difficulty should be met in part by the abandonment of uniform attainment or of a standard of required knowledge as ground of promotion. In Harvard College, where there is no such thing as a uniform programme of study for all students, and where, indeed, there is small chance that any 2 students out of 1,450 will pursue the same course of studies during their four years of residence, we have long since abandoned uniform attainment as ground of promotion from one class to another. The sole ground of promotion is reasonable fidelity. I venture tɔ believe that this is the true ground of promotion in grammar schools as well, and that by the sole use of this principle in promoting the difficulty now under consideration would be much alleviated, if not done away with. The right time for advancing a child to the study of a new subject is the first momeat he is capable of comprehending it. All our divisions of the total school period into years, and into primary, grammar, and high schools, are artificial and in most cases hurtful or hindering to the individual. The whole school life should be one unbroken flow from one fresh interest and one new delight to another, and the rate of that flow ought to be different for each different child. Economical school administration inevitably interferes somewhat with the desirable continuity and variety of motion, but the most skilful and wisest administration is that which interferes least.

On reviewing the progress of this reform since I had the honor of discussing the question, "Can school programmes be shortened and enriched?" before this department of superintendence four years ago, I see many evidences that a great and beneficent change in public-school programmes is rapidly advancing. The best evidence is to be found in the keen interest which superintendents and teachers take in the discussion of the subject. Through them the proposed improvements will be wrought out in detail, their influence will be successfully exerted on parents, committees, and the public press; and their reward will be, first, the daily sight of happier and better-trained children, and secondly, the elevation of their own profession.

Algebra and geometry in grammar schools-President Eliot criticised.-Edward Brooks, LL. D., superintendent of schools, Philadelphia: The programme for "eight grades," as recommended by President Eliot, is almost universally adopted in our graded schools. In Philadelphia pupils enter the primary schools at 6 years of age, and have an eight years' course to complete the grammar schools. Very bright pupils are allowed to do it in less time. The same thing is generally true of the cities of the country; very few have a nine years' course; almost none a ten years' course. His suggestion of combining studies has also been adopted in many of our public schools. With primary grades it is a very common practice to unite geography and history, and with more advanced grades political and physical geography have usually been taught together for many

years.

I doubt very much whether there is any advantage to be derived from the introduction of algebra into the grammar-school course. To the ordinary citizen in practical life a knowledge of algebra will be found of little value. No one buys or sells by algebra; and a knowledge of polynomials or the quadratic equation would be of little use to the housewife in the discharge of her duties. Indeed, no one of the mathematical branches would be of so little value in the ordinary practical affairs of life as algebra. Besides, we can not advocate the study of algebra on account of its disciplinary value, for no mathematical branch gives so little mental discipline that the ordinary business or professional man would find of use. As a disciplinary study the elements of algebra will be found to be far inferior to either arithmetic or geometry. Much of algebra is a mere calculus, and the aim of the student is to become expert with the manipulation of symbols, a form of mental operation entirely removed from that of ordinary life. In place of algebra I would urge a more general introduction of arithmetical analysis, usually known as mental arithmetic. This form of reasoning, originating with Warren Colburn, is better adapted to sharpen and strengthen the analytical powers of young students than any other branch of the grammar-sel ool curriculum. It is far superior to algebra in developing the thought power of the student. It is also generally simpler and shorter in its methods of reasoning and operation than algebra. "Take the problem that President Eliot gives, "The sum of 2 numbers is 24, and one is twice the other." I can obtain the results by the simple process of arithmetical analysis before the algebraist could write his equations. A problem like the following: "If A can do a piece of work in four days and B in six days, in what time can both do it?" is much more simply

1 Reported in the Journal of Eduration.

worked by arithmetical analysis than by algebra. And the same is true of a large number of problems. I urge, therefore, in place of algebra, that the beautiful system of arithmetical thought known as mental arithmetic be more fully introduced into our grammar schools than it is to-day.

