HIBIIATIY OF CONGRESS.; 
 
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 I UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. ! 
 
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CHAPTERS 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION 
 
 A Practical Treatise ox Superintendence; Grading; Arranging Courses 
 
 OF Study ; The Preparation and Use of Blanks, Records, and 
 
 Reports; Examinations for Promotion, Etc. 
 
 WILLIAM H. PAYNE, M. A. 
 
 Svp'i of the Public Schools of Adrian, Mich. '/ 
 
 WILSON, HINKLE & CO. 
 
 137 Walnut Street _ 28 Bond Street 
 
 CINCINNATI HS'^r ^'^"^^' YORK 
 
 rF 
 
V 
 
 <i 
 
 IK 
 
 
 Copyright 
 
 1875 
 
 BY Wilson, Hinkle & Co. 
 
 ELECTROTYPED AT ECLECTIC PRESS 
 
 FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY WILSON, HINKLE &. CO. 
 
 CINCINNATI CINCINNATI 
 
Non vmhus aiit velocitatihus aut celeritate corporum res 
 magiKE geruntur, sed consilio, auctoritate, sententia. 
 
 * ^ <^ giibernatorem i:i navigando nihil agere dicant, 
 quuin alii malos scandant, alii per foros etirsenf, alii sentinam 
 exhatiriant, ille autem clavum tenens sedeat in puppi 
 QUIETUS. Cic, de Senec. vi. 
 
 (3) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Every man is a debtor to his profession. At the outset 
 of his career, the current practice which he adopts is an 
 inheritance left him by his professional ancestry; and this, 
 in turn, is to be transmitted to the next generation with 
 such additions as his own industry, sagacity, and thrift, have 
 been able to accumulate during a life of professional toil. 
 Science grows by the increments — insignificant, perhaps, in 
 themselves — which individual experience contributes to the 
 common stock; and no one has a moral right to leave the 
 world without taking care to assure to posterity the net re- 
 sults of a life devoted to a special pursuit. 
 
 The profession of teaching has not enjoyed a profusion of 
 such legacies. While men in other professions willingly 
 contribute the results of their matured experience to those 
 who are to succeed them, teachers have been slow to render 
 such a service to their professional brethren. Compared 
 with Law, Medicine, and Theology, Teaching is almost 
 without a professional literature. In the other professions 
 named, not only is there a vast collection of practical works, 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 the recorded results of individual experience, but there are 
 numerous treatises on the history and philosophy of the 
 several sciences — attempts to collate the great facts in each 
 art, and to deduce from them certain first principles which 
 may serve to prepare the way for a more rational practice. 
 Of works of the first class there are but comparatively few to 
 which teachers may have access; while of the second class 
 there is scarcely a single example, in English, which, with 
 any propriety, can be called a treatise on the philosophy 
 of education. The great law of the division of labor has 
 called into existence a new class of professional men, whose 
 duty is the supervision of schools and school systems; yet, 
 up to this time, no work, not even the most elementary, has 
 been published on an art whose importance can scarcely be 
 over-estimated. 
 
 The present work is offered as a contribution to the prac- 
 tical literature of teaching. Its general scope and purpose 
 are best explained by remarking that it is a record of ex- 
 perience. The plans and suggestions which it embodies 
 were not inspired by mere theories of what ought to be, 
 or of what might be, but are the results which have been 
 reached in the course of a considerable experience in the 
 management of schools. It is not meant by this that all 
 the plans herein contained are original; on the contrary, 
 many of them have come, either by suggestion or adoption, 
 from the current practice in school supervision. The writer 
 
PREFACE, Vll 
 
 will scarcely be robbed of any credit which really belongs 
 to him, if the reader .is left to infer that this book merely 
 presents an outline of the i3ractice which is current in our 
 best graded -schools. 
 
 It is due alike to the reader, the writer, and the critic, 
 to state that this treatise is written from a particular point 
 of view, — that of a superintendent of a school system such 
 as is found in the smaller cities of this country. I do not 
 presume to wTite for the instruction of those who superin- 
 tend the school systems of our larger cities. Having had 
 no experience in work of such magnitude and complexity, 
 I have no fitness for giving advice as to the doing of this 
 variety of school-work. 
 
 I am not aware that a work of this special character has 
 ever been presented to the public; and, as it has been 
 composed without models to follow, it will, no doubt, be 
 easy to base a just criticism both on its matter and its 
 method. If it serve no other good jDurpose, it will, I 
 hope, stimulate abler hands to execute a similar undertak- 
 ing, more worthy of the i^rofession whose interests it is de- 
 signed to promote. 
 
 The doctrines which are embodied in this work are ex- 
 pressed with the utmost frankness, yet not, I hope, with 
 any thing wdiich borders on dogmatism. Freely granting to 
 all men the right to express their opinions with freedom and 
 
Viii PREFACE. 
 
 emphasis, I here claim a similar right to express my con- 
 victions on some disputed questions in educational policy. 
 I see very clearly that some of the opinions which are here 
 embodied will meet with a hearty protest in many candid 
 minds; but, while I can not hope that the general line of 
 policy which I have attempted to set forth will be accept- 
 able to all, I think I may, without imjDropriety, bespeak 
 that judicial fairness which dares to weigh opinions at vari- 
 ance with cherished convictions. 
 
 One remark may save the author from misinterpretation 
 and the reader from possible mistakes. In all that relates 
 to practical school-work, such as grading, tabulating courses 
 of study, arranging programmes, etc., etc., the aim has 
 been chiefly to illustrate the general principles which should 
 be observed. In actual practice such modifications must 
 be made as peculiar circumstances may require. 
 
 I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to 
 Superintendents Doty, Rickoff, and Harris for some of the 
 forms included in this volume. Others have been prepared 
 expressly for this work, and are the exclusive property of 
 the Publishers. 
 
 W. H. Payne. 
 Adrian, Mich., 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Nature and Value of Superintendence . . . . il 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Superintendent's Powers defined and some of his General 
 
 Duties discussed ......... 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Superintendent's Powers defined and some of his General 
 
 Duties discussed (continued) ...... 45 
 
 CPIAPTER IV. 
 
 The Superintendent's Powers defined and some of his General 
 
 Duties discussed (concluded) ...... 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Art of Grading Schools . . . . . . .81 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Art of Gi^ading Schools (concluded) ..... 107 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Reports, Records, and Blanks ....... 133 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Examinations .......... 181 
 
 (ix) 
 
BLANKS AND FORMS. 
 
 NUMBER 
 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 I. 
 
 Teacher's Certificate 
 
 . 39 
 
 II. 
 
 Superintendent's Register ..... 
 
 . n 
 
 III. 
 
 Teacher's Monthly Report — to face 
 
 136 
 
 IV. 
 
 Transfer Notice 
 
 . 139 
 
 V. 
 
 Warning Notice (Attendance) .... 
 
 144 
 
 VI. 
 
 Suspension Notice (Teacher's) . ... 
 
 . 145 
 
 VII. 
 
 Suspension Notice (Superintendent's) ..." 
 
 146 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Notice of Restoration ...... 
 
 147 
 
 IX. 
 
 Statistical Report — to face . . . ... 
 
 148 
 
 X. 
 
 School Directory Card (Pupil's) .... 
 
 151 
 
 XI. 
 
 School Directory Form (Teacher's) 
 
 152 
 
 XII. 
 
 Ages of Pupils (Superintendent's) — to face 
 
 154 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Ages of Pupils (Teacher's) ..... 
 
 155 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Report of Cases of Punishment .... 
 
 . 156 
 
 XV. 
 
 Daily Programme . . . . . . . 
 
 159 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Position of Classes (Teacher's) .... 
 
 160 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Position of Classes (Superintendent's) — to face 
 
 161 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Notification to Parents (Standing) 
 
 163 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Notification to Parents (Conduct) . . . . 
 
 164 
 
 XX. 
 
 Teacher's Class-Book 
 
 167 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Teacher's Record of Monthly and Term Standing . 
 
 168 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Principal's Record of Final Standing 
 
 170 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Examination Roll 
 
 193 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Notice to Parents (Low Standing) . . . . 
 
 197 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Certificate of Completion of a Study . . . 
 
 198 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Notice to Examining Committee .... 
 
 208 
 
 N. B.- 
 
 -Many of these forms are copyrighted, and are the property o 
 
 f the 
 
 publishers 
 
 
 (x) 
 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NATURE AND VALUE OF SUPERINTENDENCE. 
 
 (II) 
 
SUMMAR Y. 
 
 Mental energy and muscular energy. Human society a hierarchy 
 of forces. The highest forms of labor often undervalued. The 
 highest form of labor that which involves the expenditure of the 
 highest form of force. Division of labor a law of human progress. 
 Civilization a process of differentiation. Division of labor as applied 
 to education. A school system requires direction by one responsible 
 head. Two varieties of labor are required in every systematized 
 industry. Empiricism in teaching. The reign of law. The science 
 of education. Educational science in Great Britain. The need of 
 school supervision not every-where acknowledged. The responsi- 
 bility of superintendents. 
 
 (12) 
 
THE NATURE AND VALUE OF SUPER- 
 INTENDENCE. 
 
 1. Mental energy and muscular energy. — The hand 
 and the brain both toil. Each has its appointed office to 
 fulfill, and each is entitled to a consideration proportionate 
 to the quality of the service which it renders. The energy 
 which is expended in lifting and pounding has its measur- 
 able value; and the mental pov/er which determines the 
 nature and amount of muscular activity has its value. But 
 these values are not the same, and are not measurable by 
 the same standard. The human organism is the seat of a 
 hierarchy of forces. Some are appointed to command, 
 others to obey; some are employed in devising plans, 
 others in executing them; some work in silence, far re- 
 moved from sensual observation, others are obtrusive and 
 give ceaseless evidence of their existence. Mental energy 
 and muscular energy have their respective values. Each 
 is indispensable in the economy of nature, and each is to 
 be valued according to its rank in the hierarchy to which 
 it belongs. 
 
 2. Human society a hierarchy of forces. — Human 
 society is also a hierarchy of forces. Organization implies 
 subordination. If there is to be a plan, some one must 
 devise it, while others must execute it. As the members 
 of the human body execute the behests of the supreme in- 
 
 (13) 
 
14 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 telligence, so in human society the many must follow the 
 direction of the few. It is not possible to conceive a state 
 of society in which there are not inequalities based on 
 gradations in the ability to govern. For one man who can 
 design a house, there are a thousand who are able only to 
 lay the brick and the stone as they are directed. For one 
 man competent to plan a military campaign, there are myri- 
 ads of soldiers whose province is to obey the orders of their 
 commanders. Human society is organized on the principle 
 that the weak are to be protected by the strong, the im- 
 provident by the provident, and the masses of mankind 
 voluntarily submit to the guidance of those who have the 
 faculty of directing. 
 
 3. The highest forms of labor often undervalued. — 
 
 The energy which is expended in supervision, in direction, 
 in government, is not always estimated at its just value. 
 In general we estimate the value of labor by the amount 
 of demonstration which accompanies it. The sailor who 
 climbs the mast, who furls the sail, and who heaves out the 
 bilge-water, seems a more useful man than the helmsman 
 who scarcely moves a muscle of his body. So accustomed 
 are we to measure all things by the impressions which they 
 make on our senses, that we are slow to acknowledge the 
 supreme importance of those imponderable forces which 
 really govern and direct. The thunder terrifies, and so 
 Jupiter Tonans is worshiped and propitiated. It w^as left 
 to a later and* a wiser age to discover that the agent which 
 blasts and kills is as imponderable as thought. Men, too, 
 are inclined to measure all labor by a reference to their 
 own experience. Agricola, who sweats as he toils, and is 
 covered with the dust which his own violent exertions have , 
 raised, can scarcely realize that Clericus, cool-browed and 
 clean, is at all worthy of a laborer's hire. 
 
DIVISION OF LABOR. 1 5 
 
 4. The highest form of labor that which involves 
 the expenditure of the highest form of force. — But 
 
 the highest form of labor is that which is attended witli the 
 expenditure of the highest form of force. Between muscu- 
 lar energy and mental energy, the antithesis is too striking 
 to be overlooked; but different orders of intellectual power 
 may give their possessors unequal spheres of usefulness, and 
 may therefore entitle them to unequal rates of compensa- 
 tion. Abilities may be ranked according to their relative 
 comprehensiveness. The commanding general, who, at one 
 glance, takes in the whole military situation, and wields his 
 forces so as to meet the exigencies of the situation, is the 
 natural .superior of the thousands who, Avith powers of mind 
 less comprehensive, merely execute the plans prescribed by 
 their leader. The highest forms of labor, therefore, are 
 those Avhich^ involve the expenditure of the highest forms 
 of energy. 
 
 5. Division of labor a law of human progress. — 
 
 That distribution of labor which characterizes our higher 
 civilization has established system and method in every 
 branch of human industry. Where the several portions of 
 a complicated process are assigned to special hands, a gen- 
 eral plan must bind together the related parts, and secure 
 their harmonious and efficient action; and back of this plan 
 there must be an intelligence to coordinate and control. He 
 who secures uniformity, accuracy, and harmony in a com- 
 plicated industrial process, imparts additional value to the 
 products of each man's toil. Superintendence is therefore 
 not only a necessity, but is the highest and most productive 
 form of labor. 
 
 6. Civilization a process of differentiation. — Civili- 
 zation is a process of differentiation. Rude tribes are homo- 
 geneous with respect to their industrial state. There is no 
 
1 6 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 division of labor whereby each man devotes himself to that 
 pursuit in which he has the most skill. But as civilization 
 advances, occupations become more and more diverse, as 
 men restrict themselves to industries more and more spe- 
 cific. In new settlements, a tradesman sells hardware, gro- 
 ceries, dry-goods, medicines, boots and shoes, etc. ; but as 
 population increases, and other tradesmen come into com- 
 petition Avith him, he restricts himself to a single branch 
 of trade, in which he is specially skilled. In the tribal 
 condition of mankind, the same man is priest, lawgiver, 
 physician, and teacher; but soon there is a separation of 
 functions, each man devoting his attention to the pursuit 
 for which he has the greatest aptitude. As the priest was 
 the most learned man in early communities, he was also 
 the teacher; and the first schools were connected with 
 places of religious worship. The church has ever been the 
 foster-parent of the school; and Christianity has signalized 
 her conquests by founding institutions of learning. Gradu- 
 ally, however, the work of instruction has been relegated to 
 laymen, and teaching has become a secular employment. 
 But traditions are slow to disappear, and even now it is 
 rare to find a college president who is not a clergyman, 
 and there are few schools in which there are not religious 
 observances of some description. 
 
 7. Division of labor as applied to education.— 
 
 Isolated schools may meet the requirements of a sparse 
 population; but in highly civilized and populous communi- 
 ties, the work of instruction follows the great law of the 
 division of labor, and different portions are assigned to 
 those who have special aptitudes. It is soon discovered 
 that children are best taught in a school by themselves: 
 and if the number of pupils is sufficiendy large, the adults 
 are assigned to one teacher; those who are younger, to a 
 
TWO VARIETIES OF LABOR. 1 7 
 
 second; and the mere children, to a third. Thus there 
 arises the idea of grades, based primarily on age, and 
 finally on acquirements. Farther than this, certain branches 
 of instruction are assigned, as specialties, to teachers who 
 have a peculiar fitness for giving instruction in them. Pu- 
 pils thus classified by age and attainments, and taught by 
 those who are specially fitted for restricted portions of the 
 work of instruction, constitute a Graded-School, or a system 
 of such schools. 
 
 8. A school system requires direction by one 
 responsible head. — It is thus seen that the work of 
 instruction follows the law which prevails in all other 
 industries — differentiation, classification, system; and, as in 
 a complicated process of manufacture, while each workman 
 is held responsible for that part which he executes, some 
 one man is held responsible for the general result; so in an 
 extended system of instruction there should be a responsible 
 head, able to devise plans in general and in detail,' and 
 vested with sufficient authority to keep all subordinates in 
 their proper places, and at their assigned tasks. A graded- 
 school of a thousand pupils and twenty teachers involves a 
 system of great complexity, and requires the nicest adjust- 
 ments in order to work with harmony and efficiency. The 
 arrangement of courses of study, the examination and classi- 
 fication of pupils, their discipline and correction, the over- 
 sight of teachers, the compilation of records — these are 
 some of the items on which depends the success of the 
 system, and which require the attention of a single re- 
 sponsible head. 
 
 g. Two varieties of labor required in every sys- 
 tematized industry. — Two varieties of labor are required 
 in every occupation — that of planning and that of executing. 
 
 Most men work after prescribed rules. It is easier to follow 
 
 s. s.— 2. 
 
1 8 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 the footsteps of others than to beat a new path for ourselves. 
 Some, however, are most naturally and successfully employed 
 in organizing, planning, and supervising. This difference is 
 constitutional. While most men are content to know how a 
 process is performed, a comj^aratively few are imi^elled to 
 study the rationale of methods. In other words, there is 
 empirical knowledge and scientific knowledge — a knowledge 
 of processes merely, and a profounder knowledge of the 
 laws which underlie these processes. The engineer who 
 drives his engine merely from imitation, and the engineer 
 who understands the construction of this wonderful machine 
 and the mechanical principles which are involved in its 
 working, possess two widely different grades of qualifications. 
 The first is a machine in charge of a machine; to the other, 
 the engine is as though it were transparent, revealing its 
 minutest part, and wholly subject to his directing will. In 
 case of accident, these two orders of knowledge are brought 
 into striking contrast. The lower knowledge is useless in 
 times of derangement — under abnormal circumstances; while 
 the higher, being able to penetrate into the causes of dis- 
 turbance, may restore the normal situation of affairs. The 
 peculiar value of scientific knowledge is the extent of its 
 jDre visions — previsions which may be employed either in 
 anticiiDating and providing against disaster, or in devising 
 new and better j^rocesses. 
 
 10. Empiricism in teaching. — It is safe to say that 
 there is no profession in which empiricism prevails to such 
 an extent as in teaching. In other professions there is a 
 course of preparatory training, designed to unfold the scien- 
 tific principles which underlie the arts in question; and in 
 actual practice there is constant reference to the laws which 
 are involved in the various cases presenting themselves, and 
 an effort to discover the causes of that which is abnormal, 
 
THE REIGN OF LAW. 19 
 
 and thus to proceed by rational methods. In teaching, how- 
 ever, tradition and imitation are dominant. In this country, 
 at least, teaching is for the most part a mechanical employ- 
 ment, and teachers differ from one another chiefly in industry 
 and tact. To superintend the work of instruction with ad- 
 vantage requires, at least, considerable executive ability, a 
 somewhat complete knowledge of the branches taught, and 
 ready skill in discipline. With these qualifications alone, a 
 system of instruction may be kept from deteriorating, but it 
 is not likely that it will be improved to any considerable 
 extent — improved, that is, by the conception of more philo- 
 sophic methods, and the skillful adaptation of means to de- 
 sired ends. What is involved in an improvement purposely 
 made ? A close scrutiny of the principles involved ; an ideal 
 scheme of what is desirable; and an intelligent employment 
 of adequate means. The improvement is first constructed in 
 thought, by ' ' the scientific use of the imagination, " and then 
 the plan is patiently embodied in practice. Superintendence, 
 then, requires, in addition to practical skill, scientific pre- 
 vision derived from a profounder knowledge of the science 
 of education. 
 
 II. The reign of la"w. — A characteristic feature of 
 modern thought is the extension which has been given to 
 the province of law. Formerly, physical phenomena alone 
 were thought subject to the laws of cause and effect, while 
 vast domains of nature were relegated to the caprices of 
 chance; but now, social phenomena and mental phenomena, 
 the organization of society and the creations of the intelli- 
 gence are admitted to be under the reign of law. If, even 
 now, certain classes of phenomena can not be explained by 
 bringing them under higher generalizations, it is not because 
 they are not cases of a general law, but because the net- 
 work is so complicated that human ingenuity has hitherto 
 
20 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 been unable to unravel it; yet it is certain that the whole 
 current of modern thought is setting steadily in the direction 
 of extending the domain of law, and hence of scientific pre- 
 vision. It is thus that each art has its correlative science; 
 that is, each process is recognized as depending on definite 
 laws of cause and effect, a knowledge of which will serve 
 to account for failures and to open up the way for studied 
 improvements. 
 
 12. The science of education. — Along with the dis- 
 covery that mental phenomena may be explained by referring 
 them to the general laws which regulate the processes of 
 thinking, feeling, and willing, there has dawned the idea 
 that education Is not merely an imitative art, but that, in 
 fact, it rests on an ascertainable basis of law, and that its 
 processes may be perfected by bringing them into harmony 
 with nature. While this conception is slowly gaining ground, 
 educational methods are still chiefly empirical; teaching is, 
 for the most part, an art without principles, — a handicraft 
 exercised from convenience or from necessity. To be enno- 
 bled, an art must offer free scope to the exercise of the intel- 
 lect ; the trained hand must derive fresh accessions of skill 
 from the cultivated brain. Education is waiting to be thus 
 ennobled; and coming generations should be trained by the 
 skill of teachers who are able to adapt means to desired ends, 
 through a knowledge of the laws which underlie the unfold- 
 ings of the human intelligence, and even the assertions of the 
 human will; and if the great army of teachers must follow 
 prescribed methods, they should be led by those who are 
 master workmen, versed both in the theory and practice of 
 teaching. How shall our educational methods be regen- 
 erated? How shall they be subjected to revision and cor- 
 rection? By what standard shall novel methods be tested? 
 These queries disclose the need of recognized first principles 
 
EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 21 
 
 to wliich we may refer for proof of the validity of our meth- 
 ods, and by the light of which we may place the art of teach- 
 ing in that course of progress which characterizes all other 
 professions. FaciUties should be given for the cultivation 
 of this new science, and for bringing its truths to bear on 
 the current practice of teaching. Superintendents of schools 
 should be the apostles of this new gospel, and should preach 
 its truths to those who depend on them for guidance. 
 
 13. Educational science in Great Britain. — There 
 is reason to think that an educational philosophy is now in 
 process of formation, and that, ere long, there will be a 
 rational escape from many of the uncertainties, absurdities, 
 and embarrassments which now beset all varieties of school 
 work. The following extract from a recent number of The 
 Popular Science Monthly gives evidence of the direction in 
 which educational thought in Great Britain is moving. 
 
 ' ' One of the most important papers read in the Section 
 of Economic Science of the British Association was that by 
 Mrs. Gray on the 'Science of Education.' The author com- 
 plained that in Britain there is no adequate or general con- 
 ception of what education is, and, therefore, of the magnitude 
 and complexity of the facts on which a science of education, 
 which can never be an exact, but only a mixed and applied 
 science, must be based. We start with a confusion of terms, 
 using education as synonymous with instruction; and the 
 confusion of thought indicated by this misnomer runs through 
 our whole treatment of the subject. It is surely time that 
 this confusion should be replaced by a scientific conception 
 of the process which should result in the most valuable of all 
 products, — human beings developed to the full extent of their 
 natural capacity. What is wanted is that teachers, like prac- 
 tical navigators, should be furnished with the principles of a 
 science they have not had to discover for themselves, and 
 
2 2 SCHOOL SUPERVISION'. 
 
 with charts to guide their general course, leaving to their in- 
 dividual acumen the adaptations and modifications required 
 by special circumstances. We have such knowledge to guide 
 us in improving our breeds of cattle and our crops. Must 
 we remain without it in the infinitely more important busi- 
 ness of improving our human crop, of getting out of our 
 human soil all that it can be made to yield for social and 
 individual good? Must every tyro still be allowed to try 
 experiments, not in corpore vili, but on the most delicate and 
 precious of materials — the human body and mind — in the 
 most powerful of all forces — human passions and the human 
 will; experiments in which success or failure means virtue 
 or vice, happiness or misery, lives worthy or unworthy; 
 sowing with every action a seed of good or ill, to reproduce 
 itself in an endless series beyond all human ken?"' 
 
 14. The need of school supervision not every- 
 ■where acknowledged. — It is an anomalous fact that 
 while all men freely acknowledge the need of enlightened 
 supervision in mechanical employments, in trade, and in 
 government, there is often extreme reluctance to admit its 
 value and necessity in the management of school systems. 
 Men who themselves are most usefully employed in directing 
 the affairs of a printing-office, of a book-store, or of a 
 foundry, will deny to a school the right of having a respon- 
 sible head. Nor is it difficult to account for this reluctance. 
 First, there is the general fact that teaching is not generally 
 regarded as an art having processes of its own, requiring 
 skill of a special kind, and needing special preparation for 
 its duties. In the view of all who have formed this notion 
 of teaching, ' the man who is charged with the duty of sujDcr- 
 vising the work of instruction is a supernumerary. Then 
 there is the special fact that, as yet, there has not been a 
 clear differentiation between teaching and superintendence. 
 
KESrONSIBILITY OF SUPERINTENDENTS. 23 
 
 The fact that superintendence requires a different kind of 
 knowledge, perhaps a higher order of knowledge, is not 
 generally admitted. And thus it is that even if some over- 
 sight is deemed to be requisite, it is assumed that it can be 
 exercised in an unofficial capacity by the Board of Education 
 or by some one of the regular teaching force. The real fact 
 is, as I have attempted to show, that the complicated structure 
 of a graded system of instruction requires a constant over- 
 sight by one responsible head, able to direct the movements 
 of the whole system, and vested with sufficient authority to 
 enforce, if necessary, a compliance with his decisions; and, 
 further, that, in response to this need,, the law of the division 
 of labor has called into existence, out of the teaching class, 
 a new body of professional men who differ from teachers as 
 an architect differs from the workmen who follow the jDlan 
 which he has prescribed. 
 
 15. The responsibility of superintendents. — By 
 
 that inherent law of progress whereby vocations are special- 
 ized, the active administration of city and village school 
 systems has been intrusted to superintendents and principals. 
 Though not authorized to expend a dollar of public funds on 
 their own authority, they virtually direct the outlay of a large 
 portion of the moneys raised for educational purposes. By 
 common consent, superintendents are allowed to have an 
 influential voice in the arrangement of courses of study, in 
 the adoption of text-books, in the selection of teachers, in 
 the purchase of apparatus, in the distribution of work, and, 
 in general, in every important item of school economy. In 
 reality, therefore, the turning point of success in public 
 school affairs is the industry, skill, and good sense of those 
 who are charged with the duty of employing the ways and 
 means which the people so generously supply. It is a dis- 
 creditable fact that, on the whole, the net results of our 
 
24 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 public school administration are far below what they ought to 
 be, when considered with reference to the total expense at 
 which they have been secured ; and it is a fact still more dis- 
 creditable that, to a considerable extent, this result is charge- 
 able to the incompetence of those who have the direct super- 
 vision of schools — to a lack of professional skill in the 
 performance of the trusts which have been assigned them. 
 In all industries the condition of success is skilled labor — 
 skill in the operative and skill in the oversight of operatives ; 
 a skill which uses every item of material to the best purpose, 
 and turns out the greatest amount of the best products. In 
 teaching there is a lack of skilled labor, and especially of 
 that variety of labor which is most truly productive — super- 
 vision. It is to an awakened zeal among superintendents 
 and principals that we must look for a body of doctrine 
 which shall introduce rational processes into all departments 
 of school work, and thus make possible an economical use 
 of the resources which a generous people bestow on univer- 
 sal education. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS DEFINED AND SOME 
 OF HIS GENERAL DUTIES DISCUSSED. 
 
 S.S.-3. (25) 
 
■ SUMMARY. 
 
 The people may delegate certain powers to a Board of Trustees. 
 A Board of Trustees may assign certain duties to a superintendent 
 of schools. Superintendents and principals. The time which may be 
 profitably devoted to general supervision. A superintendent should 
 not be subject to interference in the discharge of his professional du- 
 ties. The classification of pupils. The selection of teachers. The 
 examination of teachers. The sources from which graded-schools 
 may derive their teachers. 
 
 (26) 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS AND DUTIES. 
 
 i6. The people may delegate certain powers to 
 a Board of Trustees. — When the people have chosen a 
 certain number of men, as their representatives, to administer 
 a portion of their interests, a virtual contract has been made 
 whereby these interests have passed for a time from their 
 direct control into the hands of their agents. The powers 
 thus assigned are irrevocable during the period for which 
 these representatives are chosen, or until they are removed 
 from office by impeachment or other legal process. Thus 
 during their term of office the trustees of a school district 
 have the entire administration of school affairs, and are not 
 subject to the dictation of those by whom they were appointed. 
 From the very nature of the representative system, certain 
 limits are assigned to the jurisdiction of school officers; but 
 while acting within these limits, their official action should 
 be dictated only by their own enlightened sense of duty. 
 What end is gained in electing men of superior qualifications 
 to official positions, unless they are granted some independent 
 use of their own wisdom and discretion? Officials should 
 certainly respect the honest convictions of their constituents, 
 but they should as certainly be guided in their official acts 
 by their own convictions of right and duty in all matters 
 which have been intrusted to their care. In case of evident 
 maladministration, the people may obtain legal redress; or 
 
 (27) 
 
28 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 if there is dissatisfaction with the manner in which an officer 
 has performed his duties, there is the effectual remedy, at 
 the close of his official term, of choosing his successor. 
 The employment of teachers, the fixing of their salaries, 
 the selection of text-books, the adoption of courses of study, 
 the purchase of libraries and apparatus are among the duties 
 exclusively assigned to boards of trustees; and the integrity 
 and intelligence with which these duties are performed will 
 determine the efficiency and worth of the school system. 
 
 17. A Board of Trustees may assign certain du- 
 ties to a superintendent of schools. — By a further 
 extension of the representative system, a board of trustees 
 having charge of the general educational interests of a com- 
 munity may delegate certain powers and assign correspond- 
 ing duties to a superintendent of schools; and while acting 
 within the limits of these delegated powers, this officer is as 
 far removed from interference by the board of trustees as the 
 latter is from interference by the people. 
 
 In case the superintendent exceeds his prescribed powers, 
 he is removable from office; or in case he does not perform 
 his duties to the satisfaction of his superiors, they have a 
 sufficient remedy in choosing his successor at the expiration 
 of his term of office. The powers conferred on a superin- 
 tendent of schools are usually determined by the rules and 
 regulations of the governing body; and while there is some 
 variation in the amount of authority given to this officer, his 
 general duties may be stated as folloAvs : 
 
 (i) To classify pupils according to their attainments. 
 
 (2) To advise the Board of the qualifications of the teachers 
 employed, and to anticipate the vacancies which are likely 
 to occur. 
 
 (3) To enforce an observance of the courses of study and 
 the use of the prescribed text-books. 
 
SUPERINTENDENTS AND PRINCIPALS. 29 
 
 (4) In cases of difficulty, to assist teachers in the discipHne 
 of pupils, and to secure an observance of the rules and reg- 
 ulations of the Board. 
 
 (5) To prescribe rules for the conduct of pupils in the 
 school buildings and on the school grounds. 
 
 (6) To direct teachers in their methods of instruction and 
 discipline. 
 
 The superintendent is thus the executive officer of the 
 Board, so far as the internal management of the school is 
 concerned ; and whenever circumstances warrant the appoint- 
 ment of a special officer of this kind, his distinctive work 
 will be of the kind just mentioned. For the sake of setting 
 forth the relation, growing out of these requirements, of the 
 superintendent to the governing body under whose orders 
 he acts, and of presenting in their appropriate connection 
 some of the most important subjects pertaining to public 
 school policy, several of the above topics will be discussed 
 at considerable length. 
 
 18. Superintendents and Principals. — In the West, 
 where the graded-school system has been quite fully devel- 
 oped, it is usual to appoint a superintendent when the aggre- 
 gate enrollment is twelve hundred or upward. The tendency 
 is to appoint a special officer in schools considerably smaller ; 
 and in many schools of three or four hundred pupils the 
 principal teacher styles himself superintendent. This, how- 
 ever, is a manifest perversion of language. The time of a 
 superintendent is exclusively or very largely employed in the 
 general oversight of teachers and schools : he is rather an 
 officer of the Board than a member of the corps of teachers. 
 The principal teacher in a smaller school, on the other hand, 
 is almost exclusively engaged in teaching, and his legitimate 
 tide is Principal. I suspect that this unauthorized use of 
 titles is a weakness somewhat peculiar to the West, where 
 
30 
 
 SCHO OL S UPER VISION. 
 
 almost every man in charge of a school with one assistant is 
 a "Professor." This fondness for titles very justly exposes 
 the profession of teaching to ridicule, and confounds ideas 
 which should be kept distinct. 
 
 AVhen the aggregate enrollment is less than one thousand, 
 the appointment of a superintendent is scarcely justifiable. 
 In such cases, the principal of the school should be relieved 
 from teaching for a part of his time, in order that he may 
 give some attention to general supervision. He may very 
 properly be held responsible for the classification of pupils 
 and for their general discipline. By frequently convening 
 teachers for consultation and instruction, and by occasional 
 visits to their schools, he may secure a very .efficient organ- 
 ization. In some instances there is not a clear recognition 
 of a principal's rights and duties; and, in consequence of 
 this, there is danger of unnecessary and mischievous inter- 
 ference in the internal affairs of the school. If a principal is 
 worthy of his position, he is competent to maintain the effi- 
 ciency of his school; and while held rigidly responsible for 
 results, he should be granted all proper freedom of action. 
 It is a great injustice to exact certain results and yet to with- 
 hold means of attaining them. Responsibilities should be 
 commensurate with facifities for meeting them. 
 
 At the outset, there should be a distinct understanding as 
 to the limits of the principal's authority. If necessary, let 
 his duties be defined by contract, so that there may be no 
 encroachment by either party on the rights of the other. 
 
 19. The time which may be profitably devoted 
 to general supervision. — The amount of time which 
 should be employed in general supervision must be deter- 
 mined by the circumstances in each special case. The only 
 general rule which can be given is, that the head of a school 
 should make his labor as remunerative as possible. The 
 
EMPLOYMENT' OF 'J 'EMI':. 3 1 
 
 amount of time which may be profitably employed in super- 
 intendence will depend on the number of schools, their dis- 
 tance from one another, the degree to which work has been 
 systematized, and the efficiency of the teaching force. The 
 need of supervision is relatively great when there is a large 
 number of schools, when they are scattered over a considera- 
 ble area, when the system is imperfectly developed, and 
 when teachers are inefficient or inexperienced. 
 
 Schools which employ forty teachers require the entire 
 time of a superintendent. Where there are thirty teachers, 
 and the schools are well organized, four-fifths of the super- 
 intendent's time should be devoted to general supervision. 
 With twenty teachers, the half of each day is enough for 
 general purposes ; and where there are less than ten teachers 
 in one building, not more than one-fifth of a principal's time 
 need be given to supervision. These estimates are based on 
 a normal condition of affairs. Under exceptional circum- 
 stances, such as the inauguration of a new system or a con- 
 siderable number of new teachers, more time will be required 
 for the general oversight of affairs. 
 
 It is well to recollect that the ultimate support of our 
 public school system is the well-earned confidence of the 
 people. Good schools will necessarily cost large sums of 
 money. The people have every-where shown themselves 
 willing to be taxed for educational purposes ; but it is more 
 than probable that, in the natural course of events, there 
 may be developed a tendency to reaction; and it is hence 
 incumbent on all who are charged with the administration 
 of public school affairs to make all expenditures as remunera- 
 tive as possible. Should the j^rincipal of a school which 
 numbers one thousand pupils spend his entire time in "su- 
 perintending," it is probable that his employers would soon 
 become disgusted with a system which needed so much 
 
32 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 watching. Teachers who need such constant oversight can 
 not be economically employed; and there is danger that 
 even good teachers would lose their ability for independent 
 work under such a system. 
 
