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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. .. 1 00 3 76 1 25 25 1 25 . - 75 252. . . 1 no 15 1 00 5 00 L 16:67... .. 40 .. 40 Barber* (Piero) KQUcationai ruDiications in iiaiy. .su, als through American Eyes, r.y James Russell Par- sons, Ju. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 91. Sl-00. This small volume is the most complete and satisfactory account of Prussian elementary education now acces.sible to American teachers, and ought to be carefully studied. — IRv. Journal of F^d'n, June. 1891. It is scant praise to say tliat it is the best account ever written of what Prussian schools are and what they are doing, and it is certain to be the au- thority for many years to come.— Educational Courant. :May, 1891. S. French Schools throxiqh American Eyes. By James Russell Par- sons, Jr. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 130. Illmtrated. Sl.OO. h. History of the Burgh Schools of Scotland. By James Grant. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 571. $3.00. The importance in educational development of the school system of Scotland is universally recognized, and this noble volume is the standard history. 5. The History of the High School of Edinburgh. By Williaji Stevbn, D.D. Cloth, IGmo, pp. GIO. $2.00. This is an admirable companion volume to the last, giving in more minute detail the history of one of the most characteristic and successful of Scottisli schools. 6. History of the Schools of Sy7'acuse, N. Y. By Edward Smith. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 34r. "With 85 portraits, and 30 pictures of buildings. $3.00. 7. Sc/iools, School-books, and School-masters. A contribution to the His- tory of Educati<^nal Development in Great Britain. By W. Carew Hazlitt. Cloth, 12nio, pp. 300. $2.00. A charming volume, containing much matter not elsewhere to be found. 5. Bodtrick Hume: the Story of a Neio York Teacher. By C. W. Bardeen. 16mo, pp. 319, Cloth, $1.2."); Manilla, 50cts. 9. A Day in my Life ; or Every day Experiences at Eton. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 184. $1.00. C. W. BARDEEN, Publislnr, Syracuse, N. Y. TEACHING IN THREE CONTINENT'S PERSONAL NOTES EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD W. CATTON CRABBY rl89© ' w^; SYRACUSE, N. Y. C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHEK 1895 •^, \ v K. PREFACE The observations and inquiries with which this book deals were made for the sake of the information, and not with any view of pubhcation. Last year, 1 found myself able to indulge a cherished wish to renew and extend my acquaintance with some of the chief countries of Europe, and to make an extended visit to America, to which continent the attention of Austra- lians is being more and more directed. The people of the United States are essentially Anglo- Saxon. The circumstances which have altered, developed, modified — in other w^ords, made them Americans — have been similar to those influences which are giving distinctive characteristics to Australians. It is profitable for every Australian to study American history and institutions, if he would understand his country's destinies. English folk in new countries are untrue to their origin if they do not, untrammelled by traditions, with all the advantages of new, rich, and boundless fields of enterprise, progress faster than their relations in the Mother Land. An investigation proves iv Preface. that such is the case, but to a less extent than might reasonably be supposed. It also shows that development, following the line of least resistance, does not always take the expected course. Although I have not been actively engaged in Educa- tional work for some time, my interest in the subject is an ever-increasing one, and the study of the development of Public Education in America, where the conditions of life have been in so many respects similar to those which sur- round us in Australia, has been of particular interest. The comparisons I was able to make, as a result of my observations in Australia, America, and Europe, proved so interesting to the many educationists I met on both sides of the Atlantic, that I have yielded to their wish to publish them ; and I have found the task of collating this summary of my conclusions with respect to some of the prominent progressive educational questions of the day a very pleasant, although it has been a hurried one. Wherein the book deals with debatable questions, I have not hesitated to state my opinions, draw inferences, or make deductions, although perfectly aware that some will prove more or less erroneous. Just which, I do not know ; or, of course, I would not express them. A man in a life- time cannot compass truth ; but just as an instantaneous photograph is a true representation of a person at a par- ticular time, although special conditions may render it not typical — if, for example, it should exhibit him yawning— so Preface. v these impressions are a representation of things as I saw them, but may be only one of many phases which a more extended experience would reveal. Should a reader fail to recognise this, and so misjudge, he alone is to blame. A man who waits until he is sure, will probably die waiting, or will prove a bigot ; and I would rather make a thoughtful error than be guilty of an unreasoning correctness, and lose an opportunity of stating a conviction which may help in the slightest degree the solution of a problem. I would beg to tender my warmest thanks to the very great number of ladies and gentlemen who have placed me under a life -long debt of gratitude for the very many in- stances of courtesy and open-hearted kindness in the three Continents. The world is large, as it need be, to hold all the human fellowship therein contained. The world is small. It takes but twenty days to pass from Australia to the Great Republic — a Republic drawing yearly closer to the parent who, in the inexperience of young motherhood, drove her from her breast, to show the world what grit is in the good old Saxon Stock. .A brief week of rocking on the bosom of Britannia's protector, and the grand Mother Land is reached, hallowed with the traditions of Old Time, where Socialism jostles Conservatism, becomes acquainted, and finally, claiming brotherhood, is jostled in turn. In thirty days, and the traveller may again be treading the soil of the "New Land of the Golden Fleece," the Sunny South, England's fairest and brightest daughter, soon, I vi Preface. believe, to receive the blessing of her parent, whom she will not love the less, that she will obey the natural law in the evolution of nations — that Separation must precede Federation. My thanks are particularly due to Dr. Harris, United States' Commissioner of Education at Washington \ to the various officials connected with Education on both sides of the Atlantic ; and especially to Mr. George Ricks, B.Sc, of London, for kindly seeing this book through the press. W. CATTON GRASBY. Adelaide, South Australia. INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION It gives me pleasure to introduce to my countrymen this comparative study of our school-system in connection with those of other nations. It is profitable to see ourselves through the eyes of others. In the attempt to justify our motives and our modes of procedure before the court of public opinion to which we always appeal, we are obliged to purify our motives and reduce to a consistent theory our methods. Criticism has its value, even when it pro- ceeds from the most unsympathetic sources. When from friends it is easiest to assimilate; when from enemies, it requires a greater effort on our part to separate the reason- able from the unreasonable. But all criticisms, whether from friends or enemies, are wholesome reading if they help us to see a deeper ground that explains our differences from our neighbours^ or on the other hand, if they goad us forward to better methods of procedure. In this book, we have the rare opportunity of seeing our Educational System as it appears to one of our large- minded cousins from the opposite side of the world. The various branches of the Anglo-Saxon family — at home in viii Introduction to the American Edition. Great Britain and widely scattered in Colonies round the world — are all engaged in working out the problem of local self-government. Different surroundings afford occa- sion for different devices, but each community profits by the experiments made by the others. Thus, within the past four years, many of the States of our Union have adopted the Australian ballot law. Doubtless this is but the beginning of mutual help in the solution of our greatest problem — the problem of purifying the suffrage system from demagoguery. We can be sure of a generally friendly treatment of our institutions from our kindred beyond the sea, for they are obliged to sympathise with our tendencies and aspirations, even if they condemn our means of realising them. In the matter of schools and education, we find in the German theory the deepest contrast to our own. The reform led forward by Pestalozzi and Frobel, and carried out into practice by the pedagogues of the German States, is a perpetual challenge to the educational methods of other nations. The Romanic and the Anglo-Saxon nations have always laid more stress on prescription than the Germanic nations have done. They have taken pains to fill the memory of the child with the prescribed conventionalities of intelligence, and have laid more stress on obedience to external authority in the matter of behaviour. The German theory takes for granted without the slightest question the docility of the pupil. The German pupil belongs to a knowledge-loving nationality. Hence Introduction to the American Edition. ix the German theory of education makes prominent the self- activity of the child as the supreme object of education. It repudiates foreign constraint, either in conduct or in intellect. It condemns memorising, as a process of en- slaving the intellect to prescribed items of information and opinion. It condemns the strict discipline of schools, as producing mechanical habits of obedience to the will of others. Hence it happens that the German school, at least theoretically, lays all stress on the process of awakening the pupil's mind intellectually. Critical alertness, and in- dividual power to test and verify the statements of others, as well as to undertake works of original investigation — these are the supreme objects of German pedagogy. Students of ethnology are aware, however, that nations differ in respect to their bent of mind. While the Germanic nations are knowledge-loving, the Anglo-Saxon nations love adventure and the exercise of will-power. The precocious English or American child exhibits an amount of restlessness and caprice, which compels his teacher to divert a large amount of nervous energy from the work of pure instruction, to the work that is called discipline or government of the school. The child with precocious directive power, and correspondingly small love of knowledge for its own sake, is very difficult to manage in the school. I take it that this explains why it is that in English-speaking countries, the work of intellectual instruction is always prone to degenerate into requiring X In-j'roduction to the American Edition. that work of the pupil which chiefly exercises the memory alone. Memorised work may be tested with the least possible trouble — the least possible distraction of the mind from the work of controlling and disciplining the school. For the last forty years, however, throughout English- speaking countries there has been the tradition of Pestal- ozzian methods in the air, and the loud and oft-repeated cry for reform of our methods of instruction. Finally, with the Frobelian Kindergarten, now being widely adopted in our cities, this reform has taken root in a practical manner, and is bound to effect a change in the methods of instruc- tion in all the grades or standards above it. Notwithstand- ing this, our schools will continue to lay more stress on the discipline side than on the side of intellectual instruction, so long as the idiosyncrasies of our people remain what they are. Stated in a language less technical, the English and American school is founded on the idea that moral education is more important than intellectual. In view of this trend of educational management, the very intelligent criticisms of Mr. Grasby will be read with profit by all our teachers and school directors. \V. T. HARRIS. Bureau of Education, Washington, U.S., 1891. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. PAGE Knowledge of Political and Social Conditions necessary to Proper Understanding of School Systems — Summary of Political System — General Appreciation of Value of Education — Reason for Absence of National System, and of Compulsory Laws— Edia- cational Work of National Government— Bureau of Education — Grants of Land — Smithsonian Institution — Education in Southern States— General Statement of American System of Education — Kinds of Schools — State Superintendent — County Superintendent — City Superintendent — School Government in Massachusetts — The District System— Tendency towards Centralisation— School System of Michigan — Organisation of Schools in Washing- ton, D.C I CHAPTER II. PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION {conthuted). England : Former Neglect of Elementary Education — Work of Voluntary Schools — Effect of the Act of 1870 — The Education Department — Favourable Comparison of England with United States in Provision for Elementary Education— Voluntary and Board Schools, how managed and supported — Powers of Man- agers — Comparison of Board and Voluntary Schools — The Science and Art Department. — Scotland : Similarity between English and Scotch Departments — Modification of Examinations — Result Payments.— France : How controlled— Council of Education — Departments— Academies — Three Grades of Inspectors— Primary Contents. PAGE Instruction — Secondary Instruction — Normal Colleges — Special Schools. — Gkrmany : Control by Government — Classes of Schools— Scope of each. — Australia: Similarity in all Colonies — Methods of Administration - Centralisation — Summary of School Systems — New South Wales- -Victoria— South Australia— Queens- land — New Zealand 24 CHAPTER III. HOW WORK IS TESTED. The Need for a Test— A Difficult Problem— Plans followed in Ger- many and France— Methods adopted in the United States — Dis- cussion of Result Examinations in England and Australia . . 48 CHAPTER IV. THE NEW EDUCATION. KINDERGARTEN, ETC. Conceptions of Education— Cry for Practical Education — Terms Used — Scope of Work. — Kindergarten : Conceptions of Term — Nature of Frobel's Idea — Means of Attaining it — The Primary Grades of the United States - Language Lessons — Classes for Foreigners — Course of Study in Receiving Class, San Francisco — Want of Sympathy between Kindergarten and Primary Classes — Infant School of England described — No True Kindergarten connected with English Public Elementary Schools— The American Kindergarten— Philadelphia, Toronto, San Francisco, St. Louis Kindergartens described.— The Use of Pictures.— Drawing and Form-Study : United States ahead of England —Massachu- setts System— System of New York State— Supervisors— Private Enterprise in Training Teachers — Form-Study — Language Lessons 60 CHAPTER V. THE NEW EDUCATION {contimced). TECHNICAL EDUCATION, ETC. English Conceptions of Technical Education— Sloyd— Liverpool Ex- periment—City and Guilds of London Institute Experiment — Mr. Contents. xiii I'AGE Ricks' Scheme of Hand and Eye Training — Dublin Experiment — Manual Training in America— Definition — Who shall Teach it? — Account of Various Experiments— New York City — Washington, D.C— Springfield — The Manual Training School — Course of Study, St. Louis — Public Free Manual Training Schools — Indus- trial Training in Paris— Course of Study.— Sewing : Better in England and Australia than in United States. — Cookery : How Taught in London — In United States — Fittings of a School — The Washington Experiment io8 CHAPTER VI. THE NEW EDUCATION {continued). SCIENCE TEACHING. General Remarks — Official Science Teaching disappointing — Science Teaching in England — Science Teaching in the States — Science Teaching under the English School Boards — Mechanics— Methods of Instruction in Liverpool— In American Schools — St. Louis — Middletown — Boston — New York College — South Australia — Other Australian Colonies . . . . . . . .139 CHAPTER Vn. TEACHERS AND THEIR TRAINING. General Comparison — Comparison of Methods of Training — English System gives Prominence to Practice — American more Educational — English Teacher studies Methods — American Principles — Causes of Difference between American and English Teachers — English Pupil-Teacher System — Training Colleges — American Normal Schools — High School Course and Normal Course — Prominent Characteristics of English Teachers — Prominent Characteristics of American Teachers — Normal Schools — Philadelphia — Cook County Normal School — Nature-Teaching — Newspaper Cyclo- paedia — Washington Normal Schools 173 CHAPTER VIII. SUPPLEMENTARY MEANS FOR TRAINING TEACHERS. Teachers' Institutes : Majority of American Teachers not Normal Graduates — Reason for Frequent Changes — The Institute an Xiv COXTEXTS. I'AGE American Development — Professor McGrew's Plan — Scope of the Institute — Frequency in Indiana — Principles forming Basis of Institute — Proposal to make Work continuous from Year to Year. — Teachers' Associations : Voluntary Organisations under Various Names for Various Objects — Frequency in America — Round Tables — National Education Association — State Associa- tions.— Rhode Island Institute : Its Subscriptions Subsidized — Programme — Committee on Resolutions — On Necrology — Punctuality — Influence of Meetings — Attendance of Public Beneficial. — Teachers' Guilds : Not so strong as American Associations — National Association for Promotion of Technical Education — National Educational Association — Not Organised by Teachers — Industrial Education of New York — Liverpool Teachers' Guild — Objects — ^Notes of Meeting and Paper on Tech- nical Education. — Teachers' Associations in Australia : South Australian Teachers' Superannuation and Widows' Fund. — Teachers' Reading Circles : Objects — How worked — Diplo- mas — Specimen Courses of Reading — Chairs of Pedagogics. — Summer School for Teachers : Private Establishments — Natural under American Conditions of Life — How worked — Work and Recreation — A Summer Normal School— A Programme of Work.— Pedagogical Libraries and Museums : Germany and France ahead — Absence in England and Australia — Musde Peda- gogique of Paris — Scope of Work — Library and Museum of Bureau of Education, Washington.— Influence of Auxiliary Means : Not a Substitute but a Supplement— Good Teaching in Small Schools 196 CHAPTER IX. MORE ABOUT TEACHERS AND EDUCATION. The Teachers' Status in England, America, and Australia— Proportion of Male to Female Teachers ^— How Teachers act towards Strangers 231 CHAPTER X. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL-HOUSES. Qualification of an Instructor — Of an Educator — Of the Perfect Teacher — Need for Good Appliances — American School-house more comfortable than English — Scope of American and English School Contents. xv I'AGF compared — Heritage of England in her Traditions — Style of School depends on its Scope and Organisation — Playgrounds— Height of Buildings — Do American Children play as much as English and Australian ? — Use of Drill — Leeds Higher Grade School — Single Class Rooms — Substitute Teachers — General Assembly not so frequent in America — What constitutes Good Order and Dis- cipline — Influence of Single Rooms on Corporal Punishment — Dr. Harris' Experience in St. Louis — Separate Class-rooms in Germany and Paris — Pupil-Teachers and Larger Rooms — Australian School- houses — Sombre Appearance of Parisian Schools — Arrangement of a Parisian School— Providing Clothes— Dinners for Children in Paris— French Infant Schools. — Ventilation, Lighting and Heat- ing— AnsXvdilia. — England — America. — School Furniture — Kinder- garten, Primary and Grammar Schools— Continuous Blackboard. — Teachers' .ffwwj— Spelling — Copying 243 CHAPTER XI. ORGANISATION OF SCHOOLS. Position of Teachers in the States Schools— Teachers in English Schools — Number of Pupils under one Teacher — Proportion of Boys to Girls in America, England, and Australia— Compulsion in France, Germany, England, and the States — Attendance and Compulsion 273 CHAPTER XII. EXTRA-OFFICIAL EDUCATION WORK. Natural History Societies : Huddersfield School Board— Wor- cester, Massachusetts — The Agassiz Association.— School Museums — Arbor Day — School Libraries — Pupils' Reading Circles . . 299 CHAPTER XIII. PRIVATE MUNIFICENCE IN AMERICA. General Remarks— The Rindge School— The Pratt Institute— Cogswell Polytechnical College— New York Trade School— Leland Stanford University — Clark University 325 t^ Teaching in Three Continents. CHAPTER I, PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION. United States of America. Knowledge of Political and Social Conditions necessary to proper under- standing of School Systems. — Summary of Political System. — General Appreciation of Value of Education. — Reason for Absence of National System, and of Compulsory Laws. — Educational Work of National Government. — Bureau of Education.— Grants of Land. — Smithsonian Institution. — Education in Southern States. — General Statement of American System of Education. — Kinds of Schools. — State Super- intendent. — County Superintendent. — City Superintendent. — School Government in Massachusetts. — The District System. — Tendency to- wards Centralisation. — School System of Michigan. — Organisation of Schools in Washington D.C. The national motto, " One out of Many," aptly describes the composition of the Great Republic of America — many states, but one nation ; freedom, diversity, competition, but unity. A commonwealth of commonwealths, it is in some respects different from all other republics. For some years after the close of the B-evolutionary war, each of the thirteen colonies carried on its own government almost independ- ently of the rest. There was indeed a loose union ; but it was rather a source of trouble than anything else. The people who had fought for freedom were afraid of a central government, lest it should again bring upon them the evils B 2 Teaching in Three Continents. from which they had escaped. When finally die United States became a reality by the adoption of the constitution, it was only because this remarkable far-seeing composition most clearly defined the exact privileges which they gave up by joining the Union. They retained all powers not thus expressly and voluntarily abrogated. It may be in- teresting to notice the slightly different principle pursued in the Canadian Dominion, where the powers and privileges of the provinces are defined, all else being referred to the Federal Parliament. The Republic has limited the power of the superior legislature ; the other has defined that of the subordinate. To what extent, if any, this has to do with the very marked difference the visitor notices on going from the States to the Dominion, I could not, if it were my province, say ; but the difference exists. It is said that an Englishman feels at home when he crosses the St. Lawrence. The citizen of the sister Union says it is like stepping back a few years to visit among the " Royal Americans " ; but his opinion is not impartial, and the Canadian is not backward in retaliating respecting " Americans," as he oddly enough calls the citizens of the United States. The same idea is carried through all the gradations of government. Just as the States have full powers in all directions not defined in the Constitution, so they permit their own sub-divisions or counties to manage all affairs not affecting the interests of the State as a whole. In the same way the city, town, or township forms a third unit of self-government, with powers only definable by saying that the interests of the higher powers must not be infringed. For the purposes of Education, the ordinary political unit — the township, is sub-divided into districts, of which I shall speak later. So freely does the American citizen interpret this principle of the Hmitation of the greater, and the free- dom of the lesser, that liberty would soon turn to licence were it not that, after the novelty has worn off" the Public Fk oris ion for Education. 3 consciousness of power is the surest foundation for for- bearance and consideration for others, and constitutes the difference between the showy military order of Germany, and the less regular, but superior, spontaneous self-govern- ment of England and America. It is by contrasts we learn, by comparisons we under- stand ; but perfectly fair comparisons cannot be made between institutions of different people in different lands. The American, or, indeed, any school system, cannot be understood except in connection with the spirit of the country. America is more democratic than England, but the Federal Government is more Conservative. It is Socialistic in asserting that everyone is equally a citizen, and in the eye of the Government he cannot be more. Its success depends more than any other on the higher and nobler instincts of man ; yet its papers are full of denuncia- tion and ridicule at the frequent and gross political corruption. It is admired and laughed at in turns. As in England, sovereignty is vested in the people; stabiUty is secured by a system of overlapping of authority. The people elect a President, and give him greater power during his term of office than is enjoyed by many despotic monarchs. He can veto a Bill passed by both Houses of Congress ; but Congress can pass it over his head by a two- thirds majority : yet if it be opposed to the Constitution, it is annulled by the Supreme Court, which, without exaggera- tion, is probably the first Supreme Court in the world. The President is restrained by Congress, Congress by the President, and both by the Supreme Court. Thus, before any vital change can be made, the Constitution, the pride and boast of every American, must be amended. Any desire for change which is persistent enough to outlast the time necessary to do this must be very deep-seated, and not a passing whim, or the result of a panic. The greater the power vested in the people, the greater B 2 4 Teaching in There Continents. the need for their education. No better example of this exists than the related and corresponding progress of educa- tion, and the extension of the franchise, in England. The leaders of the labour organisations recognise it, and attribute all their success in the late struggles to Mr. Forster's Educa- tion Act and Board Schools. The illiterate remain ciphers in society ; or become the dangerous tools of unscrupulous and designing politicians. Americans know best what they have suffered from this cause. None see it more clearly than did the founders of the Republic. I quote expressions of Washington and Jefferson elsewhere. Referring to them, Boone says : " The sentiment was no forced one, nor exotic. It was familiar to the best men in every state and station : to John Adams, Madison, and Rush ; to lawyers, statesmen, and clergymen. It was so general, that the memorable saying of Chancellor Kent that ' the parent who sends his son into the world uneducated defrauds the com- munity of a youthful citizen, and bequeaths to it a nuisance,' was not more a mere personal opinion than an expression of widespread public faith"; and Dr. G. S. Hall said : *' In the United States he who does not send his child to school (which he should do for the same reason that he pays his taxes or fights in the time of war) must be regarded, in a peculiarly insidious sense, an enemy of the State." When such widespread and decided opinions were held by the framers of the Constitution of a country without a satisfactory compulsory law, or, in fact, afiy 7iational system of education at all^ the omission must be by design for the carrying out of a principle. This I believe to have been the conviction that education should he undertaken for its own sake, and when this was not sufficient, on account of a healthy public opinion. The majority of the American-born citizens were, and are, imbued with this spirit ; and this has been the chief hindrance to satisfactory compulsory laws. The wish has been to have education valued for the additional Public Provision for Education. 5 power and opportunities it gives ; and to a great extent the effort has been successful. Many who are not open to the higher influence, nevertheless send their children to school, because the failure to do so entails a loss of respect from their fellows ; and no true American can resist this potent 4:)0wer. Unfortunately, the hordes of low-class foreigners who annually flock to the country do not understand, and care not for one motive more than another. They go to America for freedom — a state they have not been used to ; and they mistake freedom for licence. One of the best examples of the appreciation of educa- tional advantages is the prominence given to school facilities in advertisements wishing to " boom " a western settlement. I do not mean it to be understood that the advertisers them- selves are actuated by benevolent motives, and wish to benefit their fellow^s ; but they, more than any class, know exactly what will attract the American people. When out West, I collected a number of splendidly illustrated and beautifully printed advertisements of Western settle- ments. One's first thought, if he is not well aware of the art of the land agent, is that in the wonderful West — and it is wonderful — Paradise has had the multiplying powers of the Australian rabbit. Among the chief attractions are the school facilities. Plates are usually given of — in the words of the advertisement — " elegant school-houses," showing that any new settler taking up his abode in the district will not have to deprive his children of that " inestimable boon, the dearest and most highly-prized advantage of the Ameri- can citizen, free public schools." To what extent, if any, the engravings participate in the prophetic spirit which enables the agent to see in a dry and dusty plain boundless smiling fields, yellow with waving corn, blooming gardens, and fruitful orchards, I am unable to say ; but in the few cases where I had opportunities of testing their correctness, I was surprised to find that, while the surroundings (although 6 Teaching in Three Continents. quite possible with irrigation, labour, and time) were more or less imaginary, the public schools were really built, on a lavish scale, quite out of proportion to the present require- ments. It is a frequent saying that the " best building in an American town is the school-house." Like other say- ings, it frequently is only relatively true. The Federal Government of the United States has assisted education in three ways : — 1. In 1785 it was ordered that in all new States there- after to be added to the seventeen then existing, a special appropriation of one-sixteenth of the public land should be reserved for the purpose of supplying a School Fund. Of the twenty-five States since admitted, a number have sold the lands to provide the initial expense of school- houses ; but many still derive considerable funds from this source. 2. In 1867 the National Government founded at Wash- ington a central Bureau of Education. It is a section of the vast Department of the Interior, and costs, according to the last report, $51,000. It has no authority; but is charged with collecting information and statistics concerning home and foreign education, and circulating them for the benefit of the nation. Unfortunately for the completeness of its reports, it has no authority for enforcing the production of statistics or other information. This is not felt to be such a drawback in America as it would be elsewhere, on account of the love of publicity inherent in the American people, and their fondness for publishing elaborate and splendidly printed reports, which they distribute with characteristic liberality. Thus, although the figures cannot be depended on to the same extent as an English matter-of-fact blue-book, they are approximately correct ; and the annual report of the Bureau (a volume of some 1,200 pages) is a most valuable compilation of collected and original matter — not only to educators in America, where the diversified systems Public Provision for Education. 7 render such a work particularly valuable, but in other lands where they are freely distributed. The Bureau also publishes frequent reports and mono- graphs on special departments of educational work. These are distributed without stint throughout the country, and must be productive of much good. In addition, it gathers, for additions to its bulletins, or for the use of Congress, numerous reports respecting the educational systems of foreign countries. Indirectly, its influence must be very great. The present Commissioner is the Hon. W. T. Harris, A.M., LL.D., who was formerly superintendent of the public schools of St. Louis, where he was the means of introducing Kindergartens in connection with the schools throughout the city. He has the reputation of being America's foremost writer on the Philosophy and Psycho- logy of Education ; and the usefulness of the Bureau is expected to be largely increased under his direction. There is a very fine pedagogical library connected with the Bureau, in which are to be found all standard works bearing on education, and a very large and valuable collection of pamphlets and reports. Sufficient material is also stored away to furnish a splendid museum of educa- tional appliances, illustrative of the school architecture and appliances in use in various parts of the world. Efforts are being made to induce the National Government to appro- priate funds for a new building, when the Pedagogical Mu- seum will be properly housed, and will prove of great value. The Smithsonian Institution does not come strictly within the scope of my remarks; but its great influence on the general education of the people, and the example it aftbrds of the liberality of the people of the United States in the free distribution of reports, makes it desirable that its work should be mentioned. Its foundation is due to the bequest of James Smithson ; and probably no man ever gained for himself such a memorial at such a comparatively small cost. 8 Teaching in Three Continents, James Smithson was an Englishman of noble descent, a graduate of Oxford, with, as far as is known, anti-democratic tendencies, who had never visited the United States. He died early in the century, leaving his fortune to the people of the United States "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The object of the extensive organisation — a mere fraction of the cost of which is provided by the bequest of the founder — is original research and publication. It is also the curator of the adjoining National Museum. Every public library throughout the world receives the pub- lications of this Institution, under the title of " Contributions to Knowledge." But the unique feature about its operations is that it is a sort of international knowledge exchange. It has agents in London, Paris, Leipzig, and Amsterdam, through which it distributes the publications of all the American learned societies ; while, on the other hand, academies and learned societies in Europe send over bundles of their publications to be distributed by the Institution according to a list sent by each society. There have been spasmodic efforts to found a National University at Washington; but the movement does not gain ground rapidly. It was George Washington's great wish, and will, no doubt, at some time be an accomplished fact \ and, when it is done, it will be worthy of the people, the city, and the nation. Previous to the civil war, I believe, no slave-holding State possessed a free school system. Since then all but two have adopted new constitutions, which include articles providing for free public schools, in some cases quite as liberally as the Northern States ; but, unfortunately, they cannot be carried out on account of the lack of funds ; and unless the Blair Bill becomes law, great progress may not be expected for some time. Public PiwrisioN for Educatiox. 9 It was believed by the Northern States, where great importance had always been attached to education, that the lack of public schools in the slave States was one of the chief causes of the rebellion. This belief, that the lack of education lay at the root of the greatest disaster that has fallen on the Republic, has had an important bearing on the inclusion of articles relating to education in the newer States. In fact, so minutely has the North Dakota Convention gone into details with regard to the school lands, that one is ready to agree with the writer who thinks that "the framers of the State Convention have no con- fidence whatever in the good sense, judgment, and honesty of future legislation." Unless they are specially mentioned, my observations must not be taken to refer to the Southern States. While great progress is being made, education in the South is, apart from the fearful ignorance of the coloured population, in a backward condition. Taking the whole population of the Southern and South-Western States, illiteracy is in- creasing at a greater ratio than the population. It is on this account that the advocates of the Blair Bill wish the Federal Government to apportion about 80,000,000 dollars, from the surplus in the National Treasury, among the most illiterate States in proportion to the percentage of illiteracy ; which money shall be chiefly devoted to actual education, not the building of elaborate school-houses. It is almost certain that this will shortly be done, and the threatening danger averted \ and thus another precedent in favour of the National Government concerning itself directly with the education of the States will be established. Consideration of this subject affords a very good instance of how very misleading general statements may be, although in themselves correct. Roughly speaking, it may be said with truth that in two-thirds of the States education is in a more or less low condition. Perhaps even stronger language lo Teaching in Three Continents. might be used — Americans certainly speak more lorcibly. These States, however, contain little more than one-third of the population ; and if out of this number there be taken all those belonging to the numerous centres where the school systems are very efficient, and the children of those well-to- do people whose training is well looked after, but a com- paratively small proportion of the total white population will remain. There are enough and to spare to justify Americans in using all the vigour of expression at their command to arouse the people to remedy the evil ; but not enough for outside writers to conclude that the language so used applies to the people in general. Of the mass of the coloured people I do not intend to say much. I shall speak of a few schools in their place, and will only remark here that the conviction forced itself on my mind that the difficulty with regard to these un- fortunate people, instead of having been solved by the war, was only changed into a new and more perplexing problem by the amendment of the Constitution ; an amendment that gave them legal rights of equal citizenship with the whites, which the latter in many cases endeavour to pre- vent them from exercising. According to the last census and the present estimates, then, one-third of the States contain approximately two- thirds of the population. It is to this small portion — about one quarter of the area of the whole country — that I refer when making general observations. These may or may not be correct with reference to the rest of the country. If I included Alaska, the proportion would be smaller. Another comparison may be interesting. The total area of the States with which I deal is about equal to that of Queensland, the third in size of the Australian colonies ; and the population, roughly speaking, is somewhat greater than that of the British Isles. Although the systems of education in the States differ in Public Provision for Education. ii minor points, and sometimes have very distinctive features, there is sufficient similarity to enable me to make a general statement, after which I will give one or two examples of fairly typical systems in greater detail. The period of free attendance is usually from five or six to twenty or twenty-one years of age. The period of elementary education generally extends from six to four- teen, the first four years being spent in the Primary School or Department, from which in the ordinary course the pupil passes at the age of ten to the Granwiar School or Department. The terms Primary School and Grammar School are commonly used, even when the two depart- ments are under the one roof. In some places, on the other hand, the lower classes are spoken of as the Primary Grades, and the Senior as the Grammar Grades. The use of the term standard in the English sense did not come under my notice. Free secondary education is provided by all the States under consideration in the High Schools^ which take the pupils after they have graduated from the Grammar School. I shall speak of these schools in another chapter. Each State has its central educational authority, gener- ally a Board with a practical secretary or superintendent ; but sometimes merely a superintendent. The powers of this central authority vary greatly ; generally the practical working of the school system is left to the committee or School Boards of smaller administrative areas, each State being divided into counties, and each county into "town- ships," these being sometimes again divided into districts. Or the county may be directly divided into districts, as in the case of California. The constitution of these Boards or Committees varies greatly. The elective system largely predominates, and the personnel of the Boards is subject to frequent changes. The cities, beyond supplying statistics, are usually independent 12 Teaching in Three Continents, of any outside authority. In California each city or in- corporated town, unless sub-divided, forms one school district. School Superintendence. The school superintendent is a peculiarly American development. He has no prototype elsewhere. The word itself is one of which the people are fond, and is used in many connections not usual in England. This is another example of the difference in meaning and use of the same word in the two great English-speaking lands. The oft-used word " captain," designating one in command of a ship or a mine, is generally discarded. The master of a ship becomes a commander, and he of the mine a superintendent ; and, just as the chairman of the board of directors becomes the president, so the office of manager in England becomes superintendent in America ; in addition to which, it is used in connection with education to designate an office which is unlike any in England or Australia. The student of American education will find at least four kinds of superin- tendents mentioned ; but no exact statement can be made as to the appointment or duties of each. There are State, County, City, and Town Superintendents, supervising more or less directly the schools of the political divisions of the same name. All the States of which I am speaking have State superintendents, in most cases supplemented by a Board of Education, of which he is, ex officio^ a member and executive officer. The chief functions of the Board are — (i) The distribution and management of the school funds derivable from lands, and of the legislative appropriations for education. (2) The supervision, directly or indirectly, of the training and examination of teachers. The super- intendent and his Board may, in many cases, be termed the political head of the school system ; and in some in- stances the political aspect predominates to an extent detrimental to the best interests of the schools. Public Provision for Educ. A TIOX County Superintendents. — All the charms of variety are to be found in connection with the appointment and duties of the County Superintendent. In thirteen States he is elected by the people. In other places the ap- pointment rests with the Governor, State Superintendent, or County Board of Education. As the various officers having the gift in their hands are elected, the one under consideration is influenced in the second degree by the vote of the people. The duties of a County Superin- tendent vary as greatly as his mode of appointment. In some States he is chiefly concerned in business affairs ; but usually he has to visit and inspect schools, criticise the* management and teaching, direct and counsel the teachers, and hold examinations for teachers' certificates. He has generally been a teacher; and in some States — California, for example — a teacher may contest an election for the office while in charge of a school, which he gives up if elected. One of the important duties of the superintendent is to hold institutes for teachers, of which I speak more fully elsewhere. City Siiperintendents. — Perhaps because I did not understand the full significance of the remark, I was fre- quently inwardly amused at what appeared to me an absurdly extravagant use of dignity on the part of City Superintendents in large cities, when they informed me " that the city of is quite independent of the County or State Officers of Edu- cation. It manages its ov/n affairs with as little reference to the State Superintendent as if it were in another State, only furnishing him with certain statistical and other informa- tion required by law." City Superintendents are often among the foremost educators of the country, and the schools under their care are equally a credit to themselves, and to the splendid cities over which they preside. At the same time, the superintendents, holding lofty ideals and considering that the fine work which has been done, is but 14 Teaching in Three Continents. treading on the threshold of the possible, with the frank- ness of their nation, freely exhibit and court inspection of the indifferent equally with the good. They know that in comparison with others they have little to fear; but in contrast to the attainable the position is humiliating. Merely putting forward the latter comparison ; depreciating the excellencies, lest the object of improvement should be defeated ; wishing to rouse the people to a sense of the need for continued progress; they sometimes use language which leads to a false opinion being formed by outsiders. This is equally true with regard to the authorities in England and Australia. Before legislation or reforms are possible in self-governing countries, the public must be educated. The means taken to attain this end will be different, according to the peculiar conditions of the people. Unless due regard be paid to this fact, one is apt to attribute many of their actions to those causes which give the drum its value, or to which the pebbly brook owes its murmuring. Massachusetts. Mr. J. W. Dickenson, Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board, in reply to my question, " What are the special features of your school government ? " said : — "The State Board collects statistics, attends to the appropriation of money, provides and works normal schools, and exercises a control over all the schools of the State. The latter, however, is more by moral force than anything else. " Each town and district, as a centre or unit of the commonwealth, is called upon to elect a school committee to look after the education of the district. These com- mittees provide schools, and conduct them as they like within the law, which is very elastic. This Board has five agents, who visit the various towns and school Public Provision for Education; 15 districts, and after doing so, call the committee together, and discuss the state of the schools and make sugges- tions. The committee may or may not accept and act on the advice ; but they generally do, and the visits are productive of much benefit. The agents also hold institutes in suitable centres all over the State." The District System. The district system, the extreme of decentraHzation, was the outcome of the reaction against monarchism, and has given character to American schools and to the people. The interest of every citizen was thereby enlisted in all public affairs. Every resident was supposed to under- stand the business of the district, the affairs of which were regularly discussed at the annual meeting, when the officers for the year were elected. The schools received their due share of attention, the control being vested in the school committee. Possessing many advantages, the system was open to evils. As a rule, the best men would be elected to the school committee, and as their intelligence was above the average of the community, it would be their desire to raise the general standard of knowledge. Unfortunately, ignorance is generally not self-conscious ; and thus the control would sometimes become vested in men who were apt to agree with the farmer — " There ain't no great good to be reached By tiptoein' children up higher than ever their fathers was teached." They did not know how to properly value a teacher, and were not enlightened, even if rich enough, to pay liberal salaries. Like all small communities, they had party disputes ; and energy, which should have been given to education, was devoted to quarrelling. Instead of the best teachers being i6 Teaching ix Three Continents. appointed, the " schools were taught " by those who could secure the greatest influence, or work for the least pay. No doubt the committee generally considered they were appointing the best teachers, but they were not good judges, and apt to agree that — " Whatever is done as to readin', providin' things go to my say, Shan't hang on no new-fangled hinges, but swing in the old-fashioned way." lulucation is either solely a family duty, or it is a State concern. That it is a matter of importance to the State is agreed ; and being so, its management should not be left to small communities. If this be done, the portions of the country most needing education will be left without it for two reasons : — (<7) Want of Funds. {l)) Want of Inclination. The poorer districts need the greatest educational care ; but the people are as unable to regulate as to provide it : this was amply proved in many places. In addition, the plan tended to cause the erection of many small schools where one large one would be more economical and efficient. This wasteful plan still exists ; but other reasons are assigned for it. In one town I visited there is one Grammar School, the upper floor of which is devoted to a High School. The building is a new and handsome one, as well adapted to its purpose as the American schools usually are. In the same town are some six primary schools. It would be infinitely better to have one central establishment ; but when I asked several people why such was not done, I received the reply that in the severe winters it is impossible for the small children to travel the distance most would have to do if the plan of having one large central establishment were adopted. This is a reason which cannot be lightly dismissed. As I was there on a lovely autumn day, it had not struck me. Public Provision for Education. 