studies, and
advocated a moderate use of them. This paper led to one of the
most interesting discussions of the Conference. The views of
prominent non-Catholic university educators were presented,
showing that there is much criticism of undue extension of this
elective principle, and also showing that there appears to be, in
some quarters, a tendency to return to a modified form of pre-
scribed studies. The result of the discussion was the appoint-
ment of a committee which presented a resolution, which, while
commending a moderate use of election in education, con-
demned as hostile to sound education the placing of absolute
choice of study in the hands of the student.

At the evening session Right Rev. Monsignor Conaty gave
his presidential address, which was '' A Plea for the teacher."
He spoke of the teacher's vocation, and the importance of hav-
ing not only knowledge, but also ability to impart knowledge.
He pleaded for personality and enthusiasm in the teacher as
absolute requisites to success, and advocated the scientific train-
ing which made the teacher familiar with the science of study
in which he was engaged as a teacher. He gave a short his-
tory of the work of the great teachers, who, in university and
in school, had educated the world, and appealed to all to study
the educational theory which finds its expression in the methods
of instruction contained in the annals of the teaching orders of
the Catholic Church.

The topic " Religious instruction in college," opened the
second day's conference. The paper was read by Very Rev.
Patrick S. McHale, C. M., president of Niagara University,
and advocated the classification and gradation of religious in-
struction in college. It was a strong argument for thoro
instruction in religion thru the different grades of collegiate
work, and met with the warm approval of all the delegates
present. Rev. John P. Carroll, D. D., president of St. Jo-
seph's College, Dubuque, Iowa, read the paper on '' The Teach-
ing of modern languages in college." He held that the
modern languages should not occupy so prominent a place as
the ancient languages which, by warrant of tradition, experi-
ence, and religion, receive the first place in the very idea of a

i9oo] Editorial 99

college. They should occupy that place to which, as liberal
studies tributary to our own and vehicles of scientific thought,
they are entitled. He emphasized very strongly the impor-
tance of French and German from a literary point of view.
The Conference referred to the standing committee the prepa-
ration of a plan of studies embodying the modern languages
as a part of the prescribed course of studies.

The last paper of the Conference was on " The Development
of character in college students," and was read by Rev. M. P.
Bowling, S. J., president of Creighton University, Omaha,
Neb. The discussion emphasized as prominent' factors in
character-development discipline, the dormitory system, honor
methods, prizes, athletics, and supervision. It emphasized the
fact that the American boy is different from any other, and
that his good qualities and defects call for special study and
special treatment. Father Bowling's paper was a strong ap-
peal for the development of manliness and honor in the build-
ing up of true character, and asserted that no small element in
character building was to be found in athletics, since character
is developed on the campus as well as in the classroom.

In the business meeting, which followed the reading of the
papers, articles of association were adopted, and the following
ofHcers were constituted the standing committee: Right Rev.
Mgr. Conaty, chairman, and president of the Conference;
Rev. John A. Conway, S. J., secretary and treasurer; Rev. W.
L. O'Hara, A. M.; Rev. James A. French, C. S. C; Rev. Vin-
cent Huber, O. S. B. ; and Rev. L. A. Belurey, O. S. A. It
was voted to hold the next Conference at Chicago, in Easter
week, 1901.

Epoch-making ^^^ session of the New York legislature that
school legislation came to an end in the first week of April will
ew or CI y ^^ memorable in the history of the New York
city public schools. A condition of affairs that necessitated leg-
islative interference had arisen. This condition was due in
part to the clumsy and defective administrative machinery em-
bodied in the city charter, in part to legislative enactment dur-
ing the preceding year, and in part to the failure of the Tarn-

lOO Educational Review [June

many board of estimate and apportionment to make sufficient
appropriations to carry on the work of the schools. The plan
of having a central board of education and a school board in
each borough, a general city superintendent, and a superintend-
ent with a large corps of assistants for each borough, has re-
sulted in endless friction among the various boards and offi-
cers, in vexatious delays in the performance of school work,
and in rendering it impossible to fix responsibility for what-
ever may go wrong. The legislation enacted during the pre-
ceding year had fixed minimum salaries for the first year, the
tenth year, and the fifteenth year of the teachers' service, besides
giving increased compensation to principals. The board of es-
timate had granted sufficient money to pay the salaries made
mandatory by law, but not to increase the salaries of the teach-
ers who were not protected by the law^ ; while in the boroughs
of Queens and Richmond it was found necessary to discharge
many teachers, and to cut down the salaries of all teachers who
were not protected by law, in order to pay the mandatory sal-
aries. Indeed, the school officers and teachers, janitors, and
other employees in Queens and Richmond did not receive their
salaries for October, November, and December, 1899, until
February, 1900, and then only through an act of the legislature.
Many attempts — happily unsuccessful — were made for selfish
political purposes to inject extraneous matter into the bill for
the relief of Queens and Richmond, but finally this bill was
passed in a simple and efficient shape, and at once received the
approval of Governor Roosevelt.

At the same time three other measures, more general in their
character, intended to deal with the acknowledged defects of the
charter, were presented to the legislature. These measures,
from the names of the senators who introduced them, were re-
spectively designated the Elsberg bill, the Ford bill, and the
Marshall bill. The Elsberg bill was intended to centralize
power in the hands of an enlarged board of education and of
the city superintendent; to abolish the borough boards, except
as committees of the board of education ; and to establish a new
salary schedule. The Ford bill dealt only with the financial side
of the question. It provided that the money raised by tax each
year for purely educational purposes should not be less than

I poo] Editorial loi

four mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of the city's
real and personal estate. The Marshall bill was intended to
decentralize the entire system. It abolished the central board
of education, made the borough school boards supreme, aimed
a vicious blow at the present licensing system, and left the
schools absolutely at the mercy of the board of estimate and
apportionment, which was given authority to give or to with-
hold money for any and every educational purpose. Much to
the credit of the legislature, the Marshall bill was never heard
of again after its iniquities and absurdities were exposed before
the senate committee on cities. It was found impossible, how-
ever, to secure the passage of the Ford and Elsberg bills in their
original form. Hence a compromise bill, containing some of
the features of both bills, was prepared by Senator Davis. The
Davis law contains the school tax provisions of Senator Ford's
bill and the salary schedule features of Senator Elsberg's bills.
This measure was bitterly opposed by the school boards of
Manhattan and Brooklyn, by borough superintendents Jasper
and Ward, whose views invariably coincide with the opinions,
expressed or concealed, of the present school boards, and by
Mayor Van Wyck and Comptroller Coler. On the other hand,
it was warmly advocated by city superintendent Maxwell and
by the ii,ooo teachers of the city schools. After a protracted
struggle the bill was passed by both houses and passed again
over the veto of Mayor Van Wyck. Governor Roosevelt hes-
itated to give the measure executive approval, because of certain
legal and constitutional objections, and because of the often
reiterated statements made by its opponents that the cost of
the new schedule would involve an additional expenditure of
from five to seven millions a year. Finally, however, after sat-
isfying himself that the legal objections are not well founded,
and that the cost will not be excessive, he signed the bill.

The Davis law marks the beginning of a new era in the his-
tory of the New York city schools. The most important results
that may be expected to flow from this legislation are the fol-
lowing :

I. It provides funds, ample at present, and increasing auto-
matically with the growth of wealth and population, for the
educational work of the schools. The four-mill tax will pro-

I02 Educational Review [June

vide about $14,500,000 this year for the salaries of teachers,
principals, and superintendents.

2. It removes from the board of estimate and apportionment
— a body always political and generally ill-informed on educa-
tional questions — the power to thwart educational effort by
cutting down necessary supplies.

3. It will enable the educational authorities to lay out plans
of work that may require years to accomplish, because they
will know with approximate accuracy the income on which they
may depend.

4. It removes the matter of school appropriations for purely
educational purposes from the field of politics.

5. It gives to all grades of teachers fair salaries, and thus
sets a good example to all other large cities.

6. It strikes a death-blow at the Brooklyn local committee
system of promoting teachers, as the fixing of salaries is placed
in the hands of the board of education, and the salaries are prac-
tically the same for all grades.

The bill has some serious defects, incidental to its compro-
mise character, which were not overlooked by Governor
Roosevelt, but these defects are unimportant when compared
with the enormous benefits which this law carries in its train.
Efforts will perhaps be made by the present board of edu-
cation to make the law odious, by making its administration
unnecessarily involved and expensive. In the end, however, we
have little doubt, the wisdom of its enactment will be justified
by the results.

One good result already apparent is that the teachers of
Brooklyn have broken loose from the control of the local com-
mittees. Having once found freedom, it is not likely that the
teachers will again return to slavery.

Readers of the Educational Review are
Exammaticm"^^ aware that the colleges and secondary schools
Board for the Mid- of the Middle States and Maryland have taken
Maryland hold in earnest of the problem of college

entrance examinations, and have under-
taken to form a joint board of examiners for the colleges

I poo] Editorial 103

of this entire territory/ It is now possible to record the
fact that all preliminary steps have been taken, and that at
a meeting held at Columbia University, on May 12, a con-
stitution and plan of organization for such a board was
unanimously adopted, together with an elaborate series of defi-
nitions of the subjects in which examinations will be held an-
nually, beginning in the fourth week of June, 1901. The col-
leges participating in the conferences which finally adopted this
plan were Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Colgate, Columbia, Cor-
nell, New York University, Pennsylvania University, Prince-
ton, Rutgers, Swarthmore, Union, Vassar, and Woman's Col-
lege of Baltimore. The five representatives of the secondary
schools, already chosen by the Association of Colleges and
Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, were
also present.

The plan of organization agreed upon is as follows :

In response to the request of the Association of Colleges
and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland,
made in resolutions unanimously adopted at a meeting of the
Association held at Trenton, N. J., on December 2, 1899, the
several colleges and universities in the Middle States and Mary-
land, participating in this agreement, do agree, as follows :

1. There is hereby established a College Entrance Exami-
nation Board, to consist of the president, or an authorized rep-
resentative, of each college or university in the Middle States
and Maryland which has a freshman, or entering, class of not
fewer than fifty students (courses in arts and in sciences to be
reckoned together for this purpose), and of five representatives
of secondary schools of the Middle States and Maryland, to
be chosen annually by the Association of Colleges and Prepara-
tory Schools, or in such manner as that Association shall direct.

2. This board shall organize by the election of a chairman,
a vice-chairman, a secretary, and a treasurer. The secretary
and the treasurer need not be members of the board.

3. The board shall choose annually an executive committee,
to consist of five members, including at least one representa-

* Educational Review (January, 1900), 19 : 68-74, 97-98.

I04 Educational Review [June

tive of the secondary schools, which shall have such powers and
duties as the board may, from time to time, determine.

4. This board shall have power from time to time to adopt
and publish a statement of the ground which should be covered
and of the aims which should be sought by secondary school
teaching in each of the following subjects (and in such others
as may be desirable), and a plan of examination suitable as a
test for admission to college :

Botany, chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, his-
tory, Latin, mathematics, physics, zoology.

The first examination shall be based upon the statement of
subjects and definitions of requirements adopted May 12, 1900,
by the conference of representatives of colleges and secondary
schools, called to consider the establishment of college entrance
examination boards.

5. Not later than December of each academic year, this board
shall designate for each subject named in section 4 a college
teacher to act as chief examiner, and one additional college
teacher and one secondary school teacher to act as associate
examiners, and shall fix their compensation. It shall be the
duty of the examiners so appointed to prepare examination
questions, or other appropriate tests, in the several subjects, to
be used at the annual examinations to be held under the direc-
tion of the College Entrance Examination Board. When the
several question papers, or other tests, have been agreed on by
the respective groups of examiners, they shall be submitted for
approval or revision to a committee to consist of the chief ex-
aminers and the five representatives of the secondary schools
upon the College Entrance Examination Board. The action of
this committee of revision shall be final.

6. Not later than May of each academic year the board shall
appoint a staff of readers to inspect and give a rating to the
answer-books, or other tests, offered at the examinations, and
shall fix their compensation. Both college and secondary
school teachers shall be eligible for such appointments.

7. The examination papers shall be transmitted, as soon as
adopted by the committee of revision, to the secretary of the
college entrance examination board, and shall be printed and
distributed under the secretary's direction, to such examina-

1900] Editorial 105

tion centers and in accordance with such regulations as the
college entrance examination board may from time to time
determine.

8. The examinations shall be held at such times, in such
places, and under such supervision as the college entrance ex-
amination board, or its executive committee, may from year to
year determine.

9. Immediately on the completion of an examination the
answer-books, or other records, shall be forwarded in sealed
packages to the secretary of the college entrance examination
board, who shall assign them for inspection and rating to such
readers as the board or its executive committee may have
chosen. The answer-books and other records, together with
the rating accorded them, shall be returned by the reader within
one week after their receipt, to the secretary of the college en-
trance examination board, who shall issue a certificate as to the
name, residence, and age of the candidate; the name of the
school last attended; or if privately taught, the name of the
last teacher; the subjects in which examinations were taken;
the rating accorded in each subject; and the place and date of
the examination.

10. Answer-books shall be worked on a scale of 100, books
marked from 100 to 90 being rated as Excellent, from 90 to 75
as Good, from 75 to 60 as Fair, from 60 to 50 as Poor, and be-
low 50 as Very Poor. No answer-book shall be finally marked
below 60 until it has been passed upon by two readers. Both
marks and rating shall appear on the certificate. No revision
of any answer-book will be made after its rating has been deter-
mined. All books marked below 60 shall be kept for two years.
At any time within that period they will be sent, at the request
of the candidate, to any designated college.

11. Before admission to examination in any year each can-
didate shall pay a fee of $5 to the person in charge of the exam-
ination, and shall receive a receipt therefor. The amount of
such fees, together with a correct list of the candidates — their
names, addresses, ages, and schools (or teachers) — shall be
transmitted, together with the answer-books and other records,
to the secretary of the college entrance examination board,
who shall pay over the amount received in fees to the treasurer.

1 06 Educational Review [June

12. Salaries, bills, and other claims against the board shall
be paid by the treasurer, on the warrant of the chairman of the
executive committee.

13. This board shall have power to amend its plan of organi-
zation and constitution by a two-thirds vote of those present
at any meeting, provided due notice of the proposed change
has been given in the call for the meeting.

It is expected that the new board will meet early in the au-
tumn for organization and to arrange the details of the exam-
inations in June, 1901. The definitions of the requirements
which were adopted follow as closely as possible the recom-
mendations of the National Educational Association's com-
mittee on college entrance requirements, and are in themselves
a distinct contribution to the literature of the subject.

In choosing James H. Van Sickle of Denver
Notes and News (N. S.), Colo., to be superintendent of

schools of Baltimore, the board of education
of that city have placed at the head of the school system one of
the very best and most competent members of his profession.
Superintendent Van Sickle combines with scholarship, train-
ing, and experience, a sanity and robustness both of mind and
of character which will give strength and substance to his
educational policy. Baltimore is a conservative community,
but that it will respond earnestly and enthusiastically to Super-
intendent Van Sickle's leadership can hardly be doubted. It
is sincerely to be hoped that the technical point raised, that Mr.
Van Sickle is ineligible under the Baltimore charter, may be
found to be without weight.

The pre-eminence of the Chicago board of education is seri-
ously in danger. Its New York rival is now exploiting with
manifest satisfaction the Chicago theory that the superin-
tendent of schools is the employee and servant of the board.
But as Superintendent Maxwell is a statutory officer, holding
for a statutory term, and performing statutory functions, the
fact that the board of education confuse themselves with the

1 900] Editorial i o 7

city of New York is a matter of amusement rather than of
moment. Meanwhile, the Boston school committee has made
a determined bid for recognition. By a vote of 11 to 10 —
rather a narrow majority, to be sure, on which to base a claim
against Chicago — this body has refused appointment to a
skilled and successful teacher of wood-working, who had
passed the tests prescribed by Superintendent Seaver, because
(as the Boston Herald says) '' of a successful intrigue of labor
politicians, working upon weak or politically ambitious mem-
bers of the school committee, to execute malignant vengeance
upon a capable and useful teacher who had incurred their
enmity for reasons entirely disconnected with his character and
his qualifications as an instructor, or with the advantage of the
schools." The sooner the reformers lay the ax to the roots of
the Boston school committee, the better.

As the commencement season approaches we are gratified to
observe that the moral and enterprising firm of Colchester,
Roberts & Co., of Tifiin, Ohio, are prepared, as of yore, to
supply the busy students of the country with all kinds of literary
productions. We call particular attention to the sob in the
voice of their circular which is enwrapped in an envelope with
this personal and complimentary legend :

IF NOT DELIVERED TO PERSON ADDRESSED
PLEASE HAND TO SOME STUDENT.

To A Member of the Senior Class,
High School,

Bloomfield, N. J.

The circular inclosed read as follows :

We are at the present, as in the past, supplying the busy students of the
country with all kinds of Literary Productions. We still continue to furnish
the highest quality of Literary Work at the very lowest rate. We are no
strangers to the educational institutions of the country, and our work is
becoming more and more a necessity to the student as he becomes a
specialist in education, and to the man who, as the victim of circumstances,
is forced to perform literary labors, for which he has neither the time nor
the adaptability. Our increasing business will testify to the truth of this
statement, as well as to the merits of our work. In the last twenty-one
years, during which time we have been conducting this business, it has

1 08 Educational Review

increased from a merely local institution to the limits of the English-speak-
ing world.

Of you, who have not patronized us before, we ask nothing but a trial.
We do not ask you to speculate upon the question of our honesty :
We require no money in advance.
Our prices are as follows :

High School Orations and Essays, $3.00 to $8.00.
College Essays, Orations, and Debates, $3.00 to $15.00,
Political Speeches, $10.00 to $30.00. ►

Lectures, $10.00 and upward.
Sermons from 50 cents to $25.00.
Our work, with the exception of the low-priced sermons, we guarantee
original.

We are, yours confidentially,

COLCHESTER, ROBERTS & CO.,

Tiffin, Ohio.

We are not familiar with the penal code of Ohio, but can it
not reach this form of enterprise?

It is a distinct loss to the State of West Virginia that Presi-
dent Raymond of the State university has thought it necessary
to resign his office and to insist upon the acceptance of his resig-
nation. Until his election to the presidency the University of
West Virginia had never been heard of by the country at large,
but it now takes rank as a more than respectable college. While
accpmplishing this President Raymond has naturally and in-
evitably run counter to the desires of the political place-hunt-
ers and the incompetent who view a State university as a
source of livelihood for themselves; and the board of trustees
have lacked the courage to support the president in his pro-
gressive policy. As a result, he has tendered his resignation.
Unless there is a prompt '' right-about-face," the University
of West Virginia will pass from the class of educational to that
of eleemosynary institutions.

Tulane University has shown the highest wisdom in electing
President Alderman of the University of North Carolina as its
executive head in succession to the lamented Colonel William
Preston Johnson. Dr. Alderman has every qualification to
make Tulane the inspiration of higher education in the South
and -the instrumentality for the uplifting of the profession of
teaching thruout that part of the country.

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

SEPTEMBER, igoo

A SYNTHESIS OF HERBART AND FROEBEL^

The English teacher is traditionally a practical person.
Nor can he justly be blamed on that account, if only his posi-
tive admiration of practice does not take the negative form of
despising theory. But it is to be feared that this is too often
the case. If, by any chance, the idea occurs to him that teach-
ing is an art, and, like all other arts, requires skill, and that
those who are already skillful may in this, as in other arts, help
by their instruction those who are not ; if, in a word, he desires
training for his profession, he is too apt to seek that kind of
" training " which consists in the imparting of a miscellaneous
assortment of the obiter dicta of experience, such as we are
accustomed to find in English books on teaching. Often, in-
deed, these results of experience appear to be contradictory the
one to the other, and by no mental effort can the student see
in them expressions of any one principle of method. Nor does
this seem an objection to the ordinary " practical " English
teacher. He is too apt to look exclusively at the objective re-
sults of his teaching, and to forget to consider the influence
that teaching may have on the souls of his pupils. Nay, more,
he has all too frequently neglected to give any consideration to
that most fundamental of all educational questions — the nature
of the soul to be educated. Hence, he does not see that opposed
systems of teaching are the outcome of antagonistic views of
the nature of the soul, and so he neglects to consider whether

' From the ^ondon Journal of Education^ March, 1900.

109 i

no Educational Review [September

either is absolute truth or absolute falsity, or whether each is
a partial truth which is only false because it claims to be the
whole truth. This last I believe to be nearly always the case;
for all opposed principles in education, however contradictory
they may be when taken by themselves, are, I believe, contrary
to each other only because each is due to an over-emphasis of
one side of a complete process. And surely it should be the
task of all of us who are really interested in education to try
thus to think ourselves back to the very basis of our work. We
should neither adopt the attitude of the '' practical " empiri-
cist, and say, '' Oh, yes ! those German dreamers ! never mind
their theories — keep to what they tell us to do " ; nor should
we become uncritical partisans, glorying in our party cries, and
refusing to see any good in those whom we regard as our oppo-
nents. The former attitude is very common in respect to the
subject we propose to consider. Froebel invented the kinder-
garten, and gave somewhat minute directions for working a
kindergarten. Here your '' practical " teacher finds joy. The
kindergarten exercises and games look pretty, and they seem
to please the children, and — still more important — to please
their mothers. " Let us, then," says the practical teacher,
" have kindergarten exercises and games for children under
six." On the other hand, Herbart wrote mainly on the edu-
cation of children who had passed this first period. He, too,
gave directions as to procedure; and, tho the ''practical"
teacher probably could not make much out of those directions
by reading Herbart himself, yet Herbart's followers have set
out the steps of method explicitly enough. And so the " prac-
tical " teacher — quite pluming himself on the unaccustomed
feeling that his work is scientific — thrusts every lesson into the
cast-iron mold of the " method steps," and becomes as deadly
mechanical as is the kindergartner who is acquainted with only
the " practical part " of the kindergarten, and knows nothing
of its aims and spirit. The last state of those teachers is worse
than the first; yet that is the inevitable result of mere empirical
— falsely called " practical " — training. Surely training
which is truly practical must lead those who are trained so to
assimilate principles that they remain no longer rules to be

ipoo] A synthesis of Her bar t and Froebel 1 1 1

obeyed, but founts of inspiration to be drawn upon in all kinds
of varying circumstances. Teachers who have got thus far
are no longer under the law, but under grace. But here the
danger of adopting the second position — that of mere partisan-
ship— comes in. To say, '' I am a Froebelian," or " I am a
Herbartian," gives one that feeling of corporate sympathy
which is so great an aid to effort. Moreover, it brings to the
front that love of conflict which is fairly strong in most of us.
We feel we know where we are, and we are prepared to defend
our position against all comers; and we find adversaries in
plenty, for all who are not with us are against us. In Eng-
land, moreover, there may attend such a confession of faith a
feeling — subconscious, it may be — of superiority: we are no
longer as those Philistines to whom Froebel and Herbart are
mere names. Of course, in reaching our own positions — as
Froebelians or Herbartians — we have seen clearly how mis-
taken the mere empiricists are in thinking that a teacher can
follow both Froebel and Herbart. True, in the actual school
work of their followers there are points of external resem-
blance; but we have reached the principles underlying those
school methods, and we have found them antagonistic to each
other.

Here, then, the question is forced upon us, and I will put
it as strongly and baldly as I can. We must ask ourselves:
'' Is either Froebel or Herbart entirely wrong, or is each wrong
mainly in so far as he neglects the position of the other ? " In
the former case, no synthesis is possible; we may become thoro-
going Froebelians or thoro-going Herbartians, but either
way we can have no dealings with the other theory. But
in the latter case, it is obviously our duty to attempt such a
synthesis, for without it we shall never find that really true
philosophy of education of which, when found, both Froe-
belianism and Herbartianism will appear as but partial, and
therefore imperfect, expressions.

Let us, then, put before ourselves, as briefly as possible, the
essential principles of Herbart and Froebel respectively. Each,
in a sense, grew out of Pestalozzi. But Pestalozzi felt rather
than thought — as he himself tells us. Both Herbart and Free-

112 Educational Review [September

bel, on the other hand, tried to work out their systems logically
and constructively. Each saw that the true interest of educa-
tion is in its effect on the child; each made morality the aim of
the whole process; each recognized the parallelism between the
development of the child and that of the race; each insisted on
the necessity of unity and connection in the educational process.
iThese axiomata media, as we may call them, account for the
external similarity to be found in Froebelian and Herbartian
practice. But we must go deeper, and ask : " What is the child
who is thus the center of education ? " To this Herbart and
Froebel gave very different answers; and, as a consequence of
those answers, reached very different conceptions of education.
Put in a word, to Herbart the child is passive, to Froebel he is
active; hence, to Herbart education is essentially active, to
Froebel it is passive. Let me establish this more fully.

Herbart's pedagogy [theory of education] is essentially the
outcome Ckf the union of his psychology and his ethics — for
education is the development of the moral character, and there-
fore seeks its end in ethics and its means in psychology — and
his psychology is based on his metaphysics. Now, Herbart's
metaphysical position is that of atomistic realism. All phe-
nomena, he argues, are appearances; and all appearance im-
plies a being of which it is the appearance. Metaphysics must
investigate the nature of this being. Now, all being must
have some positive quality; tho as mere being this quality must
exclude all negation. But all change and becoming imply ne-
gation, both of that which has been and now is not, and of that
which is to be but is not yet: in becoming or change, there-
fore, the positive present — the is — negates the past — the was
hut is not — and the future — the will he hut is not. Hence,
every real being is absolutely simple and unchangeable, tho
with a quality of its own. The universe, therefore, is com-
posed of an immense multitude of such real beings, absolutely
simple and unchangeable but of different quality, which are
neither temporal nor spatial in their nature — for both time and
space involve negation. The best known to us among them
are our own souls. The soul is, therefore, with Herbart, a
simple, unchangeable being, and consequently indestructible —

ipoo] A synthesis of Herbart and Froebel 113

for destruction implies change. Nor can such a simple soul be
the substratum of various faculties, for each of these must ne-
gate the other. What its quality is we cannot know, nor can
we know the quality of any other being. All we can know of
the soul — /. e., all mental appearances — are but the results of
the meeting of this absolutely simple being with other abso-
lutely simple beings of different quality. The result of such a
meeting is an attempt of each at self-preservation against dis-
turbance. This effort at self-preservation is the only activity
Herbart allows to the soul. Such an effort is known to us as
a presentation or idea, the simplest form of which is a sensa-
tion, and more complex forms are precepts, images, and con-
cepts. These are not effects of outer things, but are produced
by the soul, whenever it meets with other disturbing beings.
In other words, the quality or nature of the soul is only indi-
cated to us by the various acts of self-defense necessitated by
its contact with equally real beings : its method in such defen-
sive activity is the turning the assailant into an idea or presen-
tation. Hence the essential nature of the soul, as far as we can
know it, is to form ideas in its struggle to maintain its exist-
ence. In response to whatever it meets, the soul, active in its
own self-preservation, gives rise to an idea; and thus, tho
the soul is one, its ideas are many.

It will be seen, therefore, that with Herbart, tho the soul
has a quality of its own, this quality is only manifested in re-
lation to what it meets, and that, therefore, character is entirely
conditioned by external circumstances. Whatever assails the
soul is annexed in the form of an idea, and thus enriches the
content of what we call the mind, or ego. Differences of indi-
viduality are, therefore, due to differences in the character and
number of the other real beings with which the soul is brought
into conflict — i. e., to differences in the number and character
of its ideas, and in their relations to each other. For each idea
is not only a special expression of the souFs self -preserving
activity, but, as all a person's ideas are such expressions of the
same soul, these ideas are brought into mutual relations, and
act as forces which aid or hinder each other. It is the mutual
action and reaction of these forces which empirical psychology

114 Educational Review [September

has to study. The fundamental hypothesis for such an investi-
gation is that every arrested presentation remains in the soul,
with a tendency to reproduction. This follows from the
assumption that the quality of a presentation must remain un-
changed. Hence Herbart conceived the possibility of apply-
ing the conceptions of the physics of perfectly elastic bodies to
the interaction of ideas. An idea was for him a kind of per-
fectly elastic billiard ball, always struggling to get into con-
sciousness, but, whether successful or no, remaining absolutely
unchanged and unchangeable. This mathematical conception
of psychology has been found inapplicable, for, upon more
acute analysis, ideas are seen to be marked by anything rather
than invariableness. But, in working out the conception, Her-
bart gave us an analysis of the interaction of ideas — the doc-
trine of apperception which, stripped of its mathematical guise
and the underlying metaphysical assumptions, is, as a descrip-
tion of one aspect of mental life, of the utmost value both for
psychology as a science and for its application to educational
practice. But with that we are not concerned to-day. The
point for us is that for Herbart mental life is merely the product
of ideas, acting as forces, aiding or hindering each other.
With the free play of these forces the ego cannot interfere; it
is itself but the product of that play. The unity of mental life
— of the ego or mind — is not found in the synthetic activity of
consciousness, but in the metaphysical conception of the essen-
tial unity of the soul. And the soul is neither consciousness
nor mind, but a something in itself unknown, on which these
are built up. This conception of a monad soul Herbart bor-
rowed from Leibniz ; but he changed it by depriving the monad
of the self-activity with which Leibniz credited it, and by
allowing, in direct opposition to Leibniz, a mechanical interac-
tion between that and other monads. Herbart, indeed, started
from Leibniz, but moved off in a sensationist direction; with
Leibniz the mind's growth is from within; with Herbart it is
from without. By influences from without Herbart sought to
explain everything — feelings, desire, and will, as well as cogni-
tion. Feeling results only from the free or hindered play of
the idea-forces; desire emerges from their support of each

ipooj A synthesis of Her bar t and Froebel 115

other; and will is generated out of desire by action, and con-
sists of desire together with belief in the attainability of the
object desired. Here, it would seem plain, Herbart puts on
his theory more than it can really bear.

In all this metaphysical conception of the real, and the psy-
chology derived from it, wx find no ethics. Herbart, indeed,
regarded ethics as quite separate from metaphysics, and speaks
of the " absurdity " of Kant in treating of a " metaphysic of
morals." Ethics is with Herbart a branch of aesthetics, and, as
such, has nothing to do with the reality of the relations con-
ceived, which are all such real or imaginary relations as are
accompanied by approval or disapproval. Ethics has for its
subject-matter those relations of the will which please, as being
morally beautiful : to ask why they please is as absurd as to ask
why in music the third or the fifth is an agreeable interval.
Hence, Herbart's ethics start in empirical facts — relations of
the will simply accepted as given — tho the moral end is to
find a fuller and more perfect realization of these relations than
is actually found in experience. These relations are univer-
sally valid, as are the analogous relations in music; they are,
therefore, not matters of individual caprice. It would be easy
to show how insufficient this is as an ethical theory, for such
individual relations of the will are mere empty force, and within
one and the same relation we may have a content which is
either good or bad. And this Herbart himself finds; for he
continually adds to his formal relations such really ethical con-
ceptions as good, praiseworthy, tho he does not analyze
them. But into this we need not enter. All I want to make
plain is that Herbart's ethics are not organically connected with
the rest of his philosophy. Indeed, in an important point they
are antagonistic to it; for his metaphysical theory is individual-
istic and atomistic, but his ethical position assumes a collective
social will to which the individual will is subordinate. Her-
bart's analysis of the moral ideas is, therefore, interesting in
itself, but can be quite separated from his theory of the world.
In the world as he paints it morality seems to have no place.
As Wundt well says : '* Man, as constructed by Herbart, is a
coolly calculating, ideational automaton. When his ideas are

1 1 6 Educational Review [September

in equilibrium, he gives his approval; when they are not, he
refuses it. No one not previously aware of the fact would
ever guess that upon these relations of idea and will depend all
the weal and woe of mankind." ^

It follows that in education, tho the end is morality, yet
the process is made by Herbart essentially one of instruction.
** I have no conception of education without instruction," he
says. And instruction has to play the all-important part of
determining what other real beings shall enter into conflict
with the individual soul, and, as a consequence, what ideas that
soul will produce in its efforts at self-preservation. Educa-
tion, then, is essentially active — "' a vast whole of ceaseless
labor " he himself calls it. For with him the soul does not
contain in germ all that will appear in mental life, nor is it mov-
ing toward an end predetermined by its own nature. Were
that the case, education could only retard or accelerate this
natural and necessary process, and the analogy of the child with
a plant would be a true one. The function of education would
then be largely passive. Education with Herbart has a much
wider task — that of building up the mind out of presentations;
or, in his own words, of '* forming the circle of thought," which
is the seat of the good will, and therefore the foundation of
morality.

This conception of education as a mainly passive watching
of the gradual unfolding of the soul germ, which Herbart re-
jected, is the very keynote of Froebel's pedagogy [theory of
education]. Like Herbart, Froebel deduced his pedagogy
from his philosophy; tho his apprehension of his philosophy
was by no means so profound and clear as was Herbart's.
Froebel, indeed, must be regarded rather as a philosophic
dreamer than as a philosophic thinker. And his philosophic
dreams — yague and nebulous as they were — had their origin in
the idealism of Schelling and of Fichte. With Herbart all
metaphysical knowledge of God was unattainable: his world,
indeed, had no place for a God, regarded as the ground of all
reality. But this is exactly the starting point of Froebel. The
Education of man begins with the words :

' Ethics, 2 : 137.

1900] A synthesis of Her bar t and Froebe I 117

" In everything dwells and rules an eternal law. This law
expresses itself, distinctly and clearly, alike in what is external
to man — nature; in what is internal to man — the soul; and
in what unites these two — life. ... As foundation of this
all-ruling law, exists of necessity a conscious, almighty, and
eternal Being. . . . This Being is God. Everything came
forth from God, and by God alone is governed; so that the
sole foundation of all things is God. In everything God rules
and lives. Everything rests and subsists in God. Things ex-
ist only because God acts in them. The Divine that acts in
each thing is the essence of that thing."

From this somewhat crude pantheism Froebel deduces his
educational theory. " The destination of all things is by un-
folding to set forth their essence, which is the Divine that
lives in them. . . . The Divine in man, which is his essence,
is to be unfolded and brought to his consciousness by means
of education." We could not have a more explicit statement
of that very germ-theory of the soul which Herbart was bound
to reject as the very antithesis of his own doctrine. It natur-
ally follows that Froebel should nearly immediately go on to
say : " Therefore education and instruction should from the
very first be passive, observant, protective; rather than pre-
scribing, determining, interfering"; for education is nothing
but helping the Divine to come forth. He proceeds : " All
training and instruction which prescribes and fixes, i. c, inter-
feres with nature, must tend to limit and injure, if we consider
the action of the Divine, and take man as in his primal beauty
and original health." And, tho it is true that " Nature
rarely shows us that unmarred original state, especially in
man," yet " it is for this reason only the more necessary to
assume its existence in every human being, until the opposite
has been clearly shown; otherwise that unmarred original state,
where it might exist contrary to our expectation, might be
easily impaired." For, tho Froebel tells us to study chil-
dren, he seems to think that, after all, our study is at least as
likely to lead us wrong as right; for we can only observe out-
ward expressions, and, if we infer from them directly to the
child's inner life, we shall make ** innumerable false judgments

1 1 8 Educational Review [September

concerning the motives of the young." He, therefore, gives us
the paradoxal rule to draw our inferences inversely — a rule
vs^hich would certainly lead us wrong at least as frequently as
would that of direct inference. It is true that '' the child that
seems good outwardly often is not good inwardly " — ^but
surely all children are not hypocrites; surely a rule of '' inverse
inference " is as violent a paradox as one could hope to meet
with. However, Froebel wants the paradox in order to minim-
ize the amount of active interference in education ; for the evil
to be avoided above all others is for him '' unnecessary interfer-
ence and coercion." The essence of all education is self-ac-
tivity. So far does Froebel carry this that he insists that ** all
prescription should [not only] be adapted to the pupil's nature
and needs [but, in addition, should] secure his co-operation."
And this he optimistically says will be attained so long as
" the one who makes the demand is himself strictly and un-
avoidably subject to an eternally ruling law . . . and . . .
therefore, all despotism is banished." But this securing the
co-operation of the child in all commands involves the further
position that '' the purely categorical, mandatory, and prescrip-
tive education of man is not in place before the advent of in-
telligent self-consciousness, . . . for then only can truth be
deduced and known from insight into the essential being of
the whole, and into the nature of the individual." Clearly
what Herbart calls government has no true place in Froebers
system of early education, in which alone it plays a part ac-
cording to Herbart. So subjective and individualistic is
Froebel's educational theory that no external manifestation
of morality can be taken as a model of life. " It is the greatest
mistake to suppose that spiritual, human perfection can serve
as a model in its form. This accounts for the common ex-
perience that the taking of such external manifestations of
perfection as examples, instead of elevating mankind, checks,
nay, represses, its development." In a word, the growth of
the mind is, with Froebel, a development from within, and the
function of the educator is to be a benevolent onlooker.

This, then, is the main antithesis between the educational
theories of Herbart and Froebel:

I poo] A synthesis of Her bar t and Froebel 119

With Herbart the mind is formed and built up from with-
out : hence instruction is the chief educational instrument.

With Froebel the mind develops from within: hence self-
activity is the chief educational instrument.

Are they in deadly opposition, or can they be reconciled in
a higher unity which embraces both? Certainly, the meta-
physical basis of the one or the other must be rejected. The
real world cannot be at once a multitude of separate and self-
existing atoms and an expression of one rational and spiritual
Being. Or, to put it technically, both atomistic realism and
idealism cannot be true as ultimate explanations of the universe.
But perhaps we may find it possible, with a clearer conception
of the latter of these metaphysical grounds, to erect a system
which will find a place both for Herbart's formation from
without and for Froebel's development from within. For, in
one point, at once we find them in agreement — that we do
not see man's true nature already realized in him at birth:
Froebel's germ-soul is as empty of real content as is Herbart's
monad soul. Now arises the question : How do we get from
this empty soul to the fully developed ego of adult life? And
here is it not true that we feel Herbart's explanation to be
unsatisfying and incomplete? Is not, indeed, the most ultimate
fact of consciousness of which we can have direct knowledge
that very self-activity with which Herbart dispenses ? Of this
activity — sense of effort, will, call it what you like — we are
aware in quite a different way from that in which we are aware
of presentations; it is not one presentation among many,
but in the form of attention is an essential condition of every
presentation. While we grant, then, that the soul in its orig-
inal state is only a kind of psychical protoplasm, without per-
ceptible organization, yet we hold it is capable of all. But this
soul can only be actualized thru an individual body. And the
self of which we are conscious is at once soul and body, and
this is the individual whom education has to develop. And
it develops mentally thru attention. But in attention we have
an act which may be looked at from two sides : it is at once the
going out of self-activity toward an object, and the taking
that object into relation with the self. For that which is at-

1 20 Educational Review [September

tended to is brought into relation with the self, so far as that
self is yet organized, is assimilated, is retained, and thus is
absorbed into the very body of the self. Thus consciousness
is not a passive result of interacting forces, but is itself the
very activity which gathers and selects the elements with which
it constructs its idea of reality. In a word, apperception is not
a mere result of the struggle of ideas, over the result of which
the mind, or ego, has no control; it is an activity of the ego
itself. But still the ideas are there, they do acquire various de-
grees of strength from their union with this or that aspect of
the imperfectly organized self — especially with that large, sub-
conscious self, the result of innumerable unnoticed reactions of
the mind to stimuli from without. Thus, Herbart's descrip-
tion is true of one aspect of the full process, as Froebel's is of
the other. Both are one-sided and imperfect, and the imper-
fection of both is largely due to a too-individualistic concep-
tion of man. In Froebel we have subjective individualism;
the one thing is to secure personal freedom, and promote in-
dividuality. In Herbart, on the other hand, we have what we
may call an objective individualism : the formation of the in-
dividual from without, but still the formation of a mere in-
dividual. In the fuller conception of personality we find the
" reconciling mean " — as we may say in Froebelian language —
of these two views, which, on their own plane, are contradictory.
For a person is not merely an individual, but equally a member
of a social organism. And into the life of this organism he
is born as surely as he is born to his own individual life. In-
deed, he is an individual only in so far as he is a member of
the social organism. But, if this is the case, then his true in-
dividuality is expressed, and his true nature realized, so far,
and so far only, as he shares the common organic life. In
other words, true freedom is found only when the subjective
is reconciled with the objective. Hence these do not hold a
negative position towards each other, but each finds its place
in a true conception of complete human life. But this means
that human freedom is conscious, and, as conscious, rational.
For it is only when man's individuality is harmonized with
objective law — whether in the physical or in the social world —

1900 J A synthesis of Herbart and Froebel 121

that he finds real freedom. Man, therefore, grows into freedom,
but in no true sense can he said to begin as free. Freedom
is rational — or, in other words, reason is self-realizing activity.
But this self-realization of the rational will is not and cannot
be individualistic : it involves the identification of the individ-
ual with the objective world by finding rationality in it — i. e.,
by finding himself at home in it. And this gives us the function
of education: to lead the child to find his true place and his
true work in the universe. But before he can feel at home
in the universe, he must exert effort to understand it; and so
long as he does not understand it he is, as it were, a stranger
in it. Education, then, begins with leading the child to turn
toward and to study that which is strange and unfamiliar.
And this is work, not play. For here we have exertion for
a definite end. And the end is determined by the educator.
For, while the educator can see what the child should aim at
being, the child himself cannot — he is much too immature. The
educator must assist in producing that which the child would
wish to develop for himself had he a clear idea of his own
nature, but which he will never reach if left to himself. " Edu-
cation is not mere development — it is training; and training
implies an end clearly conceived by the trainer, and means
carefully organized to attain that end.'' ^ The " freedom " of
the little child is mere caprice ; and the development of caprice
will never lead him into true freedom. It is just because
freedom is the end sought, that it is not — cannot be — the
starting point; for the attainment of freedom implies the at-
tainment of perfect manhood. Mere spontaneous activity,
therefore, on the part of the child is not enough: there is a
place for it, but guided activity is at least equally necessary.
And such guided activity implies authority on the side of the
educator and obedience on that of the pupil. Nor must the
pupil yield obedience only when his caprice of the moment
agrees with the command; for his true freedom will never be
attained if he acts in opposition either to natural law or to
the moral law of the community of which he is born a mem-
ber. To him the educator personifies the authority of this

^ Welton, Logical bases of education, p. 251.

122 Educational Review

moral community, and to the general will expressed by him
the child's individual caprice must give way. True, this obe-
dience should be willing in order to be truly moral, and should
spring from full confidence in the educator. But morality is
an affair of conduct, as well as of motive, and the outer act
influences the motives; and so outward conformity to law
must be obtained, even tho the spirit at the time may struggle.
We conclude, then, that both Froebel and Herbart have much
to teach us, but that each sets forth an incomplete theory of
education. A true education must combine both their theories :
it must train children both in spontaneity and in obedience.
Omit the latter, and we produce a mere monster of caprice and
do not reach true freedom; omit the former, and we annihilate
initiative and freedom. True education must combine work
and play, rationality and individuality. From Froebel we
learn to respect the child's activity; from Herbart we learn
that we must not let it run wild; from Herbart we learn the
importance of instruction — ^the importance, that is, of mental
food; from Froebel we learn the lesson that all knowledge
must be acquired and turned to use by the child's own efforts.
In brief, Herbart tells us most about the work of the educator;
Froebel most about that of the child in the whole educative
process. Each exaggerates the function of the one with whom
he is dealing, and each is led to do so by his philosophical po-
sition. But it is not in exaggeration on one side or the other
that the true educational doctrine is found, but in the perfect
and harmonious co-operation of each factor. It is in such a
synthesis of the doctrines of Froebel and Herbart, I am con-
vinced, that true educational theory lies. The child must be
brought into harmony with his surroundings; but, at the same
time, we must make the most and the best of him as an indi-
vidual. These are not contradictory aims when human life
is rightly conceived.

James Welton

Yorkshire College,

Leeds, England

MUNSTERBERG ON THE NEW EDUCATION

Some answer, it seems to me, is called for, from those who
believe in certain of the newer ideas in education, to an article
by Professor Miinsterberg in the May number of the Atlantic
Monthly. Professor Miinsterberg, it will be remembered, gives
a most charming account of the early teaching which he him-
self received in Prussia and of the education which he obtained
for himself outside of the schoolroom. The results of his
school teaching were that altho he had plenty of leisure time
for botanizing, for studies in archaeology and theology, for
playing the violin, writing novels and acquiring Arabic, yet
he attained at the age of fifteen, altho himself by no means a
model scholar, the same degree of learning which boys in this
country reach three years later.

Professor Miinsterberg's explanation of the greater forward-
ness of himself and his companions as compared with American
boys is, first, that his teachers were well-drilled, enthusiastic
students of the subjects which they taught; second, that the
school was ably seconded by the home, the parents of all the
scholars taking a profound interest in their children's school
standing, so that any success in studies was received as a family
triumph and any failure cast a gloom over the home circle.

Professor Miinsterberg's idea as to how we in America may
attain to the first of these advantages (the obtaining of well-
drilled and enthusiastic teachers) is that we should cease to
run after the false gods which he thinks are distracting our
attention from this important subject. These false gods he
finds in the kindergarten idea and in the tendency to specializa-
tion as exemplified in some of our universities. The kinder-
garten idea, he finds, is the embodiment of the " spirit of self-
ish enjoyment," and the university specialization he considers
to be an outcome of the *' mercenary spirit of our time," and

123

124 Educational Review [September

these two embodiments of " mercenary utilitarianism" and
*' selfish materialism," he finds everywhere fighting against
the spirit of idealism. Besides the great evil of diverting our
attention from what is really needed, he thinks these false gods
have led us into positive evils, of which the elective system
creeping up into our schools from the kindergarten and down
from the college is the chief.

His main practical conclusions are, first, that we ought to
have no elective system until after students have reached the
point now attained at graduation from our colleges; second,
that we should have teachers learned in the subjects wh^sli
they teach; third, that our teachers ought to know nothing of
educational psychology; and fourth, that we need good homes.

That there is a foundation of truth for Professor Miinster-
berg's criticisms no one, I think, can deny. That our teach-
ers are not sufficiently prepared for their work is a criticism
not entirely new, but nevertheless one which cannot be too often
repeated until repetition becomes unnecessary. The elective
system, too, as practiced in our schools and colleges, is as yet
crude and imperfect, and many just criticisms might be brought
against it.

But the source of our errors and shortcomings, which are
many, is not to be found in the advent of the new ideas as
found in the kindergarten and in the university; first, because
these ideas have had as yet very little effect on our public
schools — the only application of the kindergarten idea yet to
be found being in the Swedish sloyd; secondly, because these
ideas are not wrong, but right. The many faults to be found in
our schools are due partly to the fact that the new ideas, so far
as they have been adopted, are as yet very new and are imper-
fectly worked out, but chiefly to the survival of ideas inherited
from a time and a condition long past, having no true or vital
connection with our American life of to-day, and giving rise
to the failure of sympathy, which Professor Miinsterberg has
pointed out, between the American school and the American
home.

Even in the matter of securing interesting teachers, upon
the obvious need of which he speaks so well, I do not think

1900] Munsterberg on the new education 125

the method Professor Munsterberg suggests is an infallible
or even a very promising one for us to pursue. If I may-
be permitted a brief autobiographical statement in answer to
Professor Miinsterberg's, I, too, could have entered Harvard
College at the age of fifteen, and I owe this early precocity in
book-learning, not as Professor Miinsterberg did, to highly
trained specialists, but to an old woman who had never been
to college, but who knew how to teach arithmetic, and to a
young man who, like Shakspere, knew little Latin and less
Greek, and who had picked up a smattering of French during
a walking tour — whose acquirements, therefore, cannot have
exceeded those of the average German boy of fourteen — ^but
who possessed the gift of imparting something more than he
knew of these languages to an extent which I have never seen
approached by the more profound scholars under whom I have
studied since that time.

How far an enthusiasm for the subject to be taught will tend
to produce an interesting teacher will, as a matter of fact, en-
tirely depend on how nearly the feeling of the teacher toward
the subject is of the sort that can be communicated to his
pupil; and this, in turn, will depend on the age of the pupil
as well as upon the teacher and the subject taught. A knowl-
edge of the higher mathematics, however profound, can hardly
of itself make the imparting of the knowledge that twice two
makes four a thrilling pursuit, nor can it have, that I can see,
any tendency in that direction.

Neither am I entirely convinced of the soundness of Pro-
fessor Miinsterberg's contention that a teacher had better know
nothing of educational theory or psychology. People have not
been teaching school all these centuries without learning some-
thing about the subject. Successful teachers, from the early
Jesuits down to Colonel Parker, have been those who have paid
the greatest attention to method, and it is too late in the day
to claim that each teacher should start out equipped only with
a knowledge of some science or language, and for the rest, as
ignorant of his business as if he were the first that had ever
engaged in it. In support of his position Professor Munster-
berg relies upon the familiar truth that science is one thing and

126 Educational Review [September

art is another, and one sympathizes with his opinion that a lyric
poet is not particularly improved by a knowledge of the prin-
ciples upon which lyric poetry is written; but the analogy be-
tween writing lyric poetry and school-teaching is not, after all,
a close one. He tells us that he has tried to show, '' above all,
how the analytic tendency of the psychological and pedagogical
attitude is diametrically opposite to that practical attitude, full
of tact and sympathy, which we must demand of the real
teacher; and that the training in the one attitude inhibits free-
dom in the other." The same diametrical opposition occurs in
every profession in which there is both a science and an art, or
in which, to speak more accurately, the art of practicing it is
founded upon a science. Nevertheless, we do not find that
scientific training in medicine, in law, in engineering, or in
other professions in which this is true, does, as a matter of fact,
inhibit freedom in practice. The two attitudes are not the
same, but they can both be assumed by the same person at dif-
ferent times unless that person has, by some very narrow
process of training (as for instance by too long a residence at
a university), becomes so stiff in the joints that he is confined
to one attitude for life. A nearer parallel to school-teaching
than lyric poetry is the profession of medicine. It is doubt-
less true that the first doctor who, discontented with rule of
thumb, sought to know something in a scientific way of the
human body and mind and of the causes of their health and
sickness, lost at first a little of his instinctive tact in the actual
handling of disease, just as the beginner at golf inevitably
takes the bloom off of his first brilliant style of play when he
begins to study the mysteries of the various orthodox strokes.
Nevertheless, the medical profession has not, upon the whole,
lost ground by knowing something, not only of the drugs which
it administers, but of the human being for whom it prescribes.
The fact is that when Professor Miinsterberg says that the
first requisite of a teacher is a knowledge of his subject, but
that the teacher should not make a study of children, he really
makes a play on the word " subject," and states a paradox
which he will find it impossible to maintain. The subject of
an arithmetic teacher is not arithmetic, but teaching arithmetic.

1900] Milnsterberg on the new education 127

'' Psychology " may or may not be the right name for what
the teacher ought to know, but, whatever its name, his mental
equipment must include a knowledge of how his pupils' minds
work and of how they can be reached. The great doctor is
not the man with an enthusiasm for bismuth or bromide, but
the man with a knowledge of the human organism and of the
way in which drugs may be made to administer to the health of
body and mind.

The more important of the two causes which Professor
Miinsterberg assigns for the success, in their own line, of the
Prussian schools I believe to be, not the knowledge on the part
of the teachers of the subject taught, but the co-operation be-
tween the school and the home. And most important of all, I
think, is the central and original cause of both the other causes,
namely, the German character and view of life and the close-
ness with which the German school is adapted to that view.
The German idea of the aim of life is knowledge. The pro-
fessor is to the German what the great business man is to us,
the type, namely, of the successful man. From this national
devotion to knowledge arise both the high accomplishment in
the way of learning on the part of the teachers, the reverence
with which such accomplishment is regarded in the German
home, and the readiness of the German boy to be impressed
with the importance of striving for similar attainment. To
the German boy it doubtless seems a natural sequence of cause
and effect that his failure in spelling or in Latin grammar,
should, as Professor Miinsterberg describes, cast a gloom over
the home circle; he takes to learning as the young duckling
takes to water, or as the American boy takes to baseball; i'n
providing him with the means of learning and with learned
instructors the German school is providing him with the means
of development which his nature calls for.

But it does not follow that because the German schools have
been so successful in taking a real place in German life that
American schools could be equally successful by adopting the
same means, or that, as Professor Miinsterberg suggests, the
American home can be made into *' a good home " by an at-
tempt to bring it into the German attitude of adoration to-

128 Educational Review [September

ward the German school system or any system nearly resem-
bling it. America is not Germany; we are not Germans, and
if we try to imitate the German methods in the hope of produc-
ing German results we shall inevitably be disappointed. To us
knowledge is not the great end and aim of life, and if we may
judge from the history of our race it never will be. It is use-
less for us to try to live up to the German standard in this
direction, because it is not our standard, and we have not got
it in us to attain to it. Our ideal is an ideal, not of learning,
but of doing; not of acquirement, but of action. We would
rather, and can more easily, make history than write it. To
us life — the making and controlling of the good and beautiful
things of this world, for ourselves and others — possesses more
attraction than the acquisition of any amount of knowledge of
how these things may or ought to be or have been done. To
us money-making — the principal means which modern life
supplies for putti'ng thought into action — does not seem vul-
gar and second-rate as it does to the European. We see in it
life, — the joy of contest, the opportunity for brave and noble
work, the means of establishing and beautifying the home, of
building up the school or library of our native town, of im-
pressing upon outer objects our inner thoughts and aspirations,
of living out our ideal as sons, fathers, brothers, citizens.
These are the things we see where the German sees nothing
but a low and annoying interruption to his studies. To us
life, — life with blood in it, full of action, contest, achievement,
crowned with power and capable of beneficence, is the main
thing. You cannot make of us a race of students, and you
cannot give us " good homes " by trying to make the Ameri-
can home like the German home — an adjunct of the school
and subordinate to the older school idea of learning as the chief
aim of life. The problem here is not to bring the home to the
school, but to bring the school to the home, or rather, to make
both the school and the home co-operate in ministering to life —
to the best that is in us here in America at the present time.
This is the teaching of the new education against which Pro-
fessor Miinsterberg's article is addressed. It was the teaching
of Froebel, and I believe that Froebel's prophecy that America

1900] Milnsterberg 071 the new education 129

would be the place in which his ideas would be most fully
carried out is now in process of fulfillment.

Coming now to the question of the alleged sources of the
shortcomings of our school system, the idea of specialization
as seen at some of our universities, and the kindergarten idea,
let us speak first of the former.

The university idea of specialization is not a " mercenary '*
idea nor an "' embodiment of selfish materialism." In the first
place, so far as it represents an opportunity for training for
business or professional life — for money-making — it is not
selfish, for the American idea of money-making is, as we have
seen, not a selfish idea. It is our good fortune rather than a
merit that this is so. We have in this country no aristocracy,
either military or sporting, to sneer at the common occupa-
tions of mankind, to teach us that such occupations are, in their
nature, less noble than those others which the hard work of
the common people has rendered possible to the favored few.
To us it is more difficult to understand how a life which is not
self-supporting can be honest than to see that a life given to
doing the world's work may attain to any degree of culture,
however high.

But Professor Miinsterberg's mistake is not merely the com-
mon European one of supposing that money-making is vulgar
and mercenary. He also misapprehends the object of such
preparation for money-making as is supplied by the elective
system in our universities. The object is not, in the main, to
enable the man to make money either more quickly or in
greater quantities than he could otherwise do; it is rather to
give him such preparation as will enable him to take a pro-
fessional view of his work, to see its deeper and its higher pos-
sibilities, and to respect it as an occupation in which whatever
is best in him may find expression; to make of the university
not a beacon shedding its rays equally in all directions, but a
search-light turned forward along the path which the student
is to follow, illuminating that path, and making the things of
his daily life bright with the inspiration of seeing what those
things are at their best and what they may become for him if
rightly used.

1 30 Educational Review [September

Nor is it the object, at least, of the elective system to narrow
the pupil's trai'ning. On the contrary, its object and, when
properly carried out, its effect is to broaden it. Breadth of
culture is to be measured, not by the unlikeness of the studies
that a boy has " done," nor by the completeness with which
such studies represent the entire sphere of human knowledge,
but by breadth of the sympathies aroused, the depth of the in-
sight obtained. Up to a certain age, it is true, an age varying
with every individual, such breadth is best secured by the fixed
curriculum — ^not, indeed, the traditional one we are used to,
which trains only a small part of the mind, fitting our boys for
•college or clerical work, our girls for school-teaching and ele-
gant accomplishment, and almost unfitting both for the best
work and truest citizenship, but by a curriculum in which the
creative and artistic, the imaginative and sympathetic, as well
as the purely receptive, faculties shall be trained.

But there comes a time when, for the sake of breadth of
culture and for every other sake, the fixed curriculum must be
abandoned, or if adhered to must choose between its present
method — that of suiting a small class of minds — and the only
alternative, that of suiting nobody. After that time has come
the greatest breadth of culture is obtained, not by ignoring the
individual bent, but by studying to give to each mind, not
culture in general, but the broadest special culture of which
that particular mind is capable.

It is easy to go thru the motions of teaching any boy
anything, but the lines within which his real culture can ex-
tend— the curve of his possible enlightenment — are settled by
a power higher than the school committee. What shall be
done with the territory within that curve is the only question
which the educator has the power to determine; the territory
is there to cultivate or neglect; a field within it left waste is
a loss in breadth of culture; a field plowed outside of it is not
a broadening, but a scattering and a waste.

And most important of all is that the central light, the spark
of genius, the touch of the universal mind which each possesses,
should be. blown into the brightest glow of which it is capable;
from it, if from any source, the fire will spread and the light be

igoo] Milnsterberg on the new education 131

cast into the remoter corners and recesses of the mind. The
proper training of this vital, pecuUar power is not a sacrifice of
breadth, but the means of attaining the greatest breadth of
which any given mind is capable, the essential condition, in
fact, of the receiving of any true culture at all. The boy who
could never understand a book nor a lesson is given one thing
he can do — clay-modeling, brush-work, care of the store Satur-
day afternoons — and the book too begins to speak and the
arithmetic lesson acquires a meaning. As with him, so with
the rest, and so thru life.

This does not mean that we should hastily assume from a
little distaste or difficulty at the outset, that a particular study
is not one of those from which true nourishment will in the
end be derived. We should, I think, on the contrary, stretch
the boy out (to use a drastic metaphor) as wide as we find
that he can go; and we never ca'n tell what he can do in any
given direction until we try — try hard and for a long time.
Nor does it mean necessarily that the choice should be left to
the boy himself, to whom, as Professor Miinsterberg truly says,s
the studies, before he has tried them, may often be but names,
between which any true choice is impossible. But it does
mean that after a certain age the time for choosing comes, that
gradually, as the true bent unfolds itself, the less appropriate
studies should be dropped, and that the ignoring of such bent
is but the paying of a formal tribute to the shadow of the wider
culture while we neglect its substance.

The specializing required for the true culture of individuals
is not, of course, to be confounded with the adaptation of the
school to the needs common to all children according to their
age. A curious idea of Professor Miinsterberg's is that the
new education is prone to look upon the common characteristics
of childhood and boyhood as indicating individual bent. He
tells how when he passed thru the various stages that all boys
pass thru, the naturalist stage, the archaeological stage, and the
religious stage, his parents and instructors, not being infected
with educational theory, did not conclude first that he was going
to be a naturalist, then an archaeologist, and so on: innuendo:
that if they had been so infected they would have done so, and

132 Educational Review [September

would have started to train him accordingly. But would
they have done so? Is it the teaching of the new education
that because the baby kicks he is to be a football player or a
corporation lawyer; and that because he plays doll he is going
to be a trained nurse? Is it not precisely the idea of the new
education that each stage of growth has its appropriate occu-
pation and means of development ? It is not the new, but the
old system that would begin stuffing in the knowledge that
" will come in handy later," that put little children thru Latin
grammar by stroke of birch because learning Latin was, in
the Middle Ages, equivalent to learning to read, and was the
appropriate preparatory training, therefore, for the profession
of clerk, monk, or scholar. The new education would indeed
make provision for each stage of development as it arrives, —
it would not, for instance, leave the satisfying of the botanizing
instinct to luck, but would make special preparation for its
satisfaction in the case of a city child, — ^but it, unlike the old, is
content to nourish the young sprout in the way that is best
for it at the time, trusting to nature to bring forth the flower
and the fruit in due season and to determine what the fruit
is to be.

And one word about choosing, about the deliberate training
of the power of choice. Professor Miinsterberg tells us that
when, at last, he came to the science of psychology " the light-
ning struck." This was very well in the case of a man of
genius, but for most of us it is not safe to leave the matter so.
The lightning may not think to concern itself in the question
of whether we go into the grocery business or into real estate;
and mistakes may occur if the first serious choice we are called
upon to make is the choice of a profession. From the kinder-
garten up this choosing faculty ought to be exercised, first,
and for a long time, within the studies prescribed; at some time
as to what study shall be taken. As the mind develops, the
field of choice will be narrowed, and finally a trained capacity
for choice will be equal to its task, even if no lightning should
be forthcoming to aid it.

On the subject of the other source from which he believes
our educational system is being perverted and undermined,

igoo] Milnster berg on the new education 133

namely, the kindergarten, Professor Miinsterberg's criticisms
are extremely severe. His statement of the central idea of the
kindergarten is that it aims to follow the whim of the child.
It studies, he says, to find and supply " what may best suit the
tastes and likings of Peter, the darling " ; it ^' promises ease by
the adjustment of the school to the personal inclination " or by
" limitation of the work to the personal taste." " Liking,"
he says, " is the great ruler." From this fundamental error
of following the whim of the child he finds that the kinder-
garten idea precludes all discipline to the character, and that by
following it we are in danger of cultivating the vulgar tastes
and pleasures rather than the more refined.

One wonders in reading this arraignment from what source
Professor Miinsterberg has derived his idea of what the kin-
dergarten is. Where does he find either in the writings of
Froebel or in the practice of any trained kindergarten teacher
that the central idea of the kindergarten is to follow the indi-
vidual whim? Anyone who has read Froebel's writings, or
any part of his writings, will testify that if there ever was a
man who believed in the " child universal," who thought there
was a God in this world, and only one, that he dwells in every
child as well as in every flower, and has written in the heart of
every child certain things in the glad and full recognition of
which alone it can find its true and strongest life, the founder
of the kindergarten was that man. It is true, indeed, that the
kindergarten system is founded upon the nature of the child,
that it " follows the child," that Froebel, in fact, based his
whole system upon what he conceived to be the needs and crav-
ings of the nature which he sought to develop (and incidentally
it may be relevant to ask if our education of children is not to
be based upon the 'needs of the children upon whose needs it
shall be based) . But the following the child does not mean fol-
lowing the whims of the individual. It means following what
years of careful study by Froebel and his followers have led
them to believe to be the child's essential nature and inmost
needs. No man ever believed less in whim than Froebel, and
his followers have in this respect accurately caught his spirit.
He believes first and always in the universal in every child, and

134 Educational Review [September

in certain main ways in which that universal must develop, if at
all — in certain main subjects and methods of education, thru
which alone it can find its growth. And it is for the develop-
ing of this universal element, thru the means that appeal
to every child, that the kindergarten was designed and is
carried on.

It may be a surprise to Professor Munsterberg and to other
critics, but it is the fact, that there are not and never have been
any elective courses in the kindergarten. No child in a kinder-
garten is, nor ever has bee^n, since the kindergarten was
founded, allowed to choose what sort of work he will do for
any moment of time. At what period of education, if at all,
Froebel would have introduced elective studies we do not
know ; he certainly did not introduce them in the kindergarten.

It is true that opportunity is given in certain of the kinder-
garten occupations for individual expression.

After making certain prescribed arrangements of the ma-
terial supplied to him the child is given, for a certain number
of hours every week, time in which he is obliged to make
arrangements of his own inventing. Such choice is no
more the following of a whim than the writing of English
composition is the following of a whim because the student is
inevitably allowed, by the nature of the study, to choose his
own words and to form his own sentences. It is the follow-
ing of whim only in the same sense that writing Latin verse
in the English public schools is a following of the whim of
English schoolboys.

The reason this work is included in the kindergarten does
not indicate that Froebel believed in '' whim " ; it is there be-
cause he believed that an essential part of the child's educa-
tion is in the training of his active and constructive faculties,
and because no way has yet been devised for training those
faculties except thru their exercise. Those who believe that
such training for the constructive and originating powers as is
found in the kindergarten ought to be left out of educa-
tion must find some better argument than is contained in ac-
cusations of " whim," " following the darling's inclinations "
and the like. They must show one of two things — either that

1900] Munsterberg on the new education 135

the active faculties do not need training or that they can be
trained without being exercised.

As I have said, Professor Miinsterberg derives from the
assumption that the kindergarten follows the whim of the child
this corollary, that the kindergarten idea is taking from our
school system all moral discipline. '' He who is allowed al-
ways to follow the path of least resistance never develops the
power of overcoming the resistance; he remains utterly un-
prepared for life." Agai'n, how can one answer? A visit to
the'kindergarten would furnish a complete answer, as to the
facts; reading a page of Froebel would answer as to the ideal;
but to those who will not visit and will not read, what can we
say?

In the first place let us discriminate a little. Let us assume,
for the sake of argument, that the kindergarten does follow, if
not the whim, at least the liking of the child — that " liking is
[really] the great ruler." Would it result from this that all
difficulty, all conflict, would be eliminated, that we should
'* follow the line of least resistance " ? Does the child, as a
matter of fact, like only those thing? in which there are no diffi-
culties, no resistance to be overcome? Are *' easy " and
'* attractive " synonymous terms ? It seems to me that such
a supposition comes very close to being the precise opposite of
the truth. I believe that anyone who has dealt with children
will testify that they like things almost in proportion as they
are difficult. The overcoming of resistance may not be in
itself sufficient to make a given occupation attractive, but it is
very nearly essential to any permanent attraction. The ex-
perience of the boys' clubs is instructive upon this point.
These clubs started simply with the idea of keeping the boys
off the street. The people who promoted them had no idea
that they were engaged in an educational work. The methods
they have evolved have been arrived at without conscious edu-
cational purpose or theory; they have been adopted simply as
the means found by experience to be most effective in attract-
ing the boys, and are therefore pretty good evidence of what
is actually attractive. And yet there has been a steady devel-
opment from the idea of simply trying to amuse the boys to

136 Educational Review [September

the idea of trying to find something for them to do, and to giv-
ing them things to do that are more and more difficult ; and the
people conducting the clubs write '' we fi'nd the hard work and
the hard play, the sloyd, the industrial training, the wrestling
and the football infinitely more attractive than the old amuse-
ment features ever were."

Or let anybody study the games in which boys, especially
American boys, take an interest. Is football easy? Is base-
ball easy? Is the standard exacted in these games an easy one
to attain ? Not in my experience, at least. On the contrary, I
venture to assert that no school-teacher in any country or time
ever ventured to hold up so high a standard of endeavor or of
attainment as obtains on the ball field, and that no school
study ever commanded so cheerful a submission to drudgery,
so strict a temperance, or so firm a self-restraint, as is obtained
in athletics.

We get some light upon this supposed conflict between lik-
ing and discipline from the experience of business life and of
the preparation therefor. Have we any of us ever known a
boy who seemed to have nothing in him so long as he was at
school; who, if he had the misfortune of going to college,
seemed to be going from bad to worse while there; was list-
less over his studies, inclined to dissipation; and, what was far
worse, not inclined to take hold of anything, and was thus be-
coming dissipated in the older and truer sense — scattered, dis-
integrated, going to pieces ? And have we seen that boy when
he entered the medical school (for that is what he usually
does), or began at the bottom of the ladder in some line of busi-
ness, suddenly, as it were in a night, seem to change his whole
character, become alert, interested, manly, and of a seemingly
inexhaustible power for work? I think we have most of us
seen many such boys; that, in fact, such a boy is the normal
and inevitable product of a school curriculum inherited largely
from the Middle Ages, and still in its main features adapted
only to boys of a literary rather than of a scientific turn of
mind. Here again the following of the boy's " liking " pro-
duced morality, discipline, character. How can the result be ac-
counted for by those who claim that where " liking is the great

1900] Munsterberg on the new education 137

ruler " all discipline is at an end ? Perhaps it will be said,
" Oh, but he did not like all the work at the medical school;
he was forced to do much that was hard, distasteful. His de-
sire to succeed in his profession made him undergo a great
deal of work that he did not like." True and most true.
The end he had in view forced him to work in a way he had
never worked before. The things he did were some of them
not less, but more disagreeable than anything he had ever even
been asked to do at school. The difference was that he did
it, and the difference behind that was that he wanted to, that
he had a motive, that he had what the baseball player has,
what the child at play has, what every human being who
is doing good work of any sort has, and what the kinder-
garten idea would so far as possible put behind every
stroke of work and every hour of study — an adequate, real,
consciously held desire a'nd motive; that in short he is
" following his own liking," and not the decree of the school
committee. It is because of this invariable experience
of its moral and vital results that the new education follows
the "liking" of the boy; because "liking" is in very deed
"the great ruler "; because it is here, in the real needs of our
nature — in our 'need for struggle, conflict, in our need for ex-
pression, for creation, in our need for being of use, for taking
a hand in the game, in our love of home, of country; because
it is here, and not in the visible pedagog, that we find the real
schoolmaster, the stern, the inexorable one, the one who lays
upon us the tasks that are really hard, who makes the calls upon
our powers which they must hear and obey, and leaves in his
track a more living power and more far-reaching and a firmer
will.

Not that obedience is omitted from the kindergarten idea of
discipline. But the attempt is made to supplant obedience to
the teacher by something higher. From the first the teacher is
instructed to make the child feel that obedience is due not to the
teacher's arbitrary power, but to a third something to which
teacher as well as child is subject — " to the end," as our Massa-
chusetts Bill of Rights has it " that this may be a government
of laws and not a government of men."

138 Educational Review [September

And the third something to which obedience is due is made
so far as possible a concrete and vital reality in the child, in the
form of the organization, needs, — personality as it were, —
of the home, the school, of the game or lesson that is being
carried on. The kindergarten is not merely like an army,
obedient to the stereotyped word of command, but like a
family where each not only in prescribed, but in spontaneous,
ways, with thought and desire and not with mere eye-service,
tries to contribute to the success of the whole. The idea is
not an ascetic one. We do not think with Professor Miinster-
berg that we must '' overcome our natural tastes and instinc-
tive desires," but rather that we must cultivate these to grow in
their normal direction. The idea is Christian rather than Stoic,
not the outrooting of evil, but '' that ye resist not evil, but over-
come evil with good." The idea is to substitute, so fast as the
child can grow into it, love for fear, responsibility for obedi-
ence, citizenship for subjection. Ours, it must be remem-
bered, is not a military civilization. America is not aiming at
the production of soldiers, whose one virtue shall be implicit
obedience to the will of a military ruler, but citizens — men and
women, that is to say, who are not subjects of the sovereign
power, but parts of it — not to be kept i'n order by superior
physical force, but true citizens in whom the State, its laws, its
ideals, its purposes, dwell and are safe, from whom these in-
deed emanate, whose will is that the Commonwealth shall re-
ceive no harm, and who do not so much obey as support its
laws, so that where two or three Americans are gathered to-
gether there shall America spring up and live and her laws and
institutions grow and flourish.

Again, in making his charge of '' fostering of the spirit of
selfish enjoyment " against the kindergarten, one cantiot help
feeling that Professor Miinsterberg forgets that Froebel was
the first to insist upon school training for the social side of our
nature. It is indeed true that '' we are not only professional
wage-earners; we live for our friends and our nation; we face
social and political, moral and religious problems ... we
shape our town and our time and all that is common to every-
one." This is a true word, as true as if Froebel himself had

1900] Miinsterberg on the new education 139

said it, as he has a hundred times, but it is also true that the
kindergarten is the only school as yet in existence where any
systematic attempt is made to put such an idea into practice.
In the kindergarten the child is systematically trained to take
his part, and to feel his responsibility, as a member of the
family and as a member of the school. As soon as he leaves
the kindergarten this training ceases, to be resumed again
only when he reaches the university, except in a few cases
where the university idea has reached the intermediate
schools.

Upon the other danger which he detects in the kindergarten
idea, that of vulgarizing our children. Professor Miinsterberg,
after conceding that study ought to be interesting, points out
the important truth that it does not follow that every interest-
ing thing ought to be studied; the fallacy of supposing so
ought, he very truly says, to be obvious to anybody; and it is
an unfortunate fallacy because, as he further shows, a thing
may be interesting and yet not be desirable, it may even be vul-
gar. '' Whether instruction is good or bad, is in the spirit of
civilization or against it, depends," he tells us, "" upon the ques-
tion of what sort of interest is in the play; that which vulgarizes
or that which refines ; that which the street boy brings from the
slums to the school, or that which the teacher brings from the
graduate school to the country schoolroom." One cannot read
this suggestion without feeling that there is a good deal in it.
It seems, once one sees it plainly stated, so obvious as to be
almost a truism. It must make a tremendous difference
whether the interest excited is that which vulgarizes or that
which refines, and one wonders what all these teachers can have
been thinking about, these last few thousand years, not to have
found this out before. And the more one considers the facts
the more the wonder grows. When one considers that Froe-
bel, for instance, spent some fifteen years of his life studying
the plays of children in order to determine, not merely in a
general way, but in precise detail, exactly which were the en-
nobling and elevating and which where tjie less desirable ones;
when one further considers that Froebel's followers have con-
tinued this study ever since, — not believing with Professor

140 Educational Review

Miinsterberg that a knowledge of some science or language
gained '* in the graduate school " is a sufficient outfit for teach-
ing children; when one considers that a study of the child and
of the precise method that may best serve to bring out the
divine and leave aside the evil in him, is the whole aim for
which the new or kindergarten idea stands; considering these
things it does become not a little remarkable that it should be
found necessary, at this late day, to point out that something
"depends upon what sort of interest is in the play." Mis-
takes one would, of course, expect; specifications might be
called for of this and that wherein the aim has not been attained
and a vulgarizing feature has been introduced, but that the
question itself of whether a study is vulgarizing or not has
escaped consideration strikes one as little short of miraculous.
One might find it necessary, for instance, to point out to this
artist " you used too much green in your picture " or to that
one " you put in too much blue," but it is a different thing for
one who says of himself that he speaks without authority to
throw it out, as a useful hint to the whole profession, that " it
makes a difference what sort of colors you use."

Upon the whole, taking Professor Miinsterberg as a repre-
sentative of the latest phase of the opposition to the new educa-
tion, I think there is cause for congratulation. The principles
that he lays down, the aims that he commends, show upon the
whole a fairly complete acceptance of the ideas of the new edu-
cation in the abstract, while the criticisms made give hope that
a closer acquaintance with the methods actually in use will lead
to an equally complete acceptance of the means by which those
ideas are beginning to be carried into practice.

Joseph Lee

Boston, Mass.

Ill

THE MILWAUKEE SCHOOL SYSTEM

The legislature of Wisconsin, during the winter of 1897,
passed a bill which is known as the Milwaukee school law, and
is found in the statutes of that session of the legislature and
designated as chapter 186.

Prior to the enactment of this law there existed in Mil-
waukee a widespread and growing feeling of discontent
and concern among the friends of public education at
the undoubted trend of events in the Milwaukee school sys-
tem. It seemed as if the worst elements were in control,
both in the composition of the governing body and in the
instructional force. The former consisted of forty-two
members, two from each of twenty-one wards, w^ho were
appointed by the aldermen of the respective wards. Under
this system of appointment no particular qualifications were
required to become a member of the school board as it was
then known. Whoever was suggested by the local aldermen
for appointment was confirmed without question by the com-
mon council as a gracious act of aldermanic courtesy. It
is easy to understand that the appointments were generally
given to those who had in some way been helpful to the
aldermen. The question of fitness had little to do with the
appointments. Even the politics of the appointee did not al-
ways exercise a controlling influence in making the appoint-
ment. Nevertheless, the method of appointment had developed
some evils which seemed to grow with alarming rapidity. It
has been confidently asserted that certain aldermen were backed
in the candidacy for their positions with the money and influ-
ence of school supply men, if when elected they would appoint
certain men as members of the school board. The reason for
this activity is plain. The principals and teachers became
active and aggressive agents of would-be candidates for these

141

142 Educational Review [September

appointments for the purpose of securing the appointment or
the removal of some member of his teaching force. Under the
old regime this could only be accomplished thru the recommen-
dation of the local member of the executive committee. The
superintendent had little influence with the school board, and
his recommendations, both with reference to the appointments
on the teaching force, and the selection and adoption of text-
books to be used, were frequently turned down. These were
sometimes accompanied with suggestions and remarks which,
if not positively low, were certainly unfit to come from mem-
bers of a body who were supposed to conserve the educational
interests of a great city. Favoritism pure and simple, rank
with the odor of jobbery in its most reprehensible sense, per-
meated nearly every avenue of school work and management.
This condition of things had been growing when the elements
of opposition united and were able to pass Milwaukee's present
school law.

It is only just to the friends of the present law to say that
it is a sincere attempt to transfer to the professional officers
purely professional duties, like the appointment of teachers and
the selection of text-books; to remove from the baneful influ-
ence of practical politics, as they are supposed to exist in our
larger cities, all matters pertaining to the management of our
public schools; to secure in the personnel of the school direc-
tors, as they are now called, members whose personality and
interest in educational questions would be a strong guarantee
of fitness for their position. Certainly, these are worthy
motives. And it is not beyond the purview of this article to
say that the attempt, however earnest and sincere it may have
been, has not been, in the estimation of the writer, wholly suc-
cessful. That the new law embodies some forward educational
movements is believed. That it is not free from imperfections
is confidently asserted.

The friends of educational reform in Milwaukee's school
system believed that a board of forty-two persons was entirely
too large. In this view they have the support of a large ma-
jority of the citizens of the city. But it was impossible to get
away from the idea of local or ward representation, and ac-

1900] The Milwaukee school system 143

cordingly, a board of twenty-one members, one from each
ward, was agreed to. It is difficult to see any reason for this
recognition of ward boundaries, for no member of the board
has any local duties, or any duties whatsoever pertaining to
his ward. He is, in contemplation of the present law, a school
officer of the entire city. And there are cogent reasons for
obliterating ward boundaries in the selection of the members
of the board of school directors. Not the least of these is the
fact that the most capable persons to serve in the board are
residents of ten or twelve of the wards, and, in a number of the
wards there are no persons available who are really fit to
serve as school officers. It is easy to see at the outset, there-
fore, that with geographical limitations placed upon those who
are to appoint the working body for the school system of a
great city, it is impossible to expect to have an ideal organiza-
tion.

The law provides that the mayor shall appoint " four citizens
of suitable character and education," not more than two to be of
the same political party, who shall appoint the board of school
directors. This last named board is to have charge of and
supervision over the school affairs of the city. There does not
appear to be any reason for calling into existence this school
board commission of four. They are probably no better and
no worse than the appointive power. They are not, however,
accountable to anyone for what they do or omit to do.
Altho, in the spirit of the law under which they exist, it is sup-
posed to be a non-partisan board, in point of fact it is a board of
most pronounced partisan bias and predilections. Indeed, it is
difficult to see how it could be otherwise. For human nature is
the same the world over wherever we find it. In further con-
firmation of the above statement, it has been said that while
this commission of four was making up its original board of
twenty-one directors, a'nd had the list practically completed, it
was suggested that a certain political party had been wholly
ignored in the personnel of the appointees. It was agreed that
at least one place for this political party should be found, and it
was done. '* Of course," said a member of the commission,
" in theory, we are supposed to disregard party lines in the ap-

144 Educational Review [September

pointments, but it is practically impossible to do so altogether."
Here, then, we have a frank admission of the violation of the
spirit of the law at the very outset.

A well-known and respected writer has said truly :^ *' Of all
devices for taking parties formally into the machinery of ad-
ministration it is first to be said that they involve a logical ab-
surdity. Their object is, of course, to secure non-partisanship
in the conduct of certain charges; and yet it is the very provi-
sion for dividing the places in a board between men of different
political views which makes the board partisan. It necessarily
does this in form, and often in substance. Each member is
appointed, not because he is independent, but because he is a
partisan; and each sits in the board as the representatives of a
party, the interests of which, if they are in question, he is prac-
tically authorized, and very often disposed, to prefer to those of
good government. At the same time the seat of responsibility
is obscured, and misconduct made difficult to punish."

The same writer offers further and even more cogent objec-
tions to schemes of this kind. He says that " party, if taken
in its true sense, and the only one permitting it any usefulness,
cannot be reduced to exact precision; or it must take a differ-
ent sense, a stricter form, and lose all its wholesome and benefi-
cent flexibility, in order that a vicious condition may be satis-
fied. The tests which the laws may require the appointing
power to apply to candidates for office are of two kinds : tests
of fact, and tests of opinion. Tests of fact are such as are
judiciously ascertainable, as, for instance, a candidate's height,
or age, or color, or nationality. Tests of opinion, again, are
those which are applied by the judgment, as a candidate's char-
acter or fitness. But it is evident that when a law says that of
certain places to be filled only half shall go to members of the
same political party, it imposes a test or qualification which
can be ranged in neither of the two classes that I have given.
Can a court determine, except by an extra-judicial process, to
what party a certain person belongs, or what constitutes legal
membership in a party, or even what a party is in law ? The
tests seems, therefore, to be one of opinion and interpretation,

^ Herbert Tuttle, Atlantic monthly, September, 1884.

1900] The Milwaukee school system 145

and worth no more than a clause providing that an appointee
must be a person of good moral character, or of ability, or a
patriot. Yet this is not the case. The spirit and purpose of
such provisions permit no other conclusion than that they are
to be regarded as imperative tests of fact, as actual restrictions
upon the discretion of the executive, as surrounding his free-
dom of choice in certain directions with concrete and tangible
barriers. But the logical or metaphysical difficulties called
into being by this vicious policy are after all not the gravest
evil. These will be dismissed as purely speculative. The real
objection is that, as the policy was suggested by a false con-
ception of party, it was sure to lead to further measures, re-
quired as a natural development of the conceptio'n and the
policy. If a person is to be appointed to an office because he is
a member of a certain party, exactly as if it were because he is
a citizen of a certain State, it is obviously necessary that means
be found for giving parties a more clearly defined corporate
existence, and their rolls of membership a species of legal
authority."

But aside from party recognition as contemplated in the com-
positio'n of the school board commission, there are other, and
to my mind, stronger reasons, which emphasize the practical
worthlessness of this feature of the law. A reputable citizen,
in whom the writer has the fullest confidence, so far as his in-
tegrity and truthfulness are concerned, assured him that he ab-
solutely named four of the members of the board of school di-
rectors. Said he : "I made up my mind that these appoint-
ments were going to the friends of somebody, and I determined
to get in some of mine. To my surprise, all the appointments
which I asked for were made." He added : " A law which will
permit of such things is liable to be abused in the distribution
of these favors, and while I cannot say that the names which I
suggested were very bad, nor yet very good, so far as fitness is
concerned, I am frank to say that I am opposed to this feature
of the law as inimical to best interests of the schools. I trust
it will be repealed." It is also known that another individual
had much to say, directly or indirectly, in the make-up of the
original board of directors. Now, where is the democracy of

1 46 Educational Review [September

such a course? And how are the schools assured the wisest
administration by adopting the advice and suggestions of a few
individuals whose motives are unknown ? And what of favor-
itism? It is a species of partisanship that is far more repre-
hensible than politics in its worst form, and is liable to do more
lasting injury. The editor of the Educational Review was
fully warranted in characterizing this feature of the Milwaukee
law as a *' serious departure from sound principles, and one
which should nowhere be imitated." ^

President Quarles, in discussing some of the features of this
law, in his annual address, took occasion to say that some
thought the method by which the board of directors is con-
stituted is wrong. He says that " there are certain offices, ad-
ministrative in their function, and having no possible connec-
tion with partisan questions, which should be kept entirely sep-
arate and isolated from political contests and influences." This
may be true. But why recognize politics, then, in the very
composition of the power which makes this so-called non-par-
tisan board ? And where is the virtue in withdrawing from the
people one of their dearest institutions — the public school sys-
tem? Are they not to be trusted with one of the institutions
they most highly prize ? It is not true, as Mr. Quarles asserts,
that ^* men who have the good of the government at heart be-
lieve that there are now too many objects upon which the right
of suffrage may be exercised," provided, that right is honestly
and intelligently exercised. The danger from an unrestricted
right of franchise does not come so much from its exercise, as
such, as from its corrupt and ignorant exercise. And we are
not certainly lessening the evils, when, by limiting the right,
we are incontestably increasing the class distinctions, and that,
too, at the expense of the very genius of our democratic insti-
tutions. The suggestion of Mr. Quarles is a dangerous one.
Admit its correctness and we have advanced a long step down-
ward and away from a representative form of government.

It is, perhaps, wise to keep school matters free from political
contests and influences. The pertinent question to ask is : How
many are free, and to what extent, and in what manner, from

5 Educational Review (September, 1899), 18:2

1900J The Milwaukee school system 147

such contests and influences? Does anyone believe that party-
politics and personal favoritism cut no figure in the personnel
of the school directory? Is it not true that just those con-
■ditions are, and ever have been, present in its composition?
It is difficult for human nature to be exceptional and distinc-
tive on a school board or elsewhere, and the fact is it is
not so.

The reduction in the number of the members of the board of
school directors from forty-two to twenty-one has, in itself,
undoubtedly increased its efficiency. It is also true that, as a
whole, the new board is the superior of the old, in purely scho-
lastic and literary attainments, in mental grasp and in intel-
lectual power. Of course, these estimates are mere opinion
which are liable to vary according to the point of view of the
individual who makes them. Indeed, it would be difficult for
this to be otherwise. Yet the writer feels that in the fore-
g-oing opinion he has very nearly voiced the general sentiment.
In another respect the new board is not the peer of the old, viz. :
It fails to be in as close touch with the people at large; is self-
sufficient with reference to its attitude towards some educa-
tional problems; and is composed of the ''better classes," so-
called, a somewhat flexible and indefinite term, but used here
to express wealth and social and political prestige — aristocracy,
if you please — as opposed to democratic methods and demo-
cratic ideas. A board which goes into power by virtue of ap-
pointment by and thru another board could scarcely be
otherwise. There are many who believe that the absence of
-cosmopolitan qualities in a board which is to administer the
affairs of our common schools is not an element of weakness,
but one of strength and increased usefulness. The writer is
not of that number. The public school system of this country
is nearer and dearer to every good citizen, and that means an
overwhelming majority, than any other single institution. For
this reason the writer believes it is entirely safe to trust to the
majority active a'nd intimate connection with matters which
they esteem so highly. The erection of class distinctions, how-
-evjer slight and obscure, in all matters pertaining to our public
schools, is a positive menace to the best interests of the same,

1 48 Educational Review [September

should be viewed with distrust, and efforts to stamp out such
invidious conditions ought to be unceasingly invoked.

There is an attempt made to transfer from the laymen to
the professionals responsibility for efficient work in the schools.
This is a wise provision. It is provided in this law — section
9 — that the '' superintendent shall, in connection with the as-
sistant superintendent and the president of the board, and two
members of the board, to be appointed by the president, acting
as a committee, examine, certificate, employ, classify, transfer,
and promote teachers for the several public schools of his city,
on a strict basis of eligibility and fitness, subject to confirma-
tion by the board; and he shall, together with said assistant
superintendent and president, and two members of the board,
select and determine courses of study in the schools under his
supervision, and the text-books to be used therein, subject to
confirmation by the board, and he shall do and perform all such
other duties as may be required by the board; provided, that
in case of disagreement and failure of decision by a majority
vote of said committee consisting of the superintendent, assist-
ant superintendent and president, and two members of the
board, the board may determine the matter by a majority vote
of its qualified members; and he shall, also, in connection with
the assistant superintendent and the president, and two mem-
bers acting as such committee, by a majority vote thereof, dis-
miss teachers and janitors for misconduct, incompetency, in-
efficiency, or inattention to duty."

The wisdom of this provision and its efficiency must, of
course, very largely depend upon the personality of the expert
members of these statutory committees, and, particularly, of
the superintendent. It would be futile to hope for valuable
results from a superintendent who possessed negative qualities
only, or who was strongly intrenched in the. belief of the in-
fallibility of his own opinions, or who lacked discriminating
tact, or whose sense of justice and fair play is warped and
stunted. In principle, however, the transfer of authority re-
quiring expert knowledge to the experts must be hailed with
delight and commended. Whether or not the provisions of
this statute are sufficiently surrounded by checks and counter-

1900] The Milwaukee school system 149

checks, so as to prevent an arbitrary exercise of power, or
whether or not the authority intended to be delegated to the
professionals is sufficiently absolute to attain the end aimed
at, is still a mooted question in the minds of those who have
watched the workings of this provision of the law. It seems
to be agreed that there is no reason for retaining the assistant
superintendent on these committees. He is the appointee of
the superintendent, and in case of the disagreement between
other members of the committees and the superintendent, he
would naturally, almost certainly, unite his voice and vote with
that of his superior in office. Viewing the matter from the
point of view of a layman, and assuming that members of
school boards are endeavoring to discharge their duties intel-
ligently and wisely, it would seem that the checks and right
of review of the acts of the professionals should be retained,
if not somewhat increased. The exercise of this right of re-
view might not be often required. And yet it is known that
other than valid reasons have secured the appointment or dis-
missal of members of the teaching force, or the adoption or
rejection of text-books. Why, when such reasons conclusively
appear, should not the higher, or appellate, authority of the
board be invoked in review ? The asking of this question seems
to be its own sufficient answer. Of course, if the employees
of the school board persist in a course which requires constant
or frequent investigation, it would seem as if the time was fast
approaching when the services of such persons could well be
dispensed with. But assuming that human nature is not widely
different among those who supervise educational work than
elsewhere, and that democratic notions should prevail, the right
of review, in the interest of the most efficient service, seems to
be imperatively demanded.

During the brief period of the life of the present statute there
appears to have been some experience fruitful of the wisdom of
having the right of investigation and review. This has been
illustrated in the " dropping " of members of the teaching force
without giving any apparent reason for the same, and with-
out giving the persons dismissed a hearing. Such a glaring
abuse of discretion did this appear to be in one or two instances.

1 50 Educational Review [September

and so manifestly did it partake of the nature of persecution,
that several of the most reputable citizens took an active in-
terest in these cases, resulting, perhaps, only in a compromise,
which, however, is somewhat better than permanent degrada-
tion in the profession. It has been further illustrated in some
attempts to ignore worthy members of the teaching force in
matters of promotion. As has been previously stated, much
depends upon the personal qualities, good judgment, sound
sense, and fair-mindedness of the superintendent. If nothing
is lacking in these requisites, a very large discretion is, usu-
ally, wisely exercised, and there is slight reason to review his
action.

The provision of law as found in this statute is not adequate
in providing the ways and means to secure sufficient accom-
modations for children of school age. The school buildings
are constantly over-crowded; many of the older buildings are
unsanitary and in a bad state of repair; and a large percentage
of the instructional force is required to do more work than can
be well done. These conditions are conceded by the school
directors, and are not denied by the teachers. But the former
answer that they are impotent to help it, because they have
reached the limit of bonded indebtedness in the city, and have
levied the maximum school tax allowed by law. The truth is
that the bonded indebtedness is controlled by the common
council, and the school board is compelled to accept at its hands
such sums as it sees fit to give. It is always too little. Some
relief from the present order of things can only be made effect-
ive and adequate to the needs of the hour by withdrawing all
matters pertaining to the management of the schools, including
the levy and collection of the school tax, incurring indebted-
ness for school purposes, selection of school sites, control of
all school property and the operating expenses, from the com-
mon council and city officials, so-called, and passing the same
over to the school directors absolutely and unconditionally.
By doing this it is possible to meet the pressing demands which
the cause of education in a great city are making, demands
which are constantly enlarging and increasing, and which are
not, and have not been for many years, sufficiently met. In

ipoo] The Milwaukee school system 151

this respect it is said that Milwaukee is not the only city which
is handicapped.

It may be said, in conclusion, that, while the Milwaukee
school system is not an ideally perfect one, neither is it ab-
solutely bad, as administered under the present law. There
are a few primary defects in the law which will doubtless be
cured by early legislation ; and there are other defects of detail
which only actual trial could discover. These, too, will be
corrected as the necessity for correction impresses itself on
the public mind. That a smaller school board and one which
shall be selected without reference to ward boundaries, and
one which shall be appointed by the mayor direct, without the
intervention of a bi-partisan commission, or, better still, as the
writer thinks, one which shall be elected by the people, will
be a step towards improved educational conditions. The pres-
ent method of selecting the school board is unwise, and un-
satisfactory. It tends to intensify class distinctions, and
class distinctions, always to be deplored in a representa-
tive form of government, are doubly reprehensible when they
involve interests which vitally concern all the people. The
disposition to pass over to committees matters of detail relat-
ing to school administration, and to discuss nothing in a thor-
oly public way on the floor at the meeting of the entire board,
has been frequently referred to and commented on adversely.
It is doubtless the outgrowth of the present composition of the
board. It seems to indicate that the public has no business to
be taken into the confidence of this body.

DUANE MOWRY
Milwaukee, Wis.

IV
ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY EDUCATION ^

This recent book by Henry W. Thurston suggests the entire
question of the place of economics in secondary education. Mr.
Thurston occupies at present the position of head of the de-
partment of social and economic science in the Chicago Normal
School, but until recently he gave instruction in economics in
the Hyde Park high school of Chicago, and he dedicates his
book to the members of his classes in that school, thru
" whose earnest and long suffering cooperation," he tells us,
the evolution of his book has been made possible.

When we speak about the place of economics in secondary
education, we must in a general way have in mind a secondary
school of a particular type, and the one which we shall take
is the ordinary high school. Those schools which are designed
almost exclusively or chiefly to prepare young people for col-
lege must on account of their special aim occupy a position
apart, as their work is dictated by the nature of their task.