 20. A superintendent has his professional rights. — 
 
 In cases where the superintendent is exclusively or chiefly 
 occupied in the work of supervision, he should be held 
 rigidly responsible for results, and should be allowed all 
 necessary powers, privileges, and helps. In matters which 
 are entirely within the sphere of his professional duties, 
 he should work without hinderance ; in others where there 
 is concurrent authority, there should be conference; in 
 others which are wholly within the prerogatives of the 
 Board, he should not interfere even by suggestion. It is 
 essential to the harmony and efficiency of a school that 
 there be this clear definition of duties and prerogatives; and 
 wherever the line may fall, there should be the most exact 
 observance of all that is implied in the contract. Competent 
 and honorable men are made the better by being trusted. 
 They will accomplish more and better work if confidence is 
 placed in their discretion and ability. If a superintendent 
 can not be trusted to do the work which belongs to his pro- 
 fession, he should be discharged, and the management of the 
 school placed in competent hands. 
 
 Nothing is more fatal to the harmonious working of a 
 school system than a misunderstanding of the relative powers 
 and duties of the Board and the superintendent. The Board, 
 as the governing body, should permit no trespass on its ex- 
 clusive privileges; but, at the same time, there should be 
 left to the superintendent a full scope for the performance 
 of his duties as they may be defined by contract or other- 
 wise. It is not difficult to see how a man, conscious of his 
 ability to do the work required of him, may be annoyed by 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF PUPILS. 33 
 
 needless interference; nor how such interference may be a 
 real trespass on his rights. The mere fact that a man is 
 placed in charge of such interests should be a guaranty that, 
 while in the performance of his duties, his professional rights 
 will be respected. When a physician is summoned to the 
 bedside of an invalid, he is for a time invested with certain 
 prerogatives which should shield him from dictation and in- 
 terference. The fact of his being summoned is a virtual 
 acknowledgment of his competence; and so long as he is 
 in charge of the case, no one has a moral right to dictate 
 his method of practice. 
 
 I am the farthest from justifying any mere assumption of 
 dignity, power, or prerogative; but it is clear that a super- 
 intendent has some sphere of professional duty, however 
 limited, and that within this sphere he should be trusted 
 to exercise his skill unmolested. In general, these limits 
 are settled by usage; but in cases where this unwritten 
 law has no binding force, a definite understanding should 
 prevent those divisions and disagreements which result so 
 disastrously. 
 
 21. The classification of pupils. — The duty of placing 
 new pupils in classes where their time can be employed to 
 the greatest advantage, and of making such reclassifications 
 as ability and industry may make necessary, is one of the 
 most important which a Board of Trustees can require of 
 a superintendent. It has been urged as an objection to 
 graded-schools, that sufficient provision is not made for dif- 
 ferences in individual ability; that in case a pupil becomes 
 able to do more work than his classmates, it is difficult, if not 
 impossible, to give him a reclassification wdiich will do him 
 exact justice. This objection will be more fully considered 
 in another place (§ 97) ; and it is mentioned here only to 
 show that it may be removed, to a considerable extent, by 
 
34 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 exercising great care in classifying new pupils. For it is 
 plain that when pupils have been once put in their proper 
 places it will not be necessary, save under exceptional 
 circumstances, to give them a reclassification before the 
 close of the year, when there will occur a general readjust- 
 ment of the school. 
 
 It is convenient to distinguish three classes of new pupils. 
 
 (i) Those who have never attended any school. 
 
 (2) Those who come from graded- schools. 
 
 (3) Those who come from ungraded schools. 
 
 Nothing needs to be done with applicants of the first 
 class except to place them in the first year of the primary 
 grade. 
 
 The classification of pupils who have been instructed in 
 graded-schools is not attended with any special difficulty. 
 Such is the general uniformity in graded courses of in- 
 struction that a pupil may easily pass from one classified 
 school to another and take up his work where it had been 
 dropped. 
 
 The work done in ungraded schools is usually unsymmet- 
 rical. As studies are selected with but little regard to their 
 natural order and intrinsic importance, it usually happens 
 that there is considerable proficiency in some branches, 
 while others, of the same grade, are almost wholly neglected. 
 The direct result of this is, that, at the outset, it is impos- 
 sible to give pupils who have been instructed in this un- 
 systematic manner a rational classification. Proficiency in 
 reading, or in arithmetic, may entitle them to enter one of 
 the higher grades, while a relatively poor knowledge of 
 grammar or of geography may make it necessary to classify 
 them with pupils who are considerably younger. As a gen- 
 eral rule, pupils who come from ungraded schools must be 
 classed somewhat lower than those who have been tauo;ht 
 
CLASS//'7CA7V0\ OF PUPILS. 35 
 
 in graded-schools ; but by reason of tlieir age and greater 
 maturity they will often make more rapid progress than 
 their classmates, and may require, in consec[uence, a re- 
 classification. As the first classification of such pupils must 
 be, to some extent, provisional, it is best, in general, to 
 anticipate the probable need of a reclassification, by placing 
 them among })upils who are somewhat their superiors in 
 point of scholarship. Even if, in spite of this precaution, 
 they outgrow their first classification, the ability which has 
 enabled them to attain this result will permit their transfer 
 to a higher grade. 
 
 In deciding on a pupil's fitness for admission, it is of the 
 utmost importance to take into consideration his general 
 ability. This ability, though depending primarily on innate 
 mental habit, may also depend on health, industry, and 
 acquired habits of study. Generally, older pupils liave a 
 maturity of mind which will enable them to accomplish 
 more work than their younger classmates; but it will not 
 be safe to take this for granted in all cases. If it is dis- 
 covered that a pupil of limited acquirements has a mind of 
 more than ordinary activity and power of comprehension, 
 there need be no hesitation in giving him a higher classifi- 
 cation than his mere literary attainments would justify. In 
 all cases where it is impossible to classify a pupil of good 
 ability with exactness, it is better to place him with superiors 
 than with inferiors. Some margin should be allowed for the 
 exercise of a pupil's reserve force. 
 
 In making examinations for promotion, there is less oc- 
 casion to inquire into a pupil's latent abiUty, since this has 
 been transformed into actual acquirement. If a graded sys- 
 tem of instruction is wisely administered, a pupil's ability, 
 whether based on mental habit, health, or industry, will be 
 concretely represented in his final standing. 
 
2,6 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 22. The selection of teachers. — As the general suc- 
 cess of a school depends very largely on the quality of its 
 teaching force, and as the superintendent is expected to 
 secure efficient instruction and discipline throughout all de- 
 partments, it seems wholly reasonable that he should have 
 some voice in the selection of teachers. In this matter the 
 Board and superintendent should act concurrently. While 
 the latter has no right to employ teachers on his own 
 authority, it is certainly right that his opinion of their fit- 
 ness should be respected. It is conceivable that, through 
 favoritism, he may recommend those who are unfit; or, 
 through unworthy motives, may stand in the way of those 
 who are deserving; but there is an efiectual remedy for this 
 evil, in a change of superintendent. 
 
 On the other hand, by confiding, to some extent, the 
 selection of teachers to his judgment, he is made to feel a 
 personal interest in their success, as a failure would be a 
 direct reflection on his sagacity and general abifity. Be- 
 sides, when teachers know that their positions depend in 
 some measure on his estimate of their fitness, they will 
 apply themselves the more earnestly to the execution of 
 his plans. There must be some relation between subordi- 
 nate teachers and their superior, whereby there shall be 
 prompt obedience to authority; and there seems to be no 
 more natural bond than that which results from the fact 
 that positions are dependent somewhat on the will of the 
 superintendent. It should be remarked, also, that there is 
 no duty more beset with difficulties and embarrassments 
 than that of being obliged to report the deficiencies of 
 teachers to the governing body; and yet this duty, all 
 important as it is, can not be reasonably exacted, unless 
 the right of exercising some choice in the selection of 
 teachers is conceded. 
 
EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS. 37 
 
 23. The examination of teachers. — Great caution 
 should be exercised in the selection of teachers. Their 
 literary qualifications should be ascertained with great care. 
 When schools are organized under special acts, the exami- 
 nation of teachers will devolve on the Board, or on the 
 Committee on Teachers and Schools. The actual examina- 
 tions are usually conducted by the superintendent, acting 
 under the authority of the Board. These examinations 
 should not be technical, calculated to exhibit the wisdom 
 and shrewdness of the examiners, but should be designed 
 to test the accuracy and extent of the teacher's knowledge. 
 An examination by writing is preferable, because there will 
 be exhibited some important items, such as penmanship, 
 spelling, punctuation, and practical grammar, which would 
 not sufficiently appear in an oral examination. Besides, the 
 results of an examination conducted in this manner will 
 form a permanent record, to which reference may be made 
 in time of need. These papers should be marked as in 
 an examination of pupils for promotion (§111); and the ap- 
 plicants should be ranked, so far as their literary quali- 
 fications are concerned, according to the average value of 
 their papers. 
 
 But while a certain degree of text-book knowledge is in- 
 dispensable, this of itself is not sufficient to determine the 
 fitness of an applicant for a situation. Literary ability is 
 but one factor in the conditions of success. The amount 
 of experience which candidates have had, their health, their 
 manners, are all items of importance which should be taken 
 into consideration. Yet excellence in all the points above 
 named will not form a real teacher, unless there is an added 
 quality which gives tone to the whole character — studentship. 
 
 Education should be an inspiration; and unless teachers 
 themselves are enthusiastic students, they can not inspire 
 
38 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 their pupils with a love for books and study. A man whose 
 present attainments are limited, but who is brimful of en- 
 thusiasm for reading and study, is a hundredfold more likely 
 to become a successful teacher than a man with a better 
 furnished mind who has lost his zeal for intellectual pursuits. 
 A steady growth in knowledge and culture should be required 
 of every teacher ; and when it is known that one is passing 
 his time in intellectual sloth, he should be made to give place 
 to another who is worthy of preferment. 
 
 Teachers who satisfy the requirements made of them 
 should receive a certificate to that effect, which qualifies 
 them to become candidates for vacancies which may occur. 
 A book of blank certificates, drawn up in the form of that on 
 page 39, will furnish an exact and convenient record of the 
 examinations, and of candidates who are eligible to positions. 
 
 In order to estimate the comparative literary ability of 
 candidates, it is desirable that each applicant should answer 
 the same series of questions. Whenever it becomes neces- 
 sary, a second series of the same scope may be substituted 
 for the first. 
 
 The following list of questions is intended to suggest the 
 form of a written examination, suitable for ordinary use : 
 
 State your name, age, the length of time you have taught, 
 and whether you have made any special preparation for the 
 business of teaching. 
 
 (i) What works have you read on general literature, sci- 
 ence, and mental philosophy? 
 
 (2) What method of teaching children to read do you 
 prefer ? What are the grounds of your preference ? 
 
 (3) What objects would you seek to accomplish in the 
 ordinary reading exercise? 
 
 (4) How would you first instruct children in counting, 
 adding, and subtracting? 
 
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40 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 (5) Name the first eight periods in their order. 
 
 (6) Explain the subtracting of 5682 from 9007. 
 
 (7) Add the fractions |, -f-, |, -f^, and -^. 
 
 (8) Divide f by f and analyze the process. 
 
 (9) If 3I yards of cloth cost ']\ dollars, how many yards 
 can be bought for 20 f dollars? 
 
 (10) What is the difference between a common fraction 
 and a decimal fraction? 
 
 (11) State the process of dividing one decimal fraction by 
 another. 
 
 (12) At six and one-fourth cents each, how many oranges 
 can be bought for seven dollars and twenty cents ? 
 
 (13) Sold sugar at 12I cents per pound, and lost 25 per 
 cent. What was its cost? 
 
 (14) Compute the interest on $325.52, for 2 years, 7 
 months, and 18 days, at 7 per cent. 
 
 (15) Explain the cause of the change of seasons. 
 
 (16) Why is the tropic of Cancer 23^ degrees from the 
 equator ? 
 
 (17) Give the location and width of the zones. 
 
 (18) Through what waters must a vessel pass in sailing 
 from Chicago to London ? 
 
 (19) Describe the principal river systems of North America. 
 
 (20) In what states, and in what direction from Chicago, 
 are the following cities? Rochester, Lowell, New Haven, 
 Columbia, Detroit, St. Louis, Montgomery, San Francisco. 
 
 (21) Name the principal countries of Europe and their 
 capitals. 
 
 (22) Parse the words which are numbered in the follow- 
 ing: "^Lord, be pleased to ^ shake ^my clay cottage ^before 
 thou ^throwest it ^down. May it Hotter awhile before ^it 
 doth tumble. '-'Let me be ^° summoned before I "am sur- 
 prised. Deliver me ^-from sudden death. ^^Not from ^^sud- 
 
EXAMLV AT/ON OF TEACHERS. 41 
 
 den death in ^^ respect of itself, ^''for 1 eare not ^Hiow ^" short 
 my passage '^be, so it be '•^''safe. "-'^But let it not "be sud- 
 den in resi^ect -^of me." 
 
 (23) Give the principal parts of the following \erbs: Go, 
 do, bring, think, sing, run, dream, ring, buy, eat. 
 
 (24) Arrange the following in the form of blank verse : 
 "Again the genius of old Rome shall from the dust uprear 
 his reverend head, rous'd by the shout of millions, then 
 before his high tribunal thou and I appear." 
 
 (25) Name the principal historians, novelists, and poets 
 of America. 
 
 (26) What causes led to the Revolution, the War of 1812, 
 and the Rebellion ? 
 
 (27) Name the thirteen original states. 
 
 (28) Name the Presidents of the United States in their 
 order. 
 
 (29) State the manner in which an election for President 
 takes place. 
 
 (30) How are Senators and Representatives chosen, and 
 for what period? 
 
 (31) By what process is the blood purified by respiration? 
 
 (32) How is the air of a school-room made unfit for use? 
 
 (33) What precautions should be employed in regulating 
 the temperature and purity of the air in school-rooms? 
 
 (34) Explain the working of a common pump. 
 
 (35) A cubic foot of water weighs t,ooo ounces. How 
 many cubic feet will a ton of iron occupy, its specific 
 gravity being 7.3? 
 
 These questions will doubtless offend by their simplicity. 
 They are intended as a protest against the popular theory 
 of "exhaustive" examinations. Let it be recollected that, 
 at best, the answers to examination questions are but expo- 
 nents of what is known on certain topics. It is evidentl)' 
 
42 SCHOOL SUPER VISIOA\ 
 
 impossible to devise a series of questions which shall exhibit 
 all the knowledge which a teacher has on a special subject. 
 The best we can do is to establish certain data from which 
 we may infer the extent of the candidate's knowledge. 
 Thus, we may presume that a teacher who can give a clear 
 analysis of the reduction of a complex fraction has a com- 
 petent knowledge of common fractions ; while ignorance on 
 this point is not only of itself a partial disqualification, but it 
 involves an ignorance of the general subject. What seems 
 desirable in a written examination is to bring into sharp 
 outline certain portions of knowledge which involve an ac- 
 quaintance with facts and principles of a lower order. If 
 the purpose be to enter upon a minute examination into iso- 
 lated facts, it will be best secured by an oral examination. 
 
 24. The sources from which graded-schools may- 
 derive their teachers. — The sources from which graded- 
 schools may receive their best supply of teachers is a ques- 
 tion of great practical importance. My own conviction, 
 based on a somewhat extended experience, is that if the 
 system is crowned with a well organized high school, its 
 graduates are likely to make the most successful teachers; 
 and it is from this source that I believe our graded-schools 
 are destined to draw recruits to their teaching force. Teach- 
 ers who have completed a graded course of instruction 
 which culminates in a well organized high school, have 
 received literary advantages equal to those furnished by any 
 institution below the college or the university. Besides, such 
 teachers will almost invariably be in hearty sympathy with 
 graded-school wjork. Teachers will teach chiefly as they 
 have been taught, and will manage pupils as they them- 
 selves were managed during the course of their education. 
 And if it be true, as I think it is, that the best models of 
 school management are to be found in our well organized 
 
jXORAfAL INST/U7CT10X. 43 
 
 graded-scbools, I do not know in what other direction to 
 look for a permanent supply of suitable teachers. 
 
 If the reader will keep in mind the distinction which is 
 elsewhere made (^ 9) between the great mass of teachers 
 who know only the art of teaching, and the few who need 
 to know the science of education, it will be seen that pro- 
 vision is made above only for those who are to occupy 
 subordinate positions. The higher professional education 
 of teachers must be acquired in normal schools, or in still 
 higher institutions of learning. 
 
 It ought not to be inferred from the above suggestion that 
 it is well to draw all the teachers of a school, or even a large 
 proportion of them, from the school itself. Every school 
 has its peculiar elements of weakness and of strength ; and 
 the laws of heredity will w^ork their results here as elsewhere. 
 A repeated involution of peculiarities, such as is inevitable 
 under the circumstances above supposed, will finally result 
 in an abnormal condition of affairs. A school system can 
 not be long maintained in a healthy state without the infu- 
 sion of new elements. 
 
 Some grade of normal instruction should be given in every 
 first-class high school. Large cities should maintain a distinct 
 normal school, whose membership should be composed of 
 high school graduates ; while smaller school systems must be 
 content with class instruction in the theory and practice of 
 teaching. Such a class, composed of pupils who propose to 
 teach, reciting twice a week and observing good models, 
 ma,y learn very much about the art of teaching. If such a 
 book as Page's Theory aftd Practice of Teaching be used as a 
 text, to be supplemented and illustrated, teachers may be 
 thoroughly prepared for efficient work in city graded-schools. 
 
 Normal instruction given in public schools is justifiable 
 only on the ground that it is necessary for the maintenance 
 
44 SCHOOL SUPER VIsrOiV. 
 
 of the school system. Considered merely as a preparation 
 for a specific vocation, it is no more within the province of 
 pubhc school work than instruction in medicine or law. 
 The view here taken is, that teachers who have been edu- 
 cated in graded-schools are thereby best qualified for doing 
 giAaded-school work. If this is not a fact, then the same 
 objection lies against normal instruction as against any other 
 professional instruction. 
 
 Universal education at public cost is justifiable only on 
 the ground that it is required for the perpetuity of our civil 
 institutions; and special instruction in any art or trade is 
 justifiable only when the general public good requires it. If 
 it were true that the country in general is suffering from the 
 lack of competent blacksmiths, then it would be a public 
 duty to provide for the training of this class of mechanics. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS DEFINED AND SOME 
 OF HIS GENERAL DUTIES DISCUSSED 
 
 (CONTINUED). 
 
 (45) 
 
SUMMAR V. 
 
 The relative fitness of men and women for the management of 
 schools. The use of prescribed books and conformity to the pre- 
 scribed course of study. The maintenance of discipline. Corporal 
 punishment. Order in the buildings and on the grounds. Recesses. 
 Text-books. 
 
 (46) 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS AND DUTIES 
 (continued). 
 
 25. The relative fitness of men and women for 
 the management of schools. — Still another question of 
 great practical importance to superintendents and boards of 
 education, is the relative 'fitness of men and women for the 
 management of schools. This topic is now brought into 
 prominence by its close relation to the general question of 
 the ''emancipation of women" which is agitating the pubHc 
 mind. The predominance of women in the school-room is 
 taken as the type of her deserved sphere in all professions ; 
 and so the argument takes this form : ' ' Since women are 
 successfully competing with men in the schools, why should 
 they not have the liberty to compete with men every- 
 where?" 
 
 It is a fact that women now greatly outnumber men in 
 the work of the school-room, and the tendency is rapidly 
 toward a monopoly by women of this variety of labor; but 
 still it is a question which at least admits of doubt, whether 
 women are able to do with equal efficiency all the varieties 
 of school work which men are doing. Are there not some 
 portions of this work which women can do much better than 
 men can do them ? Are there not other portions which men 
 can do much better than women can do them ? Are not the 
 united services of both needed for the highest success of a 
 
 (47) 
 
48 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 school system ? Analogous questions may be asked which 
 every one can answer; and these answers ought to satisfy 
 all wlio are in doubt as to woman's legitimate place in the 
 schools. In the training of a family of children, is there 
 not a part of the discipline which can be best administered 
 by the mother ? Is there not another part which can be best 
 administered by the father? Are not their united efforts 
 needed for the jDroper training of the family? 
 
 Let it be considered that the first and one of the most 
 difficult duties of the teacher is the discipline of the school, 
 just as the first and one of the most difficult of parental 
 duties is the discipline of the family. The question then at 
 issue is this : Is a woman, as mother or teacher, able to suc- 
 cessfully govern children during tlie successive periods of 
 infancy, childhood, and adolescence? Reasoning from fact, 
 we may learn from the many examples of families left in 
 charge of the mother, that woman, unaided, is not equal to 
 the task of training children in the way they should go; 
 while the known instincts of woman, which prompt her to 
 act from feeling rather than from deliberate purjDose, will 
 lead us to expect a weakness in her government of older 
 children. In infancy and early childhood, when weakness 
 demands affection, sympathy, and forbearance, woman is the 
 heaven-appointed disciplinarian; but during the years when 
 the passions exercise their sway, when the will is not con- 
 trolled by principle, and the strengthened intellect is de- 
 manding the right of self-direction, there is need of that 
 judicial firmness which is characteristic of man's nature. 
 Woman is naturally inclined to govern children by persua- 
 sion ; and when this fails, as it will in multitudes of cases, 
 she will not conquer an unwilling obedience, and so leaves 
 them ungoverned. Persuasion and force, affection uninflu- 
 enced by reason, and reason uninfluenced by affection, are 
 
WOMAN IN THE SCHOOLS. 49 
 
 tlie extreme terms of an antithesis which lias a real existence 
 in human nature; and it is by reciprocal modifications of 
 these jDrinciples that the young are to be trained into habits 
 of obedience. 
 
 No; woman can not do man's work in the schools; and 
 one of the greatest dangers which threaten our pubHc school 
 system is the gradual displacement of men from the higher 
 departments, where their influence is especially needed. 
 According to my understanding of the matter, children up 
 to the age of nine years should be instructed and governed 
 almost exclusively by women ; from nine to fourteen, they 
 may still be instructed by women, but should be subject, in 
 case of need, to government by men ; while from the age of 
 fourteen, they should be taught by both men and women, 
 and should be subject still more to government by men. 
 With respect to instruction, pupils may be taught by women 
 exclusively till the end of the grammar grade; but beyond 
 this there are some branches, as physics, chemistry, and 
 mathematics, which are best taught by men. No one need 
 expect to see a truly prosperous high school in the exclusive 
 charge of women. Two essentials to success will be want- 
 ing — healthy discipline and, in some branches, sound in- 
 struction. It is just as repugnant to reason and to experi- 
 ence to imagine a high school or college in the exclusive 
 charge of women, as to imagine a primary school in the 
 exclusive charge of men. Each is the climax of absurdity : 
 each is a direct violation of the decrees of nature , for as long 
 as there is sex, there will be characteristic intellectual differ- 
 ences based on sex, and these differences will prescribe 
 spheres of duty which can not be abandoned with impunity. 
 
 Since the above was Avritten, my eye has fallen on an ex- 
 tract from the Report of Samuel B. Stone, Superintendent of 
 Schools, Worcester, Mass., which seems to -me to embody 
 s. s,— 5. 
 
50 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 so much practical wisdom, that I can not forbear to insert 
 it in this connection : 
 
 ''Nothing is more certain than that the pubHc schools 
 have sadly decreased in effectiveness by forcing from the 
 profession so many of the men. A broad-minded, judicious, 
 and cultivated gentleman is needed at the head of every large 
 school; his influence is as essential to the right formation of 
 character in school as is the father's influence in the j^roper 
 rearing of a family. Another reason for increasing the num- 
 ber of male teachers is, that a more conservative element — 
 more permanency — may be introduced into the school sys- 
 tem among the necessary changes just described. With a 
 competent and permanent head for each school, to preserve 
 the unity, the continuity, and the proper succession of school 
 studies, a teacher may drop out here and there without ma- 
 terial loss. 
 
 "To secure and retain this increased number of men of 
 this excellence, it would be necessary to pay them liberally, 
 and to secure for the profession a recognized position, such 
 as it hardly holds at present. This status of the profession, 
 however, its own members will take care of. The question 
 of salary would involve some additional expense; for men 
 of the right character and ambition for the work they are to 
 do will have families which they must support. 
 
 " Right here we are met by the inquiry. Why not increase 
 the pay of your lady teachers, and thus secure them perma- 
 nently? Because the pay would not hold those whom we 
 most wish to retain, when the trial comes; and because a 
 kind of influence is needed which woman can not exert. 
 Do what she will, try as she may, no true woman can so 
 obliterate the mental and spiritual, any more than the phys- 
 ical marks by which the Creator has distinguished and glori- 
 fied her, as to act to perfection the man. The thousand 
 
WOMAN IN THE SCHOOLS. 5 1 
 
 little differences of character which display themselves in 
 male and female teachers are fully recognized by all except 
 the few who, in laboring for what they call the elevation of 
 woman, think it necessary to establish her identity with man, 
 in order to disprove her inferiority. 
 
 ' ' What we need is more of strong manly character in our 
 schools ; and to secure this we must attract it from other 
 callings. As for having the work done as well by women, 
 there is a part which she can do far better, a j^art equally 
 well, and a part not at all. Her superiority in educating 
 little children, when the heart is in the work, can not be 
 denied; her equahty in the work of instruction is plain; but 
 drill is not all of school. In the development of character, 
 the influence of woman is indispensable ; but she alone would 
 make boys womanish and girls not altogether womanly. 
 
 ' ' There is an exciting question about paying a woman the 
 same salary as a man for the same work ! No one will deny 
 the justice of this demand. The work needed, and for which 
 I am contending, is what she can not do. There is, there- 
 fore, no competition. There is, moreover, a law of supply 
 and demand which regulates prices; they can not be regu- 
 lated by legislative enactments. The price of wheat can not 
 be fixed by statute. If an educated woman is wanted to fill 
 a certain position, and ten stand ready to take it at $1,000, 
 each fully competent, is there any propriety in paying $2,000? 
 Will that help the nine ? If an educated man is wanted for 
 a position at $2,000, which a man only can fill, and a suita- 
 ble man can not be secured for less than $2,500, will it be 
 best to take one of the nine women? At any rate, this is 
 what we have been doing thirty or forty years, and, as many 
 persons best qualified to judge think, with injury to the 
 schools. 
 
 ''Is there any reason in the constitution of society why 
 
5 2 SCHO OL SUPER VISION. 
 
 there should be ten women for the one place and not the 
 right man for the other? There are indisputable indications 
 that men and women are in all respects the counterparts of 
 each other. The Creator did not fall into an error when he 
 made woman, as certain modern reformers would seem to 
 imply. In all civil society, since there was a civil society, 
 man has been regarded as the bread-winner and woman the 
 house-keeper. Probably this is about right, since a great 
 deal of homely joy has resulted. A young man who rightly 
 expects in the main to carry out this idea, will not and 
 ought not to enter a profession without promise. On the 
 other hand, there is a large class of self-dependent women. 
 The majority of those who teach are young. Many, with 
 true heroism, labor and secure for themselves not only a 
 livelihood, but the means of improvement, and a culture and 
 refinement that ought to be the envy of indolent ladies of 
 wealth. These heroic women are worthy of all honor, but 
 should they be treated as the rule or the exception ? Should 
 laws and customs be changed as if all women were to take 
 such places? 
 
 "This question of employment and salaries for women is 
 deeper than the surface. The present order of things, in this 
 regard, has its foundation in the very organization of society. 
 That order, with all its defects, should not be rudely changed 
 at the risk of greater evils. 
 
 "In what has thus far been said, I wish to be distinctly 
 understood as not undervaluing the services of women in the 
 schools. In all which is common between male and female 
 teachers, I can match the best man with an equally excellent 
 woman; while in that which belongs to woman only, she is 
 the superior. The influence of man, now too feebly felt in 
 the schools, is what is here contended for. If the proportion 
 of male and female teachers were reversed, this whole argu- 
 
USE OF PRESCRIBED BOOKS. 53 
 
 ment would apply to the other side; but as it is, the one 
 thing needful for our public schools is to add permanently to 
 the corps of teachers twice the number of men, and only 
 those of the better class." 
 
 26. The use of prescribed books and conformity 
 to the prescribed course of study. — All organized 
 bodies are threatened with the danger of disintegration, and 
 the highest forms of organization are most exposed to disin- 
 tegrating forces. In graded-schools, the tendency to disor- 
 ganization is felt in the unwillingness of pupils to conform to 
 the requirements of classification. This protest against con- 
 formity to the established order of things may manifest itself 
 in unwillingness to use prescribed text-books, or to pursue 
 the appointed studies of the course. Even now it is not 
 quite clear to all parents why their children may not be 
 allowed to use whatever books it suits their convenience to 
 furnish; and to many it appears like an arbitrary act to 
 refuse a free choice in the selection of studies. Noncon- 
 formity in either case, however, can not be tolerated without 
 great danger to the system; and ceaseless vigilance should 
 be exercised against the encroachments of this evil. Two 
 things should be absolutely forbidden : the use of any text- 
 book not in the prescribed list, and the study of any subject 
 not included in the prescribed course. To allow either of 
 these things to be done is to sanction the gradual disorgan- 
 ization of a graded-school. 
 
 But it does not follow from these prohibidons that every 
 pupil must necessarily pursue all the studies which are pre- 
 scribed for a given grade. The organization of the school — 
 the prescribed number and sequence of studies — may remain 
 intact, even if some pupils pursue only a part of the course. 
 Disorganization will set in only when no one chooses to pur- 
 sue a given study of the course. In this case, the continuity 
 
54 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 of the course will be broken, and the first downward step 
 will be taken toward an ungraded school. The greatest 
 good of pupils in general, and the highest prosperity of the 
 school, — two things which are inseparable even in thought, — 
 both require a close conformity to the prescribed course of 
 instruction; but there are cases in which exceptions may be 
 made to this general rule with advantage to individual pupils 
 and without harm to the general system. Pupils may be 
 excused from certain studies of the course under the follow- 
 ing circumstances : 
 
 (i) When a pupil's health will not permit him to take the 
 full course, and there is the alternative of taking a part of it 
 or of leaving school altogether. 
 
 (2) When a pupil can spend but a short time in school, 
 and has good reasons for bestowing all his attention on two 
 or three selected studies. 
 
 When these exceptions are made, it should be with the 
 distinct understanding that the pupils who avail themselves 
 of them are disqualified for promotion. It is plain that one 
 part of a graded course must be. completed before a succeed- 
 ing part can be attempted. This check is absolutely required 
 in order to preserve the integrity of the system, and will be 
 found sufficient to j^revent any unnecessary exceptions to the 
 general rule. 
 
 27. The maintenance of discipline. — The strength, 
 or it may be the weakness, of a superintendent or of a prin- 
 cipal, is nowhere so clearly shown as in the general discipline 
 of the school. Individual teachers, in cases of extreme diffi- 
 culty which will occur at intervals, must of necessity rely on 
 their superior for the enforcement of obedience. At any 
 rate, the head of a school must take some stand in this 
 matter, since pupils or their parents will certainly appeal to 
 him, on occasion, for a redress of wrongs real or imagined. 
 
MAINrRNANCK OF DISC I PUNK. 55 
 
 Teachers will secure that degree of discipline which they 
 are sustained in enforcing, or which they are required to en- 
 force; and any weakness, indecision, or vacillation in the 
 superintendent will immediately show its effects in the 
 school. 
 
 For the maintenance of healthy discipline, it is not neces- 
 sary that there should be great severity in the punishment 
 of offenses. The absolute certainty that the teacher's au- 
 thority will be upheld, and that, in case of need, the supreme 
 authority in the school will be invoked, is, in most cases, 
 sufficient in itself to hold the evil propensities of pupils in 
 check. On the contrary, a want of firmness will encourage 
 the spirit of revolt, and make necessary a frequent resort to 
 punishments of one kind or another. 
 
 The sense of justice is strong even in the case of vicious 
 children. They know that disobedience and wrong-doing in 
 general deserve punishment; and, provided the good intent 
 of the disciphnarian is manifest, and the degree of punish- 
 ment does not exceed its just bounds, no feeling of resent- 
 ment will be cherished toward him who inflicts the penalty. 
 While children soon learn to feel a contempt for a superior 
 who does not insist on respectful obedience, they instinct- 
 ively admire that manly energy of character which metes 
 out to offenders their deserved punishment. If, however, 
 pupils are punished in anger or beyond measure, it is 
 probable that evil and not good will be done. 
 
 Every effort should be made to convince pupils that they 
 will encounter the consequences of their own wrong-doing; 
 that if trouble must come, they, and not their superiors, will 
 be responsible for it-. To this end it is often best to defer 
 a punishment, giving the offender chance to mend his ways. 
 In this case there is danger, of course, that the pupil may 
 presume on such forbearance, and feel encouraged to perse- 
 
56 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 vere in his evil ways; but the remedy for this is the well- 
 known firmness of the authority which can afford to wait, 
 but which is neither forgetful nor neglectful. 
 
 In what has preceded it is tacitly assumed that there are 
 occasions in which corporal punishment is necessary, and 
 therefore justifiable. While I am conscious that many judi- 
 cious educators discard this manner of discipline, I am free 
 to express my conviction that it is sometimes the teacher's 
 only available resource to secure to the school and to the 
 offender their respective rights. A school must be preserved 
 from disorder and from the contagion of bad examples; and 
 there is no more sacred duty binding on parents and teachers 
 than to require of children prompt and respectful obedience. 
 Children should be exhorted and encouraged in every proper 
 manner to do right, because the doing of right is in itself a 
 comely and virtuous thing; but when exhortation, expostula- 
 tion, and admonition have no effect, what is to be done? 
 Manifestly, that degree of force should be employed which 
 will conquer obedience. All will allow that a cheerful, vol- 
 untary obedience is the truly desirable thing; but is not an 
 enforced obedience to be preferred to disobedience? 
 
 Government is positive, not negative ; it does not consist 
 in advising people what to do, leaving the matter, in the end, 
 to their own discretion. It assumes that some will choose to 
 do what ought not to be done, and so places before them a 
 penalty sufficient to secure an enforced obedience. In the 
 absence of internal motives to do right, the law holds forth 
 an artificial motive in the form of a penalty attached to vio- 
 lations of prescribed laws. 
 
 28. Corporal punishment. — As a last resort, there- 
 fore, force is justifiable. Now force, when actually brought 
 to bear on an offender, resolves itself into some bodily 
 affection. There is either some restraint put upon the usual 
 
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 57 
 
 bodily activities, or, proceeding to extremities, there is an 
 infliction of bodily pain. This last constitutes corporal pun- 
 ishment as generally understood. If, then, it is allowed that 
 obedience is necessary, it will take place under some one of 
 the following cases : 
 
 (r) Spontaneously — without any traceable suggestion — 
 by the unconscious promptings of one's moral nature. 
 
 (2) By suggestion, advice, admonition, or warning. 
 
 (3) By some restraint on personal liberties. 
 
 (4) By the infliction of bodily pain. 
 
 Up to this point it is scarcely conceivable that there is real 
 ground for difference of opinion ; but when the subject is 
 considered with special reference to public school policy, 
 two theories may be maintained : 
 
 {a) An observance of the rules and regulations shall be a 
 condition of school membership ; and when obedience is not 
 rendered as under cases (i) and (2), the offender is to be 
 suspended from school. 
 