17 The town is following the general tendency to central- ization seen everywhere in the States under consideration. The principal of the High School, in which there are only between forty and fifty pupils, is also superintendent of the other schools of the town, having an assistant to help him with his school, and take charge when he is away. This is again illustrated by Mr. Stock well. Superintendent of Schools, State of Rhode Island ; who, during an address before the Rhode Island Educational Association, at which some seven hundred teachers, and twice that number of friends were present, said : — " Legislation of the State has followed the onward sweep of the world, which is tending towards centralization. Rhode Island is taking the power out of the hands of town committees, and placing it where it can be looked to do its work." Indeed, I found a growing feeling in all the Northern States in favour of centralization, better super- vision, and a more careful attention to compulsory education. The unit of government in school affairs is being altered and enlarged ; and at the same time brought more into har- mony with,and more directly under the control of, the State Boards. More uniformity, a better class of men as managers, less party influence in the appointment of teachers, and consequently a better class of teachers, greater economy in management, and altogether a more advanced condition of education, is, I think, rightly expected as the outcome of the movement. Michigan State System. The educational organisation of Michigan is a com- bination of the District and Town systems, the former predominating. It may be taken as a type of many. The State is divided into counties, which are again divided into smaller divisions, known as "townships," consisting of c 1 8 Teaching in Three Continents. several school districts, each of which has its School Board of three members — a moderator, a director, and an assessor. The duties of the Board are — to build school-houses, em- ploy teachers, and decide for what length of time the school shall be open. This formerly depended on how much money could be raised, and the smallness of the sum necessary to hire a teacher. Each township has a Board of three trustees or directors, whose main duty is to regulate boundaries of school districts, and visit schools. The County Board of school examiners consists of two members, elected by the chairman of the township Board of Inspectors ; and a secretary, who is, ex officio^ a member, elected by these two, acting with the County Judge of Probate. The secretary of the County Board visits, or causes his assistants to visit, each school of the county at least once a year ; counsels with teachers and School Boards as to the courses of study and discipline ; makes suggestions with regard to school buildings and grounds, heating, ventilation, &c. ; promotes the improve- ment of schools and the elevation of the character and qualification of teachers and officers; and receives the reports of the township inspectors. In addition, the secretary holds two regular, and not more than six special examinations for teachers annually. Certificates of three grades are granted, and are good for one, two, and three years respectively. Second- and third-grade certificates can be used only in the county in which they are granted, while those of the first grade have been made valid throughout the State. At the two regular examinations, the State Board of Education sends out sealed uniform questions to be used throughout the State. This Board consists of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and three other members, elected for a term of six' years. It has the entire control of the State normal school, grants State certificates good for ten years anywhere in the State, Public Provision for Education. 19 and prepares the cjuestiorjs to be used by the County- Board secretaries. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction nomin- ally has general supervision of all the public schools and State educational institutions ; collects and tabulates the school statistics ; and makes an annual report to the Governor. He organises and visits teachers' institutes ; appoints instructors for them ; and delivers lectures on educational subjects. He is general adviser of county superintendents, to whom he addresses from time to time circular letters giving advice as to the best manner of conducting schools, constructing school-houses, furnishing the same, and procuring and examining competent teachers. He has further to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the Education Acts; be legal adviser of all school officers; and, when requested, give his opinion in writing upon any question arising under the school laws of the State. He has power to enforce the supplying of returns, reports, and any other requisite information from all authorities control- ling educational institutions. The District schools are known as " ungraded schools," (that is, they have pupils of more than one standard in a room, under one teacher), and are often poor. Many are only in session for a few months of each year. The teachers are frequently poorly paid ; and consequently are sometimes but ill qualified for their work. On the other hand, they are often able and bright, and are using the school as an opportunity for self-education, and to obtain means to provide for college expenses. Many of America's great men and women have been District teachers, and their influence must have been good. The men and women trained under these conditions are an example — although, I believe, not as good as those of Iceland — of how education may be carried on without schooling. With c 2 20 ' Teaching in Three Continents. only from three to six months of attendance during the year, under an untrained and often comparatively illiterate teacher, in a school lacking all appliances — without even a blackboard — a lamentable condition of ignorance would be naturally expected. But pupils, at all events, learned to read. With this power, the long cold winter, a supply of books (and it is somewhat astonishing what books are to be found even in the back country), and the American fond- ness for lectures, an unexpected state of things is brought about. Above the Grammar School is the His^h School, which only admits pupils who have a grammar school certificate ; or, as the Americans say, have "graduated" in a Grammar School. A High School course extends over from three to five years, and usually provides for at least two courses of study : the one a preparation for the university, the other having a more direct bearing on commercial life. The High Schools, like the lower grades, are free. In Michigan there is an arrangement by which High Schools desiring recognition from the university are visited and examined by a com- mittee of the "faculty"; and if approved, have their graduates admitted to the university without further exam- ination. This last link towards connecting the lowest and highest departments of the school system is in operation in California, and some other of the newer States. For the purpose of providing professional training, a Free State Normal School is provided, which sends out about one hundred students annually. This does not nearly supply the demand for trained teachers : and there is a large number whose only training is obtained by reading and observation, or at the Teachers' Institutes. This State also has a State Agricultural College to promote its agriculture ; and the Michigan Mining School to foster the mining industry. Liberal provision is also Public Proi'isiox for Education. 21 made for the blind, deaf, and dumb. Dependent children are provided with a home and educational advantages ; and youthful criminals are instructed in the State Reform Schools. The criticism which first rises naturally to one's lips, is that all this system, and the acknowledgment on the part of the State of the necessity of education as a guarantee of well-being, is useless, if the parent of a child is unwilling to take advantage of the means provided. There is no com- pulsion for those who would injure the State by bringing up children in ignorance. The lack of training on the part of the teachers is another weakness ; and associated with this is the poor pay they as a rule receive ; but of these points I shall speak elsewhere. Washington^ D. C. The organisation of the school system here has peculiar features. Education is under the direction of a Board appointed by the three commissioners in whom the Govern- ment of the Federal District of Columbia is vested. There are two systems of schools ; the one for white, the other for coloured children. The schools of both sections are of the usual three classes : — Primary, Grammar, and High Schools, each system being under its own superintendent. The coloured pupils follow the same course of study as the white, and there appeared to be very little difference in the character of the work ; but the pupils in the coloured classes are older than those in the corresponding grades in the schools for white children. I was much surprised to lind many pupils very nearly or quite white in the coloured schools ; but learned that, being associated with coloured people in their homes, they would not be allowed to attend with white children, even did they not choose to be with their young coloured friends. 2 2 Teachixg in Three Contixents. The schools for white children are divided into six dis- tricts, each under a supervising teacher, who takes much of the work which usually falls to a principal. In fact, it is in this point that the chief peculiarity of the city's organisation lies. Each teacher works independently of the principal, being responsible to the supervising teachen The principal teaches a class — an unusual thing, as far as I could learn in the parts of America which I visited — and only differs from the other teachers in being responsible for the building, the playground arrangements, and any outside business which may have to be transacted with parents^ and so forth. The coloured schools have the same organisation, there being two supervising teachers. Result examinations have been abolished for about four years, and the change seems to have given great satisfaction. The course of instruction is carefully laid down by the Board ; and the superintendent and supervising teachers see that it is carried out. They make such frequent visits to the schools, at which they test the work in any way they see fit, that they are able, they say, to ensure much more systematic, regular, and careful teaching than when the work was chiefly tested by an annual examination. " There is a compulsory law ; but it is not enforced, because there are not sufficient schools to accommodate all the children." I quote the words used to me, for it seems incredible that the city of" magnificent distances," and more magnificent buildings ; the city wherein is built, at a cost sufficient to provide schools for twice the population, the monument in honour of the justly revered Washington, who, in his farewell address, gave the injunction to his fellow citizens, to " Promote as an object of primary im- portance institutions for the general diffiision of know- ledge " ; the city where probably the largest deposit of coin in the world is stowed like potatoes in the treasury vaults, and where money to any amount can be found for party Public Peoi'/sion for Education. 23 purposes ; — that this city cannot afford sufficient to build school-houses ! The Superintendent of Education, in dis- cussing what is to be done for the numbers of children who do not attend school, has to say : " In the first place, ample provision should be made in comfortable, well-lighted, and ventilated buildings where they could receive full atten- tion through the full school day, instead of for two or three hours in the morning or afternoon." It is odd, I think, that in the only little spot of Federal ground : bearing, too, the honoured name of Columbia ; in the national city, grand in its proportions, with marble edifices, its palatial and sumptuous offices unsurpassed by those of any capital in the world, the just pride of over sixty millions of " the freest people under the sun," there are not sufficient school- houses to accommodate the children ; and that it permits the Bureau of Education to be the worst accommodated of any Government department. To disregard the fervent wishes and wise admonitions of noble men, while em- ploying the sculptor's art to perpetuate their memories ; to march in triumphant procession and listen to fervid orations in honour of their doings on the fourth of July, and for the remaining three hundred and sixty-four days pay no heed to their advice, is so unlike the usual practical wisdom of the American people, that such an exception as this is the more remarkable. CHAPTER II. PUBLIC PROVISION FOR EDUCATION [confimted). England : — Former Neglect of Elementary Education. — Work of Voluntary Schools. — Effect of the Act of 1870. — The Education Department. — Favo.urable Comparison of England with United States in Provision for Elementary Education. — Voluntary and Board Schools, how managed and supported.- -Powers of Managers. — Comparison of Board and Voluntary Schools.— The Science and Art Department. Scotland : — Similarity between English and Scotch Departments. — Modification of Examinations. — Result Payments. F'rance : — How Controlled. — Council of Education. — Departments. — Academies. — Three Grades of Inspectors. — Primary Instruction. — Secondary Instruction. — Normal Colleges. — Special Schools. Germany: — Control by Government. — Classes of Schools.— Scope of each. Australia : — Similarity in all Colonies. — Methods of Administration. — Centralisation. — Summary of School Systems. — New South Wales. — Victoria. — South Australia.— Queensland. — New Zealand, England. Until quite recently, while there existed in England ex- ten.sive provision for the education of the few, the many were almost totally neglected. Culture on the one hand ; ignorance, and consequent degradation, on the other. The great richly-endowed foundation schools of the sixteenth century provided for the rich and influential an education leading to the world-renowned Universities of Oxford and Cambridge — institutions whose origins are lost in the darkness of the Middle Ages, whose colleges are memorials of the religious fervour or munificence of men whose his- tories are now legendary ; but whose precincts were hedged Public Proi'ision for Education. 25 round by tradition, so that only the rich or influential could gain access to their unique culture and learning. Just as exclusive in their sphere were lesser institutions for those lower down in the social scale ; but the masses were to a large extent left in ignorance. The credit for changing this unsatisfactory state of things must be given to the religious denominations, particularly to the Church of England, which even now has more children in its schools than are to be found in those of any other organisation. In addition, the Wesleyans, the Roman Catholics, and the British and Foreign School Society : — all must be men- tioned as assisting to prepare the way for the wisest and greatest legislative measure of the past twenty-five years, Mr. Forster's Education Act of 1870. By it provision for the accommodation of all children was made obligatory on the people of the various cities and districts ; and attend- ance at school became compulsory on the part of every child. I shall not attempt to state the estimate which some educators and statesmen with Socialistic tendencies made to me, of the influence of this act of legislation. Probably in no other country, France not even excepted, has such a change been made in the education of the mass of the people during the last twenty years. At the present time the English people are better provided with elementary schools than their cousins in America ; and no group of American States can be taken, containing an equal popula- tion, where such a large majority of the whole school popu- lation of, say from six to thirteen, are attending school and receiving the rudiments of knowledge. Every child is provided with the means of instruction, and compelled to attend. The result of the work of the Education Department is causing a social revolution in England. If the cha- racter of the teaching is too mechanical, if the chief aim 26 Teaching in Three Continents. of the teacher is to earn as much money as possible for his managers, it must be remembered that this cannot be done without at least giving the pupil the ability to read and write. Of course the schools are not nearly so good as the friends of true education wish. Much remains to be done, and undoubtedly it will not be long ere a still greater change will have taken place. Free education will shortly be an accomplished fact ; the partial absorption of the voluntary schools by the School Boards will necessarily follow, and further facilitate the abolition of what have been the cause of so much evil — result examinations, and " grant payments." " Write ' Grant factory ' on three-fourths of our schools " said an educator to me. Before being long in England, I formed the opinion that the chief function of the Education Department is financial rather than educational ; and I cannot do better than quote the sentiments of a gentleman whose intimate knowledge of the Department rendered his words of great weight with me. In the course of a conversation in which the difficulties caused by the rival influences of the various voluntary school societies were touched upon, he said : "The Department had never made full use of the pro- visions of the Education Act, simply from the lack of some one at its head in the earlier stages of its existence, who could have taken up the educational side with as powerful, determined, and comprehensive grasp ; and could have initiated the working of the Act with as much tact, skill, and diplomacy as the founder displayed in passing it through the intricate mazes of Parliamentary procedure, party feeling, and the natural objection of the English people to change. Mr. Forster performed his part, and executed the statesman's mission with success ; but there was no one to do the still more difficult work of practical educator on a scale hitherto untried." My informant did not however wish me, nor do I wish Public Provision for Education: 27 others, to under-estimate the splendid work which the Edu- cation Department has done. It is the interpreter of the law ; it decides what must and what may be taught ; it formulates regulations for the working of elementary day and evening schools, as well as training colleges for the efficient training of teachers ; and it employs a large staff of Inspectors to see that the requirements of the law are being carried out, and that the schools are efficient. It distributes, too, the immense annual vote from the Public Treasury for the support of elementary schools, and generally exercises supervision over these schools, in con- sequence of being able to grant or withhold funds to the average extent, roughly speaking, of half the annual cost of maintenance. The other half of the cost, as well as the school buildings, fittings, and appliances, has to be provided by local means ; and the organisations — be they School Boards elected by taxpayers, or managers appointed by a particular section of the people — which provide the school-houses and the remaining half of the maintenance, have ample scope, outside certain well-defined limits, for materially varying the character of the schools. These limits are intended to constitute a minimum of central control and departmental interference, sufficient to ensure a proper use being made of the Imperial vote. The schools are known as (i) Voluntary Schools^ which have been built, and are partly supported by voluntary subscriptions. These are under denominational control. (2) Board Schools : viz., schools built and supported by money raised by local taxation, and controlled by elected School Boards. Out of 4,688,000 pupils in the elementary schools, 2,154,000 are in the schools known as Voluntary, provided by, and under the control of the Church of England ; 1,780,000 are in Board schools; 330,000 attend schools under the British School Society, or other undenominational 28 Teaching in Three Continents. control; 248,000 are in Roma7i Catholic schools; and 174,000 belong to Wesleyan schools. The schools here spoken of correspond more nearly than any other in England to the Public School of the United States and Australia; but are in many respects very different, chiefly from the fact that they are provided expressly for the poor, and in many cases are attended by no other class. I shall say more on this point elsewhere. The above figures are quoted, because it is only by a consideration of the influence of these opposing in- terests that the student of English elementary education can attempt to estimate the difficulties of the Education Department, and find any excuse for the system of ex- aminations which, it is pleasant to record, are being much modified, and which, it must in fairness be stated, were not so much due to the Department as to the peculiarly difficult problem which it has had to solve. It has to administer a vote of over three million pounds sterling of the public revenue in such a way, that the interests of the State shall be promoted to the best advantage among a number of opposing parties, each anxious to obtain as much as possible from the Government. This it has done by means of a complex system of grants, perfectly bewil- dering to the stranger, who for the first time hears how the schools are supported. The responsibility of recom- mending the amount of these grants rests on Her Majesty's Inspectors, who make a greater or less number of surprise visits to a school during the year, and annually, at a stated time, carefully examine each pupil in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and hold class examinations in such other — if any — subjects as might be taught. The new Code pro- vides for very important modifications of the system of individual examinations, following much the same course as the Scotch Education Department. The employment and payment of teachers, provided Public Provision for Education. 29 that they have the qiuhfications fixed by the Education Department, the charging of fees within the law, teaching of subjects outside those required by the Department, and rehgious instruction, are left in the hands of local authorities. The schools in different parts of England, in consequence, vary greatly with regard to the accommodation provided, and the salaries paid to teachers ; and, consequently, the character of the education given varies greatly. Even in the same town this may be very noticeable, sometimes in favour of the voluntary schools ; but as far as I could judge, the Board Schools are generally superior. The denomina- tional schools have to raise funds by voluntary contributions from friends ; who, being ratepayers, have to contribute to the support of the Board Schools. This is often a sore point of contention. The School Boards, with the tax- levying power at their backs, are able to build handsome school-houses according to modern and approved patterns, replete with every convenience ; and, by offering good salaries, attract the best teachers in the country. The teachers in the neighbouring voluntary schools feel it hard to have to compete with those who are thus more favourably circumstanced. The churches acted nobly and liberally, in providing schools when the English Government was neglecting its duty in this respect. They would do more nobly now, were they to hand over all their schools to the School Board, or rather to the public, to be provided for from one common fund, thus relieving the country of the greatest difficulty in connection with elementary public education. I could not help sometimes concluding, when visiting the poorer voluntary schools, that it is possible to pay too dearly for the privilege of teaching a Church catechism, a Roman dogma, or a Methodist creed. To struggle, for no other purpose than to keep open schools which are veritable barns compared with the adjoining well-built, 30 Teaching in Three Continents. well-ventilated, well-fitted school-houses ; with appliances that are poor and woefully out of repair: where the ven- tilation, lighting, and seating are opposed to all laws of health, modern science, or common sense : where the teachers are badly paid, and over- worked, is hardly worthy of the high standard and practical nature of the nineteenth century churches. Happily, such schools are the exception. As a rule, excellent work is done in voluntary schools. So much has been said and written about cramming for result examinations in order to earn grants, that the belief is prevalent outside of England that the teachers receive the money thus earned. This is only indirectly true. The Education Department has nothing to do with tlie payment of the teachers. All sums earned by the schools are paid to the managers, be they School Boards or Voluntary Committees, who distribute them in connection with funds derived from other sources, as they have occasion. I believe that all the larger School Boards, and also the managers of the more important voluntary schools, pay their teachers fixed salaries. It must be clearly understood, with reference to any comments I may make regarding the mechanical teaching and lack of intelligence observed in English schools, that I attribute the chief blame to neither teachers nor pupils ; but to the administrators who, professing to undertake the work of Education, not only allow, but enforce, a condition of things which, however great an improvement it may be on the disgraceful state of twenty years since, is unworthy alike of the people of England, and of nineteenth century civilisation. The School Boards find it necessary to obtain every possible pound from the Department, to save local taxation. The managers of voluntary schools must do the same, to avoid the obnoxious task of collecting subscrip- tions. Neither members of School Boards, nor voluntary managers, are usually practical educators ; and naturally Public Provision for Education. 31 consider a high percentage, and a good report from the inspector, a guarantee of good work on the part of their teachers. The good grant which follows is a more tangible expression of satisfaction. Many good teachers, who only use the soundest and most educative methods of teaching, always earn the highest grants, and receive the best re- ports ; but it is easily possible to obtain the same tangible result in a less satisfactory manner ; and while the shortest road is often neither the easiest nor most commendable, it is the one which usually commends itself to the majority. It is, therefore, a source of much gratification to the friends of true education, that the Education Department is making a new and commendable endeavour to ensure education as well as instruction, by giving an increased grant on average attendance, and attaching more import- ance to the manner of teaching, than on the ability of the children to reproduce facts at the annual examination. The Science and Art Department. — There is no doubt that the foreigner's estimate of English education suffers on account of the complicated system. For example, the work of the elementary schools in connection with the Science and Art Department does not appear in the reports of the Education Department ; and yet it forms a distinctive and very valuable feature in conhection with many of the schools. Drawing has hitherto been under the control of the Science and Art Department, and although over eight hundred thousand elementary school pupils have been receiving systematic instruction, no reference to this im- portant work appears in the Education report. In con- sequence of this, I have met foreign educators who were under the impression that no attention was paid to it. In future, it is to be a compulsory subject in the schools. The large classes of ex-seventh pupils in connection with some of the School Boards are not recognised by the Education Department. By teaching two or three science subjects, 32 Teaching in Three Continents. the managers are able to earn sufficient grants from the Science and Art Department to pay all expenses, and thus continue the education of these pupils at the ordinary small fee. The Science and Art Department gives aid to schools of art, and art classes, science schools, elementary schools, and training colleges, and affords instruction in its various ramifications of junior and advanced classes to an aggregate of nearly one million pupils. Its influence in other ways is also widespread. By the Normal School of Science, the Royal School of Mines, the magnificent museums at South Kensington and Jermyn Street, the National Art Training School, the system of loans to schools and museums, and in many other ways, does it exert a far-reaching and powerful influence on the education of the people. Scotland. Scotch Elementary Education is under the control of a Department similar in its organisation and working to that presiding over the English schools. Scotland is decidedly ahead of England in her school legislation. Her schools are now free in all the lower standards, and in some places altogether. Under the new Code of 1890, again, the system of result examinations has been so modified, that many of the evils under which English schools labour will be absent in the future from Scotland. The Department has felt its way very carefully in this matter. For three years no individual examination has been required in the lower standards, and the effect has been so satisfactory that " My Lords have decided that the time has now come when efficiency need not, in every case, be tested by individual examination ; and when the experiment of giving greater freedom of organisation to the managers of schools may fairly be tried. Public Provision for Education. T^-t) " Where my Lords are satisfied that the aim of the school is good, and that its methods are well adapted, and successfully pursued, towards realising that aim : where^ further, your inspection convinces you that the intelligence of the children is kept in full activity, and that the training given them places them in possession of the essential branches of elementary education, and trains their facul- ties in such a way as to prepare them practically for the duties of life, my Lords will not require you to carry the individual test further than may be necessary to a safeguard against inefficiency." The Department has also considerably curtailed the list of specific subjects, and given managers the option of sub- mitting a syllabus of any subject which they deem specially suited to the requirements of their schools ; and they have been given a wide option with regard to elementary science, and manual instruction. France. The French system of public education is controlled by the Minister of Instruction and Fine Arts, who is assisted by a Council — of which he is president — composed of mem- bers of the Council of State, of the Institute, Army, Navy, Catholic Church, and nine lay members. This council prescribes the course of instruction in all public schools established, new Lycees, and Communal Colleges, and generally governs the education of the land. The country is divided into eighty-seven departments. The departments are divided into seventeen districts, or " Academies," in each of which there is an Academic Council, under the direction of the Minister of Public Instruction, which has charge of the affairs in the Academy. Each department also has a *' Departmental Council," composed of the Prefect, as president, the Academy inspector of the district as vice- D 34 Teaching in Three Continents. president, four councillors elected by their colleagues, the director and directress of the Training Colleges, two masters and two mistresses chosen by the teachers in the Depart- ment, two primary inspectors nominated by the Minister, and two representatives, one clerical and one lay, of the private schools. These councils supervise the internal working of the schools of their departments, and forward reports to the Minister of Instruction. Every commune also has its local board, with the mayor at its head, which supervises both the public and private schools. The inspection of the schools is attended to by three classes of inspectors : — 1. Inspectors-General, of whom there are several, to act as advisers to the Minister. 2. Academy inspectors, who, besides acting as vice- presidents of the councils, and inspecting the schools of their district, supervise the private schools, arrange for the examination of teachers and training colleges, and receive the reports of the visits of primary inspectors. 3. Primary inspectors, who "report to the Academy in- spector within fifteen days of a visit to a school : — {a) Upon each teacher. {b) Upon the work being done in each class. They also preside over teachers' conferences, and during July examine all children being taught at home. They must have had a training equivalent to that of an English University man, and have been engaged in teaching for at least five years prior to appointment. Public instruction is divided into three grades : primary, secondary, and higher. Primary instruction is free and compulsory between the ages of seven and fourteen years. Every commune must support at least one primary school; but in the case of thinly populated communes the consent of the Minister may be given to allow several to combine for the purpose. Public Provision for Education. 35 Aid from the national funds is only given to communes which are unable to support the whole cost of their schools. Secondary education is given in the Lyceum or Com- munal College. Higher education is given by the " faculties " of law, medicine, theology, science, and literature. Two normal schools are established in each Depart- ment, one for male and one for female students ; and there is a superior normal school to prepare teachers for lycees, communal colleges, and all schools above the primary. These schools are in charge of the State. I do not know of another country where this wise provision for the training of secondary teachers exists. Germany, with all her thorough- ness in primary education, has omitted this ; and England knows nothing of the kind. One of the special features of French education is the great number of special schools. I can only name a few ; but there is hardly an industry which has not its special school. There are schools of telegraphy for Government employes exclusively, schools of manual apprenticeship, schools of road and bridges, schools of forestry, schools of master workmen in mines, schools of political science, and so forth. Those having a bearing on elementary education will be dealt with elsewhere. Germany. While England and the United States each claim to be the most perfectly self-governing country in the world, and dispute over the amount of liberty or licence enjoyable under their particular forms of rule of the people by the people, Germany undisputedly presents the best example of a governed people. The German educational system has received great attention for a longer period than any other ; D 2 36 Teaching in Three Continents. and it embodies many excellent features. In the absence of result examinations ; in the systematic thoroughness of the work ; in the sound psychological basis of their course of study ; and in the training and professional standing of their teachers, the Germans are in the advance guard of educational progress. The education is entirely in the hands of the Govern- ment, being under the supervision of a Minister of Public Instruction, assisted by School Boards in their various pro- vinces. The names of the German schools are confusing ; but under different titles they may be said to be of three classes. In the Primary school the attendance is compulsory from the age of seven to fourteen years. Secondary education is carried on in a Gymnasium, or a " Realschule." The former gives prominence to Latin and Greek, and especially aims at preparation for the University and pro- fessional life. The latter pays great attention to modern languages, mathematics, and natural sciences, aiming at special fitness for the ordinary business callings. The courses of study differ in both classes of schools in different parts of Germany. Forming a kind of sub-division, intermediate between the primary, or people's schools, and the gymnasia, are the Biirger Schools for boys, and Higher Young Ladies' Schools. These two classes of schools appear to give a primary education of a somewhat better character than the people's school, and carry on the work of instruction for several years longer. German Universities are so well known, that I only refer to them as receiving large subsidies from the State. Australia. There is a general agreement in the methods of adminis- tration of Elementary Public Education in the chief Public Provision for Education. 37 Australian Colonies. In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland, centralization is highly developed ; and, under the present conditions of the country, to attain the maximum of economy and usefulness, must remain so. The scattered nature of the population in the major part of each colony renders local government of a school system — requiring, as it does, the greatest intelli- gence, experience, and freedom from party considerations — not only wasteful and unsuitable, but injurious to the best interests of the object in view. The superior character of the educational facilities in the thinly-populated districts of Australia is one of the most noticeable and commendable features in connection with the colonial school systems. Probably no other thinly-populated country is so well provided with good schools. The following general statement of administration is in the main equally applicable to each colony : — The system of Public Instruction is managed by the Education De- partment of the Civil Service, at the head of which is an Inspector-General, on whom depends the working of the Department ; and, through his assistants, the carrying out of the legislation on education. This officer acts under, and is responsible to, the Minister of Education, who has full control over the whole system, and is alone responsible to Parliament (of which he is a member), and the country. He is a member of the Cabinet, and the personnel of the Minister therefore changes with each change of Ministry. In the Minister is vested all school property ; and the appointment and dismissal of teachers is nominally in his power. The grouping of the population of New Zealand round a number of well-defined centres, often somewhat difficult of access the one from another, has naturally led to the adoption of the opposite system of management by local Boards of Education. Excepting in Tasmania and Western 38 Teaching in Three Continents. Australia, whose united population does not exceed two hundred thousand, all the colonies agree in enacting that elementary education up to a certain standard shall be com- pulsory, and in carefully carrying out the law. They are also agreed that religious teaching shall form no part of the official programme ; and, moreover, shall not be given during school hours. There are, excepting in South Australia, but slight differences in the courses of study and methods of teach- ing, English example being followed. South Australia, on the other hand, has during the last few years made a departure ; and, like the most advanced American centres, has formulated a course of study on the German plan — retaining, however, in common with the other colonies, the English plan of result examinations as the chief means of testing the work. School-buildings do not differ materially, being con- structed with special reference to the method of organisation followed. Although they are well built, commodious, and often handsome structures, in which great attention has been paid to light and ventilation, they are not of the modern type of the more recent Board Schools of London and other large English centres, and are far from being as convenient as American school-houses. The pupil-teacher system is in operation in all the colonies ; and is, no doubt, one of the causes operating to prevent the adoption of the single class-room plan m constructing the buildings. The system found so necessary and successful by the London School Board of allowing the young apprentices to teach only a short time each week, and of taking the responsibility of their literary studies out of the hands of the teachers, and carrying on the teaching in pupil-teacher schools, has not been adopted. The first step in the movement has however been taken in many centres, where the pupil-teachers are Public Provision for Education. 39 gathered on Saturday mornings for special collective teaching. On the Australian Continent, Victoria and Queensland have free elementary schools, while New South Wales and South Australia charge all who are able to pay nominal fees of a few pence per week. Curiously, not only are there two colonies in favour of each plan, but the popula- tion of the two pairs is very nearly the same. New Zealand, however, has adopted the principle of entirely free elementary education, and there is a decided tendency towards the principle in South Australia, so that I am safe in saying that Australia as a whole is in favour of free, compulsory, and secular public elementary education. While New South Wales does not admit the principle of entirely free instruction to all alike, she has established a system of pubHc high or secondary schools, open to all who have passed through the elementary schools, at the same nominal fees. She thus connects her primary system with the university. Each colony has much to learn from the others, as well as from the older systems of England and America ; while the latter might with equal advantage take lessons from their younger cousins of the Sunny South. For example, New South Wales and South Australia would do well to adopt the free system of Victoria and Queensland ; Vic- toria and South Australia would make their systems more complete, and more worthy of their democratic pretensions, were they to follow the mother colony, New South Wales, in establishing secondary schools with nominal fees ; or, more desirable still, free to all who have completed the course in the elementary schools. The other colonies might with decided advantage adopt the splendid course of study followed in the South Australian schools, than which I know of none better in the English language. Again, all would do well to relegate examinations to their 40 Teaching in Three Continents. proper sphere of useful assistants, instead of tyrannical masters. After England, Australia is the stronghold of examinations. Australians are not equally slaves to the system that the EngHsh elementary schools are ; but the percentage of results, the number of passes, still remains the chief standard of public judgment on a teacher's work. Again, England is doing her best to get rid of the evils of the pupil-teacher system ; but there is, so far as I am able to judge, no general conviction in Australia that it is a weakness. Invented by Messrs. Bell and Lancaster as an emergency means of providing a substitute for proper assistance, which at that time it was impossible to obtain, it has become so much a matter of course to have young, inexperienced pupil-teachers bungling in their attempts to teach what they themselves, in the nature of things, do not — cannot — understand, that it is now asserted that the pupil-teacher system is the only effective mode of training teachers, and the only practicable plan of working schools at reasonable expense. Apart from the exceptions mentioned elsewhere, the Governments of South Australia, Victoria, and New Zea- land do not provide for secondary education. The Australian Universities are not State institutions in the same sense as those of the newer Western States of America ; but the various Governments have provided largely towards founding and supporting them, a con- siderable portion of the revenues being drawn from the Public Treasury. The degrees entitle the holders to the same rank, title, and precedence as those of the Universities of the United Kingdom. New South Wales. The public system of education of New South Wales includes five classes of schools. Public Provision for Education. 41 1. Public Elementary Schools, intended to provide the best primary instruction to all children, without sectarian or class distinction. These in the main correspond, so far as the scope of the work is concerned, to the Board Schools of England, and the Primary and Grammar Grades of America. 2. Superior Public Schools^ established in towns and populous districts, where larger numbers give scope for more perfect classification, and division of labour. In addition to the work of the first class, these give lessons in the higher branches of education : i.e.^ Latin, Mathe- matics, Elementary Science, and so forth. 3. Evening Schools^ in which the object is to instruct those who have not had the advantage of Primary Education. 4. High Schools for Boys. 5. High Schools for Girls. The course of study in the High Schools is such as wull complete an ordinary education, or prepare students for the University. The fees are not to exceed threepence per week per child, or a total of one shiUing for one family ; and the children of parents unable to pay this are admitted, without distinction, free. This small fee is charged less for revenue, than in the hope that it will lead to a better appreciation of the school privileges. There is a strong feeling, on the other hand, that the people would take even greater pride in their schools if they offered the boon of education freely to all, without distinction of any kind, and that for the paltry sum gained it is a pity to put aside this great principle. The advocates for and against are thus seen to be actuated by very similar motives ; and it only remains a matter of time for the colony to adopt Free Education, as Victoria has done. Attendance is compulsory for seventy days each half- year, for all children between the ages of six and fourteen. 42 Teaching in Three Continents. The schools are supervised by a staff of inspectors, who make visits of inspection at uncertain times, and hold annual examinations on the year's work; the tabulated results form the chief basis of judgment on the teachers' work. The University of Sydney is supported from three sources of income : — (i) An annual vote from the Public Treasury; (2) Revenue from Endowments; (3) Fees from Students. It has cost in buildings and endowments some ^300,000, part of which was provided by private munificence, and part by the Government. In addition to the above, there is a bequest of over .;^2oo,ooo, left by Mr. J. H. Challis, which is just available for University purposes. Victoria. In Victoria the term State School is used in the same sense as Public School is in New South Wales and South Australia. Attendance is free and compulsory between the ages of six and fourteen for at least sixty days each half- year — subject, of course, to the usual exemption on account of attendance at a private school, ill-health, etc. The work of supervision is similar to that in New South Wales. It should be noticed, however, that although the schools are free, fees may be charged by teachers for giving instruction in subjects other than those fixed by law as compulsory subjects. The Government makes no provision for secon- dary education ; but it is well provided for by private corporations, many of which are controlled by the religious bodies. As in New South Wales, the University has three sources of revenue: — (i) An annual vote from the Pubhc Treasury; (2) Income from Endowments; (3) College Fees. Private munificence has also been largely devoted to the Public Provision for Education. 