It has been frequently urged that economics is not a suitable
study for secondary schools, and an important committee has
even reported against its introduction in such schools. We
find, nevertheless, that the study of economics in high schools
and other similar schools is quite general, and there seems to
be some reason to suppose that on the whole it is increasing.
While difficulties standing in the way of the succcessful study
of economics in these schools are recognized, the test of ex-
perience seems to show that the arguments in its favor are
weightier than those against it.

The high school is for the large majority of pupils the final
school preparation for life, both private and public. Good citi-
zenship is of such importance, and its importance has in recent
years been so emphasized, that we need not dwell upon it at

^ Economics and industrial history for secondary schools, by Henry W. Thurston
(Chicago : Scott, Foresman & Co., 1899. 300 p. $1.00).

152

Economics in secondary education 153

this time and place. Good citizenship implies many things,
and among others the intellectual capacity to solve the momen-
tous questions which are continually being brought before the
citizen, and furthermore it implies the disposition to take an
attitude toward public questions dictated by considerations of
the general welfare rather than individual or class interest.

The questions confronting our civilization at the present day
are varied in character, but they are very largely economic so
far as their main content is concerned, while even those which
primarily belong to another department of social life have at
least an economic side. The daily press affords ample proof.
Let the reader take half a dozen typical newspapers, glance
thru their contents, and arrange in classes the various prob-
lems which they present. He may find mention made of mu-
nicipal ownership of public utilities, of trades unions, of wages,
and in some periodicals of " wage-slavery," while socialism,
anarchy, trusts, monopoly, and the single tax will very likely
greet his eye as he glances down the columns. In a letter
which the writer recently received from a well known woman
who is doing much to direct the thought of women's clubs
along economic lines, mention is made of " wage slavery,
class struggle, labor saving machinery, economic necessity as
a basis for ethics, trades unionism, capitalism, industrial de-
velopment,'' and it is asserted that all these expressions mean
much to the popular mind. We are not at present concerned
with the question whether or not it is desirable that all these
expressions should mean much to the popular mind, and that
the subjects which they suggest should be widely discussed.
We have to deal with the fact that these subjects are under dis-
cussion, and, furthermore, that to an ever-increasing extent
we are called upon to take some action with respect to them.
What knowledge is essential in order that the discussion may
be carried on with intelligence ? First of all, and as a minimum
requirement, we must answer, a training in economic concepts.
We cannot discuss intelligently socialism, monopoly, trusts,
unless we know the ideas for which these words stand. We
cannot follow the arguments for and against the single tax
unless we know what rent is as an economic concept, and also

1 54 Educational Review [September

something about the nature of landed property. How vague
and indefinite all these concepts are in the mind of the average
citizen can easily enough be ascertained by questions directed
to those with whom one comes in daily contact in the ordinary
walks of life. There is one branch of learning, and only one,
which can give this training in concepts required to enable us
to make a beginning in fruitful discussion of the sort under
consideration, and that is economics. Nothing else has as yet
been devised to take its place.

Our public life is rich and full. Economic and social experi-
ments of the most varied sort are continually being tried.
Most men, however, are blind to what is passing about them
so far as its general economic significance is concerned. It
is of prime importance that the powers of observation should
be directed along economic and social lines, and that these
powers should be trained. Without direction and training the
powers of observation are not used, and consequently remain
undeveloped. The ordinary man does not know what to look
for, and he does not understand what is significant. The high
school, which as a matter of fact prepares leaders of thought
and action for the great majority of our smaller communities,
as well as for many larger ones, should so cultivate the powers
of observation in the particulars under discussion that there
should be everywhere men and women capable of learning
lessons from the constantly unrolling book of life. Much can
be learned from observation. It is something to know what
these things are, and it is also something to know what cannot
be learned by observation. It is something even to know that
because one thing follows another the latter is not necessarily
the cause of the former.

If the high schools of the country, thru economics, give
elementary training in economic concepts and cultivate powers
of observation, they may accomplish a very great deal for the
country, and do so without taking any partisan position with
respect to questions of the day. The result would be an ele-
vation of the whole tone and character of discussions in the
press, in the pulpit, and everywhere else where public discus-
sion is carried on.

1900] Economics in secondary education 155

The ethical moment is one which must be emphasized. Al-
tho attention has been frequently directed to this considera-
tion, it is not easy to insist upon it too strongly. The func-
tion of secondary schools is not to advance knowedge, but
to use knowledge which already exists, and to use this
knowledge for individually and socially beneficent aims.
Questions of right and wrong confront us daily, and
they arise quite generally in connection with economic
problems. These problems then afford opportunity for
ethical training which is simply invaluable. Economic life
is at the present time social life. This is a simple', elementary,
and indisputable proposition. If the pupil in the secondary
school can be taught the ethical significance of this elementary
proposition, he has received something which is helpful. This
will teach him what interdependence and solidarity signify,
and to know in a real, vital way the ethical import of these
terms is a great thing. Thrift, frugality, extravagance, waste
— all naturally arise in any right kind of a course in elementary
economics, and a proper discussion of these terms not only
helps to illuminate a path of right individual and social con-
duct, but to cultivate ethical feelings with respect to this path.
We do not here indulge in any argument in regard to the
scientific relation between ethics and economics. As a matter
of fact, the two are inextricably interwoven, and in secondary
instruction, at any rate, one of the great things needed is a
cultivation of the powers to perceive what is right and wrong
with respect to economic life and a quickening of the con-
science with respect to right and wrong. The writer has known
a gifted and well-trained young preacher to say of a course in
economics that it had proved more valuable to him in his work
than any course which he had taken in the theological seminary.
Ethical instruction combined with economics has the advantage
of that concreteness which is so essential in the education of
the young. What is wanted, however, is no namby-pamby
talk about a non-existent harmony of interests, but a presenta-
tion of the real facts of life with their conflicts of interests and
all their requirements in the way of self-control, obedience,
and command, and preference of the general good to purely

156 Educational Review [September

selfish considerations, and also a right feeling for law, order,
and progress.

What has been said shows what kind of instruction is needed,
and what kind of a text-book is needed. No transcendental
economics is in place in the high school. It is essential to
cultivate as far as may be the powers of analysis, but it is
worse than useless to attempt such super-refinements along
this line as in the case of some recent discussions of value,
which have at times been a weariness even to the specialist.
Hair-splitting of every sort must rigidly be avoided, and atten-
tion concentrated on what is vital and essential.

Mr. Thurston's book has in unusual degree many of the
qualities required in a text-book for secondary schools, pro-
vided the purpose of instruction in economics has been rightly
apprehended by the present writer. Richard Jones, the suc-
cessor of Malthus in Haileybury College, in his protest against
a too rigid adherence to deduction, said if we would understand
economic life we must " look and see." Mr. Thurston might
well have put " look and see " on his title page as a motto, for
it is the spirit of his entire work. It is thruout concrete rather
than abstract, and this characteristic is emphasized by the
combination of industrial history with economics. The author
seeks to let his principles emerge from past and present econo-
mic life, and thus also he brings forward the very important
idea of social and industrial evolution. The pupiFs attention
is by many and skillfully contrived questions directed along
various lines to what is passing about him, and thus he is
taught to appreciate the significance of familiar facts while
his powers of observation are being cultivated. It is a merit
in Mr. Thurston that he himself has observed so widely and
so carefully, for he evidently sees many things which specialists
have too often overlooked. Abundant illustrations could be
given, but a few must suffice. On page 26 it is pointed
out that " individual men direct human energy in the use of
tools and machinery upon the materials and forces which na-
ture furnishes," and that they do this " in subordination to
the public opinion and statute laws of the community as a
whole.** Questions follow this statement which should lead

I poo] Economics in secondary education 157

to illumination concerning public opinion and statute laws as
an economic force. What is gleaned by the pupil at the time
may not prove so valuable as the direction given to his
thoughts.

Lesson xiii deals with ownership and property, and the
descriptive matter followed by the questions, if rightly handled
by the teacher, will also let in new light upon the nature of in-
dustrial society. A broad view is cultivated thruout the book,
and as a rule the questions bring out both sides of contro-
versies in a spirit of impartiality and candor. The subject
of trades unions affords illustration, the pupil being taught
to learn what as a matter of fact they are more or less success-
fully trying to accomplish, and taught to direct their inquiries
to both parties in the case of a controversy.

Another good feature of Mr. 'Thurston's book is the warn-
ing which it gives against the common, almost universal ten-
dency to generalize too hastily. An illustration is afforded by
Lesson xvii.

Still another praiseworthy feature of the book under con-
sideration is its ethical suggestiveness. It is ethically impor-
tant that grown sons and daughters should, when necessary,
provide for the needs of parents, and that they should not
look upon those incapacitated by age without reference to
previous years. Also it is ethically important that boys should
appreciate the economic significance of the activity of their
sisters and mothers; and to accomplish these ends questions
like the following (on page 30) may be more effective than
many a sermon :

" In judging of children and the aged as producers do you
think of their whole lives or a few years only? Why?

" Are most of the mothers and housekeepers in our homes
who are not reported in the census as engaged in gainful oc-
cupations, producers or non-producers? Of what?"

But all this brings to the mind the difficulties which stand
in the way of the right sort of instruction in economics, and it
is about this right sort of instruction that we are talking. It
is these difficulties among other things which have led many

158 Educational Review

persons to object to all instruction in economics in secondary
schools, and we admit that there is a kind of economic instruc-
tion, dogmatic in character, which gives — in so far as it gives
anything — ready-made formulas for the solution of practical
economic questions, and sends the pupil into the world self-
satisfied with his knowledge and blind to the rich life sur-
rounding him. This sort of mis-education does more harm
than good. If economics in secondary schools is to have good
effects there must in the present writer's opinion be the dis-
position to teach it in the right spirit. But can we find not only
the disposition, but the capacity? This suggests one of the
chief weaknesses of this book in the hands of the ordinary
teacher, who surely is unable to handle it properly. The
high school teacher, and also the pupil, should have a book
more interesting to read, and they should also have more
information supplied to them than is given in our au-
thor's text-book, which consists very largely of questions —
entire pages of questions being thrown into the main text
and forming, indeed, a large part of the text. If it is per-
missible in the present writer to refer to his own text-
books, he may say that in their composition his ends have
been similar to Mr. Thurston's, but it has seemed to him
preferable to give a continuous narrative text with questions
merely suggested by the descriptive matter, or with questions
separated from the rest of the matter and placed at the end of
the chapters. It is believed that both teacher and pupil need a
book which shall present a fairly complete picture in itself,
while at the same time it suggests indirectly question after
question on every page, and cultivates a frank, open, and gener-
ous mind. Much work remains to be done before we have our
ideal text-book — and perhaps we shall never have it! But
whatever text-book a teacher uses and whatever his method —
if his method is at all a right one — he will find help in Mr.
Thurston's book, and so will his pupils.

Richard T. Ely

University of Wisconsin,
Madison, Wis.

FIELD WORK IN TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
at Barnard College, Columbia University

Sociology has at present reached the point of transition from
an inductive to a deductive science, and because it is in this
stage of development it has become, as Professor Patten has
so well pointed out, a peculiarly fit academic discipline. It
opens out to the student opportunities for close observation and
careful classification, for patient testing of formula and
hypothesis, and for earnest and devoted search for law.

In the existing maze of social theories it is obvious that the
task of verification exacts extreme wariness and open-minded-
ness of the student. All his critical faculties are called into
play. He will not be able to cope with elusive generalities and
false deductions, however, until he has himself become a faith-
ful and discriminating observer of social facts; until, in other
words, he has become skilled in what may be called the labora-
tory methods of sociology. Laboratory work is as necessary
in sociology as in chemistry or biology. It is necessary both
from the point of view of scientific research and of educational
training. But in this article it is only in the latter connection
that I purpose to discuss its advantages; for the account in hand
is of a collegiate course in sociology, and all collegiate work, as
I understand it, is primarily educational. From this point of
view the aims of sociological laboratory or field work are the
same as those of the physical laboratory. The student is to
become trained in quickness and accuracy of perception, in
faithfulness of memory, in keenness of discrimination, and in
soundness of judgment. The scheme of sociological field work
that was carried out in 1899- 1900 at Barnard College seems to
have been successfully tested according to this standard, and it
may therefore be profitable to give a brief account of the
methods that have been in use.

159

i6o , Educational Review [September

Each member of the class in descriptive sociology ^ was re-
quired to pay weekly visits to three families living in the thir-
teenth and fifteenth Assembly districts of New York. Two
families were visited in the character of collector of the Hartley
House ^ station of the Penny Provident Fund/ and one family
in the character of '' friendly visitor " of the Sixth District of
the Charity Organization Society.* The information secured
during the course of these visits was tabulated on a set of
schedules provided for each family study, and these records
were shown to the director of the work at the weekly half-hour
consultation period which was devoted to each student. I shall
now proceed to discuss ( i ) the principles of selection that de-
termined the choice of family groups, of the given families and
neighborhood, of the ostensible purpose of the visits, etc.; (2)
the form and specific objects of the schedules in use, and of the
family monographs written by the students at the conclusion of
the investigation; (3) the advantages for instruction which
attach to the consultation period and to the neighborhood and
institutional visiting which may advantageously supplement
the study of family groups.

I Altho it is the socius, man in relation to fellow-man, and
not the family, the state, or any other social organization, that
is the true unit of sociological investigation, it is plainly impos-
sible to study the socius in isolation; he must be studied thru
his social relations. The primary and usually the most fun-
damental of these relations are those embodied in the family

^Sociology, 15 — Principles of sociology. Professor Giddings. Two hours ;
open to seniors and graduate students. Field work in charge of Elsie W. Clews,
Ph. D., Hartley House Fellow in Sociology.

The class consisted of 14 students — 2 graduates, 10 seniors, i junior, and i
special student.

^ A social settlement established in 1896 at 409-13 West 46th Street.

^ The Penny Provident Fund is a banking organization under the control of the
Committee on Provident Habits of the Charity Organization Society. It estab-
lishes its branches in churches, schools, settlements, etc., and aims at the encour-
agement of small savings among children and the lower economic classes thru
the stamp system.

^ The office of the Sixth District of the Charity Organization Society is located
at 208 West 42d Street. I am glad to take this opportunity to express my thanks
to Miss Fisher, agent of the Sixth District, Miss Scott, registrar, and Mr. Devine,
general secretary of the Society, for their kind and helpful co-operation thruout
the year's work.

I poo] Field work in teaching sociology i6i

organization. The family group, therefore, appears to furnish
both a natural and a practical basis for investigation.

There may be as many classifications of family groups as
there are different family types and different characteristics of
family activity within the same type. Sociability was the
characteristic which I had chiefly in mind in selecting the
families to be visited. According to this characteristic family
groups may be classified as anti-social, pseudo-social, non-
social, and social.^ The agents of a relief-giving or a relief-
directing society are naturally brought into contact with the
pseudo-social, the dependent, and more or less pauperized
family group. In acting as visitors, therefore, of the Charity
Organization Society, the students were enabled to observe the
characteristics of this class of family. I may add, at this
point, that thru this slight but definite connection with the
Charity Organization Society, there were many opportunities
to acquire both general and special information on such sub-
jects as poor law and poor law administration, principles of
organized charity, co-operation between public and private
charities, etc.

Social pathology is not sociology, however, and I did not
plan to give any special emphasis to this really subordinate part
of the study of society. It has already received undue atten-
tion from sociological investigators and instructors. Believ-
ing, therefore, that non-social and social family groups (non-
social are the persons or groups who hold aloof from social re-
lations, whose social philosophy is summed up in " live and let
live " ; whereas social persons or groups are quick to affiliate
with other social organisms and to establish mutually helpful
relations) would repay investigation much more fully than
anti- or pseudo-social groups, I selected certain families that

•^ This terminology is borrowed from Professor Giddings {Principles of sociology,
pp. 126-28). He applies it, not to family groups, but to the distinct classes into
which the social population may be differentiated. In this article, moreover, less
ethical and less exclusive attributes attach to the characterization of the social
class.

It must not be overlooked that the criterion of sociability from the point of
view of this fourfold classification is the relation of the individual or the group to
the general community or State. The relations within a pseudo-social or even an
anti-social group may be extremely social.

1 62 Educational Review [September

were known to the residents at Hartley House as belonging
to the former categories. Members of these families had al-
ready belonged to the penny provident bank at Hartley House,
and so it was a simple matter to suggest sending a collector to
them instead of continuing to receive their deposits at the
Hartley House station. Several of these depositors soon re-
ferred the student collectors to their acquaintances and rela-
tives, and in this way our banking clientele was quickly
established.

The banking families resided in 45th, 46th, and 49th Streets,
between 9th and nth Avenues. The Charity Organization
Society families were necessarily scattered thru the district.^
It was of course desirable both for practical and theoretical
reasons to visit within a conce'ntrated area. Families living
within the same house were in charge of the same collector.
This arrangement seemed more natural to the depositors, it
economized the time of the student collector, and it opened out
to her opportunities to become acquainted with the relations of
neighbors to 'neighbors. The comparison of similar or dis-
similar conditions among families resident in the same house
or street led to the study of a larger social group than that of
the family. The students were encouraged to make these
comparisons, and, as a result, many of the characteristic habits
and points of view of the community came under their 'notice.
The comparisons also served to correct any erroneous generali-
zations that might have been based on the necessarily limited
observation of the individual student. The aforesaid neigh-
borhood was chosen as containing a representative tenement
house population. The relation of a small part of this popula-
tion to the Hartley House settlement was also a consideration.
The students were able to profit from the settlement workers'
acquaintance with the neighborhood, and it was an advantage
to them to be introduced to the people of the neighborhood as
represe'ntatives of the settlement.

The taking of willingness to save as the practical principle
of selection in determining the larger number of the families
that were visited served a twofold purpose. In the first place,

* Bounded by 53d and 34th Streets and 12th and 5th Avenues.

ipooj Field work in teaching sociology 163

saving is a partial criterion of the economically progressive
family, and the economically progressive family is also, in most
cases, the socially progressive family. I'n the second place, the
fact that collecting was the ostensible object of the visits
brought the student investigators into systematic and friendly
relations with the families that they visited. The depositors
considered themselves the customers or clients of the col-
lectors. In this sense, the visits were comparable to those of
insurance or rent collectors; but, because of their different
motive, they 'naturally opened out opportunities for a more
friendly and intimate intercourse than is likely to exist between
premium payers and insurance agents, or between tenants and
the representatives of their landlords. I may state here,
parenthetically, that, in many cases very intimate and helpful
relations were formed between the visited and the visitors. A
home library was established in one family thru the co-
operation of the 'New York Free Circulating Library. The
adults of this neighborhood rarely belong to circulating
libraries, and the expedient of bringing a small library to them
seems to be most useful. It encourages habits of reading, and
it builds up neighborly intercourse between the ten or more
families who can make use of the " home library." In two or
three families children of school age were encouraged to at-
tend school, and, in one case, the youngest child in the family
was taken to a neighboring kindergarten. Employment was
found for the head of the family in one instance; in another,
one of the older girls was persuaded to join a sewing-class at
Hartley House. In several families habits of order, of cleanli-
ness, and of thrift were promoted. Books and magazines were
frequently loaned; Christmas gifts were exchanged, and, at
almost all times, the collectors were welcomed for the sake of
the sympathetic and cheerful talk which followed the business
part of the visits.^

' For an interesting discussion of penny provident collecting as a philanthropic
means see " The Savings society of Newport," Anna F. Hunter, The Charities
review, October, 1899.

I have been glad to emphasize the practical good accomplished by the student
investigators because of the objection that has once or twice been urged against
the so-called unwarrantable intrusion into private life entailed by this method of

1 64 Educational Review

II In constructing the schedules to be used by the students,
three objects were borne in mind. The tabular classifications
were intended (i) to correspo'nd in general to the classifica-
tions adopted in the lecture course which this practical work
was understood to supplement; (2) to direct the observation of
the students thru helping them to discriminate between essen-
tial and non-essential particulars; (3) to exact a defi'nite, an
accurate, and a complete statement of the given facts. A fuller
discussion of these aims, will be rendered more comprehensible
if the reader will first glance over the following specimen
schedules.

It will be seen that at the top of each schedule is given the
general class term of the facts which are to be recorded i'n the
respective schedule. This terminology is that adopted by Pro-
fessor Giddings in his lecture course. Under the general
heading a space is left for the name of the concrete group of
facts, i. e., the name of the family group which is under
observation.

In explanation of the second feature which was stated to be
desirable i'n the schedules, I may say that they were not repre-
sented to the students as outlining a complete or inalterable
classification for social facts. It was explained at the outset
that the schedules were merely tentative, and that any sugges-
tions for revision which the students might offer would be wel-
come. The schedule headed " Interesting \i. e., from a socio-
logical point of view] facts still u'nclassified " was intended to
encourage the students to collect facts the possibility of whose
existence might have been overlooked when the schedules were
first planned. It will be readily seen how this schedule would
also serve as a witness to any failure on the part of the student
to understand the classifications of the other schedules, or to
properly distinguish between facts of a sociological and a non-
sociological character. Toward the end of the year's work,
the students were also required to construct schedules them-

social observation. The chief justification, in my opinion, lies in the chance
which it gives to the students of becoming more intelhgent and therefore more
useful members of society. But this theoretical argument does not always appeal
to the above class of critics.

•3 H

to O N

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ifi P "'^

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OQ N

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Is.

Subse-
quent
classifi-
cation

Sources of authority

Reasons for lack of infor-
mation

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KA,

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li-

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r

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o

Socialization

iVaw^

Desirable
conditions

for
marriage

Character

of.
marriage
relations

Division
of labor
in family

Relations
of parents

to
children

Relations

children

toparents

Relations

to other

relations

Table

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ns to
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ations

penny

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Field work in teaching sociology 167

selves for such special subjects as facts of accommodation,
emblems, and shibboleths, etc. I may say in this connection
that original schedule planning by the students has seemed to
be very desirable. Good practice in this line may be secured
by requesti'ng a student to tabulate all the information which
she may have about a family group with which she is already
acquainted — preferably her own family or one in quite differ-
ent circumstances from those of the families she has been visit-
ing. Criticism by the student of forms which have been used
by other investigators for different purposes of economic or
social observation is also profitable.

It will be noticed [Table 3] that o'n the back of each schedule
the sources of authority and the reasons for any dearth of in-
formation that may befall, are called for. These points are
very important. The first requirement helps to train the judg-
ment of the student in the testing of evidence. It also em-
phasizes the 'need for accuracy and definiteness of statement.
The second requirement is a special aid to the director of the
work in estimating the faithfulness and persistency devoted by
the student to securing the desired information.

In the footnotes to the preceding tables, attentio'n is directed
to the fact that there are separate sets of schedules for each
term. The first set calls, for the most part, for economic facts,
the second, for the more strictly sociological facts. Altho, in
some cases, it is difficult to ascertain the economic fact, it
usually lends itself, by reason of its simplicity and definiteness,
to tabulation. The sociological fact, o'n the other hand, is
more intricate and, consequently, more perplexing to observe
and express. Therefore the tabulation of the greater number
of these latter facts, facts which are of course the more valuable
and interesting to the sociologist, is postponed to the latter
part of the course. But the students were instructed i'n the be-
ginning to carefully record in the notebooks in which impres-
sions of each visit were to be entered as soon as possible after
the visit had been paid, all particulars such as the receipt of
letters or presents from neighbors or relatives, the paying of
social calls, the expression of opinion on economic or religious
or public questions, etc., as facts requiring a prolonged period

1 68 Educational Review [September

of observation for their proper understanding and interpre-
tation.

As has been said already, the main purpose of the schedules
was to guide the observation of the students. They are not at
all adapted for a'n effective and conclusive description of a
family group. Toward the end of the year, therefore, the
students were required to recast all the information which they
had obtained into the form of family monographs. Each
monograph was to be outlined as follows :

(i) Conditions of the investigatio'n, i. e., number, time,
duration, and character of visits, special helps or obstacles in
securing information, etc.

(2) Distinction, if any, between family and household.

(3) History of the parents of the family before marriage.

(4) History of the family.

(5) Relations:

(a) withi'n family group,
(&) to neighbors, acquaintances, and relatives,
{c) to educational, religious, philanthropic, and civic
institutions.
Ill Any value which may attach to the observational
methods which I have outlined greatly depends for its realiza-
tion upon the weekly consultatio'ns of the students with their
director. On these occasions errors in observation and in
reasoning should be corrected, carelessness in record keeping
should be checked, tactful and effectual methods of securing
information should be suggested, specific knowledge about the
economic and institutional conditions of the neighborhood
should be imparted, and the sociological bearing and signifi-
cance of every observation or classification should be discussed.
Acquaintance with the economic and institutional conditions
of the neighborhood readily leads to the study of such condi-
tions in general. Special references and bibliographies may
be prepared for the students in this connection. Visits
may be planned to some of the accessible institutions in other
neighborhoods. During the year's work at Barnard College
small groups of students were conducted to the almshouse,
workhouse, penitentiary, a'nd city hospital on Blackwell's

I poo] Field work in teaching sociology 169

Island, to the House of Refuge (State reformatory) and In-
fants' Hospital on Randall's Island, to the application and
registration bureaus of the Charity Organization Society, to
the model tenements of the City and Suburban Homes Com-
pany, to the Eighth District Magistrate's Court, and to two
of the social settlements in the middle West side. Individual
students also visited the public and parochial schools of the
neighborhood, Roosevelt Hospital, the Barge Office, the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and the Higgins
carpet factory, where several of our neighborhood acquaint-
ances were employed. The number of special subjects which
could be studied in this way, and the number of interesting ex-
cursions which could be planned in a city like New York, is,
of course, unlimited.

The weekly reports should be strictly prescribed, for if
the standard of instruction which was held up in the pre-
ceding paragraph be approximated, the regular consultation
periods may become valuable adjuncts to the lecture course.
They afford excellent opportunities for ascertaining and
dealing with the special needs and shortcomings of the in-
dividual students. The shirker can be held to task, the listless
stimulated, and the over-dependent student encouraged in criti-
cal thinking, by many methods which are impractical in the
lecture room. I'n the lecture room, moreover, it is difficult to
learn how well the new knowledge is assimilating with the pre-
vious mental experience of the students. This difficulty is
especially apt to beset the present day lecturer on sociology, for
he is of necessity making constant demands for radical changes
in the life-lo'ng points of view of his students. Therefore the
discussion during the consultation period of the endless num-
ber of concrete cases which are under the students' observation
as district visitors, and to which their newly acquired principles
and theories of social organizatio'n may be applied for verifica-
tion, will naturally lead them to a clearer understanding and a
more rational acceptance of the truths of social science.

Elsie W. Clews

Barnard College,

Columbia University

REFORM OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN
GERMANY '

Since the introduction of a new curriculum into the higher
schools of Prussia (1892) and of the other states of the Ger-
man Empire, there has been a lull in the public discussion of
the school question. This, however, does not mean that the
the people as a whole are satisfied with the new order — for in-
stance, the important question of a uniform system of accredit-
ing graduates of the Gymnasium, Realgymnasium, and Ober-
realschule is still unsettled — but rather that the results of the
continually growing reform movement, inaugurated in 1892,
are still felt, and that the Prussian minister of education com-
mands complete confidence.^ The fact that the reform move-
ment is the outcome of long discussion and of insight into the
needs of the time has served to increase among all classes of our
people a certain satisfaction with the experiment.

Sympathy with the new methods has in no way diminished,
and their importance warrants now and then a detailed account
of the status of the reform movement.

The most serious fault to be found with the present system
in the higher schools is a universal one: the differences be-
tween the various kinds of school are so great that they have
almost no connection with each other. A transfer from a Latin
school (Gymnasium or Realgymnasium) to a school where
Latin has no place in the curriculum (Realschule or Oberreal-
schule) is well-nigh impossible. In the Latin schools, the
study of Latin is begun in the lowest classes; French in Quarta;
the Gymnasium introduces Greek in Untertertia, the Real-
Gymnasium, English; the Realschule and Oberrealschule ex-
clude ancient languages entirely and begin the study of foreign
languages with French. English takes second place and is

^ Translated from the author's manuscript by Alice Nisbet Parker
' This minister, von Bosse, has since resigned. — Editor

170

Reform of secondary education in Germany 1 7 1

begun in Untertertia. Should a father wish to send his son
to one of the higher schools he must determine from the begin-
ning whether the boy shall enter the Latin school and so pre-
pare himself for official life, or for a professional or scientific
career, or whether he shall turn to the school which will better
prepare him for business life or for a subordinate career. In
most cases the parents rightly select the Gymnasium, as by so
doing they do not restrict their sons to the choice of any
special line of work. This has produced an unnatural and
unhealthy overcrowding of the Gymnasium and a regrettable
increase in the number preparing for professional careers. It
often happens, however, that a pupil shows neither taste nor
ability for the ancient languages and so either leaves the school
before graduation or else, thru excessive expenditure of
strength and money, forces himself thru the stipulated amount
of study to entitle him to the privilege of one-year military
service. He then takes up a business career for which he
has no adequate preparation. The valuable hours spent in the
study of ancient languages and the classics are almost, if not
entirely, wasted. The same time might have been utilized in
acquiring knowledge which would be of untold value to him in
his practical calling and which would also materially aid his
general mental development. The father, however, who sends
his son to a Realschule cuts him off forever, in spite of his
possible gift for languages, from a professional career. Only
exceptionally brilliant students are able to overcome the diffi-
culties attending a rise to a professional career, after a course
in the Realschule. This but proves the fact that strength and
money were sacrificed that could have been much more profit-
ably utilized.

The decision as to the choice of schools must take place be-
fore the capacity and bent of the pupil have become pro-
nounced. Hence mistakes, bitter disappointments, waste of
time and working-power for the good of the individual and
the community, are the inevitable results for which the present
system in educational institutions of the first rank is account-
able.

How to mitigate these marked evils was the question that

1 72 Educational Review [September

in the daily press, in pamphlets, and in public lectures sought
for solution. Dr. Reinhart, director of the Goethe Gym-
nasium in Frankfort-on-the-Main expressed the following
opinion : " The different schools should retain their distinct in-
dividuality, but should be so connected and their work so corre-
lated that pupils may continue their studies together so far as
may be, and all possible uniformity should exist in the curricu-
lum. As the Volkschule is the general starting point for all,
it follows of necessity that all who seek a higher education
should receive a general and uniform grounding, after which
each can choose his own path and go his own way." The
Gymnasium and Realgymnasium, which now unite with the
Realschule in a common foundation course, have taken the
name of reform or pioneer schools.

What is then the curriculum of a " pioneer " ? The pioneer
school is a Latin school like the Gymnasium and Realgym-
nasium, but unlike these does not begin the study of foreign
languages with Latin in Sexta, but usually with French, which
is the only foreign language taught in the three lower classes.
These three classes correspond fully to the three lower classes in
the Real- or Ober-realschule which also confine instruction in
foreign languages to French. Because, therefore, they do not
include Latin, and because they form a common foundation for
the higher schools, they are known as the " general foundation
without Latin." The pioneer school begins the study of Latin
in Untertertia and continues it thru Prima. As French is the
only foreign language taught in the three lower classes of the
pioneer schools, it is perfectly easy for pupils to enter Unter-
tertia and take up English instead of Latin. In this manner it
is possible for the Realschule with French and English to cor-
relate with the Latin school and produce a school wherein
the needs of all manner of students may be met; both those
who will enter business life directly from the intermediate
classes and those who will swell the ranks of the professional
men.

It is claimed that the idea of a common foundation for all
the higher schools is hatched in the brains of our many
** idealists " and " projectors of fantastic schemes." This is a

1900] Reform 0/ secondary education in Germany 173

mistake. No less a person than Comenius, the father of our
new philosophic education, outlines in his Great Didactic a
system which in its principal features agrees with that now in
vogue in our pioneer schools. Among other things he says,
" each language should be studied alone ; first the mother-
tongue, next the language of a neighboring country, as I hold
that the language in common use among cultured peoples
should come first, then Italian, after that Greek, and so on ; al-
ways one after the other and never two at tha same time, else
they will become confused in the mind of the pupil. All pupils
should have the same studies as far as possible."

The first to declare for the new system of a common founda-
tion for all was Ostendorf, director of the Realgymnasium in
Lippstadt and also of that in Diisseldorf. Whether the views
of Comenius on the same subject were familiar to him is not
known. It is interesting, however, to note that while his new
ideas were unfolding, the same thoughts were working in Nor-
way and in Denmark, but without his knowledge. This would
seem to prove that the new system was the necessary outcome
of the whole development of our modern culture. Ostendorf
died before his theories could be put into operation.

The first practical trial of Ostendorf's method was made by
Dr. Schlee, director of the Realgymnasium in Altona. After
overcoming many difficulties, the first reform Tertia was
opened at Easter, 1878. The instruction in foreign languages
began in Sexta with French, English followed in Quarta and
Latin in Untertertia. There was no Latin in the three lower
classes. These three classes form the foundation for the three
upper classes of the Realschule on the one side, and on the
other for the six upper classes of the Realgymnasium. Thirty-
two hours (6 + 6-1-5 + 5 +5 + 5) altogether are set aside
for Latin. The examination of the Vntersekundaner of the
Realgymnasiums, conducted by the Provincialschulrat Dr.
Sahmeyer, which took place at Easter, 1881, was so successful
that the minister of education expressed his conviction that
satisfactory results in Latin are not necessarily obtained at the
expense of other studies. There was no hesitation in recog-
nizing the class as a fully equipped Realgymnasium class.

1 74 Educational Review [September

The first Abiturient examination was held at Easter, 1884.
In character it was founded upon the general course of study in
use in the different educational institutions. This system is
designed for the Realgymnasium and as it was first introduced
in Altona is known as the Altonaer-system. It has been intro-
designed for the Realgymnasium, and as it was first introduced
trow in Mecklenburg (1885), Magdeburg Guerickeschule
(1887), Iserlohn (1892), Hildesheim (1893), Altenburg
(1893), Ettenheim in Baden (1893), Osnabriick (1894),
Harburg (1894), Baden-Baden (1895), and in Hamburg

(1896).

The question now to be decided is whether the necessary re-
sults in Latin can be obtained in 32 hours weekly spread over
six years, instead of in 43 hours weekly divided among nine
years which was the general plan in the Realgymnasium. Di-
rector Schlee writes in his report for 1888: '' There have been
in the school 8 final examinations of graduates and in none of
these were the expectations in regard to Latin disappointed.
Six students passed the combined Latin and Greek Gymnasium
examination. These facts seem to prove that Latin is not only
learned but well-learned, and without special difficulty. The
purpose is to give a clear and grammatical comprehension of
Latin prose writers — namely, the best known historians — and
also the poets whose influence is most felt upon our culture and
literature, especially Horace." More recently he has said:
" The new curriculum for the Realgymnasium (that is not
Latin in the three lower classes) is now far beyond the experi-
mental point. In the Altonaer reform gymnasium it has been
in practice for 18 years, in Giistrow for 11 years, and in
Magdeburg for 9 years. And while many just complaints
were made in 1891 as to the unsuccessful results of the in-
struction in Latin in the old Realgymnasiums, no cause for
complaint has been found under the Altonaer system; in spite
of the prejudice against cutting down the number of hours of
instruction, the final examination of graduates is not made
more difficult thereby." In connection with this opinion ex-
pressed by a noted teacher of many years of experience and
careful observation, there must be considered the attitude of

1900] Reform of secondary education in Germany 175

the ministry of education toward the Altonaer system. In
the new Prussian program of studies it is said : '' For bind-
ing together the Realgymnasium and the Realschule without
Latin, the curricukim of both can be planned, until further
notice, after the Altonaer system." As the system was about
to be introduced into the Harburger Realgymnasium (1894),
Director Schuralbach, in a critical article, said : " All such
far-reaching reforms as are involved in the Altonaer system
must naturally be regarded by the ministry with caution."
Nevertheless the ministry of education has furthered the in-
troduction of the Altonaer system and it is well known that
measures proposed in its favor are received with all possible
consideration. But above all we cannot be thankful enough
that in conforming the principles of the new system to the
public needs in education departures from the general hard and
fast curriculum were allowed. The greatest possible free-
dom in the formation of a curriculum works for the greatest
possible good to the public. In this connection it may be re-
marked that in a combined Realschule and Realgymnasium in
Osnabriick, where knowledge of English is more important
than knowledge of French, the ministry of public instruction
has recommended the study of foreign languages to begin with
English in Sexta, French in Quarta, and Latin in Untertertia.
The desired rich and full vocabulary, which otherwise would
be reached thru Latin or French in early instruction, is at-
tained here thru study of German, to which many hours are
given. In an order issued by the minister of education, Feb-
ruary 16, 1897, Latin is accorded 30 hours, from Untertertia to
Oberprima, while in the Altonaer system there are 32. From
these instances one may infer that the Prussian ministry of
education is in sympathy with the reform movement.

In spite of the recognized successful results of the instruc-
tion in the Altonaer Realgymnasium, the hopes of a general
adoption of this system have not been realized. Up to 1892 it
had been introduced into but one school in Prussia, the Gue-
rickeschule in Magdeburg. It was here that the Verein
Deutschen Ingenieur discussed fully at a section meeting the

1 76 Educational Review [September

question of school reform and in a general meeting in 1886
took a survey of the whole movement. They said, in sub-
stance : The new program of studies is so arranged as to give
the students, up to a certain point, a similar education suited to
modern needs, and to force only at the latest possible mo-
ment that separation which an adequate preparation for vari-
ous vocations makes necessary. For the future a uniform ar-
rangement in the system of the higher schools should be sought
for, by which the three- or four-years' course in the Volks- or
Vorschule could be followed by a six-years' course. During
the first three years of this course only one foreign language
should be studied, namely, French or English, and during the
next three years, the second foreign language should be taken
up. Completeness of this course should give the right to a
one-year military service. This six-years' course should be fol-
lowed by a course of three years divided into two parts, the one
should lay a foundation in the ancient languages, the other in
modern languages, science, mathematics, and drawing, and so
prepare the way for the various studies in the higher schools.

In this manner were indicated the lines upon which school
reform should be worked out, especially in a way to meet the
needs of the commercial and trading classes.

The interest in the question of the curriculum in the higher
schools became livelier than ever. It found emphatic expres-
sion in the huge petition addressed to the Prussian minister of
education, to which 22,409 signatures were attached, and also
in the founding of the Society for School Reform in April,
1889.

By order of the Emperor the so-called December conference
was assembled in 1890. A large majority of those called to
this conference would hear nothing of new needs or of new
ways of meeting them. In this ultra-conservative spirit all
questions were taken up and discussed. Nevertheless the new
movement continued to make gratifying progress.

It is certain that school reform would not have progressed as
far as it has, had it not been for two favorable circumstances.
During the term of Count Zedlitz Triitzschler as minister of
education in Prussia, the city authorities in Frankfort-on-the-

1900] Reform of secondary education in Germany 177

Main asked permission to open a common foundation course
for the Realgymnasium and Gymnasium. The Oberburger-
meister Adickes had investigated the Altonaer system in
Altona and had become personally aware of the successful re-
sults from the new curriculum. He found in Directors Rein-
hardt and Kortegarn in Frankfort two educators who would
ably support him in his design of testing the desirability of a
common foundation without Latin, in Realgymnasium and
Gymnasium. The minister approved the new experiment at
Easter, 1892.

The address of the minister of education to the House of
Representatives in March, 1892, is of fundamental impor-
tance. In answer to the question as to whether the experi-
ment in Frankfort was seriously meant, he replied that it must
be far from his thoughts or intentions to countenance an ex-
periment of a more or less ornamental nature; the venture was
intended to solve a pressing and practical problem, and if it
proved successful he should be converted to the belief that the
curriculum in the higher schools must be changed. " Our
higher schools at the end of the nineteenth century, and in view
of the development of the national life, are no longer to be re-
garded as existing entirely to prepare graduates for the uni-
versities. It would be in my opinion an offense against the
great educated masses of our people, against the numbers who
will find their vocations in business life, should such a one-sided
construction be adhered to." He added that he would not
only encourage such experiments in other cities, but would put
no obstacles in the way of like trials in places where state edu-
cational institutions were established. The present minister
of education. Dr. Bosse, takes the same stand.

This plan, first tried in Frankfort, is known as the Frank-
furter system. While the Altonaer system applies only to the
Realgymnasium the Frankfurter system may be used in both
Realgymnasium and Gymnasium. They are alike in the fact
that no Latin enters into the curriculum of the three lower
classes, the study of Latin beginning in Untertertia. Their
difference is that the Altonaer system introduces English in
Quarta; the Frankfurter system but one foreign language,

1 78 Educational Review [September

French, in the three lower classes. After this common foun-
dation course, a division takes place in the Frankfurter sys-
tem, beginning in Untertertia. The class separates into two
divisions, one excluding Latin, and preparing for the Real-
schule and Oberrealschule, the other introducing Latin as a
preparation for the Gymnasium and Realgymnasium. The
general curriculum of 1892 is used in both. In the Latin
division the pupils in both Unter- and Ober-tertia are kept
together. The decision as to whether the Gymnasium or Real-
gymnasium is to be entered, takes place after the transfer to
Untersekundaner, in which class the Gymnasium introduces
Greek, the Realgymnasium English in addition to the two
foreign languages already studied.

In what way, then, is the pioneer school an advance ? In the
strong emphasis it places upon German instruction principally
and in the fact that only one foreign language, a modern one,
is taught in the three lower classes, it shows itself to be founded
upon a thoroly modern basis. From a social point of view,
by providing the same instruction for all pupils up to the thir-
teenth year, it does away with the confining, circumscribing
effect of the old system, and postpones the decision as to
whether Realgymnasium or Gymnasium is to be entered, until
the pupil's fifteenth year. It is obvious that a decision as to
future studies can be made much better at the end of a three-
years' course in the higher schools than, as formerly, upon en-
trance. Upon admission the boy has acquired but the simplest
elements of human knowledge and has had no opportunity to
test his abilities in more difficult work such as the higher school
course affords. Should a mistake occur, — if, for example, a
pupil should be transferred from Untertertia to the Latin divi-
sion and should find that his tastes do not lie in that direction,
— ^the transfer to the Realschule can be made with but little
difficulty. At any rate the general introduction of the Frank-
furter system lessens very much the difficulties attending the
transfer of pupils from one school to another, at least from the
intermediate classes up. This is an important consideration in
cases where it becomes necessary, thru change of residence, for
a parent to procure a transfer for his son. In this connection

i9oo] Reform of secondary education in Germany 179

it is important to note that, under this system, parents are
enabled to keep their sons longer at home than formerly, and
to give them the benefit of home influences during their terms
in the higher grades. In smaller communities the reform
school, with its Latinless Realschule, which, from tertia on,
provides courses in Latin if desired, meets the needs of the ma-
jority of the citizens fully.

The pioneer school seems to meet all educational require-
ments : The principle, "" from the simple to complex," is ad-
hered to in beginning with the study of French and following
with that of Latin. The former is more suitable for early in-
struction in grammatical declensions, as it has fewer forms; the
rules impress themselves more readily on account of their fre-
quent repetition and become more surely a mental possession.
On the other hand, the French grammatical forms are so differ-
ent from those of the German language that they present suffi-
cient difficulty and require close application on the part of the
pupil. It must also be taken into consideration that Latin has
not in modern times its former position in general culture.
To speak and to write Latin were at one time the chief requi-
sites of a higher education, therefore it was thought necessary
to begin its study as early as possible. To-day the mother-
tongue counts for more than ever before, and English and
French have come into favor; to write and to speak Latin are
no longer considered necessary accomplishments. The study
of Latin in the present day has for its object familiarity with
and understanding of, the Roman authors. This result is quite
possible when Latin is begun in Untertertia, as has been long
and satisfactorily proved in Altona. It is only by reducing the
number of hours spent upon ancient languages that time or
place can be found for a program which shall be in all respects
better suited to the needs of the time. The postponement of
the study of Latin has done away with one chief embarrass-
ment in language teaching; and that is that the pupil began the
study of several foreign languages before he had attained any
sureness in one, and also that the twelve- or thirteen-year old
boy in LTntertertia (in Latin schools) carried on the study of
three foreign languages at once. In conformity with the prin-

1 80 Educational Review [September

ciple of Comenius the " reform school " substitutes " one
after the other '' for '' all together." The pupils in the three
lower classes are well prepared, thru the study of French for
six hours weekly, to overcome quickly the difficulties of Latin
in Untertertia. After two years of Latin comes the introduc-
tion in Untersekunda of Greek, in the Gymnasium, and of Eng-
lish, in the Realgymnasium. Without further argument it
can be seen that this arrangement gives the pupil most impor-
tant advantages.

Many objections have been made to the system of beginning
the study of Greek so late. The Frankfurter system sets aside
32 hours for Greek, while the general program gives 36. The
difference is not important and is counterbalanced by the facts
that the 32 hours continue thru the four upper classes and that
the Untersekundaner is much better prepared for the compre-
hension of Greek than the Untertertianer of the old system.
Another mighty argument in favor of the reform system is
that only those pupils begin the study of Greek who show
special aptitude for it and interest in it. In the old Gym-
nasium progress was materially hindered by the number of
pupils in the class who were mentally unfitted for classical
studies. Altho under the Frankfurter system more energetic
work is required, the results are far better and the pleasure of
teaching is greatly enhanced by the fact that the students gen-
erally are interested in their work.

Experience, however, is more valuable than theory. Dr.
Reinhart, director of the Reform-gymnasium in Frankfort, a
devotee of the Greek and Roman classics, writes as follows in
the report for the school year 1897-98: " The opening of the
present year saw the first introduction of Greek into Unterse-
kunda. During this year the pupils were carried so far into the
construction and comprehension of Greek sentences, that they
will be able in Obersekunda to begin an entire work in Greek.
The apprehension that in boys of fourteen and fifteen years of
age the memory would not be sufficiently keen and receptive
for acquiring a new language has been absolutely removed.
It has been proved, on the contrary, that the memory at this age
is in better condition and more retentive than in the twelve- or

1900] Reform of secondary education in Germany 181

thirteen-year-old Tertianer. The general knowledge of lan-
guages possessed by the Sekundaner lightens wonderfully the
introduction of a new language; the acquaintance of a large
number of foreign words helps materially in acquiring a new
vocabulary. The Greek grammatical forms, much more than
those of any other language, unfold so logically and legiti-
mately that there is quite as much for the mind to grasp as
for the memory to retain. On general educational principles,
then, we cannot do better than to seize the exact age at which
the mind is prepared for the study of this language and is
ready to grasp each point from the beginning and to build
logically upon it."

The pioneer schools, especially in Frankfort, have been sub-
jected to repeated visits and inspection tests by the Provin-
cial school board, which has reported to the ministry of edu-
cation. Among the many opinions expressed by teachers, the
result of visits to the reform school, the majority of which
have been favorable — many Sauls have journeyed to Frank-
furt, and many Pauls have returned home — I will quote the
opinions of Directors Treutlein and Ramdohr, who were
present during an entire hour of instruction in seven different
Tertia classes. " A six-years' course in Latin, beginning in
Untertia, is quite sufficient to attain the required results."

The standard of the pioneer schools in ancient languages is
precisely that of the schools modeled upon the old plan. The
Prussian minister of education feels, and has so expressed him-
self, that it is incumbent upon the reform school in Frank-
fort not to fall short of the standard of the old Gymnasium and
Realgymnasiums. In the case of the pioneer school in Han-
over, an order to this effect was issued to the city magistrate
December 24, 1894.

That the minister of education is favorable to the pioneer
schools is shown by his readiness to allow the Frankfurter sys-
tem to be introduced into other schools and into State Gym-
nasiums. The 15,000 M. set aside in the appropriation of the
previous year for the purpose of promoting the Frankfurter
system is an open expression of belief in the satisfactory results
attained thru the reform movement. Von Miquel, the Prus-

1 82 Educational Review [September

sian minister of finance, is also an ardent advocate of the re-
form schools, and warmly supported the proposition to intro-
duce the Frankfurter system into the Realgymnasium and
Gymnasium in Dantzig. It is also generally known that un-
doubted interest in the reform movement exists in official
circles.

It is then not to be wondered at that a notable number of
Gymnasiums and Realgymnasiums have been converted to the
Frankfurter system. They are the following: Frankfort
a. M., three institutions — (Goethe-Gymnasium, Musterschule,
and Woehlerschule, 1892); Hanover — (Leibniz-schule, 1895,
Gymnasium and Realgymnasium) ; Lippstadt (Gymnasium
and Realschule, 1895); Breslau (Realgymnasium zum HI.
Geist, 1895), Barmen (Realgymnasium with Realschule,
1895); Gera (Realgymnasium, 1895); Ohrdruf in Thuringia
(Progymnasium with Realschule, 1895); Dresden (Drei-
konigschule and Realgymnasium, 1895); Witten (Realgym-
nasium with Realschule, 1896); Breslau (Konigl. Friedrichs-
gymnasium, 1896); Karlsruhe (Gymnasium and Realgym-
nasium, 1896); Kiel (Oberrealschule with Realgymnasium,
1897) ; Charlottenburg (Gymnasium with Realschule, 1897) ;
Schoneberg bei Berlin (Gymnasium with Realschule, 1897);
Remscheid (Realgymnasium with Realschule, 1898); Gor-
litz (Realgymnasium with Realschule, 1898); Dantzig (two
schools, Stadt Gymnasium and Realgymnasium, 1899) ; So-
lingen (Gymnasium with Realschule, 1890); Magdeburg
(Konigl. Dom-gymnasium, 1900). In Aachen, Konigsberg,
Stettin, Meiderich, negotiations are in progress for the intro-
duction of the Frankfurter system. The Strasburger Post in
its issue for November 15, 1898, states that the school com-
missioners of the higher educational institutions in Strasburg
have unanimously agreed to inform the imperial school board
of their desire to introduce the reform school system into Stras-
burg, as an addition to the Realschule of St. Johann, for which
the three Latinless lower classes shall form a general founda-
tion and shall constitute a reform Realgymnasium.

The pioneer schools, especially in Prussia, are municipal in-
stitutions, so that the Government has it in its power only to

1900] Reform of secondary education in Germany 183

approve or to disapprove the decisions made. A disapproval,
however, has never been known since 1892; on the contrary, it
is said that reform schools have been established at once upon
the expressed wish of the school administrations. These facts,
therefore, cannot be reconciled with the oft-repeated assertions
that the Prussian government is not in favor of the reform
movement.

At Easter, 1899, there were in existence 11 higher schools
following the Altonaer system and 21 following the Frank-
furter system. The negotiations already pending show that
the number will be substantially increased during the year.

L. ViERECK
Brunswick,

Germany

VII
DISCUSSION

AMERICAN HISTORY IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA

The article by Mr. Charles Welsh in the January number of
the Educational Review on English history in American
school text-books calls attention in a very interesting and
practical way to the treatment of our relations with England,
especially in war, by our text-book writers. In view of the fact
that recent events have brought the English and American
peoples into relations which must be much closer than ever be-
fore, an examination into the records of American history
found in English text-books should prove equally interesting
and profitable.

Professor Munsterberg has shown very clearly in an article
on " The Germans and the Americans " ^ that while the diplo-
matic relations between these people may be friendly, the peo-
ple themselves quite misunderstand each other. A mutual un-
derstanding of the life and motives of any peoples is to be en-
couraged. Well may the expression be underscored when
speaking of the two branches of the Anglo-Saxons. Govern-
ments may understand each other, and yet the peoples be quite
estranged. When governments converse, it is in the smooth-
tongued speech of diplomacy. Of this the people often under-
stand but little. When the people of one nation communicate
with another, quite a different form is used. Straightforward-
ness, sincerity, even bluntness, are evident without the polish
of phrase. In the end the government must reflect in diplo-
matic coloring the feelings of its people. The feelings of a
people grow out of the knowledge they possess. Therefore,
the way in which the American looks at English history, and
the point of view taken by the Englishman in noticing Ameri-
can history, must necessarily influence the relations of these
two peoples toward each other.

^ Atlantic monthly, September, 1899.

184

Discussion 185

It is indeed gratifying to notice the change of attitude taken
by the writers of our most acceptable text-books of American
history. This is noticeably true, especially with regard to the
contest over the Stamp Act, involving the rights of represen-
tation, the " Boston Massacre," the character of King George,
and other well-known topics. Paragraphs appear now in
American texts as " Representation," " Representative Insti-
tutions," '' English Theory of Representation." " This wide
departure," says one text, " between English and American
theories of government can be traced back directly to the
middle of the seventeenth century." Concerning the " Mas-
sacre," the word is rarely if ever used unqualified. " A serious
affray, known as the ' Boston Massacre; ' " " It is difficult to
conceive why they (the British soldiers) were sent; " " Finally,
a fight occurred, in which the soldiers fired, in self-defense, and
killed several of the people. This was called the ' Boston Mas-
sacre ' ; " are tempered expressions now found. As to poor
George III., on both sides of the water are found plenty of ad-
jectives ascribing private virtues to him, but public acts all re-
sult from obstinacy, insanity, or firmness, according to conven-
ience. The poor old man must have felt very uncomfortable
with such a dual nature. Dr. Jekyll in private life and Mr.
Hyde in public. Quotations are unnecessary to call to mind
these various characterizations. Had the king no '' method in
his madness ? " Why was he " attempting to exalt his own
power and deprive them (the colonists) of theirs," taxing them
" for this purpose? " The political philosophy of the age was
that of Bolingbroke. Whigs and Tories had both contributed
to show what '' party rule " could do. Bolingbroke said that
the king must be supreme, not by any Divine right, but because
it satisfies the '' ultimate end of all government," which is " the
good of the people." Partisanship must be uprooted. " To
espouse no party," according to Bolingbroke, "" but to govern
like the common father of his people, is so essential to the char-
acter of a patriot king that he who does otherwise forfeits the
title. Instead of abetting the divisions of his people, he will
endeavor to unite them and to be himself the center of their
union. He will put himself at the head of his people in order
to govern, or more properly to subdue, all parties." This gives

1 86 Educational Review [September

quite a different content to the words, the king's '' friends,"
which appear in so many of our texts. The '' friends " were
not in theory party leaders. They aided the " patriot king " in
ruUng for the good of the people, thru a government polit-
ically undivided. It of course does not follow that either his
own conduct or that of his ministers is to be justified. It may
be explained, however, without such free resort to insanity.

A careful examination of the texts leads to the inevitable
conclusion that English text-books have been fairer in present-
ing the points of common history than have been the American.
The tide has now turned, and of the latest texts this is not
true. Nor are the reasons far to seek. Texts whose authors'
names appear in the faculties of our representative educational
institutions argue favorably for the just and fair presentation
of the subject-matter.^ The writing of history text-books can
be with us no longer an avocation.

That the spirit of fairness found in the larger English works
has been preserved in the texts is evident. The collection made
by Mr. Plimsoll, from which the Commissioner of Education
has inserted extracts in one of his reports,^ admirably shows
this. The spirit in which Pitt could pronounce that '' for gen-
uine sagacity, singular moderation, and solid wisdom the Con-
vention at Philadelphia shines without a rival," and Gladstone
say of our Constitution, '' the greatest work ever struck off at
a given time by the brain and purpose of man," pervades these
writings. No American texts denounce more roundly the acts
of George III. " The king was more to blame than his min-
isters," says one; and another, '' The chief causes (for the war)
are to be sought in the high notions of prerogative held by
George III., his infatuated and stubborn self-will, and in the
equally absurd self-conceit of his English subjects." Cer-
tainly no writer of our old line of texts could have found any-
thing more suitable than those sentiments for his books. The
same good example of appreciating the Americans is found in
Bryce and in Green as in others, and it is equally well followed
in the texts for the young. Speaking of Washington and

' An article on Text-books of American history explains this more fully. See
Educational Review, December, 1898.
8 Report for 1894-95, p. 1757-1787.

1900] Discussion 187

Hamilton, Bryce says : " Washington stands alone and unap-
proachable, like a snow-peak rising above its fellows into the
clear air of the morning, with a dignity, constancy, and purity
which have made him the ideal type of civic virtue in succeed-
ing generations. No greater benefit could have befallen the
republic than to have such a type set from the first before the
eyes and mind of the people."

Of Hamilton : " Equally apt for war and for civil govern-
ment, with a profundity and amplitude of view rare in practi-
cal soldiers or statesmen, he stands in the front rank of a gen-
eration never surpassed in history, a generation which includes
Burke and Fox and Pitt and Grattan, Stein and Hardenberg
and William von Humboldt, Wellington and Napoleon."
Green, after pointing out in connection with the Boston Tea
Party that " both Washington and Chatham were prepared to
support the Government in its looked- for demand of redress,"
states that '' no nobler figure ever stood in the forefront of a
nation's life." '' Even America hardly realized his greatness
while he lived." In the same strain the texts say that the suc-
cess of the American cause is attributed to " two things," which
" assisted them greatly, one being the extraordinary powers as
a general developed by a man among them, George Washing-
ton; the other being the assistance that was sent over to them
from France." " Ta Washington was mainly due the success
of the colonists. This noble patriot might be described as the
type of an English gentleman." " His character, great in it-
self, seems greater when placed in contrast with the men that
surrounded, and the opponents that confronted, him." The
words " noble patriot " are striking when we remember that
to the English Government of 1776 he was a rebel. Of Bunker
Hill, it is said, " The attempt (to hold the hill) failed; but it
proved to the colonists that it was possible for undisciplined
patriots to meet on equal terms the best troops England could
send against them." Valley Forge is described in part as fol-
lows : " During the winter the soldiers of Washington were
shoeless and starving in Valley Forge, near Philadelphia, but
inspired by the noble patience of their leader, they bore their
sufferings bravely, and thenceforward America had decidedly
the best of the war." The results of the war are particularly

1 88 Educational Review [September

interesting. " England had much fighting to do in America,
where she was beaten. She was fighting for a bad cause, and
freedom and good government came from her defeat. While
America gained very much, England lost little more than the
lives and the money spent in the war." " The resistance in
America had taught them (the English) the lesson that, pow-
erful as the English government was, it could not do as it
pleased. From that time there was more consideration for the
wishes of the governed in England itself than there had been
before." It would not be representing them as English writ-
ings perhaps, were the following to be omitted : " For many
years after the war there was ill-feeling between the two coun-
tries, and quarrels frequently arose, but in our day the feeling
is warm and friendly. The British islands are looked to as the
central home of the widespread Anglo-Saxon race, and even
Americans own our queen as the head of the English-speaking
peoples of the world." " The inhabitants (of America) are
fond of business and clever at making money ; wealth, perhaps,
occupies too high a place in the thoughts of many." *

It is only in reading these various accounts of the Revolu-
tion that English pupils get a knowledge of American history.
No courses in American history are given. In fact it is largely
due to the efforts of Mr. Samuel Plimsoll that reading books
in history have been prepared and are now in use in the lower
grades, ranging from the second to the seventh standard. They
are more correctly called reading books than history text-books,
for if we are to consider the account given by Professor Ste-
phens on the English method of teaching history,^ to be the
method generally followed, it is a lecture method with plenty
of reading by the pupils. The compilations made in accordance
with Mr. PlimsolFs plan serve as the reading material. The
teacher, then, must stimulate the interest and direct the read-
ing. That suggests the need of our own schools. It is well
known that in too many cases the history is taught by the
teacher who has nothing else that period. Our texts are now
satisfactory. Our teachers must be those who know how to

* For a view of the English attitude in the civil war, see McCarthy, History of
our own times, II : C. 43.
^ Proceedings of the National Educational Association, 1896, p. 623.

1900] Discussion 189

use them. The vaguely-defined desire to " teach patriotism "
can no longer be the excuse for emphasizing ill-chosen facts
found in poor text-books. In order that the evil may not per-
petuate itself, those called upon to teach our classes in history,
whether the period of American Revolution, or any other pe-
riod, must be not those who were taught it that way themselves,
but those who have mastered the spirit of the new texts, the
method of historical thinking, and the needs of the rising gen-
eration, found in a broad, intelligent patriotism, based not upon
sentiment, but upon principle.

George G. Groat

State Normal College,
Albany, N. Y.

VIII
REVIEWS

Education in India— By William I. Chamberlain, Ph. D., (Columbia Uni-
versity Contributions to Philosophy, Psychology, and Education). New York :
The Macmillan Co. 1899. 109 p. 75 cents.

India fascinates us and has a perennial interest for the
historian, with its diverse nationahties, its ancient learn-
ing and religions, and its present social problems. We expect
the history of education in such a country to have a special
interest, an interest which has been but whetted by reading
Mr. Laurie's account in Pre-Christian education. The
history of India divides naturally into that before the ad-
vent of the British and that since. This division Mr. Cham-
berlain has preserved, and in Part I we have an intensely
interesting account of the moral conceptions, the civilization,
the influences of Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Mohamme-
danism, and the early indigenous education prior to the
eighteenth century. Here is given the historical educational
perspective, which is followed by four chapters dealing with
British efforts to reform education during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. In the fifth chapter there is a comprehen-
sive view of the present condition of education in India, its his-
torical development, its detailed organization and administra-
tion, and some interesting statistics relating to the attendance,
expenditure, nominations, and the special schools that are es-
tablished to reach certain classes. Having given us this valu-
able information about the progress of education in India, the
author does not leave us to imagine that there may be problems
connected with the administration of this system, but takes us
into his confidence and discusses in a delightful manner the
more important problems of education in India, as he has seen
them in that country. This is a valuable chapter, and makes
an effective closing for the book. He says that " a generation
is growing up in India of young men who have no deep re-
ligious convictions, no finer moral principles, no well-defined

190

Reviews 1 9 1

ideals of conduct," and he foresees much difficulty in the rela-
tionship of religion and education, a difficulty which still agi-
tates the mother country.

This book is well planned, well balanced, and well written.
There is a vitality about it which is too often lacking in our
contributions to the history of education.

George H. Locke

Chicago University

The Logical bases of education — By J. Welton, M. A. London and New
York : The Macmillan Co. 1899. 288 p. $1.50.

One should always prefer to say nice things about new ven-
tures, especially when there is promise of reaching the firmest
foundations. But logic is not a venture for this day, and edu-
cation is about as old as human history. This book strives to
bring logical and educational interests together, particularly
for the benefit of the latter and not of the former. Its aim
" is to set forth the rational bases of all true educational work "
(p. v). The real support of this ambitious end is the author's
conviction that a certain '* treatment of logic appeals to
[teachers] as both helpful and interesting, especially if its
reality is brought home by an analysis of actual specimens of
human reasoning" (p. vii), — as tho reasoning and education
were identical activities ! One might well question how has it
happened that the race has run along so well without these two
interests having been unified until the very end of the century ?
The limitation of the book consists in a certain technical dis-
tinction of terms, which could be overlooked, were it not for
the fact that many of the younger students of education will
have some difficulty in broadening and freeing their concep-
tions, should they happen to depend upon this guide for their
introduction to educational theory. Let it be confessed that
there is not only assumption, but also presumption in maintain-
ing that the logical attitude and the educational attitude are
identical — tho it is true that the actual teacher is often the
best type of an illogical development. There is everywhere
apparent in the work a common fault in educational thinking,
viz., a ready yet covert interchange of the subjective and the
objective view of educating.

192 Educational Review [September

The book is an entertaining account of the logical theory
which has grown up since the shattering of the scholastic shell
some fifty years ago. The author has not broken any new
ground, but has borrowed from Bosanquet, Bradley, and
others, as is indicated by frequent citation and quotation.
There is a strong Hegelian flavor from beginning to end. The
book comprises seventeen chapters, of which the first four treat
of the nature of knowledge in general, while the following
twelve are limited to the usual topics in logic. A suspicion
early incited is found to be true. The last brief chapter on
logic and education is added almost solely for the sake of the
title. The teacher, while no doubt wholesomely improved by
a reading of the logic discussions, will be compelled to review
and to reconstruct the entire volume before he can adjust its
claims to his work with growing minds. An analytical table
of contents and a good index render the volume very con-
venient for use.

Edward F. Buchner

New York University

Notes on the development of a child, Parts III. and IV. — By Milicent
Washburn Shinn, Ph. D. Vol. I., Nos. 3 and 4, University of California
studies. Berkeley: Published by the University. 1899. Pp. 179-424. 70
cents.

In 1893 Dr. Shinn published Part I of this series, which
contains an Introduction by Professor LeConte, in which he
states: "What is wanted most of all in this (science of the
child), as in every science, is a body of carefully observed facts.
... I am quite convinced that the observations herein re-
corded are thoroly reliable." Professor Preyer, upon receiving
Parts I and II, wrote me, dated Wiesbaden, January 20, 1895 *
" Miss Shinn's Notes on the development of the child ought to
be translated for German mothers."

These Notes are studies which Dr. Shinn made of her niece,
beginning at birth and continuing thru the third year, and in a
few instances to the seventh year. In Part I. (pp. 1-88) and
Part II. (pp. 89-178) is noted the development of the senses.
Parts III. and IV. (pp. 179-424, bound together) complete

I poo] Reviews I93

the development of the senses and further deal with movement
and food-taking.

The general headings in Parts III. and IV. are Sensations of
muscular activity, motion, and position (pp. 179-210); Or-
ganic sensations (pp. 211-236); General sensation (pp. 237-
298); Spontaneous movement (pp. 299-302); Reflex move-
ment (pp. 303-305); Instinctive movements (pp. 306-324);
Equilibrium and locomotion (pp. 325-385); Instincts con-
nected with food-taking (pp. 386-392); Other instinctive
movements (pp. 392-396).

Pages 397 to 419 are ^iven to " Summary and tables re-
lating to the non-ideational movements." These Tables are
comparisons of the observations of Preyer, Mrs. Moore, Dar-
win, Sully, Mrs. Hall, Tracy, Miss Shinn, and manuscript
records by Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Sharp, and Mrs. Beatty. Two
of the very most important tables — 3 and 7 — are on Dr.
Shinn's observations alone. Table 3 gives in chronological
order the Development of grasping and Table 7 shows the
chronological succession of Movements of equilibrium and
locomotion. The work closes (pp. 420-424) with " Other
records of the instinctive movements " from manuscript
records of Mrs. Beatty, Mrs. Sharp, and Mrs. Wood.

This is, perhaps, the fullest and best study of an individual
child that has thus far been made. Miss Shinn, it seems to me,
when she began her investigations was most happily fitted for
the work. Her training and education were just such as pre-
pared her to see the things correctly in the child. Being the
aunt of the child caused her to be able to put aside the tempta-
tions which come to a parent — to see more than really is in the
child — yet being a woman she has the mother-love which pos-
sesses female humanity and so could approach the child with
the love so needed to understand child-life. Also she kept
studying all the time along lines which would keep her in close
touch with child nature.

There are several good ways to study children, yet I am
pretty well convinced that for practical home purposes nothing
can equal the studies on the individual child, as is the case here.
Also I believe that no other lines of investigation will do more
for the science of the child than such as these Notes. For the

194 Educational Review [September

past three years I have been using Parts I. and 11. of these
Notes in my classes in this institution and I have found them
most helpful, and Parts III. and IV. are contributing a great
deal at this present time.

As paidology grows and becomes better understood, these
Notes by Dr. Shinn will increase in value. I know of no other
matter which is more helpful to me in my paidological work
than such studies as these, interpreted thru the studies which I
have made and am continuing to make of my own child.

Oscar Chrisman

State Normal School,
Emporia, Kan.

The Hygiene of transmissible diseases — By A. E. Abbott, M. D., Pro-
fessor of Hygiene and Bacteriology, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia :
W. B. Saunders. 311 p. $2.00.

This book embodies the substance of a portion of the lectures
on general hygiene given by the author at the University of
Pennsylvania. It is, therefore, primarily intended for medical
students. The mode of treatment is, however, sufficiently
simple to make it wholly intelligible to any properly qualified
teacher of physiology and hygiene in secondary schools. Be-
ginning with a brief treatment of the causation of disease in
general, the author proceeds to discuss the causation, modes of
dissemination and prevention of special diseases, some of which
are known to be caused by bacteria, and others of which the
causes are not yet accurately established. Among the most
prominent diseases considered are typhoid fever, tuberculosis,
pneumonia, diphtheria, influenza, tetanus, smallpox, scarlet
fever, whooping-cough, malarial fever, and yellow fever. The
author also discusses in a brief but exceedingly clear and satis-
factory way a few of the principal diseases due to animal para-
sites. The chapters which deal with these subjects are fol-
lowed by others giving general and special precautions against
the spread of infectious diseases, and those which relate to the
management of persons who are suffering from communicable
diseases of all kinds. It has been the misfortune of the writer
of this notice, as doubtless of many other teachers who wish
to give a brief summary of some of the more obvious and prac-
tical important points connected with the nature and spread of

I poo] Reviews 195

communicable diseases, to have to search very widely for facts
in regard to them. Reports of State boards of health, manuals
of hygiene, most of them more or less obsolete, and treatises on
bacteriology which usually are not written in English, have to
be examined at considerable length to get together even a brief
series of talks on the subject of the more obvious and important
relations of disease-germs to the health of the public and the
individual. Dr. Abbott's book places all desirable data in re-
gard to this matter before the unprofessional reader in a
thoroly compact and intelligible form, and not only includes
results compiled from the most trustworthy sources at home
and abroad, but also contains a large number of original ob-
servations and studies.

It may seem to many teachers that the introduction of topics
of this character into high school classes of physiology and
hygiene is unwarranted by the time given to the subject which
they are teaching and by the immature character of the pupils
with whom they deal. It has, however, been the writer's ex-
perience that no portion of his teaching has interested pupils
more, or has seemed to give them more practical and valuable
facts for the conduct of their own daily life, hygienically con-
sidered, than matter of this very sort. To any teacher who
feels disposed to introduce some instruction of this kind into
his own class work. Dr. Abbott's manual offers by far the best
compendium at present available.

Joseph Y. Bergen

English High School,
Boston, Mass.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS

Mention of books in this place does not preclude extended critical notice hereafter

The many readers of Montaigne will be helped and de-
lighted by Introduction aux essais de Montaigne, by Edme
Champion. The author's charming studies in the civilization
of the Renaissance period serve as an interpretation of Mon-
taigne's own work (Paris: A. Colin, 1900. 313 p. 3 fr.

50 c). C. L. Howard's Primary number is a refreshingly

unconventional and thoughtful text-book for the teacher's use
(St. Louis, Mo. : W. S. Bell & Son, 1899. 72 p. 25 cents.).

1 96 Educational Review [September
The sketches entitled Twelve English poets, by Blanche

Wilder Bellamy, which originally appeared in the Outlook,
have been collected in book form. Their purpose is to show the
direct line of descent of English poetry (Boston: Ginn & Co.,
1900. 513 p. 85 cents). Opera-goers will find much en-
tertaining and instructive reading in A guide to the operas, by
Esther Singleton. It contains excellent photographs of the
best-known opera singers (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.,

1899. 350 P-)- To those whose library of poets must of

necessity be small or in whom true love for poetry has never
been awakened, Henry S. Pancoast^s Standard English poems,
Spenser to Tennyson, will prove an inspiring and stimulating
possession. The selections are representative and judiciously
chosen (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 749 p.

$1.50). Composition and rhetoric for schools, by Robert

Herrick and Lindsay Todd Damon, does a valuable work in
including, without more expenditure of time, the usual Fresh-
man course of rhetoric in colleges, thus greatly benefiting those
who never enter college and saving time for others ( Chicago :

Scott, Foresman & Co., 1899. 466 p. $1). A capital

edition of Silas Marner for school use has been brought out
by George Armstrong Wauchope (Boston : D. C. Heath & Co.,

1899. 259 p. 40 cents). Dr. Albert B. Fausfs volume

of selections from Heine's prose, for school and college use, is
an unusually judicious and carefully chosen collection (New

York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 341 p.). An annotated

edition of Charles Deslys' Benjamine has been published by
F. Julien, Officier D' Academic (New York: Longmans, Green

& Co., 1899. 115 p.). The listening child is a particularly

valuable and interesting collection of English verse classics
by Lucy W. Thacher. Children of all ages should owe her
a debt of gratitude (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899.

387 p. $1.25). Books XIX and XX of Homer's Iliad in

Greek, edited by Edward Bull Clapp, have appeared in the
College Series of Greek Authors (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899.

441 p. $1.90). Second year Latin, edited by Greenough,

D'Ooge, and Daniell, is a departure from the usual Caesar's
Commentaries and offers a varied and wide selection. It is
a valuable contribution to school literature (Boston: Ginn &

I poo] Reviews 197

Co., 1899. 497+ 188 p. $1.40). The last of the Mo-
hicans, edited by W. N. Wickes, has appeared in the Pocket
EngHsh Classics Series (New York : The Macmillan Co., 1899.

451 p. 25 cents). The Merchant of Venice has been pub-

Hshed in the same series, edited by Charlotte Whipple Under-
wood (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 207 p. 25

cents). The First hook of the graded literature readers y

edited by Harry Pratt Judson and Ida C. Bender, augurs well
for the great success of the series. It is capitally planned and
arranged and the illustrations add greatly to its value (New

York : Maynard, Merrill & Co., 1899. 128 p. 25 cents) .

Luther's Schriften, edited by W. H. Carruth, makes accessible
to the college student a representative collection from the writ-
ings of this comparatively little read (in this country) author
(Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899. 362 p.). A course in exposi-
tory writing, by Gertrude Buck and Elizabeth Woodbridge,
is a clever book embodying most helpful and practical sugges-
tions. Its ideas would greatly lessen the difficulties of com-
position writing (New York : Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 292 p.

$1). Africa, as seen by its explorers, is a compilation of

extracts from the writings of explorers from Herodotus down
to the present day. As a time-saving book it serves well its
purpose. Edited by T. J. Webb, B. A. (London: Edward

Arnold, 1899. 266 p. 2s.). English history, by E. S.

Symes, reads like a charming story, and will interest girls
and boys. It is admirably illustrated (London: Edward Ar-
nold, 1899. 292 p. 2s. 6d.). ^James A. Harrison edits a

new collection of the Letters of Madame De Sevigne. They
are so selected as to form a history of the reign of Louis XIV.
(Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899. 193 p.). A history of Eng-
land for high schools and academies, by Katherine Coman and
Elizabeth K. Kendall, is designed to meet the requirements
recently adopted by several colleges and universities. It is
more than a narrative of events and shows what factors have
combined to produce modern Britain (New York: The Mac-
millan Co., 1899. 507 p. $1.25). Schiller's Thirty

years' war, edited by Arthur H. Palmer, is an abridged edition
designed for use as a text-book (New York: Henry Holt &
Co., 1899. 202 p. 80 cents). An invaluable book for teach-

198 Educational Review [September

ers is Wilbur S. Jackman's Nature study for grammar grades

(New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 4^2 p. $1).

The Cable story book for school reading contains several of
Mr. Cable's most charming stories, selected for their already
proved success with school children. It is edited by Mary S.
Burt and Lucy L. Cable (New York : Charles Scribner's Sons,

1899. 176 p. 60 cents). In A catalogue of authors,

Houghton & Mifflin have prepared short biographical
sketches of authors whose works they publish, together with a
list of the works of each. It is handsomely gotten up (Cam-
bridge: The Riverside Press, 1899. 205 p. 25 cents).

Mein Leben von Johann Gottfried Seume has been edited with
introduction and notes by J. Henry Senger (Boston: Ginn

& Co., 1899. 136 p.). Dorsey, the young inventor, by

Edward S. Ellis, is an attractive and instructive book for boys
(New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1899. 297 p.

$1.25). ^John Leslie Hall has followed up his translation of

Beowulf by a volume of Old English idylls, designed to give a
panoramic view of the Teutonic conquest of England (Boston :

Ginn & Co., 1899. 108 p.). Franklin T. Baker has edited

an excellent selection of Browning's shorter poems, suited for
boys and girls (New York : The Macmillan Co., 1899. 250 p.

25 cents). Selections from Erckmann-Chatrian's charming

Contes fantastiques have been made and edited by Edward S.
Joynes. They are easy reading for students of French (New

York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 172 p. 50 cents).

Josepha Schrakamp's Supplementary exercises are meant to
accompany Das Deutsche Buch, and are an excellent drill in
grammar for beginners (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899.

109 p. 50 cents). Dryden's Palamon and Arcite has been

edited by Percival Chubb and appears in the Pocket English
Classics Series (New York : The Macmillan Co., 1899. 163 p.

25 cents). Patriotic nuggets contains choice sayings of

America's most prominent American statesman, gathered by
John R. Howard (New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert,

1899. 204 p. ) . Insects, their structure and life, by George

H. Carpenter, is an outline sketch of the whole subject of
entomology, admirably planned and arranged (London: J. M.
Dent & Co., 1899. 404 p. $1.75). The young citizen,

1900] Reviews 199

by C. F. Dole, is a most valuable and instructive book for
3^oung people. It cannot fail to interest them (Boston: D. C.

Heath & Co., 1899. 194 p. 45 cents). The Siege of

Troy has been edited, from MS. Harl. 525, by C. H. A. Wager,
with an elaborate introduction, notes, and glossaries (New

York: The Ma^millan Co., 1899. 126 p. $1.25). The

Third reading book in the Columbus Series is now out, by
W. T. Vlymen (New York: Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss, 1899.

256 p.). Practical physical exercises, by Louis Pepper and

Wm. H. Wiley, contain simple directions for exercises to be
used in the first eight grades, with accompanying illustrations.
The music is inexcusable (Terre Haute, Ind. : The Inland

Pub. Co., 1899. 120 p. 80 cents). Cinq histoires, edited

by Meras and Stern, is a charming collection for those who
have passed the preliminary stage in the study of French (New

York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 152 p. 80 cents). Jung

S fillings Lehensgeschichte, by Sigmon M. Stern, is another
valuable contribution to the new Modern Language Series

(New York: Henry Hoh & Co., 1899. 284 p. $1.20).

An excellent edition of Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm has
been brought out, with introduction and notes by Starr Willard
Cutting (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 224 p. 60
cents). — Cyr's Fifth reader is composed of selection far better
than that of the average reader (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899.
432 p.). A class-hook of practical physiology contains pre-
cise directions for experimental and chemical work. It will
be very valuable to students (Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's
Son & Co., 1899. 273 p. $1.75). Ernest Seton Thomp-
son has collected, for school reading, four stories from that
most fascinating book. Wild animals I have known. It is en-
titled Loho, Rag and Vixen (New York: Charles Scribner's

Sons, 1899. 147 p. 60 cents). Webster's Collegiate

dictionary is an abridgment of the International, designed for
the special use of college students. It is in compact form,
and is in all respects excellent and authoritative (Springfield:
G. & C. Merriam & Co. 1062 p). Cairn's Introduc-
tion to rhetoric presents the subject in accordance with

modern views (Boston : Ginn & Co., 1899. 270 p. $1).

A new and handsome edition of Silas Marner, capitally illus-

200 Educational Review [September

trated by Reginald Birch, has been brought out by Dodd,

Mead & Co., (New York. 1899. 284 p. $2). Edward

Everett Hale has edited the Song of Hiawatha, with introduc-
tion and notes ( New York, Boston, New Orleans : University

Publishing Co., 1899. 167 p.). Representative poems of

Robert Burns, with Carlyle's essay on Burns, has been edited
by Charles Lane Hanson (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899. 84 p.

45 cents). Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth has been

edited by L. A. Sherman, with a view to bringing out the
ethical and aesthetic meaning of Macbeth (New York: Henry

Holt & Co., 1899. 199 p. 60 cents). Anatole France's

charming story, Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnarid, has been
edited, with introduction, by C. H. C. Wright (New York:

Henry Holt & Co., 1899. ^79 P- ^^ cents). Paul Elmer

More has a new translation of The Promethus bound of JEs-
chylus, with introduction and notes (Boston and New York:

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899. 106 p. 75 cents). To

George Herbert Palmer we are also indebted for a translation
of The Antigone of Sophocles, with introduction and notes
(Boston and New York : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899. 100 p.

75 cents). Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea has been edited

by James Taft Hatfield (New York: The Macmillan Co.,

1899. 187 P- 60 cents). From Chaucer's Canterbury

tales, The prologue, The knight's tale, and The nun's priest's
tale. Parts I and II, have been edited by Frank Jewett Mather,
in the Riverside Literature Series (Cambridge: Houghton,

Mifflin & Co., 1899. 25 p. each. Single no., 15 cents).

Collection of poetry for school reading, by Marcus White, con-
tains the usual old favorites and stand-bys. It is for children
of from ten to fifteen years (New York: The Macmillan Co.,
1899. 175 P- 50 cents). The Wooster primer is an ex-
cellent little book, by Lizzie S. Wooster (Topeka, Kan. : Crane

& Co., 1899. 96 p. Professor Edwin Herbert Servis's

A -first manual of composition is a useful and well-thought-out
book designed to connect grammatical with rhetorical study.
It is to be followed by a Second manual (New York : The Mac-
millan Co., 1899. 236 p. 60 cents). — —A Three-year pre-
paratory course in French, by Charles F. Kroeh, is meant for
those who have already studied two years, and covers all re-

1900 J Reviews 201

quirements for admission to colleges, etc. It contains excel-
lent material (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 388 p.

$1). The trail of the sand-hill stag is one of Mr. Ernest

Seton-Thompson's most poetic and beautiful stories. The
book is very artistic in its make-up (New York: Charles

Scribner's Sons, 1899. 93 p. $1.50). Another book

thoroly artistic and poetic in every sense is Bob, the story of
our mocking-bird J by Sidney Lanier. Its charm would be felt
by old and young. Illustrations by A. R. Dugmore (New

York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 67 p. $1.50). Nature

pictures by American poets is a classified collection, depicting
nature in all her phases, selected and edited by Annie Russell
Marble (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 205 p.

$1.25). Connected passages for Latin prose writing, by

Maurice W. Mather and Arthur L. Wheeler, has appeared in
Harper's Latin Series. It is for practice in narrative writing

(New York: Harper & Bros., 1899. 206 p.). A revised

edition of Wentworth's Plane geometry has appeared. It is
unusually clear and well-printed (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899.

256 p.). Professor George Saintsbury's Matthew Arnold

is more of a critical work or a discussion than a biography.
It is delightfully written and very interesting (New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1899. 232 p. $1.25). A most valua-
ble and helpful work for beginners is Alfred Earl's Elements
of natural philosophy. It will be of special assistance to those
who are able to carry on practical work in science (London :

Edward Arnold, 1899. 320 p. 4s. 6d.). Corn plants, by

Fr. L. Sargent, is in every way calculated to arouse and sus-
tain the interest of children in the study of grains. Teachers
will find it useful supplementary reading (Boston and New
York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899. 106 p. 75 cents).

A primer of French verse, edited by Frederic Spencer,

will greatly aid advanced students in reading correctly and
intelligently. The selections are of the best (Cambridge, Eng-
land: The University Press, 1899. 258 p. 75 cents).

High-school hymnal, by Irving Emerson, contains selections
well-chosen both as to words and music (Boston : D. C. Heath

& Co., 1899. 175 P- 35 cents). Episodes from Les deux

rois of Dumas is one of a series designed to provide con-

202 Educational Review [September

tinuous and interesting reading for school children. Edited,
with notes, by F. H. Hewitt (London: Longmans, Green &
Co., 1899. 108 p. IS. 6d.). French reading for begin-
ners, edited by Oscar Kuhms, contains well-graded, fresh, and
interesting selections (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899.

310 p. 70 cents). Eugene Labiche's amusing comedy, La

grammaire, has been edited, with introduction and notes, by
Herman S. Piatt (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1899. 62 p. 40

cents). Moulds, mildews, and mushrooms, by Lucien

Marcus Underwood, will be found an invaluable and much-
needed guide to the study of fungi and their literature (New

York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 237 p. $1.50). The

teaching botanist, by Professor William F. Ganong, meets the
problem of the elementary presentation of botany as a science
in high school or college. It is essentially a laboratory
manual (New York : The Macmillan Co., 1899. 270 p. $1 ).
First steps in English, by Albert Le Roy Bartlett, is a simple
and attractive introduction to the study of grammar (New

York: Silver, Burdett & Co., 1899. 173 p. 38 cents).

Materials for German prose composition contains excellent
matter for translation into German for students who have al-
ready had some practice in this line. The volume includes
Professor Von Jagemann's English-German vocabulary (New
York: Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 133 + 168 p. 90 cents).
Albert Le Roy Bartlett follows up his First steps in Eng-
lish by The essentials of language and grammar. It is gotten
up in the same attractive style (New York: Silver, Burdett

& Co., 1899. 318 p. 62 cents). Organic education, by

Harriet M. Scott and Gertrude Buck, has many excellent help-
ful features, but seems to fail in comprehension of the child
of kindergarten age (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1899.

344 p. $1.25). William P. Trent's John Milton is almost

a work of supererogation. It is, however, written with
the author's known skill and is full of enthusiasm, and may
serve a purpose which longer books have failed to accomplish
(New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 285 p. 75 cents).
Introduction to the prose and poetical works of John Mil-
ton, by Hiram Corson, will greatly help students in forming
a true idea of the man, not only as a poet, but as an influence

ipoo] Reviews 203

in religion and politics (New York : The Macmillan Co., 1899.

303 p. $1.25). Side-lights on American history, by

Henry W. Elson, is intended to supplement the text-book by
enlarging upon and illuminating its important facts. Teach-
ers will find it most helpful (New York: The Macmillan Co.,

1889. 397 p. 75 cents). Teachers and superintendents

interested in the problems of geography in the lower grades
will receive much encouragement and many valuable sugges-
tions from Reynold's The teaching of geography in Switzer-
land and North Italy (London, C. J. Clay & Sons, 1899. 112
p. 75 cents). Professor Thilly of the University of Mis-
souri is the author of a clear and well-balanced text-book en-
titled Introduction to ethics (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1900. 346 p. $1.25). Mr. J. H. Gardiner, in-
structor in English at Harvard University, has made an excel-
lent supplementary book for students of English composition
in his Forms of prose literature (New York: Charles Scrib-

ner's Sons, 1900. 498 p. $1.50). Professor Shaw is

quite justified in the opinion he expresses in his introduction to
the English translation of Ostermann's Interest in its relation
to pedagogy. It is a suggestive and helpful book (New

York: E. L. Kellogg & Co., 1900. 150 p. $1.00). We

greet with pleasure the new and more compact edition of
Parkin's Edward Thwing. Every reader of this book must
carry away some of the inspiration which flows from Thwing's
life and character (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1900.

518 p. $2.00). Few books could be of more interest to

thoughtful Americans just now than Colonial civil service, by
Mr. A. Laurence Lowell. It gives accurate information re^
garding the training of colonial officials in England, Holland,
and France (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1900. 346 p.

$1.50). Among ourselves is the title of a series of practical

helpful talks by President Taylor of Emporia, Kan. Every
page reflects the writer's sound sense, good humor, and insight
into human nature (New York: E. L. Kellogg & Co., 1900.

149 p. 50 cents). Three charming little volumes have

just been issued in the Temple Primer Series — Koch's Roman
history, Dutt's Civilisation of India, and Dean Spencer's His-
tory of the English Church. They are compact and eminently

204 ' Educational Review

readable (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1900. 40 cents

each). Professor Francis Hovey Stoddard's Evolution of

the English novel is a book of unusual charm and insight. The
several essays are marked by quiet humor, knowledge of hu-
man nature, and helpful, constructive criticism (New

York: The Macmillan Co., 1900. 235 p. $1.50). The

increased attention given to Ovid in the secondary schools
has led to Selections from Ovid, edited by Dr. Anderson
of Williamston, S. C. (New York: University Publishing

Co., 1899. 258 p. $1). The Prince's story-hook, edited

by George Lawrence Gomme, is a sumptuously dressed
collection of historical stories from English romantic litera-
ture. It is an attractive gift-book for boys and girls
(New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1900. 392 p.

$2.50). The table-talk of the almost forgotten John

Selden has bee'n edited, with a capital introduction, by
Robert Waters (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1899. 250 p.

$1). The second part of Professor Gudeman's scholarly

Latin literature of the empire, containing the poetry, has just
appeared. It is a fine addition to the resources of the college
teachers of Latin, and ought to help some of them climb up
out of their time-honored ruts (New York : Harper & Brothers,

1899. 494 p. $2). We cannot help feeling that, with all

its ingenuity. Miss Aiken's Exercises in mind-training are
based on a false psychology and that they are essentially me-
chanical. In the list of names to be memorized in connection
with the study of history there are some amusingly worthless
worthies (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899. 122 p.

$1). Professor Macdonald of Bowdoin College has added

the period from 1606- 1775 to that previously covered by his
Select charters and other documents illustrative of American
history. Every live teacher of American history will have
this book, and its companion previously published, within easy
reach (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 400 p. $2).

It is hard to keep track of the rapidly growing text-book

literature on the subject of electricity. Mr. Paley Yorke's
Magnetism and electricity sets forth the elementary facts in
a well-ordered way (London: Edward Arnold, 1899. 264 p.
3s. 6d.).

IX
EDITORIAL

The thirty-ninth annual meeting of the
'^^^M^etYnl^*'''' National Educational Association, held at

Charleston, S. C, July 7-13, was the smallest
in many years. The registered attendance will probably be
found not to exceed 2900. The reasons for this are primarily
the lack of interest among the rank and file of the teachers of
the Southern States and the unwillingness of those in the
North and West to expose themselves to the anticipated sum-
mer heat of that latitude. As a matter of fact the heat was
not so oppressive as at Chicago in 1887 or at Milwaukee in
1897, and those who were so fortunate as to be lodged in pri-
vate houses were at 'no time uncomfortable. The Charleston
Hotel, however, was anything but satisfactory, and those who
had taken rooms there in order to be near headquarters were
to be pitied. Educationally and socially, however, the Charles-
ton meeting was eminently successful. The program con-
tained many features far above the average, and there was
general agreement that the response by Dr. Lyte to the ad-
dresses of welcome, the address on " The small college " by
President Harper, that by Booker T. Washington, the papers
by Miss Edmund, Miss Buchanan, and Mrs. Cooley, and the
paper by President Beardshear fully sustai'ned the best tradi-
tions of the Association. The Council carried on two inter-
esting discussions, one on Superintendent Gove's paper on
'' Education in our new possessions," and one on the personal
report submitted by President Harper of the committee on the
national university project. Professor Hinsdale's summary of
the educational progress of the year was scholarly and illumi-
nating. More than one old member of the Association spoke
with enthusiasm of Preside'nt Thwing's capital paper, over-
flowing with healthy optimism and good-will, presented before
the Department of Higher Education.

205

2o6 Educational Review [September

Socially the gathering was one of great charm. The citi-
zens of Charleston extended a hospitality as generous and as
gracious as it was unusual. The local press were sympathetic,
and the treatment of the co'nvention by the News and Courier
so complete and so well-balanced that it was continually re-
ferred to with hearty praise.

The business of the Association was transacted speedily and
harmoniously. The trustees reported that the permanent
fund had reached $88,000, $14,000 having been added to it
duri'ng the year. Treasurer Pearse, whose administration of
his office was praised formally a'nd informally many times,
showed receipts for the year of $38,746.63, and expenditures
of $20,949.96, an excess of receipts of $17,796.67. Of this
amount $14,000 was transferred to the trustees for investment,
as indicated above.

The newly chosen president. Principal James M. Green of
New Jersey, was elected by acclamation. His long co'nnection
with the Association and his distinguished services to educa-
tion in his own State, made his choice a peculiarly fitting one.
The new treasurer. Superintendent L. C. Greenlee of Denver
(W. S.), Colo., is one of the best known and most popular
members of his profession. Superintendent Dougherty of
Peoria was elected a trustee for the four-year term.

In order to have some effective means of considering and
reporting upon plans for carrying on investigatio'ns involving
an appropriation of the Association's funds, the Council con-
stituted the following standing committee of seve'n to deal with
such matters: Messrs. Hinsdale of Michigan (chairman),
Alderman of Louisiana, Butler of New York, Dougherty of
Illinois, Downing of New York, Fitzpatrick of Massachusetts,
and Harvey of Wisconsin. Amo'ng the newly elected mem-
bers of the Council are Messrs. Thwing of Ohio, Ramsey of
Virginia, Mclver of North Carolina, and Pearse of Nebraska.

The declaration of principles was reported by
Prhfdples*^°° °^ ^^ committee on resolutions, and was as fol-
lows :
In accordance with established custom, a'nd in order better to
enforce those beliefs and practices which tend most powerfully

1900] Editorial 207

to advance the cause of popular education and a civilization
based on intelligent democracy, the National Educational Asso-
ciation, assembled i'n its thirty-ninth annual meeting, makes this

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

, The common school is the highest hope of the nation. In
developing character, in training intelligence, in diffusing in-
formation, its i'nfluence is incalculable. In last resort the
common school rests not upon statutory support,. but upon the
convictions and affections of the American people. It seeks
not to cast the youth of the country in a common mold, but
rather to afford free play for individuality a'nd for local needs
and aims, while keeping steadily in view the common purpose
of all education. In this respect it conforms to our political
ideals and to our political organization, which bind together
self-governing States in a nation wherein each locality must
bear the responsibility for those things which most concern its
welfare and its comfort. A safe motto for the school, as for
the State, is: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in
all things, charity.

A democracy provides for the education of all its children.
To regard the common schools as schools for the unfortunate
and the less well-to-do, and to treat them as such, is to strike
a fatal blow at their efficie'ncy and at democratic institutions;
it is to build up class distinctions which have no proper place
on American soil. The purpose of the American common
school is to attract and to instruct the rich, as well as to pro-
vide for and to educate the poor. Within its walls American
citizens are made, and no perso'n can safely be excluded from
its benefits.

What has served the people of the United States so well
should be promptly placed at the service of those who, by the
fortunes of war, have become our wards. The extension of
the American common school system to Cuba, Porto Rico, and
the Philippine Islands is an imperative necessity i'n order that
knowledge may be generally diffused therein, and that the foun-
dations of social order and effective local self-government may
be laid in popular intellige'nce and morality.