 [b) One of the objects of public school training is to incul- 
 cate the habit of obedience and a respect for authority ; and 
 to this end, in cases where obedience is not rendered as 
 above, teachers may restrain the liberties of pupils; or, if 
 this does not suffice, they may resort to the extreme measure 
 of inflicting pain. 
 
 There is no doubt that all teachers would prefer to work 
 under the first plan : it would make the task of governing 
 infinitely easy. In fact, there would be no such thing as 
 school government, in the proper sense of the term; for 
 whenever pupils did not yield a voluntary obedience, they 
 would cease to require any positive direction by the teacher. 
 But it is quite as certain that most parents wish to place 
 upon the teachers of their children the task of securing obe- 
 dience, even at the expense of inflicting needed corporal 
 
58 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 punishment. In general, there is nothing against which 
 parents more heartily protest than the trouble and vexation 
 of correcting children for offenses committed in school. 
 ^ ' Have they not enough to do to attend to the correction 
 of their children for home faults? Should not teachers be 
 competent to govern their pupils? What fitness have they 
 for their office, if they can not enforce obedience when occa- 
 sion requires?" 
 
 This is the current theory held by parents; and until there 
 is a decided change in public sentiment, I do not see how 
 the schools can renounce the duty of securing obedience 
 even at the expense of corporal punishment. Teachers 
 would most gladly be relieved from such a disagreeable 
 task. It is not from any fondness for the punishing of 
 pupils that they persist in it, but because they believe it to 
 be a duty imposed on them by the public whose servants 
 tliey are. But they may rightly demand at least a partial 
 release from this most ungrateful duty. In cases where 
 pupils persist in wrong-doing, uninfluenced by mild meas- 
 ures, parents should be asked to choose between correcting 
 their children themselves and submitting them to such dis- 
 cipline as the teacher may judge necessary. Two good 
 results would come from this course : responsibility for the 
 bad conduct of cliildren would be placed where it in great 
 part belongs, and school authorities would be shielded from 
 any imputation of needlessly resorting to corporal punish- 
 ment. 
 
 Is it not possible that those who are so radically opposed 
 to corporal punishment make the mistake of looking on hu- 
 man nature as it ought to be, and not as it actually is? 
 Most children are not in that moral condition in which good 
 conduct is determined by the unconscious impulses of a 
 noble nature; and but very few teachers have reached that 
 
ORDER IiV BUILDTNGS. 59 
 
 degree of i-)erfection whereby they can govern pupils by 
 "moral suasion" alone. It is true that the best teachers 
 have least occasion to employ force ; perhaps it is true that 
 teachers are good just in proportion as they can govern by 
 tact, S3ni-ipathy, or affection ; but it does not follow from this 
 that the more imperfect modes of discipline should be aban- 
 doned. If teachers are required to secure obedience, they 
 should do it by the mildest means at their command; but 
 they must do it at all hazards. Here, as elsewhere, human 
 imperfection must be recognized as a fact; and while we are 
 required to do a .certain work, we must be allowed to use 
 our own tools, even though they are imperfect. In other 
 words, it is better that a school should be governed by harsh 
 methods than not be governed at all. 
 
 As a general rule, children who are well governed at home 
 occasion no trouble in school ; while most of the ' ' incorrigi- 
 bles" who vex teachers' souls are the product of parental 
 mismanagement. There is but little hope, therefore, that 
 any reform will be worked in such cases by remanding 
 offenders to home discipline. By reason of the strong and 
 almost inexplicable influence which is exercised by numbers, 
 it sometimes happens that children who are models of pro- 
 priety at home are tempted into bad conduct in school. 
 Such cases, in general, can be cured by cooperating with the 
 home authorities ; and if all cases of discipline were of this 
 class, the rod might be banished from the school-room. 
 
 29. Order in the buildings and on the grounds. — 
 
 As the teacher is required to maintain good order in the 
 school room, so the superintendent or principal must secure 
 the orderly movements of the pupils throughout the building 
 and on the grounds ; and the general appearance of a school 
 while i^upils are entering or leaving a house is a very fair in- 
 dication of the managing ability of the responsible head. If 
 
6o SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 the stairways are broad and straight, there need be no serious 
 difficulty in maintaining good order; but if, as is too often 
 the case, they are narrow and crooked, the difficulties are 
 gready increased. Halls and stairways may be so con- 
 structed that pupils can be seen by their teachers during 
 almost the entire march up and down ; but it is often the 
 case that they are out of sight after the first few steps; and 
 under such circumstances, means must be taken to secure a 
 strict oversight of the halls by the teachers in general. 
 
 An observance of tlie following rules will contribute very 
 largely to the maintenance of good order in passing to and 
 from the rooms : 
 
 (i) Definite times of dismission should be arranged, so 
 that the several schools may not interfere with one another 
 while going out. Thus, the schools on the first floor should 
 be dismissed first, and their relative times of dismission should 
 be so arranged that all interference may be avoided. 
 
 (2) If there are stairways both in front and in rear, certain 
 schools should invariably have their exit by the first and the 
 others as invariably by the second. 
 
 (3) If the stairways are wide, boys should invariably pass 
 down by one railing and girls by the other ; but if they 
 are narrow, the boys should pass down first and then 
 the girls. 
 
 (4) Preparatory to passing down, pupils should be ar- 
 ranged in the halls in single file, and at a given signal the 
 column should move. 
 
 (5) Pupils should invariably walk while moving up and 
 down or through the halls, and all talking and whispering 
 should be avoided. 
 
 (6) When pupils enter the building, they should follow 
 the same route as in going down, and should proceed di- 
 rectly to their rooms. 
 
J^ EC ESSES. 6 1 
 
 (7) When pupils pass from the building, they should leave 
 the premises at once; they should not be allowed to wait on 
 the steps or at the gates. 
 
 30. Recesses. — In crowded city schools, where play- 
 grounds are limited to a few rods of bare earth, many evils 
 are connected with the usual forenoon and afternoon recesses. 
 In general, the promiscuous mingling of such large numbers 
 of children of both sexes is Uable to the gravest objections. 
 The sport is violent and boisterous, involving frequent quar- 
 rels, and entailing disorder of every variety and degree. 
 That which takes place is not healthful recreation ; and the 
 presence of so much that is rough and uncouth has a most 
 unfavorable influence on morals and manners. We have not 
 to do with quiet recreations on ample grass-plots, which 
 children in isolated schools may enjoy, but with the pell- 
 mell and hurly-burly which are unavoidable when hundreds 
 of pupils are thrown together in the smaller yards connected 
 with city schools. In such cases I believe the usual recesses 
 are prolific sources of evil, and that their direct tendency is 
 to vitiate our public school system. 
 
 Some who have felt the magnitude of this evil have made 
 trial of a plan which is free from many of the objections 
 which have been mentioned. It is still an experiment, and 
 must submit to the ordeal of experience, which is the final 
 test of all our methods. It is an innovation on the estab- 
 lished order of things, and, as such, will be charged with 
 evils which do not belong to it. Doubtless it will be found 
 objectionable in some points ; but if it is found to reduce the 
 acknowledged evils of the present system to their minimum, 
 without entailing others of grave character, it is worthy of a 
 careful trial. This plan is as follows : the sessions open at 
 9 A. M. and at 1-30 p. m., respectively, and close at 11 a. 
 M. and at 3 p. m. for the lower grades, and thirty minutes 
 
62 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 later for the higher grades. The usual recesses are abolished. 
 Pupils are excused from the room, one or two at a time, 
 while classes are changing, on condition of remaining for a 
 stated time after the close of the session. Pupils whose state 
 of health demands a freedom from ordinary restraint are ex- 
 cused without exacting a penalty. This exception is made 
 only when teachers have positive assurance that physical 
 weakness requires it. The check placed on leave of absence 
 should be just sufficient to prevent fictitious excuses. 
 
 With judicious teachers who are good disciplinarians, this 
 plan is not subject to any grave objections. It may be urged, 
 at first sight, that by this plan children are kept in close con- 
 finement too long; but when it is recollected that pupils are 
 alternately reciting and studying, and consequently in motion 
 to a considerable extent, and that proper precaution will 
 secure a frequent change of air, it will appear that this ob- 
 jection is imaginary rather than real. Finally, it may be 
 remarked that, after trying this system for several years, and 
 being ready to abandon it at any moment should it prove 
 decidedly objectionable, I have every reason to believe that 
 it is an improvement on the system which has been conse- 
 crated by immemorial use. 
 
 31. Text-books. — Next to the teacher, the text-book 
 stands in closest relation to the prosperity of a school. As 
 a summary of facts and principles skillfully classified and fit 
 to be committed to memory, and thus to transmit the ac- 
 quired knowledge of one generation to the next, its impor- 
 tance in the work of instruction can not be overestimated. 
 The text-book is to the school what machinery is to a com- 
 plex industrial process. In each case the quality of the work 
 done depends very largely on the perfection of the tools 
 which are employed. 
 
 ChanG;es in school-books are often the occasion of disturb- 
 
TEXT-BOOKS. d^ 
 
 ance, and it is of great importance to settle on some princi- 
 ples which shall be observed in their introduction. 
 
 Clearly, the sui)erintendent has no right whatever to in- 
 troduce a text-book on his own authority; but it is equally 
 true that in a matter of this nature his judgment and wishes 
 should be consulted. No one is in so good a position to 
 judge of the fitness of a text-book as the superintendent. 
 Familiar with the general scheme of instruction, and know- 
 ing the requirements of the several grades, he should be able 
 to form a trustworthy judgment as to the quality and the 
 quantity of matter needed in each department of the school. 
 Competence in this direction is, indeed, a professional duty, 
 just as it is a professional duty for a surgeon to select the 
 instruments which are needed in his practice. But as the 
 absolute quality of text-books is not the only question at 
 stake, as there may be circumstances which would render 
 the adoption of even an improved book inopportune, and 
 as the Board is best able to judge of these incidental ele- 
 ments, it is plain that the Board must be the final judge in 
 the case, and should, if thought necessary, set aside an 
 opinion based on intrinsic merit. 
 
 Changes in text-books are sometimes made without due 
 consideration. Books in use are sometimes thrown out* 
 without sufficient cause, and new ones are introduced with- 
 out particular reference to fitness. It should be a fixed 
 principle with the Board to consider such subjects with de- 
 liberation and make only such changes as are demanded to 
 promote the best interests of the schools. 
 
 The prosperity of American schools is due in great meas- 
 ure to the enterprise and liberality of American publishers, 
 who have fostered and almost created the authorship of 
 text-books which are a credit to our age and country; for 
 it is a fact beyond dispute that the American school-book 
 
64 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 has no superior. No class of books is subject to such 
 rigorous and decisive criticism as this; and no other branch 
 of trade responds so promptly to the interests and wants 
 of the public. Competition drives poor books from the 
 market. 
 
 While a conservative policy is the one to be generally 
 pursued, there are occasions when a change in text-books 
 may be made with propriety. Changes are justifiable on 
 the following grounds : 
 
 (i) When the new book is manifestly superior to the old 
 in the quality of its matter and in systematic arrangement. 
 
 (2) When a book in use does not represent the actual 
 state of the science, by reason of new and important dis- 
 coveries made since its publication. 
 
 (3) When the successful working of the graded course 
 of instruction requires an increase or a diminution in the 
 quantity of matter. 
 
 With reference to these items it is to be remarked that 
 there is a real difference in the quality of books. It is not 
 true, as some pretend, that all recent books on a specified 
 subject are equally meritorious, and may therefore be used 
 with equal advantage. There are the same differences in 
 text-books as in other literary productions; and their use 
 will meet with corresponding success. Some books are in- 
 trinsically excellent, and others intrinsically bad; and be- 
 tween these extremes there are all shades of quahty. It is 
 sometimes said, in reply to this, that a good teacher should 
 be able to give instruction from any text-book, or even with- 
 out one. This is in a measure true ; but as it is a fact that 
 pupils are required to derive the greater part of their infor- 
 mation from books, it is a matter of the highest importance 
 that they be properly written. 
 
 Again, a book may be unfit for use because it has become 
 
CHANGE OF TEXT-BOOK'S. 65 
 
 antiquated. This may happen in the case of the sciences 
 which are growing rapidly, such as Physiology, Geography, 
 Geology, and Chemistry. A text-book on either of these 
 sciences may represent the existing state of knowledge to- 
 day, but the discoveries of another year may make them 
 more or less obsolete. The boundaries of human knowledge 
 are ever enlarging, and new facts may give a new interpre- 
 tation to well-known phenomena. Changes of this nature 
 should be incorporated into our educational literature in 
 order that the schools may fulfill their legitimate purpose. 
 We are quick to change the style of our dress on the ap- 
 pearance of a mere change in the mode ; yet we feel impelled 
 to say harsh things when asked to substitute a modern text- 
 book for one which is antiquated, and is therefore an in- 
 cumbrance. 
 
 Finally, the exigencies of a graded course of instruction 
 may require the substitution of one book for another. This 
 may happen when a change in the grading has been made, 
 or when the natural working of the system has shown that 
 a book is inadequate to the demands made on it. Instances 
 have occurred in which a course of instruction has been 
 drawn up with a more direct reference to series of Geog- 
 raphies, Arithmetics, and Grammars, which must needs be 
 used, than to the probable duration of the child's school-life. 
 In such cases, when the course of instruction has been re- 
 duced to reasonable limits, a corresponding change in text- 
 books is required. 
 
 When, for valid reasons, a change in text-books has been 
 ordered, it is frequently most expedient to replace the old 
 ones by a process of gradual substitution. When beginning 
 classes are formed, pupils should be instructed to buy the 
 new book instead of the old one. In this way most of the 
 objections to a change in books may be avoided. 
 
 S. S.-6. 
 
66 SCHOOL SUPERVISION, 
 
 If books are introduced, it should be through the regu- 
 lar channels of trade. Neither superintendent nor teacher? 
 should, under any ordinary circumstances, supply pupils 
 with any merchandise used in school. Booksellers some- 
 times suffer loss from unsalable stock, left on their hands 
 by a change in text-books, and they are at all times entitled 
 to whatever profits arise from this branch of trade. Even 
 when school authorities sell books to pujDils without hope of 
 gain, they are liable to unjust suspicion. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS DEFINED AND SOME 
 
 OF HIS GENERAL DUTIES DISCUSSED 
 
 (concluded). 
 
 (67) 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 The relation of the superintendent to subordinate teachers. The 
 independence of teachers. Form of superintendent's record. The 
 assistance which should be rendered to teachers. The dismission 
 of teachers. The granting of testimonials. The considerate treat- 
 ment of teachers. Teachers' meetings. To what extent a teacher's 
 acts should be sanctioned. 
 
 (68) 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS AND DUTIES 
 
 (concluded). 
 
 32. The relation of the superintendent to sub- 
 ordinate teachers. — As already indicated, there must be 
 some definite relation between the responsible head of a 
 school and his subordinates. Unity and harmony can be 
 maintained only by carrying into effect the general plans 
 and necessary orders which proceed from a recognized au- 
 thority. In the absence of some well defined motives for 
 conforming to the prescribed order of things, some degree 
 of insubordination is likely to occur. A school in which 
 factions exist can be saved from ruin only by the prompt 
 exercise of authority; and unless there is a well-grounded 
 feeling that the positions which teachers hold depend some- 
 what on the will of the person in charge, there will not be 
 a hearty cooperation and a cheerful compliance with what 
 is required. It is, perhaps, to be regretted that such mo- 
 tives as these should be necessary; but in this case, as in 
 all of a like nature, things must be considered as they are, 
 and not merely as they ought to be. Whether teachers 
 shall be employed or not should depend, to a considerable 
 extent, on the superintendent's opinion of their fidelity to 
 duty, and the real success which they have accomplished. 
 Were positions independent of desert, those who hold them 
 would feel but little zeal in their allotted work. 
 
 (69) 
 
70 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 It is not to be inferred from this that differences in 
 opinion are not to be tolerated. Obsequiousness is more 
 to be suspected than firmness in holding to one's opinions. 
 It is not necessary that teachers echo all the opinions of 
 their superior. It is rather an evidence of extreme weak- 
 ness. Independent thought is compatible with the most 
 hearty loyalty, and is a trait of character to be respected 
 and cherished. Where there is healthy intellectual activity, 
 there will be differences of opinion; but these need not in- 
 terfere with the duty of obedience. Some minds take great 
 delight in mere uniformities. It might be a beautiful uni- 
 formity if all who live in the same longitude were to rise 
 at the same moment each morning; but it would be a very 
 absurd thing nevertheless. 
 
 33. The independence of teachers. — To what extent 
 should the superintendent interfere with teachers in their 
 work? The general principle is easily stated. Teachers are 
 to be held responsible for the quality of their instruction 
 and discipline, and should be allowed to follow their own 
 methods so far as is consistent with general requirements. 
 The seating of pupils, their manner of coming to the place 
 of recitation ; special means of securing order in the room, 
 and other items of similar character should be entrusted to 
 the teacher's judgment. Within her room, the teacher should 
 be mistress of the situation; and only under extraordinary 
 circumstances has the superintendent a right to make direct 
 interference. The individual rights of the teacher should 
 be as clearly recognized as those of the superintendent or 
 of the Board. Good teachers will do more work, and of 
 better quality, if confidence is reposed in their judgment 
 and discretion. The superintendent is in duty bound to 
 proffer suggestions and advice when they are known to be 
 needed; but in many cases it is best to go no further. 
 
INDEPENDENCE OF TEACHERS. 7 1 
 
 Where there is no violation of established i)rinciples, it is 
 well to allow considerable latitude of judgment, and to wait 
 for results before making direct interference. Teachers are 
 not to be transformed into mere automata, but are to be 
 credited with good intentions, and helped to become efficient 
 co-laborers, while retaining all proper freedom of thought 
 and action. Perpetual interference in minor matters, which 
 will usually work their own cure, is a capital fault in school 
 management. A school should be a republic, not a desjDot- 
 ism; an organic whole, animated by self-active centers, not 
 a dead machine, kept in motion by external force. Hold 
 teachers responsible for results, aid them by suggestion and 
 advice, and allow them all possible freedom in developing 
 their plans and methods. 
 
 The same principle should be observed in assisting teachers 
 as in assisting pupils. Indirect help is best. They are most 
 truly aided who are put in the way of aiding themselves. In 
 the case of teachers, this principle is of peculiar importance. 
 A teacher's methods should have a large element of person- 
 ality in them — they can not be copied bodily from others. 
 The uniformities which are desirable are typical merely. 
 There should be a general resemblance in methods for a 
 special purpose ; but it is not necessary, nor even desirable, 
 that they be exact copies of one another. Growths w^hich 
 are in any sense vital, have an individual character; they 
 are founded on a common type, but are distinguished by 
 unimportant differences. In methods of teaching and dis- 
 cipline, typical uniformities alone are desirable. 
 
 34. Form of superintendent's record. — A superin- 
 tendent will form a just estimate of a teacher's ability by 
 directing his attention systematically to a few points of chief 
 importance. Ability to keep order, power of holding atten- 
 tion, knowledge of the subject, skill in imparting instruction, 
 
72 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 are qualifications which should enter as elements into the 
 superintendent's judgment of a teacher's worth. It is a 
 good plan to make a record of each teacher's ability in 
 these particulars. The opposite blank is presented as a 
 specimen page of a Superintendent's Register, to be 
 used for the purpose above mentioned. After a succession 
 of visits, an average of all the marks will represent the 
 superintendent's estimate of each teacher's abihty. This 
 plan has evident advantages, (i) It gives system and exact- 
 ness to the work of supervision. A school is visited with 
 the express purpose of testing the teacher's efficiency in cer- 
 tain material points. (2) In case teachers know what excel- 
 lencies are expected, or from what data an estimate of their 
 success will be formed, they, too, will have a definite pur- 
 pose in the performance of their work. (3) Whenever it is 
 necessary to inform the Board of a teacher's qualifications, 
 a trustworthy statement can be made. 
 
 35. The assistance which should be rendered to 
 teachers. — Whenever it is seen that a teacher is making a 
 radical mistake which will compromise her success, a full 
 and frank statement of the fact is required, and such helps 
 should be given as the case seems to demand. No false deli- 
 cacy should tempt one to withhold a candid opinion as to 
 the nature and consequences of glaring faults. Otherwise, 
 when disaster has come, and the teacher has forfeited her 
 place, there is just ground for charging the superintendent 
 with neglect of duty ; for it is plain that skillful supervision 
 ought to diminish the chances of failure. The superintendent 
 ought to be a teacher of teachers, competent to detect the 
 probable causes of failure, and able to suggest means which 
 may avert disaster. This course is of special importance in 
 the case of inexperienced teachers, whom judicious criticism 
 and skillful assistance may save from undeserved failure. 
 
No. II. 
 
 SUPERINTEAWENT'S REGISTER. 
 
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74 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 In too many instances teachers are allowed to fail. The 
 danger is seen, but no warning is given, no advice prof- 
 fered; when, suddenly, the teacher is overwhelmed with 
 failure, and can not resist the feeling that she has been 
 unfaithfully treated. Great good often comes from allowing 
 teachers to exchange visits. In this way individual excel- 
 lencies become common property, and faults, seen in others, 
 become noticeable and are shunned. 
 
 36. The dismission of teachers. — But after all the 
 helps which a wise supervision can render, teachers may 
 fail to do satisfactory work; and it is often a question of 
 extreme delicacy and difficulty to decide when a teacher 
 should be displaced. On one side are the teacher's inter- 
 ests, her reputation, the mortification of failure; and, on 
 the other, the interests of the school. From similarity of 
 position, the sympathies of the superintendent will naturally 
 incline to the side of the teacher ; while, as a public servant, 
 obliged by the very nature of his office to protect the rights 
 of the people as represented in their children, he can not 
 allow a school to suffer from the incompetence of its 
 teachers. It is necessary to recollect that a school is not 
 a benevolent institution for giving aid to needy teachers. 
 The needs of the school must be considered first; and if 
 it appears that it is retrograding in point of discipline or 
 scholarship, there should be no hesitation in recommending 
 a change. In this situation of affairs, the danger seldom 
 lies in the direction of hasty action, but rather in that of 
 putting off the evil day, hoping for amendment and a tri- 
 umph over difficulties, particularly in the case of a teacher 
 who is putting forth every effort to succeed. 
 
 When the Board has decided that dismission is necessary, 
 this duty, though an unpleasant one, should be performed 
 in an honorable manner. The teacher should be told 
 
THE GRANTING OF TESTIMONIALS. 75 
 
 plainly, but kindly, the necessities of the case; there 
 should be no deception, no double-dealing. The instances 
 are too frequent in which moral cowardice has added un- 
 necessary pangs to misfortune. The notice of dismission, 
 instead of being given at the earliest practicable day, has 
 sometimes followed the teacher on her vacation visit to a 
 distant home. 
 
 37. The granting of testimonials. — When teachers 
 have thus forfeited their places through incompetence, what 
 are their rights as to testimonials and recommendations? 
 There is a practice too general, and attended by many 
 evil consequences, of granting even to grossly incompetent 
 teachers flattering recommendations. The practical result 
 of this has been to throw deserved and almost universal 
 discredit on testimonials from school officers. It must be 
 allowed that it is often very difficult to decide what equal 
 and exact justice requires. Often there is the possibility, 
 even the probability, that under different circumstances, 
 under the stimulus of a new effort, a different result might 
 be reached; and in such cases it seems unjust to stand 
 in the way of an opportunity to vindicate one's self. The 
 usual practice of school officers is either to grant a flatter- 
 ing commendation, or to draw up a document in ambigu- 
 ous terms, giving prominence to exceptional excellencies, 
 and keeping silence as to well-known faults. There is but 
 one general rule to be followed : either refuse to grant such 
 papers or tell the whole truth. For the common good, 
 something should be done to redeem testimonials from the 
 almost universal contempt into which they have so justly 
 fallen. 
 
 380 The considerate treatment of teachers. — Every 
 legitimate means should be used to render the situation of 
 teachers agreeable and comfortable. At best, they are ex- 
 
76 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 posed to many annoyances incident to their calling, and it 
 is cruel to add others which are avoidable. Teachers 
 should not be treated as the mere hirelings of a day, liable 
 to be displaced without warning; but they should feel as- 
 sured that their positions are safe as long as they render 
 efficient service. Teachers who have earned a right to 
 confidence should be employed at least by the year; they 
 "should be spared the anxieties and uncertainties which 
 attend frequent reelections. When long service has given 
 jDOsitive assurance of merit, why should it be thought nec^ 
 essary to limit the reengagement to a single term? 
 
 Teachers should be paid promptly at the close of each 
 month. Their salaries are usually meager, but little more 
 than sufficient to pay current expenses, and it is a cruelty 
 scarcely pardonable to delay the payment of what is needed 
 for almost daily necessities. 
 
 39. Teachers' Meetings. — The theory of school super- 
 vision which this treatise is designed to illustrate requires 
 the superintendent to work upon the school through the 
 teachers. He is to prepare plans of instruction and dis- 
 cipline, which the teachers must carry into effect; but the 
 successful working out of such a scheme requires constant 
 oversight and constant readjustments. Hence arises the 
 necessity for conference, instruction in methods, and cor- 
 rection of errors. The teachers of a graded-school should 
 be under continual normal instruction. At stated periods, 
 meetings should be held for instruction in all departments 
 of practical school work; and to this there should be added, 
 as occasion admits, instruction in the principles which un- 
 derlie successful practice, to the end that teachers may 
 become intelligent and independent co-laborers. (§ 9.) 
 
 Teachers' Meetings are the only known means of giving 
 harmony and proper efficiency to a system of instruction. 
 
TEACHERS' MEETINGS. 77 
 
 That unity of purpose and of method, which is indispen- 
 sable to success, can not be communicated in any other 
 manner; nor is there any other way of giving due promi- 
 nence to that esprit de corps which should animate a body 
 of teachers. 
 
 The frequency of these meetings should be regulated by 
 the circumstances of the school. Under a new administra- 
 tion there will be need to call teachers together frequently, 
 especially if affairs are to take a new direction, — if a 
 new policy is to be inaugurated; and if there are many 
 changes in teachers, there is need of frequent conference 
 for instruction and advice. Under such circumstances, two 
 meetings each month are desirable. When a school has 
 been brought into general conformity to a settled line of 
 policy, and when there are only occasional breaks in the 
 ranks of teachers, monthly meetings will suffice. And if, as 
 is very proper, this meeting is made the occasion to pay 
 the month's salary, teachers will attend cheerfully and 
 promptly. Except in large cities, where teachers are scat- 
 tered over a wide area, these meetings are most conveni- 
 ently held on Fridays, at the close of the afternoon session. 
 
 It is probable that the superintendent, in his round of 
 visits, has noticed errors which are more or less common. 
 These should be brought to the attention of the whole body 
 of teachers ; the exact nature of the faults should be pointed 
 out, and appropriate remedies suggested. This correction 
 of errors will form a very important part of the business 
 which may appropriately come before a teachers' meeting. 
 It scarcely requires to be added that these criticisms should 
 be impersonal, and should be made in the utmost kindness, 
 and with the sole purpose of promoting the general good. 
 Another very important order of business is instruction in 
 methods of teaching and discipline. The superintendent, 
 
78 • SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 by virtue of his office, should be able to give professional 
 instruction of this kind. He should take up one topic after 
 another, in the order of its importance, and should discuss 
 it philosophically; that is, disclose the principles which un- 
 derlie the methods under consideration. If grammar is in- 
 differently taught, this subject should be discussed in such 
 a way as to make apparent the cause of the difficulty; and 
 a system of instruction should be marked out, designed to 
 inaugurate a better order of things. 
 
 It will often be found useful to call special meetings of 
 the teachers interested in the same topic. For example, 
 if there is need of giving more attention to geography, 
 the teachers of this subject should be called together for 
 special instruction. If there is a weak point in any part 
 of the system, it should be strengthened by a concentration 
 of attention upon that definite object. A poHcy of this 
 kind, patiently carried forward, will soon reinvigorate the 
 whole system. 
 
 40. To what extent a teacher^s acts should be 
 sanctioned. — With respect to disciphne, it is important to 
 know to what extent a superintendent is justifiable in sanc- 
 tioning the measures which teachers may think best to em- 
 ploy. On the one hand, individual teachers can not main- 
 tain efficient discipline without the moral and sometimes 
 the physical support of their superiors; and, on the other, 
 no sane man is willing to pledge himself, in advance, to 
 sanction all that inexperienced or injudicious teachers may 
 occasionally do. 
 
 When teachers have followed the plain line of duty, and 
 particularly when they have carried out instructions, and 
 have fallen into trouble in consequence, it is poltroonery to 
 desert them in their extremity. Even when teachers have 
 been somewhat injudicious under trying circumstances, when 
 
SANCTIONING TEACHERS' ACTS. 79 
 
 there was no opportunity for deliberation, they should be 
 supported so far as is consistent with truthfulness and honor, 
 if it is evident that their general course has been directed 
 by fidelity to duty. 
 
 On the contrary, when teachers go counter to instructions, 
 or when they adopt methods of discipline which are open 
 to grave objection, or inflict punishment which is grossly 
 excessive, they should be allowed to suffer the natural con- 
 sequences of their folly. In such cases, when parents re- 
 monstrate, as they ought to do, the acts complained of 
 should be disavowed, and all proper reparation made. 
 While no general rule can be given which will anticipate 
 specific cases, a correct sense of justice will usually dictate 
 the course which should be followed. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ART OF GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 (8i) 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 Graded-school defined. The advantages of graded-schools. Schools 
 should conform to the needs and circumstances of communities. Ideal 
 of a graded-school. Data to be used in grading. Limitations of data. 
 Can country schools be graded? The grading of a small school illus- 
 trated. The arrangement of text-book work. The arrangement of 
 programmes. The development of a provisional classification. The 
 successive transformations through which a graded-school may pass. 
 Synopsis of a common school course of instruction. 
 
 {%i) 
 
THE ART OF GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 41. Graded-School defined. — A school in which pupils 
 are classified according to their attainments, and in which 
 pupils of similar attainments are taught together, and thus 
 pursue the successive portions of a systematic course of 
 instruction, is a Graded-School. If the course covers a 
 jDeriod of twelve years, each year's work may constitute 
 a grade; and when pupils have completed a year's work 
 in a satisfactory manner, they are promoted to the next 
 higher grade. In other cases, the whole course of instruc- 
 tion is divided into a smaller number of periods, each 
 of which is called a grade or department. Thus the 
 twelve years of school life may be distinguished into three 
 periods as follows : A primary grade or department of four 
 years, a grammar grade of four years, and a high school 
 grade of four years. The essential idea is to subdivide the 
 work of instruction into a series of ascending steps, each 
 of which is preparatory to the next in succession. 
 
 42. The advantages of graded-schools. — The ad- 
 vantages of such a system are obvious. 
 
 (i) It is an application to the work of instruction of the 
 
 great law of the division of labor. By this means a teacher's 
 
 time, talent, and attention are concentrated on a prescribed 
 
 range of duties, which become easy by repetition, and hence 
 
 {83) 
 
84 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 are likely to be performed in a thorough manner. Advan- 
 tage is also taken of the fitness of teachers for special 
 varieties of work. Some teachers are most skillful in teach- 
 ing children, others in teaching adults; some who would 
 succeed but indifferently in one grade, may be eminently 
 successful in another. 
 
 (2) Pupils who pursue their studies under such a system 
 derive peculiar advantages from the thoroughness of their 
 instruction, and the completeness of the course; for not 
 only is a reasonable degree of proficiency in the studies of 
 one grade necessary for promotion to a higher, but there is 
 no hiatus in the course of instruction. 
 
 The work of teaching thus follows the law which prevails 
 in all well-regulated industries. This general movement is 
 characteristic of a growing civilization, and it is as reason- 
 able to cry out against the division of labor in general as 
 against that special application of the law which has called 
 into being the Graded-School. 
 
 43. Schools should conform to the needs and cir- 
 cumstances of communities. — Perhaps the most diffi- 
 cult task in practical school work is to arrange a course of 
 instruction which is best adapted to given circumstances. 
 Two important considerations should not be overlooked : 
 
 (i) Every graded system should be somewhat elastic — 
 should afford opportunities for growth and for the readjust- 
 ments which a gradual development of the system may 
 require, or which the general educational current of the 
 day may make necessary. The working, for several years, 
 of a course which has been very nicely adjusted, will al- 
 most unavoidably disclose the need of some modification; 
 and the changes which are gradually taking place in public 
 opinion on educational topics ought to have their effect on 
 practical education. Organization should promote growth, 
 
COURSES OF STUDY. 85 
 
 not arrest it. There should be enough elasticity in the 
 structure to allow the organism to respond insensibly to the 
 impulses of growth; there should not be that rigidity which 
 checks expansion till the imprisoned forces assert their su- 
 premacy with violence. 
 
 (2) Graded systems of instruction should adapt themselves 
 to the needs and circumstances of communities. The ideal 
 element — the consideration of what ought to be, should en- 
 ter into the structure of every system; but no less impera- 
 tive is the need of keeping the mind intent on the actual 
 state of the people whose interests are to be promoted. For 
 the schools belong to the people; and the opinions, interests, 
 and, to some extent, even the whims of the people must be 
 respected. It is not meant by this that the schools are to 
 react to every suggestion, wise or foolish, friendly or sinister, 
 which may come from without, for it is to shield them from 
 such calamities that Boards of Trustees interfere between 
 these organizations and the caprices of individual opinion; 
 but it is meant that no institution which draws its support 
 from the people at large can safely disregard the candid 
 suggestions of public opinion. Now, it is conceivable that 
 two towns of equal school population, but of different ma- 
 terial resources, intellectual tastes, and degrees of culture, 
 may require systems of public instruction which are some- 
 what different; while it is plain that towns whose popula- 
 tions differ considerably in size, require marked differences 
 in courses of study. Here has been a fundamental and 
 most mischievous error, especially in the organization of 
 high schools. Small towns, with scant materials for a high 
 school, frequently adopt courses of study which only the 
 resources of the larger cities can carry into effect. For 
 the sake of eclaf, an expense is incurred wholly out of pro- 
 portion to the interests involved. Two or three pupils in 
 
86 • SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 Latin, Greek, or Trigonometry sometimes monopolize time 
 which should be given to larger classes in more practical 
 studies. If the principal be a mathematician, he is in dan- 
 ger of drawing up a course of mathematics, fit only for a 
 college; and other tastes here find a field for their display. 
 He who thus allows individual preferences to govern him, 
 is incapable of arranging a course of study for the average 
 pupil. 
 
 44. Ideal of a graded-school.— Preparatory to the ob- 
 ject we have in view, it is necessary to form a clear notion 
 of the requirements of a perfectly graded school. The es- 
 sential idea, as the term grade itself suggests, is that of 
 an orderly succession of ascending steps, each of which is 
 a necessary j^reparation for the one which follows. Each 
 of these steps consists in a competent knowledge of three 
 or four subjects of instruction; and when a pupil has passed 
 a satisfactory examination in each of the topics which con- 
 stitute one grade, he is promoted to the next higher grade, 
 where he will continue the studies of the lower grade, or 
 will take others which follow in natural order. Let the 
 reader imagine a large school-room, containing three success- 
 ive series of ascending steps, representing the three grades 
 into which the course of instruction is divided. These are 
 named the primary grade, the grammar grade, and the high 
 school grade. The primary and grammar grades constitute 
 what is called the common school course; and the high 
 school grade, the secondary course. Each grade is sub- 
 divided into four shorter steps, each of which occupies one 
 year of study. 
 