43 erection of magnificent buildings. "Wilson Hall," for example, cost some ^40,000, and Ormond College about South Austi'alia. The public system of education in this colony is under similar management to that existing in New South Wales and Victoria. The Education Department is under the direction of the Minister of Education, who is responsible to Parliament and the country for its efficient working. The work is, however, carried on by the permanent head, who is a practical educator, as well as a scholar of high standing, with the title of Inspector-General of Schools. With him virtually rests the appointment and removal of teachers, although the power is nominally vested in the Minister of Education, whose confirmation is needed in all cases. The compulsory law provides for the attendance at school of all children between the ages of seven and thirteen, unless the compulsory standard is passed earlier, for at least thirty-five days each quarter. As in other portions of Australia, appeals to the law are seldom needed, although the Act is strictly enforced. There are two classes of elementary schools. I. Provisio7ial Schools. — Frequently held in rented buildings by untrained teachers. They are intended to supply elementary education in the outlying districts, where the population is too small to warrant the expense of building a school, and paying a trained teacher. The course of study is the same in character, although not so wide as that given in the public schools ; and as great care is exercised by the Department in only employing persons of sufficient educational attainments, and the numbers of pupils are but small, the character of the work is highly satisfactory, as evidenced by the reports of the inspectors. 44 Teaching in Three Continents. These schools to some extent correspond to the back country rural schools of America, in size, character of pupils, lack of training on the part of teachers, and such points ; but they differ in that they are open for the same time each year as the city schools — viz., forty- six weeks — are subject to the same supervision, have to present their pupils for similar examinations, and the teachers are not subject to the worrying influences of a local committee, who may dispense with their services, or refuse to pay their salaries in case of dispute. The teachers are encouraged to improve themselves, and if they do good work are sure of permanent employment. 2. Public Schools. — Schools under certificated teachers are called Public Schools. The fees payable are fourpence or sixpence a week ; but anyone unable to pay this is admitted free, and supplied with the necessary books. Books, excepting copy- and drawing-books, for use in school, are supplied to all pupils. The Department is preparing and publishing a series of special school books. When these are sold, a trifle over cost price is charged. The secondary education of boys is left entirely to private enterprise ; but the Department annually provides a number of scholarships, of the value of twenty pounds, to the best pupils in the public schools. The law provides for the establishment of "Advanced Schools"; but hitherto the work has been so well carried out by the existing schools that the necessity for these " advanced schools " has not arisen. The Education Department has acknowledged its obligation with regard to the secondary education of girls by establishing, in the face of much opposition, a central Advanced School. Originally intended to form a link between the Public Schools and the University, it has been an institution affording, for those who are able to pay for it, an education of a character not obtainable Public Provision for Education. 45 elsewhere. Like the Leeds Higher Grade School, and unlike the High Schools of New South Wales (leaving out the question of fees), the standard of admission has been made lower than was intended ; and being able to pass the upper standard of the Elementary School is no longer insisted on. Since it is only available for a section of the community, it cannot be considered an integral part of the Public School system. The fees are twelve guineas a year, so that — apart from a few of those who have received scholarships for exceptional merit at the Public Schools — the poorer people are excluded from availing themselves of it. Notwithstanding the splendid work it has done in raising the standard of female educa- tion in Adelaide, and the fact that the fees are sufficient to carry on the work without cost to the country, the opposi- tion it has met with has prevented the extension of the experiment. It must be admitted that such schools are opposed to the principles of Democratic Australia. They are bitterly denounced by the friends of the private establish- ments with which they compete, and do not enlist the sympathies of the mass of the people. It is the duty of the State to provide secondary as well as primary education ; but it must be done on the same terms, and in the same way, as in South Australia and in a few of the English School Boards. It should not be left to the haphazard of private enterprise ; but as the only firm basis of the argument for their establishment is the welfare of the State, the whole community as nearly as possible should be able to avail themselves of the provisions. This is one of the great features of the American system of education. The State must for its own safety establish elementary schools, that the mass of her citizens may be enlightened, and have the means of constant improvement in their hands. This is now everywhere recognised. 46 Teaching in Three Continents. What we call secondary education cannot be given to aW, and it is hardly possible to conceive of a state of society where, for many reasons, it could ; but it is not the less necessary and important that the State should endeavour to obtain the greatest possible benefit from its best minds, whether they belong to the poor or to the rich. This it can only do by providing the means for their education. All else must depend on the individuals themselves. America recognises this, so does New South Wales ; South Australia and Victoria do also ; but in an unsatisfactory manner, by giving scholarships to a few. When explaining our systems to friends in America, I frequently heard the remark : " Australians appear to do more for the few but less for the many than we do " ; and I could not but grant that the indictment was true. The University of Adelaide is similar in character to those of Melbourne and Sydney. Queensland. Like the colonies already described, Queensland pos- sesses a good system of compulsory, free, and secular education, of which she is justly proud, and to which she pays great attention. She differs from the other colonies in requiring the people of a district to provide a portion, to the extent of one-fifth^ of the cost of the school-buildings. Secondary or " Grammar " schools, are assisted by grants from the public funds to the extent of two-thirds of the cost of construction and maintenance. New Zeaiafid. The colony is divided into thirteen educational districts, which are again divided into school districts, each under Public Provision for Education. 47 an Education Board. The teaching is secular and free. The funds are provided by statutory grant of ;^3 15s. od. per annum for every child in average attendance, there being additional votes for scholarships, training of teachers, &c. In other particulars the schools resemble those ot Australia, and do not differ greatly from the Board Schools of England. CHAPTER III. HOW WORK IS TESTED. The Need for a Test.— A Difficult Problem.— Plans followed in Germany and France.— Methods adopted in the United States.— Discussion of Result Examinations in England and Australia. The problem how to test the work of the teacher is one of the most difficult in connection with a public system of education. Where a large number of men and women are employed, there must be some means adopted for securing the proper performance of the work for which they are paid. The difficulty is how to secure this end, without interfering with the work and individuality of those teachers who do not require supervision. The English Education Department has depended almost entirely on yearly examinations as a means for deciding the amount of assistance to be given to the school by the central authorities. The result has been an ex- emplification of the text — "Unto him that hath shall be given." The schools in poor districts most in need of help, where the enlightening and elevating influences of education are most needed, have had to carry on work at less cost than more favoured districts. State aid should be given equally to all ; but if it is to be unevenly distributed, let the poorest have the most. In Germany the authorities estimate the teacher's work chiefly by ascertaining how he teaches. Examinations are used, and used frequently ; but it is to test present work, not the ability of the pupil to retain isolated facts for long How Work is Tested. 49 periods of lime. The pupils may be examined at any time in any portion of their work ; but I could learn of no general examination of all pupils in all subjects with a tabulated statement of the result. A good deal of examining and inspecting is done in Paris, and, I fear, not a little cramming is the result. In the United States each town has its own method of testing the work of the teachers. It chiefly rests with the superintendent and his assistants. Result examinations as understood in England, where the greatest drawback is the fact that the amount of money allotted to a school depends on the examination, are, as far as I am aware, unknown. When examinations are held at a definite period annually, they are for the purpose of promotions, not for publication of percentages and payment of grant. The following are a few notes I collected on how pupils are promoted : — Indianapo/is, Indiana. — "The pupils are promoted twice each year. They are examined by printed questions, prepared by the superintendent of schools. All who pass a creditable examination on these questions are pro- moted without further question. All pupils who fall low in the list, but whose daily work has been satisfactory to the teacher in charge, and to the supervisor in immediate charge of said teacher and pupils, are passed on the recom- mendation of these two persons— the greatest stress being placed on the teacher's estimate as being the more definite and intimate." Chicago^ Illinois.— ^^ In primary and grammar grades, promotions are made by the principal, with or without special examination, at his discretion. From grammar to high school pupils pass on the recommendation of the grammar principal. The superintendent holds a supple- mentary examination for those not recommended." Brooklyn., long Island. — " Semi-annual examinations, E 50 Teach rxG ly Three Coxtixents. promotions, and gradations are the rule. The superinten- dent may at his option prepare the questions for the examination of all the grammar grades, but he fnusf prepare those for the graduation examinations. Promotion is based solely on the record of scholarship for the term and at examination combined." Boston, Massachusetts. — " Promotions are made half- yearly. Principals are responsible for promotion from one grade to another in their own schools, but the (.questions for the promotion from the primary to the grammar, and from the grammar to the high schools are prepared by the supervising otftcers. The instructor's record of the pupils' work is a factor in promotion. Changes of grade not involving promotion to a higher department may be made on any IMonday throughout the year." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. — " At the time of my visit a long discussion was brought to a close by deciding that the superintendent may dispense with examinations for promo- tion, and depend on the estimate of the class teacher as to the progress and fitness of the pupil, only examining in the case of dispute." Washington, District of Columbia. — With reference to examinations, the Principal of the Normal School at Washington writes me: — "'Ranking by per cent.' is well nigh forgotten here, though not so very long ago it was important. We are glad to forget. Frequent tests — oral and written — are given by the supervising teachers, but the formal examinations, deciding promotions, are not held. Teachers promote pupils by the exercise of their judgment, after having ' summered and wintered ' them. All the year the pupils are being ' measured,' not more by the number of facts they can get and keep than by the power of their mental grasp in new lines. Teachers feel the added responsibility and dignity, and unprepared pupils are not sent on. If the teacher of the next grade thinks such How Work is Tested. 51 has been done, the supervising teacher has the power to decide. We like the system.''' San Francisco., California. — " Yearly written examin- ations have been dispensed with, and all promotions are made by the principals and class teachers, subject to appeal to the superintendent on the part of parents dissatisfied with the non-promotion of their children." In Toronto, Canada, the superintendent adopts the plan of having a certain number of questions on each subject drawn up by several well-known teachers. These are sent round sealed to all the schools on a given day, and in the presence of the pupils opened and distributed. All pupils in a given grade have the same questions. All the papers on a given subject are corrected by one principal. No results are published. Cincinfiati, Ohio. — The superintendent says : " An im- pression prevails that waitten examinations have been wholly dispensed with in Cincinnati schools. This is an error. The written test is no longer made the basis for the projnotion of pupils, and it no longer occurs at stated times, but it is continued as an element of teaching, where its uses are many and important. It is so distri- buted throughout the year, and comes without previous notice." Mr. Aaron Gove, Superintendent of Denver, Colorado, the most English of American superintendents I met, is not at all satisfied with many points of the American plan of managing education. He would like more centralisation and less of the elective principle ; but considers the change made by abolishing result examinations years since, as being entirely beneficial. Annual examinations form the principal test of work in the Australian schools, and are the chief, often almost the sole basis of promotions. The results are tabulated and the percentage of passes in each subject is published. This E 2 ,1)2 Teaching ijs/ Three Continents. percentage is supposed to be a correct measurement of the efficiency of a school, is published in the records, and on it depends directly or indirectly the teacher's position. In Victoria, a large proportion of the teacher's salary directly depends on the percentage of possible passes obtained. That is to say, the teacher is paid according to the results he obtains. He is a servant of the Education Department, and directly suffers if his percentage falls. I mention this particularly as a contrast to the English system, where the grant of the Education Department depends on the result of the examination, but where the payment is made to the managers or School Board as the case may be, the Education Department taking no cognisance of the teacher in the matter, he being a servant of the managers and out of the Department, although having to be approved by its officers. In South Australia the teachers are paid a bonus for successful teaching, as judged by the percentage gained, varying from sixteen to twenty-four pounds per annum. This bonus is the same for all teachers irrespective of their status or regular salary, and may form from six to twenty- five per cent, of the teacher's income. Should a school ob- tain less than sixty per cent, of passes, the bonus is deducted altogether, and may then be considered a fine of sixteen pounds for unsuccessful teaching. In the case of teachers of small schools, or junior assistants, the fine may amount to one-seventh or more of the total salary ; and it may happen in the case of an assistant whose particular class has done well, that he may suffer this loss through the failure of the rest of the school to secure the required percentage. So dominating has the examination become, that the average teacher is ever either worrying about the coming ordeal, or suffering a reaction because it is over. In New South Wales the examination may take place at any time, and extends over the work of the six months previous. It is more oral than that of Victoria, and less How Work is Tested. 53 individual than that of either Victoria or South Australia. In New South Wales no result payments or bonuses of any kind are made. Each teacher is paid a fixed salary from the public treasury according to the size of his school and his classification. His promotion depends on his success as a teacher and his attainments. His suc- cess as a teacher is judged by the percentage of passes and his special mark for skill. The latter is dependent on the impression he is able to make on the inspector and the per- centage of passes obtained. The Victorian examination bears the greatest resemblance to the system followed in England. In New South Wales a different plan is followed, charac- terised in the first place by a much greater fulness. In the second place — and here it also differs from the course followed in South Australia — no record is kept, and in most cases none is attempted, of the individual pass or failure of each pupil. The inspector conducts his examina- tion and awards a percentage of marks according to a scale for excellent, good, and so forth. The teacher takes a con- siderable part in the examination. The inspector examines a selected number haphazard, and the teacher a selected few, presumably of the best, the work being done orally and in class. A peculiarity of the examination is the marks given for "attention," "mental effort," and "mental cul- ture." This is a responsible part of the inspector's work, being an attempt to estimate not only the result of the teacher's work so far as the acquisition of facts is concerned, but the success of the methods of instruction pursued as educative processes. In South Australia the inspectors have to visit the schools twice each year, once for a preliminary or " surprise visit " — the surprise, not infrequently, being on the part of the inspector at finding everything evidently prepared in expectation. As a rule teachers know, to vsithin a few days, 54 Teaching in Three Continents. when to expect him, and acquaint one another when he is in the neighbourhood. At this preHminary visit he is to observe the school in its orchnary condition, note the methods of instruction followed, criticise and offer sug- gestions on the general work of the school, and report on the order, moral tone, discipline, and so forth. About one- fourth of his time is spent in making these visits ; the re- maining three-fourths being devoted to examinations. These take place at stated times in each school, and are the most important events in the year to pupils and teachers. On them depend the promotion of the pupils, the status, and, to a large extent, the prospect of promotion of the teachers. The system employed is the most elaborate of any with which I am acquainted, and there is probably even more value and importance attached to the examination than where the money consideration involved is much greater. Each pupil is individually examined in reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, language, drawing, and, for girls, needle- work in addition ; and the marks obtained by each pupil are recorded and kept. From one-quarter to one-third of the total marks obtainable are given for arithmetic. In addi- tion class examinations are conducted in geography, history, poetry, special and moral lessons, singing, and drill. Marks are also awarded for discipline and order. In reading one mark is given for a bare pass, and another for expression and an intelligent knowledge of the subject-matter. One mark is given for spelling as tested by dictation, and a second for a properly kept book, in which throughout the school year the spelling has been taught by transcription and dictation. In writing one mark is allotted for a finished copy-book, and one for a piece of transcription done dur- ing the examination. In drawing a mark is given for a finished book, and one for an exercise performed during the examination. From four to six marks are given for arithmetic — that is, from twice to three times as many as How Work is Tested. 55 for reading, writing, spelling, language, or drawing. The examination in this subject includes a mental and a written test, and the marks are divided between the two kinds of w^ork. I will make an exception, and add a set of questions in arithmetic for the fourth class, or compulsory standard, which it is necessary for pupils to pass before being exempt from attendance at school. Out of the five problems to be worked on paper or slate, at least three must be accurate in result, neat in execution, and correct in metJiod according to the idea of the inspector. Questions in mental arithmetic must be answered promptly, and three answers out of four must be correct. Example of questions set for fourth class pupils in South Australia. Mental arithmetic : — (i.) My draper's account amounted to ;,^55 los., but I received 2^ per cent, discount : what was the actual amount I paid ? (2.) Find cost of a gross of exercise books at 4|d. each. (3.) How many square yards in a paddock one mile square ? (4.) Take one-eighth from one-half, and what is left ? Slate or paper arithmetic, forty-five minutes allowed : — Class IV. (i.) A rectangular garden, 20 yards by 12 yards, is to be covered with 6 inches of manure. How much will it cost at 4s. 3d. a waggon load of 2 cubic yards ? (2.) What will 138 men earn in a week, if 89 men earn ;i^i53 los. 6d. ? (unitary). (3. ) If a watch is set right at 9 o'clock on Monday morning, and loses 2 seconds every hour, what time will the watch show when it is really 9 o'clock on the Monday following ? (4.) A man bought 100 acres of land at 45s. an acre ; spent ^"45 in fencing, and £2'ifi in buildings. At what price must he sell the whole land so as to gain 5 per cent. ? (5.) A ton and a half of potatoes are divided equally among 24 poor families. How many stones will each get ? 56 Teaching in Three Continents. The following is the approximate value attached to the various subjects as shown by the percentage of marks awarded for each. The calculation is based on the maxi- mum marks obtainable in an ordinary mixed school, under normal conditions of classification. About thirty-one per cent, of the total marks may be obtained for arithmetic, fifteen for reading, thirteen for spelling, fourteen for writing, fourteen for drawing, nine for language (this does not really show the importance attached to this subject, there being a special allowance for work in the junior part of the school), and four per cent, for needlework. In addition to the marks thus obtained, an allotment of not more than five per cent, of the maximum thus obtainable may be added at the dis- cretion of the inspector for the class subjects. The labour entailed in conducting an examination with the exactitude and detail required by the South Australian Education Department, is only equalled by the maturity of judgment necessary to make the whole affair anything more than a troublesome mechanical procedure. Probably, and I make this statement with due consideration after careful observation, no body of inspectors and teachers in the world have worked harder or with greater exactitude than those of South Australia. The English teacher complains, with justice, that the Education Department cares nothing for methods, and merely applies a mechanical test for results. The New York city teacher considers herself degraded to a mere machine by the way the superintendent has laid down methods by which every detail of the school work is to be taught. She complains that all individuality is crushed out by the working of a mechanical system. She not only has a given number of facts to teach, but a manual telling her exactly how she must teach it. The city of New York must not be taken as an example of the system followed in the United States generally. It How Work is Tested. 57 is the result of the extreme apphcation of a method found very effective elsewhere. Some writers have fallen into the error of considering that the same judgment of the schools of the United States may be formed from the schools of New York as may be in the case of England from the Board schools of London. The English authorities estimate the value of a school by what they consider the results, while those of New York do so by the way in which the teachers carry out the directions of the Teachers' manual. Speaking generally of America, it may be said that the machinery and methods are more valued as means of judging the work of the teacher than are the measurable results obtained. In South Australia the attempt is made to attain both these ends. The department directs precisely what shall be taught, lays down rules as to how it is best to teach it, and tests the results more minutely than any other educa- tional authorities with which I am acquainted. The usual criticism passed by American teachers on the South Aus- tralian code, was to the effect that the examination seemed to be too exacting. In England, on the other hand, the first expression on the part of teacher or inspector who examined the course of study, was to the effect that it seemed to leave the teacher no choice of either methods, books, or anything else. To some extent both the criticisms are correct. That they are not so to a greater extent is due to the unusual qualifications of the Inspector-General of Schools, whose capacity for work is only equalled by his love for the cause of education. Exemplifying that charac- teristic of many who themselves are actuated by most unselfish motives, he refuses to credit the majority of teachers with possessing any of that love for work for its own sake which is the controlling power in himself. As a matter of fact, I never heard a hard-working enthu- siastic teacher complain that the fiiethods laid down in the 58 Teaching in Three Continents. course of study in any way hampered his work ; but probably the teacher is not to be found who has not more or less complaint to make about the method of testing his work by an examination. If the methods are right, as they believe they are — being confined to general principles which admit of sufficient variation in detail — then it is contended that the examination is wrong, for it is impossible by it to test the methods employed. Moreover, the methods laid down are not rigid rules, but suggestions, and any teacher who can show a better way, or one more adapted to his particular requirements, is at liberty to follow it. My observations confirm my previous conviction as to the evils of the result examinations, and prove my conten- tion that they are not necessary to secure the best value for the public money expended. Teachers who have learned to work for no other object would, no doubt, do little for a time if they were suddenly abolished ; but they should gradually be made unnecessary, because they do not test the genuine work of the teacher. They are not a true measure of the pupil's intelligence, and very often not of his knowledge. They are detrimental to the intellectual, moral, and physical well-being of the children, and they are the cause of a certain amount of dishonesty in various forms on the part of pupils and teachers, though as often from omission as commission. Carried on at great cost of money and effort to secure reasonably, if not thoroughly honest work from lazy or dishonest men — for it would be manifestly absurd to spend so much money and effort unless it be to secure a proper performance of duty, and it is always admitted that the conscientious worker is better without the worry of outside interference — it fails in its purpose, while it tends to make a well-intentioned but somewhat weak teacher dishonest. But I would not dwell on the dishonesty caused, because that is not the most important of the objections to How Work is Tested. 59 the system of Examination to test results. The greatest evil of all, is the false view which is created of the use of the school. It has created the idea that education consists in the knowledge of a few facts, and the ability to perform a few mechanical operations, rather than the power to think, and the love for the acquisition of knowledge. CHAPTER IV. THE NEW EDUCATION. Kindergarten, etc. Conceptions of Education. — Cry for Practical Education. — Terms used. — Scope of Work. Kindergarten.— Conceptions of Term,— Nature of Frobel's Idea.— Means of Attaining it. — The Primary Grades of the United States. — Language Lessons. — Classes for Foreigners. — Course of Study in Receiving Class, San Francisco. — Want of Sympathy between Kindergarten and Primary Classes. — Infant School of England described. — No True Kindergarten connected with English Public Elementary Schools. — The American Kindergarten — Philadelphia, Toronto, San Francisco, St. Louis Kindergartens described. The Use of Pictures. Drawing and Form-Study. — United States ahead of England. — Massachusetts System. — System of New York State. — Supervisors. — Private Enterprise in Training Teachers. — Form-Study. — Language Lessons. " There is nothing new under the sun " is a much used aphorism, sometimes aptly expressing a truth, frequently hiding a falsehood. I am using the term "New Education," not because I like it, but because I found it in common use, and it appears to be the best available. The New Education is new only in a sense ; but in that connection it is new enough. There is nothing in regard to which educators or educationalists differ more than in the meaning they attach to the word "Education," and the means they would adopt to secure it for the young. I suppose it has always been so ; but at the same time there has been a dominating idea in each age, and among every people. To the Athenian, for example, education meant mental The New Education — Kindergarten. 6i and physical ]:)eauty — ^'a beautiful soul in a beautiful body" — and his chief means of attaining that ideal were, perhaps, gymnastics, music, and philosophy. Eloquence was the surest means of success in public life for a Roman — eloquence and debating power, in his idea, constituted the highest education. In the ages of aesthetic Christianity, the monastic idea prevailed that man was an utterly depraved, untrustworthy being, and education accordingly consisted in stifling and uprooting all natural instincts ; scourgmg the body that the soul might grow; destroying the house that the tenant might be happy in the ruins. During the period of the Renaissance, education became synonymous with classical culture, and a knowledge of the literatures of Greece and Rome in the original tongues. This idea, modified and broadened so as to include modern literature,, and later still, to embrace science, gives the pre- vailing conception of higher education in this latter half of the nineteenth century. But with this in itself I have nothing to do at present. All such conceptions were, in their realisation at all events, chiefly confined to a few ; but they have always supported a wider field of training which, less distinct, followed the same laws, and in its turn supplied its con- trolling parent with its vivifying power. But it is only of late years that education has extended to the whole people, and it is only since it has done so that the great development of educational thought has taken place— a development corresponding to the spread of the teaching of the newer, the more ennobling revelation of the rise of man, and confidence in his destiny. New and old are but relative in their meaning ; and, however old the idea may be, we are only beginning to practically put into operation the established conception that education is no longer to be considered a war against nature, but an alliance with her : not the suppression of inclinations, not training by what is 62 Teaching in Three Continents. distasteful and disagreeable, but the nurturing, the develop- ing of those loves and likes which so early manifest them- selves in childhood — fostering of the good, that the evil tendencies may not have room to grow. With the movement towards basing the training of young people on the principles of psychology, has grown up another, originating in the opposite wish to make educa- tion more practical, a more real fitting for the active duties of life, which the pupils will be called upon to fulfil when earning a livelihood. These two apparently antagon- istic movements are largely in harmony. They are, in fact, related conclusions, the one resting on empirical, the other on theoretical basis. No position can be stronger than that one based on scientific reasoning and demanded by practical experience. Either might err ; the two, never. This movement is variously known as Technical Edu- cation, Practical Education, Industrial Education, Whole Education, Utilitarian Education, Hand-and-Eye Education, Manual Training, the New Education, and by many other names. Its various advocates do not agree either in their reasoning or their demands ; but this is neither to be wondered at nor altogether deplored. It matters little by what name it is called, if the children get it; and get it they will, if their teachers have the wisdom to guide and the will to work. That which is passing away has done its work ; let us bow our heads in reverence before its departing spirit, and prepare to give it decent burial, raising over it the inscription, " Served its appointed time, and died hard." It is not my purpose to enter into the theory of modern education, but to record my observations with regard to some of the attempts being made to put it into practice. Science teaching will receive separate consideration. I propose in this place to compare the various concep- tions of Kindergarten, form study, and drawing, various The New Education — Kindergarten. 63 schemes of handiwork, hand -and -eye training, Sloyd, manual instruction, cookery and needlework, for ele- mentary and intermediate schools ; with technical, and industrial, and manual training for higher schools. These are undoubtedly the most warmly debated topics in edu- cational circles. The terms are used in a way which leads to much confusion ; but there are certain clear ideas round which the opinions may be grouped. These are somewhat broadly indicated by the arrangement I have adopted above. In dealing with the subject I have hesi- tated which of two courses to adopt. I might have taken the whole subject as dealt with in England, where the industrial idea predominates, and then pursue the same course wath respect to America, showing how the same work is advocated more from an educational point of view ; or, as for the present purpose seems preferable, I may treat each division as a whole in reference to the various countries I visited. KINDERGARTEN. The American conception of the word Kindergarten differs very much from the idea ordinarily conveyed by the same word in England, where, probably, no w^ord is more frequently used in connection with the progress of education. Yet I did not find one true Kindergarten in connection with an English public elementary school. I saw^ an abundance of so-called " Kindergarten work," but not a Kindergarten. In America, both in Canada and the United States, I saw many. After making a statement like this, it becomes necessary to recall the origin of the term and its significance. Such an inquiry may or may not prove anything with regard to the actual value of the teaching ; but it will show that the term Kindergarten as used in English schools, has very little of the meaning attached to it by the founder. The 64 Teaching in Three Continents. occupations are an essential part of the Kindergarten system, but do not constitute it. The idea apparently held by most infant teachers, and certainly by members of School Boards, and others whose interest in schools and school work is in the highest de- gree pleasing and beneficial, is that the Kindergarten is the preliminary stage of preparation for industries, and the begin- ning of manual work. In its way it serves both these ends. If children are to be prepared to become artisans and manu- facturers, the Kindergarten is the best beginning, because it gives the elements of industry from their starting point in nature. But this preparation is but incidental. It is equally beneficial without this ulterior object. In the true Kinder- garten, such as its founder contemplated, the industry of the child is a means. It does not attach value to the things made, but to the making of things. It is the experience gained in applying natural laws for making the inward thought appear in outward form. The paper mat, a drawing, or a piece of fashioned clay, is, or should be, the expression of an idea, which under the patient industry of the child has taken form outside the mind. The child expressed this very prettily when she told her mother during a chat about her school, that in drawing "you had to think and think and then put a line round your think."* And so, in my visits to Kindergartens and to infant schools, I did not wish so much to see the stores of pretty things which had been made, as to see why and how the children made them. If a mat be considered merely as a pretty thing to be made, it is worthy of a place in the school for little children ; and the infants' schools are therefore to be commended for introducing the busy work misnamed Kindergarten. But the mat must not be considered merely as a thing to be made; that is only incidental. I'rue, it * A fact. The Nfav Education — Kindergarten, 65 must be made ; but only as a means of awakening the in- ventive faculty, of utilising thought through the hands, to again stimulate thought. It is necessary to draw a clear distinction between the message of Ft-bbel^ with regard to education as a whole, which will be applicable to the requirements of children of all ages for some generations to come, if they do not, as his enthusiastic disciples assert, " prove the principles on which true education will be based for all time " ; and the system he worked out for the early education of childhood, which is known as the Kindergarten. Frobel's message is general, and is rather distinguished, as philosophy must be, by the absence of ".methods." It is a gospel . of love and unity, of harmony of nature, of common sense ; and therefore concerns the whole life of man in alfTiis relations, social and individual. Indeed, much is not new, but it is a clearly applicable statement of what is old. The way in which a certain branch of knowledge shall be taught is manifestly dependent on one's ideas of the nature of the particular study, which ideas are seldom or never alike in two generations. Frobel's writings are generally conspicuously free from references to methods and branches of study, but are full of the loving spirit which must pervade every successful method which has for its object the liberating of the eternal, life-giving forces of the human mind. With regard to the Kindergarten, the case is somewhat different. He did elaborate a system ; not rigid it is true, but not the less a system of harmonious development of the child in its first searches after knowledge. Recognising the child as a bundle of possibilities bound by three relation- ships — to God, to nature, and to his feilow-man — each involving necessities and duties, each capable of successful reahsation, each subject to the possibility of failure, he set F 66 Teaching in Three Continents. himself to develop a theory of child-education. The result was his Kindergarten, complete in itself for the conditions for which it was formulated. The threefold object is never lost sight of It is to be a complete world in miniature, a child garden, where the pupil will grow by itself through nature, but under the fostering care of the human gardener, who will keep back the undesired, and allow the good to grow in its own way. It was to take the child from the nursery, and introduce him into a community of his equals, in which the usual incidents of child-life are constantly taking place. These little difficulties have to be adjusted, and in the adjustment he obtains experience that has much to do with the formation of character. He must respect the rights of others as well as assert his own. The chief end and aim of a Kindergarten is to lead a child to love that which is good and true, and to do it by the utilisa- tion of those energies which are most pleasing and agreeable. To accomplish this aim, he considered that a child must pass through the same series of steps or stages as the human race in its upward progress. In other words, the way God has conducted the education of the human race must be the pattern whereby we should endeavour to educate the child ; but if we proceed aright we may spare the child the details of experiment. Much of his system is based on the motto, " Often may a symbol teach, what thy reason cannot reach^ He held that, "just as the savage has his fetich, as the people of antiquity in a higher stage of culture personified their ideas in the form of their gods and various allegories, as even the Christian Church does not attempt to make itself understood without symbols ; so the deepest need of childhood is to make the intellectual its own through symbols or sensuous forms." Children should therefore first read the only book God gave humanity in its child- The Ne]v Education — Kindergarten. 67 hood — the world in which man hves, the works in which He has manifested His divine thoughts. " School is the effort to acquaint the pupil with the true nature and inner life of things, and to bring him into a consciousness of his own inner life and nature, and to acquaint him with the real relation of things to each other and also to mankind, to the pupil himself, and to the living ground and self-conscious unity of all things." The means for the accomplishment of this high aim are contained in his remarkable book " The Mother Play and Nursery Songs," w^ith regard to which he often said, "I have here laid down the fundamental ideas of my educational theory : whoever has grasped the pivot idea of this book understands what I am aiming at " ; and the Baroness Marenholtz, who more than any one else has been Frobel's interpreter to the world, says, " The keynote of the book is the analogy between the development of humanity from its earliest infancy, and the development of the individual." That is to say, the fundamental ideas of Frobel's system are symbolism, analogy, the unity of life. The world is a great schoolroom of the human race ; all objects of nature are God's gifts to man for his educa- tion. These he symbolised by a few^ elementary forms in which are expressed all the properties common to material things, and which he termed Kindergarten gifts. Again, he held that the whole education of man comes through activities which are conditioned upon material things. The race has so developed, each individual so develops ; hence he was never tired of saying that children must learn by doing. Therefore the Kindergarten occupations correspond to the activities of the greater world of grown people, and the games abound in representations of animal life and of the phenomena of the external world. Frbbel said : — " The worth of my Kindergarten material is found exclusively in their application — that is, in the F 2 68 Teaching in Three Continents. method in which I use them. But this method consists in the appHcation of the law of contrasts and their connections. The ivJioIe meaning of my educational method rests upon this laiv alone. ^^ I have dwelt thus lengthily on what is in itself a very interesting subject, solely that I may not be misunderstood in references I make to the excellent but misnamed " Kin- dergarten methods " in elementary schools, and in connec- tion with manual training. Primary Classes of the United States. In no respect do the English and Australian elementary public schools differ from those of the United States and that portion of Canada which I visited, more than in the accommodation and method of teaching adopted for the younger children. The infant school of England and Australia has, so far as I am aware, no representative in America. In the greater number of the United States the schools are free for pupils from six to twenty-one years of age. Occasionally this varies. In Connecticut, for example, it is from four to sixteen, and in a few States it is from five to twenty-one. On admission the pupil enters the primary grade, the room for the accommodation of which does not vary greatly from those devoted to other classes. The children usually have exceedingly comfortable single desks and seats suited to their age, the blackboards are fixed nearer to the floor, and there is not infrequently a greater or less supply of pictures. The methods of teaching are adapted to the age of the pupils ; and prominence is given to exercises and songs. The methods of teaching vary con- siderably in different schools, cities, and States, depending largely on the opinions held by the ruling spirit, who is generally the superintendent. They also vary a good deal The Neiv Education — Kindergarten. 69 from those most frequently inculcated in English training colleges and practised in the schools. This necessarily follows from the fact that the requirements are different. In most of the States, for example, children do not deal with numbers higher than ten before they are seven or eight years of age ; but they perform any operation involving no higher number, first with objects and then mentally. Language Lessons. Again, great importance is attached to the language lesson, which is, I understand, unknown as such in English schools. These are to supplement all other lessons, and are probably the foundation of that faculty of ready expres- sion and correct speech among the mass of the American people. To what extent the origin of this excellent custom is due to the need for dealing with the children of foreigners, I cannot' say. In schools attended by new arrivals in Boston very little else can be done for some months. I visited several, where w^iole classes were unable to speak more than two or three words of English. The treatment of these children is worthy of notice. They are gathered into schools and placed in the primary classes — of course irre- spective of age — under experienced and capable teachers, who are unable to speak any language other than good English. Perhaps it w^as unnecessary for me to have said "capable teachers," for one can hardly imagine any but a capable teacher taking charge of forty boys of all ages and nationalities — Italians, Russians, French, Germans, Poles, Austrians, Polish Jews — unable to understand her, or she them, except by signs. The mode of procedure which proves so successful, is worthy of imitation by some who profess to teach French and German in English and Australian schools. These sometimes succeed —but that is 70 Teaching in Three Continents. through no fault of theirs. Usually they manage to create an utter dislike for the language they are supposed to teach by cramming a few unintelligible declensions ; but any knowledge of the language they seldom give. Grammar — which is created after a language — is placed by these people first. I must not digress further on this point. The teachers in these schools for foreigners teach their pupils English as a child learns it. The names of the most familiar things are taught first. The teacher holds up a hat, and making the pupils watch her mouth, she says, "This is a hat," several times, and they repeat the sentence. "This is a hat, this is a book, this is a slate, this is a pen," if she has the article in her hand; or if she points to it, " that is a desk, that is a coat," and so forth. Then she sends one child for a hat, another to bring a slate, a third to pick up a pen, and so on. The written language is taken at the same time as the spoken, and reading follows later. The principle followed is that nothing but good, clearly enunciated English shall be heard by the pupil, and all sentences must be complete. He writes nothing he cannot speak, and must speak all he can write. By the time these boys and girls have been at school a year or two, they are able to both speak and write fluently. Some make very rapid progress. I saw an Italian lad who entered the ungraded class not knowing a word of English at ten, passed through the eight grades of primary and grammar school by the time he was fourteen, and gra- duated fifth in his class for the high school. I heard his brother, who was doing equally w^ell, and several others, read from a piece of English poetry, with good expression and correct pronunciation. "This is the way we try and make Americans of the scourings of Europe, which our Government ought to prohibit from landing here," said one of the masters to me after I had spent some time in the school. The New Education— Kindergarten. 