SECONT OOPV, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap. Copyright No.. 8he]LL&l9l UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SOCIAL PHASES OF EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL AND THE HOME ■>> ■he^)<^o SOCIAL PHASES OF EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL AND THE HOME BY y V SAMUEL T. BUTTON SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BROOKLINE, MASS. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1899 All rights reserved 1 cfe'ih.^ J)2 30558 Copyright, 1899, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. TWOCOPIFS RSCr.lVED, \pR261899 Norfaootr ^^rraa J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Norwood Masi. U.S.A. Ei\i& Book IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THOSE TEACHERS AND PARENTS WHOSE INTEREST IN THE CHILD LEADS THEM TO IN- QUIRE, NOT ONLY, WHAT LESSONS IS HE LEARN- ING ? BUT ALSO, WHAT LIFE IS HE LIVING ? PREFACE There was a time when education was regarded as a matter belonging exclusively to the school. Its problems were not seriously studied except by teach- ers. To-day there is no subject that excites greater public interest. Fathers and mothers are anxious to understand the aims and methods of the school ; they are also interested to know how other educa- tional forces in the community may be utilized in such a manner as to insure the best growth and development of their children. The chapters of this volume are selected from lectures given during the past two years at Harvard, Chicago, and Boston Universities, and from papers read before the American Social Science and the National Educational Associations. The point of view is in all cases social rather than scholastic, and the ideas emphasized are as worthy of consideration by parents as by teachers. No apology is offered for viii PREFACE putting these papers into permanent form, although the venture would not have been made except at the urgent request of educational friends whose judg- ment is respected. It is only as questions are stated from different points of view, and as large masses of experience are accumulated, that there is hope of avoiding mistakes and of making educational prac- tice conform to the dictates of science and common sense. CONTENTS PAGE The Social Aspects of the Home and the School 3 The Modern School, and what it owes to Froebel AND Herbart 39 The School and the Child . . . . . 61 Phases of the Course of Study .... 89 Educational Progress 121 The Relation of Education to Vocation . -143 The Relation of the Church to the School . .169 Education as a Cure for Crime . . . .201 The Correlation of Educational Forces in the Community 223 The Brookline Education Society and its Work . 241 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL The whole creation reifiects the idea that life exists for life. I do not refer to the fact that higher forms destroy and devour the lower, but rather to the more hopeful view which presents one species as performing service not only to those of its own kind, but even to those of other species. Certain plant forms render aid to others by fur- nishing shade and protection and by conserving moisture. The social spirit exhibited by certain animals may well put to shame the selfishness revealed in some phases of human conduct. A student of natural history has discovered many an instance of one-sided mutualism where one species performs service for another without receiving any in return, as well as instances where the service is mu- tual. A recent article entitled " Science and Faith " cites a host of interesting cases of the former class of which the following is a good illustration : — 3 4 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME "A little bird called Trochilus renders two forms of service to the crocodile on the banks of the Nile ; it enters his mouth and despatches the worms and leeches which trouble him, and when the ichneumon, which is an enemy to the crocodile, approaches, the bird flies away, giving vent to a peculiar cry which apprises his friend of the danger. The only ser- vice which the crocodile renders in return is the shaking of his tail when he wishes to close his mouth, thus giving the bird warning." Darwin has pointed out that before the age of man societies of animals and birds existed in infinite numbers, in which a great variety of mutual service was rendered, and that domestication has only de- veloped those qualities that preexisted in the species. The altruism of a well-bred dog which so often calls forth our wonder and admiration is only a straw floating on the current of creation. It shows the drift of things in God's universe. This principle of peaceful and harmonious com- bination in mutual service which is so beautifully illustrated in vegetable and animal life has made its way in human society only slowly. Individual excellence has been far more conspicuous than social adaptation. The types of character devel- AND THE SCHOOL 5 oped in the ancient world impress us by their intense individualism. He who gained wealth and power, whether a Solomon, a Croesus, an Alexander, or a Caesar, seemed to have little capacity for minis- tering to others. Both Greece and Rome permitted a few to gain wealth, luxury, and learning, while the masses were poor and ignorant. The new education of which we have heard so much in later years really began its work when the great Teacher summoned the world to a life of service. He said, "Whosoever among you will be great, shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be chiefest, shall be servant of all, for the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." Can any one doubt that this was the announcement of a fundamental principle of life and action, rather than merely a figure of speech or a theory to be preached about on Sunday ? Is it not becoming more and more clear that the regeneration of the individual as well as of society is to be accomplished only as this principle becomes incarnated in men and women .'' Is it not gradually dawning upon our consciousness that in their better forms socialism and Christianity are but synony- mous terms ? Christian sentiment and faith that 6 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME are not transmuted into service are soon seen to be but " sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." Dean Hodges in his suggestive work on " Faith and Social Service " shows how new forces have come into the world bringing new ideas, new dangers, new responsibilities, and new relationships. He points out that progress in commerce, industry, and politics, calls for a more willing service of man to man, that education and religion are all deeply affected by the idea that "Man liveth not to him- self alone," that in an important sense he is " his brother's keeper," and that he will be held respon- sible measurably for his welfare. If education is to do its best work, it must adapt itself to those conditions and requirements which exist at any given period. The demands of one hundred, fifty, or even of twenty-five years ago differ from those of to-day, hence education has become more and more a progressive factor, progressive not only in its conception, aims, and ideals, but in its means, methods, and appliances. At an age when intelligence, honor, faith, and wisdom are deemed higher attainments than houses, lands, and bank-stocks, the kind of educational process to which young and old are subjected by means of the home, AND THE SCHOOL 7 the school and the Church, and other uplifting influ- ences, becomes of transcendent importance. It is my purpose at this time to consider what relation these forces of education sustain to the individual, thinking of his social obligation. No one denies that personal character is a most worthy aim in education. Plato and Kant agreed in defin- ing education as the process of giving to the indi- vidual all the perfection of which he is capable ; but this definition seems inadequate now when religion and philanthropy are both striving to increase social consciousness and to discover the broadest avenues of social service. It is the function of the prophet and the preacher not so much to discover new truth as to bring forth the meaning of ancient truth. I venture to pre- dict that it is not new definitions of education we need so much as better and broader conceptions of ideals and standards that have long been accepted. Two aims which have been most generally men- tioned in educational practice are "preparation for vocation" and "general culture." The belief has been prevalent that these two ideals were in some way antagonistic. Is it not possible that they have been seen in wrong perspective.'' It is true that 8 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME the word "vocation" suggests work, struggle for food, clothing, shelter, support of home and family, and participation in the vicissitudes of supply and demand. We know that the whole stream of hu- manity, that has floated down the centuries from the Garden of Eden to the present moment, has generally been obliged to toil. What some have denominated a curse has probably been in reality the greatest of blessings. The wisest of people have assured us that man has received the better part of his education through work, and it is worthy of notice that manual activity is now becoming an educational factor in the schools. But it has always been thought more or less desirable to avoid the exactions of labor. Men have sought wealth be- cause of the freedom from toil, and the opportunities for leisure, travel, and society which it affords ; and, even now, it would be a great error to say that hard, unremitting labor is an unmixed blessing. Is it not true, however, that the number of good peo- ple who absolutely shirk labor is vastly less to-day than ever before.? In other words, the notion that man's physical, moral, and spiritual welfare are best conserved through useful activity is fast be- coming an accepted truth by all civilized peoples. AND THE SCHOOL 9 While the apparent inequaHties of fortune are tremendous, it is a serious question to-day who toils the harder, he who without wealth labors for his daily bread, or he who, having wealth, has not only to care for it, but has to exercise his judg- ment in respect to the infinite number of demands made upon him. Moreover, it has become quite unfashionable to be idle. Social work absorbs the time and interest of an increasing number of peo- ple. Between the ordinary demands of society and public duties which people undertake, the so- called well-to-do and prosperous become the hard- est-worked people in the community. It becomes apparent, therefore, that from the point of view of human society, we must give to vocation a much broader significance than has hitherto belonged to it, and, on the other hand, we must regard culture as chiefly valuable for the ability it gives a person to use wisely his powers and resources, whatever they may be. What father or mother to-day thinks of educating a son or a daughter to be simply neutral or ornamental, and to take no part in the world's work.? The children of the sovereigns of Europe are often trained not only to perform menial tasks, but are required to perfect themselves in some, lO SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME at least, of the arts of domestic industry and life. Their example is, I believe, generally followed by the wise parents of Christendom, and thus that awful historic chasm between those who toil and those who seek leisure is being largely bridged over. No one dreads to be classed as a worker in the best sense, and vocation has a richer, deeper mean- ing than ever before, because within its scope there is ample room for all the refinements and accom- plishments of culture. We should then agree with Benjamin Franklin, who said : " He who hath a trade hath an estate, and he who hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor." We should also join with Carlyle in declaring that, " Labor, wide as the earth, hath its summit in Heaven." This last quotation seems to harmonize the voca- tional aim and the culture aim, and to suggest that vocation, in its infinite variety of form, is one in its purpose ; namely, to minister to the support of the home, and to render service to human society. It is not necessary that in time of war every citizen should prove his patriotism by enlisting as a sol- dier; neither do the conditions of the ideal com- munity require that everybody should work in the shop or the factory, or should build roads, or dig AND THE SCHOOL II cellars in order to be true to the claims of vocational duty. The avenues which lead to useful service are many. The discoveries of science have opened up numerous fields of activity by which the strong- holds of disease have been successfully attacked, and human life has not only been prolonged, but many of its terrors have been overcome. Inven- tion has substituted machinery for manual labor, shortening the hours of toil and affording for the masses better opportunities for recreation and self- improvement. Those who find their vocation in the pursuit of literature and the fine arts are as truly workers as those who dig and delve. They render inestimable service to mankind by minister- ing to the higher life, by supplying lofty ideals, and by giving hope and courage to multitudes. Many a man and woman, who to the casual eye appears to have no vocation and to be an idler, is silently working out some problem whose solution is to bless the race. Thus the human hive presents vast complexity in respect to the kind and quality of the work that is done. Were we to go over the whole round of occupations, we should find that the quality of serviceableness may be present, whether the indi- 12 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME vidual labors with his hands or with the subtler qualities of the mind. But we discover great dif- ferences respecting the spirit in which work is done. It may be performed selfishly with the sole desire for personal emolument, or it may be ren- dered in full consciousness of human needs and a desire to make the world better and happier. It is essential that toilers of every class should be conscious of their social obligations, that they should have a friendly regard for those who ren- der service in other departments. The honest laborer should everywhere command respect; cap- tains of industry should encourage and foster the self-respect and manhood of their employees ; they should render them a just share of the profits. Wherever profit sharing has been tried the quality and efficiency of the service is said to have been increased. Colonel Waring in solving the problem of street cleaning in New York did two notable things : first, he brought science to bear in such a way as to promote health and economy ; second, he made every man on his force a self-respecting, cooperating agent in the enterprise. What he did many others should strive to do. While science, philanthropy, and religion are endeavoring to ele- AND THE SCHOOL 1 3 vate, enrich, and sweeten human life, all the forces of education should be charged with the same spirit. Let us consider briefly what such a standard as this would require of the home and the school. The home, where the child first awakens to intel- ligence and looks out upon a world full of wonders and upon people engaged in various pursuits, is, or ought to be, the most central force in educa- tion. Professor Josiah Royce, in a remarkable course of lectures, has brought into clear relief the social factors in the growth of the individual mind. He showed that social contact is a con- trolHng element. The child at once begins to imi- tate, and through social experience comes to know intimately the very motives and feelings of those with whom it is associated. Family life, that inner sanctuary of society, is so closely adjusted and the relations are so intimate that the ques- tion, "of what character it is," becomes of tran- scendent importance ; hence, there are two distinct reasons why the home is influential as an educa- tional factor : first, because the child spends here his most impressible years ; and second, because as a type of a social community its relations are 14 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME exceedingly close and influential. Now a home may be social or unsocial. Selfishness may reign supreme, or mutual love and consideration may diffuse themselves throughout the whole atmos- phere. The home life should jealously guard and foster the best things of childhood, naturalness, simplicity in manner and dress, courtesy not only to superiors but to servants. The child should be trained not only to receive but to give kind- ness. His sympathy for the poor and unfortunate should be awakened, and he should have expe- rience in judicious acts of giving. He should early learn the pleasure of sharing his best possessions with others. Many children are thus until they are trained to be otherwise, or, in other words, become conventionalized. Men and women, who as children were trained to be separate and exclu- sive, find it hard in after life to combine with others and to be truly democratic. There is often such a lack of genuineness and such apparent artificiality that no one is deceived, and personal influence is greatly curtailed. The home should be full of strong human inter- ests, and people should be rated for what they really are, and not for what they appear to be on AND THE SCHOOL 1 5 the outside. Parents owe it to their children and to society to surround themselves with such means of inspiration and culture as are found in the best books, choicest pictures, and the most upUfting music, so that their children may, as far as possible, find their pleasure and amusement in the home. Parents should open their homes to the learned and refined. If possible, they should travel for the sake of that breadth of view and fine temper which gives such a charm to the family circle. All the grace and dignity that fathers and mothers acquire through inheritance, education, society, lit- erature, and art are sure in some measure to be reflected in the future lives of their children. I have mentioned these trite and perhaps com- monplace requirements of a good home, not so much for what they are in themselves, as for what they mean in shaping the life of the child for the service which he may be called upon to render. His sym- pathies, motives, as well as his powers of action must be zealously guarded and trained. There are too many people in the world to-day who are doing some work, and perhaps doing it well, who do not possess the joy of service. There are also those who have means more than they need, yet who do 1 6 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME not know how to share with others. Many such live and die without experiencing the true joy of living. The fault in such cases was largely with the home. There was wanting that strong current of home interest and benevolent desire to help others which gives a distinct cast to the human character. As the time approaches when children are in- trusted to the care of the school, they should be made to feel that the confidence and regard of parents goes with them, that teachers are to have the fullest support of the home, and they, on their part, are to cooperate in making the school as happy and useful as possible. This leads me to say that the school is another form of social life. It is emphatically a social institution, and here, as in the home, the culture aim and the vocational aim are to be harmonized in a larger purpose; namely, to socialize the youth and to fit him to take his place in society and to render the best service of which he is capable. He may be proficient in this or that study, he may be prepared to be a good citizen, a good workman, or a successful practitioner in some profession, but this is not the end, for better than any of these things is to be a man or a woman in the fullest social sense. AND THE SCHOOL 1 7 As in the ideal community, so in the ideal school, people are interested not only in making laws and obeying them themselves, but in having others do the same, so that the enforcement of law is secured by the consent and with the approval of the citizens. Individuals are seen to be considerate of each other, and mutually helpful over and above what the law requires. Conduct is often marked by such courtesy, regard, and mutual helpfulness, as to overshadow law and authority, and to suggest that the Golden Rule is operative. Looking still more closely, we find that some are constantly engaged in rendering assistance to those less fortunate than themselves. In this way the poor are relieved, the sick, neglected, the defective and the unfortunate are provided for with suitable care and attention. Money is given freely by the living, and generous legacies are made for worthy benevolences. Thus, we find law, con- vention, and the altruistic spirit, more or less active in every good community. The good citizen never forgets his responsibilities as a social being, and is ever seeking opportunities of doing good. The picture drawn by Edward Bellamy in his book en- titled " Looking Backward " suggests a time when the altruistic spirit shall become dominant, when men 1 8 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME will rely less upon the dictations of law and conven- tionality than they do now. If the object of the school is to socialize the child, to make him acquainted with his environment and conscious of his obligations to others, then the whole life of the school must be fashioned somewhat after this ideal community to which I have referred. Con- cerning school government, there must be laws, but they cannot proceed from autocratic authority or be enforced in an ostentatious manner. The laws of the school must spring from the good sense of the pupils. There must be a public spirit which will lead all to cooperate, not only in framing these laws and in observing them, but in wishing to have others observe them. This is self-government, and although when young, immature persons are culti- vating the power of self-government there are obvi- ously many lapses and failures, this is no cause for discouragement as long as there is faith on the part of teachers and pupils that ultimate success is cer- tain. This effort for self-government seeks to mini- mize authority and to intensify individual self-control and self-direction. In a nation where the military system prevails, and the government is more or less despotic, as in Germany, the aim in the schools is AND THE SCHOOL 19 likely to be to see how much or how thoroughly pupils can be governed, while in this country the aim is ever to see how well pupils may govern them- selves. The social spirit applied in self-government is one of sympathy and faith in the possibility of better things, of patience in dealing with faults, and of merciful leniency which often touches the heart of the offender and wins from him more strenuous endeavor. It is interesting to note in certain second- ary schools that the matter of government has been turned over to committees of pupils who have under- taken to secure good order and cooperation without the aid of teachers. Thus, every pupil becomes actively interested not only in being courteous, or- derly, and helpful himself, but in having his asso- ciates combine with him in this social effort. We have heard much in the past about the building up of character, but there can be no ex- cellent results in this direction except through the spontaneous and patriotic willingness on the part of young people to help others to do the same. The trouble has often been that school discipline has been so organized and refined as to prevent the free spontaneous growth of high motives and lofty aims. The experience gained by young 20 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME people in attempting to subjugate individual will and caprice in the interest of the body politic reacts favorably and calls into play those elements that tend to give poise and nobility of character. The George Junior Republic of Freeport, N.Y., is a striking instance of the successful working out of democratic principles and methods in the control of youth. This experiment, although in many respects crude and not devoid of objectionable features, is a good object lesson to educators of what may be accomplished in character building where normal methods are used. The most suc- cessful summer camps for boys have been managed in the same way. I shall not soon forget the agreeable picture presented at one of these camps which I visited at Lake Squam in New Hampshire. It was Reception Day, and the boys not only par- ticipated in the games, but acted as hosts, and in the performance of all their functions preserved that gentlemanly bearing and exhibited that cour- teous consideration for all that gave one the im- pression of a highly socialized community. Whether in camp or in school, affiliated organizations like Athletic Associations, Debating Clubs, and Literary Societies, afford large oppor- AND THE SCHOOL 21 tunities for training young people to conduct affairs, and at the same time to govern themselves. Even in grammar schools, I have known of instances where, in the absence of the teacher, the exercises of the school have been carried through the entire day by the pupils with little to mar the occasion. The teacher who cannot leave the room or turn his back upon his pupils without causing unseemly con- duct has before him a serious social problem, and one to which he can well afford to devote himself. The best results in self-government are not attained in any given school until all teachers are enHsted in the enterprise and pupils are led up to the neces- sary moral altitude by regular and easy steps. Let us examine another feature of the school life, namely, the recitation, and see what its social possibilities are. Here we have what is usually regarded as the most vital element in the school life. The showing made by pupils in a recitation determines their standing in the school, and to a greater or less extent, establishes their claims to consideration and respect by teachers and asso- ciates. The school as a whole is judged by the nature of the efforts put forth in recitation more than by other phases of its activity. But the 22 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME questions before us now are : Is the recitation usually social or unsocial ? Is it conducted with a view to the highest good of all, or does it often promote a selfish and unsocial attitude on the part of the members of the community ? These are pressing questions, and those of us who are pledged to seek the highest ideals in education cannot easily set them aside. The problem may be presented in this way : Is the acquisition of knowledge of such tremendous importance that the social code is to be constantly violated in the schoolroom ? Is it not often that, in a given recitation, a few brilliant pupils are permitted to do all the work, and that, too, with an air of superiority which is in the high- est degree unsocial ? There are, no doubt, many legitimate ends to be attained in a recitation, such as testing the pupil's information and ability to respond, giving practice in concise, logical state- ment, the explanation and illumination by the teacher of difficult questions, and the stimulation of the pupils to greater interest and zeal in their studies, but over and above all these, is not the social aim preeminent? Mere display of knowl- edge by teacher or pupils is of little account if it does not minister to the need of others. The AND THE SCHOOL 23 recitation affords a fine opportunity for coopera- tion and mutual assistance. The teacher should not be too prominent. Every pupil should partici- pate, every one should make his contribution, at least by earnest attention and interest, if not through oral or written speech. When one makes a statement or offers an opinion, it should be heard courteously and received for what it is worth. The slow, hesitating pupils should not be embarrassed by the frantic efforts to be heard of those who, though bright and eager, are perchance selfish and unsocial in their demeanor. Even the conven- tionalities of social life would restrain such uncivil interruptions as are often seen, while the higher, altruistic spirit, if fully developed in the school circle, would guard with much sympathy and con- sideration the weaker and less able pupils who are endeavoring faithfully to do their part. The selfish desire of pupils to excel, which in itself is not reprehensible, often tends to a kind of competition that is unsocial and which, as we see it matured in men, gives us those monopolies and trusts which are such a menace to the welfare of the people. Who has not seen teachers urging pupils on in the practice of competition, paying tributes of 24 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME praise to brilliant performances and possibly cast- ing a shir u]K)n slow and incapable pupils? How can we expect society to be freed from those prac- tices which tend to make the talented more arro- gant, the rich more selfish, and the condition of the poor more helpless and discouraging, as long as the school fosters selfish interests ? Mow often have we been surprised to learn that one whom, as a pupil, we regarded as of little promise and hardly worthy of our teaching, has been able in actual life to surmount all obstacles and to reach comparative success ? We then regret to think that we can take no credit to ourselves for his achievements. The governing iirinciple of the recitation should be, not c()nii)etition, but cooperation. At least this should be the case if we arc to be consistent with our |>rofession that character building is the high- est aim of education. If we desire to train up a generation of men and women who shall recognize the ties of human brotherhood, and who shall work for social and industrial cooperation, we must make the school a mighty factor to that end. Consider for a moment some of the studies of the school, and see in what way they may be made to contribute to the high aim of social ser- AND THE SCHOOL 2$ vice. The subject of History, both in its content and in the general method of treating it, contains large social factors. We are dealing here with men and women who have lived and wrought in the past and those who are living to-day and making their contribution to the world's progress. No man is so ignorant or so unfitted to be truly social as he who knows nothing of the struggles by which, step by step, the race has worked its way up to its present attainments in civilization. His sympathies, interests, and aspirations have be- come atrophied for want of nourishment and ex- ercise. Knowing little of his brother man, he knows little of himself, and his social usefulness is greatly curtailed. The daily newspaper of to-day is a cross-section of the world's busy life, and forms a comprehen- sive historical work reflecting every variety of activity and affording large ojoportunities for co- operative study. The social value of present his- tory, dealing as it does with living people, is not inferior to that of any other period. Science and Manual Training are coming to demand more attention in our schools, not only because they socialize the school life, but because 26 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME they establish bonds of vital connection between it and the active world. In these subjects are dis- covered the elements and principles which are fundamental in all industry. The unfortunate and unsocial tendencies connected with the rise of machinery are in a measure overcome when youth are trained in those principles and purposes which centre in manufactures. The applications of chem- istry and physics are so varied and multiform that hardly an industrial establishment exists that does not have some form of laboratory, wherein the de- mands of youth skilled in these subjects may find a ready market. It is a significant fact that in the adaptation of Manual Training to the needs of our common schools, the lines generally pur- sued are those expressed in the fundamental needs of mankind, — namely, for food, clothing, and shel- ter. The school kitchen, with its studious atten- tion to hygiene and nutrition, the sewing school, with its lessons in care, thrift, neatness, and econ- omy, and the workshop, with its training in deft- ness of hand and practical adaptation of means to ends, — all these are exceedingly social, not only because they touch the elemental wants of man- kind, but because they connect the school and the AND THE SCHOOL 27 home, create a close sympathy between parents, teachers, and pupils, and tend to level up whole communities where the less fortunate reside. Our high schools have undergone considerable criti- cism ; not that they have taught Latin, Greek, and Mathematics, but that they have been too slow to see the immense possibilities connected with studies in Science and the Manual and Domestic Arts. I am not in favor of making the high school a trade school or even a technical school ; but let us get rid of any fear we may have of studies be- cause they possess the elements of utility. It is utility that gives all subjects their highest value. There should be nothing in our schools that is not strongly marked with the element of utility. It is this principle that does away with the distinction between the vocational aim and the culture aim. I do not mean, of course, such utility as can be transmuted into money or bonds, but rather such as enlarges personality, gives poise, breadth, and steadiness, and fits one to live more efficiently and helpfully day by day. All true culture makes one a better man or woman and renders him more serviceable. Likewise, those studies which, by their direct connection with the activities of everyday 28 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME life, seem to lead out toward vocation have in them the potential germs of mental, moral, and aesthetic culture. Take Music, which always and everywhere has been the means of elevating human thoughts and softening dispositions and reaching the deeper im- pulses of the soul. Here we have a branch of school study which is intrinsically social as well as spiritual in its influence and mission. The social value of music as a branch of study consists not only in the fact that it reacts favorably upon the performer in refining the feelings, giving culture to the voice and expression, but also because it affords pleasure to others. Language as a social instrument, not only in the school but in society at large, has been too lightly estimated. Great emphasis should be laid upon the communication of ideas in a social man- ner, making conversation in its true sense an active instrument in the school life. It has long been said that the ability to use language concisely and correctly, in stating the simplest ideas or in making known our most common wants, is a legitimate aim of education, and it is even ac- knowledged that liberal training can give nothing AND THE SCHOOL 29 more valuable than a facile and finished use of speech. If we add to this conception of what Language is, its importance as a social influence, and remember how the very spirit and tone of the school are revealed in the conversation between teacher and pupil, we begin to realize the vital importance of oral and written expression. It would appear from this view that every encouragement should be given to correct, true, and forcible speech so that during the progress of the school life every young person may become able to use his mother tongue in a manner which will not subject him to ridicule or make him appear in any sense unsocial. A little book by Professor George H. Palmer, en- titled "Self-cultivation in English," has as its clos- ing paragraph these words : " If in our utterance we think of him who hears as well as of him who speaks, and, above all, if we fix the attention of ourselves and our hearers on the matter we talk about and so let ourselves be supported by our subject, we shall make a daily advance, not only in