 Let us suppose that the pupils in this school have been 
 pursuing their studies for one year, and that the pupils 
 seated in each subdivision are to take one step in advance 
 The highest class in the high school will pass out of the 
 
GRADING SCHOOLS. 87 
 
 room, and a new class will enter from without and take 
 the places vacated by the lowest class in the primary grade. 
 If, for any reason, certain pupils have not done the work 
 prescribed for them, they will remain behind and mingle 
 with the class which has come forward. And if, during the 
 year, a ^\\\^A has shown himself able to do considerably 
 more work than his classmates, he is taken from his class 
 and placed with the one next in advance. On the contrary, 
 if a pupil, through incompetence or indolence, falls behind 
 his classmates, he is taken down to the next lower class. 
 
 On the suj^position that this entire school is in charge of 
 one teacher, what amount of work will he have on hand? 
 Each subdivision is separated from the next by one year's 
 work. Consequently, each of the twelve subdivisions will 
 furnish four distinct sets of classes, making, in all, forty- 
 eight recitations a day. On the average, this will allow 
 about eight minutes to every class. Of course such a scheme 
 is impracticable. If one teacher should take two of these 
 grades in charge, he would still have thirty-two classes, and 
 could give to each but about ten minutes. This is evidently 
 impracticable. These calculations are based on the suppo- 
 sition that a pupil has but four studies, and has but one 
 recitation per day in each; and that six hours a day are 
 devoted exclusively to recitation. Let us now imagine each 
 of these grades, as occupying a room by itself, in charge 
 of one teacher. What attention can be devoted to each 
 recitation ? 
 
 The most favorable circumstances will furnish the follow- 
 ing data: (i) Five and a half hours a day devoted to 
 class-work. (2) In the primary grade, each pupil will have 
 five recitations; in the grammar grade, four; and in the high 
 school, three. The following table will exhibit the essential 
 facts in each case: 
 
SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 Grade. 
 
 No. of Recitations 
 to each Pupil. 
 
 Whole No. of 
 Classes. 
 
 Length of 
 Recitations. 
 
 Primary. 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 i6 m. 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 4 
 
 l6 
 
 2om. 
 
 High School. 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 27 m. 
 
 45. Data to be used in grading. — The above calcula- 
 tion will serve to illustrate some of the limitations which are 
 to be taken into account in practical grading. Some of 
 the data which must be employed in arranging a scheme of 
 graded instruction are, for all practical purposes, fixed quan- 
 tities; others are variable, and, in calculating results, values 
 must be assigned them. Thus it is evident that in cases 
 where but one teacher can be employed the time which he 
 can devote to class instruction is a fixed quantity, not abso- 
 lutely the same in all cases, but determinable in each special 
 case by taking from the entire session the time needed for 
 opening exercises, roll-call, and recesses. So also the aver- 
 age time which shall be given to each recitation ought to be 
 fixed within very narrow limits. Thus, in primary schools, 15 
 minutes, on the average, should be the minimum; in gram- 
 mar schools it should not be less than 25 minutes; and in 
 high schools not less than 40 minutes. To make a con- 
 venient use of these data, let us employ the following 
 notation : 
 
 7"= The whole time devoted to recitations by one teacher. 
 / = The average length of each recitation. 
 N=- The whole number of recitations. 
 11 = The average number of recitations to each pupil. 
 F=The years in the course. 
 
GRADING SCHOOLS. 89 
 
 These quantities will give rise to the following equation: 
 
 (i) T=Ny^t={ny^Y)t 
 
 As just stated, T and / are virtually fixed quantities, so 
 that ;/ may be made determinate by assigning a value to Y\ 
 and Y determinate by assigning a value to ;/. That is, if 
 we assume that there must be a certain number of years 
 in the course, the average number of recitations which each 
 pupil may have is limited; and, if we start with the last 
 fact, we are compelled to fix on a definite number of years 
 which the course shall occupy. To illustrate the application 
 of these principles to the grading of primary schools, let us 
 make use of two derived equations as follows : 
 
 (2) n = ^- (3) Y. ^ 
 
 KX t ^"^ n X t 
 
 Here T=^^\) / = ^. Now, if we are determined to have 
 four years in the course, the average number of recitations 
 which each pupil may have will be found from the second 
 equation as follows : 
 
 If, on the other hand, we assume that each pupil may 
 have six recitations, the number of years in the course will 
 be determined from the third equation as follows : 
 
 V 52" . ^2. 
 
 6Xi~^'' 
 
 As the results in such calculations must necessarily be 
 whole numbers, some slight modification must be made in 
 the value of /. If we assign to F, in the last example, the 
 value of 4, the value of / will be deduced as follows : 
 
 <^ hrs. . ^ 1 
 
 /= -^ =r 14 mniutes nearly. 
 
 6X4 
 
 S. S.-8. 
 
90 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 46. Limitations of data. — The calculations which have 
 thus far been made relate to the classification of a single 
 school, in charge of one teacher, with a view to determine, 
 either how many years there shall be in the course, or how 
 many recitations each pupil may have. The limitations are 
 the number of teachers, the time which can be devoted to 
 recitation, and, the average length of each recitation. Given 
 these limitations, the purpose has been to show the results 
 which necessarily follow from them. It is necessary to keep 
 in mind the important fact that, in grading schools, we must 
 be governed by the resources at our command. Many 
 things are desirable which are not practicable, and we must 
 often be content to make a garment from a scant pattern. 
 
 It will be observed that the limitations which have been 
 placed upon our calculations can ultimately be resolved in- 
 to the lack of teachers. For, with two teachers, the time 
 devoted to recitations is doubled, and consequently we may 
 either increase the number of years in the course, or the 
 number of studies allowed to each pupil. And again, this 
 limited teaching force is due either to a small number of 
 pupils, or to a lack of resources. In a small school of 
 twenty-five pupils there may be in reahty eight grades, re- 
 quiring at least two teachers, if a strict classification is made; 
 but it is quite sure that all the work must be done by one 
 teacher. In such a case the practical question is, how can 
 the teacher's time be employed to the greatest advantage ? 
 
 47. Can country schools be graded? — With a fair 
 understanding of the principles which have been illustrated, 
 we are now prepared to discuss a question which has 
 received considerable attention, — can country schools be 
 graded? The school to which reference is made consists 
 of from twenty to forty pupils, varying in age from six to 
 fourteen years, taught by one teacher. 
 
GRADING CO UNTR Y SCIIO OLS. 9 1 
 
 Let US assume the following data: 
 
 r= 6. / = \. n ^ 5. 
 
 Now (3) F= — ^ = — ^ = 44 
 
 This will give a course of instruction covering five years, 
 adapted to pupils from six to eleven years of age. This 
 course w^ill take a pupil through the Fourth Reader, and 
 half-way through the Intermediate Geography and Arith- 
 metic. Probably there are many country schools composed 
 of younger children, where such a range of studies will 
 suffice. If so, the school can be graded; but whether the 
 grading can be sustained, will depend on the character of 
 the attendance and on the skill possessed by the successive 
 teachers. The two things which make it very difficult, if 
 not impossible, to sustain a graded course of instruction in 
 such schools are great irregularity of attendance, and the 
 frequent change of teachers, whereby it is almost impossible 
 to follow any settled line of policy. The fact that many 
 pupils attend school but a part of the year, during the 
 winter, perhaps, will make it almost impossible to avoid 
 forming classes not provided for in the graded course ; while 
 a frequent change in teachers will, in many cases, defeat 
 the wisest plans. There would be much more hope of in- 
 troducing a classification into country schools, if teachers 
 in general understood the principles which must be observed 
 in the formation and preservation of a graded course of 
 study. A fair degree of professional skill generally dissemi- 
 nated among teachers, and ' the desire, on the part of 
 Boards of Trustees, to employ the best obtainable talent, 
 can alone carry into effect that settled line of policy which 
 is absolutely required in order to sustain a systematic 
 course of instruction. 
 
92 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 Suppose the grading of a larger school, composed of 
 older pupils, is in question, and that the following data are 
 assumed : 
 
 T=6. / = -!-. Y=Z. 
 
 3- 
 
 In this case, each pupil will be limited to three recitations 
 each day; and the course will extend from the sixth to the 
 fourteenth year of his age. It is not to be doubted that an 
 orderly arrangement of studies which permits but this num- 
 ber of recitations is much preferable to that confusion which 
 reigns in most schools of this description. While in this, 
 and in similar cases, a system of grading is theoretically 
 possible, there will be found, as in the first case, disturbing 
 causes which may defeat the plan. I have no doubt that 
 country schools may be graded to the immense advantage 
 of their pupils; but whether the graded system can be sus- 
 tained, will depend very largely on the skill of those who 
 have them in charge. 
 
 48. The grading of a small school. — The art of 
 
 grading will now be discussed in its application to small 
 village schools, which may be supposed to contain at least 
 the germ of a rational classification. It is obvious that most 
 of the difficulties which are encountered in country schools 
 will meet us in village schools in charge of a single teacher, 
 so that such cases do not require further attention. Let us, 
 therefore, consider the case of a village school of eighty pu- 
 pils, in charge of two teachers. We will assume that the 
 course of instruction is to cover a period of eight years, 
 extending from the sixth to the fourteenth year. We have, 
 then, provision for a primary grade and a grammar grade, 
 of four years each. To assign a distinct grade to each 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF TEXT- BOOK WORK. 93 
 
 teacher, would be to make an iineciiial distribution of pupils; 
 but as the recitations must be longer in the grammar grade, 
 this arrangement will probably make a very fair distribution 
 of labor. 
 
 Preparatory to arranging a course of instruction, and a 
 programme of exercises, the number of studies which is 
 permissible in each grade must be determined. Let us fix 
 the average time of recitation at fifteen and twenty minutes, 
 respectively. Then, for the primary grade, 
 
 and for the grammar grade, 
 
 __ T _ e _ J 
 
 The correction to be made for the length of recitations 
 in the second case is computed as follows : 
 
 , T 6 hrs. o • . 
 
 t = -f^— — =: ■ ; — ■ = 18 mmutes. 
 
 Yy^n 4X5 
 
 49. The arrangement of text-book work. — The 
 
 next step in order, is to arrange in tabulated form the text- 
 book work which is sufficient for each year of the course. 
 It may be remarked here that there is considerable diversity 
 of practice with reference to the point in the course at which 
 certain studies should be taken up, for example, geography 
 and grammar. At present, the tendency is to postpone these 
 topics to a later period, devoting the earlier part of the 
 course to a thorough training in reading, writing, and cal- 
 culating. The art of arts is reading; and to the acquisition 
 of this art the primary grade should be almost exclusively 
 devoted. By reading is meant the art of interpreting written 
 language, and not the art of giving vocalized expression to 
 
94 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 thought — elocution. The second art has a value, but is not 
 comparable with the first in point of direct utiUty. Next 
 in importance to reading are calculation and writing. These 
 three arts should monopolize the time and effort of teacher 
 and pupil during the first four years of school life. 
 
 The early introduction of geography and grammar may 
 have been due to the number of books in a series. It may 
 have been thought that the three grammars and the three 
 or four geographies were made to be used ; and if so, there 
 was need to begin their study at an early period of hfe. 
 Now, however, the tendency is to diminish the number of 
 books in a series, and at the same time to reduce the quan- 
 tity of matter which they contain. Simplification is the aim 
 of text-book authors, and the schools are beginning to sim- 
 plify their courses of study. By reason of the mass of matter 
 which pupils have been forced to learn, the memory has 
 been taxed at the expense of the reason; and in the end, 
 the memory has suffered, for the memorizing of facts merely 
 to be repeated is a dissipation which speedily weakens the 
 power of memory. 
 
 There is a striking analogy between the assimilation of 
 food and the assimilation of knowledge. Without noting 
 the most instructive of these analogies, it is sufficient, in 
 this place, to remark that both processes require a state of 
 repose in order that the elements which have been appropri- 
 ated may be incorporated — those into organs and tissues, 
 these into the complex products of reflection. 
 
 The amount of text-book work which can be accom- 
 plished in each year of the course has been determined, 
 within certain limits, by experience. It is manifestly im- 
 possible to tell in advance the amount of matter which is 
 required; but with experience come needed readjustments 
 of the course; and, finally, these corrections have led to a 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF TEXT-BOOA' WORK'. 95 
 
 very general uniformity. There is presented on page 96 a 
 synopsis of a course of instruction suitable for such a school 
 as we have had under consideration. Each column will 
 indicate the work designed for the corresponding year. 
 The figure placed opposite each text-book indicates the 
 point at which a corresponding study begins and ends. 
 Thus the Primary Geography is to be taken up at the be- 
 ginning of the third year, primary grade, and completed 
 during the fourth year. This synopsis may be changed 
 into a working plan by dividing each column into three 
 parts, corresponding to the number of school terms, and 
 placing figures to denote the page of each book which 
 must be reached at the end of each term. This form will 
 be given further on [page 105]. 
 
 It is to be remarked, with reference to this synopsis, 
 that in the supposed case only an imperfect grading is 
 possible. In fact, this is but one remove from an unclass- 
 ified school; and, speaking physiologically, the type of or- 
 ganization is low, because the degree of differentiation is 
 slight. It is no more possible to introduce a high organi- 
 zation into such a school than into a manufactory of guns 
 where only two workmen are employed. 
 
 In a highly classified school, eight teachers would be 
 differently employed in doing the work which must be done 
 by tvv^o in the case supposed. Is it w^orth while to grade 
 a school under such circumstances? This is to ask whether 
 an imperfect classification is better than none. Even in 
 case there is no probability that the school will grow, it is 
 well to have at least a rude organization which shall give 
 to it some consistency and shape; while, if there is steady 
 growth in numbers, this imperfect organization is easily de- 
 veloped into others which are successively higher. This 
 statement will be illustrated further on. 
 
96 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
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PKO I 'ISIONAL CLASSIFICA TIOX. 97 
 
 50. The arrangement of programmes. — Ihc third 
 and last step is to prepare a programme of exercises for 
 each grade. At best, the teachers of such a school will be 
 over-crowded with work; but on this account there is the 
 more need that their work should be systematic. Time 
 which is to be spent in so many duties must be rigorously 
 subdivided; otherwise, one task will encroach on another, 
 and entail a general confusion. The data for arranging the 
 programmes (pp. 98, 99) are the calculations previously given 
 (§ 48), and the synopsis of studies. It will be observed that 
 by combining two classes in writing and spelling, there is 
 room on each programme for opening exercises and roll call, 
 while there are twenty-two recitations in the first case and 
 twenty in the second. Other modifications of this general 
 plan may be made at discretion. In practice, the spaces 
 not filled may be made to include topics which are to be 
 studied in a fixed order. These have been omitted in order 
 to avoid any danger of confusion. 
 
 51. The development of a provisional classifica- 
 tion. — Whenever the growth of a school requires the em- 
 ployment of an additional teacher, the original organization 
 should be so modified as to allow a sharper classification of 
 pupils. This should be the guiding principle in making the 
 successive modifications of the system which are required by 
 gradual additions to the enrollment. 
 
 School statistics, from whatever source, exhibit one uni- 
 versal law, — -that attendance steadily diminishes as we pass 
 from the lower grades to the higher. This general law affords 
 us only a qualitative prevision. With reference to any given 
 school, we can predict with certainty that the high school 
 enrollment is only a small percentage of the aggregate enroll- 
 ment; though, given the aggregate enrollment, we are unable 
 to state, except within wide limits, the number of pupils who 
 
 S. S.-g. 
 
gS 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 PROGRAMME OF RECITATIONS FOR THE PRIMARY 
 GRADE OF AN IMPERFECTLY GRADED SCHOOL. 
 
 9 to p-if'. 
 
 OPENING EXERCISES. 
 
 
 
 D CLASS. 
 FIRST YEAR. 
 
 C CLASS. 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 B CLASS. 
 THIRD YKAR. 
 
 A CLASS. 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 9-10 to 9-25. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 9-25 to 9-40. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 9-40 to 9-55- 
 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 9-55 to 10-10. 
 
 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 10-10 to 10-25. 
 
 Oral Instruction. 
 
 
 
 
 10-25 to 10-40. 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess, 
 
 10-40 to 10-55. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 10-55 to ii-io. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 11-10 to 11-25. 
 
 (Dismissed.) 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 11-25 to 11-40. 
 
 
 (Dismissed.) 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 11-40 to 11-55- 
 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 11-55 to 12. 
 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 
 12 to 1. 
 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 
 1 to 1-15. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 1-15 to 1-30. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 1-30 to I-4S. 
 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 1-45 to 2. 
 
 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 2 to 2-15. 
 
 Oral Instruction. 
 
 
 
 
 2-15 to 2-30. 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 2-30 to 2-45. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 2-45 to 3. 
 
 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 3 to 3-15. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 3-15 to 3-30. 
 
 (Dismissed.) 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 3-30 to 3-45. 
 
 
 (Dismissed.) 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 3-45 to 4. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
PROGRAMME OF RECITATIONS. 
 
 99 
 
 PROGRAMME OF RECITATIONS FOR THE GRAMMAR 
 GRADE OF AN IMPERFECTLY GRADED SCHOOL. 
 
 9 to 9-10. OPENING EXERCISES. 1 
 
 
 D CLASS. 
 FIRST VE.'VR. 
 
 C CLASS. 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 B CLASS. 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 A CLASS. 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 9-10 to 9-28. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 9-28 to 9-46. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 9-46 to 10-4. 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 IO-4 to 10-22. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 10-22 to 10-40. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 
 
 10-40 to 10-58. 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 10-58 to II-IO. 
 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 ii-io to 11-25. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 
 11-25 to 11-43. 
 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 11-43 t^O 12. 
 
 
 
 
 History. 
 
 12 to I. 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 I to 1-18. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 1-18 to 1-36. 
 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 
 
 1-36 to 1-54. 
 
 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 
 1-54 to 2-12. 
 
 
 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 2-12 to 2-30. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 
 2-30 to 2-48. 
 
 
 Geography'. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 2-4S to 3 6. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Recess. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 3-6 to 3-24. 
 
 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 3-24 to 3-42. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 
 
 3-42 to 4. 
 
 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 4 to 4-5. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
100 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 are enrolled in the high school. When this law has been 
 established for a particular school, however, it is in most 
 cases subject to but slight variations, and may lead us to 
 quantitative results within quite narrow limits. 
 
 This general law of attendance has an important bearing 
 on the subject now under consideration. While we are cer- 
 tain that increments in attendance will chiefly affect the lower 
 classes, we are not able to predict what special part of the 
 school will require an additional teacher, as successive addi- 
 tions are made to the enrollment ; but as the present purpose 
 is chiefly to illustrate the general manner in which a provis- 
 ional grading is to be modified to meet the requirements of 
 growth, it will be sufficient to follow the -general law which 
 governs school attendance. 
 
 Let us, then, suppose that our village school has gradually 
 increased in numbers till each teacher has sixty pupils, and 
 it has become necessary to employ additional help. As this 
 increase in numbers will chiefly affect the primary grade, the 
 division which is now required may be made as follows : 
 Let the D and C classes of the primary grade constitute one 
 school; the B and A classes of the same grade, and the D 
 class of the grammar grade, the second school; and the C, 
 B, and A classes of the grammar grade, the third school. 
 No change need necessarily be made in the course of in- 
 struction previously given; but new programmes of recita- 
 tions will, of course, be required. 
 
 Let us suppose that for the first school it is thought best 
 to allow fifteen minutes for recitation to the lower class, and 
 twenty minutes to the higher; and that the whole time de- 
 voted to actual class work is five hours. Then, 
 
 8#. 
 
 2 X_35 ' 
 
 , I20 
 
PROGRAMME OF RECITATIONS. 
 Let us make a correction for T as follows : 
 
 r= « X / X y=^ 8 X M- X 2 =: 280 minutes, 
 or four hours and forty minutes. 
 
 PROGRAMME OF RECITATIONS FOR A PRIMARY SCHOOL 
 COMPOSED OF TWO GRADES OF PUPILS. 
 
 TIME. 
 
 B CLASS. 
 
 A CLASS. 
 
 9 to 9-10. Opening Exercises. Opening Exercises. 
 
 9-10 to 9-25. Reading (ist Division). 
 
 9-25 to 9-45. Reading (1st Division). 
 
 9-45 to 10. Oral Instruction (2d Division). 
 
 10 to 10-20. 
 
 Arithmetic (2d Division). 
 
 10-20 to 10-35 Oral Instruction (1st Division). 1 
 
 10-35 to 10-45. 
 
 Recess. Recess. 
 
 IO-4S to ii-s. 1 
 
 Arithmetic (ist Division). 
 
 11-5 to 11-20. Reading (2d Division). 
 
 
 11-20 to 11-40. Reading (2d Division). 
 
 11-40 to 11-45. 1 Roll Call. Roll Call. 
 
 11-45 to I. Intermission. Intermission. 
 
 1 to 1-15. 
 
 Arithmetic (ist Division). 
 
 1-15 to 1-35. Reading (ist Division). 
 
 1-35 to 1-55. 
 
 Reading (ist Division). 
 
 1-55 to 2-10. 
 
 Oral Instruction (2d Division). 
 
 •2-10 to 2-30. Arithmetic (2d Division). | 
 
 2-30 to 2-45. 
 
 Oral Instruction (rst Division). | 
 
 2-45 to 3. Recess. Recess. 
 
 3 to 3-20. Reading (2d Division). | 
 
 3-20 to 3-35. 
 
 Reading (2d Division). j 
 
 3-35 to 3-40. 
 
 Roll Call. 
 
 Roll Call. 1 
 
I02 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 Either of two plans may be followed in armnging such a 
 programme. An entire class may be called up for :recitation 
 eight times each day, or it m*y be divided into two sections, 
 each of which may recite four times a day. It. is plain that 
 an individual pupil may receive the same amount of attention 
 in each case; though the second arrangement is preferable 
 when the number of pupils in a class is large. The first 
 plan will give rise to the form on page loi. 
 
 The place of all others to learn the art of grading is such 
 a school as we have taken for illustration; and peculiarly 
 fortunate is the teacher who is permitted to conduct a school 
 through the various stages of its onward progress. 
 
 52. The successive transformations through which 
 a graded-school may pass. — The following table is de- 
 signed to present a theoretical view of the successive trans- 
 formations through which a growing school must pass, from 
 its first rude organization to the complete development of all 
 the grades of the common school course. It. is not pretended 
 that, in actual practice, growth will take place at the rate or 
 in the manner here indicated. Sometimes an earlier division 
 of the lower classes may be necessary ; and such may be the 
 rapidity of growth, that two or more new schools must be 
 opened at the same time. 
 
 SUCCESSIVE TRANSFORMATIONS. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 PRIMARY GRADE. | GRAMMAR GRADE. 
 
 ! 
 
 80 pupils in charge r 
 of two teachers. \ 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 
 D. C. B. A. 
 
 D. C. B. A. 
 
 120 pupils in C 
 
 charge of J 
 
 three teachers, y 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 
 D. C. 
 
 B. A. 
 
 D. 
 
 C. B. A. 
 
 200 pupils in 1 
 charge of J 
 four teachers. 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 
 D. y^Q. 
 
 %C. B. 
 A. 
 
 D. 
 
 C. E. A. 
 
GRADED-SCHOOL GRO WTIL 
 
 103 
 
 250 pupils ill 
 
 charge eif 
 five teachers. 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 Fifth School. 
 
 1). 
 C. 
 
 n. 
 
 A. 
 
 D. 
 
 C. B. A. 
 
 300 pupils in 
 
 charge of 
 six teachers. 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 Fifth School. 
 Sixth School. 
 
 D. 
 C. 
 
 B. 
 
 A. 
 
 D. C. 
 
 B. A. 
 
 ( 
 
 350 pupils in 
 
 charge of 
 seven teachers. 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 Fifth School. 
 Sixth School. 
 Seventh School. 
 
 C. 
 B. 
 
 A. 
 
 D. C. 
 
 B. A. 
 
 400 pupils in 
 
 charge of 
 eight teachers. 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 Fifth School. 
 Sixth School. 
 Seventh School. 
 Eighth School. 
 
 C. 
 
 B. 
 A. 
 
 D. 
 
 C. 
 
 B. A. 
 
 450 pupils in 
 
 charge of 
 nine teachers. 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 Fifth School. 
 Sixth School. 
 Seventh School. ■ 
 Eighth School. 
 Ninth School. 
 
 
 D. 
 
 C. 
 
 B. A. 
 
 500 pupils in 
 
 charge of 
 ten teachers. 
 
 I 
 
 First School. 
 Second School. 
 Third School. 
 Fourth School. 
 Fifth School. 
 Sixth School. 
 Seventh School. 
 Eighth School. 
 Ninth School. 
 Tenth School. 
 
 B. 
 A. 
 
 D. 
 C. 
 B. 
 A. 
 
 During the successive periods of its growth, the classifica- 
 tion of a school should become more and more exact. Lim- 
 
I04 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 ited accommodations and a lack of teachers may at first 
 prevent a strict grading of pupils; but, in proportion as 
 these obstacles are removed, smaller differences in individual 
 attainment should be provided for. 
 
 When a school has reached the final stage indicated in the 
 above table, nothing needs to be done, in case of further 
 growth, except to estabhsh parallel schools of the same grade. 
 The common school course of instruction has now received 
 its full development; and, in process of time, the establish- 
 ment of the high school grade will become necessary. 
 
 In what has preceded I have attempted to show the man- 
 ner of employing the data which must be used in grading an 
 unorganized school. The general impression intended to be 
 conveyed is that, in this art, considerable exactness is both 
 desirable and possible. It has not been thought necessary 
 to enter into a minute explanation of the equations which 
 have been employed. A slight examination will show that 
 the primary equation expresses the exact relation between 
 the several data which must enter into a rational distribution 
 of work. The derivation of the secondary equations is obvi-' 
 ous ; and the substitution of values for n, t, Y, and T in each 
 case will be readily comprehended. 
 
 As the art of grading schools is one of the most difficult, 
 and, perhaps, one of the least understood of a teacher's pro- 
 fessional duties, it might very properly form a topic of in- 
 struction in the higher classes in normal schools. By em- 
 ploying the simple formulae given in this chapter, pupils may 
 be shown how to arrange a course of instruction and pro- 
 grammes of recitations suitable for given conditions. 
 
 53. Synopsis of a common school course of in- 
 struction. — The following synopsis of a course of instruc- 
 tion for the primary and grammar grades of a completely 
 graded school will conclude this chapter. 
 
COMMON SCHOOL COURSE. 
 
 105 
 
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CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ART OF GRADING SCHOOLS 
 
 (CONCLUDED). 
 
 (107) 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 The high school grade. Opposition to high schools. The Kala- 
 mazoo high school case. The special value of high schools. When 
 the high school grade should be established. Courses of study for 
 high schools. Relation of high schools to colleges. Course of study 
 for a first-class high school. The use of text-books. The interval 
 between classes. The multiplication of classes. The reconstruction 
 of schools. The use and abuse of system. Future high school 
 policy. 
 
 (loS) 
 
THE ART OF GRADING SCHOOLS 
 
 (concluded). 
 
 54. The High School grade. — In many places of 
 smaller size, the high school grade should not be estab- 
 lished; the course should stop with what is known as the 
 grammar grade. As the high school is the most expensive 
 part of the system, it ought not to be organized till there 
 are pupils enough to furnish employment for at least one 
 teacher. Up to this period, pupils who have completed the 
 studies of the grammar grade, and wish to go still farther, 
 should go away to some school where they can have the 
 advantages which can not be afforded at home. It is not 
 true that a community is justifiable in establishing a school 
 of high grade for one per cent of its school population. 
 The same economic principles should be practiced in the 
 financial management of a school as in that of private 
 business. Not what is desirable in itself, but what can be 
 afforded, should be the principle of action. 
 
 What has just been said should not be construed as in 
 any way hostile to the establishment of a high school when 
 there is sufficient material to support one. A well developed 
 system of public instruction is no more complete without the 
 addition of a high school than an otherwise well developed 
 man, without the larger brain; and so long as education 
 is regarded as the corner-stone of a representative govern- 
 
 (109) 
 
no SCHOOL SUPERVISION. . 
 
 ment, public instruction must do more than teach children 
 to read, write, spell, and cypher. These arts, though in- 
 dispensable, do not include all that is essential for citizen- 
 ship. The primary school marks the minimum of instruc- 
 tion — that without which no one is fit for citizenship in a 
 free state; but it is a gross perversion of reason to declare 
 that the state should desert the child the moment he has 
 learned the rudiments of an education. A highly developed 
 state requires a highly developed system of public instruc- 
 tion. The mere ability to read and write may fit men to 
 choose their rulers, but it will not fit them to rule. In a 
 government like ours, where the governed of to-day may 
 become the rulers to-morrow, it is not safe to withhold op- 
 portunities whereby all may learn what is needful for taking 
 part in the administration of public affairs. 
 
 There is no error in reasoning more common, or more 
 fatal, than that of erecting the results of individual experi- 
 ence into a general law. This error is most common among 
 men whom a wider culture would have emancipated from 
 ignorant prejudices. A man whose early educational oppor- 
 tunities were limited to the resources of a country school, 
 but who, by unusual force of character, has risen to posi- 
 tions of influence, will usually ascribe his good fortune to 
 the lack of better facilities for education, and will argue 
 from thence that high schools and colleges are useless. If, 
 as is probable, such a man is a demagogue, he will rail at 
 schools of a higher order, and will see in them manifest 
 proofs of the corruptions of the times, and of the urgent 
 need of returning to primitive simplicity. 
 
 55- Opposition to high schools. — Public high schools 
 are opposed by two widely different classes of men — by the 
 ignorant and bigoted, and by the cultivated who are self- 
 ishly interested in schemes of private instruction. Wherever 
 
THE KALAMAZOO HIGH SCHOOL CASE. Ill 
 
 denominational colleges are so weak as to come into com- 
 petition with public schools, there will be found those who 
 deny to the state the right to provide for the higher edu- 
 cation of its citizens. There is a legitimate field for de- 
 nominational enterprise in establishing schools for special 
 denominaUonal needs; but, at this late day, it is not be- 
 coming to force all who thirst for knowledge to take the cup 
 from clerical hands or perish from the want of knowledge. 
 The Church certainly has a right to educate, but it has not 
 a proscriptive right to prevent the State from educating. 
 
 56. The Kalamazoo high school case. — A recent 
 decision of the Supreme Court of Michigan has put to rest 
 a question which has occasionally arisen as to the legal right 
 to support a high school by public tax. The complainant's 
 theory was, 
 
 I St. That a high school exists in fact, but not in laiv. 
 
 2d. That only schools in which the primary English 
 branches are exclusively taught can be legally supported 
 by tax. 
 
 3d. That there is no law authorizing the employment of 
 a superintendent. 
 
 An opinion in this case was delivered in court, Feb. 9th, 
 1874, by Judge Charles Brown, of the Ninth Judicial Circuit 
 of Michigan. The essential points in the decision are the 
 following : 
 
 "The special acts of the Legislature, when construed in 
 connection with the general law, authorize the establishment 
 of the school in question, and the employment of a super- 
 intendent whose salary may be paid by a tax upon the 
 property of the district." 
 
 "The tax levied upon the property of the complainants 
 for school purposes was levied in accordance with the pro- 
 vision of the constitution." 
 
112 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 An appeal was subsequently taken to the Supreme Court 
 of Michigan, in which the decision of the lower court was 
 fully sustained. 
 
 The following is a partial abstract of the opinion of 
 Judge Cooley in the case : 
 
 '■''Taxation for higher education. — The more general ques- 
 tion, legally stated, is whether there is authority in this state 
 to make the high schools free by taxation levied on the 
 people at large. The argument is that while there may be 
 no constitutional provision expressly prohibiting such taxa- 
 tion, the general course of the state's legislation, and the 
 popular understanding of the people, require us to regard 
 instruction in the classics and in living modern languages 
 in these schools as not practical, and, therefore, unneces- 
 sary for the people at large, but rather as accomplishments 
 for the few, to be sought after in the main by those best 
 able to pay for them, and to be paid for by those who 
 seek them and not by general tax. It is surprising that 
 the legislation and policy of the state should be appealed to 
 against the right of the state to furnish a liberal education 
 to its youth. We supposed it had always been understood 
 in Michigan that education, not merely rudimentary but in 
 an enlarged sense, was regarded as an important practical 
 advantage, to be supplied at will, to rich and poor alike, 
 and not as something pertaining merely to culture and ac- 
 complishment, to be brought as such within the reach of 
 those who would pay for it. Territorial and state legislation 
 on this point may be profitably surveyed. 
 
 ''The constitution as adopted provided for the establish- 
 ment of free schools in every school district for at least 
 three months in the year, and for the University. By the 
 aid of these we have every reason to believe the people 
 expected a complete collegiate education might be obtained. 
 
THE KALAMAZOO HIGH SCHOOL CASE. 113 
 
 The branches of the university had ceased to exist, and it 
 must either have been understood that young men were to 
 be prepared for the University in the common schools, or 
 that they should go abroad for that purpose, or be prepared 
 in private schools. Private schools adapted to the purpose 
 were almost unknown in the state, and very few, then, had 
 money enough to educate their children abroad. The in- 
 ference is irresistible that the people expected the tendency 
 toward the establishment of high schools in the primary 
 school districts would continue until every locality capable of 
 supporting one was supplied. This inference is strengthened 
 by the fact that many of our union schools date their estab- 
 lishment from 1850, and the two or three years after. 
 
 ' ' State educational policy. — If these facts do not clearly 
 and conclusively demonstrate a general state policy, begin- 
 ning in 181 7, and continuing until after the adoption of 
 the present constitution, in the direction of free schools in 
 which education, and at their option the elements of class- 
 ical education, might be brought within the reach of all 
 the children of the state, then nothing can demonstrate it. 
 Subsequent legislation has all concurred with this policy. 
 Neither in our state policy, in our constitution, nor in our 
 laws are the primary school districts restricted in the 
 branches of knowledge which their officers may cause to 
 be taught, or the grade of instruction that may be given, 
 if their voters consent, in regular form, to bear the expense 
 and raise the taxes for the purpose. 
 
 ^^ Siiperintoidency of schools. — As to the other question, the 
 power to appoint a superintendent was incident to the full 
 control which by law the board had over the schools of the 
 district, and the board and the people of the district have 
 been wisely left by the legislature to follow their own judg- 
 ment in the premises." 
 
 S. S.-io. 
 
114 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 If the complainant's prayer had been granted in this case, 
 the public school system of Michigan would have presented 
 the curious spectacle of a great university at one extreme, 
 the primary school at the other, and a dead blank between. 
 What beautiful consistency to found that university by a 
 constitutional provision, and then, virtually, to deny to pu- 
 pils the privilege of entering it! 
 
 57. The special value of high schools. — Besides 
 their general utility, there are special reasons why high 
 schools should be cherished wherever they can be legiti- 
 mately established. They are the most democratic of our 
 public institutions. They offer to the poor and to the rich, 
 on equal terms, a culture which will adorn and ennoble 
 any situation in life. By their influence, the communities 
 in which they are situated may be repeatedly reenforced by 
 accessions of cultivated citizens, so that in the course of 
 a few years the whole tone of society may be elevated. 
 There is scarcely a benefit to society which is comparable 
 to this. 
 
 Besides, a vigorous high school is needed to give tone 
 and efficiency to the lower grades, to offer that inspiration 
 to effort which is needed to retain pupils in school. 
 