7^ In the primary grades of ordinary schools, the attention paid to language is a most noticeable feature. In addition to the regular Language Lessons, in connection with which pictures are largely used — some of the publishing houses selling special sets for this purpose — every oral lesson is supposed to be a language lesson. The children have to answer questions and make statements in the form of complete and correct sentences. I will quote a typical course of study in language for the receiving class of the San Francisco schools. Primary Grades. " Course of Study, Receiving Class. Language : — " Have familiar chats in pleasant, conversational tone, to enable pupils to gain freedom of expression. " Require complete statements from pupils in reference to their names and addresses, and about things which they see and do. " Require reproduction orally, of short stories read or told to them by the teacher. ' ' Memorise short gems of prose and poetry. " Name the parts of the body, as head, arms, &c., and their positions as to right and left. " Teach the organs of sense and the location of the same. *' Teach the names of the days of the week." The children entering the class for which the above directions are given would be from six to seven years of age. It is not unusual to find such instructions as the following in the manuals published for the use of teachers. These are again taken from the Course of Study for the schools of San Francisco, and apply to the receiving and first primary grades : — '■^ Music. — Singing and playing symbolic songs and games, motion songs and other songs, as prescribed in Kindergarten work. ** Physical Exercises. — Have physical exercises every half-hour, with windows and doors open, using arm movements and breathing exercises. 72 Teaching in Three Continents. '■^ Oral Inslruttion. — Teach the name, production, and use of sur- rounding objects. Hold familiar talks about such animals as the cat, the dog, the cow, and the horse ; also about parts of the human body, and the senses. • '■.'■Morals and Manners. — Teach self-control, and independence by encouraging true effort. Teach the value of cleanliness, industry, punctuality, politeness, honesty, obedience, and patriotism. '•^Kindergarten Inst7'2iction. — Apply the principles of the Kinder- garten Instruction in teaching all subjects, as: (i) Proceed from the known to the unknown, (2) Proceed from the whole to the parts, (3) Learn to do by doing. "All Kindergarten work under the direction of the special Kinder- garten teacher. " Use the six coloured worsted balls, the sphere, the cube, and the cylinder, the coloured sticks, the rings, and the tablets for observing les- sons to develop ideas of : — *' Colour. — Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. ^^Form. — Sphere, cube, and cylinder, and from these surfaces, faces, edges, lines, squares, and the like. All new terms and all new shapes to be taken from the object. '■'■Motion^ Position, Arrangement, Location. — Roll, slide, top, bot- tom, etc. ^^ Prominent qualities and objects. — Rough, smooth, hard, soft, and the like. ^^ Size. — Large, small, long, short, and the like. *' Occupation Work. — Sewing, weaving, paper folding, and clay modelling to supplement work with solids, tablets, sticks, and rings, and to work out ideas, gained through the use of these solids, etc. ^'Modelling. — Solids in clay, and a few simple objects based on the type forms. This programme, together with reading, writing, and arithmetic, constitutes the " course of study " for the primary grade of San Francisco, and, except that there is more " Kindergarten " than usual, may be taken as typical ; but from what 1 saw^ I am inclined to think that " Busy work " would be a better name than " Kindergarten work." Usually the teachers begrudge the time they have to give to the subject. Examples of mats, embroidery, paper folding, and clay modelling were always to be seen ; but the The New Education — Kindergarten. 73 replies of teachers outside a few special schools convinced me that the teachers do not yet understand it. They would use the words of one who, when asked what she considered the influence of the work on the pupils, said : " It is in the course of study, and I teach it." She was also not alone in her opinion that if " Kindergarten work " is to be taken, it should be before school age, />., before six, for after that age all time is needed for reading, writing, and arithmetic. The primary teachers do not usually consider the so-called Kindergarten anything more than manual training or busy work. The same may be said of most of the primary grade teachers whom I saw at work. In fact, some of the strongest opposition to true Kindergartens comes from the primary grade teachers. So far as my observation extended — and I paid con- siderable attention to this point — I have little hesitation in saying that there is as little of the true spirit of Kinder- garten in the primary grades of the schools of the United States as in the English infant schools. Perhaps it can hardly be otherwise. A watch case is of no use without the works, and if Frobel's system be com- plete it cannot be divided. It must be taken as a whole or left alone. When a primary or an infant school teacher understands the principles, laws, and symbolism of the Kindergarten, she will not attempt to tack on a part of the means therein adopted, but she will use the principles in other ways. Mrs. Mary H. Peabody not inaptly says : — " The Kindergarten as a thing complete in itself cannot be extended. As a form of training preparatory to the school, it is organised for and adapted to the youngest children, and as a form of instruction, with its occupations, games, and exercises limited to their working capacity, it cannot be used as a mere repetition in older classes. But while thus leaving the form, we still have to consider the underlying principles, elements, methods, and spirit of the 74 Teaching in Three Continents. Kindergarten, for these, if natural and true, will serve as a point of contact between the Kindergarten and school which is always seeking for natural methods, and often ground upon which schemes of education may be wrought out ; and so we have before us the true substance of the Kindergarten, the school as it is, and the possible union of the two upon the basis of a natural method of education." E7iglish Infant Schools. The English or Australian infant school usually consists of a large oblong room, with one or more class-rooms at- tached. Usually one of the latter is a small room with a gallery, known as the " babies' room," in which are children from three years of age. The large room is usually provided with — [a) A gallery on which all the pupils can be massed for singing and other united exercises, and very pretty and beneficial they are. The pretty and educative active songs of the infant schools are often identical with the symbol songs of the Kindergarten ; but they are disjointed units instead of being parts of a whole. [b) A large open floor space used for marching, and in the better schools for games such as form such a prominent feature in the Kindergarten. The large amount of work necessary for the examinations prevents full use being made of this part of the room. {c) A portion, sometimes terraced, sometimes with level floor, seated with dual desks for writing. In the more re- cently built English infant schools, the desks have adjustable tops, so that they can be made flat for "Kindergarten work" or sloping for writing. They are marked out in one-inch squares, the same as a Kindergarten table. The best schools are provided with pianos, which have usually been paid for by subscription, or with money raised The New Education — Kindergarten. 75 by concerts. Many which have no piano have a small harmonium for marching purposes. It would be impossible to speak too highly of some of the infant schools I have visited ; but many appear to have no higher ideal than the examination. I frequently left schools, feeling pained at what I had seen of little dots of children, whose young bodies and tender, budding minds are alike unfit for close and continued attention, having to spend more than half their time on backless forms, sitting in one cramped position of " attention " for more than thirty or forty minutes at a stretch, under fear of severe penalty, pre- paring for examination. Classes of fifty in charge of inex- perienced girls, who " don't mind teaching if they could only keep the children quiet ; but they are so 7-estless!^ I several times hastily excused myself and hurried out into the street, unable to longer bear the sight of mites of babies " from two to three years of age " learning to write, read, and do addition sums involving hundreds ! In one babies' room where this was going on, the pupil-teacher of the second year was in charge of fifty children, and said she had eighty towards the close of the year. She said, " she had to spend most of her time at reading, writing, and arithme- tic, but they had singing several times a week. They also made wool balls and did Kindergarten sewing. I asked what the Kindergarten was for, and she replied, "Ah, they got better marks at the examination if they did Kinder- garten." In another school, the mistress, in reply to a remark I made about the babies doing sums and writing, said, " Yes, I like to have them in as soon as possible, for I find that those children who commence at from two to three years of age make 'splendid fivers,'" which I found meant, would pass the required examination at five without trouble ! I believe it is not long since the English Parliament passed a Factory Act prohibiting the employment of child 76 Teaching in Three Continents. laljour ; and I read while in London of prosecutions of theatrical managers for employing children of tender years. The next need will be, if England retains her result system, an Infant School Act to ameliorate the condition of the poor little things who are supposed to be under a process of beneficial education ! I have spoken of two extremes. The greater number of infant schools are intermediate between the two classes I have mentioned. They are usually much more liberally provided with pictures than the primary schools of the United States. The teachers appear diligent and hard- working, according to the standard set before them. They are very anxious that a visitor should see how well the pupils write, the kind of sums they do, hear how they recite selec- tions of suitable poetry, and mark their proficiency in reading. The mechanical part of all these exercises is splendidly done. The work is all very desirable at the proper time, and for doing it the teachers are paid, or rather, it is the means by which the success attending the efforts of the teachers is judged. They may therefore be considered to fulfil their duties when they attain the ends fixed by the authorities. They do more than the minimum required ; but it is on the same lines, and is rather a matter for regret than commendation. They work conscientiously according to their light, and if the light is too often of the nature of twilight, the blame must be largely attached to the authori- ties. Of course, not altogether so : we cannot blame a man for not seeing the true beauties of a landscape through blue spectacles, but we can for putting on the spectacles. An account of the English infant school would not be complete without reference to the noble work of the women who conduct these schools in the poor districts, which are not usually seen by visitors. The tender motherly care which the children receive in these schools must be one of the most humanising influences at work in the great The New Education — Kindergarten. 77 cities ; but I did often wish that they would not further deaden the small spark of sensitiveness remaining in the breasts of the forlorn creatures, by wishing to show off the wretchedness and raggedness of the barefooted unfortunates in much the same way that a dime museum proprietor shows off his abortions and " curiosities." " This way, ladies and gentlemen, and I will first draw your attention to the curious freak of nature, the armless girl, who sews, knits, and plays the piano with her feet. You will " — and so forth, says the showman. In the same way some of these well-intentioned and, at heart, kind and sympathetic teachers, would call upon the most woebegone child in the room to stand and step out, while she pointed out the marks of his poverty loud enough for the pupils to hear, and in as matter-of-fact manner as a man might discuss the "points" of a horse at an agricultural show. In one school where this was done in several rooms, the mistress also made two com- fortably dressed boys stand out, while she explained that they had been as miserable as the others, but she had obtained clothing for them from friends. I consider such treatment positively cruel, whatever the motive may be. It is certainly unnecessary to point out marks of poverty to an Australian : it is one of the first things which strike him in Europe. I well remember my first experience in this respect nine years since. Things become noticeable by contrast, and the contrast between Australia and England is prominent enough in this respect. Would it not be well to make the salaries of the teachers of the schools in the poor parts of every city, higher than those prevailing elsewhere, and make the positions depend- ent on special qualifications ? Children everywhere require the best of teachers, but the need is especially urgent in the case of the poor little beings almost without homes. It is apparently in this respect that the Maternal Schools of Paris excel ; they feed and clothe as well as teach the children. 78 Teaching in Three Continents. Granting the correctness of my observations, I have sufficiently proved my statement that the Kindergarten as understood by the founder and his followers does not exist in connection with English public elementary schools, and that the work known as Kindergarten is misnamed, inasmuch as it is not, if it was ever intended to be, in keeping with the idea of Frobel's leading principle of analogy, or the unity of life. But I would again repeat that this has nothing to do with the value or otherwise of the work known as Kindergarten. In fact, I may state — for repetition in such a matter is useful — that the influence of even the small amount of Busy Work or Manual Instruction which I saw in the Infant Schools must be in the highest degree beneficial ; and I can further add, that I think the adoption of those principles of education which are common to all true plans of education, is doing much to revolutionise the work of the schools. The genial and able clerk of an important School Board, whose kind assistance in furthering my investigations I shall always gratefully remember, informed me that his Board had sent a teacher to Germany for three months to study the system (in St. Louis, Toronto, and other places, two years' study and practice are required in order to qualify for the position of director of a Kindergarten), and they had also brought over a German lady teacher to instruct their teachers in the system. His experience, and it agreed with that of most men who had studied the subject, was that the Germans were not practical enough. Frobel was not practical. His system was all theory; it would never get results. His ideas about symbolism and all that were altogether ideal. The English people had reduced Kindergarten to practice. Just so, and the reduction has been thorough. The resultant system is as complete, as the solemnisation of a wedding with the bride absent. The Kindergarten was never intended as an associate of The New Education — Kindergarten. 79 a system of teaching the conventionahties of learning, and is as much out of place there, as a Mississippi river boat on the stormy Atlantic. ^Vhat it was intended to do, and what its advocates claim it will do, is thus summed up by an English lecturer : " What the Kindergarten has to show are happy, healthy, good-natured children ; no proficiency in learning of any kind, no precocity, but just children in their normal state. The Kindergarten rejects reading, writing, ciphering, spelling. In it children under six years build, plait, fold, model, sing, act ; in short, they learn in play to work, to construct, to invent, to relate and speak correctly, and what is best of all, to love each other, to be kind to each other, to help each other." This aim I believe is attained in some private Kinder- gartens in England, although I did not see them ; but I visited infant schools whose teachers fully understand the aim, and would gladly carry it out if they had the oppor- tunity. They have made those principles, which Frobel did not invent, but clearly demonstrated, their own, and applied them in their work as he did in his Kindergarten. These teachers stated that they w^ould like the "Babies' Class " made a Kindergarten, and then proceed by a natural transition to the work, which they now have to enforce at an age when it is detrimental to the future wellbeing of the children. The American Kindergarten. What I have indicated that the most advanced English infant school teachers would like to do, is being done in " sixteen States and twenty-five cities " of the United States, as well as in, at least, one city of Canada. Frobel ex- pressed the opinion that " the Kindergarten could only have its full development in America, where the national principle is self-government; in perfect freedom, but accord- ing to law." However this may be, it was introduced early 8o Teaching in Three Continents. into the United States by his pupils, who founded private Kindergartens. It is not my intention to trace the history of the movement, which is typical of the manner in which reforms are almost invariably initiated in the schools of the United States, and as a few moments' thought will show, of other countries as well. The first Kindergartens struggled against great draw- backs. Ladies of means were attracted by the value of the principle, and provided funds for establishing charity Kindergartens, while others became popular for the children of well-to-do parents. About 1870, Miss Blow, an enthu- siastic Kindergartener, offered to train a teacher and direct a Kindergarten in connection with one of the schools of St. Louis, to show the adaptability of the system as a pre- paration for ordinary school life. After several years, the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Harris, now United States Superintendent at Washington, succeeded in inducing his committee to accept the offer, and the school Avas estab- lished in 1873, with an average attendance of forty-two. A gradual extension of the system has taken place since then. At the time of my visit there were fifty-three Kindergartens, taught by one hundred and thirty-one paid and sixty-five unpaid teachers, with six thousand two hundred pupils enrolled, and an average attendance of three thousand eight hundred pupils. In Boston, the progress of the Kindergarten movement has been chiefly due to the charity of Mrs. Quincey A. Shaw (daughter of Professor L. Agassiz, the Naturalist). In 1887, she started four schools at her own expense, next year she opened fourteen more ; all were free, and in connection with schools situated in districts inhabited by the labouring classes. In a few years she had established thirty schools, which she supported at an annual cost of nearly ten thousand pounds. About a year since she handed them The New Education— Kindergarten. 8i all over to the School Board, free of expense, on condition that the Board would work them. Not only has the Board adopted those so generously provided, but, having thus affirmed the principle, it is establishing Kindergartens as rapidly as possible in connection with the other schools. It must be understood in connection with this movement, that hitherto there had been no provision for the training of children of the age taken in the English infant school. The Kindergartens, therefore, of which I am speaking, take the place of the two first years of English infant school life. Philadelphia has largely adopted the public Kinder- garten as a sub-primary preparation, having in 1887 taken over twenty-five schools established in conjunction with the public schools by a private society, formed for the purpose of showing the School Board their value as an addition to the school system. The Superintendent objects to the name Kindergarten, although they are arranged on Frobel's plan, because it makes them appear as something separate from the public system, instead of being an integral part of it. He suggests the term " Sub-Primary." Public Kinder- gartens are being rapidly established and incorporated into the public school system in a great number of States, and will complete the gradation of American schools. In Toronto, Canada, true Kindergartens are being established as quickly as possible in connection with all the schools. A number are already in operation, and are being used as a training-ground for Kindergarteners for the new Kindergartens. A training- class is also in operation. Two years' training are required to qualify a teacher to take the position of director. A year is spent in a Kindergarten as voluntary assistant, or in a training-class. If a student is serving as a voluntary assistant, she must attend lectures several times a week on the theory of the gifts, occupations, and games. At the end of the year she must pass an G 82 Teaching in Three Continents. examination in practical work, after which she is ehgible for the position of paid assistant. Paid assistants meet once a week for instruction in Frobel's principles, etc., by the Supervisor. At the end of the year, on passing an examination in the theory and symbolism of the gifts, songs, etc., and satisfying the examiners with regard to ability for practical management, the teacher becomes eligible for the position of director. Mention should be made of the success of the private free Kindergarten in San Francisco under the presidency of Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, who for nine years has, with the aid of generous ladies of the city, established over thirty schools. Many persons of wealth have been induced to study the system and its work for themselves, and, becoming convinced of its value, have generously given money for the support of free Kindergartens. One wealthy lady has given over 40,000 dollars for this object, supporting eight schools, two of which she has under her direct supervision. There are at present over 3,000 children attending these free Kindergartens. The children are too young to be admitted to the public schools, their ages ranging from two and a half to six years, and would otherwise be receiving vicious training in the streets. In the Kindergarten they are taught habits of cleanliness and industry, and become familiar with the customs and usages of well-ordered lives. It is said that the influence of the Kindergarten is very noticeable when the children enter the public schools. They take a good place in the primary classes, and usually progress more rapidly. This is becoming, I believe, so apparent, that it is the cause of the growing desire to establish Kindergartens in connection with the public schools, as an integral part of the system. The teachers of these Kindergartens are veritable mis- sionaries, for, like their sisters in St. Louis and Boston, they The New Education— Kindergarten. 83 work in the homes as well as in the schools. If necessary, they feed and clothe the poorer children, who, in conse- quence, present anything but a disconsolate appearance to the visitor. " These ladies are often called upon to settle family disputes, to advise perplexed mothers, and to protect some of their little flock from the severities of drunken mothers, and the neglect of besotted fathers. When we reflect upon the conditions of such homes, we must bestow unstinted praise upon the women who thus go into them, to carry out their educational work with little children." The general plan of American Kindergarten rooms is as uniform as that of the English infant school rooms ; but just as the latter vary in details, elaborateness of finish, and furniture, so do the rooms for Kindergarten. They usually lack one feature of the ideal Kindergarten — that is, the small plots of ground where the pupils may plant seeds or cuttings, water, watch, and tend them, and enjoy for their own the product in the form of the resultant flowers. This want is to some extent supplied by the use of flower- pots and window-boxes. In St. Louis the Kindergarten, although associated with the public school, is usually more or less detached. Not unfrequently it is held in a room specially built in the playground, quite apart from the regular school. Such was the case with the first I visited. Others are attached to the main buildings, but have separate entrances. In this, convenience and economy are seen to have had the same influence as in the determination of the English infant school. In some cases Kindergartens are conducted in assembly or other convenient hired rooms. I visited one held in a fine, airy, well-lighted room over a beer saloon. This was in the quarter of the city chiefly occupied by German citizens, which constitute a considerable proportion of the population of St. Louis. To those who understand German customs, this will be quite sufficient to explain that no G 2 84 Teaching in Three Continents. comparison must be made between a Kindergarten over such a beer saloon, and an infant school over a London public-house bar or " gin palace." Still, it was explained that the arrangement was a temporary one of necessity. The accommodation usually consists of a large rect- angular room, generally lighted on two or three sides, with convenient cloak-rooms and lavatories, and plenty of cup- boards for the storage of new and used material. Three hours a day are considered sufficient for a child to attend a Kindergarten ; consequently, the same rooms are generally used for two sets of children. Some teachers work both morning and afternoon, but, as a rule, a different staff is employed for the afternoon Kindergarten. The rooms are invariably well built and nicely finished, being painted in unobtrusive, soft, harmonious colours. This will apply to nearly all the schoolrooms of the United States which I saw. They are always clean, always bright, always harmonious. At the commencement of the school year, when the pupils first enter the Kindergarten, the walls are merely decorated with a few pictures. At the close, they are fre- quently literally covered with decorative devices made by the children. I was sometimes shown designs which it was intended to work out during the year, all the work being done by the children ; the controlling idea being, that when the pupil first enters the Kindergarten there is sufficient novelty in all the surroundings to thoroughly exercise his powers of observation. To add more would distract him. As he becomes familiar with his surroundings, his con- structive powers are exercised in adding new variety and charm to his school home. The exercise is educative in many ways, not least in that it shows him how the com- bined efforts of himself and neighbours at dissimilar work produce a complete and harmonious result — the law of which Frobel was so fond. The New Education — Kindergarten. 85 The furniture consists of small bent wood children's arm-chairs, such as are used in nurseries, and small tables, each table to accommodate two children. The surface of each table is marked into squares of one inch, to guide the children in many of their occupations. In some cities large tables are used to accommodate ten or twelve children, but the St. Louis teachers advocate the small ones as being more convenient. A few minutes are sufficient for the children to move their own chairs and tables to the sides of the room, leaving the floor clear for games and exercises. The floor is usually marked with devices to assist in carrying out the games. One of the strongest arguments used by Dr. Harris, in advocating the establishment of Kindergartens, was the benefit they would be to the children of the poorer districts of the city, where it was found that pupils usually left school at ten years of age. Without a compulsory law, the period of school influence could only be extended by drawing the children into school earlier. I therefore visited several of the Kindergartens in the most disreput- able parts of the town. The surroundings tell their own expressive tale of the condition of the people, among whom the Kindergarteners are veritable missionaries. In one of the Kindergartens near the river, for example, the super- visor informed me that the director and her assistants had provided many of the children with the clothes in which I saw them, and that the difl'erence in the children since the estabhshment of the Kindergartens was marvellous. I do not doubt it. The teachers spend the last week or two of vacation in going round to the houses, and helping the mothers to get the children ready for opening day ; and thus are able to exercise beneficial influence on the homes in other ways, besides caring for the children." In this Kinder- garten were about seventy children, under a director, a paid assistant, and two unpaid assistants or " novitiate teachers." S6 Teaching in Three Continents. While I was watching the " work " proceeding in its ordinary way, a pigeon flew through the open window, and appeared much frightened at finding itself in a Kinder- garten ; but the children went quietly on with their play- work. Presently the bird settled on a window-sill and allowed the director to catch it. The pupils were then gathered quickly and quietly round her, and joined in a conversation about the pigeon. It was evidently not the first time that the director had had a live bird or other animal for the subject of a lesson. It was surprising how quietly the pigeon took all the stroking and petting, even feeding out of the children's hands. This incident gave me a clearer insight into the work of that Kindergarten than all else I saw. The bird knew it was among friends, and the children talked and acted as though they were in sympathy with nature. After a short time spent in chatting and playing with the pigeon, it was allowed to fly up into a window, where it remained until I left. The teacher then proposed that as a bird had come to see them, they should have a bird song and game, which they did. I visited several coloured Kindergartens — that is, Kinder- gartens for negro children — and highly interesting they proved. The singing was particularly good, the negro aptitude for simple melody being, no doubt, accountable for this result. The directors and teachers, as in all coloured schools, had more or less negro blood. Fre- quently the trace was so slight, that outside the United States it would probably not be recognisable ; but so strong is the feeling there, that such would not be allowed to teach in a school for white children ! The coloured people have " equal rights of citizenship ; " they are as well provided with schools, which are as well built, as well furnished, and more liberally supplied with teachers ; but they must not attend the same schools as their white fellow- citizens. I was unable to detect any difference in the work The New Education — Kindergarten. 87 of the two classes of Kindergartens. All are under one supervisor, and a liberal departure from custom has been made in allowing the coloured and white Kindergarteners to attend the same lectures on the method and practice of Frobel's system; and I saw a number of coloured teachers present to hear an address I was invited to give before several hundred Kindergarteners, on a comparison between an Infant School and a Kindergarten. Every Kindergarten is provided with a piano — it is an essential. They are sometimes the property of the school authorities, but more frequently are rented by the school at from two to four dollars a month. The practice of hiring out pianos appears to be much more frequent in the United States than in England, and they are much more frequently a part of the ordinary school furniture than in England. The Kindergartens of St. Louis are under the manage- ment of a supervisor, to whom I am indebted for very great assistance in thoroughly understanding the working of the system, the largest and most complete in the United States. Her time is spent in visiting the various schools, and in giving special preparation to the paid and unpaid assistants, who are learners. In this latter, she is assisted by one of the ablest directors, who receives an extra salary as normal instructor in programmes and occupations ; and unless ap- pearances are more deceptive than usual, a particularly wise selection has been made. The system of training has been arranged not on account of its perfection, but for reasons of economy. The average cost oi tuition per pupil in the public schools of the United States ranges from twelve to twenty dollars for the year of two hundred days. The cost of tuition in the St. Louis Kindergarten is given at six dollars. Sixty pupils entitle the director to a paid assistant, and one additional is appointed for every thirty pupils; but the 88 Teaching in Three Continents. present degree of success would never have been attained if no other assistance had been given. As a matter of fact, an equal or greater number of unpaid assistants are always found in the Kindergartens. Many — indeed, I believe the majority — never follow teaching as a profession. Young women of at least seventeen years of age, who have had a good education, and are not dependent on their own efforts to earn a livelihood, enter the Kindergartens for the sake of the training they obtain. By their aid, the children are divided into classes of ten or fifteen for the gifts and occu- pations, joining under the trained teachers for the higher work. These voluntary assistants meet once or twice a week for instruction in the theory and symbolism of the system by the supervisor and her assistants. After one or two years of this work, they may enter for the first exami- nation, after passing which they are eligible for the position of paid assistants, but still have to continue the outside study. This system has been of great value to the young women of the town. Hundreds of young women have thus ob- tained education in those valuable matters relating to the early training of children. The culture and thought derived from the study and discussion of Frobel's ennobling teaching, the knowledge and experience of child nature and development, are such a peculiarly fitting and invaluable preparation for the high and responsible duties of wife and mother, that many young women gladly enter the Kinder- gartens who would not otherwise engage in teaching. " It is useless to expect social regeneration from persons who are not themselves regenerated," and the St. Louis authori- ties consider that in thus disseminating the principles of Frobel, they are adding very greatly to the value of the public school system. The plan I have just described has a very serious draw- back. No city has adopted Kindergarten so extensively as The New Education — Kindergarten. 89 St. Louis : yet in no city I visited are the primary and grammar school teachers so opposed to it. It is a system within a system, and not a part of a comprehensive system. The Kindergartener thinks her mode of training perfect, and denounces primary methods which she does not under- stand. The primary teacher knows nothing of Kinder- garten except that " the children who have been in Kinder- garten are so inquisitive, won't sit still and listen, want to know the reason of everything, and don't know any more of reading and writing than those who come straight from home." Do they learn more quickly? I repeatedly asked; and the reply was generally a reluctant admission that they did in anything that required thought, but not in remember- ing. That they learned arithmetic more quickly was nearly always admitted. The object of the primary teacher's work is "to teach to read, write, and do sums." The Kinder- garten does not do that ; therefore, she says, the Kindergarten is not practical : it is a waste of money and time. These antagonistic forces are represented on the School Board, and there is a constant fear lest the enemies should prevail, and displace the Kindergarten from the school system. Philadelphia, Boston, and other cities, are avoiding this danger by a proper system of training their teachers. Before a normal student can take up the study of a speci- ality, she must graduate in the usual general course. The Principal of the Boston Normal School remarked during a chat on this subject : " I am becoming more and more convinced that each subject should be taught by special teachers with special fitness and training ; but the special training m.w%i first of all h^ based on general training. By this means the teacher will first see the relation of all the subjects to one another, and will not try to subordinate all others to his special study. Take Kindergarten teachers, for example. We give a general training in Kindergarten principles in our general course \ but the ordinary student 9o Teaching in Three Continents. is not fit to be a Kindergartener. She knows enough of it to see its objects, tendencies, and methods, and this will show her whether she has a taste and fitness for it. If she has, her special training is based on her general. She no longer thinks the Kindergarten is the ideal and only mode of teaching, and does not look on all other teachers as enemies to her system. On the other hand, the primary teacher does not look on the Kindergarten as a fad of a few specialists. She gives it its place and the Kinder- garten her sympathy ; and is able to take advantage of the Kindergarten training of the child when it comes under her care." THE USE OF PICTURES, As a rule, the English Board schools are very much better provided with pictures, than the American, or even the Australian. Sometimes their gaudy colouring and imaginary character suggests that their educative value is not great; but, generally, their influence must be very beneficial, although in some cases appearances, supported by conversations with the teachers and talks with the child- ren, would indicate that they are not made to serve to the greatest possible extent the purpose for which they were bought. Here again the false principle of the Education Department is to blame. The standard is fixed. Reading, writing, arithmetic, must be taught. Inducement in the shape of additional money grant is held out for the teaching of grammar^ geography, object lessons, and so on. In the majority of cases the teacher would gain no extra credit — I do not refer to money, which is, in this case, a second- ary consideration — were he to use them to the best ad- vantage. The attitude of the authorities is wrong ; the blame is with them, not with the teachers. I think that the following quotation from a little work by Mary E. Burt, of Chicago, will apply in this case. The New Education — Pictures. 91 " The most natural thing a man can do when he is trusted, is to try to rise to the level of the occasion. If he does not reach the standard, he will reach in the direc- tion of it. If he does not reach it the first time, he will reach more nearly to it the second. Every time the ideal is put before him he will reach a little closer to it. I do not mean the faith that pretends to believe, but ' keeps an eye open ' to make sure, as some teachers trust their pupils ; but the absolute faith that God has in man. The most natural thing a man can do w^hen he is suspected, is to lower his standard of action to meet that occasion. Let a child or man think that you suspect him of being capable of intentional wrong, and he is very likely soon to justify you in that opinion." I believe there are many School Boards with wise, broad- minded men controlling their affairs — men who, grasping the true scope of elementary education, seek to carry their ideal into practice, and use every means to make the schools serve their legitimate purpose. In their schools, earning the merit grant is considered a necessary evil, not an end. I also had the pleasure of meeting, outside such boards, many teachers with a nobleness of purpose, a depth of con- viction which no false legislation could affect. The good of the children is to them the first aim ; " results " a neces- sarily important but secondary consideration. Considering the unsurpassed character of American books and printing in general, and the elegance and com- fort of the school-rooms, I was continually surprised at not finding more pictures in the schools of the United States. In San Francisco, teachers pay considerable attention to providing pictures for composition and other exercises. For the former purpose the illustrated papers are largely utilised. In several schools were good pictures of Queen Victoria, the Emperor of Germany, Mr. Gladstone, Prince 92 Teaching in Three Continents. Bismarck, and other famous personages, as well as of noted places, all of which had been the subjects of composition exercises. They are utilised in various ways. For example, the teacher takes a picture, say, of Prince Bismarck, and gives a biographical sketch, or tells a story about the subject of the picture, which the pupils reproduce. The same may be done with an ordinary sketch from life, an illustration of some scene in a foreign country, with or without a sketch of the picture. The practice thus given in some schools has produced a facility for sketching quite noteworthy, and shows clearly that drawing from copies is useful in its place. I found that from this exercise some had developed the power of illustrating a story told them with capital original sketches. I saw this kind of work in many schools, and had the pleasure of looking over the ordinary class exer- cises. Trained in this way, and with plenty of blackboard practice, the teachers often show a wonderful power of illustration with a few lines of chalk ; in fact, American teachers are more ready with chalk and blackboard than any I have met. Another exercise in frequent use in many parts of the United States, as well as in San Francisco, is, placing a picture before the pupils, and, without any explanation, ask them to describe it and put the story it tells into words. I consider this exercise a very valuable one when used in its proper place, and was more than once struck with the powers of observation and description developed by it. I am aware that it is not always wise to form conclu- sions from what one sees during an ordinary visit. Some teachers — I believe and hope they are few— consider that pictures and maps are best kept in portfolios, or rolled up, except when they are required for direct use. This usually means that when they are required for reference they are not available. So far as the maps are concerned, there The New Education — Pictures. 93 are two reasons for their not being displayed. In the first place, they are usually mounted on spring rollers, so that they fold out of sight in a neat case ; and this being fastened to the wall, the map is always available by pulling it down in the same way that a modern window- blind is unrolled. When no longer needed, it is allowed to wind itself up again. In the second place, every school-boy or girl has one of the profusely illustrated, and splendidly printed com- bined atlases and geographies, always ready for reference. Consequently wall-maps are comparatively rare. When a large map is required for class-teaching, the teacher's handiness with the chalk, and the large available black- board space, quickly provides one to illustrate just what is wanted. I noticed that coloured chalk was generally available for this and similar purposes. It was not unusual to find a well-drawn map of the particular State in which the school was situated, on the blackboard of a junior room. In the newer schools of Philadelphia I noticed that the rooms not unfrequently had very bold large maps illustrative of the special geography of the classes which occupied them, painted in oils on the walls. Sometimes these were imitation relief, and the effect was very good. Occasionally I found enthusiastic teachers with large maps in bold outline, on which they had fastened the products of the different countries in their proper place. One teacher, who must have gone to considerable trouble in thus pre- paring a map of the world, and, with her pupils, was reason- ably proud of their joint work, when she saw me look at it, apologised for Australia being so bare. She remarked with perfect truth that the geographies said very little about Australia, and she had no means of obtaining the products of the country. In England the schools appear to be usually well pro- vided with large bold prints illustrative of natural history 94 Teaching in Three Continents. and geography. They are generally either German pro- ductions, or English editions of German pictures. Know- ing the fondness of the Americans for German ideas on education, I was almost as surprised that these prints were not more frequently seen in the schools of the United States as that pictures should be so little used. The schools of South Australia are usually well supplied with maps and diagrams by the Education Department ; and, in addition, the teachers are encouraged to add pic- tures. The Department has adopted a plan with respect to maps which is worthy of imitation. Geography is a neces- sary subject of study in all schools ; but the wish of the authorities is that the memory should be burdened with few names of places ; but that the teachers should endeavour to give their pupils as realistic an idea as possible of what the country is like, the kind of people who live there, what articles they produce, and so forth. In furtherance of this object, a series of wall maps have been prepared in the Government printing office, in which it has been the en- deavour to combine attractiveness of appearance with bold and striking outline. Only such details are inserted as it is necessary to teach. The course of instruction states, under the head " General Principles " : — "The object of the lessons in geography is to give the children a fair general knowledge of the world in which they live. "It is too often the custom to require the learning of a great many names of capes, rivers, mountains, etc., which are entirely devoid of general interest. Every teacher should lay it down as a fundamental rule never to teach the name of any place unless he is prepared to associate it with some fact of interest. " Every school will be supplied with (i) a compass, (2) a globe, (3) the requisite maps, (4) such diagrams as may be necessary. The New Education — Pictures. 95 " Teachers are strongly recommended to form for their own use a small collection of pictures, which will be found of the greatest use in giving intelligent and lasting ideas as to the various parts of the world. Old numbers of the Graphic^ Illustrated London News^ and other periodicals, will be found useful, and Messrs. Cassell publish many excellent illustrated geographical w^orks." Relief Maps are most frequently seen in Paris, where the ordinary printed map is now out of date. When relief maps are not used, they have a process of representing the relief surface on the flat paper which is very effective. Definition maps are common in English schools, and some are very good representations of the features of land and sea. These are not nearly so frequently seen in the schools of the United States ; but, instead, the primary rooms in many cities are provided with large combination modelling trays and tables, about four feet by three feet, made of stout light wood, the tray being about three inches deep and Hned with zinc. It is so arranged that it can be used flat when the pupils stand round, or raised at a convenient angle for pupils to see from their places. Provided with a supply of fine, clean sand, this becomes a most useful aid to good teaching. In some cities these trays are found in every room, and the visitor not unfrequently finds a class or a sec- tion of a class standing round, all engaged in a united effort at making a relief map of Europe, the United States, or some other continent or country. This plan of modelling maps in sand is in use in South Australian schools, but the con- venient trays are absent. In London I came across a kind of relief definition map superior to everything else I have seen ; but its weight and expense will prevent its general use. It was a model in cast iron, about four feet square, on which every geographical definition could be represented. By pouring a bucket of water the sea was formed ; by a little arrangement with a 96 Teaching in Three Continents. can of water placed at an elevation, and a thin rubber tube, the rivers were set running ; a candle underneath would make an active volcano, and a few grains of powder an eruption. DRAWING AND FORM-STUDY. It often occurred to me that the value of the drawing, which I inspected as an adjunct to manual training no less than as an item of the greatest educational value, was in very different — sometimes directly opposite — proportion to its " show value," often curiously called " artistic merit." The elementary schools of the chief centres of the United States are in drawing as distinctly in advance of those of England, as the average English school-girl is ahead of her American cousin in her skill in needlework. Drawing in most of the English public elementary schools appeared to me to be most unsatisfactory. Neither has a poor system been followed generally, nor a good one partially. When the subject was taught at all, it con- sisted, in the lower grades, of a little copying of figures composed of right lines on slates ; in the intermediate, a little freehand and mechanical copying on paper ; in the higher classes, the same, with a little drawing from simple models. It could not by any charity be considered an educational, much less an art course. A few School Boards, notably Birmingham, were to some extent exceptions. But as I believe drawing is to be made compulsory, and in other respects placed on entirely a new footi-ng, it would be manifestly useless to enter further into a discussion of the subject here, or to transcribe the notes of work I saw. If the gentlemen directing the Science and Art Department can see their way to do it, they have all the knowledge, and are not lacking in the desire, to make the teaching of drawing worthy of England. The Neiv Education — Form -Study. 