2o8 Educational Review [September

The provisions of law for the civil government of Porto
Rico indicate that it is the intention of the Congress of the
United States to increase the responsibilities of the Bureau of
Education. We earnestly urge upo'n the Congress the wisdom
and advisability of reorganizing the Bureau of Education upon
broader lines; of erecting it into an independent department on
a plane with the Department of Labor; of providing a proper
compensation for the Commissioner of Education; and of so
constituting the Department of Education that while its in-
valuable function of collating and diffusing information be in
no wise impaired, it may be equipped to exercise effective over-
sight of the educatioal systems of Alaska and of the several
islands now dependent upon us, as well as to make some provi-
sion for the education of the children of the tens of thousands of
white people domiciled in the Indian Territory, but who are
without any educational opportunities whatever. Such reor-
ganization of the Bureau of Education and such extension of
its functions we believe to be demanded by the highest interests
of the people of the United States, and we respectfully but
earnestly ask the Congress to make provision for such reor-
ganization and extension at their next session. The action
so strongly recommended will in no respect contravene the
principle that it is one of the recognized functions of the
national government to encourage and to aid, but not to con-
trol, the educational instrumentalities of the country.

We note with satisfaction the rapid extension of provision
for adequate seco'ndary and higher education, as well as for
technical, industrial, and commercial training. National pros-
perity and our economic welfare in the years to come will de-
pend in no small measure upon the trai'ned skill of our people,
as well as upon their inventiveness, their persistence, and their
general information.

Every safeguard throw'n about the profession of teaching,
and every provision for its proper compensation, has our cor-
dial approval. Proper standards — ^both general and profes-
sional— for entrance upon the work of instruction, security of
te'nure, decent salaries, and an adequate pension system, are
indispensable if the schools are to attract and to hold the service
of the best men and women of the United States; and the

I poo] Editorial 209

nation can afford to place its children in the care of none but
the best.

We welcome the tendency on the part of colleges and scien-
tific schools to co-operate in formulating and in administering
the requirements for admission to their several courses of in-
struction, a'nd we rejoice that this association has consistently
thrown its influence in favor of this policy, and has indicated
how, in our judgment, it may best be entered upon. We see
in this movement a most important step toward lightening the
burdens which now rest upon so many secondary, schools, and
are confident that only good reuslts will follow its success.

The efficiency of a school system is to be judged by the char-
acter and the i'ntellectual power of its pupils, and not by their
ability to meet a series of technical tests. The place of the
formal examination in education is distinctly subordinate to
that of teaching, and its use as the sole test of teaching is un-
justifiable, i

We renew our pledge to carry on the work of education in-
trusted to us in a spirit which shall be not only non-sectarian
and non-political, but which shall accord with the highest
ideals of our national life and character. With the co'ntinued
and effective support of public opinion and of the press for the
work of the schools, higher and lower alike, we shall enter
upon the new century with the high hope born of successful
experience and of perfect co'nfidence in American policies and
institutions.

Nicholas Murray Butler, New York, Chairman.

Edwin A. Alderman, Louisiana. Charles D. Mclver, North Carolina.

W. B. Powell, District of Columbia. Alfred Bayliss, Illinois.

J. A. Foshay, California. James H. Van Sickle, Maryland.

William R. Harper, Illinois. Charles F. Thwing, Ohio.

Committee on Resolutions

The usual summer series of volcanic disturb-
heaval """* ^ ances has taken place thruout the public school

system of the country and the annual incur-
sion of barbarian tribes into the territory of education has been
made. Superintendent Powell of Washington has been dis-
placed by the reactionaries, obscurantists, and wire-pullers who
infest the capital. Superintendent Jones of Cleveland has been

2IO Educational Review [September

besieged by the amazing person \vhom the citizens of Cleveland
deliberately chose to exercise the enormous powers which the
law confers upon their school director. Superintendent
Seaver of Boston failed of re-election in June, as did Super-
visors Martin and Arnold. In Idaho President Blanton of the
State University has publicly charged two of the regents with
'' usurpation of the powers of the president " and has pointed
out their '' irregular, extravagant, if not dishonest methods of
conducting the business affairs of the institution." The
regents promptly removed Mr. Blanton, and a fine shindy is in
progress.

Some of these events have an amusing side, of course, but
yet they are desperately serious, for they are indicative of
forces at work in the body politic with which education has to
deal before it can become either efficient or genuine.

The Washington situation seems to us the most alarming;
for we do not recall any previous successful attack upon a con-
spicuous superintendent for acts and policies which by common
consent of well-informed persons are in line with the best edu-
cational thought and practice of the time; especially when that
superintendent had brought his school system to a level of
effectiveness which his colleagues united in considering as high
as any in the whole country. The attack upon Mr. Powell
was successful, in our judgment, because it was a carefully
planned conspiracy carried on in a community where there was
no public opinion to stop it and no intelligent, broad-minded
newspaper press to expose it. Washington has no public
opinion. The white population is made up chiefly of three
elements : the well-to-do winter residents who do next to noth-
ing for the intellectual life of the city, the changing official set,
and the great body of government clerks who are very obvi-
ously under restrictions as to public expression of any kind.
Despite the lack of any large element from which effective pub-
lic opinion could emanate, the newspapers of Washington
might have stopped the blow at the schools had they been inde-
pendent or intelligent. But both the Post and the Star were
either privy to the conspiracy from the first or else they aided
it out of sheer ignorance and incapacity. The arrant and self-
contradictory nonsense which they printed, and continue to

1 900] Editorial 2 1 1

print, both editorially and from correspondents, would provoke
a wooden Indian to contemptuous anger.

Passing by the newspapers and the less important elements,
it seems to be a general opinion among the well-informed that
the long-standing and unreasoning hostility of Senator Stewart
of Nevada to members of the Powell family, together with the
personal vagaries, ambitions, and idiosyncrasies of Mrs. Myers^
who now steps into an assistant superintendency, of Mr.
George H. Harries, who was in the old school board and
now bobs up serenely on the new one, " resplendent in full
uniform," and of Mr. Charles Moore, clerk to the Senate
committee on the District of Columbia, are chiefly responsible
for this crusade against one of the very best school systems
in the United States. It is not necessary to follow here all
the steps by which the attack upon Mr. Powell was planned
and put into execution, but there were many clever features
of it. Not the least of these was the adroit use of that
public enemy known as senatorial courtesy, and of the rules
governing conference reports, to forestall any open dis-
cussion of the scheme, particularly in the House of Representa-
tives— which body, it is entirely safe to say, does not know now
what happened or how it happened. Leading senators who
were appealed to by the most prominent public school men of
their respective States gave the most emphatic assurances that
no attack upon Mr. Powell was intended. Yet the Congress
had hardly adjourned when his successor was chosen and in-
ducted into oflice. What Commissioner MacFarland's part
in the movement has been we are unable to determine with
certainty. He has borne an excellent reputation heretofore;
but it is in order for him to offer some explanation as to ( i )
why Commissioner Ross, who has had the oversight of the
schools for years, so speedily surrendered that function to his
newly appointed colleague just at this juncture; (2) why Mr.
Harries, of all the members of the old board, was chosen to
serve upon the new one; and (3) why he approved of the dis-
placement of Mr. Powell as he did when he publicly commended
the action of the board in choosing his successor.

In all this proceeding the most cynical contempt was dis-
played for the best opinion of public school men. Local

2 1 2 Educational Review [September

clamor, sedulously stirred up, was used as the basis for the
attack, and it proceeded straight to its conclusion just as was
planned from the beginning. Meanwhile, the new superin-
tendent, Mr. Alexander T. Stuart, is in a very delicate and
difficult position. If he assists in undoing Mr. Powell's ex-
cellent work, or if he looks on and permits it to be undone, he
will find himself without professional reputation or the respect
of his fellow-superintendents; if he does not assist in undoing
it, the elements now in control of the schools will turn him out
of the superintendency. Unless President Bell of the new
school board asserts himself in the most vigorous manner and
refuses to permit himself to be used as the dupe of the wire-
pullers, the Washington children will be made to suffer for the
folly and stupidity of a clique.

Superintendent Jones bore himself with great
Case* *^**° dignity when the attempt to oust him was

made, and Cleveland being the possessor of
an enlightened public opinion, and having a newspaper press
intelligent enough to know what good schools are in these
modern days, he was able to sustain himself against Director
Bell, who retreated in disorder with the loss of his ammunition
and his guns. Dr. Poland, who went to Cleveland to accept
Mr. Jones' place, under a total misconception of the situation
(tho we wish he had not consented to go at all), promptly
took steps to set himself right and to protect his professional
honor. The local politicians are pressing the school director
so hard that the matter may be reopened at any time. Mr.
Jones intends to stand upon his legal rights, not as a personal
matter, but because he regards it as a professional duty to test
whether the law really means that the superintendent shall
serve " during good behavior " or not.

If teaching were really a profession, no man of high prin-
ciple would accept an election to a superintendency made
vacant as at Washington or as attempted at Cleveland.

N t d N ^^ ^^ University of Cambridge the honorary

degree of doctor of laws was conferred on
Joseph H. Choate, Ambassador of the United States. Dr. San-
dys, the public orator, presented Mr. Choate in these words :

I poo] Editorial 213

Reipublicae maximas transmarinae ad Britanniam legatum vinculo non
uno nobiscum consociatum esse constat. Aequore Atlantico interposito
separati, stant utrimque duo populi maximi, communis generis, communis
linguae, communium litterarum, communium rerum antiquitus gestarum
vinculis inter sese coniuncti. Dum bella cum aliis ab alterutro geruntur,
etsi populo alteri a parte neutra stare est propositum, tamen populo in
utroque summi certe viri tacita quadam benevolentia inter sese coniun-
guntur. Inter viros summos qui in populum suum fidem singularem cum
benevolentia in Britannos coniungunt, locum insignem obtinet reipublicae
illius maximas legatus, vir inter suos in iure civili admodum peritus, in
artibus omnibus quae iudicum animos conciliare et commovere possunt
sollertissimus, vir denique non inter suos tantum, sed etjam ubicumque
lingua nostra communis usurpatur, in omni orationum genere existimatus
eloquentissimus. Lastamur Collegii Harvardiani alumnum tam insignem
iuris doctorem ab eo petissimum pronuntiatum iri, qui Harvardi ipsius
Collegio est praepositus.

A little later Professor John Williams White of Harvard
University was presented for the degree of doctor of letters,
as follows:

Ex Atlantide exorsus, in Atlantide laudis nostras cursus hodie desinit.
Helladis ab insulis etiam ad Hesperiam novam, ultra fortunatorum insulas
fabulosas positam, Helladis amor trans maria migravit. Etiam trans
aequor Atlanticum ad Cantabrigiam novam transvolavit litterarum Graecarum
studium quod Cantabrigia nostra olim ab Oriente accepit. Adest alter ex
eis qui in Collegio Harvardiano litteras Graecas prasclare profitentur ; adest
scholae archasologicae Americanas Athenis constitutas unus e conditoribus
prascipuis, qui etiam ipsis Athenis archasologiam professus est, qui (ne plura
commemorem) de scaena Aristophanis, de Atheniensium opisthodomo, de
muro denique Pelargico eruditissime disputavit. Antiquitatis studiosis
pergratum, quod ne ultimum quidem argumentum illud intactum reliquit,
oraculo Delphico deterritus — to UeXapyiKov apybv afieivov.

By a destructive fire the School and home journal, edited by
George P. Brown, published at Bloomington, 111., lost a large
portion of its records. We are glad to aid Mr. Brown in
reaching his friends and subscribers by calling their attention
to the fact that it will be of great assistance if they will send
their names and addresses, together with the date when their
subscriptions expire, to him without delay.

The Male Teachers' Association of New York have agreed
that the new Davis law, reviewed editorially in this Review
for June last, provides the following minimum salaries for
elementary school teachers :

214

Educational Review

[September

Female teach-

Male teachers^

Female teach-
ers of girls'*

Female teach-
ers of girls'
classes, last
two years

ers of grad-
uating class:

gradu a ting-
class : mate

Years

classes, other
than the last

first assist-
ants, or fe-

Male teachers

first assist-
ants, male

two years.

male vice

vice princi-

principals

pals

$600

% 600

$600

$900

% 900

640

1005

680

1110

720

1215

760

1320

800

1425

840

1530

880

1635

163s

920

Q20

920

1740

960

1845

1000

1440

1950

2400

1040

1440

2055

2400

1080

1440

2160

2400

1120

II20

1440

2160

2400

1160

1 160

1440

2160

24CX>

1200

1320

1440

2160

2400

1240

1320

1440

2160

24CK)

Add $60 per annum to salaries of female teachers of boys' or mixed classes.

Pennsylvania is in pursuit of educational establishments with
improper and misleading titles. An injunction has been
granted by the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, at the
instance of the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, re-
straining the proprietor of a business college in that city from
calling his institution the University of Philadelphia. He
teaches bookkeeping, penmanship, and stenography. His
school affords instruction in commercial pursuits exclusively
and is in no true sense a university. " A short but compre-
hensive definition of the word university," says President
Judge Arnold in granting the injunction, '' is an aggregation
or union of colleges. It is an institution in which the educa-
tion imparted is universal, embracing all branches, such as arts,
sciences, and all manner of learning, and possessing powers to
confer degrees which indicate proficiency in the branches
taught." By a Pennsylvania statute enacted in 1895, a Col-
lege and University Council for the State was established,
without whose approval no new institution shall be authorized
to confer degrees. The court holds that inasmuch as the title
of university imparts the power to confer degrees, the defend-
ant's school cannot lawfully use the title, since it does not pos-
sess the power. It appears that many persons have mistaken

1900] Editorial 215

this self-styled University of Philadelphia for the University
of Pennsylvania, and much confusion in correspondence has
resulted therefrom.

Of the 50 State and territorial superintendents of public
instruction, 38 are active members of the National Educational
Association. The States and Territories not represented in the
list of active members by their superintendents are Connecticut,
Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and
Washington.

Of the superintendents of 170 leading cities and towns, 121
are active members of the Association. The cities and towns
whose superintendents are not active members are the follow-
ing: Manchester, N. H., Brockton, Chelsea, Gloucester, Haver-
hill, Lynn, Maiden, Newton, Salem, Somerville, and Taunton,
Mass.; Hartford, Conn.; Auburn, Cohoes, Elmira, New York
(Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, Borough of Rich-
mond), Oswego, Rochester, and Troy, N. Y.; Camden, Ho-
boken, and Trenton, N. J.; Allegheny, Allentown, Altoona,
Erie, Pittsburg, Wilkesbarre, and Williamsport, Pa. ; Norfolk,
Va.; Parkersburg, W. Va. ; Newport, Ky. ; Memphis, Tenn.;
Montgomery, Ala.; Galveston, Houston, and Fort Worth,
Tex.; Springfield, and Zanesville, O. ; South Bend, Ind. ;
Quincy, 111. ; Des Moines and Burlington, la. ; St. Joseph, Mo. ;
Lincoln, Neb.; and Sacramento, Calif.

By the death of Henry Barnard, in July last, one of the
most effective and self-sacrificing workers in the cause of popu-
lar education is lost to the people of the United States. Dr.
Barnard's name is highly honored by teachers everywhere, but
the man himself was a stranger to this generation. His best
work lay back in the second quarter of the century, when foun-
dations were being laid, systems organized, and public senti-
ment aroused. He then played a leading part, the fortunate
effects of which are now a chapter in the history of American
education.

2i6 Educational Review

The application of science to matters relating to the home
goes on apace. The words domestic art, domestic science,
domestic economy, become increasingly familiar. Attention
to these subjects is urged, as it should be, not on grounds of
utility alone, but because of their educational significance. An
annual conference of those specially interested in these lines of
work has been instituted at Lake Placid, and there the most
pressing problems are taken hold of systematically and in
earnest.

Mr. Dawes of the Chicago Board of Education has made
the following admirable proposals, which will certainly send a
shiver down the spines of the spoilsmen :

Whereas, Merit alone should determine the selection, and appointment
of teachers in our public schools, and

Whereas, No teacher should be appointed without the recommendation
of the superintendent, who in every instance should be required to recom-
mend the best teacher available ; and

Whereas, The personal solicitation and influence of members of the
board and others tends to embarrass the superintendent in this regard, and
to the selection and appointment of teachers on grounds other than those
of merit ;

Therefore, be it resolved. That at each regular meeting the superintend-
ent shall report to the full board the names of all persons, other than dis-
trict superintendents, teachers, and members of the board, who have since
the last meeting recommended, either orally or in writing, the appointment,
promotion, or transfer of any principal, teacher, or cadet in the public schools.

Resolved (and this resolution shall be a rule of the board), That mem-
bers of this board shall not recommend principals, teachers, or cadets to
the superintendent, or any district superintendent, or endorse their applica-
tions for appointment, promotion, or transfer, unless requested by the
superintendent in writing so to do, and the superintendent shall report all
violations of this rule to the full board at its next regular meeting there-
after.

Resolved, That all existing rules, inconsistent herewith, are hereby
repealed, and that in no instance shall the superintendent be required «to
obtain the concurrence of any district committee before making any
appointment, assignment, or transfer of principals, teachers, or cadets.

These resolutions went to the committee on rules, and their
action will be awaited with interest.

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

OCTOBER, igoo

THE RELATION OF WOMAN TO THE TRADES
AND PROFESSIONS

In the second half of the nineteenth century we have wit-
nessed many social changes. What were supposed to be fixed
orders of society in the first half of the century have under-
gone revolutions, in some cases quite radical. To point out a
fundamental cause of such changes and to prophesy its con-
tinued influence during the coming century are easy, and have
been done so often as to become trite; so to speak, a worn-out
subject. Natural science gives to human society a knowledge
of nature and the ability to invent labor-saving machines that
convert to man's use the powers of nature. This result in-
creases the productive power of man, emancipates from
drudgery large classes of people, and increases the wages of the
proletariat. Moreover, increase in productive power brings
with it new demands on the part of the lower and middle
classes of society of a political kind as well as of an industrial
kind. The people find themselves able to earn more of a bet-
ter quality of food, clothing, and shelter. They next make
demands for more consideration on the part of the govern-
ment ; in fact, they ask for a share in the governing power, and
the right of suffrage. This last point is hastened by the great
increase in facilities for intercommunication, not only rapid
transportation of goods and quick transit for persons, but also
the morning newspaper and instant intercommunication with
all parts of the earth by means of telegraph and telephone.

217

2 1 8 Educational Review [October

The net result of improvements in intercommunication tends
to give each person in society a knowledge of the important
events going on in the world from day to day. This brings
with it a constant education such as comes from beholding
world events instead of local events, the deeds of nations in-
stead of the petty occurrences in one's village — all of which
tends to accelerate the demand on the part of the people for
a share in the government thru the ballot box. This, too,
makes present to the mind of each individual the drift of public
opinion in his township or commune, in his commonwealth or
department, and in his nation. Each citizen becomes cognizant
of the public opinion of foreign nations, and learns to weigh
the motives on which such foreign public opinion is based.

When the question of a change in the industrial, political, or
intellectual status of woman is brought under consideration,
these reflections upon the great movements of the nineteenth
century, one or all of them, have been adduced to explain or
justify.

On the other hand against these general and sweeping argu-
ments attention has been called to the relation which employ-
ments and vocations have to what has been fixed by nature, in
the physical structure and temperament of the individual.
This opens at once the broad field of inquiry into the bounda-
ries between fate and freedom : the influence of race, whether
or no it may be surmounted and to what extent; the border line
between maturity and immaturity in age; the disqualifying in-
fluences of sex; not to mention the modifications of these
things which arise thru climate and food — the general trend of
conclusions based on these elements of fate is hostile to those
based on the spectacle of the conquest of nature which the nine-
teenth century shows us.

It is my object in this brief presentation of the subject to
bring together these two opposing views as they relate to sex,
criticise them, and discover if possible what remains valid after
all abatements have been made.

At the beginning of this century Goethe, the wisest observer
of his time, called attention to the differences in vocation on the
part of the sexes founded on physical peculiarities and the

1900] Woman and trades and professions 219

needs of society. In his time division of labor and specializa-
tion of employment had reached a high degree of perfection.
It was then the era of the first invention of labor-saving ma-
chinery. It had become evident that production increased in
proportion to the division and subdivision of work, and that
the maximum of skill could be reached only by a concentration
of each laborer upon some minute task. The cotton spinners
of Manchester, the knife grinders of Sheffield, the watch-
makers of Switzerland, the weavers of Flanders, the skill and
artistic taste shown by manufacturers in the cities of France,
all such phenomena as these pointed out to Goethe the general
necessity for training men to become experts in their several
specialties and accustoming them to work in large companies.
Over against this the woman as center of the family should
have precisely the opposite training for her life work, for she
should be so educated as to be versatile, quick to turn from one
occupation to another. To isolate the several items of the
work of the family and reduce them all to trades seemed then,
as now, hopeless. Diversity and versatility are the character-
istics respectively of the labor and the laborer in the family:
engaged this hour in preparing the breakfast and washing the
dishes; the next in making the beds and sweeping the rooms;
the next in cleansing and mending the clothing; the next in
knitting or weaving; the next and at intervals during the whole
day attending to the myriad wants of childhood: the labor
within the family does not admit of division of labor, altho it
is diversified and in need of such division. The woman pre-
pared for the life of the family, therefore, needs an education
which gives her versatility, while the man needs a training fit-
ting him for concentration upon one thing.

Hence Goethe says : '' The male should wear a uniform from
childhood upward. For men have to accustom themselves to
work together; to lose themselves among their equals; to obey
in masses and to work on a large scale. Every kind of uni-
form generates a military habit of thought and a smart,
straightforward carriage. All boys are born soldiers what-
ever you do with them. . . But woman should go about
in every variety of dress; each following her own style and her

2 20 Educational Review [October

own likings, that each may learn to feel what sits well upon her
and becomes her; and for a more weighty reason as well — be-
cause it is appointed for her to stand alone all her life, and to
work alone. . . Even the most empty-headed woman is in
the same case. Each one of them excludes all others. It is
her nature to do so. Because of each one of them is required
everything which the entire sex has to do."

In this last sentence he states in the most explicit manner
the insight which I have attributed to him above. He goes
on and states the distinction between man's work and woman's
work, showing how completely he comprehended the spirit of
the civilization in which he lived — a civilization which within
fifty years after his death began to show signs of transition into
a new one. If I should paraphrase Goethe's speech I might
say : When the task of labor may be specialized so that many
people may work together in the manufacture of a simple
product, the individual may limit himself to a uniform par-
ticular activity, to a trade or even to a minute branch of a trade.
But if on the other hand the field of labor is a diversified one,
containing a collection of contingent or accidental particulars,
then machinery cannot be used, the labor must be governed by
the arbitrary will of the individual, and each person must be
competent to perform anything and everything. This is the
case in the sphere of the family, and each person in it must be
ready to do any one of the several hundred particular opera-
tions. Goethe concludes : " In how few words the whole busi-
ness of education might be summed up if people had ears to
hear. Educate the boys to be servants and the girls to be
mothers, and everything is as it should be." To interpret this
expression of Goethe one must call to mind the statement made
in his WUhelm Meister: " To serve is necessary in all depart-
ments of life, and to limit one's self to a special occupation is
desirable. For whatever the uncultured person does is a trade
(or menial occupation) ;but to the person of some culture, what-
ever he does is a fine art; and the person of highest culture, in
whatever he does, sees the likeness of everything that is done
rightly." For it is the function of the highest culture to give
one an insight into the relation of every kind of human en-

ipoo] Woman and trades and prof essions 221

deavor to the total result of civilization. '' To be servants "
means to subordinate and limit themselves to specially pre-
scribed occupations; '' to be mothers " would mean to cultivate
that provident foresight and wealth of resources which are
constantly required in the endless routine of duties in the
family.

' If we look for a moment upon the historical setting of the
epoch, which Goethe has studied so carefully, we do not find
it to be the constant type of humanity. I remember well my
surprise when I came first to notice that what had at first
seemed to me a statement of conditions valid for all time,
proved well-nigh inapplicable to a state of society that had pre-
ceded the era of productive industry. I refer to the condition
of the trades and occupations in tribal society, — for strange
to say they are in important respects diametrically opposite to
those in an industrial civilization. In the savage state the
tribal form of government prevails, and the center of a state or
tribal jurisdiction is at most a day's march from a hostile fron-
tier. The men of the tribe are obliged to give their whole at-
tention to the defense of their people, and have no strength left
for productive industry. The tribe faces a hostile power whose
movements are uncertain and indefinite, and its men must be
constantly on the alert. Under such conditions there cannot
be that absorption in a specialty which is necessary for a great
skill in the industries. The men continually on the watch for
the enemy consume their nervous energy and become utterly
unfitted for dealing with definite or routine tasks and prescribed
duties. These they are obliged to turn over to the women;
therefore the women of the tribe have not only the functions of
the family, but also that of providing food, clothing, and shelter
—the sphere of productive industry.

There are three spheres of activity within society, namely,
the function of nurture within the family, that of the indus-
trial combination whereby the food, clothing, and shelter are
produced by the arts and trades; and thirdly, the governmental
function, the political activity whereby the state is defended
against its enemies and peace and order secured within. In the
first stage of productive industry which Goethe has studied,

2 22 Educational Review [October

woman limits her sphere to the charge of the family, and man
takes both the other spheres — those of productive industry and
the political state.

In the savage state man takes only the political and military
function, and woman is obliged to take on her the burden of
two spheres of activity — the family and productive industry.
There are of course exceptions of more or less importance
which should be mentioned and kept in mind while dealing
with these general definitions; for instance, the occupation of
the tribal man, namely, hunting and fishing, is in a certain
sense a training for war, as the act of taking the whale, the
walrus, the seal, in water, or the taking of wild beasts danger-
ous to life or useful for food on land, — these are of the nature
of intermittent struggles and depend upon caprice and arbi-
trariness,— they involve risk of life and do not belong to the
rank of a regular industrial vocation under the best of condi-
tions. They are more of the nature of military exercises and
maneuvers, and assist the preparation of the men for war.

In all this it is evident that man needs and cultivates alert-
ness and versatility rather than persistency, while the woman
in a savage state of society has the part of providing for what
is routine and requires persistence. Man develops his versa-
tility in the form of cunning and sudden intermittent effort.
In primeval society women assisted by children and superan-
nuated men perform, as I have said, the labor of the family
and civil society.

It has been noticed by all observers in the field of anthro-
pology that the tribal man does not take readily to productive
industry, detesting above all things persistence in his labor.
He is capable of making superhuman efforts for a brief period,
but he requires long periods of rest to intervene between these
violent efforts. Had Goethe made his studies solely upon
tribal life, therefore, his conclusions might have been very
different from those which he has written out in his Elective
x4Mnities and his Wilhelm Meister. It is the chief con-
cern for the men of the tribe to collect their strength during
long periods of comparative inactivity, and to expend all of
this accumulated strength in some emergency, either of the

ipoo] Woman and trades and professions 223

chase or of foreign war. On the other hand, the woman's
occupations in savage Hfe cover a larger sphere than those of
woman in an industrial civilization, but they are not really
more numerous, inasmuch as the duties within the family are
simplified by omission, and the arts of obtaining food and pre-
paring it are reduced to their lowest terms.

In all this we do not discover anything which is not entirely
compatible with the physical constitution of the man or the
woman, notwithstanding the reversal of our supposed prin-
ciple of distribution of labor on the basis of sex. With this re-
sult before us for the earlier epoch of man's social develop-
ment, let us turn now to the later epoch that belongs to the
second and third periods of civilization founded upon pro-
ductive industry.

While persistence and versatility seem to be characteristics
which properly belong to the departments of work of the men
and the women respectively in an industrial civilization whose
most important feature is the division of labor, yet it will ap-
pear that the natural working out of the principle involved will
effect a gradual change in the structure of industrial society.
There will follow a process of gradual elimination of these dis-
tinctions as far as they apply to the work of the different sexes.
This will appear from the following considerations :

Division of labor continues to progress until there is such
specialization of industry that each laborer becomes as nearly
as possible a mere hand performing a mechanical operation
needing only a minimum of directive intelligence in its per-
formance. This simplicity of the process of labor at once sug-
gests the employment of natural forces of wind and water and
the application of the simplest and crudest machines to save
human force. When one's work requires only a single move-
ment of the hand a machine may take its place. By this there
is great increase of productive capacity, the one brain as di-
rective power accomplishing far more by means of its crude
machinery than many unaided human hands had been able to
accomplish before. We note, too, the remarkable fact that
directive power requires alertness and versatility far more than
mere persistence, and if these be qualities specially belonging to

2 24 Edticational Review [October

woman's mind, she ought to be more successful than man in
the field of machinery. This is more and more to be expected
when machinery becomes more complex and requires less
physical power to direct it.

So long as machinery requires great physical strength to
adjust its applications to materials, man would have decidedly
the advantage. But there is a second stage in the develop-
ment of machinery, namely the application of the machine to
govern the machine. This second stage involves, therefore^
the combination of the simple machines devised to perform the
crude processes into one machine which performs a complex
result. Think for a moment of the machine which cuts up a
coil of wire into pieces and converts these into pins with per-
fect heads and points, and finally prepares the whole for market
by placing them in regular rows on a long sheet of paper, and
folding the same into proper shape. Each step in this complex
process was once the entire work of a single machine. In
proportion to the complexity of the machine there is additional,
demand for alertness and versatility. The slow mind endowed
only with persistency as its chief characteristic is not adequate
to the direction of the complex machine. With the first in-
vented machines drudgery had been so far conquered as to per-,
form the hardest of the physical labor. A great deal of hand
labor still remained in the process of applying the machine to
its work and in securing its results. The further progress of
invention added more machinery to eliminate the hand labor
which still remained. The result of this process is the con-
stant emancipation of the individual from mere manual labor
and a continual change of vocations — from those requiring
great manual skill and a long apprenticeship of the hand to-
ward those occupations which require intellectual versatility
and a small amount of apprenticeship.

In our day the development of productive industry by labor-
saving machinery has proceeded so far that we all recognize the
advantage which a little school education gives the working-,
man over his illiterate companion. For he shows himself able
in precisely the needed qualities of alertness and versatility, and
the illiterate hand laborer who has obtained his skill of hand

1900] Woman and trades and prof esstons 225

thru several years of apprenticeship and many years of journey-
manship, is not his equal. A newly invented machine performs
the labor that once was done by hand, at so small a cost to
society that the human machine in competition with the ma-
chine made of wood and iron cannot earn its food and clothing.
It happens that the pupils educated in our elementary schools
find it easy to readjust their vocations whenever a new inven-
tion renders it necessary. Moreover, the girls in this struggle
find for themselves manifold new occupations with remunera-
tive wages, their alertness and versatility being required in
directing machines.

This change of the nature of labor, which invites woman to
enter the fields of productive industry side by side with man,
is connected with another change in the demands made upon
woman for work within the family. For one after another all
the occupations of the household which are capable of generali-
zation— that is to say, capable of being reduced to a few simple
processes and performed by machinery — are separated from
the household and placed in the manufactory. The spinning
and weaving are no longer done in the home, and even the
manufacture of fabrics into finished clothing is done in the
shop; so, too, the work of preparing most of the articles of
food, especially the preliminary processes of his preparation,
are performed by machinery and in wholesale establishments.
This process goes on continually wherever urban life has super-
seded the isolated farmhouse and the hamlet. There is re-
corded a shortening of the working hours as a continuous
effect of the increase of the powers of production, aided by
machinery.

The total annual production in the United States in the year
1800 is estimated at less than ten cents (fifty centimes) a day
for each man, woman, and child. By the introduction of steam
during the next fifty years the production increased to about
thirty cents (one franc, fifty centimes) a day per inhabitant,
and with the manifold applications of all kinds of motive power
the increase in the second fifty years of the nineteenth century
has been to raise the production to very nearly fifty-five cents
(two francs, seventy-five centimes) a day. This increase

226 Educational Review [October

means creature comforts and even luxuries for the upper half
of the population, and a fair supply of food, clothing, and shel-
ter for the lower half. The change which is going on in pro-
ductive power means a pressing invitation addressed to each
man, woman, and child in the community to ascend to a
higher use of directive power, and to come into participation in
the material productions of the whole world.

With the increase of directive power and the necessity of
preparation in elementary and superior education for the trade
or profession, all classes and conditions of society are brought
into the school. The women as well as the men feel the need
of this preparation, and gladly avail themselves of the oppor-
tunities opening for them. The work of the day for each in-
dividual comes to include a higher intellectual effort. Each
individual comes more and more to contemplate the events of
the world, with their collisions and solutions, while he is en-
gaged in his individual struggle with the problems and tasks of
his own environment. He is interested now thru the news-
paper in national movements in China and South Africa as well
as in his own trades. These wide combinations demand wider
and more thoro education. It is well known that collisions
which come upon the illiterate are sufficient to bereave him of
his life thru mental worry and desperation, while they have little
or no effect upon the person who has received superior educa-
tion. The higher education solves in an abstract form the
combinations and collisions of the forces of nature and, alike,
of the spiritual forces, and thus prepare in advance the indi-
vidual to meet difficulties, without defeat and without ner-
vous exhaustion.

The increase of individualism on the part of all classes of
society, and on the part of the female sex as well as the male
sex, involves an increased demand for recognition in all di-
rective spheres, and not merely in the industrial sphere or in the
household, but also in the political state itself. What this
signifies can be indicated very briefly in the conclusion of this
paper. The world of productive industry, whose principle is
competition, furnishes a healthful stimulant to the persons of
the community who are capable of receiving elementary and

ipoo] Woman and trades and prof essions 227

higher education. To that class of intellects which cannot be
reached by education, competition is dangerous and hurtful,
and the community must care for them as well as for the other
weaklings in society — not only the weaklings in thrift, but the
weaklings in intellect and the weaklings in morals. All of
these classes need to be taken in hand at the beginning with the
principle of nurture, that is to say, with the method which the
mother uses with her infant rather than the method used by
the political state {i. e., the principle of justice). Man has
a tendency to use the principle of justice not only in dealing
with his fellow-men in their full maturity, but with children
and the weaklings of society who have not the full normal en-
dowment of responsibility. The characteristic of sex in this
particular may be regarded as something perennial and not
subject to diminution by reason of the causes discussed in this
paper. Woman has the characteristic of graciousness and
kindness, perhaps I should say tenderness, brought about by the
constant occupation with helpless infancy. Were the infant to
be held responsible for his deeds, and the principle of mere jus-
tice applied, he would perish. But the principle of nurture,
which makes up to the child his lack of power to care for him-
self, is not a principle which is fitted for man in the maturity of
his strength. There justice is best for him and will stimulate
him to his best endeavors. Justice and grace, or graciousness,
are thus the two characteristics appertaining to sex; but, ele-
vated into their transfigured and eternal form, and the admis-
sion of woman into all spheres of social influence, will bring
the principle of nurture into those provinces where the prin-
ciple of justice has been found not sufficient for the best devel-
opment of certain classes of society. Not only does the child
need nurture, but the adult criminal class and the adult pauper
class need the principle of nurture quite as much as they need
the principle of justice. Justice looks out for the return of
the deed upon the doer, but nurture ignores the deed of the in-
dividual and considers his ideal possibility of perfection, and
seeks by mild means of correction to form the character and to
support it, by creating an artificial environment and adapting
it to the need of the immature individual. The state govern-

2 28 Educational Review [October

ment as formed by a free masculine ideal of society approaches
toward a perfect realization of justice, but is very defective on
the side of nurture. When it undertakes to distribute charity
it often weakens the people whom it would help, and makes
them less able to care for themselves.

Those who have had most experience in dealing with the
weaklings of society have reached the conviction that nurture
should temper justice in the administration of the laws wher-
ever the weaklings of society are concerned, not only in case of
the weaklings in morals who become criminals, nor the weak-
lings in mind who become insane or feeble-minded, but also in
case of the weaklings in thrift, who are so improvident in the
management of their property as to involve their children in
physical suffering, loss of self-respect, and in bad habits of liv-
ing. While mere justice looks only to the overt act of the
criminal, nurture studies the genesis of the criminal classes and
devises means for their removal. It has become evident to
students of social science that it is a waste of labor and a
wrong done to humanity to permit the existence of conditions
which will breed crime, and on the other hand providing
merely for the punishment of the criminal. Mere abstract jus-
tice is a Sisyphus who rolls his burden to the summit only to
see it again at the bottom of the hill. But just as the tender-
ness of the mother nurtures the child into a responsible will
power and into a love of right for right's sake, so this femi-
nine element added to the state will make it able to provide for
that very large population which fills the slums of our cities
and constantly menaces life and property.

The greatest obstacle to the progressive adoption of local
self-government is the danger which comes from enfranchis-
ing the weaklings of society. They do not need the ballot or
the right to vote, but they need nurture in schools and pro-
gressive training in industry and in the management of
property. It is the participation of woman as an active in-
fluence in political affairs that promises to hasten the realiza-
tion of a government which adopts the principle of nurture in
the place of abstract justice in dealing with the weaklings.
The preventive function is needed quite as much as the punish-

1900] Woman and trades and professions 229

ing function of the municipal government. Woman's advice
and aid in the administration of this function has long been
desired. The present movement toward the superior educa-
tion of woman will do much to hasten this good result.

The necessities of local self-government force upon our at-
tention the importance of providing for the lowest stratum
of society. A government of the average is unpleasant for
the higher strata of society. This can be remedied only by
elevating the lower strata. In a republican form of govern-
ment each citizen is his brother's keeper. The republican prin-
ciple demands nurture as a principle co-ordinate with justice,
and this is the fundamental reason why we should look for-
ward to the more extensive participation of woman, not only
in the sphere of industry, but in the sphere of political
government.

Doubtless many mistakes will be made on the way to dis-
covering the best ways and means for this social change. To
expect that woman shall bring the influence of her principle
of graciousness to bear on society, by adopting men's methods,
is a grave error. Woman in literature, not only as writer,
but more especially as reader, has effected a radical reform.
Obscenity and harshness have been mostly eliminated from
literature and art; so it will happen that woman in sharing the
government will avail to eliminate the rigors of the law, and
much of the corruption in politics that now prevail. But hasty
and crude experiments in this direction will be likely to increase
political corruption and to make the weaklings of society less
able to care for themselves.

The progress of science and the conquest of nature by means
of invention, the increased perfection of machinery, which
eliminates the necessity for the factor of human physical
strength, and above all the successful prosecution by woman of
studies, in superior education, makes the achievement of her
ideal on the part of woman only a matter of time.

William T. Harris

Bureau of Education,

Washington, D. C.

CUBAN TEACHERS AT HARVARD

On May i6, 1900, the Governor General of Cuba ordered
that the Department of Education should distribute thruout
the island a pamphlet which began :

'' Harvard University, situated in the beautiful city of
Cambridge, has sent to the teachers of Cuba an invitation to
attend the university free of expense during the coming sum-
mer. This invitation is without parallel in the history of the
world. It is not a gift from nation to nation, but from teacher
to teacher; it bespeaks a professional spirit that knows no limit
of country or people. No such opportunity was ever given to
a great body of teachers to go to another country for study
and travel without expense. . ."

This somewhat flowery announcement was hailed with de-
light by those to whom it was addressed, and in six weeks
Harvard University was welcoming, with open arms, 1300
teachers of an alien race, speaking a foreign tongue, and
vaguely conscious that they were experiencing great things.

The undertaking was quixotic, perhaps, but at least it was
on a scale large enough to startle people out of a comfortable
apathy and set them to criticising, hindering, or helping, accord-
ing to their several dispositions. At all events it had possi-
bilities for lasting good of a singular character; but the diffi-
culties which were to be surmounted were also unique as well
as innumerable. The promoters of the undertaking had an
unfortunate tendency to fix their eyes on the magnitude of the
opportunity, and quite to overlook the seriousness of the ob-
stacles which lay in the way of even a moderately successful
outcome. There was also, of course, a chorus of prophets of
evil who, seeing little in the undertaking but a new form of
Quixotism, foretold a complete failure of hopes and plans.

230

Cuban teachers at Harvard 231

Now that the venture is completed we can, perhaps, form
some just estimate of what was actually accomplished, and in
judging of this we must bear in mind the conditions which
led to the conception of a scheme so unique.

When Mr. Alexis E. Frye was appointed by President
McKinley to be superintendent of schools in Cuba, the Depart-
ment of Education was in a very precarious situation. What
little system had been in vogue under the Spanish regime
vanished in the confusion of the war and the subsequent
change of rulers; of course the result was a chaotic state which
seemed well-nigh hopeless. Mr. Frye, however, "took up the
work with courage and enthusiasm, and by steady, persistent
effort, unmindful of the storm of abuse which was let loose
upon him, overcame opposition and created a well-ordered and
tolerably efficient system of free education for the whole island
of Cuba. At the close of six months' work he published a re-
port, stating that 3379 schools were in working order, with
3500 teachers and 80,000 scholars in attendance. This excel-
lent showing turned the opposition of the Cubans into a cor-
dial appreciation of the superintendent's efforts. Above all,
he won the enthusiastic loyalty of the teachers themselves.

Mr. Frye, however, fully appreciated that these teachers,
who had been so hastily gathered together, and upon whom the
real success of the new order of things so largely depended,
were but poorly trained for their task, and that beside provid-
ing instructors for the youth of Cuba he must provide in some
way for the instruction of these same instructors. To facili-
tate this he prepared to found three normal schools, but in the
meantime, long before a new race of teachers could be trained,
the present force must be stimulated and helped.

As a means of accomplishing this he inserted in the admir-
able code of school laws which he wrote, and the Governor
General promulgated, the following clause :

Paragraph XXIII of Decree 226 of December 6, 1899.

" Teachers will be paid monthly, and the salary will con-
tinue during vacation as well as actual school periods, but in
order to be entitled to draw the salary during vacations
teachers must employ such periods in attending normal

232 Educational Review [October

schools, teachers' meetings for instruction, or in following other
courses of instruction approved by the superintendent of
schools." . . .

The salaries paid the Cuban teachers are very large, rang-
ing from $35 to $80 a month, so that the vacation salary for
three months is a considerable item to the instructors.

Still, the facilities for summer study in Cuba are very inade-
quate, and Mr. Frye conceived the idea of taking twenty
teachers to the North for the vacation. He found, however,
that the plan failed to arouse interest, and the requisite funds
were not forthcoming.

Then it occurred to the superintendent that, tho he could
awaken but little interest in the travels of twenty Cuban
teachers, yet, if the expedition could be undertaken on a scale
sufficiently large to appeal to the imagination of the people of
the United States, and attract attention by its very audacity,
the scheme could be carried thru. He immediately cabled to
President Eliot to ask whether Harvard University would
provide instruction for 1500 Cuban teachers, and the answer
came back " Yes." Then Mr. Frye started North to find the
necessary sum of money. Fortunately President Eliot took
up the cause with enthusiasm, and the corporation of Harvard
guaranteed the sum of $75,000 to carry the work thru. A
popular subscription was started, and the friends and alumni of
the college raised a sum larger than the amount at which the
expenses of the undertaking were estimated.

Back to Cuba went Mr. Frye, and began to marshal his
forces for the trip to Cambridge. Fourteen hundred and fifty,
or two-fifths of the entire teaching force of the island, were to
go, and the choice of the favored two-fifths was wisely left to
the teachers themselves. In each municipality the alcalde
called the teachers together, placed upon the list of those who
should go the names of those whom the teachers had chosen
for their principals but a short time before, and the number
which was still lacking to complete two-fifths of the whole
teaching force in the municipality was chosen by ballot of the
assembled instructors; two-fifths of the entire number so
chosen were men and three-fifths women.

igoo] Cuban teachers at Harvard 233

The work of transporting the rural teachers to the seaports
was quickly accomplished, and after the entire force had passed
a rigid examination by the health officers, the fleet of trans-
ports which the War Department had loaned for the trips
steamed away, and on June 30 the first of the teachers were
landed at the Navy Yard in Charlestown. Here they were
met by their hosts and conducted to Cambridge.

The task of settling this enormous body of strangers in their
new homes was accomplished with a facility and speed which
were surprising. Not a piece of baggage was lost, and Mr.
Clarence C. Mann, Harvard '99, upon whose shoulders rested
the entire management of the business side of the expedition,
fully deserved the cordial recognition of his services which the
president of the university expressed in his letter of July 9.
Mr. Mann was assisted by sixty or more young men, most of
them undergraduates, who worked thruout the summer with
a zeal and intelligence which went far to assure the success of
the undertaking for which Harvard stood sponsor.

The Cuban men were lodged in the college dormitories
within the yard, and the women were placed in boarding houses
thruout Cambridge, within convenient walking distance of the
college. The two great dining halls. Memorial and Randall,
were thrown open to the teachers, and the former was devoted
to the women. Each group of twenty women was provided
with a chaperon, who spoke Spanish, and Whose duty was to
exercise a discreet control over her charges lest their first taste
of American freedom should lead them to stray in untoward
paths. Five Cuban doctors accompanied the expedition, and
devoted almost their entire time to looking after the physical
welfare of the strangers. Fortunately, owing to wise precau-
tions, there was but little illness.

So, from the point of view of the business manager the ex-
pedition was uncommonly successful. It ran like a well-
ordered machine, and if the mere accomplishment of the task
of bringing 1500 Cubans to Cambridge and keeping them
there in comfort for six weeks had been the sole purpose of the
enterprise, it would have been a triumphant success.

The course of study as originally planned for the Cubans by

2 34 Educational Review [October

President Eliot included six weeks' instruction in history,
geography, and English; to these were subsequently added a
voluntary course of four weeks in kindergarten for the women
and one in manual training under the sloyd system for the
men.

Of these five classes the least successful was the one devoted
to history. The course consisted of eighteen lectures upon
American history, given by Mr. I. D. M. Ford and Assistant
Professor P. B. Marcou, both of the French Department of
Harvard, and in addition ten lectures by M. W. Gaspard de
Coligny upon the history and development of the Spanish
colonies. From the first the visiting teachers took but little
interest in the course, criticised the matter as well as the
method of the lectures, and found fault with the speakers' pro-
nunciation of their native tongue. Indeed, the problem of
how to deal with people speaking a strange tongue was one of
the most puzzling which the promoters of the expedition
were called upon to face, and it was never satisfactorily
settled.

There were three possible methods by which President Eliot
could deal with the problem in arranging his curriculum : First,
to choose for instructors only such persons as could speak
Spanish; the obvious objection to this was that such persons,
possessed of any great degree of skill in teaching and able to
speak such Spanish as the Cubans from all parts of the island
could readily understand, were hard to find. Second, to have
lectures written in English by well-known professors, and these
same lectures translated into Spanish and read by some inter-
preter. Third, to have some English-speaking instructor de-
liver the lecture to the class, an interpreter translating it into
Spanish sentence by sentence as the speaker proceeded. With
these three methods before him President Eliot decided not to
depend on any one of them alone, but to use all three. None
of them proved wholly satisfactory, as was to be expected.

Great things were expected of the course in geography in the
way of arousing and stimulating the interest of the teachers,
and to effect this purpose the course was divided into two parts,
the first to consist of lectures by Air. Mark S. Jefferson, assist-

ipoo] Cuban teachers at Harvard 235

ant principal of the Brockton high school, and the second of
excursions and tours afield. The work of the course was really
that of an elementary geological class, resembling closely the
course known as Geology 4, which Professor Shaler gives
at Harvard. It consisted chiefly of a rapid study of common
land formations, and in order that the work might be carried
out successfully, great stress was placed upon the field excur-
sions. It was these field excursions, however, which proved
one of the great stumbling-blocks in the path of the teachers.

The Cubans, especially the women, are but little used to long
car rides and protracted tramps afoot, and to be dragged forth
from Cambridge three times a week, carried out into the coun-
try, and there, after a tiresome walk, to be lectured upon " sand
plains " and relics of the glacial period was almost more than
they could endure. Many of them were prostrated with
fatigue, and even as the season advanced and they became more
accustomed to the expeditions and felt the strain of a life
under new conditions somewhat less, they seemed to take but
little interest in the real purpose of the trips. The remarks of
the lecturer on the peculiarities of the phenomena which they
had been brought out to observe received but little attention
from the majority of them, and a stray baby by the wayside
was enough to completely demoralize a whole party, while an
oddity in the way of fence construction has been known to
absorb attention entirely to the exclusion of the lecturer. This
lack of interest and total inability to concentrate the attention
which the Cubans exhibited was more in evidence on these
trips than anywhere else, but in reality it was everywhere
thruout the school; it pervaded the atmosphere, and it soon be-
came easy to see that in spite of certain more or less unavoidable
defects in the school, what the Cuban teachers lacked was not
the appliances to work with, but the inclination to work. The
trip was regarded by them as a gigantic picnic, with a little
study thrown in, but only a little. Much strenuousness of pur-
pose was scarcely to be expected from these visitors, but the
managers of the school soon began to understand that the
people with whom they were dealing were nothing but grown-
up children. This childishness was the most noticeable feature

236 Educational Review [October

of the visitors' character, showing itself daily in a total failure
to grasp the significance of what they were seeing, a momen-
tary gratitude for slight favors followed by petulance when
things went wrong, a heaping up of flowery phrases of thanks,
and a complete inability to appreciate what was done for them
in a hundred directions by countless persons. A trivial, but
very striking manifestation of this spirit was to be seen in the
English classes where the recitation method was pursued.
Here the spectacle of gray-haired men and women cheating at
every opportunity when called upon to recite, for all the world
like a parcel of un whipped boys, was far from edifying.
Even the utmost vigilance on the part of their instructors
failed to prevent whispered promptings and secret peeps into
books, and a written exercise if done outside of the class was
rarely the work of the Cuban whose name was signed to it.
The puerility was both amusing and pathetic.

The six-weeks' course in English was conducted on the
recitation method. The Cuban teachers were divided into forty
sections, each in charge of a Spanish-speaking instructor of
the same sex as the thirty scholars composing it. Mr. E. C.
Hills, dean of Rollins college. Winter Park, Fla., had the gen-
eral oversight of the work, and to assist him there were forty
assistants. Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates for the
most part.

The sections were graded according to proficiency, but the
number who could speak any English on their arrival was
very small, only about one in twenty. The question of pro-
viding suitable text-books proved a serious one; for the most
part two were used, Ybarra's Spanish-English conversation
book, and a little primer of two grades by Sarah Louise Arnold
and Charles B. Gilbert, called Stepping stones to learning,
which was prepared especially for the purpose. The first of
these books, which aims, by the help of Spanish on one side of
the page and English on the other, at the acquisition of a large
vocabulary, proved too difficult, and on the other hand the
primer seemed so obviously adapted for the most immature
children that the instructors disliked to place it in the hands of
grown-up teachers, so it was but little used. Each instructor

I poo] Cuban teachers at Harvard 237

followed his own method, using the text-book as little or as
much as he chose.

Each section recited for seventy-five minutes a day, divided
into two periods, one of thirty and the other of forty-five
minutes, as it was thought to be impossible to retain the
attention of the Cubans for a longer period at a time. The
instructors often appeared ridiculously young, and the
sight of a Harvard sophomore teaching a class of elderly
men, many of whom were old enough to be his grand-
father, often struck the observer as amusing. Yet these
young people did excellent work, better than their older
associates, and, tho of course painfully ignorant of the
art of teaching, often managed to impart something of their
own zeal to their scholars, and in this the Radcliffe students
excelled the Harvard men. Yet here again the lack of
application prevented rapid advancement, and tho most of
the Cuban teachers were desirous to learn English, and very
early in the summer discovered the value of private tutoring
and availed themselves of it, yet save in a very few the neces-
sary tenacity of purpose was lacking. It was difficult to judge
just how much they learned; there seemed to be little gain in
their ability to use the language in the affairs of everyday
life, but our tongue is a difficult one to learn at best, and six
weeks is but a short time.

In order to form some little estimate of their progress I re-
quested two instructors to ask their scholars to write them
short letters at the end of the fifth week of study, and from
these I have selected four which are neither the best nor the
worst, and show the character of the mistakes into which
the Cubans are apt to fall. The first two are by women and
were written in the class; the last two are by men, and were
written outside the schoolroom, and consequently bear traces
of aid supplied by the dictionary, tho this was strictly against
the rule. None of the writers had ever written English before,
tho all could read it with some fluency. When they began
their lessons none of them had a vocabulary of over fifty
words.

238 , Educational Review [October

Appreciate TEACHER :

I am very glad to write you this letter for you to see my improveds.

We are very much obliged of the kindness we have received here.

I find very interesting our Geography lessons. I can assure you that I
have learned many things about the estructure of the earth.

I will never forget your English lessons and when I will be in Cuba I
always remember you.

Many thanks for your kindness about me and receive the love of your
most affectionate pupil.

My dear teacher :

I am very glad for have had occasion to show my grateful for your
lessons which had advanced me very much. They had been very agreable
to me and I will carry to Cuba a very lovely remember of you and your
lessons.

I want to tell you also the pleasure that I have been in my stay in this
land. I like very much the American people they are very attentive with
us and I have a very good remember of all the cities I have visited.

Your lovely pupil,

Sir teacher :

The last Saturday I went to a excursion to Nantasket. We leave here
at one o'clock and went to the wharf there we took a boat that bring us to
Nantasket Island. There we took some electric cars that they bring us to
the place of the conference. The island is very beautiful. I like to live
there very much. We leave at five o'clock and come back here at 7.30 in
the evening.

Your affectionate pupil,

Respectable sir :

The excursion to Nantasket on last Saturday, was the most charming of
all to me, in as much as it reminds me something of mi beloved country,
the shoares of Varadero, one of the prettiest places in Cuba.

Also I was very much pleased to see the groups of beautiful American
girls who kindly asked us, as a souvenir, to write our names on their
memoranda, which for my part I did with pleasure.

The course in kindergarten for women was the most
satisfactory of all. The kindergarten is practically unknown
in Cuba, and the two hundred teachers who attended the class
seemed to be genuinely interested, and made a real effort to
understand the spirit in which such work must be carried on.

Miss Laura Fisher, superintendent of kindergartens in
the Boston public schools, had charge of the course; she

igoo] Cuban teachers at Harvard 239

speaks Spanish, but had the good fortune to secure Pro-
fessor de Moreira, head of the Department of Romance lan-
guages in Boston College, to act as interpreter. With the aid
of ten assistants, all kindergarten teachers of experience, the
Cuban women were taught the method of training very young
children, and this instruction should work a happy change in
some of the native schools. The most hopeful sign about the
work was the fact that the women begged that the course
might be continued thru a fifth week, and offered to defray
the expenses themselves. The sloyd classes were not as
noticeably successful, but many of the men seemed interested
in the work.

Professor Royce prepared two valuable lectures on " Imita-
tion and allied processes in the young," which Professor de
Moreira read to some of the more advanced. The librarian of
Harvard College, Mr. W. C. Lane, read two lectures on '' Pub-
lic libraries," and Mr. L. E. C. Moore gave three talks on
^' American public schools."

To supplement the teaching there were countless excursions
to industrial establishments such as a publishing house,
and historical spots like Lexington, Concord, and Bunker
Hill; and that the social side of our life might not be
lacking, two dances a week v/ere given the Cubans in the
Hemenway gymnasium, and a host of kind friends showered
invitations upon them.

The Cuban teacher's day was a full one. An English class
at half-past eight, a history class at half-past nine, geography
or kindergarten at half-past ten, and English again at half-
past eleven, an excursion or a shopping trip in the afternoon
and possibly a dance or reception in the evening. All this left
but little time for home study, and even under the most favor-
able conditions the untrained can acquire but little in forty
days, unless possessed of a very determined spirit.

Unquestionably the actual teaching in class accomplished but
little. The distractions of a new life under strange conditions
and an attempt to do too many things during the short period
in which the Cuban teachers were at Harvard were by no
means conducive to study, and the upon their return each

240 Educational Review

teacher will be required to place his or her services at the dis-
posal of the various municipalities for the purpose of repeating
to their comrades who remained at home the substance of
what they were taught in Cambridge, still it hardly seems
probable that their smattering of English and vague concep-
tions of divers lectures will remain with them long when they
are once more back among their old surroundings.

So whatever results have been achieved by this costly expe-
dition must come from the increase in perception, and the
change of the point of view and widening of the intellectual
horizon which a stay among new people tends to bring about.
Of course it is very difficult to estimate how much the trip has
accomplished in this way. Something has been achieved,
but the attitude of the Cubans themselves toward the trip and
their apparent failure to appreciate their opportunities make
me doubt whether the good accomplished even in this round-
about way is not very trifling.

Several of the visitors were negroes, and the color problem
gave the managers of the expedition continual trouble. Such
occurrences as the refusal of a class of women to allow one of
their number, who was of African descent, to have her picture
taken with a group of her classmates, led to constant friction
of a trifling sort.

The conduct of the visitors on the whole gave the manage-
ment but little trouble. The women of the party were far su-
perior to the men in every way, physically, morally, and intel-
lectually. Indeed, whatever good is to be accomplished in the
schools of Cuba will have to be the work of the women; not
much can be expected at present of the men. As Mr. Frye,
an unbounded optimist, has himself said, " The hope of Cuba
is not in her men, but in her women."

Roger Clapp

. Harvard University,

Cambridge, Mass.

Ill

TRANSPORTATION OF RURAL SCHOOL CHIL-
DREN AT PUBLIC EXPENSE

The decline of the rural school and the consequent need of
consolidation have been the subject of much investigation. It
is well known that all over the country the migration of popu-
lation has been toward the cities, so that while at the beginning
of the century 96 per cent, of the population lived in the coun-
try, at the end less than 70 per cent, were left there.

In the last thirty-five years the rural population of New
York has decreased one-third. Of the 11,000 school districts
nearly three thousand, or more than one-fourth, have 6 pupils
or less, and two-thirds have less than 21. Vermont has
153 schools with less than 7 pupils each. Maine has 1000
with less than 13 pupils. Wisconsin has 183 with less than 6;
858 others with less than 11; with a total of 3222 with less
than 21.

The new conditions demand new adjustments. The adjust-
ment suggested is transportation of rural school pupils at pub-
lic expense. It is the purpose of this paper to show what the
different States are doing, and the results of their experiments.
To this end I have solicited information from the State super-
intendents of all the States and Territories, from many of the
county superintendents and township trustees, from patrons
whose children were transported, from the drivers of the
teams, from the principals of the central schools, and from the
transported children.

From the reports received it appears that 18 States have a
law allowing the transportation of pupils at public expense, and
13 are availing themselves of the privilege. The following is
the list :

Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massa-
chusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,

241

242 Educational Review [October

North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin.

These States have nearly half the population of the United
States.

In Maine the committee may transport or pay the board of
pupils at a suitable place near any established school. Maine
has 1000 schools averaging less than 13 pupils each. " The
fact that school districts have been abolished or that the school
committee has suspended schools does not necessarily entitle
public school children to conveyance."

New Hampshire and Vermont have laws which allow the
use of not more than 25 per cent, of the school money for trans-
portation purposes, and in Vermont this may be done on a
written application from ten resident taxpayers to transport
scholars who reside more than one and one-half mile from the
schoolhouse. The popularity of the movement in Vermont
may be judged from the State superintendent's report that
" within the past ten years the amount expended for transpor-
tation has increased over 400 per cent."

The condition of the rural schools and the matter of trans-
portation in Massachusetts is the subject of a special report by
G. T. Fletcher, agent of the Massachusetts Board of Educa-
tion. From this we learn that Massachusetts enacted a law in
1869 providing for the conveyance of pupils to and from public
schools. The first town to take advantage of this was Quincy
— closing two schools in 1874.

In 1889 Agent G. A. Walton found that the cost of educating
pupils in some small schools was $50 each, while in schools of
25 pupils the cost was $10 each.

The growth of conveyance in Massachusetts is shown by the
increased expenditure, $22,000 in 1889-90; $30,000 in 1890-
91; $50,000 in 1892-93; $91,000 in 1895-96; $123,000 in
1897-98, and $124,409 in 1898-99.

To ascertain the state of feeling in Massachusetts Agent
Fletcher in preparing his report sent circulars of inquiry to
each city and town in the State. About 200 replies were re-
ceived, representing all the different conditions. From this
report I select a few points. More than 50 per cent, of the

i9oo] Transportation of rural school children 243

towns report changes in population affecting school condi-
tions.

One town reports cost of schooling in small school $46.82
per year, $16.30 in central building. One district formerly
had 60 to 80 pupils, now 13. Many towns have gained in the
villages as much as they have lost in the country. " Within
ten years 229 towns have practically abandoned the old-fash-
ioned district school and in its place have established central
graded schools."

One superintendent reports favorable results after 18 years
of trial. Less sickness among transported children, and a
saving of $600 annually. Sixty per cent, of the towns raise
money by specific appropriation, separate from the regular
school fund; 40 per cent, make the regular school tax cover the
cost of conveyance. " Fifty per cent, convey the whole dis-
tance ; in the other towns the children walk to some designated
point, except in some cases the carriage goes to each home in
stormy weather. In some cases conveyance is furnished only
in winter or stormy weather. Sometimes the children are con-
veyed to school but not from it except in stormy weather."

As to what is to be construed as a reasonable distance there
is much difference of opinion. Age, strength, sex, nature of
the road, amount of money, and disposition of the committee
seem to be determining factors.

The weight of opinion in the Massachusetts report is decid-
edly in favor of consolidation and transportation. Frank A.
Hill, Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, in
a letter dated November 15, says : " The increase from $22,000
ten years ago to $127,000 at the present time measures, I think,
in a trustworthy way the growth of the policy of consolidating
public schools in our rural towns and transporting children to
stronger central schools."

Rhode Island has a law, and is transporting. Emphasis is
here laid upon the increased attendance; two schools having
together graduated 10 pupils in two years, and after consolida-
tion, 16 pupils in one year, an increase of over 300 per cent, in
the number of those who remained thru the upper grades.

In Connecticut the law authorizes the school visitors to close
small schools and unite them with the schools of adjoining dis-

244 Educational Review [October

tricts. The Connecticut report for 1899 gives the number of
schools closed as 84. Number of children transported 849.
Approximate cost $12,000. The children are mostly conveyed
the whole distance. Sometimes they gather at the old school-
house, or at some convenient point from which the team starts.
In some cases all who live more than a mile away, or some other
fixed distance, are carried without regard to distance. Some-
times the town owns the vehicle and hires the driver. In one
town a sum per day, depending upon attendance, was paid to
parents. In one town $20 per term, for each family or group
of children, was allowed, and deduction made for absence. It
was noticed that the attendance was good in such cases. The
expense is less than the cost of maintaining schools. One town
expending $292 effects a saving of $300 yearly. The vehicles
are covered and made comfortable by blankets and rugs. In
all cases emphasis is laid upon the fact that the driver should
be selected with much care.

In Connecticut the amount expended runs from $10 per year
in the town of Bozrah to $1380 in Windham. Ashford pays a
family or group of children living two or more miles from
school $20 per full term. They pay the same whether the chil-
dren are carried or not. Under those conditions the children
become quite robust and able to walk.

In only one case in Connecticut was the cost increased. The
report says : *' Transportation is a success."

New York has a law, and last year annulled 82 districts.
Two hundred contracts have been filed during the present year,
and State superintendent Skinner thinks 300 will be before the
year is over. Pupils conveyed are not enumerated separately,
so there are no statistics showing number of pupils conveyed.
Contracts were first made in 1896. Twenty-seven in all.
The increase to over 200 this year shows the system to be very
popular wherever tried. Transportation is also practiced in
Greater New York.

New Jersey has a law, and a few districts have availed them-
selves of the privilege of transporting, but the sentiment in
favor of it is spreading, and it is probable that next year more
districts will fall in line.

1900] Transportation of rural school children 245

Pennsylvania has a law providing that transportation may
be done at a cost not exceeding the cost before closing the
school.

Here, as in several other States, statistics on the subject do
not seem to be available, the school boards not being required
to specify the amount of money expended for conveyance.
And from no State was it possible to obtain the number of
pupils transported.

The Southern States are beginning to stir in this matter.
The State superintendent of South Carolina believes in con-
solidation, and is looking up the system.

State superintendent J. V. Calhoun of Louisiana says: " We
are advanced only so far as talking about consolidation of rural
schools and transportation of pupils. We are doing something,
but we need to convince, and then find funds."

Florida reports two counties instituting the plan of trans-
porting children. From one of these. Citrus, I learn that they
are transporting three small schools four to six miles, 20 pupils,
at $1.50 per pupil per month. The plan is growing in popular
favor and they expect to do more next year. A copy of the
notice to bidders specifies a vehicle of suflficient capacity, neces-
sary umbrellas, wraps, etc., to keep the children comfortable, a
good and reliable horse, and driver who is trustworthy and
who shall have control of all the children — said driver to be
acceptable to the Board of Public Instruction; to deliver the
pupils between 8 and 8.40, and return them, leaving at 4.05, and
to give a $100 bond for the faithful performance of his work.
The teacher of the central school is required to make out a
monthly report registering the arrival and departure for each
day, dates and causes of failure, and if there is any complaint,
report it promptly by letter.

Duval County, Fla., is transporting 176 pupils at $303 per
month, having closed 14 schools. They began with two
schools two years ago, and the plan has been very popular.
Extra teachers hired cost $448, for what had before cost $490
per month, thus saving $42 per month. Schools of three
teachers and eight-year grades were formed. They are plan-
ning now to reduce 45 schools to 15. The superintendent says,

246 Ediuatiofial Review [October

" We furnish wagonettes carrying 8, 12, and 16 passengers, so
there is no difficulty in getting farmers to furnish teams and
harness; this is an improvement over other ways."

One of the most noted examples is found in Kingsville, O.,
a report of which was published in the Arena for July, 1889.
The Kingsville experiment was made possible by a special
act of the legislature passed for the benefit of this one town.
This bill enacted that any township which by the census of
1890 had a population of not less than 17 10, nor more than
1 71 5, might appropriate funds for the conveyance of pupils in
subdistricts. The law was based specifically upon the rate of
population of Kingsville, and was so worded to gain the sup-
port of legislators from other sections of the State, who were
attached to the old plan, but who would not object to the object
lesson. The residents of Kingsville have realized their fondest
hopes. The average attendance has much increased, and
better schools have been provided. Fifty pupils have been
conveyed, and the annual cost of tuition has been reduced from
$22.75 to $12.25 P^^ pupil. The plan enabled the Kingsville
school to open a new room and supply another teacher to the
central school, thus reducing the number of grades in a room.
The daily attendance has increased from 50 to 90 per cent.,
thus increasing the return from the school fund invested.
Over a thousand dollars was saved in Kingsville in three years.

The law has since been made general in Ohio, and is every-
where proving satisfactory. Other townships in Ohio have
followed the lead of Kingsville. One county, Madison, re-
ports a decrease of tuition from $16 per year to $10.48 on basis
of total enrollment, and from $26.06 to $16.07 on the basis of
average attendance. But the item of cost is not the most im-
portant. The larger attendance, more regular attendance,
better schoolhouses, better teachers, and the greater interest
and enthusiasm that numbers bring are most important.

In another Ohio place circles are drawn around the school-
house one mile and two miles distant. Pupils inside the first
circle receive no public aid. Pupils between the two circles
receive $1 per month, and pupils outside the two-mile circle
receive $3 per month, and furnish their own transportation.

1900 J Transportation of 7'ural school children 247

From the State superintendent of Indiana I received the
names of six township trustees who are transporting children.
The work is not yet general enough to have statistical infor-
mation gathered. From these trustees I received the follow-
ing information and opinions :

One trustee from Richmond reports 100 children trans-
ported from two to four miles at a cost of $527.25, or $5.25 per
pupil. This man reports that there was at first opposition to
the plan, but that now there is very little.

From Henry County, Ind., the '' trustee " of New Lisbon
reports : " We insist on the very best hack service that can be
had, good wagons with springs, weather-proof top, door at
rear and window to admit light, cushioned seats and back;
carpet on the floor, and four heavy lap robes. Heaters could
be used, but we have never had occasion to use them. Good
teams are essential. All our roads are graveled, and the hacks
run on schedule time as closely as a railway train. I make it a
point to employ the very best men I can find to drive and care
for the children." This man transports about 40 children
from two to four miles with two hack lines at $3 a day for
both. He reports that there was some opposition at first, but
almost none now. By this plan two schools costing together
$6 per day are dispensed with, so the saving is $3 a day.
Four-fifths of a cent a mile is the average cost of transporta-
tion.

To the patrons of this school I sent the following questions :

1. Is your property injured by the closing of the school and
transporting of the children ? Most of the answers are in the
negative, but two say the property is injured, tho one of these
says, '' The system of central schools is all O. K., if properly
conducted. This is the eighth year for central schools, and it
has been a success."

2. Do the children suffer in health? The answers are in-
variably, '' No."

3. Is the close association of children in the carriages worse
than when they were scattered along the road ? The answers
are again, mostly, " No." One, a woman, answers that she
does not think the close association so bad as along the road, if

248 Educational Review [October

a proper person is chosen as a driver. One patron says,
" The control of the children has caused us more trouble than
anything else," and he suggests that the driver should make
the children behave, and that the first one in should pass to the
farther end of the carriage, and thus avoid stepping on toes.
Perhaps, by the time the plan has been running as long as
street cars, this will be done. Reports say some drivers get
along very well, others do not. The same may be said of
teachers. One thinks they are much better off with someone
to look after them.

4. Does the eating of cold dinners affect the question much ?
Answer : " No; they ate cold dinners before the schools were
consolidated."

5. Is the all-day absence from home objectionable? An-
swer : " This is just the same as before."

6. What else have you to say for or against the plan ? An-
swers to this will be given in the summary.

Other places in Indiana report as follows: Crawfordsville,
transporting 10 pupils, saves $184 annually. In another place
2 of 7 schools have been closed. In another place 20
children are transported for $1.45 per day. Another reports
the cost of transporting 10 children two miles, $96 for a term
of six months, one-half cent a mile for the distance actually
conveyed. One driver reports that he makes a 15-mile trip
daily, and finds no difficulty in managing the children.

In Illinois there is no law on the subject, but some county
superintendents are agitating the subject. O. J. Kern of Win-
nebago County has published in pamphlet form one of the best
articles on the subject.

Wisconsin has a law that permits the use of school money to
transport pupils living more than a mile and a half from school,
by the nearest traveled road. But so far as can be learned
there is no organized transportation of pupils, tho three coun-
ties are contemplating it, viz., Kewaunee, Dane, and Rock.

The school law of Iowa authorizes the contracting with other
townships or independent districts for the instruction of chil-
dren who are at an unreasonable distance from their own
school; and where there will be a saving of expense, or in-

1900] Transportation of rural school children 249

creased advantage to the children, the board may arrange for
transportation of any child to and from school.

In Win'nebago County the plan is conducted on the largest
scale of any Iowa place.

Number of children conveyed, 49. Distance two and one-
half miles.

Number of teams used, 4. Cost of team and driver, $25 per
month.

Number of schools closed, 4; 6 next year.

Plan has been in operation three years.

Estimated saving, $486 per year. Two-thirds cent a mile.

Forest City transports 15 pupils at $1.50 each per month,
an average distance of 4 miles ; cost three-tenths cent per mile.

Baldwin, .la., transports 12 pupils one and one-half mile
at an estimated saving of $1 1 per month. " Pupils meet at the
old schoolhouse, and are left at the old schoolhouse at night.
If pupil is not on time he is left. Only one has been left, and
he has not missed twice. Result is, pupils are never tardy and
attendance is very regular. There is plenty of room for pupils
in town, so there is no extra expense except transportation."
As far as the State superintendent knows, citizens, teachers, and
pupils are pleased.

There is in Iowa 233 districts or subdistricts maintaining
schools with an average attendance of less than 6, and 2500
with less than 11. Fifty-three per cent, of the independent and
78 per cent, of the subdistricts have 20 or less. Three-fifths
of the pupils are in ungraded schools.

North Dakota has a law, first in operation in July, 1899, that
pupils two and one-half miles away may be transported.

South Dakota has a law, and many are about convinced that
where pupils live three or four miles away they could have
better schools at less cost by conveying to central schools. I
was informed that transportation has been begun, but have
been unable to learn particulars or localities.

The last legislature of Kansas passed a law providing that
where pupils reside three or more miles from the schoolhouse
district boards shall pay to the parent or guardian of such chil-
dren a sum not to exceed 15 cents per day, for a period of not

250 Educational Review [October

more than 100 days, for conveying such pupils to and from
school. A fresh inquiry failed to elicit information that ad-
vantage is being taken of this law.

Nebraska has a law, and is working under it in several places,
notably Fremont and Lincoln. One district reports a saving
of $70 a month.

In addition to the law providing transportation, Nebraska
provides that a district may contract with a neighboring dis-
trict for instruction of pupils, and may transport its pupils to
such district without forfeiting its right to share in the State
apportionment of school fund. The State superintendent says :
*' Best of all is, the pupils are better taught."

But not alone in this country is this consolidation of schools
and conveyance being inaugurated. In Victoria, Australia,
241 schools were last year closed, making a saving of £14,170
per annum. The attendance is so regular and the system so
popular that applications are constantly made for its extension.
A reasonable excuse in Victoria for non-attendance upon public
school is that the distance is :

Two miles for a nine-year old child; two and one-half miles
for nine- to twelve-year-old child, and three miles for a child
over twelve years of age.

Victoria is a little larger than Wisconsin, with about half its
population, one-half of which is rural.

SUMMARY

From the reports, both printed and written, I gather the fol-
lowing summary of advantages accruing from the plan of
transportation of rural schoolchildren at public expense :

1. The health of the children is better, the children being
less exposed to stormy weather, and avoiding sitting in damp
clothing.

2. Attendance is from 50 to 150 per cent, greater, more
regular, and of longer continuance, and there is neither tardi-
ness nor truancy.

3. Fewer teachers are required, so better teachers may be
secured and better wages paid.

1900] Transportation of rural school children 251

4. Pupils work in graded schools, and both teachers and
pupils are under systematic and closer supervision.

5. Pupils are in better schoolhouses, where there is better
heating, lighting, and ventilating, and more appliances of all
kinds.

6. Better opportunity is afforded for special work in music,
drawing, etc.

7. Cost in nearly all cases is reduced. Under this is in-
cluded cost and maintenance of school buildings, apparatus,
furniture, and tuition.

8. School year is often much longer.

9. Pupils are benefited by widened circle of acquaintance
and the culture resulting therefrom.

10. The whole community is drawn together.

11. Public barges used for children in the daytime may be
used to transport their parents to public gatherings in the even-
ings, to lecture courses, etc.

12. Transportation makes possible the distribution of mail
thruout the whole township daily.

13. Finally, by transportation the farm again as of old be-
comes the ideal place in which to bring up children, enabling
them to secure the advantages of centers of population and
spend their evenings and holiday time in the country in con-
tact with nature and plenty of work, instead of idly loafing
about town.

We are in the midst of an industrial revolution. The prin-
ciple of concentration has touched our farming, our manu-
facturing, our mining, and our commerce. The changes in
industrial and social conditions make necessary similar changes
in educational affairs. Not only for the saving of expense,
but for the better quality of the work, must we bring our pupils
together. No manufacturing business could endure a year
run on a plan so extravagant as the district system of little
schools.

A. A. Upham
State Normal School,

Whitewater, Wis.

IV
PRINCIPALS' REPORTS ON TEACHERS^

It should never happen that a teacher be reported for
faulty or inefficient work except the teacher had been com-
municated with, by the principal, at the time when the
mistake or defect was noticed, and had had ample oppor-
tunity of setting it right. A report on inefficiency is a
statement of the trouble existing, but not a cure for it;
the remedy lies in the principal's power to educate his
teachers and to bring them up to a standard of efficiency.
No teacher is ever placed on the list without having finished
a high- and normal-school course, and a year's apprentice
teaching in a school. No one receives a diploma, unless the
principal with whom she has taught for a year certifies that
she is capable. Moreover, no teacher is ever appointed in
our city without the principal's written recommendation and
after a long trial in his school. With these precautions it
ought to be possible to continue the corps of teachers of a
school in a state of efficiency. On the other hand, it is the
absolute duty of a principal to place the children's interest
above all other considerations. This means that when any
case of inefficiency exists in a school, notwithstanding all
efforts at improvement, there must be the unhesitating moral
courage to report such fact until it is remedied. This may be
a disagreeable duty, but it is of the highest importance to the
whole system of public schools that it should be performed
fearlessly. A heavy responsibility would be incurred by the
principal failing to do his duty in this connection. No con-
sideration of personal friendship or esteem, no fear of dis-
pleasing, can be an excuse for allowing the time of the chil-
dren to be wasted by poor instruction and guidance. Every

^ From the Annual Report for 1898, of Superintendent Soldan, of St. Louis, Mo.

252

Principals reports on teachers 253

principal must, in this respect as in others, be ready to assume
the responsibility which belongs to his position. It cannot
be shifted.

It is self-evident that such reports of inefficiency, when
tendered as the principal's final verdict at the end of the year,
should have been preceded by frequent and frank conversa-
tions with such teacher, in which her shortcomings in instruc-
tion and discipline or management are frankly and courte-
ously pointed out, and every help extended, to correct the
defect.

Cases of absolute inefficiency cannot be tolerated where
the interest of the child is the highest law. In this class must
be included all those cases of inefficiency where the possible
cure is so slow and uncertain that the children would suffer
by the attempt.

Natural talent in teaching is important, yet it is not all that
is necessary for success. Efficient teachers are the result of
natural talent, aided by training and experience. Natural
talent enhances the effect of professional training, but it can
never be a substitute for it nor take the place of experience.
While talent and aptitude for teaching are likely to show
themselves sometimes at the very beginning of a teacher's
career, they do not do so always. They may appear later,
and then be of all the more force. A teacher's inefficiency
may not at all be an indication of lack of natural gifts, but be
solely the result of inexperience, and where this is the case,
a short time and patient, sympathetic environment will rem-
edy it.

Inefficiency may be absolute or relative. Absolute ineffi-
ciency is that which cannot be cured, and whose presence in a
school, after sufficient trial, it would be wrong to endure.
Relative inefficiency is that which the teacher's own efforts
toward self-improvement, a short time of practical experi-
ence, and the wise guidance of a principal may remedy. On
the other hand, there are physical as well as ethical defects
which no training, no patience on the part of the principal, no
help extended, no frankness of criticism can change, or even
mitigate. To mention a not infrequent class of cases: defects

254 Educational Review [October

of eye-sight or hearing, slight at the beginning, may possibly
become so great as to unfit the teacher for adequate service.
In accordance with our highest professional principle,
namely, that the child's interest is the supreme law, when-
ever such ailment has progressed so far as to interfere seri-
ously with instruction or discipline, it constitutes absolute in-
efficiency and makes it impossible for the conscientious
teacher who is so afflicted to continue in her position. Her
principal may feel the greatest sorrow, but in the interest of
the children he cannot shirk the responsibility of reporting
such inefficiency.

Teachers should be judged by their competency, not their
age. Old age in itself is no proof of inefficiency. Some of
our oldest teachers are at the same time our best. Age seems
to have ripened their best power, and their work is without
reproach. They still stand in the first ranks of excellence,
and show no abatement of their rare skill and vigor.

Where old age is accompanied by a decline of power that
prevents the competent performance of essential duties it may
necessitate the resignation of a teacher whose long and valued
service in the public schools makes everybody regret that she
finds such a course necessary, but, on the other hand, the
children's interest must be guarded, and there seems to be no
other recourse. Such cases are especially hard to deal with.
The meager salary of the position may have made the pru-
dential saving of a competency for old age impossible, or sick-
ness and reverses may have swept it away. Generations of
old pupils that have passed thru her room and now oc-
cupy honored places in the world, look back upon their old
teacher's influence on their lives with grateful reverence and
almost filial affection. When such a teacher, who occupies
a place as dear almost as the parent's in the memory and heart
of a large part of the community, becomes superannuated,
and her resignation, tendered in the interest of the children,
leaves her destitute and dependent on charity during the last
days of a long and useful life of public service, such case will
be looked upon by the citizen with pathetic interest. In this
respect the practical establishment of a teachers' annuity or

i9oo] Principals reports on teachers 255

pension scheme would offer a humane solution of which the
community would probably approve.

A kind of absolute inefficiency which does not have the
claim on sympathy that is due to old age or physical ailment,
is the habitual, morose disposition which leads to unkind and
unsympathetic treatment of the children. Objectionable
habits of life, or qualities of character and disposition that set
a bad example to childhood must also be enumerated
among the conditions that constitute absolute ineffi-
ciency. A lack of natural talent to impart knowledge
or the inability to control children, which time, ex-
perience, and assistance do not seem speedily to im-
prove, must also be considered as elements of abso-
lute inefficiency. The school can tolerate relative, ineffi-
ciency in such cases only where there is the probability of
speedy and permanent improvement. Inefficiency may re-
sult from absence of ordinary business capacity, such as the
ability to be prompt and regular in attendance, and in school
work and records; but these business qualities are largely mat-
ters of education, and may be acquired whenever there is a
modicum of talent and earnestness of purpose. There are
also the absolute demands which the interest of the public
schools as an organization impose; willing co-operation with
others, and ready subordination to constituted authority. ,

If the preceding discussion of the teacher's duties has
served any purpose, it must have shown that the teacher's
duties are exceedingly numerous, and that there is no one
who can possibly attain absolute perfection in all directions of
professional work. There is no teacher Hving who does not
fall short of perfection in some way, and who is not, in certain
directions, less efficient than in others. There never has been
a system of schools, and there never will be one, that is not
taught by teachers differing in talent and in degrees of effi-
ciency in various directions. The varieties and limitations
of natural talent found in a numerous body of men and wo-
men, and their various stages of growing experience, consti-
tute in itself degrees of relative efficiency and inefficiency
which are unavoidable conditions in every system of schools,

256 Educational Review [October

that cannot be eliminated. With a growing teacher, the work
which she did at the beginning of her career, promising as it
may have been, appears inefficient when compared with the
skill and power displayed in her teaching in later years.
Even with the best teacher, one day^s work is not always as
efficient and satisfactory as another's; in years of efficiency
there are always days of relative inefficiency when, in the deal-
ing with pupils or in the presentation of topics of instruction,
the teacher herself is severely dissatisfied with her work.
This consideration suggests that it would be unwise to judge
a teacher's work adversely on the sole basis of a single or an
occasional visit to her room. The average professional life
of the American teacher is short; it lasts, in our city, perhaps
eight years, and every large system of schools is compelled by
necessity to educate its own teachers. There should be no
impatience or unreasonable complaint about the relative in-
efficiency of the young talent in its earnest struggle to attain
efficiency; in every case the road to perfection in its early
stage starts from imperfection.

A young teacher's professional immaturity may make her
work seem inefficient compared with the work of one who is
more experienced; even when an older teacher, thru a
transfer to another school, changes the grade of children
whom she has to teach, her instruction may be less efficient
at the beginning, on account of the newness of the work, than
later, when she has gained the needful special experience. A
casual visitor's justifiable, but incorrect, verdict in this and
similar cases may be that such teacher is inefficient, but it
should be remembered that this kind of inefficiency is rela-
tive, and will, as a rule, change in a very short time and pro-
duce work that satisfies all reasonable demands.

Even after the most careful preparation, thru high- and
normal-school work, it requires three or four years of ex-
perience in the schoolroom to develop in a young teacher the
highest degree of efficiency which is possible for her to
attain.

In a system of schools there is always some young teacher
less skilled, less experienced and efficient than others. As

1900J Principals reports on^teac hers 257

long as she is manifestly growing and profiting by her daily
experience in the schoolroom, makes use of suggestions for
improvement, and is doing fairly efficient work, which is bet-
ter to-day than it was yesterday, there is no remedy but the
influence of time and training. It would be useless for school
authorities to attempt to eliminate relative inefficiency by re-
moval from office unless the position can be filled by some-
one better qualified.

There is another kind of disqualification for the school-
room different from immaturity or the inability to instruct or
control children. A large city school requires the harmo-
nious co-operation of many teachers. The board invests the
principal with authority, and expects the assistants to be will-
ing and able to enter upon his plans and loyally support his
administration. Without subordination and compliance with
legitimate direction, without good will to the authority in the
school, on the part of each teacher, manifested both by her
work and by her conversations in the school, the best work
cannot be done. IncompatibiHty of temper and inability to
work with others harmoniously, and without causing trouble
and discontent, are just as much indications of inefficiency as
lack of success in teaching and managing children.

The question as to efficiency of teachers is always an im-
portant one in large systems of city schools. " What shall
be done with inefficient teachers; how can we discover their
presence? " is the question which every school board will ask.
An answer has been attempted in the preceding discussion.
Absolute inefficiency can be neither cured nor endured by a
school system. It must be eliminated by filling the position
with a better qualified teacher. Relative inefficiency, that is
to say, temporarily unsatisfactory work, may be changed by
training and experience to efficiency. Not a few of our prin-
cipals, year after year, when it happens that a teacher ranking
somewhat below the average in ability is assigned to their
schools, succeed, after a comparatively short time, in making
such teachers efficient, thru the influence of their person-
ality, and the help and guidance which they give. Princi-
pals render one of the most important services if they success-

258 Educational Review

fully educate their corps and help the weaker teacher to
attain efficiency thru their influence and supervision.

It is an imperative duty, but by no means an easy one, for
boards of education, principals, and superintendents, to
eliminate cases of absolute inefficiency. The person chiefly
concerned is hardly in a condition to realize that she is in-
efficient. She honestly does not believe that her work is bad,
and cannot understand why others should think so. If she
could realize her inefficiency, it would probably not have ex-
isted for so long a time. In not a few cases inefficiency goes
with a fixed conviction of personal excellence; the conscious-
ness of having made the best efifort that she is capable of
blinds the one reported for inefficiency to the fact that even
the best eiTort may be inadequate where nature has withheld
the talent requisite for the instruction or control of children.
To the person chiefly concerned, the trouble is somebody
else's fault rather than her own; it is due to some petty mis-
understanding in the past, to social or religious bias, to jeal-
ousy, if it is not dictated by fancied petty animosity, or is the
result of an old grudge. As a rule, in such cases, the plea is
that of injustice on the part of the reporting officer, of preju-
dice, or hasty judgment, or insufficient information; it is
alleged that the room has not been visited often enough by
the principal or supervisors, or that their visits did not occur
at the right time, and that the teacher has not had enough
help, and has not been informed with sufficient frequency of
the defects of her teaching. In cases of radical inefficiency
the reporting principal finds himself, as a rule, in the most un-
pleasant position of being charged with injustice to one who
depends on her work for a living. Every unfortunately in-
competent teacher has a circle of friends who know her esti-
mable social qualities, but not her professional shortcomings,
and who do not realize the great injury which her presence
in the school causes, since they naturally accept her valuation
of herself as correct.

F. Louis Soldan

Superintendent of Schools,
St. Louis, Mo.

THE BIG RED SCHOOLHOUSE

Three years ago there was instituted at Boston an investiga-
tion into the sanitary condition of the schoolhouses of that city.
Following this lead, like investigations were made elsewhere,
and in four cities — Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Wash-
ington— the work was done with such thoroness and complete-
ness as to lead to a printed report, given to the public either
over the signatures of individual citizens, or that of an associa-
tion whose membership was well known. Buffalo has pub-
lished two of these reports, the last one dated June, 1899. We
have thus authoritative statements on the sanitary conditions
of our public schools covering several years, and coming from
representative cities of very distinct types. In addition, frag-
mentary and informal reports have been made from as many
more cities, the whole forming a body of testimony of very
great value.

The method of these investigations differed chiefly in de-
tail, the basis being a personal room-to-room investigation of
the schools, on a plan drawn up by sanitary experts, and cover-
ing the details of sites, buildings, sanitaries, ventilation, light,
heating, overcrowding, cleaning, and health, and resulting in
a mass of data which left little to be desired in the way of
amplitude and exactness. These investigations were carried
on in every case by citizens' committees, with but little official
co-operation, and were conducted in the spirit set forth in the
Buffalo report. " Your committee wishes it clearly under-
stood," it says, " that its aim in this report is neither criticism
for its own sake nor arraignment, but to lay before the citizens
of Buffalo a candid and impartial statement of a particular
phase of the school problem in our city."

It is impossible here to do more than touch upon a few of the
salient points presented by these reports. One of the first

259

26o Educational Review [October

facts brought out was that of overcrowding. The testimony
from Philadelphia on that point was succinct and graphic.
The report of the Woman's Health Protective Association
quotes from an earlier report made by a committer of the city
council itself to this effect : " Besides those of five entire
wards, some thirty buildings are mentioned by name as seri-
ously overcrowded, some to ' suffocation ' ; in some cases the
children sitting on the floor and using soap-boxes or chairs for
desks, or getting but half school time in order to give other
equal crowds their half chance at such schooling, or jammed
one hundred into a room intended for half that number." The
citizens' investigation, made after these facts had been thus re-
ported to the authorities by a committee of their own number,
showed no substantial change.

The Buffalo report was more analytic, and presents four
different classes of testimony on this point. More than half of
the school buildings in that city, it was shown, had pressed
into service rooms not intended for class use. Four were using
attic rooms; twelve, portions of the halls; five, basements; four,
cloakrooms; at two, the principal's office; at one the storeroom
and teacher's lunch room, and at one a room formerly used as
a lavatory. There was also a lack of seats. Two children in
a single seat, or three in a double one were everywhere to be
seen, while the further surplusage of babies lined the edge of
the teacher's platform. It became evident early in this inves-
tigation that the term overcrowding needed definition. When
was a room overcrowded? When there were more children
than desks? When place for no more desks could be found,
or when little more than standing room remained ? Evidently
all these theories were held, while by the one sound test — that
of cubic air space — the number of overcrowded schoolrooms
rose enormously. By that standard, 24 out of the 56 grammar
schools were found to have every room overcrowded, while in
the remaining schools 324 rooms were found with deficient air
space. In some rooms the air space was as low as 66 cubic
feet per child, instead of the standard 250, and in rooms with
especially defective ventilation at that. At Washington 40 out
of the 83 buildings fell below the standard and — significant

1900] The big red schoolhouse 261

fact! — of the two buildings erected in 1898, one was entirely
below the standard, and the second was so in every room but
one. But to return to Buffalo; besides the evidence of over-
crowding furnished by rooms, desks, and air space, was the fact
that the city was occupying in addition to the regular school
buildings twenty-live " annexes," a variety of schoolhouse
which deserves special description.

So much for the question of school accommodation on the
quantitative side. The testimony as to quality was everywhere
no less direct. It might fairly be expected that rooms not
originally intended for school use would be ill-adapted to such a
purpose, and so it proved. At one school the basement rooms,
in which 250 children of the tenderest age were housed, were
entirely without ventilation, except by windows; they were
dark, so that in one room kerosene lamps swung over the chil-
dren's heads; they were unkempt, one room having only a
cement floor, and some rough benches for furniture, while the
whole dim region was subject to periodical floodings during
the inclement months. On one visit in January the examiner
found streams of water, w^hich had leaked in thru the walls,
flowing merrily thru the rooms in which the swarms of chil-
dren were at work. In a Philadelphia school "" the kinder-
garten was located between all the water closets used by 900
pupils, so that the only outside air comes from these places; no
ventilation of any kind." It may be said, in passing, that the
basement seems to be considered, in general, a suitable place
for very young children, with their corresponding suscepti-
bility to disease. The promotion of the superfluous babies is
often to the attic, where again fresh air is meted out to them
with the utmost frugality. Attic rooms are almost invariably
without means of ventilation, except the windows, and one
such room was found which even had windows that could not
be opened. A few auger holes in the sash were relied upon for
fresh air — a provision which must be considered well-meant
rather than adequate. Attic rooms, too, are generally fire-
traps, being reached usually by one steep and narrow staircase,
thus holding in readiness all the conditions necessary for a
panic.

262 Educational Review [October

But it was generally found that teachers who had been
assigned to the basement or attic, or to one end of a stuffy hall,
were grateful at having escaped a worse fate — the annex. The
annex may be defined as any variety of building unfit for school
purposes and pertinaciously devoted to school use.

Here are three types :

From Washington :

" The Pierce, built in 1894, has been using for two years as
an annex a small room in a church, accommodating two schools
daily, heated by stoves, with no ventilation except by windows,
with small closet in yard in poor condition.

" The yard is reported as smelling foul, and a receptacle for
ash dumps."

From Buffalo :

'' A one-story frame building of the lightest possible con-
struction, with four rooms opening into a central hall. The
building rests directly on the ground, and after a heavy rain the
flooring is often wet by absorption from the earth beneath.
Owing to the thinness of the walls it is very hard to heat, and
and in winter the temperature is often not more than 51 de-
grees. This is in spite of a system of hot water heating which
has recently replaced the stoves. Ventilation is by windows,
and by a round opening in the ceiling of each room, so imper-
fectly capped that the rain sometimes drips in on the pupils be-
low. The air space per child in these rooms averages but 126
cubic feet, instead of the minimum requirement of 250. In
every room there are more children than desks, and in one room
some children must occupy desks so much too large for them
that they cannot touch their feet to the floor. The walls of
this building are covered with a torn and shabby paper. The
light in two of the rooms is insufficient on cloudy days, but
there is no provision for artificial lighting. The four class-
rooms, with their 190 children, open into the central hall. This
hall, which is partially lighted and not at all ventilated by one
small window, contains a sink and the children's wraps.
With the outer door closed, as of course it must be during most
of the school year, the hall is so dark that the wraps hanging
on the walls are an indistinguishable mass. This annex is 16

1900] The big red schoolhouse 263

feet from the two-story brick annex which overshadows it, and
the same distance from the outhouse — often in bad condition —
which is used by the 350 or more children in these two build-
ings. This poisonous hovel was built for a schoolhouse by the
city, against the protests of the principal of the school, and
has been occupied by women and little children for ten years."

From Boston :

*' The Hancock annex is a tenement building, two rooms in
the lower floor of which have been taken for school purposes.
The surroundings of this temporary tenement schoolhouse are
very filthy. On the building are fire escapes for the use of the
tenants, who live above the schoolrooms. The fire escapes are
littered with portable washtubs, old bottles, rubbish, and swill.
The balconies of the fire escape are used for the purpose of air-
ing bedding, etc. When the second floor balcony is so occu-
pied, the light for the schoolrooms is almost entirely shut off.
In the interior of this tenement schoolhouse are two light-wells
which do not go down to the ground, but are shut off at the
sill height of the schoolrooms by a roof. This roof is also a
depository for swill, old clothes, -and other refuse matter.