 Finally, as has already been shown (§24), the teaching 
 force needed in a graded system is most efficiently recruited 
 from the high school. In this way, a system of pubHc in- 
 struction becomes self-sustaining. 
 
 58. When the high school grade should be estab- 
 lished.- — On the average, not more than twelve per cent 
 of the entire high school enrollment will complete the course. 
 If the course of study occupy three years, the highest class 
 will constitute one-eighth of the school; the middle class, 
 three-eighths; and the lowest class, one-half. Hence, if, on 
 the average, sixteen pupils enter the high school each year 
 
COURSES OF STUDY FOR HIGH SCHOOLS. 115 
 
 from the grammar grade, the whole enrolhnent will be thirty- 
 two pupils, forming three classes, of sixteen, twelve, and 
 four pupils, respectively. To conduct such a school properly 
 will require all the time which the principal can spare from 
 his work of supervising, and that of an assistant in addition. 
 It seems to me that a high school should not be organized 
 until there is assurance that at least thirty pupils will be in 
 attendance when the school is in good working order. 
 
 I learn from the statistics of forty of the principal high 
 schools of Michigan that, on the average, their membership 
 does not exceed six per cent of the whole school enrollment. 
 Thus our high school of thirty will require an aggregate 
 enrollment of five hundred pupils. I think it may then be 
 assumed that, in general, when the actual school enrollment 
 is less than five hundred, the high school grade ought not 
 to be established. 
 
 The statement is subject to some ambiguity from the fact 
 that so called high schools differ so much in their character. 
 I shall assume that a high school, properly called, should 
 have a course of study sufficient to prepare pupils for the 
 scientific course in first-class colleges. A department of 
 this kind will require a course of study for three years, em- 
 bracing higher English, higher mathematics, and the natural 
 sciences. 
 
 59. Courses of study for high schools. — The syn- 
 opsis on the following page is designed to present a course 
 of instruction suitable for a third-grade high school. 
 
 When the aggregate attendance is from eight hundred to 
 one thousand, there may be two courses of instruction, 
 offering to pupils some choice in the selection of their 
 studies. It may be remarked here, that the high school 
 should be popularized by adapting the course of instruction 
 to the varied needs and preferences of its pupils. Every 
 
ii6 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF A COURSE OF STUDY FOR A THIRD- 
 GRADE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 
 FIKST TEUM. 
 
 SECOND TEHM. 
 
 THIRD TEEM. 
 
 5 < 
 
 Book-keeping. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Analysis. 
 Algebra. 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Analysis. 
 Algebra. 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 a . 
 
 O < 
 
 History. 
 Algebra. 
 Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Physiology. 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 English Literature. 
 Political Science. 
 Astronomy. 
 
 proper inducement should be held out to encourage pupils 
 to persevere in their studies till they can be graduated from 
 the high school. For this reason, it is well to restrict the 
 course to three years in cases where the school is small, and 
 where there has not yet been developed that esprit de corps 
 which of itself is an invaluable incentive to perseverance. 
 
 On the opposite page is a synopsis of two courses of 
 study for what may be called a second-grade high school. 
 
 60. Relation of high schools to colleges. — In states 
 where the public school system culminates in a university, 
 there should be a system of preparatory schools, like the 
 Foundation Schools of England, which will fit pupils for 
 entering on a collegiate course of instruction. A spirit 
 of unity and consistency should so pervade a system of 
 instruction that it may be equally good for the pupil who 
 stops at the end of any given period and for the pupil who 
 continues his studies into or through a higher grade. That 
 is, a grammar school course should be of such a character 
 as to afford the greatest advantage to the pupils who leave 
 
SECOND-GRADE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 117 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF TWO COURSES OF STUDY SUITABLE FOR 
 A SECOND-GRADE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 
 
 LATIN COURSE. P:NCiLISH COURSE. 
 
 pi 
 < 
 
 fa 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 Analysis. 
 
 Book-keeping. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Analysis. 
 
 s 
 i; 
 
 H 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Analysis, 
 Algebra. 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 < 
 
 > 
 
 Q 
 ^; 
 
 
 u 
 
 w 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 Algebra. 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 S 
 5 
 H 
 -a 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Solid Geometry or Zoology. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Botany. 
 
 < 
 
 Q 
 
 S 
 
 1 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Botany. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Histoiy. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Physiology or Rhetoric. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Geology or Analytical Chemistry. 
 
 Astronomy. 
 
Ii8 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 school at the end of this period, and to those who are to 
 enter the high school. No one questions the truth of this 
 doctrine when applied to the ordinary common school course; 
 but it is a quite commonly received opinion that a high 
 school course which is arranged with reference to the re- 
 quirements of a university or college is not the best for 
 pupils who are to take no higher course. If this opinion 
 is well founded, it must be that collegiate instruction is not 
 a logical continuation of public school instruction. If this 
 higher instruction is general and not special, if it has refer- 
 ence to the humanities and not to specialties, there can not 
 be this incompatibility. If, on the other hand, it is true 
 that a preparation for college requires a course of second- 
 ary instruction which is not suitable for pupils in general, 
 it follows that the college course is not designed for the 
 liberal education of its students. I assume that the higher 
 education afforded by universities and colleges should be a 
 culture in the humanities, and, consequently, that it should 
 be the natural continuation of the instruction given in the 
 high school. Unless a state university really fulfills the 
 conditions of this relation, it is certainly not a legitimate 
 member of the general educational system, and ought to be 
 reconstructed or abandoned. 
 
 It is true, I suppose, that while our public school system 
 is of recent origin, and therefore responds quite fully to 
 the exigencies of modern life and thought, the college is 
 rather a mediaeval institution, reflecting the opinions, the 
 culture, and the needs of an obsolete state of society. It 
 is for this reason, doubtless, that the college is sometimes 
 felt to be outside the general public school system, and out 
 of sympathy with it. There is no reason in the nature of 
 things why this incongruity should continue; and there 
 seems to be no remedy save in a close conformity of col- 
 
THE USE OE TEXT- BOOKS. 119 
 
 legiate instruction to the general educational spirit which is 
 abroad among the people, and which has made our public 
 school system what it is. 
 
 61. Course of study for a first-class high school. — 
 The schedule on the two following pages presents a synopsis 
 of five courses of study, designed for a complete high school 
 of at least one hundred and fifty pupils, and five teachers. 
 
 62. The use of text-books. — It will be observed that 
 all the courses of study which have been presented in this 
 chapter have reference to text-book instruction alone. An 
 opinion has been gaining ground for several years that the 
 use of text-books is an evil, to a greater or less extent; and 
 that oral instruction should be the teacher's ideal. Without 
 doubt, the servile use of a text-book, whereby teaching be- 
 comes mere lesson-hearing, is a great evil; but it is even a 
 greater evil to discard the use of books. One great end of 
 popular instruction should be to teach the art of using books. 
 A good school-book should be a compendium of facts and 
 principles which the pupil should learn and which the teacher 
 should amplify and explain. If oral instruction supplement 
 text-book instruction, it is legitimate, even indispensable; 
 but if it is to supersede the text-book, it is employed for a 
 wrong purpose. The actual learning of the text is indis- 
 pensable to real scholarship; but this text should be illus- 
 trated till the truths which it embodies are comprehended, 
 and to some extent understood. It is not sufficient to have 
 an idea floating loosely in the mind; it must be defined and 
 fixed by a word. So it is not enough that pupils have 
 thoughts about a given subject; these thoughts should be 
 embodied in concise statements in such a way that they may 
 be within the power of the memory. 
 
 ' "First the idea, then the word" is a dogma of current 
 pedagogy. If this is a protest against mere lesson-learning 
 
SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF FIVE COURSES OF STUDY 
 
 
 
 CLASSICAL COURSE. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC COURSE. 
 
 > 
 
 In 
 Em 
 
 H 
 "1" 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Analysis. 
 
 Book-keeping. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Analysis. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Analysis. 
 Algebra. 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Zoology. 
 Algebra. 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Q 
 O 
 in 
 
 1 
 
 £ 
 
 E 
 
 H 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 Algebra. 
 Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 History, 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 pi 
 
 > 
 
 Q 
 
 5 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 Greek. 
 
 English Literature. 
 Chemistry. 
 French or German. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 English Literature. 
 Chemistry. 
 French or German. 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 Botany. 
 
 Geology. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 > 
 
 X 
 
 D 
 
 g 
 
 £ 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Review of Algebra. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 Botany. 
 
 Review of Algebra. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 Physiology. 
 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 £ 
 
 Latin, 
 
 Arithmetic and Geography. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 Geometric Drawing or Astron. 
 Arithmetic and Geography. 
 French or German. 
 
FIRST-GRADE HIGH SCHOOL 
 
 121 
 
 SUITABLE FOR A FIRST-GRADE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 LATIN & SCIENTIFIC. 
 
 LATIN COURSE. 
 
 ENGLISH COURSE. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Analysis. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 Analysis. 
 
 Book-keeping. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Analysis. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Analysis. 
 Algebra. 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Physical Geography. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 History. 
 Algebra. 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Plane Geometry'. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Plane Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 Geometry. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Solid Geom. or Zoology. 
 
 History. 
 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Botany. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History, 
 
 French. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Botany. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 English Literature. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Physiology or Rhetoric. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 History. 
 
 French or German. 
 
 English Literature. 
 Geology or An. Chemistry. 
 Astronomy. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Review of Algebra. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Arithmetic & Geography. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 
 S. S. 
 
122 SCHOOL SUPERVISION, 
 
 and lesson-hearing, it is legitimate and timely; but if it is 
 IDUt forward as an axiom of educational philosophy, it is 
 false. It is no violation of a true method to teach the word 
 first, then the idea; first the verbal statement of a truth and 
 then the truth which it embodies; or, even, first the abstract 
 and then the concrete. Both processes are legitimate accord- 
 ing to circumstances, these circumstances being chiefly the 
 amount of the pupil's experience and his quickness in de- 
 tecting the special in the general. To say that all instruction 
 must begin with the concrete, is to cut us off wholly from 
 the past, from every thing in the way of knowledge which 
 comes to us by inheritance. For, the accumulated knowledge 
 of the past comes to us in abstract statements, which, for the 
 most part, we must receive in trust as simple beliefs. It is 
 only in a comparatively few cases that these abstract truths 
 can be verified by individual experience. 
 
 Some seem to have a strange misconception of the aim 
 and purpose of public school instruction. Of late the schools 
 have been berated because they do not furnish a "practical" 
 education. It appears to be the theory of some that the 
 education which pupils receive in public schools should be 
 equivalent to an apprenticeship in some art or trade. Now, 
 it is not the province of the public schools to turn out 
 engineers, foundry-men, editors, tailors, lawyers, and shoe- 
 makers, but rather to form the material of which "practical" 
 men are made. Presently, some one may cry out against 
 woolen-factories because they do not turn out ready-made 
 clothing. The tendency of the American mind is to estimate 
 all things by the prices which they will bring in the market; 
 and so the education which is not directly transmutable into 
 bread is thought of little worth. The schools should teach 
 the arts which relate to the general conduct of life. In this 
 sensCj the highest in which the term can be used, common 
 
INTERVAL BETWEEN CLASSES. 1 23 
 
 school education should be practical; but not in the narrow 
 sense of teaching handicrafts. The most useful, the most 
 truly practical art which can be acquired, is that of reason- 
 ing dispassionately and accurately upon all the questions 
 which come up for solution in daily life; yet it is certain 
 that the studies which best furnish the mind with this ability 
 have but little direct use in those employments whereby the' 
 masses of mankind earn their daily bread. 
 
 63. The interval between classes. — In the courses 
 of study which have been presented, the interval between 
 classes is one year. Under this arrangement, a pupil who 
 is unable to do the work of his grade must be put back for 
 at least one year ; and another, who is capable of doing more 
 work than his grade requires, must jump a year's work in 
 order to be reclassified. It has already been observed that 
 skillful management will greatly reduce the occasions for 
 such reclassifications. It is further to be remarked that, in 
 large schools, there is often a difference between grades which 
 are nominally the same. This difference is not enough to 
 defeat the promotion of its members, but will often accom- 
 modate pupils who find it necessary to pass from one to the 
 other. 
 
 To avoid the seeming, and, in some cases, perhaps, the 
 real disadvantages of this manner of grading, it is thought 
 best by some that the interval between grades should be but 
 six months. 
 
 This arrangement certainly facilitates the classification of 
 pupils, and, in this respect, has an advantage over the other 
 system. It is to be recollected, however, that this manner 
 of grading is not practicable in all schools ; although it seems 
 to be assumed by some who commend the plan, that it is of 
 universal application. 
 
 In general, it is evident that when the successive steps in 
 
124 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 a graded course are reduced to one-half their length, their 
 numbers must be doubled in order to extend over the same 
 space. Sixteen grades of six months each are equivalent to 
 eight grades of one year each. To regrade a school like 
 that described in section 49, would double the number of 
 classes in every department; and unless there are pupils 
 enough in each of the new grades to form at least one 
 school, this mode of grading is impracticable. Thus, each 
 teacher in the school of section 53 would have twice 
 the number of classes as before; and unless there are pupils 
 enough to form two schools, this close grading is imprac- 
 ticable. In a grammar department having a two years' 
 course, in which there are pupils enough for two teachers, 
 say one hundred, there may be four grades instead of two. 
 For, in this case, each teacher may have two classes of dif- 
 ferent grades, instead of two classes of the same grade. On 
 the other hand, if this department is comprised in a single 
 school of fifty pupils, it is evident that one teacher could not 
 attend to the four grades which the new classification would 
 make necessary. 
 
 It is evident that, in order to work harmoniously, the same 
 method of grading must be employed in every department of 
 the school. Thus, if promotions take place in the primary 
 school twice a year, they must occur at the same time in 
 the grammar school; for otherwise there will be a gradual 
 accumulation of grades in the latter department. If two 
 new classes enter a department each year, two classes must 
 pass out each year, otherwise the school will be thrown into 
 disorder. It is the usual custom, I think, to graduate classes 
 from the high school but once a year; and in such cases, 
 two classes can not enter it each year without doing violence 
 to the system. Of course this objection will not appear in 
 those schools which are not large enough to support a high 
 
MULTIPLICATION OF CLASSES. 125 
 
 school; but in schools of this size, the closer grading is 
 impracticable. 
 
 Recent discussions of the graded-school system, and criti- 
 cisms on its stereotyped methods, have induced some super- 
 intendents to reduce the interval between classes to ten 
 weeks. Even where such an arrangement is practicable, it 
 is difficult to see its necessity or utility. Surely there is not 
 such an inequality among pupils as to require these frequent 
 readjustments. If there be j^upils whose rate of progress 
 differs so much from that of the multitude, their number 
 must be exceedingly small ; and the plan of the school ought 
 not to be adapted to their exclusive needs and thus ignore 
 the good of the greater number. For it is manifestly true, 
 that when classes are reconstructed so frequently, the school 
 will be kept in a state of unstable equilibrium — pupils will 
 not pursue the even tenor of their way, but will be tempted 
 to do superficial work in order to outstrip their classmates. 
 Such frequent reclassifications are not only unnecessary but 
 positively injurious. 
 
 64. The multiplication of classes. —Attention may 
 here be called to a fact of importance. There is always 
 danger of multiplying grades in the primary department. 
 Beginning classes must be organized at least twice each year, 
 and if such classes are not merged into one during the year, 
 there will be a gradual increase in grades. The one general 
 plan to follow is to place the older and more capable mem- 
 bers of the first class with an advanced class, and the younger 
 and less advanced with the class which last entered the 
 department. Usually, this course can be followed without 
 doing violence to the interests of any pupil. At least, here, 
 as every-where, the good of the greatest number must be 
 respected. The multiplication of grades must be prevented 
 at all hazards; for if it is allowed, it will soon involve the 
 
126 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 whole school, and lead to the virtual abandonment of the 
 graded system. 
 
 65. The reconstruction of schools. — For the sake 
 of simplification, it has been assumed that the reader is 
 interested in the gradual evolution of a completely graded- 
 school out of a small, unorganized school. The object has 
 been chiefly to show the mode of development, the princi- 
 ples which are involved in grading, and finally the model 
 of a thoroughly graded-school. It will not often happen that 
 a man will be called upon to conduct a school through such 
 marked periods of growth. Usually this work is done grad- 
 ually, by successive hands; but it is all-important, as a neces- 
 sary preliminary to any variety of successful supervision, to 
 have a well-defined notion of what a graded-school should 
 be. Without such an ideal, it will not be possible, either to 
 reconstruct a degraded-school, to keep up a good classifica- 
 tion already made, or to carry forward the classification of a 
 growing school. 
 
 Assuming that enough has been said with reference to the 
 gradual building up of a school, it may not be amiss to add 
 some suggestions relative to the reconstruction of a school 
 which, for whatever cause, has lapsed into some degree of 
 disorganization; to holding a school in the even tenor of its 
 way; and to carrying forward a classification already begun. 
 Graded-schools sometimes fall into decay through the lack 
 of good supervision. Unless there is constant vigilance, 
 grades will multiply, first in the primary department, and 
 finally throughout the entire school, till the classification has 
 been destroyed. Teachers will sometimes hold back classes 
 from promotion merely because they dislike to part with 
 favorite pupils, and in this way a disorganizing element is 
 introduced. Again, some superintendents and principals 
 favor a loose classification, which, in the end, means an 
 
KECONSTRUCriON OF SCHOOLS. 1 27 
 
 abandonment of the graded system. But whatever the cause 
 of the trouble may be, it is necessary to know what general 
 line of policy it is best to follow. 
 
 (i) If there is not a course of study regularly drawn up, 
 or if there is a course which is manifestly imperfect, one 
 should be arranged and printed, so that pupils, teachers, and 
 parents may know what work will be required. 
 
 (2) Ascertain with as much exactness as possible the posi- 
 tions of all the classes in school (Blank § 87), and then 
 rearrange the classes and departments with reference to the 
 course of study. At best, such an organization is merely 
 an approximation to what should ultimately be attained. 
 
 (3) During the year watch attentively the progress of the 
 classes, and if it is discovered that pupils are well up with 
 their grade-work in some studies, but are lagging in others, 
 withdraw attention somewhat from the first and give it to 
 the second. 
 
 (4) At the close of the year, ascertain the standing of 
 pupils with still greater exactness, and bring the classes into 
 still greater conformity to the course. 
 
 (5) Make promotions simultaneously throughout the school, 
 and prevent a multiplication. of classes in the primary grades. 
 
 When a superintendent or principal comes in charge of a 
 school which is in good condition, no radical change should 
 be made in the general line of policy. If, as is probable, 
 some feature of the system needs to be brought into greater 
 efficiency, develop this part of the school. At any rate, 
 make no haste to introduce changes, unless it is plain that 
 there is pressing need of them. It is a false notion to take 
 for granted that a predecessor's work is full of flaws which 
 must be repaired. It is a great wrong to attempt to establish 
 a reputation by casting discredit on the quality of the work 
 which has been done. Rather than to tear down, the policy 
 
128 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 should be to strengthen, to develop, the existing system. • A 
 needless change in general management is of itself a disaster ; 
 but it is made unnecessarily great by overturning the system 
 left by a predecessor. The usual sequence of such a step 
 is a radical alteration in the course of instruction, a change 
 in text-books, and a widely different line of general poHcy. 
 This is one of the greatest evils from which our schools 
 suffer. It has its origin, to a great extent, in crude notions 
 of the art of school supervision, and it will gradually dis- 
 appear as school boards, teachers, and superintendents 
 become informed of the general principles which should be 
 followed in work of this nature. 
 
 66. The use and abuse of system. — In concluding 
 this portion of my work, I am reminded that something 
 should be said of the abuses which are made of systems in 
 general and of the graded system of schools in particular. 
 In general, systems are useful in proportion as they are 
 administered with intelligence and prudence; and they be- 
 come mischievous when they are allowed to work by virtue 
 of some inherent power which they are supposed to possess. 
 Even a machine which breaks stone needs intelligent over- 
 sight; much more a system which has for its object the 
 training of human beings endowed with intellects and wills. 
 Of all systems, a school will soonest lead to disaster when 
 left to itself. At every moment there is needed the quick 
 eye and the ready hand in order to secure that harmony of 
 movement which is all-essential. There is not an hour in 
 the day in which some event does not occur which, if not 
 properly adjusted, will derange some portion of the system: 
 and a repetition of such cases will ultimately lead to ruin. 
 It is unjust to charge mere system with either praise or 
 blame. It is a machine which grinds well or ill, according 
 as it is managed well or ill. 
 
USE AND ABUSE OE SYSTEM. 129 
 
 It is sometimes said that a system is a good thing provided 
 it be not pushed too far — if it be not appHed with too great 
 exactness. That is, an unsystematic use of a system will do 
 well enough, but the rigorous employment of a system will 
 tend to evil. Here, as elsewhere, "the letter killeth, the 
 spirit Aaketh alive." It is not system which kills, but the 
 misuse of system, the divorce of intelligence from the chan- 
 nels through which it operates. 
 
 Depend upon it, a loose classification, as in section 
 63, is an evil compared with a close classification, as in 
 section 49. Yet some superintendents think they are 
 entitled to special credit for tolerating a departure from true 
 system, when the only thing required is an intelligent em- 
 ployment of system. 
 
 It is a great error to suppose that system requires us to 
 ignore time, place, and circumstances. It is taken for 
 granted that all who are called to administer the aifairs of 
 social, civil, or religious organizations have good sense and 
 ability to make all needed allowances for what is exceptional. 
 All systems must necessarily be framed with reference to the 
 general, the ordinary, and not with reference to the special, 
 the extraordinary; and when exceptional cases arise, it is to 
 be presumed that they are to be provided for. 
 
 An adherence to mere system should never endanger the 
 health or bodily comfort of children. It is proper that a 
 time should be fixed for the opening of school-rooms; but 
 if, in inclement weather, a child should reach the school 
 before the stated time for opening, he should be allowed to 
 enter rather than suffer bodily discomfort. Similarly, pupils, 
 when once within the school-room, should be made comfort- 
 able, even if it is at the expense of some derangement of 
 technical good order. 
 
 Rigor in examination should not insist on the same pro- 
 
130 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 ficiency in every branch of study. All pupils can not do 
 equally well in each of the studies of the course, and if 
 it appears that a pupil has done all he is capable of doing 
 in a given study, and is not so deficient as to defeat the 
 ends of promotion, he should not be kept back from the 
 advanced studies, though his standing in this one bffench is 
 low. The editor of the National Teacher's Monthly very 
 justly observes that "proficiency in an average of all studies 
 is, after all, the only just method of classification in school." 
 
 It is a systematic use of a system to make it bend to the 
 requirements of exceptional cases ; and if there is not enough 
 elasticity in it for such purposes it is unnatural, and should 
 be either abandoned or reconstructed. 
 
 There is no doubt that the system of graded-schools 
 has sometimes fallen into disrepute through faults in its ad- 
 ministration, one of which, probably, is a servile adherence 
 to form, to order, to the love of unity, pushed to the extreme. 
 It is here that ''a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." 
 It is something, to be sure, to make a mill grind, but the 
 grinding will be ofttimes bad, if there be not an ability to 
 regulate the machinery to suit the various uses which are 
 made of it. 
 
 67, Future high school policy. — Two different modes 
 of thought, two distinct intellectual tendencies, two pro- 
 foundly-felt needs, are striving for mastery in our American 
 high schools. The love of a generous culture for its own 
 sake, a veneration for antiquity, and an enlightened con- 
 servatism would model our high school after the German 
 gymnasium; while the love of knowledge for its objective 
 benefits, the spirit of business enterprise so intensely Amer- 
 ican, and that radicalism which turns its back on the past 
 are attempting to embody their ideas of what an education 
 ought to be in the real-schule. In Germany, the struggle 
 
 I 
 
FUTURE HIGH SCHO OL POL IC K 131 
 
 between these two modes of thought has led to the estal)hsh- 
 ment of two varieties of high schools : the g}>mnasiian, or 
 classical school, in which the ancient languages hold the 
 principal place; and the rcal-schule, devoted particularly to 
 the natural sciences and the modern languages. In the 
 gymnasia are educated the professional men, — clergymen, 
 physicians, lawyers, men of letters; while the real-scJiulen 
 furnish the country with its semi-professional men, — bankers, 
 surveyors, inspectors of mines, engineers, etc. 
 
 The general character of these institutions is clearly de- 
 fined in the following quotation from Un voyage scholaire en 
 AlkmagJie, Revue des deux mondes, 15 Juin, 1875: 
 
 "The gymnasium and the real-schide are two schools of the 
 same rank. The progress of the sciences and the changes 
 which have taken place in society have rendered this division 
 necessary. While the gymnasium attains its end by the 
 study of the languages, and especially by the study of the 
 classical languages of antiquity, and secondarily by the 
 mathematics, the real-schule turns rather to the present, 
 that is, toward the vernacular tongue and the foreign lan- 
 guages, to which are added the mathematics and the natural 
 sciences; but, as the present can not be understood without 
 a knowledge of the past, the real-schule can not neglect the 
 
 study of history In realizing this programme, 
 
 it will dissipate the error of those who think that it should 
 furnish those varieties of knowledge which are of immediate 
 use in life. Without doubt, the school ought to have a 
 regard for the exigencies of life, and the establishment of 
 the real-schulen is to prove that there is this regard; but it 
 must not be forgotten that the school has to do with children, 
 with young people, for whom we should be content to lay a 
 firm foundation in communicating that knowledge which is 
 general and desirable." 
 
132 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 The American high school has been formed on the class- 
 ical model; but it has every-where had to struggle, and still 
 struggles, with the same spirit, which, in Germany, led to 
 the establishment of the real-schule. It can not be doubted 
 that the current of American thought sets strongly toward 
 the extreme practical view of education as opposed to class- 
 ical culture; and most high schools have been constrained 
 to modify the traditional course of instruction, or at least to 
 offer parallel courses of study which are largely scientific. 
 It is needless to say that no nation that aspires after true 
 greatness can dispense with that variety of culture which is 
 communicated chiefly in the classical school; and there is 
 no great nation in such urgent need of this high intellectual 
 culture as ours. At the same time, there is an absolute need 
 of knowledge adapted to the exigencies of daily life, of that 
 culture which is best communicated in the i-eal-schiile. Our 
 schools of secondar)^ instruction are attempting to respond 
 to both these needs by offering two courses of study, one 
 classical, the other scientific. Can two schools, so dissimilar 
 in purpose and method as the gymnasium and the 7'eal-schule, 
 be successfully united under one management? I think it 
 is an observed fact that those of our high schools which are 
 really successful in one of these special departments accom- 
 plish scarcely any thing in the other; while the testimony of 
 both Germany and France, after an experience of a century 
 in the first instance, is most emphatic on this point; the two 
 varieties of schools flourish only when they are kept distinct 
 and managed by special faculties. 
 
 Our true policy would seem to be, to maintain our class- 
 ical schools apart, wherever there is a concurrence of 
 circumstances favorable for their growth; and, in all other 
 cases, to imitate the German real-schule. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 REPORTS, RECORDS, AND BLANKS. 
 
 (133) 
 
SUMMAR Y. 
 
 The use and abuse of school statistics. Teacher's Monthly Report. 
 Transfers. Half-day sessions. Number belonging. Per cent of at- 
 tendance. Attendance rules. Warning notices. Suspensions. Sum- 
 mary of attendance. Absolute enrollment. Average per cent of 
 attendance. Average attendance in months. Fluctuations in attend- 
 ance. School directory. Ages of pupils. Corporal punishment report. 
 Tabulated statement of cases of punishment. Daily programme. Chart 
 of text-book work. Notification to parents. Teacher's class-book. 
 Marking recitations. Record of monthly and term standing. Princi- 
 pal's record of final standing. The school register. Cost of education 
 per capita. Comparative statistics. Concluding remarks on records 
 and blanks. 
 
 (134) 
 
REPORTS, RECORDS, AND BLANKS. 
 
 68. The use and abuse of school statistics. — The 
 
 intelligent supervision of schools must be based largely on 
 the facts which are developed by the working of the system. 
 In all rational progress, the point of departure must be the 
 actual condition of the schools as revealed by certain classes 
 of facts ; and when carefully devised plans have been placed 
 in operation, the direction and rate of the general movement 
 ca.n be ascertained only by a careful scrutiny of ascertained 
 results. It is quite as absurd to direct the movements of a 
 large school without the aid of accurate statistics as to num- 
 bers, attendance, etc., as to assume the general management 
 of an army without detailed statements which exhibit its exact 
 condition. Besides, as certain statistics are required by law, 
 it is not a matter of choice whether records be kept or not. 
 
 In actual practice, two extremes are sometimes followed. 
 Some superintendents have a taste for statistical reports, and 
 so require blanks to be filled out for almost every imaginable 
 thing; nor is it material whether the facts are of a nature to 
 be used for any definite purpose. The love of system may 
 be carried so far that the mere gathering of facts is an end 
 in itself 
 
 It is a needless waste of time to tabulate certain orders of 
 facts which are merely curious; they have so little relation 
 to the great results of school organization, and so little influ- 
 
 (135) 
 
136 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 ence in shaping lines of policy, that they deserve no perma- 
 nent record. 
 
 On the other hand, some schools have no systematic 
 records; nothing which may serve to guide a new adminis- 
 tration in comprehending the general situation. Principals 
 and superintendents owe certain duties to their successors; 
 and a most important one is an intelligible record of what 
 has been accomplished. It has happened in more than one 
 instance that large schools have been left without the least 
 record which could be used to throw light on the actual 
 condition of affairs. 
 
 Every school, even the smallest, should have some definite 
 system of reports, records, and blanks. These should be 
 contrived so as to yield accurate and important information. 
 They should not be kept as mere curiosities, or as evidence 
 of great statistical abiHty, but should be as few and as simple 
 as is consistent with real utility. 
 
 69. Teacher's Monthly Report. — The blank here pre- 
 sented, or one of similar scope, should be used in every 
 public school, large or small. Some of the items are imper- 
 ative ; all are of great practical interest. It has been thought 
 best to distinguish the various items embraced in this report 
 with reference to sex. This plan seems desirable on the fol- 
 lowing accounts : 
 
 1. The statistical tables authorized by the Bureau of Edu- 
 cation require distinct accounts of the whole number of boys 
 and of girls, and of the average daily attendance of each sex. 
 It is therefore necessary to keep distinct accounts of transfers 
 and of the aggregate attendance in half-days. 
 
 2. The recent discussions of "sex in education" make it 
 necessary to record the facts of attendance as they relate to 
 the sexes severally. Dr. Clark, reasoning from undisputed 
 physiological facts, draws the conclusion that girls can not 
 
w -^ ij 
 
 5 n j 
 
 /- [No. Ill, to face p. 136. 
 
 & ; _ Public Schools, 
 
 Ml ? ^ 
 
 ACHER'S MONTHLY REPORT 
 
 1 w 
 
 School, Grade. 
 
 : - - Teacher. 
 
 Copyright, 1875, by Wilson, Hinkle & Co. 
 
f I r § I 
 
 II 
 
 d O H H Z 
 
 S S^ S^ 5^ 
 
 3 3 3 3 
 
 " 3 
 
 1 i 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 s i 
 
 r ^ 
 
 1 
 
 2, 
 f 
 
 1 
 f 
 
 3. Pupils should be marked "left," 
 
 membership actually ceases. 
 
 4. In case it is impossible to ascer- 
 tain whether a pupil's absence is 
 temporary or permanent, he should 
 be marked "leff when he has 
 been absent for five consecutive 
 school days. 
 
 5. Whenever a teacher discovers 
 that a pupil hitherto marked absent 
 has really withdrawn from school, 
 the record should be corrected so as 
 
 1. Pupils temporarily absent from 
 school throueh _truancv,_ illness, ' 
 
 home duties,'etc., should be in- 
 cluded under "number belonging." 
 These absences should be recorded, 
 
 and should be allowed to diminish 
 
 the per cent of attendance. 
 
 2. Pupils whose actual member- 
 ship ceases through removal, death, 
 suspension under the rules of the 
 
 any other cause, should be marked 
 ■•left." Their absence should not be 
 recorded, and should not be allowed 
 to diminish the per cent of at- 
 tendance. 
 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 ,1 
 
 e 
 
 
 ►< 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 Day of MpNTH. 
 
 SUA 
 
 r, from 
 . Sc 
 
 
 •^H^Hg-^^H^Hg 
 
 '^^^•^S'^H^Hg^- 
 
 
 Day of Week. 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 Not by Transfer. 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 IMARY OF ATTENDANCE. 
 
 
 
 
 IB 
 
 %'Tnti!-'' 
 
 
 
 ; ,■ ■■■■ \: 
 
 
 
 By Extra-grade 
 Transfer. 
 
 
 
 
 0_ 
 
 By Transfer. 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 .vnio; 
 
 ft ■ 
 
 Otherwise. 
 
 
 
 
 "D 
 
 Re-entered. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Number Belonging. 
 
 a 
 
 M 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 A. M. 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 P. M. 
 
 V) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 Not by Transfer. 
 
 f 
 
 
 § 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 ^'\T.X^'' 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 By Extra-grade 
 Transfer. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 By Transfer. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 Otherwise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 Re-entered. 
 
 
 ="" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Number Belonging. 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 ■;A:3M. 
 
 ^.1 
 5 
 
 t'^'^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 P. M. 
 
 ' 1! 
 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 
TRAA^SFEA'S. 137 
 
 be subjected to the same educational methods as boys with- 
 out seriously injuring their health. This is a striking example 
 of that a prio7'i reasoning which modern scientists have called 
 into disrepute. No one will dispute the fact which the Doctor 
 assumes as the basis of his argument; but to many it is not 
 at all clear that there is any traceable connection between 
 the cause and the assumed effects. Let it be assumed that 
 "identical" coeducation induces poor health on the part of 
 girls. What will be the inevitable result? Manifestly, under 
 normal circumstances, girls will be more irregular in attend- 
 ance than boys ; and, in consequence, their class work will 
 be of a poorer quality. It is plain that we have need of 
 the actual facts in the case. If school records show that 
 the attendance of girls is more irregular than that of boys, 
 then we may very properly look for the cause of the phe- 
 nomenon. Possibly we may find it in the fact to which Dr. 
 Clark gives so much emphasis. 
 
 Teachers should make the proper entries in this report 
 each half-day, immediately after calling the roll. This will 
 insure accuracy and save the annoyance of hunting up the 
 various items in the school register. At the close of each 
 month, all that is necessary to be done is to copy the entries 
 on a new blank, and calculate ' the items required in the 
 "Statement." 
 
 70. Transfers. — Particular attention should be given to 
 columns A, B, and C. It is readily seen that, in cases where 
 a pupil is transferred from one school to another, there is a 
 dupHcate enrollment, and that the absolute enrollment can 
 be ascertained only by subtracting the number of such trans- 
 fers from the aggregate enrollment. It is of prime impor- 
 tance, therefore, to distinguish between pupils who have not 
 been previously enrolled in any of the schools, and others 
 who enter by transfer. Still further, it is necessary to make 
 
 S. S.— 12. 
 
138 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 a distinction between pupils who are received by transfer. 
 For exami:)le, suppose we have the following record of en- 
 rollment in the grammar grade consisting of four schools, 
 and wish to ascertain the absohite enrollment : ' ' Whole en- 
 rollment, 745; received by transfer, 142." It is evident that 
 these transfers may come from two sources, — either from 
 without the grade, as promotions from below or degradations 
 from above; or from within the grade, as transfers from one 
 grammar school to another. Let us suppose the record made 
 as follows: ''Whole enrollment, 745 ; received by extra-grade_ 
 transfer, 82; by intra-grade transfer, 60," From this state- 
 ment it appears that there have been sixty duplicate enroll- 
 ments in this grade, and that the absolute enrollment is 
 745 — 60, or 685. It is often desirable to notice the fluctu- 
 ations in attendance in a given grade ; but it is impossible to 
 arrive at positive results unless transfers are distinguished as 
 above. For lack of better terms, transfers from without the 
 grade are called extra-g?'ade, and those from within, mtra- 
 grade. 
 