97 The progress made l)y the United States has been due, I believe, to the work initiated by Walter Smith, whose name I found to be honoured from the Mississippi east- ward. He was imported from South Kensington by the State of Massachusetts twenty years since, when it was de- termined to make drawing a fundamental feature in the education of the people. As sketched out by Mr. Smith, it was on English lines, especially valuable as leading to art education. It had features which did not suit the American mind; and Mr. Smith, able and strong, a master of his business, with conscious knowledge of his power, would not bend ; and, in consequence, met with much opposition. The unbending rigidity, akin to stubbornness, of the English- man, is not the surest or most direct means of attaining an end in America. The aphorism of Franklin — " He who will bend his head will save himself many a hard knock "— is largely followed by American public men everywhere. If it is not, they cease to be public men. The American likes to take the shortest course to the end he has in view ; but the direct road is not always the best, and if it has objec- tions, he will not wear himself in breaking them down, but will go round : but, to quote the Western expression, " he gets there all the same." When a proposal is met with oppo- sition, showing to his quick mind that he is doomed to defeat, he does not take the defeat : he withdraws — he goes round. As likely as not, it is not the reality, but what is imagined to be such, that people oppose. He "introduces his proposal in another form, and people are delighted; and instead of having his purpose defeated, and himself being relegated to the adornment of obscurity," he accom- plishes his end, and is rewarded with the plaudits of his former opponents. This is not always beneficial, or con- ducive to the best type of character ; neither is stubborn- ness, which is the opposite characteristic. Walter Smith's unbending adherence to the one course H 98 Teaching in Three Continents. which he believed would answer the purpose for which he had been taken to America, and perhaps a not too pleasant way of asserting his convictions, cost him his health; but the work he did for his adopted country will never be lost. Such is the substance of what I heard of him in many places, and probably he did his work in the only way possible for him. That work has been modified very much, but formed the nucleus, out of which has been evolved various systems of form study and drawing for primary and grammar schools, of the highest educational value. Industrial drawing is a required study in all the schools of Massachusetts. {a) Because of its educational value. {b) Because of its industrial value. The State Board issues an excellent course of study, which includes modelling in clay, paper-folding, and kindred occupations. "Throughout the course, models and objects should be constantly used, for correct ideas of things can only come from observing the things themselves. The forms should be observed by both eyes and hands, and the knowledge thus gained should be spread in three ways — by Language, by Drawing, by Construction. Language means the expression of knowledge by words, either oral or written ; Drawing the expression of knowledge by lines, re- presenting the forms ; Construction the expression of know- ledge by forms : that is, by making the forms themselves." Several other States, as well as many cities, publish courses of study, proceeding on the same general principles. In very few if any progressive centres, is drawing taken as a subject of study in itself. It is almost invariably asso- ciated with form study. The introduction to the course of study adopted in 1888 by the State of New York very con- cisely expresses the views generally very elaborately enun- ciated by the various superintendents in discussing the subject. The New Education — Form-Study. 99 " The term Drawing very inadequately expresses the nature of the study it is desirable to have taught in the schools under the name. When the subject was first intro- duced into the schools, it was very properly called drawing, inasmuch as the work of the pupils consisted principally of drawing from printed copies; and the instruction was de- voted mainly to the training of the hand and eye in copying. As the study has developed, however, under the influence of educational methods, the character of the instruction and work of the pupils have entirely changed. "The study of form, as observed in models of type-forms and in objects, has taken the place of the study of printed copies j and the instruction has been broadened so as to include the cultivation of the observing powers by the study of things on the one hand, and the expressive powers, through drawing and language on the other ; Drawing, how- ever, beyond the elementary work, being the principal means used in expressing form-knowledge and its applications. "Thus it will be seen that Drawing is only a feature in the important study of form ; while in the application of form-knowledge, both in education and in practical life, it becomes the principal means for expressing thought. Hence the proper title for the study is form-study and drawing, and not drawing alone." The syllabus which was adopted by a conference of principals of normal schools and teachers of drawing, with the Hon. A. S. Draper, State Superintendent, is arranged in accordance with the ideas expressed above, and is divided into two parts. The first, or elementary part, is devoted to gaining a knowledge of the properties of forms, from models of type-forms, and from objects based on them. In this division it is intended that the aim shall be to develop the pupils' powers of observation, and to give training in the means of expressing thought in regard to form, through drawifig and language, H 2 loo Teaching in Three Continents. In the second division, the study of form in objects is still continued ; but it is now the aim of the instruction to give expressibn to this form-knowledge, and to make application of it, mainly through drawing. In this division the course of study prepares broadly for general education, and for practical life. The plan is nearly always followed of placing the teach- ing of drawing of a town or city in the hands of a super- visor, with or without assistants, according to the size of the place. Under the direction of the supervisor, the work is carried out by the ordinary teachers. At stated times, generally one evening a week, or on Saturday mornings, the teachers have to meet at a central school to receive instruction in the work to be taken, and to discuss the progress being made. The supervisor spends his or her (most of the supervisors are ladies) time in going from school to school, giving lessons, and testing progress. The plan appears to work well, and was spoken of as thoroughly satisfactory by all the superintendents whom I questioned on the matter. Although the general and prevailing principles are the same, each supervisor has her own peculiar ideas ; conse- quently, there is considerable variety to be found in the work from different centres. In one, modelling in clay is prominent; in another, paper-folding and cutting, and modelling in cardboard, is highly valued. Some super- visors prefer books; others will not allow them to be placed in the hands of children, but use either separate sheets of paper, or drawing pads. In one thing all are agreed, viz., in the use of plain paper. / did not see slates being used for drawing anywhere in the United States, and only once did I see paper ruled in the small squares so common in Germany in the primary classes. In all the leading States — under every progressive supervisor, in fact, as far as my observation extended — wherever drawing is a special sub- The New Education — Form-Study. ioi ject, the old plan of commencing to draw straight lines is discarded. The first model studied is the sphere; and a circle, being its representation on paper, is the first figure drawn. I admitted while in the United States the educative value of the course of study taken; but I carefully re- frained from expressing an opinion as to its comparative value as dratving. After what I saw in Europe, I have now no hesitation in saying that the system I saw followed in Providence, Springfield, Chicago, St. Louis, and many other cities, is the best plan for elemejitary schools which I have seen. With regard to higher work, I as carefully wish it to be understood that I express no opinion any way. I would however remark that my observations appear to indicate that in individual cases — limited, however, by the personal influence of the teacher — other methods will pro- duce much better results as far as power of representation by drawing is concerned. The features of the plan of form-study and drawing, which appeared to me to be most in its favour as applicable to elementary schools, are : — 1. It can be taught right through the schools by the ordinary teachers, under the guidance of a qualified supervisor. 2. It is distinctly educational, being based on sound psychological principles. 3. It does not stand as a subject by itself, but is in harmony with and can be taught in connection with other studies. 4. It is attractive and popular with the pupils. 5. It produced as good or better average results in freehand and mechanical drawing, as any other system I have seen in general operation. I believe that not a little of the success which has attended the progress and development of this system of T02 Teaching in Three Continents. form-study, and drawing, has been due to private business enterprise. In fact, it is sometimes difficult for an occasional observer to decide whether business or education is the chief aim. A httle inquiry will generally dispel any illu- sions ; but it is nevertheless true that in America, as well as in England, there are publishing houses (not those who appropriate English copyright) which, while ensuring finan- cial success, touch nothing which has not for its object the progress of the world. The Prang Educational Company, for instance, is a business concern, and on that account should, strictly, be excluded from these notes ; but it is also an educa- tional factor in the Progressive movement of education, and as such should be noticed. As a business concern, I presume the wish is to sell as much material as possible ; but in the ordinary way of business they would not do this, because it is only those who make true education their aim in the teaching of drawing, who will use their books. They have first of all to create a demand, by training teachers who understand the true principles of Progressive education, and, in consequence of the special nature of their training, consider that the Prang method fulfils these conditions. The system is called Form-Study and Drawing. Much of it would be termed by English teachers Kindergarten work, or hand and eye training. While it has a special aim in itself, it is interwoven with and cannot be separated from, the rest of the school work. In fact, it is part of a system of education which refuses to be marshalled into regiments and companies, each under its own leader, and capable of individual movement and action. In its working it is very elastic, allowing great play for the individuality of the teacher, or the peculiar conditions of the locality ; so that, although I found the principles everywhere the same, the practice was modified under each supervisor. The New Education — Form -Study. 103 The Company has several systems of Instruction for teachers wishing to introduce a system of Form-Study and Drawing — of course hoping that those thus instructed will bring about a greater use of their material. One of the most successful plans is the " Prang Normal Drawing Class for Home Study and Instruction by Correspondence." The students, scattered all over the country, are supplied with the manuals of study, models, clay, &c., and each week have to work the required number of exercises and forward them to Boston for criticism, together with questions, and so forth. I saw a number of exercises as they came in, and others ready to go out again. They varied in quality, but generally were very good. The plan the Company prefer, however^ is for the student to attend the normal class, held in their rooms in Park Street, Boston. I had the pleasure of being present at several of the meetings, and as I had already seen much work under this or kindred systems in various cities, the meetings were more than usually inter- esting. The students work through the course of study, each one taking her turn as teacher, the remainder acting the part of pupils and performing all the exercises, answering each question in a complete sentence^ as they are taught to insist on their pupils doing, making each model in clay, fingering the wooden models, drawing on paper and blackboard, acting, in fact, as if they were children. This is found even more difficult than conducting the lesson ; but is insisted on by the director of the class, who believes that teachers will only properly understand the steps of the lessons and the difficulties of the children they will have to teach, by actually going through the process themselves, though of course much more quickly. At the close of each lesson a general discussion takes place. This discussion is a distinctive feature in American education. It is attempted in England and Australia, but not with the success that is reached in America. All know I04 Teaching in Three Continents. how difficult it is to get pupils to talk and question freely on a lesson ; and a corresponding difficulty is found in deal- ing with adult students. In the case of boys and girls, the influence of the old maxim, " Children should be seen and not heard," has not yet departed ; and consequently, in the older country boys and girls are to a greater extent expected to listen to the wise words of their teachers in respectful silence, and "understand these things when they grow older." One lady started a discussion by asking the question, which she had evidently thought over before : — *' Suppose a teacher who has mapped out her work, during a lesson finds that she will either have to assist the pupils more than she thinks is wise, by telling them what they should discover for themselves, or only give part of her lesson. Should she let the pupils take their time, or help them?" The result arrived at was: — "Let the child take his time; for if his mind be developed his capacity will increase, and the apparently lost time will be made up later ; whereas, if he be told, his power is weakened. A programme is for the help of a teacher, not to be his master." They did not take into consideration an in- spector and the dread of a " result examination," with its efforts at making pupils advance in an unbroken line, like a company of soldiers ! At one meeting the subject of Language Lessons in con- nection with Form-Study was discussed. I have referred elsewhere to the importance which is attached by American teachers to the need for cultivating the faculty of expressing one's ideas in suitable language, and its influence on the people at large. Every visitor notices the superior con- versational powers of the average American over the cor- responding Englishman. This is 7iot due to accident or climatic effect^ but is the result of careful training. The polished eloquence of the exceptional Englishman is un- equalled ; but how few really good speakers there are ! The The New Education — Form- Study. 105 exceptional Englishman is, maybe, superior to the excep- tional American ; but the average American is a far better speaker than the average Englishman. As the aim of education is to do the best for the greatest number, the superiority of the Americans in this particular, granting the correctness of my observation, is proved ; and I do not think that any one who has attended a number of American meetings, either general or pohtical, and is able to compare them with similar assemblies in England, will be likely to disagree. This is not only my own experience, but that of many with whom I have compared notes. Mr. Clark, the manager of the Institute, in impressing upon the students the great importance of the Language Lesson, stated that American children entering school usually have some two hundred words at their command, although the number is sometimes as great as six hundred. The teachers should carefully note new words used by various children, and use these in the Language Lessons to record and impress them ; for when a pupil discovers a word its use is natural and spontaneous, and it is wise to give all the benefit. At another meeting the same subject came up for dis- cussion in another form. The subject under consideration was the mental development of children. Of course, the old methods of education came in for their usual share of condemnation ; and I must digress here to say that it is surely possible to inculcate good ideas of education, without absolutely condemning all other conceptions as more or less incorrect. That they are so considered should, contrariwise, rather teach us that the one just then advocated as infallible may possibly also be less perfect than it seems ! It is to some extent a matter of opinion whether " old educators seemed to have no definite ideas as to why they insisted on certain studies ; but hoped, like the man who fired at a flock of birds with a scattering io6 Teaching in Three Continents. gun on the chance that some might be hit, that in some unknown way the child's mind would be developed." I am, I hope justly, considered to be in favour of what is termed " the New Education," because I think that both methods and means of education must change with the continually changing conditions of men and nations. As with any statement of religious ethics, or of philosophy, so with the enunciation of the principles of education. They are true only for the time, condition of thought, and develop- ment of the people who make them ; and can only be rightly understood in their relation to the conditions under which they existed. But the wiser course is not to condemn the old system, under which the grand and great men in times past grew to be intellectual beacons, and by which we have grown to be what we are prone to consider ourselves — not only the latest, but the greatest and best development of civilisation ; but to devote our energies to preventing people from attempting to make them still serve under a new condition of things. Whether that condition is an improvement does not affect the argument. It is the only possible condition until a new one is brought about. However, having relieved himself and amused his hearers with his short tirade against the old, the pre- sident gave one of the nicest little expositions of our new idea of mental development which I have heard. It was not new, but splendidly put. I cannot reproduce it, as his use of the blackboard — one of the strong points of the American teacher — formed one of the most valuable features. Briefly, he argued that the brain receives its stimulus through the senses being aided by the secondary stimulating faculties — memory, imagination, and will ; and expresses itself chiefly by two agencies — the tongue and the hand. If information be poured into the brain, it soon becomes surfeited ; but set the faculties of expression to work, and a current naturally flows to replace the drain. The New Education — Form-Study. 107 The teacher should therefore merely provide knowledge ready for assimilation, but place himself on the " expression side " of the child, and draw out ; because what is expressed through language or by the hand must enter by the senses, and be enriched by the secondary agencies — memory, imagination, and will. If mental activity is employed in giving out, there need be no fear but that the assimilating faculties will be suitably employed. A prominent feature of drawing, as taught in the schools of the United States, is the large amount of blackboard work. It is no uncommon sight to enter a room, and find all the pupils standing round the room drawing on the blackboard. This, of course, is only practicable where the custom is to have continuous boards round the room — a custom, by the way, which I consider worthy of imitation. This practice of blackboard drawing has an important bearing on the power of illustration possessed by American teachers. CHAPTER V. THE NEW EDUCATION {Continued). Technical Education, etc. English Conceptions of Technical Education. — Sloyd. — Liverpool Experi- ment. — City and Guilds of London Institute Experiment. — Mr. Ricks' Scheme of Hand and Eye Training. — Dublin Experiment. — Manual Training in America, — Definition. — Who shall Teach it? — Account of Various Experiments. — New York City. — Washington, D.C. — Spring- field. — The Manual Training School. — Course of Study, St. Louis. — Public Free Manual Training Schools — Industrial Training in Paris. — Course of Study. Sewing.— Better in England and Australia than in United States. Cookery, — How Taught in London. — In United States.— Fittings of a School. — The Washington Experiment. People in England talk as freely of technical education as those in the United States do of manual training. If multitude of speech were associated with clearness of con- ception, I would omit this chapter, merely referring my reader to the next man he meets who " takes an interest in Education." Some of the conceptions of technical education pre- valent in England may be summarised : — 1. " Technical education is the preparation of young people for some trade or industry." This is consistent and intelligible. Among those who hold this opinion are the supporters of the many excellent technical schools, of which those at Bradford, Manchester, Huddersfiekl, Stockport, and many others I visited, may be taken as examples, but of which I shall not further speak. 2. Many use the term to mean a certain amount of The New Education — Manual. 109 science teaching and liandiwork in connection with ordinary schools ; but especially with secondary schools. To this class, too, belong those who desire the introduction of " technical education " into the public elementary schools, and the majority — although not the chief advocates — do so because of the influence they believe it will have on the industries of the country. In fact, it is apparently the exception to find an article written or a speech de- livered on the subject without some reference being made to the industrial progress of Germany in consequence of the attention she has paid to " technical education," and the absolute necessity of England taking up the subject vigorously, if she wishes to maintain her position as the premier manufacturing country of the world. I cannot help thinking that many of these would do well to con- sider, whether it is tool work or head work which has enabled Germany to take the position she has. I think not a little of her progress is due to the fact that, as a rule, she only teaches tool-work as a means of giving an all-round training, leaving the special avocation entirely to look after itself. The toy and lace making of South Germany do not affect my argument. It is not in these that she has affected England. There are not wanting many advocates who, while not forgetting the influence on industries, base their plea for the introduction of tool-work into schools entirely on educational con- siderations. 3. There is a large class of people whose ideas of technical education are more limited, and who confine the meaning to special day or evening classes in the arts and sciences underlying manufactures, supplementary to appren- ticeship in mills or workshops. The German continuation school to a large extent forms the pattern on which these would establish their classes. To a considerable extent the technical schools in manufacturing towns answer this no Teaching in Three Continents. purpose ; and, perhaps, still more extensively is the end served by the evening classes held throughout England in connection with the Science and Art Department. 4. In addition to these fairly clear conceptions of technical education, there is a large residuum of people who are ever ready to express an opinion on the subject ; but whose thoughts are as obscured as St. Paul's in that most novel of experiences for an Australian — a London fog. They have a hazy indefinable idea that it includes all that I have already indicated, and much besides ; that it will make mechanics and factory hands of the whole population, and that it is impracticable, meddling with " natural laws " of supply and demand, and altogether a dangerous thing, to be avoided as revolutionary. The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 defines : " Tech- nical instruction as instruction in the principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the application of special branches of science and art to special industries and employments. It does not include teaching the prac- tice of any trade. Subject to this reservation, it is held to embrace all subjects for which grants are made by the Science and Art Department, and any other instruction which the School Board, Town Council, or other local authority which carries out the provision of the Act con- siders suitable to the circumstances of the district, with the sanction of the Science and Art Department." A separate definition is given of " Manual Instruction," which is held to include the use of tools, and modelling in clay, wood, or other material. The progress made in Manual Instruction in England has not been great ; but a number of very interesting ex- periments have been carried out under different names by various authorities ; but more particularly by enthusiastic and progressive teachers who have been to Sweden to study the system of Slojd, or Sloyd, at its head-quarters at Niias. The New Education — Manual. hi There are fifteen or more teachers under the London School Board who have been trained at Nails, and I had the pleasure of seeing some of the results of their enthusiasm in experimenting with classes in their particular schools. In 1889 these teachers held a conference, and presented a report to the School Management Committee of the School Board for London, which is too lengthy for inclusion here, but it may with advantage be summarised. The aims are : — i. To instil a taste for, and love of work in general. 2. To inspire respect for rough, honest bodily labour. 3. To develop independence and self-reliance. 4. To train to habits of order, exactness, cleanliness, and neatness. 5. To accustom to habits of attention, industry, and perseverance. 6. To train the eye in the sense of form. 7. To promote the harmonious development of the physical powers. 8. To give general dexterity of hand. They dis- cuss the methods, deciding that the " eighty-five exercises " are carefully graded, form a complete analysis of the system, and contain all the principal manipulations used in wood- work. They consider that the system lends itself to an easy and practical application of drawing as taught; but think that the " models " will need revision before finally settling on a course for English schools. At the same time they think " it will be dangerous to alter the Niias course, which has taken so long to build up, excepting on the results of experiments made by those who are thoroughly alive to its educational principles." They think the pupils should be boys, beginning the work between the ages of ten and twelve years ; that the classes should not exceed twenty pupils to a teacher ; and that there should be at least one lesson of two hours each week. The professional teacher is considered the best in- structor, and that artizans as manual training instructors are failures, lacking aptitude for teaching. 112 Teaching in Three Continents. I cannot even mention all the experiments I inquired into, deeming it preferable to speak in greater detail of one or two. The Liverpool branch of the National Association for Promoting Technical Instruction conducted an extensive experiment, in which a large number of teachers assisted. The exercises taken were wood-carving and fret-work, and the experiment was considered of sufficient range to permit of generalising from the results obtained. The leader in the matter was Professor Hele Shaw, of the Walker Engineering College, who is an enthusiastic advocate of the educational value of manual training. At the close of a lecture given before a large attendance of the members of the Liverpool Teachers' Guild, Professor Strong occupying the chair, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Shaw, that, accepting the definition of technical in- struction given in the Technical Instruction Act— " I. Technical instruction should not be given as part of the curriculum of elementary schools ; but that the teaching of science, and manual instruction (combined with cookery and laundry work for girls) should form part of the instruc- tion of all elementary schools. "2. That 'Kindergarten Work' should be introduced into all elementary schools. " 3. That Trade Schools should not be established at the expense of the State or municipality. " 4. That every facility should be offered for obtaining instruction of all kinds after ordinary school hours for the lowest fees ; and that boys and girls below a certain age should be encouraged by a judicious system of rewards to attend voluntary classes after leaving school." I have quoted these resolutions in full, because I consider that they express the views of a much wider constituency than the important guild which adopted them. An extensive experiment is in operation under the joint The New Educatiox — Manual. 113 management of the City and Guilds of London Institute and the School Board for London, the former body finding the money, the latter the accommodation and pupils. Six centres have been fitted up, and the instruction placed under the direction of two trained masters, and two practical mechanics as assistants. The instructors were carefully selected, the teachers having a knowledge of tools as well as being fond of using them, the carpenters having apparently an aptitude for teaching. Selected boys from schools within a radius of about a mile from a centre, spend one morning or afternoon a week at the manual instruction room. I attended some of the classes, and was quite satisfied that if the lessons I saw given were fair specimens, the work is decidedly educational. On the walls of the work- rooms are hung German lithographic pictures of the most useful timber trees, and some excellent manual training diagrams, published by Messrs. Cassell & Company. Each class contains from twenty- four to thirty pupils, who are accommodated at large benches, six or more boys being at one bench. There is a set of smaller tools for each boy, and a few sets of larger tools for common use. The committee, in their syllabus, state as general principles : — i. The aim must be educational rather than industrial. 2. The scholars must be given an intelligent knowledge of the principles which underlie their work. 3. Working drawings to scale of every exercise must be made. 4. All bench work must be done to exact measurement, and every piece of wood be correctly lined before being cut or planed. The simple instruments, try square, rule, and compass are used, and the drawings are made in isometric projection. In the Vittoria Place centre I watched a demonstration lesson on the "Bridle joint." The principle was first ex- plained by means of models, and a free use of the blackboard. 114 Teaching in T^hree Continents. The way the demonstrator handled his subject proved him to be an adept in the art of teaching. When the boys understood the new principle involved in the new exercise, in its relation to what they had already done, he proved himself to be equally at home with his tools, and very quickly made the joint he had explained and drawn, the whole time keeping up a running series of comments and questions upon the work. Previous to his engagement by the joint committee, this teacher had been a carpenter and joiner, but had qualified himself for teaching under the Science and Art Department by attending evening classes. With a supply of such men, the question of manual instruc- tion would be solved. I saw other men teaching equally well, particularly at Brighton and Manchester. I think the latest, most complete, and most extensive experiment in manual instruction for the elementary schools has been conducted by Mr, George Ricks, B.Sc, the Senior Inspector under the London School Board. After con- ducting a number of experimental classes, he formulated a comprehensive scheme, or series of schemes, which have been published by Messrs. Cassell & Company in two handsome fully-illustrated volumes, under the title of " Hand and Eye Training." Mr. Ricks is well known as the author of a number of works on practical teaching, his methods being always educational. If the teacher will not go to the trouble to work out his own lessons, let him by all means have books in which the methods are sound. In his books, Mr. Ricks, leaving the more general discussion of the science of pedagogy for others, endeavours to show the teacher, — anxious to do more than earn a grant— how to put into practice the soundest of the principles theoretically dis- cussed by others. The following summary, taken from the Introduction to ''Hand and Eye Training," shows the scope of Mr. The New Educatiox — Manual, 115 Ricks' scheme, which has been adopted by the Bristol and other School Boards, and is being introduced gradually, under his supervision, into all the London Board Schools. Summary of Scheme of Hand and Eye Training. By Mr. Geo. Ricks, B.Sc, Senior Inspector of Schools under the London School Board. (Taken from his work on the subject, published by Messrs Cassell & Co.) For Children from 7 to 10 Years of Age. 1. Paper- P'olding, Cutting, and Mounting (First Series). 2. Drawing, Cutting, and Mounting. 3. Building with Kindergarten Bricks, Cubes, &c. , and Drawing the Plans and Elevations of structures built. 4. Clay-Modelling. 5. Drawing and Coloring. For Pupils from 10 to 14 Years. 6. Drawing and Coloring to be continued. 7. Clay-Modelling for those showing special aptitude. 8. Paper-Folding, Cutting, Mounting ; Designing in Form and Color (Series II.). 9. Drawing and Cutting Geometric Forms, &c. 10. Modelling in Cardboard, &c. 11. Bench- work in wood. Note. — It is not intended that all this should be taken in the same school ; but that one or two courses should be selected most suitable to special needs. I spent several very interesting days in the Dublin Schools. I cannot say that I learnt much likely to prove of value elsewhere, for what is suitable in one place is not so in another ; and the conditions under which the Irish teacher labours do not exist elsewhere. The schools of Dublin are worth visiting, if only to see the happy Irish nature show itself in school. The boys' department of the model prac- tising school of the National Training College consists of a very large room, with several class-rooms opening from I 2 ii6 Teaching in Three Continents. it. The large room has seats in the middle and open spaces at each side, where the pupils stand round their teachers in groups. Each teacher stands with a long cane in his hand, and the noisy din of the school is frequently interrupted by the sound of the forcible contact between the shoulders of some boy and the cane. A boy makes a mistake, forgets his turn or does not pay attention, and down goes the cane. The utmost good-nature prevails ; a teacher soundly scolds and thrashes a boy one minute, and the next joins in the hearty laugh of the class at some outburst of the native wit of the boy who was thrashed. The elder boys have manual instruction in a roughly fitted- up shop in the playground. The class is conducted by an assistant master of the school, who has a taste for carpentry. The boys buy the wood and make what they choose ; or, as often happens, cut up the wood in attempts at making what they would like. They call it Slojd work, and " enjoy the time spent in the shop better than that in the playground." After what I saw, I should prefer to say they enjoy playing with tools better than at football. Of the educational value I will not ex- press an opinion. I spent an hour in the same shop watching the Training College students at their manual training work ; or, as it is called, the wood-working department. The men spend three hours a fortnight at the work. The classes consist of from eight to fourteen students, and are conducted by a practical mechanic. The object is to qualify teachers for doing any odd job about a school: "to mend an easel, solder a gutter, glaze a window, patch up a desk, fix up a hat-rack, put on a hinge, repair a roof, or any other repairs which may be needed about a school where a tradesman is not available." The male students of the Training College also have lessons in farming, and have to attend a course of practical instruction at the excellent model farms at Glasnevin, so The New Education — Manual. 117 that they may give instruction in practical farming on the small farms found in connection with many of the Irish country schools. The female students, in the same way and for the same purpose, have instruction in dairy-work. These efforts at making the National Schools a means of raising the cha- racter of the agriculture of the country by introducing im- proved methods of farming and dairy- work are in the highest degree commendable, and \ think likely to be very bene- ficial. Besides dairy-work, the female students all take lessons in cookery, and the results of their experiments appear on the college table. Manual Training ifi America. The visitor to the United States hears comparatively little about technical education. When the terms technical and technological are used, it is in connection with advanced schools for mechanical engineering, architecture, chemistry, or other branches of applied science. The most noted of these is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, which claims to have been the first of its kind to establish physical laboratories for the proper teaching of natural philosophy. It was the first to adopt the Russian system of training in practical mechanics^ from which have developed the Manual Training Schools so common in the United States. The nearest equivalent to these schools in England is the Technical School in Finsbury, under the City and Guilds of London Institute ; though this institu- tion differs very greatly from an American '' Manual Train- ing School." The term industrial school is used to designate schools with a most confusing variety of objects, from a reformatory to a trade school ; but to these I will not refer. ii8 Teaciung in Three Continents. " Technical Education," in the opinion of many, is to save the industries of England ; " Manual Training " is advocated in the United States with as much enthusiasm, and frequently with as little regard for the proper balance of a perfect education ; but from a different standpoint. " Put the whole boy to school " was a very happy expression made use of by Dr. Woodward, the apostle of the Manual Training movement, in seeking to have it recognised in its proper place as a part of a related whole, not as an appendix tacked on to the usual school course. But many talk as though " the whole boy" consisted of the manipulative powers of the hands. They cannot hold more than one idea at a time, and as Manual Training has been embraced, they can consider nothing else. I think, however, that the definition adopted by the New Jersey Committee on Manual Training, and which is due to Dr. N. Murray Butler, fairly expresses the idea of the great majority of advocates in the United States. ''''Manual Training is training in Thought Ex- pression by other means than gesture and verbal la?iguage, in such a carefully graded course of study as shall also pro- vide adequate training for the judgment and the executive faculty. This training will necessarily include drawing and constructive work ; but experience alone can determine by what special means this instruction may best be given." So far as the Secondary or High Schools are concerned, the second portion of the definition is now superfluous. It appears to be generally admitted by progressive men that the St. Louis, Toledo, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and similar Manual Training Schools, solve the problem of what the Secondary School adapted to the requirements of the present day should be ; but discussion still continues in unabated vigour over the introduction of Manual Training into the Grammar and Intermediate Grades. The proposition that Manual Training is necessary in order to make the curriculum of the school complete, The New Education — Manual. 119 appears to be admitted as proved, but of what it shall consist and who shall teach it, are still debatable points. Of course, there are teachers who are firmly anchored to the past; who, living in the midst of progress, are quite oblivious to it, and unconscious of the prevalence of new ideas. I occasionally found teachers, who, when asked whether any experiments in Manual Training were being tried in their schools, replied—" Oh, yes ; we have calis- thenics, and musical drill." On one occasion, a principal, after reading my card of introduction, and welcoming me with characteristic American urbanity, said — " I see you are particularly interested in Manual Training ; as there is a class at the work now, perhaps you w^ould like to see it." I accompanied him to the playground in the base- ment, and found a fine class of boys going through a series of dumb-bell and other physical exercises ! It is only fair to add that such teachers are exceptional, as was the English teacher who was surprised at finding a native-born Australian white. A man cannot teach what he does not know ; but because he knows, it does not follow that he can teach. Hence the difficulty in regard to Manual Training. A man may be a first-class mechanic, but the school has no use for him unless he be a skilful teacher. Unless the instructor can control boys, and understands the pedagogical principles governing the presentation of facts — or, what is the same thing, has that intuitive power possessed by a few people of presenting a fact in the precise way most in- telligible to the uninitiated — his ability to perform all operations with tools is useless in the school, where it is the making, not the thing to be made, which is to be the dominating idea. It is not the less true, that the mere understanding of the principles involved is not sufficient. Manual Training becomes an education, only in the hands of such teachers as the one I have spoken of in connection I20 Teach I XG in Three Continents. with the Vittoria Place experiment, when teaching abihty and executive skill are properly combined. If a choice has to be made, however, it is better to have a good teacher with poor manipulative power, than a good mechanic, but a bad teacher. After all, those who have more faith in Manual Train- ing, than in history and grammar, as a means of making education more complete than it has been, must not look to manual training, but to the teachers. Systems are merely the skeletons upon which the teacher builds the shapely, rounded forms of beauty ; and, breathing into them the breath of life, they become educative because he is in them. Did we but recognise it, pedagogy is the noblest of professions, and the teacher is the greatest of artists. The sculptor fashions marble, the teacher children's minds; the painter with consummate art transfers to canvas ideals of beaut)'' which become the treasures of nations, the shrines of art at which all worship; but the teacher, working on surface more delicate than photographer's plate, may imprint pictures of ideal manhood on noble souls, which may prove the regenerating influences of the world. The musician wakens strings to life, the teacher ideas : the one thrills the crowd, the other quietly sets thoughts vibrating which, thrilling through the human soul, shall roll on through the ascending ages in ever vv'idening circles, and time only can show the end, the good God their value. Such teachers may not be, frequently are not, in schools. A school hedged round with regulations, is no place for many men, and should not be for children. A man with vigour of purpose must not be hemmed in and hampered with regulations. To do so is as purposeless as to chain up a locomotive with the steam on — whatever happens, the desired result is not attained. This is good theory : at present not fully practicable. The New Educatiox — Manual. i2t I saw many good and successful experiments ; but there is a very great difference between an experiment, carried out by a competent enthusiastic conductor, and the ordinary conditions, where funds may be ill-supplied, and those with whom success or failure rests indifferent. It is only when an experiment is carried out on a sufficiently extensive scale, and under normal conditions, that it becomes valuable. I consider the Manual Instruction experiments in Washington and New York cities are most in accord with these con- ditions. In New York City a system of form-study and drawing similar to those I have described is in operation. To this — which includes clay- modelling, paper- folding, making models in paper and cardboard — is added a series of wood-working exercises, selected from different systems being tried elsewhere. The whole of the work is done in the school. A few workshops have been fitted up ; but I believe that there has been opposition to this, not only on account of the expense, but because it is sup- posed to partake of the nature of trade teaching. By the time this will be published, I understand the earlier stages will have been established throughout all the schools. With regard to the work itself, I will say little. What I saw was being dealt with — as, indeed, most of the work in New York appeared to be — in much too mechanical a manner \ it was the nearest approach to the English preparation for examination which I saw. New York city claims to have the most perfect system in the States. I will not dispute the superintendent's word ; but I have not always found that education and " system " go together, although there must be system in education. At all events, it is not wise on the part of a visitor to allow himself to form conclusions con- cerning the schools of the United States from what he sees in New York city. The teachers have not the freedom they have elsewhere. 122 Teaching in Three Continents. The plan adopted in Washington, D.C., differs con- siderably from that of New York. Prang's system of form- study and drawing has been in operation for some years. This, of course, includes clay-modelling, paper-folding and cutting, and such exercises. Complementary to this, the authorities have instituted a series of wood-working exer- cises similar to those being tried by the City and Guilds of London Institute in conjunction with the School Board. The system of establishing "centres" has been adopted. The first vote was small, and was entirely spent in pro- viding tools and appliances. As in the case of the kitchens, any available rooms have been utilised for workshops. They are not always the best adapted to their purpose ; but as the work is said to succeed under present conditions, it would be the more certain to do so if it were taken in suitable rooms adjoining the schools. In two districts, all the pupils of the seventh and eighth grades take the work ; in the remaining portions of the city about seven-eighths of the senior grammar grades take manual training, it being at present voluntary. This I consider a strong argument, and worth more than the assurance of many principles. The classes are conducted by practical mechanics, and vary in size from twelve to twenty, according to the accom- modation. Each class has two hours' work, and the conductor takes three classes a day. When the manual training comes after or before school work, fifteen minutes are allowed for the pupils to pass from the shop to the schools, which are not in any case more than from half to two-thirds of a mile away. For the High School pupils special shops have been provided, one fitted with benches and wood-working tools^ and one with six forges, eight wood-turning lathes, three engine lathes, vices and tools complete, the motive power being provided by an eight horse-power engine. The first year High School pupils take wood-turning and pattern- The New Education — Manual. 