'' These rooms are occupied by 43 children, in ages ranging
from five to nine years. The rooms are heated by stoves, and
there are no means of ventilation except windows." Three
cases of diphtheria from these rooms were reported.

With such a condition prevailing in regard to these most ob-
vious features of school accommodation, it is not to be won-
dered at that less simple sanitary requirements were also found
abundantly neglected. Dark rooms are as unfit for school use
as if they were infected with disease, yet not only did no city
fail to report a large number of rooms " insufficiently " or
'' dimly " lighted, or dependent upon artificial light for a por-
tion of the school hours (and sometimes lacking any means
for artificial lighting), but also there was no one of them but
reported rooms where children were improperly seated with
reference to the light supply. Two characteristic examples
will suffice. In one room children had been seated facing the
light because the seats " looked better so," and at another
school repeated appeals to the authorities, extending over two

264 Educatiofial Review [October

years, had failed to secure a simple change in the arrangement
of desks necessary to prevent the pupils facing a glare of light.
This offensive stupidity is carried into other details as well. It
was found, for instance, that adjustable desks were furnished
sparingly, when at all, yet the need for them is often great.
The children of foreign parentage now fufnish a large propor-
tion of the pupils in our public schools, and ignorance of the
English language often puts them far below their proper school
grade. Consequently these children are often forced to occupy
seats much too small for them, a penance which results some-
times in permanent bodily distortion. This, tho, is a con-
sideration to which the average school official pays little heed.

The problem of what to do with the children's wraps is again
one which, in many cases, he has not yet even recognized clearly
as a problem. Its elements are stated in the Buffalo ' report :
'' To put the child's wrap where it will take up the least room,
where it will be secure, where it can be dried when necessary,
and where odors, dampness, and the danger of infection from it
will be reduced to the minimum." The ventilated closet which
will fulfill these requirements is still a rara avis, while hap-
hazard methods are present in every degree. Certainly the
most objectionable of these is the fashion of hanging the chil-
dren's outdoor garments in the schoolrooms. Yet this is fre-
quently done, the children sitting almost in contact with the
masses of damp and odorous clothing. At one school where
four classrooms were hung with wraps, the principal asked
permission to have them removed to the hall — an arrangement
which would certainly have been less objectionable^ — but it was
refused. Window seats and fire escapes are pressed into serv-
ice for cloak rooms, as are floors and dark closets, with what-
ever other unfit receptacles the resources of a school provide.
In fact, there seems to be a general obliviousness of the bearing
of this question on school hygiene. Yet it is intimately con-
nected with one of the most vital elements in school life. '' An
insuperable objection," says the Boston report, '' to the intro-
duction of good ventilation in many of the older buildings is the
absence of coat-rooms, and the use of the corridors as substi-
tutes for them, where masses of clothing have to be stored dur-

1900] The big red schoolhouse 265

ing school hours. This is a condition which must be abol-
ished." The cloak rooms in some new school buildings are
generous and w^U-intentioned, but in spite of these merits they
are not only still very defective, but they emphasize one of the
fundamental causes of the general state of affairs which we have
been describing. A certain school, for instance, built within
the last five years, has seventeen cloak rooms, with an average
floor space of 22 x 6 feet. They are clean, flooded with sun-
shine, but with no provision for drying wet garments, and no
attempt to prevent odors or infection from them escaping into
the building; each cloak room opens into the hall by a slatted
half-door. Every schoolroom in this building is deficient in
air space, the average being 183 cubic feet per pupil instead of
the minimum requirement of 250, and three dim rooms in the
cellar are filled with children. It would seem that that sunny
air space above stairs might have been put to better use. Yet
not only was the architect himself perfectly satisfied with what
he had done, but it had apparently not occurred to anyone con-
nected with the school itself that its arrangements were at all
defective.

Much of the plumbing in schoolhouses is antiquated and
therefore unsatisfactory, by modern standards, and that which
is new is often badly cared for. In spite of plumbing ordi-
nances, comparatively new fixtures are to be found without
ventilating shafts, in some cases the schoolrooms above draw-
ing their air supply from such lavatories. As high a propor-
tion as 3 1 out of 83 closets are reported from one city as " ob-
jectionable " — that is, " rusty, ill-smelling, and flushed only by
the janitor." The gradations from such crude and offensive
conditions as these are many, up to excelle'nt cement floors, put
in at considerable expense, for supplementary drainage, and
carefully sloped the wrong way.

Let these examples of typical conditions affecting the
hygiene of our schools suffice. The detail could be multiplied
indefinitely, from botched plumbing to roller towels used by
hundreds of children and changed " when soiled," and from ill-
kept rooms to wretched ventilation. (The ventilation of
schools is not taken up here, as its importance calls for sepa-

266 Educational Review [October

rate treatment.) The unanimity of the reports from these
four cities, on all these points, is one of their most striking
features. They are unanimous on another point as well: a
comparison between new and old school buildings fails to show
an improvement commensurate with the advance in knowledge
bearing on the housing of school children. The old school-
houses are badly ventilated by windows, and the new buildings
are badly ventilated by expensive apparatus. Plumbing is
botched; the lessons of overcrowding go unheeded; the warn-
ing conveyed by the repeated investigations in many cities of
the eyesight of school children, with the invariable increase
shown in defective vision from the lower grades upward, is
still often ignored, while school housekeeping seems to be al-
most a virgin field.

Boston — of all places! — made a report on this last point
which is so curious, to put it mildly, that it is worth quoting.
" Classrooms are dusted less often than once a week by 8
janitors; twice a week by 80 janitors; daily by either janitor,
teachers, or pupils (!) in 52 schools; daily by janitors in only
43 schools; 3 not stated. . . There are no instructions in jani-
tors' rules for washing floors or for their care, beyond sweeping
twice weekly. Until the summer of 1895, jy had never been
washed since built, in a period of years varying, say, from fifty
down to nine years. During that summer an appropria-
tion of five thousand dollars was made to have the floors
washed and the woodwork wiped with a disinfectant, and yet,
apparently, there were fifty buildings where floors were not
washed even then." The Boston Board of Health had pre-
scribed a method for cleaning and disinfecting schoolhouse
floors, but it was not put into effect. In short, at this, as at
every point, our schools fail to profit by the best that is known
of school hygiene.

At the time that these investigations were being made data
were collected from a number of our largest cities, in regard
to their system of inspecting the sanitary condition of their
schools. Out of a total of 35, 8 replied that no inspection
whatever was made.

Fifteen had it '' on complaint," " when necessary," " in a

I poo] The big red schoolhouse 267

general way," '' at no stated time," or '' sporadic examina-
tions by Board of Health," or '' for contagious diseases only,"
while some of the most excellent systems among the remain-
ing 12 are ineffective because the responsibility for un-
sanitary conditions is not fixed, or because the inspectors have
no power to remedy the evils which they report. It is a safe
inference that the state of affairs set forth in the four reports
from which we have been quoting is not exceptional.

From what causes do these deplorable conditions spring?
First, certainly from poor administrative methods. These
may be merely weak and antiquated, or the inefficiency may be
the result of politics. In one city, for instance, whose only
school board is a committee of ward aldermen, practically the
entire control of the physical conditions of school life rests with
one man, a member of a partisan board. He selects the plans
for the new buildings — when he does not make them himself —
and superintends their construction. He determines the sys-
tems of ventilation and plumbing, chooses the school furniture,
has charge of all repairs, and even of all minor changes, so that
the moving of a desk is by his authority. These questions, in-
volving the health and comfort of thousands of people, and
the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars, were but
recently rescued from the hands of a man who had such knowl-
edge of sanitary science and school hygiene as he had acquired
as a workman in a refrigerator factory.

The touch of the politician may be confidently counted upon
to secure a very low level of efficiency in dealing with all
matters requiring expert knowledge. Unfortunately, tho, his
comparative absence does not, in itself, insure a better result.
A high degree of incompetency can be secured without his
assistance. The difficulty with our schools is not the lack of
money, as is often alleged, for the people are usually ready to
vote money generously for their needs; it is indifference, igno-
rance, and ill-defined responsibility. A study of municipal
school bills often yields very suggestive results. The plea of
poverty, for instance, hardly avails when we find plumbing still
neglected in a building which has been surrounded by, an orna-

268 Educational Review [October

mental iron fence, or hundreds of dollars spent in changing
ventilating apparatus which still fails to do its work.

The second cause of unsanitary schoolhouses is the compara-
tive newness of sanitary science as a claimant to popular at-
tention. The earnestness with which the intellectual needs of
our schools have been studied within the past few years, and
the resulting concentration of attention upon those needs, have
helped to divert attention from other points. But it must be
said that, with the average school official — janitor, teacher,
principal, or superintendent — a slight diversion suffices. Very
great ignorance of hygiene and sanitary science abounds in our
schools, and very great indifference to them. When to this is
added an administrative system against which the conscien-
tious school principal simply frets himself away in attempting
to secure improvements in his school building, the conditions
for deterioration are about complete.

We have reached the point where we realize the need of
guarding against the most obvious dangers — which are also
the comparatively infrequent ones — such as contagious dis-
eases; but that sense of the intimate relation between a child's
physical well-being and its mental growth which will safeguard
every schoolroom in our cities, thru every school day, is yet to
be gained. How are we to gain it? First, as matters now
stand, thru citizens' committees. Nothing so helps to keep the
official vision clear as the existence of a group of men and
women interested in the schools, who have spoken the truth
about them, and may at any time do it again. The usual
progress of the man who has been caught napping is thru
anger and blustering defiance to an apologetic tone, ending, a
year or so later, in the more or less complacent presentation, as
his own, of the measures which have been forced upon him.
Sometimes, tho, a worthier spirit is shown. For instance, the
janitors of the Buffalo schools, under the impulse of the inves-
tigations there, of their own accord asked for lectures bearing
on their duties. Gratifying as such results are, tho, with our
present rate of progress citizens' committees will probably be
needed for the next thousand years or so.

Second, school hygiene should have a more important place

i9oo] The big red schoolhouse 269

in principals' examinations than is now usually given it.
There is every reason why the man who applies for the charge
of a school should be required to prove his competency to make
it a wholesome place to live in. And the test should not con-
sist of a few questions which can be answered by some rule of
thumb, but be searching enough to require a knowledge of the
principles of plumbing, ventilation, heating, and cleaning,
methods of lighting, and the general care of the physical child
during school hours. The principal should then have full con-
trol over the school building, as is now not always the case, and
be held to a strict accountability. Third, there -should be sys-
tematic and thoro inspection of the schools, combined with
power to do such work as is shown to be necessary. The city
of Albany has a system which apparently works well. A
school official called the Superintendent of buildings, elected by
the school committee and removable at their pleasure, visits
each house at least once a month, and inspects it and its sur-
roundings minutely. He has power to make minor repairs or
changes; others are reported to the committee on buildings of
the school board, who can at onpe have the work done. Here
is very simple machinery, establishing an effective control of
sanitary conditions. It means, perhaps, the salary of an extra
official, but he saves that amount to the municipality many
times over. A city pays heavily, in hard cash, in the end, for
its neglect of its schoolhouses, or even for minor stupidities in
their management. That, however, is one of the lesser con-
siderations, for the question involved in the housing of our
school children is not one of expediency, but of morality.
With our compulsory school law comes the obligation to pro-
vide schools which shall be hygienic. This obligation cannot
be evaded ; it cannot long be ignored.

It is a rather pathetic sight, at best, which our great city
schools now offer. The little tots in patched and faded cloth-
ing, struggli'ng, but too often, with the English language as
an unknown tongue, who have come from hard and unlovely
surroundings, must soon take their place among the toilers.
For them, above all others, the scanty hours of school life
should mean all that is possible, not only in high example and

2 70 Educational Review

quickening influence, but in wholesome and beautiful surround-
ings as well. How far we fall short of this the merest glance
will show. The community which allows so vital a matter to
rest in ignorant or indifferent hands fails to meet its responsi-
bilities; the official who, having to do with the schools, neg-
lects to use his utmost effort to remove these evils has, by so
much, written himself down as unfit for his office.

Elizabeth M. Howe

Buffalo, N. Y.

VI
DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION IN ENGLAND

A few months ago the United States Ambassador, address-
ing an EngHsh audience, argued that democracy in America
was founded on the education of the people, and that the com-
mon school was at the root of all that is admirable in the Ameri-
can constitution. The reason, it may be conjectured, is that
America, casting off the feudal yoke, was able to build up her
institutions on a basis of her own choosing, and found the
fittest for her purpose in the child. In England, on the other
hand, the traces of medievalism are apparent everywhere, in
our students' gowns no less than in our House of Lords. With
us education has been transmitted without a break from its
ecclesiastical sources in the Dark Ages; it is even now largely
controlled by churchmen; and it still bears signs of its origin
mysterious to those who do not know the secrets of its course.
But there has never been a time of absolute stagnation. As the
stream has flowed onward, it has grown at once wider and
deeper. Education in England now reaches an ever-increasing
mass of the people, and by improving its methods and extend-
ing the range of its subjects exerts a profounder influence on
the national life than at any previous stage of its history. The
result of this progress is seen in our political and social rela-
tions; we are becoming more democratic as we are better edu-
cated. If democracy, triumphant in America, rests on the edu-
cation of the citizens, in England, still militant, it looks to the
same quarter for its sharpest and most effective weapons.

Without troubling the reader with a vast array of statistics,
accessible enough elsewhere, let me notice, from an English
standpoint, a few features of our present educational condition,
and then consider some tokens of the change ensuing from its
gradual improvement. And first let me deal with what is
going on now, that is to say, with the cause of the change.

271

272 Educational Review [October

If we divide English schools into three groups, the large
public schools, the middle schools, and the elementary schools,
we obtain a classification not indeed scientific, but at least con-
venient and intelligible. Of the first group perhaps the most
striking characteristic is obedience to tradition. Now, tradi-
tion is of two kinds. One perpetuates, and wisely, local and
distinctive usages, harmless, pleasing, or wholly commendable.
Tradition of this kind infuses in each new generation the good
spirit of the past, and gives to great institutions that variety of
type which is as surely valuable in the world of schools as in
the sphere of nature. But the other binds and hampers; it
checks progress, or is even deadly to the whole organism which
it pervades. Sober judges assert that it is to this injurious
form of tradition that most of the weaknesses of our public
schools are due. The newly appointed headmaster of Harrow,
on his first Speech Day, observed that he never knew what
conservatism was until he went to Harrow. Without attempt-
ing to fix his meaning, and without referring to Harrow in par-
ticular, we may say that our great schools have received their
defects by inheritance. If they lay too much stress on the
teaching of the dead languages by old-fashioned, purely gram-
matical methods; if they are just tolerant of mathematics, in-
different to science, and absolutely contemptuous of French and
German; if their teachers are untrained and their studies not
co-ordinated — well, all these faults have a respectable ancestry.
The permanence of the bad tradition is easily explained. It is
due to a long succession of clerical headmasters, most of whom
have had a strictly classical, and no professional, training, and
to the custom of preferring as assistant masters of a school
those who were once its pupils. In his Memories and impres-
sions, just published, the warden of Merton College, Oxford,
tells us that at Eton in his day every single master was an old
Eton boy. It is not surprising to learn further that the Eton
system had changed little since the reign of James I.

Altho no general reformation has taken place, there are signs
of improvement visible. The exclusive cultivation or predomi-
nance of classics will soon, it would seem, have kad its day. In
the last list of successful candidates for the entrance scholar-

ipoo] Democracy and education in England 273

ships at a very famous school two boys appear as rewarded for
their attainments in mathematics, two for classics, and, marvel-
ous to relate, two for history. At least two great schools have
gained a reputation for the excellence of their science teaching;
and several prepare directly for the army examinations. In
perhaps half a dozen the teaching of French is something more
than a farce. At the last Headmasters' Conference, of thirty-
seven present eight were laymen, and some of these men who
have done good service in the cause of education. In very few
schools does even half the staff consist of '' old boys." On the
other hand, in respect to the co-ordination of subjects and the
training of teachers there is little advance to report.

To turn next to what we have called middle schools, the
great heterogeneous group lying between the public schools
and the elementary schools, the defects under which they have
hitherto labored have been owing to the lack of any adequate
control or inspection. A frequent consequence has been a de-
gree of inefficiency which has been the amazement of foreigners
and the shame of Englishmen. I say a frequent consequence.
There is no desire on my part to speak slightingly of the many
grammar schools, high schools, and private schools in which
the work of education has been faithfully performed. But the
law of England allows a most injudicious freedom in this vital
matter of education. Any person, however illiterate, may open
a school in any building, however unsuitable, and teach what
he pleases as he pleases. Under such circumstances the parent,
too often an incapable critic in educational matters, is left at
the mercy of men who may be competent teachers or arrant im-
postors. The only safeguard for the poor boys or girls risked
in their hands is that, as a rule, it is more profitable to teach
something than nothing. The effect of the laxity of the law
is that children of the middle class may get their education in
a well-conducted establishment, or take away a varnished igno-
rance from the dominie of a cellar.

The diversity between schools of this intermediate kind is so
great as to make any general statement of progress difficult.
But there are three things that tend to their improvement.
First of all, the Education Act of last year has made provision

2 74 Educational Review [October

for inspection; and altho the inspection clauses are not com-
pulsory, there is reason to hope that the force of example, the
fear of seeming to shirk censure, and other causes will lead a
large majority of schools to place themselves under the Act.
Then again for commercial or industrial life a better education
is now required than has hitherto been the case; the boy who
has learned nothing is outstripped by the more highly trained;
the English clerk is ousted by the German unless he can show
equal qualifications. The father, becoming conscious that
ignorance is a disadvantage in the practical business of money-
making, looks for the schools which can point to the best re-
sults; so that the fittest survive. Lastly, the elementary
schools, higher elementary schools, science schools, and the like
give an education so much far superior to that which they
formerly supplied that they raise the level in the schools above
them. The mere force of competition is driving the inefficient
schools to mend their ways, or be extinguished.

As to the elementary schools themselves, they show a dis-
tinctly progressive tendency. In the important matter of edu-
cational appliances they are, in general, better equipped than
the middle schools. Sounder methods of instruction are b^ing
introduced. The payment of the teachers in many places has
been fixed on a satisfactory scale; at Glasgow, for example, for
seventy headmasters employed under the school board the aver-
age annual salary amounts to £360, being in some cases as
much as £500. Better men are being attracted to the work of
elementary teachers; and there are thousands who find only a
stimulus in the terrible difficulties with which they have to con-
tend. Of these difficulties, notably in the east end of London,
the gravest and saddest is the necessity of offering intellectual
food to large numbers of children whose stomachs are empty;
nor does any remedy for the evil seem within reach. Attend-
ance is being more eff'ectually enforced. From the last Educa-
tion Report it appears that of the estimated number of children
usually found in elementary schools nearly 98 per cent, of those
between seven and eleven years of age are on the registers of in-
spected schools; and that 71 per cent, of the " infants " attend,
and 88 per cent, of " older scholars." The figures are encour-

1900] D 67710 cracy and edu cation in England 275

aging to those who hope that the EngHsh may be regarded in
the course of a few more years as being really a'n educated
people. Moreover, Robson's Act, dealing with exemptions,
has now come into force. Drawmg a distinction between urban
and agricultural children, it lays down that of urban children
no'ne shall be exempted from school attendance before the age
of twelve; in agricultural districts children may be partially
exempted after the age of eleven to enable them to take part in
harvesting operations. On the whole, the proportion of chil-
dren who from the carelessness or criminality of their parents
are deprived of the benefits of education is being from day to
day reduced.

But perhaps the most remarkable movement of the time is
that to promote the education of adults. We have many illiter-
ate persons in England whose youth fell in the period before
compulsory education became law. In the early seventies, soon
after the passing of Mr. Forster's great Act, a multitude of chil-
dren escaped the net; now grown to maturity and having —
quite learned — children of their own, not a few of these feel
shame at their own ignorance. Those again who left an ele-
mentary school at an early age have not unfrequently brought
with them from it a vague longing for wider knowledge, or
even definite intellectual interests. To meet the wants of these
various classes a number of educational agencies have started
into life. For the more ambitious and better prepared there are
university extension lectures, workingmen's colleges, polytech-
nics, and similar institutions. Better still there are, in London
especially, many voluntary associations, which offer to all
comers not only formal teaching, but the influence of refined
surroundings, music, good libraries, and personal intercourse
with highly educated men and women. The philanthropy of
the members of these associations assumes the most varied
forms. They will teach you to read and write, lecture you on
civic duty, or show you on a lantern screen the wonders of the
deep sea. They organize guilds of play, state clubs, and
mothers' meetings. They train you either to play chess or to
nurse the sick. They take the lame to the woods, or brighten
weary laborers with a hoHday tour. And, in the true educa-

276 Educatio7ial Review [October

tional spirit, thru all their work. The instrument on which
they rely is sympathy. To name only a few of the societies,
Toynbee Hall, Mansfield House, the Passmore Edwards Settle-
ment, the Settlement of Women Workers at Canning Town,
and the Bermondsey Settlement are all renderi-ng incalculable
service to the community, reaching the poorest part of it, and
showing an unaffected kindness to all who will accept it. Such
places are indeed the homes

Of toil unsevered from tranquillity,
Of labor, that in lasting fruit outgrows
Far noisier schemes, accomplished in repose.
Too great for haste, too high for rivalry.

Let me now pass to the effects of the quickened educational
activity of which I have pointed out a few signs. No force
can be lost; and the particular force which we are considering
manifests itself freely in the domain of social and political life.

First of all, education being, as someone has said, the culture
of a growth, not the manufacture of an article, its effect should
be continuous. A table of wood once made remains a table; a
living seed that has been planted goes on expressing its vitality
in higher and higher forms, and demanding fresh nourishment,
until the limit imposed on it is attained. In like manner the
mental growth which education fosters is continuous, and ex-
presses itself in ever widening intellectual demands. That is
just what is observable in England now as a result of educa-
tional progress. The Libraries Act has called into existence
many excellent storehouses of books, and these are gladly used
by readers of humble rank. Picture galleries have multiplied;
in London the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Gallery
are comparatively recent erections; and many provincial towns
now own respectable art collections. Music has been more
cultivated in the last decade of years than at any previous time.
And generally, in all classes there has been a more eager seek-
ing for the cheap and beneficent sources of spiritual delight.

Secondly, it being one of the functions of education to de-
velop the power of discriminating moral values, it is natural
that there should have come among us with improved educa-

1900] Democracy and education in England 277

tion a diminished respect for mere wealth and titular distinc-
tions. The schoolmaster in molding the character of his pupils
necessarily molds the character of the citizens and determines
the public opinion by which the state is governed. He must
have done his work ill if virtue is not deemed an essential con-
dition of honor.

Thirdly, inasmuch as education concerns itself with civic
obligations, its progress in England has produced a livelier
sense of personal responsibility for national policy. The elec-
tor begins to think for himself. He is armed against the
rhetoric of the platform. He may now be expected to cast his
vote according to the dictates of reason and justice.

Fourthly, since education enhances the value of its possessor,
the educated workman has obtained, or is obtaining, an esteem
(real or affected) which to his predecessors was unknown.
He is a factor to be reckoned with. The ruling faction can
only rule by consulting his wishes. He is courted where once
he was ignored or contemned.

None of the effects which I have set forth is to be conceived
as a fully realized end, any more than the educational develop-
ment which I have outlined represents a state of perfection. I
have sought to indicate the lines on which we are advancing,
not to boast of the goal that we have reached. Regard for
space has caused me to condense my remarks. Perhaps too I
have been wrong in looking for the results of educational prog-
ress in the social and political life of our people. A few years
ago the Morning Post, the chief organ of what is called
'' society " in London, observed : " We have now had a quarter
of a century's experience of the Education Act; yet servants
are no better and employees are not more trustworthy." It
would seem then that I ought to have looked into the kitchen.
But I do not think that I shall be blamed for my choice in
America.

W. G. Field

London, England

VII
RECENT ITALIAN EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE

Some of the most suggestive and sanest literature of the
day concerning the problems of modern education comes
to us from Italy, where the younger generation of teachers
and men of science are endeavoring to build up a truly
evolutional system of education for both sexes, upon a basis
that shall be lasting because natural and true. In the brief
notes here presented an attempt has been made to give the gist
of some of the more recent Italian contributions to educational
science. In some respects Italy bids fair to rival Germany as
the inspirer of the new century about to begin, and the thoughts
of her best educators are well worthy the attention of American
educators, who, in general, are so little acquainted with what
is going on in the land of the old Romans.

Text Books. The Official Bulletin of the Minister of Public
Instruction for October 12, 1899,^ contains an interesting list
of some 830 text-books approved for use in elementary schools.
The list includes: 156 primers; 113 post-primer reading-books;
86 reading-books for the second class, 71 for the third class,
41 for the fourth class, 35 for the fifth class; 18 grammars for
the higher elementary classes; 31 history-manuals for the
higher classes; 32 arithmetics for the higher classes; 31 geog-
raphies approved for the year 1899- 1900; and 216 books
recommended for home-reading, school libraries, and prizes.

Of the 156 primers some 25 appear to be written by women,
and one each prepared by a committee of city teachers (Turin),
and a committee of the teachers in the elementary schools
(Verona). Among the books for home-reading, school-

^ Elenco generale dei libri di testo approvati per le scuole elementarl. Boll.
Uff. del Ministero dell' Istruz. Pubbl., Anno XXVI., Vol. II., Num. 41, pp. 1745-
1812.

278

Recent Italian educational literature 279

libraries, and prizes, Louisa Alcott, E. S. Brooks, Frances
Hodgson Burnett, James Otis, Robert Louis Stevenson, C. V.
Jamison, William Stoddard, J. T. Trowbridge, and a few other
English and American writers are represented in translation.
A reading-list that includes Little Lord Faimtleroy, Don
Quixote J Cuore, Treasure I stand j Gulliver's Travels, etc., is
not bad. It is putting us to shame, in whose lists Cuore, e. g.,
so rarely figures.

Minister Baccelli.^ In his brief address before the Peda-
gogical Congress at Tivoli, October 28, 1899, the Minister of
Public Instruction gave renewed expression to his ideas con-
cerning elementary education. One of his projects of reform
is crystallized in the watchword torniamo ai campi, '' let us re-
turn to the fields ! " This movement has met with great suc-
cess, for to-day there are in Italy 4000 plots of ground fur-
nished to schools either by the public authorities or by private
citizens. Much good work has been achieved in this way, and
many of these little fields, like that at Ciciliano, near Tivoli,
under the charge of Oreste Leo, are places the farmers have
been forced to admire, and sometimes to imitate. Minister
Baccelli also favors the extension of instruction in the various
forms of manual labor. His policy includes state control of
kindergartens and elementary schools — the schools which, for
the great majority of citizens, represent the only preparation
for life which they receive in an educational way. These, he
thinks, ought to be " under the direct and continual control of
the power that represents great national and social interests " —
the state.

In higher education Minister Baccelli favors " the autonomy
and liberty that stimulate the fertile rivalries of science and the
fruitful emulations in experiment generative of new truths."
His policy, therefore, is to leave classical and technical educa-
tion to the care of the provinces and communes, under the
watchful eye of the state, but without direct control or inter-
ference. " Science," he says, " is aristocratic, and who wants
it, let him pay ! " And, in order to prevent a learned pro-
letariat, he would increase the fees at the universities.

'Boll. Uff., Anno XXVI., Num. 48, Nov. 30, 1899, pp. 2043-2046.

28o Educational Review [October

Political Education. The inaugural address of Dr. C. F.
Ferrari,^ Professor of xA^dministrative Law and the Science of
Government in the University of Padua, delivered November
13, 1898, was devoted to a discussion of the various aspects of
political education. According to Professor Ferrari, it is the
duty of the universities and of those whose minds and genius
they have schooled, to contribute of their best to the political
institutions of the country, which are '' the conscious work of
man," and undergo " those mutations and improvements ren-
dered necessary and opportune by civilization and social con-
ditions."

There is no room for the theory of a perpetual governing
class and a perpetual serving caste. The way to liberty and
prosperity lies neither in imitating the French Revolution nor
in imitating the English Parliamentary system. Parlia-
mentism, like monarchism, can become pathological, if not so
often, at least as startlingly so sometimes. Local self-govern-
ment is perhaps a better way of solving certain problems of
Italian politics than some French methods that have got into
bad odor of late. Compulsory education, without compulsory
voting, is only half of a good thing for political education.
Political societies, associations, and clubs have always been in
Italy a fertile source of education (or of mal-education) in
political matters, and some legal restraint or encouragement,
as the case may be, of these institutions is necessary. The
whole nation, not merely a few of its members, ought to study,
or have some knowledge of, its racial constitution and history,
its economic, intellectual and social nature, so that with prog-
ress there may go proportion, with metamorphosis equilib-
rium, with co-operation individuality, with unity life-giving
diversity. A trained civil service must be paralleled by a
trained mass of voters, a wise parliament by a wise people,
before the task of real political life is begun. In the further-
ance of the efforts necessary to this end, the universities must
bear the brunt of the struggles, and the study of methods of
government and administration is a branch of academic re-

' Ordinamenti politic! ed educazione politica. Ann. della R. Univ. degli studt
di Padova per I'anno academico 1898-1899, pp. 17-71.

1900] Recent Italia7i educational literature 281

search and instruction as legitimate as any other in the curricu-
lum of the higher institutions of learning.

Illiteracy. Dr. V. Giuffrida-Ruggeri * of Reggio-Emilia,
anthropologist, psychologist, and psychiatrist, in his interesting
article on " Analphabetism as related to education," points out
the exaggerated importance, which, in Italy especially, has been
attached to illiteracy. A great mistake — a mistake sometimes
committed by earnest devotees of child-study in America — has
been made in basi'ng theories upon averages obtained from data
belonging to all parts of a large region, without analyzing well
the figures of which such averages are the result. There is a
cult of the average no less than a cult of the curve. The un-
satisfactory nature of these averages led Professor Giuffrida-
Ruggeri to investigate the details of the statistics of illiteracy
in Italy, and from separate study of the figures of mountain and
valley, plain, seashore, city (with its divisions), and country
(with its diversities) he reaches the conclusion that '' illiteracy
is no index of culture." Otherwise the province of Sondrio
(according to the levy of those born in 1868), with the lowest
percentage of illiterate conscripts, ought to be the rhost cul-
tured ! Moreover, Leghorn has less than half the proportion
of illiterates of Florence and Pisa; the proportion in Naples is
lower than in Florence, Padua, Rome, Modena, Parma, and
Pisa, cities considered to be the most cultured in all the Italian
peninsula. There are also to be noted oscillations in illiteracy
from year to year, and during the period represented by the
levies of 1846 and 1876, some regions which began with a per-
centage of illiteracy lower than that of certain others have
ended by having a percentage higher than that of these, and
vice versa. A study of the public monies expended for edu-
cation in the various provinces of Italy fails to show that illiter-
acy decreases in proportion to the increase of such expendi-
ture. The two provinces of Cagliari and Sassari spend about
the same per capita, but there is a great difference in their
illiteracy; Apulia spends more than Calabria, both per capita

* II movimento dell' analfabetismo nelle diverse region! d'ltalia come indice
della tendenza all' istruzione. Arch, per I'Antropologia e la etnologia (Firenze),
Vol. XXIX. (1899), PP- 33-40.

282 Educational Review [October

and in relation to all other expenditures, but the former region
has considerably more illiteracy than the latter. Nor do charity
and private schools account for these differences. Dr. Giuf-
frida-Ruggeri believes that these '' movements " of the illiterate
population in Italy are, to a large extent, to be explained on the
basis of '' a greater or less tendency tovv^ard instruction " in the
various regions of the country. Marked sexual differences as
to illiteracy occur also, as revealed by the statistics as to the
signatures of marriage contracts. In 1881, out of every 100
such documents 20.10 were signed by the husband alone in
Piedmont and 20.28 in Calabria, while those signed by the wife
alone were 6.07 and 0.37 respectively. The greatest sexual
differences as to primary education seem to be found in central
and southern Italy, the least m Lombardy, Piedmont, and
Liguria. The Venetian region, again, is sui generis, but there
anthropological, economic, and religious factors come espe-
cially into play. This essay ought to be read by all those who
are so prone to '' lump things together," and create out of the
mass " scientific facts." In connection with Dr. Giuffrida-
Ruggeri's paper, it is well to read Dr. F. L. Pulle's ^ Sketch
of the anthropology of Italy, a real multum in parvo, where
the fact is clearly revealed that northern, central, and southern
Italy still go on expressing the bent and the genius of the ethnic
elements which compose them and color all their acts. Accord-
ing to Dr. Pulle, " illiteracy, superstition, and prostitution, like
crime in general, gradually increase in parallel fashion from
north to south in Italy."

Medico-Pedagogy. Two valuable contributions to the
literature of the education of feeble-minded and mentally defi-
cient children are Professor A. Tamburini's ^ Modern move-
ment in Italy for the treatment and education of feeble-minded
and mentally deficient children, and Dr. Sante de Sanctis' ^
Treatment of feeble-minded and mentally deficient children

^Profilo antropologico dell' Italia. Arch, per I'Antrop., Vol. XXVIII., pp.
19-168.

* L'odierno movimento in Italia per la cura e I'educazione dei frenastenici.
Riv, Sperim. di Fren., Vol. XXV. (1899), pp. 472-481.

' Intorno alia cura dei fanciuUi frenastenici. Ann. di Nevrol. (Napoli), Anno
XVII. (1899), pp. 235-244.

1900] Recent Italian educational literature 283

— the first an interesting historical sketch, with bibHographical
notes, the last an outline sketch of an ideal educational institu-
tion for children of the kind in question.

As early as 1848 a Royal Commission for the Study of
Cretinism established, in imitation of the medico-pedagogical
institute at Adenberg (founded by Guggenhiil in 1840 for
Swiss cretins), an institution at Aosta, which, however, after
a few years as an educational establishment, ceased to be any-
thing more than an asylum. The real beginning of the modern
movement was in 1889, when Professor Gonnelli-Cioni founded
at Chiavari — it has since been removed to Vercurago — the
first Italian institution for feeble-minded and mentally defective
children. The Paedagogium (an institution for children of
this sort belonging to the well-to-do classes), founded under
the auspices of Morselli, at Nervi, in 1891, lasted only a few
years. The various lunatic hospitals at Rome, Siena, and
Reggio, have for a long time had special sections for idiots,
where some sort of instruction is offered.

The principal Italian schools and medico-pedagogical
institutions for feeble-minded and mentally deficient children
are:

I. The Gonnelli-Cioni Institution, at Vercurago, in the
Province of Bergamo (founded in 1889). The superintendent
is Professor Gonnelli-Cioni (aided by his wife and daughter),
the director Professor Lucchini, and the consulting physician
Dr. Marzocchi, of the neighboring asylum at Bergamo. This
institution has elementary instruction (drawing, music, gym-
nastics), baths, dining rooms, dormoritories in common, and
special attention (family and individual treatment) is given
to physical education, sense-training, intellectual and moral
development. There is also technical manual instruction.
The number of pupils (epileptics are also received) is about
forty, all males belonging to the poorer classes in part (such
pupils are paid for by the commune and by charitable societies)
and in part to the well-to-do classes. Professor Gonnelli-Cioni
also maintains some pupils at his own expense. Dr. Tam-
burini praises the discipline, modesty, and education of the per-
ceptive and mnemonic faculties obtaining at Vercurago.

284 Educational Review [October

2. The Emilian Medico-Pedagogical Institute, at S. Gio-
vanni in Persiceto (founded July 2, 1899). This institution,
at the head of which is Professor Tamburini himself, with
Professors Roncati and Brugia, is under the patronage of the
Emilian committee for the promotion of the welfare of defect-
ive children. It is hygienically situated in the country, and
takes children from five to fifteen years of age not educable in
the common schools, etc. — also some pupils of higher ages.

3. The " Casa di Cura ed Educazionef' at Rome; (founded
in April, 1898), for defectives belonging to the well-to-do
classes. This institution is under the direction of Dr. Sante
de Sanctis, and accommodates only some twelve to fifteen
pupils, but day-pupils are given instruction and treatment.
Aphasic, stuttering, and neuropathic children are also received,
and there is a special instructor in language, Dr. V. Bianchi.
The methods in use are the same as those employed in Dr. de
Sanctis' Educatorium.

4. Tuscan Institute for the Education and Treatment of
Backward Children (opened August i, 1899), ^^ Settignano,
in the open country, not far from Florence. This institution,
whose foundation is due to the Tuscan Committee for the Pro-
tection of Defectives (children), receives only children sus-
ceptible of beneficial treatment and improvement in education,
and for the present boys alone between the ages of four and
twelve are received as internes, but children of both sexes be-
tween the ages of six and sixteen may be received as day-pupils.
The board of direction includes Dr. Modigliano (specialist in
hygiene and children's diseases). Professor Gonnelli-Cioni
(education). Professor Tanzi (psychiatry), and Professor
Colzi (surger}^). The funds for the maintenance of this in-
stitution are furnished by gifts from benefactors, fees of the
ordinary members of the committee, and monies paid by the
families and Provinces interested.

5. The Segatelli School for Idiots (founded in 1894, by Si-
gnora Cristina Segatelli, who has been its director since) in
Milan. This modest establishment accommodates some six-
teen pupils, such as cannot be taken care of in the public and
private schools. For about a year past Signora Segatelli has

1900] Recent Italian educational literature 285

had the advice and assistance of a philanthropic committee, at
the head of which is Dr. A. De Vincenti.

6. The '' Asilo-Scuola" for Poor Children (defectives), in
Rome, opened in 'January, 1898, by Dr. Sante de Sanctis.
This Ediicatorinm for poor children who are defectives has
been organized upon a carefully considered psychological
plan with the assistance of a committee of benefactors
and the co-operation of eminent physicians and educators.
The psychiatrical expert is Professor Sciamanna, and the
educational Professor Sergi. Anthropometric data, clinical
investigations, psychological classifications, and educational
examinations, hygienic records, and all the most modern
developments of science are to be employed in the rational
education of the pupils admitted — imbeciles, defectives,
and backward children. In his article titled above Dr. de
Sanctis, after a brief discussion of the various treat-
ments from time to time proposed for defectives and back-
ward children, — craniectomy and surgical operations of a
like sort (less importance is of late attached to these), thyroid
treatment (advantageous only in a restricted number of cases),
hypnotism (certainly limited in its operation in this field),
— proceeds to describe his '' medico-pedagogical treatment."
This he defines as '' the education of the child united with those
treatments which, in each individual case, the neurologist be-
lieves should be adopted to help the teacher." He does not,
however, deem his method a universal panacea. For the in-
educable, dangerous defectives, the capita morttta of society,
there is nothing but the hospital or the asylum, and for the non-
dangerous ineducables, care in the family, perhaps. For dan-
gerous and epileptic, yet educable, defectives (including a great
part of the epileptics and morally insane, properly so-called),
there ought to be special places in the asylums, in private sani-
tariums, or, better, in medico-pedagogical institutes espe-
cially suited to them.

For the non-dangerous, educable defectives (quiet or hyper-
active), the inmate system is not necessary unless in the case of
orphans, or illegitimate or abandoned children. This system is
condemned both by modern education and morality for normal

2 86 Educational Review [October

children as more convenient for the parents than advantageous
to the children. Dr. de Sanctis defines his ideal Educatorium
as : "A place, hygienic, provided with field or garden, where
defectives of both sexes (educable and non-dangerous), come
from morning till evening every day, to receive the necessary
nutriment, medical treatment, physical and moral education,
instruction — everything adapted to the needs of every indi-
vidual pupil." At present the Educatorium, which takes in
pupils between the ages of four and ten years, must limit itself
to the " rejects " of the kindergarten, elementary schools, etc.,
i. e., those children leaving kindergarten or school on account
of mental obtuseness or some kindred defect. In the Educa-
torium the trained neurologist should blaze the path for the
teacher, and education should precede instruction — for even
moral education, as Seguin said, is essentially physiological;
education in conduct is a consequence of education in senses
and movements. The environment of the Educatorium should
be, as far as is possible, like that of the family, with the sexual
differences incident thereto. Besides endeavoring to give a
'' family education " to the pupils, the Educatorium should
educate their parents, by keeping them in salutary contact with
the educators of their children, thereby giving them norms of
healthy education and right conduct. Instruction in reading,
writing, arithmetic, should be given, but ought to be after
the essentially individualistic fashion, and not in the scholastic
manner, with fixed hours, annual program, etc. The object of
the Educatorium ought to be prepare the " rejects " (four to
six years old) of the kindergartens for the elementary schools,
and the '' rejects " (seven to ten years old) of the elementary
schools for free professional work, the selection of the profes-
sion or trade to be made by the teachers and family, with due
regard to the child himself.

Child-study. Professor R. Benzoni,® who, in connection
with his work in the department of philosophy, delivers a
course of lectures on the psychology of the child at the
University of Genoa, has published a brief resume of the recent
literature of child-study, in which due credit is given to Ameri-

^ Studj recenti di psicologia del Bambino. Geneva, 1898. pp. 37. 8vo.

1900] Recent Italian educational literature 287

can educators for their work, the stimulating effects of which
are now being felt all over Italy. Naturally enough, Professor
Benzoni is most impressed by the moral aspects of child psy-
chology, and sees in the study of the child, in the investigation
and comprehension of its developing morality, the unfolding of
its rational activities, a means of understanding and often of
solving the great questions of public morality. He promises
us in the near future a work on the moral phenomenology of
childhood. Recognizing the fact that art is subjective, science
objective, the author, with other psychologists of the day,
warns against allowing the idqlum of affection for the child
to endanger the value of scientific work, and appeals to the
students of childhood to repeat again and again their experi-
ments, so that the real truth may appear.

At Arona there was installed, October 20, 1897, the first an-
thropometic laboratory in any Italian elementary school. This
took place under the auspices of the municipal authorities and
with the good wishes of eminent anthropologists, and psychol-
ogists (Lombroso, Mantegazza, Morselli, Sergi, Riccardi, and
others). The originator (under Sergi) and the director of this
laboratory is Costantino Melzi,^ a teacher in the elementary
schools of Arona, and one of the leaders in child study in
Italy. The history of the movement, the record of his own
anthropological educational studies, and the statement of his
opinions upon the various problems of modern education form
the subjects of the volume now under discussion, to which
Professor Sergi has furnished an appreciative preface. Melzi
is in favor of an education essentially scientific at bottom —
this is even more necessary for women than for men, — an edu-
cation evolutionally justifiable. A little less teaching and a
little more observing would be well to begin with — to suit edu-
cation to growth is better than to overwhelm with knowledge.

In the sections on " How to use an anthropometrical labora-
tory " (pp. 51-117), and on " Instruments and observations "
(pp. 1 19-188), the author gives much valuable information as
to methods and technique, with copies of the blanks and
schedules employed, which are quite detailed. The chapter on

*Antropologia pedagogica. Arona, 1899. vii-f-246 pp. 8vo.

288 Educational Review

" The education of the sexes " (pp. 189-219) is very interest-
ing, the author's general conclusion being that women must, in
order to make the most of their natural faculties and abilities,
be given a scientific rather than a literary education, as has been
the rule in the past. The character of woman has yet to be
formed and established, and the only way to this end is thru
an essentially scientific education. A section on fatigue and
wear and tear of the brain (pp. 221-246) follows, in which the
author protests against gymnastic and acrobatic scholasticism,
the closed gymnasium, exercises in the schoolroom, as
Mosso has so ably done before him, and against the *' homi-
cidal " overburdening of children's minds for mere intellectual
purposes, regardless alike of physical, mental, and moral health.
This little book ought to be read by all who wish to get a good
idea of the educational thoughts that are stirring Italy at the
present time.

Alex. F. Chamberlain
Clark University,
Worcester, Mass.

VIII
DISCUSSIONS

THE REPORT ON COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

IN ENGLISH 1

There are two respects in which the report on entrance re-
quirements in English seems worthy of praise. There are sev-
eral respects in which it seems open to criticism. - I will. begin
with its virtues.

The members of the committee are to be commended for en-
deavoring to simplify the English course in secondary schools.
They recommend, if I understand them rightly, that there shall
be in the high school virtually but two branches of English
study, — English literature and English composition. Other
subjects, as grammar, rhetoric, study of derivations, study of
the theory of literature and the like, are to be pursued in inti-
mate connection with one of these two main branches, or with
both. This is a great step in advance. If the suggestion were
put in general practice, as eventually I trust it will be, it would
lead to important changes in the English courses of a large
number of schools. It would lead for one thing to the aboli-
tion of a separate course in formal rhetoric in the lower years
of the high school, in my opinion a highly desirable change.
It would lead to the transformation of the so-called '' gram-
mar review," the bugbear of the ninth grade. There would
be no more courses in prefixes and suffixes and roots. That
unlovely hortus siccus would have to go.

In order to hasten the change I would suggest dropping from
high school programs the term English language, and substi-
tuting for it the term English composition, it being understood
that whatever is neither English composition nor English lit-
erature nor an ancillary to one of them, is no indispensable
part of the English curriculum.

' Remarks at a meeting of the Michigan Schoolmasters' Club, the general
subject of discussion being the Report of the Committee on College Entrance
Requirements.

289

290 Educational Review [October

Another praiseworthy feature of the report is the recom-
mendation that the study of English Hterature and of composi-
tion be pursued side by side thruout the entire secondary school
course for four periods a week. The committee might con-
sistently have gone a little farther than this. It might
have gone so far as to recommend five periods a week in-
stead of four, for it is manifestly absurd that secondary pupils
should spend more time on Latin, for example, than on Eng-
lish. But doubtless four is an advance upon the present prac-
tice. Be that as it may, the principles here implied are of great
importance for the future of secondary English. And for the
following reason: One of the evils of the average English
curriculum is its lack of continuity. It is made up of bits of
courses put in wherever there is a little room. When, for any
reason, the curriculum becomes crowded at some point, one of
these bits is quietly removed. This is an intolerable condition
of things. There ought to be in every high school just two
courses in English, a course in English composition and a
course in English literature. These should run like two solid
steel pillars from the foundation clear to the roof. There
ought never to be a question of breaking their continuity any-
where. I believe the time is coming when this ideal will
prevail.

One reason why it does not prevail now is that preparation
in English is difficult to test. Literary taste and fineness of lit-
erary workmanship are not ponderable things. You cannot ex-
press them in quantitative terms, as you can preparation in
mathematics and physics. So if a student omits a semester's
work in English, it does not seem to his principal, if the pupil
is naturally bright and is getting fairly good marks, that he
has omitted any essential part of the requirement. Nobody
will know the difference a year hence. What's the harm ? But
surely this is not the right view to take of it. Just because it is
difficult to test the English preparation of the student, just be-
cause the university instructor cannot at the start tell whether
a given student has had all the English work he is entitled to,
or less than all, the obligation lies heavy on the shoulders of the
principal and the secondary teacher to see that no part of the
requirement is remitted.

1900] Discussions 291

These are the features of the report which I find myself dis-
posed to approve. Now for the reverse of the medal.

In the first place, the report taken as a whole is not of the
character which English teachers had a right to expect. Eng-
lish is a big subject, an important subject, in the school curricu-
lum,— none more so. It has bulked large, both in the public
and in the professional view during the past decade. In that
time about three hundred different articles and addresses upon
it have been published or have been read at meetings of teach-
ers. The acrid reports of the Harvard Committee on Composi-
tion and Rhetoric have been put in print. Many universities
have issued in pamphlet form suggestions to teachers of Eng-
lish in preparatory schools. Two important bodies have been
organized for the particular purpose of dealing with the Eng-
lish question, — an Association of Teachers of English of the
North Central States and the Joint Committee on Entrance
Requirements in English. The latter especially has influenced
in a very profound way the English curriculum of thousands of
high schools in all parts of the country.

It is hardly necessary for me to add that dozens of text-
books have been published, and that these books, representing
various shades of wisdom and unwisdom, have greatly modified
previous methods of teaching.

Taking into account all this agitation of the subject of Eng-
lish, the report appears to me much too slight. It appears to
evade the just difficulties of the task. Teachers had a right
to expect that it would be full and discriminating and compre-
hensive. They had a right to expect that, among other things,
it would summarize the history of the teaching of English for
the past generation; that it would classify and critically review
the various methods that now compete for popular favor; that
it would give the results of experiments in the teaching of lit-
erature and composition ; that it would discuss the special train-
ing of teachers ; that it would discriminate between elementary
and advanced work in methods, in choice of subjects, and in the
character of the recitation ; that it would summarize and review
the best of the literature on English teaching that has ap-
peared of late; that it would treat of the methods and devices
by which the labor of teaching and especially of essay-correct-

292 Educational Review [October

ing may be lightened ; and finally, that it would make plain in
what respect this report is conceived to be an advance upon
its predecessor, the report of the Committee of Ten. Of these
and many other things, — for, as I have said, English is a large
subject, — the report might have been expected to treat. When
I say that it touches upon no one of them, even by way of apol-
ogy, it will be conceded that it is far from meeting the de-
mands which may legitimately be made upon it. It is indeed
not a report at all in the sense in which the parts on classics, on
foreign languages, and on history are reports. It is a hasty
catching-up and patching together of a few general principles,
a specimen program, and a list of books for reading. There is
nothing about it which could not have been put together on a
rainy afternoon by any first-rate teacher of English working
independently.^

Having said this it will perhaps be considered a waste of am-
munition for me to assault the report from another side. I
cannot refrain, however, from using it as a kind of target for
one or two remaining shots in the locker. I will be brief.

Let me call attention to one characteristic present in the re-
port which seems to be unfortunate, and to one aspect of the
subject which is fatally lacking.

The characteristic of the report actually present to which I
object is its dogmatism. It treats the various matters with
which it has to deal as if they were settled out of hand. Per-
haps they were settled in the view of the members of this com-
mittee; but they are not in my view, nor are they, I believe,
in the view of other investigators in this field. On the contrary,
I think I speak for the majority of such investigators when I
say that the most characteristic thing about English teaching
at the present time is its unsettledness. It is fuller of unsolved
problems than any other subject that can be mentioned. It
is a kind of pedagogical porcupine. But the report ignores this.
It reads as if we were all cock-sure about everything. I will
give one example. The committee recommends that the two
departments, literature and composition, be pursued side by side

' This sounds like a reflection on the sub-committee which drew up the report ;
but it is not so intended. The committee did the best it could in the limited
time with the materials at its command. I do not blame the committee ; I
blame the situation.

I goo] Discussions 293

thruout the entire secondary course, and that they "be so re-
lated thfuout that one shall, in so far as possible, supplement
and strengthen the other." " So related " — there is great vir-
tue in that so. As if the hard problem were not how to relate
them! I submit that the committee would have done better
service to teachers of English by wording the sentence as fol-
lows : '' The committee recommends a careful investigation
of the difficult and baffling question how to relate literature
and composition in such a way that one shall, in so far as pos-
sible, supplement and strengthen the other." If the committee
was unable to investigate the problem itself, it might at least
have aroused a spirit of investigation in the teacher. The ef-
fect of the present form of the recommendation is to make
him satisfied with his unregenerate condition.

The third and the last criticism I have to make is some-
what more serious. It is that the report plays too much upon
the surface. I do not mean that it is positively superficial, but
simply that when all has been said, the heart of the problem
remains untouched. For the teaching of English is not a mat-
ter merely of so many hours a week, or of so many books to be
read, or of such and such subjects to be taught for so many
months. These are indeed important and must not be con-
temned ; but they are seen in a wrong perspective unless they are
related to something profounder than themselves.

The deeper problem is the relation of English teaching to the
ultimate ends of education. I have been reading recently in the
Revue imiversitaire a series of suggestive articles by M. Jules
Payot, on French composition. It seems that the French
teachers of French have their troubles as well as the English
teachers of English, and in one of these articles M. Payot re-
marks that the methods of teaching composition which prevail
in many of the French schools are not in harmony with the
social demands which ought to guide and fashion a republican
system of instruction. That seems to me to be getting down to
bed-rock. That is the question of prime importance. But I do
not find anything in this report which indicates that its framers
pondered for a moment, consciously, M. Payot's suggestion;
much less, anything which indicates that their recommenda-
tions were shaped in the light of such an inquiry as his. Are

294 Educational Review [October

our methods of instruction in English in harmony with the so-
cial demands of our great industrial community ? I suspect that
they are not. More than that I suspect that the hard knot of
the English question lies right here — that our present ideals
and methods of instruction are in large part remnants of an
adaptation to a state of things which long since passed away.
Here is the point of departure of an investigation into the
English question which would supplement the defects of the
present report. I trust that in some future report this impor-
tant subject may receive the consideration it deserves.

Fred Newton Scott

University of Michigan, ,
Ann Arbor, Mich.

MODERN TEACHING OF GRAMMAR.

In a recent number of the Atlantic Monthly, Professor Lid-
dell undertook to outline a course of study in English historical
grammar, a course intended among other things to furnish '' a
basis for a sane and practical didactic grammar, which will
represent to the student the real nature of his language." I
propose in this paper to indicate the relation in which descrip-
tive grammar properly stands to the historical side of the sub-
ject, and to offer some suggestions as to the rational method of
dealing with the former branch in elementary schools.

There are the best of reasons for keeping these two fields
separate and distinct. By descriptive or logical grammar I
understa'nd a systematic account of the structure of the lan-
guage as it exists to-day. It should exhibit the nature of the
sentence or proposition, its elements, and their relation to each
other. Historical grammar, on the other hand, is interested in
the changes which the language has undergone, in structure,
vocabulary, and pronunciation, and seeks to set forth the nature,
causes, and tendencies of these phenomena. The writer of the
article spoken of has clearly shown the absurdities of what he
calls the mediaeval study of grammar. He proposes to change
all that, not by merely amending it, but by setting it aside, and
putting in its place a course of historical grammar, as the only
means by which a stude'nt can reach a proper understanding of
the real nature of English speech.

igoo] Discussions 295

There can be no dispute as to the right of historical gram-
mar to a place in a properly arranged course of study. The
only question that can arise is in regard to the exact place it
should occupy. If it can be shown that the student may be led
to a clear understanding of the nature of English speech with-
out a preliminary historical introduction, and if it can be shown
further that some acquaintance with the present structure of
the language is necessary to a right conception of the changes
which have been going on for many centuries, we shall find it
necessary to reconsider the decision to do away with our school
grammars. Instead of throwing them to one side we should
set ourselves to the task of improving them.

It is quite within the power of a student ignorant of Magna
Charta, or the Petition of Right, to form a good working idea
of the various bra'nches of government, and the functions of
each. It will, of course, be very interesting and useful for
him by and by to trace the various steps by which these insti-
tutions came to be what they are. The student of physiology
is concerned with the organic structure of living beings. He
may profitably pursue this branch without any scientific knowl-
edge of the different orders of animal existence. Not only so;
but it must be borne in mind as well that in these branches we
shall be successful in comprehending the historical phenomena
just to the extent that we have previously become acquainted
with the corresponding institution or orga'nism in its present
state. The history of the past is quite unintelligible to one who
is wholly unacquainted with the present structure of society.
The quarrel about ship-money, or the tea duties, can have no
meaning to me unless I know something of the principles of
taxation as understood and applied to-day. Further, the bet-
ter acquainted I am with the structure of society about me, the
more intelligent will be my readmg of the history of the past.
The student of historical grammar who has a good understand-
ing of the structure of the English sente'nce, the elements of
which it is composed, and the relation they bear to each other,
is likely to make good progress in that field. He is in a posi-
tion to proceed analytically, and to trace back step by step the
various changes wrought by time and circumstance in the
speech of his fathers. The study of historical phenomena can-

296 Educational Review [October

not be carried on without a continued series of comparisons.
If historical phenomena in the field of language are intelligible
at all, they are so by reason of our having something to com-
pare them with, and this something is a form or idiom of
present-day speech. The better acquainted we are with the
forms of speech in use to-day the better equipped we shall be
for investigation in the historical field.

When we have done making merry over the absurdities of
scholastic grammar we shall be better employed in amending
the science than in denouncing it as useless. Let it be fully
and freely admitted that the early grammarians, coming to the
study of English fresh from the study of Latin grammar,
wrongly attempted to force the framework of Latin upon Eng-
lish. They attempted to build up a system of English gram-
mar on the narrow basis of inflections, in the face of the fact
that the tendency of English has been, and is, to get rid of its
inflections just as rapidly as possible. Growing out of this
was the mistake of regarding the word, rather than the sen-
tence, as the unit of the system. And, as a matter of course,
the modern scientific attitude was wanting. The tendency of
scientists was to set up theories as to the manner in which phe-
nomena ought to behave, and to look with a severe and mis-
trustful eye upon anything which seemed to run counter to
these preconceived and preordained rules. Here are mistakes
enough, surely, for one science — the wrong basis, the wrong
unit, the wrong method of study. Grammarians have failed to
recognize that English is an analytic tongue, that the sentence,
and not the word, is the unit of thought and speech, and that
grammar is one of the inductive sciences. The results are felt
in our schools down to the present day. The method of pres-
entation usually adopted in primary schools has formed a strik-
ing exception to the general practice of teaching a subject in
accordance with its " inherent, immortal rationality."

Profiting, then, by the mistakes of the past, recognizing the
futility of attempting to rear a superstructure of English gram-
mar upon the basis of inflections, and abandoning all precon-
ceived theories as to the constitution of the phenomena to be
examined, the student will proceed to the study of his material
in accordance with the principles governing procedure in the

1900] Discussions 297

sciences of classification generally. The phenomena must be
observed, compared, and classified. He must examine lan-
guage, but we cannot too strongly emphasize the fact that it is
only in so far as he is able to look beydhd the language to the
thought of which it is the expression that he is really success-
ful in reaching the subject-matter of the science.

He will find presently that thought forms fall naturally into
two classes, those with predicates, usually called sentences or
propositions, and those without, usually called terms or
phrases. The fact that this division rests upon a psychological
basis will be his justification for making it. The term is simply
a word, or g-roup of words, which serves as a connecting link
between a number of psychical elements, as '' the rose," " a
railway bridge," '*' Socrates." K proposition is the expression
of a process in which some particular element in a mental com-
plex is given prominence over the others, as " the rose is red,"
" Socrates was an Athenian."

The attention of the student of grammar must from the first
be riveted upon the judgment, because that is the essential
feature in every type of thought process. Very little reflec-
tion enables us to see that the notion, so called, is built up of a
series of judgments, each element in the total idea having been
incorporated by an exercise of this activity. The notion, as a
matter of fact, has no existence except in so far as it is built up
of judgments. This, again, is the justification of our choice
of the sentence as the ''unit" in grammar. The judging
activity reaches its full and determinate expression in the sen-
tence or proposition.

Having separated out the sentence as the adequate expres-
sion of a judgment from the mere phrase or term, we can now
go on to the classification of sentences; and bearing in mind
that our study of the sentence is a study of thought rather than
of form alone, we shall find that there are four kinds, differing
from each other in regard to the mental attitude of the speaker.
The emotional attitude gives us the exclamatory, doubt gives
us the interrogative, belief, the declarative, and will, the im-
perative. We have thus defined the se'ntence, first, by distin-
guishing it from the term, and second, by dividing sentences
into kinds on a logical basis.

298 EdMcational Review [October

The simplest analysis will show that the sentence naturally
falls into two parts, subject and predicate, or if the copula is
present, into three parts, subject, copula, and predicate. This
division into parts is not a mechanical separation of the words
composing the sentence. The distinction of subject and predi-
cate is based on an examination of the mental process of judg-
ment. It is of the very first importance that the student shall
clearly realize what takes place in the mind when a proposition
is uttered. We are not to think that there is first an idea cor-
responding to the term used as subject, and then another idea
corresponding to the term used as predicate, and that presently
we discern a relation between these ideas, and set forth that
relation in the form of a sentence. The act of judgment is
one and indivisible. What really occurs is this : we have first
before our minds a complex idea, and it is in the emergence
into prominence of some feature or aspect of this complex idea,
that the act of judgment takes place. We are in possession of
a term which stands for the first named complex idea, and one
which stands for the element upon which attention has been
fixed. The proposition, being made up of words, may be
divided into parts. The judgment is a single act, and cannot
be divided. The process described is, as in fact all mental
processes are, analytic. A whole or complex is seen to be made
up of parts, and these parts are distinguished and related.
The analysis of the sentence, then, is not a mechanical tearing
apart of forms ; it is an examination of the mental process ex-
pressed by the sentence.

The progress of thought, here as elsewhere, is from the vague
to the definite, and the vague idea of predication which, let us
hope, has been forming in the student's mind, must now be
cleared up. In other words, he must address himself to the
task of understanding the relation which the parts of the sen-
tence bear to each other. He must examine the process of
judging as it goes on in his own mind, before he can really
understand what predication is, and implies. He must make
his own thought the object of attention, a'nd observe the process
by which '' notions " are built up. He can best do this by
reafifirming the judgments which originally went to the making
of the idea. That is to say, if he can recall, step by step, the

I goo] Discussions . 299

successive* acts of judgment by which the various elements in
any given idea were incorporated, if he can mentally go over
the ground originally traversed in forming the idea in ques-
tion, thus in reality setting himself to work at the exercise of
judging, he will be in a position by introspection to observe
and describe the phenomenon which leads to predication. The
conclusion which we should expect him to reach, as a result of
this examination of familiar ideas and the elements of which
they are composed, would be that when we judge we have a
complex idea before our minds, and .pick out some particular
feature of it which takes our attention. When we have given
expression to this movement of thought in a form in which the
chosen element is made prominent, we have performed the
whole process of judging and predicating. Of course, it is
extremely unlikely that the young student will express him-
self in these terms. We need not give ourselves much anxiety
about the clothing of his ideas in scientific language. The
important matter is to see to it that he shall really make him-
self acquainted with the mental process, and apprehend the
relation between the process of thought and the form in which
it is expressed.

We must not shut our eyes to the fact that all this involves a
new attitude of mind for the student. It is true that in the
exercise just described he has been called upon merely to re-
affirm judgments already made, and it is equally true that his
whole mental life, when written out in full, consists of an enor-
mous number of just such acts of judgment as he is now en-
gaged in recalling. But it is also true, and this is the impor-
tant thing for the teacher to remember, that the student is now,
for the first time in his experience, making a systematic effort
to examine and describe his own thought processes. It is his
first serious essay in introspection.

If the student is able to understand, from this and similar
exercises, the meaning of predication, he will be in a position
to observe the modifying effect of the predicate upon the sub-
ject, and he will find, Jater on, that this is but one example of
the essential principle of all grammatical relation. To under-
stand more fully the modifying effect of the predicate, he may
be invited to examine a number of propositions in which the

300 Educational Review [October

different predicates are connected with the same term used as
subject.

Let us suppose that the learner has reached a fairly clear idea
of what is involved in predication. The next step would natu-
rally lead him to an acquaintance with the different kinds of
predication, verbal and real. We may observe once more that
in order to classify such propositions as " gold is yellow,"
'' pain is unpleasant," " circles are round," as examples of ver-
bal predication; and such propositions as "gold is found in
Yukon," '^ the pain was severe in the evening," " the circle
was four inches in diameter," as cases of real predication, it is
necessary that the student's attention be directed to the thought
underlying the form. He will presently see that no analysis,
however searching, of the bare idea of gold can ever bring
forth the predicate "found in Yukon"; whereas one of its
most salient characteristics is the predicate " yellow."

It may be remarked that all thru the course the teacher will
again and again find himself face to face with a serious tempta-
tion. It is so much easier to proceed by way of exposition
than by the slower, tho surer, way of compelling the student to
investigate for himself. It is also easy to go thru the form of
employing the inductive method, while in reality suggesting
the solution of the problem to the learner. What is required
is the maximum of investigation by the student and the mini-
mum of explanation by the teacher.

We have now got so far as to understand the nature of the
sentence as a whole; it has been analyzed into parts; and the
relation of these parts has been made plain. Up to the present
we have discovered three '' parts of speech," a substantive, a
connective, and an attributive. Taking as a type form the
proposition " Socrates is wise " we have a substantive
*' Socrates," an attributive " wise," and a connective " is."
Taking another type '' Socrates speaks," we have a substantive
and an attributive.

We have now to examine propositions to see what a further
analysis of the parts will yield. Obviously the first distinction
to make is between primary and secondary attributives, those
which directly affect the principal notion, and those which affect
it indirectly, that is, thru the predicate. The former may re-

1900] Discussions 301

ceive the name adjective, the latter, adverb. In the proposi-
tion " large birds fly swiftly," we have '' large," a primary, and
*' swiftly," a secondary attributive.

The articulation of the various members of this complex
structure which we have been studying must now be examined.
We found at the outset two parts joined by a copula. The
copula is the first connective. Others are employed to connect
subordinate portions of the structure, and these are to be classi-
fied. There are two of the principal characteristics of judg-
ment which have a direct bearing- upon the subject of connec-
tives, and afford a basis upon which to classify them. It is
usual to speak of the universality of a judgment, meaning by
that term that our judgments claim to be true for everyone.
They are intended to express objective truth, as well as sub-
jective thought. As we have seen, judgment underlies and
issues in the predication of an element or elements which are
thus set forth as related in a certain way; or, more briefly, judg-
ment is relation, and the sentence expresses that relation.
When we say that universality is a characteristic of judgment
we mean that the relations indicated by certai'n connecting
words within the sentence are to be taken as objectively valid.

The term '' necessity of judgment " is used to indicate, the
relation between one judgment and another. We are not free
to reach this or that conclusion at will. Necessity, then, is a
quality which does not belong to the judgment in itself, but
arises thru its dependence upon other judgments. The univer-
sal or objective quality of the judgment applies to the relation
of the various members of the sentence to each other; whereas
its individual or subjective quality belongs to its relation, as a
whole, with some other thought form. Connectives are of two
kinds, and the difference between the conjunction and the
proposition is found in the terms subjective and objective. It
will, of course, be sufficient for the student at this stage to
understand that one class connects the various portions of the
sentence, while the other connects sentences.

The foregoing analysis has revealed the existence of three
principal parts of speech. Attributives and connectives, how-
ever, being capable of division into kinds on the basis of sen-
tence function, we have in all five classes of words. Any fur-

302 Educational Review

ther sub-division of these classes must necessarily be carried out
on some other basis than the function they perform in the sen-
tence, and hence this completes one important stage or chapter
of descriptive grammar. We have now covered the ground
relating to the sentence as a whole, and the relation of its ele-
ments. The methodical classification of substantives, for
example, has nothing whatever to do with the relation in which
the substantive stands to the other members of the sentence.

Our survey of the sentence being complete, there only re-
mains the further subdivision of the '' parts of speech," before
being introduced to the study of inflections and substitutes for
inflection, a department which presently merges into historical
grammar. The w^ork already outlined cannot properly be
overtaken in less than two years, but the time is well spent. It
is to be observed that the mind of the learner has not been
clogged with mediaeval presuppositions. His attention has
been directed to the functions of words in the sentence, the
actual work they do. The word '' is," for example, is assigned
its true place in the sentence, that of copula or connective
merely, indicating the relation between the two principal parts
of the sentence. In a scientific account of the nature and ele-
ments of sentence structure there is no necessity to introduce
the ancient idea of " case " in substantives. The so-called ob-
ject of the verb is seen to be an example of adverbial relation;
it is an secondary attributive. The so-called possessive is
rightly treated as an example of adjective relation.

The foregoing course of study is valuable not only or merely
as a necessary preparation for English historical grammar,
but also, and perhaps chiefly, as an introduction to logic. But
it should clearly exhibit the relation between the judgment and
the proposition ; it should make the student acquainted with the
nature and kinds of predication, and the use and application
of the various kinds of terms; and, above all, it should give
him some familiarity with those important operations i'n the
discovery and verification of knowledge, definition and classi-
fication, and furnish him with adequate knowledge of the
canons for the intelligent criticism of definitions.

S. E. Lang

Department of Education,
ViRDEN, Manitoba

IX
REVIEWS

The school and society — By John- Dewey, Professor of Pedagogy in the Uni-
versity of Chicago. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 1900. 129
pp. 75 cents.

It is an encouraging sign of the times that men of superior
scholarship and rare insight are investigating problems of edu-
cation. One does not need a prophet's ken to predict that the
American school will, sooner or later, be entirely freed from the
errors of mediaeval traditions and from the follies of modern
charlatanism; for, on the part of those charged with leader-
ship, there is widespread the disposition to examine critically
and scientifically the whole field of education. Within the last
year or two a dozen or more very thoughtful and helpful books
have been given to the world by American educators, among
whom are such men as Presidents Eliot, Jordan, Oilman, and
Walker, Commissioner Harris, Nicholas Murray Butler, B. A.
Hinsdale, William James, and others. Truly such an output
furnishes grounds for belief that the emotional, or evangelistic,
era in our educational literature is rapidly passing away.

Among the men by whose labors education is assuming the
definiteness, the logical consistency, and the dignity of a science,
is John Dewey, professor of pedagogy in the University of
Chicago. In his latest contribution, The school and society,
which consists of four lectures delivered before parents
a'nd others interested in the Elementary School, a model school
conducted under his guidance, he fully sustains his reputation
for grasping essential truths and setting them before his listener
or reader without indulging in feeble platitudes or efTusive ex-
hortation.

The underlying thought thruout the series of lectures is that
the school should be an intensely practical institution, having a
real and a definite function in promoting the development of
the individual and of society, not in words, but in deeds; not

303

304 Educational Review [October

in learning, but in power; not in external forms of life, but in
that inner spirit which is the very essence of life, individual
and social. These sentences, which could be so multiplied as
to include the contents of the whole book, set forth the modern
ideal of education : *' The mere absorption of facts and truths is
so individual an affair that it tends very naturally to pass into
selfishness. There is no obvious motive for the acquirement of
mere learning, there is no clear social gain in success thereat."
'' But the great thing is . . . that each [man] shall have
had that education which enables him to see in his daily work
all there is in it of large and human significance." '' Learn-
ing ? — certainly, but living primarily, and learning thru, and in
relation to, this living." '' We want here to work out the
problem of the unity, the organization of the school system in
itself, and to do this by relating it so intimately to life as to
demonstrate the possibility and necessity of such organization
for all education."

In his first lecture, which treats of the school and social prog-
ress, he calls attention to the great industrial revolution which
has occurred during this century, and points out the fact that
the work of the school must be so modified as to meet the de-
mands of the new social order. As typical of the changes
taking place in the modern school, he selects manual training.
Attention is called to the great advantages in the way of prac-
tical instruction, of discipline and character building, which
were in former years afforded by the household and neighbor-
hood system of industrial life, a system which brought every
child into contact with things, which developed in him ideas
of personal independence and responsibility, and which, in a
natural and effective way, revealed to him his obligation to be a
producer in the world. The advantages of such efficient in-
struction are, under the present radically changed conditions of
concentrated industry and division of labor, very largely lost,
and the problem, as conceived by Professor Dewey, is : How
can the modern school be so organized as to supply this defi-
ciency? After sweeping away the insufficient reasons usually
given for manual training, he presents its real claims plainly
and thoroly, especially emphasizing the fact that it is the social
significance of industrial education that is most important.

1900] Reviews 305

He makes plain the truth that, by the introduction of occupa-
tions, the school becomes a genuine form of active community
life, and not merely a place for learning and saying lessons.

In the second lecture, in which the relations of the school to
the life of the child are considered, it is contended that in
modern education the center of gravity is to be found inside
the child, and that every factor of school work should be in
harmony with his nature, his needs, and his life. School exer-
cises are not to be artificial, but are to be planned to develop
these four interests : The interest in conversation and com-
munication; in inquiry, or in finding out things; in making
things, or construction; and in artistic expression.

In his third lecture, which is founded upon the two preced-
ing, it is shown that waste in education will be eliminated when
education becomes rationalized in conformity with the laws of
individual and social development. Children will no longer
simply mark time in the schoolroom or be trained in antisocial
habits, if their needs be known and satisfied, and if growth in
social capacity and service be recognized as the unifying aim of
all the work of the school.

The fourth lecture, in which is given a very interesting ac-
count of the Elementary School, should be carefully read by
all teachers and parents who have any desire to improve educa-
tional conditions. If anyone desires to obtain an adequate
notion of the ideal school, in this lecture he will find his desire
gratified. The Elementary School was begun, we are told,
with certain questions or problems in mind, and not, as schools
are usually founded, with all principles and practices definitely
fixed. These were the problems for which it was hoped solu-
tions would be found :

1. Can the school come into closer relation with home and
neighborhood life ?

2. Can subject-matter in history, science, and art, having
real significance in the child's own life, be introduced into the
school ?

3. Can instruction in formal branches, such as writing,
reading, and arithmetic, be closely correlated with everyday
experience, with occupations and with other subjects whose
content has inherent value ?

3o6 Educational Review [October

4. Can the work of the school be so organized as to insure
proper attention to the indivickial pupil ?

These questions have been studied assiduously by Professor
Dewey and the teachers of the Elementary School, and it is
believed that at the end of three years of patient and scientific
investigation, they are prepared to answer all the questions in
the affirmative, and to submit as evidence of the correctness of
their conclusions the work as it is actually carried on in their
model school. Their experiment has served to make clear
some fundamental principles of teaching, and it will, no doubt,
be the- means of inspiring similar experiments in different parts
of the country.

Concerning some doctrines advocated in the lectures, there is
much controversy. With respect to a very few propositions,
I myself cannot agree with Professor Dewey; but, as they are
of minor importance, it is not deemed proper to refer to them
in this review. Of the general spirit of the lectures and of the
application of the truths set forth, every believer in educational
progress will be ready to speak in terms of cordial commenda-
tion.

W. S. Sutton

The University of Texas

National question book — By Edward R. Shaw, Dean of the School of Peda-
gogy, New York University, New York : E. L. Kellogg & Co., 1899. xvi-j-
382 p. $1.00.

All sorts of books are being produced in the effort to meet
the rapidly increasing demand of teachers for technically pro-
fessional w^orks. The history of the production and develop-
ment of educational works in the last ten years shows an un-
questioned and radical change in the character of material
being produced, which must certainly point to a change in the
tastes and demands of readers of educational literature. There
is little doubt in the mind of anyone that the most recent educa-
tional works, many of which have had greater or less popu-
larity with teachers thruout the country, bespeak in their
readers a better equipment of culture, a more general demand
for a technically professional preparation for their work, and a
taste for those larger principles and ideas underlying the aims
and practices of teaching, which tend to give breadth and inspi-

1900] Reviews 307

ration to the practitioner rather than to engulf him in routine
and the petty details of the pedant.

In his preface the author of this book calls attention to the
need of helping the teacher '' to possess that equipment of
knowledge . . . which precedes mastery in methods. . . If
he have some system or plan of study by which he can both test
and measure his progress, advancement becomes at once easy
and encouraging. A standard so arranged as to make it widely
acceptable, and by which teachers can help themselves in mak-
ing professional preparation for teaching, has long been
lacking." The object of the book in general, then, as stated,
is that of affording such a standard and such "aid. It gives
questions upon a graded course of study, based upon the aver-
age requirements of normal schools thruout the country. The
questions and answers are classed as first grade, second grade,
and third grade, a classification in general use. A fourth
classification as " professional " is based upon questions se-
lected from the New York examination for State certificates.
The author claims that his book possesses a threefold advan-
tage. First, it furnishes substantially a syllabus to guide in
the thoro presentation of a study and to lead to the dis-
covery of omissions in teaching; second: The book is a source
from which to select examination questions as well as to sug-
gest new forms of these; third: The book affords help to the
teacher when he himself occupies the position of student; for
example, in making preparation for the passing of examina-
tions for teachers' certificates. The work does not include any-
thing touching the theory and practice of teaching, since in
these matters there is still great diversity of opinion and prac-
tice. Questions have not been included for writing and draw-
ing, since doing rather than an analysis counts in instruction in
these facilities.

In commendation of this book it may be said that it has been
prepared with care and painstaking. . In the light of its own
purposes it is well arranged and can be referred to readily.
The questions are almost universally simple, direct, and well
stated, and the answers to the same are exact. For a work of
its kind the book is remarkably free from typographical errors
and in every way gives the impression of having been prepared

3o8 Educational Review [October

at the expenditure of a great deal of time and labor as well as
care. But, on the other hand, it is to be doubted as to whether
the question-and-answer method is the right way in which to
guide the teacher to that larger command of culture and skill
which should go with his professional character. It is even a
grave question whether it has ever been demonstrated that the
use of works of this kind has ever proven a benefit to the
teacher at times of examination. If there has been any one
defect in the culture of teachers in the past it has appeared in
the fact that such culture lacked depth and breadth in its foun-
dation and dwelt altogether too much upon the surface of things
over which skimmed the questions and answers of the old-time
text-books. For this reason I think it right to raise the ques-
tion as to why works should be created which tend to perpetu-
ate the merely superficial reference to set questions and answers
as a means of preparation either for one's professional work or
for examinations. It is true that the questions and answers of
this work are arranged so as to be somewhat more than a mere
compilation; they have some logical connection and in the
majority of cases set forth the essentials. But, on the other
hand, there are subjects which such a work as this would find
it absolutely impossible to compass along with other subjects,
in any fundamental or adequate way. Mathematics, history,
literature, and geography are instances of this kind. The
biological and physical sciences are additional instances. They
all require in any teacher the acquisition of their ideas first
thru the avenues of experience and experimentation; and
when experience and experimentation have been had, the in-
dividual has the power of gaining help from any technical
compendium of the subject far more readily than he could
do it by reference to a national question book. It would seem
to be time to cease the preparation of professional works
for teachers which level their aims to the so-called average
teacher. It is possibly true that examinations are still carried
on which require the practice of superficial cramming on the
part of a profession which should be radically opposed to it.
But this is no reason why works fitted only to meet this require-
ment should be produced.

In my opinion this book cannot take rank among works of

1900] Reviews 309

an essentially professional order for the reason that it does not
furnish foundations for those who need them and has nothing
to offer those who are professionally or academically well
schooled. Nor does it meet its own aims, stated at the opening
of this review, in any liberal or professional sense.

Charles C. Van Liew
State Normal School,
Chico, Calif.

Romances of roguery — An episode in the development of the modern novel ;
Part I. The Picaresque Novel in Spain — By Frank Wadleigh Chandler.
New York ; Columbia University Press, 1899. 483 p.

Spanish Literature in the England of the Tudors — A study of the growth of
the Peninsular influence north of the channel — By John Garrett Underhill.
New York : Columbia University Press, 1899. 43^ P-

These volumes, issued under the authorization of the depart-
ment of literature of Columbia University, may be considered
from two points of view — as contributions to the history of
literature or as dissertations offered for the degree of doctor of
philosophy. From either point of view unquestioned excel-
lences may be noted in both volumes. In both there is given a
general introduction to the matter under discussion, and an
account more in detail of the relationships and influences under
investigation.

The scope of the treatment in the Romances of roguery, for
example, is indicated by the titles in the following table of con-
tents : the romance of roguery — its origins and early environ-
ment, the Spanish rogue, society thru the rogue's eye, crude
forms of the picaresque novel, the emergence of personality,
imperfect and allied forms, the decadence of the picaresque
novel, bibliography.

The method of treatment, which is an application of the
principle of development to the interpretation of literature, is
quite in harmony with modern university ideals, for Kuno
Fischer's comment concerning the study of the Faust, '^ To
understand this poem, we must first of all understand its
origin," characterizes an accepted method for the study of liter-
ary types in general. Dr. Chandler's aim, therefore, was to
give a comprehensive view of the growth of the picaresque (or
rogue) novel — its origin, rise, and decay — and to indicate its

3IO Educational Review [October

historical place in the development of modern fiction. It is,
says Dr. Chandler, because the picaresque novel, which devel-
oped in Spain, bridges over the gulf between the old story for
the story's sake and the new story of the ethical life, that is, the
novel of character, that it occupies so important a place in the
history of the development of fiction. Wherever the pica-
resque novel appeared — and, originating in Spain, it did appear
in all literatures from Spain to England — it marked a sure
progression toward the modern novel.

The process of development, by which out of a string of
anecdotes and tricks — the narrator being at first nothing more
than the sum total of the tricks — interest in the personality of
the narrator emerges, that is, the process by which interest in
the thing done comes finally to center upon the personality and
the character of the doer — this processes clearly shown. And
the importance of the novel as the chief literary form of the
closing years of the nineteenth century makes this discussion
timely and valuable.

The aim of Dr. Underbill in Spanish literature in the Eng-
land of the Tudors is to determine the influence exercised by
the literature of Spain and Portugal upon English literature
prior to the death of Elizabeth. This influence, according to
Dr. Underbill, has generally been overestimated.

We are given first an account of the close political relations
existing between Spain and England during a period of nearly
four hundred years. Henry II., near the close of the twelfth
century, gave his daughter Eleanor in marriage to Alphonso
VII. of Castile, and thereby inaugurated an alliance between
England and Spain — a policy almost universally followed by
his successors, until the refusal of the Virgin Queen, nearly
four centuries later, to enter upon the customary Spanish
matrimonial alliance brought to the coasts of England the great
Armada, and brought about a final reversal of the traditional
relationships between the two countries.

But tho Spain and England were thus associated in diplo-
matic relations, there was in England little interest in Spanish
literature. The dissemination of Spanish books, says Dr.
Underbill, was absolutely dependent upon the course of poli-
tics and commerce. Cultivated Englishmen when they trav-

1900] Reviews 311

eled went to Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, passing
often thru France, and thus becoming familiar with the litera-
tures of Italy and of France, but not with that'of Spain.

In 1 50 1, however, Catherine of Aragon was married to the
eldest son of Henry VIL, Arthur, Prince of Wales, and in 1509
to his brother, the merry monarch who has attained celebrity as
the greatest widower who ever sat upon the English throne.
The nobles who came in her train, and others maintained at the
English court for diplomatic reasons by the Spanish monarch,
awakened in the English court some interest in the literature of
Spain. In 1530 no Spanish book, we are told, had been trans-
lated into English. At the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth
(1558) scarcely a score of books of Spanish origin had been
printed in England, but in the second decade of the reign of
Elizabeth the tide of translation set in. By the close of her
reign one hundred and seventy volumes had appeared in Eng-
land, and these were fairly representative of the life and letters
of Spain. Every species of the literature of Spain, if the
drama be excepted, became, says Dr. Underbill, an object of
attention. The mass of printed matter having reference to
Spain and its dependencies undoubtedly exceeded, we are told,
that which bore upon any other nation.

And yet as these books were concerned mainly with the art
of war, navigation, discoveries, travels, diplomatic relations,
etc., and were thus ephemeral in their interest and influence,
the conclusion is drawn that the chief office of Spanish culture
abroad was to deepen the impression made by Spanish enter-
prise and arms, and that the greatest and only enduring Span-
ish literary influence was exercised by the picaresque story, out
of which developed the modern realistic novel. The origin,
rise, and decay of this influence have been traced by Dr. Chand-
ler in the companion volume noted above.

As doctorate dissertations these two volumes are certainly
creditable to the Department of Literature of the institution
from which they emanate.

At a meeting of representatives of the graduate clubs of
some of the more prominent American universities held at
Columbia University in December there was a discussion re-
specting the nature of the work that should properly lead to the

312 Educational Review [October

degree of doctor of philosophy. An exceedingly interesting
comparison might be made between the work that leads to
honors and degrees and emoluments in English, German,
French, and American universities — a discussion of the ideals
of Oxford, for example, where, notwithstanding the new re-
search degree, the way to academic distinction (an excellent
way of its kind) is the way of the examination on old, estab-
lished truths; where the clerk of Oxenford will still, as in the
days of Chaucer,

" Lever have at his beddes heed

Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed,

Of Aristotle and his philosophye."

if he would win a first in '' Greats," and an open door to
academic preferment; the ideals of German universities,
where the doctorate dissertation in its best estate is
limited to an extremely narrow field, but which in that
restricted field brings to light new facts, of little worth
in themselves, perhaps, but the discovery of which teaches
the young investigator a method of procedure that enables
him possibly in maturer years to plant new standards and
found new habitable colonies in Carlyle's '' immeasurable
circumambient realm of Nothingness and Night"; the
thesis for the new French degree, the ideal of which is
to be, perhaps, a resume of previous treatments of the
theme, the result of immense labor, possibly a convenient and
therefore valuable summary of previous researches covering
the whole field rather than a discovery of new facts in a re-
stricted portion of the field; and the work required and to be
required in American universities — which is sometimes of one
type, sometimes of another.

But while there may be thus discussion and comparison of
various ideals for determining fitness for academic honors,
there can be no discussion respecting the honor reflected by
these two dissertations upon the quality of work done in Co-
lumbia University, and especially upon the • stimulating influ-
ence of the professor of literature under whose advice and
direction these studies were undertaken and carried to com-
pletion. ^ -.

Richard Jones

Vanderbilt University,

Nashville, Tenn.

1900] Reviews 313

The Tarr-McMurry Geographies — First Book; Home Geography — By Ralph
S. Tarr, Cornell University, and Frank M. McMurry, Teachers College,
Columbia University. New York : The Macmillan Company, 1900. 279 p.
60 cents.

This is the first of a three-book series, all in the octavo form.
The scope of the first book is the so-called Home geography,
together with an elementary treatment of all the countries of
the globe. The second book is devoted to North America,
while the third will cover the remaining portions of the earth.

The first curiosity aroused in the reader's mind when he
finds a marked innovation upon traditional forms is to inquire
what effect the change has had upon the well-known features
that generations of text-books have impressed. In the case of
a series of octavo geographies, one would naturally inquire,
What will become of the maps? Opening the first book, one
is met with a pleasing surprise, for instead of the pinched and
obscure maps naturally expected, one finds that the map-makers
have achieved a triumph, for such a combination of artistic
elegance and legibility is rarely to be found in schoolbooks.
Where the region is small a single page suffices. Where it is
large double-page maps are used. But the charm of the maps,
so unexpected, is somewhat counterbalanced by disappoint-
ment in the illustrations. Most of them are half-tone repro-
ductions of large photographs, containing a mass of details,
which, when reduced to the small space that can be allotted on
an octavo page, become very indistinct. If, however, the
pictures themselves are inadequate, the authors have gone far
to overcome the disadvantage, for they have surpassed all
others in their use of them. Each illustration is numbered,
has a descriptive title, and is frequently referred to in the text.

A second important innovation is the presentation of a three-
book series. The most important consideration here is the
cost. Book publishers and public are interested at this point.
The first book sells at sixty cents, the second at seventy-five,
while the third can hardly be less than the second. This will
make a total of over two dollars for the series. Since, perhaps,
more than half of all the text-books in use are purchased direct
by the school board, any considerable increase in public outlay
for books is likely to be reflected in a corresponding decrease

314 Educational Review [October

in other expenses equally or more important for the welfare of
the schools.

This result is undesirable for many important reasons. The
publishers and authors are the only parties concerned in the
competitive aspects of the problem arising from the advanced
cost of the series.

When we come to examine the quality of the work itself we
are quickly convinced that we have before us a product of high
teaching, skill, and accurate scientific knowledge. The theory
of the treatment is that physiography is the basis of all correct
geographical knowledge, but that physiography is useless unless
it focuses upon human interests. The authors have gathered
under the title Home geography the elements of physical
geography commonly treated in modern elementary geo-
graphical text-books. The topics are as follows : the soil, hills,
mountains, valleys, rivers, ponds and lakes, the ocean, the air,
industry and commerce, government and maps. This is not
the Heimafshmde of the Germans. Its only warrant for the
name " home " lies in the most admirable '' suggestions " that
conclude each section, when the pupil is stimulated to make
observations in his own environment. These " Suggestions,"
by the way, constitute one of the most valuable features of the
whole series. They will be a rich mine for every teacher, and
will go far toward making future school-book writers on this
subject go to school to these authors.

Another teaching device, not perhaps so strikingly helpful,
is the " Review questions " that follow each section. They
are worked out in much detail, and each question is numbered.
It may be questioned whether any but the lower order of
teachers will take kindly to this device, since, if followed, it
spoils all spontaneity in questioning. Many will hold that the
topic idea is better, for the topic is suggestive to the child in
review study, while it gives the teacher free scope in ques-
tioning.

How shall we reconcile the modern theory that human
interests form the focus at which all geographical detail must
center, with the common practice, followed by our present au-
thors also, of presenting to the eye of the pupil what is really
only a primitive map, or perhaps better, a map of primitive con-

1900] Reviews 315

ditions. Except for a very few dots, the beautiful maps of
this book (and the next as weh) might serve for the period
when the poet could refer to the place

" Where rolls the Oregon and hears no sound save its own dashing."

Does this not mark a hiatus between the theory and its
application? Why should a child for years pore over maps
that omit the most momentous part of modern geography — the
means of communication. Geographers hasten to fill their
books with complicated relief maps, often no more intelligible
to the child than "the wrinkled visage of a European diplomat,"
yet neglect this factor, seemingly vastly more iniportant and
easier to understand. What is the average inland river? A
ditch for the land to carry off surplus water, a sewer for the
city. What is the modern railroad? The artery through
which flows the life-blood of the people. Both are indeed
needful, but why should the natural and primitive be empha-
sized and the human be forgotten ?

As a whole, the First Book appeals to one as simple, as
scientifically accurate, and as eminently teachable. It bears
the marks of painstaking labor on every page. That it will be
welcomed everywhere by teachers is a foregone conclusion.

Charles De Garmo

■^ Cornell University

Practical exercises in elementary meteorology — Robert De C. Ward.

^'J Ginn & Co. 1899, T xiii-j-igg p. 1.50.

Mr. Ward's Practical exercises in elementary meteorology,
which has recently appeared, ought soon to become the one
guide and companion, next to the weather itself, that any
teacher of weather phenomena would consider essential. The
Ijook is eminently practical in every way, and can be used in
everyday work by teachers of nature study or geography in the
elementary schools, of physical geography or meteorology in
the secondary schools, and of the principles of geography in'
normal schools and training schools for teachers. The author,
as a meteorologist and teacher of meteorology in college and
teachers' classes, has had a l^ody of experience that enables him
to speak with authority on all the points touched in his book.

3i6 Educational Review [October

Others may want to change his order of treatment of subjects
to suit their personal desires, but everyone will receive help
and enlightenment from Mr. Ward's concise, clear, and sug-
gestive statements concerning the applications of meteorology
to life, and from his sensible exercises for classroom use.

The author planned his book to help teachers of all grades;
but he does not make this clear in his introduction. Hence the
reader is a little at a loss for a time as to the audience ad-
dressed, and is somewhat puzzled until he finds that the exer-
cises progress in difficulty and comprehensiveness as the audi-
ence appealed to changes from teachers of children to those of
youths. In other words this book, accompanied by such a
volume as Davis' Meteorology as a text, would be the best pos-
sible guide for an adult who desired to take up the observa-
tional study of the weather without a teacher.

The aim of the book is therefore to help others put into prac-
tice the teaching of weather phenomena thru observations, in-
creasing in difficulty as the ability of the student advances.
The scope of the book is therefore broad, but the plan followed
is consistent and logical.

The author divides his book into five parts, devoted consecu-
tively to non-instrumental observations (to be carried on by
primary classes) ; instrumental observations (for grammar
grades); exercises in the construction of weather maps (for
upper elementary and secondary pupils) ; the correlation of the
weather elements and weather forecasting (for the same
grade of pupils) ; and problems in observational meteorology
(suggestions for extra advanced work for the better and more
interested pupils).

There are also about thirty pages devoted to the tables that
must be used by any student of meteorology every day, and
two appendices. The first appendix offers some suggestions
to teachers as to the use of the several parts of the book, and the
second considers in detail the equipment of a meteorological
laboratory, under the headings: instruments, text-books, in-
structions in the use of instruments, journals, charts, meteoro-
logical tables, illustrations, and general.

The well-trained teacher with this book, the current weather
maps, the Monthly zveather review, and a set of instruments.

igoo] Reviews 317

will be well equipped for successful work, if he can find the
time in the school curriculum to carry out his plans.

The book is very attractive in typography and general ap-
pearance, and is well illustrated by cuts and diagrams that are
graphic and very helpful. There are no illustrations inserted
for the sake of presenting pretty pictures; every cut and
diagram is for a purpose, and is effective.

A particularly strong feature of the book is the body of
suggestions as to graphic and tabular methods of noting obser-
vations, from which the principles of weather phenomena are
to be developed. Another valuable plan is that whereby all
the exercises in weather-map making are based on the same
series of phenomena, given for six days. At the conclusion of
the exercises a series of composite weather maps is completed,
which furnish the best possible examples for correlation of
weather phenomena in later work. Indeed the book cannot be
too highly commended for the careful arrangement of material
that secures advancement in the subject, and in mental training,
with the least waste of energy on the part of teacher and pupils.

We fear, however, that the book will be but little used among
elementary teachers, as the time is hardly ripe for efficient
work in weather study with young children, except at the
hands of specially trained progressive teachers. The volume
should, however, be much used by high-school teachers, and
ought to be of service in many college classes.

Mr. Ward's successful book, largely devoted to the weather
at home, demands as a running mate a book devoted to climate,
for the use of teachers in grammar grades. This is a topic
concerning which such teachers can secure but little well-
ordered inf ormatiorfv of a practical and 'helpful nature, and for
which the demand is constantly increasing, owing in part to the
incoming of commercial courses in high schools. We hope
that the author may soon give us the benefit of his help and
inspiration in this broader field, for which he is peculiarly well
fitted.

Richard E. Dodge

Teachers College,

Columbia University

3 1 8 Edticational Review

Algebra, mit Einschluss der elementaren Zahlentheorie — von Dr. Otto Pund,
Leipzig: Goschen, 1899. Bd. VI. of the Sammlung Schubert. 343 p.
4 marks.