English study, but in personal power, in general serviceableness, and in consequent delight." The word in this quotation to which I wish to give special emphasis is " serviceableness." Social 30 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME service is ever the highest aim in all attainments and accomplishments, and however we may strive for pure and elegant English for its own sake, we must not forget that it increases our power of being useful to others. A pupil may be led to realize that the voice he uses has much to do with the comfort of all who hear. Mathematics, while giving one no quick remu- neration like the art of Stenography or the craft of bricklaying, does furnish the power for delib- erate thought and accurate statement, and to speak the truth is one of the most social qualities a per- son can possess. Gossip, flattery, slander, deceit, all spring from a slovenly mind that has not been trained in the power of truthful statement, which is one of the highest utilities. Art may indeed be regarded as a culture study, and many believe that it has no place in our common schools, but it would not be difficult to show that it not only possesses utility, but renders invaluable service in illuminating and enriching other studies. Art in its creative capacity adds beauty to the world, confers happiness, and often trans- figures and ennobles what would otherwise be dull and commonplace. Even with its power to in- AND THE SCHOOL 3 1 crease one's appreciation of the beautiful, it refines the spirit and quickens the sympathy. I believe the common people of Germany who hear good music almost daily, and visit the great galleries of Art on Sunday, have warmer hearts and deeper sympathies than the denizens of rural New Eng- land, who hear only the music of the farmyard, and see no beauty but that of sunrise and sunset or the everlasting hills. Physical Training, if measured by the same test, is seen to have great utility, to give a social power to its devotees, and to add something to life. It prevents dyspepsia, bodily and mentally, cures mor- bidness, establishes soundness of mind ; the man who uses dumbbells or Indian clubs for a little time every day is sweeter-tempered at home and more level-headed in business. The games now being introduced into the primary schools are strongly tinctured with the social element. They tend to break up cliques and promote a more demo- cratic spirit. They call for combination and co- operation. They insure the benefits of joyous physical activity to all, instead of making the sport of a select few a spectacle to be witnessed by the crowd. This suggests the need of revising 32 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME all school and college athletics in America to the end that a larger number may share in their benefits. I might pursue this subject farther, but enough has been said to suggest that all school studies and exercises are capable of being applied to social ends, if rightly used, and are even potential in respect to the utilities, provided the teacher is deeply conscious of the social aim. How often in the school, as in the home, are we blind to the deeper significance of common affairs, in our zeal to accomplish some great thing ! In the work of Dean Hodges, to which I have already referred, in speaking of the repairing of a street as a great problem, he says : " There seems at first to be but little connection between paving stones and prayer books, but it is plain, when we come to think about it, that the condition of the street affects the character of the children who play in it, and the men and women who live in the houses that front upon it. Dirt, disorder, touch first the body and then the soul of man. Clean people are delivered out of many temptations. Courage, and hope, and industry, and diligence, and the Christian religion prefer clean houses. AND THE SCHOOL 33 The dirt of the street comes in at the window, and all good graces appear to be discouraged. It is not without reason that we are taught that in the ideal city, the Heavenly Jerusalem, there will be clean streets paved with gold." Thus it is in respect to the commonplaces of hfe in the home, in the school, and in the community, where the process of education is ever going on. If directed by social insight, these seemingly small matters have a far-reaching significance. All who have to deal with children, whether those of the rich or the poor, the promising or the unpromising, need to find that method of approach that touches the heart, kindles the feelings, illumines the under- standing, arouses ambition, and finally strengthens the will and establishes a new life. The power of the broadened curriculum of the modern school lies in the fact that the blended interests which spring from the several studies make the school increasingly social, and enables it to accomplish its highest aim. Says Dr. Dewey : " The teacher is engaged not simply in training individuals, but in the formation of the proper social life. He is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of proper social order and the 34 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME securing of the right social growth." " In this way the teacher always is a prophet of the true God and the usherer in of the true Kingdom of God." Dr. Albion W. Small, also, from a somewhat different point of view, urges the social aim in education. "This life task of men and women," he says, " sets the pedagogical task of teachers." "The prime problem of education, as the sociolo- gist views it, is how to promote adaptation of the individual to the social conditions, natural and arti- ficial, in which individuals live and move and have their being." And again : " Sociology demands of educators finally that they shall not rate themselves as leaders of children, but as makers of society. The teacher who realizes his social function will not be satisfied with passing children from one grade to another, but will read his success only in the record of men and women who go from the school eager to explore wider and deeper those social relations, and zealous to do their part in making a better future." These words focus the thought that I have en- deavored to emphasize. The principle of mutual dependence and the need of cooperation are present in all life. Human relations are so intimate, and AND THE SCHOOL 35 the interests of one individual touch those of another at so many points, that the abihty to lead a truly social Hfe becomes of the first importance. The new education has done far less to change the means of instruction than it has to improve its spirit and to suggest the higher aims. Education, considered as the development of character, sus- tains an intimate relation to the work of the Church, the home, and those other institutions which civilize and refine our modern life. The attempt has been made to show that the culture aim and the vocational aim are one and the same thing, if we give to each its broadest significance ; that work, which is the common lot of all humankind, becomes dignified and trans- figured according as it is applied to higher spirit- ual ends. It has been suggested that both the home and the school are forms of social life, and that, considered as educational factors, they can do nothing higher than to promote that social con- sciousness which expresses itself in sympathetic, generous, helpful cooperation. Those of us who labor in the school have much to do with courses of study, books, appliances, and methods of every sort, but all these count for 36 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE HOME AND SCHOOL but little in comparison with the transcendent im- portance of social contact and social experience. It has been said by eminent authority that 85% of the value of the school lies in the personality of the teacher, leaving only 15% for all other means and appliances. If this estimate be correct, it is only another form of recognition of the great truth which I have tried to demonstrate. In the development of many arts and industries, it has come to pass that certain by-products which formerly were discarded as of no value, have now come to be more profitable even than the original product itself. Thus it is in education ; many things in the physical, moral, intellectual, and spir- itual nurture of the young which once were thought to be of little worth now receive careful attention, and may safely be said to increase the capacity for useful service as well as for a happy life. THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES TO FROEBEL AND HER- BART THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES TO FROEBEL AND HER- BART The education required for any age is deter- mined by the character of that age. Human needs change and ideals of manhood and womanhood are modified, so the methods employed in training the young at any particular time will receive an im- press and a sanction from the social conditions of that time. He who lives to-day with his eyes and ears open, is conscious of the fact that people live, think, and act faster than ever before. It is an age of books and newspapers, and hence of almost universal intelligence. By invoking the aid of machinery, labor is largely performed without bodily exertion, and it is done so much more quickly than formerly, that men and women have more leisure for self-culture, or for amusement, as the case may be. By means of steam and elec- tricity, we have brought to our doors every day 39 40 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES not only news of the world's business of every sort, but also the products of every climate under the sun. Irving tells us in his "Tales of the Alhambra," " that Moorish kings employed swift couriers to bring every day to their tables fruits from distant valleys and ices from the mountain tops of Granada." But to-day the thrifty working- man can have upon his board fruits and condi- ments representing every zone and every climate on the earth. The clouds of superstition have rolled away, and Truth in her many forms stands revealed. A purer Christianity, a truer morality, and a more ideal phi- lanthropy are active all about us. Such words as "wealth," "comfort," and "culture" are often used to indicate the potential in the present time if not the actual. Certain dangers that beset us, the natural accompaniments of the forces I have men- tioned, such as the greed of concentrated capital and the grinding power of competition, make still more complex and startling the tout ensemble of the present time, under such conditions. Only the strong can prosper; the weak must go to the wall. There is much of culture abroad, but only those who are sensitive to what is fine and beau- TO FROEBEL AND HERB ART 4 1 tiful can enter into it. Literature has been well said to be " the embalmed mind " ; it is surely dead and meaningless to those whose souls have not been touched. The young people who, year by year, pass from our schools out into this restless vortex that we call active life, should be prepared to enter into it hopefully with the chances of success on their side. I did not mean to imply that the school is wholly, or even mainly, responsible for the conduct and achievements of its graduates. Other factors and forces are influential: heredity, the home, the Church, the social and moral activity of the com- munity; all these, in greater or less degree, affect the growth of the young, and help to educate. The home, particularly, where the child spends so much of his early life, and where all his earliest lessons are learned, is often, doubtless, the deter- mining factor. Nevertheless, the school holds a commanding place in the training of the child, and the questions, what should the modern school be.-* and what should it do .-' become of supreme impor- tance. Suppose we examine a somewhat ideal type of modern manhood and see what it embodies in re- 42 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES spect to equipment for life. We should all, I think, find our ideal endowed with a strong and healthy physique, steady nerves, a clear head, and a courageous and hopeful disposition. We should conceive of him as having gained from wise and sympathetic parents and teachers, the power to enjoy and appreciate what is beautiful and impres- sive in nature. His curiosity has never been re- pressed, but always encouraged ; he has not only become an admirer of form and color as they are revealed in the sky and upon the earth, but he is a reverent student of truth and law. Manly sports have kept him fresh, cheerful, and strong; his mind has been so disciplined by liberal studies in mathe- matics, in science, in literature, and the arts, that his power to think and reason is only exceeded by his love for the great literature. He is not ashamed to labor with his hands, knowing that in- dustry is man's greatest blessing. He loves pic- tures and music, and his soul responds to the spiritual lessons they have to teach. He inherited truth, reveres sincerity, and his long school train- ing has not crushed out these sentiments, but has rather ministered to their growth. This ideal cor- responds to Ruskin's idea that "education is the TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 43 leading human souls to what is best and making what is best out of them." I find, also, that Sarah Austin has voiced the same thought in saying that "the appropriate and attainable ends of a good education are the possession of gentle and kindly sympathies, the sense of self- respect, and of the respect of one's fellow-men ; the free exercise of the intellectual faculties ; the gratification of the curiosity that grows upon what it feeds on, and that yet finds food forever ; the power of regulating the habits and business of life so as to extract the greatest possible amount of comfort out of small means; the refining, tranquil- izing enjoyment of the beautiful in nature and art ; and the kindred perception of the beauty and nobility of virtue; strengthening consciousness of duty fulfilled, and to crown all, ' Peace which pass- eth all understanding.' " In these words are found what is requisite to a good home or a good school ; namely, nutrition, healthy growth, good habits, love for the beautiful, and a high moral standard. The very idea of a modern school implies a spacious, light, airy, attractive, and well-equipped schoolhouse. It means that parents and citizens have such a lofty conception of the needs and 44 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES claims of childhood, and the sacredness of their responsibility, that they are wilHng to put their hands down deep in their pockets, and provide those things that are essential to physical well-be- ing and comfort. In our best communities we find many indications of improved sentiment respecting school architecture, but New England has been rather backward in this respect, and there are many buildings unfit for occupancy by young chil- dren. Physical health and comfort as regards fresh air, light, and sanitation bear so intimate a relation to the intellectual and moral aims of the school that too much emphasis cannot be placed upon that which constitutes physical environment. The next essential to a good school is a good teacher, and many there are who may justly be classed under this head ; men and women who are sincerely devoted to their work, who are conscien- tious, sincere, sympathetic, and kind, who reach the best that is in their pupils, and by force of example and personal influence, are ever leading them up to the highest ideals. How soon fathers and mothers see reflected in their children the mark of the master hand and what a sense of security is felt when their children are in the hands of TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 45 such a teacher. I beUeve that if in the training of teachers more stress were laid upon the impor- tance of personality, and less upon scholarship and methods, the tone of our schools would be higher. The next thing of which I wish to speak is the course of study, by which I mean those means and forces which are used by the teacher to nourish and exercise the minds of children in the school. A great change is being worked out in the cur- riculum of all grades of schools. Until within a few years, it was very narrow at the bottom, and only broadened when pupils were fortunate enough to pass through the high school, or the college. The three " R's," with a little geography learned from the text-book, comprised the major part of the school course. History, literature, or science did not come into the school life in such a way as to affect it vitally. Parents had a very narrow idea concerning what they sent their children to school for, and teachers were generally in accord with them as to this aim. While arithmetic was the backbone of the curriculum, a large amount of energy was expended in teaching words, and in acquiring facts. In many cases no attention was given to the question, whether the words taught 46 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES had intrinsic meaning to the pupils, or whether the facts acquired were related to the needs of his life, or to each other. There was no lack of drill in what have been commonly called the elements of formal knowledge, as reading, writing, spelling, and computation, and I am not incHned to disparage the value of such drill. Men and women who received this kind of an education have been won- derfully successful in the past, and yet I have noticed that they are never inclined to ascribe much virtue to their school training. They deem it more creditable to be regarded as self-made and self-taught. However that may be, it is generally understood that the education given in the schools of the past has not developed broad interests of any sort, or quickened the sensibilities of the young along those lines that are now considered so im- portant. Many a child who learned to read glibly from a reading book passed through the entire school course without gaining a love for, or an acquaintance with, good literature, and would have to be classed as ilHterate, if measured by modern standards. In the majority of cases, children who studied geography from text-books learned little of natural phenomena; they gained no power of ob- TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 47 servation, and had no grasp of imagination which is needful to a real knowledge of the earth as a planet, and those forces that go to make up what we call Nature. The most enriching of all studies, the history of man and his achievements upon the earth, and those ideals of life and conduct that are expressed in literature, received almost no attention. The principle laid down by Rousseau, that the chief thing in early education is nutrition, was little rec- ognized or applied. The daily routine in most of our schools prior to twenty-five years ago, while it may have been vigorous, faithfully applied, and fruitful of some good results, was generally not interesting, not nutritious, and did not tend to re- fine and moralize the child. A fermentation has been going on in the educa- tional world for several years, and great changes have been made both in the curriculum, and in the spirit of teaching. One after another, we have seen new forces and agencies enUsted. The rela- tion of hand-work to brain-growth has been recog- nized, and we have seen manual training brought into our schools in its various phases of drawing, clay modelling, wood-working, needlework, and do- 48 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES mestic economy. At first there was tremendous opposition; some who had been regarded as educa- tional leaders predicted the destruction of the school system if manual training became universal, but the idea has gained rapidly in the esteem and faith of thinking people, and it will not be long before hand-craft will be as much at home in the school as reading or writing. Since the great Agassiz set before New England students the ex- ample of a scholarly and reverent devotion to the study of life as revealed in the animal world, there have been sporadic attempts by specially gifted teachers to make Nature Study a part of the school course, but it is only recently that any systematic or fruitful progress has been made in this direction. In fact, it is only a few years since our high schools and colleges were equipped with labora- tories, but now we see the methods at least of the laboratory brought into the grammar schools, and the course of study recognizes the claims of science training in all grades. It will perhaps be interesting to inquire at this point what has induced these changes. In all such discussions as this, it is well to be judicial, and somewhat moderate in our claims respecting the TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 49 influence of particular causes. As I indicated at the outset, we are living in the midst of a constantly improving civilization. The need for a better edu- cation to make men fit to live and act under these better conditions has been widely felt. The de- mands for improvement have not usually come from the schools, or from teachers, but from the wise and thoughtful observers of human events, who, with a better perspective and more philosophic in- sight, have seen how barren and inadequate were the results ; but if there is any one influence which has been more potent than another, I believe it to be the work of Friedrich Froebel and the kinder- garten, of which he was the founder. Did time permit me to make a complete statement of what the kindergarten undertakes to do for little chil- dren, it would be found to contain the germ of every reform that is now being attempted, and I probably cannot do better than to briefly point out the various elements found there, which are all capable of being developed in a greater or less de- gree during the entire school life. Speaking roughly, what do we find in the true kindergarten ? First, a refined, gentle, and sym- pathetic teacher. She lives and works with her 50 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES children. If all our teachers could do that, what a change would be the result! Second, we find play, which is a divinely appointed and instinctive form of child activity. By basing many exercises upon play, the child at once be- comes perfectly natural, unconscious, and happy. I believe the play instinct should be allowed to express itself all through the school life. The teacher who cannot have some fun with her pupils is out of sympathy with childhood, and ought not to teach. If play is justly a permanent feature in college and university life, there certainly must be a place for it during all the years that precede that period, and yet we find many schoolrooms to-day where the aspect of the teacher is almost funereal, and where to smile, much less to laugh heartily, would be regarded as an offence against good order. Closely related to the games of the kindergarten are the songs. These are so con- nected with teaching the various forms of truth, that they become at once a most inspiring feature of the school programme, whether it be in the kindergarten, or in any grade above. The song whose words and music are refined and elevating, and which contains some useful lesson, is a power- TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 5 1 ful means of culture, and creates a pleasant atmos- phere in the school. Another delightful factor in the kindergarten is the story, or morning talk, as it is called. Is there any grade in our schools where children will not listen with the intensest interest and profit to a well-conceived and skilfully told story, or descrip- tion ? Story-telling is almost an essential to good teaching. The preacher who never illustrates a sermon, is generally considered dry. So it is with the teacher. In the story we have the germ of history and literature, and in our best schools to-day there is no break from the kindergarten to the high school in either of these lines. Materials are abundant, and there is the greatest opportunity for moral teaching, and for furnishing the mind with that apperceptive material so needful when pupils take up the more serious and philosophic study of men and institutions ; yet the traditions concerning the school routine are so strong, and the normal schools have done so little in this direction, that any school superintendent regards it as a note- worthy achievement that he has persuaded a teacher to tell a story. I have spoken of science studies, and the kinder- 52 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES garten has done more for this department than any other agency. We also learn from Froebel how mathematics may best be taught. Principles which when presented abstractly are dry and uninterest- ing, become attractive and easy when made realistic and practical. We find that in half the time that was formerly devoted to arithmetic, by using concrete methods, we can now secure better results. The occupations of the kindergarten are the true introduction to manual training, and some part of the school time in every grade should be given to such hand-work as will call out the perceptive and executive powers of the child. One great end of school training is facility in the use of the mother tongue. The scheme of enrich- ment which I have described is the most direct means of giving that facility. The force of ideas is the one force that will impel pupils to fulness and richness of expression. As their minds become furnished with a knowledge of the beauties and wonders of nature, as they are inspired by the noble deeds of men and women, and as they are filled with the artistic delineations of literature, it becomes easy for young people to speak and write TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 53 and, through much practice, they may reach a high standard of accuracy and perfection of style. I have emphasized the credit due the kinder- garten for initiating this broad and harmonious scheme, which I have endeavored hastily to out- line; but even in communities where it has not yet been possible to establish kindergartens, there is, I am happy to say, a movement toward this better form of enrichment. All that is needed is the belief on the part of teachers and parents that something better can be done than has been done, and courage to move out boldly into these new fields. The introduction of new subjects often causes a certain confusion, and teachers have to be patient under the criticism generally made, that too much is being attempted. They only need to understand that the enrichment of the course of study needs to be accompanied by such concen- tration and correlation of studies as will relieve the pressure, and tend to promote unity and economy. The German philosopher, Herbart, who lived from 1776 to 1 84 1, developed a set of educational ideas that is destined to affect the practice of every teacher. In the first place, he made moral char- acter building the central aim. This was no sen- 54 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES timental idea, but the result of careful weighing of all minor ends involved in teaching and training. He believed that moral excellence was closely re- lated to all other parts of culture, and insisted that only in the high ideal of moral perfection do we find that unity of aim so much to be desired. The development of interest, the kindling of feeling, the training of the will, the affections of the home, the sports of the playground, books, companion- ships, and activities of all sorts, are to be coordi- nated to this common aim, viz. a character that is pure and strong. Secondly, we are indebted to Herbart for the doctrine that many-sided, permanent interest is at once the end and the means of education. The interest occasioned by prizes and rewards is not , equal in value to the direct interest in a study awakened by the skilful teacher. Interest must be many sided, but it must not be scattering or frivolous. Interest leads us on to master the diffi- culties of life, and to achieve its victories. When it is absent, labor becomes a drudgery, the man becomes a slave. A school that does not have interest written upon the faces of its pupils is not a modern school in the true sense. There may be TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 55 order and obedience, but the life-giving principle is wanting; the school is dead. President Eliot has said many times that "it is the ineffable dul- ness of the teaching in many schools that wearies the pupils and unfits them to receive instruction." But some one may say, ought not a child to grap- ple with hard tasks, and apply himself to duty, even though it be disagreeable.? Most certainly he ought, but strength of will is the determining factor in such cases, and will acquires its greatest ' power from interest; it gains momentum, and even difficult tasks become delightful. " Blessed is he that overcometh," applies only to those whose force of will carries them on to victory. It is not in the formal studies like reading, writing, spelling, etc., that the deepest interests are found, but in the thought or culture studies, like history, geog- raphy, and the natural sciences. This justifies the enrichment of the course of study, and is the only sure preventive of narrowness ; besides, there is the advantage of selection, which occurs when the child is brought into touch with many objects of interest. Dr. J. G. Fitch, one of the leading educators of England, when in this country a few years ago, spoke these memorable words : — 56 THE MODERN SCHOOL, AND WHAT IT OWES "We are safe at least in deducing this one con- clusion from the teaching of natural history, that the human character, like other organisms, thrives best when exposed to variable conditions, for then only has it a chance of selecting those which are most favorable to the development of what is best and fittest for itself." We may not give our children an exhaustive knowledge of music, art, history, or the sciences, but we may send them forth into life with an eager desire to learn more, and a broad outlook toward men and things. " Learning," says Herbart, *' shall pass away, but the interest shall remain through- out the whole life." Another element in the general idea of concen- tration is expressed in the rather new term "ap- perception." We all know that the mind sees and acquires by means of what it has already acquired ; the old ideas seize the new, and assimilate them. The more clear and definite are the old impres- sions, the more quickly and easily will the new, related facts be apperceived. Basing his theory upon the value of interest and apperception, Her- bart regarded concentration, or correlation of studies, as a sort of superstructure. Every study is related TO FROEBEL AND HERBART 57 to other studies ; every truth in nature or history has a variety of associations, which, if followed, shed light, and make that truth stand forth more clearly. Applying this principle, we should make every important truth we teach a centre of interest about which to group as many related ideas as pos- sible. Take, for example, what is contained in the word "climate," and think of the variety of forces which enter into it; there are latitude, the position of the sun, the elevation above the sea, the action of wmd in connection with evaporation and con- densation, snow, relation to the seaboard, radiation, etc., from which it appears that we cannot touch the simple fact of climate, without drawing upon mathematics, physics, and astronomy. To trace the effect of climate in any part of the world carries us into the fields of geography, ethnology, sociology, and political economy. Back of every political, social, and industrial fact lies a chain of political causes, operating within a given area, producing a given result ; thus topog- raphy becomes, as it were, a connecting link be- tween the study of nature and the study of man. It is clear that we do not want a forced or artificial coordination of ideas, but one that aids the mind 58 THE MODERN SCHOOL in discovering natural laws and relations, whereso- ever they may be found. A full statement of all that is implied in the Herbartian theory would make it appear that education, like religion, has its gospel, to experience which requires both faith and works. The main propositions of this theory seem to me true and inspiring. They ought to bring hope and joy to every teacher and parent ; they point to the high- est ideal that human effort can attain, and show us the road that leads thither. THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD The present lecture has to do with the attitude of the teacher toward the individual child and the method of treatment. We shall not, therefore, look at the school so much in its institutional capacity, but shall turn our attention to individual children, and try to answer the question, "What are some of the best things which the teacher may do for the child in helping him to that self-freedom and self-revelation which are the great ends of instruc- tion?" We often read about the education of a prince or a princess, and at first it seems a singu- lar thing that tutors of the highest culture and learning are secured to devote themselves exclu- sively to the oversight of the growing life of the future sovereign, but it has never yet been sug- gested that the most experienced and competent teacher does not find ample field for the exercise of his skill in the training of a single youth. His knowledge of that youth becomes intensive. It is 6i 62 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD thought to be necessary for him to know intimately the child's aptitudes and weaknesses. He becomes familiar with all his shifting moods. He must dis- cover infinite devices for overcoming in the child's nature all that is unpromising and bad, and of building up and strengthening all those tendencies that make for nobility of character. Thus it has happened that the elder sons of kings and noble- men who are to inherit the wealth and position of their fathers, though not highly endowed, and pre- senting in youth many unfavorable traits, have been so carefully and skilfully cultured and schooled, so fortified for their position in life, that they have lived to surprise their friends and acquaintances by careers of success. Many a mother who has one child finds herself confronted by problems which seem almost beyond human power to solve, and it is often with great relief and joy that she commits the child to the school, where he meets an intelli- gence and a guidance superior to that which she pos- sesses. But the difference between the education of the prince, who alone commands the labor of one or more experienced instructors, and that condition of things which exists where one teacher has forty or fifty individual natures to study and to train, is THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 63 indeed great. And yet I have the presumption to say that the first requisite to a successful school is that the teacher know her pupils, that she know- each individual as such. How many times this has been said. And yet, how many teachers have a blurred vision which enables them to see the school only in the mass, and that lack of perception which recognizes the infinite variety of temperament and disposition there represented. Many persons who enter the profession of teaching are so filled with the subjects to be taught and the methods to be pursued, and their training has been so lacking in any near approach to child life, that they are abso- lutely unfitted to meet this requirement. They are blind guides. They do not come near to any of their pupils because they do not get acquainted with them ; and the pupils, in turn, look upon the teacher as a stranger if not as an intruder. It is not necessary to know everything about all the chil- dren at once. If the teacher is able to read one difficult case and deal with it tactfully and skilfully, the fact is recognized by all. The pupils know that as fast as practical the teacher will understand them all, and will rate them for what they are, and there springs up an attitude of expectancy and interest, a 64 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD faith in the teacher's sagacity, and a readiness to meet him halfway. Some teachers seem to have been born bhnd if not deaf. I remember upon one occasion in a high school some members of a Ger- man class put an alarm clock under the teacher's platform for three successive days, so set that it would go off during the recitation. The instructor not only was unable to ascertain who had com- mitted this base act, which was not so strange, but could not detect the location of the clock, and it was said that he usually looked toward the ceiling when the alarm sounded. This is simply an illustration of the obtuseness of many people in dealing with children, and if there is any one thing in which some normal schools have been dreadfully lacking it has been in not giving to its pupil teachers ex- perience in studying children. I am not going to enter into the subject of child-study here ; and technical child-study, as it is generally understood, has very little to do with the kind of insight which I want to emphasize in this connection. If the teacher has that attitude which leads him to seek an intimate acquaintance with each of his pupils, becoming somewhat acquainted with his home life and the conditions under which he lives out of THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 65 school, as well as his personal temperament and characteristics, he will acquire the power of discrimi- nation. He will come to differentiate his pupils, and to recognize the vast differences which distinguish the one from the other. The more close is his analysis, the more inclined he is to treat each indi- vidual as standing apart from all the rest, claiming special and separate attention. He will even look for the marks of heredity, and here he will find a large field for serious thought and reflection. Can any one doubt the importance of this factor as deter- mining the temperament and propensities of chil- dren ? Who of us does not discern in himself traits, well defined and persistent, that come from father or mother.? Who does not see in his neighbors this same tendency to repeat the characteristics of parents and grandparents .