 Nothing but constant vigilance on the part of teachers 
 will secure accuracy in these items. When a pupil enters, 
 the teacher should ascertain whether he has been previously 
 enrolled during the current school year; and in case he is 
 a transfer, she should ascertain whether he comes from a 
 school belonging to her grade, or from a different grade. 
 
 Pupils should not be transferred without taking a notice 
 similar to the one on the opposite page to the school to 
 which they are sent. 
 
 71. Half- day sessions. — It is important to observe that 
 when the school has been in session only a half-day, the 
 number entered in column G should be only one-half of that 
 in column H or I, as the case may be. The per cent of 
 attendance is found by dividing the sum of column G (which 
 
No. IV. 
 
 TRANSFER NOriCK. 
 
 139 
 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 C) 
 
 .■^ 
 
I40 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 shows the number of days which pupils ought to have been 
 in school) by one-half of the sum of columns H and I (which 
 shows the number of days of actual attendance). In case the 
 number belonging is fifty, and there were forty pupils present 
 during the forenoon, while the school was closed during the 
 afternoon, the per cent of attendance for this day would be 
 only 40 by the rule, whereas it should be 80. 
 
 72. Number belonging. — It will readily be seen that 
 the number belonging on a given day is to be found by ad- 
 justing the whole number enrolled with reference to the en- 
 tries in columns D, E, and F. Thus, if the enrollment on 
 a given day is 44, and one pupil reenters while three leave, 
 the number belonging is 44 -j- i — 3? or 42. This is an item 
 which deserves attention, as it is one of the data employed 
 in calculating the per cent of attendance. 
 
 73. Per cent of attendance. — Per cent of attendance 
 is the ratio between the number of pupils belonging and the 
 actual attendance. Thus, if on a given day 40 pupils actu- 
 ally belong to the school, while only 30 are in attendance, 
 the per cent of attendance is 75. This item is significant 
 when it shows what portion of the advantages offered by 
 our public schools is really improved. In practice, how- 
 ever, this is one of the most worthless items furnished by 
 school statistics, — worthless because it is often unreliable, 
 being calculated upon different data, and sometimes pur- 
 posely exaggerated by tampering with facts. Thus, pupils 
 who are temporarily absent are marked "left." In this way 
 the divisor is diminished and the quotient proportionately 
 increased. Again, so anxious are some teachers to make a 
 gratifying exhibit, that pupils actually absent are marked 
 present. This, of course, makes a fraudulent addition to the 
 dividend. It is not at all probable that strictly honest mark- 
 ing will carry the per cent of attendance above 97. Even 
 
PER CENT OE ATTENDANCE. 141 
 
 under the most favorable circumstances, the temporary ab- 
 sences caused by sickness and unavoidable necessities will, 
 in all probability, reduce this number to 95 or less. Surely 
 it is time that an item which figures so largely in our school 
 reports should be calculated on reliable data; and I see no 
 good reason why there may not be a general agreement upon 
 the manner of computing this result. 
 
 The problem will be simplified by recollecting that we 
 ought to deal only with the real facts of attendance. The 
 first fact is the actual attendance in days. There is no ex- 
 cuse for errors in this item. The correctness of the dividend 
 may thus be assured beyond all doubt. The computation of 
 the divisor is not so simple. Here, however, we shall be 
 assisted by simply recording facts. First, there is a clear 
 distinction between "number enrolled" and "number be- 
 longing." After an attendance of one month, a pupil may 
 return to a distant city. Evidently he no longer belongs to 
 the school, though his name must be included in the enroll- 
 ment. Let us suppose that in a school originally composed 
 of 40 pupils, 10 have thus changed their residence. It can 
 not be claimed that the per cent of attendance in this case 
 should be 75; for this number does not show the ratio be- 
 tween actual attendance and the opportunity for attendance. 
 It is the true number belonging, therefore, as distinguished 
 from the whole enrollment, that should constitute the divisor 
 used in computing the per cent of attendance. 
 
 The practical difficulty in the case is now reduced to 
 the task of determining when a pupil's membership really 
 ceases; and this difficulty is limited to the single case in 
 which the teacher is ignorant of the cause of a pupil's ab- 
 sence. Pupils who are temporarily absent through truancy, 
 home duties, illness, etc., should not be marked "left." 
 Their absence should be allowed to diminish the per cent 
 
142 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 of attendance. But pupils whose membership actually ceases 
 through removal, death, suspension, expulsion, transfer, or 
 from other causes should be marked "left." As all obliga- 
 tion to attend school ceases under such circumstances, these 
 absences should not diminish the per cent of attendance. 
 
 An observance of the following rules will secure accurate 
 data for the computation of the per cent of attendance : 
 
 1. Pupils temporarily absent from school through truancy, 
 illness, home duties, etc., should be included under "number 
 belonging." These absences should be recorded, and should 
 be allowed to diminish the per cent of attendance. 
 
 2. Pupils whose actual membershi23 ceases through re- 
 moval, death, suspension under the rules of the Board, 
 expulsion, transfer, or through any other cause should be 
 marked "left." Their absence should not be recorded, and 
 should not be allowed to diminish the per cent of attendance. 
 
 3. Pupils should be marked "left," under rule second, on 
 the day when membership actually ceases. 
 
 4. In case it is impossible to ascertain whether a pupil's 
 absence is temporary or permanent, he should be marked 
 "left" when he has been absent for five consecutive school 
 days. 
 
 5. Whenever a teacher discovers that a pupil hitherto 
 marked absent has really withdrawn from school, the record 
 should be corrected so as to correspond with the facts in the 
 case. 
 
 74. Attendance rules. — Great punctuahty is necessary 
 in order to receive the benefits of class instruction. The 
 pupil who receives individual instruction may resume his 
 studies where he left them; but when a member of a class 
 has lost a lesson, he has "dropped a stitch" which can not 
 readily be taken up. A graded-school can not prosper with- 
 out the enforcement of a stringent attendance rule. At best, 
 
}J\IA\VLVC; NOTICKS. 143 
 
 much of tlie ordinary absence is fictitious; and the common 
 school can scarcely confer a greater blessing than to teach 
 the young habits of i:)unctuality and of strict attention to 
 business. Punctuality of attendance should be a condition 
 of school membership; and every school should adopt some 
 regulations like the following : 
 
 Absences. — Any pupil who shall be absent four half-days 
 ill four consecutive weeks, without excuse satisfactory to the 
 teacher from the parent or guardian, given either in person 
 or by written note, shall forfeit his seat in the school. Pu- 
 pils thus suspended shall not be restored to the school 
 until the parent or guardian shall satisfy the superintendent 
 that said pupils will be punctual in future, and obtain from 
 him written permission for their return. 
 
 Character of excuses. — No mere statement that the parent 
 has kept the pupil at home shall be accepted by the teacher 
 as an excuse for tardiness or absence, and unless it shall 
 appear that sickness or some other urgent reason, render- 
 ing attendence impossible or extremely inconvenient, has 
 detained the pupil, the excuse shall not be deemed satis- 
 factory. 
 
 75. Warning notices. — When a pupil is in danger of 
 supension, under a rule like the foregoing, the teacher 
 should send to the parent a warning notice like that on 
 the following page. 
 
 In very many instances this notice will prevent the pupil's 
 suspension, and, in all cases, the parent wall be forewarned 
 of a catastrophe which is liable to occur, and he may, if 
 he will, take measures to avert it. In general, every proper 
 care should be taken to keep parents fully informed as to 
 any short-comings on the part of their children which are 
 likely to result in trouble. In this manner, in very many 
 cases, prospective difficulties will be avoided ; and parents 
 
144 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. No. V. 
 
 FORM OF WARNING NOTICE. 
 
 The Public Schools of_ 
 
 - -187 
 
 M . 
 
 // becomes my duty, by the rules of the Board of 
 Trustees, to call your attention to the sections of the rules 
 in respect to pupils, printed below, and to notify you that 
 
 is upon the point 
 
 of suspension under said section. I sincerely hope it will 
 
 not be necessary to report. to the 
 
 Supeiintendent for suspension, but that with your cooperation 
 
 we may avoid all fututr violation of said rule. 
 I am, respectfully, 
 
 : Teacher. 
 
 Extracts from the Rules of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 Absences. — Any pupil who shall be absent four half-days in four con- 
 secutive WEEKS, without excuse satisfactory to the teacher, from the parent 
 or guardian, given either in person or by written note, shall forfeit his seat in 
 the school. Pupils thus suspended shall not be restored to the school until the 
 parent or guardian shall satisfy the Superintendent that said pupils will be 
 punctual in future, and obtain from him written permission for their return. 
 
 Character of Excuses. — No mere statement that the parent has kept the 
 pupil at home shall be accepted by the teacher as an excuse for tardiness or 
 absence, and unless it shall appear that sickness or some other urgent reason, 
 rendering attendance impossible or extremely inconvenient, has detained the 
 pupil, the excuse shall not be deemed satisfactory. 
 
 Any pupil who is habitually tardy or truant, or guilty of open disobedience, 
 or insubordination, or who indulges in the use of profane or improper language, 
 or who makes use of tobacco in any form during school hours, or whose 
 general conduct is injurious, shall be suspended by the principal teacher of 
 the school to which he belongs. 
 
Si-SPENSION NOTICE. 1 45 
 
 will have no occasion to complain that they were ignorant 
 of the actual situation of affairs. 
 
 Generally, the teacher must decide whether an excuse is 
 legitimate or not. If attendance was impossible or extremely 
 inconvenient, the absence should be excused. In some in- 
 stances, parents may attempt to save their children from 
 suspension by sending excuses which have no real founda- 
 tion in fact; but even then the teacher should not go back 
 of the parent's word. 
 
 Cases Avill occur in which dishonest pupils will forge ex- 
 cuses, either for themselves or for others. This should be 
 treated as a capital offense, punishable, if need be, by sus- 
 pension, or even, if repeated, by expulsion. 
 
 For tardiness, an excuse should rarely be granted. In 
 nearly every instance it is avoidable by proper diligence. 
 
 76. Suspension. — When a pupil has passed the limits 
 assigned in the attendance rule, the teacher has no longer 
 a discretionary power in the case; but should report the 
 pupil, to whoever has charge of ^ch cases, for suspension. 
 This may be done by the following notice : 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 The Pi 
 
 following 
 
 Liblic 
 
 To 
 
 Schools of 
 
 School. 
 
 — 
 
 
 Grade. 
 
 for suspension, 
 years, for the 
 
 reasoi 
 
 I hereby report 
 aged 
 
 IS : 
 
 to 
 
 you 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 — 
 
 
 Teacher. 
 
 s. s.- 
 
146 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. No. VII. 
 
 FORM OF SUSPENSION NOTICE. 
 
 The Public Schools of 
 
 Siiperintendeiif s Office, 187 
 
 M. ^ 
 
 The folloimng Attendance Rtdes have been prescribed 
 by the Board of Education. I call your attention paiiicu- 
 larly to the Absence Rule, a^id take this method of inform- 
 ing you that . . 
 
 has been absent half-days, without satisfactory 
 
 excuse, and, in obedience to this Rule, is suspended from 
 school for four weeks, or tmtil I shall have received the 
 
 fullest assurance that will be regular in future 
 
 and cause no 7nore trouble. 
 
 My office hour is f^om ^ to g A. M. 
 Very Respectfully, 
 
 . SUPT. 
 
 Extracts ^from the Rules of the Board of Education. 
 
 ABSENCE RULE. 
 
 Upon the return of a pupil after any absence, the parent or guardian shall 
 give, IN PERSON OR IN WRITING, an excuse stating the cause. If it shall have 
 been the sickness of the pupil, or necessary attendance upon a sick member 
 of a family, or death in the family of the pupil, in either of such cases the 
 absence shall be excused, and so noted in the register. In every case of the 
 absence of a pupil for more than four half-days in any four consecutive 
 weeks without satisfactory excuse to the Teacher for any other cause than 
 those permitted above, the absentee shall, without exception or favor, be sus- 
 pended from the school by the Superintendent, and the fact reported to the 
 Board of Education at the next regular meeting. 
 
 CHARACTER OF EXCUSES. 
 
 No Mere Statement that the parent has kept the pupil at home shall 
 be accepted by the Teacher as an excuse for absence ; and, unless it shall 
 appear that the pupil has been detained by sickness, or some other urgent 
 reason, which would render attendance impossible or extremely inconvenient, 
 or which would cause a serious and imprudent exposiu-e of health, the excuse 
 shall not be deemed satisfactory. 
 
NOTICE OF RESTORATION. 1 47 
 
 Finally, if there is no evident reason for forbearance, the 
 pupil should be formally suspended by notifying the parent 
 of the fact as on the foregoing page. 
 
 The power of restoration is most conveniently and most 
 appropriately left with the principal or superintendent. No 
 one else is in so favorable a position to judge of all the 
 facts and bearings in the case. No arbitrary system should 
 be followed in making restorations. If within an hour, there 
 is assurance given by the parent that all reasonable diligence 
 will be used to secure punctual attendance, the pupil should 
 be allowed to return to his school. It is not punctilio, nor 
 the demands of an arbitrary system which is to be consulted 
 on this and on similar occasions, but the greatest good of the 
 pupil and of the school. Sometimes their interests are in 
 opposition; and, under such circumstances, the good of the 
 greater number must be preferred. 
 
 In cases of unusual difficulty, the question of restoration: 
 should be submitted to the board for decision. 
 
 Notice of restoration should be sent to the teacher in a 
 form as follows : 
 
 No. VIIT. 
 
 Notice of Restoration. 
 
 To M 
 
 ■ The bearer, icho was suspended under the 
 
 Attendance Rule, on the. day of. 187 , 
 
 is hereby restored to school. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 187 SUPT. 
 
148 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 77. Summary of attendance. — For convenience of 
 reference, the "statements" embraced in the monthly re- 
 ports should be tabulated. The blank form which follows 
 is conveniently arranged for this purpose. These blanks 
 should be of sufficient width to contain the statistics of all 
 the schools of the same grade. Thus, if there are twelve 
 primary schools, eight grammar schools, and a high school, 
 four blanks will be needed to tabulate each month's statistics; 
 and it will be found very convenient in practice to use a 
 fifth blank for a '^ summary," which shall exhibit the aggre- 
 gate statistics of each department, and the grand total of all 
 the statistics for the month. This last sheet will exhibit the 
 exact condition of the schools, as to attendance, at the close 
 of each month; and, at the close of the year, will show at 
 a glance the grand summary of all the results. 
 
 When the number of schools does not exceed fifteen, 
 perhaps the better plan is to have the blank wide enough 
 to contain, in a single page, the statistics of each month. 
 
 It is a good plan, at the end of each year, to arrange 
 these sheets in serial order and have them bound. The 
 successive volumes are invaluable as sources of exact infor- 
 mation on material points in the history of the school. 
 From them may be learned the names of teachers; their 
 departments; the attendance in each grade, in each school; 
 the aggregate enrollment; the absolute enrollment; the Avhole 
 number of boys and girls; the fluctuations in attendance in 
 every part of the system ; the average daily attendance ; the 
 average time each pupil has attended school; the per cent 
 of attendance of boys, of girls, and of the school as a whole. 
 No superintendent or principal should neglect, even at con- 
 siderable personal expense, to carry into effect such a simple 
 system as this. It is indispensable for intelligent supervision, 
 and is a priceless treasure to successors in oflice. 
 
v./ 
 
 149 
 
 ; terns 
 
 L 
 
 con- 
 
 y Ije 
 then 
 map. 
 jtinc- 
 and 
 
 e ab- 
 
 sum 
 
 To 
 
 from 
 
 The 
 
 1 by 
 
 ir of 
 
 mber 
 
 these 
 or in 
 nsoli- 
 1 the 
 D the 
 eport 
 
 erage 
 g an 
 , and 
 28th 
 , and 
 
 d the 
 mded 
 ys to 
 

 STATISTICAL REPORT OF THE 
 
 NROLLMENT, /*.. fOR THIi PORTION OF THE YEAR ENDING 
 
 •PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
ABSOLUTE ENROLLMENT. 149 
 
 By reason of a separate account which is kept of the items 
 relating to each sex, this blank is somewhat longer than con- 
 venience alone would require; but this objection may be 
 removed by folding the blank in the middle. It may then 
 be bound in the same manner as a double page map. 
 Some may not think it worth while to keep up the distinc- 
 tion of items under "Average Number Belonging," and 
 "Average Daily Attendance." 
 
 78. Absolute enrollment. — In order to obtain the ab- 
 solute enrollment from the "Summary," subtract the sum 
 of the 13th column from the sum of the 4th column. To 
 find the absolute enrollment in a given grade, subtract from 
 its whole enrollment the " intra-grade " (§70) transfers. The 
 general accuracy of the "Summary" may be tested by 
 adding to the "Whole Number Enrolled" the number of 
 "Reentries," and subtracting from this sum the "Number 
 Left." The remainder should be the "Number Belonging" 
 on day of date. If there is a discrepancy between these 
 results, there is either an error in adding or an error in 
 some teacher's report. In the latter case, test the consoli- 
 dated report of each department, as above, and when the 
 error has been traced to its general source, turn to the 
 records of this department and test each teacher's report 
 till the exact place of the error is discovered. 
 
 79. Average per cent of attendance. — The average 
 per cent of attendance should be found not by taking an 
 average of the averages as given in columns 35, 36, and 
 37, but by dividing one-half of the 26th, 27th, and 28th 
 columns, respectively, by the sum of the 23d, 24th, and 
 25th columns, respectively. 
 
 80. Average attendance in months. — To find the 
 average number of months which each pupil has attended 
 school, reduce the aggregate attendance in half-days to 
 
I50 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 school months (by dividing by forty), and divide this result 
 by the absolute enrollment, which, of course, is the whole 
 enrollment less the ''Transfers." 
 
 8i. Fluctuations in attendance. — Fluctuations in en- 
 rollment, number belonging, average number belonging, and 
 average daily attendance, may be graphically exhibited as in 
 the following diagram: 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 Mar. 
 
 Apr. 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 1575 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1574 
 
 1550 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1571 
 
 1525 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Y.V1 
 
 y 
 
 
 1500 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1475 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1450 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1425 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1400 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UOl 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 1375 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1395 
 
 
 
 
 1350 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 1875 
 
 
 
 
 
 1325 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1300 
 
 
 
 1:507 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1275 
 
 
 .^ 
 
 1'288 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1250 
 
 I'ioi; 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1225 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1200 
 
 <:.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1175 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1182^ 
 
 s 
 
 
 1150 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \^ 
 
 
 1125 
 
 ma~ — 
 
 U|U_ 
 
 ^vl:''--s. 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \^ 
 
 
 1100 
 
 im 
 
 --<Jo.^ 
 
 nn:! ^ 
 
 m_4 
 
 U04 "" 
 
 Eelongi 
 
 .. /ll06 
 
 IHi 
 
 'V-lUii 
 
 1075 
 
 
 
 \& 
 
 
 1087 
 
 . 10% 
 
 -r 
 
 1 
 
 
 \ 
 
 1050 
 
 1062^__ 
 
 Average 
 
 ,055 \> 
 
 1057 
 
 X' 
 
 X 
 
 /l056 
 
 
 \ 
 
 10H8 
 
 1025 
 
 
 
 lO+f 
 
 J04S 
 
 
 
 
 1126 
 
 
 1000 
 
 
 
 
 lOlG 
 
 __D_4W_._ 
 
 .11)19 
 
 
 "lOlS 
 
 ]or&^ 
 
 975 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SCHOOL DIRKCl'ORY. 151 
 
 By doubling the number of lines, these fluctuations may 
 be exhibited in their relation to sex. 
 
 This is not a mere curiosity, but a striking exhibition of 
 important facts in their relation to one another and to the 
 different portions of the school year. By means of colored 
 pencils, the four items above represented may be vividly 
 exhibited on one page; and a series of such charts would 
 form a most interesting and valuable record. 
 
 82. School Directory. — It is very desirable to obtain 
 a complete directory of all the pupils enrolled in a public 
 school. Occasions are ever occurring in which it is neces- 
 sary to ascertain one or more facts relative to a pupil, such 
 as his residence, the names of his parents, his age, his grade, 
 to what building he belongs, etc., etc. 
 
 At the opening of the year, and subsequently as new 
 pupils enter the school, it is an excellent plan to require 
 each pupil to fill out a blank similar to the following: 
 
 No. X. 
 
 Mv name is 
 
 My fathoms name is , 
 
 My age is years ^ months^ 
 
 I live on sU'eet, No. 
 
 As soon as possible after the filling of these blanks, each 
 teacher should embody the items in a form similar to the 
 following (No. XI.), arranging the names in alphabetical 
 order. These lists should then be sent to some designated 
 place for copying into a permanent record. 
 
SCHOOL SUPERVISION 
 
 No. XI. 
 
 
 
 
 (D 
 
 
 < 
 
 s 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 
 ! 
 i 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 GRADE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 CHOOLS OF 
 
 187 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 < 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 i 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ ! 
 
 i i i 
 
 POLLED IN THE PUBLIC S 
 
 For the Year 
 
 2 
 
 « 
 
 z 
 
 w 
 
 K 
 < 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 P 
 
 0. 
 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 1 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 1 f i 
 j 
 
 ! i 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AGES OF PUPILS. 
 
 DJ 
 
 83. Ages of pupils. — An interesting item of school 
 statistics is the respective ages of the pupils enrolled in the 
 several grades. The following table, No. XII, presents a 
 convenient form for recording facts of this kind. 
 
 From such a table there may be learned the whole num- 
 ber of pupils of each specified age; the average age of the 
 pupils in each class of the several grades; the average age 
 of the pupils in each grade, and of the pupils as a whole. 
 The general fact revealed by such statistics is the early with- 
 drawal of pupils from school. It appears from the report 
 of one of the largest school systems in the West, that pupils 
 from six to nine years inclusive constitute 52.8 per cent of 
 the whole enrollment; those from ten to thirteen, 36.2 per 
 cent; and those from fourteen to seventeen, and over, 11 
 per cent. Different schools Avill of course give somewhat 
 different results; and it is probably true that the average 
 age of pupils in smaller towns is greater than that of pupils 
 in corresponding grades in the larger cities. 
 
 It is important for superintendents to watch the fluctua- 
 tions in the ages of the pupils enrolled in the several classes 
 and grades. In truth, this is one of the most delicate tests 
 of the working of a school system. If there is a gradual 
 fall in the average age, it may be due to an improved quality 
 of instruction whereby pupils make more rapid progress; or 
 it may arise from the fact that there is not matter enough in 
 a part of the course of instruction. If the average age rises, 
 the fact may be due to opposite causes, or it may result from 
 some change in the circumstances of the community whereby 
 older children are kept in school for a greater length of 
 time. At least it is certain that some causes are at work, 
 which it is well to know. 
 
 Great regularity should be observed in compiling statistics 
 relative to the ages of pupils. Not only should the ages be 
 
154 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 taken in some uniform manner, as in years or months, or 
 with reference to the nearest birthday; but they should all 
 be taken with reference to a fixed period, as the opening of 
 the school year, its close, or some intermediate point, as 
 January i. If teachers follow different methods, an element 
 of uncertainty will be introduced into these statistics. Per- 
 haps the simplest method is to take each pupil's age at his 
 nearest birthday, reckoning from January i. 
 
 The items for table No. XII may be gathered from the 
 various schools by the use of the form on page 155, which 
 may be filled out at the close of each year from the school 
 register. 
 
 84. Corporal punishment report. — When teachers 
 inflict corporal punishment, several good results will come 
 from requiring a written report of each case. All are agreed 
 that this mode of punishment should be reduced to its 
 minimum of frequency; and if teachers know that they must 
 make a statement of each case, showing the offense, the 
 degree of punishment, etc., etc., they will exercise the 
 greatest caution in administering this mode of correction. 
 Merely as a wholesome check on the use of the rod, such a 
 statement should be required. 
 
 A still further advantage is the means thus afforded the 
 principal or superintendent of knowing the facts in cases 
 where complaint is made. 
 
 No. XIV, on page 156, is suggested as a convenient form 
 for such a statement. It is borrowed from Supt. Rickoff, 
 of Cleveland. 
 
 85. Tabulated statement of cases of punishment. 
 
 — From a collation of such reports, facts of great signifi- 
 cance may be elicited. Thus from statements of this char- 
 acter, extending over a series of years, and embracing a- 
 large number of cases, I find the following facts as to the 
 
5 
 
AGES OF PUPILS ENTERED IN RESPECTIVE GRADE, 
 
 IN THIS TABLE THE PUPILS ARE REPORTED IN THE GRADES THEY PIIRST, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 =M^ 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No VTI ■„ r... 
 
 
 AGES. 
 
 PRIMARY. j 
 
 GRAJ 
 
 ""■—_, 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL. '^ ■ || ^TAL. 
 
 
 „., 1 
 
 C,..S. 
 
 _-:=-,- 1 
 
 .- 
 
 . 
 
 r — -^::r— ' 
 
 . 1 . 1 e 1 . 1 
 
 .|.|c|. 
 
 ' 1 • h 1 » 1 
 
 .|. 
 
 = 
 
 A 
 
 •l-h'l-^ 
 
 i A'> 1 B 1 C 1^ . 
 
 
 .. 
 
 ■ 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 ! , 
 
 I 
 
 : 
 
 
 TOTAL. - 1 111 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 j 1 
 
 
 ' 1 
 
 
 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 1 1 ■ 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ~ : i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
No. XTII. 
 
 NUMBER OF PUPILS. 
 
 155 
 
 NUMBER OF PUP] 
 
 AT THE RESPECTIVE AGES. 
 
 [LS 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 ^rndfi 
 
 r/^rv^ 
 
 TfarJipr. 
 
 
 
 AGES. 
 
 BOYS. 
 
 GIRLS. 
 
 BOTH. 
 
 
 5 Years, 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 .„ " 
 
 
 
 
 
 II " 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 " 
 
 
 
 
 
156 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. No. XIV. 
 
 . 1 
 
 Report of the Punishment of 
 
 _- . . {iianie) {age) 
 
 {residence) 
 
 Date of punishmefit . 187 
 
 The teacher will please to write ansiuers to the followi?ig: 
 I. For what offense was the pupil above-named punished? 
 
 2. What is his {or he?') general character? 
 
 3. What do you knoiv of the home iftflitences surrounding h ? 
 
 4. What other means have you employed for h reform ? 
 
 5. Were h parents duly notified of h conduct befoi-e you 
 resorted to corporal punishment? - 
 
 What was the nature of the response ? 
 
 6. Has ever been referred to the principal of the school 
 or to the superintendent? 
 
 How many times? . — — - 
 
 7. What was the result of the punishme^it? 
 
 Teacher. 
 
STATEMENT OF CASES OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 157 
 
 age at which pupils are most unmanageable. The figures 
 indicate the per cent of the aggregate number of cases 
 which fall under the several apres : 
 
 Ages. 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 9 10 
 
 n 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 Cases. 
 
 1.9. 
 
 4.8 
 
 II 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 16.8 
 
 15 
 
 10.8 
 
 7 
 
 1-5 
 
 I.I 
 
 Again, if we group these cases under the departments of 
 the school in which they occurred, we shall have the follow- 
 ing result: 
 
 
 PRIMARY. 
 
 SECONDARY. 
 
 GRAMMAR. 
 
 Ages. 
 
 6-9 
 
 9-12 
 
 12-16 
 
 Cases. 
 
 29. 
 
 50.2 
 
 20.8 
 
 Finally, if these cases be tabulated under the months and 
 terms of the school year, we shall have the following result: 
 
 
 FALL 
 
 TERM. 
 
 
 WINTER TERM. 
 
 SPRING TERM. 
 
 Sept. 
 II. 
 
 Oci. 
 
 15-6 
 
 Nov. 
 13-4 
 
 Dec. 
 
 8.2 
 
 yan. 
 
 10. 
 
 Fei. 
 12.6 
 
 Mar. 
 8.2 
 
 AI>rU 
 
 9- 
 
 May 
 7-5 
 
 June 
 4-5 
 
 40.2 
 
 20.8 
 
 I. 1 
 
 To say the least, it is evident that these results are not 
 fortuitous. In each case there is a law discernible. With 
 respect to age, it has no doubt been observed by all experi- 
 enced superintendents that the pupils who are most un- 
 manageable are found in secondary or intermediate schools, 
 but it may not have occurred to all that the troublesome age 
 par excellence is ten years. We need not go far to find 
 an explanation for the general fact that pupils from ten to 
 
158 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 twelve years of age are the most difficult to manage. Mere 
 children have little mastery over themselves, and must there- 
 fore be governed to a great extent by authority; but as they 
 approach adult age, there has been such a development of 
 the moral sense and of self-control, that the chief governing 
 force is principle — a regard for what is right and becoming. 
 The intermediate age is a period of transition, in which the 
 child is influenced alternately by authority and by principle; 
 and like all periods of transition from one 7'egime to another 
 this is characterized by outbreaks of passion and freaks of 
 impulse, which lead to the necessity of correction. 
 
 With respect to misdemeanors which are punishable by 
 suspension, the chief of which is truancy, it is perhaps a 
 singular fact that the culminating period is at the age of 
 twelve. 
 
 It will be observed from the last table that the necessity 
 for punishment culminates toward the middle of each term; 
 while, on the whole, there is a steady decline as the year 
 advances. This, doubtless, is owing to the fact that pupils 
 are brought more and more under subjection to authority; 
 and I venture to express the opinion that if such a table 
 were to embody the results of an entire administration by a 
 competent, steady hand, it would exhibit the same law of 
 decline in cases of punishment. 
 
 Without doubt, different schools will give somewhat dif- 
 ferent results; but in every case where a steady line of 
 poHcy is pursued, the results, such as they are, will indicate 
 some law which it is important to know. 
 
 86. Daily programme. — Every teacher should be re- 
 quired to follow a carefully prepared daily programme. 
 This will tend to give system and exactness to school-room 
 work. One copy of this programme should be sent to the 
 principal or superintendent, and another posted in a con^ 
 
No. XV. 
 
 DAILY PROGRAMME. 
 
 159 
 
 Central 
 
 
 _ PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 School. 
 
 DAILY 
 
 Grammar Grade. 
 
 PROGRAMME. 
 
 FORENOON. 
 
 TIME. 
 
 LENGTH. 
 
 RECITATIONS. 
 
 9 o'clock. 
 
 5 minutes. 
 
 Opening Exercises. 1 
 
 9-5 
 
 20 " 
 
 Writing. 
 
 9-25 
 
 20 " 
 
 
 Reading — ist Division. 
 
 9-45 
 
 30 
 
 
 Arithmetic— 2d " 
 
 10.15 
 
 30 
 
 Grammar — ist " 
 
 10.45 
 
 30 
 
 History— 2d " 
 
 II. 15 
 
 15 
 
 Spelling — ist " 
 
 ! 1 
 
 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 1.30 o'clock. 
 
 15 minutes. 
 
 Reading— 2d Division. 
 
 1-45 
 
 30 
 
 History— ist " 
 
 2.15 
 
 30 " 
 
 Grammar— 2d " 
 
 2-45 " 
 
 30 
 
 Arithmetic— ist " 
 
 3-15 
 
 15 
 
 Spelling— 2d " 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 Tpnrhpr 
 
 
 
i6o 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 No. XVI. 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 Central School. Grammar Grade. 
 
 POSITION OF CLASSES. 
 
 (This Report is to be rendered to the Superintendent at the beginning and middle 
 of each term.) 
 
 TEXT-BOOKS. 
 
 NO. 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Harvey's Fifth Reader. 
 
 40 
 
 A 
 
 190 
 
 White's Complete Arithmetic. 
 
 " 
 
 '• 
 
 130 
 
 Eclectic Intermediate Geography. 
 
 - 
 
 " 
 
 50 
 
 Harvey's Practical Grammar. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 118 
 
 Venable's United States History. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 125 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 Dec. 20, 1874. 
 
 TeACWTtt? 
 
 
 
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 i I >l"^ ^|i >^: 
 
CHART OF TEXT-BOOK WORK'. l6l 
 
 spiciious place near the teacher's desk. A convenient form, 
 where a school is composed of a single grade of pupils, 
 is given on page 159. 
 
 87. Chart of text-book work. — An important point 
 in school supervision is to ascertain the degree to which 
 each school conforms to the established course of study. 
 This information may be very conveniently collected by 
 means of a blank, called "Position of Classes," which 
 teachers should be required to fill out at stated periods. 
 A report of this kind, furnished by Supt. Doty, is presented 
 on page 160. 
 
 The information contained in these reports, if embodied 
 on a single page, will give a complete chart of the text-book 
 work; and is one of the most useful aids to supervision. 
 For its general utility, it should rank next to the ' ' Summary 
 of Attendance;" and whenever the number of schools ex- 
 ceeds ten, such a chart should be constructed. A little skill 
 in ruling will enable the principal to improvise such a blank, 
 if it is not thought best to have them printed in the usual 
 way. A specimen of this chart faces this page. 
 
 This chart is of great assistance in making those redis- 
 tributions of pupils which are necessary at the close of 
 each school year. By this means, a large school may be 
 rearranged somewhat as military forces are distributed by 
 the aid of maps of the seat of war. It is well to have an 
 actual commencement at the close of the school year. 
 The promotions having been decided on, and the material 
 of each school fixed from a careful study of the whole 
 system as revealed by the chart, each pupil should be sent 
 to the place which he is to occupy during the next year. 
 Important advantages are derived from such a practice. 
 
 (i). There is the general satisfaction which is felt when 
 
 a definite arrangement has been made. 
 S.S.-14 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Position of Classes on the 
 
 day of . 
 
 187 
 
 No. XVII.— to face page 161 
 
1 62 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 (2) The mind of the pupil is in repose, ready for the 
 relaxation which the vacation should bring. 
 
 (3) The greater part of that confusion which usually at- 
 tends the opening of the year is avoided. 
 
 A very convenient way to preserve these charts is to have 
 a "stub-book" prepared, of the requisite size, in which these 
 blanks are to be inserted as they are filled out, placing the 
 first one at the end of the book, and the others in suc- 
 cession above it. 
 
 88. Notification to parents. — It has already been 
 remarked, incidentally, that it is very desirable to keep 
 parents fully informed of the difficulties into which their 
 children have fallen, or are likely to fall. Education has 
 been too exclusively relegated to teachers ; and parents too 
 generally feel that they have nothing to do with the instruc- 
 tion of their children. This I believe to be one of the 
 weak points in the educational policy of the day. Unless 
 the work of the teacher is supplemented by some attention 
 on the part of parents, it is scarcely possible for school 
 instruction to be eminently profitable. The parent should 
 cooperate with the teacher in a positive manner both in the 
 case of instruction and in that of discipline. So far as 
 possible, teachers should become personally acquainted with 
 parents, and thus prepare the way for intelligent co5pera- 
 tion; but as this is frequently impossible, to any consider- 
 able extent, teachers should communicate with parents by 
 note or by printed forms. When pupils, through neglect 
 or through inability, are in danger of falling out of their 
 classes, parents should be made acquainted with the plain 
 facts in the case, in the hope that they may stimulate their 
 children to greater exertion, or that, in the event of disaster, 
 they may the more willingly acquiesce in the changes which 
 shall seem necessary. 
 