123 making (they have had simple wood-working in the grammar school). The second year pupils have forging and a little moulding, while the third year pupils take machine tool-work. I asked Dr. Lane, principal of the splendid High School, in which were some fifteen hundred pupils: "After the experience you have had with reference to this matter, and the comparisons you have been able to make between the lads who take manual work and those who do not, what effect, if any, do you consider the manual work has on the literary ? Does the fact of their having to be out of the school for so much time each week, engaged in an entire change of occupation, by distracting their attention and decreasing the time to be devoted to academic work, cause the latter to suffer ? " " No. I consider it is a decided help to them. They come back as though they have had so much physical exercise together with mental stimulus. The exercise does not tire — it refreshes. It is optional with pupils whether they take the manual course ; but if they elect to do so, they must continue, unless excused for some special reason. About forty per cent, of pupils take manual training." In a number of cities and towns shop-work, or manual instruction, has been introduced into the High Schools in much the same way as at Washington. The school com- mittee of Springfield, Massachusetts, for example, have incor- porated three years' course of manual work into their High School with excellent results. They are also experimenting upon a plan for placing tool-work into the Grammar grades. Their system of form-study and drawing does not differ from those described elsewhere ; in fact. Prang's books and models are used to some extent ; but the enthusiasm of the supervisor has made it one of the most complete I examined. The supervisor of drawing and director of manual training, with the aid of the superintendent and 124 Teaching in Three Continents. several liberal citizens, are endeavouring to add to the form-study a graduated series of exercises in wood, suitable for all ages, and which can be introduced into all schools without fresh buildings, or any great outlay. The work I saw being done was interesting, but it is too early to offer an opinion as to present success. Very many towns are experimenting in the same way, and I have no doubt but that a visitor a few years hence will see tool- work an ordinary adjunct to every grammar school. The Manual Training School. I have spoken of the Kindergarten ; of the splendid systems of Form-Study and drawing which in a great measure correspond with several series of work in Mr. Ricks' excellent system of Hand and Eye Training ; of the efforts to add to this tool-work in the grammar grades, and of the addition of shop-work to an ordinary High School. It now remains to give a brief account of the Manual Training School proper. Had I dealt with the question historically, I should have had to discuss the Manual Training School after the Kindergarten, for in the evolution of the complete system of manual instruction the Kinder- garten came first, the Manual Training School second, and both have been pursuing their ever-widening spheres of use- ful work ; while in pedagogic circles, and to a certain extent among the public, the educational mind has been disturbed and otherwise beneficially excited over the problem how to connect the Kindergarten with the Manual Training School. The first Manual Training School was established through the liberality of several wealthy citizens of St. Louis, as a department of the Washington University of St. Louis. Dr. C. M. Woodward, the present director, is The New Education — Manual. 125 responsible for the name, and for much of the success of the school. From the beginning all have insisted that the incorporation of workshops is purely for educational purposes, and does not tend more to prejudice a pupil to a mechanical occupation than the study of Latin does to make him a lawyer or doctor. *' Put the whole boy to school " is a saying of Dr. Woodward's which has assumed crystalline form, and is heard through the length and breadth of the United States. The school has an endowment of thirty thousand pounds, which provides scholarships for seventy pupils; in addition to which, there are upwards of two hundred who pay from thirteen to twenty-four pounds sterling a year for tuition. The motto of the school is, " The Cultured Mind^ the Skilful Hand ; " and it may be interesting to quote a few sentences from Dr. Woodward's account of the school in his work on Manual Training : — " The business man may be narrow, but so may the scholar ; and, in either case, the narrovvness results not so much from the necessities of the case as from the character of the man." " Hitherto, men who have cultivated their minds have neglected their hands, and those who have laboured with their hands have found no opportunity to cultivate their brains." " No attempt is made to cultivate dexterity at the expense of thought. An exercise with tools or books is valuable only in proportion to the demand it makes on the mind for intelligent, thoughtful work. In the school shops the stage of mechanical habit is never reached. The only habit actually acquired is that of thinking. No blow is struck, no line drawn, no motion regulated from muscular habit. Such a limited training cannot, of course, produce a high degree of manual skill." 126 Teaching in Three Continents. Nevertheless, I saw some cart-loads of really accurate work done in the ordinary exercises. As a rule, pupils are at least fourteen years of age on admission, and must have graduated from a grammar school, or be able to pass an equivalent examination. The course of study extends over three years ; and, as it is fairly typical of very many schools which have been established on the model of the St. Louis School, I will insert an outline of the study. St. Louis Manual Training School. Course of Study. First Year. Algebra, to Equations. Arithmetic, completed. English Language, its Structure and Use. History of the United • States. Latin Grammar and Reader may be taken in place of English. American Classics. Zoology. Physical Geography. Botany. Drawing, Mechanical and Freehand, from objects. Penmanship. Tool-work— Joinery. Wood-carving. Wood-turning. Second Year. Algebra, through Quadratics and Radicals. Geometry begun. Chemistry. Experimental Work in the Chemical I aboratory. English Composition and Literature. Rhetoric. English History. Latin (Caesar) may be taken in place of Rhetoric and History. British Classics. Drawing — Line-shading, and Tinting, Development of Surfaces, Free- hand Detail Drawing, Isometric Projections. Tool-work — Forging : Drawing, Upsetting, Bending, Punching, Weld- ing, Tempering ; Pattern-making, Moulding, Casting with Plaster, Soldering, and Brazing, Third Year. Geometry continued through Plane and Solid ; Reviews in Mathematics, Mensuration. English Composition and Literature. The New Educatiox — Manual. 127 Political Economy. General History. French or German may be taken in place of English and History, or in place of the Science Study. Physiology. Elements of Physics. Students who have taken Latin, and who intend to enter the Polytechnic School after completing the course in this School, will take History in the place of Physiolog)'. Book-keeping. Drawing — Brush-Shading, Geometrical Machine and Architectural Drawing. Tool-work — Metal work with hand and machine tools ; Filing, Chip- ping, Fitting, Turning, Drilling, Planing, Screw-cutting, &c. Ex- ecution of projects. THE DAILY PROGRAMME. The Daily Session begins at 9 a.m. and closes at 3.30 p.m., thirty minutes being allowed for lunch. Four hours per day are devoted to recitations, study, and drawing, and two hours are given to tool instruc- tion and shop work. Owing to the decided success of the St. Louis School, several others were estabhshed on the same Hnes and in the same way : that is, by private subscription. These schools, like the parent establishment, charged fees to all but those holding scholarships. The great fundamental principle of American education, however, is that it must be free ; and it only required to be thoroughly demonstrated that the Manual Training School was a requirement of the age, to cause several of the progressive School Boards to establish free Manual Training Schools as part of the public school system. Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Toledo are ex- amples. These may be termed Manual Training High Schools. I have already shown how other Boards have dealt with the matter. Industrial Training in Paris. Although I have a quantity of material, it is not my intention to write more than a few lines on manual [28 Teachixg in Three Coxtinexts. instruction, or industrial training, in the schools of Paris. To do more than simply refer to the extensive nature of the work would require a volume to itself. Nowhere has so much been done towards a general introduction of tool- work into elementary schools ; and nowhere did I see such an abundance of excellent work. The object of the schools is to specially fit the pupils for particular callings. To this end different districts have their special trade schools, to which pupils may be trans- ferred after completing the elementary school course. For example, in the quarter of the city devoted to cabinet- making I visited an apprenticeship school where the literary work of the pupils was still further advanced; but most of the time was devoted to learning the trade of cabinet- maker. In other districts are numerous schools devoted to other trades. The following programme of Manual Training for the Primary Schools of Paris will indicate the comprehensive character of the work : — Special Equipment to cany otit Full Course : — 1. Woodwork Shop. — Eight to 12 benches about 4 ft. 6 in. long, 2 ft. 6 in. wide, and 30 to 34 inches high (each bench accommodates two boys) ; four turning lathes ; suitable tools. 2. Workshop for Iron. — Eight to 12 vices, forge, anvil, and ordinary tools. The following is the programme worked out by the School authorities for Manual Training in Primary Schools : — Manual Exercises intended to develop the children's skill of hand. I. ELEMENTARY CLASS. In operation in nearly all the Schools, lVo7-k done in ordinary Class-rooms. [Seven and eight years old. One hour per day.] Elementary Exercises in Freehand Drawing, Symmetrical arrangement of Forms, Cutting out pieces of Colored Paper and applying The Nejf Educatiox — Manual. 129 them upon Geometrical Forms, Exercises in Coloring, Cutting out Geometrical Forms in Cardboard, Representations of Geometrical Solids. All these exercises to be done first on squared and subsequently on plain paper. Small Basket Work. Arrangement of strips of Colored Paper : (i) In Interwoven Forms. (2) In plaited Patterns. Modelling ; Reproductions of Geometric Solids and Simple Object ^. II. INTERMEDIATE CLASS. Chiefly performed in Class-rooms. Not so general as I. [Nine and ten years old. One hour per day. ] Cutting out Cardboard Patterns, Construction of Regular Geometric Solids, Construction by the Pupils of Cardboard Models covered with Colored Drawings or Colored Paper. Small Basket Work ; Combination of Plaits ; Basket Making. Objects made of Wire ; Trellis or Netting ; Wire Chain Making. Combination of Iron and Wood : Cages. Modelling Simple Architectural Ornaments. Object Lessons : Principal Characteristics of Wood and the Common Metals. III. UPPER CLASS. In operatio7i in about one-third of the Boys' Primary Schools. [Eleven and twelve years old. Two hours per day.] Drawing and Modelling ; Continuation of the exercises in the preceding Class ; Repetition of the Ornaments previously executed, in the form of Sketches, with dimensions attached to them ; Drawing the requisite Sections for this purpose ; Reproducing the Sections as Measured Sketches ; Study of the various Tools used in work- ing Wood— Hammer, Mallet, Chisel, Gimlet, Centre-bit, Brace, Screwdriver, Compasses, Square, Marking-gauge, Saws of dif- ferent kinds, Jack-plane, Trying-plane, Smoothing-plane, Files and Rasps, Level. Theoretical and Practical Lessons in the above. Planing and Sawing Wood ; Construction of Simple Joints. Boxes Nailed together, or Jointed without Tacks. Wood Lathe ; Tools used in Turning ; Turning Simple Geometrical Forms. Study of the Tools used in Working Iron— Hammer, Chisel, Cutting- tool, Cold Chisel, Squares, Compass, Files, &c. J 130 Teach I KG in Three Coxtinexts. Theoretical and Practical Lessons concerning them. Exercises in Filing, Smoothing, and Finishing Rough Forgings or Castings (Cubes, Polygonal Nuts). The Practical Work in the Shops in Primary Schools is to be followed by Gymnastic Exercises, in accordance with the Specialised Pro- gramme. Sewing. Sewing is better and more extensively taught in England than in America. Needlework is a compulsory subject throughout the country, being taught by the ordinary teachers. The same applies to the Australian public schools, where the sewing, like that of England, is, as a rule, of excellent character. Where sewing is taught in the United States it is usually of a much more elementary character, and is generally taught by special teachers. Much attention is paid to sewing in Australia, the in- struction being usually given by the regular teachers. It is a matter of opinion whether the work of the English or Australian girls is the more praiseworthy. Cookery in England. I consider that the teaching of cooking is much more general in England than in the United States. I know of no large town or city in the Union where all the girls or the higher grammar grades are taught ; but in the London Board Schools, all girls over eleven years of age, without regard to standard ; and all girls in Standard IV. and up- wards, who are ten years of age, are required to attend each year at least twenty out of a course of twenty-two lessons in practical cookery at one of the centres. The plan followed is to build cookery class-rooms, technically called " Centres/' in the playgrounds of suitable Schools, in which The New Education — Cookery. 131 pupils from all Schools within a convenient distance from the " Centre " may receive instruction. There are now nearly seventy centres, while others are in course of con- struction. A "Centre" consists of (i) a stepped class-room, about twenty-one feet by eighteen feet, containing a demonstration counter, a gas-stove, a kitchener, an open-range stove, a dresser, and necessary appliances for teaching plain cookery; (2) a scullery j (3) a cloak-room; (4) a lavatory. A class consists of thirty pupils. The work is carried on by three superintendents, and fifty-eight instructors. Four courses of lessons are given during the year. Children who do not attend Board Schools are allowed to attend the classes on payment of four shillings for a course of twenty- two lessons. Nearly twenty-four thousand pupils receive instruction in a year. The dishes made are sold to teachers, and children for lunch. The fittings of the centres are, in common with the school fittings in England, plain and strong, with little at- tempt at elegance. [The education of the perceptions of the beautiful is much neglected in England. Strength and durability are all very well, but beauty should not be neg- lected. The Frenchman and Italian cannot help being more artistic : he is surrounded by forms of beauty.] In Liverpool, each school has a room provided with a gas-stove, a kitchen-range, and a dresser with appliances, and the instructor visits from one school to another. Cookery in the United States. Where cooking is taught to pupils of the public schools of the United States, the cookery schools are usually fitted up with characteristic provision for convenience and comfort. One lesson taught — and there is no doubt but that it is well taught — is that a kitchen need not be an ugly place. In J 2 132 Teaching in Three Continents. no city or town I visited did I find the subject taught on a comprehensive scale, as in London, Liverpool, and other English cities. More is taught in a superior manner, to a selected number of pupils. Li a few towns — Washington, for example — it is taken by the majority of the girls in the two upper grades of the grammar school. In Philadelphia I only found one cookery school — a very elaborate one — in which some two hundred pupils, selected from the grammar schools near, receive lessons. A school of six hundred pupils will send twenty pupils, those being chosen who can best afford time from other work. This has proved so suc- cessful that it is intended to make the teaching general, and no doubt the thoroughness which has characterised the rest of Superintendent MacAlister's work will be applied to this subject. All the normal students have had lessons in cooking for some years past. In fitting up a cookery school, provision is nearly always made for each pupil, or, failing that, for every two pupils to have a small gas-stove, on which all operations involving only boiling, frying, and stewing can be performed. The classes, I believe, never exceed twenty, and I only found that number once. Sixteen is the usual number, and two are always occupied as " kitchen-maids for the day," to wash, scour, scrub, and generally do the work which, in the London "centres," is done by paid help. The position of " kitchen-maid " is a popular one \ the girls are always ready to take their turns, and the tidy and the slovenly house- keeper foreshadows herself in her work on these occasions. The teachers were fairly unanimous in the opinion that fourteen pupils were as many as could be properly looked after in practical work. In this they agree with English teachers of the subject ; for although the classes in London consist of thirty pupils, the work is so arranged that only half that number do practical work at once. The order of procedure was stated to be : — First, a demonstration by the The New Education — Cookery. 133 teacher; second, one-half of the class take notes, while the other half have forty minutes' practice ; third, the sections change places. A similar plan is followed in New York city ; but in other places the classes are kept down to the number to be accommodated at practice work. Two arrangements of demonstration tables are used. The first consists of a long horse-shoe-shaped counter, with fourteen or sixteen gas- stoves, and places for the same number of sets of kneading and mixing boards and necessary appliances. The teacher's table is placed between the " heels " of the counter. The cooking-range for general work is placed at the side of the room, round which are placed the dressers, with such utensils as are only occasionally used, supplies, and so forth. A cabinet of specimens of the common articles of food and special articles used in cooking is not un frequently included among the appliances. The plan most preferred is to have a number of small tables to accommodate two or four pupils, instead of the long counter; otherwise, the fittings are the same. In Washington, D.C., the plan of establishing "centres" has been adopted, and about five-sixths of the seventh and eighth grade girls of the grammar schools, and the majority of the high school girls, take the lessons. The following syllabus of the work for the grammar schools will illustrate the mode of dealing with the subject generally followed in the United States : — Course in Cooking of the Washington (D.C.) Schools. First Year {Seventh Grade). Boiling: A. — Talk about Cooking, to discover what it is, how it affects food materials, and what is needful for Cooking ; heat— natural and artificial ; fuel — wood, charcoal, coal, gas ; give directions for making a fire and make one. Teach boiling by means of experiments : [a) Heat a cup of 134 Teaching in Three Continents. water, noting the change in temperature from time to time ; note simmering and boiling, {b) Compare, by boiling, fresh and salt water with respect to density ; experiment with eggs and blocks of wood ; discover that it takes longer to boil salt water than it does to boil fresh water, (r) Put a piece of fresh meat into boiling water for a short time ; note the result to meat and water ; cut the meat and note the result ; show the effect to meat and water of cold water on meat (this requires some time) ; cut the meat and note the result ; boil the water, {d) Break an egg into boiling water and another into cold water ; note the results ; boil the cold water with the egg ; draw inferences ; hot water hardens albumen ; to retain the nutriment in the article boiled, put the article into boiling water and boil ; to have nutriment mix with the water, put the article into cold water and boil. {e) Make beef tea ; have the meat prepared for the first class, after which let each class prepare meat for the succeed- ing one. Boil meat to prepare the same for food. Boil meat for broth. Make jellied soup stock. Teach which parts of meat (beef, mutton, and lamb) are used for soups. Show economy of making stock. Teach the pupils how to distinguish between fresh and stale meats (appearance, smell, &c.). Poach eggs. B. — Experiment with salted and smoked meats : Put salted meat into cold water ; then show that the water is salty by tast- ing it and by testing its density. Whence comes the salt, what it is, where found, how prepared for market. C. — Experiment with starch and flour : {a) Cut a potato into thin slices and soak it in cold water. Pour off the water ; show that starch is a fine powder found in grains and vege- tables ; show starch cells in potato — microscope, {b) Pour cold water over some starch, mix, and let it stand for a short time ; stir again and pour on boiling water ; stir and note the result, {c) Pour boiling water over dry starch ; stir and note the result, (c/) Make like experiments with flour ; draw conclusions. ((') Dip a potato into boiling water ; note the result. (/) Pour boiling water over oatmeal ; note the result ; draw conclusion. Make Blanc Mange. Corn-starch ; from what and how obtained, how prepared, substitutes. Make a Roux ; plain, egg, and caper sauces. Boil rice and potatoes and mash ; boil beets, onions, and squash. Give directions for preparing and The New Education — Cookery. 135 cooking other vegetables. Make either vegetable soup or celery puree. Boil oatmeal (cracked wheat, cerealine). Boil rice and make rice custard. Boil coffee and cocoa, steep tea. Coffee, cocoa, tea ; from what and how obtained ; properties and value of each. D. — Utensils used in boiling. An intelligent study of the materials from which the utensils are made. Stewing. — Experiment with tough meat and vegetable acids, such as lemon-juice and vinegar. Compare tender and tough meat before and after soaking in the acid. Show where in the animal tough pieces of meat are found. Explain why they contain so much nutriment, and show their value as food. Make a beef stew. Make an Irish stew without dumplings. Braise a calfs heart, or smother a piece of beef. Haricot mutton. Stew fruit (apples, prunes, &c.). Make *' bubble and squeak." Pepper, butter, substitute, from what and how obtained ; use and value in cooking. Broiling. — Broil a steak (beef or veal) : (a) Compare results obtained with those obtained by putting meat into boiling water, (b) Names and positions of best steaks. Broil chops, mutton, lamb, or pork : {a) Positions of chops, {b) Lard and oleomargarine ; from what and how made ; use, value, how to select different kinds of meat by appearance ; toast bread ; utensils used in broiling. Baking. — Experiment with yeast, soda, cream of tartar, sour milk, and baking powder : (a) Mix soda and cream of tartar with cold water ; show the presence of carbonic acid gas (lighted taper), {b) Pour water over baking powder ; show the presence of gas. (r) Mix soda with sour milk ; show the presence of gas and that the milk is sweet, {d) Mix baking powder or soda and cream of tartar with flour ; moisten and make a dough ; put one-half into a hot oven immediately ; allow the other half to remain exposed to the air for a short time, then put it into the oven ; note the difference ; cause of difference ; draw conclusions, {e) Make yeast ; talk about the yeast plant or germ ; from what and how obtained ; proper temper- ature necessary to the growth ; what is caused by the growing ; fermentation — microscope ; show presence of carbonic acid gas in yeast ; mix yeast with a little flour and note the result. Make white bread and rolls with potato yeast : {a) Kneading, length of time, motion, &c. {b) Compressed yeast, (r) Flour ; from what and how obtained ; kinds ; properties and value of each ; processes ; make biscuits (baking n,6 Teaching in Three Continents. powder) ; make muffins (soda and cream of tartar) ; make corn-bread (soda and sour milk) ; make Graham gems. Roast meat : (a) Compare the appearance of roast meat with boiled meat, {h) Best pieces for roasting, {c) Basting, {d) Solid and rolled roasts. Give, incidentally, the arrange- ment of oven dampers ; kind of fire necessary for baking, and proper temperature of the oven. Second Year [Eighth Grade). Boiling. — Review facts learned about boiling, and obtain a definition. Boil mutton : {a) for the broth, {b) for the meat ; make caper sauce. Boil fish ; make egg sauce. [Note.— Give directions for selecting and cleaning fish.] Raising, slaughtering of animals, and packing of meat ; ineans of preserving ; principal cities for this industry ; markets. Boil corned beef and cabbage ; boil cauliflower ; make egg sauce ; make apple dumplings and sugar sauce ; make roly- poly pudding and sauce ; make soft custard ; make salad dressing ; make potato salad. Stewing : Oysters : [a) stewed, [b) scalloped ; chowder ; make a fricasse of beef, or stew beef with carrots ; make a white stew and a pot-pie. Broiling : Broil a shad, a herring, or any other fresh fish. Broil a salted mackerel, or any other salted fish. Broil a smoked fish. Broil a slice of ham. Broil oysters. Baking. — Review facts learned about carbonic acid gas, fermentation, and heat for baking ; make white bread, Graham bread, and brown bread ; stuff and bake a fish. Make cake : [a) Cookies : Spices ; from where and how ob- tained ; their properties and use in cooking, {b) Ginger snaps, [c) Dover cake. (Note. — Citron ; from what and how made.) () Cottage pudding, [c) Sago, rice, or tapioca ; Sago, tapioca, rice ; from what and how obtained ; how prepared for market : bake apples and potatoes. Frying. — Experiment with fat : [a) Show that pure fat will not boil. [b) Show that fat containing water boils, {c) Show the proper The Sew Education — Cookery. 137 temperature of fat for cooking by putting pieces of dough or a little of beaten egg into it at different times (before it is hot enough, when hot enough, and when burning) ; note the difference and draw conclusions. Show the economy in the use of eggs in kettle- frying ; scramble eggs ; make an omelet ; make griddle-cakes ; make fritters, (a) Batter, {b) Salsify, parsnip, corn, &c. (f) Apple, oyster, clam, &c. ; make doughnuts (raised by yeast) ; make crullers (raised by baking powder). It is worthy of remark — ^as a coincidence, if nothing more — that in Washington, where cookery lessons are given to a larger proportion of pupils than in any other city 1 visited (unless it be New York), the appliances and accommodation in general are the least expensive and elaborate. The share of the first appropriation of five thousand dollars for manual training and cookery was not, as is too frequently the case, spent in building one elaborate school, but in fitting up ten centres in any suitable rooms which were available, or could be hired. The accommoda- tion in several of the centres consists of two rooms in a cottage. In one are placed the cooking range and other appliances for practical work ; in the other a large mixing table, consisting of a movable top resting on trestles. Each teacher conducts three classes a day, each class varying from fourteen to twenty, so that a teacher gives instruction to from two hundred and seventy to three hundred pupils a week. These centres were fitted up at a cost of from two hundred and fifty dollars each; and, for children of moderate means, appear better suited for their purpose than the more elaborate kitchens. The work being done, as in other cities, was essentially practical, and the cooking of a plain and inexpensive character, though not the less good on that account ; but the children in the Washington schools had to work with precisely the same appliances as they would have at home. 138 Teaching in Three Continents. The successful introduction of cookery into the Washing- ton schools was due to the benevolence of a lady who was impressed with its importance, and who established a school for teachers and such pupils as could attend out of school hours. She could not take more than a small proportion of those who wished to attend ; but she proved the prac- ticability of teaching the subject, and providing teachers who could take charge of it ; these being first, teachers ; and secondly, cookery demonstrators. CHAPTER VI. THE NEW EDUCATION {continued). Science Teaching. General Remarks. — Official Science Teaching disappointing. — Science Teaching in England.— Science Teaching in the States. — Science Teaching under the English School Boards. — Mechanics. — Methods of Instruction in Liverpool. — In American Schools. — St. Louis. — Middle- town. — Boston. — New York College. — South Australia. — Other Australian Colonies. In Chapter XII. will be found several accounts of genuine science teaching carried on out of school hours by enthu- siasts, for the love of the subject. Of course, teachers cannot separate such teaching from their regular school work ; but here I wish to confine myself to what is done in the ordinary course of the day's programme, as an in- tegral part of a regular course of study. It was the desire to acquaint myself fully with what was being done towards the general introduction of Science Teaching and Manual Training into elementary schools, which chiefly prompted me to take the present trip round the world. I have for some years advocated the necessity for greater attention being paid to the study of science ; but always insisted that m the elementary school there should be no attempt made to associate Science with Examinations. The nature of my advocacy may be gathered from the following quotation from a paper contributed to the Education Gazette five years since : — " We should train the senses and deductive powers of the mind by a practical, systematic, but, at the same time, essentially elementary I40 Teaching in Three Continents. study of natural science. Nothing need be said to prove the value of science in daily life. Here a little chemistry is useful ; there physics proves of service ; at one time physiology is required ; at another, some knowledge of natural history is of immense advantage. "At first, indeed, one is almost frightened at the mass of informa- tion apparently requisite ; but if we look into the matter carefully, we find that in our daily life only the fundamental facts and the simplest principles are necessary. Common salt need not be called sodic chloride. " I think something may be done now by substituting regular courses of science lessons of the character indicated, instead of 'special lessons.' vSome teachers do this with great success. Others, just as anxious to benefit the children, give highly interesting experimental lessons on chemistry and physics ; but with questionable success so far as scientific training is concerned. The wonder of the children is excited rather than their faculties developed. The want of success may be due to the lessons not being simple enough, and in consequence breaking the cardinal law of science — 'proceed from the known to the unknown.' " Any branch of science (chemistry, physiology, natural history, or geology) might be taken; but the manner of f caching, and not imparting a technical knowledge of the science, should be the chief aim in all the lessons ; or, stated in another way, give ideas and develop reason, not teach facts. " By natural history is not meant detached lessons on animals, plants, and insects (these, of course, are included); but general ideas of the animal and vegetable kingdoms ; their chief divisions and why divided ; their points of semblance and contrast, mutual interdependence, &c. The subject is a most fascinating one to children, and can be made essentially practical, by calling in the aid of such examples as are to be found everywhere. By fastening a bit of muslin over a pickle bottle half full of water with a number of eggs and larv?e of the mosquito, means may be provided for illustrating its threefold life, and the impromptu aquarium will be a source of interest for weeks." Since this was written, courses of science lessons have been added to the curriculum of the South Australian schools. In so far as " official " science teaching is concerned, my inquiries have been very disappointing. By official teach- ing, I mean that which is undertaken in obedience to the The New Ed re at/ox — Scjence. 141 requirements of an official course of study. In the first place, much less progress has been made towards the systematic introduction of the subject into schools than I had expected ; and in the second place, where it has been attempted, the results are far from satisfactory. This is, of course, nothing more than might be expected. When the feeling of a country becomes so strongly in favour of an addition to the school course, the department having control of education formulates its plans, devises a long series of rules whereby the new machinery is to be fixed in the education — or rather the teaching mill — and, amid the plaudits of the advocates, sets it going. The instruction factory having been got into working order, it becomes necessary to test its work to see whether value is being obtained for money expended. What article is being produced ? In this there is frequently displayed a maturity of judgment and soundness of reason fully equal to that of the child, who three times a week pulls up the plant from his garden to see whether it is growing. The ''practical" members of School Boards, and the unpractical officers, frequently cannot see the difference between hiring a man to build a wall, and hiring one to educate a child. In the one case, at the end of a given time a calculation can be made of the number of hours' work, the quantity of bricks, Hme, sand, and so forth used ; and with tape and rule a few minutes will suffice to tell how much wall has been built ; and an inspection will show the quality of the work, which, if satisfactory, entitles the man to his wages. In the other case, the inspector calcu- lates how many lessons have been given, what subjects have been dealt with, what facts should have been learned, what words will best convey the full signification of a fact, in what order the facts should lie in the pupil's mind ; and then proceeds with his absurd "test" to fiml out whether science has been taught. 142 Teaching in Three Continents. I am strongly of opinion that in fully three-fourths of the American schools in which I saw so-called science being taught, the pupils were, to a large extent, being simply loaded with indigestible facts of science, instead of being educated through it. That the lessons are frequently "experimental" makes litUe difference. The process may be likened to being told the length, breadth, height, weight, quantity, and kind of materials used in a cake made by someone else, instead of having all the fun of weighing and measuring the ingredients, mixing, baking, and then sharing with friends the resultant dainty. The first process is not without benefit, and is, probably, an improvement on the old grind at classics. I consider this proved by the fact that pupils like the lessons, which is more than can be said of their Latin. The memory is exercised as much, the reasoning powers more, while the experiments performed by the demonstrator at least excite wonder and admiration, which may lead to useful results later. If possible, the case is still worse in England, where success depends on the number of pupils who can pass an examination and earn the special grant. I know that the one can be done, while the other is not left undone ; but it is not too much to say that the two ends are to a very great extent opposed to each other. The grant must be earned, or the opportunity of teaching at all is lost ; therefore it is made the chief end in view, and education suffers. A man tried on a plant the experiment of finding how little water he need give it to keep it alive. He was astonished to find that it would exist almost without his aid, by drawing its supply from unconscious sources, and rashly asserted that water was unnecessary ; until he saw one of the same species planted at the same time, but properly nourished. It was with difficulty he recognised that they were the same. It is not, how little is necessary to prevent death ; but how much to ensure the most vigorous life. The New Education — Science. 143 To this generally adverse criticism there is a reverse. There are numbers of schools, and a few systems of schools, where the controlling spirit is an enthusiast, who imparts his spirit to teachers and pupils, until the subject is rather instilled than taught, rather breathed than learned. Such teaching is never undertaken for the purpose of preparation for examination; not but that it would serve that end better than the method usually followed, but because the scope of work required for an ordinary examination is altogether too great to be properly learned in the time allowed for it. If science is to be taken in elementary schools, it must be for its training. The practical utility is so great, that this may well be allowed to take care of itself. The value of the teaching is proportionate to the degree in which an intimate knowledge of the details of the subject itself is subordinate to a grasp of the general principles. It must not be understood that I underrate the value of teaching chemistry, physics, physiology, or any other branch of this great subject, even as I saw it being carried on ; but rather that a very poor use is usually made of time and means. A method which may be good in a Univer- sity, where the professor is dealing with men whose age and training should be a guarantee of some degree of maturity of mind, may be very unsatisfactory when adopted for boys and girls. This, and the fact that far too much is attempted, are the chief causes of lack of success. In response to the great outcry for science in schools, laboratories have been fitted up and much money spent in apparatus, to the material benefit of the manufac- turers and dealers. The pupils have perhaps learned a number of hard names, and seen a variety of pretty experi- ments performed, and may have performed a number of experiments themselves ; made oxygen and burnt iron wire in it ; possibly have burnt themselves and been the wiser for it. Nevertheless, the experiments carried on at considerable 144 Teaching in Three Continents. cost have failed in the purpose intended. The pupils are little better able to understand the great world around them than they were before ; and the knowledge gained will not materially help them if they should have to take up the subjects for special purpose. No attempt has been made to teach what is of most use as education ; and a panial failure has resulted from attempting what is unsuitable or impossible to mere children. On the other hand, harm has frequently been done by supposed success. The boy leaves school witli conceited notions of his accomplishments, and a certificate wherewith to practise fraud on his fellows. There is an ancient aphorism which says, he who knows one truth knows all truth. All such truisms, are after all only half truths, and form the best possible debating ground. Is truth divisible into sections ? Can anyone know all truth? Who is sufficiently free from error to decide what is truth ? I will leave these and many other questions. One partial meaning may be, that when the perfectly genuine truth-seeker has placed his mind in the condition for accepting truth, and becomes conscious of one little glimmer, that glimmer serves as a light to guide him on his ever-satisfying, but never-ending search ; or, limiting the meaning, when a fact becomes thoroughly understood, it renders many more knowable. It is a standard by which others may be measured without error. In science, many studies lead to but one end : therefore a thorough study of one is preferable to a skimming of many. At the same time, the proper study of one must be preceded by a know- ledge of- the principles of all. Natural history, astronomy, chemistry, philosophy, all lead to the same cycle of truth ; but the facts of each, or of all, may be known, and the truth remain a sealed treasure. The facts are the skeleton ; essential, but to ordinary humanity uninteresting, dry, and valueless. The dry bones must live ; and, living, become the poetry of Nature. The New Education — Science. 145 An encyclopaedia is valuable as a book of reference. The ordinary man, busied with the cares of life, wants his facts assorted, distributed, arranged. The specialist needs his catalogue of scientific names and descriptions, and the more condensed these are the better. His work in itself advances life but little ; but he gives the fact, and the utilitarian, with his empirical intuitive knowledge of the science of men, seizes it, and gathers in a fortune. The same fact may be taken by the poet, who builds upon it his ideal, and all admire the lovely resultant imagery. The ento- mologist spend hours upon the study of the wing of a fly ; he dissects, mounts, examines, draws, disputes over the twentieth part of an inch in its length, and is so wrapped up in such details that beauty is unnoticed, and the insect becomes to him something to examine and classify. The ornitholo- gist may see in a new bird a specimen to be shot, sketched, stuffed, and mounted, with a sufficiency of chemicals to keep it from the ravages of insects. A chemist may value a new material merely as something to be analysed, to be weighed, dissolved, burnt, or otherwise resolved into its elements. It is not these men who directly influence the ethics of humanity. I do not depreciate the work of the specialist, neither are any words of mine required to show the importance of his efforts to humanity. In fact, everyone should be a specialist in something; but we should not attempt to make specialists of children. If natural history be the means by which we seek to introduce our pupils to Nature, we would do well to take as our model not the collector, but the naturalist, who makes friends with Nature, communes with her, tells her his secrets and receives hers in return, gives her himself, and has her for the giving. Such were Audubon, Agassiz, and many of the poets. Such an one is John Burrows. Nature told them her secrets, for she recognised them as her children. As Longfellow so beautifully sings of Agassiz : — 146 Teaching in Three Continents. " And Nature, the clear old nurse, took The child upon her knee, Saying : ' Here is a story-book ' Thy father has written for thee.' " ' Come, wander with me,' she said, ' Into regions yet untrod. And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God.' '* And he wandered away and away With Nature, the dear old nurse, Who sang to him night and day The rhymes of the universe. " And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail, She would sing a more wonderful song. Or tell a more marvellous tale." A crystal was a poem of life to Ruskin ; and Charles Kingsley made paving-stones and roof slates tell the life- history of our planet. To Hugh Miller a quarry was a romance of growth, life, convulsion, and decay ; while the helpless worm, for which Cowper pleaded, found in Darwin one to whom it could tell its life purpose, more wonderful than romance. This life of Nature in Nature is the know- ledge which will be of greatest value to the people, for in itself it is ennobling, and from it is developed the practical study of the specialist. This almost indescribable knowledge, or rather love for knowledge, can be cultivated ; and, where imparted, is loved. I have seen it working its elevating powers in Australia, in America, in England. One interprets it through his chemicals in the school-room, another among the flowers in the garden, another in the quarry, others in the fields among the butterflies, or in the woods making friends with squirrels, or perhaps use all in turns. Nature's laboratory is always open, and no manufacturer exercises a monopoly over The New Education — Science. 147 apparatus. I have just come across an address delivered by Professor Huxley at Manchester in 1887, in which occurs this passage : — " The other matter in which we want some systematic and good teaching is what I have hardly a name for, but which may best be explained as a sort of developed object lesson. Anybody who knows his business in science can make anything subservient to that purpose. You know it was said of Dean Swift that he could write an admirable poem upon a broomstick ; and the man who has a real know- ledge of science can make the commonest object in the world subservient to an introduction to the principles and greater truths of natural knowledge. It is in that way that your science must be taught if it is to be of real service. Do not suppose any amount of book-work, any repetition by rote of catechisms, and other abominations of that kind, are of value for our object. That is mere wasting of time. But take the commonest objects, and lead the child from that foundation to such truths of a higher order as may be within his grasp." Never can such teaching be given for a grant, or any reward other than the pleasure of doing, giving, and exer- cising. Nature is always just, though exacting ; often cruel to those who oppose her knowingly or unknowingly, yet generous to those who are so to her. Her laws are wide- reaching : she is a gentle servant or a hard taskmaster ; a merciless tyrant or a generous friend; just as she is treated. She will not yield her secrets for a salary, or allow children to learn to love her that their teachers may earn a merit grant. They who seek her for the love they bear her, nevertheless find treasures not the less welcome because unsought. " Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added," is expressive of a wider, broader, more significant meaning than is frequently assigned to it. This chapter already contains too much theory; but that is because I found so little good science teaching to K 2 148 Teaching in Three Continents. record. This may be a bard statement to make, after travelling round the world in search of information on this precise point. As a matter of fact, however, I have rather learned what to avoid than what to advocate for adoption. I have not seen a comprehensive course of rudimentary science — I use the word science here apart from its mean- ing in college, because I have no other word to express the kind of teaching I have indicated — in satisfactory opera- tion in any large system of English-speaking schools. I have a number of excellent courses of study on '' General Knowledge," "Common Objects," "Elementary Science," " Physiology and Hygiene," and so forth, and I some- times travelled long distances to see them in operation ; but I have found that it does not follow that because a certain town, city, or district, has a reputation for general education, or with regard to some special feature, that, therefore, its schools are superior to those of its neighbours. The fame of its presiding genius, peculiar circumstances leading to its being well advertised, or other fortuitous circumstances, may give it a reputation, while the equally good, but more quiet, modest, hard work of its neighbour may be unrecognised, and remains unknown to the peda- gogical world. Generally, where experiments have been tried on a large scale, their best purpose has been destroyed by the absurd wish to see " results " in a few months. The fact that the results have been highly beneficial under existing circumstances, proves that if the subject could be taught in a suitable manner — for example, on the lines advocated by Professor Huxley — there would be no subject in the school course more educative, more popular, and at the same time more practically useful in after-life, than the scientific treatment of common things. The generally increasing interest in the subject, the expense which authorities are occasionally willing to bear, The New Education — Science. 