-• The law of heredity is written in indelible characters on the escutcheon of nearly every family. In a large sense, and taking into account the climate and other physical condi- tions, heredity stamps itself upon the life of peoples. In a cosmopolitan community like ours, it tends to give still greater variety to our school population and requires a still larger discrimination to meet dif- ferent temperaments and dispositions on their own 66 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD level. No teacher will deal justly with those com- mitted to his care unless he remembers that any organism tends to build itself up from the germ after an ancestral pattern, and that the modifiability of that type is brought about only under special nur- ture and environment applied at an early age. Ribot tells us that in China when a man has committed a capital crime an inquiry is made first into his physi- cal condition, his temperament, and his prior acts. Nor does the investigation stop at the individual. It is concerned with the most inconsiderate antecedents of the members of his family, and is even carried back to his ancestry. This would seem to do full justice to heredity, but in the case of high treason, or when a prince has been assassinated, these same people, carrying this principle too far, and estab- lishing an unfair solidarity between father and chil- dren, prescribe that the culprit shall be cut into ten thousand pieces, and that his sons and grandsons shall be put to death. The Japanese law formerly, it is said, included in the punishment the parents of the culprit. This is but a single instance of a vast number that might be cited to show how the world has recognized the tremendous force of heredity. Under the light of the Christian dispensation there THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 6/ is no such visitation upon fathers and children in case of crime. But the educator, whose work is dis- tinctly in the line of correcting and reestablishing defective human nature, ought to feel an increasing interest in trying to find out what hereditary taints rest upon his pupils, and what treatment should be given them. To treat harshly a child who bears the marks of a low and ignorant or even criminal ances- try would partake of the Chinese method of admin- istering justice to which I have alluded. The greater the misfortune of the child, the more heavily he is handicapped by the degradation and sins of the family to which he belongs, the greater his claim to that sympathetic discrimination and masterly treatment, and that redemptive love which alone can save him and lift him above the conditions which threaten to destroy his life. Another factor which a discriminating teacher will recognize in a child, and which will appeal to his sympathy and considerateness, is the immediate effect of the home and the environment of his daily life. Under what diverse conditions have the pupils in some of our schoolrooms been reared ! One comes from a wretched hovel where the home life is disorderly and squalid through intemperance, 68 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD where want and discomfort oppress him whenever he is at home. Another is the child of kind and cultured parents, whose home provides for him the most solicitous care and sends him to school happy, yes, radiant, with the sense of parental love. It would be rank injustice to assume that the poorly fed, ill-clothed, and ill-treated child can reach a moral and intellectual standard in the school equal to that of the one whose condition I have just described. We should go to the home of pupils, not for their good, but for our own. I do not intend to imply that the difficult problems that confront the teacher are all found in children who come from poor homes, or who have unfortunate ancestry. The only child in a family, whether he come from a poor home or a good one, constitutes almost a distinct type and presents many trying questions to the sympathetic teacher. Mr. Boham- mon, in an article in the Pedagogical Seminary of April, 1898, treats somewhat exhaustively the pecul- iar characteristics of the only child, and cites many individual cases to show what a degree of similarity runs through them. I quote from his summary of the peculiarities of these children only a few items : " Mental and physical defects of a grave character THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 69 are more common than among other children, — Nervous disorders seem to be unusually frequent in the families from whence they come, — These chil- dren appear to enter school later and are less regular in their attendance than other children, — Their suc- cess in school work is below the average, — They do not join in games as readily as other children of cor- responding ages, — Many of them have imaginary companions, — Many of them do not have as good command of themselves socially as does the average child, — Precocity seems to be the most prominent trait, — Selfishness is the most frequently named of the worst traits, while affection is most often named among the best." As a rule the home treatment has been unthink- ing indulgence, which makes the child expect con- cessions on all sides and an unwillingness on his own part to make them to others. It is suggested that teachers should try to influence the parents of such children to be less indulgent, to provide com- panionship with children of equal age, and to show less anxiety and misguided affection toward the children, leaving them a larger freedom of action. There are other types which the discriminating teacher will soon recognize. There is the child of 70 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD delicate organism and nervous temperament who is especially sensitive to the bad air and the weary hours of the school. There is the dull pupil who may come from a perfectly normal home and be well endowed, but who is slow of development. All these, and many others, deserve a separate diagnosis and a special method of approach. The true teacher will not be satisfied with a generalized, indefinite ideal toward which the children may be brought en masse, but he will study every indi- vidual pupil as thoroughly as he does the lessons to be taught. He will not be satisfied simply with a quiet school, an orderly school, or even a studious school, but he will want to know that every single pupil, according to his circumstances and his ability, is growing in all those qualities that make child- hood happy, earnest, and hopeful. He will want to know that each child carries to his home a sense of pleasure in what the school has done for him, and brings back, where the circumstances permit, a consciousness of appreciation on the part of par- ents, so that home and school are brought into harmony and the child has a double incentive for doing his best. Of equal importance with this attitude of dis- THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 7I crimination and differentiation which the discerning teacher will assume toward her pupils, is the atti- tude of faith that each and every child may be quickened and saved, as it were, from all the evil influences of heredity, crime, and ignorance, and even of short-sightedness and over-indulgence which characterize so many homes. To have faith in the future of uninteresting and unpromising children, to be able to put forth a touch of sympathy and personal interest which will kindle like sentiments in return, is the mark of a fine spirit. How little one can accomplish for the life of another unless he has faith in the possibilities of that life ! If his mission of service be performed in a perfunc- tory manner, if he permits himself to reveal dislike or prejudice or lack of recognition of some good in that person, how helpless he is as far as arousing the best efforts and kindling high ambition ! Noth- ing is more unfortunate in a large school than to have adverse opinions and prejudices concerning any pupil who is in any way unfortunate in his temperament, or who has been disagreeable in his conduct, handed down as a legacy so that they follow him as a sort of Nemesis through his school life, chilling such good impulses as he may have, 72 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD and thwarting his endeavors to reestablish himself in the school. Thus it comes to pass that many a youth, who, by hook and by crook, conquers himself, and attains to a position of honor and trust in the world, does it, not by reason of the encouragement he receives in the school, but rather in spite of it. Sad, indeed, is it to hear a person say of any teacher that he got from him no en- couragement, no expression of confidence, no praise for good endeavors. The teacher's faith in the possibility of bring- ing out something fine and noble where the out- look is discouraging often reaches beyond the school to the home and takes into partnership the parents, and by appealing to their parental pride and interest secures a more watchful care and a more active oversight of the child's life. Here, again, teachers make the dreadful mistake of retailing to parents the faults of their children when they are too conscious of them already, in- stead of searching for their virtues and giving them new hope and fresh stimulus for cooperation ; for many children need the united efforts of parents and teachers to hold them and to keep them advanc- ing toward the true and the good. One of the THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 73 most refreshing and delightsome experiences of the supervisor of schools is to enter a schoolroom where the teacher has not a single unpleasant thing to say of any pupil. What a tonic it is to the whole school and to the individual to hear the teacher express pride, confidence, and satisfaction in his pupils ! On the other hand, how soon a teacher loses caste with his pupils if he ever has some unfavorable criticism to make either upon their conduct or their efforts. Enough has been said about the attitude of the teacher toward the child, and we may now con- sider a few of those positive obligations of the school which the teacher is called upon to fulfil. Holding to the idea so universally accepted that character is the highest aim in individual training, it becomes true that the forming of good habits is perhaps the most practical, if not the most im- portant end. Modern pedagogy recognizes the fact that gradually the life of the individual becomes mechanized so that three-fourths, and more, of the things we do are done automatically. We become creatures of habit through repeated re- actions of the nervous organism. Innumerable paths of nervous discharge become permanently 74 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD fixed, and we go on like a clock that has been wound up. Says Professor James : " The more of the details of our daily life that we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our mental powers of mind will be set free for their proper work." The fact that many children have formed bad habits of conduct and feeling before they enter school makes the teacher's work particularly difficult. Nevertheless, he is still work- ing upon plastic material. The child of four or five or six years old may be led to initiate a large number of activities, which, if persisted in, will make it easier for him to be an efficient, self -controlled, and useful member of society. The applications of this principle are almost infinite in number and extent, and in the whole realm of action, of thought, and of feeling there is very little that is not effected by a tendency to habitude. Then there are those special habits so important in the personal life which relate to such things as cleanliness, punctuality, neatness, perseverance, self-control, obedience, politeness, attention, dili- gence, and unselfishness, and when there has been established in the constitution of any young person a chain of habits reaching up to that highest of THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 75 all phases of character, unselfishness, he may be said to be socialized, for he has not only conquered himself and brought himself under subjection, but he is ready to reach out and be solicitous for the welfare of others and to make his contribution to the welfare of his fellow beings. This is the climax of all moral training, and a community in which the members are unselfish is ideal. Think for a moment of a school, or a system of schools, whose teachers are dominated by such an intelligent conception of their opportunities that they are united and strenuously earnest in laying the foundations of character in good habits, and finally, through the unselfishness of individuals, reaching that social condition which marks the ideal community. Good habits are an economic factor in the pur- suit of every school exercise. Things done re- peatedly in the best and most direct way lead to promptness, accuracy, and efficiency, and give the youth power for good in any career to which he may devote himself. The modern school with its improved curriculum affords increasing opportunities for the increase of personal power through a multi- tude of good and useful habits. ^6 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD Another positive obligation of the school toward the child, and one complementary to that which I have just mentioned, is the need of generous giving. We not only have to train the growing organism in the way of good habits, but we have to enrich the life, we have to furnish nutrition and inspiration, so that the highest possibilities are ful- filled, the vision is enlarged, true ideals are estab- lished, and the pupil is full of zeal and interest and expectation, as well as with delight and satis- faction. " Freely ye have received, freely give," is the Divine injunction. As teachers are becoming better educated, more cultured, and have larger conceptions of the meaning of education, so we may expect to see them carrying to their pupils larger gifts, taking the school, as it were, by storm through the inspirations of knowledge. I have known teachers in the past who read the best books and even had opportunities of extensive travel, and yet who seemed to have little for their children that was bright and uplifting. They allowed the school life to become a routine. We cannot to-day class such a school in the first rank, no matter how perfect may be its discipline and how faithful its performance of ordinary duties. THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 77 On the other hand, I have met teachers here and there who feel that they cannot find anything in the realm of literature, art, or nature that is quite good enough for their pupils. They are ever gathering new stores and bringing them with a sort of consecration to the service of the school. Such teachers are never discouraged, are seldom sick, and usually have happy and devoted pupils. Such a school reacts strongly upon the home. The momentum which pupils acquire in their investiga- tions hither and thither is felt by the parents, and they are moved to become students with them, and we have the ideal picture of fathers, mothers, and children studying together. The teacher of high ideals who is ready to give generously in working out those ideals need have little concern about the atmosphere of his school. I might almost say he need not be anxious about the atmosphere of the home, for fathers and mothers rejoice each day as the child brings home evidences of his good work. I am sure you will all agree with me that neither home nor school is of the highest order unless the child is eager, alert, cheerful, yes, triumphant. If he conquers his lessons, he is at the same time conquering himself. He is expert- 78 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD encing a self-revelation of his ability to overcome, and he greatly rejoices in it. This leads me to speak of one more feature of the school which can hardly be separated from those which I have already presented, and that is "discipline." •'. It goes without saying that where the discipline is conducted by the exercise of force, it is difficult, if not impossible, to secure those finer results to which I have alluded. No doubt there are excellent schools where force is occasionally used, and doubtless convenience and the practical ends of immediate success seem to demand that force be applied; but I am sure, considering the school as a whole, that the use of physical force occasions a loss in that fine feeling of cooperation between pupil and teacher which we look for in the best school. We have often heard adults speak with complacency of the punishments they received in school and even say they deserved them. Have we ever, in such instances, heard ex- pressions of the profoundest love and respect for the teachers who inflicted those penalties .'' Under which teacher would you prefer to have a child in whom you are interested placed, — one who has an orderly school by reason of the exercise of force. THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 79 or by the reminder given his pupils that force may be used if necessary, or the teacher who takes his pupils into his confidence, and by manner, if not by word, disclaims all intention of treating them otherwise than as friends and helpers ? I have in mind at this moment a young woman of refined and gentle nature, yet of strong and noble char- acter, who was engaged to take charge of a diffi- cult school, of which she knew nothing until the morning when she came to begin her work. She had for several years been in a private school, dealing with a few children from refined homes. Here she had to deal with boys and girls some of whom had hitherto responded to a regime of force. After a few days the superintendent visited her room and saw the battle going on. The pupils, some of whom had not yet risen to the situation, had lapsed at times in their responsiveness and courtesy. The teacher stood before them, calm, self-controlled, using gentle tones, apparently blind to their conduct, which had sometimes been most trying. The superintendent had sense enough to speak a congratulatory word to the class, and to show the teacher that he deeply appreciated her determination to conquer by moral means. It is 80 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD pleasant to record the fact that in a few weeks there was unconditional surrender. The victory was won, and the experience of three years in that school has not only been a constant recompense to that teacher, but it has been an object lesson to others. In thinking of this particular instance, I can recall nothing more appropriate to express its meaning than the ancient promise, " He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Vlf discipline is not to be accomplished through force, what is the alternative ? I remark, in the first place, that the great means of discipline is through the studies. I might have said, and you probably expected me to say, by moral suasion and through the influence of the teacher, and this last is a powerful element ; but the teacher may ex- press himself in a powerful manner through all the school exercises. Each and every study con- tributes something to this end. Mathematics calls for truth, accuracy, patience, and persistence. Lit- erature elevates the thoughts and feelings to what is chaste, true, and beautiful. History calls for the emulation of noble examples of men and women THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 8 1 struggling for the right. Manual Training is a helpful factor in the discipline of the school, as it directs the energy of nerve and muscle into use- ful channels and arouses energies that would other- wise be dormant or perhaps break out in unseemly conduct. In the school, as elsewhere, good, honest toil is a remedy for many of those ills that come where idleness and looseness prevail. ; Every boy who does a piece of work thoroughly and com- pletely is a different boy from what he was before. In the secondary schools, more than in the grades below, it is not desirable that masters and teachers should undertake to furnish will power for those who are old enough to exercise such power for themselves. It requires fine art to find that exact border-hne between possible freedom on the one hand and reserve and self-control on the other. The master of force and insight will rather err on the side of freedom, and permit occasional lapses on the part of his pupils from correct conduct than to act the part of the drum major or the martinet. The best preparation for citizenship is to live and practise in the school those principles that char- acterize the good citizen. X Did time permit, I would like to refer to some 82 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD recent discoveries which biology and anthropology have contributed to our pedagogy. A. Caswell Ellis remarks, in a recent article upon the studies of Romaines, on the subject of " Instinct." He grades the various instincts of the highest animals as high as twenty-three on a scale on which man reaches only fifty, thus showing what a broad heredity we have before considering the human race. "The development of these instincts and of their human, later evolved offshoots, offers cer- tainly the natural and easy path of education, and should be the first work of the teacher. We should certainly go into copartnership with nature when it can furnish half of our needed material already practically prepared. As the engineer, in laying his roads through the mountains, always seeks out and follows the course of the streams, taking advantage of the well-worn paths made by the flow of nature's forces along these lines for untold years, so must the educator seek out and utilize those neural and psychic paths along which there is an easier progress because of the heredity im- print left by the passage of the forces of life this way through countless generations." Of equal interest is that view so well substan- THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 83 tiated which recognizes a certain rhythmic character of interest, and arrest of interest, which accom- panies some of the nascent periods of child life. Instead of being surprised and annoyed when pupils at times appear incapable of grasping a subject, we need to look beneath the surface and to know that this apparent arrest is in obedience to a natural law. Thus, much of our bungHng misunderstanding of children and inhumane dis- cipline will be avoided. The subject of fatigue is worthy of our study, and we should try still harder than we have been doing to arrange the daily programme so that relief comes through change of work, and the pupils are kept as fresh and unwearied as possible. While little has been said about child-study, I have certainly implied that we need a larger knowl- edge of the being who is in our care. There are two attitudes which a teacher should assume to his children in the school. First, that of discrimi- nating considerateness, and second, that of faith and confidence. The impress of heredity and home culture cannot be ignored, and a recognition of inherited tendencies and home surroundings will justly affect our procedure. The school has 84 THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD much to do with the establishment of character through good habits, and in the prosecution of this work nothing is to be counted as small or unimportant. The modern teacher has every incen- tive to become broad and rich in his culture and to use the same freely for the uplifting of his pupils. DiscipHne is to have no prominence in the school, except as the teacher brings to bear the energizing force of interesting and fruitful work in which he is recognized, not as a driver, but as a leader and a friend. /The ideals which we all desire to attain bid us get rid of many of the prepossessions due to our own education and the conventional ideas so prevalent in a com- munity, to lay hold upon all the discoveries of science so that we may be worthy members of a profession which ought to rank among the highest in the world. It is with no desire to be sentimental that I close with a principle that has in it the ele- ments of coordination and of universality. This principle was well expressed by Henry Drummond when he said, " Love is the greatest thing in the world." It is indeed the golden thread that joins together all those saving forces which operate in the home, in the school, and in the community to THE SCHOOL AND THE CHILD 85 make the young better, truer, and happier. I am ready to predict that the education of the future is likely to be more highly charged with this quality than has been the case in the past. Christianity calls for it. The world needs it, and I trust that teachers everywhere are coming to see in it the very essence of their mission. PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY The true idea of a course of study, its purpose, its scope, and its general content are the topics which are now to engage our attention. The term, "course of study," suggests to our mind a formulated statement of work to be done in the school. It may be very meagre, so that the directions for the whole school course cover only a few pages, or it may be so extended and refined as to fill an octavo volume. There was a growing tendency until recent years, in preparing a course of study, to give very explicit directions not only as to the subjects to be taught, but con- cerning the way in which they were to be treated ; and not only this, but examinations were held at stated intervals to test the fidelity of the teacher in following the course as well as the thorough- ness with which the pupils had acquired the pre- scribed knowledge. Thus, the schools in a given 89 90 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY community were raised or reduced to a sort of dead-level mediocrity. A teacher of broad attain- ments and deep interests, however enthusiastic he might be and however ready to lift his pupils to a higher plane of original investigation, had little opportunity of doing so. Whenever an attempt was made in this direction it was found that his classes fell behind in the examinations. Such has been the condition of the so-called best graded schools in the country until recently. It is not well to condemn those steps in our progress which were, perhaps, necessary before we could reach the higher planes of understand- ing and adaptation upon which we now stand, but it is quite desirable to see that a detailed course of study, paying attention principally to the amount to be accomplished, and depriving teachers of the free play of their best energies and attain- ments, is something to be avoided in our modern education. The teacher, of all persons, should not only have a wide outlook but should be encour- aged in his own efforts at self-culture. He should keep ever in mind the spiritual aims of education, should be sensitive to the particular needs of indi- vidual children, should be as far removed as pos- PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 91 sible from the ranks of the mechanic who has to work to a line, and should have the free hand of the artist into whose soul is born visions of large and beautiful things which he desires to realize in the plastic material which is given into his hand. The school is an extension of the home. It is organized under the requirements of modern soci- ety in order that every child, irrespective of cir- cumstances under which he is born and reared, may have the advantages of a discriminating and sympathetic culture which shall enable him to real- ize in himself all that his Maker intended. To refer again to the illustration of a picture, it is not the size of the canvas or the amount of paint that is used that determines the quality of the master- piece. It is rather the conception which the artist has in his mind and the facility and freedom with which he can execute his ideal. Thus, in a school where no two children are exactly alike and where there is the greatest diversity of physi- cal and intellectual stamina, the teacher must be quite unhampered, and the results he seeks must not be quantitative but qualitative. The good school will permit its pupils to present the same individuality that is seen in a forest of trees or in 92 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY a garden of roses. Each will have a beauty and promise of its own, and it is the greatest folly to use axe or pruning-knife in the attempt to make them all exactly alike. In the parable of the talents it does not appear that the person with one talent was blamed because he had only the one talent, but because, for some reason or other, he did not make the right use of it. The schools should be as considerate of the pupil with one tal- ent as of those of ten talents. I venture, then, to say in the first place, that a course of study should concern itself less with the particular topics to be pursued, and the amount that is to be accomplished, than with the general aims which are to animate the school and the results that are to be sought in the pupils them- selves in respect to individual power, social feel- ing, moral stamina, and noble character. In the conventional course of study there are, of course, two great fields of research, that of Nature and that of Man, that of Things and of People. No sane person now thinks of treating writing, read- ing, spelling, and composition as materials of thought. They are incidents in the school life, and the course of study need have little, if any- PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 93 thing, to say about them. Mathematics, also, gives modes of judgment and not culture material. Here, perhaps, a quantitative requirement is less objectionable than in the iield of culture studies. Secondly, the true course of study is the stream of activity that flows on in any school from day to day and from week to week. It is the quality of life that flourishes there. It is so much a matter of personality, of sympathy, of vigorous enthusiasm, that a prescription is as much to be dreaded as are the pills of an old-fashioned doctor. Teachers need to see the materials they are using as objects of thought in good perspective ; hence, the assign- ment of topics should be in the large. Large masses of truth are more easily attacked than small detached particles. In fact, a close analysis of culture material for a course of study is danger- ous. There is a place, of course, for analysis, but what is especially desired in building up a body of knowledge is synthesis. This is accomplished by directing the attention of teachers to a few of the great central truths which may form the cen- tre of a number of minor and related facts. This takes advantage of the capacity of the mind to see things in their relation, to coordinate and to 94 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY discover the laws of cause and effect. In fact, the chief purpose of study over and above training in language is the power to discover the relation which one thing bears to another and to connect knowledge acquired with the experience of the child, thus giving a social content to every school subject. The modern course of study should be a suggestive outline indicating central themes and points of direction with suggestions as to the kind of composition work that may be employed, the sources of illustration and the means of making the subject graphic and real. In a former chapter the need of cultivating the social element in the school was emphasized. It must be apparent to any one that the most un- social school is the one where quantitative stan- dards are ever intruding and interfering with the free play of personality and individuality. Thus, it appears, and I trust it will appear still more clearly as we advance in this discussion, that elab- orate statements of quantitative work are out of harmony with the modern aims of the school. Uniformity is not to be sought but rather to be avoided. As the mountains which rear their sum- mits above the surrounding country in our New PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 95 England landscape are sources of strength and inspiration to all who behold them, so those teach- ers who, through superior endowments and larger spiritual insight, stand far above their associates in the richness and variety of their execution are ever pointing the way to better things in the school life which their weaker associates are able to follow. It must be clear, therefore, from what has al- ready been said, that the present purpose is not to show how a written or printed course of study should be arranged or what it should contain, but rather to indicate some of the broader considera- tions which should determine the character of the school life and the quality of the school exercises as suggested by the nature of the human organism on the one hand, and the claims of human society on the other. Nevertheless, it may be well in passing to refer briefly to the manner in which the subject of school studies has been treated by the different states of the Union as regards legal requirements. In general it may be said that as the country has developed in wealth and educa- tional facilities, the required curriculum has been greatly broadened in the direction of what have 96 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY been regarded as the social and economic needs of the individual. New standards of living have required new subjects to be taught in the schools. The introduction by statute of one subject after another in the several states may be regarded as having been done in response to a growing intelli- gence on the part of the people in respect to edu- cational needs, an intelligence which has been voiced by philanthropists and educators. The studies that are regarded as being particularly utilitarian in character, such as writing, bookkeeping, and arith- metic, have been universally prominent. The