The study of geometry as a science should not be introduced into our grammar schools. Concrete and practical geometry is already taught in most of our grammar schools under the head of drawing and mensuration. In most of these schools the pupils are made familiar with all the ordinary geometrical figures and their properties or principles. These principles include the methods of obtaining the areas of plane surfaces, the area and circumference of the circle, and the surface and volume of the parallelopiped, pyramid, cylinder, cone, and sphere. These principles are obtained, not by demonstration, but by concrete illustration, and they are applied by the children until they are familiar with them. This is all that it is practicable to do with geometry in the grammar schools. The pupils are not prepared for the logical processes of abstract geometry and can not understand them. The method of reasoning from axioms and established principles by the logical methods of geometry is too difficult for the ordinary student of the grammar schools. It is said that abstract geometry, with its demonstrations, is taught in the public schools of Germany and France; but in my examination last summer of the elementary schools of Paris corresponding to our grammar schools I did not find a single pupil studying the science of geometry. They apply the principles reached concretely, as we do in our grammar schools.

That the work of the grammar schools can be improved by shortening the course of study is a proposition that needs demonstration. That it may be enriched is a most desirable object, though it is a question whether this enrichment may not be attained by other means than the addition to or subtraction from the present course of studies. The broader question is, how shall the best results of culture and knowledge be attained in our grammar schools? The object can be attained by having a correct course of study, as rich in materials for intellectual, moral, and spiritual culture as is possible, and by having welltrained and skillful teachers to use this course of instruction to the best advantage.

Those German and French schools.-John T. Prince, agent Massachusetts board of education: President Eliot is clearly wrong in his impression of what is done in the elementary schools of France and Germany. Algebra and geometry are not in the schools that compare in any regard with our grammar grades. Algebra nowhere precedes geometry. The geometry taught is not demonstrative, but is more like that taught in the grammar and even in the primary grades here. The colloquial speaking of the Romance languages has no such value as these later reformers would place upon it. The whole difficulty lies in the fact that the grammar schools of Europe and America are compared by men who have not studied either.

The two ideals of the course of study.-W. T. Harris, commissioner: In the schools of the United States there prevail two different ideals of the course of study; the one originating with the directors of higher education and the other a growth from the common elementary school. These two ideals clash in quite important particulars. The common-school course of study, as it appears in the elementary school and in the public high school which gives secondary instruc tion, does not shape itself so as to fit its pupils for entrance to the colleges. At least, if we admit that as an actual fact many high-school pupils do enter college, we must also admit that there is a constant tendency in the pub ic high school to diverge in its course of study and follow a path that does not lead to the college.

The older colleges of the States, following the traditions brought over from Europe, built their course of study on mathematics and the classical languages, Latin and Greek. They accordingly demanded of the preparatory schools a preliminary training or preparation along these lines and neglected all else. Human learning at one period did not include much that was not conceived and expressed in Latin or Greek words. But within the past 300 years there has arisen a modern tributary stream of human learning, and it has some time since begun its demand for recognition in the course of study. This modern side of human learning includes the natural sciences and modern literature. These two contingents are almost wholly the products of the past 300 years.

The demands of the sciences and the demands of the literature of the modern languages to a share in the course of study were met in one way by the college

and in another way by the common school. The directors of higher education affirmed that Latin, Greek, and mathematics furnished the truly disciplinary studies fit for the foundation of all literal education. Modern literature and the sciences on the other hand were not and could not become culture studies, although they might be useful in the way of accomplishments in practical life. Accordingly, the colleges proceeded to recognize the moderns by admitting them into the course of study at the end. During the fourth or senior year of college the student was given a rapid survey of the sciences and of some of the great works of modern literary art. But the college did not encourage the introduction of modern literature and natural science into the preparatory school. Consequently the pupil who left school during his preparatory course or before the senior year of college found himself ignorant of these two great and rapidly growing provinces of human learning.

But the public-school system has taken a different direction in the matter. It has been under the supervision and management of less highly educated menthat is to say, of men less thoroughly instructed in the forms of the past, and as a result less conservative. When the moderns appealed for a place in the course of study some concession was at once made to the demand. A tendency has been established to recognize the moderns throughout the course of study. First, modern literature was admitted in the shape of a graded series of school readers containing many of the gems of English and American literature, and much, too, that was written in mere colloquial English, and much that was trashy in its style and thought.

In the geographical text-book there was an attempt at a survey of the phys ical world in its relations to man, the world in its mathematical features of size, shape, and motions, in its physical aspects of interacting forces of light, heat, moisture, and gravitation, and finally, in its biological aspects of plant life, animal life, and the races of men.

This geographical text-book also drew on the social sciences and introduced scraps of information regarding political economy, the occupations of men, and also the political institutions, the laws and customs and religion. Geography has therefore developed from the beginning into a sort of compend of natural sciences, affording the pupil a survey of the results of the modern sciences, both in the physical and social world.