149 and the awakening desire to educate for the life of the pupil, not for the result immediately attainable, lead me to hope and believe that the day is not far distant when what I have written on this subject will be erroneous and out of date. Since writing the preceding, I have read for the first time the report of the School Management Committee of the London School Board on this subject. My remarks had no particular reference to London ; but an extract from the report will show how they apply even to the excellent schools of that great city, where I saw some really fine science teaching. It illustrates, too, how a measure of success is often the surest ground for general dissatisfaction, when a comparison is made between what is thus shown to be possible, and the ordinary, but no longer satisfactory work : — " Perhaps of all subjects, the greatest progress has been made in the^ teaching of geography, and the least in that of elementary science. This is curious, because the latter subject can be made intensely attractive and instructive to children. Probably the reason lies in a want of knowledge on the part of the teacher, and a somewhat vague syllabus not answering well to examination requirements. " Teachers are unanimous in according to object lessons a high place among the subjects best calculated to awaken the reasoning faculties of children, and to develop an interest in their work generally ; but this theoretical unanimity is, unfortunately, not the only point on which they agree, for they are practically unanimous in either not taking any definite course of lessons, or in giving them in a perfunctory and slipshod fashion. Even in schools where special atten- tion is paid to object lessons, their raison d'etre appears to be not so much ' to induce to observe, or to encourage to compare and note resemblances and differences,' but, as is sometimes said, to promote a better attendance on Friday 150 Teaching in Three Continents. afternoons. The teacher who makes such a statement utters an unconscious satire on his teaching, and acknow- ledges that one factor in bad attendance is the dryness and wearisomeness of the lessons. There can be no doubt that object lessons, apart from their utility in other directions, brighten school life, and encourage children to take a deeper interest in their work. They are apt, however, to take the form of lessons, in which certain definite facts are imparted, instead of lessons in which the children are taught to think and acquire the power of gaining information. This arises mainly from two causes : — " {a) Lists of lessons are apparently drawn up at random. There are no connecting links, and care is not always taken to supply the information in the order necessary to its being understood. The lessons present a number of facts for the consideration of the children, without the preliminary knowledge which may be requisite. Underlying principles are ignored, and the statements of the teacher, as to reasons and causes, are simply presented for acceptance on faith. A lesson on the pump, for instance, would be given without a preliminary explanation and illustration of the weight of the atmosphere and the pressure of fluids ; a lesson on the electric light without any allusion to the difference between conductors and non-conductors ; and the notion of the electric current would be given in such a way as to be misleading. The children are taken into the domain of fairyland, as it were, and see, or are told, wonderful things ; but this is not the scientific training which should be the aim of object lessons. "The lessons are not prepared. The teacher depends for his facts on knowledge picked up at random, perhaps never verified, and generally incomplete ; and for his method he trusts to devices on the spur of the moment. The consequence is, that the lesson frequently turns on points already well known to the children, as that the cow is a The New Education — Science. 151 quadruped ; or on certain formulae that have been adopted apparently as adaptable to most things, as that the object under consideration is opaque or transparent, that it is rough or smooth, &c." Several English School Boards have adopted a peri- patetic plan of teaching science to boys, and domestic economy to girls. I first saw the system in operation in Liverpool, where I understand the method was first adopted with great success, owing to the enthusiasm of the Demon- strator. The subject first taken for the boys was mechanics. Birmingham, London, Leeds, and other cities have adopted the same plan. I believe there are between eight and nine thousand boys receiving instruction in mechanics in the London schools. The plan is similar to the supervisor system found so useful in the United States. An enthusiastic and able scientific teacher is appointed to take charge of the instruction in a certain number of schools. A laboratory is provided for him in a convenient centre, which is supplied with a complete set of apparatus for the illustration of the subject selected. A course of lessons is drawn up and a time table arranged, so that the Demon- strator can conveniently get from one school to another without waste of time ; but a whole morning or afternoon is usually spent in one school. The Demonstrator prepares his day's work in his laboratory, packing the apparatus required for his illustrations in suitable boxes, which a boy conveys to the school in a handcart. A few minutes suffices to set up the apparatus in a class room, into which the regular teacher brings his class, and remains with it during the demonstration, taking notes of the lesson for re- capitulation. Between each visit of the Demonstrator the regular teacher recapitulates the lesson, often improvising apparatus wherewith to impress a principle not thoroughly grasped during the regular lesson. When a teacher shows by his knowledge and interest that he is capable of taking 152 Teaching in Three Continents. charge of the subject, he is allowed the use of the apparatus to give the lessons without the attendance of the Demon- strator. There are now a number of teachers in Liverpool who thus relieve the special teachers of work in particular schools, and enable them to devote more time to children less highly favoured. In addition to the work in the schools, the science master conducts special classes for pupil teachers, who attend at stated times at his laboratory ; so that he is doing a double work in teaching science to the present school children, and training teachers who will be able to teach the subject themselves in a few years. As an introduction to the special lessons under the science master, a carefully prepared course of experimental object lessons has been drawn up, with elaborate notes on the method which uiay be e^nployed, for the guidance of teachers. The apparatus required is such as anyone can procure and make at a cost of a few pence and a little time ; and the lessons, if carried out after the manner of the method suggested, cannot fail to have a very valuable educative result. The titles of some of the lessons are suggestive of the methods employed, such as — The Senses and their Use; Classification of Substances; Classification into Solids, Liquids, and Gases; Action of Water on a Solid placed in it ; Evaporation of Water for Recovery of Dissolved Matters; the Pressure of the Air ; and so forth. Mr. Hewitt, the special master, among his suggestions, says : " The lessons should be largely of a conversational character, the children being permitted and encouraged to take as large a share as possible in the work." I will insert the syllabus of Study in Mechanics. MECHANICS. SYLLABUS. ist Stage. — Matter in three states ; solids, liquids, and gases. Mechanical properties peculiar to each state. Matter is porous, com- The New Education — Science. 153 pressible, elastic. Measurement as practised by mechanics. Production of a plane surface. Measurement of length, time, and velocity. 2nd Stage. — Matter in motion. The weight of a body, its inertia and momentum. Measures of force. The work done by a force. Meaning of the term "energy." Energy may be transferred, but cannot be destroyed. Modern notions as to the nature of heat. j7-d Stage. — The simple mechanical powers, viz., (i) the lever ; (2) the wheel and the axle ; (3) pulleys ; (4) the inclined plane ; (5) the wedge ; (6) the screw. Liquid pressure ; the hydrostatic press ; liquids under the action of gravity. The parallelogram of velocities. The parallelogram of forces — examples commonly met with. Method of I^istriictmi. This subject is taught, as far as possible, by means of special experimental demonstrations, supplemented by lessons given by the teachers in the respective schools. The first stage is taken up by the boys in the fifth standard, the second stage by those in the sixth standard, and the third stage by those in the seventh standard. In the first stage a demonstration is given weekly, in the second stage fortnightly, and in the third stage monthly. In every case there should be a careful revision of the subject matter of a demonstration before the time for the next succeeding demonstration. This recapitulatory lesson should, whenever possible, be given by a teacher who was present at the original demonstration, and who will, there- fore, be able to refer to the experiments then shown. In addition to these recapitulatory lessons, it will be necessary in the second and third stages for the teachers to give independent lessons on certain portions of the subject in those weeks when there is no demonstration. Since the knowledge of the children is tested, at the inspection of the school, by means of a written examination, every oppor- tunity should be taken to exercise them in expressing their ideas in writing. 154 Teaching in Three Continents. The Liverpool Board, finding that the experiment with regard to mechanics has proved so successful, have adopted a course of study, which, for want of a better name, is called chemistry. The object is to give such knowledge of things as will serve as a preparation for the study of chemistry at a later stage, and will either enable boys to take up the study of the subject for the Science and Art Department with intelligence and profit ; or be in itself a source of mental training, and useful instruction in those fundamental principles of things which will enable them to take a more enlightened view of the surroundings of daily life. Having entered thus fully into the nature of the work in Liverpool, I need not attempt to describe that carried on in other places on the same general plan. Where science is taken for the boys in the way outlined, domestic economy is usually provided for the girls by a similar plan of itinerant teachers. Some of the courses of lessons are excellent, and I am sorry that the frequency of the directions for "preparing for examination" points to the prevalent idea that instruction is only beneficial when it leads to an immediate measurable result. That quickness of growth, associated with rapidity of decay, is not confined to mushrooms, appears very frequently to be lost sight of. It is the custom of the superintendents of American schools to publish manuals in which are laid down, in exact detail, the work of each grade. The course of study then be- comes a work, or the method of teaching with definite applica- tion. In the case of partially trained teachers this is highly beneficial, and as no good superintendent thinks of confining teachers to the methods laid down, the plan is a commend- able one. Many of the school laws of the State have pro- vided that lessons in physiology, hygiene, and the effects of alcoholic drinks shall be given in all the schools. Generally, I consider that the effect of these lessons is highly beneficial, although they are sometimes given to comply with the law The Nfav Educatiox — Science. 155 instead of for the purpose intended. Occasionally a school committee will select a text-book, about which nothing can be said in praise, and which is not worth the space to condemn. When a teacher follows such a book slavishly, the effect is apt to be an addition to that narrow-minded- ness and bigotry, which certainly needs no special training in most natures. In speaking of Cook County Normal School, I gave a short account of the way natural history was there taught in an indirect way, apart from set lessons ; and in my remarks on Natural History Clubs will be found further details of similar teaching. I witnessed similar excellent work in various schools ; and from several incidents am inclined to think it is more frequent than I at first imagined. The teacher who manipulates an electric machine, to the amusement of his pupils ; or makes them learn a tabulated list of the strata of the earth's crust, under the delusion that he is teaching science, rarely fails to inform the visitor of his doings, although he may thereby write himself down as an ass; but the gentle lover of Nature, who from day to day instils into his pupils a love and know- ledge of Nature and her laws, possibly never thinks, or at all events, does not tell others, he is teaching science. On one occasion, I visited a school to see some work in drawing, which I had heard was praiseworthy. After satisfy- ing myself on the matter which had caused my visit, I sought for information on other points. In each of the rooms I had noticed sundry specimens of shells, preserved crabs, butterflies, dried flowers, boxes in which were cocoons, and so forth, and therefore remarked to one of the teachers that I was pleased to see that she taught natural history, and wished to know whether the pupils were fond of it. With evident surprise, she informed me that they did not teach natural history at all ! After a little chat, I asked about the specimens in the room, and what she did with them. I 156 Teaching in Three Continents. found that they were nearly all brought to the school by the children, so that they might talk with her about them. It appeared that the principal was very fond of natural history, and had succeeded in interesting her pupils and her teachers in the subject without giving it a name. Each spring the pupils bring to school the first specimen of every wild flower that they find open. The date is recorded and compared with last year's record, and then the speci- men is examined and talked about. It is not my intention to enter into further details of this most desirable means of education. At present it appears impossible that it should be otherwise than excep- tional. I will give one or two examples of how many of the superintendents plan out the work for their teachers. The course of instruction in natural science for the schools of St. Louis, requires that oral lessons on plants and animals be given in the first and second grades ; that physiology and hygiene be taught with the text-book in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades ; and that oral lessons in physics be given in the eighth grade. In the first, second, and eighth grades, the maximum time for one recita- tion shall be set apart each week for giving these oral lessons in natural science. In the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, two recitations shall be given each week in physiology and hygiene. A large selection of topics is given for each school year, from which the teacher will select such as she can best clearly illustrate and explain. She must not take any more than she can properly teach during the quarter. ■:■ I will not quote all, but will insert the topics for the first and sixth years as fairly typical. FIRST YEAR OR GRADE : PLANTS OR OUTLINES OF BOTANY. First Quarter. — Flowers ; their structure, colour, perfume, habits, and shapes. Inasmuch as the pupils of this grade enter school in the The New Education — Science. 157 spring or early fall, their first quarter's work can be illustrated directly from the garden. Second Quarter. — Leaves, fruit, seeds ; shape, uses, sap, decay. Third Quarter. — Buds, roots, their purpose ; stalks and trunk, bark of plants, wood. Fourth Quarter. — Circulation of sap, what is made from sap, shape of plants, etc. Review of topics taken during year. SIXTH YEAR OR GRADE : PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE. First Quarter. — How we live ; how the body is covered ; what the hair is ; how to keep the hair healthy ; thinning and greyness of the hair ; why the body should be clothed ; how the body should be clothed ; hygiene of the skin ; something to find out ; how bodily motion is directed ; bodily organs must act in harmony ; how the nerves are distributed ; nerve matter ; the brain. Second Quarter. — How bodily motion is directed ; the spinal cord; the ganglia ; sympathetic system ; use of the nerves ; direct nerve action ; reflex action ; sympathetic action ; habit and training ; exercise of the nerves ; rest of the nerves ; how alcohol affects the nerves ; effect on the mind ; how tobacco affects the nerves ; hygiene of the nerves ; something to find out. Third Quarter. — How the mind gets ideas and expresses them ; sensations ; the taste as a sentinel ; flavours.; odours ; sound ; the ear ; care of the ear ; light ; need of light ; the eye ; structure of the eye ; muscles of the eye ; action of light ; care of the eye. Fourth Quarter. — How the mind gets ideas and expresses them ; the voice ; speech ; care of the voice ; hygiene of the organs of special sense ; something to find out ; stimulants ; narcotics. The following extracts give the general principles of the method to be adopted in dealing with the course : — *' The teacher must not consider herself required to go over all the topics assigned for any given quarter. She must not attempt to do any more than she can do in a proper manner. It it happens that only the first two or three topics are all that can be dealt with profitably, the teacher must not allow herself to undertake more. 158 Teaching in Three Continents. " In case the teacher finds that the topics of any given quarter are not arranged in such an order that she can take them up to the best advantage, she is at hberty to change that order ; but she must not proceed to the work of a new- quarter, or to any portion of it, until she has first given ten weekly lessons on the quarter's work she has begun. " No more than ten lessons should be given on the work laid down for a quarter. When these have been given, proceed to the work of the next quarter, whether the topics of the quarter in hand have all been considered or only a very small portion of them. "The course is arranged with reference to method rather than quantity or exhaustiveness. If only one topic is thoroughly discussed in each quarter of the first year, some very important ideas will be gained of the science of botany. " The question will be asked : Why not reduce the number of topics under a given subject to the number that can be actually discussed by the teacher ? " The answer is : (i) A selection of topics from a com- paratively full enumeration is best left to the individual teacher. (2) The exact number of topics that cnn be profitably discussed by teachers will vary with their capaci- ties ; moreover, it will vary from year to year, as teachers become familiar with the course ; hence it is necessary to have a variety, and to have topics enough for the most rapid classes. (3) It is, moreover, important to keep before the teacher a full outline of the subject, so as to prevent the (very common) tendency to treat a theme in its narrow application only, and to omit its general bearings." I think the following course of study prepared for the use of the teachers of the town of Middletown, Connecticut, and included in the Teachers' Manual for 1888, deserves to be quoted in full, not only on account of its value in itself, and as an illustration of the detail with which courses ot The Neiv Education — Science. 159 study are elaborated ; but also, and more particularly, because it is drawn up in accordance with the scheme of the x\merican Society of Naturalists, as adopted at their meeting held in New Haven in 1887. Its compilation is due, I beheve, to Professor William North Rice, Ph.D., LL.D., the chairman of the Middle- town Board of Education. COURSE OF STUDY IN NATURAL SCIENCE FOR SCHOOLS OF MIDDLETOWN, CONN. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. The object of elementary lessons in natural science is two-fold : to train the observing powers, and to give information. The former should be especially emphasised in the Primary grades, and the two made about equally important in the Grammar grades. Before entering school, most children spend a large portion of their waking hours out of doors in close and sympathetic contact with Nature, seeing, feeling, handling, smelling natural objects. Curiosity is the incentive. This unconscious study of Nature should not, as too often happens, cease when children enter school. Natural curiosity, so active in the young, should be stimulated and directed, not repressed and killed. Such repression has often caused children to hate school. Their hours in school should be their happiest, because there they should find, not only many of those natural objects that arouse and attract their attention ; but also a wise, sympathetic teacher to inspire and guide them in the exercise of their rapidly developing powers. The teaching should be chiefly objective. Large, well-defined pictures may be used, whenever it is impossible to obtain the real objects; but it should always be borne in mind that the best pictures are poor substitutes for the objects themselves. ■ In the lower grades, the teacher should studiously avoid the use of technical terms, whose meaning is unknown to children. The chief object here is, not to teach science, but to tram to close and accurate observation, and to stinuilate a keen interest in Nature. In no grade should special emphasis be laid upon technical terms and classifications, though somewhat more attention may projjerly be given to them in the Grammar grades. All classifications should, so far as possible, be the result of observation and comparison on the part of the pupils. Let the teacher stimulate, direct, suggest, and name. Happy the teacher i6o Teaching in Three Continents. and fortunate the pupils, if, in this delightful work, the teacher judiciously combines speech and silence. An occasional talk, however, by the teacher on the subject before the class is both proper and desir- able. Such talks should furnish information beyond the reach of the pupils' observation. Every lesson should be carefully prepared. Aimless and irrelevant conversations are profitless. Allow and encourage the freest expression of what the pupils see. Encourage the pupils to collect and bring in specimens. Elicit, by judicious questions, a description of what they have brought. Give them additional information. If necessary, postpone the subject till the next day, and learn something about it. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE I. Physiology. — Regions of the body — head, trunk, limbs. Details of external parts. Uses of external organs. Hygiene of the skin — bathing. • Zoology. — Lessons on common mammals, e.g., cat, dog, horse, cow, rat, squirrel. Let the pupils observe, compare, and describe these animals, as regards their external aspect and habits. Compare these animals with ourselves. Tell stories illustrative of habits of these and other mammals. Botany. — Lessons on common plants. Teach pupils to distinguish root, stem, leaf. Compare leaves of different plants, as regards general form, margin, venation. Require pupils to draw and describe leaves of many plants. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE II. Physiology. — The framework of the body. Bones, joints, muscles. Exhibit anatomical diagrams. Teach the pupils to find in their own bodies some of the bones, which can be easily felt through the skin. Emphasise importance of correct attitudes, while framework of the body is rapidly growing and taking shape. Warn against stooping shoulders and crooked backs. The teeth — their forms and uses. Emphasise importance of thorough mastication. Necessity of cleaning teeth. Zoology. — ^Lessons on mammals continued. Special study and comparison of limbs of mammals. Let the pupils find the elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle in the cat, dog, horse, cow, rat, squirrel, and any other mammals of which specimens or pictures may be at hand. Thus teach them the idea of homology, though the word should not be used. Compare teeth of common mammals, and lead pupils to recognise The New Education — Science. i6i adaptation of different kinds of teeth to different kinds of food. Teach pupils to recognise degrees of resemblance between animals. The cat and the dog resemble each other more than either resembles the horse or the rat. Develop idea of classification. Lead pupils to recognise character of carnivores, ungulates, rodents. Most of the mammals with which the children are familiar are included in these three orders. But tell them about monkeys, and kangaroos, and other very different forms of mammals, that they may not suppose that all mammals are so included. Botany. — Different kinds of stems — woody and herbaceous, exo- genous and endogenous. By study of numerous examples lead pupils to recognise that exogenous stems usually bear net-veined leaves, and endogenous stems usually bear parallel-veined leaves. Distinguish deciduous and evergreen trees. Let the pupils make lists of each. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE IIL Physiology. — Elementary ideas of digestion. Why do we eat ? All parts of the body are made of the food which we eat. Food is made into blood, and blood made into all the materials of the body. But our food is mostly solid, and it must be made liquid before it can get into the blood. Different substances dissolve in different liquids — e.g.., salt in water, camphor gum in alcohol, iron filings in dilute sulphuric acid. Show these experiments. Body itself must make liquids which will dissolve food". Put lump of sugar in mouth. Mouth fills with saliva, and sugar is dissolved. This illustrates secretion of digestive fluids. But meat will not dissolve in saliva. What does become of it? Show anatomical plate of stomach, and tell about gastric juice. Teach (with use of anatomical diagrams) outlines of anatomy of digestive organs. .Show, by experiment, how much more quickly powdered salt dissolves in water than lumps of rock-salt. Teach importance of thorough mastication. Show gizzard of turkey and explain its use. But we have no gizzard, and hence must not swallow our food whole, as the turkey does. Wholesome and unwhole- some foods. Alcohol. Zoology. — Lessons on common birds — e.g.^ robin, hawk, hen, duck. Let pupils compare these with each other and with mammals. Compare feet and bills of different birds, and show adaptation to habits: Continue lessons on homology of limbs. Let the pupils find elbow, wrist, knee and ankle in birds. Is the bat a bird ? Talk on instincts of birds, shown in periodical migrations and in nest-building. L 1 62 Teaching in Three Continents. Botany. — Lessons on flowers. Select plants with perfect and somewhat conspicuous flowers. Teach the pupils to recognise sepals, petals, stamens, pistils. Let pupils describe and draw the parts in a variety of flowers. Study polypetalous flowers first, afterwards mono- petalous flowers. Cut open the ovary in large flowers, and show the ovules. Develop the idea that the parts of the flower are altered leaves. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE IV. Physiology. — Circulation. When food has been made into blood, blood must be carried to all parts of body — function of circulation. Show by anatomical plates the outlines of anatomy of circulatory apparatus. Let the pupils find some of their own veins, and feel pulsa- tion of heart, and of arteries in wrist and temple. Respiration. Show difference between inspired and expired air by experiment with lime- water. Burn a candle in a jar, and show that the air in the jar affects lime-water like expired air. Carbonic acid always formed when carbon burns — i.e.^ when carbon unites with oxygen. Carbon in body and in food. Carbon burns — i.e.^ unites with oxygen all over the body. Body runs, like a steam-engine, by burning carbon. Object of respira- tion — introduction of oxygen and removal of carbonic acid. Anatomy of respiratory organs. Hygiene of respiration — dress, ventilation. Respiration in aquatic animals. Show gills of fish, and respiratory movements in living fish. Fish breathes air dissolved in water. Show presence of such air by warming a beaker of water, and so forming air-bubbles. Zoology. — Lessons on common reptiles, amphibia and fishes — e.g.y turtle, snake, frog, perch, pickerel, eel. Let pupils observe, compare, and describe. Continue study of homology of limbs. How many of these animals have two pairs of limbs like those of mammals and birds? Notice external covering of these animals. Their bodies are cold. Why ? Respiration of fishes. Is the whale a fish ? Metamorphosis of amphibia, as shown in changes from tadpole to frog. Teach characters of the three classes — reptiles, amphibia, fishes. Characters possessed in common by mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibia, fishes. Sub- kingdom vertebrates. Botany. — The pistil of a flower develops into a fruit. Different kinds of fruits. Seeds. Show the embryo in beans, and other large seeds. Plant seeds in pots, and show growth of plants from seeds. Cycle of growth, reproduction, death. The New Education — Science. 163 NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE V. Physiology. — Nervous system. Analyse the series of actions when a boy put his hand on the radiator and finds it too hot. Nervous system, a telegraphic system in the body. Brain the central office. Afferent and efferent nerves. Anatomy of the nervous system. Hygiene of the nervous system — stimulants and narcotics. Zoology. — Study the lobster. Lead pupil to recognise jointed external skeleton, distinct regions of body, jointed limbs. Trace similarity of structure in feelers, jaws, and accessory jaws, nippers, legs and other appendages, including the caudal fin. Cut off edge of carapace on one side, and show gills. Contrast articulate type of structure, as shown in lobster, with vertebrate type, as shown in animals previously studied. Compare diagrams of nervous system in vertebrates and articulates. Compare with the lobster, the crab and the sow-bug. Teach pupil to recognise the common characters which unite these animals in the class Crustacea. Study angle-worm as illustrating articu- late type in much simpler form — body not differentiated into regions, no jointed appendages. Talks on useful animals. Botany. — Study more obscure and difficult forms of flowers than those examined in Grade IIL Flowers densely aggregated, as in sun- flower, dandelion, daisy. Imperfect flowers, as in willow, oak, chestnut. Flowers with open (gymnospermous) pistil, as in pine, spruce. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE VI. Physiology. — Briefly review work of previous grades. Special study of the eye. Anatomy of the eye. Illustrate formation of image on retina by use of a large lens. Hygiene of the eye. Injury of eye by use of light too strong, too feeble, unsteady or improperly placed. Cultivation of near-sightedness by bad positions in reading and writing. Zoology. — Study common insects, as the bee, butterfly, fly, beetle, squash-bug, dragon-fly, grasshopper. Compare these animals with lobster, sow-bug and angle- worm, and recognise in all these the common characters of articulates. In insects, note the characteristic division of body intohead, thorax, and abdomen. Compare wings of insects, as regards number, form, venation, texture. Show scales from wings of moth and butterfly under microscope. Examine the mouth-parts of those insects which are not too small. Supplement observation with pictures. Under lens examine eyes of insects. Explain their peculiar structure. L 2 164 Teaching in Three Continents. Metamorphosis of insects. Catch some caterpillars in the fall, and keep them in boxes in the school-room. Some of them will probably survive, and appear as moths or butterflies early in the spring. Talks on injurious animals. Show how some animals are useful by destroying injurious animals— ^.^. , insectivorous l:)irds. Botany. — Distinction between flowering and flowerless plants. Examples of flowerless plants — ferns, club-mosses, horse-tails, mosses, lichens, fungi, sea- weeds. Show fructification of ferns. Show that the distinction of root, stem, and leaf, so obvious in nearly all flowering plants and in ferns and others of the higher flowerless plants, vanishes entirely in fungi and sea-weeds. Mineralogy. — Study crystalline form, cleavage, colour, lustre, hardness, of some of the minerals common in the vicinity of Middle- town — e.g., quartz, feldspar, mica, hornblende, garnet, tourmaline, beryl. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE VII. Physiology. — Senses of hearing, smell, taste. Zoology. — Study the river mussel. Direct pupil's attention to shell (with its hinge, ligament, mantle impression, and muscular impressions), mantle, gills, palpi, mouth, foot, adductor muscles. Compare this animal with the oyster and the clam. Note that the former has only one adductor muscle ; while the latter has the mantle lobes united, forming a sac which is continued posteriorly in the breathing-tubes or syphons. Examine some pond-snails. These will be found to resemble the preceding in their flabby unjointed bodies, destitute of internal skeleton ; but will be seen to differ in having a distinct head with feelers, and a spiral univalve shell. Examine shells of some of the sea-snails. Lead the pupils to recognise characters of lamellibranchiata and gastropoda, as classes of the sub-kingdom mollusca. Contrast the mollusca with the vertebrata and articulata. Give some talks on corals, sponges, and other animals lower in the scale than molluscs. Do not let the pupil suppose that the classes he has studied comprise the whole animal kingdom. Talks on geographical distribution of animals. Give a little idea of geological succession of animals. Botany. — Geographical distribution of plants. Uses of plants. Relation of plants to animals. Geology. — Gravel, sand, clay. Show that these result from the disintegration of pre-existent rocks. Erosion, transportation, and The New Education — Science. 165 deposition by water. Study gutters and puddles for illustration of action of aqueous agencies. Conglomerate, sandstone, shale. Show that these result from consolidation of gravel, sand, clay. Visit Portland quarries. Other rocks are sediments not merely consolidated, but crystalHsed by action of internal heat. Study specimens of gneiss and mica schist. Contrast their texture with that of sandstone and other sedimentary rocks. Still other rocks have come up in molten condition from interior of globe — e.g. , lava, trap. Talks on volcanoes. NATURAL SCIENCE.— GRADE VIII. Physiology. — Review nutritive functions, using elementary text- book. Illustrate subject with a few dissections. Physics. — Elementary text-book. Illustrate with experiments, as much as practicable. In many places when I asked whether science was taught, I received the reply, " No ; I should like to teach science, for I was very fond of it at college [or normal school, as the case might be], but we have no apparatus, and the Board of Education will not go to the expense of fitting up a room and providing it." They referred, of course, to physics and chemistry. I beUeve those teachers were usually in earnest; but they had been badly taught, and were under the impression that teaching physics and chemistry consists in manipulating certain expensive ap- paratus. It would appear that very many of those who take short courses of chemistry or physics in expensive laboratories, are unable to conceive of either subject existing anywhere outside a laboratory with curious brass instruments and numerous glass vessels. A teacher who is unable to improvise the greater part of the apparatus needed for all the science necessary in an elementary school, is not a fit person to be trusted with expensive and elaborate apparatus. One who can properly teach the fundamental principles of chemistry and physics to boys and girls is independent of the manufacturer ; and 1 66 Teaching in Three Continents. if he cannot teach, no manufacturer will enable him to do so. Of course, while a good teacher can do without apparatus, there is no doubt but that he will do still better with it. I am not merely theorising ; I am but stating the result of many observations, and I will give two examples of what I mean. In a magnificent school in Boston, where I spent a very pleasant afternoon, and heard some good teaching in other subjects, I listened to a " science lesson " given by the principal to the eighth grade boys and girls. He had a very convenient demonstrating table, and large cases of first-class chemical and physical apparatus at hand. Here is an outline of the lesson (?) The pupils were seated with large note-books and pencils, when the master called out, " Put down : To make red light, you take nitrate of strontium in a saucer and add alcohol ; then you warm the saucer and set light to the alcohol, when it burns with a red flame. Now watch me do it." Without further comment he per- formed the experiment, and smiled with evident satisfaction when the flame burned red, and the class cried, "Oh! isn't it pretty ! " He then prepared several other coloured flames in similar fashion, after which he said, " Put down the word 'Attraction,' and take careful and full notes, making a sketch of each experiment as I perform it. The first kind of attrac- tion is called magnetic attraction, which, as you know, points to the north. I will take this needle-magnet, and when I hold another magnet near, the needle is attracted, showing a law of which we will have to speak by-and-bye. Draw the experiment. Now write down 'Electrical Attraction,' which is the next kind we will take, according to the order of the book. I take a glass rod and rub it with a silk handker- chief, and when I put it near this pith ball hung on a silk thread, the ball is first attracted and then repelled. Now draw a picture of the experiment. Now write ' Cohesion ' as the next kind of attraction. Everything is made up of The New Education — Science. 167 molecules. I take a piece of wood, and I cannot pull it apart ; but if I take a rope of sand I can do so, because the sand has no attraction. This force is called cohesion. Now I put a globule of mercury on a glass plate, and put another plate on top — draw a picture of the experiment — and you see the mercury spreads out flat. Now, when I take off the plate, the cohesion of the mercury draws it up into a heap again. Here are two sheets of glass which I will wet and put together. Now, you see, I can hardly separate them again except by sliding one off the other. That is cohesion. Now put down * Adhesion.' When chalk sticks to the blackboard, that is adhesion. Now put down * Capillary Attraction.' I will hang this piece of blotting paper on a hook and let the end dip in water. You see the water is drawn up. That is capillary attraction. If I dip this stick into a bowl of mercury, you see none sticks to it, because there is no adhesion. When I put the stick into water they adhere." He then took out a set of tubes for showing capillary attraction, and holding them up said, " You see these tubes. Some are larger than others. Now, if I were to take some coloured water in a basin, and put the ends of these tubes into the basin, the water would rise up a good way in the smallest tube, but hardly at all in the largest. Make a drawing of this." He did not perform the experiment, but took another piece of apparatus for illustrating the same property of liquids, and said, " You see these two sheets of glass ? They are so fixed that the edges to my left are joined, but those to the right are open about half an inch. Now, if I were to put this into coloured water, the water would rise a long way up on the closed side, and form a curve facing the other way. You will read about it in your books, and you have seen the glass and know what it is." When he had proceeded thus far, I con- cluded I had written sufficient, and did not take further notes. Apart altogether from the accuracy of his state- 1 68 Teaching in Three Continents. meiits, I think it would be difficult to find an example of greater disregard of all sound principles of teaching. That man^ though principal of one of the finest schools in the best parts of Boston, when supplied with the best appliances, could not teach ! By way of contrast, I cannot do better than refer to the work at the New York College for the training of teachers, where all the apparatus used is made by the Science Master, or the students themselves. Lamp-chimneys, pickle bottles, preserve jars, canned fruit tins, laths, bits of elastic from old boots, scent bottles, glass rods and tubes, sealing-wax, and such-like inexpensive articles, are made to serve the purpose of illustrating all the principles of science needed. The aim of the enthusiastic teacher is to get the pupils to think about things, and understand the principles ; the scientific wording can be obtained from books if needed. I cannot give the outline of a lesson, because I did not take notes, and prefer not to trust to memory. I was too much interested in watching the work to attempt to write down what took place, and as a matter of fact, such lessons can- not be put on paper. It is the aim of the college to show the students how to teach, and how to make the apparatus for themselves. I saw excellent science demonstrations being conducted in several high schools, but of these it is not my intention to speak. The laboratories are usually finely and conveni- ently fitted, so that all the pupils can engage in experimental work. My experience is not sufficient to enable me to express an opinion as to whether the use of text-books is abused ; but I may say that I usually found that students worked at the laboratory-table with a book open in front. Thus, if they were testing for a given salt, they would have the book, with directions as to what tests they should apply, open on the table for constant reference. In the schools of South Australia, slow but steady The New Education — Science. 169 progress is being made towards a general systematic teach- ing of that introduction to scientific thought, which I have indicated is about all that can be at present made com- pulsory in the way of science in elementary schools. When the last course of study was drawn up some years since under the head of Special Lessons, the following instruc- tions were given : " These are to take the place of the object lessons hitherto given, which have been of compara- tively little use from the want of a definite plan. A pro- gramme of lessons suitable to each class is to be prepared by the teacher, and submitted to the inspector ; and for this the courses given below are to be considered merely as suggestions. It is, however, expected that at least, one General Lesson and a lesson on the principles of morality will be given in all cases each week, and that the fourth and fifth classes (equivalent to the sixth and seventh of England and the seventh and eighth grammar grades of the United States) will receive instruction in the duties of a citizen based on the text-book * Laws we Live Under,' issued by the Department. The text-books for object lessons used up to the present time are unsatisfactory ; the lessons are too pretentious. ' Ricks' Object Lessons ' will be found a good guide for Method. " Special lessons should never be allowed to degenerate into mere explanations of terms. " Suggested courses of lessons. " Lessons on animals illustrated by pictures. " Lessons on plants, illustrated by specimens and pic- tures. " Lessons on manufacturing processes, illustrated by specimens and pictures. " Lessons on elementary physics, if the teacher possesses suitable apparatus for illustration. '' Lessons on the human body, if properly illustrated." Under these regulations much progress was made, and 170 Teaching IN Three Continents. many teachers developed a taste for genuine science in consequence of their endeavours to make it interesting to their pupils. The Department did not supply apparatus ; but sold it to teachers for only a portion of the cost. Altogether the result was satisfactory, although, but for the yearly result examinations, I believe much greater progress would have been made. In 1886 the Technical Education Commission ap- pointed by the South Australian Parliament reported, among other things, that instruction in elementary science should be given in the higher classes. The reference made to the subject by the Inspector-General of Schools, Mr. J. A. Hartley, B.A., B.Sc. (Lon.), in his next report, is worthy of being quoted in full : — "It is somewhat doubtful how far another recommend- ation of the Technical Board can be carried out, viz. : — That 'instruction in elementary science should be given to the children in the higher classes.' The obstacle to be feared is the want of knowledge on the part of the teachers, and their consequent dependence on text-books. It is unfortunately true, that it is very easy to teach so-called science in such a way, as to make the whole business a pretentious sham ; and many text-books lend themselves to this deception. Such a book consists of a logically arranged summary of results expressed in strictly technical language. If it should fall in the way of a person who has no first-hand knowledge, he may draw up imposing notes of a lesson, the hard words are duly written on the blackboard, and committed to memory by the children, who will astonish the unwary visitor (if he comes soon enough) by the facility with which they will reproduce this parrot knowledge ; but within a week or a month all will have disappeared from their memories as completely as did the chalk from the blackboard when the lesson was over. For more than twenty years the leaders of scientific thought I The New Education — Science. 171 have been vigorously proclaiming against instruction of this kind, and a great change has resulted in the Universities and the better class of secondary schools ; but, so far as I know, primary schools have not yet succeeded in teaching science satisfactorily. There are exceptions, of course, to the rule, and some are to be found in this colony. A teacher takes an interest in nature ; he is an enthusiast with the microscope, a student of mineral specimens, fond of physics or chemistry ; such a man carries his pupils along with him, and they receive impressions in their young days which may last their lives. All men of this class are sure to teach science, and to teach it well ; and the more severely they are let alone by the Department, the better for every- body. There is an intermediate class who will probably teach the subject well with a little assistance ; lastly, there are a certain number who are as deaf and blind to the attractions of science, as some scientific men are to those of literature. I hope I am not overstating the case, but the greatest caution will be required if the Department is to avoid falling into the error referred to, of mistaking the appearance for the reality, knowledge of words for know- ledge of things. We intend to make an earnest attempt, and time alone can show whether it succeeds or fails." Since then much progress has been made both with regard to supplying the necessary training to teachers, and in giving systematic instruction in the schools. I will quote from the report made by the Inspector General of the Colony of Victoria, and the Principal of the Melbourne Training College, Messrs. Main and Topp, who spent some months in 1888 in making a comparative in- vestigation into the work of the public schools of the colonies of New South "Wales, Victoria, and South Australia : — " Elementary science is now taught in the three colonies in the higher classes, and in the lower classes object-lessons are prescribed as an introduction to science teaching. In 172 TEACHiSfG IN Three Continents. New South Wales physiology is first taken up, then physics ; and, in the highest class, lessons in physics are generally given in boys' departments, and physiology is again taken up in girls' departments. " In our (Victorian) schools the course is more logically correct, though perhaps not so suitable for children. The earlier part of the course consists of the general properties of matter, laws of heat, etc.; this is followed in the next class by the physical principles on which common machines depend, and in the highest class the laws of living things are to be explained. " In South Australia teachers are allowed to choose any science for which they have a taste, provided that a sys- tematic course is given. In one school magnetism and electricity are taken ; in another, chemistry ; in another, geology, mineralogy, and so on. " The attainments of the children in this subject were very varied. " In all the colonies, we found in many cases that the pupils had merely learnt a few definitions by rote, while in other schools the children had a really intelligent grasp of scientific principles and of the experimental method. " The method of examination in this subject is open to criticism. In the other two colonies, as in England, the examination is oral, partly by the teacher, partly by the inspector ; in Victoria the examination is written, and con- sists in giving three brief answers to as many questions." CHAPTER VII. TEACHERS AND THEIR TRAINING. General Comparison.— Comparison of Methods of Training. — English System gives prominence to Practice. — American more Educational. — English Teacher studies Methods.