This is a book that seems to supply a real need, and it is one
to be welcomed by progressive American teachers. Those
having charge of algebra in our best high schools and normal
schools like to keep abreast of the developments of the rapidly
changing science. This is often a struggle, for the Regents'
and other centralized examination systems tend to keep the
class-work down to the traditional topics and methods, and the
teacher has little opportunity to use the new, even when it is
unquestionably valuable.

In algebra we have had a few very inspiring works in Eng-
lish within the past few years. Chrystal, Fischer and Schwatt,
Oliver, Wait and Jones, and two or three other writers have
risen so much above the mediocre as to make their works of
great value to teachers. But none of these recent works has
made any serious effort to set forth the current of thought
of the Continental writers.

Few teachers have either the time or the taste to attempt to
read such algebras as Weber's (Lehrbtich der Algebra, 1895-
96), Netto's (Vorlesungen liber Algebra, 1896-99), or Bier-
mann's (Elemente der hoheren Mathematik, 1895), works
which set forth the development of the theory from Serret's
time to the present. Many, however, might find time for a
handbook epitomizing, as Dr. Fund's does, the elementary part
of these more elaborate treatises.

Some idea of the scope of the manual may be gathered from
the mention of a few of the topics of especial interest : the
theory of integers, including the study of primes and of con-
gruences; permutation groups, an elementary introduction to
the group theory, and the application of groups in the theory of
equations; determinants, extended somewhat beyond the simple
notation-work with which most teachers are familiar; higher
congruences and the quadratic residue; resultants and dis-
criminants.

David Eugene Smith

State Normal School,
Brockport, N. Y.

EDITORIAL

The severe criticisms upon the motives and
SkuaUo^n^'"^^"'' methods which led to the displacement of Mr.

Powell as superintendent of schools in Wash-
ington, that have abounded in the educational journals of the
country, are not very kindly received by the Washington news-
papers. To say that they miss the point of the criticisms is to
understate an obvious fact. It is not a logical or an effective
reply to a serious arraignment either to abuse the critics or to
assert coarsely that there is in the United States " a labor
union of organized superintendents," bent upon controlling
the management of all our city school systems. For the bene-
fit of those citizens of Washington who care to know what
the exact situation is, we shall restate it as we understand it.

The public schools of Washington, under Mr. Powell's
direction, have ranked in efficiency and progressiveness with
the best schools in the land. This opinion is held among
professional students and administrators of education with
substantial unanimity. Dr. Harris, United States Commis-
sioner of Education, within a few years made an exhaustive
examination of the Washington schools by direction of the
United States Senate, and wrote a most eulogistic report upon
them, stating that the only serious faults which he discovered
were in process of remedy. Within a few months so experi-
enced an observer as Mrs. L. W. Betts of the Outlook has
written in strong commendation of the work of the Washing-
ton schools. A jury composed of such highly-trained special-
ists as Superintendents Maxwell of New York, Brooks of
Philadelphia, Soldan of St. Louis, Seaver of Boston, Van
Sickle of Baltimore, Jones of Cleveland, Jordan of Minne-
apolis, Greenwood of Kansas City, Gove of Denver, Pearse of
Omaha, Dougherty of Peoria, and Gorton of Yonkers, would
promptly render a verdict of " successful administration," on

319

320 Educational Review [October

hearing the evidence in Mr. Powell's case and on inspecting the
schools themselves.

The ground of the present severe criticism is that all of these
facts, which are easily verifiable, counted for nothing, and that
for reasons best known to themselves a small but pertinacious
group of men and women were permitted to overturn the
school administration of Washington and to displace Mr.
Powell, with the connivance of various high officers of the
government and with the assistance of the most influential
\¥ashington newspapers. The vicious plan of paying a salary
to the members of the school board has been introduced, and
one man's influence, reactionary at that, has been permitted to
dominate the organization of the new board and to bring about
the election of one friend as assistant superintendent, that of
another friend as secretary, that of a former secretary as clerk,
and that of the first friend's landlady's son as messenger.

This is the situation as it presents itself to the public school-
men of the country, and to all those who are jealous of the
reputation and good name of the Nation's capital. They re-
sent Mr. Powell's dismissal, just as they resented the attack
on Mr. Jones at Cleveland and that on Mr. Seaver, Mr. Martin,
and Miss Arnold in Boston, and for the same reasons.

When the new charter for San Francisco was
Cisco ' adopted it was pointed out in the Educa-

tional Review that its provisions for a paid
school commission and for a division of educational responsi-
bility between the commission and the superintendent were
clearly mischievous and would soon prove themselves so. At
the time we were advised that they were the result of scheming
and log-rolling, and that the '* places " were already prom-
ised.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the viciousness of
the new plan has been already displayed, and that good citi-
zens are up in arms against the existing regime. Here are
some illuminating extracts from the San Francisco news-
papers :

igoo] Editorial 321

Many plain signs are abroad that the public schools of San Francisco
are lapsing into a deplorable condition.

The introduction of the worst evils of patronage into the school board
has caused widespread alarm among the teachers. Sinster devices are
used for subjecting the department to the coarsest favoritism. Tyros in
teaching are elevated over expert and experienced teachers, and by injurious
consolidation of classes and abolition of schools, room is made for the pets
of the board. The interests of the schools are not considered. The wishes
of parents are insultingly ignored. The requests of organizations of
citizens are unheeded, and teachers go to their daily tasks with that uncer-
tainty of tenure which is incompatible with good work.

It is peculiarly necessary to the most efficient teaching that the teacher
shall be free from the care and anxiety which arise in this state of uncer-
tainty. The board has fostered a system of envy, revenge, and self-seeking,
of tattling and backbiting, which is highly demoralizing. Indeed, if this
strange board has taken a contract to discredit the public school system,
to make it deserve all that its enemies say against it and to finally break
it down, its course would be explicable. We have had boards before, and
*' tough old boards," too, but all of their corruption, ignorance, and venality
put together has not injured the schools to the extent to which they are
being damaged now.

The law settles the tenure of a teacher, and the courts have many times
sustained it, to the great advantage of the department. Training the
young is a task of great delicacy and difficulty. It is of vast importance.
It concerns the future of the individual and of the country. The law,
therefore, has gone far in the direction of giving a vested right to teachers
in their employment, of -which they cannot be deprived without cause.
This is to secure the mental and nervous equipoise needful to the best
work in the schoolroom. The board has nullified all this by its cunningly
devised schemes of oppression, by which the very best teachers are easily
victims of the very worst and most unscrupulous. If the board were
acting under the advice and guidance of the most inveterate enemy of the
public school system, it could not do more injury to that system than it is
doing. — San Francisco Call, September 2, 1900.

Gentlemen of the board of education, do you know what you are
doing ? If not, kindly read the following brief review of the performances
you have furnished the taxpayers of this city with during your short regime
of eight months :

You have strangled the just system of promotion among teachers by
seniority of service ; destroyed the possibility of effective training by bad
classification, crowding some schools, emptying others, and increasing the
enrollment from forty-four to fifty-five in each class ; cast adrift by stupid
consolidations many of the most faithful teachers in the department ;
illegally suspended others, and without even permitting them to be heard
in their own defense ; closed three commodious rooms in the Grant
primary school and transferred the pupils to the already crowded Pacific
Heights grammar school, compelling little children to trudge up a height
of eight blocks, in the face of indignant protests from both teachers and

32 2 Educational Review [October

parents ; called in the professors of universities to assist you in compiling
a course of study, thus confessing your own inability to perform the work ;
and lastly, for some reason you undertook the repairs of school buildings
during vacation, and continued letting contracts until informed by The
Bulletin that the charter provided that the work should be done by the
board of works only.

These are but a few of your choicest performances, all of which have
a distinctive uniqueness in the school history of San Francisco. But the
gravest of all charges against you is that you have arrogated to yourselves
the power to suspend teachers without trial. You have deliberately and
with malice aforethought permitted the contemptible prejudices of puppet
principals to ride unchallenged over the appeals of the wronged under
teacher for redress. This is a grave charge, and yet you have confessed
your guilt. You ought to know, if you do not, that the charter clearly
stipulates that only " the superintendent, with his deputies, constituting
the city board of examination, has power to make suspensions, and then
only for the following causes : For immoral or unprofessional conduct,
profanity, intemperance, or evident unfitness for teaching, to recommend to
the board of education the revocation of any certificates previously granted
by the board."

If it were legal to suspend at the caprice of a principal, the life-tenure
system, instead of serving as an anchor of hope to the hard-worked, faith-
ful teacher, would become a mere delusion and snare. Had it not been
made law a few years ago, scores of teachers now in the profession would
surely have drifted into other avocations. But feeling that the new pro-
vision of permanency guaranteed them a living so long as they performed
their duties faithfully and well, they preferred remaining with their classes.
And yet the board of education with a single blow would strike the life-
tenure system to its death.

You are fast making a record, it is true, but it is one which can neither
bless the present nor the generations to come. — San Francisco Bulletin,
August 26, 1900.

The Cuban ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^ grave disappointment to many

Teachers at Har- persons to read in this issue of the Review
Mr. Clapp's opinion that the educational re-
sults of the visit of the Cuban teachers to Harvard University
were very meager. But even if this be so, it seems to us in-
disputable that in a larger sense the expedition was a great
success. The idea itself was a noble one, and its reception and
execution by Harvard University were very fine. The wide-
spread interest aroused in the problems of Cuban education,
and the new bonds of sympathy and understanding which were
undeniably knit between the American people and their new
wards, would repay much toil and expense.

1900] Edit or ia I 323

A very innocent proposal, emanating from the
and^State^L^Ger- Federation of Women's Associations in Ger-
"lany many, has roused a storm of protest from

some of the fine old conservative schoolmen of that country.
The proposal was nothing less than that all of the German
governments should undertake the systematic development of
kindergartens and should found training schools for kinder-
garten teachers. Herein, however, was discovered an appall-
ing list of evil possibilities, social, political, and educational.
Herr Beetz of Gotha, whose political affiliations (were he an
American) are obvious, denounced the plan in a memorandum
which we reproduce, in part because of its lack of knowledge
and in part because of its lack of humor. "

A. — I. {a) The history of civilization proves the family to be the basis of
all moral development. The family is the first, most natural, and most
indispensable place of education — not only of the children, but also of the
parents.

I {b) The kindergarten encroaches, without justification or understand-
ing, on these inalienable rights and duties, and thus injures the moral
training of individual children, and also hinders the progressive moral
development of the parents.

II. {a) Sociology shows the family to be the foundation of the state. It
is the first and most important source of national strength, physical, intel-
lectual, and moral, in all struggles — internal or external.

II. {b) The kindergarten, by relieving the family of its most important
rights and duties, contributes to its decline, and undermines the founda-
tions of the state and the welfare of the community.

III. {a) As state officials and citizens it is our duty (i) to ruthlessly
oppose the kindergarten ; (2) to work with all our power to secure and
ennoble family life.

III. {b) In all cases in which family life is destroyed by death of the
parents or thru their social or moral ruin, the children must be
entrusted by the order of the state to the care of trustworthy families,
or, if this be impossible, committed to asylums and reformatories. An
unnatural and useless means of improving the standard of education in
the family is to give pedagogical instruction to girls at school.

B. — I. The school is the natural and necessary fellow-worker of the
family in the task of instruction and education, but only (i) at the right
time, when the children are mentally and physically ripe for school ; (2) in
proper measure, within the limits that are naturally set by the intelligence
and disposition of a child of fourteen years; (3) in the right manner, based
on psychological and ethical principles.

II. As teachers we reject the kindergarten — nay, we strenuously
oppose it— because its scientifical justification rests on a misunderstanding
of child nature; (i) it subjects the children to instruction of refined

324 Educational Review

artificiality at an age when the mental and physical conditions for bene-
ficial instruction are not fulfilled ; (2) it employs faulty methods to accom-
plish its aims.

Herr Beetz's theses remind us not a little of the articles on
various phases of education with which American literary
magazines seem to delight to worry their readers.

The only instances of the conferring of Ph. D.
Notes and News as an honorary degree at the Commencement
season of 1900 which have been brought to
our attention are as follows :

AuGUSTANA College, Rock Island, 111. : O. N. Nelson; Inez
Rundstrom; S. E. Plummer; E. F. Bartholomew; Philip
Dowell; C. W. Foss; J. A. Udden; O. W. Oesthead.
Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kan. : S. G. Youngert.

During the past winter persons well informed in educational methods
and means, after a study of the system and course in use here, expressed
their disapproval of the same. Their views soon spread over the commu-
nity, andjthe result was a complete investigation of the District school sys-
tem by a committee of the United States Senate. — Washington Star, Sep-
tember 17, 1900.

The important questions which the public-school teachers of
this country and the most intelligent and public-spirited citizens
of Washington wish to have answered are :

(i) Who are the "persons well informed in educational
methods ? "

(2) What are their credentials? Why should they be
deemed competent to judge of the effectiveness of any course
of study or methods of teaching?

On September 14 Mr. Thomas Davidson died in Montreal,
Canada. Mr. Davidson's vast erudition, his literary and
philosophical insight, and his absorbing interest in educational
ideals and methods made his contributions to the literature of
education unusually influential and significant. A profound
and constructive study of the philosophy of education, which
was perhaps his last completed literary work, will appear in the
Educational Review for November.

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

NOVEMBER, igoo

I
EDUCATION AS WORLD-BUILDING^

The fundamental difference between the lower animals and
nan lies in this, that, whereas the former live in a world of
^^^ensations, the latter lives in a world of things; or, to put it
efhei-wise, whereas the former merely group, and respond to,
tl.c?^ rensations, the latter goes further and refers the groups
to unexperienced beings, or things, which he strives to hold by
means of symbols, visible or audible.^ The visible symbols
are the material of religion and art; the audible, of logic and
science. Intelligence — of which religion and science are the
two chief manifestations — as distinguished from sense, consists
just in placing something behind, or under, our sensations.
This act is called hypothesis, hypostasis, or supposition; that
which results from the act, essence, substance, subject, idea,
reality, cause, thing-in-itself. The function of intelligence,
therefore, is the placing of essences or causes behind groups of
sensations, and defining them by means of these. Strictly
speaking, these essences or causes are not known, in the sense
in which sensations are known. They are objective, whereas
sensations are subjective. When, for example, I refer a cer-
tain very complicated group of sensations to an essence or
cause, and name it John Smith, I know very well that I never
reach him as a subject, never feel his toothaches or his love-
pangs. Only from certain experiences of mine do I suppose

' An address prepared for delivery at the New School of Methods, Hinghftm,
Mass., and published by the courtesy of the American Book Company. ^

' Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book I., chap. I.

326 Educational Review [November

that he has these. The only being I can ever know as a sub-
ject is myself. All other beings, as subjects, are to me hypo-
thetical essences or causes; and to this extent agnosticism is^
and must always be, a fact. It is, however, a very encourag-
ing one, being the guarantee of my eternal individuality. If
one subject could penetrate another, then all individuality
would be lost.

In the early stages of its career, intelligence, influenced by
hopes and fears,^ placed behind its groups of sensations fan-
tastic essences or causes — first demons or gods, then ideas
— which it then proceeded to endow with attributes by no means
necessary to account for these groups. The result was, first,
mythology, then metaphysics of the Greek sort. Intelligence
reached the scientific stage when it endowed its hypothetical
essences with only those attributes which the groups of phe-
nomena united by them demanded for their explanation. Then
the group of phenomena called a tree was no longer referred to
a dryad, nor the group called a planet to a spheral intelligence,
influencing human destinies. It was only, as in the case of
man, when the group of phenomena could not be explained
without the supposition of an intelligence, that such was
assumed. William of Occam was on his way to true science
when he laid down the rule : '' Beings are not to be multiplied
unnecessarily," Entia non sunt muUiplicanda prccter necessi-
tatem; but he would have done well to add, " nor are they to be
furnished with unnecessary attributes." In truth, science con-
sists in referring phenomena to their true causes and carefully
defining and distinguishing these causes.

In dealing with the question of education, the three impor-
tant questions are : ( i ) What is the being to be educated ? (2 )
Wherein does education consist? (3) What is the result
aimed at in education? We may deal with these in their
order.

I. What is the being to be educated? or what is the human
subject or soul? Various answers have been given to this
question by mythology and metaphysics. We have been told

'"Faith is the hypostasis [the placing behind the sensible world] of things-
hoped for." — Hebrews xi. i. No better definition of faith could be given.

1900] Education as world-building Z'^7

that it is a divine breath, a fallen angel, an idea, a pure form,
an entelechy, and so on. But if we leave these obsolete sciences
aside, and ask what we know the soul to be, resolved to be con-'
tent with that, we come to a very different result. And here
each of us has the advantage of being, for once, behind the
scenes. Each has only to ask himself. What do I know myself
to be? And if he answer honestly he will, I think, say : '' I am
a feeling, or sensibility, modified, in innumerable ways, by in-
fluences which I do not originate. These modifications, when
grouped, are what I call the world, or my world, for I know
no other. I am the sentient unity of a sensible world." When
first stated, this answer is apt to call forth this question : " Are
you not rather something which feels, subject of feeling, a feel-
ing substance? " There is here a fatal trap, laid for us by our
habit of referring actions to things, in the material world. We
may reply in this way : ^' Does this something, subject, or sub-
stance enter into feeling? If it does, then it is feeling; if it
does not, then I know nothing about it, and the assumption of
it necessarily leads to absolute agnosticism. Hence all I know
of myself is, that I am a feeling.''

2. Wherein does education consist ? We have seen that the
permanent feeling, which I am, is modified in manifold ways,
and that these modifications, when grouped and articulated,
are what I call my world. We usually set ourselves over
against our world, as if we were one thing and it another; but
the truth is, the two are one; our world is wholly our feeling,
wholly subjective, except in so far as we place hypothetical
essences behind different groups of our feelings, thereby trans-
forming them into things. It is interesting to reflect that the
only non-felt, the only objective, element in our world is that
which we, by our own act, posit, as independent of, and exter-
nal to, our feeling. But the question is, Why and how do we
group our sensations, and then transform them into a world of
things? This brings out the fact that there is, in the feeling
which I am, an element not yet described, an element which
reacts upon sensation and is, therefore, active. This we may
call desire. It is an effort after satisfaction, that is, the largest
possible amount and variety of feeling. But such amount and

3^8 Educational Review [November

variety are possible only when feelings are grouped, so as to be
easily surveyable and graspable. Ease in grasping we call pleas-
ure, difficulty in grasping, pain. In grouping our feelings,
therefore, we are merely seeking pleasure and shunning pain.
Moreover, in placing permanent hypothetical essences behind
groups of sensation, we are merely determining for future use
sources of satisfaction.* Our world in so far as it consists of
things, is purely teleological, and, no doubt, if our satisfactions
were different from what they are, our world would be differ-
ent. We may, indeed, say, in a word, that the world is purely
a means of satisfaction. What else could it be? That is why
we create it. We can show the creative process in a very dis-
tinct case. Number is in itself a mere succession of units.
But to grasp many units, as such, is difficult and painful. We.
therefore group our units into tens, our tens into hundreds, our
hundreds into thousands and so on, and thus for practical pur-
poses, and for these only, conveniently and easily grasp them.
These tens, hundreds, thousands are, in the abstract world of
number, just what things are in the concrete or sensible world.
Indeed, Pythagoras and many others have regarded numbers
as things capable of exerting influences, that is, of acting; and
even at the present day superstitious people talk about lucky
and unlucky numbers. Next comes the question, How do
we create the world? The answer. By association or
grouping.^ Sensations that are similar we put together and
name with an adjective; different sensations that re-
peatedly come together we unite by means of an essence,
and name with a noun. In this way we obtain an adjective
world and a noun world, or, as we sometimes say, an
abstract world and a concrete world; and conscious ex-
perience consists of judgment, in which elements of the
former are identified with aspects of the latter, e. g., The

* " And what hovers in unsteady appearance
Do ye steady with endowing thoughts."

(The Lord to the Archangels). Faust, Prologue in Heaven.
* We are continually changing the world, in order to make it more satisfactory
to us. What satisfies the savage does not satisfy the cultured man ; what satisfies
the Turk does not satisfy the American.

The verb is of the nature of the adjective. Categories are universal adjectives.

1900] Education as world-building 329

horse is white. When we think that the abstract is derived
from the concrete, we think the exact opposite of the truth; the
concrete is built up out of abstract by grouping and hyposta-
sizing. Sensations that occur separately we group by means
of time; sensations that occur together by means of space.
The two combined give us the group, behind which we may
place an essence, substance, or cause. Thus the world is built
up by means of time, space, and cause, out of sensations
grouped by desire for the sake of satisfaction. With so much
promised, we can easily see that education consists in enabling
a human being to construct a certain kind of world. Just what
the nature of this world is will be made clear in answering the
question

3. What is the result aimed at in education? That the hu-
man being will, under any circumstances, build up some kind of
a world is clear. To a large extent he does so unconsciously,
and without any effort. But there are worlds and worlds.
The world of the street waif who picks pockets and goes to
the reformatory or jail is very different from the w^orld of the
great scientist, philosopher, artist, or statesman. The former
can be built up without any education, the latter cannot. The
former affords few, small, and brief satisfactions; the latter
many, great, and permanent ones. Since the human being is a
sentient desire, which from its very nature demands the
highest and most varied satisfaction, the aim of education must
be to enable him to construct a world capable of yielding such
satisfaction. At first sight this may seem a very selfish, almost
sordid view of the world, and of life as conditioned by it, but
when properly understood it is not so, as even the authors of the
old Westminster Catechism knew, when they declared that
** Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."
Enjoyment, or satisfaction, of some sort must be the end of
every desire, such as the sentient soul is. And this brings me
to my first thesis :

A. The aim of all education, as of all life, is the evolution of
the social individual in knozvledge, sympathy, and zvill.

If this and what has been said above be both true, it follows
that man finds his highest satisfaction in knowledge, sympathy,

330 Educational Review [November

and will, and that he does so as a social individual. This must
now be shown by a further analysis of human nature.

The human soul, as we have seen, is originally a sentient de-
sire, or a desiderant feeling, which thru experience gradu-
ally differentiates and articulates itself into a world. In the
course of this process the sentient aspect of the soul gradually
organizes itself into intelligence, while the desiderant, or cona-
tive, aspect, co-ordinated with intelligence, becomes will. This
process is never complete, so that there always remains in the
soul a certain residuum of unintelligent, unvolitional (in-
stinctive) desire, which we nowadays distinguish into passions,
appetites, and emotions, but which may properly be called sym-
pathy, or love. In one aspect the whole ethical problem has to
do with the conflict between that part of the soul which is dif-
ferentiated into intelligence and will and that part which is
not, or, as the Greeks said, between the rational and the irra-
tional part. The moralist tries to discover and teach how the
former may be enabled to regulate the latter without injuring
or enfeebling it. Sympathy, or love, must be made rational,
without ceasing to be instinctive. In this developed condition
the human soul is a tri-unity of intelligence, sympathy,
and will, standing in a threefold relation to its world. As
intelligence, it knows and learns, that is, widens its world;
as sympathy, it clings to certain known objects and tries to in-
crease their number; as will, it makes such changes in its
world as shall render it more satisfactory, that is, more know-
able and more lovable. Let us here observe that every change
in the soul means a change in its world. Increase of knowl-
edge is increase of world; increase of sympathy is increase of
loveable objects, or of aspects in objects already loved; increase
of will is increase of changes in the world.

If, now, the soul from its very nature demands the highest
satisfaction, this must mean, for the developed soul, satisfac-
tion of intelligence, of sympathy, and of will; and education
must mean instruction and practice in the method of reaching
such threefold satisfaction. Moreover, since the most impor-
tant part of the world of each individual soul is a society of
souls assumed to be like itself, and since its satisfaction is en-

1900] Education as world- building 331

tirely dependent upon its world, it follows that it is only as a
social being that any soul can find the highest satisfaction, or
requires education.^ It is needless to add that, since all educa-
tion is education for life, life and education have the same end.

My second thesis, following directly from my first, is that :

B. The evolution of the individual is the evolution of an
ordered zvorld in his consciousness.

If this is true, the aim of education must be the evolution of
such a world: education is world-building.

As we have already said, every individual spontaneously and
almost unconsciously builds some sort of world up out of his
experience. It may be more or less poor and chaotic; still, it
is a world — his world. World-building is not confined to hu-
man beings, but is a function of everything that lives. The
oyster, the clam, and the microbe have each its world. That
man is a better world-builder than these is due to the organiza-
tion with which he sets out. The body, is a world-building
machine, itself due to the world-builder.'^ The newborn child
is already, thru a long process of evolution, handsomely
equipped for world-building, and his labor is greatly lightened
by society.

Now, the extent and richness of the world which any living
thing constructs depends upon two conditions, its capacity for
manifold experience, and its power of arranging or classifying
that experience. The former of these, again, depends upon the
number and acuteness of the senses; the latter, upon the force
of the primitive desire for satisfaction. If the products of the
senses are few and similar, the world will consist of few
elements; if the organizing desire is feeble, the products will
remain unclassified and, again, give a meager world, because
no soul can grasp many elements without classifying them.
We may say, then, that the evolution stage of any being is de-
termined by the extent and complexity of its world, which,
again, depend upon its power of organizing a large experience.
It follows directly that education is instructive in world-build-

• Rousseau's ^mi7f maintained the opposite. Hence its perversity.
' " For soul is form and doth the body make." — Spenser,

332 Educational Review [November

ing, that is, in acquiring a manifold experience and in organ-
izing the same.

It is evident that world may differ from world either in con-
tents, in mode of organization, or in both. As to contents,,
the world of a savage, an unlettered peasant, an Italian boot-
black, or a coral diver, differs very widely from the world of
an Emerson, a Lincoln, a Queen Victoria, or a Pope Leo XIII.
The coral diver would be as much at sea in the Vatican as Pope
Leo in the water df deeps. But even when worlds have prac-
tically the same contents, these may be so variously arranged
as to form widely different worlds. This is shown in the case
of twins who have had almost exactly the same experience.
One will organize a poetic world, the other a dull prosaic world.
One may have a world that makes him a saint, the other a
world that makes him a criminal. The saint has a saintly
world; the criminal, a criminal world. There is as much dif-
ference between worlds as between a wigwam and a palace,.
as between a Greek temple and a Gothic cathedral. A wigwam
world is the world of a savage; a palace world, the world
of a prince; a temple world, the world of the rounded man
of culture; a cathedral world, the world of the saint. Each
of these worlds is organized upon a different principle.
The wigwam world is based upon immediate physical
need; the palace world upon ambition to command; the
temple world, upon love of beauty and harmony; the cathedral
world, upon a mystic longing for union with the Supreme
Being, involving freedom from all the trammels of earth. It is
an interesting question for a man to ask himself : What sort of
a world have I, and upon what principle is it organized ? The
answer, if honest, is often a surprise.

It will be observed that the principle upon which every world
is organized is some form of desire, need, or longing; and the
same is true of the principle upon which the component ma-
terials are selected. Every world is a means of satisfying de-
sire, and derives all the significance it possesses from such
desire. When we say that the world or life has become mean-
ingless to a man, what we mean is that the world into which he
has organized himself no longer affords him satisfaction.

1900] Education as world-building 333

Poor Hamlet, finding his world such that it offers him no field
of action, calls it '' a rank unweeded garden," and Macbeth,,
having by crime disorganized his world, cries out that he is
" aweary of the sun," and gives his despairing view of life in
the speech beginning, " To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-
morrow." What we call pessimism is nothing but the outcry
of men who have not succeeded in organizing a world satis-
factory to their desires. The pessimist proclaims himself a
failure in world-building; that is all.

When in the theses which I am treating I use the word
" individual," I mean, of course " social individual," there
being no other. It follows that the world which education
seeks to evolve in the consciousness of the individual is a social
world; that is, that it is not determined by him alone, but partly
by his social environment. Were there but one substantial
feeling or soul in the universe, and it could by itself deter-
mine itself into a world, such determination and such world
would be absolutely capricious. The sole world-builder would
be hampered by no conditions. But such is not the state of the
individual human soul. It has to deal with experiences which
it does not originate: the materials of its world are largely
given to it with a character of. their own. It turns out, in fact,,
that they are aspects of materials belonging to other worlds^
and largely determined by other world-builders, whom we
come to suppose. To illustrate : I experience, and fit into my
world as best I can, a blow which I have not originated, but
which, if my world is sufficiently organized, and the agencies
in it attributed to hypothetical beings, I may ascribe to you;
that is, I may hold that what is a passive element in my
world is an active element in yours, and largely deter-
mined in its nature by you and your world. Now, so far
as I can see, the entire material of my world is of the
nature of this blow, on the one side or the other; it is
made of actions which I originate or which I undergo. It is
needless to say that indirectly, thru my body, Imay undergo
my own actions. The important point to note is, that
each individual in building his world has to reckon with other
worlds and other world-builders, and these too of all grades.

334 Educational Review [November

We have all to reckon, not only with the worlds of our fellow-
men, but also with those of mosquitoes, microbes, and plants.
It is this necessity of reckoning that makes us social and moral
individuals, that supplies us with a norm of action, and prevents
Its from being capricious. If we try to form in our minds a
picture of the universe, as a whole, we must conceive it as an
infinitely multitudinous complex of desiderant feelings, mutu-
ally causing experience in each other, and each, out of this
•experience, building up its own world in such a way that it is
in large measure dependent upon all the rest. It is obvious that
that soul which can relate itself in the most varied and har-
monious ways to the largest number of other souls and their
worlds, will have the richest world of its own, that is, will have
the most complete satisfaction or blessedness. Wordsworth
lias expressed this in his own way :

" He who feels contempt
For any living thing, hath faculties
Which he has never used."*

Faculties unused mean a defective world and defective satis-
faction. Aristotle implied the same doctrine, when he defined
Iiuman good as " an actualization of the soul in accordance
with worth " ® (or earnestness).

My third and last thesis is, that

C. Ethical life depends upon the completeness and harmony
■of the zvorld evolved in the individual consciousness.

Most educators are agreed that the aim of education is
-ethical life; but there is considerable disagreement as to what
such life means. In spite of this they all agree in this funda-
mental position, that ethical life is a life in harmony either with
environment or with that which controls environment. It
lias been defined above as a life dependent upon the existence
of a certain sort of world on the individual consciousness.
This view does not contradict the rest: it merely involves a
different view of the nature of the world. The existence of a
•certain sort of world in the individual consciousness involves a
certain harmony between it and its environment. Harmony

* Lines Left on a Yew-tree Seat.

^ Nicomachean Ethics, Book I., § 7 (fi'X^s iv^pyeia Kar aper-qv).

I poo] Education as world-building 335

within and harmony without are two aspects of the same fact.
The microcosm is an aspect of the macrocosm. The one is
.what it is because the other is what it is. When Plato found
that the state was the individual writ large, he was on his way
to a truth — which Aristotle later expressed somewhat para-
doxically— when he said : '' The state is prior to the indi-
vidual." ^^ What they meant was that, unless the individual
had the state organized within himself, he never could be a
worthy member of it, never be a social individual. ^^ And noth-
ing is truer than this, unless it be that, until the individual soul
has the entire universe organized within himself, he cannot be
a true or worthy denizen of it.

Moral life, then, consists in harmony with environment, and
this demands the organization of an inner world to make it
possible. In a narrower sense it means harmony with our
fellow-beings, which again implies the existence of an inner
world in which these beings are duly respected and cherished.
This is expressed in the old Hebrew command, " Love thy
neighbor as thyself," as well as in the Kantian maxim, "" Act
.so that humanity in thine own person, as well as in every other,
is always treated by thee as end, never as mere means." The
question now is : On what principle shall this inner world be
organized ?

It is entirely possible to conceive, as organized in conscious-
ness, a world of distinct objects no one of which attracted more
interest than another. Indeed, this would necessarily be the
-case with a purely intellectual being, if such were possible. Of
•course, such a world, furnishing no material for choice, could
not form the basis of moral life, which at every step implies
choice. Nor is this the human world. The human being as
we have seen is fundamentally a sentient desire, and all his
choices and consequent activities are directed to the satisfac-
tion of desire, that is, to the determination and enrichment of
himself. A moral world must be one in which there is room
for choice, 'that is, in which objects have different values for
the satisfaction of desire. A perfectly moral world would be
one in which all objects were stamped with their values for this

"^^ Republic. ^^ Politics, I., 2 ; 1253a 19, 25.

336 Educational Review [November

end, and loved and made motives for the will, in accordance
with this stamping, ^schylus had a fine insight into this
fact, when he called the spring of all wrong-doing false
coinage ^^ {napanoTtd), and so had Dante, when he wrote:
" Neither creator nor creature . . . ever was without love,,
either natural or spiritual. . . The natural is always without
error, but the other may err thru evil object, or thru too-
little, or too much, vigor." ^^ In other words, the funda-
mental or natural desire which each one is cannot err, since
it must seek its own satisfaction, whereas the special desires
may distribute themselves otherwise than in accordance with
the true worth of things, and thus cause sin. Sin arises from
the false distribution of affection, and the Greeks were right
when they said that education consisted in teaching to love
and hate correctly.

We can now see that the inner organized world upon which
man's life depends is a world in which intelligence has set upon
everything a value expressing its utility for the satisfaction of
desire, in which affection adheres to things in proportion to
their value, and in which will employs as motives things as so
valued and loved. If we attributed to everything in our world
the value which really belongs to it, and acted accordingly, we
could not well do wrong; our life would be entirely moral.
For the highest moral life one more condition is necessary : the
world must be as large as possible. It is possible to be moral
on a small scale with a small world; but it is impossible to be
moral on a large scale without a large world. Perfect morality
would have to take account of the entire universe. To create
in the child's mind a world of ordered values, and to make that
world as large and varied as possible, is the aim of the moral
teacher.

Since the motives and ideals of every soul are furnished by
the contents of its world, it is plain that, as the world is, so will
the life be. If the world is narrow, the life will be narrow; if
it contains but small motives and beggarly ideals, the life will
be meager and low. If the values are disordered, the life will
be disordered and criminal. If, on the contrary, the world

"^^ Agamemnon, 223 ; Eumenides, 329. ^^ Purgatory, XVII., 91--96, J

cpoo] Education as world-building 337

be large, and the values duly ordered, the life will be rich,
full, and lofty. There are as many worlds as there are
men. Some are small but well-ordered; some small and ill-
ordered; some large and well-ordered; some large and
ill-ordered. Some again are rigidly bounded; others are
continually expanding. The small well-ordered world
gives us the ordinary respectable citizen, who conforms to
the current morality, offends no one, attends to his family,
and his business, leaves a good name behind him, and has a
gravestone in the cemetery. Such men form the stable ele-
ment in every society, and it is well that there. are many of
them.^* The small, ill-ordered world gives us the burdens of
society, the parasites and ordinary criminals, the men and
women who are in destitution, or else are trying to save them-
selves from it by some form of beggary, theft, or violence.
Such a world is poor, fragmentary, and confused; the values
and emphases are all misplaced. It usually contains elements
altogether irrational and incapable of co-ordination into any
world — prejudices, superstitions, supernaturalisms,^^ and the
like. The large well-ordered world gives us the saints, heroes,
and benefactors of humanity, the thinkers, statesmen, and re-
formers, the introducers of ideals, the founders of institutions.
The large ill-ordered world gives us the great reprobates and
criminals, the Macbeths, the Neros, the Napoleons. The
rigidly bounded world gives us the narrow conservative, the
" old- fogy," or, sometimes, the fanatic of one idea; the con-
tinually expanding world gives us the liberal, the reformer,

'* Rousseau, imagining what his life would have been if he had finished his
apprenticeship, says : '' In the bosom of my religion, my country, my family, and
my friends, I should have spent a quiet, gentle life such as befits my character,
satisfied with the uniformity of work suitable to my taste, and of a society appeal-
ing to my heart. I should have been a good Christian, a good citizen, a good
husband and father, a good friend, a good workman, a good man in all respects.
I should have loved my profession — honored it perhaps, and, after having lived
a life obscure and simple, but even and gentle, I should have died quietly in the
bosom of my family. Soon forgotten, no doubt, I should, at least, have been re-
gretted as long as I was remembered." — Confession, Pt. I., Book I., ad Jin.

"* It is interesting to note that in the Shaksperean plays the supernatural, when-
ever introduced, disorganizes life, rendering morality impossible. So, e.g., the
witches in Macbeth, and the ghost in Hamlet.

338 Educational Review [November

who, instead of fixing his eyes on the past, is continually look-
ing into the future, and making plans for rendering it better
than the present.

From what has been said it follows that moral life is condi-
tioned by the nature of the world organized in the soul.
Immoral life is due to a fragmentary or inharmonious world;
moral life to a complete and harmonious one. To this conclu-
sion it may be objected that it leaves no room for the exercise-
of free will, the very condition of morality. If outer action is
determined by inner world, how can it be free ? Assuredly, if
a man's inner world were given to him ready made, and with
all its values determined for him, we should have to answer :
It cannot be free. But this is not the case. Every man's
inner world is built up and determined by himself, and, indeed,
in the strictest sense, is himself. The difficulty here raised de-
rives its cogency from a failure to recognize this fact. Free-
dom does not mean that, with any world organized in himself,
a man at any moment can make any choice : if this were true,
there would be no such thing as moral character. It means
that he, as organized into a world, can decide between A and B,
as related to that world. If he has a certain kind of world A
will readily find a place in it; if he has a certain other kind of
world, B will do so. The decision rests with the world in view
of the new facts. If a man were one thing, and his world an-
other, imposing motives from without, then we might speak of
determinism; but this is not the case. A man and his world
are one thing, and all his motives originate with himself.
Whatever weight a motive has comes from him, so that in
being determined by it he is determined by himself. We can
express this otherwise by saying that while a man freely
organizes his world as a whole, every later addition to it is
more or less conditioned by all earlier ones, and at the same
time more or less conditions these. It follows that the hier-
archy of values in his world is always, to some degree, under-
going change. In any case, the fact that his actions corre-
spond to his world in no degree compromises his moral
freedom.

I have thus to the best of my ability demonstrated my three

I poo] Education as world-building 339

theses, and I might, fairly enough, stop here; but I should
miss a rare opportunity if I did not go further and try to show
how an inner world conditioning a moral life may be built up.
I shall therefore attempt briefly to do this.

We have already seen that the material of the conscious
world is supplied by the sensuous or feeling side of the soul,
while the form or organization is due to the desiderant side.
Feeling stores material; desire organizes it. It is obvious,
therefore, that if a moral world is to be built up, both feeling
and desire must receive attention. We must, moreover, bear
in mind that when the child comes into the world it has
already a small world of vague feelings and instinctive desires,
and, what is of more importance, it has already a set of organs
or instruments of construction, which to a large degree neces-
sarily determines its future world, which must consist of ele-
ments visible, audible, tangible. The being to be educated is
not a mere imdetermined desiderant feeling, which may be de-
termined in any way, but a feeling already determined to some
extent, and disposed for further determinations. Such deter-
mination and disposition, due to its past history, we call its
heredity, and this must be reckoned with in all attempts to
educate. Thanks to this, no two souls will select the same
materials, or make exactly the same use of them in constructing
a world. And yet the soul's world is very far from being pre-
determined by its heredity or temperament. Education can
contribute much, tho not all. The fact is, there is this cor-
rective or counterpoise to heredity. Before a determined de-
sire or tendency can develop it must have been awakened by
the presentation of a suitable object. There is no actual de-
sire for light until light has, at least in some slight degree, been
experienced or felt. Thus, desire is dependent on feeling, and
the actual desires of a child can be largely determined by the
objects presented to it. Thus, certain inborn tendencies can be
atrophied and others fully developed, and it is just the task of
education to do this. A desire or tendency which was origi-
nally very strong, and might easily have been portentously
developed, can, from want of its proper object, remain entirely
dormant; while one which was originally comparatively feeble

340 Educational Review [November

may, from frequent satisfaction, become powerful. Most
-children have naturally no taste for tobacco, beer, or coffee; but
we all know how easy it is to develop a passion for them. On
the other hand, most children have a natural desire for sweets;
yet it is easy to atrophy this desire, by withholding sweet things
from them, till other and wholesomer tastes have been evoked.
By such withholding and giving it is possible to a large ex-
tent to neutralize heredity, and, taking advantage of the native
powers of the child, to develop such a system of desires as to
render possible the construction of a harmonious world. De-
sires are developed by repeated exercise or habit, which may
thus be regarded as the chief agent in all evolution. All the
faculties, even the senses and their bodily organs, are due to
liabit. Thru habit an action becomes pleasanter and easier,
and so in course of time gives rise to a facility or faculty; and
this when established becomes more or less automatic, releas-
ing a certain amount of spiritual power, which can then be put
to other uses. Reading, writing, and even walking, which at
first are slow and painful, come in time to be almost automatic,
requiring very little mental power or attention.

Since native desires are regulated and harmonized by habit,
and since the world is built up by desires, it follows that if we
would build up a harmonious world we can do so only by the
•establishment of habits. With a view to this, the teacher must
clearly understand three things : ( i ) just what sort of world he
wishes to create in the child's mind; (2) in what order its ob-
jects must be presented in order to be appropriated and fitted
into the world; (3) what is to be the hierarchy of values in
that world. Let us consider these points separately.

I. Tho worlds are built up by desire, yet if they are to
l>e harmonious and moral, the elements of them must be under-
stood. We cannot assign a value to an3rthing without know-
ing its nature and essential relations. This means that we
must endeavor to attain an intellectual comprehension of the
world, or, in other words, of the entire process of evolution,
from the lowest form of existence up to the highest moral
iDeings and their institutions. Such a world view is a prime
essential in all education. Without it, no one can feel at home

4 poo] Education as world-building 341

in his world, or know what part he is called on to play in it.
It will, perhaps, be objected that it would take a lifetime to im-
part such a view, and this is true, if we mean that it should be
imparted with all its details, but it is by no means difficult,
nor does it take much time, to make pupils of ordinary ability
grasp the outlines of such a view, the details being left to be
filled in as occasion requires. Unfortunately, owing to the
present agnostic attitude of science, the evolution theory is
rather a description of facts than a rational, illuminating expla-
nation of them. It neither tells us what evolves, nor what is
the agent in evolution. But these are defects that can easily be
remedied, and indeed the remedy has been alluded to in the
•early part of this paper. The theological view of the world
which prevailed in the Middle Age was by no means a simple
one, as the readers of Thomas Aquinas' Summa theologica
are well aware, and yet an outline of it sufficient for life-pur-
poses was found easy enough to impart even to young people,
with very slender preparation. In the same way the evolu-
tion theory of the world, if once made self-consistent and ex-
planatory, could easily be rendered intelligible, and a birds'-
eye view of all the successive stages of progress — astronomical,
mineral, vegetable, animal, human, institutional — ^presented to
the mind of the child. In the future the philosophy of exist-
'Cnce will be simply the history of evolution, and not, as in the
past, and partly in the present, a more or less fanciful theory,
floating above existence and ignoring the greater part .of it.
And the rudiments of this philosophy will be among the first
subjects of school education. It is the world, as revealed in
evolution, that must form the basis of the moral world of every
soul.

2. If we could obtain the substantial feeling, or soul, which
each one of us is, in its earliest undetermined state, there would
be an easy and obvious way of organizing it into a rational
world. We should begin with the simplest experiences, and
make it go thru the whole course of evolution, from first to
last.^^ But, as we have seen, we receive the human soul only

" " In the broad sea must thou begin ! There one starts at first on a small
scale, and rejoices in swallowing minutest things. Thus one grows up step by

342 Educational Review [November

after it has determined itself into a world of considerable com-
plexity and of definite dispositions. The question, thus be-
comes pertinent : In what order shall we most advantageously
present to it experiences for the construction of its world ?

Here there are three guiding principles: (a) We shall
present to it only such things as we wish to occupy a funda-
mental position in its world; (&) of these, only such as evoke
its interest or desire, and are therefore easily appropriated;
(c) of these, again, those which most naturally suggest each
other, and enter most readily into organic connection. The
first will correct heredity, and afford unconscious discipline;
the second will arouse activity; the third will make that activity
continuous and constructive. When we reflect that the earliest
experiences of the child form the apperceptive basis condition-
ing all subsequent experience, we can readily understand how
extremely important they are. It may be truly said that the
whole of a human world receives its tone from the human
being's first experience, since every succeeding one is affected
by that, and attaches itself to that. Since desire is that which
both appropriates and constructs, it is obvious that as far as is
safe the desires of the child should be gratified in the presenta-
tion of experience. If the child loves to move, it should be
allowed to move freely, care being taken that it incurs no dan-
gerous risks. If it loves colors or sounds it ought to be sup-
plied with these in abundance. If on the other hand it shows
unreasonable dislikes or fears for beneficial things, these ought
to be removed as soon as possible by frequent presentation of
the objects disliked or dreaded. But the most important point
is that experiences should be presented in the order most suita-
ble for the combining of them into a consistent whole. For
example, sensations of touch should be roused along with the
sensations of sight, and the soul enabled to combine them into
things, e. g., into rattles or dolls. Again, we should not seek
to create a noun world before an adjective one. Tho it is
true that we must present to the child concrete and individual
things, it is also true that the child at first seizes only the ab-

step, and builds himself up for higher attainment." — Proteus, in Faust, Pt. II.,
lines 3648-52.

1900] Education as world-building 343

stract or universal aspects of them, and names these, omitting
differentiae. Only in process of time does it concrete its ad-
jectives into nouns. A niece of mine at a very early age ap-
plied the name " bunn " (burn) not only to fire, heat, burning,
and light, but also to candles, lamps, pokers, tongs, shovels,
grates, and fenders, learning their differences only in course of
time. I knew another child who at first called everything it
saw or touched '' abugadee," and another who persistently
called a man with a broken and, therefore, undeveloped nose,
" babee." Many children call all men " pa," and all women
" ma." There is not space here to discuss in detail the order
in which experiences ought to be presented in order to insure
the building up of a stable and consistent world; but that the
utmost care is necessary for the securing of a proper order
ought to be recognized by every teacher.

3. When the child has attained a more or less orderly world
of things, it has not yet arrived at a moral world. Mere intel-
lectual development may be a curse rather than a blessing. A'
clever scoundrel is more dangerous than a stupid one. A moral
world is a world of estimates, of values for soul-satisfaction,
and it is the supreme function of education to establish these
values. From its earliest days the child ought to be taught, not
merely to recognize and distinguish things, but to set its true
value upon each of them. A -thing or experience is valuable in
proportion as it tends to make a larger and ever enlarging world
for knowledge, affection, and will, to keep the soul in pro-
gressive harmony. Things are hurtful in proportion as they
tend to narrow, disharmonize, or block the spiritual world, the
satisfaction of the soul. In its first stages, the child values
things in proportion to the momentary satisfaction they afford
him, without reference to other persons or to his own future.
He is a being of impulse and caprice, and it is but slowly that,
under the influence of experience or education (which is a sort
of vicarious experience) he becomes otherwise. Slowly he
learns to take the future into account, and to realize that un-
less he has regard to the satisfactions of other people, his own
will be but slight. In proportion as he does so, he becomes an
ethical being.

344 Educational Review [November

But all this requires discipline, not merely instruction; and
discipline is the greatest desideratum in education at the present
day. It is, of course, foolish to expect that a child should set
any value about the chief objects in the large world of the
grown man; but within his own little world of thought, affec-
tion, and will, every thing and every act should have its dis-
tinct value, and the whole should form a hierarchy of values
easily surveyed and compared. Since in all cases practice
should precede theory or rules of practice, the child should be
accustomed from the first to devote time and attention to differ-
ent things in proportion to their value at that stage of its
career. The form of play that develops most faculties and
does so most harmoniously must receive more attention than
that which develops few or fails to create harmony. Those
activities which pave the way for larger activities and larger
satisfactions must be held in more esteem than those which
merely give immediate satisfaction. Actions which evince
consideration for others must be set higher than actions which
have a purely selfish aim, and so on.^^ When the child has for
a time been induced to act toward each thing with due regard
to its spiritual value, he will come to discover the principle of
his behavior, and will then do consciously and voluntarily what
he has previously done in obedience to authority, and from
example, or habituation. Then and thus it attains inde-
pendent morality, and becomes a truly rational and free agent.
Then only it can create a truly moral world for itself.

I have used the word '' discipline," and I wish in conclusion
to make a plea for what it expresses. It must be carefully dis-
tinguished from instruction. Instruction deals with the intel-
lect, discipline with the will thru the affections. The one

" The practice recommended by Herbert Spencer and others, of making the
child estimate the value of actions by their proximate effects upon himself, is in
my opinion completely immoral, because productive of calculating selfishness.
Such effects by no means express the meaning of his actions, and it is the mean-
ing of action that constitutes their ethical character, or rather the meaning of them
so far as one is able to discover it and acts upon it. If a child for being late for
supper has to go to bed hungry, it does not thereby discover the true heinousness
of unpunctuality. Even if it is punctual ever afterward, it is not so from the
right, the moral motive.

1900] Education as world-building 345

relates to knowledge, the other to practice. Now, while in
our schools a vast amount of attention is given to instruction,
very little is devoted to discipline. For this reason much of
our instruction fails to excite interest, and is of little value for
life. Instruction is interesting to a child only when he is able
to see its value. It may not be pleasing to him even then (we
must carefully distinguish between pleasure and interest) ; but
if he has been well trained he will accept it willingly, and
even make a virtue of overcoming his dislike to it. In other
words, he will subject himself to discipline; and his acceptance
of instruction will become a moral action. Now, the chief de-
fect in our American education is just this want of discipline.
We not only fail to make our young people set the true values
upon all the things and actions in their world, and in practice
conform to these values, but for want of this discipline we
fail to impart a true instruction. We allow children to reject
these kinds of instruction which they do not find pleasant, in-
stead of making them interesting by showing their true value;
or else we insist upon their irrationally submitting to instruc-
tion in which they see no good, and which thus becomes to
them a kind of penance. In either case we fail in instruction
for want of discipline, and in discipline for want of instruction.
The truth is, if we are to build up a moral world in the child's
soul, instruction and discipline must go hand in hand. With
our present feeble, sentimental tendencies, which make us seek
a child's immediate enjoyment rather than its eternal well-
being, we have a prejudice against discipline, against every-
thing that makes a child sacrifice present pleasure to future
good. Let us hope that this conditioning things will soon pass
away, and that discipline, so necessary to the construction of a
moral world, may be restored to its rightful position in educa-
tion. For

" Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way ;
But to work that each to-morrow

Finds us farther than to-day."

Thomas Davidson

Glenmore,

Keene, N. Y.

AN ETHNIC VIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION'

The conviction from which the remarks of this paper pro-
ceed is that the value, the means, and the methods of higher
education, as of all education, can be rightly determined only
by constant reference to its effect upon both the individual and
the race, and that in all questions pertaining to this subject the
present tendency is to give undue consideration to the indi-
vidual. Suggested improvements of the course of study, dis-
cussion of the expediency and limits of the elective system,
and attempts to solve the problem of articulating higher
and secondary education reveal the fact that the needs and
interests of those who are to be benefited immediately by
college and university training are the primary objects of
concern. The same narrow range of vision is betrayed in
much of the current discussion of such questions as " Does
a college education pay ? " On the one hand it is asserted,
for instance, that the individual profits by it, and on the
other that it unfits him for business, as if these were con-
clusive arguments. But such problems of higher education
are not primarily economic, and they cannot be settled by
comparison of income and outlay. Socially or ethnically
considered a college education may be a profitable investment
even if it does not pay in dollars and cents, and if it unfits one
for business it may be so much the worse for business. No
educational question is strictly or chiefly individualistic. None
can be finally settled without careful consideration of its bear-
ing upon the interests of the race. Neglect of this considera-
tion is sure to produce error and confusion in educational
thought. " Most of the controversies relative to this great
question of education," says Fouillee, '' seem to me to be due to
the fact that we fail to reach a sufficiently general point of view,

' An address delivered before the Department of Higher Education of the
National Educational Association at Charleston, S. C, July 13, 1900.

346

An ethnic view of higher education 347

i. €., the national, international, or even ethnical." We need
therefore, both for practical and theoretical purposes, a new
educational orientation. It is with the hope of contributing
in some small degree to this orientation that I invite attention
to an ethnic view of higher education.

Before considering higher education specially, we must
glance briefly at education in general. What aspect does the
nature and function of education as a whole present when con-
sidered from the standpoint of the race ?

As soon as we contemplate education from the racial or
■ethnic point of view it reveals itself as fundamentally a process
of social transformation. It represents the latest and, poten-
tially if not actually, the most effective factor of social evolu-
tion. While it deals with individuals, its primary object is the
progress of the race thru the improvement of its individual
members. The goal of education is, therefore, not a single
one, as is sometimes represented; it is double. It lies in the
individual and in the race. In the education of the individual
the goal is the maximum development of social efficiency.
This involves the application of physiological and psychological
principles to the development of mind and body. Hence the
educational importance of physiology and experimental or
psycho-physical psychology. In the education of the race the
goal is the successive realization of higher and higher stages of
humanity. '' Given the hereditary merits and faults of a race,"
the problem of education becomes, as Guyau rightly stated it,
'' to what extent can we by education modify the existing
heritage to the advantage of a new heritage? " This implies a
knowledge of the means and methods of social evolution, the
laws and causes of the social process. Hence the importance
to the educator of social history and the science of sociology.
Educational psychology should be racial as well as individual.
The essential fact, however, is that education — elementary,
secondary, and higher — is primarily a social or ethnic expedient
for accelerating progress. All its problems are therefore social
problems.

Another fact which, from this point of view, leaps to the eye,
as the French say, is that, contrary to the hypothesis upon which

348 Educational Review [November

Rousseau and his followers have attempted to found a science
of education, education is not a slavish imitation of nature, but
an interference with so-called natural laws. Its sole raisom
d'etre is the inadequacy of nature's methods. It is the nega-
tion of laissez faire in individual and social evolution. The
assistance it has rendered nature in the development of the in-
dividual is perfectly obvious, but its possibility as a social fac-
tor has only begun to be appreciated. Down to the present
time it has acted almost wholly as a socially unconscious or
genetic force in the evolution of the race. To be sure it has
long been recognized as a means of social improvement, but
there has been almost no attempt to use it scientifically in the
development of a people as it is now used in the development
of a person. Plato and the Spartans had the idea, but not the
ideals and the science. Altho books on education are thick,
and with regard to many of them I might add as light, as
autumnal leaves, I know of but few worth mentioning which
have urged its ordered application as a national, social, or
ethnic lever. Its purposive use has not been consciously directed
toward a social end; that is to say, educational teleology has
been limited to the individual. The time has come, however,
when it may be extended to the race. " Thru education," says
Professor Dewey, " society can formulate its own purposes,
can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape
itself with deiiniteness and economy in the direction in which
it wishes to move."

With this comprehensive view of education as a whole from
the ethnic standpoint, we may now turn to the consideration of
higher education. The first question that confronts us is. How
are we to separate higher education from the work of the com-
mon schools, and what is the relation between them ?

In the first place, higher education is, of course, a continua-
tion of secondary education, as the latter is a continuation of
elementary. They are all a part of the same process. And yet
there is a difference, due to the necessary division of labor, be-
tween the function of higher education and the function of the
common schools which, altho it may hot justify an entirely-
separate classification, is yet sufficient to enable us to draw a

1900] An ethnic view of higher education 349.

pretty firm line between them. When we consider the work of
the common schools we find that however clearly it perceives,
the educational ends, and however ambitious it may be to
realize them, it is chiefly limited to the task of transmitting^
from one generation to another the mental, moral, and physical
acquirements of the race. It preserves the racial inheritance.
We have reached, for instance, a stage of civilization at which
the average man is expected to be able to read, write, and cipher,
to possess common morality and a certain amount of knowledge
in regard to nature and man. Elementary and secondary edu-
cation are devoted to the development of the efficiency repre-
sented by these acquirements and the assimilation of this knowl-
edge. It has little time or opportunity for doing more than to
maintain the average social level. On the other hand, higher
education begins at this point and should be expected to raise
it. It selects a comparatively small number of individuals, and
professes to elevate their intelligence and efficiency to a higher
power. Moreover, it has the opportunity to add new incre-
ments to the general stock of knowledge. The function of
higher education is, therefore, especially that of providing the
scientific and personal elements which are to urge the race
onward to a new and higher stage of civilization. Elementary
and secondary education are chiefly devoted, on account of their
limitations, to the preservation of the sooAdX status quo. To
higher education is given a superior opportunity of raising the
social level. The one preserves order, the other secures prog-
ress. Elementary and secondary education, so far as social
progress is concerned, are primarily static; higher education,,
dynamic. We thus see that there is a certain degree of simi-
larity between the relation of higher education and the common
schools and tke relation of imitation and eccentricity or genius
in the social world, heredity and variation in the biological
world, and the centripetal and centrifugal forces in the physical
world. It is not pretended, of course, that the parallelism is
exact, but it may serve to throw into stronger relief the essen-
tially djTiamic function of higher education.

If the function of higher education, ethnically considered, is
above all to contribute the socially progressive elements, then

350 Educational Review [November

we may judge its present efficiency by the character and the
amount of this contribution. The criterion cannot be success-
fully applied, however, unless we know beforehand what kind
of social elements are progressive. This knowledge requires
some conception of a goal toward which society should be
directed, as well as an acquaintance with the methods of social
evolution. It is therefore necessary to take these matters into
consideration, and it may be helpful to begin by glancing for a
moment at the nature of the evolutionary process in general.

Evolution, like education, is a continuous process, but it may
be divided into natural and artificial evolution. As a wholly
natural or subrational process it takes place independently of
human volition, and is wholly determined by the adaptive force
of the organism and the character of the environment. Given
an organism, biological or social, that is, something capable of
adapting itself, its natural evolution consists in its continuous
adjustment to its environment, or in Spencerian phraseology,
the adjustment of its internal relations to its external relations.
The goal of natural evolution, that is, evolution not consciously
directed, is perfect adaptation to environment, the equilibrium
of the forces of nature and the forces of the organism. This
goal has been reached in the biological world in the develop-
ment of the higher animal forms, and in the social world in
certain peoples who have apparently reached a stationary state.
Its method is the preservation, perpetuation, and improvement
of such variations in the organism as tend to perfect its adapta-
tion; that is, natural selection. Now in such evolution pro-
gressive elements can only be, first, such increments of force as
may be added to the adaptive power of the organism, the vis a
tergo which pushes it on and produces its variations, and,
second, those special variations in the existing type which by
bringing the organism one degree nearer perfection, i, e., per-
fect adaptation, are, so to speak, seized upon, preserved and
perpetuated by natural selection. The variations, we say, are
spontaneous. They merely happen to take place. They are
also innumerable, and the vast majority of them, being non-
advantageous, are utterly useless to progress, and represent
pure waste of vital force. It is only by chance that some of

ipoo] An ethnic view of higher education 351

them serve the purpose of nature. Hence it is that natural
evolution, biological and social, is a most extravagant and un-
necessarily slow process, and furnishes no model for intelligent
action in physical, moral, or mental training, or in any other
sphere of action. Observe now the difference between natural
-evolution and artificial evolution, in which higher education
plays a part.

In artificial evolution the goal is no longer fixed by natural
circumstances. It is predetermined by man; it is ideal. If
the environment is not suitable to the development of the ideal
type, the environment is changed. This is all that cultivation
in agriculture and horticulture amounts to. Again, the pro-
gressive variations of type are not left to chance, but are ideally
conceived, and effort is made to produce them. This is illus-
trated in the breeding of stock. The result is that more is ac-
complished in artificial than in natural evolution by the same
expenditure of energy. Waste is diminished, the ultimate ob-
ject being its complete elimination. Evolution having become
a conscious process it is ruled by the intellect. The laws of
nature are not disregarded ; they are counteracted or overruled,
just as the law of gravitation is overruled in the construction of
an Eiffel's Tower. The difference between artificial evolution
and natural evolution is the difference between science and
empiricism, between intelligently purposive action and fortuity.
It may be described in a single word — economy.

As was said before, social evolution down to the present time
has been almost entirely a natural process. Christian phi-
losophy, poets, and social dreamers have projected indistinct,
or too distinct, goals of social development, but none of them
has been made the basis of scientific attempts at social im-
provement. Social environment has been changed, but not
with the conscious purpose of molding the race into any defi-
nite and scientifically preconceived form. Special energy has
been expended upon the development of innumerable varia-
tions of type, but little attention has been given to the kind of
type that would serve the purpose of natural or artificial selec-
tion. Many are called, but few are chosen. Under the in-
fluence of education the whole process may become artificial.

352 Educational Review [November

When this is the case the number of progressive elements is
increased. They will then be as follows : First, socially pur-
posive modifications of the social environment; second, new
increments of social adaptive power, or racial virility; thirds
new increments of knowledge, and fourth, select individual
types embodying virility and knowledge and which, being
lifted up by higher education, will draw all men unto them, that
is, will raise the social level.

We are now ready to apply the ethnic test to higher educa-
tion. What is it doing toward contributing these various ele-
ments ? This, of course, cannot be described within the limits
of this paper. All that can be done is to offer a few criticisms
in regard to its contribution to each element.

In the first place, then, higher education, instead of encour-
aging purposive changes in social environment, is a partisan
and an apologist of the present order. It is not its function, of
course, to introduce these changes directly. It can only pro-
vide the knowledge and the spirit, and leave the initiative to
scientific legislation. But academic atmosphere is not always
healthful to the growth of' this knowledge and spirit. Much
has been said about liberty of thought in our colleges and uni-
versities. It is contended by the authorities that there is com-
plete liberty, and the claim is logical, for they make a careful
distinction between liberty and license. Thought is free so
long as it is sound, and the authorities have their own convic-
tions in regard to what constitutes sound thinking. While
freedom of thought is doubtless increasing in all our higher
institutions of learning, and will continue to increase as they
become more conscious of their social function, yet it is prob-
ably true to-day that there is not a college or university in the
country that would long tolerate an active and formidable ad-
vocate of serious changes in the present social order. He would
be required to go, and the occasion of his removal would not
be avowed as opposition to intellectual liberty, but to his own
incapacity, as evidenced by his vagarious opinions. This to
the educational martyr is the unkindest cut of all. It is his
sorrow's crown of sorrow.

Owing partly to the feeling in college and university circles

1900] An ethnic view of higher education 353

that one is lucky to have been born a conservative, there has
been developed a sort of typical academic attitude in regard to
almost all questions of serious social importance. In political
parlance this attitude is called a straddle, but the euphemistic
phrase is scientific impartiality. There is a certain type of
university professor, for instance, who never expresses his own
opinion, claims indeed that he has none. In considering a
given question he devotes himself to the accumulation of evi-
dence, pro and con, and being unable to determine which pile
is the larger, he stands as immovable as the traditional donkey
between two stacks of hay. He speaks condescendingly of the
ot noWoi. His contempt for enthusiasm is profound.
He insincerely professes to envy the man who can arrive at a
conclusion, but as for himself he sees so deeply and finds so
much argument on both sides of every question that he is al-
ways in doubt. Like Lowell's candidate in the Biglow Papers,
his

" Mind's tu fair to lose its balance

And say which party has most sense,
There may be folks of greater talence

That can't set stiddier on the fence."

This type of university man has done much to give to higher
education the reputation of futility. His attitude helps to ex-
plain why it is that in the popular mind it is suf^cent to con-
demn a theory or an argument to describe it as " merely aca-
demic." It is expected that academic discussion is likely to
■come out at the selfsame door wherein it went. We recognize,
of course, that higher education must encourage impartiality in
investigation and conservatism in social proposals, but there is
a golden mean. The true scientific spirit, which is so badly
needed in every department of thought, does not imply absence
of enthusiasm, but only the restraint of sentiment while investi-
gation is in progress. In matters of social advancement,
higher education should be the source of a conservative
radicalism.

In regard to the second progressive element mentioned,
namely, increase in race virility, higher education may claim to
contribute something on account of the prominence it gives

354 Educational Review [November

athletics. But just how much good the selection and probable
overtraining of a few individuals who need physical culture
least is going to do the race it is somewhat difficult to estimate.
The respect engendered for physical prowess is worth some-
thing, and the shouting of the otherwise passive spectators at
the games may have its value in raising the average of physical
vigor. It is a fair criticism, however, to say that the method
would not commend itself to a thoroly self-conscious race
as the best means of promoting its progress. Few colleges
and universities, with all their interest in the subject, are really
conscious of the social value of athletics. The end and aim is-
not racial culture, but the winning of the championship. As to
other methods of strengthening the human stock, they are not
so much as heard of. It is too early to talk of a scientific stirpi-
culture, but higher education might do much toward the crea-
tion of a sentiment that will finally bring into operation the law
of social selection, or the birth of the fittest. But this is not in
its consciousness. So far then as contributing to the virility of
the race is concerned, higher education falls far short of its
opportunity.

When we come to consider the increments of knowledge
provided by higher education, they are so numerous and im-
portant that it may seem in this respect to be completely fulfill-
ing its function. It would be easy to name a long list of
academic discoveries which laave proved to be invaluable.
There are two criticisms, however, which are at once suggested
by an ethnic view of the subject. In the first place, knowledge
is accumulated without regard to its possible social utilization.
Much of it is, therefore, not appreciably dynamic. All knowl-
edge is valuable, but all is not equally valuable. Higher educa-
tion seems to proceed on the assumption that one discovery is
as good as another. An illustration of what I mean may be
found in the doctors' theses of our various universities. Many
of them are on such subjects as the final '' e " in Chaucer, or
the dative case in Sallust, which, however important from a
linguistic standpoint, are not of present and pressing impor-
tance to the race. Some of them represent toilsome pursuit of
insignificant bits of knowledge which, when found, are about

1900] An ethnic view of higher education 355

as valuable to society as the individual acquirement of the
power to balance a straw on one's nose. In the second place^
higher education over-emphasizes the importance of original
investigation in comparison with intellectual organization and
distribution. Its rewards are for the investigator. It is al-
most as much as a scholar's reputation is worth to undertake to
popularize his knowledge. And yet the successful distributor
of knowledge performs a vastly more important social service
than the average original investigator. Many college and uni-
versity professors hold their positions, not because they are
teachers, but because they have hunted down some more or less
important bit of knowledge. This is why some of the worst
possible teaching may be found in our universities. Some of us
know by painful experience that this is true. These two de-
fects in higher education an ethnic view will tend to remedy.

The last in the list of progressive elements which were men-
tioned as rightfully to be expected from higher education were
cultured personalities specially adapted to the task of elevating
the race to a higher plane of civilization. Here again much
might be said in regard to what has been done. The roll of
names of college men who have helped the world forward is a
long one. But after all, this contribution has been largely un-
conscious and incidental. These personalities have been de-
veloped primarily for themselves, and not for the race. Their
social utility was accidental. They were, so to speak, spon-
taneous variations. The spirit of higher education is still indi-
vidualistic. The one hundred and fifty thousand young men
and young women now in our higher institutions of learning
are being trained not primarily for social service, but for suc-
cess, and if statistics show that the majority of them succeed,
higher education is content. But success is sometimes the very
opposite of social service. The fact, therefore, that so many
college men succeed may be a severe reflection on our colleges.
It may indicate that their students are trained merely to exploit
their fellow-men. The race is not interested primarily in any-
one's success, but in the manner of his success. Does he pro-
duce healthful commodities? Does he increase wealth or
illth? Does he promote life or death? Does he make the

3 5 6 Educational Review

world a better place in which to live ? These are the questions
in which the race is interested. It sanctions the exploitation
-of nature, but it condemns the exploitation of man.

The whole criticism of higher education from the ethnic
point of view may be summed up in a very few words. It is
loosely organized from the standpoint of social economy. It
is too conservative in everything but religion. It grinds out
Icnowledge with almost contemptuous indifference to its social
timeliness and use. More time is given, for instance, to the
study of entomology than to the study of anthropology, to the
study of insects than to the study of men. Domestic science
and sociology receive less consideration than Latin and Greek.
It turns out men and women with highly trained powers, but
often without the spirit to use these powers in conscious service
of the race. It is significant that the church is expected to
provide this spirit by conversion. The truly educated man
requires no conversion. In evolutionary terminology the vari-
ations emphasized and produced by higher education are
socially advantageous only when they happen to be so. There
is, therefore, too much waste. In a word, higher education
acts unconsciously as an ethnic force. It is still under the sway
of natural evolution. It illustrates the economy of nature and
not the economy of mind.

I. W. HOWERTH
University of Chicago

Ill I ^

PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS ^

We hear much to-day of the " passing " of the private school.
It is foredoomed to failure (such is the argument) in an at-
tempt to keep pace with the best public schools, advancing as
these are every year in standards, in methods, in achievement,
and supported by constantly increasing appropriations of pub-
lic money, and public sympathy and approval constantly grow-
ing warmer. As the whole system of public education, from
the kindergarten to the university, is becoming knit together,
and as this co-ordination is tightening and perfecting itself
every year, there is less and less room for such a unit, such a
separate entity, as the private school. For these and many
other reasons it has seen its day, and may as well, with the
ferule and the slate, be relegated to that upper shelf where the
dust accumulates on the relics of a past educational babyhood.

Against these charges — and we, as heads of private schools,
are bound to show cause against them — may be urged the very
ready-made and obvious fact that the private school as yet finds
no difficulty in self-support; that a very large number of
parents still prefer to keep their daughters' environment nar-
rowed to a small group from some special social class; that a
considerable number prefer to pay, and to pay high, for the
education they offer their children; and that a small number
still turn to us in the hope of finding the old "finishing"
methods and ideals.

But claims like these, however satisfactory they may prove
in fact to the head of a private school in their financial results
to her and their numerical results to her classes, cannot well
content either her mind or the mind of any other serious thinker
on education. If we are really to justify our existence as
heads of private schools, if we are to defend our choice of a

^ Printed by permission of the editor of the New York Evening Post,

357

358 Educational Review [November

life-work against our collegiate friends, who charge us with
preferring to serious and academic work the base profession of
money-making, it must be by arguments more likely to appeal
than these to others and to ourselves.

And my very first plea for the existence of the private school
for girls to-day shall be that it is now different from what it
used to be. I find myself in entire sympathy with those who
refuse to consider seriously such materialistic arguments as
these that I have given. Speaking from the educational stand-
point, the time for the finishing school has gone by, and whether
or not it can support itself thru uneducated sentiment may
be left a matter of indifference.

But the private school is no longer the finishing school. It
is now forced by stress of popular need among its other tasks,
to fit girls to enter colleges, either the same or with as high
standards as the colleges for men. This single need has pro-
duced in it a complete change. Instead of a thing apart, deter-
mining its own methods and carrying on an absolutely inde-
pendent and usually isolated existence, it has been forced into
line with the college and become organically connected with it.
Its success, indeed, now depends on the completeness of this
connection. The same life runs thru both, and the school
is supplied with academic ideals and standards in its curriculum
of studies and in its corps of teachers. The new ideals will
never dislodge or replace the old personal ideals. As long as
the power of personality continues the prime source of in-
fluence over men, so long will these remain the deepest and the
highest. But they do support and supplement them in num-
berless ways, transforming the eight weeks' '' course " in men-
tal philosophy, the five or six different '' ologies," the half-
acquired " accomplishments," into work that, however element-
ary, must be honest, and hurnble, and scholarly. A few sub-
jects are studied now, and these thoroly, with a sense of them
always as foundations which must be fair and solid for
the superstructure which is to be built upon them. And the
teachers are women equipped with all the resources of cultiva-
tion and inspiration that the university can offer, to lead the
students in their work and help them in their life.

1900] Private secondary schools for girls 359

Thru these means a girl comes to a consciousness of
actual power she has gained, and a sense of a life of her own
she is living, whether she actually goes later to college or
no. Indeed, I should be inclined to claim that the changes in
the private school of which I have spoken are of even more ad-
vantage to the girl who does not go to college than to the sub-
freshman herself. The latter, when she gets into the college
life, will gain much that will make up to her for the possible
deficiencies and weaknesses of her school; the former, if her
school fails to give her certain things, must go all her life with-
out them. These particular things which it can and should
give her I shall take up in a moment more in detail.

One of the strongest arguments that can be presented on be-
half of the private school is that it, almost alone, can do pioneer
work. Before a reform or even an improvement can be in-
troduced into the public-school system — that is to say, before
public money can be voted for it — it must necessarily have
been proved by actual experience, it must generally, indeed,
have stood the test of years. This fact is in itself by no means
to be deplored; it is, on the whole, a great safeguard of the
wise expenditure of school money; but it does throw the bur-
den or the privilege (whichever one may choose to call it)
upon the private school. The head of such a school, if an addi-
tion to the school's resources or an improvement in its methods
seems desirable, may instantly make such an addition or im-
provement. The school needs it, the school shall have it, is
the unelaborate system of reasoning— a system which is not
without its advantages, as anyone who has awaited appropria-
tions from boards of education will testify, and one which
should, if followed wisely and not abused, keep the private
school in general equipment and methods a trifle in advance of
the public school. The latter will follow if the experiment
justifies itself.

One more claim may be urged. The private school consists,
as a rule, of students who do not look forward to self-support;
who have, therefore, and always will have, more or less time
and leisure at their disposal. They are free to study a greater
variety of subjects than would be profitable to the average

360 Educational Review [November

public-school student; subjects, too, that need not be of a value
immediately practical. More time can be given, and should be
given, to the studies making purely for culture, for general
breadth of view, for the development of aesthetic tastes and
powers. Music, drawing, painting and composition, and the
study of the history of these, all may well claim a share of the
student's time. And the girl who shows a marked talent for
any one of them will, of course, be free to develop it, as she
could not in the more practical average school course.

The classes in the private school, too, are much smaller, vary-
ing perhaps from a dozen to ten or even less under one teacher,
as compared with the thirty to sixty under one teacher, which
is even an underestimate in numbers for some of the public
schools. The teacher can thus watch and know the separate
girls under her to a degree impossible in the larger class; she
can help to strengthen some faculty that is weak, or make just
allowance for a delicate physical constitution, or aid in the cul-
tivation of a special talent. All this, of course, helps to the full
development of the individual girl, the '' final cause," the ulti-
mate end of the school. If the private school accomplishes
such development, it has no need of further pleading for its
right to exist. In one girl for whom it has done this service
it presents to the world an unanswerable argument.

How, then, is the school to accomplish this development of a
girl? What — to go back to our subject of a moment past —
what are the particular things which it ought to do for her?
In the first place, it should teach its students how to study.
This in its broadest sense includes all the intellectual service it
can do. A girl should learn, and she may learn quite uncon-
sciously, how to observe, how to concentrate her attention, and
bring all her powers to bear on the one thing in hand; she
should realize something of the value of regularity; she should
acquire the habit of work. This habit, so ineradicable as to be
almost a misery when it cannot be conformed to, will deliver a
woman for ever afterward from the tyranny of boredom, the
greatest curse that threatens the well-to-do woman to-day, and
drives her back so often on the pitiful wish that she had been
born to any lot other than her own.

1900] Private secondary schools for girls 361

The school should widen a girl's powers of appreciation,
and quicken her sympathies; it should, if it cannot give her a
capacity for interest in things, at least give what capacity she
may have full satisfaction and a chance for development. So
it will add to her resources for happiness in every way for all
her days; thru the love of books, of thought, of music or
painting, of nature and the life that moves about us out of
doors. Each school study should give her at least a sense of
new power gained; if it is Latin, it should enable her to enjoy
the literature; if English, to read, either to herself or aloud,
with intelligence and appreciation; if history, to.look up infor-
mation on a subject for herself.

All this she can gain without doing much of so-called
^' original work," which may best, to my thinking, be left for
the maturer years of the college ; in school she should learn to
command the results of work done by others. She should learn
as well to command the expression of her own thoughts and
ideas. This consciousness of command, of power, is the
keenest of intellectual pleasures even to very young students;
they are right in scorning, as they invariably do scorn, any
teaching or any teacher that fails to give it to them in payment
for work done.

So far what the private school can do for a girl does hot
differentiate itself from what the public school can do for her.
The best schools of either sort accomplish for their pupils the
things that I have mentioned. Academically, they may be said
to be equal. Indeed, the public schools accomplish certain
things that the private schools do not; they offer an experience
of mingling with a different social class from one's own, a
training in vigor and self-reliance and breadth of sympathy
which for some children is a good that cannot be overestimated.
If the private school is to prove its right to exist it must be by
giving something in place of these things — something that for
certain children is even more desirable.

This good that the private school, and in especial the private
boarding school, can offer, which no public school can give to
such a degree, consists in a complete life to live.

In the first place, thru the intimacy and duration of its asso-

362 Educational Review [November

ciations, such a school should give its pupils friends of the very
best kind — friends among the other pupils, making itself re-
sponsible for a certain standard of conduct and manners in
every one of its students; and also friends among the teachers.
And this gives me the opportunity to call attention to a state
of things scarcely sufficiently realized by the heads of schools
to-day. When we come to compete with the heads of colleges,
we as heads of schools find great difficulty in securing the very
best teachers. The salary offered by the college is often lower,
yet nine out of ten of the highly educated and cultivated women
whom we desire will take the college in preference to the school
position. This is not due merely to the fact that in the college
they teach older and maturer students, or that the title of pro-
fessor in an obscure and weak college appeals to them more
than that of instructor in a good school. It is due, and due
primarily, to the life that the college offers as compared with
the school ; to the fixed hours for teaching, and free time apart
from these; to the social and intellectual prestige among their
students which their position gives; to the recognition by the
college authorities of independent intellectual work as a not
inconsiderable part of their contribution to the work of the col-
lege. The school — I speak in particular of the boarding school
— too often demands from the teacher of mathematics that she
shall chaperone at the theater and '' hold study hour "; or from
the head of the department of music that she shall furnish ac-
companiments to the calisthenic work in the gymnasium.
Nothing could be more galling to the professional spirit that is
the strength of our best trained teacher in any department
nowadays. The work demanded is not of itself menial, or
work that she would not occasionally or of her own initiative
be glad to do. But in the students' eyes, as indeed in the
teacher's own, it confuses itself with the work that is her espe-
cial pride; renders that work no longer a service to a single
fixed standard, but a heterogeneous melee of little duties; in a
word, it makes both her work and her life intolerable. This
feeling is strong in almost all our college graduates and profes-
sional women of to-day. It is one of the chief claims to dis-
tinction of Mr. Oilman of Cambridge to have been among the

1900] Private secondary schools for girls 363

first to realize it, and to provide for securing the best teachers
by appointing, quite independent of them, the '' heads of resi-
dence " and '' mistresses." Until the heads of schools all
realize it, they will continue to lose to any small college their
best teachers. Until they realize it, therefore, they cannot offer
to their students, thru their teachers, the highest kind of
teaching or of intellectual friendship. When they do realize
it, and act in deference to it, by giving their teachers not only
an independent salary, but an independent life, they will find no
difficulty in drawing even from the colleges women who are
•qualified by the highest endowments and training to make the
school all that it should be.

Secondly^ in offering its students a life to live, the school
should see to it that this life is full of active interests, spon-
taneous, independent. The very weakest point in the old
finishing school was that it failed to take account in its students
(as well as in its teachers) of the necessity for independent life.
The daily physical exercise allowed was walking in line, two
by two; the system of government was one of repression, of
close espionage; the relation betvv^een teacher and pupil at best
that of armed neutrality. Now the school, thru basketball and
tennis and golf, thru out-of-door excursions for collecting and
the like, keeps the students playing and working in the open air;
it encourages every kind of activity among them, their athletic
society, their glee club, their dramatic organization; it provides
for the independence of life possible even for a child — neces-
sary, indeed, to her full and normal development; guards her,
to be sure, by watching her health, maintaining reasonable
regularity of hours, and so forth ; but believes that from the
beginning a girl's power of judgment may be developed instead
of stunted; that so she comes most naturally into the uncon-
scious self-control that is her best safeguard all her days; and
that by living her own life as a part of the greater life of the
whole school, a part by which she becomes herself responsible
for the good of all, she can learn the very greatest of the lessons
that her school life can teach her, the lesson how to live in rela-
tion to the world of men and women about her. A healthy
college life teaches it in a pre-eminent degree; the union be-

364 Educational Review

tween the college and the private school of which I have spoken
has brought about no more important result than this, that it
has set a similar standard of life for the two. Public and
private schools can now teach the lesson alike ; even better than
they the private boarding school can teach it — and certainly
from those who have in such a school learned the lesson we
shall hear no talk of the school's '' passing."

Louise Sheffield Brownell Saunders

The Balliol School,
Utica, N. Y.

IV
PRIVATE SCHOOLS FOR BOYS '

At the beginning of this paper let me file a caveat against
severe or captious criticism. This is not a history of the evolu-
tion of the boys' school in America, nor an attempt to analyze
and compare the merits of different schools in this country.
The brevity of the paper precludes the first; and a decent re-
gard for professional equity would prevent any honorable
teacher from being guilty of the latter offense. The noble his-
tory of many a private school in this country justifies an
elaborate historical monograph; but I cannot even mention a
single school without doing violence to the merits of a hundred
others that are doing equally good work. There are first-rate
schools, schools that are tolerably good, schools of nondescript
quality, and schools that are frightfully bad; but all that can be
done in a brief paper is to classify in a most general way.

There has always been an interest in education wherever
there have been intelligent parents; and in no country has this
interest been saner or more widespread than in the United
States. In the more democratic sections of our country
schools and colleges have rested quite largely upon the support
of the commonwealth ; but in the regions where the leaders of
the community have deemed themselves a self -perpetuating aris-
tocracy it has been quite natural, indeed inevitable, that there
should be no connecting link between the grammar school and
the college excepting the private school. Even in New Eng~
land, where Puritan influences were dominant, and where pro-
vision for the establishment of schools and colleges was made
as soon as the first settlers believed that they had found perma-
nent homes, the schools and the colleges were for the training
of the clergy or lawyers; and in spite of the really democratic
character of these schools and colleges, their curriculum was

1 Reprinted by permission of the editor of the New York Evening Post.

365

366 Educational Review [November

pretty narrow. Theorizing upon the rights of man had not
yet shown that a course of training should be devised that
should make leaders of public sentiment who might not be
preachers or lawyers. At all events, the academy was still re-
garded simply as a feeder for the college, and the school cur-
riculum was quite as conservative as that of the college.

But great changes have come within the last fifty years,
especially within the last twenty-five years. Various causes
have contributed to this result : notably the beneficent revolu-
tion in the field of physical science, the quickened sense of
patriotism that has come since the civil war, and the tremen-
dous influence of German thought and educational methods.
Educational influences have almost always worked from the
tmiversity down to the school. It is therefore quite in the order
of historical development that the colleges should first feel the
new influences and show the fruits of the new spirit. The
new ideals in university and college education found broader
expression in the third quarter of this century; the great dis-
cussion over questions connected with the work of secondary
schools has come within the last twenty-five — rather within the
last fifteen — years. It is safe to say that the most important
movement in the history of American education is that which
has led to the establishment of public high schools so largely
within the last twenty-five years. The road is thus opened
from the primary school to the university, so that Jefferson's
•dream of a complete system of public education is fully realized,
and no ambitious boy or girl need lack the opportunity for com-
plete and systematic training. Such a conservation of possible
•energy for the service of the State is incalculably valuable.

In view of this extraordinary and beneficent development of
the high school, the question must be asked: Is there any longer
a place for the private secondary school ? The answer is not
difficult. If the American city were governed by its best citi-
zens; if school boards were composed wholly of the wisest, most
<iiscreet, most honorable and unselfish men and women; if every
•school-teacher were a voter, so that even with selfish politicians
in control of the public funds it might be profitable to build
schools rapidly enough to keep pace with a city's growth in

•1900] Private schools for boys 367

population; if parents were all so democratic and so devoted to
the development of public institutions that they would con-
tribute their children as well as their influence and wealth for
the growth of the public high school; if, in short, our cities
were quite Utopian, there would still be a place and a function
for the private school, whether for boys or for girls, whether
planted in the city or in the country. There are some small
cities in this country where the public high schools are so ad-
mirable that a private school must gain its boys from but two
classes : those whom the high school will not keep, and those
who cannot keep up with their classmates in the high school.
Such a private school must become either a reformatory or a
•school for the feeble-minded. There is ample need for schools
for both these classes; but in each instance their raison d'etre
and their methods should be frankly published.

But in most American cities we are approaching the social
condition of older English cities; and we should profit by the
experience and the wisdom of English schoolmen. The great,
historic schools of England, strangely miscalled '' public
schools," have saved the sons of wealthy Englishmen from the
demoralizing influences of their home life; and in this country
we face conditions that make it necessary for many a boy to
leave his home if he is to grow up into sturdy, clean, effective
manhood. There is ample need of increasing the limited
number of really first-rate schools for boys, endowed or pro-
prietary, that are now accessible to parents who would find a
safe home for their sons between the ages of twelve and
eighteen. If a boy is naturally bright, but is not interested in
the work of. the schoolroom, while the conditions of the home
make it impossible to supervise wisely the out-of-school hours
of his life; if the habits of a spendthrift are forming and dan-
gerous associations threaten; if the taxing strain of city life is
draining a boy's vital or nervous energy in the years when he
•should be laying up a store of physical strength; if careless,
slovenly habits are becoming ingrained, and parents are help-
less and hopeless in their efforts to effect a permanent cure,
then parents should discover a safe school home for the son,
where he may find wise professional guidance, wholesome sur-

368 Educational Review [November

roundings, and a stimulating school atmosphere. The choice
of such a school is the most critical event in that boy's life.

But private schools are necessary also in all our larger Ameri-
can cities. Machine politicians too often regard the public-
school system as part of their assets. Honest but ignorant
trustees have often thought the public high school a fit place in
which to exploit some pet schemes and have thus upset a wise,
strong system. Parents who have guided the mental and
moral growth of their sons with jealous care, who have tried ta
shield them from dangerous or uncertain associations, may well
hesitate before they expose them to all the possible contamina-
tions that may be found in a large school that is free to all.
Even the man who is most democratic and public-spirited, who-
would risk his own life for the public welfare, will hesitate be-
fore he offers his son as a possible sacrifice. Not all public
high schools are dangerous; some high schools are as clean,
and as inspiriting, and as wisely administered as the best pri-
vate school. But it is true that there is not a large American
city to-day in which there is not abundant reason for the
existence of one or more private schools for boys. The boy
who can safely live at home during the years of his school life
and can find a first-rate training-school in his home city, should
never be sent to a boarding school.

The private school that can group and guide a body of choice,,
gently bred, ambitious boys thru the years in which they are
preparing for college, or for business life, has an opportunity
for influencing history that comes to no other institution on
earth. If such a school is well administered, the larger it is,,
the better for the boy. Proper method of administration will
guard against all danger of ignoring the boy's individuality.
Small classes, special supervision of groups of boys by trained
teachers, frequent reports and conferences, and active co-
operation with the home will easily guard against any losing of
the boy in the mass ; and the large school offers inspiration and
growth in manhood that cannot be found in the small school,
unless it is managed by one of those geniuses that are found
once in a century. Merely intellectual training for some
special end can be given in a small school quite as well as in a

ipoo] Private schools for boys 369

large one; the professional coach has been vastly more success-
ful in preparing candidates for the British civil service exami-
nations than the great public schools have been. But the quiet
revolution in the life of American secondary schools within
the last half-century has included many other elements in a
boy's development besides the sharpening of his wits or his
preparation for a college examination. Let me mention briefly
.some of the changes that have come in secondary school life
within the last twenty-five years.

The work of " keeping " a private school for boys has be-
come more of a profession, less of a business. There are still
altogether too many schools maintained solely for the profit of
the proprietors; but most of the purely proprietary schools are
now administered with a genuine desire to serve other besides
merely mercenary ends, and the number of richly endowed
schools has increased notably. The work of the teacher in such
a school now calls for men who have professional qualifications,
and who intend to teach thruout their lives. Schools of
high grade can no longer afford to stock their corps with fresh
college graduates, who wish to teach for two or three years
before they continue their studies for some other profession;
and, furthermore, no reputable school can afford to place boys
in the hands of men and women who have not carried their own
studies beyond a secondary school.

Most of the really strong schools demand in the heads of
their departments men whose studies and experience have al-
ready made them professional experts. No change in the
organization of the school is more noteworthy or more fruitful
of good than this departmental organization, which has given
trained directive energy to the work of the different parts of
the school machine. The school must still reflect the character
of its head; must still be in brain and heart largely what he is;
but a well-organized department guarantees effective adminis-
tration, affords the head of the department an opportunity to
reveal his executive capacity, and safeguards the pupil from in-
jury at the hands of incompetent instructors.

Comparatively few private schools restrict their work to pre-
paring boys for college. The wisest students of educational

^"JO Edtccationa I Review [NovembeF

science agree that the same course of study that prepares most
effectively for college will give the largest educational results,
to the young man whose academic training ends with the close
of his school work. But the varying demands of American
colleges and scientific schools compel the outlining of different
courses of study. Yet it is clearly seen that even in schools
that profess to do nothing but fit for college the curriculum is
broader than college requirements would make it. The school-
boy is now thought of as an embryonic citizen of the republic,
as a member of the school community, whose school life should
fit him for the larger life of the civic community. This is the
explanation of much of the educational ferment of these later
years; of the wholesome interest in the study of history, espe-
cially of American history; of the struggle to find a place for
economics, more modern languages, and physical science in the
curriculum ; of the heroic and fruitful attempt to teach English
in such a way that the graduate of a good school may love our
classic literature and may write and speak clearly and effect-
ively; of the deliberate and systematic employment of outdoor
athletic sports as a means to evoke and train such elements of
manhood as cannot be touched by the quiet work of the class-
room.

Yet this extraordinary interest in the boy's larger growth
has not come at a sacrifice of an interest in pure scholarship.
There never has been a time before when the philosophy and
the practice of teaching have been so widely and so carefully
discussed. A whole library of pedagogic literature dealing
with secondary-school problems has been written within the
last fifteen years. Educational associations, schoolmasters^
clubs, teachers' magazines, special committees for discussing
educational doctrine and outlining courses of study, frequent
conferences between college professors and school-teachers, in-
creasing comity between school and college, and a clearer recog-
nition of the fact that the two institutions are engaged in the
same work — these are only a few of the evidences that in the
effort to help make a civic leader the school is not forgetting
that its first function after all is to train a boy's mind.

From this public service for the country's schools it is unfor-

1900] Private schools for boys 371

tunately true that many heads of private schools have held
aloof; or they have taken part in public discussion only when
selfish ends might be served by the prominence thus gained.
But most of those who teach in private schools to-day are less
exclusive in sentiment and practice than those of the same class
were twenty years ago. There is a growing sense of profes-
sional union between private and public schoolmen, which is
both the evidence and the result of the professional nature of
the work that each is doing.

In methods and equipment the work of a city private school
need not differ materially from that of a public school. It is
generally true, however, that in the private school there is a
closer relation with the home. Too often the income of the
school is so largely dependent upon wealthy and influential
patronage that the quality of the classroom work suffers and
the moral welfare of the school is imperiled by the continued
presence of unworthy boys. But such mismanagement almost
inevitably leads to a loss of patronage and prestige. It can be
safely said that no private school in any city where good high
schools exist can hope for continued life unless it offers as many
advantages as can be found in the high school, and resolutely
stands for honesty, morality, and sound scholarship.

The so-called " business college " has had a most unique his-
tory and has undoubtedly done a good work. It will probably
continue to furnish a cheap, brief training for boys who wish
to enter business life with the equipment needed by a clerk or
bookkeeper. Such schools are almost always coeducational;
and their purpose and methods of work ally them more closely
to the history of American mercantile life than to the his-
tory of American education. The development of commercial
high schools points quite clearly to the need of a private
school for boys that shall prepare for such a scheme of study
as that of the Wharton School in the University of Penn-
sylvania.

Perhaps the chief distinguishing feature of any private
school is that its history and its spirit are more completely the
reflection of the head of the school than ever can be true in a
])ublic school. We shall not be likely to see in this country

2i^2 Educational Review [November

among schools resting upon endowments such an autocracy as
an English public school. American trustees are not likely to
^rant such unlimited powers to an American principal or head-
master. But the successful head of a private school is likely to
be more of a teacher and less of a politician than the head of a
public school, and the chief effort of his life will be given to his
professional work and not spent in placating politicians. The
head of a school who wastes his energy in trying to manage
trustees soon ceases to be an effective schoolmaster.

Great changes in the management of boys' boarding schools
have been made within the last fifteen years. These changes
have been largely the outgrowth of a modified adoption of the
methods of the English public schools, and have been made pos-
sible either by splendid endowments or by the wisdom of school
proprietors who have systematically invested the earnings of
their schools in elaborate extensions of their plants. The un-
speakable barbarities of the old dormitory, a very nursery of
immorality, have been removed by the adoption of the house
system. Most good schools now place a limited number of
boys in a house where they are under the immediate supervi-
sion of a house-master, who is sometimes aided by a younger
assistant master. Boys thus housed are often more happily
placed than they ever could be in their own homes. With their
life supervised by a man of good judgment, boys who are rea-
sonably responsive may live an almost ideal school life; but the
master who is in charge of such a house and does his full duty
to his boys will find life growing almost intolerable after a few
years, unless the trustees of the school recognize the sacrifice
that he makes and reward it properly. No teacher on earth
needs the relief and the relaxation of a sabbatical year more
than such a house-master.

Boys who are placed in separate houses recite in a common
school building and share the common athletic life on the school
campus. A wholesome rivalry between different houses may
easily be utilized for good ends. The complex life of such a
school, with associations that bind the boy to house, class,
athletic team, literary society, and the school in its largest
sense, affords an extraordinary opportunity for the develop-

1900] Private schools for boys 373

ment of the best civic virtues as well as for the happiest of
school lives.