NOTIFICATION TO PARENTS. 163 
 
 If parents are not forewarned in such cases, there is just 
 ground to charge teachers with neglect of duty. A blank 
 of the following form affords a convenient means of com- 
 municating with home authorities: 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 Your 
 
 attention is 7'espectfully called to the fact 
 
 tJiat^ 
 
 
 is not doino- the hind and. 
 
 amoimt of work 1 
 
 vhich are necessary in order that he may 
 
 he p7' 
 
 omoted with his class at the close of this year. \ 
 
 
 The chances 
 
 of promotion do not depend solely on the 
 
 final 
 
 examination^ 
 
 hilt quite largely o?i the quality of each 
 
 day's 
 
 recitations. 
 
 
 
 Hoping to / 
 
 -eceive your cooperation, 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 It is equally important to warn parents of the bad con- 
 duct of their children. In nearly all cases where there is 
 good family government, it is sufficient to notify parents of 
 the misconduct of their children, to have it corrected. It is 
 not meant by this that every trivial matter should be re- 
 ported in this way; such a course would bring the authority 
 of teachers into contempt. But when pupils show^ a persist- 
 ence in bad conduct, which ordinary admonition does not 
 correct, and which promises to result seriously, it is the duty 
 of teachers to notify parents of the facts in the case. Such 
 notifications may be made in the following form : 
 
1 64 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. XIX. 
 
 AI^ 
 
 I am sorry to inform you that 
 .causes me considerable trouble bv 
 
 I have used all the mild means in my power to C07'rect this 
 faulty but thus far with no satisfactory results. Your at- 
 tention is now called to the matter in the hope that your 
 influence may prevent more serious trouble. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 . . . Teacher. 
 
 187 
 
 In high schools, where the requirements as to class-stand- 
 ing should be more exact (§108), parents should be notified 
 in every instance when pupils fall below the standard. In 
 this, as in all similar cases, it is best to send these notices 
 by third parties, preferably by post, and not by pupils 
 themselves. The temptation to destroy messages which are 
 known to contain unwelcome tidings should be avoided. 
 
 89. Teacher's class-book.— In those grades in which 
 promotions are based, in part at least, on the average 
 quality of the pupil's class-work, an accurate record should 
 be kept of each recitation. It is not an easy matter to 
 estimate every recitation at its just value; but when lessons 
 of reasonable length have been assigned, and pupils have 
 been called on to reproduce the knowledge which should 
 have been acquired, a conscientious and judicious teacher 
 ought to be able to assign a value to each recitation with 
 a good degree of accuracy. The mere fact that recitations 
 
MARKIXG RKCITATIONS. 165 
 
 are marked is a healthy stimuUis to industry; and wh.en 
 promotions are known to depend on the average of these 
 marks, pupils feel it necessary to make a steady effort to 
 acquit themselves creditably, There are but few pupils who 
 do not need a stimulus of this kind; and a judicious 
 system of marking will give a tone to ordinary class-^vork 
 which can be secured in no other way. 
 
 It is of considerable importance to decide on a scale of 
 marks. Some prefer 100, some 10, and others 5. The first 
 seems to allow to great a latitude; the teacher is in danger 
 of forming a loose estimate of values. The last is, perhaps, 
 too limited in its range, not elastic enough to represent 
 all the variations in quality which recitations are likely to 
 present. 
 
 90. Marking recitations. — The question which should 
 be ever present to the mind of the teacher is : To w^hat ex- 
 tent has this pupil comprehended the truths which are set 
 forth in the lesson which is in process of recitation? The 
 mere fact that a pupil can repeat the very words of the 
 text is in itself no proof that he has comprehended the 
 thought of the author; but when he gives a clear statement 
 of the thought in his own language, there is but little room 
 to doubt the reality of his knowledge. While it is extremely 
 desirable that a recitation should be made in a form which 
 is strictly grammatical, it is not just to lower the marking 
 for mere grammatical errors. A pupil who is reciting a 
 lesson in astronomy should be marked according to his 
 knowledge of this special subject. So, too, in written ex- 
 aminations, only one element should enter into the value 
 which is assigned to a paper on a specified topic. Still less 
 should conduct modify the marks which a teacher assigns 
 to a recitation. Possibly a boy while reciting in grammar 
 may adopt a surly or impudent manner; but if his knowl- 
 
1 66 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 edge of the subject is all that can reasonably be required, 
 his recitation should receive a high mark notwithstanding 
 his bad conduct. This should receive attention in another 
 way. 
 
 It is not a good plan to allow pupils access to the class- 
 book. As they are not competent to judge of the grounds 
 on which the marks are based, they should not be allowed 
 an opportunity to call in question their accuracy. For those 
 who adopt a system of examinations similar to the one 
 recommended in section. io8, the form of class-book oppo- 
 site will be convenient. 
 
 gi. Record of monthly and term standing. — It will 
 be found useful to keep two additional records in connec- 
 tion with the class-book, especially if it is thought best to 
 adopt the system to which reference has just been made. 
 This system turns a pupil's class-work successively into 
 monthly standing, term standing, and final standing, A 
 pupil's monthly standing is derived from the average of his 
 recitations during the month, in connection with the result 
 of his monthly examination. Term standing is derived from 
 the average monthly standing, and the result of the term 
 examination; while final standing is based on an average 
 of the term standing, and the final examination. Each 
 teacher should keep a distinct record of the above items, 
 and should submit it, at stated periods, to the principal of 
 the school, in order that he may take an account of each 
 pupil's final standing. On page i68 is a specimen of a 
 teacher's record of monthly and term standing. 
 
 92. Principal's record of final standing. — Finally, 
 there is required in every efficient high school a permanent 
 record of every pupil's final standing. A specimen page of 
 such a register is presented on page 170. 
 
 The advantages of such a record are obvious. Its general 
 
No. XX. 
 
 TEACHER'S CLASS-BOOK. 
 
 167 
 
 
 
 
 
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i68 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 No. XXI. 
 
 
 
 
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THE SCHOOL REGISTER. 169 
 
 tendency is to give accuracy and exactness to high school 
 management. It is easy to tell at a glance the quantity and 
 quality of every pupil's work, to tell what studies of the 
 course he has completed, and, consequently, whether he is 
 entitled to the honor of graduation. The full advantages of 
 this whole system will be most fully appreciated when there 
 is a general change in the administration of the school. 
 The three books wiiich have been described have the same 
 relation to the condition of a school as a merchant's day- 
 book, journal, and ledger have to the condition of his busi- 
 ness; and there is no argument in favor of an exact book 
 account in general business, which is not applicable to the 
 affairs of a high school. 
 
 93. The school register. — A most important duty of 
 a teacher is to keep a neat, accurate, and legible school 
 register. The facts of attendance should be entered with 
 perfect accuracy, and in such a manner as to be readily 
 comprehended. All the books in a given school should be 
 kept after the same system. The registers should all be of 
 one form, and the entries should be made in the same 
 manner. 
 
 It is a saving of time to record the absence of pupils, and 
 not their attendance. 
 
 Well arranged school registers are readily procurable from 
 any publisher or bookseller, and no special form need be 
 suggested. 
 
 94. Cost of education per capita. — It is no dis- 
 credit to mathematical science to say that figures sometimes 
 lie, not voluntarily, of course, but on compulsion. The 
 ground for thus challenging the truth of a time-honored 
 maxim is the reckless way in which some superintendents 
 manipulate statistics to show at what a cheap rate they 
 supply educational advantages. 
 
170 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. No. XXII. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 PRINCIPAL'S RECORD 
 
 OF 
 
 FINAL STANDING. 
 ENGLISH COURSE. 
 
 
 •HV3A XSHlJl 
 
 •HVHA QNODaS 
 
 •iiVHA aaiHX 
 
 
 Copyright, 1875, JSy W^iifsojj, HinUe <fc Co. 
 
COST OF EDUCATION PER CAPITA, 1 71 
 
 The cost of education per capita is one of the least trust- 
 worthy items of school statistics. The difficulty lies partly 
 in the fact that there is no settled agreement on the items 
 which should constitute the aggregate cost; and somewhat 
 on a desire to exhibit the comparative cheapness at which 
 education is furnished under particular systems. A large 
 divisor is found in the aggregate number of pupils enrolled; 
 while a small dividend is secured by leaving out of account 
 sundry items of expense, which, nevertheless, must be paid 
 out of the public funds. 
 
 It is surely a discredit to our profession that so important 
 an item as the actual cost of educating a pupil in our public 
 schools can not be determined with sufficient accuracy to be 
 used in the comparison of different systems. The National 
 Teachers' Association, seconded by the Bureau of Education, 
 has recently made an attempt to introduce a uniform method 
 of selecting the data for this computation. For the divisor, 
 the average daily attendance is taken. This is surely more 
 just than to take the whole enrollment, since this last num- 
 ber includes many pupils whose actual membership is only 
 a fraction of the school year. If all superintendents would 
 adopt this one item, at least one element of certainty would 
 be introduced into the computation of this important result. 
 As to the items which should constitute the dividend, there 
 is no general agreement; yet it seems that there ought to be 
 no peculiar difficulty in the way of an understanding on this 
 point. 
 
 Funds raised by tax for the support of schools are applied 
 in two ways — to defray current expenses, and to make per- 
 manent investments. Superintendence, instruction, the care 
 of buildings and grounds, warming, incidentals, repairs, and 
 whatever else disappears in the using, are items of current 
 expense; while under permanent investments are to be in- 
 
172 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 eluded new buildings, libraries, apparatus, and whatever else 
 
 may serve the needs of successive generations of children. 
 
 For the sake of distinctness, these items may be tabulated as 
 
 follows : 
 
 Superintendence ; instruc- 
 tion; care of buildings and 
 grounds ; warming ; insur- 
 ance; incidentals, such as 
 ink, paper, crayons, print- 
 ing, chemicals, brooms, etc. , 
 etc., and whatever else dis- 
 appears in the using. 
 
 School funds 
 
 may be 
 
 devoted to 
 
 Current 
 expenses. 
 
 Permanent 
 investments. 
 
 Buildings; grounds; appa- 
 ratus; library; permanent 
 improvements ; and what- 
 ever else may serve the 
 needs of successive genera- 
 tions of children. 
 
 It is evident that all items of current expense should be 
 included in the dividend which is to be employed in com- 
 puting the average cost of education per pupil; but as the 
 benefits of all permanent investments will be distributed 
 among successive generations of pupils, only the interest on 
 the capital invested in school property should be added to 
 the items which are to be included in each year's expense 
 account. I see no reason why the average cost per year of 
 educating a pupil in our public schools should not be com- 
 puted as follows: 
 
 To the items of current expense as explained above, add 
 the interest at the current rate on the true valuation of 
 school property, and divide this sum by the average daily 
 attendance of pupils. This will at least serve as the basis 
 
COM PARA TIVE ST A riS7'/CS. 
 
 173 
 
 for a comparison of results, and, at the same time, will give, 
 within very narrow limits, the absolute cost of education per 
 pupil. 
 
 Let us suppose that by accurate employment of these 
 data it should appear that the average cost of education in 
 one case is $15 per year, and, in another, $18. It is plain 
 that no valuable information can be derived from this bald 
 statement of facts. We want to know what special elements 
 in the computation have given rise to this difference in re- 
 sults. The real significance of statistics of this class can be 
 revealed only by a somewhat minute analysis of the items 
 which constitute the ascertained cost. The following table 
 is designed to suggest the general method by which such an 
 analysis may be made : 
 
 ANALYTICAL TABLE. 
 
 SHOWING THE AVERAGE COST OF EDUCATION PER PUPIL. 
 
 
 w 
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 Aggregates 
 
 1350 
 
 ^14,200 
 
 
 $8,coo 
 
 
 $4,000 
 
 
 
 High School 
 
 150 
 
 4,000 
 
 $26.66 
 
 
 ^5-92 
 
 
 $2.96 
 
 L5.54 
 1 
 
 Grammar 
 
 500 
 
 4,700 
 
 9.40 
 
 
 5-92 
 
 
 2.96 
 
 1 
 18.28 
 
 Primary 
 
 700 
 
 S>5oo 
 
 7.86 
 
 j 
 
 5-92 
 
 
 2.96 
 
 1 
 16.74 
 
 Averages 
 
 
 
 10.52 
 
 
 5-92 
 
 
 2.96 
 
 j 19-40 
 
174 SCHOOL SUPERVISION, 
 
 95. Comparative statistics. — A very important ele- 
 ment in modern educational progress is the comparative 
 study of school systems with a view to ascertain the net 
 practical results and the means by which they were pro- 
 duced. This is, in fact, an application of the experimental 
 method which characterizes modern thought; the very oppo- 
 site of that high a priori method which consists in evolving 
 from the depths of the inner consciousness both the general 
 plan and the special methods of an educational system. 
 
 To make comparisons possible, uniform data must be 
 furnished — there must be a general agreement on a system 
 of school statistics. At the meeting of the National Teach- 
 ers' Association, at Detroit, in August, 1874, there was 
 adopted the following schedule of "Inquiries respecting 
 city school systems." The National Bureau of Education 
 has approved this plan, and has recommended it to the 
 attention of all city superintendents of schools. The com- 
 missioner of education is rendering invaluable aid in giving 
 shape to our national system of education; and superintend- 
 ents, for the sake of the common good, should render him 
 the most hearty cooperation. 
 
CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS, 
 
 175 
 
 Inquiries Respecting City School Systems. 
 
 [. Name of city, 
 
 2. State,. 
 
 3. Total population according to census of 1870, 
 Estimated present population, 
 
 4. Legal school age, 
 
 5. Nmnber of school 
 population. 
 
 between . 
 
 and 
 
 Under 6, 
 
 Between 6 and 16, 
 Over 16, 
 
 Total number of legal school age, 
 
 6. Whole number of different children, 
 enrolled in public schools, exclud- 
 ing duplicate enrollments. 
 
 Under 6, 
 
 Between 6 and 16,- 
 Over 16, 
 Total, 
 
 7. Number of school days in the year, 
 
 8. * Number of days the schools were taught. 
 
 9. Estimated real value of property 
 used for school purposes. 
 
 Grounds or sites, $- 
 Buildings, 
 Furniture, 
 Apparatus, 
 Total, 
 
 10. Taxable property 
 
 ■{ 
 
 Estimated cash value of 
 Assessed valuation of 
 
 $- 
 
 II. Tax for school pur 
 poses. 
 
 r Mills per 
 1 Mills per 
 
 dollar of cash value, $ 
 dollar of assessed value, 
 
 years. 
 
 * This may differ' from the " Number of school days in the year " on account 
 of holidays other than those which are provided for in the standing rules of the 
 schools. 
 
176 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 12. Number of school-rooms in 
 which pupils are seated for 
 both study and recitation 
 under charge of one teacher. 
 
 charge of two or more teach- 
 ers teaching in the same 
 room or in recitation-rooms. 
 
 14. Number of rooms used for 
 recitation only. 
 
 15. Number of different school 
 buildings, not counting 
 more than one upon a single 
 lot unless they be used for 
 different classes of schools, 
 as for grammar and for high, 
 high and normal, etc. 
 
 16. Number of sittings for study. 
 
 17. Number of teach- ( Males, 
 ers, Jan. i, includ- - Females, 
 ing principals. (^ Total, 
 
 Elementary 
 Schools. 
 
 6 o 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 
 
 177 
 
 Males 
 
 18. Average number of ^^ 1 
 
 ^ N Females, 
 
 teachers employed. ,,, , 
 
 f r Males, 
 
 Enrolled. \ Females, 
 I Total, 
 
 Average C Males, 
 daily -=1 Females, 
 attendance.* I Total, 
 
 19. 
 
 20. Average daily attendance per 
 teacher, excluding special 
 teachers. 
 
 C D 
 
 * To be obtained by dividing the actual attendance by the number of days the 
 school was in actual session, excluding all holidays and days on which all the schools 
 of the city were dismissed. 
 
 RECEIPTS. 
 
 21. Balance on hand from last school year, 
 
 . , r . C State, $. 
 
 22. Amount received from interest \ 
 
 i County, 
 on permanent funds. j 
 
 V Local, 
 
 23. Amount received from taxation. 
 
 State, 
 Local, 
 
 24. Amount received from tuition fees, 
 
 25. Amount received from all other sources,"* 
 
 Total receipts. 
 
 * Such as donations, bequests, fines, licenses, sale of property, etc. If any of these 
 go into a permanent fund, the interest only should be reported. 
 
178 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 EXPENDITURES. 
 
 26. Permanent. 
 
 For sites and buildings, $_ 
 
 For furniture and apparatus, _ 
 For libraries. 
 
 27. Payment of indebtedness 
 incurred in previous 
 years. 
 
 Bonds (including 
 interest), 
 
 Floating (includ- 
 ing interest). 
 
 28. Tuition. 
 
 Cost of supervision, including sal- 
 aries of principals not regularly 
 employed in teaching any class 
 or classes not otherwise pro- 
 vided for, or a due proportion 
 of salary where only part of the 
 time is given to supervision. 
 
 Amount paid for teaching, 
 
 29. 
 
 Incidental or con- 
 tingent expenses. 
 
 Officers of the board, 
 secretaries, messen- 
 gers, etc., ; 
 
 Pay of janitors of build'gs, 
 
 Fuel, 
 
 Rent, 
 
 Insurance, 
 
 Repairs, 
 
 School-books supplied for 
 use of pupils. 
 
 All other supplies and cur- 
 rent expenses. 
 
 Total expenditures, 
 
 .30. Average expenses 
 per capita. 
 
 Supervision and instruction 
 based on average daily 
 attendance, .^ 
 
 Incidental or contingent 
 expenses (29) based on 
 average daily attend'ce. 
 
CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 
 
 179 
 
 ANNUAL SALARIES. 
 31. Annual Salaries of School Officers and Teachers. 
 
 Of city superintendent. 
 
 ( Male, 
 Of assistant superintendents. \ ^ . 
 
 '^ ( l^emale, 
 
 Of principals in primary schools, no C 
 
 class of which has completed the -< _ ' 
 
 I Female, 
 fourth year's course of study, v, 
 
 Male, 
 
 Female, 
 
 Of assistants in primary schools. 
 
 Of principals in grammar schools, the f , , , 
 ^ ^ ^ ) Male, 
 
 highest class of which has com- < ^ 
 
 I Female, 
 pleted the fourth year's course. v. 
 
 Of assistants in grammar schools. 
 
 Of principals in high schools. 
 Of assistants in high schools. 
 Of principals in normal schools. 
 
 Of teachers in evening schools. 
 
 Male, 
 Female, 
 Male, 
 Female, 
 Male, 
 Female, 
 Male, 
 Female, 
 
 Of assistants in normal schools, in- ( Male, 
 eluding critic teachers. (^ Female, 
 
 ( Male, 
 [ Female, 
 
 Music, 
 
 Of special teachers. 
 
 Drawing, 
 Penmanship, 
 
 -187 
 
 .SUPT. 
 
l8o SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 96. Concluding remarks on records and blanks. — 
 
 In what has preceded, attention has been called to such 
 records, reports, and blanks as are deemed necessary for 
 the organization and efficient management of a graded- 
 school. Nothing has been commended to the attention of 
 the reader which is not known to have a real value. It is 
 believed that no first-class school can be successfully con- 
 ducted without using forms similar to those which have been 
 presented. In fact, I have been governed in this matter by 
 what has seemed to be essential. Very many superintend- 
 ents will adopt additional forms for special purposes; but 
 as it is not the object of this chapter to present what is 
 merely convenient, or what only peculiar exigencies may 
 require, no mention has been made of forms which are not 
 adapted to general use. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EXAMINATIONS. 
 
 (i8n 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 Classification of pupils. The reclassification of pupils. The indi- 
 viduality of pupils. Reclassification may be avoided. A final exami- 
 nation not a fair test. Estimating final standing. Deciding on fitness 
 for promotion. Rigor in examinations. Oral and written examina- 
 tions. Conducting a written examination. High school examinations. 
 Rules for a system of examinations. Deception in examinations. 
 Herbert Spencer on examinations. The preparation of questions. 
 Examinations to develop general principles. Public examinations. 
 
 (182) 
 
EXAMINATIONS. 
 
 97. Classification of pupils. — It has sometimes been 
 urged as an objection to the graded-school system that it is a 
 sort of a Procrustean bed — that the bright and the dull are 
 submitted to the same process, and that both classes suffer 
 from the regimen to which they are subjected ; the first from 
 a cramping of their energies, the second from a strain which 
 their faculties are unable to bear. It is urged that it is a 
 necessary result of class instruction that the individuality of 
 the pupil must be sacrificed to the maintenance of mere 
 system. 
 
 Of course all classification is based on some notion of simi- 
 larity, upon certain points of resemblance; but it is not re- 
 quired that the objects which constitute a class shall be the 
 exact copies of one another. While the classification of pupils 
 is based on certain resemblances, it must necessarily admit 
 certain differences. It is required that all pupils of the same 
 grade shall have attainments so similar that they may derive 
 advantage from simultaneous instruction. It is not necessary 
 that they shall all be on the same absolute level of attainment. 
 If differences of attainment and ability are incompatible with 
 simultaneous school instruction, the objection lies equally 
 against all association for mutual good — social, civil, and re- 
 ligious. A graded system of instruction, wisely administered, 
 
 ■■■■-. (183) 
 
1 84 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 is more elastic than any other system of a similar nature; it 
 responds more promptly to the necessities of growth, and ad- 
 mits more easily of those re-adjustments which are required 
 by varying rates of development. 
 
 g8. Reclassification of pupils. — It is a great error 
 to suppose that a classification made at the opening of a 
 school year must necessarily remain unmodified to its close. 
 As soon as it is discovered that an individual pupil is so 
 much in advance of his class, either in attainment or ability, 
 that he deserves promotion, he is at once transferred to a 
 higher grade ; and, conversely, when a pupil fails, through 
 indolence or inability to do the work which is required of 
 his class, he is placed where his deserts entitle him to go. 
 In practice, these re-adjustments are made whenever occa- 
 sion requires, though these occasions are not so frequent 
 as is imagined by those who are not practically acquainted 
 with graded-school work. 
 
 For, first, there are not »those marked differences in ability 
 which some imagine, or, at least, the cases of such superiority 
 are far more rare than is popularly supposed. It will be 
 readily seen, even by the inexperienced, that at the end of 
 a school year, there may be such a redistribution of pupils 
 that individual ability may be very exactly accommodated. 
 On the supposition that a normal re-adjustment has thus 
 been made, is it probable that there will be such a sudden 
 evolution of ability as to make a new classification neces- 
 sary? Or, on the other hand, is it probable that pupils 
 will so belie their past history as to make necessary their 
 transfer to a lower grade? Those critics make a sad mis- 
 take who leave it to be inferred that dolts and geniuses are 
 unevenly yoked in the same class. 
 
 The differences which actually manifest themselves, and 
 which require special attention, have their origin outside of 
 
THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PUPILS. 185 
 
 the graded system ; it is very seldom that they are produced 
 within it. The cases of most frequent occurrence in which 
 a higher classification becomes necessary are those of pupils, 
 relatively older than their classmates, who have been kept 
 back in all their studies by disadvantages, but who, un- 
 der more favorable circumstances, quickly recover their lost 
 ground, and hence require a change in their classification. 
 
 99. The individuality of pupils. — One of the objec- 
 tions most frequently urged against graded-schools is the 
 tendency to crush out all natural individuality — to produce a 
 dead uniformity in tastes, abilities, aspirations, character. If 
 this is the actual result of the graded system of instruction, 
 or even if there is developed a decided tendency to produce 
 such a result, the system is unnatural, and therefore to be 
 condemned. But will some one tell us how the innate in- 
 dividuality of a child can be smothered? If such a result 
 can be accomplished anywhere, it must be in the family, 
 under the persistent influence of jmrental training. Is it 
 possible to train a family of children, born with different 
 abilities, temperaments, and characters into a sameness of 
 ability, temperament, and character? It is as rational to 
 expect that a family of children, fed with the same food for 
 a succession of years, will adopt an unnatural sameness of 
 physical growth. The fact is, innate differences in character, 
 in ability, in mental habit, will not be ignored, will persist 
 in spite of any training to which they are subjected. The 
 utmost that can be done is to modify individual peculiarities 
 to such a degree as to make human association possible and 
 mutually profitable. 
 
 100. Reclassification may be avoided. — Of the re- 
 classifications of pupils which occur in graded-schools, the 
 greater number are downwards, made necessary chiefly by 
 absence or indolence. When a school is in a healthy 
 
 S. S.-16. 
 
1 86 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 condition, this redistribution of pupils does not take place 
 spasmodically, at a crisis, but is gradual and unobtrusive, 
 creating no marked impression and leaving no tangible proof 
 of its existence. In other words, that sifting of pupils which 
 is thought so necessary should be done gradually during the 
 year, and not en masse at its close. If a graded course of 
 instruction is administered by competent teachers, the pupils 
 who remain in a grade till the close of the year will, as a 
 rule, be competent to enter a higher grade without a formal 
 and formidable examination. The teacher who has heard 
 the daily recitations of a pupil for a year, can pronounce, 
 in advance, a juster opinion of his ability than can be formed 
 by another after an exhaustive examination. I regard the 
 formal examination of pupils at the end of the year, attended 
 with its usual circumstance and ceremony, as a veritable 
 crisis, dangerous to that even tenor which is characteristic 
 of health and normal growth. The process of recitation is 
 in fact an examination in what the pupil has learned for the 
 day from his text-book; and at intervals this examination 
 should be extended to what has been learned for several 
 days, with a view to refresh the pupil's knowledge and to 
 be sure that he is making real progress. By this means, 
 whenever the teacher discovers that a pupil is losing ground 
 and is no longer able to hold his position in the class, he 
 should be reported for a reclassification. Of course, some 
 stimulus is necessary in order to incite the average pupil to 
 improve his opportunities; but it is desirable that this stim- 
 ulus should be continuous and moderate, not spasmodic and 
 excessive. The normal energies of the pupil should not 
 remain quiescent for the greater part of the year, and then 
 be aroused for a desperate struggle at the end. Some means 
 should be used to convince pupils that the chief end of 
 study is not to be able to "pass;" and I see no surer way 
 
ESTIMATING FIN A I STANDING, 1 87 
 
 tlian to withdraw the attention somewliat from the impend- 
 ing crisis and fix it more firmly on the fact that each day's 
 work will tell on the final result. 
 
 loi. Final examinations not a fair test. — It can 
 not have escaped the attention of any who are practically 
 acquainted with school affairs, that in a formal examination, 
 when there is feverish anxiety as to the result, the pupils 
 who are unmistakably the best prepared sometimes acquit 
 themselves with the least credit; while, for a Avonder, some 
 whose daily record is an offense, shine with unnatural splen- 
 dor. Is it just that the promotion of a pupil should be 
 made to depend exclusively, or even very largely, on the 
 chances of an unusual examination? Should his every 
 day work during the year go for nothing? It would be 
 wrong to infer from what has been said that final examina- 
 tions should be abolished. The thought which is intended 
 to be conveyed is that examinations should not be extra- 
 ordinary occasions, veritable crises in a pupil's history, 
 obstructing for a time the usual course of school affairs; but 
 rather the last terms of an ordinary series of events, a 
 general summary of the year's results. The fitness of a 
 pupil to enter upon a higher course of study really depends 
 to a considerable extent on his health, industry, punctuality, 
 and general mental habits; and these are concretely repre- 
 sented in the average quality and quantity of work which he 
 has already done. 
 
 102. Estimating final standing. — In the case of 
 pupils who are to have a final written examination, a careful 
 record of each recitation and of each monthly examination 
 should be kept, and at the end of the year an average df 
 these results, estimating the average of all the recitations at 
 four-fifths, and the average of all the examinations at one- 
 fifth, should constitute the pupil's standing for the year. 
 
1 88 SCHOOL SUPERVISION 
 
 Example. 
 
 Average of recitations 8.5 
 
 Average of monthly examinations 8. 
 
 Standing for the year ~— '^' ' — = 8.4 
 
 In estimating the final standing, the pupil's standing for 
 the year should be estimated at four-fifths, and the average 
 value of the examination papers at one-fifth. 
 
 Example. 
 
 Standing for the year 8.4 
 
 Average value of examination papers 9. 
 
 Final standing 4(8.4) + 9 ^ g_^2 
 
 The relative value which should be assigned to the two 
 items which determine a pupil's final standing is somewhat 
 arbitrary, and each examiner must decide this question for 
 himself. 
 
 103. Deciding on fitness for promotion. — With 
 reference to . promotion, certain studies may be considered 
 as outranking others. For example, if a pupil is well qual- 
 ified in arithmetic, grammar, and geography, no teacher 
 would be justifiable in ^vithholding promotion because he 
 is not a fluent reader, or because his penmanship and spell- 
 ing are defective to a moderate extent. These deficiencies 
 will not bar his progress in the higher grade, but may be 
 repaired there; while an imperfect knowledge of arithmetic 
 a»d grammar may make further progress impossible. For it 
 should not be forgotten that in deciding on fitness for pro- 
 motion the real question is. Can this pupil take up the 
 studies of the next grade and pursue them successfully? 
 
A'/ CO A' /X EXAMINATIONS. 189 
 
 Reading, as heretofore defined (i^ 49), is a most important 
 acciuisition; and a pupil who excels in this art should be 
 very favorably regarded. For, after all, study is but atten- 
 tive reading; and pupils differ from each other very largely 
 in their respective ability to comprehend the thought of the 
 author as expressed on the printed page. But elocution, or 
 very fine reading, like extraordinary skill in penmanship, 
 sometimes indicates a lack of average mental ability. 
 
 A fictitious value is often assigned to excellence in spell- 
 ing. Poor spelling is not inconsistent with high scholarship. 
 Some learn to spell intuitively and are incapable of mis- 
 spelling a word; while others, not endowed with great 
 mechanical memory, can never become good spellers. The 
 first are not to be praised nor the last blamed for what they 
 can not prevent. Let it be understood that only the relative 
 values of two different orders of knowledge are in question 
 here. Not the least pretext is given for denying to elocu- 
 tion, penmanship, and spelling a normal amount of attention. 
 The time which, in the writer's opinion, should be given to 
 writing and spelling in a graded course of instruction may 
 be seen by consulting the courses of study as presented on 
 pages 96 and 105. 
 
 104. Rigor in examinations. — It should be kept in 
 mind that no imusual rigor in examinations by the superin- 
 tendent can offset poor instruction by the regular teacher. 
 The true point of departure is the teacher's fitness to instruct. 
 The superintendent is chiefly responsible for the quality of 
 the instruction which pupils receive. His first care should 
 be to secure good teaching ability, and then to direct such 
 methods of instruction as will secure the desired results. 
 Teachers should be held responsible for the fitness of their 
 pupils to leave one point of a graded course and enter on 
 another. The evident fact is that the teacher is in a position 
 
I90 SCHOOL SUPERVISION, 
 
 to form a more correct judgment on this question than any 
 one else. If the teacher's judgment is not trustworthy; if 
 through favoritif m or sympathy, she recommends the promo- 
 tion of unworthy pupils, she should give place to one wha 
 can be trusted. The employment of a teacher is of itself 
 an evidence of confidence in her ability; but a personal 
 inspection of her work in teaching should justify or condemn 
 this confidence. The examination of pupils for promotion, 
 then, should be left almost entirely with teachers who are 
 known to be competent and trustworthy. The superintend- 
 ent should act in this case, as in all others which relate to 
 the management of pupils, indirectly. 
 
 105. Oral and written examinations. — Between the 
 two modes of examination, known as oral and written, there 
 are some differences which are worthy of notice. In general, 
 pupils who recite by "question and answer" should be ex- 
 amined orally, while pupils who recite by ''topic" should 
 write out their examination. An oral examination will test 
 the quantity of a pupil's knowledge, a written examination^ 
 its quality. "Writing maketh an exact man." 
 
 Younger pupils are chiefly occupied in receiving knowl- 
 edge, as distinguished from reproducing the knowledge which 
 has been acquired. It is only by interrogation that the mere 
 child will be able to reveal the extent of his information 
 derived from books, while the older pupil, having learned the 
 art of expression, and having to a greater or less extent 
 made a classification of his knowledge, will be able to give 
 an exact statement of what he knows on an assigned topic. 
 
 When pupils have learned to express their thoughts in 
 writing with tolerable grammatical accuracy, a beginning 
 may be made in written examinations, but they should not 
 supersede the usual oral examination. This period is usually 
 the sixth year! of the graded course of instruction (§ 53). 
 
A WRITTEN EXAMINATION. 191 
 
 During the eighth year, written examinations should occur 
 at intervals, while in the high school they should be em- 
 ployed with considerable frequency. 
 
 An incidental advantage of written examinations is the 
 comparison of fesults which is afforded by them. Take the 
 case of two grammar schools in which pupils are to be 
 examined for promotion to the high school. The same 
 topics being assigned to each school, and the papers being 
 marked in a uniform plan, a very fair estimate can be made 
 of the respective merits of the teachers from a general 
 average of all the results in each case. 
 
 Still further, these papers may serve a good purpose as 
 tangible proofs of a pupil's capacity or incapacity, as the 
 case may be. When promotions are withheld the justness 
 of the decision may be called in question, and if so, it will be 
 convenient to produce the records which tell their own story. 
 
 106. Conducting a written examination. — In con- 
 ducting a written examination for promotion from one 
 department to another, the following plan is suggested: Let 
 the teacher assign to each pupil a number by which his 
 papers may be distinguished. Let these numbers be written 
 consecutively on the left margin of the '' Examination Roll." 
 Opposite each of these numbers, in the appropriate column, 
 place each pupil's ^'yearly standing." This list should then 
 be placed in the care of the person who is to decide on the 
 final results. The examination questions should be written 
 on the board, a part at a time, and the pupil should be 
 required to write the answers neatly and legibly. When the 
 papers have been finished they should be folded in a uniform 
 manner, and marked with the name of the topic and the 
 number of the pupil. Let this course be pursued with each 
 topic, and when the examination is finished the papers 
 should be valued with the utmost exactness. For the sake 
 
192 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 of securing the greatest uniformity in marking, all the papers 
 should be examined by the same person; but where this is 
 impracticable, there should be an agreement on the general 
 plan of marking. Usually, it is not best for a teacher to 
 examine the papers written by her own pupils. The exam- 
 iner ought not to know the ownership of a single paper. 
 
 Each answer should be marked at its estimated value; 
 and the sum of all the marks divided by the number of 
 questions will give the average value of the paper. Mark 
 this value on the paper, and when all the papers on a given 
 topic have been examined, transfer these values to their 
 appropriate place on the "Examination Roll." To find 
 each pupil's standing, proceed as follows: First, find the 
 average value of each pupil's papers by dividing the sum of 
 the several values by the number of papers. Place this 
 average value in its designated place. Then multiply the 
 yearly standing by 4, add to this product the average of the 
 examinations, and divide the sum by 5. The quotient will 
 represent the final standing of the pupil. 
 
 Arithmetic 7.5 
 
 Grammar 9.2 
 
 Geography 8. i 
 
 History 7. 
 
 Example. 
 