- -American, Principles. — Causes of Difference between American and English Teachers. — English Pupil Teacher System. — Training Colleges. — American Normal Schools. — High School Course and Normal Course. — Prominent Characteris- tics of English Teachers. — Prominent Characteristics of American Teachers. — Normal Schools. — Philadelphia. — Cook County Normal School. —Nature-Teaching. — Newspaper Cyclopaedia. — Washington Normal Schools. General Comparisons. "The principle of Co-operation is fundamental in a republic; it is the soul of both its individual and constitutional life. Social friction and the free interchange of experience presuppose a degree of equality ; and equality, in turn, incites to combination. The individuality is strong in proportion as he takes to himself the experience of all ; each is increased as he gives to all." — Boone. The United States is the great home of association. The instinct and capacity for government is very strong. It is facetiously said, that if three Americans have the same object in view, they form an association, of which one is president, another secretary, the third treasurer, and all are equals. This great tendency — I might say power — must not be lost sight of in comparing the teachers of America with those of England. I find the few English educators who have paid any attention to American schools, invariably lay great stress on what undoubtedly is one of the weak- nesses of the Republic — the lack of training on the part of teachers. The great difference lies in the fact that an 174 Teaching in Three Continents. English teacher, having gone through the period of pupil- teachership and training college course, is considered to be trained ; and certainly the majority leave the college with the idea that they know how to teach well, and if the cold, unsympathetic authorities would but give them the chance, they would regenerate the teaching world. " Un- wise " authorities do not give them the opportunity, and things are not reformed. The ardour of freshness gives way to indifference. They often do not teach as they have been taught to do, except when a visitor is present, who is considered important enough to cause them to rouse themselves. The outcome of this feeling is seen, in the little interest taken in the science or ethics of education afterwards. If they read books or papers on education, it is chiefly those which show real or imaginary short roads to ICO per cent. Consider the small number of educational papers in England, the scarcity of pedagogical libraries, the weakness and insignificance of the teachers' guilds of England, compared with the educational literature, the State, county, city, or even school pedagogical libraries, and the great flourishing Teachers' Associations and Institutes of the chief States of the Republic. The American teacher more frequently studies Herbert Spencer, Frobel, Horace Mann, Pestalozzi, Payne, Sully, and Fitch, while his English cousin prefers works bearing on " How to Gain loo per cent, in Arithmetic," "How to Prepare for Examination," "Practical Aids to Teaching," etc. I would not be misunderstood here. It must not be thought that I believe all, or even the majority, are the great readers of the books I have mentioned — or that there are not a large number of English teachers who read the science of education just as much as Americans — but that a larger propoi-tion do so in the Republic than in the King- dom, And it must be remembered that I am generalising from teachers as I saw them, and from the books which I Teachers and their Training. 175 found they owned, or which were most widely advertised and talked about, as well as from those numerous points of indirect evidence which perhaps have even greater influence on the judgment, but cannot be stated. Many of our most correct impressions are frequently formed from evidence of that indescribable character which refuses to be put on paper. The much-laughed- at "woman's reason," " I know because I do," is not so illogical as it seems ; being but another way of saying that the knowledge is rather the effect of intuition, or the unconscious result of accumulated experience, than of a definable reasoning process. I came into contact with only a very small fraction of the vast army of about 400,000 American, or the smaller body of English teachers ; but I think those I met were representative. It must further be remembered here as elsewhere, when comparisons are made, that a lady or gentleman whose social relations would cause the idea of teaching in an English elementary school to be considered dero- gatory, would consider it a perfectly natural thing to take an appointment in an American public school. Accord- ing to the English idea, the social status of teachers is higher in America. English teachers appear to frequently discuss the politics of education, or, more correctly, ques- tions relating to status, etc., and I heard .a good deal in London about attempting to send a teacher to the House of Commons at the next election to represent their interests. Nevertheless, educational questions, both of a theoretical and practical nature, I believe, form the chief subjects con- sidered in the meetings, which are usually only attended by the teachers of one class of schools, and not at all by the public. There are exceptions to this — notably the Teachers' Guild of Liverpool, the largest in England, I was told—of which I shall speak elsewhere. The National Education Association of America is the 176 Teaching in Three Continents. largest organisation of education in the world, and annually crowds an opera-house for a week with thousands of teachers and educators of all grades, to discuss the psychological basis, no less than the practical bearing, of the most prominent educational proposals. The individual States hold meetings, which are often large ; even the small State of Rhode Island can attract nearly one thousand teachers for three days once a year — two special holidays being granted for the purpose, the railway people giving free passes or re- duced fares, and the hotels making special rates — to discuss the " live " questions of the education of the day from the practical standpoint of educators. One of the most interest- ing features of the meetings is the fact, that an equal or greater number of citizens of the city and the neighbourhood, where the Association meets, will sit and listen to the papers and discussions. Could the teachers, say of Huddersfield and district, or even of Sheffield, Leeds, or Manchester, engage a town-hall for three days a year, and fill it with teachers of Board schools, voluntary schools, private schools, academies, colleges. School Board members, managers, and friends of education generally, to carry out such a pro- gramme oi^^ Exercises" — using the Americans' term for the items on such programmes — as the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction prepares annually — an example of which will be found in the chapter on " Supplementary Means for Pre- paring Teachers " ? In America direct and personal interest in education is not confined to the minority — it is the few who do Jiot take an interest in the schools. The opposite is the case in AustraUa, and I believe to a still greater degree in England. The difference between English and American schools and teachers must be attributed to a great variety of causes; but perhaps the chief may be summarised and briefly stated to be — difference in the social status of both teachers and pupils ; difference in character and degree of Teachers and their Training. 177 the training of teachers ; difference in social and political conditions of the two countries, and the consequent differ- ences in school government ; varying methods of testing school-work ; different character of discipline, again largely due to varying social conditions, together with the arrange- ment of the school-houses. Or, more briefly still, the differ- ences are due to the fact that the American public school is provided for all sorts and conditions of children, who can be attracted by the inducements of fine buildings, cheerful and bright surroundings, and free instruction, and who are attended and taught by the sons and daughters of rich and poor — professional, clerical, and industrial citizens alike ; while the English elementary schools are expressly provided for the children of the poor and indigent, who, either from social status or lack of means, could not attend the more expensive private schools. This broad statement is, of course, subject to modification. Many of the rich and exclusive Americans do not send their children to the public schools ; and many English people who could afford to pay academic fees wisely send their children to the Board schools. I was given to understand that these are constantly increasing. They are above the petty class prejudices which so retard the progress of reforms in the grand old Mother Land; and, seeing that Board schools give a better elementary training than private institutions, consider it no disgrace to give their children the advantage of what they by their school-rates assist to provide. METHODS OF TRAINING. England. The majority of English elementary teachers receive a systematic training ; the majority of American teachers have no such preparation. The English teacher^ commencing at M 1 78 Teaching in Three Continents. fourteen or fifteen, has three or four years' apprenticeship, and following that, two years in a training college. When special training is given in America, it consists of a High School course, and one or two years' special Normal course. The dominating feature of the English training is practice, or experience ; of American, study and science of teaching. The English system is a development of the special con- ditions of the country at the time of Messrs. Bell and Lancaster; the American is based on German methods — as indeed many other prominent features of American schools are. One of the ablest of the School Board clerks whom I had the pleasure of meeting in England, said during a chat we had on this subject, " I must confess that the German system of training makes better students ; but ours produces better teachers. The English method certainly fails in giving us cultured, educated men, who are life-long students for the sake of knowledge ; but the English schoolmaster can teach, and that is what we want." I did not agree; but were I to admit his conception of what constitutes teaching, I would at once grant his conclusions. Or I might grant the correctness of his statement ; but submit that not "■ teaching," but education, is the chief aim of a school- master, and that training a pupil to find out one fact in such a way that he thereby gains the desire as well as the power to obtain more, is a better result than "teaching" facts sufficient for loo per cent, at the result examination. It may be our disagreement was probably more from a failure to understand one another, than from actual diversity of opinion. A contrast somewhat more in detail may be interesting here. " A ])upil teacher is a boy or a girl engaged by the managers of a public elementary day-school, on condition of teaching during school hours under superintendence of the principal teacher, and receiving instruction out of I Teachers and their Training. 179 school hours." The period of apprenticeship is usually four years, but may be reduced to two provided the candidate is old enough, and can pass the correspond- ing examination. The minimum age is fourteen years, so that their term of service may not be completed before eighteen. " At the close of their engagements they may become — {a) Students in Training Colleges, {b) Assistant Teachers, {c) Provisionally Certificated Teachers." I cannot give any estimate as to the proportion of ex-pupil teachers who enter the training colleges, or what number are employed as assistants ; but I believe the proportion of the latter is not great. Nearly all of the most proficient pupil teachers, on com- pletion of their course, at the age of from eighteen to twenty, enter one of the excellent training colleges. The fees are merely nominal, and include board and residence in college ; but each institution makes its own terms. They are all, like the schools, under private management, being supported by the funds of the educational societies and Government grants, which depend on certain requirements being com- plied with. The chief of these are the annual examinations of the Education Department and the reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors. The grant may amount to £,^0 a year for each male, and ;^35 a year for each female student, but must not exceed 75 per cent, of the cost of the institu- tion. The course of study is — {a) Academic, {b) Profes- sional — including both the science and practice of teaching. There are always practice, or " Model " Schools, in connec- tion with the colleges. If the student satisfactorily passes the final examina- tion, he receives a provisional certificate, which is replaced by a full certificate if the inspector reports favourably on his subsequent work in the school to which he may be appointed. M 2 i8o Teaching in Three Continents. Thus, under the EngUsh system, the teacher begins his special training at the close of the elementary school course, steps out of the senior class to be junior teacher in the same school, and in many cases at once takes charge of a class of forty pupils. He commences to earn money for professional work during the period when the cha- racter is unformed, and the mind least stable. In most cases, the whole day is spent in teaching under most difficult conditions, with one or two other classes in the same room. In the evening, what little energy is left is to be used in preparing themselves for the next ex- amination. Strenuous efforts are being made by several School Boards to improve this state of things, to pro- vide time for study, and relieve the strain of teaching the whole time. From this it will be seen that not only does the English teacher receive his training free ; but is able almost to support himself while doing so. Those who take up the work of teaching intend to continue at it. A full certificate cannot be obtained until a year or two after leaving college — or, say, at twenty-two years of age ; but when received, is good for life. This gives security and permanency, but has the disadvantage of allowing and encouraging the feeling that, the certificate having been earned, effort may cease ; and the teacher not unfrequently crystallises into a grant-earning machine. Desire for promotion, love of study, and other influences, are powerful enough to stimulate all the better men and women to continuous effort. The permanency and security of the teacher's position in England seemed to me to be much greater than in America, where they are usually only engaged for a year at a time, although the average length of service in the city schools shows that the re-engagement at the beginning of each year is a mere formality in most cases. Teachers and their Training. i8i America. It is more difficult to make a concise statement with respect to the training of American teachers. There is considerable variety in details under the different authorities. The minimum age at which a person may be employed as a teacher is generally eighteen years ; in some places — Chicago, for example — it is nineteen. Graduates of Normal Schools are usually at least a year older. At the time when the English pupil-teacher is passing her candidate's examination, the American pupil is " graduating " from the Grammar School. She then enters upon a three or four years' High School course, frequently — or rather, generally — with no adaptation to the work of teaching. It is simply an academic course preparatory to the University. At eighteen she graduates, and then takes a special course of one or two years in the Normal Section. As she has already graduated in academic subjects, this time is spent in the study of the science and history of education, and practice-work. Literary work is only taken in connection with the theory of teaching. The schools are all free, but students usually have to provide books, so that it is necessary for the parents of an intending teacher to sup- port her until the age of eighteen to twenty. The custom of having residential colleges is not followed. I shall presently give more detailed accounts of three Normal Schools, which I believe will give a clearer idea of the American system than a lengthy general statement. It will be conceded, I think, contrary to established notions, that the English authorities are more liberal than the American. While the one provides means of training free, the other provides for the support of the intending teacher from the elementary school age. The American Normal graduate is ready for active work at about the same age as the English Training 1 82 Teach I KG in Three Continents, College student ; and we can to a certain extent compare their qualifications for the high duties they have to perform. The special feature of the English teacher is technical skill in practical teaching ; that of the American, an edu- cated and cultured mind. The time one has spent in teaching or learning to teach, the other has spent in study. The one has all along been subject to the influences of a narrowing occupation, and now oftentimes considers him- self well-nigh perfect in his art ; the other has been under the influences of a liberal training, is well versed in the principles of education, has had little practice in teaching ; but is fully conscious of the fact, and therefore ready to take advantage of every means to compensate for his lack. A conscious ignorance is often better than a self-satisfied know- ledge. The one is a continuous antidote against itself, the other the mother of pedantry and prejudice. The social conditions of England make the attainment to the position of schoolmaster, one which many teachers and their friends look upon as sufficient progress in the social scale to warrant the assumption of airs, which often afford con- siderable amusement to visitors used to democratic sur- roundings and ideas. So far I have endeavoured to confine myself to the small proportion of American teachers who have had a special training ; but so far as I was able to judge, the line of demarcation between the teachers who have had a special and those who have only had an indirect training was im- perceptible. The conclusion was irresistible, that the excellence of American teaching is the result of those supplementary, casual, indirect means which I, in common with the majority of others unacquainted with the conditions of country and people, was inclined formerly to depreciate. The general impression left on my mind may be summarised : — I. The special and systematic training of teachers. Teachers and their Training. 183 especially of men, while excellent and thorough in some centres, is decidedly weak in many places and deficient generally. 2. The average American teacher maintains better dis- ciphne with less force ; is a superior educator, but less an adept than her English compeer in filling the pupil's head with facts. 3. The conditions of the States are very different from those of either England or Australia. Indirect influences so generally modify the expected condition of things, the interest in and acquaintance with the public education is so widespread and keenly felt, and the teachers are usually so bright and progressive, that a much smaller amount of special training produces an equal degree of competency. The thought occurs, when reading the severe comments of Americans on the poor teaching in the schools of the States, that either their ideal must be so high, that what I considered good, by comparison with work done elsewhere, is very much below their conception of possible excellence ; or, perhaps more hkely, with all my care not to confine myself to the show schools recommended by the authorities and friends of education, who, of course, very properly wished to give me as favourable an opinion as possible, I may not have seen average schools. That the first hypothesis is true I am convinced. I am equally willing to admit the likely possibility of the second ; but I do not intend to modify the descriptions of what I did see, and the con- clusions to be drawn therefrom, on account of what it might have been possible for me to find had I searched for the bad. The comparisons between different systems being made on the same basis, the conclusions are still just. As a sample of the florid language which has led me to make these remarks, I will quote a few lines from the editorial columns of the April number of Education : — " Untold thousands of children in our oldest and most 184 Teaching in Three Continents. cultivated States get little help from the kind of country school which is their only seminary ; kept by a green girl or bumptious boy, in defiance of all sound principles of elementary education. And even in our great cities, and oftener in our large towns, the graded schools are honey- combed with incompetents, mental and moral, who muddle the work for a year and baffle the wisdom and energy of the ablest superintendent." Probably this, like patent medicine, should be taken with discretion. AMERICAN NORMAL SCHOOLS. Philadelphia. The Normal School for the training of teachers, like many other points of the American system of education, follows the German rather than the English plan. When I state that I found each successive institution I visited differed somewhat from those I had previously inspected, it will be understood that uniformity does not reach the stage of monotony. Besides many private Normal Schools, there are three classes which may be termed public institutions. These are the State, County, and City Normal, and each derives its designation from the authority under which it has been established. State institutions are to be found in the Eastern, Northern, and Middle North-Western States, as well as in California. County Normal Schools are generally similar to the above ; but are provided to supply the needs of a more limited area : while the school systems of cities, being per- fectly independent of the State in which they are located, prefer to make their own arrangements for the training of teachers. The pedagogical chairs of some of the Uni- versities will come under the head of private means. The Normal School usually admits pupils at from fifteen Teachers and their Training. 185 to seventeen, after they have passed through the Grammar Grades, and takes them through a four years' High School course. During the last year or two they are instructed in the science of teaching, and have a certain, though usually small amount of practical work in the attached practice-school. A few insist on a higher standard for entrance, only taking as students graduates of a High School, and spend more time on practical work ; while in other cases the High and Normal Schools are combined. Philadelphia may be taken as an example of the latter. This institution is of large proportions, there being, I was informed, about 2,200 pupils in attendance at the time of my visit. This number of course includes the practice departments, consisting of two model Kindergartens of about fifty pupils each, and between five and six hundred boys and girls in primary and grammar grades. The first three years of the Normal School would be more correctly called the Girls' High School, as the course of study is similar to those pursued in the High Schools of other cities, and corresponds with the Boys' High School of Philadelphia itself. Pupils have to pass an examination before entering the school. As a rule candidates must have graduated in a grammar school a year previously and have spent one year in the post-graduate class. I had the pleasure of questioning one of these post-graduate grammar school classes on several subjects, including the United States Constitution, and concluded that if they exercise their reasoning powers as logically and clearly on ordinary occasions, the Normal teachers have good material on which to work. The course extends over four years, during the last of which those who have elected to graduate in the Normal class spend the greater portion of their time either at practice work, or in studying the science of teaching. Six weeks are spent in the practice school with one class. 1 86 Teaching in Three Continents. During the first two the student observes, durmg the second " fortnight she assists the regular teacher, and for two weeks takes complete charge of the class under the eye of the critic teacher. I heard the principal of the Kindergarten Normal Training Department lecture to fifty students on " How to show the Children the way Seeds Grow." It was one of the many treats I had in the schools. She supposed that the children being Kindergarteners would be unable to read or write ; but simply to see, do, and reason. They were to see the seeds from day to day sprouting on moist flannel, porous earthenware, or damp sand. Each child would see his own seeds swell and burst as the first and then the second sprout began to show. He would watch the growth, and find some having two seed- leaves, and some only one. This and much more was to be shown in the most simple and natural way. The children were to be trained, educated, or rather were to be put in the position to do this themselves under tender guidance. The theory exactly agreed with the practical work I had so often been delighted with in the American Kinder- gartens. No inspector goes once a year to endeavour to measure off the amount of intellectual development made by the child-flowers in the child-garden. They grow, but you can- not say just where they have increased. Every part of the plant develops, and you see it is not the same as a month before ; but you cannot say just where the difference is, for it is everywhere. So with the child. The Normal students have a course of cookery; but not with the idea of each student teaching it, for although the subject is included in the Philadelphian schools it is taken by special teachers. It is rather a part of the school course, which also includes the theory and practice of music, and the history and psychology of education. Teachers and their Training. 187 I was particularly struck with the importance attached to giving every student a knowledge of the theory of Kindergarten, together with six weeks' practice in the methods. In this, Philadelphia, Boston, Cook County, and many other Normal Schools, are surely guarding against the weakness of St. Louis, where the Kinder- garten in itself has made the greatest headway. The principle is becoming everywhere more and more admitted that, while the first portion of a child's education should be Kindergarten pure and simple, no time can be fixed when it may be said that Kindergarten must give way to other methods. This is the mistake in St. Louis. The better institutions try to turn out Kindergarteners who shall understand the after-education, and primary and grammar teachers who understand Kindergarten. The attention given to physical exercises is a very noticeable feature in the Philadelphia, as in many other American High Schools. Another feature of this, as of other Normal Schools I visited, is that it contains an excellent library with a regular librarian constantly in attendance. I invariably found that these libraries were well used. The rooms are well provided with tables and comfortable chairs — but this follows as a matter of course, for seats are always made for comfort in America — and I often found all occupied. The building and its fittings are palatial. The '■' recitations " (oral lessons or lectures) which I listened to during a somewhat lengthy visit, were excellent ; and the practical results of the demonstrations in cookery were eminently satisfactory, and an eloquent prophecy of good dinners in some future homes. I believe not one-third of the pupils who enter the school, graduate in the teachers' class, and probably many of those do not teach. It may be interesting to show the course of study. .y i .d .y •H bi 3 o 3 3 3 O ^ < 1— 1 S § S ^ s c3 2 o ^ < 2 2 rt oi h-l S^ Q Q Q Q a2 Ph o o c '2 II lis o & ^§§ 1-^ i ^ K S2 mil w o X o CJ in .^•s*^-^ >> Eo >> ■J3 -i 1 ^ C yj « a o o < P^ O ■-By, tfl Q 1 u CO O ° ' 111 ^ d ^ 3 rt III 2 O 43 O •1 o rt O^ o D cb -G J 11.1 y IIjm t ir.Ji p^ < ll-n^ 'ci 3 1— I O H P^ < I'll >1 II ■S'5-g X o O O <; C rt-S 3 U c c O • iz; ^-sS D .2 .2 1— 1 s ^ H 3 3 « Q P H C/3 rt 0) c <: Q 2 i 8 w roportion of male and female teachers in, 234 Californians, courteous bearing of, 240 Calisthenics, 252 Canadian Dominion, its provinces, 2 Cane, The, in Irish schools, 116 338 Index. Card catalogues in libraries, 226 Cassell's illustrated works in South Australia, 95 ; manual training dia- grams, 113; "Hand and Eye" training, 114 Centralisation, 17; in Australian colo- nies, o;j Century Magazine on age of boys leaving school, 285 Certificates to teachers, 18, 179 ; in the States, 204 Cliallis, J. H. , 42 Chapman, E, O. , on reading circles, 218 Chautauqua University, 220 Cheerful appearance of American and Australian school-houses, 259 Chicago, 49 ; manual training in, 118; proportion of male and fe- male teachers in, 234 ; number of pupils to a teacher in , 280 ; boy and girl scholars in, 284 ; compul- sion in, 292 ; school libraries, 319 Child-education, Frobel on, 66 Children, poor Parisian, looked after, 263 Cincinnati, 51 City and Guilds of London Institute, 113, 122 City normal schools, United States, 184 City superintendents, 12, 13 Clark University, 334 Classes, Number of children in, 256, 273, 276 Cleveland, Manual training in, 118 Cogswell Poly technical College, 330 Colour, Teaching children, 72 Coloured population. The, 9, 21, 279 Coloured pupils, Number to a teacher, 279 ; in general, 286 Colorado and libraries, 321 Columbia, District of, number of pupils to a teacher in, 278 Compulsion, 286 Compulsory education, 17, 21, 22 ; in France, 34 ; Germany, 36 ; Australia, 38 ; New South Wales, 41 ; Victoria, 42 ; South Australia, 43 ; in general, 286 Congress, 3 Constitution of the States, 2 Continuation schools, 287 Cork County normal school, 155, 189 Cookery, Lessons in, 117 ; in Eng- land, 130 ; in America, 131 ; in New York City and Washington, 133 ; in Philadelphia normal school, 186; cost of, 137 Cooper, Mrs. S. B. , and Kinder- garten, 82 Copying, 271 Corporal punishment, Extent of, in America, 258 County normal schools, U.S., 184 County superintendents, 12, 13, 19 Course in Philadelphia normal school, 185, 188 Courses of reading circles, 217 Cramming, 30 Criticisms on the South Australian code, 57 Dairy- work. Lessons in, 117 Dakota, Teachers' institutes in, 200 ; number of pupils to a tcaclier in, 278 ; libraries in, 320 Decorum of American scholars, 251 Definition maps, 95 Degrees, Australian University, 40 ; American, 297 Delsark system of calisthenics, 240 Denver fiigh School, 335 " Departmental Council," 33 Depressing air of Paris schools, 262 Desks, 271 ; in infant schools, 74 Dickenson, Mr. J. W. , 14 Dinners for Parisian school children, 263 Discipline of American teachers, 183 ; mistaken, 257 ; secret of American, 258 District system, Ihe, 15 District schools in Michigan, 19 ; in America, 229 Districts, Educational, 2, 11 Domestic economy, 154 " Double-banking," 256 Draper, Hon, A. S. , and drawing syllabus, 99 Draper, Superintendent, 199 Drawing, 31 Drawing and form study, 96 ; sylla- bus in New York, 99 ; in England, 96 ; in United States, 97 ; an in- adeciuate term, 99 ; Colonel Par- ker's mode of teaching, 191 ; les- sons on blackboards, 270 Dresden, Class-room accommodation in, 281 Dublin Schools, Manual training in, 11=; IXDEX. 339 Dumb-bells, 232 " Ecoles maternelles,'" 266 Economy as affecting the proportion of the sexes among teachers, 235, 236 I'Zducation Department in England, 26 ; difficulties of, 28 ; its false principle, 90 " Education," Meanings of, 60 Education as a science, 202 Education Gazette, The, 139 Educational papers in England, 174 England, Education in, 24 ; sewing in, 130 ; science teaching in, 142 ; compulsor}^ education in, 287 ; school museums in, 311 English schoolroom pictures, 93 ; Education Department's functions, 198 ; prejudices against Board schools, 246, 254 ; school build- ings, 247 ; playgrounds, 248 ; school buildings, 252; estimate of American education, 295 Enterprise, Business and educational progress, 102 Examinations of teachers, 18 ; in Australia, 40, 51 ; in New South Wales, 52 ; in Victoria, 53 ; in South Australia, 53 ; dominating effect of, 75 Examples of examination questions, 55 ' ' Exercises, ' ' 176 Eactory Act, 75 " Faculty," The term, in America, 296 P'amily chapters of the Agassiz Club, 308 Federal Government, The, Conserva- tive and Sociahstic, 3 Fees in New South Wales, 41 ; in Victoria,. 42 ; in South Australia, 44, 45 ; in public school systems, 254 Female teachers, 235 Fining teachers, 52 Finsbury Technical School, 117 Foreigners, Effect of, in education in United States, 69 Form, Teaching children, 72 Form-study, 99, 103 Forster's, ^Ir. , Education Act, 4, 25 Farming, Lessons in, 116 France, Compulsory education in, 287 Free education in England, 26 ; France, 34 ; Australia, 39 ; Vic- toria, 42 Free meals in France, 264, 266 French system of public education, 33 ; infant schools, 265 Frobel's manage and system, 65 ; his " Mother- Play and Nursery Songs," 67 Furniture in St. Louis Kindergartens, 85 ; in schools, 268 Games in infant schools, 74 German : Showy military order, 3 ; educational system, 35 ; universi- ties, 36 ; examinations, 48 ; techni- cal education, 109 ; lithographic pictures, 113 ; method of training teachers, 178 ; care of ventilation, 267 ; compulsory education, 287 Girls, Secondary education of, in South Australia, 44 ; number of compared with boys, 282 ; longer at schools than boys, 284 Gove, Mr. Aaron, 51 Governments of Canada and the States, 2 Graduating in America, 295 Grammar school, 11 " Grant payments," 26, 30 Graphic, The, in .South Australia, 95 Grasnevin model farms, 116 Grove Hill board school, Hudders- field, 301 Guilds, Teachers', in England, 174 Half-timers, 287 Hall, Dr. E. S. , 4 Hamburg, Class-room accommoda- tion in, 281 ; compulsion in, 287 Hand-and-eye education, 62 ; sum- mary of scheme of training, 115 Harris, the Hon. W. T. , 7 Harris, Dr., and Kindergartens, 80, 85 ; on American school discipline, 258, 273 Hartley, Mr. J. A., on science teach- ing, 170 Heating schools, 266 High schools, 11; number of pupils to a teacher in, 279 ; in Michigan, 20 Higher instruction, France, 35 Honesdale summer normal school, 221 Huddersfield School Board and ;4o Index, number of pupils to a teacher, 277 ; natural history society, 299 Huxley, Professor, on science teach- ing, 147 Idaho, compulsion in, 288 Illinois teachers' reading circle, 217, 218 ; boy and girl scholars in, 285 ; compulsion in, 291, 292; school libraries in, 319 ; pupils' reading circle, 323 Illiteracy, 9 Illiterate, The, in society, 4 Illustrated London Neios in Soiuh Australia, 95 Illustrated papers in schools, 91 Indiana reading circle, 218 Indianapolis, 49 Industrial education, 62 ; drawing in Massachusetts, 98 ; school in America, 117 ; training in Paris, 127 ; educational association of New York, 213 ; education de- partment of the Mus^e Pdda- gogique, 224 Infant schools, English, 74 ; pictures in, 76 ; the French, 265 Infant School Act needed, 76 Influence of good teachers, 276 Inspector -General in France, 34; South Australia, 43 Inspectors in England, 27, 28 ; in New South Wales, 42 ; in South Australia, 53 Institutes in South Australia, 321 Iowa reading circle, 218 Jefferson, 4 Jermyn Street Museum, 32 Kansas course of reading circle, 217 Kent, Chancellor, 4 Kmdergartens, 7, 63 ; gifts and occu- pations, 67 ; instruction, 72 ; mis- named in England, 78 ; tables, 74 ; private, in England, 79 ; hours of attendance in, 84 ; for negro child- ren, 86 ; cost of tuition in, 87 ; opposition to, 89 ; teachers, 82, 85, 87; work, 112; relation to manual training, 124 ; in Philadelphia, 185, 187 ; their defect in St. Louis, 187 ; in Cork County normal school, 189 ; tables, 268 ; number of pupils to a teacher in St. Louis, 279, 332 Kitchens in Paris schools, 264 Ladies' schools, Germany, 36 Lady teachers, why encouraged, 235 Land devoted to education, 6 Lane, Dr., on manual instruction, 123 Language lessons in United States, 69 ; and form study, 104 Leeds, Plan of science teaching in, 151 ; Higher Grade School, 247, 252 ; fees of, 254 Leland Stanford University, 333 Lethbridge, Mr. E. B. , 304 Libraries, Teachers', in England, 174 ; normal school, 187 ; of Cork County normal school, 193; school, 316 ; society for providing, 322 Library, Educational, at Washing- ton, 226 Lighting schools, 266 Liverpool and technical instruction, 112; cookery schools in, 131; plan of science teaching in, 15T, 154 ; teachers' guild of, 175 ; teachers' guild, 213 ; school build- ings, 247, 252 Location, Teaching children, 72 London School Board and technical instruction, 113, 117 ; report on science teaching, 149 ; school buildings, 247, 252 ; number of pupils to a teacher, 277 ; libraries, 319 Long Island City, Proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 ; visitors to schools, 240 MacAlister, Superintendent, 132 ; on women as teachers, 237 McGreen, Professor C. H., on teachers' institutes, 199 Manual training, 62, no ; in Dub- lin, 116; in America, 117, 118; teachers' opinions of, 119 ; in New York, 121 ; in Washing- ton, 122; in Springfield, Mass., 123 Manual training school. The, 124 Maps in America, 93 ; in South Australia, 94 ; modelling in sand, 95 Marenholtz, Baroness, 67 Marks, Allotment of, in South Aus- tralia, 54, 56 Massachusetts, 14 ; institute of tech- nology, 117; summer school, 221 ; proportion of male and female Index. 341 teachers in, 234 ; number of pupils to a teacher in, 278 ; compulsion in, 287 Maternal schools of Paris, 'j-j Mechanical nature of teaching in England, 30 Mechanics, Syllabus of study in, 152; "Mental effort" and "mental cul- ture " in examinations, 53 Michigan State system, 17; State board of education, 18 ; mining school in, 20 ; State superinten- dent on the institiUe, 203 Military drill, 252 Mining school in Michigan, 20 Minneapolis, Proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 Minnesota and libraries, 320 Missouri, Number of pupils to a teacher in, 278 ; compulsion in, 291 ; ballot in, 292 Modelling, Teaching children, 72 Monastic idea of education, 61 Morals and manners. Teaching child- ren, 72 Morley, Mr. S. L,, 300 Musee P^dagogique of Paris, 222 ; summary of its contents, 224 Museum, educational, at Washing- ton, 226 Melbourne Training College, Princi- pal's report on science teaching, 171 ; Naas, no National University, A, 8 ; museum, 8 ; art training school, 32 ; training college, Dublin, 115 ; education association of America, 175, 205 ; association for promoting technical and secondary education, 212; educational association, England, 212 Natural history clubs, 155 ; societies, 299 Natural Science, 139 Naturalists, American society of, 159 Nebraska, Compulsion in, 289 ; Ar- bor Day, 315 Necrology Committee, 209 " New Education," The, 60 New Hampshire, Proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 New Jersey committee on manual training, 118 ; number of pupils to a teacher in .schools, 280 ; compul- sion in, 289 ; libraries, 320 New Mexico, Proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 Newport, U.S., Compulsion in, 290 New South Wales, Educational sys- tem in, 40 ; science teaching in, 171 Newspaper Cyclopaedia, A, 193 New York City, Manual instruction in, 121 ; trade schools, 331 ; Teachers' Institute in, 203; pro- portion of male and female teachers in, 234 ; number of pupils to a teacher in, 278 ; compulsion in, 289 New York College, Science teaching in, 168, 213 New Zealand boards of education, 37 ; education in, 46 Normal school of science, 32 Normal schools, France, 35 ; in America, 181, 184 ; number of pupils to a teacher, 279 North Dakota Convention, The, 9 North Bennet Street industrial school, 331 Number of pupils under one teacher, 277 Occupation work lor children, 72 " Official " science teaching, 140 Ohio course of reading circle, 217 Oral instruction for children, 72 Order of American schools, 257 ; English schools, 274 Organisation of schools, 273 Ormerod, Miss E, A., 302 Ormond College, Victoria, 43 Owens College, 335 ; museum, 222 Paris, Examinations in, 49; industrial training in, 127 ; course of study, 128 ; scholars and visitors, 241 ; school-buildings, 260 ; class-room accommodation in, 281 Parisian school museums, 313 Parker, Col. F. W., 189 Peabody, Mrs. M, H, , on Kinder- garten, 73 Pedagogical museum, 7; societies, 204 ; libraries and museums, 222 Pedagogics, Chairs of, 204 Pennsylvania, Compulsion in, 290 Permanency of teachers' position, 180, 198 ' Philadelphia, 50 ; Kindergartens in, 80, 81 ; manual training in, 118, 127 ; cookery school, 132 ; normal 342 Index. schools, 184 ; proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 ; com- pulsion in, 290 Physical exercise for children, 71 ; in American high schools, 187 Pianos in schools, 74; in Kinder- gartens, 87; in schools, 252 Pictures in schoolrooms, 90 Pigeon, Lessons from a, 86 Playgrounds, 248 Poor districts. Infant schools in, 76 Poor children, Cruelty of exhibiting, 77 Population, Distribution ot the, in the States, 9 ; in Australia, 37 Position, Teaching children, 72 Practical education, 62 "Practical" members of school boards, 141 Prang Educational Company, 102 ; normal drawing class, 103 ; form studying in Washington, 122 Pratt Institute, The, 329 President's, The, powers, 3 Primary school, 11 ; instruction in France, 34; Germany, 36; inspec- tors in France, 34 , classes in United States, 68 Principal, The American, 296 Private munificence in America, 325 Prizes, Books as, 319 Professors, American, 296 Programme of Rhode Island Insti- tute, 207 Proportion of girls and boys in schools, 282 Providence, Proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 Provisional schools in South Aus- tralia, 43 Public library, St. Louis, and Kinder- garten, 227 Public versus private management of education, 255 Publicity, Love of, amongst Ameri- cans, 6 Pupil teacher system not common, 197 Pupil teachers in Australia, 38, 40, 178 ; number of, in England, 197 Pupils, Distribution of, in England, 27 ; Methods of promoting, 49 ; number under one teacher, 276 Pupils' reading circles, 322 Psychology as a lasis for education, 62 Qualities of objects. Teaching child- ren, 72 Queensland, Education in, 46 Raymenton, Dr. W. H. , 305 Reading circles. Teachers', 216 ; in- fluence of, 227 ; for pupils, 322 " Realschule," 36 Recitations, 193, 197 Recreation Society, Brighton, 303 Relief maps, 95 Religious denominations and educa- tion, 25, 29 Religious teaching, Australia, 38 Renaissance, Education in the period of the, 61 Report on Sloyd, 11 1 Resolutions Committee, 209 Result examinations. Evils of, 58 Result payments, 52 Rhode Island Educational Associa- tion, 17 ; teachers' congress at, 176 ; Institute, 206 ; proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 ; compulsion in, 289 ; libraries, 320 Rice, Professor W. North, 159 Ricks, Mr. George, and manual training, 114 Rindge School, The, 328 " Roll of Honour " in America, 270 Roman Catholic schools, 28 Roman's idea of education, 61 Rooper, Mr. T. G. , on elementary education, 322 " Round tables," Schoolmasters' 205 Royal School of Mines, 32 Ruskin on natural history, 301 St. Louis, Kindergarten in, 83 ; manual training in, 118, 124 ; course of study, 126 ; natural science in, 156 ; proportion of male and female teachers in, 234; number of pupils to a teacher in, 278 ; school rules in, 294 vSt. Paul, Proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 San Francisco, 51 ; Kindergartens in, 82; school pictures, 91; Pro- portion of male and female teachers in, 234; reception of visitors in schools, 239 ; burning of High School, 249 Salary of teachers in Victoria, 52 ; in South Australia, 52 ; in poor dis- tricts, 'j'j IXDEX. 343 Saxony, Compulsion in, 287 Scliooi-buildings and accessories, 243 ; in Australia, 38 ; in Queens- land, 46 School furniture, 268 ; chapters of the Agassiz Club, 308 ; museums, 309 ; libraries, 316 School Boards in Michigan, 18 Schoolmaster, Attributes of the ideal, 243 Schools out West, 6 ; Board and voluntary, compared, 29 ; English and American, cause of differences in, 176 ; odd use of the name, in Washington, 195 ; English, dif- ferences between, 212 Science and Art Department, 31, no, 114 Science, A "lesson" in, 167 Science teaching, 139 ; plan of Eng- lish school boards, 151 ; method of instruction, 153 Scotch Education Board, 28 Scotch elementary education, 32 Secondary instruction, France, 35 ; Germany, 36 ; Australia, 40 ; New South Wales, 41 ; Victoria, 42 Separate room system in America, 258 ; in Paris and Germany, 258 ; in London, 258 ; in Australia, 259 Sewing, 130 Sexes of scholars, 282, 284 ; of teachers, 233 Shaw, Mrs. Q. A., and Kinder- gartens, 80, 333 Shaw, Professor Hill, 112; on tech- nical education, 214 Singing in negro Kindergartens, 86 Slates for drawing in the States, 100 : substitute for, in France, 265 Sloyd, 63, Tio Smith, Walter, and drawing, 97 Smithsonian Institution, The, 7 Smithson, James, 7 Society, A, for providing circulating libraries, 322 Songs of infant schools, 74 South Australia, Educational system in, 43 ; science teaching in, 168, 172 ; technical education conmiis- sion report, 170; proportion of male and female teachers in, 235 ; number of pupils to a teacher in, 278; Arbor Day in, 316; school libraries in, 326 South Kensington Museum, 32 Special Schools, France, 35 Specialists, On, 145 Spelling books in America, 271 Spelling lessons, 271 " Splendid Fivers," 75 Springfield, Mass., Manual instruc- tion in, 123 ; proportion of male and female teachers in, 234 State superintendents, 12 State Agricultural College, Michigan, 20 ; reform schools, 21 ; school in Victoria, 42 ; normal schools, U.S., 184; associations of educa- tion, 206 vStatus of teachers, 231 Stockwell, Mr., 17 Strangers, Effect of, on teachers, 238 Substitutes, Teachers', 256 Summer schools for teachers, 219 ; influence of, 227 Superannuation and Widows' Fund, South Australian Teachers', 215 Superintendent, The school, 12 Superintendent of public instruction, State, 19 Supervisor of drawing in the States, 100 Supreme Court, The, 3 " Surprise Visit," 53 Sydney University, 42 Syllabus of cookery lessons in America, 133; of science lessons, 156 Symbols in teaching, 66 Tait, Mr. S. B., on Huddersfield Natural History Society, 299 Tarbell, Superintendent, 207 Teachers, District, in Michigan, 19 Teachers in England, 28 ; complaints of, 56 ; opinions of Kindergarten work, 73 ; diligence, 76 ; require- ments of in manual training, 119; ideas of on science teaching, 165 ; tlieir training, 173 ; social status in England and America, 175 ; special features of English and American, 182 ; Proportion ot male and female, 233 ; and stran- gers, 238 ; their private rooms, 270 ; instructions to in San Fran- cisco schools, 71 Teachers' associations, 204, 219, 227 ; excursion, 215 ; reading circles, 216; Guild, Liverpool, 112; Guilds, ]£ngland, 206, 212 ; associations, Australia, 206, 215; institutes, 19, 344 IXDEX, 20; institutes, 197; object of, 200, 219 Teaching, Importance of the pro- fession of, 120 ; quality of, and the sexes, 234 Technical Education, 62 ; English conception of, 108 ; definition of in Act of 1889, no; in America, 117 Testing educational work, 48 Text-books in South Australia, 168 ' Three Kingdoms " handbook, 309 Thursday holiday in Paris, 262 Toledo, manual training in, n8, 127 Toronto, 51 ; Kindergartens in, 81 ; women versus men teachers in, 234, 238 Townships, The, 2, 11, 18 Town superintendents, 12 Trade schools, H2 Training colleges in England, 178 Training teachers, Method of, in England, 177 ; in America, 181 ; influence of auxiliary means of, 227 Treasury, Vote from the, 27 Truant Offices, 290, 293 Tuition, Cost of, in United States, 87 Tuley, Mrs., 292 " Ungraded schools," 19 Union, The, how formed, 2 United States, Education in, i ; ex- aminations in, 49 ; normal schools in, 184 ; teachers in, 181 ; teachers' institutes in, 197 ; school-houses in, 244 Universities, Australian, 40 ; English and American compared, 297 " Untrained." American teachers, 201, 219, 296 Utah, Truportiun cjf male and female teachers in, 234 Utilitarian education, 62 Ventilation of schools, 266 Victoria, educational system in, 42 ; University, 42 ; report by Inspec- tor-General of, on science teaching. 171 ; science teaching in, 172 Visitors to schools, Advice as to, 241 Vittoria Place, manual training at, 113, 120 Voluntary schools, Eng. , 27 Walker Engineering College, 112 Washington, Education board in, 21 ; lack of schools in, 22 ; su- perintendent in, 23, 50; manual instruction in, 122; cookery school, 132, 137 ; normal schools in ; edu- cational museums, 226 ; propor- tion of male and female teachers in, 234 Washington, George, 4, " Webster's Unabridged, Wesleyan schools, 28 Whole education, 62 Williamson's, Mr. G. V. , 328 " Wilson Hall," Victoria, Wisconsin and libraries, 320 Women as teachers in London, 233 ; position in the United States, 286 Women's Club, The, 293 Woodward, Dr., 118, 124 Worcester Natural History Camp, 305 Zurich, Compulsion in, 287 22 270 trust deed, 43 Printed by Cassell & Comi'anv, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS. Kennedy (John). The Philosophy of School Discipline. 36 P 18:23 16 Must Ghvek Go? Leatherette, pp. 66 50 Kiddle (Henry) SOOO Grommar Questions, with Answers, 57 C 16:220 1 00 Kindergarten Essays. 27, 2S C 12 :175. 1 00 Knott (E. E.) The Ready Reference Law Manual. 53 C 8:381 2 CO LANDON(Jos.) School Management. C 12:376 125 I.an« (Fred N.) Elementary Greek Education. 20 L 16 :85 50 Latham (Henry) On the Action of Examinations, C 12:^^ 1 5o •Lanrio (S. S.) John Amos Comenius. 13,23,24 16:272 1 00 Lawrence (E. C.) Recreations in Ancient Fields. .0 12:177 1 00 Locke(John). Sketch of, hy B.. H. 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