intro- duction of culture studies, like history, Latin, and science, has been remarkably slow, and even to-day we find them in many places restricted to a few grades of the grammar schools. Twenty-four states have courses of study more or less uniform. In ten these courses were prepared in accordance with law. But it is somewhat refreshing to have it stated that in no state has the course of study been the absolute rule of procedure. Laws re- lating to this matter have not been rigidly enforced, and where teachers are not afflicted with a too sensitive conscience, they are disposed to exercise much freedom in the instruction of their pupils. PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 97 In some instances summer institutes have been used as a means of promoting uniformity, and in a few states uniform examinations based upon the course of study have been tried as the most effec- tive means of securing the attention and coopera- tion of teachers. The chief trouble with all these attempts to enforce a particular curriculum is that education in America is yet in a formative state. What is thought to be sound and good to-day needs revision to-morrow because of some new light that is shed upon it. Again, few of these courses of study which are the result of legislation embody advanced educational thought. It appears that the Herbartian doctrines, which are so rich and fruit- ful if rightfully interpreted, have influenced but few places in the arrangement of their studies. When you examine fifty courses of study from as many different communities and find almost a dead- level of sameness in them, you may feel sure that either there has been too little advanced thought in their preparation or a lack of courage in rising to the situation. Turning our attention now to the ideal conception of a course of study, and considering it rather from a subjective and psychological point of view, there 98 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY are at least four phases or characteristics which demand special attention, viz. : First, Physical Cul- ture ; second, Motor Experience ; third, Sense Train- ing; fourth, Conventional Literary Training, which deals with symbols and draws largely upon memory and imagination. It goes without saying that the school of a few years ago devoted itself almost entirely to the last kind of training. Body training, either in exercise or handicraft, and sense activity were largely absent from the school. The experience of the youth upon the farm or in the shop did much to supply this deficiency. To establish the claims of these three departments of education, to have the whole school life based upon them, and to have the gen- eral and more abstract instruction proceed from the experience gained through motor and sense activity, is the very essence of educational reform. It is an acknowledgment of the claims made by such educational reformers as Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel. If I venture to say a few words about each of these departments, it must not be assumed that I regard them as separate. On the other hand, they are inseparable. The human organism is a unit. PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 99 Thought and action of every kind are indissolubly knit together. It is a question whether there is any thinking which is not directly or indirectly con- nected with some activity. Precise, accurate move- ment of any part of the human body is an indication, not only of will, but of mental power. " The feeble- minded show marked deficiency in the power of movement, and in general are wanting in just those movements which specially distinguish the human species from the lower animals." The true course of study will pay much attention to physical health. Not only will the teacher be as- siduous in respect to those conditions which affect the child in the school, — cleanliness, light, air, proper distribution of work, relief through exercise, etc., — but an active interest will be taken in the home life, and an attempt will be made to coordinate the in- terests of the school and the home by securing for every pupil, as far as possible, proper food at regu- lar intervals, abundant sleep, healthful dress, ade- quate out-of-door exercise, a reasonable time for home study, and immunity from social diversions which infringe upon the claims of the school. Fur- thermore, there are to be provided systematic and progressive forms of play, and gymnastics suited 100 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY to the age and needs of the children, given at such times, out of doors if possible, as to break the mo- notony of the school work and to give physical tone. Anything short of this is a violation of the first principles of humane and intelligent treatment of children. It is fundamental. It affects the quality of everything else that is done, and greatly increases the possibility of making the intellectual and moral life of the child what it should be. Physi- cal training has to do with the fundamental organs and the great muscles ; and yet many of the games and most of the days-orders in gymnastics require attention, judgment, and a high degree of coordi- nation. They not only partake of the nature of motor and sense training, but give large reaction to mental strength. Considering motor activity, or manual training, in its large sense, we have almost a new field. Very few courses of study give anything like an ade- quate recognition of this phase of culture. As physical training, so called, deals with the funda- mental muscles used in locomotion and manual labor, so motor training secures those finer coor- dinations in which the forearm, the hand, and the wrist are employed. Indeed, in the evolution of PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY lOI man from the lower orders of creation, the hand has become a specialized sense organ with vast capacity for expression and useful activity, capable of numberless coordinations with the directive power of the brain. Mr. Frederick Burke in a recent article in the Pedagogical Seminary on "The Development of the Nervous System," has treated in a most interesting manner the relation of hand culture to the growth of the higher cen- tres of intelligence. He says : " The intimate relationship existing be- tween the higher intelligence and the more highly developed accessory motility of the human hand has been so striking that it has been noted even as far back as Anaxagoras. The extreme theory has been put forth by many modern writers that human intelligence, as such, has arisen in direct consequence of man's assuming the upright posi- tion. The fore limbs, thus relieved of the duties of locomotion which in lower animals is more or less their exclusive function, have found vent for their energy in manifold new employments, and have thus introduced the human race to a varied world of richer experiences. Intelligence has been the product. Trace the evolution of the higher I02 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY human intelligence as we will, — from tool-making and tool-using to modern invention, from manual sign-making to speech, from hut-building to archi- tecture, from picture-writing to painting, from bizarre fashioning of fetiches to sculpture, from rude drumming to higher instrumental music, — • the development of hand and mentality has ever been in the closest intimacy of association. Under the simple psychological law that processes occurring simultaneously tend to fuse, we have reason to expect, in advance of evidence, that the accessory hand movements and accessory mental powers of man should be singularly related." Keeping in mind this anthropological view, we find much warrant for motor training in its moral and social effects. It has already been found ef- fective in helping boys of weak will power to over- come difficulties and to take pride in their own efficiency. It gives courage to those who are dull in the conventional studies and helps them to re- alize the joy of achievement. The kindergarten exemplifies beautifully not only the psychological but the social value of physical and motor activity. Most of the games of the kindergarten, while en- listing children in pleasant and varied physical ex- PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 103 ercise, meet the fundamental need of the child and lead him into various social and economic experi- ences which help him to unlock his environment and enable him to become an active participant as well as an intelligent interpreter of the life of the world about him. To-day he is the shoemaker, taking part in the labor that pertains to that craft, singing songs that epitomize and embrace the im- portance of this industry, and perhaps learning a little of the actual process of making a shoe. Again, he is the warrior knight, and is awakened to ideas of bravery and heroism that belong to the true soldier. So with the occupations which fur- nish motor experience to little children in the kin- dergarten, they not only make the hand facile in delicate and useful manipulations and react help- fully upon the mind, but they put the child in pos- session of various kinds of executive power which may be profitably and happily employed outside of the school. The whole range of exercises that have so far been adapted to school work, including all kinds of intelligent busy-work, lessons in paper-cutting, play and whittling, in sloyd and various forms of wood and metal working, in needlework, cooking, 104 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY and domestic science, as well as drawing and paint- ing, supply elements that have had too little promi- nence in the schools. To regard them as " fads " and only permit their existence in the schools in case there is money enough to first provide all other things, is indicative of too little appreciation of what education is and what our city communi- ties require. Unless something is done to supply what boys and girls used to get on the farm in the way of industrial training, there will soon be mani- fest an unfortunate decadence in the stamina of city-bred youth. Indeed, many observers claim that this decadence is manifest already. With proper education of the manual powers taken in conjunction with what is being attempted in athletic training, it ought not to be true that our strongest men and women are born in the country. The third department to be considered is Sense Training. Now it is manifest that physical culture and motor activity are both emphasized forms of sense training; but in the laboratory methods of the modern school, as applied to nature study, and the various fields of science, we find a closer and more apparent union of those processes which, superficially considered, are distinguished as intel- PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 105 lectual and physical. The chief function of edu- cation, in the common acceptation of the term, is to store the mind of the child with a great variety of images. Not only are the senses to be kept active, but they are to be active in a wise and orderly manner. Not only is the child to see and to hear, to smell, taste, and touch, but he is to do these things under direction, so that the result of sense activity is a well-selected store of sense impressions which furnish the nutritive ele- ments needed to feed the higher mental life. I need not dwell upon this particular aspect of teaching, but will rather proceed at once to em- phasize the point which I wish to make prominent, that the fourth division, or the ordinary school curriculum, is to be greatly enriched and improved through the free play of various kinds of body and sense training. Every lesson in Geography depends for its eflfi- ciency upon the images which children have ac- quired through out-of-door experience. History and Civil Government mean little to the pupil who has not been taught to see with his own eyes and to hear with his own ears. Science teaching which does not bring the pupil face to face with the I06 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY objects to be studied is now regarded as a farce. The doctrine of apperception is a unifying prin- ciple, for it shows us that the mental life of any person is guided and measured by his past expe- riences. This hasty view of the course of study from the point of view of the child indicates that there is a close and vital connection between these kinds of training which seem at first to be distinct. The thing to be aimed at is undoubtedly to epito- mize all these in every school exercise as far as possible. Every schoolroom should be a laboratory and every exercise should have in it, to a good degree, motor, sense, and thought culture. When a teacher takes her children upon a spring or autumn day for a lesson out of doors, it is easy to epitomize all the possibilities of teaching. There is the exercise of the hand in gathering speci- mens, the training of the eye in making examina- tions and comparisons, and conversation with the teacher, whereby truth is made clearer and many new facts are brought to light. Then, when the class returns to the schoolroom with their materials, and with their minds stored with mental images, there comes the story or the poem to add deeper interest to this out-of-door study, followed, perhaps. PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 107 by the written exercise which gathers up and ex- presses what the pupil has gained. Here all the higher powers of the mind — the memory, feeling, imagination, appreciation of the beautiful, etc. — are called into action. An historical excursion, a visit to the art museum, attendance upon a town meeting, legislature, or some other public body, afford similar opportunities of putting the whole child at work. The ordinary course of study with its analy- sis of topics and examinations for quantity is a barren waste as far as these larger opportunities are concerned. Let us turn now to the more objective and fa- miliar phases of the course of study and see if some standards may not be set up that are in harmony with and which follow logically what has already been suggested. The first requirement is that the course of study should be broad. We are training a human soul. The Creator has made the child to drink at many fountains. He is ever on the alert, sensitive, and receptive. The discovery that all the germs of human power are alive in the child ready to grow and be active, and that the best development con- sists in awakening all these germs to active life, I08 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY is the great contribution of Froebel to education. The quaHty of breadth found in the kindergarten should continue in the lower school until the pupil is able to specialize without the sacrifice of im- portant interests. This implies that at every point the course of study is to provide a variety of motor and sense activity, and is to bring the mind of the child into relation with appropriate portions of the whole circle of human intelligence. The three " R's," which formerly held the chief place in a very narrow scheme, are now treated as the mechanical tools of education, and are relegated to a less conspicuous position. The second feature indispensable in the modern course of study is Selection. With the broadened curriculum of which I am speaking, the selection of topics becomes an important part of the teacher's work. All sense of pressure and confusion may be avoided if the teacher selects a few central truths in every field of study and uses them as types of many other similar truths, teaching them with such thoroughness that the pupil not only gets thorough knowledge, but orderly and systematic habits of work as well. What folly it is to teach fifty or a hun- dred cities in the United States ! How much better PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 1 09 to select three or four that are typical and to enter so fully into their life, growth, and characteristics that the pupil has a body of knowledge of permanent value. Nine-tenths of the topography and three- fourths of the so-called descriptive portions of geog- raphy are waste material in the mind because they are simply a lot of disconnected and unimportant facts. The same is true of history. A clear under- standing of the causes of the Revolutionary War with an exhaustive study of perhaps two or three battles is vastly better than a labored attempt to acquire the whole story. Dr. W. T. Harris, refer- ring to this matter in the Report of the Committee of Fifteen, says : — " No formal labor on a great objective field is ever lost wholly, since at the very least it has the merit of familiarizing the pupil with the contents of some one extensive province that borders on his life, and with which he must come into correlation ; but it is easy for any special formal discipline, when continued too long, to paralyze or arrest growth at that stage. The over-cultivation of the verbal memory tends to arrest the growth of criti- cal attention and reflection. Memory of accessory details too, so much prized in the school, is also no PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY cultivated often at the expense of an insight into the organizing principle of the whole and the causal nexus that binds the parts. So, too, the study of quantity, if carried to excess, may warp the mind into a habit of neglecting quality in its observation and reflection." This quotation suggests the third point, viz. Correlation. Not only are these central truths to which I have referred to be taught in such a way as to connect the child with the world in which he lives, but mutual relations are to be discovered and enforced. Thus the mind is to acquire organized knowledge and is gradually to become conscious of the unity of all truth. Fourth, Continuity. This is secured through sys- tematic cooperation of teachers and a thorough grasp on their part of those well-knit centres of knowledge which are made the basis of instruction. If there is permanent interest growing out of the orderly succession of topics, there will be a con- tinued ardent desire to know more and progress will be rapid. Fifth, Interest. We have long heard a good deal about interest as a means, but interest as an end is destined to have high value in the modern PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY III school. " Knowledge," says Herbart, " shall pass away, but interest remains." Whether in literature, in mathematics, or in science, a real love for the study, such as will make the youth continue to be a student after he has left the school, is far better than acquisition. Too many of our boys and girls shut their books forever when they pass over the threshold of the schoolhouse for the last time. If the value of interest were fully recognized as the thing to be striven for in our common schools, we should have fewer examinations and our courses of study would be far different from what they are. The last quality in this category is Nutrition. The mind is not only to be exercised, but, like the body, is to be fed also. The grind of the primi- tive school often left the mind unnourished. To feed the mind with the richest and most inspiring truths in the realm of nature and literature, is to present these truths in all their grandeur and beauty, and to leave them like seed planted in good ground to bring forth their appropriate fruit. About two years ago a committee was appointed at the meeting of the National Association of School Superintendents, to formulate some plan for an investigation of elementary education in the 112 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY United States. The chairman of the committee, Professor John Dewey, of the University of Chi- cago, with the aid of those associated with him, has formulated a long list of questions which, in case the plan is adopted, will be sent out as a basis for the investigation proposed. Some of these ques- tions are quite in line with what I have tried to suggest regarding the course of study, that is, the value of what is qualitative over what is quantita- tive, and a few are given as illustrations. To what extent are play and other school exer- cises partaking more or less of the character of play used for idealizing and extending the child's knowledge concerning the industries, commerce, and other phases of community Hfe ? What use is made of school excursions and travel on the part of individual pupils .-' In what way does the school consider the child's scope of aesthetic appreciation and stimulate the same for further extension in the adjustment of the school environment, in the ornamentation of the grounds and buildings, in the collection of photographs, etc.? What opportunities are afforded in the school and elsewhere to hear good music ? PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 1 13 In what ways are the child's home, community, and school environments utilized in preparing les- sons in number, nature study, language, drawing, writing, and reading ? In what way does the school utilize in its work special ability on the part of pupils in oral or written work, in technical or art skill in the reci- tation, or other legitimate school work? How is continuity of progress secured in each class and throughout the school as a whole ? What is done in the general organism of the school to foster community spirit and make the children feel at home and make each child feel that he has a place in the school as a community and not simply with reference to lessons learned ? How is the recitation conducted so as to afford opportunity for interchange of experience and knowledge for the benefit of others, instead of serving merely as a test by the teacher for knowl- edge acquired ? We have not time to consider the relative value of different studies. It must be apparent, from what has been said, that the educational value of any study depends more upon the use that is made of it than upon the content of the study itself. 114 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY Personally, I sympathize with the view expressed in the Report of the Committee of Ten, that cer- tain subjects, like English, Physics, and History, may be taught with such high motives and with such scientific skill as to make them fully equiva- lent in value to Latin, Greek, or Mathematics. We have heard much of late about the enrich- ment of the course of study. There can be no true enrichment of a course of study that is pov- erty-stricken from beginning to end. It is illogi- cal to talk of enriching the diet of a person who is in a starving condition. The first thing is to give the man something to eat, and as his func- tions begin to resume a healthful tone this may be increased and enriched until he is in perfect physical condition. Breadth and nutrition are to be constant factors in our ideal course of study. Enrichment in its true sense does not come by adding more formal studies anywhere, but by sup- plying a more full and complete social life in the school and the home. Any studies which minister to that life at any point are legitimate. It is not necessary to speak of that much-dis- cussed term "concentration." There are few peo- ple who believe that any study can be made an PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY 1 15 absolute centre. There is nothing outside of the child that is of such vast importance as to make it worth while that his life shall be subordinate to that thing. It is what is within him that we need to serve, what he is capable of being indi- vidually and socially, that is to guide us. With this conviction, the selection of material as objects of exercise and interest becomes much easier. We have an anchor, and need not be forever drifting. We must see that the school life covers perhaps the most important part of the child's life. Every day must be filled with fruitful activity. We may draw on all the materials about us and arrange them as best we can, keeping one eye on those subjective claims of which I have spoken, and the other upon the objective phases of the course of study. The greatest stumbling-block in the way of sound education, to-day, is the rather arbitrary require- ments for college to which we have to submit. These requirements are opposed to those higher philosophical and humanitarian aims which I have tried in this, and in a former lecture, to point out. Some colleges set up quantitative standards and compel teachers in secondary, and under present Il6 PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY tendencies in the grammar schools, to meet exac- tions which are, to a certain extent, at least, arti- ficial and unhealthy. The evils connected with this condition are vastly greater where girls come under its influence. Those aims in life which should be the centre of their interest and thought, and to which other things should be subordinate, are ignored, and girls are permitted to take college courses which were made for men, to the detri- ment of health and other higher interests of life. I will not take time to recapitulate to any ex- tent. The general conclusion to be reached is that nine-tenths of the so-called courses of study had better be destroyed and a few large, inspiring aims and points of direction put in their place. Every teacher needs to know the general scope of the work to be undertaken, but having this, he should have large freedom in working out the problems of the school. I have emphasized the claims of physical, motor, and sense training, feeling sure that the time has come when a radical change should be made in the curriculum in favor of these forms of education. They are to be introduced gradually and with care, but are no longer to be treated as "fads." What has been regarded as PHASES OF THE COURSE OF STUDY II7 the usual studies are to be enriched and ennobled by broader treatment, which calls into play all the powers of the mind and body. Looking at the course of study itself, some of the characteristics which have been emphasized ought to be present If they are kept in mind when a course of study is constructed or when lessons are given, there will be opportunity for that larger life and interest and enthusiasm which give permanent value to all edu- cational work, whether of the school or the home, and to that unconscious training which comes from the community in which we dwell EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS It is difficult for those who are about to enter the field of teaching to realize how extraordinary are the advantages and how vast are the possi- bilities that confront them. Remarkable social changes took place between the close of the Revo- lutionary War and the middle of this century. What has happened since 1850 in our industrial, social, and political life is still more wonderful. It has been distinctly, the world over, a period of invention and industrial development; but in this country particularly, we have seen such rapid applications of inventive and creative genius to every form of industrial life, and such combinations of capital and labor in the solving of great prob- lems, that the eye of the world has been directed toward us, and we may justly boast of having accomplished more in a given time than any peo- ple has ever been able to do. Some persons have chosen to denominate it as a materialistic age, but 121 122 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS as a generalization we can hardly say that that does justice to the situation. The means of pro- moting popular intelligence through the schools and institutions of learning have been amplified and improved, so that it would seem that education is within the reach of every citizen, and the most striking phases of progress have been in line of those things which tend to popular enlightenment and the general elevation of the masses, as the telephone, the daily newspaper, the cheapening of books and magazines, the multiplication of public libraries, more progressive and rational teaching from the pulpit and the lecture platform, and a great variety of effort under the head of social reform. Hence, it comes to pass that those who are going out into the field of education have only to adjust themselves in a cooperative way to many other forces that are moving forward toward the intellectual and moral betterment of the people. They do not need to stand alone ; they are not called upon in any sense to lead a crusade ; it is unwise for them to pose as reformers. The need of liberal views and broad treatment of educational questions in this country is generally conceded. The people themselves know that our very safety EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1 23 and perpetuity rest upon that kind of citizenship that is the product of good schools. But it is highly necessary that those who hope in any sense to be leaders in education should be deeply con- scious of the genius of our times, and of the gen- eral condition of educational progress throughout this country and in other countries. They should not forget for a moment that the rate of speed with which anything is accomplished to-day is vastly greater than it was fifty years ago. The merchant, sitting in his office with a long-distance telephone on one side, and a stenographer on the other, can accomplish more business in two hours than the same man could perform fifty years ago in two weeks. During those two hours he may communicate with agents in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and may place orders in London, Paris, and Berlin. He has finished his day's work by two o'clock, and by four is riding in the park with his wife and children. The laboring man concludes his day's work at five o'clock, and has several hours for self-improvement or recreation. Were we to run through the whole catalogue of workers in the industrial hive, we should find that most of them have far less drudgery and shorter 124 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS hours than formerly. They can sympathize with the Irishman who, soon after his arrival in this country, wrote home that "all he had to do was to carry the bricks to the top of the house and the other men did all the work." It has been noticeable that labor reform has based its claim for shorter hours and more freedom, not upon the exactions of labor itself, but upon the claims of self-improvement and home life. The dream of Edward Bellamy in his " Looking Backward " is not likely to be soon realized, but there is no gain- saying the fact that through the closer organization of business and the concentration of labor into fewer hours, the masses have far greater oppor- tunity to accomplish good, or evil, for themselves than has hitherto been the case. This fact places more responsibility upon the educator. The youth of our time must be so trained in the use and appreciation of good books, they must be so inter- ested in the nobler problems of self-government, they must be so steeled against the dangers of bad habits and wasteful expenditure, that the sur- plus hours of those who work may be used to their own profit and to that of the community. This leads me to speak of another tendency in human EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 12$ society which is no less potent and clearly defined than progress. It is the complement of progress, and is known under the general head of degenera- tion. This is not a fitting time to go deeply into the nature of this force which we know, intuitively, is ever acting, in the human organism, as well as in the social body. The germs of decay and of death are undoubtedly present everywhere, and the prudent and discriminating historian, in tracing the upward rise of nations, does not fail to point out the slight and almost unperceived evidences of this insidious agent. Wherever, in the life of peoples or of individuals, great wealth or power has been acquired, some form of degeneration has begun its fateful work; so, while urging the neces- sity of being alive to the possibilities of progress, we are not to be unmindful of the dangers that threaten us, and here, I believe, is to be found one of the greatest offices of popular education, and that is its corrective function. If in our schools we had simply to train children of the middle classes who are reared in an atmosphere of indus- trial sobriety and thrift, and who, in their physical and moral temperament, are normal and healthy, our work would be comparatively easy; but we 126 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS have to deal, on the one hand, with the children of luxury and extravagance, whose parents have for- gotten what the principles and elements of sound and virtuous character are, and permit their chil- dren to run riot at home, and send them to school to be a menace to good order and earnest endeavor. On the other hand, we have that large number of youth who, either by reason of bad heredity or uncivilized environment, give early evidence of those tendencies that lead to vice and criminality. It is self-evident that the modern school curriculum must have in it such rigorous physical and manual training, such subordination of hand and mind to the power of the will, and such cultivation in the domestic and home arts as shall be at once a remedy for the degenerating tendencies to which allusion has been made, and a corrective for those dispositions to crime which unfortunately inhere in the nature of so many of our youth. What has already been said may serve as an in- troduction to the second thought, viz. that the pedagogy of the future is to take its point of di- rection more from sociology than psychology. This may be regarded as a governing principle and as focussing much that has already been said. The EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 12/ educated man is better than the so-called self-made man, although he generally attracts less attention. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in speaking of a house which an Irishman built on the marsh in Cambridge- port, said it was evidently a good house and satis- fied very well the needs of the man who built it; more than that, because he did it all himself, the house attracted more attention than the fine blocks just beyond which were constructed in the ordinary way. But the self-made man as an efficient mem- ber of society is becoming more and more a curi- osity. The more self-made he is, the less is he in touch with the social organism, and the less able is he to combine with his fellow-men in rendering service in the community. The truly educated man, on the other hand, is distinctly different; first, he has such knowledge as enables him to interpret his social environment; second, he knows himself, which has been long recognized as one of the highest forms of knowledge ; third, he is at home in his relation to those institutions which are the mile-posts of our civilization and which embody the social progress of the world. These three achievements — the knowledge of one's social environment, the sense of individual freedom and responsibility, and a con- 128 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS sciousness of relationship to human institutions — suggest the aims which should dominate modern education. These aims and ideals should take pre- cedence of everything. They never will conflict with the teachings of psychology. On the other hand, true psychology will ever justify them and will illumine the path which the educator must pursue in order to realize them in his work. Sociology demands that the educator should see clearly what the needs of human society are, in fact, should see how human society needs to be reformed and rehabilitated so that all tendencies to decadence and weakness may be overcome. It also demands that the means used in the exercise of young minds should be matters of life, yes, of the present life. It is of little value to the child to read about flies, beetles, moths, and tadpoles that some one else has studied and found interest- ing. He must see these things as living beings, and know them as a part of the great world of nature, to which he himself is related. Ten years ago the science study in the schools of some of our most progressive towns consisted in reading from Hooker's " Child's Book of Nature." I sup- pose few superintendents of schools would be will- EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1 29 ing to acknowledge to-day that they favored and defended such study, but it is easy to condemn it and say that as nature study it was scarcely better than none at all. An equally grave mistake has been made in teaching history. Bundles of dry facts touching kings and queens and govern- ments have been crowded into the memory box of children until they were incapacitated for under- standing the daily transactions of our local town and state governments, and multitudes of children have passed out of the schools with little knowl- edge of the workings of our national organism, and hence with little patriotic pride. The most important volume of history of all is the history of to-day. One of our best newspapers is a good text-book of history; for it is a photographic repre- sentation of the world's work in the social, indus- trial, political, religious, and educational field. If, then, sociology is to control our educational policy, we shall endeavor first and last to give the child a consciousness of his place in the social community and a sense of dignity as a member of this par- ticular social order that we call the school. We find here a very simple rule for testing the educational aims that are employed. If we teach 130 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS Arithmetic, we may ask, " What connection do these problems establish between the child and actual life at the present time ? " " Are they teaching him something of actual occurrences in the railroad office, in the factory, in the bank, and in the gov- ernment office, as they go on from day to day?" If it is Geography, the question may be, " How can the child best get a true picture of those islands west of the continent of Europe to which so many of us trace our ancestry ? " " How can he follow intelligently a war like that between the young kingdom of Greece and the Turks, or the more recent one between the United States and Spain, and receive a baptism of fresh interest for the history of countries involved ? " Using the events of to-day, and our immediate environment, we may always picture and understand what is remote either in time or distance. The social claims of education bid us not be afraid of educational means that are practical and that tend to make men and women useful. Utility has no necessary conflict with education. Recently in visiting an excellent high school, I stepped into a room where no less than twenty students were learning stenography and typewriting. With the EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS I3I natural reluctance which we all feel in accepting as educational those things which are particularly useful, I at once inquired what else these young people were learning in the high school. The principal assured me that they were taking a three years' course which was strong in English studies, and which gave a good degree of the culture ele- ment. For such a yoking together of utility and culture there can only be the highest commenda- tion. The trade schools of the immediate future, which I believe will mark an important step in the growth of the manual training idea, will under- take to initiate boys and girls into the principles and processes involved in production. This kind of education will be accompanied by such courses in history, literature, science, and art as shall ele- vate and refine the whole nature, as shall dignify labor, and tend to reproduce what once existed in central Europe, — a race of artist artisans. There is every argument for encouraging this movement in education. To be sure, the old-fashioned trade school, which would try to make all the youth of the community brick-layers, shoemakers, or carpen- ters, is a thing of the past, but that broad, indus- trial laboratory which fills the gap now existing 132 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS between the technical school on the one hand and the art museum on the other, is likely to become a prominent factor in our civilization. Moreover, education best serves the progress of mankind when it emphasizes the improvement of the home with its interests and duties, and when it renders homage to vocation, for vocation performs two im- portant functions : first, it makes home possible by- bringing comfort and happiness to the family, and second, it makes it feasible for the individual man to render service to the community. So I say again, let us look to the social world around us for our guiding points in education, and let us not be afraid, while holding firmly to the humanities and those means that enrich and cultivate the mind, to add any or all of those utilities to our educa- tional courses that tend to elevate the vocation, ennoble and beautify the home, and permit every man to become a factor in the improvement of those conditions which determine human happiness. With these points well in mind, let us ask what shall be the general attitude of the educator toward educational progress.? Without going much into detail, I would suggest that we keep our minds open, ready to receive new truth from any source EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1 33 whatever. It is so easy for the teacher to imbibe prejudice and to become conceited of his own at- tainments and successes. Let us resist this ten- dency as being full of danger. Then again, it is so easy to allow our work to become mechanized, especially when we think we have nearly reached perfection. So many new discoveries are being made and the nature of mind is so subtle and full of possibilities, that the dictates of wisdom will prevent us from permitting our methods to crys- talize, I remember receiving a letter some years since from a man who desired a testimonial in con- nection with an application which he had made for another position. He wrote, " You are aware that I originated a system in . . . town which was somewhat different from that to be found else- where and I shall hope to introduce the same sys- tem if I am elected to this position." I wrote in reply that, notwithstanding my kindly feeling toward him personally, I should hesitate to recommend any one who had committed himself to any system, so called, or who prided himself upon having made such important discoveries. Not only should there be the open eye and freedom from undue pride, but a willingness to try experiments, a constant 134 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS desire to make new adjustments. Why should not education improve from day to day ? Visit the shops of our great railroads or the laboratories connected with some of our great textile factories. Here you will find scientific thought applied most assiduously in making a better and more economi- cal adjustment, and discovering new combinations of materials for the improvement of color or tex- ture. We are all reaping the benefit of invention and painstaking skill applied in the perfection of the bicycle. Can we think of putting less of care and thought and experiment into the culture of human souls than is applied in arranging and per- fecting the parts of this machine so as to make it better serve our use and convenience? The power of remembering what has been in the past is cherished as a valuable factor. I be- lieve the art of forgetting is no less desirable. Were we to get rid of those prepossessions which were engraved upon us through our early train- ing, many of us would be better teachers. Our method and our thought are apt to be a composite photograph of the thought and method of those who have had a hand in our education. A dan- ger signal should be raised at this point. EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1 35 With all our readiness to experiment, let us be- ware of patent devices which may be good for a day, but soon become dead like the foliage of last year. I remember the principal of a school who was ever devising some ingenious arrangement or method for conducting recitations. His ideas seemed to propagate with remarkable frequency, and his work in supervision consisted in making his teach- ers use these patent appliances. He was warned that his inventions in this respect would be Ukely to undermine his usefulness in the end, and the prophecy became true ; for he lost his position, and is now conducting a fifty-acre farm in New York State. There is a long line of investigation and experiment, which may be conducted under the general head of Child Study, which is sure to react favorably upon all who undertake it. The tendency to individualize, to separate children who are espe- cially defective by nature and to find for them some particular treatment, is an interesting line of effort. It has been said that we learn best how to treat the normal child by acquainting ourselves with the treat- ment which has been found successful in dealing with the abnormal. Thus we may well afford to go and study the methods employed in dealing 136 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS with the bHnd, the deaf and dumb, and the feeble- minded. The success attending the patient efforts used in educating Laura Bridgeman and Helen Keller throw a flood of light upon the problems of individual treatment which occur in every school. Another legitimate field for experiment is the improvement of physical conditions and the pro- vision for a more healthful life in the school and the home. There is no difference of opinion as to the importance of out-of-door educational experience, both for the purposes of nature study and physical training, and the material at hand in the way of games and athletic sports is ample ; but how to organize these means so that the largest possible number of pupils shall have the advantage of suita- ble play, and to so concentrate them that there is economy of time and labor, is a fruitful field for investigation. It has been suggested that, in a given school system, the pupils of the high school may be instructed in a great variety of games suitable for the playground, and that students thus instructed may be delegated to go and lead the games in the other schools, so that pupils of all grades may gradually be enlisted in a variety of healthful and enjoyable sports. I remember stand- EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1 37 ing with the head master of Rugby School in that famous Hbrary which still contains the furniture which was there when Dr. Arnold presided over the school, and looking out upon the beautiful Rugby Close, where five hundred boys were all actively engaged in cricket and other games. I have never seen any pleasanter picture, and it suggests the ideal for which we must work. A system which simply trains the athletes, or which overtrains those who really need but a minimum of training, while the great majority are merely spectators of the game, is at variance with just and democratic theories. To make universal the advantages of the playground will not only facili- tate educational work, but will improve the physique of coming generations. How best to incorporate aesthetic training into the schools is as yet somewhat unsettled. The educative value of music, poetry, painting, and sculpture, are only partially understood. If edu- cational leaders are not strenuous in this direction, there is little hope for the future. There is no community so poor that it cannot surround its chil- dren with some of those things that refine and ennoble. Science is excellent, but Art is even 138 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS greater, as it ministers to the spiritual sense and points the thought to the higher unity. How im- portant it is that teachers should drink deeply at the living fountains of literature and art, and keep themselves fresh and enthusiastic in their allegiance to these great sources of culture. Still another field for study with which the edu- cator should become acquainted is that occupied by the social reformer. The altruism so active at the present time partakes of the true educational spirit, and should be recognized by those who are forming individual traits, and so are establishing the character of community life. There is much to learn by visiting College settlements and those institutions supported by philanthropy which minister to the moral and intellectual needs of the unfortunate and needy. The public school is undoubtedly the great- est social force, but it must not become arrogant nor forget that many other forces also are at work which deserve respect, and which are worthy of being studied. It is to be lamented that the Church does not take that advanced position concerning edu- cation which is warranted by the nature of the case, but a different case of affairs will soon come to pass. It is noticeable that many of those who have EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1 39 died recently have made large public bequests. Few have given anything to churches, while nine- tenths of their legacies have been to institutions of learning. Let us look hopefully for that man who, at his death, will endow a primary school so that little children may be surrounded with things beautiful and interesting. Here then is our field ; to so commend the work of child nurture in all its vast meaning to people of wealth and character that, in time, vastly more will be done for education at the foundations where the masses are getting their lessons of life. Finally, a part of the great responsibility rest- ing upon the American people to properly educate its sons and daughters, must be assumed by those who aspire to be educational leaders. Public pride and generosity are on our side, and people are glad to respond if the appeal comes with ear- nestness and sincerity. Never before was money poured out so liberally for all grades of educa- tion. Never before were erected such splendid buildings for schools and colleges ; never before were so many men and women of university train- ing and culture attracted to the educational field ; never before have philanthropists and statesmen I40 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS reached out to the schools so confidently and in- voked their aid in the work of regenerating so- ciety. Even the Church is waking up, and it will soon be understood that Christianity can find no greater field than in vitalizing educational means and endeavors of whatever kind. At this important juncture, when so many obli- gations are laid upon the schools, there is the greatest need of cooperation. The school cannot stand alone. It is essentially an institution of the people and needs their constant support. Teachers and supervisors will invite the aid of all, and will welcome suggestion and criticism from whatever source it comes. If the nation which we love is to fulfil the high destiny which patriots and states- men have ever predicted for her, it must be be- cause those who consecrate themselves to the cause of education are alive to their opportunities, and train up a body of citizens that will be intelligent enough to stand for the right, whether in war or peace. The national flag upon the American school- house is significant of the confidence which the people place in popular education, and is indicative of the faith in patriotism born of education which is made free to all. THE RELATION OF EDUCATION TO VOCATION THE RELATION OF EDUCATION TO VOCATION The educational system of this country was built upon an exceedingly narrow foundation. The in- struction of the masses had made little headway in the mother country, and here the stream did not rise higher than its source. Furthermore, the life of the pioneer was not favorable to intellectual training. The necessity of providing, for himself and his own, food, clothing, and shelter made ex- acting demands upon his time and energies. Books were few, communication was slow ; and so the early settlers were often both isolated and illiterate. It should always be remembered, however, that life in a new country is intense. There are difficulties to be overcome, dangers to be met, and pressing wants to be supplied. Experience, under such con- ditions, is, in an important sense, education. Pio- neers were often not only poorly equipped with the means of comfort and convenience, but were 143 144 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION even wanting common tools and implements of labor. They had to be at one and the same time architect, builder, inventor, and mechanic. While the spinning-wheel and loom occupied one corner of the settler's cabin, the bench, the anvil, and the forge were likely to be seen in another corner. In the varied and interesting round of duties which followed each other in close succession through all seasons of the year, every member of the house- hold had his part to perform. There was little recreation or dissipation, and nothing of idleness ; but there were independence and freedom. As communities became large enough so that men could pursue special mechanical trades, it was per- mitted them to work as many hours as they pleased, and receive any rate of wages their abilities could command. So strong is the tendency of man to react upon his environment, to become disciplined in mind and character by the putting forth of energy and the overcoming of difficulties, and there is such educational potency in the diversified industrial life of which we were speaking, that we are never sur- prised to read of the peculiar intelligence and stam- ina that possessed our fathers. When we think of the problems they solved and of the victories TO VOCATION 145 they won; when we remember how they did their own thinking, without the aid of newspapers or books ; how they adapted means to end in the ac- complishment of great undertakings, — we are per- fectly sure that many of us who live in these days of so-called sweetness and light are but dwarfs, while they were giants. But, as I have before intimated, as far as schools were concerned, or the artificial means of educa- tion, our country in its younger days had little to offer. To read and write and reckon were accom- plishments useful in those days. These, therefore, constituted the school curriculum. Considered as mental training, what was obtained in the schools amounted to but little. Education, in its best sense, was acquired on the farm and in the shop, where the mind was ever alert and active, and where the trained hand was its obedient servant. Let me say, in passing, that the so-called higher education, engrafted here from the English uni- versities, was relatively as narrow as that of the common schools. We respect it as we do the com- mon school, not so much for what it 'was or for what it accomplished in the early days as for what it is now and for what it is likely to become in 146 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION the working out of our high destiny as a nation. While we often go back and draw important edu- cational lessons from the industrialism peculiar to pioneer days, we get few suggestions from the school and college of those times that are perti- nent to the new conditions under which we are now living. In order that we may understand how backward education has been in recognizing the social changes accomplished during the present century, and the pressing needs occasioned thereby, it is only neces- sary to recall what we were, how we lived, and how we transacted business one hundred years ago, and then to contemplate our country as we see it to-day, leading the world in almost every phase of industrial and commercial activity. Our develop- ment has been unprecedented, so that the world has stood and wondered. By a combination of favoring circumstances, our national domain was extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. All this vast territory has been rapidly settled, and its virgin soil has teemed with fabulous crops of food products. Farmers and mechanics of Europe have flocked thither until some nationalities are nearly as largely represented here as in the old country. TO VOCATION 147 In the meantime the age of machinery has been ushered in. While the West, with her cheaper methods of production, by means of the railroad was filling our markets with corn, wheat, and beef, enterprising men in New England were building mills and factories upon the banks of every river and mountain stream. The vast mineral resources of the country have been discovered and utilized. The railroad, the steamship, the telegraph, and the telephone have made us all neighbors, and have brought us within speaking distance of every part of the globe. Inventive genius has supplied every craft with labor-saving machines, thus disbarring many forms of labor, and compelling many artisans and mechanics to seek new adaptations of their skill. Because of this revolution in our material affairs, many political and economic problems have arisen, in the settling of which our governmental ma- chinery has been strained to the utmost. Grave moral issues have tested our loyalty and manhood, and have cost us dearly in treasure and in blood. Now, it is not unusual for the optimistic observer of our national greatness and prosperity, wishing to find causes therefor, to say that it is largely 148 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION due to our excellent system of public education. There is a certain sense in which this is true. It is more true of the last twenty years of educa- tional effort than of what preceded. As one who believes that teaching and other educational forces constitute the most generic, the most potent, and the most essential thing in the world; as one who believes that our Lord and Master was essentially a teacher, and not a preacher, that he used edu- cational methods in all his work, and gave the stamp of his divine approval to those methods, and that the church of the future is going to use such methods more and more, — I am not the one to disparage or minimize the importance of the work performed by American schools in the past in moralizing, in disciplining, and in instructing the young. I do say, however, that in a certain im- portant sense our nation has become great and influential, not by reason of public education or of college education, but in spite of it. Or, putting it otherwise, there is a sense in which our country has failed of her opportunity, and is behind the spirit of the present age, because our educational machinery from top to bottom has been old-fash- ioned, poorly constructed, and poorly organized, TO VOCATION 149 and has been able to go only at such a low rate of speed that there has always been too little of the finished product and far too much of the raw material. As I review the history of the past fifty years, I can think of no form of activity that has been so slow in adapting itself to new conditions as has teaching. Go into a typical American house, whether in city or country, and you see something quite different from what was there half a century ago. The food, the dress, the furniture, are quite changed. You will see books and newspapers, and possibly works of art and musical instruments. Go into a modern hospital, and see the perfect ap- pointments for treating the sick and the injured. Follow the physician, and observe that his methods are diametrically opposed to those in vogue a gen- eration ago. Notice the newer conception of what crime is and how it is to be cured or prevented. Consider what the State and the municipality do for public health, safety, and convenience. Surely, the world has moved rapidly ; and with it have gone philanthropy and civic progress. Even the- ology and the administration of justice are en- deavoring to keep up with the procession. But, as compared with some of those things mentioned I50 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION above, education has been slow, inexcusably slow. Many and many a child in New England is sent to the same little dingy schoolhouse where his grandfather went before him, sits upon the same hard seats, stares at the same bare and dingy walls, and in too many instances, I regret to say, recites what he has committed to memory from a book much of which means little to him and the learning of which can do him but little good. This is doubtless an extreme picture, but I am assured by persons holding official positions that it is true to fact. Between this condition of things and the best types of the modern schools found in our large towns and cities there are all grades of mediocrity and excellence. But the sig- nificant fact is the tenacity with which we have clung to the methods of the pioneer school. It cannot be denied that the three " R's " have reigned supreme until within recent years. To be sure, the course of study was gradually broadened by the introduction of geography and here and there a little history and science. The methods pursued, however, were so abstract and literary that the child was not trained to observe, to appre- ciate, or to reason. Some educational theories and TO VOCATION 151 some that were even startling, from such thinkers as John Locke, Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel, had been handed down to us ; but we were too much occupied in organizing the rapidly increasing masses of children in our towns and cities into so-called graded schools to devote much time to the finer problems of nurture and instruction. The kindergarten was on exhibition here and there as a curiosity ; but teachers smiled at it, and few parents wanted it, inasmuch as it did not teach the children to read and cipher. The wonderful possibilities of childhood as regards the development of faculty and the accumulation of the elements of all knowledge as food for the nurture and enrichment of the immortal mind, these were a sealed book to most people; and, while they were apprehended and preached by certain prophets, they made little headway until recently in reforming actual practice. But this is not all. Not only in a general sense have we been content to tithe mint, anise, and cumin while neglecting the weighter matters of the law, but we have failed in arranging our educational courses to recognize one of the most vital factors in any civilized society ; namely, Voca- 152 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION tion. As the home is the unit and the very soul of our social order, as everything that is best and most effective in forming habits and opinions and establishing character centres there, and as it is the birthplace and seat of those pure affections and high aspirations that sweeten and ennoble our mortal life, so, it must be conceded, vocation is its chief corner-stone ; or to use a stronger and a bet- ter figure, it is its very heart's blood. Vocation is a good deal more than the opposite of idleness. It is labor dedicated to the highest purposes ; to wit, the cherishing of the family and the home. Abraham leading his flocks over the rich pastures of Mesopotamia, Plato teaching in the groves of Athens, Michel Angelo creating those immortal frescoes in Rome, and Edison toiling with miracu- lous success in his laboratory are all great in honor and esteem, because, faithful in their vocation, they accomplished great deeds. No less worthy of re- spect is the honest farmer or mechanic of the pres- ent day, the fruits of whose labor minister to the support of a well-ordered home and insure happi- ness to wife and children. Whether or not labor was intended to be a curse, as some have insisted on claiming, certain it is that it becomes the great- TO VOCATION 153 est blessing only when it operates under the hallow- ing influence of domestic love. As vocation is the chief support of the home and tends to develop individual character and manhood, so it clearly underlies the welfare and prosperity of the nation. When nations are at war, there is al- ways distress, because men are prevented from pursuing their ordinary vocations. We see in Cuba to-day a terrible instance of industrial prostration ; suffering and death are everywhere. When for any reason there is depression in business and the great wheels of industry are silent, so that men are thrown back upon themselves with no chance to earn their accustomed wage, then a shadow is over the entire community. I read to-day that by a single failure in New York more than two thou- sand people are suddenly deprived of the privilege of pursuing their vocation. Under present con- ditions few of them will easily find lucrative em- ployment. What this means of trial, anxiety, and deprivation for fathers, mothers, and children, is only a chapter in that unwritten tragedy that is being enacted all about us. When such things happen, not only the community becomes poorer, but there is less of patriotism and faith in the 154 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION hearts of the citizens. The best Christian is not a hungry one, and the truest patriot is not he who is waiting for a chance to toil. Mr. W. H. Mallock, of England, in his recent work on " Labor and Popu- lar Welfare," emphasizes this idea as follows : " Give a man comfort in even the humblest cottage, and the glow of patriotism may, and probably will, give an added warmth to that which shines upon him from his fireside. But if his children are crying for food, and he is shivering by a cold chimney, he will not find much to excite him in the knowl- edge that we govern India. Thus, from whatever point of view we regard the matter, the welfare of the home, as secured by a sufficient income, is seen to be at once the test and the end of Govern- ment; and it ceases to be the end of patriotism only when it becomes the foundation of it." Considering, then, the great importance of voca- tion in determining the quality of manhood and citizenship, the question, "What ought education to do in this connection ?" is certainly a pressing one. It becomes especially so when we consider the social and industrial changes during the past fifty years, to which I have already alluded. Time will permit me only to enumerate in a most cursory TO VOCATION 155 way a few points in which we are especially deficient. There is little or nothing in our school curriculum respecting the theory of the mutual interdependence of capital and labor. Our high schools, which in- clude on an average about five per cent of our boys and girls, are some of them devoting a frac- tion of time to the subject of economics. But even there, so far as I know, there is nothing of indus- trial history, and no study of the causes that have led to the present industrial unrest. And in our common schools, where the other ninety- five per cent of our children attend, there has been no attempt to open their minds to truths of this sort. Had one-half of the energy and legislation that has been spent in vainly seeking to have scientific temperance taught in our schools been applied in teaching vocation in its industrial, social, and political bearings, a far greater good would, in my opinion, have been accomplished. Our schools may not be able to prevent strikes ; but the school and the Church may unite in such a wholesome ex- position of the Golden Rule and that greatest of commandments, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," as will give both employer and employed new standards for the settlement of their difficul- 156 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION ties. The ideal of industrial cooperation, which has been successfully reached in some instances, will not become a universal fact until it is developed by a process of education. We hear about the desirability of recovering the lost arts of Egypt, of India, of China and Japan traces of which are brought to light by the an- tiquarian. If we examine the industrialism of from two to four hundred years ago as it existed in Eng- land, Belgium, and Germany, we find much that might be catalogued with the lost arts. A boy was permitted to be an apprentice to a respectable trade, and afterward to take his place in society as a thrifty, enterprising mechanic with a good degree of independence. He was often at the same time the producer and the merchant of his wares. He was not tied down to a dead level of opportunity, as is done by the modern trades-union. If he pos- sessed artistic skill, he could add beauty to utility in such a way as to impart high value to his prod- uct. He had every incentive to make common utensils as beautiful as possible. Hence those artist artisans of the earlier centuries, for the spirit in which they wrought and the wondrous charm of their execution, will ever be famous. Go to Nurem- TO VOCATION 157 berg, and behold those marvellous fountains, monu- ments, and buildings, and see everywhere the touch of the artist's hand, who, "being dead, yet speaketh," and think what the city must have been when to all this beauty of form there was added the color- ing of such artists as Albert Diirer and his remark- able school. There were trade organizations in those days; but how different from those of the present ! The ancient guilds existed in order that craftsmen might help each other. The sick were visited. When feasts were held, wine and food were sent to those absent. The poor were relieved, and funerals were taken care of by the brethren. In Charles Reade's " The Cloister and the Hearth," we find a charming picture of the life and homes of craftsmen in the German cities. Says Gerade, writing to his sweetheart : " The workmen of all the guilds are so kind and brotherly to one another and to me. Here, methinks, I have found the true German mind, loyal, frank, and kindly." Vocation then held something of honor and dig- nity. Skilful craftsmen were proud to be known by their trade ; and it is no accident that a large number of our English surnames tell us what crafts our fathers pursued. Now, I submit that we can- 158 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION not claim too much for our public schools until they aim to bring back to the consciousness of our youth a sense of the dignity of labor, of whatever sort, and the brotherhood and mutual dependence of men in all their industrial relations. Another respect in which the schools have been backward has been in failing to recognize the scien- tific tendencies of the age. The Greek culture and the humanities, which have been the backbone of our higher education, have been a sort of saving grace in our American life during a period that was necessarily formative and materialistic. The lower schools, also, reflecting this literary idea, gave a training which, though narrow and insufficient, led to good habits. But with the development of machinery have come numberless applications of science in the line of physics, mechanics, and chemistry. Every factory is in a certain sense a laboratory, where experiments are continually made calling for some knowledge, at least, of scientific ideas. The call for persons trained to do this work has been loud and long, and it is surprising to think how few years have passed since Yale and Harvard provided laboratories for individual work. It is equally strange that in the common schools the TO VOCATION 159 provision made for science teaching is very meagre. I know of but one grammar school in New England that has adequate accommodations for teaching chemistry and physics. Now, all this bears very directly upon the point at issue. To fill respectably the new vocations, men and women need scientific ideas and scientific habits of mind, which only the schools can give. Had it not been for the higher technical schools and the educated workmen who have come to us from Europe, our industries would have fared badly. Still another deficiency was revealed to us in the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, a fact too familiar to need repetition. The result of that eye-opening event has been the movement for manual training. While many schoolmasters have been questioning and deliberating, the pressure from without has been so great for something better and broader that encouraging progress has been made in plac- ing the manual and domestic arts upon an equal footing with book studies. While many