 31.8. Average = ^^ = 7.95 
 
 Examination average 7.95 
 
 Yearly standing 8. 2 
 
 Final standing 4 (8.2) + 7-95 ^^5 ^3.15 
 
 The "Examination Roll," filled out as above directed, 
 will appear as on page 193, supposing that the standard for 
 "passing" is 7.5. 
 
No. XXIII. 
 
 EXAMINATION ROLL. 
 
 193 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS O 
 
 Grammar Grade. Central ^ 
 
 EXAMINATK 
 
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 School. June 21, 1875. 
 
 )N ROLL. 
 
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 Remarks. 
 
 
 
 S.S. 
 
194 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 At this stage of proceedings the roll is to be sent back to 
 the teacher, who should write each pupil's name opposite 
 his number. The final results are ready to be declared. 
 
 Pupils who have failed in such an examination should be 
 allowed the privilege of another examination at the close of 
 the vacation; but the second examination should be espe- 
 cially searching in those studies where the greatest weakness 
 has been shown. On the one hand, no slavery to mere 
 system should stand in the way of a pupil's efforts to retrieve 
 a failure in the regular examination; and, on the other, 
 there should be no mere trifling in such matters. It must 
 be only in very rare cases that a third examination is allow- 
 able. 
 
 107. High school examinations. — In the high school, 
 as has already been remarked, greater prominence should be 
 given to written examinations. They should take a wider 
 range, and should be conducted with more system and 
 exactness. A special aim in this department should be to 
 cultivate accurate thinking and the accurate expression of 
 thought. In other words, great prominence should be given 
 to reproducing the knowledge which has been derived from 
 text-book and teacher. Writing necessarily involves a class- 
 ification of knowledge, each topic being a nucleus about 
 which are grouped facts of a kindred nature. Scholarship- 
 consists in having a classified knowledge, such a systematic 
 grouping of facts as will enable their possessor on occasion 
 to produce all the facts which bear on a given subject. 
 This process of classification should at least be begun in the 
 high school; and written examinations should have this for 
 one of their purposes. A very great evil in high school 
 management is the multiplication of studies whereby the 
 whole mental effort of the pupil is expended in memorizing 
 facts which lie in the mind as a riidis indigestaqiie moles. 
 
SYSTEM OF EXAMINATIONS. 195 
 
 No degree of true culture can be acquired under such cir- 
 cumstances. The mind must have some leisure to digest 
 the facts which books and teachers supply. 
 
 In this grade, then, examinations should promote culture, 
 and they should be so frequent as to divest them of all form- 
 ality. At the end of each month there should be an exami- 
 nation on all the work done during this period; and at the 
 end of each term, an examination on the term's work; and, 
 finally, at the completion of a study, an examination on the 
 whole subject. 
 
 108. Rules for a system of examinations. — To give 
 regularity and efficiency to such a system of examinations, 
 the following plan is suggested : — Faithfully and discretely 
 employed it will be found to produce results which are 
 highly satisfactory. 
 
 Rules for a System of Examinations. 
 Monthly Examinations. 
 
 1. The monthly examination shall be estimated as ^, 
 and the average of recitations as 3^ in estimating monthly 
 standing. 
 
 Example. 
 
 Monthly examination, 9. 
 
 Average of recitations, 8.5 
 
 Monthly standing, ^"^^^^'^^ = 8.62 
 
 2. Any pupil falling below the required standing (7.5), for 
 two consecutive months, shall'be dismissed from the class. 
 
 Term Exa7ninations. 
 
 3. The term examination shall be estimated as ^, and the 
 average monthly standing as ]/> in calculating a pupil's term 
 standing:. 
 
196 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 Example. 
 
 Average monthly standing, 8. 2 
 
 Term examination, 7.8 
 
 Term standing, :== -^- — = 8. 
 
 4. When a pupil's term standing falls below 7.5, he shall 
 be dismissed from the class. 
 
 Final Examinations. 
 
 5. On leaving a text-book, pupils shall be examined on the 
 whole subject; and the average of this examination shall be 
 estimated as ^, and the average term standing as ^ in 
 calculating a pupil's final standing. 
 
 Example. 
 
 Average term standing, Z.d 
 
 Average of final examinations, 8. 
 
 Final standing, = — = 8.3 
 
 6. The standard for passing a study shall be 7.5. 
 
 7. Pupils shall be granted one reexamination if applica- 
 tion is made within two days from notification of failure. 
 
 When pupils fall below the requirements of either of the 
 above rules, and are therefore in danger of falling out of 
 a class, a notice like that on the opposite page should be 
 sent to the parent. 
 
 When a study has been completed, it is well to furnish 
 the pupil with some evidence of the fact. It is not only a 
 source of satisfaction to the pupil, but may be needed sub- 
 sequently to establish the fact of his having passed the 
 study. The form of certificate suggested is on page 198. 
 
No. XXIV. NOTICE TO PARENTS. 197 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 187 
 
 Mr. . 
 
 The prog7'ess of you?' 
 
 . in for the past 
 
 month has not been satisfactory, as will be seen from the 
 following 7'ecord: 
 
 Average of recitations . . . 
 Monthly examination .... 
 Monthly standing 
 
 The standard in marking recitations is 16; and when 
 a pupiVs monthly standing in a study falls below 7.5, for 
 two consecutive months, he is not allowed to continue such 
 study. The monthly standing is based on the recitations 
 and the examination. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 Principal. 
 
198 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. No. XXV. 
 
 -HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 This Certifies That . has 
 
 completed the study of and has 
 
 passed a satisfactory exainination. 
 
 .187 
 
 ^Teacher. 
 -Principal. 
 
 Approved by . .Superintendent. 
 
 109. Deception in examinations. — Written examina- 
 tions afford facilities for deception, and the utmost caution 
 should be observed in conducting them. The ways of de- 
 ception are as various as the inventive power of pupils. A 
 text-book or a leaf smuggled into the class-room, memoranda 
 on bits of paper, on sleeve-cuff, or even on finger nails, 
 memories refreshed by interviews in the halls, these are but 
 specimens of the means which dishonest pupils will take to 
 rob themselves of their rights. It is greatly to be regretted 
 that so loose a code of morals exists in schools; but the 
 evil should be recognized and guarded against by every 
 available resource. To begin at the beginning, an effort 
 should be made to show pupils the inherent immorality of 
 this species of deception; next, the opportunity to deceive 
 should be taken away; and finally, pupils who persist in 
 the practice should be suspended from the privileges of the 
 school. 
 
SPENCER ON EXAMINATIONS, 1 99 
 
 1 10. Herbert Spencer on examinations. — The jorep- 
 aration of suitable examination questions is a matter of ex- 
 treme difficulty as well as of extreme importance. Sometimes 
 a pupil's failure in an examination is due not so much to 
 his own ignorance as to that of his examiners. On this 
 general subject the following extract from Chapter V of 
 Spencer's Study of Sociology is commended to the reader : 
 
 ' ' Some months ago, a correspondent of the Times, writing 
 from Calcutta, said : 
 
 ' '■ The Calcutta University examinations of any year 
 would supply curious material for reflection on the value 
 of our educational systems. The prose test in the entrance 
 examination this year includes "' Ivanhoe.' Here are a few 
 of the answers which I have picked up. The spelling is 
 bad, but that I have not cared to give. 
 
 " Question : ' Dapper man ?' (answer i) 'Man of super- 
 fluous knowledge.' (a. 2) 'Mad.' (q.) 'Democrat?' (a. i) 
 'Petticoat government.' (a. 2) 'Witchcraft' (a. 3) 'Half- 
 turning of the horse.' (q.) ' Babylonish jargon ? ' (a. i) 'A 
 vessel made at Babylon.' (a. 2) 'A kind of drink made at 
 Jerusalem.' (a. 3) 'A kind of coat worn by Babylonians.' 
 (q.) 'Lay brother?' (a. i) 'A bishop.' (a. 2) 'A step- 
 brother.' (a. 3) ' A scholar of the same god-father.' (q.) 
 ' Sumpter mule ? ' (a.) ' A stubborn Jew.' (q.) ' A bilious- 
 looking fellow?' (a. i) 'A man of strict character.' (a. 2) 
 'A person having a nose like the bill of an eagle.' (q.) 
 ' Cloister ? ' (a.) 'A kind of shell.' (q.) 'Tavern politicians?' 
 (a. i) 'Politicians in charge of the ale-house.' (a. 2) 'Mere 
 vulgars.' (a. 3) 'Managers of the priestly church.' (q.) 'A 
 pair of cast-off galigaskins ? ' (a.) ' Two gallons of wine.' 
 
 "The fact here drawn attention to as significant is, that 
 these Hindu youths, during their matriculation examination, 
 betrayed so much ignorance of the meanings of words and 
 
200 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 expressions contained in an English work they had read. 
 And the intended impHcation appears to be that they were 
 proved to be unfit to begin their college career. If, now, 
 instead of accepting that which is presented to us, we look 
 a little below it, that which may strike us as more note- 
 worthy is the amazing folly of an examiner who proposes 
 to test the fitness of youths for commencing their higher 
 education by seeing how much they knew of the technical 
 terms, cant-phrases, slang, and even extinct slang, talked by 
 the people of another nation. Instead of the unfitness of 
 the boys, which is pointed out to us, we may see rather 
 the unfitness of those concerned in educating them. 
 
 ''If, again, not dwelling on the particular fact underlying 
 the one offered to our notice, we consider it along with 
 others of the same class, our attention is arrested by the 
 general fact that examiners, and more especially those ap- 
 pointed under our recent systems of administration, habitu- 
 ally put questions a large proportion of which are utterly 
 inappropriate. As I learn from his son, one of our judges 
 not long since found himself unable to answer an examina- 
 tion paper that had been put before law-students. A well- 
 known Greek scholar, editor of a Greek play, who was 
 appointed examiner, found that the examination paper set 
 by his predecessor was too diificult for him. Mr. Froude, in 
 his inaugural address at St. Andrews, describing a paper set 
 by an examiner in English history, said, 'I could myself 
 have answered two questions out of a dozen.' And I learn 
 from Mr. G. H. Lewes that he could not give replies to the 
 questions on English literature which the Civil Service ex- 
 aminers had put to his son. Joining which testimonies, with 
 kindred ones coming from students and professors on all 
 sides, we find the really noteworthy thing to be, that ex- 
 aminers are concerned not so much to set questions fit for 
 
SPENCE/^: ON EXAMINATIONS. 20 1 
 
 students, as to set questions which make manifest their own 
 extensive learning. Especially if they are young, and have 
 reputations to make or to justify, they seize the occasion for 
 displaying their erudition, regardless of the interests of those 
 they examine. 
 
 " If we look through this more significant and general 
 fact for the still deeper fact it grows out of, there rises be- 
 fore us the question — Who examines the examiners ? How 
 happens it that men, competent in their special knowledge, 
 but so incompetent in their general judgment, should occupy 
 the places they do? This prevailing faultiness of the exam- 
 iners shows conclusively that the administration is faulty at its 
 center. Somehow or other, the power of ultimate decision is 
 exercised by those who are unfit to exercise it. If the ex- 
 aminers of the examiners were set to fill up an examination 
 paper which had for its subject the right conduct of exami- 
 nations, and the proper qualifications for examiners, there 
 would come out very unsatisfactory answers. 
 
 "Having seen through the small details and the wider 
 facts down to these deeper facts, we may, on contemplating 
 them, perceive that these, too, are not the deepest or most 
 significant. It becomes clear that those having supreme 
 authority suppose, as men in general do, that the sole essen- 
 tial thing for a teacher or examiner is complete knowledge 
 of that which he has to teach, or respecting which he has to 
 examine ; whereas a co-essential thing is a knowledge of 
 psychology, and especially of that part of psychology which 
 deals with the evolution of the faculties. Unless, either by 
 special study, or by daily observation and quick insight, he 
 has gained an approximatively true conception of how minds 
 perceive, and reflect, and generalize, and by what processes 
 their ideas grow from concrete to abstract, and from simple 
 to complex, no one is competent to give lessons that will 
 
202 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 effectually teach, or to ask questions which will effectually 
 measure the efficiency of teaching. 
 
 "Further, it becomes manifest that, in common with the 
 public at large, those in authority assume that the goodness 
 of education is to be tested by the quantity of knowledge 
 acquired; whereas it is to be much more truly tested by 
 the capacity for using knowledge — by the extent to which 
 the knowledge gained has been turned into faculty, so as to 
 be available both for the purposes of Hfe and for the pur- 
 poses of independent investigation." 
 
 III. The preparation of questions. — In the prepara- 
 tion of examination questions, the following principles should 
 be observed : 
 
 1. Their purpose should be to test the accuracy and extent 
 of the pupil's knowledge; and not to display the wisdom, 
 shrewdness, or sagacity of the examiner. 
 
 2. They should be pertinent; they should relate to these 
 subjects upon which the pupil has been instructed, and of 
 which his knowledge is to be tested. 
 
 3. They should be expressed in terms which the pupil can 
 readily understand. 
 
 4. They should be comprehensive in proportion to the de- 
 gree of mental culture possessed by the pupil. 
 
 5. Each question in a series should embrace about the 
 same amount of matter. 
 
 The Rhode Island Schoolmaster is authority for the state- 
 ment that the following questions in history were propounded 
 at an examination of teachers : 
 
 " I. What is your opinion of the age of the world? 
 
 "2. State the reasons for considering the first chapter of 
 Genesis a true history? 
 
 "3. How many questions and answers are there in the 
 assembly's shorter catechism ? 
 
PREPARATION OF QUESTIONS. 203 
 
 *' Where was Job when God laid the foundation of the 
 earth if the world is round? 
 
 '^What church do you belong to?" 
 
 Questions of this irrelevant nature need only to be stated 
 in order to be shunned; but they are illustrations of a fault 
 which is not peculiar to New England. 
 
 "What is the square root of 1225 ? " 
 
 This is a suitable question for pupils who have received 
 their first instruction in higher arithmetic. 
 
 ''Extract the square root of 1225, and explain the prin- 
 ciples involved in the process." 
 
 This is adapted to the capacities of pupils more advanced, 
 who have been taught the science of arithmetic. 
 
 "Demonstrate the general theorem of roots." 
 
 This implies a still higher knowledge of mathematics, and 
 is suitable for advanced pupils in algebra. 
 
 (i) "Through what waters must one pass in sailing from 
 Chicago to London ? 
 
 (2) " Name the large rivers in South America. 
 
 (3) ''What is the capital of France?" 
 
 Such a series of questions, involving such unequal amounts 
 of information, does not afford a fair test of the relative abili- 
 ties of pupils. Three pupils answering only the first, second, 
 and third, respectively, would receive the same credit ; when 
 it is evident that these credits should be at least as five, two, 
 and one. 
 
 On the same principle, three series of questions, each 
 having reference to a different topic, as arithmetic, grammar, 
 and history, should each embrace about an equal amount of 
 matter; otherwise, a general average of the three sets of 
 papers might not represent the relative merits of different 
 pupils. 
 
 The answers given to examination questions may be com- 
 
204 SCHOOL SUPERVISION, 
 
 plete or incomplete; correct, partially correct, or incor- 
 rect. An answer may be incomplete, though correct as far 
 as it goes; or it may be partly correct and partly incorrect. 
 In marking papers these facts should be taken into account. 
 A pupil should be credited with whatever knowledge of the 
 subject he embodies in his examination papers. 
 
 *'For twelve dollars, how many books can be bought at 
 two-thirds of a dollar each?" Answer i. "You can buy as 
 many books as two-thirds of twelve, which is eight." An- 
 swer 2. "You can buy as many books as two-thirds is con- 
 tained in twelve. To divide a whole number by a fraction, 
 multiply by the denominator and divide by the numerator. 
 3X12=36; 36-f-2=i8. Hence you can buy 18 books." 
 Answer 3. "For $12 there can be bought as many books 
 as -/z, the price of one book, is contained in 12. i is con- 
 tained in 12, twelve times; ^ is contained in 12 thirty-six 
 times; ^ is contained in 12 eighteen times. Hence eighteen 
 books can be bought for $12 at ^ of a dollar each." 
 
 The first answer indicates complete ignorance of the sub- 
 ject, and should be marked o. 
 
 The second answer is correct, but it indicates a mere 
 knowledge of the rule for the division of an integer by a 
 fraction. It may be marked 7.5. 
 
 The third answer shows that the pupil knows what to 
 do, how to do it, and why he does it. It indicates a 
 complete knowledge of the subject in hand, and should be 
 marked 10. 
 
 "How does respiration purify the blood?" Answer i. 
 "The oxygen of the air deprives the blood of its impu- 
 rities." 
 
 This answer is correct, though incomplete. It gives evi- 
 dence of a knowledge of the fact in the case, but does not 
 exhibit any understanding of the process which really takes 
 
WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 205 
 
 place. If this reply were to be given in an examination 
 in physiology or chemistry, it should not be marked 
 above 5. 
 
 Answer 2. "The oxygen of the air combines with the 
 carbon of the blood, which is one of its impurities, and 
 expels the poisonous hydrogen." 
 
 Here the general fact expressed in the first answer seems 
 to be known; but the account of the process is both incom- 
 plete and partially incorrect. This answer should not be 
 marked above 6. 
 
 Answer 3. "The chief impurities in the blood are com- 
 pounds of carbon and hydrogen. The oxygen of the air 
 combines with the first, forming carbonic acid, and with the 
 second, producing watery vapor. These gases, along with 
 the nitrogen contained in the inspired air, are expelled from 
 the lungs in the process of breathing. " 
 
 This reply may be marked 9 or 10, depending on whether 
 the examination is in chemistry or physiology. 
 
 In a mathemati-cal examination, where the purpose is to 
 test a pupil's knowledge of processes or of principles, mere 
 errors in calculation, arising through inadvertance, should 
 not be taken into account. 
 
 These illustrations sufficiently indicate the principles which 
 should be observed in the preparation and marking of ex- 
 amination papers designed to test a pupil's fitness for promo- 
 tion. 
 
 112. Examinations to develop general principles. 
 
 — Written examinations serve a secondary purpose of great 
 importance. They assist pupils in understanding isolated 
 facts — in introducing order into their mental acquisitions — 
 in classifying their knowledge. A pupil may know the 
 several facts which underlie a general principle; he may 
 repeat the abstract formula which really includes these very 
 
2o6 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 facts, and yet he may be wholly unable to detect the indi- 
 vidual cases which fall under the general law. To under- 
 stand a fact, is to see it in its relations to other facts and to 
 the whole of which they are the several parts. Pupils should 
 be assisted in discovering these relations; and judicious 
 questions are often the only aid which it is possible to 
 render. 
 
 In the illustration of these remarks, let us take the case 
 of pupils who do not understand the atomic theory, that is, 
 do not see in this theory the ascertained facts of chemical 
 combination in their relation to one another. What is 
 needed is to bring these facts into sharp outline, and, at the 
 same time, into suggestive relations, so that the mind may 
 discover a unity in phenomena which before seemed 
 isolated facts. An examination paper, set in the following 
 form, will often lead to a better understanding of a some- 
 what difficult subject: 
 
 1. Of what elements is HCl composed? 
 
 2. If we were to decompose tivo quarts of HCl, what 
 volume of H would result; what volume of CI? 
 
 3. If we were to form 1,000 cubic inches of HCl by a 
 synthesis of its elements, what volume of each miLst we 
 take? 
 
 4. In making this combination, if we were to take less 
 than the required volume of H by one cubic inch, what 
 amount of CI would remain free? How many cubic inches 
 of HCl would be formed? 
 
 5. If we were to decompose a given weight of HCl, what 
 relative weights of the elementary gases would result ? What 
 relative volumes of H and CI would result? 
 
 6. What, then, are the specific weights of H and CI, re- 
 spectively; what are their atomic weights 2 
 
 7. If we were to form a given iveight of HCl by a syn- 
 
PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS. 207 
 
 thesis of its elements, what relative weights of H and CI 
 must w^ take ? 
 
 8. In making this combination, if we were to take less 
 than the required weight of H by one grain, what weight of 
 CI would remain free? 
 
 9. What, then, are the eombini7ig iveights of H and CI, 
 respectively ? 
 
 This process is not prescribed as a panacea for all 
 ills of this class; but, like all good remedies, discreetly 
 employed, it will be found in many cases to answer a 
 valuable purpose. 
 
 113. Public examinations. — Besides the examinations 
 for the purpose of reclassifying pupils, there is another pur- 
 pose for which a different manner of examining is necessary. 
 At least once in each year, the schools should be thrown 
 open to the general pubHc, to the end that the actual con- 
 dition of the schools may be observed. It is right in itself 
 that the people should know with what success the system 
 is administered; and it is often of the greatest advantage to 
 a school to receive the candid criticisms Avhich intelligent 
 citizens may see occasion to make. It is to be recollected 
 that faults which may escape a teacher's notice may be 
 detected at a glance by others who occupy a different point 
 of view. 
 
 To make such examinations effective, committees should 
 be appointed by the Board of Education, composed of in- 
 telligent citizens who feel an active interest in the schools 
 and will be likely to form a dispassionate judgment of them. 
 These committees should be requested to furnish the Board 
 with frank statements of opinion respecting points on which 
 improvements can be made. Such criticisms may be anony- 
 mous, so far as the individual members of the committees 
 are concerned. There might be a hesitation in making a 
 
2o8 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 
 
 frank expression of opinion, if it were necessary to appear 
 by name in connection with an adverse criticism. 
 
 On the occasion of such examinations, the schools should 
 appear in their every-day dress. What the public wish to 
 observe is the ordinary work which is done in the schools. 
 Every necessary precaution should therefore be used to 
 prevent any display prepared for the occasion. The usual 
 programme should be followed with no variations save such 
 as the committees may desire to make. Teachers should be 
 enjoined to present only fair specimens of their work; and 
 any attempt to create a display for the occasion should be 
 sufficient cause to forfeit one's position. 
 
 Preparatory to this examination, programmes should be 
 prepared indicating the time and place of each examination. 
 If different committees are appointed for each grade and 
 building, these public examinations may be held simultane- 
 
 No. XXVI. 
 
 The Public Schools oL 
 
 Superintendent ' s Office^ 187 
 
 M ^ 
 
 You have been appointed by the Board of Education a 
 member of a Committee for exaniining Schools; and you will 
 confer a favor by acting in this capacity. Inforniation as to 
 time and place will be found in the inclosed schedule. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 SUPT. 
 
PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS. 209 
 
 ously; for example, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 
 of the last week in the second term of the year. A copy 
 of the programme, with a notice similar to the preceding, 
 should be sent to each member of the committees. 
 
 Some plan like the foregoing is one of the surest means to 
 create and sustain a public opinion favorable to our public 
 school system. The schools belong to the people, and they 
 will prosper just in proportion as the people feel a confi- 
 dence in their utility and in the honesty of purpose and 
 general success with which they are conducted. 
 
 s. s.- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ( The numbers refer to pages. ) 
 
 Absences, 143. 
 
 Absolute enrollment, how ob- 
 tained, 138, 149. 
 
 Abstract and concrete in instruc- 
 tion, 122. 
 
 Ages of pupils in different grades, 
 153, 154; tabulation of, 
 blanks XII and XIII. 
 
 Answers to examination^ ques- 
 tions, how to mark, 204. 
 
 Atomic theory, questions to de- 
 velop an understanding of, 
 206. 
 
 Attendance, rules of, 142 ; sum- 
 mary of, 148 ; average, in 
 months, 149 ; fluctuations in, 
 150. 
 
 Blanks, teacher's certificate, 39 ; 
 superintendent's register, 73 ; 
 tabulation of text-book work, 
 96, 105, 116, 117, 120, 121; 
 programmes of recitations, 
 98, 99; teacher's monthly 
 report, faces 136; transfer 
 
 notice, 139; warning notice, 
 144; suspension notices, 145, 
 146; notice of restoration, 
 147 ; summary of attendance, 
 faces 148; directory, 151, 152; 
 tabulation of ages, faces 154, 
 155; report of punishment, 
 156; daily programme, 159; 
 position of classes, 1 60; chart 
 of text-book work, faces 161 ; 
 . notification to parents, 163, 
 164, 197; class book, 167; 
 record of monthly and term 
 standing, 168 ; record of final 
 standing, 170; inquiries re- 
 specting city school systems, 
 i7S~i79j examination roll, 
 193; pupil's pass, 198; ex- 
 aminer's card, 208. 
 
 Boards of trustees, origin and 
 nature of their powers, 27 ; 
 limits of their jurisdiction, 
 27. 
 
 Body, the human, a hierarchy of 
 forces, 13. 
 
 (210) 
 
INDEX. 
 
 211 
 
 Booksellers, their rights, 66. 
 Brown, Hon. Charles R., opinion 
 
 of, in the Kalamazoo high 
 
 school case, ill. 
 
 Certificate, teacher's, 38, 39. 
 
 Chart of text-book work, 161, 
 blank XXII. 
 
 Children, training of, by men and 
 women, 49. 
 
 Christianity and education, 16. 
 
 Church and State, their respect- 
 ive province, III. 
 
 Civilization, a process of differ- 
 entiation, 15. 
 
 Class book, teachers', use of, 164; 
 form of, 167. 
 
 Classification of pupils, 2)2)i 345 
 183-187; provisional, 97, 123; 
 must be rigidly maintained, 
 125- 
 
 Colleges, relation of high schools 
 to, 116, 118. 
 
 Commencement, i6l. 
 
 Confidence, public, necessary for 
 the success of schools, 209. 
 
 Cooley, Judge, opinion of, in the 
 Kalamazoo high school case, 
 112. • 
 
 Corporal punishment, 56-59 ; re- 
 port of, 154, 156-158. 
 
 Cost of education /^r capita^ 168; 
 an untrustworthy item, 170; 
 data for computing, 172; 
 analytical table of, 173. 
 
 Country schools, grading of, 90- 
 98. 
 
 Courses of study, to what extent 
 they should l)e followed, 53; 
 M'hen exceptions may be 
 made, 54; should be adapted 
 to circumstances, 85, 86 ; 
 synopsis of, 96, 105, 114-117, 
 119-121. 
 
 Criticism of public schools, 207. 
 
 Daily programme, form of, 159. 
 Deception in examinations, hov.' 
 
 treated, 198. 
 Directory, school, 151. 
 Discipline, by men and by women, 
 
 48 ; maintenance of, 54-56. 
 Division of labor, law of, 15 ; as 
 
 applied to education, 16; to 
 
 work in graded-schools, 84. 
 
 Education, science of, 20; in Great 
 Britain, 21 ; cost of, per capita, 
 171-173. 
 
 Emancipation of woman, 47. 
 
 Empiricism in teaching, 18. 
 
 Energy, mental and muscular, 13. 
 
 Eni-ollment, law of, 97, 100; ab- 
 solute, 149. 
 
 Examination questions, for teach- 
 ers, 38-41 ; preparation of, 
 202; criticism of, 203, 205. 
 
 Examinations, of teachers, yj ; 
 final, not a fair test, 187; 
 rigor in, 189; oral and writ- 
 ten, 190; written, how to con- 
 duct, 191 ; record of, 193; 
 rules for a system of, 195; 
 deception in, 198; 
 
212 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Examinations, J. A. Froude on, 
 200; Herbert Spencer on, 
 199-202; to develop general 
 principles, 205; public, 207- 
 209. 
 
 Excuses, character of, 143, 145. 
 
 Family training, 48, 59. 
 Final examinations, 187. 
 Forms, see Blanks. 
 
 Geography, early introduction of, 
 
 94. 
 
 Graded-schools, complex nature 
 of, 17; pupils from, 34; 
 teachers for, 42 ; defined, 83 ; 
 advantages of, 83, 84; should 
 conform to the needs of com- 
 munities, 84, 85 ; ideal of, 
 86, 87 ; ti-ansformations of, 
 102 ; may become disorgan- 
 ized, 126; reconstruction of, 
 126; objections to, 183. 
 
 Grading, data for, 88-90; limita- 
 tions of data, 90; of country 
 schools, 91-93; to determine 
 number of studies, 92 ; to 
 arrange text-book work, 93 ; 
 programmes of recitations, 97; 
 development of classification, 
 97, 100 ; interval between 
 classes, 123-125; objection to 
 a multiplicity of classes, 125. 
 
 Grammar, early introduction of, 
 94- 
 
 Gray, Mrs., quoted, 21. 
 
 Gymnasium, the, 130-132. 
 
 Half-day sessions, 138. 
 
 High schools, normal instruction 
 in, 49 ; women as teachers in, 
 49; error in management of, 
 85 ; ought not to be estab- 
 lished in small towns, 109 ; 
 general value of, 109 ; oppo- 
 sition to, no; in court, in; 
 special value of, 114; when 
 this grade should be estab- 
 lished, 114; courses of study 
 for, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 
 121 ; relation of, to colleges, 
 116; future policy, 130; ex- 
 aminations in, 194. 
 
 Individuality of pupils, 185. 
 
 Instruction, by men and by 
 women, 49; oral and text- 
 book, 119, 122. 
 
 Kalamazoo high school case, iii- 
 114. 
 
 Labor, two varieties of, 13, 17; 
 the highest forms of, under- 
 valued, 14; division of, 15; 
 as applied to education, 16; 
 skilled, need of, 24. 
 
 Law, reign of, 19. 
 
 Lewes, G. H., on examination 
 questions, 200. 
 
 Marking recitations, 165. 
 Mental energy and muscular en- 
 ergy — their antithesis, 13. 
 Methods, uniformity in, 71. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 213 
 
 ]\Ionthly report, teachers', 136. 
 Multiplication of classes to be 
 avoided, 125. 
 
 National Teacher's Monthly, 
 quoted, 130. 
 
 Normal instruction, 43 ; defense 
 of, 44. 
 
 Notification to parents, of warn- 
 ing, 144; of suspension, 145; 
 necessity for, 162; forms of, 
 163, 164; how sent, 164, 
 197. 
 
 «' Number belonging," 140, 141. 
 
 Obedience, rendered under one 
 of four cases, 57. 
 
 Oral, instruction, 119; and writ- 
 ten examinations, 190. 
 
 Order, in buildings, 59. 
 
 "Per cent of attendance," 140; 
 rules for computing, 142 ; 
 average, 149. 
 
 Popular Science Monthly, quoted, 
 21. 
 
 Position of classes, 160. 
 
 Practical education, 122. 
 
 Principals, their office and duties, 
 29, 30. 
 
 Programmes of recitation, to con- 
 struct, 97 ; for the primary 
 grade of a loosely classified 
 school, 98; for the grammar 
 grade, 99 ; for a primary 
 school of two grades, loi ; 
 158, 159. 
 
 Promotion, deciding on fitness 
 
 for, 189. 
 Psycliology, knowledge of, essen- 
 tial, 201. 
 Pul)lic opinion, to be respected, 
 
 85. 
 Publishers, enterprise of, 63. 
 Punishment, corporal, 56; why 
 
 teachers resort to it, 58; 
 
 report of cases, 154, 156; 
 
 tabulation of cases, 157. 
 Pupils, new, classification of, t^t,^ 
 
 34, 183-187; ages of, 153, 
 
 154. 
 
 Questions for examination of 
 teachers, 38-41 ; preparation 
 of, 202-205. 
 
 Reading and elocution, their rel- 
 ative value, 94. 
 
 Real-schule, 130. 
 
 Recesses, objections to, 61 ; new 
 plan for, 62. 
 
 Recitations, marking, 165. 
 
 Reclassification of pupils, the 
 frequent, an evil which may 
 be avoided, 125, 184, 185. 
 
 Reconstruction of schools, 126, 
 127. 
 
 Redistribution of pupils, 161. 
 
 Register, school, 169. 
 
 Reign of law, 19. 
 
 Restoration of suspended pupils, 
 147. 
 
 Revile des deux mondes, quoted, 
 131- 
 
214 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Salaries, of men and women, 51 ; 
 
 how paid, 76. 
 School directory, 15 1, 152. 
 School register, 168. 
 School supervision, need of, not 
 
 acknowledged, 22. 
 School systems, direction of, 17; 
 . source of their prosperity, 
 
 31 ; city, inquiries respecting, 
 
 175- 
 
 "Sex in education," 136. 
 
 Society, human, a hierarchy of 
 forces, 13. 
 
 Spencer, Herbert, quoted, 199- 
 202. 
 
 Standing of pupils, monthly and 
 term, 166, 168; final, 166, 
 blank No. XXII ; how to es- 
 timate, 187. 
 
 State universities, the relations of 
 high schools to, 116, 118. 
 
 Statistics, use and abuse of, 135 ; 
 form for compiling, 175 ; com- 
 parative, 1 7 1- 1 80. 
 
 Stone, Samuel B., quoted, 49. 
 
 Subordination, a law of organiza- 
 tion, 13. 
 
 Summary of attendance, 148. 
 
 Superintendence, the highest form 
 of labor, 15. 
 
 Superintendents, responsibility of, 
 23 ; origin and nature of their 
 powers, 28; their general du- 
 ties, 28; their appointment, 
 when justifiable, 30 ; their 
 
 professional rights, 32 
 
 classify pupils, 
 
 to 
 
 to select 
 
 teachers, 37 ; to examine 
 teachers, 37 ; to enforce dis- 
 cipline, 54 ; to secure order, 
 59-61 ; to advise in choice of 
 text-books, 63 ; relation of, to 
 subordinate teachers, 69-71 ; 
 to assist teachers, 72 ; to con- 
 duct teachers' meetings, 67- 
 78. 
 
 Supervision of schools, need of, 
 1 7 ; need not recognized, 22 ; 
 time required for, 30; defect- 
 ive, 126, 
 
 Suspension for absence, 145, 146. 
 
 System, use and abuse of, 128. 
 
 Teachers, selection of, 36 ; exami- 
 nation of, 37; certificate of, 
 T^^, 39; for graded-schools, 
 42 ; relative fitness of men 
 and women as, 47-53; dis- 
 cipline by, 55 ; relation of, to 
 superintendent, 69, 70; inde- 
 pendence of, 70; their pre- 
 rogatives, 71 ; how best as- 
 sisted, 71, 72; standing of, 
 how estimated, 72 ; dismission 
 of, 74; considerate treatment 
 of, 75; payment of, 76; meet- 
 ings of, 76-78 ; to what extent 
 their acts are to be sanctioned, 
 78; monthly reports of, 136; 
 class-book, 164-169. 
 
 Teaching a secular employment, 
 16; empiricism in, 18. 
 
 Testimonials, how granted, 75. 
 
 Text-books, prescribed, use of, 53 ; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 215 
 
 their need, 62, 119; Ameri- 
 can, excellence of, 63 ; use of, 
 in a small school, 93-96; in 
 high schools, 119; chart of 
 text-book work, 161. 
 
 Transfers, 137 ; distinction be- 
 tween, 138; form of notice 
 for, 139. 
 
 Transformations through which. 
 a graded school may pass, 
 102. 
 
 Transition from youth to man- 
 hood, 158. 
 
 Troublesome age, the, 157. 
 
 Trustees, boards of, may appoint 
 superintendent, 27; duties of 
 
 32 ; to prescril)e text-l)ooks, 
 63 ; how, should dismiss 
 teachers, 74. 
 
 Ungraded schools, pupils from, 
 
 34. 
 Uniformities, desirable, 71. 
 
 Warning notices, 143 ; form of, 
 144. 
 
 Woman, her place in the school- 
 room, 47-53 ; her salary, 5 1 , 
 
 Written examinations, for teach- 
 ers, 38-41 ; of pupils, 190- 
 193 ; should develop general 
 principles, 205-207. 
 
VI