It is a debatable question whether the older boys in such a
school should remain in their separate houses till the close of
their school course, as is done in English schools, enjoying
monitorial advantages over the younger boys, and thus being
trained for larger leadership in college by lending their sym-
pathetic aid to the house-master in his delicate work, or whether
they should be placed in a separate house where as seniors they
may enjoy complete or modified self-government. There are
advantages and disadvantages in each system. It is certain
that no boy who enters such a school simply for his senior year
^can really sympathize with its aims or gain its best training.
Seniors thus segregated and granted special privileges will al-
most inevitably think more of their privileges than of their re-
sponsibilities. The greatest wisdom must be shown in the
architectural arrangements of the senior house, else the whole
house will be at the mercy of the unscholarly and lawless bully
or the careless, good-natured youth who loves to spend his
study hours in aimless visiting. In the last analysis the suc-
cessful management of such an establishment rests with the
head of the school. If he is a man who is in sympathy with
American ideals of good citizenship, if he sees that democratic
institutions call for leaders who are more anxious to give than
to receive, he may inoculate the senior class with a passion for
assuming responsibility and aiding in good government. If
he is sincere, honest, unselfish, and impartial, he will help the
of^cers of the senior class to reveal the same qualities in their
class government. If he believes that the chief functions of the
school are to foster scholarship and develop sound character,
he must expel the immoral boy both from the class and from
the school, and he must make it clear that scholarly habits are
a condition for retaining senior privileges. The entrance to
such an establishment must be jealously guarded, and unceas-
ing vigilance must be maintained to keep its membership clean.
No man should assume the management of such a house unless
he can see that boys in a preparatory school are not ready for
full self-government, and unless he is able and anxious to de-

3 74 Educational Review [November

vote a large amount of time, strength, and tested leadership to
the delicate work of training his senior class so that they may
become leaders of the school, may be prepared for college life in
both scholarship and character, and may be in sympathy with
American institutions. Otherwise such an establishment may
easily become a nursery of unscholarly and immoral aristocrats.

The subject of the moral life of a boys' school furnishes
material for a volume rather than a paragraph. Every founder
of a boys' school, every trustee of such an institution, every
headmaster and teacher, must recognize that the supreme end
of a school is training in sound character. Keen, genuine
scholarship must be fostered, but mental training is valua-
ble chiefly as a means of gaining a clear vision of the truth
and of seeing that dishonesty, immorality, and selfishness are
essentially unmanly and foolish. The best boys' schools to-day
are training-schools for honest manhood. Methods differ; but
no more earnest men and women can be found than in the
schools where principals and teachers are planning for the best
interests of the boys intrusted to their care.

In the boys' boarding school the wife of the headmaster or
of the house-master often exercises a refining influence that is
greatly needed to temper the monastic surroundings; indeed,
the growth of some schools would have been impossible with-
out the active help of women.

But, if methods differ, an infallible sign of a good school is
that it quietly but systematically essays to teach the lessons of
reverence for sacred things, obedience to human and divine law,
clean living, and unselfish patriotism. In some schools re-
ligious training of a sectarian nature is deemed necessary as a
basis for sound morality; but most schoolmasters prefer to
teach the common doctrines of sound morality on which all
good men can unite. No good school can ignore these; and no*
good school ever has ignored them.

Much more is made to-day of school loyalty than ever before.
The American boy has often forgotten his old school in his
fealty to college; thus differing markedly from the English-
man, whose effervescent loyalty goes out rather to his prepara-
tory school than to his college. A new sense of affectionate

ipoo] Private schools for boys 375

devotion to school has grown up within the last few years.
This is not confined, however, to the private school; many a
good high school is cherished by loyal graduates as a real alma
mater. Probably the most potent cause of this is the more
friendly feeling that has grown up between teacher and pupil.
The boy no longer looks upon his teacher as a scheming enemy
or an unsympathetic taskmaster whom it is his chief duty to
outwit if he is wise. Such a hideous society as that presented
in '' Stalkey and Company " it would be utterly impossible to
reproduce in any reputable American school. The boy is
placed largely upon his honor, is made to feel that the good
n^me and the best welfare of the school are as much matters of
concern to him as the interests of his own family; and most
boys respond quickly to such treatment. Interscholastic con-
tests in athletics and literary work beget and intensify this same
esprit de corps. It is doubtful whether the college-bred Ameri-
can's intensest loyalty can ever be transferred from college to
school. No school can hope to retain it that does not rest upon
a substantial foundation, which will guarantee a long life thru
several generations. The interesting movement that promises
to make many of our smaller colleges become training-schools
for well-endowed universities may influence the growth of this
school loyalty.

The growth of the American military school offers a theme
for an interesting volume of educational history. The splendid
fruitage of our national academy has seemed to justify the con-
clusion that rigorous training in military tactics and severe
bodily discipline may develop ingrained habits of order, preci-
sion, and instant. obedience to law, which are all essential parts
of a good education. But it has been forgotten too often that
the education of our national academy is a privilege that is
sought eagerly because of the rewards that follow graduation,
that the unworthy or incompetent are somewhat ruthlessly
dropped from the academic roster, and that the severities of
the life are willingly borne because of the prizes that are offered.
The ordinary military academy has had to accept a body of un-
willing boys. Too often these boys have been sent by parents
who have grown desperate of their character, scholarship, and

3 7^ Educational Review

conduct. Thus the military school has too often become a mere
reformatory of bad boys, a last resort of desperate parents.
Out of these shiftless, indifferent, unscholarly, lawless, or im-
moral fellows the military school has sometimes made ambitious
and sturdy men. But is easy to see that the reformation of
an unworthy youth is too often gained by the sacrifice of many
good boys who may have been sent to the same school. A
military school that rests upon so solid a foundation that it can
cull its membership, that is governed so wisely and carefully
that no positively bad boy will be retained upon its roll, that
does not belittle scholarship by making the purely military
training too prominent, can produce splendid educational re-
sults. But on account of their membership many military
schools are veritable pest-houses.

The new development of the secondary school has created a
demand for better trained teachers ; and larger salaries are now
paid for teachers of experience, training, tact, and inspiring
power than are paid to professors in most small colleges. Tlie
equipment of a good school calls for a great and constantly in-
creasing outlay of money. No private school without a good
endowment or a large patronage can hope to compete success-
fully in the quality of its work with the well-equipped high
schools. But it is a hopeful sign for the education of American
boys that wealthy men and women are beginning to see that the
establishment of an amply endowed school for boys is a most
worthy object of wise philanthropy. Phillips, Peabody, Wil-
liamson, John C. Green, Hotchkiss, Lewis, and Bradley are only
a few of the names that have become historic by association
with schools for educating boys. No better way can be found
for serving the State and for gaining immortality than by
establishing a great school upon an abiding foundation.

Lawrence Cameron Hull

The Polytechnic Institute,
Brooklyn, N. Y.

NEWER IDEAS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

The establishment of the agricultural and mechanical col-
leges was a revolt from the older education. That education
set its face toward the past and occupied itself with books; it
was the desire of the newer education to set tlie pupil into
relation with his environment and to teach hirn things as well
as concepts. Since the agricultural and mechanical colleges
were the first fruit of this century-long agitation, these insti-
tutions often feel that they are the only representatives of an
education which appeals to the daily life; but the fact is that
all institutions now set the pupil into harmony with living
problems. It is even a question whether the agricultural and
mechanical colleges may not place too great and exclusive stress
on present-day problems and thereby fail to give the student
perspective. The daily living is the fruition of all that has
gone before: we learn by men's experience rather than by their
prophecy.

The early agricultural colleges were separate institutions,
not connected with universities. It was thought that the so-
called classical institution and the agricultural college were in-
compatible. They were inconsistent in aim. But the underly-
ing motive of this separation, even if not recognized by the
early contestants, was the feeling of protest against a system.
To have joined the agricultural college with the university
would have yielded the very point of the controversy. But
the immediately practical problem was the fear that agricultural
students would be " looked down upon " if they were compelled
to associate with other students. This fear was not without
foundation, particularly in the early days. But the cause of this
discrimination is not the subject which the student pursues, but
the fact that the agricultural student is often not on the same
academic plane as the other. When students of high-school

377

3 7^ Educational Review [November

grade associate with those of collegiate or university grade, the
former are likely to be subjected to ridicule whether they study
agriculture, law, medicine, or theology. Equivalent entrance
requirements, thoro instruction, broadly equipped teachers
bring the agricultural student into parity with his associates.
This has been shown, beyond all peradventure, in the recent
history of agricultural teaching.

The practical result of this disparity has been to cause the
agricultural colleges constantly to advance their entrance re-
quirements. They have thereby tended to grow away from
the '' plain people," and they have in some measure made them-
selves incapable of serving the very ends for which they were
established. In the early days of the agricultural colleges the
field for work of a distinctly collegiate or university grade
was not foreseen. It was expected that the agricultural college
should stand in intimate relation with the plain farmer. For
the most part the agricultural college has left what was de-
signed to be its constituency. This is the fundamental reason
for their relatively small attendance.

There is room for a very few agricultural institutions of the
very highest or university grade. These institutions are al-
ready in existence. They train investigators and teachers as
well as farmers. They give a liberal education thru using
largely agricultural subjects. Their purpose is less to make
farmers than to educate men. Such an institution always
profits by being connected with a genuine university.

There is no country which has such a noble body of agri-
cultural colleges as America. Beyond all calculation their
work has been beneficent in raising the tone of farming. Every
farmer is within reach of help and advice. There is probably
no country in which farmers are uniformly so intelligent, un-
restrained, and have so much initiative as in North America.
As a class they are prosperous. The prevailing idea that
farmers are impecunious and downtrodden, more than other
men, is an error. It originates mostly with men who are not
farmers. Much of it is the work of the agitator. Much of it
is also the result of mistaking clothes for men. So far as the
average American farmer is concerned, no picture can be more

1900] Newer ideas in agricultural education 379

inapplicable than Markham's Man with the hoe. The agri-
cultural colleges are contributory to this increasing pros-
perity. Immensely have they widened the horizon and raised
the standard of living of even the man who inveighs against
them.

But if we are well equipped in agricultural colleges, we are
deficient in schools of intermediate grade. The special farm
training school which aspires to no academic or collegiate
honors and grants no degrees is badly needed. In this effort
we are far surpassed by European countries. A great work
of this opening century must be the establishing of these
humble and practical schools. Here is an attractive field for
private beneficence. The recent establishment of short winter
courses in the agricultural colleges is an attempt to satisfy this
demand. We have been training leaders : we need also to train
followers.

We have grown so accustomed to measuring educational in-
fluences by means of institutional standards that we can
scarcely think of them without thinking of definite cur-
ricula and degrees. But degrees necessarily must be the
hope of the few. Are all others to be left without help be-
cause they cannot or will not go to college? More and more
we are coming to feel that the college and the university exist
for the people : everyone is entitled to some share of their light.
We would take the university spirit to the people; this is what
we now call university extension, and it is the highest expres-
sion yet attained of the mission of education. We are begin-
ning to wonder if all, or even the greater part, of the education
of the future is to be accomplished by the segregation of
students into a few centers. Perhaps the institution of learn-
ing has two co-ordinate functions as an organ of civilization, —
studiously to educate the few, enthusiastically to awaken the
many. May not some great university of the near future be
publicly known and complimented as much for those whom it
has touched as for those whom it has graduated?

There are many reasons why farmers' sons and daughters
do not go to college more freely to study farming. The fault
— if fault there is — is not always to be laid to the farmer. But

380 Educational Review [November

the farmer must be educated. His very numbers in the com-
monwealth makes this imperative for the pubhc welfare.
There can be no dispute as to the value of education unless we
dispute the value of civilization itself. The efifort to reach the
farmer can never cease, unless the race decay. The colleges
and experiment stations have made an agricultural science.
They have built a vast literature. More than anyone knows
they make and color public opinion. Their influence must be
taken to every man who lives in the country, even if, in the tak-
ing, all our pedagogical notions are upset.

The great question is the practical one of how to accomplish
this result. It cannot be done by the spread of mere knowl-
edge. Too often the colleges and experiment stations have
made the mistake of supposing that information is the panacea
for agricultural ills. The person's interest must first be awak-
ened. He must be touched with an inspiration. The
trouble with agriculture is not so much that it is pecuniarily
unprofitable as that the farmer does not know how to live.
The farmer must be put in sympathy with his environment.
He must be given a new point of view, for the point of view is.
the greatest thing in life.

To put one in touch with his surroundings, to open his eyes
that he may live the daily life with joy, means that we must
begin with the child. Happiness and contentment are sub-
jective; and subjective qualities are slow of growth. They are
no veneer of what we sometimes call culture. They are of the
fiber: they are central to the man. Thru parents, teachers,
playmates, reading, the children must be taught to see and to
appreciate the things with which they live. They must be led
to nature; and this leading has been called nature-study. The
term is not a happy one in all respects, and there is no con-
sensus of opinion what it shall represent in practice. Oftenest
it stands for mere elementary or easy science; in other hands it
is sentimental glamour of things afield. The other day a
botanist said to me that tracts should be issued, telling chil-
dren how to identify plants, devoting one tract in turn to each
important group of plants. " Then," he said, " we shall have
a crop of young botanists coming on." I could only reply that

1900] Newer ideas in agricultural education 381

we do not want a crop of young botanists. We want children
seeing what there is to see, and Hking it because they Hke it.
The supply of botanists will take care of itself.

Fortunately, this movement nature-ward has been tested
sufficiently to show that it is no chimera. One university al-
ready has an enrollment of nearly thirty thousand children, who
are banded together to know and to enjoy the things in the
world. It has nearly twenty-five thousand teachers who are
vitally interested in the movement. Here are about fifty
thousand people who are systematically supplied with litera-
ture and help. All this is prosecuted for the one purpose of
making country life more attractive. As fast as more intelli-
gent people settle in the country, agricultural ills will vanish.

Something immediate must be done for the grown-up farmer.
He may be struggling. The first essential to helping him is.
to be in sympathy with him. Help cannot be given at arm's
length. If the farmer is in search of knowledge, he will prob-
ably be able to save himself. If he is not in search of it, he is
likely to go to the wall. Literally, he is likely to go to the
city. The country may be the better without him, but the city
is the worse. The city thereby becomes interested in farming.
It wants to keep people in the country. It is not strange, there-
fore, that movements designed to promote the extension of
agricultural knowledge often find their most ardent friends in
the cities. Whether we will or no, the farmer must be
reached, especially the farmer who does not want to be
reached. For those who are difficult to reach, a simple, at-
tractive and skillfully planned reading course is the beginning
of salvation. These are the people who do not read books; if
they did they would be less in need of help. All ideas of mere
academic dignity must be laid aside, and effort must not rest
until every man is touched. One simple leaflet, well digested,
may mean more to some remote farmer than a whole library
means to a student.

Fortunately, the farmers' reading course also has been tried.
Ten or a dozen States have taken it up in one form or another.
So far, it has proceeded from the agricultural colleges in the
various States, and this is well and auspicious. One of these

382 Educational Review

institutions now has a reading course compromising about six-
teen thousand actual readers.

Thus is the farmer being reached — by any means which
promises efficient results, whether it conforms to accustomed
educational standards or not. Agricultural education is the
most difficult of educational fields. Old ideas of teaching must
be enlarged and outgrown. Great results are already attained.
A body of men which would grace any walk in life is giving
its very life to the cause, knowing that, as the problem is
peculiar, this body must stand largely alone in the educational
world. The work of widest influence must be that of an ex-
tension character, including nature-study movements, reading
courses, itinerant schools, short winter courses, and the like;
only the few will go farther and higher.

L. H. Bailey

Cornell University,
Ithaca, N. Y.

VI . '

TRAINING TEACHERS IN FRANCE^

Many persons who have made a study of the conditions of
education in America beUeve that the weakest part of our sys-
tem is in the training of our teachers, or rather, in the lack of
it. It is well understood that the great majority of the
teachers in our high schools and colleges have received no pro-
fessional training whatever, largely because we hold the amiable
theory that teachers, like poets, are born, not made, and that
therefore all technical instruction or criticism of their work is
superfluous. It seems to be a belief that by some mysterious
process of mental alchemy college students will be transmuted
into successful teachers by sitting behind a teacher's desk. A
young man with a talent for the profession of medicine is the
one who receives the most careful training in a professional
school, and this technical training is supplemented by at least a
year of hospital practice. The same principle holds true in the
legal profession. A young man does not become a practicing
physician after taking a college course in physiology, or a law-
yer after passing a college examination in constitutional law —
the state in both cases protects alike the young man from him-
self and the community from his ignorance and inexperience.
Unhappily the protection extended by the state to our bodies
and to our property does not as yet extend to our minds, and

^ This paper is based on personal visits to the classes in five of the six normal
schools in Paris and its suburbs (the £co/g normale supirieure at Paris for young
men, the ^cole normale secondaire at Sevres for young women, the &coU normale
p-imaire superieure at Saint-Cloud for young men, the £,cole normale primaire
sHph-ieure at Fontenay-aux-Roses for young women, and the ^cole normale pri-
maire iox yoxxwg men, including the model school at Auteuil) ; also, on conver-
sations with different professors and students of these schools and various provincial
schools ; on the series of educational programs published by MM. Delalain ;
on the histories and reports of these schools, so far as they are published ; on the
statistical year-books relating to education ; on the EnquSte sur V Enseignement
secondaire (1899); and on such information as could be gathered from current edu-
cational literature.

383

384 Educational Review [November

college and high school students are everywhere the sufferers
from the well-meant but crude efforts of college graduates to
gain experience — an experience that must as yet be secured at
the expense of their pupils. Young teachers enter our high
schools and colleges with ambition to succeed, and rejoicing in
the opportunities presented for success, yet there is a constant
procession of those who, as lamentable failures, abandon the
profession of teaching simply because they have never been
taught a single principle of the theory, practice, and history of
education.

If we err on the negative side in giving no training whatso-
ever to the great majority of those who are to become the
teachers in our high schools and colleges, our faults on the
positive side are equally noticeable. The training that it is at
present possible to secure is received in five different classes of
institutions — in normal schools maintained by the State, where
the training is concentrated in a single institution, as in In-
diana; in normal schools in those States that distribute their
funds among several institutions, as in New York, which sup-
ports twelve;^ in the training schools maintained in nearly all
of our large cities at the expense of the city; thru the courses
in the history and the science of education now offered in many
of our great universities; in special colleges, of which Teachers
College in connection with Columbia University is the single
example. The city training schools are entirely local in char-
acter and influence, the work offered in the universities is
theoretical and has often been too slight in character to have
an appreciable influence on the teaching profession. Teachers
College stands by itself; the great majority of our teachers
who have received any so-called professional training have re-
ceived it in the State normal schools. That these schools have
as yet failed to provide an ideal preparation for teachers is
largely due to their disregard of all those principles of profes-
sional training so ably set forth by Commissioner Harris in his
recent article on *' The Future of the Normal School." ^ These

'^ This may seem a distinction without a difiference, but those familiar with both
systems will readily recognize that essential differences which cannot be discussed
here are found in the two plans.

* Educational Review, January, 1899.

.1900] Training teachers in France 385

•defects have often been discussed, but for the purpose of com-
parison it seems necessary once more to call attention to some
of them.

Among the most obvious of these defects is the failure to
■differentiate the work of our normal schools. The result of
this failure is that all students, irrespective of the part they are
to take imthe teaching profession, are trained side by side;
the same three years' course is supposed to train students to
become country superintendents of schools, city superin-
tendents, principals and teachers in high schools, in grammar
schools, in elementary schools and kindergartens, in normal
schools, or in so-called colleges. The qualifications and the
training needed for becoming an efficient superintendent of city
schools and a successful teacher in a grammar school certainly
seem to be different, yet in the American normal school all
•classes of students receive in the same school an identical
preparation.

Another serious defect is the frequent lack of a suitable en-
trance requirement. In some normal schools there is abso-
lutely no standard of admission, since the theory is held that the
school is under obligation to admit every applicant on his
simple statement that he wishes to become a teacher. This,
■coupled with the lack of a proper minimurn and maximum age
regulation, results in a student body that is sometimes nothing
more or less than a miscellaneous collection of men, women,
and children.

It is in keeping with the absence of suitable age limitations
and a uniform entrance requirement that this unclassified body
of students often follows a course of study correspondingly
indefinite in character. All students receive precisely the same
training, irrespective of previous preparation, age, mental
ability, or future career. The normal school stands primarily
for the inculcation of the principles of psychology and their
adaptation to education, yet every one of these principles is
violated when college graduates, high-school graduates, stu-
•dents from the ungraded country schools, and other students
almost absolutely illiterate are found following precisely the
same course of study, as it is equally violated when no regard

386 Educational Review [November

is paid to the future educational career of the students in at-
tendance.

It is not therefore strange to find in some of these schools
students who cannot use the English language with even a fair
degree of correctness, speaking a metaphysical patois in the be-
lief that they have discovered a new language ; nor is it strange
that others who cannot read a genealogical table, and consider
it unessential to know whether the Norman Conquest came in
the eleventh or in the nineteenth century, should advocate
teaching the philosophy of history in the grammar grades; that
others who are entirely ignorant of European history should
grapple with Hegel's Philosophy of history, and that still others
who do not understand the organization of education, even in
their own State, should consider it the chief function of a nor-
mal school to discuss whether children should stand or sit when
reciting, or whether they should use pen or pencil in writing.

One explanation of many of these incongruities in our sys-
tem is in the failure of so many of the normal schools to set a
high standard of ability, qualification, and attainment for their
own instructors. Many of these instructors have received only
a normal school training, and there is sometimes a feeling of
greater or less ill-will toward their colleagues who have received
a college education. In the great majority of cases they are not
themselves producers; the number of persons on normal school
faculties who have made any distinct contribution to educa-
tional theory, or who have investigated educational conditions
at first hand, or who have made a direct contribution to pure
scholarship, is as yet extremely limited. Not only are they not
themselves producers, but they are often out of sympathy with
production, and sometimes even affect a superiority to it. Sq
pretentious have often been the claims made by some normal
schools, and so at variance with these claims have been the
actual results, that in many circles the very word '' normal ""
has fallen into ill-repute, and education has suffered at the
hands of its would-be friends.

It is of interest to put side by side with our slipshod methods
of training, the orderly, systematic provisions made by France.

There are three classes of normal schools in France, and a

1900] Training teachers in France 387

prospective teacher enters one or the other according to his in-
tention of becoming a teacher in an elementary school, a teacher
of teachers, or a teacher in the secondary schools. To under-
stand clearly the difference, it must be borne in mind that
French schools are classed as elementary and secondary, not
because the elementary precedes the secondary, as with us, but
rather with reference to the leaving age of the pupils. Those
children who must in all probability leave school at thirteen or
fourteen attend the elementary schools; those who are able to
remain until eighteen or nineteen attend the secondary schools ;
a pupil does not pass from the elementary to the secondary
school, since each class of schools has a different object, and
each has a program of studies complete in itself. The first of
the three classes of normal schools trains those who are to be
the teachers in the elementary schools, that is, those who are to
be the teachers of boys and girls fourteen years of age and
under. One such normal school for young men and one for
young women is by law established in each of the eighty-seven
departments of France, altho it is possible for two sparsely
settled departments to secure an authorization from the Presi-
dent of the Republic to maintain a normal school in common,
and the present tendency is toward the consolidation of the
work in such departments.

. The organization of all of these schools is simple and uni-
form. Admission to them is determined by competitive ex-
amination, and candidates who have failed twice are not per-
mitted to try a third time without the special permission of the
highest academic authority. The minimum age of admission
is sixteen, the maximum eighteen, and the candidate must be
free from any physical infirmity that would interfere with his
success as a teacher. The candidate must already have passed
the examination entitling him to a license to teach in the ele-
mentary school (brevet element air e) .

The examination consists of two parts, written and oral.
The written part precedes the oral, and no candidate is ad-
mitted to the second part unless he has passed the first. The
written examination consists of five parts : ( i ) an exercise in
dictation; (2) a special exercise in penmanship; (3) an essay

388 Educational Review [November

on some designated subject, either a simple narration or letter,
or the explanation of some moral or educational precept, or of
a proverb, or of a maxim, or of some question of ethical or
civic instruction; (4) a composition on some subject in arith-
metic, including the solution of problems, with the explanation
of the rules; (5) a simple exercise in drawing at sight. The
first three parts of the examination are taken in the morning,
the last two in the afternoon, the total time occupied being
about six hours and a half. Those who successfully pass the
written examination are admitted to the second part, which
comprises four divisions : first, an oral examination on the
French language, on arithmetic and the metric system, on the
history of France, on the geography of France and notions of
general geography, and on an elementary knowledge of the
physical and the natural sciences. At least half an hour is
given to the oral examination in each of these five subjects.
This is followed by the second division of the second part of
the examination, which is the preparation of an abstract of
two lessons, one of a literary, the other of a scientific character,
given by the professors of the school where the examination is
held. The third division of the second part of the examination
is an examination in music, and this is followed by the fourth
part, which consists of an examination in gymnastics, and, for
the young men, in military exercises, for the young women,
in sewing.

Those who stand highest on the list of successful candidates
are admitted to the normal school of the department where they
have taken the examination, but those who have successfully
passed the examination may be admitted to the normal school
of another department if vacancies exist and if their standing
warrants it.

The number of pupils to be admitted to each school each
year is fixed in advance by the minister of public instruction
acting on the advice of the departmental council, and the suc-
cessful candidates pledge themselves to teach ten years in the
public schools of France, but in reality only seven, since the
three years passed in the school are included in the ten.

Once admitted to the school the regime also is simple and

ipoo]

Training teachers in France

389

regular. The students live in the residence hall connected with
the school, all expenses of board and lodging as well as of
tuition being borne by the state. The duration of the course
is three years, and the time is practically divided equally be-
tween literary and scientific subjects. The following table
shows the distribution of hours among the different subjects.

Subjects

Literary Subjects

Psychology, ethics, education

French language and literature

History and civics

Geography

Penmanship

Modern languages (German or English)

Total number of hours, literary subjects

Scientific Subjects

"Mathematics

Physics and chemistry

Natural science and hygiene

Drawing and modeling

Theory of agriculture

Total number of hours, scientific subjects

Manual and agricultural work

•Gymnastic and military exercises

Music

Hoi

JRS PER Week

First

Second

Third

Year

2(a)

1(b)

(a) Provision is made for an additional hour of conversation in the modern lan-
;guage studies.

(b) Twenty lessons in hygiene are given during the year.

This program of studies, like the conditions of admission, is
uniform thruout France. The subjects prescribed for the nor-
mal schools for young women are in the main the same as
those for young men, but the instruction in civics is very
meager, considerably less time is given to the sciences, and
sewing, housework, and gardening are substituted for manual
work and agriculture.

390 Educational Review [November

Some of the characteristic features of the methods of in-
struction will be discussed later in connection with the work of
the other classes of normal schools.

Every examination in France is practically an entrance ex-
amination rather than a leaving examination. The examina-
tion therefore taken by the students of the elementary normal
schools on the completion of their work is one given, not by
the school itself, but by the state, and those who successfully
pass this examination are accepted as teachers fully qualified to
teach in the elementary schools of France. To all those who
succeed the state guarantees a position in the public schools.

Eighty-nine such normal schools for young men and eighty-
six for young women have been established in France and in
the French colonies. For training the teachers of these schools
two special schools have been established, one for young men
at Saint-Cloud and one for young women at Fontenay-aux-
Roses, where the subjects taught in the elementary schools can
be studied thoroly and with special reference to giving instruc-
tion in them in the elementary normal schools.

The conditions that determine the admission to these two
higher normal schools are the same in principle as those that
govern the admission of pupils to the elementary normal
schools. Admission is by competitive examination, the num-
ber to be admitted each year is fixed by the minister of public
instruction, the minimum age being nineteen and the maximum
twenty-five. All candidates for the examination must have
obtained a teacher's certificate of the first class (brevet supe-
rieur), or have. the baccalaureate degree, or, in the case of
young women, a diploma stating that they have finished the
course of instruction in the secondary schools for young
women. They must agree, if they have not previously done
so, to engage ten years in public instruction, or to forfeit to the
state the equivalent of board and lodging received if admitted
to the school — ^$120 per year.

The candidates are divided mto two classes, the literary
section and the scientific section. Those in the literary section
write four essays: (i) on French literature or grammar; (2)
on education or ethics; (3) on history and geography; (4) in

igoo] Training teachers in France 391

a modern language, either German, English, Italian, Spanish,
or Arabic. The scientific section write five essays : ( i ) on
mathematics; (2) on chemistry, physics, and natural science;
(3) on geometrical drawing and decoration; (4) in a modern
language; (5) on education or ethics. The two sections are
examined together in education and the modern language.
Three hours are given for the examination in the modem lan-
guage, and the use of a dictionary is authorized; four hours are
given to each of the other compositions. This written exami-
nation, like that for entrance to the elementary normal schools,
is most thoro, the special emphasis being laid on the French lan-
guage. Every paper is termed a '' composition " ; for example,
the paper on chemistry and physics is called " a composition
comprising a question of physics, a question of chemistry, and a
question of natural science." This paper must be not merely
correct as to statement and language, but also '* well written."
The written examination takes place in the capital of each de-
partment, but the papers are sent to Paris for correction and
grading.

The candidates who have successfully passed the written ex-
amination are subsequently summoned to Paris for the oral
and the practical examination. This consists, for the literary
section, in : ( i ) the exposition of some question in grammar,
literature, history, or geography; (2) the reading and explana-
tion, with commentary, of some passage taken from a list of
French authors previously specified; (3) the explanation of a
modern language text. For the scientific section it consists of :
( I ) the exposition of a question in mathematics, including all
of plane geometry; (2) the exposition of a question in physics,
or in chemistry, or in natural science; (3) a modern language.
In addition to this the young men of the scientific section are
examined in modeling or in work in iron or in wood, and the
young women in needlework.

The successful candidates who have passed the highest are
admitted to the school, where they also live in residence and
remain for three years.*

^ The course at Saint-Cloud is at present two years, but it is hoped to add a
third year soon.

392 Educational Review [November

The course of study, unlike that of the elementary normal
schools, is fixed, not by the prescription of a definite program,
but by the examinations taken for positions in the elementary
normal schools. Teachers who have not taken the normal
training at Saint-Cloud or at Fontenay-aux-Roses are also
eligible to these examinations, but it is obvious that the stu-
dents trained in these two schools have the advantage over
others, in addition to the very real one that the Government
guarantees them positions.

This examination is therefore also an entrance rather than a
leaving examination, and its character is determined by the
future plans of the candidates. Those who wish to become the
directors of elementary normal schools must pass a written and
an oral examination. The former comprises an essay on a sub-
ject in pedagogy and one on school administration, five hours
being given for each. This is followed by an oral explanation
of a passage, drawn by lot, taken from one of the authors in-
cluded in a list published a year in advance, and this by the
oral exposition of a question in theoretic or practical peda-
gogics.^ The latter question is also drawn by lot, and two
hours " behind closed doors '' are given for preparation. The
oral examination is followed by a practical test, which consists
of the inspection of a normal school, of a higher elementary
school, or of an elementary, or of a maternal school, followed
by the presentation of a verbal report. Those students who
wish to be teachers rather than school directors take a different
examination. The written proof for the section of letters com-
prises an essay on a subject in : ( i ) literature or grammar; (2)
history and geography; (3) ethics or educational psychology;
(4) a modern language. The scientific section presents papers
on: (i) mathematics; (2) a subject including a question of
physics, of chemistry, and of natural science; (3) geometrical
and ornamental drawing; (4) ethics or education. The oral
and practical examination comprises for the section of letters :

\Lack of space prevents a detailed account of all the extremely interesting sub-
jects included under the head of education, legislation, and administration. A
single one of the score of groups suggested includes public libraries, school
libraries, classes for adults and for apprentices, school museums, school savings
banks, workshops for manual work, school military companies, and military drill.

I poo] Training teachers in France 393

(i) the preparation of a lesson on some subject drawn by lot,
three hours being given, " behind closed doors," for the prepa-
ration of the lesson, which is not to exceed a half hour in
length; (2) the reading and explanation of a passage taken
from a French classic; (3) the correction of an exercise of a
normal school pupil; (4) the explanation of a modern language
text, with questions on grammar. The candidates in science,
(i) give a lesson on a subject in mathematics, the physical or
the natural sciences; (2) are questioned on each of three parts
of the program in sciences; (3) perform an experiment in
physics or in chemistry, and give a practical demonstration of
some subject in natural history.

The higher normal school for young women at Fontenay-
aux-Roses was established in July, 1880. So successful was it
that the following February measures were taken looking
toward the establishment of a similar one for young men, and
soon after the school was opened temporarily at Sevres.
In March, 1882, the school was regularly opened at Saint-
Cloud. Finally a law of January, 1887, brought together pre-
vious legislation in regard to the two schools, set a high stand-
ard for entrance, and put them on a substantial footing.

How successful the work at Saint-Cloud has been a glance at
the roll of the students trained there will show. They are
found in every department in France as directors or as teachers
in the elementary normal schools, or as inspectors of schools.
Many of its former students are engaged in similar educational
work in the French colonies, while its foreign students are
similarly engaged in education in Japan, in Egypt, in Luxem-
bourg, in Germany, and elsewhere. A considerable number of
its students have spent a year in England or in Germany in
order to perfect themselves as teachers of the modern lan-
guages.

This success has been due not only. to the rigor of the com-
petitive examinations for admission, to the thoroness and the
symmetry of the course of study pursued, and to the rigor of
the examinations taken for entrance into the higher parts of the
teaching profession, but it has also been due in no small part to
the daily contact of the students with some of the most emi-

394 Edtccational Review [November

nent professors of Paris. The proximity of Saint-Cloud to the
capital makes it possible to secure as professors in the normal
school men who are equally distinguished as scholars and as
teachers — all of them are attached either to the Sorbonne or to
some one of the great lycees of Paris. The small number of
students in the school — forty — makes it possible for each one
to receive the most careful, thoro, and individual training. No
other than successful results could be expected from such an
ideal preparation.

Equally successful has been the result of the work for young
women at Fontenay-aux-Roses. The highest and most sin-
cere tribute to it has been given by Madame Marie du Sacre-
Coeur in her praiseworthy efforts to secure a better, more
thoro, and more modern education for young women of the
Roman Catholic faith;® only by the establishment of a simi-
lar school, she urges, can the education carried on by the Roman
Catholic Church successfully compete with that of the secular
schools.

But the crowning glory of the French system of training
teachers is its Ecole normale snperieiire at Paris, the oldest as
well as the most famous of its normal schools, for, curiously
enough from the American point of view, the training of
teachers in France began with the preparation of teachers for
the highest grade of schools. No more pertinent illustration
can be found of the truth of the statement that " educational
forces pull from the top, they do not push from the bottom,"
than is seen in the establishment of this school years before any
effort was made to train teachers for the elementary schools.
A fact equally interesting in its history is that it was a part of
the constructive work of the National Convention, — the decree
creating it being passed October 30, 1794, during a period too
often considered purely destructive in character.

The commemorative volume published at the time of the
celebration of its centenary "^ gives a history that is most inter-
esting and profitable to students of education, but attention can
be called only to one or two points in that history. Not the

^ Les Riligieuses Enseignantes et les Ndcessites de VApostolat, Paris, 1898.

'^ Le Centenaire deV^cole Normale, 1795-1895, Hachette et Cie., Paris, 1895. '<

igoo] Training teachers in France 395

least interesting is the knowledge that when the normal school
opened its doors it did so to receive a mass of students of all
ages, varying ability, and degrees of preparation, all eager to
share in the new training. The picture that is given of the
instruction at first provided for these fourteen hundred stu-
dents suggests many of the incongruities found to-day in our
own normal training. It is not strange that the school was
.soon temporarily closed because there had been a confused idea
as to what its purpose was. It had not been clearly under-
stood whether this aim was to prepare teachers for the primary
schools or for the higher schools, or to prepare the students to
establish normal schools in their own departments. It was
inevitable that without this definite understanding much of the
work should be crude and formless. " It was thought possible
to make scholars in four months," says a critic of the time, — an
observation that has more than a local application. When the
school was re-opened in 1808 it was to profit by many of the
early mistakes. The number of students was limited to three
hundred, competitive entrance examinations were established,
and a more definite plan of work was laid out.

The school met with varying fortunes until 1831, when M.
Cousin became the director and inaugurated a regime of ex-
treme rigor. The rules of 1836 prescribed absolute silence in
the study halls; students could not study together without
authorization; during meal time a student read aloud; dan-
gerous and useless books, as well as newspapers, were for-
bidden; the hour for rising was five o'clock, winter and sum-
mer, and students could leave the school only on Sundays after
nine in the morning, and were obliged to return before eight in
the evening. If these provisions seem unduly harsh, it must
be remembered that even to-day a monastic severity prevails
everywhere in France in the internal management of every
school, and that the rigor of the administration at this time
was perhaps an inevitable reaction from the laxness of the
-earlier period.

It is impossible to follow the history of the school, interest-
ing and profitable as it is. The school has attained its present
perfection as a result of more than a hundred years of experi-

39^ Educational Review [November

ment and of observation of experiments elsewhere, and it is
not too much to say that it has to-day no rival in any country.

The students, one hundred in number approximately, are
chosen by competitive examination, which is open only to
those who hold the bachelor's degree. Since it is obligatory
that the examination for the master's degree shall be taken at
the end of the first year passed in the school, it is customary for
the students to take the examinations for this degree at the same
time that the competitive examinations for entrance are taken.
The candidates are examined in the two sections of letters
and of sciences, and as elsewhere, only those who successfully
pass the written examination are admitted to the oral. For the
section of letters the first part of the examination comprises an
essay in French, a dissertation on philosophy,' an essay on an
historical subject,^ an essay in Latin, a Latin translation, and a
Greek theme. Six hours are given for each of the first four
exercises, four hours for each of the last two, and all papers are
signed with a fictitious name or a symbol. The oral examina-
tion is on grammar, literature, and history. The written ex-
amination for the scientific section compri"ses an essay on
mathematics, one on physics, and a dissertation in French, each
six hours in length. The oral examination includes mathe-
matics, physics, and chemistry, and a translation of two of three
texts — Latin, German, or English.

Is it surprising that the one hundred young men in the 'Ecole
normale superieure who have been selected by such rigorous
tests from candidates coming from every part of France repre-
sent to-day, as they have for many years, all that is best in
French training and culture?

With such a preparation, some may ask, What remains by
way of preparing these students to become professors, in the
higher schools of France? The question must be answered in

"It is noted in the Administrative Bulletin of February 6, 1892, that the oral
examination in history shall comprise such knowledge of ancient, mediaeval, and
modern history as is considered essential " to every truly cultivated man," while the
written examination shall be on certain specified parts of history, which, however,
presuppose a thoro acquaintance with the history of Europe in general and of
France in particular.

1900]

Training teachers in France

397

detail in order to appreciate the full significance of the training
given.

The course of study is one of three years, and the students
are divided into the two sections of letters and of science.
Each of these sections is again subdivided : that of letters into
five branches — ^philosophy, literature, history and geography,
grammar, and modern languages; that of science into three —
mathematics, physics and chemistry, and natural science. The
course in letters illustrates the principle of both courses.

During the first year the five branches of the section have all
their work in common ; during the second year, about one-half ;
during the third year, each branch confines itself to its own
special line of work. This will be clearer by noting the ac-
companying diagram :

ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE
Section of Letters

First Year

Second Year

Third Year ,

a b c

d e

a b

c d e

\
\ \

c d e

a Philosophy

b Literature

c History and geography

d Grammar

e Modern language

e. Students in the modern
languages course spend
the last year either in
England or in Germany

The object of the work is to make the students masters of
their subjects, and in becoming such to acquire experience and
facility in presenting various parts of it to others in a clear^
forcible, and artistic manner. Thus every course comprises a

39^ Educational Review [November

<:ertain number of lectures given by the professor in charge,
and others given by the students attending it. The lectures
^iven by the latter increase in number from the first to the third
year, and are criticised by the professor in charge in great de-
tail and from every possible point of view. Assuredly no
training can be better for those who are to become later pro-
fessors in the higher schools and investigators in literary and
scientific lines.

It is of interest to notice who have been called on to become
the teachers of the prospective teachers in this great school.
They have been and are the men most distinguished in their
own lines to be found in France. Many have themselves been
students of the school, and have later become professors in the
College de France, in the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes,
and other great schools of Paris, but the best are always chosen
whether they have been trained in the school or not. Its
•directors have been men like M. Cousin, M. Perrot, and M.
Fustel de Coulanges; its professors have been, or are to-day,
Villemain, Jouffroy, Sainte-Beuve, Michelet, Duruy, Nisard,
Lavisse, Brunetiere, Monod, Beljame, Petit de JuUeville, and a
long list of others equally distinguished. Can one overesti-
mate the value of the inspiration that must come to a student in
the laboratories where Pasteur began his work, where the
properties of aluminum and of platinum were first discovered,
and other scarcely less important discoveries have been made,
and where every facility is afforded for research in every scien-
tific line, and granted freely, not only to members of the school,
but to other investigators ? Is there not some enthusiasm for
pure scholarship that comes from the library shelves and tables
where Fustel de Coulanges, Perrot, Levasseur, Breal, Monod,
Aulard, and Salomon Reinach have worked as students under
the direction of the most distinguished scholars of Paris ?

One explanation of the position held by the Ecole normale
is that it has not measured its success by numbers. But the
very fact that it has taken the picked few and lavished on them
all its resources accounts for the long roll of eminent names
among its former students — ^Janet, Deschanel, Pasteur, About,
Sarcey, Taine, Perrot, Rambaud, Monod, Lavisse, Vidal de la

igoo] Training teachers in France 399

Blache, Luchaire, Seignobos, Salomon Reinach, Doumic, these
are but a few of scores of well-known names of men who have
been trained in the Ecole normale. Its graduates have become
not only professors in the higher schools of France and in the
great schools of Paris, like the Sorbonne, but also archaeolo-
gists, curators of museums, archivists, critics, and men eminent
in the State, in the Church, and in every walk of life. The
school at Athens and the school at Rome have numbered among
their students more than a hundred " normaliens." Nearly
seventy of its former students have become members of the In-
stitute of France, that goal of French ambition.

So successful have proved the methods of instruction used
in the school, that the Sorbonne, in its later development, has
adopted a system of conferences that supplement the public
lectures, as the lectures prepared by students at the Normal
School supplement those given by the professors.

It is therefore optional with a young man who looks for-
ward to taking the highest academic degrees, thru which alone
he secures the highest academic positions, whether he makes
Iiis preparation for the examinations leading to these degrees
at the Ecole normale, assuming that he is able to enter it, or
at the Sorbonne.

What are the strong points in the French system of training
teachers ? Certain features are common to the three different
grades of normal schools, and some at least of these features are
-worthy of consideration in other countries.

The most obvious of these is the careful classification of stu-
■dents according to the particular educational work each one
intends to pursue, and the consequent adaptation of the train-
ing to this intended work. It is true that a student trained to
teach in an elementary school may later discover that his talent
was rather as a teacher of older pupils, or the converse. These
mistakes, however, which are rather accidents of social position
than errors of judgment, are apparently few, and must assur-
edly be fewer.

The next most obvious advantage of the French system is
that a fixed, definite, and high standard of admission is set, and
that not only must students conform to this requirement, but

400 Educational Review [November

that the admission to the normal schools of France is accorded
only to those who approach this standard most closely. It is
true that no scheme of competitive examination has yet been
devised that will determine in respect to a candidate every fact
that it is desirable to know, but the competitive examination*
reduces the number of unknown quantities to a minimum. Its
advantages are not only the negative one that it weeds out hope-
lessly bad material, much of which encumbers like dead wood
our own normal schools, but thai on the positive side it secures
the best material. The result on the normal schools themselves
is they secure students who have had a uniform preparation,
and thus no time is wasted in bringing the members of a class
to the same standard. The work of the three years from start
to finish is based on the assumption that the members of a class
do not differ widely in mental caliber, and that they bring to
their work practically the same preparation. The work of the
school thus progresses easily and by rapid stages, and far more
is accomplished in three years in a French normal school than
in the same length of time by our own careless methods. This
systematic work is made possible, not only by the sifting
processes of a competitive examination, but also by the mini-
mum and maximum age limitation. Thus the incongruities
so often found with us, of classes containing students of all
ages from sixteen to fifty, are never encountered.

A third advantage is that the teachers in the normal schools
are not only admirable teachers, but also that so many of them-
have been and are eminent scholars. One has only to look at
the long roll of distinguished names that are found on the
records of the great normal school of Paris, to realize what an
inspiration it must be to young men to work under a Fustel de
Coulanges, a Pasteur, a Duruy. The roll of the professors at
Saint-Cloud and at Fontenay-aux-Roses, altho these schools are
as yet young, is scarcely less distinguished. This of itself is
sufficient to attract able students to the schools.

Another advantage in the matter of organization is the small
number of students in each school. The largest elementary"
normal schools in France are those at Douai, where the one for
young men numbers 146 and that for young women 142. The

tpoo] Training teachers in France 401

•average size of the normal schools for young men is 45, but
iifty-four of these schools, out of a total of eighty-five, have
fewer than the average number; the average size of the schools
for young women is 46, while forty-eight out of a total eighty-
three number fewer than the average.^ The result of this is
that the classes are everywhere small. In one class visited four
persons were in the room, the professor in charge, one of the
most distinguished historians of France, the student who was
giving the lecture of the day, a second student, and the visitor.
The smallness of the classes thus enables the most painstaking
individual training to be given each student. Perhaps some-
thing of the carefulness of the Jesuit methods has been intro-
duced into the work; certainly no detail is too small to receive
the most careful attention of the teachers of the normal schools,
and the good results . are seen in a body of thoroly trained,
competent teachers, who not only know how to teach, but who
know their subjects.

In the matter of the work of the school certain praiseworthy
features should be noted. The most important of these is the
insistence at every step of the way on the correct use of the
French language. It matters not whether the professor in
charge of a class is teaching mathematics, science, history, or
literature, it is his first duty to see not only that no incorrect,
slovenly, or inappropriate word or phrase is used, but that the
most fitting form of expression is employed. " That is not
well expressed," " Choose a better word," " That word does
not convey the right shade of meaning," " That is a little
vague," " Alsace-Lorraine is a geographical name of the
present century; use the proper designation for the seventeenth
century," — these and similar corrections one hears whenever
the necessity for them exists, altho with the admirable prepara-
tion the students have had the necessity for such corrections
arises far less frequently than with us. Such insistence on the
correct use of French is all the more noteworthy since the ten-
dency in France is to put subjects, professors, and students into

• These statistics, the latest available, are taken from the R/sum^ de la
Situation de V Enseignement primaire pour Vann^e scolaire, i8g4-i8gS- Tiie
number of normal schools given on page 390 is for the year 1898- 1899. _ j

402 Educational Review [November

water-tight compartments and to resent anything which seems
like interfering with the special work of another person. But
all share alike in what is deemed the almost sacred inheritance
of the French language, and every Frenchman is passionately
devoted to the preservation of this language in all its purity.
It can be affirmed without fear of contradiction that one would
not hear in all France a normal-school student use a phrase
corresponding to our "' I have went," '' he come," or "' I think
like you do," or a normal-school director who uses the French
for '' It don't," or " Rev. Smith," errors not unknown with us.
The question of the special training for the work of teaching
is one of the primary importance, and here it will be found that
the French method differs in one important respect from our
own. In the last year of the course special lessons are given in
the model primary schools by the students who are to become
teachers in the elementary schools, and the students in the
i.cole normale sitperieure give lessons in the high schools of
Paris, but this is only a small part of the constant training given
in methods of presentation and exposition. During the first
year in the Ecole normale superieure every student prepares a
considerable number of special topics that are presented to the
class; during the second year the number is increased; during
the third year these topics become still more frequent; much the
same principle is carried on in the lower normal schools.
These topics are prepared by the student with the greatest care,
and when they are presented to the class the student takes the
chair of the professor or sits at a table in front of the class at
one side. The time taken by the student varies from fifteen
minutes to three-quarters of an hour. At the close sometimes
the members of the class give criticisms of the topics as pre-
sented, but always the chief criticism is given by the professor.
This criticism is always most thoro and searching. The topic
is criticised from every point of view as regards its content, its
literary form, and the manner of presenting it — nothing
escapes the notebook of the professor in charge. If this criti-
cism sometimes seems to a visitor to err on the side of undue
severity, it must be acknowledged that the result is wholesome.
Both teacher and student recognize the responsibility to the

ipoo] Training teachers in France 403

state that maintains the school, and that the state expects, and
has the right to receive, only the very best. On its pedagogical
side this constant drill has much to commend it. It may at
least be questioned whether the future teacher does not derive
more profit from this constant effort to prepare and present suc-
cessfully special subjects to those of his own mental ability and
attainments than from the effort to adapt himself at once to
those younger than himself. The French normal school gives,
both kinds of training, but the emphasis apparently is on train-
ing that comes from mastering a topic previously unknown and
presenting it clearly, forcibly, and attractively. . It is some-
times said of our own normal school graduates that " they
know how to teach everything without knowing anything to
teach." Certainly this criticism cannot be made in regard to
the French normal schools. The first essential is to know the
subject one is to teach, but this involves the ability to make
clear this knowledge to others; when this has been mastered,
the means of making a subject clear to younger pupils becomes
a simple matter. In other words, if a normal-school pupil be-
gins his teaching experience with lessons in a model school, he
is taking the most difficult step in his teaching career at the
outset. If on the other hand he acquires ease and facility in
presenting subjects to those of his own age and ability, it be-
comes a comparatively easy matter to take the next step and to
adapt one's teaching to those less mature.

Another interesting feature of the French system of training
is that every graduate of a normal school is compelled to be-
gin his apprenticeship in one of the provinces. Paris still
dominates France, and everyone whose student life has been in
Paris feels that he cannot hve away from the attractions of the
city, while those who have been educated in the provinces feel
that a residence in Paris at some time during his life is the
birthright inheritance of every Frenchman — those who have
been born in Paris cannot live elsewhere, while those born in
the provinces must live in Paris. Without regulation Paris
would be surfeited with teachers and the provincial schools re-
ceive only the remnant. But at this point the law intervenes,
and it is inexorable. The Government guarantees a position

404 Educational Review

to every graduate of a normal school, but it compels the first
position to be taken in a provincial school. This does not, of
course, prevent a teacher from receiving later an appointment
in a Paris school, but while Paris may be the goal of a normal-
school student, it cannot be his starting point.

If many details have been given in this paper, it has been
with the thought of showing something of that " infinite
capacity for taking pains " which the Frenchman shares with
the German. Order, symmetry, and perfection of organiza-
tion are his ideal, and nowhere is this perfection of organization
seen to better advantage than in the provisions made for train-
ing teachers. That the French method has its weak features,
and that it is at some points distinctly inferior to the German,
must be frankly acknowledged — no scheme of education is
faultless, and the French system is still at some points in a state
of evolution. But it has been the purpose of this paper to call
attention only to those characteristics which have seemed to the
writer not only good in themselves, but also capable of adapta-
tion in our own system of normal schools. It is specious
patriotism that leads to the assumption that every Ameri-
can institution is above criticism; it is unworthy imitation
that leads to the servile adoption of every foreign institu-
tion simply because it is foreign. But it assuredly is possible
to acknowledge our own shortcomings, to recognize that our
mistakes have also been made by others, to learn how these mis-
takes have been corrected elsewhere, to absorb into our own
system of education whatever is best in that of other countries,
while giving freely on our own part, and to approximate more
nearly than we do in practice to those high ideals of education
we have always cherished.

Lucy M. Salmon

Vassar College,

poughkeepsie, n. y.

VII
GERMAN HIGHER SCHOOLS^

In the thirties of this present century — it is still the nine-
teenth— Germany began to be rediscovered. Various influ-
ences, literary, political, and other, tended to this result. The
notion that France was the only culture-nation on the continent
of Europe which cultivated Anglo-Saxons needed to take ac-
count of gradually faded out, and there was a new turning of
men's attention to the lands beyond the Rhine. The educational
revival had already begun in this country. It was found that
Germany could teach us more about schools and teaching than
could either France or England. A few wandering Americans
visited the Fatherland and brought back glowing accounts of
what they had seen. Charles Brooks, Alexander D. Bache,
and Calvin E. Stow were of this number. Their reports re-
inforced the revival mightily. Yet one of the best views of
German schools that Englishmen and Americans got in those
days they got thru French eyes, in Victor Cousin's Rapport sur
I'etat de Vinstruction dans quelques pays, et particulierement
en Prusse, published in 1833, and appearing in an English
translation the following year.

In the sixties Matthew Arnold visited Germany and gave
a characteristic report of what he saw. In the meantime the
way had been traveled by a goodly number of English-speak-
ing and English-writing people. The story Arnold brought
back had accordingly less of novelty to his readers than the
earlier accounts had enjoyed; but it was vividly told, and served
to illustrate a very notable thesis.

In the succeeding generation down to this year, 1900, the
spiritual ties binding the Anglo-Saxon and the German peoples

' German higher schools — The history, organization, and methods of secondary
education in Germany. By James E. Russell, Ph. D., Dean of Teachers
College, Columbia University, New York. New York : Longmans, Green &
Co. 1899. viii-f455 p. $2.25.

405

4o6 Educational Review [November

to each other have been multiplied; their spiritual intercourse
has increased tremendously. English and American educators,
in great numbers have familiarized themselves with the educa-
tional thought and practice of Germany. Yet after all has been
said and written there has been one important place unfilled;
and Professor Russell's book fills that place, and fills it well.

This is a volume of 450 pages. The publishers have done
their part in a manner beyond reproach. Four chapters are
devoted to the history of German schools, chapter v gives a
bird's-eye view of the present school system of Prussia, the
^N^ chapters next following give an account of the organiza-
tion, maintenance, and general conduct and life of the second-
ary schools of the German Empire, with especial but by no
means exclusive reference to Prussia. Then follow about 140
pages, divided into seven chapters, treating of the actual
present-day instruction in the several branches of study. Two
chapters treat of the teaching force; current movements affect-
ing the schools receive a chapter; and a final chapter is devoted
to appreciative criticism of the German system. There are
seven appendices, presenting statistical information and ex-
tracts from various laws and ordinances, which could not well
be handled in the body of the work. To complete this sum-
mary of contents a very modest preface should be men-
tioned, and a good index — items that are by no means unim-
portant.

A century of Hegel and Darwin has taught us that what-
ever is must hang together with whatever has been; and we
have been learning of late, or relearning, it may be, that what-
ever is must hang together with the rest that is. We find ac-
cordingly a growing interest in historical and social aspects of
education, which makes large demands on one who would give
an account of any system of schools. An abiding sense of the
hang-togetherness of things is an essential part of his equip-
ment.

But subjective interpretations of such connections will not
satisfy. We ask for evidence that assumed relations are actual
relations. We expect, in a word, that the subject in hand shall
be treated objectively. German professors in German uni-

ipoo] German higher schools 407

versities have done much to establish this standard by their
reiteration of the word objective; and American students have
brought home with them from Germany the idea which that
word represents.

It would be too much to say that Professor Russell has satis-
fied such requirements perfectly. Yet it is not too much to
say that on the whole he has been eminently successful. The
book is full of definite information, based on wide reading, on
personal interviews with men who know, and on close observa-
tion of a goodly number of schools. It accordingly stands in
sharp contrast with some other accounts of foreign systems,
which disappoint us thru their meagerness of facts. This
fullness of information makes it possible for the author to re-
lieve the abstractness of general statements by the citation of
instances and by varied illustrations, as in the chapter on stu-
dent life in the higher schools, where some introductory para-
graphs of a general character are followed by brief but specific
notes on the schools of Meissen and Rossleben, and Schul-
pforta, a somewhat longer notice of the Stoy School at Jena,
and a very interesting, detailed narrative of a day spent in the
last-named institution. So chapter xix, on appointment, pro-
motion, and emoluments of teachers, is alive with pertinent and
varied information, such as a good observer and talker might
have to tell on his return from abroad, supplemented with
well-arranged statistical matter and extracts from the laws in
appendices D, E, and F.

As to the relations of German secondary schools to German
social conditions, present and past, the book does not disappoint
us. While the author has restrained himself from mixing
much of personal interpretation with his presentation, it is clear
from begmning to end that he sees the schools both as influenc-
ing and as influenced by the civilization to which they belong.
How many schools prepare for life in the political, ecclesi-
astical, industrial Germany of to-day, and yet prepare for par-
ticipation in the world-wide aspiration after universal excel-
lence which in course of time must transform the institutions of
Germany into something other — and better — than they are?
It is the problem of education in every land and age. How

4o8 Educational Review [November

may we educate for citizenship without provinciality; how edu-
cate for humanity without becoming abstract? The question
is insistent. It is particularly difficult of answer when we have
to do with education of secondary grade. German educators
are meeting it in a variety of forms and giving it a variety of
answers. It may sometimes seem to us that they are purchas-
ing apparent present advantage at the expense of ultimate
good. At least, they are facing the problem courageously and
intelligently, and the way they come at their answer is impor-
tant for us whether we find more or less of value in the answer
itself. Their differences among themselves are especially in-
structive, and these have been set forth by Professor Russell
with a fair degree of fullness. Especially valuable in this par-
ticular is chapter xx, on the tendencies of school reform, and
chapter xxi, on merits and defects of German secondary educa-
tion. " The idea of national unity," says the author, " has as
its correlative in the educational world the idea of an Ein-
heitsschule." This seems sufficiently obvious to an outsider,
but the idea does not commend itself to the powers that are
in control of Prussian schools. Perhaps the opposition of the
king and his ministers to this idea may rest upon a conviction
that the Einheitsschule would have for its corollary the Social
Demokratie. Professor Russell holds (p. 405) that the
Gymnasium, with its supporters, is " largely at fault for the
growth of social democracy; but not, as the emperor thought,
because it is doing so much, but because of what it is not doing.
It will not grant that freedom of choice, variety in education,
and equal opportunity for all which modern life demands."
The efforts of the government to make of the higher schools
a means of combating the social democracy are referred to in
the last chapter of the book. To a republican at a distance
from the scene these efforts seem beside the rnark. Whatever
political doctrines may be consciously expounded in the higher
schools, their real influence can hardly fail to set steadily in
the direction of democracy of some sort or other. The awak-
ened minds of the young men who have enjoyed the training of
German higher schools will continue to turn toward questions
of national policy; and no amount of prescription can guarantee

igoo] German higher schools 409

their immunity from those ideas and aspirations which are stir-
ring the German people of their day. A just and luminous ac-
count of the famous December Conference appears in chapter
XX. That Conference brought out in clear light the bearing of
the school problem upon the larger social problem of modern
Prussia, and of modern Germany.

We might wish that Professor Russell had treated somewhat
more fully the relation of German secondary schools to the in-
dustrial and economic organization of the Empire : the problem
of the '' educated proletariat," the connection between the
Realschulen and the higher technical schools, and the bearing of
both upon the industrial development of Germany, and related
questions. But it may readily be believed that the informa-
tion is not accessible to answer all the questions one would like
to ask in this domain.

The historical setting of the German schools is as clearly
presented as their present relation to the social whole. '' The
clew to the systematic development of the German school sys-
tem," says the author (p. i), ''at least until the present cen-
tury, must be sought in the religious ideals of the successive
periods as tempered by the prevailing social, economic, and
political influences." The early labors of Columban and Boni-
face and th-e significance of the monastic schools are noted.
Then follows a brief sketch of the progress of education under
Charles the Great, the development of cathedral schools, the
influence of feudalism and scholasticism, and the rise of city
schools and universities. With reference to the Benedictines,,
it should be said that '' the duty of instructing the young "
seems not to have been inculcated in the earlier '' Rule " of
that order, tho it undoubtedly occupied a prominent place in the
activity of the Benedictine monasteries of Gerrhany. It is
doubtful, moreover, whether the rise of the Palace School
should be assigned to the time of Charles the Great, as seems
to be implied on page 5. Specht makes it appear, on rather
uncertain authority, to be sure, that the school goes back into
the time of the Merovingian kings. The distinction between
the interior school and the exterior school in the monasteries,
referred to on page 8, seems either to have been successfully

4 1 o Educational Review [November

combated by Charles, or, possibly, to have been first introduced
into the Prankish monasteries and cathedrals under Louis the
Pious. It is doubtless a typographical error, on page lo, that
assigns Rabanus Maurus to the tenth century instead of the
ninth; and Bangulf, on page 5, should have been changed to
Baugulf. The paragraph on university ideals (p. 14) has too
much the appearance of assuming that the early universities
came into existence in accordance with some definite plan.
Our best authorities on the early history of these institutions,
several of whom are cited in Professor Russell's footnote, make
it appear that the university movement at the outset represented
no well-defined plan or purpose; or rather that it represented
the heterogeneous purposes and endeavors of many leaders,
and that these settled down only by slow degrees into a well-
articulated university system. Undoubtedly there was present
the fixed purpose of the Roman Catholic Church to turn this
and every other intellectual movement into her channels. But
in the beginnings of the movement itself there was perhaps no
element more common than the awakened desire after knowl-
edge. This unorganized aspiration soon enough gave way
to plan and system under ecclesiastical control. In the mean-
time, as Professor Russell has pointed out, there was growing
up a small class, if class it could be called, of learned men who
were not ecclesiastics.

The chapter on the rise of Protestant schools is compact
and instructive. The Renaissance and the Reformation
combined to carry the administration of schools over from
•ecclesiastical to civil control. The process, however, was
a slow one, and the agency of Melancthon in the move-
ment may easily be overestimated, as it seems to be in the
paragraph at the bottom of page 36. Professor Russell
liimself shows (pages 88 and 89) how gradually the change
was brought about. In the sixteenth century perhaps the
most powerful influences working toward this change were
the secular spirit of humanism, the rapid increase of knowledge
and the love of knowledge, the continued growth of great
monarchies, and the concentration of both civil and ecclesi-
astical authority in the hands of the same person — the terri-

igoo] German higher schools 411

lorial prince. To these must be added in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries the rapid differentiation of reUgious be-
Hef and ecclesiastical allegiance which Protestantism pro-
moted in spite of herself. The influence of French thought in
the eighteenth century finally crystallized and popularized the
ideal of secular education. The sketch of this movement, and
of the parallel development of German schools and educational
.systems, in chapters iii and iv, is full of interest. Of the
Ritterakademie and the Real school, the author remarks (p.
66), ''They represent the reaction in the pedagogical sphere
against the empty, sterile dogmatism of the preceding age. . .
Their triumph would doubtless have been complete had not
another force gained the ascendency at the very hour of vic-
tory. . . In other words, the growth of the democratic spirit
came in to check the development of institutions calculated to
perpetuate the existing, social order and to intensify prevailing
-class distinctions."

The prevalence of a real democratic spirit in the German
universities, while the schools for the people are regarded as
means of training for obedience and devotion to the monarchy,
is one of the anomalies of German life at this day. The repre-
isentative of the Center was right when he said in the Reich-
stag (p. 414), "It is sheer nonsense to permit in the upper
strata what is forbidden in the lower."

The tables presented in chapter vi are convenient and in-
structive. Here we find the time allotment to the different
subjects in the several years of the Prussian gymnasial course
{Lehrplan), together with a comparative table showing the
broad differences between the courses in Prussia and those in
Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemberg, Hamburg, and Weimar. The
courses of the Realgymnasien are treated in like manner. The
Lehrplan of the Prussian Oberrealschulen is presented, and
those of the Prussian hohere Mddchenschulen and of the
Frankfort Gymnasium and Real gymnasium. The number of
schools of the several types in each of the chief states of the
Empire is given, with notes that stimulate comparison; there
is a brief discussion of the education of girls and the relation
of private schools to the public school system; and two or three

412 Educational Review [November

paragraphs relating to the plan now on trial at Frankfort-on-
the-Main.

Turning to the pages devoted to the actual instruction in the
several branches of study in the schools of to-day, the Ameri-
can reader will probably find himself drawn to one chapter or
another according to his special interest or occupation. All are
well written, at sufficient length to give some living informa-
tion, but without prolixity. If anything, they are too short
rather than too long. The account of instruction in the
modern languages and in the natural sciences seems to me espe-
cially valuable. Historical notes, personal observations, and
the setting forth of differences of theory and procedure to be
found among the Germans themselves are all employed to vary
the theme. Such treatment makes the account concrete and
comprehensible.

Thruout the book bibliographical references are appended
to the several chapters — excepting the last. The author ex-
cuses himself, in his preface, from presenting anything like a
complete bibliography. A list of the leading educational jour-
nals of Germany appears in appendix G. I cannot resist the
conviction that a somewhat extended bibliography, with criti-
cal notes, would have added to the value of the work. Brief
notes would have been useful, too, in the list of educational
journals. In the body of the work references and explana-
tions are somewhat sparingly, but I think adequately, pre-
sented in footnotes.

Taking the work as a whole, we may say that the new mat-
ter which it presents is what the author got from personal ob-
servation of the schools. The historical matter which is here
summarized was already accessible to scholars in extended
German treatises, notably in those of Specht, Raumer, and
Paulsen. The recent progress and the present external aspect
of the schools is also presented with great fullness in the well
known works of Wiese and Kiibler and the Prussian Centrcd-
hlatt. Yet Professor Russell's work has independent merit in
its admirable putting together and summarizing of the matter
presented by these and numerous other German authorities.
The second-hand material receives reinforcement and illumi-

1900] German higher schools 413,

nation at every turn from the first-hand information gained
from visits to the schools and association with the masters.
The book must accordingly be given a higher designation than
that of a mere clever and popular compilation and translation.
It is a distinct addition to our knowledge of contemporary
education.

The literary character of the work calls for high commenda-
tion. The style is admirably suited to the purposes of effective
exposition. It is notably clear and direct, free from decorative
flourishes and free, too, from the involved forms of expression
which a German topic of discourse might suggest. There are,
to be sure, occasional lapses; but these are not serious enough
to compromise the superior excellence of the work as a whole.

In taking up the book for a first reading, I proposed to myself
various questions which I should like to see answered in such a
work. These were hit upon at haphazard, with no thought of
covering the whole field or any considerable part of it. But
as I read I had the satisfaction of finding these several ques-
tions, without exception, answered in due time. In other re-
spects the volume proved so satisfactory and so interesting that
when the end was reached the reader found himself in no con-
dition to pass an impartial judgment upon it. After laying it
aside for some months I have come back to a second reading —
and a third and a fourth reading of some portions — only to find
my first impressions in the main confirmed. It is, I think, safe
to say that the book has added greatly to Professor Russell's
reputation ; that it makes a contribution of lasting value to our
educational literature; and that it sets a high standard for such
treatises on foreign school systems as are now increasingly in
demand.

Elmer E. Brown

University of California,
Berkeley, Calif.

VIII • ; 'I

DISCUSSION

TEACHING AS A PROFESSION— A PROTEST

Graduates of women's colleges are of two kinds : those who
need not earn their living, and those who must. Of the first
class, the majority go home after graduation, fit well enough
into the places which they had left four years before, and finally
marry. And their latter end is better than their former. As a
rule they make a wise choice, and happily fulfill their destiny
as wife and mother, as the average woman should.

But the second class of graduates is not so easily disposed of.
These women for some reason or another must earn their own
living. With them on the laboring side of the world is a small
percentage of women of the first class, who need not earn their
own living, but who choose to work in the lines which happen
to be remunerative, or who work because their parents wish
them to prove the commercial value of what four college years
have given them, in order that in possible time of need they
may be able to support themselves.

There are then, as breadwinners, the woman who must work,
and the woman who does.

As early as the winter term of the last year in college, the
thought of the future forcibly presents itself to the mind of
the senior who must work. The usual refuge lies in the idea
of teaching school. I suppose that ninety per cent, of money-
learning graduates engage in teaching, at least for the first two
or three years after graduation. The teaching profession — if
profession it be — is therefore crowded with aspirants for —
liigh salaries. The reason for this oversupply lies in the fact
that a woman can literally step from college halls into a school-
room, with only the bridge of a vacation for rest and dressmak-
ing. From the graduate's point of view there is comparatively
little risk. The salary is certain, however small it may be, the

414

Discussion 415

mode of life is not radically new, and no extra preparation
involving expense is necessary.

But there is another side to the question.

It seems never to enter the head of the average woman that
she should not teach school unless by temperament she is fitted
to teach, and likes to teach, or, at least, likes the idea of teach-
ing. I will wager that more than half of the women now
teaching, if they gave to the world their honest feeling — more
than half the women teachers would say that they do not like
teaching. Many would say, '' I hate it ! " Almost all of them
would say, " It is the only way I have of earning money, and it
involves less risk than most other occupations." But they do
not dare tell the truth. Their bread and butter depends on
teaching.

I grant that there are very many teachers who are, in the true
sense of the word, educators — men and women of broad culture
and tactful sympathies, who are '^ born teachers," and who love
their work. All glory and honor to them ! They are helping
to elevate one of the most degraded of professions, so degraded,
in fact, that some critics of education have gone as far as to
say that it is not a profession. But born teachers are in the
lonely minority. They by no means represent the average
teacher.

It would seem that if ever teaching is to be an established
profession, it should be undertaken, not as a means to an end,
but as an end in itself. A theological student — if he is an
honest man — studies for the ministry because he feels called to
the ministry. A medical student has a predilection for medi-
cine. A law student feels an inclination toward law. In every
profession honest men feel some aptitude or taste, however
slight, which impels them. There are, of course, exceptional
cases ; but such men rarely make a lasting success of what they
undertake. Their ignorance or disinclination will find them
out. In this respect a profession differs from what is known
as a business.

Now, if these facts are true in the ministry, in medicine, and
in law, why should they not hold good in teaching? Only
those members of a profession who regard that profession as a
science help to build it up. The others tear it down or retard

41 6 Educational Review [November

its growth. And if women enter the field of teaching as a
makeshift, and not because they are fitted to teach, they hinder
the advancement of the science of teaching. What moral right
have they to do this ? Such is the scientific point of view.

But there is a third way to look at the matter, and this way
is the most important of all. It is from the humanitarian side.
The children have a right to be considered. No woman with a
sociological conscience can consistently enter the mental and
moral life of children unless she feels able to influence them for
the better, mentally and morally. It is a truism to say that
children's minds are extremely plastic, yet it needs to be said
over and over again. Influence is the most subtle force in the
world, and children are unconsciously irritated to their detri-
ment by a nervous teacher, or by a teacher to whom her work
is not congenial. If she is not interested, she cannot teach the
children interest.

A woman may never have proved by actual experience that
she can teach, but if the power is in her she will know it.
There is a peculiar, incommunicable feeling of potentiality
which is as infallible — to ascend to a comparison — as the recog-
nition of love. If she has to grope around in her inner con-
sciousness and wonder if she could teach, the essential lies not
in her. And if she does not possess this essential, then she is
no more called to the profession of teaching than a man is called
to the ministry who hates his brother men.

The rights of children in this matter of teaching are much
too little regarded. '' Anyone can teach Jack to read and do
arithmetic," the mother says. '' We'll wait until he is older to
send him to a better school." But when he goes to that better
school he takes with him a set of bad habits of study which the
best teacher in the world may have to use almost superhuman
and well-nigh ineffectual effort to overcome. The best is none
too good for the youngest child. He should have from the
first a teacher who is a guide, a friend, an instructor, and, above
all, an inspiration and a noble influence.

How many graduates feel the necessity of working conscien-
tiously toward these requirements?

Suppose now that a woman has marked ability to teach,
without the taste for teaching. Suppose her influence to be

1900] Discussion 417

morally, as well as mentally good. Many such women there
are, for lack of inclination to teach by no means indicates lack
•of ability. What is the woman to do? In this case, the
matter lies practically in her own hands. By teaching she is
not retarding the advancement of the profession, for she is
interested to do her best in whatever position in life she may
fill. If the work were not too irksome to her, there is no moral
reason why she should not continue in it. There is a certain
.amount of drudgery in all work, no matter how congenial it is.
But if there is another line of work which she could more profit-
ably and pleasurably follow, she owes it to herself to do it.
She has a right to consider herself. Viewed from the other
side, the side of the school system, the question should follow
the law of the survival of the fittest. The teacher should yield
place to some woman who has ability plus inclination. If this
other woman does not need the money which teaching brings,
nevertheless she should not give place to a woman less quali-
fied and more needy. The best woman should have the posi-
tion, for the profession of a teacher is hardly less sacred and
important than that of a clergyman. The work in both cases
is the instruction and care of souls.

I am aware that this reasoning reduces the matter to very
radical terms, but I see ho logical alternative. Moreover, it is
the only means by which teaching can ever become the dignified
profession which it should be.

Suppose another case. A woman feels herself not entirely
fitted by inclination to teach. She is poor, she has borrowed
money for her coveted, dearly prized education, and she must
begin at once to repay that money. She is offered a good teach-
ing position. Shall she accept it? I should say yes. Even
tho her ability to teach be only fair, yet the spirit which made
her borrow money will make her repay it with interest: If she
develop into a reasonably good teacher, zmth an uplifting in-
fluence, let her continue the work until she is free to choose.
A woman who has " grit " enough to go thru college on bor-
rowed money is going to be worth something. And she is in
honor bound to repay her debt before she tries to find her true
place in the world. When she finds that place, she should at
once make the effort to give up teaching.

4 1 8 Educational Review

If, then, the majority of women who think of teaching ought
not to teach, what can they do to earn their Hving ? The risk
is the great drawback to most enterprises, and few women are
wilhng to take risks. They are too cautious. Suppose, how-
ever, that a woman is wilhng to take her chances. If she is
not obHged to plunge into the stream at once, let her take a
year off at home, rest from her four years' work, and look
around her. Some suitable field of operation may present
itself.

The president of one of our Western colleges for women be-
lieves, from his experience with young men and women, that,
to use his own words, " college women have more executive
ability than college men. The girls pay their bills and keep
their college finances in much better shape than the boys. I
would have girls stay out of teaching, and go into work that
requires executive ability."

On the same subject the registrar of one of our best Eastern
colleges for women once said to me, " Why are so many girls
teaching ? The supply is greater now than the demand. And
eighty per cent, of the teaching alumnae of our college insist on
staying here in New England, where there is a surfeit of
teachers. After midyears I put pamphlets against teaching
around on the tables of the reading-room for the seniors to read
-and meditate upon."

" What would you have them do? " I inquired.

" Oh, let them go on studying and write college mono-
graphs, if they can't do anything better."

A negative suggestion, certainly, a suggestion for girls who-
can afford to study indefinitely; nevertheless it shows the trend
of educated, experienced thought in regard to teaching.

It is not the object of this paper to suggest substitutes for
teaching. Its object is merely to call attention to the fact that
the teachers' side is only one of three points of view. What of
the profession ? What of the child ?

Carolyn Shipman

New York, N. Y.

IX
REVIEWS

The international geography— By seventy authors ; edited by Hugh Robert
Mill, F. R. G. S., D. Sc, Librarian of the Royal Geographical Society. New
York: D. Appleton & Co. 1900. 1088 p. $3.50.

As a rule, books of multi-authorship are disappointing, from
the fact that they consist merely of a collection of monographs^
the various topics of which have no apparent niutual relation.
Dr. Mill's volume must be classed among the exceptions. The
book itself is a unit rather than a collection of units; it is de-
veloped on a thoroly sensible plan ; it is highly comprehensive,
and at the same time condensed; and it has a most satisfactory
index — all of which go to show that Dr. Mill is a capable editor.
Among the names familiar to American readers there may be
noted that of the editor-in-chief, Mr. J. Scott Keltic, Secretary
of the Royal Geographical Society; Sir Clements R. Markham,
its president; Professor Fridtjof Nansen, of the University
of Christiana, and also of Arctic exploration fame; Sir John
Murray, of the Challenger expedition; Professor E. G. Raven-
stein, the geographer; Mrs. Bishop, traveler and explorer; Dr.
J. W. Gregory, Natural History Museum, London; Mr. G. G.
Chisholm, geographer; Professor W. M. Davis, Harvard Uni-
versity; and Mr. R. T. Hill, U. S. Geological Survey. The list
of authors in general represents the best available authorities,,
but one cannot help wishing to find the work of Chamberlain,
Powell, Dutton, Gilbert, and Gannett also.

Part I contains the general principles of geography, in ten
chapters, the work being arranged so as to make a most inter-
esting treatise of physiographic geography. Chapter ii,
Mathematical geography (Dr. A. M. W. Downing), is not only
easy, but delightful reading; and the same can be said of chap-
ter iv, The plan of the earth (Dr. Gregory), and chapter v, The
nature and origin of land forms (Dr. Mill) ; indeed, every chap-
ter of this part of the book is original in treatment and fresh in
subject-matter. It cannot help being a stimulus to every

419

420 Educational Review [November

teacher of geography who may be fortunate enough to possess
the book.

The remaining part of the book consists of a descrip^^ion of
the various countries of the earth — topographic features,
cHmate, national development, people, industries, and statistics.
The text is profusely illustrated with diagrams and black-and-
white sketch maps, which are highly instructive, but simply
abominable in mechanical execution. Collateral reading and
reference is suggested in various chapters thruout the book,
and for the greater part the literature noted is valuable; in one
or two instances the substitution of other texts for those named
would be advisable.

Extreme care in the selection and preparation of the subject-
matter seems to be a characteristic of the work, and the personal
familiarity of each author with his subject is a guarantee of ac-
curacy. A perusal of Professor Davis' physical divisions and
regions of the United States makes one wish that there might
be more uniformity among geographers on this subject. A
reader, turning from Davis to Powell's Physiographic
regions of the United States, is perplexed; when he consults the
divisions employed by the Weather Bureau perplexity gives
place to wearisomeness ; and if then he takes up a school text-
book a mild profanity is pardonable, so unlike one another are
these divisions; indeed, in this matter every writer is an au-
thority unto himself.

That the book is rapidly taking the place it deserves is ap-
parent from the number of letters received by the reviewer.
One of these, from Miss Stella S. Wilson, Instructor of
Physical geography, Columbus Central High School, indicates
a sentiment that is growing. She writes : '' A book of this
kind, containing about half the number of pages, will some
day contest for the place in high schools against geological and
meteorological geography." A consensus of opinions ex-
pressed by various writers seems to indicate a desire to make
geography a basal study for the science courses of the second-
ary schools, and certainly the International geography and Dr.
Mill's Realm of nature are fostering this idea.

Jacques W. Redway

Mount Vernon, N. Y.

1900] Reviews 421

The Captivi of Plautus : Edited with notes and stage directions by Grove
Ettinger Barber, A. M., Professor of Latin in the University of Nebraska.
Boston : Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. igoo. 78 p. 30 cents.

This edition, intended for rapid reading with college classes,
in so far as it raises several questions of method in the making
of text-books, deserves comment. The structure of the plot of
the Captivi renders it better suited for rapid reading; certainly
if spun out for a dozen lessons, the intricacies become too dull
and monotonous for Ergasilus himself to relieve. One would
think that editors would at length learn to relegate to a note on
the epilogue the superlative appreciations of Camerarius and
Lessing rather than, by raising his expectations at the outset,
doom the student to almost inevitable disappointment. Sight
reading is of course a thing distinct from rapid reading, and
a word or two, like Flagg's admirable preface to Nepos, could
well have been added. Educationally considered, it is a poor
plan to begin Plautus by reading fast ; that belongs logically to
the closing weeks of the course. Yet a method profitably em-
ployed by a recent American editor of the Captivi, Professor E.
P. Morris, was to have the students underline about a hundred
idioms in some play, which is not often read, like the Rudens,
and then himself translate in two sittings. Such a plan will not
commend itself to instructors who shirk their responsibilities.
A briefly annotated copy like Professor Barber's is well adapted
for this method of rapid reading. But if the student is to pre-
pare himself for rapid reading in the classroom, the best anno-
tations are none too full; while if the work is to be sight-trans-
lation, with only a moment for a glance at the text and notes,
then Professor Barber's notes are, many of them, wide of the
mark, and inferior to those of Platner's Pliny, which generally
explains the necessary phrase with great succinctness. They
are too elementary for a student who has already had a little
Plautus. Too many self-evident facts of language are dwelt
upon: e, g., pleonasm (5, 44, etc., 411, 767, 1000); use of st
for est (29, 61, 94, 129, etc.); u for ue (6, 14, no, etc.,
460), etc. Cross-references are often unsatisfactory; the
fact could have been stated in fewer letters than the reference
(106 and 948, no and 179, 5 and 919) ; while such a note as
898 see 222, and on 222 to find ** see 196," where the same in-

42 2 Educational Review

formation is found as at 898, reminds one forcibly of the dic-
tionary definition of, to sniffle == to snuffle; to snuffle = to
sniffle! The treatment of the subjunctive in independent sen-
tences shows lack of familiarity with Morris' discussion in the
American journal of philology during 1897-8. Moreover,
such notes as 208, 217, 270, 320, 360, 500, 656 can under the
best of circumstances only mystify. In " rapid reading " time
saved is ground covered.

In closing, one point should be clearly emphasized: these
handy paper-covered classical texts are a very useful aid to
sight-reading and translation; the demand for them is an en-
couraging sign.

George D. Kellogg

Yale University

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS

Mention of books in this place does not preclude extended critical notice hereafter

A welcome book on a period concerning which popular
ignorance is profound, is the History of New Testament
times in Palestine, by Professor Shailer Mathews (New
York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 218 p. 75 cents). We
most heartily commend to the general reader and to the teacher
and student who is not a specialist, but who wishes to know
the results of modern inquiry in this field. Dr. Marvin R. Vin-
cent's concise and scholarly History of the textual criticism of
the New Testament (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899.

185 P- 75 cents). Now that Ribot's invaluable Evolution

of general ideas has been translated into English, it should be
carefully studied by teachers of psychology in normal schools
and training classes for its educational applications as well as
for its psychological value (Chicago: Open Court Publishing

Co., 1899. 231 p. $1). The newly established Journal

of theological studies, directed by a committee composed
chiefly of theological professors at Oxford and Cambridge,
publishes in its first issue an acute discussion of Anselm's
ontological argument by the Master of Balliol (New York:
The Macmillan Co., 1899. Vol. i. No. i. 160 p. $1).

EDITORIAL

President Thwing of Western Reserve Uni-
A New Degree versity, in an article in the Outlook, has sug-
gested a new honorary degree. He has in
mind men of a non-academic type who deserve academic recog-
nition because of their service to the community in various
ways. For such men the bachelor's degree is inappropriate,
and besides it ought to be won by years of college study. The
degree of LL. D., the highest honor which a university can be-
stow, does not belong to such men as this. So it has come
about that the honorary degree of Master of Arts is usually
conferred in these cases. But this usage is objected to, in turn,
"by those institutions which are aiming to make the degree of
M. A. mean at least one year of resident graduate study.
These facts lead President Thwing to suggest the institution
of the degree of Doctor of Arts, to be conferred as an honorary
designation upon such persons as are described above. Presi-
dent Thwing says : '' The arts part of the degree is sufficiently
academic; and historically, when one traces the word back to
its origin, it has a content and significance which comport well
vv^ith the material relations of life or work."

President Thwing has made an interesting suggestion.
What shall be done about it ?

During the present month the voters of Loh-
Board EkcUons^ ^^^ ^^^^ choosc a school board to serve for

three years. After twelve years of power
the so-called moderate party were obliged to give way in 1897
to the progressives, led by no less devoted and high-minded a
leader than the Hon. E. Lyulph Stanley. Therefore the forth-
coming elections will turn largely upon the policy of the pro-
gressive majority during the three years just past. It is evi-
dent that the moderate party propose to appeal" to the electorate
to turn out the progressives because of their large expenditures.

423

424 Educational Review [November

This is a familiar electoral device in this country, and despite
its shallowness it is often successful. Any constructive or
progressive party which succeeds to power after years of oppo-
sition finds it necessary to spend large sums of money to make
good what it can only regard as deficiencies due to neglect. The
taxpayer, in turn, is apt to think more of the increase in his
rates than of the public benefits gained, and so he often votes for
the party which will ask him for less, no matter how completely
it may neglect the very essentials of education. In London it
appears that the outgoing school board has spent on an average
113,000 pounds sterling a year more than their predecessors,
and modest as we in America should deem this increase it is
already a ground of complaint and of criticism. The New
York board of education has asked for nearly $20,000,000
for 1 90 1, and seems in a fair way to get it; but the press
and the public take this vast expenditure for schools as a matter
of course. No political party would dare make it a cause of
criticism. Another complaint made in London — tho what the
school board have to do with the matter is not quite clear — is
that the annual increase in the number of children attending
school has lately fallen from 10,000 to 6000. It is therefore
held that Mr. Stanley and his friends are wasteful. Among
other things they have increased by over 20,000 pounds a year
the expenditures upon evening schools. Any progressive party
naturally would. If the other grounds of attack upon the
school board are no weightier than this, they are poor indeed.
The board consists of fifty-five members and canvassing is
now actually in progress.

American Educa- There is a widespread opinion that American
tion at the Paris schools and Schoolmasters of every grade are
xposi ion under deep obligations to How^ard J. Rogers,

deputy superintendent of public instruction in the State of New
York, for the collection, installation, and administration of the
American educational exhibit at the Paris exposition. De-
spite an insufficient appropriation, lack of time, and inadequate
space, Mr. Rogers, as director of the department of education
and social economy, prepared and arranged a collection of edu-
cational material which has attracted widespread attention.

1900] Editorial 425

The awards by the juries to American exhibitors in education
were very numerous, and attest the impression made on the
minds of their members by the American display.

Two high European authorities who are well known in the
United States have written criticisms of the American educa-
tional exhibit. M. Gabriel Compayre, rector of the University
of Lyons, in a long and careful article in the Revue Peda-
gogique says :

'' In such space as was granted them, the organizers of the
American exhibit have known how to do the best possible.
They have ingeniously compressed much into small space.
Around each room run cases : below, open shelves, where under
our hand lie most interesting documents, exercise books of
scholars, reports of boards of education, of superintendents of
schools, and of different administrative authorities; above,
on folding shelves, are photograph albums, exhibits of scholars'
work, collections of drawings, of programs, and pamphlets,
and finally above these shelves on the walls are hung large pho-
tographs, tables of statistics giving the number of school
teachers and scholars, maps — in one of which it was astonish-
ing to find the two continents of Europe and Asia united under
the name of Eurasia — in short, every part of the scholars' work
was shown that could be exhibited to the eye. One clever
scheme of increasing the exhibition space tenfold has been
adopted by the Americans. They have made use of what they
■call ' wing frames,' a novel method to us Frenchmen.

" To organize an exposition of such importance 3000 or
4000 miles from the mother country must necessarily have
been costly. But the United States take little heed of money
— they have their own reasons for this attitude. The total cost
must have been over four hundred thousand francs. And it
is interesting to find that this large sum was collected from
several sources. The State of New York gave fifty thousand
francs; the city of New York gave the same. The cities of
Boston and Chicago each gave twenty-five thousand francs,
and many others, like Denver, Albany, and St. Louis, also con-
tributed to the cost of the exhibit.

" An exhibit, — above all a foreign exhibit, — if it is large and
inclusive, really needs persons who can explain its many fea-

426 Educational Review [November

tures. Here the Americans were not at fault. In entering
their exhibits there were always obliging cicerones, many of
whom spoke French as easily as they did English — men and
women who graciously bade you welcome. At their head
was a distinguished organizer, who fills a high office in the ad-
ministration of education in the United States, Mr. Howard
J. Rogers, deputy superintendent of public instruction in the
State of New York, upon whom devolved the direction, at the
Paris exposition, of the American section of education and
of social economy.

" Mr. Rogers, who has lived in Paris during the continuance
of the exposition, was not content, after organizing the ex-
hibit of the United States, to spend his time there in merely
welcoming the French and European educationists. With the
spirit of initiative so often shown by Americans, even when in
France, he with the aid of his compatriot, Mr. Alfred T.
Schauffler, assistant superintendent of schools in the city of
New York, instituted at the Palais des Congres lectures on the
actual conduct of school work in the United States. The
originality of these lectures lay in the fact that they were illus-
trated by means of a cinemetagraph and a phonograph.

" But Mr. Rogers' work did not end here. The most com-
plete and striking exhibit of the material side of school life give
but an insufficient idea of the work accomplished. We cannot
be too grateful to the representatives of American education
who have carefully prepared for the Paris exposition detailed
and minute studies of each aspect of their educational system.
The State of New York bore off the honors in this respect, with
a most important publication in two volumes of 500 pages
each. It can easily be imagined that they are an imitation of
the Monographies pedagogiques that M. Ferdinand Buisson
had prepared for the expositions of 1889, but with this impor-
tant difference — the American monographs do not deal with
primary education alone. They deal with instruction of
every sort. Some of them are written by the best known
writers in American education, such as Dr. Harris and Presi-
dent Draper. Nicholas Murray Butler, professor of phi-^
losophy and education at Columbia University, and editor of
the Educational Review^ has, in an introduction, given a

ipoo] Editorial 427

resume in a large way of the state of education in the entire
United States. These monographs are nineteen in num-
ber. . . It is much to be desired that this valuable collec-
tion be translated into French. For how can we be better
instructed concerning American education than by the Ameri-
cans themselves ? "

Professor Rein of Jena also writes at length of his impres-
sions of the educational exhibits at Paris in the Jena Tdgliche
Rundschau. He says that, besides France, the United States,
England, and Japan were the only nations adequately repre-
sented in education, and in passing judgment on. what he saw
he makes great fun of some of the French school text-books
on morals and civics. Professor Rein speaks of " the very
complete and imposing educational exhibit made by the United
States, under the expert direction of Mr. Rogers," and refers to
the monographs entitled Education in the United States con-
tributed by the State of New York, as " a most remarkable
bird's-eye view of education in America, which will be valued
and remembered long after the exposition itself has crumbled
into dust."

The curious superstition that our ancestors
Notes and News could spell better than the children of to-day,

for which there is absolutely no evidence that
we are aware of, is commented on by Superintendent Kratz of
Sioux City, la., in his last biennial report. Mr. Kratz says:

There is a disposition manifest in some quarters to criticise severely the
results attained in the public schools of the country along the lines of read-
ing, writing, and spelling, particularly the spelling, and to make the broad
claim that the pupils of to-day are not as well trained in these subjects as
they were twenty-five years ago. It is easy to make such claims, and to
secure what seems to be substantial evidence of the truth of such claims.
In a matter of such broad comparisons, the one, holding the view that our
children are poorer spellers than those of the generation which preceded
them, is looking in the direction of the poor spellers, and, of course, will
always find them, for the poor speller, like the poor in general, we have
always with us. Then, too, " distance lends enchantment " to the good
old times, when we of the preceding generation were boys and girls
together in school. There were poor spellers then, as now, who could
perform the wonderful feat of spelling a simple word in two different ways

428

Educatio7ial Review

[November

in the same paragraph, and when criticised for it would defend themselves
on the ground of possessing greater originality than " the common herd."

Not holding the opinion that our children are poorer spellers than those
a generation ago, it occurred to me that a wholesale test might be made in
our schools of all pupils in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth
grades. It was recognized that to give the same list to the fourth grade
pupils, whose average age is about ten, as to the eighth grade, whose aver-
age age is about fourteen, would be a rather severe test for the fourth
grade pupils, but the desire to have the same test thruout the grades
outweighed that objection.

The following one hundred words were selected for such test, and given
them without any preliminary preparation or warning :

food

river

nerve

beef

stream

wrist

soup

pebble

blood

fish

pond

breathing

chicken

shore

healthy

turkey

valley

exercise

goose

mountain

clothing

sheep

water

coat

horse

ocean

bonnet

house

boat

shoes

school

steamer

vigorous

scholar

passenger

arithmetic

studies

voyage

number

useful

travel

column

spade

journey

remainder

shovel

noun

minuend

rake

pronoun

multiplication

garden

verb

addition

lawn

preposition

subtraction

grass

adjective

product

robin

interjection

divisor

sparrow

exclamation

measure

blackbird

language

minute

hawk

word

second

flower

speech

month

violet

voice

August

rose

head

February

dandelion

throat

century

golden-rod

muscle

cocoon

pink

finger

happiness

lilac

lungs

helpfulness

lily

joint

humane

lake

eyes

successful

island

It will be seen that the words are those in common use, and such as
constitute a fair average test.

I poo] Editorial 429

The number and per cent, tested in each grade are as follows: Fourth,
600, 72.3 per cent. ; fifth, 438, 82.5 per cent. ; sixth, 473, 90 per cent. ;
seventh, 286, 93.8 per cent. ; eighth, 233, 95.6 per cent. ; total, 2030, 84.4
per cent.

Eliminating the fourth grade pupils, the remaining 1430 pupils made an
average of 90 per cent. While this does not indicate a high degree of
accuracy in spelling in our schools, yet I suspect that if the same words
were written by an average 2000 admirers of the good old times, residing
in our Western cities, the per cent, of misspelled words would be over
fifteen.

A few months ago we mentioned the fact that Messrs. Col-
chester, Roberts & Co. of Tififin, Ohio, were an enterprising
firm of workers in Hterature who had in stock a fine assortment
of orations, essays, and addresses especially adapted to do
service as the original productions of high-school pupils on
commencement day. We observe that this lofty example has
been imitated, and that the Educational Bureau of Frackville,
Pa., is addressing circulars to " A high-school pupil who would
do canvass work," using the same mimeograph process, the
same colored ink, and the same style of envelope that the Tififin
men of letters used, which circulars invite attention to said Edu-
cational Bureau's " Legitimate helps in the classics." Of
these scholar's companions it is modestly said that '' it is be-
lieved that any student who will carefully study the first ten
pages of our notes will find no more difficulty with the text."
The Frackville classicists appear to have resolved in this
fashion the difficulties not only of Caesar and Cicero, Xenophon
and Homer, but those of Livy, Sallust, Ovid, Horace, Virgil,
Tacitus, Plato, Demosthenes, and Herodotus as well. Are
there no more worlds to conquer in Frackville — for a con-
sideration ?

On October i Dr. Edwin A. Alderman, the new president of
Tulane University, was presented to the students and entered
upon his duties, delivering a charasteristically eloquent and
effective address to a large and enthusiastic audience.

A commission has been appointed by the general assembly
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for the double pur-

43 o Educaltonal Review [November

pose of raising an endowment fund for the church colleges and
of conducting the work of all schools and colleges under the
church's supervision. Dr. J. I. D. Hinds, chairman of the
commission, has prepared an outline course of study for schools
and colleges, on modern principles, and it is likely to be put
into operation.