high schools have been equipped with manual training courses, efficient kindergartens have fully demonstrated the educational value of hand-work for young children. The process of leavening is going on in our gram- l60 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION mar schools ; and it is safe to say that within a reasonable time the elements of needlework, cookery, and the use of wood-working tools will be incor- porated in all our larger schools. Industrial draw- ing has long since ceased to be a novelty, and no one questions its value. All this is being done with an eye to the broad cultivation of the powers, with no attempt to teach special trades. At the same time we should be bUnd if we did not see that this new education, in which the brain and hand are trained together, will have an important bearing upon the choice of a vocation and success therein. At least it may be said that the manual training idea is destined to serve as a connecting hnk between the abstract and the concrete, between the world of thought and the world of action. It furnishes a revelation of what real education may do in arous- ing, interesting, and holding the energies of the average child. If applied to those mentally weak or morally deficient, its effects are still more strik- ing. The teacher, the missionary, and the re- former have found a new weapon ; and manual labor is sure to have a large place in all future educational and social work. TO VOCATION l6l But this is not enough. Its results, while ex- cellent in a general way, do not bear with suffi- cient directness upon vocation. Even if a boy acquires considerable skill in the use of wood- working tools, carpentry is only one of a hundred trades ; and, while through manual training the boy's aptitudes are made apparent, and his mind is turned to some particular craft, when he attempts to find his place in the labor market, he is com- paratively helpless. There is no open door to the position he desires to obtain. The temptations to become a clerk or a salesman to an ambitious American youth are very strong. This leads me perhaps to the most serious count of all against our educational system, that it does not provide such trade instruction as enables the grammar-school graduate to enter at once upon the pursuit of a handicraft. I need not enlarge upon the great and pressing need of trade schools. Social changes have brought the bulk of our popu- lation into cities, where every idle and shiftless member of the community is a menace to the pub- lic peace and welfare. It is indeed pitiful to see our American young men pleading for the oppor- tunity to work, and yet failing to find employment 1 62 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION because their hands are untrained. Not only in the city, but in the country also, there is need of special training. The hard times that our New England farmers are undergoing are not due en- tirely to the tariff, and certainly not to the lack of silver dollars. The soil has become impover- ished, and needs scientific treatment in order to be made to produce bountifully. Farmers in the East can no longer raise corn and wheat at a profit; but, if skilled in the arts of horticulture and if versed in agricultural chemistry, they may find in their own local markets an abundant re- turn for their labors. Why should not agricultural chemistry be taught in our normal schools .'' Why should not special schools for young farmers be established to foster our great national industry? Something has been done by private munificence and industrial corporations in planting trade schools. But the time has come when the State must meet this issue promptly and generously if we are to keep pace with the nations of Europe. I have referred to the ancient guilds of Europe. It is an interesting fact that some of the old so- cieties of London, which still preserve their organi- zation and continue their annual banquets, have TO VOCATION 163 begun to apply their accumulated wealth to the founding and support of trade schools. Heaven grant that some of the labor unions of this country- may be led to dedicate a portion of their energies and means to the advancement of this cause ! In all attempts to develop a system of trade instruction one principle should be the dominant motive and guide ; and that is, to emphasize the dignity of vocation, and to elevate and bless the American home. One objection is quite sure to be raised, and I should not be surprised if it were to come from craftsmen themselves, whose boys and girls are sure to be benefited by this move- ment; and that is the danger of the overstimu- lation of industry, of too many craftsmen, and of overproduction. There is an effective answer to that argument in the truth that, while there may be overproduction in those things that provide for the bare physical wants of mankind, as food, cloth- ing, and shelter, there has never been nor ever will be overproduction in those finer aesthetic products of handiwork that satisfy the spiritual wants of mankind. Works of art, whether in statuary or in painting, in music or literature, can- not glut the market. Human needs in respect 164 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION to those things that deUght the eye, kindle the emotions, and feed the soul, are infinite. And, when I plead for trade schools, I want to have the art idea predominate. The outside of the house is well enough. Let us provide furnishings for the inner chambers of the soul. Let the future American artisan have that generous feeling, that deep insight, and that delicate artistic touch that shall lift our common life farther and farther away from what is rude and common and bar- baric. Did time permit, I would speak of hopeful indi- cations as seen in the tendencies of common- school education at the present time. Antipater demanded fifty children as hostages from the Spartans. They offered him in their stead a hundred men of distinction. Jean Paul Richter, referring to this in the first chapter of his " Levana," says that "ordinary educators precisely reverse the offering." I am glad that this is not true to-day. Teachers and mothers are coming to know that the possibilities of a child for a good and useful life are largely wrapped up in his earli- est years. The enriching and broadening of the school Hfe, as is now being done, the introduction TO VOCATION 165 of science, of literature, of art, music, and manual training into every part of the course, are long steps toward that vocational success and happiness which we desire to see. Let me briefly recapitulate : Education in this country has clung too closely to old ideas and conditions, and has not adapted itself easily to new situations. It has been too abstract and gen- eral, and has not recognized the place vocation holds in the life of the individual and the nation. I have shown that little or no attention has been given to the historical growth of industry or the mutual relations of labor and capital, and that our condition in respect to the independence and happiness of the laborer compares unfavorably with that of several centuries ago. Emphasis has been laid upon the inadequate teaching of sci- ence and the consequent failure to meet present demands. Manual training, while a most promising leaven to the old methods of education, has little immedi- ate connection with vocation. The trade school is demanded, and the support of the State is invoked. In the working-out of this problem purely merce- nary or materialistic motives should not prevail. 1 66 THE RELATION OF EDUCATION TO VOCATION Use and beauty should be wedded together, thus paying deference to the higher nature of man, and opening up an infinite opportunity for the exercise of creative and artistic genius. THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE SCHOOL THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE SCHOOL Two inquiries are pertinent to this discussion : First, What relation does the Church sustain to the institutional Ufe of the times ? Second, To what extent is her attitude toward the schools of the nation, public and private, consistent with the aims for which she exists ? It must be conceded that such institutions as the home, the civic state, and the school hold a place of preeminent importance in the general plan for the world's redemption which Christ came to announce. As we see them to-day in the more civilized portions of the world, refined and ennobled through the toil and struggle of centuries, they impress us as being the finest fruits of Christianity. They reflect in a very large degree the principles which Jesus came to teach and for which he lived, toiled, and suffered. These institutions, imperfect as yet, but beneficent, progressive, and 169 I/O THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH full of promise, are the witness of history to the triumph of Christianity. But some one will remind us that they existed in pagan times and even reached some degree of excellence ; that they, therefore, cannot be credited to Christianity. But it may be said in reply that God was in the world working for better things even before the Christian era, and that the natural laws which determine the upward movement of man were in full operation. And it is clear that wherever the redemptive love of Christ has had free course these forces have become something quite different from 'what they were in pagan times. They have been reformed and redeemed and filled with a new spirit and purpose, so that we have to-day Christian governments. Christian laws, the Christian home, a Christian literature, Christian art, and Christian education, as well as a Christian church. All these are the outcome of Christ's life in the world and the lives and labors of his followers. Men and women have come and gone, creeds and dogmas have been asserted and discarded, but these Christian institutions remain, and are ever growing and finding new adaptations to the needs of the world ; and it is TO THE SCHOOL I/I interesting to go back and see just what Christ taught, and observe to what extent his plea for human unselfishness and the brotherhood of man have come to permeate our institutions and our social life. We find that where once there was tyranny and oppression there is now equality and justice ; where there was horrible neglect of the young, the weak, the poor, the defective, and the suffering, there is now the most tender care. Not only are streams of charity ever flowing from Christian homes and Christian hearts, but there is the most thoroughgoing and legally established provision by the state or municipality for those who are unfortunate either in mind, body, or estate. Is an institution dedicated to the alleviat- ing and curing of disease any less a Christian institution because it exists under the laws of the commonwealth and is supported by taxation than one sustained by voluntary contributions .'' I sus- pect that we are not inclined to think of our penal institutions as embodying some part of the Chris- tian sentiment and faith of the age ; but if you will visit one of our great reformatories and note what generous provision is made for the physical, moral, yes, and the spiritual welfare of its inmates. 1/2 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH you will recognize not only the very highest ex- pression of human justice and human sympathy, but the operation of a regime that is distinctly Christian. The few Americans who went, a few years since, to attend the International Prison Congress in St. Petersburg, were astonished to find in that city on the banks of the Neva, a new prison which in its hygienic arrangements and its facilities for the humane and considerate treatment of prisoners was equal to anything in the world. After all the hard things that had been said about Russia, it was refreshing to know' this ; but still more en- couraging was it to think that the epoch-making and apostolic crusades of Howard, at the begin- ning of the century, in behalf of the jails and prisons of England have borne such glorious fruit, so that in every Christian land, even the lowest criminal is not given over to despair and gloom, but, in kind treatment, good books, and religious ministration, he feels the same touch which, nineteen hundred years ago, cured the leper, and hears the same voice that spoke peace and comfort to the dying thief. A few weeks ago I visited in the city of Colum- TO THE SCHOOL 1 73 bus an institution for feeble-minded children. Here more than thirteen hundred young people are given a good home, and are trained and edu- cated as far as their feeble intellectual powers will permit. It is a state institution, and is free to all who need its advantages. The director, who has become eminent in his field, has devoted himself for thirty-five years with consecrated en- thusiasm to this work. During this time, although dealing constantly with the most unlikely and discouraging specimens of young humanity, he has not struck a single blow. He and his corps of assistants are most assiduous. All that science and skill can do in helping and saving those afflicted with mental and moral weakness of the most repellent sort has been done. Time forbids more than the mention of the unwearied patience and fidelity of the teachers, the dull and un- ending repetition of the simplest mechanical acts needed to secure the slightest response in move- ment or rhythm ; the marvellous results obtained by using music as a tonic, a result which is to be seen in the orchestra of fifty young people, the older inmates of the place, who render classic selections with much precision and feeUng. One 1/4 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH cannot witness all this without recalling the mem- orable utterance, ** Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." An infirmary in another city, where the poor whose sight and hearing is defective or diseased may receive treatment free of cost, was recently inspected. I can only mention one circumstance to indicate the spirit of the place. Upon remark- ing to one of the physicians that the institution impressed me as epitomizing and realizing the very thesis of Christianity, he replied by citing an incident that had recently occurred. A little child was brought to the infirmary whose eyes were affected by a terrible and infectious disease. The nurse who was assigned to this case, by the most unremitting care, saved the child with restored sight, but in doing so became herself in- fected, and lost the sight of one eye. Such fidel- ity, such vicarious endurance of suffering, needs no comment; but we are led to believe that the good Samaritan was only a type of thousands who, under organized Christian philanthropy of the present time, are giving not only of their sub- stance, but themselves for the good of others. TO THE SCHOOL 1 75 These two institutions to which I have referred are simply examples of those that are doing their beneficent work in every state in the Union, yes, in every civilized land. They sound no trumpet before them, they have no creed or ritual, but every day of the 365 they do their work faithfully and quietly as if in imitation of the Master him- self. It is often the case that those who vote money in our legislatures, as well as those who found charities, are not enrolled in our churches and give little evidence of religious feeling ; but the work which they do and the institutions which they help to establish are none the less Christian because of this fact. Thus, the civic state in its various forms of activity, directed to the protection, the saving, and the healing of mankind, is most expressive of the triumph of Christ in the world and of the all-embracing scope of his salvation. That narrow conception which makes the saving of the individual soul and its future happiness the end of religion must give way, and is giving way to the larger thought which sees the world in all its forces and onward movements redeemed and uplifted. Moreover, that morbid pessimism which distrusts our government and which quakes 1/6 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH and fears because our national genius is assert- ing itself in reaching out to the poor and the op- pressed beyond the sea, is out of harmony with our faith in the progress of the Kingdom of God, and with the long-cherished beHef that America is to play an important part in that progress. And when we hear from the shores of the Baltic a message to the nations for universal peace, let us trust in its sincerity and be thankful, regarding it as a prophecy of the better time that is to come. Were we to analyze our laws, we should find that they are based upon Christian ideals and are the ripe fruits of the Christian era. No argument is needed here to prove that the home reflects the true state of any community as regards Christian culture and progress. It is vastly more ancient and more divine than the school, or even the Church. Of all institutions, we almost feel that it is an end in itself. When Christ said, " In my Father's house are many mansions," he struck a note which vibrates in every human heart. But it must be said in passing that the home is not actually what it is ideally ; in fact, it has, in respect to the training of children, suffered a certain decadence in modern times. While the functions of the school have been TO THE SCHOOL 1 77 greatly enlarged and enriched, parental responsi- bility seems to have been weakened, and the home care of children has either been attempted by proxy or, in the lower grades of society, has been neglected altogether. The school has come down to us from ancient times bringing the best that human experience and skill can devise to promote the nurture and educa- tion of the young. It is rooted in the far-distant past. Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and Rome, all had their schools more or less ideal and noble. Through the Middle Ages the school endured, for it had the fostering care of the Church, which in those days was the dominant power. The great religious re- formers, Luther, Erasmus, and Melanchthon, were all devotees and reformers of education. The growth of this country from a few feeble colonies to a mighty empire, able to dictate terms to what was once one of the mightiest of European nations, has developed a great school system providing instruction for more than sixteen millions of children. It is by far the most costly of all branches of our public service. It receives generous support because it is beheved to nourish and safeguard our freedom and our intelligence. 178 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH Briefly, what are some of the things that the school does which entitle it to be classed among the saving Christian forces of modern times ? It takes the children of the nation under its fostering care at a very early age and does for them many things which the home ought to do but does not do, and many other things which the home cannot do. Dur- ing those years of life when children are growing most rapidly, are most impressive and susceptible to every sort of influence, they spend by far the larger part of their waking hours in the school and are trained and instructed by teachers. Their whole life, physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, receives an impress which goes far to determine their usefulness and happiness. In enumerating the functions of the modern school it is easier to say what it is potentially than what it is actually. Many communities are educationally benighted and have not risen to a state of conscious appreciation of the place which the school should hold as a moral and civic force. What is needed everywhere is a higher intelligence concerning edu- cation both as a science and an art and its function in character-building. Now, the best part of human character is made TO THE SCHOOL 1 79 up of habits. The well-ordered life is, in the main, a succession of acts which are more or less habitual The modern school, because of its wide range of activities and the appeal which it makes to all sides of the child's nature, is more influential even than the home in estabHshing those habits which give poise and stability to character and which determine the economy and efficiency of living. Not only those activities which exercise and train the senses and the motor powers and give the mind capacity to apply itself successfully to various tasks, but in that larger field of feeling and emotion, in those things that make up the joy, the aspirations, and the hope of daily life, there is such continuous experi- ence in the midst of wholesome and helpful sur- roundings, that the child's powers operate along the lines of least resistance, and unconsciously he becomes fashioned after the standard and pattern which are set by the teacher and the school. No-/ where else are the claims of right and wrong so con-\ stantly and faithfully administered as in the school ; j nowhere else is there so strong an appeal for the ' best in motive, in effort, and in conduct. This appeal comes not only from the teacher, but from classmates, and from that social mind and purpose l80 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH which animate the place. This social community with its esprit de corps, in which there is daily prac- tice in obeying, in cooperating, and in helpful partici- pation, is, as has been often pointed out of late, much more than a preparation for life ; it is life itself, and life at a period when every influence counts at its greatest valuation. When we remember how funda- mental is a character founded on good habits to those higher processes of faith and love and con- stancy, we see how closely related is the work of the school to that of the Church. But the studies pursued are a no less potent factor in their relation to the higher life. Each is a single phase of truth and all truth is divine. The study of Nature in all her marvellous variety and beauty, and the discovery of those laws which govern all life and which reveal the harmony and the unity of the universe, awaken in the child an intense admiration and love for what God has made, and call forth sentiments of wonder and reverence. The pursuit of History is no less humanizing and impressive. It shows how goodness and error have ever been struggling for the mastery ; how men and women have fought and toiled to achieve TO THE SCHOOL l8l what we now enjoy of good government, good laws, and freedom. History reveals the supremacy of ideas and principles. The school gives possession of the instrumentali- ties of learning, whereby all literature is at the disposal of every youth, and through which he enters into the rich inheritance of the race ; and in the lives and experiences of those who have lived, he finds his larger and better self. Thus he is thrilled and inspired with ambition to go out and conquer, and die, if need be, for what is true and right. Those exact sciences which discipline the mind and accustom the youth to overcome difficulties, contribute no unimportant part to the higher pur- pose of education. Recently we have seen the introduction into the public schools of those manual and domestic arts which, on the one hand, acquaint the young with the elements of industry and give them the skilful use of eye and hand, and on the other hand, ele- vate the standard of home-keeping, and give that training in economy and thrift which is so much needed in our common life. These studies have an everyday practical mean- 1 82 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH ing. They also lend themselves to the highest ends of human existence. Whatever promotes health and cheerfulness, either through physi- cal training or motor training, expresses itself in the higher moral and spiritual welfare ; and the use of tools and the homely arts of cooking and housekeeping bear a direct relation to vocation, a temperate life, and a happy home. But our schools are becoming more and more the ally of religion, in the fact that Art and Music are permitted to make their donation of joy and beauty. In many instances the school becomes transfigured through the uplifting influence of song and the works of great masters when interpreted by the sympathetic and inspiring teacher. In every age there has been a close relation between what is harmonious and beautiful and the religious instinct. The Creator has willed that it should be so, and it is a long step toward the accomplish- ment of the world's redemption when, in our pub- lic schools, all those higher tastes and aptitudes with which we are endowed receive their proper attention and nurture. Those who clamor for a practical education live in a narrow world, see only half its beauty, and are wanting in the altruistic TO THE SCHOOL 183 sentiment. All studies and school exercises may be so perfunctory and mechanical as to permit little growth in the higher sentiments; on the other hand, they are capable of being pursued with a holy enthusiasm and with a consecrated zeal that is akin to the joy of heaven. The opening of the public schools to every form of culture means much for the civilization of com- ing years. We agree with President Hyde that "knowledge, as distinct from the mere forms and symbols of knowledge, must be imparted to the child if we are to expect his education to bear the civilizing fruits of wisdom, intelligence, virtue, and piety. To give him six or eight years of mental discipline in the symbols of knowledge without opening his mind and heart to the apprehension of the real substance of the natural and spiritual world, is simply to sharpen his wits and throw him back on sensual passions, on vile images and low ambitions, for the actual material to exercise his sharpened wits upon." The so-called educated crimi- nals are not, as a rule, those who have too much education, but rather those who have too little of the right kind. This leads me to speak of the teacher, for the 1 84 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH factors already mentioned depend largely upon him, and the character of the school as a moral force is determined by his quality of mind and heart. Who are these thousands of teachers who go every morning into the schoolrooms of the nation, and to whom you intrust your children ? They are, for the most part, Christian workers, members of the churches, often leaders in social and Christian work. I want to say also that they are mission- aries, often showing self-denial and devotion equal to that exhibited by those who go to teach in for- eign lands. They have to go into the very slums of our cities, and receive into their care large num- bers of children who come from homes that are not homes, who, by inheritance and training, have been tainted and corrupted in every possible way. If a child is poorly clad, is defective in sight or hearing, or is in any way a sufferer, he often re- ceives the most prompt and active sympathy; and in many cases, homes are visited and the aid of parents is solicited to the end that the child may be saved and helped. Any one who may take the time to visit these child-saving stations to be found in all our large cities will see here illustrated the very incarnation of Christian principle. He will TO THE SCHOOL 1 85 see many working in this vineyard to whom are applicable the Beatitudes of the Master; and I be- lieve if Christ himself were to come upon earth to-day there is no place where he would feel more at home and where he would see so much of his own work in progress as in our public schools. The injunction, " Suffer little children to come unto me," has been answered by the establishment of the kindergarten, which is a transition from the home to the school, and which initiates school life in gentle and loving nurture, and whose gospel is being heard by all teachers, so that the spirit of the kindergarten is manifesting itself in all schools and colleges. The notion so current to-day that the school has become secularized will, from what has been said, be seen to be a fallacy. It is true that in some sections of the country it has seemed wise to omit the so-called religious exercises, — the reading of Scripture and prayer ; a thing which is to be greatly regretted. It is most desirable that the young should begin the operations of the day with suitable acknowledgment of God, and that they should be accustomed to hear his Word; but, after all, the value of the school as a moralizing and 1 86 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH Christianizing force does not reside in such exer- cises, which at best occupy but a few moments, and which are not always conducted with the rev- erence which they deserve. It is rather in the atmosphere of conscientious, cheerful service, an atmosphere which is directed and inspired by the personality of the Christian teacher ; it is in the continual performance of duty; in the inspirations which come from the studies of the school ; in the practice of social virtue and self-denying application. Much of the literature now pursued in the schools is full of Christian teaching and presents the lofti- est ideals of Christian service. It is perhaps wise to leave the teaching of the Bible and the applica- tion of that teaching to personal faith to the Sun- day-school, which has been established for that purpose. The Sunday-school is a poor substitute for the religious training which was once given in the New England home, and in its general value as a means of promoting the higher life must be re- garded as secondary and inconsiderable when com- pared with the day school, — first, because of the small amount of time which is devoted to it, sec- ondly, because of its comparative inefficiency in respect to organization and teaching force. It is, TO THE SCHOOL 1 8/ however, a positive blessing in our communities, as it brings the Bible directly into the conscious- ness of the young, who, unfortunately, are seldom seen in the Church and do not always hear the Scripture read at home. Those who speak of the Sunday-school as the nursery of the Church and make no mention of the day school in that con- nection are lacking in a sense of perspective and in the true valuation of forces. Now I desire to inquire what relation the Church of to-day ought to sustain to this institutional life of which we have been speaking, using the term " church " in its broadest significance, including all who accept the teachings of Christianity. I need not recall the fact that, historically, the Church has been dominant in public affairs. During the Dark Ages, when governments were weaker than they are now, when the ideals and judgments of men were less sure and steadfast, ecclesiastic au- thority governed and guided. Its ambitions and purposes have sometimes been ignoble and wrong, its methods have been unjusc and cruel; neverthe- less, the historic Church has been a saving princi- ple in the life of mankind. It has been a light shining in darkness ; it has led the world out of 1 88 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH the wilderness of barbarism and ignorance into the promised land of light and liberty. The gradual separation of Church and State, while it has removed many occasions for strife and discord, and has given opportunity for a freer development of civic and social forces, has, at the same time, resulted unfortunately for the Church itself, considering the influence which it ought to exert in modern society. The natural tendency of all religions to separatism and exclusiveness has led the modern Church to withdraw itself, to give undue emphasis to its own organization, its ser- vices, and its communion. It has forgotten to a certain extent that it is a means and not an end; that it is an institution which has grown up because, through the cooperation of Christian people, the work of bringing the world to God can best be carried on. I do not forget how precious are the advantages which any church affords its own mem- bers by the way of inspiration, of comfort, and care. I would not overlook the fact that the Church, more than any other force, illustrates the bless- edness of giving, not only in the good it accom- plishes, but in its reaction upon those who share with others. But it is charged that it does not TO THE SCHOOL 1 89 hold a position of supreme leadership in the great social movements of the present time and that it does not always recognize these movements as the real, legitimate on-going of God's Kingdom. It may be said of the clergy, as of all who are identi- fied with our churches, that we find the greatest possible variety of opinion and expression concern- ing the work of other forces. Many of our pastors are prophets in pointing the way to those condi- tions in which human selfishness will be overcome and men and women will live, not for themselves alone, but for one another. It is apparent, how- ever, that the Church as a whole is so hopelessly divided into sects and is so largely employed in denominational enterprise that it cannot become a unifying principle in the civic and social move- ments of the day. In any community where it has been found desirable to secure the cooperation of good people for some worthy public end, it has been found necessary to form an organization in- dependently of the churches and free from any suspicion of denominational influence. There is another tendency of long standing and one which is coincident with the movement toward separation of civic and religious functions ; namely, 190 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH to draw a line between things secular and sacred. Some of the most beneficent institutions to which I have alluded which employ Christian people in the most self-sacrificing and devoted efforts for their fellow-men are classified as secular, and thus a gulf has come to be fixed between the Church and the world which is entirely artificial and which is a stumbling-block and a snare to multitudes that are seeking the higher life. The truth needs to be reiterated again and again that this is all God's world — " not a sparrow f alleth to the ground with- out his notice." His spirit is working not in a few hearts, but in all hearts. The Church cannot do its best work and cannot commend itself to the strongest minds until it allies itself earnestly with all those institutions which are doing a saving work and which are traceable to the advent of the Saviour. President Hyde utters a word in his work on " Practical Idealism " which emphasizes the view I desire to present. He says : " The world of re- ligion is not a world apart from those special worlds of sense and science, art and humanity, institutions and morals. It is rather the larger, deeper unity into which all these special aspects TO THE SCHOOL I9I inhere, to which they all stand related, from which they derive their meaning and rationality. The world of religion is the world of Absolute Reason, the Eternal Love, that includes all finite reality and embraces all finite persons." And this leads me to say that the Church and school are closely related because they are mutually dependent. In the words of another : " The Church aims at complete and universal regeneration, — com- plete for the individual, universal for humanity. The entire moral life and character of the indi- vidual is cultivated by the Church, since religion includes all aims, motives, and conduct." Thus, the school and all connected with it, especially its teachers, look to the Church for their ideals and inspiration. In the Church they find an anchorage. They have fellowship with those engaged in other forms of service. Faith and hope and courage are renewed through preaching, and week by week they go to their wearing routine with fresh- ness and confidence because of the larger hopes which religion inspires. And certainly the Church has no larger function than to bless and sweeten service of every sort that men and women are called upon to perform. Here it is that the 192 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH Church finds its sphere of action in the whole of human society, and, of all workers, none need more or estimate more highly the ministration of the Church and the sympathy of human hearts than the teachers of youth. On the other