Having conceded to the demands of the moderns in the elementary school in these respects and in the introduction of a history of the fatherland, it remained next to emphasize this tendency still more in the secondary public school, and to make the high-school course of study include more thorough work in English literature, universal history, three or four selected sciences like geology, astronomy, physiology, and chemistry, in addition to the mathematics and some modern or ancient language.

It might be claimed that the graduates of the high school had a broader education; his education, under good teachers, might even be thorough, but certainly in his preparation in Latin and Greek the amount was not sufficient to give the high-school pupil a fair chance by the side of the graduate of the special preparatory school.

The directors of the common schools have therefore been compelled to establish a double course, a classical and an English course, in the public high school, a procedure so foreign to the spirit of the entire common-school course of study that it has only partially succeeded.

Adapt the high schools to the colleges.—Superintendent N. C. Dougherty, of Peoria, Ill. What could be more natural than that the higher should reach down and adapt the lower to itself? The high schools are here to stay. If the education given by them in the past is not in all respects just what is needed, let us improve upon it. Let us make it better and better, as the years go by, until it shall supply just what is needed. Let us remember that we do the best for the boy who stops with a high-school education when we do nothing to impede the progress of the other boy who goes on to a college graduation.

The specific problem at the present time.-Nicholas Murray Butler: The marked difference at the present time between the general educational organization in this country and in Europe is to be found in the fact that in Europe the elementary school is not as a rule in complete coordination with the secondary school and the university; while in the United States the connection between the elementary and the secondary school is complete, but that between the secondary school and the university is wanting. Therefore the specific problem in educational organization that the American people have to deal with at the present

1

*

time is the coordinating of the secondary and the superior instruction. This will be done by the high schools, the academies, and the colleges. In this or ganization the American college will always continue to occupy a prominent place. * *The college should rest upon the high school, and should not raise its requirements for admission to such an extent that high school graduates may not pass easily and naturally into it. The contemporary demand for a shortening of the time devoted to obtaining both a college and a professional education is a sound one, and must be heeded. The shortening, however, should not take place at the expense of residence in college. That is in many ways the most valuable feature of American higher education. It can not be sacrificed without gravest loss. The problem can best be met by welding the college and the professional school together, and admitting certain preliminary professional studies, as electives, into the course leading to the degree of bachelor of arts.

Shortening the preparatory course.-President H. E. Webster, of Union College (N. Y.): Nothing can be better established than that the colleges are entirely dependent on the secondary schools for their support and success. If the schools are weak, inefficient, the college that draws from them can not have a high standard. The eastern colleges have been for many years demanding more and more of the preparatory schools. The requirements for admission to college have been increased: the age of graduation for the average student is much greater than it was in the past. Meantime, competition for places in life has become sharper than ever. And now the cry goes out, college graduates are too old; the course must be shortened; men must get into life earlier. And so they ought. But if a change is to be made, let it be in the requirements for admission to college, not in the length of the college course. Any college man will maintain that college life is worth more to a young man than life.in a preparatory school, no matter how well conducted. As it seems to me, no greater mistake can be made than to shorten the college course. This, of course, for the average man. Every college course is arranged for the average man. The excep tional man-let him graduate whenever he has done his work.

There is one great trouble with the high schools. They are doing much of the work that ought to be done in colleges, and for this they have good grounds. Only a small number of students in high schools expect or intend to enter college. It is well that those who can not enter any higher institution of learning should receive instruction in many branches which properly belong in the college course. But in every such school there ought to be a course arranged for young men and women who do intend to "go up higher." The time of prepara tion would then be much shortened, because many subjects would be omitted. This would encourage students to go on with their education. For many years I was a teacher of natural science in various colleges. I say without hesitation that better work can be done (in colleges) with a student who comes fresh to the subject than with one who through his high-school training thinks that he understands the subject. I conclude in this wise:

In our high schools the teaching is excellent. All honor to those who give their lives to it. But there ought to be preparatory courses for colleges, includ ing only such subjects as are required for admission in colleges.

That if any change is to be made so as to shorten the time for college students, it should be made in the preparatory course.