President Harper has recently taken occasion to point out
the special problems which have arisen in connection with the
summer quarter of Chicago University. He fK)ints out that
the experience of seven years, in which summer work has been
conducted, has furnished sufficient evidence of the value of the
work and the feasibility of the plan to warrant the statement
on behalf of the faculties of the university and its trustees that
the summer quarter may be definitely regarded as an established
feature of the university organization. Having reached this
conclusion, it is now necessary for the authorities to take up
for serious consideration some of the problems connected with-
this part of the university's work.

One of these problems is the date of opening and closing the
quarter. It is by no means certain that the best arrangement
of time has yet been discovered. Many students who attend
the university in the summer are compelled by the present ar-
rangement to leave their work either at the end of the first six
weeks or after further residence of two, three, or possibly four
weeks. Two-thirds of those students who have occupations
outside of the university during the autumn are compelled to
begin their work on or about September i. The work of the
second term suffers a certain demoralization, in view of the
fact that students are irregularly, tho necessarily, leaving the
classes from time to time.

A second problem arises from the fact that the students are
in attendance during the summer quarter from nearly every
State in the Union. It is, however, a serious undertaking for a
student to travel a thousand miles or more for a residence of
only six weeks. Many students have reported during the
present summer that unless they are able to secure twelve weeks
of instruction they cannot make the financial sacrifice involved

i9oo] Editorial 431

in traveling so great a distance. A third problem lies in the
fact that in some departments work of a sufficiently advanced
character is not offered, and students who desire to do advanced
work in the graduate schools are not accommodated.

These and other problems must be studied and a solution of
the difficulties involved must, if possible, be found. It has not
seemed wise before this time to consider the question of a
change of date. It is, of course, a question whether any really
satisfactory arrangement can be proposed. But, in view of
the large interests connected with the work, and of the strong
representation from the faculties of other colleges and univer-
sities, it would seem to be a question that deserves attention.

Several weeks ago an order in council was issued constitut-
ing the first consultative committee under the new board of
education act in England. The duties of the consultative com-
mittee are first, to frame, with the approval of the board of
education, regulations for a register of teachers which is to be
formed and kept in a manner to be provided by order in coun-
cil, and, secondly, to advise the board of education on any
matter referred to the committee by the board.

According to the board of education act, two-thirds of the
committee was to be made up of persons qualified to represent
the views of universities and other bodies interested in educa-
tion, and this instruction has been interpreted very liberally,
for, with the exception of the two former vice-presidents of the
council, all the persons in the list come under this head. The
committee is representative so far as institutions and profes-
sional bodies are concerned, but complaint is made that it is sin-
gularly deficient in persons who are familiar with the educa-
tional methods and systems of various countries, and are there-
fore able to take a broad view of English educational responsi-
bilities. As at present constituted the committee does not in-
clude a single person who has devoted close attention to educa-
tion as a whole.

The following persons are named as the first members of
the committee: Rt. Hon. Arthur Herbert Dyke Acland;
Sir William Reynell Anson, Bart., M. P.; Professor

43 2 Educational Review

Henry Armstrong; Mrs. Sophie Bryant; Rt. Hon. Sir
William Hart Dyke, Bart., M. P.; Sir Michael Foster,
K. C. B., M. P.; Mr. James Gow, Litt. D.; Mr. Ernest
Gray, M. P.; Mr. Henry Hobhouse, M. P.; Mr. Arthur
Charles Humphreys-Owen, M. P.; Sir Richard Claverhouse
Jebb, M. P.; Hon. and Rev. Edward Lyttelton; Very Rev. Ed-
ward Craig Maclure, D. D., Dean of Manchester; Miss Lydia
Manley; the Venerable Ernest Grey Sandford, Archdeacon of
Exeter; Mrs. Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick; Professor Bertram
Coghill Alan Windle, M. D.; Rev. David James Waller, D. D.

We reproduce from the School World, of London, the fol-
lowing " genealogical table " which shows at a glance the
organization of the new English board of education, so far as
its permanent officials are concerned :

Permanent Principal Secretary:

Sir George Kekewich.

I I

PrinciparAssistant Principal Assistant

Secretary for Ele- Secretary for Se-

mentary Education ; condary Education :

Mr. John White. Sir William Abney.

I I

Assistant Secretary, Assistant Secretary

*' Literary " side : for Technology :

The Hon. W. N. Bruce. Mr. G. R. Redgrave.

These names and their work will doubtless become familiar
to American educationists very rapidly.

Another noteworthy step in England is the apparent success
of the first steps toward federating in one representative coun-
cil, all the existing educational interests and organic Latins.
A meeting to consider such a plan was held in response to a
call signed by nearly a score of influential educationists, among
them H. Courthope Bowen, Mrs. Sophie Bryant, Francis Stow,
and Foster Watson. After discussing and passing several
resolutions, the details of the project were referred to a com-
mittee of twenty-five.

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

DECEMBER, igoo

WANTED— A TEACHER

There is a general complaint that there has been a distinct
loss in the teaching power of our colleges and universities; that
too much emphasis is given to mere erudition on the part of an
occupant of a college chair; that not enough care is taken to
secure men who have the ability to impart their information
and to stir their students into newness of life; that the re-
sources of institutions are expended for experts, or authori-
ties, or specialists, with little inquiry as to whether or no
these men are also teachers; that men of extended infor-
mation, accurate and recondite, but without magnetism and
without personal power — men who find class work a burden
and who avoid it whenever possible — are taking the places of
men of large and strong and brave and earnest life, whose
strength and virtue go out daily thru close contact and
intimate relations with their pupils. There is some truth —
enough ! — in this charge : but the entire question will bear dis-
cussion.

Given a lad of eighteen, just out of the public high school or
private preparatory school, and intending to continue his edu-
cation: what are the influences most desirable? Evidently
they are those which will tend to give him power and dignity ;
to put him in the line of mastery, but first the mastery of him-
self, since without this fundamental victory he can do nothing
worthily; to secure in him the tendency, at least, toward a life
of large and generous service. Any " success " which is not
determined by the possession of these characteristics, which

434 Educational Review [December

does not make the possession and development of these char-
acteristics absolutely necessary, is not worthy of the name. If
his education is not to make him right-minded, honorable, and
beneficent, it will be a dead failure. What is far worse, he
will be a dead failure; as far as he is concerned, life will be a
dead failure.

The strongest influence which can be brought to bear upon
this lad, at this age and under these conditions, to insure him a
favorable start along these lines, is that which comes from con-
stant and unselfish and loving contact with some high types of
manhood. His teachers must have ample preparation for the
work intrusted to each ; there must be fullness and accuracy of
information, general scholarship and special equipment must
go hand in hand ; but back of these and beneath these and per-
meating these, ought to be the largest possible manhood, in the
largest and best sense of that word. True, there should be
exactness of statement, but there should be also an ever-present
sense of opportunity and duty and responsibility. Unceasing
industry should stand side by side with unwearied patience.
Most unswerving good faith and perfect candor, the strictest
integrity, impartial justice; these must be quite as manifest as
erudition. The men who are given to mere erudition, who
assert that they love scholarship for its own sake, who make
this an end and not a means; who hug themselves with joy be-
cause they are not as other men, and especially not as this
" practical fellow " who always wishes to know what may be
done with what he is to receive — these men only too often
prove by their lives that mere erudition may easily become a
slough of despond of their own creation, in which they wander
aimlessly and uselessly, and into which they lead all who fol-
low them. It is far better for an instructor to say frankly on
occasion " I do hot know " than to be lacking in that spirit
which makes him ready and willing, and even glad, to be worn
out in generous and gratuitous service, or in that reverence
which gives man his true place in the economy of God. And
all this strength and beauty and enthusiasm of character should
be combined with such qualities as promptness and order, and
tempered with friendship, sympathy, and an affectionate re-

I poo] Wanted — a teacher 435

gard for all under instruction. These characteristics, thus
daily manifested, will bring the lad who is so fortunate as to
be under their influence, not into a condition of slavish dis-
cipline, but rather into a voluntary and very happy conformity
with all that is right and just and sane and wholesome.

To exert such an influence, the teacher must have a mind that
is public and large, and a heart that is warm and brave and
true. Time-serving, indifference, aloofness, idleness, jealousy,
suspicion, unfaithfulness, selfishness, unlawful ambition
(nearly always gratified, if at all, by unlawful means), dis-
loyalty, coldness, partiality, dishonesty — surely these charac-
teristics are not to be tolerated because of extraordinary expert
knowledge, or because a man is '' smart," or is a frequent con-
tributor to leading magazines, or is a book-maker, or is a
recognized authority in any given direction. Yet it goes with-
out denial that those who occupy some very important chairs
in some very important educational institutions are not with-
out some of these flaws and faults : which is only another way
of saying that some even well-known educators are disappoint-
ingly and even disagreeably human. The demand is, how-
ever, that frank admission be made of the danger which fol-
lows admitting such characteristics and influences within the
charmed circle of a college faculty; of the care which should
be taken (when selecting men) to determine the existence and
predominance of contrary qualities; and of the prompt and effi-
cient and heroic treatment which should be given such mis-
named educators when their true character becomes known.

It must be admitted that institutions and their executives
have no easy task nowadays in the selection of instructors.
Men who combine advanced scholarship with high character,
successful experience, administrative ability, and personal
power, are rare in this world. Such a union of desirable
qualities makes a first-class man, and really first-class men are
rather lonesome. There are not many of them to the genera-
tion— to the century, even : perhaps because in the economy of
nature a few of them go a long way! Like any other com-
modity of which there is scanty supply and for which there is
large demand, they come high : not because they take advantage

436 Educational Review [December

of the situation and mark up their own price, but because con-
ditions make it high; the competition of institutions advances
salaries. Such men, therefore, have comparatively free choice
of place; and they naturally and properly and inevitably go
where they can find the best libraries, or the best laboratories,
or the best other equipment for their work. For those whose
specialties lie in the line of applied science, or in the profes-
sional world, there is an added and an increasingly strong and
effective demand. The largest and most attractive rewards,
in money and in recognition and in honor and in power, are
now to be found in the world outside of the college or univer-
sity. A new sense of possible power, personal supremacy, ad-
ministrative skill, economic wisdom, has been aroused in our
young men : and every opportunity and inducement is present
for the gratification of such ambition. Education offers more,
far more, in this direction than it once offered; but education
is by no means at the fore in this respect. And so it happens
that in respect to his faculty many a college president has fallen
to the point of discouragement once very philosophically ex-
pressed by a bright Western clergyman in the rather tart re-
mark, " If the Lord wants a Baptist church in He will

have to put up with such material as there is there! "

In addition, the establishment of hew chairs, especially chairs
in the applied sciences, and the growth of the scientific spirit,
imperatively call for the employment of a class of men who
are investigators rather than teachers. It is not intended to
intimate that there is a necessary choice of the one to the abso-
lute exclusion of the other, or that the spirit of the one entirely
precludes the spirit of the other. There is no such sharp and
complete division as that. A successful teacher must give
himself to investigation and research, or dry-rot sets in and he
is soon relegated to the educational scrap-heap — or ought to
be! And one pre-eminently an investigator finds the lecture
room and its students helpful indeed, unless he is dominated by
the spirit which prompted the remark, " I am always willing to
try my theories on the dog." Yet say what we may about
notable exceptions, and there are a few , the temper which turns
a man to investigation and research, and the temper which

1900] Wanted — a teacher 437

makes a successful and inspiring teacher, are not quite the
same — even if not wholly different. The one is constantly
getting, the other constantly giving; the one is all intellect, the
other has sympathetic emotion; the one shuts himself within a
narrow field and deprecates and fears intrusion and interrup-
tion, the other throws down every barrier between himself and
the world; the one counts and classifies and measures and
weighs, the other deals with masses with a certain brave indif-
ference to details ; the one pays strictest and final regard to the
formation of correct judgments, the other trusts somewhat to
his instincts and impulses; the one works most carefully with
most delicate engraving tools, the other paints with a large
brush in broad lines and strokes and with heavy colors; one
is always counting the cost, the other is divinely prodigal; one
is the martinet and camp disciplinarian, the other is a born
winner of men; the one cares only for light as analyzed by the
spectroscope, the other consciously rejoices in the free-flooding
sunshine of God. It is not intended to contrast these to the
disparagement of either; but simply to establish the fact that
it is rare indeed that these are or can be successfully blended.

Now, if an electrical plant is to be installed, a skilled elec-
trical engineer must be secured; and one need not inquire too
closely into anything but his peculiar fitness for the work imme-
diately in hand. Something of this becomes true if a depart-
ment or school of electrical engineering is to be established;
and much of this is true of much other similar work now under-
taken by educational institutions. That institution will cer-
tainly suffer which does not place in any given chair a man who
can easily and surely hold the confidence of those citizens who
are most directly interested in the work of that chair. But the
temper and character of such a man are rarely the temper and
character of a teacher; and besides, the demands of administra-
tion in such a department naturally and effectually prevent suc-
cessful teaching. Therefore the institution must have suffi-
cient resources to secure (practically) two faculties, one of
teaching and the other of investigation and research ; or it must
accept such a combination of these qualities as is possible in
each man. It is entirely fair and proper to say that under the

438 Educational Review [December

latter conditions the results are rarely satisfactory on either
side.

That portion of the public which includes the patrons of
higher education and special training is not often either intelli-
gent or tolerant about all this. A clamor is made for changed
conditions without any apparent willingness to furnish the
means by which alone such changed conditions are possible.
There is insistence to the point of imperative demand that A or
B or C be secured for this chair or that, because he happens to
be in the eye of that segment of the public especially interested
in his work; when those charged with the responsibility of ad-
ministration know perfectly well that he is not the man for the
place, all conditions considered. The conditions elsewhere
prove more favorable, not only for securing him, but for his
success; and he goes to some other institution. Students fol-
low him, and the first institution is counted as slow and its
managers are called incompetent. The strife between institu-
tions, and between institutions and the public, along such lines,
is constant and hot; tho possibly not always open and in sight.

In his relations to the general public the man given to in-
vestigation always has a certain definite advantage, in that the
results of his work are tangible and visible and generally at-
tractive. He who fills a museumi with collections, or equips an
effective laboratory, or installs fine machinery and up-to-date
apparatus, can secure ready recognition. Quaint forms from
the remote past, embedded in the rock ; rare and brilliant speci-
mens in entomology, the whir of busy wheels, the resounding
clangor of anvils, the spitting lathes and the hoarse saws, even
the stuffed zoological freaks bleeding excelsior at every pore —
yes, even the frequent magazine article or scarcely less frequent
monograph or volume — these appeal much more powerfully to
the passing visitor, to the stray legislator, to the average
Croesus, to the general public, than does the quiet classroom in
the classics or history or economics, even tho there be a rare
touch of enthusiasm. The unreasoning impatience of only too
many people found expression in the query once put to Presi-
dent John Raymond, " Why don't you write something? "
" Because," was the instant reply, " my entire strength goes in

i9oo] Wanted — a teacher 439

daily ministration to my educational children." Said a candi-
date for a position in an Eastern college, when asked, " What
have you produced?" "Two senators, three judges, and
many good citizens " : an answer that may well be remembered
and pondered by some high in educational position and power,
as well as by the public at large.

But tho they are under extraordinary pressure, educa-
tional administrators cannot escape sharp and just criticism if
they forget that actual teaching power, the ability to excite
interest and to hold attention, to arouse enthusiasm, to stimu-
late thought — this is of prime importance. To accept this
principle and stay by it calls for no small amount of moral and
administrative courage. In the North Central Association of
Colleges and Secondary Schools, the question was once asked,
plainly and directly : " How many of the college presidents
now on this floor have made their first inquiry about hew men,
that respecting their actual and positive power in the class-
room ? " At least fifteen presidents were in attendance, but
" they all with one consent began to make excuse." Appar-
ently, not one had asked, '' Can he teach? "—2^^ the test ques-
tion ; not one had made the possession of this power the deter-
mining factor. President Francis A. Walker once said that
he doubted if more than fifteen per cent, of those whom he had
known as members of college and university faculties pos-
sessed in a special degree the ability to impart knowledge, and
that even less were able to establish cordial and helpful rela-
tions with any large number of their students. The writer of
this article has known intimately the faculties of at least four
universities, during a quarter of a century given to educational
endeavor : and has noted with constant and increasing anxiety
the small number of graduates who, in returning to their alma
mater, seek out their one-time instructors with the eagerness
and warmth of feeling which mark the recognition of close
and helpful and friendly relations. The occupant of one chair
—one only! — whose students of even twenty years' standing
still trusted him and loved him, still came to him in person or
by letter for counsel or for approbation, still expected him to
be interested in their whereabouts and whatabouts, still asked

440 Educational Review [December

all manner of favors of him with a confidence born of all these
years of glad acquiescence and service — this man was regarded
as a phenomenon, an anomaly, and as not altogether above sus-
picion as to his '' methods " ! Let any unprejudiced person
move freely among the students of any institution, or at any
university club, seeking information on this point precisely as
he would seek information about anything else; and he will be
surprised at the unanimity with which both recent and older
graduates will deny personal influence and instructional power
to the majority of those under whom their college work was
carried on. A physicist of high standing, who was recently
asked how his attention and interest happened to be turned in
that direction, answered, " I was so fortunate as to be in col-
lege when the professor of physics had an attack of typhoid
fever. An eight-hundred-dollar tutor took his place; and for
the first time in more than thirty years was physics taught in
that college ! " Such conditions are by no means as excep-
tional as they ought to be. Against such conditions it is well
to protest; as unnecessary, as wasteful of both time and oppor-
tunity, as defeating the true end of all education.

The question is sometimes asked, in a mournfully apologetic
tone, as one might say ." Please excuse us for continuing to
exist and for cumbering the ground " — What is to become of
the small colleges? The answer is not as difficult as some
believe. Having no need of men who are pre-eminently in-
vestigators, let the small colleges give strictest attention to the
creation of faculties in which teaching-power largely predomi-
nates. There is scarcely a so-called minor college in New
England or the Atlantic States the endowment of which will
not fairly meet such demands. If the administrative authori-
ties of- any such college will have the grace and the courage to
examine carefully its curriculum, cut out everything that is
more properly graduate study, eliminate largely, if not entirely,
what are known as graduate or university methods; reduce the
work in science to those elemental forms by which a youngster
may secure a reasonably intelligent impression of the funda-
mental principles of any given science, and of the place and
value of that science in the world at large (do not let six

ipoo] Wanted — a teacher 441

months' study of the angleworm constitute all the biology in
the curriculum!); rearrange its entire work upon the sounder
philosophy of later educational research, with some reasonable
recognition of relative educational values and relations; de-
termine that its classes or divisions shall never include to ex-
ceed twenty students; say frankly that, as a lad has but one
chance at instruction and inspiration, he shall have that chance
under known and approved instructors who have power, mag-
netism, and enthusiasm — and stay by this decision at any cost
of personal discomfort because of the possible necessity of dis-
turbing long-time personal or institutional relations — any
minor college that will do this will find its students trooping
home on their first vacation with hats high in the air for their
teachers, and longing to return ; will find its doors besieged by
a clamorous crowd seeking admission, at the end of the very
first year of the experiment; and will find flowing into its
coffers ample means for continuing and even for enlarging
such work. Among a large number of the best-known educa-
tors of this country this general statement of the possibilities
of the smaller college is accepted without hesitation and with-
out shading it off in the least.

It may be said, it has been said, that such men are so rare
that the larger institutions will tempt them away from the
smaller colleges as soon as their reputations have become
established. Well, a worse fate might come to a small college
than to have its teaching largely, if not entirely, in the hands
of bright, ambitious, young fellows, whose future is still before
them; even tho their tenure of office did not average more
than, say, five years. A college faculty is not in serious dan-
ger of being surcharged with youth and vigor and enthusiasm,
tho in a true teacher these qualities are perennial. It is men,
old or young, whose future is behind them who are dangerous
and burdensome.

But while the larger colleges and the still fewer universities
may and do offer great inducements to the investigator and to
the man of research, it will be a long time before they either
can or will offer to the enthusiastic teacher the conditions which
alone are satisfactory to him and will bring him contentment :

442 Educational Review [December

that is, the positive assurance of small classes; of foundation
work as well as advanced work; of opportunity and leisure for
personal contact; and above all the institutional tradition and
precedent of hearty and sympathetic and even affectionate co^
operation between student and faculty. The true teacher seeks
for all these, and creates them, just as keenly and as surely as
the investigator seeks for laboratories and equipment and
creates these.

Wanted, then, a teacher I Not a recitation-post, not a wind-
vane, not a water gauge, not a martinet, not a pedant, hot a
pedagog — the mere slave to the student; but a teacher, " one
who is a combination of heart, and head, and artistic training,
and favoring circumstances." One who has that enthusiasm
which never calculates its sacrifices, and is willing to endure all
things if only good may come. One who loves his work; who
throws his whole soul into it; .who makes it his constant and
beloved companion by day and by night, waking and sleeping;
who can therefore see more in his work than can any other,
and who therefore finds in it possibilities which bring his whole
nature into play; who catches from its very barrenness of out-
look an inspiration which quickens the blood in his veins; one
who faces its difficulties with an indomitable temper. One
who has that genius which someone has happily defined as
" an infinite capacity for work growing out of an infinite power
of love." One who feels the keenest self-reproach because
students fail to advance : who believes that it is largely his own
fault if they do not learn. One who can change the sham-
bling and uncertain mental gait of the average student into
firm and definite and well-ordered activity. One who can take
that nebulous, filmy, quivering mass which a boy's family and
friends kindly call his brain, and give it clearness of outline,
and toughen its fiber, and make it lithe and sinewy. One who
tries to clear up a bewildered brain; who has infinite patience
and pity for the weak ; who will not suffer them to be crowded
to the wall; who believes there is more glory in the salvation
of the one stupid and slow than of the ninety and nine who
need not a master. One who can open the mind of a boy with-
out committing statutory burglary. One who understands

1900] Wanted — a teacher 443

that a lawless and disintegrated herd of hlase young men does
not constitute a college. One who can develop the spiritual
side of a boy's nature, his character, the man in him, the man
of feeling and emotion which can and will dominate both mind
and muscle. One who in all this will do little more, after all,
than help the lad to help himself; will do it all thru him and
largely by him. One who can teach the boy how to get life —
a far grander thing than to get a living. Above all, one who
feels that as a teacher he is a born leader of men, a kingly
citizen, and who does not propose to be degraded from his
liigh estate.

James H. Canfield

\ Columbia University ! ,

LIMITATIONS OF THE POWER OF THE COL-
LEGE PRESIDENT.^

Gathering as we do to celebrate the inauguration of a presi-
dent of this honored university, the theme which has been sug-
gested as both pertinent to the occasion and as timely in view
of recent discussion, is the limitations of the president's power
in the American college. In the brief time allotted me, I shall
treat the subject merely in its relation to the three bodies which
it chiefly concerns — the trustees, the faculty, and the students.

The trustees represent the supreme authority, subject only to
the legislative body that appointed them and to the conditions
of their charter. On them the President's tenure of office and
salary depend. In most colleges he is made, also, a member of
the corporation, and frequently its president, but his vote counts
no more than that of one of his associates, and like them, he is
subject to the will of the majority. They may assert their
authority so restrictively that he will become merely their
executive agent, or, thru indifference or preoccupation, they
may leave the administration so completely in his hands that
the corporation will become of little more account than a
passive seal to give legal validity to his acts. In either case
the institution is likely to suffer a grievous injury. The men
best qualified for the presidency will not accept it on the con-
dition of becoming merely an executive officer; and no college,
however able its president, can afford to dispense with the
intelligent co-operation of its trustees. When due care has
been taken to select trustees of broad views and practical
sagacity, representing varied pursuits, — the more representa-
tive the better, — they supplement a president's deficiencies, and
multiply his resources. Their friendly opposition will serve to
correct his judgment, and their wise suggestions will improve

' An address delivered at the inauguration of Rush Rhees, LL. D., as president
of Rochester University, October ii, 1900.

444

Power of the college president 445

his plans. Factious opposition, springing from narrow-minded-
ness or obstinate self-will, may, it is true, do much to make
the administration of any man a failure. That evil, however,
is less to be dreaded than those which arise from the imperious
temper of a president who practically usurps the functions of
the governing body and acts without the aid or restraint of the
corporation. Of course, it is of primal importance that the
trustees should select a man to whom they can grant the liberty
essential to successful leadership ; and while they may properly
refuse to sanction some of the measures which he advocates,
they should not compel him to execute any to which he is
much opposed. To his opinion in the selection of teachers,
especially, the greatest deference should be given. Nor
should he be required, by majority vote, either to appoint or to
retain a teacher whom he considers unfit for a position. When
on such an issue he can no longer secure the support of the
corporation, both self-respect and the interest of the institution
would seem to demand a president's resignation.

It is in his relation to the faculty, however, that the president
may find the greatest aid and the greatest hindrance to his
work. They determine, more than any other body, the char-
acter of a college, and in manifold ways they may strengthen or
weaken its administration. It is much harder to get a good
faculty than to get a good working corporation. First-class
teachers are rare. No college or university, however rich or
powerful, has enough of them. Those best endowed some-
times feel their professional poverty most keenly, and are
forced to supply their deficiencies with second-rate men. The
typical faculty represents great inequalities of intellectual at-
tainments and personal power. If it be an old institution, the
president will find, at first, most of the teachers better ac-
quainted with its internal management than himself; the ma-
jority of them his peers; the heads of the departments gener-
ally his superiors in their knowledge of the branches which
they teach. Exceptionally fortunate is the college, if in its
teaching force there be found no clogs.

How shall this heterogeneous company become an organic
unity where the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of

44^ Educational Review [December

thee, nor the head to the feet, I have no need of thee ? Can it
be accompHshed most effectually by giving the president auto-
cratic power ? This has been affirmed recently in an entertain-
ing article in the Atlantic monthly, by " One of the guild,"
who maintains that the president of a college should have the
same authority that the president of a commercial corpora-
tion has over his subordinates. The general policy of the in-
stitution, the requirements for admission and degrees, the dis-
cipline of the students — all should be determined by him, sub-
ject only to the trustees. The remedy, in short, for the chief
defects in the administration of our colleges is presidential
autocracy.

Nor are illustrations wanting of the practical application of
this remedy. " We have no faculty meetings now," said a
professor in one of our large colleges of recent origin. " We
had them at first, but there was so much quarreling, and so little
progress made, that the president decided to have none, and
he manages the college now as he thinks best, or thru the
committees which he appoints. On the whole, it is a relief,
and there is less friction between departments." Said a pro-
fessor in another college : " Our president is a good deal of a
tyrant, but he succeeds in getting funds and in keeping the
college well to the front, so that we are disposed to let him
have his own way."

Autocracy, however, is a hazardous expedient, and is likely
to prove ultimately as pernicious in a college as it is in a state.
It induces too great reliance upon the distinctive characteristics
of a despot, and too little upon those of a gentleman. Infalli-
bility and omniscience are not the prerogatives of college presi-
dents, and the conceit of them should not appear as their
foible. Like men generally, they need to learn the strength or
the weakness of their measures in the light of other minds,
and to get the broader outlook which comes when a subject is
seen from various standpoints.

Granted that a man of superior intellectual and moral power
might effect some desirable changes more speedily than if he
were compelled to wait for the tardy approval of tliose more
sluggish and less intelligent, still it may be doubted whether.

ipoo] Power of the college president 447

for the permanent life of the institution, the autocratic spirit
will be the most quickening and fruitful. A college is not a
mechanism directed by a master workman. Its aim is not the
accumulation of wealth, but the development of character and
intelligence. This must be accomplished by the exposition
rather than by the imposition of opinion, by persuasion rather
than by coercion. The most progressive president can afford
to tolerate the sometimes tedious discussions of faculty meet-
ings, in order to secure that unanimity of thought and senti-
ment which will make his associate teachers more efficient co-
adjutors in the prosecution of his plans. One man power is
apt to enfeeble or to alienate those who are subject to it. In
educational procedure it is better to lead than to drive. A
heavier load can be moved and greater speed made, when all
pull together. Successful autocrats are few, and however
long their term of service, it is short compared with the life of
an institution. If they leave as an inheritance a spirit which
has suppressed free inquiry, and which has made it difficult to
secure and retain teachers of strong personality, the loss will
probably be greater than any apparent gain which may have
come thru the rapid achievements of a Napoleonic • policy.
In many colleges veto power over faculty action is granted the
president, and it may be a desirable safeguard, as it is in civil
assemblies, against hasty legislation; but a president, if he be
wise, will exercise that prerogative sparingly, if ever, and he
will suffer no serious loss if it be denied him. In our oldest
college and university, no veto power whatever is given to its
president. In the corporation his vote counts no more than
that of any other member. In the faculty, where every mem-
ber whose appointment is for more than one year has an equal
right of speech and suffrage, and in the board of overseers
elected by the alumni — which has veto power over both cor-
poration and faculty, — the president has only a single vote.
But notwithstanding these limitations to his authority, whereby
his projects may be frustrated by men less clear-sighted than
himself, I venture to say, the man who to-day stands pre-
eminent in the academic authority which he exercises is the
president of Harvard University. Few men have been more

44^ Educational Review [December

vigorously opposed or have seen their measures more often
defeated by the rule of the majority, but every educator knows
how royally he has triumphed over these limitations to his
power, and how they have contributed to his success.

The atmosphere of republican institutions is not favorable
to autocracy; and the president of an American college is likely
to find his power augmented rather than lessened by treating
his faculty as a parliamentary body with constitutional rights,
which he is bound to respect and maintain.

Finally, in the relation of a college president to its students
the same principles will apply; he may increase his power by
constitutional limitations. It is interesting to note the tend-
ency to give up the dictatorial policy which has prevailed in
most American colleges in the management of the student
body, and to return to some of the forms of democratic student
government which existed in the earliest European universi-
ties. Undergraduates as a class are too immature to legislate
on matters which most deeply affect their educational interests,
but there are questions concerning their social life which they
are competent to decide; and it is a valuable educational
process for them, also, to have the responsibility of legislation.
They will be disposed to observe the laws which they enact
more faithfully, and to criticise them less captiously, than if
the same laws were imposed by a superior body in which they
had no voice. Where such a system has been adopted, its
benefits have appeared in lessening both the traditional
antipathy of the students to the faculty, and the tenacity with
which they cling to hereditary, barbaric customs. And a great
deal is gained, if thereby they become the allies instead of the
opponents of the administration.

It is a misnomer, which may be a source of serious mis-
understanding, to call the youngest and least authoritative
assembly the Senate ; for whatever legislative functions may be
granted to the students, they evidently should be subordinate
to the trustees and faculty. Veto power over their legislation
the president undoubtedly should possess, but this prerogative
he will not often need to exercise as he wins the students' con-
fidence, and they learn to respect his opinions.

igoo] Power of the college president 449

In fact, it may be said, in his relations to all the bodies over
which he presides, whether veto power be granted him in their
by-laws or not, his most effectual veto is in himself, in the in-
fluence of his own personalit}^ What he is will determine
more than any legislative enactment what his authority will be.
The greatest limitations to his power are in himself. To main-
tain and increase his sway, it is of supreme importance that he
be able to repeat sincerely the Master's words, " Ye call me
Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am, but I am among
you as one that serveth." His authority will be proportional
to the faithfulness and efficiency of his service. Opposition,
harsh and unjust criticism, he will undoubtedly meet; the oppo-
sition he can most triumphantly overcome, and the criticism
he can most conclusively answer, by assiduously developing in
himself the best traits of mind and heart. Adding to the
strength and courage of his convictions that charity which is
not easily puffed up, he will learn how to accommodate him-
self to others, how to bear with them, how to win their confi-
dence and to secure their friendly co-operation.

A man thus disposed grows more powerful with his years.
His word has the forceful momentum of his achievements and
established character. Anderson at Rochester, Hopkins at
Williams, Wayland at Brown, Woolsey at Yale, show how the
president of a college, by magnanimity, by wisdom, by un-
selfish ministry, can win an authority more extensive than legis-
lators could ever grant to their executive officer, more absolute
than the most ambitious autocrat could ever attain. Men like
these give to colleges their most permanent and extensive in-
fluence. For Rochester University we can wish no better for-
tune than the power of such a life in the president whom she
inaugurates to-day.

L. Clark See lye

Smith College.
Northampton, Mass.

Ill

SCHOOL REMINISCENCES, (I)

Before I was old enough to attend school I had often heard
my parents talk with relatives and neighbors about the schools
and schoolmasters they had known, and how the boys and girls
conducted themselves, and the pranks they sometimes played
upon one another or on the teacher. These topics of conver-
sation so interested me that in my own mind, in advance, I had
pictured out every detail of school work, the benches, pupils,
how the pupils sat, said their lessons, played, ate their dinners,
and literally fought, bled, and lived thruout the school term.
To heighten my feelings in this imaginary life, the people, both
young and old, used to spell at night around the fireside; one
would pronounce the words from the spelling book and the
others would spell. At times the old, old Webster's Spelling-
book would be used instead of the Elementary. So by the
time I was six years old, without learning the words, I knew
how to spell several hundred words from having heard them
spelled. Frequently during each day I would go around spell-
ing words aloud. During these years I was also accustomed
to hear the older people on Sundays sing hymns, and talk of
the various Bible stories and characters. These were always
conversations of deep interest to a wondering child who was
trying to build up a theory of how things came to be on the
earth as he knew them. As I look back over that period in my
life I can see how these impressions have, with little change,
clung to me thruout the years. The people I heard talk were
mostly Baptists. They were New Englanders, New Yorkers,
Virginians, Kentuckians, and Tennesseeans, with a sprinkling
of those who had grown up from descendants of these. All
the older people talked Scripture. They compared views and
argued, sometimes lustily. The real Bible stories, which I
would separate from these discussions, were told over again
and again by my mother, father, and grandmother, and I al-

450

School reminiscences, {I^ 451

ways had new questions to ask after each repetition. No
other history could be more real than this oral history.

Another influence entered deeply into my life at the same
period, and that was the Life of Francis Marion by Weems.
This book was read and talked over in my hearing till I knew
the substance of every chapter. I lived thru the entire Revolu-
tionary period. In those days the people read but few books,
but they knew them better, I am sure, than the majority of
readers know the books they read now, and I think the spirit of
doubt had not taken such a deep hold on the average mind as it
has in this age.

My mother's father was a justice of the peace, and I heard
more or less talk about law and criminals, and such things, and
there grew up in my mental equipment dim notions of the
power of law and obedience to its requirements; I suppose
some such notion as the average small boy has now of police
authority. At any rate I had it, and it meant a great deal to
me.

When I was about seven years old I went to school one week,
as well as I now remember. I was put to spelling, but that
week left few impressions on my mind. That week I saw a
book called a geography. It was left on the writing bench at
noon, and I slipped up and opened it, and I saw the picture of a
man sticking a butcher knife into the breast of a bear; the
bear was reared up on its hind feet and was trying to hug and
bite the man. I asked a large girl what the reading was and she
said, " Norway." I learned no more than that of geography,
but wondered which was " Norway " — the man, the bear,
or the fight. If I said a lesson that week I do not now recall it,
but I do remember that a boy somewhat larger than I stuck my
thigh with a honey-locust thorn, and I hit him when he did it,
and the teacher made us stand on the floor. It may have been
that this was the reason why I attended this school a week and
then quit, or that my parents did not send me longer. The
teacher was a tall man, and he carried a switch in his hand as
he walked around over the floor. I knew him in after-years
and the people called him a good teacher.

Two years later I started to school again — this time to an

452 Educational Review [December

uncle. We lived three and a half miles from the schoolhouse.
My book was a '' blue-back speller." I missed school two
weeks out of twelve; but I spelled and read thru that book.
School began as soon as the teacher came, and he quit in time
for the children to get home before dark. I said from twelve
to fourteen lessons a day. The big boys all read once a day,
usually from the Life of Washington, or the Life of Marion,
and then sat out in the woods " to cipher," while the girls and
the little boys stayed in the schoolhouse and said their lessons.
I spelled and read by myself, and the first pupil who came in the
morning said his lessons first for that day. The walk was a
long one, but sister and I started early each morning. The
schoolhouse was made of logs; a cabin set in the thick woods
on a wagon road cut thru the timber. One day a heavy rain
came up at noon, and the lightning struck a linden tree at the
northeast corner of the schoolhouse, and more than half of us
were knocked off the benches on to the floor. I can see the
blue and red rings of that lightning around the schoolhouse
yet, and hear the howl of the dog as he was recovering from
the shock. I cried and wanted to go home to mother. At this
school I played all the games the little boys played, but we were
not permitted to play marbles, bull-pen, or cat, with the big
boys and the teacher.

I also listened to all the recitations, and I heard what the
teacher said to the big boys about their '' sums." The girls
read in different books, and after a lesson was once read I
knew it very well. In this way I became acquainted with a
great deal of reading matter that I never read.

There was one drawback in going to this school. A farmer
by whose house we had to pass had a large pet sheep, and when
a lamb the farmers' boys had taught it to butt, and as his sheep-
hood would frequently wander a mile or so along the road
which we traveled, there was no way of telling when he would
see us and start after us. We often had to climb saplings, get
on big logs, or clamber up to the top rails of the fence to get
out of his way, and he would not always go away after he
" treed " us.

In this school the pupils studied spelling, reading, arithmetic.

1900] School reminiscences, (/) 453

and the big boys and girls wrote in their copy books at a high
bench against the wall. The teacher had an hour for '' setting
copies," and he wrote an even, round, plain hand. The ink
was made by boiling the bark of the soft maple till the decoc-
tion was quite thick, and then a few lumps of copperas were
added to fix the color, which was either black or dark brown.
In the fall the more artistically inclined boys and girls, espe-
cially the smaller ones, would gather ripe poke-berries and
squeeze the red juice out of them into a bottle and write with
'' red ink." My first efforts at '' straight lines " and '' pot-
hooks " were made in poke-berry ink, and I can testify to the
fact that '' I painted the pages red " ! Our pens were always
cleaned by '' licking. them," and the faces the children some-
times made after '' licking their pens " were terrible to behold.

The teacher exercised considerable care in regard to pen-
holding, but his instruction availed little, since the biggest boys
could not touch the floor with their feet when they sat on the
high bench to write. The little fellows sat humped up and
did the best, perhaps, they could. At the writing time there
was no inconsiderable amount of talking indulged in by the
'* big scholars," but the little ones were promptly suppressed.

The amount of '' ciphering " done at these schools, and in
the country schools generally after harvest till time to gather
corn in November, covering a period of about twelve weeks,
barring two weeks for '' corn-cutting," was immense. All the
big boys, as soon as school was called in the morning, picked up
their slates and arithmetics and went to the woods, and seated
themselves on logs, against trees, or lolled in the shade, and
talked and worked problems. The better scholars helped the
poorer ones, each working for himself, and only those the most
advanced in arithmetic ever went to the teacher for a solution,
unless a dispute arose as to how a problem should be worked.
When a pupil had found a problem that '* stalled him," he
balked and came to the teacher, provided no one out in the
woods could work it. Sometimes the best places to work
would be a quarter of a mile or more from the schoolhouse, not
far from a peach or apple orchard, or a good watermelon patch.
It was a matter of honor never to destroy fruit or melons, but

454 Educational Review [December

it was regarded as no crime to go into an orchard or melon
patch and get what one wanted to eat, either in lUinois or Mis-
souri prior to the Civil War, and the boys who went forth in
quest of ciphering, melons, or fruit, frequently went to their
parents' orchards, just as everybody went into a " blackberry
patch '' to pick berries to eat or to make pies. In order to
have the necessary wants in the way of fruit and melons sup-
plied, the lesser boys usually made the excursions while the
larger ones worked their sums and explained them afterward.
The working of a sum was a simple affair. The worker set
down the figures and did the work as the sum was supposed to
require, and then, when he had finished it, he '' would spit on it
and rub it out," and tell you '' to work it." If you tried and
failed, he would repeat the performance, and you tried it again.
All my teachers under whom I studied, or rather '' ciphered,"
taught arithmetic the same way. The learner got a glimpse of
the work, and then went at it for himself. When a pupil wan-
dered in from the woods to have the teacher work a sum, this
pupil heard the little scholars recite their lessons while the
teacher worked, and sometimes a weak teacher was kept work-
ing sums half the time. " To stall the teacher " was regarded
as a master feat in arithmetical strategy. Occasionally the
teacher would leave the schoolhouse and come out where the
boys were to see how they were getting along, or maybe to
give some personal assistance in arithmetic or to talk over the
neighborhood news, or eat peaches, apples, or watermelons.
If anything was there to eat, he was always given some of
whatever there was. Frequently he took apples and peaches
back to the schoolhouse with him, and I have seen two or thre6
of my teachers, along in the afternoons, pare two or three apples
and give some of the pieces to the smaller children in school
time. Often a little fellow would sidle up and say, " Teacher,
please may I have the peelings and the core? "

About twenty minutes before time to quit school in the fore-
noon or afternoon, the teacher would say, '' Get your spelling
lessons ! " and then everyone in the schoolhouse began shouting
the words and spelling as loud as he could. This was the
signal for all " cipherers to come in," and in they went to stand

1900] School re?niniscences, {I^ 455

up and spell. Somtimes by way of diversion the spelling les-
sons were studied and spelled in the woods, especially if it
was a hard lesson. After the little class had spelled and the
big class had spelled, noon came, and the girls and little boys
were left about the schoolhouse while the teacher and the big
boys either played marbles, bull-pen, or cat, some distance
from the house. When the weather was very cold, the favo-
rite game was '' shinny." The teacher, unless he was lame,
always played with the boys and played as one of them. He
was the master in the school, and in case of dispute he was the
arbiter; otherwise he was as one of the big boys. As I look
back over the country schools I first attended, my teachers were
all fair-minded men — not much of the scholar, but really
human.

One of my teachers was a sort of Chesterfield. He made all
the pupils take what he called a '' course of manners " on
Friday afternoons. The thing was first done in this way : He
called out his own son and myself before the school. Then
he sent me outdoors, and at a signal I came in. As I entered
the door the teacher greeted me as follows : '' Good-afternoon,
Mr. Greenwood, I hope you are well." '' Quite well," I was
told to reply. Next, he said, " Mr. Greenwood, permit me to
introduce you to my friend, Mr. Campbell." Mr. Campbell
and I shook hands, and I had to say, " Mr. Campbell, I am
happy to form your acquaintance. I hope you are enjoying
excellent health." To which Mr. Campbell responded, '' I am
delighted to know you, Mr. Greenwood. Indeed it gives me
great pleasure to form your acquaintance."

He taught us how to stand, how to shake hands, how to place
our feet when bowing, and then what expressions to use upon
being introduced to married women, young women, and girls.
He would have one pupil introduce another to all the other
pupils in the room, and he kept this up till all of us knew what
to say, what to do, and how to meet a guest, offer him a seat,
and so forth.

My first lesson after the necessary preliminary drill was to
introduce the teacher's son, " Mr. Campbell," to each pupil of
the school. We started in, and I had introduced him to about

45^ Educational Review [December

twenty pupils when we came to a boy named Samuel Beam.
I went thru the regulation formula, but Master Campbell
balked. Instead of saying, " Mr. Beam," he snuffled thru his
nose — '' How are you. Beam ? " And his father could get no
other greeting out of him. The boy did not like Beam, and in
consequence thereof he positively refused to say more, and his
father gave him a whipping for disobedience and impoliteness.
The boy afterward told the other boys that Beam had such an
ugly face that he could not call him " Mr."

This teacher was a polite man and he endeavored to incul-
cate politeness among his pupils as a necessary part of a com-
mon-school education. There was a ludicrous side to this : to
see boys and girls, all barefooted at a schoolhouse in the back-
woods, bowing and scraping and imitating what this man re-
garded as the best usage in polite society. This was before
the days of comic papers, and now such a performance
would receive liberal treatment at the hands of the newspaper
men.

At the age of nine, my third teacher. Miss Lucy Thompson,
told my father that I ought to study geography. I had not
yet had an arithmetic, but had picked up a little knowledge of
it by watching other boys, somewhat older, do their sums.
Father bought me Mitchell's Geography and atlas. The first
day I said fourteen lessons in it, and the teacher cut me down
to three after that. I must have spent nearly three months
in this book, reading it thru and hunting out the map ques-
tions. The summer following Mr. Alfred Lewis came around
teaching geography classes. The term was ten days. Father
sent me to this singing geography school and I learned from
memory — a plan of repetition the gentleman followed — every-
thing on Mitchell's atlas. This man sang the mountains of the
world to the inspiring air of " Old Dan Tucker." That
geography sticks to me to this day, and Mr. Lewis, whom I
learned to know in after years, said that I learned better than
anyone he had ever taught. I learned all the facts about each
object mentioned so far as they appeared in the atlas or in the
text-book, or as Mr. Lewis mentioned them incidentally. I
learned more local geography in ten days, as I found it on the

1900J School reminiscences, {I^ 457

atlas, than it is possible to have learned in any other way.
There is nothing like it in modern methods, neither is there
much in the new methods of teaching spelling, but the fact is,
method has little in it when compared to the work of an en-
thusiastic learner. As I look at it now I think the reason I
made such wonderful progress in local geography was that I
centered all my faculties on it, and my mind was not diverted
by other matters. There is a deep educational question under-
lying it after all, and that is, how do we know that the best way
to study any subject is not to take one thing at a time and stick
to it ? The best student I ever knew would not take during his
entire course more than three studies, and he was master in
these, no difference what they were.

Late in the fall after I had learned geography, my father
bought me a slate and Smith's Arithmetic, and the teacher said
I could cipher. I turned my attention to ciphering and I went
at it in a hurry, so that in three months I had worked the last
problem in the book, '' the man shooting the squirrel." I went
over it so rapidly that it was the second time in going thru
before I had all the knowledge well pigeon-holed. After this
I traded some marbles for Adams's Arithmetic and I worked
thru it, tho a boy one day accidentally dropped my book into a
bucket of water, and the backs came off; yet I managed to keep
the pieces till I *' ciphered thru it." Some boys had Smiley's
Arithmetic and one had Ray's, and father bought a copy of
Ray's for me. It was harder and much better than any other
I had used. I was now able to help all the boys in school in
their arithmetic, altho I never recited a lesson in it to
a teacher in my life. I now read in McGuffey's old Fourth
Reader, and the lessons in McGuffey's old Readers were on a
much higher literary plane than any other series of Readers
since issued in this country, and it is a great pity that the high
moral and literary standard set by Dr. McGuffey has not been
followed by others instead of the great letting down in Readers
— now not much above senseless twaddle. As character-
builders McGuffey's Readers exerted tremendous influence on
two or three generations of men and women. Unfortunately
that high standard cannot now be reached by the silly Readers

458 Edtuatzonal Review [December

used in the schools. I hope the period of dilution has expended
itself.

A boy came to school with one of McGuffey's Fifth Readers,
but he could not read it, so I borrowed it and I read Marco
Bozzaris and other choice selections. This boy, who had
come from Massachusetts, had Cutter's Elementary physi-
ology and hygiene and he lent this book to me also. I had
heard talk of human skeletons, and this little book filled me
with unspeakable wonder and delight. But our teacher was a
stiff-necked old fellow, and whenever he looked around he
had to turn his body, and this gave me a good chance to hide
the book before he could catch me with it. The boys, not in
his hearing, however, called him '' old stiff-neck." He was
a fairly good teacher, I suppose, but he was a thirsty soul and
frequently '' fired up " on Saturdays, but was always " cooled
down by Monday morning." During this winter a man by
the name of Sweet came from New York to our neighborhood.
He taught arithmetic, grammar, and especially reading. He
would teach a month at a time, and his pupils advanced very
rapidly. I studied reading and arithmetic under him, and I was
greatly pleased with the reading, because he taught the sounds
of the letters, and when he was drilling a class in reading,
— about forty of us, — we could be heard, when the wind was
not blowing hard, something like two miles from the church in
which he kept his school. One day he whipped a fifteen-year-
old girl with his cane, and the citizens were about to mob him,
and he fled to parts unknown. I think he was the only genuine
teacher I ever had, but he must have been an impetuous and
irascible man, unable to control his temper. He asked the girl
to read, and she wanted him to excuse her, so he flew at her in
a rage and beat her with his cane. The sympathy of the
school was with her. What I learned from him stuck to me
well. I learned cancellation, cause and effect in arithmetic,
the sounds of the letters, and that reading was something more
than calling words.

The next school I attended it was thought by somebody that
I was far enough along to study grammar; a young man and
two young women were trying to do something with the sub-

«9oo] School reminiscences, (/) 459

ject, so father bought a copy of Smith's Grammar, and I went
at it. We got over as far as Rule Fourteenth, and I knew the
book by heart as far as I had studied it. The only thing that
puzzled me was — " that which " and the '' thing which." I
tried in vain to find out each of these " which's " as a material,
tangible, visible thing, and the teacher could not help me. I
think the others knew no more about the subject than I did. I
held the " which's " in my mind for a month or two, and finally
I came to the conclusion that instead of saying " that which,"
or the " thing which," I could say '' what " and be done with it.
This was a great mental relief. I had also begun to read in
Wilson's History of the United States. There were eight
boys and girls in this class and we were called up to read the
first thing in the afternoon. We took our seats on a long
bench and read around several times — each reading a para-
graph. We read from fifteen to twenty pages at a lesson, and
when we had read thru the book, we began at the first and read
thru again. I supplemented much of this history reading by
two books which father had bought — Thomas's Pictorial his-
tory of America, and the Western pioneer by John S. Williams
of Cincinnati. About this time father also bought the writ-
ings of Dr. Thomas Dick and I read these books very carefully,
and some parts many times. They opened up a new world to
me, and they had a great deal to do in shaping my thoughts
and actions. I was now ready to read anything I could find,
and I read all the books the neighbors had. About this time
I saw a man who had studied algebra, so he said, and I wanted
to know what it was like, so he asked me what x stood for, and
I replied " ten," and he then told me that x stood for " any-
thing," and this was indeed a deeper mystery to me than " that
which," or the " thing which." I never saw him afterward,
so I had to carry this dim, vague idea till I eventually bought
an algebra and began to read it.

An uncle of mine, a young man, had bought Fowler's
Phrenology, illustrated and applied, and once or twice he left
it out of his trunk, and I read a few pages in it, but he would
not let me have it. I gathered enough from it to see that it
told about people, the different kinds, and I was very anxious

460 Educational Review [December

to learn about them, but he positively refused to let me see the
book. I remembered the name, and a few years later when I
saw it advertised in a newspaper I sent for it, and in a year or
two I had read nearly all that had been written on that
subject.

A man by the name of Chamberlain taught a school within
about three miles of my father's house, and I went twenty-five
days to his school, carrying a rifle with me to shoot at deer on
the way to and from school. This school was a fair specimen
of the others I have described, except that Mr. Chamberlain
wrote a very beautiful hand. He knew little, but it sufficed
for the pupils he had. Prior to this I had studied algebra,
geometry, mensuration, Latin grammar, Spanish grammar,
Olmstead's Natural philosophy, Butler's Analogy, phre-
nology. Combe's Constitution of man, read the Bible thru
twice, read the Revised Statutes of Missouri, much of RoUin's
Ancient history, Plutarch's Lives, the Life of the Empress
Josephine, Napoleon and his marshals, Burritt's Astronomy,
Comstock's Philosophy and Chemistry, mythology, Mrs. Lin-
coln's Botany, Cutter's Larger physiology, and Gunn's Do-
mestic medicine. I had also borrowed and read a History of
the zvorld, and of winter evenings would walk or ride anywhere
within eight or ten miles to be at a spelling school or a debate.

The summer following the winter after I had attended Mr.
Chamberlain's school twenty-five days, a short, thickset man,
named John C. Gibson, from Indiana, moved into our part of
the country. He was a genial, whole-souled man and a Baptist
preacher. He was self-made and pretty well made at that.
He liked me and I liked him, and he owned about fifty books,
and I gained much from him. He lent me Campbell's
Rhetoric, Hervey's Meditations, Nelson On infidelity, Gilles's
History of Greece, and Benson's Commentaries on the Bible.
It was he who asked me to mark on a bench with my pocket
knife how many times a certain preacher during his sermon
would say, " on this occasion." I did so out of curiosity, and
when he had dismissed the congregation, I counted 79 marks
to his credit. Mr. Gibson moved to Kansas and died there
some years later. He was a popular man with the young

i9co] School reminiscences, (/) 461

people, and one could not be with him without learning some-
thing. He was full of ideas, and knew some law besides.

In the fall and winter following I attended school at Kirks-
ville, Mo. A man by the name of Sherman came there and
started a school. He held exhibitions every week or two. He
w^as a good teacher of reading, grammar, and possibly of be-
ginning Latin. I studied grammar, algebra, geometry, and
Latin under him. I learned rapidly, and I worked out all the
mathematical problems the pupils brought to him. He prayed
at morning, noon, and night, and then would get drunk after
dark and be sober in the morning. He lasted thru the winter
season, borrowed several hundred dollars from the brethren
and decamped in the spring — no one ever knew where. He
said he was a graduate of Union College, New York. He
would have green boys spouting Latin before they could read
intelligently in the Third Reader. I went to school to him
eighty days, and I studied hard and learned all I could. There
were five boy^ of us about the same age. Later, two of us' be-
came teachers, two are leading ministers in their respective de-
nominations, and one is a newspaper man. Another, a very
bright little boy, about fifteen years old, died the next year of
typhoid fever.

Perhaps the greatest benefit we derived from this winter's
schooling came from the debates that we five engaged in. We
had no judges or auditors, but we divided, and made the best
speeches wx could on such subjects as we thought worthy of
our attention. In order to read a lx)ok or a magazine, we
*' pooled the price," and made one book or magazine answer for
all. We enjoyed with keen relish what information we ob-
tained in this way. I have frequently thought that ordinary
poverty is a blessing in disguise to most ambitious boys. A
few months before I had sold a two-year-old steer for fifteen
dollars, and this amount I had invested in books, mostly text-
books, and a history of China and Latta's Chain of sacred zvon-
ders. During the spring and summer I worked on the farm as
usual and in the fall I went to Canton Seminary, where I
passed examination during the year in twenty different sub-
jects ; the common branches were all reviews as well as several

462 Educational Review

of the more advanced branches. This school was fairly strong-
in English, Latin, mathematics (up to analytics), rhetoric^
physics, and chemistry. I took all they had except Greek,
which I studied later. But this year's work was too hard on
me, and at the close of the year I had to give up reading for
nearly twelve months, but as soon as I was able I started in
again with great vigor, which I have kept up to the present
moment with no cessation.

Some years ago I counted up the months I had attended
school as a pupil, and they amounted to about forty-four
months, but if I were asked how long I have been a student, I
could truthfully say, ever since I learned to read.

While in Canton Seminary, Canton, Mo., one of my pro-
fessors was Dr. Amos Lusk. He was one of the most accom-
plished linguists I ever knew. He was my professor in Latin.
He was a very scholarly man. Dr. Samuel Martin was my
professor in chemistry. He was good also, and besides, he
knew mathematics and Latin quite well. I also, studied logic
under Dr. Martin, but it was not well presented in the text or
by the professor.

Prior to going to Canton I had taught or kept one winter
school for three months, and one fall term of three months.
Having run over some of the studies with my pupils, I had a
great advantage over my classmates, because I was better
grounded in the common branches. This gave me a start
which placed me far in the lead.

J. M. Greenwood

Superintendent of Schools,
Kansas City, Mo.

FAILURES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE HIGH

SCHOOL

At the outset allow me to assume, without attempting proof,
that there are now more failures in the first year of the high
school than are really necessary. Then, after considering cer-
tain difficulties that ordinarily attend boys and girls as they
enter upon high-school studies, we may venture to classify the
causes of failure and to mention such remedies as have been
suggested by experience.

The pupil, on passing from the grammar school to the high
school, comes to a new building, having different appointments
and usually situated farther from his home than the old one.
Notwithstanding his longer journey, he must arrive a half-
hour earlier. This often occasions an earlier breakfast, if not
earlier rising. On arrival, instead of a session of two and a
half hours before dinner and a shorter one afterward, with
some two hours between free from study, he now has a long
session of five hours, broken midway by a half-hour of recess,
and perhaps at other times by five minutes of relief from atten-
tion. The new conditions tend to increase the school strain,
especially toward the close of the session, and to prolong the
interval between the morning and the midday meal. Until
new habits are well established, there is certainly a liability of
greater fatigue in school ; but in compensation there is a greater
opportunity for daylight freedom after school is over. More-
over, much help may be afforded by the provision of a sub-
stantial and appetizing luncheon at the high-school recess.

The change of teachers may also have a bearing on the case.
The grammar-school teacher whom the pupil leaves is often the
ablest and most experienced in the building, for, despite our
contrary theories, the best teachers tend toward the higher
grades in a given school. Besides the ordinary teacher, too, he
may have had the service of a special teacher whose business

464 Educational Review [December

it was to lead or push the laggards and to unify the product of
the school plant. In the high school he is sure to come under
the charge of a new teacher, and usually under one somewhat
differently equipped. She commonly has an ampler educa-
tion, being more probably a college graduate, but she sometimes
has had less experience in dealing with the deficiencies of boys
and girls. The larger the scholarship, the more inspiring the
teacher should become, but it sometimes happens that a
scholarly teacher is so eager to advance in her subject that she
forgets to accommodate her pace to the shorter steps of her
young companions. When, however, ripe scholarship is sup-
plemented by practical insight into school conditions, and fired
by a sympathetic heart, we have the best type of teacher for the
entering pupil.

The new subjects also contribute somewhat to the beginner's
cares, making larger demands upon his imagination and his
powers of reasoning. He leaves arithmetic with its concrete-
ness for the abstractions of algebra, and the history of familiar
America for the more remote concerns of England or the
Mediterranean lands; to his English, usually slender enough
in vocabulary and in structure, he adds some foreign tongue.
All these changes make severer calls upon him for sustained
attention, for concentration of effort, and for completeness of
grasp. Then, too, the new ways of living give him during
study hours less than formerly of his teacher's personal atten-
tion, and throw upon him more responsibility for the accom-
plishment of his work. Of course this is as it should be, for
our youths of fifteen ought to be something better than babes
in leading strings; but the change introduces an element of new
difficulty into the path of the young learner. Whether he shall
overcome this by readily responding to the new conditions is
what settles the question of his becoming a scholarly man. To
avoid failure he must learn to study independently as well as
with the teacher at his shoulder, he must have accuracy as an
ideal, he must be faithful and persevering, and by his own
initiative he must on occasion put aside personal gratification
for remoter rewards, living laborious days for the joys that
await him at their end.

ipoo] Failures in first year of high school 465

These difficulties, tho real, are not a sufficient explanation of
the failures previously alluded to. They are, indeed, occasions
for stumbling, but they all can be overcome. For the true
■causes of discomfiture we must look to something deeper and
more abiding in the child's experience than the temporary
novelties involved in a change of schools. These causes are,
perhaps, half a dozen in number and often appear in combina-
tion one with another.

The first is deficient preparation in the earlier schools, a
cause that invariably seems more important to the young
teacher than to the old, to high-school teachers than to workers
in elementary grades. In my opinion not much attention
-should be bestowed upon it. It is naturalto ascribe ill success
in one range of studies to poor work in preceding grades, and
the criticism is passed back all the way from college to kinder-
.garten ; but after all we must recognize the fact that all teachers
are doing about as well as they can under the conditions that
environ them, and deprecate their failures as strongly as do
their fellows in more advanced work. If anyone sees a remedy
for apparent weakness below, let him bring that remedy with
his criticism, and he may be sure of a welcome. But when we
of the high schools are tempted to deride the product of the
grammar schools, and to stop with that, it is far better to stop
before we begin. It is our chief business to accept that product
in the main, and to build upon it as fair a structure as we can.

We may properly go farther, and acknowledge that there are
•considerations which render it more difficult than formerly
for the elementary schools to send up excellent material to the
doors of the high school. The first of these is the enlarged
area of high-school attendance. The increase in home com-
forts for laboring men, the freer supply by the community of
both education and its accessories, and the more general recog-
nition of the value of school training as a preparation for the
competitions of life, all tend to bring to the upper grades from
toiling homes multitudes of children who in an earlier genera-
tion would have entered the ranks of wage-earners with less by
far of formal education. This brings a larger proportion of
pupils who by heredity, or by unscholarly and even unsanitary

4^6 Educational Review [December

home surroundings, are necessarily limited in the respect of in-
tellectual progress. I am not deprecating the change. The
gain to common life is enormous, and the public school should
rejoice in its opportunity; but we should not fail to observe the
increased difficulty in furnishing to the high school homo-
geneous and excellent material for secondary education.

Moreover, the work of the grammar schools is now in a
transition period. The old conception of elementary training
was simple enough and could be realized after a fashion ; it was
a thoro drill in the instruments of the acquisition and expres-
sion of knowledge — reading, writing, arithmetic, English
grammar, statistical geography, and a little history. This
modicum was smitten into the minds of the pupils by summary
effort — by suggestion, persuasion, or compulsion, as the
temper of teacher and pupil made necessary. Now the cher-
ished conception of the modern elementary school is quite dif-
ferent. The teacher aims to secure for the child a salutary
physical environment and training. Then she seeks to open
his mind to the world, stimulating and gratifying his curiosity
by means drawn from many fields of human research and
activity. She tries, also, by directing the child's processes of
acquisition, to develop interests that shall be permanent and
power that shall become habitual, and she strives to acquaint
him with some of his duties and privileges as a social being.
Hence the modern school has among its subjects nature-study,
something of the fine arts in drawing and modeling, some
form of manual training, biographical and historical study^
literature, music, gymnastics, and occasionally physics, al-
gebra, geometry, or a foreign language; these in addition to
the number work, the geography, the reading, and the writing
of a former day. There is withal an attempt to appeal to the
individual pupil and develop any power that may appear.

The effort to realize such ideals with the instruments at
hand has led to considerable confusion. New subjects have
been introduced till teachers and pupils feel harassed and dis-
satisfied, while the old remain, pruned here and there, but still
mingled with the new. The courses of study are congested
and not infrequently are administered by agents who, tho well-

ipoo] Failures in first year of high school 467

meaning and faithful, are unsympathetic or bewildered. The
result upon the pupils is diffusion without precision. '' My
boy," says a father, '' knows many more things than I did at
his age, but he seems to know nothing quite so well."

This cannot last forever, but will yield to clearer views and
more intelligent action. The newer ideal will prevail, for it is
the truer to Nature's plan of development and the better suited
to the needs of modern life. Schools and teachers will adjust
themselves to it, or will fall out by the way. Meanwhile, let
the high schools take what comes to them, without grumbling
at what cannot be helped, and speed each youth, ,according to
his ability, along the upward path.

One deficiency that will appear in every entering class, con-
stituting a second of our causes of failure, is a lack of proper
habits of study in view of the demands of high-school life.
The best remedy for this is a sort of mothering of the young-
sters by their teachers. I like to choose for the instructors of
the first-year classes women who by nature or by effort have
the qualities we admire in a good mother, — patience, steadi-
ness, self-poise, aptness to guide, insight into disposition, fore-
sight of the learner's difficulties, readiness of resource to meet
them, sympathy in dealing with the unlovely. I value scholar-
ship highly in a teacher, in broad ranges as well as in narrow,
but for the beginners, if I can have but the one, give me the
mother rather than the scholar. Such an one will lead them
to plan the division of their study time within school and at
home. She will show them the result of wandering thought,
of neglect, of interruptions, of putting off till to-morrow what
should be done to-day. She will help them thru those last two
hours when Nature by her higher fatigue curve displays cau-
tionary signals, advising us to take in sail and speedily find a
harbor. She will not fail to search for interests in these young
hearts and to provide ways in which she may tie those interests
to the school subjects.

But our teacher cannot do this closer work effectively if we
do not release her from the treadmill of recitation at suitable
times. Give her at least one spare hour in the school session
every day, and do not overwhelm her with pupils, if you really

468 Educational Review [December

mean to have her play the mother. For her business will be
not merely to tell the boys and girls what to do, but to see that
they do it, to make sure that right ways of study become
habitual; and this requires individual contact of the minds and
hearts of teacher and pupils.

Still a third cause for failure is found in a lack of inherent
interest in the specific work which the pupil has to do. While
it sometimes is good for us all to do what for the time is un-
welcome, and to find in the joy of a result ample reward for the
drudgery that necessarily precedes it, it is undoubtedly true
that mentally we grow most surely thru the mode of culture
that leads forth our interest voluntarily. After duly safeguard-
ing the pupil's path from whims and crotchets, and after sup-
plying out of experience the incentives likely to be overlooked
by the unwary, it is best to direct the young learner along the
line of his aptitudes as they become apparent. The teacher
should regard with especial care the boy or girl who is unin-
terested, in the hope to discover the reason behind the lack of
interest. Is it because the teacher herself is lifeless in present-
ing the subject? Is it because the pupil's energy is absorbed
in less important interests? Is there anything abnormal in
the child's health, or habits, or home conditions? Or has he
simply got upon the wrong track? I do not find that very
many beginners in a high-school system offering a considerable
range of choice, present and prospective, are permanently de-
void of interest. It seems advisable, therefore, to provide a
reasonable number of options at the beginning of the pupil's
high-school career, with an increase in the number in suc-
cessive years. It is well, also, for the principal of the school
to be watchful for indications, of error in the choices made,
and to use a free hand in making transfers when they become
desirable.

A fourth cause of failure is the state of mind in a pupil which
teachers, when speaking freely, generally call laziness. The
boy shows disinclination for all effort except play, shirks his
work, neglects duty, and this not temporarily, but as an ordi-
nary course of procedure. Each such case deserves the
teacher's examination by itself. Whatever can be learned

1900] Failures in first year of high school 469

from former teachers, from parents, or from fellow pupils,
should be allowed to illumine, but not to prejudge, the case.
With the entering students the change to a new subject some-
times induces a change of attitude; more often the new teacher
captures the heart and leads the indolent fellow to make greater
effort simply to please her, until habits of regular effort are
set up. It sometimes appears on closer investigation that a
boy who seems lazy is not really disinclined to work, but
simply lacks interest in the particular assignment. Recently
a sixteen-year-old boy, new to the school, was sent to me for
truancy. An investigation revealed a general impression that
he was of good ability, but lazy. When we were alone I said :

" Joseph, your teachers think you are lazy. What do you
think?"

With a quick look he replied :

" Do you think a fellow is lazy who gets up at four in the
morning and feeds more than a dozen horses before break-
fast?"

Then it came out that he really was a bright boy and will-
ing to study, but thru a change of residence and a few weeks'
absence he was then doing work which he had previously done
for parts of two years in another school. Naturally it had no
fresh interest for him, and there was little incitement for him
to do his best. The case was plainly one that called for better
adjustment on my part by the provision of work better suited
to his abilities.

Sometimes apparent laziness is due to the opposite cause; a
pupil may be too immature to comprehend the subjects which
involve reasoning and abstract conceptions. The lack of grasp
leads to loss of interest, to idleness, and to habitual laziness.
The remedy in such a case is essentially the same as in the case
of pronounced dullness, of which I shall write shortly.

Again, the boy whom we think indolent is sometimes really
a victim of low vitality from physical causes not understood at
the time by himself, by teacher, or by parent. There are not
many such cases, proportionally, but enough to warrant care on
the teacher's part not to be hasty in condemnation.^

^ See D'Arcy Thompson's Day dreams of a schoolmaster, chap, xxiii.

470 Educational Review [December

Indeed, the main point which experience among deficient
pupils emphasizes is that we should not rest satisfied with a
casual judgment, another's or our own, to the effect that the
pupil is lazy, but that we should plunge our analysis more
deeply till we find the reason for the alleged laziness. Then
we may have grace given us to apply an appropriate remedy,
one that shall move the atrophied will to more vigorous effort.

But if in the last analysis we discover that the disinclination
has its origin in vicious habits or some other aspect of worth-
lessness of character, and become satisfied that neither personal
effort by the teacher nor the sweep of school discipline can
avail, what shall be done with the offender? My answer is,
remove him from the school. The moral shock of exclusion
sometimes brings a boy to his senses, enabling him to see the
duties of school life with more mature vision, and arousing in
him a nobler purpose. If this result is manifest, be sure to
welcome him again when he wishes to take up work with real
earnestness. The high school in any case is too expensive a
machine to be clogged with useless and refractory material.
There is no proper place in it for drones who resist all efforts
to transform them into workers. Happily the extreme of ex-
pulsion is seldom necessary, for when it looms in sight, parents,
pupil, and teacher all have strong motives to avert its nearer
approach; but when it is actually necessary, it is, in my judg-
ment, a perfectly justifiable weapon against indolence, as
against immorality.

Another cause of failure is an enfeebled condition of health.
When this is temporary, insistence upon having the missing
work made up, even if private tutoring be involved, is a rea-
sonable preventive of ultimate failure. If the illness is such
that prolonged weakness must ensue, upon presentation of a
physician's certificate the quantity of the pupil's work should be
reduced to a point at which standard quality of what is at-
tempted is feasible. Care should be taken to show the parents
that this reduction involves extra work at some subsequent
time, or else delayed graduation. This consideration will
counteract the complaisant tendency of some family physi-
cians, and will avoid future misunderstandings. Of course,

igoo] Failures in first year of high school 471

those pupils who perform satisfactorily the reduced amount of
work thus provided should not be grouped among the failures.

We come now to the last cause for failure which I shall
enumerate — dullness in the pupil. This is the most efficient
cause of all, and the hardest to remove. Pupils who are slow
rather than quick of apprehension, sluggish rather than re-
sponsive to intellectual stimuli, must be counted upon and
reckoned with in every school. It is they upon whom the
change to the more abstract subjects and the closer reasoning
of the secondary school bears most heavily. We do not have
the most backward cases at all; they are selected out by the
elementary schools ; but many with weak mental capacities are
helped forward by teachers and friends so that they hope for
good to themselves in the high school. Nor is their hope in
vain if they do not lose heart; but their way is beset with
thorns.

If any satisfactory standard of minimum requirement is to
be maintained, many of these pupils cannot be saved from
failure except by wise administration, patient teaching, and a
willingness on their part to take a longer time than some
other pupils to attain the same minimum of quality. Some of
the backward pupils will apprehend a given point — say the
method of subtraction in algebra — when it has been taught once
in advance and again in immediate review with suitable con-
crete examples to illustrate it. Others need a fourfold or six-
fold repetition to fasten the idea. But patient repetition and
sufficient variety of illustration will secure the possession of
the process, and sufficient practice will make it a habit, and so a
permanent acquisition as long as it is in use. The problem of
saving the dull from failure, therefore, is essentially the prob-
lem of securing sufficiently good teaching for a sufficiently long
time, with sufficient opportunity on the teacher's part to study
the particular pupil and deal wisely with him. This involves a
number of necessities of an administrative sort. Classes must
not be large, but small. Teachers of skill and experience must
be employed in these classes. Their time must not be wholly
taken by class work, but some freedom must be allowed them
to work with pupils one by one or in groups of two or three.

472 Educational Review [December

In schools large enough to have many dull pupils, there must on
general grounds be several divisions of the pupils in each sub-
ject taken the first year; the interests of the dull pupils will be
best served if, as soon as convenient, these divisions are made
on the basis of ease of apprehension. Of course this is a deli-
cate matter to handle, but the interests of the best and of the
poorest scholars alike advise it. It is clear that the dullest
pupils require a longer time than the average to reach a given
minimum, and equally clear that the quickest of mind should
not be made to mark time while the slower are coming into line.
Meanwhile, that is to say while the bright and the dull are
commingled in the divisions, they all should be the objects of
careful study and adequate stimulation.

It is my custom, for instance, to obtain from each of my
assistants who have to do with my fourth class, the beginners,
one month after they enter a statement showing who are fail-
ing to reach our minimum standard and what seems to be the
reason. For the next two weeks I devote a portion of each
day to these pupils, inviting them to my office. I do not seek
to frighten them; I am careful not to scold them. I try to
learn from them what they think the reason for their failure
is, and mentally compare their opinion with the judgment of
the teacher already on record. In most cases the teacher's
opinion is confirmed by evidence elicited from the child. Then
I set about rousing these pupils to the use of their best efforts
and of wiser methods in case the latter are needed; employing
persuasion and playful raillery, or earnest appeal and encour-
agement, as seems wisest. The pupil is alone with me for these
few minutes and our conversation is confidential. A month
later I send to the father of any who then remain delinquent in
their studies a printed note calling attention to the lack of suc-
cess of his child, and inviting a conference. At the end of the
third month a note will go from the Secretary of the High
School Committee informing the parents that the pupil, being
still delinquent, has been placed on special probation. At the
end of the fourth month under our rules pupils still delinquent
have forfeited membership in the school. They may be
dropped from the school, if we deem it best, and that has often

1900] Failures in first year of high school 473

been done in the past. Where dullness or immaturity is the
cause of the continued failure, it is better to withdraw the
pupils from their divisions, making a new one which shall have
work designed to prepare them to begin the work of the lowest
class again, and under more favorable auspices, another
autumn. The parents are glad to assent to this five-year
course in preference to the summary dropping of their
children.

This is one way of combining careful administration with
patient teaching, allowing time to lend its aid when needed.
There are others, doubtless, which are as good or better. But
there are some boys and girls for whom the best plans that we
can conceive are unavailing; they seem to be instances of
arrested development in respect to all power that can be tested
in the academic or manual work of the school. The passing
from school of each such one saddens me and keeps me ever in
search of the philosopher's stone which shall transmute all
baser metal in our schoolrooms into pure gold.

In the search for symptoms by which we may rightly diag-
nose each patient that comes before us in the course of our daily
duty, and especially in the application of our remedies, there is
one thing we must remember. The physician who enters upon
a modern surgical operation without making sure that his in-
struments and his hands are antiseptically clean can have no
assurance of a successful issue for his most brilliant effort. He
has actually invited failure. There is in the schoolroom an
antiseptic : its name is sympathy. By this I mean the quality
which places the scholarship and experience of a refined man
or woman at the service of the most unlovely child, which
shares itself with the needy who does not recognize his own
need, which feels, as Sir Launfal came to feel, that " the gift
without the giver is bare." Sympathy it is that must accom-
pany all our efforts, however well intended or well directed, if
we would be certain of success with any type of delinquents.
When this quality is discerned by the pupil, it tends to summon
forth the best there is in him. To follow the leadings of a
sympathetic interest in our pupils calls for patient and perse-
vering labor, it is true, but it also brings its rich rewards.

474 Educational Review

The other day there was read to me from the evening paper
a dispatch telling of the storming of a bandit camp in the
Philippine Island of Negros by a captain of the Sixth In-
fantry and his men. It carried me back twenty -four years to
the day when I first met that captain, then an auburn-haired,
freckle-faced little failure at a New England high school.
And I thought of the struggles we had with him, of his vic-
tories over temper^ of the new interests and new ideals that
came from the school to this motherless and fatherless boy, of
the appointment to West Point that we secured for him, and,
too, of that letter which came to me with his wedding cards,
after he had received his commission, in which his old roguery
mingled with the tenderest gratitude, — " Mr. Ruling, if I ever
amount to anything, you will have to bear the blame of it."
That fellow was saved by sympathetic treatment, and, I assure
you, the memory of it on that evening did much to relieve the
weariness and loneliness of an otherwise tedious day.

Ray Greene Huling

English High School,
Cambridge, Mass.

GOVERNMENT OF WOMEN STUDENTS IN COL-
LEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Those of us who are engaged in the practical work of stu-
dent government are constantly confronted by a changing yet
endless series of problems. Some of these are obvious, others
present themselves only after years of work; some are of
trifling, others of vital importance; some solve themselves
almost as they arise, others are apparently impossible of solu-
tion; as soon as one is successfully met another still more
baffling rises in its place; or one that has defied our best at-
tempts for years will thru some event which we lay to chance,
with the incoming, say, of a new class, suddenly vanish for-
ever. On our success in reaching solutions for the greater
number or for the more important of these problems, depends
the success of our system of government; in the finding such
solutions our work consists. It is no great wonder, then, that
we should grasp at any possible help in the solving of them by
trying to learn how similar problems have been solved else-
where.

The solution worked out elsewhere will not be of direct serv-
ice as a solution for the new problem at home. There are
new factors always in the new problem which must be reck-
oned with first. But it will be of service toward a solution,
and as such none of us can afford to dispense with it. So we
answer patiently and fully countless questions as to our " sys-
tem of government," our ** regulations for conduct," the *' en-
forcement of such regulations," and the like; just as we ask,
when we need it, similar help from outside; feeling that in
these ways we contribute most efficiently and most constantly
to the solution* of the great universal problem, always insoluble,
yet always, too, in process of being solved — the problem as to
what makes for the best life of students everywhere. It is in

475

47^ Educational Review [December

the hope of contributing to that solution, and meanwhile of
saving time for the many who must ask and who must answer,
that the academic committee of the alumnae of Bryn Mawr Col-
lege have put together the following paper.

So little as yet exists in print concerning student government
that it has proved necessary to resort to the old method of
'' troubling with questions " those already overburdened with
duties. The facts embodied in this paper have been furnished
in response to a questionnaire sent out to twelve of the lead-
ing women's colleges and coeducational universities of the
United States. The answers have generally been made by the
dean of the college in question; sometimes by its president,
always by some person in high authority; so that such infor-
mation as the paper contains is made public with the full con-
sent and approval of the colleges concerned, and carries all
possible weight as a statement of fact. The information de-
sired has been furnished in every case with a courtesy and a
cordiality which the committee have taken as proof of a
genuine interest in the plan of publishing at last in available
form, the main facts concerning the government of women
students.

The plan followed in arranging these facts has been, taking
the colleges and universities in alphabetical order, first, to out-
line the general system of government in each ; and then, in so
far as space and expediency permitted, to give in some detail
the regulations in force in them concerning conduct and life.
It is possible thus to compare, both in their general principles
and in their more minute provisions, the systems of government
among women students all over the United States- The com-
mittee hope that the facts, thus for the first time collected, will
to-day be of suggestiveness to those who are facing the prob-
lems of student government, and as a matter of historical
interest, will have a permanent value.

General Systems of Government

Barnard College — The system of government in force in
Barnard College, originating with the dean of the college in

i9oo] Government of women students 477

1894, and in its most recent development thru the suggestion
of the head of Fiske Hall, the hall of residence, is on the
whole a form of self-government. A majority of the students
still are non-resident and the problems of government for them
are met by a self-government committee of the undergraduate
association — the president of the undergraduate association
serving as chairman of the committee, and the other four mem-
bers being elected from the four classes, each by her own class.
This committee draw up rules which are reported to the asso-
ciation and enforced by the dean; the ultimate responsibility,
therefore, not only for suspension and expulsion, but for the
everyday enforcing of regulations, rests upon her. The rules
apply to the students while in the university buildings only,
and deal with quiet in the academic buildings; the use by the
students of the bulletin boards; the taking of books from the
reading room; the eating of luncheon in the buildings; the use
of lockers, and so on. They do not cover matters of conduct.

In the dormitory (Fiske Hall) the management of the stu-
dents necessitates some additional machinery; accordingly the
students in mass meeting elect an '' advisory committee " of
five, who, with the advice of the head of the house, control the
details of hall-life. This twofold organization for govern-
ment— the self-government committee, backed by the dean, and
the committee of five, in consultation with the head of the hall
— bears no direct relation to the faculty in general, and none of
its members are officially connected with the college. To its
legislative power no limit is set; but it is wholly without execu-
tive power. The meetings are well attended; the government
is popular; the offices are desired. Any regulation now in
force could be done; away with precisely as it was made, by vote
of the undergraduate association; and in the case of the regula-
tions of the committee of five, by vote of all the students in
hall; the one exception being the responsibility for chaperonage
of the students in residence, which rests with the head of the
house.

A system of government primarily dependent on an under-
graduate association cannot, of course, technically touch
graduate students; and even in hall graduate students in Bar-

47^ Educational Review [December

nard are less restricted, as to chaperonage and so forth, than
are the undergraduates; while for non-resident students,
graduate or undergraduate, during the time in which they
are not actually present in university buildings, the college
assumes absolutely no responsibility.

Brown University — Brown University,^ having no hall of
residence for women, controls the conduct of its students only
in the most general way. The dean and an advisory council of
women are responsible for their welfare; but no attempt is
made to govern the details of the students' lives. Each stu-
dent cottage must be suitably chaperoned, tho its head is not
appointed by the university; she has, however, control of the
students under her charge and is practically answerable for
them. Should the conduct of a student prove unworthy, the
student is asked by the dean and the advisory council to with-
draw.

Bryn Mawr College — Bryn Mawr's system of self-govern-
ment, instituted in 1891, is, on the whole, the most completely
organized and fully developed in the country. " All persons
pursuing studies at Bryn Mawr College are ipso facto mem-
bers " of the students' association for self-government. This
Association works thru an executive committee elected from
among its own members, on whom the entire responsibility
rests for the government of the college students — even to the
point of recommending the refusal to allow a member to live
longer within the college halls, or even her suspension or ex-
pulsion. Such a recommendation insures the passing of the
sentence, altho as a matter of form the letter conveying it is
signed on behalf of the trustees by the president of the college.
Bryn Mawr's elaborately organized system has been the ob-
ject of so much curiosity that it seems worth while to give in
full certain paragraphs from its constitution.

Article V — The executive power of the association shall be vested in
a president, a vice president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive board
composed of the president, vice president, and three other members.

' Since this article was written the creation of a new office, the dean of women,
in Brown University, may be regarded as a step toward a more complete system of
organization and of government for the women students.

I poo] Government of women students 479

The officers and the other three members of the executive board shall be
annually elected by ballot by the association in the fbrtnight after the
announcement of the resident fellowships, and shall enter upon their duties
immediately at the conclusion of all the elections.

Only graduates and members of the three upper classes are eligible to-
offices and to membership of the executive board.

Then, after an enumeration of the duties of the different
officers, obvious enough, follows :

The duties of the executive board shall be to apply the will of the associ-
ation as expressed in the constitution, by carrying into effect the judicial
decisions and enforcing the legislative resolutions of the association, and by
executing its own administrative decrees in matters not covered by the
legislative resolutions ; the action of the board being subject to revision or
appeal in all cases by the association sitting as a judicial body.

Article VI — The legislative power of the association shall be exer-
cised by the whole association, one-third of whose members shall constitute
a quorum.

Article VII — The judicial power of the association shall be vested in

1. The association sitting as a judicial body. This body shall constitute
the highest court, wherein the rule of a majority consisting of two-thirds
of the members of the association shall prevail ; and

2. The executive board constituting the lower court, before which all
matters must first be brought, and from which alone an appeal may be
made to the whole association sitting as a judicial body.

In extraordinary cases the association sitting as a judicial body, and upor^
an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the association, may
delegate its supreme jurisdiction to a special court consisting of the exec-
utive board and two members of the advisory board. The election of the
two members of the advisory board by the association shall follow im-
mediately.

Article VIII — There shall bean advisory board composed of ten mem-
bers of the association, whose duties shall be to advise with the executive
board at the request of one or more members of the executive board.

The advisory board shall be annually elected by ballot, two members by
each class and two by the graduates, in the fortnight following the election
of the officers and executive board ; the term of office to be coincident with
that of the executive board.

And, finally, one of the by-laws of the association reads :

1. That the immediate responsibility for the conduct of the students in
each dormitory rest with three or more proctors.

2. That proctors be elected in every hall at the beginning of each semes-
ter by the students of the hall.

3. That proctors be subject on election to the approval of the executive
board, and to removal by it at any time, if deemed inefficient by the board
in the performance of their duties.

4^0 Educational Review [December

Such machinery is of course not often called into service,
tho in extreme cases it serves to safeguard the rights of the
association against the possible mistakes of the executive board.
For the practical purposes of every day the proctors and execu-
tive board are sufficient. When the proctors report difficulty
the members of the board meet and decide upon any case in
accordance with what they believe to be the will of the associa-
tion; they notify the offending student. She may within a
certain time appeal to the whole of the association, when a
meeting is held and the case voted on. So far in the history
of the college the decisions of the executive board have been
upheld by the association.

This system, of course, gives to the students an extraordi-
nary independence of power. Within the limits laid down by
the constitution, — " the association shall have power to deal
with all those matters concerning the conduct of the members
in their college life which do not fall under the jurisdiction of
the authorities of the college, or of the mistresses of the halls
of residence," — their authority is absolute. And when one
realizes how few matters of conduct are thus ruled out, —
matters exclusively academic, or involved merely in the prac-
tical running of a dormitory, — it is easy to see that the stu-
dents in Bryn Mawr hold in their hands a great power for good
or ill.

The offices are the greatest honor the student body can con-
fer, and elections are the event of the year. The government,
originating as it did with the students themselves, and at their
own petition, has a singularly strong hold upon them. The
rules governing conduct are embodied in a set of regulations
made by the association from time to time as need arose.
Fines are fixed for the neglect of certain of these (failure to
register absence over night from the college hall, for instance) .
In cases of continued defiance, suspension for a time, and re-
fusal of the right to live within the college halls have been pro-
nounced.

The limits to the responsibility of the college for students
not resident within its own buildings have never been defined.

Chicago University — The University of Chicago, in the

1900] Government of women students 481

scheme of student government in practice ever since its foun-
dation, offers a solution of the problem wholly different from
those already presented.

The students are graded according to their academic rank
as graduate, senior college, and junior college students. Each
of these bodies is under the direction of a separate faculty in
all matters affecting academic relations, including conduct in
classes. Student interests which are not of an academic nature
are administered by the board of physical culture and athletics,
and the board of student organizations, publications, and exhi-
bitions. The deans are the executive officers. -Action taken
by these faculties and boards is subject to revision on the
educational side by the university senate, and on the adminis-
trative side by the university council. Each body of students
chooses from its own membership an official council which
*' serves as the executive committee of the students of the col-
leges, considers any matters referred to them by the faculty and
reports upon the same, superintends any meetings or celebra-
tions of the students of the senior and junior colleges respect-
ively, and the counselors act in connection with the faculty
officers of each division."

The students may be divided into three classes according to
their residence: (i) those who live at home; (2) those who
live in lodging houses or boarding houses; (3) those who live
in the university houses. Very little social control is exercised
over the first two classes except such as seems expedient to the
dean in individual cases. There is a general rule, however,
that undergraduate students not living in university houses
may not live in any building in which a family does not reside.

The university houses are organized under a common set of
principles and rules established by the university, of which the
following are the most important : '

1. Composition of a house.

{a) Members of the university entitled to continuous residence in a par-
ticular hall constitute a house.

{b) Residence in a hall is limited to students in attendance on courses in
the university, and officers of the university.

2. Officers.

4^2 Educational Review [December

Each house has a head, appointed by the president of the university; a
counselor, chosen from a faculty of the university by the members of the
house, of which house committee the head of the house is chairman, and
the counselor a member ex officio, and a secretary and treasurer elected
by the members of the house. Each house, thru its committee, makes
a quarterly report to the president. A house may select, with the approval
of the university council, one or more persons not directly connected with
the university, as patrons or patronesses.

As each house is allowed the privilege of choosing its own
specific rules, there is considerable variety in them, and this is
greatly desired by the university.

In Green House, for example, certain specific rules will give
an idea of the sort of regulations made. The residents of the
hall are members or guests; all members of the university
assigned to rooms in Green Hall being considered guests un-
less elected to membership. At the end of the tenth week of
residence guests become eligible to membership; a quarterly
meeting for the election of members is held during the eleventh
week of each quarter, after notices of the meeting and lists of
eligible guests have been sent to members of the house. The
assent of three- fourths of those present is required for election.
Membership then becomes active upon entering the second
quarter of residence and signing the constitution.

The house is governed by a body of rules — the by-laws —
adopted by a two-thirds vote of all the members. House
membership has been withdrawn because of continued viola-
tions of the regulations. Under such circumstances the head
and counselor of the house recommend the withdrawal of
membership to the board of student organizations. With re-
gard to the officers of the house it is further provided that the
counselor hold office for one year; other officers chosen by the
house are elected for three months only.

The house committee of Green House number eight ; to them
are intrusted the execution of the by-laws of the house and its
general regulation; and the committee are empowered in cases
not covered by the house rules to provide for the welfare of the
house. When three-fourths of the members of this committee
vote that membership has been forfeited by a student in the

ipoo] Government of women students 483

hall, this vote is carried to the head and counselor, who take
action upon it.

Cornell University — At Cornell the system of government is
but slightly organized; it may be said to be approaching self-
government. While the ultimate responsibility in such ques-
tions as involve suspension and expulsion rests v^ith the presi-
dent, the practical responsibility for everyday matters of con-
duct rests with the warden of Sage College, assisted by the
executive committee of students of Sage College, — a repre-
sentative body of nine members elected by ballot by the women
students of both dormitories, eight members by the whole body
of students excepting the freshmen, one member by the fresh-
men as a class. This executive committee have, strictly speak-
ing, neither executive nor legislative power; these belong tech-
nically to the warden and her assistant; but the committee are
consulted before any new legislation is determined upon; and
they help practically, with some additional proctors appointed
by themselves, in enforcing the general principles of good
government and orderly life thruout the halls.

The most obvious duties of this committee are to further in
every way possible the order of the students' life in the dormi-
tories, their unity of spirit, their sense of responsibility; to act
as their representatives as reception committee at all social
entertainments given by the women students as a whole; to
preserve absolute quiet at night thruout the halls, and reason-
able quiet at all times; and, in general, to serve as a channel of
communication between the students and the warden.

Besides the social prestige, at receptions and the like, which
their position gives them, the committee and proctors are en-
titled to invite a larger number of guests to college entertain-
ments than other students; they may remain out of the halls
in the evening unregistered for one hour later than other stu-
dents; they have the first choice of rooms each year at the
assignment of rooms.

Explicit rules governing conduct are very few; they cover
registering absence from the dormitories after ten o'clock;
quiet in the dormitories after the same hour; the chaperoning
of evening parties, excursions, and drives. All the students

484 Educational Review [December

meet the warden at short intervals during the year for talks on
general matters of practical bearing in their lives; in this way,
in default of written rules, a general understanding with regard
to questions of conduct is maintained.

But dependence is placed chiefly upon a student's sense of
honorable and suitable conduct, and of responsibility for the
name and standing of the students as a whole; and a student
who proves unfit to govern her own life is asked to withdraw.

In general the same principles of conduct apply to both
graduates and undergraduates, tho the former of course hold a
more complete responsibility for themselves. Over students
not resident in its own buildings the university assumes no con-
trol ; their lives are governed merely as individual members of
homes.

Michigan University — The University of Michigan, an-
other coeducational university, presents a plan of government
similar to the preceding. Thirty years ago the plan of provid-
ing dormitories was abandoned, and since that time, the women
students as well as the men have boarded in families and frater-
nities, and the same system of government prevails for both.
No woman student, then, is expected to enter or is allowed to
remain in the university, who is not competent to take care of
herself, and to govern her own life, and the responsibility of
living under such an understanding seems to be felt by every
student almost as soon as she enters the university.

There is no organized self-government. For practical pur-
poses the government of the women rests upon the dean of
women and the president of the university; in extreme cases,
involving suspension, on the faculty. That is, if after the dean
or president has remonstrated with a student, she continues in
any misconduct, her family is at once asked to call her home.
Students are thus sent home for very light offenses, for under
this broad system it is of course impossible to allow much care-
lessness, even, to exist with impunity; so that if, for example,
she defied any one of the very few regulations that exist, a
student would be at once asked to withdraw.

As a general rule, in cases of very serious offenses, students
are summoned before the faculty and allowed to speak for

1900] Government of women students 485

themselves before final judgment is passed; but no woman
student has ever thus been called up. Cases of discipline
among the women are in any event exceedingly infrequent,
and the authorities of the university do not hesitate to express
their conviction that with the closing of dormitories most of
the difficulties and problems of student government cease alto-
gether to exist.

Radcliife College — In Radcliffe College the system of gov-
ernment in force since the foundation of the college is as fol-
lows: The ultimate responsibility rests upon the governing
boards of the college — the academic board and the council.
For practical everyday purposes the government rests upon
the women students themselves, as individuals ; the college is a
college of non-resident students, and the tendency of the
elective system, too, is toward separation.

The students have at times considered the formation of a
self-government society, but have hitherto decided against it;
so that, at present, the legislative power resides in the govern-
ing boards of the college; while the executive power is vested in
the academic board as regards instruction, and in the dean as
regards discipline.

The great safeguard, not only against defiance of the prin-
ciples of government in the college, but against misconduct of
any sort, is the strong traditional public opinion of Cambridge.
Indeed the system of government is part of the old tradition of
the town, when the Harvard students lived in private families.
Very great freedom from actual rule is therefore possible, and
in the circumstances most desirable; for example, advanced
graduate students, — and these are numerous at Radclifife, —
who have already had some years of independent life in study
abroad could not reasonably be held to the provisions made
for the youngest girls, living for the first time away from their
families. Almost entire freedom from fixed rule is secured by
the large number of good homes which are open to the women,
in Cambridge.

Such regulations as exist are few — two, relating to resi-
dence, being the most important; the students must live in
houses approved by the Dean ; in these houses there must be no

4^^ Educational Review [December

young men received as permanent or transient boarders. With
regard to ordinary conduct, a statement is made to the students
when they meet on the first day of the college year; and from
time to time a mass meeting is held. Should a student defy
the college she would be requested to withdraw ; such cases are
exceedingly infrequent, and the punishment has never had to
be made public.

Smith College — The government of Smith College is still,
fundamentally, the one with which the college began. Its
authority is in the hands, not of the students themselves or of
a self-government organization, but of the ladies in charge of
the college houses, the house committee, the faculty, the presi-
dent, and, in addition to these, the body known as the confer-
ence committee, consisting of the class officers of the faculty
and the (student) council of the college. Ultimate measures
— suspension or expulsion — are the province of faculty and
president; in everyday matters of life, the relation between the
students and those over them is one of conference, suggestion,
and consultation, the students themselves being trusted with
some of the executive details connected with their social life.
They have thus some executive, and no legislative power, save
what resides in their right to consult and confer with those
who hold that power.