hand, as has already been intimated, the Church greatly needs the school. I doubt if it could exist without it. The Christian fathers of early times evidently thought so, because every church had its school, and in this country, which is called upon to receive and assimilate the un- trained and unregenerate of all lands, the Church would fare but poorly unless the school did its saving work. The very foundations of character upon which the Church has to build are laid in the school, and considering how the shaping of life depends upon early nurture, the school seems to stand first as an influential means of Christian training. Does it not seem, therefore, that two institutions which are interdependent and which are both work- ing for the same general end should be in the closest sympathy and should give mutual help and cooperation ? The school to-day is undoubtedly a mighty force for righteousness, and it would be TO THE SCHOOL 1 93 still more so if it could have the warm sympathy and helpful support of the best elements in the community. It certainly should be classified more distinctly than is now the case as among the instrumentalities of Christianity. Certainly children are our most precious inheritance. In them are centred our hopes as parents and as citizens and as those anxious for Christian progress in the com- munity. If the atmosphere of the school is not Christian and the influences which surround those who attend them are not elevating and ennobling, there is cause for great anxiety. A book entitled "The City Wilderness" has just appeared, written by a group of men who have lived for several years in a settlement house at the South End in Boston. They have made a most careful study of the social life of that neighborhood. They have scrutinized most care- fully all the forces that make for righteousness as well as those that are hostile and evil. One of the writers, who is a clergyman by profession, says emphatically that of all forces at work to uplift and Christianize the people of that region, the public schools stand first. He says, further- more, that the schools receive no direct recognition o 194 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH by the churches. This may be an extreme case, but it points to a general condition. About a year ago a clergyman in Boston, whose attention was called to this fact, gave the matter immediate attention, and to his surprise found that there were eighty teachers enrolled as members of his church. He very soon devoted one entire Sunday to the subject of the public schools, and during the week following united with his church in giv- ing a reception to those eighty teachers, making it an occasion of great pleasure and encouragement to them. There are two propositions which seem to em- body what I have tried to suggest : first, the sanctity of institutions, and second, the unity of all Christian work. If the Church is to avoid that separatism which will lead to its ultimate decline and loss of influence, it must plant its banners in the world and must unite more and more with other forces that are winning victories for God and humanity. Is it possible that a certain striving for denomi- national success and supremacy in our various communities has led to an indisposition to com- bine or cooperate which almost prevents the carry- TO THE SCHOOL 1 95 ing out of plans for social and constructive work in an economical and forceful way ? It is sugges- tive, if not pathetic, to observe the attitude of the several religious societies which are under the con- trol of one religious body, some five or six of which societies have their offices in one building in Boston. Those who have heard the various causes presented by the agents of these societies will easily recall the fact that they seldom make any allusion to the work which is being done by other societies, to say nothing of the efforts put forth by other forces. A few months ago I lis- tened to a representative of one of these societies who most interestingly and with great enthusiasm spoke of the work that had been accomplished through its instrumentality in two or three New England communities which were denominated as be- ing " almost Godless," and where a wonderful refor- mation was accomplished both for young and old. Now any sane and honest person knows that there is no such thing as a Godless community in New England, and I think one would hesitate a little to denominate any portion of God's world as abso- lutely Godless. But to say that any portion of New England is without several strong and ear- 196 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH nest influences at work for the enlightenment and Christianizing of the people, and without, here and there, sincere and faithful followers of the truth, implies a superficial mind and a lack of confidence in Divine oversight. This is not a proper time to suggest how these societies might be reorganized in the interest of economy and efficiency, not to say of candor and sincerity ; but it is important to see that the Church, as an organization, split up as it is into denominational camps, each of which in turn is subdivided into competitive forces domi- nated more or less by ambition, can hardly be expected to take the highest place of leadership in the great regenerative movements of our time. Said the Master, " I came that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly." There is no institution that better fulfils what is impHed in this definition of Christ's purpose than the public schools of America. They have many faults and are capable of being far more potent than they have been if they may but have the watchful care, the sincere sympathy, the active cooperation, and the faithful oversight of wise and cultured people. Here, then, we have two great Christian institu- TO THE SCHOOL 1 97 tions, both engaged in training, uplifting, and sav- ing those who come under their influence. Their work lies along different lines, but their general aim is the same. They are mutually dependent and need the aid and support of each other. How can they best render this assistance .-' In the first place, there should be a clear recognition on the part of each of what the other is attempting and accomplishing. Many times in the past in differ- ent portions of the country, the Church has stood for the schools when they have been attacked, and words spoken from the pulpit have been influen- tial in their defence. Moreover, teachers should ever be loyal to all that the Church stands for, and all instruction given in the schools should be reverent in tone and not lacking in moral and spiritual quality. It is not enough that the Church should be friendly to the schools, but it is neces- sary that teachers, parents, and pupils should know that there is this friendliness and that the Church is sympathetically watchful and observant in all that is done in the name of education. This will, in itself, give a new impulse to teaching ; a deeper earnestness and a truer consecration will animate the school and make it more truly a Christian 198 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE SCHOOL force. Institutions, as well as individuals, grow and become strong according as they ally them- selves with other forces and cordially unite in doing any work that may lead to the betterment of mankind. While the Church as an organization cannot wisely attempt to interfere in school management, it may be sympathetic, and may voice that broad and enlightened conception of education that sees in it great possibilities for redemption and achieve- ment. And the people of God in their individual capacity should never forget their responsibility toward Christian education. As parents, as citi- zens, and as persons of faith, they should cooper- ate so that every teacher in the land may thank God and take courage. EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME The relation of education to crime has usually- been considered on far too narrow lines. The at- tempt has been made over and over again to prove that ordinary school instruction is a direct specific for crime; that the illiterate are largely criminals, while the intelligent are law-abiding and virtuous. It has not been difficult, of course, to overthrow these arguments ; for the same statistics upon which they were based, by a different manipulation, have been made to do duty in destroying them. More than this, in much of the discussion of this sort there is wanting any adequate recognition of the real essence of crime or the almost purely ijitellec- tual character of education as it has been carried on in the past. It has been forgotten that criminal aptitudes, like tendencies to disease or insanity, are largely physiological, and have tainted the blood and re- acted upon the nerves of a long ancestry. Another 202 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME universal principle has been overlooked; namely, that any organization tends to build itself up from the germ after an ancestral pattern, and that the modifiability of that type is brought about only under special nurture and environment applied at an early stage of growth. The cruelty, baseness, and crime of past ages are reflected, not only in history, but in the wrong-doing of the present time. Evil instincts, passions, aptitudes, are woven into the fibre of the nerve substance. They taint the blood and are stamped upon the countenance. Whole families are so degraded that mental and moral recovery seems impossible. The Whitechapel districts of our great cities contain a population that is more homogeneous than the Back Bays or Fifth Avenues. The turbid stream of poverty and ignorance, of intemperance and immorality, has per- sistently coursed its way down through the gen- erations of the past, and to-day often threatens to overflow and carry ruin to the existing order of things. Seeing, then, that tendencies to crime are part of the legacy to human nature from a remote past, and are hence constitutional, it is not difficult to understand why education has failed as a quick EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 2O3 and complete remedy for them. If we consider, also, the large catalogue of crimes caused imme- diately by intemperance, we find that education has not been of a sort to prevent them. The educational methods of the past have been almost exclusively directed to the culture of the intellect. This has been true of elementary teach- ing both in this country and in Europe; it has, to a large extent, also, been true of the colleges. To memorize, to recite, to reason and demonstrate, have been the chief aims. Prior to the last few years, little attention was given to bodily or mental health. The school was often as unsanitary as the poorest home. No attempt was made to bring the nervous organism of the child into harmony with his environment, and hence, to promote cheer- fulness, spontaneity, and vigor. It was usually a system of mental tasks rigidly appUed, whose direct tendency was often to make the sick more sick, the morbid more morbid, and the vicious more vicious. The doctrine of the "survival of the fittest " had free course. Those only who had inherited physical and intellectual vigor endured the strain and rose to success in life. There was nothing in the system that dealt heroically with 204 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME human disease and evil in its germinal forms, or that recognized the great laws of natural selection and environment that operate in the breeding and rearing of children, as well as in the culture of plants and animals. Many a parent has looked with pride upon his well-bred horse, kept in a box- stall, paying strict attention to his food, exercise, supply of light and air, while his child, delicate, it may be, has been sent to a school where every prin- ciple of hygiene, moral and physical, was violated. Again, assuming that education has been able largely to overcome ignorance, it has not therefore been a cure for crime. Says Herbert Spencer : " Ignorance and crime are not cause and effect : they are coincident results of the same cause. The fact is that scarcely any connection exists between morality and the discipline of ordinary teaching. Mere culture of the intellect (for education as usually conducted amounts to little more) is hardly at all operative upon conduct. Creeds pasted upon the memory, good principles learned by rote, lessons in right and wrong, will not eradicate vicious propensities, though people, in spite of their experience as parents and citizens, persist in hoping they will." EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 205 Bernard Perez, whose exhaustive study of the " First Three Years of Childhood " entitles his views to respect, goes even farther than this. He says : " The business of education is much more concerned with the habits that children acquire, and with their wills, which are also developed by habitual practice, than with the development of their moral conscience. The latter is the blossom which will be followed by fruit; but the former are the roots and branches." It is, then, with the roots of life and character and the soil in which they grow that we are chiefly concerned in estimating the value of education upon those morally defective. Before closing this discussion, I shall attempt to show that education bids fair to be so changed in the immediate future as to become more efficient as a corrective of evil tendencies. At present, I desire to speak of educational methods and results in the past as affecting crime. While it must be apparent that education has not usually addressed itself to the will and the emotions, and has been blind to the truth that morals as well as mind depend upon health and body, it can still be shown that schools have done more than all other agencies 206 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME during the past two centuries to improve the condi- tions under which civiHzed man Hves. While they have not proved a prompt remedy for crime, they have promoted a general intelligence that has been able to deal with it more humanly and wisely. Two great forces, inductive thought and the democratic spirit, have been at once the cause and effect of education. By the first, the human mind, freed from its fetters, has penetrated the secrets of nature, has conquered time and space, and has achieved in one hundred years greater social and industrial progress than has been seen in any ten centuries of the world's former history. The spirit of democracy has been no less potent in recasting human society and caUing forth the energies of men in great enterprises tending to comfort, convenience, and health. On the Ameri- can continent especially, the possibility of success- ful self-government has been proven beyond all question. The same doctrine is working its way in Europe, and will gradually tend to curb the most autocratic of rulers and soften the restraints which harass the subject and thwart his enter- prises. Schools of learning, from the lowest to the EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 207 highest, have been the channels through which these regenerating influences have worked their way to the minds of men. Whenever a child has been taught to read, he has been intrusted with a key wherewith he can unlock the great storehouse of knowledge. History and literature become his teachers. He rises out of himself, and thinks the thoughts of others. He knew before that life was a struggle ; but he sees now that mankind has been struggling on for ages and that to the sum total of human toil and pain he is indebted for what he is, and that he will be to a certain degree respon- sible for the future of his race. God's revelation becomes his possession, in the pages of which are revealed both his own weakness and depravity and the Deity perfect in power and goodness. In the long march from the savagery of six thousand years ago to the civilization of the pres- ent, progress was measurably slow until schools began their work of mental elevation. That education has been indirectly effective in preventing crime can be safely affirmed. The lighting of our city streets, the scientific appli- ances employed by the police, the use of chemistry and electricity in the detection of crime, and the 208 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME better administration of justice, are but incidents of the improved moral and social condition which education has produced. The study of nature has tended to soften human feelings and to promote a humanity that is quick to sympathize with weakness and suffering. Every hospital, with its trained attendants and its appli- ances for soothing pain and thwarting disease, every retreat for the insane, schools for those de- fective in sight, speech, or the imbecile — all these witness to the intelligent and earnest philanthropy of our time. Even dumb animals are protected from cruelty by law. Society, aroused and on the alert, is guarding the pubhc health from every con- taminating influence ; and, while science is attack- ing the germs of disease with marvellous results, we hear of an " elixir of life " that can make the aged young and the weak strong. John Stuart Mill defines education as "whatever helps to shape the human being, to make the indi- vidual what he is, or to hinder him from being what he is not." Accepting this very broad defi- nition, and observing the enlightened condition of the civihzed world and the security in which we live, we are able to award to education in general, EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 209 and to the public school system in particular, a large measure of credit. If our jails and prisons are as full as ever, we know that many are deterred from evil-doing by modern facilities for detecting and punishing crime. If intemperance is still defiantly assaulting life and character in every grade of society, and is the direct agent of more crime than all other causes consid- ered, we still know that a moral sentiment is being developed that will eventually place this monster evil in subjection and protect society from its ravages. The fact that we have been adding annually to our population upward of half a million of for- eigners, many of whom are not in sympathy with our institutions, but are bred in pauperism, discon- tent, and possibly in crime, is often overlooked when criminal statistics are cited by pessimistic writers. But there is no grander proof of the effi- cacy of free schools than is seen in the capacity of our country for receiving and assimilating this mass of material without serious detriment. The increase of crime may be partially explained by other causes, as, for example, the rapid growth of cities, the unsettled condition of our industrial sys- 2IO EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME tern, the rapid accumulation of wealth, all tending to prove that the subject of crime and its causes is very complex, and presents many problems for science and philanthropy to solve. But, whichever way we turn, we have to face one sublime fact, — these United States, with all the dangers to which they have been exposed, re- sulting from rapid growth, immigration, and intem- perance, have severally and unitedly evinced a strength and stability that have excited the world's admiration ; and this phenomenon can be explained only in the intelligence of the people through the common schools. If our education in the past has not been powerful as a corrective of crime, it has certainly produced a high average of intelligence, and has fortified the public mind and conscience in its attempt to deal with wrong-doing promptly and wisely. With this hasty and somewhat superficial view of the relation which education has borne to crime hitherto, I propose to consider rather carefully the prospects for the diminution of crime in the future through educational means. The hosts of evil now pressing upon us are vast and threatening. Intemperance, immigration, EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 211 heredity, ignorance, poverty, and insane, nihilistic tendencies are present in great strength. Now, granting that the pulpit and the press are efficient as preventive agents by their constant appeals to right and warfare upon wrong, and by their efforts in disseminating truth, we must look to the schools, public and private, to so counteract and cure moral disease in its incipient forms as to afford to all our youth a fundamental training in habitual morality. In previous remarks, I have laid considerable stress upon heredity and the principle of persist- ence of type, so well understood by the natural- ist; but there is another truth of equal educational value in this connection, and that is the exceed- ing plasticity of the infant child, and the capacity of his nature for modification through proper train- ing and environment. Children born under the worst conditions, if transplanted at an early age to a good home, form moral habits that prove their safeguard through life. The schools are capable of doing a great correc- tive and curative work. The educational reforms instituted during the past ten years, and now being vigorously pushed, all look to this result. The assertion may sound paradoxical, but the schools 212 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME of the future are to be more corrective of evil be- cause less penal and less repressive than in the past. Strong, healthy growth, moral, physical, and intellectual, leading up to honest citizenship, is to be the real end and aim. The new education, whose principles are already well diffused, and whose sole purpose is to build character on solid foundations, calls for a more generous policy on the part of the State and greater skill and discrimination in applying educa- tional means. First, greater attention must be paid to school hygiene, including both health conditions of build- ings and those dangers growing out of the nervous tendencies and defective constitutions of so many children. The State cannot afford to furnish an education that ignores the laws of health and fails to promote physical stamina. The ancient Greeks exposed their weak and defective children, and so spared them a life of suffering and unhappiness. Is the civilized State of to-day doing better than they, when it sends its youth out to battle with life unschooled in the care of the body, or, it may be, weak and puny, from lack of physical culture.'' A recent writer says : " Physical infirmities and EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 213 deficiencies, resulting from the disregard of the com- monest rules of muscular development and bodily perfection, must have their reflex in the spiritual and moral character of the victim. Strong, active, physical health is rarely associated with moral per- versity in the rightly educated man or woman," Decided indications of progress in this depart- ment are to be seen. Hygiene has become a pre- scribed study; gymnastics and military drill are somewhat in vogue ; and in several cities physi- cians are employed as inspectors of schools with regard to health. The second demand is the adoption in our cities of the kindergarten as a part of the public school system, especially for all neglected children and those whose breeding and environment are likely to result in criminal habits. I wish to emphasize this point. It is most vital to the question we are considering. If the State leaves the children born in the slums to run wanton during the first five, six, or seven years of life, until every form of wickedness and evil is automatic in their thought and feeling, she must expect to reap a harvest of crime. The kindergarten has been found to possess this 214 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME distinct advantage over all other forms of infant training, — that children, if taken at three years of age from the worst surroundings, can be reclaimed. The plastic nature of the child responds readily to love and kindness. As a new environment is re- vealed to him, so a new set of affections and im- pulses is awakened. The aim of the kindergarten is thoroughly normal. The systematic development of the child power, the arousing of self-activity, the culture of the feelings, the establishment of the practical virtues, the kindling of aesthetic, moral, and social sentiments, — these are all present in the true kindergarten. It may be said, in passing, that this training is the best possible foundation for the school proper. It has been well said that "solicitude for children is one of the signs of a growing civilization." Let this sentiment material- ize in legislation that shall zealously rescue from danger all those unfortunates who are inevitably destined to be an expense to the State. It is far cheaper to apply some simple remedy in the earlier stages of an illness than to become a confirmed in- valid and wage a lifelong struggle with disease. A school training, engrafted on a character that is fixed in bad habits, is as unsafe as was the dam EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 21 5 at Johnstown, with its flimsy foundations and a mountainous mass of water pressing against it. Five dollars a year spent in giving a child kinder- garten training may save the State ten thousand dollars in trials and imprisonments, to say nothing of the economical advantages of having each and every man a supporter of the laws rather than a source of moral contamination, a producer of wealth rather than a destroyer of it. Third, we must leaven the entire curriculum with that most effective of all moral correctives, manual or industrial training. While I prefer to argue this question on the broadest educational grounds, time will only permit me at this time to emphasize the moral element that belongs to all intelligent labor. So much has been written on this topic that I need recall only a few well-known facts. Wherever mental and manual exercises are blended, there is manifest a moral earnestness, a growth in manly and womanly character. This is no theory. The results now seen in many schools and colleges testify to the truth. Wherever, in the public schools of this country, boys are trained in the use of tools, or the girls are taught sewing and cooking, the chil- dren from neglected homes seem to experience a 2l6 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME change in conduct and ambition. Hope for the first time dawns upon their lives ; and they become missionaries at home, setting order, comfort, and happiness in the place of squalor and wretched- ness. The system so extensively adopted in England, and partially begun in this country, of gathering dependent children into industrial schools, where the useful arts are pursued in connection with a vigorous schooling of the mental and moral powers, has convinced many observers that France has builded wisely in constructing a system of national education with the industrial element present in every grade. A most striking evidence of the re- forming power of diversified industry is found in the recent history of several of our reformatories. At Elmira, particularly, industrial education has shown its potency in helping to establish character upon a healthy basis. If the adult man, mature in habit and addicted to vice, can be educated into integrity, what may not be accomplished with our youth if taken at the proper stage ? That several states have framed laws empower- ing courts, under certain limitations, to pass inde- terminate sentences on all criminals, means simply EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 21/ that the time is coming when a criminal will be released only as he gives evidence of reformation. In other words, he must be morally and indus- trially educated. What ought to have been done in the common school, under our compulsory laws, must now be done in the prison at vastly greater expense. In schools where negroes and Indians are edu- cated, the results of combining manual and intel- lectual training are most significant. It is freely acknowledged, by those who have studied the prob- lem most thoroughly, that the only hope of ele- vating the Indian and the African lies in a sort of industrial reformation. Until recently Christian missions have been far less successful in Africa than the Mohammedan, mainly because the latter have introduced into the life of the savage a sort of industrialism that served as a civilizing factor. Evidence that the industrial and domestic arts as Christianizing forces are stronger even than preach- ing is bound to give color to missionary enterprise in the future. Have we not, then, abundant proof that this element, which operates so powerfully in the enlightenment of the heathen and the savage, and in the reformation of the vicious and defec- 2l8 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME tive, should be a constant and somewhat promi- nent factor in public education ? All this experience with criminals and with the savage races shows us that what science has taught concerning evolution and the development of species must be applied in education, as well as in the nurture of plant and animal life, before the evil nature will shake off the rudiments of bar- barism which still cling to it. Self-activity is the law of healthful life and growth in every organism. An unused muscle is a moral infirmity. Every morbid nerve is an invitation to crime. When the youth is bred to honest industry, there is no con- gestion, no bilious insurrection, but rather free circulation to every member of blood purified in God's air and sunshine. Every nerve-cell is full of healthy life. All new growth of tissue under these conditions tends to make Dr. Jekyll stronger than Mr. Hyde, and to preserve a balance of power on the side of honest endeavor. Finally, education will become a curative of crime only as all teaching is subordinated to the one central aim of developing and establishing char- acter. The cultivation of the body, the intellect, and the will must find a unity in the idea of EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME 219 moral completeness. All children must be reached. They must be reached early. Spontaneity and self- activity must be fostered at every step. Through drawing, designing, and construction, accuracy, in- tegrity, and love of the beautiful are to be incul- cated. The study of Nature in all her wonderful forms, with countless lessons of God's creative skill and infinite love and care, is rapidly assert- ing its claims as the true subject-matter of teach- ing. In other words, less study of books and more of the world around us is needed to train the eye to see, the ear to hear, and to fit our youth for practical life. Self-government is the corner-stone of this re- public, and is destined to animate all mankind in the not distant future. The school must build character upon this foundation. The weak and defective are to acquire strength by self-control and patient endeavor. While recognizing the unpleasant fact that edu- cation struggling with other moral agents has failed to cure crime, I have tried to show that it has created those moral and social conditions that are favorable to its restriction and suppression. More- over, in view of the reform which is now affect- 220 EDUCATION AS A CURE FOR CRIME ing all educational methods, I do not hesitate to predict that, in the better future toward which we are hastening, we shall see these methods applied in universal and successful child-saving work. THE CORRELATION OF EDUCA- TIONAL FORCES IN THE COM- MUNITY THE CORRELATION OF EDUCA- TIONAL FORCES IN THE COM- MUNITY The energies of school supervision have hitherto been largely employed in perfecting the organi- zation of teaching and in bringing it into true pedagogic form. We have treated the school as though it were sufficient unto itself and somewhat independent of all other factors. I believe the time has come when we may wisely give more attention to the utilization of forces outside of the school to the end that community life and effort may be richer, better directed, more economically employed, and that the schools may gain the com- manding position that rightfully belongs to them. Henry Ward Beecher uttered a great truth when he said that in America there is not one single element of civilization that is not made to depend in the end upon public opinion. I care not how skilfully and thoroughly school supervision does 223 224 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES its work, unless the interest and confidence of the people are enlisted so that they believe in the value of what is done, much of the labor goes for nothing. There may be much of indifference and apathy, but there is never strict neutrality in public sentiment. A community that is not thor- oughly committed to a broad educational policy and active in sustaining it is likely to assume an unfriendly attitude, if the slightest provocation arises. Much energy has been wasted in trying to perfect a school system while the people were ignorant of the motives and aims that animated its directors and were incapable of understanding and approving the methods employed. There are plenty of communities that have never yet been reached by the spirit of modern education. They are like those broad stretches of thickly populated country in India or China where, here and there, a single missionary is trying to break the ice of paganism with scarcely any perceptible success. In such cases the schools are as good as they can be under the circumstances, but there is no enthusiasm concerning them and the well-to-do people, knowing nothing of their excellences, send their children to private schools often of an inferior IN THE COMMUNITY 225 character. There are many instances where the conditions are right for the development of an edu- cational spirit in the community, but those in charge make no effort whatever to bring about this most desired end. Some years ago a young man was called to take charge of a group of schools in one of our pleasant New England bor- oughs. He had his own ideas and carried them out. He made no study of the community to see what synthesis could be made of existing forces. He enjoyed the privacy of his own room better than the exactions of social life. He made few acquaintances, and few people knew him or cared for him. At length a single indiscretion on his part in connection with a case of discipline aroused the hostility of the local newspaper. Having no public opinion in his favor, he lost ground rapidly, was soon compelled to resign, and the good work he had done in the schools went for nothing. I venture to assert that this is a type of many cases occurring all over the country, which give to edu- cational supervision the character of instability and Bohemianism. Moreover, the failure to work constructively for healthy public opinion is not the only shortcoming Q 226 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES of our craft. The apparent inability of some men and women to recognize the unity of all moral and social aims, and to justly value the work of forces other than the one to the service of which they are especially committed, is a difficulty no less seri- ous than the one already indicated. Herbert Spen- cer, in one of the closing chapters of his work on " Illustrations of Universal Progress," calls attention to the fact " that the different parts of the social organism, like the different parts of an individual organism, compete for nutriment and severally obtain more or less of it according as they are discharging more or less duty." Unless the several agencies which operate in community life for the improvement of the conditions of living and the elevation of society are made conscious of each other's claims, this sort of competition, to which reference has been made, is likely to work harm in preventing some forces from achieving all of which they are capable. Let us consider briefly the principal factors that, speaking broadly, contribute to education in the community. They are the Church, the home, the school, the public library, the newspaper, the art museum, where there is one, and the civil state IN THE COMMUNITY 