There comes a "moment of instinctive readiness” for every subject of study.—William James, professor, Harvard University: In all pedagogy the great thing is to strike the iron while hot and to seize the wave of the pupil's interest in each successive subject before its ebb has come, so that knowedge may be got and a habit of skill acquired-a headway of interest, in short, secured on which afterward the individual may float. There is a happy moment for fixing skill in drawing, for making boys collectors in natural history, and presently dissectors and botanists; then for initiating them into the harmonies of mechanics and the wonders of physical and chemical law. Later, introspective psychology and the metaphysical and religious mysteries take their turn; and, last of all, the drama of human affairs and worldly wisdom in the widest sense of the term. In each of us a saturation point is soon reached in all these things; the impetus of our purely intellectual zeal expires, and unless the topic bone as o iated with some urgent personal need that keeps our wits constantly whetted about it, we settle into an equilibrium, and live on what we learned when our interest was fresh and instinctive without adding to the store. Outside of their own business the ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives. They can not get anything new. Disinterested curiosity is past, the mental grooves and channels set, the power of assimilation

gone. If by chance we ever do learn anything about some entirely new topic we are afflicted with a strange sense of insecurity and we fear to advance a resolute opinion. But with things learned in the plastic days of instructive curiosity we never lose entirely our sense of being at home. There remains a kinship, a sentiment of intimate acquaintance, which, even when we know we have failed to keep abreast of the subject, flatters us with a sense of power over it and makes us feel not altogether out of the pale. Whatever individual exceptions to this might be cited are of the sort that "prove the rule."

To detect the moment of the instinctive readiness for the subject is, then, the first duty of every educator. As for the pupils, it would probably lead to a more earnest temper on the part of college students if they had less belief in their unlimited future intellectual potentialities, and could be brought to realize that whatever physics and political economy and philosophy they are now acquiring are, for better or worse, the physics and political economy and philosophy that will have to serve them to the end.

*

Modern studies may furnish a liberal education.-J. E. C. Welldon, head master Harrow School, England (in the Academy): Speaking generally, with the experience of a school in which a modern education has been tried on a large scale, I may give it as my clear opinion that the boys who have been educated in modern subjects deserve to be accredited with a liberal education in the same sense and to the same extent as other boys. In their intellectual characteristics, so far as I can estimate them, they are not altogether like the classical boys; but they are not inferior. *They are, in many instances, boys of keen and active intelligence. In the range of their culture and the discipline of their mental powers they are the equals of boys who have received a classical education; in the intellectual interest which they feel in their studies they are not infrequently superior. They win their share of the prizes and distinctions which are accorded to intellectual merit in public schools. If it is necessary to mention one particular point in which they sometimes fall below their classical rivals it may be said to be the habit of accuracy, of perseverance, and of sustained and concentrated attention to a subject which is not at once interesting and attractive and demands a large amount of patient, painstaking effort if it is to be effectively pursued.

Flexibility in courses of study-F. W. Parker, Cook County Normal School: A course of study is an arrangement of topics and subjects in the line of development. It shows the teachers the direction of work and is a general guide in the preparation of lessons. A course of study should be adapted to the abilities of teachers. An ironclad course of study that demands compliances in every detail is a dire means of compelling uniformity. The differing circumstances of pupils demand flexibility in the adaptation of a course of study. A class badly taught through several grådes can not be made to follow a course of study without disastrous results. A course of study should be under constant discussion and should be changed when necessary. It should aid teachers in doing their best work.

IV.—EDUCATION.

Education should be adapted to individual requirements—Influence of heredity and enrironment.-President D. C. Gilman (Johns Hopkins), in the Cosmopolitan Magazine: Every boy differs from every other boy in character as he does in appearance. Even twins, while they closely resemble one another in many respects, may differ essentially in fundamental tastes and talents. Mr. Grafton says that extreme similarity and extreme dissimilarity are nearly as common between twins of the same sex as moderate resemblance. If this is confirmed, what becomes of heredity?

The corollary is obvious that plans of education should as far as possible be adapted to individual requirements; but as every boy is preparing for life among his fellows, and as Providence has so ordered it that he is strongly influenced by other boys, it follows that to treat him alone, away from comrades, in the backwoods, in a cell, under exclusive instruction, is only justifiable under extraordinary circumstances. He comes into the world not only as an individual with his own responsibilities and possibilities, but as one of a family, a neighborhood, a race, from which he can not be extricated except by death. Isolation is therefore as unnatural as it is undesirable and difficult.

Every boy is influenced both by his inheritance and his environment; yet the laws of heredity in the human species are not well enough known to give