The student council of Smith College consists of ten mem-
bers,— three seniors, two juniors, one member of the second
class, and the presidents of the four classes. These are elected
annually, one junior member and one second-class member
holding over to the following year. The object of the council,
says its constitution, shall be to represent the students in their
common interests, and to serve as a medium of communication
between the classes, or between faculty and students; to in-
fluence the students in the direction of definitely organized pub-
lic sentiment for the regulation of their social life; and in gen-
eral to aid in establishing a better understanding between
faculty and students upon subjects of mutual interest.

The council's duties, formulated in by-laws, are to seat
classes in chapel and to maintain order during chapel exercises ;
to oversee the reading-room and its funds ; and to have charge

1900] Government of women students 487

of the property-box and of the calendar of dates for entertain-
ments. None of these matters are of course matters of gov-
ernment; the latter rests with the various committees and per-
sons already enumerated. The main dependence is, however,
— and this is perhaps the chief characteristic of the Smith Col-
lege system of government, — on conference and consultation
between the students and the authorities, thru certain com-
mittees and officers. Academic matters, attendance upon
classes, absence from college and the like, come under the house
committee and faculty, while matters of chaperonage, social
engagements, and entertainments, are generally settled by the
house committee and those in charge of the college houses.

Certain regulations exist which are enforced on penalty, as
usual, of the withdrawal of the student. At the same time a
" procedure of information " is in force for the help of a delin-
quent student, that she may have full chance for change of con-
duct. Even in matters, however, where no regulations exist
the authorities quite definitely discourage the presence of stu-
dents in any w^ay hostile to the temper of the college.

Questions of government are not in Smith College compli-
cated by the presence of graduate students in the college
houses. The same system is therefore in force for all resi-
dents, upper and under classmen faring alike, save that more
consideration is likely to be shown to first offenses and to stu-
dents presumably unfamiliar with the mode of life.

With regard to another question — a serious one in Smith in
view of the immense number of students forced, for lack of
room, to live out of the college houses — the question of gov-
ernment for students not resident in college buildings, the col-
lege meets the problem by '' urging upon the off -campus stu-
dents " the regulations that it enforces upon those in college
houses. In matters of ultimate propriety it assumes responsi-
bility even for these students; in other matters there is less
regularity of life in the town boarding houses than in the dor-
mitories, tho the college uses what influence it can bring to
bear, up to the point of necessary discipline.

Stanford University — In Leland Stanford, Jr., University,
altho there are collegiate halls of residence for the women stu-

488 Educational Review [December

dents, the system of government in force closely resembles that
of the University of Michigan. The immediate responsibility
for everyday matters rests with the mistress of Roble Hall and
her assistant, the mistress of Madroiia Hall; for ultimate
measures of discipline, upon a standing committee of the
faculty — the university committee on student affairs.

As in the University of Michigan, there are no rules recog-
nized by the university as governing conduct. It is assumed
that students knov^ how to conduct themselves; should one
prove incapable or unwilling, she is asked by the committee,
either with or without previous warning, to withdraw. The
university is not the place for her, — to quote President Jordan,
— " if she does more harm to others than we do good to her."

The committee on student affairs might legislate if need
arose, but legislation is supposed to be chiefly the unwritten law
of common sense, and the committee's work is in greater part
executive.

With regard to its executive decisions no penalties are fixed
and in general no punishment administered for misconduct; in
rare cases students are suspended for a definite period; but as a
rule the university relies on its power to send away students
who are not to be trusted with the conduct of their own lives.
Aside from this general understanding with regard to the gov-
ernment of all students of the university, graduates and under-
graduates, upper and under classmen, men and women alike,
are certain provisions meeting the needs merely of women resi-
dent in the college dormitories, and affecting only the orderly
conduct of a community life in the halls. The organization
that exists to that end is not recognized in any way by the
faculty committee; and its officers, a house president and com-
mittee, are not officially connected with the university. They
are elected by the women students themselves, and their power,
dealing only with affairs in the hall, depends strictly on the
" consent of the governed."

Vassar College — In Vassar College, while the ultimate re-
sponsibility in matters of government rests upon the president,
everyday details of it are divided between the president, the
faculty, the lady principal, and the s'tudents' association.

ipoo] Government of women students 489

This students' association forms a system for government not
quite duplicated elsewherey* and may be described in some
detail.

In the first place, — and in this the function of the association
differs from that, for example, in Bryn Mawr, — the students'
association is an executive body merely, the legislative power
residing solely with the formal authorities of the college, — the
president, faculty, and lady principal. The work of the asso-
ciation is therefore far less burdened with responsibility than
would at first appear; its duty is merely the enforcing of cer-
tain regulations and principles already established. Moreover,
even these regulations are closely limited in scope, covering
only hours of retirement for the night, hours of quiet for study,
provision for exercise and attendance at the Chapel services.
The conduct of the students, strictly speaking, including all
social matters and offenses as individuals, is under the control
of the lady principal.

Yet it will be admitted by anyone who has had experience
with the government of students that it is precisely regulations
concerning such matters as are intrusted to the students' asso-
ciation that are most difficult to enforce practically ; the Vassar
system, then, is of great interest as a method by which such
enforcement has been secured.

The association consists of all the students of Vassar who
sign its constitution and by-laws. Any student who fails thus
to become a member of the association submits herself to the
supervision of the faculty. Practically it may be said, there-'
fore, that the association includes the whole body of students.
The officers are a president, a vice president, and a secretary-
treasurer, elected by ballot every May at the annual meeting of
the association. The association is not a governing organiza-
tion solely. It elects committees for Founder's Day and
Washington's Birthday. It issues the monthly Miscellany,
and it ratifies the election of its editors, and of the officers of
the college glee and mandolin and guitar clubs; and it meets the
expenses incurred by these musical clubs.

Its most important function, however, is the enforcement of
the regulations already alluded to, thru the means of its self-

490 Educational Review [December

government committee. This committee consists of the presi-
dent and vice president of the, association and in addition nine
members, two each from the senior, sophomore, and freshmen
classes, and three from the junior class. The election of these
members by their respective classes is ratified by the association
as a whole. This committee on self-government has for its
duties '' to enforce the rules of the association in respect to self-
government, to attend to all reported breaches of said rules, to
construe said rules, and in other ways to further the interests
of the members of the association in respect to self-govern-
ment." The by-laws go on to provide that

{a) The committee on self-government may, at its discretion, summon
before it any member or members of the association,

and that

{b) The committee on self-government may, on the vote of any seven of
its members, temporarily suspend from membership in the association any
member or members guilty of flagrant breach of the rules in respect to self-
government.

The term of suspension shall not exceed one semester.

The secretary of the committee shall send notification of such action to
the faculty of the college.

An appeal from the decision of the committee may be made to the as-
sociation.

The association thus succeeds in. enforcing the regulations of
the authorities of the college regarding the matters 'already
enumerated; hours for study, sleep and exercise, and attend-
ance at the college religious exercises.

So far as the students are not self-governing, — and it may
be said that they are not self-governing, either as individuals or
as a body, in matters of actual conduct, — power, both legis-
lative and executive, is in the hands of the authorities; in
academic matters in the hands of the president and faculty;
in social matters, or matters of individual offense, in the hands
of the president and lady principal. There are no written
rules or regulations governing conduct. The lady principal
instructs the freshman class immediately upon its entrance in
the social usage of the college, and supplements that instruction
as the year goes on by talks or reprimands to the whole body

1900] Government of women students 491

of students, while the president frequently addresses the col-
lege on both general and specific questions in morals and
manners.

There are no fixed penalties for breaking any of the rules
in force. In case of continued defiance a student is quietly
sent home, as unfit for college life.

The system of government, so far as the students' share in
it is concerned, originated in 1890. Up to that time there was
but little public spirit, but little sense of responsibility on the
part of even the better grade of students for the conduct of
anyone except herself. Also it was impossible to find out the
breakers of rules without a system of espionage odious to the
students and distasteful to the authorities. The general idea
of the present system originated with the president. Since its
adoption the authorities themselves report " the general spirit
of the students is in favor of law and order and they co-
operate with the authorities to secure it."

Wellcsley College — The system of government in Wellesley
College is very definitely not a form of self-government. It
rests in the hands of an academic council of the faculty, and
more especially, and for everyday purposes, in the hands of the
president and heads of houses.

Wellesley is practically alone in assuming absolutely the
same responsibility for the conduct of its students whether
resident in the college buildings or not; the only exception it
admits being in the case of students living at home with their
parents. To this end a list is supplied of such boarding or
lodging places as are approved by the dean, and a student may
not even change her place of residence from one to another of
these without the president's approval. The rules governing
conduct in the college houses may thus be extended to the
homes in town where students live, and a consistent system of
government maintained over the whole student body. One
special privilege is allowed upper — as distinguished from
under-class men, — that of registering their own absences from
town instead of asking for the permission required for fresh-
men and sophomores. Aside from this the same regulations
apply to all undergraduates.

492 Educational Review [December

The executive power resides with the president, the dean,
and the heads of the houses; the legislative power with
the faculty, which made the regulations for conduct now in
force, and which modifies them from time to time, as occa-
sion demands. This system of government, of faculty origin,
has remained practically unchanged for the past ten years, hav-
ing successfully supplanted a system adapted to a younger and
less responsible class of students than those now in the college.

University of Wisconsin — The system adopted within two
years by the students in the University of Wisconsin, at the
suggestion of the dean of women there, is one of rather com-
plete self-government. The ultimate responsibility for sus-
pension and expulsion rests with the faculty of the university,
but for practical purposes the government is in the hands of
the students themselves. It bears no official relation to the
authorities of the college, and the limits of its jurisdiction are
still unsettled; but it is within itself fully organized — with
officers elected by ballot of the association, who, as executives,
enforce the decisions of their legislative body, the association
itself.

The regulations, then, made by the association cover most
of the questions of conduct likely to arise, and might be added
to by voluntary act of the students. All regulations are sub-
mitted for approval to the dean of women and to the social
committee of the faculty.

In case of continued defiance of the principles of self-
government, resulting in conduct really reprehensible, appeal
could be made to the authorities; as yet no penalties exist; and
recourse has not been necessary to any severe punishments.

The same system of government extends to all the women
students alike, whether graduate or undergraduate, whether
resident in university buildings or no ; tho the same regulations
are not always applicable to both. The non-resident women
students are free to consult constantly with the dean of women;
but, except for the existence of such a dean, the responsibility
assumed for their conduct by the university differs not at all
from the responsibility assumed for the conduct of its students
who are men.

1900 J Government of women students 493

The newly organized system of self-government has resulted
in an increase of esprit de corps, in a moderation of the excesses
in the social life, above all, in a feeling of responsibility for the
social standards of the university at large.

Detailed Provisions for Conduct

In addition to the general statement concerning the govern-
ment of each college, its principles and scope, a statement of
the more minute details and provisions of the government may
be of value. It is this part of the paper which, if of less
interest to the general reader, is likely to prove of most sug-
gestiveness to those who are engaged in practical work in our
colleges.

The list of matters governed and controlled, whether by
formulated regulations or by public opinion merely, cannot, of
course, hope to be exhaustive; it can at best be but suggestive.
Such matters may be grouped under the heads : regulations for
the details of life in the dormitories; regulations for those de-
tails of life which may be classed as academic; and regulations
for the social life of the college.

Regulations for the details of life in the dormitories cover
such matters as retirement for the night; hours of quiet for
study and sleep; safeguard against fire; the use of wine and
cigarettes; spending the night away from the college buildings;
the time of return to the college buildings in the evening.

The time of retirement for the night is regulated by the
" ten o'clock rule " very strictly at Smith and at Wellesley; the
former notes it as "a college rule of utmost emphasis " ; the
latter in its house rules states: "at 10 p. m. students will
promptly extinguish their lights, go to bed, and preserve quiet."
The rule has within the past few months been done away with
at Vassar College. In certain other colleges, Stanford and
Cornell, for example, the electric light plant is closed at 10.30
or II. But lamps may be u&ed, and in general it may be said
that the time of retiring is left to the discretion of the students.

Hours of quiet for study and sleep are far more universally
regulated. Of the colleges considered in this article, where

494 Educational Review [December

dormitories exist, all but one have as a rule that absolute quiet
be observed after lo or 10.30 at night; while most of them re-
quire absolute quiet at all times in the corridors of recitation
halls and in the reading rooms.

Hours of quiet during the day thruout the dormitory are
less universally required; the following are typical provisions:

In the dormitories, from Monday to Thursday inclusive, there shall be
quiet from 8 to i in the morning, from 2 to 4 in the afternoon, from 7.30
to 9.15 and after 10 in the evening . . . there shall be quiet on Friday
morning from 8 to i, on Saturday morning from 8 to i, on Friday after-
noon from 2 to 4, ort Friday and Saturday evenings after 10.30, and on»
Sunday evening after 10 o'clock (Bryn Mawr).

Quiet shall be maintained in the corridors and rooms from 9 to 12:30,
2 to 5 and after 8 P. M., except Friday evenings and Saturday after-
noons and evenings (Chicago).

There shall be reasonable quiet in the halls at all times ; there shall be
no playing upon musical instruments in the drawing rooms or in the
students' rooms, except between the hours i to 3 and 5 to 8 P. M. (Cornell).

The hours reserved as quiet for study are those in the morning ; in the
afternoon from 2 to 4; in the evening from 7.30 to 9.30; and after 10
o'clock (Wisconsin).

There shall be no unnecessary noise in the corridors of the main building
and no playing of musical instruments in the students' rooms during the
hours usually given up -to college duties and before 5 o'clock on Sunday
afternoons (Vassar).

Safeguard against fire is provided almost universally by a
general system of fire alarms thru the halls, with directions for
use and men within call. It is sometimes also secured by
special regulations such as the following : " no oil stoves may
be used" (Bryn Mawr, Cornell); "only safety matches are
allowed " (Cornell, Wellesley) ; '' no lamps shall be filled in a
room with a light " (Bryn Mawr) ; " no lighted lamp shall be
carried in the corridors " (Bryn Mawr) ; " no lighted lamp
shall be left burning in an empty room " (Wellesley) ; " lamp
shades of combustible materials are not allowed" (Welles-
ley) ; " long drapery must be secured so as to guard against
danger" (Wellesley, Bryn Mawr).

Safety is also sometimes provided for by fire drills at regular
intervals; in Cornell at the opening of every term, under the
leadership of the assistant to the warden; and at Bryn Mawr,
under the leadership of a student captain.

1900] Government of women students 495

The use of wine or cigarettes in the college buildings is
formally prohibited in only two of the colleges under consider-
ation: the presumption being, however, that it would be for-
bidden more generally had the question ever arisen.

With regard to the time of return to the college buildings
in the evening, the hour varies in different colleges; but there
is practically everywhere the understanding that after some
fixed hour the head of the hall must know the whereabouts of a
student not in the hall. In* Vassar the hour is 7 o'clock; in
Wellesley, 9.45; in Smith, 10; in Cornell, 10, "except when a
student is at the library, where she may remain until 11 "; at
Leland Stanford, Jr., 10.30. Sometimes the rule is absolute
that students are not allowed out after the hour named; in
Smith, for instance, " the 10 o'clock rule must be observed as
to dances;" and in Wisconsin the students in hall have a rule
that they must always be at home by 12.

A student wishing to spend the night away from the college
buildings must in most cases register her temporary address
with the head of the hall ; this is the provision, for example, at
Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Wellesley; in some cases defi-
nite permission must be asked and obtained; for instance, in
Smith, Vassar, and Wisconsin.

Regulations of the details of college life which may be
classed as academic cover not much more than attendance upon
lectures and at chapel, and cheating at examinations.

These matters are in general provided for by faculty rule, and
so do not come under the head of student government, as such.
In some of our colleges, however, the students themselves en-
force the rules. In Smith, for instance, they report the non-
attendance at chapel to class officers. In Vassar, too, attend-
ance is compulsory, with three " cuts " allowed in each semes-
ter; tho ''the prearranged absence of several students . . .
shall not be allowed." Wellesley states : '' On Sunday attend-
ance at Chapel or on some other public religious services is ex-
pected." Aside, from these few provisions, these " academic "
matters are in all the colleges under consideration wholly sub-
ject to faculty control.

The regulations for the social life of the college as a whole

49^ Educational Review [December

include such matters as chaperonage, ordinary social engage-
ments with men, and formal social entertainments.

With regard to the vexed question of chaperonage the
greatest variety of usage prevails; the determining factor in
every case being, of course, the usage of the town or the sec-
tion of the country in which the college is situated, and the
fact of residence in a large city or small village.

Almost universally the principle is observed that students
shall not go in large parties without a chaperon to places of
public amusement or to social entertainments in the evening,
or to athletic games other than their own (Barnard, Bryn
Mawr, Cornell, Smith, Vassar, Wellesley). In smaller groups
women students are sometimes chaperoned by upper-classmen
to the theater (Cornell); or may go out in the evening, if
senior college students (Chicago), or are exempted from the
general rule if they are over twenty-five (Barnard, Bryn
Mawr) ; or if they are graduate students or auditors
(Barnard).

Regulations, less general, because adapted for the special
situation of a college are : students must be chaperoned when
they go to entertainments' given by other colleges (Bryn
Mawr) ; they must have, as well, written permission from
their parents (Smith); or when they go to entertainments
in any neighboring town (Smith) ; or on the train in the even-
ing (Bryn Mawr) ; or when they go out alone in the evening,
except to the library or in a cab (Barnard) ; or when they drive
with men (Vassar); except in groups in the daytime (Cor-
nell) ; or when they receive men in their private studies (Bryn
Mawr, Vassar) ; excepting members of their own families
(Bryn Mawr).

These specimens of the regulations which exist cover, after
all, only a few of the emergencies that present themselves; in
general it may be said, that the ultimate responsibility for the
chaperonage of students in colleges which have dormitories
rests with the heads of the houses or halls; in colleges which
have ho dormitories, with the heads of families or homes in
which the individual student resides. In Radcliffe, for
example, a student is free to live only in a house approved by

i9po] Goverii7nent of women students 497

the dean of the college; in other universities (Leland Stanford,
Jr.; Michigan, Wisconsin) dependence is had on moral
pressure and influence to avoid compromising conduct, and on
the power of the university to send home students whose be-
havior is vexatious or unworthy.

For ordinary social engagements with men provisions are in
force varying all the way from minute and detailed supervi-
sion to almost absolute freedom.

In general, men visitors are received only in the drawing
rooms of the dormitory; in a few cases where the students
have, in addition to their bedrooms, private studies, special pro-
visions exist. For instance, in Barnard, a student may re-
ceive her men friends in her private study; in Bryn Mawr she
may receive members of her immediate family, but alone; or,
with a chaperon, entertain her men and women friends to-
gether; in Chicago, Vassar, and \Vellesley a man may visit a
student's room only by permission of the head of the house.

Other specimen regulations are: brothers may visit their
sisters alone in their rooms, with no other students present
(Barnard, Bryn Mawr); or if announced beforehand (Bar-
nard) ; no men are admitted to the students' rooms in the even-
ing except a student's father, who may be received until 9
o'clock (Bryn Mawr).

In a few of the colleges restrictions exist as to the days on
which men visitors may be received: in Chicago "as far as
possible " only Friday and Saturday evenings are reception
evenings; in Wellesley and Wisconsin also two days of the
week serve; and in most of the colleges Sunday visiting is dis-
couraged. But, as a whole, students are free to receive visits
from men at any time before the halls close for the night.

The women's colleges have much stricter provisions against
•dancing with men than have the coeducational universities.
At Bryn Mawr a junior promenade (with no dancing) is
given ; at Vassar there are each year two large dances to which
men are admitted; at Smith men are not allowed on the floor at
house dances in the gymnasium, and " in no case are they ad-
mitted to entertainments from which the men of the faculty are
excluded."

498 Educational Review

The greater freedom allowed to women students in the co-
educational universities in dances and the like, extends as well
to all the social life, altho a few special provisions exist; in
Cornell, for instance, the women students do not walk with
men in the evenings. But as a rule the students in women's
colleges are restricted somewhat closely in all their social rela-
tions, while in coeducational universities they are trained to
depend for guidance upon their own judgment and good sense,
and are expected themselves to control the details of their lives.

The geographical situation of our greater coeducational col-
leges explains this fact somewhat; the girl living out of the
Eastern and Southern States is, as a rule, and even at home,
trained to a greater independence than her more conservative
sisters. But the fact stands, and it is an interesting one to
note, underlying all these different systems, that no more com-
promising conduct results in the case of women living in co-
educational universities, with almost complete control over
their own lives, than in the case of women living in women's
colleges with so much less frequent temptation and so much
closer a shelter over them of definite collegiate control. It is
a fact which argues well for the American college girl.

Louise Sheffield Brownell Saunders

The Balliol School,
Utica, N. Y.

THE INTERNATIONAL JURY ON ELEMENTARY
EDUCATION AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION

Of all the international juries formed in Paris in 1900
none had graver responsibilities than the jury on elementary
education. The fact was emphasized by the chdice for presi-
dent of M. Bourgeois, who held also the same office in the
superior jury, in which the inferior tribunals of all sections of
the exposition culminated. Wherever serious problems of
state are concerned — and in France, elementary education is
such a problem — and wherever delicate alliances with other
European powers are involved, the talents of this distinguished
diplomat are called into requisition. He has won honor for
France in several important missions; he was her chief repre-
sentative at the Hague conference; and moreover, he had been
minister of education at critical periods in the recent history of
France. Only a man of such quality could safely be trusted
with the claims of clerical schools in a country where church
and state are rivals, or with the honor of a powerful ally like
Russia, in which popular education has yet but feeble life.

In the case of an educational jury there are few, if any, a
priori rules of procedure. Its method and standards depend
largely upon circumstances; hence perhaps its operations may
be best revealed thru an experience from which the personal
element cannot be wholly excluded.

My own appointment came as a surprise and left no time for
reflection, as I was obliged to sail within five days of the notice.
I arrived in Paris the evening of May 2 1 and reported the fol-
lowing morning to Professor James H. Gore, juror in chief for
the United States. The first general meeting of all the Ameri-
can jurors was held in the United States Pavilion, in the fore-
noon of May 23, when Professor Gore outlined, in a general
way, the duties and responsibilities of jurors, and emphasized

499

500 Ediuatio7ial Review [December

in particular the importance of their hearty co-operation. I
was the only woman present on that occasion, a fact which did
not escape the notice of Commissioner General Peck, who, hav-
ing first addressed the assembly as " Gentlemen," immediately
added, " and I am glad to see that one of the lady jurors is also
present." I may note here that the commissioner general, altho
burdened with care, never failed to show cordial interest in my
mission when we met.

On the afternoon of the same day all the jurors, French
and foreign, gathered in the grand hall of the Trocadero for
the public inauguration of their work. M. Millerand, Minister
of Commerce, under whose auspices the exposition was organ-
ized, presided. The Minister gave a brief address of welcome
and was followed by M. Picard, commissioner general and
executive chief of the entire work, who read rapidly the regula-
tions by which the jury were to be governed. It was estimated
that eighteen hundred persons were in the assembly, of whom
three were women.

As these two meetings were the only official engagements
for the juries until the following Saturday, I found time dur-
ing the first week in Paris to familiarize myself with the gen-
eral arrangement of the exhibits which belonged to my province
and to examine, somewhat in detail, those of France and of the
United States. The former was of special importance, because
it was made the basis of classification for all the others and
presumably would furnish also the standard of awards.

The educational exhibit of the United States was under the
immediate charge of Mr. Howard J. Rogers of New York, di-
rector of education and social economy. Mr. Rogers had
arranged his material admirably. It was attractive to the eye,
and not only so, but every part was easily reached. This was
a consideration of great importance to the jury and to the large
number of specialists who wished to study the exhibit minutely.

The spirit of cordial co-operation between the directors and
the jury which Professor Gore had urged was fully realized in
this section. Altho charged with the interests of some thirteen
class juries, Mr. Rogers was unfailing in his attention to the
demands of each. He was ably supported in his efforts by his

1900] Elementary education at Paris exposition 501

staff of assistants, who won everybody by their efficient and
courteous service. I may add that the same spirit of mutual
helpfulness was shown by our four jurors who Were appointed
in the different classes of Group i — all worked together for the
common interest.

The organization of the class juries was effected Saturday,
May 26, and as elementary education (Class I, Group i)^ was
the first in order, I had the distinction of being the first Ameri-
can to go into conference with our foreign colleagues. One
other foreign juror, M. Bela Ujvary of Hungary, and eleven
French jurors were present. The jury organized by electing
its officers. For president the choice, as foreseen, was M.
Leon Bourgeois, for reporter M. Rene Leblanc, inspector
general of primary instruction; for secretary, M. Just Baudril-
lard, inspector of primary instruction for the department of the
Seine. No election for vice president was made, but it w^as
understood that the position was to be filled by the English
juror. This arrangement accorded with the rule that the presi-
dent and the vice president should be of different nationalities.
The decision to reserve the second office for an Englishman, at
a* moment of strained relations between the two nations, was a
sign of the liberal policy which marked all the proceedings of
the educational jury. The position was one of peculiar re-
sponsibility, as it fell generally to the incumbent to preside over

^ The juries, it should be explained at the outset, were of three prders, the class
and group juries and the superior jury. The class jury was composed of experts or
specialists in the particular material of their class. The constitution of group
juries was ordered as fellows : A group jury shall comprise (i) a president, two or
three vice presidents, and a secretary, who may be chosen from persons other than
class jurors. They shall be nominated by the commissioner general with the
concurrence of the directors general, and of the director of fine art as to works of
art, and shall be appointed by the minister of commerce, industry, posts and tele-
graphs, agreeing with the minister of fine art as to the group of works of art.
(2) The president, vice presidents, and recorders of the class juries.

A special decree determined the composition of the highest tribunal, the superior
jury, in which all sections of the exposition were represented. It had as honorary
president the minister of commerce and as honorary vice presidents the minister of
public instruction, the minister of agriculture, and the commissioner general of the
exposition. The following were also entitled to membership : the presidents and
vice presidents of group juries, and the commissioners from countries represented
by more than 500 exhibitors, the members of the superior committee of revision,
and the director general.

502 Educational Review [December

the deliberations of the body. The choice was exceedingly
fortunate, as the English member, Mr. Brereton, proved to be a
man of practical experience in the school affairs of England
and of the Continent, of cosmopolitan views and a justness of
judgment that won the confidence of the entire jury. When
complete the jury numbered fourteen French members and
nine representatives of foreign countries, of whom one, M. M.
Colliere, was a Frenchman charged with the interests of the
South African Republic. Russia had two jurors, being the
only foreign country that had more than one representative in
this class.

The subject with which this jury had to deal presented many
difficulties by reason both of its nature and vast extent. It
comprised 4548 separate entries, 41 15 for France (including its
colonies) and 433 for foreign countries. These separate entries
or exhibits were for the most part collections, so that the single
or particular objects may be estimated at ten or twelve times
the totals given. The exhibitors were the education depart-
ments of nations, states, cities and other units of administra-
tion, corporate bodies, private firms, and individuals.

It will be readily seen that no jury, acting as a whole, could
examine this vast and varied collection within any reasonable
time. It was decided therefore at the second meeting, which
took place May 30, to organize the body in four sub- juries.
Following the French classification, these sub- juries were
assigned respectively to elementary primary schools (including
kindergartens or infant schools), superior primary schools (a
grade below our high schools in standard, and having extended
courses of industrial training), manual training, and normal
schools. For convenience the sub-juries were designated as
first, second, third, and fourth.

The president of the first sub- jury, in which I was enrolled,
was M. Ferdinand Buisson, who for twenty years was the head
of the system of primary instruction in France and who, at
present, holds the chair of education at the Sorbonne; in his
absence, which was not unusual, on account of official engage-
ments, his successor in the ministry, M. Bayet, generally pre-
sided.

1900J Elementary education at Paris exposition 503

The organization completed, the jurors entered at once upon
their practical duties. The examination of material went on
almost daily, Sundays excepted, from May 31 to August 9, a
little less than two months and a half. It was arranged at
the outset that each sub- jury should meet three times a week
for conference, and the full jury once a week, and this plan
was adhered to, so far as circumstances permitted. Sub- jury
I began its examinations with the French section. This sec-
tion comprised two great divisions, the division of public educa-
tion, called collectively the exhibit of the ministry of public in-
struction, about 4000 entries, and the division of independent
exhibitors {exposants lihre), consisting chiefly of the teaching
brotherhoods and sisterhoods, from whom a little less than one-
fourth (23 per cent.) of the children of school age still receive
their elementary education.

The grand exhibit of the ministry was to be estimated on
an international basis, compared as to its magnitude, its organi-
zation, its purposes, its processes, and its results with the cor-
responding systems of the United States, Great Britain, and
other countries; but further than this, each individual contribu-
tion to the collectivity was to be judged from an official stand-
point, critically and impartially; it was with this purpose in
view, a purpose of significance to the republic as well as of vital
interest to individual teachers, directors and inspectors, that
the French members of the jury had been selected. Everyone
was a specialist in some department of school work, and to their
aid, in accordance with the official regulations governing the
jury, they summoned a body of expert men and women who
applied themselves to the task of examining the exercise-books,
the drawings, the innumerable products of needle and tool, and
estimating their relative value in the light of official require-
ments. Virtually then for France the jury work was of the
nature of an annual examination, and a large proportion of the
awards indicate the relative excellence of its own schools as
determined by its own experts. In respect, however, to the par-
ticulars which could properly be considered from the inter-
national standpoint, the French jurors modestly awaited the

504 Educational Review [December

propositions of their foreign colleagues. In all such cases the
French exhibit deserved and obtained high recognition.

There was a certain advantage to the jury in the predomi-
nance of French members, specialists all formed by the same in-
fluences. It afforded, as it were, a fixed point of departure for
opinions which, from the nature of the subject-matter, might
easily become vague or capricious. Thus the judgment of nor-
mal schools was fortified by the experience of M. Jost, the
embodiment of the French ideal of training in education, which
is a compound of sentiment and method. Manual training
was viewed thru the eyes of M. Leblanc, author and chief in-
spector of a system of instruction in this branch, rigidly geo-
metric as to principles and rigidly industrial as to aims; tech-
nical training for girls, thru the eyes of Mme. Chegaray,
who has developed from the capricious demands of fashion a
whole system of aesthetic culture; the judgments of the general
spirit and force of school work caught their impulse from M.
Buisson, who, of all men in France, best comprehends the ideal
elements that lift education above the mechanical plane. This
constant reference to exact standards disclosed thru analogy
or opposition the essential characteristics of all the foreign
exhibits. In this comparison it was seen that the type of our
education is the free and the universal, as the type of French
education is the ordered and the particular. Thus also it ap-
peared that elementary education in Great Britain, operating in
a narrow province and under a peculiar social and industrial
stress, and without conscious philosophy, has here and there de-
veloped a type in which the ideal and the practical purposes of
popular education are happily balanced.

The examination of material went on continuously in the
French section for a month, and during this time the confer-
ences were limited to details of this particular system. Even
in dealing with the independent French exhibits there was an
evident, and probably necessary, reference to national condi-
tions that it would have been absurd to bring into the considera-
tion of foreign countries.- The tendency is illustrated by a
proposition made in the full jury with respect to the exhibit of
the Christian Brothers. This included school work from

i9oo] Elementary ediccation at Paris expositio7i 505

France and from all other countries in which these zealous
teachers are found. It was proposed that the jury should con-
sider the work of the Christian Brothers in other countries^
apart from their work in France. The idea seemed to be that
the former should be treated solely on its educational merits
and the latter partly in respect to its political bearings. The
proposition was defeated by the combined opposition of the
foreign members, supported by the judgment of many of the
French members.

As week after week passed there seemed reason to fear that
delay in entering upon the foreign sections might prove preju-
dicial to their interests. So vast and imposing was the French
exhibit that it was difficult to free the mind from its details, and
we were in danger of viewing all the other exhibits thru the
medium of this one. The subject was canvassed in the full
jury and, with the candor that marked all their proceedings, the
French agreed that work should be commenced at once in the
foreign sections. The foreign members were unanimous in
the opinion that the classification of the French schools which
had determined that of the sub- juries could not be applied to
foreign countries — to this view, the French members also
assented, with the result that a fifth sub- jury was formed for
the consideration of the foreign work. This jury comprised
all the foreign and about two-thirds of the French jurors.

It was impossible to outline exactly at the outset the prin-
ciples that should guide this sub-jury in its judgments. Edu-
cation belongs to the spiritual forces that control human
activity, and cannot be measured like commercial products by
exact and uniform standards. Its values are always to be rela-
tively determined, and to judge of it fairly one must not only
examine the reports and the tangible products of its operation
at a given time and place, but must also know its history in the
country considered, and its progress there as compared with the
progress in other countries. The method of the jury in respect
to the foreign exhibits was the same as in respect to that of
France; it consisted in the careful examination of the material ;
conference as to its merits, and a conclusion summed up in the
vote of the sub-jury and revised in the full jury. As the ex-

5o6 Educational Review [December

amination and conferences went on, certain principles of judg-
ment were evolved which may be said to have a universal appli-
cation, because they received the approval of specialists from
many countries. For example, it was recognized that, to be
worthy of the highest award, an exhibit should be complete and
typical and of high educational merit. The exhibit of an edu-
cational system was regarded as complete if it comprised photo-
graphs showing school buildings both exterior and interior,
classrooms with their furnishings, playgrounds and gymnasia,
pupils' work in all departments, official programs, blank forms
indicating the nature and methods of the administration, and
reports and statistics setting forth results. The French were,
however, somewhat chary of their grands-prix. In the case
of school systems these were only awarded, as a rule, to two
classes of administrations. First, those of large areas having
dense populations like London, Paris, New York, Chicago, and
Boston ; or, on the other hand, those having scattered and inert
populations like many large districts of Russia; second, to ad-
ministrations that deal with race problems, like that of Hawaii.
Outside of France no individual school of the elementary class
received a grand prize (the highest award) and, as before indi-
cated, the schools of France were judged from an official rather
than an international standpoint.

The disposition to restrict the considerations of the jury to
educational principles and standards was shown in the reluct-
ance to bestow a grand prize upon any exhibit into which the
commercial element entered. The exception made in the case
of the American Book Company is therefore a very high testi-
monial to the excellence of the text-books which this company
displayed.

The examinations of the sub-jury on foreign exhibits began
with Hungary, which was visited June 26. Their work com-
prised exhibits from twenty-three countries, of which eight only
had jurors; the claims of the remainder were presented by their
commissioners, and they relied for the results upon the fairness
of the jury, a confidence which, as the event showed, was not
misplaced. While the entire jury was mindful of the interests
of all the countries that were without representation in that

ipoo] Elementary edMcation at Paris exposition 507

body, the chief responsibility in each case fell upon the mem-
bers best acquainted with the particular country under con-
sideration. Thus the French jurors best understood the
claims of Spain, Italy, and Portugal. The American juror
was recognized as the best authority in respect to Mexico, Cuba,
and Japan; Sweden and Holland owed most to the English
juror. It happened also that the firm stand taken by Mr.
Brereton secured full recognition for Finland, which, altho a
part of Russia, was in danger of having scant justice. By a
peculiar combination of circumstances, the responsibility for
the Transvaal exhibit fell also to the English member, who dis-
charged the trust in a manner that won the admiration of the
whole jury.

The American juror had the satisfaction of assisting ma-
terially in preventing a wrong judgment in the case of Ontario.
Thru a misunderstanding the school system of this province,
which ranks among the first in the world, was not adequately
represented at the time of the visit of the jury. Convinced that
some mistake had been made, the American juror protested
against the decision then reached. At the instance of the
Ontario authorities, Mr. Brereton was subsequently authorized
to reopen the case in the superior jury. He consulted the
American juror (Class I) as to the history and importance of
the system and, thus fortified, carried the case to successful
issue, securing the just award of a grand prize.

In several instances the decision of the elementary jury was
reversed by that body itself. The conferences in cases of wide
disagreement were the most interesting features of the work.
They were conducted often with much heat, but always with
the greatest courtesy, and with an ever increasing understand-
ing, on the part of the participants, of the value of different sys-
tems of education.

The work in the foreign sections continued until July 14,
after which date attention was again concentrated upon the
French exhibits. These, it should be observed, comprised, in
addition to the exhibit of France itself, material from twelve
colonies in as many separate buiklings. One of the most mem-
orable sessions of the jury took place in the Algerian pavilion

5o8 Educational Review [December

where M. Bayet, who had been formerly inspector of the
Academy of Algiers, portrayed m vivid terms the progress of
the new order of things among that mixed and unstable people.

The section of elementary education included, beside the ex-
hibits of educational systems and of schools, exhibits by indi-
viduals, by publishing firms, and by manufacturers of school
furniture and material. Educational journals and mono-
graphs prepared especially for the exposition excited special
attention. It was difficult to obtain high awards for the for-
mer unless they were well known outside of their own country;
the case with the monographs was different, as their prepara-
tion implied an interest in the exposition which deserved
special recognition. Of the set of monographs contributed by
the State of New York three were included in Class I, and all
received awards. Regret was expressed that they were not
available in the one language which all Europeans know, and
everybody who could interpret their contents in French found
eager listeners. France contributed many devices in educa-
tional methods, outline lessons by teachers, and discussions of
principles. Very few received more than honorable mention,
and this was only allowed for unusual merit. In the case of
apparatus and appliances it was required that they should con-
tain an original element, that they should be simple in con-
struction and of practical utility. The United States con-
tributed three important exhibits of this kind : namely kinder-
garten material from the Milton Bradley Company, the Perry
Pictures for school use, and the art publications of the Prang
educational company. These fulfilled all the conditions requi-
site for a high award and received each a gold medal.

The work of the jury of Class I was everywhere critical and
thoro. It was particularly so in our own exhibit, because of the
genuine interest in the material. Said M. Izwolski of Russia,
" It is the most interesting, if not the best, of all the ex-
hibits." The " if " covered a criticism which I heard also
from other members of the jury. The work of our lower
grades illustrated an idea on which the French love to ex-
patiate, but which they do not realize. We have really suc-
ceeded in exciting the free activity of the child and making it a

1900] Elementary education at Paris exposition 509

power in his systematic development. It was fascinating to
watch the effect of some of the childish compositions on a
learned editor or even a philologist like M. Leger of the Col-
lege de P'rance, who turned the artless effusions into French for
a group of eager listeners. Everywhere they felt the child's
personality in his work. On the other hand, it was noticed
here and there that the work of the intermediate, or grammar
grades was too diffuse, wanting somewhat in force and in that
grasp of subjects which even children show when their person-
ality yields to the influence of a superior teacher.

Not the least surprising of all our experiences was the suc-
cess of the art exhibits from State and city schools. T© those
who had seen our work in previous exhibitions, and who
thought us hopelessly lost in imitative mannerism, it was a
revelation. Said M. Buisson, as he turned over plate after plate
in the winged frame, " This is a training in aesthetics." The
appreciation found permanent expression in the award of a
grand prize for the general system of drawing in the schools of
the United States. Let me emphasize again that the admirable
presentation of the material accounts in great part for the en-
thusiasm it excited.

The service of the class jury in elementary education was of
longer duration than that of any other class jury, and its work
continued after the call of the group jury. Altho only officers
of the class jury were entitled to membership in the group, our
entire class jury was called in conference with this tribunal, so
that there was full opportunity to protect the awards voted
in the class jury. I had no occasion to avail myself of this
privilege, as the votes of the elementary jury in respect to the
^ exhibits from the United States passed in the group jury with-
out challenge.

The findings of the class and group juries in respect to Class
1 were confirmed also in the superior jury. From this body
they passed to the committee of revision, whose function is
chiefly that of correcting errors in the final report. At the date
of this writing the revised official report of awards has not been
made public. I can therefore only say at this time that as a re-
sult of the decision of the jury of Class I, on which I had the

5 1 o Educational Review

honor to represent the United States, sustained by the group
and superior juries, the United States received for its exhibits
in elementary education, 12 grand prizes, 25 gold medals, 6
silver medals, 7 bronze medals, 2 honorable mentions; also for
collaborators, 4 gold medals and 3 silver medals.

The service which these awards represent was long and
arduous, but nothing that courtesy and hospitality could sug-
gest was wanting to make it delightful. Its memories will, I
am sure, be fondly cherished by every participant.

Anna Tolman Smith

Bureau of Education,

Washington, D. C.

THOMAS DAVIDSON
Born 1840 Diediqoo

VII
A MODERN WANDERING SCHOLARS

There passed away the other day, in a hospital at Montreal,
a really great American scholar, who might have easily laid
claim to having been, at the time of his death, one of the dozen
most learned men on this planet. Living a quiet, retired life
in a mountain farm in the Adirondacks, the most unworldly of
men, caring absolutely nothing for money or fame, the late
Thomas Davidson, whose very name is probably unknown to
most of our readers, was one of the most gifted and remarkable
men of the latter half of this century. To enumerate his writ-
ings, learned and important tho they are, is to convey no idea
of a spiritual personality to whom some (and among them the
present writer) owe not a little. It was not the opinions of
this " scholar-gipsy " which influenced his friends, for he was
the most inconsistent of men, passing thru phase after phase of
philosophic thought, and contesting in the afternoon the very
doctrines he had urged in the morning. Whimsical, vehement,
impatient, his satire and argument flowing like a torrent, and
his dogmatic spirit sometimes carrying him to lengths he had
never intended, yet to know Thomas Davidson was to love
him, and not a few are the young men now coming to the front
in American philosophy and scholarship who owe a quickening
stimulus to that bright and eager, albeit angular, personality.

Mr. Davidson was American by adoption, not by birth.
He came from that nursery of strong men where in his time
they did literally cultivate literature on oatmeal — Aberdeen;
and he was at the university at a specially brilliant era — that
of Robertson Smith, Minto, and W. A. Hunter — all, alas ! gone
prematurely over to the majority. Davidson had the blood of
the wanderer in his veins; he could not rest at home, and so
went over to Canada, but soon crossed the border into the

' From the London Spectator, October 6, 1900.
5"

5 1 2 Educational Review [December

United States, where he took up a position as high-school
teacher in St. Louis. People who think of the Western
American cities as given over to trade and materialism would
have been surprised had they found themselves in the St. Louis
of a generation ago, for it was one of the great centers of phi-
losophy. The eminent man who is now at the head of the
Federal Education Bureau in Washington was then editing at
St. Louis the Journal of speculative philosophy, then the only
metaphysical organ in the English language (to our shame be
it said). The reason why this remarkable movement of pure
thought centered in St. Louis was because of the immigration
of German students and thinkers who had fled after the sup-
pression of the 1848 rising, and many of whom settled down
on the banks of the Mississippi. St. Louis ever after has been
noted for Germans, philosophy, and the best beer in America.
In this society Thomas Davidson found congenial souls, and to
literature with oatmeal there succeeded the cultivation of phi-
losophy with beer. They might have been at Leipzig or
Heidelberg, save for the absence of dueling and other German
formalities. Life was simplified and heightened by excur-
sions into the forests and participation in the wild life then
possible, but which the railway and the progress of industry
have almost destroyed. The whole episode is indeed a delight-
ful little bit of idealism in a rather prosaic century — plain liv-
ing and high thinking, a finely-strung intellectual life hand-in-
hand with simplicity and industry.

Thomas Davidson would have delighted Goethe; the Wan-
derjahre of Wilhelm Meister was Davidson's own life. He,
too, held that ''to give room for wandering the world was
made so wide." As thoro an American as tho he had been
horn within the shadow of Bunker Hill, he nevertheless was
so classic in feeling that he yearned for the " palms and temples
of the South," and he had his wish gratified. Attached, largely
thru Longfellow's generous influence, to the examination de-
partment of Harvard University, he soon had the opportunity
of repairing to Athens, where he studied Greek archaeology.
And here it may be said that perhaps Davidson was one of the
greatest linguists of his age. Well grounded in Greek and

igoo] A modern wandering scholar 513

Latin (able, after the good old mediaeval plan, to speak as well
as to read Latin), he obtained complete mastery of modern
Greek within a few months of reaching Athens. He could
make a speech in that language as easily as did Mr. Gladstone
in the Ionian Islands. He spoke and read French, German,
Italian, Spanish, Norse with absolute ease. He did his philo-
sophic thinking in German rather than in his own tongue. He
acquired later on complete proficiency in Hebrew and Arabic,
and was fairly well versed in Czech, Russian, and Magyar.
He never forgot a single word he had ever learned. His ad-
miring friends tested him on one occasion in Greek. He never
missed once, giving not only the ordinary, but exceptional
meanings, and stating in what authors they were to be found.
He could repeat most of Aristotle's Ethics from end to end in
the original. He knew word for word that difficult second
part of Faust which at times baffles even German professors,
but his supreme love was Dante. He knew the whole of the
Divina Commedia, and students who have read his introduc-
tion to Scartazzini's handbook to the great Tuscan know how
Davidson entered into the very soul of Dante. Thus did this
simple, hearty, big-brained Scottish- American wander over the
globe. To-day in his little villa in the Italian Alps, to-morrow
in a lovely rose-covered villa in Capri, again among the slashed-
faced students of Heidelberg, then at x\thens, or at rooms in
London, or in the halls of Oxford and Cambridge, or under
the shadow of the State House in classic Boston — thus did he
absorb culture, study the world, and charm and entertain his
hundred friends.

It is rather dangerous to be a great linguist, for the chances
are that you will be nothing else — like Cardinal Mezzofanti.
But Thomas Davidson was a contradiction to all rules. Tho
he missed being a great thinker, he had a powerful, philosophic
mind. Like all that St. Louis group, he had begun by being
a strong Hegelian, but he lived to denounce Hegel as unfairly
as he had once praised him. Mediaeval in his conception of
(and we might say in his impersonation of) the wandering
scholar, Davidson became mediaeval in his philosophy; he took
up the study of Thomas Aquinas. Outside the ranks of the

5 1 4 Educational Review

profound Catholic scholars, there are few who can say they
have mastered the Summa; one of those few was Mr. David-
son. One must not hold him finally to anything, but at the
time he wrote his learned work on Rosmini, the modern
Catholic antagonist of the Jesuits, he certainly believed that
Aquinas, based on the philosophy of Aristotle, had come nearer
to solving the great riddle of being than any other thinker. In
addition to the w^ork on Rosmini, which is scarcely appreciated
in England, Mr. Davidson must have some credit for stimu-
lating the Pope in the preparation of his celebrated Encyclical
on Aquinas. There are not, it is safe to say, many laymen
who have had three hours' confidential talk on philosophy with
Leo XIII. , but Thomas Davidson was one. He was also inti-
mate with some of the religious orders, and knew not a little of
the inner life of the Catholic Church, with whose art and devo-
tion he sympathized as much as he detested its politics. He
loved Italy as a man loves his bride, and in Rome he fore-
gathered with the veteran Mamiani and others who had helped
in the risorgimento. His work on Aristotle as an educational
thinker is one of the finest and most helpful treatises on educa-
tion written in our time.

If the linguist is a specialist, the philosopher is regarded as
a pedant. But it was the charm of this wandering scholar that
he was ever human and ever young. Like Abou ben Adhem,
he loved his fellow-men, and was as friendly with his old Italian
housekeeper, who believed in ghosts and saintly protection, as
with the learned men whose friend and correspondent he was.
The present writer can see him now, embracing a genial Captain
of the Alpine regiment stationed in the Italian mountain town
where for a time he made his home. He was not quite a saint,
but he loved much and he shall be forgiven much. He could
have kept Socrates company over the amphora while the rest
were under the table, and could have gone forth to teach with
as clear a head. A unique character, built on a solid Scotch
foundation, polished by travel and by thought, and with the
bright and eager tone of the American, he was the best example
in our time of the mediaeval wandering scholar.

VIII
DISCUSSIONS.

A SIX-YEAR HIGH-SCHOOL COURSE

Educators have come to recognize but three divisions in the
process of education from the kindergarten to the university —
elementary, secondary, and higher/ There seems to be no edu-
cational reason why the elementary division should include
one-half of the entire period. On the contrary, there seem to
be substantial reasons why it should not. If by combining the
work of the seventh, eighth, and ninth years and placing them
under the closer supervision and better trained teachers of the
secondary school, one year can be saved to the pupil for other
study, no added argument is needed for making the change.
The question is, can a year be saved if the change is made?

Generally speaking, arithmetic, geography, and grammar
are the major subjects taught in the grammar school during
the seventh and eighth years. These subjects can and should
be absorbed by correlation with the algebra, history, and lan-
guage of the ninth year, and the three years' work done in two
years, without loss to the present schedule, but rather to the
infinite advantage of both the grammar school and high school
programs.

One of the oft-repeated criticisms of our present educational
scheme is that we are doing the same work over and over at
different periods of the course of study. Our curriculum is
not a carefully planned whole, but rather a sectional affair, the
different parts of which seem to be, to a large extent, unrelated
wholes. Much of our teaching still consists of telling, because
subjects are not taught in their relation to other subjects.
Much of the knowledge which the pupil now acquires at a need-
less expense of nervous force would come to the student of
maturer years without any teaching or telling whatever, in con-
nection with his study of more advanced work, a condition
' Editorial in Educational Review, November, 1898, p. 4^1.

515

5i6 Educational Review [December

which we fail to profit by at many points of our educational
scheme.

The Committee of Fifteen recommend - that formal arith-
metic be discontinued at the end of the sixth year, and that
algebra in a modified form be introduced at the beginning of
the seventh year and continued thruout the seventh and eighth
years. The Committee of Ten also recommend ^ that algebra
and concrete geometry be introduced into these years. Much
of the seventh and eighth year work in arithmetic can be
omitted and the rest profitably postponed to a later period in
the course. If the student spends two years upon algebra
there is little doubt that he would have as great a knowl-
edge of the subject at the end of the eighth as he now has at
the end of the ninth year, thus saving one-third of his ninth
year for other work.

The correct teaching of history cannot be separated from the
study of geography. Charts, maps, and globes form a sub-
stantial part of the equipment for teaching histor}^ Map-
drawing forms an essential part of the student's work in history
study. There is no other subject taught in our public schools,
reading alone excepted, that is of so great value to the future
citizen as is the study of American history and the elements of
civil government. These subjects should be placed at that point
of the course where the largest number will be reached before
leaving school. Comparatively few students leave school at
the end of the sixth year. In a large number of States the
compulsory education law prevents them from so doing; but it
is a matter of statistics that nearly eighty per cent, do leave
school without entering upon the work of the ninth year.

If the study of geography in the seventh year be combined
with general history in a simple form, and charts freely used
to locate important historical fields, not only does the student
get a usable knowledge of geography, but he also gets an idea
of universal history and brotherhood, with a consequent de-
crease in his amount of provincialism. In this way his interest
and sympathy with those outside of his own small circle in-
crease to the betterment of his manhood and with no loss to his

2 Report of Committee of Fifteen, p. 68.
^ Repo7-t of Com?nittee of Ten, p. 35.

i9oo] Discussions 517

knowledge/ By the beginning of the eighth year he is ready
for the study of American history and civil government, which
he can easily complete in as good form as the student is now
doing in the ninth year, and with a broader knowledge of the
subject. This would result in a gain of the second one- third
of the ninth year for other study.

There is a large and growing number of people who believe
the fact that the English, PVench, and German boy of
seventeen is as well versed in books as is the American boy
of nineteen, is directly chargeable to the handicap of the
American boy due to the " lock step "of the '' graded system."
We owe much to our graded system of schools," but it must be
so modified as to recognize that the pupil, not the grade, is the
unit.^

Many parents have clearly defined aims for the education of
their children. Our educational system in the public schools
should be able to meet these advanced demands. There must
be a flexibility in the course of study. An opportunity should
be given to those who desire it to begin the study of French,
German, or Latin in the seventh and eighth years. The Com-
mittee of Ten recommend that these studies be offered as early
as the beginning of the fifth year.^ This is done in private
schools, and can be done in public schools, with the seventh and
eighth grades a part of the high school.

One of the subjects last mentioned will take the place of Eng-
lish grammar beyond the language stage. For those who do
not care to have their children study a foreign language, some
such course of English as that outlined by the regents of the
University of the State of New York for the first year of the
secondary school could be studied. Taking the entire seventh
and eighth years upon this course of English, or upon a foreign
language, would relieve the pressure upon the pupil and give
him ample time to finish the subject at the end of the eighth
year instead of at the end of the ninth, thus gaining the re-
maining one-third of the ninth year. The question of " enrich-
ing the grammar school course " has had a prominent place on
educational programs for some time. Thus far the enriching'
fias taken the form of addition thru the special teacher, until in

•* Fifth year 'book of the Herbart society.

5 Ne7v York Education, November, 1897, p. 129.

* Report of Committee of Ten, p. 96.

5^^ Educational Review [December

not a few localities the grammar school pupil has to recite six
to eight periods daily, with no time in school for study. The
program has not been enriched, it has been glutted. Small
wonder it is that so few have the courage left to undertake the
work of the high school. With the combination above sug-
gested, the grammar school course has been enriched by the
essentials of an education — history, civics, algebra, and an
option upon English, French, German, and Latin.

The adoption of the above suggestion also solves another
very vexing problem — the arrangement of a satisfactory high
school program on the basis of fifteen hours of prepared recita-
tion work each week for four years. ^ With the present re-
quirements in language and mathematics this is quite impos-
sible, if satisfactory courses are to be offered in history and
science.

It is not an uncommon thing to hear expressed at educational
gatherings a regret that so few men enter the teacher's profes-
sion. Usually this expression is misunderstood, especially by
the women in the audience. It is not made because men are
better teachers than women, but because they are different.^
The regret is that the principle of co-education is so rarely
extended to the teaching body. Few people will care to argue
that it would be as well to have all teachers of either sex as it
would be to have them of both sexes. It is customary even in
women's colleges to have men on the instructing body, and this
sensible custom is extending itself to our large universities.
This is an added argument for dividing the public school pro-
gram into even sexes.

The committee on college entrance requirements reporting
to the National Educational Association, July, 1899, discussing
a resolution favoring " a unified six-year high school course
beginning with the seventh grade," said : '' The most necessary
and far-reaching reforms in secondary education must begin
in the seventh and eighth grades. Educators agree that these
grades must be enriched by eliminating non-essentials and add-
ing new subjects formerly taught only in the high school. . .
In our opinion these problems can be solved most quickly and

'^ New York Education, September, 1899, p. 14.
[ 8 School Bulletin^ January, 1900, " Men in the eighth grade."

1900] Discussio7is 519

surely by making the seventh and eighth grades parts of the
high school, under the immediate direction of the high school
principal. . . The seventh grade, rather than the ninth, is the
natural turning point in the pupil's life. . . The transition
from the elementary to the secondary period may be made
natural and easy by changing gradually from the one-teacher
regime to the system of special teachers, thus avoiding the vio-
lent shock now commonly felt on entering the high school. . .
As far as statistics are accessible on this point, the experiment
of placing these grades in the high school has resulted in better
scholarship, and a greater number of students entering the
ninth grade," the first year of the high school.

F. D. BOYNTON
Superintendent of Schools,
Ithaca, N. Y.

EXAMINATIONS— AN APOLOGY

From time to time one educational method after another is
arraigned before the bar of public opinion and compelled to
give an account of itself and to show its reasons for existing or
continuing to exist. This procedure has often a most salutary
effect, especially where abuses have crept in and obscured or
impaired the usefulness of the method.

The present is an era of " prove all things " ; it is well to give
the other clause also a hearing : " Hold fast that which is
good."

Of all the time-honored methods of education, perhaps none
has been more abused and surely none more cordially hated
than examinations.

They are charged with fostering deception, heart-burnings,
injustice, superficiality, cramming, and nervous prostration.
They have set up, not only for students, but for teachers, false
standards of excellence, and have degraded the noble pursuit of
learning to the level of a prize contest.

This is surely a serious arraignment and calls for some
strong defense on the other side. That the examination sys-
tem has often been grossly corrupted and abused admits of no
denial; but the condemnation of the abuse of a system should
not involve the condemnation of the system itself.

520 Educational Revieiu [December

For examinations have an educational value of a high order.
If, however, they are to fulfill this high function it is obvious
that they should not be used as the sole test of a student's
know^ledge and ability, Hor merely as a condition for obtaining
prizes, emoluments, and honors. Nor should they be used
chiefly as a whip to urge on laggards and to terrorize the in-
subordinate, nor, least of all, as brilliant displays of a teacher's
ingenuity in the invention of tortures and the laying of pitfalls
for the nervous or unwary.

As the object of education may be said to be twofold, acqui-
sition of knowledge and acquisition of power, so the purpose
of examinations may be said to be twofold, as a test of knowl-
edge and as a test of power. The daily recitation tests chiefly
knowledge; examinations test chiefly power. The test of
power may and should be introduced into the daily recitation;
and the examinations must always be, in some degree, a test
of knowledge. But an examination of the best sort should be
chiefly a test of power, and when properly planned it is a better
test than the daily recitation or occasional review can be.

In support of this thesis the following propositions are sub-
mitted.
I. Examinations as a test of power.

(a) Examinations test the power of a student to deal with
new material, as, for example, in sight translation; or with old
material under new conditions and combinations, as in prob-
lems in mathematics and science.

(&) Examinations test the power of a student to discrimi-
nate between the important and the unimportant, the general
and the particular, and thus to focus and clarify vague, hazy
impressions.

(c) Examinations test the power of a student to appreciate
the relation of hitherto unrelated details; to grasp his subject
as a whole and to combine parts which have seemed to him
fragmentary and disconnected into a vital, organic unity.

(J) Examinations test the power of a student to hold his
knowledge ready '' on demand " ; to make ready application of
principles to new facts or phenomena. They thus afford prac-
tice in meeting just such demands as practical life makes.

(^) Examinations test the power of a student to stand alone,

1900] Discussions 521

to think for himself, to use his own powers and resources un-
assisted by notes, commentary, or given results to be attained.
Thus they help to develop self-mastery. All resources must
be laid under contribution. All forces must rally to the attack.
The occasion is momentous, the responsibility is real and must
be met with coolness and nerve in order to success. Such an
experience is a keen intellectual stimulus to the best effort and
is also bracing to the moral powers.
11. Examinations as a test of knowledge.

(a) Examinations afford to the teacher the most impartial
test of a student's real knowledge. All members of the class
have the same questions proposed to them, and the same time
given for considering and answering these questions under the
fairest attainable conditions. The ideal condition is that the
student be alone zmth the question, without help or hindrance
from without, from book, teacher, or fellow-student.

(&) Examinations afford to the student the most searching
and wholesome test of his own knowledge. He is thereby
brought face to face with his own knowledge and his own
ignorance. The consciousness that he is master of his subject
is a reward for past labor " more enduring than bronze," and
an encouragement to future endeavor.

The discovery that he is really ignorant of that which he sup-
posed he had learned strips from him that "conceit of knowl-
edge " which is the most serious obstacle to progress. Thus
the timid student gains confidence and the conceited student
gains humility. *

Angie C. Chapin

Wellesley College,

Wellesley, Mass.

IX
REVIEWS

A history of education — By Thomas Davidson. New York : Charles Scrib
ner's Sons, 1900. 292 p. $1.

Two tendencies manifest themselves in educational thought
at the present time : one is the broadening of the conception of
education; the other is the elevation of the study of education
to a scientific plane. Both tendencies find illustration in
Thomas Davidson's History of education. This work cannot
be compared with other histories of education accessible to
American teachers, for it is of an entirely different nature. It
is not a presentation of characteristic features of educational
systems and methods, tho the salient features of systems and
methods are marshaled to bring out more clearly the develop-
ment of the author's thought. Neither is it an account of the
theories of men who have influenced the development of edu-
cational thought, as are most current histories of education. It
is a history of a philosophical character, but not a priori in its
nature as are the best known of similar efforts, that of Rosen-
kranz for example. On the contrary, it is an attempt to sketch
the history of education in terms of the dominant evolutionary
thought. Being neither a history of instruction, nor a history
of '' pedagogy," nor an a priori philosophy of history, it is
more truly a history of education than any work so termed.
Education so viewed becomes one phase, perhaps the highest
phase, of the evolution of the race; the complement of the
former conception that education was one phase of the evolu-
tion of the individual. The establishment as a working
hypothesis of the thought that education was the process of
development of the individual stands to the credit of the latter
part of the eighteenth century. To the latter part of the
present century belongs the merit of again broadening the con-
ception of education and applying the same thought to the race

522

Reviews 523

that was then applied to the individual. It is this view of edu-
cation as a phase of the social evolutionary process that fur-
nishes the true basis for the study of the history of education.
This thought is now a common possession and in its origin can
be attributed to no one person or group of persons, but to Mr.
Davidson belongs the credit of having first presented to Ameri-
can teachers a history of education based on this idea. For
this reason the work is so superior to all other histories of edu-
cation that it cannot be classed in the same group.

In the progressive formulation of new ideas or revision of
older ones, agreement can be expected concerning essentials
only. So with this sketch, there are many points that will
provoke disagreement. It is a great merit to assist in estab-
lishing the more comprehensive and truer idea of education, but
this conception may be made so broad that it loses in definite-
ness and reaches that nebulous state that has brought so much
of recent sociological and educational thought into disrepute.
The author identifies education with conscious evolution — the
process " where man takes himself into his own hand." But
all history since the formation of political institutions is con-
scious evolution. All legislation is '' man taking himself into
his own hand." Unless the study of education is to become co-
terminous with sociological study, a more definite delimitation
is essential. Education not only indicates a consciousness upon
the part of the social group, but a consciousness that change
or progress is to be secured thru the individual and not simply
thru the mass or thru institutions. Such a consciousness is
very dim at first and there follows the absolute dominance of
institutions in the earlier period of culture. Education indi-
cates a consciousness that attractive methods are effective as
well as coercive ones. It indicates a growing recognition of
the value of the individual in comparison with the value of in-
stitutions as a means for securing the development or any de-
sired end of the social group. Education is a phase of the
evolution of society; but unless it can be so defined as to find
a definite place within the broad process of conscious evolution,
such a conception will be of little assistance to those so over-
whelmed with the immediate practical aspects of the process
that they are unable to relate phenomena to remote principle.

524 Educational Review [December

This too great generality, together with the brevity of the
sketch, is responsible for an abstractness that will render cer-
tain portions of the book valueless to the large numbers of
those engaged in the work of education that have been denied
the privilege of the higher disciplines. To the brevity of the
sketch is also due an emphasis that is hardly justified by the
fact that certain portions of educational history are usually
ignored or neglected. Few ideas of the history of education,
certainly not the one so ably developed by the author, would
justify the devotion of as much space to Moslem education as
is given to Grecian and more than is given to the educational
influence of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the counter-
reformation, or to education during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries.

And it is in these latter chapters that the reader will regret
the absence of more prolonged discussions. There is in Eng-
lish not even a sketch of the development of education since
the time of the Reformation that can claim any historic or
scientific value in this broad aspect of the subject. The best
as well as the worst that has been done has been confined to
biographical discussion or consideration of theories, or to de-
tails of school systems or methods. Professor Davidson deals
with individuals only as they represent and concrete the
progress of education as a phase of conscious social develop-
ment. Great educators and educational theories take their
proper place in the history of education and thereby derive a
new meaning and an enhanced interest. The discussion of
the nineteenth century is especially suggestive and calls for a
working out in detail in the future.

The author at times discards accepted terminology and uses
terms to suit his own ideas, as in the word barbarian ; he is in-
clined to advocate theories adverse to those accepted by special
students and to burden his study unnecessarily with contro-
verted questions, such as the question of Aryan origins, of
authorship of Homeric poems, of the Turanian origin of Greek
religion; and to introduce conclusions that are a priori, so far
as any evidence presented or indicated is concerned. How-
ever, despite these defects and others of detail, the work will be
classed as the best sketch of the history of education in our

ipoo] Reviews 525

language, as the author's Education of the Greek people re-
mains the best monograph contribution to educational history.

Paul Monroe

Teachers College,
Columbia University

Comenius and the beginnings of educational reform — By Will S. Monroe,
Instructor in the State Normal School, Westfield, Mass. (Great Educators
Series.) New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900. 184 p. $1.

Writing thirty years ago, Mr. Quick expressed the opinion
that " one of the most hopeful signs of the improvement of
education is the rapid advance in the last thirty years of the
fame of Comenius, and the growth of a large literature about
the man and his ideas." The past generation has witnessed
no diminution of this interest; on the contrary, the fame of
the old Moravian bishop has grown, many additional points of
contact between his ideas and the dominant educational
thought of the day have been discovered, his influence has in-
creased, and the literature about the man and his ideas has
grown apace. The latest addition to this literature is the
recent issue of the Great Educators Series, Comenius and the
beginnings of educational reform, by Will S. Monroe. This
study is an addition to Comenius literature, since it is more
than a biography of the man or an analysis of his educational
thought and writings. The great educators are those who
represent either the culmination of some movement in educa-
tional thought, as did Herbert Spencer, or some dominant
system of instruction, as did Quintilian. On the other hand,
they may be prophets of a new dispensation rejecting the old
and standing at the beginning of a new line of thought and a
new system of practice. The study by Mr. Monroe presents
Comenius as the forerunner of Francke, Rousseau, Basedow.
Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Herbart and the long line of reformers
who have shaped the dominant educational ideas and modified
the practice of the present century.

The interest in the work centers largely in the chapters deal-
ing with the educational antecedents of Comenius and those
which treat of his influence on modern educators and his per-
manent influence. The author points out clearly and briefly

526 Educational Review [December

the points of harmony between Comenius and each of the suc-
ceeding reformers and compares the essentials of the Co-
menian reform with the principles underlying the work in edu-
cation in the latter half of the present century. It is true that
Comenius had not arrived at that modern conception of educa-
tion which holds it to be the development of the whole nature
of man, and not primarily mere study. But he led in the transi-
tion to that conception from the dominant humanistic educa-
tion thru his effort to base education on the study of things.

The Renaissance tended to substitute the natural for the
supernatural as the object of interest to the human mind; and
the Reformation added its influence in replacing the dominance
of institutions and of institutionalized thought with the right
of individual judgment and personal freedom. But the critical
spirit and the scientific method developed slowly. In the work
of instruction this development was more retarded than in the
broader aspects of human thought. But Descartes in phi-
losophy and Bacon in science find their counterpart in Co-
menius in education. Melanchthon remained the schoolmas-
ter of Germany, but Comenius became the schoolmaster of the
schoolmasters of the nineteenth century. Mr. Monroe's sketch
of Comenius is written from this point of view.

In addition to the presentation of the influence of Comenius
there is an extensive analysis of the educational writings of
Comenius and a summary of his views. In this respect the
author's work is no more valuable than similar work by Laurie,
Quick, and others, but it is somewhat more comprehensive, and
in its present form will be more accessible to American
teachers.

The author is well prepared for the task so well accomplished
by reason of his earlier work as editor of Comenius' School of
infancy and by his investigation of the relation between Co-
menius and Governor Winthrop, as well as thru his familiarity
with the historical aspect of education. The work is up to the
high standard set by the preceding volumes of the series.

Paul Monroe

Teachers College,

Columbia University

I poo] Reviews 527

A text-book of general physics — For the use of colleges and scientific schools —
By Charles S. Hastings, Ph. D., and Frederic E. Beach, Ph. D., of Yale
University. Boston; Ginn & Co. 1899. viii-|-768 p. $2.75.

This new work on general physics is a very important contri-
bution to our text-book Hterature, because it is perhaps the most
successful of the recent attempts made to furnish a book suita-
ble for the old-fashioned college course in general physics, and
yet at the same time treat the various topics from a modern
point of view. So rapid has been the development of the
purely physical sciences during recent years that the material in
each which should be introduced into the classroom has in-
creased overwhelmingly, and it has seemed as if the course in
general physics were doomed. The present book will greatly
aid in preserving in the college curriculum the most important
course in science which it offers to the student. It not only
presents in brief and logical form the general principles of
physics, but it serves as an excellent introduction to a further
study of the various topics treated.

Part I, pp. I- 1 59, is devoted to mechanics. In this section
there are introduced various problems in mechanics, which in
their practical application have come into prominent importance
in late years; among these may be mentioned the effects of the
earth's diurnal rotation on the winds. The surface tension of
fluids is treated at unusual length. Part II treats of heat; and
we find here brought together a most useful collection of
thermal and thermodynamic problems and their applications.
This section will be particularly useful as an introduction to
the practical study of atmospheric physics.

Part III is devoted to electricity and magnetism, and is the
best brief elementary treatment that we have seen of these sub-
jects. The insertion in this section of the topics, the passage
of electricity thru gases and electric waves, was particularly
desirable, in view of the recent important advances in these
subjects.

Part IV, on sound, has a particularly good introductory
chapter on wave motion; and proper prominence is given in
other sections to the analysis of musical tones, and Helmholtz's
experiments on bowed strings.

Part V, light, pp. 599-752. In this section special atten-

528 Educational Review [December

tion is devoted to optical instruments, and to the interference,
dispersion, absorption, and polarization of light; and a particu-
larly valuable feature is the modern treatment of the optical
phenomena of the atmosphere.

The authors have wasted no space in gradually approaching
the difficulties of the various questions treated by them, and on
this account the student will find the treatise hard reading if he
uses it for a first book in physics. It is a book of distinctly
college grade, and is not of the kind that is simple enough for
high school use, and yet sufficiently advanced for college stu-
dents. The authors are to be congratulated on their success in
presenting in an elementary manner treatments of several im-
portant matters which have hitherto been available only in very
advanced forms. Notwithstanding this success, it is probable
that a good many sections of the book will have to be omitted
by the ordinary college classes on account of their advanced
character.

We must confess that we should like to have seen a normal
barometer and standard thermometer included in the list of
laboratory apparatus which help to illustrate the book. It is
high time that these instruments were introduced to our
students.

This book will be found very handy as an up-to-date book of
reference, especially by those college graduates of long stand-
ing who desire to obtain an idea of the modern conceptions of
heat, electricity, and magnetism. We can heartily recommend
the treatise to students of meteorology, who will find gathered
together here much necessary material that has heretofore had
to be gleaned from a good many different books.

The make-up of the volume is exceedingly attractive, and the
pages present a beautiful appearance. A good but not overfull
index completes the work.

Frank Waldo

Cambridge. Mass.

1900] Reviews 529

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS

Mention of books in this place does not preclude extended critical notice hereafter

A new edition of Webster's International dictionary has ap-
peared which is genuinely a new edition. The plates are new
thruout, and definitions of 25,000 additional words are in-
cluded in a supplement edited by Dr. William T. Harris. The
familiar volume now consists of nearly 2400 pages with about
5000 illustrations,and is a more valuable book of reference than
ever before, if that be possible (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C.

Merriam Co., 1900. 2364 p. $10). Twa of the most

attractive and useful manuals which have reached us in a
long time are the latest issues in the Temple Primers, A history
of politics, by Edward Jenks, M. A., and Am introduction to
science, by the Master of Downing College, Cambridge.
Both are accurate in scholarship, well-written, and admirably
arranged. They bring together an astonishing amount of in-
formation in small compass. Books of this type should find a
place on teachers' reading-circle lists (New Yprk: The Mac-

millan Company, 1900. 172 p., 140 p. 40 cents each).

Professor John Bates Clark, whose Distribution of zi^ealth is a
most important contribution to economic literature, has worked
out an elaborate theoretical argument to prove that the distri-
bution of the income of society is controlled by a natural law
which, if it worked without friction, would give to every agent
of production the amount of wealth which that agent creates.
Unfortunately, however, friction is an essential concomitant
of motion (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1900. 445
p. $3). Professor Ely has the teaching instinct and dis-
plays it in his new Outline of economics (New York: The

Macmillan Company, 1900. 332 p. $1.25)'. In Love

and law in child training Miss Emilie Poulsson has put the
philosophy of the kindergarten in admirable form for intelli-
gent mothers (Springfield, Mass.: Milton Bradley Co., 1900.

235- p. $1). In his Advanced elementary science, Mr.

Edward G. Howe carries forward for grammar grades the
place of work developed in his earlier book (New York: D.

Appleton & Co., 1900. 373 p. $1.50). A new issue of

the scholarly edition of Professor Charles G. Herbermann's

530 Educational Review [December

Sallust's Catiline is very welcome (Boston, Mass. : B. H. San-
born & Co., 1900. 192 p. $1 ) . Three new issues in Apple-
ton's Home Reading Books series are The storied West Indies,
by F. A. Ober; Stories of the great astronomers, by Dr. E.
S. Holden; and a condensation of the fine old Chronicles of Sir
John Froissart, by Adam Singleton (New York: D. Appleton

& Co., 1900. 75 cents each). The deserved popularity of

Patterson Dubois's Point of contact in teaching is attested by
the appearance of a fourth edition, revised and enlarged (New

York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1900. 131 p. 75 cents). Mr.

William L. Scruggs, formerly American minister to Colombia
and Venezuela, has written a valuable and lextremjely interest-
ing book entitled The Colombian and Venezuelan republics
(Boston, Mass. : Little, Brown & Co., 1900. 350 p. $2.00).
Our native trees, by Harriet L. Keeler, is a capital com-
panion for country walks. The illustrations are superb
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900. 533 p. $2,).

Charles H. Ham did yeoman service in the early years of

the manual-training movement, and it is gratifying to see his
Mind and hand in new form and dress. It is a vade mecum
for students of manual training (New York: American Book
Co., 1900. 464 p. $1.25). An ingenious form of assist-
ance for students who are acquiring a Latin vocabulary, is
provided by Word lists for Livy, which Mir. E. C. S'hedd of
Lewis Academy, Wichita, Kan., has prepared and printed for
the use of his pupils. It is astonishing how few words occur
more than ten times in loither Book i, 21, or 22 of Livy's his-
tory (Wichita, Kan. : Published by the author, 1900. 16 p.'

10 cents). The two latest issues of the Abhandlungen aus

dem Gebiete der padagogischen Psychologic u. Physiologic,
edited by Professors Schiller and Ziehen are Dr. August
Wesser's Kritische Untersuchungen iiber Denken, Sprechen u.
Sprachunterricht and George Schneider's Die Zahl im grundle-
genden Rechnenunterricht. Both are extremely valuable and
original studies, which deserve fuller mention (Berlin:
Reuther u. Reichard, 1900. 51 p., 87 p. M. 1.25, M. 1.60).

A new edition, well made and well printed, of the English

books required for college entrance work, reaches us from the
Globe School Book Company, of New York and Chicago. — In

1900] Reviews 531

the History of the higher criticism of the New Testament Pro-
fessor Henry S. Nash has written a most instructive and well-
balanced account of the rise and development of modern criti-
cal method in reference to the New Testament books. His
treatment is as full of suggestion as of information (New
York: The Macmillan Company, 1900. 192 p. 75 cents).

The appearance of a second, revised edjition of Crew'sl

Elements of physics enables us to call attention again to its
excellence as a text-book ( New York : The Macmillan Com-
pany, 1900. 353 p. $1.10). Dr. Newell of the Lowell

(Mass.) State normal schodl has done a great dieal to make pos-
sible the extension of modern methods of teaching chemical
science by both the matter and the method of his Experimental
chemistry (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1900. 410 p.
$1.10). One of the most intelligent and best-selected col-
lections of documents to illustrate historical teaching which we
have seen is Source-hook of English history, by Dr. G. .C. Lee
of Johns Hopkins University (New York: Henry Holt &

Company, 1900. 609 p. $2). Professor Gudeman's

scholarship and reputation are sufficient recommendation for
his edition of the Agricola and Germania of Tacitus, just pub-
lished (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1900. 293 p. $1.40).

Professor Newhall of Kenyon College has sdected the
Charmides, Laches, and Lysis ofi Plato for annotation, with a
view to their use chiefly as literary masterpieces, the element of
philosophical interpretation being present, but subordinate

(New York: American Book Co., 1900. 140 p. $1).

Two of our best American scholars in the fidld of elerr>entary
and secondary school English, Superintendent Maxwell of
New York City, and Dr. George J. Smith of his board of
examiners, have collaborated in the preparation of a text-book,
which is of more than usual importance. It is entitled Writ-
ing in English, and is designed to gi?ide the composition work
in grammar and high-school classes. It is a sound and suc-
cessful piece of work (New York: American Book Co., 1900.

269 p. 75 cents). A very charming book is Selections

from Plato by Mr. Forman of Cornell University. The
selections are made for the purpose of portraying Socrates in
Plato's language (New York: The Macmillan Company, tqoo.
51.2 p. $1.90).

EDITORIAL

Reforms at the ^^^ Scottish Universities' Commission, ap-

Scotch Universi- pointed under the act of 1889, have pubHshed

^^^ their report, and recite the following changes

as the most important of those which they have brought about.

1. An entrance examination, common to the four universities or some
examination accepted as equivalent, is now the indispensable preliminary to
a course qualifying for graduation. Junior, or non-qualifying classes, in
Latin, Greek, and mathematics, are still allowed to exist, because of the
very inadequate provision for secondary education in many districts of
Scotland. The commissioners, however, distinctly say : " We do not think
it desirable that the junior classes should be a permanent part of the uni-
versity equipment."

2. The course for the M. A. degree has been made less rigid and more
varied by the permission of a choice of subjects within certain definite
limits, and graduation with honors has been encouraged.

3. The institution of a common fee fund in each university, with the
payment of professors by fixed salaries instead of mainly by class fees, is a
great reform, and removes the old obstacle of " vested interests" to the
recognition of new subjects and more varied courses of study.

4. Where funds do not admit (as is, unfortunately, too often the case) cf
the establishment of professorships for the teaching of new subjects,
lectureships may be established for short periods without committing the
university to a permanent expenditure on what may not prove a successful
experiment.

5. By a special ordinance the commissioners gave power to the uni-
versities to admit women to graduation. All four universities have already
availed themselves of this power in the faculties of arts, science, and medi-
cine. In these faculties men and women are now students on the same
conditions, and a change which is absolutely revolutionary has been very
quietly carried out and accepted.

The commissioners are obliged to express regret at their in-
ability to provide for the extension and better equipment of
the university libraries.

We directed attention last month to the pro-
H^rrTry°De^g?eT PO^al of President Thwing of Western Re-
serve University that the new degree of D. A.,
doctor artis, be established, to be conferred by colleges and

532

Editorial 533

universities as an honorary degree upon men distinguished in
technical and industrial pursuits, for whom the degree of doc-
tor of laws seems inappropriate. A number of college presi-
dents have kindly responded to a i^equest for an expression pf
opinion regarding President Thwing's suggestion, and their
views are given below :

President James B. Angell University of Michigan

I cannot say that I feel particularly drawn to the indorsement of the sug-
gestion made by President Thvving for the establishment of a new honorary
degree. My colleagues, with whom I have had opportunity to confer, seem
to hold the same view.

Dean L. B. R. Briggs Harvard University

I do not see why we need an honorary degree between A. M. and
LL. D.; but I am open to conviction.

President Nathaniel Butler Colby College

There seem to me to be no sufficient reasons for adopting President
Thwing's suggestion for the establishment of the new honorary degree
D. A. (i) I think that the general consciousness which concerns itself with
academic degrees would not be likely to differentiate between the values
respectively of doctor artis and inagister artis. (2) The value of a degree
is very largely a matter of tradition. The new degree obviously would pos-
sess no value from that point of view. It would be doubtful whether those
upon whom it would be conferred would attach any great importance to it.
(3) A third objection to the new degree would, as I judge, lie in the fact
that its adoption would tend to multiply degrees at a time when a good
many of us are feeling that precisely the opposite thing ought to be done.
Further, the attempt to establish this degree would almost seem like an
unnecessary invention rather than an evolution. All of which is to say that
I cannot see any good reason for the establishment of the new degree.

President Franklin Carter Williams College

I should not be in favor of establishing any new degree for men who
consider themselves too distinguished to be masters of arts and who are
not quite distinguished enough to be doctors of law. There would be no
historic significance to the degree ; and if the master of arts were only con-
ferred on persons of eminence in some direction, it seems to me it would
have significance enough not to be lightly esteemed.

President Charles W. Eliot Harvard University

Concerning President Thwing's proposal for a new honorary degree I
shall have to say that it does not seem to me likely that Harvard Univer-
sity would establish a new degree for honorary use. A new and strange
form of compliment can hardly be as effective as a traditional and familiar
one. I should admit, however, that it would be difficult to justify theoretic-
ally the present use made of the degree of doctor of laws.

534 Educational Review [December

President W. H. P. Faunce Brown University

It seems to me that the proposed title would be quite as scholastic as any
that the colleges now confer, and hence unsuited to the purpose in view —
the recognition of men of affairs as distinguished from men of thought or
simple scholarship. For such men, it would seem desirable to have a term
disconnected with purely academic tradition. I would rather favor some
such phrase as " master of affairs," or " guardian of the state," or " bene-
factor of the republic." I would cut loose entirely from the term " arts,"
and also from the word " doctor."

President Arthur T. Hadley Yale University

Looking at the matter superficially, the balance of reason seems to be
slightly against the establishment of the degree of doctor of arts. Had it
been desirable to constitute a title for our LL. D. degree ab initio, this
would doubtless have been a better one ; but in our by-laws it is specifi-
cally understood that LL. D. is a degree in arts, and I believe that the same
understanding holds good with all the other colleges. I should much prefer
to treat the custom of giving honorary degrees as a survival from the olden
time, and treat it by the old methods, rather than dignify it by making a
new degree for the special purpose.

This is simply a statement of impressions, and is not to be regarded as
an unalterable final opinion.

President George Harris Amherst College

I do not favor another honorary degree. Those for whom M. A. is not

enough and L.L. D. too much can receive L. H. D., which is^ow given by

many colleges to authors and educators.

President David Starr Jordan Stanford University

I am totally opposed to the granting of honorary degrees of any kind,,
believing that the college degree should be made simply a certificate of the
work completed at the institution which grants it. I should also be op-
posed on general principles to the multiplication of titles. If we have any
honorary degree at all let it be doctor of laws, and let the degree itself adapt
its meaning to the needs of men entitled to honorable academic recogni-
tion. To make another degree to catch the men of doubtful worth in order
to retain the honor due to LL. D. does not specially appeal to me. I am,
however, strongly in sympathy with the suggestion of Professor Bacon of
Yale that we turn the whole business of degrees over for the Chautauqua
ladies and gentlemen to play with. But I see no more reason why colleges
should confer the degree of LL. D. on successful generals than that suc-
cessful investigators should be dubbed " colonel " or " major " by the War
Department.

President Seth Low Columbia University

I confess to a great reluctance to see degrees multiplied. I cannot help
thinking that usage has already given to the honorary degree of doctor of
laws a very wide significance. It seems to me better to continue the sig-
nificance of that degree, in case of need, than to multiply honorary degrees
still further.

1900] Editorial 535

President Cyrus Northrop University of Minnesota

I will say, first, that the University of Minnesota has never conferred
an honorary degree and at present does not purpose to confer any, so that
the subject is not one that particularly concerns us ; — and, second, that my
own taste does not favor a multiplication of honorary degrees with which
either to delight the recipient or to astonish the public. I think that men
who are not fit to receive any existing degree can live quite comfortably
without one.

President A. V. V. Raymond Union College

I am opposed on general principles to the multiplication of degrees. If
we go much further in this direction we shall bring the whole subject of
honorary degrees into ridicule. I see no good reason for the degree of
D. A., proposed by President Thwing.

President J. G. Schurman Cornell University

I am certain the scheme is not feasible, and I doubt even if it is desi-
rable. It would be many years, and perhaps some generations, even if such
a change were inaugurated, before the public attached to the new degree
the value which the older honorary degrees at present enjoy.

President M. W. Stryker Hamilton College

The proposal of President Thwing to institute degree of D. A. strikes,
me as sensible. It should obtain recognition as a distinctively honorary
degree and should supersede honorary A. M.

President Benjamin Ide Wheeler University of California

I am not opposed to the creation of new degrees, provided there is a
proper discrimination exercised regarding the values attaching to each de-
gree, and especially if some order can be introduced into the present uncer-^
tainty and confusion. It seems to me that the tendency during the last
few years of our educational development to limit the number of degrees
has wrought little good and much mischief. What we needed was order
and not destruction. I do not see why President Thwing did not make his
degree doctor artiwn instead of doctor artis.

College En- ^^^ Saturday, November 17, the College
trance Examina- Entrance Examination Board for the Middle
tion Board States and Maryland formally organized, and

the important experiment which it has in hand was begun.
The Board, for the year 1901, consists of the following
members :

53^ Educational Review [December

Barnard College, Pennsylvania University,

Acting Dean Robinson Professor Lamberton

Bryn Mawr College, Rutgers College,

President Thomas President Scott

•Columbia College, Swarthmore College,

President Low President Birdsall

•Cornell University, Union College,

Professor H. S. White President Raymond

Johns Hopkins University, Vassar College,

Professor Griffin President Taylor

New York University, Woman's College, Baltimore,
Chancellor MacCracken Professor Van Meter

and, as representatives of the secondary schools, Dr. Julius
Sachs of New York, Dr. Edward J. Goodwin of New York,
Dr. Walter B. Gunnison of Brooklyn, N. Y., Mr. Wilson Far-
rand of Newark, N. J., and Mr. Charles S. Crosman of Haver-
iord, Pa. President Low was elected chairman of the Board
for the year, and President Thomas vice chairman. Professor
Butler of Columbia University is the secretary and executive
officer of the Board. The executive commiittee consist of
President Low, President Thomas, President Taylor, Pro-
fessor Lamberton, and Dr. Sachs.

The executive committee have authorized a preliminary
•statement that the uniform examinations of the Board in
chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, history, Latin,
mathematics, and physics will be held at points to be designated
in the Middle States and Maryland and thruout the West dur-
ing the week beginning June 17, 1901. The list of examiners
for 1 90 1 and more detailed statements regarding the conduct
of the examinations will be made public shortly. The
Eoard are confident that these examinations will be largely
attended and that many secondary school students will take
them as graduation examinations, tho without the intention
of going to college. It is expected that not a few schools,
l3oth public and private, will require these examinations of
their pupils for graduation.

At their last meeting the New England Association of Col-
leges and Preparatory Schools authorized the appointment of
a strong committee to take into consideration a similar plan
for the colleges of that territory.

1900] Editorial 537

School Affairs ^^ ^^^ convinced that unwittingly we did
in injustice to the San Francisco board of edu-

San Francisco ^^^-^^ ^^ reprinting, in the Review for Octo-
ber last, articles from several San Francisco newspapers
adverse to the w^ork of the board. The best opinions we can
command are that these newspaper criticisms were personal,
factional, or political in their origin, and that they did not
represent the fair judgment of the city. The most unpreju-
diced judges advise us that the board of education are honest
in intention and in effort, but that an impossible situation has
been created by the preposterous provisions of the San Fran-
cisco charter, to which we have referred several times.

The court of appeals of Maryland has sus-
Notes and News tained the action of the school commissioners

of Baltimore in electing James H. Van Sickle,
formerly of North Denver, Colo., to be superintendent of
schools. A taxpayer brought suit to enjoin the city authori-
ties from paying Mr. Van Sickle's salary, upon the ground
that he was not eligible, under the Baltimore charter, for the
post to which he had been chosen. The charter contains this
provision : " All municipal officials, except females, shall be
registered voters of the city of Baltimore." Applied to a
superintendent of schools such a provision is nothing less than
absurd, and the court of appeals has decided that the super-
intendent of schools is not a '' municipal official " as that term
is used in the charter. When the full text of the decision is
printed, we hope to find that the court has followed the best
precedents and held that both the city school commissioners
and the city superintendent, no matter how or by whom
chosen, are not municipal officers at all, but direct representa-
tives of the sovereign power of the State of Maryland.

Professor Sorley of Aberdeen has succeeded to the chair of
moral philosophy at the University of Cambridge made vacant
by the death of Henry Sidgwick, and Dr. Robert Latta of Uni-
versity College, Dundee, has succeeded Professor Sorley.

53^ Educational Review [December

It is planned to print in the Educational Review for April
of each year, an annotated bibHography of the Hterature of
education, in EngHsh, for the calendar year preceding. The
first of the series, covering the year 1899, was. printed in the
Review for April last. This bibliography will be prepared by
Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., librarian of the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, Neb. Mr. Wyer would be glad to receive at, any time
from authors and publishers notice of the appearance of any
book or article which his bibliography should include.

Dr. Helen C. Putnam of Providence, R. L, has written ad-
mirably on the subject of vacation schools. Her account of
vacation schools and playgrounds in Providence is included in
the Rhode Island school report for 1890, ancT'her very useful
and suggestive paper on '' The physician's influence in re vaca-
tion schools " appeared in the Bulletin of the American
Academy of Medicine for October, 1900.

For the following additions to the long list of amusing
items culled from school examination papers we are indebted
to an anonymous writer in Longmans' Magazine.

The blood in the body is taken by means of tubs to the heart and there
detained.

A volcano is a burning mountain that has a creator and throws out
melted rooks.

I came sore and conquered.

The night rat came rolling up ragged and brown.

His brain was teething with grand ideas in all directions.

If the earth did not revolt, we should always have equal nights and days.

Stored in some trouser-house of mighty kings.

The lungs are organs of execration.

When Earl Godwin came back to England all the people flocked to the
station to meet him.
' The earliest newspaper of those times was the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

The base of a triangle is the side which we don't talk about.

The apex of the heart is placed downwards and slightly upwards.

The subjunctive mood is used in a doubtful manner.

Rapids are pieces of water which run with great force down the middle
of rivers.

Excommunication means that no one is to speak to some one.

The North and South Poles mean that if a ship comes near one and
looks for the farther one she can't see it.

1900] Editorial 539

The earth is round, like a plate, but some people think it is flat. The
North Pole has not been sufficiently explored to judge of that part being
jound.

A diplomat is some one who puts true things in a better light, which
changes them and alters their sense.

Polynesia is a group of small islands in the Pacific which are under the
protection of the British, otherwise seem very quiet and peace-loving.

In one of his latest reports Superintendent Greenwood of
Kansas Gity, Mo., has this to say, in his original way, of " Re-
modeling children " :

Can a man make himself over.f* Can a leopard change his spots, or the
Ethiopian his skin .'' What answer does education give to this question }
Is there a strong typical resemblance among educated people of all kindred
nationalities, as there is said to be among the thieves of Europe and
America .'' If there be those who need remodeling, can they be remade by
the aid of educational surgery.? All these questions, when stripped of
superfluous matter, simply mean that if we would produce a better class of
people than any now existing as a nation, we must insinuate into hereditary
influences noble aspirations, that will counteract or reinforce the trans-
mitted traits. To work upward the lower stratums of human nature is to
substitute higher motives for lower ones, that the mind may be moved by
feelings leading to that high conception of things that has stimulated the
great and the good of all ages. Under whatever name this work is under-
taken, it is teaching. The teachers accept the human material sent to
them, and if it is faulty, they endeavor to improve it by the application of
such influences as they have control of. The general vagueness, called
humanity, has transmitted with the life of each individual both good traits
and pernicious ones, in the formation of each one's mental and physical
equipment, the accumulated inheritance both of mechanism and function-
so that education is a destroying process, going hand in hand with the
building-up one. Unless the forces of education, be moved in the right
direction, the child may be injured, when the aim is to help him. The
child must be docile — that is, in the right frame of mind, susceptible to the
learning influence ; and if not, then the teacher must bring about the
necessary change, thru the medium of skill and patience. Two
possible variations [may arise : the teacher becomes impatient, or the pupil
grows intractable. Either is fatal unless the evil is removed. A keen
analyst can hardly tell which is the more dangerous. The teacher's
impatience may be controlled ; if it is not, usefulness is gone. Heroic
treatment is demanded for the intractable pupil, in order to bring into
active operation a better attitude of mind. Should the pupil be deficient
in receptive power, whether of discipline or instruction, the teacher must
first bring to bear such a force as will, if possible, produce the desired
result. Great is the teacher who reads human nature as it is.
Youngsters may be sent to school perfectly docile, or as untamed as young

540 Educational Review

tigers, but the solvent, kindness, will tame the ferocious hyena, as well as
the more kindly disposed animals. Unless the mental deficiencies are
extremely abnormal, the savage nature of the most refractory child will
yield to the same subtle influence. What is herein indicated may not reach
every case, but it will win most of them, leaving a small remnant — the
incorrigible — to suffer the consequences of their own folly. No provision,
it may be argued, is left for these sudden explosions of temper which
sometimes burst forth without a moment's warning, crimes, as it were,
without malice aforethought, that need immediate attention. Such
ebullitions of passion are exceedingly rare, and, unless they lead to
manslaughter, or the brandishing of dangerous weapons, I am still of the
opinion that it is better, in applying the proper remedial agents, to proceed
at a very moderate pace. Universal experience is, that one heated by
passion will probably act unwisely. By slow degrees, then, the character
may be largely modified by neglecting or suppressing certain personal
traits and stimulating others. In this sense pupils may be remodeled. To
indicate the path of action is as much as can be done to encourage and
inspire the thoughtful teacher.

School and home education makes a suggestion — which
some persons and things in Washington, D. C, ought to ap-
prove— for the guidance of school director Bell of Cleveland,
O., and those allied with him i'n nagging and worrying Super-
intendent Jones. It says :

Bell ought to induce the United States senate to send an investigating
committee to Cleveland to take evidence concerning the incompetency of
Superintendent Jones. They would gather up all the hangers-on about the
office and Secretary Rossiter and a score of educational freaks from the
denizens of the city, and with Senator Stewart as chairman, Mr. Bell might
rely upon a favorable verdict which would enable him to use his autocratic
power to dismiss Mr. Jones without endangering his own official head. We
assure Mr. Bell that we will not send in any bill for commission for this
suggestion, should he succeed in his enterprise.

Professor Hanus and the seminar in education at Harvard
University are conducting an extensive investigation into the
working of the elective system in schools and colleges. Pro-
fessor Hanus is particularly anxious to reach all secondary-
schools which have adopted an elective system, and he will
gladly send his question-papers to every such school that com-
municates with him.

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