22/ with its laws protecting life and property, its pro- visions for public health and convenience, and its orderly conduct of all civic affairs. We should mention, also, the opportunity of hearing good music, the operations of commerce, the daily mira- cles of science as applied in mechanics, and elec- tricity, securing rapid travel, communication, etc. Now, in the general work of education, each of these forces has its own peculiar task. It does what none of the other forces can do. The Church, by its constant appeals to the higher spiritual nature, by consecrated self-denial, lofty example, and helpful ministrations must be re- garded as a mighty educational factor. The pres- ence all over the Christian world of imposing church edifices, conceived in the highest types of architectural art, with their towers pointing upward, is simply the visible expression of those deeper sentiments that are inspired and developed through the ministry of the Church. The home, with its tender parental nurture, its solicitous care and wise guidance, contributes a fundamental element to education. Especially is it true when an air of culture pervades the home, that it often becomes, as Holland describes it. 228 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES "The sweetest type of Heaven." What it does no other power can do. Deprive a child of a good home and you blast the very flower of his opportunities. It was observed in connection with a series of articles by eminent persons published a few years since, on " How I was educated," that each and every writer paid a high tribute to the potency of the home as a factor in his own education. The school holds a central place. More than the Church or even the home, it moralizes the child, and establishes his character upon the foun- dations of good habits. Its regular routine, con- tinued day after day, and the constant appeals made to the best efforts of the child make the school preeminent among educational forces. The public library, or people's university, as it has been called, is a reservoir of knowledge and inspiration for the entire community. Rightly sup- ported by the Church, the home, and the school it supplements them all in their efforts to elevate and refine society. Without speaking in detail of other educational forces, it seems strange that devo- tees of any of these agencies are blind to the rela- tive importance of the others, as well as to the IN THE COMMUNITY 229 fact that the highest success of any of them depends upon the support it gets from the others. I shall venture to refer again to the Church, in this connection, in the way of mild criticism. Mr. Brooks Adams, in a recent monograph on the " Law of Civilization and Decay," finds that "the funda- mental idea in rehgion is fear, which, by stimulat- ing the imagination, creates the behef in an invisible world and ultimately develops a priesthood." To such an extent have the world religions taken advantage of this principle that their history has been a record of tyranny and darkness. Under the same influence the light of Christianity became so obscured that the work of freeing the human mind from its slavery has been only partially be- gun; and, even in this most democratic of coun- tries, whose foundations were laid by those seeking religious freedom, we often find the Church arro- gating to itself rights and powers which it does not possess, and pretending to accompHsh results which it never has nor ever will accomplish. The minister too often forgets that the pulpit is a means to an end, and that its highest function is to dig- nify and sweeten human service of every sort and establish the brotherhood of man and the unity 230 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES of all work for the cause of truth, to the end that there may be mutual cooperation. Only recently one of our most liberally minded clergymen, in naming to a body of young people the benefits that have come through the Christian dispensation, made no mention of the Christian school. Too often schools are entirely omitted in prayers from the pulpit or in pastoral ministrations. It is be- cause of the influential position of the Church that I feel compelled to emphasize this omission. It seems to me to be entirely opposed to the spirit of Him who came upon earth and went about doing good. The love of the Master for children is unquestioned. I have often thought that, were he to be among us again, he would be seen quite as often in our schools as in our churches. No less lack of cooperation has often existed between the home and the school. Here are two forces operating to the same end, yet often so antagonistic that the impressible child is trained in ways of discourtesy and disloyalty, his school life is made wretched and his childhood is clouded. Dissension in the home is bad enough, but strife between teacher and parent is fatal to those finer results for which the home and school should aim. IN THE COMMUNITY 23 1 Is it not about time that the traditional schism be- tween parent and teacher be bridged over? Should we be contented with the relation of armed neu- trality which so often exists ? The importance of the issue at stake demands mutual sympathy and cooperation. The teacher greatly needs the re- spect, the confidence, and the esteem of the parent. He needs information concerning the child's home life, his tastes, habits, etc. The parent, on the other hand, should have the frankest statements from the teacher concerning the child's interests as displayed in the schoolroom. Through such con- ference teacher and parent are able to supplement the efforts of each other. There is something to be said about the place the schools should hold in the opinions and good wishes of the people. As the most influential of the forces in education, as the prime factor in de- termining the civic intelligence of the community, they should be held in high honor and esteem. They should be regarded with generous feeling and interest, and every citizen should feel a personal obligation to contribute to their efficiency. The late President Garfield once said that "the best system of education is that which draws its chief 232 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES support from the voluntary efforts of the commu- nity," It is worth a good deal to have the school taxes paid cheerfully, but we want something more than a passive interest. This brings me to the point of announcing two principles that deserve to be recognized everywhere. First, the social and educational forces of the community should be brought into correlation. There should be the fullest mutual readiness to cooperate. Second, the school, better than any other factor, may become a centre for this correlation. It exists for all the people, is unhampered by creed or sect, and at the same time stands for the very highest aims to which human efforts can be directed. In an article written for the Atlantic MontJily of January, 1896, Horace E. Scudder urges the propriety of making the schoolhouse the centre of community life and concludes by declaring that the school system holds the key to the situation in any problem we may encounter when considering the momentous subject of American civiHzation. There is little that is new in these propositions. Indeed, there has been a growing recognition of their importance during the last few years. The so-called institutional church is an attempt to utilize various educational forces IN THE COMMUNITY 233 to supplement preaching so that we often find now, organized under the roof of one church, various means for physical, intellectual, and moral cultiva- tion. The same idea expresses itself in missionary- endeavor, but the most significant illustrations are those local societies that have been formed in vari- ous cities with the avowed purpose of helping on the cause of education. Some years ago the Pub- lic Education Society of Philadelphia began a career which has resulted in many educational re- forms. In fact, it is said that the establishment of the kindergarten, the reorganization of the school system with the employment of a superintendent of schools, the introduction of manual training, and the broadening of all courses of study have been the indirect results of the labors of this society. A similar organization in New York has enlisted the active assistance of the influential citizens of the city, some of whom are social leaders. What ap- peared to many to be almost a hopeless under- taking has already borne excellent fruit in the well-known reform measures which it is to be hoped are the beginning of a thorough reformation of the school system of that city. A striking instance of what a local society may do is seen in the work 234 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES accomplished for the Boston schools in a single year by the Association of Collegiate Alumnae act- ing in cooperation with the officers of the Insti- tute of Technology and certain school officials. There was undertaken a thorough investigation of the schoolhouses of Boston to determine their con- dition with respect to health and sanitation. A vigorous report, made at the conclusion of the task, has resulted in a thorough awakening of public in- terest on this subject and will ultimately result in larger appropriations for the corrections of defects pointed out. One of the best illustrations of social coordina- tion is seen in the Twentieth Century Club of Bos- ton, which has been in existence a little more than three years. The avowed purpose of the club is " to promote a finer public spirit and a better social order." Among its founders were such men as PhiUips Brooks, Dr. Edward Everett Hale, and Dr. George A. Gordon. Its membership of three hundred includes about an equal representation of lawyers, ministers, journalists, artists, teachers, and business men. Among these are many names well known as philanthropists and social reformers. Under the skilful management of its president, IN THE COMMUNITY 235 Mr. Edwin D. Mead, its meetings, which are held on alternate Wednesday evenings, have presented a remarkable instance of a perfectly free platform where any subject — social, religious, or political — could be discussed with the utmost candor and in the best spirit. A lunch is served to the members of the club at its rooms on Saturday, after which some topic of living interest is brought forward and a most interesting comparison of views follows. It is generally recognized by the members of the club that its purposes are distinctly educational, and the interests of schools and colleges have been given a prominent place in its deliberations. It is impossible to estimate the good that such an organization may accomplish. The fact that woman's clubs throughout the country are mak- ing public schools a special object of study, and that at Louisville the Federation passed resolutions recommending such study, is full of significance and promise. The Brookline Education Society has been suc- cessful in developing a strong community interest in education and in helping to elevate the standard of the local schools. So many inquiries concern- ing the nature and results of their movements have 236 THE CORRELATION OF EDUCATIONAL FORCES been received that another chapter will be devoted to it. President Eliot, at the close of twenty-five years as president of Harvard University, when asked what had been his leading aim, replied, " To secure cooperation." There is no word in our language more highly charged with what is vital to human destiny. St. Paul the Apostle pleaded for it. The warp and woof of what we call modern civilization is made up of cooperation. We want far more of industrial cooperation, of religious cooperation, and of educational cooperation. The mission of the public school is closely related to all forms of social work. The methods found most success- ful in dealing with the defective, the vicious, and the neglected classes are such as have been tried advantageously in the school. On the other hand, the methods, aims, and humanitarian spirit of the social reformer are essential to the life of every good school. Hence it is readily seen that school supervision has something more to do than to grade classes, prepare courses of study, and see that principles of teaching are carried out. Teach- ers must become conscious of the commanding importance of the school as a social factor in- IN THE COMMUNITY 237 fluencing every form of human endeavor, reflect- ing its spirit and aims in the life and conduct of the people, and, in turn, drawing inspiration and help from every department of the world's activity. THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY AND ITS WORK THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY AND ITS WORK The general aim of the society, as expressed in the first clause of the constitution, is "to promote a broader knowledge of the science of education, a better understanding of the methods now employed, and a closer sympathy and cooperation between the home and the school." During the period of rapid progress through which we have been passing, education has kept pace with other lines of social advancement, and has gone far beyond the knowledge and experi- ence of the people in the community. In order that the home and the school may cooperate, it is important that parents should know not only what is being attempted for their children, but the rea- sons upon which this action is based. In other words, people who have an interest in the educa- tion of their own or of other people's children need to be students of pedagogy and to become R 241 242 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY sympathetic with modern ideas, otherwise they are sure to be unintelHgent critics, and to make them- selves and other people uncomfortable through their lack of knowledge and appreciation. Again, there are in every community certain latent forces which may profitably be invoked for educational ends. There are persons of means, of leisure, and of culture who, if the way opens to them, are glad to contribute something to the public good. They are willing to join with others in public- spirited efforts for a better life, public and private. The aim of the Brookline Education Society has been to secure an aroused public interest concern- ing everything that touches the life and growth of the young in the home, in the school, and in the community, and to find opportunities for good people who are blessed with time or talents to render such service as will conduce to their own pleasure and at the same time be helpful to others. When this society was first formed it was thought best to make the organization as simple as possible, to permit a good degree of flexibility and infor- mality in all its workings. There has never been any occasion for adopting a different plan. The officers of the society consist of a president, a sec- AND ITS WORK 243 retary, who also acts as treasurer, and five other persons who with the aforesaid constitute an ex- ecutive committee. This committee originates and matures all plans for meetings and for the general conduct of the society's work. Any person over twenty years of age may become a member upon application to the executive committee. In order that the activities of the society may be differ- entiated and that the aid of a large number of people may be enlisted, there are not less than nine sub-committees upon different departments of educational work. These committees hold meetings to suit their convenience, discuss the questions relat- ing to their own department, and initiate such lines of work as seem to them wise. A sub-committee is often invited by the executive committee to prepare and carry out a programme for a public meeting. This method is likely to be pursued more in the future than has been the case in the past. Each sub-committee usually consists of from five to ten members, and has authority to invite other persons not members to assist in the work. The public meetings, of which there have been five or six each year, have constituted the most prominent feature, and have perhaps been the 244 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY chief agency in bringing educational ideas to the people at large. These meetings have been quite informal and social. While speakers have usually- been invited to speak beforehand, there has been on almost every occasion an opportunity for free discussion. No attempt has been made to exploit any unusual or startling educational theories, neither has there ever been any unpleasant criticism of existing methods. All have seemed to appreciate the opportunity for conference, and have spoken freely or listened patiently, as the case might be. The subjects chosen have been those of vital inter- est, not only to parents but to teachers. Many phases of the regimen of the child's daily life in the home and in the school have been taken up, including sleep, diet, home study, recreation, amuse- ments, books, companions ; also certain phases of the course of study, as Music, Art, Literature, His- tory, Science, and the relation which these various subjects bear to the general development of the child. Occasionally the plan has been varied by having music or an informal reception at the close of the meeting. In connection with nearly every meeting there has been a good degree of social intercourse, and the opportunity has been afforded AND ITS WORK 245 for teachers and parents to become acquainted, and it is certain that they have found great pleas- ure in doing so. With a membership of nearly six hundred, the numbers at the meetings have ranged from one hundred to three hundred, ac- cording to the season and other conditions. It has been noticed that different subjects attract dif- ferent people, so that while all are not able to come at any one time, within a given year the membership is probably well represented. Of the various sub-committees perhaps none has undertaken a work which is more vitally related to the welfare of the children in certain sections of the town than that on Child-Study. The mis- sion of this committee at first seemed rather ob- scure and intangible, as there were few persons who had time or disposition to enter upon those careful and scientific investigations which, under the name of Child-Study, have been undertaken. Several syllabi were issued to parents, calling for reports upon observations of children with respect to their tastes, dispositions, and early aptitudes, to which a limited response was made. But the com- mittee gradually found that in arranging to bring mothers together for conference regarding home 246 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY duties and the care of children, a large field for fruitful labor was open to them. It is interesting to note that these mothers' meetings have been held not only in that portion of the town where the people have to toil, and have very little time or disposition for the study of questions of education, but some interesting meetings have been held for the benefit of the well-to-do and cultured women of the town. In both instances mothers have been grateful to those who, from their wide experience and thoughtful attention to home matters which come within the sphere of the mother and the housekeeper, have been able to throw light upon many difficult questions, and to make helpful sug- gestions. But the most successful meetings have undoubtedly been those where cultured women have met with those less favored, and in a kind and tactful manner have conversed with them, and have both given and received suggestions ; for it has been the testimony of those who have assisted in these meetings, that they have often learned much from the working women which has been both help- ful and inspiring. The meetings have usually closed with an afternoon tea, and the greatest possible sociability has been encouraged. AND ITS WORK 247 The committee on Physical Training has found a large and interesting field for its investiga- tions. Its membership has included not only those teachers who are especially interested in Hygiene and Physical Training, but several physicians and others have been glad to devote some time to this subject. Many meetings have been held when physical education in all its aspects has been considered, and valuable conclusions have been reached in regard to the proper procedure in the home and the school. The studies of the com- mittee have covered the whole period of child life from the kindergarten through the high school, and have included the treatment of physical de- fects of all kinds, recreation, sports, gymnastics, athletics, the relation of physical to manual train- ing, recess and its management, in-door and out- of-door gymnasiums, bathing and swimming. The Brookline public bath, with its fine swimming tank, has been regarded by the Physical Training Com- mittee as a most desirable adjunct to the facilities afforded the youth in the upper grades of the schools. The reports made by this committee at each annual meeting have been full of useful sug- gestions, and have helped to create a public sen- 248 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY timent in the community favorable to a larger expenditure for physical culture. The Committee on History has been no less successful in its work. It has published several tracts of interest upon local history, including old letters, valuable documents, information concerning old houses, historic roads, Indian trails. Brook- line's share in the Civil War, and bulletins giving directions for excursions to historic localities in and about Boston. Historical papers have been prepared by pupils in the high school. After- noon lectures upon the Civil War have been well attended ; helpful suggestions concerning the use of newspaper items have been furnished for the lower schools. The committee has also prepared a valuable tract upon the local history of Brook- line, including its geology and natural history. A large wall-map was prepared showing places of historic interest and old routes of travel. Copies of this map have been placed in all schools of the town. Perhaps no committee has been more systematic or painstaking in its work than that on Music. The theory that music is necessary to the child's fullest growth and culture has led the committee AND ITS WORK 249 to invite amateur musicians to give half-hours of vocal and instrumental music in the schools, es- pecially in those sections where the children hear but little good music at home. During the years 1 897- 1 898, the committee arranged two series of young people's concerts, in which the works of the great composers were interpreted by voice and piano. These concerts were largely attended by the pupils of the higher grades of the schools and their friends. For two summers past excellent out- of-door concerts have been provided on the public common, each of which was attended by several thousand people. Two very successful organ re- citals were given last year under the auspices of the committee. The last undertaking of the com- mittee has been to organize a People's Singing Class, practically free to all who wish to attend, and which is in charge of an accomplished musician. The committee, independently of the society, has raised a large sum of money to provide for the expenses of its work. The Art Committee has interested itself in en- couraging the introduction of masterpieces of art into the schools of the town, — a work which was begun some years ago by Mr. William H. Lincoln, 250 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY Chairman of the School Committee. While much in this direction has been accomplished by local committees made up of the patrons of the schools, the Art Committee has been able to give valuable direction to this movement, and has helped to pro- mote an atmosphere favorable to aesthetic training. Works of art to the value of six thousand dollars have been contributed already to the Brookline Schools. In the year 1897 a superb Loan Collec- tion of Paintings was organized under the direction of the Art Committee, and was opened to the pub- lic for two weeks. That collection will long be remembered as the most important and interesting exhibit ever made in the town. The Committee on Science has undertaken not only to interest the people in what is being done in the schools, but to encourage popular science in the home, and the annual reports of this com- mittee show how children may be provided with pictures and illustrated books for this purpose. A school index to the bound volumes of The Scien- tific Americati Supplement, from 1896 to date, a classified index to the electrical literature in the Public Library of the town, a list of references for use in teaching Physics in the grammar schools, AND ITS WORK 25 1 are among the recent labors of this committee. Of late the committee has been engaged in col- lecting household statistics upon heating and light- ing, hoping that such statistics may furnish some practical suggestions in the line of economic housekeeping. The Committee on School Libraries has prepared a valuable annotated list of books on subjects taught in the primary and grammar grades. A scheme has recently been developed for a closer union of the public library and the schools, and the committee will ask the town for a considerable ap- propriation for the carrying out of their plans. It is proposed to fit up a special room in the Public Library, to appoint a School Librarian, and to fur- nish such books as the School Committee shall recommend, and which shall be especially suited to young children, and will to some extent supple- ment their studies. The Committee on Lectures has provided an annual course of addresses which have covered a wide range of topics, including Pedagogy, questions of social import, and the more popular issues of the day. Not long since the constitution was amended 252 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY SO as to provide for the organization of a Portfolio Committee, whose duty it is to secure contributions of pictures, or papers and magazines containing them, which are to be properly mounted and arranged for use in the schools in connection with the teaching of History and Geography. It is proposed to appoint other committees as occasion may demand. It is safe to assume that all parents are natu- rally interested in the welfare of their children, and anything which tends to quicken or emphasize this parental instinct is advantageous to the home. Nothing is more needed to counteract the hurry and pressure of modern life than a revived appre- ciation of the home and a keen sense of its duties and privileges. The ordinary citizen of to-day is unaware of the immense strides that have been made in perfecting a rational theory of education and in adapting that theory to the needs of the young. He does not know that his children's school in its aims and methods is diametrically opposed to that which he attended as a boy. The discussions and lectures of the Education Society, full reports of which have appeared in the local paper, have undoubtedly brought to the conscious- AND ITS WORK 253 ness of people in general some sense of the great- ness of education and the bearing which it has upon the welfare of their children. In so far as parents become acquainted with the teachers, a mutual respect and sympathy is secured which per- mits the home and the school to work in harmony. Under such conditions, if difficult questions arise, it is easy for parent and teacher to come into conference and to bring about an amicable settle- ment. The indications are that a vast majority of the parents in Brookline are truly sympathetic, and are willing to cooperate with the teachers in every possible way. Whatever kindly sentiments toward the school and the teachers exist in the home are reflected in the attitude of the children ; and the pride which they take in the school, and the respect and love which they feel for their teachers go far to determine the quality of the work which they accomplish. Moreover, nothing so stimulates the teacher and calls forth his best endeavors as to have frequent words of approval and commenda- tion from the parents of his children. That the Education Society has created an atmosphere in the town favorable to good schools and to enthu- 254 THE BROOKLINE EDUCATION SOCIETY siastic teaching, no one will doubt who visits the schoolrooms and sees how happily all are working for the common good, and observes the truly social spirit which prevails there. Teaching at best is wearing to the nerves, and under modern condi- tions, when so many burdens have been placed upon the school, teachers need the heartiest sup- port and encouragement. They have received this in Brookline. While there are many who do not understand the subtleties of modern teaching and are somewhat disposed to criticise, yet the testi- mony is that there is little of that fault-finding and backbiting which is so destructive of the cour- age and ambition of the teacher, and which often undermines health and strength. The teachers of Brookline, feeling their indebtedness to the par- ents for many kind acts of helpfulness and gen- erosity, are unremitting in their efforts to render the best possible service, and to elevate the schools to the highest point of efficiency and excellence. The Public Education Societies of New York and Brooklyn, which were formed several years ago and which have accomplished a great and good work in the reform of local educational interests, have pur- sued methods quite unlike those adapted to most AND ITS WORK 255 communities. The Brookline Society has not at- tempted to reform anything, but has simply sought to establish cooperation in the community and to bring all educational forces into working relations. It is this principle, undoubtedly, which has com- mended its work to many other towns and cities throughout the country, so that now from forty to fifty such societies have been formed. Wherever they have built upon the broad platform of coop- eration, success has followed, but in several in- stances when attention has been directed to the defects of the local schools and an attempt made to ventilate grievances of any kind whatever, the society has speedily gone into a decline. Dr. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, declared several years ago that the principle of educational cooperation had in it such moral value that it ought to become universal throughout the country. Nothing is more sorely needed in our large towns and cities than an intelligent and con- scientious appreciation of what education is, and a determination to free the schools from the entan- glements of politics and to call to their support and direction the best men and women in the community. INDEX Abraham, 152. Adams, Brooks, 229. Agassiz, 48. Altruism, 4, 138. Altruistic spirit, 17, 23, 1 83. Angelo, Michel, 152. Antipater, 164. Apperception, new term, 56; doc- trine of, 106. Art, study of, 30, 182; committee on, 249. Athletic Associations, benefit of, 20. Austin, Sarah, 43. Beecher, Henry Ward, 223. Bellamy, Edward, 17, 124. Bohannon, 68. Bridgeman, Laura, 136. Brookline Education Society, 235. Burke, Frederick, loi. Carlyle, 10. Centennial Exhibition of 1876, 159. Child study, 135, 245. Chinese method of administering justice, 66. Church, 35, 138, 140. City Wilderness, 193. Clubs, Debating, 20. College, requirements for admis- sion to, 115. Collegiate Alumnae, work of As- sociation of, 234. Comenius, 98, 151. Committee of National Association of School Superintendents, 1 1 1 ; questions formulated by, 112. Committee of Ten, report of, 114. Concentration, the superstructure, 56. Congress, International Prison, 172. Cooperation : between parents and teachers, 15, 19; governing spirit of recitation, 24; through daily papers, 25 ; through physi- cal training, 31 ; need of, 34, 140, 230. Correlation of studies, 56. Cuba, illustrating industrial pros- tration, 153. Culture, in the home, 15; result of true, 27; aim same as vocational aim, 35. Curriculum, power of broadened, 33; change worked in, 45, 126. Darwin, 4. Dewey, Dr., 33, 112. Discipline, school, 19; by force, 78; through studies, 80; place of, 84. Drummond, Henry, 84. Edison, 152. Education, a progressive factor, 6; aims of, 7, 34; growth of scope 257 258 INDEX of, 36; determined by character of the age, 39, 58; function of, 105; methods of, 203 ; factor con- tributing to, in community, 226. Eliot, President, 55, 236. Ellis, A. Caswell, 82. Elmira, 216. Environment, importance of, 67. Erasmus, 177. Fitch, Dr. J. G., 55. Franklin, 10. Froebel, Friedrich, 49, 52, 98, 1 08, 151- Garfield, 231. George Junior Republic, 20. Gerade, 157. Golden Rule, 17, 155. Greece, 5. Greeks, 212. Harris, Dr. W. T., 109, 255. Herbart, 53, 56, ill. Herbartian Theory, 58; doctrines, 97- Heredity, importance of law of, in school, 66. History, the study of, 25, 180; com- mittee on, 248. Hodges, Dean, 6, 32. Holland, 227. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 127. Home, influence as educational fac- tor, 13, 67. Hyde, President, 183, 190. Hygiene, more attention should be given to, 212. Instinct, 82. Institution for feeble-minded chil- dren, 173, 174. Interest, no; end and means of education, 54. Irving, 40. Japanese law recognizing force of heredity, 66. James, Professor, 74. Kant, 7. Keller, 136. Kindergarten, influence of, 49; ele- ments of, 49; exemplifies value of physical and motor activity, 102; necessity for in cities, 213. Language as a social instrument, 28. Lincoln, William H., 249. Locke, John, 151. Luther, 177. Mallock, W. H., 154. Manual Training as social instru- ment, 25, 81, 159, 160, 161, 165; need of, 214; results of, 216. Mathematics, 30. Melanchthon, 177. Mill, John Stuart, 208. Music, social value of, 28, 182; com- mittee on, 248. Nature Study, 48, 180, 219. New Education, beginning of, 5. Newspapers, 25 ; good text-book of history, 129. Palmer, Professor George H., 29. Pedagogy, modern, depends on so- ciology, 126. Perez, Bernard, 205. Pestalozzi, 98, 149. Physical Training, 31, 100, 247. INDEX 259 Plato, 7, 152. Play as factor in education, 50. Progress, attitude of educators toward, 132. Reade, Charles, 157. Recitation, social possibilities of, 21; governing principle of, 24. Reforms by Public Education So- ciety of New York, 254. Ribot, 66. Richter, Jean Paul, 164. Rousseau, 47, 98, 151. Ruskin, 42. School, relation to home, 13; as social institution, 16. Science, 11, 12, 25, 250. Scudder, Horace E., 232. Self-government, i8, 21; possibili- ties of, in America, 206; corner- stone of republic, 219. Sense Training, 104. Small, Dr. Albion W., 34. Socialism synonymous with Chris- tianity, 5. Societies, Literary, value of, 20. Sovereigns, education of, 62. Spencer, Herbert, 204, 226. Story, factor in education, 51. Study, courses of, in Union, 95; four phases of ideal course of, 98 ; indispensable features in modern course of, 107, 108, no, in. Teacher, social function of, 33,34; personality of, 36, 44; of kinder- garten, 47; ability to read child, 63; an artist, 90. Ten, report of Committee of, 114, Trade schools, need of, 161. Twentieth Century Club, work of, 234- Utility, principle of, in studies, 27, 132. Vocation, 8, 10, 11, 28, 152. Waring, Colonel, 12, Work, 15; modern view of, 8; spirit of, 12. The Meaning of Education WITH OTHER ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES BY NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER Columbia University Cloth. I2IT10. $I.OO HAMILTON W. MABIE "I do not recall any recent discussion of educational questions which has seemed to me so adequate in knowl- edge and so full of genuine insight. I like the frankness, the honesty, and the courage of the papers immensely." state Supt. CHARLES R. SKINNER, Albany, N. Y. " A volume which will be eagerly sought and thoroughly enjoyed. It is clear, strong, and wholesome." REVIEW OF REVIEWS " We are sure that the teachers of the country will be glad to have these articles and addresses brought together in a single volume. On all that pertains to the science of edu- cation, no writer more readily commands assent than Dr. Butler." 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